After stamping their authority on the world of electronic music in 2011 with Pete Swanson’s Man With Potential, one of the finest and most complex dark techno-noise records of the year, Type Recordings have quickly reasserted themselves in early 2012 with another heavyweight offering of pitch black subterranean sounds. This comes in the form of Porter Ricks’ 1996 classic Biokinetics, a long out of print release that re-framed the genre and became something of a holy grail for techno fans. Frostily sparse, hauntingly minimal and disturbingly heavy, its originality and experimentation makes it feel as fresh today as it ever has done. Check out the album in full here.
Image is by Herbert Pfostl. Delve into his Paper Graveyard here.
Unfortunately the film world is still languishing in the throes of the awards slump, focusing all its efforts on bombarding the public from every angle with George and Meryl’s grimacing countenances and the constant inane whittering about Horses, Helpers, Hoovers and a certain canine whose name I’m frankly fed up of hearing. This market saturation means that there are only really three new releases out this month that should really be worth your time, none of which have had the slightest sniff of Oscar glory, but all of which should prove far richer, readier and downright entertaining. At least certainly more so than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (derp). The others three wonderful releases listed here are all courtesy of the seemingly ever-suffering BFI. Get your hands off, Cameron!
Martha Marcy May Marlene (from 3rd February)
The most exciting theatrical offering this month is an indie festival circuit fave from Sean Durkin, one third of the consistently brilliant Borderline Films collective (whose previous outings include Two Gates of Sleep and the hugely underrated Afterschool). A murky psychological thriller focusing on the convalescence of a severely damaged cult escapee in a sinister rural community, this mesmerising and mysterious film should throw its star, Elizabeth Olsen (yes, of the Mary-Kate and Ashley clan) into the Hollywood major league.
Of course the BFI’s wonderful Lynch season is cause for celebration and you should probably go and see as much as you can. But for the purposes of this post I’ve decided to just pick one. Whilst Wild at Heart may not be the greatest of David Lynch’s achievements (artistically, intellectually or formally), it holds a special, almost ineffable place in my heart. This violently romantic road movie channels Deep South folklore and The Wizard of Oz into something completely absurd, totally compelling and indescribably Lynchian. It also features Nicolas Cage as a thrash metal-loving, martial artist Elvis. I find it hard to describe why I love it so much, but I think that this is perhaps the reason I do.
A Dangerous Method (from 10th February)
One of my all time favourite filmmakers returns with another of his signature investigations into control, desire and perversion, this time about the bizarre ménage-à-trois between Freud, Jung and their patient Sabina Spielrein. Whilst reviews haven’t been totally favourable, the stellar cast and luminary director should surely make it worth your while. It’s a dead cert for me, anyway.
Whilst I’m not usually one to insist on celebrating festivities invented solely for the ongoing promotion of Clinton Cards, if it throws up an excuse to catch one of the greatest love stories ever committed to celluloid on the big screen I’ll gladly jump on to the Forever Friends bandwagon. ‘Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’ is also the perfect time to give the popcorn trick a shot. #romance
Hadewijch (from 17th February)
Another strange outing for France’s leading iconoclast, Bruno Dumont, sees a young nun kicked out of her convent for her blindly and ecstatically devoted faith. From there she moves back to her Parisian home and down a strange and dangerous path, balancing all the while between rage and grace, madness and enlightenment. This is an incredibly bold, daring and shocking film whose difficulties have left it shelved for the last two years. However, it was one of my picks of the 2009 London Film Festival – along with the brilliant Dogtooth – so comes highly recommended here.
Another great re-release from the BFI this month is Otto Preminger’s callous, masterful film about the murder of a beautiful young advertising executive and the complex web of deceit, jealousy and erotic obsession that surrounded her. As cool and witty in its dialogue and satire as it is taut and thrilling in its tortuous plot, this is one of the crowning moments of 40s Film Noir.
Much in the tradition of new year’s resolutions, the bloated self-indulgence of December’s blockbuster fare has been cast off and replaced with a healthy salad of crisp and fibrous new releases, each loudly espousing their restorative properties this January. Whilst this obviously has more to do with the upcoming Oscars (shudder) and much less an attempt at cleansing, focussing and reinvigorating filmic output on the part of the industry, it’s nonetheless highly welcome. You can already taste those celluloid vitamins slipping down your greasy gullet.
However, many of these awards-worthy contenders will be little more than re-hashed, pre-packaged dross from which we would advise the avid cinema-goer to steer well clear. So, blinker yourself to the yards of column inches, starlit names and swollen marketing budgets and instead sign up to our New You 2012 Best Results Ever Screen Diet Plan with this quick round-up of the most exciting films out this January. Don’t you feel goooood.
Shame (13th January)
If you’re not excited about Shame then there’s something wrong with you. Hunger, the previous outing for McQueen and Fassbender, was so good it made me think I was having a heart attack. I don’t really have anything more to say on the matter.
A Useful Life (13th January)
A bizarre, witty and charming film about a cineaste’s love of film and the importance it plays in the meaningfulness of his life. Its inherent tragedy should also serve as a timely reminder in our times of financial austerity towards funding for the arts.
The Nine Muses (20th January)
John Akomfrah’s investigation into the mentality of immigration uses Homer’s The Odyssey as a structuring device and sits somewhere between documentary, film essay and cine-poem. It’s daring, original and shot through with incredible intellectual rigour. Destined for the subject of post-film, caffeine-fuelled debate.
House of Tolerance (27th January)
Take a tale about prostitutes in a Parisian fin de siècle brothel, imbue it with challenging existential subtexts and shoot it like Guy Bourdin and you’ve basically got us hook line and sinker. NB: NSFW.
Dara Birnbaum
One of the pioneers of video as an artistic medium, Dara Birnbaum’s manipulated re-workings of found TV footage ritually deconstructed and desecrated the moving image, forcing the viewer into a new relationship with the screen. Two programmes and a multi-video installation celebrating the work of this seminal artist will be taking place at the South London Gallery throughout January.
Patience (After Sebald)
A fitting tribute to one of my favourite writers, W.G. Sebald, this experimental documentary about landscape, history, art, life and loss offers a unique insight into one of the most powerful, mysterious and brilliant books of the 20th century. It’s also soundtracked by The Caretaker, aka James Leyland Kirby. Joy.
No trailer is currently available. The film is screening at the ICA from 27th January.
L’Atalante (20th January)
Finally, here’s another fantastic re-release courtesy of the BFI and all your hard-earned tax payer’s money. The only feature-length film that the incredibly talented Jean Vigo was able to make before his untimely demise, the film is a breathtaking marriage of surrealism and poetic realism that ranks among the greatest films ever made.
Sabrina Ratté is a Montreal-based video artist. Her work is formed of 2D images and found video footage that is treated with feedback, 3D animation and colour overlays to render a retro-futuristic non-space where only fragments of reality exist in a virtual world of forgotten dreams and consumer-grade nostalgia. We have featured her work before and I can safely say we will feature it again. Because she is one of the best things there is.
Here are two videos that form Activated Memory, a dual installation created for bubblebyte.org, featuring the music of Roger Tellier-Craig. It’s both exemplary of her style and the apotheosis of her technique. In short, it’s bloody brilliant.
So, for whatever reason, the old two-drum-kits-and-a-synth lineup isn’t one that’s particularly in vogue at the moment. Nor, for that matter, are we likely to see too many modern beat combos thrashing said instruments whilst clad in skin tight spandex onesies. Thankfully Liverpool’s Barberos have stepped forward to plug both gaps.
I caught them at an all dayer in Manchester last summer and was blown away, both by their virtuoso Lightning Bolt-isms and by the unforgiving cut of their body suits. It was mostly the virtuoso bit though, and to be honest it’s a little facile simply to compare them to Lightning Bolt because there’s more to them than that, much of which is beautifully evidenced below. The track is, as yet, unmixed, which promises much for their imminent EP , so if you like what you hear then go and see them live because they will tear you a new arsehole. For cereal.
Pete Swanson & Rene Hell were strong contenders for our favourite electronic artists of 2011. The former’s incredible Man With Potential made sweet romance with the most abrasive palette possible, combining heavyweight industrial techno and penetrative electronic drones with a startling and quite unfathomable accessibility. The latter’s beautiful The Terminal Symphony was a magnum synth opus, veering from coruscating arpeggios to glittering dreamscapes into deep, soporific ecstasies. If you haven’t heard either of them yet just click on the links above to treat yourselves to a treacly teet of a treat.
However, if you’re already au fait with the men in question no such introduction will be necessary. Simply bask in the joy of the news concerning the re-release of their excellent split LP, Waiting For The Ladies, courtesy of the Brussels-based Shelter Press. Thanks guys. Great work.
Click here to stream the tracks on the Shelter Press website.
Celebrations all round here. First off, happy new year from us. What did you get up to over the Christmas break? You hung about with your family and ate and drank too much and got some presents? Ah, how nice. Us too! And what did you get up to for new year? Wait, you did WHAT? Jesus man, that’s pretty rank. Sucks that all your vastly overpriced counselling has done you so few favours. I’d ask for a refund if I were you.
Sorry. Just bored of that conversation. Can’t have it again. Please someone tell me something that sparks more than feigned interest and an ‘oh, ahmmm’.
There is a proper celebration to be had though. Congratulations to Grant and Rachel Evans, AKA Nova Scotian Arms and MSOTT, respectively, on their crystal wedding anniversary and eponymous, newly released split LP. Hurrah! And congratulations too to Camilla Padgitt-Coles on putting together such a beautiful video to herald the festivities. Wahey!
