If you had told me only a month ago that not only would I go to a musical theatre production, but would enjoy it so much that I would actually consider going again, I would have laughed in your face - but that's exactly what happened when I went to see Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" the other week. My only previous experience with musical theatre was the execrable "Starlight Express", the nadir of Andrew Lloyd Webber's career, which understandably put me off for years, but I'm so glad I was persuaded to go and see this. "Merrily" is the story of successful movie producer Frank, who seemingly has everything but who hates his life because he's sacrificed his integrity and his friendships to get to the top. It starts at the end and moves backwards through time, revealing the decisions that have got him where he is today, ending at the beginning with him naive and full of enthusiasm. The result is almost unbearably poignant. Make no mistake, this is an absolutely superb work of proper grown-up adult entertainment. It's everything that musical theatre should be and so often, sadly, is not. There are no glib clichés, no trite nonsense, no green witches or singing lions - just a wonderfully well-conceived story with fantastic music that actually drives the plot along. It all feels heartbreakingly real, which I think is just about the highest compliment you can pay a musical. Two gigantic thumbs up.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Merrily We Roll Along
Friday, 26 July 2013
Yori
Went to Yori on Panton Street the other night, a funky Korean barbecue place which also does Japanese. We started with some edamame, which could have been saltier, and some gyoza-esque dumplings which were really nice. Then we had kimchee rice with fried egg, which was pronounced very good, if rather subtle (apparently common in Korean food), and a spicy seafood noodle soup which was also enjoyed. My tempura prawn noodle soup was lovely, a simple, clear, quite fishy stock with nice fat noodles. The prawns were delicious, although there were only two (they were quite large, but another couple would have been welcome), and being in the soup made the batter go squishy. We were going to the theatre so only had about 45 minutes, so decided to skip the barbecue, where they bring you raw meat and you cook it yourself on a hotplate built into your table, but it looks really interesting so I definitely want to come back and try it - not least because, with our Taste Card,the whole lot, including service, came in at only 35 quid. Two thumbs up.
Mediterranean Chicken
Tried the new McDonald's Mediterranean Chicken burger today. It comes in a herby focaccia bun with lettuce, American cheese, roasted peppers and a spicy tomato sauce. The burger itself is nice - it's the same burger they use in the BCO (Bacon, Chicken & Onion), nice breast meat in really crunchy crumb - but it's let down quite badly by the sauce, of which there is far too much, and which is bright orange with a faintly artificial, slightly acrid flavour. It reminded me of nothing so much as Homepride pasta bake sauce. Also, I don't feel there's any room for roasted peppers in a burger. Overall, a not unpleasant experience, but somewhat disappointingly less than the sum of its parts. One thumb up.
New format
I deactivated my Facebook account earlier this week and am now going to share my thoughts on the stuff I like with everyone, not just my friends! I'm going to focus primarily on the entertainment I experience - music, movies, theatre, TV shows, books, food - and I want to try and cover as much as possible, so posts are going to be short, sweet and to the point, and I'm going to rate things using Siskel & Ebert's famous "two thumbs up" system. Get prepared for a barrage of posts about cool stuff.
Monday, 11 March 2013
The Best of 2012
Better late than never! In order to compensate for the shockingly late arrival of this selection, I've worked extra hard to make it as good as possible, and I think it may even be the best one I've done yet. You all know what to expect by now – download here, enjoy, and as ever, please comment! What's your favourite?
1. Isobel Ann Martin – "Làmh a’ Bhuachaille" ("The Herdsman’s Hand"), from the album "Duslach is Òr"
An exquisitely beautiful love song from one of Gaelic music's brightest young stars, who won the coveted gold medal at the Royal National Mòd on her very first attempt aged just 18, and whose voice is (whisper it) arguably as beautiful as Julie Fowlis's.
2. The Cranberries – "Tomorrow", from the album "Roses"
After more than a decade in the wilderness, the Irish indie-pop legends blast back with their best album in years and one of their greatest ever songs in the shape of this stunning slab of prime 90s-style college rock.
3. L’Âme Immortelle – "Absolution", from the album "Momente"
Austrian electro-industrial Vordenker Thomas Rainer returns to the cult band in which he made his name, bringing with him some of the club-ready darkness of his side-project Nachtmahr.
4. Shed – "I Come by Night", from the album "The Killer"
Awesome track from Berlin techno maven Rene Pawlowitz, which builds up slowly from a tribal shuffle to an out-and-out club smasher replete with blaring "foghorn" synth stabs. Play LOUD for maximum dancefloor devastation!
5. Piko – "Online", from the album "2Piko"
Stunningly gorgeous and romantic electro-pop from the lad with the astonishing three-and-a-half octave range (yes, that is a man singing, believe it or not).
6. TK – "Haze", from the album "Flowering"
This anthemic, tumbling rock number from Toru Kitajima, helium-voiced frontman of cult Japanese math-rockers Ling Tosite Sigure, is somehow simultaneously melancholic and uplifting.
7. Dolly – "Koushoku no Kanaria" ("Rainbow Canary"), from the album "Träumerei"
Dance your cares away under the disco ball to this fantastically catchy, propulsive oshare hit.
8. Delain – "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", from the album "We Are the Others"
From in front of 80s-inspired Dutch gothic metal band Delain, flame-haired siren Lotte Wessels calls out her haters with this sardonic missive.
9. The Ghost Inside – "White Light", from the album "Get What You Give"
Frontman Jonathan Vigil literally roars his heart out on this spine-chilling tribute to his fallen brother, which features one of hardcore’s most sing-along-able choruses ever.
10. Plastic Tree – "Joumyaku" ("Vein"), from the album "Ink"
Celebrating their 15th anniversary, the best band in the world whom you've never heard of turn in this staggering chunk of rough-hewn alt-rock goodness.
11. Grendel – "Timewave: Zero", from the album of the same name
Absolutely colossal, apocalyptic industro-trance from the Dutch dark electro soldiers, still filling dancefloors after nearly a decade in the game.
12. Cali Gari – "Anchuu Roman" ("Covert Romance"), from the album "11"
Crack out your dancing shoes for this superb homage to the 80s from the originators of "erotic grotesque".
13. Mix Speaker's, Inc. – "Promise", from the album "Hoshifuru Yuuenchi"
A beautiful, epic power ballad from the crazily costumed concept band, from their best and most serious album to date.
14. Heimataerde – "Allein" ("Alone"), from the album "Gottgleich"
Take a trip to the dark heart of mediaeval Europe with Ashlar von Megalon and his undead Templar knights, who here turn in the best thing they have committed to tape since their unsurpassable masterpiece "Vater".
15. Hans Zimmer – "Rise", from the album "The Dark Knight Rises"
Zimmer outdoes himself with this stunning musical conclusion to Christopher Nolan's brilliant Batman trilogy, simultaneously epic, awe-inspiring and profoundly moving.
16. Simone Dinnerstein – "Impromptu No.3 in G Flat Minor, Op.90" by Franz Schubert, from the album "Something Almost Being Said"
Its transcendent, aching beauty undimmed by almost two centuries, this late piece from the Austrian maestro is here lovingly unfurled by American Simone Dinnerstein, who launched herself to stardom with a self-financed album of Bach’s "Goldberg Variations".
1. Isobel Ann Martin – "Làmh a’ Bhuachaille" ("The Herdsman’s Hand"), from the album "Duslach is Òr"
An exquisitely beautiful love song from one of Gaelic music's brightest young stars, who won the coveted gold medal at the Royal National Mòd on her very first attempt aged just 18, and whose voice is (whisper it) arguably as beautiful as Julie Fowlis's.
2. The Cranberries – "Tomorrow", from the album "Roses"
After more than a decade in the wilderness, the Irish indie-pop legends blast back with their best album in years and one of their greatest ever songs in the shape of this stunning slab of prime 90s-style college rock.
3. L’Âme Immortelle – "Absolution", from the album "Momente"
Austrian electro-industrial Vordenker Thomas Rainer returns to the cult band in which he made his name, bringing with him some of the club-ready darkness of his side-project Nachtmahr.
4. Shed – "I Come by Night", from the album "The Killer"
Awesome track from Berlin techno maven Rene Pawlowitz, which builds up slowly from a tribal shuffle to an out-and-out club smasher replete with blaring "foghorn" synth stabs. Play LOUD for maximum dancefloor devastation!
5. Piko – "Online", from the album "2Piko"
Stunningly gorgeous and romantic electro-pop from the lad with the astonishing three-and-a-half octave range (yes, that is a man singing, believe it or not).
6. TK – "Haze", from the album "Flowering"
This anthemic, tumbling rock number from Toru Kitajima, helium-voiced frontman of cult Japanese math-rockers Ling Tosite Sigure, is somehow simultaneously melancholic and uplifting.
7. Dolly – "Koushoku no Kanaria" ("Rainbow Canary"), from the album "Träumerei"
Dance your cares away under the disco ball to this fantastically catchy, propulsive oshare hit.
8. Delain – "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", from the album "We Are the Others"
From in front of 80s-inspired Dutch gothic metal band Delain, flame-haired siren Lotte Wessels calls out her haters with this sardonic missive.
9. The Ghost Inside – "White Light", from the album "Get What You Give"
Frontman Jonathan Vigil literally roars his heart out on this spine-chilling tribute to his fallen brother, which features one of hardcore’s most sing-along-able choruses ever.
10. Plastic Tree – "Joumyaku" ("Vein"), from the album "Ink"
Celebrating their 15th anniversary, the best band in the world whom you've never heard of turn in this staggering chunk of rough-hewn alt-rock goodness.
11. Grendel – "Timewave: Zero", from the album of the same name
Absolutely colossal, apocalyptic industro-trance from the Dutch dark electro soldiers, still filling dancefloors after nearly a decade in the game.
12. Cali Gari – "Anchuu Roman" ("Covert Romance"), from the album "11"
Crack out your dancing shoes for this superb homage to the 80s from the originators of "erotic grotesque".
13. Mix Speaker's, Inc. – "Promise", from the album "Hoshifuru Yuuenchi"
A beautiful, epic power ballad from the crazily costumed concept band, from their best and most serious album to date.
14. Heimataerde – "Allein" ("Alone"), from the album "Gottgleich"
Take a trip to the dark heart of mediaeval Europe with Ashlar von Megalon and his undead Templar knights, who here turn in the best thing they have committed to tape since their unsurpassable masterpiece "Vater".
15. Hans Zimmer – "Rise", from the album "The Dark Knight Rises"
Zimmer outdoes himself with this stunning musical conclusion to Christopher Nolan's brilliant Batman trilogy, simultaneously epic, awe-inspiring and profoundly moving.
16. Simone Dinnerstein – "Impromptu No.3 in G Flat Minor, Op.90" by Franz Schubert, from the album "Something Almost Being Said"
Its transcendent, aching beauty undimmed by almost two centuries, this late piece from the Austrian maestro is here lovingly unfurled by American Simone Dinnerstein, who launched herself to stardom with a self-financed album of Bach’s "Goldberg Variations".
Friday, 25 January 2013
The Minotaur
Went to see Harrison Birtwistle's "The Minotaur" last night at the Royal Opera House. No word of a lie, this was the single most difficult thing I have ever sat through. Incredibly dense, completely atonal, fiercely intellectual, emotionally draining, and almost unbearably dark and bleak throughout, this is a singular vision from a truly singular talent and nothing less than an utter triumph of the will for all concerned – orchestra, performers and, most of all, the composer himself; I cannot begin to imagine a man who not only hears this stuff in his head, but is actually able to write down and orchestrate two and a half hours' worth of it. I can safely say it was truly unique; I have never heard or seen anything like it. The set and costume design, and the staging, are absolutely superb. The grotesque, protracted danse macabre where Asterios, the Minotaur, gores the sacrificial virgins to death is one of the most shattering things I have ever seen on stage. But the way the bestial Minotaur is humanized is profoundly moving. Some parts were, in their own way, very beautiful; in places I was reminded of some free improvisation I have listened to. The completely atonal singing was the only bit I found truly jarring – how the singers actually learned their parts is absolutely beyond me. To say I actually enjoyed it would probably be an overstatement; safer, probably, to say that I admired it immensely.
Monday, 12 December 2011
The Best of 2011
Well, here it is again: my top tracks of the year. And what a selection! Taking in a truly diverse cornucopia of rock, pop, metal, electronica and even classical from as far afield as Japan, North America and Europe, this is a snapshot of what's been sticking in my head this year. My tastes are so catholic there's bound to be something for everyone! I've also been listening to a lot of mix albums recently and so I've tried to sequence the tracks so they flow together as seamlessly as possible. The selection can be downloaded here - I hope you enjoy it.
1. Within Temptation - "Why Not Me" from the album "The Unforgiving"
This brief but potent spoken-word intro starts our selection with a bang.
2. Asp - "Wechselbalg" ("Changeling") from the album "Fremd"
This balls-to-the-wall melodic rocker is one of the most accessible moments to date from the German goths.
3. Martyn - "Popgun" from the album "Ghost People"
Probably the standout track on the Dutch dubstep maestro's eagerly-awaited second album. Anyone who can seriously say that this insanely funky tune doesn't make them want to shake their booty must either be deaf or have limbs made of lead.
4. Royz - "Still" from the single "Alpha"
Boasting one of the rubberiest basslines you are ever likely to hear, this track comes from what is, remarkably, only this young band's fourth ever release. For a band to be producing material of this calibre this early in their career, and to hide it away on a B-side, no less, is nothing short of astonishing.
5. Thursday - "Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart" from the album "No Devolución"
The New Jersey veterans finally transcend "emo" to come into a unique and fascinating style that is wholly their own.
6. Kaya - "Ophelia" from the album "Queen"
Forget Kylie, Gaga and Madonna: the greatest, most beautiful, most heartrending electropop song of the last decade is by a Japanese man in a fantastically elaborate Rococo dress.
7. Christina Lawrie - "Moment Musical No.2" by Sergei Rachmaninov, from the album "Piano: Rachmaninov/Vine/Brahms"
The young Dundonian pianist brings a remarkable deftness and lightness of touch to the Russian maestro's finger-busting masterpiece.
8. Heretoir - "Graue Bauten" ("Grey Buildings") from the album "Heretoir"
Next-gen German "blackgaze" heroes turn in a shattering work of heartbreaking melancholy.
9. Silverstein - "In Memory of..." from the album "Rescue"
The Canadian rockers fail to transcend emo but confirm themselves once again as masters of the form with this anthemic tale of tragedy.
10. Dir En Grey - "Lotus" from the album "Dum Spiro Spero"
The Japanese luminaries prove once again that they are one of the best bands in the world with this incredible chunk of art-metal which adroitly marries beauty and brutality.
11. The Gazette - "Pledge" from the album "Toxic"
The biggest visual kei band in the world moisten the eyes of teenage girls the world over with this gorgeous, heartfelt winter ballad.
12. Lou Reed & Metallica - "Pumping Blood" from the album "Lulu"
The thematic denouement of the year's most surprising collaboration. The final two-and-a-half minutes, where the titular character meets her fate at the hands of Jack the Ripper, is one of the most harrowing musical experiences ever committed to tape.
13. Prurient - "Palm Tree Corpse" from the album "Bermuda Drain"
Without a doubt the most spine-chilling moment on the cult noise artist's first foray into more "traditional" electronica.
14. Aicle - "Hirari" ("Nimbly") from the album "Ark"
When you're feeling down, bring back the sakura season at the flick of a switch with this insanely catchy, sugary pop-rock nugget.
15. Lynch - "Mirrors" from the single of the same name
An absolute piledriver of a song from the Nagoya rockers who justly secured a major label contract in 2010 after years in the underground.
16. Within Temptation - "A Demon's Fate" from the album "The Unforgiving"
The indescribably epic finale of the Dutch symphonic metallers' supernatural vengeance concept album, which came complete with its own comic book series.
17. Ólafur Arnalds - "Ágúst" from the album "Living Room Songs"
Written and recorded in just one day and streamed live from his living room, this elegiac chamber piece is a reminder of why the young Icelandic composer is held in such high esteem.
1. Within Temptation - "Why Not Me" from the album "The Unforgiving"
This brief but potent spoken-word intro starts our selection with a bang.
2. Asp - "Wechselbalg" ("Changeling") from the album "Fremd"
This balls-to-the-wall melodic rocker is one of the most accessible moments to date from the German goths.
3. Martyn - "Popgun" from the album "Ghost People"
Probably the standout track on the Dutch dubstep maestro's eagerly-awaited second album. Anyone who can seriously say that this insanely funky tune doesn't make them want to shake their booty must either be deaf or have limbs made of lead.
4. Royz - "Still" from the single "Alpha"
Boasting one of the rubberiest basslines you are ever likely to hear, this track comes from what is, remarkably, only this young band's fourth ever release. For a band to be producing material of this calibre this early in their career, and to hide it away on a B-side, no less, is nothing short of astonishing.
5. Thursday - "Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart" from the album "No Devolución"
The New Jersey veterans finally transcend "emo" to come into a unique and fascinating style that is wholly their own.
6. Kaya - "Ophelia" from the album "Queen"
Forget Kylie, Gaga and Madonna: the greatest, most beautiful, most heartrending electropop song of the last decade is by a Japanese man in a fantastically elaborate Rococo dress.
7. Christina Lawrie - "Moment Musical No.2" by Sergei Rachmaninov, from the album "Piano: Rachmaninov/Vine/Brahms"
The young Dundonian pianist brings a remarkable deftness and lightness of touch to the Russian maestro's finger-busting masterpiece.
8. Heretoir - "Graue Bauten" ("Grey Buildings") from the album "Heretoir"
Next-gen German "blackgaze" heroes turn in a shattering work of heartbreaking melancholy.
9. Silverstein - "In Memory of..." from the album "Rescue"
The Canadian rockers fail to transcend emo but confirm themselves once again as masters of the form with this anthemic tale of tragedy.
10. Dir En Grey - "Lotus" from the album "Dum Spiro Spero"
The Japanese luminaries prove once again that they are one of the best bands in the world with this incredible chunk of art-metal which adroitly marries beauty and brutality.
11. The Gazette - "Pledge" from the album "Toxic"
The biggest visual kei band in the world moisten the eyes of teenage girls the world over with this gorgeous, heartfelt winter ballad.
12. Lou Reed & Metallica - "Pumping Blood" from the album "Lulu"
The thematic denouement of the year's most surprising collaboration. The final two-and-a-half minutes, where the titular character meets her fate at the hands of Jack the Ripper, is one of the most harrowing musical experiences ever committed to tape.
13. Prurient - "Palm Tree Corpse" from the album "Bermuda Drain"
Without a doubt the most spine-chilling moment on the cult noise artist's first foray into more "traditional" electronica.
14. Aicle - "Hirari" ("Nimbly") from the album "Ark"
When you're feeling down, bring back the sakura season at the flick of a switch with this insanely catchy, sugary pop-rock nugget.
15. Lynch - "Mirrors" from the single of the same name
An absolute piledriver of a song from the Nagoya rockers who justly secured a major label contract in 2010 after years in the underground.
16. Within Temptation - "A Demon's Fate" from the album "The Unforgiving"
The indescribably epic finale of the Dutch symphonic metallers' supernatural vengeance concept album, which came complete with its own comic book series.
17. Ólafur Arnalds - "Ágúst" from the album "Living Room Songs"
Written and recorded in just one day and streamed live from his living room, this elegiac chamber piece is a reminder of why the young Icelandic composer is held in such high esteem.
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