Grundy (my boyfriend) taken on my new Diana Mini.
Saturday 20 February 2010
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Industrial Introduction.
Throbbing Gristle (Clip from BBC documentary 'Synth Britannia')
Throbbing Gristle interviewed by BoingBoing Video.
Diana (Mini)
As I excitedly remind myself every morning Grundy and I are Malta bound late on Sunday. I couldn't be happier to get away from the drizzle and cold, five days in the Mediterranean is exactly what the doctor ordered, no, really he did but that's a long and boring story of visits to Bartlemas Surgery, blood tests and pain killers.
I have bought a new camera and I am looking forward to taking many-a-sun-drenched snap with it. It's a Diana Mini (made by The Lomographic Society.) I have it's older bigger brother already (Diana+) but due to it having to use medium format film (120) it proves tricky, unpredictable and expensive to use and process. The Diana Mini however takes standard 35mm film and thanks to a rectangular plastic insert can split each frame in half making a 36 exposure film capable of taking 72 images, bargain!
The Lomo' Society in-case you are unfamiliar have taken old cameras and have made replicas for a more contemporaneous audience. The Diana family is just one example of many reproductions and originally started off as a toy-camera given away at fair grounds or free with newspaper promotions in the 1950s/60s. As it was made very cheaply the camera suffers from light-leakage making the resulting images have a dream-like quality with dark edges and that has become a virtue and the image quality is now much sort-after. Although originally a "toy" it is a fully functioning camera but to use a Diana is to delve into a world of uncertainty; how you think an image will turn out and how it actually does are two different matters completely.
So, stay posted to this blog and my Flickr account to see the results when they are back from Snappy Snaps. The images below are of the camera and an example of a photograph taken on it (not by myself but from the Lomography website.)
I have bought a new camera and I am looking forward to taking many-a-sun-drenched snap with it. It's a Diana Mini (made by The Lomographic Society.) I have it's older bigger brother already (Diana+) but due to it having to use medium format film (120) it proves tricky, unpredictable and expensive to use and process. The Diana Mini however takes standard 35mm film and thanks to a rectangular plastic insert can split each frame in half making a 36 exposure film capable of taking 72 images, bargain!
The Lomo' Society in-case you are unfamiliar have taken old cameras and have made replicas for a more contemporaneous audience. The Diana family is just one example of many reproductions and originally started off as a toy-camera given away at fair grounds or free with newspaper promotions in the 1950s/60s. As it was made very cheaply the camera suffers from light-leakage making the resulting images have a dream-like quality with dark edges and that has become a virtue and the image quality is now much sort-after. Although originally a "toy" it is a fully functioning camera but to use a Diana is to delve into a world of uncertainty; how you think an image will turn out and how it actually does are two different matters completely.
So, stay posted to this blog and my Flickr account to see the results when they are back from Snappy Snaps. The images below are of the camera and an example of a photograph taken on it (not by myself but from the Lomography website.)
Friday 12 February 2010
Egoshooter.
As you may have guessed by now I feel a certain affinity for the Germans. Most of the films I own are from the said country and I am always searching for something new to watch to add to my ever growing collection. I purchased 'Egoshooter' from German Amazon about a month ago but we hadn't got around to watching it until last night.
Starring rising star Tom Schilling 'Egoshooter' is one of the more individual films I have seen in recent times. Taking into concern the contemporary upsurge in amateur video sites such as YouTube together with the social networking websites that have made everybody famous for 15 minutes the film splices together small, apparently amateurishly shot snippets of narrative to assess current social concerns.
Jakob is 19, living in Cologne and wasting his life; he documents every tedious aspect of that wasted life on video-camera. Everything: from not being able to sleep, riding a bike, begging, masturbating, eating breakfast, listening to music, together with his dysfunctional family and friends.
In a society that will watch Big Brother contestants sleeping on a live stream or readily view homemade videos of people doing almost anything at anytime, anywhere 'Egoshooter' is cleverly apt to our times and is of course on the surface a mediocre film of nothingness, but that's the point. We are all bored and as this very blog confirms we strive to document the tedious minutiae of life.
The film is alarmingly easy to watch yet at the same time a slightly uncomfortable experience, after all we are watching Jakob in the most intimate and emotionally private moments but the internet has made such occurrences normality. The film apes us all and is well worth watching if only to look into the mirror that is being held-up to society. This experimental blend of fragmentary documentation is refreshingly honest but you must surrender yourself as viewer to get the most out of it, if you come expecting a storyline, you are missing the point.
If you have a spare 79 minutes and an extra twenty quid burning a hole in your pocket why don't you try Egoshooter? Perfect viewing for late at night or early in the morning when suffering a hangover thus not really wanting to think.
Starring rising star Tom Schilling 'Egoshooter' is one of the more individual films I have seen in recent times. Taking into concern the contemporary upsurge in amateur video sites such as YouTube together with the social networking websites that have made everybody famous for 15 minutes the film splices together small, apparently amateurishly shot snippets of narrative to assess current social concerns.
Jakob is 19, living in Cologne and wasting his life; he documents every tedious aspect of that wasted life on video-camera. Everything: from not being able to sleep, riding a bike, begging, masturbating, eating breakfast, listening to music, together with his dysfunctional family and friends.
In a society that will watch Big Brother contestants sleeping on a live stream or readily view homemade videos of people doing almost anything at anytime, anywhere 'Egoshooter' is cleverly apt to our times and is of course on the surface a mediocre film of nothingness, but that's the point. We are all bored and as this very blog confirms we strive to document the tedious minutiae of life.
The film is alarmingly easy to watch yet at the same time a slightly uncomfortable experience, after all we are watching Jakob in the most intimate and emotionally private moments but the internet has made such occurrences normality. The film apes us all and is well worth watching if only to look into the mirror that is being held-up to society. This experimental blend of fragmentary documentation is refreshingly honest but you must surrender yourself as viewer to get the most out of it, if you come expecting a storyline, you are missing the point.
If you have a spare 79 minutes and an extra twenty quid burning a hole in your pocket why don't you try Egoshooter? Perfect viewing for late at night or early in the morning when suffering a hangover thus not really wanting to think.
Sunday 7 February 2010
No Age.
...ladies and gentlemen; a band I have seen live more times than I care to remember, all the way from L.A in the U.S of A, and I even have the t-shirt, please be standing for NO AGE:
Saturday 6 February 2010
Monday 1 February 2010
Attack Music.
It was 2005, I was young and naïve. In that summer I was attending sixth-form and I was about to embark on a work placement at Artrocker magazine then based in Highbury, London. I was passionate about two things, writing and music (although I must confess that I was reasonably new to the 'music scene' attending my first festival a year earlier.) After having a few articles published here and there the demo's and promo's came clattering through my letterbox regularly. On one such occasion came a CD mysteriously titled 'Zum Kult Film EP' alongside the band name scrawled in green marker pen. These New Puritans? Sounds intriguing. In my dank, perpetually cold Cornish bedroom I listened to the demo and what I heard was akin to the downtrodden austere isolation I felt I lived with; a bachelors degree and a portion of a masters later you realise you've probably never had it so good, student life is good for boosting the immune system if nothing else.
On a struggling laptop I used what little music knowledge I had and wrote a review, published in Artrocker, my first full page feature and apparently the bands also. I read that article back this morning and I cringed. I was young and clumsy with language but I 'spose there is no denying my enthusiasm. Zum Kult Film EP still remains one of my favourites and I have kept that demo to this day. The EP signals the start of something which has become one of my most admired and adored bands of all time; and although slightly embarrassed by the article of a few years ago I feel I should have another shot with the release of their second album 'Hidden' which was out in shops last week.
It is all so easy to lump These New Puritans with apparent influences, when listening to the new album you can hear strains of Neu! and Einstürzende Neubauten alongside The Blue Orchids or maybe even a gentle prod in the direction of Robert Wyatt but I feel listing similar bands somehow does an injustice to the bands uniqueness and musical intelligence. They are, I feel one of the most important bands of the last decade, never loosing integrity or selling-out to a nation of youngsters vegetating in-front of T4 (although I am sure there are worse crimes.)
From the very off-set 'Hidden' is absorbing with a strikingly melancholic introduction in brass, immersing whilst simultaneously putting you at a detached emotional distance before the aural puncture of 'We Want War' brings you right back and sitting to attention. This, also the first single of this release is one of the best 'songs' (for want of a better word) I have heard in recent times and certainly the best this year, although we are only in February it will prove formidable to surpass. Within seven minutes we are taken on an exploratory journey, well honed with every aspect of the intricate minutiae a multi faceted and breathtakingly intelligent progression and this goes for the duration of the album. Throughout, with careful listening we hear recordings of chains and knives interwoven with possible gravel and hammers hitting a variety of objects but then again I could be completely wrong. That's the thing, there is enough to keep you thinking and pondering almost indefinitely.
I don't wish to get too hung-up on analysing the album song-by-song and should this be the first time you've heard of the album (you must be living in a cave somewhere uncharted) I feel it'd be nice for you to discover the albums contents of your own although admittedly slightly guided volition. The comprising tracks although of individual merit are best listened to in the order of the album, tracks referring back to others and vice-versa, a concept-album maybe, more so than the first album 'Beat Pyramid' anyway. If you are These New Puritans savvy, Hidden will no doubt introduce you to a new phase of the bands sound demonstrating their ingenious versatility. Tracks such as 'Attack Music' and 'Hologram' are poles apart but sit discerningly in situe in the albums progression. 'Drum Courts - Where Corals Lie' shows a tender side with a culmination in brass reprise. Hidden is beautiful, and I had to think twice about using such a seemingly haphazard statement; I use the word only when I absolutely mean it and this album certainly deserves the rare accolade. Beauty is not easily achievable with instruments and machines and computers.
I can only now implore you to purchase the album and I am sure the decision to do so will be one of the better judgments you make this month. Please also have a look around the bands website, an example of aesthetic worthiness: http://www.thesenewpuritans.com/
If you are unfamiliar with the work of These New Puritans and wish to sample their previous output it may be worth trying to track down a copy of 'Navigate-Navigate' or the 'Now Pluvial EP' and of course 'Beat Pyramid'. The first two may prove tricky as they were limited vinyl releases but are more than worth the effort of searching.
(Image: CheekMagazine)
On a struggling laptop I used what little music knowledge I had and wrote a review, published in Artrocker, my first full page feature and apparently the bands also. I read that article back this morning and I cringed. I was young and clumsy with language but I 'spose there is no denying my enthusiasm. Zum Kult Film EP still remains one of my favourites and I have kept that demo to this day. The EP signals the start of something which has become one of my most admired and adored bands of all time; and although slightly embarrassed by the article of a few years ago I feel I should have another shot with the release of their second album 'Hidden' which was out in shops last week.
It is all so easy to lump These New Puritans with apparent influences, when listening to the new album you can hear strains of Neu! and Einstürzende Neubauten alongside The Blue Orchids or maybe even a gentle prod in the direction of Robert Wyatt but I feel listing similar bands somehow does an injustice to the bands uniqueness and musical intelligence. They are, I feel one of the most important bands of the last decade, never loosing integrity or selling-out to a nation of youngsters vegetating in-front of T4 (although I am sure there are worse crimes.)
From the very off-set 'Hidden' is absorbing with a strikingly melancholic introduction in brass, immersing whilst simultaneously putting you at a detached emotional distance before the aural puncture of 'We Want War' brings you right back and sitting to attention. This, also the first single of this release is one of the best 'songs' (for want of a better word) I have heard in recent times and certainly the best this year, although we are only in February it will prove formidable to surpass. Within seven minutes we are taken on an exploratory journey, well honed with every aspect of the intricate minutiae a multi faceted and breathtakingly intelligent progression and this goes for the duration of the album. Throughout, with careful listening we hear recordings of chains and knives interwoven with possible gravel and hammers hitting a variety of objects but then again I could be completely wrong. That's the thing, there is enough to keep you thinking and pondering almost indefinitely.
I don't wish to get too hung-up on analysing the album song-by-song and should this be the first time you've heard of the album (you must be living in a cave somewhere uncharted) I feel it'd be nice for you to discover the albums contents of your own although admittedly slightly guided volition. The comprising tracks although of individual merit are best listened to in the order of the album, tracks referring back to others and vice-versa, a concept-album maybe, more so than the first album 'Beat Pyramid' anyway. If you are These New Puritans savvy, Hidden will no doubt introduce you to a new phase of the bands sound demonstrating their ingenious versatility. Tracks such as 'Attack Music' and 'Hologram' are poles apart but sit discerningly in situe in the albums progression. 'Drum Courts - Where Corals Lie' shows a tender side with a culmination in brass reprise. Hidden is beautiful, and I had to think twice about using such a seemingly haphazard statement; I use the word only when I absolutely mean it and this album certainly deserves the rare accolade. Beauty is not easily achievable with instruments and machines and computers.
I can only now implore you to purchase the album and I am sure the decision to do so will be one of the better judgments you make this month. Please also have a look around the bands website, an example of aesthetic worthiness: http://www.thesenewpuritans.com/
If you are unfamiliar with the work of These New Puritans and wish to sample their previous output it may be worth trying to track down a copy of 'Navigate-Navigate' or the 'Now Pluvial EP' and of course 'Beat Pyramid'. The first two may prove tricky as they were limited vinyl releases but are more than worth the effort of searching.
(Image: CheekMagazine)
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