- Intellect

06
BOOKS MUSIC FILMS...
decode magazine 21 / 2005
DECODE
RECOMMENDS
Above
Super Furry Animals
Right
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
DRAMA CITY
GEORGE PELECANOS
'Lorenzo Brown opens his
eyes'. So George Pelecanos
introduces us to his new
central character in the
opening line of his 13th
novel,'Drama City'
(www.orionbooks.co.uk).
Like his other books it's
set in Pelecanos' native
Washington DC. But this
is not the Washington of
policy wonks and the West
Wing; this is largely working
class Washington with its
poverty,racial conflict,guns
and drugs. It's a territory
the author can convincingly
transfer to the page given
his own upbringing,and an
earlier career that saw him
employed as a bartender,line
cook,dishwasher,shoe
salesman (''Hey,I can still size
a woman's feet with just a
glance''), builder and shop
manager. All this before
working with the Coen
Brothers on their first three
films; writing scripts for TV,
and working as a popular
culture essayist. Indeed,
Pelecanos' crime novels
pages 6-9.indd 1
pulsate to the soundtrack
of urban America,the music
seemingly deployed as a sort
of cultural signifier for the
times and storylines. Check
out the writer's own website
(www.GeorgePelecanos.com)
for his knowledge of, and
passion for, the music that
informs and runs through
his work.
Pelecanos' central characters
- the hard drinking, weed
smoking Greek/American
PI Nick Stefanos ('A Firing
Offense' onwards), upright
black former cop Derek
Strange and his uptight
white partner, Terry Quinn
('Right as Rain'etc), for
all their human flaws and
frailties are just trying to
do the right thing in a
society gone wrong. And,
George Pelecanos, via the
terse,seering, naturalistic
lines delivered by Stefanos,
Strange, Quinn (and now
Lorenzo Brown) can burn
with his contempt for the
inactions of the American
political class in that other
DC. Hard boiled, Right On
and Highly Recommended. ●
‘PELECANOS’
CRIME
NOVELS
PULSATE
TOTHE
SOUNDTRACK
OF URBAN
AMERICA’
Summer’s here and the time
is right… for making lists! Our
find of the year are Lucky
Luke, and their ‘Fear Eats
The Soul’ is our so-far single
of the year, a blissful and
breathless folk whirl, flutes and
strings unravelling like ribbons
round a maypole. More of
our 2005 first-half favourites
seem to share this refusal to
wear skinny ties. Sons and
Daughters raid a whole library
of old music- Celtic folk,
country, rockabilly, blues- and
put them through a filthy punk
filter. ‘The Repulsion Box’
serves up a whole hoedown
of these gleeful, blackhearted
hollerings. The Duke Spirit’s
whiff of pagan is explicit but
tangible nonetheless, with their
wood-carving record sleeves
and air of sexual decadence.
They add dashes of 1890’s
Victoriana and 1980’s indie
scuzz and their first record
‘Cuts Across the Land’ is
dark fun indeed.
We and everyone else have
already sung hosannah for
The Arcade Fire: they have
a sort of spinoff record, Final
Fantasy, or one Owen Pallett,
who worked on ‘Funeral’ and
supported them during their
spring tour. His record ‘Has A
Good Home’ is spellbinding:
a long, eccentric diary made
mostly with violin and voice.
On a lighter note, we
liked Annie’s wintry disco
‘Heartbeat’, and The Fog
Band finally got round to
putting out a single: ‘The Law
of the Sea’ is live and loud
on the Purr label. There were
fine jobs from vintage acts:
Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Manmade’
is reliably tasty, Bonnie ‘Prince’
2005
MUSIC
SO FAR
BY JAKE WEBB
Billy’s ‘Superwolf’ reliably
dry and doomed, and
there was a nice little curio
from Gruff Rhys (‘Yr Atal
Genhedlaeth’), singer with
friendly pop dudes Super
Furry Animals- their seventh
lp is out later in the summer
and will no doubt be top.
Still mining for gold, we love
Cajun Hart’s melancholy
soul stomper ‘Got To Find
A Way’ from the peerless
‘After Hours’ series, and
Dottie & Millie’s ska-flecked
‘Talkin’ About My Baby’
from Andy Smith’s ‘Northern
Soul’ compilation. Also on
the classics bent, wait for the
sun to get to work on our
pasty British asses and dig out
13th Floor Elevators’ second
‘Easter Everywhere’: these
Texan psychos’ sun-and-drugs
fried psychedelia will really
bake your goose.
Finally, a heads-up. Out in the
US last year, Espers’ self titled
debut is getting a UK release
in August. Their bewitched
and barmy acid-folk is beautiful
stuff, played on a dozen
exotically named instruments,
whose cumulative effect is
overwhelming. Now we have
run out of room, and still more
music to listen to: all you need
is music, sweet music! ●
- MIKE HODGES
Clockwise from above Owen Pallette /Espers / The Duke Spirit
9/7/05 3:55:29 pm
07
EVENTS EXHIBITIONS...
‘MAKE YOUR OWN 15 SECOND FILMIC MASTERPIECE: NOKIA SHORTS 2005 (BELOW)
‘SOME
ARTISTS
MAKE
WORKING
CAMERAS
OUT OF
BISCUIT
TINS,
CANVAS OR
EVEN THEIR
OWN
MOUTHS’
HERE THERE BUT
SOMEWHERE
20JUNE TO 31 OCTOBER
THE EXPLORER’S CAFÉ BAR,
CHEDDAR CAVES & GORGE
Jeremy Creighton Herbert is a
creative director & composer.
‘Here There but Somewhere’,
already his second solo
exhibition this year, covers the
period between summer 2002
to the present and records
time spent in California,
Gibraltar, The Faroe Islands,
Devon, Herefordshire & New
York City, where he was
either researching new artistic
projects or directing, as was
the case with the Faroe Islands
where he had taken musicians
& dancers to perform and lead
educational workshops. A CD
‘here there but somewhere’
accompanies the show and is
due for commercial release
in mid August. The framed
photographs are on sale at the
Explorer’s Café-Bar Cheddar
until October 31st.
Open each day from 10- 5.
Admission is free.
Times: 10am-5pm
Admission fee is Free
FFI: 01934 742343
[email protected]
pages 6-9.indd 2
Above
Empire at night
Below
Port of San
Francisco
TIME OF LIGHT:
AN EXHIBITION OF
CONTEMPORARY PINHOLE
PHOTOGRAPHY
ALE AND PORTER ARTS,
BRADFORD ON AVON
JULY 16 TO AUGUST 20
Pinhole photography may
not be the most glamourous
or widely talked about
form of picture-making but
it draws a vast amount of
interest from artists and
photographers alike, inspired
by the often unusual and
unexpected results that can
occur from the process.
Time of Light, funded by Arts
Council England, features
the work of 15 artists using
pinhole photography as their
medium. No manipulations
of a glass lens can achieve
the same effect as a pinhole
camera, where extreme
depth of focus combined
with a haunting unsharpness
of a special kind, are the
desired outcomes. Pinhole
photography enables a range
of expression and emotional
subjectivity which more
sophisticated cameras—with
their emphasis on specific
kinds of measurable
sharpness, colour accuracy
and information content—
sometimes cannot convey.
Some of the artists taking
part in the exhibition make
functional cameras out of
biscuit tins, canvas or even
their own mouths. Others
experimentally subvert
the latest technology by
removing expensive lenses
from digital cameras and
piercing simple pinholes
in the cameras’ body caps
instead. Various pinhole
cameras used by a broad
range of artists including
famed ‘time-splice’ creator
Tim Macmillan, event
organiser Fiona Haser and
creative workhorse Justin
Quinnell. ●
For more information and to
find out more about Pinhole
Photography contact Fiona
Haser: Tel: 01225 868919 /
Email: [email protected]
PHOTO CREDIT: BREAKER
BY GINA GLOVER
NOKIA SHORTS 2005
15 seconds. Long enough to
roll up your sleeves or put your
shoes on but surely not long
enough to make a film? Well,
Nokia seem to think so. Now
in its third year, Nokia Shorts,
is a unique competition which
encourages the development
of short films designed
specifically to be played on
mobile devices. This year's
scheme is being championed
by director Shane Meadows
(Dead Man's Shoes) who will
be inspiring potential entrants
with his own 15 second film
made using the Nokia N90
(plug, plug). To find out how
to submit your 15 second film
visit the Nokia Shorts website.
Deadline for entries is Monday
15th August. ●
www.nokiashorts.co.uk
9/7/05 3:56:34 pm
08
GIGS ART CAMPAIGN
decode magazine 21 / 2005
DECODE
RECOMMENDS
Above
Jonathan S. Foer
Below
Curb Your Enthusiasm
‘WATCHING
BEN STILLER
AND LARRY
DAVID
ARGUE IS SO
FUNNY THIS
VIEWER
ALMOST
WEED HIS
PANTS’
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
BOOK
EXTREMELY LOUD &
INCREDIBLY CLOSE
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
Extremely Loud and
Incredibly Close: A Novel, by
Jonathan Safran Foer
Reviews have been mixed
for Foer’s second novel, the
story of a precocious nine
year olds journey through the
five boroughs of a post 9/11
New York to discover the
secret of a key bequeathed
to him by his father. It may
not better Everything Is
Illuminated, but then, what
on earth could?
DVD
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
SERIES 4 DVD, RELEASED
26 SEPTEMBER 2005
If you haven’t yet tuned
in to see Larry David get
himself into all sorts of
awkward situations for our
amusement then this would
be a great place to start. It’s
like One Foot In The Grave
meets Seinfeld and is quite
simply the greatest American
comedy series ever made.
Guest stars in series 4 include
Ben Stiller and Mel Brooks.
Watching Stiller and David
argue is so funny this viewer
almost weed his pants.
MUSIC
NIZLOPI JCB SONG
This two piece band from
the Midlands have hit
the mother-load with this
sweet ditty about a five
year old hitching a ride
on his Dad’s JCB. On it’s
own its magnificent, it’s the
honesty of the Streets to
a folk melody and works
extraordinarily well. But, put
it together with cutest and
coolest video in the world,
and you have something
truly special. See it at www.
jcbsong.co.uk/jcbvideo
GIG
TOM BAXTER
THE FLEECE, BRISTOL
10 OCTOBER 2005
Book early for one of the UK’s
finest singer-songwriters in
concert in October. Baxter is
bound to hit the big-time and
he’s renowned for putting
everything – and we mean
everything – into his gigs. ●
EXHIBITION
BRUCE BERNARD: ARTISTS
AND THEIR STUDIOS
ROOK LANE CHAPEL, FROME
17 SEPT. – 16 OCTOBER
Bruce Bernard (1928-2000)
is probably best known as
a Picture Editor and curator
of photography. A voracious
socialite, he frequented the
pubs and clubs of bohemian
Soho, where he met many
of the artists who were to
become his lifelong friends,
and subsequent subjects
for his portraiture work. His
acutely critical but sensitive
eye was legendary and
his massive anthology of
photographs recording the
twentieth century, Century,
(published 1999) has been
a runaway best-seller .This
show, which comes to Rook
Lane Chapel in Frome as
part of a Hayward Gallery
touring exhibition, features
24 photographs that include
six unforgettable studies of
Francis Bacon in 1984 (one
of which appears above), and
an equally powerful series of
portraits of Lucian Freud from
the 1990s. ●
Telephone: 01373 468030
Hayward Gallery online: www.
hayward.org.uk
CAMPAIGN
FRANK WATER
ETHICAL BOTTLED WATER
Run by a small group of
volunteers who rely solely on
public support, FRANK is a
non-profit company, selling
quality Devonshire spring
water in Bristol and the South
West, donating all the net
profits to support clean water
projects in India and Africa.
By attending numerous
events in the Bristol area to
find support and interest,
the company has been
given permission to supply
the Ashton Court Festival,
Bristol Harbour Festival,
the Balloon Fiesta, the Big
Green Gathering and be the
main water provider at the
Greenbelt Festival.
With no marketing or PR
budget, FRANK are always
on the lookout for people or
organisations that can help
get the word out (hence you
reading this piece!). if you like
their story, and are interested
in helping them to help
developing countries have
access to clean water, then
contact Katie Harrison, the
project director:
[email protected]
www.frankwater.com ●
‘HIS ACUTELY
CRITICAL BUT
SENSITIVE
EYE WAS
LEGENDARY’
FILM EVENT
SUPER8STATION 2
PHOENIX WHARF, BRISTOL
24, 25, 30, 31 JULY
Fed up of your local multiplex
showing the same old dross?
An endless array of shootem-up, blow-em-up, no-brain,
plot contrived drivel slowly
sapping your faith in the
medium? Well, have no fear,
The Super 8 Film Festival is
back for a second year with a
stellar programme that you,
yes you, can have an input on.
Audiences can choose over
200 submitted works from a
catalogue that include art,
travel, documentary, family,
holiday, found, commercial,
animated or conceptual films.
Entry is free and refreshments
are on hand so what are you
waiting for? ●
BRUCE BERNARD
Tom Baxter
pages 6-9.indd 3
9/7/05 3:57:47 pm
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9/7/05 3:58:44 pm