Sherlock vs Sherlock

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OK, let’s take a brief sidestep into the world of popular culture, something that doesn’t happen to often round here. ;-)

The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle seem to be very popular at the moment with 2 re-imaginings of the classic ‘Sherlock Holmes’ tales – the BBC TV series and the movie franchise.

The TV series is more faithful to the spirit of the novels despite being a 21st Century update, whilst the second film in the movie franchise ‘Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows’ retains the period setting but only  uses what it likes from the original books and dumps the rest.

Yet there are similarities between the two. Both feature Irene Adler (who apparently snuffs it early on in both the TV show and the movie), both feature a Sherlock who can more than look after himself in a scrap and both have slightly preposterous endings. Are they really that different?

TV first – the first episode of the second series of ‘Sherlock’ aired on Sunday to almost universal acclaim. Given that it’s written by Steven Moffat, it’s as fast paced and witty as you would expect, and Sunday’s story was a hugely enjoyable 90 minutes.

Trouble is, if you stop to think about the plotting, it really doesn’t make much sense at all. Holmes, who can identify all sorts of things from casual glances, fails to identify the corpse of someone he’s had a more than good look at, which seems so out of character it can only be a plot device. Which is borne out by the fact that the action throughout seems designed to move the story from one beat to the next, whether action or emotional, regardless of the logic of the actions from the characters’ perspectives.

Don’t get me wrong, I did really enjoy it and will watch the rest of the series but sadly it seems typical of the flimsy plotting employed by both Moffat and Russell T Davies in Doctor Who.

The movie probably doesn’t get such a good crit. But whereas the first one was a bit of a mess, ‘A Game of Shadows’ pretty much makes sense, which is not bad going for a Hollywood blockbuster.

 It IS as formulaic in structure as any blockbuster these days but its reliance on the old ‘bad person wants to make money by inciting then supplying a war’ formula lends it a coherence that many of its contemporaries lack.

The dialogue’s certainly not on a par with the TV ‘Sherlock’ but it’s more than serviceable and the leads, Downey Jr and Law, are certainly as good as Cumberbatch and Freeman.

The movie’s not going to win an Oscar or be anything like the best film of the year, but you could see many worse blockbusters over the course of the next 12 months.

Music again next!

Forthcoming in 2012?

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Field Music – definite release date

Thought it might be worth turning my attention forwards to 2012 having spent much of the last month or so looking back.

Let’s start with records I know that are definitely coming out this year.

Chemikal Underground will be releasing the next LP from Malcolm Middleton – the self titled Human Don’t Be Angry LP. (‘Midnight Noodles’ is apparently being reserved for an EP title now). At the moment there’s only an ‘early 2012′ from Malcolm himself but Chemikal are saying April – for now.

Field Music release their new LP ‘Plumb’ on 13th February. To promote the record they have 2 shows in Scotland, at the Picture House on February 6th and at Stereo in Glasgow on 18th. For a band that played Sneaky Pete’s the last time they were in Auld Reekie, the Picture House seems a major step up.

Meursault‘s eagerly anticipated third LP will be released on Song By Toad in June. Given the standard of songs they’ve been playing live in the last 12 months, this seems a ridiculously long time to have to wait!

The Twilight Sad release their third full length ‘No One Can Ever Know’ on 6th February. I have to admit that my expectations are far lower for the third after the second, but maybe it will turn out ok.

Surely 2012 will usher the debut LP from Cancel The Astronauts into the world? Late spring/early summer seems to be the likeliest date although the album should be preceded by a single, perhaps in March.

Birdhead should also be ready to unleash their debut LP at some point in the coming months as they’ve been recording songs over the festive period.

Expect also to see R.E.M.‘s final IRS release ‘Document’ get the deluxe treatment before the summer is out.

Not sure if they’ll get an album out but Vladimir are working towards the release of a second EP, probably on 10″, by the Spring.

From the definites let’s move onto the probables.

The record I’m most looking forward to at the moment is the next Throwing Muses LP. With a format busting 38 tracks, the record is being mixed at the moment so I’m guessing that an early summer release is possible but that an autumn schedule far more likely. Another tour to support it? Let’s hope so.

Not far behind that in anticipation would be the debut LP from Eagleowl. No formal recordings appeared in 2011, so hopefully these are being saved up for a long player some time in the not too distant future.

With a new EP released early in the New Year on Fence, 2012 should also see the release of the second Withered Hand LP – and not before time!

I believe that, after the digital single ‘I Am God’ release last year, Spare Snare are working on the follow-up to ‘Victor’ for release at some point this year. On a related note, Man Without Machines, the side project of Alan from the band, should also release their debut LP in the next 12 months.

It doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to imagine that the Phantom Band‘s third will appear by the end of the year since by the time the autumn comes round it will be 2 years since the release of ‘The Wants’.

Kid Canaveral also appear to be cracking on with LP number two as well so I’d be optimistic that that will see the light of day some time during the coming year.

It never pays to get too optimistic about when Grant Hart will release an LP but the existence of the ‘So Far From Heaven’ single gives some grounds for hoping that his ‘Paradise Lost’ influenced LP ‘The Argument’ will be with us before the year is out.

More speculatively the New Year may bring us a new record from Edinburgh School for the Deaf. Certainly they appear to have plenty of songs, given the demos that have appeared on Soundcloud recently, but would 2012 be too soon after ‘New Youth Bible’?

On my wish list for the coming 12 months would also be records from Lucas Renney, Sonic Youth, Bob Mould and Sophia although I’ve seen nothing to suggest that any of these are imminent.

How many of these records will show up in next year’s MPT Favourite records list?

2011 Books

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A final look back on 2011 and some books published last year. It was ayear in which it seemed to take me forever to finish certain books, no matter how much I was enjoying them. In large part that was undoubtedly a time thing.

I don’t seem to have read that many books published in 2011 either but theres no question what my favourite book of the year was. ‘Reamde’ by Neal Stephenson may have been a thriller at its core but it was over 1,000 pages long and when you’re talking about Stephenson there’s a bit more going on than JUST a thriller.

In the case of ‘Reamde’ there’s plenty of commentary on today’s world as well as a little speculation about how a MMPO game might create wealth in the real world. Great character development too.

As with the case with musicians and their music, there are certain authors whose writing I just adore and Stephenson is one of these. Additionally ‘Reamde’ is  a novel that is never predictable as to its ultimate destination. [Buy it]

Scottish novels worthy of note include ‘Pack Men’ by Alan Bissett an examination of the male participants in one side of the sectarian divide. As ever with Bissett’s writing, his characters are superbly drawn and believable people you can emphasise with, even if you don’t necessarily share their point of view. [Buy it]

There were also a couple of cracking Scottish thrillers, Chris Brookmyre dropped a fair bit of the satire and produced the more serious than normal ‘Where The Bodies Are Buried’ [Buy it] whilst Doug Johnstone’s ‘Smokeheads’ is a thriller which has the rare attribute of keeping you in the dark as to who is going to survive to the book’s end. [Buy it]

The Scottish based Charles Stross is another writer whose books I can count on to enjoy – regardless of the type of book he’s writing. 2011’s ‘ near future SF ‘Rule 34’ continued his Edinburgh police procedurals a decade or so hence and offered a cracking story allied to the usual insights on our current (and future) society. [Buy it]

I also enjoyed Sam Leith’s ‘The Coincidence Engine’ which was based on a bizarre change of events generated, as the title suggests, by coincidence. Entertaining though the book undoubtedly is since the rationale justifies absolutely anything, there’s a danger that it becomes nothing more than a series of random events. Leith though manages to make it work. [Buy it]

On the non-fiction front, two big musical heroes released autobiographies this year.

Kristin Hersh’s ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ was published at the start of the year in the UK and is the non-fiction equivalent of ‘Reamde’ – such a powerful and well written book that you don’t have to be a Throwing Muses fan to appreciate the story of 1 year in the life of the teenage Kristin. [Buy it]

Bob Mould’s ‘See A Little Light’ by comparison was a more straightforward autobiography but undoubtedly with a real arc of character development from angry punk rocker to far more settled and comfortable in his own skin gay musician. [Buy it]

Happy New Year! Some live videos …

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Happy New Year to everyone out there.

As a wee follow-up to yesterday’s post about my live experiences in 2011 here are some songs from some of the gigs featured in the list (and one that didn’t quite make it):

Throwing Muses  – Oran Mor, Glasgow – 7th November

Wire – Liquid Room, Edinburgh – 17th November

Grant Hart  – Mono, Glasgow – 30th November

Edinburgh School for the Deaf – Grassmarket Festival, Edinburgh – Sunday 1st May

The Wedding Present – Greenside, Leslie – 28th December

2011 Live

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I kind of figured I’d gone to more live shows this year than last but am surprised to find that I’ve been to 41 (yes, FORTY ONE) gigs in 2011. In the course of that I’ve seen 105 performances to some extent and that doesn’t include the 9 acts I saw perform at Dylan Uncovered.

For all that I saw dozens of great performances, one stands out in particular – Live Band of the Year has to be Throwing Muses at the Oran Mor in November.

The best show is harder to pick but I’m going to stick my neck on the line by saying it was our own show at Dexter’s in September, featuring FOUND, Man Without Machines, Martin John Henry and Strangers Almanac.

As for the rest here’s a list of 12 based on the shows as a whole rather than individual performances (in reverse date order):

Grant Hart / Unknown – Mono, Glasgow – 30th November (review)

Wire / Talk Normal – Liquid Room, Edinburgh – 17th November (review)

Throwing Muses / Teitur – Oran Mor, Glasgow – 7th November (review)

Zoey van Goey / Kid Canaveral – Stereo, Glasgow – 1st October (review)

FOUND / Man Without Machines / Martin John Henry / The Strangers Almanac – Dexter’s, Dundee – 22nd September (review)

Cancel The Astronauts / My Tiny Robots / The Bad Books – Electric Circus, Edinburgh – Sunday 11th September (review)

Kid Canaveral – Avalanche Records, Edinburgh – 23rd July (review)

Meursault / Inspector Tapehead / Beerjacket – The Caves, Edinburgh and Edinburgh School for the Deaf / Young Spooks – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh – Friday 17th June (actually this was 2 different shows but on the same night!) (review)

TV21 / Second Hand Marching Band / Edinburgh School for the Deaf – Grassmarket Festival, Edinburgh – Sunday 1st May (review)

Vic Godard and Subway Sect / Spectorbullets / Edinburgh School for the Deaf – Dexter’s, Dundee – 13th March (review)

Let’s Get Lyrical – A Lyrical Deathmatch – Cargo vs Chemikal Underground with Emma Pollock, Alan Bissett, Lord Cutglass, Doug Johnstone, Ryan van Winkle, Rodge Glass, Kirsten Innes and A.L. Kennedy – The Caves, Edinburgh – 27th February  (review)

Come On Gang! / Over The Wall / Cancel The Astronauts / Kid Canaveral / Hailey Beavis – Pilmuir St John’s Church, Leith – 12th February (review)

Concetrating on shows rather than performances  means that some bands who were brilliant are omitted from the list. Step forward – Vladimir, Birdhead, The Wedding Present, Malcolm Middleton, King Creosote, Ash, WWPJ and The Burns Unit.

Gig trivia

In 2011 I saw 13 acts perform more than once – in 2010 that number was 9.

The 13 acts were Kid Canaveral (6), Cancel The Astronauts (5), Edinburgh School for the Deaf (5), Martin John Henry (3), Zoey van Goey (3), Kristin Hersh (2 + Throwing Muses show), The Burns Unit (2), FOUND (2), Man Without Machines (2), We Were Promised Jetpacks / 7 Blind Wolves (2), Hookers for Jesus (2), King Creosote (2).

Most attended venue was Dexter’s in Dundee on 5 occasions whilst I went to 14 venues for the first time in 2011.

Geographically I went to shows in Edinburgh (18), Dundee (9), Glasgow (8), Glenrothes (2), Kirriemuir (1), Cupar (1), St Andrews (1), Leslie (1).

The biggest gap between shows was 24 days, ironically between gigs 1 (The Burns Unit at the Old Fruitmarket) and 2 (Dylan Uncovered at the Voodoo Rooms). But I went to shows on consecutive nights no fewer than 3 times.

For the first time I went to 2 different shows on the same night (at the same time!). I also saw gigs in an art gallery, a bakery, a record shop and a castle.

At Long Last – Vladimir live

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Vladimir / Cha Cha Heels / King Louie / Blindfolds / Whigs and Rakes – Doghouse, Dundee – 29th December 2011

So last night, finally, I got to see Vladimir play live. After their excellent debut EP earlier in the year, I’ve passed on several chances to see them for different reasons. But that was put to rights last night as they played at the top of a five band bill at the Doghouse.

Let’s do the bill first. Opening the show were Perth 3 piece Whigs and Rakes who certainly made more of a racket than their fresh faced appearances might have suggested. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are perhaps a reasonable comparison but over their half a dozen songs W&R showed up well. So well in fact that the LP was swiftly purchased.

Next up were Blindfolds, an intense four piece rock band with attitude to spare not least a leather jacketed singer malevolently pacing the stage and a guitarist making all the right rock moves. The first half of the set was essentially evil glam with the rhythm section and guitar often pounding away in unison whilst the second half was a heavier, evil blues. Intense.

Although they also claimed at one point to be evil and also owed a lot to the blues, King Louie were much more like fun by comparison particularly with a quirky final number. Mainly guitar, bass and drums (although the bassist only joined the other two after the first song), they were very much in a White Stripes vein.

Having been preceded by three rock bands (with a fourth to follow them) I wasn’t at all prepared for Cha Cha Heels to be an out and out pop band opening and closing with covers (‘Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ and the B-52s ‘Love Shack’ respectively).

They certainly put on a show (see pic) and had one audience member in particular bopping around before prostrating himself at the front of the stage – shirtless. A highly enjoyable set which, by being something completely different, probably heightened the impact of the headliners.

If Blindfolds were intense then Vladimir were REALLY Fucking Intense. The nearest comparison I can think of is early Twilight Sad but how these four guys produce such an all encompassing noise is bewildering. In fact you’re almost tempted to think there’s 2 additional guitarists still playing in the dressing-room.

At the centre of it all singer Ross looks entirely relaxed at the centre of an extraordinary maelstrom, pacing the stage slowly but taking everything in around him. Drummer Sam is the only other member to be lit on stage as he batters away on his kit but a lot of the credit for the wall of noise has to go to largely unseen wingmen Peter and Joshua on guitar and bass respectively.

If the main part of the set was intense then the closing ‘Mellow’ took things to a new level of brutality amidst a flurry of strobe lights. As far as I could make out all members of Blindfolds and a couple of audience members ended up on stage whilst Ross took to the crowd, followed before the end of the song by the two drummers.

Last night demonstrated that the best way to experience Vladimir’s punishing noise attack is undoubtedly at a live show and it was great to finally find that out in person.

Headlining the Doghouse also seemed a decent way to cap a year that has seen them  come from nowhere to being a band that’s creating quite a stir. 2012, it seems, is set up perfectly for them.

Photos here.