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The King’s Speech

To see The King’s Speech, is to watch the life of an historic figure, and loving family man, unfolded to reveal the unrefined, troubled reality, of a miserable childhood resulting in a permanent impairment.

Performances of rare beauty from Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter make this extraordinary film, about King George VI’s struggle with a crippling speech impediment, a complete pleasure to watch. 

There are contrasting portrayals of the royal family that are not at any time dull. From our lovable and courageous leading man, to his more flawed counterpart, brother Edward VII who infamously abdicated from the throne to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The romanced couple can be found elegantly sipping a G & T in the orangery  while a country in turmoil listens to their King face his ultimate fear of public speaking in his first war-time speech to the country on the wireless. 

This film isn’t to be mistaken for a royalist history lesson, as at the true heart of the moving period drama is the story of an unlikely friendship between the King and his quirky Aussie speech therapist.

An influential and unattainable individual is suffering his very human turmoil behind closed doors, away from that ghastly war outside. A personal journey separate to his public’s turbulent world. 

Nonetheless, a superb cast make this a delight, for the cinema or indeed a  Sunday afternoon. 

The Vaccines. Blah Blah Blah.

THE VACCINES - ‘POST BREAK UP SEX’

It looks like someone has tipped off The Vaccines about how much money there is to be made out of a song with the word ‘sex’ in the title. Maybe it was Kings of Leon. Repeat the word often enough in a catchy chorus and you might be hurtling towards the mainstream as fast as these indie Londoners, who quite frankly must have whip lash. 

If you listen to The Vaccines, consider stopping and get a Jamie Woon album instead.

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What I think of The Drums

This is a short review I wrote of The Drums' EP, sorry if you're offended by the controversy against the nme gods, but Surfer Blood are tonnes better.

The Drums - Summertime

The Drums haven’t made much attempt to avoid cliché with their debut EP Summertime which has been released this year on Island Records. They seem to have ticked all the  cool-crowd boxes for NME who have admitted their embarrassment for everyone else trying to make music in a world with the Drums in it. So added to the fact that the BBC have dropped their name into their not-so cutting edge musical menu, the Brooklyn quartet might be fighting over their street-cred as well as their Smiths T-shirts. 

They are however, undoubtedly catchy and its easy to be drawn in by the mix of stylish 80’s melody in ‘Best Friend’ and youthful summertime euphoria of ‘Lets Go Surfing’. Not many bands before have reflected their influences as much as general new-romantic obsession and The Cure infatuation shines through on the melodic ‘I Felt Stupid’. 

Their full self-titled album is due for release in early June, just in time for the festival season and trendy kids’ BBQs. 

Video for M.I.A’s ‘Born Free’ Banned From Youtube.

M.I.A’s single ‘Paper Planes’ reached such a high level of commercial success it may have earned itself the brand of mainstream, but people who have been with M.I.A since the days of her debut, Arular will know that this acclaimed and political artist couldn’t be cruising further away from the middle of the road. 

The recent single “Born Free” released on XL records, has made the news for its 9 minute long video companion, which shows a group of armed government thugs scouring a city and rounding up all the ginger-haired boys, who are taken to a dessert and brutally killed for sport. The director Romain Gavras who created the video for Justice’s ‘Stress’, appears to be using the mass murder of ginger haired people as a symbol for racial genocide and war crimes. 

A name which alludes to article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, suggests that the video has a deeply issue-based concept, making any claims of ‘gratuitousness’ seem sweeping and thoughtless. To draw a curtain across such crimes, puts them into the realm of the unspeakable, which is surely harmful and will become a breading ground for protest. 

The video could be a backlash against the success of recent war films which make no attempt to address the USA’s reasons for war, but to paint an emotional portrait of the American soldier and reinforce the view that the Iraqi and Afghan people are a threat, and identify them as  the ultimate enemy. 

So should the video have been banned from youtube? No. Age restriction, fair enough, I mean we do seem to be living in fear of an entire future generation of Venables and hoodys. If such a generation have indeed grown numb to scenes of violent warfare, then surely for that very reason the ban can be described as nothing else but online-censorship. 

The reasoning behind the ban is that youtube prohibit gratitous violence, but in my opinion, the only justification of banning a video which could have essentially been a documentary, is fear of the internet and its increasing power to round up troops of people towards a common purpose. 

Political activists now have more than a placard and a megaphone, the internet has given them the tools to publish controversial material with the world as their audience. Whether this is a step forward or back, is for you to decide. 

Darwin Deez

This is a short review I wrote of Darwin Deez's single - Constellations. 

Darwin Deez exudes a colourful and childlike cheerfulness with this effortlessly quirky indie corker. It makes joyful waves to the classic lullaby, twinkle twinkle little star, and the early stuff from fellow New Yorkers the Strokes’. 

The XX - XX

The XX are a young trio from south-west London who have blasted into the limelight over recent months. Their dark, minimal sound is made up by vocalist and guitarist, Romy Madley Croft, Jamie Smith insists that he prefers to play an electric drumkit, and bassist and vocalist Oliver Smith.  

While you sink into the album, and distract yourself by wondering which voice you are most amazed by, this band will catch you of guard, and gently creep under your skin until you won’t quite know what to do with yourself. 

After the intense track ‘Crystalised’ you might also wonder if the entire album was written in some sort of drowsy euphoria, or anesthetised state. 

The lyrics of ‘Basic Space’ will prove perplexing metaphors or progressions unnecessary, by just putting the most acute and passionate human emotion into simple and beautiful words, “I think I’m loosing where you end and I begin”, 

‘Heart Skipped a Beat’ is the closest thing to a commercial track after appearing on an advert for the messed-up-rich-kids American drama, 90210 but as most of the songs were written when singer, Romy was just 17, its edge and impressiveness remains firmly intact. 

Is this really a debut album? Are they really 20 years old? This record has left me asking questions, and after being skeptical of all the slick and stlyish marketing hype, it has left me taken aback. The rest of my life is making room for this album.