About Miss Julie at the King's Head.

Miss Julie is an 1888 play by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It is regarded as a masterpiece, and regularly revived. For this run at the Kings Head in Islington, it has been adapted and renamed About Miss Julie – shifted to England between the wars with an upstairs downstairs set up in what is surely an eye on the Downtown Abbey audience. Hear the full review on East London Radio.

The Excellent 'Mr Burns' at the Almeida - Radio Review

What is our culture of binge-watching heading towards? Gluttonous hours on Netflix, DVD boxsets and torrents. Might it be towards a world where the lights have gone out permanently and all that’s left of an age when we probably have more entertainment available than at any other time in history is an oral tradition of people trying to remember the plotlines of TV series?

That’s the premise of Anne Washburn’s 2012 play Mr Burns. Hear the full review on East London Radio.

Let The Right One In radio review

Review of National Theatre Scotland's 'Let the Right One In' now available on East London Radio.

Boxed In - No Joke

'No Joke' from Boxed In - AKA London-based Oli Bayston - builds on the house keys and live drums template of last year's 'All Your Love Is Gone' by lifting the vocals higher in the mix and moving away from washes of noise to pure groove. This creates something closer to Bayston's work with 2 Bears, whilst retaining the downtempo shuffle he had with previous band Keith. 

The real attraction here, though, is the bass: more complex than the usual four to the floor summer track, it adds a layer of interest that drives this tune into your consciousness, allowing it to stage a full on assault on your feet. As if that's not enough, the addition to the video of the Kolkata Laughing Club is worth your time alone.

Todd Terje - It's Album Time

Norwegian producer Todd Terje has always had a taste for novelty: 2012's mockumentary Whateverest follows an obsessed fan for 15 surreal minutes, he has remixed Roxy Music, and features Bryan Ferry on a cover of Robert Palmer's 'Johnny and Mary.' Detractors are quick to suggest that this renders his music trivial, but the status of 'Inspector Norse' and 'Strandbar' as Summer anthems for 2012 and 2013 suggests that when the sun comes out, this kind of silliness is exactly what people want.

Terje exploits this to the full on his first LP - finally complete following a decade of singles and EPs - by wedding the inherent novelty of cheesy synth loops with artful builds and full on ecstatic disco house moments. From the outset, however, it's clear that It's Album Time will not be making any concessions to his critics. The opener consists of the album title chanted over arpeggiated bleeps, and is followed by 'Leisure Suit Preben' and 'Preben Goes to Acapulco' (recently released either side of a 7"), which sound like a 70s sci-fi TV series set in a future Miami. Next is 'Svensk Sas', which can most accurately be described as polka with added scat singing. Like Metronomy without the arch humour, or Air without the Gallic cool, this does begin to get a little tiresome.

Fortunately, the middle section, announced by 'Strandbar', shows a (slightly) more serious side. Future smash 'Delorean Dynamite' features a grimy bassline that disappears into washes of synth before emerging even harder than before. This is followed by 'Johnny and Mary' which, despite dispensing with the drive and much of the melancholy charm of the original, is a great display of Terje's talent for building a tune that doesn't need to go anywhere to satisfy.

The final third is a gradual build through more nu-disco and 90s computer game themes towards 'Inspector Norse', Terje's calling card Summer jam that closes with a festival crowd chanting its riff. These final sounds show the true intentions of an album cloaked in irony and knowing references. "Yes," say the gradually fading crowd, "there may be silliness and whimsy, but listen to how much fun we're having!" Maybe, like a sullen teenager at the edges of a wedding, it might just be time for us to stop shaking our heads and head for the dance floor.

Elbow Sound Better in The North

Elbow make music for mornings. 'One Day Like This' begins with Guy drinking in the morning sun, 'New York Morning' - lead single from new album The Takeoff and Landing of Everything - is, well, about the morning, and even the track that follows it, 'Real Life (Angel)', has a "hallelujah morning". Listing to the album whilst searching through the sun-drenched city for breakfast, then walking to the station full of toast and eggs, it was clear that - even more than mornings - Elbow make music for Manchester.

The band's mournful but optimistic tone mirrors this city: much to be proud of, yet often displaying a preference for self-deprecating humour and quiet ambition over shout-it-from-the-rooftops boastfulness (with the obvious exceptions of Oasis and Manchester City FC - linked by both support and arrogance). Elbow are a much better fit for Manchester's psyche - not that they don't like to shout things from the rooftops, it's just that when they do they shout things like 'one day like this a year will see me right', which seems really to suggest that every other day is likely to be rubbish.

The new album does have rooftop moments, particularly 'New York Morning', 'Charge' and the brilliant instrumental part in the middle of 'Fly Boy Blue / Lunette', but mostly retains the intimacy that has always been a hallmark of the band's output. Given the bombast of their Olympics-closing performance, it wouldn't be surprising if they started producing music that only really worked in mega-stadiums, a well-trodden path most recently swaggered down by Coldplay. Instead, they have kept the voice of the old drunk in the corner of a Northern Quarter bar.

This voice pipes up after 'New York Morning' - around the halfway point - as if they had to get the epic stuff out of the way. The tracks that follow, 'Real Life (Angel)' and 'Honey Sun', share a Postal Service-like insistency, with the latter leaping into a playful chorus like someone bursting into laughter in the middle of telling a story. The highlight, though, is 'My Sad Captains', a pean to the moments in the small hours when a night is coming to a close. The part sad, part contented, and all nostalgic feel of this song came as the train back to London made the red brick and concrete South Manchester suburbs roll into the Pennines. Elbow might name songs after American cities and make music to close international sporting events, but, for me, their sunrises will always throw light on to Piccadilly Gardens.

Visitors

Unexpectedly recognising something is a powerful experience – spotting someone in the street that looks like a friend or accidentally catching your own reflection can be deeply affecting, and this seems to be magnified triggered by a work of art. In the exceptionally well-observed Visitors these moments are frequent but subtle enough not to be overly sentimental, making for an incredibly moving piece of theatre.

Read the review here: http://www.justaplatform.com/london-theatre-reviews-visitors-arcola/

The Golden Dragon

What is happening behind the windows that we walk past every day? What is hidden behind the blank faces of the people we walk by? Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Golden Dragon challenges us with some uncomfortable answers to these questions – and there is no better setting for a new production than self-satisfied South Kensington.

Read the review here: http://www.justaplatform.com/london-theatre-review-roland-schimmelpfennigs-the-golden-dragon/

Hype Machine Soulmates: HEARTS - Wings (Shlohmo Remix)

Beginning with a glow of synth, as if you've stepped into an electro cathedral, Shlomo's remix of this Summer staple never lets up on the washed out vibes. The LA producer has cut out all of the bounce from the original and slowed the vocal, leaving a vague sense of menace, like a summertime party gone on that little bit too long.

Sunstroke

Sunstroke, an original project developed by Belka Productions, has the dual aims presenting Russian texts to English audiences (the overarching aim of the company) and a new goal of using more physical elements and inventive staging than in previous productions. The latter is achieved brilliantly, with projections facing one another across a sand-covered stage. Sadly, the presentation of the Russian texts, short stories by Chechov and Bunin, misses out on some potential impact in a slow first half, although much is regained in a clever and well-paced denouement.

Read the review here: http://www.justaplatform.com/theatre-review-london/

A Doll's House

Carrie Cracknell’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s1879 classic play, A Doll’s House, transfers to the West End after a critically acclaimed run at the Young Vic, and loses none of its ability to captivate, shock, and provoke debate.

Read the review here: http://www.justaplatform.com/london-theatre-the-dolls-house-duke-of-york-theatre/

Sweet Bird Of Youth

This summer brings the revival of the tragic American raconteur – a figure hiding his past through the combination of cynical manipulation and wilful self-delusion, enjoying an overblown lifestyle until the edifice crumbles around them. Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby explores the lavish ends to which a character will go to create the illusion, but this production of Tennessee Williams’ 1959 play far better highlights the tragedy at its end.

See the review at http://www.justaplatform.com/london-theatre-sweet-bird-of-youth-review/

The Hotel Plays at the Grange Holborn Hotel

Watching The Hotel Plays in three suites at the Grange Holborn Hotel, it is difficult not to picture Tennessee Williams typing in similar rooms, populating scenes with the people that surrounded him: the couple carrying out a muffled argument through the wall, a shifty yet charming bell boy, drunken late-night arrivals, and porters delivering endless room-service orders.

The claustrophobic atmosphere created by packing an audience into a suite, on chairs two deep around the walls, complements the atmosphere of the plays and their succession of insane characters. Williams creates extremes - a damaged soldier drinking bourbon in the morning, an uncomfortable young male escort and panicky, inept crooks amongst them. Being at such close quarters (at one point a character spat some wine and a little landed on my foot, and we had a pretty good look up a young man's boxers) means that you are forced right into the middle of the characters' lives and the conflicts they are facing.

Hotel rooms straddle private and commercial space, blurring what actions might be considered as acceptable. Add to that the infantilising effect of room service - the closest you can get to tugging on a parent's sleeve and asking for some food - and you have a great setting for exploring how people behave when rules are removed.

The Hotel Plays run until the 27th October.

Ryan Dunn at Vyner Street Gallery

Ryan Dunn's collages use the language of advertising photography to create unnerving images that can evoke a range of emotions.

We've seen a lot of collage this year, not least Geoffrey Farmer's overwhelming Life Magazine Cut-outs from 1935-1985 at Documenta 13, but Dunn's work uses a less-is-more attitude to create images that are just as memorable, and just as rewarding of your time.

Sadly, his show at Vyner Street Gallery was only very brief, but as he's been officially labelled 'up and coming' (thanks in part to a role in the Cultural Olympiad) his is a name you will definitely see again.

Detail from Ryan Dunn's Inane Systems

Keep A Good Thing Going: Omi Palone and The Proper Ornaments

Some good things happened on Sunday at Record Affair, a night put on by the ace Just a Crush at the equally ace Shacklewell Arms. The 9pm finish meant it was PERFECT FOR A SCHOOL NIGHT and there was a record fair from lots of independents. Also, we met someone from Upset the Rhythm who is friends with Dan Deacon: that wasn't even on the flyer.

One of the good things was Omi Palone (we pronounce it like it rhymes - you can say what you want). Singer Phil rejects indie falsetto, keeping things between the Ian Curtis pitch parameters of 'growl' and 'normal speaking voice' (weirdly, but vividly, bringing to mind Michael Stipe 'reigning it in' on King of Comedy). It's good to have limits, and the band work well within them; swooping guitar lines complement Phil's vocal, and the whole thing is set firmly to 'fun.'





Another good thing were The Proper Ornaments: woozy dream pop with a debt to the sixties and nineties-sixties-revivalists. This is a good thing. When The Proper Ornaments inspire another generation of bands we'll be able to write that they owe a debt to the sixties, nineties-sixties-revivalists and 2010s-nineties-sixties revivalists. Music blog posts will be like genealogies of royal families, poured over by the indie elite for the exact provenance of the latest Dalston heroes. Actually, that's pretty much what they are now.

Anyway. This lot are good - far better than these overly sun-drenched recordings suggest. Catch them live.

New Finds at Finland's Flow Festival: Elifantree

Elifantree are a Scandinavian jazz-pop trio, signed to independent Finnish jazz label Eclipse Music. Their debut album, Love and Trees came out in 2010, and they followed that up with this year's Time Out. We caught them on the Tiivistämö stage, where they were exceptional enough to draw the crowd to their feet, away from the delicious sushi and noodles served in there.

Vocalist Anni Elif Egecioglu has hints of Kate Bush in her freewheeling delivery, and drummer Tatu Rönkkö has one of the most triumphant drumming faces we've ever seen. Rounding off the band is saxophonist Pauli Lyyntinen, who, alongside cheer-inducing solos, adds the effects that push this into Bjork territory.
ELIFANTREE - That Girl from Charlie Harjulin on Vimeo.

New Finds at Finland's Flow Festival: Jason Moran

As you might expect from a festival in the hip capital of a self-consciously cool country there were a few esoteric choices in the Flow Festival lineup - but a couple of these really blew us away. One such artist is Jason Moran, who we loved so much we saw no fewer than three times over two days.

Moran is a Brooklyn-based jazz pianist who's been around for about 15 year and often performs with his band The Bandwagon. We saw him with The Bandwagon (bassist Tarus Maseen and incredible drummer Nashteen Waits) and performing solo, and in both settings Moran's talent, musicality and New York cool gave the set a laid back but exciting vibe. 

He seems to be able to take all of the fun parts of avant-garde jazz - the madness and freedom - and dispense with the dull insistence on extended periods of arhythmic atonality which often mar the genre, replacing these with hip hop-inspired beats and looped melodies which burst into explosions of creativity.

A standout track from Moran's solo performance was 'Ringing My Phone (Straight Outta Istanbul)' which appears on his 2003 live album The Bandwagon. Here, Moran plays along with the voice of his wife, speaking on the phone in Turkish to her mother. Check out the video below for how that pans out, especially when he loops a short section of her speech at around 3:20. Moran said he records conversations habitually, with the aim of turning them into tracks like this. Finnish, though was "on some other shit" and was going to take him some time to groove to. 

I've Started So I'll Finnish - Oneohtrix Point Never

Oneohtrix Point Never is the moniker of Brooklyn-based Daniel Lopatin, whose sound has grown out of drone electronica to inhabit a world between cinematic mood music and an 80s version of The Disintegration Loops. Tracks throughout his three albums grow and develop in beautiful and unexpected ways, and can sometimes become frustratingly repetitive before creating release through blossoming or decay. 

OPN are on stage at midnight at Flow, and it's easy to see why. Our shared dreamimage of Scandinavia here at LIFB is of flowing landscapes and minimalist design, the contrast of days of endless sunlight with the knowledge that days of endless darkness are only a few months away. The sound of OPN,  with its combination of melancholy and nostalgia fits this perfectly.

Cross the Finnish Line - Tamikrest

People say the protest song is dead, yet today it seems like we have as much to protest about as there was in the 60s and 70s. The Taureg people, a nomadic part of the Berber population of North Africa, have more to protest about than most, after recent events in their history of rebellions and fighting for their own land.

This year, Taureg fighters returning from fighting on both sides of the Libyan revolution helped to stage the latest offensive, taking control of an area of Mali and claiming its independence as the state of Aswad, only to be expelled by Islamist groups that had originally helped them.

Tamikrest, a Taureg band, play at Flow Festival this year - and set out their politics in a statement on their website:

The development of this territory and these settlements is a personal and collective duty for all of us. No one will work for the preservation of our land if we do not do it ourselves.

That was written before the recent events, so it seems like this is going to be an act with a lot to say. How they say it is through a euphoric combination of African rhythms and Middle Eastern harmonies. As jazz trumpeter Winton Marsalis said recently, people in the west seem to think that African music provides rhythm whereas western music provides harmony and melody, and it's not really like that. Tamikrest blend Warm electric guitar riffs with soaring pentatonic vocals to create the sound of the desert that the Taureg people love so deeply.

Perhaps the people who feel that African music is all rhythm are the same who say the protest song is dead. These people should head to the Wastelands stage for the Friday night of Flow Festival and see what they're missing out on.

Nice Guys Finnish Last - Joose Keskitalo

Joose Keskitalo supports Bon Iver on the opening night of Flow, and initial listens show why the Finnish act has been paired with the US indie superstar: plaintive melodies accompanied by electro-acoustic guitar. Here, though, there is the added interest of harmonica and some dips into barroom shanties like Esineet and Pimeydestä pimeyttä vastaan. 

At times Kekitalo appears to be aiming for the accolade of 'Finnish Jack Johnson', especially on Luultavasti jäit junan alle. This is faint praise indeed, but a listen to Luultavasti jäit junan alle should actually remind you of the time that we all liked Jack Johnson to begin with, not when we wanted to tear our ears of after 'Better Together' got its ten-millionth play. A more flattering comparison is with Beck, whose track Asshole he borrows from liberally on Peer Gynt.


Even more enjoyable is the relatively poor quality of Google Translate when it comes to Finnish. There is little information about Keskitalo in English, so we're having to base our research on phrases like 'Equally, his songs, often about death, only to sound like her, of course.' This doesn't bode well for our understanding of what on earth is happening when we make it to Helsinki.