“Please don’t forget we love you, but now you have to die.” We Love You is an album that doesn’t take long to establish it’s themes. Whether you want to call it aggrotech or electronic death metal, Combichrist are a band that are at home in an angry world full of jagged electronic sounds that are designed to have fans flipping tables.
Frank
It takes a lot of balls to take one of the acting’s fastest rising stars and put him under a mask for an entire film. Yet that’s exactly what Lenny Abrahamson has done with Michael Fassbender in his latest feature film Frank. Written by Jon Ronson the film is based on Chris Sievey and his comic alter-ego Frank Sidebottom, who’s band Ronson spent time playing keyboard in. Although in reality the only concrete link between the two characters is the giant mask that covers Fassbender’s face for the duration of the movie. The character itself takes not just from Sievey, but troubled musical souls like Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart.
Nine Inch Nails at The Hydro, 20/5/2014
Some bands are made to play small dingy clubs, others are meant to fill arenas. While I’m sure Nine Inch Nails would destroy your average club, their set at the Glasgow Hydro shows that they are very much in the later camp. It was hardly a surprise to see Trent Reznor return to the Nine Inch Nails model, after taking several years out on hiatus during which he won an Oscar, but the return of the band that made the man was still greeted with joy by fans. Nine Inch Nails are a band that transcend genres, being as equally loved by fans of Joy Division and Depeche Mode as they are fans of Slayer and Black Flag.
Animals as Leaders – The Joy Of Motion
Some albums defy reviewing, you can say what you want about them but at the end of the day what you get and what you find within it is a completely personal experience. This is more true amongst instrumental music than anything else and Animals as Leaders are the perfect example of it. Now on their third album, this American instrumental prog-metal band create music that is as difficult to place as it is to review, in saying all that we are about to give it a go.
Next Goal Wins
Football at the highest level is a bloated, corrupt and quite frankly horrible sport. Overpaid pre-Madonna’s prance around earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a week in teams assembled by Russian billionaires with little thought towards the fans. Yet we all still love it. We all come back week after week to buy the overpriced pies and worship at the altar of teams that quite often do not give a shit. Why? Well because of stories like that told in Next Goal Wins. Continue reading “Next Goal Wins”
Bad Neighbours
Bad Neighbours (or just plan old Neighbours in the US of A) is the latest film to star Seth Rogen, a man who in the last few years has risen to the top of the Hollywood food chain. However, this is Rogen with a difference. Rather than the slacker stoner, he is now the married, working man with a kid stoner. It’s a change that… Well to be perfectly honest it makes very little difference to the character he plays, except every now and then he looks a bit guilty before he grabs the drugs.
Architects – Lost Forever//Lost Together
Architects have had an unusual career path. At one point they seemed like they could do no wrong and were heading for the big time. Then they released The Here and Now, an album which despite some initially positive reviews, slowly saw fans turn against it and then even the band themselves turn their back on material they discovered they had little passion for. Since then the release of Daybreaker has seen them begin the path to redemption and Lost Forever//Lost Together may be the album that seals that return.
Blue Ruin
Funded by Kickstarter Blue Ruin is the perfect example of how crowd funding can get projects off the ground that otherwise might never see the light of day. Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, who’s only previous full length directorial credit was 2007 Murder Party, a horror comedy that I can’t even pretend I’ve seen.
In Your Eyes
In Your Eyes is interesting not just because it comes from the pen of Joss Whedon, a man who never seems to stop working, but also because of the way it has been distributed, forgoing the standard cinema release and instead going straight onto Video on Demand via Vimeo. It’s a paranormal romance that see’s Brin Hill adapting the Whedon script and stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David.
Steel Panther – All You Can Eat
Born with the mission to remind people that the 80’s were cool once and Vince Neil wasn’t fat, Steel Panther’s rise to success has been spectacular. Going from a LA hair metal cover band to arena playing, globe trotting superstars is a remarkable achievement for a band who many assumed would fade away when the joke got old. Their third album All You Can Eat is their latest attempt to prove this is far from the case.
Ramblings About Wrestling 
