Everywhere you look at the minute there seems to be yet another example of our cultural excavation of the Eighties – shoulder pads, Transformers, leg-warmers and even white cars have all made recent comebacks. With strike threats and recession blues currently dominating the news it seems the escapist themes that characterised music and fashion in the Eighties are well and truly back in vogue. Lucky then, that Eighties music wasn’t all about bad clothes and soulless, synth-laden pop songs. Bands like Joy Division helped make the Eighties bearable; and following in their post-punk footsteps are Editors, doing their bit to make the current Eighties obsession tolerable by drawing on the decades best musical aspects for inspiration.

While they may not like the persistent Joy Division comparisons, Editors don’t do themselves any favours. The first song tonight, ‘In This Light And On This Evening’, is dominated by a throbbing, Joy Division-esque soundscape while Tom Smith’s vocals owe much to Ian Curtis’ trademark intense mumbling. ‘Bricks And Mortar’, with its Blade Runner synths and electro-drums also has the whiff of a Joy Division album track to it, before it morphs unexpectedly into something a bit more anthemic and modern.

Although they are undoubtedly influenced by Joy Division, Editors are definitely no copyists. Their talent lies in building euphoric anthems out of the introspective themes of isolation and despair that were first dwelt on by Joy Division and their peers over 20 years ago. Songs like ‘Blood’ and ‘An End Has A Start’ burst from the stage, bristling with nervous energy and provoking mass sing-alongs. It’s amazing just how many ‘beer-in-the-air’ moments Editors have in their back catalogue: ‘Munich’, ‘The Racing Rats’, ‘Bullets’, ‘Fingers In The Factory’ and even ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’ all incite hands-aloft moshing.

As well as having the kind of back-catalogue to embarrass much older and more established bands, their new songs hint at a growing maturity. If their older songs were all about the nervous tension and jagged guitars, their newer efforts seem more measured and deliberate. ‘You Don’t Know Love’ and ‘Like Treasure’ are both future fan-favourites, both rousing anthems that left most of the crowd wishing they could sing along with the actual words. Tom Smith is also turning into a more than competent front-man, most noticeable as he predatorily stalked the stage during ‘Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool’.

The highlight of the night came in the encore with ‘Papillon’. More New Order than Joy Division, it turned the O2 Academy into the best nightclub in town with its bouncy synths and infectious rhythm. It’s one of the best songs this decade to merge rock and dance and, along with their back-catalogue and impressive new material, suggests Editors will be a massive hit on the festival circuit next year.

(The Editors Live at The O2 Academy, Leeds Saturday 17th October 2009)

]]> http://www.bigdistraction.com/2009/10/the-editors-live-at-the-o2-academy-gig-review/feed/ 0 http://www.bigdistraction.com/2009/10/richard-hawley-live-at-albert-hall-gig-review/ http://www.bigdistraction.com/2009/10/richard-hawley-live-at-albert-hall-gig-review/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:18:11 +0000 Bigdistraction Admin http://www.bigdistraction.com/?p=261 Since he progressed from his previous life as a guitarist for the likes of Longpigs and Pulp, Richard Hawley has carved out quite a niche for himself as one of the UK’s most distinctive solo stars. Tonight, Nottingham’s historic Albert Hall provided a unique setting for Hawley’s trademark crooned love songs.

The most striking thing about Sheffield’s Richard Hawley, once you’ve got past the gravity-defying quiff and Teddy-boy suit, is his voice. His rich, deep throated, lovelorn baritone gives his classic love songs a timeless air and is reminiscent of melancholic balladeers like Roy Orbison and Scott Walker. Tonight, this trademark voice is on fine form as Hawley delivers a composed, mature and at times exhilarating set.

His sixth studio album, ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, provides the bulk of tonight’s show.  Richard and his band (including a violinist/saw-player!) take to the stage to the atmospheric intro to album opener ‘As The Dawn Breaks’; the chirpy bird-songs and gentle guitars build a beautiful, fragile background to Hawley’s romantic crooning and set the tone for an understated yet memorable night. This is followed by ‘Ashes On The Fire’, a haunting ode to unrequited love which allows Hawley to dominate the opulent surroundings with that rich, textured voice.

After a quick diversion to old favourites ‘Lady Solitude’ and ‘Hotel Room’ (from past albums ‘Lady’s Bridge’ and ‘Coles Corner’ respectively) Hawley and his band illuminate the night with a spellbinding rendition of ‘Soldier On’, a slow-burning epic which builds a gentle tension before clattering into life, the shuddering drums and incisive guitars filling the beautifully lit arena.

Following on from another ‘Lady’s Bridge’ / ‘Coles Corner’ two song sojourn – the shanty-esque ‘The Sea Calls’ and sentimental ‘Tonight’ – comes the highlight of the night and perhaps the best song Hawley has written to date, the exquisite ‘Open Up Your Door’. It’s a heart-wrenchingly emotional ballad that journeys from melancholic desperation to uplifting optimism in the blink of an eye. Hawley’s soulful voice enriches the song and commands complete attention from the seated crowd in front of him; it’s a powerful moment of music at its transcendental best and confirms Hawley’s stature as one of the most accomplished singer-songwriters around.

This notion is given further credence with the next two songs lifted from ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, the deeply personal ‘For Your Lover Give Some Time’ and ‘Remorse Code’, the latter being the perfect showcase for Hawley’s disarming voice. ‘Run For Me’, from the 2003 album ‘Lowedges’, proves to be a popular inclusion in the set, providing a more upbeat tone which displays Hawley’s versatility both as a singer and guitarist. He ends the set with ‘Don’t You Cry’, the final song on ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, before returning for an encore of just one song (‘Coles Corner’s ‘The Ocean’) due to the restrictive 10pm curfew.

With performances like these it is easy to see why Richard Hawley has gradually amassed a sizeable and devoted fan base since his first solo album in 2001. It’s a testament to his ability and the quality of his back catalogue that he can leave out favourites like ‘Valentine’ and ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’ and still put on a show to delight and entrance his fans.

(Richard Hawley Live at Albert Hall, Nottingham Sunday 11th October 2009)

For more information on Richard Hawley, visit his official site at:

http://www.richardhawley.co.uk/

So Space as a setting for a movie allows a cerebral director the opportunity not only to create shocks and thrills; but also to make some sort of comment on the Human condition. Movies such as Kubrick’s seminal Space Odyssey 2001 and to a lesser extent the 1997 sleeper hit Event Horizon achieved this potent combination.

Pandorum, directed by Christian Alvart would like to think that it belongs in that category. In my opinion it falls short on both fronts. Comparisons to Event Horizon are inevitable, as Pandorum is produced by the team of Paul W.S Anderson and Jeremy Bolt who were at the helm for Event Horizon.

However, whilst Alvart and company attempt to ratchet up the tension and sense of claustrophobia that made Event Horizon such a seat of your pants movie going experience, somehow Pandorum left me feeling flat.

There can be no doubt that there has been some money spent on Pandorum. This is apparent from the epic introductory scene, where we are told that the year is 2174 and the human race is battling against a resource shortage. This forces us to branch out further into the vastness of space, and against this backdrop, Alvart gloriously pans in to the CGI crafted Spaceship Elysium, which becomes the fulcrum of the movie.

It will become apparent that the good ship Elysium, harbours a terrifying reality. A reality, we first encounter through the eyes of Corporal Bower. Bower is portrayed with energy by Ben Foster- who is the first to wake up from a self imposed stasis, and is left reeling with no recollection of how he came to be on board and suffering from total amnesia. What he does have (luckily) is a latent perception of the Engineering skills for which he was recruited. He quickly gains an appreciation that the Elysium is heading for a total breakdown. After a few minutes of frantic scrambling he realizes that he is not alone on board.

The next of the crew to awaken from Hyper-sleep is Lieutenant Payton. Payton is played by Dennis Quaid who has matured into a reliable Hollywood star, But in Pandorum Quaid makes the mistake of confusing- speaking in quiet tones and ultimately descending into Pacino-esque shouting- for true character development.

The pair of archetypes, i.e. wily veteran and fresh new recruit, soon discover that a third member of their team is missing from his Hyper-sleep chamber and the airlock door is jammed shut (spooky). This allied to the fact the ship is spiralling out of control, prompts the rugged Payton to suggest to Bower that he guides the younger man through the labyrinth of ventilation ducts so that he can unlock the duct from the outside.

As Bower heroically embarks on this quest, he discovers amongst a litany of dead bodies, a terrifying horror lurking in the bowels of the ship. The Elysium was originally built to host 6,000 humans, many have mutated into blood thirsty Hunters. To their credit, the Production team veer away from Computer Generated Images of this evil force. They choose instead to work extensively with SFX Prosthetic outfits. For me, this lends an authenticity to the movement of the Hunters that CGI imagery simply cannot replicate. However, I could not help but think that they did resemble reject Urukai from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Movies.

As the Movie lurches on at a breakneck pace, Bower is joined on his quest by fellow human survivors, Manh played by four time world Mixed Martial Arts champion, Cung Le and Nadia portrayed by Antje Traue.

Antje Traue, exudes genuine presence and reminds me of a young Milla Jovovich, (expect future success from this comparative new comer to the Big Screen), and Cung Le’s fighting prowess ensure that the action sequences where our heroes battle the Hunters are well- action packed!!

But for me the main failure of Pandourum is in the editing process. Alvart and editor Philip Stahl pan back and forward from the pulsating battle sequences to Payton in the hub. It is Payton who in discourse with the missing member of the crew Gallo, (Cam Gigandet) suffers the full effect of Pandorum.

Pandorum was envisaged by W.S.Anderson as, ‘Cabin Fever on acid’ but here we only have Quaid ranting and flailing, spouting cod Philosophy about the waste the human has made of earth and our unique ability to do more. Essentially, it is this motif that Pandorum would like to showcase but it is lost amidst a flurry of frantic editing. I can only assume that such quick cutting is designed to induce in the audience a sense of the claustrophobia of space and maybe even to allow us a small inkling into the mindset of the Pandorum sufferer. However, for me it was merely headache inducing and it ensured we did not have a chance to develop any real sense of connection with the protagonists. This unfortunately meant when all of the important messages were being delivered, I could not really care less.

For all the spiralling adventures and psychological hurdles that Payton and Bower endure, for all the allusions to a Philosophical warning about the state of the human race, for all the big budget effects- Pandorum, concludes in a flat and clichéd manner.

There is the wiggle room for a sequel, but in all honesty, I hope they don’t bother.

Overall Rating: 2/5.

Jonas (Anders W. Berthelsen) appears a content, suburban man with wife Mette (Charlotte Fich) and two children, until an unexpected accident changes everything stable and predictable in his life. He inadvertently causes Julia (Rebecka Hemse) to have a car crash that leaves her in a coma. Riddled with guilt, Jonas decides to visit Julia in the hospital. There he somehow adopts the false character of her traveller boyfriend Sebastian (Nikolaj Lie Kaas). But Sebastian is not the kind of man anyone would want to embody. He is a violent drug-barren who met Julia in Hanoi a few months before her car crash on her return to Copenhagen.

Over the period of pretending to be “her” Sebastian and countless visits to her hospital bed, Jonas finds that he is falling for Julia, who slowly reveals herself to be a free-spirited, adventurous young woman with bad taste in men. From the moment Julia wakes from her coma with little memory of the real Sebastian, Jonas manages to create an exotic and visionary back story of their so-called past together. Immediately on Julia’s waking, Jonas’ life with Mette is continually paralleled to the hospital encounters with Julia. Quite like Jonas’ mental state, the camera is indecisive, chopping and changing between Jonas’ two worlds. Possessed by the odd connection and story Julia and “Sebastian” have created together.

The narrative develops interestingly, becoming more engrossing and perverse as most noir classics do. Director and screenwriter Ole Bornedal toys with death and his obsession for morgues continues in yet another film. Jonas is crime scene photographer, highlighted by the extended scenes with flashes of dead bodies and gruelling murders. However, this link between Jonas’ impersonation of an alleged violent, dead man and his profession seem somewhat contrived and predictable. Nonetheless, the motif of death is echoed effectively from start to finish: flashbacks, blurred recollections and photo snap shots of gory memories. To add further dramatic impact, Bornedal kills off Frank (Dejan Cukic), Jonas’ cynical, sinister colleague and friend. Cukic’s participation is probably the most fascinating; Frank’s the catalyst at the turning point of each sequence. His forceful monologues continue throughout about death, violence and irreconcilable differences in love.

When Jonas eventually leaves Mette for Julia, flashes of Julia’s violent time in Hanoi with Sebastian are peppered throughout her on-screen appearances, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth. The viewer knows that Jonas and Sebastian paths will cross, their identities tangled and convoluted, and yes, it finally does happen. Despite the narrative becoming absurdly crafted, what happens after that moment on screen is revealing and confusing but in some way makes sense. It seems that Julia manages to kill the same man twice.

Despite the narrative being far-fetched and predictable at times, Just Another Love Story can be described as a gripping, unsettling film noir with forceful interrelationships between characters and themes. Overall it deserves a 7.5/10.

For their fifth studio album, ‘The Resistance’, Muse have created the most ridiculous, overblown yet in places most stunning album of their career, indulging their favourite paranoid themes of state control and eccentric conspiracy theories. Lyrically, it is also Matt Bellamy’s most personal record, playing like an open declaration of love to his wife.

First song and lead single ‘Uprising’ is a stomping glam rock reimagining of the Dr Who theme tune and sets the lyrical tone of the album – with its talk of ‘endless red tape to keep the truth confined’ and acts as a call to arms to fight oppressive governments and ‘take the power back’. Although this may sound a bit like the rantings of a sixth-form Marxist, this is quickly dispelled on next song ‘Resistance’. Matt Bellamy passionately asserts that ‘Love is our resistance’, suggesting that good old love is the best weapon against the tyranny of Thought Police and oppressive state control. This is done over an almost laughable Pet Shop Boys-esque backdrop of melodious keyboards and over-the-top backing vocals.

It’s hard to listen to ‘The Resistance’ without glimpsing the vivid cinematic world being conjured up. It plays like the soundtrack to an epic sci-fi film, depicting a dystopian world controlled by a totalitarian state. Like all good sci-fi writers, Muse know the genres biggest advantage is the ability to address the scary issues of the day in a direct manner – the futuristic, unfamiliar settings rendering the subversive themes more palatable to a mass audience. They use this tactic to great effect on ‘The Resistance’, shielding their mainstream audience from the provocative and frightening subject matter with pure escapist musical nonsense.

This is most evident in the fantastically extravagant and grandiose ‘United States of Eurasia’. Imagine Queen performing a national anthem for the New World Order, complete with ridiculously exaggerated key changes, and you’re somewhere close. Hidden within this operatic nonsense, though, is the heart and soul of Bellamy’s nightmarish vision – the all-conquering state annihilating free-will and individuality, selling mass control and indoctrination as world peace and harmony.

Not all of the album is as ambitious as all this though. Perhaps in an effort to avoid scaring off the majority of their audience with the sheer lunacy of it all, ‘MK Ultra’ and ‘Undisclosed Desire’ recall earlier fan favourites ‘Plug in Baby’ and ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. Likewise, ‘Guiding Light’ sounds like Muse on auto-pilot, although lyrically it is a touchingly open ode directed to Mrs Bellamy. Although these are decent enough songs in their own right, on an album dealing in such grand scales they feel like nothing more than filler. The worst culprit being ‘I Belong to You’, a plodding cabaret-esque romp which ends with Bellamy crooning in French. It’s at times like these you feel the album could have benefited from the guiding hand of a producer, but such self-produced indulgences are forgiven when we get to the albums gloriously over-the-top finale. If a producer were enrolled to sharpen the album up, you’d think the first thing to fall to the cutting-room floor would be a preposterously overblown three-song symphony dealing with mankind’s origins in outer space and the mass exodus of Earth to repopulate another planet. Yet here it is in all its intended glory. Composed entirely by Bellamy and coming in at just under fifteen minutes, ‘Exogenesis:Symphony’ is a beautifully orchestrated piece which shows off his virtuoso musicianship to the full – building and releasing tension and creating an unsettling atmosphere to frame the nightmarish visions the album evokes.

Although a little hit and miss, there is no doubt that Muse have made one of the most striking and captivating albums of the year. In a society where surveillance and state influence is becoming more and more apparent, ‘The Resistance’ could possibly become the most important political album of the decade.

For more information on Muse visit there official site at:

http://muse.mu/

There are 5 different tower types in total and each of them can be upgraded several times, increasing their destructive force. The 3 attack towers are a Blaster (gun), Laser and Missile, there is a Stun tower that slows the Creeps down and finally, the Vortex, which you can link to other towers to power them up further.

The levels start off nice and simple, getting you into the flow of the game, then they start to get harder and harder.
The developer, David Whatley, likens the game to Chess, stating;

“There is your opening moves, which are setting the stage for how you will win the level. The middle game is where you do your busy work of getting built-up for the final push at the end. The end game is where it gets completely crazy! If you didn’t have a strategy up until this point, no amount of fast fingers will save you.” – Follow link at bottom.

He is of course, completely correct, if you don’t plan from the start, you can’t work fast to keep up in the end. He then throws in a few nasty “Creeps” long the way, laughing at you as your well thought out plan goes horribly wrong when your towers you have placed and speedily upgraded become totally useless! You hear your brain going, “What the hell is this, and why can’t I…damn, right, restart and plan again!”

You must take a look at this game if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, download the Lite version, have a play, then when you can’t stop playing it, show your respect to Mr David Whatley (and Emma) and purchase the full version. It is currently priced at £1.19 (03/09/2009) and is well worth every, single, penny!

Game information can be found at Critical Thought Games (http://www.criticalthoughtgames.com), as well as videos and more screen-shots.

We are looking forward to new levels, towers and unfortunately, Creeps! (Please hurry David!)

With the caped crusader in his rightful spot and all the reviews putting this game above all other, we asked ourselfs, is it really that good?

The game starts with you taking the Joker to Arkham Asylum, once he’s there, you have control through the first long cinematic. But as with everything that the Joker is involved in, it goes wrong for Batman and the Joker, along with other familier faces, takes control of Arkham Asylum.

Your thrown straight into the action as the Joker runs off, facing a few thugs to get you into the fighting action. You notice from this point that the graphic are, stunning, as you create a new floor with your foes! The next section gets you exploring the dark, slient and sneaking side to our friendly Bat, being able to swing and hide on objects high above the enemy, then swoop down the way that only Batman can.

At this point, you are also introduced to “Discover Mode”, which enables Batman to highlight the enemy and see secrect areas. I would say, this is the only flaw of the game. If you play the game in “Normal Mode”, the game area can be quite dark, and as Batman should be, but the “Discover Mode” allows you to see through walls, and makes the game to much easier, you then end up spending most of your time in this veiw, missing the beautiful visuals.

As you work your way through some of Batman’s well known rivals, there are some interest, very well planned twists. For example, when facing the Scarecrow, the game transforms into a 3D, side scrolling platform game, that completely and seemlessly jumps between 3D fighter back to side scrolling.

The game feels very linier at first, but as you start opening up the areas, you are able to wander where-ever you like. You have to head to the way points to continue the story and unlock all your equipement, but this then enables you to get to new locations and areas that you could not get to previously. With the experience you gain, you are the able to get upgrades, to your fighting style, armour and equipment.

I can not tell you much more on this game, as it would be unfair. This is a fantastic game that ticks all the right boxes, the extra challenges give you the chance to play your favourite parts of the game over and over again. I can only pick two faults with this game, the first being the “Discover Mode” and the second being, there is no multi-play. I think teaming up with a friend (hopefully playing Robin!) would have made this game UNBEATABLE.

A must buy/play, you will be far from disappointed!

Graphics: 9
Game Play: 9
Controls: 9
Multiplayer: Soon maybe?
Overall: 9

We had to have a play to find out!

The opening sequence sets you up with a bit of a glimpse of what is ahead, with movie style animation your thrown right into the game. A meeting with a couple of top guys then sets you on your way. For you who have played the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny and even Doom, your thrown straight into the game and all you have to do is work your way through, killing everything you find! This new Wolfenstein is not quite that sort of game, you have to keep heading towards way points (fare enough!), but then you’re presented with a character that you have to then follow to another way point (who usually gets killed the moment you turn the first corner and your back to following your compass!).

The AI on the “good side” doesn’t seem to be all that, “intelligent”, the AI on the “enemy side”, is getting towards perfect. What I mean but this is, the AI will hide behind objects and take cover as soon as they realise you are there, they will make your life difficult. The only flaws I found with the AI are that, they shout at you every time they are about to fire, they can see you even though you’re in the shadows and have the attachment to your weapon so you can hide in the dark! They don’t seem to try and flank you either, if you wake/activate them and run through a door, even though there are 3 doors to the room, they will only come through the door you went in!

Once you’re into the game and taking in the beautiful surrounding, which there is limited time to do as you always seem to end up in fire fights, there comes the “Vail” to keep you company. The Vail gets it energy from the dark parallel universe, which you get a glimpse of every now and again, this gives you the chance to highlight the enemy and secrets, slow down time, produce a shield around yourself and even upgrade your fire power for s short period of time. Energy leaks into the current universe allowing you to power back up the Vail powers and glowing blue pods left around the place.

The first level takes place in a train yard and give you a fantastic effect with the physics engine running overtime, as the train explodes and sends everything spinning into the air as it reverses gravity, allowing you to fight as you float. This effect is not used heavily in the game, except in a couple of automated sequences, which is a really big shame, but the glowing blue pods and be picked up and thrown, sending the objects around the explosion into the air, fantastic for groups of enemy!

The weapons are well thought out, not too many of them, but as you go through the levels, collecting gold, you are able to purchase upgrades to all weapon and to your Vail powers at the market traders. Giving the extra firepower, scopes and the ability to “freeze” nearby enemies when activating your time slowing power.

They could have used the Vail to greater effect throughout the game as well as the physics engine, a game that springs to mind when talking about the Vail is Soul Reaver, where going between the realms allowed the surroundings and landscape to change. This could of had more of an effects for puzzles and secrets, but was sadly missed.

Trying to play the multiplayer side was, to say the least, horrendous! After about 10 minutes of trying to connect to game, I was about to give up. Then I managed to connect to a game and jump in with 4 other players. Slow paced and quite a lot of lag, did not make the experience enjoyable, may be this was down to the connection speeds of the other players, but I managed to play two games online and didn’t enjoy the experience at all. A real shame as I was looking forward to trying the Vail powers online, but I think I’ll stick to other games for that.

The overall impression of the game is that it is, ok(ish). I think from playing the older Wolfenstein games, I was expecting more from this, and it just doesn’t arrive. There are a few moments in the game that make you go “Now that’s cool!”, but they are few and far between. Most of the time you are just plodding through the game, doing what is required, only so you can get to the bosses to find out what they are like. Once you find their weakness, the rest is easy!

Due to the ending video (the one after the credits!), it looks like we are in for another instalment, hopefully this time, they will do something to stun us.

Graphics: 7
Game Play: 6
Controls: 6
Multiplayer: 4

Overall: 6