mercredi 18 mars 2009

MILK

Saw the Gus Van Sant movie yesterday.
Not much to had to it. Sean Penn is incredible, the cast is great, the score is perfect.
Tender, gripping, my kinda movie.

Go see it.

vendredi 13 mars 2009

In Aurélia



Yesterday was another venture in the absurd and poetic world of the Chaplin - Thierrée family.

Last night was the daughter (with a little help from the mother), Aurélia.
It's funny to see the same universe made of poetry, danse, acrobatics and magic but seen through other eyes.
Aurelia's oratorio is a little piece of world where people danse among large red drapes, were people disappear into sand and waltz and fight with empty coats.
It is absurd and candide , naïve and poetic all together. Even if she lacks a bit of the lyrism her brother has, she does develop a small world of her own which makes you smile and laugh and wonder and leaves you with little stars in your eyes.

lundi 2 mars 2009

Until the Hellhounds sleep again...

Yesterday was at the locomotive near the famous Moulin Rouge where Three groups on an HellHound fest were touring.
Ava inferni, the 69 eyes and Tiamat.
If the first was quick to pass with a nice heavenly metal group, I must say it was too little to see if they had a real soul and depth among those many female voiced nightwish-within type of group that put out records out there. But fans of that type of music can lend an ear.

After that came the helsinki vampires, the 69 eyes. Visually, imagine a mix between the cure and the sex pistols. I'm afraid I did not know these guys at first but they put out a nice show very goth'n roll as the t-shirts say.
Very rocky, great energy (especially with the drummer.. how he has not disjointed his shoulders is beyond me) with great titles (hell I even remember them) very rock 80ies with a deep voice like never say die, the rocker, lost boys, devil or christina death.

And after that Tiamat. A very small set sadly but man do they rock with a perfect great set list and despite of a slightly over mixed keyboards and bass.
The set list for Tiamat (Apparently the same for all the shows)

Will they come ?
Raining dead Angels
Cain
Until the HellHounds sleep again
Do you dream of me ?
Divided
Vote for Love
Equinox
For her pleasure
Brighter than the sun
Wings of Heaven
Via Dolorosa
-----------------------
Sleeping Beauty
Gaïa

http://www.ava-inferi.com/
http://www.69eyes.com/angelsite/
http://www.churchoftiamat.com/

lundi 16 février 2009

Kobaïa my love.

Last thursday, I had the chance to go with my father to see one of the best drummer still on this plan of existence.
Magma was at the casino de paris for its 40 years of evolution tour.
Subtitled the music of the forces of the universe , Magma is a great group full of wonderful musicians. I don't know much of teh group so I won't be delving nto their history, the concept of Kobaïa and such.
I wanted just to send a note about the drummer and main force behind Magma : Christian Vander.
That is my second time witnessing him play and boy it's getting better and better... Christian as a way of playing that can only be described as flowing. Music coming from his set is flowing, precise, not over powering.
Reminded me of the Zhuang Zi fable of the butcher. Christian has such a complete mastery over his drums that all his movements and gestures, even the most swift ones reek of perfection and feel natural yet precise.
It is an amazing experience to witness people having so much mastery in their skill.
Truly magical moment..

http://www.seventhrecords.com/

jeudi 12 février 2009

New stars are born

One tiny thing plagues nowadays the movie entertainment and that is called Star.Stars are those beautiful people that make the front page of the magazines, are spread all over the movie posters and make most of the time the tabloids's headlines.
First, don’t get me wrong. I like actors, the job, the harsh work of trying to be somebody else and to sound and act someone else. Stars I don’t like. Mostly because they used to be actors and now they just play themselves on the movies, being paid hideous sums of money that probably account for most of the producing bill.
You’re gonna tell me they are in front of the lens so it is natural to be the PR of the movie, especially if they are beautiful, sexy and glamorous.
Pretty sure the second assistant of the director of the photography is not good enough for the front cover but still.
Even if these Stars are sooooo huge they are allegedly the main magnet for viewers and so retrospectively speaking producers and money, why all that ?
So they have to be on the posters. All over. Hopefully if the filmmaker is also bankable, he’ll be in fat letters too but most of the time you really hope the title is good enough to explain to you what the movie is about (I mean… besides being a movie by Spielberg about Tom Cruise for example’s sake).
No, today it’s all about the Star, maybe a bit of filmmaker and the rest hopefully in the story and theme. A bit of a rotten way to make business considering even if actors are the most visible part of movie making, an essential one, they are far from the biggest part.
But Stars, whenever they are oversized egomaniacs or not, have this strange power to make things sell. And moreover, the power to make themselves be asked everything.
It’s amazing to see month after month of periodicals with interviews of them about life, babies, fashion or whatever.
I understand they have a right to have opinions, detailed or not, passions or such. Hell I’m doing the same here. But since when exactly did people who earn big sums of money for lying or at best recreating a life for fun and entertainment started being more interesting than medical doctors, philosophers, activists and specialists and historicians ?
Oh but they are gorgeous, and sexy and live in this golden dream full of strass and paillettes that is the dream-movie land of Hollywood.
Pretty sure if the doctoress shows some legs and stockings, with good make up and Photoshop sure they could sell a lot more of good articles.
But Stars… They shine way too bright and blind us in the end.

lundi 9 février 2009

A Kind of Heaven

Multi instrumentalist Julien Gaullier finally completed his first album.
We're talking here good old prog rock with bit of opeth and marillion thrown for good measure among the mandoline and the mellotron.
It's free for Download to listen to and cheap for a download in a good encoded MP3 for enjoying more.
It's a great debut album with its share of problem and mistakes, the voice of Julien is a bit unsure at sometimes but overall it is a nice release with nice things in it so give yourself a treat and go listen (and buy if you like)

http://www.spleenarcana.com/

mardi 3 février 2009

Open Mind

If curiosity killed the cat, I must say lack of curiosity kills culture.
It's a bit of an understatement of course but it has to be said.
In those days of mass media communication, I feel like there is a bit of curiosity and open mindness missing around.
As stated before, People tend to go buy what everybody is talking about. And more than that, they don't usually do a review of it. People buy, consume and wait to buy the next one.
Not that all that is in the spotlight is bad, of course not. Hopefully not. But People do wait for the next article to tell them what to read... and the more general the source is the more they stick to the usual suspects.
People lack open mindness. Try to find by themselves, or to hear good journalists and critics that actually do some research to find new interessant stuff.
Sure it has a cost but the worst one is that you'll find something you will like. Almost everybody started small before becoming household names.
On the other hand, snobbery must be kept at bay... Why most of People feel like theit artist sold out because the 'common' People starts taking interest into him... It's just a matter of liking and feeling and what makes you tick.
Go forth and try something else... because a guy told you you might like it, as I said before... The worst that could happen is that you will like it.