The days go on with regularity until suddenly there is a change. Time to thaw out the Contrast after a winter of disco-tense. Two months off from djing. No journal entries. Barely a twitter.

What have I been up to? Giving my ears a rest. And my twin loves of course. The new album is taking shape, many new tracks on the go. You can hear slices soon when I get back on the djing circuit in March. And I’m on the 5th draft of my film script. M. Night Shyamalan said it wasn’t until the 5th draft of The Sixth Sense that he *SPOILER* realised that Bruce Willis’ character was a ghost *SPOILER END*. I can now understand that. It’s like I’ve only just realised what I’ve been trying to say with it during the last two years of work.

The plan is to balance my time and energy between music and film more than ever before. The duality of man.

End Transmission…

After much deliberation, here’s my favourite flicks of oh nine. It’s a bizarre mix of kids films and gut-punchers; arthouse and mainstream. Full contrast ahead.

10. The Hurt Locker

Too much shaky cam but still pulls off many a tense set piece of bomb disposal and the whole thing just feels hella authentic. Review here.

9. Where The Wild Things Are

The best movie without a plot all year. Jonze and Eggars have perfectly adapted a ten page childrens book into a feature length film without artificially adding some quest for treasure or some capitalist baddie who wants to knock down the hero’s neighbourhood. They’ve miraculously managed to just enlarge the essence of what was originally there, like some fractal experiment. And created their own individual work at the same time, something Watchmen perhaps should have strived for.

8. Star Trek

Solid summer entertainment. It’s not in the upper echelons of cinematic art but just by not getting anything basically wrong it achieves some kind of awesomeness. And when the standard of blockbuster surrounding it is so low with films like Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2, you appreciate Trek even more.

7. Keith Schofield

Yeah this ain’t a film (though I would definitely watch one called that), he’s a promo director and he’s responsible for the two best music videos of the year. The first, for Justice’s remix of ‘Let Love Rule’ by Lennie Kravitz, is filling the movie void left by the end of the 80s and the ascent of the Coen Bros.

His other work of wonder, ‘Heaven Can Wait’, is the second entry in this list to feature Charlotte Gainsbourg, here doing a good Aimee Mann impersonation and fittingly Schofield does a great take on PT Andersons’s magical realism, Magnolia era. Each shot is a snatch of some bigger story but we move on just as you clock what’s going on. More ideas per second than, I dunno, some genius machine.

Watch both videos on Keith’s site here.

6. Watchmen

The greatest title sequence of the year. And one of the best opening scenes, ‘unforgettable’. The idea of adapting the most critically lauded and epic comic book of all time was damned from the start but they did about the best they could. It feels a little rushed in places, even at three hours but still offers up some amazing visuals and ideas. Certainly the strangest mainstream movie around and I salute it for that. Watching this without having read the comic first must be like eating WTF cake.

5. UP

Like Wall-E, the first twenty minutes are pure gold. Says more about life and time in that wonderful early sequence than Benjamin Buttons said in three hours. The rest of the film can’t quite live up to that first part but it’s still great stuff and brilliantly directed. So refreshing to see shots that have been carefully chosen and composed and allowed the time to play out that they demand. In a fucking cartoon. Shaky cam culprits I’m talking to you!

4. Antichrist

A true horror film, it gets to the misogynistic heart of what lies just beneath so many other entries in the genre. A genuine work of art, it is beautiful and it provokes. And that is all I ask for.

3. The White Ribbon

Not as thought provoking as Haneke’s previous high of Hidden (Cache’) but still a mighty work. Like Bresson with a dash of Von Triers and Kubrick. I’m also a sucker for black and white photography and movies set in a village where all is not what it seems. The precision of the cruelty in this film is the iciest since Haneke’s own The Piano Teacher.

2. A Serious Man

Perhaps the most Coenesque Coen Bros. film yet. From the hat in Miller’s Crossing to No Country for Old Men’s dream, they’ve always been masters of the ambiguous and often sudden ending. Here they may have out done themsel-

1. Inglourious Basterds

This gets the top spot for many reasons that you can read here but mainly because it remains my favourite cinematic experience of the year. I’ve only watched it the once, slightly nervous another viewing will not be as stellar but nothing can take away from the feeling of elation I had walking out of that first screening.

So it’s been a great year for movies, not quite as incredible as 2007 but still showing that cinema is in a better place artistically than at anytime since the end of the 70s.

Feel free to post your own top tens in the comments…

Who's side are you on, son?

Ah, another banging gig at Digital, Brighton last weekend. There’s a gallery of pics from the event HERE. The first Hospitality we did there was one of my all time fave shows. This one followed up nicely and got to meet new NHS signing Netsky for the first time. And whenever I play in Brighton I stay at the Hotel Pelirocco – the hotel equivalent of Revels. Each room is themed, from reggae to fetishism. The best one I’ve stayed in is the Pin Up Parlour dedicated to Diana Dors, trashy camp with frilly lampshades and garish gold fittings. This time I stayed in the equivalent of the coffee Revel, not my favourite. It was the Magic Room as designed by Jamie Reid, of Sex Pistols design fame. I wanted to stay in the Motown room as that’s got a record deck in it but it was already booked. Had to check my latest dubplates in the second room of the club, thanks Wah Wah 45s crew!

A View With A Room. Click to enlarge.

I could deal with the lipsticked John Wayne painting and the repeated phrases printed on some of the walls. Heck, even the swast1ka on the lampshade, juxtaposed with the Coca-Cola logo (ooh, the anarchy), was acceptable. But the design of the rest of the room was like a Blue Peter challenge gone wrong. And the ‘Fuck Forever’ duvet cover provided a not entirely welcome reminder of the umpteen zillion shags that have drenched this bed. Cheers. But don’t let me put you off staying here – like a real packet of Revels there’s also the good flavours like the toffee one and the Malteserey one. So make sure you specify the Diana Dors or Bettys Boudoir or the Pussy room. And think, at least it’s a break from the norm and not an Ibis hotel.

Nice.

Roxy is one of my favourite clubs to play at, always such an incredible reception there. But getting out of Prague turned into a Kafka-esque nightmare as that bit in the airport that processes the luggage caught fire and so my flight was delayed seven hours. Here are the kind of pictures you take when you’re stuck in an airport for ages.

I spy some spies.

Three chairs for Captain Spalding - hip hip hooray!

Rare baby photo of the 2001 Monoliths.

Well, the longness of the journey was somewhat tempered by the presence of Alice Cooper on my flight. Nice boots, sir. But no time for a chat, had to hit the road and make the 200 mile drive up to Leeds, arrived just in time for another awesome Metropolis night. I love it when a plan comes together.

Here’s a prime example…

 

Love that woman’s voice. You can hear the pain of the world pressing down on it. So much so she doesn’t even know her own number. And then when I don’t get back to her, she get’s all shitty. But leaves a polite ‘bye’ at the end. She eventually called at a reasonable hour and I put her out of her misery. ‘It’s not actually a hairdressers conspiracy. Tony & Guy aren’t snubbing you cos you’re too old.’

More wrong numberers soon…

1. Full Circle – Bloke4d : A new duo that have a bunch of great tunes, most quite techy but this one is just pure emotional dnb. When I heard it I got straight on to the Hospital head honchos and hopefully this will come out on the NHS.

2. Hyper Hyper – Nu:Tone – Hospital : Something different from Dan, Im loving the new directions he’s taking like Balaclava. This ones cheeky.

3.  I Need You / Stars Get Down – Sub Wave – Hospital : Both tracks come from the Future Sound of Russia LP out soon. Deep and minimal but not boring, in fact rather uplifting. Also love Helium on that LP.

4.  Cant Take It – Nero – GND : Ethereal vocal. Trancey synth. Gnarly bass. Smacks it.

5. Paperchase – Brookes Bros. vs. Danny Byrd – BBK : Getting a lot of love from Annie Mac, this is a storming collab featuring the kind of electroid vocal choppage and musical switch-ups you would expect from these producers.

6.  Piano Anthem – Sonic : A welcome return by the mighty Sonic. Its an uplifting banger but slightly misleading – where’s the piano, dude?!

7. For Love or Money – DKay vs.Concept & Shnek- Brigand : And good to hear new material from this man. Vocals, brass section, epic drop, my cuppa tea.

8. I Refuse – Netsky : Another new cat, he’s got liquid tunes coming out of his ear (might need to see a doctor for that). This one has a smooth vocal hook that sits great in a mix.

9. Wall – Enter Shikari vs. High Contrast – Dub Mix : Well, I had to include one of my own jams on here. Rock on.

10. Last Jungle – Sub Focus – Ram : Spine tingly oldskool vibes at around 150bpm.

If you would like to hear any of these tracks then just catch one of my dj sets!

Love the geometrical divisions of the poster that suggest triangles and the off-kilter angle of it all invokes the vertiginous nature of the whole film. As well as the doubling that goes on. I much prefer it to the main poster for the film, below, that’s all fine and dandy but doesn’t capture the spirit of TRIANGLE as well as the above one me thinks.

Which one grabs you the most?

I was gonna say this is the best British horror film since The Descent but making such a nationalistic categorisation is pretty hard these days. The first on screen title tells us this film is funded by the National Lottery but then we hear American accents and see Florida street signs. Edgar Wright had a similar problem in trying to write a list of his favourite British films of recent years, a lot of his first choices turned out to be more American in origin than British. But here at least we have a British writer/director using mainly British money, he’s just telling his tale with an American backdrop (actually, The Descent had that same setup too, ah go figure). Regardless of national distinctions, this is still an unusual and well made horror film. But it poses quite a challenge for the marketing team and critics as the film hinges on some major twists that make it hard to talk about the film without spoiling. I feel the trailer reveals too much for one thing and would not recommend watching it if you feel at all inclined to see this film. If you want a pithy summing up of it, think The Shining meets Primer. On a boat.

Home & A-slay

First we had Guy Pearce of Neighbours making Memento, now Melissa George, formerly of Home & Away, makes Triangle. What is it with Ozzie soap stars and one-word headfuck movies? Here she takes the lead as Jess, a single mom who takes up an offer to go on a sailing trip with five people she barely knows. In the Bermuda triangle. Never wise in a horror film. The boat capsizes in a storm and the survivors seek refuge on a huge ship that mysteriously appears. It’s deserted and Jess and the gang start wandering around the spooky corridors, eventually getting picked off one by one by an unseen assailant. Now so far, so every-third-horror-film-made-in-the-80s. However, the game gets raised here not just by some great camera work and a mostly likeable (or at least unpunchable) cast but by the timewarping, structural gymnastics that kick in. Again, hard to talk about without spoiling the fun of it all but suffice to say, you need to keep your wits about you ala Memento. There’s a bit too much running around dark corridors and screaming for my liking, I think it would have been more interesting to play up the black humour and absurdity inherent in the temporal disfunctions but it still works really well and has a few cool tricks up it’s sleeve. It manages to transcend the genre trappings and come up with something a bit different from what you’ve seen before.

After his debut Creep and then Severance, Triangle represents a quantum leap for writer/director Chris Smith. I liked those earlier films but here he’s really getting to grips with the camera and a directorial vision is starting to emerge. The title sequence and the ending in particular are very well constructed, the framing and cutting pulling together in a way I would have liked to have seen more of during the main part of the film. The whole thing was made for a pretty low budget and he makes it look a lot more expensive, it never feels like a cheapie-quickie horror flick. I’m now very much looking forward to his next movie, a blood soaked medieval adventure apparently.

Ironically, the main issue I have with the film is The Shining connection. There’s just a few too many references to it (yeah, I know, this coming from the guy who made the Racing Green video!). Let’s see – the ship is a virtual stand-in for The Overlook Hotel with art deco interiors and even a ballroom. Shit gets real in Room 237. Melancholic 20s music echoes through the corridors. Numerous shots of mirrors showing characters doubled. A character writes the same phrase over and over on sheets of paper. Messages written in blood seen through a mirror. The first named character in the film is a Jack. And a few more. The problem with all this is that no greater point seems to be made other than they must really like The Shining. When people make allusions to that film, it’s frustrating that they only take from the surface of it and rarely make the kind of wonderfully rich subtext Kubrick did. But thats why he’s Kubrick. Maybe I just pick up on all this because I’m such a Kubrick fanboy (see previous post for evidence) and most people won’t be bothered by it at all. I would still definitely recommend checking this movie out, it’s a nautical mile ahead of the remakes-of-superior-foreign-or-70s-horrors and torture-bore movies of recent years.

TRIANGLE is out on October 16th in the UK.