By Stephen McNulty on 8/27/2007 4:03 PM Those of you who've been with CLUAS for a while may remember that I was an Adams evangeliser. I reviewed his first two solo records for these hallowed pages - Heartbreaker and Gold. These records, alongside the final Whiskeytown album Pneumonia, represented Adams at his most vibrant and vital. Acclaim was immediate and fulsome. Over time, Gold has tarnished but the other two represent an early 21st Centuty zenith in singer songwriting. The stage seemed set for Adams to achieve superstardom.
Except things have not gone quite according to plan. Adams has dated famous actresses, developed a proper drug habit,... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 8/18/2007 2:05 AMFor those of you 'down with the kids', this will be old news. 50 Cent and Kanye West are releasing their new albums (Curtis and Graduation respectively) on on the same day in the US - September 11th. A rather entertaining war of words has now escalated to the following sensible conclusion: they'll be debating who has the best album live on television. As you do.
Fiddy's somewhat baffling response to West's TV debate request closed with "Just don't be asking me if I am a conscious rapper. I know exactly what I am saying - so I am conscious". I read this imagining Fiddy in baby oil placing his finger on his chin and pursing his lips a la Dr Evil.
Kanye's somewhat more reasonable... Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 8/4/2007 6:49 PMAs I've been in Australia for a while now, I've been assimilating the local Aussie music scene. One band has stood head and shoulders above the rest and I feel it's now the time to introduce Ireland (and the world) to the genius that is Augie March.Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 6/16/2007 1:23 AM Earlier this week, the Guardian asked a number of credible musos du jour (Mark Ronson, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips et al) to talk about a "classic" album that failed to light their fire. The article here delivers a masterclass in Sacred Cow slaying. Everything from Nevermind to Pet Sounds to The Stone Roses gets it in the neck.
Whilst I disagree wholeheartedly with Alex Kapranos slagging off Marquee Moon (how could he?!), I must admit that I found myself nodding vigorously... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 5/31/2007 11:02 PM "My candidate for the worst movie-star director of all time has to be Clint Eastwood. Because he's still a big star and he stays on budget, Hollywood continues to indulge his directorial fantasies, yet in nearly 40 years of half-assed attempts at directing he has never developed a style of his own. Every directorial chop Eastwood displays was stolen from Don Siegel or Sergio Leone - real filmmakers who taught him what little he knows. Clint's only original theme, present from Play Misty for Me all the way to Million Dollar Baby, is that of a paternalistic white male who exercises the power of life or death over a woman: invariably, he chooses to kill her." Alex Cox, May 25th 2007
Isn't that one of the best Hollywood Sacred Cow assassinations of all time?
It's from a recent Alex Cox... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 5/24/2007 4:10 PM Once in a while, stuck on the other side of the world, I envy the quality TV that you lot get in the Northern Hemisphere. One of the shows I miss most is Later with Jools Holland.
And tonight's show has a simply brilliant line-up. Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Joan Armatrading, Wilco and my hope for breakthrough of the year, Richard Swft.
The last, and only, time I saw Richard Swift live was on a visit to see our esteemed editor in Brussels. As is his wont, Eoghan organised that we, with our better halves, would go see a gig that he had picked out. Swift made up one of two relativlely obscure singer-songwriters - the other being Baxter Dury, son of the late Ian Dury. Dury's rather predictable reggae-like urban dramas were completely obscured by Swift's dramatic, almost vaudevillian, chamber pop. Swift had a memorable head of hair (!) as well as a tight, funky band. His melodic delivery perfectly suited his songs. I bought a double CD that was available on the night - a compilation his previous two albums, the Novelist / Walking Without Effort.
... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 5/8/2007 4:31 PMTrue living legend Prince has announced a 21 date residency in London later this year. The details known to date can be found here. 21 shows!!
 What's interesting about Prince's escapade is that he has fixed ticket prices at £31.21 in tribute to his latest (and really rather fine) album 3121 - ticket buyers will also get a copy of the album (I'm assuming a digital download). The price means many of his fans can now afford to see the man credited with some of the most spectacular stage shows of the 20th century. Prince claims to have prepared over 150 songs for the shows and that he will play a different set list each night. He's bringing the symbol shaped stage that was showcased during the Superbowl half-time show. Seeing such a spectacle for that price must count as one of the bargains of the year (though cynics might snort that this ploy is designed to guarantee a full house for a fading musical force).
... Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 4/30/2007 10:43 PM During the utlimately rather forgettable 300, I found myself thinking about the trailer I'd just seen for Grindhouse, a double bill directed by Robert Rodriguez (who made the heroic Sin City) and Quentin Tarantino (do we need to list his triumphs?). The gorgeous Rosario Dawson as a stripper with a machine gun for a leg. A grizzly looking Kirk Douglas wearing an iconic eye patch. Again. The trailer was so gloriously over the top - a quick scan round the audience revealed many a popcorn muncher elbowing his partner or mate, mouthing "what the f*** is this?!".
I've been annoying my partner about this film for months.
And, now, the release in Australia (and Ireland) has been postponed. Indefinitely. The box office takings of the movie in the US have been disastrous - a measly $12 million in its opening weekend (over Easter - traditionally a strong... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 4/29/2007 11:45 PM... can be heard here. The Stripes are even more Led Zep than ever. Magnificent!
|
By Stephen McNulty on 4/29/2007 9:19 PMOne of the more interesting of the music prizes on offer is the ShortList.
 The list this year is remarkable in that it's virtually a distillation of the past 12 months of our CLUAS discussion board faves!... Band of Horses, Beirut, Joanna Newsom, Cat Power. All CLUAS discussion topics over the past months and all very much in with a shout of winning.
For those of you unfamiliar with the "rules" of Shortlist, any album released in the U.S. in 2006 is eligible for nomination as long as it had not been certified gold for domestic US sales of 500,000 or more. The list is chosen by a random selection of musicians - this year that selection really is a fascinating combo. We will have a winning album chosen by Franz... Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 4/21/2007 6:44 PMIt happened halfway through last Wilco's first ever headlining gig in Sydney last night . The band were ripping through Walken from their imminent release, Sky Blue Sky. I was sat by the sound desk, in a leg brace - long story. My good friend Fergal, enjoying his virgin Wilco experience, turned to me and took a Robbie-Robertson-a-la-Last-Waltz stance, wide-legged, jerking back and forth, guitar swinging from side to side. I looked back to the stage and realised just how much Jeff Tweedy resembled the former Band front man. Right down to the ear to ear grin. Yep, this was not the grumpy Jeff I'd experienced in the past - this was a happy Jeff. Jeff, the raconteur, taking the piss out of Steak 'n' Kidney (Sydney) and describing Tasmania as "the two-headed state".
The music was just as joyous. Encompassing songs from all of their albums, the gig hit  some... Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 4/19/2007 3:37 AM So there is a movie that is coming out soon that has me positively salivating.... it's not Fincher's Zodiac. Nor is it the Rodriguez/ Tarantino lovein, Grindhouse. No - it's This Is England, by maverick English director, Shane Meadows.
The reason? I believe Meadow's last movie, 2004's Dead Man's Shoes, to be one of the greatest pictures of recent years. It's a rivetting revenge thriller starring the British Isle's one true acting superstar (are you watching, Colin?) , the very wonderful Paddy Considine. He plays ex-soldier Richard with such menace, magnetism and macabre humour that I would readily compare the peformance with de Niro's iconic Travis Bickle - yes, Considine really is that good.
Meadow's makes very personal pictures. His Once Upon a TIme in the West... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 4/15/2007 4:43 AM
American TV shows seem to be picking up some increasingly interesting music - I was sitting watching CSI with my girl this evening when a perfectly funky version of Cameo's Word Up was showcased.
A little digging turned up that the song (available for download below) is by a London soul singer called Willis - more info here.
If you are intrigued, Willis is playing the Plastic People on Curtain Road in London on April 28th.
Cover Versions are pretty special to me and, over time, they'll become a major theme of my blog. I hope you like this as a starter for 10...
Download: Willis - Word Up
... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 4/10/2007 4:20 AM
 As the BBC recently reported, a draft "Blogging Code of Conduct" is being proposed after perceived threats made on a popular blog against US developer, Kathy Sierra. Ms Sierra was threatened on the US blog Creating Passionate Users. The offensive comments (details here) caused Ms Sierra to cancel a personal appearance at the SXSW festival. The main tenet of the proposed code of conduct draft is that :-
anonymous blog messaging should be banned;
writers must take responsibility for comments as well as content; ... Read More »
|
By Stephen McNulty on 4/4/2007 1:47 AMA comment ("...back in the days when it meant something to him...") left by the reader 'Wazza' on my first blog entry has got me thinking. It was in reference to Robbie Williams and seemed to suggest that Williams' heart is no longer in his music, that somehow he'd lost his muse. Williams' rise was certainly a dramatic one - from making it massive by proving his old mates wrong, by having 250,000 people chant his name. Maybe now Williams is suffering from the Rules of being a Celebrity in the Modern Age that dictate that he cannot stay on a pedestal that high. He has to fall. Maybe that fall has everything to do with his manic depressive nature but, personally, Williams has, in recent years, become a much more interesting artist (though both Williams' record company and would probably disagree based on the quite dismal performance... Read More » |
By Stephen McNulty on 3/22/2007 4:23 PMHave you had a musical experience that, over time, has festered in your mind until you reach a point where what you feel now is much more intense than what you felt at the time?
Well, let’s talk about Damien Rice’s show at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney, last month. Having had mixed Rice live experiences in the past, I was wary of his mood. On occasion, he can be a storyteller, an engager. On others he can be sullen and dismissive. But seldom, if ever, has an artist shown such disregard for his audience as Rice did that night in Sydney. He was surly, he turned his back to us. He refused completely to engage. His band played with a kind of cautious acceptance, reverentially bowing their heads at the appropriate times as if to let him know that they understand. The show only sparked to life when the band played a glorious Cold... Read More » |