Tag: review

Lark + Taxi Violence + Plastics = BEAST

Review: BEAST, SMOKE SWIG SWEAR (2013)

The photos I took of the SMOKE SWIG SWEAR album launch at Assembly are too shameful so instead here is a picture of the bear head guy who was standing in front of me.
The photos I took of the SMOKE SWIG SWEAR album launch at Assembly are too shamefully bad so instead here is a picture of the bear head guy who was standing in front of me.

BEAST is South Africa’s supergroup. They’re our The Traveling Wilburys or The Raconteurs, and they’re just as super. I’ve been wanting to do this review since about 10 minutes after I first heard their album when it was released a few month ago – it’s really, really good.

So, charisma abounds with Inge Beckmann (Lark), Louis Nel and Rian Zietsman (Taxi Violence) and Sasha Righini (The Plastics) on drums. The Taxi Violence guys both play bass, so there’s no ‘regular’ guitar, which for most of us just means we want to describe the music as ‘dark’, but we’re not sure why. Continue reading “Lark + Taxi Violence + Plastics = BEAST”

What’s the plan?

Fritz Lang? Is that you?

Shadows and Fog review

Spoiler level: Nothing that can’t be remedied with a blow to the head.

Shadows and Fog is a German expressionist murder-mystery, set in an unnamed Kafkaesque town in the middle of the night.

A serial killer is on the loose, and Woody Allen’s character Kleinman is reluctantly recruited into a group of vigilantes out to catch him. Continue reading “What’s the plan?”

They drew first blood, not me.

Rambo: First Blood review

Spoiler level: First Blood is as old as me; if you haven’t seen it yet, tough.

I love this poster. I love the red mist, and the way they etched out Sylvester Stallone’s giant cake hair and gave it an outer glow. And then, because that would have been too subtle, added two more, progressively madder, Sylvester Stallones in the background. Rambo: First Two Clones.

Continue reading “They drew first blood, not me.”

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, his lover, their child, and her five adopted and three biological children

I watched Mighty Aphrodite the other day. When I realised what it was going to be about, I checked the release date (1995), then I checked when Woody Allen left Mia Farrow for her adopted daughter (1992). This post basically wrote itself after that.

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and Soon-Yi Previn in 1986

Continue reading “Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, his lover, their child, and her five adopted and three biological children”

The best live act in Cape Town

Review: Lark, Gong is Struck (2012)

Lark are one of South Africa’s greatest bands EVER. I really believe they deserve to be world famous; Inge Beckmann is a most awesome frontispiece[1], and their live act is the most powerful thing you’ll see. They released their fifth album, Gong is Struck, in July.

One of many crappy pics I took at the lauch with my phone. If you click on it, it will get a bit bigger.

Continue reading “The best live act in Cape Town”