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Articles

• Big blues for ’New Labour’
  9 May 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  Is ’New Labour’ a thing from the past?
  The excentric Boris Johnson was elected mayor of London on the 4th of May with a significant majority. The man is at best a jester... As Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Johnson was quiet - breaking the silence only in order to make provocative remarks about Islam, homosexuality and even the ’collective mentality’ of people in Papua New Guinea ("cannibals" and "chief killers").
  I was very sorry to hear about Ken Livingston’s defeat in London, (…)

• The Steven Soderbergh touch...
  30 September 2007, by arthur, Paul Kirkness

  As Ocean’s Thirteen was hitting the screens worldwide, we thought that the man behind the movie deserved one of our little general reviews. It is safe to say that Steven Soderbergh is one of the greatest American director’s living today. He is the writer and director of such remarked films as Sex, Lies and Videotape and Out of Sight. But it is also him that we must thank for less renowned movies such as Schizopolis, Full Frontal or Kafka... Who are you Mr. Soderbergh ?
  Steven was born in (…)

• Duman - Inspiring Turkish rock
  8 June 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  Assiduous readers will have noticed your reviewer’s sudden obsession with Turkey. I work in bursts and after my interest in Greek pop-rock, I decided I should enter the world of Turkish rock. After falling in love (almost literally) with singers like Sevval Sam and Sezen Aksu - who possess truly unique voices - I decided to examine the world of rock n’ roll a little more closely... It was my greatest pleasure to discover a really great band: Duman.
  Let us start with the beginning... What (…)

• DJ Shadow - Our favourite DJ saviour [part 2 : Collaborations]
  23 January 2006, by arthur, David Charlot

  The first part of this review was dedicated to show DJ Shadow as a stand alone artist... This second part should reveal Shadow’s ability to collaborate with artists of his own genre, eg. Cut Chemist, as well as with seemingly musically distant artists such as Thom Yorke from Radiohead.
  Drum roll... after waiting for more than a year for this review, here it is finally!
  All right stop, Collaborate and listen "Shadow’s" back with his brand new edition! Collaboration... Even before surfing (…)

• No Country for Old Men - The return of the Coen brothers
  4 February 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  The Coen brothers are back. And this time with a dark and violent film...
  Clearly, the Coen brothers have developed a great talent for moving from style to style. After the immensely successful The Big Lebowski which was released ten years ago, Ethan and Joel Coen must have realized they were standing before a wall. Indeed, how could they ever match the genius of such a crazy, hilarious and genius film? The truth is that, from The Hudsucker Proxy through Fargo to Lebowski, the brothers (…)

• The other side of Fatih Akin
  26 April 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  Towards the end of September last year, I wrote an article about a documentary film that I particularly enjoyed - Crossing the Bridge. This film was filmed and edited by Fatih Akin, the son of Turkish migrants who moved to Hamburg. His documentary film-making was, I argued, particularly moving because, as he explored the streets of Istanbul with Alexander Hacke, one could not but get this feeling that the author was both ‘rediscovering’ home as a Turk and ‘discovering’ the marvels of a city (…)

• The sounds of Istanbul - Crossing the Bridge
  30 September 2007, by Paul Kirkness

  When Alexander Hacke, a German bass player, reaches the thriving city of Istanbul to find musicians who will help him to compose the music of Head On, he encounters the neo-psychedelic band Baba Zula. He is asked if he will play the bass for them when their own bassist leaves the band. Filmed by Fatih Akin, this documentary is about Hacke and his personal attempts at grasping the full richness of Istanbul’s musical scene.
  The beauty of Istanbul is renowned. Thousands of years of history (…)