Review: Meta4orce

I try to be fair-minded.

I try to see everything in its best light…

Then I’m faced with this cock-storm.

Guillermo Vargas – Artist or sadist?

I recently received an email with the ominous title “FW: PLEASE SIGN!!!!!” Now because my brain has not yet been completely washed away with cheap Chardonnay, my guard is generally up when any form of petition-based mail arrives in my inbox. However, I had little else more interesting to do (or should I say I had a number of pressing matters to attend to from which an inane distraction would be just the ticket) so I read it.

The mail in question refers to an artist (or “artist” as he’s refferred) from Costa Rica called Guillermo ‘Habacuc’ Vargas. For an exhibition in the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua last year Vargas captured a stray dog, which he named “Natividad”, and tied it up under the words “Eres Lo Que Lees” (“You are what you read”) which were written in dog biscuits on the wall. Now, apparently, Natividad was left there unfed throughout the exhibition and eventually died of starvation.

Predictably this has caused outrage. There is a petition mentioned in the mail to stop Vargas from taking part in this year’s Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American and several others on the internet. Also there are numerous blogs and postings on the subject along with YouTube videos all full of heart-tugging emotional music and, of course, violent hatred!

Here are some of the YouTube comments including inventive suggestions for retribution…

“Lets pour gas on them and have them wake up in a dark room with a book of matches in there hand and then invite ppl to the show”

…and some people, as usual, just need an excuse to dust off the old white hood…

“lets go linch the spick bastard!”

What I find the most shocking about this is the willingness of people to drop everything at a minute’s notice and form an angry mob. It seems we, as a species, are always just seconds away from becoming an irrational hate group. And hate is hate, whomever it is directed at. It doesn’t need reason or any of the normal rules we supposedly deem necessary to be civilised.

Even more disturbing is the fact that people are manipulated so easily, and I’m not talking about starving dogs here really, because if that’s all it takes, an unsolicited email, to sway people into making death threats (apparently Vargas has received many of these) or just into making quite frankly disgusting (and no doubt illegal) comments online, then we can be made to do or accept anything.

If anyone bothers to research Vargas’ exhibition from a more reliable source (more reliable than a questionable email, someone’s YouTube offering or any blog anyway – and you can include this one) they may find out more information about the truth. Are you going to do that?

OK, well from the Observer, March 30th 2008:

Juanita Bermúdez, director of the Códice Gallery, insisted Natividad escaped after just one day. She said: “It was untied all the time except for the three hours the exhibition lasted and it was fed regularly with dog food Habacuc himself brought in.”

Review: Red – Guillemots

Well the second Guillemots album is here.  I’ve been waiting for it expectantly since “Through the Windowpane”.  I adored this first album and on learning that there existed people who did not hold it in such esteem I felt I had once again been poked in the eye and reminded that the world I inhabit is both strange and cruel.

So for me at least this album has a lot to live up to and I have been expecting a lot.  Experience of life’s sadistic nature however had me prepared for the worst…

The first taste was from the single “Get Over It” and I have to say I found this song disappointingly bland.  It’s no “Made Up Lovesong #43” and for my liking a bit too polished in the production, losing the intimacy of the earlier work.

So what of the album?

“Red” bears what appears to be a huge ball of red string on the cover rolling towards us through a tunnel.  It seems about to squash us.  It’s bold and colourful and in some ways an indication of what lies within.  A first listen was a little disorientating – leaving me unable to latch on to anything.  It felt different and strange.  But on a second pass it began to fall into place – unfamiliar but unquestionably a Guillemots album.  And good too.  I really think I’m going to like this album.

The opener “Kriss Kross,” while not involving any back-to-front denim (if you don’t know what I’m talking about that’s not a bad thing), begins with orchestral stabs that could have come from Paul Hardcastle’s DX7 back in the Eighties to create an uneasy, Middle Eastern feel which then transforms into a soaring chorus.  There’s so much going on here, so many layers of sound that it’s hard to take in, but it seems to slot together perfectly.

Big Dog is altogether smoother and has a kind of clubby, George Michael feel in contrast to the first track.  But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing – honestly.  Then “Falling Out Of Reach” is gentle and subtle tune.  It’s one of those simple, beautifully crafted songs that sound like they’ve been living in your head for so long that you’d forgotten they were there.

After “Get Over It” we have “Clarion” and “Last Kiss”, the latter an up tempo techno/electro number and then “Cockateels” which doesn’t quite hit the mark for me.  After these “Words” is another soft, beautiful song full of subtle strings and piano.  After being treated to Fyfe’s falsetto on “Standing On The Last Star” we get the wonderful “Don’t Look Down” which starts off like moody, latter-day U2 and then picks up its pace with buzzing synths and blasting flurries of drumming.  This picks you up and throws you like an angry bull at once chaotic and engaging.

“Take Me Home” closes the album and it’s a typical Guillemots ballad that gently sets you back down on the ground.

The album is very ambitious and it’s obvious a lot of work has gone into creating something this epic.  The band have stretched themselves musically, emotionally and it seems used every corner of their imagination in an attempt to produce something that is not confined by genre or expectations.  This could result in something patchy that just doesn’t know which hat it is supposed to be wearing.  But this band are not trying to be anything.  You get the impression they are children lose in a toyshop letting their creativity run amok.  And the result is not contrived at all but feels fresh and honest.  In a time when so much of what we see is a studied version of something else (usually from an era twenty or more years in the past) and consequently strangled by its own coolness or set of implied rules, seeing a band that can effortlessly be themselves and display genuine brilliance is like emerging from stagnant water to take a lungful of cool, fresh air.

But For all the diversity and good ideas on display here the main element that makes all this work is Fyfe Dangerfield’s brilliant songwriting which runs throughout the album.  People have criticized Guillemots for being inconsistent.  Well I’m glad they are – they’ve just got too much to say.

Get George Lamb off 6 Music?

An awful lot seems to be being said about this daytime show on BBC 6 Music.  It has spawned a Facebook group (“Get George Lamb off 6 Music!”) and a petition web site (http://www.getlambout.org.uk/).

Lamb was brought into 6 Music last year to take over Gideon Coe’s 10 am slot while Coe moved to a 10 pm show.  So what’s the problem?  Why the backlash?

The man’s an absolute idiot that’s why!  He knows nothing about music and obviously does no research.  He has changed the morning show into sub-Moyles, laddish banter.  It’s not just unfunny and entirely inappropriate for a station with a supposed serious interest in music, but it’s totally unoriginal.  Appropriating the Chuck Norris facts website and milking it as if it had anything to do with him shows how lacking in original thought this loudmouthed fool is.  And why put a dictionary of his own ‘lingo’ on the 6 Music website?  Who’s never heard of the word “clobber” for clothes, “fresh” for new or the phrase “having a bad one”.  He has no shame at all in his quest for some shtick to help with this, as it obviously is to him, stepping stone in his career.

Who do we have to thank for this?  Lesley Douglas.  She claims Lamb is part of a drive to attract more women to the station.  An extract from Lamby’s Lingo – “Did you chirpse that boss-eyed bird last night?” – seems to bring this into question.  But what would I know?

For me the most abhorrent stench from this unflushable stool came today.  I had his show on again like someone who repeatedly sticks their finger in a plug socket.  He was talking about Apocalypse Now and one of the thicket of cronies he surrounds himself with started talking about the book, “Heart of Darkness” on which it is based.  The guy said the book was set in Africa somewhere, seemingly embarrassed by the unwelcome, uncool intellectual implications of revealing this knowledge.  Immediately Lamb set upon him jeering that a film about the Vietnam War could not be based on a book about Africa.  Another crony then corroborated the first’s statement adding that the book was set in the Congo.

Did Lamb graciously acknowledge his mistake?  Did he take on board this new information and perhaps encourage more talk for the benefit of the listener?

No, he took the opportunity to demonstrate his own area of expertise as he recited, alone, the entire song from the ‘Um Bongo’ commercial.

Review: Chocolate Rain – Tay Zonday

OK, so I’m a bit late getting this but it’s proving hard to get out of my head.

The song / video Chocolate Rain by YouTube phenomenon Tay Zonday has been derided for being cheesy and crappily produced but I have to say I disagree.  I would even go as far as to say it has a sublime beauty!  Tay has  got an amazing baritone with a deep mahogany sound and an underlying natural power.  The production of the track downplays the tinny piano and Casio-style beat which act as the perfect foil for his vocals which are delivered high in the mix and therefore achieve a (slightly surreal) intimacy.  Whether or not this is by design I don’t know but I like it.

The song itself is very simple with just two melodic lines, but the structure of the song and the delivery of the lyrics build an increasing sense of urgency and drama.  The lyrics themselves deal with racism and sit perfectly with the slightly off-kilter style of the singing and music.  In fact I have to say that I love the piano playing.  I mean it sounds like it’s been played from a sequencer on a cheap PC (I like that) and it has an interesting rhythm and counterpoint.

So is this just an internet viral that has no real depth or quality?  I mean he looks bloody strange, like a manic android, and delivers some bizarre facial expressions (OK, he looks like he’s desperate for a dump), in this way he reminds me a little of David Byrne.  These peculiar visuals and his very unusual voice have clearly been key to the video’s popularity.  For me this just adds to the overall song which I think is a wonderful creation.

He has licensed the song under a Creative Commons license which means it is essentially free to you and me, but larger corps etc have to pay him royalties.  This is a fantastic idea and his endorsement of it will hopefully encourage more music to be released this way.  Then the power truly comes to the artist who can release music in fair competition with others (i.e. on the web) and yet retain a degree of artistic control over their own work if the pimps get hold of it.  Well, he’s already done a commercial for Dr Pepper and so this has no-doubt paid off handsomely.  What happens now we will see.  I mean he’s ours at the moment but will success take something away, or will increased opportunity enable him to fully realise his artistic desires.

Then again, maybe he’ll fade away and be remembered as just another Numa or Star Wars Kid.

Review: Lily Allen and Friends

Prior to watching this much hyped programme I had read the Mail on Sunday’s story which stated that over one third of the audience had walked out before the end of the show.  However, our friends at the Mail are not always welcoming of things new and young so I was wary of their desire to trash it and likelihood to exaggerate.

So trying to keep an open mind and forgetting about the Mail’s one-sidedness and my own, at best, ambivalence towards Miss Allen, I settled down to watch.

The show has been themed around Lily Allen’s MySpace site and, in case you don’t know, it is through this site that she is purported to have found her musical fame and eventually a record contract.  She accrued “friends” on her MySpace page who in turn went on to become her fan base, and this got got her noticed and you know the rest.  So the audience for Lilly Allen and Friends are all picked from these online “friends” (you see the title now? – very Web 2.0).  The online theme is taken into further areas of the show too e.g. guests from YouTube videos.

Shoehorned into this is a more conventional chat show and we had guests David Mitchell, of Peep Show fame, actor Cuba Gooding Jr and YouTube star Zay Tonday.

This programme was at best lazy and unimaginative and at worst insulting to the viewer.  No amount of clever editing could hide David Mitchell’s discomfort at being part of this as he was asked to comment on a series of clips including a wanking bear. In fact after having just written the words “wanking bear” there doesn’t seem a lot else I can add.  Mitchell had the look of a man who has just found himself doing something that is quite repugnant - something very difficult to “style out” with any dignity.  Later, he was bluntly asked how much he earned (an amusing thing to ask, I guess) and while I’m sure he wanted to be polite, being forced into a corner like that he gave the far more appropriate response: “Do you think I’m a moron?”

Now, while I’m not exactly a Lily Allen fan I felt sorry for her as she was clearly out of her depth and bumbled through the autocue generally looking quite nervous – it brought back memories of Kelly Brook on The Big Breakfast.  We were also treated to some kind of vlog of her day.  This was taken at the gym, then in the studio.  She moaned on the running machine, asking not to have her bum filmed, and then couldn’t finish her workout saying she hated the gym and was no good at it.  This is firstly VERY tedious.  It’s staged and is of no interest to anyone beyond a stalker.  Secondly, saying “I’m a bit crap at this” will only go so far in gaining endearment points.  The trouble is that this attitude seemed to permeate the whole show and it’s only so long before someone says “hang on a minute, you’re right – this really is shit.”

The whole premise of this barrel-scraping, bandwagonning, too-late catch-up on the MySpace generation is really quite pathetic and has the stench of desperation. Trotting out YouTube clips was pointless – there is a medium for them and it’s called, well, YouTube. You have to wonder which coke-addled ‘creative’ got paid for thinking this concept up and why anyone thought it was a good idea. It’s a sad day for television when writers and producers are reduced to imitating the pixillated world of MySpace and YouTube.  Watching television apeing these younger, trendier internet phenomena was like watching a dad dancing to “Firestarter” at a wedding.