Kate Stables has readied a new This Is the Kit album called Careful of Your Keepers. The LP arrives on June 9th via Rough Trade, and as a preview, new single “Inside Outside” is out now.
Careful of Your Keepers is named after the seventh track on the record, which refers to, as Stables put it in a press release, “The fragility of things. Of situations. Of relationships. Of humans. What we do to look after each other and ourselves. The passing of time and what that does to us, and how we live our lives going forward.”
Stables teamed up with her usual band for the LP, as well as Jesse D. Vernon, who arranged a horn quartet. Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys produced the project, and both Stables and Rhys himself spoke excitedly about the collaboration in a statement.
“I’ve always loved the idea of working with him somehow,...
Careful of Your Keepers is named after the seventh track on the record, which refers to, as Stables put it in a press release, “The fragility of things. Of situations. Of relationships. Of humans. What we do to look after each other and ourselves. The passing of time and what that does to us, and how we live our lives going forward.”
Stables teamed up with her usual band for the LP, as well as Jesse D. Vernon, who arranged a horn quartet. Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys produced the project, and both Stables and Rhys himself spoke excitedly about the collaboration in a statement.
“I’ve always loved the idea of working with him somehow,...
- 4/4/2023
- by Carys Anderson
- Consequence - Music
Click here to read the full article.
The plasticity of memory is a familiar dramatic subject, the stuff of sci-fi tentpoles (Total Recall), indie thrillers (Memento) and genre hybrids (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). On a more everyday level, that neural malleability suggests something fragile and vulnerable. For the two couples at the center of The Almond and the Seahorse, both affected by traumatic brain injury, there’s nothing theoretical about being stuck in a broken memory loop — it’s a sad and draining reality. How do you maintain a relationship with someone whose memory of your life together is fractured, erratic, deteriorating? That’s the painful challenge facing Sarah and Toni, characters played, respectively, by Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Apparently her first non-comedic big-screen role was life-changing for Wilson — a paradox given that the drama onscreen comes to life only in fits and starts. An adaptation of...
The plasticity of memory is a familiar dramatic subject, the stuff of sci-fi tentpoles (Total Recall), indie thrillers (Memento) and genre hybrids (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). On a more everyday level, that neural malleability suggests something fragile and vulnerable. For the two couples at the center of The Almond and the Seahorse, both affected by traumatic brain injury, there’s nothing theoretical about being stuck in a broken memory loop — it’s a sad and draining reality. How do you maintain a relationship with someone whose memory of your life together is fractured, erratic, deteriorating? That’s the painful challenge facing Sarah and Toni, characters played, respectively, by Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Apparently her first non-comedic big-screen role was life-changing for Wilson — a paradox given that the drama onscreen comes to life only in fits and starts. An adaptation of...
- 12/15/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Here’s a first-look image of Rebel Wilson and Celyn Jones in The Almond and the Seahorse, Wilson’s first non-comedy role coming as the Australian comedian prepares to host Friday’s BAFTAs.
The pair play an archaeologist and an architect as they fight to re-imagine a future after a traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love.
Filming took place last year in Liverpool and North Wales on the pic from Mad As Birds and Rep Productions Sf, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, news revealed exclusively by Deadline in December 2020.
Jojo Rabbit and Cats star Wilson is hosting this Friday’s BAFTA Film Awards for the first time.
The Almond and the Seahorse is being directed by the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Tom Stern with Jones from a screenplay written by Jones and Kaite O’Reilly, adapted from the stage play also by O’Reilly.
Gruff Rhys, known...
The pair play an archaeologist and an architect as they fight to re-imagine a future after a traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love.
Filming took place last year in Liverpool and North Wales on the pic from Mad As Birds and Rep Productions Sf, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, news revealed exclusively by Deadline in December 2020.
Jojo Rabbit and Cats star Wilson is hosting this Friday’s BAFTA Film Awards for the first time.
The Almond and the Seahorse is being directed by the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Tom Stern with Jones from a screenplay written by Jones and Kaite O’Reilly, adapted from the stage play also by O’Reilly.
Gruff Rhys, known...
- 3/9/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul McCartney chewing celery on Super Furry Animals’ 2000 song “Receptacle for the Respectable” ranks among the strangest guest appearances of the legendary songwriter’s career. Now, ahead of the 20th-anniversary collection celebrating Super Furry Animals’ Rings Around the World, the Welsh band has offered up the isolated, one-minute version of McCartney’s vegetable solo.
After a chance encounter with the band at the 2000 NME Awards — and following Sfa’s involvement in McCartney’s Liverpool Sound Academy project — McCartney agreed to appear on their then-in-the-works new album, with a catch.
“He...
After a chance encounter with the band at the 2000 NME Awards — and following Sfa’s involvement in McCartney’s Liverpool Sound Academy project — McCartney agreed to appear on their then-in-the-works new album, with a catch.
“He...
- 7/21/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Gruff Rhys has shared the video for “Loan Your Loneliness,” off the Super Furry Animals singer’s upcoming new solo album Seeking New Gods.
The album, out May 21st via Rough Trade, is inspired by an imagined history of the picturesque Mount Paektu, an active volcano on the border of North Korea and China.
“The album is about people and the civilizations, and the spaces people inhabit over periods of time,” Rhys said in a statement. “How people come and go but the geology sticks around and changes more slowly.
The album, out May 21st via Rough Trade, is inspired by an imagined history of the picturesque Mount Paektu, an active volcano on the border of North Korea and China.
“The album is about people and the civilizations, and the spaces people inhabit over periods of time,” Rhys said in a statement. “How people come and go but the geology sticks around and changes more slowly.
- 3/15/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: Casting is rounding out on UK drama The Almond And The Seahorse, with Charlotte Gainsbourg joining Rebel Wilson in the pic.
As we revealed previously, the movie will see Wilson taking on her first non-comedy film role. It is being directed by the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Tom Stern with Celyn Jones from a screenplay written by Jones and Kaite O’Reilly, adapted from the stage play also by O’Reilly.
Gruff Rhys, known as the frontman of the Super Furry Animals, has signed up to write and compose an original score for the project. He previously worked with producers Mad As Birds on Set Fire To The Stars, for which he won a BAFTA.
The Almond And The Seahorse will follow an archaeologist and an architect as they fight to re-imagine a future after traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love. Shoot is scheduled to take place...
As we revealed previously, the movie will see Wilson taking on her first non-comedy film role. It is being directed by the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Tom Stern with Celyn Jones from a screenplay written by Jones and Kaite O’Reilly, adapted from the stage play also by O’Reilly.
Gruff Rhys, known as the frontman of the Super Furry Animals, has signed up to write and compose an original score for the project. He previously worked with producers Mad As Birds on Set Fire To The Stars, for which he won a BAFTA.
The Almond And The Seahorse will follow an archaeologist and an architect as they fight to re-imagine a future after traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love. Shoot is scheduled to take place...
- 12/18/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
For fans of Gruff Rhys — Super Furry Animals frontman, Neon Neon singer and a prolific solo artist in his own right — his use of cue cards has been a staple at his live performances for over a decade. Often comedic and thought-provoking, the cue cards became a method for the admittedly socially awkward Rhys to both engage with and avoid interacting with his audience.
“Suddenly there was little pressure for me to communicate with the audience, when all I was interested in was writing and singing songs,” Rhys says. “Which...
“Suddenly there was little pressure for me to communicate with the audience, when all I was interested in was writing and singing songs,” Rhys says. “Which...
- 10/19/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Ben Gibbard, Jim James, Fred Armisen and more will participate in a livestreaming charity concert hosted by the archival label Light in the Attic this Friday, April 3rd, on YouTube and Twitch at 4 p.m. Pst/7 p.m. Est.
The concert will feature a mix of contemporary artists and older musicians whose music Light in the Attic has released over the years. All donations accumulated during the event will go to MusiCares’ Covid-19 Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping those in the music community — both artists and behind-the-scenes personnel...
The concert will feature a mix of contemporary artists and older musicians whose music Light in the Attic has released over the years. All donations accumulated during the event will go to MusiCares’ Covid-19 Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping those in the music community — both artists and behind-the-scenes personnel...
- 4/1/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Damon Albarn may have called off potential Gorillaz projects for the foreseeable future, but he hasn’t slowed down making music with his numerous other bands. The songwriter’s latest venture is reviving Africa Express, which facilitates collaborations between Western and African artists — and he showcases that cultural diversity on new single “Become the Tiger,” featuring Sibot and Mr. Jukes.
The collaboration appears on the the South African-based collective’s upcoming LP, Egoli, out July 12th via their newly formed label Africa Express Records. The song previews the record’s eclecticism,...
The collaboration appears on the the South African-based collective’s upcoming LP, Egoli, out July 12th via their newly formed label Africa Express Records. The song previews the record’s eclecticism,...
- 5/29/2019
- by Brandon Kahn and Ryan Reed
- Rollingstone.com
Africa Express, a musical collective led by Damon Albarn, will release a new album, Egoli, on July 12 via Africa Express Records. The album will feature appearances by Gruff Rhys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, Georgia and several South African artists. Albarn previewed the release with a new song, “Johannesburg,” which includes guest appearances from Gruff Rhys, Morena Leraba, Radio 123 and Sibot.
Africa Express is excited to announce new album ‘Egoli’
Out 12th July! Pre-order using this link https://t.co/uvL3igSrmy
Featured artists include @Damonalbarn, Bcuc, DJ Spoko, @_georgiauk,...
Africa Express is excited to announce new album ‘Egoli’
Out 12th July! Pre-order using this link https://t.co/uvL3igSrmy
Featured artists include @Damonalbarn, Bcuc, DJ Spoko, @_georgiauk,...
- 5/8/2019
- by Emily Zemler
- Rollingstone.com
Gruff Rhys doesn’t let the apocalypse prevent him from vainly taking his own picture in the new video for “Selfies in the Sunset,” a duet with Lily Cole and the closing track off the Super Furry Animals singer’s latest LP Babelsberg.
In the Ewan Jones Morris-directed video, a nuclear Armageddon unfolds around them, but Rhys and Cole are more concerned with finding the right emojis and Animojis to capture the moment rather than soak in their last minutes on Earth.
“A couple of years ago I noticed some smiling,...
In the Ewan Jones Morris-directed video, a nuclear Armageddon unfolds around them, but Rhys and Cole are more concerned with finding the right emojis and Animojis to capture the moment rather than soak in their last minutes on Earth.
“A couple of years ago I noticed some smiling,...
- 9/20/2018
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Twenty-two emerging producers to receive up to £2.2m; almost 500 applicants.Scroll Down For Recipients
The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.
The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.
The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.
Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.
In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...
The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.
The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.
The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.
Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.
In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...
- 8/24/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
'The Peanuts Movie': 2016 Best Original Score Oscar contender along with 111 other titles. Oscar 2016: Best Original Score contenders range from 'Mad Max: Fury Road' to 'The Peanuts Movie' Earlier this month (Dec. '15), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made public the list of 112 film scores eligible for the 2016 Oscar in the Best Original Score category. As found in the Academy's press release, “a Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.” The release adds that “to be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must...
- 12/24/2015
- by Mont. Steve
- Alt Film Guide
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 112 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 88th Academy Awards.
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:
“Adult Beginners,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“The Age of Adaline,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“Altered Minds,” Edmund Choi, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anomalisa,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Ant-Man,” Christophe Beck, composer
“Beasts of No Nation,” Dan Romer, composer
“The Big Short,” Nicholas Britell, composer
“Black Mass,” Tom Holkenborg, composer
“Bridge of Spies,” Thomas Newman, composer
“Brooklyn,” Michael Brook, composer
“Burnt,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“By the Sea,” Gabriel Yared, composer
“Carol,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Cartel Land,” H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg, composers
“Chi-Raq,” Terence Blanchard, composer
“Cinderella,” Patrick Doyle, composer
“Coming Home,” Qigang Chen, composer
“Concussion,...
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:
“Adult Beginners,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“The Age of Adaline,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“Altered Minds,” Edmund Choi, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anomalisa,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Ant-Man,” Christophe Beck, composer
“Beasts of No Nation,” Dan Romer, composer
“The Big Short,” Nicholas Britell, composer
“Black Mass,” Tom Holkenborg, composer
“Bridge of Spies,” Thomas Newman, composer
“Brooklyn,” Michael Brook, composer
“Burnt,” Rob Simonsen, composer
“By the Sea,” Gabriel Yared, composer
“Carol,” Carter Burwell, composer
“Cartel Land,” H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg, composers
“Chi-Raq,” Terence Blanchard, composer
“Cinderella,” Patrick Doyle, composer
“Coming Home,” Qigang Chen, composer
“Concussion,...
- 12/17/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Argentine Film Festival | UK Film Festival | Artist Film Weekender | Noël Coward Film Festival
Explore Patagonia at this year’s festival, with a focus in honour of the 150th anniversary of Welsh settlement. Super Furry Gruff Rhys investigates the connection in Separado!, while Argentine director Carlos Sorín presents his best-known movies, Bombóm: El Perro and Intimate Stories, which double as tours of Patagonia’s photogenic landscape. Road To La Paz journeys from Buenos Aires to Bolivia, and for cultural tourists, there are docs on artist Nicola Costantino and rock group Banda de Turistas.
Continue reading...
Explore Patagonia at this year’s festival, with a focus in honour of the 150th anniversary of Welsh settlement. Super Furry Gruff Rhys investigates the connection in Separado!, while Argentine director Carlos Sorín presents his best-known movies, Bombóm: El Perro and Intimate Stories, which double as tours of Patagonia’s photogenic landscape. Road To La Paz journeys from Buenos Aires to Bolivia, and for cultural tourists, there are docs on artist Nicola Costantino and rock group Banda de Turistas.
Continue reading...
- 11/20/2015
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
It was a brave move on the part of Nintendo to launch the GameCube without a Mario game. Instead, Mario’s younger sibling took the spotlight in a new series Luigi’s Mansion. It was six years after Super Mario 64 was released that Nintendo gave us Super Mario Sunshine. This week, we take a look back on Mario’s summer getaway, but before we talk about the beautiful tropical island of Delfino and the silver brush-wielding Mario, we have a full report on Pax Prime. Shovel Knight, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Runbow and Oddworld are just some of the many other games we discuss. It’s a crowded house this week as PopOptiq writers Patrick Murphy and Ryan Kapioski join us. And be sure to like our new Facebook page!
Listen on ITunes
Listen on Poddirectory
Listen on Stitcher
Episode Playlist:
00:00: Super Mario Sunshine Intro
00:30: Intro
01:00: Nintendosage: Shovel Knight amiibo,...
Listen on ITunes
Listen on Poddirectory
Listen on Stitcher
Episode Playlist:
00:00: Super Mario Sunshine Intro
00:30: Intro
01:00: Nintendosage: Shovel Knight amiibo,...
- 9/2/2015
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Opening in select U.S. theaters on June 12, watch the trailer for Set Fire To The Stars.
The film premiered in 2014 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was released in the UK in November.
Shelagh Rowan-Legg (Twitchfilm.com) wrote the film, “is a tribute not only to a poet, but to poetry, and how cinema can find its own way to convey poetry, through its own lyricism,” and “the stand-out feature of the poetic extention is by far the incredible score by Gruff Rhys.”
Based on true events, Elijah Wood stars as John Malcolm Brinnin, the New York academic who brought Dylan Thomas to America.
Actor/co-writer Celyn Jones plays the volatile celebrity poet – tormented by anonymity, alcohol and the abyss – who scandalized the Manhattan literati of the Fifties and challenged Brinnin’s hero worship of his work. In the face of the Welsh poet’s wilder excesses in the Big Apple – angel,...
The film premiered in 2014 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was released in the UK in November.
Shelagh Rowan-Legg (Twitchfilm.com) wrote the film, “is a tribute not only to a poet, but to poetry, and how cinema can find its own way to convey poetry, through its own lyricism,” and “the stand-out feature of the poetic extention is by far the incredible score by Gruff Rhys.”
Based on true events, Elijah Wood stars as John Malcolm Brinnin, the New York academic who brought Dylan Thomas to America.
Actor/co-writer Celyn Jones plays the volatile celebrity poet – tormented by anonymity, alcohol and the abyss – who scandalized the Manhattan literati of the Fifties and challenged Brinnin’s hero worship of his work. In the face of the Welsh poet’s wilder excesses in the Big Apple – angel,...
- 5/26/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys has diverted into idiosyncratic documentaries for his film career, The Beta Band's John Maclean has opted for a full-blown Western for his feature debut. Following a couple of shorts, Slow West is actually his third collaboration with Michael Fassbender. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Mendelsohn, Rory McCann and Caren Pistorius also star. And here's the new trailer.Playing to an enthusiastic reception at Sundance, Slow West is an off-kilter take on the genre that still manages to keep the bullets flying while Fassbender chomps an Eastwood-type cigarillo. Some early viewers have compared it to Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, while others have said it's more Wes Anderson.Whatever, the story involves Smit-McPhee journeying across the new American frontier in the late 19th century to find the girl he loves, picking up mysterious "chaperone" Fassbender along the way. Life, it's fair to say, is not peaceful there,...
- 3/25/2015
- EmpireOnline
To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of Set Fire To The Stars, we’re giving five lucky WhatCulture.com readers the chance to win a copy of the film on DVD.
Set in 1950s New York, the film follows John Malcolm Brinnin (Elijah Wood) an aspiring young American poet who finds his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas, played by Celyn Jones.
The film also features established British acting talent including Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, Flight), Steven Mackintosh (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Kick Ass 2), Kevin Eldon (Hugo, Hot Fuzz) and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones Diary, Trainspotting).
Visually stunning and shot entirely in black and white to an original score by Gruff Rhys, Set Fire To The Stars is about the dirty business of celebrity, and what may have happened in an East Coast boathouse when...
Set in 1950s New York, the film follows John Malcolm Brinnin (Elijah Wood) an aspiring young American poet who finds his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas, played by Celyn Jones.
The film also features established British acting talent including Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, Flight), Steven Mackintosh (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Kick Ass 2), Kevin Eldon (Hugo, Hot Fuzz) and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones Diary, Trainspotting).
Visually stunning and shot entirely in black and white to an original score by Gruff Rhys, Set Fire To The Stars is about the dirty business of celebrity, and what may have happened in an East Coast boathouse when...
- 3/6/2015
- by Simon Gallagher
- Obsessed with Film
Never meet your heroes. Or so states the tagline for Andy Goddard’s feature-length debut. Far from a paint-by-numbers biopic, the Downton Abbey alumnus makes the leap to silver screen with an understated elegance, only snowflakes and the swirling of cigarette smoke fracturing Chris Seager’s crisp black and white casing. This may be a world of post-war dreamers, but the choice of monochrome certifies Set Fire to the Stars worthy of timeless status.
Harvard graduate and poetry teacher John Brinnin’s (Elijah Wood) precise opening steps accompany his equally meticulous repetition of tour dates prepared for literary hero, Dylan Thomas (Celyn Jones, also on writing duties). But it is clear from the initial jazz-dowsed introductions that Brinnin will remain the steady bassline, Thomas the improvising drums and brass. Recounting the celebrated Welsh poet’s first trip to America, breaking their first host’s Crock-Pot is the least of this magnificently cast duo’s worries.
Harvard graduate and poetry teacher John Brinnin’s (Elijah Wood) precise opening steps accompany his equally meticulous repetition of tour dates prepared for literary hero, Dylan Thomas (Celyn Jones, also on writing duties). But it is clear from the initial jazz-dowsed introductions that Brinnin will remain the steady bassline, Thomas the improvising drums and brass. Recounting the celebrated Welsh poet’s first trip to America, breaking their first host’s Crock-Pot is the least of this magnificently cast duo’s worries.
- 6/27/2014
- by Emma Thrower
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Andrew finds lots to like in this thoughtful movie about Dylan Thomas
The first time I saw Andy Goddard's work, it was in the 2006 Torchwood episode Countrycide, which featured John Barrowman kneecapping cannibals with a shotgun.
Set Fire To The Stars, directed and co-written by Goddard with actor Celyn Jones, is visually impressive, but also immeasurably more lyrical and thoughtful than you might be expecting. This is less of a surprise considering its subject matter: the story of Dylan Thomas's first visit to New York (his death in the city was dramatised in the recent BBC drama A Poet in New York, with Ewen Bremner playing the same role Elijah Wood does in this film).
Here, Jones plays Dylan Thomas, visiting 50s New York (Swansea), Connecticut (Swansea) and Yale (also Swansea) at the request of Elijah Wood's lapsed poet, the academic John Malcolm Brinnin. Through a combination of monochrome,...
The first time I saw Andy Goddard's work, it was in the 2006 Torchwood episode Countrycide, which featured John Barrowman kneecapping cannibals with a shotgun.
Set Fire To The Stars, directed and co-written by Goddard with actor Celyn Jones, is visually impressive, but also immeasurably more lyrical and thoughtful than you might be expecting. This is less of a surprise considering its subject matter: the story of Dylan Thomas's first visit to New York (his death in the city was dramatised in the recent BBC drama A Poet in New York, with Ewen Bremner playing the same role Elijah Wood does in this film).
Here, Jones plays Dylan Thomas, visiting 50s New York (Swansea), Connecticut (Swansea) and Yale (also Swansea) at the request of Elijah Wood's lapsed poet, the academic John Malcolm Brinnin. Through a combination of monochrome,...
- 6/24/2014
- by sarahd
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Dylan Thomas drama starring Elijah Wood gets UK sales company.
UK sales outfit The Works International has picked up rights to Dylan Thomas drama Set Fire to the Stars, which will receive its world premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival next week (June 23).
Based on John M Brinnin’s account of the hell-raising poet’s first visit to New York in 1950, the film is the feature debut of director Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey) and stars Elijah Wood, Celyn Jones, Kelly Reilly, Stephen Mackintosh and Shirley Henderson.
Written by Andy Goddard and Celyn Jones and produced by A J Riach (Battle of the Sexes) and Andy Evans, the drama is a Mad as Birds Films presentation.
Wood will attend the Eiff premiere, along with Jones and Goddard. Following the screening there will be a performance from Gruff Rhys, lead singer of the Super Furry Animals, who composed the original score for the film.
Clare Crean, head...
UK sales outfit The Works International has picked up rights to Dylan Thomas drama Set Fire to the Stars, which will receive its world premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival next week (June 23).
Based on John M Brinnin’s account of the hell-raising poet’s first visit to New York in 1950, the film is the feature debut of director Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey) and stars Elijah Wood, Celyn Jones, Kelly Reilly, Stephen Mackintosh and Shirley Henderson.
Written by Andy Goddard and Celyn Jones and produced by A J Riach (Battle of the Sexes) and Andy Evans, the drama is a Mad as Birds Films presentation.
Wood will attend the Eiff premiere, along with Jones and Goddard. Following the screening there will be a performance from Gruff Rhys, lead singer of the Super Furry Animals, who composed the original score for the film.
Clare Crean, head...
- 6/19/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Benny & Jolene is micro-budget British indie does This is Spinal Tap. While not quite a mockumentary, this film covers the same fruitful territory of disastrous gigs, incompetent managers, brainless hangers-on and inter-band conflict. Yet, while Spinal Tap were a heavy metal band powered by twin engines of egotism and stupidity, Benny & Jolene are hamstrung by shyness, naivety and a total inability to speak up for themselves.
Benny (Craig Roberts) and Jolene (Charlotte Ritchie) are a two piece folk band with a surprise number one single under their belt. We meet them as they’re being awkwardly thrust into the world of the minor celebrity with an appearance on daytime TV show This Morning. The two are endearingly awkward, tripping over their words and telling stories that don’t really go anywhere, their normality in stark contrast to the tanned slickness of the presenters.
This is, unfortunately, the peak of their career.
Benny (Craig Roberts) and Jolene (Charlotte Ritchie) are a two piece folk band with a surprise number one single under their belt. We meet them as they’re being awkwardly thrust into the world of the minor celebrity with an appearance on daytime TV show This Morning. The two are endearingly awkward, tripping over their words and telling stories that don’t really go anywhere, their normality in stark contrast to the tanned slickness of the presenters.
This is, unfortunately, the peak of their career.
- 5/30/2014
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
Gerard Johnson’s follow-up to Tony to receive world premiere as opening film; contenders for Michael Powell Award also revealed, including six world premieres.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has revealed that corrupt cop drama Hyena will open the 68th edition of the festival on June 18.
The film reunites director Gerard Johnson with Peter Ferdinando, who played the lead in his debut feature Tony which received its world premiere at Eiff in 2009.
Producers include Stephen Woolley (Made in Dagenham, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa), Elizabeth Karlsen (Great Expectations, Ladies in Lavender) and Joanna Laurie. Hyena was developed by Film4. Sam Lavender and Katherine Butler exec produced the film for Film4 which was co-financed by Film4, BFI, Ingenious and Lipsync and will be released by Metrodome in the UK and distributed internationally by Independent.
Set in London, Hyena revolves around corrupt police officer Michael Logan (Ferdinando) who has to deal with an influx of ruthless Albanian gangsters...
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has revealed that corrupt cop drama Hyena will open the 68th edition of the festival on June 18.
The film reunites director Gerard Johnson with Peter Ferdinando, who played the lead in his debut feature Tony which received its world premiere at Eiff in 2009.
Producers include Stephen Woolley (Made in Dagenham, The Crying Game, Mona Lisa), Elizabeth Karlsen (Great Expectations, Ladies in Lavender) and Joanna Laurie. Hyena was developed by Film4. Sam Lavender and Katherine Butler exec produced the film for Film4 which was co-financed by Film4, BFI, Ingenious and Lipsync and will be released by Metrodome in the UK and distributed internationally by Independent.
Set in London, Hyena revolves around corrupt police officer Michael Logan (Ferdinando) who has to deal with an influx of ruthless Albanian gangsters...
- 5/12/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys raises grins retracing a relative's quest to find Welsh-speaking Native Americans
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys has already gone west once on film, with 2010's Separado!, his characteristically idiosyncratic history of the Welsh adventure in Patagonia. Now he offers this record of a tour that wasn't quite a tour: a retracing of John Evans' 1792 quest to find Welsh-speaking Native Americans that has yielded a Dave Gorman-like PowerPoint presentation and an album bearing a distinctly American chug and twang. Clearly, Rhys was creating as he went along, which accounts for the film's spontaneity, but also its restless contradictions. Silvery photography stifles some of its larkiness; vox-pops drown out the quieter numbers. Only the title track's gorgeous anomie lingers, but this tentative survey, full of beans and half-baked ideas alike, still generates broad grins. Having a Muppet represent Evans is an approach a Schama might consider non-canonical,...
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys has already gone west once on film, with 2010's Separado!, his characteristically idiosyncratic history of the Welsh adventure in Patagonia. Now he offers this record of a tour that wasn't quite a tour: a retracing of John Evans' 1792 quest to find Welsh-speaking Native Americans that has yielded a Dave Gorman-like PowerPoint presentation and an album bearing a distinctly American chug and twang. Clearly, Rhys was creating as he went along, which accounts for the film's spontaneity, but also its restless contradictions. Silvery photography stifles some of its larkiness; vox-pops drown out the quieter numbers. Only the title track's gorgeous anomie lingers, but this tentative survey, full of beans and half-baked ideas alike, still generates broad grins. Having a Muppet represent Evans is an approach a Schama might consider non-canonical,...
- 5/8/2014
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
It is surely not a coincidence that American Interior is released in the same week as Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank. The wonderfully idiosyncratic documentary follows Welsh musician Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) as he travels across the American heartland with a doll of the 18th-century explorer John Evans as company. Myth has it that Evans had found a tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans descended from Prince Madoc, who is said to have sailed to America in 1170.
- 5/8/2014
- The Independent - Film
★★★★☆American Interior (2014), the tremendous new collaboration between Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and director Dylan Goch, is a chronicle of dreamers and outlaws; a treatise on two rebel nations that takes the form of a whimsical travelogue. It's a deeply serious film masquerading as a ramshackle frolic. Armed with a guitar, a shonky PowerPoint presentation and a puppet, Rhys somehow manages to untangle the myth of the West and the allure of man's utopian ideals. American Interior is concerned with home; where we find it and what we demand of it, with one man's loopy journey forging an unlikely spiritual connection between two vibrant but downtrodden cultures.
- 5/7/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Each year, the programmers of the SXSW Film Festival deliver a fresh batch of documentaries and films that focus on music in the 24 Beats Per Second sidebar. With such a wide variety of bands and artists performing all over the city during the festival, it only makes sense that some of them would invade our darkened theaters too. We've taken a look at some of the most promising movies premiering this year to help you prioritize what you should add to your schedule.
American Interior (pictured above) -- Gruff Rhys, lead singer of Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals, went on a solo tour in 2012 retracing the steps of one of his relatives. Explorer John Evans left Wales in 1792 headed to America on what would be a seven year quest, searching for a lost tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans. Rhys followed Evans's path, playing music along the way and then eventually...
American Interior (pictured above) -- Gruff Rhys, lead singer of Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals, went on a solo tour in 2012 retracing the steps of one of his relatives. Explorer John Evans left Wales in 1792 headed to America on what would be a seven year quest, searching for a lost tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans. Rhys followed Evans's path, playing music along the way and then eventually...
- 3/6/2014
- by Matt Shiverdecker
- Slackerwood
Sundance just ended, and we are already preparing for the next big film festival, South By Southwest. Not too long ago, the festival announced a few of the films premiering this year, but now they’ve announced the main slate. The midnight selections and some inevitable late-breaking additions are still to be announced, but this should be more than enough to get you excited. Along with many World Premieres, and Sundance favorites like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the line up also includes an anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and an extended Q&A screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel with Wes Anderson. SXSW 2014 runs March 7 through 15 in Austin, Texas. Check out the line up after the jump.
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
- 1/31/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Today the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced a diverse features lineup for this year’s Festival, the 21st edition and running March 7 – 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. The 2014 program expands on SXSW tradition of embracing a range of genres and span of budgets, featuring a wealth of vision from experienced and developing filmmakers alike.
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
- 1/31/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After announcing earlier this month that Jon Favreau’s Chef and the Veronica Mars movie will be making their world debuts at SXSW this year, the festival has revealed its full line-up, including further very promising world premieres, alongside appearances from some of the year’s most high-profile films.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
- 1/30/2014
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Not sure if there is a Short Term 12 equivalent in this year’s Narrative Feature Comp, but on paper SXSW programmers are serving up a mean (and the usual lean group of 8 out of a whopping 1,324 film entries) for the upcoming competitiuon of eight which includes notable entries (that we’ve been tracking for a good time now) such as Zachary Wigon’s The Heart Machine, John Magary’s The Mend, Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns and Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated docs of the year, on the non-fiction side we find Margaret Brown’s The Great Invisible. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the other sections (notable world preems in We’ll Never Have Paris and Faults (see Mary Elizabeth Winstead above), some Sundance items with Texan connections and other nuggets.
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
- 1/30/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Though best known as a musician, Super Furry Animals founder Gruff Rhys is turning out to be rather an interesting filmmaker as well. With his debut feature Separado! Rhys tracked the path of a distant relative into South America and he's doing something similar here, only this time headed to, you guessed it, the American Interior.In 1792, John Evans, a twenty-two-year-old farmhand from Snowdonia, Wales, travelled to America to discover whether there was, as widely believed, a Welsh-speaking Native American tribe - The Madogwys - still walking the Great Plains. During the course of an extraordinary adventure, Evans wrestled the largest river reptiles ever seen in the Mississippi, hunted Bison with the Omaha tribe, defected to the Spanish in St Louis, discovered imaginary volcanoes in...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 1/29/2014
- Screen Anarchy
The film will explore the relationship between Thomas and fellow poet John Malcolm Brinnin, played by Wood
• Elijah Wood: 'Frodo's never going away'
Elijah Wood has signed on for a lead role in Set Fire to the Stars, a film exploring the relationship between the poets Dylan Thomas and John Malcolm Brinnin.
Wood will play Brinnin, an American poet and literary scenester who was friends with Thomas as well as Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. He wrote Dylan Thomas in America, an account of how he brought the poet to the United States and accompanied him on book tours, which were often marred by Thomas's drunkenness and erratic behaviour. Thomas will be played by Celyn Jones, a veteran of TV shows like Above Suspicion, Leaving and Shameless.
The film will be directed by Andy Goddard, who has helmed Downton Abbey episodes, including its recent Christmas special, and it co-stars Shirley Henderson,...
• Elijah Wood: 'Frodo's never going away'
Elijah Wood has signed on for a lead role in Set Fire to the Stars, a film exploring the relationship between the poets Dylan Thomas and John Malcolm Brinnin.
Wood will play Brinnin, an American poet and literary scenester who was friends with Thomas as well as Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. He wrote Dylan Thomas in America, an account of how he brought the poet to the United States and accompanied him on book tours, which were often marred by Thomas's drunkenness and erratic behaviour. Thomas will be played by Celyn Jones, a veteran of TV shows like Above Suspicion, Leaving and Shameless.
The film will be directed by Andy Goddard, who has helmed Downton Abbey episodes, including its recent Christmas special, and it co-stars Shirley Henderson,...
- 1/10/2014
- by Ben Beaumont-Thomas
- The Guardian - Film News
Power to the Pixel’s 7th Cross-Media Forum to also include a new David Cronenberg project inspired by Videodrome and a multimedia travelogue from Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys.
Power to the Pixel has unveiled the line up for its 7th Cross-Media Forum in London, which runs Oct 15-18 in association with the BFI London Film Festival.
Strands at this year’s edition include the Conference (Oct 15), the Pixel Market (Oct 16-17) and the Think Tank (Oct 18).
This year’s keynote speaker is Elan Lee, chief design officer at Xbox Entertainment Studios one of the leading creators of the ‘Alternate Reality Game’ genre producing I Love Bees, Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero and The Dark Knight: Why so Serious?.
His speech is titled ‘My Mother Has No Idea What I Do For A Living - our story-telling journey through Cross-Media, Second Screens, and Interactive Narratives’ and will include “some of the best and worst...
Power to the Pixel has unveiled the line up for its 7th Cross-Media Forum in London, which runs Oct 15-18 in association with the BFI London Film Festival.
Strands at this year’s edition include the Conference (Oct 15), the Pixel Market (Oct 16-17) and the Think Tank (Oct 18).
This year’s keynote speaker is Elan Lee, chief design officer at Xbox Entertainment Studios one of the leading creators of the ‘Alternate Reality Game’ genre producing I Love Bees, Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero and The Dark Knight: Why so Serious?.
His speech is titled ‘My Mother Has No Idea What I Do For A Living - our story-telling journey through Cross-Media, Second Screens, and Interactive Narratives’ and will include “some of the best and worst...
- 9/11/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
★★★★☆ Championed by the likes of Talking Head David Byrne, Beck and eccentric Welsh songsmith Gruff Rhys, the popularity of this influential wave of Brazilian music has been gaining momentum for a number of years. Interest has now been deemed sufficient enough to warrant the UK theatrical release of Marcelo Machado's insightful and engaging documentary, Tropicália (2012) (City of God director Fernando Meirelles is credited as one of its executive producers). A counterculture movement during the late 1960s, Tropicália was fuelled by the authoritarian regime imposed in Brazil at that time.
The movement produced a talented array of musicians who fused elements of the older established sounds of bossa nova and samba with Us West Coast psychedelic music and the jangly pop sounds of The Beatles. Using a similar approach to the recent Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane (2012), Tropicália is a patchwork of archive footage, stills and lo-fi collages, stitched together...
The movement produced a talented array of musicians who fused elements of the older established sounds of bossa nova and samba with Us West Coast psychedelic music and the jangly pop sounds of The Beatles. Using a similar approach to the recent Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane (2012), Tropicália is a patchwork of archive footage, stills and lo-fi collages, stitched together...
- 7/4/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Spring has arrived -- flowers and music in full bloom. Some of it only hints at what might be as summer approaches. Until then, here are few things I'm carting around in my wheelbarrow. Dig it.
"Spiderlegs" Danny Malone: Balloons (Dm)
Happy accident as I had no prior knowledge of Mr. Malone prior to listening to his new album, but no worries. Here's a wonderful folk-rock tune from this Austin-based singer/songwriter's second long-player. He recorded this set of confessional musings in a haunted 15th century castle in Denmark, each song in a different room. He calls his music "sexy, dirty, sad songs about the human condition." This remains my favorite track; and the video below is pretty bloody "sexy" too.
Alicia Keys at Prudential Center April 8, 2013, Newark, NJ
I'd never seen her live, and I don't why, but I'm damn happy I finally did. She is a major talent,...
"Spiderlegs" Danny Malone: Balloons (Dm)
Happy accident as I had no prior knowledge of Mr. Malone prior to listening to his new album, but no worries. Here's a wonderful folk-rock tune from this Austin-based singer/songwriter's second long-player. He recorded this set of confessional musings in a haunted 15th century castle in Denmark, each song in a different room. He calls his music "sexy, dirty, sad songs about the human condition." This remains my favorite track; and the video below is pretty bloody "sexy" too.
Alicia Keys at Prudential Center April 8, 2013, Newark, NJ
I'd never seen her live, and I don't why, but I'm damn happy I finally did. She is a major talent,...
- 5/2/2013
- by Dusty Wright
- www.culturecatch.com
Neon Neon have announced a second album. Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Boom Bip release Praxis Makes Perfect on April 29 in the UK and April 30 in the Us. The album is available to pre-order now via Lex Records. Neon Neon's first album, 2008's Mercury-nominatedStainless Style, was a concept album based on the life of car designer John DeLorean. Praxis Makes Perfect is inspired by the life and times of left-wing political activist (more)...
- 1/24/2013
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
From Snow White to Jack White, and Cumbria to Cannes, the Observer's critics pick the season's highlights. What are you most looking forward to? Post your comments below
Download the spring arts calendar 2012
April
2 Pop Dr John The New Orleans legend decamps to Nashville to record with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach; excellence ensues on the Locked Down LP.
4 Art Damien Hirst The world's richest living artist enjoys a major survey of more than 20 years of his work, including medicine cabinets, diamond skull and a certain preserved shark. Tate Modern, London until 9 September.
6 Film This Must Be the Place Sean Penn plays a retired rock star scouring America for the fugitive Nazi who tormented his father in Auschwitz. Paolo Sorrentino escapes from the art house in his first English-language film.
7 Theatre Where Have I Been All My Life? Following the success of London Road, her verbatim musical at the National,...
Download the spring arts calendar 2012
April
2 Pop Dr John The New Orleans legend decamps to Nashville to record with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach; excellence ensues on the Locked Down LP.
4 Art Damien Hirst The world's richest living artist enjoys a major survey of more than 20 years of his work, including medicine cabinets, diamond skull and a certain preserved shark. Tate Modern, London until 9 September.
6 Film This Must Be the Place Sean Penn plays a retired rock star scouring America for the fugitive Nazi who tormented his father in Auschwitz. Paolo Sorrentino escapes from the art house in his first English-language film.
7 Theatre Where Have I Been All My Life? Following the success of London Road, her verbatim musical at the National,...
- 3/31/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Akira the Don has released a new single featuring Gruff Rhys. The singer-songwriter's track 'We Won't Be Broke Forever Baby' features Super Furry Animals and Neon Neon star Rhys and has been produced by Stephen Hague. "I'd bought a pile of vinyl from the charity shop, as I used to do habitually on Saturdays, and on the top of that pile was Dollar's Greatest Hits," Akira said on his blog of writing the verses for the chorus he had already. "As soon as I heard the first millisecond of 'Ring Ring' I knew I had found what I was looking for. I sampled the first few bars, changed (more)...
- 2/28/2012
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Akira The Don is an interesting character, the cartoonist, rapper, producer, blogger and videographer has a lot going for him but unfortunately his second album ‘The Life Equation’ is lacking a cutting edge.
The first single We Won’t Be Broke Forever Baby features Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and is the bets example of what an Akira The Don song is all about. There is a mixture of rapping, indie guitars and hip hop beats which on paper sounds brilliant but Akira just doesn’t seem to be able to combine all three to create something amazing.
Many of the tracks from the ten songs that make up the album never seem to take that extra step that is needed to take the song to the next level, with Babydoll and Video Highway being the biggest culprits.
The album isn’t that bad, but there...
Akira The Don is an interesting character, the cartoonist, rapper, producer, blogger and videographer has a lot going for him but unfortunately his second album ‘The Life Equation’ is lacking a cutting edge.
The first single We Won’t Be Broke Forever Baby features Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and is the bets example of what an Akira The Don song is all about. There is a mixture of rapping, indie guitars and hip hop beats which on paper sounds brilliant but Akira just doesn’t seem to be able to combine all three to create something amazing.
Many of the tracks from the ten songs that make up the album never seem to take that extra step that is needed to take the song to the next level, with Babydoll and Video Highway being the biggest culprits.
The album isn’t that bad, but there...
- 2/27/2012
- by Jonathan Pritchard
- Obsessed with Film
Public Image Ltd will perform a one-off gig in March to celebrate the tenth anniversary of BBC Radio 6 Music. John Lydon's band will be joined by Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, Anna Calvi and Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny for the event, to be held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre on March 16. Laura Marling will also perform at the Southbank Centre's Purcell Room alongside Lianne La Havas (more)...
- 2/13/2012
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and Laura Marling are among the first wave of artists confirmed for BBC Radio 6 Music's forthcoming tenth anniversary celebrations. The first announcement was made on Shaun Keaveny's breakfast show on Monday morning (February 6). Rhys will perform at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London's Southbank Centre on Friday, March 16, with Mercury Prize 2011 nominee Anna Calvi and Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny in support. Houghton told the station: "This is exciting for us, because we are genuinely huge fans of 6 Music. It was an atrocity when it almost slipped out of our hands... It really is there because of the music, not because of what sells records." (more)...
- 2/6/2012
- by By Kate Goodacre
- Digital Spy
Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and Laura Marling are among the first wave of artists confirmed for BBC Radio 6Music's forthcoming 10th anniversary celebrations. The first announcement was made on Shaun Keaveny's breakfast show on Monday morning (February 6). Rhys will perform at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London's Southbank Centre on Friday, March 16, while Marling will play at the venue's Purcell Room on the same night. A number of emerging artists including Mercury Prize 2011 nominee Anna Calvi, BBC Sound of 2012 longlist nominee Lianne La Havas and Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny will also perform with Marling. Houghton told the station: "This is exciting for us, because we are (more)...
- 2/6/2012
- by By Kate Goodacre
- Digital Spy
Voice of My Father
The International Film Festival Rotterdam, opening on January 25 and running through February 5, has announced two lineups today, the Tiger Awards Competition 2012 for first and second feature films — 15 films in all — and the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012 with 21 films. Straight from the release:
Tiger Awards Competition 2012
De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Netherlands, 2012, 96’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. Sotomayor’s feature film début, expertly shot by Barbara Alvarez, is a Chilean road movie set in and around the car belonging to a middle-class family. Seen through eyes of the kids in the back, they embark on a four day holiday trip to the north, while the marriage is falling apart. Dominga Sotomayor’s short film Videojuego was screened in Rotterdam in 2010. De jueves a domingo was selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2010.
Babamin sesi (Voice of My Father), Orhan Eskiköy and Zeynel Dogan,...
The International Film Festival Rotterdam, opening on January 25 and running through February 5, has announced two lineups today, the Tiger Awards Competition 2012 for first and second feature films — 15 films in all — and the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2012 with 21 films. Straight from the release:
Tiger Awards Competition 2012
De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Netherlands, 2012, 96’, World premiere, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. Sotomayor’s feature film début, expertly shot by Barbara Alvarez, is a Chilean road movie set in and around the car belonging to a middle-class family. Seen through eyes of the kids in the back, they embark on a four day holiday trip to the north, while the marriage is falling apart. Dominga Sotomayor’s short film Videojuego was screened in Rotterdam in 2010. De jueves a domingo was selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2010.
Babamin sesi (Voice of My Father), Orhan Eskiköy and Zeynel Dogan,...
- 1/12/2012
- MUBI
Last week our critics picked their highlights of 2011. Did they get it right? Readers respond with their own highs (and lows)
MattB75
One Man, Two Guvnors was the most fun I've had in a theatre for years – easily the best play of 2011, and James Corden best performer. The National theatre largely misfired for me: A Woman Killed with Kindness, Cherry Orchard, 13, The Kitchen, Frankenstein and Greenland were all largely disappointing.
The RSC's Homecoming was the best revival. Rupert Goold's Merchant of Venice was great fun, even if the inconsistency in Portia's characterisation (from ditzy blond Glee fan to brilliant prosecutor, hm) took the edge off it.
Tom Brooke was my favourite actor of the year – in The Kitchen, and I Am the Wind.
oogin
Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid are still two of my least-admired starchitects. However, credit where it's due. I had the pleasure of wandering Toronto's Ago...
MattB75
One Man, Two Guvnors was the most fun I've had in a theatre for years – easily the best play of 2011, and James Corden best performer. The National theatre largely misfired for me: A Woman Killed with Kindness, Cherry Orchard, 13, The Kitchen, Frankenstein and Greenland were all largely disappointing.
The RSC's Homecoming was the best revival. Rupert Goold's Merchant of Venice was great fun, even if the inconsistency in Portia's characterisation (from ditzy blond Glee fan to brilliant prosecutor, hm) took the edge off it.
Tom Brooke was my favourite actor of the year – in The Kitchen, and I Am the Wind.
oogin
Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid are still two of my least-admired starchitects. However, credit where it's due. I had the pleasure of wandering Toronto's Ago...
- 12/15/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
From Feist, Björk and Laura Marling, to Noel Gallagher, Roots Manuva and Tom Waits – plus a promising debut by one David Lynch, director – our writers run you through the most anticipated releases of the season
BJöRK: Biophilia
(One Little Indian)
Usually with each new Björk album comes the often wishful mutterings of it finally representing her "return to pop", as if she's about to recreate Debut, move back to London and start dating Goldie again. Needless to say, Biophilia – an album prefaced by an elaborate iPad app and thematically encompassing the entire universe – isn't loaded with singles. Björk chooses instead to flit between the beautiful ("Cosmogony"), the downright creepy ("Hollow") and, in "Mutual Core", the world's first song about tectonic plates set to a ravey mesh of bleeps and whooshes. Lyrically, it finds Björk musing on both the universal and the personal in a way she's only hinted at before,...
BJöRK: Biophilia
(One Little Indian)
Usually with each new Björk album comes the often wishful mutterings of it finally representing her "return to pop", as if she's about to recreate Debut, move back to London and start dating Goldie again. Needless to say, Biophilia – an album prefaced by an elaborate iPad app and thematically encompassing the entire universe – isn't loaded with singles. Björk chooses instead to flit between the beautiful ("Cosmogony"), the downright creepy ("Hollow") and, in "Mutual Core", the world's first song about tectonic plates set to a ravey mesh of bleeps and whooshes. Lyrically, it finds Björk musing on both the universal and the personal in a way she's only hinted at before,...
- 9/3/2011
- by Kitty Empire, Luke Bainbridge, Hermione Hoby, Michael Cragg, Tim Jonze
- The Guardian - Film News
A bike fest on the Belfast Waterfront, the Turner Prize exhibition at the Baltic, a film festival on Jersey and hip-hop at Sadler's Wells – here's our pick of cultural events in the coming months
August
Comedy
Camden Fringe London
With an eye for the experimental and the strange, this festival spreads out over venues across the borough, with theatre, stand-up, improv and shadow puppets from the likes of comediennes Morris & Vyse and puppet company Pangolin's Teatime.
1-28 August, camdenfringe.com, tickets from £5
Theatre and dance
Five Truths at the V&A, London
Multi-screen installation brings together five interpretations of Ophelia's madness in Hamlet. Five Truths explores the differences in approach of five of the most influential European theatre directors, including Bertold Brecht and Peter Brook, and how they might have imagined the scene, in a film created by National Theatre associate director Katie Mitchell.
• Until 29 August, vam.ac.uk, admission free
Peter Hall Company,...
August
Comedy
Camden Fringe London
With an eye for the experimental and the strange, this festival spreads out over venues across the borough, with theatre, stand-up, improv and shadow puppets from the likes of comediennes Morris & Vyse and puppet company Pangolin's Teatime.
1-28 August, camdenfringe.com, tickets from £5
Theatre and dance
Five Truths at the V&A, London
Multi-screen installation brings together five interpretations of Ophelia's madness in Hamlet. Five Truths explores the differences in approach of five of the most influential European theatre directors, including Bertold Brecht and Peter Brook, and how they might have imagined the scene, in a film created by National Theatre associate director Katie Mitchell.
• Until 29 August, vam.ac.uk, admission free
Peter Hall Company,...
- 8/5/2011
- by Dale Berning
- The Guardian - Film News
Welsh odd-pop whiz Gruff Rhys is notoriously difficult to pin down stylistically, and usually that works for him. Strapped to a sturdy band or collaborator like Super Furry Animals or Neon Neon, his roving eye for left-field electronics, breezy tropicalia, playful psych-rock, and freaky folk is a valuable asset. But left to his own devices, Rhys risks never seeing any one idea to fruition, a reality that plagues Hotel Shampoo. The record opens on a promising note: “Shark Ridden Waters” is a heavy slab of vintage psychedelia, complete with the telltale autumnal tones, deep bass-lines, and swooning “oohs” of Rhys ...
- 5/3/2011
- avclub.com
Joanna Newsom has been confirmed as a headliner of this year's End Of The Road Festival. The singer-songwriter joins fellow headliners Beirut and Mogwai. Also performing at the North Dorset festival, which takes place from September 2 to September 4, are Midlake, Laura Marling and The Walkmen. Other artists confirmed for the event include Wild Beasts, The Fall, Lykke Li, Gruff Rhys, (more)...
- 3/18/2011
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
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