Some More Terror is a Soft Riot recording consisting of 11 tracks of instrumental, ambient-influenced synth sounds. It provides a slight detour from the more song-based, psychedelic synth-pop trajectory established with the previous album, Fiction Prediction, and where that synth-pop sound will go on that album’s proper follow-up to come called You Never Know What Might Come Next.
All of the pieces on Some More Terror are mainly improvisations, or based on one-session jams with a small amount of overdubs. They were usually done late at night and in the dead of winter, in between sessions recording tracks for You Never Know What Might Come Next.
Some More Terror locks onto the atmospheric element of Soft Riot’s recorded material to date and isolates it in a new environment, freeing it from the structure and formalities of the world of punk rock and pop music. It offers an audio landscape that augments a feeling of unease and reflection in the chaotic world of late-period modern capitalism and the wheels of progress. The flow of the album rides a slow sine wave, with moments of anxious dread to warm, expansive slabs of calm and harmony.
To some degree it’s an album of political commentary, but one without lyrics and familiar audio cues, allowing the listener to fill the gaps with their own speculation. And where the music is more ambiguous, a more upfront approach is emphasised in the track titling and artwork of the album; perhaps a conscious effort to challenge the idea that ambient or soundtrack-oriented music is passive or locked in the trappings of “new age”. It could be considered Soft Riot’s own private and current version of “punk rock” for these reasons, as well as for that it was written from a place deep within. There’s a lot of strange and harrowing events going on out there in the world these days, but also moments of peace and beauty.
Listeners may find some parallels with classic synth artists such as Tangerine Dream or Cluster, or perhaps the classic era of early/mid 90s Kranky Records (Labradford, Stars Of The Lid), or even at times the micropolyphonal sounds of György Ligeti. As one publication has put the music of Soft Riot: “The music tells stories like the great “irritation” sci-fi cinema of the 70s and 80s. Solaris pop. New Age Wave. The Canadian Jean Michel Jarre of the London underground.”
On 26th August Lumière releases the classic Playtime by Jacques Tati, click here for the review.
Monsieur Hulot has to contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in the maze of modern architecture which is filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in the tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner.
EXTRA: SCÈNES WITH COMMENTARY BY JÉRÔME DESCHAMPS / JACQUES TATI, GUEST OF TEMPO TV SHOW / LIKE HOME (60 min.)
Click here for the Playtime-review.
DUTCH VERSION
DVD Release op 26 augustus 2014
PLAYTIME is het meesterwerk van de legendarische Franse regisseur Jacques Tati. Het is op alle vlakken een monumentale en hoogst ambitieuze film, vol met subtiele en tijdloze humor. Dankzij deze gloednieuwe, ultieme digitale restauratie kunt u eindelijk ten volle genieten van de prachtige breedbeeldcomposities in 70mm-formaat. Elk shot zit boordevol hilariteit en vindingrijkheid: een feest voor het oog én voor de lachspieren van de hele familie.
Monsieur Hulot loopt verloren rond in een doolhof van modernistische architectuur en nieuwe technologische snufjes in Parijs. Hij wordt overrompeld door een invasie van Amerikaanse toeristen, en veroorzaakt zoals altijd pure chaos overal waar hij zich begeeft.
Deze klassieker is actueler dan ooit, en krijgt eindelijk de digitale restauratie die hij verdient.
EXTRA: SCÈNES BECOMMENTARIEERD DOOR JÉRÔME DESCHAMPS / JACQUES TATI, GUEST OF TEMPO TV SHOW / LIKE HOME (60 min.)
Technische specificaties:
Frankrijk, 1967 | Duur: 121 minuten + 60 minuten (extra) | Taal: Frans | Ondertitels: Nederlands
Formaat: 16/9 - kleur | Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
2CD deluxe hardcover book edition (18x18cm, 48 pages) including bonus CD with 14 additional remixes; limited to 500 copies.
The slightly laconic undertone with which an unknown female voice greets us on the French Industrial hopefuls’ new album is telling. It insinuates both boredom of and confidence in that which is going to engage the unsuspecting listener’s ears during the following 55 minutes. „Personal Revolution“, the third album by the French group, whose powerful performances at Maschinenfest or Terminus Festival in Canada made them an insider’s tip amongst uncompromising Electro fans, does not belie expectations. „Personal Revolution“ is an electronic treat par excellence, which practically assaults the listener from out of nowhere, capturing him with energy, crispness and surprising club affinity while staying heavy throughout. It cheerfully changes between Industrial, Dance, EBM and aggressive electronic composition, dodging categorisation and breaking down set barriers many others have put up for themselves – because what the intro provides us with in terms of content about the seemingly exhausted 21st century could be applied to the last decade of dark electronic music just as well: „It‘s totally fucked up“, and those who want to clean up the mess may kindly do so alone.
Whoever endeavours a sweeping blow like this in both musical and social terms must have a lot up their sleeves, and these French have indeed: They do not care about which path they follow, whether their stunning club hits are celebrated as such or simply enjoyed due to their heaviness, if their confident lyrics inspire hope for a better society with more responsibilities for the individual or that people might just let the cleansing sonic thunderstorm wash through their ears : „Personal Revolution“ works on so many different levels. It stands for a new generation of heavy electronic music, blowing away the long since festering reek like a breath of fresh air.
The vocals, which do not conceal their French origin, are delivered by brothers Syco and Arco Trauma, who released their debut by themselves via their own label Audio Trauma. Electronic on-stage support comes from DJ, remixer and graphic designer Yoann Amnesy. The sophomore album „Don’t Be Scared, It’s About Life“ already aroused the interest of Dependent and brought the duo a licence deal in the US, although many observers considered its thoroughgoingness as too hefty. Now with the new album, they find the golden mean because it is more song-oriented and mature but still energetic enough to vault them into a higher league. „Personal Revolution“ should thus rank among the strongest Electro albums in 2014 and plainly make Chrysalide one of the hopefuls in electronic music.
From 18th September on Wild Bunch releases Everyday on both DVD and VOD.
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writers: Laurence Coriat, Michael Winterbottom
Stars: Shirley Henderson, John Simm, Shaun Kirk
Over a period of five years Karen takes her four young children on the long and laborious journey to visit her husband Ian,imprisoned for an unspecified crime. Away from the jail life goes on as the kids get into a fight over a taunt about their father by another school-kid and Karen,feeling lonely,sleeps with Eddie from the pub where she works. Towards the end of his sentence Ian is given a day out to spend with the family and disaster almost strikes after an allegation of drug smuggling,but somehow the family will pull through
DUTCH VERSION
EVERYDAY
Vanaf 18 september op DVD en VOD
Regisseur: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Shirley Henderson, John Simm
Taal: Engels
Ondertiteling: Nederlands
Genre: drama
Duur: 120 minuten
Synopsis
Karen en haar vier kinderen leven gescheiden van hun vader Ian. Hij zit in de gevangenis, dus aan haar de taak om hun kinderen zelfstandig groot te brengen. Over een periode van vijf jaar wordt er via de herhalingen en het ritme van elke dag onderzocht hoe een gezin een lange periode gescheiden van elkaar kan overleven. Wat voor impact hebben de veranderingen die ze meemaken terwijl ze opgroeien en ouder worden. Kunnen ze ooit weer het gezin worden dat ze waren of moeten ze die hoop laten varen.
There you have it: a band releases an absolute electronic masterpiece of an album only to practically vanish into thin air afterwards. This is what happened to IRIS, the American duo that issued Electro Pop manifest "Blacklight" in 2010. On the succeeding US-tour however, Andrew Sega and singer Reagan Jones fell out with each other, so the project was put on hold - actually forever.
At one point though, a small spark was ignited when Reagan Jones sent Sega sketches for three songs. This spark rapidly grew when the two decided to work on another studio album yet again. With RADIANT, Iris have been reborn, so to say, which also explains the warmth and radiant quality of the album cover, which comes in bright colours, maybe even the feeling at its core, which is best described by attributes such as "warm", "flattering" or "harmonious". And even though the compositions carry an air of Zen-like calm and pliability, at least after several listens, RADIANT captivates with one quality which many other albums in this genre lack: depth.
Reagan Jones' vocals lead Andrew Sega's harmonious electronic arrangements and not only give them emotion, but also a feeling one would rather associate with the old 4AD classics: an Ambient-like poise, warmth and sparkling quality of which you can hardly get enough. Maybe it is RADIANT's decisive quality that IRIS never adjust their songs to the typical Synthpop earcatcher that makes many genre colleagues seem like bland copies of great English predecessors. With Iris, the hook practically comes in passing while as a listener, you are truly bathing in their music. An absolutely fabulous album, the product of a special band chemistry.
