Ents

In 1979 The Buggles preached that "Video had Killed the Radio Star” reflecting on the end of the golden age of radio and the advent of regular TV viewing in the 1950s.
Yet I would argue reports of the death of radio have been greatly exaggerated. Of course the proposed shutting down of 6Music and the BBC’s Asian network is indicative of a shift in the BBC’s long term strategy; but let us not let it cloud our vision of public, student and commercial radio.

It’s been hard not to hear the likes of Ellie Goulding and Marina & the Diamonds, even amongst the massive hullaballoo of hype in the UK. Both have been tipped as the new leaders of a pop movement started by the likes of Florence & the Machine and La Roux last year. In the process they’ve managed to bag themselves a host of awards without having released an album between them. They’ve been bundled together but Qsorts of pop star. While Marina & the Diamonds is the unabashed, outspoken queen of her pop realm, Ellie Goulding is the cute and shy folk-girl turned accidental star.

The Good

Ladies and Gentlemen, sit back, pour yourself a whiskey and exhale deeply before hearing this news: Avatar only won three awards and was resoundingly beaten in the Oscars by The Hurt Locker. It might not be much, but as Mike Patton might say, it’s the small victories, the cankers and medallions, which keep us going.

Everyone is always talking about the power of the media, but the majority of the time I fail to see how music can be part of this… until now. Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip offers true thought provocation with superfluous lyrics complimented with a catchy beat. Sure it doesn’t have the same impact as a Live 8 gig, but if everyone were to listen to the lyrical genius of this duo, society could be marginally better.

I first saw Yeasayer in 2008 for their first UK show and absolutely loved it so, just to warn you, I am something of a fanboy. At Thekla on a Thursday evening there was much to enjoy about the harmonising indie-pop group: if you want to get a roomful of people to reinforce white-dancing-stereotypes then you really can’t go far wrong with newest single ‘Ambling Alps’. Curiously, the band seems to have gotten another member, at least during live performances, perhaps to accommodate their more synth-led sound of their second album, Odd Blood.

Peter Brook’s newest (and possibly last, he is 84) play is called 11 Or 12 and it is on at the Barbican Centre in London. For those of you who don’t know, Brook is just about the most important figure in theatre since Bertolt Brecht, who completely revolutionised theatre in the first half of the 20th century while bedding lots of mistresses and somehow getting away with it.
Brook released his first, and probably best remembered, book, The Empty Space, in 1968. The oft-quoted line from this book has become the mantra of site-specific theatre companies all over the world:

Hot Chip lied to me.

From the singles of previous albums, I came into this review expecting to talk about how their electronic-dance shtick was bound to have you piling onto the dance floor in a matter of moments, throwing limbs around like the possessed to the tune of irreverent beeping and jangling. 'One Life Stand' isn't this at all.

It's the end of radio
The last announcer plays the last record
The last watt leaves the transmitter
Circles the globe in search of a listener
Can you hear me now?

Not my words but those of Steve Albini, front man of Shellac and one of the world’s most famed producers.

With Gucci’s ex creative-director-turned-fashion-entrepreneur as director it was to be expected that “A Single Man” would feel as much like an intense perfume advert as it would a powerful drama. Adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel the film follows English expatriate George Falconer (Colin Firth) on his final day as he plans to abandon the struggle to cope with life after the untimely death of his gay lover in a car accident.

While honouring the perhaps stereotypical indie rock look (including trademark black skinny jeans, dishevelled hair and a rather funky pair of thick-rimmed glasses), it is the guitarist and backing vocalist Felix White’s easy and down to earth nature that makes him instantly likeable, not least when he kindly obliges me with a sound check as I (overcautious by nature) nervously prod my voice recorder.