Falling Sky

08: Music!

Finally. Right, let's start with my favourite album of 2008 and bumble around from there. (Incidentally, if you're reading this on a RSS reader, you might not get the music players embedded into the post - if so, just come on over!)

"Meanderthal" (Torche)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR!  Why? Because it's SO FUCKING GOOD. Responsible for one of the best live performances in this or any other year, Torche brought it all together with this album, a blistering combination of power rock riffage and full-on sludge doom clobber. A collection of absolutely thrilling music that bounds from one track to the next, riff after riff of spirit-lifting glory, ending with the most bum-trembling track I've ever heard. And then you play it all over again. And again. And again. My LastFM stats should attest to that. Topping it all off, the gatefold design for the vinyl pressing of Meanderthal is bloody lovely. If you don't have this album yet and have even the slightest interest in rock music, you really need to rectify the situation. Just to hammer that home, listen to the triumphant Across The Shields. As a soundtrack for charging headlong into an epoch-shattering battle against demonic hordes, it's easily the equal of Achilles' Last Stand. Heresy? Truth! AVAST!

"Is It the Sea" - Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Blethered on about this before - a recording of the gig he did in Edinburgh with Harem Scarem back in 2006. Absolutely magic, far better than the downright middling new release Lie Down In The Light, even with the inexplicable lack of I See A Darkness. Hooray for the internet! (iTunes)

"Third" - Portishead. Also blethered about already. Sounded great initially and it's just got better over the months. We Carry On and The Rip are two of the best tracks this year - you can listen to the swoonsome latter below. There's not a duff track on the whole album and I'm now pretty much convinced it's Portishead's best album. While others yelped themselves hoarse over Chinese Democracy, this was the comeback of the year. (iTunes)

"Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill" - Grouper

Time for things to get a little odd. I only heard this in December, but it ended up getting played daily every evening for at least a fortnight. Strange ethereal music, acoustic guitar reverb and distant vocals, it's what parts of Goldfrapp's splendid Seventh Tree would have sounded like if they'd got lost in the woods and never found their way home. Have a listen to the blissful When We Fall below. It's gorgeous music, curious but not sinister, perfect for cold long nights and hazy summer days alike. (iTunes) (Emusic)

"Book of Norma" - Norma

What's this, an album unavailable in physical form here in the UK? Indeed, and if it wasn't for reading Scandinavian music blog It's A Trap I would have never even heard of this band. Norma are a Swedish four-piece (singing in English) who released their first EP - catchily titled 1 - in 2007, which I picked up after comparisons with Aerial and My Bloody Valentine. A year later and out came 'Book of Norma', their debut album. It's a brilliant piece of work, full of variety, confidence and energy. Comparisons? There's a splendid Krautrock feel to the relentless rhythm of the faster tracks - it would be worth learning to drive solely to be able to barrel down a motorway one night with Evelyn or You Go, We Follow pounding from the speakers - while slower numbers have echoes of a stripped-down Spiritualized, a more intimate Engineers. Or you could just listen to 'Waste' below (and download it here). It's such a good album, yet you'd never heard of it but for the internet (unless you're Swedish). Well, now you have, so there's no excuse. Though there's no physical UK release to speak of, you can buy it digitally from iTunes, Emusic or Kliktrack.

"London Zoo" - The Bug

Angry album. Very angry album. The Bug's previous album, Pressure, was narked enough, but things have gone downhill since then. London Zoo triggers similar emotions as Burial's Untrue from last year, but while that album felt like a journey through London, seen through the window of a moving car, London Zoo slams you straight down in the middle of an inner city hell and doesn't plan on letting you leave any time soon. It's a startling album that demands your attention with the meatiest beats of the year and barrage after barrage of lyrics that rail against politicians, suicide bombers, "all them fucking people that think charity begins at home / believe me, nothing begins at home". If anger is an energy, London Zoo could keep the capital running for years. (iTunes) (Emusic)

"Laulu Laakson Kukista" - Paavoharju

Another odd one, this. If Grouper is the sound of getting lost in a forest one hazy summer day, Paavoharju is the sound of still being lost as the sun goes down, the wind picks up and you start to catch glimpses of people in animal masks through the trees. Uneasy listening, if you like. A Finnish band, Paavoharju would make the ideal soundtrack for The Wicker Man if it were relocated to a Scandinavian island, their music inhabiting some strange place between Boards of Canada, Bonnie Prince Billy and Bjork (and no, I wasn't just staring at the 'B' shelves). This is a genuinely fascinating album, all the more so for the strangely alien atmosphere that pervades both pumped-up dance beats and an acoustic guitar ballad, keening female vocals and ultrasound squelches. Lest the above make it sound like a curio, the strangeness is easily matched by the melodies, rhythms and atmosphere, songs that you can go back to over and over, trying to take it all in, to absorb it, to decode. You could try falling asleep to it, but there's no telling what you'd dream of... (iTunes) (Emusic)

And for some more summarised reviews, otherwise this could go on for sodding ever:

"Hercules and Love Affair" - Hercules & Love Affair - A supremely funky piece of work, sincerely groovy, the full length version of Blind an absolute treat to behold and one of the songs of the year.

"Mega Breakfast" - The Chap - A great dollop of wry fun, the sound of hedge fund bankers before it all went sour, such a treat to hear well-spoken vocals. On top of that, Proper Rock really did rock. CLUBBING!

"CSI: Ambleside" - Half Man Half Biscuit - HMHB's best album yet, with songs you wish Peel had been around to hear. Took Problem Chimp To The Ideal Home Show does exactly what it says on the tin, while National Shite Day may as well be the new national anthem.

"Fleet Foxes" - Fleet Foxes - As good as everyone says, remarkably.

"Accelerate" - R.E.M. - The album I always hoped they still had in them, and by Jove they delivered. Such a treat to get walloped round the head with this perfectly titled album of music that barely stops for breath.

"No Way Down Ep" - Air France - The sound of summer and early autumn, a perfectly-formed EP of sun-kissed melodies and pure happiness.

"The Seldom Seen Kid" - Elbow - Bloody great to see them finally get some solid recognition - a brilliant set of songs, but you knew that already.

"Death of a Typographer" - Byetone - One of the best electronica albums of the year, taut crisp beats that caught my lugholes while waiting for Radiohead.

"Devotion" - Beach House - Only just caught this at the end of the year, but what a treat. Deceptively simple songs, soothing, like a warm cuddle by the seaside.

"This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That" - Marnie Stern - Vies with Torche for the best riffs this year, juxtaposed with the poppiest of voices. And when the drums barge into that first track - awesome.

There's a whole bunch of albums from last year I'm still getting into - Bon Iver, Made Out Of Babies, Deerhunter - which would probably make the list if only I had more time, but with only a few hours left in January it's time to get this up and turn to the sounds of 2009. Still, if there's anything you think is sorely lacking from the above list, do let me know, it's always a pleasure to be pointed in the direction of good tunes.

As for this year - the highlight so far? A toss-up between Bon Iver's sublime Blood Bank and Mastodon's triumphant return to planet Earth with Divinations (complete with frikkin' laser beams!), both of which please me in very different ways. But which is better? There's only one way to find out!

Ooooh, LOVELY

New trailer for Coraline, linked from Neil Gaiman's Journal.  This really deserves to be seen in HD, you know.

Based on the splendid book by Mr Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick, him of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline is a fully animated film - and, like TNBC, that's 3D model animation by hand rather than CGI, though the movements are so fluid, so beautifully done that you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.  The source book is ostensibly for children but can be appreciated by anyone, a fantasy that gradually morphs into horror, effectively sinister yet PG-rated, helped along by illustrations from Dave McKean.  I've been looking forward to this film for some time, and the second half of the above trailer suggests they've not shied away from the spookier elements of the book.  When you've watched that, check out the Quicktime trailer - the content's not quite as eerie, but the picture quality is divine and shows just how superb the animation and art direction is.  If only us plucky Brits didn't have to wait until flipping May for it...

Now, about those eyes of yours...

UPDATE (24/1): Seen on Enrico Casarosa's blog just now - AWN has an interview with Tadahiro Uesugi who produced concept art for the film of Coraline, including examples of that work, and it's excellent.  The design is intriguing, reminiscent of Disney concept artwork for 101 Dalmatians or UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing.  Well worth a look.

Turkey & Tinsel It Ain't

1. At The Front (Round The Back), 2. Glass Eye's View, 3. Slainte!, 4. Mini-Soup, 5. Pork Starter, 6. Tools of the Trade, 7. Cod Main, 8. Rhubarb Dessert

The great best-music-of-08 post is still gestating, despite now being three weeks overdue. It's got plenty of good stuff in it though, including stuff I can practically guarantee you've not heard, give it a few days. In the meantime...

Those pictures up above are from Friday, when I had my work christmas lunch. Yes, in mid-January. See, anyone with experience of office christmas lunches in December knows exactly what they're getting - an overpriced menu of turkey & such, churned out by an overworked kitchen, a cost and stress that nobody really needs at that time of year. Wait a month, however, and for the same cost you can get so much more, free of festive hordes. That's how my section ended up taking over The Kitchin on Friday lunchtime. I'd not heard of the place until this, but apparently it's quite a big deal, being a relatively new restaurant opened by Tom & Michaela Kitchin in Leith, amassing some thoroughly impressive awards. Who knew I'd ever get to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant? But with the set lunch menu at £24.50, pretty much the same price you'd get for a christmas lunch anywhere in December, why not?

It turned out to be just as impressive as the awards suggested. I'm no restaurant critic, so I'm damned if I can write anything particularly useful or evocative about the food. The restaurant itself is quite low-key and minimal in design, attractive and stylish - even the way in isn't immediately clear - and free of pretension. I'd wondered whether I'd feel daunted or out of my depth eating in such a place, but the staff made us feel welcome and I was immediately fascinated by the window into the kitchen (though didn't dare actually stand over there gawping, much as I'd have liked to). The menu listed three parts to the set menu, but there were additional unlisted treats of a range of breads and oils, an almost intoxicatingly rich and tasty celeriac soup and, after the dessert, two different little post-desserts. We also had the wine suggested by the sommelier, a gorgeous red with such a fruity nose that just a whiff must've constituted a fruit portion.

The three courses were stunning, as you'd hope, the dishes chosen for their season ingredients - indeed, such is the importance of selecting fresh seasonal ingredients that the lunch menu is never available in advance, only on the day itself. My starter was a crispy slice of Old Spot pork - including a veritable sliver of aubergine that blew me away with flavour - with a main of roast cod fillet, shellfish ravioli and a downright superb langoustine sauce (imagine crab, only nicer), finishing with a dessert of crowdie cheesecake with poached rhubarb, an eye-opening revelation of what can be done with super-thin slices of rhubarb (and how much flavour they can pack). Portions weren't huge, but even so the combined lunch left me full until late into the evening. I so wish I could write more about the food, but feel like I lack the words, the ability to describe it beyond it were good. The quality, the standards, the attention to detail was so much higher than what I've experienced in the past. It really felt like an event, the food paramount - no doubt as a total restaurant newbie I'm easily impressed, maybe those who've been to loads of restaurants of a similar calibre would be in a far better position to objectively review it, whereas I'm still starry eyed and blown away by the experience. Up until Friday I'd have spluttered at the thought of actually paying over £20 for lunch outside of christmas time, but... damn, man, you really do get what you pay for. To have food like that, served like that, in this city at a price that's not completely prohibitive (well, at lunchtime anyway - while I'd adore to try their tasting menu, that'd take an awful lot of tuppences), that's a hell of a treat. All that, and no Slade on the soundtrack. Divine.

Christmas In The Old Country

I've wibbled enthusiastically about the Krampus before, but this picture is just glorious. It's taken from the Boston Globe's The Big Picture, a superb photoblog bringing together news pool photographs on particular subjects, the above taken from the end of the Christmas Season. I don't normally dip into my Austrian ancestry, but this is a tradition I'd happily see brought to the UK. Having done vikings last year, the subject of our next Christmas's cards is clear! Now all I have to do is remember this in eleven months time...

08: Telly!

Over the course of last year, BBC4 continued to be the best hope for a decent bit of television, from the Flight of the Conchords who made comedy music/musical comedy look deceptively easy (how hard it was to pick just one song below)...

to the old-fashioned winter spook of Crooked House...

to the increasingly enlightening, consistently narked, laugh-out-loud brilliance of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe...

to Jonathan Meades' Magnetic North, probably my favourite broadcast of the year (finally available on DVD as part of The Jonathan Meades Collection), but you can start watching it below:

BBC1 was worth a gander intermittently: Doctor Who produced some of the finest episodes in the series history, notably the downright existential Library two-parter, the unsettling mob rule hysteria of Midnight and, with Turn Left, one of the most supremely downbeat primetime broadcasts since Threads. David Tennant has absolutely nailed the role, so I'm hugely intrigued to see what the new fellow does with it (a Northampton lad, so clearly a good 'un). Add to that a supremely mental finale featuring an absolute treat of a performance from Julian Bleach playing Davros by way of Hitler and Catherine Tate surpassing expectations by a mile (especially mine) and you've got a series getting stronger by the year. The Christmas special was a good dollop of fun, certainly not harmed by the sinisterly saucy presence of Dervla Kirwan (a bit of a crush of mine OH NO NO NO WOT AM I SAYING MY WIFE'S GONNA KIIIIILL ME) and a giant Iron Giantesque Cyberbastard stomping across London. Lovely!

David Tennant also turned up in Einstein And Eddington, a decently-done drama on the events that led to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity overturning the laws of Newton. Tennant, as Arthur Eddington, gave a subtle, measured performance against Andy Serkis' suitably wild Einstein. Not perfect, but enjoyable while doing a fine job of demonstrating Einstein's theories (and giving a context to their discovery) in a way that made sense to a knuckle-dragger like me.

The BBC adaptations of three Wallander books were exceedingly good, centred around a superb performance from Kenneth Branagh and a midsummer Swedish landscape turned eerie and bleak. Even if the storylines themselves weren't great in themselves, the acting, filming, soundtrack and locations all made it an excellent, if chilly, pleasure for the midwinter.

TV Burp remains the only point for the continued existence of ITV and it wasn't until the end of the year that we started watching Outnumbered and realised how ludicrously good it was - and how startling to see children on television actually behaving like, well, children.

There was a whole bunch of stuff that's still waiting to be watched, like Dead Set, The Ascent of Money, The Last Enemy, Survivors, and that's not including the American series that we're still catching up with, necessitating the ripping-out of season spoilers from the Guardian. We'll catch up eventually, most likely during retirement.

08: Films!

The best film of 2008, without a shred of doubt, was There Will Be Blood. No Country For Old Men was excellent, thanks in no small part to the superb source material and the year's best film villain, but it couldn't compare to the elemental fury of There Will Be Blood, a film that somehow felt immense and epic, yet so intimately focused on a single man as his humanity disintegrates into nothing but hate. The acting is phenomenal, cinematically it looks stunning and the Jonny-Greenwood-penned soundtrack outshone all others - listen below to one of the tracks and marvel at the interplay of piano and strings (you can get the full soundtrack here).

Truly incredible, both theatrical and cinematic, with one scene - the rig fire - as thrilling as any CGI-drenched action blockbuster. It really is a staggering film that easily stands up to repeat viewing, and one that we'll still be watching decades later.

However - my favourite film of 2008 was Wall-e, Pixar's finest film yet, curiously mirroring There Will Be Blood with an industrious, wordless beginning. Just as Disney's Dumbo is all the more perfect for the silence of the title character, Wall-e's reliance on body language and sound effects to express feeling cuts through the corny bullshit that animated films often suffer from. Much like the way emotion was conveyed in There Will Be Blood through expression rather than exposition, it's the lack of verbalising in Wall-e that makes the emotions so pure, so direct. There's a sadness in the sight of a trashed planet, a startling loneliness when EVE is, to all intents, in a coma, counterbalanced with the absolute joy of the dance scene, the triumph of the human standing up (perfectly soundtracked a la 2001) or the way it captures the simple pleasure of holding hands with the one you love better than any other film. Wall-e isn't flawless - when proper dialogue does finally appear you almost resent the intrusion - but that doesn't stop me from loving it to bits, blubbing at the 'fixed' scene near the end every single damn time I watch it (the only other film that has a similar recurring effect is the frankly devastating 'Baby Mine' in Dumbo). It'll take a few more viewings to be sure, but Wall-e may well be my favourite film ever.

Other notable mentions:

• [Rec] was the best out-and-out horror film I've seen for a few years, remarkably relentless with the best use of sound design all year - watching this in the cinema was one hell of an experience. Highly recommended if you genuinely want a dreadful fright (don't waste your time with the remake).
• Cloverfield delivered the terrorised thrills promised by the trailer and then some. Sure, the characters in it are all quite bland and unsympathetic, but you're not watching it for human interest - you're watching it for the experience of a giant monster attack, and you surely get it.
• In Bruges - oh man, this was one of the real treats of the year, recommended to absolutely everyone who's not allergic to naughty words or Belgium. Very black comedy/drama that walks a fine, fine line between the two constantly, it's also a marvellous advert for the city of Bruges. It really is that lovely.
• The Dark Knight, a remarkably downbeat film that was more Se7en than Batman & Robin, anchored by some excellent performances (particularly Ledger and Oldman). There's an awful lot going on in it, quite possibly too much, but it's so well done and far more intense than any summer blockbuster since War of the Worlds.
• The Orphanage was a proper ghost story with just the briefest of horrors, preferring for a sinister slow-burn that would resonate with anyone who's ever slept in an old creaking house;
• Gomorra, the Italian antidote to any film that made the Mafia look remotely glamorous. Initially confuddling with the number of seemingly unconnected storylines, but just like The Wire it all clicked together in the end.
• Sweeney Todd's boggling mixture of musicals, blood & pastry-baked guts, nastier than you might have expected - a bloody pleasure to see Tim Burton let loose on an 18-rating.
• No Country For Old Men as mentioned above - hopefully the next adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy book, The Road, will be equally strong (given the involvement of Viggo Mortenson and the director of The Proposition, it's looking good).

As to this year - well, the aforementioned film of The Road should be a stunner if they've got it right, no trailer yet to show for it. Coraline is looking extremely good indeed, especially pleased to know it's animated by hand (the website is a lot of fun to wander around, particularly buttoning your eyes), but I don't know what to make of 9, a CG-animated post-apocalyptic Sackboy meets the Matrix if the trailer's owt to go by. Pixar are going 3D with Up, and while I'd like to think that Terminator Salvation and Watchmen will both be bonza, the fact their directors worked on Charlies Angels and 300 respectively doesn't bode well. The Wrestler looks excellent, as does Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon (both of which I should be seeing in the next couple of weeks), while Roland Emmerich appears to be aiming for global panic with the potentially bonkers 2012. And finally, god help us, there's Crank 2: High Voltage. Lovely!

08: Books!

I was obsessed with two forms of literature for most of 2008, to the detriment of pretty much anything else - cooking books, and the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. The latter first - it started in March with Master & Commander, and since then I've had to ration myself not to go from one book straight to another, figuring it's better to spread them out and appreciate them. It's hard to describe just how incredibly enjoyable these books are, how richly drawn the characters are, how comforting it becomes to spend a book in their company - that sounds like absolute bunkum, but by the time you hit HMS "Surprise" you'll feel the same, I'd wager. Very rarely is reading the pleasure that it is with these books, compulsive, genuinely thrilling and surprisingly moving. If you've yet to read any of O'Brian's books, treat yourself to Master and Commander (you can probably pick it up for a few quid in a charity shop), don't be put off by the initially incomprehensible nautical intricacies of sails, you'll pick it up as you go along, and enjoy the ride - you're in for a treat.

As for food books, I've blogged a fair bit about that already this year. The cream of the crop is certainly the three cookbooks by Denis Cotter of Cork's Cafe Paradiso, the first time I've read 100% vegetarian recipes and not thought once "sounds good... it'd be better with meat". While many of his recipes require a fair bit of work, there's plenty that don't take hours yet still produce delicious results - there's some excellent side dishes in "The Cafe Paradiso Cookbook, the seasonal recipes of Paradiso Seasons are very handy for anyone who gets seasonal veg deliveries, and there's a turnip curry in Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me: A Chef's Stories and Recipes from the Land that's to die for. I swear! Serve it with fragrant basmati rice, stir-fried sesame cabbage and some home-baked naan, you'll be in flavour country my friend. It certainly doesn't hurt that Cotter is as fine a writer as he is chef, writing with an intelligence, wit and lack of pretension that stands out against some of the 'superstar' chefs cluttering up the bookshop shelves. Not only are his recipes are pleasure to eat, the stories behind each one are fascinating to read. Wonderful stuff.

On a similar note, one of the most influential books I read in 2008 was Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World, the kind of book which you read and immediately want to give to everyone you know. That, along with John Naish's excellent Enough, led me to reappraise how I thought about food, particularly meat, reappraising how I shopped, how I cooked, how I ate. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a superb read, even more effective than Fast Food Nation, all the more effective for the lack of preaching or finger-wagging in the text - essentially it describes how things are and lets you figure out whether you're okay with that or not. It appears quite a few readers wanted to be told what to do after all, since that seems to be the purpose behind In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating - a good book, but it's very much a companion to The Omnivore's Dilemma.

While The Omnivore's Dilemma focused on the modern food chain - from oil well to field to feedlot to rendering plant to plate - Enough's scope is far wider, essentially an exploration of how our current culture is so obsessed with consumption, how this obsession permeates our lives - be it food, money, work, information - and how to counteract it. Summarised, it sounds a lot like the Slow-evangalising In Praise Of Slow from a few years back, but Enough is far superior to IPOS's shallow, magazine-standard writing. Indeed, over the course of the last year the contents have become more and more relevant as the results of years of over-spending and ballooning debt in the name of having more, more, more, are coming back to us, as individuals and as nations (note the last question in this interview from a year ago). Goodness, that all sounds rather heavy. Thankfully, the book is pitched at just the right level - here's an article by Naish that gives you a flavour of what to expect. It's not self-help or anything like that, more a wake-up call of sorts, a slap around the chops that prompts re-evaluation and self-reflection. Just right for a January.

Bagel Lesson #1

When a recipe mentions malt extract, don't substitute it with yeast extract. Unless you're aiming for that elusive bite-size marmite bagel market.

Ah well, cook & learn. And they do taste rather nice with marmalade.

Because We Still Don't Have A Real Cat

From I Can Has Cheezburger, of course.  Since there's pretty much zero chance of us buying a house any time in the next year, and therefore won't be getting a cat of our own, I'll just have to continue to get my daily fix of moggies through the internet (apart from the local fairweather feline).

So, no house, no mog.  But there's something going on in May that should keep us occupied for a bit.  Aside from that, I plan on more & more cooking (the first ever batch of Nagl's Bagels just came out of the oven - they look edible, but a bit on the small side. Still, a historic moment!), more writing and getting back into drawing in time for the honeymoon.  Between all that and dealing with whatever madness life flings in our general direction, that'll do fine.