CD Review: Collide – These Eyes Before

It was around 2003 that I was feeling somewhat disenchanted with my music collection and so headed over to CD Baby for some inspiration.  You see, CD Baby has this awesome little search feature where you can put in the name of a well known band (I put in “Pink Floyd”) and they will suggest a less well-known band on an independent label.  I bought both Chasing the Ghost and Some Kind of Strange by Collide and they immediately became one of my favourite bands ever.

The review below first appeared on BlogCritics.org and was reviewed by me.  I receive no payment for my articles on BlogCritics.

 

“Organical mechanical – layers of sound and passion” 

That is how Los Angeles-based duo Collide describe their sound on their MySpace page.  Formed in 1992, Collide have been releasing albums on their own Noiseplus label since 2000.  Their grinding guitars, heavy beats and industrial sounds have earned them the Darkwave label and a loyal following among the gothic / industrial crowd.  As their popularity begins to grow, it seems likely that the energetic and ethereal sounds of Collide will transcend boundaries and appeal to lovers of music across all genres.  They recently featured in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles as Abby (played by Pauley Perrette) took time out from her investigation to visit a goth club called “Steampunk”. 

Statik and kaRIN are the artists behind Collide with kaRIN providing the transcendental vocals and Statik providing the melodic and dramatic musical arrangements.  They have released four studio albums, two collections of remixes, a collaboration with Dean Garcia of Curve as well as a live CD and DVD.  Their latest project is perhaps their most ambitious yet: These Eyes Before is a collection of ten covers but it is in no way an example of the band selling out. 

Rather than focusing on songs from their own genre, like many bands do when recording covers, Collide have given tribute to some of the masters of rock whose inspiration is evident in the band’s music.  It takes a very brave band to cover Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, David Essex and David Bowie on one album but Collide pull it off with incredible ease.  Their respect for the artists and the songs they covered is evident and the production of the songs is flawless. 

All ten songs on the album were originally sung by male vocalists and kaRIN’s beautiful vocals together with the Statik’s industrial beats provide these classics with a new and updated sound.  Overall, listening to These Eyes Before gives the feeling of hearing these songs for the first time and falling in love with them all over again (and we did love the originals).

These Eyes Before track listing with original artists in brackets:

1. Breathe (Pink Floyd)
2. Nights In White Satin (The Moody Blues)
3. Come Together (The Beatles)
4. Creep (Radiohead)
5. Rock On (David Essex)
6. I Feel You (Depeche Mode)
7. Space Oddity (David Bowie)
8. Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaac)
9. Tusk (Fleetwood Mac)
10. Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)

Collide are certainly becoming one of the bands to look out for as they begin to rise in popularity.  I’d certainly recommend this album as well as their older material (especially Chasing the Ghost). 

You can learn more about Collide and listen to their music on their official website as well as their Last.fm and MySpace pages.

Book review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Every now and again, a book comes along that is so powerful and moving that you feel changed after reading it.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is just one of those books.  The Book Thief was published back in 2005 but for some reason it had not made its way onto my reading list until recently.  Don’t make the mistake of overlooking this important and brilliant book and rush out and read it immediately!

The Book Thief is set in the fictional town of Molching outside of Munich in Nazi Germany.  The story is narrated by Death and the book thief is a small girl named Liesel Meminger.  Death first meets Liesel when her younger brother Werner dies during a train journey while the children and their mother are en route to Molching.  The children were both intended to be taken into foster care by the Hubermann family and Liesel is taken in alone.  It later emerges that Liesel’s mother was most probably sent to Dachau Concentration Camp for being a Communist.

It is during her brother’s burial that Liesel steals her first book The Gravedigger’s Handbook.  The theft of the book seems to assuage her grief but it is only later that Liesel learns of the liberation and power of reading and literature. 

Liesel’s new foster mother Rosa Hubermann is described as a hard and abrasive woman who resembles a wardrobe while Hans Hubermann is seen as a caring and attentive man who Liesel readily begins to call “papa”.  She makes friends with the next door neighbour Rudy Steiner and begins to attend a nearby school.  For some time the only troubles she has are nightmares about her brother’s death, a shortage of food due to rations and her papa’s lack of work and a fair share of trouble at school.

That all changes when a string of events leads to the Hubermanns hiding the Jewish Max Vandenberg in the basement of their house.  Another pivotal moment is when Liesel steals her second book during a book burning and subsequently begins a relationship with the mayor’s wife and her book collection.

There is a sense of dread that pervades through the whole story and one is continually left with the fear that something awful is going to happen.  Will Liesel’s love of books cast doubt and suspicion on the family? Will the children be caught for thieving? Will the Jew in the basement be discovered?  In the end, that sense of dread becomes a metaphor for the war itself and Death himself begins to feel disgust at the amount of souls he took away during that time.

The book was marketed as an adults book when it was originally released in Australia but was later released as a young adult book in the United States.  In all honesty, the book transcends such boundaries and has strong lessons to teach no matter the age of the reader.  Themes of friendship, loyalty, convictions and morality are central to the story here as is the power of literature and the power of taking what is rightfully yours.  Freedom in this book does not come without suffering or loss but it is something that is hard won and which is breaks beyond the walls of a concentration camp when it occurs.

This is a fantastically written book which has been nominated for and won scores of awards right around the globe.  Markus Zusak’s writing appeals to all the senses as he describes colours, tastes, sounds, textures and even smells.  Indeed, Death describes all of the scenes of death and dying in terms of hues and the colour of the sky.  The result is that the story becomes all the more vivid and the effect is that this story feels like an epic as opposed to four years of the life of a child during Nazi Germany.

I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone.  It is a real master of a book and I have absolutely no hesitation in giving it five out of five stars.

Book review: Ark Angel – Anthony Horowitz

Ark Angel is the tenth Anthony Horowitz book I have read in 18 months so I guess it is safe to say that in that time I have become a massive Horowitz fan!  Horowitz is best known in the adult world for being the award winning television screenwriter of shows such as Foyle’s War and more recently Collision but it is his two young adult series that have garnered him the most fame and recognition.

Horowitz is the author of The Alex Rider series as well as The Power of Five series about five teenagers who must fight together to save the world from an ancient evil.  What makes Horowitz’s books appealing to people beyond the young adult demographic is the action-packed, break-neck pace of his books, the wildly adventurous storylines, the exotic locations and the strong characters of the protagonists.

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Alex Rider is a fourteen-year-old boy carelessly used as a spy by first MI6 and later the CIA.  He is the perfect candidate for such a role as he was unwittingly trained in survival and espionage by his spy uncle from a very young age.  Horowitz has stated that the series must end by Alex’s fifteenth birthday and the eighth book was released in November 2009. 

Ark Angel is the sixth book in the Alex Rider series.  It is by far the most explosive and exciting book so far and this is compounded by Horowitz’s disclaimer at the end of the book that all of the stunts in the book were written to occur within the realm of possibly but they are not to be tried at home!

It is hard to give a synopsis of the book without giving spoilers for the previous book Scorpia and indeed for this book as well and I certainly try not to give spoilers in my reviews.  However, I’d advise that you not read further if you haven’t yet read Scorpia.

Following the events at the end of Scorpia, Alex is recovering from a serious assassination attempt on his life in a private clinic.  He becomes embroiled in an attempt to kidnap fellow patient Paul Drevin and manages to take the other boys place.  What follows is one of the most exciting escape scenes out of any action film or book I have encountered before and Alex is then invited to join Paul on holiday by his thankful father Nikolei Drevin.  The CIA don’t trust Drevin though and so it is that Alex is once again dragged into the world of espionage and subterfuge.

Seriously, if you emerged from the world of teenaged wizards and thought “what next?”, forget effervescent vampires and head straight for the Horowitz books.

Music Monday ~15: Same Goes For You

This week on Emm in London I posted a video entitled You Make Joburg Great.  It is about my hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa and featured music from one of South Africa’s best bands, Prime Circle.  That song was “My Inspiration” and in the spirit of the rather significant dose of homesickness that the video produced in me, I decided to post my very favourite Prime Circle song, “Same Goes For You”.

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

Music Monday # 14: One Love – David Guetta

This is one of those songs.  You know when you’re barely listening to the radio and then a song comes on and you immediately know it is going to be one of your favourite songs ever?  I heard this the other day at work and Googled the lyrics and then voilà*, I found out who sang it and posted this video.

Lyrics

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

* Yes, that's right. It is "voilà" not whallah or walla.

Holmes and Watson? Yes please…

Holmes must confront perhaps his biggest case yet in what looks to be a vast supernatural and magical mystery. Will the limits of his scientific method be stretched or is it all just smoke and mirrors?

If ever a film has divided the viewing public it has to be Guy Ritchie's latest offering Sherlock Holmes.  The first reports I heard of the film were from trustworthy fellow fangirls such as myself who proclaimed the film to be a resounding success in terms of eye candy and swoonworthiness.  Such discerning viewers were in fact planning on seeing the film more than once just to gain a maximum dose of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.

Then came the torrent of complaints about how Downey Jr simply played Downey Jr and not Sherlock Holmes and how Guy Ritchie was simply directing another Guy Ritchie film.

Personally, I thought it was bloody marvellous!

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was not simply the dour and dapper gentleman that certain television dramatisations would have us believe.  He was written to be slightly unhinged, morally bereft and rather unconventional.  Were it not for his results, it is unlikely that the establishment would have put up with his antics.  For capturing this perfectly I give the film full marks.

Dr Watson

No matter how many times Doctor Watson tried to walk away from Holmes, whom he considered to be unnecessarily reckless and dangerous, he always landed up getting drawn back in to the world of Sherlock Holmes.  Watson, for his part, was the backbone and heart of every investigation and Holmes could not have done without him.  That is, indeed, as camp as it sounds and I was thoroughly pleased that this was captured beautifully in the film.

Sherlock Holmes is set against a backdrop of late 19th century London and the styles of the times and the construction of Tower Bridge were depicted beautifully in the film. 

This film shot right to the top of my DVD wish list and I don’t think I’ll only be watching it once.  It was fun, action packed and had two of the hottest men on Earth in it.  (It is no secret that my reviews aren’t exactly objective).  I’ll also be rushing out to watch the sequel because it was quite clear that one is on the way!

For making me smile to myself on the way home as I imagined Holmes and Watson together (preferably with me the middle), I give the film a resounding 5 stars.

Book: When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro

Towards the end of 2009, I found that I was bouncing between Young Adult and Urban Fantasy novels and was beginning to bore even myself. I often take recommendations from other readers and my “to-read” list at Goodreads.com is ridiculously long.  So I’ve made a resolution of sorts to start reading good, classic fiction in amongst all of the vampires and demons and teenage witches and spies. 

Would you believe that I hadn’t heard of Kazuo Ishiguro before?  I saw the film Remains of the Day but hadn’t realised it was based on a book.  I went into the library looking for Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro which was on the Goodreads list Best Books of the Decade: 2000's and landing up taking this one out as there were no other Ishiguro books.

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It is England in the 1930s and Christopher Banks is a hugely successful detective.  He narrates his story which tells of his rise as a detective in the early 30s but also touches on his childhood in Shanghai and the disappearance of his parents.  Despite all of his success in life, he has never come to any real understanding of how his parents disappeared and why it wasn’t properly followed up by authorities.

His observations of the world around him as an adult are crisp, clear and accurate yet his memories of his childhood are touched with an innocence and naivety.  It is clear that he does not have the benefit that maturity and hindsight offers to most of us when we remember our childhoods as he was wrenched out of Shanghai and transplanted in England when his parents disappeared.  His memories of his childhood remain untouched too by his discoveries as he unearths evidence regarding his parent’s disappearance.

When We Were Orphans gives a wonderful insight into life in 1930s England and the triviality and shallowness of high society.  It is a complex book at times dealing with the many issues present in the British Settlement in Shanghai and the roll of the British in the opium trade. 

I found it overall to be an uplifting and amusing book and I think Ishiguro rather drily passes commentary on how sentimentality can mislead us sometimes, much in the same way Gatsby’s view of the present was tainted by his sentimental memories of the past.

I really enjoyed the book and will certainly read more from Ishiguro.  I’d quite like to see a film made of this book too; I imagine it would be similar to Empire of the Sun.  I give the book four out of five stars.

Books: 2009 was record breaking

 

I am an incredibly slow reader so I’m pretty proud of myself right now!  I read 35 books in 2009 and so far, I’ve reviewed 28 of those.  Click on the links to go straight to the reviews.

Unfortunately, I neglected to review all of the non-fiction books I read which is going to be a bit dry!!  I will probably review them over at A Passion to Understand and then do one post linking over to them.

Having achieved this, I almost feel confident aiming for 50 books this year!

January 2009

03. The Fall - Garth Nix

27. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice (did not finish)

30. Mister Monday - Garth Nix

February 2009

06. Size 14 Is Not Fat Either - Meg Cabot

20. 1984 - George Orwell

28. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

March 2009

02. First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung

13. The Trial - Franz Kafka

19. Slaves of the Mastery - William Nicholson

26. Skeleton Key - Anthony Horowitz

April 2009

21. Eagle Strike - Anthony Horowitz

26. Breathe - Cliff McNish

May 2009

05. Succubus Blues - Richelle Mead

07. Abhorsen - Garth Nix

17. Succubus Nights - Richelle Mead

20. Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories - Garth Nix

June 2009

14. Full Moon Rising - Keri Arthur

30. Succubus Dreams - Richelle Mead

July 2009

25. Scorpia - Anthony Horowitz

August 2009

01. Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead

06. The Black Book of Secrets - F.E. Higgins

11. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

18. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

30. Dinner With Mugabe - Heidi Holland

September 2009

19. Riddles of Epsilon - Christine Morton-Shaw

October 2009

18. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

23. Marked - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

30. The Girl in the Picture - Denise Chong

November 2009

10. The Host - Stephenie Meyer

17. Betrayed - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

24. Circle of Fire - Keri Arthur

December 2009

02. Ark Angel - Anthony Horowitz

11. Storm Born - Richelle Mead

16. Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris

23. Chosen - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

30. When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro

Music Monday # 13: Bohemian Like You

This is an example of the wonder of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.  I heard this song in a restaurant the other day and promptly decided it was My Best Song Evar^™ but i had no idea who sang it! So I tweeted “I'm being driven crazy by a song! It is an indie alternative song and it goes something like "cause I like you, yes I like you". Help!” and a million people answered and now i get to share the song with you!

Happy Music Monday.

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

The Eleventh Doctor: new series preview

The landing page at the Doctor Who website is already reflecting the new changes that the Eleventh Doctor will bring and the first sneak preview of the show is up. 

You’d have to have been living under a rock if you’re in England and didn’t know that the last Doctor Who episode starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor aired tonight.  I’m not at all disappointed in the show but I am intensely sad and so won’t be able to review The End of Time parts 1 and 2 for some time.  Like I said to fellow Doctor Who fan Ben Barden on Twitter, I feel like I just lost my best friend! 

David, you will be missed but Matt and Karen, we’re eagerly awaiting your arrival on our screens!