The first song to enter this edition of Sound Slection is by previously featured Alexander Vincent named ‘Free Myself.’ In this latest piece, Vincent showcases his signature vocals that have become known for their pure and ear-pleasing tone. With ‘Free Myself’ released, as always, we are excited to see what is next for Vincent.
Klahr ‘Falling In Love’
By shifting our frequencies, we have a vivid track by Klahr named ‘Falling In Love,’ which drives on its disco-type vibe and flourishing production that will have you on your feet from the get-go. Talking about the song Klahr said “I came across the vocal sample in the Salsoul catalogue, the message was simple and resonated with me. This song is really personal to me and I hope people get something from it.”
La Fine Equipe & Fakear ‘5th Season’
Our final song on this Sound Selection is by La Fine Equipe & Fakear named ‘5th Season.’ In this electronica filled bliss of a song, La Fine Equipe & Fakear display a wave of striking synths, endlessly-playable samples and a vibe that will transcendent you beyond the ordinary music experience.
Remember when we wrote about Sony being one of the last major hurdles in cross-platform gaming? Well, now they appear to have finally given in, opening up their system to exactly what fans have been asking for. Apparently pushed by the popularity of Fortnite, and the poor PR which resulted from their stubborn attitude, Sony is currently in the process of beta-testing their systems in preparation for a later full-launch.
While this is predicted to cover a great many more games than just the singular Fortnite, the exact range and date of the inclusion of other games are so far unknown.
Of course, their statement regarding the reasons why this has come about directly contradicts their earlier claims and professed reasoning, but this should come as no surprise. They gambled, they lost, and now they try to save face while carrying an air of magnanimousness.
It’s a positive development, for sure, but it doesn’t excuse their behavior. If Sony could have gotten away with this particular brand of anti-consumer practices then they would have. No, I don’t expect to ever receive review copies of games from Sony for free, why do you ask?
Assassins Greed
Cliché, believe me, I know, but no less accurate. Ubisoft’s latest entry in the Assassins Creed franchise has been generally well received. Unfortunately, and as usual, the best efforts of their immensely talented developers have been undercut significantly by the desires of the more profit-driven arm.
Make no mistake, the game is good, at least for those who didn’t mind the change of combat system which came about with Origins. For those frustrated at the increasing tendency of major publishers to push microtransactions, however, the game is yet another step deeper into the mud.
Another full-priced game with free-to-play monetization systems. Another step towards normalization, and another amazing series rotting away to uncontained avarice.
Telltale games have made a name for themselves over the last decade with a handful of much-loved story-driven adventure games. Most popular among these include The Walking Dead and Tales from the Borderlands.
Having laid off around 90% of their staff in late September, Telltale sees itself circling the drain while the last few of its properties struggle to escape development limbo. This includes Minecraft: Story Mode, and the long-running and most popular The Walking Dead, now on its final season.
What we do know is that at least TWD has changed hands, with Skybound Entertainment tasked with finishing up the final two chapters. We’d hate to see such promise and legacy go to waste, so here’s hoping Skybound has what it takes to finish one of the best adventure series to come out of gaming in the last decade.
Fortnite Supporting Creators
The relationship of games and their fans has never been as strong as it is today. This can take many shapes, from the rise and now established field of Twitch streamers, to content creators, and third-party game fixers. Now fans contribute a great deal to helping popularize the games they love, and developers and publishers appear to finally be coming around to understanding and supporting this.
As an example, developers over at Fortnite have revealed their intentions for a new “Support-A-Creator” event. Starting October 8, and until year end, fans can add a tag indicating their favorite community icons. During this period anything bought within the shop will contribute towards earning money for these community members. This means that some players and content creators will be able to profit off their contributions to the ongoing dominance of Fortnite.
While we would like to see this taking shape into paying PC users who fix various game problems which the developers ignored (as we touched on with Dark Souls), we do appreciate this progress and the forward momentum which we hope it represents.
System Shock Returns, Again
The System Shock series, despite only having two main entries to its name, is one of the biggest in gaming. Both in terms of long-term fan interest and ongoing gaming legacy, these games have accomplished what few could ever hope. While there have been a few attempts to carry this heritage, most popularly with the Bioshock series, and most recently with the excellent Prey and its DLC, nothing ever quite inspired us like the originals.
When fans learned that Nightdive Studios was developing a System Shock 1 remake, the hype was predictably high. Like many fan-lead remakes, however, inexperience and a ballooning budget led the game continuously further off-course. Fans wanted something closer to a direct remake. What they would end up getting promised was a reimagining. This caused a schism within both the developers and the community until Nightdive halted the project to reexamine their path.
Now back to their original and more faithful vision, Nightdive has released some new footage of their latest alpha. Weird, angular, and far more accurate than their earlier efforts, this is one we will definitely keep an eye on.
Brett Kern a USA based artist creates custom balloon dinosaurs.
Kerns particular combination of dinosaurs and balloons make for funky toylike objects. His balloons are infused with a very decorative and clean aesthetic due to its high-quality finish and nature of his work making it that much more exceptional.
Lam makes a statement with his track ‘The Finest.’
Lamarr Spencer, also known under his music alias as Lam, has presented us with one of his latest projects ‘The Finest,’ which features production from Secret Stash. The track comes after the release of his five-track debut EP ‘Pay Attention,’ which features songs such as ‘The Boy.’, ‘New Aesthetic’ and ‘Honesty.’
While Lam is a reasonably new rapper on the scene, he brings a wave of individuality and distinctiveness with his music which is lacking in the broader sphere of music. With ‘The Finest’ shared, we are excited to see what is next for Lam.
Robin F. Williamsan artist based in New York creates striking, saturated paintings with funky poses and nudity.
Williams paintings appear striking at first glance with their rich saturated colours and seemingly intended, edgy themes. Whether it’s hiding a face in a portrait with hair, themes of nudity, bizarre modelling positions or even severe sunburn effects in her subjects, it seems Robin F. Williams is not afraid of trying to break the conventional. Probably the most notable signature details throughout her paintings are the girls wearing sunglasses which gives a cool aura of not giving a f*ck.
From its showing at the BFI London Film Festival, Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy is something else. It’s as if Mad Max (1979) was a video nasty, showcasing an artistic flare unlike anything in cinemas today. Its visuals are sublime, its brutality is striking, and its moments of humour are wickedly funny.
Set in 1983, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) lives in the woods with her logger boyfriend Red (Nicolas Cage), where she draws and sketches. They lead a quiet life together, one of clear and deep affection for each other. When out walking in the woods, Mandy is seen by Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), an enigmatic Manson-esque cult leader, and his followers. Sand is immediately obsessed with her, and commands his obedient devotees to abduct her. To do so, Sand’s cult turns to a demonic group of leather-clad not-quite-human bikers who carry out the abduction with a ferocity befitting an early-80s slasher. What ensues awakens the proverbial sleeping giant in Red as he loses all ties to sanity in his quest for vengeance.
Andrea Riseborough plays the hypnotic Mandy.
Mandy exhibits a very simple narrative; practically that of Mad Max but presented with the visceral quality of Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left (1972). But make no mistake; the simplicity of the narrative is one of the film’s hidden strengths. The audience is able to very quickly grasp the parameters of the story, enabling the film’s astounding visuals to amaze without distracting from one’s understanding of the plot.
This simplicity also provides a broad canvas on which the cast can flesh out their characters. Much of their depth is communicated through the visual, and Cosmatos exhibits an assertive command of the images he selects. Following a particularly harrowing ordeal, Red paces in his bathroom, covered in blood. Cosmatos doesn’t cut away, and we are forced to linger uncomfortably on Red’s anguish. Red’s personal horror is inescapable, and we are not permitted to look away. Extended shots like this are peppered throughout the film, and encourage us to really look at the character before us.
Nicolas Cage is wonderful as Red. Moments of reserved contemplation are juxtaposed to violent outbursts, and Cage beautifully performs a person whose experience has changed them irreversibly. At one moment we’re laughing at the absurdity of Cage’s brilliant facial expressions, the next we’re weeping with him. Red is a truly dynamic role for Cage.
Andrea Riseborough is remarkably hypnotic as Mandy, a person clearly haunted by their past, one that involved their father teaching them how to kill baby birds. Riseborough’s performance is melancholic and withdrawn, as if Mandy isn’t totally on our plane of existence. Again, the film’s visuals amplify this, as extended slow-motion shots of Mandy’s angelic gaze draw us into her otherworldliness.
Mandy’s gaze has a power of its own.
The bursts of wicked comedy work both to relieve us from the brutality of the proceedings, and to immerse us into the madness; our laughter taking us a step closer to Red’s mental destination.
The aforementioned bikers are horrifying. We’re unable to tell whether or not they’re actually human. Wearing masks that seem to blend with their very skin, and with voices one could scarcely call human, the bikers are a dark perversion of those seen in films like Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981); perhaps more akin to Jason Voorhees than Lord Humungus.
The demonic biker gang.
Mandy’s colour palette is phenomenal. The film is gorgeous to look at; shots are bathed in blood reds and the intense film grain lends a dream-like quality that often slips into nightmare. Complementing this is a selection of animated sequences throughout the film (including a striking vision of a naked woman emerging from behind the carcass of a huge bear-like animal). These sequences communicate both despair and beauty in a similar manner to those seen in Yoshimitsu Banno’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971). Indeed, much like those in Hedorah, the initial delight one feels at their appearance quickly gives way to unease and revulsion at what the present and mean.
Mandy also feels very authentic to its 1980s setting in a manner that seems more genuine than other current ‘80s throwbacks. Netflix’s Stranger Things is highly entertaining, but its ‘80s nostalgia is largely achieved through visual or dialogue based references. Mandy feels closer to an ‘80s product in its very construction. It’s true that in one scene Mandy and Red are watching 1982’s Nightbeast on their TV (a visual reference), but the ’80s authenticity comes from elements such as the practical makeup and gore effects, the costume design, the fictional book that Mandy reads (a perfect pastiche of ’80s fantasy novels), and the hilarious Cheddar Goblin advert – whose presentation is so authentic that this critic wasn’t aware it was fictional for a good thirty seconds before clocking the joke!
Mandy is indeed something else. It is an experience unlike anything else in release. Panos Cosmatos has constructed a surreal horror, at once repulsive and beautiful. With its simple story told through vivid, nightmarish visuals, Mandy is sure to become a cult favourite all of its own.
Entering with an upsurge of euphonious sound and stunning vocals is the highly-gifted Celeste with her latest song ‘Both Sides of The Moon.’ With a honeyed voice that will keep you listening for months to come, we are sure to hear more from Celeste in the months to come.
Beacon ‘On Ice’
Another great addition to this Sound Selection is by Beacon named ‘On Ice.’ In this richly-produced song, the terrific duo behind Beacon once again showcases their refined sound that is prominent throughout their well-respected discography. This one is for the playlists.
Alexandra Stréliski ‘Overturn’
The last song on our Sound Selection is by the wonderful Alexandra Stréliski who brings us a wave of emotions in a mellow composition that will have one’s heart shifting with its delicate melody. The song also is accompanied by an artistic music video, which takes influence from the late Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky.
A superb film company has ascended under the name of Deadline Films.
Deadline Films, an award-winning film company, has become quite the tour de force in the world of short films. In the past year alone, it has won such awards for as the Audience Choice Award at the Chelmsford Film Festival and the Best Dark Comedy Short award at Atlanta Underground FF, both for their film ‘Hangover Food,’ which was written and produced by David Hepburn and Craig McDonald-Kelly and directed by Ross McGowan.
“We’re a film collective working with different directors and stories to give each film a unique feel. Our mission is to make quality, entertaining films to a deadline.”
The exciting film company was founded in 2017 by two actors, David Hepburn and Craig McDonald-Kelly, both of whom wanted to take the reins and grow as creatives. With just a year in the running, the company has already made six top-notch short films and is in the progress of making their first two feature films. According to Deadline Films, ‘Sacrifices,’ will be in the progress of being filmed in 2019. ‘Sacrifices’ is a film based on the Weinstein Scandal in Hollywood. Furthermore, ‘Happy Hunting,’ a road trip comedy-drama film, is currently in its script development stage and will be in pre-production in 2019.
Ultimately, in the crowded world of film companies, the triumphs that Deadline Films have been able to achieve are genuinely magnificent especially knowing that it all has come from just one idea in a space of a year. With a vast wave of independent films coming each year, we are eager to see what is next for Deadline Films.
So, this is me. Lily Allen. I am a woman. I am a mother. I was a wife. I drink. I have taken drugs. I have loved and been let down. I am a success and a failure. I am a songwriter. I am a singer. I am all these things and more. When women share their stories, loudly and clearly and honestly, things begin to change – for the better. This is my story.
No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the 21st century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.
Everyone has something to hide
A missing private investigator is found, locked in a car hidden deep in the woods. Worse still – both for his family and the police – is that his body was in an area that had already been searched.
Everyone has secrets
Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled and now – after a decade without answers – it’s time for the truth.
Nobody is innocent
Every officer involved must be questioned, and it seems everyone on the case has something to hide, and everything to lose. But there is one man who knows where the trail may lead – and that it could be the end of him: John Rebus.
When Rachel Croft wakes up on her family’s boat in Bermuda, it’s to sunshine and yet another perfect day…until she goes to wake her seven-year-old son, Oscar. Because the worst thing imaginable has happened. He isn’t there.
In the dark and desperate days that follow, Rachel struggles to navigate her grief. And while her husband, James, wants them to face the tragedy together, Rachel feels that the life they once shared is over. Convinced that their happy marriage is now a sham, and unable to remain in the place where she lost her son, she goes home to Bristol alone.
Only when she starts receiving letters from Cee-Cee, her housekeeper in Bermuda, does light begin to return to Rachel’s soul. She and James both want to learn to live again—but is it too late for them to find a way through together?
In My Life in Football Keegan tells the story of his remarkable rise through the sport, from the Peglers Brass Works reserve team in Doncaster to helping Liverpool become the kings of Europe, winning a Bundesliga title with Hamburg and captaining
England. Keegan was recognised around the world as one of the sport’s genuine superstars and remains the only Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or twice.
In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival – scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust.
Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale – a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer – it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too.
So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.
The Flame is a stunning collection of Leonard Cohen’s last poems and writings, selected and ordered by Cohen in the final months of his life. The book contains an extensive selection from Cohen’s notebooks, featuring lyrics, prose pieces and illustrations, which he kept in poetic form throughout his life, and offers an unprecedentedly intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist and thinker.
An enormously powerful final chapter in Cohen’s storied literary career, The Flame showcases the full range of Leonard Cohen’s lyricism, from the exquisitely transcendent to the darkly funny. By turns devastatingly sad and winningly strange, these are the works of a poet and lyricist who has plumbed the depths of our darkest questions and come up wanting, yearning for more.
When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party …
When a mutilated body is found hanging in a seedy motel in Philadelphia, forensics specialist Liam Dwyer assumes the crime scene will be business as usual. Instead, the victim turns out to be a woman he’d had an affair with before breaking it off to save his marriage. But there’s a bigger problem: Liam has no memory of where he was or what he did on the night of the murder.
Panicked, Liam turns to his brother, Sean, a homicide detective. Sean has his back, but incriminating evidence keeps piling up. From fingerprints to DNA, everything points to Liam, who must race against time and his department to uncover the truth—even if that truth is his own guilt. Yet as he digs deeper, dark secrets come to light, and Liam begins to suspect the killer might actually be Sean…
When the smoke clears in this harrowing family drama, who will be left standing?
Diarmaid MacCulloch’s biography is much the most complete and persuasive life ever written of this elusive figure, a masterclass in historical detective work, making connections not previously seen. It overturns many received interpretations, for example that Cromwell was a cynical, ‘secular’ politician without deep-felt religious commitment, or that he and Anne Boleyn were allies because of their common religious sympathies – in fact he destroyed her. It introduces the many different personalities of these foundational years, all conscious of the ‘terrifyingly unpredictable’ Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feel that they are immersed in all this, that it is going on around them.
Hollie McNish, poet and author of books such as ‘Plum’ and ‘Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood,’ joined us for an interview to talk about poetry, critics and culture.
Hi Hollie, how are you?
I’m alright thanks. Just sat on a five-hour train to Swansea at the minute eating my packed lunch reading the book ‘Ring of Bright Water’.
So, how did you get into poetry and more so what drives you to keep doing it?
I’ve always loved writing poems and now that I do it as a ‘job’, if I can really call it that, I’m just thankful to be able to do it full time. I keep doing it because I love writing and meeting people and it’s a damn site lovelier than any of the other admin/shop/café/nightclub jobs I’ve had. If people stopped wanted me to read my poems though, I’d stop gigging and do something else. I’ll always write though, I’m sure of that. It’s an everyday thing really.
Do you have a set way of writing poetry or does it happen randomly?
Nah, just random. Just in snatched moments really. I write all the time. Some stay as scribbles, some I then pick for books and if that’s the case, then I look at them more closely, edit, change. But the ones I just write and don’t ‘use’ or share, they just stay as they are. I don’t ever sit down to write a poem. I couldn’t work like that I don’t think. I don’t want it to become a pressured chore because I love it. If I’ve got nothing to write at any point, I just won’t write anything!
Your book ‘Plum’, which I truly enjoyed, received some harsh words from certain ‘critics’ would you say that affected the way you view poetry?
Ah thanks! Erm, no I don’t think so. I got her point I think. I guess like MTV to music, the popularity of poetry on channels such as YouTube, Instagram etc probably does create some people who do it more for the follows or ‘fame’ than anything. And I think that’s a shame. Or actually, maybe I don’t care too much! I think there has always been that in all art forms. And some of our most canonised writer’s were in it often for money, fame, women.
I’m not sure poetry’s really the way to do that anyway – videos of a cat falling off the sofa still get more views than any poetry! The main thing I disagreed with is that I don’t think the media through which any art is shared should define it. When I’m called a ‘YouTube poet’ I find it ridiculous. The poems I read online are all in books but not once have I been called a ‘book poet’ or ‘reading poet’. I think there is some belittling to be done by these forced associations with certain writers and social media. There is a lot of Ted Hughes on YouTube. That doesn’t now deem him a social media poet. An example of a living poet would’ve been better here but I’m on a train with no signal to search!
It did affect me, of course. It made me hate writing for a little while. Made me feel stupid. Like I was being laughed at by lots of self-titled intellectuals mainly. But I had that feeling enough at Cambridge University in my first term to know how to feel about it and to know I had enough sense to stand by the ideas in the article I disagreed with and to consider the ones I wasn’t sure about. I didn’t mind the criticism, harsh as it was, or the crux of the idea, it was the assumptions about myself and other writers that I couldn’t really stand. The guesswork about why I wrote and who for and what I was after in life.
One positive thing that came out of it I think was the fact that Watts continuously quoted me and the sort of comments I made about my own work not really being good poetry or well crafted. I think I dismiss my own writing a lot because it’s something I’ve done over years, not something I’ve ‘learnt’ as such. But I think that defines learning then solely in relation to having studied something formally. I don’t really understand the mindset of people who finish a piece of art with the mentality that it is brilliant. I hear poets say ‘this is my best poem’ and it always shocks me. Not in a bad way, I’m quite in awe of it. But I think I need to be a bit more positive about myself here because I do love language and I do work hard on lots of my writing and I do think about the vocabulary and rhyme scheme. I just never say that, cos I’d feel like a wanker. But when Watts mocked me for not understanding metaphor, for example, it made me think. Because I don’t like using metaphor and I don’t use it for just as valid reasons as other writer’s do. I don’t enjoy a lot of metaphor in writing. I want people to say what they mean. I didn’t like all the sort of secret codes of imagery in TS Eliot for example. It really put me off. But not using certain techniques in language doesn’t make me less viable or more stupid or less thoughtful in my writing.
I thought a lot of it was insulting guesswork basically. Some was very good criticism. And some sounded like snobbery which I wouldn’t associate with the viewpoints that I’ve seen this author discuss on platforms like youtube.
Weirdly, I re-read the article for the first time yesterday. Just to make sure I wasn’t still too upset about it all. And it was fine this time.
If a poem could describe how you feel right now, which poem would it be and why?
Right now, in all honesty, I’m feeling pretty ill and I’m touring on my own and just got my period but am on a 5-hour train till I can buy things I need for that and I’m feeling a tiny bit sorry for myself! So what just came into my head with this question is the poem ‘The Rabbit’s Christmas Carol’ (if you disregard the Christmas reference!). I’ve had this poem in my head whenever I’ve felt poorly since I was about 5 years old!
I’m sick as a parrot
I’ve lost my carrot
I couldn’t care less
if it’s Christmas Day
I’m sick as a parrot
I’ve lost my carrot
So get us a lettuce
or go away!
That’s a splendid poem. Do you have a favourite poem or a selection of poems?
No, I have lots. I loved Roger McGoughs’ Pie in the Sky as a kid. My favourite though was Please Mrs Butler. Then in recent years, I guess a few favourites have been ‘How You Might Know Me’ by Sabrina Mahfouz, Physical by Andrew McMillan, Oyster by Michael Pedersen. I think the poem I have listened to more than any other has been Barry McGuire’s song ‘Eve of Destruction’. I used to listen to that on repeat. I consider it poetry. Or the Outhere Brother’s Boom Boom Boom Dirty Version. That was an eye-opener.
The single poems that most affected me have likely been Jackie Kay’s piece about her parent’s treatment in their retirement home and Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est.
So, what are you working on now?
At the moment I’m working on putting together poems and stories for a next book but it’s hard to choose which to use and I need to edit them really well. I’m also trying to learn Nobody Told Me in French and Spanish as it’s just been translated. I can’t speak Spanish well but thinking this might be the way!
Our final question, what is your definition of culture?
No idea, really. That’s more of a thousand word essay question! Whatever it might be, I don’t think it’s as related to registers in language as we historically enforced. All I know is that I’ve been called both ‘anti-culture’ and also ‘non-culture’ – both times by somewhat privileged older professors and I found both labels pretty insulting! I think we often call people ‘cultured’ simply because they’ve been able to afford more experiences than others. I don’t know. It’s a difficult concept to whittle away on a few lines!
Thank you for joining us Hollie, we hope the poetry keeps coming!
Hollie McNish will be speaking about her poetry collection ‘Nobody Told Me‘ at Cheltenham Literature Festival (5th-14th October).
