Travelers is a science fiction television series, which launched on Netflix in late 2016. The show follows a team of operatives that have been sent back in time from the future to the present day. Each team member, who is referred to as a traveller, arrives in the present day by taking over the consciousness of people in the present, at their recorded time of death. The concept behind this means of time travel is that these travellers only occupy the bodies of people who were destined to die anyway. The operatives use social media to learn about their host bodies and assume their lives, under cover, while they secretly carry out a series of missions, under the orders of ‘the director’. The director exists in the future they have come from, and transmits messages through children, the Internet and other electronic devices. Throughout the first season, the team has a number of missions they must complete, as instructed by the director. As time progresses, we discover there are many teams that are all on their own separate missions, and it is soon revealed the main reason why these operatives have been sent back in time. Please note, that from this point onwards, there are spoilers. The main mission is to deflect an asteroid that is due to collide with the earth eighteen months from the present day, which essentially wipes out the majority of the human race. However, the team soon discovers that while the deflection of the asteroid has resulted in saving the world from devastation, this has created a new timeline, which has altered the future in a dramatic way. This opens up the floodgates for new problems, which they must solve. Moreover, as the characters develop, there is a fairly even split between the missions and the following of the operatives ‘host’ lives, which is a nice balance over the course of the season. While the concept of this show is unique and engaging for the viewer, unfortunately, there are many loop holes that are left unanswered. For example, the operatives are sent back through a transmission of subconscious, but when they meet as a team, one member, who is the ‘medic’, somehow has access to communication devices which are implanted behind their ears, and somehow defy the laws of mobile phones, where members can talk to each other through these devices wherever they are, at any time. It is never explained how these devices were built or if they came from the future, and if so, how did they get there. Despite this, for some reason the operatives don’t appear to possess any other futurist technology, outside of their ability to communicate through underground channels in the Internet, referred to as the ‘deep web’. The characters aren’t given any supplies or money to carry out these tasks, and must seemingly rely on their ‘historian’ team member, Philip Pearson, who has a photographic memory of events of this time, and therefore knows the winning horses to what seems to be, an endless amount of horse races. This explains how they fund their missions, but it is never explained why they aren’t provided funds from the future. Another hole is that pieces of futuristic technology appear, on occasion, when the team seems to be in dire situations, but there is never an explanation as to where this technology came from. Some of the technology used from the future includes nanites, which grow organs that save the life of the team leader, Grant MacLaren, after he survives a plane crash, using yet another piece of technology from the future. There is no reconciliation as to how this technology can be transmitted from the future. We are left with the knowledge that the only means of time travel is through the transfer of subconscious from body to body, which by the way, is another concept that is never fully explained. Overall, Travelers was a great binge watch, and if you are happy to not question plot points, it is an enjoyable experience.
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Sia Furler has risen to international prominence over the last few years with her break through albums ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ and ‘This is Acting’. However, she has been performing since the mid-1990s, starting in her hometown of Adelaide, and over a twenty-year period has risen to the status of international pop star. I first discovered the genius of Sia Furler, as countless others did, through her track ‘Breathe Me’ which featured as the soundtrack to the closing scene of what is arguably the greatest television show ever created; Six Feet Under. Subsequently, the track also featured on many other television shows and films. In 2008 my wife purchased Sia’s fourth album ‘Some people have real problems’. We were both hooked, and listened to the album on a fairly heavy rotation for that year. It became the soundtrack for long trips interstate in the car. Stand out tracks on this LP are ‘The girl you lost to cocaine’, ‘Soon we’ll be found’ and ‘Button’s. Two years later, we hastily acquired Sia’s fifth album ‘We are born’ upon its release in Australia. This album was produced by Greg Kurstin, who has an uncanny ability in producing great pop records, having also produced and collaborated with the likes of Lily Allen and Adele. In Australia, ‘We are born’ brought Sia to national prominence, taking out Best Independent Release and Best Pop Release at the 2010 ARIA Awards, as well as receiving a nomination for album for the year on Triple J. The following year, the track ‘Clap your hands’ received an ARIA nomination for Song of the Year. The first seven tracks on the LP are all stand out tracks in their own right. It is a very strong album, and as a result, was added to our high rotation playlist, and further aided my wife and I by providing a highly suitable soundtrack for our semi-regular car trips interstate. The next four years of her career were largely out of the spotlight, in which she focused on writing songs for other people. Most notably, she penned tracks for Rihanna and Beyoncé. In 2014, Sia released the LP ‘1000 Forms of Fear’. Stand out tracks on the LP are ‘Hostage’ and ‘Elastic Heart’, and ‘Free the Animal’. The lead single, ‘Chandelier’ single handedly shot Sia in to international stardom, which was accompanied by a unique music video, that featured an eleven-year-old girl, Maddie Ziegler. dancing erratically across a room. The music video has been viewed over 1.5 billion times on YouTube. By this stage, she had also become uncomfortable with fame and had chosen to mask her face in public appearances. While she was criticised by many for this action, it is understandable. She has stated in interviews that she didn’t want to be famous, and wanted to be able to do normal things, such as go shopping, without being bombarded by fans and paparazzi. If anything, taking the focus away from her appearance forces music critiques and fans to focus on her music. Too many pop artists, in particular, female pop artists, are judged on their appearance. There is an extraordinary pressure for these performers look the part, and often means many have a shelf life based on their age. Through Sia’s diversion away from her face, she has the potential to become a timeless artist, where the only adjudicating that is made by critiques is on her mind-blowing voice and her song writing prowess, both of which she has demonstrated a supernatural talent. Her latest album, ‘This is acting’ was released last year, and the stand out tracks on this LP are ‘Birds Set Free’ and ‘Cheap Thrills’, and once again, has become a high rotation LP in our car. I for one, cannot wait to hear what is next for Sia.
In mid-2015, I had the opportunity to see American Football. American Football are a band that existed in the late 1990s, releasing a self-titled EP and LP and then unfortunately called it a day in the year 2000. I had always wished I had been able to see them play live, but understood, like many other seminal bands of their time, like Karate and Slint, I was only a teenager at the time, living in Australia, and therefore it was simply an impossible feat to have the opportunity to enjoy bands like American Football outside of their recordings. In 2014, American Football suddenly appeared online, with a website and Facebook page. As soon as I had discovered this, I followed the Facebook page, and actively watched the reformation of this seminal band. I watched with great eagerness as they announced and performed shows around the US. I started hoping that they might come to Australia, but was doubtful. When the band announced they were heading to Australia, I pounced on tickets and counted down the days to see them play at the Hi Fi Bar in Melbourne. The show was magical, and definitely a show that I will remember for the rest of my life. The band released a sophomore self-titled album a few months ago, which I acquired on vinyl the day it was available from my local retailer.
The long awaited LP opens with ‘Where are we now’, with lush and creamy incandescent guitars that transcend between left and right speakers in an oscillating motion. Mike Kinsella’s sweet vocals enter in a soft and delightful fashion. The intro concludes and the full band enters at the chorus. The bass and drums are pronounced and sonorous, with the production sounding far superior to the first album. The second verse kicks in with gentle rim clicks on the snare and the same dreamy guitar pickings. The track concludes in the same delicate way it started. ‘My instincts are the enemy’ commences with syncopated arguments between fender-drenched guitars, which dabble in sweet harmonics, while an opulent bass tone drives the track. The track changes dramatically half way though, where an offbeat drone of guitars is off set by a steady and furious drumming pattern. ‘Home is where the haunt is’ draws a delicate balance between acoustic and electric guitars and Kinsella’s vocals are supported by soft and placid harmonies. The track utilises a sweet glockenspiel, leading in to the last chorus. ‘Born to lose’ teases the listener with a complex rhythm in the verses, which makes the first beat of each bar hard to pinpoint, however the track seems to flow beautifully. The choruses are played to a straight beat, which centres the song. The instrumental outro is driven by a brash bass tone, which fades out slowly.
‘I’ve been so lost for so long’ begins as the one of the key moments on the album that delineates the original 1999 sound of the band, however when the chorus begins, it brings the sound back to the 2016 version of American Football. The track finishes with a bass driven instrumental reflection. ‘Give me the gun’ is piloted by a heavily syncopated hi-hat, which at times battles to subjugate an equally weighted syncopated ride cymbal. The track ends with a hypnotic pulsating drone of guitars and drums. The next track, ‘I need a drink (or two or three)’ slowly fades in with the signature trumpet sound from drummer Steve Lamos. Lamos moves from trumpet to the drums with intricate and complex drum fills littered throughout the song. ‘Desire gets in the way’ kicks off with a typical guitar picking sound found in the 1999 album, but Kinsella’s voice drops in to the track and announces that this is definitely a new song from the new album. The track moves to a beautiful instrumental section, which delicately repeats towards the conclusion. The final track ‘Everyone is dressed up’ has a similar feel to the first track, and calmly makes its way to the end of the album.
This album has been a pleasant surprise for devoted fans. American Football have delivered a remarkable body of work that will surely allow a new generation to fall in love with this inspiring and prodigious band. 'American Football' is out now on Polyvinyl Records.
Having only run this blog for just three weeks today, I have a long list of music I’d love to write about. I’d firstly like to apologise, as this review is for an album that was released in March 2015. However, it is an album that has sat very well with me, and I believe it needs to be written about. Death Cab for Cutie are one of my all-time favourite bands. I was first introduced to this band when a friend of mine had spent some time in the USA on holiday, returning with a CDR full of bands he had discovered while there. One of these bands was Death Cab for Cutie, with tracks from their third album The Photo Album, which had just been released. After hearing this music, I was instantly hooked. I went out and bought the album the very next day, and a few weeks afterwards I also bought their first two albums. Two years later I was blessed with the release of the fourth album, which I purchased the week it was released. Furthermore, as if destiny was poking its head out to greet me, one of my other favourite bands, Something for Kate came back from a US tour, and announced a national tour with Death Cab for Cutie as the support. Seeing my two of my favourite bands playing together was a significant moment for me and my close friend who also loved both bands. As Death Cab had never toured in Australia prior to this, and not many people knew of them, my friend and I were able to be up the front without much effort, and we took in every single note from Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla’s guitars, every intricate drum fill and incredible syncopated rhythm from Jason McGerr. It was a magical evening. Over the last fifteen years, Death Cab for Cutie have been played endlessly in my car and on my headphones. I also saw them again a few years later when they played The Forum in Melbourne. This gig was very different to the Something for Kate show, as this time, it was sold out, packed to the brim; full of raging Death Cab for Cutie fans. The same close friend of mine was also there for a second sitting, but this time we stayed towards the back, as too many people were playing karaoke up the front, as Death Cab for Cutie are the kind of band that incites irrational screaming of every lyric by diehard fans; clearly more die hard than myself.
Their eighth studio album, Kintsugi is unfortunately also a farewell to their guitarist and in-house producer, Chris Walla. The album was produced for the first time by an outsider to the band, Rich Costey, who has previously produced the likes of Muse and Foster the People. The first four tracks of the album accurately demonstrate a classic Death Cab for Cutie sound. ‘No Room in Frame’, commences with soft and gentle floating sounds and a serene back beat to introduce Gibbard’s charming vocal lines. The snare is switched on and the song starts rolling along with McGerr’s astonishing ability to make the hi-hat an instrument all on its own, with his complex syncopation, which is an essential element of the trade mark sound of DCFC. When the song fully kicks in, it sits very comfortably as a typical DCFC song. Similarly, ‘Black Sun’ runs its course with an equally multifaceted and interested drum beat and pumping arpeggiated chords on the guitar. The guitar solo is a fuzzy and glorious mess of rhythmic and simple notes that fit well in this track. ‘The Ghosts of Beverly Drive’ is fast paced and edgy. In the first verse there is a distinctive syncopated guitar rhythm, while the second verse relies solely on Gibbard’s voice before the bass and drums come back in, leading to the second chorus. ‘Little Wanderer’ is a gentle and restrained pop song which fills the ears with a splendid mix of creamy silvertones.
‘You’ve haunted me all my life’ is a calm mid-point of the LP, that has a tender and woolly bassline, which Nick Harmer propels through the second half of the track. The laidback sentiment continues with ‘Hold No Guns’, which is simply an acoustic guitar and Gibbard’s bare and unprocessed vocals. ‘Everything’s a Ceiling’ opens with an 80s-esque synth and yet another example of McGerr’s uncanny ability to use a hi-hat well. The track picks up with a syncopated and muted guitar, leading towards an intriguing bridge and solo and ending with a fuller sounding final chorus. ‘Good help (is so hard to find)’ brings back their more ‘pop’ sound with a range of stimulating and varied guitar lines and a pumping and jiving bass line. ‘El Dorado’ again highlights McGerr’s ability to draw the listener in with his highly unique drum patterns. The chorus is rich in harmonies and gentle strums of the guitar. ‘Ingenue’ commences with an interesting sampled vocal sound, followed by a gentle bass fuzz and slightly distorted vocals. The track slowly builds up, with extra layers of guitars added to create a full and thick sound, which sounded amazing in my Bose headphones, and then the track gently pulls back towards the end. ‘Binary Sea’ concludes the LP with a velvety piano and gentle guitars and held back drums. This track explicitly took me back to the sound of their fourth album, Transatlanticism, and pleasantly brings the album to a close.
While I am absurdly biased in reviewing this LP, I have found it to be a solid record which has a good mix of sounds, and is a big step up from their last album, Codes and Keys, which was not as strong as their previous work. It is encouraging that the band has returned after an extended break to produce a high quality album that hopefully reignites the passion they have provoked in their countless fans from their earlier albums. The recent and very tragic passing of Carrie Fisher has shocked the world. She has inspired many with her heroic portrayal of Princess Leia in the film franchise Star Wars, as well as her prolific writing abilities, both in books and script writing, and her public advocacy for mental health awareness. It could be argued that her role as Princess Leia was the ground breaking for its time. She was not portrayed as a damsel in distress, but rather a rebel fighter with enough gumption to battle alongside Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Perhaps, with the exception of super heroes, Princess Leia may well have been the first strong leading female character in a Hollywood film. Fisher’s character was a significant element in the slowly changing attitudes towards women in films. Despite this landmark development in cinematic history, her character was still peppered with sexual innuendo from Han Solo, and she essentially became a love interest in the film to a male lead role. In the last two installments of the Star Wars franchise, there has been a timely change with regards to the portrayal of female lead roles. Daisy Ridley’s character Rey and Felicity Jones’ character Jyn, are both strong formidable heroines in their own right, and have been portrayed in a way that has not required them to play a love interest to a male character. Rey and Finn, from The Force Awakens, and Jyn and Cassian, from Rogue One, demonstrate that a relationship between a female and male lead characters can be built upon respect and mutual desire to ‘get the bad guys’, rather than one of sexual tension and the potential for love. The difference between the original Star Wars and the last two films, is that The Force Awakens and Rogue One both tell a central story of a female lead character, unlike Star Wars, where Leia played second fiddle to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Daisy Ridley’s character Rey and Felicity Jones’ character Jyn, are both strong formidable heroines in their own right, and have been portrayed in a way that does not have required them to play a love interest to a male character. Rey and Finn, from The Force Awakens, and Jyn and Cassian, from Rogue One, demonstrate that a relationship between a female and male lead characters can be built upon respect and mutual desire to ‘get the bad guys’, rather than one of sexual tension and the potential for love. The difference between the original Star Wars and the last two films, is that The Force Awakens and Rogue One both tell a central story of a female lead character, unlike Star Wars, where Leia played second fiddle to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. It would be highly appropriate and beneficial if Carrie Fisher was, at least in part, remembered for her crucial contribution to changing attitudes towards women in lead roles in films. The OA premiered on Netflix just over ten days ago, and within a day of its release there was a buzz on the internet. I didn’t seem there was any marketing prior to this outside of a trailer released only a few days prior. The series was created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, who had previously collaborated on the film Sound of my Voice. Brit Marling also plays the lead role of the character the ‘OA’. In true Netflix fashion, I binged this show in a few days. The first episode peaked my interest, however I was unsure if it was going to be brilliant or terrible. As the episode progressed, I became hooked, desperately wanting to know more, to unravel the confusing sub plot. The show commenced with the main character, the OA, or Prairie, who was previously blind, waking a hospital bed after at attempted suicide, and subsequently, had miraculously re-gained her eye sight. Her parents quickly attended the hospital to pick her up, where it is revealed that she had been missing for the last seven years. Upon returning to her home town, she enlisted a group of five people – four teenagers and a high school teacher, claiming she needed their help. This group then met in an abandoned house each night, allowing Prairie to retell her life story and we, the audience, slowly piece together her story up to that point. The show delved in to a number of supernatural themes that revolved around the concept of near death experiences. Each episode left the viewer wanting even more answers as critical points of Prairie’s story are revealed. Unfortunately, the season finale was a significant letdown, and only left the viewer with even more questions, in particular, how a second season could adequately answer them. The nature of this show means I cannot reveal any plot points without divulging essential spoilers, but if you enjoyed Stranger Things, you may enjoy this.
D.D Dumbo is the pseudonym of musician Oliver Hugh Perry, a solo artist based in Castlemaine, a regional city, just over an hour north-west from Melbourne. I first got in to D.D Dumbo when my wife purchased his debut EP ‘Tropical Oceans’ on vinyl for my birthday. I was instantly hooked. D.D Dumbo has recently released his debut LP ‘Utopia Defeated’, which has been widely acclaimed, both in Australia and internationally. Utopia Defeated opens with a sweet drone in ‘Walrus’. The pulling and pushing of sampled vocals makes the listener want to sway their head in complete elation. The track breaks about half way through with an acoustic guitar and reverb drenched drums, leading to what appears to be a vocal solo, leading in to a final section. This track is a pure delight, and a unique way to commence the LP. The track ‘Satan’ announces itself as an Arcade Fire-esque boogie. ‘In the Water’ provides a stunning respite for the listening, with gentle acoustic guitar and well-tempered vocals, which leaps straight in to ‘Cortisol’, which has elements of the early 2000s electro-pop movement, sounding somewhere between Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts. ‘Alihukwe’ has an interesting percussive line that feels like a speed up Afro-beat version of Mirror Drawings by Kid Sam, which morphs in to a synth laden enchantment which then fades in to obscurity. ‘King Franco Picasso’ twitches between bursts of space and buoyant staccato melodies, followed closely by ‘The day I first found god’ and ‘Toxic City’, which shift the listener beyond four walls, and in to a Sunday morning sun filled deck, with warm toast and jam. ‘Brother’ erupts with 1980s-esque surges of whimsical eastern-flavoured refrains, and ‘Oyster’ concludes the LP in a poignant and tranquil manner. D.D Dumbo has established himself as a foreboding artist, with lush and intricate arrangements, akin to the likes of Gotye. ‘Utopia Defeated’ is available now through the label 4AD.
The Duffer Brother’s (Matt and Ross Duffer) breakthrough science fiction / horror masterpiece ‘Stranger Things’ was more a television event than just another TV series. The story commences with the disappearance of a young boy in a small town in Indiana in the US, while the three closest friends of the missing boy meet a young girl who presents with unusual abilities. Together they aim to find out what happened to their friend. The show was set in 1983 and the Duffer Brothers have managed to make the show look and feel like it was filmed in 1983. At times, it feels like you are re-experiencing E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Stand by Me, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Goonies. Throughout the eight episodes there were countless references made to iconic films of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it appears as if it is a tribute to this era. The dark and mysterious creature seems like a creation direct from Ridley Scott’s Alien, and at times, the young girl behaves and looks like Stephen King’s Carrie. The opening credits are haunting, with a dark and brooding analogue synth soundtrack, created by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, from the band S U R V I V E, with visuals of the words Stranger Things floating around the screen, as if created on an Amiga computer. The soundtrack is highly fitting with the popularization of synthwave music in recent times, with bands like Timecop1983. Stranger Things has attempted to do what the film Super 8 could not. Both Stranger Things and Super 8 have attempted to recreate an early 1980s Steven Spielberg’esque science fiction extravaganza that sees young children faced with immeasurable encounters and challenges. When Super 8 was released, there was a lot of hype surrounding the film, that at the time, it was paying homage to the early 1980s Spielberg era, and while it was a good film, I don’t believe it lived up to the hype. On the other hand, Stranger Things has been praised world-wide for its ability to take viewers back in time to this period. For anyone in their late thirties or early forties, this was a magical time to be a child, and this nostalgia is the reason why this series is so exciting for anyone in this age bracket. Furthermore, the accessibility of Netflix meant that viewers were able to binge watch this show. I am waiting with bated breath for the second season, due some time in 2017. I hope that it delivers in the same way the first season did. On a rough average of once every two or three years, I find myself reading a book that I simply cannot put down. A book which distracts me from my usual Netflix binging. A book, which draws me in, and consequently I find myself staying up well past my bedtime, reading. A book that results in me making flippant recommendations to anyone who shows any interest in reading. Earlier this year, while in an airport, I rushed in to a bookstore and hastily grabbed the first book I could find with an award sticker on the cover. In this instance, it was the 2015 Pulitzer winner, ‘All the light we cannot see’ by Anthony Doerr. I rushed out of said bookshop thinking ‘ well if it’s good enough for a Pulitzer, then it must be OK’. A few days later, I found myself lost in this book. I instantly fell in love with Marie-Laure and Werner. I quickly realised that these two characters were destined to meet, and I could not wait to find out how this would occur. Doerr’s mastery of managing multiple points of view and interchangeable timelines made the book a thrilling read. Furthermore, each ‘chapter’ was short and to the point, resulting in a glorious page-turner. While Marie-Laure was blind, Doerr’s words aptly captured her intricate sense of hearing and touch, as she navigated her way through the streets of Paris and Saint-Malo. Similarly, Werner’s journey through Nazi training and his short lived field work captured a unique perspective on the second world war, one which is seen through the eyes of seemingly innocent young people, who had been brainwashed and recruited for the delivery of yet to be conceptualized horrors. Doerr’s intricate descriptions of Saint-Malo, pre and post-bombing, and the abrasive training camp in Schulpforta were breathtaking. Subsequently, I have made plans to read Anthony Doerr’s other titles as a matter of urgency. Australian’s love affair with downloading films and television shows illegally is less about breaking the law and more about a public statement about services and affordability. Notably, the catalyst for the public spotlight on torrenting was the availability of the HBO series Game of Thrones. The issue with Game of Thrones is the restriction of only Foxtel subscribers being able to access the series. However, the Netflix exclusive series House of Cards was also aired on Foxtel. If Foxtel would ‘play the game’ more alongside the likes of Netflix and Stan, and not hold exclusive broadcasting rights over certain content, then perhaps illegal downloading wouldn’t be such an issue. Furthermore, when looking at the streaming services Netflix, Presto and Stan, if a consumer holds accounts with all three providers, they still have a limited amount of choice with regards to new release movies and television shows. With regards to films specifically, a consumer can get around this issue by having Apple TV, but this means that if a consumer wants to do the right thing and have legal access to content, they essentially need multiple subscriptions. However, US citizens have access to a lot more content on the US Netflix. While an Australian consumer can utilise a VPN to access the US version, it came become a pain in the next for using through a television (for people who don’t want to be limited to watching content from a laptop or iPad). I also believe that a crucial component of this debate lies in affordability. Renting a film from Apple TV is quite expensive, and in some cases, more expensive than in the good old days of going to a rental DVD store. Moreover, if you love a movie and want to own it, you can expect to pay over $30 for a Bluray copy. If prices for purchasing physical and digital copies of films are reduced significantly, then perhaps people would be less inclined to use services such as The Pirate Bay. Most people want to do the right thing, and in many ways, torrenting is a public protest to inflexible and outdated models of film and television distribution. Today’s news regarding the impending blocking rights of major Australian ISP’s will have little effect on people’s desire and ability to torrent content. It is the opinion of The Clifton Review that perhaps our film and TV content providers need to rethink their business models, and perhaps this should apply to the industry more broadly. |
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