Arcade Fire have completely ripped off Flight of the Conchords.

The new Arcade Fire album came out on Monday and it's pretty ok! Overlong and overdeveloped, a lot of ideas fall flat but as always their best songs are streets ahead of those by their peers. That said, I couldn't help but notice that some of the lyrics were strikingly reminiscent of New Zealand's '4th most popular folk parody duo' Flight of the Conchords. I've put together some gifs of classic FOTC moments overlayed with the new song lyrics to let you decide:

It seems pretty clear to me that Win Butler and his band of merry men have ripped off Bret and Jermaine without a hint of remorse. I know they're busy with Hollywood stardom but if I were them I'd be pursuing some kind of legal action.

Please listen to the new So Solid Crew single.

Two hugely influential UK artists and personal heroes of mine attempted comebacks in 2013 after ten years off the scene. Whilst David Bowie's return was met with hundreds of thousands in record sales, a Mercury Prize nomination and the V&A museum's most popular exhibition of all time, the video for So Solid Crew's new single has amassed less than 15,000 views in 6 weeks. Few people would argue that So Solid Crew could hold a candle to the Thin White Duke but I know which act 11 year old me, who cared far more about Kiss FM and Adidas than glam rock and androgyny, would be most excited to hear from.

So Solid Crew have had a hard time of things since UK Garage's heyday. Producer Carl Morgan is doing a 30 year jail sentence for murder, MC Romeo's just cameod in a mind-numbing insurance advert and Alesha Dixon has inexplicably become the most famous person associated with them. It's about time they had a stroke of good fortune, and 'UK Hot Wid It' (a title so awful I'm surprised it doesn't have a hashtag in front) proves they've still got talent to spare and deserve a hit.

Bouncing along with strong verses, roughly 17 different hooks and hybrid garage/EDM production which just about straddles the magic line between catchy and irritating, 'UK Hot Wid It' doesn't need to play up to nostalgia to be a success. Give them 3 and a half minutes of your time today and I guarantee you'll not regret it, if not for the song then for the dreadful but endearing video filmed on a budget of about 27 quid.

Rest in Pixels: Do Holograms Add Anything To Live Shows?

In September Wu-Tang Clan headlined the LA leg of the Rock The Bells festival, debuting a much hyped hologram of the sorely missed Ol' Dirty Bastard:

     

Even though ODB has always been my favourite Wu-Tang member, I couldn't get excited for what felt more like an empty gesture designed to generate profit and page views rather than a heartfelt tribute. Audiences also didn't seem to respond with much enthusiasm to the great unveiling - the final two legs of the festival were cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

Snoop Dogg set the precedent for the use of holograms with Tupac's posthumous cameo during his Coachella headline set.The success of many heritage hip-hop acts still touring today is rarely down to their current musical output, but rather because they cater to nostalgic fans longing for a return to the mid 80's/early 90s 'Golden Age' of hip-hop. With so many icons of the time sadly passed away, reincarnation by digital means seems like a sure fire method of drawing the punters in.

The key issue with holograms is that it removes the improvised element of live music which makes going to a gig so special. There's only a finite amount of footage out there to source the holograms from, which means that not only do they lack longevity, but that if you've seen the footage before (as no doubt many fans who's recollection of the time is through youtube videos rather than their own experience) then there isn't even an enjoyable novelty.

Hampering the connection with audiences even further is the disparity in quality between the live vocals and the recorded vocals, not to mention the fact that the ODB hologram isn't even looking at the audience. In an age where artists are frequently under fire for lip-syncing and not providing concert goers true value for money, should these hip-hop groups not be held to the same standard and asked to provide a true live show?

Hip-hop gigs are already notoriously hard to pull-off, easily falling in to glorified karaoke sessions, but that doesn't mean that gimmicks are required to connect to an audience, as this gif of me at a hologram-free Wu-Tang gig in 2011 should attest to:

In this instance tribute was paid to ODB with a gang medley of Shimmy Shimmy Ya, Brooklyn Zoo and Got Your Money. At the time hearing some of my favourite songs performed live by people who had a hand in shaping them was more than enough. For me a well executed live show will always be better than a hologram's clumsy marriage of past icons and present technology, but I'm curious (and anxious) to see what the future of gig-going has in store.

John Cusack's Top 5

Grace, dignity and poise.

There is only one actor whose conduct I will always forgive solely on the basis of past glory (sorry Nic Cage). Despite not having released a truly great film this side of the millennium, John Cusack has built up so much good will with a stream of 90's belters that no amount of twitter tubthumping and historical retelling can diminish him as a thespian demi-god in my eyes. Below are just five (only somewhat hyperbolic) examples of films buoyed up by Cusack's greatness:

Con Air (1997)

Con Air is the kind of stupid, macho, overblown action film Michael Bay could only dream of making. Cusack and aforementioned acting inferno Nicolas Cage work together to try and stop a prison plane overtaken by John Malkovich and his pantomime collection of America's deadliest prisoners. JC takes a backseat here to the preposterous action (a place crash landing on the Las Vegas strip is only the second least believable scene), his everyman charm leading pathos and reassurance to overly excited audience members.

Grosse Point Blank (1997)

Being an assassin is cool, wearing all black is cool and John Cusack is cool. Subsequently John Cusack as an all black wearing assassin in Grosse Point Blank is cool³. This story of reunions, revenge and romance sees JC's Martin Blank returning for his high school 10 year anniversary and running in to old flame Minnie Driver. The script is endlessly quotable and the support cast are brilliant, as is Joe Strummer’s ska-laced soundtrack. 

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Cusack moves from assassin to puppeteer in Spike Jonze’s blindingly surreal directorial debut. Being John Malkovich is one part Inception and one part Alice In Wonderland. Cusack’s Craig Schwartz (acting against type as a pathetic loser) becomes a filer on an office’s mysterious 7 1/2th floor, where he finds a small portal which takes him into actor John Malkovich’s mind for exactly fifteen minutes. Cameron Diaz in a monkey cage, life size puppets and John Malkovich himself all contribute to the mad genius.

High Fidelity (2000)

This Chicago based adaptation of Nick Hornby’s decidedly British break-up novel overcame expectations to win over sceptics and gain new converts. Cusack’s broken-hearted record store owner divides his time between music elitism and downtrodden reflection upon past relationships over a pumping indie soundtrack. It has everything a film needs, great music, late twenties angst and Jack Black before his shtick wore thin.

2012 (2009, controversially)

Definitely not to everyone’s taste, Roland Emmerich’s disaster movie magnum opus is awful in all the right ways. Cusack's washed up limo driver doesn't have much to do here except run away from increasingly portentous amounts of lava, but even that he does with grace and aplomb. The dialogue starts bad and progresses to mythically dreadful levels, the closing line drawing parallels between mankind's redemption and a successfully unsoiled nappy. But all is forgiven with scenes of flying subway carriages and a fallen St Paul's Basilica bulldozing the Vatican.

Radio, Balotelli, Gary and me.

For the past two years I hosted an amateurish radio show with my good friend James. At times the execution was a little shoddy but we felt that we consistently delivered in terms of entertainment and good music. Embedded below is our Greatest Hits compilation, 30 minutes of unadulterated, trivial and (hopefully) always funny student radio:



Great thanks to everyone at Burn FM and most importantly all of our listeners!

The World's End Review

Having previously tackled horror and macho action with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End sees the trio of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost working together again to take on classic British sci-fi with a pub crawl twist. Pegg and Frost are joined onscreen by a stalwart group of British actors portraying a group of school friends reunited for a nostalgic night on the tiles which inevitably goes tits-up. Comparison is inevitable between the three films, and, in the eyes of this reviewer, The World's End never quite reaches the giddy heights of its predecessors. 

That doesn't mean that it isn't a worthwhile finale to the 'Three Flavours Cornetto' trilogy, if anything it's more indicative in a shift in focus, the film taking on a reflective tone absent from the group's earlier work. The action, camaraderie and occasional toilet humour are still present, but so are mediations on nostalgia and maturity. Wright's hallmark frenetic direction is on fantastic display here as Pegg and Co smash blue blood out of the Meccano-esque aliens who have inhabited their hometown of Newton Haven. Having perfected his shooting style with Scott Pilgrim there was a risk that it might now come across as stale, but thankfully these fears prove to be unfounded. In Wright's confident hands every punch, kick and beer-pulling montage has a weight and a heft to them, the visuals always uncluttered and easy to follow. Matched with superb sound editing, every scene provides a lot to admire, regardless of its punchlines.

Different gear, still speeding

The laugh a minute ratio is one of the film's key issues. Though consistently amusing throughout, I found that the only gags that brought me to hysterics were ones which were direct callbacks to the two previous films. The inevitable Cornetto reference didn't disappoint, but I found when coming out of the cinema I could barely remember any of the 'new' recurring jokes. The pop culture riffing which permeated the first two films is mostly absent too, but a superb soundtrack almost exclusively compiled from early 90's hits shows that Wright still has a great ear for musical cues and adds to the nostalgic emphasis of the film.

One of the things that sets apart this series of films is the instant familiarity you feel with the characters that occupy their universe. This is just as much down to the writing which so effectively emulates how we talk around our friends, to the excellent performances. Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan, more known for their serious work, stand out here in support roles but the film belongs to Pegg as Gary King, a man unable to move on from his school glory days. Pegg, the heart of the film, shows great range gaining empathy for a character who deserves none. The sentimentality and warmth of the film originates in his interactions with his mature yet somewhat defeated friends and it's this which separates it from the middling British comedies of recent years, regardless of the gag count.

4/5

Favourite Songs of 2013 (So Far):

2013 has been superb for music so far, and with albums from Arcade Fire, Wu-Tang Clan, Earl Sweatshirt and many others still to come the quality is only set to continue. Here's a selection of tracks (in no order) which I feel have particularly stood out amongst the year's finest hits:

Pusha – T – Numbers on the Board

Whilst Kanye West fans endlessly debate the merits, failures and croissants of Yeezus, his best work this year continues to be underappreciated. Co-produced by Kanye and Don Cannon, ‘Numbers on the Boards’ is a masterful exercise in precision and restraint. Pusha rhymes over a sparse drum beat and swampy bass, punctuated with distorted crowd cheers and in one instance a perfectly off-kilter 3 second Jay-Z sample.  Though the lyrics are standard hip-hop braggadocio, Pusha-T’s confident and relaxed delivery make his unlikely claims of balancing rap stardom and a large scale drug operation feel more legitimate than similar boasts by peers like Rick Ross. These elements come together to form a snarling beast of a track, the sound of old hands at the peak of their abilities.

The Strokes – Happy Ending

Any band whose recording career starts with two modern classics will struggle under the weight of expectation with every subsequent album. Following the muted reception to 2011’s comeback Angles, this year’s Comedown Machine had a decidedly low key release, the band neglecting to take part in interviews, tour or film music videos. The album, the last required to fulfill their contract with RCA, has a melancholy sense of finality to it, summed up best in penultimate song ‘Happy Ending’. Coming in at under 3 minutes, its punchy guitars and Julian Casablancas’ mumbled delivery give it that trademark Strokes sound, strutting along until guitar melody and vocals soar together during their catchiest chorus to date. If this really is goodbye then they've gone out on a hell of a high note.

Daft Punk – Get Lucky

There’s little more that can be said about Daft Punk’s omnipresent comeback. Undoubtedly the sound of the summer, Daft Punk revived disco and created a classic which is the total antithesis of the dominant EDM chart topping fare. Nile Rodgers won over a generation of new fans, and Pharrell was reestablished as one of the most sought out singers and producers in pop music. Random Access Memories may not have been the instant classic many were expecting, but there's no doubt that we’ll all still be listening to this song in twenty years time. 

(Make sure you've got the album version, not the single version, which bizarrely omits the superb intro.)

Fuck Buttons – Brainfreeze

Unlike Daft Punk you won't hear Fuck Buttons bellowing out across festivals this summer, but their sound is just as much an answer to electronic music's generic rut as that of the French hitmakers. Brainfreeze, the opener on superb new album 'Slow Focus', is a call to arms, equal parts medieval and futuristic. Military drum beats are matched with swathes of noise which don't stray to far from Fuck Buttons previous template of heady peaks and still troughs, but it's the added menace which sets it apart from their earlier work. Where their songs were once celebratory, they now feel threatening, on the cusp of violence, the added aggression creating a track which could just as much soundtrack a rave or a riot.




Unknown Mortal Orchestra - So Good At Being In Trouble 

Riding the same psychedelic wave as fellow Antipodeans Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra distinguish themselves with their R+B slant. This cut from aptly named second album 'II' is a stripped back paean to lost love. Ruban Neilson soulful voice relays a story we're all familiar with over blues guitars and a drum beat primed for a hip-hop sample. The joy, just as with UMO's first album, is in realising that New Zealanders could be quite so funky.


Honorable Mentions:

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?, David Bowie - Where Are We Now?, Deerhunter - Monomania, Dornik - Something About You, Disclosure - White Noise, Iggy Azelea - Work, Kanye West - Bound 2, James Blake - To The Last, My Bloody Valentine - In Another Way, No Age - C'Mon Stimmung, Rudimental - Hell Could Freeze (Skream remix), Wavves - Sail To The Sun