Marcel Marx, a shoe-shiner in Le Havre is left distraught when his wife hides a life-threatening illness from him. When he meets an African child who could face deportation from France at any moment, he takes a liking to the boy, and is determined to help.
Aki Kaurismäki: “Le Havre is a completely unique town, I have never seen anything like it. The name derives from the English word “haven,” so the etymology is a “haven of peace.” It has a miraculous light, a hazy whiteness and a microclimate drifting in from the Channel, that has made painters from all over the world go there to capture that strange light.”
This sensual, remarkably observed, beautifully acted wonder is the breakout feature from British writer-director-editor Andrew Haigh. Rarely has a film been as honest about sexuality—in both depiction and discussion—as this tale of a one-night-stand that develops into a weekend-long idyll for two very different young men (exciting newcomers Tom Cullen and Chris New) in Midlands England. It’s an emotionally naked film that’s both an invaluable snapshot of the complexities of contemporary gay living and a universally identifiable portrait of a love affair
Twelve-year-old Anaïs is fat. Her sister, Elena, is a teenage beauty. While on vacation with their parents, Anaïs tags along with Elena as she explores the dreary seaside town. Elena meets Fernando, an Italian law student, who seduces her with promises of love, and the ever-watchful Anaïs bears witness to the corruption of her sister’s innocence. Precise and uncompromising, Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl is a bold dissection of sibling rivalry and female adolescent sexuality from one of contemporary cinema‘s most controversial directors.
“CATHERINE BREILLAT: Actually, I named the film Fat Girl originally, and it was I who made the change. When I was shooting and discussing the film in interviews in every newspaper in France, it was always Fat Girl. Just a few days before the opening, I thought maybe I should retitle it. I didn’t think the description of her weight was a problem, because she’s so beautiful and so at ease in her own body. But I thought, it’s the story of two bodies — two sisters — not just one. So I wanted to change the title. But it had already sold to Germany as Fat Girl and now to the U.S. I don’t know if it’s a good title here, because I don’t speak very much English.”
For anyone who loved fuzzed up guitar assaults, feedback, hit and run 10 minute gigs, female vocals, melodic pop, ear splitting minimalist noise—and hated a hell of a lot of other things. Dress it in black! The band formed in 2006 in Leeds, United Kingdom. On July 27, 2009, the band officially announced on their MySpace page that they had decided to split. Adam and Rachel have formed The Medusa Snare and Darren and Caroline are The Blanche Hudson Weekend.
Dark Horse is an offbeat comedy about Daniel, a somewhat irresponsible but charming young graffiti artist who doesn’t care even though everybody is trying to track him down: Parking attendants, landlords, bills and the police. One day he falls in love with Franc, a girl just as irresponsible and charming as he is. All of a sudden his easy-going days are over and he is face to face with a serious leap of faith.
Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti of seminal industrial act Throbbing Gristle have teamed up with Nik Colk (aka Nik Void) of minimalist UK dance/post-punk trio Factory Floor, under the Carter Tutti Void. On March 26 in the UK and March 27 in the U.S., will release a piece of their partnership in the form of the album Transverse.
The four-track album was put together in a somewhat unconventional way— it was prepared first in a studio and then performed and recorded live in front of an audience at the Short Circuit Presents Mute festival in London last year. Above, listen to a portion of the third track, “V3”.
Transverse:
01 V1
02 V2
03 V3
04 V4
live/////new//////like, last weekend
Roger Ebert: “I’ve looked all up and down these roads for someone to love me,” says Eunice, the tortured murderess and pilgrim whose story is told in “Butterfly Kiss.” Later she observes, “punishment is all I understand.” She is a gaunt, angry woman who stalks the roadsides of Britain, bursting into petrol stations to ask the women behind the counter, “Are you Judith?” Then she kills them.
Just an amazing slice of purely British film run through Hollywood - Tarantino played out by Mike Leigh.
As if from nowhere, Burial touches down with three more lingering moments of Burial brilliance. Opening number, ‘Kindred’, reveals itself under a shroud of distortion, virtuous-sounding vocals loosely elevating themselves over terse motorik bass and percussion. ‘Loner’ begins with a tense temperament yet soon picks the pace up a notch or two with a quick shuffling rhythm and oscillating synths, a half-way point pause providing respite and reflection. ‘Ashtray Wasp’ closes things with a sombre and contemplative gambit, driving rhythms pushing forward and crystalline touches adding light to a distortion-heavy freefall.
Pressed on high quality 180gram vinyl and clocking in at almost 30 minutes, this is an essential purchase for all Burial fans…The release date is yet to be confirmed.
We will ship all pre-orders the moment we receive the stock.
Played against the backdrop of the national liberation movements of the ’70s and ’80s, this lively documentary pays tribute to the golden age of cricket in the West Indies as the teammates set out to triumph over their former colonial masters and make a name for themselves on the world stage. This celebration of the power of sports as a vehicle for social change is set to a thumping reggae beat featuring Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs, and Burning Spear.
Raw power, controlled aggression and once-in-a-lifetime talent. No cricket team in history was as fearsome, as intense, and as damn good as that W.Indies side.
Tony Grieg (South African-born England captain): “I intend to make them [the West Indies] grovel”
Bunny Wailer: “Like slaves whipping the arses of masters”
5. Fionn Regan – 100 Acres Of Sycamore
HVN228 Fionn Regan - For A Nightingale by heavenlyrecordings
After his ‘Bringing It All Back Home’-style second album, with a confused rockabilly shuffle grafted onto the sublime soaring folk of the Mercury-nominated debut, ‘The End Of History’, this album lifts the bar and takes it somewhere ephemeral and timeless. The sheer song-craft of the debut won’t be beaten but, like Laura Marling, just by paring down and focussing his sonic palette he has found a long-lasting and altogether more satisfying sound. Of course it’s essentially Dylan folk with a concession to modernity and the instrumental arrangements still seem hurried and similar-sounding, but lyrically he’s still as good as it gets and that voice is still spellbinding. He is becoming worrying close to a Smog-type artist - you’d be quite happy to hear a ‘Fionn Regan’ album every two years without any change in style. But we hope there’s plenty to come.
4. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
A deserved Mercury Prize winner in 2011 and one of the most ‘British’ albums to ever do so. The fact it has a much wider appeal than, say, Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Boy In Da Corner’, is the fascinating timeshift device Harvey uses to frame modern reference points. Evoking images of World War One, Constantinople, faraway loss and conflicts past, yet happens to perfectly bring home the reality of war today, despite our post-Gulf technological remove from the ‘theatre of war’. It’s curiously timeless, both musically and lyrically, with your ear catching 90s and 2000s indie twangs as well as the clever lyrical references making your mind leap forwards into the present day.
3. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
When that full, deep, expressive and powerful voice of Merrill Garbus is in full flow, it really feels like, in the nicest possible way, that you dare not stop listening, turn her off or do something else. From the thousand-mile-an-hour afrobeat of opener ‘My Country’ to the feminist-funk of ‘Killa’, this is important, empowering music that doesn’t feel serious - it feels goddamn fun. It also has something in common with another important album this year (that is next on this list) - the album delivers and encapsulates the singular and precise vision of the creator.
2. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
And so on to what was so very nearly my favourite album of 2011. That single-minded, intimate pursuit of an album seeming to pour out of a person - think of ‘Blood on the Tracks’, or the first Twilight Sad album. Getting the sense on every listen that there is an exact reason for every guitar sound, every vocal echo, every word and every silence. Not flinching away from the harrowing, not ignoring the possibility of release and redemption. And the feeling there are parts of the album that you will never understand, and aren’t meant to. For all these reasons and more, ‘Past Life Martyred Saints’ will remain a special album, and one countless people will delight on discovering.
1. Richmond Fontaine - The High Country
I was a middling fan of Richmond Fontaine before I attended their gig at Glee Club, Nottingham in September - I mean, I own ‘Post To Wire’ and ‘Thirteen Cities’, but I hadn’t got round to listening to ‘The High Country’, or indeed hearing much about it at all, despite my friends having got my tickets a while back. And, to make things much worse, I wasn’t able to drink that night, and going out without drinking is not a usual occurrence. “Brilliant,” my friend whispered to me. “they’re going to play the whole album in order.” Now I haven’t bought Uncut Magazine for years so didn’t even know it was a story song suite, a concept album if you like. But right from ‘The Chainsaw Sea’ I got into that rhythm, that pace of storytelling. WIlly Vlautin’s clear, concise writing pared with the most atmospheric of backing meant I had a completely unexpected riveting time, and of course the album has since remained so close to me that Angus, the kid, the girl from the auto parts store and the speed freak feel more like television or film characters to me now. And I hate concept albums.
10. The Horrors - Skying
9. Josh T Pearson - Last Of The Country Gentlemen
8. Peter Broderick - Music For Grace and Mercy
7. Isolée - Well Spent Youth
6. The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
Indulged to the extent that Marillion themselves may have thought about toning down the prog somewhat on previous full-length ‘The Hazards Of Love’, The Decemberists delivered exactly what makes them peerless - a literate, transcendent collection of oblique story-songs with a folk-country bent. And they remain untouchable at that.
