December 2008 Archives

IT'S BEEN a corking year for culture even if the sky seems to be falling according to just about everyone else.
World economy about to implode, Ross and Brand in radio sex scandal, millions still unaware that Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who; 2008's been a bit of a weird year. Yet there were still plenty of things to keep Culture Vulture amused:

1) Albums that grow on you

Annoying when you've just reviewed them but better musically. For the record, I'd like to add at least one star to Travis' Ode To J Smith because on balance it's a great album. Song to Self is the best track the lads have put out in years.

2) Wales' Got Talent

Or rather, Ysgol Glanaethwy has. Bangor's best choir have been given a massive boost this year after starring in Last Choir Standing and now getting the recognition they deserve. A five star act in all senses.

3) The Rock Project

The Denbigh-based music maestros who earlier this year expanded across North Wales. I worked with them earlier this year on a story and really admired their Pop Idol for Welsh youngsters strategy.

4) Feeder

For spectacularly slamming the entire British record industry in an interview I did with drummer Mark Richardson earlier this year. I like a band that has the balls to say it.

5) Ashes to Ashes

Not as good as Life on Mars? Rubbish. Even after the questionable ending where Bolly Knickers stayed in 1981, I was still lusting after an Audi Quattro and some Human League on the cassette player.

And a few less impressive bits of 2008:

6) C**p comebacks

Specifically Oasis, The Verve, and Led Zeppelin for marking their return with albums that were good but could have been so much better. Whether Blur can pull off the same trick will be one of 2009's big questions...

7) The Welsh language

Which I think is great, even though I can't speak it. Yet proposals by Richard Brunstrom to have all North Wales police cars run in Welsh-only livery angered more than it delighted. A risky move.

8) Paunch dancing

The Rhyl Visitor's rather-misguided attempt at sending me to a belly dancing class. The resulting video should be banned for fear of scaring small children.

9) Australia

Baz Luhrmann's epic has epic production values but is also epically annoying; who uses Elgar to illustrate a poignant moment in the Outback? They'll be using Vaughan Williams in Lethal Weapon soon.

10) The credit crunch

Need I say more?

Culture Vulture wishes all of its five readers a happy New Year.

A NORTH WALES band say they are looking forward to 2009 with a series of gigs across the region planned to accompany their upcoming album.

Abergele indie act Junebug will be celebrating New Year [December 31] with a performance in Eglwysbach, and will be playing in Holywell later this month to promote their still-untitled sixth studio album.

"The end of 2008 was really quiet for gigs in North Wales but as there are a few venues popping up it's good to be able to do more gigs locally" said Guy Latham, the band's bassist.

"We'll keep on going as ever. We've got a great line-up and a strong fan-base, and we hope that people will continue to enjoy our music throughout 2009."

It is one of several shows the band will play this year, including a stint at Manchester's Surface Unsigned Festival, and have also applied to play at Glastonbury's Unsigned stage.

The threesome say that although they have been approached by record companies several times they have remained an unsigned act, saying that they prefer playing smaller gigs and keeping creative control.

"It's really difficult to get a deal when a recession's on, but we're not going to be bugging the bigger labels anyway" Guy added.

"As long as people listen to the tracks and enjoy them, that's all that matters."

Junebug will play a free gig The Old Wine Vaults in Holywell on January 11, with the performance starting at the pub on Cross Street at 8.00pm For more information about
Junebug visit the band's official website at www.junebug.co.uk or find out more about their gigs on www.myspace.com/junebugtheband.

Keep up to date with the latest on North Wales bands on the Culture Vulture blog at www.culturevulture.northwalesblogs.co.uk.

Ysgol Glanaethwy
O Fortuna
Genre: Vocal
Highlight: Adiemus

WHEN A Welsh comedy legend pronounces your choir as star of his own show, you know you're onto a winning formula. That's exactly what Max Boyce did on his latest tour, and anyone who saw Ysgol Glanaethwy at his Llandudno gig last month will already know how electrifying they are live.

O Fortuna is actually the third album from the Bangor-based choir but it's only since starring in BBC series Last Choir Standing that the mainstream media have really taken notice of this performing arts school. Given the talent which so obviously ripples through this choir's ranks, maybe the world's cottoned a little late.

As an album it exhibits an appeal reflective of Glanaethwy itself; ever so Welsh and yet multi-lingual and international in its reach. Whether singing in English (Circle of Life), Welsh (Dyrchefir Fi) or just plain jibberish (Adiemus), the many singers involved won't fail to keep you entertained and enlightened.

Anyone expecting an album in the traditional, narrative sense is going to be disappointed, but it would be wrong to expect that. This instead is an assortment of songs which have kept their loyal live audiences stunned throughout 2008, and thankfully any instrumentation is kept to a minimum. It lets the voices - quite literally - do the talking.

Perhaps its only failing is that its many covers will inevitably invite comparisons, but after hearing the Welsh version of You Raise Me Up any doubts are blown away.

It won't be everyone's bag but to dismiss O Fortuna is to miss out on a gorgeous album which revels in this choir's velvety vocal talent.

CD provided by Tesco, Llandudno Junction

THE LUCKY winner of our competition to see The Lizzies was Michelle Edwards of Prestatyn, who will see them live in Bangor on December 31.

Mrs Edwards was one of the many entrants who correctly answered earlier this month that Stereophonics also hail from Wales.

For more information about The Lizzies visit their myspace page here.

Dido
Safe Trip Home
Genre: Pop
Highlight: Grafton Street

HERE'S a singer-songwriter who could easily have put up her white flag and surrendered by now. Having already worked with Faithless and Eminem as a guest vocalist, seen two previous albums enjoy huge success and even inspired her own hairstyle among female followers, it's fair to say Dido could quite rightly have rested on previous laurels.

So Safe Trip Home, the third and latest release from the 36-year-old Londoner, has an awful lot to live up to. It'll doubtless be a big seller simply on the back of her previous plaudits, but the eleven tracks that have evolved from a hiatus of almost five years are bound to get a mixed reception from all but the most casual of listeners.

The best news is that Dido's incredible, slightly jagged falsetto remains as strong as it did when No Angel, her debut album, first impressed critics eight long years ago. Few voices in pop today are as distinctive and yet so soothing, and deservedly it still gets top billing on an album that's otherwise a departure from the Dido signature style.

Songs like the melancholic Grafton Street show a brave bid to get away from the trip-hop sound of both No Angel and feisty follow-up Life for Rent, showing a more Celtic side to the singer's repertoire. Look No Further also proves itself as a powerful, piano-led ballad which wouldn't seem out of place in a weepy rom-com, but these promising highlights aside the Safe Trip Home slowly goes a little too safe for most ears.

It's easy to see where Dido is coming from with this album but it sadly lacks the sparkle of its predecessors. There's nothing especially wrong with it, but nothing really memorable either.

Put it this way: I doubt Slim Shady would want to sample any of the tracks.

CD provided by Tesco, Llandudno Junction

The Killers
Day and Age
Genre: Pop
Highlight: Human

BRITPOP is back in vogue this month, although amazingly it hasn't come courtesy of reformed rockers Blur, who earlier this week announced their first gig this decade next summer.

In fact it's thanks to longstanding pop favourites The Killers, who actually hail from the distinctly British backwater of Las Vegas, and have really pulled out all the stops for their third studio album.

Day and Age follows the foursome's longstanding tradition of paying homage to UK bands, following in Pulp's footsteps by mixing indie lyrics with hints of synthpop to produce numbers you'd rather dance than sing to. Think Common People rehashed for the Noughties and you won't be far off.

Predictably star of the show falls to lead single Human, currently attaining a bizarre cult following simply because lazy DJs are mishearing its lyrics. The chief line is the Hunter S Thompson quote "Are we human, or are we dancer" (not the more commonly-reported denser) but that shouldn't detract from it being a shimmering example of the band doing dance music.

Brandon Flowers and his colleagues have ventured down other experimental avenues, including the easy listening feel of I Can't Stay and the Paul-Weller-does-jazz sound of The World We Live In, but really this album's triumph remains in its Anglophile pop aimed straight at Friday nights. It's The Killers going clubbing.

The only reason it doesn't get five stars is that it can't quite match debut hit Hot Fuss, but hearing any of these tracks in an indie nightclub might change that.

CD provided by Tesco, Llandudno Junction

EARLIER THIS WEEK I told you about The Lizzies, who are returning to the region on December 31 for a special New Year gig.

The band, originally from Holyhead, are heading to Bangor's Hendre Hall, giving fans from across North Wales another chance to see one of the country's most hotly-tipped bands.

Tickets for the band's latest Welsh gig are selling fast, but the North Wales Weekly News has teamed up with them to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a pair of free tickets to the performance.

To be in with a chance of catching this hotly-tipped indie act just answer the following question:

Which of these acclaimed acts also hails from Wales?

A) Oasis
B) Kaiser Chiefs
C) Stereophonics

To enter our competition, send a postcard with your name, address and contact number to: Culture Vulture's Indie Spectacular, North Wales Weekly News, Vale Road, Llandudno Junction, LL31 9SL. Closing date: December 18.

A TOP RUSSIAN ice-skater and Kinmel Bay resident has said this week she is excited about her performance in a Cardiff Christmas play.
Olga Sharutenko, a member of the Imperial Ice Skaters and previously partnered John Barrowman in ITV's Dancing On Ice, is one of 25 skaters who will appearing in Cinderella On Ice, set to be shown at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff later this month.
"I'm very much looking forward to bringing this performance to the UK. People might think they know about Cinderella, but this isn't just a children's version of the story. It'll be completely unexpected" she said.
"It's always a joy to perform in Wales, and especially at Christmas. The atmosphere is always much nicer at this time of year and I'm hoping we can add to peoples' happiness by giving them a spectacular performance."
Sharutenko, who is originally from Ekaterinburg in Russia, is performing at Cardiff as part of a world tour with the Imperial Ice Skaters, and says that presently she rarely gets to see her North Wales home.
"I do try and get back for a few days when I can, but with us promoting Cinderella on Ice in Asia and South America it almost feels like I live out of my suitcase sometimes" she added.
"At the moment though, it's so busy that it almost feels like I don't live anywhere at all, but North Wales is a beautiful place and I'm very lucky to have lots of friends over there."
Cinderella on Ice will be performed at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff between December 17 and January 4. For more information contact 08700 40 2000 or visit the group's website at www.imperialicestars.com.

SEE in 2009 with a bang when Welsh indie wonders The Lizzies return to the region later this month for a special New Year's gig.

The Lizzies, originally from Holyhead, are heading to Bangor's Hendre Hall on December 31, giving fans from across North Wales another chance to see one of the country's most hotly-tipped bands.

Gig-goers will be able to hear tracks from the band's upcoming album, currently given a working title of Revolution, which has been recorded in the mountains of Snowdonia.

"We want to create a record that will stand the test of time and be remembered for years to come, and not just forgotten overnight" said Scott Marsden, singer.

"One thing we won't do is rush this album because we know every song has to be right. We wont release it until we have 12 songs that are special. I don't care if I have to write another twenty five songs just to get it right."

The four-strong act, who have already won plaudits with our sister newspaper The Liverpool Echo, say their first single, called Know Who You Are, will be released next month.

For more information about The Lizzies visit their myspace here to find out about future gig dates and to hear more tracks from the Immaculate Conception, their debut EP released earlier this year.

To book your tickets for their date with Bangor on December 31, which starts at 10pm, contact 01248 371116 or visit Hendre Hall's website.

GOOD NEWS for Welsh record managers everywhere; Culture Vulture hasn't flown off just yet.

I'd like to inform all readers that I actually went to the after-party at Feeder's gig in Llandudno, got tragically lost after drinking one too many, and have only just staggered back. Unfortunately there are rules at the Weekly News saying I can't lie, so I have to reveal the rather less glamorous truth; I've been away on training courses.

The good news is that one of the things I did was pass a driving test, which means pretty soon I'll have a car to play with. Which means I can go to more gigs, which means I can do more reviews, and that means your band/play/art exhibition (delete as appropriate) is far more likely to get the backing of what's clearly the best newspaper in North Wales.

If you want Culture Vulture to showcase your talent, give me a call on 01492 574345 or email david.simister@northwalesnews.co.uk

P.S: Several of you have mentioned the ridiculous number of spam comments this site's getting. Don't worry, our top web whizzes are onto it and should have it sorted soon.

P.P.S: If you ARE posting spam comments, I have no interest in Nigerian bank accounts, getting a Thai bride or enlarging my p... (continued in this week's Weekly News)