Cool Manchester

Mr Heart just may be one of the finest bands I've heard in a long long while. Fronted by the hugely enigmatic Tamsin Middleton, this all women three piece rock harder than most teenage guys do these days.

'The Hide' is a generous 6 track EP, and it's like thunder all the way, with some exciting and unexpected moments. 'Boredom's Device' rip's into action, not sounding at all unlike their recent tour companions The Fall. It's a blistering start, and wets the appetite for more.

'Dynamo' is almost grungy, with Nirvana springing to mind more than once. 'Mr Heart', whilst again having that grunge chord progression, starts off lightly, before the band again smash out a loud, intoxicating brash rock song that 'The Slits' have never achieved. Never. Not even close.

'Stones', again starts out with a searching bass line that rumbles along, but again, is light at first, before emerging like a flaming comet directly into your ears. Nice.

'The Hide' which is by far my own favorite track is just pure bliss, and it's here I realise just how brilliant his band really are, with the comparisons already made to the Seattle movement, all I'm going to say is it rages into a glorious ending of some magnitude.

'Twisted Lamp', whilst not bad, just doesn't reach the heights easily attained earlier in the EP.

If you haven't caught this band live yet, I suggest you do, as 2012 could very well be the year for Mr Heart. 5/5

http://www.mrheart.co.uk/

We reviewed this band's latest single in the last edition of the music reviews for 2011, and they are back with this free EP release.

It's been touched upon that Gabrielles Wish don't do the normal run of the mill things you expect from band's these days, and this EP is no change from that trend. Essentially an EP made up of four improvised tracks, named by the way only by the number in which they appear - it's not exactly easy listening.

The first song, 'No.1' crackles into gear with a low, anxiety inducing bass line, and flourishes of keyboards, provided by ex member of The Fall, Karen Leatham. The song doesn't go anywhere, and never promises too, and Gabrielles Wish clearly don't care if we feel let down by the journey.

'No.2' is even more isolating than the first song. Drummer Bo Walsh show's us why he's considered one of the best drummer's of his era, infact musically, this track is really going places, but the average music fan who might, and not unreasonably expect some song structure, will be let down. This is free form post punk jazz. I know, I've never heard of that genre either.

'No.3' is perhaps the best cut on this EP, with a middle eatern sounding riff motif, that's covered by both the guitars and the bass, with a haunting vocal by frontman Robert Corless.

'No.4' ends the experiment, in what is actually quite a slight, but enjoyable instrumental.

Perhaps only recommended for staunch fans, I wouldnt suggest this be the first thing you hear by the band if you haven't heard them before. 3/5

Gabrielles Wish

Link: http://www.toms-travels.net/?p=11000

At Manchester Airport, local MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne was there to officially launch a new development called Airport City.

They are going to develop land between the airport and Wythenshawe as a huge international business park designed at pulling in new businesses from around the world. It will take about 15 years to finish, £650,000,000 will be spent and it will be office and hotel space, restaurants and leisure facilities all designed to tempt more international business to the city. They plan to double the number of people travelling through the airport from 20,000,000 to 40,000,000.

Although today was the official launch, building work has already started and 60 businesses are interested in moving in. Once it’s up and running that can only grow. It’s hoped that it will provide 21,000 new jobs for the city. Some companies have already arrived here and set up in temporary offices in the city including some from mainland China which is seen a s a good thing and direct flights from Manchester to Beijing will start later this year.
The Chinese community in the city have been lobbying for this for a while now. They hope that the development will also attract flights in from other places as well, India, Brazil and the like. And Sheik Mansour is moving some of his European airline businesses to the city

I've decided to go back 19 years this month for the charts this week in 1993

1 Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You
2 Michael Jackson Heal The World
3 Take That Could It Be Magic
4 Charles & Eddie Would I Lie To You?
5 The Shamen Phorever People
6 Snap! featuring Niki Harris Exterminate!
7 WWF Superstars Slam Jam
8 Arrested Development Mr Wendal / Revolution
9 Gloria Estefan Miami Hit Mix
10 Boney M Boney M Megamix
11 The Prodigy Out Of Space / Ruff In The Jungle Bizness
12 Lisa Stansfield Someday (I'm Coming Back)
13 Stereo MCs Step It Up
14 Madonna Deeper And Deeper
15 Diana Ross If We Hold On Together
16 Rod Stewart Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)
17 Heaven 17 Temptation (Brothers In Rhythm Remix)
18 The Frank & Walters After All
19 Slipstreem We Are Raving - The Anthem
20 808 State & UB40 One In Ten
21 Simply Red The Montreux EP
22 Jesus Jones The Devil You Know
23 Apache Indian Arranged Marriage
24 The Lemonheads Mrs Robinson / Being Around
25 Arrested Development People Everyday
26 Faith No More I'm Easy / Be Aggressive
27 Michael Bolton Drift Away
28 Sunscreem Broken English
29 Freddie Mercury In My Defence
30 Little Angels Womankind
31 Boyz II Men Motownphilly
32 Boyz II Men End Of The Road
33 Dina Carroll So Close
34 SL2 Way In My Brain / Drumbeats
35 Pop Will Eat Itself Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!
36 The Farm Love See No Colour
37 Undercover Never Let Her Slip Away
38 Nirvana In Bloom
39 East Side Beat Alive And Kicking
40 Paul McCartney Hope Of Deliverance

This is certainly a varied chart including Rock, Soul, House, Pop, Indie and some cracking dance tunes! As always there are some stinkers [the obvious one sitting at the top of the chart!], but not as many as other retrocharts.

What were your memories of this period? The main thing that comes to mind for me was how stressful my A-Levels were and how much I hated that song at number one!

So there are less than four days left in 2011, its been an "eventful" year to say the least - but not especially in the world of movies. Its been a bit of a mixed bag of comedies that failed to hit the mark, unnecessary sequels and even more unnecessary remakes. Not really what I personally would call a classic year.

Don't get me wrong, there are have been some great films along the way. Here are my five absolute favourites:

5. Source Code

Source Code was one of the few great Sci Fi movies of the year. Jake Gyllenhaal had his work cut out to please me when I went to see this one as I had just seen Love and Other Drugs and genuinely hated it [more on that story later]. So here's the premise, a man wakes up on a train and 8 minutes later a bomb goes off... I don't want to tell you much more than that because I didn't know much more than that when I went to see it and was blown away by all the twists and turns in this action thriller.

Steven Moffat said it best though when he said "wibbly wobbly timey wimey"...

4. X Men: First Class

Let me first say that I'm not a big fan of X Men movies, I appreciate the production values, effects and all that but I just found the original trilogy self important and dull... sorry about that but its true. I am however a huge fan of Kick-Ass, so when a movie comes out from the same director and writing team I would want to see it. I'm SO glad I did!

First Class is another reboot/origins movie pretty much like Batman Begins enabling a struggling movie franchise to wipe the slate clean and start again, even the least cynical movie goer would pretty much realise that. Doing this though has made the X Men franchise more interesting as we learn much more about how the "mutants" gained their powers/abilities and as a result the characters are much more accessible and likeable. In particular Magnito played by the brilliant Michael Fassbender is a much more interesting character.

3. Hugo

Now, this film was VERY special! If you love movies as an art form as well as a piece of entertainment then this movie is definitely a must see. The 3D effects were by far and away the best I have ever seen and as a result it completely pulls you in to the overall experience.

As well as this, there are also some wonderful performances from all involved including Chloe Grace Moretz who was stunning in last year's "Kick Ass". If there are move child actors around like the one in this one, then the future of movie making will be in very safe hands.

2. 50/50

Telling people about this film was rather difficult so I'll quote the great WIKIPEDIA:

"50/50 is a 2011 comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Levine, written by Will Reiser, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. The film is loosely based on the life of screenwriter Will Reiser."

Hmmm..... that probably doesn't help either!

OK, let's not skirt around the issue. This film is a comedy about cancer. Now can you understand why it was difficult trying to explain the film to others?

The subject matter however is brilliantly handled, with the source of the comedy coming from other people's behaviour around the victim, rather than the illness itself.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives the performance of his career so far and the rest of the cast support him brilliantly.

1. Bridesmaids

I don't think I have been so enthused about a film like this in a long time. All the critics are spot on about this one, its BLOODY BRILLIANT! One thing that has been missing from the films released this year is a comedy that is genuinely funny all the way through, thinking about it the last film to make me laugh all the way through was Date Night 12 months earlier and Bridesmaids is even funnier.

The best thing about the film is the film's star and co-writer Kristen Wiig, she's pretty well known in the US for brilliant performances on Saturday Night Live and this year's Paul. She is truly stunning in this film and gives one of the best comedic performances in a movie I have EVER seen. To see how good she is all you need to do is watch a scene in the film where she is given a sugared almond to eat, it’s hilarious!

There are many, many, many other things to rave about with this film including the film's male lead Chris O'Dowd, US Air Marshalls,Wilson Phillips, puppies and a crisp white bridal shop! I don't think its possible for a film to be completely faultless but this film comes very, very close indeed!

and now for the stinkers......

3. Love and Other Drugs

First of all, I need to say that I do not hate "Rom Coms". I just hate the really bad, corny ones that use the same cliches in order to move the story along. There have been loads of them this year but Love and Other Drugs is by far the worst of them.

This could have been a great film, the two lead stars are very good actors and the subject matter is one that has rarely been touched in movies. It starts very well, Anne Hathaway is edgy and Jake shows his bottom... but then an hour in things go downhill very very fast. It is as though the scriptwriter gave up and delivered the same old plot from a thousand other Rom Coms. Maybe I'm being too harsh on this film? But after it started so well the audience can't feel anything else but betrayal.

2. The Green Lantern

This film is just too silly for words... I have no more to say on the subject

1. Johnny English Reborn

Look at that traier! Isn't it funny? Do yourself a favour and just watch that and not the movie as ALL the funny bits are in that 150 second clip.

Rowan, what were you thinking? You were in Not The Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder. This is so far beneath you! This film is so bad it makes me want to cry [I may or may not be exaggerating there!]

So now we have out Christmas playlist set up. What movies do we watch on TV this Christmas?

There are certain films that have to be watched to make Christmas even more Christmassier [is that a word???]

Here are my top five Christmas Movies

5. The Muppet Christmas Carol

There are several very good versions of this story with performances from Alistair Simm, Bill Murray and Albert Finney but Michael's Caine's Scrooge is definitely my favourite version as he plays it perfectly straight amongst all those Muppets.

However, if you still has this film on VHS video - keep hold of it. The DVD is inexplicably heavily edited!

4. Meet Me in St Louis

Everybody knows Judy Garland for her Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, but I have a soft spot for Judy in this musical. It has great songs and an ending full of Christmassy goodness!

It's worth seeing for the most adorable crying little girl you will ever see

3. Miracle on 34th Street [1947 version]

Father Christmas in court? A little girl who doesn't believe? Shopping??? This film has so many things going for it and when it comes to certain films you just can't beat the originals. [For those of you who have difficulty seeing things in Black and White, there is now a colourised version...]

2. Love Actually

Hugh Grant as Prime Minister at Christmas. That's all you need to know!

1. It's A Wonderful Life

I know the world "ultimate" gets seriously overused, but to me this is the ultimate Christmas movie. Its simply perfect in every way - from the chemistry between Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, Clarence the Angel, Annie saving up for a divorce in case she ever gets a husband and the most uplifting life affirming ending that a movie has ever seen. If you only ever get to see one film at Christmas, it HAS to be this one!

So they are my top five movies for Christmas, but there are so many other great ones. Honorable mentions also go to Home Alone, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, Gremlins and Scrooged.

What are your favourite Christmas films? Do you agree with my top five? Let me know