THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF BOB LOG III + THOMAS TRUAX

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF 

BOB LOG III + THOMAS TRUAX

Live at Night & Day Cafe, Manchester. Sunday 4th March 2018.

 

What does a person do when they are confronted with a man in a suit playing a drying machine drainage pipe... Followed by another man dressed in a golden onesie, wearing a racing helmet, playing steel guitar whilst floating in an inflatable boat across all of our heads!?!?!

For the last few years I've been an absolute gig addict with no genres off bounds. I've seen Test Dept. pouring oil to trigger a grandfather clock to play a drumbeat. I've seen Botanist make Black Metal using a harmonium and hammered dulcimer, whilst dressed up as trees! I've seen a man swallow a microphone and make beats by patting his belly! I thought I'd seen it all... Until this fateful evening!

This is NOT a review of Bob Log III & Thomas Truax, because nothing I can possibly write will accurately describe the music and the experience that I have witnessed...!!!

THOMAS TRUAX

Tonight's first one man band was New Yorker Thomas Truax, performing in an elegant suit. Bizarre curios adorned the stage beside him, including Mother Superior, his home made drum machine. This complex contraption was made from a bicycle wheel attached to miniature snares and kick drum. By adjusting the spokes he could set up different looped beats, triggered from a pedal at his feet.

Thomas Truax began his set fairly conventionally, opening with a vocal driven piece on his Hornicator, a lopped off gramophone speaker with a microphone inside. Using loop pedals he was able to layer cavernous, reverberated vocals and then sing over these bizarre loops. Truax then took the crazy levels down a notch, showcasing a steel guitar, performing a couple of Americana flavoured ballads. His energy and stage presence was roaring as he launched into the crowd with his guitar and told stories between songs that had the packed out crowd in fits of laughter.

The finale of his set got really bizarre, bringing out an instrument devised from a drying machine drainage pipe. He attached a cable to the pillar at the side of the stage, plucking it at different lengths to change the key, whilst blowing into said drainage pipe to create otherworldly sounds. His big finale saw Night & Day plunged into darkness as he performed 'Beehive Heart' ("Bob Log III asked me to play this one tonight, because he needed it to be in his head") with spinning, neon lit glasses.

Nothing I can say here can accurately describe the amount of strangeness and uniqueness that Thomas Truax created. He not only invented new instruments, but created sounds and vibes I'd never experienced in the flesh before. His confidence and charm was absolutely effervescent. Go see this man live, or at least listen to his music and watch some YouTube videos!!! 9/10.

BOB LOG III

Our second one man band of the night was Phoenix, Arizona born Bob Log the Third! Dressed in a golden onesie and a racing helmet with an old school telephone attached at the mouth, he sat on a stool, steel guitar in hand, a kick drum at one foot and a snare at the other! His mission for the evening was to create a ruckus, turning Night & Day into the best Sunday party atmosphere in Manchester this evening! 

Bob Log III is an absolute wild man, fingering and twanging his guitar with no mercy! The slightly ragged and distorted sound of his guitar occasionally dabbled into noisy and discordant territory, adding to the Bluegrass madness. His vocals also were distorted and obscured, most likely by his racing helmet, often unintelligible, yet adding a weirdness to the overall cacophony of bizarre sounds. Because he was twanging away on his guitar, and drumming with both feet at the same time, IN A RACING HELMET, his playing wasn't always on point, something losing his timing on the beats, but it just added more charm and honesty to his performance.

Bob Log III's biggest tour-de-force though was his magnificent stage presence. He really got the crowd involved, jumping into an inflatable boat and sailing across peoples heads as he twanged that guitar! He even filled a child's paddling pool and dog bowl fool of booze. He played with a sheer joy. "Wow Manchester, you're lucky, I've never played that song so good in my life!!!" If I could see the face behind the mask, I'm sure it would have had a huge grin on it. Night & Day became privy to one of the most fun and bizarre hoedowns of all time! Once again, this is an act and a performance that no matter how hard I try and describe, I can never clearly sum up unless you go and see him for yourself in the flesh, which I HIGHLY recommend you do! 9/10.

LIVE REVIEW: MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL'S DARK MATTER HIGHLIGHTS

The Manchester International Festival is an annual event that spans many weeks and venues taking all creative art forms such as live music, poetry, theatre and more. Every year the festival gets more ambitious and creative, truly thinking outside the box and pushing the limits of what a festival can entail. Highlights of MIF 2017 included New Order, Fatherland, Arcade Fire and Dark Matter...

Dark Matter is just one small slice of the festival. A series of individual live shows favouring musicians known for making very dark, experimental and otherworldly music. Dark Matter has been curated by British DJ, journalist and BBC Radio 6 presenter Mary Anne Hobbs. Eight headlining acts performed over the duration of the festival, including LEVELZ, Holly Herndon, Paleman, The Haxan Cloak, Clark, Kojey Radical, Colin Stetson and Sunn O))). There were also brilliant DJ sets from the likes of Demdike Stare, Akkord and Mary Anne Hobbs herself. Sadly I wasn't able to attend all of the shows, but I wanted to give a shout out to the ones I did attend. It's brilliant that MIF and Mary Anne Hobbs were able to give such a prominent platform to strange, experimental and esoteric underground music.


PALEMAN
Gorilla. 6/7/17.

Manchester raised Paleman began his craft as a Jazz drummer and it is clear that he implements that into his sound. Not only was Paleman twiddling knobs and triggering samples on stage, but also adding live percussion along the way. He worked on improvisation, sculpting off kilter techno beats with icy cold synths. He delivered many peaks and troughs in his music, with the calmer parts evoking spacey atmospheres, soon leading into upbeat, lively passages that got the crowd dancing. The dim lighting and room full of fog helped to enhance a special atmosphere created by Paleman. His music was slow building, yet playful.


THE HAXAN CLOAK
Gorilla. 7/7/17.

The Haxan Cloak (real name Bobby Krlic) is a Yorkshire born Producer who has worked with Bjork, The Body, and even created film and TV scores. But when it comes to his solo act, Krlic likes to get sinister! The Haxan Cloak is one of the best modern names in Dark Ambient music, essentially creating scary soundscapes inspired by the music and atmospheres of horror and nightmares. The entire performance felt almost like one continuous piece of music, beginning slow like a glacier as long drawn out, ominous synths gathered in intensity. Krlic gradually built up layers of eerie and unsettling effects such as buzzing static, escalating noise, scraping and clanging sounds. The way The Haxan Cloak is able to allure an audience through gradual build ups and a foreboding sense of dread is mesmerizing. The use of strobe lights and thick smoke just added to the atmosphere. Only towards the second half of his set, did pulsing Industrial beats become more commonplace. The finale of his show in particular lead even greater towards Industrial Electronic music, with heavy, pounding beats and piercing noise that rumbled and shook your entire body. Krlic's show is incredibly loud and truly akin to a live horror experience. 


CLARK
02 Ritz. 8/7/17.

Warp Records veteran Chris Clark delivered a whole new stage show to the MIF in support of his latest album 'Death Peak'. Clark performed practically the entire album in full (though sequenced differently) plus some welcome oldies such as 'Winter Linn' and 'Superscope'. Clark really went all out with the light show, which was a true spectacle to watch. Each tune he played had its own choreographed colour scheme and lasers projecting trippy patterns towards the crowd. He even had two masked dancer girls on stage performing improvised dance routines to Clark's music. Certainly not an easy task considering how wonky his music is, switching up tempos and rhythms frantically. Though Clark isn't the "darkest" of the Dark Matter lineup, his eclectic body of music suitably strikes a fine balance between different moods and shades. His beats are incredibly heavy, pounding through the Ritz's bouncy dancefloor like a pneumatic drill. He truly got the crowd dancing the whole way through. Clark is so fascinating to watch on stage, not just because of the incredible visual show accompanying him, but just seeing how busy he gets. He is constantly moving up and down his large desk of Electronic apparatus, flicking switches, triggering samples and adjusting mixers, breaking into a sweat almost immediately. If anyone believes that Electronic music is just somebody standing behind a laptop pressing buttons, then Clark is here to prove you wrong!

SUNN O)))
02 Ritz. 15/7/17

Closing MIF's Dark Matter series was one of the weirdest and most experimental bands on earth. Seattle's Drone masters Sunn O))) are renown for being perhaps the loudest band in existence. The core duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley have featured in countless influential Extreme Metal bands, usually favouring the slowest and heaviest riffs in existence. Sunn O))) is definitely their most well known act, taking the concept of amplifier worship to the utmost extreme (and not just their name). The band perform in Sith Lord style cloaks in front of a colossal and intimidating wall of massive Sunn guitar amps. Over the years their touring line-up has continued to expand, tonight performing as a 5 piece. O'Malley and Anderson deafened audiences with their guitars, whilst the addition of two extra players on keyboards, electronics and even a Drone trombone added more layers to the sonic chaos. Attila Csihar, long time vocalist of the controversial Black Metal pioneers Mayhem, also performed a highly eclectic vocal display, as well as dressing in some elaborate costumes. Their music is so damn slow, that they have no use for a live drummer to keep a beat or tempo.

Sunn O))) are very much a love it or hate it kind of band, even causing debate among extreme music fans. One numpty in the crowd even yelled 'GET ON WITH IT' 10 minutes into Attila Csihar's widely versatile ritualistic chanting intro. I was genuinely dumbfounded by this rude interruption, hoping it was some kind of self-aware irony.  Personally I consider Sunn O))) to be true explorers, pushing the boundaries of what music can be perceived as further and further. In a nutshell, Sunn O))) performed for 90 minutes performing what is essentially just a note, or a chord, dragged into an infinite abyss. However because of their dynamic sound setup, the rumbling guitar drones were so incredibly, ear punishingly loud that the listener ends up confronting sound itself face to face. You can feel every wave and texture pulsing through your entire body. Sometimes it can be a scary and painful experience, as you feel all your bones rattling and it feels like your head is about to explode, but there are parts of it that are generally soothing, like getting a deep massage. In a sense, by attending a Sunn O))) concert, you become one with the force of sound. It genuinely is the closest I have come to being able to physically feel music travelling through my body.

Even though the music of Sunn O))) is incredibly patience testing, their visual show was very exciting. A thick wall of smoke constantly filled the room, enhancing the sinister atmosphere. The sight of the amps and the mysterious cloaked men looked akin to an occult ritual for guitar fans. Vocalist Attila Csihar was by far the most animated on stage, delivering not only a great vocal performance but a physical display too. Near the end of the show he came out in a suit made of reflective mirror shards (reminiscent of their latest album sleeve for 'Kannon') and shot laser beams from his fingertips. The show seemed to drift slowly through different movements. It began with a chanting vocal warm up from Attila, followed by all 5 players demolishing Manchester with a monolith of loud noise. Some players would then drift in and out of the performance, allowing the drones to modulate, as if they were growing and shrinking in weight. Sunn O))) ended the performance with just the core duo droning away on their guitars. Despite the Sunn O))) live show essentially being 90 minutes of listening to one note, I still find them to be one of the most gripping, exciting, unique and thrilling live acts I've ever experienced. Sunn O))) are a landmark act in the field of the avant-garde. True experimentalists on a mission to shock audiences as well as defy perceptions of music and art altogether. What a perfect way to end MIF's Dark Matter showcase.

TRIPLE ALBUM REVIEW: SUN KIL MOON / MARK KOZELEK

INTRODUCTION

It should come as no secret that Mark Kozelek is a musical idol of mine. I consider him to be the best songwriter and lyricist out there. His ear for bone chilling, heart-breaking melodies and guitar arpeggios rarely seems to diminish, and he delivers some of the most heart on your sleeve, honest, passionate, direct and emotional lyrics of any singer out there. Kozelek first arrived with his band Red House Painters who released their 1992 debut album on 4AD Records. In retrospect they are now considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent Folk/Rock bands of the 90s. The 00s saw a change of name to Sun Kil Moon, but it was basically Mark's continuation of the project, instead housed on his own record label Caldo Verde. He has put out many solo albums, studio albums, live albums and collaborations under his own name and the Sun Kil Moon moniker throughout the last two decades.

2013's 'Perils From the Sea' album (originally planned to be released under the name Sun Kil Moon & The Album Leaf, but changed to Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle at the last minute) saw a drastic shift in Mark's songwriting, lyrical and vocal style. He seemed to put less emphasis on singing and contemporary Folk songwriting, and instead started delivering these long, rambling stories that were half sung, half spoken word. Over the many albums that followed including his critically acclaimed 'Benji' and 'Universal Themes', Mark expanded on this style even further and really started delivering much more experimental works. Since 2013 he has entered the most prolific stage of his career. Where once he would put out an album every 2 years, now he is consistently putting out about 3 albums a year! The lyric booklets (or posters) that come with his CDs fold out like road maps.

In 2017 alone, Mark Kozelek has released 3 studio albums in January, May and July respectively (one being a double album), amounting in 4 hours of brand new material and a LOT of spoken word. I'm going to review all 3 of them in one, long Kozelek style rambling mess!

SUN KIL MOON
COMMON AS LIGHT & LOVE ARE RED VALLEYS OF BLOOD
Caldo Verde Records.
Folk, Spoken Word, Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter.
Listening Format: CD







As I mentioned in the introduction, Mark Kozelek has switched to a Spoken Word style to the point where he barely even sings any more. 'Common As Light & Love Are Red Valleys of Blood' is by far one of his most striking and experimental works yet, pushing this new Spoken Word style further than he ever has before. In comparison, 'Jesu / Sun Kil Moon' and 'Universal Themes' had plenty of Spoken Word passages, but also had a fair bit of singing as well. This DOUBLE album comes unquestionably close to being a full on Rap album. But make a note, it is certainly not a Hip Hop album (yes there is a difference), though it does contain a longer lyric sheet than Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly'. Many of the tracks on this album see drummer Steve Shelley laying down a Hip Hop inspired kick and snare drum beat as Mark delivers every single thought he has ever had in 2016 out loud. The songs are all very, very repetitive, largely built on one groove and rarely switching up. If you are lucky there might be some sort of chorus.

One of the most interesting things about being a Mark Kozelek fan recently is following his stories album to album. Familiar lyrical themes continue to crop up and he will reference celebrities or real life people in his life across multiple albums, or sometimes even follow up on a story he has already told on a previous song. It's rare to hear something this meta and self-referential in Rock and Folk music. Again Hip Hop is really the most prominent genre where an artist's lyrics will talk about other celebrities, real life people they know, and even mention themselves in the third person. It genuinely would not surprise me if Mark Kozelek had been listening to a lot of Hip Hop around the time he began writing this album. Mark's main lyrical stories on not just this album, but most of his recent albums seem to revolve around the following: His girlfriend Caroline. I feel like I practically know her from the amount Mark talks about what they get upto! Mark's favourite HBO shows. He loves True Detective! Touring and playing shows. There is often an obligatory story of an experience he had playing a particular show, or getting heckled by a crowd member. He talks about US politics a lot, touching upon his views on Trump, Clinton and guns quite often (he is anti-gun which is refreshing to hear). But the most emotionally involved stories of his often come when he describes friends and family members who have tragically passed away before their time. Mark Kozelek seems to be surrounded by death and tragedy. The way he went into so much painstaking detail about the death of his cousin Carissa in a house fire on 'Benji''s 'Carissa' has lead to not just one of his greatest songs, but truly one of the greatest songs of the decade. Mark certainly has a lot of interesting stories to tell, and name drops a lot of other musicians. There is a hilarious tongue in cheek moment 2 minutes into 'Philadelphia Cop' where Mark stops the song to pretend to take a phone call from Sufjan Stevens!

However whether or not the listener finds Mark's stories interesting or not, or whether or not they have the patience to endure them is a big test on this album. It is OVER 2 HOURS long, of basically non stop rambling. There are barely any moments where the music is just allowed to play, and it kind of makes the musicianship take a backseat to Mark's voice. Also as much as I love to hear Mark sing (I've listened to him for days on end) hearing his monotone voice speaking for 2 hours is a rather draining experience. Listening to this album in full starts to become akin to listening to an audio commentary track on a DVD. I feel like in terms of the music and songs here, this isn't Kozelek at his best. 5 or the 16 tracks presented here exceed the 9 minute mark, and only have one or two actual melodies or distinct sections to show for. Many tracks leave the Folk realm entirely. 'Philadelphia Cop' and 'The Highway Song' both sound very Funk inspired. There are a few tracks that feel like legitimate songs. 'I Love Portugal' is a standout that actually has a chorus you can sing along to. 'Bergen to Trondheim' is a moving tribute written after the passing of Muhammad Ali (Mark's love of boxing has always been a common theme in his writing). But on the flipside 'Sarah Lawrence College Song' has a very unpleasant chorus hook that you just wish had not been included.

'Common As Light...' is an incredibly self indulgent album that is basically just a vehicle for Mark to express as many of his inner monologues as possible. The album transpires like somebody reading out loud their diary or autobiography, and the music often feels second rate, especially coming from such a master songwriter. Nothing comes close to the emotionally invested and heart warming classics he has written such as 'Carry Me Ohio', 'Katy Song', 'Lost Verses' or 'I Watched the Film The Song Remains the Same'. I genuinely want to praise this album for its ambitions. It's like Mark has actually managed to invent Folk Rap with this album. And the album breaks the fourth wall so hard that it is strangely mesmerizing and certainly a unique listening experience. But I feel like in terms of songwriting and album flow, listening to the entire thing is too much of an overwhelming and exhausting experience to really enjoy. It would have been a much more successful outing if all the fat had been trimmed away. So much of this album is excruciating to sit through, even for experienced Mark Kozelek fans. I feel like a newbie to his work would be even more bewildered by this double album. And consider that this is just the first of 3 albums to be released by Mark in 2017! 6/10.

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JESU & SUN KIL MOON
30 SECONDS TO THE DECLINE OF PLANET EARTH
Caldo Verde Records.
Folk, Spoken Word, Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter.
Listening Format: CD







So as if Mark Kozelek dropping a double album of Spoken Word driven Folk music wasn't enough, a few months later arrives ANOTHER album of... Basically more of the same. At least it isn't a double album this time, but it is still SEVENTY SEVEN MINUTES IN LENGTH... Dear God...

The main difference between this album and 'Common As Light...' is that Justin K Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu fame has written the bulk of the music. Mark basically just acts as primary lyricist and vocalist this time around. Justin and Mark became friends a few years ago after Mark happened to attend a Godflesh concert and was blown away... And yes he even wrote about the experience in 'The Possum' on Sun Kil Moon's 'Universal Themes' album. He also recorded a great Folk rendition of Godflesh's classic 'Like Rats'. Musically it is fairly similar to the sounds Kozelek conjured up on 'Common As Light...'. Lots of lengthy, drawn out, repetitive and stream of consciousness dirges. Except this time Broadrick has favoured programmed drums over Steve Shelley's live drums. There is a less of a Folk influence and more of an Electronic influence this time around.

Sadly this album is really a low point in the career of both of these legendary artists who I consider heroes of mine. At least their first collab had a bit more variety, with Broadrick even managing to successfully implement his droning, distorted guitars in the mix. Here these lengthy songs sound very rushed, using very unmemorable, entry level Electronic beats that barely hold any atmosphere or depth. In terms of an album flow as well, plonking a 17 minute long meandering track of nothingness into just the second track in the tracklist is just poor album structuring. I wanted to give up on the entire album about 5 minutes into this go nowhere track, but I managed to stick it out. On this track, 'Wheat Bread', Mark rambles on about hanging out at South By SouthWest and going on dates with his girlfriend Caroline. Once again, it feels like Mark has ran out of any fresh or interesting stories to tell and is just repeating things again. He already talked about the SXSW festival on 'Philadelphia Cop'. This 17 minute dross barely qualifies as a song, it is just infuriating to listen to. 'Needles Disney' is just as excruciating, describing a junkie wandering around Disneyland. 'The Greatest Conversation Ever In the History of the Universe' is about as mundane as the song title is to read. Another 10 minutes of second rate Electronica and Mark rambling on. The song ends with the lyrics "I'm gonna go to sleep now, there's nothing more to write". I mean... Really? The first time I got to the 5th track 'He's Bad' I actually just turned this album off and was like "FUCK THIS, I'M THROWING IN THE TOWEL! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE"!!! 'He's Bad' is Mark's commentary on Michael Jackson and whether MJ was a paedophile or not. I mean really, it's 2017 and you are choosing NOW to express this message? And this is coming from a musician who released a beautiful cover version of 'I'll Be There' in tribute to him after he died. The song has the chorus 'He's Bad, He's dead and I'm glad", which is just in incredibly bad taste...

Honestly I did not look forward going back to finish off this record, but I felt like I had to. Fortunately just to tease me, the final track 'A Dream of Winter' is actually a good song. It sounds like a PROPER SONG!!! Mark Kozelek actually sings. The song has a familiar structure and rests on a beautiful acoustic guitar arpeggio with his best vocal delivery on the album by far. But everything else on this record sounds extremely rushed and knocked together. This album feels like a bunch of leftovers from both the first Jesu & Sun Kil Moon collab, as well as 'Common as Light...'. Another big problem is the timing of this release. Sun Kil Moon has already dropped a 2 hour + record that is incredibly dense and challenging. I don't think a lot of fans were ready for ANOTHER release so soon (with a third one on the way after that). Sadly I have to say this is without contest, the lowest point in both Justin and Mark's prolific and great music careers. 3/10.

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MARK KOZELEK & SEAN YEATON
YELLOW KITCHEN
Caldo Verde Records
Folk, Spoken Word, Avant-Garde, Singer/Songwriter.
Listening Format: CD











It's safe to say that I wasn't exactly looking forward to this release, considering I wasn't exactly ecstatic about Mark Kozelek's two other albums of 2017. Even though this is a fairly similar sound and writing approach to the two Sun Kil Moon albums released earlier this year, this one was just released under the Mark Kozelek name for reasons unknown. This one is a collaboration with Parquet Courts' Sean Yeaton, so I was expecting to hear some noisy rock, perhaps similar to some of the cuts from 'Universal Themes'. What I heard instead was very far from that. Musically this album has a very diverse array of instruments. I've heard piano, horns, wind instruments and guitars all crop up throughout this album. The overall vibe though is very dark, discordant and esoteric. None of the songs here adhere to a traditional structure and it is by far the most experimental and haunting release that Mark Kozelek has ever been a part of.

On this release Mark Kozelek vocally does a very similar thing to the other albums. Lots of spoken word, singing kept to a minimum, lots of long rambling. Tracks range from 5-12 minutes, but an overall running time of 45 minutes is actually a breath of fresh air, making it the most easy to digest of the three releases he has made this year. Lyrically I guess it does repeat a lot of stories and themes that Mark has already expressed repeatedly. Opener 'Time to Destination' is a scathing bashing of the Trump/Clinton election run up. Whilst 'The Reasons I Love You' is literally a list of 10 reasons why he loves his girlfriend Caroline (who has practically become a star in her own right, cropping up on nearly every Mark Kozelek release since 2013).

Whilst I am still not completely sold on Mark's Spoken Word phase of writing, 'Yellow Kitchen' is actually one of the most interesting releases in this style and surprisingly my favourite of his 3 albums released in 2017. It is genuinely the most unique and experimental. Mark's rambling fits really well over this experimental musicianship composed by Sean Yeaton, and evokes a whole different mood and vibe to the previous two 2017 albums. This is really dark and eerie stuff, and Mark's voice adapts very well to these weird sounds. I've heard some people compare this to Scott Walker's 'The Drift' and it is a pretty apt comparison. This is really strange and sinister, and I am genuinely enjoying it a lot more than I expected I would. Closing song 'Daffodils' literally sounds nightmarish and has Mark Kozelek barking like a wild dog. Surprisingly the album that seems to be getting the least attention from critics and fans is actually the best! 7/10.

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CONCLUSION

This new Spoken Word phase of Mark Kozelek's career is what I like to call his "midlife crisis" phase. The guy is heading towards 50 years old now and he is probably tired of just writing amazing Folk music. Whilst I do miss how Mark would write these achingly beautiful guitar melodies and sing his heart out, I do appreciate this new direction he has taken. Mark Kozelek has genuinely released some of the most evocative, boundary pushing and experimental releases of the decade. I also get the impression that he is just doing whatever the fuck he wants, with whoever he wants, and he doesn't care about what anyone else thinks or even about album sales so much. But I think if he really, really wants to succeed in this style, he just needs to slow the fuck down. You don't need to be putting out 3 albums a year, or repeating the same ideas and lyrical themes. The rule of "quality over quantity" should still apply. Instead of releasing 4 hours of music in the space of 6 months, if Mark Kozelek had thought to just pick the best hour of all this material and release that instead, I think he would have made a far larger impression. It is one thing to challenge your listeners and fans, but Mark has gone a step too far and overloaded and bombarded his fans with too much material that becomes tedious to wade through. There is a bit of gold in all 3 of these releases, but it has not exactly been a pleasant experience wading through all 4 hours of it. 

#348: THE NEON DEMON

2016

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Psychological Horror, Body Horror, Surrealism.

The Neon Demon is the latest film from director Nicolas Winding Refn, most famous for his runaway hit film Drive that starred Ryan Gosling. If you saw his follow up film Only God Forgives, you'll know the director took a left turn into extreme violence and experimentalism, which ended up really polarizing fans of Drive. It's safe to say that if you didn't like Only God Forgives, and are wanting to see a more story driven film like Drive again, you'll probably be best off avoiding this one!

That said, if you happened to like Only God Forgives, there is a lot to like here. From the brilliant 80s looking opening credit crawl, The Neon Demon moves at a slow, dreamlike pace and keeps you guessing where the movie is heading for the most part. 16 year old Elle Fanning stars as a model who has only just arrived to L.A. and is admired and hired by all the most esteemed photographers and modelling agencies, leaving more experienced, hard working models left in the dust. The film's dialogue is purposely a little wooden, building up a feeling that you are in this plastic Barbie Doll world. As the film goes on, the innocent Elle Fanning finds herself under threat from a sinister motel owner (in a very good supporting role from Keanu Reeves) and her jealous model peers who will go to any lengths to see her out of the modelling industry.

If you are used to Nicolas Winding Refn's previous films, you'll know that his visuals and music takes the centre stage instead of the script and plot. Refn likes to use dialogue sparingly, although there is suitably more here than his previous film Only God Forgives which seemed to lack a script entirely! Visually the film nods towards the colour tinted lenses of Michael Mann, the slow, dark and dreamy feel of David Lynch and the colour coded scenes of Dario Argento's Suspiria. The film itself is even more beautiful to look at than the largely female cast of models. The Neon Demon boasts one of the best film scores I've heard, probably since Drive. Cliff Martinez returns with a pounding Industrial/Electronic score that made me want to get out of my cinema chair and start raving! Hearing this score played loudly in the cinema kept me interested even during points where there wasn't a lot going on in the plot.

The first hour or so is relatively easy going, with a few tense moments hinting at possible horrors that might potentially unfold. For the uninitiated, it may take a while to get into the films slow pacing, and it is a film that requires some patience. Fortunately, the film is driven by a wonderful and mysterious atmosphere that I found kept me engrossed throughout. After the first hour or so comes the true biting point of the film. The last half hour descends into something reminiscent of an 80s David Cronenberg film, and the most violent parts of Drive and Only God Forgives start to turn up. The film isn't particular violent in the way of physical violence, but turns into a gross out Body Horror film that will either have the audience walking out feeling sick, or enjoying the film even more if you are into extreme cinema! The guys behind me in the cinema couldn't resist shouting "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" during a rather repulsive scene that nods towards Nekromantik. A couple even ended up walking out before the film had finished! The last third of the film is genuinely mental and oppressive, and easily the biggest talking point of the film.

Nicolas Winding Refn doesn't seem interested in making a commercial hit film like Drive again. He is the kind of director who has the ability to wow his audience with one hand, and then genuinely repulse them with the other. As a whole I think this was a better all around film than Only God Forgives, which went to too absurd and violent heights. If you are willing to stick with The Neon Demon, there are some truly wonderous moments to be found, particularly in how immersive the visuals and score are. It felt like it could have easily been a giant music video rather than a film. Just don't go into the film expecting another Drive! 8/10.