Maxstag

Renew @ Grande Halle de la Villette - Paris 15/09/2012

2012-10-15T22:53:00.000+02:00

Every year, the Techno Parade takes place in the streets of Paris. This huge event gives DJs the opportunity to make a float and play around Paris with a crowd of party animals following. As an after party, the Renew was organised in the Grande Halle of the VIllette district. For 25€, you could spend the night listening to some of the biggest names of Dubstep!
The first thing which struck me was the size of the place. It was massively huge (and I mean 9000 m² big). And I thought the resonance created would be a problem, but it was nearly inexistant thanks to the great soundsystem (the same as the one in Bercy). Now about the concerts:

DJ Gero: FIrst of the night, his set was composed of basic remixes of popular songs as well as not very original songs of his composition. There were a few mixing errors (track jumped, out of sync...) as well as bad transitions. This DJ from Maisons-Alfort (aParis suburb) needs to work a bit on his sets.

DJ Pone: I learned this same night that Pone was one of the members of Birdy Nam Nam, a marvellous four-DJ collective. His set was very good apart from a few mistakes which were a bit disturbing.

Mt Eden: Now that's what I'm talking about! This amazing DJ with his famous ultra-slow Dubstep has blown my mind. I just love his music and I was glad to see him live for his first time in France. During the show you are transported to another state of mind as you float in this relaxed electronic music.

Zeds Dead: I had heard about their greatness, but never heard more than one of their songs. And they delivered! Their music is amazingly strong and dance friendly. Their bass drops are simply huge.

Dirtyphonics: And of course the hardcore Parisian crew was there. I had already seen them 2 months before in Carpentras (cf. Kolorz Festival) and saw them as the craziest performers and live music I had ever seen. Don't worry, they haven't changed a bit. I took part in a mad mosh pit under their waves of complex Dubstep, and everyone was going insane. No errors, perfect sync, and incredible ability to play together (let me remind you they are a four playing together!).

In general it was an awesome night and I got home exhausted at 6AM, still euphoric.

Zed's Dead @ Renew

Currywürst #4 @ Batofar - Paris 14/09/12

2012-09-18T11:59:00.000+02:00

After a nice birthday party on the Seine's quays, we went aimlessly to the Batofar, a Parisian nightclub on a barge. I was pleasantly surprised to see, a few minutes before, that it was a minimal night (and what more, with a German name, Currywürst being a culinary specialty). Full of hope I discovered an empty club at midnight (the night had already started 2 hours before). But nontheless the night turned out interesting

Axelle Roch and Fred De Clerc: We arrived at the beginning of their set together. These two frenchies had some very good songs to share, and in this relaxed atmosphere with only a dozen spectators it all felt very cosy and trippy. However, there was a big problem. I don't tend to spit on performances, but their transitions were horrible, out of sync... every single one of them. Now I don't know if its due to a lack of work, a lack of talent or maybe they had never met before (highly unlikely since they formed the Fox Parisian Crew together), but between these magnificent tracks, my heart would skip a beat (not in a "love" way") as they were looking awkwardly at each other.

Fortunately they were soon replaced with the king of the night

Sasch BBC: A real German, born in electronic music. His show was awesome and I really recommend you listen to his work (also his transitions were amazing). With this artist came a crowd and the night had finally begun. Great night, great music, great club (partying under water level is pleasantly unusual), all this for 10 miserable euros.

Inox Park 3 @ Iles des Impressionistes - Chatou 08/09/12

2012-09-17T20:00:00.000+02:00

On this beautiful end of summer day, at 11AM, we travelled a few kilometres out of Paris to Chatou, where the third edition of Inox Park took place. Set on the Impressionists island in the middle of the Seine river, over twenty electronic artists performed on three themed stages. The first stage (yellow stage) was more commercial music (Laidback Luke, Armin Van Buuren...) and I avoided it successfully. The second (green stage) was more minimal music and I managed to see parts of the two performances by Popof and Dubfire, the second being excellent live (great old-school music).

But most importantly, I spent most of my time close to the blue stage, where the more trash artists were. Here's my appreciation of all these lives.

Alesia: A discovery for me, this Parisian band is very talented and lays some very impressive beats with great sound originality and exhilarating drops.

Borgore: I only knew a few songs from this artists, and wasn't surprised to discover a great set with crazy remixes. As one person pointed out with his cardboard sign during the show, it provoked a "Borgasm".

Zedd: I awaited this concert eagerly as I have been following his work for some time. Under Skrillex's label OWLSA (Owned With Large Stuffed Animals) this talented artist proved himself both a great composer and a great performer. His music was mad, and I went bonkers when he played "Shave It", as well s his version of Skrillex's "Breakin' a Sweat".

Steve Aoki: His popularity is already enormous, and he is widely considered as one of the craziest artists on stage. However I was soon bored by his music, which doesn't really strike me as very interesting. He has the merit of being a great crowd warmer.

"POOL BREAK!": Since Aoki wasn't amazing to our taste, we popped off to the "Pool Party", where you basically play and dance around in a knee-high pool while listening to a DJ. It was a great way of freshening up.

Cyberpunkers: Still drenched from the pool, I managed to catch a brief glimpse of Cyberpunkers. This electro duo with their famous paintball masks played "I Needed to Go" and "Fuck the System" as their last two songs and were simply amazing, although their live performance doesn't go much beyond playing their tracks without much alteration (opinion only based on two songs beware).

Flux Pavilion: And then came the God of the night, Flux Pavilion. This fantastic Dubstep producer and DJ has made himself known through great tracks ("Line in Wax" for instance) as well as an uncountable number of massive remixes. Unfortunately - and I was prepared for this - the line-up list said "DJ Set" next to it, meaning a simplistic set with the best songs not very mixed. But apart from this detail, the show was great.

Joachim Garraud: After his concert on the yellow stage, Joachim Garraud came to the blue stage to present the premiere of his 3-D show! During the day we were given 3-D masks (blue/red) in the shape of JG's galaxian logo. I was intrigued since it was the first 3-D concert in the world (or so they said), even though I don't appreciated his music. The concept was nice but deceiving (like most 3-D images to be fair). There were only cubic or circly forms moving around looking 3-D-ish, but nothing exciting. And expectedly the music was sh*te.

To end on a good note we saw Dubfire and were pleased again. Overall this thirteen hour festival was great, especially for its relatively low price (42€).

Inox: 12AM

Song of the Week #8

2012-08-29T23:16:00.001+02:00

As we finish this second month of blogging, I would like to mention a very popular and talented American artist: Chris Isaak.

Like Elvis Presley before him, Chris Isaak was a magnificent singer and Rock n Roll guitarist. Over the last three decades, he has covered many different Rock styles, going from his predilection genre Rockabily, to Hawaiian-tinged acoustic music. His singing style has the particularity of holding strength and subtleness at the same time. His lyrics follow a certain pattern in strength, based on the message he wishes to convey. Moreover, he has the amazing capability of fetching high pitched notes as well as very low one, thanks to his powerful octave range.

He also composes great guitar melodies, playing lively Rock riffs as well as appealing arpeggios.

If you have difficulty appreciating Rockabily like Elvis (it is my case), then you might prefer Chris Isaak, with his softer style.

Enjoy

Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2012-08-25T22:08:00.001+02:00

This is the story of a human named Arthur Dent, a simple ape descendant who no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India Company.

He wakes up one morning to find bulldozers ready to knock down his house to make way for a bypass. His friend Ford Prefect – who is not a human, but an alien from the vicinity of Betelgeuse – saves him a few minutes later from the earth’s explosion, which was destroyed (ironically) to make way for a Hyperspace Expressway. And here they embark on an adventure across the galaxies, updating the most complete encyclopedia known to the universe: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This handy little book is used to explain the world around our two protagonists as they travel.

Douglas Adams described his story as a five-part trilogy, divided as such:

The Primary Phase
The Secondary Phase
The Tertiary Phase
The Quandary Phase
The Quintessential Phase

However H2G2 (short for HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) isn’t a book originally. It was first broadcasted as an audiobook on BBC Radio with great voice actors and excellent sound effects, which really plunge the listener in this mad world. The radio show was then adapted into five books by Adams himself, and recently a movie was released with Martin Freeman playing Arthur Dent. I recommend you listen to the audiobook first, because it really embodies the original idea of Douglas Adams, with a very well recreated atmosphere thanks to sound effects and a different voice for each character. It also enables you to play with your imagination, making it even weirder and funnier when something improbable happens (which is often).

In fact, this is the aim of this story: to be improbable, random and extremely funny. Adams is very smart and makes you laugh every twenty seconds while maintaining a great overall story. There are an incredible number of quotes to get from this book such as: “Time is an illusion, Lunchtime doubly so” or “- What’s so unpleasant about being drunk? – You ask a glass of water”. The audiobooks and the books become addictive very quickly as they search out for answers about the universe, the meaning of life, and god’s last message.

What I find very surprising about this story, is that the narrator has an intergalactic basis of life, and it comes as little surprise when he say seas are pink. This gives a new dimension of Arthur moving in an unknown but real world. If you like science fiction and laughing continually you'll love every bit of it.

Song of the Week #7

2012-08-22T22:20:00.002+02:00

Let's stay in the United Kingdom but change musical genres entirely.

It's pretty hard for me to enjoy a good Hip-Hop song, as most of my favorite have a Dubstep beat behind. But Just Jack is different from the RnB infected Rap we hear nowadays, and it is good to know that some talented artists are still able to come back to the basics of Hip-Hop: meaningful lyrics, with good music. Most Hip-Hop nowadays is extremely hypocritical, as you hear an auto-tuned millionaire who raps about how hard it is in the ghetto, or even worse talking mysoginistis sh*t. Now I'm not trying to degrade Rap in its entirety, but you have to admit it was much better in the 90s.

Jack Christopher Allsopp, born in Camden Town (my favorite place in London, very underground culture), has imposed himself with his great flow and distinctive British accent. Over the last decade, he has released three albums, revolving around many different subjects such as fame and dealing with it. In his second album named "Overtones", he goes through the life of a rising star, strating with the "Writer's Block" meaning the difficulty to write, going through the first audition in "Starz in Their Eyes", as well as the "Glory Days".

Here is my favorite song from this album.

Enjoy

Writer's Block - Just Jack

Sound of Noise by O. Simonsson and J.S. Nilsson

2012-08-19T13:34:00.001+02:00

Sweden must really be a magnificent country. After living six months in Denmark I really regret never going to this neighbour country. However, I was able to experience the Scandinavian culture, with its lack of taboos, and its very important freedom of speech. For instance, a man will not be controlled by the police if he expresses extremist political views such as Nazism. And while this creates some problems (you might remember the 85 victims massacre in Norway by a neo-Nazi), the resulting sense of freedom also encourages people to express their talent, however controversial.

And it is this misunderstood talent which we find in the movie: Sound of Noise. This Swedish film is based around the theme of music and using unusual objects and techniques to compose a masterpiece: Music for one city and six drummers.

Six anarchist drummers use their incredible rhytmic talent to play the four movements of this piece, using the city as their instrument. These four movements are:

Doctor, Doctor, Gimme Gas (in my ass)
Money 4 U, Honey
Fuck the Music! Kill! Kill!
Electric Love

The first movement is set in a hospital with a politician as a victim, using his body as percussion and all the medical machines as intruments. In the second they hold-up a bank and once again play their incredible music. The third is using construction trucks, and I'll let you discover the last movement which completes a wonderful movie. Meanwhile, these musical terrorists are pursued by Amadeus, a tone-deaf inspector who cannot stand music and tries to free himself from this torture.

This film really carries a powerful message of a society which needs to free himself from the clutches of routine and musical dogma. The music is excellent and the movie very funny in itself. I recommend you watch it in Swedish (with subtitles).

Here is an extract and the movie's first movement: Doctor, Doctor, Gimme Gas (in my ass).

Enjoy

Song of the Week #6

2012-08-15T00:11:00.002+02:00

You've gotta admit it... The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics in London were pretty aweome. And in terms of musical culture, the closing ceremony was very rich, with great artists such as the Kaiser Chiefs, Pink Floyd's drummer, Muse, Queen, The Pet Shop Boys, and many other which represent the essence of British music. However there were also some dark areas, with Jessie J, Taio Cruz, and the One Direction... But you can't argue that it's also part of the Pop heritage.

However nice English Pop culture is, I still think there is more to Britain: the underground and indie culture, which is extremely powerful and needs to be represented.

And the Foals are part of these indie bands which revolutionalize the music industry.

This band from Oxford (hell yeah!) has the particularity of belonging to the Math Rock genre. Math Rock is recognised by its complexity in the rhythms, as well as the sometimes dissonant transitions in riffs. And the Foals do a great job there. Their music is very original, with their very distinctive and important drums, as well as their high pitched guitars.

I'll let you discover this incredible band and their two albums.

Here's a song from their first album "Antidotes"

Enjoy!

Red Socks Pugie - Foals

Mindfuck Movies List #1

2012-08-11T17:00:00.000+02:00

Here is a list of 5 films which can be put in the "Mindfuck" category. This means they either mess with your personal views on a subject (anything from religion to science), or have a very unusual story and ending to it. I have seen all these movies and I recommend you do the same. I might later on do some reviews about these films. Each film comes with a small teaser and my personal appreciation.

1. Altered States by Ken Russell (1980)

Let's start with a very difficult movie.

Dr. Jessup, a Harvard scientist studying schizophrenia, creates a theory revolving around the existence of different states of consciousness which can be induced under certain conditions. He performs experiments on himself using psychotropic drugs and sensory isolation tanks. However his experiments lead him far beyond his theories, as he discovers that this change of state is not only psychological...

Altered States although fictional takes you through very plausible theories around philosophy and biology. The result is a movie with a power of conviction which becomes frightening giving this pinch of horror to it. This is probably the most complicated and most stupefying movie I have ever seen.

2. Shutter Island by Martin Scorsese (2010)

Set in the 50s, this psychological thriller starring Leornado DiCaprio plays around the subject of madness. Two U.S. Marshalls are sent to investigate the improbable escape of a patient in the most important psychiatric hospital in America: Shutter Island. However their presence here seems to be hiding something else. A wish for revenge, a mysterious patient n° 67, and a sudden fear of entrapment. Will madness catch up with them against their desire?
This movie is a recent Scorsese masterpiece with a terrifying plot. As you dive into the movie you can't help but think about the balance in appearances and reality. For those of you fond of movie details, watch it a few times as it hides some hidden messages.

3. Se7en by David Fincher (1995)

Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Pride and Lust. These are the Seven Capital Vices described by the Catholic Church as deadly sins. In a dark and rainy city in U.S.A, two inspectors (played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt) have to deal with a serial killer. This psychopath kills its victims according to their sin, one per vice. These inspectors should not underestimate this mind of genius...
This horror-thriller is graphically disturbing, with very gore images. However the development of the film is fascinating and Fincher manages to portray perfectly the serial killer's goals. The killer is comparable to Hannibal Lecter in its hidden genius. Very compelling.

4. Memento by Christopher Nolan (2000)

An image? A name? A warning? Tatoos all over the body? This is the everyday routine of Leonard Shelby, a man who cannot make new memories, and therefore forgets everything he does. Memento means "Remember" and in this dark thriller, the hero is looking for his wife's murderer, using all his clues to elucidate this mistery. The particularity of this story is that one half is shown chronologically and the other half in reverse order. The two halves meet at the end, giving us a complete picture.
This movie is unquestionably my favorite from Christopher Nolan (who is also known for Inception and the Batman Trilogy). It messes with your ability to judge people, as you are confronted to Leonard's condition and therefore forced to follow his personal understanding.

5. A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick (1971)

The story is set in a futuristic Britain, with young gangs of thugs causing trouble all around them. Alex, our protagonist and dearest narrator, is one of these youngsters who spend most of their time performing "ultra violence" and rape. However his life changes as he is arrested and to avoid more time in prison, is a volunteer for a re-insertion experiment. However, thinking he would fool everyone with his goodwill, he has to face the most horrible experiences.
This movie is a criticism of society's decadence as well as the way some take advantage of the human brain's maleabilty. Malcom McDowell has become my favorite actor of all time, as he interprets Alex with a troubling ease. Kubrick has struck once again with a movie of great psychological strength.

The IT Crowd (UK)

2012-08-09T02:08:00.001+02:00

Many people use the word IT in their everyday life when refering to computers, without knowing what it actually means: Information Technology. And this cliché is very real; ask most workers in a regular office, and most of them will shrug their shoulders, and add "something to do with computers"...

In most big businesses and offices, you will find an IT department, with people able to deal with technical problems involving computers and other electronical devices. Stereotypically, they are computer nerds, who are total "social piranhas" (to quote one episode).

The IT Crowd is a British comedy series, with the basic computer geeks as protagonists. We meet Roy and Moss, two IT engineers who "work" in the basement of Reyholm Industries. However their peaceful anti-social livese are turned upside down when they are put under the management of Jen, a woman who doesn't know what an internet browser is, and got herself in this mess after the very common CV line "experience with computers".

Along the four seasons, they have to deal with very unusual situations, mostly caused by Roy and Moss's social awkwardness or Jen's lookout for an office romance. Although most themes revolve around the geek culture, you don't have to know any of that stuff to burst out laughing every five seconds. However, if you do know about that stuff, the quantity of funny details (Roy's shirts, posters...) will definitely leave you gasping for air. The situation comedy in all the episodes keeps on surprising you, while a few seconds ago you were thinking nothing could get any worse.

The actors all play their roles with perfection, and you easily get attached to them, especially Richard Ayoade (Moss) who is simply unbelievably nerdy. I would say he is the best actor of this show, to the extent that he was the only actor not replaced in the US version of the show. As for Chris O'Dowd (Roy) and Katherine Parkinson (Jen) they have both proved themselves as they have both played in "The Boat That Rocked", impersonating "Simple Simon" and "Felicity" respectively.The show also starrs Noel FIelding in some episodes, a great British comedy writer and actor (The Mighty Boosh), playing Richmond.

This sitcom is one of the funniest I have ever seen and I recommend you watch it.

Here is an extract to give you an idea of the atmosphere:

Song of the Week #5

2012-08-08T15:29:00.000+02:00

Today we travel accross the Atlantic, to the United States of America.

Now I usually don't really like music from the USA, it is more easily caught in the dark web of music labels, corrupting them to the bone. There are only a few bands which I really enjoy in the Rock genre from this country, and one of them is Interpol.

This band from the Big Apple has a very specific style, with an indie touch which is not unpleasant at all coming from the most labelled country in the world. Their music is very relaxing and holds a certain sadness and melancholy to it. However it is very dynamic and I would even say addictive. All their albums have the same touch, the same guitars, the same extraordinary voice, but they are all excellent from beginning to end.

I first discovered this band by chance when I was looking through the albums on sale in Aix-en-Provence's multimedia store. I was struck by the beauty and originality of the CD's artwork (Our Love to Admire). Without a moment of hesitation I bought it, not knowing what I was going to discover (and usually those discount CDs are not excellent). When I got back home, I was struck with surprise.

In the next few days I had all their other albums: "Antics" and "Turn on the Bright Lights" (by now a new album was released named after the band).

Here is an extract from their first album Turn on the Bright Lights.

Enjoy

[Untitled] - Interpol

The Butterfly Effect (Directors' Cut)

2012-08-06T02:53:00.001+02:00

It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world - Chaos Theory

The Butterfly Effect is a very popular illustration of the Chaos Theory. This mathematical theory is based on the idea that the smallest change in the initial position of a dynamic system can change its behavior, hence its final state. Put it simply, however predictable something might be, if the starting position varies even slightly, it can change entirely how it will act. The easiest example to describe this phenomenon is the weather. No computer, however powerful it might be, is able to calculate precisely the nature of a system as chaotic as the weather. Coming back to our insect, a computer will not be able to predict the slightest butterfly flap which will influence the movement of air, hence have a small but maybe decisive effect on the wind.

However weird this theory may sound, it has an impact on our world, and it is not only applied to weather forecasts, but also to economics, physics, biology and philosophy.

Now about the movie! Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, it tells the story of a boy named Evan, who suffers from a memory condition, as he represses the bad moments of his childhood. To help him, remember, he writes a journal during all his childhood. A few years later he reads one of the page before a traumatic moment of his life. This takes him back to this same moment and he is able to alter the initial state of his actions, therefore changing his life.

I was a bit sceptical as to Ashton Kutcher's performance in this movie, as I am used to seeing him in comedies (That 70's Show being my favorite), but he turns out to be the perfect actor. The story is very well put together, especially for the Directors' Cut, as there are four alternate endings. However I find that the main endings leave the movie incomplete and dull. This last version, only available on DVD, offers the viewer a duality which I will explain next.

Director's Cut Rating: 8/10

Original Rating: 6/10

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read the following analysis if you haven't watched the Directors' Cut version before!

Analysis:

I will explain why the Directors' Cut is more interesting than the original. In the original movie, Evan just makes sure he never meets Kayleigh. She escapes all the problems related to him, and therefore they both live happy although never together (so sad...).

But this ending is boring!

In the best ending, you find Evan waking up, after changing his life, in a mental hospital. The Doctor tells him the journals were the fruit of his imagination, but he is still persuaded that his supernatural power exists. He asks his mom for his birth movie, inducing a new alteration of the past. Since he has understood that he was the center of everyone's problems, he chokes himself as a foetus in his mother's womb and is never born.

However we learn through the Doctor that he could have been imagining all his other lives, giving him a skitzophrenic behavior. He adds that his mental attacks have very severely damaged his brain, and he is surprised Evan can still move (letting us guess a next attack could be fatal). As Evan watches the movie and henceforth induces an attack, we could also understand that he is unconsciously ending his life.

MINDF**K!

This duality in the plot is incredible and has left me in awe. If you disagree or have any other theory, please share it by commenting below!

Song of the Week #4

2012-08-01T15:57:00.000+02:00

Today we (re)discover a French classic. Now I'm not talikng about Mireille Mathieu, Edith Piaf or Serge Gainsbourg, no. I'm talking about electronic music. It is important to know that we have some of the greatest DJs on earth, with great names such as Daft Punk, Air, C2C, Dirtyphonics, Joris Delacroix... and so on. The French Touch is known worldwide and it is all thanks to very talented artists who show originality and dexterity.

And Birdy Nam Nam is part of this french heritage. This band is composed of four DJs, like many other bands in France such as Dirtyphonics or C2C, and they have won the DMC world championship in 2002.

I think that the title of their most famous song "Abbesses" is really accurate in terms of atmosphere. Abbesses is a district in the North-East of Paris, close to the Montmartre hill, with its very typical bistrots, its many caricature artists, and most importantly its accordeon players. And by scratching samples of these accordeons, and by adding a electronic beat, you get a great song.

I insist you watch the video of this song, as it shows us how this song is composed, with the awesome maniability of these four DJs.

Enjoy.

Abbesses - Birdy Nam Nam

Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh or Danny Boyle?

2012-07-31T23:45:00.001+02:00

On one side, a surprising, dark-humoured and trash writer: Irvine Welsh. On the other, a brilliant film director who recently gave us "Slumdog Millionaire" and of course the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony!

Whenever a book is interpreted into a movie, you cannot resist comparing which one is better. Sure sometimes it's obvious (the first example that comes to my mind is "The Da Vinci Code" a good movie but deceiving compared to Dan Brown's book), but tonight I would like to avoid any comparison and mainly focus on the genius of both versions.

Trainspotting, the story of young Scottish lads who deal with the very complicated problem of heroin. The story is all about a search for identity and what is the use of living. We follow Mark Renton, the protagonist, who goes through life, wondering who the hell has the right to say their lifestyle is better. Through his hilarious relationship with his friends and family, we discover as well the hard life of unemployed and drugged young Scottish adults.

Let's start from the beginning. Irvine Welsh is a Scottish writer who gave us many great books such as "Porno" or "If You Liked School, You'll Love Work" (which I am currently reading and will soon be reviewed). In this book and in every other book I read written by him, you discover a writer who is extremely agile with comparisons and similies. The best and funniest example I found recently is this one: "her look of judging compassion makin me feel like the teenage daughter of the house who stormed out screamin 'fuck you' only to return in tears with a swollen belly six months later" (extract from "If You Liked School, You'll Love Work"). His harsh style really takes you with breath-taking efficiency, either making you frown in disgust or laugh out loud with his unexpected jokes. His other great strength, is how he depicts the environment around his stories. Should it be the Arizona desert in "Miss Arizona" or Scotland in "Trainspotting" he has the ability of showing us the unseen side of these places, mostly focusing on their magnificently destructive natures. He manages to underline beauty in a deadly desert, as well as the disgust felt by the Scottish lads in their dump of a city.

In Trainspotting, the main particularity you discover is the way the book is written. It is written in English... with a Scottish accent! As I started reading the first five lines, I thought i had taken a celtic version of the book,but soon realised it was simply how it was. To give you an idea, the first lines go like this: "The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt. He wis bringing me doon".

But as I started reading it out loud, thinking I would understand better, I was struck to hear myself speaking with a real Scot's accent! It is incredibly accurate, and as you fly from a narrator to another the style changes, warning you of a swap in character. It might take you a few pages to get used to it, but the overall result is very impressive and adds realism to the story (my hardest word to understand was "ken" which means the verb "to know").

The book is a real masterpiece and brings together many different little stories, all joined by Renton's overall adventure. I reccommend it strongly for readers in search of something different (not for the faint of heart though!)

Now about Boyle's movie, there isn't much to say apart from the fact that it is a perfect representation of the atmosphere conveyed in the novel, through "Requiem for a Dream" kind of scene takes. Mark Renton is very well played by Ewan McGreggor. This movie will make you laugh as well as strike you with its hard subjects of drug, and dealing as well as its effects on life. The music used is also excellent and portrays well this generation.

Conclusively, I recommend you read the book and watch the movie, which I have both enjoyed a lot.

I leave you tonight with the trailer and my favorite quote of the book, as I think it summarizes the search for identity portrayed in Trainspotting.
Guid nicht! (Good Night in Scottish Gaelic)

Trailer:

"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday night. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

2012-07-30T01:13:00.001+02:00

Gallagher. That name has made history more than once (probably three times I would say, but Rory Gallagher is not related to our protagonists). The two Gallaghers brothers are well known to the public, either for their great music, or for their "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" behavior.

These lads originally from Manchester were the core of my personal favorite Rock band: Oasis. The story of this band is very strange. Liam, the singer, first started a band with his friends under the name "The Rain", but without much success. On the other side, Noel, who had inherited his father's dexterity at the guitar, was touring with rock stars, playing guitar for them. Noel got interested in his smaller brother's band and one day simply said he would join their band only if they'd let him compose all the songs. The other members agreed and their rise to success started.

Noel's composition genius really stood out, even though they were performing in the most competitive country in terms of Rock: the United Kingdom. Over the years, they gave us incredible songs such as Wonderwall (although it derives from their original style), Champagne Supernova, Whatever, Supersonic, Live Forever, the list goes on. In 2007, they were nominated by NME as the second best band in Rock history, after the Beatles, in competition with bands such as Blur or Coldplay (in their good years). All of their studio albums have been n°1 in the charts in Great Britain... I could go on forever about this band.

However, the two brothers did not get along at all. Their rivalry and their personal pride led to very strong arguments. The last argument was in 2009, in Paris, just before their concert in Rock en Seine. Liam in fury smashed their father's guitar, which had been given to Noel. The oldest brother enraged announced he was leaving the band for good. Oasis ended that night, leaving the Parisians without a show.

Noel was really the genius behind this band, and even though Oasis democratised over the years, he was still composing most of the songs. He announced after his departure, the beginning of his solo carrier, which I awaited eagerly. He announced his comeback last year with the band "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" and released his first "solo" album named after the band.

Through this album I re-lived Oasis' genius, with very orchestral songs, mixing Rock and a bit of fanfare in some songs, giving it a unique sound. I was very excited to discover this album and was pleasantly surprised by its quality, its originality, while still maintaining the basics which had once taken Oasis to the top.

Good on you Noel.

Here is an extract (my favorite as always)

Enjoy:

Everybody's on the Run - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Kolorz Festival 2012 - Carpentras

2012-07-27T17:20:00.001+02:00

What kind of town with a huge electronic festival doesn't even have buses on Fridays? After taking the train from Aix-en-Provence to Avignon and then the bus from Avignon to Carpentras, Laurent and I needed to go 7 km into the countryside to the closest camping who accepted people for less than a week (Camping du Brégoux) in Aubignan. We took our tent, our bags and our motivation to walk these 7 km, guided by our phones which couldn't find a fast connection. Now don't get me wrong, although we had to walk under a burning sun at noon, we were able to discover the landscape around the Mont Ventoux, reviving ourselves from time to time with our Monster Rehab (no advertisement intended, but it's a pretty refreshing energy drink).

We arrived in the camping, exhausted and sweaty, but finally able to lay in our tent. Oh no wait, we needed to put it up first... After struggling for half an our with the rocky Provence ground, we managed to settle down and only got the time to call a cab to go straight back to Carpentras as the festival was starting soon and we still needed to eat. After all this trouble the only thought keeping us going was the amazing concerts we were about to experience during the next two nights.

The Kolorz Festival. Second in a series of three festivals in the South of France, after Nice and before Antibes. And only by looking at the price and programmation could you understand such a lack of organisation in terms of transport and camping grounds. 48€ for 16 hours of concerts over two days with Paul Kalkbrenner, Foreign Beggars, Dirtyphonics, Joris Delacroix, A-trak, and more (unfortunately Kavinsky was cancelled).

Probably the best festival I have ever experienced. You start the evening by entering in the Hotel de Dieu in Carpentras, a magnificent building with an interior plaza, where the concerts took place. With a maximum capacity of 3000 people, the festival was not crowdy but there was an amazing atmosphere. At 6PM, only a few purists are here to discover the less famous names such as Reflex or Autoreverse. With only a hundred people there maximum, the DJs set the pace for the rest of the evening, by introducing a genre (more Minimal and Techno on the first night, more Dubstep on the second day). These DJs were all very good, excpet maybe for the group Reflex (2nd day) which played uninteresting music, looking more like yound David Guettas, mixing with their hands up in the air.

First Day:

We moved to the front line as more and more experienced DJs started their sets. As the crowd got thicker, Greg Delon started his set. Although his live performance is a bit boring as he doesn't seem very thrilled to be here (not much smiling or expression on his face), his songs were still very good and very well mixed. I could even add that he was very unpredictable in his rhythms, a quality I enjoy discovering as it is very surprising.

Popping his head from time to time, and even replacing Greg Delon for a few minutes, his good friend Joris Delacroix really got the crowd ready to party. His set was excellent as his performance is more jovial and his songs are just plain composition genius.

Then we discovered a new name which I really enjoyed: Julian Jeweil. This local DJ presented a very good Minimal set. I recommend you listen to his work.

Then came the rage. Worakls along with his amusing roadies (all with different t-shirts such as : "Last night Worakls saved my life") changed the pace and delivered a fast and bassy set which warmed everyone up for what was about to come.

And here it is... The end of our sanity, and the beginning of a trance. After a long (too long?) wait after Worakls, our favorite German appeared. Paul K, with his usual football shirt (this time the number 10 of the french team!), gradually took us to another world with his legendary Minimal samples. What a night.

We had the chance of being picked up for free by our favorite taxi driver to go back home and therefore avoiding the 7km back to the tent by foot. Thank you once again to the guys who were kind enough to offer us this ride.

Second Day:

We slept like babies on our 1cm thin matresses, and we were ready to go back for more madness, and this second and last day was very promising.

Arriving once again at the beginning, we listened calmly to the reasonable Autoreverse and deceiving Reflex. Then we got closer for the very famous A-trak. This DJ is incredible. He won the DJing world championship aged 15 and now still does his sets exclusively on vinyl, which is much more complex than what most DJs do. It demands an incredible level of precision, which was totally mastered during this amazing set. His mixing techniques are extremely fluid and quick, a very impressive show just to watch.

A-trak led to the most awaited name of the night, the British Foreign Beggars. These guys are mad... The DJ also on vinyl, is an expert of scratching and is extremely talented, playing dubstep music. But the key of the band is its two rappers. With their amazing flow and their incredible performance, they just transformed the whole crowd into a totally bonkers mass of people. The atmosphere, much more violent and with pogos all over the place got everyone into a state of craziness. Amazing show!

Finally, while we thought the rest of the night was going to be calmer, we discovered Dirtyphonics live. As we were waiting we were told about them and how good they were. Our expectations rose, but were very low compared to what happened. It was hard to believe, but their performance was even crazier than Foreign Beggars'! Their hardcore Dubstep destroyed the last ounce of energy left in all of us and their mixing was excellent. They are 4 DJs mixing together! Imagine the technique and synchronisation you need for this! Unbelievable. And as if it wasn't enough, one of the FB rappers came back on stage at the end and fisnished us. They sprayed champagne all over the place, jumped in the crowd, and one of the Djs even jumped from a 5 meter high scaffold into the crowd... Wow just wow...

Overall this festival was just crazy, and even with the problems we had with the transport and camping, it was worth it. Great festival, if they can ameliorate the organisation, it will be close to perfection.

Hercules DJ Console RMX Review

2012-07-25T00:22:00.003+02:00

Table of Contents:

Inside the Box
Characteristics
Quality of Finition
Installation
Overview

Inside the Box:

DJ Console RMX
USB Cable
Installation CD

Virtual DJ 5 DJC
Drivers

Travel bag
Guide

Characteristics:

Price (approximately): 200€
Built-in audio card
USB electricity supply
2 Mic inputs for talk-over
2 Headphone outputs
4 stereo outputs
- 4 x ¼" jack mono out (+4dBu) for pro gear
- 4 RCA mono out (-10dBv) for standard gear
2 stereo inputs
Aluminum plate on top
Metal sheet on bottom
Dimensions: 35x25cm / 13.8"x10.7"
Weight: 3 Kg

Quality of Finition:

Body:

With its aluminium casing, the RMX has the great quality of being a very solid, console. Every part fits together perfectly with no looseness, and all the corners of the machine are smoothened properly in order to avoid any cuts.

With its 3Kg weight, the console is very stable and the music will probably not jump if someone bumps into the table. Finally the rubber feet are very good as they prevent any unwanted movements of the console.

Jog-Wheels:

The jog-wheels, although a bit small, are quite well made, and will mostly be used to scrool through your playlists or through a song. It is possible to use them for scratching, but they are not touch sensitive, meaning laying a single finger on them will not pause the song (unlike on some consoles with "vinyl-touch"). It is possible to strengthen or reduce the resistance of the jog-wheels by turning a screw under the console.

Faders:

The faders seem a little bit fragile and show a bit of looseness, but they seem to last their time. The crossfader is very loose, making it very comfortable to use. The volume faders have a bit more resistance making them more controlable, and so are the pitch faders with an additional middle point notch.

Equalizers, Balance and Gain:

These potentiometers seem less fragile that the faders, have enough resistance and are precise enough.

Buttons:

At first the buttons, made in very durable plastic, seem too resistant when you press on them. However over the time you will realise that this eliminates the risk of pausing or messing up your song by mistake.

Installation:

Here is the equipment I use with my RMX:

Computer: Samsung Laptop (4Gb RAM, 1,65GHz CPU)
Software: Traktor 2 Pro Edition
Headphones: Sennheiser HD-25 + a 6,35mm to 3,5mm jack adaptator
Speakers: Logitech Z4 (3,5mm jack input)
Cable: Belkin RCA to 3,5mm jack

Now I decided to start using Traktor 2 Pro instead of the offered Virtual DJ for many reasons. First of all, Traktor offers much more functions, effects, and I thought was more powerful. Secondly it is more professional, and will accompany your progress, whereas VDJ will probably slow it down.

On the other hand, Virtual DJ is very easy to use with the RMX as it will recognise your console almost instantly as the mapping is already set up (and it's free!). To use Traktor you will need to go on the Hercules website (http://ts.hercules.com/eng/index.php?pg=view_files&gid=17&fid=62&pid=215&cid=5) to acquire the mapping files (it is very well explained and easy to set up).

So basically, if you want to use Virtual DJ, you just have to install everything on the CD provided, plug-in your console by USB, plug your headphones and speakers to the console, and you are ready to play.

However, if you want to use another software, you'll have to find the right mapping for the RMX and set it up by hand.

Overview:

Hercules created a durable and affordable console which meets most of my expectations as a beginner DJ. I was able to compare it with the Reloop Mixage IE, and they both have their advantages and drawbacks. The RMX is sturdier, while the IE has better buttons and faders. The RMX is also one of the few consoles which is sold with a case, but it is bigger than the IE.
Here is an overview:

Adavantages:

Strong metal body
Heavy and stable
USB Powered
Built-In soundcard
Very good carrying case

Drawbacks:

Fragile faders
Not for scratching (small jog-wheels)
Traktor mapping not very good (can be configured)

Rating: 7/10 (semi-professional console)

Song of the Week #3

2012-07-24T23:58:00.003+02:00

Wednesday has come again and today we travel to my favorite country in terms of music (and probably everything else as well): The United Kingdom. During the 60's, a generation of young people started to rise against the government's oppression, using the energy behind Rock to show their discontent and need for freedom. Since Rock was banned from all land radios, some Pirate Radios started broadcasting this revolutionnary genre from the international waters. This is the story of "Radio Caroline" which inspired the movie "The Boat That Rocked". Over the years, this new genre imposed itself as the strongest genre in UK and probably in the world, and this all thanks to people who fought for a form of freedom.

I like to believe that it is thanks to this rich history that Britain has managed to provide us with amazing artists over the last 50 years (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Oasis, Coldplay, Blur... the list is infinite).

One of these many legends is the band Radiohead. The ingeniosity of this band is mindblowing and still amazes me album after album. Their first hit "Creep", coming from their first album "Pablo Honey" has had a massive success. Then came the album "OK Computer" which was acclaimed worldwide as one of the best albums in Rock history (Q magazine), with songs such as "Paranoid Android" or "Karma Police". With their next album, "Kid A", they started using electronic instruments and gave us magnificent songs such as "Idiotheque". This band just never stops! Even Thom Yorke's solo album (singer) "The Eraser", which went in a totally different direction, showed us true talent.

Here is my favorite song: "Paranoid Android". The title comes from one of my favorite book/radio show "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, and refers to Marvin a maniacally depressed robot.

Enjoy.

Paranoid Android - Radiohead

Song of the Week #2

2012-07-18T00:02:00.001+02:00

As we leave Jazzanova and cross the border from Germany to Belgium, we discover a new band: Hooverphonic. This band has a long history, and only two of the original members remain. Known for their relaxed Trip-Hop music, Hooverphonic have already released some very famous songs, such as "Mad About You" sang by their first singer Geike Arnaert. Unfortunately, Geike left the band in 2008, but was replaced by an equally talented singer: Noémie Wolfs. The band still tours around the world, and I had the chance to see them live during the 2011 edition of the Brussels Summer Festival. Their new album "The Night Before" is very good and so is their live performance.

Here is an extract of this last album.

Enjoy

One Two Three - Hooverphonic

The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

2012-07-15T19:19:00.003+02:00

With this third album, Arcade Fire were able to show the world their genius. Like their two previous recordings (which are also excellent), The Suburbs was acclaimed worldwide and even received a Grammy for "Album of the Year" (as well as the Brit Award, and Juno Award in the same category).

What striked me when I first listenend to this album was how orchestral the music sounded. With their seven members (and sometimes with the help of some guests), these Canadians imposed their style while managing a level of musicality not reached by many before them. The fact they use original instruments such as xylophones, glockenspiels, accordions, french horns, mandolin and even harp, give their indie rock style a second more festive layer.

Win Butler, with his truely unique voice, accompanied by a warm and powerful music, took indie music to the next level.

As always, enjoy!

They are also an amazing band on stage! (Coachella 2011)

Suggestions

2012-07-13T00:24:00.000+02:00

As you will see over the next days, my tastes in music, movies and books may seem a bit weird to some.

I tend to enjoy finding new music, as I am getting very bored by the main international artists, such as David Guetta or Rihanna.This is probably also because of the recurrence of these commercial songs, as I am a great fan of radio and sometimes clubbing. During the last year, I have been able to discover new genres - thanks to some of my friends - such as Drum&Bass, Dubstep, Electro, or Minimal. As I am new to this world, I am very into it at the moment, but I am open to all styles as long as they are interesting to discover (not like that "Tacata" garbage).

I also tend to prefer, what is starting to be known as "mindfuck movies" (very good list by Art Vandelay). As I discovered Kubrick's masterpieces, I became very attracted to these movies which induced a need to formulate your own analysis and explanation. Like everyone I also enjoy comedy, but I am often disappointed by Hollywood's dumb comedies, such as "Very Bad Trip". In terms of comedy, I am very attached to British comedy, which brings most of the time this pinch of subtility. Some of my favorite comedies are "The Boat that Rocked", "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz", (funnily, starring Nick Frost and Bill Nighy in all three of them).

Finally, for reading, I am a big fan of British or American classics, as well as weider, less known books. My favorites include, "1984" by George Orwell, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, which are both big classics, as well as "Kill Your Friends" by John Niven, a very weird and deranged book about the drugged music industry.

I will probably make reviews about all these books, movies and albums, and hopefully, I will make you want to experience them. However, I would also like you to suggest anything you think I might find interesting to talk about (according to my tastes, or to help me dicover something new!). I hope I am open minded enough, and I might be very interested, as long as it's nothing like "The Avengers"...

Maxstag

Chatroom by Hideo Nakata

2012-07-11T01:33:00.002+02:00

SPOILER ALERT! This post may reveal some important facts about the movie!

"What's this? Chatroom? Sounds like a lame teenage comedy/romance on the Internet.

What do you mean it was directed by Hideo Nakata? The guy who made "The Ring", really?"

When I fell by chance on "Chatroom", I wasn't expecting the director to be a king of horror. Nor was I especially attracted by the poster, which seemed to present a rather boring and cliché horror movie. However as I watched the trailer, I got the feeling something very interesting might come out of this movie. I was surprised after watching the movie and after further research to discover that it got very bad reviews from a lot of websites, and I am here to show my personal vision.

Plot:

"Chat" and "room"... These two words have been intelligently seperated by Nakata to give you the setting. This is how he decided to represent this virtual environment, by simply putting each member in the same room, each room with it's own name, it's own key (password) and it's own themes.

We are presented five youngsters from the same city who meet in the same chatroom and decide to make it their own place to discuss their problems on a regular basis.

Themes:

This movie deals with the very hard subject of drepression, and more precisely the help some people seek online. However, you will discover that theses chatrooms can be very hostile to the depressed, as some people thrive on degrading and pushing others to their limits.

Review:

And there you have it! A total mindfuck! As you struggle to understand what would push these people to such cruelty, you sink slowly into an uncomfortable sensation of horror and fear, until the power of persuasion this film conveys stikes you... Yes. This can definitely happen in real life, has happened and is probably happening right now on the internet. You are then totally captivated by every development in the downfall of the very impressionable protagonist who slowly spirals into resignation and acceptance of his fate. The sadism and sense of power over life and death portrayed by the other protagonist lets you frozen in terror and his psycopath role is masterfully played by Aaron Johnson.

The ending of the movie is however a bit deceiving and this is my only criticism. But still it is a must see!

Movie Rating: 8/10

Song of the Week #1

2012-07-11T01:03:00.003+02:00

From now on I will attempt to post one song a week each Wednesday!

Now, since it's summer, let's get going with a nice jazzy and sunny tune. I discovered this band with a few friends in the streets of Odense in Denmark. The show was amazing and so was their guest singer. Their style between Jazz and Electronic music gives their music a groovy sense to it.

Here it is. Enjoy!

Jazzanova - Bohemian Sunset

The Wall - Pink Floyd

2012-07-08T03:15:00.000+02:00

I consider this to be one of the greatest albums of all time. Not only for its excellent lyrics, its absolutely genius guitar solos by David Gilmour, but for the message it conveys. With many different themes involved, the whole album tells the story of "Pink" a rockstar trapped in a tortured and torturing world. Here is a presentation of the band, the album, the songs, and finally my synopsis about the movie released in 1982. This album and the movie are a must have!
If you have any suggestions about themes I might have missed, imagery I might have misinterpreted or if you just want to ask questions, you can comment freely at the end of the post.
SPOILER ALERT! YOU SHOULD NOT READ THE SYNOPSIS UNLESS YOU HAVE WATCHED THE MOVIE BEFORE.

Pink Floyd:

Pink Floyd is a British band formed in 1965. Their success in the underground music scene led them to a breakthrough, and a later worldwide success with over 200 million albums sold all over the world. The former band was composed of Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Syd Barrett and David Gilmour. Their conceptual albums are known for their intelligence and both their philosophical and political messages.

The Album:

The Wall is the ninth album by Pink Floyd. Released in 1979, this opera rock was to be adapted in a TV series. This idea was dropped and the album remained as such during three years where it became a worldwide bestseller. It is now in the top five best selling albums in the USA, and has acquired 23 times platinum album in the same country.

The Movie – General Information:

Released in 1982, it was directed by Alan Parker, also known for the movie “Midnight Express”. Written by Roger Waters, the movie only focuses on the soundtrack of the album (only two songs were deleted and one added). The protagonist is played by Bob Geldof, an Irish songwriter who replaced Roger Waters in the leading role.

The Plot:

Feeling his personality fading, Pink protects himself behind a metaphorical Wall. This wall will soon push him to madness, facilitated by his downfall in drugs. This personal insight shows him all the important aspects of his life; his father’s death in the war, his over-protective mother, his tortuous education, his destroyed marriage… as many bricks in his wall (“Another Brick in the Wall”) and as many elements to fill the “Empty Spaces”. This insight will lead him to his own “Trial”.

The Songs:

When the Tigers Broke Free: Description of the death of Pink’s father.
In the Flesh? : Beginning of Pink’s narration of the construction of the Wall, invites the spectator to "claw his way through this disguise" (appearances vs. reality).
The Thin Ice: Represents the fragile period of innocence in people's lives before they can really understand the world around them. Here shown by the realisation of his father’s death.
Another Brick in the Wall 1: Beginning to build the Wall following the first tragedy of his life.
Goodbye Blue Sky: Reference to the German bombings over UK during the WW2, illustrates the innocence of the child, strong anti-war message.
The Happiest Days of Our Lives: Theme of education, not encouraging them to fulfil their dreams, pushing them down (Waters’ view of education).
Another Brick in the Wall 2: Shows the forced blindness of the pupils who march in line to a meat-grinder and come out as clones, modelled to fulfil a defined task.
Mother: Underlines a new aspect of the Wall, the over-protectiveness of his mother who has provided enough bricks to his Wall and has therefore condemned him to a destroyed marriage as he finds out his wife is cheating on him because of his lack of attention.
What Shall We Do Now? (Empty Spaces): Important song. Both depict an image of his marriage and what is to be done after its failure (finish the Wall?). There is a hidden message at the beginning which can only be heard when played backwards. It says:

-Hello, Luka [hunters]... Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the Funny Farm, Chalfont...

-Roger! Carolyne's on the phone!

-Okay.

It is believed this message is addressed to message hunters who can send their answer to Syd Barrett (Old Pink) in a psychiatrist hospital (funny farm).

Young Lust: Desperation leads him to inviting a groupie in his apartment, this underlines the themes of adultery and that “love turns grey”.
One of My Turns: Besides a vision of his relationship with his wife, we have a sudden outburst of violence as he destroys the room and scares the groupie away. This can be interpreted as a metaphor for fear-based explosions of anger at his wife.
Don't Leave Me Now: His wife is imaged as a praying mantis-like monster, which then transforms into the vulva-shaped flower from "What Shall We Do Now?”. Pink is tortured by the adulterous behaviour of his wife.
Another Brick in the Wall 3: Decision to finish his Wall; he dismisses all the people in his life as “bricks in the wall”.
Goodbye Cruel World: This song marks his acknowledgement of his isolation from society.
Is There Anybody Out There? : This song is a cry for help as Pink realises he has made a huge error cutting himself from society. The repetition of “Is there anybody out there” suggests there is no answer.
Nobody Home: This song depicts the loneliness behind the wall, it has a general reference to all the band members who were involved in drugs or were crawling under the huge pressure of the tours.
Vera: This song is a reference to the singer Vera Lynn, who during the World War sang “We’ll Meet Again”. With the quote “Vera, what has become of you”, Pink asks what is there to hope from war. He cannot perceive a truth behind the song as his father has died.
Bring the Boys Back Home: Alone among the reunited families of the war, Pink expresses an idea of isolation.
Comfortably Numb: A dialogue between Pink and the doctor who injects an antidote “that’ll keep you going through the show”. In his hallucination he goes through many of the multiplying aspects of his childhood (the death of the rat, his protective mother…). His body begins to decay only to reveal a fascist figure underneath.
The Show Must Go On: The show can be a metaphor for life itself. He debates over his continuation in life.
In the Flesh: The fascist Pink goes to the show which soon becomes a Nazi rally. His drug induced hallucinations lead him to banishing every social minority, only imaging his loneliness.
Run Like Hell: Pink sends his Nazi followers to attack those he thinks "ought to be shot". We have an expression of his rage towards society and his disgust over everyone different from himself.
Waiting for the Worms: The Worms is the name given to both the fascist movement and his crawling isolation as they “eat his brain”. This march-like song sends an idea of hatred as he shouts trough the megaphone invitations to join the movement.
Stop: His cry for help is finally heard as he escapes his dictator position and yells out his distraught. The guard in the bathroom as he pushes the door opens Pink to the real world and to his judgement.
The Trial: Pink leads himself to his own Trial as he tries to escape isolation. He goes through all the flaws of his life (the schoolmaster, his mother, his wife…). Being the only guilty ("...the way you made them suffer, your exquisite wife and mother...") he is sentenced “to be exposed before your peers...". The final verdict is to “Tear down the Wall” enabling him to come back to reality.
Outside the Wall: The idea generalises to the whole world, as the film explains that everyone has his own little wall to control. If one does not tear down their own metaphorical wall those trying to get in will eventually give up and leave you to live out a lonely life. This is what happens to the main character, Pink, during the course of the album.

Synopsis:

Different themes come out of this movie. We will consider each of them one by one and gradually attempt to create a link between the album and their creator.

War: This recurrent theme is illustrated from the very beginning through the ideas of death and destruction. This physical destruction shown in the first song “When the Tigers Broke Free” will henceforth lead to a moral destruction for Pink. This first aspect is a direct reference to Roger Waters whose father died in the Second World War. The political view associated with the destructiveness of the Nazi movement during the war in the songs “Goodbye Blue Sky” (The Blitz) and all the songs referring to the “Worms”, leaves a general feeling of hatred towards society and its blind involvement in such a terror.
Appearances vs. Reality: This is surely the most important theme of all. Introduced by Pink’s exclamation “claw your way through this disguise”, it underlines a present duality in his personality, almost schizophrenic. We are asked to differentiate right from wrong, guilty from non-guilty, and real from imaginary. What appears to us as the effect of life’s cruelty on Pink may only be the consequences of what he did to himself. In the final phase of the album we are asked to follow a different perspective from the one imposed throughout the songs. We go from the character Pink and his psychological reaction to what was inflicted to him, to Pink and his INTERACTION with the outside world. We later understand that though some aspects are only the work of fate (father’s death), most aspects are the consequences of his actions, such as how he abandoned his mother or his wife. This brings an important message: we have to go beyond our own person and consider how each of our actions not only affect us (should it be directly or indirectly), but mostly the people around us.
Social Isolation: The image of the Wall itself is the metaphorical representation of this entrapment. In the songs “Vera” and “Bring the Boys Back Home”, and after having completed his Wall, Pink’s isolation is enhanced through the comparison between his loneliness and the general reunion of all the other families. As he sinks deeper in his loneliness, he expresses his desire to reject anyone different from him by using the image of the Nazi movement rejecting the Jews and homosexuals, not only because of racism but also because of fear. The theme is closely linked to the use of drugs. As for the band members, Roger and David have explained it is a very recurrent state of mind during their tours. Roger Waters explained that the song “Comfortably Numb” refers to the time he was injected before going on stage to fight hepatitis during the 1977 tour. As for the song “Nobody Home”, it refers to the ex-band member Syd Barrett, whose condition during the 1967 tour was deeply influenced by drugs.
Education: This theme closely linked to War, supports a base idea: Education is a creator of puppets (Pink is symbolized as a rag-doll in “The Trial”). Indeed Waters views education as the discouragement of life’s hopes. When Pink is mocked for his poetry writing in class to then carry on repeating his lesson like a robot, his imagination of a factory of pupils turns out to be very resembling.
Adultery: Mainly used as a supplementary aspect of Pink’s life, this theme leads us to the idea of communication and therefore the lack of interaction he had with his wife.

Welcome

2012-07-08T02:24:00.000+02:00

This is the beginning of a website about sharing and reviewing. I wish to share my interest for many different subjects such as music, technology, graphism or even cooking. Now what I think is more important than just sharing is discussing. I think that keeping a personal idea about a subject is essential, but being aware of another person's opinion helps you look back on your own. So if you want to reflect - should it be positively or negatively - on a subject, please comment, and I'll be delighted to debate.

As for the website itself, I hope it will grow over the months and hopefully, new members, with new visions and new interests will join to write the main posts.

Here goes nothing.

Maxstag