ALASKALASKA Debut EP Review

ALASKALASKA, an art-pop six piece based in London, first caught my attention back in May when Bitter Winter popped up in one of my Daily Mixes. Since then, they've been one of my 2017 favourites.

Yesterday the group finally released their highly anticipated debut EP, comprising of Bitter Winter and its B-side Familiar Ways, their second single Patience, and brand new track This. Upon listening, it's hard to believe ALASKALASKA have only been together for just shy of two years. Their sound is so distinctive and modern, a perfect blend of soulful jazzy elements and feel good indie-pop. Imagine the best parts of Mr Jukes, Sharon Van Etten and Honeyblood crammed together and made melancholic.

Starting out with the delightfully catchy Bitter Winter, lead singer Lucinda John-Duarte's vocals glide elegantly over a foot tapping beat. The song perfectly captures the essence of feeling young and not entirely sure of yourself with the tongue in cheek line: "When I grow up/It's a very big when/I'm just hanging around/Until then". Brass instruments reach a powerful crescendo towards the end of the track, ending on a euphoric care-free note.



Familiar Ways is next up and is one of the stand outs of the EP. A bittersweet track that highlights the band's ability to build a song up to an emotive high with their sheer musical talent. Introducing sax during the second chorus, Lucinda's vocals become increasingly impressive and captivating, encapsulating the feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness: "If this is called a competition/Darling you will always win/I've been waiting for the bad news/Ever since it all began." The last section of the song feels like an outburst of pent up feelings that have to be released. It's my most listened to track on Spotify this year.

The penultimate track, Patience, starts out with an almost Foals-esque riff, then brings in Lucinda's beautiful autotuned vocals. Her vocal-style is so well suited to the effect and it's reminiscent of  POLICA. It's like a waterfall or a shower just flowing over the catchy beat. Many artists fail to understand how to use autotune to their advantage, but ALASKALASKA get it absolutely spot on. It's innovative choices like these that make the band different to other guitar bands working at the moment and give me hope for British alternative music. 



This is the final song of the EP and is the lowest-tempo track the band have released yet. It's more simplistic than its predecessors but the record is better off for it. With keyboards inspired by 80s power ballads followed up with a synthy arpeggio towards the end, it's almost nostalgic and hazy. In fact, Lucinda sings of feeling stuck between dreams and reality, repeating "I feel awake when I'm inside a dream/I have to pinch myself whenever morning comes".

I have struggled to find another new British band that knows its sound as well as ALASKALASKA. This EP proves their songwriting prowess, instrumental skill and mood-provoking ability. It is hard to compare them to other existing bands because they are so unique. Lucinda's lyrical capability is awe-inspiring. A woman expressing the hazy confusion of your early-twenties is a refreshing thing in a music scene awash with the male perspective.

Listen to ALASKALASKA below and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

House of Cards Season Five Review: Spoiler Free!

Over the past year, actual real-life politics has been off-putting enough. With Brexit, Trump and an upcoming general election, the public is fed up of politicians lying their way to success. With that said however, when House of Card’s fifth season was finally launched on Netflix this weekend, you can guarantee that same public was scrambling to get their fix of dodgy government dealings with President Frank Underwood. 

Frank and Claire Underwood are potentially two of the most immoral, cruel characters that any political series has ever seen. They are deceitful, devious and cunning. They will throw anyone in front of the bus (or train – sorry Zoe) to get what they want. And yet after five seasons, we are still rooting for them. This is what makes House of Cards such an intriguing show. But does its fifth season live up to the previous installments?

The fifth season follows Frank and Claire through the 2016 election and the further struggles on the other side. We see journalists rehashing the theories surrounding Zoe Barnes and Rachel Posner as new evidence comes to light. Just about everybody on all sides of the political spectrum is against the President, and some new characters are willing to do anything to take him down. To quote Showgirls: “There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.”

What makes this season so tense is not the conniving plans of Frank Underwood or the real-world subjects it tackles. It is the payoff from the excellent character development we have seen previously. For the first time, it looks as if Frank may have got himself into situations he can’t control. He can’t control his impending impeachment. He can’t control his wife. He can’t control Aidan Macallan and the secrets he may hold. He can’t control the ghosts of his past. This season, he has to fight much, much harder than he ever has before, and it’s odd to see Frank’s power slipping out of reach, while Claire’s only continues to grow. 

Ultimately the highlight of the season is Claire’s storyline. As she grows distant from Frank it becomes clearer that she is equally as self-serving as he is, and she is more than happy to jeapordise her husband’s position to help herself. This is the first season in which Claire begins to break the fourth wall as Frank has always done – it’s subtle and infrequent, but successfully shows that she is on her way to stealing Frank’s power over America, and the audience. She is exceptionally ruthless throughout the season and even surprises her husband with just how far she can go. Her relationship with Tom demonstrates her decreasing loyalty towards Frank and it’s an interesting idea to see how the couple’s individual careers will fare without the full support of one another.

I applaud House of Cards for resisting the story-bait of Donald Trump. It’s no secret that certain characters in the show are possible homages to some real-world politicians, and the show has introduced its own version of ISIS (ICO), so it would be plausible to introduce a Trump-esque role into the mix. It would have been cheap. The world of House of Cards stands too well on its own two feet.

The only flaw in this season is that some of the middle episodes start to feel a little dry, but it more than makes up for it in its thrilling final parts. The use of “ICO” is still a little on the nose too, but the story surrounding the group is well written and fresh.

Season five does a beautiful job in exploring the idea that Frank’s power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He is facing trouble at every corner and is unable to be satisfied by his own success. It shows that Claire is just as bad as him, and has only become more individualistic throughout their time together in the White House. As always, these characters truly are despicable – but we eat them up and beg for more regardless.

Get Out Breathes Life Into The Dying World of Horror

***Warning - Spoilers ahead!***

Bursting at the seams with visual metaphors, double entrendres and thought-provoking concepts, it’s no wonder Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out smashed the box office. Just weeks after its U.S release, the film has secured Peele’s place in cinematic history - making him the first black debut writer/director to bring in over $100 million at the box office.

Get Out is a unique horror/social commentary film that successfully makes topical racial points while staying true to both the horror genre and Peele’s comedy roots. It follows young black photographer Chris Washington [Daniel Kaluuya] as he visits the family of his white girlfriend Rose Armitage [Allison Williams] for the first time. He is expectedly nervous about the situation, but has no idea of the real terror that is in store for him.

Throughout his stay at the elaborate countryside mansion he notices oddities surrounding him, particularly the unusual way the family’s black house staff act. Despite Rose’s father’s insistence that he and his peers are liberal – note their rehearsed spiel about wishing they could vote for Obama for a third term – he is bombarded with inappropriate racial questions. Is he stronger because he is black? Is he better endowed? Does he feel that being black is in fashion? Eventually, he discovers these questions are foreshadowing for a far more gruesome secret plan the family have for him. He later discovers that the Armitage family run a business that puts the brains of dying or ill white people into the bodies of healthy young black men and women.

The film is laden with clever and subtle references to modern racism. The secret operation of the Armitages is a comment on white society’s idolisation of black culture within mainstream media. It examines how white America often desires the physical attributes of black bodies, without truly taking an understanding of the societal issues people of colour face. Through its use of a blind character who wants to undergo the procedure while staying adamant that he is not racist like the others, Get Out shows how cultural “colour blindness” still contributes to systematic oppression. Even if you were to miss the references, the film is entertaining, offering terrifyingly tense horror sequences and perfectly timed comic relief. The modern takes on race in America are intelligent and quiet, but they are all the film needs to drive home the point.

After a spectacularly gory finale featuring death by deer antler stabbing and graphic brain surgery gone wrong, Chris comes out on top and escapes the family home. One of the finest moments in the film is when he avoids hypnotisation by removing the stuffing from a couch and putting it in his ears. That’s right – a black character survives by literally picking cotton.

Get Out manages to bring traditional horror into the modern age while offering a contemporary take on social and political issues. The film will no doubt be remembered as a telling reflection of the times we live in, as well as a tense horror masterpiece that breathes new life into the genre.

J.K Rowling's Not-So-Magical Political Commentary

What springs to mind when you think of J.K. Rowling? Her international success as an author, her contributions to modern pop culture, her millionaire status? Her political commentary…perhaps not. There’s a reason Rowling’s years in the spotlight haven’t seen her deemed the political voice of a generation – and if you take one look at her Twitter account, you’ll understand why. Rowling’s hot takes on the UK’s upcoming general election are more fantastical than her magical wizarding world.

Most are familiar with Rowling’s heart wrenching journey to success. A victim of domestic violence, she raised her daughter single-handedly while battling depression, earning just £69 a week from unemployment allowance. She wrote the Harry Potter books in coffee shops around Edinburgh to escape the freezing conditions of her flat, and ultimately caught the eye of publishers with her now-iconic tales of witches and wizards.

Having lived through such struggle, you’d expect J.K. Rowling to empathise with those currently in a similar situation. With 1,182,954 people resorting to food banks and an estimated thousands of welfare-related deaths last year, you’d imagine Rowling would be fervently anti-Conservative. As a domestic violence victim, perhaps reports that two thirds of women’s refuge centres are facing closure due to Tory cuts would lead her to campaign for Labour this time around. Apparently not. Just days after the announcement of a snap general election, Rowling took to Twitter stating: “Election 2017: what should you do if you support Labour but can'tstand Jeremy Corbyn?”

That question can be answered in two words – vote Labour. It’s that simple.

This isn’t the first-time Rowling has blasted Corbyn to her 10 million Twitter followers though. When he was first elected as party leader, she called his supporters “utterly deluded”and deemed him “unelectable”. While polls and right wing media outlets have consistently claimed that Jeremy Corbyn can’t be Prime Minister, the irony is that Rowling has outright stated multiple times that she wants a Labour government. By constantly repeating anti-Corbyn sentiments, she is feeding the Conservative campaign. It’s more illogical than a seventeen-year-old school-boy being told to lead an army against the evilest wizard in the world, and winning because he has a magical scar.

If Rowling thinks Corbyn is unelectable, she should campaign for him. With her huge social media following and never-ending media attention, she could have some genuine influence. However, she’s instead choosing to continue her Twitter campaign of hatred against a man who wants the same things she does, meanwhile helping the Conservatives secure what could be one of their biggest wins in recent history.

With mere weeks to go until the election, what exactly does Rowling think she’s going to achieve by berating the leader of the party she actually supports? Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking the UK offers anything but a two-party system. There’s no real alternative to Labour. The Liberal Democrats’ campaign is likely to be effected by leader Tim Farron’s alleged belief that homosexual relationships are sinful, not that they could ever achieve a majority anyway. Rowling tweeted a link to an article showing how to tactically vote against the Conservatives without voting for Labour, which may lead to some gains for smaller parties, but ultimately will split the left’s voting and allow a Tory majority.

For somebody who agrees with Labour’s values and policies, holding a grudge against their leader in the run up to such an important election is plain irresponsible. Maybe developing such an elaborate fantasy world for 20 years has messed with Rowling’s perception of reality. Maybe she thinks everything is as black and white as a fight between good and evil. Maybe she thinks we’re not electing MPs for Westminster, but the Ministry of Magic. I’m sorry Joanne, but Dumbledore isn’t going to fly down on a Hippogriff on election day to prevent Brexit and five more years of austerity measures.

As a child of the Harry Potter generation, I grew up loving everything J.K. Rowling stood for. When I got older, her personal story inspired me. She was a victim of harsh Tory policies for years, but despite all odds overcame it by using the power of her imagination and writing prowess. Seeing her using her platform now, to feed the right-wing narrative that Corbyn can never win, seems reckless and ugly.

The NHS, women, refugees, the disabled, the poor, the young and the elderly, will suffer further cuts and consequences under another Tory government. J.K. Rowling can claim to support those effected by austerity all she likes, but actions speak louder than words. I suppose she doesn’t have to worry too much about the effects of Tory policy anymore though. Ah, to be a millionaire. 

Hazy cosmic jive: a night with Courtney Askey

                                                         

                       

                                                   Photo courtesy of Courtney Askey

There are some inherent differences when it comes to the Scots and the English. In the midlands, for example, they call bread rolls "cobs" which shows they are a morally corrupt nation. In Scotland, we aren't allowed to buy alcohol in shops after 10pm because we can't be trusted to be on our best behaviour if we drink before bed time and also buckfast exists. Additionally people in England seem to have a problem when you call Coke or Fanta "juice", which historically has been known to tear relationships combining those either side of the border apart. (Sorry guys but "fizzy pop" sounds like something from a Roald Dahl novel. See also: it's really daft.)

Sometimes though, really nice things happen and our two nations forget about the centuries of arguing over stupid words and what goes in a cooked breakfast, cold blooded killing, Margaret Thatcher and how you always ask us to say "there's been a murder".

And a really nice thing did happen this week (despite the loss of my hero and angel David Bowie). Courtney Askey, the queen of intergalactic grunge folk released her debut single with Blizzard Records, called Paris Apartment, at a fantastically sparkly night at The Cookie in Leicester.

I've followed Courtney's musical endeavours since 2011 when she was a 16 year old green haired acoustic guitar player posting covers on a soundcloud account. Five years later, Courtney Askey is a proper grown up musician and artist lady - even if she does eat chocolate cereal for dinner sometimes - with a record deal and her very own unique sound influenced by everyone from PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, to Courtney Love and Tom Waits.

Arriving at The Cookie, I noted I'd never seen such an elaborately decorated venue - there was silver streamers over every speaker, glow in the dark balloons, an incredible light show, a disco ball, a holographic banner featuring the title of Courtney's song and space themed party hats for all attendees. It felt much more like a party than a gig.

          

                                                      Photo courtesy of Keith Jobey

First on was Echolocation who recently celebrated their tenth anniversary together. Echolocation have a very distinctive sound and a very distinctive singer. Pete, their front man is rather intimidating as he swaggers around the stage with a curled lip, practically spitting out lyrics about the shabby state of affairs in the world over a expertly composed and performed post punk  sound. Towards the end of the set, Pete announces we are going to do some meditation. He is not joking. This very northern voice instructs us to find our inner souls. Looking around the crowd, I notice people of all kinds of age groups are completely engrossed in what he's saying. One young student type boy shouts to his friend: "This is on another level!" Echolocation know exactly what they're doing - they are experts of their trade.

Next up were Ash Mammal. Ash Mammal seem to have racked up masses of popularity in the brief time they've been together and rightly so. Their sound is an exciting combination of beauty and dirt; front man Cass snarling and shouting in his distinctive Brian Molko-esque voice while drummer Anya manages to competently drum and sing in their gorgeously soft echo-ey way. Ash Mammal are theatrical. Cass moves, sings, talks in a way that is more like performance art than a half hour music set. In a surprise move towards the end of their performance, bassist Jeeves makes a move to do lead vocals in a song about this really bad guy named Freddy and kicks Cass in the shin, tripping over in the process. It only adds to the theatrics. And it's okay because Cass was so hyped up on adrenaline he didn't feel anything anyway.

        

                                                     Photo courtesy of Adrian Manning

Finishing the night was the girl we'd all been waiting for, Courtney Askey. Miss Askey never fails to impress and her set proves that she can do just about anything and everything she puts her mind to (notably, organise this entire event and fill the room to pretty much maximum capacity). The colourful, trippy visuals and Courtney's fully baby pink outfit combined with her fantastically honest songs create an atmosphere that you don't want to leave. Dan and Andy from Echolocation do a wonderful job providing drums and bass to Courtney's songs and give them an edge that is far beyond her age. Throughout the set she brings a series of collaborators on and off stage, performing alone with only her guitar, then dueting with various artists from the night, everything coming to a climax with an incredible passionate rendition of her single Paris Apartment. For this, we have a synth player, a bassist, two guitarists, a drummer and of course Courtney. The entire set is expertly held together and each song offers something a little different. When she announces her final song, Infinity Theory, the crowd goes "aw!" In unison. Everyone wants more from this greatly talented young woman.

                                    

                                                       Photo courtesy of Keith Jobey

The level of planning, thought and effort put into the night was exceptional. It was so much more than a gig. I have no doubts that the new Ash Mammal EP and of course the debut Courtney Askey album will live up to all expectations. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if these incredibly young musicians blow us away more than we can possibly imagine.

Beneath are my own pictures of the evening (which only back up my point that the event was far more of a massive musical party than a gig)

         

         

                                      

        

        

Is North East Fife still up for grabs?

With less than 100 days until the general election that nobody can predict, people are starting to look locally to get some idea of the future of politics across the nation.

In many parts of the country big changes are expected to take place and this is particularly clear here in North East Fife, a traditionally safe Liberal Democrat seat that this year will see popular figure Menzies Campbell step down. This could potentially shift the vote significantly, especially following recent reports of the Liberal Democrat’s falling popularity and predictions that they could lose as many as 29 seats in May. Add to this the unstoppable rise of the SNP, last year’s European elections in Fife which saw the Tories soar ahead of the Lib Dems, and you see there is a pretty intense political fight ahead for this supposed “safe seat”.

Alongside the SNP’s predicted gain of over 40 seats this year, they saw a great result at the 2014 European Election in Fife, receiving the second highest amount of votes in total. This shows that despite the Labour strongholds in the area and the overall “No” vote in September, the SNP do have a chance of making gains here. But is North East Fife the place?

Conservative candidate for North East Fife, Huw Bell, thinks not. “We don’t have an exact figure for the referendum here but it was sort of mid 60% for no. I find that for a lot of people who used to vote for Menzies Campbell, the most important thing for them is the union; preserving the union, and not having an SNP MP. I think for me it’s going to be who has the most compelling pro unionist argument. And the name and the history of our party will help that.” But what chance do the Conservatives have of gaining North East Fife?

At the 2010 general election, the Conservatives received the second most amount of votes in North East Fife and additionally there was a 5% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives. Despite this however a lot has changed in five years. The referendum has undoubtedly changed attitudes and got a lot more people engaged in politics. Previously North East Fife has seen a turnout of 63.6% at the general election – will the political interest generated throughout the referendum debate increase this number? And will that have a notable affect on the vote for any particular party?

Huw Bell believes that anything could happen in the next few months and will continue to work hard in the area. “I firmly believe I will be better to represent all of you and if you want to stop the SNP we are the party that is best placed to stop them. North East Fife is definitely still up for grabs. It’s definitely worth all my efforts.”

A day in the life - Bailey Jay

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