Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Supplement, An Interview With Stillhet’s Ian Weller.

With so many music nights in Liverpool it could be quite easy to get lost in the crowd. Away from the big names that come to the city, the music of the young bears fruit, even if some in higher places wish to attempt to take down venues that offer opportunities to the young, the hopeful and the aspiring.

One such night is Strings and Things which happens every first Sunday of the month in Studio 2 on Parr Street and offers the chance to bands and solo artists to perform. It is a very unique night, an evening of entertainment in which Liverpool Sound and Vision has had the great privilege on numerous occasions and which the music has been of the highest of quality.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Supplement, An Interview With Stillhet’s Ian Weller. full post

(1989 words, 1 image, estimated 7:57 mins reading time)

Unfriended, Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Heather Sossaman, Courtney Halverson, Matthew Bohrer, Jacob Wysocki, Mickey River, Cal Barnes, Christa Hartsock.

The abundance of the Horror film is almost reached a point in recent years where there is almost nothing new to in which to truly be seen as a unique angle. The Blair Witch Project and possibly the original Saw were arguably the last of the genre to put a completely new spin on the subject matter and other since have been pale imitations, with just a few coming through that have captured the imagination for the way they dealt with the isolating factor that fear holds.

Unfriended, Film Review. full post

(452 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Oh Saint Esther.

Oh Saint Esther,

what will you do now as they

dismiss you from their service,

your public face as you shop for the family linen,

worn out through expectation but with your secret

safe, as you hold your master’s balls

in a vice-like grip, as they know your closet wish,

your overwhelming desire to cause mayhem

with a flutter of the eyelashes and a pillow

over the family’s mouths at night

when they aren’t looking, just practising for when the big day

comes around and it is finally legal for you

Oh Saint Esther. full post

(211 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Chris De Burgh, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (2015).

Chris De Burgh at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, May 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It has been four long years since Chris de Burgh last stood on the stage of the Philharmonic Hall and delivered music to his adoring fans. A man to whom being presented with two roses midway through the first section of the evening, is not an embarrassment to be savoured at the end of a show but to be moved to gratitude and thanks immediately and being humble earnest in his appreciation.

Chris De Burgh, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (2015). full post

(625 words, 1 image, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Jennifer Bea.

It takes two to truly make a conversation, to sit and chat without the meaning being lost and the understanding being stilted and diluted, watered down and the froth of life being spluttered upon and half drawn conclusions met.

Meeting up with Jennifer Bea ahead of her performance in the Jim Cartwright play Two, you cannot help but be struck by the fire that dances in the eyes, of the absolute determination to bring a character to life. Even if you have had the honour of knowing Ms. Bea for a while, that fire catches you out and you cannot help but be drawn to it, like a moth serenading a flame, you know that time is short but you revel upon every word.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Jennifer Bea. full post

(1444 words, estimated 5:47 mins reading time)

Phoenix, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Michael Maertens, Imogen Kogge, Kirsten Block, Uwe Preuss, Eva Bay, Jeff Burrell, Megan Gay, Claudia Geisler-Bading, Daniela Holtz, Max Hopp, Nikola Kastner.

For many the thought of being able to start anew after the ravages of World War Two were enough to change their name and what they may have done during the dark days of brutal darkness that shrouded Europe, the tyranny, the domination and the suffering, either endured or administered. For many that survived the absolute horrors of the concentration camps and the sickening depravity that humanity can sink to in the death camp of Auschwitz, a change of name was not enough, some had to undergo surgery to wipe away the terrors visited upon their faces and their bodies at the hands of the Nazis, to rise if they could like a Phoenix from the ashes. .

Phoenix, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

I Sing Your Anthem With Pride.

There is a chill, a feeling of the super-natural

when I hear your anthem being sang by the citizens

of the flag, resplendent in red and white, the colours

of victories past and battle hardened men,

of women, proud, noble and strong, perhaps by design

the strongest of them all, but the ones with rose-like cheekbones

standing to attention when something humorous happens,

the ones for whom the tears fall silently as justice is done.

The first stirrings of your anthem were audible on a Wednesday night

I Sing Your Anthem With Pride. full post

(463 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Never Alone, (PS4). Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Never Alone is a puzzle platform adventure game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The game was developed in harmony with the Alaska Native community and is an historic collaboration as it delves deep into the traditions of the Iñupiat people of Alaska like no other game before it.

Never Alone, (PS4). Game Review. full post

(1207 words, estimated 4:50 mins reading time)

Little Devils, The Storm Inside. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The great Joe Cocker may no longer be with us but the woman who breaks as many hearts and sounds as outstanding as him, especially when in full flight, is very much becoming a huge part of the British Blues scene.

The Storm Inside, both as the artists playing the music and their new album itself, is so full of tension, the bleak look at loneliness juxtaposed with the yearning of sacrifice and the desire to be held close is so engrained into the Little Devils line up that the voice of Yoka resonates across each song as if Time itself is under pressure to acknowledge just how storming this woman is.

Little Devils, The Storm Inside. Album Review. full post

(365 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Annisokay, Enigmatic Smile. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is perhaps nothing more beguiling in the face of a stranger than an Enigmatic Smile. It is the combination of fascinating inquisitive allure shrouded in the dark and the beast of sex appeal that captures the imagination. It either can lead down a path of enlightenment or towards the sinister and threatening, in the case of German Metal band Annisokay, enlightenment and the mysterious go hand in hand.

Annisokay, Enigmatic Smile. Album Review. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)