Adam Barnes, The Land, The Sea & Everything Lost Beneath. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The dreaming spires that greeted Adam Barnes’ E.P. Blisters seem to bow in reverence once more as the young musician from Oxford releases his debut album The Land, The Sea & Everything Lost Beneath.

It is obviously only an analogy, however for anyone who has spent time in the jewel of the South of England or indeed may be only acquainted with the city through watching episodes of Morse, Lewis or Endeavour will realise that apart from the architecture, the scholarly learning and the chance to sip ale in some of the finest public houses in the country, the music world rarely gets a mention unless it is in the hushed tones of worship at the feet of long since departed composers or in the greater admiration of Radiohead. For Adam Barnes to buck that trend is nothing more than a true delight.

Adam Barnes, The Land, The Sea & Everything Lost Beneath. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

The Two Faces Of January, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst, David Warshofsky, Daisy Bevan, Yigit Özsener, Nikos Mavrakis, Prometheus Aleifer, Ozan Tas, Socrates Alafouzos, James Sobol Kelly, Evgenia Dimitropoulou, Omiros Poulakis, Brian Niblett, Mehmet Esen, Pablo Verdejo, Okan Avci, Kosta Kortidis, Karayianni Margaux, Peter Mair.

The Two Faces of January is a film in which the tension, fuelled by the appearances of unrivalled brinkmanship and matchless testosterone, excels. It delves into the culture of violence briefly but that is the point, it is an intelligent enough adaptation to realise that films don’t need to go down the route of overwhelming forceful aggression to make it worth watching. The violence that happens is more through circumstance of two men caught in a trap of their own making and of jealousy. The prize is not just freedom in the end it seems.

The Two Faces Of January, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool. full post

(419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Gemma Bodinetz And Deborah Aydon To Recieve Honour From Liverpool John Moores University.

Everyman and Playhouse Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz and Executive Director Deborah Aydon will receive Honorary Fellowships from Liverpool John Moores University this summer in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the dramatic arts. Also receiving an Honorary Fellowships is Everyman and Playhouse board member Rod Holmes.

Ms. Bodinetz and Ms. Aydon took charge of Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse Theatres in 2003. In that time they have produced 107 plays, creating work that is embedded in its community, such as The Cruel Sea, alongside productions that have enhanced the company’s reputation nationally and internationally such as the world tour of The Caretaker, the return to the city of established stars including Pete Postlethwaite, David Morrissey and Kim Cattrall, while establishing Young Everyman Playhouse which will inspire the next generation of theatre makers.

Gemma Bodinetz And Deborah Aydon To Recieve Honour From Liverpool John Moores University. full post

(615 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)

Godzilla (2014), Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, CJ Adams, Ken Watanabe, Carson Bolde, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Richard T. Jones, Victor Rasuk, Patrick Sabongui, Jared Keeso, Luc Roderique, James Pizzinato, Catherine Lough Hagguist, Eric Keenleyside, Primo Allon, Ken Yamamura, Hiro Kanagawa, Yuki Morita.

Every generation gets the Godzilla they deserve. The 1990’s debacle starring Matthew Broderick thankfully can now be put to bed as the nightmare it was and audiences in the second decade of the 21^st Century can breathe easy knowing they at least have got a monster so cool that it practically makes all other versions somehow seem vastly inferior.

Godzilla (2014), Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool. full post

(696 words, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)

Sons Of Jet, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There must be something in the Merseyside air that draws James Styring back to Liverpool and away from his home in Lincolnshire. The smell of the past, the passion that still seeps out of every pore, every venue and the recapturing of the excitement that gave Liverpool the right to say with pride that it was and always will be the capital of culture, for James Styring and his band Sons Of Jet, that passion is something they capture with their music and the that long loved sound that is forever entwined in the Liverpool air, transfers easily to the flat country fields of Lincolnshire.

Sons Of Jet, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Midland Railway, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014.

Midland Railway at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow, 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ^1/2/ 10

There is arguably nothing better than coming across a band with a sense of humour when the day has been filled with powerful meaningful songs, tracks that have exploded your mind and set the bran on a semi quaver rush. The art of the whimsy, of lyrics that speak at times more eruditely than the impassioned unveiled contempt and derision quite rightly aimed at those the general public are forced to stomach being in power, whimsy and humour is a very powerful tool and in the hands of Midland Railway, led by Nick Lote from Harbourne in Birmingham, the humour of the band shines through.

Midland Railway, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014. full post

(389 words, 2 images, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

The Last Fakers, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014.

The Last Fakers at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The International Pop Overthrow is one of those occasions in the Liverpool music calendar where to just wander into The Cavern Club and take in some music for a short while is to be expected and roundly welcomed. The chance should you feel inclined to come off the street after a busy day of work or even the playful art of shopping in your attempt to make the day go past and watch perhaps half an hour of music before making your way home.

The Last Fakers, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014. full post

(517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

AqPop, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014

AqPop at the Cavern Club as part of the 2014 International Pop Overthrow. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ^1/2/10

Liverpool is more than used to the music venues of Liverpool filling the local ears with contented understanding of its Norwegian artists who have made the city their home. It is one of the many strengths of the city that it embraces, not only the huge links between its Viking heritage and Scouse, but the immense influx of well-written and totally eclectic and narrative songs.

AqPop, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014 full post

(356 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Lexie Green, Breathe. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You can only imagine what goes in the minds of musicians before the On-Air sign goes to red, the dawning realisation that this is the moment in which to shine or even fall, the many questions that buzz like pregnant Queen Bees and spawning more and more self-interrogations and pricking the conscience in their own self-defence.

Lexie Green, Breathe. Album Review. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Tori Amos, Unrepentant Geraldines. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The news that Tori Amos had hit a sort of wall in her music must have by-passed everyone who has listened to her music over the last couple of years and last few albums. Taking time to listen to anything she has produced in that time period can only lead to the scratching of heads and slight bewilderment at the thought. For in Unrepentant Geraldines Ms. Amos has produced yet again arguably one of the finest albums you will hear all year.

Tori Amos, Unrepentant Geraldines. Album Review. full post

(550 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)