The Brown Note Movie Review

Swans - The Beggar (2023) Album Review

Michael Gira's 37 year old Swans are moving into a post Seer/To Be Kind era, and if 2019's Leaving Meaning was an underappreciated collection of great songs, The Beggar is a more coherent (two hour long) album length statement as to what that looks like. Some of the most direct and powerful lyricism of his career, amongst what accounts to almost easy listening in this bands catalogue, with plenty of acoustic-led and pretty tracks, with deep existential lyrics. We'll still touch base with medieval torture music and have a forty-four minute long track, naturally. Still one of the best and most interesting rock bands on earth, in a period of transition.

Gone But Forgotten: Leftfield - Leftism (1995) Album Review

My occasional series on (usually) an album that was either denied classic status on release or has been forgotten about since. Immediately I feel maybe I should've chosen the second Leftfield album for this - as has Leftism been forgotten that much? It was alongside Portishead's Dummy and Air's Moon Safari, in every CD library back then. Maybe it has a bit, due to their initial run only being two albums before largely disappearing, whilst contemporaries, The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Underworld, The Prodigy... all kept releasing and playing live prominently. None the less it remains a stunning landmark of the most fertile period of British electronic music ever, and despite coining the entire genre of progressive house, is a wide overview of everything that made that first five years of the 90s of British dance electronica so incredible - from techno to house to drum n bass/jungle, trip-hop and reggae/soundystem music - a beautifully produced and sequenced 10/10.

Fast X (2023) Movie Review

With my PHD in the Fast and Furious franchise I have both pluses and minuses with episode ten. I prefer its leaner nature to the overwhelmingly messy previous two installments - though the heyday of 5,6&7 is long gone - but that said, the $340 million shooting budget isn't visible and the profit point of $850 million pure insanity. There are, however, a lot of down sides. Too many characters, meaning no one gets much meaningful screen time, exacerbated by splitting up that main cast - the best thing about the franchise - into different locations, meaning they're never together and have even less screen time. It's also quite repetitive, thinly written, and as a result, weakly performed. Let's hope the finale performs a Harry Potter/Hunger Games and sends the franchise off into the sunset with a much better film.

Air (2023) Movie Review

I'm a big fan of Ben Affleck and all his trials and tribulations, though I thought Argo, his massive Oscar winner, was his weakest film as a director and his debut, Gone Baby Gone his best. Air - the story of Michael Jordan and Nike - is a new bow for him, pure, flat out entertainment and one of the years most easily enjoyable films. Plus he gets to give best bud Matt Damon a great starring role. Possibly not that memorable but who cares.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023) Movie Review

A surprising delight, that works best when it trusts itself, by leaning fully into the comedy and chemistry of leads Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, and illusions to the likes of The Princess Bride and even Shrek. Often hilarious, with plenty of expensive fantasy action and some fine support from Hugh Grant and Regé-Jean Page

Sisu (2023) Film Review

Though rightly being called the Finnish John Wick, the stunningly barren landscape and WW2 Nazi setting make it wholly distinct, and the non-more grizzled star (Jorma Tommila) takes stoicism to painful new levels. It still has a strong sense of self-awareness, even though its better the straighter it plays things. Cat-nip for fans of ultra violence against Nazis.

James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities (2023) Album Review

The British organic-electronic wizz returns with another inventive, detailed, immersive album length concept which will as always end up as one of the finest 'electronic' albums of the year.

The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) Movie Review

This criminally underappreciated gonzo blast is way more self aware and hilarious than it's been given credit for. I really hope Russell Crowe's moped riding, devil-bashing, rootin tootin priest (with an EXCELLENT ITALIAN ACCENT) is just staring his cinematic journey. Truly a thing of joyous wonder.

Black Country, New Road - Live at Bush Hall (2023) Album Review

I launched this channel with a 10/10 review for my joint album of the year (with Rosalia's Motomami) Ants From Up There, then immediately their totemic lead singer and lyricist, Isaac Wood quit then band for mental reasons. Where would this outstanding premier new wave of British indie act go from here? A near perfect answer is a live album of entirely new material, which is often fabulous and contains my song of the year so far, the aptly titled Up Song.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023) Film Review

Surely the dumbest name for a movie ever, given this unexpectedly superb step out of his comfort zone for Mr Ritchie, can only be hamstrung by wedding itself to his signature style. Both leads Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim are excellent, but the shock is Ritchie getting the tone so right for a serious post Gulf war film, sonically and visually - it's closer to Lone Survivor than anything in his filmography. I once derided him but the last four films are his best run.