Congratulations is the second full length album the American duo MGMT have released under that name. It follows on the heels of 2007’s hugely popular Oracular Spectacular.

The album will not have any single releases, in order for it to be seen and experienced as a whole. Perhaps the band saw the popularity of the big singles on Oracular Spectacular as a hindrance in the quest to get their message across. I see it as indicative of the pretences that are apparent all over this album.

Points need to be given to the boys for their use of different genres and sounds throughout the album, some in a seemingly experimental way. Having said that, there is nothing here that we haven’t heard before. Tracks like Song For Dan Treacy (complete with fake British accent), It’s Working and Congratulations are massively derivative. Honestly, you’re better to go back to the source and experience where this music really came from. I completely understand that all contemporary music is bound to be influenced by other music, probably in many ways, but there comes a point where it’s hard to understand the justification for producing something in addition to this source material. …read more

The Icelandic band, Sigur Rós, has a very loyal group of followers scattered throughout the word, so when lead singer, Jón Þór Birgisson, announced he was to create a solo album, there was understandably some reservations held within that camp. Well, that album is now here. Released under the name of Jónsi, we have the album, Go.

Firstly, I should mention that I am one of those Sigur Rós fans. I also should mention that I really enjoyed their latest album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, which was criticized for being too commercial. In any case, I was also concerned, as I always am when a lead singer goes out on their own, as to how this album would turn out. Would it be nothing like the band’s music and difficult to connect with, or, paradoxically, would it be so similar to their material that there would seem little point in not just creating the album for the band. I think that Go actually manages to tred that fine line, as it is both easily recognisable as Jón Þór Birgisson, but is enough of a departure from Sigur Rós, for it to stand up on its own. …read more

In March of 2008 Zooey Dechanel and M. Ward, together known as She & Him, released their optimistically named, debut album Volume One. Now, almost two years to the day comes the follow up, Volume Two.

I love Volume One. Even two years after its release, it is regularly played from start to finish at my work and home. Volume Two offers more of the same; delightful indie folk tunes with a retro twist. And while Volume One has a couple of those songs, that while not unlikable, you could easily skip, Volume Two has no such tracks, making it a great boppy album that perhaps even surpasses its predecessor.

The first single In The Sun, is a lovely, bright, melodic song, which includes backing vocals by Tilly and the Wall. The album also features covers of both NRBQ’s Ridin’ in My Car and Patience and Prudence’s Gonne Get Along Without You Now. Both of these songs slot in beautifully with the original tracks written and recorded for the album. …read more

Despite being quite let down by Tim Burton’s form in recent years, I was very excited to see his take on this old favourite, Alice in Wonderland. Not a remake of either Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or its sequel Through The Looking-Glass, the film sees Alice return to Wonderland thirteen years after her childhood visit, a visit Alice remembers through dreams, she in fact believes the memory to be a dream.

As a child, Alice, is very close to her father who understands and encourages her whimsical nature, but as a Alice enters adulthood, and after the death of her father, she finds it very difficult to conform to the Victorian society she must become a part of. Enter the White Rabbit and Alice’s adventure begins.

Many of the characters we grew up with once again join Alice beneath the surface: Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Cheshire Cat, March Hare, The Dormouse, The Red and White Queens, and of course, The Mad Hatter. The story sees Alice and company on a quest to fight the fabled Jabberwocky and restore the land to the White Queen’s rule.

Alice in Wonderland looks amazing. Combining live action and animation, with 90% of filming being done with the use of green screens, so much more is achieved than would have been possible with conventional filming. From the Red Queen’s bulbous head, to Alice’s fluctuating size, to the Knave of Hearts’ stretched out frame, it’s all wonderful. …read more

The much awaited Quantic Dream release, Heavy Rain, has finally hit the shelves. Written and directed by the company’s founder and CEO, David Cage, this game received much publicity and hype before its release, due to the realistic graphics and multiple playable protagonist angle, but does it live up to all the talk?

The game commences with playable character, Ethan Mars, awakening to a picture perfect day in his ideal suburban home. Straight away the graphics have an immense impact. As Ethan walks around the house; showering, dressing and generally investigating, it all looks very real. It actually feels like you are somehow playing a movie. From the running water in the bathroom basin to the dust particles and dandelion flowers flying through the air, the game looks good, there is no denying that. This aspect of Heavy Rain continues for its entirety, with the copious amounts of rain and various settings. …read more

Death Knight is the latest offering from Tokyopop and Warld of Warcrafts collabaration. I details the story of Thassarian, whom Alliance players in World of Warcraft, will be very familiar with, and for the Horde players out there, Koltira, your Thassarian is also present in the manga.

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The Hurt Locker sees an American Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad in some very intense situations. Staff Sergeant William James takes over the team and he’s not what the other members are used to. His cavalier attitude has them fearing that, in the last few weeks of their tour, he will kill not only himself but them too. At times, it’s hard to tell if he’s incredibly brave or just a bit mad and this seems to be the issue his team has too.

While it’s obviously and American film about American soldiers during the beginning of the current Golf War, to its credit, The Hurt Locker doesn’t take sides. It doesn’t follow a clear narrative either. Sure, there’s a new guy in town and you have the feeling that it’s not going to end well, he clearly has issues and these have to be addressed, but the film is essentially a series of highly intense situations, most of which involve the handling of home made bombs or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). There also isn’t a great deal of character development but there are moments throughout the film where certain characters are shown in a very vulnerable light. This definitely helps the audience make a connection with them and offers a shift in mood from the edge-if-your-seat stuff of bomb disarmament. …read more

It seems nowdays, that a thriller movie guaranteed to “scare you senseless”, is released every week. Rarely do they live up to their promise and they mostly always follow a generic formula that has been tried and tried by the previously released films of the same genre. Then along comes Eden Lake.

Eden lake starts off as most thriller movies do and yes, it does follow a lot of generic thriller movie formulas, but it’s the content in Eden Lake that makes it so powerful. It opens with a young couple, happily in love, heading off on a trip to get away from their everyday lives. Steve (Michael Fassbender) and Jenny (Kelly Reilly) come across Eden Lake, a bushland situated just outside a small local town that is currently under development. While relaxing lakeside, they encounter some local youths playing loud music and letting their dog run amok. A situation that everyone in their lives would encounter in one way or the other. In an attempt to retain some of the lakes calming atmosphere, Steve approaches the youths and kindly asks them to turn the music down and to pay a bit more attention to what their dog is doing. After what turns out to be an extremely hostile encounter, Steve cuts his losses and goes back to Jenny. The youths eventually leave and Steve and Jenny finally relax, believing that this is the much needed getaway that they both wanted, unaware of the terror that is just hours in front of them. …read more

Power is a mine worker from a small New Mexico town who has a fairly unconventional passion. After not having enough money as kid to buy drums, he takes up the highly skilled and very unpopular hobby of air drumming. Seen as a bit of a freak by most of the towns folk, except for one young Mexican kid and his Aunt Joni (played by the brilliant Jane Lynch), Power still believes that air-drumming is the way forward and the answer to a brighter tomorrow.

Power gets wind that there are other people out there with air drumming in their veins and sets out on a cross-country trip to find a place where he fits in and to ultimately succeed in his journey. The usual trials and tribulation that accompany any underdog and his pals on a quest for glory are present here, and while there are certainly no surprises when it comes to basic storyline, Adventures of Power is still a lot of fun and there are some truly hilarious moments.

Adrian Grenier is great (in an absurd way) as Power’s big competition, a “real” drummer who, much to his father’s distaste, has air drumming in his heart. Ari Gold, who also wrote and directed the film, is endearing as the cereal loving Power. …read more

Dead Snow (Norwegian Død Snø), is brought to us by Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola and is set in the snow fields of Øksfjord, where a group of students are spending their Easter break. A vacation which is rudely interrupted by a group of Nazi zombies who had terrorised the area during World War II.

Dead Snow generally follows the typical horror genre formula. You know who’s going to get it in the neck first and who’ll have more staying power, but there are several surprises in this Scandinavian slasher. For one, the zombies seem to have some brains. They’re not just mindless drones waddling about and this makes them all the more scary. Also, the victims of the Nazi’s campaign of terror aren’t as stupid as your usual horror flick chumps, some of them showing extreme survival techniques throughout the film. These kids want to live and they’ll do pretty much anything to achieve this.

Being set in snow covered mountains, Dead Snow is quite visually striking, especially when the blood starts being sprayed about the place. The contrast of red on white is really quite effective. …read more