Griff says; Father unknown?

Today sees the launch of the free single 'Frances' by Glasgow-based band Father Sculptor. You can pick it up for free over on their bandcamp page and hear their other tunes as well. Father Sculptor are recording and releasing a new song every fortnight throughout the summer of 2012, which are available as free digital downloads, so do keep an eye on their bandcamp and soundcloud pages. Frances is a soaring, majestic, slightly melodramatic, 80s sounding pop anthem of the sort the band seem to specialise in from what I've heard so far.
Father Sculptor seem to draw adjectives such as ethereal and epic to describe their sound and it's safe to think of them in the same sort of vein as other Scottish acts as Frightened Rabbit or The Twighlight Sad but with an added Smithsian overlay. Their last single Rhein, released a fortnight ago, has an unmistakably Marr-like guitar riff, for instance.
As regards the personnel of the band I know very little as they choose to go by the following psuedonyms:

Stringer Bell (throat)
The Greek (keys)
Poot (fingers)
Cutty (skins)
D'Angelo (spine)


I've had it pointed out to me that these are the names of characters from US TV drama series The Wire. I'll freely admit that the significance of this escapes me as I don't indulge in TV cop shows and won't until one gets aired that explains criminal behaviour within the context of a Marxist analysis of Western culture. Yep, I could be waiting for a while. Anyway, here's Frances:


Griff
xx

I Mislpaced It At The Movies: 'Paradis' Found

Exactly one year to the day since the ~Streetlamp~ had enjoyed it's soul cleansing visit to Portencross, we gathered together again, as we had agreed, to set off on another journey into the unknown. Unfortunately for us, the Scottish weather counteracted our plan and decided to offer a cornucopia of high winds, swirling rain and muggy humidity....not a good mix! And with the hills and valleys turned to boggy marshes, even hardy perennials like ourselves had to concede defeat.
So, we turned to Plan B, and decided to have ourselves a mini film festival....

We settled on four choices; Pier Paolo Pasolini's 'The Gospel According To Matthew', the recent Norwegian faux-documentary 'Trollhunter', Giuseppe Tornatore's follow up to 'Cinema Paradiso', 'Malena', and Marcel Carné's 'Les Enfants Du Paradis'. A mixed bunch for sure, and while it would doubtless take me pages and pages to try to analyse the four films in any kind of detail, I've decided to look at what was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend; 'Les Enfants Du Paradis'.

To describe the plot of 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' often does the film a disservice as it makes the film seem soap opera-ish and a bit soppy, something I warned Griff and Ray before the film commenced. Set in Paris circa 1830, the film sees four men fall under the spell of Parisian courtesan and free spirit, Garance. The men; actor Frédérick Lemaitre, mime artist Baptiste Debureau, aristocrat Count Edouard De Montray, and thief-with-the-soul-of-a-poet Pierre-Francoise Lacenaire all fall heavily for Garance's charms, but none as completely and utterly as Baptiste, whose entire life is taken over by his burning, unrequited love for Garance.
Garance herself, seemingly oblivious to the affect she is having on the four men, shimmers through Paris's 'Boulevard Du Crime' unaware of the murder, madness, home-wrecking and heartache she is causing. That basically is the plot, which may sound underwhelming, but the same could be said of any condensed film plot; newspaper baron reflects on his life, businessman realises his failure of a life has been wonderful after all, two actors in the late 1960s go on holiday to a cottage in Penrith....you get the idea.

So why then does 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' garner such praise as 'the greatest French film of all time', 'the French Gone With The Wind', and in some case 'the greatest film ever made'?
There are many reasons; the script by Jacques Prevert for a start is simply majestic. Every character is given witty, erudite, sparkling lines that reek of cool and hang in the air like Gitane smoke. The acting, right down to the peripheral characters is of the highest calibre; Jean-Louis Barrault who plays Baptiste, excels in the scenes where he performs his mimes in public and infuses the off-stage actor with a truly heartfelt pathos as he yearns for Garance. Marcel Herrand plays Pierre-Francoise with a roguish devilry that betrays his poetic heart. Louis Salou plays Count Edouard, at heart the villain of the piece, as a cold, calculating upper class scoundrel who doesn't think twice about killing anyone who looks at Garance the wrong way. Then there's Pierre Brasseur who dominates every scene as Frédérick, chewing the scenery as both character and actor and devouring every line with relish.

The part of Garance, played by Arletty, is the one performance that has accumulated most criticism. Not that there's a single thing wrong with her portrayal, just that many believe she's too old(she was 45 at the time) to play such a luminescent figure. However the film-makers needed a big name to open the film, and in 1945 there was no bigger name in French cinema. What Arletty does bring to the performance is assurance, presence and star quality, items she has in droves. The DOP's ways of filming her to disguise her age also means that she is the most beautifully lit actress this side of Garbo.

But the main reason for the French film industry to fall over itself in praising 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' is the conditions under which the film was made. The entire shoot was done under the very noses of the Nazi Occupation, using many Resistance figures and Jewish performers and technicians working under aliases. That the huge sound-stages, meticulously capturing 'la Belle Epoque' were constructed with breathtaking detail is a miracle in itself. Only one scene in the entire movie is shot outdoors....how on earth did they get away with it? The film also had to be broken down into two parts to avoid suspicion, which although a slight nuisance, does not detract from the overall enjoyment of the piece.

So....given all the plaudits, all the ribbons and trinkets bestowed upon the film, why does the film elude the majority of non-French speaking film lovers? Pure laziness it would seem. It's well known that many people in Britain and the US simply won't watch subtitled movies, but 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' proves this to be pure folly! Neither Griff nor Ray had seen the film before, almost purely because it never shows up anywhere! As far as I'm aware, the film has only ever been shown on British TV once, and for a while was only available on a VHS cassette released by arthouse video company Artificial Eye. Only recently has it been deemed worthy of a DVD release! For what is considered one of the greatest films ever made? How can this be?

I first became aware of  'Les Enfants Du Paradis' back around 1990. I was in the transitional stage of switching my enthusiasm for music to films, and had recently purchased all three volumes of Danny Peary's peerless compendium 'Cult Movies'. His bristling enthusiasm for 'Les Enfants Du Paradis', which he described as one of the greatest films ever made led, me to wonder why, then, I'd never heard of it. The film was finally released in 1994 on the VHS I mentioned earlier and I immediately snapped it up. I have to confess that I expected to be somewhat disappointed, but from the minute the look in Baptiste's eyes changes the first time he sees Garance, I knew I was in safe hands, and the resulting three hours passed like a dream.

For a period of time, if asked, I would declare 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' as my favourite film of all time, but repeatedly having to try and explain what the film was to the uninitiated (which for a while seemed like everyone!) dampened my zeal somewhat.
Watching 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' with Griff and Ray was a joy however, as it was the first time I had ever watched the film with what constituted an audience. Long, long after the film had finished, we were still debating and discussing the film's myriad treats. Once again I felt like I had just watched my favourite film of all time.

If you've never seen 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' before, I urge you to seek it out. You won't be disappointed!

Bon Nuit,
~Gordon~
 

Griff says; Saddle up for Lowpines

Back when we first started this blog we used to regularly point you in the direction of the wonderful, creative commons, indiepop netlabel EardrumsPop. For some reason, however, we seem to have rather neglected their output of late and I intend to make up for that tonight by reminding you of their presence by presenting their latest, free new single. The single in question is called 'Give Me A Horse' by the band Lowpines. From what I can gather, Lowpines is a duo consisting of Oli Deakon and Lyla Foy (pictured).

 Extreme indie-music anoraks might recognise both of those names in connection with Adventure Club Records. This is a label self-run by musicians, and over the last few years they have posted several free albums up in bandcamp by bands such as Bear Driver, Binko Swink, Olfar, Ian Williams & The Dead Flowers, Lee Scholfield and Brent Newman & The Broken Arrows.
Deakon and Foy were, of course, both in Olfar. Both, as far as I know, also continue to play play seperately in other bands - Foy in Binko Swink and Deakon in Bear Driver. The Adventure Time sound is generally in the Wilco/Sparklehorse mode. Namely, introspective and melancholy alt-Americana of the sort I've featured on these pages many times before. It'll be no surprise to learn then that the Lowpines single also fits that desription. Have a listen below:


LOWPINES - Give me a horse from EardrumsPop, the label on Vimeo.


As usual, the Eardrums download package contains; two other songs by the band, one of which is a cover of It's Not Happening by The Be Good Tanyas, a beautifully produced booklet, and a wonderfully illustrated cover art image. On this occasion, the artist is Sean Mahan.

Once you've paid a visit to the EardrumsPop page, please take some time to explore the various bands on Adventure Club Records, most of whom also have numerous songs available as free digital downloads.

Griff
xx

Griff says; Bentcousin - it's a family affair!

Well, here's a little surprise for you - a 'Griff says' piece on a Sunday night. I hope that those of you who were eagerly awaiting Gordon's latest ramblings aren't too disappointed, I'm sure he'll have one up soon. In the meantime, it seems I'm the only Streetlamper physically able to post tonight, so you'll just have to accept it. Those of you who read the blog regularly will have realised that our cycling obsessive, Ray, has probably exploded into a thousand little pieces of fairy dust today due to his excitement at the various UK riders' success at le Tour this year. Gordon, meantime, has been badly delayed by an excess of cheap wine and subtitles due to this weekend's bad weather causing us all to stay indoors and accidentally inaugurate the first Streetlamp International Film Festival - a virtual 24 hours of foreign language film watching and lounging around at my house - more of which later, no doubt.
Anyway, I've got something you're all going to like a lot in the form of Brighton's Bentcousin. I don't know a lot about them to be honest, and I suspect that some of the stuff that's posted about them on the net is deliberate misinformation, as they come across as the sort of playfully mischievous types who like to mess around with journos and bloggers. Quite right too, all of the best punk bands did that very thing, as I remember. And that punk reference is a little indication of what to expect from them musically - a melange of tweeish indie-pop with a slice of punky attitude to stop it becoming too cutesy.

So, the band appear to have been formed by 'twins' Pat and Amelia who seem to be backed by three(?) other musicians, one of whom is apparently their uncle. Is that true? I don't know and, frankly, I don't think it really matters - we're all here for the music and Bentcousin certainly deliver on that front. I came across Bentcousin on Idle Fret's free download EP for July and I instantly loved their contribution, the track I Think I Like You Girlfriend More Than You, a song which bears more than a passing resemblance to the sound of Trixie's Big Red Motorbike, a band I have lionised on these pages previously 'here'.
I've embedded I Think I Like You Girlfriend More Than You below for your listening pleasure. Note too that it is available as a free digital download, you lucky people!



Checking out their soundcloud page, I discovered that they had more tricks up their sleeve than jazz-tinged twee-pop and that they can scuzz it up with the best of them. Witness, for instance. I Wanna Be Your Slave, which is not the Iggyesque paean to BDSM that the title may suggest but is, instead, a clever assault on the mindset that allows the ritual humiliation of the uncomprehending participants of current TV 'talent' shows. Have a listen:

I Wanna Be Your Slave by bentcousin

Please visit Bentcousin's soundcloud page to hear what else they are up to. In particular, check out the song Felicity, which is surely the 'bent cousin' of Primal Scream's Velocity Girl. The band are also on facebook, where I'm sure you'll find details of upcoming gigs. The band also have a witty and amusing wordpress site 'here' if you are intent on full-on internet stalking.

Enjoy.

Griff
xx