Exciting new paranoid thriller CAIRO CONSPIRACY out today from Picturehouse Entertainment
Set in and around the illustrious Egyptian Islamic institution Al-Azhar University in Cairo, which is the center of Sunni Islam. Small town fisherman's son, Adam, arrives to begin his studying at the school; shortly after his arrival the highest ranking religious leader, the Grand Imam, suddenly dies and Adam becomes a pawn in the power struggle between the religious leaders and political elites as they seek to elect a new high leader.
Boasting an impressive lead performance by Tawfeek Barhom as the erstwhile Adam, and featuring Fares Fares as the state security agent, Ibrahim, who is the key player in this game of chess bearing a resemblance to Mandy Patinkin's Saul from 'Homeland', the intense nature of the political game being played by both sides makes for a gripping conclusion.
Shot in Turkey as the director Tarik Saleh, has been banished from Egypt since the release of 2017's TheNile Hilton Incident (which starred Fares also) - the backdrop provides a luminous base for rich production design from Roger Rosenberg and crisp cinematography by Pierre Aim creating a world that is bright and clear but underneath darkness lurks.
Cairo Conspiracy is out now from Picturehouse Entertainment
Much awaited debut album from Kent four piece PYNCH released 14th April
The four-piece band from Kent, Pynch came to prominence and attention in the latter part of 2019 when their debut single 'Disco Lights' appeared on the esteemed Speedy Wunderground label and then they released the track 'Somebody Else' in May 2020 which became an underground anthem for dealing with pandemic which was a rage against the situation that many people found themselves in, and rightly so the single was a breakthrough with recognition ranging from The Guardian to NME.
Pynch are by their own admission, a DIY band who hailed from Margate, Kent - a building in the town is basis for the album cover art - and with little more than the records made in Spencer Enock's home. Enock is lead guitar and vocals in the band ably assisted by Julianna Hopkins' keys, Scott Enock's bassline and James Rees on synths.
The musical influences of this band range from dreampop, britpop to electronica in the rich late 20th century tradition of bands ranging from Pet Shop Boys to Depeche Mode and up to the Mystery Jets. Yet it is all about the situation the band find themselves in, this is a post-austerity album an album full of disillusionment and crisis in dealing with the existentialism and longing for halcyon days that parents used to talk about it. There is a cynicism that runs throughout the album and yet that social commentary gives way heartfelt reflection and general optimism for better days by album's end.
From the opening track 'Haven't Lived A Day' the concept of trying to find answers amidst the madness and the difficulty of living is at the forefront of Enock's lyrics 'Trying to figure out what I'm feeling/Trying to understand just what I'm seeing' - the twin threads are seemingly enmeshed and attempted to untangle across the ten-track running time.
The sequencing of this album should be applauded, second track is 'Disco Lights' a key track in their history followed by most recent single 'Tin Foil' another track with humorous takes on the collision between emotion and worth, cynicism and sincerity. It is a fine balance that Enock navigates very well - the tracks do not speak of a band laying everything on the line, merely a precursor for more to say in the future which bodes well.
Nostalgia appears in the track '2009', followed by the two-part 'The City' which delves into the malaise of life then with 'Karaoke' which is about lost love. Penultimate track 'London' is about the living crisis and the general disappointment his generation feels towards governance and how austerity has left that generation to flounder while those before them flourish.
'I just want to feel something real'
When this listener first heard 'Somebody Else' it was ear-opening to a sound that was very much of the moment and artists aware of the moment they are living in during this tumultuous period of world history - the world keeps turning even when you stand still. That track you felt would have been the album opener, and yet it makes sense that it closes the album having been around for nearly three years it serves as self-referential to the band themselves supplying answers to that which they seek. That sense of melancholic ennui that underlies so much of the album is that which you end with, but that is not a detriment more a triumph for Pynch.
It is a testament to them that they can create an album of this maturity and intent, not being overawed by the level of expectation that was awaiting them.
This is one of the best debut albums of recent times, a joy to listen to and for this listener who has followed the band from the early singles a pleasure to see the long playing album rise to the occasion and fully deliver on that promise.
Howling at a Concrete Moon is out on Chillburn Recordings from April 14th.
New album from Chicago trio FACS out 7th April via Trouble in Mind
When the world was on lockdown, there was the opportunity to catch up on cultural aspects you missed but also a chance for discovery. In this role as a mild-mannered music reviewer, you get sent links to all sorts of musical genres and it is very hard on occasion to weave out of your lane and yet the chance came to review a three-piece from Chicago that were definitely not on my radar. This band was FACS encompassing guitarist Brian Case, bassist Alianna Kalaba and drummer Noah Leger.
The album from 2020 was Void Moments and for this writer, it was a touchstone and portal for those times in lockdown - an album of ferocity and anger that spoke to me as this writer dealt with the boredom of lockdown and not seeing friends. FACS' brand of intense and post-punk noise was a calling card to me and yet a band that cleverly spoke more to me than an acoustic guitar.
After Void Moments came 2021's Present Tense, a quick follow-up to that pandemic album that sustained their growth as a band with buzzy feedback aplenty and Cage's lyrics again struggling to make sense of the world.
The new album Still Life in Decay is possibly the final swansong for the threesome as Kalaba seeks pastures new, yet the rhythm and unity of the band is still paramount, their tightness again only growing to this resounding maelstrom of disquiet. FACS are a loud band but are capable of such quiet moments of reflection amidst the undoubted sensory overload.
Opening track 'Constellation' is indicative - Cage's vocals burst out of the gate and then quickly recede to the pulsating bass and drum dance that Kalaba and Leger create. 'When You Say' is a call to arms of making sense of the world. 'Slogan' is about watching someone change which is a theme running through the album.
As Brain Case explains: 'change...how that's seen
from different people's perspectives. 'Still Life In Decay' is about that kind
of change, realizing that relationships exist in different ways for individuals
in shared situations, and how you navigate that as a unit. We knew when we were
making this record that Alianna was going to be stepping away from the band,
which of course heavily informed the sessions. Filled with deep understanding
and love, but still those insecurities and feelings of loss, or an end of
something. Despite that, 'Still Life In Decay' feels more like a beginning,
it's tense and vulnerable in a way we haven't presented ourselves before. I'm
so proud of what the three of us did with this album.'
The album is akin to a ghostly presence with this aura of transformation abounding, drifting past you but maintaining a lingering presence throughout, there is something earthly and yet other-worldy about the album as a whole. A journey of anxiety and white noise and with a gripping energy throughout.
Still Life in Decay is out from Trouble in Mind on 7th April
My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity
I don't want to say I am out on The Mandalorian. Yet. And yet I am very disappointed by the third series of the winning series so far. I feel the injection of Mando into The Book of Boba Fett was a mistake as it showed the producers of the live-action Star Wars series moving forward felt the only way to keep people interested was to keep giving people the man behind the mask and the creed and the way.
The new series shows Din seeking to bathe in the waters of Mandalore to be redeeming following his removal of the sacred helmet and revealing his Pedro Pascal face to Grogu. That sort of tale of redemption is one that could have been the basis of a series worth of stories, Din's journey to the waters, the obstacles along the way and yet he got there at the end of episode 2 and thus redeeming himself.
There, for this padawan, appears to be a confusion in the storytelling. In Episode 4, The Foundling we have now a tangent where we see Grogu being rescued from the Order 66 attack on Coruscant by the clone troopers by other jedi. This now paints the tale as Grogu being a very important foundling who demands constant attention and support - this made me ask the question is he really a clone of Yoda, did the Jedi use the technology to their own benefit in some way knowing that something bad was going to occur.
Like last week's episode 'The Convert' a tale that revolved around Dr. Pershing and his intrepid partner in supposed asylum crime on Coruscant, that diversion was interesting and heralded a tale where you where given time with periphery characters who were afforded time and a character made more whole. And yet that was bookended by some boring bits involving Din and Bo Katan being welcomed back into the group.
I think the problem they have with the Mandalorian is perhaps the man himself. He is now redeemed. He is no longer a bounty hunter. He is a surrogate father to Grogu. What is his journey now? Or is this series with four episodes remaining just a foreshadowing or warm up to the incoming Ashoka or Skeleton Crew series. What is Mando now if nothing more than a gatekeeper to more content from Star Wars universe. As a fan of that universe for so long I am not going to object to more content, yet you have to make it engaging and worthwhile. The tone of a lot of episodes currently is very plodding and playing with our attention that hopes for more to come, its just a matter of when will that be forthcoming.
Patience is a virtue and must be a part of the creed. This is the way.
A winner at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Screenplay in 2022, the hotly anticipated conspiracy thriller CAIRO CONSPIRACY is finally gaining a UK release on 14th April 2023 from Picturehouse Entertainment
The trailer above puts in a succinct nutshell the basis of a plot to insert a new Grand Iman amongst the Sunni Islam. Adam (Tawfeek Barhom) is the son of a fisherman, who is posited in a position to infiltrate certain cliques in the religious seat of learning and a game of cat and mouse between he and Colonel Ibrahim (Fares Fares - The Nile Hilton Incident) ensues.
A thriller based upon the power struggle between Egypt's religious and political elites. As one onlooker observes, power is a double edged sword and you may cut yourself upon it.
Directed by Tarik Saleh, who came to global prominence with The Nile Hilton Incident, he also recently directed the Amazon Prime release The Contractor starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster, which was a decent thriller of its own standing. He has also directed episodes of Westworld and Ray Donovan.
Saleh reunites with Fares who has garnered acclaim for his work on both sides of the Atlantic. This promises to be one of the best thrillers of this year and may well make end-of-year lists due to the bold and gripping nature of it.
CAIRO CONSPIRACY is out on limited release from Picturehouse Entertainment on 14th April
My thanks to Em Foundation for the opportunity to (p)review
Ridpath is back and this time, someone is attacking his work colleagues. The Ridpath series has been going for about 5 years, I started reading during before the pandemic and have continued reading the series in parallel with his publication buddies - Marion Todd and Sheila Bugler.
Lee writes and paints the story with such clairty and brilliance, it is amazing he can maintain the pace of the narrative. In this story, Ridpath is again towing the line between his work for the Coroner's office and the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Force, he is essentially doing the work of two men yet he does not lose any of his everyman status as a single father at home to a teenage daughter, but a rebel at heart when it comes to his work.
Ridpath is able to rub people up the wrong way quite easily (I know the feeling), perhaps because he is the one able to get results which endears him to those who work closely enough to him and makes him look like trouble to those who are now too long in the tooth.
The narrative of What The Shadows Hide revolves around a case christened Romeo and Juliet, as two young people (when they passed) who were discovered entombed behind a doorway in an abandoned building during works. With no identification in their possession, the problem is trying to identify the two souls and this leads to the use of DNA genealogy technology to help by a freelancer who was an ex-cop. The GMP want results and Ridpath wants to help his chief coroner Challinor in finding results - yet things take a turn when Challinor is attacked herself in a brutal assault. This attack happens early on in the book so that is not giving anything with the plot and it leaves Ridpath with his deputies - Parkinson to find the answers. They are against the clock to find the solution.
After so many books in any series, you worry that will the character lose its lustre yet the best instances of it not happening - Jack Reacher and Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible franchise - is because the care taken to the story being told. Tom Cruise got Christopher McQuarrie to write, and Lee Child always was able to adapt by taking his creation and dropping him in a new unfamiliar terrain.
Lee restricts Ridpath to the Greater Manchester postcodes with only mentions of such far flung destinations as Cheshire and Derbyshire, yet Manchester is a vast bastion of differing class structures and like most cities has high rise buildings in its centre and the two up, two down households on the periphery a constant reminder to local governments that reality exists.
What The Shadows Hide is an outstanding read, it is rip-roaring, page-turning and full of vibrancy and zest that is so pleasing to enjoy. Written with reckless abandon and verve by a writer hitting his stride thanks to a great story. Highly recommended.
What The Shadows Hide is out on March 23rd from Canelo Crime
Debut film that was nominated for Outstanding Debut British Film at recent BAFTA's out March 3rd in cinemas.
A fascinating documentary into a life in remote Norway of a man diagnosed with electrosensitivity, a condition that effects approximately 3% of the world's population according to statistics from World Health Organisation.
Director Marie Liden who shoots intimately and with humility towards her subject, William aged 40. William has been diagnosed with the condition in his adult life, so we find him amid the turmoil of adjusting to the everyday abnormality he finds himself in - having to be cut off from the family in a man-made cave to stave off the threat of electricity.
In essence, this shows how to live off the grid but when the grid is everywhere, the melancholy felt by the lead character is paramount you really get a sense to the loss of interaction he is feeling, his being alone hits home and for us who had to endure lockdown for a number of months for a great number of people that sense of not belonging and being cut off is an everyday occurrence and one that is real and haunting.
As William dons a blanket, he appears as a nomadic folk ghost wandering around his makeshift home, listening to an ever-burgeoning CD collection of music. He sits in a parking lot while his mother shops and his use of a meter to show the levels of radiation makes clear the pressure and fear of radiation upon him is.
This documentary is a real winner, full of charm and craft but also a message that perhaps we do take our life for granted too often. Think of those others who are less fortunate be it less in terms of monetary value but also the missing out on the everyday interaction with people.
Electric Malady treats William nobly and without judgment, it is tactful in considering his situation.
Out in cinemas from 3rd March, seek this heartfelt documentary screening at ICA London and DocHouse
