The Panic Manual

Concert Review: CHVRCHES, The Range, April 30, 9:30 Club

Posted on

1 May 2014

halley

An artist is a master of a perspective. Agree? Disagree? Let’s pretend you agree. In that case, James Hinton, aka The Range, is reigning master of the perspective that bass music can speak your soul. The DJ lit up the 9:30 Club stage with his energetic yet hypnotic mash-ups that would have been fitting for the dance club, the soundtrack to push you through that 3 PM office slump, or (as his past reviewers have noted) the bedroom.
Hinton was remarkably unassuming on-stage, offering the audience little to no banter – just beats. He was obviously appreciated, though, as his final track was met with thunderous applause and shouts for more.

But, true to the spectacle of the 9:30 Club, the show must go on, and CHVRCHES were next to take the stage. The audience was CLEARLY pumped – the band sold out the first night of performing so quickly they were booked for a second and this, the final night, was primed for excitement. The club went dark, the lights went on… and three tiny people took the stage! Oh my goodness, I”m not sure it’s fair to comment on the sheer (lack of) size of the group members first, but it was honestly the first thing that struck me. The lead singer, Lauren Mayberry, is absolutely pint-sized and the cutest little thing you could imagine. Her trademark voice lit up the stage, though – no mistake about that. She and her two bandmates absolutely killed their set. Like the Range, they offered very little frills and banter, but just jumped into their tracks (although they did have some funny insights into the less-glamorous side of tour life… aka wearing the same socks for three days and hoping no one noticed). This was one of those shows where I realized I love a lot of CHVRCHES tracks I didn’t quite realize were theirs. “We Sink” and “Gun” both jumped out to me as new favorites.

Overall, a great show. Definitely look up The Range’s remix of We Sink:

Song of the Day: Kasabian – Eez Eh

Posted on

30 Apr 2014

Ricky

Hard to believe it’s been a good three years since the last Kasabian record, but it has been that long.

The new track is called “Eez-Eh” and as you would imagine, it’s full of words you just want to sing out loud. With its electro beats, the track is more reminiscent of earlier Kasabian stuff. Regardless, it is a fun summer track. The new Kasabian record is supposed to take them back to their roots, so that has a lot of people excited. Check it out.

Hot Docs Review: Return to Homs [Talal Derki, 2014]

Posted on

30 Apr 2014

Gary

You glance up from your off-balanced stance on a hole in the wall. There is a wrought iron gate; or, at least it used to be. Someone spent a few months of sweat and tears earning it. And now you trespass the threshold it once protected with impunity, into the ghostly lives of others: a TV here, a dresser there, and nothing but gunshots stir. You are searching for someone through this scattering of domesticity. He was a junior football star. You will ask of him to become more, and he will gladly comply. A construction worker, grave digger, singer/songwriter, amateur guerrilla soldier, even a symbol of hope, perhaps. But mostly a brother with whom to share. First life, then death.

Unwittingly and inappropriately romantic? Sure. But Return to Homs is just such a story. It manages to fly right between the haunting dichotomy of beauty and horror, landing safely in warm fuzzy blankets. Shot throughout the 2011 uprising and continuing siege of Homs, Syria, it centers on one rebel fighter (and off-screen, his extraordinarily conjoined cameraman) who couldn’t get the honorable ideal of freedom for his people out of his head, even as he continued to expend his 9 lives as a revolutionary. The transformation from peaceful protest to bloody rebellion was swift, and before long the film becomes a war documentary. Being from a war zone did not deter the cinematography – some of the footage is surprisingly well composed and the editing is at times dead/bang on (puns intended…).

This is probably one of the most light-hearted war documentaries that I have ever seen. I say that without making light of the hardship they are still trying to cope with. Perhaps due to the indefatigable optimism and determination of the protagonist, there was always renewed hope. Some may find it exemplary, I found it unnerving. Each on-screen death seems to generate gravity, lulling one into the false sense that some arbitrarily staggering body-count will eventually be sufficient that victory cannot escape their grasp. The more I describe it, however, the more I might introduce bias. So I will simply recommend this film. There are still active civil or violent protests out there in many countries in distinct parts of the world – a trend that may come to be the defining character of this decade. This is a film you owe to yourself, so that you can make sense of your place in the world.

Isabel Bader Theatre, Sat, May 3, 1:30 PM

Hot Docs: Watchers Of The Sky [Edet Belzberg, 2014]

Posted on

29 Apr 2014

Gary

On the Origin of the Species was published in 1859. Of course, humans have been killing each other en masse long before Darwin could see finches. But since humanity realized that primitive connection, we still remain stubbornly genocidal. Just how can we move beyond and effectively deter warmongers, zealots, and mass murderers without entangling ourselves in the vicious cycle of revenge?

Watchers of the Sky is a study in genocide. From the Armenians during the Great War to Serbian Muslims in Bosnia, from The Holocaust to Rwandan genocide and the ongoing atrocities in Darfur, Edet Belzberg weaves a delicate and soul rending story around the neglected bones of Raphael Lemkin. Likely the best forgotten (seven times) Nobel Peace Prize nominee, he also happened to coin the term “genocide”. A Polish refugee in America, Lemkin worked to solidify genocide as a recognized crime world-wide in a convention within the then newly established UN. Yet the reason he is quickly forgotten is inextricably linked to human denial. The dilemma, as (I believe) Belzberg highlights, is that we recognize justice should be upheld by an outside or impartial, third party. But by definition, there is no third party for crimes against humanity (unless we can invite aliens into our courts). Furthermore, our concept of sovereign nation states guarantees that national interests and politics will always be intertwined with not just the resolution, but also the intervention of such crimes. “Watchers”, therefore, could only painfully detail past catastrophes and lay bare the current lack of legal and organizational resources to deter genocide.

As macabre a subject as it is, the film leaves a surprisingly serene footprint. Lest it be considered so, I guarantee that it doesn’t lack in graphic impact. Instead of frame after frame of mutilated bodies that can drive the audience to defensively shut down, however, “Watchers” uses stylish calligraphy overlays and artistic renders to soften the direct assault on ones psyche. I find that this allows the mind to process. Lemkin’s personal notes, the interview/narration of Ben Ferencz (chief prosecutor at Nuremberg Trials), Luis Moreno Ocampo (Prosecutor at trials of the Juntas in Argentina and now International Criminal Court) and Samantha Power (current UN ambassador of the United States), and first-hand account of Rwandan and Darfuri survivors are all tastefully assembled into an intelligible message that can sometimes be difficult to reach in these documentaries. At 120 minutes, it’s not for the fainthearted – but I wish more people would choose this over an asinine night with Frozen. If you do, make sure to stay until the very end for a bittersweet revelation.

Hart House Theatre, Tue, Apr 29, 7:00 PM
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Wed, Apr 30, 12:30 PM
Isabel Bader Theatre, Sat, May 3, 6:30 PM

Hot Docs: What is Left [Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi, 2014]

Posted on

28 Apr 2014

Gary

There’s a Chinese proverb that goes something along the line of “if things go south for long and far enough, they will become alright again”. That is, of course, NOT the main message of this documentary. But it is something that frequently dashed into my mind when I was watching this. That, and Animal Crackers. Warning: the L-word will be used many times below…

“What is Left” is an entirely sincere (and completely meta/hipster) annual physical exam on the health of the leftist faction of the Italian political and societal structure. To make a complicated story short, it’s not a rosy picture. In February 2013, the center-left party Partito Democratico was decimated in the general election. In the controlled chaos that followed, the power vacuum left by former party leaders was eagerly consumed, while the idealogical vacuum imploded into a black hole when the party swallowed every notion of the intellectual Left in order to hold itself together by popularity. It eventually enlisted the help of the center-right to form a coalition government. All this left the plebs feeling very left-out and confused. Hofer and Ragazzi took on the dual tasks of reaffirming as well as rediscovering what it means to be Left, mainly through interviews with politicians and political leaders mixed wth their own reflections as children of the leftist movement.

First of all, I have to apologize if I misunderstood the undercurrents. I thought of Animal Crackers throughout the film not because the whole political scene in Italy resembled a farce, but because facts and ideas (distorted or otherwise) were flying at me like one-timers just like jokes and one-liners flew by one’s ears in the Marx Brothers’ flick. It is incredibly difficult to sort through the ideological difference to even categorize “left” and “right”, let alone what is morally “right” and “wrong”. Not to mention the players, the history, everything is completely new to me. But the framework of what the filmmakers presented can resonate in North America. The Left, the Liberals, the Intellectuals. In many locales these previously synonymous terms are now so fragmented so as to lose their meaning, thereby sucking the steam from directly underneath the political engine. The Americans were once there, too. And then Obama came along. It’s ironic to see a “communist” (Ragazzi said he was brought up as one) marvel at a visionary leader in one frame, and in the next extol the merits of communal infrastructure and welfare. But even Obama left many people disenchanted and equally as many with renewed fervor. Perhaps the question isn’t “what is left”, since the umbrella term “left” can’t hold so many ideas on its two-dimensional axes anymore. So if not, where should these ideas go? Should you watch this so you can get just as confuzzled as I was when the credits rolled and the filmmakers serenade you with an English song? I think I’ll just leave that can of worms open and see who bites.

Scotiabank Theatre, Sunday May 4, 9:00 PM

Concert Review: Band Of Skulls, April 24, The Phoenix

Posted on

28 Apr 2014

Paul

The first time I saw Band Of Skulls, I didn’t really have much in the way of expectations. After all, when a band puts the word “skulls” in their name, one might have some preconceived notions about them. Luckily, they didn’t turn out to be a bad Misfits tribute band. Rather, their music is basically riff rock, albeit a brand of riff rock that’s often a bit more interesting than the average tune that you might hear in the drive time slot on the local rock radio station. And as I would come to learn that night, the band puts on a solid live show.

That first time seeing them was a show at the El Mocambo back in 2009. They’ve obviously come a long way since then as evidenced by the big, fancy looking tour bus parked outside The Phoenix, as well as the sizeable and appreciative crowd inside the venue. And why wouldn’t they be appreciative? This band makes big, capital-R rock music that goes down well in big rooms while still having a totally cool, laid back demeanor onstage. Band of Skulls’ stage banter leans more towards a polite “Thank you very much” than “Scream for me Long Beach!” and frankly, it suits them.