Currently Listening: Love Makes Monsters by My First Tooth (2013)

...lovely, happy, jaunty...they're a lively little bunch...

My First Tooth are a Northampton, UK based band that play uplifting folk-pop. Taking influence from modern indie heroes such as Eels, Okkervil River and Neutral Milk Hotel, they have crafted ambitious and beautiful songs aching with subtle heartbroken soul and unwittingly touching melody. Yes that is promotional speak from the awesome indie label Alcopop! Records but it pretty much sums up how I feel about them. But then this isn't an audition piece to find work with NME, this is merely an attempt to raise awareness of a great band who deserve success.

Love Makes Monsters is the followup to the quite wonderful Territories, their debut album which featured so many beautiful songs it would be a crime to name drop any single track but how about taking a listen to the sublime Cutty Sark as an introduction? 


Whilst not as immediately arresting this sophomore effort is equally as rewarding of repeat visits. With a blend of brass and strings, sing along choruses, haunting vocals and toe-tapping melodies this is the kind of music to appeal to fans of folk-pop who actively dislikes such trendy garbage as Mumford & Sons. Although comprising only four members playing quietly beautiful songs there is a deceptively big sound contained within these thirteen tracks, the kind of noise that could soundtrack your Summer, or in my case Autumn.

I'm not one to break down albums on a track by track basis, I'll just point you in the direction of the entire album instead. Buy it direct from the label for only 8 Pounds and whilst you're at it be sure to buy yourself a Clever Girl sweater, they're aces.

Book Review: Fierce Bitches by Jedidiah Ayres (2013)

Fierce Bitches by Jedidiah Ayres

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: Across the border lies Politioburg: hell on Earth, home to putas, punks and psychos.

Escape is not in the stars, redemption is not in the cards, but reckoning might just be on the menu.

Stand back. The pit is about to spit something back out.

Thoughts: All you gringos listen up, Marias are some fierce bitches and they're gonna have their revenge for all the times you mistreated them. You had better hope they haven't read this call to arms from Jedidiah Ayres before you spit on them, slap them, cut them, and rape them or you may not have a face left for next time. Or any flesh for that matter.

Existing as some kind of awful halfway house between life and death, America and Mexico, heaven and hell, Politoburg is a shanty town created by a crime lord to house/contain/dispose of (delete as appropriate) you and your fellow low level underworld brethren. Populated by Ramon the bartender, a parade of Marias (hispanic hookers) and a revolving cast of degenerates, if you end up in Politoburg you'll soon learn that you've reached the place that, sooner or later, you will die in. And die people do, horrible violent deaths for the most part.

Jedidiah Ayres' prose is sparse and his tale is bleak as fuck, mirroring the carefully constructed locale and the unforgiving sun baked desert that surrounds it. This appears to be his first novella but its written with the skill and voice of a much more experienced man to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if this was Jim Thompson still writing after faking his death back in '77. Most impressive is his use of the second person narration, a device that can horribly backfire in the wrong hands but in this case was so perfectly done that I hardly noticed it until the chapter was over. Jedidiah Ayres where have you been all my life? This is the work of true master of the genre and I for one will be unsatisfied until there is an entire shelf filled with the man's work.

Jedidiah Ayres and Warren Oates, never seen in the same place at the same time.

This is another class release from Crime Factory Melbourne, a new specialist publisher who has recently entered my consciousness with a "buy whatever they put out" kind of statement. This one is a particularly beautiful classic looking publication and pretty much fits in the palm of my hand (for a mere $7 this is an essential paperback purchase people) but feel free to check out the recently loved Hard Labour and Lee, an anthology of stories inspired by the life of iconic actor Lee Marvin. All titles are now available for only $2.99 on Kindle from the Crime Factory Amazon store.

A Fuckload of Shorts is a collection of short stories by Jedidiah Ayres and published by Snubnose Press, one of which was adapted in to the micro budget film Fuckload of Scotch Tape.

View all my book reviews

Movie Review: Peacock (2010) Dir. Michael Lander

If he only knew what she was doing.

Peacock by Michael Lander
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Blurb: In small town Nebraska, in an unspecified but presumably 1950s-ish past, John, a socially awkward bank clerk, lives with Emma, a shy and unassuming housewife, a wife that the rest of the town didn't know existed. She just happens to be the other side of his fractured personality. (I assure you this is not a spoiler.) One morning a train crashes in to their backyard and Emma is revealed to the townsfolk. John's carefully constructed life slowly begins to unravel as Emma's starts to bloom.

Thoughts: Quite scandalously released straight to DVD without any fanfare, Peacock is a fantastic example of Midwestern Gothic, a small piece of American cinema that deserves wider attention. On the surface sharing several similarities to that other awkward guy with unusual sexual tendencies in small town America movie, Lars and the Real Girl, this is a much more serious film and doesn't deliberately tug at your heartstrings. For all you fans of psychological thriller fiction, Peacock is the kind of movie Margaret Millar would have been proud to write.

Cillian Murphy is phenomenal as John and Emma, two parts of a split personality, and that reason alone makes the film worth seeing and certainly made it worth a cinematic release. I can't see how any other actor could have put in a better performance in 2010 and yet the unforgivable decision to skip even the festival circuit has robbed him of any industry recognition. He really is a beautiful woman too. It's quite unfair.

Michael Lander directs with restraint to create a slow moving psychological drama filled with superb cinematography thanks to the wonderful Philipe Rousselot and a pervasive creepiness through interesting use of the mise-en-scene and subtle musical cues. Throughout the 90 minute runtime I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching a Todd Haynes movie, it is that beautiful and meticulously crafted.

Questions are not answered, the viewer is challenged, brain cells are forced to engage. The plot unfolds with hints and clues, nods and tips of the hat, and still you do not really know which way anything will go, what is a subtle red herring, what you are imagining and what is intended. It's quite the marvel indeed and will almost certainly reward repeat viewings, unlike other more gimmicky split personality/psychotic break movies.

I cannot recommend this movie enough, however if you like your narrative cinema to be "normal" you may find yourself getting frustrated and angry with the content, as Peacock is most definitely not the kind of film you would describe as normal.

It is as good as this kind of movie can possibly get in my opinion and I only wish I hadn't waited 2 years to watch my copy.

Anyone actually seen this one? Who won the Best Actor Oscar in 2011? I bet they weren't as good as Murphy whoever they were. Comments anyone?