Tennis
Tennis’s story appears too perfect to be true. Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley set their disposable income aside for six months until they had enough to buy a yacht and sustain themselves on a private adventure. They climbed aboard their ‘Swift Ranger’ and sailed on a rough course along the east coast of the Americas, taking in destinations which would come to provide emotional source material for their music. “One day we were in a bar in the Florida Keys and ‘Baby It’s You’ by the Shirelles came on. We’d never heard it before, but we loved the wall-of-sound thing, and decided right then that we’d try to create that when we got back.” Having sold their instruments to help fund the voyage, they went about reacquiring enough to flesh out their dreams. Each song that came out of the voyage was named after a different stop-off point – ‘Marathon’ (Florida), ‘Baltimore’ and ‘South Carolina’ make up their first seven-inch, paddling in perfect surf-pop melodies with shimmering backing vocals and sharp focus. On meeting dry land again, our two lovers were wed and on listening to these tracks, it’s obvious why.
05 Sept 2010
Slow Burners and Hot Lights
Mum is seeing a fellah. Daughter is steadily dropping out of life, disappearing before her mother’s eyes. Brother is on a path to a bad end. And mum’s fellah may or may not be a monster.
Visits, by Jon Fosse, is a dark, slooooow burner, with moments of revelation hidden behind other moments of misdirection. Characters take forever to say anything, building pressure like a percolator, but never letting the steam escape.
When I first entered the main stage space Theatre Delicatessen has created at the former Uzbekistan Airways building I immediately thought, This place needs a Scandinavian play! I hadn’t then realised I was about to see one. The setting is perfect. Dark wood panels and shelving, peeling walls scraped away and replaced with corrugated translucent plastic sheeting, behind which we see backlit silhouettes acting as both memories and intimations of impending danger. Characters walk out of the space, out of sight, and their voices bouncing around the corridors, creating additional distance and disconnection.
05 Sept 2010
Alpha-Ville Festival
*Rich Mix and Whitechapel Gallery, 17/18 September *
The second annual Alpha-ville Festival, themed “Visionary cities” will bring the newest and best in digital arts to Rich Mix and Whitechapel Gallery over the weekend of 17-18 September. Presented by the non-profit organsation of the same name Alpha-ville aims to bring more people to engage with “quality” digital arts, design and culture, and to help emerging artists find an audience.
This year’s Alpha-ville line-up will include electronic music performances from artists such as The Boats, Actress, Kettenkarussell but there is also an intriguing mix of visual and educational programming. Festivalgoers will be treated to viewings of the finalists who’ve entered the “Visionary cities” international short film contest.
A showcase of work from final year students in the Bartlett School of Architecture’s “Unit 15” postgrad course will show how the course uses film, CGI, animation and motion graphics in the study of architecture.
Girls aged 14 to 19 who fancy a career as a sound engineer or producer will be interested in the free Alpha-ville Digital Music Workshop, which promises to teach participants how to create music, mix and synchronize it with images.
Visit www.alphavillefestival.co.uk for info.
05 Sept 2010
Snipe MPfrees: August 2010
Here you go, dear readers: all 23 Daily MPfrees posted during August 2010, in one handy playlist. All yours for free. No need to thank us. No, honestly. Unless you really want to, you know. And there’s a comments section for that.
05 Sept 2010
Daily MPfree: The Empty Set
“Portia, I Dreamt You Were a Princes” is beautiful little electronic postscript on a delicate lo-fi folk album by Manchester’s The Empty Set. The album, “Neat As a New Pin”, is well worth checking out. This track has a few seconds of silence at the start… stick with it!
The Empty Set – Portia, I Dreamt You Were a Princess by snipelondon
03 Sept 2010
Last Night in LDN: Mountain Man / Clock Opera
Mountain Man at St Giles-in-the-Fields. Photo by Anika Mottershaw
Clock Opera at Barfly. Photo by Paul Bridgewater
03 Sept 2010
02 Sept 2010
Grinderman vs Factory Floor
Via esteemed internet music journal The Quietus come this oppressive remix of Nick Cave’s Grinderman by Factory Floor. Worthwhile.
02 Sept 2010
Last Night In LDN: Zola Jesus / Idiot Glee / Caitlin Rose
Zola Jesus at C.A.M.P.
Photograph by Jonathan Fisher
Idiot Glee @ Cargo
Photograph by Paul Bridgewater
Caitlin Rose @ The Slaughtered Lamb
Photograph by Anika Mottershaw
02 Sept 2010
Daily MPfree: Zola Jesus
The wonderful and more than slightly mysterious neu-goth princess Zola Jesus plays one of our favourite venues, C.A.M.P., tonight. This track, Night, is her first UK single, out last week on Souterrain Transmissions and taken from the brilliant debut album Stridulum II.
01 Sept 2010
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
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