Jack Spratt review

JACK SPRAT E-Magazine FIRST ISSUE REVIEW
Jack Sprat Press
Edited by Emily White

The Fanzine becomes E-zine
That’s about it really with the use of modern technology the fanzine has come a long way from mimeographed sheets stapled together. Boomed with the easy access to he photocopiers and then the desktop printer. Now we seem to have moved onto to the next phase.
Handmade and designed ‘zines for your Kindle.
Jack Sprat calls for the dark and whimsical through Flash Fiction and short four page comics. Speculative fiction and shorts  in the vain of 2000AD - Tharg’s Future Shocks.
The first issue is a mix bag with some hits and a few misses. The rather tentative theme of this issue is music with each story and artwork being inspired by a song title. Obviously I don’t listen to the dark corners where these songs are played because I didn’t recognise any of the titles. But that is neither here nor there as the first story Bring Me To Life is lovely little spin on the Pinocchio fairy story. While A Tea Party gives us an amusing look at zombie good taste in more ways than one and looks at the Walking Dead from their perspective, one we can never really understand. The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden a quick dark humour ditty that reveals some people have no luck whatsoever.
Where the stories hit the comics miss. Choosing story over art only one of the three stories worked for me. Silent Falling the telling of how an Astronaut chooses to go out in glory and is the closet to a Tharg based story, whereas Started From The Bottom is a punchline looking for a story, the non-dialogue The Burning Bride just lost me.
All up Jack Sprat is finding its identity and for a first attempt it’s admirable. The concept works. This is the perfect package for a bus stop or waiting room pause.

Danny Nolan

Review-HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two

Review HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two
Contributors: Various, Edited by Garth Jones

Then
 In the tradition of Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic, Tales from the Crypt, 2000AD, Oz Magazine and Metal Hurlant, Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an anthology of 75% R-rated (but not necessarily adult), uniquely Aussie myth spinning, prose, politics and pulp soundtracked by Rose Tatts, soaked in Melbourne Bitter and dyed defiantly navy blue.

Now
Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an Australian pulp narrative anthology showcasing comics, gonzo journalism, scathing political polemics and MORE.

Available as Digital download and Print On Demand Details Here

 HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two was delivered on time as promised and with it a few surprises. As an anthology it is still finding its feet,, experimenting with content and styles.
 A direction I’m quite pleased with,
This issue is more reminiscent of Dodgem Logic and Oz than the first which was heavy with sequential and satire pieces. Slightly larger than issue One it features Aussie comedian heavyweights Tony Martin and Justin Hamilton and top of their game comic contributors such as Sacha Bryning, Dean Rankine, Scott Fraser, Matthew Huynh and Matthew Dunn amongst others. This issue sees the first issue sequentials tucked away (with the exception of Scott Fraser’s Melbourne based supernatural turf war piece, SHADOW RUMBLE) the vacant pages have been jammed packed with essays, prose and pictorials which take nothing way from the original anthology concept but totally enhance it. Respected scribes Emma Beddows, Emmet O’Cuana, John Harrison and Laura Crawford provide informative and entertaining pieces as interesting as they are insightful and Kellie Gollings’ ABANDO photography is gorgeously reproduced and is a great argument for the procurement of the printed version. With the he addition of Turd Circus’ Tony Lewis we are also privy to some of the funniest satire you’ll see in Australia at the moment. The thing HBVB has going for it that I admire is that it has real “I’m a bastard, so what? “ attitude,   (just check out the provocative cover for proof) and wants to push the boundaries of safe traditional magazines. Who knows? Maybe the time is right to bundle everybody’s differing ideas into one package and fuck the niche markets. HBVB has a massive potential as a new outlet for established and new talent and its bold graphic design and content is loud enough to be noticed within the mainstream and hopefully scare it enough to take notice.
Issue Three promises the return of the sequential pieces BOLT, MARALINGA, HEAVY ANGEL, BABALON SHOKK and HOLT which were a large part of the promotion of Issue One,
BRING ON ISSUE THREE.

Home Brew Vampire Bullets

Home Brew Vampire Bullets
A quick review

Home Brew Vampire Bullets or HBVB is an anthology to prepare the unsuspecting public for the first real issue proper due to be published in many formats come November this year. It announced itself as the bastard child of such wonderful classics such as Metal Hurlant (no mention of the Nation Lampoon sponsored US version Heavy Metal) Tales from the Crypt, Oz Magazine and 2000AD (the earlier version , not the later I hope) and more current publications such as Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic.
 It promises a great collection - to quote: “uniquely Aussie myth spinning, prose, politics and pulp sound tracked by Rose Tattoo, soaked in Melbourne Bitter and dyed defiantly navy blue.”.
 It doesn’t disappoint, to a point.
HBVB has many talented people in its stable.
Those stories featured in this anthology which have made Issue one a promising "must get" are: The Many Harold Holts of Space and Time, Maralinga, Heavy Angel, Bolt and BABALON SHOKK. (see credits for artists in the contents screen grab below). All have the look of what I consider good adult entertainment. We have some classic faux ads, much in the tradition of 70s legend Tony Edwards Captain Goodvibes Collections and later days Chaser newspaper. The classic Martin Sharp style birth control advert is a killer. My only concern is that HBVB doesn’t try to be Ocker Aussie with a political correct and left wing leaning. The prose piece titled The Tachyon Tribulations of Dr. Radium read like a lefty Uni students whine because the election didn’t go the way he dreamed. As the Chaser Boys discovered it’s just as funny to see things from the other wing of politics as well. All up I’m looking forward to issue One and at AU$1.99 for a 4 different format (ePub, pdf, Mobi for Kindle and CBR for comics reader like Comic Zeal) from gumroad.com it’s a bargain to boot. A pdf only version is also available through scribe.com.

Dr Dee: An English Opera

Dr Dee An English Opera by Damon Albarn
 Damon Albarn has spent the good part of the last decade producing music a million miles away from his band blur and traveling all over the globe listening to music from as many different cultures as he could. This of course has led to a massive output of original and fascinating pieces. All these travels from Gorillaz to Chinese opera bring him full circle to a different kind of Brit Pop.
Dr Dee An English Opera.
Originally meant to be collaboration between Albarn, Jamie Hewlett and Michael Moore for the Manchester International Festival it fell on Albarn’s broad shoulders to carry the project when Hewlett and Moore moved onto other projects. The original Manchester Festival performance and the later Onefest performance are different from the album reviewed here. Albarn has said the piece has been an evolving project and when it is to be performed in June for the Cultural Olympiad he hopes to have a proper narrative running through the whole performance.
But back to the May album release.
Without the narrative Dr Dee seems like an experiment in medieval pop and there are some wonderful pieces here. The much promoted Apple Carts and The Dancing King (originally titled The Reigning Queen) are two standouts but it’s the three tiered The Moon: Exalted that is a highlight with soprano Victoria Couper and Albarn giving the song a strong emotional edge and mingled in and out some beautiful thematic melodies to add more sadness to what comes across as a song of regret and loss.
The use of traditional instruments builds an atmosphere of time and place but its Albarns vocals that give the album it’s true Englishness. This is no more evident with Marvelous Dream (originally titled Claxton), sadly in the earlier versions the chorus included a woodwind compliment that gave it an almost carnival feel. It still shines as another great piece of poppy traditional music.
All up Dr Dee delivers a great selection of tunes that crosses a broad sphere of musical tastes and once again shows Albarns brilliance as a song craftsman. I look forward to the inevitable DVD release of later performances hopefully with the full stage performance with narrative and actors. Then we will rally see this music shine.

 Other Bits!
 The melody of Apple Carts and part of the Tree of Beauty can be heard on the DVD The making of Plastic Beach soundtrack that came with the special edition of the Plastic Beach CD in 2010. Both Albarn and Moore have conflicting reasons why the colloboration failed to work out but the work Alan Moore did do for the project (unfinished) was published in Strange Attractor.
The track Nine Point Star originally featured an actor reciting matjamatical equations delivered over a Tony Allen's drum progression

 The Moon: Exalted original version (with it's original title To Love Another)
   

Couple of quick album reviews

Pajama Club - Self Titled Debut

The Pajama Club
Neil Finn gets better with change

It seems the only constant in Neil Finns life is his marriage.
After so much fame, fortune and musical metamorphoses, whether it be Split Enz, Crowded House, The Finn Brothers or the many musical collaborations on stage he has had with the members of bands as diverse as the likes of Pearl Jam, Radiohead and The Smiths Neil Finn still manages to shine as a pure 100% nice guy and super talent.
This nucleus of the Pajama Club was created at home in New Zealand when Neil and Sharon Finn were basically mucking around in the home studio to have a bit of fun as married couples do when the kids have left the nest.
From these bass and drum tracks (Neil on drums. Sharon on bass) Neil constructed the songs that appear on the album.
The fact that neither Finn were playing their preferred instrument makes the construction of the songs even more magical as they don’t have the technical discipline one picks up with an instrument played with proficiency. Thus there are little quirks popping up all over the place. That and the fact Neil Finn is one of the leading songwriters on the planet adds to the mix.
Sharon is no slouch in the singing department is just a wonderful vocal match to Neil as his brother Tim.
The songs kick off with the almost tribal beat of Tell Me What you Want, and listening to the lyrics reveals a sexy under belly . The Pajama Club actually shine brightest when Sharon and Neil share vocals, Songs such as Tell Me Golden Child and Go Kart are some of the best songs I’ve heard this year,
Others like Diamonds in her Eyes and TNT for Two reinforces the strength of this album.
In a nut shell this album is simply better than the last two Crowded House albums and the Finn Brothers release.




Neighborhoods BLINK182

Blink182’s first album in 8 years thanks mainly to a “hiatus” instigated by Tom DeLonge to start Angels and Airwaves. Neighborhoods carries on from where Blink’s last album finished and incorporates what the members learnt along the way with their solo releases- A&A, +44 and Travis’ solo album “Give The Drummer Some”

The album is exactly what American popular music needs right now and has been justified with a debut at number 2 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts.
And rightly so, this album is chock full of melody, killer riffs and powerpop to dance to.
The opening track GHOST ON THE DANCE FLOOR with its future single hook line crashes out of the speakers and never lets up for the rest of the album.
Those who are quick can get the limited release with 3 extra tracks, one and interlude to HEARTS ALL GONE and the other two FIGHTING FOR GRAVITY and EVEN IF SHE FALLS leaves you wondering why they were excluded from the intial release.
Other strong stracks are the first single UP ALL NIGHT, WISHING WELL andKALEIDOSCOPE.
Some say their best album so far, every listen makes me think so too, but I still have a soft spot for the last release when the band really grew up.