Ivan

Last day of work, that's it until January now, looking forward to the break. If anyone's reading who works in retail then the best of luck to you in the next few days. I did it myself for years and its' brutal, absolutely brutal.

But enough of my past endeavours, what about the last 12 months in music and film I hear you ask. OK, buckle up...

Album #4:
Dirty Beaches - Badlands

If you're a fan of scuffed-up lo-fi Taiwanese-Canadian rockabilly (and arent' we all in our own small way?) then 2011 was a vintage year for you. I love this album, this mix of murky, chugging rock'n'rollers and tender, muffled ballads where Ivan Zhang Hungtai comes over like a bruised and battered Chris Isaak. I think he'd be great live too, especially in a small bar with bad sound, a tiny stage and a 30 minute-set. Tops. And at least 10 minutes of that would be just the backing tape running whilst he slicked back his hair one final time and gave us a brooding look from under his perfectly-formed quiff. It's pop music, it's about the image as much as the music, and Ivan's is a great one. Sample track: True Blue

Film #4:
Snowtown

Here's a film that you might want to read a little about before rushing off to see. It's something that I would recommend to people I know well, but not the casual acquaintance or the complete stranger. It's grim, depressing, intense, grisly, menacing and there's an over-riding sense of hopelessness running all the way through it. It's an Autralian serial killer film that's done in such a matter-of-fact and naturalistic manner that it seems almost a logical progression for the main protagonist to be cooking up eggs and bacon for everyone one minute and doing some bloody awful stuff the next. And, if course people living in the disenfranchised community are drawn into his world by his charm and his seemingly altruistic vigilantism And then,naturally, once drawn in,coerced and forced to commit some pretty unspeakable acts. Far from an easy watch, but as a piece of cinema both horrific, rivetting and about as unsensational as you could possibly make a film about such a potentially lurid subject.