Review: Sigur Ros - Valtari for Rave Magazine

Read it online here, or in the latest issue. 

Somewhere between lapping up Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson’s triumphant solo efforts and replaying 2008’s Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust on desperate nights, I had begun to believe we’d heard the last from this Icelandic dream quartet. Yes, their sixth studio release was very nearly abandoned, but Valtari – which translates to ‘steamroller’ – is finally tangible. The bulk of the record stems from pre-recorded material; orphaned musical tangents and tracks that outgrew the projects that birthed them. Wherever they were once hiding, these eight tracks together form a striking and cohesive work. Valtari is certainly more minimal than we’ve heard Sigur Rós before. You could almost put it in the ‘ambient’ box, given the floating soundscapes and chilling stillness of Varðeldur and the title track, amongst others. Yet Valtari doesn’t feel lacking for its subtlety. Each layer is given due time to resonate, acting in harmony with Birgisson’s falsetto instead of pushing against it. There are the characteristic breakdowns and flashes of joyous frenzy, but they, too, feel more refined. Google-translating the titles and lyrics of any Sigur Rós track is risky, given their penchant for mixing their invented ‘Hopelandic’ with Icelandic. On the mercifully easy-to-translate finale Fjögur Piano (yep, ‘Four Piano’), the notes hang in the air by a single thread, before weaving into a fittingly haunting end. This steamroller doesn’t hit all at once. It moves gently, sweeping you up inch by inch before knocking the wind out of you.

Article: 'Sailing for Trash' for Run Rabbit Magazine

The second issue of Run, Rabbit magazine is coming together a treat. Here's a post I wrote for the blog since I can't reveal any of the main event yet. I am thrilled by the talent of all the contributors on board for this one, and I can't wait to share it with the world.

I come from a thrifty family. Our motto was always ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ – it may as well have been inscribed on our family crest. Growing up, Saturday morning meant trawling the Weekend Shopper for garage sale listings within an hour’s distance from our house. We’d each take a few dollars and high hopes of what we might uncover in a stranger’s carport.

When I was eight or nine, I found toys others had outgrown for only fifty cents. They were always cherished more because I felt I’d rescued them from a mess of unwanted junk. Later, as a self-conscious teen, I’d be scared to get out of the car in case I saw someone I knew from school. I was quickly lured out with the promise of cheap vintage finds my mother’s hawk eye often spotted. Some weekends were more lucrative than others, but it didn’t matter if we came home empty handed. It was the nature of the hunt.

Now, some five years since I last garage sailed with my family, the seas seem to have dried up. Driving through the Brisbane suburbs neighbouring my own, there’s a distinct lack of tatty cardboard signs advertising ‘MEGA BARGAINS’ and sausage sizzles. Is it because we can now list any unwanted bits and bobs on Gumtree or eBay without much hassle? Are we less inclined to invite strangers into our personal space – even if it’s just the front lawn or garage?

Review: Wes Willenbring 'Weapons Reference Manual' for Rave Magazine

View online here.

Thankfully, San Franciscan ambient musician Wes Willenbring doesn’t produce the kind of limply ethereal sounds you once meditated to that time you were trying to be more spiritual. On this, his third release, Willenbring wrests his raw guitar work together with distorting effects and chilling piano to create a record that’s more 'layered aural dreamscape' than 'soundtrack to Ikea catalogue'. Tracks like People Disappear Everyday wax and wane, with deeply immersive silences and striking instrumental work that jolts you back to consciousness. Short, achingly melancholic numbers pepper the highlight tracks. Most are just long enough to lose yourself in but Quaaludes presents fifteen minutes of humming guitar, melting uneasily into a hypnotic composition of warped effects. These soundscapes are tightly constructed but fluid enough that Weapons Reference Manual feels like a choose-your-own-adventure record; there’s undeniable emotion behind the dramatic scores and haunting static interludes, but what it evokes is up to you.

Review: The Mars Volta 'Noctourniquet' for Rave Magazine

This just in. That is, in Rave Magazine issue 1033.

Navigating The Mars Volta’s variety of prog-rock has never been simple; their breadcrumb trail of soundscapes and cryptic lyrics inevitably strays off course. The question is whether to go along for the ride on this, their sixth studio release.

Noctourniquet is a blazing riposte from a band often accused of self-indulgence, and of having reached their peak. These 13 tracks present some of the most accessible in the band’s catalogue, yet their many layers and melodic tangents may be still too dizzying for many of their critics. Coming in at just over an hour, this is a tighter and less frantic mind trip than long-time listeners will be used to.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s sprawling banshee vocals command both structured rock numbers like Aegis, and dreamier moments such as Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound. Never one to be outshone, guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez owns the rhythmic waves of lead single, The Malkin Jewel and the fire-slinging Molochwalker. Ambient nods to ‘70s prog-rock (In Absentia) and synth-heavy numbers (Whip Hand) melt into softly quivering lullabies (Trinkets Pale of Moon). Overall, you get the sense this record is their unique interpretation of the expression ‘less is more’.

Standing slightly askew beside neatly packaged, made-for-iTunes anthems, TMV have made another puzzle worth taking the time to piece together. If Rodriguez Lopez et al. lost you years ago, this record may not be different enough to win you back. For the unacquainted, ambivalent and fans alike, Noctourniquet begs to be heard – hallucinogens not necessary.

Four stars. 

Feature: 'Ethical Ink' for Living Vegan

I've got a featuring outline how to get a tattoo done sans animal products in the latest issue of Living Vegan Magazine. I was also charged with the task of testing and comparing chocolate biscuits. It was very onerous, as  I'm sure you can imagine.

I haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but I'll put some scans up soon.

Interview: Ashleigh Auckland for Mood of Monk

Recently I chatted to Brisbane songstress Ashleigh Auckland for Mood of Monk. Read online here or below.

The Wanderlust of Ashleigh Auckland

Wanderlust tugs at the restless mind, dragging us into the unknown. I feel the pull, too, so I relate when Brisbane songstress Ashleigh Auckland tells me she’s constantly on the move. Instead of the postcards and Facebook albums titled ‘Adventures’ most of us send back, Auckland internalises the world around her and weaves it into unaffected indie-pop.

The soon-to-be released Vagabond evolved with and apart from its creator, taking on a life and direction of its own, as creative works are sometimes want to do. Auckland says Vagabond isn’t the record she originally set out to produce, but in its fluid state, it became exactly what she wanted to release for her debut. The record is still raw and acoustic in nature, but it has taken on an unexpectedly darker tone. The title track is one hauntingly emotive example.

Feature: ''It's not the end of the world' for The Isthmus

Here's an apocalypse-themed fun piece I wrote for The Isthmus. What role do you play in end-times?

You can read it online here.

It's not the end of the world

By Anna Angel

I’m a big a Robert Frost fan as they come (at least, in any country where his poetry isn’t included in the national curriculum). I have his words tattooed on me, and I think he would have been a damn clever sort. But even I can admit his take on the apocalypse may have been a bit narrow.

Some say the world will end in fire;

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Robert Frost – ‘Fire and Ice’

Sure, there’s those who point the finger at fire, and ice hasn’t gotten off scot-free. But what about alien invasion, nuclear annihilation, the Rapture, Mayan prediction or freak cosmic accident? Luckily for the pessimistic and end-day curious amongst us, pop culture has picked up where Frost left off. In fact, we’ve become a little obsessed.

Feature: 'The Golden Era (terms and conditions apply)' for The Isthmus

Here's another piece I wrote in August for The Isthmus, discussing our cultural obsession with 'retro' in light of our actual past. I really enjoyed exploring the issues surrounding this one. 


You can read it online here.


The Golden Era (terms and conditions apply)


By Anna Angel

“You were definitely born in the wrong decade,” a friend says as if it is fact. Sure, I wear vintage clothing, collect retro oddities and have been seen at gigs doing the twist. But I couldn’t agree with rockabilly queen Imelda May when she told British press “the ‘50s were better in every way”. I’m grateful not to have grown up in Australia in the first half of the 20^th century. Why? My childhood epilepsy – then widely misunderstood – would probably have landed me in a psychiatric institution, such as this one, for a lack of better treatment options, as might my struggles with anxiety and depression. While that’s an uncomfortable thought, prospects would have been positively bleak if I had of been Aboriginal, gay or a non-European migrant. As morbidly hilarious as 1950s anti-gay propaganda and relics of the societal oppression of women may seem now, these were hardly ‘simpler’ times for many members of society. I set out to discover why we idealise elements of the past such as music, fashion and dinner table decorum and glaze over the glaring injustices.

Feature: 'Fear and Carbon in Canberra' for The Isthmus

In my final semester of uni I worked on a collection of articles for a new intelligent pop culture journal called The Isthmus, a project headed by Stephen Harrington. I also acted as online editor, subbing and workshopping all articles before publication. It was a fantastic experience and the team was made up almost exclusively of fun, creative pop culture enthusiasts. 

I've held off posting them until now because there's been a few kinks with the site meaning it never properly launched. I'm like a kid holding up finger painting: 'look, mummy, look what I did!' I just can't wait. 

So, here's a research/opinion piece I wrote in late July on the heated carbon tax debate - before it was passed. You can read it online here. 

Fear and Loathing in Canberra: a savage journey into the heart of Australian politics

By Anna Angel

There is nothing to fear but fear itself, except the pricing of carbon, that is. The debate over the proposed carbon tax has divided the nation like nothing since the introduction of the GST. Tony Abbott advised his party members to keep the argument ‘civil’ only moments before they called on a national rally in Canberra to “maintain the rage”. “We don’t want our country reduced to two warring camps,” he said.  Sorry, Tony, but it might be a little late for that. Rhetoric and commentary from both sides of the war on carbon have been nothing less than hysterical since the pricing scheme was introduced in July.  In this all-out screaming match, fear mongering is the favoured tack.  We are presented with an apparently impossible choice: implement the tax and our families will go hungry,

fail to do so and eventually, our families will go hungry. Whichever side of the fence you’re on, heavy spin from politicians and media alike aims to ensure you’re not left sitting on it.

Run, Rabbit Issue 1

This is what we made.
There's been a really positive response so far, and I'm so impressed with the contributions that came my way. What could be better than working with creative, inspiring people on an exciting and rewarding project?
Read all about it at www.runrabbitmagazine.com.
If you think you, or someone you know, might be interested in contributing to the next issue, here's what we're looking for: