Some of you may recall that I have extolled the virtues of Legoland last year. I’m not in the habit of repeating myself consciously but this place is really worth talking about. As per, I was invited to go to the Adult Night at Legoland. One can compare the different themes by reading both posts. Or just looking at the pictures if you can’t read, no judgment here.
The fabulous above picture is in the building room adjacent to the Master Builder’s Office (featured image) I imagine this is in connection with the Sealife Centre which is just around the corner. I recommend this place also, just not on a weekend. There are only so many screaming toddlers one should tolerate at once.
What amazed me most about this month’s theme is the references to cult films scattered around Miniland. Observe the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters and the little Ghostbusters themselves tending to him lovingly by the Birmingham Library.
Observe the angry Octopus coming out of Edgbaston Reservoir heading straight for the Waterworks Tower (which was Tolkien’s inspiration for Sauron’s Tower in Lord of the Rings franchise.
Observe the frightful spider’s web on the Wesleyan Building in Snow Hill. Even the detail of the authorities at the foot of this building is well thought out. I am thoroughly impressed with this month’s display.
I really hope you will go to Legoland this month. Therein lies a feat of the imagination which few places in this town can boast.
St Nick and I disagree on a host of conversational pieces, chiefly whether Britain should return to the gold standard. But one thing we can agree on is that I have written a few poems. Below is embedded one which came to me in a dream. Subsequently, I wrote it out with Louise while we were having lunch at Cafe Reem after Mass.
From the opening bars, one can tell that this offering from Metronomy is really quite singular. I have admired this British band for some time but hitherto only knew about their singles. Delving into their albums was nothing short of sheer joy. Indeed they released their latest, Metronomy Forever, this month. In a way it is a relief to hear comparatively less impressive music as it puts our most loved albums into perspective.
Anyway, on with the review. The eponymous track and We Broke Free, which follows it, can only be described as introductory. With few lyrics, the idiosyncratic rhythm which underpins all MEtronomy songs is still present. But these opening tracks set the tone for the rest of the album. The luscious We Broke Free follows giving me an isight into what Pitchfork describes as “low slung 70s studio rock”.
The group began in 2006 as glitchy electronic smirkers, proffering a garishly irreverent take on chinstroking IDM. Yet for their third full-length effort, The English Riviera, they’ve fully transitioned into a sleek, urbane pop-rock outfit, taking polished cues from the well-heeled likes of Steely Dan and Phoenix. Pitchfork
The Look is perhaps one of the band’s most known songs and with good reason. The track is beautifully polished. She Wants is reminiscent to me of Gary Numan circa The Fury/Telekon. The delicious underpinning synth gliding melody lends itself very nicely to the ear, and the Bass guitar is not to be underestimated. Though I must say Trouble is one of my favourites on the album. This is one of the tracks on the album which really involve the listener. It makes you sit up and listen, invites you to come with Metronomy along the soundscape they have created. Arguably, this makes it a quasi-masterpiece.
…vigorously scrubbed, songs like “Everything Goes My Way”, “The Look”, and “The Bay” reflect dance and indie sensibilities, aligning those efforts more closely with the likes of Phoenix, Hot Chip, Junior Boys, and Stars. Pitchfork
I only hesitate to call Trouble a masterpiece because The Bay follows it directly. This is the most known track by the band I should think, again, not without good reason. The Bay captures and entrhalls you from the opening bars. The bass made me get goosebumps and then… wait and see for yourselves if you haven’t already. This is one of the outstanding tracks from the album.
Loving Arms didn’t rub off on me as effectively as Metronomy would have liked. Pitchfork call it polished but I find it monotonous compared to the other tracks. Corrine is the last energetic offering on the album before the denouement begins. Some Written is more laid back than the rest before the ethereal finisher, Love Underlined. There is a tiny sample of Grace Jones (From Nightclubbing) in this track. See if you can spot it.
The English Riviera is an album about returning and starting again. The Look, lead single and first breakout hit for the band, begins with the lines “You’re up and you’ll get down/ You’re never running from this town”, a warning apparently straight from the school of small-town heartbreak. But it ends on a different note: “This town is the oldest friend of mine.” Maybe escaping home isn’t the point. It’s about returning home, returning to a lover perhaps, and seeing things afresh. The Guardian
Overall, I would say this album is a win for me. Metronomy found its voice in this 2011 work and I am privileged to be able to hear music of this quality. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Of course by the time I am writing this, it is too late to see these fabulous exhibitions. But I will waffle on regardless. The Lisson Art Gallery is what I would consider a hidden gem in Marylebone. The exhibition itself is split between two buildings on the same street. The first is at 67 Lisson St.
The highlight of the Afterimage exhibition was this piece by Wang Youshen. This stems from the 1993 exhibition he did titled ‘Newspaper/advertising’ where he plastered the Great Wall of China with newspaper articles.
The exhibition ‘Afterimage: Dangdai Yishu’ is divided into several interrelated chapters, in order to examine a moment in Chinese contemporary art that signifies both a break with the traditions or aesthetic value – based on technical skills advocated by Chinese art academics from the twentieth century onwards and a gradual shift into new subjectivities that resist traditional concepts relating to medium, authorship and meaning. Lisson Brochure
Across the road at the second gallery, or first depending on which way you’re running, This fabulous piece by Lin Tianmiao is known as ‘Protruding Patterns’. The media it is constructed from are carpets. Lin Tianmiao was one of the first contemporary Chinese artists to gain international recognition.
‘protruding patterns’ features words and expressions about women in various languages which were collected by Lin Tianmiao over the years. using novels, newspapers, and colloquial dialogue as sources, the artist gathers phrases that demonstrate the power of language in reinforcing sexist attitudes. this lexicon is woven into thickly raised wool forms, becoming tangible to visitors who can touch and walk on the carpets. Design Boom
What I found most amazing about this piece was not the intricacy of the woven fabric but rather how interactive it was. One could and indeed should walk freely among this work and enjoy every aspect of it. The white walls surrounding it force your focus onto the colourful patterns beneath you, which I found quite striking.
All information on the current exhibitions can be found here.
Please do visit this fantastic free gallery if you have the time and inclination. You won’t be disappointed.
When Rishi sent me this book, I did not know how profoundly it would affect me and those close to me. Reading it gave me an insight into life. Any book which manages to do so is only to be lauded. I shan’t say any more because the podcast is just over 30 minutes long.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Please do let me know your thoughts, if you have any.
The insightful dialogue at the beginning and end of the podcast come from the Better Than Food book review of Siddhartha, accessible here:
