FOSTER THE PEOPLE – PUMPED UP KICKS

This summer’s Odessa by Caribou.

James Franco’s To Do List

‘Hhmmm, if I sit here long enough stroking my chin and staring at this book cover, then someone might photograph me and people will forget I made ‘Your Highness’ and remember how arty I am.’

The first time I realised that modern day renaissance man James Franco was more than just the guy who played Peter Parker’s bfbnfbhkhf* in Spiderman was a couple of years ago in Paris. I was in one of the Latin Quarter’s tourist trap restaurants with a friend when the camp, middle-aged frenchman dining alone on the table next to us asked what films we’d seen recently. The conversation went something like this:

My friend: Um, I saw Pineapple Express.

Strange Man: Oh, who plays in this Pineapple Express?

My friend: An actor called James Franco is in it.

Strange Man: Oh! James Franco! Yes I know James Franco. What other films have you seen?

Me: Well, I did watch Harry Potter the other day.

Strange Man: Is James Franco in this one?

Me: Uh, no. He isn’t.

Strange Man: Ah, I see. Have you seen any other films with James Franco in?

Me: Um, Spiderman.

Strange Man: And did you like James Franco in this one?

Me: Yeah, I s’pose.

Strange Man: So what other films have you seen with James Franco in?

And so on and so on it went. I detected that the man had a soft spot for James Franco. Since then the Franc’s numerous artistic and academic ventures (books, artshows, albums, creative writing masters to name a few) have seen his value rise dramatically. I feel absolutely certain in my  statistical estimations when I say that in the last year 50% of all cultural magazine and sunday supplement article headlines have been a variation on the sentence ‘James Franco does a lot of different things’. Ever ready to go to extreme lengths to get the latest lowbrow culture lowdown, I concocted an elaborate plan to break into his house undetected and see if I could get a heads up on any of his future projects. The plan is too elaborate to go into here so I won’t bore you with the details, instead I shall just provide  my findings.

*bfbnfbhkhf = best friend but not forever because he kills his father

Favourite Five*… Modern Classics of Swedish Pop to Hear at Glastonbury This Summer

Indie pop goes the swedish librarian.

If like me you go weak at the knees for swedish girls singing catchy left of centre pop songs then you too will have rejoiced at the recently announced Glastonbury line-up. For this summer there will be (WARNING: lazy Swedish pun approaching) a smorgasbord of swedish pop sirens (BAM!) performing. A relatively small smorgasboard perhaps, one with only enough room for three different catchy melody infused dishes but for the interests of tacky Scandinavian wordplay in this post, a smorgasbord none the less. In honour of this here’s our favourite five* swedish pop songs to sing along with at the world’s greatest festival.

* It’s five plus one fave songs because we love each of these three artists equally so gave them two songs each.

1. THOSE DANCING DAYS – Hitten

Sweetness songified. But not sickly at all.

2. THOSE DANCING DAYS – Those Dancing Days

Can’t think what to call your jaunty new tune? Then just repeat your band name!

3. ROBYN – Dancing On My Own

I’ll dance with you Robyn.

4. ROBYN – Call Your Girlfriend

I haven’t got a girlfriend Robyn. Do you want to be my girlfriend?

5. LYYKE LI – Little Bit

I am more than a little bit in love with you Lykke Li.

(5 +1 =) 6. LYKKE LI – Tonight

Tonight, I’ve been given a restraining order for stalking swedish pop stars. Karin Andersson, watch out.

MEIN HAUS AM SEE – BERLIN

Bar/Cafe Mein Haus Am See located in Rosenthaler Platz in the trendy district of Mitte, is the epitome of Berlin cool. Open 24/7.  A friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Great music. Stylised and comfortably cool furnishings rather than chic and intimidating.  Graffited walls. And the Berlin bar staple that stands out for any Brit in the German capital: table service.

Check out their blog here: http://www.mein-haus-am-see.blogspot.com/

Brunnenstrasse 197, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Some Things From 2010

Whilst all the various old and new media publications predictably caught their annual bout of end-of-year-retrospective-list-mania, we here at Les Flâneurs wondered aloud about the point in trying to order items of popular culture from best to worst. So, trying to be all pretentious and different, we present to you instead a small ‘collection’ or ‘grouping’ if you will of some people, things and stuff that happened this year which might not get the look in they deserve elsewhere. You may think that this ‘collection’ looks suspiciously close to a ‘list’ of some of our favourite stuff of the last twelve months but it’s not. It’s definitely not a ‘list’. If anything its our handouts of awards for that year that just left. Obviously, our recipients of these precisely titled awards are not winners, are not ‘The Best of 2010′. We’re just saying ‘Well done. You existed in 2010 and we noticed.’

So, without further ado:

Most hipster director with the talent to back up the style: Xavier Dolan

He made his first film I Killed My Mother when he was just twenty years old and it was shown at Cannes in 2009. He returned to La Croisette this year with Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats in English) which he wrote, directed, edited and starred in. He looks like he’s straight out of the viral anti-hipster hit Being a Dickhead’s Cool except this young Quebecois actually has a mass of filmmaking substance with which to back up his style.

Most blog-focused German literary copyright case: Axolotl Roadkill

Another precocious young artist, 17 year-old Berliner Helene Hegemann, who already had a play and a film to her name released her debut novel Axolotl Roadkill this year. The story about a 16 year-old girl exploring Berlin’s club and drug culture after her mother dies was a literary sensation in Germany on its release, finding its way on to best seller lists and nominated for Best Novel at the prestigious Leipzig Book Fair. But the hype was dampened when she was accused of plagiarising whole pages from a little-known novel Strobo by Berlin blogger Airen. In defence she declared that she was part of a generation that has grown up with copyright infringement on the internet, people taking other people’s work for free and then using it for their own new purposes. In her view, this wasn’t stealing but literary mixing as it were.

Most underrated album  by a band whose singer resembles the love-child of Hollywood comedy star Jack Black and World Cup winning midfielder Andrès Iniesta: In Evening Air by Future Islands

Future Islands are not a trendy band. They may come from the hipster loved city of Baltimore but they lack the model looks of fellow Baltimore-based Beach House, and subsequently the press attention. They are just a bunch of portly white geeks in bad t-shirts. Unfairly, this has meant that their latest release In Evening Air has been somewhat overlooked. This is a cruel shame as their mix of atmospheric synths and strong basslines with heart-wrenching, big-man soul vocals makes the album one of the most emotive of 2010.

Most intriguing (yet still quite clichéd) vodka financed internet film project of the year: I’m Here by Spike Jonze

Financed by Absolut vodka, this short by Jonze could be watched on the website imheremovie.com as a virtual trip to the cinema with your friends by logging on to facebook. Although it suffered from some of the similar grating dialogue that his full-length feature of last year Where The Wild Things Are did, like that film it looked great and mixed CGI facial expressions with live actors in suits. Is this the type of promotional online feature we will be experiencing more of as studios go bust through online piracy and independent filmmakers try to make a living?

WE CAN BE HEROES

Short, dialogue-free film by Simon Hutchins (yes, this is blatant nepotism but it really is rather good) that subverts the ‘Apocalypse’ genre. It’s in two parts so you can watch part 1 above or click here to be redirected to vimeo for it, and here for part 2.

Les Flâneurs Awards 2010

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Unless you have a particular aversion to fuzzy, anthropomorphised puppet creatures or anything associated with the festive season makes your skin crawl, then you will surely agree that The Muppet Christmas Carol is the greatest Christmas film ever made. It is impossible to improve on.  (If you are in the position of Christmas cultural poverty in which you’ve never seen the film, then you’ll just have to take my word for it.) However, it is much, much, more than just ‘the greatest Christmas film of all time’, it is also, one of the greatest films of all time of any kind and the greatest musical movie ever. FACT.*

Here are the reasons why The Muppet Christmas Carol is The Greatest:

• Michael Caine as Scrooge is GREAT.
• The Muppets are GREAT.
• The songs are GREAT. (”You know wherever you find love it feels like Christmaaaasss” – aahh)
• The boundary-crossing narrative tool that uses Gonzo (claiming to be Charles Dickens) and Rizzo the Rat as on-screen story tellers who break the fourth wall, directly addressing the viewer whilst at the same time interacting with the characters on screen who are unaware of the viewer, brings an almost Brechtian element to the film. Which is GREAT.

That’s FOUR GREATS! The Muppet Christmas Carol then must be THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE…

Cultpops December I: BBC Sound of 2011 Special

Jai Paul. Front Page image – James Blake.

At this time of year for the last few years the BBC compiles a bullshit list of artists that silly music industry types have told them will be the next big thing of the coming 12 months. Worse than that, the organisers turn it into a knockout competition. Starting with fifteen, then counting down each day until one remains: the artist that will be the ‘Sound’ of the new year. It’s basically just a big promotion stunt by the music industry to promote their new acts. Those that get on the list are those that have the most promotion money and biggest marketing machine behind them. Last year, Ellie Goulding won. The year before, Little Boots. That says it all really. However, there are always a few interesting, and actually good smaller artists that manage to squeeze on the list- Gold Panda and Joy Orbison last year for example. This year there are a handful artists in the list who, although it’s meant to be about 2011, have actually already created some of the best songs of 2010.

See the complete Sound of 2011 list here.

BTSTU by Jai Paul

If music like this song by the definitely J-Dilla influenced londoner Jai Paul is what we can expect more of, then 2011 will be une belle année. We won’t be doing a ‘Best tracks of 2010′ list here on Les Flâneurs, but if we were this would be fighting for the top spot.

Limit To Your Love and CMYK by James Blake

If we are to take the ‘Sound of ‘ list at face value, then the solo male producer/singers making electronic soul and ‘post-dubstep’ (can music journalists please invent a more interesting title if you insist on forcing artists into your own fabricated genres) will dominate whatever it is that people on this list are meant to dominate in the world of music. Certainly not mainstream radio play. The living rooms of music industry and media types? Jai Paul, Daley, Jamie Woon and this guy all fall loosely into that category but Blake perhaps is the most rounded as these two songs prove. CMYK is a Kelis vocal sampling dubstep/house crossover in the vein of two of last year’s ‘Sound of’ artists- Gold Panda and Joy Orbison. Whereas, on Fiest cover Limit To Your Love Blake shows off his own tender vocal talent backed by minimalist piano and electronics to really heighten the lyrics of the song. The truthful idea that someone you love will only love and care for you to a certain point and that you are aware of this really hits home hard. His version is truly heart-wrenching.

Punching A Dream by The Naked And Famous

Ok, this band is nothing more than an Antipodean Passion Pit rip-off and this song certainly doesn’t push the boundaries of new music but hey, it’s lot of fun. And isn’t that the most important thing…

Traktor by Wretch 32

You can tell that the majority of people involved with compiling the ‘Sound of’ list every year are white and middle class as there will usually only be one token black British mc. Last year it was Giggs. This year it’s Wretch 32. Definite ‘cross over potential’ (a term always bandied around during these sort of things) but perhaps Dels would have been a more interesting choice.

Undertow by Warpaint

The all female group is one of only two US bands on the list and also the best guitar band.

Student Protests Photo Essay

Tomorrow, the commons vote on raising tuition fees in England to £9000. Will the result prove the student protests of the last few weeks in London and across the country to have been effective? Or will the vandalism of a few breakaway groups show itself to be harmful to their cause?

Thanks to Oliver Bamfylde at www.theshutterandeye.blogspot.com for the photos.