SAINT KING'S

Music, movies, tv shows, books, games... and other random stuff

[thesaintking]

"Missing You" - UK miniseries

This wasn't as great as the earlier Harlan Coben adaptations on Netflix. I think the show focussed on too many trivial things - for instance, the inclusion of the transgender actor, the almost entire black cast, the secret life of a bisexual/gay cop. Kudos to the makers for the race, orientation and gender equality; but that seems to be their only agenda with this miniseries. The writing and dialogue were both poor. The acting was just okay. I've said this before - I haven't read any of Harlan Coben's books so I don't know if the actual story is this bad or if it is just the adaptation.

Just because this a miniseries, I don't see the need for the plot to be rushed. The antagonist kidnapping multiple people, siphoning funds and then killing them was simply ridiculous. His greed almost seemed comical. Also, instantly forgiving an ex that ghosted you - equally ridiculous. They spent so much time on the trivial detail; surely they could have drawn out the rekindling of the relationship, if it was even necessary.

I like that the series covered deception/fraud through identity theft. Things like this are common these days and it informs the viewer to be aware.

[thesaintking]

Peter Bjorn And John - Darker Days

Despite its title, the album is surprisingly bright. But there are changes the sound of the band. While they haven't traded in their catchy pop tunes, their sound has become a bit heavier. This album, like many of their albums, features of mix of mellow soul, rhythmic pop and esoteric alt-indie.

One For The Team is a shimmering toe-tapper. The chunky guitars and softer vocals on Every Other Night colour this uptempo number in slightly darker shade than the other songs. Gut Feeling is a slice of radio friendly pop - something that bands like Bastille or Imagine Dragons would aim for. Elsewhere on the album is a sudden Beatles-throwback - Living In A Dream, which is a pleasant listen. Velvet Sky, the album's first slower number is dark, both lyrically and in its sound. Wrapped Around The Axle is a shimmying mid-tempo number that has the biggest sounds on the album. Dark Ages cuts a striking figure - it is my favourite song on the album because of the guitar work. I love it when the guitar is used to produce this particular sound. Sick And Tired has a bit of an 80s new-wave mixed with blues-rock feel to it, which I really like - quite experimental. Silicon Valley Blues sounds like the lovechild of Duran Duran and U2 - reaching arena rock sounds that feels like a new thing for PB&J. Heaven And Hell veers closer to psychedelic rock.

My version of the album includes the 3 songs from the EP that was released after the album. Bones is a delicate and emotional number. I was surprised that the title track, Darker Days, was left off the album - I've seen a few artists do this and I don't understand why. This track has a bit of a cinematic feel to it. I'm using Saying Goodbye to close the album, because it really fits as a closer.

[thesaintking]

Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism

I've had a strange relationship with Dua Lipa's music. I actively hated her first album (and don't care for much of it even today). The way she sang really grated on my ears - it was the opposite of melody for me. Maybe I'm overexaggerating, or maybe that hip-hop inspired talk-sung trop-pop album just didn't do it for me.

Dua's gone a bit more Euro since her second album and I like that. Radical Optimism picks up where Future Nostalgia left off. Also, how pretentious are all these album titles? Anyway, I was quite surprised when I found out that Kevin Parker has worked on the majority of this album. Have to say here that I'm only a fan of Tame Impala since Elephant. Andrew Wyatt, another favourite of mine, has also contributed here. Seems like Dua's taste in music has significantly improved since her first album? Or maybe her label has a clearer view of what sort of a popstar she should be? I'm freely posting my thoughts without doing the slightest bit of research about Dua, so forgive me if I'm wrong about something.

Anyway, I think the album is pretty amazing. Whether you're fan of Dua or not, this one is worth checking out. Houdini, Training Season, These Walls, Illusion, Falling Forever and Maria are all cracking tunes!

[thesaintking]

Restarting the daily post

This is the second time I'm restarting this blog. It's annoying that daily life makes it difficult to do the things I love. If only my day job was to post on blogs - how much fun would that be?!

[thesaintking]

Gossip - Real Power

Gossip's latest offering was my album for the day. How is it linked to my post from yesterday you ask? Well, Kaiser Chiefs worked with Xenomania, as did Gossip. This feels like a Xenomania week so far.

The album starts incredibly with the one-two punch of Act Of God and Real Power - with the former being the typical punchy anthemic indie-rock that one can expect from the band; and the latter being a joyful 70's disco experiment, with bells and strings accompanying the band. What a victory this song is! Nile Rodgers would be proud! Indie-disco-rock is a sound that resurfaces midway through the album - Give It Up For Love sounds like a song that The Ting Tings would have done on their debut - and that's not a bad thing at all. Don't Be Afraid is a slick groovy number that sounds like something to be played in someone's living room - very different from the huge disco number that preceded this song. The two sugary numbers on the album (Crazy Again and Edge Of The Sun) should have been spaced out instead of going back to back. Turn The Card Slowly is a highlight for the band, and for Beth. Sometimes she writes these fantastic songs that are so simple but so moving! What a brilliant tune. Gwen Stefani would kill for something like this. Tell Me Something's loud bass makes it sound out of place, but the song itself isn't too bad. Light It Up is not something I liked initially, but it snuck up on me - this is a dreamy mellow number. Both Tough and Peace And Quiet have a slight country influence.

[thesaintking]

Okay... Jordan Peele is my new favourite director. I know there's another movie by him that is on my list - but damn, I did not expect this when I watched Nope. I hadn't watched the trailer before I watched the movie. Netflix notified me that the movie was leaving the platform soon - and I wanted to check it out before it was gone forever. I saw that the genre was horror and I thought I'd give it a try.

I watched the movie first on Saturday and rewatched it today. Nope is filled with easter eggs. You have to pay attention to all the details - and movies like this are worth watching because of the effort that has gone into every little detail. Not only is this a combination of sci-fi/creature feature/horror, this movie takes one of the most generic pieces of sci-fi and twists it inside out. I cannot say anything more without spoiling the movie. So I'll summarise a few thoughts below:

The antagonist is not just a part of the movie, it is the movie. I will not reveal more than this. Remember the words "Jean Jacket".

The cast have done a fantastic job. Daniel Kaluuya is a familiar face. I knew that Keke Palmer is a singer and I've never been interested in her music. But I was surprised to find that she's actually done a whole lot more movies and TV than music. I don't know Brandon Perea and Steven Yuen - both gave their best.

I will write a detailed review on my Wordpress site (with spoilers) soon. And I will happily rewatch this movie any number of times. It is such a shame that it is going off the Netflix platform. Great movies like these should be immortalised on streaming.

[thesaintking]

Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once

What's the link to yesterday's post, you ask? Kylie did a duet with Hurts.

Kylie's songs are almost always an encapsulation of pure joy. There's something about her voice that is appealing, despite being very nasal most times. I think she does a great job finding the right set of collaborators. Kiss Me Once is far from her best album - but it is a solid collection of dance-pop. The scattershot approach of working with everyone from Sia, Pharrell Williams, MNDR, MNEK, Mike Del Rio (of Powers, who I will post about at some point of time) and even Enrique Iglesias.

I'm going to say this - please keep Kylie away from Sia, Pharrell and Enrique, please. That Enrique duet was so bad - I just had to delete it from my library. Strangely, the most Kylie-like song, Sleeping With The Enemy, isn't even written by her. What's worse is that it was a bonus track, not even on the main album. There were tons of side releases during this era - Skirt being the most notable one. Big change in the sound - it almost sounds like her producers were trying to recreate Britney's Work Bitch. Kylie's song was way better.

Also, can we just pause for a moment and think about why the photo used for Into The Blue wasn't the artwork for the main album?

[thesaintking]

Hurts - Happiness

Yesterday I posted about Calvin's album where Hurts were featured on two songs. So today had to be a Hurts album - it only made sense!

What a fantastic debut this was. And they really went all the way with the packaging too. I remember people losing their shit when they saw pictures of the packaging.

Theo and Adam take their music seriously... like, literally! This album is heavy - with dark and moody textures being enveloping Theo's brilliant vocals. Better Than Love has got to be one of the greatest songs of all time. Also, they did a duet with Kylie Minogue. They also did a live cover of Kylie's Confide In Me when they promoted this album. I think they should have recorded it in a studio - that song fits this album perfectly.

[thesaintking]

Calvin Harris - Motion

After all that discussion of the Calvin produced Off & On from yesterday, I had to listen to Calvin Harris.

On his third album, Calvin did very little singing. He brought in various people and produced instrumentals that supported their words and melodies. I wasn't too keen on this new approach - I liked his geeky dance-pop. But the rest of the world was already riding the EDM-wave and Calvin desperately jumped the bandwagon. His third and fourth albums are EDM-heavy. Since then, Calvin has explored funk and trance in his music. I wonder if he'll push the boundaries further and try something very new for him.

Motion is a 15-track album but I've had to trim it down to a 9-tracker. I'm not a big EDM fan - but I do like Hurts, Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani, John Newman and Haim. And what brilliant choices they all were. Ellie's Outside sounds like it has a melodic style akin to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's. John Newman's Blame is fantastic. I love his voice on retro sounds, but this sound also suits his voice really well. Haim's Pray To God changes the song-structure a little bit. We don't have the typical instrumental break after the chorus - which was a welcome change. And Hurts' Under Control is great, but their own work is significantly better. I think it was after this collaboration that Hurts explored a brighter soundscape on their third album. Gwen's Together has the most Calvin-like melody. If I hadn't checked the credits, I wouldn't have guessed that she co-wrote the song. And apparently, Ryan Tedder was involved too! And I find that strange because I can totally imagine Calvin singing the song with no change to the vocal melody.

[thesaintking]

Róisín Murphy - Overpowered

Continuing the link to yesterday's album is Róisín Murphy's 2007 masterpiece, Overpowered. How is this linked to Sophie's album, you ask? Well... Róisín wrote the song Off & On with Cathy Dennis and approached Calvin Harris to produce the song for this album. It didn't make the final cut - because it didn't fit the rest of the album according to her. Sophie eventually picked the song for her 2010 album Make A Scene. And if I'm being honest, Sophie's version sounds much better than Róisín's - almost like the song was written with Sophie in mind.

I really didn't know of Róisín until Sophie uploaded her demo of Off & On on MySpace (yes, remember the days when social media was simpler?) Anyway, there was quite a lot of discussion about Sophie re-recording Róisín's original and that's why I decided to give this album a try. If I liked Off & On, surely I'd like the rest of this album. While nothing on Overpowered sounds like Off & On, it still is a proper electropop album. I was also quite keen on checking this out after learning that Richard X and Andy Cato (of Groove Armada) were involved in the production.

Having played Off & On first, I'd instantly recognised Róisín's voice. This was the girl behind Sing It Back and The Time Is Now. Apart from those two songs, I didn't know much about Moloko either. After this album, I dove into Róisín's back catalogue - but that's a story for another day.

This album has so many highlights - the 4 singles, the moody Primitive and Dear Miami, Richard X produced Parallel Lives, and Andy Cato's Body Language. The b-sides are quite nice too - Keep In Loose in particular is my favourite.

[thesaintking]

This is a breath of fresh air from Imagine Dragons. I discovered them on their first EP, even before they became popular - and I've followed them ever since. But truth be told, they've been stuck in a creative loop - making the same song over and over. In fact, even the first single from their upcoming album sounds like a retread of their style and sound. These guys really have to move out of the industrial-pop sound to absolutely anything else.

[thesaintking]

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Make A Scene

Continuing the link from yesterday is Make A Scene by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Not only has Sophie worked with the same people as Little Boots, Hesketh is a fan, and appreciated Sophie's cover of New Order's True Faith on her Patreon account. Hesketh also referenced the Kitchen Discos in a song - and very recently post about her love for the Murder resurgence.

Make A Scene was originally a Greatest Hits album, but recording sessions for the album proved fruitful. So she and label decided to make an album out of it. Halfway through the process, Sophie was dropped (tragically) and she had to self-release this album. Given the messy release (an early Russian-release, and the errors on the CD booklet), the fact that some of the songs were released as collaborations (possibly due to better funding from other labels), and that this was originally meant to be a GH album - this album has always felt like a compilation of sorts.

That said, it is her only dance-centric album where she worked with big names from the industry such as Calvin Harris (on Off & On), Freemasons (on Bittersweet and Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer) and Richard X (on Magic and Starlight). It wouldn't be a Sophie Ellis-Bextor album without something quirky on it - enter title track, Make A Scene - the absolute best song on her album, and possibly one of the best songs in her entire catalogue. I would love for more quirky indie dance songs. Bring Metronomy and Hot Chip on your next record @sophie-e-b. And while you're at it, bring the Freemasons on board too. There's always room for another 80's-sampling banger.

Apart from the fantastic songs already mentioned, the Pet Shop Boys inspired Under Your Touch and the heart-wrenching Synchronised and Cut Straight To The Heart are all fantastic! Despite recording about 80 songs for the album, we only got 14 + 1 b-side, which is tragic. I hope an anniversary edition in the future includes more unreleased songs from the vault. There are plenty of remixes already - no more of those, thank you very much!

[thesaintking]

I didn't watch a movie this weekend, but I binge-watched the new season of Jurassic World. Actually, it's not just a new season, but a new series altogether. The previous series was called Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (Season 1) had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I asked my niece and nephew to watch it as well, since they're both big fans of this show. I've been a fan of the franchise since I watched the first Jurassic Park movie in the 90s.

Without giving away too much - lots of dinosaurs and great storyline. Oh, and Bumpy has a small role in this series as well. I would definitely categorise this as mild-horror (at least for children).

I can't wait for the next season! Spoiler alert: cliffhanger in the last episode!

[thesaintking]

Little Boots - Hands

Continuing the link from yesterday is Little Boots' debut album Hands. Not only is Boots (a.k.a. Victoria Hesketh) a Durannie (whose album I posted about yesterday), she also name-checks the band on her song Not Now.

My version of the album contains all the bonus tracks and b-sides, including the demos that were released later on the 10-year anniversary. (Sidenote: I would like more artists to release anniversary editions with previously unreleased material). I have left out the title track that was originally a hidden track on the main CD. My main problem with that song was that it stuck out like a sore thumb on the album.

This was her first and only commercially successful album. Hesketh's label went all the way with this. The who's-who of pop were lined up to make this album - Greg Kurstin, Biffco, Joe Goddard (fromHot Chip, of whom Boots is a fan), Anu Pillai (from Freeform Five), Pascal Gabriel, Fred Ball and even RedOne, who was surely a label-choice. Hesketh and her highly pedigreed list of collaborators have put together a fantastic pop album, that uses almost only synthesized sounds and no live instruments (...well, all apart from the title track which I left out - that one is an almost acoustic piece). But it isn't just her producers who are talented - interestingly, Hesketh is quite the studio nerd. She can play multiple instruments and even make good music with toys.

Hesketh has probably grown up listening to Giorgio Moroder's synthesizers, and this album seems to be heavily influenced by that Moroder sound. She recorded a cover of that Freddie Mercury x Giorgio Moroder hit Love Kills - which was released as a bonus track. Her cover is faithful to the original, and it suits her voice so well! There's something very pleasant about her voice - she doesn't have a big range and she doesn't experiment much with key changes and stuff like that. But she has a pleasant voice - and she knows how to use it. The only place her voice doesn't work so well is on the brilliant duet with Phil Oakey (from Human League). His voice completely overshadows hers.

Stuck On Repeat is the obvious highlight, but there's plenty of good songs to listen here. The anniversary edition gave us a few demos that I've tacked on the end of the album. They're a pleasant-enough listen, but not essential to the casual listener.

[thesaintking]

Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

I'm continuing the link between all my music. Mark Ronson (who I posted about yesterday) produced All You Need Is Now, which in my opinion is the best Duran Duran album ever. Interestingly, both Ronson's album and this one were released during the same year. (Also, I was supposed to listen to this album after the Scissor Sisters' album that I posted about - but chose to listen to Shania Twain instead. The link between this album and Night Work is Ana Matronic, who is the female lead from Scissor Sisters)

Duran Duran superfan Mark Ronson envisioned this album to be the sequel to their 1982 album Rio. While it is inspired by the 80's soundscape, it sounds very modern. There are lots of guitars, prominent synths, big melodies, stadium-ready choruses and many dance-ready numbers. There's an energy on this album that has been missing on the band's last few albums. Simon sings about everything from paranoia, killer-GPS, men stealing leopards, and, of course, models! There are 3 duets on the album - the Kelis collaboration is the highlight of the whole album. Of all the band's albums that I've heard, including their most successful ones from the 80's, this one remains my favourite. Hopefully they will go back to Mark Ronson sometime in the future.

The album was released in many formats with different tracklists. My version of the album leaves out some of the interludes that don't add much to the main album. I've compiled the bonus tracks from various releases on an EP called A Diamond In The Mind, which is actually the title of their live album. The 4 bonus tracks are fantastic - and should have been on the main album. But I imagine they were trying to avoid the "too much of a good thing" critique. I can't complain though - 16 stellar songs from these sessions. I'm happy Durannie!

[thesaintking]

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. - Record Collection

I've been telling people that I have organically discovered music - and there's a link between everything in my record collection. I'm going to attempt to draw the lines between everything I listen to on a daily basis. Yes, if it wasn't already apparent, I'm going to try and listen to an album a day and post about it here.

I have said this before and I will say it again - this is Mark Ronson's best album. On my version of the album, I don't have the 4 instrumentals and one song that I genuinely have no interest in listening to. The rest of album consists of fantastic songs by various artists including Andrew Wyatt (of Miike Snow), Rose Elinor Dougall (of The Pipettes - whose album I posted about yesterday), Simon Le Bon (of Duran Duran) and the fantastic MNDR, who I discovered on this album. The Simon Le Bon collaboration was quite the surprise! But it wasn't because of Duran Duran that I discovered Mark Ronson. I was already a huge fan of his second album. (Lily Allen brought Mark Ronson to my radar, but more on this in another post, on another day.)

Ronson leans into funk/soul here, like he did on previous album... but he also brings into the mix elements of new wave. While it only seems like a subtle shift in sound on paper, the album sounds significantly different from his previous album. Ronson also threw into the mix some hip-hop from his debut, by recruiting Ghostface Killah and Q-Tip again. While he allows many contributing artists to play instruments and co-produce the album, Ronson also takes the lead vocals on one of my favourites on the album - Lose It (In The End).

My only gripe is that Sound Of Plastic was an iTunes-only release, and it still isn't available in better quality anywhere. I genuinely wish Ronson would release this in a lossless format in the near future. I believe there was a limited edition vinyl-release for this one song - so I'm surprised it wasn't added to the main album.

[thesaintking]

The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes

Today's choice was the debut album by the UK 60's doo-wop inspired girl-group, The Pipettes. This is their only album as a band. I have both the UK and US versions of the album (the latter sounds more polished than the former) and the b-sides collection - some of which were bonus tracks on the different formats of the album.

I discovered this album back in the mid-noughties because the 60's inspired sound was gaining popularity at the time. Sure, Amy Winehouse's hit singles were all borrowing directly from these retro sounds, and Duffy would later go on to exploit the same sound. But truth be told, it was Brian Higgins and Girls Aloud who made this sound familiar to me. Girls Aloud's early music borrowed heavily from this sound, but Brian and co. would layer so many different sounds over the songs that they ended up sounding quite modern.

The Pipettes, instead, went straight for that Phil Spector "wall-of-sound" approach, and it worked well! Pull Shapes is an absolute banger and most of the other songs on the main album are a pleasant listen. The b-sides are more indie-pop than 60's sunshine-pop and doo-wop.

Rosay and RiotBecki left the band after this album. Gwenno, who wasn't even part of the original lineup went on to use The Pipettes' name with another person for one more album. She then released solo albums Welsh and Cornish. Rosay went on to work with Mark Ronson and released a few solo albums thereafter.