Yonass Feat.Mandie Davis - anY Mad noises (Chordvine)

Based in the Charente Maritime region of France, the collaboration between French composer Yonass Bignon and English vocalist Mandie Davis, assisted by two additional musicians in a live setting, has given birth to an album featuring an assortment of songs varying from trip hop to adult contemporary, occasionally bordering on lounge.

On receiving this lo-fi record in the mail, I was initially struck by the bands apparent willingness to tackle taboo subjects like alcoholism, anorexia and bondage in their music, something not commonly prevalent on a debut album especially in the pop realm.

The album starts off with notable irony as the opening words of the album mention ‘ghosts’, akin to Mandie’s distinguishable ghost like wispy vocals throughout the album. Kicking off with a song clearly based on the experiences of anorexia, ‘Under my Skin’ provides with its simple keyboard refrain and processed beats a simple but delicately moving melody. By the second song of the album ‘A Seed’ it becomes clear that the albums stock in trade is intimacy often creating the sense that the music exists for the listener's ears and for listener's ears only. Such intimacy makes their music incredibly romantic, in addition to being incredibly gorgeous.

With a sound and line up similar to Bristol’s most acclaimed, comparisons to Portishead is inevitable but what differentiates them from the trip hop’s elite is the adoration of texture and sonic depth seen in standout tracks like ‘Accroché’ , with its compelling angelic vocals backed by processed beats complete with percussive breaks ‘and ‘Zephyr’ featuring syncopated rhythms indicating that for all the trip hop and lounge influences this album borrows from, this is for the most part a percussionist’s album utilizing impressive and eclectic instrumentation.

While the first four songs are more indicative of the mood of the album as a whole displaying a varied range of colors from a seemingly limited palette, the latter part of the album takes a downturn crossing the perimeter into a soporific, sleepwalking kind of haze. Some songs like ‘Colour of Pain’ and ‘Blink’ clearly miss the mark exposing the shortcomings of the album as the relative lack of versatility and tightness of structure letting the songs to meander on past their health.

Although the track ‘Sweet November’ offers an interesting take on pop music, a nice digression from the melancholy of the remaining songs, it does nothing to resolve the monotony of the setting album which in support of such tough subject matter calls for harder edged rhythms and more pronounced hooks.

Clearly stated this album is not one that will appeal to a wide audience but for the open minded few, it offers what it promises, a stripped down, nuanced, late night mood one conducive to long drives. Ultimately the duo does exhibit a lot of promise laying down a solid foundation which hopefully can be built upon in future albums.

Yoav - Charmed & Strange (Chordvine)

With a back story that would make any music journalist dizzy with glee, Yoav Sadan who simply goes by Yoav is an Israeli born musician of South African descent that has been a rising star on the charts and a club favorite since his inception into mainstream America after slipping his music demo into the purse of a powerful record executive. His debut album ‘Charmed & Strange’ manages to develop a unique sound presenting a broad spectrum of styles, from pop to light via soft rock and electronic rock.

A unique name to match a truly esoteric sound, Yoav manages to create a set of songs based just on his vocals and an acoustic guitar, however unlike typical singer/songwriters he doesn’t strum or play his guitar, rather he teases, taps, beats, feeds and loops effects to create a sound more closely linked to hip hop. Compared to artists like Beck, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead and Damien Rice, the folk element in his songs gives way to a sound derived from the dance floor.

Throughout the album’s 11 songs, he reinvents the use of an acoustic guitar altogether, processing and reprocessing sounds to create almost unrecognizable electronic beats, played on a loop using a pedal.

The most popular song off the album ‘Club Thing’ is a club hit featuring these electronic beats layered with Yoav’s soulful voice, a track that could have been performed by Justin Timberlake. Another track ‘There is Nobody’ highly resembles Bronski Beat's 1980s hit “Smalltown Boy," while the guitar solo on the second single off the album ‘Beautiful Lie’ is notably inspired by U2 guitarist Dave Evans' performance on the group's album "The Joshua Tree."

Sadan's album closes with his moving cover of The Pixies' "Where is My Mind”. Chosen for nostalgic reasons, he stays true to the albums experimental motif while at the same time delivering an emotional and heart wrenching performance of this critically acclaimed song.

Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant is probably best known for directing the Oscar winning movie ‘Good Will Hunting’ and the remake of ‘Psycho’ but his heart truly lies in directing art house classics or indie movies as they’re better known such as ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ and ‘My Own Private Idaho’. His best movies are usually considered to be ‘the death trilogy’, three films based on true life events. The first film ‘Gerry’ released in 2002 deals with euthanasia and how physical isolation affects people. The second ‘Elephant’, a movie based on the Columbine Massacre deals with murder and social isolation experienced by teenagers on a daily basis. The third and my favorite ‘Last Days’ depicts the final few days of an artist similar to the late Kurt Cobain before he commits suicide. Like other films of the trilogy this movie deals with mental isolation in which Michael Pitt delivers a stellar performance. His latest indie venture might be the best one yet. ‘Paranoid Park’ a movie on exactly that – paranoia shows a skater teen who accidentally kills a security guard trying to deal with the situation.
Now most people who will go out and rent these movies or download them on my suggestion, be warned these are not the average light hearted popcorn movie. The reason that makes these movies so special is the experimental approach applied by Van Sant in all of them. Minimalist dialogue and narration, no linear connections between scenes and starting at different points in time are all traits that he uses to full effect. Open minded people will truly love how he’s able to capture the mood and feeling of each scene with any particular story line. As for the narrow minded ingrates, I think the new bond movie is out….