Braquo series 2

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did watch the second series of this very violent French detective drama, on bluray discs, and I am not sure my mind was improved by the watching. Large sections of this series could be taken directly from a horror film, particularly the numerous torture sequences. The plot revolves around numerous criminal gangs and police factions seeking gold and weaponry in Paris, is in parts ludicrous, and at all times extremely difficult to follow. This is not aided by most of the characters being similarly dark, greasy, unshaven, and wearing black leather jackets. And that is just the women. Buried in here somewhere is quite a good  story about a colonel seeking revenge on those who betrayed his soldiers in Angola. Any sympathy for him is countered by the tendency of his men to shoot any civilian bystander in the way. Compared to Spirals, the other recent French detective drama, the characters are here far less engaging, and the ambience is much more brutal, though the writing is better. Rather an ordeal than a pleasure then, though appealing to those who like this sort of thing, or wish to brush up on their French obscenities.

Ghost: Infestissumam

I have listened to this album quite a few times now. It is not as good as their first; in particular it makes excessive use of minor key semitone slides which gives it a congested tone when the songs are heard consecutively. A couple of tracks make passable singalongs, particularly "Monstrance clock". Creepiest lyrics and chorus I have heard for ages are on "Body and Blood".  Zombie Queen to me sounds cobbled together and Secular Haze plain silly. The problem with vocals and tunes that can actually be heard is that they have to be correspondingly good to attract a repeat listen, and I am not sure how much more this will spin. Acoustically sounds fine to me, at least on red vinyl; bass could be a bit louder, maybe.

Jex Silhouettes

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of Jex Toth and Dead Letter at The Black Heart in Camden, London, on 9 November 2013. The Dead Letter played a stripped down singer-guitar with light drums; pleasant, gloomy and slightly liturgical. The vocals sounded exceptionally clear, so congratulations to the sound desk. I did not actually see much of the Jex, since they do not much like lights, and there is not really an actual stage at that venue, though I caught glimpses of candles and incensing sticks. A soapbox would be a useful addition. The music did sound much heavier than on record, here and theno approaching true doom metal majesty, although the bass was at times painfully out of tune. They did not address the People, there in number and in black, doubtlessly rapt in seance. There is a dirge quality to the performance, even the encores, and a few more foot-stomping numbers would be greatly welcomed, by Melachi at any rate..

Sweltering, Imperial Nile

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of Svart, Ex Deo and Nile, on 10 September 2013, at the Garage, Islington, London.

The band Svart were French but seemed a little untight in tempo for my taste. Many were there to see Ex Deo, who provided a traditional, gutteral, melodic deathish metal, pleasing if unexceptional. There were some neat martial horn themes in the mix. I could not hear the lyrics well but think they were mainly about the Roman army at war. Obviously very disappointing for general effect that they were not in Latin.  Only the singer was in Roman attire.

A most satisfactory visit from the eagles, then; Nile themselves began with no sound in the bass and no fancy dress at all. Their music was more brutal, faster, technical, and difficult to follow. It is at best character-building to listen to a death metal CD all the way through, and likewise this was a set I did not feel ended too soon. Plus, the Garage was extremely hot. So signs off Melachi, by a sweltering Nile!

Battlestar Galactica

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did watch the complete 5 series of Battlestar Galactica, beginning with "33" and ending with "The original mini-series", on Blu-ray disc, instead of Newsnight, finishing in August 2013. I had not previously seen any of the episodes, but began, being advised it was one of the great achievements of television. This may not strictly be correct, because I suppose one would have to include things like "Roots", and the moon landing. But I would say it is the best set of series I have watched. Now, the first series had rather too much of the whining Dr Balthar, and long sections of a group running around on a planet which did not seem to have much to do with anything. I generally found the President annoying and giving the impression of being heavily sedated. In the next series it got better, and finest episodes were the ones involving the Pegasus. There was a lengthy and dull plot arc about people being married to the wrong people. I much preferred the fighting scenes. Likewise, as the final series progressed, and more were revealed as the enemy, it became a little bleaker and depressive. Starbuck was certainly more watchable before she developed her "special destiny". The anchoring presence was the great Commander Adama, and I might watch it all again as a study in his leadership. Very notable as well was the style of the ship - the incessant heavy drinking, intercom telephones with chords, and even open reel tape recorders. I now understand I have to watch "Caprica", "The Plan", "Blood and Chrome", and then something called "Star Trek". Such is the (not very special) destiny of Melachi!

The German Ideology

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being a man of wealth and taste, did read Marx and Engels' The German Ideology (1846), or at least as much of it as is provided in C.J. Arthur's student edition of 1970. In it the authors present the view that the ideologies of an historical period are closely linked to its productive processes, though the relationship seems reciprocal to some degree. These ideologies do, however, become treated as though they are inevitable entities in their own right. Therefore men are alienated from the natural relationships between them, and from the true conditions of their labour. This seems obvious nowadays, but was clearly less so in the mid-nineteenth century. The prose is the usual mixture of the extraordinarily impenetrable peppered with brilliant aphorisms. I did not quite understand the emphasis given on "classes" in the creation of ideologies, except as a necessary precursor for Communism. Furthermore, it is not clear to me what the nature of man would be lacking these controlling ideologies, i.e. either before the division of labour, or after the establishment of Communism. Doubtless more could be written on these topics.... But this is a very interesting, though somewhat difficult,text.

EHG fuzz

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of EyeHateGod (also known, I understand, as EHG), at the Garage, in London on 3 August. There were a fourpiece in black and a man in a blue T-shirt from New Orleans. I wanted to like these guys, as I heard they were a top doomy sludgy band, but I found it difficult to get down to my groove with their odd tempo changes from slow to slightly faster at random intervals, and lack of a nice clear riffing. In fact, they approached the same random fuzziness as Moss, whom I heard a few months ago, though not in such an extreme way. However, due to the density of patrons near the bar, I was entirely sober throughout the whole gig, which may have taken the edge off a little. Maybe I will listen to some of their records and go back another time. These are the decisive words of Melachi!

Call me Edmund: Farewell Symphony

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did read Edmund White's book "The Farewell Symphony" (1997), since I liked the title, finishing it in August 2013. It is the story of a man whose main if not only interest throughout the 1960s-80s appears to be other men, and in large numbers. The author never uses one word when he can compose a nicely balanced paragraph instead, and appears greatly concerned with surface effect, referring to high art, philosophy, foreign languages and cultures as though wandering through a great museum, examining the paintings, identifying their schools, and then forgetting them. Like an American who has just completed a Western Civilization course, in fact. There is, to my mind, little depth of philosophy or even psychology. It is hard to imagine so many people can have lived such disassociated lives. As a consequence, there is no plot and not much intentional structure, and the sections about Italy and Paris should have been left out. There is one joke, on page 5 (of 504), though it is quite a good one. They all die at the end, in rather few pages, and this is quite sad, like Moby Dick.

Capa: Pressing the Button

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did read Blood and Champagne (2002), by Alex Kershaw, a biography of the war photographer Robert Capa. I found it on a charity table in the medieval barn at Coggeshall.  The story told is also eventful enough. Capa was always gambling, drinking, picking up women, or trying to get his head blown off, which he finally did. The book does not contain a single one of his photos, even those which are discussed, which is rather an omission. I will have to get another book with them, I suppose. There is not much technical analysis of his work, though I deduce from comments here and there that he basically got as close as possible and pressed the button. There are no cats in the book. The writing and references are workmanlike; some of the Hungarian names are wrong and he has an odd habit of referring to Hungarian Jews as "Slavic". But I found it a good little read.