Alternative rock music

Amelia’s Magazine | Pecha Kucha: Death by Powerpoint?

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HeroesAll Illustrations courtesy of Valerie Pezeron

Imagine never having done any presentation to more than 30 people in your lifetime – and that did not really matter because they were your schoolmates. If you were to fall flat on your face in front of them, ambulance you knew you were all in the same bath water (so to speak) assessed by Mean Lady Big Goggled Eye! But what happens when it is your own lifework compiled over many years of blood, sildenafil sweat and tears you are showing to complete strangers? And there happens to be upwards of 400 of them there! Am I being melodramatic? Maybe…

Pecha-Kucha-crewThe Pecha Kucha crew. All photographs courtesy of Valerie Pezeron except when stated otherwise

I’ve always been fascinated by Pecha Kucha. The first time I heard it mentioned was a few years ago when it sent shock waves throughout Europe as the latest craze among designer types. Pecha Kucha is a presentation format hailing from Japan. It’s usually pronounced in three syllables like “pe-chak cha” (???????), viagra order although most people don’t bother trying to be authentic with the original pronunciation and I admit I have been just as lazy! The name Pecha Kucha is a Japanese term that stands for the sound of conversation (“chit-chat”). More than 170 cities now host such events.

cityscape

Climate

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo’s Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa) are the instigators of this worldwide phenomenon; in 2003, Klein and Dytham sought to give young designers a venue to meet, network, and show their work and to attract people to their experimental event space in Roppongi. They devised a format that kept presentations very concise in order to encourage audience attention and increase the number of presenters within the course of one night.

le-ruffiant-AOI

Did I know what I was getting myself into? A little bit. I was told I needed to show 20 images for 20 seconds a piece, for a total time of 6 minutes, 40 seconds. Apparently, the secret of a good presentation is thorough preparation, so I selected my 20 slides and stood in front of my computer with a fake mike all week-end, well…faking. Why put myself through it? I wanted to shine a spotlight on my upcoming graphic novel, a collection of illustrations and extracts from the bible titled “Written by Men, Blame it on God” that I am currently developing. The publisher is selected (New Humanist and the Rationalist Association) and all that is left to do is finish the book in the upcoming months. I intend to exhibit the original artwork along with the launch of the book later this year.

the-smart-french-company2

At the helm of this new brand of Pecha Kucha are Sian-Kate and Paul . Sian’s passion for Pecha Kucha Redux is infectious; she tells me the format previously lost its way in the UK when it ended up being open exclusively to high-profile and well established figures from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative fields – Joanna Lumley for instance. They wanted to go back to its roots as a platform for up and coming professionals and I was in good company on the night. Among the diverse and distinct line-up were a conceptual artist exploring desire and the female gaze (Nerys Mathias), a kick-ass rockstar who tore down the house (Bruno Wizard), a printmaker and sculptor and mountaineer (Martin Barrett) and the aptly named Minxy McNaughty!

Pecha-Kucha-ladyPhotograph courtesy of Pecha Kucha

Bruno-and-I Bruno Wizard of The Homosexuals band with artist friend and I.

I was terrified when I took to the stage. But the reception was overwhelmingly positive and the interaction with the public was very intoxicating; I heard laughter, cheers and received positive feedback from many women who encouraged me to complete the book! Afterward, I slumped over the bar; good thing the event was held at The Arches as it made for a pretty chilled-out atmosphere! “Alcohol free January? Pas pour moi!”All in all it was a great night and I now can say: “I fell into the deep end and I survived Pecha” Kucha!”

Video Courtesy of Pecha Kucha

Written by Valerie pezeron on Tuesday January 26th, 2010 2:59 pm

Categories ,Alternative rock music, ,architecture, ,Astrid Klein, ,bar, ,Bruno Wizard, ,creative community, ,design, ,illustration, ,illustrator, ,Klein-Dytham Architecture, ,Live DJ Music, ,london, ,magazine, ,Mark Dytham, ,Martin Barrett, ,musician, ,New Humanist, ,Pecha Kucha, ,photography, ,Powerpoint Presentation, ,Presentations, ,printmakers, ,printmaking, ,Sian-Kate Mooney, ,The Arches, ,The Homosexuals, ,The Rationalist Association, ,Trashed Magazine, ,Valerie Pezeron, ,Valochedesigns

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Amelia’s Magazine | They shall not grow Oldmovies…

by

Youthmovies3Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you familiar with Youthmovies, information pills I say this: Fiddlesticks! On the 29th of December, they declared their intention to split after a handful of farewell gigs. No planecrash. No overdose. Not even any musical differences. They just sound a bit busy, and too spread out across this green and pleasant land. They won’t be replacing anyone, they won’t be choosing a band member to do a Richie Manic so the rest of the band can go mega-famous, a “Best Of” seems unlikely, as does a 2 hour cinema release of rehearsal footage. It’s simply over.

YouthmoviesPhotograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you not familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Get familiar with Youthmovies. If asked to name five bands that have dominated my mp3 player in the last three years, I confess that two of them are Youthmovies’. That’s love. First up, though, a disclaimer. Youthmovies do have intellectually advanced lyrics. And they have a borderline-classical note sense. And any band found in possession of either is bound to get called pretentious by someone. But there is no way any of this is pretense. Pretense is a band that decides “ooh, let’s sing about, erm, black holes – they won’t expect that, it’ll make us sound well interesting”.

Youthmovies2Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

Youthmovies’ Andrew Mears may be in the arty sophisticate camp for singing a two-pronged attack on bourgeois patriotism and William Blake‘s ludicrous hymn Jerusalem (205 years overdue), but he hasn’t just decided to sing about it to look cool. He means it. It’s something he really thinks and feels. Likewise, an affectionate farewell ditty to a polyp before its surgical removal is hardly as universal (or banal) as Sex on Fire, but why dumb down when you can sing your authentic complex self and guarantee you’re not falling into cliché. As for the clever music, pretension only happens when idiots shoehorn their songs into 13/8 and minor 9ths without knowing what they’re doing (see Yourcodenameis:Milo) or push orchestras around in Abbey Road without knowing what a French Horn is (the list is too long now). A Youthmovies track may have twelve distinct sections, and the third verse might be in a different rhythm, but when it finishes, you’ll have the feeling that it all belonged together. Nothing ever jars, which magically trumps even grand wizards like King Crimson. Whoosh.

Youthmovies4Youthmovies’ soundcheck, photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade
Anyway, it’s recipe-time (since that is the funnest way to review anything). We reverse-engineer the seriousness and beauty of Radiohead, the vigour and accomplishment of early Mystery Jets, the sensitivity of Satie, the fearlessness of Late Of The Pier, the purity of mid-period Tortoise, the occasionally-surfacing twisted-yet-hooky motifs of maybe Soundgarden (imagine I just mumbled that, breathily and nervously), the right hemisperes of iForward, Russia!, and the tendons of Mew and, inevitably, it’s all gone wrong. Let’s try something else…

Youthmovies5Youthmovies photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade

Remember when Foals were about to release their album, and NME made it look like it was going to be the album of the decade, and it would redefine the next twenty years at least, and possibly bring peace to Palestine? Well, the million-dollar production budget and the million-dollar propaganda machine were on the wrong album. Around that time, and with minimal fanfare, Youthmovies released Good Nature on Drowned In Sound Records, an album that actually was the secret Album Of 2008. Behold skilfully deployed teen pop-rock hooks in The Naughtiest Girl Is A monitor, the melancholic failure to caress or placate of Cannulae, the meandering thought-train of Surtsey, the protective cuddle of Archive It Everywhere, the lusciously twiddly-versus-parpy highs, lows and detours of If You’d Seen A Battlefield… Frankly, I really want them to do another one but they won’t.

Youthmovies6

Photograph courtesy of Gregory Nolan

Instead, we can follow a dozen solo-projects (closest to fruition is Jonquil) and hear Mears read his novel in an art gallery. And most importantly, keep relistening to the back catalogue for fractal levels of general truth and beauty, rendered with a depth we rarely hear in rockular bands. The bastards.

Written by Gareth David on Thursday January 7th, 2010 12:58 pm

Categories ,Alternative rock music, ,Andrew Mears, ,art gallery, ,foals, ,iForward, ,King Crimson, ,Late of the Pier, ,mew, ,music band, ,Music review, ,musician, ,Mystery Jets, ,NME, ,Records, ,Richie Manic, ,Russia!, ,Satie, ,Tortoise, ,William Blake, ,youthmovies

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Amelia’s Magazine | They shall not grow Oldmovies…

by

Youthmovies3Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Fiddlesticks! On the 29th of December, they declared their intention to split after a handful of farewell gigs. No planecrash. No overdose. Not even any musical differences. They just sound a bit busy, and too spread out across this green and pleasant land. They won’t be replacing anyone, they won’t be choosing a band member to do a Richie Manic so the rest of the band can go mega-famous, a “Best Of” seems unlikely, as does a 2 hour cinema release of rehearsal footage. It’s simply over.

YouthmoviesPhotograph courtesy of Youthmovies

For those of you not familiar with Youthmovies, I say this: Get familiar with Youthmovies. If asked to name five bands that have dominated my mp3 player in the last three years, I confess that two of them are Youthmovies’. That’s love. First up, though, a disclaimer. Youthmovies do have intellectually advanced lyrics. And they have a borderline-classical note sense. And any band found in possession of either is bound to get called pretentious by someone. But there is no way any of this is pretense. Pretense is a band that decides “ooh, let’s sing about, erm, black holes – they won’t expect that, it’ll make us sound well interesting”.

Youthmovies2Photograph courtesy of Youthmovies

Youthmovies’ Andrew Mears may be in the arty sophisticate camp for singing a two-pronged attack on bourgeois patriotism and William Blake‘s ludicrous hymn Jerusalem (205 years overdue), but he hasn’t just decided to sing about it to look cool. He means it. It’s something he really thinks and feels. Likewise, an affectionate farewell ditty to a polyp before its surgical removal is hardly as universal (or banal) as Sex on Fire, but why dumb down when you can sing your authentic complex self and guarantee you’re not falling into cliché. As for the clever music, pretension only happens when idiots shoehorn their songs into 13/8 and minor 9ths without knowing what they’re doing (see Yourcodenameis:Milo) or push orchestras around in Abbey Road without knowing what a French Horn is (the list is too long now). A Youthmovies track may have twelve distinct sections, and the third verse might be in a different rhythm, but when it finishes, you’ll have the feeling that it all belonged together. Nothing ever jars, which magically trumps even grand wizards like King Crimson. Whoosh.

Youthmovies4Youthmovies’ soundcheck, photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade
Anyway, it’s recipe-time (since that is the funnest way to review anything). We reverse-engineer the seriousness and beauty of Radiohead, the vigour and accomplishment of early Mystery Jets, the sensitivity of Satie, the fearlessness of Late Of The Pier, the purity of mid-period Tortoise, the occasionally-surfacing twisted-yet-hooky motifs of maybe Soundgarden (imagine I just mumbled that, breathily and nervously), the right hemisperes of iForward, Russia!, and the tendons of Mew and, inevitably, it’s all gone wrong. Let’s try something else…

Youthmovies5Youthmovies photograph courtesy of Adam Gnade

Remember when Foals were about to release their album, and NME made it look like it was going to be the album of the decade, and it would redefine the next twenty years at least, and possibly bring peace to Palestine? Well, the million-dollar production budget and the million-dollar propaganda machine were on the wrong album. Around that time, and with minimal fanfare, Youthmovies released Good Nature on Drowned In Sound Records, an album that actually was the secret Album Of 2008. Behold skilfully deployed teen pop-rock hooks in The Naughtiest Girl Is A monitor, the melancholic failure to caress or placate of Cannulae, the meandering thought-train of Surtsey, the protective cuddle of Archive It Everywhere, the lusciously twiddly-versus-parpy highs, lows and detours of If You’d Seen A Battlefield… Frankly, I really want them to do another one but they won’t.

Youthmovies6

Photograph courtesy of Gregory Nolan

Instead, we can follow a dozen solo-projects (closest to fruition is Jonquil) and hear Mears read his novel in an art gallery. And most importantly, keep relistening to the back catalogue for fractal levels of general truth and beauty, rendered with a depth we rarely hear in rockular bands. The bastards.



Written by Gareth David on Thursday January 7th, 2010 12:58 pm


Categories ,Alternative rock music, ,Andrew Mears, ,art gallery, ,foals, ,iForward, ,King Crimson, ,Late of the Pier, ,mew, ,music band, ,Music review, ,musician, ,Mystery Jets, ,NME, ,Records, ,Richie Manic, ,Russia!, ,Satie, ,Tortoise, ,William Blake, ,youthmovies

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