Film review: Existenz

"So, 'Existenz'. What's all that about, then?"

"Don't ask me, mate."

"What, so you didn't go and see it?"

"Oh, I saw it. That's not quite the same thing as knowing what the hell it was all about, though."

"Too clever for you, then? Eh, Mr Thicky McThickBrain?"

"Well, that's the impression that it wants to leave. It wants to confuse you so much that you're confused into thinking it's a good movie. Which isn't a bad tactic, I suppose. Unfortunately, it didn't work - not even fifty-seven levels of virtual sodding reality and vast amounts of second-rate philosophising can disguise the fact that it's basically 'The Matrix' without any of the things that you liked about 'The Matrix'. And I didn't like 'The Matrix' all that much."

"So, are you going to write a review of it for your blog, then?"

"Nah, can't be arsed."

Book review: Bret Easton Ellis - Glamorama

One unavoidable fact: Bret Easton Ellis is an extraordinary writer. It takes remarkable talent to stake out fresh territory so decisively amid the modern publishing crush, and to balance such accomplishment with commercial success is more remarkable still.

This could be the work of absolutely no-one else. Its opening half-ish is astounding: austere, severe, icily cold and yet furiously readable, full of vicious wit and merciless satire. Nothing new, perhaps, merely a relocation to New York to track down old subjects amid celebrity circles, but Ellis has never written better, and his marbled prose - oddly sympathetic to Murakami's, albeit much less gentle - has never achieved more than in documenting the ghostly disintegration of Victor Ward's impossibly glamourous, utterly vacuous world.

But, unfortunately, he can't bring the same clinical composure to the novel's climax: the European scenes, following our anti-hero's involvement with a motiveless terrorist network, are somewhat over-excited, losing the beautiful, delicate thread amid the bloodshed and the pastiche. That's a shame, for it means that "Glamorama" is some way short of the masterpiece that it might've been. It's just a great novel. Another great novel, defeated by its own rather beautiful, greatly immodest ambition.

Best of 2005: Dubstep

Dubstep. Ah, dubstep, dubstep, dubstep. I've waited bloody years for something like this to happen, and I know that I'm not alone. Something with so much bass, something that still leaves space for soul, mood, movement; something that sounds like London, as jungle once did. Hood aside, it's blotted out pretty much everything this year; apart from anything else, I've spent so much money on vinyl that I simply haven't been able to afford to keep up with other stuff.

Thus far, DJ Youngsta's "Dubstep Allstars Vol. 2" set is the only officially-released compilation and, while utterly stunning, it's somewhat limited in scope; that said, the much broader tracklisting for Kode 9's follow-up in the new year looks awesome. A better and more immediate overview is gained by listening to the procession of Rinse FM sets, recorded and made available by heroic forum (http://dubstep.forumsplace.com/) members. The relatively small, largely unprofitable nature of the scene means that so much of this stuff is still unreleased, and every fresh set leaves another wad of mental notes, future wages reserved for essential purchases.

In the meantime, you really need to hear these, and a few others besides....

Loefah - Root / Goat Stare (DMZ)
Digital Mystikz - Neverland / Stuck (DMZ)
Digital Mystikz - Officer / Mood Dub (DMZ)
Skream - Midnight Request Line / I (Tempa)
Skream - August 05 mix (download)
DJ Distance - Fallen / Taipan (Boka)
Vex'd - Degenerate (Planet Mu LP)
Burial - South London Boroughs (Hyperdub)
Kode 9 - Kingstown (Hyperdub)
Toasty Boy - Angel / Take It Personal (Hotflush)
Scuba - Timba / Sleepa (Hotflush)

And if you can't track those down, somebody's helped you out. I hereby point you at the landmark dubstep showcase on Radio 1's Breezeblock show last night:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/dance/breezeblock/

You may choose to listen to two hours of Digital Mystikz, the utter genius that is Skream, Vex'd, Hatcha, Loefah, Kode 9 and Distance, each playing a whole bunch of tunes that have made the last year very special (and expensive) indeed for yours truly. Or you may choose a colourless, cheerless January instead.

Best of 2005: Hood

It's not just "Outside Closer", it's everything. The everything - associated clutter along with the year's best album - is important, because Hood have managed something that I'd begun to accept as impossible: to make my thirty-five yearold heart fall in love with a band again, as completely as I used to do as a teenager. "Outside Closer" is an absolutely lovely record, rich and dense and balanced just right between adventure and reality, and it's kept growing on me throughout the year. It would've been my favourite record, regardless.

But the other stuff has been more than mere decoration. Some real gems on the b-sides of singles, especially "The Lost You" EP. The unexpected treasures on the odds-and-sods CD that they were selling on tour, the way that its fragments and fiddles became a delightful, almost Clouddead-ish collage of, well, fragments and fiddles. And the live shows. Bloody hell, the live shows: rarely has a band pushed itself so damn hard to realise a vision. The records have been so intricate, so complex, so technically demanding...and yet they just refused to back down. I'll treasure those gigs always, for their sheer lack of laziness. For their joyous, life-affirming bravery.

Bless 'em. Bless their little cotton socks. Hood ended 2005 by quoting a load of grime and dubstep on their own best-of list on Boomkat, suggesting that they might wander still further from their original indie blueprint next year. But the beautiful thing is that they'll always be Hood, whatever. And that'll always be wonderful.