God Help the Girl – Leaps And Bounds

Tag: God Help the Girl

17
Dec
2014

Top 10 films of 2014

categories: film

The year started off great, in terms of catching lots and lots of films. It dropped off by the end of the year, but it really doesn’t seem to be much. Here in Australia, various films that make the 2014 list (say Foxcatcher or Mr Turner) are not out yet.

So here are the films, for what it’s worth.

1. Boyhood
Richard Linklater

What can I say that has not been said? Breathtaking, and groundbreaking. Started me on a year of filling the gaps on Linklater’s work. He took out my number 2 spot last year too.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson

He’s my favourite director. So what can I say? Other than he’s making his best work yet. The last couple have been so great, and he’s really found how to spread his wings whilst keeping with his style. The opening a closing bookend scenes alone are enough to fascinate. His nod to Lubitsch, it is beautiful and dark yet affirming.

3. Dawn Of the Planet Of the Apes
Matt Reeves

I’ve never really heard of Matt Reeves til this year. But he’s pulled off the best blockbuster of the year. And yeah, I saw my share of blowing stuff up films, but they are usually a nice ride and that’s it. Reeves managed to make a Shakespearean epic that just breaks your heart. And he’s even improved on the script – you’ll notice how quickly he cuts away from the minor, undeveloped characters and keeps it about Caesar. And that tank shot…wow.

4. God Help the Girl
Stuart Murdoch

God Help the Girl is one of my favourite albums of all time. According to my iPod, it’s my most listened to album – ever. So to finally see the film, I was always going to love it. I knew the songs so well, and the details of these characters. But to see it – Murdoch’s rose coloured view of Glasgow – is stunning. The songs, a big part, are great. And these characters who I have thought about for years, great to meet them. Top of the bunch is Olly Alexander as James, one of films great music philosophers, up there with Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs.

5. Her
Spike Jonze

One of those films that was last year for everyone else, but 2014 for me. A film that has touched me very deeply – the bright romantic side to Black Mirror’s brutal cynicism. It’s a vision of life with technology that is beautiful. Never has skyscrapers looked so gorgeous, computers looked so wooden, and typing looks like handwriting. In the end though, it joins the very, very short list of great break-up films.

6. Gone Girl
David Fincher

A powerhouse performance by Affleck and Pike make this drama one of the best of the year. It feels like even by now, this might have been turned into a TV thing. But Fincher shows what cinematic drama can be. A scene, that I will only say features someone driving in a car, is beautiful cinema. I watched this without knowing anything, and even if you pick it, it is worth the ride.

7. Guardians Of the Galaxy
James Gunn

Plenty of jokes out there about how Marvel is just so good these days that they can make us see anything. I’ve never read Guardians Of the Galaxy as a comic (and when I was reading Marvel, the team was a completely different thing anyway) so I had little expectations. And I’m pretty sick of superheroes onscreen, but this managed to stave off that sickness for just a little. The best thing about it was the humour – it’s swashbuckling fun. It’s not perfect in script, but it is in tone.

8. The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki

Another 2013 in the US one. The last film by Hayao Miyazaki, one of my favourites. He returns to his more realist dramas to tell the story of Jiro Horikoshi, its beautifully animated and very touching. Wrapped in this prettiest of presents is bigger ideas, especially the price for progress. A stunning last picture – lets hope the old man was lying.

9. Magic In the Moonlight
Woody Allen

Still fantastic after all these years. What starts off as a light hearted romp ends up deadly serious. Eventually we have to face what we do and don’t believe. I don’t want to give it all away, you have to decide for yourself. So why not get swept away to the gorgeous French Riviera to do it?

10. Frank
Lenny Abrahamson

Not really about Frank Sidebottom, and after you see the film you only see Michael Fassbender’s Frank. A lovely tale about what makes artists really artists, and not just a hanging out guy who plays a bit. Quirky in a good way throughout, and the songs are wonderful.

06
Dec
2014

Top 10 albums of 2014 #10-6

categories: music

Not a great year for music for me. Not many new discoveries, and plenty of disappointing efforts from some of my favourites. Instead, I find myself going back to older weirder stuff, and trying to fill in gaps of my knowledge with my Mojo reviews challenge.

But what of contemporary music. It was kinda tough to even put together 10. But here we go.

10. God Help The Girl – Original Soundtrack
Milan Records

This should be number one. The songs on this record are re-recorded versions of the original, one off, God Help the Girl album, now repurposed for a film. I love that original record so much. According to my Last.fm, I’ve listened to it more than any other, and I can’t describe how much it means to me.

So any album that contains these songs is always going to win. That they are not songs of 2014, I’ll put it at #10.

This is probably my favourite song from this album at the moment.

9. Real Estate – Atlas
Domino Records

It’s very similar to their last album, but they solidify a sound. There’s just something about this band – they worked out a sound that is so familiar yet original on their first record. They own it here.

Lots of mysteries abound for me still in this record. It’s murky and mysterious, soulful and jangly. One of those records that kept coming on, and I kept not skipping. They are working their way towards a masterpiece – I can feel it

8. Lake Street Dive – Bad Self Portraits
Signature Sounds Recordings

A discovery from the documentary Another Day Another Time. A modern soul band. Some people call it indie – but there’s nothing indie about it. It’s beautiful, fresh, honest music. And what a voice, with Rachel Price up front. This band could be as big as Amy Winehouse. They need slightly better song ideas to do it, and if they do – look out.

7. Elbow – The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
Fiction

I’ve written about this record before. A gorgeous album, that is probably perfect for someone my age. What I love about this band most is the unabashed romance. They write poetically, about big things or not at all. They are also, let us say, older men, who are not making retro music.

6. Ball Park Music – Puddinghead
Stop Start

The only Australian album to make the list this year. Sad that. But oh well – this album is killer. Such an abundance of musical ideas, so many catchy hooks and production ideas. But really, it comes down to this band actually has something to say. There is a real conversation about what it’s like to be young today. The best reflection of it is Next Life Already – one of my favourite tracks of the year.

They are getting angrier, and sharper, and it makes them stand out. The best Australian band at the moment.

Numbers 1-5 to come.

15
Feb
2010

100 for 2000 – #92. God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl

categories: music

To end another wonderful decade of great music, I’m going to write about ten albums from each of the last ten years, that are either great, or hold some sort of personal significance. A musical kiss off to 00s.

2009 – #2. God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl
(Rough Trade)

Stuart Murdoch of Belle And Sebastian heard a song in his head one day. It was suited to a girl, so he put out a call for girl singers in a local record shop. He found a handful of fantastic singers, and then started developing a new batch of songs around a movie script. The new band, their debut album and that movie are all called God Help The Girl.

That story means very little to me. It’s a curious fact, but this album is lovely without it’s backstory. Murdoch later lamented the boy’s party vibe of the last Belle And Sebastian album, the Life Pursuit. He readdresses that balance here. And stunningly well.

Girls. The central dilemma of the pop fanboy. How does Murdoch do it? He wrote every song here on the album, and manages to come up with an amazing point of view. OK, so I’m not a girl, so I don’t know if girls really relate to this. But I see these songs in the girls I know and have known.

I really can’t think of another song like I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie. Finally, I understand why girls like dancing with other girls. But who would write a song about that, from such sweet, irony-less compassion? Throughout the album there’s songs about dying hair blond, of the vulnerability of a drug come down, of being contrary – all from a female point of view.

It’s a nice little trick. And somehow this album hit me really hard. I’m still listening to it on a regular basis, when so many albums from 2009 have started to fall away. And it’s these girls. These fascinated women. I can’t work them out – I’ve never been able to – but god I find them fascinating. Even though these songs are written by a man.

Maybe it’s a Salinger thing. That very classic Salinger ingenue. I see her in Act Of the Apostle – fragile but tough runaway, buying a Guardian newspaper on the train to fit in, coming up with an incredible backstory in case anyone asks. The sunshiney girl who meets the dog on the street, and has an imaginary conversation on If You Could Speak is another great example. Who are these girls? I’d love to meet them, and unravel them. But I know I never will – just like how Seymour and Buddy Glass never could.

Something else though. It’s British girls. Young, quirky, tough, beautiful London girls. They come from all over, they a cosmopolitan, yet working class roots. A pretty second hand dress and a pint of beer. A favourite Oasis song and a favourite French New Wave director. She can quite Eastenders and Oliver. The faces of all the crazy, captivating girls I’ve met in London breeze by as this album plays.

Finally, all the boxes are ticked in their regular sense. The performances are great. It sounds extraordinary – the detail in the production is best heard on headphones. Those intricate harmonies have to be heard.

Who knows about the movie. Or if they will ever do a proper gig. This album is a perfect mystery.

God Help the Girl performing God Help the Girl, a track from their album God Help the Girl. First of two such trifectas!

03
Jul
2009

The Great Leap Forwards Top Ten Of 2009 (so far)

categories: music

Lily Album - Its definitely her — Lily Album - It's definitely her

We are a blog after all. So lets make some lists.

Top 10 albums of the year so far

1. Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
2. God Help the Girl – s/t
3. Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications
4. Bell X1 – Blue Lights On the Runway
5. Rhett Miller – s/t
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz
7. Wilco – Wilco (the Album)
8. The Mummers – Tale To Tell
9. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
10. Bob Evans – Goodnight, Bull Creek!

We’ll leave the full babble for the end of the year. But Lily Allen‘s new, confident, mature, nasty, fun record has topped our list so far, with Stuart Murdoch’s new project God Help the Girl coming in a very close second. Jarvis Cocker starts all over as a British Nick Cave figure. So far a wonderful year for music and so much more to come.

So many albums only just missed out. Here’s our top 10 songs not on our top 10 albums list.

1. Phoenix – Lisztomania
2. Yves Klein Blue – Getting Wise
3. Regina Spektor – Dance Anthem Of the 80s
4. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – A Teenager In Love
5. Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – Natural Light
6. Franz Ferdinand – Katherine Kiss Me
7. Doves – 10:03
8. Camera Obscura – You Told A Lie
9. Gomez – Airstream Driver
10. Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter

09
Jun
2009

Tuesday Tunes Bonus: God Help the Girl – Funny Little Frog

categories: music, Tuesday Tunes

When we decided to do this Tuesday Tunes column, we thought we might struggle to find one free legal download a week by established bands. Right now, we are looking at doing two a week. There is so much great music being given away for free in the world. We love it.

We can get away with calling this a bonus track because we’ve already posted a free track from God Help the Girl. It’s the new music/film project by Belle And Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch.

Their self titled album is fast becoming our favourite album of the year. This track is a particular highlight, having already been a favourite of ours from the last B&S record, the Life Pursuit. This version is slower, sexier and more dangerous.

Get the track here – http://godhelpthegirl.com/news/56/funny-little-frog-mp3
More about God Help the Girl including some great videos can be found on their site – http://www.godhelpthegirl.com

28
Apr
2009

Tuesday Tunes: God Help The Girl – Come Monday Night

categories: Tuesday Tunes

God Help the Girl is the new project by Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch. It has been in the works for quite a few years – in fact it was made concurrently with B&S’s 2006 album the Life Pursuit.

The key change here is the vocalists. Murdoch himself said that their last album was lacking a girl vocal. With God Help the Girl, it’s an almost all girl affair.

The history goes something like this; Murdoch had some songs that he felt would be better if sung by female singers. So in the modern day and age, he basically put the word out far and wide. A good old fashioned audition process led to a set of new female voices, mostly backed by Belle And Sebastian. It’s a very 21st century way of making an album.

The final part of the story has not happened yet, which is a Murdoch penned film which ties all the songs together. It is due to start filming next year.

Pretentious? Of course it is. But Murdoch is such a nice, self depreciating guy, it’s tough to hold it against him sometimes. Having been such a long time since the last B&S album, we’re eagerly awaiting this album.

You can download ‘Come Monday Night’ at http://www.godhelpthegirl.com/