School of Seven Bells

Alpinisms
Ghostly international



It's in the middle of the first rushing, sighing, wordless chorus of “Iamundernodisguise,” all heavily treated waves of backmasked guitar and electronics and female vocal undulations, that you realize there are such things as happy endings in (icky) rock and roll. Case in point: Benjamin Curtis, tired of doing time in perennially shoulda-been-huge rock band-of-brothers Secret Machines, wanted out desperately, he just didn't know when or how to make the final jump. However, after sharing stages with On! Air! Library!, a band fronted by inscrutable twin sisters Claudia and Alexandria Deheza, he saw his future in a very different set of siblings. They each ditched their respective bands and plotted a more mysterious and mainstream-shy course of action with School of Seven Bells. The gambit has paid off, “Alpinims” is their finest moment yet, leagues ahead of “Face to Face on High Places.” It fairly bursts forth with mystery, ambition and a lust for new ideas, new sounds and new experiences. School of Seven Bells is most directly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's hazy beauty, Dead Can Dance's omnivorous hunger for a whole world of sound, with a dash of Toro y Moi’s shimmering uncertainty. The electronic treatments and programmed beats are fresh and inventive, often adding a danceable sheen to complicated effects collages, the guitars are understated, oft seeping into an inseparable whole with the synths and keyboards, and there is a wealth of vocals! The Dehaza sisters construct beautiful and unexpected harmonies together, before darting off into their own separate worlds, and Curtis whispered baritone is much more rare, but a fine complement. And despite the clash of ideas, effects pedals, and songs that follow their own internal logic, goddamn does School of Seven Bells know their way around a chorus.

- Matthew Moyer

SARAH BRIGHTMAN

SYMPHONY: LIVE IN VIENNA

A Soundtrack to Slit Your Wrists To….

I fucking hate her. I fucking hate hate HATE her!!! Not because she is a bad musician, singer, lyricist – oh no – she’s incredible… however, I hate her because every time I listen to her I fall in this deep black pit. The most darkest, saddest abyss that I could ever possibly imagine. How is it that this woman hasn’t lynched herself yet? Seriously??! I am a big fan of Sarah Brightman – I am a masochist – because I chose HER CD to review. Shame on me!!! (slapping my own hand). In all honesty though I have to come back to my original question… how is Sarah Brightman still living in all that suppressed sadness?? Really guys. We all have our dark side but this bitch LIVES in agony! I don’t believe in Vampires, or real life Devils or any of that Renaissance crap but I do think that Sarah Brightman is truly the worlds biggest Goth. No she is not Elvira. No she doesn’t bite off the heads of bats… but she sure as fuck lives in a world of such dark & debilitating sorrow that she manipulates you to a point that depression, sadness & angst makes suicide sound like the new Garden of Euphoria. No wonder our world is coming to an end. The only song on the entire CD that wakes you out of your own nihilistic coma is lucky track # 13 (of course) – very sexy – however it’s followed by “Ava Maria” (which is what was played at my Fathers funeral last year)… So again, I digress…

I am fully convinced that Sarah Brightman is the AntiChrist. Of course it’s a woman. I always knew it would be….

Please don’t buy this CD unless you are really serious about putting an end to it all…. No fake ass cries for help please – this shit is serious business.

by Mia Carlin

THE BIG PINK

It’s an Easter miracle! On Sunday night, April 4th -- don't worry, nice and late so you won't have to decide between that and church – London’s electro-noise duo The Big Pink are touching down at Jackrabbits as part of their first big US tour.

The twosome of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell (with help from a shifting collective of collaborators, including members of Sunn0)) and Pre) released the fuck-yeah-wondrous album, “A Brief History of Love,” late last year. It’s a darkling mix of the Stone Roses, Jesus and Mary Chain, shoegazer stormclouds and electro-violence like the Horror's stellar "Primary Colours," early Chemlab and Curve (yes, yes, yes). The album won plaudits from the likes of MOJO, Rolling Stone, and the famously fickle NME, and unlike so many hype bandits, The Big Pink actually lived up to the hyperbole.

Though they count amongst their supporters the likes of Klaxons and Lily Allen, Furze and Cordell are no social climbers or bandwagon jumpers. Furze worked with Alec Empire and Cordell ran the Merok label, home to Crystal Castles and Salem, prior to the band becoming their primary concern. And all that journeyman time paid off, "A Brief History of Love," is the sound of a band in firm control of their sound, combining dark-purple clouds of dense electronics and guitar pedal roar with whipsmart, synthesized beats and pop savvy into instant anthems. The Big Pink have their cake and eat it too, indulging gleefully in big choruses, but almost just as happily sabotaging them with carefully manipulated guitar noise and walls of synth-damage that shakes your insides. "Dominoes" is incredible, the taunting, almost melancholy chorus of "These girls fall like dominoes...." overwhelmed by towering crests of fuzzed-out, eight-bit guitar and battering drums, the vocals a world-weary croak along the lines of Richard Ashcroft and Karl Hyde. “Crystal Visions” is like the inescapable whoosh of the future, Velvetsy-droning verses give way to a radio-ready chorus and then all of that is just obliterated by a storm of guitar rumble-and-scree that is somehow catchy as fuck. “Velvet” is epic like comets burning up in the atmosphere, lovelorn vocals melding to otherworldly, altered guitar and synth bursts. And that’s just a random sampling of the songs on a “Brief History of Love.”

The Big Pink might just be the new face of British guitar music, along with the Horrors and the xx. We all like to sit and complain that Jacksonville doesn’t get any really good tours– well, we just got one. To the future!

MOVEMENT will be hosting a city wide EGG HUNT for free tickets to the BIG PINK show Easter night at Jackrabbits throughout the weekend of April 2nd-4th at select Jacksonville locations!



UPDATE 04.02.10

THE BIG PINK
EGG HUNT!

MOVEMENT AND OUR SPONSORS HAVE HIDDEN BIG PINK EGGS AT THE LOCATIONS BELOW ...

INSIDE EACH ARE A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE BIG PINK SHOW THIS SUNDAY AT JACKRABBITS!

Please be respectful of our sponsors and search responsibly! If you'd like assistance, ask one of the staff for hints!

Good hunting ...

APHOTIC CRYPT
9940 Beach Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32246
(904) 638-6827
www.aphoticcrypt.com

CARRIBBEAN CONNECTION
777 3rd Street South
Jacksonville Bch
(904) 241-4231
www.carribbean-connection.com

CARRIBBEAN CONNECTION
1034 Park Street
Jacksonville
(904) 633-9161
www.carribbean-connection.com

HOT TOPIC
Regency Mall
9501 Arlington Expy # 385
Jacksonville
(904) 805-0604
www.HotTopic.com

HOT TOPIC
Avenues Mall
10300 Southside Boulevard
Jacksonville
(904) 538-9677
www.HotTopic.com

Universe of Superheroes
2724 Park Street
Jacksonville
(904) 389-3312
www.UniverseofSuperheroes.com


More events and live show listings are always at
www.MovementMagazine.com

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Balmorhea

Constellations
Western Vinyl

So, start with a guitar. That sounds pretty nice. Layer on a violin, and that sounds a little nicer. Oh, is that a banjo? Double bass? Percussion? Now that just sounds swell, and as smooth as butter. That's how you can describe Balmorhea's (pronounced bal-more-ay) new album "Constellations." It's a strictly instrumental, minimalistic, acoustic experience taking you through an array of moods and emotions. Each song is like a musical parfait. As you listen to each layer, delicious music is unveiled until it culminates into this moving, tasty movement of acoustic music tinged with classical and bluegrass stylings.

The album takes on a darker mood compared to Balmorhea's previous albums, but the charm remains. It starts off with "To the Order of the Night," a haunting piano solo with delicately dark emotional phrasing, leading to the gem of the album, "Bowspirit" which layers it on best, leaving you with a message so clear yet unable to be put into words, like a hug when there are no words to say. The rest of the album follows a deliciously dark and melancholy tone right through "Palestrina," which wraps up the album. You'll find yourself searching for a faint melody through the audio textures backed by a faint chorale of voices, which may not be voicing anything audible, but seem to be saying, "thank you for listening, and I hope the introspection involved in listening to this album has made you a better person."

To that, I would say "No 'Constellations,' thank you."

- Frederick J. Pecor / MOVEMENT Jax

Murder Junkies & Ghostwitch Family Band Live

at Landshark Café

When the Ghostwitch Family Band started their set, I could tell it would be an amazing show. They have a very unique sound to their music, it’s good ole’ southern hellbilly rock. A few of their songs that really stuck out to me from their set was “Black Mass Baby” & “Wastin’ Time”. Ryan Gunwitch-Black, the singer, acoustic guitar player, & mastermind behind Ghostwitch does amazing job performing on stage. Ghostwitch may be a local band but I could see them being the next big thing. They do many different shows throughout the Jacksonville area, so I’d suggest if you get the chance, to go to one of their shows.

The Murder Junkies set was short but really good. I think their singer PP Duvee is doing a great job leading the band vocally. I like him the most since GG Allin was alive. Dino Sex played the drums in the full nude, like always, and was so fucking good pounding away on the drums throughout the set. Merle Allin bass lines shook the building and made their set so much more intense. The Murder Junkies produce the sound track to mayhem, murder, & madness. For the short period of time that they played, it was punk rock at its finest.

There was this one annoying drunk annoying guy which caused the set to end extremely early. He thought since it was a Murder Junkies show it had to be exactly the same as a GG Allin & The Murder Junkies show. He just would get on the stage and bump into different members of the Murder Junkies who would shove him off the stage. At one point he ended up hitting PP Duvee in the head. The second time he attack PP Duvee, he picked up his microphone stand and hit him extremely hard in the back of the neck twice. This caused a huge gash on the drunk idiots neck which immediately followed with bloodshed. Landshark security had to through the drunk guy out because he was causing problems & starting fights with anyone who he saw. This ended the Murder Junkies set about five songs into it.

- Kent Donohoe / MOVEMENT Jax