Art Craft and Leisure news

This is the 14th edition of the book which accompanies the annual British Wildlife Photography Awards – a celebration of the expertise and patience required to capture a spellbinding encounter with a member of the animal kingdom. Still, even if you’ve never felt inclined to photograph that cheeky blackbird in your garden, you’ll be hard-pressed not to be tempted to delve into this rabbithole of a book.

You’ll get lost in more than 200 themed photos of animals and their habitats, brought alive with explanations from the photographers themselves. And if you are thinking of venturing out with your camera, there’s plenty of inspiration on offer. A fox in an urban garden at night; a seal at play. A deer peering across a meadow at sunrise; a swallow taking flight. You get the picture – literally. 

A budding photographer will take comfort from the fact that so many of these images have been captured on relatively affordable gear (the equipment used is all documented). For those wanting deeper technical insight, there’s the helpful inclusion of the camera settings chosen so they can take inspiration to their own shoot. This reader has been inspired – and it may just send you reaching for your camera too.

SUNN O)))

Sunn O))) (Sub Pop)

Sunn O))) are now 10 albums in, answering the question of how many different combinations of sound can be made by two men with guitars and an amplifier setup that goes to 11. The core of the band has always been under the direction of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, typically with a list of collaborators; this album is a departure, as all instrumentation, arrangement and writing is credited to the duo solely.

While the album treads familiar territory, there is a sense of space and room for dynamics, which the studio setting of the forests of the Pacific Northwest no doubt influenced – field recordings of running water bring the sound of their surroundings into the studio. XXANN opens with the familiar hum of feedback, while Glory Black closes out the album with a gradual reduction in volume and a tinkering piano filling the void left by the droning guitars. 

words GARETH MOULE

Their commitment to creating authentic reality TV shaped how Raising Chelsea was filmed, and, rather than a traditional multi-camera set-up, “we only had one camera so it was very vlog style and there are lots of times I didn’t know we were even filming” Habboo explains.

ANGINE DE POITRINE

Vol. II (Spectacles Bonzai)

Seattle radio station KEXP has been doing the Lord’s work for years, broadcasting studio sessions that often sound superior to the albums, but it really struck gold in early February with a set by Angine De Poitrine. The YouTube footage of the Quebecois duo’s performance has now been viewed more than six million times – extraordinary when you consider quite how niche a proposition they are on paper: microtonal math rock that draws on jazz and all manner of esoteric music from Asia.

The acid test, though, is whether it comes across as effectively on record, stripped of the arresting kids’ TV fever dream visual spectacle of the double-necked guitar/bass, the costumes, the body paint and the papier-mâché masks – Lightning Bolt as reimagined by Mr Blobby.

The answer is a resounding yes. Nerds will no doubt geek out over the guitar technique, looping skills and overall musicianship on display, but despite the dazzling complexity, the songs are never allowed to lose laser-guided focus or become style over substance. Mata Zyklek and Sarniezz are propulsive, nimble, spectacularly tight and precise, while UTZP begins with a polka beat in keeping with the pattern of their outfits before escalating/descending into panic-attack freakery.

Legend has it that the pair – Khn and Klek – are not of this earth. Unlike most myths that bands like to peddle, I can well believe it. 

words BEN WOOLHEAD

Vol. II by Angine de Poitrine