These Go To 11: Interviewing Big Summer

Second interview after debuting this section with the lovely Astrid Wiezell, aka, Northern Spies, this time with Vasco Batista, a musician fated for big things. These Go to 11!

Vasco Batista, aka Big Summer

Vasco Batista, much better than CR7.

The mastermind behind this project based in Barcelona, but with a fully international idiosincracy is a young Portuguese with a fascinating ability to blend all indie styles, with a special devotion for American sounds and make them his own. Whether on the fascinating debut "Bone and Arrow" EP, or in the recently released full album "Everything Is Going to Be Ok", both courtesy of the wise wizards from El Genio Equivocado, Vasco and his colleagues are showing an undeniable freshness, melodic flair and talent encapsulated on a bunch of exciting songs that you're going to find pretty high on my best-of-the-year lists. 

1. First record that you bought (be honest)

One of the first I bought with my own money was "The Sound of Music" OST.

2. First and last concert you have attended (be honest too!)

The first was probably Skunk Anansie at a festival in Porto. Last one was Eleanor Friedberger, we opened for her recently (interviewer's note: indeed they did, great night).

Girls Aloud".... ejem

3. Guilty pleasure (song/band you shouldn’t like but you do, yes, it’s the embarrassing question) Girls Aloud!

4. Most precious music item you own (collector mode on) My vintage Electro Harmonix Big Muff (they don’t make them anymore).

5. Favorite lyrics (not yours)

Zero 7 - "Distractions"

6. Musician/s you would like to meet (should be alive, for obvious reasons, but you can choose a dead one too)
Graham Coxon

Neoangin- "Scratchbook"

7. Favorite artwork album (not yours)
Neoangin - "Scratchbook". An album with 26 songs and a 100 page boolket filled with amazing illlustrations.

8. Books or movies? Depending on your answer recommend us one (trick: you can choose both)
Both! I’ll recommend the latest book and movie I’ve read/watched. Patti Smith - "Just Kids" is truly beautiful.
Latest movie is actually a musical by Cy Coleman: "Sweet Charity", with unbelievable coreography by Bob Fosse.

9. Song (of yours) you are most proud of Maybe not a crowd pleaser, but I’m really happy with "Real Thing" (off our first EP).

10. What’s does it mean indie for you? (yes, the “serious question”)I think nowadays its meaning is getting lost… people always try to put everything in boxes (we’re human, that’s what we do). So I guess for me indie is anything you’re not exactly sure which box it belongs in; or maybe it belongs in more than one.

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully touring with my 4 bands!

Zillion thanks Vasco!

"No Distance Left to Run", Blur's popscene

No Distance Left to Run. A Film About Blur

Where were you while we we're getting high? Rhetorically asked the distinct's voice of Liam Gallagher in the Oasis' classic "Champagne Supernova", Blur's archenemy on the era of britpop. Those were my teenage years, and that's was also "my battle of the bands". "No Distance Left to Run" is a music documentary on the group's latest reunion to date, back in 2009, for a series of very special concerts, in a very emotional comeback for the four-piece members of Blur.

Directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace follow the band on the road, at rehearsals and during gigs, mixing it with extensive footage about Blur's history. Live shots are spectacular and the level of intimacy is particularly revealing in the internal dynamics of the band, without hiding their problems.

Very soon "No Distance Left to Run" shifts the focus to the relation between the singer and britpop icon Damon Albarn's and lead guitarist Graham Coxon, which in my opinion is the real highlight of the documentary. Yes, we also have a recap from their early days as a band and how they reached their superstardom status, being one of the main references of the britpop years... of craziness (but love to watch a deeper documentary on the issue). That success and popularity affected the band very seriously, in particular to the aforementioned two, to the point of putting Blur in limbo soon after Coxon left the group, due to his problems with alcohol and personal instability.  

But the music part looks more like a "Behind the Music" program, a bit too polished/friendly with the band to be really engaging (it misses some known "issues" as Albarn's politicisation or drug abuse). What intrigued me were the personal remarks of the band members. Blur's rebirth after seven years of hiatus really seemed to me an attempt of four persons trying to reconnect with their friends. Alex James and Dave Rowntree cannot hide their pain when they comment how Coxon left/was fired from the band. Albarn and Coxon show real emotion when they remember how they restored their heavily damaged communication.  That part is compelling and makes the whole documentary really recommendable. Its unclear whether is an active band anymore, but judging from "No Distance Left to Run" at least seems that their four members restored their friendship.

SCORE: 7/10