40? Sadly not: this is 140 minutes of monotony. I wish I could defend the king of the Frat Pack, but director Judd Apatow has offered audiences a self-indulgent mess with little to laugh about. Perhaps I’m too young to appreciate all of its
humour, but, at its core, This is 40 is too meandering and dull to be even entertaining, let alone funny. This comedy-cum-autobiography traces the foibles of a Los Angeles couple, Debbie and Pete, approaching their 40th birthdays. Starring Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann, and his pet collaborator, Paul Rudd, This is
40 takes us through a fraying marriage and the neuroses of hitting middle age.

In an effort to make the best of what they have, Debbie and Paul vow to exercise more frequently, eat healthily, and improve their relations with their two daughters, Sadie and Charlotte, played by Apatow’s off-screen daughters (shocker!).Although the film deals with sitcom staples – a moody teen, a sex-starved couple – Apatow fails to deliver the laughs.
This is 40 plays on a flurry of ‘firstworld problems’ and consumer habits, but instead of making light of banal difficulties it offers up screaming matches. At one point Pete and a fellow husband begin to discuss how wonderful widowhood might be and it all gets decidedly gloomy. Two terrible fathersin-law, an estranged John Lithgow and freeloader Albert Brooks, are thrown into the mix to make matters even more depressing.

For those familiar with Apatow’s 2007 hit, Knocked Up, the characters Debbie and Pete might ring a bell. Their marriage formed the sub-plot to Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen’s refracted boy meets girl set-up. As a sequel, This is 40 aims to bring our attention back to Debbie and Pete with more laughs and awkwardness. However, as a main storyline, it’s really difficult to care about their lives.

This is 40 plays out like a series of unwitty anecdotes. It’s not so much the directionless plot that’s bothersome, but the missed opportunities. Much more could have been made, for instance, about growing older in LA, where ageing naturally is almost taboo. It’s also unfortunate that some of the best comedic talents of recent decades – Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, and Melissa

McCarthy – have just bit parts. The cast itself is like an Apatow fan club. Yet, they’re missing his schoolboy humour to play with. If you don’t manage to drift off towards the end of This is 40, there’s no reward. You’re simply left with the realisation that this film, from the producer of the hilarious Superbad, is a drawn-out, humourless, mess of a comedy.

In mid-October 2010, as the UK geared up for the country’s coldest December in over 100 years, an English/Spanish band burst onto the scene with a Star of Love, a folktronica album guaranteed to put the feeling back in the British public’s toes. With joyful, upbeat vocals and fantastically energetic synth, tracks like ‘In the Summer’, ‘Plage’ and ‘I Love London’ evoked the atmosphere of the Spanish summer in an English context. Traditional Basque instruments surged through the electronic sounds to forge a wonder-filled unstoppable force of pure happiness. Despite the ice on the roads and the chill in the air, Crystal Fighters were delighted to invite the whole of the UK to “come to the plage with me”. The album encouraged listeners to maintain their optimism in the face of the weather, and thousands of fans braved the cold to get to the band’s sold-out headline tour of the UK.

They may be French instead of Spanish, and owe their sound more to Phoenix’s guitars than Crystal Fighters’ txalaparta (a wooden xylophone-like percussion instrument played by two people standing face-to-face), but Concrete Knives’ newly-released debut album, Be Your Own King, is guaranteed to make the sun rise in your soul. Just look how blue the sky is on that album cover! Oxford’s a cold place this time of year (and most times of year as far as I can tell as a first-year) and there are few better ways of warming up than turning up the central heating, wrapping yourself in a rug and dancing around your room to this friendly bunch of Frenchmen.

Opening track ‘Bornholmer’ sets the tone with frantic use of bouncy electronic melodies and a desperately infectious beat accompanied by earnest and optimistic vocals. Even without lyrics ‘Roller Boogie’ is the most unstoppably summery song on the album, veering at will between sleepy tunes which conjure up images of sunbathing in the back garden to delightfully energetic electro riffs which will instantly transport you forward to that festival you’re so looking forward to. Yes, there’s not a whole lot of variation – most of the songs are quite simply fun beats leading inevitably to a hook-heavy chorus – but the album is full of enough relentless energy to sustain it through to the end. Just. Musically it’s not a particularly thoughtful album, but it’s just what you need to break the wintry apathy and get that smile back on your face.

This year the London Underground celebrates 150 years since its first line, the Metropolitan Railway, was opened in 1863. Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger has joined a long line of artists such as Tracey Emin, Henry Moore and Man Ray who have contributed their work to the tube platforms. The London stations have helped to inspire a vast range of art, design, literature, film and music, from Javier Bardem’s Bond villain being chased through a train by Daniel Craig in Skyfall to Gerry Rafferty’s classic 1970’s song ‘Baker Street’.

Mark Wallinger’s Labyrinth is the tube’s largest ever art commission and forms part of the on-going Art on the Underground program. The project involves the installation of 270 black enamel works, one for each station, which are made of enamel and similar in appearance to tube signs. Each tube stop will have its own unique labyrinth design and the entire process will be complete by September.

For Wallinger, this is an unprecedented opportunity for a huge number of people to appreciate his work. Four million people pass through the Underground every day and about a billion people use it each year. The trains also travel the equivalent of 90 round trips to the moon every year. It is quite a different undertaking to his previous projects, which included wandering around in a bear suit in Berlin for ten days and his Turner Prize winning ‘State Britain’ which reconstructed the peace protester Brian Haw’s Parliament Square tent.

Part of the aim of Wallinger’s project is to create order out of the confusion of the tube. He explains that the labyrinth design echoes the daily journeys that commuters make; despite the chaos of the rush hour, almost everyone is following a prescribed route.

The designs also share a resemblance to brains, which Wallinger suggests reflects the state of mind of people travelling on the tube. He has praised the fact that people feel comfortable enough to fall asleep on strangers and evokes an environment of goodwill amongst the passengers.

The works are intended to be unobtrusive, something for people to glance at as they make their way to their destination. From the positive reception so far, it seems as if the project will be a success for the London Underground; the main problem that Wallinger may encounter is indifference, despite the number of people who will be passing by his work.

The Evening Standard newspaper recently conducted an experiment where the famous violinist Thomas Gould spent an hour busking in Westminster station, and only 35 out of 2000 people actually stopped to listen to him play.

However, hopefully the scale of the project will encourage more passengers to appreciate art, even if only for a brief moment on their stressful and cramped commute home.

★★★★★
Five Stars

Cave, having reached his fifty-fifth birthday, may be considered part of ‘rock royalty’ to use clichéd term, an ‘elder statesman’ if you like, but this is definitely not reflected in his own musical creativity, even if he may be showing a few more wrinkles on the cover of the Seeds’ latest release than the bands debut From Her To Eternity in 1984.

In the album’s press release Cave notes that “if I were to use that threadbare metaphor of albums being like children, then Push The Sky Away is the ghost-baby in the incubator and Warren’s loops are its tiny, trembling heartbeat.” It appears that Cave’s phrasing is as evocative as ever, both in a lyrical and musical sense, and his subject matter is as relevant as ever.

From the opening notes of ‘We No Who U R,’ supported by the bass of Adamson, gliding effortlessly below the expansive texture, Push the Sky Away is presented as an epic, which is entirely accurate. The sonorous quality of
Cave’s voice reminds me of Leonard Cohen, even Jonny Cash in ‘Jubilee Street’, released as a single last year. As with Cohen and Cash, the maturity in Cave’s voice suggests experience, a man who has lived life and has a story to tell. This is successfully achieved without becoming preachy.

Whilst these references may suggest an album that is out of touch with the modern era, the songwriting remains free, rhythmic and melodious throughout, comparable to Alt-J, Dry the River and similar newcomers. Here,
Cave employs a developed style whilst maintaining a modern edge. It is almost social and cultural suicide to criticise Cave, his albums have consistently attained five star reviews, but this album is genuinely listenable throughout. The tension created by Cave is met by frequent moments of relief, such as in my personal favourite track ‘Mermaids’, with the refrain of “all the ones that come, all the ones that go”, hopefully Cave is here to stay.

★★★★☆
Four Stars

Foals’ third studio album sees the five-piece embrace an altogether poppier and more epic sound than their previous two outings, helped along the way by veteran producers Flood and Alan Moulder. The fact that the duo have worked with acts such as U2 and Foo Fighters gives us a clear indication of the anthemic, arena-filling sound that Foals have set out to achieve in Holy Fire.

And boy do they achieve it, as emphatically exemplified by the album’s second track and lead single ‘Inhaler’. The slow build-up acts as a smokescreen, causing the listener to be completely unprepared for what follows. Yannis Philippakis’ vocals transform from a delicate falsetto at the beginning of the song into a roar as the song explodes into a frenzy of Pendulum-esque proportions. It seems funny to think that such a colossal song was borne out
of a dainty jam played by the band in between songs at gigs, which is testament to both the producers’ and Foals’ scope for imagination.

The next track ‘My Number’ is equally catchy, aided by its wonderfully simple lyrics – “You don’t have my number, we don’t need each other now” – and while it’s true that the album doesn’t regain the same heights of hysteria as
‘Inhaler’, this is not to say that it diminishes in quality or listenability. ‘Everytime’ continues in the same vein as ‘My Number’ with its instant hook and memory-friendly lyrics, while ‘Late Night’ and ‘Out of the Woods’ are altogether more downbeat affairs, yet majestic nonetheless, and perhaps serve as Holy Fire’s two most heartfelt moments. Moreover, the intricate blend of gentle guitars and strings in ‘Milk & Black Spiders’, coupled with emotive, sing-along lyrics will make it a sure-fire crowd favourite, as will the fast-paced ‘Providence’.

Though the album does tail off somewhat at the end Holy Fire is on the whole a very enjoyable, listenable and well-produced album, and certainly more grandiose than their previous two albums. With Holy Fire, Foals are staking their claim to be a credible player in the big league of indie rock. On this basis, it would be foolish to dismiss them.

I arrived at Oxford Town Hall to be met by Stornoway’s lead singer Brian Biggs, who I would later chat to, carrying two guitars in his left hand and a keyboard stand in his right. Stornoway have now cemented themselves into the hearts and minds of the people of Oxford whilst also succeeding further afield with the success of their infectious first single ‘Zorbing’, the first, and only, performance of an unsigned band on Later with Jools Holland, and a hotly anticipated second album in the pipeline (due March 11th). They appeared roadie-less for the second of two sell-out nights playing to a home crowd. This sort of authentic attitude, often attributed in clichéd terms to many new and trendy bands, is evident throughout the whole afternoon and into their second gig in as many nights at the impressive Town Hall.

Briggs and I fell into the interview, making chitchat about the conservation of ducks, the subject of his PhD from Oxford. There he met Jonathan Quin, the band’s keyboard player and co-songwriter. Although Briggs tells of his “love of Cowley” where he and the band still live, he’s apparently “never settled” and has a love of things more “naturally dramatic.”

This seems to be a constant backdrop to the life of Briggs, one which “works its way into the songs as nature, the weather and seasons which act as a backdrop for the stories.” This, he says, is a key part of the anticipated second album Tales of Terra Firma, which conjures up images of a “new explorer” for him personally, and deals with “more weighty experiences through a bigger sound.” It’s been three years since the band’s debut album, Beachcomber’s Windowsill, in which time they’ve been “getting to grips with being a grown up”, but with these weightier experiences the band seemed to have now settled into their Oxford life beyond academia.

The band’s attitude to their success is nonchalant. I ask Briggs what he thinks of the mainstream folk revival and being compared to bands such as Mumford and Noah and the Whale. The genre’s re-emergence “has definitely been a helping hand”, but he admits they feel no pressure to emulate others – “if those bands didn’t exist, we’d be doing exactly the same thing.” Once the first album’s promotional tour was over, Briggs was thankful to be able to “leave the public eye”, to return to Cowley with “no pressure to write poptastic hits and be able to continue with what we wanted to do.”

This low-key approach was later shown in the second of the band’s gigs at the Town Hall that was simply brilliant. The general buzz of the venue suggested a yearning for Oxford’s own, with a sense of exclusivity at what would undoubtedly be a gig to remember. This was reinforced by the band’s choice of venue, something Briggs had earlier said was a deliberate choice as it is a “beautiful building creating a great atmosphere.” Although the band love playing to a home crowd they admit to an added sense of pressure. “Even though they’re onside, they’re our longest serving fans and we want them to like the new songs.”

If this pressure was still felt, it definitely wasn’t shown as they stepped on the stage to rapturous applause. Throughout their set, their sense of individuality and creative independence shone through with weird and whacky instrument choices such as a saw and spoons. The insertion of ‘November Song’, a short acoustic number, was stunning earlier in the set and, as they neared the encore, similar expectations begin to surface which were definitely met, by the band rushing offstage only to re-appear behind the audience in the gallery, this time in four-part harmony. They then rushed back onstage for Quin to play the mighty town hall organ.

Then followed departure into a prog-rock, Emerson, Lake and Palmer style, epic with a certain element of irony beaten only by Briggs’ rendition of The Proclaimers ‘500 Miles’ in the sound check earlier on. This segued into ‘I Saw You Blink’ and ‘Watching Birds’ to end. Over in a flash, this was a gig to remember and one I definitely will. Briggs appeared both quick-witted and contemplative throughout the set.

I’d asked him for some advice and about what Stornoway had in store for the future. His answer now seemed particularly appropriate:

“Don’t send anything out until you’re completely happy with it, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of second chances in music. And yeah, I want to be massive in Liechtenstein”.

No doubt they will.

What do you ask the journalist who undermines journalism? A man whose frustration at the industry led him to turn both in on it, and it into comedy? Rich Peppiatt is such a man: previously a journalist at the Daily Star, Peppiatt was uncomfortable with the way the paper went about its journalism, especially with much of the allegedly Islamophobic coverage that the paper put out in 2012. So he decided to quit.

Yet being unhappy isn’t enough to quit a job, let alone to leak it to the national press. “It got to the point where I felt that what I was doing was a complete betrayal of my own principals,” Peppiatt says. “I wanted to draw attention to it if I possibly could.”

In early March 2012 Peppiatt leaked his letter of resignation from the Daily Star to the Guardian website, an action which provoked a subsequent storm on Twitter, and several threatening text messages. “I didn’t realise it was going to blow up as it did! But I think that everyone at some point has that fantasy of writing a letter to their boss, and storming out giving them the middle finger.”

However, Peppiatt’s blaze of glory didn’t end here. Fortuitously, the Leveson Inquiry took off about six months later, and Peppiatt had a forum for his frustration. When I ask him about his role in the Leveson he remains indignant, citing a recent issue of the Sun that had several bikini pictures of Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius’ murdered girlfriend, plastered all over it. “The media hasn’t really changed. There was certainly a quiet period while the inquiry was going on but it does seem that editors are winning the battle to get the regulation that they want rather that the regulation they deserve”.

When I ask about what the future holds, Peppiatt is not optimistic: “I don’t think you are going to eradicate things like the invasion of privacy. The point is, “What is the right and ethical thing to do?” A lot of what I did at the Daily Star wasn’t even journalism!” He laughs that what most tabloid writers do is finding bikini pictures of celebrities and dotting a few words around them. Peppiatt is serious again though, and claims that a few months on from the Leveson Inquiry little progress has been made, in spite of Lord Leveson’s efforts. “The whole discussion of a free press is rather outdated. Newspapers are businesses; their aim is to make money. Capitalism is based on self-interest, but journalism is based on public interest. Putting the two together is an awkward coupling and self-interest in journalism often tramples public interest.”

It was at this point that Peppiatt turned to comedy. His show, ‘One Rogue Reporter’ is an attempt to counteract some of theaggression that the tabloids have exhibited. In Peppiatt’s own words it is also a reaction to the refusal by those who have brought the industry to the cliff face – the tabloid executives themselves – to play a serious part in the public dialogue over where the line should lie between public interest, privacy, and freedom of speech. ‘One Rogue Reporter’ is clever, then: a mixed media stand up comedy show with a serious political and journalistic message. “People like Paul Baker didn’t like me trying to doorstep them. I hated the hypocrisy of these people; it underpins so much of the industry. I’m proud my show reflects that as I think it’s well overdue”.

So a sort of self-referential political satire, then. Peppiatt laughs and waves away my persistent categorisation: “The show is more than a stand up comedy show. What I wanted it to be about was that, watching the Leveson Inquiry, some of the editors were allowed to get away with these grand proclamations about private interest and freedom of expression when I knew that in real life they didn’t believe them”.

‘One Rogue Reporter’ has toured Edinburgh and is currently touring the country. Peppiatt performed at Hertford College on Sunday, which, when I speak to him, he is apprehensive about. “I’ve never done comedy in the day time before! Normally I have a few pints first.”

The idea of turning a political inquiry about media ethics into a stand up comedy show is quirky, and Rich Peppiatt deals with the concept brilliantly. His topic is niche and personal, he has the self-interest of experience, and the public interest of his highly topical, journalistic theme to his great advantage. Will he ever go back to journalism and writing again? It is unlikely. He hasn’t so much closed doors as slammed them. And rightly so.