Hits the Fan blog

Dave Lancaster releases new ambient album DRONE ALONE

Citing influence from the likes of Brian Eno, Vangelis, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross, Drone Alone is an album of longform ambient instrumentals intended for contemplation whether as background listening or more intense focus.

The smell of acid in the morning: Is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Terry Gilliam’s Vietnam war movie?

A remarkably lucid and targeted vision that cuts through the haze like a sniper’s bullet soars over an opium field.

Crime fiction you can’t ignore: The Listening Walls by Margaret Millar

What I like about Margaret Millar’s novels is that every chapter is strong enough and laced with enough character, tone and climax to function as its own short story.

A war story that explores instead of explodes: Why you must read the devastating Will by Jeroen Olyslaegers

Entire nations and towns were occupied, overruled by new leaders. You could hear the pin of a grenade drop. From a distance, you would have no idea.

Book review: The Mongolian Conspiracy by Rafael Bernal

It’s as if the lead character of a madcap Hunter S Thompson novel has stumbled into a Graham Greene thriller – that’s the best way I can hope to set the scene for Rafael Bernal’s 1969 cult classic The Mongolian Conspiracy.

So I finally finished Shantaram…

I must’ve started reading this 933 page epic a year or so ago. From the first chapter I knew I loved it. And yet it took me so long to actually get through it. I realise now that I didn’t want to part with it.