The Void - Informing you on music, competitions, wwe, ufc, games and other cool things.

If you’re looking for something suitably summery to compensate for the general gloom hanging over the country, you’d do well to crack open the Vimto and stick on Ripe, the sixth album from Aussie Ben Lee.

It’s a great record for chilling out with the sun at home, in the garden or in the car. Ripe’s general theme is one of catchy, melodious songs that are neither offensive nor awesome, sung by a voice that is neither bad nor impressive – comparisons can be made to the vocals of Ben Folds and, at times, to Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. While being a pretty patchy record, there are a few decent songs that (although not ground-breaking or innovative in any way) shouldn’t fail to lift your spirits. The tracks worth listening out for or downloading being American Television, What Would Jay-Z Do? and Sex Without Love.

The main failing of the album is the Holland-like flatness of the sound. The most up-tempo song on the album, Sex Without Love, could perhaps have made more of an impact, but comes across like it’s been recorded using woollen plectrums and breadsticks as drumsticks. However, these few faults are cancelled out by the perfect chirpiness of the songs mentioned above, and Ripe could just be your cup of tea to warm you up in these cold summer days.

Ripe is due to be released on September 18. Buy it here.

The death of Tony Wilson was even more of a jolt than it would otherwise have been as it occurred halfway through the reading of this book, in which he looms large. This is more than the story of the elusive Bernard Sumner. It encompasses much of the Manchester music scene over nearly two decades, such is the influence he has over it. And it’s this that the book really focuses on.

You learn much of the musical collaborations and much of the people around the bands Sumner has been involved in but precious little of the man’s life. Sure, it covers his early years and offers an insight into his background and school years, including the mystery of his real name, but much of his adult life outside of music is almost an afterthought. His two marriages are covered by a mere two sentences.

But for the music fan, this is a comprehensive dissection of the events surrounding the rise of Joy Division, the metamorphosis into New Order and the reluctant Sumner’s transformation into singer and frontman and his other musical collaborations. It also covers in detail the life of The Haçienda and how much of an impact this had on the musicians for whom it became one hell of a money pit.

The really interesting contributions in this book come from Sumner himself. Originally written without his input but with comments from Tony Wilson, Peter Hook and Johnny Marr among others, Sumner wasn’t interviewed for the book but subsequently read it and offered his version of situations or further insight into particular events, and these interjections are scattered throughout. As the author states in an explanation at the front of the book, this gives it an odd mix of the freedom of an unofficial biography and the seemingly censored directness of an official one.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Manchester music scene in the Eighties and Nineties would do well to pick this up. Anyone wanting to learn more about Bernard Sumner the man may just as well go back to the music he’s made.         Julia Collins

Buy this book here.

As young, interesting people with plenty to do, you probably have a mobile phone, and that phone most likely came with a few pre-installed games. Bit rubbish though aren’t they?

Games on mobiles aren’t designed for long hours of button bashing – that’s what your home console is for. Mobile games have to be able to fill those minute-long gaps in your day when there’s no-one you particularly want to text; waiting for a bus, in line at the supermarket, even on the toilet… or maybe not. Wherever you play them, we don’t want mobile games that demand time and attention, rather they need to provide short bursts of fun to plug those spaces that litter your day.

In this respect, Stuntman Ignition is one of the most perfect mobile games out there. A simple side-scroller where the aim is to pull the most insane stunts possible in a variety of cars. The more sick the stunts, the more points you get, the better reviews the movie you’re working on will receive.

Quick to get into, the in-game graphics are bright and clean on the small screen, and while the sound is nothing amazing, it does the job just fine. The real gem here though is the gameplay.

Stuntman Ignition has twenty-seven levels, each trickier than the next, and the beauty is that no section of the game lasts any longer than 30 seconds. This means that even if you only have a tiny bit of time, you can get into the game and progress without really noticing. That’s not to say it will all be over quickly though – a lot of trial and error is required and some levels will take plenty of attempts before you’re able to even scrape through. The controls are simple, and once you have completed the career mode of the game, you can then revisit every single level as much as you want in the free play mode and nitro-boost yourself off ridiculous ramps with nary a thought for the consequences.

Ever wanted to pull off a triple backflip with a police car, land the bastard on its roof and then be rewarded for your efforts? If so, download Stuntman Ignition now.

Stuntman Ignition is available now. Text ‘stunt’ to 88188 (cost £4.50).

For more information visit www.thqwireless.com

For a free Stuntman Ignition wallpaper text ‘stunt1’ to 88188.

Sometimes, in the mystical genre of comedy, simplicity is the key. Big sets, props and overly elaborate special effects often make a straightforward show far less appealing than it set out to be. Toulson and Harvey have clearly realised this.

The format for their set is pretty straight forward. This is a sketch show, with no fancy backdrops, no props, just two men, some stools and a guitar, with Misters Toulson and Harvey performing a number of interlinked sketches in an attempt to explain why this show will be the last show that they will do together.

Blending sketches and scenarios with songs and a montage scene to the Rocky soundtrack, this fast-paced show comes across very much like a pilot for a potential radio or TV show, with a mixture of material which keeps the audience in stitches, alongside some not-quite-ready jokes.

An enjoyable show by two people who will probably make it quite big in the future.

Toulson and Harvey can be found in the Underbelly at 5.20pm

Thomas Canning

Legend has it that life begins at 40. It’s the age that you should be able to take stock of your life, look at what you have achieved, and feel content. That, or like my English teacher at school, have a breakdown and run off with the secretary.

Richard Herring has taken a different approach to it, he’s written a show called Oh Fuck I’m Forty, and taken up skateboarding. “The show is basically a stand-up show loosely themed around a childish man having to come to terms with the fact that he is getting old. Life doesn’t begin at 40, but one can certainly say that childhood is dead by this point. Thus I am contending with a mid-life crisis and the fact that my profession means I have to stay artificially puerile. All this, plus skateboarding and some jokes.”

Rising to fame in the 90s as part of Lee and Herring (we’ll leave you to work out which one he was), Richard Herring has spent the last 15 years producing shows like Fist of Fun, and This Morning with Richard Not Judy, as well as his own solo shows like Christ on a Bike, Excavating Rita and Talking Cock (the male answer to the Vagina Monologues). With so much material behind him, does he have a problem with people shouting catchphrases at him?

“It hardly happens at all, so when it does happen it is not that annoying. People usually shout ‘You want the moon on a stick!’ but it was Stew who wanted that, so I tell them that. Sometimes people will say some strange sentence to me and I don’t know what they mean and they have to explain that it’s a line from some sketch or other that I have forgotten, but to be honest I can pretty much go about my daily life without too much danger of being recognised.”

As well as all of this performing, for the last four years Richard has also posted daily on his own blog Warming Up, which has racked up an impressive 1752 entries. “Sometimes this is a slight worry, but although there are recurring themes (procrastination, weight gain/loss, bad gigs) I think I usually manage to keep it fresh. As it’s mainly based on my life and things that have happened to me or that I’ve seen, I can usually think of something new, though occasionally it’s hard to think of anything at all, so not all 1752 are classics.”

With nearly 20 years in the business, Richard Herring has become as much a part of the Edinburgh Fringe as being pestered by flyers or 36 hour sleeping patterns, so how does he cope with the Edinburgh experience? “A typical day for me at the Fringe involves sleeping until noon, watching TV until about six, and then popping over to the Underbelly to do
my show before going out and getting drunk. I have missed a few Fringes since I first came here in the 80s but this is still the 16th out of 21 possible Fringes. Not bad for someone entering their fifth decade.”

So can he see himself becoming the next Arthur Smith? “Arthur Smith is one of my Edinburgh heroes and it would be amazing if people mentioned me in the same breath as him. I think people are starting to notice how much work I have put into the Fringe, but it largely goes unremarked. If I got an acknowledgment of my achievement I would probably stop. It’s really that easy to make me go away.”

Richard Herring – Oh Fuck I’m Forty is on at the Underbelly at 8.20pm. For more fun-nuggets, visit www.richardherring.com or buy his DVDs from here.

Thomas Canning