Issue 561

Guy Delisle

Shenzhen (Jonathan Cape)

10 Oct 2006

TRAVELOGUE Canadian animator Guy Delisle spends a lot of time in the far east overseeing animation projects. In his first travelogue he visited North Korea; this time around he spends interminably dull days, weeks and months in china’s economic…

Nabiel Kanan

The Drowners (Image)

10 Oct 2006

CRIME The US has the crime comic market sewn up with titles such as Stray Bullets and 100 Bullets. But this London-set, noir-styled murder mystery draws fine comparison with its Transatlantic cousins. UK writer-artist Nabiel Kanan’s fourth graphic…

Mercury Tilt Switch - album review

Mercury Tilt Switch

10 Oct 2006

ROCK In these re-hashed Britpop days it’s possible to forget that there once was a time when rock music was allowed to be, well, loud. Not so for Mercury Tilt Switch, who take their cues from US noise-mongers like Sonic Youth and... Trail Of Dead…

Latin lessons

10 Oct 2006

A collision of Hispanic hoedowns hits Glasgow this fortnight, with the Centro Español Lorca’s annual celebration of Spanish culture, La Feria Latina, following Dance House’s Argentinian Tango in the City festival. The former is an open day of music…

Boyfriends, The - album review

The Boyfriends

10 Oct 2006

INDIE This London-based foursome reckon they make ‘good boyfriend material’ (hence the monicker) and if you like your chaps unashamedly foppish, then you’re certain to agree. The band’s potential suitor rating is enhanced by their dreamy debut…

Various (The In-Kraut Vol 2) - album review

VARIOUS

10 Oct 2006

OLD SCHOOL SOUL While Detroit, London and the like most notably swung throughout the 60s and 70s, soul and affiliated movements were all pervasive: even those stiff old Krauts had a bash. This lovingly compiled follow up to 2005’s Vol. 1 (the work of…

Vote for the best (and worst) Scottish singles

Vote for the best (and worst) Scottish singles

10 Oct 2006

That age-old, heated pub argument about whether the best seven-inch record to hail from north of the border was Lulu’s ‘Shout’ or Andy Cameron’s ‘Ally’s Tartan Army’ is about to be definitively settled. Music website www.jocknroll.co.uk has launched an…

Vision and the Riddle - album review

Vision and the Riddle

10 Oct 2006

EXPERIMENTAL DOWNBEAT Presumably taking their name from the impenetrably dense mole-dwarf philosophical musing of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, the duo of Goo and Al certainly fulfill this London label’s ethos of ‘odd music for odd people’. Sitting…

Duke Special - album review

Duke Special

10 Oct 2006

INDIE POP Judged on its own merit, this second release from the dreadlocked ‘boho-chic’ Belfast lad (bet you don’t get many of them) Peter Wilson has some fine moments. Opener ‘Wake Up Scarlett’ is a giant of a song, while ‘Everybody Wants a Little…

Various (Splendour and Misery) - album review

Various

10 Oct 2006

ECLECTICA Straddling the darker genres, this compilation of tracks by the myriad of new and established artists affiliated with London based independent TV records holds together well. Ari, of label founders Breathless, opens and closes with some…

Bent Double

10 Oct 2006

Zoe Lyons won the Funny Women competition in 2004, and with residencies in Brighton and London, she’s much in demand. After gaining a degree in psychology she turned to acting, and now finds herself in the even less serious business of comedy. Bent…