Issue 563

Converge - album review

Converge

11 Nov 2006

METAL OK, so metal is generally the ‘duh’-centric domain of Beavis & Butthead but amidst the OTT-ridiculousness of it all, there are groups who have pushed the genre past artifice into art. Boston’s Converge, are such craftsmen. In a 15-year…

Phil Nichol

11 Nov 2006

To the world he may be that crazy Canadian fella, but considering his birthplace (Glasgow) we shall claim the inaugural winner of the if.comeddies awards as one of our ain folk. Admittedly, this is akin to us giving up Jerry Sadowitz as being a New…

Hawk and a Hacksaw, A - album review

A Hawk and a Hacksaw

11 Nov 2006

AVANT GARDE FOLK Jeremy Barnes, late of Leicestershire and recently relocated back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, former drummer in the influential American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, is a weirdo. And possibly a genius. His third album of…

Various - Butchering the Beatles - album review

Various

11 Nov 2006

METAL UP YOUR ASS If you’re the kind of sick fuck who’s always wondered what a heavy metal Beatles would’ve sounded like, wonder no more. Here, a host of metal luminaries massacre the fab foursome’s back-catalogue, with surprisingly entertaining…

Spektrum - album review

Spektrum

11 Nov 2006

POP London four-piece Spektrum are back, twisting music into brand new shapes with a demented dose of eccentric genius for their second album. Hardly surprising, given that production wizard Gabriel Olegavich has a famous Russian composer’s heritage…

Penpushers - album review

Penpushers

11 Nov 2006

HIP HOP Shadowy Scottish rap pioneers Penpushers have been skulking around the hip-hop hinterland for a while now, but this third album is possibly their most mainstream outing yet, thanks in part to the occasional lush female vocal courtesy of one…

Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham & Val Semeiks

Villains United (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Seemingly an excuse to reel out every other car boot sale bad guy that the archives of DC forgot. A bunch of vaguely uninspiring villains are banded together as the Secret Six by a mysterious power to challenge Lex Luthor’s Society, an army…

SNJO Plays Dizzy

11 Nov 2006

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra have consistently moved between commissioning new music and performing repertory projects like this one. Tommy Smith and his troops turn their attention to the great Dizzy Gillespie this time round. The trumpeter…

Power Girl

Geoff Johns, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (DC)

11 Nov 2006

SUPERHERO Power Girl lies at the crux of the events and concepts that Infinite Crisis deals with. The character has been retconned more than most, her origins obscured within various parallel universes. This compilation looks back through the years…

Carl Craig

11 Nov 2006

It’s Pressure’s eighth birthday and they have a true innovator on hand in the shape of Detroit master Carl Craig. Along with his Innerzone Orchestra and Paperclip People projects he has created some of the world’s most startling and forward thinking…

Mudbone

11 Nov 2006

Support slots at enormo-domes like the SECC are never easy, especially as the crowd are often baying for the main event (in this case Pink). But funk rocker Gary ‘Mudbone’ Cooper should take it in his stride having worked with the likes of Prince and…

Luxembourgh

11 Nov 2006

Luxembourg head a double bill of New Pop Revolution shows on both coasts. Joined by compatriots of the state of independence and intelligent indie pop, Morton Valence and Swimmer One (plus Hoboken for the Glasgow date). Taking cues from the likes of…

Be Good Tanyas, The

The Be Good Tanyas

11 Nov 2006

Bluegrass, folk and country from all girl trio The Be Good Tanyas. Trish Klein, Frazey Ford and Samantha Parton play heart-breaking Americana and traditional alt.country standards, imbued with humanity and cracked gothic ambience straight from the…

Access

Access

11 Nov 2006

Two quality techno/electro nights return for this one off dust up in the capital. Each is joined by a quality guest to get down and dirty on the dancefloor. Inner Rhythm have the mighty Rolando from the legendary Underground Resistance collective while…

Tobias Sternberg - Point of Sale

11 Nov 2006

Stockholm-born Sternberg’s exhibition includes a series of ten two-dimensional sculptures of ‘commodities’. The sculptures refer to everyday readymade objects, but play with elements of depth versus flatness, use different colours and materials, warping…

Three

11 Nov 2006

An exhibition of paintings by Glasgow painters David Sillars, Michele David and Eva Gustavsson. The artists examine how the application and removal of paint creates layers of time and suggested landscapes that are trapped beneath the skins of their…

Film books

Screen Stories

26 Oct 2006

David Bordwell’s The Way Hollywood Tells It (University of California Press - 4 stars) is a very impressive look at recent American cinema’s fascination with ‘impact aesthetics’ and intensified continuity. Bordwell, the author of classic film…