Issue 573

Alpha Dog

(15) 117min

11 Apr 2007

TRUE CRIME/DRAMA Justin Timberlake’s inauspicious lead role in straight to-landfill clunker Edison proved once again that global pop stardom doesn’t necessarily equate with matinee idol status. Yet the trouser snake acquits himself surprisingly well…

Also Released

11 Apr 2007

Perfect Stranger (15) 108min (3 Stars) Investigative reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) thinks that her friend’s murder might be connected to powerful ad executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) and so goes undercover with the help of Miles Hailey…

Bollywood Round-up

11 Apr 2007

Set in Mauritius Ajay Chandok’s Nehlle Pe Dehlla (12A) 125min (1 Star) is a reworking of the 1989 US comedy hit Weekend at Bernie’s. Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt mark time amongst the slow motion shots of lycra clad Bollywood babes, practising aerobics…

Curse Of The Golden Flower

(15) 114min

11 Apr 2007

EPIC DRAMA/WAR Zhang Yimou’s third martial arthouse adventure is less action oriented than the co-writer and director’s last, House of Flying Daggers, but even more ravishing in visual terms than his first stab at the genre, Hero. At heart Curse of…

DVD - Bridging The Gap: Lies

Bridging The Gap: Lies

11 Apr 2007

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS This collection of short documentaries from the all too often undervalued and under funded Scottish Documentary Institute serves as a welcome taster for the excellent work executed by this organisation. The best of the films here…

DVD - Romeo, Juliet and Darkness

Romeo, Juliet and Darkness

11 Apr 2007

ROMANCE Jirí Weiss’ fine 1960 film is a tale of moral ambivalence and youthful idealism. Set in 1942 Czechoslovakia at a time when the Nazis were occupying the country and the Jews were hounded out of it. Pavel (Ivan Mistrík) falls in love with…

DVD - Round-up

DVD Round-up

11 Apr 2007

‘When April winds/Grew soft, the maple burst into a flush’ - (that’s American poet William Cullen Bryant in case you wondered) - our thoughts turn to female space warriors. Well, just one really, the one they call Ripley. The proto feminist hammerhead…

DVD - Spike Lee Box Set

Spike Lee Box Set

11 Apr 2007

DIRECTOR COLLECTION Spike Lee was 50 on March 20 and this nine disc box set has been released to celebrate the occasion. It is an odd collection that reeks of commercialism with the films - School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle…

DVD - Twelve and Holding

Twelve and Holding

11 Apr 2007

COMING OF AGE DRAMA When a prank goes horribly wrong with one boy being burned alive in a tree house, his closest allies cope with the loss in their own ways. The dead lad’s brother Jacob, born with a massive birthmark, goes on a mission to make the…

French Flm Festival Round-up

11 Apr 2007

It’s that time of year again when the great and the good who coordinate the national French Film festival unleash their wares on those Francophiles among us. Taking in four Scottish cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen) this three week…

Golgo 13

Comics

11 Apr 2007

DVD A kind of nascent animé James Bond, the re-release of this 1983 action film was based on the long-running Manga comic of the same name. When taciturn, Asian super-assassin Golgo 13 is hired to bump off a Mafia boss, the job leads him up an alley…

Half Nelson - Ryan Gosling interview

Faculty high

11 Apr 2007

The versatile, chameleon-like Canadian actor Ryan Gosling has consistently been drawn to dark, emotionally troubling roles. He has played a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer, a teenage killer who flirts with the investigating policewoman in Murder by…

Hellboy

Comics

11 Apr 2007

DVD The first of three feature length television cartoons adapted from Mike Mignola’s marvellous comic book series, Sword of Storms takes Hellboy and his Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence colleagues east to Japan where they duke it out with a…

Hitlist - The best film & DVD releases

11 Apr 2007

The Lives of Others Before the fall of the Berlin wall the East German secret police persecute a radical playwright in this excellent Oscar-winning German thriller. See review . Selected release from Fri 13 Apr.

Karas

Comics

11 Apr 2007

DVD From the opening battle sequence, the action scenes in Karas are a retina-searing blend of CGI and slick animation with dazzling sci-fi imagery and videogame aesthetics. Edited at a dizzyingly fast pace, it’s just a shame that when the action…

Pathfinder

(15) 100min

11 Apr 2007

ADVENTURE A remake of the excellent 1987 Norwegian outdoors adventure about a lone boy’s efforts to save his tribe from a band of marauding killers in frozen Lapland 1000 years ago, Pathfinder relocates the action to America centuries before Columbus…

Playlist

11 Apr 2007

The effectiveness of ‘intertainment depends on fast streaming times and high-bandwidths that allow the onscreen action to flow, and animation lends itself particularly well to the technical limitations of casual net viewing. Among all the endless animé…

Reign Over Me

(15) 124min

11 Apr 2007

DRAMA/TEARJERKER It’s interesting to note that the more serious the role Adam Sandler plays the more he looks like Bob Dylan. Last time he wiped the smile off his own face was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love but that was only an aperitif for…

Shooter

(15) 125min

11 Apr 2007

ACTION/THRILLER More adventures for Mark Wahlberg at the frontline of flawed American foreign policy. Here he swaps the Iraqi desert of Three Kings for the African coast. When a mission ends with the death of his best mate and spotter (the human…

The Lives Of Others

(12A) 138 mins

11 Apr 2007

COLD WAR DRAMA The masterful debut feature of writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, The Lives of Others is the first major German film to examine the activities of the Stasi in the former East Germany. Where the likes of Wolfgang Becker’s…

The Reaping

(15) 96min

11 Apr 2007

HORROR What the hell is Hilary Swank playing at? This glossy, but in all other ways substandard supernatural chiller is the kind of by-the-numbers chick horror flick that Sandra Bullock churns out periodically, not what you’d expect a two-time Oscar…

Ultimate Avengers 2

Comics

11 Apr 2007

DVD Taking its cues from Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, Marvel returns to the animated world with the second part of their Ultimate Avengers series. The alien menace has now reached Africa and is threatening the small but technically advanced nation of…

Unknown

(15) 85min

11 Apr 2007

THRILLER Five guys (Barry Pepper, Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano and Jeremy Sisko) wake up in an abandoned warehouse. It’s obvious that some of them hate each other as one of them is handcuffed and another bound. Unfortunately they’re…

Art Attack

News

10 Apr 2007

Four of the world’s leading graffiti artists from Brazil are teaming up with Scottish talent to decorate the walls and turrets of the south side of Kelburn Castle, on the west coast, 35 miles from Glasgow, in a project aimed at challenging the public’s…

Burlesque

Hello Kittie

10 Apr 2007

Frequently hailed as ‘the Queen of British Burlesque’, 25-year-old Kittie Klaw is at the forefront of the international burlesque renaissance. She is a founder of the Ministry of Burlesque which this month presents High Tease in Glasgow. She tells her…

Indian Summer Programme Announced

News

10 Apr 2007

The organisers of Indian Summer, one of the highlights of last year’s Scottish musical calendar, have unveiled the first wave of their 2007 programme. The Flaming Lips (pictured), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Rapture and Annuals are among the bands…

Life & Style - Eating & Drinking Guide sneak preview

A taste of things to come

10 Apr 2007

The 14th edition of our annual Eating & Drinking Guide will be given away free with the next issue of The List. Here we offer a small sample of what to expect from more than 800 completely revised entries, excerpting reviews of some of the most…

Life & Style - Excess Baggage

Excess Baggage

10 Apr 2007

Watch out for a rocky few months in the shrink-wrapped world of the package holiday. The proliferation of cheap flight websites turning consumers into armchair travel agents has hit the ‘big four’ travel agents rather hard of late. Thomas Cook and…

Life & Style - Play - Alien nation

Alien nation

10 Apr 2007

So it’s finally here, after a four month delay, a barrage of negative press, and spiralling development costs, but was the PS3 worth the wait? Initial sales figures suggest so. Sony managed to sell 600,000 units across Europe in the first week alone and…

Life & Style - Play - Formula One Championship Edition

Formula One Championship Edition (Sony)

10 Apr 2007

PS3 Unless you’re blessed with the cat-like dexterity of everyone’s favourite square-jawed Scot, chances are you’ll appreciate the help that Sony are trying to give in their latest racer. Unlike Mr Coulthard, most of us were born with fat chipolatas…

Life & Style - Play - Motorstorm

Motorstorm (Evolution Studios)

10 Apr 2007

PS3 Mud. That’s apparently what next-gen is all about. Granted, this may not be the most ringing endorsement for drawing £425 from your bank account, but bear with us. You see, this isn’t just any old mud, oh no. It’s gloriously unpredictable…

Life & Style - Play - Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega)

10 Apr 2007

PS3 Remember the days when all Sonic had to worry about was running through shiny gold rings and traversing the occasional loop-the-loop? Well now he’s got a lot more to contend with. Other than rescuing his - disturbingly - human girlfriend, Sonic…

Life & Style - Play - The Web

Film

10 Apr 2007

One website that really lives up to its name, Bloody-disgusting.com is the one stop shop for all the best in horror movie news, reviews and interviews. From the mainstream to the underground, daily updated news for all the gore fans and horror heads out…

Life & Style - Travel

A passage to India

10 Apr 2007

I’m sitting enjoying the shade of the imposing Lakshmana temple on a hot and dry day in Khajuraho when a party of Japanese tourists interrupts my peace. The small group stands bunched around one corner of the intricately adorned building, giggling into…

Literary Festival

News

10 Apr 2007

Louis De Bernieres, Iain Banks (pictured) and Lionel Shriver, Rhona Cameron and Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble are among the artists appearing at this year’s WORD Festival, which takes place at the University of Aberdeen and venues across the granite…

News - One Minute Wonder

Wild things

10 Apr 2007

Words: Allan Radcliffe Five finalists have been selected for One Minute Wonder , The List and Metro Ecosse’s competition to track down the best new film writing talent. Back in January, aspiring writers with a passion for film were asked to submit a…

Property - House rules

House rules

10 Apr 2007

With property prices continuing to soar and half of UK buyers reportedly being forced out of the market, buying a home has never been costlier or more nerve-wracking. But take heart, The List’s reporters have scoured the country and consulted the…

Triptych - The Originals

The Originals

10 Apr 2007

Triptych festival returns for five days of mind-expanding music, DJing and film. As always, the weighty bill is sprinkled with some of the visionaries of modern music. Here we highlight five of the pioneers performing and reveal just how much worse off…

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Arches Theatre Festival The brilliant TEAM return after their fringe triumph with Particularly in the Heartland (pictured), an enchanting allegory about three orphans on a Kansas farm and their unlikely mentors. Sneakily witty and politically…

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Mark Eitzel The erstwhile American Music Club lynchpin wears his heart on his sleeve and can write a love song that would break your heart clean open on one listen. Not a dry seat in the house guaranteed. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 19 Apr.

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Roderick Buchanan: Histrionics An exhibition examining the sectarian past and present that still manages to haunt the streets of Glasgow. Buchanan presents films, photographs and an installation that will take over the large main gallery in GoMA for six…

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Glenn Wool According to this moustachioed Canadian geezer, you don’t go to hell for eating elephants. It’s certainly a reassuring theory, but what can it mean? This may be your chance to find out. Jongleurs, Glasgow, Thu 12-Sat 14 Apr.

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Paulo Coelho The acclaimed Brazilian writer ventures upon our shores to chat about his work in general and his 2006 publications, in particular. Best do your homework on The Witch of Portobello and Like the Flowing River before popping along. SECC…

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Amnezia The king of hardcore, Lenny Dee (Industrial Strength, pictured), is on the decks to make your ears bleed and your brain spasm. The hardest, nastiest beats known to man or beast. Grrrr. Studio 24, Edinburgh, Fri 13 Apr.

5 Reasons - Yann Tiersen

5 Reasons To Go See

9 Apr 2007

1 He plays the typewriter Chuffing on Gauloises and quaffing glass after glass of fine French wine, the 37-year-old’s live shows involve him hopping around variety of instruments, stopping off occasionally to bash away rhythmically at a typewriter like…

Acoustic Ladyland

Are you experienced?

9 Apr 2007

Acoustic Ladyland may have drawn their inspiration from music that first blasted ears four decades ago, but their scorching aural assault has broadened considerably from the quartet’s initial acerbic fusion of Jimi Hendrix, post-Coltrane free jazz and…

Afterplay & The Bear

Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wed 11 Apr, then touring

9 Apr 2007

DOUBLE BILL The loneliness, repression and feelings of ennui which are part of so many lives was perhaps never better captured than by Chekov. Little wonder, then, that Brian Friel, much of whose work runs along similar lines, should have written an…

Also Published

5 Historical Fictions

9 Apr 2007

Isabel Allende Inés of My Soul Based on true events, this is the story of the first Spanish woman to arrive in Chile with the Conquistadors of the 1500s. Fourth Estate.

Apples

Richard Milward

9 Apr 2007

TEENAGE DRAMA The confused and lusty youthdom of Britain are everywhere at the moment from the seemingly daily scare stories on the tabloid front pages and broadsheet opinion columns to the hedonistic revelry of Skins. On literature’s side, January’s…

Arlecchino’s Revenge

Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 13 - Sat 14 Apr

9 Apr 2007

DEVISED WORK The arrival of buccaneering Aussie practitioner Clark Crystal has reinvigorated Lung Ha’s, Scotland’s leading company for people with learning disabilities, with a creative and collaborative spirit that many a more auspicious company…

Beltane Fire Festival

Eternal flame

9 Apr 2007

(Photo: © Two Truths) In 1988, a small group of enthusiasts, led by Angus Farquhar of industrial rockers Test Dept, approached the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, for funding. They wanted to stage an outdoor performance…

Big Toe’s Hi-fi Meets...

Big Toe’s Hi-fi Meets Messenger Soundsystem

9 Apr 2007

REGGAE Following the soundsystem summit this time last year between Wee Red Bar residents Big Toe’s Hi-Fi and leading Glasgow practitioners Mungo’s, this spring sees the Big Toe folks invite Messenger Soundsystem, Edinburgh’s other big reggae club…

Broken Glass

Tolbooth, Stirling, Thu 26 - Sat 28 Apr, then tour

9 Apr 2007

SCOTTISH PREMIERE There is a simple believability in Arthur Miller’s characters and stories which makes them as relevant today as they ever were, be they tales of quotidian salesmen betrayed by the American Dream, or illegal immigrants living in…

Cold War Kids

QMU, Glasgow, Thu 26 Apr

9 Apr 2007

INDIE ROCK While many of us are quite rightly enthralled by the diversity of the current musical climate and all the breathtaking new bands it has to offer, Cold War Kids, despite being very much part of this climate, seemingly couldn’t care less.

Ewan Morrison

Lord of the swings

9 Apr 2007

Early on in Swung, messed-up protagonist David is fired via email from within his own office. This would be bad enough were it not sent in the font which David himself had created to somehow soften the blow for those at the end of a sacking. But surely…

Exposure - De-Fence

Exposure

9 Apr 2007

The Fence Collective are often wrongly tagged as an exclusively folky bunch, but there is a much more diverse array of music on offer from its members. To showcase that fact, collectee Gavin Brown aka On The Fly set up De-Fence, an offshoot label…

Farmer Jason

St Serf’s, Edinburgh, Sun 15 Apr

9 Apr 2007

CHILDREN’S MUSIC With their infectious rhythms and catchy lyrics, Farmer Jason’s songs have a wide appeal. But even he was surprised by the interest his CDs generated. As the Farmer’s alter ego, Jason Ringenberg, explains. ‘It seems adults are into…

Fergus Lamont

Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Wed 11 Oct, then touri

9 Apr 2007

ADAPTATION The question of what precisely it means to be Scottish, of where and from whom a nation’s sense of itself derives, are bound to be at the forefront of public discourse over the next few months. Gerry Mulgrew’s production for Communicado…

Ghosts

More4, Tue 17 Apr, 10pm

9 Apr 2007

SOCIAL DRAMA When you think about Nick Broomfield and his work, you probably don’t think grimy, subtle and slow. Though, you might conjure up an image of a posh guy with a camera upsetting all manner of ruthless crooks and political outcasts with his…

Graham Fagen: Downpresser

GoMA, Glasgow, until Mon 28 May

9 Apr 2007

PHOTOGRAPHY, SCREEN PRINTS, FILM INSTALLATION It’s difficult to discern exactly what Graham Fagen is getting at with his new installation of photographs, screen prints and DVD projections at GoMA. The exhibition, entitled Downpresser, is a personal…

Hitlist - The best events, talk and sport

9 Apr 2007

A Glasgow Story: A snapshot of African and Caribbean life in Glasgow today An absorbing portrait of every day life in some of the city’s newer communities, captured by award-winning documentary photographer Roddy Mackay. Part one of the city-wide Voices…

Injuns

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, Sat 31 Mar

9 Apr 2007

POP It’s tough when even the music critics can’t categorise your band. Having been called everything from country, jazz, folk, rock, punk, funk, disco, bluegrass to reggae the Injuns myspace coyly asserts pop/indie/ other, where the ‘other’ can only…

Lucky Luke

Emma Pollock, Eugene Kelly and Lucky Luke

9 Apr 2007

ACOUSTIC (Lucky Luke) ‘Acoustic’, more often than not, equals folk music. Even though this is actually billed as ‘Versacoustic’ there’s still no one better to open a showcase than the band spearheading the genre’s resurgence - Lucky Luke…

Man of La Mancha

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 20 Apr-Sat 18

9 Apr 2007

MUSICAL Recent times might incite us to pray for leaders who believe in nothing. The zealous idealism of our current crop of proselytising free market politicians, and their monomaniac religious opponents might make us hanker sentimentally after the…

Mission in Action Fashion Fundraiser

Mission In Action Fashion Show

9 Apr 2007

Fashion Fundraiser ‘Living in this country, we’ve just got no concept of how hard it is for people out there,’ says Annalese McDermott, director of Edinburgh modelling agency Stolen, and co-founder of the UK branch of Mission in Action. Mission in…

My Comedy Hero - Alex Horne

Alex Horne

9 Apr 2007

MY COMEDY HERO Before I start, I want to stress that, while I admire people like Woody Allen, Peter Cook and Bill Hicks, I actually grew up watching a lot of Hale and Pace and Russ Abbot so my genuine options here are unfortunately somewhat limited.

Nan Hoover and Nina Könnemann

Sex, Art and Videotape

9 Apr 2007

Early experiments in film by artists remind us that the birth of psychoanalysis and cinema happened at almost exactly the same time, with surrealists adding hermetically sealed packages of poetic and suggestive images to narrative cinema.

Opt In For Art Exhibition

The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Fri 20 Apr - S

9 Apr 2007

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, INSTALLATION, DRAWING, PAINTING

Profile - Edbanger Records

Profile

9 Apr 2007

Name Edbanger Records Occupation Probably the coolest electronic record label in the world. Can you back this up? If it’s credentials you’re looking for then, it’s run by Pedro Winter aka Busy P and he counts acts like Justice, Uffie & Feadz…

Profile - Heresy

Profile

9 Apr 2007

What’s that then? Every Thursday the Jekyll & Hyde basement on Edinburgh’s Hanover Street is host to a censor-free night of comedic devilment. Ooh, that sounds cheeky It is indeed. Resident MC Rick Molland (pictured) touts the proceedings as a ‘dark and…

Re:Union

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 11 - Sat 14 Apr,

9 Apr 2007

NEW WORK Given the amount you’ll be reading over the next few weeks on the issue of the future of the union, I’m loathe to add to your burden. But 7:84 are determined to approach this issue from angles that you won’t expect. True to their general…

Records - Also Released

Also Released

9 Apr 2007

Blonde Redhead 23 (4AD) Disarming, gossamer melodies get fuzzed out in this slightly more geeky (if that’s possible) take on My Bloody Valentine bliss.

Records - Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

9 Apr 2007

ROCK The arch rock snobs on American music website Pitchfork decry this, the fourth Andrew Bird solo album, as brilliant, but not as good as his first three which were all pretty much perfect. Sadly, the colossal man hours required to be quite as…

Records - Billy Cobham

Billy Cobham, Colin Towns HR Big Band

9 Apr 2007

JAZZ Sub-titled ‘A Celebration of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’, this project takes on the improbable challenge of recasting the music of John McLaughlin’s seminal electric fusion outfit for a big band, and succeeds triumphantly. The process involves…

Records - Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs

9 Apr 2007

ALT.COUNTRY Following her departure from Thee Headcoatees, this is Holly Golightly’s 14th studio effort, and after successful collaborations with Jack White, Mudhoney and Rocket From The Crypt she now teams up with long-time bandmate Lawyer Dave to…

Records - Kings Of Leon

Kings Of Leon

9 Apr 2007

ROCK The chances were slim but lightning did strike twice for Kings of Leon. They followed up a colossal debut with a considerable second effort. To presume they could manage a third would be churlish, no? Seemingly not. Their innate ability to…

Records - Lauren MacColl

Lauren MacColl

9 Apr 2007

FOLK Fiddler Lauren MacColl first came to wider notice when she won the BBC2 Young Folk Award in 2004. She is highly accomplished technically, but also has a genuine feel for the expressive nuances of the music, a quality entirely evident in this…

Records - Le Reno Amps

Le Reno Amps

9 Apr 2007

FOLK-COUNTRY A strange wee record this one. While Le Reno Amps plough a distinctly Scottish folk field, this Glasgow lot can nevertheless step into American alt.country when the mood sees fit. The excellent ‘How You Did Me Wrong’ and ‘Radio’ would…

Records - Nafees

Nafees

9 Apr 2007

HIP HOP Scottish hip hop is becoming an ever more tangible currency of late, and 21 year-old rapper Nafees is the latest addition to the pantheon. Part of the credit for this release, however - which rather confusingly bills itself as both a solo…

Records - Patti Smith

Patti Smith

9 Apr 2007

COVERS It’s not much of a leap of imagination, Patti Smith singing Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’, like she does on this odd album of cover versions. It’s practically her territory. More complicated are tracks like Tears For Fears’ late 80s…

Records - Singles & Downloads

Singles & Downloads

9 Apr 2007

(Herman Dune) It’s compare and contrast week at List Towers, so first up are a brace of female singers, and there couldn’t be more contrast between Amy Winehouse and Melanie C . The former’s ‘Back to Black’ (Island, 4 Stars) is a gorgeous…

Records - Sister Vanilla

Sister Vanilla

9 Apr 2007

POP ROCK As soon as the hallucino-vocals kick in, your ears will transport you a pair of decades back in time. The almost bored tones of little Linda Reid signal this first leg of The Jesus and Mary Chain reunion-of-sorts to be cemented when the…

Records - Spank Rock

Various

9 Apr 2007

MIX A big, fat, 29-track mix album by Spank Rock, last year’s boys most likely to. Featuring tracks by Miss Kittin, Hot Chip, Daft Punk and this year’s girls most likely to, CSS. It screams hip electro party album brilliance from the tracklisting…

Remote Control

Brian Donaldson finds that with modern comedy ther

9 Apr 2007

The folk at ITV were not too keen on letting episodes of Get a Grip (STV, Wed 18 Apr, 10pm, 1 Star) find their way into journalists’ hands before the first episode went on air. The reason given was that the show was so darned topical that Ben Elton and…

Silicon Scally

Scallywag

9 Apr 2007

Carl Finlow aka Random Factor aka Silicon Scally has worked with all the greats in electronic music. In fact, he is one of the greats himself. Along with Ralph Lawson he was responsible for the highly revered 2020Vision remixes; he’s worked with some of…

Spiritualized Electric Mainlines

Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 23 Apr

9 Apr 2007

PSYCH GOSPEL ‘Edinburgh was the best show I’ve ever done,’ said Jason Pierce, the heart and soul of Spiritualized, in Word magazine recently. ‘People stood up to clap. Ten minutes later they were still clapping. The band were crying, I was crying.…

The Go! Team

Smirnoff Electric Cabaret

9 Apr 2007

CUT’N’PASTE FUN’N’GAMES If you’re looking for a gig with a difference, here it is. Human beatboxer? Check. Hula hoop artist? Check. Burlesque dancers? Check. ‘Giant balloon man’ (whatever that is)? Check. Right, let’s also get Lemon Jelly to DJ and…

The Keep

Jennifer Egan

9 Apr 2007

GOTHIC PASTICHE The slip-sliding new book from award-winning American novelist Jennifer Egan opens with a scene familiar from the 1930s Universal horror classics as Danny, a 36-year-old drifter, arrives at a castle in Eastern Europe. Summoned…

The Law

Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow, Thu 22 Mar

9 Apr 2007

INDIE Now on tour with The View, the fact that The Law share management with their Dundonian compadres suggests that they might make waves on the ever-expanding Ladrock market before long. While this acoustic Levi’s Ones To Watch in-store show might…

The Male Gaze

Joe Treasure

9 Apr 2007

BLACK COMEDY At first glance, The Male Gaze is cheerful dick-lit. English bloke, stuck in LA, feeling detached from his wife, meets vivacious American woman for out-of-character adventures. Things soon take a darker turn, as a young girl’s suicide…

The Proclaimers

The Sunshine Boys

9 Apr 2007

After 20 years in the entertainment business, The Proclaimers, otherwise known as Craig and Charlie Reid, have a special place in the Scottish psyche. Their songs, from the joyous exuberance of ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)’, to the celebratory yet quietly…

The Seven Days of Peter Crumb

Jonny Glynn

9 Apr 2007

HORROR (Photo: © Shami Gee) You have to wonder, upon reading Jonny Glynn’s debut novel, whether his friends can still look at him in quite the same way. After all, within just 45 pages we’re already treated to a detailed description of two…

Tom Middleton

Headspin at The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Apr

9 Apr 2007

HOUSE/ECLECTIC To read Tom Middleton’s wilfully genre-dropping biography is to understand how much he makes a feature of his eclectic nature. Growing up as a surfing and street sports enthusiast who loved The Police and Prince in Cornwall, the…

Trashed

Cruz, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Apr

9 Apr 2007

CLUB NIGHT (From left: Morgan, Jon Pleased Wimmin, Slim Boy Fat and Lick It) It is handy that Edinburgh’s gay and gay-friendly clubs, bars and general venues of debauchery are clustered around the Leith Walk area. This means that starting the…

Wael Shawky: Al Aqsa Park

Collective Offsite, Sat 31 Mar

9 Apr 2007

FILM INSTALLATION ‘I do not intend to control the viewer,’ says Egyptian artist Wael Shawky, ‘but rather to construct the work in a precise fashion where every element is controlled.’ But when Collective herded its audience onto two buses destined…

When We Were Bad

Charlotte Mendelson

9 Apr 2007

FAMILY DRAMA Charlotte Mendelson returns with a sweeping familial drama charting the decline and fall of a well-to-do, very Jewish London family funnelled through the revolving narrative ciphers of three characters in crisis. Rabbi Claudia, son Leo…

Willie Campbell

Willie Campbell and The Just Joans

9 Apr 2007

INDIE A misspent youth in Lanarkshire could lead to anything, but for The Just Joans it’s heartfelt, thickly-accented stories of departed friends and lost loves - that and a trip to East Kilbride being the high point of the summer. Evidence of…