Issue 588

Once

18 Oct 2007

If you thought all musicals were kitsch, cheesy and dated, then think again. At this year’s Sundance festival, Once – a small Irish indie film about a Dublin busker who falls for an East European immigrant cleaner – turned everyone’s preconceptions on…

Dance: Film Festival

18 Oct 2007

In 1980 the nation went wild for legwarmers; in 1983 dance classes were filled to bursting; and in 2000 boys took to ballet like never before. Such is the power of the dance film, that Fame, Flashdance and Billy Elliot gripped the public’s imagination…

Russell Howard

18 Oct 2007

A regular panellist on BBC2’s Mock the Week, with a Sunday morning radio show and an if.comeddie nomination to his name, Russell Howard recently played the biggest gig of his life, and at 27, his comedy future seems assured. ‘We just almost crashed on…

Eastern Promises

18 Oct 2007

THRILLER/DRAMA (18) 100min Friedrich Nietzsche once asked ‘if evil men have no songs, how is it that the Russians have songs?’ A similar tone of revulsion and envy runs through Steven Dirty Pretty Things Knight’s script for David Cronenberg’s new…

Radiohead - In Rainbows

18 Oct 2007

ROCK In Rainbows (www.inrainbows.com) So you’ve registered, paid what you thought your download might be worth (in our case £3.03 plus 45p admin fee – who are you calling cheap?), downloaded, burned, copied it and generally stuck it to ‘The Man’ in…

Shop - Tam Shepherd’s Trick Shop

18 Oct 2007

I’ve picked the worst possible time of the year to interview Julia Walton. It’s 12.30 on a Sunday afternoon, just before Hallowe’en, and the door of Tam Shepherd’s Trick Shop is constantly jingling. ‘Yes, it’s definitely our busiest time,’ she says…

Vegas!

18 Oct 2007

Vegas! has topped The List’s poll of the best clubs in Scotland more than any other night, revellers embracing its big band stylings, Rat Pack cool and unheard classics. As the club reaches its tenth birthday Henry Northmore talks to the people who…

The Witnesses

18 Oct 2007

AIDS DRAMA (15) 114min The lively opening chapter of André Téchiné’s (Wild Reeds, Alice et Martin) engrossing new ensemble piece captures the bright, colourful look and fruity feel of the Gallic comedy of manners as the love lives of a group of…

Travel - Finland

18 Oct 2007

When I first started making plans for my weeklong trip to Finland, I began the requisite process of droning on to anyone and everyone who would listen about my upcoming travels. However, on completion of my I’m-going-to-Finland-(ha ha you’re…

Stardust

18 Oct 2007

FANTASY (PG) 127min Matthew Layer Cake Vaughn’s scrupulous adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel looks set to take a space at the same box-office graveyard as several other recent fantasy pilots (Eragon, The Dark Is Rising). Vaughn quit his first big…

Africa in Motion

18 Oct 2007

Mark Cousins In the 90s, when I first fell in love with African movies, I’d jump on a cheapo train or plane to London or Paris if either city was showing the classics. Films like Ousmane Sembene’s astonishing satire on impotence, Xala, or his pioneering…

Rendition

18 Oct 2007

THRILLER (15) 122min In a project which feels like it was hastily conceived at an Academy Awards afterparty, Oscar-winner Gavin Tsotsi Hood marshals a cast of worthy talent in the shape of Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Meryl Streep for an…

Hitlist - The best film & dvd releases

18 Oct 2007

• The Witnesses André Téchiné’s masterful tale of life, love and friendship at the time of the first AIDS epidemic in Paris in 1984. GFT, Glasgow, Fri 19 Oct. • Eastern Promises David Cronenberg returns to London for the first time since 2002’s…

Sicko

18 Oct 2007

DOCUMENTARY (12A) 123min The best and worst of Michael Moore are on display as he sets about attacking the way that healthcare is managed in America. The first line of attack exemplifies Moore at his maverick best. Instead of basing a documentary…

José González

18 Oct 2007

He’s responsible for one of the biggest albums of last year, yet nobody seems to recognise José González as he sits sipping his beer in the corner of a hip London hotel bar. In fact, the Swedish singer-songwriter is so softly spoken that it is almost…

Iron & Wine

18 Oct 2007

ALT.COUNTRY Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 29 Oct It would be difficult to find a location more at odds with the music of Sam Beam than the London hotel lobby I meet him in. Swanky, super modern and decked out in stark white clinical decor and…

Larry Coryell & Bombay Jazz

18 Oct 2007

JAZZ Tolbooth, Stirling, Sat 20 Oct This is the only Scottish date for a world-jazz quartet featuring the guitar work of Larry Coryell. It’s a rare Scottish outing for the American guitarist, who made his name in the first wave of jazz-rock fusion…

Found

18 Oct 2007

ART POP The Caves, Edinburgh, Thu 1 Nov The latest musical ponies to be welcomed into the warm stables of Fence Records are the Edinburgh art pop collective, Found. According to band member Tommy Perman they’ve found themselves a good home. ‘I guess…

Hallowe’en clubbing

18 Oct 2007

Maybe it’s something about the Pagan origins of Hallowe’en, but even the best clubs can’t resist hitching their night onto the celebrations. Of course, mainstream party venues will latch onto any occasion for which a greetings card has ever been…

Profile - Radioactive Man

18 Oct 2007

Name Radioactive Man aka Keith Tenniswood. Occupation Non-lone member of Two Lone Swordsmen, alongside somewhat legendary house and rock’n’roll producer Andrew Weatherall. Tenniswood is also a DJ for hire whose tastes centre on dirty electro and…

Pendulum

18 Oct 2007

DRUM & BASS Xplicit at the Arches, Glasgow, Thu 1 Nov; Potterrow, Edinburgh, Fri 2 Nov They’ve become firm friends with the crew at Xplicit and Pendulum are once again winging their way up to Scotland. Their visit coincides with Xplicit making…

Modern Lovers

18 Oct 2007

RETRO Ego, Edinburgh, Fri 26 Oct ‘A supper dance with a bingo intermission,’ jokes Modern Lovers’ Craig Jamieson when asked what plans he has for his club’s latest birthday party. ‘Seven years, you see: we’re all getting on a bit.’ Which is…

A Midsummer Night's Dream

18 Oct 2007

CLASSIC King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 23–Sat 27 Oct Okay, let me fess up. The prospect of another production of the Dream will, generally, fail to fill me with the joys of life, despite the great text’s best intentions in that direction. Like…

Ed Robson

18 Oct 2007

Even Hollywood has turned, of recent times, to the subject of extraordinary rendition. But if the somewhat glamourised approach to the subject promised by the film Rendition, looks like creating a moral simplicity to the subject which threatens to bury…

Meeting Joe Strummer

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Sat 27 Nov, then touring That hoary old chestnut about when political compromise becomes sell out is at the centre of this amiable little fable, at least as much as the tragic punk rebel of the title. In this…

The Car Man

18 Oct 2007

DANCE THEATRE Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 30 Oct–Sat 3 Nov The small town of Harmony, USA has two things in abundance – heat and hormones. Both of which drive the town’s spirited young folk to acts of lust, infidelity and violence. Originally…

Blood Brothers

18 Oct 2007

MUSICAL Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 27 Oct There’s no flying car, singing animals or pyrotechnics, yet Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers, which explores class, poverty and unemployment, remains one of our longest running musicals. Just…

Cyrano

18 Oct 2007

CLASSIC Dundee Rep, Fri 19 & Sat 20 Oct Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is not obvious source material for a children’s show. Yes, the big nose is funny, but the story is shot through with brutal death and a mean streak of self-loathing; the…

Living Quarters

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 26 Oct–Sat 17 Nov In the era of celebrity, we’ve grown accustomed to people of no particular talent becoming famous for being famous. But if these folk have begun to provoke immense and arduous torpor…

Antigone

18 Oct 2007

CLASSIC Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Oct In March 2003, 41% of British people were opposed to the Iraq war, taking to the streets in protest, however this did little to break Blair’s resolve. Over four years later and with Iraq still in…

5 Things you might not know about - Jenny Éclair

18 Oct 2007

1 When on Room 101, she managed to get jellyfish thrown down the chute. 2 In the televised cartoon of Sid the Sexist back in 1992, hers was the voice of ‘Cilla Black’. 3 Her first dabble in showbusiness came writing punk poetry and performing…

Alasdair Gray

18 Oct 2007

A compelling selection of drawings, prints and paintings by one of Scotland’s most successful authors and illustrators of the late 20th century. The work on display spans 50 years or more, and includes designs from some of the front covers of Gray’s…

Also On

18 Oct 2007

• Frankenstein Helen McCrory, Neal Pearson and Lindsay Duncan collaborate in a modern adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic, in which a scientist takes her stem cell research too personally. STV, Wed 24 Oct, 9pm. • Russell Brand’s Ponderland Old…

Also Published - 5 Unit Shifters

18 Oct 2007

• Jackie Collins Drop Dead Beautiful A psycho on the internet stalks Lucky Santangelo after she opens a flashy hotel complex in Las Vegas. Simon & Schuster. • Patricia Cornwell Book of the Dead Kay Scarpetta opens a private forensic pathology…

Also Released - Film

18 Oct 2007

• The Dark is Rising (12A) 98min • Boring Lord of The Rings-style action adventure based on Susan Cooper’s award- winning book series, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, about the travails of a young man who realises he is the last of a group of warriors…

Also Released - Music

18 Oct 2007

• Various Off the Beaten Track (Mister Tramp) A dozen of Scotland’s most delicious new acts including Frightened Rabbit, Beerjacket, Evan Crichton and Galchen shine on this classy showcase from this potential-filled new label. • To Rocco Rot ABC123…

Amy Lamé’s Mama Cass Family Singers

18 Oct 2007

THEATRE Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25–Sat 27 Oct ‘I came up with the idea of a misremembered memoir which is what the show is,’ says Amy Lamé of her one-woman show Mama Cass Family Singers. ‘A lot of it is real, some of it’s made up, but it’s all…

Ash

18 Oct 2007

ROCK Barrowland, Glasgow, Sun 28 Oct ‘There’s always been a fight within ourselves between wanting to rock out and also wanting to be totally pop,’ says Tim Wheeler, grinning. ‘So there’s always a real tension to what we do.’ And there, in a…

Blueflint

18 Oct 2007

Deborah Arnott and Clare-Louise Neilson, aka banjo duo Blueflint, play haunting bluegrass shot though with a yearning sadness and soothing harmonies. Influenced by old-time Americana they have added a full backing band (including Roddy Neilson, Ian…

Brendon Burns

18 Oct 2007

STAND-UP Maggie May’s, Glasgow, Fri 19 Oct When Brendon Burns was nine years old, he decided that a career in stand-up comedy was the road he wanted to travel down. While in Texas with his family, he was snuck into a comedy club through its kitchen…

Britannia Panopticon Theatre

18 Oct 2007

The area around Glasgow’s Trongate has pulled its socks up somewhat over the last decade, but tucked in among the upmarket restaurants catering for the Tron Theatre’s well-heeled audiences and glossy bars spilling over from the Merchant City is a…

Daddy Day Camp

18 Oct 2007

COMEDY/FAMILY (PG) 88min The indelible image of Cuba Gooding Jr enthusiastically ejaculating over Roger Moore’s face in 2003’s dismal comedy Boat Trip seemed to signal a new low in the one-time Academy Award-winner’s career trajectory. But somehow…

David Lynch and Donovan

18 Oct 2007

David Lynch, and Donovan. Together at last. If your mind hasn’t blown itself yet, try throwing some transcendental meditation into the mix. No, not a strange Twin Peaks spoof. Lynch actually will be speaking in Edinburgh and Glasgow this fortnight, in…

Death Disco

18 Oct 2007

Glasgay! club night special at the home of open-minded alternative club sounds, Death Disco. Radio 1’s latest champion of the best in cool, cutting edge dancebeats, Annie Mac (pictured), is the guest of honour, backed up by live sets from ragged…

Desire Under The Elms

18 Oct 2007

AMERICAN CLASSIC Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25 Oct–Sat 17 Nov According to Jeremy Raison, artistic director of the Citz, theatre is about conveying ideas through stories. ‘I think now there’s a need for great stories and to see huge passion…

Dfrnt Trouble

18 Oct 2007

Double bill of uncompromising Scottish indie as Dfrnt Trouble take over the Caves. Expect disco-tastic leftfield punk with an innate understanding of the conventions of pop from Mother & the Addicts (pictured) and riotous indie from The Damn Shames.

Dirty Projectors

18 Oct 2007

INDIE POP Rise Above (Rough Trade) Although the new album from New York singer-songwriter Dave Longstreth is pitched as a from-memory re-interpretation of Black Flag’s Damaged LP, there isn’t much here that will have old punks getting excited. With…

Duncan McLaren

18 Oct 2007

BIOGRAPHY Looking for Enid (Portobello) Eileen Soper’s artwork of the Famous Five adorns the dust jacket of Duncan McLaren’s personal response to Enid Blyton. Inside, enthusiasm bordering on mania abounds and we could happily leave this…

DVD Round-Up

18 Oct 2007

Hallowe’en is almost upon us so let’s delve into the DVD dungeon. We have to start with Halloween: 25 Years of Terror (Starz) •••••. Much imitated but rarely bettered, John Carpenter set the groundwork for every slasher film that followed and this…

Eat - Oysters

18 Oct 2007

It’s a homecoming, of sorts. The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in Argyll is revered on the Scottish food scene, in modern times a place much more worthy of the ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ tag than the hill summit a few miles away. The chain of Loch Fyne Restaurants…

Exposure - Enter Shikari

18 Oct 2007

Tomorrow’s music today. This issue: Enter Shikari This pioneering St Albans rave-metal outfit’s recent achievements really speak for themselves, but just in case you hadn’t noticed their incredible ascent to award-winning, genre-bending poster boys…

Feral Kingdom

18 Oct 2007

DRAWING, PAINTING, FILM AND SCULPTURE CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 10 Nov There seems to be little or no relationship between the works showing at Feral Kingdom in the CCA – all conceptual and aesthetic decisions seem almost arbitrary. It is true that…

Film Round-up

18 Oct 2007

Gay screen Sandra Marron casts an eye over Glasgay!’s film programme Glasgay!’s film programme is a much smaller affair this year. Specialist releases have been replaced by a handful of more mainstream movies. This is due to low audience figures and…

Halloween

18 Oct 2007

HORROR (18) 109min Halloween is the latest entry in the current goldrush to remake the 70s horror cannon. And if anyone can do justice to Carpenter’s slasher classic you’d think it would be Rob Zombie. Surely the most flamboyant and passionate…

Hitlist - The best books, comics & events

18 Oct 2007

• Gail Porter The Edinburgh-born media star drops by for a book signing as she unveils her autobiography, Laid Bare, which chronicles the many psychological and physical battles she’s endured over the last decade. Waterstone’s, Edinburgh, Thu 25…

Hitlist - The best classical & opera

18 Oct 2007

• BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Thursday Night Series Not long back in Glasgow from a tour to Prague, the orchestra stays in Czech mood for Dvorak’s richly melodic Symphony No 7. Nationalist sounds from closer to home are heard in Eddie McGuire’s…

Hitlist - The best comedy

18 Oct 2007

• Jim Tavare When can a bald guy with a double bass ever be funny? When he’s Jim Tavare, that’s when. The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 23 Oct; the Stand, Glasgow, Wed 24 Oct. • Brendon Burns This year’s if.comeddie victor laps it up with a sort-of, though…

Hitlist - The best dancefloor action

18 Oct 2007

• Horrorshow A big shout out to Craig McGee and this consistently great night. This time featuring the amazing Robots in Disguise. Firewater, Glasgow, Fri 19 Oct. • Upstart Importing their own 8K soundsystem to the Caves, the Firecracker DJs are…

Hitlist - The best events, talks and sport

18 Oct 2007

• The One Game As part of their commitment to kicking racism out of football, the Easton Cowboys visit Glasgow for a five-a-side football game, followed by a screening of The One Game, a documentary about Palestine. Pearce Institute, Govan, Glasgow, Sat…

Hitlist - The best exhibitions

18 Oct 2007

• Raphael Danke: Seventh Heaven After recently being taken on as one of the gallery’s roster artists, Raphael Danke’s exhibition of sculptures and collaged photographs at Sorcha Dallas examine abstruse theological ideas and psychoanalytic theories in…

Hitlist - The best LGBT events

18 Oct 2007

• Beyond the Surface An exhibition by Andrew Printer, whose work addresses issues facing the queer community including the nature of intimacy in a community still reeling from the AIDS epidemic. Street Level Photo Works, Glasgow, until 27 Oct.…

Hitlist - The best rock, pop, jazz & folk

18 Oct 2007

• LCD Soundsystem James Murphy (pictured) is no stranger to these parts and this welcome return visit comes hot on the heels of their Stateside tour supporting Arcade Fire . . . Barrowland, Glasgow, Mon 22 Oct. (Rock & Pop) • Arcade Fire . . . who…

Hitlist - The best theatre & dance

18 Oct 2007

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream Tim Supple’s highly-acclaimed, life-affirming production of the bard’s most popular romantic comedy brings together actors, creative staff and languages from India, Sri Lanka and the UK. A must-see, even for the most…

Idlewild

18 Oct 2007

ROCK A Distant History (Parlophone) Ask anyone who’s ever poured over Cure outtakes or Pulp B-sides. When you get to know a band’s back catalogue intimately, after time it’s the bits in between that hold the greatest fascination. After ten years…

In their own words

18 Oct 2007

Project Catwalk Filmmaker Rodolphe Marconi discusses his new documentary about the enigmatic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld ‘For several years I’ve wanted to make an intimate film portrait of someone who I found fascinating and funny, and I thought…

Interview - Aileen Campbell

18 Oct 2007

Rosie Lesso talks to Aileen Campbell about her current exhibition at Glasgow’s Transmission. RL Your performative practice takes place in a range of formats and contexts. How would you define it? AC Generally I want to become embedded in both…

Joel Stickley and Luke Wright

18 Oct 2007

‘It’s nice to get an opportunity to stick the knife in,’ says Luke Wright whose latest project aims to show that metaphorical blades are more powerful than the sword, especially when accompanied by a satirist’s pen. Targeting the questionable writing…

Johanna Billing

18 Oct 2007

FILM AND INSTALLATION Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, until Sun 4 Nov There are many ways of going round an exhibition. Some might favour a more linear, systematic approach, whilst others prefer to flit around randomly, driven by intuition. But…

Kuupuu

18 Oct 2007

EXPERIMENTAL Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Mon 17 Sep There are Moomins on the poster, and something equally other-worldly about Kuupuu’s fractured folk tones. Having wafted all the way from Tampere, Finland, they sound still swathed in dawn mist…

Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical

18 Oct 2007

Random Accomplice’s Julie Brown and Johnny McKnight have resurrected the loveable, if diminutive anti-hero of Little Johnny’s Big Gay Adventure, the deserved hit of Glasgay! in 2005. This time out they bring us an all-singing, all-dancing escapade as…

Lockerbie Jazz Festival

18 Oct 2007

The Lockerbie festival is establishing a good reputation on the Scottish jazz circuit, and boasts another strong traditional-to-mainstream line-up this year, headed by the likes of saxophonists Jesse Davis and Tommy Smith, pianist Brian Kellock…

Mammal

18 Oct 2007

ELECTRONICA 7VWWVW (KFM) Elusive Edinburgh foursome Mammal have been brewing this tasty stew of retro electronica for ages, but it’s worth the wait. Like The Magnificents in a chill-out tent or Boards of Canada jamming with Bob Moog, this mostly…

Martyn Bennett Tribute Show

18 Oct 2007

Martyn Bennett was a driving force in modern Celtic fusion, who brought electronica and samples into the world of traditional music best-known for piping, fiddles and whistles. Sadly he passed away in 2005, and here his own band Cuillin, the Orchestra…

Mischief

18 Oct 2007

DANCE-THEATRE SHOW Macrobert, Stirling, Thu 18–Sat 20 Oct Aimed at children aged 7+ and their families, Mischief is a busy mix of dance, puppetry, visual art, clowning, music and song. Oh, and foam – lots and lots of foam. Award-winning children’s…

Mitzi Szereto (Ed)

18 Oct 2007

SHORT STORIES Getting Even: Revenge Stories (Serpent’s Tail) Sounding worryingly like a manual for angry Bobbitt types, this anthology of short stories looks at ways of serving up the cold dish of revenge. Men don’t come out looking too rosy, and…

Monika Sosnowska

18 Oct 2007

Polish-born, Warsaw-based Sosnowska brings 23 fantastical architectural scale models to the gallery, constructions that may or may not be finally realised. ‘It seems to me that what I do is somehow in opposition to what architecture stands for,’ says…

Mr Hudson & the Library

18 Oct 2007

The ultimate hybrid, Mr Hudson & the Library mix mournful piano with emotive vocals, acoustic guitar and grime. It’s not a marriage you’d imagine would work, but Mr Hudson creates a startling new sound as Chet Baker-inspired rhythms are underpinned by…

Nancy Drew

18 Oct 2007

FAMILY/MYSTERY (PG) 99min ‘Get a clue!’ trills the ad for this hasty update of the venerable teenage gumshoe franchise. Sadly, the Nancy Drew of 2007 feels more like a clueless retread than an inspired reboot. Filmed under the working title Nancy…

NEWS - Alison Peebles

18 Oct 2007

The List is pleased to report that acclaimed Scottish actor and director Alison Peebles has won a much coveted award at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival. Peebles’ piece Multiple was singled out for the accolade in a competition insiders…

NEWS - New venue for Old Town

18 Oct 2007

Edinburgh’s picturesque old town is set to open its doors to a new venue next month. New space, GRV, enjoyed a dry run this festival season when it played host – under the guise of The Green Room – to 42 Fringe shows. Setting its stall in the Cowgate…

NEWS - Stop the demolitions

18 Oct 2007

The battle to save Edinburgh’s Old Town from the vast Caltongate development is gathering momentum. The proposals to demolish listed buildings and tenements in order to build a five-star hotel, conference and office complex just off the Royal Mile have…

Northern Alliance

18 Oct 2007

LO-FI The Hand of God (Fence) Named after Maradona’s infamous goal against England in the ‘86 World Cup, East Lothian lo-fi shamblers Northern Alliance’s fourth LP might seem like a jingoistic poke southwards, but in substance it’s an inward looking…

Old Blind Dogs

18 Oct 2007

FOLK Four on the Floor (Vertical Records) Old Blind Dogs celebrated their 15th anniversary with a concert in Findhorn in April that featured the current quartet with several former members, including singers Ian F Benzie and Jim Malcolm. The…

Only The Men

18 Oct 2007

NEW WORK Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Thu 25 Oct; Platform, Glasgow, Tue 30 Oct; Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 31 Oct; CCA, Glasgow, Thu 1–Sat 3 Nov Music speaks to us in ways words or actions cannot, or so the cliché goes. This is certainly the…

Orchestra Baobab

18 Oct 2007

WORLD Faced with dwindling audiences in the 80s, the members of Orchestra Baobab slid away from the forefront of their native Senegalese music scene, and went their separate ways. World Circuit Records have always dreamt of reuniting the band…

Oxjam Clothes Swap

18 Oct 2007

CHARITY EVENT Swapping all over the world Oxjam Clothes Swap, Buff Club, Glasgow, Tue 30 Oct, 8pm. Ah, remember back in the gilded past of our youth, when nobody spat in the street, and putting on a fundraising event was a simple matter of arranging…

Pat Metheny

18 Oct 2007

JAZZ Secret Story (Nonesuch) When Secret Story first came out in 1992, it marked something of a departure in the guitarist’s work. Reaction to it may well depend on what it is about that work that attracts you – the smooth fusioneer or the…

Paul Barker

18 Oct 2007

FAMILY GUIDE The Book of Dad (Fourth Estate) According to Paul Barker, Journalist Dad lives on pork scratchings and cigarettes, drives a second hand Saab and dreams of hanging out with Hollywood’s finest at the Dorchester Hotel while actually…

Peter York & Olivia Stewart-Liberty

18 Oct 2007

SOCIAL HANDBOOK Cooler, Faster, More Expensive: The Return of the Sloane Ranger (Atlantic) Conspicuous for their vast, inherited wealth, public school education and cushy jobs in the City, Sloanes (aka ‘rahs’, ‘yahs’ or ‘upper class twats’…

Playhouse Creatures

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, Sat 27 Oct–Sat 10 Nov April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures focuses on the first women in theatre. According to actress Irene McDougall, who plays Mary Betterton, the play ‘looks at women’s struggle in a male world. There are…

Prefuse 73

18 Oct 2007

HIP HOP Preparations (Warp) The beats! Its all about the beats! The essence of hip hop is the rhythms and the rhymes and this album proves that those boundaries are there to be tweaked, twisted and trampled. One Word Extinguisher, the 2003 album…

Raphael Danke

18 Oct 2007

It’s hard not to use clichés when talking about good art, but it cannot be denied that the simplest ideas well executed often guarantee quality. This notion is certainly true of the work of Raphael Danke at Sorcha Dallas, where a series of collages…

Remote Control

18 Oct 2007

As tragic as Rod Hull’s death was (falling off his roof while attempting to fix the TV aerial), it’s not a patch on seeing his son flailing around to try and recapture the old man’s glory. When Toby Hull first walks into view with the patched-up Emu…

Reverend and the Makers

18 Oct 2007

INDIE POP The State of Things (Wall of Sound) So-called by friends because he loves preaching, ‘Reverend’ Jon McClure uses this début collection to fuse workaday Brit-culture musings with stomping indie dance beats. Throbbing, shouty and arrogant…

Roisin Murphy

18 Oct 2007

ELECTRO Overpowered (EMI) A love or hatred of Roisin Murphy’s former band aside, there’s no arguing with the fact that this ex-Moloko vocalist currently makes some of the most sophisticated electro pop around. Boasting catchy melodies, demonic…

Rosemary Goring (Ed)

Scotland: The Autobiography (Viking)

18 Oct 2007

Frankly, I’m not usually one for tomes about the past, but this remarkable and ambitious piece of work is no ordinary history book. An incredibly diverse collection of writings spanning 2000 years, it tells the story of this country through the people…

Sarah Chang

18 Oct 2007

GUEST PERFORMER Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Wed 24 Oct Glasgow’s International Classical series has some impressive names attached to it this season. Alfred Brendel, Kurt Masur, Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano are just a few of those who are in…

Sexy Kids

18 Oct 2007

INDIE Mono, Glasgow, Mon 8 Oct Glasgow’s Sexy Kids are so brand new they don’t even have a Myspace yet. But trust us, we’d tell you if we knew it. After all, they’ve blessed themselves with just about the last name you want to go googling in good…

Singles & Downloads

18 Oct 2007

Pop music. What’s the point of it all? Why, quite clearly to ensure that the horrifying likes of McFly can continue to be the beneficiaries of monumental marketing campaigns when all their original fans are surely thinking about starter mortgages these…

Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith

30 Days of Night: Dark Days (IDW)

18 Oct 2007

After reading 30 Days of Night it’s hard to think where Niles could take the characters he’d created next. Here he moves the action from Alaska to LA, where one of the survivors of the initial assault continues her war on the vampires and her campaign…