Issue 629

Quadrophenia

14 May 2009

The current economic crisis has cast many minds back to the unemployment-wracked 1970s, so it’s perhaps apt that a new stage adaptation of The Who’s Quadrophenia – one of the decade’s most celebrated albums – is touring this year. Composed by The Who…

Hip hop in Scotland - Taking the mic

14 May 2009

MC SOOM T Combining fierce vocal ability with commercial versatility, fast-rapping Glaswegian Sumati Bhardwaj has opened for Basement Jaxx and Aphex Twin, and performed diverse styles such as reggae with Mungo’s Hi-Fi and folk alongside The Burns…

The Girl Cut in Two

14 May 2009

Chabrot’s film is based on a real-life case in 1900s America, transposed to contemporary Lyon. A sly playful satire of the haute bourgeoisie world of publishing with elegant direction and fine performances. The film is filled with women who know far…

Site Specifics: Edinburgh Castle

14 May 2009

What is it? Do I really have to answer this? It’s that gigantic castle thing on a rock dominating your capital city. Yeah, we know Look, it may seem like rather an obvious choice, but really, when was the last time you actually visited? May is the…

Graffiti in Scotland - Creative writing

14 May 2009

From Loanhead to Glasgow there’s a rich heritage of graffiti art in Scotland. We speak to two of the key figures on the scene Elph and Derm

Heart of darkness

His Dark Materials

14 May 2009

Three novels, hundreds of characters and numerous parallel worlds – Philip Pullman’s imagination knows no bounds. Between them, Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass have captivated millions of readers worldwide. Fitting their…

The Maccabees

14 May 2009

The new layout in independent record retailer Avalanche lends itself perfectly to an intimate instore gig. With young fans spilling onto Cockburn Street well before the music starts, by the time The Maccabees squeeze themselves onto the tiny stage the…

Alun Cochrane

14 May 2009

The man who used to do stand-up in a comfy sitting down position with a Call My Bluff-style bell beside him and made probably the best joke about unemployed estate agents at last year’s Fringe heads north once more. Here, he’ll deliver a short set as a…

Ludivine Sagnier - Fairy Tales

14 May 2009

Ingenue, starlet and disgracefully young-looking, Ludivine Sagnier is about to turn 30. In a dazzlingly high-quality career, she has packed in collaborations with many of the heavyweights of French cinema including Francois Ozon, Claude Miller and Alain…

Awaydays

14 May 2009

DRAMA (18) 104min The Wirral, late 1970s. Middle-class Carty (Nicky Bell) is a 19-year-old art school dropout stuck in a pen-pushing office job. He’s in awe of The Pack, a gang of knife-wielding local football hooligans who dress in designer…

Official Secrets Act

14 May 2009

Jerky English indie quartet Official Secrets Act’s debut album Understanding Electricity is suggestive of a band with intelligence and melodies to burn – like The Futureheads or Bloc Party, or Razorlight with their brains in the right place rather than…

Up the Glitter! and Queerbash

14 May 2009

Two nights are starting up this fortnight which aim to breathe a bit of fresh air into the queer clubbing scene in Glasgow. The first of these is named (in shamelessly outré style) Up the Glitter!, and is the brainchild of Dawid Penkowicz and Anne…

Jac Scott - Excess all areas

14 May 2009

Jac Scott’s new exhibition at the Collins Gallery couldn’t be more perfectly pitched to capture the credit crunch zeitgeist. At a point when many of us are reassessing our expenditure and desire for all types of goods, Excess: Experiments in Living…

Mad Decent records

14 May 2009

‘We look for people who are trying different things,’ says Jasper Goggins, New York-based manager of the Mad Decent label, ‘and who aren’t afraid to be a bit experimental with their sound. But more than that everyone on the label is friends, there’s…

Scottish Arts Council award for St Peter’s Seminary development proposal

14 May 2009

The List is delighted to report on NVA’s announcement that they will play a ‘major role’ in plans to save St Peter’s Seminary and Kilmahew Woodlands. The Glasgow based environmental charity will use the £45,600 award fund given to them by the Scottish…

Theophilus London

14 May 2009

Midway through Hinterland festival’s first evening, the indie kids of Glasgow scuttle from one bunch of guitar-twangers to another. Leaning against the building site fence next to the Sub Club, a pair of Brooklynites in retro shades, skinny jeans and…

First word: Jim Kerr

14 May 2009

First record you ever bought David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Last time you were chatted up This morning! First film you saw that really moved you Bambi. Last lie you told It’s been a while … honest! First movie…

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

14 May 2009

Heaven & Hell are essentially Black Sabbath ‘Mark Two’. After Ozzy was kicked out, Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio stepped into the breach way back in 1979. Now, for legal reasons, they tour and record as Heaven & Hell but it’s still legendary…

Peer Gynt

14 May 2009

Colin Teevan’s irreverent adaptation of Ibsen’s classic play returns to the scene of its original triumph with a brief run at Dundee Rep before embarking on a tour of Scottish cities over the next couple of months. This thrilling, energetic…

Southside Festival

14 May 2009

After a triumphant debut last year, the local festival returns to Queen’s Park for music and festivities, following a Mardi Gras-style parade through the Southside. The programme also features comedy from the local likes of Bruce Morton, live music…

Why Hip Hop show Breakin' Convention has the original spin

14 May 2009

In May 2007, hip hop came to Edinburgh. A laughable comment for those already immersed in the scene, but for many people it was the start of a beautiful friendship. Having taken London by storm every year since 2004, Breakin’ Convention finally branched…

Ladyhawke

14 May 2009

‘Well, it’s basically me just flying through the air, shooting cats, avoiding cats, and trying not to die,’ grins Pip Brown, abashedly. Better known as one-woman vintage pop behemoth Ladyhawke, the quietly-spoken, congenial New Zealander is detailing…

Margaret Elphinstone: The Gathering Night

14 May 2009

Margaret Elphinstone has carved out a fine career as a purveyor of excellent historical novels, but for her latest offering she’s done something a bit different and gone prehistoric. The Gathering Night is set in Mesolithic Scotland, somewhere between…

Synecdoche, New York: Crisis of faith

14 May 2009

‘How many roads must a man walk down / before you call him a man?’ Is Bob Dylan’s most famous protest song really a surrealist riddle? What’s the road made out of, and will it hurt the tender soles of my feet? That’s the thing about the Jewish…

Reel Iraq

14 May 2009

The point of Charlie Brooker’s excellent Newswipe series, which ended recently, seemed to be that, far from being an honest and agenda-free information source, the news is just as much a constructed text as, say, a novel or a film. And for most people…