Issue 634

Tonite - contemporary art in Glasgow

23 Jul 2009

The East Coast scene may be dominated by the Edinburgh Art Festival, but lovers of contemporary art in Glasgow can get their fix at The Modern Instutute with this large group show, which features work by Hany Armanious, Martin Boyce, Martin Creed, Mark…

An Hour to Sing fo Your Soul - Kevin Bridges' stand-up show

23 Jul 2009

When comics make their Fringe debuts, many of them are hell-bent on working up the biggest theme their minds and mouths can maintain over the course of an hour. Not such manufactured tosh for a guy like Kevin Bridges, the latest in a long line of great…

JM Barrie: Peter Pan Man - a play by Anne Stenhouse

23 Jul 2009

Few lives could have been as dogged by mortality as that of JM Barrie. From his childhood, much of which he spent imitating his brother (who died in a bizarre skating accident), through his youth, and on to his latter days, those close to Barrie were in…

Divorce, Vom and Teenage Ricky - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 4 Jul

23 Jul 2009

Launching their Optimo Records debut EP – a satanic slab of red vinyl sleeved in a painting of ragged teeth and diseased gums – Divorce affirm their status as Glasgow’s most thrilling band. Their support acts are no slouches either. Teenage Ricky stage…

Antichrist

23 Jul 2009

Danish Dogme pack leader Lars Von Trier conjures up a slice of unbridled and unpleasant pantheistic horror that’s underlined by themes of grief and guilt. When middle class couple Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe’s son dies in a freak accident…

Wickerman Festival 2009 - DJ Danny Rampling interview

23 Jul 2009

It might not be on the same scale as T in the Park or Rock Ness but the Wickerman is happily striding forth into its eighth year as an alternative to the many big buck corporate festivals. Wickerman aims to create a friendly atmosphere and a good time…

Taking Back Sunday on tour

23 Jul 2009

Taking Back Sunday have had so many line-up changes since their inception in 1999 that they’re now printing T-shirts with the slogan ‘I used to be in Taking Back Sunday’. So have they sent one to former bassist, Fred Mascherino, who had an acrimonious…

Bap Kennedy - Howl On

23 Jul 2009

Belfast-born singer-songwriter, Martin (or Bap) Kennedy, has been treading the rocky boards for nigh-on 20 years having led minor hitmakers, Energy Orchard, on their unsustainable UK Top 60 debut in 1990. Once sharing a stage with mentor, Van Morrison…

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

23 Jul 2009

Imagine Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons fronting vintage Talking Heads. It might just work, right? Wrong, at least in the hands of Kendal kids Wild Beasts, it is. Maybe it’s all in the execution, which is at best seriously underwhelming and…

Activism - Meet the political activists

23 Jul 2009

There’s been a lot of nostalgia for the 90s recently, as Blur, Take That and the Spice Girls reform (however fleetingly), and various media outlets (this one included) celebrate 15 years since the invention of a handy marketing tool called Britpop.

Magnus Mills - The Maintenance of Headway

23 Jul 2009

It’s questionable what’s more unlikely about this sixth novel from Magnus Mills: that he’s managed to eke out 136 pages about the delicate art of driving a bus, or that he succeeds so well in making the job’s habits and peculiarities seem like a…

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

23 Jul 2009

The sixth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise suffers from as many growing pains as its young wizards. While Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince does venture into darker, more adult areas than its predecessors it also injects more humour and…

Final Fantasy to play in Glasgow

23 Jul 2009

‘I play a lot of instruments,’ Owen Pallett attempts to convince us, ‘but none of them very well.’ Come off it. You don’t get to become the orchestra and string arranger for Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Neon Bible albums – at the same time helping to…

Jupiter Artland - outdoor work by high-profile contemporary artists

23 Jul 2009

‘This isn’t a sculpture park,’ says Robert Wilson, co-director, along with his wife Nicky, of the recently-opened Jupiter Artland. ‘We think of it as something different. That’s why we used the word “artland”, because we want to focus equally on the…

Taste Test: Biscuits

23 Jul 2009

Duchy Original’s Sweet Oaten and Heather Honey • 12 biscuits (150g) for £1.99 With the Duchy crest stamp there’s an refined elegance to this one, though whether it’s more than an upmarket digestive is open to question. As with a number of Duchy…

Scottish Ballet gift archive to Glasgow University Library - News in brief

23 Jul 2009

The West End Fair, Scotland’s largest Art Craft and Design fair is returning to Edinburgh. Over 100 makers, artists and designers will sell their own work including wood, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, fashion, accessories, glass, metal, mixed media…

The Big Tent Festival

23 Jul 2009

‘There is a real sense of belonging and connection to something at the Big Tent Festival,’ explains the event’s programme director Mike Small. ‘The message is more “come join us” than “gimme your money”.’ Set up in July 2005, the…

5 Things You Might Not Know About: Janey Godley

23 Jul 2009

1 Having run a pub in Glasgow, Janey Godley was born to tame wild audiences and a stand-up career beckoned. But as well as her progression on comedy stages, she’s a playwright, serial blogger and community worker, having helped kids in drug-rampant…

Jam the Box meets Rebel Waltz

23 Jul 2009

Starting from humble beginnings at Edinburgh’s City Café, Rebel Waltz have now made their home in London’s East Village via many successful years in Barcelona at City Hall and La Terrazza. So it’s great to see Murray Richardson and Stuart Patterson back…

Antichrist - Lars Von Trier interview

23 Jul 2009

Lars Von Trier makes films that defy consensus. He is a showman provocateur in search of a reaction, however extreme. The shrugged shoulders of indifference would be his definition of failure. With this in mind, Von Trier can only have been delighted…

Southern Fried Festival - country music comes to Perth

23 Jul 2009

Glen Lyon, 1982, is as good a place to start as any. That summer Andy Shearer, son of the local deerstalking ghillie, met Will Oldham, a young American holidaying on the estate with his family. They struck up a friendship and began to swap music…

Activism - Active ingredients

23 Jul 2009

What we eat, where our food comes from and how we eat it all have a huge impact on our local and global environment – and, happily, it only takes a few small changes to the way we approach our food to make a difference. Local, seasonal food is cheaper…

Activism - Global activism

23 Jul 2009

The Make Poverty History campaign garnered worldwide attention back in 2005 thanks to the involvement of Messrs Martin, Bono et al. It’s still going strong, though, and they need support to pressure the politicians and decision makers into helping make…

Activism Feature - why volunteer?

23 Jul 2009

So you want me to do something for nothing? Not nothing, no. Volunteering is a way to gain skills, help out and make a difference. What could I do? There are always countless projects in search of volunteers, and if you want to get involved you…

Activism - The Google activist

23 Jul 2009

If you want to campaign on the big issues greenpeace.org.uk foe.co.uk (Friends of the Earth) antislavery.org cancerresearchuk.org childline.org.uk rspca.org.uk howardleague.org (Howard League for Prison Reform) For insightful…

Chic - Nile Rodgers

Funk master

23 Jul 2009

Nile Rodgers defined an era with the classic disco soul of Chic and again as one of the most sampled act in hip hop history. David Pollock meets him.

Adam Thirlwell's latest novel - The Escape

23 Jul 2009

There’s a scene at the end of Adam Thirlwell’s The Escape in which its British Jewish protagonist Raphael Haffner attempts to explain the concept of a draw in cricket to an American friend. This idea acts as a neat allegory of the book’s plot, in which…

Film and Fashion - Coco Before Chanel

23 Jul 2009

As enjoyable as Coco Before Chanel – the giddy biopic of the reputed Nazi collaborator couturier starring Audrey Tautou – is, it underlined a hard, learned truth for me. Fashion and films co-exist – there is no symbiosis between the two. If they were…

Glasgow homegrown events round-up

23 Jul 2009

So, apparently there’s this … festival thing, happening in Edinburgh? Whatever. While the gallons of international acts pouring into the Capital at the beginning of August do traditionally tend to hog the headlines at this time of year, with loads of…

Mach Nausea - DIY noise festival

23 Jul 2009

As church fetes go, this second edition of this DIY noise festival was an appositely unholy resurrection. Lit from an archway behind them and playing on bare floorboards, the 18 acts on show tapped into industrial metal roots, surrealist slapstick, an…

Liam McIlvanney - All the Colours of the Town

23 Jul 2009

In an age in which the sins of our politicians provide regular column inches and minimal shock value, Liam McIlvanney successfully delivers a powerful thriller, rich in colour and skilfully imagined. Jobbing political hack Gerry Conway is in a bind when…

Isa & The Filthy Tongues - 'Addiction'

23 Jul 2009

Re-issued from 2006 on the strength of their recent ‘New Town Killers’ single (from Richard Jobson’s film of the same name) Addiction marked/marks the return of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie alumni Martin Metcalfe, Fin Wilson and Derek Kelly. Having seen…

Paul & Nusch Eluard & Surrealism Exhibition

23 Jul 2009

PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION & MEMORABILIA All the boys loved Nusch, the hypnotist’s assistant whose skinny frame and fiery demeanour mesmerised every art star in town. It was poet and painter Paul Eluard, though, who made Maria Benz – muse to the…

Coco Before Chanel

23 Jul 2009

Films about great writers rarely work because it’s hard to express their literary output cinematically; a film about a fashion designer offers a much more visual proposition. Anne Fontaine’s sumptuously dressed biopic of the early years of Gabrielle…

Trongate 103

23 Jul 2009

New space Trongate 103, bringing together some of the country’s most exciting arts organisations, is finally laying the foundations for its September launch. Glasgow Print Studio, Street Level Photoworks, Transmission, Glasgow Centre for Media Access…

DJ Ellen Allien to play at Edinburgh night Kapital

23 Jul 2009

TECHNO ‘Ever since her mix tapes first found their way to us at the start of the decade, we [the trio of DJs and promoters behind Edinburgh night Kapital], have been strongly influenced by Ellen Allien,’ says the club’s Barry O’Connell. ‘Everything…

Dollskabeat to play in Edinburgh and Glasgow

23 Jul 2009

ELECTRO POP You suspect that Lucy Ross (aka Dollskabeat) might not be one of these musical prodigies who make music look all too easy. ‘I had no idea it would be so bloody hard,’ she says. ‘I had loads of ideas floating around my head and I sang them…

Exposure: Growing

23 Jul 2009

Unlike, say, The Lemonheads, Growing are a band with a literal soubriquet: their evolutionary noise and experimental rock exploits provoke a sense of advancing ambience, metal progression and, well, growing. They’ve recorded for Mogwai’s Rock Action…

5 reasons to go and see - Pontiak

23 Jul 2009

1 They’re a band of brothers The molten rock of Pontiak is forged by a hairy Virginia fraternity: Van (guitar/vocals), Lain (drums) and Jennings (bass) Carney. Their agrarian wig-outs are hence imbued with a profound musical intuition that edifies their…

Frankmusik - Complete Me

23 Jul 2009

Twenty-three-year-old Vincent Frank dropped out of art and fashion school before becoming a very decent beatboxer, then a remixer, and now a popster. This, his first album takes the high-energy hooks of Swedish hyperpop, fizzes them up with falsetto…

Cornershop - Judy Sucks a Lemon For Breakfast

23 Jul 2009

It’s been seven years since Cornershop’s last outing, and they’ve clearly spent that time being happy, but not necessarily getting inspired. Judy Sucks a Lemon … is upbeat, sunny, summery fare, but almost pathologically derivative of 60s rock, pop, soul…

Miss the Occupier

23 Jul 2009

Indie punk with a hint of glamour. OK, maybe doused in glamour, but still maintaining their edgy punk vibe. With front lady Roz Davies’ lashing pink locks and seductive vocals, this band are capable of really captivating an audience at a live show.

Frankmusik

23 Jul 2009

Former beatboxer (going by the name Mr Mouth) has metamorphosised into electro-popper Frankmusik with the release of his debut album Complete Me. It’s an unashamed shiny pop record packed with hooks, leading to remix work for Pet Shop Boys, CSS and…

Freddie King - From The Heart: A Journey Of One Man's Love For Singing

23 Jul 2009

Retelling his musical experiences, Freddie King brings us ‘From The Heart: A Journey Of One Man’s Love For Singing’, what a journey he has had too. Spending his childhood in the mountains of West Africa with a tribe renowned for their singing, Freddie…

Spotlight on Glasgow's Merchant City

23 Jul 2009

Look up as you walk around the streets of Glasgow’s Merchant City and you can’t help but be transfixed by the history of an area now best known, perhaps, for its food and drink emporiums. First formed in the 18th Century as a stomping ground for the…

Time for tea, at last - the best tea rooms

23 Jul 2009

Let’s play word association. Tea and … well, there’s coffee, and for the last decade or two we’ve been in a mocha monopoly with coffee chains over-populating our high streets, railway stations, book shops and most places in between. Tea and…

Málaga Feria - a day in the life of the free, Spanish festival

23 Jul 2009

If there are a thousand reasons to be in Edinburgh during the Festival there are as many to escape, and where better than a free festival in a Mediterranean port founded by the Phoenicians some 3000 years ago. Which is why, at midnight on a mid-August…

Labels of Love - Firecracker Recordings profile

23 Jul 2009

Based in Leith, Edinburgh Roster Linkwood (Nick Moore, from Bristol but based in Leith), Fudge Fingas (Gavin Sutherland, from Edinburgh), Vakula (from Ukraine), Intrusion (one half of the Detroit/Chicago-based duo Echospace), House of Traps (Lindsay…

Paragon Ensemble – The Spirits of Sounds at the Teenage Fair

CCA, Glasgow, Wed 29 Jul

23 Jul 2009

The title comes from the Dusseldorf group of which Wolfgang Flür was drummer prior to joining the German band that pioneered popular electronic music, Kraftwerk, in the early 70s. Still very much active in electronic music, Flür would surely be…

Gallery Of Modern Art Family Festival Day

23 Jul 2009

Letting your kids draw on an historical building is usually frowned upon by the powers that be. But at GoMA Family Festival Day, things are a little more relaxed. The floor of the Gallery of Modern Art’s Portico becomes a giant canvas just waiting to be…