Issue 639

Versus - Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 10 Sep

15 Sep 2009

Take three bands, throw ‘em on a stage before a like-minded audience, mix, match, mess and stir things up occasionally with a mid-set special guest or two, then bask in the cut n’paste none-stop, occasionally erotic cabaret that ensues. This, then, is…

Northern light - Dornoch Castle Hotel

11 Sep 2009

‘One thing we’ve noticed this year,’ says Colin Thompson, owner and manager of the Dornoch Castle Hotel in the Highland tourist haven of Dornoch, ‘is that there have been many more young couples and families staying with us.’ It seems the ‘staycation…

DVD box sets roundup - Vera Lynn, Audrey Hepburn, Monty Python

11 Sep 2009

Let’s hear it for the girls. The East Ham-born ‘Forces Sweetheart’ Vera Lynn was not really known for her work in cinema, but such is the power of nostalgia capitalism that here comes The Vera Lynn Collection (Sony) ●● featuring three patriotic wartime…

Nick Hornby - Juliet, Naked

11 Sep 2009

(Viking) Never meet your heroes, we are told, they’re bound to be a disappointment. But what happens when you’re going for a run in a dead-end English seaside town and you bump into an ex-girlfriend who introduces you to your all-time, number one icon?

Dorian Gray

11 Sep 2009

Oscar Wilde’s only published novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is tricky to adapt cinematically, requiring a deft balance between its sparkling wit and the Faustian darkness at its core. As the author himself wrote, ‘man sees his own sins in Dorian, what…

The Avengers - Series 1 & 2

11 Sep 2009

(PG) 1520min (Optimum DVD retail) What joy! Every surviving episode from all six series of the marvelous cult British television show The Avengers, originally broadcast between 1961 and 1969, are to be released on DVD over the course of the next…

Away we go

11 Sep 2009

After Revolutionary Road, director Sam Mendes takes a turn for the worse with this naff impersonation of an independent American comedy road movie written by publisher and memoirist Dave Eggers and his Mrs (Vendela Vida). Expectant parents Burt (John…

The Agent

11 Sep 2009

Four months after submitting the manuscript of his second novel Black, author Stephen Parker (Stephen Kennedy) decides to pay a visit to his literary agent Alexander Joyce (William Beck). It transpires that the latter is not a fan of the new work, which…

Amsterdamned

11 Sep 2009

(18) 105 min, Dick Maas’ 1988 Dutch thriller with elements of gory horror has the great merit of not taking itself too seriously as it bops along, and adds to that an admirable visual inventiveness about its striking locales. In it, a wetsuited…

Yellowbeard

11 Sep 2009

(12) 96min (Optimum DVD retail) On paper, Mel Damski’s 1983 comedy has everything going for it. With a cast that includes four of the Monty Python crew, as well as Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, Peter Boyle and a host of other comedy…

Dynamic: 01 - The Best of DavidLynch.com

11 Sep 2009

(15) 116 min (Scanbox DVD retail) Watching these sketches and skits that were first shown on David Lynch’s subscription-based website, we might think he is the Francis Bacon of film. In his features Lynch is the master of the tension between…

Miss March: Generation Penetration

11 Sep 2009

Crude American teen sex comedy (is there any other kind?) about a kid played by burgeoning talent Zach Cregger who awakens from a four-year coma to hear his once virginal high school sweetheart (Raquel Alessi) is now a centerfold in Playboy. So he and…

Whiteout

11 Sep 2009

Antarctica-based US deputy marshal (Kate Beckinsale) must investigate the frozen continent’s first murder before winter begins, but dealings with a UN operative (Gabriel Macht), also investigating the murder, making things complicated. Directed by…

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D

11 Sep 2009

Vivid and likeable animated version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s book set in the town of Chewandswallow, where the weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan and Bruce Campbell give…

Three Miles North of Molkom

11 Sep 2009

Serio-comic documentary about the Angsbacka No Mind festival in Sweden, an adult playground of shared consciousness. See feature, page 30. Selected release from Fri 18 Sep.

The Thing

11 Sep 2009

John Carpenter’s excellent 1982 monster flick revived on digital big screen projection. Selected release from Tue 15 Sep. (18) 108min

Easy Ryders - Kasabian interview

10 Sep 2009

It’s taken a while, but Kasabian are finally as big as they always thought they deserved to be. Jonny Ensall chats to singer Tom Meighan and finds out that fame and critical validation have calmed one of the biggest egos in rock

The house that Jaxx built - Basement Jaxx interview

10 Sep 2009

From the home front, Basement Jaxx have been uncharacteristically quiet for the last three years. They’ve kept out of view, retiring into studious production mode and, while they say they never went away, they can’t deny they have, at least, been…

Giant steps - Little Boots interview

10 Sep 2009

Little Boots is mid-fib when her phone signal cuts out. She’s on the motorway, heading towards the Reading Festival, and she is livening up her early morning interview by colouring in a few of her answers. She was just explaining where she got her…

John Hughes - Some kind of wonderful

10 Sep 2009

John Hughes never meant much to me as a kid. Put it down to timing. I was ten when The Breakfast Club came out, the perfect age for Back to the Future, not for a bunch of high school stereotypes hanging out in detention. Sure, I liked Weird Science…

Ocean Size - Twin Atlantic interview

10 Sep 2009

The popular Glasgow rockers Twin Atlantic pack an onstage punch, and have more than enough ambition to follow it up, finds Camilla Pia

What the puck? - Hockey interview

10 Sep 2009

Rob Dabrowski speaks to Hockey, the American new wave renegades ready to ramp up the enthusiasm on indie dancefloors

Hear this! - Upcoming gigs and albums Autumn 2009

10 Sep 2009

SEPTEMBER 14 Sep Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 After ‘retirement’, Glastonbury and gigs converting Coldplay fans to the joys of rap music, his masterful album trilogy is now complete. 14 Sep Muse The Resistance The band’s fifth album, it’s tinged…

Upcoming gigs in Scotland: Autumn 2009

10 Sep 2009

Scotland, as we all know, is a hub of great music, great venues and great live audiences. Which is why so many of the world’s great acts forget about the poor weather and poor diet and play here. Add to that list alt-country sorts, and favourites of…

Sweden's No Mind Festival - Three Miles North of Molkom

10 Sep 2009

It’s 5pm on a Monday afternoon and I’m crying. I’m sat on the grass mat floor of a big tent and I’m weeping on the shoulder of Carine, a beautiful Swedish lady I have known for only a few days. She’s crying too and our waterborne grief and guilt is…

Down under - Glasgow's South Side

10 Sep 2009

The West End might shout louder and jangle its designer bracelets more ostentatiously, but for its many residents, the gigantic, sprawling mass of the South Side is the true heart of Glasgow. As many local historians and geographers have observed…

Lights go out as Glasgow's Lighthouse closes

Flagship architecture and design centre closes

10 Sep 2009

The Lighthouse remains open for visitors, following the sad news that the institution is now in administration. Sources close to the Lighthouse were keen for the public to keep showing their full support for the building until a decision has been made…

Taste Test - Edible flowers

10 Sep 2009

Nasturtium With their brilliant sunset colours and distinct peppery flavour, these are probably the most popular edible flower. They’re very easy to grow from seed and are common on the fringes of veg patches or hanging baskets. The flowers have a…

Change your life! - Courses

10 Sep 2009

Dear List’ll Fixit, I’m getting married in nine weeks’ time, and last year, in a burst of optimistic depravity, I blew almost all of our savings on the most fabulous Vera Wang frock. Trouble is, I’m still two sizes too big for it. I’ve got to get fit…

Naked ambition - Naked takeaway

10 Sep 2009

Too often in Scotland home-delivered food is a substandard equivalent to anything you can cook yourself. A lukewarm pizza, luminous curry or MSG-packed sweet and sour chicken are the traditional, and often only, options. Convenient? From the depths of…

Adventureland

10 Sep 2009

(15) 106min Follically challenged Superbad director Greg Mottola writes and directs his first feature since 1996’s subtle and funny Manhattan road movie The Daytrippers with sweet and funny results. It is the summer of 1987 and English lit…

Fish Tank

10 Sep 2009

Andrea Arnold’s remarkable second feature, following her Glasgow-based debut Red Road, is about Mia, an angry and aggressive 15-year-old who wants to be a dancer. When she’s not practicing in her room in the flat she lives in with her single mum and her…

First word - Stix Zadinia of Steel Panther

10 Sep 2009

Stix Zadinia from glam parody rockers Steel Panther flexes his muscles to talk sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival 2009 launches

10 Sep 2009

Singer Karine Polwart is just one of the many names putting her name – and voice – behind this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Now in its third year, the festival explores mental health in its broadest sense with almost 200 events…

Music hitlist

10 Sep 2009

Cocoon Counter Culture Weekender, Steel Panther, Coldplay, Jay-Z and White Lies, Gang of Four, Stereo Open Day, Tinchy Stryder, Islay Jazz Festival.

Side Dishes - Food News

10 Sep 2009

● Before heading out to Erskine to run the restaurant at Mar Hall, and with a track record of stints at Rogano, Nairns and One Devonshire Gardens, chef Jim Kerr ran a small venture on Byres Road called The Dining Room. Not too many restaurants…

Glass half full - 42Below cocktail world cup

10 Sep 2009

It was a battle of the ages. A dozen warriors armed with silver shakers, crushed ice and angostura bitters striving to become the finest cocktail creator in the world. The Glasgow and Edinburgh heats of the 42Below Vodka cocktail World Cup took place at…

Topic records

10 Sep 2009

The world’s oldest independent record company has reached 70. Topic Records started in 1939, and has been a powerhouse of the British folk landscape ever since. With a back catalogue stretching from Pete Seeger to Eliza Carthy, Topic has always…

Indiana Jones All-nighter

10 Sep 2009

Insomniac fans of the iconic adventure hero played by Harrison Ford will be happy to learn that Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will be showing back to back in this good old fashioned…

The River

10 Sep 2009

Described by Martin Scorsese as one of the most beautiful films ever made, Jean Renoir’s 1951 adaptation of Rumer Godden’s novel about a British family’s colonial experiences in Bengal in the last days of the Raj brings a short Jean Renoir retrospective…

Agantuk (The Stranger)

10 Sep 2009

Indian cinema legend Satyajit Ray’s final film (before his death in 1992) receives an all too rare screening. A comic dissection of familial trust, honesty and fragile belief systems, Agantuk is a major work from a Bengali great (based on one of Ray’s…

Sin Nombre

10 Sep 2009

Last chance to see Cary Fukunga’s debut feature, an accomplished and powerful Mexican social thriller which centres on the themes of belonging and escape. When a city gangbanger tries to escape his murderous gang and a Honduran girl tries to sneak…

Fresher's week club nights

An evening's entertainment for student sorts

3 Sep 2009

Although Edinburghers might not notice it quite so much thanks to their fancy festival throughout the month of August, the clubbing scene does tend to go into a state of semi-hibernation over the summer. And there’s one over-riding reason you just can’t…

Circle of friends: Dot Allison

The muse-for-hire finds her own voice

3 Sep 2009

There can be few better kept secrets in music than Dot Allison. The Edinburgh-born singer songwriter has been involved in exciting new music for over fifteen years, collaborating with all kinds of different artists as well as producing four acclaimed…

Thomas Hirschhorn - It's Burning Everywhere

3 Sep 2009

‘It’s burning everywhere / It’s burning far away – / it’s burning in my neighbourhood, / It’s burning in the “conflict zone”, / my house is burning, / I am burning myself, / there is no escape from it, / because I am the “conflict zone”.’ The…

The House of Bernarda Alba preview

Rona Munro on her latest theatrical endeavour

3 Sep 2009

It’s been a big year for Rona Munro. Just weeks after the premiere of The Last Witch at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Scottish playwright is gearing up for the first performance of her adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba, by revered…

Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth

3 Sep 2009

Right, pay attention at the back. You boy, straighten your tie. Now, you all know why you’ve been called back for detention with Professor Dawkins and, frankly, you’ve only got yourselves to blame. He explained it all very carefully in The Selfish Gene…

The Glasgow festival experience

After Edinburgh it's time for Twestival, Trongate and the Merchant City Festival

3 Sep 2009

It is a truth universally acknowledged that August is dead time in Glasgow. The rest of the year is a different story, of course, and September means the gloves are off, with so many massed gatherings of the city’s creatives that they’re in danger of…

The Beggar's Opera preview

3 Sep 2009

The publicity images for Vanishing Point and the Royal Lyceum’s new adaptation of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera don’t look like your average promotional material for a classic work of 18th century satire. In fact, from a first glance, the backlit…

Profile: John Krasinski from Away We Go

3 Sep 2009

Name John Krasinski Born 20 October 1979, Newton, Massachusetts Background After a series of bit parts in films and TV shows, Krasinski landed a key role in the American version of The Office alongside Steve Carrell, and has been a US…

Profile: Katie Jarvis of Fish Tank

3 Sep 2009

Name Katie Jarvis Born 22 June 1991, Dagenham, Essex Background You won’t recognise the star of Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, but you won’t soon forget her. Cast with no acting experience after being spotted arguing with her boyfriend at…

Arches Live!

We preview the latest efforts at the Glasgow venue's theatre festival

3 Sep 2009

We preview the latest efforts at the Glasgow venue's theatre festival As ever, this September’s Arches Live! festival has far too many acts to catalogue here. So too, there’s a great variety of approaches and forms to experience, but artistic…

Profile: RJ Cutler

All you need to know about the director of The September Issue.

3 Sep 2009

Name RJ Cutler Born 1962, USA Background Cutler graduated from Harvard in 1983. He has a producing credit on The War Room (1993), a landmark documentary that follows Clinton’s 1992 US presidential campaign through his notorious spin doctors James…

Afterplay

Haunting Chekovian elegy

3 Sep 2009

Over the years, there have been a number of examples of dramatists borrowing characters from other writers’ works and giving them life elsewhere, but no version of this kind of experiment could be as striking as Brian Friel’s reflection on the later…

Exposure: Northern Xposure

3 Sep 2009

Feted by The Culture Show, name-checked by the urban music press, respected by an army of sometime tour-mates and artists they’ve played alongside (including Dizzee Rascal, Naughty By Nature, Estelle, The Roots and Amy Winehouse) and still based in the…

The Psychedelic Ballroom

Introducing the best new club nights in town.

3 Sep 2009

Residents: Glasgow band The Balladeers: Jackson Scott (guitar and vocals), Gav Troon (bass), Ruaraidh Macleod (drums) and Sean Fitzharris (keyboards, violin). They’ll be playing a set and DJing afterwards. Guests: For this debut night it’s…

The Sun, The Moon and a Boy Called River

3 Sep 2009

Wee Stories Theatre isn’t afraid to tamper with a title. In recent years, the company has given us The Emperor’s New Kilt, Jock and the Beanstalk, and now they’ve taken an East European fairytale known as Old Man Almanac, and transformed it into The…

Cerith Wyn Evans and Throbbing Gristle: A=P=P=A=R=I=T=I=O=N

This numinous aural experience induces a sublime synaesthesia

3 Sep 2009

Spectral sounds evolve to embody form, moving back and forth, spellbound, projected from and rotating around mobiles consisting of circular mirrors varying in diameter. Electronic noise music sounds like trance-inducing Buddhist singing bowls for the…

Blue Moon 21st Anniversary

The UK's oldest gay café celebrates a milestone birthday

3 Sep 2009

Today Edinburgh boasts a thriving gay scene that includes bars and clubs, cafés and shops, with the area between Broughton Street and Picardy Place now popularly known as the ‘Pink Triangle’. It wasn’t always thus, however. Until the mid-80s there was a…

Confined Human Condition preview

Inventive musical theatre from Cathie Boyd's Cryptic

3 Sep 2009

Cathie Boyd’s Cryptic have long been associated with inventive, often visually striking presentations of music. There’s often, as well, an exploratory and creative use of multimedia running through the work. But with this latest piece, the electronic…

Dave Gorman back in the cycle of stand-up

3 Sep 2009

Dave Gorman rarely takes the easy route to a laugh. Having transformed the comedy landscape with his quest-based, storytelling shows, he’s back performing conventional stand-up. Except that he’s also currently cycling 50 miles a day between gigs as part…

The Firm

3 Sep 2009

(18) 90min Writer-director Nick Love has taken a big gamble in remaking Alan Clarke’s 1989 television drama The Firm, which is widely considered to be the toughest and most insightful screen depiction of football hooligans. Wisely Love hasn’t tried…

The Silver Darlings

3 Sep 2009

There’s something cinematic about Kenny Ireland’s staging of the Neil M Gunn novel, adapted here by Peter Arnott. It’s in the sepia photographs of crofts, brochs and cliffs that form a backdrop to Hayden Griffin’s open set of layered coastal rock. It’s…

Also released: Music

The other records on rotate in The List offices

3 Sep 2009

Shields Up - Shields Up, O.M.T. - Anamantium, Will Vinson - Promises, Alan Windram - 10 O’Clock in the Morning, Paloma Faith - Do You Want the Truth Or Something Beautiful?, OMO - The White Album, Mew - No More Stories

5 things to see at: Merchant City Festival

3 Sep 2009

Kevin Bridges, Scott Agnew, Mark Nelson, Raymond Mearns, Scottish Comedian of the Year

The September Issue

3 Sep 2009

(12A) 89min RJ Cutler, political documentary filmmaker and self confessed fashion-ignoramus, is an unlikely candidate to be granted access to the hallowed halls of Vogue magazine; yet in 2007, he received an invitation from the ‘high priestess’ of…

John McCracken

Exhibition from the contemporary sculptor

3 Sep 2009

The comments in the visitor’s book are a mixed bunch, and if you don’t know John McCracken’s work already then they might help you gauge in advance whether you’ll enjoy this exhibition: ‘The emperor has no clothes’. ‘I agree’. ‘Dull’. ‘A very lazy…

Clubs hitlist

3 Sep 2009

JakN & Cause It, Kapital, Ballers Social Second Birthday Party, Wrong Island, Death Disco, Fortified, Wire, Killer Kitsch

Phil Kieran

3 Sep 2009

Two techno clubs celebrate their birthday this fortnight. Glasgow’s Shift reach their third while Edinburgh’s Compakt hit their all important first anniversary, and both nights have decided Belfast boy Phil Kieran would be the perfect guest to help them…

Eddie Halliwell, Sander van Doorn and Judge Jules set for Parklife

3 Sep 2009

It may well be the dying embers of summer, but there’s still time for one last hoorah as Parklife lays its claim as the last dance music festival in Scotland this year. Returning for a second year of trance, hardstyle and commercial dance the festival…

InMe

Essex rockers show off their new album

3 Sep 2009

InMe have had a bit of a rough time in recent years. The alt.rock band went from being the poster boys of a teenage generation – with tracks like the brooding ‘Firefly’ regularly on music television in the early 00s and helping to win an army of devoted…

Hitlist: Around Town

Festivals, fashion, frolicking

3 Sep 2009

Amazing Zipslide, Blackford Hill Festival, Cachín Cachán Cachunga!, Salvation Army Fashion Show, The Sunday Social with Rumble in the Jumble, Trongate 103, Usurper Workshop

Hitlist: Books

3 Sep 2009

Mary Brennan As Scottish Ballet opens a new chapter on its story with a move to Glasgow’s Tramway, The Herald dance critic celebrates the company’s many successes as she talks about her lavishly illustrated book, Scottish Ballet: Forty Years.

Bright Black preview

Vox Motus return with the theatre of illusion

3 Sep 2009

Unless something goes drastically wrong during the ‘sawing a lady in half’ trick, death and magic don’t usually mix. At Vox Motus, however, the art of illusion lies at the heart of all they do. And now, the Glasgow-based theatre company which wowed…

T-Model Ford

Authentic blues from the octogenarian

3 Sep 2009

Born James Lewis Carter Ford in Forrest, a small community in Scott County, Mississippi, myth, mystery and awe surround the life of the blues musician better known as T-Model Ford. His exact age, for instance, is unknown even to him, although he is…

Agnes Martin (part of Artist Rooms)

The Canadian-American artist's later works offer calm reflection

3 Sep 2009

A late addition to the Artist Rooms series is a room of eight paintings by the Canadian-American artist Agnes Martin. The exhibition features late works, dating from 1994–2002, when Martin was in her late 80s and no longer able to manipulate the…

Withered Hand - Good News

3 Sep 2009

Withered Hand is not, alas, a Jeremy Beadle tribute band. It is, however, the nom de plume of Edinburgh alt.folk messiah Dan Willson – and for said dude we should give thanks. Willson is a curious pop disciple: a deadpan bard eternally vexed by the…

SNJO plays Wayne Shorter

3 Sep 2009

The music of saxophonist Wayne Shorter is the latest to come under the radar of Tommy Smith and the excellent Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and promises to be one of their most memorable incursions. ‘Wayne is a superlative composer of memorable…

Four reasons to go see: Gang of Four

Post-punk, political legends come to Edinburgh

3 Sep 2009

1 They’re post-punk legends Widely regarded as one of the leading lights of the post-punk movement which emerged in the late 70s, the Leeds foursome mixed the visceral energy of punk with elements of disco, funk, dub and reggae before anyone else…

Anja Kirschner and David Panos: The Last Days of Jack Sheppard

The story of the 18th century thief told through contemporary eyes

3 Sep 2009

The Last Days of Jack Sheppard showcases a film, placed among its filmic sets alongside rare archive material. It tells the story of the notorious 18th century English thief and proletarian hero, Jack Sheppard, through contemporary eyes. The hour long…

Julie and Julia

3 Sep 2009

(12A) 123min Nora Ephron’s love affair with cookery initially surfaced in Mike Nichols’ 1986 comedy Heartburn, with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson starring in Ephron’s adaptation of her recipe book of the same name. Now Ephron and Streep have…

Visual Art hitlist

3 Sep 2009

Agnes Martin, Alan Davie, Cerith Wyn Evans with Throbbing Gristle, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Henry Coombes, Agnes Martin, Dani Marti, Thomas Hirschhorn

Amazing Baby - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Tue 1 Sep 2009

3 Sep 2009

Much hype has been touted about Brooklyn boys Amazing Baby being the next MGMT – they graduated from the same school, supported them on their last tour, apparently sound the same. This gig might have been the chance to see the Next Big Thing.

Morning Light

3 Sep 2009

(PG) 97min The Morning Light is a boat owned by Roy Disney, nephew of Mouse-house king Walt, and for Mark Monroe’s feature-length documentary, 15 youngsters chosen for their sailing prowess (and good looks) duke it out to be one of the 11 who sail…

Terry Reid and The Fortunate Sons - Winchester Club, Glasgow, 29 Aug

The blues maestro plays Glasgow

3 Sep 2009

Roll’n’roll folklore states that he turned down overtures from Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, but tonight blues maestro Terry Reid joins forces with Glasgow outfit The Fortunate Sons. It seems, however, less of an amalgamation of musical wits than might…

Theatre hitlist

3 Sep 2009

Arches Live! The Arches continues to push performance boundaries with a mouth-watering season of shows, many of them by non-traditional theatre-makers. Arches, Glasgow, Thu 17–Sat 26 Sep. The Cherry Orchard Dundee Rep ensemble turns its…

Glasvegas - We Love To Boogie, Glasgow, Tue 1 Sep 2009

3 Sep 2009

‘Fuck the neighbours!’ shouts someone within the crowd spilling out onto the street. ‘James, please – turn it up to 11!’ Maybe the quiet little acoustic gig Glasvegas’ James Allan had in mind when he arranged this Twitter-promoted secret show wasn’t so…

Classical hitlist

3 Sep 2009

RSNO: Hollywood Classics Bringing a busy summer season to its close, the RSNO and their conductor David Danzmayr present a popular mix of music from the movies. Lawrence of Arabia, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars are all there in radiant…

Hitlist: Comedy

3 Sep 2009

Billy Connolly The legend that is the Big Yin drops by to do a sold-out tour taking in several dates in the capital before doing his thing in Glasgow come October. He once did a joke about jojoba sounding a bit like October. Brilliant, it was. Usher…

Art Fag (Song by Toad Night) - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 30 Aug

3 Sep 2009

There’s a communal feel at this night for local record label Song By Toad, in Edinburgh’s cosiest venue. Everyone seems to know everyone as the applause is fierce, and nobody feels right standing at the back. It does mean the impact of Art Fag’s Neil…

Also published: Books

The comedians turn to literature this week

3 Sep 2009

Jack Dee - Thanks for Nothing, Jo Brand - Look Back in Hunger, Dara O’Briain - Tickling the English, Justin Lee Collins - Good Times, Peter Kay - Saturday Night Peter

Jah Wobble - Memoirs of a Geezer: The Autobiography

3 Sep 2009

Within the first paragraph of this look-back over a particularly distinctive life and musical career, John Wardle has been born in Stepney, E1. And within the first page-and-a-half, his mum has had their house exorcised (but not a ‘full-on pukka…

Val McDermid - Fever of the Bone

3 Sep 2009

Staying true to gruesome form, the first murder in the Fife crime novelist’s latest slice of Tartan Noir could’ve been committed in 1880s Whitechapel. After the body of a young girl is found with her genitals removed, psychological profiler Tony Hill…

Martin Simpson - True Stories

3 Sep 2009

Martin Simpson is probably most revered as a guitarist, and his prowess on both guitars and banjo is entirely evident on this follow-up to his award-winning 2007 release Prodigal Son, both on two dazzling instrumental tracks and accompanying his…

Trust Me by Peter Leonard

Elmore's son serves up his second crime thriller

3 Sep 2009

Having crime-writing legend Elmore Leonard as your dad is a lot to live up to, but with this bristling second fiction outing, son Peter almost keeps up the family name. Set in Detroit, with a cast of hapless, amoral baddies, his relentlessly-paced noir…

Heavy Metal Dredd by John Wagner, Alan Grant and various

A collection of Judge Dredd's most exteme adventures

3 Sep 2009

More from your favourite ultra hard-line future lawman in this collection of some of Judge Dredd’s most extreme stories. First printed in Rock Power and the Judge Dredd Megazine, these are stories with no limits, going for bloody slapstick comedy with a…

Trashcan Sinatras - In the Music

3 Sep 2009

Nineteen years since their debut, Cake, and five years since their last set, Weightlifting, Irvine’s finest export, Trashcan Sinatras, spread their welcome musical manifesto of love, peace and relaxed harmonies once again. With no criticism intended…

The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love

3 Sep 2009

It’s a shame that John Hughes isn’t around to make movies anymore and that The OC is finished because The Big Pink could have hit pay dirt as the official soundtrackers to both. The London duo may have underground credentials – Sunn 0)))), Merok Records…

Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter

3 Sep 2009

The singular skills of Richard Hawley were brought to the attention of the wider world in 2006 by Arctic Monkeys when, on accepting the Mercury Music Prize, they claimed ‘he was robbed!’ after they pipped his album Cole’s Corner for the prize. Two years…

Steve Kuhn Trio with Joe Lovano - Mostly Coltrane

3 Sep 2009

American pianist Steve Kuhn’s established trio with bassist David Finck and drummer Joey Baron is expanded to a quartet with the addition of saxophonist Joe Lovano for this excellent project. Kuhn was briefly part of John Coltrane’s quartet in 1961, but…