Issue 640

Autumn Season Preview: Classical Music

What's ahead in the next few weeks

17 Sep 2009

It’s autumn, the leaves are turning and it’s that time of year when classical music’s own type of seasons start up again to keep everyone going through until the Spring. A major difference this year is that the orchestras are returning to their…

Idlewild - Post Electric Blues

16 Sep 2009

(Cooking Vinyl) With a bulky back catalogue soaked in boisterous, if melancholic, guitar rock the expectation for Idlewild was always for them to make their Automatic for the People: a weighty album which crystallised all their most extreme emotions.

Hello Sailor! Gay Life On The Ocean Wave

Documenting the lives of Britain's hidden homosexual seafarers

17 Sep 2009

An attractive, light-hearted exhibition revealing a hidden side of the Merchant Navy from the 1950s to the 1980s, when young sailors reported for duty as competent crew members during the day and dressed up as Broadway stars by night. Hello Sailor! Gay…

Ian Brown - My Way

16 Sep 2009

(Fiction) To complain about Ian Brown’s production-bandaged voice or swaggering Manc intonation is to not really get it, quite frankly. Predictable, dullard technical proficiency is cooed over on X-Factor every week, if that’s what you want, but the…

Strike the Colours - Seven Roads

16 Sep 2009

(Deadlight Records) Jenny Reeve is a well-kent face in Scottish indie circles, having worked with Idlewild, Malcolm Middleton and The Reindeer Section in the past. This second album from her current project is a subtle and considered affair, a…

Public Interest - Edinburgh Royal Mile pub crawl

24 Sep 2009

Between the sprawling concrete shapes of the Scottish Parliament and the historic heights of Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile covers some of the best and worst aspects of the city. Plenty of tartan tourists and Australian backpackers stroll aimlessly up…

Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic

16 Sep 2009

(Epitaph) Every Time I Die’s last two albums were aptly entitled Gutter Phenomenon and The Big Dirty, showcasing the American noiseniks’ gruff and salacious sound. Their latest effort is little different. An unpredictable smorgasbord of neck-whipping…

Dizzee Heights - Dizzee Rascal interview

24 Sep 2009

Erstwhile underground sensation, critical darling and now serial chart-topper Dizzee Rascal, aka Dylan Mills, has just notched up three MOBO Award nominations to complement his three consecutive number one singles. Fame has not phased him, however, and…

Guide to Edinburgh's Old Town

24 Sep 2009

Not for nothing is the Old Town famed for its tartan tat. From Jimmy hats to bagpipes and ‘I Heart Scotland’ badges to ‘I Love Ewe’ cards, it’s all too easy to write off Auld Reekie’s historical hub as simply a place to partake in the city’s…

Baddies

23 Sep 2009

Mixing post punk and art rock Baddies are ready to step out alongside the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads and The Maccabees. Instantly catchy and boasting big anthemic choruses as they unleash their debut Do The Job on the public.

Odemba OK Jazz

23 Sep 2009

Scottish debut from African collective for a night of hypnotic guitars, horns, driving rhythms and dancefloor jazz. This twelve-piece are led by guitarist Dizzy Mandjeku in this special gig to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of the King of…

White Lightnin' or just white trash?

The creators of the controversial revenge tale explain all

17 Sep 2009

Watching White Lightnin’ you wonder where its makers came up with the idea for their gloriously demented film. At once a biopic about a hillbilly dancer and a tale of revenge that plays like a seventies American horror movie, it’s the story of Jesco…

The Soloist

True life drama from Atonement director

17 Sep 2009

Having brought a brittle grace to adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, director Joe Wright makes a splashy stateside debut with The Soloist, a true-life drama about an unexpected friendship between world-weary LA journalist Steve Lopez…

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

17 Sep 2009

AC/DC aside, prematurely losing your lead singer is often fatal for bands. Grunge icons Alice in Chains of course lost Layne Staley in 2002 to years of well-documented drug (mis)use, but Black Gives Way to Blue will give them belief that they made the…

Blueflint

The banjo toting duo on their Edinburgh Americana

17 Sep 2009

Sometimes the path less travelled isn’t as peculiar as you might think. Admittedly on paper, Blueflint’s story isn’t an entirely conventional one, but the result is something wholly engaging to anyone’s ears: great songs. ‘Clare [Louise Neilson] and…

Glasgow DIY Festival

The city shows off its talented underground arts scene

17 Sep 2009

Without wishing to play down the significance of Franz Ferdinand’s commercial breakthrough, arguably the real story of Glasgow rock in the ’00s has been the rise of the DIY gig scene. Nuts & Seeds got the ball rolling by booking weird, noisy and fun…

Hitlist: Classical Music

17 Sep 2009

ERCU 150th Anniversary Gala Concert, Scottish Opera: The Elixir of Love, Artisan Trio

Conversation piece - Dani Marti interview

Exploring gay men's health and sexuality through art

24 Sep 2009

Dani Marti’s new exhibition, insideout, has been safely installed in the sh[out] space at Parnie Street as part of Glasgay! Yet the convoluted tale of how one of the show’s installations ended up in this space still sticks in the craw of the…

Glasgay! - Steven Thomson interview

24 Sep 2009

2009 will be both one of Glasgay!’s best and most troubled years. The programme is stronger than ever, but as Glasgay! has grown in its cultural importance it has attracted new levels of criticism and controversy that now threaten to undermine its…

Urban Legends - MOBO Awards 2009 come to Glasgow

24 Sep 2009

‘You’ve heard of us, even if you don’t know it yet. Remember that boy driving you mad on the bus, playing music on his mobile at full volume? He’s listening to us. So is his sister, his best mate, his best mate’s older brother and his teacher. We make…

Ripe Time - L’Artichaut

24 Sep 2009

France isn’t a country known for its abundant vege sympathy, with non-meat-eaters often having to make do with a half-hearted omelette, a green salad or frîtes for every meal. But in a way the concept of a vege French restaurant shouldn’t seem so…

First Word - Peter Hook interview

24 Sep 2009

Founder of Joy Division, and bassist with New Order, Peter Hook lets off some steam about music piracy. First record you ever bought. ‘Ride a White Swan’ by T Rex. Now that was very, very long time ago. Last time you were chatted up. Tragically, I…

Dizzee Rascal’s YouTube Hits

24 Sep 2009

A selection of Dizzee’s most colourful moments, available for posterity on YouTube.

The House of Bernarda Alba

23 Sep 2009

Rona Munro's reimagining of Federico Garcia Lorca's all-female ensemble piece, blinging neon, dripping in credit, is the sort of glossy, hard-edged melodrama River City dreams of being After the gangland execution of her husband, Siobhan Redmond’s…

John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins – Taking Liberties

23 Sep 2009

Among many remarkable pictures in this essential retrospective of London’s 1960s counter-culture’s snapper-in-residence, there’s a wonderful study of the editorial team behind International Times, the era’s alternative bible. In it, eleven people huddle…