Issue 641

William Sinclair: Aspects of the Clyde

Portraying the emotion of the once bustling harbour

2 Oct 2009

This exhibition of paintings and drawings by William Sinclair (1930–1997) captures the once bustling, now dormant harbours and docks of Greenock and Port Glasgow where the artist lived. Educated at Glasgow School of Art in the 50s, and a respected…

Chipmunk - I Am Chipmunk

2 Oct 2009

The British grime scene is defined by its fury and bravado and Chipmunk rolls out a debut album that suggests there’s scope for having some heart too. After demolishing the charts with the simpering proto-Kanye ‘Diamond Rings’ (which features Glasgow…

Music In The Digital Age

Technology's impact on the artform

2 Oct 2009

To paraphrase the Creme Egg adverts, when it comes to music, how do you hear yours? Streaming over the internet? Nicking stuff from torrents on the web? A bag full of goodies from Fopp? Crates of obscure vinyl from your local specialist…

DVD Roundup

Our trawl though the best (and worst) of recent horror DVD releases

30 Sep 2009

Rogue, I Sell the Dead, Wasting Away, Chanbara Beauty, Messengers 2: The Scarecrow, Deadline, From Within, The Books of Blood, Death of a Ghost Hunter, Smash Cut, Staunton Hill, Cradle Will Fall, Dr Chopper, Mr Halloween, Sexy Killer and The Antony I…

Exposure: Joe Carnall and the Book Club

28 Sep 2009

It's nearly five years now since the music media's microscope focused in on Sheffield as acts like Bromhead's Jacket, Little Man Tate and Long Blondes were heralded to define the decade. And though only Arctic Monkeys may have made it into the big…

The Blessings: Exclusive LuckyMe DJ Mix

7 Oct 2009

A mix of the best of the LuckyMe collective, exclusively available as a free download from List.co.uk. Featuring Hudson Mohawke, Mike Slott, RKGB, Lunice and more. God bless The Blessings. The LuckyMe co-founders Dom Sum and Fine Art, together known as…

An Argument About Sex

An audacious conceit that lacks thematic focus

5 Oct 2009

This site-specific production springs from an audacious conceit: an updating of 18th century playwright Pierre de Marivaux’s comedy La Dispute, framed within a topical argument. Was the severity of the economic downturn down to inherently male…

Carol Ann Duffy

Taking a look at her kids poems, moon verse and a tale of a Christmas cheer

2 Oct 2009

The appointment of Carol Ann Duffy as Poet Laureate was always going to raise eyebrows and temperatures among certain elements of the literary establishment and seamier side of the media. In this writer, there is a spirit of rebellion and…

Mhairi Hall Trio - Cairngorm

2 Oct 2009

Aviemore-born pianist Mhairi Hall dragged a piano to the top of Cairngorm (well, with a bit of help) to launch this album, an appropriate enough gesture for a record very much steeped in the landscape and ethos of her native Strathspey. Not…

Band of Skulls

Garage rock action

2 Oct 2009

Hailing from London and obviously raised on a diet of Rolling Stones, White Stripes and The Ramones, Band of Skulls specialise in garage rock action. Starting life as Fleeing New York before changing their name to the far superior Band of Skulls they…

Juliette Lewis

Punk rock, Hollywood style

2 Oct 2009

She may have left her backing band, The Licks, behind but Hollywood actress Juliette Lewis (her role in Natural Born Killers probably best sums up her punk rock attitude) hasn’t lost any of her rock verve. ‘I’m just some crazy fucking chick fronting a…

The F Word: 100 Years Of Scottish Feminism

Celebrating the anniversay of one of the country's greatest Suffragette marches

1 Oct 2009

One hundred years ago this fortnight thousands of women from all over Scotland descended on Princes Street in one of the biggest Suffragette marches the country would ever see. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst were the keynote speakers and guests of…

Tim Minchin: Ready For This?

The Australian musical comedian returns to Scotland

1 Oct 2009

I’ve interviewed Tim Minchin several times, but never in the surprisingly big, hairy and hungover flesh before. ‘I’m totally comfortable on stage but I like to appear discomforted and vulnerable because it works with my material. I’m surprised how…

The five most important moments for digital music

7 Oct 2009

Napster starts it all In 1999 Napster became first music file-sharing service to make digital downloading a viable, and illegal, option for finding new music. The end came in 2001 after a law suit from the Record Industry Association of America…

Campaigning For Falkirk's Park Gallery

Helping the building fight for its survival

5 Oct 2009

The Park Gallery is something of an art institution. Located in a stable block at Falkirk’s Callendar Park, the gallery is best known for its edgy, contemporary, thought-provoking work by local, national and international artists. So last month’s…

New National Gallery Restaurant Opens Its Doors

Good news for Scottish food and culture buffs

5 Oct 2009

Art lovers have exciting news to nibble on, following the National Gallery of Scotland’s announcement of its collaboration with Victor and Carina Contini, the team behind popular George Street eaterie Centotre. The new look Scottish Café and Restaurant…

One Thousand Paper Cranes

Bringing the magic of origami to the stage

5 Oct 2009

An actor preparing for a role has to do many things, but learning origami isn’t usually one of them. Alongside the usual checklist of remembering lines and researching characters, however, the performers in One Thousand Paper Cranes also had to turn…

Side Dishes

More foody going-ons

5 Oct 2009

The BBC Good Food Show Scotland, now in its third year, will be at the SECC in Glasgow from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November. Alongside the usual array of big-name cooking demos, there’s a strong showing from smaller local producers including…

Glasgow East End: Shopping

The area's top shops

5 Oct 2009

Often forgotten when it comes to retail therapy, shopping in the East End may well involve a bit more walking, but the results will certainly be fruitful. Pop into Brigitte for a spot of vintage heaven – designer cocktail dresses galore at…

The Holly and the Ivy

50s British melodrama

5 Oct 2009

Although it’s by no means a classic, this British melodrama from 1952 provides an interesting snapshot of domestic life in postwar Blighty. Taking place over Christmas in rural Norfolk, it revolves around a family gathering at the vicarage of the…

We Like...

Batman and smart-arse comedy

5 Oct 2009

This week some of us are suffering knuckle-ache and eye-strain from having spent a whole weekend playing the new Batman game. An excited section of List HQ is boldly declaring it ‘the best superhero game ever’ and muttering things about graphics and…

Halloween II

Rob Zombie's sequel to his remake

5 Oct 2009

Rob Zombie makes his own sequel to his own remake of the horror classic where he puts putrid flesh on the bones (and gives him a mother. What?) of that ultimate senseless killing machine Michael Myers. A potentially pointless exercise in some ways…

Zombieland

Surviving a world overrun by zombies

5 Oct 2009

Zombieland is pitched somewhere between From Dusk Till Dawn and Anchor Man with a nod of the stetson to George A Romero’s zombie flicks. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin are four disparate characters hell-bent on…

Couples Retreat

Daft slapstick and a smearing of schmaltz

5 Oct 2009

Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn are all grown up since Swingers and are now here, buddying it up as a part of four couples who hit their 40s and end up mistakenly entering into a compulsory couples therapy retreat on a luxury island resort. Cue lots of…

Ong-Bak: The Beginning

Action packed tale of revenge

5 Oct 2009

Master martial arts star Tony Jaa shows his chops in considerable style – a style that has found him compared favourably to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li – in this action packed tale of an orphan brought up by a gang of thieves who trains to avenge…