Issue 644

Koyaanisqatsi screening in Glasgow with live score by Urban Farm Hand

19 Nov 2009

Organised by Take One Action to mark the lead up to the global climate change talks in Copenhagen and the national climate change march in Glasgow on Saturday 5 December this screening of Godfrey Reggio’s still prescient 1982 film collage will be scored…

Wasabi Disco

Raw like sushi

19 Nov 2009

‘I left Edinburgh to live in Glasgow about four years ago,’ says Kris Walker, promoter and resident DJ at Sneaky Pete’s Wasabi Disco, ‘and the Edinburgh I see now is completely different to the one I left behind. The club scene in the city’s really…

Gary Lightbody Interview

First word

19 Nov 2009

First record you ever bought Michael Jackson – Thriller. On tape. Last time you were chatted up Ha. Doesn’t happen very often. Honestly don’t know. Actually, have I been? First movie you ever went on a date to Reservoir Dogs Last time…

Social Science at Glasgow Science Centre

Let’s get physics, y'all!

19 Nov 2009

There are certain ‘childish’ ways of being that we’re encouraged to leave behind when we grow up. Throwing tantrums in the street, for example, or scratching yourself there in public. Unfortunately, just simply playing, and indulging a wide-eyed sense…

Zadie Smith - Changing My Mind

19 Nov 2009

(Hamish Hamilton) As she notes in her foreword, Zadie Smith had written her latest book without even knowing it. All it took was one person to point out that since she burst onto the scene brandishing her White Teeth, Smith has committed thousands of…

We Will Rock You

19 Nov 2009

Regardless of how unsure or cynical you may be walking into this musical, by the time the eponymous song comes around, if your hands aren’t clapping and your voice isn’t belting out ‘we will, we will rock you!’, then check your pulse, for you may well…

Michael Crichton - Pirate Latitudes

19 Nov 2009

(HarperCollins) The first of two books to be published posthumously, Pirate Latitudes was found as a complete manuscript after Michael Crichton’s death in November 2008. Set in the volatile colonial Caribbean in 1665, it details British privateer…

Homecoming Final Fling - ditch cynical, think musical

19 Nov 2009

You know the big speech by Renton in Trainspotting where he goes on about how it’s ‘shite being Scottish’? Well, he was only half right. His defeatist rant is a quintessential example of that under-a-dreich-cloud Scottish pessimism, rubbishing…

Leanne Shapton - Important Artifacts …

19 Nov 2009

In this empty literary age of celebrity autobiographies written by someone else, increasingly desperate misery memoirs and Dan Brown, the notion of an original novel making its way onto our shelves seems a crazy one. Yet, just when you thought there…

What You See Is Where You’re At

19 Nov 2009

A new exhibition launches a year of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as Neil Cooper discovers

Pantomine in Scotland

19 Nov 2009

As the panto season gets underway a new exhibition celebrating Scotland’s other national theatre embarks on a nationwide tour. Allan Radcliffe investigates

End of year film magazines round-up 2009

19 Nov 2009

It’s time to drop into the wonderful world of film magazines. December is a crucial month for these cinephile glossies – it’s the time when readers decide whether to renew their loyalty for another year – so let’s have a look at what you are really…

Rumpelstiltskin

19 Nov 2009

If any art form can claim a familiarity and a relevance that crosses all boundaries of age, class, education and even culture, it may well be the fairy tale. And if there’s a form of art that suffers most from a reputation for being elitist, obscure and…

Karla Black: Sculptures

19 Nov 2009

While these new sculptures comprise Karla Black’s now familiar array of nebulous materials – chalk dust, eye shadow, sugar paper – they command a more distinct level of authority than has previously been seen. Her impermanent sculptures transcend…

Scottish Matthew Bourne showcase given go-ahead

19 Nov 2009

A new piece of work by dance legend Matthew Bourne will be staged as a result of National Lottery Funding. The King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal have been awarded £265,905 by the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) as part of a £2.5million National Lottery…

Pippa Evans

19 Nov 2009

Going along to a show featuring Pippa Evans generally means confronting some fears of many a comedy-goer. Audience participation has been her thing since she arrived on the Fringe in 2008 with an if.comedy Best Newcomer-nominated debut which revolved…

Edinburgh's Christmas

19 Nov 2009

‘Christmas is a time for families to be together, so we wanted to make Edinburgh’s Christmas suitable for all ages,’ says Nickie Gott, of She’s Gott It, the company charged with putting smiles on faces in the capital this Christmas. Gott and her company…

SCO Homecoming Concert

19 Nov 2009

As Scotland’s Year of Homecoming draws to a close, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra pays tribute to three of the country’s finest composers with a special focus on Edward Harper who died earlier this year. In the world premiere performance of the complete…

Arctic Monkeys

Preview

19 Nov 2009

On the title of a 2006 EP, these Sheffield boys asked the question Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys? They were being a bit ironic, we can only presume, considering you’d need to have been hiding in a subterranean bunker, wearing earmuffs and a thick…

Fortified

Preview

19 Nov 2009

Hessle Audio is a dubstep label, and its origins were in the most dubstep of locations. The queue for seminal, scene-defining night FWD>> at London’s Velvet Rooms (which currently lives at the city’s Plastic People) was where Ben Thomson and David…

Rain Man

19 Nov 2009

It’s a pleasant surprise to see how successfully Dan Gordon’s theatre adaptation of the screen classic starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman translates to the stage. The tale of city slicker Charlie Babbitt’s relationship with his long-lost…

Exposure: Burnt Island

19 Nov 2009

Burnt Island are a richly melodic and understated folky five-piece from Glasgow. Singer Rodge Glass – a regular renaissance man who counts novelist, biographer, academic and occasional List contributor amongst his lengthy CV – spills the beans. How…

Anna Sikorska: Exchange and Harbour

19 Nov 2009

It was a while ago now that the European surrealists were drawn to the marvel of surprise juxtapositions – Lautréamont’s poetic proclamation about the chance meeting on a dissecting table of an umbrella with a sewing machine, sparked something pretty…

Charlie Hammond: The New Improvement Scheme

19 Nov 2009

Glasgow-based painter, Charlie Hammond, exhibits a new body of work under the banner The New Improvement Scheme. His canvasses have been altered, added to, taken from, layered with impasto ceramic-laced paint and sheets of raw linen dressed in shades of…

The Slow Club

19 Nov 2009

As the name suggests, The Slow Club doesn’t go for furious beats and sweaty dancefloors. ‘It’s the dark candlelit bar at the end of the world where everything is not quite right, yet perfect, somewhere to get lost in, immerse yourself in,’ explains…

Luke Fowler: A Grammar For Listening

19 Nov 2009

Ever noticed the after-effect of sound rustling through a cityscape? What happens when images recede to the backdrop and sound takes on the leading role? Luke Fowler – in collaboration with Eric La Casa, Lee Patterson and Toshiya Tsunoda – creates field…

The End of the Line: Attitudes in Drawing

19 Nov 2009

The End of the Line may just be the beginning of a resurgence in interest to the humbled medium of drawing. The 11 international artists take ownership of the space with skill and innovation – especially in the case of Monika Gryzmala who has created a…

The Collector's Art

19 Nov 2009

This exhibition showcases works from two private collections featuring prints, drawings and paintings of British and German art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Joan Eardley, J.D. Fergusson, Ian Fleming, Emil Orlik, Barbara Rae…

Charan Gill opens Slumdog Bar and kitchen

19 Nov 2009

Having sold the Harlequin Group of restaurants four years ago for a cool £8 million, Charan Gill’s re-entry into the Glasgow scene was always going to stir up interest. From getting hold of the Slumdog name to tapping into the energetic zeitgeist of…

Dancing in the street

19 Nov 2009

Not for nothing is Edinburgh’s Hogmanay thought to be one of the best in the world; four days of festivities jam-packed around one of the biggest street parties in the world. Now, after a lacklustre start, it seems the names are coming thick and fast.

Glasgow Craft Mafia Handmade Haven

Girlie Glaswegian glory-hunting

19 Nov 2009

Between indie craft markets, vintage magazine auction sales and full on fancy frock-swaps there are loads of ways to get your consumerist kicks in Glasgow without having to brave the high street this fortnight. The Glasgow Craft Mafia, long-time…

Salt of the Earth

19 Nov 2009

There are a few surprises at what might have been a straightforward showcase of some of Scotland’s famous faces by Craig Mackay. The first revelation is that not all the usual suspects are present, and the second is the inclusion of a few famous faces…

Glasgow PodcART

Classic Grand, Glasgow, Sun 1 Nov

19 Nov 2009

On a rainy Sunday night in the west, a respectable crowd of open-minded Glaswegians have turned out for Glasgow PodcART’s showcase of musicians hailing from – gasp! – the exotic east. Of Scotland, that is. Panda Su is a Fife lass who creates an aura…

Shields Up

Bar Bloc, Glasgow, Thu 29 Oct

19 Nov 2009

Bloc has never seemed liked the most conventional setting for live music. Its close-knit tables and chairs obscure most of the floor, making it awkward to view – to say the least – and even more so to play. However, there’s an odd charm to being packed…

Five things you might not know about: Pam Ann

19 Nov 2009

1 Nightmare trolley dolly Pam Ann is the creation of Aussie comic Caroline Reid whose first experience of air travel came at the age of eight on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney. Seems that her mum stuck her girl on a plane as an ‘unattended minor…

Five unit shifting books

19 Nov 2009

Andy McNab Exit Wound Mr SAS with his latest Nick Stone thriller in which a raid on Saddam Hussein’s gold stash goes horribly awry and a complex conspiracy slowly reveals itself. Bantam. Karin Slaughter Genesis Medical examiner Sara Linton…

Eduardo Galeano - Mirrors

19 Nov 2009

(Portobello) There are plenty out there who believe the history we are taught in schools and fed to us by the mainstream media is a wretched farce. Even suggesting that there are two sides to every story is falling into the traps of those who seek…

Pieter Waterdrinker - The German Wedding

19 Nov 2009

(Atlantic) Pieter Waterdrinker’s clever wedding farce isn’t the average boy meets girl story. Here, rich girl meets conniving boy; girl fakes pregnancy to trap boy, boy lies through teeth to get hands on her colossal inheritance – and breathtaking…

Them Crooked Vultures

19 Nov 2009

It’d be foolish to try and ignore the pedigree of Them Cooked Vultures – a suitably enticing line-up of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) – but therein lies the crux of the problem…

Gilbert Shelton - The Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus

19 Nov 2009

(Knockabout) While he might come across as a hippy Garfield, Fat Freddy’s Cat actually predates the lasagne-obsessed ginger tom by nine years. Springing from the pages of the ultimate stoner’s comic – The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers – which was…

Eugenics season

19 Nov 2009

Who says scientific theory and cinematic endeavour are mutually exclusive? Certainly not the organisers of this weekend long Biomedical Ethics Film Festival, which delves into the ethically fraught discussion of human perfection and our right to strive…

Bite Harder

19 Nov 2009

(De Wolfe) From deep within the bowels of the De Wolfe music library has been unearthed this bawdy 57 varieties of funk from the late 60s and early 70s. So, we have the Hendrixy funk of Peter Neno’s ‘Street Girl’, the porno-cop funk of Nick Ingram’s…

William McLaren – An Artist Out of Time

19 Nov 2009

Edinburgh based filmmaker Jim Hickey’s fascinating new documentary about the life and times of Scottish painter, commercial illustrator and muralist McLaren is the latest feature to the grace the rightly celebratory Made in Edinburgh screening slot.

Big picture: The Soda Waste - By Paul Smith

Sighthill photography project

19 Nov 2009

Almost a year in the making, this incredible photography project documents the forgotten schemes and families of Glasgow’s Sighthill, before its demolition at the end of this month. Built upon derelict ground in the late-19th century, the area has had a…

The Waltz of the Cold Wind

19 Nov 2009

Following its successful debut last summer as part of the Oran Mor A Play, a Pie and a Pint season, Paddy Cunneen’s enchanting romance, about a woman obsessed with recording and listening to sounds such as Antarctic winds and her own voice, returns for…

DIM set for Glasgow date at Cotton Cake

19 Nov 2009

Signed to Boys Noize, DIM (aka Andreas Meid), has helped shape the label into the all conquering electro beast it’s become today. Famed for his addictive dancefloor cuts such as ‘Is You’, ‘Airbus’ and ‘Sysiphos’ and remixes for the likes of The Presets…

Al Murray

19 Nov 2009

Now, that’s a beautiful, British name. And upon the cover of Think Yourself British is Al Murray splayed. The supreme irony of the Pub Landlord may have bypassed the attentions of some of his more ITV-based fans, but Murray is not caring a jot as he…

Southern Softies

19 Nov 2009

Comic singer/organist makes his film debut in this comedy documentary which takes Shuttleworth and his ever on hand neighbour Ken down to the Channel Islands to find out if it really is ‘soft down south.’ A Q&A with star/director Graham Fellows will…

Eating Raoul

19 Nov 2009

Those cheeky folk from the Monorail Film Club get their teeth into a bit of human flesh with this rare screening of Paul Bartel’s 1982 comic cult gem about sex and cannibalism. Introduced by Lindsay Hutton of The Next Big Thing website…

King Coal

19 Nov 2009

Coal and it’s place in the British landscape and psyche is investigated in this remarkable collection of old films, animation and documentary footage from the 1910-1980s. Part of the British Film Institute’s Industrial Heritage project. Introduced by…

Glasgow School of Art Centenary - Notable alumni

18 Nov 2009

Throughout December and January the Glasgow School of Art is commemorating the centenary of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building, which was completed by the celebrated architect, designer and watercolourist in 1909. As part of the ongoing…

Bunny and The Bull - Edward Hogg interview

Star of Mighty Boosh-affiliated feature film

18 Nov 2009

As the star of White Lightnin’ and now Mighty Boosh-affiliated feature Bunny and the Bull, Ed Hogg has become one of UK film’s hottest properties. James Mottram meets the man with the Midas touch

Bunny and the Bull - Julian Barratt interview

From Mighty Boosh to feature canine friend

18 Nov 2009

Bunny and the Bull may well be the British comedy of 2009: quirky, hilarious and with a striking visual sensibility comparable to the best work of Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze. A talent for assembling richly detailed, dreamlike shots was not the only…

Jean Eustache

16 Nov 2009

In an interview given on the eve of the 26th Cannes Film Festival in May 1973, Jean Eustache voiced his frustration at the reception of his work and his troubled relationship with the film industry in France. ‘Although my films have always been…

Ryuichi Sakamoto interview

Piano man

13 Nov 2009

His collaboration with David Byrne on the score to The Last Emperor scored them an Oscar, but as Neil Cooper discovers, the pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is happiest keeping things minimal, but always experimental It may be a quarter of a…

Glorious 39 - Stephen Poliakoff interview

Shooting the past

13 Nov 2009

Stephen Poliakoff wanted to take the subject of Nazi appeasement and turn it into a thriller for the big screen. Brian Donaldson hears how he succeeded

Singles & downloads - November 2009

13 Nov 2009

The List is getting in touch with its feminine side this fortnight; hoping we can get through this latest selection of singles and downloads while pretending that boys don’t even exist. Ewww boys. Much fuss has been made of the fact that lots of female…

Profile of Amelia director Mira Nair

13 Nov 2009

Name: Mira Nair Born: 15 October 1957, Bhubaneshwar (India) Background: After starting her career as an actress, Nair turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with the…

A Serious Man

13 Nov 2009

(15) 105min If the Coen brothers’ last film, CIA comedy Burn After Reading, was as empty as Brad Pitt’s bubble-headed gym-bunny, this latest effort is as rich as anything they’ve produced in their 25 years of filmmaking. While Fargo took them back to…

Introducing: Dare!

The best new nights in town. This month: Dare!

13 Nov 2009

Residents: Much respected house DJ Jon Pleased Wimmin (pictured), who has played at some of the biggest nights across the globe from Puscha and Miss Moneypennies to Fabric and Pressure. Guests: Nothing is confirmed but expect the cream of local DJs…

Ojos de Brujo

Preview

13 Nov 2009

Walking out the lift of an Edinburgh Hotel, Marina Abad is pushing her baby son in a buggy. Pivotal singer, composer and the only woman in Europe’s most popular world music band – the Barcelona collective Ojos de Brujo. Renowned for their…

Paranormal Activity

13 Nov 2009

(15) 86min Oren Peli’s low-budget horror phenomenon is compelling proof that the simplest ideas are often the most effective. In an period when cinematic suggestibility and horror exists mainly in a vacuum of splatter and gore, Peli’s film reverts…

Slayer

13 Nov 2009

In 2009 what do people really need from Slayer? This is a band who set the bar at a breathtaking high over 20 years ago, releasing intense, condensed concrete slabs for albums, if concrete slabs can be dripping in blood and goat entrails. The quartet’s…

Robbie Williams - Reality Killed the Video Star

13 Nov 2009

(Virgin) Here’s a bit of Robbie Williams’ press statement in the run up to the release of this, his eighth studio album: ‘[When people listen to it] I want them to forget about who they are and where they are for 50 minutes’. Some fans might wonder…

Brass Jaw

13 Nov 2009

The saxophone quartet is not exactly a common beast in jazz circles, but it is a well-enough established combination to be recognised as a regular format in the music. Brass Jaw began life in that guise, with Martin Kershaw alongside Paul Towndrow…

Seraphine

13 Nov 2009

(PG) 126min Senlis, a small town outside Paris in 1914. By day the middle-aged and devoutly Catholic Seraphine (Yolande Moreau) toils away as a servant and washer woman. In the evenings she paints on her hands and knees in her room, using soil…

The Informant!

13 Nov 2009

(15) 108min Sometimes filmmaker Steven Soderbergh conceptual enquiries get the better of him. He shot The Good German using technology only available to filmmakers during World War 2 and now he’s concentrated so hard on making The Informant! look and…

Five reasons to go and see Regina Spektor

13 Nov 2009

1 She aches to pupate From a one-time job on a butterfly farm, to songs about hoarding Red Admirals in her coat, the Russian-born American singer-songwriter is an avid lepidopterist. Her soaring, picturesque odes bear witness. 2 She can shred a…

Glorious 39

13 Nov 2009

(12A) 122mins Ten minutes in to Glorious 39 and you are left in no doubt that this is a Stephen Poliakoff production. There’s the stately country pile, the lavish aristo picnic, the soaring score, a sensational cast of British talent (Christopher…

Cold Cave

Playdate, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 31 Oct

13 Nov 2009

Almost inevitably, the shout goes up in the block of dead air after Philadelphian trio Cold Cave wind up their final track: ‘One more tune!’ Apologetically, bandleader Wesley Eisold turns to the crowd before getting busy unplugging his bank of synths.

Boom!

13 Nov 2009

(PG) 112min (Second Sight) Joseph Losey’s gloriously odd 1968 melodrama starring the then married Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor resurfaces after news of its demise were exaggerated (rumour had it that only one print of it existed in the world).

All Tomorrow's Parties

13 Nov 2009

(E) 83min (Warp Films) It’s been ten years since All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) began their high concept underground music happenings at the Bowlie Weekender in Camber Sands holiday camp. Since then the invited musicians of the calibre of Patti Smith…

Thank you

13th Note, Glasgow, Mon 2 Nov 2009

13 Nov 2009

Ironically, Thank You seem pretty appreciative tonight. They thank the support bands multiple times and the assembled crowd too, who form an exclusive club of culture vulture meets prog nerds at the cosy, vegetarian café cum dingy basement that is the…

Law Abiding Citizen

13 Nov 2009

(18) 108min A highly dubious morality undermines anything worthwhile in Be Cool and The Italian Job director F Gary Gray’s violent thriller about the nature of justice. When ambitious assistant District Attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) grants a…

The Millionairess

13 Nov 2009

(U) 87min (Windows Media) In this still very enjoyable 1960 comedy it;s ironic that Peter Sellers plays a humble Indian doctor who spurns the advances of Sophia Loren's richest woman in the world, given the then married Sellers was head-over-heels…

Tomasz Stanko Quintet - Dark Eyes

13 Nov 2009

(ECM Records) Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has been one of the mainstays of the ECM catalogue, and this latest release features the debut of another new line-up, with two musicians from Finland, pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori…

Huw Warren - Hermeto +

13 Nov 2009

(Basho Records) Welsh pianist Huw Warren is one of the most consistently intriguing and persistently undervalued musicians on the UK scene. Whether leading his own imaginative projects, co-founding Perfect Houseplants or working with musicians from…

Christiane F

13 Nov 2009

(18) 120min (Arrow) Uli Edel’s grimy, influential 1981 docudrama about one young girl’s descent into the drug scene of 70s Berlin has lost none of its fury. Edel, who went on to direct Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Baader Meinhof Complex, uses…

Dawn Landes

13 Nov 2009

With soft folky melodies inspired by Willie Nelson & Linda Ronstadt, Dawn Landes is a welcome addition to the country scene, infusing it with her own brand of nostalgic pop and occasional splashes of psychedelic rock. She’s touring on the back of her…

Gambit

13 Nov 2009

(U) 109min (Second Sight) Hot off the back of Alfie and The Ipcress File, Michael Caine made his Hollywood debut with this cleverly conceived 1966 crime caper. In it, Caine’s cat burglar hires Shirley MacLaine’s Eurasian beauty to help him relieve…

The Cinematics - Love and Terror

13 Nov 2009

(The Orchard) Glaswegian quartet The Cinematics have been doing the rounds for a few years now, with only the odd brush against success to show for their efforts. Tales of record company collapses, studio eviction and the attempted firebombing of the…

Taste Of Chaos

13 Nov 2009

RRRRAAAAAARGH! That’s the sound of metal coming home, baby! The Rockstar Energy Drink Taste Of Chaos tour kicks off in Glasgow this month, featuring headliners Killswitch Engage, with additional rockage coming from Swedish melodic metallers In Flames…

Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

13 Nov 2009

(ATP) If Mogwai had listened to more techno (eek! What a thought) they might have ended up producing something a bit like Tarot Sport. Instead this sonic masterpiece was conjured up by two geeks from Bristol, who cater in the kind of intense and arty…

Stereophonics - Keep Calm and Carry On

13 Nov 2009

Kelly Jones’ predilection for all things both ‘classic’ and ‘rock’ has meant that, despite emerging in the early 90s, Stereophonics have never sounded particularly tied to any one era. This album, their seventh, is a more stripped back affair, tapping…

Monotonix

13 Nov 2009

Hailing from Tel Aviv and painting themselves as ‘The People’s Band’, Monotonix hit Sleazy’s in their recruitment drive for your soul. The hairier, sweatier and smellier you are, the better (their words, not ours), and if you fancy adding ‘bruised but…

Alice Russell

13 Nov 2009

Coming to us all the way from far off Framlingham (yep, it’s a real place – we looked it up on Wikipedia), Alice Russell shares her golden soulful voice and funky instrumentals, in promotion of her Pot Of Gold album. She keeps good company, with the…

Mayra Andrade - Stória Stória

13 Nov 2009

(Sterns) Mayra Andrade is an award winning singer of the world music scene, charming fans with both her gorgeous voice and captivating performances. With Stória Stória this Cape Verdean continues moving towards Brazil, with an appetising roll call of…

Paul Haig - Relive

13 Nov 2009

(Rhythm of Life) As helmsman of Edinburgh post-punk vampires Josef K, Paul Haig cast an immortal shadow over the guitar pop landscape. The opening track from Relive, however, is a dead ringer for Girls Aloud. Sure, the rock props abound: there…

Iain Campbell - A No Place

13 Nov 2009

(Unverified Records) Having previously played in defiantly eccentric Glasgow-based bands Lapsus Linguae and If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now, Iain Campbell was never going to make a solo album of pop standards. Quite the opposite, this…

N-Dubz - Against All Odds

13 Nov 2009

(Universal) Despite musically approximating a holiday fling between Cascada and East 17, London’s cuddly rap anarchists N-Dubz have become the UK’s best-loved chart stars. Little wonder in light of Against All Odds: every chord progression and…

Charity Baw

13 Nov 2009

Nope, not a fundraiser for testicular cancer – this charity ball’s for Oxfam, and funds raised are going to support the fight against climate change. Acts such as The Real Tuesday Weld, Aberfeldy, The Parsonage, Withered Hand, Come On Gang!, Big Ned…

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gurrumul

13 Nov 2009

(Dram) Hear the song ‘Bapa’ (Father) on this multi-award winning album by one time singer with Yothu Yindi, Australia’s first ever aboriginal rock band, and you’ll know exactly why, despite being sung in native Australian Yongu dialect, this has made…

Keser - Robo_Ghost

13 Nov 2009

(Alex Tronic) This has all the hallmarks of a plush, textured, guitar-rock album – only, it’s not ’97, and they’re not Mogwai, nor Orbital. Keser are two instrumentalists, programmers (Kevan Whitley & Gavin Clark) on a mission to recreate…

I Want To See (Je Veux Voir)

13 Nov 2009

(12A) 75min Lebanese actor Rabih Mrouse escorts French actress Catherine Deneuve around the shell damaged streets of Beirut and the countryside of southern Lebanon in this semi improvised documentary/guided tour filmed in 2006 after the bombings of…

Nativity!

13 Nov 2009

(U) 105min Surprisingly enjoyable British family drama about one school’s attempt to put on the best nativity play in Britain by getting the media involved. Martin Freeman and Marc Wootton as the two primary school teachers at the eye of the storm…

Saint Jude’s Infirmary - This Has Been The Death Of Us

13 Nov 2009

(7th Realm of Teenage Heaven) With the likes of Jack Vettriano & Ian Rankin contributing to the album, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s all a bit “Scottisher-than-thou”. This only occasionally becomes a problem, though – in the meanwhile, the…

2012

13 Nov 2009

(12A) 158min Roland Independence Day Emmerich’s ludicrous apocalypse disaster movie balances spectacular special effects with signposted speeches of withering environmental pomposity. Some old fashioned fun is to be had but there is also some tedium…

Radian - Chimeric

13 Nov 2009

Spare and empty, the genius of Radian lies in making you wait – you’re tormented with disconnected drum hits or bursts of feedback, then bludgeoned with a broody riff. It’s like eating nothing but individual chickpeas for weeks, then gorging yourself on…

Snow Patrol - Up To Now

13 Nov 2009

(Polydor) Whether or not you like Snow Patrol is going to have already been decided by now, and a ‘Best Of’ isn’t exactly going to change people’s minds. For the fans, there’s some live and session tracks to make you feel like you’re not just…

The Rocky Horror Show

13 Nov 2009

It’s time to do the Time Warp … yet again! For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, expect camp courting and frivolous fantasies in Richard O’Brien’s popular gender-bending musical starring David Bedella as Frank N Furter and the ubiquitous King of the Jungle…