Issue 644

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…