Issue 645

Metronomy - Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe)

4 Dec 2009

Because Music Re-releases are a little pointless, aren’t they? If we didn’t give a monkeys about your album the first time around, why should we now? Well, quite frankly when it comes to Joseph Mount aka Metronomy, you should always give a monkeys.

The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography

4 Dec 2009

Bringing together photography from both Scott’s South Pole expedition (1910–1913) and Shackleton’s later attempt to cross Antarctica on foot (1914–16), The Heart of the Great Alone is more than a collection of images – it is a narrative journey and an…

The Stepfather

4 Dec 2009

Reprising the unfortunate wine-into-water routine of his Prom Night remake, director Nelson McCormick performs a similarly unwelcome trick by blandly rehashing Joseph Ruben’s solid 1987 sleeper hit. TV staple Dylan Walsh steps into the role previously…

My Fabulous Tartan Frock

4 Dec 2009

It’s difficult to know exactly how to explain My Fabulous Tartan Frock, an event performance taking place over three days at the Arches as part of the annual 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women campaign. On publicity materials, where…

Déborah François

4 Dec 2009

While still at school in her Belgian hometown, 16-year-old François attended an open casting held by the Dardenne brothers. She was chosen ahead of 150 other hopefuls in the role of a teenage mother, whose new baby is sold by her boyfriend, and the film…

The Girlfriend Experience

4 Dec 2009

(15) 77min Steven Soderbergh returns to his roots with more sex and lies on tape (now disc) in this low-budget drama about a high-class hooker in New York who offers her clients the titular relationship facsimile. Hard-core porn star Sasha Grey plays…

High Tease & Vegas!

4 Dec 2009

Another classy team-up from two of Scotland’s most glamorous events, which offers something for boys, girls and all of Glasgow’s most stylish performers. First, High Tease presents a host of burlesque performers, including Des O’Connor, Jonny Woo, Gypsy…

Teenagersintokyo

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun Nov 15

24 Nov 2009

Before the second of two Scottish dates by what is possibly Australia’s glossiest female-led quintet, the uber-cool members huddle side-stage for a pre-show toast of Jameson’s, no chaser. Not an uncommon pre-gig ritual, for sure, but here it oozes…

Corstorphine Road Nativity

4 Dec 2009

Playwright Tim Firth has scored huge hits with Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots. Now he’s bringing his comic talents to the Corstorphine Road. Kirstin Innes meets him

Sunn O))) - Stephen O’Malley interview

4 Dec 2009

Named after a brand of amplifier, Seattle’s doom and drone merchants chat to Stewart Smith as they prepare to bring a beautiful black cloud of sound to Glasgow this fortnight

First word - Har Mar Superstar interview

4 Dec 2009

Risqué performer Har Mar Superstar (aka Minnesota native Sean Tillman) is one of America’s most flamboyant pop exports. Ahead of his arrival in Scotland he admits his enthusiasm for both Susan Boyle and dental hygiene

Robin Ticciati – Scottish Chamber Orchestra

4 Dec 2009

Love affairs, even in the highly emotionally charged world of classical music, are not always shouted about from the rooftops. But in the love-at-first-sight relationship between the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and their new principal conductor…

Cracks

4 Dec 2009

(15) 104min Jordan Scott, daughter of Ridley Scott (nepotism, it’s a wonderful thing) follows the promise of her shorts Jonathan and Portrait with this ludicrous and feeble attempt to posit William Goldman’s Lord of the Flies in a 1930s girls…

Paris Va Par

4 Dec 2009

(15) 95min (Artificial Eye) Long overdue reissue of above average 1964 portmanteau film featuring the youthful efforts of some of the French New Wave’s finest. The idea was to invite six directors to contribute a short film named after and set in a…

Field Music

Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 21 Nov 2009

4 Dec 2009

‘Pretending to be a band since 2005,’ claims Field Music’s MySpace page modestly. Well, The List can reliably inform you that this is the real deal. Returning after a three-year hiatus, Sunderland’s Brewis brothers, along with their two new bandmates…

The Dreisburg Wunderhorn

4 Dec 2009

In the Middle Ages, Gunther the Quizzer travelled the Holy Roman Empire, leaving copious notes and drawings of the strange sights he encountered. This extraordinary legacy of baffling, incoherent waffle was recently collected by Edinburgh-based artist…

Alan Grant & Simon Bisley - The Dead: Kingdom of Flies

4 Dec 2009

(Berserker) Belfast comics label Berserker has managed to secure three of Britain’s major talents – writer Alan Grant, artist Simon Bisley and Glenn Fabry for covers – for their first title with the first four issues of The Dead collected in this new…

Neil Oliver

4 Dec 2009

With those lovely flowing locks and fruity annunciations, Neil Oliver has left himself wide open to the attentions of crazy satirists (see Only an Excuse and Children in Need), but lest we forget, the guy knows a thing or thousand about the past. A…

Best of a decade: Timeline

2 Dec 2009

1999 July Scottish Parliament opens, with Labour candidate Donald Dewar elected as the first First Minister ahead of SNP rival Alex Salmond. Dewar died suddenly in October 2000, following a fall at his Edinburgh residence. 2000 June Biffy Clyro…

Spotify playlist: St Andrew's Day

Secretly Scottish

30 Nov 2009

How about some Revolting Cocks, Siousxie & the Banshees and Human League? Just because it's St Andrew's Day it doesn't mean you have to subject yersel' to the barrage of yer Dougie MacLean, yer Proclaimers and yer Simple Minds to celebrate culture of…

Eyes Wide Open celebrate their fifth birthday

4 Dec 2009

It’s been five years since Holly Calder and Sarah Quinn started Eyes Wide Open, although the first three years of the club’s existence were lived out under the wing of a late Glasgow institution. ‘We were friends with the guys who ran Funhouse at the…

Tim Key dispels Wikipedia myths

4 Dec 2009

It’s been a whirlwind year for poet and stand-up Tim Key, what with him running off with the biggest prize in comedy. Brian Donaldson hears him nail a few internet myths

Me and Orson Welles - Richard Linklater interview

4 Dec 2009

Richard Linklater’s new film uncovers the ambition and talent of young Orson Welles. Kaleem Aftab meets a director with nothing left to prove.

Comedy On TV - Reunions, Oration and Urinations

4 Dec 2009

While Larry David may be genuine in his belief that reunion shows are lame, he knows how to spin the best out of a flimsy idea. Getting the key cast of Seinfeld back together for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm (More4, Thu 3 Dec, 10.40pm…

Christmas film playlist

4 Dec 2009

A quick look at your advent calendar will confirm the coming of the annual festival we know as Christmas, and what better way to celebrate than to gather the whole family around Ye Olde Computer Screen to enjoy a selection of online clips to fuel the…