Issue 649

It’s Only A Movie - An Evening with Mark Kermode launches his autobiography

1 Feb 2010

The Exorcist-obsessed, leather-clad and utterly iconic film critic is in (both) town(s) this fortnight, to discuss his autobiography, It’s Only A Movie, probably in a sardonic and slightly sarcastic fashion. Little-known Kermode fact: he plays double…

Ponyo (Gake No Ue No Ponyo)

28 Jan 2010

(U) 101min An animated feature about a five-year-old boy who falls for a goldfish princess may not sound like a hot ticket, but the delightful content of Ponyo will be no surprise to anyone already in thrall to the Studio Ghibli brand. After Hayao…

Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees, The Big Pink and The Drums set for Shockwaves NME Awards Tour Glasgow date

3 Feb 2010

The latest NME tour brings another collection of bands – Bombay Bicycle Club, The Maccabees, The Big Pink and The Drums – looking to put a modern twist on familiar sounds. With sharp, noisy guitars and quivering vocals all round, the tour harks back to…

Sarah Millican

3 Feb 2010

The funniest woman in Britain? If you discount Iris Robinson, then surely there’s no contest. A couple of excellent Fringe shows under her Geordie belt, Ms Millican only started telling jokes in public when she split from her husband. And from there…

Profile: Taz Buckfaster

18 Feb 2010

Name Taz Buckfaster Occupation Glaswegian dubstep rabble rouser. Nice name, you can tell he’s from Glasgow but what does he sound like? ‘Various styles which float around the 140bpm mark,’ explains Buckfaster of his bass heavy productions.

Backbeat - Stuart Sutcliffe story comes to Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow

And the beat goes on

3 Feb 2010

This season’s major show at the Citizens Theatre is more than just a Beatles biopic. Writer/director Iain Softley explains why to Jonny Ensall

Inspiration, stylings and getting bored - Hot Chip interview

1 Feb 2010

Back with an album packed with real instruments, hymns to male friendship and informed by increasingly grown-up personal lives, Hot Chip are maturing into a proper band. Rumour has it that the mighty Hot Chip have gone a bit soft. They’ve never been…

Vampire Weekend set for Edinburgh and Glasgow dates

1 Feb 2010

Upon the release of their eponymous debut album almost exactly two years ago, it seemed possible to bracket Vampire Weekend as a novelty band. They were four preppy middle class New York kids taking the traditional sounds of impoverished African folk…

Way To Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake

1 Feb 2010

Nick Drake’s popularity has only increased in the years following his death in 1976, and this concert, curated by Drake’s producer Joe Boyd for Celtic Connections, was one of the most anticipated of the festival programme. The main appeal was…

Valentine's Day: Restaurants

18 Feb 2010

Love is a many-flavoured thing, and not all couples are looking for the same Valentine’s experience. Donald Reid suggests a handful of choice tables for lovers of all persuasions...

Cary Grant retrospective heads up impressive Glasgow Film Festival programme

A Career to Remember

3 Feb 2010

Miles Fielder talks to Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allan Hunter about a retrospective of the films of one of Hollywood’s true greats. If old movies are your thing – and they should be, because they rarely do make ‘em like they used to anymore…

Valentine's Day: Love letters to Glasgow

3 Feb 2010

Dear Glasgow. We love you. We sincerely do. You’ve given so much to us over the years, we felt we just had to say something – as did some of your more well known inhabitants. Here, an assortment of Glasgow's finest list the people, places and things…

Valentine's Day: Gifts

3 Feb 2010

Finding the right gift for your Valentine is a fraught, potentially dangerous experience. Fortunately, The List’s own shopping agony auntie Kirstin Innes is here to help you cut through all the heart-shaped dross and find personalised presents Your…

Why the Beats & Cubes show is the square root of live electronic music - Etienne de Crecy interview

Square Pusher

1 Feb 2010

Henry Northmore is spellbound by French producer Etienne de Crecy’s new ‘Beats & Cubes’ live show. Etienne de Crecy is an outstanding DJ and producer. Born in Lyon, it was a move to Versailles, where he attended Jules Ferry College with Air and…

Scottish Ensemble: Toby Spence sings Jacques Brel

1 Feb 2010

Way back in the 60s, when the Scottish Ensemble was born, it was christened the Scottish Baroque Ensemble. Although a group always admired for pushing boundaries, a programme featuring music by Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel forty years down the…

Nice Buns: Hamburger Heaven

1 Feb 2010

Blue Moon Café on Broughton Street has a new sidekick, Hamburger Heaven. Donald Reid visited the celestial venture. The latest twist in the varied career of the ‘back room’ of Barony Street’s Blue Moon Café – a space that happens to enjoy prime…

Henning Mankell - The Man From Beijing

29 Jan 2010

(Harvill Secker) As all Wallander fans will testify, Henning Mankell does a good line in legal professionals. His long-running series about the flawed but eminently likeable detective has sold millions worldwide, not to mention spawned TV adaptations…

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

27 Jan 2010

(Parlophone) Electro-poppers Hot Chip have gone soft. Their fourth album, aptly released just in time for Valentine’s Day, is all about love and meeting that special someone (hence the punning title). It looks like the boys have grown up and are keen…

Cheeba set for Mixed Bizness date

27 Jan 2010

Although he’s been doing it for more than a decade, Simon Luscombe’s big break as a DJ came in 2008, when he won Solid Steel’s Mix of the Year award. Most DJs would be grateful of the associated glory and set about getting on with their own thing, but…

Puerto Muerto - Drumming for Pistols

27 Jan 2010

(Fire) Since their ecstatically-titled debut album, Your Bloated Corpse Has Washed Ashore in 2001, the Chicago matrimonial duo of Tim Kelley and Christa Meyer have engendered a cult following thanks to a miscreant blend of alt-country, gothic-folk…

Alexis Marguerite Teplin - One foot in the past

26 Jan 2010

Voluptuous, salacious and lavishly overshooting the decorative, Alexis Marguerite Teplin’s paintings are as visually arresting as they are referentially dense. Boundless pleasures can be sourced from the unpacking of their rich montages, and the…

Kelvingrove Kids Fun

18 Feb 2010

If you’re a primary school aged child growing up in the Central Belt, people are falling over themselves to entertain you with fun workshops. Pre-schoolers do increasingly well, too. But when it comes to those tricky teen years, the well of…

Food Inc addresses western diet debate

18 Feb 2010

A feast for the eyes with new food flicks and local beer makes a comeback. The eye-opening US documentary Food, Inc. opens in the UK on Friday 12 February, with a week-long run at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh and three days at the GFT. Feature-length…

The Golden Hour

18 Feb 2010

The Forest Cafe’s glorious, shambolic and boozy literary cabaret night, hosted as ever by the utterly affable Ryan Van Winkle, gets in on the Edinburgh City of Literature One Book / One City campaign. The theme this year is ‘Carry a Poem’, and readers…

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Leschenko plays Chopin

18 Feb 2010

Russian pianist Polina Leschenko is just 29 years old, but has played with big name international orchestras throughout the world, including as soloist with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of eight. Expect fluent, delicate playing…