Issue 660

The Silence overcomes cliche and shortcomings with pleasing conclusion

Channel Hopper

It’s cliché number 64 in the film and TV thriller world to have someone already in an advanced state of vulnerability being placed into further terrible danger. This might be a child alone at home (Home Alone), a posh bint being weighed down by her…

Singles & downloads - 30th June 2010

The great thing about Super Adventure Club is that they don’t take themselves too seriously – which is ideal as it’s impossible to take them seriously. ‘Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle’ (Armellodie Records) ●●● is a highly strung burst of weird psychedelic…

Vuvuzelas banned from T in the Park

Happy days! Following their rather dubious outing at this year’s World Cup, festival-goers have been told not to take vuvuzelas to T in the Park. Festival heads are concerned that the controversial South African horn will put off the artists. Organisers…

Trash Humpers - Harmony Korine interview

As idiosyncratic as he is impish, director Harmony Korine may have long since shaken off the media tag of enfant terrible. But with a CV that includes such fiercely independent films as Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy and Mister Lonely – the latter about a…

T in the Park 2010: Running order

If you're heading to Balado this weekend you'll want to see this - the full running order for Scotland's mightiest music festival. Please note that the running order is subject to change, so we'll try to keep it as up to date as possible.

Current trends in tattoo art

And you thought tattoos were an expression of individuality? Celebrity copycat body art is more popular than ever, with images of Rihanna and Cheryl Cole currently the most frequently ripped from the gossip mags and taken to the tattoo…

Leaving - Kristin Scott Thomas interview

It’s mid morning in Paris, and amidst the luxurious surroundings of Le Grand Hotel Kristin Scott Thomas has just finished a photo shoot and is politely venting her frustrations. ‘I just get so fed up with seeing the same things written about me,…

Pioneering spirit - Andrew Weatherall interview

To say that Andrew Weatherall has had a diverse career is a bit of an understatement. He started way back in the late 80s DJing the backroom at Shoom (often credited as the birth place of Britain’s acid house scene). ‘I’d be the kid that would play at…

Cachín Cachán Cachunga!

The spectre of funding cuts looms heavily over the Scottish arts scene at the moment. One consequence of the forthcoming age of austerity may very well be a resurgence in low-fi events: regular cabaret and variety shows offering artists who can no…

Hello good buy - Recent purchases at List HQ

What was the last thing you bought? Is it a new obsession? Or already returned? List staff share their recent buys

Profile: Anne Consigny of Wild Grass

Born 25 May 1963 in Alençon, Orne, France Background One of five children, Consigny grew up in the French capital, where he father was a high-ranking civil servant. She attended Paris’ National Conservatory for Drama aged 16 and two years later…

Playlist: Scottish arts on screen throughout history

With the recent launch of Creative Scotland, the new body responsible for nurturing and promoting Scottish arts and culture, your latest Playlist column is taking a look at how Scottish arts have been represented in years gone by. If you’re an artist…

The Concert - Melanie Laurent profile

Name Melanie Laurent Born 21 February 1983 Background Born and raised in Paris, Melanie Laurent has Obelix to thank for her acting career. Gerard Depardieu was playing the comic strongman in the movie adaptation when he spotted a…

Ajami

Co-written and directed by Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew, and Scandar Copti, a Palestinian living in Israel, Ajami is a compelling crime drama, set on the streets of a predominantly Arab neighbourhood in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Taking their cue from the likes of…

Planet Jedward - interview

First record you ever bought John: Probably N’Sync. We have all their albums. First time you realised you were famous Edward: When we heard ourselves on the radio. Last time you cried Edward: When I fell on stage during a routine and…

King Creosote and Ballboy set for Charity Baw II

After welcoming acts like Vashti Bunyan, Aberfeldy and Meursault last year, (meanwhile raising thousands of pounds for charity) the ‘Baw’ is back with an even bigger line-up. Acoustic folkster King Creosote will be headlining the ‘main stage’, giving…

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul

(EMI) The recent suicide of Mark Linkous, aka. Sparklehorse imbues this posthumous release with oppressive waves of melancholy, but this often-inspired record – heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure – rises above such considerations to stand…

Horn of Africa - Restaurant review

The Horn of Africa – named, not after the vuvuzela, but Somalia’s coastline – has been set up to provide low-cost, healthy and familiar food to the growing Somali population in Glasgow. There is not yet a menu so you take pot luck and eat what’s…

Leaving

Catalan-born actor Sergi Lopez is making a name for himself as the least likely romantic lead in cinema. After wooing Rinko Kikuchi in Isabel Coixet’s Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, he’s now at it again with Kristin Scott Thomas’ well-to-do leading lady.

Five pop songs influenced by world music

Arabic Gorillaz – ‘White Flag’ Damon Albarn has long foraged global sounds – his Chinese opera, his Malian album – but ‘White Flag’ was revelatory. Betwixt cameos from Kano and Bashy blazed the real stars of Plastic Beach: the Lebanese National…

Five new music books

Rob Jovanovic - The Velvet Underground Unpeeled Some bands just refuse to go away and the Reed/Cale combo is one such example. This is the first full biog for two decades and is based on exclusive chats with the surviving members. Aurum. Rob Young…

Sonic Tapas: Al-Thawra, The Kominas and Gummy Stumps

13th Note, Glasgow, Fri 25 June

The subjects of a documentary on the North American Islamic punk scene known as ‘Taqwacore’ bands Al-Thawra and The Kominas were fresh from playing Sufi folk-rocker Richard Thompson’s Meltdown festival at the South Bank Centre, a curiously civilised…

Fantastic Planet (La Planete Sauvage)

(PG) 72min (Eureka/Masters of Cinema) Previously unavailable on DVD, René Laloux’s 1973 animated sci-fi feature is a startling rediscovery. Based on Stefan Wul’s 1957 novel Oms by the Dozen, Laloux’s extraordinary film is a kind of Swiftian…

Otto; Or, Up With Dead People

(18) 94min (Peccadillo) A new film from Bruce La Bruce – queer cinema’s very own Andreas Baader – is always something to celebrate and Otto, his first foray proper into the horror genre, doesn’t disappoint. Amnesiac zombie Otto (Jey Crisfar) hitches…

Edinburgh Book Festival's Unbound invites fresh approach from DisComBoBuLate, Irregular and Gutter

Here at List Towers we love a bit of innovation, and this year’s festivals appear to be bringing it in spades. Case in point, the Book Festival’s all-new Unbound. Taking a refreshingly out-of-the-box approach, over 18s are invited to a nightly free…