Issue 660

The Silence overcomes cliche and shortcomings with pleasing conclusion

Channel Hopper

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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!

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

(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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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

7 Jul 2010

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)

7 Jul 2010

(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

7 Jul 2010

(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

7 Jul 2010

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…

Landfall

7 Jul 2010

(PG) 85min (Optimum) This watchable 1949 adaptation of a novel by Nevil Shute casts handsome Michael Denison (Angels One Five) as a cheeky chappy who takes his wartime commission as a coastal command pilot very much more seriously than he does his…

The Silent Invasion

7 Jul 2010

(U) 66min (Optimum) This British drama made in 1962 and set in an occupied French village during the early years of World War II feels like an episode of a television show – and well it might, given it was written by small screen legend Brian…

Mela 2010 programme includes Cargo, Jaz Dhami and Bonafide

7 Jul 2010

Setting its stall from 6–8 Aug in Leith Links, this summer’s Mela jamboree includes the premiere of Cargo, a large-scale outdoor performance on the theme of migration, funded by the Scottish Parliament. Other highlights include sports at Leith Links, UK…

Richard Fairhurst's Triptych - Amusia

7 Jul 2010

(Babel Label) Richard Fairhurst won 1994 ‘Young Jazz Pianist of the Year’, and caught the ear with a series of albums with his group Hungry Ants, but has not really made the impact that his early emergence suggested. Nonetheless, he remains an…

RPA and the United Nations of Sound - United Nations of Sound

7 Jul 2010

(Parlophone) ‘I wanna put you in my arms,’ warns sometime Verve shaman Richard Ashcroft, for the RPA of the title is he, on ‘Are You Ready?’, ‘and give you a love embrace.’ Following his old band’s only modestly successful comeback, Ashcroft remains…

British Film Institute Akira Kurosawa Centenary

7 Jul 2010

This very impressive British Film Institute touring programme finally reaches the west. Among the many highlights are a new digital restoration of Rashomon plus rare outings for his 1948 gangster flick Drunken Angel and his 1952 dissection of class and…

Gould Piano Trio and Doric String Quartet set for Music at Paxton

7 Jul 2010

It’s only a few years old, but the Music at Paxton festival of top-notch chamber music in a beautiful setting is an event looked forward to by music lovers far and wide. Whether resident in the peaceful Borders countryside where Paxton House sits by the…

Edinburgh International Magic Festival

7 Jul 2010

You’ll like this, but not a lot: Edinburgh’s first festival of the dark ‘n’ sparkly arts of conjuring, mind-messing and, er, producing rabbits from hats. There’s quite a complex programme: workshops in Derren Brownesque trickery, a series of films about…

Land of Kush’s Egyptian Light Orchestra - Monogamy

7 Jul 2010

(Constellation) Following the lead of US novelist Thomas Pynchon’s Against The Day, Montreal’s Sam Shalabi reconvenes his psych-Arabic jazz orchestra for this exploration of shame, sexuality and society. With horns, strings, keyboards, percussion…

Kasper Rosa - EP2

7 Jul 2010

(Field Records) A cocktail of post-rock and prog rock is a deadly combination – not just for the ears, but for the mind too. Instrumental interludes conjoining with off-time deviances is tough stuff – but Kasper Rosa have got it right. ‘EP2’ opens…

Five Edinburgh Fringe shows set to be underground hits

7 Jul 2010

1: The Sum of It All … Bizarre but brilliant multimedia physical theatre piece from award-winning director Dan Shorten. Zoo Roxy. 2: Jeremy Lion Goes Green Welcome return for the cantankerous, burping, liquor-quaffing children's…

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid

7 Jul 2010

(Bad Boy / Atlantic) The shoes, the cape, the quiff, the tuxedo; the vintage moves, the flow, the vocals; the mega-conceptual sci-fi pop: Janelle Monae has got the lot. The hype around the 24-year-old singer-songwriter is ardent, expectant, and…

The Unpolished

7 Jul 2010

(15) 95min (Second Run) Overdue DVD release of Pia Marais’ hot 2007 festival film, which never found a home, until now, on UK screens, large or small. A sensitive and thought-provoking re-evaluation of the counter cultural dream, Pia Marais…

Eminem - Recovery

7 Jul 2010

(Polydor) Originally intended as a sequel to last year’s Relapse, Recovery looks to re-establish Eminem as the strong, inescapably bratty voice of modern rap he once was. Fully embracing his struggles – drug addiction, loss and the mixed response to…

Richard Wright at Edinburgh Art Festival

7 Jul 2010

Richard Wright has always been a man to think outside the box. A Turner prize-winner, commended for ‘rejecting the canvas’, he’s done just that with his latest masterpiece. Commissioned by the Edinburgh Art Festival, Wright’s latest creation has been…

National Library of Scotland resource celebrates Thomas Carlyle, James Watt and Ralph Abercromby

7 Jul 2010

The National Library of Scotland has announced plans for a new online educational resource for Scottish schools. Featuring images from its own collection, as well as the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the National Maritime Museum, it celebrates…

Merchant City Festival

7 Jul 2010

The annual celebration of Glasgow’s glossiest, foodiest, fashionista quarter is back with a slightly altered date. OK, severely altered; they’ve moved all the way from September to July. Fortunately, the formula remains the same: a weekend packed full…

Miriam Makeba - South Africa’s Skylark

7 Jul 2010

(Nascente) Forget Shakira: the benchmark song of World Cup 2010 was a reworking of Miriam Makeba’s 1967 hit ‘Pata Pata’. Johannesburg-born Makeba, who died in 2008, was nicknamed Africa’s Skylark, evoking the beauty of her voice, but falling short of…

On Stage, On Screen brings Porgy & Me and Meredith Monk doc to Filmhouse

7 Jul 2010

Short season of films reflecting the diversity of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. Solid gold theatre-to-screen transitions Porgy & Me and A Streetcar Named Desire are showing alongside last year’s fascinating documentary Meredith Monk…

Devil Disco Club host HRH, Simonotron and Kris Wasabi

7 Jul 2010

The Trouble duo of Hobbes and Erik d’Viking welcome us back for yet more seedy backstreet disco thrills and edgy glamour, courtesy of brand new Edinburgh electro-pop band HRH and regular DJs Simonotron (Club For Heroes) and Kris Wasabi (Wasabi Disco)…

Skeletons

7 Jul 2010

(15) 94min Inventive British black comedy about a couple of closet skeleton-chasing exorcists and the secrets that lie beneath their curious profession. Jason Issacs, Ed Gaughan, Andrew Buckley and the lovely Paprika Steen star. Winner of the…

Predators

7 Jul 2010

(15) 106min Half decent return to B-Movie form for Predator franchise in which a group of elite warriors are hunted by members of the merciless alien race. The above average cast (Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo and Topher Grace) and knowing…

Magic Cinema: Croupier, Smokin’ Aces, House of Games and The Prestige

7 Jul 2010

It’s a kind of magic. The Edinburgh International Magic Festival and Filmhouse have joined forces to present a short season of classic magic movies. The strong, not too obvious quartet is Croupier, Smokin’ Aces, House of Games and The Prestige. Ticket…

Brick and The Brothers Bloom

7 Jul 2010

The small oeuvre of young American writer/director Rian Johnson is given a Sunday afternoon airing in this double bill. His 2004 high school noir Brick is a treat and his recent confidence trickster caper The Brothers Bloom certainly deserves your…

Family Fun Day - Free screenings of The Red Balloon, The Jungle Book and The General

7 Jul 2010

Hurry, free movies! Three great films – The Red Balloon, The Jungle Book and The General showing back to back in the open air from 11am-4pm – absolutely gratis. The reason? Filmhouse is 25 years old. Festival Square, Edinburgh on Sat 17 Jul.

Inception

7 Jul 2010

(12A) 146min Christopher Nolan’s brain power sci-fi starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Review to follow. General release from Fri 16 Jul.

Five Comedy Shows Worth Watching On Telly

5 Jul 2010

Important Things with Demetri Martin The former quirksome Perrier winner continues his series, which is part stream-of-consciousness sketch show, part stand-up comedy affair, mixed with animation and music. In this one, he turns his attention to the…

Edinburgh's Liquid Room reopens with extra level and new kit

5 Jul 2010

It might seem like only the other month that the Liquid Room was closed after a fire broke out in the Indian restaurant upstairs, but to those involved it’s felt like a lifetime. ‘It’s been too long since I’ve actually done my job,’ reflects manager…

Shit My Dad Says - Justin Halpern

5 Jul 2010

Dads can get a bit crotchety. Dads can occasionally be pretty funny. And sometimes dads can let a little sweary word slip out. You know, when they bang their thumb with the hammer or if someone pulls out in front of them on the road. But there’s…

Billy Connolly statue set for Glasgow's former shipyards

5 Jul 2010

The Big Yin is to be immortalised as part of a new sculpture in one of Glasgow’s new housing developments, in Anderston. Billy Connolly will be recreated as a steel structure following a commission by housing charity, Sanctuary Scotland. Artist Andy…

Graeme Clark guests as The Revenge at Return to Mono

5 Jul 2010

For Graeme Clark, aka The Revenge, this is something of a golden period. As if to prove the point, The List has to conduct an email interview with him all the way from Japan, where he’s on tour. It’s a long way from his home in Glasgow and even farther…

The Memory of Water explores the complexities and humour of grief

5 Jul 2010

A good many plays have exploited the emotional state of people at funerals over the years, but few so well as Shelagh Stephenson in her West End hit of 1996. Not since David Storey’s rather more earnest In Celebration has the existential crisis brought…

JakN continue the minimal techno at the GRV

5 Jul 2010

Now heading into their seventh year, it seems a pleasure for the boys at Edinburgh techno night JakN to be able to report a positive change on the horizon. After all, they’ve already endured two venue changes (one forced on them when their original…

Erin Judge plays Glasgow dates at The Thursday Show

5 Jul 2010

We may speak the same lingo but for American comedians making their first journey over the pond, they’ve got to get the cultural references right or risk dying on their fanny (US for ‘arse’). Ahead of her visit to Scotland, observational stand-up Erin…

Bret Easton Ellis - Imperial Bedrooms

5 Jul 2010

(Picador) Bret Easton Ellis blazed onto the American literary scene in 1985 with a novel so filled with hedonistic excess, you felt drunk just reading it. Populated by a cast of largely dislikeable teenagers, Less Than Zero took us to the heart of…

Steel Magnolias

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 10 Jul

5 Jul 2010

Robert Harling’s comedy-drama about a group of lifelong female friends in Louisiana has enjoyed endless revivals since its mid-80s premiere, largely thanks to the popularity of the film adaptation, which provided plumb roles for such Hollywood grande…

Rhys Thomas - On the Third Day

5 Jul 2010

(Doubleday) Rampaging humans infected with a mysterious, incurable disease, society’s structures crumbling, whole countries vanquished and just one family on the run from it all. We can see what Rhys Thomas is trying to do with his second novel and…

Sloane Crosley - How Did You Get This Number

5 Jul 2010

(Portobello) You have to hand it to someone who footnotes the parental dedication at the beginning of their book with a diatribe about the memory of some still-raw teenage punishment. Then again, you may also feel compelled towards suspicion when you…

Peter Milligan & Davide Gianfelice - Greek Street: Blood Calls For Blood

5 Jul 2010

(Titan/Vertigo) Peter Milligan is one of the comic world’s most interesting writers. From back on his days at 2000AD (where he gave us the wonderful ‘Bad Company’) through oddities such as Skin to his natural home at Vertigo, where his Shade the…

Alex Marsh - Sex & Bowls & Rock & Roll

5 Jul 2010

(The Friday Project) Pooterish internet celebrity Alex Marsh (privatesecretdiary.com) features the adultescent concerns of that modern publishing anomaly, the hobbyist’s memoir (yeah, thanks Mr Hornby), in this book about rock’n’roll dreams being…

Edinburgh Art Festival work from Richard Wright

5 Jul 2010

Things are getting inventive at the Edinburgh Art Festival courtesy of 2009 Turner prize-winner Richard Wright, who has unveiled his specially commissioned painting for the EAF. Showcased in the west stairwell of the Dean Gallery, the black-on-white…

Doc Daneeka set for Fortified vs Stay Plastic

5 Jul 2010

This isn’t, as you may have already anticipated, the character from Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 who actually knows what Catch 22 is. Instead, Swansea producer Mial Watkins is one of the rising stars of the UK clubbing scene, although which scene we’re not…

Mightyfools visit Muck and Dirty Noise

5 Jul 2010

Anyone who can turn Owl City’s garish ‘Fireflies’ into a dancefloor-crushing bassline monster demands our attention. Not that Dutch duo Andy Samin and Jelle Keizer wouldn’t do that anyway. From the ‘Partyjunkies’ EP onwards (er, a sample from the…

Seth Troxler set for Tictactoe Glasgow date

5 Jul 2010

The only Scottish set this year by one of the world’s hottest young DJs, this rescheduled date wouldn’t even be happening if the Glade Festival hadn’t been cancelled. Working in his native Detroit’s Melodies & Memories record store alongside the likes…

Daniel Sloss plays Edinburgh date

5 Jul 2010

In this slot last issue, we featured a man (Mike Wozniak by name) who couldn’t make up his kind whether he wanted to show off his thick moustache or not. This time around we go for a chap who may not even have started shaving. Still, he’s got a BBC3…

Cotton Cake vs Thunder Disco Club

5 Jul 2010

Two of Glasgow’s finer club nights team up for a new quarterly night of house, disco, kitsch electronic delights and more besides, all in aid of the Princess Royal Trust. With visuals by Joe Crogan, photography by Tommy Ga Ken Wan and reportage from…

Dexter novelist Jeff Lindsay set for Glasgow appearance

5 Jul 2010

If you are a big fan of the serial killer forensic cop anti-hero of American telly show Dexter, you may want to meet the mind who created this memorable character in the first place. Or you may want to run a million miles in the opposite direction.

Mark Handforth

The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until Sat 24 Jul

2 Jul 2010

A neon work hangs on the exterior of the gallery like a signpost to an underground poker venue. The piece, entitled ‘Weeping Moon’, sketches the outline of a half moon in pink and blue neon lights with tears rolling down its brick-faced cheek. This…

Women Without Men

2 Jul 2010

Director Sherin Neshat made her name as an artist, mainly in the area of photography, who carefully exploited Islamic gender issues. Women Without Men, her cinematic debut, started life as a visual installation, and the finished product places Neshat…

Dutch Landscapes

Queen’s Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 9 Jan

2 Jul 2010

The cool, spacious interior of the Queen’s Gallery is an apt accompaniment to the moody tones and airy landscapes of these Dutch masters of the art of landscape painting. The exhibition brings together 42 works from painters including Jacob van Ruisdael…

Five reasons to see: Rod Stewart - honourary Scot

2 Jul 2010

1. He’s faux-Scots, innit? Roderick David ‘Rod’ Stewart was born and raised in Highgate, north London and has the accent to match, yet he never stops banging on about his love for all things tartan. And for that we love him. 2. He ‘sings like a…

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

2 Jul 2010

A mere eight months after the previous installment hit cinemas, Eclipse, the third episode in the teenage Twilight franchise, continues the series’ tradition of breathless, toothless romance. After a spate of killings in Seattle, Bella (Kristen…

People Like Us celebrate record cover art in Prints of Darkness

2 Jul 2010

The first time sound collagist Vicki Bennett played Edinburgh under her People Like Us alter ego, it was on the empty dance-floor of a cellar club in the city centre a decade ago, in front of a thin smattering of quietly curious punters and a pair of…

Must I Paint You a Picture?

Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, until Fri 16 Jul

2 Jul 2010

A members group show is typically a disparate affair. The annual Transmission exhibition, where members are given the opportunity to include a work of any size or medium, is a true Salon-style exposé, covering the walls from top to bottom and spilling…

Bluebeard

2 Jul 2010

Charles Perrault’s dark and misogynistic tale about a nobleman with a penchant for uxoricide (murder of a wife) seems like perfect literary fodder for a director as intrigued by the dynamics of sexuality and gender as Catherine Breillat. Related through…

King Lear

Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, until Sat 10 Jul

2 Jul 2010

As is so often the case with outdoor performances, an audience’s ultimate enjoyment of this first show in Bard in the Botanics’ 2010 season might be more a matter of projection than performance. While some of the parts require – and are afforded – a…

The Concert

2 Jul 2010

Director Radu Mihaieanu made the beguiling Live and Become, a film that dealt with the difficult integration into Israeli society of the Ethiopean Falasha Jews. Similarly, his latest film also has a strong religious theme, and is based on several…

Trash Humpers

2 Jul 2010

Returning Harmony Korine to the downbeat Nashville locations of his 1997 debut feature Gummo, in some ways his new effort, Trash Humpers, has its roots in films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. Like those, Korine wants you to think…

Newt - NeWt 2 feat. Silke Eberhard

2 Jul 2010

(F-IRE Presents) The unconventional Edinburgh-based trio of trombonist Chris Greive, guitarist Graeme Stephen and drummer Chris Wallace already embraces three nationalities (Australia, Scotland and America respectively), and are augmented here by…

Central Station: Roderick Buchanan

2 Jul 2010

As well as providing a platform for emerging artists, Central Station is also proving a useful resource for established practitioners. The global creative hub has now unveiled two new works by filmmaker and photographer Roderick Buchanan, produced in…

Various Artists - Yes We Can: Songs About Leaving Africa

2 Jul 2010

(Out Here Records) Pulsing beats from hip hop to dance make up this stirring collection, telling contemporary stories of today’s Africa. Most compilations are an easy forage through label back-catalogues. All salutations to Rose Skelton then…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Dumfries among outdoor theatre highlights for 2010

2 Jul 2010

The theatre season may be winding down in the Central Belt as we await the arrival of Edinburgh’s Festivals, but further afield there’s a rich selection of plays and performances for the outdoor theatre lover. The beautiful landscape and mild climate of…

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - Fireplace

2 Jul 2010

(Geffen) Fireplace is the debut album from Lewis-born Colin MacLeod, aka The Boy Who Trapped The Sun. Inspired by an obligatory dose of lost love, as well as his homeland, the album marks an incredible transition for MacLeod after years of…

Sitting and Looking showcases furniture design from Jim Partridge, Liz Walmsley and El Ultimo Grito

2 Jul 2010

One of the more eclectic exhibitions in this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival is this group show at Dovecot, curated by internationally acclaimed furniture designers Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley. Alongside work by the pair, who have worked together for…

The Sowetan smell of success - Vampire Weekend interview

30 Jun 2010

It’s hard work being in a globally successful breakthrough world/funk/pop band. Chris Baio of Vampire Weekend finally manages a chat with David Pollock

Martha Reeves set for UK tour - interview

30 Jun 2010

‘I’m happy to say I’m back in full-time showbusiness,’ declares Motown icon Martha Reeves. After four years of splitting her days between music and politics – as a Detroit city councillor – she’s now focusing her energy on reviving the legendary R&B…

Surge physical theatre festival brings The Venus Labyrinth to Glasgow

30 Jun 2010

If you spot something which defies description hovering around Glasgow city centre during the last weekend in July, chances are it’s Conflux at work. Set up in 2009 to support Scottish physical theatre, street arts and circus, Conflux is about to hold…

Olympic Swimmers

Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Fri 25 Jun

30 Jun 2010

Twenty-five minutes in and Olympic Swimmers’ singer and keyboard player Susie Liddell nervously declares ‘We usually finish here.’ But this is a headline set, and you can almost feel the pressure of the very peak of the bill threatening to give the band…

Will.i.am set for UK DJ tour 2010

30 Jun 2010

Name Will.i.am Occupation He’s in some band, The Black Eyed Peas, you might’ve heard of them … So what’s he doing in the club section? BEP are headlining the Radio 1/NME Stage at T in the Park and Will’s heading straight to Glasgow…

Glee Club hits Glasgow’s Theatre Royal

30 Jun 2010

Glee may have left our television screens but Glasgow’s Theatre Royal is giving kids the chance to be their own Rachel Berry or Finn Hudson this summer. Children can take part in the theatre’s popular series of workshops, giving 8–16-year-olds a chance…

Exposure: Silk Flowers

30 Jun 2010

Formed in a Manhattan art gallery, electronic experimentalists Silk Flowers – Aviram Cohen, Ethan Swan, Peter Schuette – make music which is artful but uncategorisable, and have released on No Age’s Post Present Medium label. Think Throbbing Gristle…

Scott Agnew, Cheri Treiffel and Horse grace Pride Glasgow

30 Jun 2010

Pride returns to Glasgow this fortnight following a two-year absence and an amicable split with Pride Scotia, its Edinburgh counterpart. To mark the 15th year of Pride in Scotland organisers have promised a memorable event, including a march from…

Paul McCartney

Hampden Stadium, Glasgow, Sun 20 Jun

30 Jun 2010

Much anticipated by young and old alike, this show provided the altogether anticipated sight and sound of an ageing rock star going through the motions. Albeit an ageing rock star who also happens to be one of the greatest pop composers of all time…

Coheed and Cambria

ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Jun

30 Jun 2010

The bigger, the better they say. Coheed and Cambria embody this saying well. Tonight they’ve got rollercoaster riffs that loop and lurch, a expansive and dreamlike video display in the background, and yes, they’ve got the massive hair too. Frontman…

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

30 Jun 2010

(Full Time Hobby) They’re the best band to feature identical twins since Bros. They recall another great set of pop twins: The Cocteaus. They’re New York’s otherworldly School of Seven Bells, and Disconnect from Desire is their second…