Issue 670

Engineers - In Praise of More

(Kscope) Londoners Engineers have reshuffled their deck since 2009’s Three Fact Fader, the long-delayed follow up to their much-hyped 2005 self-titled debut. Out go a couple of founder members, Dan McBean and Andrew Sweeney, in comes German boffin of…

London-based Veronica Falls on UK tour

60s pop and Velvet Underground influences on current single Beachy Head

This London-based quartet are originally from Glasgow, and are playing some dates north of the border, where it all began. Having initially being pegged as harking back to the C86 era, Veronica Falls were keen to shed this ‘twee’ label, and prefer…

Vic Godard and Subway Sect - We Come As Aliens

(Overground) Without South London’s existentially inclined postman, the history of Scottish pop from Orange Juice and Fire Engines onwards would’ve sounded a whole lot less jangular. Godard’s latest incarnation of Subway Sect produce a glorious…

Souad Massi - Ô Houria (Liberty)

(Wrasse Records) If people were not so hung up on language Souad Massi, who sings in Arabic, French and English would be a superstar. From ‘Everything Remains To Be Done’, a stunning duo with Francis Cabrel with Speed Caravan’s Mehdi Habbad cracking…

Make your own Hallowe'en party essentials

How to make Hallowe’en Party Bunting, Meringue Ghosts, Chocolate Spider Cupcakes and Pumpkin Lantern

Having a Hallowe'en party? Then heed some of these top tips from craft masters Made in the Shade

Hallowe'en costumes from a theatre costume cupboard

We raid the The Royal Lyceum Theatre costume store for inspiration

We take a trip to the costume store of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh to get some outfit inspiration

The best Hallowe'en events and film screenings in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Zombie Walks, screenings of Saw 3D, Halloween and Evil Dead II

The first feature-length version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella was a 1920 adaptation starring John Barrymore in the dual role as the misguided scientist and his maniacal alter-ego. For Hallowe’en the Usher Hall is bringing this silent classic to…

The best Hallowe'en music and club events in Edinburgh and Glasgow

HALLOWEEN CLUBS There’s blood on the dancefloor as Hallowe’en takes over clubland. First up, Hung Up! host the annual Optimo (Espookio) as Glasgow’s weirdest Hallowe’en party rises from the grave (The Sub Club, Sun 31 Oct). And if there’s dressing up…

n_ilk is an eclectic mix of art and music at Dundee's Botanical Gardens

RM Hubbert, Inspector Tapehead, Esperi and Amber Wilson

n_ilk is one of the more outlandish event names you will come across this year but its ethos and message is one of the easiest to grab. It’s codeword for ‘nae ilk’, purporting a sense of uniqueness which runs against the grain, and the self-proclaimed…

The best Kids Hallowe'en events in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Sometimes, the scariest thing about giving your kids a Hallowe’en treat can be the price. So once you’ve exhausted your wallet buying witch costumes and ghoul masks, here are a few free events to take your spookily-dressed offspring to. The Family Scary…

Professional costume designer's one-hour witch costume

Not everyone has access to a warehouse full of theatrical costumes. So, to give some good advice to those of us battling with bin bags and plastic bottles to make our outfits we’ve enlisted Denis Boyar from the Russian Cultural Centre at Glasgow’s…

Quick and easy Hallowe'en witch costume

Let’s be honest, there’s a good chance you’ll be stuck, 20 minutes before your Hallowe’en party, without a costume. We challenged Denis to come up with a speedy outfit made from household items You'll need: Two big sheets of paper; scissors…

An exploration of Hong Sang-soo's films ahead of Edinburgh Filmhouse season

Tony McKibbin examines the relationship dynamic in Korean filmmaker's celebrated films

Hong Sangsoo films often focus on characters so in crisis that they cannot help but generate crises in the very situations they find themselves in. They are not only crisis-ridden; they create a mise-en-scene of misery out of their own inability to…

Min Angel's exhibition Poise inspired by music and synaesthesia

Emerging artist's Corn Exchange show showcases drawings, collages and objects

Unknown thrills lie in the cracks of experience, and Min Angel’s radar is set to pick up these disjunctures and feelings of ‘in-betweenness’. Her first solo show, Poise, at the Corn Exchange showcases drawings, collages and objects with prop-like…

Magnetic Man prepare to take dubstep to the masses

Artwork, Benga and Skream take 'dubstep supergroup' on tour

It thrived in the dark, and in underground dancehalls acolytes beat out their devotion with their feet. Now dubstep is going somewhere no one ever expected: the charts. Magnetic Man (aka Artwork, Benga and Skream) took ‘I Need Air’ into the top ten and…

Edinburgh Samhuinn marks events from pagan calendar

Beltane Fire Society bring fire and drums to Capital's Royal Mile

As a nation with some deeply pagan roots, we love any excuse to set fire to things while bashing away at drums. Thank goodness, then, for the Beltane Fire Society, which not only shares these passions, but manages to foreground them twice a year. This…

Simon Garfield's Just My Type explores typography

‘A fairly jaunty, easy read on subject that might be daunting’

To date, Simon Garfield’s books have covered topics as diverse as the World Wrestling Federation, the history of Radio 1, World War Two diaries, and the colour mauve. Continuing this trajectory of unrelated subjects, the journalist and non-fiction…

Involuntary - Ruben Östlund profile

Swedish director of feature that explores group behaviour via five parallel stories

Name Ruben Östlund Born Styrsö, Sweden, 1974 Background Ruben Östlund was born on Styrsö, a small island off the west coast of Sweden. He initially became involved in filmmaking through his passion for downhill skiing, and in the late…

Babette Mangolte: Yvonne Rainer – Testimony to Improvisation 1972–75

‘Improvisation Time in the Rehearsal Room’, a caustic poem by the late Adrian Mitchell, appeared in the 1981 edition of New Departures, Michael Horowitz’s organ for 1960s counter-culture’s literary survivors. In eight short lines, which depict the…

Jo Caulfield on why Joan Rivers is her comedy hero

Joan Rivers is like The Rolling Stones: you may not like what she’s turned into but her early work will blow your mind. She was the first female comic I really connected with. She made me laugh LOUD and HARD: ‘A man can sleep around, no questions asked…

Club promoters Men & Machines end Stereo residency to explore new forms

Respected Glasgow electronic music night changes format

Men & Machines is over, but this isn’t the end. After two and a half years of regular nights at Stereo, the M&M team of Ewan Dunnett and Alasdair Stewart will be giving up their bi-monthly residency status. ‘We’re slightly reluctant to call it a…

Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan: Direct serious action is therefore necessary

Breaking through the concrete floors of the CCA, large, vibrant worm-like sculptures draw attention to the architecture of the building, its function and history as a public exhibition space. Black and white photographs, depicting Glasgow locations, are…

Raydale Dower: On Memory and Chance

Raydale Dower’s ad hoc art-cabaret speakeasy, Le Drapeau Noir, played with space at this year’s Glasgow International via a restless sonic excitability developed during his stint with post-Captain Beefheart hollerers Uncle John and Whitelock. His…

Why Frank Wedekind's seminal play Spring Awakening still resonates

Grid Iron unleash new production at Traverse, Edinburgh

Frank Wedekind’s seminal drama Spring Awakening has experienced a renaissance in recent years. The often banned 1891 play, which portrays 14-year-olds grappling with ideas of sexuality, death and religion in the prohibitive climate of late 19th century…

Sea and Land and Sky historically unconvincing despite wartime diary source

Pretty speeches have little narrative momentum

‘The only thing that scares us is a dying child,’ says Carmen Pieraccini as Lily, a Scottish nurse facing a burning village on the World War II frontline. It is an image of wartime heroism we are not used to seeing. In Abigail Docherty’s play, winner of…