Mark Edmundson

Secondhand record shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh

1 Nov 2007

Shopping and I have always had a love-hate relationship. But we put aside our differences for record shopping: that ritualistic, solitary activity that’s at once sombre yet exhilarating. Secondhand records possess the same mystique as old books; they…

Planet B-boy

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jul 2007

Think breakdancing died out in the 80s? Think again, says Mark Edmundson as he talks to Benson Lee, the writer-director of Planet B-boy which charts its epic resurgence

Found Magazine - Tales from the unexpected

2 Oct 2008

What’s the best thing you’ve found? There’s a note I found in our hometown, I think I just found it next to my bike one day. It’s a pretty handsome looking flyer, and it says, ‘Please Lock This Door. It will prevent unauthorised people from entering…

Profile - Marco Bailey & Percy X

19 Jun 2008

Names Marco Bailey & Percy X Who that? Bailey is Belgium’s premier techno DJ/producer and CEO of record label MB Selektions. Percy X is Glasgow’s own Soma stalwart, also a DJ/producer, again fronting his own label edit-select. What’s the story?

Various - Channel U: Vol 2

27 Mar 2008

GRIME (Gut) The newest, street-level incarnation of London’s underground R&B fixation is widely acknowledged as bassline. Thus the plucky pups at Gut are either lagging behind the pack or mopping up the last smears of grime on this compilation of…

The Easy Star All-Stars

23 Aug 2007

It seems that these days the cover version is more popular among artists and listeners than ever. Mark Ronson’s stone-cold funk renderings have made him friends aplenty (as well as a few enemies), and one cottage label has made the high concept leap…

Eat, drink and be merry

16 Oct 2006

We all know how to organise a party. But what if you want to do something a little different, a little more ambitious than a piss up in your front room? We’ve put together a guide to the best party ideas, from great venues to amazing costumes. And to…

Rob Scott - 15 Miles

24 Aug 2010

(Gollancz) In this highly-strung debut, Virginian author Rob Scott takes the customary jaded-cop-with-a-drink-problem, and cranks him up a few notches. Samuel ‘Sailor’ Doyle has a supplementary mistress and dependency on powerful prescription drugs…

The Love of a Clown

Clever combination of sentimental storytelling and traditional clown

23 Aug 2010

A clever combination of sentimental storytelling and traditional clown performance makes this show, overall, a very pleasant experience. The love struck star of the show is Jacques Raouso, am ageing clown who is reaching the end of his career on the…

Louise Stern - Chattering: Stories

19 May 2010

(Granta) Those of us in the hearing world ponder rarely on the everyday lives of our neighbours in the deaf community, where an ease in communication that we take for granted has a profound, stunting effect in its absence on the social lives of the…

Blake Morrison - The Last Weekend

28 Apr 2010

(Chatto & Windus) Blake Morrison is not one to shy away from the dark places, the unspoken or acutely personal, as his study of the James Bulger trial or bestselling confessional And When Did You Last See Your Father? will testify. In this, his third…

Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence

2 Oct 2009

A band’s submission in the ‘Sounds Like’ column of their myspace page is often telling, and in the case of Kings of Convenience their self-effacing ‘music your parents like too’ hints at the quiet Norwegian duo’s fond acceptance of where two albums of…

The Law - A Measure of Wealth

2 Oct 2009

Galling as it must be, comparisons with fellow Dundonian upstarts The View are hard to resist when taking on The Law. Both are undeniably cut from the same cloth as youthful champions of raucous, anthemic, singalong indie-rock with celebrated live…

The house that Jaxx built - Basement Jaxx interview

10 Sep 2009

From the home front, Basement Jaxx have been uncharacteristically quiet for the last three years. They’ve kept out of view, retiring into studious production mode and, while they say they never went away, they can’t deny they have, at least, been…

Sarah Bennetto

Rarely sparks hilarity

24 Aug 2009

An early show and intimate venue work against confessional tales that cry out for a little hubbub to soak up the fluctuations in pitch and smooth over some of the timing. Aussie Bennetto's golden ticket endeavours thus often ring true but rarely spark…

Daniel Rigby

Frenzied and wilfully bizarre one-man character sketch show

24 Aug 2009

Despite the musical pieces proving fresh and genuinely funny, there is something classically British about Rigby's frenzied and wilfully bizarre character sketch show. The forceful pace brings a certain shambolic charm to proceedings; indeed we could…

Fredrik Lloyd

Blessed with neither presence nor charisma

24 Aug 2009

You can see what Lloyd was aiming for with this unlikely account of bionic boy turned super featherweight cage fighter. He's meant to represent, rather than actually embody, a deluded waif holding court with tall tales and a YouTube fixation, but the…

Sammy J: 1999

Swapping puppets for pubescence

20 Aug 2009

Melbourne’s smutty answer to Andrew Lloyd Webber returns with a tongue-in-cheek one-man musical set in the run-up to the millennium. With explicit references to the Y2K bug, Tamagotchis and Toy Story 2, he’s swapped puppeteer partner Heath McIvor (with…

Sam Simmons

Lacking in spontaneity but his methods are inventive

19 Aug 2009

For his Fringe debut, the Australian puts his all into a song-and-goof show about the things you find down the back of the sofa. His absurdist observations may be lacking in spontaneity but his methods are inventive and being from the ‘if in doubt…

Rosie Wilby

Wry and naughty

18 Aug 2009

Like a cool, knowing family friend or easy-on-the-eye Claire Rayner, the affable Wilby leads this homely class in love, sex and relationships. Wry and naughty, Wilby’s wont is rapport over bluster, as she kindly takes the audience into her bosom…

Ava Vidal

A refreshingly laidback, conversational style

18 Aug 2009

Having made brief forays onto the goggle box, it is a surprise to find Vidal tucked away in front of a modest audience. Race and gender material delivered in a refreshingly laidback, conversational style makes for a cosy but hardly memorable set and…

Charlie Chuck

A rare audience with original comedy nutjob

16 Aug 2009

Did anyone else bury deep the memory of Charlie Chuck’s shambolic, barking contributions to the careers of Reeves and Mortimer? As the familiar hangdog horror drifts stage-wards, one is struck by the realisation that you’re all paying to spend an hour…

Horace Andy

9 Jul 2009

After giving us The Congo’s first ever Scottish show, the Summer Reggae Sunsplash season turns up a more familiar talent in the distinctive vibrato of Horace ‘Sleepy’ Andy. Hardly warranting introduction, Andy’s career as first guitarist, then singer…

The Congos

11 Jun 2009

REGGAE As mournful tenor trembles above falsetto and baritone amid a bubbling cacophony of bass and effect, the statuesque and trance-inducing ‘Fisherman’ ushers in a cult reggae masterpiece. It is tempting if unfair to say that The Congos have…

De La Soul

28 May 2009

De La Soul got stung. For much of the two decades since the release of seminal hip hopera 3 Feet High And Rising, Plugs One, Two and Three have been at pains to put a significant margin between themselves and the care-free, cartoon mishmash of crunchy…