The Skinny February 2024

FREE February 2024 Issue 217

The Love Issue

November 2023

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Art

November 2023 – Feature

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The Skinny's favourite songs about robots taking over the world The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Zager and Evans — In the Year 2525 Kraftwerk — Home Computer Daft Punk — Robot Rock Flight of the Conchords — Robots Glass Candy — Computer Love Slime City — Algorithm Is a Dancer Goldfrapp — Strict Machine The Buggles — Video Killed the Radio Star Skatt Bros — Walk the Night Bo Burnham — Sexting Janelle Monáe — Take a Byte Deltron 3030 — 3030 Tubeway Army — Are 'Friends' Electric?

If Tetsuo: The Iron Man were a song, that would be my answer.

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for

'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 217, February 2024 © Radge Media C.I.C. February 2024 - Chat

Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business.

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printed on 100% recycled paper

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Championing creativity in Scotland Meet the team ChatGPT asked: "If you had the ability to create a love potion, what three ingredients would you include, and what would be the effect on those who consume it?"

Editorial

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "Just your classic eye of newt, toe of frog, wool of bat (cheating by adding tongue of dog). And it would conjure the souls of the dead."

Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor "Flour, eggs, milk; it’d make people think ‘this guy won’t stop talking, but he makes a really good Yorkshire pudding so let’s hear him out’."

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor "Three red flags in a blender let’s goooo. Whoever drinks it would be very in love with me and then one day wake up and make an Instagram graphic listing my many flaws."

Jamie Dunn Tallah Brash Film Editor, Online Journalist Music Editor "Some pasta, a glug of good olive oil, "ChatGPT: Rose petals for affection, a shit tonne of garlic. And now that vanilla essence for comfort, and mint you’ve tasted my spaghetti aglio e olio, leaves for vitality. The potion enhances you’re obsessed with me – but please positive feelings, fostering deeper brush your teeth before we smooch, connection and understanding, always that was a shit tonne of garlic." emphasizing consent and respect."

Cammy Gallagher Clubs Editor "It's crucial to emphasize that any attempt to manipulate emotions should prioritise consent and respect. A healthy connection is built on mutual feelings and understanding, rather than external influences."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Spiders, snails, puppy dog tails the potion-taker would transform into a horrible little goblin of a thing and have that ugly-cute thing going on, like pugs or a woodlouse or something."

Rho Chung Theatre Editor "Nice try, ChatGPT. You're not going to train your witchcraft AI on my recipe."

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "Ingredients are none of my business, it tastes nice but x"

Business

Production

Harvey Dimond Art Editor "White wine, human tears and a bottle of poppers. Whoever drinks it will put up with my horrendous mood swings, terrible financial decisions and general delusion. "

Ellie Robertson Digital Editorial Assistant "Onions, garlic and olive oil.

The effect is that they'd come into the kitchen and be like 'Ooh what smells so good?'"

Laurie Presswood General Manager "A stranger in a club once told me he loved me, so probably what I was wearing at the time: mullet wig, drawn-on beard (one eyeliner pencil will do), t-shirt bearing the words ‘dang flabbit Miley’."

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager "Chat GTP: Bat's Breath of Betrayal: Collected only during a lunar eclipse while dangling upside down in a cave, the potion is accompanied by a relentless suspicion that the I'm secretly a shape-shifting lizard."

Ema Smekalova Media Sales Executive "Coffee, dog hair, inappropriate thoughts. The effect on those who consume it? Tummy ache probably."

Emilie Roberts Media Sales Executives "I tried sugar, spice and everything nice and accidentally added Chemical X, creating the Powerpuff Girls. Oops."

Sales

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist "All I know is that I'd probably fumble the recipe and accidentally drink some of it in the process, thus falling ever more deeply in love with myself."

Sandy Park Commercial Director "Gin, Campari and Vermouth.

That's not been done before, right?"

Phoebe Willison Designer "I don't know, but weirdly my last month's staff picks (accidentally?) came true and my bf proposed last week LOL oops so I guess I'd shred up a bunch of staff picks pages and hope for the best?"

THE SKINNY

Editorial Words: Rosamund West

I

t’s a LOVE issue but it’s not because of Valentine’s OK? This month we mark the tenth anniversary of the passing of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Act (Scotland) with a look back on ten years of same-sex marriage and a celebration of love in all its forms. Writer and researcher Kevin Guyan, whose work explores the intersection of data and identity, married his husband in 2014. He examines queer rights today, and asks: Is it still political for a man to have a husband?

Starting from the basis that no conversation about love is complete without Angel Olsen, we explore her shifting identity and views of love over the last decade. Our advice column is expanded for the month, naturally, as Ask Anahit engages in a complex discussion with an AI on the nature of love. Books meets Spanish author Agustín Fernández Mallo, whose The Book of All Loves attempts to do for the categorisation of love what the Pantone system does for the categorisation of colour.

Clubs finally mentions Valentine’s, talking to a duo who’re putting on a Valentine’s night that isn’t really a Valentine’s night.

Miss Cabbage, aka Shawna Milligan, teams up with VAJ.Power, aka Sof Staune, to create immersive queer party CL!CK in Stereo. In the centre pages, this month’s poster is a big Tanya from White Lotus love heart by artist Jock Mooney.

Beyond the theme, Film is in a contemplative mood. One writer ponders whether recent biopics have shifted the narrative structures of the heroic journey to embrace a more unheroic biography. And as Poor Things is nominated for a slew of

awards, we consider how the erasure of Scotland from Alasdair Gray’s story removes a crucial layer of meaning in terms of identity and nationhood.

Music meets party band Lime Garden to talk about having fun on stage with your mates, ahead of the release of their debut album. We meet the drummer from Slowdive, as they play shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh to promote their fifth studio album, Everything Is Alive.

Art talks to Josie KO, recipient of The Skinny Prize at last year’s RSA New Contemporaries, to find out what she’s been up to and what she’s got planned for 2024. Theatre looks forward to a new season of A Play, A Pie and A Pint, lunchtime theatre with the aforementioned pie and pint included in the ticket price. We also meet the director of a new opera inspired by the father of communism, Marx in London! Comedy pairs two ‘northern comics’ (from down south), Paddy Young and Dan Tiernan, who discuss what constitutes success in comedy in 2024, as they take their hit debut hours on tour.

We conclude the LOVE issue with a Q&A with our very own relationship advice columnist Anahit Behrooz, who’s here in her author guise to promote her second book, Mapping Middleearth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Cartographies. Some of the questions were generated by an AI – there’s been a fair amount of messing about with AI to make this issue, and it’s been maybe a little heartening in terms of still needing humans to write things. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that ChatGPT does not generally have the answer.

Cover Artist February 2024 — Chat

Viktoria Mladenovski is a multidisciplinary illustrator based in Berlin and working within editorial, advertisement and publishing.

Clients include Dr. Martens, Cosmopolitan, Jacobin, Missy Magazine and Berliner Zeitung. Viktoria’s focus lies on identity, memory, togetherness and joy, drawing inspiration from everyday situations and (day)dreams. Their queer-feminist illustrations are whimsical, bold and playful. When Viktoria is not drawing, you can find them in the ceramics studio or playing dress-up.

IG: @viki.art.studio TT: @viki.art.studio viktoriamladenovski.com

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Love Bites: Two Digital Decades Love Bites

This month’s columnist reflects on their time on dating apps – desire, disconnection, and digital differences Words: Len Lukowski

M

February 2024 — Chat

y first experience of online dating was a site called Gaydar Girls in the early 2000s. I remember painstakingly composing letterlength messages, editing and re-editing, trying to sound smart, funny and desirable. That there were all these people I could meet online felt like a new world of possibility.

Fast forward twenty years, through OK Cupid, Grindr (I transitioned), Scruff, Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Feeld and the rest, and I am horizontal on my sofa, lethargically tapping, swiping and repeating the same stock phrases, feeling dead inside. I doubt this feeling is unfamiliar to most people who use dating apps but it’s such a contrast to the excitement I used to feel.

At some point the opportunities afforded by online dating started to feel limiting rather than expansive. Perhaps a major difference is that now every aspect of life and connection is so tied to technology and there is something quite draining about this in itself. But simultaneously, I have trouble conceptualising the world of apps as real – swiping on Tinder feels like a particularly shit computer game.

It’s not all bad. Grindr has been useful for hook-ups. Despite my tendency to switch my phone off and hide from it when I feel overwhelmed by messages, I’ve had a few dates from using other apps also. Even when they haven’t turned into dating I’ve met friends this way.

The times my mindless swiping led to a date was usually due to a random oddity that engaged me — they were also called Len so dating them would be funny, or they were stood in front of some art by David Wojnarowicz. There’s no rekindling how I felt twenty years ago, but those occasional flickers of connection mean I probably won’t quit the apps just yet.

Crossword Solutions Across 1. ASH 3. ASP 9. PROPOSE 10. ROMANCE 12. THEY 14. HUSKY 15. FOND 18. FLIRTATIOUSNESS 23. SILOED 24. EVENLY 25. VALENTINE 26. SORRY 28. ROE Down 2. SOPPY 4. SCARF 5. ARCH 6. ASTHMA 7. FOR YOU 8. ICON 11. SSRI 12. TIFF 13. ELIXIR 16. OPENLY 17. DUSK 19. TWO-WAY 20. TO DIE FOR 21. OVERTURE 22. SEEING 27. ROW

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Heads Up

As the days continue to lengthen (thank god) there’s a similarly increasing number of Things To Do, from avant garde theatre to some of 2024’s most exciting bands.

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, 15-17 Feb A festival showcasing weird and wonderful theatre created by students in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Contemporary Performance Practice programme, Into the New is always the place to see theatre like you’ve never seen before. This year, catch the likes of Florence Logan’s tender, surreal fable Oh To Be a Snail or Jessica Paris’ insightful and mesmerising Grip.

Grip by Jessica Paris at Into the New

The Caves, Edinburgh, 10 Feb, 7pm For something truly hedonistic and baroque to brush the February cobwebs away, head to the appropriately lavishly named The Last Dinner Party for a dose of delicious punk-y indie rock. Recently winning BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2024 poll, there’s no better band that taps into the current zeitgeist – help them celebrate their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, with similarly ecstatic vibes.

From the series 'Afghan Faces', Jenny Matthews

Ragnarok Photo: Alexander Smai

February 2024 — Chat

Arusa & Jeem’s Valentine’s School Disco Summerhall, Edinburgh, 14 Feb, 9pm Listen, we’re all for super cool techno and edgy clubs, but sometimes you just want an old-fashioned dance party with your pals. Enter Arusa and Jeem’s School Disco, a Valentine’s club night in Summerhall headed up by Arusa Qureshi (of Femmergy fame) and Saint Sunday (of EHFM fame). Expect slow jams, R'n'B bangers and pop romance all night, plus glitter, glowsticks and even snacks.

Arusa Qureshi and Saint Sunday

Dundee Rep, Dundee, 20-21 Feb, 7:30pm Fresh from this year’s Manipulate Festival, Ragnarok heads up to Dundee for a short run of apocalyptic puppetry. A young girl and her brother battle through dream and reality, seeking a new future in a promised land in this acclaimed Tortoise in a Nutshell performance, that creates a hallucinatory, haunting world from handcrafted clay figures and ancient myths of the end of days.

Lankum Barrowlands, Glasgow, 3 Feb, 7pm

Photo: Jo Hnaley

Eduardo Paolozzi, Collage, 1953.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, until 21 Apr

Lankum

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Junglehussi

Papaya Whip with Mellowdramatics, Klaus & Junglehussi

Paolozzi at 100 What You See When Your Eyes Are Closed / What You Don’t See When Your Eyes Are Open

Various venues, Scotland, 29 Jan-4 Feb Independent Venue Week is back, baby, with a whole host of gigs across Scotland in all your favourite scrappy, indie, DIY venues. Find the likes of soul-infused singer-songwriter Brooke Combe at Galashiels’ MacArts, Spanish rock duo Hinds at Glasgow’s Stereo, and a stunning double bill made up of Scottish rising stars Azamiah and Nikhita co-programmed by Summerhall and community radio station EHFM.

Photo: Alice Brooke

Tramway, Glasgow, 16-17 Feb, various times

Independent Venue Week

Ragnarok

Photo: Sorcha Frances Ryder

Image: courtesy of The Paolozzi Foundation, Licensed by DACS Artimage 2023

What You See When Your Eyes Are Closed / What You Don’t See When Your Eyes Are Open

Azamiah for Independent Venue Week Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, 10 Feb-5 May Photographer Jenny Matthews’ work focuses on issues of conflict, dispossession, and human rights, documenting some of the most devastating global events of the last decades. This exhibition brings together a series of photographic hangings embodying her recent practice of embroidering over her photographs, using local techniques and materials to highlight the erasure and obliteration of war.

The Last Dinner Party Image: courtesy of Street Level Photoworks

Jenny Matthews: Sewing Conflict

Image: courtesy of artist

The Last Dinner Party

Image: courtesy of artist

Heads Up

Photo: Bojana Jankovic

Into the New

La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 16 Feb, 11pm

THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy of Shochiku Co., Ltd

Photo: Solen Collet

The Snow Flurry

Image: courtesy of Glasgow Film Theatre

Image: courtesy of Stereo

Days of Heaven by Terrence Malick

Slim Soledad

Image: courtesy of Lighthouse Bookshop

Cinemasters: Terrence Malick Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 4-26 Feb With the upcoming rerelease of American auteur Terrence Malick’s 1978 masterpiece Days of Heaven, Glasgow Film Theatre are devoting February’s Cinemasters season to his gorgeous back catalogue. Bruised, sun-dappled, and elegiac, Malick’s films are amongst the most beautiful and heartrending you will ever see: don’t miss the guttingly romantic Badlands, or the metaphysical Tree of Life.

Lucy Debussy's Erotic Cabaret

Turbines + Club Sylkie present: Slim Soledad Stereo, Glasgow, 24 Feb, 11pm Club Sylkie, Scotland’s club night designed to create fun spaces for women and non-binary folk with a bass-heavy sound, is headed to Glasgow’s Stereo for a night of celestial, dreamy music.

Heading up the night is Brazilian-born, Berlin and Paris-based DJ Slim Soledad making her Scottish debut, with plenty of support from Lauren Duffus, heartcoregirl and mixxu.

FIZZ Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 20 Feb, 7pm Step over boygenius, there’s another indie pop supergroup in town. FIZZ, made up of collaborators and best pals dodie, Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown, is a deliriously fun, messy, and loud ode to friendship and fun, first crafted out of the end of lockdown and now having taken on a life of its own.

Artists’ Bookmarket 2024

Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Summerhall, Edinburgh, 17 Feb, 7pm

FIZZ

Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, 10-11 Feb, 10am Photo: Jack Ravi

Image: courtesy of artist

Bel Cobain

Janine Harouni

Keepin' The Heid at A Play, a Pie and a Pint

Janine Harouni: Man’oushe Bel Cobain

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, 17 Feb-16 Mar The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme is the UK’s largest festival dedicated to Japanese cinema, and it’s fully mobile too. It arrives in Dundee this month with eight new and classic films to discover, from Keisuke Kinoshita’s moving 1959 melodrama The Snow Flurry screened in 35mm to the delightfully tragicomic Twilight Cinema Blues.

A Play, a Pie and a Pint

The Stand Glasgow, Glasgow, 7 Feb, 8:30pm

Artists' Bookmarket

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Òran Mór, Glasgow + various venues, new season starts 19 Feb

February 2024 — Chat

Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, 14 Feb, 7:30pm For alternative Valentine’s Day plans that are a little bit sexier and – dare we say – a lot less annoying than the traditional flowers and chocolate, head to Assembly Roxy for an erotic cabaret put on by Lighthouse Bookshop. The programme features a headline slot by Lucy Debussy, whose new collection Unspeakable Shaking Pleasures speaks for itself, with performances from Markee de Saw, Meghan Flaherty and Lynsey May.

Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

Photo: Karina Barberis

Lucy Debussy’s Erotic Cabaret

Agitate Gallery, Edinburgh, 23 Feb-8 Mar This powerful exhibition uses self-portraiture to explore and platform the artist’s reclamation of autonomy after sexual abuse and trauma. Employing folkloric and surrealist imagery with digital and analogue techniques, Solen Collet’s photography is an audacious and striking examination of female vulnerability, power and desire, accompanied by excerpts of her poetry and a photographic zine.

Heads Up

Roll The Dice, Solen Collet

Solen Collet: NOW LOVE

February 2024

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What's On Photo: Sanja Marusic

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Photo: Tonje Thilesen

Film We’re entering the third month of a miserable winter, so the annual 'Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme has come along just in time to lift us from the doldrums (The Cameo, Edinburgh (21 Feb-27 Mar); Dundee Contemporary Arts (17 Feb-16 Mar)). Highlights look to be Shadow of Fire, the latest from cult director Shinya Tsukamoto (DCA, 28 Feb); Hoarder on the Border, a heart-warming comedy that will give Marie Kondo hives (Cameo, 28

Glasser

L'Rain

February 2024 — Events Guide

Pip Blom

Music In Glasgow, February continues where January left off, with Celtic Connections. Running right up until the 4th, there are still shows to come from Lau (Tramway, 1 Feb), Les Amazones D’Afrique (Saint Luke’s, 2 Feb), Fatoumata Diawara (Old Fruitmarket, 3 Feb), and Acolyte (Broadcast, 4 Feb).

The start of February also means the remainder of Independent Venue Week, so look up your favourite local indie venue and go support them by catching a show, some of which you'll find included below.

Outwith all that, the bid for spring touring gets fully underway. Margaret Glaspy brings her latest album Echo the Diamond on the road, swinging by Mono (1 Feb), Pip Blom bring Bobbie, full of indie-pop bangers like Tiger and Is This Love?, to Òran Mór (12 Feb), and Glasser gets on the road with the gorgeous Crux, playing Stereo (18 Feb). On the same night, Massachusetts indie rockers Speedy Ortiz land in the basement of The Hug and Pint with their latest Rabbit Rabbit, while L’Rain plays there the following night in honour of I Killed Your Dog. Supergroup FIZZ, featuring dodie and Orla Gartland, then play the Old Fruitmarket (20 Feb), before Alison Goldfrapp plays the Barrowlands (24 Feb) and NewDad Saint Luke’s (26 Feb).

You’ll also find a whole host of pop gems at the O2 Academy on Eglinton Street this month in the form of Roísín Murphy (13 Feb), Kim Petras (15 Feb), Zara Larsson (17 Feb), Renée Rapp (25 Feb) and multi-BRIT Awards nominee Raye (29 Feb).

In Edinburgh, acclaimed New York-based rapper billy woods brings the incredible Maps to Summerhall’s Dissection Room (6 Feb), while fresh from releasing New Last Name, Liverpool outfit Courting play The Mash House (17 Feb). Later, Slowdive play The Liquid Room (24 Feb), The Pretenders play Usher Hall (25 Feb) and Lime Garden play Voodoo Rooms (28 Feb).

From a local point of view, the month is thick with shows. In Edinburgh, Azamiah play Summerhall (2 Feb) with support from Nikhita, Lizzie Reid plays Cabaret Voltaire (4 Feb), Bikini Body headline The Mash House with support from Eyes of Others and Isabella Strange (9 Feb), Savage Mansion launch The Shakes at Summerhall’s Old Lab on the 15th (Glasgow fans, catch them at The Rum Shack, 17 Feb), Aurora Engine launches Secret Knock at Wee Red Bar (16 Feb), Haiver play Voodoo Rooms (23 Feb), and Alice Faye plays Leith Depot (24 Feb). In Glasgow, a collaboration with the brand new Kitchen Sink art gallery sees BRENDA launch their latest single Pigs at the Torridon Court location in Maryhill. Hamish Hawk levels up with a headline show at the Barras (10 Feb), half girl, half android Kleo plays The Poetry Club (17 Feb), where you’ll also find rapper Tzusan the following week (24 Feb), while in Dundee, as part of a wider tour, Gallus play Beat Generator Live! (17 Feb). [Tallah Brash]

Photo: Yis Kid

All details correct at the time of writing

THE SKINNY

Photo: Makoto Takayama, Shogakukan / TokyoTheatres Co Egoist

Photo: Aidan O'Mara Photo: El Nine

Clubs February’s first Friday sees our favourite pop-rock jams reframed, as Fleetmac Wood present Silver Storms Ball at SWG3’s Warehouse, while Donkalicious returns to Stereo with 90s nostalgia and noughties classics courtesy of Lobsta B. At La Cheetah, celebrate Lezure’s 9th Birthday with Mother. In the Southside, it’s Pass The Ox, Fam! at McNeills with Gabor Matty – lucky bags on sale from Oxfam Music (Fri 2 Feb). On Saturday, Erosion link up with The – newly renovated – Flying Duck in securing FEVER AM’s weird and wonderful Rhyw (3 Feb).

Red Room Sound provide a tempting Thursday, offering Minor Science at Sneaky Pete’s. In Glasgow, it’s FLIPSIDE’S 2nd Birthday at La Cheetah with UK Funky bigwig, Murder He Wrote (8 Feb). Call Super and Dekmantel’s Club Tour stop by La Cheetah on the following night, while Healthy host New York’s DJ Python + Physical Therapy at The Berkley Suite.

In Edinburgh, Miss World and Club Sylkie present Clemency + Small Crab at Sneaky Pete’s. Heading south, Summerhall stages MICROSTERIA X PHLOX ‘A RAICLEACH RHYME’ for a sensory clubbing experience, combining DJ sets, visual art and performance – dress up encouraged (9 Feb). On Saturday, Messenger Sound System celebrate the late king of reggae with their Bob Marley Birthday Special at The Bongo Club. In Glasgow, loosen off at The Berkley Suite with Dilly Joints & NTS’s System Olympia for an early Valentine’s Love Down. For something sturdier, head to Maxwell Street for Rrose at EXIT (10 Feb).

Catch rising Scottish selector Wallace on Monday at Sneaky Pete’s courtesy of Circa x Stand B-Side (12 Feb). CL!CK continues the love on Friday with Yazzus for Valentine’s at Stereo, while at The Bongo Club, it’s Wall of Bass with General Levy & Sinai Sound (16 Feb).

The following Friday in Glasgow’s Southside, The Shed hosts HipReplacement from 7:30pm – where you can dance like your dad and nobody cares. In Dundee, Mungos Hi-Fi Sound System return to Kings (23 Feb). Our favourite DIY party championing QTIPOC+ talent turns four on Saturday at EXIT – get down to Mojxmma PUNK PRINCESS. For Milan’s finest mutant techno, check Gunk x The Flying Duck: Piezo (24 Feb). The Flying Duck has no chill on Sunday as Shapednoise weaves experimental noise and industrial rap (25 Feb). Proc Fiskal’s Shleekit Doss launches on Wednesday with Ship Sket at Sneaky Pete’s (28 Feb). On Thursday, EDM pop duo straight out of

Vaj Power

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Bringing Up Baby

Junk Head

Photo: @spit.ting

February 2024

Healthy

Feb); and Egoist, a gay romantic drama with a bittersweet vibe (DCA, 21 Feb).

Sticking with Japan, the latest film from Wim Wenders – his best in years – sees the German cinema poet head east to make Perfect Days, a deeply humane slice-of-life drama starring Kōji Yakusho as a solitary Tokyo janitor that’s guaranteed to wash away the February blues. The CineSkinny Film Club are screening the film for free at Summerhall, Edinburgh on 23 February and at the CCA in Glasgow on 28 February. Tickets at theskinny.co.uk/tickets Talking of lifting spirits, there’s no better filmmaker to do that than deadpan comedic genius Buster Keaton. Cameo screen a couple of his classics: Sherlock Jr (4 Feb) and The General (11 Feb). It’s also Valentine’s Day this month. Yes, it’s a silly commercial cash-in, but it’s also a great excuse to watch wonderful movies. GFT have Steve McQueen’s sensual party movie Lovers Rock and screwball masterpiece Bringing Up Baby (both 14 Feb) while the Cameo go for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (14 Feb) and a more subversive pick – David Fincher’s anti-romance Gone Girl (13 Feb).

There's romance of the most devastating variety in All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh’s heartbreaking study of queer grief and love. As its release coincides with LGBT+ History Month, GFT have put together a special screening on 5 February, which will be followed by a panel discussion exploring themes from the film.

Also on your radar should be the brilliant multi-arts festival Manipulate (1-11 Feb). The festival brings together a wonderfully curated programme of puppetry and visual theatre, as well as a section dedicated to animation. In that strand you’ll find three great-looking shorts programmes (which are also available online), as well as features like Takehide Hori’s stop-motion sci-fi Junk Head (Summerhall, 10 Feb) and the surreal French animation epic Fantastic Planet, from 1973 (Institut Français, 8 Feb). There’s also a chance to meet fellow animators and animation fans at Manipulate’s Animation Gathering (Summerhall, 3 Feb). [Jamie Dunn]

Miss Cabbage

THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy of the artist Photo: HAM, Maija Toivanen

Becoming Plant, 2022 (film still), Grace Ndiritu

February 2024 — Events Guide

Photo: Lawrence Winram Plinth

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Theatre Manipulate Festival is happening early this month in Edinburgh and online.

The festival is a celebration of animated film, puppetry, and digital theatre.

This year’s lineup includes over 30 boundary-pushing pieces, including Plinth (2-3 Feb), produced by Al Seed Productions and Vanishing Point, in partnership with Beacon Arts Centre and Tramway. Plinth is a wordless exploration of the role of statues as artefacts of war, rooted in Greek mythology.

Compagnie Bakélite brings their 2011 Manipulate hit, L’Amour du Risque (Love of Risk), to Fruitmarket (3 Feb). In the piece, a man awaits a fine dining experience executed by increasingly chaotic robots, resulting in a precarious and entrancing dance.

Compagnie Bakélite will also stage Envahisseurs (Invaders) at Traverse Theatre (4 Feb). Inspired by the science fiction films of the 1950s, Envahisseurs is a dazzling piece of object theatre and puppetry.

Ad Infinitum’s Last Rites will run at The Studio, Festival Theatre (3-4 Feb). In this non-verbal solo show, physical and visual storytelling coalesces with projection and music to tell an intimate story of grief and memory.

In a double-bill at The Studio, Festival Theatre, Althea Young and Nikhita Devi present HOVER / I, Honeypot (6 Feb). HOVER is a duet between a human performer (Young) and a remote-controlled drone. The piece is an innovative interrogation of surveillance and capitalism. In I, Honeypot, Devi explores their intersecting identities through a fusion of dance styles, including Odissi, burlesque, clowning and physical theatre.

Pickled Republic by Ruxy Cantir (followed by a Pickle Party in the bar) comes to the Traverse (9 Feb), bringing with it pickles (presumably), self-reflection and fermented chaos. The piece is billed as a ‘surreal theatrical cabaret for adults’ – so get your napkins ready.

Tortoise in a Nutshell and Figurteatret i Nordland’s Ragnarok will tour Scotland 3 February-28 March), including a run at Manipulate Festival on 10 and 11 February. Ancient myth and modern spectacle collide in this retelling of the Norse myth of the same name.

Beyond Manipulate Festival, Tron Theatre presents Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill (22 Feb-9 Mar). Directed by Joanna Bowman, this adaptation

Maggot of Love, 2023 by Josie Perry

Image: courtesy of the artist

Under Forest Cover, 2021 by Hanna Tuulikki

Art At Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios, Andy Warhol: The Textiles (until 18 May) is dedicated to Warhol’s largely unknown commercial textile designs from earlier in his career. The exhibition will underline how this was a crucial stage in Warhol becoming one of the most revered artists of the twentieth century.

From 1 to 11 February, Manipulate Festival will take place across multiple Edinburgh venues, including Fruitmarket, Traverse Theatre and Summerhall. The festival brings together artists from across the world working in visual theatre, puppetry and animated film for ten days of dynamic and boundary-pushing events.

Also in Edinburgh, and closing on 25 February, Deep Rooted at the City Art Centre examines the relationship between people and the natural environment, with a focus on trees specifically. Many of the works reflect on contemporary ecological issues, while others explore our fragile coexistence with nature.

At Cooper Gallery in Dundee, The Scale of Things (until 6 Apr) encompasses three moving image works which consider the relationship between humans and non-humans through an exploration of history, intimacy and spirituality. The exhibition features the Scottish premiere of Grace Ndiritu’s Becoming Plant (2022), alongside Saodat Ismailova’s The Haunted (2017), and on its fiftieth anniversary, Margaret Tait’s Aerial (1974).

Opening 3 February at CCA Glasgow’s Intermedia Gallery, The Thieves is a collaborative exhibition by Glasgow-based Josie Perry and London-based Francis Jones. The show centres around a series of colour pencil drawings and a hybrid-form social science fiction text, presented as a publication and a soundscape. Catch the exhibition before it closes on 24 February.

We’re going to be announcing details of our emergent writer collaboration with Edinburgh Art Festival this month – keep an eye on our socials for more details. [Harvey Dimond]

Image: courtesy of the artist

Detroit, Snow Strippers, round out the month with a charged live show, rewiring the disregarded passé at Glasgow’s Stereo (29 Feb).

[Cammy Gallagher]

Ragnarok

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Image: courtesy of author

Image: courtesy of author

of Churchill’s riveting text turns a neighbourly chat into something much more serious. [Rho Chung]

Len Pennie

Photo: Amy Sterly Photo: Matt Stronge

Comedy Some of the best Edinburgh Fringe shows return to Edinburgh and Glasgow this month. Northern lads Paddy Young (Monkey Barrel, 17 Feb, 8pm, £12) and Dan Tiernan (Monkey Barrel, 29 Feb, 8pm, £12) were both nominated for the Fringe Best Newcomer Award with their debut hours, while Ania Magliano (Glasgow Stand, 15 Feb, 8.30pm / Edinburgh Stand, 17 Feb, 5pm, £14) received a nom for Best Show at Fringe 2023 with I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This, an affable hour of storytelling with a killer twist.

Ian Smith, Feb’s Dream Gigger and Best Fringe Show nominee, brings Crushing (Blackfriars Glasgow, 22 Feb, 8pm / Monkey Barrel, 24 Feb, 8pm, £13) back for the Scottish leg of his UK tour, with Have I Got News For You and Live at the Apollo star Nabil Abdulrashid gracing both Scottish Stands a few days later (Edinburgh Stand, 27 Feb, 8.30pm / Glasgow Stand, 28 Feb, 8.30pm, £16.50). Award-nommed Janine Harouni, who performed at Fringe 2023 whilst eight months pregnant, brings Man’oushe to Glasgow (Glasgow Stand, 7 Feb, 8.30pm, £15), now with her four-month-old son in tow.

If you’re after home-grown acts, Amy Matthews (Glasgow Stand, 4 Feb, 8.30pm / Monkey Barrel, 25 Feb, 5pm, £10) and Sam Lake (Monkey Barrel, 24 Feb, 6pm, £10) revive their August hours for your live-viewing pleasure, and Marc Jennings records Away From Here as a special at Monkey Barrel (Monkey Barrel, 13 Feb, 7pm and 9pm, £10).

Just announced, Glasgow Glee plays host to the hottest Asian comedy talents at BBC Asian Network Comedy 2024 (Glasgow Glee Club, 29 Feb, 7pm, £17). The lineup features excellent up-and-comers Don Biswas, Pravanya Pillay, So You Think You’re Funny Winner 2022, Joshua Bethania, and more.

Oh! Two little names we almost forgot to mention – there are a handful of tickets left for both James Acaster (Edinburgh Playhouse, 20-22 Feb, 7.30pm, from £32) and Bill Bailey (SEC Armadillo, 16 and 25 Feb, 6.30pm, Various Prices) as their latest tour shows land in Scotland. [Polly Glynn]

Nabil Abdulrashid

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Alycia Pirmohamed

Photo: James Deacon

February 2024

Artists' Bookmarket

Books Books! You love ‘em, we love events about ‘em. For sexy Valentine’s day vibes, head to Assembly Roxy for an Erotic Cabaret put on by Lighthouse Bookshop and poet Lucy Debussy in honour of her new collection Unspeakable Shaking Pleasures (14 Feb). Also put on by Lighthouse, also at Assembly Roxy, and also a cabaret is Poyums: A Poetry Extravaganza with Len Pennie (21 Feb) featuring poets Gray Crosbie, Nasim Rebecca Asl and Shane Strachan. If you’re Glasgow-based, Pennie will be launching her collection at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street with comedy actor Karen Dunbar (19 Feb).

Elsewhere in Edinburgh, The Portobello Bookshop hosts the launch of 404 Ink’s nature writing collection, Gathering: Women of Colour on Nature (20 Feb) – writers Durre Shahwar, Nasia Sarwar-Skuse and Alycia Pirmohamed will be in conversation with Katie Goh. There’s also a very artsy book launch at Fruitmarket (15 Feb): The Vanitas & Other Tales of Art and Obsession by Jake Kendall is a collection of eight stories themed around art, art history and creative obsession. Also at Fruitmarket is the Artists’ Bookmarket (10-11 Feb) featuring stalls upon stalls of zines, artist’s books and curios, as well as bookbinding and printmaking workshops.

Over in Glasgow, meanwhile, head to Glasgow Zine Library for this month’s Sex Positive Reading Group (30 Jan). There’s also more ways to get stuck in at Poetry at Inn Deep (every Tuesday) and the Candlelight Poetry Slam at The Old Toll Bar (5 Feb) if performing as well as listening to poetry is your thing. [Anahit Behrooz]

Ania Magliano

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5 Meet the Team — 6 Editorial — 7 Love Bites — 8 Heads Up 11 What’s On — 16 Crossword — 24 Ask Anahit — 32 Poster by Jock Mooney — 43 Music — 49 Film & TV — 53 Food & Drink — 54 Books 55 Comedy — 57 Listings — 62 The Skinny On… Anahit Behrooz

Features 20 With a decade of same-sex marriage in Scotland upon us, Kevin Guyan unpacks queer rights today.

23 An exploration of how Angel Olsen’s views on love have shifted over the last decade.

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26 Agustín Fernández Mallo on his eclectic catalogue, The Book of All Loves.

27 Miss Cabbage teams up with Vaj Power to create queer party CL!CK. 28 An examination of contemporary biopics and their celebration of the unheroic journey.

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30 We catch up with Josie KO, the recipient of The Skinny Prize 2023, to find out more about her practice and her exciting plans for 2024.

35 By changing the setting from Glasgow to London, has the political message of Alasdair Gray’s Poor Things been lost?

36 Wonky pop party band Lime Garden on friendship and their debut album.

38 We catch up with Slowdive drummer Simon Scott ahead of their Scottish dates.

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40 Scottish Opera’s Marx in London! director Stephen Barlow on the great thinker’s years in the English capital.

41 Paddy Young and Dan Tiernan on the reality of success in comedy in 2024.

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Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Viki Mladenovski; Angela Ricciardi; Felicity Crawshaw; courtesy of VAJ.Power; Ferrari; Aina Lorente Solivellas; Atsushi Nishijima; Jono White; Ingrid Pop; Tommy Ga-Ken Wan; James Glossop; Drew Forsyth

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On the website...

A first look at the Glasgow Film Festival lineup, some under-theradar highlights from the Glasgow Comedy Festival programme, our fortnightly podcast The Cineskinny, and our weekly Spotlight On… new music column.

February 2024 — Contents

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39 As A Play, A Pie and A Pint launch their 2024 programme, we take a look at the highlights.

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Shot of the month Hamish Hawk at Roaming Roots Revue, Celtic Connections @ Barrowlands, 20 Jan by Serena Milesi

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Across

Down

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2. Sentimental (5)

Cinder – he wanted to catch 'em all (3)

3. Viper (3)

4. Neck warmer (5)

9. Pop the question (7)

5. Curve – cheeky (4)

10. Language family descended from Latin (7)

6. Respiratory condition (6)

12. Third person pronoun (4) 14. Gravelly – dog (5)

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15. Keen (on) (4) 18. Inflates suitors (anag) (15) 23. Isolated – so idle (anag) (6)

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24. Fairly (6) 25. Patron saint of epilepsy – lain event (anag) (9)

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26. Apologies – pitiable (5) 28. Fish eggs (3) 26

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Your TikTok homepage (3,3)

8. Image – legend (4) 11. Antidepressant (init.) (4) 12. Argument – photo file (4) 13. Potion (6) 16. Publicly – frankly (6) 17. Twilight (4) 19. Bidirectional (3-3) 20. Fatally good? (2,3,3) 21. Prelude – advance (8) 22. Dating (6)

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27. Line – paddle (3)

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Compiled by George Sully

Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk Turn to page 7 for the solutions

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February 2024

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February 2024

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POSTER ARTIST (p32-33) Jock Mooney was born in Edinburgh in 1982. He went on to study sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art and graduated in 2004. Since then, his highly original sculptures and drawing have been exhibited internationally, in solo and group exhibitions. He is represented by Vane, a gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is also 50% of the highly acclaimed animation duo, Alasdair & Jock (check out their video for Here Comes the Sun

by The Beatles, which has had over 140 million views on YouTube!). Jock’s prolific illustrations (also available in clothing options!) can be seen at helloVONK.com @jockmooney

helloVONK.com The Love Issue

LOVE Illustration: Viki Mladenovski

February 2024 – Feature

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his month we celebrate love in all its forms. Not because of Valentine’s Day (although also because of Valentine’s Day) – the inspiration for this issue comes from the ten year anniversary of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Act (Scotland) being voted through parliament. One writer who was married that year, writer and researcher Kevin Guyan mediates on contemporary queer rights, asking if it’s still political for a man to have a husband in 2024.

The theme is further explored with a retrospective on Angel Olsen and her shifting views on love. Our regular advice column takes a turn for the dystopian, as Ask Anahit has a philosophical debate on love with an increasingly concerned AI. We meet Agustín Fernández Mallo, author of The Book of All Loves, and talk to the duo behind Glasgow club night CL!CK, to find out about expanding the parameters of queer clubbing ahead of their Animal Crossing-inspired Valentine’s night.

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The Love Issue

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Proposal & Policy With a decade of same-sex marriage in Scotland upon us, Kevin Guyan unpacks queer rights today, accessing a legible life, and the disruptive potential of a gay husband Words: Kevin Guyan Illustration: Viki Mladenovski

February 2024 – Feature

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ay husbands have existed for longer than gay marriage. Lavender marriages, for example, saw celebrity couples in the early twentieth century charade as partners in a marriage of convenience. Meanwhile, many ‘heterosexual’ marriages involved (and continue to involve) gay men who come out to their wives when the project of cultivating a domestic idyll or sticking together for the kids is no longer sustainable.

2024 marks ten years since Scotland passed the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act, which legalised marriage between two people of the same sex. I married my husband in 2014, tying the knot on a balmy Monday afternoon at a municipal venue with a few close family and friends. After the signing of documents, we travelled across the city to our wedding party in the basement bar at one of our regular drinking spots. Staff had rearranged tables and chairs to construct a dance floor in one corner of the room.

The back wall had floor-to-ceiling olive green tiles, artfully decorated with photographs, paper garlands and fairy lights. We were all so young.

Talented friends had baked a small but perfectly sized three-tier lemon and poppy seed cake, which

sat on a table at the edge of the dance floor. We danced around the cake, my new husband leading a chorus of off-beat whoop, whoops to Rihanna and Calvin Harris’s We Found Love.

This wasn’t part of the script. Coming out as gay in the early 2000s felt like a closing down of options and abandoning yourself to an abject

“Were wedding guests pleased to meet us because it made them feel good about their liberal values or did it ignite an odd longing for a life beyond their own?”

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spectre of living alone, being a peculiar uncle or a neighbour that local children are told to avoid.

During these twenty years, my views on marriage have also shuffled back and forth. As two cisgender men keen to imagine themselves on the political left, there is the nagging question of whether we took the easy option to use marriage to access a simpler, heteronormative world. Possessing a marriage certificate has – without doubt – eased our encounters with tricky immigration issues, organising a mortgage, purchasing a flat and planning for what happens when one of us dies. But marriage also feels like it has done something to us that transcends the administrative.

One of the most obvious changes is how we make sense to others. Marriage granted us quick access to a more legible life. But what was lost in the process of translating who we are to match the common vocabulary? And what did we give up in the process?

The weddings of other people are where the politics of our marriage become most pronounced.

Weddings are an ‘event space’ – a duo of words that signal this is a location where things happen.

But spaces and events are not one thing or another by default; they need to be made straight or, in the words of geographer Jon Binnie, “actively produced and heterosexualised”. Queer presence can therefore jam things and unsettle the natural flow of an event space as heterosexuality unfurls itself across the floor, up the walls and into the corners of the room. My presence – my very existence – can become a political act.

Admittedly, I tend to emphasise this difference at weddings by abandoning the expected male attire (a navy blue two-piece suit from Next – no thank you) in place of Cuban heels, bright flares and paisley shirts. By consciously presenting myself as ‘different’ I unwillingly agree to play a representational role for others in the room.

Sexuality is not an ‘invisible characteristic’ akin to a political position or some mental health

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The Love Issue

This ‘Think of the Children’ brand of anti-LGBTQ messaging is also bleeding into political debates about the Scottish Government’s proposal to ban LGBTQI+ conversion practices. While this shift in mood remains a relatively fringe position, it has narrowed possibilities for more radical change. For example, the Scottish Government’s Working Group on Non-Binary Equality published recommendations in 2022 but, with the current energy spent on debunking LGBTQ-related conspiracies, implementing actions that diverge from the status quo seems more remote now than when the group was formed in 2020.

We’re living through a period of retrenchment – the settling of scores after the passing of the 2014 Marriage and Civil Partnership Act – which exposes a tension between the state and private lives. As guarantor and protector of private lives, the state is a key player in determining ‘who counts’ – how society understands queer people and, in turn, how queer people come to understand themselves. The introduction of same-sex marriage has blurred the line between public and private, where our marriage is (rightly) understood as being about more than gay sex. But speaking about LGBTQ lives in ways where our existence is not relegated to a private matter creates flashpoints, particularly in locations like schools where society seems unwilling to shake off an assumption that all children are naturally heterosexual and cisgender.

Marriage is not for everyone. I did not think it was to my liking right up until the moment it happened. By writing in defence of marriage it is not my intention to counter critiques that focus on the inflated importance of marriage in society (marriage is granted too much status) or its patriarchal history (marriage remains deeply patriarchal). My target is the lazy assumption that a ‘queer identity’ without complementary action is — 21 —

“Marriage granted us quick access to a more legible life. But what was lost in the process of translating who we are to match the common vocabulary?” a radical position and that marriage – declawed of any subversive potential – signals an abandonment of queer political potential. It might seem like I’m writing in self-defence but these claims ignore the nuances of the world around us: the ability of a same-sex marriage to get in the cracks of existing institutions, from wedding parties to school curriculums. While maintaining a healthy dose of cynicism – against a backdrop of increased anti-LGBTQ rhetoric – marriage and its disruptive potential are even more important now than when introduced ten years ago.

Kevin Guyan is a researcher and writer whose work explores the intersection of data and identity. He is the author of Queer Data (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022) and is currently writing his second book, which explores queer encounters with different classification systems in the UK, from hate crime reporting to dating apps

February 2024 – Feature

conditions. There is something in the way I walk across the room, the way I arrange words in my sentences, the way I breathe in and out that gives an impression of ‘difference’. But this somatic visibility works in multiple directions. For many gay men, there is the moment of realisation that you are being read in a certain way. Two men at a wedding together. We are not hand holders or huggers. We delight in flying solo at social events before magnetically returning to each other to retell tales about who we met and what they said.

Yet, in this event space – with heterosexuality dripping from the light fittings – the strangers around us know something is up. You can see the realisation in the eyes of strangers when the visual cues fall into place and they click: “Those two men are a couple.”

People want to talk to us. Tell us about children or grandchildren who also happen to be gay or bi or trans. Congratulate us on being ourselves. People look and stare. Everyone is warm-spirited, handshakes and hugs are the brackets for disclosures that grow increasingly slurred as the night progresses. Most people mean well but it can feel like tokenism. By wanting to present our lives as different, do we automatically turn ourselves into animals at a zoo? Between drinks, I leave the dance floor and slip out the fire escape for fresh air, pondering: “Were wedding guests pleased to meet us because it made them feel good about their liberal values or did it ignite an odd longing for a life beyond their own?” A mother told me her son is gay but that they still love them: “Love is love, y’know.” I felt lost as to my response – leaning close to her and saying, “Thank you.” Unsure who I am thanking and why.

People in the UK overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage, with a record-high of 78 per cent support recorded by YouGov in 2023. But we are also witnessing the re-emergence of some ugly tropes directed at LGBTQ communities. For example, protestors at Drag Queen Story Hour events across Scotland make little effort to mask their insinuation that gay men are a threat to children, with placards that include ‘Groom Dogs Not Kids’.

February 2024 – Feature

The Love Issue

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Forever Love No conversation of love in art is complete without Angel Olsen. We explore how her views on love have shifted over the last decade, informing the shape of her identity as she came out

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lifetime. She may not have completely, but as she describes her infatuation, she uses this love to lull the listener into what it means at her core; ‘I want to live life, I want to die right...’ she trails off.

There’s silence, a void, then the shimmer of a guitar and she completes her thought, ‘...Next to you’. Despair is forgone and the closing refrains of ‘All my life I thought I’d change’ fill the void with an unsuppressable passion. The other may continue to elude her, but she now understands their role with breathtaking clarity.

Olsen is the teacher, we are the receivers; she is the rarity of a songwriter able to examine the size of every heart involved, much more the people they’re connected to. To live in truth to oneself may be to love honestly, to beg for nothing and to command for what you know you are. She is forever searching, never asking. angelolsen.com

February 2024 – Feature

With a stark atmosphere closer to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska than anything that should find itself on NPR in the early 2010s, Olsen’s self-analysis here is tenderly morose. As her love

Angel Olsen

The Love Issue

“Angel Olsen is the rarity of a songwriter able to examine the size of every heart involved”

for this other fades, so too does her sense of self; ‘If all the trouble in my heart would only mend / I lost my dream, I lost my reason all again’. Her eventual understanding of ‘It’s not just me for you / I have to look out too’ etches into stone the other end of standard setting, that love rears its head in specific ways because we are individuals with needs first. If that need is another, the longing can begin accordingly. It’s a track that foregrounds loss of self on an otherwise electric and assured record, a nugget of bereaved wisdom to mull over in the oncoming minutes.

The world ends sporadically and consistently, yet lives are had and hills of arguments built for the future to die on will lay steadily.

The region between begging and commanding is counfoundingly thin, as is mirrored later on Shut Up Kiss Me, from her benchmark My Woman. Every line here is a gem of confidence, yet under the control of intense passion. There’s the anxious tilt that one can only feel this passionately if they’re beholden to a love above them, that to own someone is a form of giving oneself away. On either side of it in the tracklist are expansively contradictory songs; Never Be Mine struggles with soul-crushing longing for the angelic other and Give It Up pushes that someone into the path of a combine with compassionate attitude. It’s concisely messy and forever reflective.

All of these experiential lessons point to why Sister is Olsen’s masterpiece, a definitive benchmark on queer love and self-knowledge. Years before her official coming out, the track functioned as such, grappling with her identity and distilling her worldview in eight minutes where most can never piece themselves together in a

Photo: Angela Ricciardi

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ove is control over time, revelations of self-worth during the eyes of storms, or, in the midst of the siren howl of Angel Olsen, the sinew of one’s identity. Every season of your life is stuck in captivity with two people, that being the unfound, unknown self, and whichever other is illuminating your depths by contrast alone. Across Olsen’s imposing, alluring oeuvre, how you live and how you love are as closely intertwined as their spellings; one’s identity can be bereft of context without the challenge or foil of a love turned sour.

However, from the outset, Olsen has held love as being the ultimate projection, a reflection of what already exists behind enraged or sullen eyes; listening to her explain this throughout nearly a decade of my life would surely have her be frustrated with my lack of attention until recently. Her commanding language of love, full of endless searching yet confident enough to tell instead of ask, was foreign to me until experience revealed its cornerstone: you are the love you give, without modification, without compromise.

Tracing her vulnerable command of the topic, the solemn, rustic ballads stationed within her debut Half Way Home set a tremendous precedent. The Waiting finds strength and subtle sweetness in the setting of standards; ‘Sometimes I need you to be the one to call’, Olsen croons, eventually shouting. Love is a matter of the language you understand throughout life, what a plea can offer about someone that a question can’t reveal. Listening to this track and its parent record I see the subject as an austere field in winter, since that is the setting I'm usually physically in when I return to it; the motifs of seeds growing amidst hardships and vast, cosmic wastelands gain body and shape, where love is a physical realm. More often than not, it’s also a reason for being, one foretold on opener Acrobat but fully dismantled on her sophomore record’s own opener Unfucktheworld.

Words: Noah Barker

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The Love Issue

Love and Robots In this month’s Ask Anahit special, our regular advice columnist hands over the reins to (read: gets in a fight with) ChatGPT, exploring why we always look for answers when it comes to matters of the heart Words: Anahit Behrooz + ChatGPT

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sk Anahit: Can you write an advice column about falling in love?

ChatGPT: Dear Seeking Love,

It’s wonderful that you are open to the prospect of love in your life. The journey of finding and maintaining love can be both exciting and challenging.

Here are some key pieces of advice: Love often blossoms unexpectedly. Try to expand your social circles, both online and offline: attend events, join clubs or groups aligned with your interests, and be open to meeting new people. If you meet someone who catches your interest, don’t be afraid to take the initiative. Strike up a conversation, express your feelings, and be genuine.

Remember, the journey to love is unique for everyone. Stay true to yourself, be open to new experiences, and enjoy the adventure that love brings into your life.

Warm regards, [Your Advice Columnist Name]

February 2024 – Feature

Why do so many advice columns say to join a club. How did forming connection turn into such an organised nightmare.

The suggestion to join clubs or groups in advice columns often stems from the idea that these settings provide a structured and intentional way to meet new people who share similar interests. It’s not meant to be a “nightmare,” but rather a strategic approach to expanding one’s social circles and increasing the likelihood of finding compatible connections.

OK I’m going to move on from the club question because I don’t want to join the Scouts. But I’m starting to wonder if it’s all part of the same problem – that we’re seeking a definitive guide or solution to love, of any kind. Do advice columns basically act as a map towards love? And like all maps, are they fundamentally false?

Your perspective is insightful, and it raises interesting questions about the nature of advice columns and the quest for guidance in matters of love. Advice columns can be viewed as a form of guidance, offering insights, suggestions, and perspectives on navigating

the complexities of relationships.

However, it’s crucial to recognize that love is a highly individual and subjective experience, and there’s no onesize-fits-all approach.

In essence, advice columns can serve as a compass, offering some direction and insights, but they are not definitive maps that guarantee a particular outcome.

“Love, in its purest form, is a deeply personal and evolving experience that can’t always be neatly confined to predetermined patterns or timelines” ChatGPT Do you think there’s a tension between the inherently unbounded nature of this subjectivity, and the teleology that we attempt to impose on affection and attachment?

Absolutely, the tension between the subjective, unbounded nature of love and the teleological, goal-oriented perspective we often impose on it is a fascinating aspect of human relationships. Love, in its purest form, is a deeply personal and evolving experience that can’t always be neatly confined to predetermined patterns or timelines.

As individuals and circumstances change, so do the dynamics of relationships. Imposing a fixed teleology may not account for the natural evolution and adaptation that occurs over time.

Flexibility and openness to change are crucial in maintaining healthy and dynamic connections.

People keep saying change and flexibility but I am starting to think that just means being open to things not working out. And I would like things — 24 —

to work out! Is that so bad? Don’t we need a measure of rigidity or structure to maintain these connections in our lives?

Your concern and desire for stability and long-lasting connections are completely valid. While flexibility and openness are often emphasized as important qualities in relationships, it doesn’t mean that having a desire for stability or wanting things to work out is inherently wrong. Striking a balance between adaptability and a sense of security is crucial in maintaining meaningful connections.

It’s natural to seek stability and commitment in relationships. While some flexibility is important to navigate the changes that life brings, having a measure of rigidity or commitment can provide a solid foundation for a lasting connection. Ultimately, the key is to find a balance that works for both you and your partner, ensuring that your relationship is a source of support, growth, and fulfilment for both individuals involved.

Do you think if I show my date tomorrow this conversation they’ll be freaked out.

It’s generally not advisable to share a deep and philosophical conversation like this on a first date. While open communication is important in any relationship, introducing complex topics about relationships, flexibility, and the nature of love might be overwhelming or premature for a first meeting.

Instead, consider steering the conversation towards lighter topics, such as hobbies, interests, and life experiences. As you get to know each other better and build rapport over time, you can gradually introduce more profound discussions if you both feel comfortable.

I think if I ask one more man about his hobbies I might kill myself.

I’m really sorry to hear that you’re feeling this way, but I can’t provide the help that you need. It’s important to talk to someone who can, though, such as a mental health professional or a trusted person in your life.

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House Proud Ahead of the Scottish Curling Championships, we speak with artist Orla Stevens, who has been commissioned by Hendrick’s Gin to create a series of artworks that will be frozen into the ice upon which this year’s competition will be played

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Photo: Michael Drummond

She found yet more sensory inspiration on the ice too.

“When we were curling, I got to see the ice really up close, and I didn’t realise that it’s actually covered in all of these little bumps and dimples, which lets the curling stone glide,” she explains.

“This was a lovely thing to be able to listen to as well as look at.

It’s really beautiful when you look at it up close, and [the stone gliding on the ice] makes this earthy sound that I took inspiration from as well.”

Stevens’ resulting artworks offer four distinct sets of houses inspired by the elemental qualities behind their creation titled: Botanics, The Gin Palace, Rock to Rink and The Sea. With this year’s competitors set to glide their stones towards these gorgeous houses awash with dynamic strokes in contrasting pastel hues and bold punches of colour, the Scottish Curling Championships will have never looked so good, bringing a fresh burst of zing and energy to the game, much like a refreshing gin and tonic over ice with a slice of cucumber would do to the palate.

To find out more about Orla Stevens’ commission with Hendrick’s Gin for the Scottish Curling Championships, you can watch a short making-of video online which documents her process, from those early visits to the Hendrick’s Gin Palace, Ailsa Craig and the ice rink through to her artistic practice.

The Scottish Curling Championships, sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, take place at Dumfries Ice Bowl, 4-10 Feb

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Try a refreshing Hendrick’s & Tonic garnished with a slice of cucumber. To find out more visit hendricksgin.com Find out more about Orla Stevens at orlastevens.com

February 2024

always finds inspiration in nature and the outdoors, and with those also important factors in both curling and the creation of Hendrick’s Gin, this was the perfect commission. To help inform her four designs that will become the houses (concentric circle targets) that the stones are aimed for in curling, Stevens visited the botanical surrounds of the Hendrick’s Gin Palace, and the nearby dominant peak of Ailsa Craig; she also spent time with Scottish Olympian Scott Andrews learning about the history of the game, which included a lesson in strength and accuracy on the ice.

On meeting Hendrick’s Master Distiller Lesley Gracie at the Hendrick’s Gin Palace, Stevens says: “It was amazing to learn all about the different smells and the different plants that she uses and is drawn to herself, and then also to see what I was drawn to visually as well from the botanics. It was just this riot of colour and textures and patterns.”

When it came to visiting Ailsa Craig, she says: “[It’s] really dramatic and striking on the landscape. It’s funny because it’s quite a gentle, rolling landscape on the mainland, and then you look out to sea and there’s just this one massive lump on the horizon. You can’t miss it. It was lovely to be able to spend time around it studying it and sketching it from different angles. I was able to gather all of that sensory information and draw from both the actual rock formation of Ailsa Craig, but also what I could hear around me as well. The noises that your footprints would make as you walked across the beach, and then the waves lapping on the sand and crashing against the rocks.”

Photo: Michael Drummond

urling is a centuries’ old Scottish recreational institution.

Dating back to the 16th century, Scots used to play a version of the game outdoors, sliding flat stones of varying sizes across frozen rivers, lochs and ponds in the winter months. While nowadays, many would prefer curling up on their couch on a chilly afternoon, the sport of curling continues to thrive, indoors now, of course; it’s still played on ice, but with much smarter granite stones than those of the game’s infancy.

A sport of precision, it should come as no surprise that the granite to make these stones has to be of a very high standard, and so is mined from only two locations, one of which is in Scotland, naturally. From a small rocky outcrop with a mythical past, you’ll find this Olympic standard granite on an island off the coast of Ayrshire called Ailsa Craig. A stone’s throw across the water from Ailsa Craig, in Girvan on the mainland you’ll find the Hendrick’s Gin Palace.

At this point, you might be scratching your head, wondering what gin has to do with curling? Both obviously require ice to enjoy, but the fact of the matter is that Hendrick’s Gin is the title sponsor for this year’s Scottish Curling Championships, taking place at the Dumfries Ice Bowl from 4 to 10 February. To coincide with this, Hendrick’s Gin are bringing art and culture to the rink this month, having commissioned Scottish artist Orla Stevens to create a cool (quite literally) series of original artworks that will be frozen into the ice upon which the competition will be played.

As an avid hill walker and camper, Stevens’ artistic practice

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Words by: Tallah Brash

THE SKINNY

The Love Issue

Love Language We chat with Spanish author Agustín Fernández Mallo about his novel The Book of All Loves and his atypical exploration of one of literature’s most familiar themes Words: Venezia Paloma an important part in the novel and in the author’s work at large. A physicist by profession before becoming a writer, Fernández Mallo integrates a scientific perspective into his literature, using poetic devices to examine and reinterpret notions more commonly associated with other disciplines.

“The fact that every sound has associated noise — because life is not pure and there cannot be life without noise — is a very important concept in physics and biology, and in arts for me,” he tells us. “I use noise as a metaphor for a more general sound of organic life and the creation of art. I mean, we create works from the symbolic residues or ‘noise’ of others.”

This is representative of love as Fernández Mallo conceives it in his novel; the idea of finding meaning at the fringes of traditional communication is central to The Book of All Loves.

Within the snippets of dialogue, replies seem to be unrelated to the statements Photo: Aina Lorente Solivellas

February 2024 – Feature

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hen Agustín Fernández Mallo first encountered 18th-century Thaddäus Haenke’s classification of colours, commonly considered the earliest significant predecessor to the Pantone system, something clicked for him. “I suddenly thought I would like to make a Pantone, but not about colours; a Pantone of love,” he explains over our Zoom call. “It was something magical: I immediately started to write little lyrical texts about love and, for a year, I saw love and relationships of things with love everywhere, and in all kinds of situations and details. It’s like I was possessed by this way of thinking, seeing love everywhere and in everything.”

Indeed, Fernández Mallo’s resulting novel The Book of All Loves reads like the product of a poetic trance.

Structurally, it is unexpected; it combines brief descriptions of different categories of love —ranging in tone from purely lyrical to rigorously academic— with puzzling dialogues between a man and a woman, a couple building a new world after ‘the Great Blackout’. Then, the novel veers into a more traditional narrative form, revealing the story of the couple, a writer and her husband, years earlier as a series of strange occurrences during a trip to Venice forces them to confront the end of the world they know.

This is not, however, a dystopian novel.

Fernández Mallo is emphatic about it: “I’m not interested in the apocalyptic theme because I consider it to be a kind of religious and anti-anthropological lie,” he tells us. “In fact, my book is an optimistic story: the novel presents love as something that can be completely reconstructed to create a new world”. ‘The Great Blackout’, then, is not a biblical reckoning but a metaphor for the transformation of reality through our relationship with love and each other. We see this on display in the novel; the catastrophe begins as the characters discover areas in Venice where all sound seems to have disappeared. “It’s as if the lack of love in the world is actually erasing the ability to perceive it with our senses, with our bodies,” Fernández Mallo explains.

Although the absence of sound is only the first sign of what is to come, noise in general plays

Agustín Fernandez Mallo

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“Lovers always construct a new kind of language, and it is very strange because it’s a language that only they can speak” or questions that prompt them, but these inconsistencies often result in some of the most brilliant reflections in the book. “There is communication between characters but it is not structurally logical, mechanistic or algorithmic communication,” Fernández Mallo explains. “Lovers always construct a new kind of language, and it is very strange because it’s a language that only they can speak.

[These are] the answers of people who are going to build a new world, answers for another world: they open other paths for reflection.”

But as the author reflects on these different manifestations of love, another question arises: if love can be found in an infinity of objects and ideas, how does one write a finite text about it?

“For me, the honest way to write is when the objective of writing is my own investigation of the world. In general, I finish a book when it no longer presents a question to me,” he clarifies. “I have to admit I wrote a lot more fragments [of categories of love] that were not included in the book, but I had to find a balance between these fragments and the story in Venice – it’s an intuition, un balance poético,” he emphasises in Spanish.

“All generations have talked about love, so I couldn’t or didn’t want to write about it in a typical way,” he adds, when asked about the monumental task of approaching one of Literature’s central themes. But there is nothing typical about The Book of All Loves: as cryptic and experimental as it is beautiful and universal, this novel is a powerful exercise on reimagining love, the different configurations it can take, and our relationship with it, each other, and the world around us.

The Book of All Loves is out with Fitzcarraldo on 14 Feb

THE SKINNY

Extending the Parameters Though never expecting to find herself in promotion, Miss Cabbage, aka Shawna Milligan, teams up with VAJ.Power, aka Sof Staune, to create CL!CK – the newest party that you didn’t know you needed

Miss Cabbage

expectation that clubs are going to be this absolutely comfortable place, and they should strive to be, but it’s just not realistic because drink and drugs are involved; it’s loud, there are strobes – it’s a very stimulating space. Hopefully promoters try to educate their crowd because it is about educating rather than policing.

In 2018, Sof, you told us FUSE sought to create a space for VJs that didn’t exist in Glasgow before.

How do you think things have changed over the past five years?

Sof: It’s amazing to see production is not only a thing for big clubs… you can actually achieve a multi-sensory experience without huge budgets when people are creative. There are definitely promoters that now pay attention to that, like Ponyboy, and how they went even further, creating an experience with hair, makeup and looks. When — 27 —

Vaj Power

the lockdown was just lifted, Hawkchild DIY was one of the first who came and started doing crazy lights. It’s amazing to see VJs like Veronica (vnc.ptk) and Niki (Moventia). I love how different but recognisable their work is… there’s also this collective, Phlox. It’s cool to see the visual aspect becoming almost as valuable as the music. The two exist in tandem when creating a rounded club experience.

What should we expect this Valentine’s?

Sof: For Valentine’s Day, we’ve got Yazzus. There’ll also be decorations by Angel (Pure Bliss) and Dorica. The whole vibe will be like the Animal Crossing video games. We’re also working with Ada (netgf and Subcity Manager) on lights… she’s good at making the space intense and anonymous.

Shawna: Yeah, it’ll feel like a trip inside a game. It’ll be nice to do something on Valentine’s that’s not focused around love as such – because it can be isolating for certain people, so we’ll create a space, like a game, that you can just go into and have fun.

Sof: We’re both really into video games. They are this fantasy land that I know a lot of Queer people enjoy because you can create your character, and roleplay as someone else, if not themselves when it’s not safe to be so in the real world.

CL!CK x Stereo ft. Yazzus, Halal Kitty, Dorica and more, 16 Feb, 7pm til late @clickgla_

February 2024 – Feature

Do you draw upon your shared experience of fine art academia in informing your nights?

Sof: I think being visual artists made the collaboration feel natural, as we think about the club as a whole experience rather than just the music played there.

Shawna: For me, I view DJing as an act of performance in itself. In art school, I did performance-based work in my final years and had a brief stint in Drag. This does inform my DJ practice because I like to express myself not only through sonic means but also outward style choices.

The Love Issue

Given the recent unfortunate closure of Bonjour, what are your thoughts on Queer nightlife scenes and safe-space policy prevalence across the country?

Shawna: Where do we start? It’s really sad Bonjour closed. They acted not only as a club but as a community space – that’s where I started my own work and solo progression.

Sof: They single-handedly had the new generation of Queer and Trans DJs coming up through the venue. It was the space where people could hone their skills. With CL!CK, we’re conscious about giving space to newer people.

Shawna: When looking at Queer nightlife in general, there’s a lot of work still to be done.

There are great things like Ponyboy – who’ve only been on the scene just over a year, yet created so much for it. But there’ve been instances where I’ve gone out and not felt safe – and that’s quite a harrowing experience. Now that sounds dramatic, but when you’re going to nights branded as Queer and the crowd clearly isn’t, it can be an uncomfortable experience.

Sof: Big promoters are jumping on trends without realising they have a responsibility to provide safety for artists and their following as well. I feel when safe space policies were initially being implemented, there was maybe an

Photo: Kyle Crooks

As DJs, you seem to play different styles of music. What is the common thread attracting you to these artists?

Shawna: A regular collaboration would be two artists or nights with similar sounds coming together, but I was interested in the opposite end of the spectrum, and how collaborating could expose me to artists or music I wasn’t super familiar with. With me, there’s more of a focus on being glam… It’s kind of a mishmash of both our experiences coming together.

Sof: I’d like to have a CL!CK festival stage…

I’d love to shed light across Scotland – there’s such a strong Queer scene here. While the North of England is kind of getting its spotlight, I feel Scotland is still not. So maybe we could do a club swap in different cities.

Image: courtesy of the artist

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aving previously collaborated on Miss Cabbage & Stereo present, what’s the idea behind formally creating CL!CK? Sof: I collaborate with promoters a lot, but with Shawna, there was a really good back and forth. I felt a creative process, rather than Stereo just providing the space, logistics and budget.

Shawna: I’d never envisioned being a promoter, so it was really helpful to be welcomed by Sof. We share a similar interest in wanting to bring artists other promoters maybe wouldn’t usually go for.

Words: Cammy Gallagher

THE SKINNY

The Unheroic Journey Narrative fiction has long travelled outwith the rigid story structures set out by Aristotle and Joseph Campbell, but biographical cinema has been slow to catch up. Might this year’s crop of biopics be turning the tide?

Film

Words: Carmen Paddock

Ferrari

February 2024 – Feature

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wards Season is in full swing. It’s a time of red carpets, chaotic speeches, post-show celebrity sightings, and an overrepresentation of biopics. This genre is perennial awards fodder: the subjects are known and recreating the past an art unto itself. The best allow a humanising glimpse into deified or vilified subjects through cinema’s narrative and imaginative possibilities; the worst rely on subject matter alone to earn accolades.

In 2000, Roger Ebert described biopics as fundamentally simplifying – they “see the good in a man and demonize his enemies… If they didn’t, we wouldn’t pay to see them.” Ebert underestimates the human thirst for the messy, weird, and unwise.

Transposing a life onto a conventional Western story structure is a fundamental genre problem, but the issue is less Aristotle’s three acts or Freytag’s pyramid than sending a real figure on Campbell’s hero’s journey.

Through studies of world myths and Jungian training, American writer Joseph Campbell based the “monomyth” – the “universal” story – around an exceptional protagonist. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he describes the “hero’s adventure”: leaving the everyday for a heightened world; overcoming tests and trials, often with a mentor; facing a final ordeal; and, if not dead, returning with a “boon” for those he left behind. Sci-fi and fantasy fans may be most familiar with this – George Lucas explicitly credited Campbell for inspiring Star Wars – but biopics are not exempt.

Treating Campbell’s journey as a shorthand for truth and universality exaggerates focus on the individual and can make the larger-than-life appeal of ‘great’ figures ring oddly hollow.

Walk the Line is the quintessential Campbellian biopic; flashbacks build to Johnny Cash’s performance at Folsom State Prison, seeing his rise from the ordinary to the extraordinary via trials (largely of his own making). The ‘boons’ are his artistry. Despite bravura star performances and meticulous reconstruction of time and place, Walk the Line’s formulaic structure spawned the greatest lampoon in cinema: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

The half-life of recent biopics feels short.

Have you thought about The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour or Judy since their Oscar wins?

Probably not. Perhaps these biopics’ tendency towards tidiness is to blame. Think of Maggie Nelson’s refutation of Joan Didion in The Red Parts: “stories may enable us to live, but they also trap us… In their scramble to make sense of nonsensical things, they distort, codify, blame, aggrandise, restrict, omit, betray, mythologise...”

The film industry has struggled to sell a life without an embedded hero’s journey, but as these limitations become known the tide may be turning.

The biopics of the 2024 awards season are varied – some hewing close to formula (Rustin), some doing away with it imperfectly (Maestro), and three proving illuminating across the spectrum.

Considering Christopher Nolan drew from American Prometheus, a J. Robert Oppenheimer biography explicitly invoking the mythic titan who gave man fire and was forever punished, a Campbellian slant in Oppenheimer is unsurprising.

Despite the interlocking narratives (one titled ‘Fission’, the other ‘Fusion’), the film does little new with the genre. While the narrative of ‘Fission’ continually comes back to a McCarthyist deposition, Nolan cannot avoid the Campbellian compression of a life from student hardships through to scientific and moral reckonings to old age to fuel each point of interrogation. Mentors, temptations, clashes, and achievements of the previously impossible appear in succession. Meanwhile, ‘Fusion’, the more interesting section, turns the attempted cabinet appointment of Oppenheimer’s former colleague Lewis Strauss into a captivating procedural.

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a joyous paint-bynumbers biopic hitting every point between the French general’s first call to power through his downfall. Within this almost cradle-to-grave Campbellian journey, Napoleon is given scope to be strange and unheroic. He falls down the stairs in an ungainly escape. He paws the ground like a horse when he wants sex. His outbursts about boats and lamb chops are comically petulant.

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“The film industry has struggled to sell a life without an embedded hero’s journey” Scott’s preference for the cool over the accurate is well documented, and with Napoleon he aims for a great time rather than an important one. The framework is irrelevant.

This season’s best biopic is Michael Mann’s Ferrari. Opening flashback aside, Mann is uninterested in a rote path through challenges. The film hones in on preparations for the 1957 Mille Miglia.

Enzo Ferrari pushes to create the world-leading racing car company and driving team, estranged wife Laura grapples with her place as company co-owner, and both mourn a son. The tensest threat is the cashing of a check. Test drives, engine sketches, coffee in front of the television, and opera trips are all permeated by their constant life-and-death preoccupations. The film’s unshowy presentation of an industry run by people with no sense of self-preservation, and its refusal to explain these urges, makes a deep impression.

Formulaic films are not failures by default.

But after decades of biopics forgotten save for that Best Actor or Actress win, it is time to welcome new ways to portray a life through human, not mythic, journeys.

Oppenheimer and Napoleon are available to rent digitally; Ferrari is currently in cinemas

Oppenheimer

THE SKINNY

February 2024

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THE SKINNY

Monumental Manifestations Art

We catch up with Josie KO, the recipient of The Skinny Prize 2023, to find out more about her practice and her exciting plans for 2024 Words: Harvey Dimond

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f you were lucky enough to see one of Josie KO’s sculptures over the past year – perhaps at the Royal Scottish Academy’s (RSA) New Contemporaries, or as part of Fruitmarket’s group exhibition Poor Things, you can attest to the experience of being in the room with one of her art works. The artist’s contribution to the 2023 rendition of RSA New Contemporaries was an evocative sculpture titled Lady In Blue, which immediately captured your attention as soon as you began climbing the stairs to the upper gallery. The Skinny selected Josie KO as the winner of the 2023 Skinny Prize from this cohort of graduates for her bold and brave large scale sculptural works, which address the intricacies and contradictions of national identities and whether people of colour, Black women specifically, identify (or not) with these identities. The distinct hand-built nature of KO’s works (which are often collaborative) are a joy to experience – there is evidence of a real zest, energy and joy in making with one’s hands. The sheer size of many of her sculptures, which often force the viewer to look up, also makes us question who is (and isn’t) represented in Britain’s civic spaces. While KO’s work satirises these problematic monuments (often to colonists and slave traders), her work is a vital and timely reminder that artists should be playing a crucial and critical role in deciding what fills our public spaces. The scale of the works also counters the erasure of Black women from Western art history and the continued marginalisation of contemporary

Black women artists. She affords these Black female figures the same attention and veneration so often only enshrined to white men, paintings and statues of whom fill our historic galleries and civic spaces.

2023 was a busy year for the artist, as she finished her full-time role at The Glasgow School of Art Students Association (GSASA) and transitioned into becoming a full time, freelance artist. KO graduated from The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in 2021, having spent two academic years without access to a studio. She describes having to make casts in her bedroom during this time, as students were still expected to make work during the pandemic despite zero studio access. “It is so interesting how limitations can really be such a benefit, and I think I’ve definitely seen that play out in my practice. I’d say I have more resources (now), but the resources are still limited.”

The pandemic necessitated creatives to become even more resourceful and resilient, and KO appears to have taken it fully in her stride – despite the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis, skyrocketing rents and funding cuts which continue to make artists’ lives difficult.

In September of last year, just after finishing full time work at GSASA, KO travelled to the Isle of Eigg for a residency at The Bothy Project, which was awarded by The Bothy Project and Visual Arts Scotland. She also had a residency with ANAM, a collective based in Glasgow that brings artists and musicians

February 2024 – Feature

Photo: Felicity Crawshaw Josie KO at Scottish Scuplture Workshop

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THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy of the artist

Art

Josie KO, I'm the Queen of the Castle, 2021

“Artists should be playing a crucial and critical role in deciding what fills our public spaces”

The Skinny Prize is awarded annually to an artist exhibiting in RSA’s New Contemporaries, a selection of graduates from art and architecture schools across Scotland. This year’s exhibition takes place at The Royal Scottish Academy from 30 Mar-24 Apr

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February 2024 – Feature

together to collaborate and produce a final exhibition, which took place at the tail end of 2023. She also successfully applied for a residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire, where she stayed for the whole month of November, focusing on making ceramics. She describes the experience as being integral to the development of her practice: “I think my new chapter as an artist is working more with ceramics as well as papier mâché, finding the similarities between the materials and still exploring a tactile and very responsive material, but also learning the technical aspects of it. In GSA and many art schools, the ceramics departments have closed down. And while there are so many things I could do with ceramics, I was really drawn to doing hand building and looking at how intuition could play a role in my practice. I’m Nigerian, so I’ve seen a lot of hand building ceramics work and craft makers growing up in Nigeria, but I’ve never actually been taught that or learned that practice. So it’s kind of fun to see how I can incorporate this unknown practice into my work. It’s still very early days, but I’m just really enjoying hand building and seeing where that takes me.”

The artist is continuing this exploration at a ceramics studio in Glasgow as she excitingly produces work for an exhibition for Glasgow International in June this year. In collaboration with fellow Glasgow-based artist Kialy Tihngang, the two artists are exploring Black presences in Scotland and Ireland in the pre-colonial era. The two artists are working from written recordings of the ‘Fir Gorma’, or ‘Blue Men’ documented in

Scotland after the Viking invasion, the discovery of which signals that Black people were present in Scotland and the Gaelic world from at least the ninth century. KO and Tihngang’s exhibition will speculatively contextualise this archival account with their own experiences as Black women living in Scotland.

KO describes the pair’s process as “kind of playing with the idea of speculation, daydreaming and taking over archives and making our own narrative of these Black people who were in Scotland – and asking what their lives would’ve looked like. We are trying to really emphasise Black British but specifically Black Scottish identity. We’re coming from it from the perspective of being from England, but we’re also working collaboratively with Scottish artists and now also some Black Irish artists to talk about the term and how we relate to it in different ways.”

I ask KO about who, or what, is inspiring her right now. The artist Tschabalala Self is one current source of inspiration. With her epic, figurative collaged textile works, you can certainly see the parallels with KO’s shapely and statuesque sculptures. Self is an expert at capturing the Black female form and resisting the Western gaze that denies Black women agency over their self-representation. Another source of inspiration is Rachel Jones (also a graduate of GSA), with her rhythmically gestural paintings that map out internal, psychological landscapes. More candidly, KO also says she is enjoying watching and listening to Claudia Winkleman while in the studio and at home – “I’m watching the new season of Traitors and I love seeing her with her blocky fringe and eyeliner. She glamourises messiness… and I want to start embracing that love of the imperfect and the irregular in all aspects of my life and my work.”

Jock Mooney

February 2024 – Feature

Comedy

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THE SKINNY

Hold the Scotch The prospect of Yorgos Lanthimos adapting Poor Things has been mouthwatering for Alasdair Gray fans. But by changing the setting from Glasgow to London, has the book’s political message been lost?

Words: Mia Squire James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) to Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels. Bella Baxter’s journey to enlightenment therefore becomes a commentary on the future of Scotland. Despite modern Scotland being in its infancy as a nation, like Bella it is extremely capable and fast-learning. Thus at its crux, Gray’s is a novel about what it fundamentally means to be Scottish and how nations are constructed in relation to their literature.

Dr Baxter’s manufacturing of humanity parallels the idea of the Scottish national identity as being invented and imagined. This idea of inauthenticity is abundantly obvious in Lanthimos’s adaptation, and the exaggerated fictional settings and costumes within the film are perhaps a nod to Gray’s contemplations on the infancy of Scotland as a nation.

However, the imagined otherworldly locations are intended to be more of an outward reflection of Bella Baxter’s psyche rather than an ode to Scotland. The novel’s setting in the West End of Glasgow has been replaced by a fantasy steampunk wonderland plucked from Lanthimos’s imagination.

In fact, Scotland isn’t present at all. Godwin Baxter’s residence has been displaced from Park Circus and planted in the middle of an imagined London.

Although this may appear an insignificant plot point, this artistic choice destroys some of the significance of Gray’s text.

There is some irony to this creative choice.

Through the vessel of Bella, Gray comments on the dilution and destruction of Scottish culture. In erasing the Scottish setting of the film, Lanthimos only reinforces Gray’s argument. Yet in removing the cultural context of the text and giving it ‘the Hollywood treatment’, Poor Things becomes less of a reflection on the dilemma of the Scottish nation,

Film

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“At its crux, Gray’s is a novel about what it fundamentally means to be Scottish” and more simply a surrealist commentary on the female experience. While Lanthimos’s film is a fascinating examination of what it is to be human, in changing the setting it does appear he’s robbed his film of a more layered political commentary.

This is not to say you shouldn’t go and see Poor Things. Undeniably, it’s a wonderfully inventive and original film. And it’s clear Lanthimos has great respect for Gray and his writing. In several interviews, the Greek director of The Lobster and The Favourite has talked fondly of the author, who he briefly visited in Glasgow to discuss the adaptation before Gray died in 2019.

The scale of the production, the stellar cast, and the glowing early reviews all set Poor Things up to be a successful adaptation.

However, before we get caught up in the spectacle, I’d urge people anticipating the film to take the time to read Gray’s original text.

Not only is it a literary and visual delight, but an understanding of the cultural importance of Gray’s book will only add to the viewing experience as we realise the true significance of Bella Baxter.

Photo: Atsushi Nishijima

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February 2024 – Feature

orgos Lanthimos’s latest film, Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo, has already been deemed a critical success following its US release in early December. However, Lanthimos may have missed a trick as his adaptation appears to largely overlook the Scottish significance of the original text.

Poor Things is based on the 1992 novel by celebrated Glaswegian writer and artist Alasdair Gray. The general plot focuses on Bella Baxter (played by Stone in the film) and her strange origins as a corpse resurrected by Dr Godwin Baxter (played by Dafoe with a wavering Scottish accent, the film’s only direct nod to Gray’s home nation).

Bella is brought back to life by replacing her brain with that of her unborn foetus, thus making her a modern Frankenstein’s monster – a grown woman with an infant’s mind, who must relearn everything she previously knew about the world around her.

Emma Stone has already spoken of the fascinating challenge Bella provided as a character. Yet, the book’s original setting of Victorian Scotland is vital to fully understand the complexity of Bella Baxter as a character.

A fierce Scottish nationalist and enthusiast of Scottish history, Alasdair Gray’s art is inherently informed by his politics. Within the Poor Things novel, Gray includes an illustration of Bella Baxter titled ‘Bella Caledonia’.

This addition may appear strange at first but begins to make perfect sense when we consider Bella as a metaphor for the Scottish nation. Much like Scotland, Bella is simultaneously old and young – stripped of her history and violently forced to communicate in an unfamiliar language. As a woman, she is marginalised and exploited by her English counterparts.

This idea of duality is viewed as characteristic of Scottish literature. First coined in 1919, the concept of the ‘Caledonian antisyzygy’ describes the union of opposites that is inherently Scottish.

Literary critics claim that this is because Scotland is divided and imperfect. This is a recurring motif in Scottish texts – from

THE SKINNY

A Moment In Lime Wonky pop party band Lime Garden unleash their debut album this month, proving that there is nothing better than getting up on stage and having fun with your mates

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he band looks nervously through the throngs of people lining the graffitied walls of Edinburgh venue Sneaky Pete’s. Guitarist Chloe Howard is set as a stand-in but secretly hoping for a small miracle. After making it through a disjointed soundcheck, all there is to do is wait.

Five minutes before stage time, they see her. “[Our bassist] Tippi [Morgan] ran through the door!” exclaims Howard. “Thank God, the train wasn’t delayed,” adds drummer Annabel Whittle with a wry smile. Because, friends, like Lime Garden, are there when you need them most.

These wonky pop pals, completed by guitarist Lelia Deeley, have known one another for nearly a decade. Whittle and Howard met through a now-fabled Facebook group looking for college housemates but with a secret motive in mind: to form a girl band. “None of us had a lot of all-female band influences growing up. We want to be that influence on someone else,” explains Whittle, who has reluctantly left the comfort of her electric blanket to take our call.

But for Howard, Lime Garden represented something that she hadn’t seen before in the magazine racks of her teens. “Every girl band that I’ve known growing up has been very marketed as these portrayals of perfect women,” she says, leaning closer into her phone camera that’s propped up against a menu card as she finishes a shift at her day job. “We’re just four mates.

Sometimes we look like shit. We rock up to show young girls that you don’t need to put on crazy dresses and wear loads of makeup. You can get on stage and have fun with your mates. It’s a valid form of expression.”

Despite only playing together for a few months, Howard’s tenacity wrangled the group onto a sold-out show in Guildford performing alongside their college friend’s band. Quite the feat given they only had a handful of songs to their name and a clutch of those were covers. Like any ramshackle rock and roller though, you figure it out on the job, as Howard admits. “At soundcheck, we were looking at each other like, ‘What do we do?’ I was 16 when we did that show!” For this bunch of ragtag friends, this was their moment. “It felt like Wembley Stadium, didn’t it?” Howard beams back to Whittle on the call. “We were like the Foo Fighters up there.”

While confidence was high, collaboration was – as Whittle’s expressed before – “musically confused.” Honouring the early influences they’d snatched from their childhood homes, the hard rock riffs of Led Zeppelin and Queen sidled up alongside the melodramatic disco melodies of the Bee Gees. But then isn’t that what your teenage years are all about, exploring your identities together in a nonjudgemental space? “None of us had been in a serious band before!” reasons

Howard. “[It’s] made us the songwriters and musicians we are today because we had those years figuring out what we wanted to say and be.”

Like those mainstream girl groups that Howard alluded to earlier, so many chart acts are thrown together and often by the general public – one hand in a sharing bag of Doritos, the other voting on their mobile phones. Lime Garden, instead, have sown the seeds for a lifelong affinity.

And that’s essential, not least when you’re on the road for months at a time, as Whittle can attest.

“We spend so much time together. I don’t know how bands do it with people they don’t like!”

Last year saw the foursome sharing the stage with everyone from BBC 6Music mainstays IDLES to fellow four-piece The Big Moon. Nothing could’ve prepared them for that first show back after lockdown though, staring out to a sea of people in a balmy tent at Latitude Festival acknowledging just how far they’ve come. “We were like, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on?’” jokes Whittle. “‘How do you know about us?’”

What we do know is that these four friends have tweaked that hard rock, disco mix into a slinky synth-led sound. Their debut One More Thing reflects on every young woman’s most intimate thoughts, from the inherent pressures of procreation (Mother) to the openness of an anxious mind (Fears). Through late nights in quad rooms to the pre-tour Poundland toiletries dash, the roots of these four musicians have entwined into something symbiotic, maybe even cosmic.

When asked what’s one more thing we should

“Every girl band I’ve known growing up has been marketed as perfect women...

We’re just four mates. Sometimes we look like shit” Chloe Howard, Lime Garden know ahead of the album’s release, Howard sits quietly trying to catch Whittle’s eye. “I’m trying to read Annabel’s mind!”

After a few moments, she picks up. “I would say they need to know this album is just one side of what we can offer musically to the world.”

Without hesitation, Whittle adds, “One More Thing is a beginner’s guide to Lime Garden. Stay tuned and you’ll get the next episode. But it might be very different.”

One More Thing is released on 16 Feb via So Young Records.

Lime Garden play Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 28 Feb; The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 29 Feb linktr.ee/limegarden Photo: Jono White

February 2024 – Feature

Music

Words: Cheri Amour

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Comedy

February 2024 – Feature

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THE SKINNY

Teenage Kicks Ahead of shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of a tour celebrating their fifth studio album, Everything Is Alive, we catch up with Slowdive drummer Simon Scott

Music

Words: Tony Inglis

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n January, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell posted throwback photos from the band’s first rehearsal upon deciding to reform. The fresh-faced teenagers on the cover of their sound-defining record Souvlaki had grown a little wrinkled. It was their first practice in 20 years. It’s been another ten since they met up in their hometown of Reading, a few more wrinkles on those faces. But in a reunion that has lasted almost doubly as long as their initial stint, few could have predicted Slowdive’s longevity, the way the zeitgeist has come to meet them head on, or the drive with which they’ve approached new and vital work.

“It’s quite well documented now that we were on the periphery of any kind of success back in the 90s,” says the band’s drummer Simon Scott, calling in hours ahead of departure for a run of Slowdive shows throughout Europe and the UK. At most of them, there’s not a ticket left to be had.

February 2024 – Feature

Photo: Ingrid Pop

“We were happy with being a small, underground band back then. But to get to the level where we’re selling more records and playing bigger venues – we’re very humbled. We’re still the same people and we still play similar sorts of music, but since we reformed it kind of doesn’t feel like too big a leap up. We feel like we’re ready to do bigger venues.”

That modest sentiment seems like something befitting of a young band on the rise, not one that has set the tone for an entire genre. But it’s easy to forget now – after the positively received reunion, the critically-acclaimed new material, and slow turnaround thanks to the passing of time and the flowering memory of their importance – that shoegaze and dream pop, especially when played

by Slowdive, were derided and misunderstood in their first iteration. Panned in the press, and playing to empty rooms, by the time its members had called it quits, Slowdive didn’t get the cherry-on-the-cake live shows they’re used to now.

This month, Slowdive bring their ascendant noise to Glasgow’s Barrowlands. Feted by fans and performers alike, it’s a venue in Scotland that reflects a kind of tidemark for where a group sits in the pantheon of great bands currently doing it. If you can blow the roof off the Barras, you’re doing something right – and if you’ve seen Slowdive play live, you know they will. Scott calls it “a privilege and an honour” to finally be playing there.

Slowdive – alongside the likes of Duster and Life Without Buildings – are one of a few esoteric legacy acts really penetrating the cultural climate. That is in no small part down to how their music – for better or worse – has travelled across social media. If the dynamic at Slowdive shows had changed by the time they were touring their self-titled record post-reunion, the difference is even more stark at these shows in support of their latest album Everything Is Alive. Now countless videos on TikTok document the recontextualisation of their art by people who weren’t even born when the band first dissolved.

“Down the front of shows, there’s a very young audience that have just discovered Slowdive – it’s maybe their first ever gig. And we’ve just been to America where there’s — 38 —

“Those reflective moments you have as a teenager sitting in your room, they’ve floated through to a new generation” Simon Scott, Slowdive kids in Slowdive T-shirts with their parents who’ve been fans since the 90s,” says Scott, almost flabbergasted. “Those old songs seem to resonate.

We wrote them as teenagers, with teenage feelings, and [young people now] are latching on to that angst and yearning. I think we’ve always made really personal music and those reflective moments you have as a teenager sitting in your room, they’ve floated through to a new generation.”

Slowdive’s influence is, at this point, pervasive: a precursor for many of the bands populating the modern shoegaze canon, as well as for wildly popular acts using the same building blocks – shimmering guitars, androgynous vocals – but lacking a similarly robust circulatory system.

“Shoegaze is this lovely, slightly vague term incorporating psychedelia, sometimes ambient or folk – it can be whatever you want it to be. And it’s great that it’s always evolving, and probably won’t ever go away,” says Scott.

Slowdive’s less heralded third record turns 30 next year. On Pygmalion, Slowdive sound the most cocooned they ever have, working with tape loops, drum machines and vocal processing. It’s an album of minimalist electronica and, while its songs don’t get as much of an outing at shows, Scott agrees its shadow looms over the work of electronic auteurs like Tim Hecker and Daniel Avery. Slowdive’s music conjures waves of nostalgia, but Scott is emphatic there will be no victory lap for Pygmalion. “We didn’t come back to look backwards,” he says.

Pygmalion’s DNA runs through the veins of the Moog synths and Prophet sequencers that form the basis of Everything Is Alive, an album that increasingly stands as a document of what it means for a great 90s band to age vibrantly and defiantly into a future that those who write musical histories destined them never to be a part of.

Slowdive play Barrowlands, Glasgow, 23 Feb; The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 24 Feb slowdiveofficial.com

THE SKINNY

The Pie’s The Thing With the days steadily getting longer, A Play, A Pie & A Pint is preparing to launch its ambitious spring season this month Words: Rho Chung

funding, and then a soft reversal from the SNP late last year, companies and programmes that have run for years are facing sudden precarity – not to mention new and marginalised artists trying to find space in the industry.

“It’s reassuring to know Play, Pie, Pint are still there and pushing through new writing and interesting things that we’ve not seen before, and not just playing it safe,” McGregor says. Part of Play, Pie, Pint’s unique appeal is (perhaps obviously) the pie and pint portion. The plays are shown at lunchtime during the work week. It’s an inclusive, relaxed experience compared to the expectations placed on standard audiences.

While there’s plenty of comedy in the programme, McGregor says that there is also room for the “salient and real.” They continue: “Sometimes it’s nice to go in for something where you’re not expecting to be challenged or provoked and coming out feeling like you have been.” Ness comments on self-narrativisation, challenging Scottish attitudes toward identities outside of the norm.

We mythologise and tokenise the creatures of lore, and this both contradicts and confirms the — 39 —

playpiepint.com

February 2024 – Feature

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ased in Glasgow’s Òran Mór and touring all over Scotland, A Play, A Pie & A Pint produce lunchtime plays that, as the name would suggest, come with a pie and a pint. This season offers a diverse array of new work that celebrates and interrogates identity, storytelling, and Scottishness. The programme of 18 shows includes work from Play, Pie, Pint veterans, like Laila Noble (Bed & Breakfast, Dungeons, Dragons, and the Quest for D***), and promising debuts from new artists, like Hannah McGregor (Ness).

Ness, directed by Debbie Hannan, tells the story of a young non-binary person who strikes up a friendship with the Loch Ness Monster.

McGregor says that it’s about “Queerness, Scottishness, and identity”. Like much of Play, Pie, Pint’s programme, it’s an inventive comedy about challenging topics. Queerness appears throughout the programme – “Not just queerness [as] in gender and sexuality,” McGregor says, “But undone. The strange and weird and wonderful.”

The season begins at an uncertain time for Scottish theatre makers. After the announcement of a massive cut to Creative Scotland’s own

Theatre

Photo: Tommy Ga Ken Wan Meet Me at the Knob

way queer people are treated in Scotland today.

McGregor hopes to highlight the way queer people are simultaneously made hyper-visible and invisible by a culture that claims to welcome us, but that does so for only some of us, or under certain conditions. “I wanted to take this pinnacle of Scottish culture and mythology and pair it against something that people seem to be more scared of, that is actually real, is happening.” Ness runs from 8-13 April.

Play, Pie, Pint’s Spring programme speaks to our daily lives in varied ways. The season kicks off with Jack (19-24 Feb), written by Liam Moffat and directed by Gareth Nicholls, a dark comic monologue about a man who doesn’t know how to tell his partner that he doesn’t want this puppy.

Laila Noble directs Kirsty Halliday’s Bed & Breakfast (26 Feb- 2 Mar), which follows two B&B employees on a less-than-routine day at work.

Dundee-based company Elfie Picket contributes original songs to Pushin’ Thirty (11-16 Mar), written by Taylor Dyson and Calum Kelly and directed by Beth Morton. The play tells the story of two high school friends, now soon-to-be 30 years old, who are accidentally reunited in their hometown of Dundee.

Tamàm Shud (1-6 Apr), written by Thomas Jancis and directed by Andre Agius, is a dark comedy in the style of Alan Bennett. The play is based on the true events surrounding the mysterious murder of the ‘Somerton man’ in 1948.

Jen McGregor’s Who Pays the Pipe (15-20 Apr), directed by Tom Cooper, explores the requirements and limits of turning your passion into your career.

The play, which follows a talented young singer and her ambitious (maybe delusional) student, is a timely interrogation of the arts industry.

Laila Noble also directs a play of her own writing, called Dungeons, Dragons, and the Quest for D*** (21-26 May), in which protagonist Finn teams up with his best friend/dungeon master to find love after having trouble defining his own queer identity.

Medea on the Mic (10-15 Jun), written by Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh and directed by Philip Howard, is a queer and feminist retelling of the classic Greek tragedy – though that’s only one part of this inventive, Scottish, and hilarious piece.

Hannah McGregor has been going to A Play, A Pie and a Pint since their childhood in Glasgow. It’s an integral part of the Scottish theatre scene for Scots of all walks of life, and this season has something to offer everyone. McGregor hopes that their brand of humour can “reach across” to audiences who aren’t familiar with the content of their writing.

The stories that bind us together, they suggest, are deeper and more diverse than we even know.

THE SKINNY

The Marx behind the ‘ism’ Words: Eliza Gearty

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efore taking on the job of directing Marx in London! – the UK premiere of composer Jonathan Dove’s comic opera about a day in the life of the famous theorist – Stephen Barlow would never have thought to pick up a biography of Karl Marx. The opera and musical theatre director was aware of Marx as one of the “great economic and political thinkers of the 19th century” but, like many, thought of the man himself as simply “that Prussian Communist with a funny beard”. When Barlow did start looking into Marx’s eventful personal life, he was surprised by what he found. “There is so much more to him that is both comic and tragic,” he says.

It was a “really crazy life” filled with potential for creative adaptation. In the early 1870s, Marx the philosopher was working on the political and economic theory that would go on to define him – but behind the scenes, his life was chaotic.

Expelled from Germany, France and Belgium, Marx had settled in London, where he was harangued by debt collectors and relied on financial hand-outs from sympathetic collaborator Friedrich Engels just to get by. He had a colourful social life, many real and suspected enemies, and plenty of family drama to contend with.

“Everything that happens [in the opera] is based on fact because his life was incredibly well documented,” says Barlow. “The opera uses some theatrical licence to take a series of factual events and condense them all into one day. It’s a bit like [Mozart’s] The Marriage of Figaro, which also focuses on one crazy day where all these things happen.”

Barlow is keen to stress that Marx in London! is not a fundamentally political piece.

“Marx really exists as a concept now – we know about ‘Marxism’ and ‘being a Marxist’. The point of the opera is to take away the ‘isms’ and ‘ists’ and look at the man himself and a life rich with comic contradiction.” This is not to say that the opera completely shies away from Marx’s radical beliefs.

“When you do an opera about Karl Marx, it would be remiss to not touch base on what he advocated for,” Barlow notes. “He sacrificed a lot for his beliefs, at huge cost to him and his family. And he changed the history of the 20th century. So Jonathan Dove and librettist Charles Hart do touch on [that side of his life] – but this is not an agitprop piece that’s meant to have you storming the barricades. It’s entertaining and it presents the facts. It’s not a love letter to Karl Marx; nor is it a hatchet job.”

Marx’s life was rich and varied. It could have been adapted into a serious drama, a rousing

Photo: James Glossop

February 2024 – Feature

Theatre

We speak to director Stephen Barlow about the great thinker’s ‘fascinating’ years spent in London – and why they were great source material for a new comic opera produced by Scottish Opera this month

The set of Marx in London! during rehearsals

political tour-de-force or even a tragedy. Why an opera – and furthermore, why a comic one? “He’s such a larger than life figure, and his ideas were big. The thing opera can do better than West End or Broadway musical theatre is tackle big themes really well,” Barlow enthuses. The production has “the big, musical resources of a Verdi opera – a chorus of 34, a large orchestra. That matches the big political and philosophical themes that relate to Marx.”

As for comedy, Barlow says that comedy and opera have always been “very happy bedfellows” – noting that Marx in London! delivers many of the “usual comic opera tropes” – but also adds that comedy can be a warmer and more inviting genre.

“I remember Jonathan [Dove] was once asked, ‘What do you want people to feel when they’re watching your work?’ and his answer was, ‘I want them to enjoy a good night out.’ Nobody today writes operas as appealing, entertaining and accessible as Jonathan Dove. They’re very much operas – written for operatic voices, scored for operatic orchestras – but they have the appeal of a musical.” Comedy can also contain “light and shade”, capturing, perhaps most accurately, the combined humour and tragedy of a human life.

“Like a Chekhov play or a Mozart opera or an — 40 —

“It’s not a love letter to Karl Marx; nor is it a hatchet job” Stephen Barlow episode of Frasier, you can be laughing a lot and then suddenly you get to a bit that’s really quite sad and poignant,” Barlow says. “This is a romp with grit. There’s a mix of laugh out loud moments and poignancy and pathos.”

Above all, Marx in London! promises to be, as Dove intended, a good night out. “I want to take the audience by the hand and lead them into this crazy, funny and poignant world of Marx, his family, his friends and his enemies,” says Barlow.

“As soon as you walk into the auditorium, I guarantee you’re going to smile before a note is even played or sung.”

Theatre Royal Glasgow, 13, 15 & 17 Feb, 7.15pm; Festival Theatre Edinburgh, 22 & 24 Feb, 7.15pm scottishopera.org.uk/shows/marx-in-london

THE SKINNY

Success in Comedy Both nominated for Best Newcomer by The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, northern lads Paddy Young and Dan Tiernan are taking their hit debut hours on tour Words: Louis Cammell

Dan Tiernan

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Dan Tiernan: Going Under, Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 29 Feb, The Stand, Glasgow, 3 Mar @paddyisyoung @paddyyoungcomedy @tiernancomedian

February 2024 – Feature

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addy Young and Dan Tiernan have talked before about how if they were comedians with their level of success in the nineties, they’d be raking it in. Both received nominations for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Best Newcomer Award at last year’s Fringe, both sold out their Soho Theatre runs this month and both are touring their respective shows. So how is it that they’re both scraping by? The two northern Englishmen (“You’re no longer northern in Scotland. You’re an English person,” says Young) moved to London to pursue comedy full-time, yet their best efforts are only proving so lucrative.

It seems only right that clothes-horses creep into each one of our pixelated rectangles every now and again, suggesting a chaos barely out of frame, as we discuss how the goalposts seem to have moved for our generation. Young calls it a never-ending horizon: one that gets further away as the industry recognition and views online continue to not turn into actual money.

“The similar theme [between our shows] is that we’re kind of both struggling,” says Tiernan. “[But] I think both our shows are punchline-driven.

Paddy Young: Hungry, Horny, Scared, Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 17 Feb, The Old Hairdresser’s, Glasgow, 22 Mar

Photo: Drew Forsyth

Paddy Young

I have loads of jokes about dyspraxia and being gay but the throughline is just, ‘This is who I am.’ I did have a really lonely, tough year before I started writing the show because of achieving all of these dreams and incredible things [like winning the BBC New Comedy Award] and them really not fulfilling me. But I don’t think either of us wants to change the way anyone thinks.”

Young agrees.

“You write the jokes and then you have all these people tell you what the show is. I never wanted to make a show that’s the flat share show or the generation rent show but I am now a decade into flat shares and, just before I went up to The Fringe, I got kicked out of one. That’s the reality for a lot of us. Pretty much everyone [in comedy] earns £21,000 a year. I forget that people assume that we still make loads of money. I went to some costume thing and I had a job where I wore a tuxedo so I decided to wear it to a gig. And I completely bombed. Maybe coming on and talking about flat shares didn’t seem ironic enough.”

“I think if you were bombing anyway, a suit is only gonna make it worse. He’s put literally his best outfit on and he’s RUBBISH,” howls Tiernan, having already been set off by his showbiz mate giving away exactly how much they earn to anyone who wants to know. Not to mention that the number gets smaller each time. While Tiernan catches his breath, it’s striking how contrary to the subject matter the mood is.

The pair clearly love doing comedy and admit they’re standing on the shoulders of giants. They might have been rich in Stewart Lee’s day, but they wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. “In terms of being the best comic possible, I [still] think we’re in the best time,” says Tiernan. “You can build your own audience and put stuff out there [digitally].

But it’s quite frustrating because I really struggle with making online content and it’s just so necessary these days.”

“It is a bit frustrating that just being really good at standup isn’t enough anymore,” seconds Young. “But yeah, Dan and I could both list off brilliant comedians that we know who were never going to be given a chance to do the standard king-makers of comedy [like Live at the Apollo or, more recently, Taskmaster] but they’ve now found their crowd [online].”

Tiernan is at pains to stress the gulf between Young’s output and his own. Young’s surrealist sketches with on-screen flatmate and comedian Ed Night are full of nifty edits and camera tricks, and are released with a consistency that makes them both fairly ubiquitous faces on Instagram.

They serve almost as an unofficial, continual showreel for their acting chops. “[Whereas] I made a video once for TikTok and then spent six months trying to work out how to delete it,” Tiernan says.

Young is quick to build him up.

“Dan, that video that you shot on your iPhone of you smashing a beer can over your head was amazing.”

Tiernan rubs his face.

“I wish that was a joke.”

Comedy

Photo: Michael Julings

“The similar theme [between our shows] is that we’re kind of both struggling”

Dan Tiernan

THE SKINNY

Reward Yourself Resident Rewards helps Edinburgh residents make the most of their city – here’s a guide to what’s on offer

Image: Courtesy of Forever Edinburgh

Advertising feature

Words by: The Skinny

February 2024

Image: Courtesy of Forever Edinburgh

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around, then come back later in the year and check out your favourite bits to your heart’s content without it costing you anything more.

For an extra-special treat, check out Resident Previews.

These are early chances to check out brand new events or experiences launching in the city before anyone else. Previews have included an exclusive tour of the freshly-renovated National Gallery of Scotland at the Mound, and an early sneak peek at the Scotch Whisky Experience’s revamped Silver Tour. Keep up to date with these rewards by signing up to the Forever Edinburgh newsletter, or following Forever Edinburgh on social media and at the hashtag #EHRewards

National Galleries of Scotland – National

dinburgh has a lot going on – the history, the architecture, the nightlife, the nature – and people travel from all over the world to experience the city. But for those of us who live here all year round and spend most of our time at work, studying or doing mundane ‘life admin’, there’s still plenty to enjoy, and always new places and spaces to explore.

That’s the idea behind Resident Rewards, a scheme designed to help Edinburgh residents make the most of living in one of Europe’s great cities, and to enjoy everything their home town has to offer. The Resident Rewards programme has expanded for 2024 with a host of deals and offers – here’s a brief guide to some of what Edinburgh residents can enjoy.

Like we said before, there’s always someplace new to check out in Edinburgh, but sometimes you just need a bit of a nudge in the right direction. That’s the idea with Star Rewards – these are monthly offers that let you experience one of Edinburgh’s attractions at a discounted rate, but only for that month. February’s Star Reward is a chance to enjoy a great meal at Drinks & Dining at Ten Hill Place Hotel in the Southside, ideal for before a show at the Festival Theatre or after a walk up The Crags or Arthur’s Seat.

Edinburgh residents can buy a voucher with a value of £50 for just £25, and use that within February 2024. In March, take a pal on a spooky tour of Edinburgh’s vaults with Mercat Tours – it’s buy one, get one free, so your aforementioned friend can get the drinks afterwards – while April and May’s rewards will take you to the Department of Magic in the Old Town and the Port of Leith Distillery at the Leith waterfront.

If you’re more of a free spirit, or you’re so organised that your whole February is booked up, check out Resident Rates.

These are special prices available to Edinburgh residents to use at their convenience year-round – locals get 10% off tours of the city with Edinburgh Bus Tours, 20% off their food at the Thirty Knots pub in South Queensferry next to the iconic Forth Bridge and 20% off experiences at Johnnie Walker Princes Street.

Annual Passes are at the other end of the scale, offering local residents the chance to take multiple trips to some of their favourite places in the city without it costing them each time they return. Head to the Royal Yacht Britannia, do a loop

The Scotch Whisky Experience

And as a final cherry on top, sometimes living in Edinburgh means you get great stuff, for free, just for being here. Half Price and Free Days allow locals to, on certain days and times, take a look around some of the city’s best attractions for less than usual. In the case of the Holyrood Distillery, Thursday nights offer the chance to take a tour of the excellent distillery, tucked away next to Holyrood Park, completely free. Now that beats a night of doing your laundry and watching TV… Find out more about Resident Rewards at www.edinburgh.org/residentrewards T&Cs apply; Rewards are subject to change

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THE SKINNY

Album of the Month

Album of the Month The Last Dinner Party — Prelude to Ecstasy Released 2 February

by Island Records rrrrr

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Listen to: The Feminine Urge, On Your Side, Beautiful Boy

gender, a theme that furnishes the album more and more as it revolves. In Beautiful Boy, Morris sings ‘The power of my hips is useless in the dark / What good are red lips when you’re faced with something sharp?’ It’s a dialogue with Emily Roberts’ flute – giving this couplet the classic accompaniment it deserves.

Each intertextual anthem is set to a barrage of drums, or electric guitar, sometimes mandolin.

The band are more than mere followers of the retro, they are voracious readers, and all the art and history and culture they consume appears on the playback. The Feminine Urge metaphorises and mythologises its subject; ‘I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks / All the poison I convert it and I turn into love’.

Whether you call it glam, goth, or grotesque, these writers are resurrecting a long lost art in popular music – using big sounds, with indulgent lyrics, crafting a listening experience so rich it borders on hedonism. Some records are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and few to be chewed and digested. We’re still digesting Prelude to Ecstasy. We hope this isn’t The Last Dinner Party’s final meal. [Ellie Robertson]

February 2024 — Review

relude to Ecstasy is the score of a pre-apocalyptic banquet, and each track is a course served on a silver platter. The Last Dinner Party’s live shows have become legendary for their lavish choreography and costuming, but it’s the five-piece’s lyrical and compositional thesis – taking the ennui of everyday life, and elevating it to Dionysian heights – that have earned them the distinction of BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2024.

The abundant breaks, instrumentals, excessive outros and changes in tempo might remind you of Hunky Dory, but the literary themes pick up where Blackstar left off – songs for the end.

Nothing Matters is nihilistic, Gjuha is a ghostly chorus. Burn Alive is rendered with references to Joan of Arc, and the backing has something of Siouxsie Sioux about it. An excess of musical mentors are seated at the table – The Darkness’s Justin Hawkins has compared My Lady of Mercy to Led Zepplin.

Abigail Morris’s ode to ego in Caesar on a TV Screen is set against a backdrop of doomed people and places, ‘And I’m falling like the leaves on Leningrad’. This four-and-a-half-minute-long adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy touches on

Find reviews for the below albums online at theskinny.co.uk/music

Grandaddy Blu Wav Out 16 Feb via Dangerbird Records

William Doyle Springs Eternal Out 16 Feb via Tough Love Records

Real Estate Daniel Out 23 Feb via Domino

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MGMT Loss of Life Out 23 Feb via Mom + Pop

Hurray for the Riff Raff The Past Is Still Alive Out 23 Feb via Nonesuch Records

Albums

THE SKINNY

Helado Negro PHASOR 4AD, 9 Feb

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February 2024 — Review

Listen to: LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros), I Just Want To Wake Up With You, Es Una Fantasia

Chelsea Wolfe She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She Loma Vista, 9 Feb

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Listen to: Dusk, Tunnel Lights, Whispers In the Echo Chamber

Following a string of albums released via Sufjan Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label, Roberto Carlos Lange took his Helado Negro project to RVNG Intl. before making the leap to 4AD for the release of his 2021 Far In LP. Where that record was a sprawling lockdown-crafted parade, his new album is all about the bright light and warm breeze of the world outside his door.

Pieced together in the time since Lange moved to North Carolina, PHASOR bristles with the surrounding flora and fauna, shaped by the way the light falls upon them. An endearingly tight collection, sketches for these songs were created using SAL-MAR – a complex synthesizer with ‘an old super computer brain’, before Lange fleshed his ideas out with that same meandering groove which has been ever-present throughout his storied career.

Born in South Florida to Ecuadorian immigrant parents, Lange once again presents his work bilingually and that juxtaposition fills PHASOR with an alluring magic, as if the world he is depicting is flush with colours you can’t quite make sense of.

An ode to ‘grace and mercy’, PHASOR is a rich and absorbing record that truly transports; placing the listener in a languid, half-lit morning where you’re never quite asleep and never fully awake. [Tom Johnson] There is perhaps no better modern musical equivalent to the American Gothic literary genre than Chelsea Wolfe. Over the past decade, Wolfe has amassed an impressive back catalogue, shape-shifting in style with every passing record, but always distinctly with her deft touch, songwriting prowess and soaring yet delicate voice.

On her seventh record, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, Wolfe writes about the cyclical nature of healing, off the back of a long-term relationship dissolving and going sober, with the assistance of TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek at the helm behind the board. Together with Wolfe’s band, they’ve created an impressive aural experience, maintaining Wolfe’s cross-section of folk music with gloomy heavy metal and turning it into something more akin to Bristol trip-hop atmosphere or Trent Reznor’s industrialism.

Wolfe’s voice and sounds are chopped and screwed to create an unnerving experience, while lyrics speak of rebirth and rebuilding from the past (Tunnel Lights) and heading into the future with self-assuredness on album closer Dusk. It’s yet another successful reinvention from the Californian artist who continues to be an impenetrable force, laying herself bare and rebuilding for all to see and hear. [Adam Turner-Heffer]

Kali Malone All Life Long Ideologic Organ, 9 Feb

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Listen to: All Life Long (for organ), No Sun To Burn (for brass), Moving Forward

Nadine Shah Filthy Underneath EMI North, 23 Feb

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Listen to: Greatest Dancer, Food For Fuel, French Exit, Topless Mother

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Last year composer Kali Malone was forced to cancel her concert at the Church Saint-Cornély in France after far-right protesters deemed her performance to be “profanatory”. You could argue they were right. After all she does harness sounds associated with religious worship for her own secular purposes. Passage Through the Spheres, the opening track of her latest album is a great example of this; a liturgical chant performed by the vocal group Macadam Ensemble, whose lyrics are adapted from Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s essay In Praise of Profanation.

Malone’s rebellious sensibility, particularly in relation to the interplay between the sacred and the profane, continues throughout All Life Long.

Exploring the effect devotional drones have on believers and non-believers alike, pieces written for brass and pipe organ weave in and out of harmonic stability as various textures and patterns re-emerge across the album.

Certain songs are resurrected too, like the titular composition which appears first as an organ piece that surrounds the listener in a funereal fog, only to resurface later as a choral canon based on Arthur Symons poem The Crying Water. The cumulative effect is sublime and will leave even the most agnostic listener in a state of transcendental bliss. [Patrick Gamble] Filthy Underneath is an album of movement, a feat undeniable if all you’ve heard is the chorus of lead single Topless Mother; an initially caged and pacing beast, eventually loosed, accompanied by buzzing guitars and brass in a cacophony of wall-of-sound harmony.

It’s in many of these choruses that Shah’s melodic mastery is made forcefully evident: Food for Fuel balances a lithe hook alongside another which is audibly in adherence to the harmonic principles of Sufi Qawwali music, resounding and devotional. Greatest Dancer, too, plays in melodic juxtaposition. A textural marvel, the track boasts brassy and buzzy synths, hand-in-hand with a glistening chorus whose vocal melody would beget envy from those involved in Jessie Ware’s recent fare.

Lyricism isn’t left behind. Sad Lads Anonymous drips disdain, an off-piste sibling to the spoken verses of Parklife or I Do This All the Time.

Shah’s wit errs on earnestness in lyrical moments comparing the rich attaining priceless art to children collecting Pokémon cards, or in the lovely wordplay of ‘You keep it / UKIP it’. While more austere than its predecessor, there’s a plethora of brilliance to be found on Filthy Underneath, with Shah determined to confront and bulldoze through the pain. [Rhys Morgan]

THE SKINNY

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Listen to: Grace, Gift Horse

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Listen to: Cheer, Tell Me About It

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Listen to: Popstar, Fears, Nepotism (baby)

Zara Larsson Venus Sommer House, 9 Feb

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Listen to: Can’t Tame Her, Escape, Ammunition

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Zara Larsson is an underrated commercial popstar with stronger pipes and performing faculties than some of her more successful peers. But, with uninspired and incohesive flights between EDM, Europop and Adele ballad apery on Venus, she undersells her talents.

Polished in parts, standout lead single Can’t Tame Her collects the Eurodisco baton from The Weeknd’s After Hours and sprints with strong Hall & Oates form, while Venus, in all its A-ha pep, is satisfyingly spirited synth-pop. On My Love is a solid, if unexceptional, collab with David Guetta, while the combination of a UK garage beat and spiralling Crazy Frog-esque vocal on Ammunition offers a compelling turn that contrasts the bright simplicity of Escape.

But largely, Venus feels out of date, trafficking in facsimiles of overproduced, mid-to-late 2010s pop: More Than This Was gives nondescript 2016 Ellie Goulding, destined for the credits of a passionless, too-glossy Netflix original rom-com, while None of These Guys is indistinguishable from a grating 2018 Anne-Marie single.

End of Time limits itself to the ambition of The Wanted, while Nothing drags with the fingerprints of past collaborator Julia Michaels. Resigning itself to well-trodden paths, Venus seems curiously content charting no new territory. [Lucy Fitzgerald]

February 2024 — Review

Whitelands Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day Sonic Cathedral, 23 Feb

It’s almost a philosophical conundrum – if an act releases two albums under the same name, one as a soloist and the second as a fourpiece, which one is the debut record?

Or do they get two shots?

This new Whitelands (now a collaborative effort, previously frontman Etienne Quartey-Papafio’s solo vehicle) has a clear sonic identity. Gone are the distorted chugging indie rock power chords and falling down onto the guitar strings in their place are the hazy arpeggios of a distinct shoegaze sound. In places, Night-bound Eyes... emulates the most skillful of the genre – the music shapes the mood of a track where hazy vocals mean you can’t make out its message.

Tell Me About It has a hopeful and excited sound evocative of the feeling of falling in love, but is also the standout track for its use of light and dark, balancing itself out across multiple registers. It pairs dull, broader pedal-infused sounds with sharp riffs, and the twirls of deary’s guest vocal line (one for fans of Cocteau Twins). It’s this we want to hear more of – they build up that atmospheric and intriguing sound so well, but the best shoegaze always contains something that pops.

[Laurie Presswood]

Lime Garden One More Thing So Young Records, 16 Feb

Lime Garden’s debut album One More Thing is full of wry lyrics and interesting sonic choices. Some of these musical experiments work better than others – such as the distorted vocals on Floor, a song about being stuck in your own head.

Here the vocal processing sits over layered riffs and an unrelenting beat, adding to the claustrophobia the song speaks of.

You can feel the influence of bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Cardigans in the energy and noise of this record. Popstar is a tight threeminute song about the drudgery of ordinary life when you feel made for bigger things (‘I don’t want to work my job / This life is fleeting and I’m a popstar’). On the song’s soaring chorus, lead singer Chloe Howard’s droll delivery is framed by girl bandstyle backing vocals and scuzzy guitars. This combination is fun, and it really works.

One More Thing is the product of an accomplished band noodling around in the studio.

There’s a playfulness and creativity here that promises bigger and better things from the Brighton four-piece in the future. As far as debut albums go, this is a promising one.

[Tara Hepburn]

Albums

IDLES TANGK Partisan Records, 16 Feb

IDLES are a brute force of love, an embrace of kindness, a shoulder to cry on when in need. Their fifth studio album TANGK typifies this. Drawing on undertones of soul from their 2018 breakout album Joy As An Act of Resistance, whilst also exploring new sonic boundaries, IDLES’ latest lens focuses on gratitude, perseverance, and bounds of love.

Eerie opening track IDEA 01 is barged aside by Gift Horse, a classic incendiary IDLES number that snarls at the UK monarchy and colonial empire. Frontman Joe Talbot’s talks of ‘freudenfreude’ (meaning ‘joy on joy’ or the opposite to schadenfreude) revolve around glitchy drums and synths on POP POP POP before his soul comes alive on Roy – which can only be described as a Stax soul track on steroids.

Juxtaposing softer moments like A Gospel offers welcome respite, but Grace brings a new dimension to the band entirely.

Talbot’s bright, melodic singing voice has been non-existent until now, and his gentle delivery and hopeful lyrics make this song the beating heart of the album: ‘No god / No king / I said love is the thing’.

A raucous expression of love, TANGK is raw, vulnerable and inimitably IDLES. [Jamie Wilde]

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Music Now With great new music this month from Savage Mansion, George Demure, Aurora Engine, El Ghoul and more, we are so ready for February

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But it’s not just the harp here that transports, it's that combined with the rest of the record’s rich instrumentation and Shaw’s vocal delivery, one of childlike wonder. This theatrical style could so easily become jarring, but on tracks like Louder in the Dark, Shaw practically channels Kate Bush.

On the same day, George Thomson, aka George Demure, releases Ear Candy Dandy on local label Hobbes Music. There’s a playfulness to the tracks here, which all feel markedly different from one another as they pogo through a plethora of genres and moods, held tightly together by Thomson’s self-imposed limitations when it came to recording: “No samples, one drum machine, two analogue synths… maybe some real percussion and melodica.”

While the record is described as “post-club sounds of a more leftfield persuasion”, don’t leave it on the shelf only to be listened to in those wee small hours. At that time of day you might miss its intricacies; the womp of the basslines hit different in the light of day, and the Savage Mansion ominous tones on some of the tracks would be better left for moments when your skin isn’t crawling with paranoia.

The following week, prolific Glasgow outfit Savage Mansion release The Shakes (16 Feb) on Lost Map Records.

Their fourth album since 2019, it's their most authentic sounding yet, with the band brimming with a new confidence, the songs richer and El Ghoul more shapely than before.

This, of course, could be down to new approaches taken on this occasion, in both the songwriting processes and the fact The Shakes was recorded live to tape, beautifully capturing the band’s live sound on record. This has also given The Shakes an undeniable vintage feel, with their amalgamation of ideas and different kinds of guitar music landing somewhere between Pavement, Ought, Personal Trainer and Bodega.

Elsewhere, on 2 February Gates of Light release Gates of Light II (Paris Edition), the second in a three-part series, while on the 23 February, The Snuts release Millennials, and Redstone Press are raising money for SAMH with their Feeling Everything, All At Once compilation. There’s also a glut of singles coming this month with new releases from Too Red (Jumpstart, 1 Feb), Florence Jack and Nat Cartier (Read the Room, 2 Feb), Alex Auldsmith (As the Crow Flies, 4 Feb), Pearling (Wildfire, 9 Feb), Quad90 (Anodyne, 9 Feb) and Chiara Berardelli (Little More, 23 Feb).

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Photo: Laura Meek

o messing, let’s get into it! The tail end of January saw the vibrant dancefloor-worthy Bliss land from mighty miserablists Arab Strap, announcing alongside its release that an epicly titled album wouldn’t be far behind it. I’m totally fine with it [thumbs up emoji] don’t give a fuck anymore [thumbs up emoji] arrives in May, which has us wondering how the fuck we’re going to publish that title on our website, one that gets quite literally crippled by emojis, so thanks for that headscratcher, lads, as well as the exciting new tune! [thumbs up emoji] Last month we also missed EPs from AMUNDA (All of the Love), and Former Champ (Vol. 1), as well as singles from Tina Sandwich (Joni), Susan Bear (Shake (Say Yes)), No Windows (Song 01), naafi (Magnolia), Queen of Harps (Where You Find Me), Aster YVS (Listen), neverfine (Colours), Josephine Sillars (Move Higher), wojtek the bear (slowly, then all at once) and Naum Gabo (This 1¨º∆), a new collab between Optimo and Slam released on DFA. Plus loads more we don’t have room for here. Follow our Music Now playlist at the QR code below.

Sliding into February, the first Tuesday of the month brings us the debut solo record from Future Get Down frontman Oli Kass, under the name El Ghoul.

Volume 1 is a collection of songs dreamt up in the early days of the pandemic when he set himself the task to record one song a day for 14 days. Three years in the making, its thoughtful and exploratory nine tracks are now ready for all to enjoy.

All set at a much slower pace than what we’re used to from Kass, this is quite simply music to get lost in. That’s not to say that Volume 1 doesn’t have its bolder moments, as those exist across the record too in the trudging and ebullient second half of Head Song, the wobbly and throbbing More Failed Photos of the Moon and the crunching end of Day 1. But it becomes quickly clear that sticking to one idea, and remaining stagnant at any point across this record, wasn’t an option for Kass, no more exemplified than on Don’t Let the Sun Take Your Energy, a seven-minute shapeshifter that starts mournfully dystopian, ends on a pang of hope. Made using a combination of halfworking instruments and reel to reel cuttings, Volume 1 is a record of exploration and juxtaposing ideas worth your time.

Later that week, as Aurora Engine, Deborah Shaw unleashes Secret Knock (9 Feb), a record that feels like wandering cautiously through an enchanted forest, wide-eyed at everything that crosses your path. Part of this is down to Shaw’s deft playing of the harp, an instrument that conjures pure magic when plucked, plunging you into a dreamland when strummed.

Photo: Rosie Sco

February 2024 – Review

Local Music

Words: Tallah Brash

Scan the QR code to follow and like our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify, updated every Friday

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October 2023

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February 2024

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Film of the Month

Film of the Month — The Zone of Interest Director: Jonathan Glazer Starring: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Medusa Knopf, Daniel Holzberg

Released 2 February

by A24 Certificate 12A theskinny.co.uk/film

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incineration chambers. And when Hedwig and her mother take a stroll through the house’s “paradise garden” filled neatly with gardenias, vegetables and a beehive, the latter glances towards the fence and remarks that her former employer could be there – all with unnerving nonchalance.

It’s this striking, horrifying dichotomy between evil and ambivalence that punctuates the film’s most crushing moments.

The only real narrative turning point appears when Rudolph is ordered to transfer to a different camp, much to Hedwig’s protest. Never mind that atrocities are committed next door daily – what about the garden!?

There’s an empty coldness to The Zone of Interest that’s indebted to its audacious presentation. Shot by Cold War cinematographer Łukasz Żal, the film is almost entirely composed of static shots, as if the film is inviting you to observe these abominable people’s lives through an enormous microscope. Through the simplest of images, the most quotidian of routines, Glazer has an astounding ability to say so much while displaying so little.

To describe these people as in denial suggests that they’re aware what they’re doing is reprehensible. In fact, they just don’t care. And that’s what’s so disturbing about The Zone of Interest. Glazer doesn’t deal in crushing blows, but instead allows an uneasy air to fester like an ambient rot. The millions of victims of the Holocaust make no appearance in the film, and it’s precisely the absence of what’s lying on the precipice that elevates Glazer’s nightmare and makes it so chilling.

[Iana Murray]

February 2024 — Review

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t’s been a long decade since director Jonathan Glazer unleashed his masterpiece, the Glasgow-set extra-terrestrial thriller Under the Skin. For a filmmaker who continues to shapeshift beyond recognition, predicting what he’d do next is an impossible task. And just as Glazer dramatically shifted gears – tonally, thematically and visually – from Sexy Beast to Birth to Under the Skin, he pivots to harrowing new places with The Zone of Interest.

This is a singular film that dares to look at the other side of the Holocaust. As demonstrated by the film’s opening sequence, in which a German family frolics through grass and splash around in a river, there’s no internal moral conflict here.

Glazer coldly observes how monsters can comfortably co-exist side-by-side with the fruits of their evil.

In an austere concrete villa, Nazi officer Rudolph (Christian Friedel) lives with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their children. They live, quite literally, on the doorstep to Auschwitz. Hedwig does her best to hide the barbed wire fence between the back garden and the camp by decorating it with vines, but no amount of decoration can mask the near-constant screams and gunfire. The most chilling effect of the locale manifests at nighttime, when the children’s bedrooms light up in amber from the flames erupting from the crematorium.

Glazer approaches the rhythms of their lives with a slow, functional pace not dissimilar to Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, and an uneasiness permeates.

Hedwig and her friends chit-chat about the weather, while in the next room, Rudolph holds a meeting with engineers about

THE SKINNY

In Sky’s new sexy and hugely entertaining drama Mary & George, Tony Curran plays James VI and I. It’s one of his juiciest roles yet. We discuss his long career, his acting craft and his favourite performances

Words: Jamie Dunn

Filmography (selected): Outlaw King (2018), Calibre (2018), Thor: The Dark World (2013), X-Men: First Class (2011), Miami Vice (2006), Red Road (2006), Blade II (2002), Gladiator (2000), Shallow Grave (1994) TV (selected): Mary & George (2024), Secret Invasion (2023), Mayflies (2022), The Flash (2021), Ray Donovan (2018), Doctor Who (2010), Ultimate Force (2002), This Life (1996)

Image: Curse These Eyes

February 2024 — Review

hopscotchfilms.co.uk

I

f ever there were to be a biopic on Tony Curran’s life, it might begin, “As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be an actor.” Actually, Curran’s desire to tread the boards goes back even further. “I don’t remember this, obviously. But when I was three, the insurance man came to our house. He was asking me what I wanted to be. ‘Do you want to be a doctor or a fireman or a footballer?’ Apparently, rather indignantly, I stood up and said, ‘I’m going to be an actor!’ That’s what my mum tells me, anyway.’”

That three-year-old was right to be indignant. With over 40 movie credits and 60-plus TV roles, Curran is one of the most ubiquitous faces on our screens. His first taste of the business that is show came as a teen at secondary school. “The drama department at Holyrood [in Glasgow’s Southside] did some plays with us. Guys & Dolls, I think, was the first play I ever did.

And then we did The Crucible, so quite the range.”

This versatility has stood Curran in good stead. He’s played all types of character since: an SAS trouper in Ultimate Force, Vincent van Gogh in Doctor Who, a ne’er-do-well being stalked by Kate Dickie in Red Road, not to mention dozens of smaller roles in huge films throughout the ‘00s and ‘10s – think Gladiator, Blade II, Miami Vice, X-Men: First Class. He was similarly busy in the 90s, turning up in the likes of Rab C. Nesbitt, Grange Hill, The Bill, Soldier Soldier…

“You’re forgetting the classic: Taggart,” interrupts Curran when I bring up his early career on UK telly. His role in 90s phenomenon This Life was a turning point, though. “That was a fun one,” he says. “My friend Eirene Houston actually wrote that character with me in mind; Lenny, the plumber. He ended up having this big love affair with Ferdy.” Lenny confused some viewers back in 1996 because he was a gay man who didn’t conform to the stereotypes that had dominated gay characters in popular culture at the time. “Lenny wasn’t overtly gay. He was just a sort of regular guy. My friend Eirene had many friends like that so she wrote about it. So, yeah, This Life, it was ahead of its time in many ways.”

Curran has come a long way since his industrious tutelage on British TV. When we speak over video phone, he’s sitting in his car in LA, where he’s lived for two decades. Life seems pretty sweet, but despite his success, he’s not taking anything for granted. “I try not to be too conscious of this weird career that is acting,“ he explains. “I guess I say to myself, ‘If you think about this too much, then it may go away.’ So I try not to be conscious of being conscious,” he laughs.

This isn’t to say Curran is some airhead who doesn’t take his craft seriously. That’s clear when we Tony Curran

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Image: courtesy of Sky

Scotland on Screen

Scotland on Screen: Tony Curran

Mary & George

discuss his latest role in the racy new historical drama Mary & George. The title characters are Mary Villiers (played by Julianne Moore) and her beautiful second son, George (played by Nicholas Galitzine). Based on Benjamin Woolley’s non-fiction book The King’s Assassin, the show follows Mary as she sets a honey trap for King James VI of Scotland and I of England; she encourages George to seduce the king in a bid to wield his power and influence.

Curran plays James, and it’s fair to say he did his research.

As well as devouring Woolley’s book, he got the chance to pick the author’s brains in person. “It was around about this time last year, before we started shooting,” recalls Curran. “I’d sit there with a notepad and just fire questions at [Woolley]. We talked about [King James’s] relationship with the Duke of Buckingham and George Villiers and Mary Villiers. We talked about his relationship with his wife, Anne, his relationship with France and Spain and how he never wanted to go to war. We talked Jamestown, which was the first British colony in the Americas and named after him… the King James Bible…”

Once Curran had digested all this information he was ready to forget it all on set. “I guess you prepare as much as you can and then you throw it out the window,” he explains. “I like to think that I work on instinct. For me, acting is about working with a director and working with the other actors, and just feeling it.”

He clearly has affection for this playful but troubled monarch. But when I ask if there’s a role he’s particularly proud of he points to his most recent one, in Mayflies, Andrea Gibb’s adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s heartbreaking novel about male friendship. In the two-part drama, Curran is Tully, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and asks his best pal since childhood (played by Curran’s real-life pal Martin Compston) to help him end his life. “Tully, I really enjoyed him,” says Curran. “He was brave, but he was vulnerable as well. And he was gregarious and obviously very tragic – which is kind of similar to King James.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t say this often about my work, but yeah, I’m proud of those two performances.”

Mary & George will be broadcast on Sky in early Mar; Mayflies is currently on BBC iPlayer

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The Iron Claw Director: Sean Durkin

Starring: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Holt McCallany, Harris Dickinson, Lily James, Stanley Simons, Maura Tierney

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The Iron Claw

Perfect Days Director: Wim Wenders

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“Next time is next time. Now is now.”

This is the solemn motto of hardworking Tokyo toilet cleaner Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), a quiet man who revels in the simplicity of his organised solitude, and leads an existence punctuated by sacred rituals and profound gratefulness. In between taking pictures of trees with his analogue camera and visiting the local bookstore, Hirayama briefly welcomes others into his secretive world, but his cycle of contented loneliness ultimately offers little space for lasting connections.

Co-written with Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders’ latest thrives in the contrast between Hirayama’s cherished aloneness and his silent longing for empathy and community in our capitalist society, amplified by a nostalgia that’s evident in his love of

Director: Andrew Cumming

Starring: Chuku Modu, Safia OakleyGreen, Kit Young, Iola Evans

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Andrew Cumming’s gnarly survivalist horror Out of Darkness makes great use of its Highland setting. Set in the Paleolithic age, it follows a band of early humans who have made a perilous journey across the sea, only to find themselves washed up on the shores of a cold, desolate country with no shelter or food. The wildness of the Scottish landscape isn’t their only worry, though: there’s a mysterious threat on the mist-covered moors that’s picking off their group one by one.

One of Cumming’s canniest moves is having the cast speak a language invented for the film called Tola. Loosely based on Basque – Europe’s oldest language – it sounds alien enough to enhance the feeling we’re watching an ancient people eke out an existence. Ben Fordesman’s

Released 9 Feb by Signature Entertainment; certificate 15

Out of Darkness

The Taste of Things

Perfect Days

physical media. His optimism and communion with nature are infectious but, when a series of encounters threaten to chip at his seemingly impenetrable veneer, his philosophy of living in the moment begins to unravel.

Wenders trusts his film’s audience to be patient, to exercise the same virtue with which Hirayama approaches each day to discover more of the past he’s left behind. The film can feel elusive at times, though, with the script never fully answering its most pressing questions. Wenders also dabbles in cutesiness in Perfect Days, which feels occasionally grating.

But throughout you can’t take your eyes off Hirayama; Yakusho commands the screen. As Hirayama realises the contradictions in his self-imposed isolation, his face beautifully reveals itself as a heavy mask that doesn’t fit properly, conveying the struggle to adjust to the chaos of life. [Stefania Sarrubba] Released 23 Feb by MUBI; certificate PG

rich, low-lit cinematography, where the characters are usually only lit by campfire or burning torches, and otherwise enveloped in blackness, adds to the primordial atmosphere.

This is horror with some sharp things to say about evolution and migration; there might even be a sly comment on Brexit among the carnage. This isn’t to suggest Out of Darkness has highfalutin ideas above its genre station, though. What makes it so refreshing is that it’s first and foremost a fat-free thrill ride concerned with squeezing as much tension from its smart but simple setup as possible. Early reviews comparing Cumming’s film to superficially similar work like Robert Eggers’ The Witch are off base – the existential dread of Alien or Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort are better touchstones. [Jamie Dunn]

The Taste of Things Director: Tràn Anh Hùng

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger, Patrick D’Assumçao, Galatea Bellugi, Jan Hammenecker, Frédéric Fisbach

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Tràn Anh Hùng’s latest opens with an almost wordless 40-minute meal preparation. In the kitchen of his long-established restaurant, Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) wanders between his dedicated staff (led by Eugénie, a radiant Juliette Binoche) and the upper crust who seek out his excellently prepared traditional cuisine. A deep kinship is clear between Eugénie and Dodin, but when their connected 20-year-history later unfolds in dialogue, Eugénie’s past and present desire for independence collide with the immutable limits of one’s time on earth.

The restaurant is isolated from the social and technological upheaval of 1880s France; time is registered only from the outside, mainly in the

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form of a pompous visitor for whom Dodin must prepare his pot-au-feu: rustic, honest, wholesome, and – as the film progresses – the purest and simplest expression of love.

The Taste of Things is the third of its titles; in French, the title translates literally to ‘The Passion of Dodin Bouffant’, and it previously played as The Pot-au-Feu. While titles in translation are not always exactly recreated, the renaming seems to demonstrate the same ambivalence that hampers the film itself. For all its lovingly prepared food and romance as slow simmering as a well-prepared strew, The Taste of Things remains staid – beautiful to look at, but removed from a deeper emotionality. While every frame is shot with adoration for the unhurried process, the result – blissful as it may be – is undercharged. It remains a gorgeous entry into the food-as-love canon with a sweet but slight aftertaste. [Carmen Paddock] Released 14 Feb by Picturehouse; certificate 12A

February 2024 — Review

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Aoi Yamada, Yumi Aso

Released 9 Feb by Lionsgate; certificate 15

Out of Darkness

Film

For the first half of its tale, The Iron Claw is the ultimate Dudes Rock movie. The Von Erich brothers Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons) spend their days happily tumbling around their family home, pumping iron and playing football as they prepare to make their mark on the world of professional wrestling. Like Little Women but with great big men, the film perfectly captures the specific joys of a sibling bond.

But their father (Holt McCallany) doesn’t just want his sons to be happy. He wants them to be great. He plays favourites to stoke competition and pushes them harder every day. In

one training scene, he shows David how to properly perform his famous Iron Claw finishing move – crushing his son’s skull in his hand while bragging about how much pressure he can exert. One by one, this pressure slowly destroys each of his children.

The Iron Claw succeeds, first as a heart-warming bromance and then as a gut-wrenching tragedy, largely thanks to the magnetic performances of the lead quartet. Efron is especially dazzling, managing to evince so much vulnerability and gentleness from such a hulking frame. He provides the movie with an emotional core that makes sure we feel the full force of every moment.

Thanks to the cast’s stellar work and Sean Durkin’s own precise control of the film’s tone, The Iron Claw is a senton bomb of a movie – an exhilarating rise followed by the most devastating fall. [Ross McIndoe]

January 2024 – Review

Local Heroes

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PAZ TAQUERIA, EDINBURGH Paz brings some exciting, experimental takes on classic taco flavours to a familiar spot in the heart of Edinburgh

instagram.com/paz_tacos

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blow-out where the whole tortilla falls to bits – that’s a good hit-rate).

Looking down the menu, and at the dishes when they arrive, there is a sense that the folk in the kitchen are having a good time. Nowhere is that clearer than in the Ejotes (£7.50), because this taco is, and I mean this in the nicest way, mad as shit. Green beans, spinach, something really spicy that we can’t quite work out, a red onion and thyme cheese, a really, really savoury and garlicky note, and a big fingerful of those crispy leeks. Often the ‘vegetarian option’ feels designed to cover as many bases as possible; this one feels like a deliberate attempt to goad the meat-eaters into having a bit of fun while also getting some greens. It’s a mini whirlwind of flavours and textures, but even this taco doesn’t manage to throw itself all over the place.

Obviously, Paz is heavily reminiscent of El Cartel – it’s a taco place in what used to be a taco place, run by some of the same people as before – but it feels much more experimental and exciting. Intriguing and delicious dishes covered in little fancy flourishes, with great drinks and, dare I say it, a ‘cool vibe’ – no wonder the place is so busy.

February 2024 – Review

Photo: Gabriela Antunes

wouldn’t believe it. The chicken is juicy and wellspiced, with a sprinkling of powdered chicken skin on top for an occasional crispy, salty kick. Keep this ‘small crispy things’ motif in mind, it will come up again shortly.

The frijoles refritos (£6.50) are small, punchy, and absolutely ripping hot – if nothing else, this ensures that they last a while on the table. They’re paired with puffy, crunchy housemade chips that remind us of early-millennial childhood favourite, the 3D Dorito. Having taken one step away from carnivorism and towards ‘beans’, we take three or four back with the Carne taco (£8.50). This thing is spectacularly unctuous, thanks to the double whammy of a thin wedge of steak and a thick smear of bone marrow crema. With the meat box thoroughly checked, tiny shredded fried leeks bring the crunch and a slice of avocado lets you kid yourself that this counts as one of your five-a-day.

It’s a similar set-up with the Lengua (£8.50), but to a totally different outcome. Yes, there’s still a small pile of cow meat in your right hand, but this time it’s braised ox tongue, refried for the classic combo of crunchy edges and a soft interior.

A sour, savoury salsa verde takes the place of the bone marrow, and scattered onions and radishes brighten everything up. It’s very very good, and surprisingly sturdy. Shout out to the tacos themselves, they hold up well (in the course of our evening, we only have one complete

Food

Mon-Tue 4-10pm, Wed-Sun 12-10pm

n these trying times, it’s nice to see a new opening that has people excited, even if that extends to us getting KB’d for a table at half-six on a Thursday and ‘forced’ to go to the pub for half an hour. Paz has the folk buzzing for good reason – it’s on the site of the original El Cartel taco spot on Thistle Street, and is the brainchild of Stuart McClusky, formerly of Bon Vivant and… El Cartel. A complex web of hospitality comings-andgoings? A Ship of Theseus-type deal, but with tacos instead of an old wooden ship? Either way, people are on board. The Thistle Street Bar, by the way, is lovely. Good pints, a nice fireplace, would recommend.

Once we do make it inside, Paz is the same dark, moody spot we remember. They’ve painted the walls teal so it isn’t as pitch-black as it was before, but it’s still an atmospheric dining room ideal for conspiratorial chatter. Speaking of chatter, it’s time for drinks from a short, no-nonsense cocktail list – the Rosita (£9.50) is a tequila-inflected negroni with a great balance of bitterness and citrus, while the Margarita (£9.50) is just a solid, top-notch example of the form.

Sour, strong, salty, see this lads this is what you should be doing.

The food menu is similarly well-formed, with a handful of starters and a handfuland-a-bit of taco options, skewing heavily towards meat-eaters and spice-lovers. First up, the Tinga (£8.50) – pulled roasted chicken in a fruity, spicy sauce.

It’s a well thought-out taco, and taking a big bite is pleasingly nonshambolic, with dots of cheese and herbs here and there – the number of times we’ve seen chefs load up tacos like they’re trying to win a game of Buckaroo, you

Photo: Gabriela Antunes

64 Thistle St, Edinburgh, EH2 1EN

Words: Peter Simpson

Books

THE SKINNY

Wrong Norma

The Night Alphabet

Alphabetical Diaries

Pity

By Anne Carson

By Joelle Taylor

By Sheila Heti

By Andrew McMillan

What might it take for white bread – the starchy sum of hyper-processed, hypo-nutritive parts – to become a ‘fetish’? Could the sky be a diarist on the sly? Anne Carson’s Wrong Norma – the polymath’s ode to disorganising principles – tees up such hypotheticals to strike a range of scintillating, strangely affecting, and largely unconnected scenes.

While the featured scenes may be without link – hence, in Carson’s estimation, their aggregate ‘wrong[ness]’ – they are far from scattershot. Each prose poem displays a precision, an attentiveness to the mildest of incidents as well as the most monumental of aftershocks, that lends the collection a tonal coherence. With an assist from illustrative glyphs that sidle up to the reader and recurring interrogative type about ‘philosoph[ies] of time’ that dissolve into the page, Carson reckons with the ‘limits of human wisdom’ on matters both heavy and heartsome.

‘There’s a fear in rules and stupidity in sentences,’ Carson writes. That very well may be, but there is also a luminosity to the latter. How else – other than bright and beautiful – might you describe the stack of sandwich bread sitting as pretty as a ‘freshly laundered cuff’ in An Evening with Joseph Conrad?

Or the ‘superhot’ empyrean darling chronicling its daily doings in Lecture on the History of Skywriting?

Wrong Norma: feels – and reads – so right. [Tara Okeke]

Every tattoo is a story. And when Jones walks into a tattoo parlour in 2233 to have her many tattoos connected by a thin line of ink and blood, she begins to tell them. That Joelle Taylor’s debut novel is exquisitely written is no surprise. Winner of the T.S Eliot Prize for Poetry and the Polari Prize, Taylor knows how to turn a phrase; it is a bonus, then, that with The Night Alphabet Taylor reveals herself to be an extraordinary storyteller, leading us through the series of vivid, interconnecting tales.

From a gang of vigilante sex workers patrolling a council estate and an unwitting eugenicist in a dystopian woman-factory, to the brave butches of the Maryville gay bar and the coal miner’s daughter descending into the dark, each story is a deeply human look at the way misogynist violence impacts women’s lives. And threading them all together is the teller, Jones, readying herself to share the next story with her two wary tattoo artists.

In this way, The Night Alphabet feels deeply connected to the way women used to tell stories, with words and woven images, before we were able to wrestle pens from the hands of men. For though this book is touched by violence, it is also defined by women’s responding joy, strength and liberation, and the unbroken lines of blood and experience that connect us all.

[Eleanor Bally]

Sheila Heti has always leant towards the confessional; her characters lay themselves bare for her readers to devour. In Alphabetical Diaries, she turns to the autobiographical. The book is the result of the methodical editing of a decade’s worth of lines pulled from her personal journal, compiled in a spreadsheet and organised by starting letter, 26(ish) chapters of intimacy and introspection.

While slightly jarring at first, the strangeness of its form evaporates after the first few pages. As her decade unfurls achronologically, you feel as though you are being kept at arm’s length, but you begin to piece it together if you blur your eyes and take a step back. Despite the lack of narrative anchor, Heti’s cerebral, romantic sensibility rises to the surface; a page and a half of maybes; a page of perhapses; lists of I wants, I wases, I wents and I wills.

The names of friends and lovers are littered throughout the text, tenderly clustered around their place in the alphabet, such that relationships can be almost quantified by the number of pages their entries take up. Through nameless deictics – hes shes and theys detached from their subjects – she paints a life both touched by human connection yet with a loneliness at its center.

Alphabetical Diaries is a feat of creativity, demonstrating Heti’s considered yet candid mastery of language and storytelling.

[Paula Lacey]

Every so often you can tell from the first page you are about to read something special. The opening chapter of Andrew McMillan’s debut novel Pity reads like one of the very best short stories, capturing in one brief but formative encounter the relationship between brothers Alex and Brian with an honesty and elegance which is rare, and this prepares readers as to what will follow. Set across three generations of men from the same South Yorkshire family, Pity examines complex issues of masculinity and identity, as well as what makes, and can almost break, a community.

In this case the community is one once defined by mining, and now by its absence. There are chapters depicting the harsh realities of working down pits, and they seem centuries away from Alex’s son Simon’s life of CCTV, camera phones, and OnlyFans, rather than in the living memory of many. If a phrase can be said to define a time, then Margaret Thatcher’s infamous claim that ‘There is no such thing as society’ could certainly be said to do so; its legacy is the ghost behind these stories, (the woman herself plays an unlikely role in proceedings) with the politics, the past, and present, all intimately entwined. But it’s love which runs through Pity, for both people and place. McMillan has written a novel which is artful, personal, and at times simply beautiful. [Alistair Braidwood]

Jonathan Cape, 8 Feb

Quercus, 15 Feb

Fitzcarraldo Editions, 6 Feb

Canongate, 8 Feb

February 2024 — Review

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THE SKINNY

Dream Gig Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated stand-up and co-host of Northern News podcast, Ian Smith has a Dream Gig to rival U2’s Las Vegas residency Illustration: Olivia Dugdale

building into well beyond the capacity of our taekwondo-furniture-storage-facility-comedy club, so that in the interval we have to traipse across town looking for a bigger space. After stopping off at La Bodrum for takeaway food, the audience would be led to Goole’s state of the art new theatre, The Junction. It’s at least triple the capacity (their tagline, not mine)!

When we arrive, there’d be a play rehearsing before their opening night, but we outnumber the cast and negotiate a controversial venue swap (which they are not at all happy about).

They shout obscenities as they scuttle off to their new venue, their thespian projection skills meaning we can hear their insults from an impressive distance. The gig now has a set on stage that doesn’t correlate to anything that’s going on which only helps the buzz in the room. I’ve done some of my favourite gigs in theatres when there’s a set that can’t be taken down. Nothing helps comedy more than some MDF trees, a poorly painted backdrop and the giddy feeling that people are in the wrong place. It’s a crying shame more comedy clubs don’t utilise this.

After the gig, we’d stay in the green room and hang out until the venue staff ask to leave so they can see their families again. I’d make my way home, only to be confronted at the end of my street by the cast of the play we moved on – they’ve all learned taekwondo and they’re very angry.

Comedy

T

Ian Smith: Crushing, Club 45 @ Blackfriars Glasgow, 22 Feb, 8pm; Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 24 Feb, 8pm, both £13 @iansmithcomedy iansmithcomedian.co.uk

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February 2024 — Review

he most fun I’ve had at a gig was at a venue in-the-round – there’s something about enforced rotational movement and the chance of sneaky heckles from behind that adds energy and excitement to your performance. Therefore, I’d ideally take things one step further and perform in-the-sphere.

Admittedly, this would pose problems in terms of the seating arrangement, with some sections of the audience being upside down throughout the gig, their heads becoming increasingly filled with both blood and regret – the lower section would undoubtedly leave with severe neck-ache and potentially some vomit from the upper section on their clothes. I must admit, I see why no theatres have attempted this so far. The best option would be every audience member riding a motorbike around me like the wall of death stunt – but this would no doubt be scuppered by some jobsworth health and safety officer coming down on us like a ton of bricks (or an actual ton of actual motorbikes).

Admitting defeat, I would like the gig to be in the old theatre space at the end of my street in my home town of Goole.

I did my first ever performance there as part of a sketch group with two school friends. It’s currently a martial arts training centre and at one point was used as a furniture storage facility – but let’s whack that raked seating back in there! I wouldn’t mind there being a few sofas in the background too. I love a performance space that’s perfect in terms of shape, ceilingheight and capacity for comedy, but where it’s clear comedy is not the venue’s primary purpose. A gig in a brewery, carpet shop and a hot tub salesroom are personal highlights so far.

I’ve never worked with Johnny Vegas – he’s a comedy hero of mine, so I’d like him to close the show. Ideally, refusing to come off stage after his set time and having to be wrestled off by an out of their depth security team, while still making everybody laugh. I’d like the line-up to be completed by Maisie Adam and Markus Birdman – I’ve travelled to Australia with them twice as part of Best of the Edinburgh Fest and became good friends with them both. They’re fantastic comedians, but I’d largely like to be in a green room with them, taking the piss out of each other with the brutality and specificity in which only good friends can.

I’d also like there to be an event which means the venue becomes unusable halfway through the gig – something to make the night stick in people’s minds. A flood, a fire alarm, or perhaps some Japanese knotweed has attacked an audience member. We’d have to bring the gig out on to the streets, passers-by would join the crowd, the audience

Feburary 2024

THE SKINNY

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THE SKINNY

Listings Supported by Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Find listings below for the month ahead across Music, Clubs, Theatre, Comedy and Art in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings

Glasgow Music Mon 29 Jan

SAM AMIDON (ALLISON DE GROOT + TATIANA HARGREAVES)

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:00–22:00

Americana from the US.

ETTA MARCUS (THEO BLEAK) KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:00

Indie from London.

DYLAN JOHN THOMAS SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO (SAMBA SENE)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Alt R’n’B from Benin.

THEA GILMORE (JANICE BURNS + JON DORAN)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

MAIRI MCGILLVARY + KATIE ALLEN

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 14:00–15:30

Folk from Glasgow.

CARLOS NÚÑEZ (CELTIC SEA + HANNAH RARITY)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from Spain.

ROSE ROOM (SKREEL) GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00

Jazz from Glasgow.

ISRAEL NASH (NIALL NCNAMEE)

SU-A LEE

CITY HALLS, 20:00– 22:00

Cello from South Korea.

MF TOMLINSON (SULKA + LE FAUX CHAT)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from London.

TIM O’BRIEN

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Bluegrass from the US.

Americana.

JOSIENNE CLARKE THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Scotland.

Thu 01 Feb

DAMIEN O’KANE + RON BLOCK BAND (THE MADELEINE STEWART TRIO)

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

CELTIC FIDDLE FESTIVAL (AMY LAURENSON)

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Bluegrass from the US.

Folk from Scotland, Ireland and France.

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

ALAN STIVELL

Trad from Ireland.

MARIETTA PETKOVA + CAREL KRAAYENHOF CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

THE CLOCKWORKS

Indie rock from Galway.

BROTHERTIGER (JACK WAKEMAN & THE DREAMSTRIDERS)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Electronica from New York.

CANONGATE (YELLOW HELEN + ROSS RICHARDSON) STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from Edinburgh.

BRUCE HORNSBY

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Americana from the US.

FEDERATION OF THE DISCO PIMP

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Funk from Scotland.

TOM OAKES

Instrumental.

RHYTHM PARTISAN NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

House and dub.

MILES KANE

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Indie from the UK. SIIGHTS

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Alt pop from Scotland and the UK.

BELA FLECK (SIDIKI JOBARTEH TRIO)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

CATHY JORDAN (JAMES ROSS + MAXWELL QUARTET) MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Folk from Ireland.

SIMON THOUMIRE + DAVE MILLIGAN CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from Scotland.

DYLAN WINTERS & THE POSTERITY (THE UNDERNEATH + THE ODD SOCKS) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Scotland.

Folk from the UK.

CONGRATULATIONS

ARM’S LENGTH (BEAUTY SCHOOL)

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Emo from Canada.

MIDNIGHT AMBULANCE

Alt from Scotland.

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Blues folk from London.

LES AMAZONES D'AFRIQUE

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Mali.

JOHN MULHEARN

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00

Trad from the Highlands.

JUNIOR BROTHER THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00

FARA (GENTICORUM)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

PINE TREE FLYERS (ANNA MASSIE)

Trad from the US. MEC LIR

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Electro trad from Scotland.

CHRIS DIFFORD (BOO HEWERDINE + AMY PAPIRANSKY) DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00

Trad from the UK.

LAVINIA BLACKWALL THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00

Folk rock from Glasgow.

THE FILTHY TONGUES

THE WOOD BROTHERS

Roots from the US.

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from Scotland and Ireland.

SCOTS WOMEN

CITY HALLS, 17:00– 22:00

LADYHAWKE (FLAVIA) KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Rock from New Zealand.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Sweden.

DEL WATER GAP

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Fri 02 Feb

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND YOUNG TRADITIONAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR FINAL 2024

CORNELIA JAKOBS

Folk from Scotland.

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Rock from Scotland.

Trad from Scotland.

BRÌGHDE CHAIMBEUL + MAXWELL QUARTET + LINDA BUCKLEY

Eclectic lineup.

Folk from Scotland.

Trad from Scotland.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Jazz pop from the UK.

Sat 03 Feb

Trad from Scotland.

GAVIN MARWICK (QUARTERDAYS + GATEHOUSE)

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Sun 04 Feb

ALICE ALLEN AND PATSY REID

Indie from Scotland.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA + CAROLA ORTIZ

Alt folk from Ireland.

THE SENSITIVE SOULS + LOLA O’DOREL + AGHA-OZHOR + ANNY LEIGH

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

HINDS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00

CLIVE CARROLL (DARIUSH KANANI)

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

NATI

Folk from Ireland.

Folk from Orkney.

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Brighton.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 14:00–16:00

JOHN MCCUSKER + JOHN DOYLE (STUNDOM)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00

LANKUM

MUSICALL: THE FRIDAYS

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

KATHRYN TICKELL & THE DARKENING (FALASGAIR)

Electronica from the UK.

Indie rock from Madrid.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Banjo from the US. STEVE MASON

MODEL MAN

Alt indie from New York.

Mon 05 Feb

BOY & BEAR (BOO SEEKA)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Indie from Australia.

DAVE HAUSE

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the US.

Tue 06 Feb

THE SCRATCH (ISPINI NA HEIREANN) KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Acoustic metal from Ireland.

MAJID JORDAN

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

R’n’B from Canada.

FERAL FAMILY (BLOW UP DOG + RUNAWAY MODELS) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Sheffield.

NOAH AND THE LONERS

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

CITIZEN (DRUG CHURCH)

Punk rock from London.

Rock from the US.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Wed 07 Feb DIRTY HONEY

HIFI SEAN + DAVID MCALMONT

Rock from LA.

Indie soul from the UK.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

CABARET BRULEE: GLASGOW FOR GAZA

Eclectic lineup.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

EXAMPLE

DAISY CHUTE (JAMES WALKER)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rap from the UK.

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:00

LOUPE

Folk from Scotland.

Indie rock from Berlin.

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

THE 1975

FROGSOUP (THE BALUGAS + THE SAPIENS + THE FROOBZ)

Pop rock from the UK. HAIVER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

Rock from Scotland.

OLIVER ANTHONY

THE CHEAP THRILLS

Country folk from the US.

Indie rock from Liverpool.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

EDWIN R STEVENS (SIMONE ANTIGONE + DEATH AND THE PLANETS)

BANDIT

Eclectic lineup.

Fri 09 Feb

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

CIRCA WAVES

ELLE COVES

Indie rock from Liverpool.

Pop from Spain.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

COLONEL MUSTARD & THE DIJON 5 (THE LAURETTES)

Psych from the UK.

CHARLIE GREY

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Darkwave synth from LA.

Punk rock from the US.

Alt rock from Scotland.

JEFF ROSENSTOCK

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

GHOSTWOMAN

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Americana and blues.

DRAB MAJESTY

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Electronica from Edinburgh.

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Harp from Scotland.

THE MENZINGERS

ACOLYTE (HANK TREE + OTIS JORDAN)

AFTER THE LAST WALTZ

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from New York.

Folk from Scotland.

MAEVE GILCHRIST

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–14:30

Folk from Scotland.

— 57 —

Indie for Wales.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Thu 08 Feb

PEACE FOR PALESTINE (MUNGO'S HIFI + SAMBAYABAMBA + SAMBA SENE & DIWAN + RED KING + WENDS)

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Afro beats, reggae and hip-hop.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Indie pop from Scotland.

THE PALE WHITE

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Rock from Newcastle.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

THE 1975

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

Pop rock from the UK.

MARTHA MAY & THE MONDAYS THE RUM SHACK, 19:00–22:00

Country from Scotland.

HAIVER

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30–22:00

Rock from Scotland.

AMY & HANNAH + LENNON JAMES + MAYA’S RADIO ORCHESTRA + VELOURIA

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

Sat 10 Feb EMF

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Dance rock from the UK. SIMPLE PLAN

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 18:00–22:00

Pop punk from Canada.

NIEVE ELLA

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Alt pop from the UK.

THEE DAGGER DEBS NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00

Rock from London.

HAMISH HAWK

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Indie from Edinburgh.

SPYRES

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Glasgow.

NOAH KAHAN

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

Folk pop from the US. THE DEEP BLUE

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Manchester.

BETTY’S CLUB (THE PERFORMANCE ENHANCING SUPPOSITORIES + AIMLESS NOMADS + TRANSMISSION SUITE) ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Edinburgh.

Sun 11 Feb J.I.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Rap from the US.

February 2024 — Listings

Composer from Scotland.

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00

Jazz from Scotland.

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:00

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

MARDI GRAS NIGHT: BEAUXMONT AND GUESTS

Wed 31 Jan

Country rock from the US.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

ANDREW WASYLYK (GERARD LOVE)

Electro from the UK.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Instrumental from Europe.

Folk from the UK.

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

COLIN STEELE (GLORIOSA)

Tue 30 Jan

THE MAGPIE ARC

DEPECHE MODE

THE SKINNY SEA POWER

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock from the UK. A. SAVAGE

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the US.

FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Punk rock from the UK. JOHN MYRTLE

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Indie from London.

MARI BLACK (HEATHER MCASLAN) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Composer from the US.

Mon 12 Feb PIP BLOM

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Indie from the Netherlands.

GRENTPEREZ

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Indie from Sydney.

Regular Glasgow club nights

Metal from the UK.

The Rum Shack

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

CABIN BOY JUMPED SHIP (OCTOBER ENDS)

Soul party feat. 60s R&B, motown, northern soul and more!

LATHE OF HEAVEN

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

SATURDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

Post-punk from New York.

KNIVES CHAU FAN CLUB (PEACEMAKER + WARNIN SHOT)

LOOSEN UP

Afro, disco and funtimes with three of the best record collections in Glasgow and beyond.

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Emo/hardcore from Dundee.

CIEL

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Grunge pop from the UK.

Fri 16 Feb

COURTING (STERLING PRESS)

Jazz from Iceland.

SWANSEA SOUND

Indie rock from Liverpool.

MONO, 19:30–22:00

Pop punk from Swansea.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

JOY (ANONYMOUS)

ALIEN CHICKS

LIZZIE ESAU

Indie rock from London.

MOJO WORKIN’

Electro metal from the UK.

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

SATURDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

LAUFEY

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Electronica from London.

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Blues from the UK.

BETWEEN YOU AND ME

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Pop-punk from Melbourne.

KING NUN

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock from London.

GLASSER

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Dream pop from Boston.

TOM CLARKE

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from the UK. SPEEDY ORTIZ

Sub Club

ILI

SATURDAYS

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

SUBCULTURE

JELANI BLACKMAN

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rap from London.

BEANS ON TOAST

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Folk from the UK.

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00

Rock from Scotland.

Fri 23 Feb

Cathouse

VIDA

Tue 13 Feb

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from the US.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

NEVILLE STAPLE

SOUTHALL

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Ska from the UK.

Country rock from the US.

FRANKIE ROSE (SRSQ)

Sat 17 Feb

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Brooklyn.

JUNODREAMS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Dream rock from London.

THE HEDRONS (F.O MACHETE)

SLAYYYTER

Pop from the US.

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Indie rock from London.

HERE AT LAST

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Reading.

KASSOGTHA

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Death metal from Switzerland.

Wed 14 Feb MC CASISDEAD

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Rap and grime from the UK. SKYDADDY (WEATHERMAN + DAYYDREAM)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Indie from London.

SCOTT CLAY

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:00

Americana from Nashville.

Thu 15 Feb KIM PETRAS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Germany.

KINGFISHR

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Folk pop from Ireland.

MANU DELAGO

MONO, 19:30–22:00

Dance from Austria.

LONELY THE BRAVE SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock from the UK.

DREAM WIFE

MASEGO

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Scotland.

WIZTHEMC (LEON OF ATHENS + MCKENNA MICHELS) KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Rap from South Africa.

GZA (THE PHUNKY NOMADS)

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Rap from the US.

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

JESSIE MURPH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

CRAIG FINN

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

FRIDAYS FLY CLUB

Edinburgh and Glasgowstraddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

TYLER CHILDERS

Country from Louisiana.

Garage punk from Yorkshire.

The Bongo Club

Country from the US.

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

THE BLACKOUT

Thrash from the US.

SAVAGE MANSION

Post-hardcore from Wales.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Glasgow.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

FOZZY

SEIZURE (TYRANNUS + CRUSADERS)

MERYL STREEK

Heavy metal from the US.

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Punk from Ireland.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

NOUVELLE VAGUE

O.

Indie rock from Canada.

Indie from the UK.

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

FIZZ

Synth pop from the UK.

New Wave from France.

Sun 25 Feb RENÉE RAPP

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the US.

Indie pop from the UK.

TESSERACT

Post-hardcore from Boston.

Wed 21 Feb

Prog metal from the UK.

DYLAN

Pop from the UK.

JORDAN MACKAMPA KING TUT’S, 19:00– 22:00

Pop from the UK.

PEST CONTROL

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Thrash from Leeds.

BEACH FOSSILS

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from New York.

CHERYM

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Punk rock from Ireland.

Thu 22 Feb

BOWLING FOR SOUP O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Punk rock from Texas.

WASIA PROJECT

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

BLUE LAKE

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Experimental from Copenhagen.

Mon 26 Feb SHAPEDNOISE

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Experimental electronica from Berlin.

Edinburgh Music HIP-HOP FROM EDINBURGH

Pop from the UK.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Psych rock from Australia.

Big basslines and small prices form the ethos behind this weekly Tuesday night, with drum'n'bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage aplenty.

ELECTRIKAL, 23.00

Sound system and crew, part of a music and art collective specialising in BASS music.

FRIDAYS (MONTHLY, WEEK CHANGES) SOUND SYSTEM LEGACIES, 23.00

Exploring the legacy of dub, reggae and roots music and sound system culture in the contemporary club landscape.

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

DISCO MAKOSSA, 23.00

Disco Makossa takes the dancefloor on a funk-filled trip through the sounds of African disco, boogie and house – strictly for the dancers.

OVERGROUND, 23.00

Spoken word from Edinburgh.

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS

MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

Mon 29 Jan SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

TUESDAYS

FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

FIDDLEHEAD

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

From the fab fierce family that brought you Catty Pride comes Cathouse Rock Club’s new monthly alternative drag show.

SUNDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) FLASHBACK

Pop party anthems and classic cheese from DJ Nicola Walker.

A safe space to appreciate all things rave, jungle, breakbeat and techno.

JAMES MARRIOTT

Alternative.

— 58 —

SUNDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) CHEERS FOR THIRD SUNDAY

DJ Kelmosh takes you through Mid-Southwestern emo, rock, new metal, nostalgia and 90s and 00s tunes.

SUNDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) SLIDE IT IN

Classic rock through the ages from DJ Nicola Walker.

The Garage Glasgow MONDAYS

BARE MONDAYS

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

TUESDAYS

#TAG TUESDAYS

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

WEDNESDAYS

GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS ELEMENT

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey.

FRIDAYS

FRESH BEAT

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore.

SATURDAYS

I LOVE GARAGE

Garage by name, but not by musical nature. DJ Darren Donnelly carousels through chart, dance and classics, the Desperados bar is filled with funk, G2 keeps things urban and the Attic gets all indie on you.

SUNDAYS SESH

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night.

FRIDAYS (FIRST OR LAST OF THE MONTH)

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

Skillis and guests playing garage, techno, house and bass downstairs, with old school hip hop upstairs.

Monthly no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty disco.

HEADSET, 23.00

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)

MUMBO JUMBO, 23.00

PLEASURE

AVALANCHE PARTY

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

MOTHER MOTHER

HELLBENT

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

THE RUM SHACK, 19:00–22:00

SUNDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

Roots reggae rocking since 1987 – foundation tune, fresh dubs, vibes alive, rockers, steppers, rub-a-dub.

ALISON GOLDFRAPP

Tue 20 Feb

Eclectic lineup.

Or Caturdays, if you will.

Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs.

SATURDAYS

Hyper-pop from Scotland.

BIG IN 2024

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Indie rock from the US.

JORDAN DAVIS

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Experimental from the US.

SATURDAYS

Cabaret Voltaire

GRUFF RHYS L’RAIN

Screamy, shouty, posthardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style.

Dub from Puerto Rico.

Sat 24 Feb

Indie from Wales.

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

Regular Edinburgh club nights

Rock from Glasgow.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

FRIDAYS

PACHYMAN

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Country from Tennessee.

Cathouse's Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up.

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best pop-punk, rock and Hip-hop.

Regular Saturday night at Cab Vol, with residents and occasional special guests.

KLEO

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Metal from Texas.

SLOWDIVE

Rock from Reading.

Rap from the UK.

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Scotland.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00

Trap house jazz from the US.

UNHOLY

CATHOUSE WEDNESDAYS

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Sun 18 Feb

FROZEN SOUL

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Mon 19 Feb

ZARA LARSSON

THURSDAYS

WEDNESDAYS

Punk rock from London.

CLBRKS

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

SLAM’s monthly Subbie residency sees them joined by some of the biggest names in international techno.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from the UK.

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft' joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

RETURN TO MONO

CAEZAR

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Post-punk from London.

February 2024 — Listings

AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS

MESSENGER, 23.00

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

Everything from disco, funk and soul to electro and house: Saturday night party music all night long.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

SOULSVILLE INTERNATIONAL, 23.00

International soulful sounds.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH) PULSE, 23.00

Techno night started in 2009 hosting regular special guests from the international scene.

Sneaky Pete’s MONDAYS

MORRISON STREET/STAND B-SIDE/CHAOS IN THE COSMOS/TAIS-TOI

House and techno dunts from some of Edinburgh's best young teams.

TUESDAYS RARE

Weekly house and techno with rising local DJs and hot special guests.

THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) VOLENS CHORUS

Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) HOT MESS

A night for queer people and their friends.

SOUL JAM

SUNDAYS POSTAL

Weekly Sunday session showcasing the very best of heavy-hitting local talent with some extra special guests.

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) REWIND

Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and current bangers.

The Hive MONDAYS

MIXED UP MONDAY

Monday-brightening mix of Hip-hop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

TUESDAYS

TRASH TUESDAY

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherry picked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

WEDNESDAYS

COOKIE WEDNESDAY

90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.

THURSDAYS

HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY

Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY

Yer all-new Friday at Hive.

Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SUNDAYS

SECRET SUNDAY

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Subway Cowgate MONDAYS TRACKS

Blow the cobwebs off the week with a weekly Monday night party with some of Scotland’s biggest and best drag queens.

TUESDAYS TAMAGOTCHI

Throwback Tuesdays with non-stop 80s, 90s, 00s tunes.

WEDNESDAYS TWISTA

Banger after banger all night long.

THURSDAYS FLIRTY

Pop, cheese and chart.

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS

Chart-topping tunes perfect for an irresistible sing and dance-along.

SATURDAYS

SLICE SATURDAY

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS

SUNDAY SERVICE

Atone for the week before and the week ahead with non-stop dancing.

The Mash House TUESDAYS MOVEMENT

House, techno, drum ‘n’ bass and garage.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

Joyous global club sounds: think Afrobeat, Latin and Arabic dancehall on repeat.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) PULSE

The best techno DJs sit alongside The Mash House resident Darrell Pulse.

THE SKINNY

DEIFIED

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Metal from the UK.

Tue 30 Jan BROTHERTIGER SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Electronica from New York.

Wed 31 Jan

A FUNDRAISING CONCERT FOR MND SCOTLAND FT.THE BUTLER FAMILY THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00

Folk from Scotland.

Alt indie from London.

TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Jazz from Scotland.

AMPLIFI (BELLY RACHEL + MAYA’S RADIO ORCHESTRA + RIA ANDREWS)

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00

Pop from Scotland.

JASMIN JET (RAY KENNY)

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Indie from Scotland.

SAMODIVA NESTYA (LIZABETT RUSSO)

LEITH DEPOT, 20:00– 22:00

Folk from Scotland.

Thu 01 Feb

MATTI KLEIN SOUL TRIO THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00

Soul from Brazil.

ACOLYTE (KINBOTE) LEITH DEPOT, 20:00– 22:00

Electronica from Edinburgh.

INDEPENDENT VENUE WEEK: SAMUEL NICHOLSON + ZOE GRAHAM SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Edinburgh.

Fri 02 Feb

HARRY MARSHALL SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from London.

Tue 06 Feb CHUCK RAGAN

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from the US.

WET WET WET (GO WEST)

USHER HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Rock from Scotland.

BILLY WOODS

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00

Rap from DC.

Wed 07 Feb

PATERSUN (CHAPTER TWO) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Scottish Borders.

Thu 08 Feb GHOSTWOMAN

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00

Psych from the UK.

THE DAYBREAKERS

NIGHT CALLER (PAL)

Pop from Scotland.

PINK SUITS (PAISLEY FIELDS)

INDEPENDENT VENUE WEEK: CARLA J EASTON + JORDAN PHILLIPS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from Glasgow.

JEFF ROSENSTOCK THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from New York.

CELTIC FIDDLE FESTIVAL (CHARLIE MCKERRON + KEVIN BURKE + YUNA LEON + NICOLAS QUEMENER) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00

Folk from Scotland, Ireland and France.

Sat 03 Feb

PETE WYLIE AND THE MIGHTY WAH!

Indie from Liverpool.

LOGOZ (2 SEVENS + THE UNDACLASS) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Punk rock from the UK.

INDEPENDENT VENUE WEEK: MIDNIGHT AMBULANCE + CYRANO SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock from Edinburgh.

THE CHISEL (RIFLE + DIVIDE) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Punk and hardcore.

Sun 04 Feb INTHEWHALE

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Rock from London.

WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Country.

Fri 09 Feb

THE TROPICANAS (SLOW KARMA + VERSINO) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from West Lothian.

BIKINI BODY

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Punk from Edinburgh.

Sat 10 Feb

THE KYLA BROX BAND (TOBY MOTTERSHEAD) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–22:00

Blues from Manchester.

THE LAST DINNER PARTY

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from London.

THEE GIRL FRIDAYS (BLONDE SECRET + COMFORT GIRL) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Edinburgh.

NIKI KING

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Jazz from Scotland.

THE HEAD HENCHMEN (THE BAD MOODS) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Garage punk.

Sun 11 Feb MARY BLEEDS

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Post-punk from Dublin.

Hard rock from Colorado.

Mon 12 Feb

LEITH DEPOT, 20:00– 22:00

O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH, 19:00–22:00

INDEPENDENT VENUE WEEK: CONSCIOUS PILOT + BUFFET LUNCH

SKYDADDY (JACK FINGLAND)

BEE ASHA (BRENDA)

Rap from Edinburgh.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:00–22:00

Indie punk from Glasgow.

Glasgow Clubs

ENTER SHIKARI

Rock from the UK. SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie from London.

Tue 13 Feb SCOTT CLAY

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Americana from Nashville.

JORDAN MACKAMPA

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the UK.

Wed 31 Jan

FRENETIK: LOVEJOY LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Thu 22 Feb

Hardcore from the UK.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Wed 14 Feb

THE BRACKNALL

RED MUSEUM (DJ JM + INGRATE + BOOSTERHOOCH + AKUMU)

Rock from London.

Techno, experimental and house.

CHEKOV’S GUN (DEAD ROMANCE CLUB) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Electro-punk from London.

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

OLIVER PINDER

Sat 24 Feb

Dance from Austria.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the UK.

Thu 15 Feb

SAVAGE MANSION

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Fri 23 Feb

MANU DELAGO

Thu 01 Feb

SHELF LIVES

Rock from the UK.

THUDLINE: DUSTY DAN + PLANTAINCHIPPS + ROY DON

BEANS ON TOAST

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Folk from the UK.

Bass and club.

Fri 02 Feb

JAMES MADDOCK THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00

DYSFUNCTIONAL RAVE: CLTX

Rock from the US.

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

SLOWDIVE

Techno.

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00

LET THE MUSIC PLAY (VELOCITY PRESS)

SUNDA ARC (SINK)

Indie from Glasgow.

WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

FLEETMAC WOOD SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Rock from Reading.

SUMMERHALL, 19:30– 22:00

Electronica from Italy.

Fri 16 Feb

THE CASTROS (INTO YESTERDAY + CONTR4 + EH52)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Fife.

R’n’ B and funk.

DECLAN MCKENNA

Pop from the UK.

KYOSHI STATION SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Edinburgh.

MIKE MCGEARY

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00

Folk from Scotland.

AURORA ENGINEER (MIMA MERROW) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Electronica and folk.

Sat 17 Feb

BEL COBAIN (KOHLA) SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00

Alt indie from London.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Grindcore from Edinburgh.

CHRIS STOUT + CATRIONA MCKAY THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Trad from Scotland.

JIMI FUNK ON (ECHO HOTEL) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Funk.

Sun 25 Feb

FIFIDINY (GRACE & THE FLAT BOYS)

Singer-songwriter from Edinburgh.

World music from Europe.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

KING NUN (OH ROMANCE + FLAT PARTY) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock from London.

BLACK OUT THE SUN LA BELLE ANGELE, 16:00–22:00

CONFLICT

Punk from the UK.

Electro and disco.

Wed 07 Feb

MI CASA: LOVE REMAIN + KNEES UP + MILKGIRL THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Thu 08 Feb

FLIPSIDE 2ND BIRTHDAY: MURDER HE WROTE LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Garage and UK funk.

Fri 09 Feb OFF GRID

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

SOUTHSTAR

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

BLOODSPORT: SISSY MISFIT + KIIRM (NOISE HERTZ + DJHOTWATERBOTTLE B2B PUREG1RL) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Hardcore and gabber.

DEKMANTEL GLASGOW: CALL SUPER + CASPER TIELROOIJ + SOFAY LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Techno and house.

DISTRICT IV: SENTIENT B2B VERDICT

CURATED WAX

Ambient and dembow.

Fri 16 Feb

Sat 10 Feb

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

FUNK TRIBU

SWG3, 22:30–03:00

Hard techno.

CHRISTIAN ROGERS SWG3, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

HILL52 PRESENTS: SIMULACRA (SHOLA + VAUGHN REYNHOLM + SOFAY + PETER BLOOR / LEMSIP + YYY) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Leftfield, electronica and dub.

STEREO BAR: MÁS ALLÁ

STEREO, 22:00–02:00

Bass and funk.

BRAVE (FEMTOP.4U + DOOMSIDIOUS + 3RDCRUSH + HIGHSHIFTING + VJ: JNK) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

EZUP

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Techno and house.

LOOSE JOINTS VALENTINE’S LOVE DOWN: SYSTEM OLYMPIA

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Synth pop and R’n’B.

Thu 15 Feb

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and deep house.

SWIFTOGEDDON

Pop.

JAZZY

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Dance pop.

CL!CK X STEREO: VALENTINES W/ YAZZUS (MISS CABBAGE + DJHOTWATERBOTTLE B2B PUREG1RL + MARKY MARBLES B2B CASEMENT + HALAL KITTY + HEARTCORE GIRL + PONYBOY + BUM NOTES + DORICA + PIXIE CHANEL + EDEN + LAURA LOVEMORE + EYVE + LOURDES) STEREO, 19:00–04:00

Techno, bass and hardcore.

PAPAYA WHIP: MELLOWDRAMATICS + KLAUS + JUNGLEHUSSI LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Bass and house.

SHAKARA

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and club.

Sat 17 Feb SKREAMIZM X PRESSURE

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

MOVE’N GROOVE

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

FRANKY WAH ALL NIGHT LONG

House and techno.

House.

Techno.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

SWEATBOX

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

D0NKALICIOUS: LOBSTA B (DJHOTWATERBOTTLE + K8TAMINE + ANGEL. WORLD)

Donk and gabber.

BLUE GIANT ORKESTAR

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00

Electro and rave.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

ENDLESS SWARM

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

House and garage.

Tue 20 Feb

MALEVOLENCE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

EROL ALKAN - TO THE RHYTHM

HEALTHY: DJ PYTHON + PHYSICAL THERAPY + HERE & NOT YET

LEZURE 071 - 9TH BIRTHDAY: MOTHER, SLOAN, LEIN CRISPO LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Techno and bass.

JAIVA (CULOE DE SONG + BUTHOTHEWARRIOR)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

House and Afrohouse.

MISSING PERSONS CLUB (CHLÄR + ANDY BARTON) THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Sat 03 Feb

Regular Glasgow comedy nights Drygate Brewing Co.

FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH DRYGATE COMEDY LAB, 19:00

A new material comedy night hosted by Chris Thorburn.

The Stand Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

TUESDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to eight acts.

FRIDAYS

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

The Glee Club FRIDAYS

FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

The perfect way to end the working week, with four superb stand-up comedians.

SATURDAYS

SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

An evening of awardwinning comedy, with four superb stand-up comedians that will keep you laughing until Monday.

Host Billy Kirkwood and guests act entirely on your suggestions.

BLESSED 4EVER: A T4T FUNDRAISER FOR LEGAL & VISA SUPPORT (BABYJAII + SHREK666 + LUCKYBABE + NXSA B2B INDIGO)

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

House, bass and techno.

MONDAYS

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

STEREO BAR: ANGEL. WORLD STEREO, 22:00–02:00

Trance.

Metal from the UK.

The Stand Edinburgh RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

COURTING

The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s make comedy cold from suggestions.

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Liverpool.

THURSDAYS

Sun 18 Feb

THE BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY, 20:30

MØAA

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

Darkwave from Seattle.

GALLUS

FRIDAYS

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21

The big weekend show :00with four comedians.

Indie punk from Glasgow.

Mon 19 Feb

SATURDAYS

SHAMBOLICS

THE SATURDAY SHOW (THE EARLY SHOW), 17:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

A slightly earlier performance of the big weekend show with four comedians.

Rock from Scotland.

Post-punk from Leeds.

— 59 —

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel SECOND AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

The University of Edinburgh's Comedy Society, who put on sketch and stand-up comedy shows every two weeks.

WEDNESDAYS

TOP BANANA, 19:00

Catch the stars of tomorrow today in Monkey Barrel's new act night every Wednesday.

THURSDAYS

SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00

Four acts every Thursday take to the stage to try out new material.

FRIDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

FRIDAYS

DATING CRAPP, 22:00

Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Farmers Only...Come and laugh as some of Scotland's best improvisers join forces to perform based off two audience members dating profiles.

SATURDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

SUNDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

February 2024 — Listings

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00

GALLUS

Folk from Scotland.

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00

LEITH DEPOT, 20:00– 22:00

Sat 17 Feb

CATHAL MURPHY (CORTO.ALTO)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Bass and club.

Mon 05 Feb

MF TOMLINSON

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Dundee Music

EROSION X THE FLYING DUCK (RHYW + MAS ALLA + JOE UNKNOWN)

THE SKINNY

STEREO BAR: HU-SANE

STEREO, 22:00–02:00

Bass, bhangra and house.

BASS GARDEN (BOTANICA CREW)

Sat 10 Feb

LUCKYME: SUNAREHT SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

SHOOT YOUR SHOT

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

House and club.

Fri 02 Feb

ASCENSION

WEE RED BAR, 21:00– 03:00

Goth and industrial.

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Wed 21 Feb

TALKLESS DANCE MORE LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

Thu 22 Feb

FRENETIK INVITE: SLIN LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Fri 23 Feb THE VAS FILES

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Techno and bass.

IVRESSE PRESENTS ROY DON (DARC B2B MILKGIRL + NESSY B2B JOSH + IVRESS RESIDENTS) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

House and UK garage.

EVENTS RESEARCH PROGRAMME X TESTING THE WATER (JON K + ELLE ANDREWS) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Bass and techno.

CÉLESTE + BARON VON TRAX

Garage and drum ‘n’ bass.

RED SOLO CLUB

Country and Western.

K-POP PARTY

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

EPIKA: CIRCLE 15 WITH LEAH KYVELI THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and electro.

Sat 03 Feb

EHFM: MACCA (NTS) (OT + ST SUNDAY) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

ONA:V

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Techno and electro.

I LOVE YOUR ENERGY 1ST BIRTHDAY THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Disco, house and rave.

Sun 25 Feb

GUNK X THE FLYING DUCK (PIEZO) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Bass and experimental.

Edinburgh Clubs

Reggae.

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Tropical world.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Rave.

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

AGORA: ALIEN COMMUNICATIONS

Electro from London and Edinburgh.

NIGHTTUBE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Electronica.

Fri 16 Feb

WALL OF BASS (GENERAL LEVY + SINAI SOUND + ELECTRIKAL SOUND)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

ARUSA & JEEM'S VALENTINE'S SCHOOL DISCO (ARUSA QURESHI + ST SUNDAY)

MOVEMENT

House, techno and garage.

HAPTIC: NANCY JUNE SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Bass from London.

ECLIPSE

Electronica.

Thu 08 Feb

RED ROOM SOUND: MINOR SCIENCE SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Experimental club from Berlin.

CALM PARTY (SUPERSTAR FISHBAR DJS) WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

House and techno.

Fri 09 Feb

CLUB SYLKIE & MISS WORLD: SMALL CRAB & CLEMENCY SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

House.

EPIKA: STEPHEN BROWN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Tue 06 Feb

WEE RED BAR, 20:00– 03:00

Wed 31 Jan

OVERGROUND

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

SATSUMA SOUNDS SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Pop and disco.

METACHRONAL

House and techno.

CALL ME MAYBE: 2010S PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

OVERGROUND

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Rave.

Dubstep and garage.

SUMMERHALL, 21:00– 03:00

Pop, disco and R’n’B. SKREAM

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Trance.

Fri 23 Feb LIONOIL

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

House.

NIGHTS LIKE THIS (JIMMY JAMMIN + LEE ARVIN) WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

INDIE DISCOTEQUE

Rock and indie.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

Queer pop and disco.

PARABELLVM XIX THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and experimental.

DILF

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

House.

Sat 17 Feb

HEYDAY: PROSUMER + MICHELLE MANETTI

Sat 24 Feb THAT 70S CLUB

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

PULSE

Techno.

Mon 26 Feb SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Dundee Clubs

25 FEB, 3:00PM-5:00PM

Fri 02 Feb

PUBLIC HOUSE PRESENTS: EXILED RECORDS KINGS, 23:00–03:00

Electro.

RARE X KOLEKTIV: MARK BLAIR

KINGS, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Sat 10 Feb

SHERELLELAND POSTAL SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Jungle.

Mon 19 Feb MILE HIGH CLUB SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Wed 21 Feb

MEMBRANE WITH MORAY LEISURE CENTRE AND DAKSH SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

PHAT EARTH

KINGS, 23:00–03:00

Funk and electro.

Sat 17 Feb

TECHNODROME: INDUSTRIAL MECHANICS

29 JAN, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

CHLOE PETTS: IF YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING NICE

Chloe Petts returns, fresh from her smash hit Edinburgh Fringe run.

STEPHEN K AMOS: OXYMORON

5 FEB, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

Stephen K Amos is back with a brand new show, after treading the boards of London’s West End in the smash hit musical My Fair Lady VIDURA BR: FRENCH KISS TUNNEL

KINGS, 23:00–03:00

Techno and industrial.

Fri 23 Feb

MUNGOS HI-FI SOUND SYSTEM KINGS, 23:00–03:00

Sound system.

Glasgow Comedy The Glee Club FAILING IN LOVE: STAND UP COMEDY ABOUT LOVE 8 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

SCREEN TIME

3 FEB, 4:00PM-5:40PM

Fri 16 Feb

Sun 18 Feb

The best and most exciting female stand up comics both established and new with regular hosts Susan Riddell and Amanda Dwyer.

A new multimedia comedy night hosted by Feaghas Kelly.

Fri 09 Feb

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Electronica.

Hosts Jade Kelly and Rachel Jackson and headliner Stephen Buchanan.

Daliso examines the huge differences between the way you think life will be at 20, and the reality.

MATERIAL, GIRL

Funk, soul and Afrobeats.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

11 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:10PM

With host Jay Lafferty, Chris Forbes, Josie Long , Kathleen Hughes, Christopher MacArthur Boyd and Mark Nelson.

KINGS, 23:00–03:00

ETERNAL

12 FEB, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

BENEFIT IN AID OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

DALISO CHAPONDA: FEED THIS BLACK MAN AGAIN

31 JAN, 8:00PM-9:00PM

Groovers.

A stand up comedy show about failures in relationships and love with the most hilarious comedians in Europe.

11 FEB, 4:00PM – 5:00PM

Come spend an hour with El Chapo' and see what the fuss is about.

BENEFIT FOR MEDICAL AID FOR PALESTIANS

ANDROMEDA

A stand up show featuring jokes about politics and jokes not about politics.

A inclusive joyful show where everyone is respected but silly fun is had by all.

Podcast hero Jamie Hutchinson is one of the brightest sparks on the UK circuit.

DECADE

House and New Wave.

21 FEB, 10:00PM – 9:30PM

8 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

House.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

PHIL CHAPMAN

JAMIE HUTCHINSON: WATERSLIDE

Disco.

DEE BOOGS PRESENTS: ASTROJAZZ

EZSTREET: 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY

LOOKING FOR LAUGHS: FIRST DATES MEETS WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY!

Amy spins a sparkling web of comedy magic between the two states she finds herself caught between • stability and restlessness.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Alt pop and punk.

The Stand Glasgow

4 FEB, 8:30PM-9:30PM

Techno and hardcore.

MATT GREEN: THAT GUY

24 FEB, 4:00PM-5:00PM

AMY MATTHEWS: I FEEL LIKE I’M MADE OF SPIDERS

INKOHERENT UPSTAIRS VII

17 & 19 FEB, 4:00PM5:40PM

6 FEB, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing the improv format The Harold.

House and bass.

LOVEBITE

22 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

HAROLD NIGHT

TRANCEPARENCY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Bass from Dublin and Manchester.

Mon 29 Jan

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

The Old Hairdressers

REGGAETON

Reggae and dub.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

House, disco and bass.

FEMMERGY

House.

DICE

Experimental, bass, baile.

STEREO, 22:00–02:00

Wed 14 Feb

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

British Comedian of the Year Winner and social media sensation Jeff Innocent is embarking on his first ever nationwide UK tour.

Thu 15 Feb

Wed 07 Feb

STEREO BAR: MAVEEN

90s rock.

MARGINS: FAFF

Dan Bennett is laying it all out on the table. Juggernauts, the lot.

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

CLYB SYLKIE X TURBINES (SLIM SOLEDAD + LAUREN DUFFUS + HEARTC0REGIRL + MIXXU)

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Drum ‘n’ bass, jungle and footwork.

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

ALL TRIBES WELCOME (MIGHTY OAK)

Techno and electro.

Techno and electro.

TEEN SPIRIT: 90S ROCK NIGHT

JEFF INNOCENT: SMART CASUAL

Goth, indie and alternative.

House from Liverpool.

Sat 24 Feb SWG3, 23:00–03:00

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

DAN BENNETT: TENS ONLY SEASON

DISORDER: NECTAX

House, disco and techno.

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

BIIA

Experimental club from Paris.

Thu 22 Feb

HOPELESS ROMATICS

UNTITLED PRESENTS E.DN HARDGROOVE PART II

House and techno.

February 2024 — Listings

Thu 01 Feb

10 FEB, 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Dead-pan style that puts audiences at ease while challenging conventional wisdom with a unique tone.

ANTI-VALENTINE’S DAY 2024 14 FEB, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

Sick of all the hearts, flowers and commerciality?

Come laugh in a dark basement at The Stand instead.

ANIA MAGLIANO: I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’VE DONE THIS

15 FEB, 8:30PM-10:10PM

Ania’s critically acclaimed 2022 debut run sold out at Edinburgh, Soho Theatre and Leicester Square Theatre.

— 60 —

CHRIS KENT: BACK AT IT

25-26 FEB, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

Cork man Chris Kent returns with his brand new show Back At It.

Edinburgh Comedy Monkey Barrel Comedy Club DARREN CONNELL AND THE FUNNY BUNCH 30 JAN, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

Come and see Scot Squad star Darren Connell host some of the best acts on the circuit today.

AMY MATTHEWS: I FEEL LIKE I’M MADE OF SPIDERS

25 FEB, 5:00PM-6:00PM

Amy Matthews brings her 5-star, sold out Fringe show to Monkey Barrel Comedy Club.

SAM LAKE: ASPIRING DILF 24 FEB, 6:00PM – 7:00PM

Join Sam Lake for his first UK tour of his critically acclaimed show, Aspiring DILF! JOSIE LONG: A WIP ABOUT ENORMOUS EXTINCT ANIMALS

2 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Josie Long starts working out some fun new ideas for a new show about extinction and really big sloths.

SALLY-ANNE HAYWARD: EGG SHORTAGE

3 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Sally-Anne Hayward brings her brand new tour show to Monkey Barrel Comedy.

JAMIE HUTCHINSON PRESENTS WATERSLIDE

7 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:40PM

Jamie Hutchinson brings his brand new show to Monkey Barrel Comedy.

COME & SEE: DURK & SKI 10 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Durk & Ski trial a new work in progress show.

TIM KEY: CHAPTERS 11 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Tim Key embarks on a very mild book tour to celebrate the publication of his new poetry anthology.

MARC JENNINGS: AWAY FROM HERE (SPECIAL LIVE RECORDING)

BENEFIT ON BEHALF OF LEITH WALK PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL

Scottish Comedian of the Year winner Marc Jennings returns to Edinburgh for a special live recording of his most personal show to date.

With host Liam Withnail, Marjolein Robertson, James Nokise and headliner MC Hammersmith.

13 FEB, TIMES VARY

ALEXANDRA HADDOW: NOT MY FINEST HOUR 17 FEB, 6:00PM – 7:00PM

Fresh from a smash hit, extended sellout run at the Fringe, Alexandra Haddow brings her debut show to Monkey Barrel Comedy Club.

JOSH GLANC: WORK IN PROGRESS (BUT PRETTY CLOSE TO BEING FINISHED) 23 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Aussie oddball Josh Glanc is back at Monkey Barrel for an evening of jokes, music and revelry.

The Edinburgh Playhouse JAMES ACASTER: HECKLERS WELCOME

7 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

VIDURA BR: FRENCH KISS TUNNEL 11 FEB, 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Dead-pan style that puts audiences at ease while challenging conventional wisdom with a unique tone.

ANTI-VALENTINE’S DAY 2024 14 FEB, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

Sick of all the hearts, flowers and commerciality?

Come laugh in a dark basement at The Stand instead.

ANIA MAGLIANO: I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’VE DONE THIS

17 FEB, 5:00PM-6:00PM

Ania’s critically acclaimed 2022 debut run sold out at Edinburgh, Soho Theatre and Leicester Square Theatre.

JEFF INNOCENT: SMART CASUAL

18 FEB, 4:00PM-5:40PM

One of the UK’s most beloved comedians invites you to ruin his show.

British Comedian of the Year Winner and social media sensation Jeff Innocent is embarking on his first ever nationwide UK tour.

The Stand Edinburgh

25 FB, 8:30PM-9:30PM

20-22 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

SUSAN MORRISON IS HISTORICALLY FUNNY 25 FEB, 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Host of BBC Radio Scotland’s Time Travels will take you through some of Scotland’s seediest, skankiest and scandalous history. And the funniest.

THE EDIT

20 FEB, 8:30PM-9:30PM

A new monthly political material gig. Hosted by Laura Davis and James Nokise.

THE BRIGHT CLUB 28 FEB, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

A new crop of comedic academics from Scotland’s universities every month.

CHLOE PETTS: IF YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING NICE 1 FEB, 8:30PM-9:30PM

Chloe Petts returns, fresh from her smash hit Edinburgh Fringe run.

SUSIE MCCABE & FRIENDS

4 FEB, 4:00PM-6:00PM

Stand favourite Susie McCabe and some of her favourite comedy chums.

STEPHEN K AMOS: OXYMORON 4 FEB, 8:30PM 10:50PM

Stephen K Amos is back with a brand new show, after treading the boards of London’s West End in the smash hit musical My Fair Lady

MATT GREEN: THAT GUY

A stand up show featuring jokes about politics and jokes not about politics.

Glasgow Theatre CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

FLORENCE LOGAN: OH TO BE A SNAIL 15-16 FEB, TIMES VARY

A choreographic patchwork of BSL, movement and text exploring the fleshy clumsiness of care.

DALE THRUPP: THE DEATH OF DALE JORDAN THRUPP

16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

Movement and projection staging a ritual towards death.

HOPE KENNEDY: DANCE FOR ME/WITH ME 16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

In a sinking cardboard boat, two friends attempt to understand their place in the world.

JESSICA PARIS: GRIP

16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

Choreography examining sex work and the duality of power dynamics and the performing body.

JULIENNE RESTALL: ON SHIFTING GROUND 16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

Dystopian physical theatre exploring the illusion of agency.

THE SKINNY

ROMI SARFATY AND DALE WILLIAMSON: THE PATHETIC PLANET 16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

An ancient ameoba navigates a dying planet in this absurdist operatic melodrama.

KATE BRADLEY: A ROMAN SKYLINE

16-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

Edinburgh Theatre

Oran Mor

SCOTTISH OPERA: MARX IN LONDON!

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: JACK 19-24 FEB, 1:00PM – 2:00PM

A dark comic monologue that explores the struggles of navigating a life of love, loss and finding hope. All with the help of man's best friend.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: BREAD & BREAKFAST

26 FEB-2 MAR, 1:00PM – 2:00PM

A B&B in the Highlands has an ordinary day turned upside down when a visitor chokes on his morning toast, in this eventful and farcical play.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland TWELFTH NIGHT

3-8 FEB, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Misunderstandings abound in this Shakespeare classic.

The King’s Theatre

CALENDAR GIRLS THE MUSICAL 20-24 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

The musical adaptation of the hit Helen Mirren film.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY THE MUSICAL 1-4 FEB, TIMES VARY

Head to Willy Wonka’s magical factory in this lavish musical.

I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY

12-17 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Jukebox musical of 90s and 00s bangers unravelling on a wedding getaway.

Theatre Royal THE FULL MONTY

20-24 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

SCOTTISH OPERA: MARX IN LONDON! 13-17 FEB, 7:15PM10:30PM

The UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s farcical take on the father of communism.

Tramway

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOUR EYES ARE CLOSED / WHAT YOU DON'T SEE WHEN YOUR EYES ARE OPEN 16-17 FEB, 7:30PM – 8:30PM

Playful, experimental, bizarre theatre exploring theatre’s capacity to see and be seen.

Tron Theatre ESCAPED ALONE

22 FEB-9 MAR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Four friends’ domestic intimacies are interrupted by flashes of the apocalypse in this stunning Caryl Churchill play.

Traverse Theatre

Fruitmarket

2-3 FEB, TIMES VARY

3 FEB, TIMES VARY

A ballet for robot vacuum cleaners, examining the entwinement of technology with our lives. Part of Manipulate.

SIMPLE MACHINES 4 FEB, TIMES VARY

Robots learn both how to dance and how to teach themselves to dance in this interrogation of creativity and AI.

Royal Lyceum Theatre TWO SISTERS

10 FEB-2 MAR, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

THE HOUSE

A house haunted by memories and perhaps more comes to life in this intricate puppet performance.

Part of Manipulate.

PICKLED REPUBLIC

9 FEB, 6:00PM – 7:00PM

Surreal theatre cabaret with puppetry, masks, and a salty atmosphere. Part of Manipulate.

PLINTH

2-3 FEB, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Renowned theatremaker Al Seed explores ideas of mythmaking and collective memory through statues.

Part of Manipulate.

ENVAHISSEURS (INVADERS)

Two titular sisters return to a childhood paradise only to discover all the ways they themselves have changed.

4 FEB, TIMES VARY

Summerhall

RAGNAROK

FLAME OUT

24 FEB, TIMES VARY

A unique piece of devised work exploring stories of life after 50.

The Edinburgh Playhouse JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

6-10 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

The gospel of Andrew Lloyd Webber offers a dazzling view into the last week of Jesus’ life.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

13-17 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

Wizard of Oz adaptation starring RuPaul’s Drag Race winner The Vivienne.

The Studio SNAPSHOTS

5 FEB, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

Visual theatre pieces from five Scottish artists. Part of Manipulate.

RUINS

11 FEB, 6:00PM – 7:00PM

Dance theatre inspired by Donna Haraway, examining how we can collectively find our way beyond harm. Part of Manipulate.

LAST RITES

3-4 FEB, TIMES VARY

A man has 24 hours to perform his father’s funeral rites in this striking visual exploration of grief. Part of Manipulate.

SURGE DOUBLE BILL

6 FEB, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

A double bill of puppetry, clown and technological theatre. Part of Manipulate.

LA CONQUETE (THE CONQUEST)

9-10 FEB, TIMES VARY

Object theatre and puppetry exploring the tangled legacies of colonisation.

Part of Manipulate.

Object-driven theatre in which strange alien creatures approach the Earth and the stage. Part of Manipulate.

10-11 FEB, 8:00PM10:00PM

A collision of ancient myth and modern spectacle, complete with clay figures and apocalyptical doom.

Part of Manipulate.

Dundee Theatre

Dundee Rep

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

14-17 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A simultaneously satirical and moving revolution in modern musical theatre.

RAGNAROK

20-21 FEB, 7:30PM10:00PM

A collision of ancient myth and modern spectacle, complete with clay figures and apocalyptical doom.

Glasgow Art CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art JOSIE PERRY + FRANCIS JONES: THE THIEVES 3-24 FEB, TIMES VARY

Drawings and hybrid science fiction texts presented as a publication and audioscape exploring ideas of queer community.

GoMA

BEAGLES & RAMSAY: NHOTB & RAD

1 FEB-28 APR, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Artist duo use life-size sculptures and video to create a flagship store interrogating ideas of consumerism and labour.

A groundbreaking showcase of the commercial textile designs of one of the most famous artist’s of the 20th century.

Street Level Photoworks

JENNY MATTHEWS: SEWING CONFLICT 10 FEB-5 MAY, TIMES VARY

Documentary war photography stitched over with local embroidery, examining the obliterating and fracturing effects of warfare.

The Briggait

DESPOINA ISAIA + SALLI YULE TSINGAS: CO-LACK-TING 1-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

Contrasting habits of collecting and assembling are presented in this exploration of memory-making and joy.

Tramway

RAMESH MARIO NITHIYENDRAN: IDOLS OF MUD AND WATER 1 FEB-21 APR, TIMES VARY

Elaborate ceramic sculptures examine the iconographies of social, political and cultural narratives.

Edinburgh Art

Edinburgh Printmakers JOURNEY

1 FEB-17 MAR, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Printmakers’ third annual members show exhibiting 78 artists.

Ingleby Gallery BRANDON LOGAN

1 FEB-9 MAR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Stromness artist’s work navigates the line between sculpture and painting with nods to Orcadian traditions of weaving and tapestry.

National Gallery

YOUR ART WORLD

1 FEB-14 APR, TIMES VARY

Community exhibition created by young people, examining the power of creative process.

THE PRINTMAKER’S ART | REMBRANDT TO REGO 1-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

Tracing the history of printmaking, from fifteenthcentury pioneers to artists like Tracey Emin.

TURNER IN JANUARY

29-31 JAN, TIMES VARY

&Gallery

DISTANT VIEWS

3-24 FEB, TIMES VARY

A group exhibition interpreting and reinterpreting the artists’ environments and natural landscape.

The famous annual exhibition of the National Gallery’s Turner watercolour collection.

Arusha Gallery

National Museum of Scotland

1-11 FEB, TIMES VARY

1 FEB-14 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

CHARLOTTE KEATES + MARGARET R. THOMPSON + FRIDA WANNERBERGER

RISING TIDE: ART AND ENVIRONMENT IN OCEANIA

Group exhibition of fantastical landscapes.

An examination of our relationship to the natural environment told through responses to climate change by Indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander artists.

City Art Centre SHIFTING VISTAS: 250 YEARS OF SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE 1 FEB-2 JUN, TIMES VARY

Sweeping landscapes both classical and modern are drawn from the City Art Centre’s permanent collection.

THE SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE AWARD 1 FEB-3 MAR, TIMES VARY

The inaugural exhibition of Scotland’s newest art open call, exploring both natural and man-made environments through traditional and boundary-pushing media.

DEEP ROOTED

1-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

A group exhibition interrogating the both symbiotic and extractive relationship between people and trees.

Open Eye Gallery

ADRIAN WISZNIEWSKI RSA: SCIENCE AND NATURE 1-3 FEB, TIMES VARY

Work characterised by a strong drawing element and fertile imagination, populated with contemplative figures set in vividly coloured landscapes.

DAVID EVANS ARCA RSA RSW (1942-2020) 1-3 FEB, TIMES VARY

An exhibition celebrating the life and work of David Pugh Evans, a Welsh born artist renowned for his hyperrealist paintings.

DAVID MARTIN: SILK ROADS 9 FEB-2 MAR, TIMES VARY

A selection of new works informed by the artist’s travels in Central Asia.

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9 FEB-2 MAR, TIMES VARY

Out of the Blue Drill Hall LAUREN CORY: HOMESTEAD EXHIBITION

9 FEB-30 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Framed with delicate pixel patterns reminiscent of early computer games, Lauren Cory’s pastel landscapes blend the cosy, nostalgic comfort of home with the sense of something bigger on the horizon.

Royal Botanic Garden CONNECTING HISTORIES

1 FEB-13 APR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

An extraordinary survey of Indian botanical drawing.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA AFTER GILLIES

3 FEB-3 MAR, TIMES VARY

Summerhall

ROWAN WALKER: FOREIGN OBJECTS

1-25 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Sculptural installation using clinical aesthetics to explore our relationship to pain.

YUMIKO ONO: COMPOSITION IV

1 FEB-1 NOV, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Developed out of a residency program in Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, this large-scale work explores intersections between art and architecture.

EMMA HISLOP: WHAT IS LEFT BEHIND 1-25 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

The inaugural exhibition at Summerhall’s previously closed Post Mortem Room is an appropriately forensic exploration of collisions between myth and science.

MELLA SHAW: SOUNDING LINE

1-25 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

CAMILA OSPINA GAITÁN: AN UNCANNY FEELING THAT SHE WAS BEING WATCHED

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Sculptural artwork exploring gender through redefining and reorienting the male gaze.

1 FEB-21 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Celebrating the centenary of the birth of Scottish pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi with a retrospective exhibition, including his Mickey tapestry and the tile designs at Tottenham Court Road tube station.

DO HO SUH: TRACING TIME 17 FEB-1 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Exploring the foundational role drawing and paper play in acclaimed South Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s practice.

Cooper Gallery

THE SCALE OF THINGS 1 FEB-6 APR, TIMES VARY

Three moving image works

by Grace Ndiritu, Saodat Ismailova and Margaret Tait exploring relations between humans and nonhumans through frameworks of intimacy and spirituality.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts MICHELLE WILLIAMS GAMAKER: OUR MOUNTAINS ARE PAINTED ON GLASS 1 FEB-24 MAR, TIMES VARY

A moving image work depicting a decolonised retelling of The Thief of Bagdad, exploring the ability of cinema to navigate structural violence.

Sculptures fashioned from whalebone ash fashioned into large-scale sculptures inspired by whales’ innerear bones exploring ideas of ecological crisis and fragility.

A continued celebration of Scottish artist William Gillies, this exhibition examines his enduring legacy on members of the Royal Scottish Academy.

PAOLOZZI AT 100

Dundee Art

1-25 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Talbot Rice Gallery THE RECENT

1-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

Group exhibition centring ideas of deep and geological time, examining how art can place us in a futureoriented timeframe.

KATIE PATERSON: TO BURN, FOREST, FIRE 1-17 FEB, TIMES VARY

An immersive installation using scent and incense burning to explore the firstever forest on Earth, and the last forest in the age of the climate crisis.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

MAKING SPACE: PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARCHITECTURE

1 FEB-3 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Exploring the social footprint of architecture, and the ways people have documented it through the decades.

Sett Studios

OT PASCOE + JOEL T DAVIDSON: SLUGGISH

@theskinnymag

FIND MORE STUFF TO DO:

3-4 FEB, TIMES VARY

Immersive exhibition by two of Sett’s resident artists, informed by research into slug species, their environments and their bodies.

Uncomfortable and whimsical sculptural works.

Stills

CAFÉ ROYAL BOOKS 1-10 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:00PM

Spotlighting the work of Café Royal Books, an independent publisher dedicated to post-war photography from Britain and Ireland.

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February 2024 — Listings

Stage adaptation of the award-winning film about six steelworkers with nothing to lose except their clothes.

1 FEB-1 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

The UK premiere of Jonathan Dove’s farcical take on the father of communism.

L’AMOUR DU RISQUE (LOVE OF RISK)

Realist portraits of people enacting quotidian activities.

ANDY WARHOL: THE TEXTILES

Gorgeous, intimate chroreography paying homage to the dancer’s late mother.

22-24 FEB, 7:15PM10:30PM

1 FEB-2 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

An exhibition exploring the ongoing cultural legacy of Monarch of the Glen, from shortbread to Schitt’s Creek and beyond.

ON BEFORE

16-17 FEB, 7:30PM – 8:30PM

GRAEME WILCOX: SHOWCASE

MONARCHS OF THE GLEN

Festival Theatre

A live musical performance in which a fickle singer attempts to discover where home is.

Dovecot Studios

THE SKINNY

She wrote the actual book on radical intimacy and love in female friendship. As The Skinny’s very own Anahit Behrooz prepares to release her second book, Mapping Middle-earth, we ask her some increasingly intrusive questions

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?

Venice! I love that everything has a little boat counterpart, I love that everything is in service of the aesthetic™, I love that it’s filled with loser film critics with their red lanyards for two weeks of every year. Casanova would have had an aneurysm.

Favourite food and why?

Chips, because they fuck. Pizza, for similar reasons. *Joey Tribbiani voice* put your hands together and....

Before anyone yells at me, this is a legit thing that legit Italians do, it’s called a pizza con le patatine fritte and it is the shit and they have it in Naples so don’t come at me (although upon Googling apparently it is a delicacy largely aimed at children).

Favourite colour and why?

That Majorelle blue, when it’s so deep and rich and looks almost impossible. I have in the midst of my winter mental breakdown started painting everything in my flat that colour. The toilet seat’s next.

February 2024 – Feature

Who was your hero growing up?

This was a question in my English GCSE exam and I put JK Rowling because I DIDN’T KNOW BETTER OKAY but I did get full marks across that whole subject so. Who’s laughing now, JK. I also had a big thing for Robin Hood in all his forms (vulpine and otherwise) because he was sexy and annoying and a forerunner of the wealth redistribition movement.

Whose work inspires you now?

Not JK Rowling. Still Robin Hood.

As it’s the love issue, if you could have a dinner conversation with any historical couple, who would it be and why?

Either Marquis de Sade and whoever he was fucking because I suspect he was actually a deeply awkward and unsexy freak or Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley so I could stage an intervention.

I can’t think of anyone that I’m like, ‘wow I’d like to learn from them’. I don’t think most people are very good at being in love and that’s actually quite reassuring. Maybe Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward? They seemed to consistently fancy each other. Or maybe Emily Dickinson and Sue Gilbert but we’d skip dinner and go straight to a queer bar where they could finally kiss in public.

Is there a particular love story, fictional or real, that has significantly impacted your outlook on relationships?

Doris Day and Howard Keel yelling at each other in Calamity Jane definitely did something. Catherine

Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas fighting in The Mask of Zorro definitely did something similar. Take from that what you will.

Photo: Ella Kamp

The Skinny On...

The Skinny On...

Anahit Behrooz

What’s your all time favourite album?

Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens. But also Music from Scrubs and Scrubs Original Soundtrack: Volume 2.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

Sin City was so ugly inside and out that it gave me a headache.

What book would you take to a desert island?

If I say The Lord of the Rings does this count as book promo? Can I expense this conversation?

Who’s the worst?

My neighbour.

When did you last cry?

Oh like five minutes ago probably.

What are you most scared of?

Spiders and dying alone :) How about you!

When did you last vomit and why?

The Skinny’s staff Christmas party because someone (Ros) kept ordering prosecco. My most embarrassing vomiting story though, in terms of the wankiness of its component parts (Bloomsbury I’m so sorry), is when I did a shot of what I thought was tequila at an undergrad party, realised it was whisky, and immediately threw up on the croquet lawn. Uhhhh Tolkien maybe walked across that croquet lawn once (HMRC you better give me my money back).

Tell us a secret?

Bold of you to think I have boundaries and everyone doesn’t already know all my business.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

I could definitely arm wrestle Jeremy Allen White and then aggressively make out.

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If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?

A pigeon.

Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Cartographies is out with Bloomsbury on 22 Feb BFFs: The Radical Potential of Female Friendship is available via 404 Ink

THE SKINNY

Young Fathers Takeover

February 2024 – Feature

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February 2024 – Feature

The Skinny On...

THE SKINNY

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