The Skinny Scotland October 2016 by The Skinny

.CO.UK

INDEPENDENT FREE

CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

October 2016 Scotland Issue 133

Life Death IN

Ross Fraser McLean presents CEIBA, a portrait of Mexico MUSIC NAO C Duncan Kano Mitski Arab Strap Spring King CLUBS Jasper James Ivan Smagghe & Tim Paris Wuh Oh

FILM Africa in Motion Play Poland Scotland Loves Anime BOOKS Helen Sedgwick Glasgow Women's Library Dundee Literary Festival

ART Graphic Design Festival Scotland Arika 16 Nicholson St Dario Fo COMEDY Felicity Ward

P.10 Ross Fraser McLean

P.15 C Duncan

P.30 Black History Month

P.32 Graphic Design Festival Scotland

October 2016 I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 133, October 2016 © Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 1.9 1st Floor Tower, Techcube, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL 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. Get in touch to find out more.

E: sales@theskinny.co.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher.

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jan – Dec 2015: 30,875

printed on 100% recycled paper

Contents

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Editorial Assistant Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Deviance Editor Events Editor Film & DVD Editor Food Editor Music Editor Theatre Editor Travel Editor

Rosamund West Will Fitzpatrick Adam Benmakhlouf Alan Bett Claire Francis Ben Venables Kate Pasola Kate Pasola Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Katie Hawthorne Amy Taylor Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Kyle McPartlin

Sales Sales Executives

General Manager Publisher

George Sully Sandy Park Grant Cunningham Kyla Hall Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Contents Chat & Opinion: Welcome to the 06 magazine with Crystal Baws; Shot of the Month; Spot the Difference; What Are You Eating for Lunch?

LIFESTYLE

30 Deviance: In Black History Month we

question the most dangerous black tropes and survey a history of white gaze on black pain.

Heads Up: October’s events calendar, 08 now with 20% more references to the

As World Mental Health Day approaches we take a closer look at the internet’s contradictory and potentially damaging recommendations for self care.

apocalypse. FEATURES

10 Part of Festival of Ian Smith: A

Celebration of Death, photographer Ross Fraser McLean’s CEIBA exhibition presents a portrait of contemporary Mexico and the nation’s relationship with death.

East London soul singer Neo Joshua aka 12 NAO emerges from the shadows with debut album For All We Know.

15 Glasgow’s C Duncan returns with a

follow-up to the Mercury-nominated Architect, and takes our Music editor on a Bargain Hunt-inspired shopping spree.

16 Comedian Felicity Ward talks depres-

sion and bowel movements ahead of her appearance at the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival.

grime slips into mainstream view 18 As with a slew of award nominations we

speak to one of its originators Kano aka Kane Robinson.

19 We meet Glasgow DJ royalty Jasper James ahead of his appearance at SWG3. 20 An interview with Mitski (New Yorker,

makes cool music about puberty currently on tour).

J ulia Taudevin talks to The Skinny about domestic terrorism, female rage and music ahead of Blow Off, part of Dancing With Colours, Whipping With Words, Dario Fo & Political Theatre. We meet Miss Major, one of the world’s foremost trans rights activists, ahead of her appearance at Arika.

22 Author Helen Sedgwick offers some insight into new novel The Comet Seekers. 25 As Glasgow Women’s Library celebrate their 25th birthday we take a tour of the haven for community engagement they’ve created in Glasgow’s East End.

Glasgow gallery 16 Nicholson St’s new curators introduce their vision for their programme. a month of milestone birthdays – 26 It’s Dundee Literary Festival celebrate

turning 10 with another banging literary programme.

film festival extravaganza 28 Autumn’s continues apace. Africa in Motion

32 Showcase: Graphic Design Festival

Scotland arrives in the Lighthouse in October, including the return of their International Poster Competition and exhibition.

F ood & Drink: What does ‘street food’ really mean? Is it just eating a sandwich on a bench? Our Food editor investigates. Phagomania claims a chocolate revolution; also news.

REVIEW

39 Music: Live reviews, your releases of the

coming month (including D.D Dumbo and a new EP from Sleaford Mods) and gig highlights for October. Plus thoughts on the resurgence of emo, a look forward to Tenement Trail and introducing… Spring King.

45 Clubs: Our recommendations for

this month’s best nights in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, plus words with Ivan Smagghe & Tim Paris and a guest selector from Wuh Oh.

49 Art: Exhibitions for the month ahead and reviews of Jess Johnson and Unlimited Festival.

50 Film: Our team’s thoughts on releases

including The Greasy Strangler, American Honey and My Scientology Movie.

51 Books: The poetry column meets the

new head of the Scottish Poetry Library, plus reviews.

52 Theatre: Aunty Trash answers one ‘anonymous’ red-headed Lady’s concerns about her ex writing a play about her.

VD: Things to watch at home this month D from Paths of Glory to The Hills Have Eyes.

53 Comedy: Introducing new Edinburgh venue Monkey Barrel.

54 Competitions: You (YES YOU!) could win

tickets to Oxjam Glasgow or a DVD of Aidan Moffat’s Where You’re Meant To Be.

55 Listings: What’s on where. 63 The Last Word: As Arab Strap return to

play the Barras following 10 years of near hiatus we quiz Aidan Moffat about the events of the last decade.

present another carefully considered programme from across the second largest continent’s 54 nations; Scotland Loves Animation offer another season of treats for all yer anime fans; and Play Poland once again display the past, present and future of Polish cinema.

October 2016

Contents

Editorial A

utumn 2016 brings a series of events which meditate on the theme of death. On our cover is a photograph by one Ross Fraser McLean, one of our longtime faves who’s this month presenting the first iteration of an ambitious project exploring life and death in contemporary Mexico. The work displayed in CEIBA (named after the Mayan tree of life) in Summerhall has been accrued over many months travelling in that vast and multifaceted nation over several years. It will start to scratch one surface of an endless tale of identity and culture, here focussing in on the rituals of death, timed as it is with Halloween, Edinburgh’s first Festival of Death and Day of the Dead. Mexico’s Day of the Dead has lately been misappropriated round here as a super fun way to dress up as zombie Frida Kahlo. CEIBA documents more of the reality surrounding this ancient tradition, and looks at how it represents a different relationship with death, with the honouring of ancestors and the maintenance of memory. The Festival of Death, of which this exhibition is a constituent part, looks more broadly at our relationship with death and aims to recast it in a more positive, celebratory light. The festival as a whole honours the memory of Mischief Le-Bas’s Ian Smith, continuing his legacy of creativity and provocation in death as in life. We are spoiled, here in Scotland, with the wealth of festivals and creative programmes that are on offer to us year round, but especially in autumn. Film is particularly strong as we hurtle towards year end – this month sees Africa in Motion, Play Poland and Scotland Loves Anime each arrive in cinemas near you, each presenting a carefully thought-through line-up of movies which will expand your horizons and your awareness of cultures and peoples far and wide. In theatre, and art, a festival celebrating the work of Dario Fo and Franca Rame arrives in multiple venues this month. Entitled Dancing with Colours, Whipping with Words the programme will explore multiple strands of Fo, the much-lauded Italian playwright, actor, comedian, singer, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, painter and political campaigner, and his late wife Rame, actor and feminist writer. Further genre-melding events come courtesy of those most avant garde of producers, Arika. We speak to one of the world’s foremost activists, Miss Major, about setting fire to the closet on the way out and the debt owed to trans activism by the wider LGBTQI community. Art takes a closer look at some of Glasgow’s exhibiting spaces – we meet the new curators of 16 Nicholson St, and take a tour of the inspiring

Glasgow Women’s Library as they celebrate their 25th birthday. The Showcase steps away from fine art for the month, and presents a selection of Graphic Design Festival Scotland’s shortlisted designs for their annual international poster competition. In Music, our Acting Editor Katie Hawthorne brings her brief reign of terror to an end with another exciting line-up of international talent. She speaks to East London’s NAO about emerging from the shadows, and takes C Duncan (Mercurynominated, don’t you know) on a Bargain Hunt-style shopping spree around Glasgow’s West End. We delve into the increasingly visible world of grime with some words with Kano, and meet New York’s Mitski to discuss Björk and feeling like an outsider. We close the magazine with a celebration of Arab Strap’s return. The inimitable Aidan Moffat casts an eye over the events of their decade of ‘absence’, finally revealing to the world which Girls Aloud song is his favourite. It’s The Promise, obvs. [Rosamund West] COVER CREDIT:

PHOTO: Sarah O'Byrne (Age 9) Type 'Ross Fraser McLean into Google and the third suggested search is 'Ross Fraser McLean kidnapped'. This month's cover photographer has quite a colourful history of travel – in 2011 a trip to India led to an enforced stay in a remote village of snake charmers lasting nearly a month. The images he took while held against his will went on the form Charming Snakes, an exhibition and publication documenting life in an isolated, illegal community. He's on the cover this month with a new body of work documenting new journeys in Mexico. He managed to avoid getting kidnapped this time, much to everyone's amazement, and in October presents CEIBA in Summerhall, examining the Mexican relationship with death.

Online Only theskinny.co.uk/music This year’s Scottish Alternative Music Awards, or SAMAs if you’d rather, will be handed out on 12 Oct at the Garage in Glasgow. Happy Meals, The Van T’s, Theo Kottis, Bossy Love and Be Charlotte are among the nominees – get details of this year’s winners on the website. Also online, our Dundee DIY series continues this month; in its opening installment, we get to know Dundee scene royalty Kaddish.

theskinny.co.uk/festivals Get well festive with news from Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay, catch up on Liverpool Psych Fest with our reviews, and look ahead to Liverpool Music Week, Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival and Manchester Animation Festival.

theskinny.co.uk/film Daniel Radcliffe breaks free from Harry Potter with roles as a cop going undercover as a neo-Nazi (Imperium) and a farting corpse (Swiss Army Man); we chat with the actor and he doesn’t break wind once. We also speak to Michael Peña about playing a dirty cop in War on Everyone, reflect on 30 years of David Cronenberg’s The Fly, and talk politics with Ken Loach ahead of his powerful new work of social realism, I, Daniel Blake. Our film team will also be reporting from the glitz of the London Film Festival with missives on the best of the fest.

COMPLAINT OF THE MONTH:

“Forget national and international issues altogether.” That was the advice of our inaugural Complainer of the Month, in response to the launch article for this year’s Food and Drink Survey (get voting, kids! theskinny.co.uk/food!) Basically, we shouldn’t have discussed politics, or topical issues, or “national and international issues altogether”, while also discussing where to get a nice sandwich. If this article had come past Mr Complainer’s desk, he writes, “it would have gone straight in the bin.” We were intrigued, so we looked him up on LinkedIn – turns out he works in aviation journalism, which theskinny.co.uk/books The programme for this year’s Book Week Scotland does explain why he wouldn’t want an article promois unveiled this month, with events taking place up ting a food and drink poll with little to no mention and down the country from 21-27 November. Head of aviation policy. Come to think of it, that article featured an illustration of a flying hotdog, which to the website for a full rundown of this year’s programme. We also talk race, politics and gentrifi- may be what provoked his ire in the first place. cation in Detroit with James Tait Black Prize-winning Still, at least he signed off with “Yours sincerely”, so that’s nice. 3 stars. author Benjamin Markovits, and chat with New York literary titan and self-professed “Marmite Honorary mention to the correspondent who took figure” Jonathan Safran Foer. umbrage with our suggestion that pizza is the next big thing, and described us as “FOODIE BEARDY theskinny.co.uk/food Our regular New in Food series continues to guide TWATTY EDINBURGH ARSEHOOOOOLESSSSS!!!!!!!” Well the joke’s on you sir/madam, because some you around Edinburgh and Glasgow’s best new venues, we save some pennies with a look at Edin- of us don’t even have beards. burgh’s best BYOB restaurants, and our pals in the North take a look at the best of this year’s ManWant to see your offhand comments dissected in print? Get chester Food & Drink Festival. commenting at theskinny.co.uk

facebook.com/StudioRoRo

Spot the Difference FRINGE BENEFITS Presented for your enjoyment is a time capsule from the noughties, illustrating the sub-cultural movement presciently labelled by the Daily Mail as an "emo death cult." One of these joyful young emos grew up to become a world-famous EDM DJ renowned for his sick beatz and killer drops, and the other By Jock Mooney

Chat

reluctantly put together the very page you’re reading now – but which one is which? To win a copy of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, venture beyond those slick fringe sweeps and devil-may-care attitudes to reveal their deep-seated emotional differences.

Competition closes at midnight on Sun 30 Oct. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

THE SKINNY

Crystal Baws With Mystic Mark

ARIES As your body rolls into the furnace at the crematorium after a full and lucrative life, inconsolable family members look on in tears. As per your instructions, all your money in cash goes into the flames with you. Some people can’t contain their grief, beating their wet faces and wailing in agony as the thick bricks of solid banknotes erupt in flames around your smug corpse. TAURUS Your cult has done extremely well this year, with prophets rising to hitherto unforeseen levels.

GEMINI As an adult you’re more scared of real things, like the tax man hiding under your bed or seeing the shadow of a nightmarishly large electricity bill appear behind you in the mirror when you turn CANCER Your father has almost been like a father to you. LEO Donald Trump vanishes from the Presidential race in October when he has to travel back in time to give his younger self the Grays Sports Almanac he was handed by a weird-haired orange old codger back in 1955, and is now kept locked in a safe at Trump Tower.

VIRGO There’s just no need to keep going out and eating worms at night. There are shops.

CAPRICORN It takes more muscles to frown than it does to punch a hole in the wall and take a shit in the photocopier.

LIBRA You’re very body conscious. They’re all over the house and you keep on tripping over them which only reminds you how overweight they’ve become. You can’t even shut the cellar door without a cellulite-covered leg or a swollen, blotchy dead face falling out.

AQUARIUS After succumbing to the almost mathematical certainty that our universe is in fact a simulation being run on a computer one universe up, you hurriedly join the Church of ‘PLS DON’T SWITCH US OFF’. Services include begging on your knees to the Almighty Creator, and making sprawling, obsequious works of art pointed up at the sky, aiming to shamelessly ingratiate yourself with the unknowable Algorithmic Architect.

SCORPIO Everything happens for a reason, the reason usually being whatever actually made the thing happen. SAGITTARIUS Your friends are deeply moved by the gift you splashed out on for their wedding present as they tear the wrapping paper off the enormous granite gravestone you commissioned, bearing both their names.

PISCES Like the fish, you are hopeless on land and can’t keep down a regular job to save your life. twitter.com/themysticmark facebook.com/themysticmark

Shot Of The Month Natalie McCool, Electric Circus, Sep 21 by Kat Gollock

October 2016

Opinion

Heads Up Compiled by: Kate Pasola

October's underrated. It's cosy, it's dedicated to black history, mental health, poetry and the dead. PLUS when it's nearly over you get to dress up like a total dick and have a huge party. What's not to love?

Tue 4 Oct

Wed 5 Oct

First up, get yourself along to Glasgow Women's Library for the national tour of Tall Tales (22 Oct-21 Dec), a programme of work from 17 international female artists. We're particularly taken with Lauren Sagar and Sharon Campbell's scintillating Chandelier of Lost Earrings, a sculpture created from 3000 single earrings donated, with an accompanying letter by those who've lost the other half of the pair. GWL, Glasgow, Until 21 Dec, times vary, free

Sure, we've booted ourselves out of Europe, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a bit of continental drinking, right? Enter Oktoberfest, one of Munich's greatest exports. Glasgow Oktoberfest isn't until 19 Oct but the Edinburgh festivities kick off today. Head along, grab some bratwurst and bevvies and feel low-key shame about the fact we're about to ruin the EU. Cheers! Princes Street Gardens West, Edinburgh, 5-9 Oct, times and prices vary

Mon 10 Oct

Guess who's back with a brand new beat? C Duncs! Find out what the 2015 Mercury prize nominee has been up to over on page 15 (TL;DR he produced a triumphant new record on a miniscule budget), have a listen to his new tunes (The Midnight Sun's out on 7 Oct), then come on down to his gig at Stereo tonight. S'gonna be a belter. Stereo, Glasgow, 7pm, £10

If you didn't reach full geeking-out capacity on National Poetry Day, check out Portobello Book Festival this week. Things kicked off on 7 Oct, but there's an entire weekend of literary fun to be had, so check out their programme via portobellobookfestival.wordpress.com. And the best part? It's all free! Books by the beach = a yes from us. Various venues across Portobello, Edinburgh, times vary, free

In the past year or so we've seen an encouraging improvement in the way we deal with the topic of mental health, but there's a whole lot further to go. Today's World Mental Health Day – spend it with the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (1031 Oct) as they celebrate their 10th year. Today you can see the magnificent Felicity Ward's show 50% More Likely To Die. CCA, Glasgow, 8pm, £10-12

Credit: George Morton

Sun 9 Oct

Photo: Kat Gollock

Sat 8 Oct

Blindtext

Fri 14 Oct

Sat 15 Oct

Sun 16 Oct

Hot fact: last year Scotland Loves Animation sold over 6000 tickets to screenings of wicked Japanese films as part of their festival Scotland Loves Anime. The not-for-profit fiesta of filmic talent returns this year, hitting our shores with a tonne of Scottish, UK and European premieres and opportunities to meet the minds behind the mastery. GFT, Glasgow (14-16 Oct) & Filmhouse, Edinburgh (17-23 Oct), tickets and timings at lovesanimation.com

Early last month, Angel Olsen dropped a spell upon us all in the form of her new album, My Woman. Scratchy, handsome, insightful and rammed with lyrical jaw-droppers, the record scored Album of the Month in our September issue. She's a sensational performer (seriously, check out the video for Shut Up and Kiss Me), so we most heartily recommend you catch her talent IRL. SWG3, Glasgow, 7pm, £13

Red Bull are up to their usual antics of doing Actually Quite Cool Things; right now they've got their sights set on fostering creativity with their very own music academy. Catch the RBMA tour as it passes through Glasgow between 13-16 Oct, bringing in the likes of Kölsch, Nightwave and Denis Sulta. Tonight, catch A Conversation With Young Fathers, hosted by Ray Philp – bound to be special. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 1pm, £5

Fri 21 Oct Wahey, FiniTribe are back! After linking arms with Neu! Reekie! for their first show in 20 years back in 2014, they’re returning for a preview of new record Suilven. They’ll be joined by the N!R! regulars along with Jenni Fagan, Woodleigh Research Facility (ft. Andrew Weatherall) and Sabrina Mahfouz. You’ll leave with a head full of earworms and a heart full of joy. Leith St Andrew’s Church, Edinburgh, 7pm, £10-12

Graphic Design Festival Scotland

Ruben Corbett

Sat 22 Oct

FiniTribe

Wed 26 Oct

Thu 27 Oct

Fri 28 Oct

In his lifetime, Dario Fo has written around 70 plays, many of which have provided norm-shattering critiques of injustice. He’s founded his own theatre company, revived the theatrical style of commedia dell'arte and won a Nobel Prize in Literature. It’s only fair we throw him a festival, right? Catch exhibitions, performances and discussions with the man himself between 6-31 Oct. Lyceum, Traverse, Scottish Storytelling Centre & Italian Cultural Institute, times and prices vary

Playwright Rob Drummond's pretty prolific at the moment. Just off the back of his Fringe show In Fidelity, he's stuck around these shores with oh, just a couple more plays to share before 2016 is up. Tonight, see Grain In The Blood, a thriller ‘steeped in folklore’ that stirs together the ideas of sacrifice and harvests. A gorgeously eerie October treat. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 19-29 Oct, 7.45pm, £8-12

Scotland’s burgeoning design scene is about to get a little busier with the addition of Handmade Edinburgh: The Contemporary Crafts & Design Fair. For three days, you’ll have the chance to peruse the wares of fashion and interior designers from across the UK. You could even get a bit of early Christmas shopping in the bag (if you’re a nutter, that is) The Hub, Edinburgh, 28-30 Oct, 10-6pm daily, £4-6

Chat

Young Fathers

Gavin Robertson, Marriage Chest

Grain in the Blood

Raconteurs Scotlandwide, this is your rally cry. The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is back for its 27th shot, and this year’s programme revolves around the theme of dreams. They’re also endeavouring to merge the talents of storytellers from across the globe, demonstrating through the art of spinning a yarn that we’ve got more in common with one another than we might have originally thought. 2131 Oct, Venues across Edinburgh, times and prices vary

Gavin Robertson, Marriage Chest

THE SKINNY

Photo: Paul Cowan

Thu 20 Oct Whether you're an Adobe nerd or just have a keen eye for gorgeous design, check out Graphic Design Festival Scotland as it returns with a programme of workshops, lectures, parties and networking events. The festival runs from 1723 Oct, but today's a hotbed of wicked one-day tutorials, from web design to analogue publishing, 3D printing to sign painting. See graphicdesignfestivalscotland.com for a programme of events and pricing details

Angel Olsen

Photo: Paul Cowan

Scotland Loves Anime

Fri 7 Oct

It's National Poetry Day! Celebrate the occasion by getting lyrical with CCA in recognition of the life and work of George Mackay Brown (it's the 20th anniversary of his death, after all). Failing that, try Outside-in / Inside-out, a new poetry festival taking place across Scotland and featuring over 70 poets, performers, artists and academics. Their programme is vast and varied, so take a look at outsidepoetryfestival.wordpress.com to find something that suits.

Today's the last day of the imaginatively-titled Gin Festival. More than 100 different gins on offer, live entertainment and plenty of #ginchat both professional and amateur – yep, that sure sounds like a gin festival. Solid name, good execution; gold stars all round. Check out ginfestival.com for all your vital deets. Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, 7-9 Oct, various times, £8.50

Tue 11 Oct

Wed 12 Oct

Thu 13 Oct

Everyone’s favourite nosy bastard Louis Theroux is taking his first theatrical feature documentary, My Scientology Movie to venues across Scotland this month. His Q&A screenings on 10 Oct completely sold out across the UK (obv), but you can catch encore screenings at GFT between 7-16 Oct if you’re speedy about it. GFT, Glasgow, times and prices vary

So, along with Poetry Day and Mental Health day, October also marks Black History month (are you keeping up?). St. Mungo’s is marking the occasion with a month-long series of events and popup exhibitions, including It Wasnae Us, a showcase of art exploring the role of slavery in Glasgow’s past. See the full series of events at stmungos.org. St Mungo’s, Glasgow, 1-31 Oct, times vary, free

The absolute worst thing about October in Scotland has to be that fact that we’re suddenly swamped in darkness from about 4pm onwards. In the spirit of optimism, we encourage you to check out Botanic Lights. The trail takes around an hour and a half, and you’ll get to see Inverleith House, the Glasshouses and the grounds of the gardens in full, discotastic illumination. Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, 13 Oct-6 Nov £7.50-15

Botanic Lights

Black History Month

This year sees a reunion of Chris Thomson’s alternative band The Bathers, 17 years since the release of their final album Pandemonia on Wrasse Records. They played Glasgow’s CCA back in March, but are due to return to the atmospheric surrounds of St Luke’s for another rifle in their discography, all in celebration of re-releasing their back catalogue. St Luke’s, Glasgow, 7pm, £10. Also Electric Circus, Edinburgh, 19 Oct, 7pm, £10

Jenny Hval

Today marks the start of

#BHM16

Programme of Events Dundee Literary Festival, October 2016 which will be draft-

ing in the likes of Alan Cumming, James Kelman, Liz Lochhead, Jenni Fagan for a grand old time celebrating all that’s bookish. Check out literarydundee. co.uk for info on everything from workshops to walking tours, silent reading parties to literary lockins. Various venues across Dundee, 19-23 Oct, times and prices vary Alan Cumming

Mon 24 Oct

Tue 25 Oct

Remember a time before Stranger Things, back when everyone was losing their shit over Making A Murderer? Well, hardcore Netflixers can get a new fix of MaM action with A Coversation On Making a Murderer, during which Steven Avery’s IRL defence lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting will be in attendance for a passionate discussion of all things criminal justice. O2 Academy, Glasgow, 7pm, £24.50

Remember we mentioned Black History Month earlier? Yeah, we're still not done with that. Tonight, celebrate black pride with the Scottish Writers’ Centre’s Celebrating Black History Month open mic with guest host Tawona Sithole, who’s a poet, playwright and musician. If you fancy joining the line-up of writers, poets and performers sharing their chat on the night, head to CCA’s websites for submission details. CCA, Glasgow, 7pm, free

Untitled (LIL MARVEL)

Credit: Juliana Huxtable

Sun 23 Oct Empower yourself with a lil’ help from the utterly anarchic festival programmers that are Arika, as they bring Episode 8: Refuse Powers' Grasp back to Scotland this October. Expect all the usual Arika action; clubs, performances, talks and discussions with noble efforts to keep things accessible and financially inclusive. Check out arika.org. uk for full programme details. Various venues across Glasgow, 21-23 Oct, times vary, suggested donation £5 / Pay What You Can

Making a Murderer

Sun 30 Oct

Mon 31 Oct

Today's so rammed with SUBLIME events that we're just going to have to bullet point this one out. You've got lyrical genius Ezra Furman at The Liquid Room (7pm, £14), the return of Day of the Dead Glesga at St Luke’s (7.30pm, £10) and Flying Duck’s A Samhuinn Convergence ft. a demon-banishing sesh from Happy Meals. Somehow choosing between all of the above is the burden you simply must bear. Soz.

This month also sees the return of Africa in Motion, bringing screenings, discussions, Q&A sessions with filmmakers, workshops, exhibitions and live performances to Edinburgh and Glasgow. This year's theme is 'Time' – not only delving into the past, present and future of Africa, but also investigating different cultural philosophies of time, from Swahili time to the Amharic calendar. Edinburgh Filmhouse, Glasgow Film Theatre, CCA, Glasgow, 28 Oct-6 Nov, see africa-in-motion.org.uk for event and screening info

Okay, so Halloween may well fall on a Monday this year, but unless you’re a spoilsport lame-o, we have faith that you’re going to want to do the occasion justice. Our suggestions? Edinburgh dwellers, head to The Caves for Denis Sulta’s Spook Down (10pm, £12.50), or if you’re on the west side, get involved with a Don’t Drop’s spooky special at Subbie (9pm, £10).

October 2016

Ezra Furman

Photo: Leah Henson

Sat 29 Oct

Credit: Raj Dhunna

Get your week off to a marvellous start – revel in the wondrous oddities of Norwegian composer and performer Jenny Hval. She's been releasing music for a decade under a couple of different monikers, and her latest work, released 20 Sep, is entitled Blood Bitch. It's all about the wonder that is the menstrual cycle (fucking finally), and we're incredibly buzzed to see a live rendition. Stereo, Glasgow, 7pm, £10

Wed 19 Oct Black History Month

Credit: Edward McGowan

Tue 18 Oct

Photo: Michael Barrow

Mon 17 Oct

Photo: Kit Carruther

Thu 6 Oct

Much Loved

Chat

Dead Lively

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

In the run-up to his major solo exhibition in Summerhall, photographer Ross Fraser McLean talks death and danger in Mexico

Chilpancingo, Guerrero, the Paseo del Pendon

oss Fraser Mclean turned 22 in the Gobi desert and since then has been going as a sometime photographer explorer for about 12 years. Most recently, he travelled across Mexico as part of a two-year project which will culminate in the exhibition CEIBA in Summerhall this month. While there’s an emphasis on the diversity of the huge country of Mexico, the Summerhall exhibition will broadly be organised around the idea of death and mortality. It’s titled CEIBA-Casa de Todos Los Muertos, or Home of All the Dead. Ceiba is a tree sacred to indigenous Central American mythologies - The tree of life or world tree. Death in conversation in Mexico is “like something we would share,” explains McLean. They use it as a way to relate to people but also remind us we’re all going out the same way. In Guerrero I had a conversation that started ‘Did you see the two decapitated bodies under the bridge?’ “There’s also a huge span between the rich and poor. One thing that everyone shares is that mortality. In a way, Day of the Dead isn’t the kind of carnival we might imagine – it’s a way of trying to connect and a way of families coming together to remember those departed. In a lot of ways it’s more open than the Christian approach of Christmas because no one pays for Day of the Dead. It’s open for everyone.” As part of his everyday practice of photography, McLean would document the cemeteries where he was travelling. One of the most eccentric cemeteries he encountered was in Sinaloa. It was also one of the worst places for a visiting photographer.

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“I’d checked with a photographer on Twitter, and she told me just don’t go alone.” As he was walking around, a local asked repeatedly that he stopped taking photos, and made clear that he was in danger. Not knowing much Spanish, McLean phoned a friend to interpret. “They were having a really long conversation and I thought it’s totally fine, it’s sorted, it’s all good. Then I get the phone back and was told ‘Ross, get out of there now.’” This is after a three hour flight and ten hour bus from one end of Mexico to another. “So I take another photo or so then put my camera away.” Later he came across a news article. “Two guys were there two weeks before, there doing the same thing and they were just shot dead. That was it. It was weird timing. I’d researched a lot into it before and it was fine, but there’s usually two reasons for being there. You’re either DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] or a journalist and they don’t really want either of those guys. “It’s sort of romanticised in a lot of films that are out there. But the reality is there was a 19 year old girl that was blogging about activities in that area and they took her keyboard and put it on a roundabout next to her head.” He witnessed first-hand again the dangers of drug trafficking when he was guided by a family he stayed with to a different kind of narco graveyard. “Away in the South in Guerrero, they took me to where the narcos dispose of their corpses (though there are different opinions on whether they’re alive or dead at the time). They use rubber tyres to hold them in place and cover them in coconut casks. They took me to this site that had the char-

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red embers of human beings and actual belt buckles, bits of clothing and human sized patches of ash, about 11 or so of them. As a press photographer I might have just taken the photo and sent it straight away. I’ve pondered over that here and questioned what’s right to include. It’s about that relationship between all the different moments. I’ve never been engaged with a project of such a scale or depth like this.”

“ The reality is there was a 19 year old girl that was blogging about activities in that area and they took her keyboard and put it on a roundabout next to her head” Ross Fraser McLean

As much as there is a documentarian bent to CEIBA, McLean is also open about the personal weight to the exhibit after losing his dad. “It was becoming a secret undercurrent strand. Say for example in Cuba [subject of a previous photographic series], a lot of the images I made were of workshops and cars [his dad worked with cars and was a car enthusiast]. I was doing that without necessarily admitting it openly.” As part of the Mexican tradition of ofrendas, McLean put together an altar at different moments throughout his travels as a tribute to his father. The ofrenda often includes personal effects, or food the person enjoyed, and he’ll be including this in CEIBA.

Though in some ways a personal project, McLean was also first visiting in the wake of 43 students being killed by the state. “The way it was described to me is, that in certain parts, there are no consequences if you’ve got enough money to get out of any situation. There’s no reliance on the state. There’s a lot more onus on family and a care for people. And that’s to a point where it’s commonplace for people to adopt kids from the streets. I was staying with families and someone would say this is my sister. Only after a bit of time you’d also find out they’d been brought in for some reason. It’s almost like there’s a matriarchal approach. The sad thing was everyone had a story of some sort of injustice that happened. And that’s really what the protests of the 43 were about. Everyone was venting their frustration, and this need for justice that they weren’t getting from the state. There’s a real anger with the people in power.” McLean wasn’t at the mercy of any serious injustice, even if he ended up giving a kickback. “My friend was driving us on a state highway in a borrowed car without insurance or papers. We end up getting stopped and the guy was like, ‘I wanna help you’ and we had to slip a note under his clipboard. I was able to be corrupted in such a short time.” Speaking of some of the challenges of representation in this project, he acknowledges: “It’s such a disparate country. It’s the same size as Europe” and it’s only “from a distance that you can generalise.” So he’s going all out for CEIBA and bringing in as many hands as possible to help. Papier-mâché heads by other artists will be included of different Mexican archetypes, and he’s also collaborated with designers to transfer parts of images to fabrics. Not to mention his plethora of trinkets. “There’s been a real collaborative push with local artists to bring a bit of lightness and fun as well. Mexico taught me that, it doesn’t need to be all doom and gloom. You need to keep things alive.”

Queretaro, Panteón Municipal de Santa Barbara

CEIBA opens in Summerhall on 28 Oct, the first iteration of an ongoing project

A Celebration of Death Comes to Edinburgh Opening over Halloween and Day of the Dead weekend, The Festival of Ian Smith; A Celebration of Death makes its Edinburgh debut, and aims to challenge our preconceptions about death. We talk to festival founder, Angie Dight Interview: Amy Taylor

Catemaco (tierra de los brujos)

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fter Ian Smith, the Artistic Director and co-founder of Mischief La-Bas Theatre Company, took his own life in 2014 after a long battle with depression, Angie Dight, his widow and Mischief La-Bas co-founder has sought to change attitudes to death. After deciding that Ian’s funeral was to be “a great celebration” she realised that attitude to death needed to change. “Obviously, his death was a really awful thing,” explains Angie, “but by celebrating him so positively, it makes it so much easier for everybody.” After the funeral, Angie looked for ways to remember him the way she wanted to, and decided to let Ian’s work tell his story. “I really wanted to show his work – because someone died, their work lives on, their legacy, everything they did.” The result was the very first Festival of Ian Smith, a three-day festival that premiered at the CCA last year to mark the one year anniversary of Ian’s death.

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This year’s month-long festival opens with a Day of the Dead Party on Friday 28 October, and features performances and installations from artists like Victoria Melody, Andrew Tibbles and Pauline Goldsmith, as well as music, theatre and collaborative pieces, such as The Death Cafe, and Good Grief: Part 2, a reworking of Ian’s original installation, where visitors can get involved and leave tributes for loved ones. Angie knows that the subject of death isn’t a comfortable one for everyone, but she also knows that when it comes to death, knowledge really is power. “I don’t think it’s morbid and it shouldn’t be morbid and it doesn’t need to be morbid, and I think the more we make death part of our everyday lives, the less frightened of it we will be.” The Festival of Ian Smith: A Celebration of Death runs from the 28 Oct-23 Dec, Summerhall summerhall.co.uk

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She Don’t Give A East London soul singer NAO tells The Skinny about stepping out from the shadows and creating a world that’s all her own

eo Joshua’s put in the work – she studied jazz at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she’s sung backing vocals for Jarvis Cocker, contributed guest vocals for chart topping beatmakers like Mura Masa and Disclosure, and she even started her own label, Little Tokyo. Now, though? It’s time for NAO. When The Skinny calls the East Londoner, she’s just come out of a business meeting with a potential video director. It’s just one of many indications, over the course of our conversation, that the soul singer’s firmly in charge of her own future. In July, Joshua released her debut album: For All We Know it is like a diary – an accumulation of years spent publically discovering her sound and, alongside newer cuts, it picks and chooses from her two previous EPs. But for many, the first we heard of NAO was from an enigmatic collaboration with A.K. Paul – brother of the ever-elusive producer Jai Paul. That track, appropriately titled So Good, appeared on Soundcloud seemingly out of nowhere in 2014 – and it’s been played almost three million times since. Over two years, the internet watched with peaking curiosity as NAO slowly – carefully – emerged into the light. After a time, we learned her name. Just this summer, she appeared in one of her own videos – but only in profile. NAO explains that to put herself forward “wholly and completely” felt overwhelming at first, but she raises her voice slightly to insist: “Now? I’m becoming more comfortable and understanding. I kind of feel like I can step out from my own shadow. I didn’t want to be in videos before because…” She lets rip a husky cackle; “Basically, I take really shit photos. “I mean, in [the video to] Girlfriend I’m not the focus – we used sharp angles, so you’re not always seeing my whole face in one shot. But slowly I’m coming out of my shell. I’m understanding that people who are interested in my music would like to know more about me. Exactly as I didn’t know what I wanted to sound like, at the beginning, I also didn’t know how I wanted to be portrayed.” Those who have followed Joshua’s journey have heard her experiment with all sorts of sounds – from the glitchy synth shards synonymous with the Paul brothers, to cavernous, heartbreaking soul-funk ballads. It’s almost too perfect that neo-soul – a genre tag often applied to musicians like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu – should be facing a NAO-sized shake-up. She laughs, “I was just trying out some stuff. So Good is a wicked tune, but it’s definitely the sound of A.K. and Jai – so it inspired me to try and find my own version of that, I guess. When I hit on tunes like Adore You and Inhale/Exhale, I was like this is what I’m trying to say. [Those songs] were the beginning of me working it out. And now that I have an album, there was more space for a bigger soundscape.” “Bigger” is right. Joshua writes about extreme emotion, those game-changing moments where the world slips out from under your feet – or the flush in your cheeks when you make accidental eye contact with someone you shouldn’t. Yet, until now, she’s written with a certain opaqueness. There’s no Adele-style live action replay to these intense, poignant recollections; with NAO, it’s all in the telling. Over frozen, broken glass beats, In The Morning has an unusually open narrative by Joshua’s standards, but far from being new, the song turns out to be one of the first she ever wrote. She’s just been waiting for the right moment. The paced realisation of an impending break-up unfurls from rational logic (‘I

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can’t be who he wants me to be [...] But I can’t bear to tell him, I don’t love him anymore’) to the crushing, crashing weight of a world imploding: ‘I gotta let him go.’ “I’m quite a tender person, when I sing,” she explains, haltingly. “Songs like Blue Wine, or In The Morning – they’re personal. I wanted to illustrate that there are so many colours to my palette as a singer and a musician. I wanted [the album] to be a world where you get some tunes that are a bit vibey, a bit sunshiney – but with some tunes that are deeper and much more intimate.”Still, even those sunshine songs turn up the drama. Recent singles Girlfriend and Bad Blood both contain huge shifts – classic, gigantic, pop ballad twists. “I’m attracted to emotion,” NAO confirms. “Music that genuinely feels like it comes from someone’s soul. You believe them. And they might express it in the most simple way, like Bon Iver, quiet and minimal… or it could be a gospel singer like Kim Burrell; she can be an absolute powerhouse, but I believe her. That’s what resonates.”As she finally lets us get to know her, NAO’s own trademark touch resonates throughout For All We Know. You can hear it in the gorgeous, slick production of tracks like Fool To Love, but also in the crackling voice memos which strip back bars to their original demos. Aside from opening up musically, it’s a nod to the skits and outros in other albums that Joshua’s loved in the past. “I wanted to show that I wasn’t just one thing,” she explains. “I wanted to show musicianship. I’m not around to make Radio One hits. I want to explore.”

Interview: Katie Hawthorne

anyone would listen,” she says, thoughtfully. “But it was really important to make it super clear that this is from me. To put that in the album. All those people you said – I love Frank, I love James Blake, I love Kanye – they all have their own worlds.” We’ve come to expect a worldly independence from NAO, too. In order to put out her debut, she signed a deal with Sony imprint RCA – but offered herself as label boss of Little Tokyo,

rather than herself as an artist. “It’s basically a distribution deal, but it means it all still runs the same!” She laughs, delighted: “I’m the only person on the record label and I still say exactly what goes on. No-one else can turn around and say they don’t like it.” Here on out, it’s NAO’s world for the taking. Playing the Art School, Glasgow, 26 Oct, 7pm, £12.50 For All We Know is out now on Little Tokyo Recordings

“ I’m attracted to emotion. Music that genuinely feels like it comes from someone’s soul” NAO

It’s a double blessing, then, that her Top 40 charting album is so adventurous – future-facing, but nostalgic, too. Joshua describes how her jazz background influenced a sampling process, of sorts. “Basically, in jazz you take little pieces of information: say you listened to a John Coltrane sax solo, and you might take two bars of it? That’s a lick, and you put it in your own music – and then create from it. So that’s what I’ve done! Kind of like a secret code.” If you listen carefully, you’ll find snippets influenced by Aaliyah (“she was amazing, and someone I listened to while growing up”), Stevie Wonder, and D’Angelo, to name a few. “I’ve got loads!” she enthuses. “It’s how I learned. And it’s a way to pay homage to the people who came before, and inspired what I do now.” Clocking in at 17 tracks, NAO’s debut follows 2016’s trend for lengthy records. Frank Ocean, Drake, Kanye, De La Soul and James Blake have all released albums with 15+ songs this year, and they’ve all involved mighty guest-lists of contributors, too. Not NAO. She has two collaborators – A.K. Paul returns for the ground-shaking Trophy, and Abi Dijon had already worked on the EP version of Adore You. Otherwise, though, it’s all the work of Neo Joshua. “I didn’t even know if

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THE SKINNY

October 2016

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The Skinny fills in; “Without sounding lo-fi?” “Exactly. It took a lot of trial and error. I probably recorded about one hundred songs, trying to get it right. But going into the second album, I’ve put in the ground work. I know what I’m doing. I know how to treat my voice when recording, how to layer things and make it sound polished.” Luscious, sweeping and cloudily enigmatic – ‘polished’ is a modest adjective for The Midnight Sun. On his second record it sounds as if Duncan’s been backed by some kind of heavenly choir. We asked twice, to make sure, but it is certifiably not the case – he still records solo, and relishes the inherent challenge. “Because of the first album, I got so used to having really limited access to things,” Duncan explains. “So I wanted to do that for the second album, but without it sounding [the same]. I got rid of guitars and made it much more synth based, and it just took on a different sound – cleaner, bigger.” He grins, clearly pleased. The musician no longer appropriates bedroom furniture as stand-in percussion and has instead embraced the spiralling, complicated potential in electronic equipment – but he remains a true professional when it comes to making a record from very little. In fact, The Skinny heard rumours that the making of The Midnight Sun cost just £70?

“ It’s not that I don’t like messy music, but for me... I like things to be well planned, thought out” C Duncan

“It was probably less than that!” Duncan says. “What did I even buy for it? Wait, I bought some new headphones for about thirty quid.” Was it mostly a budget for snacks, then? ‘Yep. Red wine. Cigarettes. But you know, it’s one of those slightly unfair things, when you get to a certain point in your career, that things start to cost less. It’s completely the wrong way around, but it kind of happened: Focusrite got involved, who make

Natural Phenomenon

Interview: Katie Hawthorne Photo: Kat Gollock

he Skinny meets C Duncan in a Byres Road coffee shop where he once worked; he reflects that the ability to foam milk will always come in handy, but the composer’s had a lifechanging eighteen months – or, it looks that way. Our interview takes place just two days before the 2016 Mercury Prize awards, which means it’s roughly one year since the Glasgow-based bedroommusician had the phrase ‘Mercury Nominated…’ permanently prefixed to his moniker. The exposure and critical acclaim gained from 2015’s prestigious shortlist saw Duncan perform to sold-out venues, and online streams of his debut album Architect jump a reported 1040%. But as Duncan tells it, his new band name has become totally normalised. “It was really weird at first, really exciting and helpful. Now it’s just there! It kind of validated what I was doing, you know, though? First albums can be a real hit or miss thing.”

October 2016

Midnight Sun is released on 7 Oct via FatCat Playing Stereo, Glasgow, 8 Oct c-duncan.co.uk

C Duncan’s Bargain Hunt

We catch up with C Duncan to talk about the pressure of perfection and his low-budget ethos

really good recording stuff – I did a wee promotional video, and they kitted me out.” The rest of his set-up comes from years spent asking for microphones as birthday presents: “All you really need is a microphone!” he enthuses. Still, Architect was lauded for its structural, technical perfection – an intimidating word to have looming over any future work, new microphones or not. Did Duncan feel any pressure to try and raise the bar? “Not really, to be honest!” he admits, with obvious honesty. “I did my degree in composition, so I was trained to make things perfect, to think about every note; there has to be a reason for something to be there, I’d never throw chords in for the sake of it. I really liked that compliment. I just thought, yeah, that’s what I’m doing. It’s not that I don’t like messy music, but for me... I like things to be well planned, thought out.” As a result of such subtle, theatrical staging The Midnight Sun has more than a touch of the paranormal. Named after Duncan’s favourite episode of cult sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, and in part after the Arctic Circle’s natural phenomenon, the album captures that same sense of eerie, unnerving beauty. Add to that Duncan’s interest in the natural swell of church-based choirs (“natural reverb, I’m into that”) and some personal upheaval (“it’s not a break-up album, but…”), and the result is a frosted, ambiguous record that has a much more cohesive feel than his debut. “It’s not a mysterious record, but it’s more brooding,” Duncan proposes, tentatively. We remain unconvinced. It does sound pretty mysterious to a listener... “I mean, good! I was just saying that to be safe, in case you thought it wasn’t…” But after all that talk of the best-laid plans, when it comes to transforming the record into a live format Duncan’s yet to find a solid strategy. Was it something he considered more so, this time around? “Nope. I mean, with the first album, the idea of playing it live never came into my head. So with this one, I just thought, well – imagine I don’t have a band. We worked out the first one so we can do this one... and it’s working, actually!” Clear evidence, if you still needed it, that C Duncan’s approach may not have changed, but his confidence clearly has.

The awards buzz extended Architect’s time in the limelight, but Chris Duncan had already moved on to ideas new. He laughs (but he’s not joking) when he explains that this second album could have been a Burt Bacharach style Easy Listening record. If you think his new synths sound orchestral, that’s because he once seriously considered the involvement of a string quartet. Despite many temptations – and, we’re sure, the lure of a professional studio – Duncan remained firm: The Midnight Sun was recorded in the same bedroomturned-studio as his debut, for just as little money. The clear difference comes as a result of a seriously steep learning curve. “Architect just took so long to record,” Duncan exhales. “It took over a year, because I was learning how to produce at the same time. It’s fine and dandy writing a song, but trying to record it yourself, do that sort of lo-fi thing…” He pauses.

e took a trip through Glasgow’s West End to learn how we can all emulate C Duncan’s thrifty style. The musician was once slated to put his skills to the test on Tim Wonnacott’s ‘actual’ Bargain Hunt, but a last-minute schedule clash prevented him from donning that iconic blue fleece. To compensate, we challenged the Mercury Nominated Artist™ (sorry) to scout us as many bargains as possible for 30 British pounds. Reader, he suceeded. We’ll be giving away all of Chris’s purchases in a prize draw, along with a CD of The Midnight Sun. £5: Opeth – Blackwater Park A surprising first choice in Fopp from the softly spoken, classically trained composer. Duncan is defensive but enthusiastic about his choice, saying that “actually” Opeth are brilliant. £8.99: Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived In The Castle After Fopp, Duncan marches us to scan the shelves in Waterstones. He explains that he read this gothic classic recently, and then immediately apologises for his accidentally sinister theme.

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£1.50 - reduced from £2: Debussy & Ravel, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra After trying and failing to encourage Duncan to demonstrate his best haggling techniques, he scoops a 50p reduction in Play It Again’s treasure troves. A master at work. £5: Double Indemnity on DVD Duncan heads back to Fopp with purpose, determined to round out this cultural package with an appropriately stylish film noir. He appears very concerned that this giveaway should be tasteful, while The Skinny attempts to distract him with cheesy rock’n’roll documentaries. £6.99: Distinguished glass paperweight We spend a long time looking for paperweights. When Chris musingly selects this particular object from the shelves of the British Heart Foundation, we ask if it’s worth the steep price tag? “I think so, yes.” he replies. “It’s a shame it doesn’t have any blown glass detailing, though.” We realise we’re in the hands of an ornamental expert. Grand total: £28.98. That’s how it’s done.

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Bags, Bowels and Mental Health Comedian Felicity Ward powers into the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival with her superb Fringe show 50% More Likely to Die Interview: Ben Venables

can’t believe you’ve got a mental health festival,” says Felicity Ward, “it’s the coolest thing in the world.” The ‘coolest thing in the world’ Ward speaks of is the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Now in its 10th year of celebrating the artistic accomplishments of those with mental health issues, and also challenging the surrounding preconceptions and stigma, the festival programme has grown to over 300 events. As a representative of comedy at the festival, Ward is something of a perfect ambassador. Since exploring anxiety and depression in an Australian documentary Felicity’s Mental Mission in her home country – and especially in her last two live shows – Ward seems to have really discovered her comedic voice while articulating and sharing her own experience of mental health challenges. Although Ward has had a string of successes since she first began stand-up in 2008, it was a deeply personal crisis which anticipated her current direction. “At the end of 2011 I stopped drinking, I had to move back in with my mother and I left my fiancé, who I’d been with for eight years. It was a life-changing experience.” When delving into these experiences onstage, Ward became determined not to diminish the reality of that time. As she puts it, “I didn’t want to sell it short.” It isn’t that comedy hasn’t been addressing mental health, but it does seem to be an area currently cultivating an ever richer variety of shows. At the 2016 Fringe, Susan Calman, Chris Gethard and Taylor Glenn are just three of the comedians who explored very different sides of depression in their respective hours. Also, on screen, Netflix’s BoJack Horseman is arguably a meditation on depression as much as an animated sitcom about a has-been actor, and Lady Dynamite is a creatively sublime series on bipolar disorder. “A lot of people have been writing about mental illness,” says Ward, “and it seems audiences are ready to hear it at the same time a bunch of performers are ready to talk about.” She feels she’s been fortunate in this timing with her own shows, “There was just a little bit of luck on top of the hard work if that makes sense.” For her own show, Ward was inspired by mortality statistics of those with mental health conditions, especially the phrase she read ‘50% more likely to die’. “As soon as I read that sentence I thought, ‘that’s the show title’ and I could picture it with a photo of me looking really happy.” However, rather than going too deep into those statistics, it became framed more through the probability and coincidences of the day Ward left her bag on a bus on Merseyside: “This year’s show happened in 24 hours. I was taking a bus in Liverpool and I left my bag, my keys – everything – on the bus. Over the next 12 hours I could not have written the coincidences that happened that led to the rest of the story.” Stand-up comedy especially can open up issues people have traditionally found difficult to discuss. As an art form it tends to be confessional, happens in the here and now, and an audience often want to view the comedian as authentic – rather than buying into a more fantastical story as we might enjoy in film or theatre. While it may not always feel this way when we’re sat on the front

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row, it is the comedian on the stage who is taking all the risks, the one lowering their status via selfdeprecation and casting light on problems we’d perhaps rather avoid. Deliberately lowering everyone’s guard as a way into comedy and communication might be familiar in stand-up, but it is something Ward excels at. Her commitment to this is demonstrated in her 2015 show What If There Is No Toilet? when she took to making irritiable bowel syndrome funny.

“ Unfortunately, you can’t measure your happiness in the way you can measure your weight and your height, you can’t say, ‘last November I was 3 kg happier’” Felicity Ward

“Obviously there is something universal about going to the toilet. Heaps of people have irritable bowel syndrome but it’s almost more taboo to talk about IBS than mental illness. I don’t wish to deride people with IBS because in many cases it can be debilitating, but in the show talking about the toilet gave the material a ‘low status,’ or a point where people could get on the lift to start thinking more about mental illness.” The connection between IBS and anxiety was a comedically fertile one. The two conditions are not necessarily related, but when acting together – as they often do for Ward – it can create a perfect storm of unpleasant symptoms. As she points out, the neurons in the gut are as numerous as in a cat’s brain. (There is a reason one of the best phrases and metaphors to describe feeling fear is ‘shitting yourself ’). What If There Is No Toilet? certainly seems to have made a difference in the lives of many who saw it, especially for those suffering from untreated anxiety for years: “The connection the show created was incredible. I got a message from someone who saw it back in May and had since been to the doctor about their anxiety. The doctor understood how hard it was for them to make that appointment and was glad that they were now talking.” As Ward says, it isn’t just the discomfort of talking about mental health that’s the problem, it’s the questioning of our own experiences: “You’re not sure if it really is as awful as it feels, or if you’re making it worse than it actually is – you just don’t know. Unfortunately, you can’t measure your happiness in the way you can measure your weight and your height, you can’t say, ‘last November I was 3 kg happier.’ This makes it very easy to descend

Photo: Andy Hollingworth

“I

into an unhappy lifestyle and low-level misery, because you don’t have anything to emotionally compare it to in quite the same way.” And, it’s often the way that when people do open up, even well-intended responses from friends are not always helpful: “The bad advice on anxiety is always the kind of shit you’ve heard 100 times. Like, ‘Have you tried camomile tea?’ or ‘Have you tried reading before bed?’ as if you don’t know or haven’t tried this stuff.” Although, conversely, sometimes the obvious advice is worth listening to. Ward has become a keen advocate of exercise, especially swimming: “If I want to operate on a semi-normal level I have to swim three times a week. It’s really changed my life; with swimming it is physical and mental, it can be meditative and cardiovascular. There is

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something immersive about swimming where you can’t hurt yourself... Well, you can drown – but there’s usually a lifeguard there.” There’s no lifeguard when she’s on stage though, so has discussing anxiety to an audience helped with her own show nerves? “When I’ve felt a panic attack coming on, or just nervous and fragile, I’ve thought, ‘No this is what the show is about, I’m talking about it onstage. This took so much of the shame away, and it’s fine to be anxious and just letting it in. It’s like the paparazzi, if you try to run away from it, It will chase you. It doesn’t always work, but it’s a different way to approach it that I have found helpful.” Felicity Ward: 50% More Likely to Die, CCA Glasgow, 10 Oct, 8pm, £10/£12 mhfestival.com

THE SKINNY

October 2016

Made in the UK The MOBO and Mercury Prize nominated MC Kano tells The Skinny about the collaboration, competition and multiculturalism at the heart of his music

n February 2015, Kanye West brought twenty five British grime MCs on stage for his performance of All Day at the Brit Awards. Skepta, Stormzy and Novelist – to name but a few – joined the American rapper, all dressed in black tracksuits, hoods up, assisted by flamethrowers, for the unprecedented moment. The Brits, an establishment award show, has snubbed grime artists for as long as the inherently outsider genre has existed and naturally the complaints from disgruntled viewers rolled in. West’s tribute to ferociously creative, underground British talent and its influence on US pop, hip hop and trap was a long time coming, but, even more importantly, it threw a veritable fuck you to the British music industry having ignored and refused grime on its own terms for so long. Kano wasn’t in West’s impromptu posse, but he didn’t need to be; Kane Robinson’s moniker has been kicking around the scene longer than the genre’s had an official title. Despite lines about ‘Brits not getting credit’ on Made in the Manor, his 2016 Mercury nominated album, Kano didn’t consider Kanye’s showmanship as a particular milestone – “I think with people like Drake, and obviously Jay Z [who named Kano as his favourite rapper in 2005] – US and British MCs, we’re all inspired by each other.”

Take a trip through Kano’s discography, and his maximalist, most recent LP in particular, and you’ll find a melting pot of grime (Hail, Endz), autobiography (T-Shirt Weather in the Manor) and hip hop mixed with affecting pop (A Roadman’s Hymn). It’s clear you’re listening to an artist who really grew up with his genre, who was moulded by grime’s unique sound and talent, and in turn has come to define grime – as well as British music and multiculturalism – through his work. “It’s not just a grime album – it’s just my record,” Kano emphasises. “My music and my sound, what I think sounds cool. It’s just exactly what I want to say, and the kind of music I want to put out. Because of the way I’ve grown up – I am in East London, so it will always have a grime essence, and that Jamaican influence will always come through in my sound. Hip hop, too. It’s the blend of my musical upbringing.” Made in the Manor stole the top spot on the R’n’B charts, and has subsequently earned Kano four MOBO nominations, but the MC remains unfazed. “I’ve never really made albums for the charts,” he says. “It’s important to me that they’re

good, and it is confirmation that people have bought into and loved the work – but it’s when I meet people and we speak and we talk about songs, and people tell me online how it’s affected them. When you’re performing and people are singing along, and you can really feel that they’re touched by this music. It’s important that I make an album that’s deeper than a couple of hot tracks that make the crowd go crazy.” Kano was one of the few early artists, alongside Dizzee, who managed to bridge the rampant anti-commercialism of grime with the modern pop song. Songs like Ps and Qs (2005) managed to condense the essential rawness of the genre into a three and a half minute track. The MC reflects that his songwriting sensibilities stem from the fastpaced nature of his pirate radio training ground, rather than any intentions for mainstream radio. “I released my first song when I was fifteen,” he says. “And it was played on pirate radio. It’s something that I always did. Dizzee was as well, Lethal B, but not too many other people were. Most other people were just MCs – I was doing both. Pirate radio prepares you for a lot; that competitive spirit,

Interview: Rachel Bowles

that freestyle element, performing for a small audience, writing lyrics every single week to come in fresh next Monday.” This “survival of the fittest” ethos is perhaps why so many artists from the early 2000s like Kano, Skepta, JME, Giggs and Wiley are still going strong today – but a focus on the fostering of young talent, as well as regional scenes outside of the capital keeps grime fresh. “When I went on tour last time, Tempa T, Daps, and Scorch [Flow AKA Scorch] were with me and they’re from Birmingham, just MCs doing their thing. I think they’ve really got something going on. I rate those guys. It’s a growing scene, as well. “At first, grime did feel very East London, then [all] London... and now I think the UK is going to merge a little bit. I was always waiting for someone like Bugzy [Malone] to come along and represent for a whole city [Manchester]. Being from London is like being from New York – there’s loads of MCs. But if you’re one of few rappers and you can get that whole city behind you, it’s going to be something special. I think there’s more to come.” kanomusic.com

“ It’s not just a grime album – it’s just my record. My music and my sound” Kano

With much of the mainstream media claiming some kind of “grime renaissance,” The Skinny called up the man who’s been consistent since the start. Kano’s seen grime grow from a baby subgenre, an offshoot of garage – from when it was sometimes referred to as nu shape (a reference to its complex 16 and 32 bar patterns), or sublow (due to incredibly low baseline frequencies). Then, DJs like Wiley and Slimzee would play antagonistically harsh, dark, minimalist rhythms while MCs such as (a then teenaged) Kano, Dizzee Rascal, Lethal Bizzle and the Roll Deep, Ruff Squad and N.A.S.T.Y crews spat fast, witty rhymes on pirate radio stations, sometimes for hours at a time. Inherently anti-establishment and anti-commercial, grime was born and performed in the clubs, illegal gatherings and broadcasts of East London. Then in 2003, with ‘grime’ as we now know it barely a year old, Dizzee Rascal won the Mercury Prize out of the leftfield – garnering grime some short-lived critical acclaim, and giving black MCs some limited cultural visibility. “I didn’t know what a Mercury was at the time,” Kano laughs. “I’d just see Dizzee on TV and everyone was rooting for him so it was good. I didn’t really know what it was going to become, I didn’t even know it was going to be a career. I was just young and wanted to express myself and have fun, just doing what I loved to do.” We speak to Kano just a few days after he performed at the 2016 Mercury Awards. Although he’d have made a thoroughly deserving winner, his friend and fellow grime MC Skepta scooped the prize for the #2 charting Konnichiwa – and Skepta didn’t hesitate to thank Kano in his acceptance speech, showing collaboration and camaraderie is still at the heart of the genre. “It was good, man,” he reflects. “It’s definitely a win for us all. Skepta’s a good man. Kinda like when Dizzee won back in the day...”

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THE SKINNY

asper James’ musical heritage is no big secret, at least around these parts. The son of longrunning Sub Club resident Harri – one half of Harri & Domenic – it’s fair to say that DJing runs in his blood. Yet pedigree aside, James has proved himself as more than a rising talent, with the accolades to match. Last year he placed at number 81 in Resident Advisor’s annual Top 100 DJs poll, ahead of contemporaries such as George FitzGerald, Steve Lawler and Richy Ahmed. He also scored DJ Mag’s ‘Breakthrough DJ Of The Year’ mantle at their annual Best Of British awards. With an ongoing residency at new London hotspot Phonox, it seems that now is James’ time to shine – with no nepotism needed. Chatting to The Skinny from his girlfriend’s place in East London, the young DJ and producer (his debut EP Sneaky was released via Optimo’s Optimo Trax label in 2014, with follow-up ZTRK1 released on Leftroom in 2015) is clearly feeling at home with his latest venture, based in Phonox in London’s Brixton. “It’s going really well, it’s been close to a year that I’ve been doing that,” he explains. “I play for six hours every Saturday. It’s been open for a year. Before it opened it used to be Plan B… I never got the chance to go when it was called Plan B, but apparently it’s quite different now! “Brixton’s amazing, I love it there. It’s just a great part of London, full of energy and all the people are really friendly. It’s kind of got that slightly rough feel, which I like.” Much like Glasgow? “Haha, yeah I suppose so,” he laughs. At the time of this interview taking place, the fate of iconic London nightclub Fabric hung in the balance. Ahead of the now widely mourned closure of the club, James reflected on the state of clubbing in London and the UK more generally: “It’s a scary time isn’t it, when an institution as big as Fabric can have its doors shut. It’s a real wake-up call I suppose, that no club is safe. “It came as a real shock to me; I absolutely love Fabric. Fabric is one of the first clubs I ever went to, and I’m really good friends with all of the people who run Fabric. I just hope they can get their licence back and get their doors open soon. I’m absolutely gutted for them.” Through the Phonox residency James has built a reputation with his fierce, genre-spanning sets – encompassing racing techno, dance ready house, disco, funk and soul – and with two EPs in the bag, no doubt there are a large number of supporters eagerly awaiting the drop of his first LP? “I literally just got asked that question,” he laughs, referring to a back-to-back stint of PR that morning. “For the time being, I don’t have any plans to make an album, but it’s definitely on a Post-It note somewhere, on my to-do list… at some point if I feel comfortable enough with my sound. For the time being, I’m just concentrating on touring and DJing and releasing EPs here and there.” With regards to his two previous production efforts, James reveals that the inspiration was drawn from slightly uninspiring circumstances. “When I did the first EP, I was studying sound production in Dundee, which I hated. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be – about making music and improving my productions – it was actually the polar opposite. It just wasn’t for me. And so I used to come back from uni everyday and I’d just lock myself in my room and just work really hard at trying to produce records that other people liked, so that I could possibly, maybe, get some DJ gigs, so that I didn’t have to get a real job,” he laughs. “I knew that DJing was always what I wanted to do, it was always what I wanted to be. It’s always been my passion, it’s always been the only thing I can see myself doing.” If it was a calling that, given his bloodline, he was destined to pursue, then it’s a profession on

October 2016

Fortunate Son Glasgow DJ royalty Jasper James talks touring and accolades ahead of his SWG3 appearance this month

which James has already made his mark. When asked how he feels about the various aforementioned accolades, he remains humble. “They definitely matter to me, and I’m very grateful. I never really think about it too much. I know a lot of people have their opinions about these kind of things, but if you’re presented with these kind of things… amazing!”

“ You can’t please everybody, in this line of work. There’s always going to be haters” Jasper James

And what about the countless interviews, media articles, online discussions – does he read his own reviews? “People always tell me not to… it’s very hard not to! I always find myself reading them and getting upset,” he exclaims. “For the most part, I’ve been pretty lucky. You can’t please every-

body, in this line of work. There’s always going to be haters.” Yet when it comes to career achievements, it’s not the awards and citations that mean the most to him. When asked about his proudest career achievement to date, James responds with little hesitation. “I guess being able to hold my own and play for six hours every Saturday. It’s been a dream come true.” James boasts a CV that would make even the most seasoned DJ envious. Having clocked up gigs with Manchester’s Warehouse Project, Glastonbury, Chicago’s Smartbar, Berlin’s Watergate, Sub Club, Circoloco at DC10 and El Row (in London, Bristol and Ibiza), it’s hard to imagine the young DJ being affected by pre-show anxiety. His secret to quelling the nerves? “When I started out, I always used to have a pint or two. A few beers is nice, it makes you feel a bit more at one with the crowd. “I like the variation, it’s great to arrive at a festival, that’s fucking amazing, but at the same time, it’s crazy. Whereas in a small venue, with 250 people right in front of where you’re standing… I love having that variety, being lucky enough to get to play to both. I couldn’t pick which I prefer, if I’m being honest – I’ve had a real buzz out of both.” Alongside his mammoth six-hour Phonox stints

CLUBS

Interview: Claire Francis

every Saturday, James is in the midst of a relentless touring schedule, which in this year alone has seen him play countless gigs across the UK, as well as shows in France, Spain, Croatia, Tunisia and beyond. Luckily, it seems that he has inherited the work ethic and stamina of his famous father. “Aye... I guess I’ve still got the energy for it. Sometimes (after a gig) all you want to do is get to a bed and lie down and sleep for a few hours. I just remind myself that I am so lucky and doing a job that I love. The travelling can get a bit… it can take a toll on your health. The late nights and lack of sleep. But it comes with the job, it comes with this line of work.” With so many career highlights already in the bag, one could wonder what else the talented Scot hopes to achieve. Yet when asked about the one elusive goal he’d like to accomplish, the answer comes decisively. “Panorama Bar,” he states, speaking of the hallowed upstairs space at Berlin’s revered Berghain. Judging from the ever increasing pace at which his star is ascending, we wager it won’t be too long before Jasper James gets his wish. Jasper James plays alongside Jackmaster, Mr. G (live), Skream, Martyn, Pearson Sound, Artwork and Peggy Gou at the Numbers & Jackmaster present Mastermix Glasgow event at SWG3, Fri 7 Oct

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Peripheral Vision The Skinny meets Mitski to talk about Björk, the power in sad pop music and feeling like an outsider – even when your music’s hit the mainstream

Interview: Andrew Gordon

or as long as she can remember, Mitski Miyawaki has felt like an outsider. Given her backstory – a childhood defined by constant relocation, followed by years of grafting in Westchester, New York’s overwhelmingly white and male indie scene – it’s easy to understand why. Her tale has been amply documented elsewhere, but you need only listen to her whip-smart, confessional music to find Mitski’s moving rundown of a life lived on the periphery. Take Townie, the anti-party anthem from her breakout album Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014). Over scraggly pop-punk guitars, the songwriter steels herself for a night of revelries ahead, describing the anticipated trials like an anthropologist observing tribal rituals: 'I’ve tried sharing and I’ve tried caring / and I’ve tried putting out / but the boys boys boys keep coming on for more more more.' Mitski’s guard is well and truly up as she confides, exasperated, 'I’m holding my breath with a baseball bat / though I don’t know what I’m waiting for.' Then there’s Best American Girl from this year’s stand-out album Puberty 2. It begins like an impassioned entry in an adolescent’s diary, Miyawaki comparing the distance between her and her flame to that of the sun and moon. But just as the misleadingly saccharine bridge reaches its apex, she summons a thunder cloud of distortion, shattering all that teenage hyperbole with a single line. 'Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me,' she belts out, the sudden, sobering injustice of cultural difference landing like a kick in the teeth.

“ I’m realising that I can’t really blame outside forces any more. I have to decide where I’m going to belong” Mitski

The song, along with the rest of her incendiary fourth record, has garnered Miyawaki no shortage of attention. In the space of six months, Mitski’s transformed from a Bandcamp act with a cult following to landing a deal with Dead Oceans, attracting profile features from the likes of Elle and Rolling Stone, and even Cartoon Network’s angsty teen vampire Marcelene covered her song Francis Forever in an episode of the Emmy Award-winning series Adventure Time. By the afternoon of our phonecall, Mitski’s sold out a run of Stateside gigs nearly three months in advance. So, now that she’s found herself at the epicentre of the cultural conversation, does she feel any closer to fitting in? “No, not really. I still feel the same,” she replies with little hesitation. “I’m trying to figure out why exactly.” For Miyawaki, who’s bunking at a friend’s place in New York while prepping for her European tour, there’s some kind of cognitive dissonance between her achievements as a musician and her day-to-day life. “I lead a very disconnected life. It’s hard to tangibly feel connected to or within something; it feels like all that press stuff and my music career kind of happens outside of my real life.” Not having a permanent residence certainly doesn’t help. “I still live on the road and I’m in a different state or country every day,” she explains. But where once she might have yearned for stability as a means of comfort – the line 'I’ve been anywhere

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and it’s not what I want, I want to be still with you' from 2014 track Texas Reznikoff comes to mind – now she believes that connectedness comes down to a certain state of mind. “I’m realising that I can’t really blame outside forces any more. I have to decide where I’m going to belong.” Moreover, she’s learned to turn her innate feelings of disconnection into an asset. “You have to be outside of something to observe it,” she states. “It’s a tightrope walk of being completely inside it while also being outside of it. You need to be inside it to feel it and know what it is, but you also have to be outside of it to describe it and explain it objectively, so that other people understand it.” And understand “it” they do. Miyawaki has an incredible knack for putting words to feelings that many of us recognise deeply, but couldn’t begin to express. Search for Mitski on social media and you’ll find page after page of fans sharing her lyrics alongside the phrase “current mood” – no further explanation necessary. One post shows a phone playing the heart-breaking I Bet On Losing Dogs next to a photograph of a child lying next to a pool in the dead of night, running their hand wistfully

along the water’s surface: the melodrama is played for laughs, but it’s a truthful approximation of Mitski’s emotional impact. Miyawaki wields sadness like a siren song, conjuring a deep, cathartic melancholy that, like a warm bath, you can’t help but let yourself sink into and stew in. “I think wallowing just comes naturally to me,” she jokes, although for her, that process can be transformative: “I think the value in downer music, or just being quiet and being introverted is that it kind of forces you to look inside [yourself]... to sit and go through the maze of your own inner world and try to figure it out.” Was there a musician who provided that experience for her, while growing up? “Every artist says their favourite artist is Björk but I really do love Björk,” she admits. Miyawaki first discovered the inimitable Icelander’s work via a listening station in a Japanese record store, aged 15. “I put on the headphones and I was terrified!” she remembers. “It actually viscerally scared me.” In retrospect, she suspects it was Björk’s uncompromising expression of her own interiority that was so unsettling. “Her music does such a vivid job of portraying very vast inner landscapes. The Vespertine

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album especially really helped me look further into myself and I think that’s why it was so terrifying when I was 15. I was just not ready for it.” Flash forward ten years, and Miyawaki is injecting her own work with that same brutal honesty. “I want to make sure that I continue to trust in my listener and trust in their intelligence. I know that they’re listening to my music for something that is truthful to me. We’re all human beings; if I’m feeling something, I know for a fact I’m not the only person to ever feel it, because that’s incredibly self centred. I’m just like everybody else.” Surprising words from an outsider, maybe. But perhaps that critical distance allows her to see through contemporary clique mentalities and identify those common experiences that unite us all. Mitski’s music speaks to her specific experience as an Asian-American songwriter in a white man’s world, and in doing so it creates a universal emotionality in which everyone is welcome. It’s a perspective we are lucky to have. Mitski is touring with Trust Fund, playing Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 2 Oct; Stereo, Glasgow, 4 Oct; Deaf Insitute, Manchester, 5 Oct Puberty is out now on Dead Oceans

THE SKINNY

74 Years of Strength Miss Major is warm, sharp and candid about her decades of strength and struggle for the respect of her communities. She speaks to The Skinny ahead of her appearance at this month’s Arika now laws are popping up to put us in our place, keep us where they can keep their thumb on us, and chase us back into the closet. I’m sorry, when most of my girls came out of the closet, those bitches turned around and burned the house down. So there’s no closet to chase me back into. You’re gonna have to deal with me because I have nowhere else to go. I’m going to fight for the ground I’m standing on.”

his month sees the eighth Arika from 21-23 October. As always, they will bring amazing speakers and contributors to Tramway during the weekend-long programme. Among the long and exciting list of invitees, there is 75-year old Miss Major who is in the position of being one of the most important figures of the last 100 years, as well as among the foremost trans rights activists still living and working today. As one of the many trans women whose majority presence was decisive to the worldchanging outcome of Stonewall, Miss Major speaks out passionately and frequently against the historical trend to write out the trans

presence at that time. “Some of the gay and lesbian community appreciate us and work with us. The majority, no. In every major gay area I’ve been in, the gay guys still point at transgender girls and say, ‘Look at that, how disgusting.’ How dare they. If not for us, those motherfuckers would still be in a closet somewhere if Stonewall hadn’t happened. They need to wake up!” Though variously erased from dominant accounts of progress, her work now spans the continents and half a century. She speaks with warmth, sensitivity and sharpness about the kinds of encouraging or troubling developments she’s witnessed. “Here in the United States, right

“ When most of my girls came out the closet, those bitches turned around and burned the house down. So there’s no closet to chase me back into” Miss Major

As well as questioning hegemonic narratives that sideline the decisive influence of trans communities for gay and lesbian rights, and vocally raising awareness of current dangerous legislation, she frequently contextualises and questions the present (so-called) banner

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf moments. “The majority of people don’t care what happens to us as a people. They never have, and the fact that they do care about the celebrities… and don’t forget Caitlyn Jenner. A lot of us did the same thing and we had to struggle and fight, be beaten to get to the point of at least having some modicum of respect. I don’t have 100 million dollars sitting there while I buy a dress for 25 thousand dollars while girls are sleeping under a bridge somewhere.” While Major’s recognition has grown in parallel with digital culture, she’s ambivalent about the effect of virtual encounters between people. When people “get all this information and jump to their own conclusion, they don’t have the opportunity to see the build up of years of abuses that led to that one event that everyone talks about, No one discusses what got it to that point.” Most recently, she’s been the subject of the documentary Miss Major, an account of her years of struggle, and many decades of activism. As the film circulates worldwide, she has been travelling with it to talk alongside screenings. Thinking of some of the more promising potentials of easier international communications, she considers these moments, when “people get an opportunity to touch me, see I’m a real person.” She calls these moments “blessings.” “The girls that have read or heard about me get to see me and I get to hug them, and listen to them. I’m not there to teach them anything, I’m here to listen to what they’re going through.” Arika 8, Tramway, 21-23 Oct Find out more on arika.org.uk

“ What makes a terrorist?” Returning to Edinburgh with her ‘guerrilla gig theatre’ piece, Blow Off, as part of a political theatre season to mark Dario Fo’s 90th birthday, Julia Taudevin talks to The Skinny about domestic terrorism, female rage and music

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very time that we gather together in a group of people to do anything it’s political,” begins Julia Taudevin. “Particularly gathering together in the same room, breathing the same air, anything about the way we are in the world... I think the whole point of theatre is to consider the human condition, isn’t it?” Fresh from a performance at the Dundee Rep, her guerrilla gig theatre' show, Blow Off, which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is set to return to the Traverse Theatre this month as part of a festival of political performance entitled Dancing With Colours, Whipping With Words, Dario Fo & Political Theatre. The show was inspired by the autobiography of Ann Hansen, a former member of the guerrilla feminist group Direct Action, who along with accomplice Julie Belmas and three others, became some of the world’s first so-called “domestic terrorists” because of a series of bombings around Canada in the 1980s. During their campaign, they targeted a hydro substation, a factory alleged to be producing guidance components for nuclear weapons, and perhaps, most famously, a chain of pornography shops. The group’s extreme radicalisation caused Taudevin to wonder – what does terrorism mean? “Julie [Belmas] was really into early punk, and so there was something for me about wanting to explore direct domestic terrorism, and what terrorism means and how people can come to

October 2016

it. What is a terrorist, what makes a terrorist?” explains Taudevin. “But also, wanting to link that up with a more feminist question of finding a space for female rage and in a dominant patriarchal world, how female rage isn’t available and then that got me thinking about what is that space? How do we create that space? I didn’t really feel like there was a space for it in straight theatre. I wanted to engage the audience in an active way. So there was something about creating an environment with which we could empathise with that movement, rather than criticise it.” After dismissing more traditional theatre forms, she realised that music, and specifically, the gig theatre format, was one of the best ways to help get the audience inside the minds of the characters. And so, she collaborated with musicians Kim Moore, Julie Eisenstein and Susan Bear, who fused Direct Action’s love of punk with Taudevin’s own love for the music of Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, The Julie Ruin, Le Tigre) and other leading figures of the Riot Grrrl movement. The result was loud, inescapable, and as Taudevin discovered, visceral. “Some of the feedback from the Dundee postshow discussion was people going, “I didn’t really understand why, I just felt that it was right,” and I was like, well, that’s great because the whole point of the show is that there isn’t one excuse and there

Interview: Amy Taylor

isn’t one reason, and there isn’t one explanation, it’s a combination of the factors in which we live and the overwhelming alienation that we feel moving through the structures of patriarchy and post-capitalism.”

“ I’ll be really disappointed if we don’t get at least one really sexist, misogynist dressing down” Julia Taudevin

While she admits that the play isn’t for everyone, and that “there are people that fucking hate it,” Taudevin is looking forward to ruffling a few feathers with Blow Off, adding, “I’ll be really disappointed if we don’t get at least one really sexist, misogynist dressing down because the show wouldn’t be doing its job if it doesn’t!” Blow Off, 12 & 13 Oct, Traverse Theatre

ART / THEATRE

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Cosmic Tapestry Interview: Jenni Ajderian

Photo: Michael Gallacher

In her acclaimed and inventive debut novel, Helen Sedgwick lights up the lives of characters through the ages by the trail of the great comets. She offers more traditional insight into The Comet Seekers by speaking to The Skinny

t all started with the Bayeux Tapestry. “On one of the borders there’s an embroidery of a woman, who is staring out at the viewer in this very proud way,” explains Helen Sedgwick, author of The Comet Seekers. “And beside her there’s a cleric; he’s reaching out and he might be touching her face or he might be trying to hit her, it’s not quite clear. There’s a bit of writing alongside it that says ‘Aelfgifu and a certain cleric’ so people think that maybe it was a scandal of the time. I thought how fascinating that [there is] this woman – who is given a name, and who looks so out of place and very modern, so defiant. So I thought I had to create a story for her.” That story was one of many serendipitous flash fictions that Sedgwick wrote and wove together to make a short story, published back in 2012. Each piece came from a completely different time and place, moving from France in 1066 to a research base in the Arctic Circle, back to a powerful and fearless woman building her own house in the 15th century and forward again to chase childhood sweethearts through Irish fields. “When I originally wrote them it was a sort of experiment; I wanted to write a short story composed of lots of different flash fictions that seemed unconnected, but by the end, the connecting factor would appear. And the connecting factor was the comets.” She then embellished this initial outline, filling in extra pieces of life and pulling out more and more stories from the people along her timeline to create The Comet Seekers. Only ever seeing her characters when a comet is in the sky, we are left with great gaps in the timeline that help to retain that feeling of the short story – the impression that there is a lot going on, that there is a whole world here, we just can’t see into it right now. Since the early days of astronomy we’ve been

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tracking these heavenly bodies as they pass by: some return years or millennia later; others shoot past us without so much as slowing down. It is these fleeting glimpses and this orbital motion that serve as central themes to Sedgwick’s debut novel: a patient and moving love story between earth and stars.

“ I think I am quite a reckless person in a way, I want to be exploring all the time and doing new things” Helen Sedgwick

We spend a good deal of the book staring at the sky with Roisín, who follows her passion for astronomy all around the world in a series of academic posts. Sedgwick’s own background as a research physicist helped to shape this, but the detail comes more from her amateur interest in astronomy: “My research was between engineering, biology and chemistry; the astronomy has been an interest of mine but not related to my career at all. It’s just something that I’ve been interested in since I was very young.” Sedgwick has spoken and written about how both scientific research and creative writing require creativity, intensity and a lot of dedication – things

which could conceivably be disrupted by moving around a lot. “Jobs that are really interesting generally do take a long time,” Sedgwick explains, from her own experience. “In my own life I’ve had these careers that certainly take a long time, and yet I’ve moved from one to the other.” Sedgwick moved from lab work to a Masters in Creative Writing, and ever since has worked in the literary and artistic world. “I’ve got a bit of me that wants to be dedicated to one subject, but I think I am quite a reckless person in a way, I want to be exploring all the time and doing new things all the time.” While evaluating this conflict, real or imagined, between dedication to one thing and desire to do others, Sedgwick wanted to explore the choices we make and the reasons we make them, without ever holding one route up as the ideal. “I wanted all of the characters to prioritise different aspects of their lives, and see how that played out for them individually.” These choices made by characters in their pairs or on their own create a tension that is all too familiar – how do we cope with loss and heartbreak? How much can we factor in friends, family and lovers when choosing how to live and what to do with our lives? The latter can sound like a very modern problem, but in The Comet Seekers we see families decide to part or remain together again and again over a thousand years, from Aelfgifu and the tapestry up to the present day. “If anything, I think in our past there was a great deal of travel; people would have formed family groups that moved together. Travel is easier than it’s ever been before, but in a way that makes it less real. In the past we would have been walking, we would have been experiencing travel in such a different way, and I think that’s where the longing for travel comes from.”

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Throughout history, the choice to stay in the family home or go out into the world was not available to everyone. Certainly Aelfgifu, living and dying around 1066, would not have had as many options as her cleric, and the effect of gender on our choices was one that Sedgwick was keen to explore. While our physicist Roisín gives in to the wanderlust and makes her way from the Irish fields of her childhood to an Arctic research base, Severine, living in present-day Bayeux, feels incapable of leaving because of her fading ties with her own family. “There’s an obligation that so many women feel, and so often they find themselves at the centre of a family, holding the family together.” For Severine, this family is a strange one: ghosts of the departed who Sedgwick intentionally writes as ambiguous and lovable. She says that, for Severine, staying in one place is “rooted in both love and obligation. I wanted to explore that and show how she is both really frustrated and also incredibly grateful for the people around her.” Just as Aelfgifu has moved between fact and fiction, and the comets themselves appear and disappear almost as apparitions, Severine’s ghosts also bring us to questions about reality itself. “Human beings do use imagination to cope with a lot of things, and when you’ve lost someone you keep talking to them in your head. You can imagine what they would say in certain circumstances, and in a way they’re still very real to you.” Seeing the unseen, or waiting for it to return, is a talent that all of Sedgwick’s principal characters possess, and it’s what they choose to do with that knowledge that draws out the thread of the story over the centuries. Built on flash fictions and short stories, the finished piece is full of life: languorous, homely, fleeting and heavily affected by its past. The Comet Seekers is out now, published by Vintage, RRP £12.99

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Illustration: Verbal Picks

October 2016

James N Hutchinson Rumours of a New Planet Part of Constellations Programme, a series of research based, off-site artist commissions that aim to bring people together to develop ideas and partnerships.

www.collectivegallery.net

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25 Years of Glasgow Women’s Library As Glasgow Women’s Library celebrate their 25th birthday, The Skinny takes a tour of the Bridgeton premises where all are welcome. We find a grassroots project of history and potential, that’s making a real difference to its local community

t’s easy to reach the Glasgow Women’s Library. From the City Centre, take a four minute train from the lower level in Central two stops east to Bridgeton then walk around the corner; from the West End take the train from Partick and you’ll be there in under 20 minutes. These tiny distances belie the economic and social differences between journey beginning and end – Bridgeton is in the bottom 5% of deprived communities in the UK, an area of Glasgow still marked by multi-generational poverty where issues around education, health and sectarianism are still being addressed. It feels like a different world to the sparkle of Argyle Street or the leafy Victorian villas of Hyndland. Glasgow has many faces, and this is one that the glittering city development campaigns would prefer to pretend is already fixed. Glasgow Women’s Library would rather do the opposite. They shine a light on the city’s past and present, and work to improve lives and opportunities on a grassroots level. An oasis of community activism currently celebrating their 25th birthday, they set up in their permanent Bridgeton home in 2013 after seven years in temporary accommodation. Their choice of location, in a former library, was a considered one, says GWL’s Sue John. “It’s a public building that’s neutral – it has no historical affiliation with either side of the sectarian divide, so it’s open to all.” GWL are focussed on developing that open door policy and bringing in as many people from the local community (and across the city) as possible. They’re aware that crossing the threshold into alien institutions, especially those that breach perceived class boundaries, can be intimidating. So they’ve stripped out much that would create a barrier to access – alarms, gates, cameras – and replaced them with a welcome desk of friendly faces greeting each visitor. The only remaining barrier, wire mesh over the ground floor windows,

Words: Rosamund West

is a pragmatic requirement. Sue hopes that they will soon be able to replace them with something more in keeping with the nature of the space – bespoke artworks that protect and enlighten simultaneously. Contained within Glasgow Women’s Library are archives, exhibitions, events, education programmes, a lending library. Practical literacy courses are offered for diverse strands of the local community. They hold a donated archive of Glasgow women’s history, from the 1860s onwards including the city’s female suffrage movement; documents of the Women’s Liberation movement; the Lesbian Archive; a history of zine culture; and contemporary artefacts from the opening ceremony of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“ The building is permeated by a hum of activity – there is no shushing here” As is necessary when documenting a group with historically limited access to education (remember how most women weren’t taught to read and write until quite recently?) they collect both documentation and material culture. So, physical items which tell a story from female history at a time when historical narrative was written by the upper class male. The exhibition and events programme is staged in what was historically the men’s reading room (a space disproportionately larger than the women’s

reading room, which now houses the offices). Before GWL moved in it was being used as a lunch club for pensioners, featuring budgies and a garden shed where the men could go to escape their wives. The Library still offers a space for such communities to meet, to read, explore the exhibitions or watch film screenings. Group outings are arranged to exhibitions in Glasgow and further afield, with free artist and curator talks offering a way in to cultural activity for people who may previously have felt excluded. A visit to GWL on an average weekday afternoon offers a snapshot of the tremendous energy of this creative hub. The building is permeated by a hum of activity – there is no shushing here. Smiling volunteers greet incomers at the door; an exhibition is being installed, including Lauren Sagar and Sharon Campbell’s dazzling Chandelier of

Lost Earrings. Upstairs, a seminar is being held; Library founder Adele Patrick looks up from a meeting on an adjoining table to smile hello. In the archives, community volunteers, professors, doctoral researchers work side by side on a spectrum of projects, while downstairs in the lending library students and locals sit side by side, heads buried in books from an eclectic range of female literary and art works. The back wall looks like craft corner, with a line of badge makers ready to be set to work for whatever new project comes through the door. It is a vibrant space, alive with potential – exactly as a library should be. Glasgow Women’s Library, 23 Landressy Street, G40 1BP Open 9.30am-5pm, Mon, Tue, Wed & Fri, 9.30am-7.30pm Thu & 12-4pm Sat womenslibrary.org.uk

Conversing Curators

New 16 Nicholson Street curators talk about their big plans for the space and the artists for their inaugural show describe what they've planned Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

Scott Carruth, Despacio Despacio, Film still, 2016

n the eighth of this month Isabella Shields and Tine Bek open their first show together as 16 Nicholson Street. Titled Opposite Tendencies, it marks the beginning of their many ambitions for events and engagement in the space. With this huge and distinctive Georgian building and Shields’ background in art history, they’re hoping to make a space for discourse and discussion. Added to this, artist Bek’s just returned from a period of different international residencies, and looks specifically to Portland for inspiration for future mentorship programmes and opportunities for greater dialogues between practitioners in the city and beyond. “The space is part of the show,” for Bek. “It’s

October 2016

like the fourth artist,” along with the three – Mads Holm, Scott Caruth and Alice Myers – in the upcoming group show. As both Bek and Shields are already experienced with and involved in galleries and projects, 16 Nicholson offers an important way for them to respond to some of the expectations of different institutions. “The galleries that we’re used to either employ Glasgow and Edinburgh artists or international artists. We want to foster good international relations without excluding Scottish artists,” says Bek. “I also like the idea of not just having emerging or established artists,” she explains. And while the first show is photography based and Bek has

extensively exhibited her own and other photographers’ work, she’s clear that the gallery will not be limited to photography. They’re conscious to resist any curatorial formulae, and they describe putting Opposite Tendencies together as more like “A conversation that happened naturally. You don’t see that as much especially with group shows. It can sometimes be that the theme is blue and you all give a blue work.” Bek wonders how much ‘boundary pushing’ is really going on amongst artists, especially in a climate of wordy application processes. For Opposite Tendencies, Carruth will be showing a video of mythical Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. “He’s from a city in the north of Mexico, Durango. And it’s all shot there,” he explains. With a constantly blue sky, it became a cheap Hollywood alternative in the 60s. “They have all these Wild West film sets on the outskirts of the city.” Pancho is played by an impersonator who’s always in costume and in character, greeted by locals as such. He’d decided to film the actor in a straight line through the sets, then the historical centre and finally the outskirts. “It quickly became clear there was a language barrier, and he’d also brought his friend in full costume, and his dog. We just

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wanted him as a sole figure.’’ Nevertheless, as plans became redundant “it kind of emerged” for Carruth, “that this relationship with him was the point.” Downstairs on the ground floor, Mads Holm continues with the work displayed in his degree show in Glasgow School of Art in June. Titled About Common Ground, he combines images of crowds, or sparse streets, or a large purple monster suit, that look shot in harsh early morning light, with the most disturbing international documents on security. “I try and encompass the larger relations within big systems that scare me, fascinate me and that seem ungraspable,” he says. Staying topical, on the top floor, Alice Myers brings together a multimedia presentation of works made after she travelled to Calais between 2012-14 “when there were hundreds rather than thousands of refugees and migrants” there. Pushing against the imposition of making a coherent and convincing narrative to asylum decision systems, “The project denies that satisfying narrative. It’s about the right not to be understood.” And it’s this kind of recalcitrance that fits well with Bek’s ambition for 16 Nicholson Street: “I want to do something we’re not allowed to do.” Opposite Tendencies opens 8 Oct

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Join the Birthday Party Dundee Literary Festival has sure grown in its 10 years of life and its 2016 programme offers an absolutely stellar list of talent, including James Kelman, Jenni Fagan and Alan Cumming. Come and join the party this October

he Scottish books scene has been abuzz with significant birthdays over the past few years, particularly when it comes to literary festivals. Edinburgh’s bumper book festival turned 30 in 2013, while StAnza, Scotland’s international poetry festival, came of age in 2015 and can now officially drink. Now one of the younger members of the family is making it into double figures too – that celebration of words and stories in the land of jute, jam and journalism: Dundee Literary Festival. This year’s festival, which runs from 19 to 23 October, is everything a ten-year-old’s birthday party ought to be: full of surprises, with more than a hint of the sophistication to come but absolutely no intention of giving up on good old fashioned fun any time soon. Here’s a run-down of some of the party highlights we’re most looking forward to. The invitation It’d (almost) be worth visiting Dundee just to pick up one of their beautiful programmes alone. Stroke its soft, matt pages. Enjoy Caitlin Bowbeer’s neatly surreal illustrations. Bowbeer is a graduate from Dundee’s illustration degree and her works offer the perfect example of how the festival and the university, to which it belongs, complement one another: the festival widens its own aesthetic on the occasions that it offers students and graduates the space to spread their creative wings.

The guest list Accept the invitation and you’re in good company. Dundee has a stellar line-up of writers reading, performing and discussing their work, and the festival offers a refreshing mix of well-known names and insider tips. These include, on the opening day of the festival, Scottish novelist Jenni Fagan, author of The Sunlight Pilgrims and one of Granta’s 2013 Best British Young Novelists. She’ll be appearing alongside Deborah Smith, the award-winning translator of Han Kang’s Booker International Prize

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Winner The Vegetarian, and Han’s protégé, Korean novelist Hwang Jungeun. On the Thursday, we can look forward to James Kelman – as yet, the only Scottish Man Booker winner – discussing his latest novel, Dirt Road. There’s plenty on offer for poetry lovers too; Liz Lochhead promises a perfect end to the week, performing new and old work to the background of Steve Kettley on saxophone. And if you’re looking to learn something new, legendary poet Don Paterson promises a fascinating insight into Shakespeare’s sonnets. Then again, maybe you should just borrow someone else’s kid and sneak in to Philip Ardagh’s latest instalment about his children’s favourite the Grunt family. If anyone asks, you didn’t get that idea from us… Big Braw Birthday Tea Dance It wouldn’t be a birthday without a party. And it wouldn’t be a party without a dance. On Saturday 22 October, we’ll be digging out our dancing shoes and heading down to the Bonar Hall for 3pm. Don’t forget to bring two presents: Dundee Literary Festival is celebrating alongside The Broons & Oor Willie, who are turning a magisterial 80 this year. There’ll be a live band for the dancing queens, and tea and cake (cake!) for everyone. And if you find yourself wanting to join those on the dance floor but don’t know your shimmy from your shuffle, there’ll be dancers on hand (or foot?) to help out. Oh, and there’ll be cake. Did we mention the cake? Sleeping lions: the silent reading party Dundee Literary Festival has an antidote to the overexcitement that any birthday party – or festival – can induce. Two days into the festival, we’ll be joining other book lovers to curl up with our favourite book and a (preferably uncaffeinated) hot drink in the festival’s edition of Dundee’s monthly silent reading party. Whether you need some time out from the festival frenzy, or really want to finish Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun but never seem able

to make the time, dig out that dog-eared paperback and come along to Waterstone’s Café W on Thursday 20 October at 7pm. Party bags: Sinéad Gleeson and Jan Carson Short stories can be the overlooked younger sibling of the novel: genius-tinged, devilishly funny or occasionally disturbing. It’s always great to see festivals and publishers sticking up for short stories, so often dwarfed by their muscly bigger brother. At 2pm on Friday 21 October, Dundee Literary Festival not only showcases a genre often overlooked, but also shines a spotlight on the often forgotten history of Irish women writers. Editor of anthologies The Long Gaze back and The Glass Shore, Sinéad Gleeson has twice now brought together short stories from Irish women writers down the centuries, with emerging talent sitting next to early pioneers of the genre. Alongside her will be Jan Carson, whose first short story collection, Children’s Children is guaranteed to disturb in the most delightful of ways. If you don’t leave this event with a goody bag full of new authors you’re itching to look up, we might just have to forget your invitation next year. (Disclaimer: The Skinny does not recommend the inclusion of short stories by Jan Carson in ten-year-olds’ party bags). Blowing out the candles If we could see wishes, then festivals might be aglow with tiny pinpricks of light. This isn’t just due to your growing wish list every time you enter the festival bookshop, or the number of authors you try to fit into your trip: rather, festivals are fertile breeding grounds for dreams. Dundee Literary Festival offers plenty of space to close your eyes and make a wish – and then open them, and start making that wish a reality. There are workshops on poetry from Lindsay Macgregor and Rody Gorman, masterclasses on comics from

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Words: Annie Rutherford Illustration: Elena Boils

illustrating legend Ian Kennedy, and a Create a Comic Workshop for little ‘uns. Fittingly, for a festival which is integrated into the University of Dundee, these few days are as much about taking the space to craft your own words (and pictures) as it is about discovering new worlds through the words of others. The magician Every festival has a flavour of its own, and Dundee Literary Festival gains flavour from the town in which it is rooted. The birthplace of the Broons, the Dandy and the Beano is now home to a festival which has honoured comics and illustrations from the start. The city of discovery which sent ships out into the world to return with treasures has retained its international outlook with a festival which invites translators onto the stage on their own terms. The real magic of any literary festival is that you never quite know what you’re letting yourself in for. The playful programming from Peggy Hughes, the festival director, ensures that, in the case of Dundee Literary Festival, the confetti is flung particularly far and wide. “I quite like surprising people,” Hughes explains – and surprises are at the heart of the festival programme. We see this in the imaginative format of events: traditional readings sit alongside parties, puppetry and pop-up libraries. Then there’s the element of literature by stealth: books and comics are slipped into the most unexpected of places. This might be the middle of a dance floor, a one-time warship, or vending machine that churns out zines, not sweets. Dundee Literary Festival takes place in venues across the city from 19-23 Oct Tickets are available from the website or by calling 01382 386 995 literarydundee.co.uk

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October 2016

Time in the Sun Africa in Motion returns for its 11th year with a new collaborative approach to curation that brings pop-up mini-festivals, a summer school on Scotland’s black history and an exhibition going behind the scenes of African Cinema Words: Lewis Porteous

espite living in the information age, where mass communication methods allow for immediate satisfaction of our every curiosity, many of us remain shamefully ignorant of the world’s second largest continent and its 54 nation states. Viewed alternately as a famine ravaged subject of pity, a wartorn lost cause or a mystifying patchwork of primitive traditions, the truth is that Africa is too vast and diverse to ever be fully comprehended. The success of previous Africa in Motion festivals has lain in their ability to humanise the continent, celebrating the tenacity of its people while placing emphasis on its mythic qualities and pervasive cultural influence. AiM turned ten last year and has seemingly drawn a line under a decade of meticulous curation. 2016 finds the festival looking ahead to a new era of programming, in which added emphasis is placed on outreach and audience engagement. While it’s always sought to stimulate curious minds through a diverse series of film screenings, discussions, exhibitions and live performances, the specifics of this year’s edition are being shaped by residents of Scotland’s central belt, some likely, others less so. A truly collaborative approach has led to various groups and organisations choosing what they want to see on screen, while pop-up film festivals are set to run in oft-neglected areas of East Lothian and Paisley. Communities in these locations will have the chance to encounter rarely screened work,

without having selections imposed upon them. Disparate demographics are meanwhile being reached out to, with young ‘Reviving Scotland’s Black History’ summer school attendees curating a package of events alongside postgraduate students of Glasgow University.

“ Grim as these subjects are, they may achieve a note of optimism in allowing us to learn from history’s most horrific lessons” The theme of ‘Time’ will serve as a throughline for the festival’s various offerings. Audiences are promised an exploration of the past, present and future of Africa, which will touch upon such uncomfortable issues as slavery and colonisation. Grim as these subjects are, they may achieve a note

Rain the Colour Blue with a Little Red in it

of optimism in allowing us to learn from history’s most horrific lessons, while proving that Africa has always responded to and been linked with global movements, contrary to the popular notion of the continent as an isolated time capsule of defiant, inscrutable tradition. Even more literal concepts of time will be explored in meditations on Swahili time and the Amharic calendar, proving that AiM is nothing if not thorough. Due to conservative distributors and blinkered critical engagement, few African auteur directors have achieved the kind of international recognition they deserve. As a result, general audiences don’t have established perceptions of African cinema’s stylistic hallmarks. For this reason, choosing which screenings to attend can be an intimidating stab in the dark, but one which brings with it the thrill of true discovery. The festival’s had a high hit rate to date and whether you’re drawn to

its offerings for reasons of anthropology, escapism, social realism or aesthetic beauty, it’s more than likely you’ll be surprised by the energy of a people and film industry still writing their own rules. This year’s exhibition promises to document this sense of creativity and invention. Titled African Cinema Behind the Scenes, its goal is to lay bare the entire filmmaking process, from conception to release, something to which we’re rarely privy with regards to our own domestic offerings. All images included in these displays will be tied into the films included in the 2016 festival programme, and so amount to an essential piece of an immersive whole, the delights of which are, frankly, too extensive to go fit into a drooling preview piece. For your own sake, waste no time in scouring the festival’s listings and get involved. Africa in Motion runs 28 Oct-6 Nov africa-in-motion.org.uk

Kieślowski and co The past, present and future of Polish cinema is once again on display at Play Poland, from an opening film that marks 20 years since the death of Krzysztof Kieślowski to a wide programme of shorts from emerging Polish filmmakers Words: Ben Nicholson

Blind Chance

016 has been dubbed the year of Krzysztof Kieślowski, being that it’s 20 years since the great Polish filmmaker’s death. Tributes and retrospectives have appeared around the world, at multiple festivals, and it is Kieślowski’s 1981 film Blind Chance that will open the sixth edition of the UK’s Play Poland Film Festival on 20 Oct at Filmhouse, Edinburgh. It’s a fitting choice that not only begins the festival with a bang, but nicely complements a few of the contemporary titles that will screen as part of the season confronting ghosts of Poland’s recent history and life under communist rule. Blind Chance’s most striking component is its split narrative following a med-school dropout (Bogusław Linda) whose fate is played out three times based on the result of a race to catch a train to Warsaw. (Kieślowski’s delicious premise was pilfered wholesale for British rom-com Sliding Doors.) Through these alternate timelines, Kieślowski ex-

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plored the ways that a veritable everyman can find themselves on staunchly opposed sides of the political divide, life shaped to unrecognisable ends by subtle events. In Marcin Koszalka’s The Red Spider (1 Nov, Filmhouse), the audience is put in the similar – and unusual – position of watching the emergence of a serial killer and pondering what it is that has shaped him. Erstwhile documentarian Koszatka blends fact and fiction in this unconventional crime thriller that tells the tale of two serial killers in 1960s Krakow, where the narrative’s spiky ambiguity is enhanced by the communist-era’s all pervading paranoia. The reasons for that paranoia rear their head again in Ryszard Bugajski’s Blindness (10 Nov, Filmhouse), which sees Julia Brystiger (Maria Mamona) subject to surveillance and abuse at the hands of state officials, somewhat ironically given her previous life, shown via flashbacks, as a brutal state

enforcer. It vaguely recalls Wojciech Marczewski’s Shivers in its examination of communist ideals, Stalinist personality cult and Catholicism – though its primary focus is the internal psychology and anguish of Brystiger, haunted by the deeds of her past. The past haunts far more literally in Marcin Wrona’s Demon (8 Nov, Filmhouse). A strange blend of supernatural thriller and deadpan wedding comedy, it transplants the Jewish legend of the dybbuk into the centre of a young couple’s nuptials to dig into intimate questions around how well you can truly know the person you’re marrying and more expansive ones regarding Poland’s Jewish population and the Holocaust. Beautifully shot by Pawel Flis, it manages to be stark and creepy in its straight handling of the possession of the young groom, Piotr (Italy Tiran), by the dybbuk. Elsewhere his new father-in-law schemes to get the guests so drunk that they won’t notice or judge Piotr’s increasingly bizarre behaviour and the deteriorating wedding can’t help but acquire shades of Andrzej Wajda’s The Wedding and Krzysztof Zanussi’s The Contract. Alongside the feature films are further treats in the form of shorts and an exhibition of stunning Polish film posters. As with film culture from any part of the world, shorts provide a glimpse not only into the future of Polish cinema but also out to the

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very edge. The shorts on display in the several programmes at Play Poland are both calling card works from filmmakers who may be at the festival with feature films in years to come, and the work of those pushing at boundaries of style and structure that is almost impossible in the longer form. This bumper crop includes work from the Silesia Film School, the Wajda Studio, the Lodz Film School, the Munk Studio, the O!pla animation festival and a selection of classic animations courtesy of the National Film Archive. From features, to shorts, to a single image. Anyone familiar with the incredible legacy of film posters in Poland would do well to remember the name Waldemar Świerzy, who is the subject of a major exhibition at the festival. He was the co-founder of the Polish School of Posters and is considered by many to be the greatest film poster designer, which is saying a lot given the exalted company he keeps. These posters were an artistic outlet in Communist-era Poland and Świerzy and his contemporaries went all out in their local re-imaginings of Western films, most famously Midnight Cowboy, Apocalypse Now, Sunset Blvd. and Blow-Up. Play Poland runs 20 Oct-2 Dec in various cities across the UK, including Glasgow and Edinburgh playpoland.org.uk

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The Skinny Picks A selection of our top screening recommendations from the October film festival calendar Words: Nathanael Smith & Jamie Dunn

Top Three at Scotland Loves Anime

Pigtails Anyone who watched last year’s Miss Hokusai at the festival will know that Yoshimi Itazu is a formidable talent. The lead animator on that film (and erstwhile protégé to legendary director Satoshi Kon) has since stepped up to directing with his debut, Pigtails. It’s playing with other shorts and at the Glasgow screening Itazu himself will be there for a Q&A. 15 Oct, GFT; 23 Oct, Filmhouse

Anime’s Rising Star

As Scotland Loves Anime returns this month with a programme of great animation from Japan, we focus in on talented director Makoto Shinkai, who looks to break away from Hayao Miyazaki’s considerable shadow with new film Your Name Words: Nathanael Smith

ne of the most common epithets given to Japanese director Makoto Shinkai is ‘the next Miyazaki.’ As the Ghibli co-founder puts down his paintbrush, the search for his spiritual successor takes on a new urgency for anyone seeking mature, wonder-inducing anime that it’s OK for the ‘serious cinephile’ to enjoy. The comparison is a trite one, however, as the two directors share only a few things in common: they both work in animation; they are both Japanese; they are both masters of their medium. That’s where the comparisons end, however, as Shinkai’s preoccupations and style feels a world away from Miyazaki. Although famed within the animation world, Shinkai is yet to have the the kind of crossover success Miyazaki enjoyed with films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. As the annual, increasingly impressive Scotland Loves Anime festival runs a mini-retrospective of Shinkai’s work alongside his latest film, Your Name, it’s time for that to change. Shinkai is a major talent and deserves international attention for his work.

“ It’s overbearing, but captures perfectly the way teenagers can so easily feel like their emotional world is overwhelming” The first, most obvious element of Shinkai’s films that people notice is the mind-boggling beauty of the animation. There’s a kind of hyperrealism to the look of his films, where unpolluted night skies contain whole galaxies and train stations gleam constantly beneath the sun. His finest film, Garden of Words, is set mostly in a city park with shots of trees and lakes that look almost like live action, yet are somehow too perfect to pass as real. Shinkai’s glistening compositions, however, aren’t just a show of his animating prowess, they contribute to the central theses of his films. One of his greatest preoccupations is the way teenage drama can seem, at the time, like cosmic, world-changing events. Take his calling card, 5 Centimetres Per Second. This largely plotless tale follows a boy, Takaki, as he experiences love and

October 2016

frustration throughout high school and college. His faintly ludicrous, hyper-emotional narration plays over the images, as he says things like: “Right then it felt like I finally understood where everything was, eternity, the heart, the soul.” It’s overbearing, but captures perfectly the way teenagers can so easily feel like their emotional world is overwhelming. Shinkai’s stylised animation matches the inner lives and thoughts of his characters, so when a 15-year old believes he is experiencing something transcendent, the aesthetic aims for that, too. Shinkai deftly balances key adolescent experiences such as falling in love for the first time with much bigger ideas like the launching of shuttles into the cosmos or battles in space, light years away. Journey to Agartha, his most fully fledged fantasy film, has the trappings of an epic adventure with a journey to a ruined underground civilization, but at its heart it is a fable about coping with loss. It would be easy to dismiss Shinkai’s work as yet another bit of anime about the trials of high school, but his stories work because of the sincerity with which they are told. He takes emotional moments in the lives of his protagonists and makes each one seem like the most important thing in the world. By the end of his films, you might believe they are, too. Scotland Love Anime runs 14-16 Oct at Glasgow Film Theatre and 17-23 Oct at Filmhouse, Edinburgh

A Silent Voice One of the most frequent settings in anime is high school, but A Silent Voice takes a look at the darker side of teenage years. The story follows a bully who torments a deaf girl in his class and charts how his peers eventually turn against him. Expect big emotions and a dramatic conclusion. 22 Oct, Filmhouse Mystery Film Who doesn’t love a good mystery? The programme promises a premiere in Glasgow and gives little else away. While it’s unlikely to be anything as prestigious as The Red Turtle, the programmers at the festival know their stuff, so it’s sure to be an exciting pick. 16 Oct, GFT Top Three at Africa in Motion

The Battle of Algiers Even after 50 years, the rage of Gillo Pontecorvo’s gritty, black-and-white study of Algeria’s war against France still makes this work of political anger a knockout. It’s also a nail-biting thriller, its joy and tension coming from its detailed reconstruction of the guerrilla warfare tactics that tipped the scales toward the rebel forces. 30 Oct, GFT Naked Reality “Naked Reality is the cinema of the future,” exclaims AiM. Cameroon’s enfant terrible filmmaker JeanPierre Bekolo looks to be once again pushing his visual experimentation to the limit with this fable set in a future Africa that has become one single metropolis and centres on a young woman who’s potentially the saviour in this dystopian world. 31 Oct, Glasgow School of Art

Rain the Colour of Blue With a Little Red in It If the idea of taking Prince’s self-mythologising rock opera, Purple Rain, and remaking it within the Tuareg community of the Sahara sounds like a joke, that’s because that’s exactly what it was; but director Christopher Kirkley was soon convinced he was on to something: “We realised if we took the original story and modified it, the remake would reflect the lives of every guitarist in the Tuareg community.” If you’re wondering about the convoluted title, that’s because there’s no word for purple in the Tuareg language. 3 Nov, Brass Monkey Top Three Films at Play Poland

Blindness Ryszard Bugajski’s Blindness arrives in the Play Poland programme festooned with rave reviews from Toronto International Film Festival. The film tells the story of Julia Brystiger, a real-life state enforcer during Poland’s most repressive Stalinist period. Bugajski’s film follows two timelines: Brystiger in her sadistic prime, and years later after the fall of communism where her past crimes haunt her. 10 Nov, Filmhouse Demon Shades of the late Andrzej Zuławski here, as well as a few dollops of Will Ferrell, as a ghost crashes a wedding by possessing the groom, leaving the bride and her family to try and obscure this from their wedding guests. Horror comedy is a difficult genre to pull off successfully, but all reports suggest director Marcin Wrona balances the zig-zagging tones handsomely. 8 Nov, Filmhouse Short Films: Wajda Studio The Play Poland short programmes look excellent this year. We’re particularly keen to see what’s coming out of the Wajda Studio, which was set up ten years ago by filmmakers Wojciech Marczewski and the school’s namesake Andrzej Wajda. If the guy who made Ashes and Diamonds and Man of Marble is one of their mentors, these young filmmakers are sure to go far. 21 Oct, Sikorski Polish Club

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Scotland Loves Anime’s Makoto Shinkai retrospective Your Name Shinkai’s new film, a body-swap mystery that’s already dominated the box office in Japan, promises to be his most mature yet. 22 Oct, Filmhouse The Place Promised in Our Early Days This moving, allegorical film combines, in classic Shinkai fashion, the everyday experience of high school friendship with the thrills of a gripping sci-fi. 17 Oct, Filmhouse Voices of a Distant Star & Garden of Words Shinkai’s two shorter films are possibly his best. Voices is a love story that stretches across the time-space continuum, while the only distance between two people in Garden is age. 18 Oct, Filmhouse The Battle of Algiers

FILM

Feature

LE Y ST FE LI

Black History Month 2016: Where We Stand Does filming and sharing the strife of black people harm more than it helps? Rianna Walcott questions the most dangerous black tropes and surveys a history of white gaze on black pain Words: Rianna Walcott Illustration: Raj Dhunna

lack history, as it is taught, tends to be overshadowed by the spectre of slavery and civil rights movements. Little is said about historical black achievement, and those achievements are often white-washed, credited to white people. You’ll see this happening in films, where people of colour are skimmed over in representations of their own history, favouring the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio. You can also find it in the entire ethos of the United States of America, which largely refuses to acknowledge how massively indebted it is to the (unwilling) contributions of black people. Even the accounts of slavery taught in schools are ludicrously watered down. Many black people, myself included, only discover the extent of the atrocities committed through personal research later in life: slapping on Roots in front of a class of children is not enough to explain the widerreaching consequences of slavery on contemporary black people.

of people of colour is, without exception, treated as inessential. We are denied dignity in life and death. Making white people care about black pain Having white people substituted into these images is unthinkable, as a recent advert campaign for Save the Children highlighted. The entire premise of the advert is that viewers should be able to empathise better with the plight of refugees in war-torn areas if it is demonstrated using a white British child. This correctly assumes that the impact of seeing actual black and brown people in distress is limited; it’s too common in the public eye, people are no longer surprised by it, and they no longer care.

“ Will dying at the hands of police officers simply The Strong Black Person and other tropes Because of this, black people are best known for become something their trauma. It is often down to black people to celebrate successes among themselves, leading black people to the meteoric rise of celebratory hashtags like #blackgirlmagic and #blackboyjoy, to counter ‘do’ – fixed and constant negative representation in media and history. Meanwhile, globally, black people are notorious for tragedy; the enslaved, the victim of anonymous like police brutality, the anonymous starving African child who has long been instrumental in getting the stereotype western children to eat their vegetables. In spite of the fact that black trauma is at the of the starving forefront of global consciousness, mental health is heavily stigmatised within black communities. A African child?” culture of silence as well as the belief that mental illness is the preserve of western white people means that we lack the language to express the negative effects of constant aggression on our mental health; studies by the Mental Health Foundation show that black people living in the UK are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health problem, yet also more likely to disengage from mental health services than white people. The internalised trope of the strong black person precludes shows of weakness in poor mental health, and in the past I have been told to just ‘deal with’ depression, because I’m better off than my ancestors have ever been and therefore have nothing to complain about. It doesn’t help that black pain is also rarely seen as valid, or private. This is not limited to black people, but also extends to other people of colour. Take the media saturation of war photography; graphic pictures of destruction shared of the current Syrian conflict; pictures of famine and poverty in non-Western countries. The humanity and privacy

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In recent years, the press has thrown a longawaited spotlight onto reports of police brutality, largely as a result of widely-shared bystander videos documenting incidents. While it may seem like these tragedies are happening more frequently, we have the dubious comfort of knowing that this is not a new phenomenon: things are not necessarily getting worse, only more visible. The impact of these videos is massive, and a double-edged sword. On the one hand, police officers must be held accountable for their actions. Having video proof of innocence, while a poor substitute for justice, at least allows for the public clearing of victims’ names. There is, however, a disturbing element of voyeurism to the sharing of these videos. I wonder how they affect the wider populace, the effect they have on the mental health of black people, and if over-exposure to them is having the opposite effect of inuring people to our pain.

At Black Lives Matter marches and similar liberation groups there is a consensus on the videos: a wary, weary acceptance. There is clearly a link between regularly witnessing images of extreme violence and depreciating mental health, as demonstrated in a recent psychological study of a sample of journalists, who following regular viewing of violent content subsequently experienced symptoms of depression and PTSD. Many black people refuse to watch these videos for their own well-being. It’s traumatic to say the least to watch live executions of your people; I still can’t look at a picture of Tamir Rice, the doppelgänger of my cousin, without feeling dizzy. Our trauma is on display, and we are devalued into a week-long hashtag. The transformation of death into an agent of social change is despicable, but not without value. It is immeasurably better than dying in ignominy. It becomes a question of whether it is worth traumatising ourselves and

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giving up our dignity in the hopes of raising ‘awareness’, and the hope that video evidence may eventually secure justice for the victim. The eternal fight for ‘awareness’ demands a limitless supply of proof, and spreading ‘awareness’ is not always the outcome. If these deaths come to be expected, will dying at the hands of police officers simply become something black people ‘do’ – as fixed and anonymous as the stereotype of the starving African child? There is already a stark similarity in the ways these images are shared; a fleeting show of sympathy that is soon forgotten, until the next tragedy. There are other ways to make sure victims’ lives are valued without compromising their dignity, traumatising their families and ourselves. Sharing positive images of victims in life, talking about them and marching in their name is immeasurably better than broadcasting their pain.

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Spend more time in the gr8 outdoors! Or just skip today and hide in bed! We’re told to go and rejoice in nature. Get some fresh air! Go for a nice long walk. But we’re also told it’s beneficial to unplug from the stresses of modern life, to curl up in bed in our cute unicorn onesie, and to gorge on snacks from the hideyhole that is the bedroom, watching Netflix until our eyeballs can’t stay open. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these things; nature is pretty and inspiring, and bed is safe and warm. However, finding oneself bombarded with the command to GO outside or GO to bed, it really seems like we’re being told to GO away. Or, to put it more politely, to take our problems where no one will hear us scream. TREAT YOURSELF (but also watch that calorie intake, scum!) If you’re sad, you might want something delicious to fill up this empty hole inside of you. Or, if you’re stressed, you might want to obsessively order what goes in and out of your body. Maybe your fridge is stocked with little tupperwares of lonely spinach. You might know that neither direction is healthy on its own, but it’s what you have to cling on to.

acquaintance’s death arose. I was told, passionately, that the sad friend’s life would have been infinitely better if he’d have just motivated himself to try tennis. Awful as that was, I found myself distracted by how refreshing it was to hear the word ‘tennis’ rather than yoga. I get told to try yoga so often that I now instinctively gag whenever I pass anyone in sweatpants. The public loves telling people to get fit in order to cheer up. Apparently endorphins are more effective than any drug or therapy – at least, that’s what someone’s aunt read in Marie Claire once. What is troublesome about our fascination with fitness is that we’re also told constantly to adore ourselves as we are. This is particularly tricky for a depressive personality, for whom a big issue is, inherently, that loving themselves is proving difficult. Of course, if you’re overweight or underweight, this problem is compounded. You’re encouraged to love some inner part of yourself, while also being told that your physical form is actually pretty gross at the moment. You have to go out and get sweaty in the name of self-improvement, but you also have to self-consciously whisper to yourself, and everyone around you, that you love yourself regardless, fitness or no fitness. You cannot win. Take a thousand selfies! But, seriously,

stop looking for validation online “ ‘Relax!’ society This is an insidious little quirk of modernity that designed to plague the young and unhappy. screams, in a way seems We’ve been immersed in an online world for long that we’re now trained to only indulge in that provokes more enough it with a certain level of chic or irony. Still, though, we’re encouraged to embrace selfie culture, to prestress, as we cariously balance our beauty online or in images, base our self-worth on either the opinions of frantically update toothers or the apparent proof of a well-received photo we spent hours setting up. our Amazon baskets” Meanwhile, simultaneously, we’re constantly We’re encouraged to spoil ourselves and live our best lives. Does that mean we should abandon the junk food we’ve been told is the treat that will perk us up? Or should we stop obsessing over the diets we’ve been forced to go on? What the hell should we be eating? Maybe, instead of curating diets for the mentally ill, you could take the time to actually eat with them. Talk to them. Make sure they’re eating something, rather than nothing. And maybe let them choose what takeaway you get.

Save Your Self Care As we approach World Mental Health Day, we question the internet’s hazardous habit of prescribing self care ‘hacks’ in lieu of legitimate support and guidance

Pump some iron and become queen of yoga! But also love yourself just as you are Once, on a car journey, the topic of a mutual

Words: Toby Sharpe Illustration: Tom Saffil

f, like me, your journey towards good mental health has been rocky and eventful, you might have discovered that when it comes to the topic of mental illness and your wellbeing everyone seems to be under the impression that they’re some sort of doctor. Happy friends are not quite sure what it feels like to be tear-jerkingly miserable, but they had a bad break-up once, so they assume they’re qualified to dispense unsolicited advice, from anything such as which antidepressant might work for you, to whether or not you should be going to play badminton more with your friends. Most of the time, the tips people chuck around are samey and uninspired, if not downright insulting or presumptuous. However, they are often delivered with a hubristic level of certainty; you’d think your friend really was the best thing for mental health since Prozac. The same problem exists online; a simple search reveals thousands of listicles and blog posts suggesting the same tips for how to care for yourself, putting the onus on you to just cheer

October 2016

told as a generation that we’re narcissistic and shouldn’t care so much about how we look. And we’re told that by the same people who leave the most embarrassingly sickly comments on our profile pictures. So where does that leave us? It’s obvious that we need to escape this hazardous culture of easy tips and quick fixes; mental illness can’t just be willed away. So many of the ‘hacks’ people offer essentially boil down to ‘shut up, buy stuff, feel better and let’s talk about something else’. But when you’ve done away with the hacks, what more can you offer when your friend tearfully admits that they’re feeling terrible? My advice: instead of constantly telling unhappy people what to do or how to feel, try just listening to them instead.

up with their simplistic advice. A lot of these Instagram-friendly tips and tricks are very expensive; there’s something worryingly neo-liberal and capitalistic about this trend of advising people to pay for swimming lessons or an eBay animal onesie in order to feel good. “Relax!” society screams, in a way that provokes more stress, as we frantically update our Amazon baskets. As well as the obvious price-tag, though, there’s just a problem here with how we view mental illness. Very few people are willing to concede that mental health is not always a quick-fix, and a lot of this advice contradicts itself in the rush to try to perk someone up as fast as possible. We’re told to get our lives together, we’re told to focus on ourselves and abandon our responsibilities. We’re told to apply ourselves, we’re told to take some well-needed me-time. Bearing this in mind, I thought I’d use the occasion of World Mental Health day (10 Oct) to re-examine some of the internet’s best (and most contradictory) self care tips.

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s part of Graphic Design Festival Scotland’s programme of workshops, talks, panel discussions, exhibitions, live projects, competitions and music which runs 17-23 Oct they will be hosting an International Poster Exhibition. The exhibition will showcase 200 contemporary posters from around the world in The Lighthouse from 22 Oct-25 Nov. The exhibition celebrates the art of poster design and features work from more than 170 designers from around the world. Posters offer a universal platform for communication and have been utilised for centuries to provoke, promote, celebrate, and stimulate. Posters have provided a powerful framework for political agendas, war propaganda and the dissemination of public information, alongside being used as tools to sell commercial goods and services and highlight events and occasions. However outwith their functional existence, they provide a canvas for millions of designers around the world. The posters exhibited are a curated shortlist of entries to GDFS 2016 International Poster Competition which took place between June and August 2016. The competition received 3443 entries from more than 70 countries. The competition was judged, and exhibition curated, by Unfun, Lamm & Kirch, Warriors Studio and Étienne Hervy. About Graphic Design Festival Scotland Graphic Design Festival Scotland is a forward-thinking programme of workshops, talks, exhibitions, panel discussions, live projects, urban murals and music. It returns for 2016 to take over the entire

National Centre for Design and Architecture, The Lighthouse, across five floors for one month. The programme includes 15 workshops led by incredible designers from across the UK, Europe and the USA, two conferences, two panel discussions, three exhibitions, an International Poster Competition, a Live Project with 12 of the top studios in Scotland, an evening of short films in collaboration with Pretend Lovers, a party with 12th Isle, plenty to drink and a soundtrack of music across seven days. The festival offers opportunities for designers to collaborate, work on projects with leading names, be inspired at conferences, engage in panel discussions, showcase their work, enter competitions to win up to £500, discover new designers at exhibitions, socialise with a global design community and party through an entire week. This year is set to be the largest programme to date and the largest design event in Scotland (breaking last year’s record of 12,000 participants, attendees and visitors). Brand new events for 2016 include: New Worlds: conference and panel discussion with four speakers united through their progressive work and forward thinking approach: Emblemmatic (NYC & Amsterdam), The Future Laboratory (London), Wikihouse (Paris) and one more tba. Shorts: a short film festival in collaboration with Pretend Lovers, showcasing a curated selection of short films from around the globe. Design Displacement Group exhibition: which explores the four grand themes of this opera; love, jealousy, ambition and revenge through an immersive audio-visual presentation.

SPIEL by Felix Kosok - felixkosok.de

The State of The Art by Tomas Laar - tomaslaar.com

Graphic Design Festival Scotland

PUTPUT exhibition: featuring a selection of PUTPUT’s installations and sculptures which are “neatly placed at the intersection where art, design and concept meet.” Contributors Running workshops: Wieden+Kennedy, Koto, Alan Kitching, Grilli Type, Urban Outfitters, PUTPUT, Mirko Borsche, Nous Vous, Design Displacement Group, O Street, Ciaran Glöbel, Good Press, CodeBase, MAKlab and STV Creative Speaking at New Worlds conference: Emblemmatic, The Future Laboratory, Wikihouse Judging the Poster Competition: Unfun, Lamm & Kirch, Warriors Studio and Étienne Hervy. Mentoring at the Live Project: D8, Freytag Anderson, Graphical House, Jamhot, Kerr Vernon, Stand, MadeBrave, O Street, STV Creative, Recoat, Tangent, Front Page. Judging the Live Project: It’s Nice That, Étapes, Hato Press and Koto. 2016 partners: Year of Innovation Architecture and Design, Infinite Eye, J Thomson, GF Smith, The Lighthouse, Mohawk and The Skinny. Events, 17–23 Oct. Exhibition, 22 Oct–25 Nov, The Lighthouse graphicdesignfestivalscotland.com

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October 2016

SHOWCASE

Just a Game - Felix Kosok - felixkosok.de

PHOTOGRAPHY (BA)

Photography ― Gilleam Trapenberg

The Royal Academy of Art The Hague x Offprint Paris by Koos Breen - koosbreen.com

Graphic Design ― Koos Breen

CryBaby by AnjaKaiser - anjakaiser.info

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Object is Meditation and Poetry by Jaroslaw Kubiak, Benjamin Buchegger - jaroslawkubiak.de

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ROYAL ACADEMY OF ART THE HAGUE

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Word on the Street We take a look at the trials and tribulations behind your favourite street food Words: Peter Simpson

ood and drink is, let’s face it, an industry that likes to drive a trend until the wheels come off. One day, mutterings come down the foodie pipeline of a brilliant new dish or style, and the next everyone has jumped in with their own take on it. By the third, everyone’s fed up with it, and by the end of the week there’s open mockery of anyone left on the wrong side of (recent) history. “Forget your cronuts, old man,” they say, “we’ve got mufgels.” One trend which has stood the test of time is street food; partly because of its slightly nebulous nature, and partly because street food is a broad church. Cheap dishes, myriad cuisines and styles, and an inclusive vibe are all key tenets of street food as transposed from the hawker markets of South Asia to the glum skies of Northern Europe. It’s among the greatest of the developments we’ve seen in the UK food scene in the last decade – highquality food stripped of unnecessary faff, proving that you don’t need fancy tablecloths (or even a table) to have a great meal. The only problem is street food is still a bit of a pain in the arse to... y’know... do. While as punters it’s easy to get wrapped up in the post-industrial ambience and tasty, tasty shrimp sandwiches, it’s time to take a step back and see whether our growing mass of street food customers and kitchens are parked on solid ground. So let’s imagine a scenario – you want to set up a street food van. One nice quirk is that you need to own your vehicle before you can apply for a pitch, which feels a little bit like a bank asking you to move all your possessions into your new house before they give you a mortgage. At best, it’s a bit incovenient; at worst, all your stuff is now trapped somewhere that’s literally no use to you. Anyway, you find a vehicle, kit it out, go through all the usual fit-out checks, environmental health and insurance checks, and then you’re on your way. On your way to a world of paperwork, that is. You’ll need to apply for a licence – for you, not the business, meaning that you’ll need licences for each

October 2016

and every person who might conceivably be in the van in the course of service. Get your licence, and you can make the moves to get a permanent pitch – your application will cost around £300, which gets you a survey by your local council to check up on footfall, traffic, impact to the surrounding area and so on. This takes around three months, during which you can twiddle your thumbs to your heart’s content, and if the council don’t grant you a pitch you can kiss that cash from earlier goodbye. Oh, and much of Edinburgh and Glasgow city centres are off limits entirely to any new street vendor applications, so save your pennies and don’t bother asking in the first place.

“ It's time to see whether our street food scene is parked on solid ground” It’s an expensive and time-consuming business, and one that isn’t massively helped by the nature of local government, which might be charitably described as ‘modular’. As one street food trader told us: “There’s no infrastructure in place for street food. The things we need are handled by a host of disparate departments, and they don’t like to talk to each other. They’ll literally tell you, ‘We don’t talk to that other department.’” That’s before you even get into issues like dealing with residents’ groups and trying to get the locals on side using just that little rectangle on a council application form. With all those lovely problems to look forward to, it’s no surprise that street food traders

Monty's Pakora

are turning to alternative set-ups, such as the blindingly successful Pitt market in Leith. Since its inception at the end of last year, The Pitt has housed regular all-day markets bringing together groups of Scotland’s best street food traders in one place. There are plenty of advantages to this kind of set-up – working on private land (in this case, a garage forecourt) removes many of the licensing and permission worries from individual traders; having a large number of traders in close proximity makes it much easier and more cost-effective to upgrade the facilities if needed; and working in close contact with fellow traders creates opportunities to work together and build up networks. It is, as one trader put it, “a step in the right direction”. Crucially, spaces like The Pitt still require street food to be street-ready, something which is not required when stenciling the words ‘STREET FOOD’ above the door of a bricks-and-mortar restaurant and hiding all the plates in a cupboard under the stairs. Trends are always rife for co-opting by established players (cf. the Greggsnut), but when taking the street food off the street, there is a danger of losing the essence of what made it good in the first place. The best indoor street food takes the recipe of small dishes at low cost in simple surroundings and sticks a roof on top; the worst takes a regular meal and puts it in a box or on a plank because #streetfood. Or, as Emily Stix-Moynihan of Edinburgh street food truck Fresh Revolution puts it: “When I see the term ‘street food’ in referring to a permanent restaurant, I kind of just glaze over it, to be honest. It seems like just another buzzword... I really feel that an important aspect street food are the food trucks themselves.” Emily points to some

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examples of street-style food working well indoors, praising El Cartel’s tacos and the bao at Ninja Kitchen (which itself started out as the Ninja Buns street food pop-up) for their authenticity, while also acknowledging that semi-permanent spaces are necessary for meteorological reasons as much as anything else. As she says: “We do live in Scotland, after all.” Glasgow street food outfit Chompsky launch the city’s first permanent food truck at a pitch on Kelvin Way this month, with menus featuring flavours from all over the world, from vegan Pho to salt beef sandwiches. After having fought toothand-nail to get their van up and running, they have a somewhat philosophical take on the current street food situation: “Bureaucracy doesn’t allow for explosive change to accomodate new things like street food,” they told us. “But then again, New York went through all of the same growing pains and their street food scene is huge with trucks everywhere; it’s just that the difficult stuff was all five or 10 years ago.” Because as much as it may seem that this type of dining has been around for ever, we’re still in the early days of its adoption in the UK. Street food’s moved beyond the initial heady buzz of the new, and has now moved steadily into some teenage growing pains. It’s looking for its own space, and struggling with authority figures who don’t always seem massively understanding; let’s do what we can to help it along, before it naffs off on a gap year abroad and never comes back. Chompsky, Kelvin Way, Glasgow (nr. Kelvingrove Park & University Avenue) The Pitt, 125 Pitt St, Edinburgh, every Saturday 12-10pm

Lifestyle

Food News Soft drink-based dining, film festival feasts and a night of bourbon and barbecue feature in this month’s food round-up Words: Peter Simpson

e kick off this month in Edinburgh, with some highly pertinent political chat from Bangladeshi economist Farida Akhter. Monsanto on Trial looks at the corporation’s impact on farming and biodiversity – there’s also an exhibition by award-winning photographer Jordi Cirera looking at Indian and Bangladeshi farmers taking on the agricultural giant. 9 Oct, 3pm, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny St. Also in Edinburgh this month, Nightcap host Buffalo Trace’s Master Blender Drew Mayville for a night of bourbon and chat. There’ll be rare bourbons from BT’s collection, a trio of bourbon-based cocktails, barbecue from Nightcap kitchen residents Feed and more. Plenty to be getting on with, there. 7 Oct, 7pm, 3 York Pl, £25, tickets via Eventbrite Next up, a pair of Edinburgh film festivals with super-special foodie events. First is Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, screening a trio of foodie short films tackling sustainability and the environmental impact of high-end dining. The screenings are followed by a wine tasting with tapas from top-notch seafood restaurant Ondine – plenty of reasons to hang around for a post-screening chat. 12 Oct, 6pm, George Square Lecture

Theatre, £25, tickets via edinburghspanishfilmfestival.com For Africa in Motion, Serenity Cafe host a North African Feast consisting of film and food from across the region. There’s a three course meal consisting of dishes from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, plus a trio of short films in Arabic, Tunisian and French to get stuck into. 31 Oct, 7pm, 8 Jacksons Entry, £12, tickets via Eventbrite Over in Glasgow, the Brigtoun Soda Lab project plays host to an evening of soft drink-inspired dining and chat this month. The Soda Lab is aiming to bring food and drink manufacturing back to the East End, with organic soft drinks made with locally-produced and procured ingredients. Expect a pay-what-you-feel dinner looking at ‘sugar flavour profiles, fermentation methods and the healing qualities of botanically brewed drinks.’ 18 Oct, 7pm, MILK Cafe, 452 Victoria Rd, free (ticketed); tickets via CCA box office. Also this month, as part of the ongoing Cooking Pot project, L. Sasha Gora takes on the issues of global population movement and change through the best possible medium – cake. The North, The Nordic and the New Stories about an Icelandic

Roots, Fruits and Flowers, winners of our 2015 Food & Drink Survey

cake looks at the history of the vínarterta, an Icelandic sweet particularly popular among North American diaspora communities. Prepare to learn what happens when two groups simultaneously try to claim ownership over the same recipe, and then hopefully taste the results. 31 Oct, 5.30pm, Bakery47, 47 Victoria Rd, free (ticketed), tickets

via CCA box office. Oh, and before we forget, voting is well underway in The Skinny Food and Drink Survey. Head over to the website to cast your votes for your foodie favourites – you have until the end of November. Go on. theskinny.co.uk/food

Where the Wild Chocolates Are

A mysterious new website could change the way you enjoy chocolate forever; we speak to T&J Gourmet about the art of combination Words: Lewis MacDonald

trange rumblings have been afoot in one corner of the internet, with a website so baffling initially we felt that we had to get in touch with one of its reps to explain further. It’s a site that goes by the name of T&J Gourmet, and it promises to change the way you see common confectionery forever. Sometimes something is so everyday and ubiquitous that we never consider the alternatives or options it presents. Which is how T&J Gourmet came into being, when they dared combine Cadbury Dairy Milk and Galaxy chocolate. This mighty clash of the two UK chocolate titans gave rise to, they claim, a superior chocolate sensation. As usual for T&J, this unlikely pairing came about “through some late night creativity in a budget hotel room. One quick trip down to the vending machine later and we had all the answers we needed.” So… what’s it all about then? “What we do is take individual chocolate bars and combine them with others to make something unique and special,” explain T&J. “We want to change the way you think about chocolate and make people realise the potential of combination.” Each new creation is thoroughly reviewed, analysed, rated and documented by a team to produce the final evaluation on their website. “This is a massively collaborative project with up to eight people fully engaged in each individual project”, say T&J. “Having a massively inspiring team of creative people on board has definitely helped it become what it is now.” Not every combination is a winner, as they freely admitted when reviewing Turkish Delight & White Kinder Bueno. “The texture was pretty disgusting to say the least,” they admit. “But when we strike gold – the results are incredible.” Incredible indeed: where else can you find a Kinder egg boat afloat upon a sea of Irn Bru with

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marshmallow icebergs? “It’s quite often the display part that is the most challenging. There have been times we have spent quite literally hours getting the right shot – on our famous SS Kinder Surprise project we tried using a couple of figurines as ‘captains of the ship’. It’s safe to say this simply couldn’t work; it capsized on many occasions.”

“ Where else can you find a Kinder egg boat afloat upon a sea of Irn Bru?” But where can reviewing combinations possibly go from here? T&J Gourmet have lofty ambitions – “we feel that the possibilities are endless.” The list includes a cookbook, a TV show (potential title: T&J’s Kitchen Dreams), global combinations and an Ann Summers Party-style format with a rep bringing their finest samples to your house – ‘T&J To You’. And if all you want to do now is rush to try a T&J combination, then their work has been a success. “We have had great feedback from fans online about the combinations they have tried,” exclaims T&J’s rep. “It’s very humbling to know we are making small waves in the chocolate world. We want to continue what we are doing and continue our quest to find the definitive chocolate combination.” Will they ever beat the simplicity of the first time? Only time will tell... tandjgourmet.com

FOOD AND DRINK

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

Through the IP-Ages: 25 Years of Deuchars Mainstay of Scotland’s pubs for a quarter of a century, Deuchars IPA turns 25 this October. We look at the story behind the IPA Words: Peter Simpson

he story begins, as much of British history does, with the Royal Navy setting off on a friendly business trip overseas. In the late 1700s, supply lines and communication weren’t what they are nowadays, and a trip from Britain to India took around six months on a thousand-ton ship. Think of every family holiday in the car, times a thousand, and you’re getting there. It was no fun, but at least there was plenty of beer for when you reached India. Well, not so much. Beer goes off, you see, and initially brews didn’t fare all that well sitting in an unrefrigerated store room. They’d go off, they’d taste bad, or they’d go stale quickly. But when brewers began adding additional hops to their beers, things changed. Hops are antiseptic, so they stop beer from spoiling, and they’re packed with flavour that can survive in even the dankest of conditions. Over time IPA recipes were refined, with the beers becoming lighter to suit the climate. Of course, lack of refrigeration and the seasonal nature of crops meant that brewers back at home were making use of the same techniques to make their beers taste and keep better. Pale ales, porters, milds; Edinburgh breweries were particularly good at creating these so-called ‘keeping beers’, making use of the world’s best brewing barley and hard, mineral-rich water. Fast-forward to the turn of the 20th century, and tax increases on beer, a reduction in the amount of land available for hops and barley, and increased demand for exporting beer meant that brewers had to move away from styles like IPA. Instead, the focus moved towards creating flavourful beers that sat at a lower strength but still packed a punch. Robert Deuchar bought his Edinburgh brewery in 1899, and set to using techniques not unlike those used in modern brewing to create a range of Pale Ales for residents of the city and beyond. IPA went onto the back-burner as the 20th century progressed, but came back to prominence in the 1970s and 80s with the first murmurings of the US craft beer movement. Small brewers across

October 2016

the Atlantic, utilising abundant new strains of hop and feeling unbound by tradition, were revisiting classic recipes from Europe and adding their own take. The US IPAs that came from this resurgence are marked out by high alcohol content and huge hoppy flavours – extensive dry hopping, or adding additional hops to finish a beer, is commonplace to boost the flavour and aroma of the beer. Back in Edinburgh, the Caledonian Brewery revived the IPA tradition with Deuchars, launching in 1991. Light and refreshing yet still distinctive, Deuchars harks back to its namesake’s ales by blending strength and flavour with delicacy and drinkability. It’s still brewed in the copper stills that have sat in the brewery since the Victorian days, and the recipe still calls for fresh full leaf hops to add the citrus notes and floral aromas of a great IPA. To celebrate its anniversary, Deuchars are also producing a limited edition Imperial IPA; a 5.5% ale loaded with bittering hops for a more robust flavour. With a storied past and multiple strands of brewing history woven into its story, it doesn’t seem like the IPA will be going anywhere fast. Still, Deuchars’ 25th anniversary seems as good a time as any to raise a glass to a classic. Cheers!

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION! Our readers are voting in The Skinny Food and Drink Survey 2017, but do they know about your business? Advertise your café, pub, restaurant, brewery or food shop in The Skinny and make sure they do. Speak to our sales team to find out how! sales@theskinny.co.uk 0131 467 4630 theskinny.co.uk @theskinnymag @theskinnymag /Theskinnymag

Illustration: Mica Warren

THE SKINNY

RE V

Live Reviews

IE W

Teenage Fanclub

Liquid Room, 6 Sep

teenagefanclub.com

October 2016

Stereo, 5 Sep

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“I’m - we’re - Frankie Cosmos,” announces Greta Kline, as her three band members settle themselves behind their instruments; a visual reminder that everything has changed for the New Yorker’s formerly solo, formerly bedroom-based project. From early doors, Stereo has a buzz. Dublinbased support band Squarehead perform their polished garage pop to a nearly-full room, but there’s a focused surge to the front once their set’s wrapped up. It’s Frankie Cosmos’ first ever Scottish show, and it looks as if half the crowd have already ransacked the merch stand. After opening with I’m 20 – a song that’s barely 1 minute 30 on record – the band set about conquering a setlist that’s an amazing 24 tracks deep (we counted). In just under an hour, Frankie Cosmos show off the scope of Kline’s imagination – each

snapshot of charming, low-key pop could be anyone else’s extended radio hit. Her older songs sound warm and clear when re-worked by a full band, but it’s newer tracks like Floated In, Embody and Sinister which sound extra special tonight. On the keys, Lauren Martin adds new spinkles of weirdness to familiar verses, and David Maine (bass) and Luke Pyenson (drums) put in accomplished, quietly confident turns. Kline plays with her eyes shut, or her back turned – in one interlude, she offers a terrible joke which we won’t ruin for you by printing, and later she dissolves into giggles, explaining, “I just can’t believe I’m allowed to sing.” The brevity of each track results in a whirlwind effect; no-one in the room has come expecting to hear prog-style jam sessions, but when Kline introduces a “new one” that reaches – maybe – three minutes on the clock, it’s exciting to hear what Frankie Cosmos sound like when they expand on their obvious gold mine of great ideas. [Katie Hawthorne]

Photo: Kat Gollock

Frankie Cosmos

Natalie McCool

Electric Circus, 21 Sep

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Photo: Claire Maxwell

When the aliens finally do arrive, pointing their fancy rayguns in our faces as they demand to see our most valuable cultural artefacts (what are they like, eh?), you suspect that the theory of Teenage Fanclub will be a pretty difficult sell. They’re a bunch of nice men with guitars, you might suggest, playing uncomplicated, midpaced songs about their feelings. As ever with this band, theory fails to do them justice: what it doesn’t account for is the sheer majesty of their songwriting; the delicate nuances that differentiate one harmony-laden Byrds-esque melody from another; the wonderful alchemy that transcends their rudimentary formula and makes their every chord feel like a scintillatingly warm heartbeat. Still not convinced? Let’s start over. No one ever referred to Teenage Fanclub as ‘the band that invented love’, but tonight’s performance in the Scottish capital is enough to make you believe that it might just be true. With the set drawn mainly from their mid-90s commercial high point (1995’s Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain, released two years later), the adoring room laps up every single moment, from glorious opener Start Again to Norman Blake’s now-traditional xylophone turn on Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From. As the de facto frontman, Blake is on cheery form throughout, even when explaining how he’s been swallowing his chewing gum all day: “Turns out it’s a powerful laxative,” he laughs. “So let’s see how that goes, eh?” Fortunately for all concerned, there’s no discomfort evident as he takes the lead on an understated It’s All In My Mind, and later adopts an immaculate falsetto to flesh out The Concept’s Big Star-inspired coda. Halfway between man-in-the-pub charm and avuncular uncle, he’s a warm presence in an already pretty-damn-warm environment. His songwriting cohorts may be quieter on the patter front, but their contributions are no less vital. Gerard Love is the pop hookmaster par excellence; Sparky’s Dream and I Need Direction are obvious soaring highs for beery singalongs, whereas Raymond McGinley is more engimatic. His songs tend to be more thoughtful and restrained (although My Uptight Life positively comes alive tonight), but elsewhere he’s the one with the guitar chops, flitting between tasteful jangles and J Mascis-inspired axe hero moments. There’s even time to delve into some of the highlights from not-yet-released latest album Here, with the audience throwing just as much enthusiasm behind I’m In Love and Thin Air as behind the highlights from the Fannies’ impressive repertoire. Despite their modest outlook, it’s all delivered with such a sense of mastery that it’s hard to do anything other than fall for ‘em entirely. Closing, as usual, with debut single Everything Flows, the audience’s disappointment is palpable as they realise just how quickly the 90-minute set has breezed by. No glitz, no flash, no glamour, Teenage Fanclub are adored for simply being masters of their craft, and their evident, contagious comfort within those confines just makes ‘em all the more loveable. And as for those aforementioned aliens, just point ‘em towards the band’s own explanation of their subtly sophisticated charms: ‘Here is a sunrise. Ain’t that enough?’ [Will Fitzpatrick]

Photo: Ryan Johnston

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Pinegrove

Seeming a little taken aback, frontman Evan Stephens Hall offers profuse thanks and modest grins as he absorbs the reaction. Later in the set, rrrrr an enthusiastic voice in the crowd cheers, “‘Mon It’s heaving in The Hug & Pint tonight. Perhaps it’s the Pinegrove!” which Hall promptly mishears. the incremental hype built up by Pinegrove’s bur- “Paingrove!” he laughs. “That’s our metal side progeoning reputation as fine tunesmiths; perhaps ject.” It’s their antithesis, of course – his reedy it’s a sign of the impact of their recent album yet warm vocals are sweetly inviting; in some Cardinal, following its successful landing on the respects he’s the archetypal frontman of a bookish US alt-pop combo. He’s also an incredible US-attuned sector of the DIY scene. Either way, musician and compelling performer, marrying there’s a sense of anticipation floating around the aesthetics of Americana to the brain-tickling this cosiest of West End basements, and when the band emerge onstage, they don’t disappoint. guitar patterns and sometimes-abstract song structures of ‘twinklecore’ emo. Ears are pricked and curiosity is further piPlenty of bands have straddled the line bequed by their opening salvo, but it’s Cardinal’s tween these two distinct styles (Bright Eyes, Tim Cadmium that sees the first bout of manic audiKasher, half of the Saddle Creek roster) but few ence participation. Despite the relative calm of have managed to make the two sound like they were the song’s softly-softly verses, the audience join always the same genre all along. Everything flows in boisterously – by its explosive, cathartic climax, the front row holds its fists aloft, as ecstatic together perfectly, and by the time they get up to Then Again’s gleefully perky chorus, the singalong check-shirted 20-somethings scream the refrain with their eyes closed and their heads thrown back response sounds positively stadium-sized. Trust us, Pinegrove are destined for bigger things than deliriously. The effect is contagious. this, and it’s going to be marvellous. [Will Fitzpatrick] The Hug & Pint, 7 Sep

Music

This year’s dropped more indicators than usual that the world we occupy is a crooked, unjust place. Still – if there’s any decency left in 2016, then Natalie McCool’s second album The Great Unknown will get all that it deserves. After tight, impressive support slots from Small Feet Little Toes and Georgia Gordon, McCool and her two-piece band breathe electrifying life into a well-worn indie-synth format. On record, McCool’s voice, sleek hooks and iced, spacious synths sound pristine. Off record, their obvious talent for total precision loosens slightly – and all for the better. Theirs is an intimate, accomplished set of songs which are pop at heart, but hold the kind of emotional, deeply involved narratives that much bigger names will learn to envy. Older fans push through newer fans to offer hearty heckles of “go on yersell!” And, as if in acknowledgement, McCool lays down the gauntlett with Dig It Out – a defiant, triumphant tune written several years back, that’s been revived for the album. Feel Good is ready for far bigger spaces than this one, and When You Love Somebody (“I believe love is more than chemicals,” she prefaces) is a sparkling, heart-warming ear-worm. For newer cut Fortress, McCool winningly, persistantly encourages Electric Circus to offer backing vocals. Our crowd responds in croaky, enthusiastic voice – far from the choir the band originally recorded with, but full of warmth just the same. “I’ve taken the mic off the stand and popstarred myself,” she jokes, mid-set, after setting down her guitar. Bearing metric tons of charisma (as well as a Saltire badge), Natalie McCool’s clearly on the road to win hearts and minds. Our bet is that she’ll triumph, and then some. [Katie Hawthorne]

Review

Don’t Call It A Revival: Emo’s Not Dead “If emo’s bad news, then you’re a liar” – Adam Lazzara (paraphrased) Words: Chris Ogden Illustration: Jacky Sheridan

mo’s hit the big 3-0, but it’s had a tough time getting here. Fans celebrate the genre for unflinching lyricism, urgent delivery and a unique sense of community – but the most heart-onsleeve of alt-rock genres has suffered a dragging in the press, some mainstream misdirection and, yes, many truly regrettable haircuts. Is 2016 the year of the emo revival? Did emo ever really die? Does Skrillex have a place in this conversation? To investigate, The Skinny turns to the history books, the return of American Football and the advent of Glasgow’s Strugglefest on 1 October.

age dreamer, we’ll give no prizes for guessing why SDRE’s debut album was titled Diary. So long and goodnight? By the mid-2000s, emo was split by a coup more severe than Corbyn’s. Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Dashboard Confessional harnessed aspects of the genre to mainstream pop sentiments, creating a major subcultural movement synonymous with those jet black fringe sweeps. There was barely a teenager alive in 2004 who didn’t know all the words to Hands Down or Helena, but the commerical mutation of emo became a double-edged sword. Skrillex – then Sonny Moore, front man of From First To Last with a debut titled Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count – was a poster boy for the original MySpace pose, and the Daily Mail ran headlines warning against a widespread “emo death cult.” Mainstream media dismissed emo’s public, eyelinered face as dangerous, superficial and selfobsessed while Gerard Way’s band became festival headliners – to the dismay of parents and genre purists alike.

Rites of Passage Emo’s rise can be traced back to Washington D.C. hardcore punk acts; in the late 80s, bands like Jawbreaker and Embrace looked to escape the macho political posturing of the hardcore scene. Some claim that the emotional prototype is Rites of Spring’s 1985 self-titled album; the blistering pace of hardcore punk mixed with Guy Piccioto’s larynx-ripping vocals resulted in jangly, post-punk influenced guitar lines and nostalgic, histrionic lyrics: ‘I woke up this morning with a piece of the past caught in my throat / And then I choked.’ In response to Reagan and Thatcher’s neoliberal individualism, the original emocore turned political turmoil into personal struggle.

“This ‘fourth wave’ remains as messy Underground Success In the 90s and early 00s the genre morphed. Under and intense as the the mathy, melodic styling of Sunny Day Real Estate and American Football, the scene’s epicentre fell genre’s ever been” in the American Midwest – or Champaign, Urbana to be even more precise. The suburban house photographed on the cover of American Football’s 1999 debut would later become a genuine pilgrimage destination, a milestone of pop culture, and it reflected emo’s subtle shift towards the confessional. Examining knotty, awkward emotions with the analytical prowess of any isolated teen-

Stay Positive: The Scope of Rebuilding After some rocky teen years of its own, emo turned 30. While a few vestiges of the old genre cling on, the 2010s welcomed a new breed of mainstream emo in bands like Modern Baseball, The Hotelier, and The World Is A Beautiful Place & I

Do Not Miss

Preview

Photo: JayJay Robertson

Honeyblood

The Wiley-pioneered party series stops off in Glasgow for a rare Scottish date. The Godfather won't be making a personal appearance, but Section Boyz, Chip, Ghetts, Devlin and Novelist bring more than enough heat. You'll see some local faces, too; SAMA-nominated Ransom FA and Glasgow DJ Rapture 4D prove it's not all about London.

Stina Tweedale and Cat Myers are back with a second Honeyblood album, sounding bigger and badder than ever. Babes Never Die drops in November, but those lucky enough to squeeze into Electric Circus (and it will be rammed) can steal an early listen. The peppy, creepy singles so far – Sea Hearts and Ready For The Magic – are solid reminders that we all want to be in Honeyblood’s magic gang.

MUSIC

Lonely the Brave

Lonely the Brave & Tall Ships, King Tut’s, 11 Oct

Honeyblood, Electric Circus, 6 Oct

Photo: Alexander Bell

Beth Orton

American Football make a return in October after a seventeen year hiatus. Their spectacular second album carries the same twinkle of old with a new, more mature nod. A cover shot from that same front yard in Urbana could feel like opening a time capsule – but Mike Kinsella and co. avoid re-retreading musical ground. In fact, emo’s remit has broadened, becoming intruigingly open and experimental – as Pinegrove’s Cardinal (2016) demonstates, with an Americana influenced interpretation of the genre. The overwhelming welcome given to the band when they first played Glasgow in September could well indicate the shape of things to come. With cathartic live shows and vital subject matter, modern day emo remains importantly, incredibly bonding; far from a pity party, the genre still carries a galvanising force for social change. And that’s the type of party we can all get involved in.

Eskimo Dance, O2 Academy, 8 Oct

Beth Orton, St Lukes, 2 Oct The legendary folk-electronica musician brings her dreamy, complicated universe to the appropriately ceremonial confines of St Lukes. Her sixth solo album Kidsticks dropped back in spring, in collaboration with Fuck Buttons’ Andrew Hung, and saw the songwriter take a turn for the extraterrestrial. Orton’s vision is ever-changing but consistently effervescent, and, as always, she describes it best: “There’s a world that I can only see / by the light of the moon.”

Am No Longer Afraid To Die. This “fourth wave” remains as messy and intense as the genre’s ever been; The Hotelier’s second album Home, Like Noplace Is There is a devastating witness to suicide and abuse from a band who casually namedrop Nietzsche and Thoreau. There are those who’ll argue that modern emo has rediscovered its political potential, but longterm listeners protest that it never disappeared. The genre’s integration within the DIY punk scene sees bands playing intentionally all-ages, all-inclusive shows – or even all-dayers like Strugglefest, the Glasgow mini-fest hosted by non-profit punk label Struggletown Records. This year’s bill (on 1 Oct) is topped by Chicago emo outfit Dowsing, who pay plenty respect to the genre’s midwestern roots. But while key UK DIY bands like Human Hands, Soul Structure, Arkless and Carson Wells hold the torch for emo’s new wave, genre veterans

Chip

Hailing from Cambridge and Brighton respectively, neither band on this double bill are afraid to show some heart. Lonely The Brave’s cutting debut The Day’s War (2014) went double platinum, and this year’s follow-up Things Will Matter shakes up their hardcore flavoured alt-rock. Tall Ships return after a two year silence with mammoth single Meditations On Loss – a new album’s in the pipeline, too, but for now it’s a more than welcome sight to see them back on the road.

THE SKINNY

Tenement TV Turns Five Tenement TV mark a whopping half a decade of DIY live music sessions in their West End flat with Tenement Trail, a one day, 50+ bands Glasgow spectacular

ive years have flown. To Tenement TV founders Chae Houston and Jamie Logie it feels like only yesterday that they stumbled upon a simple yet ingenious idea: to capture the flavour of local music talent in their tenement living room, with the architecture as iconic and unique to Glasgow’s West End as the city’s thriving indie scene. So, how did the idea for Tenement TV come about? How has it grown? Houston explains, “I was in a band and we had done a thing called Balcony TV in Dublin; one camera on a balcony and one microphone that picks up the whole band. We’d also seen other sessions online, even programmes like Later with Jools Holland. Sitting up in the flat, we’d been saying it for a few years that this would be a great wee place to have a band playing. So we just set up a simple website, got a local buzz band, The Imagineers – who then went on to do the Craig Ferguson show in America. They were our first ever session; it seemed to go quite well. Then we ended up getting bands like Bastille and Gabrielle Aplin, and they kicked us off internationally.”

Interview: Rachel Bowles

Five years later, Tenement TV has cemented itself into a veritable international juggernaut, showcasing Scottish bands and bringing globally acclaimed artists to Glasgow. “We’re sitting at five million views at the moment, but only a million of them are from the UK,” Houston calculates. “We have a million from the USA, half a million from Brazil. Also Canada, Australia, Asia... So our local music scene is being picked up abroad. That’s the whole ethos of Tenement TV and [it’s] why I started it, to get all these great Scottish bands some international exposure.” “We grew into a music website with reviews, news and new music articles, and we’ve gone on to do a bit of travelling; outside sessions, becoming festival partners with T Break, T in the Park as well. We went over to SxSW last year. We went with some of the Scottish bands and managed to film some American bands as well. So over the years it’s become a place for discovering new bands, and bands that go on to do really big things. They play in our sitting room and then go off to play much bigger venues.”

Milburn

Before you invite Bastille to play in your living room, what’s involved? “We have the living room space area with the two big bay windows, and we literally get all of the couches out into one other room. Usually there’s a flatmate who doesn’t work for Tenement TV, and he’s usually at work, so we pile his room up with couches, tables, and TVs. We get the sound engineer up an hour or two beforehand with all their equipment. We just do it dry every time, set it all up. The band usually bring their own back linem and we mic everything up. Then we just go for it! It usually takes a couple of hours during the day, we keep the neighbours happy that way. We did a Christmas party with six bands playing all day and invited the public; it ended up being a bit out of hand! Maybe that was a bit too much for the flat.”

Be Charlotte

And now, the Tenement Trail replaces the barely legal flat gigs... “One day, ten venues, 50+ bands, a lot of bands

After touring with Natalie Prass last year, Annelotte de Graaf’s already won plenty hearts and minds in the UK. The Dutch singer-songwriter (and human rights aide) released her stunning, five-star awarded debut Fading Lines in June. Dreamy, drowsy and undeniably focused, listen to the record’s single Right Now and tell us you don’t get goosebumps.

Ezra Furman

Warpaint, Queen’s Hall, 23 Oct

Ezra Furman, The Liquid Room, 29 Oct

The shapeshifting LA four-piece released their third album in September – Heads Up is a side-step of sorts, but it’s best to trust the hands of a band this talented. Some newer material makes abstract use of dance-heavy synths but, as always with Warpaint, it’s still glazed with dusty, twisted mystery. Their dizzying live shows are rarely anything other than jaw-dropping.

The American musician’s been making waves since his 2013 record Day of the Dog was resoundingly celebrated – but he’s been in the game far longer than that. Last year’s album (released through Bella Union) cracked the charts, and transformed Furman from the underground to a household name. Well, nearly. But that’s what his unclassifiable, raggedy storytelling deserves.

October 2016

Amber Arcades

Tenement Trail, Glasgow, Sat 8 Oct, various venues tenementtrail.com

Brix & The Extricated, Beat Generator, Dundee, 30 Oct & Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 31 Oct

Amber Arcades, Hug & Pint, 26 Oct

Warpaint

from Glasgow, a lot of touring bands, a lot of Scottish bands and people who know each other from the music scene as well, so it’s a good day out for them and everyone else. You get lots of bands that can play to packed out crowds usually in smaller venues. It’s a great atmosphere.” “I’m really excited that we’ve moved up to ABC 1 now. We’ve got Milburn playing! Then at the Art School, Broadcast, and King Tut’s there’s bands like Crash Club, Pronto Mama, Be Charlotte, Tijuana Bibles. Lots of cool new bands as well – I like the brand new bands like St. Martins. There’s a new guy, Shogun, who’s more grime; he’s taken off a bit but he’s still brand new. Bands like A New International are folky, there’s electro bands like Shvllows who I’m really excited to see. It’s quite a diverse mix of genres, and we strive to have a diverse line up too. We have ten female fronted bands, like the Van T’s, and Five Cousins. It’s great to have a solid female showing this year.”

MUSIC

Ex-Fall member Brix Smith-Start hits the road with an expert backing band (*cough* Steve and Paul Hanley), celebrating the release of her memoir The Rise, The Fall and The Rise. Touring far more intimate venues than Mark E Smith’s current incarnation of the once-so-vital band, don’t miss the chance to meet proper punk rock royalty.

Brix & The Extricated

Preview

Album of the Month D.D Dumbo

Utopia Defeated [4AD, 7 Oct]

Sometimes true originality takes a while to click. On a first listen, the debut effort from D.D Dumbo, aka Oliver Hugh Perry from Castlemaine, Australia, is an enigma that’s more confounding than it is intriguing. Opening with a spikey, undulating number about a walrus bleeding to death, Perry proceeds to sing about UFOs, Francisco Franco, devil worship and some additional dying sea creatures, all while cycling through an incongruous mixture of cultural styles that seems a little suspect in its freewheeling exoticism. Moreover, his voice takes some getting used to. Perry sings with neither the cool detachment nor untrained passion that tends to win critical plaudits, instead possessing an earnestness and confidence that one is wont to associate with squeaky-clean pop music. His isn’t the ‘authentic’ voice of the plucky underdog everyone loves to root for but the refined croon of a canny professional – not exactly easily romanticised. That’s the thing about originals, though. They elude conventional narratives and play havoc with your expectations. Give Utopia Defeated time, and the alien logic that binds this outstanding record begins to unfurl and initial skepticism turns to sheer awe. It becomes clear that Perry’s interest in culturally specific sounds constitutes far more than

musical tourism. Between the tambura drone that bookends Satan, the ethereal shinobue that circle above Cortisol’s menacing bassline and Alihukwe’s African chants, Utopia Defeated sounds like world music in the sense that it reflects a globally minded pop music which doesn’t take Western traditions as a starting point. There’s a bluesiness to his vocals, but Perry’s odd, twisty guitar figures are reminiscent of little else in the modern canon besides Dirty Projecters, another act whose influences span the compass. This cosmopolitan outlook feels especially poignant when you realise that Utopia Defeated is largely about global warming, the ‘looming deadline’ which – in theory – threatens all corners of the world equally. In reality, though, systemic inequality leaves many more vulnerable than others; a reality Perry acknowledges with scathing brilliance when he summarises humanity’s current trajectory as a “murder suicide.” On Toxic City he takes a lush trip considering the plight of blameless, nonhuman lifeforms and wondering if, somewhere out there, a being exists which doesn’t eat its fellow creatures, ‘watch TV or worship Satan.’ Be glad we’ve got D.D Dumbo to be that enlightened extra-terrestrial for the rest of us. [Andrew Gordon] D.D Dumbo

Listen to: Satan, Brother

American Football

American Football (LP2) [Polyvinyl/Wichita, 21 Oct]

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Oozing Wound

Sleaford Mods

C Duncan

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Whatever Forever [Thrill Jockey, 14 Oct] Chicagoan metallers Oozing Wound have been referred to as ‘the Nirvana of thrash,’ presumably based on their heroic devotion to the concept of The Riff. The trio certainly thrash away confidently (and with no let-up), but it’s the tangents that offer the biggest thrills: Lightning Bolt and Jesus Lizard fans should be cheered by the moody squalls of Mercury in Retrograde Virus, with Zack Weil screaming ‘keep it clean’ as our eardrums slowly implode. For anyone of a more delicate persuasion, Whatever Forever will feel a bit like playing Tetris on the hardest setting while pneumatic drills chisel away at their cranium, but there’s plenty fun to be had here. [Will Fitzpatrick] Listen to: Mercury in Retrograde Virus

Review

TCR EP [Rough Trade, 14 Oct] This is the grist for Mods frontman Jason Williamson’s mill, and TCR couldn’t have landed at a more auspicious time: post-Brexit, unelected Prime Minister, rabid discord in the Labour Party, craziness in the US elections. Lead track I Can Tell might well be the soundtrack to 2016 – for good and ill. Every track is bizarre and hilarious and provocative. Sleaford Mods are the band The Fall used to be, and this is fierce stuff, a rude finger. Whenever anyone bemoans the fact that no one seems to be writing music in reaction to the shitty world we live in, point them in the direction of the Mods. Fucking vital. [Pete Wild]

Listen to: I Can Tell

The Midnight Sun [FatCat, 7 Oct] C Duncan’s debut Architect was swallowed by Mercury Prize shortlist media frenzy. A year later, The Midnight Sun shows that the Glaswegian musician hasn’t lost any composure. This follow-up was recorded and produced in the same bedroom as his first LP – only his ambitions have changed. Duncan cites sci-fi classic The Twilight Zone as inspiration, and there’s an extraterrestrial touch to the album’s labyrinthine spirals. Like You Do is gently, unsettlingly psychedelic; Wanted To Want It Too swells as Duncan’s voice rings like a full choir over warped, futuristic chords. The title track shines with all the luminescence of an Arctic winter. Stars align. [Katie Hawthorne] Listen to: Like You Do, The Midnight Sun

‘We’ve been here before,’ Mike Kinsella sings on Where Are We Now, the first track on American Football’s long-awaited second album – and it sounds as though they never left. After a seventeen year absence the influential emo band are finally back, the legacy of their 1999 self-titled LP only having grown in the interim. Thankfully American Football’s second LP is no nostalgic victory lap, rather a sign that they’re firmly back in the game. Wisely Kinsella chooses not to revisit the teenage feelings he once wrote about, but the band’s

Daniel Woolhouse

What’s That Sound? [37 Adventures, 28 Oct]

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Daniel Woolhouse emerges from his alias as Deptford Goth, offering a thawed, sparkling reincarnation of his frosty, spacious songwriting. Slow Club’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor lends her voice to opener Crazy Water, for a warming, swelling, urgent track with all the heart of a village choir. What’s That Sound? shows Woolhouse literally exploring his sonic range – each of the eleven tracks pushes his once low-key aesthetic into bolder, bigger forms. Not that this third record – or first, depending on your view – has cheerier motifs, though. Memory

RECORDS

inherent synergy hasn’t aged a jot. Kinsella and Steve Holmes’ empathetic guitar lines, Steve Lomas’ jazz percussion, and, of course, the trumpet are all as immersive and emotionally pulling as ever. With most songs named after their first lines, it’s clear that American Football are striking for immediacy and they succeed; Home Is Where The Haunt Is and Give Me The Gun’s xylophone notes twinkle like suburban stars, while the staggering I Need A Drink (Or Two, Or Three) makes break-up induced alcoholism sound positively irresistible. Their control is immaculate, their romanticism timeless. ‘If killing time was a crime…’ Kinsella sighs in the loved-up closer Everyone Is Dressed Up. Like its predecessor, this is a record you’ll want to spend endless nights with. [Chris Ogden] Listen to: I Need A Drink (or Two, or Three) guides the map as we revisit family, fields, home, church, empty streets; Dreamt I Was A Ceramicist Too is a The National-esque sweep through blurred recollections. Whispered, skeletal R’n’B turns into grand-scale, full-band affairs, with sax and electric guitar underscoring Woolhouse’s sentiments rather than Deptford Goth's soft, devastating synths. The record is mostly a solo performance, but you’d not know it from the bombast of Graffiti or the hammered showmanship of Tomorrow’s Egg. Witty, odd and carefully drawn, Woolhouse nails whimsy without once hitting twee. Map of the Moon will sound the most familiar to previous listeners, but turns up the drama tenfold. ‘I can see a whole lot more,’ he croons. ‘When I’ve been thinking ’bout you.’ [Katie Hawthorne] Listen to: Map of the Moon

THE SKINNY

Photo: Julian Hocking

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The Seshen

Flames & Figures [Tru Thoughts, 14 Oct] Imagine Little Dragon recorded a record with Erykah Badu for a DJ set inspired by Stranger Things. Chuck in some FlyLo style space-travelling, some powerfully yearning lyrics and then make the whole thing sound like a summery, pop music dream. That’s probably the closest you’re going to get to defining The Seshen’s second full-length album, Flames & Figures. The Californian seven-piece are signed to Brighton’s Tru Thoughts label, and have recently supported Thundercat, Petite Noir and Hiatus Kaiyote: fitting artists whose influences on their sound is clear. The Seshen establish the album’s focus; femininity rules, as the lyrics offer an exploration of the narrator’s consciousness, and lead singer Lalin St. Juste steals the show with stripped back, pure-sounding vocals. Her voice contrasts beautifully with some of the face-melting bass lines, but blends perfectly with the band’s soul-pop choruses. The album opens with Distant Heart, manipulating 80s-reminiscent synths with the recent trend in laid-back R’n’B vocals, and evoking nostalgia with a sound likened to video game soundtracks. From start to finish, the record plays with tempo in a fascinating way, and the size of the band is evidenced from the depth of sound; this record is far from two-dimensional. A crisp, exciting, otherworldly fusion of pop, R’n’B and electronica. [Kenza Marland] Listen to: Today Dear, The Stall

Ruminations [Nonesuch, 14 Oct]

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Dead Light

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Swedish dream pop band The Radio Dept’s fourth album Running Out Of Love sees the band looking to make up for lost time. After a six year absence enforced by a legal battle with their publisher, they have returned frustrated with the state of Swedish life, abandoning their sunny disposition to create a dystopian record dabbling in moody electronica and R’n’B. Running Out Of Love’s direction isn’t apparent at first, with deceptive opening track Slobada Naru based around upbeat timpani taps and chiming guitars. Once Swedish Guns arrives with its urgent strings and gunshots, however, it’s clear that the record is of a more pessimistic character than 2010’s Clinging to A Scheme, with Johan Duncanson’s customarily uniform vocals lamenting Sweden’s arms industry, selective police brutality, and their long-running court case. With so many axes to grind, Running Out Of Love becomes a riveting and richly European record, hinting at Kraftwerk’s icy Computer Love synths on We Got Game, Idioteque’s IDM beat on the haunting seven minute centrepiece Occupied and Massive Attack on the looping bass of Committed to the Cause. Even more familiar The Radio Dept. songs such as the bouncy Bound to Happen or the drippy adult contemporary of Can’t Be Guilty are tinged with an unusual resignation. Angry, acquiescent and apathetic all at once, Running Out Of Love is an ideal album for our anxious times. [Chris Ogden] Listen to: Swedish Guns, We Got Game

Conor Oberst’s seventh solo album is his most low-key outing yet, its sparseness reflecting its unexpected nature. Recorded in a 48 hour stretch after a snowy flurry of inspiration with just a piano, guitar and harmonica, Ruminations shows the indie icon continuing to quieten after his most storied project Bright Eyes, and doubling down on his folk career. While he may never again nail the zeitgeist as with I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, Oberst’s quavering voice and signature lyricism never fail to deliver moments of brilliance. His aphoristic insight has a gentler melancholy of late, and Ruminations’ sketches continue this trend from the playful piano of Gossamer Thin to

Conor Oberst

The Radio Dept.

Running Out Of Love [Labrador, 21 Oct]

October 2016

Conor Oberst

mesmerising tearjerker Mamah Borthwick (A Sketch), a tenderly picked reflection on marriage. Even the obligatory political comment (A Little Uncanny, which skewers the Vietnam War and Ronald Reagan) is wryly defeatist, resisting the bluster of previous records. By now Oberst has been around so long that it’s easy to take his prolificacy for granted. Ruminations isn’t going to blow anyone away – it’s in the title – but it is a quiet addition to his substantial body of work and this thoughtful set of acoustic songs will certainly keep us warm as winter sets in. [Chris Ogden] Listen to: Mamah Borthwick

Dead Light [Village Green, 14 Oct]

On this inaugural collection of introspective, painterly instrumentals from English duo Anna Rose Carter and Ed Hamilton, incidental noise is just as important as the premeditated sounds. The looping piano figures, sentimental violin swells and rare ghostly vocals are undoubtedly lovely, but it’s the echoes, rattles and unidentifiable vibrations in between that give this record its organic, otherworldly atmosphere. Carter and Hamilton geared their recording process to engender as much spontaneity as possible, employing battered old technologies and exposing their tape reels to the elements so as to allow nature to distort and colour their diaphanous arrangements. The piano which carries the majority of the record is miked so closely that you can hear the felt drum against the strings with every key press, followed by a discordant quiver of nearby tones that makes each note land with the weight of a fat raindrop on tarmac. It all evokes strong feelings of decay and loneliness, the record a melancholy ode to the passage of time. It’s a familiar mood that’s been probed extensively (and more rewardingly) by the likes of Sigur Ros and Nils Frahm – the latter’s recent soundtrack for the film Victoria an obvious touchstone for the sonic pallette utilised here. At its best though, Dead Light conjours a sad majesty all its own. [Andrew Gordon] Listen to: The Ballad of a Small Player

Phantogram

Three [Republic, 7 Oct]

Alsarah & The Nubatones

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Manara [Wonderwheel Recordings, 21 Oct]

Difficult to argue with Three's convincing lead track, the radiofriendly extravagance that is You Don't Get Me High Anymore. How it whips itself into a dizzy mess before chomping down on its skyscraper chorus is a demonstration of pop smarts advanced enough to suggest that this is breakthrough time for the American duo of Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. "Used to take one, now it takes four" intones Barthel with a breathy detachment that recalls Curve or prime Garbage. You're Mine lifts Crystal Castles’ copyrighted stuttering synth trick. Run Run Blood matches urban beats to Three's biggest hook. It's neither ground-breaking, nor particularly soulful, but it's distinct enough and far cooler than you might expect. [Gary Kaill]

The Sudanese singer and her Brooklyn-based troupe are a riot of melody and beats, and Manara (in Arabic: light and radiance) shakes and throbs as it traverses the demands of tradition and the possibilities of new forms. Much of the appeal of Alsarah's musical discourse lies in how she fuses legacy elements with Western influences (jazz, dance, pure pop.) From the tempo-switching, sultry soul of Albahr to Eroos Elneel (where Brandon Terzic's oud playing will floor you), Manara is electrifying. The thrill of uncovering something so old and so new; the delight in realising that language is no barrier to art and expression so inclusive, so universal. [Gary Kaill]

Listen to: Barking Dog

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Listen to: Albahr, Eroos Elneel

PWR BTTM

Ugly Cherries [Big Scary Monsters, 7 Oct]

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Queercore goes glam-powerpop – and how! Ugly Cherries is an absolute fucking delight. You’ll likely spot similarities to Weezer’s freewheeling hooks in the sunny power chords of 1994 and I Wanna Boi, but these songs offer so much more. Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce have made an album about reaching adulthood as a gay male, teeming with intelligence and an overactive self-awareness; tackling queer identity and relationships with wit and charm, and some stellar shredding. They’re romantic as hell too: ‘The stars above me are the same ones above you,’ sings Hopkins on West Texas. ‘I’ve been trying to play it cool but I still love you.’ PWR BTTM are your new favourite band. [Will Fitzpatrick] Listen to: 1994

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Photo: Amelie Raoul

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Photo: Amin Musa

Introducing: Spring King The ever-restless Manchester band tell The Skinny about the community and competition behind their success Interview: Martyn Young

he rise of Spring King has been one of 2016’s most thrilling success stories. Riding a supercharged trail from rudimentary beginnings, the Mancunian band endured scrapes and shake-ups before winning breathless endorsements from Zane Lowe, and becoming the first band ever played on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio. A major record deal and a riotous debut album later, the art-pop-punk four-piece are setting their sights ever higher. “This year has been everything that we’ve ever dreamed of,” admits singer and drummer Tarek Musa. “When me and Pete started this band, we were like, if we could play one show a week then we’d be happy.” Instead Spring King earned support slots with Mac DeMarco, Courtney Barnett, Slaves and Spector – but there’s still a sense of wonder in these overachievers: “We never think we’re going to kill it. We’re usually quite negative people... but as soon as we get out there, we get a great reception,” Musa reflects. “It’s been really fucking good.”

“ We’ve done what we aimed to do, which is make people lose their shit at our shows” “We’re really aware of how fierce [the music industry] can be,” he explains. “You can get stubbed out quite quickly, so we try to enjoy every moment. The only way to get longevity is to make sure you love every moment – if you don’t, people can sense that.” Theirs is a simple, perceptive attitude, and it’s seen them skilfully and organically traverse the delicate, danger-fraught career path for a new band in the age of ‘buzz’ and ‘hype.’ There’s nothing overdone or over thought about Spring King, and Musa puts the band’s ethos into a simple summary: “We’ve done what we aimed to do, which is make people lose their shit at our shows.” Anyone who’s caught the group live will stand as sweat-soaked, beaming testimony. In June, Spring King dropped their first fulllength album – Tell Me If You’d Like To is frenzied and thrilling, and was recorded (and, in some cases, written) in just three weeks of intense studio activity. It captures a band with a golden knack for indie

Review

Music

hits built for the dancefloor and the mosh pit, but there’s a hidden depth and a subtle weirdness to Spring King’s writing. “If you sing along you wouldn’t know,” Musa offers. “I’ve always ended up being that person where, if a friend had a problem, they’d come to me. I accumulated a lot of other people’s emotions in a way. A lot of the songs might be about struggle, depression or anxiety but they always pull through in the end.” He admits a perhaps unlikely idol in The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson – “some of his lyrics are really dark. I take influence from him as much as possible.” There’s a lurking tension behind Spring King’s fevered punk assault, and a relatability, too. Their ascent might have been rapid, but it’s born out of a tried-and-tested process: “The first few years we toured around, slept on floors and played any show we could. We played a club night in Nottingham where one person turned up, and James got started on. We were getting forty quid for a show, but you couldn’t even pay for the petrol between Bristol and back in a crap old car – we had a Honda shuttle. I managed to blag a credit card which saved our arses, and when we got a deal four years later, my first pay check just went to pay the credit off. That’s Spring King! It’s always been about pushing against what we don’t have.” The band’s success comes in a period of bubbling excitement for a scene of like-minded, ambitious UK bands, all unafraid to shake things up. In October, Spring King take musical kindred spirits Get Inuit, Kagoule, The Magic Gang and The Big Moon on the road, and it feels like a defining moment: “We couldn’t believe that everyone agreed to it!” Musa enthuses. “We’re very lucky to have the bands around us that we do.” “There’s a string that runs through all the bands; the energy of the music is similar – bridging the gap between scuzzy and poppy. There’s a line all the bands are walking, between DIY and making things for yourself in a bigger way. We all know what we want to do, and we’re all in this together. There’s no exclusion. There’s a community scene, not everyone out there for themselves.” That said, a bit of competition never hurt anyone. “They’re all incredible musicians, so we’ll definitely be pushed every night,” laughs Musa. “In a friendly way, though! It’s like when you’re playing footy with your mates. They’ll definitely make us play as hard as possible, though. I’m going to have to up my game... and not throw up on stage.” Spring King play Electric Circus, Edinburgh on 10 Oct, Stereo, Glasgow on 11 Oct

THE SKINNY

It’s A Fine Line We catch up with French production duo Ivan Smagghe and Tim Paris to discuss their eclectic London-based collaboration It’s A Fine Line, ahead of their upcoming show at The Berkeley Suite Interview: Max Meres

aving released EPs on the likes of Live At Robert Johnston, with remixes on Young Turks and Soma to boot, It’s A Fine Line have cemented themselves as both highly credited DJs and producers in dance music. Comprised of Parisians Ivan Smagghe and Tim Paris, the duo have been producing together since late 2007, but it was only in August of this year that the pair released their self-titled debut album, on Smagghe and Chloe’s label Kill The DJ. The record calls in guest cameos such as Kill The DJ artist C.A.R. and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, and is flanked by critically acclaimed visuals from Irish artist Gareth McConnell. Evidently, the LP oozes with artistic credibility from the getgo, but what do the duo themselves have to say about it? “We started IAFL around 2007/2008, but the ‘album’ project only became our focus around 2012,” they explain. “We didn’t have a label running after us to deliver the music, we just wanted to make something long format without any external pressure, no deadlines, no style – just a record we liked. It’s obviously been a long time in the making from an external point of view, but it felt natural like this. “We tried not to use any path or ideas we had explored in our previous work, but the foundations of our collaboration remain the same – the only rule we set ourselves is not to set rules, and not to force ourselves to do a functional dance music record. Don’t get us wrong, we love these records as well, but not for this one. We listen to a lot of different things and it all feeds in, alongside images, books and life in general. It can be quite disconcerting for people and may sound like we’re jumping ship at every track, but life is too short for one kind of music. Maybe the next one will be very monolithic and will only take six months to make.” Through listening to the album, the duo’s diverse influences become apparent. From the simplistic, prodding bass-notes juxtaposed to diving

October 2016

arpeggios in Disco Cluster, to dystopian cosmic grounds of Vaguement Froid, the LP succinctly refuses to fall into one genre. “The album is a reflection of our musical whims... whims is the word,” they say. “The tracks may have been long to make, but not ‘overthought.’ Electronic music needs to feed from other music styles and sounds, that’s the whole concept of IAFL. It’s all about playing with opposite aesthetic, wonky beats, music styles that weren’t associated before or should not be. It’s not a DJ album, and we’re not sure we see the point in these, at least not for us. It’s dance music but only to the point that you can dance to it.”

“ It’s dance music but only to the point that you can dance to it” “There are hundreds of influences, quotes and causes that participated in the making of this album, it would be impossible to list them all. We have been using references and then removing them but some may still remain as sort of ghosts in the machine. It’s the basis of our work, mixing genres which usually shouldn’t match, or being influences by people who were already recycling set genres, such as Suicide. "Sometimes it works and sometimes not, but it makes us feel sane. We’d rather do an interesting tune that’s not enjoyable to listen to, something that opens perspectives rather than your run of the mill fodder. That said, listening back, we don’t think it’s a difficult album, and it was not intended as such.”

Bridging the gap between vision and sound Perhaps the standout track of the album, The Delivery, held up by a simplistic yet steady bass-line and laced by the catchy vocals of Alex Kapranos, is complemented by equally endearing visuals from Gareth McConnell. Psychedelic, sensual, and suitably pink, the relatively short manifestation takes the viewer deep into the grease-rock meets contemporary dance world of IAFL. “The visual work came after the album was finished. Ivan bought Gareth’s book Close Your Eyes from Conor, who runs Donlon Books on Broadway Market, and It’s A Fine Line was at the end of the recording process. Gareth’s images were like a revelation for us, we never looked back. The choice was really to have an artist taking over all the imagery, we wanted the project to be going through a single vision. The number of music releases is endless these days, we wanted to have a visual representation that stood out and would be pretty straightforward to identify. “Gareth’s book was the starting point, the reference. He has an incredible amount of archive and a true force of vision in his work. All in all, it was a very intuitive and natural collaboration. It was a completely ‘natural shock’ though. Gareth’s visuals imposed themselves, they fitted our universe perfectly and were the direction we were after – pretty strange and very accurate at the same time. “There was never any conflict – we knew, he knew. We certainly envisaged our music was going to be conveyed through a video project but never influenced the way we wrote it. Some people may see some of our music as ‘cinematic’ but that’s just us being cinematic, not a worked on process.” The collaborators behind the LP “We usually like to have the singer join in once the track’s foundations had been laid down, but it’s a collaborative process as the vocals always create

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new perspectives. Alex, C.A.R. and Olivia de Lanzac are all incredibly talented, and feel very close to us. “Alex Kapranos happens to be Ivan’s neighbour, so it was just luck that brought us together. C.A.R. was formerly part of a rock band called Battant and we helped them produce their albums a few years back. Olivia is a bit of a different story, we never actually met her. She was singing on a record that haunted us for ages (by Quad Throw Salchow, we even rang the producer to ask him what kind of FX he was using on her vocals – he said none), she has such a peculiar voice, it’s very rare that you hear someone with that sort of tone and pitch. “Everything was originally done in our studio in East London using an extensive amount of gear and instruments spanning from the 40s to nowadays. We apply the same rule of unorthodox mix of styles with the hardware, always trying to create some aesthetic clashes, yet we’re not gear-heads of any kind.” The release of IAFL maps out both Smagghe and Paris’s ability to seamlessly produce thoughtprovoking electronic music, while also showing a mutual understanding of each other’s musical traits. “Working on a long format pushes you to apprehend music-writing differently so it differs from our previous works. It’s also the project where we pushed ourselves the furthest. There’ve been many difficulties to tackle while making the album, making for some exhausting moments. It’s also pretty confrontational to work as a duo. Even though we don’t put any egos in IAFL, there are still some moments of compromise, of course.” And as to the future? “We’re drowned in promotion right now, then we’ll get back to work. On what? We don’t know. Why plan when you can afford not to?” It’s A Fine Line play The Berkeley Suite on Fri 28 Oct (£8+bf)

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Clubbing Highlights October is another busy one for Glasgow clubs, with the Red Bull Music Academy marking its return to the city with a flurry of shows, while in Edinburgh and Dundee a number of DJs from across the globe will be filling our clubbing timetables Words: Michael Lawson Illustration: Andrew Denholm

GLASGOW First up, Jackmaster brings his Mastermix tour to his hometown on the first Friday of the month, taking over the SWG3 warehouse with a handful of friends and contemporaries. With the likes of Mr. G, Pearson Sound, Jasper James and promising Korean artist Peggy Gou making up the billing, this isn’t one to be missed. (7 Oct, £15-18) The same night sees Headstrong return to its Art School home for a night of uncompromisingly powerful techno courtesy of Ancient Methods. With music released on the likes of Perc Trax and Sunil Sharpe’s Earwiggle label, expect industrial, impenetrable rhythms all night long. Residents Clouds make up a stellar combo of hard-hitting techno. (7 Oct, £6-8) The more discerning club goer may want to turn their attention towards the Charing Cross end of Sauchiehall Street as Loose Joints host their Lobster Theremin showcase at The Berkeley Suite. The London-based imprint has been at the forefront of the lo-fi house and techno scene since its formation in 2013 and label-boss Jimmy Asquith is joined by Hungarian up-and-comer Imre Kiss on the night. (7 Oct, £8) Sub Club hosts one of the hottest DJs in contemporary electronic music the following night, as Motor City Drum Ensemble returns to the Jamaica Street basement for Subculture. The oneman show that is Danilo Plessow will no doubt be accompanied by his seemingly bottomless record bag for a night of funk, soul, disco and anything else that fits the bill (8 Oct, £12-18). MCDE is far from Subby’s only marquee booking this October, with dub techno stalwart Rødhåd performing for Animal Farm (16 Oct, £10-15); Nina Kraviz playing out for Show (23 Oct, £10-12); and Hotflush Recordings’ dubstep-turned-techno bossman Scuba pencilled in for a Monday night Halloween special alongside Monoloc (31 Oct, £8-10). Red Bull Music Academy is in town the following weekend for a bumper helping of live shows, workshops, lectures and more. The standout event is a Glasgow x London grime showdown at The Poetry Club, where veterans of the scene such as D Double E and Sir Spyro are joined by G1’s finest beat-makers in the form of the Astral Black collective (13 October, £10). Elsewhere, La Cheetah celebrates its 6th birthday with a line-up featuring Actress and iconic NYC party-starters Mister Saturday Night (15 Oct, £15); Mumdance and Russell Haswell host a modular synth workshop on Glasgow Uni campus (16 Oct, £5); the Great Dane aka Kölsch puts on a full live show at the grand Barrowland Ballroom (13 Oct, £15); and Jackmaster and Throwing Shade throw a party in a launderette on Argyle Street (15 Oct, free). As boundary-pushing as ever from RBMA.

EDINBURGH The capital has done its best to keep up with its Clydeside neighbours’ carefree booking policy, with Sneaky Pete’s in particular boasting a number of intriguing bookings from across the electronic spectrum. The modest Cowgate venue welcomes two talented North American female DJs in quick succession. The first of them, Jayda G, is an influential figure in Vancouver’s flourishing house

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scene, and will head up Teesh’s 3rd Birthday celebrations (8 Oct, £7); while San Francisco-born Avalon Emerson has also been making big waves with her critically-acclaimed EP on Young Turks sub-label Whities (20 Oct, £5). Bristol’s Joefarr will lug his modular hardware up the M6 to play a live set at Sneaks the following night – expect raw, unforgiving techno throughout (21 Oct, £5-8). The venue will also host a performance from Inner-shades, a disciple of The Hague’s illustrious electronic scene (14 Oct, £5); and NTS Radio presenter Moxie’s new capital residency. She brings along Rinse FM’s Josey Rebelle, fresh off the back of her well-received Resident Advisor podcast, and home-grown talent in the form of Telfort (28 Oct, £5-7). Twenty years in any industry is a long innings, not least in the notoriously transient world of clubbing venues. Edinburgh stalwart The Bongo Club are celebrating their 20th birthday in style this October, with a diverse month-long programme of house, techno, grime, rock, hip hop, plus spoken word and theatre performances. Hessle Audio co-founder and very special guest Ben UFO kicked off the celebrations on 30 September – he’s followed by Electrikal’s Grime & UK Bass special on 7 October, featuring a double headline show from Spooky (2 hour set) and AJ Tracey. The following night, Mumbo Jumbo’s 8th Birthday brings together resident DJs Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin for a mix of soul, funk, disco, hip hop, house and electronic beats; and new weekly house and techno night Notion takes place each Tuesday with upcoming guests to include Paleman, Groove Chronicles and Troy Gunner, alongside local residents Telfort, Greenman, Hi & Saberhagen and Skillis (Headset). Rounding out our top birthday picks, on 28 October Substance will celebrate 10 years in the game, with a special guest line-up TBA. Elsewhere, Finnish selector Lil Tony is welcomed to Cabaret Voltaire for L’anatomie on Saturday 22 Oct. The main protagonist in Helsinki’s dance music scene for a number of years, he spreads his time between performing across the globe and running a number of the city’s top clubs – including the celebrated Kaiku. Tony will be flanked by local hero and Innervisions label-mate Lord of the Isles on the night (£6-8). On the same evening, a true Chicago house legend makes an appearance in the city as Lil Louis descends on The Caves for Nightvision. With a career spanning almost 30 years, he’s back on the road after a freak accident in January of last year left him deaf in one ear. Rather than being forced into early retirement, Louis has bounced back, saying ‘even if I can only hear with one ear, I’ll play twice as loud, so you can feel it.’ A true legend indeed! For fans of bass and sound-system culture, Nightvision have it covered again as they invite My Nu Leng to perform alongside Dread MC at La Belle Angele on 15 October. The Bristol duo have been smashing it all summer – playing back-to-back with Oneman and tearing the roof off a number of festival tents in the process – so expect a set filled with rollicking, bouncy bass

from the off. The sound on the night will be supplied by the mammoth Electrikal Soundystem (15 Oct, £12.50-15).

DUNDEE The pick of the month in Dundee sees North London big-hitter Randomer perform at Room at the Top, the city’s newest club space. His music shifts between quintessentially British techno and a slower, more textured sound – with releases on everywhere from Hessle Audio to L.I.E.S. to Clone. And anyone lucky enough to catch him at this summer’s edition of Dekmantel will be fully aware that his skills behind the decks more than match that of his production (15 Oct, £8-10). Another internationally revered DJ makes his way to the City of Discovery at the beginning of the month, as Palms Trax plays a (weather permitting) Sunday garden session at the Reading Rooms. After bursting onto the scene with the maiden release on the aforementioned Lobster Theremin label, the Bristol-born, Berlin-based artist has seen his career go from strength to strength. A renowned record collector and former staff member at London’s Phonica Records, he’s performed everywhere from Panorama Bar to Dekmantel over the past year – not to mention

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taking the roof of La Cheetah for their Hogmanay shindig – and will no doubt come armed to the teeth with obscure records from far-flung corners of the globe (2 Oct, £8-10).

Do Not Miss Helena Hauff Sub Club, Fri 21 Oct

Hamburg’s Helena Hauff stops by Subby for a must-see Bigfoot’s Tea Party event. Blending everything from face-melting acid to futuristic electro to gritty EBM, Hauff has developed a sound suited perfectly to a post-industrial backdrop. It’s therefore little wonder that it’s one that resonates with Glasgow punters – so much so that this will be her fourth performance in the city in less than two years. Bigfoot’s have pulled it out the bag yet again with this one, having brought the likes of Midland, The Black Madonna and Kyle Hall to Scotland earlier in the year. Tickets are unsurprisingly flying so buy in advance to avoid disappointment (£8-10).

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October 2016

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Guest Selector: Wuh Oh From the perfect pop song to killer chord progressions and elusive countermelodies, Peter Ferguson – aka Glasgow-based electronic composer Wuh Oh – talks us through ten tracks that have left an indelible musical mark Interview: Claire Francis

supporting slot for DJ Shadow’s Glasgow show back in July may have been Wuh Oh’s biggest platform to date, but multi-instrumentalist Peter Ferguson has been playing, composing and alchemising tunes since childhood. With an upcoming live show at SWG3’s The Poetry Club, the burgeoning sample-master and producer introduces us to ten selections that “are by no means my top favourite of all time, but each one holds a special place in my heart for its own reasons. Several are tunes I’ve been listening to for most of my life and repeatedly go back to when I want to be reminded of my own musical DNA, so to speak,” he explains. “A few are ones that I simply don’t understand fully and so listen to over and over in an attempt to learn new tricks. Each and every one of these picks has either made me, or inspired me to try to be, a better musician. I love them all dearly.” California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & the Papas I rediscovered this track recently and over the following week or so started to find myself zoning out of in-depth, unrelated conversations with friends and family as I attempted to figure out exactly what makes the countermelody so unbelievably good. There must be some perfect mathematical/musical equation that the composer of this song sussed out and put to use on that god damn countermelody line that I can only dream of comprehending completely. I mean, just listen to how they rise by one note mid-word on ‘brown’, ‘grey’, ‘walk’ and ‘warm’ in the opening verse. I honestly think I’ll still be trying to figure out the secret on my death bed. I Try – Macy Gray Everybody has their own set of criteria for what makes a ‘perfect pop song’ and this tune ticks all the right boxes for me. I used this as the 3am closing track for a DJ set in Glasgow recently. Hearing a roomful of drunken Weegies singing along to the choruses was goose-bump inducing. Macy’s impassioned ad libs at the end of the track work perfectly with the warm sound and uplifting mood, making this one of the few pop songs I’ve heard that is truly deserving of a full blown descant over the final refrain. At the River – Groove Armada What I like most about this song is that I can’t put my finger on what school of tunes that trombone line is of. It simultaneously sounds one of a kind and like a thousand other songs that came before it. The way Groove Armada utilise it over two different but complementary chord progressions really appeals to me. I also love that the vocal sample only presents to us the first half of a sentence: “If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air; quaint little villages here and there…”

Review

Photo: Cameron Brisbane

It leaves so much to the imagination. What if I am fond of sand dunes and salty air? Sit Down – James My brothers and I grew up hearing The Best of James on almost every holiday car journey. I remember one morning my dad put on this song in the car and, realising that my brothers and I didn’t recognise it, tried to remind us of its title by saying ‘Come on, it’s the only song in the world that the Ferguson family have our own lyrics to!’ He then proceeded to sing ‘Oh shut up, oh shut up, oh shut up, shut up next to me’ over every chorus. It sounds like such a lame bit in hindsight, but at the time I was pissing myself laughing in the backseat.

Through my teens I continued to hold on to them tightly and I still reckon they’re one of my main influences, their go-to chord progressions and melodic ticks forever seeping into my compositions, at least on a subconscious level. They were the first band I remember seeing live and this track was one of the highlights of that night. It borrows heavily from Pachabel’s Canon in D like so many of my favourite songs do for some reason, and features one of my favourite B&S lines of all time: ‘Nobody writes them like they used to so it may as well be me.’ 5/4 – Gorillaz This track is the first I’d ever heard that incorporated multiple time signatures at once and it completely blew my mind. Though the guitar part is in 5/4 time, the kick and snare keep a solid 4/4 beat throughout. This makes the song at once off-kilter and danceable, which is the effect I’m always going for in my music. My drummer brother and I have geeked out together to this on more than one occasion. I love a geek-out.

produce powerful house music with instrumentation as basic as piano, bass and drum kit. Partly because of this track, these days I try to write as much as I can at the piano so I can create a strong musical core without the added bells and whistles of synths and samples. If at the end of this process, I feel I’m only a bassline and drum beat away from a release-worthy track, I know something’s gone right. Unicorn Kid – Holding Hands It was after hearing Unicorn Kid when I was 15 or 16 and playing in a synth pop band that I became inspired to start making chiptune music on my computer. Being able to mastermind all elements of a song, like I had when recording four-track acoustic demos a couple years earlier, reminded me that I’m at my happiest when I have complete creative control. My band once supported Unicorn Kid at a Halloween themed gig in Glasgow that I showed up to wearing black lipstick and full vampire outfit before quickly noticing I was the only musician in costume. This song provides a brutally unsympathetic underscore to that harrowing memory.

“ If at the end of this process, I feel I’m only a bassline and drum beat away Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive from a releasePiano Piece for David Tudor #1 – La 2007) – Daft Punk Monte Young This cut from Daft Punk’s 2007 live show features worthy track, I elements from three songs, each from a different This piece isn’t one that I would ever need or album of theirs. It absolutely blows my mind that want to listen to in full, but it brings back very fond memories of the hyper-pretentious ‘conmanaged to so successfully merge into one know something’s they song a collection of material they’d produced over temporary music’ classes I took at uni, where you could literally piss into a French horn and the span of about eight years. My laptop broke gone right” make a case for it being a legitimate piece of murecently and I lost all of the electronic music I’d Wuh Oh

More recently I realised that this track contains one of my favourite lines of all time: ‘Now I’ve swung back round again, it’s worse than it was before. If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.’ Not many lyrics have had such a profound effect on me and helped me to confront what is potentially a key cause of many peoples’ discontentedness in life. Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying – Belle & Sebastian Belle & Sebastian were by far my greatest influence in the formative stages of my music-writing.

produced up until that point. This track, along with the rest of the Alive 2007 album, inspired me to recreate some of those lost tracks in the hope of one day dismantling them and repurposing their various components in fresh contexts during live shows. Garden Dog Barbecue – GoGo Penguin Right around the time I decided that setting limitations might be useful for my electronic music writing and started experimenting with the idea of making tracks using only a small handful of live instruments, I discovered Garden Dog Barbecue by this experimental jazz trio. Immediately I felt one step closer to figuring out how one might

CLUBS

sic. The instructions that the composer wrote for the performer are as follows: “Bring a bale of hay and a bucket of water onto the stage for the piano to eat and drink. The performer may then feed the piano or leave it to eat by itself. If the former, the piece is over after the piano has been fed. If the latter, it is over after the piano eats or decides not to.” This class marked my first foray into absurd musical performance art and after three months I started to understand that if you commit completely to the music you write or perform, no matter how weird, you can get away with a whole lot more than you might expect. Wuh Oh plays The Poetry Club (SWG3) on Fri 14 Oct

THE SKINNY

Jess Johnson

Talbot Rice Gallery

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Jess Johnson’s show Eclectrc Panoptic in the upstairs gallery at Talbot Rice is an amazing show. This awkward large hallway usually houses a display experienced in passing, an add-on to whatever is happening downstairs. However, in this pairing of shows, Eclectrc Panoptic and The Subject and Me (Alice Neel), the former successfully holds its own against a painting giant and triumphs as the main event. The work on display includes ornate drawings framed behind glass in a grid hang, looking like rare original psychedelic band posters or album covers. These read like digital reproductions of flat graphic images rather than meticulous drawings made with paint, pens, and markers. Johnson’s work pictures a futuristic and fantastical world with a retro-appeal. Also on display is a video animation made from her drawings, a teaser for the tour de force: a central installation introduced with a custom

Photo: Chris Park

Install View, Talbot Rice Gallery

floor and mural design completed with two Oculus Rift headsets. These gadgets are the next milestone for video gaming simulating total immersion in a digital reality. There is such a sense of novelty attached to this work that people are excited to experience – there is at least a five to fifteen minute waiting time. While queuing the mystery of what these headsets hold grows: what is it like wearing one of these things? What has Johnson succeeded in making? Eclectrc Panoptic delivers the cool-factor, while breaking boundaries leaving visitors musing about exciting prospects of an effective pairing of art and technology. It is half of a double-femaleartist agenda for Talbot Rice. The show is in association with Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, a fitting cross-disciplinary collaboration in a gallery located in the University of Edinburgh’s Law School. Eclectrc Panoptic is a beautiful example of cutting-edge creation. Please go enter phantasmagoria, Johnson’s interpretation is awe-inspiring. [Holly Gavin] Jess Johnson: Eclectrc Panoptic, until 8 Oct

Made In Easterhouse Wallpaper | Deirdre Nelson (digtal print, 2016)

This Month in Scottish Art October brings new shows from The Common Guild, along with performance at the Glue Factory, a new gallery programme with 16 Nicholson Street and a celebration of Platform’s 10 years in Easterhouse Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

Maki Yamazaki’s Pioneer

Unlimited Festival

Tramway

rrrrr For its short-run exhibition at Tramway, Unlimited Arts sprawls across media, subject matter, through the gallery, foyer and upstairs area. Its strength is its broadness, showcasing the work of artists with disabilities. Projected above the cafe, there’s the 48hour documentation of artist Noëmi Lakmaier’s performance in which she is lifted by thousands of blow-up balloons and suspended in the air in London’s Southbank Centre. Long, drawn-out shots of her assistants carefully arranging the network of strings (while she lies still at the centre) give a sense of the kind of surrender involved to the logistics of this spectacular event. Spread through the foyer, two units are the consoles for Maki Yamazaki’s videogame Pioneer [03]. Its glowing orange and blue artworks are accompanied by meditative, emotive music, forming the visual for the sci-fi narrative presented as click-through texts. The action revolves around identity-building and interacting with those around

October 2016

after the main character suffers a paralysing brain injury. In the main gallery Koji Nishioka’s handrawn musical manuscripts, through expressive lines and marks suggest the rhythm and tonality of the originals he works from. Alongside, there’s Yasuyuki Ueno’s take on fashion advertising, with carefully put together figures staring straight out of the frame in self-conscious poses, each meticulously styled and surrounded by joyous pink grids of shoe and skirt options. Meanwhile, Makoto Okawa’s cartoonish monsters are an amalgam of different painted or sculpted colourful forms. Their expressions are surprisingly subtle: half smiles, confused, thoughtful with slumped shoulders. There is also a shambolic and calamitous narrative of Brazilian drug dealers in a video installation upstairs, and a heavy and spectacularly well situated installation of homeless people’s voices describing their everyday lives in doorways around the Merchant City. With the broad theme of ‘What?’, Unlimited in its nonthematic diversity concisely puts to question the relevance of their own category of ‘artists with disabilities.’ [Adam Benmakhlouf]

isual Artists’ Unit start October with their annual members’ show in Edinburgh, from 1-16 October in St Margaret’s House. They’re a small but diverse collective of recent graduates based on a floor of the Crownpoint Studios in the East End of Glasgow. All through the month, Platform celebrates its 10th birthday. There are many events for the occasion, crossing music, film, dance, performance, and for visual art, resident artist Deirdre Nelson presents the mapping project she’s undertaken with Platform locals. All the events are under the title Made in Easterhouse, and acknowledging all of the many different kinds of making that takes place in Platform, the exhibition will showcase ‘craft, art, plays and compositions.’ The evening of 7 October brings the preview for The Common Guild’s new exhibition with artist Sharon Hayes. Continuing her practice of looking into archives of resistance and protest, and particularly in relation to feminist, lesbian, transgender and queer struggles, Hayes will build a video work through the gallery. For this project specifically, Hayes draws from the publications of different groups between America and the UK and publications The Ladder and Arena Three that between them span from 1955-72, as well as much shorter-lived groups and collectives. Within the videos, different kinds of contemporary domesticities are shown, as well as presenting excerpts from the different primary sources. The curators of 16 Nicholson Street from 6pm present their inaugural show Opposite Tendencies on 8 October. We’ve interviewed all involved this month to hear about the different kinds of ‘politics’ each artist presents, as well as something of the ambitious projects planned for the space in the very near future. This show brings together three very different takes on photography from artists who travel internationally for

ART

their practice, but who are based in Scotland now. 8 October also brings a new event from Glasgow’s Victoria Road front-room gallery Celine. They’ve invited Glasgow-based artist Shona Macnaughton to create a new performance work for the space. For this, she’s looking site-specifically at the apartment itself, and thinking of the ambivalent relationship of being a renting occupant who can never buy, but also the ‘heart-warming scenes of domesticity’ that take place there. Titled Arm’s Length Government Body, the event takes place from 7pm. Glue Factory in Glasgow hosts Patrick Cole’s Diving for three nights of performances between 20-22 October. Cole often takes the role of a certain kind of heroic male, whether as a preacher, cowboy or in this instance, a diver. Through an ‘abstract narrative,’ he’ll present his persona’s ‘perceived threat to notions of masculinity within post-industrial culture’ in the sometimes damp and mouldy Tank Room of the Glue. Each night, the performances are scheduled from 7-9pm and tickets are £4(3). Through 21-23 October, Arika present their latest weekend of events. Into their eighth episode, they bring different activists, performers, artists and writers to Glasgow, usually organising around a theme. This time, the organisers encourage audiences to Refuse Power’s Grasp. Read our interview with one of the presenters Miss Major this month, who speaks candidly on her many decades as a trans rights activist. At the end of the month, at 7pm on 28 October there’s the preview for this month’s cover star Ross Fraser Maclean’s CEIBA at Summerhall. It’ll be the project of a two-year research period, including two long trips to Mexico. See our interview this month for details of a neardeath experience and air-conditioned mausoleums with built-in kitchens.

Review

In Cinemas

I, Daniel Blake

American Honey

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Director: Ken Loach Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan Released: 21 Oct

Director: Andrea Arnold Starring: Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough Released: 14 Oct Certificate: 15

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Picture the scene. Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s We Found Love blares over a tannoy; Shia LaBeouf jumps up on to a checkout counter before he is escorted out by security; newcomer Sasha Lane gazes on adoringly from afar. The atmosphere, despite the drab surroundings of a dingy Walmart, is immediately euphoric. American Honey is Andrea Arnold’s first film in the US, and the result is a sensual, rapturous road trip that captivates from start to finish. Following on from her brooding and stripped-bare take on Wuthering Heights , this latest feature couldn’t be more of a contrast. Echoing aspects of her earlier Fish Tank, American Honey is a giddy breath of fresh air that, from the opening scenes, pops with life and the glow of youthful love on the road in the American Midwest. Lane plays Star, who falls for Jake (LaBeouf), a travelling salesman who hires her to join a band of door-to-door magazine touts. There are many scenes capturing this rag-tag troupe in their van, listening to Juicy J, Big Sean and Wale while smoking, chatting and making the best of what little

American Honey

they have. Their lives are all about the hustle, making it through each day as it comes. They can’t afford to waste time on dreams. The narrative is loose, at times rambling, but it doesn’t matter, even if the film does clock in at nearly three hours. Once you’re on the ride, you drink in the characters, with the resulting effect similar to that of Richard Linklater’s

Kate Plays Christine

Director: Robert Greene Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil Released: 14 Oct Certificate: 15

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In Robert Greene’s non-fiction feature Kate Plays Christine, actor Kate Lyn Sheil painstakingly prepares to play the role of TV reporter Christine Chubbuck, whose successful on-air suicide attempt in 1974 allegedly inspired Network. No footage of the incident exists in the public sphere, however, nor much video of Chubbuck at all, so Sheil finds great difficulty in trying to get to grips with the world and mind of this unknowable figure. But then more pressing issues plague the actor’s headspace, such as the actual worth of exhuming the dead through film; the merit of constructing drama from a depressed individual’s tragedy; and the issues of accountability and empathy that arise from doing so, despite whatever intent a director may use to justify the project. Sheil’s research processes – including a Vertigo-esque physical transformation and retracing of Chubbuck’s known steps – are intertwined with speculative re-enactments of events leading up to the suicide, deliberately conveyed in a sterile, disconcerting fashion. The resulting effect is a thoroughly disturbing cinematic experience: non-fiction filmmaking by way of psychological thriller. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Boyhood or Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood. It’s a film that makes you hope there’s more to come from Lane, who makes a lasting impression with her debut performance. American Honey also provides LaBeouf’s career-best performance. Together they make for an entrancing duo in a film that shows that love appears in even the most hopeless of places. [Joseph Walsh]

War on Everyone

Director: John Michael McDonagh Starring: Michael Peña, Alexander Skarsgård, Theo James, Tessa Thompson, Malcolm Barrett, Caleb Landry Jones Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 18

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With War on Everyone, John Michael McDonagh transfers the confrontational humour of The Guard and Calvary into a 70s-style cop movie set in contemporary New Mexico. The resulting bittersweet tragicomedy boasts a stand-out performance from Michael Peña yet feels oddly deficient when balanced against the calibre of those involved in its production. Peña stars alongside Skarsgård as a pair of terrible cops who take bribes, abusing their power and even planting cocaine on potential informers. Throughout they’re presented with a series of moral conundrums, but with each they manage to fall into the sliver of grey that exists between good and evil. This moral complexity might have led the film to confront America’s continued problem with police brutality if McDonagh hadn’t treated all his characters with the same level of contempt. Another squandered opportunity is that in his efforts to create a comedy that prods and aggravates the current climate of political correctness, McDonagh fails to utilise the talents of Tessa Thompson and Stephanie Sigman – and War on Everyone is in desperate need of anything to temper its surfeit of unbridled testosterone. [Patrick Gamble]

Released by Dogwoof

Released by Icon

My Scientology Movie

The Greasy Strangler

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Director: John Dower Starring: Louis Theroux, Mark Rathbun Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 12A

Michael St. Michaels and Sky Elobar star as a father-son duo in Jim Hosking’s scatological surrealist comedy set to divide opinions with its perverse brand of puerile humour. Cut in the mould of a John Waters’ midnight movie, but lacking the edge, the film follows the foul-mouthed Big Ronnie (Michaels) and his middle-aged son Brayden (Elobar), who run a dodgy disco walking tour together. By night, Ronnie slathers himself in grease, stalks the streets committing murder and fries off the odd eyeball of his victims before degreasing at a local carwash. Meanwhile, Brayden has fallen for one of their clients, Janet (Elizabeth De Razzo), much to the annoyance of his father. Hosking’s offerings wear thin, relentlessly attempting to sicken us with cartoon violence, excessive nudity (be prepared for endless shots of microand macro-prosthetic penises) and crass language. It is a truly bizarre, and purposefully grating, bad-taste flick that will no doubt find a small band of loyal fans, but The Greasy Strangler is guaranteed to make most people flee from cinemas. [Joseph Walsh]

Released by Altitude

Released by Picturehouse Entertainment

Review

Released by Entertainment One

Director: Jim Hosking Starring: Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 15

Louis Theroux opens My Scientology Movie by saying it’s his “dream to see a more positive side of the church.” Suffice to say, with this look behind the curtain of L Ron Hubbard’s controversial religion, this doesn’t come to pass. Cooperation from Scientology’s inner circle is out of the question, so mischief-maker Theroux turns his attention to Mark Rathbun, a defrocked Scientologist once known as ‘Mr Fixit’ for the organisation’s head honcho, David Miscavige. From Rathbun’s first-hand intel, Theroux casts actors to stand-in for Miscavige and Scientology’s most famous believer, Tom Cruise, and stages recreations of peculiar goings-on within the church. Theroux’s muckraking does eventually get him access of sorts: he’s hounded for walking on a stretch of road outside the church’s HQ, followed for hours by a white pick-up with tinted windows and filmed outside an LA soundstage by a Scientologist claiming to be making a film about him. If the bonkers snippets of the church’s Hollywood epic-style promotional videos are anything to go by, we can’t wait to see the results. [Jamie Dunn]

When did it become unfashionable to discuss class and social inequality? Earlier this year, certain parts of the British media were quick to voice their shock and disappointment when the Cannes Film Festival awarded Ken Loach with his second Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake, a humane drama that acts as a brutal indictment of the British welfare state. Instead of celebrating the film’s pertinent message they bemoaned its moralistic approach. This cynicism is disheartening, but hardly surprising at a time when working class voices are noticeably absent from our screens. Using black humour to capture the frustration of life on the breadline, those familiar with Loach’s work won’t discover anything radically different here. His latest follows downtrodden carpenter Daniel Blake (Johns) as he navigates the red-tape and bureaucracy of claiming Employment Support. Daniel’s Kafkaesque encounter with the state leads him to Katie (Squires), a single mum who has moved to Newcastle due to a shortage of council housing in the capital. Their platonic friendship becomes the beating heart of I, Daniel Blake, with Loach and long-time collaborator Paul Laverty using the characters’ precarious situation to highlight the human cost of a shrinking welfare system. This intimate approach allows the performances to resonate with great intensity. Newcomer Squires excels in a difficult role, painfully concealing Katie’s suffering with a veneer of stoicism so fragile it’s impossible to hold back the tears once her façade finally shatters. Johns – best known for his stand-up comedy – is the real find, however, lending the film some muchneeded humour and compassion. Dismantling the myths and demonisation surrounding benefit claimants, I, Daniel Blake isn’t based on a true story but it certainly feels like it could be. Inspired by Loach and Laverty’s encounters with various families across the country who are dependant on food banks, this painfully moving film gives a voice to the voiceless and is a timely example of protest filmmaking that speaks to audience’s hearts. [Patrick Gamble]

FILM

I, Daniel Blake

THE SKINNY

Bard is a Four-Letter Word

With National Poetry Day fast approaching, Director of the Scottish Poetry Library Asif Khan talks over some of the challenges faced by professional poets. Also, a heads-up on this months performances and print poetry

fter cultural stints in Bristol and London, Asif Khan is on home turf again as Director of the Scottish Poetry Library, and loving it. “It’s a privilege to be back,” he says. So how does north of the border compare to the rest of the UK? “In terms of the arts, Scots aren’t always appreciative of what they’ve got. There are so many different producers, venues, companies and projects.” Any unexpected highlights so far? “One of the key things I’ve observed is that in Scotland women are leading the charge of our talented new generation of page poets and spoken word performers,” Khan tells us, adding in the joy of: “Finding out that we [Scottish Poetry Library] are the official home of veggie haggis! Macsween were commissioned to produce it for the SPL opening. Culinary DNA.” It’s certainly not something a lot of libraries can boast. We go on to talk about the various surprises and conundrums he has been presented with since taking the reins at the Poetry Library, most of which are to do with financial support and the place of poetry in a world which loves definitions and set standards. “So many people are engaged in the literary sector who don’t earn from it; the challenge is mustering support when you don’t have much turnover. The social benefits of being a poet are great, but the living is extremely hard. At what point do you give up and decide to do something else, if things aren’t working out the way you hoped? “There is a sub-economy in the visual arts which literature doesn’t have. Performance poetry

The Lesser Bohemians

is even more difficult to value, because it is harder to accredit the experience of the writer or determine their professional development process.” I ask about his goals for office, and how he plans to tackle them. “The main thing to consider is how the Poetry Library can continue to support this growing sector, and try to stop the elitist slur while still sustaining its monetary value.”

“We need to embrace our Scottishness without tipping into the parochial” SPL Director Asif Khan

The first steps he has in mind are increasing the library’s engagement with schools and certain ‘boxed’ (i.e. stereotyped) communities, so as to ensure further and more even spreading, and to work on the nation’s ‘footprint’ in the poetry world. “We need to embrace our Scottishness without tipping into the parochial, representing Scotland but making sure to reach beyond the metropole.” He is also currently chewing over how to interact more with semi urban rural areas, which in many cases will mean increasing resources beyond the

digital. Politics will be one sure-fire source of material. “Green issues will provide a great channel for the voice and influence of young people.” What’s On in Scottish Poetry This autumn is all about fresh starts. One is the brand new poetry and performance project Flint & Pitch; their revue evening of spoken word and music at the Bongo Club, Edinburgh, on 14 Oct will come hot on the heels of their first amazing September showcase of Ire and Salt by producer Jenny Lindsay. As well as regular shows like this, spoken word enthusiasts can look forward to future, bespoke events twinned with other institutions – watch this space! Old faithfuls on the scene will be glad to know that Ryan Van Winkle’s baby, Golden Hour, has just made a comeback; the first rerun, entitled White was on 24 September, featuring names such as Jo Clifford, Ericka Duffy, Vicki Feaver and Lake Montgomery. The second of this resurgent run is on 30 October at Summerhall, entitled Bone Digger. Also, for those interested in spoken word and rap with a social and political twist, tickets are now on sale for the Glasgow leg of the phenomenally talented George the Poet’s national tour, which will be on 19 October at the O2 Academy. Finally, a note to festival-goers: preparations for the Hebridean Book Festival, Faclan (November 2016), are well underway, so it’s a good idea to start making travel plans early. As well as Makar Jackie Kay, this year’s exciting line-up includes

Words: Clare Mulley

Madeleine Bunting, Marion Coutts, Philip Hoare, Nick Abadzis, Amy Liptrot and Malachy Tallack. In Print A beautiful, limited edition of The Bastard Brother by Cork born poet Mick Guffan (Tangerine Press) popped through the letterbox this month. In the back, courtesy of The James Joyce Library, University College, Dublin, was a scrap of newspaper with the author’s signature on it, scrawled under a caption for what would have been a photograph of Battersea Power Station. Maybe it was the sudden, coincidental link with familiar surroundings that clinched it (I know Battersea well), but the work itself had a gritty, stark light which seemed to resonate with the greyish urban scapes I see every day. The poems are short, unadorned and written in the type of stark, gruff English which provides its own music, and which echoes most after you put the book down. The topics are also ‘uncomfortable’ – unemployment, Threadneedle Street, emotional breakdowns, sleeping rough – but the fact that they aren’t done melodramatically, just stated with a quiet sense of resigned desolation, gives them a depth and poignancy that might not otherwise have been possible. The Scottish Poetry Library is at 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh, and open to visit Tue, Wed & Fri, times vary The Bastard Brother is out now, published by Tangerine Press, RRP £25 flintandpitch.com | thegoldenhourevent.com | scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk

By Eimear McBride

Old Buildings in North Texas

Ten Days

I’ll Sell You a Dog

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Casting agents are surely already circling the lead role in the inevitable screen version of this, Eimar McBride’s exceptional follow-up to her 2013 debut A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing. A part to die for, no doubt. And one, you suspect, even the initially unnamed narrator herself (a first year drama student) would struggle to play. Arriving in London from Ireland, she flinches beneath the weight of the city, shrinks within her inexperience: ‘Odd one out, but intentions the best and I don’t mind much because Fuck Off fitting in.’ Quickly she catches the capital’s stride (‘God it’s ugly, she says. But no no no I take its side’) and finds a friend who helps her negotiate social awkwardness (‘College together, she explains with a kind of liquid negligence I’d like to dab on the backs of my knees’) and the faltering first steps of a relationship with an established actor twice her age. Built on a faltering introduction to sex (‘I go quick to the thrillpleasuredread’), it eventually brings challenges dark and unexpected. McBride is a daring and resourceful writer. She inverts words, revises their meaning. A reader alive to the music of her language is a reader repaid tenfold for their input. Youth: life’s greatest gift and its greatest trial, and The Lesser Bohemians knows this all too well. Everyone should know its extraordinary protagonist and everyone should read this unique, harrowing, and brilliant book. [Gary Kaill]

A lot of Jen Waldo’s debut novel takes place out on the porch of Olivia’s mother’s house. Having flown from the mundanity and small-mindedness of her Texan town at the first opportunity and soared onto a bright life in the big city as editor of a New York fashion magazine, Olivia finds herself crashing back into the nest after a cocaine addiction burns out her body and bank account. With its casual, confidential tone, Old Buildings in North Texas puts the reader in one of those porch chairs, reclining on a warm evening with a cool drink. It gets you thinking that Olivia would be a very certain sort of friend. Undeniably easy company, quick with a line and a natural storyteller. She’s judgemental but most judgements come coated in enough humour to help them down. Altogether, she’s someone you can pass the time with happily enough. She talks a lot without ever really saying much. So, an easy read, but which eventually leads to a point that acts like that ‘wait, what?’ moment in the conversation. This is where an offhand comment reveals a nasty idea lurking underneath. When the subject of pregnancy barges into the story around halfway through, the response of the overbearing mother is essentially that adoption is coldhearted abandonment because deep down of course every woman wants to have a baby. And then the book itself just seems to, basically, agree. [Ross McIndoe]

To read Gillian Slovo’s latest novel Ten Days after the summer of 2016 is a strange thing. The novel, just now released in paperback, was originally published in March 2016 – before any cabinet reshuffle with its bizarre tales of betrayal, and before a surge in discontent and racist attacks brought reports of violence ever more into our living rooms. Yet Ten Days could almost be a riff on where the past few months might have taken us. The novel follows the lives of a number of characters over a week and a half, as a London heatwave rolls on. At its heart is Cathy, a white woman living in a run-down housing estate doomed for demolition. Cathy’s narrative – as a black man from the housing estate dies at the hands of the police and, subsequently, as riots are sparked and spread through London – is interspersed with the perspectives of those making the decisions: a new head of the Met, struggling to keep his job; and an ambitious Home Secretary, plotting to unseat his former friend and mentor. Clearly inspired by the 2011 riots, Ten Days interrogates the rhetoric of policemen and politicians, and reveals how flippantly vital decisions can be made. At the same time, the novel paints a careful and caring picture of people whose lives are all too often reduced to headlines. [Annie Rutherford]

Humour, according to Juan Pablo Villalobos, is ‘a weapon against power’. It was this principal that animated the Mexican writer’s widely acclaimed first two novels, Down the Rabbit Hole and Quesadillas. But it’s in his latest release, I’ll Sell You a Dog, that it finds its epitome. The novel is told from the perspective of Teo, a former taco vendor who spends his retirement ruminating on the absurdities of life with his own brand of wry surrealism. Teo’s is the final story in a loose trilogy which explores the parlous state of contemporary Mexico, this time from the standpoint of old age. The narrative leaps back and forth through a lifetime of vignettes, juxtaposing the comparative optimism of innocence with a wizened experience that has long known what they put in the tacos. Whether shattering the pretensions of his neighbours’ literary clique with his trusty copy of Adorno or remembering the troubled genius of an artist long forgotten by everybody else, Villalobos’ unconventional hero has seen it all and learned not to take anything seriously. Yet the insouciance of the protagonist shouldn’t be confused for that of the author; this is a book of ideas and of invective. Dealing with corruption, Mexico’s ‘desaparecidos’ (the ‘disappeared’) and the revolutionary potential of mythology, Villalobos’ mordant humour has a clear political target. But just as importantly, it also has you grinning like a skull. [Rory Edgington]

Out now, published by Faber & Faber, RRP £16.99

Out now, published by Arcadia Books, RRP £12.99

Out now, published by Canongate, RRP £7.99

Out now, published by & Other Stories, RRP £10

October 2016

By Gillian Slovo

By Jen Waldo

BOOKS

By Juan Pablo Villalobos

Review

Ask Auntie Trash:

Revenge of the Theatrical Ex Illustration: Isabella Bunnell

Hi Trash, A guy I was dating has written a play about me. We were sort of dating, but he wanted something more serious than me. Now he’s written a thinly veiled interpretation of his romantic troubles – which unfortunately happen to feature me. All of our mutual friends have been to see it – I’m mortified. How do I deal with this? Desperately yours, not his. A Lady

ey Lady, Break-ups have inspired some beautiful pieces of art, from Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear (I mean, he wrote that album as a massive fuck you to his ex, and somehow made one of his best albums. Holy shit!) to Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and, to a lesser extent, Eamon’s 2004 hit single, Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back) – and that got to number 1. Well angry break-up songs/albums are one thing, but break-up plays? Oh, dear God, no, I really can’t think of anything worse to have to sit through, and I say that as someone who once had to review Hot Flush: The Menopause Musical. But, I’ve never had to sit through anything that someone wrote about me, and your feelings are completely and utterly valid. Now, we get to the nitty-gritty: how do we sort this out? Well, you can go down the legal route, but

censorship is, quite frankly, terrifying, and really, it will only bring more attention to this horrible little play (Google The Streisand Effect). You can write your own theatrical and brilliantly stinging riposte, if you like, but again, it’ll just be another example of The Streisand Effect in action, plus, the public, who really have done nothing to deserve it, will be caught between the two of you like a kid in the backseat of the family car as its parents scream at each other in the front about God knows what. So don’t do this. Definitely do not do this. Please, no. What I think you should do – and I’m a theatre critic, so I have clearly made some *excellent* life choices along the line – is do nothing. If the play sounds as bad as I think it is, then it won’t last forever. We’re not talking about the next Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf here, this is not an awardwinning, record-breaking play that is being considered for a West End transfer. This is a play by someone who was feeling sad and rejected and decided the best way to deal with his uncomfortable feelings was to write them down and share them with the world BY PUTTING THEM ON THE STAGE. And really what this tells me is that this is all about him, not you. Sure, you, or more specifically, his version of you, will feature in this play, but he (and his sore ego) are taking centre stage and always will. You’re both hurting, sure, but the prob-

lem is, while he’s happy to put your character in his work, he obviously doesn’t care enough to talk about this with you like a proper adult. He and his feelings can get tae, quite frankly. Break-ups are hell, rejection is confidenceshattering, and it gets very messy very quickly. But the bravest thing that the pair of you can do right now is stand the fuck up, dust yourself the fuck off and move the fuck on. Your ex wrote a shitty play,

but that does not mean that you are a shitty person. Now get out there and go see some good theatre, and meet some amazing people. I know you can do it, girl. Forever yours, Trashy x Auntie Trash is always looking for anonymous questions for her advice column. You can apply/pour out your heart here: trash@theskinny.co.uk

Fedora

Paths of Glory

The Hills Have Eyes

rrrrr

Director: Billy Wilder Starring: William Holden, Marthe Keller, Hildegard Knef, José Ferrer, Henry Fonda Released: Out Now Certificate: PG

Director: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Kirk Douglas, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Christiane Kubrick, Ralph Meeker Released: 19 Oct Certificate: PG

Director: Wes Craven Starring: Suze Lanier-Bramlett, Robert Houston,Michael Berryman Released: 3 Oct Certificate: 18

A thematic sequel to Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder’s penultimate film is perhaps best remembered for a line of dialogue in which an emerging generation of filmmaking talent is dismissed wholesale as “kids with beards.” Though William Holden delivers these words in character as a washed up Hollywood producer, there’s much in Fedora to suggest Wilder spent the 70s harbouring some measure of resentment toward the Scorseses and Coppolas then racking up critical plaudits. Hollywood had grown ugly following the collapse of the studio system and the acidic innuendo in which the veteran director specialised had no place alongside the vivid fever dreams of Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now. Given the choice of reflecting the times or sticking to his guns, Wilder opted to do both. Brief glimpses of nudity and uncharacteristically salty language sit uncomfortably here, while the era to which Fedora pays tribute produced work of greater emotional intelligence than this film can muster. The once sure-footed director seems riddled with doubt, uncertain of how to push the boundaries of taste and morality, where once his iconoclasm came so readily. This is no straightforward folly, however, but a compelling portrait of an exhausted, impotent master fighting a losing battle. The sight of Holden traipsing around Corfu in an obsessive reverie as he attempts to rekindle his personal and professional relationship with a reclusive, ageing starlet is intensely moving. Had Marlene Dietrich accepted the role of the titular diva as hoped, Fedora would have likely made a fitting epitaph for the director’s career. With the unremarkable Marthe Keller at the centre of attention, it falls somewhere between an anguished howl and a senile whimper.

Stanley Kubrick, the director behind such celebrated works as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Dr. Strangelove, established his reputation with this fiercely anti-war film, originally released in 1957. Colonel Dax (Douglas) is tasked by his superiors with leading his men on what amounts to a suicide mission to capture a German fortification. When the attack inevitably fails, the upper ranks plot to scapegoat the front-line soldiers and unjustly decide to try three of them for cowardice under pain of death. At the courtmartial, Dax, a former lawyer, launches a detailed and impassioned defence of the three men that ultimately falls on deaf ears. Kubrick, who would further explore the absurd bureaucracy of war with Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove seven years later, finds a jetblack comedy among the self-interested maneuvering of the senior army officials. They mask their blatant career aspirations, and sheer class privilege, behind words of patriotic duty and speeches about what it means to be a soldier. Douglas is superb as he rails against his superiors, showcasing his aptitude for the classic idealistic, speechifying hero and providing the film with a furious centre that should still get audiences going today. Paths of Glory’s high contrast black-and-white cinematography looks pristine on Eureka’s new Blu-ray. The film’s compositions are well ordered and full of depth, and the impeccably staged geometric tracking shots through the trenches and the elegant rooms of the officers’ chateau reveal Kubrick’s mastery of the cinematic form. Clocking in at a brisk 88 minutes, Paths of Glory is high on tension, low on fat and fully deserves its reputation as one of the finest war films ever made.

The late, great horror auteur Wes Craven, most famous for his authoritative postmodern slasher flick Scream and the childhood-ruining A Nightmare on Elm Street, finally gets the Blu-ray treatment he deserves for his seminal hillbilly cannibal horror The Hills Have Eyes, from 1977. Having been brought up on fundamentalist Christianity and Disney movies, Craven abandoned his respectable academic life to write and direct some of the most deranged horrors of the 20th century. The Hills Have Eyes was Craven’s sophomore low-budget exploitation effort after his successful B movie splatter-fest Last House on the Left, from 1972. Like Last House, Hills also revels in rape, graphic violence and the grotesque, with the most dangerous threat to central characters being the degeneracy and evil of humanity’s baser instincts rather than any supernatural threat. Hills follows the unfortunate Carter family, an average Middle America brood of three generations from Cleveland, who get diverted off the beaten track into the desert, leaving civilisation and normalcy behind and becoming prey for their doppelganger, redneck family, headed up by Papa Jupiter, a radioactive freak formed from the fallout of nuclear tests and his harsh, primal environs. Michael Berryman is particularly striking as Papa Jupiter’s mutant son Pluto, with the actor’s hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia – a condition that left him without fingernails, hair or teeth – utilised by Craven to create a display of monstrous, aberrant human freakery. Art director Robert Burns was fresh off the set of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and brought a similar Southern Gothic aesthetic, fetid and abject, to Craven’s film.

Extras: The brilliant Masters of Cinema have brought us a long overdue clean transfer of this curio, and also somehow sourced deleted scenes which offer insight into the notoriously particular director’s working process. [Lewis Porteous]

Extras: Actor-director Richard Ayoade (of The IT Crowd fame) pops up with his thoughts on Paths of Glory and Kubrick in general. Ayoade’s commitment to cinema is commendable, but Eureka also provide an interview with Kubrick scholar Peter Krämer, who provides a more thorough overview of the film. [Tom Grieve]

Released on Blu-ray and DVD by Eureka Entertainment

Released on Blue-ray and DVD by Eureka Entertainment

Extras: The Blu-ray is a stunning 4K restoration overseen by original producer Peter Locke, with informative extras aplenty. A particular highlight is the hour long making-of doc with illuminative talking head interviews with most of the cast, Craven and Director of Photography, Eric Saarinen. A thrilling alternate ending is also a fascinating watch for horror fanatics. [Rachel Bowles]

Review

THEATRE / DVD

THE SKINNY

Monkey Barrel: Comedy Spotlight Monkey Barrel Comedy has rolled its own home on Blair Street, Ben Verth tells us about his plans for Edinburgh’s new comedy club Interview: Comedy Team

ow was opening a new venue during the August madness that is the Fringe? “You said it, mate. Madness. I know I should buff this up with some businessman speak playing down the difficulty of it all, like it was just an artsy, café society breeze, but I prefer to call it out for what it was. That way we, as the Monkey Barrel team, can bask in the glory of how well we actually did. Which was pretty damn well. And I’m amazed by that. We’re all a bunch of morons who have no idea what we’re doing. We should have drowned! It was a hard-won victory and we’re very proud of what we achieved (or got away with!)” Other than great comedians, what makes for a great comedy club? “Staff, definitely. When people walk in they have to be received well and warmly by the folk on the door and behind the bar, and the venue's tech crew. I think we got that aspect right from the moment we opened the doors. I’m only one of a large team that make up Monkey Barrel and every one of us is a massive comedy enthusiast, particularly of comedy as a live experience, so we understand how to be hospitable and give an audience a ‘show’ the moment they walk in the place.”

October 2016

Apart from Monkey Barrel, what are your favourite comedy clubs and why? “I love big clubs like The Comedy Store and Up The Creek in London. Everything about their set-up makes it feel like such a unique event from the moment you arrive. They are beautiful, cool buildings to look at and be in, and the pre-show vibe and service is electric, and then they hit you with an ace show. XS Malarkey in Manchester is another essential. Its success is kind of the other way – it has a matey, homespun, relaxed character. Even when they are stuffing 150+ into a room it feels more like an intimate group of friends are getting together to share a secret passion. Also, closed now, but a model for the club is Peter Cook’s Establishment. That cool, creative, no-holds-barred feel is what we’re going for.”

shows, weekly we’ll have our flagship new act night Japes and our Sunday night improv from Edinburgh group To Be Continued. We’ll also be putting on monthly sketch and character shows, tours, moviebased nights, live podcast and sitcom recordings, as well as our occasional late night anarchic spectacular ‘Last Ever Show’…”

“If you know comedy, you’ve got a place What advice would you give a new comedian for stage time at Monkey Barrel? at Monkey Barrel” hoping “I know it’s an utterly stupid and obvious thing to Ben Verth

What regular nights do you have planned? “Apart from our big Friday and Saturday showcase

say but I think every new comedian needs to have a frank conversation with themselves about exactly what they want and what they don’t and what they are ready for and what they aren’t. I’m constantly

COMEDY

stunned by the number of new acts who haven’t. Having a vague idea how to turn on a tap does not make you a plumber. It’s simple. Know comedy. Our audience knows comedy, the Monkey Barrel team knows comedy. It might seem over the top, but give it the respect it’s due right off the bench. If you know comedy, you’ve got a place at Monkey Barrel.” And how shouldn’t someone starting out try to get stage time? “Dinnae be an arse! It’s a hard term to actually define, but we know being an arse when we see it.” Monkey Barrel Comedy, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh facebook.com/monkeybarrelcomedy

Review

Win Tickets to Oxjam Glasgow Takeover! O

xjam Glasgow Takeover Festival is part of Oxfam’s month-long music festival, Oxjam, which runs throughout October. The festival features hundreds of live music events delivered across the UK by passionate volunteers. Oxjam began in 2006, with the aim of creating a network of music-loving people, all united by a shared goal – to raise money to fight poverty and suffering around the world. Ten years on, and Oxjam is going strong. This year to celebrate Oxjam’s 10th anniversary, Oxjam Glasgow will take over 10 venues in and around Sauchiehall Street on Saturday 15 October, staging more than 50 acts from across Glasgow and Scotland. We have a pair of tickets for Oxjam Glasgow to give away; to be in with a chance of winning, just complete the form below and answer this simple question: I n which famous Glasgow venue did Alan McGee discover Oasis? a) Nice 'N' Sleazy b) Carling Academy c) King Tuts Wah Wah Hut Competition closes midnight Thu 13 Oct. Entrants must be 18 or over. The winner will receive two tickets for Oxjam Glasgow – the prize winner must collect tickets in person from the Oxjam box office. This prize cannot be exchanged. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Win a copy of Where You're Meant To Be on DVD! F

ollowing a live tour of cinemas across the country, Paul Fegan’s feature doc Where You’re Meant To Be will be available on DVD from 28 October. The film follows Scottish pop raconteur and Arab Strapfrontman Aidan Moffatas he tours Scotland, performing his modern reinterpretations of old folk songs. The only thing standing in his way is a 79-year-old force of nature and travelling balladeer called Sheila Stewart. He believes these songs are ripe for updating. She does not. The ensuing film is a warmhearted, moving journey through music, mortality, landscape and time, culminating in a final gig at Glasgow's legendary Barrowland Ballroom. The DVD release of the film includes nine bonus scenes that didn’t make the theatrical cut, plus a feature-length audio commentary by Aidan

COMPETITIONS

Moffat, and Paul Fegan’s award-winning short film Pouters. We have five DVD copies of Where You're Meant To Be to give away; to be in with a chance of winning, simply fill in the form below and answer the following question. I n which legendary Glasgow music venue did the film’s finale take place? a) Old Fruitmarket b) Barrowland Ballroom c) Nice ’N’ Sleazy Competition closes midnight Sun 30 Oct. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Music Tue 04 Oct NEW ATLAS

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Sweeping emotive indie from Liverpool. SONIC BOOM SIX

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8 - £10

Compelling Manc soundclash of punk-heavy, dancefloor-savvy beats mixing elements of reggae, jungle and ska with the rigorous commentary of hip-hop. MITSKI

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £9

Sonic experimentalists trading in large string arrangements for guitar and bass. MIKE WATT’S: IL SOGNO DEL MARINAIO

MONO, FROM 19:30, £8

Mike Watt brings his guitar / drums / bass trio (whose moniker means The Sailor’s Dream) to Stereo, with two albums full of treasures to share. MICHAEL KIWANUKA

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £15

British soul artist combining soul and roots influences in one deep and husky-voiced whole.

Wed 05 Oct ALVAREZ KINGS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £7

Warner Bros-signed alt-rock trio. OF MICE & MEN

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20

Californian metalcore outfit on’t road touring their new LP, Restoring Force. THE CARDBOARD SWORDS + THE SINKING FEELING

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Bombastic, uplifting emo – not just for punks.

PEACHFUZZ: A LOVE LETTER ZINE LAUNCH

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:00, £2

A launch for zine-in-progress PEACHFUZZ; a celebration, condemnation, discussion, and dissection of adult femininity. Zines and merch, live music, free peaches and a strictly ‘peach’ dresscode. FEWS (WEST PRINCES + SWEET CREEPS)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Motorik noise-pop from the Swedish post-punk group. SORORITY NOISE (THE POOCHES)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9

Connecticut-based quartet, making a slight departure from their emo beginings. THE ACADEMIC

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £6

Band of four chucking out indie rock intelligence.

Thu 06 Oct

THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £14

You thought they’d stay partying like nu-rave never went away, but the Shrewsbury-via-Leeds group embark on a farewell tour. FIFTH HARMONY

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £30 - £40

Five-piece pop group on tour in support of their sophomore album, 7/27. ENSEMBLE THING: JAN TAIT AND THE BEAR

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 20:00, £6 - £10

This comedic chamber opera, based on a 700 year-old Shetlandic folktale, follows Fetlar local Jan Tait on an adventure laden journey to Norway and back accompanied by a ferocious brown bear. NGOD

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, £6.50

Experimental rock from the Bradford five-piece. FUZZY LOGIC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Mercurial melange of house and bass all the way from Mumbai. THE FRIDAYS

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 18:30, FREE

The Fridays Band play at the Glad cafe to raise money for musicALL: an inclusive music project for children and young people with additional support needs.

October 2016

SONG BOOK COLLECTIVE CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £15

Craddock, Andy Crofts, Andy Lewis, Steve Pilgrim and Ben Gordelier playing original tunes, plus material by OCS, The Moons and more. OXTERED TO THE BOTHY (INYAL + JOSIE + PABLO)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £6

Oxtered To The Bothy fuse folk, trad, jazz, funk and Balkan – see the fruits of their new album live at Stereo. HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

HBE are seven brothers from the south side of Chicago who come from an extraordinarily musical family. They’ve performed Coachella, WOMAD AU, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. THOMAS COHEN

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

The former S.C.U.M frontman making his way as a solo artist. SCOTT FAGAN (ENTRANCE)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £15

Former teenage prodigy of the late 1960s, Scott Fagan is back at it after the re-issue of debut album South Atlantic Blues, steeped in a delicate psych quality that will no doubt resonate even more now than when it was released some 50 years ago.

Fri 07 Oct ALL SAINTS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £27.50

Never ever have we ever been so excited for a concert. MARC O’REILLY

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Irish singer-songwriter whose unique sound encompasses folk and blues with African percussive rhythms. AKALA

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £14

BAFTA and MOBO award-scoopin’ hip-hopper, writer, raconteur and poet Akala fuses rap, rock and electro-punk sounds. THE AMAZONS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7

Born and raised Reading locals, Matt, Joe, Elliot and Chris take the aggression of grunge and punk and attempt to splice it with melody and harmony. I WAS THERE: THE GLASGOW APOLLO STORY

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 19:30, £15 - £20

It’s over 30 years since The Glasgow Apollo closed its doors. See its story live at the Clyde. SKINNY LISTER

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, TBC

London-based folk group, fronted by Dan Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas, delivering a reliably foot stomping show. GABRIEL BRUCE

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–23:00, £8

Gabriel Bruce brings his neo-Cash vocals and genre-traversing to Flying Duck. NEIL THOMSON

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £8

After a 12-year hiatus, singer-songwriter Neil Thomson celebrates the launch of new LP Gandiegow and re-issue of 2003 album Shore Crab, set to the poetry of Gerry Cambridge. ED TUDOR POLE

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Rebel extraordinaire Ed brings some proper punk to Stereo. LOW JACK

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £6 - £9

A truly unique Parisian artist with releases on the likes of L.I.E.S., Trilogy Tapes and Delsin. GLASGOW AMERICANA 2016 (THE WYNNTOWN MARSHALS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

Edinburghian five-piece The Wynntown Marshals mosey across the central belt to play at the 10th annual Glasgow Americana Festival.

EASTERN PROMISE (EMMA POLLOCK) (MODERN STUDIES + RICK REDBEARD + WHYTE + SPINNING COIN) PLATFORM, 19:00–23:00, £7.50 - £15

Platform hosts an anniversary edition of their Eastern Promise music festival, featuring in total ten artists deemed to be some of contemporary music’s sparkiest. THE JANOSKIANS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £22.50

Virally-popular Australian comedy band pulling pranks like Jackass never happened.

Sat 08 Oct JAMIE LAWSON

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £18

Acoustic singer-songwriter, heading our way a year on from the release of his self-titled fourth album. ALL THEM WITCHES

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £9

Thundering psychedelica from Nashville with an underbelly of bluesy soul and Southern rock. FRANKIE BALLARD

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Country singer, songwriter and guitarist from the States, now signed to Warner. WILD BEASTS

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, FROM 19:00, £16

The Kendal quartet take to the road to give their new LP, Present Tense, an airing - oxygenated by clean synths and carried by Chris Talbot’s rich percussion. ENSEMBLE THING: JAN TAIT AND THE BEAR

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 13:00, £6 - £10

This comedic chamber opera, based on a 700 year-old Shetlandic folktale, follows Fetlar local Jan Tait on an adventure laden journey to Norway and back accompanied by a ferocious brown bear. GLASGOW AMERICANA ( RODDY HART + BOO HEWERDINE + BEN GLOVER)

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £14

The Fallen Angels Club brings the tenth Glasgow Americana festival to CCA. FIELD STUDIES

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:00, £6

Drowned in Sound, Line of Best Fit and BBC Introducing all speak highly of the Field Studies. They’ve supported Girl Band and have drawn comparisons to Wu Lyf. Put this band firmly on the ones-towatch list.

GLASGOW AMERICANA FESTIVAL (HAZY RECOLLECTIONS WITH OTIS GIBBS + FINDLAY NAPIER + MARY JEAN LEWIS & THE LOW MEN + ROSEANNE REID) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 15:30, £10

The Gladdie welcomes back Glasgow Americana Festival. See Findlay Napier's matinee Hazy Recollections event, raconteur Otis Gibbs, Roseanne Reid, plus Mary Jean Lewis and The Low Men. C DUNCAN

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Glasgow-based muso, composing e’er beautiful choral harmonies and acoustic instrumentation in his bedroom-studio set-up. RIDDIM ROX: THE BUSY TWIST

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £6 - £8

The first in a series of nights at ol’ Stereo, showcasing the créme de la créme in dancehall, Afrobeat and UK bass.

TENEMENT TRAIL (MILBURN + CRASH CLUB + BE CHARLOTTE + TIJUANA BIBLES + THE LAPELLES + THE VAN T'S + THE PAPER KITES + NIEVES + JOHNNY LLOYD + DOMICILES + BARRIE-JAMES O'NEILL + THE NINTH WAVE + THE BAR DOGS + GANGS + A NEW INTERNATIONAL) THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 14:00, £20 BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £20 KING TUT’S, FROM 13:00, £22.50 NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 13:00, TBC O2 ABC, FROM 14:00, TBC

Glasgow media dudes Tenement TV host their annual music fest. Line-up includes the above, plus Mark McGowan, Breakfast MUFF, The Vegan Leather, HQFU, Lewis Capaldi, American Clay, Sweaty Palms, Indigo Velvet, Velvetbomb, Moonlight Zoo and more.

EASTERN PROMISE (ALEXIS TAYLOR) (GRUMBLING FUR + HEN OGLEDD + THE FLEXIBLES + SNAILS) PLATFORM, 19:00–23:00, £7.50 - £15

Platform hosts an anniversary edition of their Eastern Promise music festival, featuring in total ten artists deemed to be some of contemporary music’s sparkiest. ESKIMO DANCE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £15 - £17

The underground grime brand, originally started by Wiley, takes a trip to Glasgae. YOB

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

Thunderous US doom trio.

Sun 09 Oct TAIL FEATHER

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

With blues-driven anthems and glorious four-part harmonies, Tail Feather have already accomplished a lot in their relatively short career, while their acclaimed live shows have led to them hitting the road with the likes of Wolf Alice and White Denim. GLASGOW AMERICANA (THE STRAY BIRDS + OTIS GIBBS )

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 14:00, £14

The Fallen Angels Club brings the tenth Glasgow Americana festival to CCA. ROYAL REPUBLIC

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £10

Swedish punk and funk-influenced four-piece, who specialise in making a big ol’ racket. JAMES CHERRY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7.50

James Cherry brings what he calls ‘aggressive soul’ to Garage. NINA NESBITT

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £11

Half-Swedish, half-Scottish singer-songwriter in possession of a fine technical agility and emotive style. SEX GANG CHILDREN

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Spawn of the London underground scene and the band responsible for seminal album Song and Legend treat Oran Mor to their very best. SUMMER CANNIBALS (SHREDD)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Portland trio of rockers Jessica Boudreaux, Devon Shirley and Jenny Logan bring the fruits of their new album, Full Of It to Broadcast.

FIREHALL: FIELLING THE FIRE (LESS THAN JAKE + THE SKINTS + MARIACHI EL BRONX + THE BENNIES + EMBERS MATT STOCKS) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £10

Inaugural tour showcasing some of the best live bands the international punk scene has to offer, celebrating punk rock, ska, reggae and roots music.

Mon 10 Oct FLIGHT BRIGADE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Think of Flight Brigade as a family as much as a seven-strong band and you start to understand the chemistry between them. Watch them perform and you can’t fail to be struck by the special bond they share. BOB MOULD

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £22.50

Alternative San Fransiscan rocker (and one time Husker Du and Sugar man), out and touring his latest solo LP. JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20

Wistful Irish singer-songwriter of the folky-pop variety, balanced on just the right amount of nostalgia and sentiment. WARD THOMAS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £14

Folk duo made up of twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy, who tour in support of new release, Cartwheels. GOO GOO DOLLS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £27.50

The long-standing American rockers return to the live circuit to air their new LP, Boxes. THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Celtic Connections glitterati perform a night of inspiring covers, originals and classics.

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

LOUIS BERRY

THE SAMAS AWARDS

REVERIEME (CRAWFORD SMITH)

ARAB STRAP

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £10

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

Young local singer-songwriter, whose lyrics cut through politics and crime, love and loss.

The annual award ceremony returns to The Garage.

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

Glasgow three-piece Sunday Morning Elvis formed in 2016. Their forthcoming EP draws on the influences of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Frightened Rabbit.

DROWNERS

American alternative rock ensemble formed in NYC in 2011, taking their name from Suede’s debut single.

PITY SEX (EUGENE QUELL + KASPAR HAUSER)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Ann Arbor rockers signed to Run For Cover Records come to the UK.

Tue 11 Oct

LONELY THE BRAVE (TALL SHIPS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12.50

Self-described ‘epic-rock’ fourpiece from Cambridge. SOJA

SAINT LUKE’S, FROM 20:00, £18

The Grammy-nominated reggae band who’ve been doing their thing since 1997. BLACK HONEY (DREAM WIFE)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Great British songwriting with a band that has real character and charm, fronted by the uniquely vocals of Izzy Baxter. Tipped for big things in 2016. SPRING KING (THE MAGIC GANG + GET INUIT)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Spring King are one of the UK's most exciting new bands – but it's not in their nature to take the easy route. From a bathroom-based studio to their debut album, their story is a victory for bands plugging away in the hope of achieving their dreams. SWANS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £22.50

NYC-based post-punk lot, built on Michael Gira’s affecting baritone, unprecedented levels of volume and oodles of sheer visceral bloody energy. THE BLUESWATER

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Award-winning group from Edinburgh, playing hard-hitting Chicago blues. KAISER CHIEFS

O2 ABC, FROM 20:00, £14

We’re not going to insult your intelligence with ‘Predict a Riot’ jokes. You’re better than that. And We don’t predict one anyway. THE HYENA KILL

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £6

Manchester-based hard rock two-piece, comprised of Steven Dobb (vocals and guitars) and Lorna Blundell (drums), who are experts in crafting huge, powerful music with enormous hooks and filthy grooves.

Wed 12 Oct INHEAVEN

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £6

Favourites of The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas hailing from South East London, serving up rich and morose indie rock. WINTERSLEEP

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8.50

Nova Scotians in possession of suitably infectious soundscapes, built on dense, rhythmic post-rock structures. GORGON CITY

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £16

The north London production duo hit town, known for their clubsavvy pop soundscapes ripe for dancing feet. GOLD MOLD RECORDS PRESENTS: SCOTTISH INDIE SAMPLER VOL 2. RELEASE

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Make-That-A-Take Records, Fitlike Records, Save As Collective, Handpicked Cassette Tapes and DTHCMP in a show at Bloc. FREAKWATER (LES JOHNSON AND ME)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £11

Expect folk, country and old-timer mountain music. STEVE MASON

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £20

The Beta Band frontman plays a solo set, back with his latest output from earlier this year, Meet the Humans. THOMAS TRUAX

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8.50

Thomas Truax (pronounced trooaks) is an American singer/musician, inventor and multi-media artist.

SUNDAY MORNING ELVIS

13TH NOTE, FROM 20:00, £3

Thu 13 Oct JP COOPER

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

The Mancunian singer-songwriter continues his steady ascent. PARTY TRICKS

THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–23:00, FREE

Free night of new, untested, experimental music and performance in the bar space of Flying Duck. REINA DEL CID

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

Part singer-songwriter group, part rock band, you can find Reina del Cid and company at the intersection of lyrical storytelling, catchy riffs, and scorching solos. Tonight, they play as a duo. KERBDOG

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £13.50

The Irish rockers touch down at Classic Grand for a set. THE URBAN VOODOO MACHINE

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12

‘Shadowy ne’er do wells’ hailing from London, led by Norwegian born songwriter and frontman Paul-Ronney Angel. REAL GHOSTS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £5

Noisy (and sometimes a wee bit melancholic) pop. FFO Dinosaur Jr and Weezer. WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £12

A return to the Glasgow for cult heroes WWPJ.

RBMA: SUB CLUB SPECIAL (KÖLSCH LIVE)

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00, £15

Reverieme is Louise Connell. She writes and plays music that she describes as “melancholic and hopeful and dark and insular and inquiring and is much better communicated through sound waves than it is through adjectives”. HARDSTYLE SUPERHEROES (NOISECONTOLLERS + B-FRONT) CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 22:30, £19.50

All the best in hardstyle at Classic Grand. AUGUSTANA

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £11

After kicking off their career with Boston, a power ballad that took its cues from the Coldplay songbook, Augustana began to recast themselves as heartland rock’n’rollers. This tour showcases their greatest hits alongside brand new songs. DEATH GRIPS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £14

The Californian heavy-hop trio deliver their usual full-frontal musical assault, touring their album, Bottomless Pit. HECTOR BIZERK: THE FINALE

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £12

Much-lauded Glasgow-based alternative hip-hop duo made up of Louie and Audrey, MC and drummer respectively, out playing The Art School BIG BAND TEA DANCE

PLATFORM, FROM 13:00, £4 - £8.50

Another 10th birthday celebration – this time in the form of a good old fashioned tea dance, complete with live band, dance instructors, tea and cakes. SUNDAY MORNING ELVIS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £3

Glasgow three-piece Sunday Morning Elvis formed in 2016. Their forthcoming EP draws on the influences of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Frightened Rabbit.

Kompakt’s mainstay Kölsch takes us through his anthem catalogue of blended house and techno.

Sat 15 Oct

Fri 14 Oct

The original punk rockers take to the road, a little greyer but still in possession of all the hits.

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £28.50 - £75

The Godfather of Electronic Music, Jean-Michel Jarre, back with a spectacular live show for the first time in six years. THE RIFLES

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £17.50

Four piece indie rock band all the way from Chingford. MØ

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Danish musician otherwise known as the slightly lengthier Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen. THE DUKE SPIRIT

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12.50

Punchy London ensemble noted for the authentic twenty-a-day vocals of irrepressible frontwoman Leila Moss, channeling the muscular spirit of classic rock with hella energy. DAMIEN DEMPSEY

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £15

Ireland’s preeminent singer songwriter is bringing a very special set to CCA this October. His new album, No Force on Earth, commemorates the Easter 1916 uprising that saw the birth of the Irish Republic. MATT ANDERSEN

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £12

He’s mad popular on YouTube, winner of a 2013 European Blues Award and Best Solo Performer at the Memphis Blues Challenge. Maybe worth seeing him do his thing IRL? WUH OH

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £8

A monthly live music night coordinated by F*CK YES, featuring a roster of excellent monikers including Wuh Oh, a producer who also goes by Peter Ferguson; alternative five-piece Peppermint Fiction and grungey popsters Star Rover. HOMES FOR THE ELITE (MEDIA WHORES + FUDGIE MCFADDEN)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, FREE

Post-punk hailing from Southendon-Sea.

BUZZCOCKS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20

JEREMY LOOPS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £9

Award-winning folk musician from South Africa, whose debut album Trading Change debuted at number one in his homeland and was named Album of the Year 2014 by iTunes SA. BEACH BABY

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

Four men from Dorset/Athens who’ve recently supported Sundara Karma. A twine of post-punk, shoegaze and sunny harmonies – everything the Vaccines should have been but sorta weren't. OXJAM: SOLDIER ON (RONAINES + ROME) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 15:00, FREE

Oxjam Glasgow Takeover celebrates 10 whole years with a one-wristband festival spread across 10 music venues on and around Sauchiehall Street.

FRESH TRACKS: UNKNOWN ANIMAL WITH LOKI (EMMA GILLESPIE + BECCI WALLACE + BECCA STARR + DS4 + CATHERINE RUDIE + IVAN BUNNER + MAAIKE SIEGRIST + LORNA REID) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:00, £8

Unique, one-off performances of new material and collaborations with an infectious energy in an intimate atmosphere. STREAM OF PASSION

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, £15

Dutch rockers playing one last tour of shows after a bust-up with their former record label. MUSICIANS AGAINST HOMELESSNESS (FLY JACKSON + ANTON & THE COLTS + DAVID MCKELLAR + NEILD DONALDSON + SEB JONSEN) BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

A roster of particularly charitable musicians rallying together in aid of the homeless. ANGEL OLSEN

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £13

Jagjaguwar’s dreamboat Angel Olsen returns following the release of her highly acclaimed album, My Woman.

20 years since forming and 10 since they parted ways, the Scottish cult-pop duo reunite. OXJAM GLASGOW (SEA BASS KID + SUPA & DA KRYPTONITES + THE TWISTETTES + JACKAL TRADES) O2 ABC, FROM 17:00, £10

O2 ABC’s outpost of Oxfam’s month-long festival, Oxjam. W&W

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £24

W&W are Willem van Hanegem and Ward van der Harst, a Dutch DJ duo who came together to form 2007. ALTERED SKY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £10

Well and truly one for the Paramore fans.

Sun 16 Oct THE BEARDS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16

Fuzzy-faced folk from South Australia, responsible for such beard-loving anthems as If Your Dad Doesn’t Have a Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums... and You Should Consider Having Sex With a Bearded Man. Slight agenda mebs? BILLY TALENT

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £18

Toronto punk-rock ensemble with angular tendencies, led by Benjamin Kowalewicz. KANO

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £16

One of the original UK grime dons makes a welcome return to live venues across the country. BARB WIRE DOLLS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

LA-based street rock unit, originally formed at The Ikarus artist commune on the island of Crete.

SELF DEFENSE FAMILY + CREATIVE ADULT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £9

Critically lauded band of a million musicians Self Defense Family bring their pop punk smarts to Sleazy’s.

OLIVER COATES + IONA FORTUNE + CUCINA POVERA

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–23:00, £7

Cellist, producer and electronic mastermind; Coates’ nervous, ensnaring combination of the three is spellbinding. THE UNDERCOVER HIPPY

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £8

Former drum ‘n’ bass DJ and MC Billy Rowan takes his five-piece, interactive live project on tour. SLIM CESSNA’S AUTO CLUB

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club have released a brand new record entitled The Commandments According to SCAC. Get a live preachin’ of those commandments at Broadcast this October. POLIÇA

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

Super slick electronic pop-meetssoul outfit fronted by icy cool vocalist Channy Leanagh. ULRIKA SPACEK (LUSH PURR)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

The Berlin-formed experimental rock lot give their debut album, The Album Paranoia, a live airing. ARAB STRAP

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

20 years since forming and 10 since they parted ways, the Scottish cult-pop duo reunite.

Mon 17 Oct AQUILO

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Electronic duo, dreamily atmospheric and addicted to melancholy. ALLAH-LAHS

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £11

Los Angeles quartet Allah-Las announce the release of their third album, Calico Review, on 9 September. For Calico Review, Allah-Las experiment with new instrumentation adding viola, harpsichord, Mellotron and theremin to their sound. JAMIE T

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

The consonant-dropping songwriter returns armed with an array of new tunes primed for a future busker’s performance on a street near you. BLOCHESTRA

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Live set from Bloc’s own pop orchestra.

Listings

JENNY HVAL

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

JAKE BUGG

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 19:30, £29.50 - £85.15

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

The affecting Oslo-born singer heads our way with new material (about periods!) under her wing. The NYC singer-songwriter does his lo-fi indie folk thing, which he self describes as like ‘the little mermaid on crack’. Cool.

Based on beloved video game series Zelda, Symphony of the Goddesses features live orchestral performances of theme music from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise and a giant screen showing the most memorable moments of the series.

Tue 18 Oct

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

JAY BRANNAN

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £11

SUNSET SONS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £13

Aussie shaggy-haired indie outfit based in French surf hotspot, Hossegor. RASH DECISION (BOYCOTT THE BAPTIST + RID)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Cornwall’s Rash Decision catapult their hateful and heavy punk / thrash / hardcore / metal sounds into Bloc’s nucleus. AUSTIN LUCAS (THE DREAMING SPIRES)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £12

Indiana-based singer/songwriter doing his Americana folk thing on our side of the pond. LEO STANNARD

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Leicester’s young singer-songwriter heads out on a headline tour. THE BATHERS

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £10

After a 15 year break The Bathers reunite to play some shows this October to celebrate the rerelease of their back catalogue.

Wed 19 Oct OCTOBER DRIFT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, £7.50

October Drift appeared at the start of 2015 with their beefy yet melodic sound and gained a reputation for delivering blistering, high-energy live shows. RAGLANS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Dublin-based quartet formed in a festival tent back in 2010, riding along on muscular new wave guitars, gritty pop melodies and indie-folk arrangements. REV REV REV (SWEET CREEPS)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Italianÿshoegaze and psychedelic rock juggernaut. LISA HANNIGAN

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £20

Acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter who cut her teeth playing with Damien Rice. SKINNY LIVING

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

Soulful vox and four part harmonies which defy the coat hanger of any genre in particular. FOLKLUB: NAE PLANS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

Hamish Napier and Adam Sutherland set out on another autumn tour as the strictly unrehearsed Nae Plans. SLEAFORD MODS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

Punk electronics and spoken word hip-hop fusion from the Nottingham-hailing duo, touring in the wake of last year’s album, Key Markets – released on the Harbinger Sound label.

KHRUANGBIN

Psychedelic Texan trio influenced by 1960s Thai music. JAGWAR MA

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–03:00, £16

Australian trio Jagwar Ma tour the release of their second album Every Now & Then, bringing their unique brand of hazy neopsychedelia fusing post-screamedelia/Madchester-era dance sound through a hypnotic prism of Oz-matic electronic sounds. STEPHEN STEINBRINK (LOVERS TURN TO MONSTERS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

The American songwriter has ties to our fair region, having released music on local label Melodic last year. INME

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Essex rock quartet chock with the emo drum syncopation and Bullet For My Valentine guitars that we’ve come to expect, touring once again.

Fri 21 Oct JAKE BUGG

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

Young Nottingham-born folkmeets-indie singer-songwriter, known to his mammy under the slightly less cool moniker of Jake Edwin Kennedy. THOUSAND YARD STORY (THE APPARELLS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £12

The reformed Slough band gig at Nice’n’Sleazy with support from psychedelic rockers, The Apparells. VC SESSIONS: LOVERS TURN TO MONSTER (ROBIN ADAMS + UNDO)

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–23:00, £5

Join the Vegan Connections team at a secret locationfor a night of music, food and dancing and general cheese-avoidance; plus a special vegan connections announcement.

BUM NOTES: HAUSFRAU (MARILYN MISANDRY)

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Ruby Waters’ growing monthly Drag Karaoke phenomenon with live acts from far and wide for a queer, punk, genderfuck karaokefilled good time. CERA IMPALA

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6

Cera Impala is a wild banjowielding mama from the USA who has toured internationally. A magnetic songsmith, she has a voice both timeless and unique and her compositions and lyrics spin intimate yarns. CALEDONIAN DARKNESS II

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 12:00, £70

The second installment of the celebrated event returns in 2016 for a full two-day festival of ophidian madness.

Thu 20 Oct

YAK (GOAT GIRL + SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING)

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £10

Psych pop types, one of whom used to play in Peace for a bit.

GAVIN JAMES

Dublin singer/songwriter, stepping out of the shadow of Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran support slots with his debut album. BLACK FOXXES

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £7

Raw and ragged noise-rock Devonshire three-piece. CLEAN CUT KID

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, TBC

New Liverpool band making waves after the release of new EP, We Used to be in Love. HANNAH ALDRIDGE (THE BLACK FEATHERS)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £9 - £12

With a dark, sultry, soulful voice and sounds ranging from blues in the Mississippi Delta to the dusty, Dixieland jazz sounds from New Orleans, Hannah Aldridge leaves no inspiration or influence untapped.

Listings

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

REGRESSION SESSIONS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £7 - £15

House, garage, hip hop, drum ‘n’ bass and disco.

PORCHES (JAPANESE BREAKFAST)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8.50

The alias of singer-songwriter Aaron Maine as he tours new material. GOAT (JOSEFIN ÖHRN + THE LIBERATION)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

The Swedish alternative and experimental fusion music group hit town with an impressive bill of support acts.

Sat 22 Oct STEVIE MCCRORIE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

Winner of The Voice 2015. Lovely lad.

Young Nottingham-born folkmeets-indie singer-songwriter, known to his mammy under the slightly less cool moniker of Jake Edwin Kennedy. JR GREEN

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7.50

Two brothers from Strontian, a remote Scottish village a few miles from the most westerly point on mainland Britain, bringing a more youthful, virile edge to folk and traditional music. CHAINSKA BRASSIKA (BLOCKLEY HI FI)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

SE London lads bring their ridiculously high energy mix of ska, roots, reggae and dub to Sleazy’s. KATY HURT

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £7.50 - £10

Country musician whose last single, Part Time Girlfriend soared in the iTunes top 20 last year. CALEDONIAN DARKNESS II

HEAVEN 17 AND BRITISH ELECTRIC FOUNDATION O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £29.50 - £99

Performing to mark the 35th Anniversary of Heaven 17’s Penthouse and Pavement. JOHNNY DOWD

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £12

The alternative’s alternative, Johnny Dowd brings his consistently original journey through all kindsa genres to the O2.

Mon 24 Oct NICKELBACK

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 19:30, £38.50

Responsible for the most (over) played song of the 00s; now regulars on the meme scene. TAYLOR DAVIS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £16.50

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

Uprising is the fundraising clubnight of Urban Uprising, a charity dedicated to funding climbing and educational programmes for youngsters in deprived areas. ROB LYNCH (JIM LOCKEY)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Lynch moved to the Old Smoke from the picturesque market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire in attempt to get eardums on his tunes. Soon enough, his catchy, uplifting melodies and lyrical depth gained popularity; in 2013 he released his debut full-lengther. DMA’S

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, TBC

Nostalgic garage pop straight from the heart of Newtown in Sydney. THE TUBES

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £24

Legendary San Francisco rockers well-known for their 1975 smash White Punks on Dope and their theatrical live performances. JOSIENNE CLARKE + BEN WALKER

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners for Best Duo in 2015 head out on tour. CHAS & DAVE

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £22

Cockney duo formed back in’t 1972, playing what they term ‘rockney’, and we just call, erm, annoying. BLACK DRAG (THE HAZY SHADES + KEIRAN BRIERLY)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £6

Atmospheric rock four-piece from Glasgow’s East End.

Sun 23 Oct DAUGHTER

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20

Moody and electronic folk-esque melodies from the London-based trio, formerly just the solo work of Elena Tonra. JOSH TAYLOR

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, £10 - £15

A frequent gigger at festivals, radio shows, concerts and events across the UK, Josh Taylor’s one to catch live as he returns to the central belt.

ICONS OF FILTH (LIBERTY + SANCTION THIS + CONSTANT FEAR + THE DISTURBED + BRATAKUS)

STEREO, FROM 16:45, £8

The Welsh anarchists bring their filthy good deeds to Stereo. NORTH ATLAS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £9

If you’re into your Clyro and Nine Inch Nails, get yourself to Stereo for a slammer of a show from North Atlas that’ll leave your ears ringing with joy. HALEY BONAR

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9

Alternative Minneapolis singer discovered during an open mic event in Duluth by one of her musical heroes, Alan Sparhawk of Low.

Wed 26 Oct CROWS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

Hardcore punk straight outta Plymouth.

BILLIE MARTEN

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

UPRISING (MICHAEL BLEAZARD + BEAT MONGREL + VJ MOFIS)

Hey, so teyr means three in Cornish. Lucky, really, as this band comprises James Gavin (guitar and fiddle), Dominic Henderson (uilleann pipes and whistles) and Tommie Black-Roff (accordion).

COTTIERS THEATRE, FROM 19:00, £8.50

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Irish singer-songwriter with a unique approach to life and a goal is to travel to (and perform in) every single country in the world.

TEYR

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Dublin merrymakers Crows head out on the road, bringing the gloomy and intense hardcore.

The second installment of the celebrated event returns in 2016 for a full two-day festival of ophidian madness. BRY

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £7

NOSFERATU is the mother of all modern vampire films, and provides rich source material for Graeme Stephen’s original score, performed live with Mario Caribe and Tom Bancroft.

Illinois born master of the Violin performs some soul-stroking fiddle, sure to ease hearts yearning fer folk. The North Yorkshire-born singer kicks off her UK headline tour in Manchester, supporting the release of new material through Chess Club/RCA Records.

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 12:00, £70

NOSFERATU (GRAEME STEPHEN TRIO)

THE IRONTOWN DIEHARDS

With a line-up reading like a who’s who in Irish heavy rock, The Irontown Diehards will sort you out with a noisy night. LADY LESHURR

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Ultra bad ass rapper who quotes Adele and raps insults like “your lips looks like crispy bacon” in her tracks. Make of that what you will. THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Celtic Connections glitterati perform a night of inspiring covers, originals and classics. SUUNS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12.50

The Montreal rockers bring 10 years of treats to Stereo.

CHRIS STAPLES (BLOOM + JAMES MICHAEL RODGERS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Singer-songwriter Chris Staples shares songs from Golden Age, a record written when he was yearning for a happier time in his life. NASTY (AVERSIONS CROWN + MALEVOLENCE + VITJA )

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £12

Taste of Anarchy brings by a roster of trouble-makers on an Autumn tour.

Tue 25 Oct THE SPECIALS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £40

The legendary ska group take to the road for their 11-date autumn UK tour, some 30-odd years since they first called it a day. EMMA BLACKERY

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £10

YouTuber with over a million subscribers who’s managed to release a good handful of EPs and records by the age of 24. HONNE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12

East London duo mixing classic soul with synths. LAKE KOMO

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

Mysterious, illusive yet seductive pop music from a group who released their debut single on rising London based boutique label Human Music. Expect gossamer synths and ghostly harmonies, impassioned Bon Iver-style vocals with some Woman’s Hour dynamics. FORT HOPE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7.50

New band rising from the ashes of former UK rock darlings My Passion.

BOXKITE (THE MILD)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

KAT & ROMAN KOSTRZEWSKI

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, TBC

Polish thrash metal. CROWS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Dublin merrymakers Crows head out on the road, bringing the gloomy and intense hardcore. JAH WOBBLE

MONO, FROM 19:00, £13

Jah Wobble takes a Stereo crowd ono a tour through his tastes, fromo Eastern and global to postpunk bass and dub. NAO

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £13

Charming yet fierce, wonky yet regal, NAO takes her soulful synth sounds on tour. AMBER ARCADES (ELLA + CANDY MAPS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8.50

The musical moniker of Dutch-born Annelotte de Graff, whose previous credits include working as a legal aide on UN war crime tribunals before funding her own album. CHRIS BOURNE

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £10 - £35

James from Busted’s wee bro.

Thu 27 Oct JUSTIN BIEBER

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £50 - £120

Some Canadian guy. BAND OF FRIENDS

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £15

A selection of former band members and friends celebrate the musical output of Rory Gallagher. Part of Celtic Connections. SLOW CLUB

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Rather lovely alternative folkiness from Sheffield duo Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor, returning to the touring circuit with their latest album, One Day All of This Won’t Matter Anymore. OBITUARY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £25

Death metal straight outta Florida, oddly. NO SINNER

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £10

Vancouver-based, bluesy rock foursome led by singer-songwriter Colleen Rennison. ZARAH DION (SOFT RIOT + HAUSFRAU)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

The Montreal producer, composer and songwriter brings a little synthy goodness to Glasgow.

JACKO AND THE WASHMACHINE (RAIL FAN) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6

An rootsy Americana band, hailing from Stirling where they were drawn together by a devotion to the craft of musicianship. THE METEORS

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £15

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

English psychobilly outfit formed way back in’t day (aka 1980).

STRETCHED

Five-piece progressive thrash and melodic hardcore unit, featuring five dudes from the English south coast.

THE LITTLE KICKS

More upbeat and catchy tunes from the Scottish four-piece, peddling their own chirpy brand of indiedisco-pop in the form of a brand new single! BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The secret meeting place of contemporary jazz-enthused savants.

ALMEDIA

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

GLASS ANIMALS (PIXX)

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 19:00, £13.50

Baroque folk trio with distinct pop(ish) influences, returning with new album, How to be a Human Being.

SHE DREW THE GUN (MAMATUNG) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

The latest in a long line of brilliant bands from Liverpool’s The Wirral. HIGH TYDE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 17:00, £8

Brighton quartet continuing to stake their claim as one of the indie world’s hottest prospects, having spent the last year honing their distinctive sound.

Fri 28 Oct NATHAN CARTER

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, FROM 19:30, £23 - £25

The Liverpool-born Irish singer tours with his band. BIRDY

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £24

Young British singer-songwriter (aka Jasmine van den Bogaerde) imbued with a voice steeped in soul and world-weariness. THE GRAVELTONES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

The Australian blues-rock duo return to Scottish soil.

25 YEARS OF SLEAZE: A SLEAZY SAMHAIN (UBRE BLANCA + OUTBLINKER + THE COSMIC DEAD + FALLOPÈ & THE TUBES + FIRST TEMPLE OF THE ATOM + HARSH TUG DJS) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Sleazy’s enlist a merry band of music-makers to celebrate just before Halloween. BLACK HISTORY MONTH: HEIR OF THE CURSED

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:00, £8 - £10

An evening of fairy lights and sweet vibes in aid of BME musicians in Glasgow. LET’S EAT GRANDMA

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Mildly terrifying identical twins who specialise in a sinister type of noisy creativity with drops for days. THE POSIES (THE PRESIDENT LINCOLN)

JOHNNY FOREIGNER (SUNSHINE FRISBEE + LASERBEAM + KING WINE + CODIST) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Fresh from Japan, Johnny Foreigner swing by on their UK tour promoting brand new tunes and stirring up a righteous partyzone atmosphere. One hour set, strictly no encores.

Sun 30 Oct JUSTIN BIEBER

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £50 - £120

Some Canadian guy. THE SHIMMER BAND

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

The Bristolian five-piece bring their self-combusting psychedelic rock sound on tour. MARISA ANDERSON & LAURA CANNELL

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £7 - £10

Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches boundaries of tradition. Her original work applies elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country.

STEVIE DOHERTY AND JEFF JEFFREY

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:30, TBC

The Shade rockers from the mid70s return with a 40-years-later one-offer. ZOMBIE ZOMBIE

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12 - £14

French duo turned trio making electro-horror pop inspired in equal measure by John Carpenter’s film scores and electronic music artists like Suicide and Silver Apples. OH PEP!

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

Oh Pep! Is the clever moniker chosen by Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, who formed the band when in secondary music school in Melbourne.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £17.50

Mon 31 Oct

ATTICA RAGE (MASON HILL)

Following the release of her latest album, Gabrielle’s ready-y-y to Rise Again.

The American alt-rockers head off on an Autumn UK tour. O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £10

The Ayrshire heavy rockers take to the stage for their usual bonerattling live outing.

Sat 29 Oct JUSTIN BIEBER

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £50 - £120

Some Canadian guy. SAXON

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £26

Power metal five-piece riding along on frontman Biff Byford’s howlin’ squawk of a vocal, out for their 35th anniversary tour. ROBYN HITCHCOCK

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £13.50

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England’s most enduring contemporary singer songwriters and live performers. A surrealist poet, talented guitarist, cult artist and musician’s musician, Hitchcock is among alternative rock’s father figures. THE FURROW COLLECTIVE

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £14

Alasdair Roberts, Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton are four fine soloists sharing a mutual love of traditional songs, from both sides of the English and Scottish borders, with playful, boundarydefying musicianship. CHARLOTTE MARSHALLS & THE 45S

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £12

Retro, roots, mississippi blues and jazzy soul from an eight-piece groove band. HOOTON TENNIS CLUB

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £9

The ascendant Liverpudlians and recent Heavenly signings head our way. NAZARETH

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £20

Dunfermline legends Nazareth pull out all the proto-metal stops. Expect no mercy. BOSSY LOVE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Experimental R’n’B duo formed of singer/mechanical scientist Amandah (of Operator Please) and ex-Dananananaykroyd chappie John Baillie Jnr.

GABRIELLE

THEATRE ROYAL, FROM 18:30, £25 - £35

CORINNE BAILEY RAE

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £25

Once seen cycling around in a sundappled white dress, the Leeds singer-songwriter follows up her grief-stricken second record with a return to summery optimism, with third album, The Heart Speaks in Whispers.

MICK RALPHS BLUES BAND BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £17 - £20

The founding member of Bad Company and Mott The Hoople play the blues. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: CLYPE

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

In 2014, Simon Gall and Jonny Hardie created Clype, a new project fusing sounds and styles from around the globe, borrowing from Scottish folk traditions as well as from the rhythms of Latin America and harmonic ideas of jazz.

Thu 06 Oct

HONEYBLOOD (EAT FAST)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

Despite their minimal setup, Honeyblood’s songs are fully formed and perfectly assured. With nothing extraneous, their music is driven through tightly-bound instrumentals and laced with the sheer strength and beauty of Stina’s voice. BROODERS (GOLDSANDS + KIT TRIGG)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

A tasty blend of blues, grunge and jazz. DIAMOND HEAD

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

Stourbridge heavy metal outfit on the go since 1976. BOO HEWERDINE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £12

Boo Hewerdine, aka Mark Hewerdine is an English singersongwriter.

JAKIL (NOAH NOAH + BOTTLE NOTE)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Edinburgh-born, London-living pop-rockers led by frontman Kieran O’Brien. SCO: MOZART - THE LAST SYMPHONIES

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £11 - £32.50

SCO deftly points out the enduring relevance of Mozart’s final symphonies in a performance conducted by Robin Ticciati.

Fri 07 Oct

DROPKICK (THE WELLGREEN + AL SHIELDS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Edinburgh-based Dropkick released an accomplished and creative album, Balance the Light, in March 2016 on Rock Indiana records. Support from psychedelia indebted 60s power pop types The Wellgreen and Folk singer Al Shields. THE LAST GREAT DREAMERS

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £7

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The London rockers take a tour in promotion of their new album.

ARC IRIS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £16.50 - £19

BLOCHESTRA

Live set from Bloc’s own pop orchestra.

GUN

Rhode Island pop outfit.

Rock’n’roll outfit formed by the Gizzi brothers in the mid-80s.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

TELEGRAM (PHOBOPHOBES)

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

The psych-pop London foursome do their thing.

British soul artist combining soul and roots influences in one deep and husky-voiced whole.

Edinburgh Music

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £6

The electronic pop / rock ‘weegies make the journey down the M8.

Tue 04 Oct

RSNO BENEDETTI PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY

TONGUES (STILLHOUND + WYLDE)

ALL TVVINS (CLOCKWIRE)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8 - £10

At essence, All Tvvins are a live indie-rock band underpinned by a maelstrom of synths. Their disparate influences result in a sonic melting point of TV On The Radio’s art-pop twists with the psychedelic excursions of Animal Collective.

AVA LOVE (LUNA DELIRIOUS + CHOW MAIN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Exciting new Edinburgh act Ava Love play their debut set in support of their single Subterranean.

Wed 05 Oct

EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB (CLYPE)

SUMMERHALL, FROM 19:30, £7 - £10

Edinburgh Folk Club is an organisation which exists to foster an interest in the wide international world of folk and related musics. Membership isn’t compulsory; just turn up and pay the admission charge at the door.

THE PAPER KITES

THE CAVES, FROM 19:00, £12

Melbourne natives peddling tender folk-rock. USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £39

Director Pete Oundjian teams up with Nicola Benedetti for a performance of three emotive works by Khachaturian, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. ACQUIRED TASTE

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

A showcase of live music with a mixture of old faves and up-andcomers stopping by.

Sat 08 Oct WILKO JOHNSON

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £25

The inimitable guitarist and founding member of Dr. Feelgood returns to the live circuit with a UK headline tour, following his (not actually) farewell tour after his diagnosis with terminal cancer. THE COMPUTERS (THE GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

A double-heider from heavyweight champions of rock n’ roll The Computers and rock’n’rollers The Ghost Riders In The Sky.

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Music DIE NO MORE (SPLINTERED HALO) BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Northern Metal at its finest as DNM show off a brand new record. EUGENE TWIST

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £6

The master craftsman brings it with ethereal lyrical sprawls and sophisticated Americana-tinged ballads. MEURSAULT

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £12

After two years of rambling in the musical wilderness, Meursault is back! This comeback show promises a mix of old and new material with a live band comprising familiar faces and new recruits. THE MYSTERY JETS

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

The London indie-pop quintet tour their most recent LP. BEATS & BARS EDINBURGH

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £5

Underground hip-hop from a bill of live artists (including Trademark Blud, Pain & Simple and MFTM) plus DJ Tricksta and DJ Sonny.

Sun 09 Oct FLIGHT BRIGADE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £7

SOUNDHOUSE @ THE TRAVERSE: THE STRAY BIRDS TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes American roots band The Stray Birds.

Tue 11 Oct

THE UN-ROMANTICS (SCREAMIN’ WHISPER + BAD PROTAGONIST CLUB)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

With their mutual love for music, The Un-Romantics specialise in banging guitar riffs and thoughtful lyrics.

TAIL FEATHER (THE DURTY WURKS + HUGH KELLY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

ELDER (COUGH + STEAK + ATRAGON)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £13

Colosasal riffs and crushing sludge in a night of sheer sonic brutality. WOOHOO BAND: SHOWCASE

WHISKY KISS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £9

Whisky Kiss: Starts as a Ceilidh, turns into a Club. Cutting-edge ceilidh band Whisky Kiss love mashing the old with the new and pride themselves on creating Scottish music for the 21st century. KATE RUSBY

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £16.50 - £26.50

Yorkshire folk vocalist, showcasing tracks from her forthcoming album.

Fri 14 Oct

SINGLE BY SUNDAY (MAD TANGO + CHEYNE HALLIDAY)

THE KATET (JELLYMAN’S DAUGHTER)

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £10

Imagine a classical conductor who leaves his score, baton and concert hall for a sweaty, underground funk dungeon.This is, essentially, how Mike Kearney founded The Katet, Edinburgh’s 7-piece soulfunk monster. AKALA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £14

Award-winning hip-hop artist and younger brother of rapper Ms. Dynamite, currently carving out his own path with his rap, rock and electro influences and now hitting the road for his 10 Years of Akala tour. TOMMY SMITH YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA

FESTIVAL THEATRE, FROM 14:30, £8 - £12

An evening of jazzy triumphs, ranging from classics to big band numbers, courtesy of the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra. THE REBEL + GUESTS

LEITH DEPOT, 20:00–23:00, £6

Benedict Roger Wallers aka. The Rebel, has been weirding out, alienating and egging on audiences for decades now with legendary underground groups such as the Country Teasers, The Male Nurse, The Devil and various other guises.

Mon 10 Oct

SPRING KING (THE MAGIC GANG + GET INUIT)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–01:00, £8

Simon Widdowson has been making music and performing in Europe and America for the last 25 years. He’s released 10 albums and works as a producer and recording engineer for dozens of artists. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: SYLVIA BARNES & SANDY STANAGE

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

Sylvia and Sandy have been working together since the 70s, when they were founder members of the seminal Scottish band Kentigern. They perform widely at home and abroad, featuring the best of both traditional and modern music and songwriting. KANO

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

One of the original UK grime dons makes a welcome return to live venues across the country. DR HOOK (DENNIS LOCORRIERE)

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £38.50

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £6

Mon 17 Oct

The alt-rock soloist headlines Wee Red with support from Edinburghian driving rock trio Burning Bridges and Glaswegian alt-rock trio St. Providence.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

At the helm of his new band, Billy Bibby & The Wry Smiles, Billy seeks to forge his way in the industry with a project showcasing his own songwriting, his expressive voice surprises and meaningful, relatable records that resonate with everyone. SOUND & CHAOS: THE STORY OF BC STUDIO (LAUDS + MARTIN BISI)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

The Wee Red screens a documentary about Martin Bisi and his Brooklyn music studio, complete with a live performance from the man himself. SERENDIPITY

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £6

A local art mash-up featuring promising Edinburgh bands and artists.

October 2016

THOMAS TRUAX

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £8

UNDERCOVER HIPPY

Former drum ‘n’ bass DJ and MC Billy Rowan takes his five-piece, interactive live project on tour. FLINT & PITCH REVUE (JO MANGO + HARRY GILES + CHITRA RAMASWAMY + FINN + HANNAH LAVERY)

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6 FLINT & PITCH TEAM UP WITH SMHAFF FOR THE FIRST (OF HOPEFULLY MANY) F&P REVUES AT BONGO

JOYCE DELANEY (CRYWANK + BENJAMIN BLUE + STAR ROVER )

BAMBOO

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £34.50 - £38.50

TWIN HEART (GRACE & LEGEND + PAINTING ROCKETS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Emo band from Ayrshire. You probably wouldn’t understand. SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE: FRASER FIFIELD AND GRAEME STEPHEN

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Soundhouse welcomes Fraser Fifield and Graeme Stephen to celebrate 20 years of a critically acclaimed musical partnership, blending worldwide influences through original compositions and improvisations with a perfectly natural Scottish cultural filter.

Tue 18 Oct REV REV REV

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

Italian shoegaze and psychedelic rock juggernaut. CATFISH KEITH

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £14

Folk infused pop-rockers Joyce Delaney head up a show at Henry’s.

With his innovative style of footstomping, deep delta blues and American roots music, Catfish has reinvented the guitar.

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £6

Wed 19 Oct

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, TBC

REDOLENT (AMERICAN CLAY + ACRYLIC)

Young Edinburgh foursome built on guitars, lifting vocals and strong melodies. RSNO BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £39

RSNO kicks off its Dundee season with guest conductor Cristian Mâcelaru detonating Jörg Widmann's Beethoven spoof and bringing to life Dvoá k's Seventh Symphony, followed by British pianist Paul Lewis’ rendition of Beethoven’s Empror Concerto. THE MENZINGERS

SILVER COAST (THE ANGLES + COLOUR TRAP)

BILLY BIBBY & THE WRY SMILES (RORY SPEIRS)

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

The biggest male rock star in them there Philippines.

Thu 13 Oct Gomez singer and lead guitarist Ben Ottewell rides solo for a stint of Scotland sets.

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE: FURNACE MOUNTAIN

HINKS (BURNING BRIDGES + ST. PROVIDENCE)

The former Whitesnake guitarist brings his latest band to Edinburgh.

Four-piece punk/indie band from Philly.

BEN OTTEWELL

SKILTRON (RED RUM + IRON SEA WOLF)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

A non-fictional rock band who intrepidly blend metal riffs and pop hooks.

Nostalgic garage pop straight from the heart of Newtown in Sydney.

After years out of the limelight, Dr HOOK is back on the road, fronted by Dennis Locorriere, the man who originally sang all the songs you remember from all that time ago.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £14

GRASSMARKET COMMUNITY PROJECT, 13:00-18:00, £7-8

ZENITH COMPLEX

Sun 16 Oct

ALI MAAS & MICK MOODY

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £14

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

OXJAM EDINBURGH TAKEOVER 2016

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £6

Two brothers from Strontian, a remote Scottish village a few miles from the most westerly point on mainland Britain, bringing a more youthful, virile edge to folk and traditional music.

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £16.50

California-based indie-rockers with a penchant for big riffs, on the road showcasing a selection of new songs.

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £17 - £20

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

Electro pop from local turf.

JR GREEN

WE ARE SCIENTISTS

Tue 25 Oct

SUZANNE VEGA

SIMON WIDDOWSON

SHVLLOWS

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £5

Fri 21 Oct

Mon 24 Oct

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £11 - £13

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £28.50 - £38.50

FIELD STUDIES (FOREIGN FOX + EARTHS)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 22:00, £5

Chicago DJ and producer FR From Dallas touches down in Scotland for the very first time. Keep an ear out for jackin, deep and tech-house influence with a 90s oldschool beat.

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £11 - £32.50

In this grand and impressive music, Berlioz tells the story of Christ’s birth and infancy as an immense choral epic.

Metal with bagpipes. Err, make your own mind up on that one.

Wed 12 Oct Manchester-based hard rock two-piece, comprised of Steven Dobb (vocals and guitars) and Lorna Blundell (drums), who are experts in crafting huge, powerful music with enormous hooks and filthy grooves.

JR FROM DALLAS

SCO: BERLIOZ - L’ENFANCE DU CHRIST

USHER HALL, FROM 15:00, £12 - £32

Ease into Sunday with a dash of Tchaikovsky courtesy of Usher Hall’s Sunday Classics series.

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes classy Virginian four-piece Furnace Mountain back to Edinburgh.

Thomas Truax (pronounced trooaks) is an American singer/musician, inventor and multi-media artist.

The much-loved songstress makes her live return, performing new material alongside earlier classics from her impressive back catalogue.

BLONDI’S SALVATION

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

The Nantes quintet stop at Bongo on their UK tour.

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

A progressive metal night at Bannermans.

SUNDAY CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover brings you some of Edinburgh's most exciting live acts across five venues at our inner-city festival fundraiser.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

A premium 3-14 piece band specialising in high-energy music for festivals, weddings, corporate events and private functions. THE HYENA KILL

Babyfaced British rapping duo who shot to fame in 2014 when they appeared on Britain’s Got Talent.

MEMOREVE (RAMAGE INC +D3VILMAYCRY)

Glasgow’s own, Single by Sunday come to Edinburgh with their a high level of pop sensibility and infectious catchiness.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, FREE

BARS & MELODY LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £22.50 - £25

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, FROM 19:00, TBC

Sat 15 Oct

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Four-piece alt/rock band citing influences including Feeder, You Me at Six and Twin Atlantic. AUGUSTANA

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10

LA-based street rock unit, originally formed at The Ikarus artist commune on the island of Crete.

VIC GODARD & SUBWAY SECT (THE SEXUAL OBJECTS)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £10

The legendary songwriter and his band celebrate the release of I’ll Find Out Over Time/Dead Dreamy.

THE BATHERS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

After a 15 year break The Bathers reunite to play some shows this October to celebrate the rerelease of their back catalogue. OXJAM AT SNEAKY’S (RUTH GILLIES + LIAM STUART + BERNI FITZSIMMONS BAND AND LEANNE SMITH)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £4.50

For one night, Oxfam and Sneaky Pete’s come together to raise money through the power of music with all ticket proceeds going directly to the causes that Oxfam currently aids. ALIEN ANT FARM & HED PE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £17.50 - £20

Those Smooth Criminals make a highly-anticipated LBA debut as part of their UK tour. HANNAH ALDRIDGE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £10

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

Quicksilver are Hilary Spencer and Grant Baynham. Hilary Spencer’s voice is a thing of beauty, while Grant Baynham matches the baroque style of his songwriting with a guitar technique of gorgeous intricacy.

Thu 20 Oct TELEMAN

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £13.50

Indie pop band Teleman embark on a tour on the back of their second album Brilliant Sanity.

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10

DMA’S

STANLEY ODD

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £10

Inventive hip-hop musings are the order of the eve at Bongo. RSNO BEETHOVEN SEVEN

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £39

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen plays in a concert that begins in Mahler?s Alpine meadows and ends with RSNO Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Søndergård leading Beethoven's uproarious Seventh. BEEF JERK (DTHPDL + AGONY A )

THE SAFARI LOUNGE, FROM 19:30, £5

Jangly Australian pop and Scottish krautrock and punk. First gig from new Edinburgh label City of Glass. NEU! REEKIE! SUILVEN’S ASCENT

LEITH ST ANDREW’S CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

Wahey, FiniTribe are back! After linking arms with Neu! Reekie! for their first show in 20 years back in 2014, they’re returning for a preview of new record Suilven. ADAM FICKEK

WOODLAND CREATURES, 19:00, FREE

The Babyshambles drummer pays a trip to Woodland Creatures to play an intimate acoustic set.

Sat 22 Oct WALTER TROUT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £25

The former lead guitarist with Canned Heat et al returns to the touring circuit. FAT GOTH (BRITNEY + LORDS OF BASTARDS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

FAT GOTH: the musical vehicle for three Scotsmen with a collective passion for all things guitar, drum and music-of-the-somewhatantisocial-nature orientated. ANVIL

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £13 - £15

Old school Canadian heacy metallers hit LBA on their European tour. BOYTOY

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

Brooklyn-based grungey surfrockers stop at the Bongo on their debut European tour, promoting debut album Grackle. JOHN CARPENTER

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £38.50

Renowned composer of horror soundtracks John Carpenter visits Usher Hall accompanied by his son Cody Carpenter on synthesizer and his godson Daniel Davies on guitar, with John Spiker on bass, John Konesky on guitar and Scott Seiver on drums.

Sun 23 Oct WARPAINT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:00, £18

The psychedelic LA indie-rockers return to our shores. BRY

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £10

Irish singer-songwriter with a unique approach to life and a goal is to travel to (and perform in) every single country in the world. THE LOUNGE KITTENS

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–01:00, £8

The Lounge Kittens showcase their album, Sequins and C-Bombs, on an October-tide tour

AUGUSTINES

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

NYC trio who do a rather fine line in anthemic indie-rock (formerly playing as We Are Augustines), due in no small part to frontman Billy McCarthy’s measured and majestic vocals.

Wed 26 Oct

AN EVENING WITH AMANDA PALMER

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £20

The DIY songstress hosts a special ‘An Evening With...’ live session, on the road in celebration of her new book The Art of Asking. HIGH TYDE (HAUS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8 - £10

Brighton quartet continuing to stake their claim as one of the indie world’s hottest prospects, having spent the last year honing their distinctive sound. LAKE KOMO (JARGO)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

THE EMPTY PAGE (A RITUAL SPIRIT + TERGAZZI) BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Manc trio and purveyors of wonky, harmony-rammed delights. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: HARPETH RISING

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

Chamberfolk: three classically trained musicians playing original music, as intricately arranged as a string quartet, lyrically rooted in singer-songwriter tradition and wrapped in three-part harmonies reminiscent of Appalachia and Medieval Europe. BOSSY LOVE

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Experimental R’n’B duo formed of singer/mechanical scientist Amandah (of Operator Please) and ex-Dananananaykroyd chappie John Baillie Jnr.

Thu 27 Oct

THE LITTLE KICKS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–01:00, £5

THE PORTALOOTH HALLOWEEN SPECTACULAR (ILL FITTING THOUGHTS + WHITEHILL GROVE + GUS HARROWER)

More upbeat and catchy tunes from the Scottish four-piece, peddling their own chirpy brand of indiedisco-pop in the form of a brand new single!

La Belle hosts a fancy dress horror-fest.

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £18

USHER HALL, FROM 15:00, £9 - £36

MATT BERRY & THE MAYPOLES

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

OWEN AND OLLY’S BEASTLY BASH

The ever-talented Matt Berry – yes, the funnyman from The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh etc. – doing a full band set, laden with deep vocals and his usual cheeky charm.

The e’er mischievous Owen and Olly lead a special Halloween jubilee with the RSNO in celebration of Roald Dahl's 100th birthday.

Fri 28 Oct

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes multi-instrumentalist Cera Impala; a banjo, ukulele, and guitar-wielding mama who oozes style.

UFO

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £22.50

The longtime hard rock mainstays show the kids how it’s done, now some 20-odd albums in. THE BARMINES

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

SOUNDHOUSE @ THE TRAVERSE: CERA IMPALA

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

CHOW MAIM (SOUR DIETER + DOUBLE O CRYING + PERCY PAIN)

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 12:00, FREE

Explosive indie rock with one helluva live show up their sleeves.

A Halloween showcase of local musicians. Bring garlic and your best-dressed talisman.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £10 - £12

Mon 31 Oct

VIBE: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

The full VIBE team is back for a night of spooky goings-on, creepy classics and some super scares! Ooh, plus there’s a costume competition. SHE DREW THE GUN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

The latest in a long line of brilliant bands from Liverpool’s The Wirral. DELUDED BUDDHAS (SPARE ME THE KNIFE + COUSIN KENNY + BELTUR)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £4

A varied night from all walks of rock-based life. EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (RED BUTLER + GEORGIA GORDON)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £13

Regular blues club taking in touring blues acts from the UK and beyond. THE GLENDALE FAMILY

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–01:00, £5

The Glendales are a collective based in North Wales and Chester who play a blend of 60s folk/ psychedelic, blues and pop. THE LUMINEERS

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £24.75 - £27.50

The Lumineers return with a jazzy tinge to their folk-rock timbre, touring the world with their new album Cleopatra. MARK MORRISS

WOODLAND CREATURES, £8, 17:00

The Bluetones legend plays classics from the Bluetones themselves, plus his own material. Support from Miracle Glass Company and Billy Mitchell. ACQUIRED TASTE

BRIX & THE EXTRICATED

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Brix & The Extricated features original member of The Fall Brix Smith-Start on guitar and vox, powerhouse duo Steve Hanley on bass and brother Paul Hanley on drums, Steve Trafford on guitar and vox and virtuoso Jason Brown on guitar. DEAD XIII

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Halloween done good’n’proper, with real horror rock bands. SOUNDHOUSE @ THE TRAVERSE: NORDIC FIDDLER’S BLOC

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes three master fiddle players from three different and very distinctive Nordic countries and regions.

Dundee Music Wed 05 Oct

DIVIDES (DAYDREAM FRENZY + HOPES UP HIGH + VIOLENT RELAPSE + THE GROUND WE TREAD + SONOROUS) BUSKERS, FROM 19:30, £6

A showcase of live music with a mixture of old faves and up-andcomers stopping by.

All-rockin’ Glasgow five-piece comprising former members of various other Scottish bands. Support aplenty in the flavours of pop-punk, metal and alt-rock.

Sat 29 Oct

Thu 06 Oct

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

BIRDY

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 19:00, £24

Young British singer-songwriter (aka Jasmine van den Bogaerde) imbued with a voice steeped in soul and world-weariness. MARTHA FFION

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

The musical project of Claire Martha Ffion McKay, an Irish songwriter based in Glasgow. Classic songwriting with a dream-pop sheen. TYGERS OF PAN TANG ( THE FILTH HOUNDS)

GUN

BUSKERS, FROM 19:00, £15

Rock’n’roll outfit formed by the Gizzi brothers in the mid-80s. LUCY SPRAGGAN

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £12

Little Lucy Spraggan, of X Factor fame, now a fully fledged touring musician making ‘flop’ – that’s folk meets hip-hop for the uninitiated.

Sat 08 Oct

GIROBABIES (NATALIE PRYCE + THEE RAG N BONE MAN + SALEM STREET)

BUSKERS, FROM 19:00, £7 - £9

ADMIRAL FALLOW (ACOUSTIC THREE-PIECE) + THE CATHODE RAY + JO MANGO)

NWOBHM makes a welcome return.

The hard-rockin’ Glaswegian outfit do their angry thing.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £15

Wed 12 Oct

Heartbreakingly beautiful, sonically audacious and lyrically bewitching, Admiral Fallow have taken their music around the world with tours in North America, Australia, and Europe. See an acoustic, three-piece rendition of their material at Electric Circus CHUCHOTER (KLLO)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Inspired by a mix of modern pop and disco, Chuchoter are a new Edinburgh act mixing deep-soul vocals, strong, self-assured lyrics and dirty jazz production to create a fresh sound with a club focus. HAWKLORDS

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £13 - £16

Psychedellic greatness, featuring ex-Hawkwinders.

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £12 - £15

DAVE DOBBYN

Aussie singer-songwriter who’s just released his 10th solo studio album, Harmony House, produced by Sam Flynn Scott and Luke Buda of The Phoenix Foundation. EZRA FURMAN (THE BOY FRIENDS)

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £14

American indie pop singer-songwriter gaining increasing mileage on national radio.

Sun 30 Oct HOOTON TENNIS CLUB

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9 - £11

The ascendant Liverpudlians and recent Heavenly signings head our way. JOHNNY FOREIGNER (SUNSHINE FRISBEE LASERBEAM)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Fresh from Japan, Johnny Foreigner swing by on their UK tour promoting brand new tunes and stirring up a righteous partyzone atmosphere. One hour set, strictly no encores.

SHANE FILAN

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:00, £32.50

Him from Westlife. You’re busy that night.

Thu 13 Oct

RSNO BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £14 - £18.50

RSNO kicks off its Dundee season with guest conductor Cristian Mâcelaru detonating Jörg Widmann's Beethoven spoof and bringing to life Dvo?ÿk?s Seventh Symphony, followed by British pianist Paul Lewis’ rendition of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.

Sat 15 Oct

CAROUSEL (THE NIBLICKS + NO EGOS)

BUSKERS, FROM 20:00, £5

A debut headline slot for emerging Dunde rockers Carousel following a show with Glasgow’s Tenement Trail fest.

Listings

RANDOMER ROOM AT THE TOP, 23:00, £8-10

Dundee sees North London bighitter Randomer perform at Room at the Top, the city’s newest club space. His music shifts between quintessentially British techno and a slower, more textured sound – with releases on everywhere from Hessle Audio to L.I.E.S. to Clone.

Wed 19 Oct GAVIN JAMES

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 19:30, £9

Dublin singer/songwriter, stepping out of the shadow of Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran support slots with his debut album.

Thu 20 Oct

FALL HAS COME (THE POLIS)

BUSKERS, FROM 19:15, £8

Glasgow Clubs Tue 04 Oct #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. PVC RESIDENTS PARTY (JUNGLE HUSSY + PEARL NECKLACE + SUNSHOWER + SYCOPHANTASY + VAJ POWER VISUALS)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

R’n’B, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance. FENIX X I AM

Alternative rock band from Italy which formed a couple of years ago and comprises Enrico Bellotta (vocals, bass), Raffaele Giacobbone (guitars), Enrico Pascarella (guitars).

i AM draft in J. Walbaum and A.M. of the Fenix operation for a slammer of a night at Subbie.

Fri 21 Oct

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

MAN OF MOON

BUSKERS, FROM 20:00, TBC

The young Edinburgh-based twopiece embark on a UK tour.

PUNKTOBERFEST DUNDEE (MALFUNTION + DELINQUENTS + SHATTERHAND + SALEM STREET) BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 13:00, £6 - £16

A punk fest, during October, in Dundee – in case the name hadn’t already given that away. Includes all the above, plus Molly Bloom, Tripwire DC, Rotten Apples, Sunday Punk Club, Panic Attak, The Polyesters, Sanction This, Royal Oi!, Reaction and more.

Sat 22 Oct

PUNKTOBERFEST AFTERPARTY (DJ DAVE) BUSKERS, 23:00–02:30, £5

Buskers extend the punk party right on through ‘til the early hours, because they’re nice like that. NELL BRYDEN

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 19:30–22:15, £17.50

Singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York.

PUNKTOBERFEST DUNDEE (LOADED 44 + POTENTIAL VICTIMS + WOLF BITES BOY + SNIDE REMARKS) BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 13:00, £10 - £16

Mon 24 Oct

WSTR + MILESTONES (HOPES UP HIGH)

BUSKERS, FROM 18:30, £8

A double-whammy eve of pup punk from WSTR and Milestones.

Wed 26 Oct WE ARE SCIENTISTS

BUSKERS, FROM 19:00, TBC

California-based indie-rockers with a penchant for big riffs, on the road showcasing a selection of new songs.

Fri 28 Oct THE LITTLE KICKS

BUSKERS, FROM 19:30, £5

More upbeat and catchy tunes from the Scottish four-piece, peddling their own chirpy brand of indiedisco-pop in the form of a brand new single!

Sat 29 Oct SIXTIES GOLD

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £32.50

60’s package tour promising an all-out nostalgia fest.

Sun 30 Oct

BRIX AND THE EXTRICATED (STOOR + THE CATHODE RAY) BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 19:00, £12

Live band unit featuring none other than former Fall member Brix Smith-Start.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Wed 05 Oct KILLER KITSCH

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’.

INTER #7 (ADRIANA MINU + SLAVEK KWI AND LINDA O'KEEFFE + TONY MORRIS + ANNA TERZAROLI + SIMON VAN DER WALT + ANGUS CARLISLE + RUPERT COX + CZECH VODUS PAUL JOHNSTON)

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £5

Stereo plays home to another night of experimental studio production, featuring work and performances from all of the above. WRAP-IT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

Thu 06 Oct HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £15

The dance party journey through time returns to make merry for a one-off airing, sticking to its tried-and-tested schtick of playing a hit a year from 1945 to present day, accompanied by screens playing the original videos. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Fri 07 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. MISSING PERSONS CLUB

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

The Missing Persons Club residents return to La Cheets for one last residents’ affair. SUGO

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Shake whatcha got to the best of the worst Italo and Euro trash from the last four decades.

Listings

GLITTERBANG NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Exactly what it says on its sparkly tin – a dazzling night of disco Europop. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

MASTERMIX GLASGOW: MR G (MARTYN + PEARSON + SOUND + JASPER JAMES + PEGGY GOU) SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £15

The Glasgow leg of Mastermix brings house legend Mr. G’s live show to SWG3.

RHYTHM MACHINE: MUSIC FROM THE CONCRETE JUNGLE (GUINNESS + SWEET DIETER + BUGATTI + RHYTHM MACHINE DJS + KATIE SHAMBLES + EMMA FINN + MINA HEYDARI-WAITE) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £6

Rhythm Machine appears at The Art School in Glasgow for the first time after 12 months as the sole resident club night at Summerhall. STAY FRESH (KORNÉL KOVÁCS + BABA STILTZ)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

Fresh brings in the Scandinavian talent for a night at Subbie.

LOBSTER THEREMIN SHOWCASE (IMRE KISS + ASQUITH + LOOSE JOINTS DJS)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £8

Loose Joints host a Lobster Theremin showcase at TBS. The London-based imprint has been at the forefront of the lo-fi house and techno scene since its formation in 2013 and label-boss Jimmy Asquith is joined by Hungarian up-and-comer Imre Kiss.

Sat 08 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

FANS ONLY: A BELLE & SEBASTIAN DANCE PARTY THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, £5

A night dedicated to the sounds of all things Belle & Sebastian with an added healthy dose of twee pop for your dancing pleasure. All door proceeds to Sarcoma UK. MONSTER HOSPITAL

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Bloc hosts a Botch-meets-Beyoncé DJ smash. MALLORCA LEE: 2001

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 22:00, £15

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

SINGLES NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Pop, disco and rock action at Sleazy’s Singles Night. WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Shahaa Tops and Peter Panther are take control all night long at La Cheetah for the first time since February. SUNDAY SCIENCE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

As scientific as a club filled with tipsy Sunday night partiers can get, really. LED lights, glow in the dark wands, ‘Science’ cocktails and cannons. Unlikely to instigate any eureka moments, but it’ll do. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

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.

LOVE MUSIC: ULTIMATE POWER (ULTIMATE POWER) O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

CYRIL HAHN

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £10 - £12

Gorge on a night of ethereal beauts by Swiss native and Vancouver resident Cyril Hahn. MEHMET ASLAN (AUNTIE FLO + ANDREW)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Aslan released his debut record on Highlife in 2014, and has since appeared on Boiler Room, Beats In Space and many discerning dancefloors around the world. Expect Turkish sounds with contemporary house production. SUBCULTURE (MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12

Fellow Glasgow party-starters Angles and Electric Salsa team up for a one night only, anything goes affair.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £7 - £10

Mathematics label owner Hieroglyphic Being plays his first ever live set in Glasgow. SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Extend the RBMA finger-lickin musical goodness with a party into the night at the ever hospitable Sub Club.

RBMA: GLA X LDN (D DOUBLE E + SIR SPYRO + JAMMZ, CAPO LEE + JACK DAT + DJ MILKTRAY B2B RAPTURE 4D + BUSHIDO) THE POETRY CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Unifying the energy of the London and Glasgow grime scenes, RBMA presents a very special one-off.

Fri 14 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

BURN MONDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 11 Oct #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Resident young gun Beta plays the usual fine mix of house, techno and electronica – joined by regular Subbie frequenter Telford.

Wed 12 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’.

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. DEATHKILL4000

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Cutting edgle dark electro, hip-hop and post punk. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. RETURN TO MONO (SLAM) (BEN SIMS)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10 - £12

Monthly night from Soma Records taking in popular techno offerings of all hues, this month welcoming Slam for a set. LANCE VANCE DANCE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Multi-hued adventure travelling through 70s funk, motown and 80s r’n’b, highlighted with glorious rays of disco sunshine. Or summat. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue.

PARTIAL (DJ RICHARD + EWAN & ADLER)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Partial invite White Material label boss DJ Richard for a big one at La Cheets. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £3

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Goth, post-punk, EBM, synth, coldwave, house, noise and disco. Aaaand breathe.

MELTED: SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, FREE

BREEZY AT SLEAZYS

Non-stop party house and techno stompers! STEREO, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

A new series of clubs revelling in the best of Afrobass, tropical rave and reggae. Quite rightly, they’ve invited uncle of funk Samedia Shebeen to cut the ribbon. WRAP-IT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

Sat 15 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

ELECTRIC SALSA X ANGLES

Sun 09 Oct SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5

Glasgow globetrotting techno troupe Numbers present a substreet level party at a never before used venue... eyes peeled for further details.

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

Opolopo means plenty in Yoruban, making it a fitting moniker for this man’s travels through boogie, broken beats into funk, house and soul.

SECRET VENUE TBC, 19:00-23:00, £15

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Detroit-inspired disco and house grooves from German artist Motor City Drum Ensemble. P.O.W (REBECCA VASMANT + NATASHA KITTY KATT)

A NUMBERS UNDER THE STREETS (LORENZO SENNI + DENIS SULTA + GENERAL LUDD)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

RBMA AFTERPARTY (KÖLSCH + NIGHTWAVE + I AM)

LuckyMe records bring selfproclaimed purveyor of ‘jungle terror’ and shoegaze Suidiceyear.

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

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, £3

LUCKYME: SUICIDEYEAR (INKKE + THE BLESSINGS)

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

THE ROCK SHOP

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop.

OH141 (HIEROGLYPHIC BEING) (MHM + DJ BECKY MARSHALL)

Mon 10 Oct

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.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Join Inside Out original residents William & Alan Belshaw, plus guests BK and The Queen of Hard Dance, Anne Savage for a fuck-offmassive celebration of hard house and classic trance.

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Thu 13 Oct

STEVEN CLARK DJ’S KRAUTROCK KLASSICS

Sci-Fi Steve of Bis and Batteries plays Krautrock and other German cool-chic tunes all night as part of Flying Duck’s Oktoberfest celebration.

RBMA: DIFFERENT CIRCLES SPECIAL (MUMDANCE B2B LOGOS + DOC SCOTT + RUSSELL HASWELL + BENEATH + INKKE) THE ADMIRAL, FROM 23:00, £10

Mum Dance and Logos bring their Different Circles project sprawling.

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

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. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. BALKANARAMA

THE ART SCHOOL, 22:30–03:00, £9

THE CHAINSMOKERS

FRESH BEAT

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

American DJ duo who shot to stardom thanks to their selfie-positive attitude.

Tue 18 Oct #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7

I AM (BETA & KAPPA)

A delicious onslaught of feel-good party house and disco from Kappa and a more heady display from Beta, serving up a tasty variety of more serious house and techno.

Wed 19 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. NOT MOVING (GOLDEN TEACHER)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Golden Teacher and Dick 50 DJs spinning outer-national sounds.

SUNDAY SCIENCE

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Thu 20 Oct

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Gareth Roberts plays anything and everything from even remotely near Germany – Belgian new wave, post-punk, Italo and beyond. NITE TRIPPER

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, FREE

The Gimme Shelter clubbing gurus’ fledgling new club Nite Tripper, ft. resident DJs Holly Calder and Craig Reese who’ll be spinning modern psych, garage, fuzz and golden olds.

LA CHEETAH CLUB X RBMA (ACTRESS + MR SATURDAY NIGHT + BEATRICE DILLON + LUKID + DOM D’SYLVA + WARDY) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £15

Red Bull Music Academy team up with the legendary La Cheetah Club for an eclectically-programmed party over two floors, expertly reflecting the venue's wide-reaching party remit.

WRAP-IT

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup. HOT HOUSE (CAT REILLY)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Cat Reilly spins the best in joyous party magic.

REPEATER: WENDELL BORTON (BRIDAL SHOWER) BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Think of a power-pop mashup between, Weezer, Dinosaur Jnr and Pavement, with a dash of Jimmy Eat World. STEREOTONE: PULL UP TO THE BUMPER (DJ WHEELMAN)

Sun 16 Oct

ANIMAL FARM (RØDHÅD)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £15

The Techno Viking takes control of Sub Club.

ARAB STRAP OFFICIAL AFTERPARTY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:00, FREE

Bring your ticket stub and get stuck into an Arab Strap shindig.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

ÜBER brings Sidney Charles into Subbie for his debut, with support from ÜBER boss Ki Creighton and resident Junior G. OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Mon 17 Oct BARE MONDAYS

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

An evening of music, drinks and celebration for the launch of Graphic Design Festival Scotland 2016. BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY (HELENA HAUFF) (WRICK)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10

The Nomadic techno and techhouse night makes its regular(ish) trip to Subbie’s basement, this time handing over the decks to Golden Pudel resident and esteemed selector Helena Hauff. REFUSE POWERS’ GRASP (JULIANA HUXTABLE + ELYSIA CRAMPTON + BOYCHILD)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £6

Arika Club featuring major figures from the international queer, trans club culture. Pay what you can – all ticket income will go to We Will Rise, a local group working to end Immigration Detention in the UK. YELLOW DOOR (IAIN KERR + PAUL DEY)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

Monthly residents night playing the best house, techno, disco and electro for the dancefloor. Free entry before midnight every month.

Sat 22 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

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. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s rather ace London night takes a trip to the North, with the mighty duo playing back-to-back over an all-night takeover of the Mill.

RBMA: DISCOSPIN

Jackmaster & Throwing Shade spin at this micro-party in a laundrette.

GRAPHIC DESIGN FESTIVAL SCOTLAND AFTER PARTY (12TH ISLE : TAKO + BRIAN NOT BRIAN + IZABEL )

SIDNEY CHARLES (JUNIOR G, KI CREIGHTON)

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure.

MAJESTIC LAUNDRETTE, 19:00-23:00, FREE

A classic electro set from DJ Overdose, plus a special guest.

A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE (ANDREW WEATHERALL + SEAN JOHNSTON)

The very first Pull Up To The Bumper; four hours of disco, funk and soul.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks with special guests.

KUNST: 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY (DJ OVERDOSE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Fri 21 Oct

SUBCULTURE (JOB JOBSE + RED AXES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Rafla’s back to hit us with outthere rock and garage vibes and live band guests.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

I LOVE GARAGE

25 YEARS OF SLEAZE

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

Balkanarama celebrates nine big ones with belly dancers, brandy, baklava, bespoke visuals and a boutique. Brill.

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

ENJOYABLE MOMENT

Cosmic Dead-curated avanteelectro psyche-out DJs. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £9

SUNDAY SCIENCE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

FWDK (S-TYPE + BLEAKER + INKKE)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Faded with the Kittens returns to the Art School to spin its specialised brand of lo-fi Memphis and southern rap cuts all night. SHAKA LOVES YOU

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Hip-hop and live percussion flanked by wicked visuals. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

THE SKINNY

MASTER BLASTER

UNHOLY

LOVE MUSIC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

A club night dedicated to the best of motown, funk and soul.

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, FREE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

ANDRON ELECTRON

BREAKFAST CLUB

Shoot Your Shot resident Andron Electron is no stranger to old school feel-good house and hiNRG. Fun will be had.

Gerry Lyons delivers 80s and 90s pop and rock hits.

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, FREE

MILK: POP PUNK KARAOKE

THE CHURCH OF GOOD TIMES (LEMMY ASHTON)

Bugged Out! Resident Lemmy Ashton joins crowd-reading club night The Church of Good Times for an eve of forgotten bangerz. ZOOM & COLOURS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £24.50

Techy trance at SWG3 as Zoom & Colours draft in the likes of John O’Callaghan, Bryan Kearney, Will Atkinson and more.

NIGHTRAVE (DJ DEEON) (NIGHTWAVE + NATALIE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Nightrave returns, inviting Chicago house and booty techno don DJ Deeon. Support from Nightwave and Natalie. SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC + TELFORD)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks with special guests.

Sun 23 Oct SHOW (NINA KRAVIZ)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £15

The Russian DJ, producer and recording artist gets selecting all night long at Sub Club.

Mon 24 Oct BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

HARSH TUG HALLOWE’EN SPECIAL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 01:00–04:00, £0 - £3

Spooky hip-hop and rap brought to you by Notorious B.A.G and pals. BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Halloween edition of Milk’s popular karaoke night, with Wolves At Heart and special guests on the mic. MILK POP PUNK KARAOKE: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (WOLVES AT HEART)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4

Wolves at Heart will host a Halloween horror show at The Art School, with a new bunch of special guests singing their favourite pop punk hits – and as usual, you can join them. THE HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE (CLAPTONE) SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10 - £16

A night of freaky hedonism, with golden masks available on the door for an extra charge.

Fri 28 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

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

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.

BURN MONDAYS

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 25 Oct #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4

Get your fair share of soul, funk and disco as Souljam lands in Scotland. I AM (DJ FUNK + DOZ ROYLE)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

The man, myth and legend that is DJ Funk returns to Sub Club. An absolute master of the ghetto tech scene, Mr Funk is a party-starters who has unquestionably lasted the test of time. Dress to sweat.

Wed 26 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. DRUG STORE GLAMOUR

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Trashy, tacky, glamorous and ridiculous. Oh, and fun, too. Very fun. WRAP-IT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

PRESSURE HALLOWEEN (SLAM + SURGEON + MARCEL FENGLER + GEORGE FITZGERALD + DJ SNEAK)

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £18 - £20

Pressure creeps into SWG3 for a Halloween showdown. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. SYCOPHANTASY

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Cross-genre wild child Sycophantasy is one part of Push It, has played alongside Paula Temple and has risen through the ranks in the Glasgow DJ scene. Who knows what she’ll play, but it will be good. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Six decades of rock’n’roll on under one roof, hosted by the ultimate DJ trivium. HALLOWEEN DANCE ANTHEMS (PATRICK PRINS + BASS MODULATORS + GEORGE BOWIE + TREVOR REILLY + OUTFORCE + SPARKOS + MACCA + MARC LOAGE) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £13 - £17

Witches, ghouls and goblins galore at a Halloween party in the O2.

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

Sat 29 Oct

Thu 27 Oct

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

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. THE ROCK SHOP

SUNDAY SCIENCE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £19

Hot Since 82’s Knee Deep In Sound label hits Glasgow with a Halloween special. GONZO

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The quest to bring epic nostalgia back in the form of all things MTV2 and 120 Minutes continues. In short, the return of indie disco.

WEST END COMMUNICATIONS (JEROME HILL)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

A trip to La Cheetah from the man behind the Super Rhythm Trax imprint, Jerome Hill. His labels (Don't, Fat Hop, SRT) are responsible for some serious club bangerz alongside his own production. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:00, £0 - £3

Things get scary and sweaty at Sleazy’s.

A SAMHAIN CONVERGENCE: HAPPY MEALS FULL ASHRAM DEVOTIONAL CEREMONY (HAUSFRAU + DEN HAAN (DJ))

THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–03:00, £5

A once-in-a-lifetime Samhain celebration as Happy Meals realise their Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony at full potential, banishing demons, devils and ill will. Support from Hausfrau, coldwave queen of Glasgow and Den Haan blood brothers. POLISH HALLOWEEN

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 21:00, £10

A scare-fest of a Halloween celebration, with a free glass of punch on arrival! No bad.

SUBCULTURE (DENIS SULTA) (HARRI & DOMENIC + SPARKY) SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks with special guests.

Mon 31 Oct BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 04 Oct TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. CIRQUE

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 00:00, FREE

Local up-and-comers on the ones and twos chucking out house and techno. NOTION

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

I Love Hip Hop is dead. This is Bongo’s brand spangling new Tuesday night house and techno party featuring TLFT boss, DJ and producer Telfort, Greenman and H&P faves Hi & Saberhägen. TUESDAY NIGHT TV

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

David Magowan and Flouche Records and guest DJs drastically improve your Tuesday night with an eclectic mix of underground house, techno and breaks.

Wed 05 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £12

JELLY BABY HALLOWEEN

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

MINDSET WITH GARETH SOMMERVILLE (GARETH SOMMERVILLE )

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Burst returns, touting a whole loada house and techno at Henry’s.

Tue 11 Oct

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

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

SPARKY (FEAR-E)

We Are Minder brings in Numbers/ Optimo Trax talent Sparky, along with Dixon Avenue Basement Jams’ Fear-E to keep residents Mr Fudson & TOCS company at The Mash House. JACKHAMMER (RITZI LEE) (BILLY NASTY + KEYTE + WOLFJAZZ)

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £6

Jackhammer’s back, continuing a series of dates at The Caves – this time with techno talent Ritzi Lee. HUNTLEYS + PALMERS (MEHMET ASLAN AND ANDREW)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

NOTION

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

I Love Hip Hop is dead. This is Bongo’s brand spangling new Tuesday night house and techno party featuring TLFT boss, DJ and producer Telfort, Greenman and H&P faves Hi & Saberhägen.

Wed 12 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

Hella fun midweek throwdown playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 06 Oct

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

TEASE AGE

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

EVOL

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

STACKS

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5

Deep funk and rare soul music with live percussion and sax.

WITNESS: FRIDAY SPECIAL (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. ONCE UPON A TIME IN WIGAN

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Northern soul at the Wee Red. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

KARNIVAL: (#LETGO SHOWCASE) (ANJA SCHNEIDER + RODRIGUEZ JR.) LA BELLE ANGELE, 18:00–03:00, £12.50 - £15

LBA brings in the mobilee records family to Karnival for a #LetGo showcase featuring label head honcho Anja Schneider and effervescent live talent Rodriguez Jr.

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

October 2016

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

BEEP BEEP, YEAH!

CIRQUE

Expect only the best pop tunes from the 50s, 60s and 70s at this retro pop club night.

Local up-and-comers on the ones and twos chucking out house and techno.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Thu 13 Oct

DR NO’S SKA CLUB

Baz and Dave spin out some belters under a strictly vinyl-only policy. TEESH 3RD BIRTHDAY (JAYDA G) (DJ CHEERS + SEMI DELUXE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £7

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £7

PLANET EARTH

TRIBE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £7 - £9

Fri 07 Oct

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £6 - £7

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Hella fun midweek throwdown playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

A brand new UKG, disco and old school house night.

BASS BELLY (SCOTT GARCIA) (HOGZ + CAPPA + TWO SHEDS + GRAHMA)

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

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

Canadian Jayda G is the co-founder of record label and party Freakout Cult. Her recent Boiler Room, performances at Dimensions festivals and a whole host of club nights around Europe display a blissful mix of disco and boogie records alongside house cuts.

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

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

BURST AGAIN

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £3

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

Sat 08 Oct

TRIBE

Edinburgh’s original rock ‘n’ roll bash, mixing indie, pop, electro, hip-hop and alternative styles to make one hell of a party playlist.

If you’re gonna actually celebrate Halloween on a Monday, best do things proper. Scuba, Monoloc, RJay Murphy and McEwan & Torranceb heading up a fright fest? Er, yes please.

All the usual Propaganda indie classics and baggy greats, with an added serving of Disney numbers. Expect to hear Let It Go.

MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

DON’T DROP: HALLOWEEN (SCUBA + MONOLOC)

PROPAGANDA: DISNEY PARTY

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Mon 10 Oct

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Bongo’s monthly house, bassline, grime and jungle night brings in Spooky + AJ Tracey for a two-hour session.

Huntley + Palmers makes a rare East Coast outing next month, welcoming the Mechanical Turk himself, Mehmet Aslan!

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

ELECTRIKAL: SPOOKY + AJ TRACEY THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £6

MUMBO JUMBO: 8TH BIRTHDAY

Funk, soul, and birthday beats and bumps from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars and pals.

NIGHTVISION JOHN DIGWEED (AGORIA + HARVEY MCKAY + REBEKAH + NO STRINGS ATTACHED + JAMIE MCKENZIE + MAIN INGREDIENT X LEZURE) THE LIQUID ROOM, 21:00–04:00, £15

Edinburgh club series Nightvision hand over the reins to house and techno specialists Musika. JACUZZI GENERAL

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Jacuzzi General made his millions selling luxury hot tubs in the mid 70s. He’s now a Californian household name, bringing his entrepreneurial flair to the music industry. REVEREND D WAYNE LOVE

WOODLAND CREATURES, 21:00, £5

The Alabama 3 frontman visits Woodland Creatures with all his favourite tunes.

Sun 09 Oct

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

ODYSSEY. 002 (JULIO BASHMORE) (KHALID HUSSAIN + NICK PRICE) CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 22:00, £10

Bristolian boss of UK house, Julio Bashmore is back.

Fri 14 Oct FOUR CORNERS

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

DJs Simon Hodge, Astrojazz and Johnny Cashback bring tunes from all over the globe to your Edinburgh based eardums. PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. BALKANARAMA

THE CAVES, 22:00–03:00, £9

Balkanarama celebrates nine big ones with belly dancers, brandy, baklava, bespoke visuals and a boutique. Brill. POP TARTS

PARTIPETS (NIKNAK) PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Join the Partipet ladies with their usual b2b heady blend of electronic tropicana, heaped heavy rhythm and blues, world wobblers, italo toppers, party poppers, booty winders, ragga grinders and ice cold classics.

BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY (INNERSHADES)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Strongly influenced by pioneers from Chicago and Detroit, Innershades caught the attention of DJ TLR in 2013, resulting in a prominent spot on the jacking Creme Organization label with a string of cracking Eps. Tonight he hits Sneak’s for the first time.

Sat 15 Oct TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. THE EGG

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

A salad of genres: sixties garage and soul plus 70s punk and new wave, peppered with psych and indie for good measure. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. BIG ‘N’ BASHY

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £6

Mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle played by inimitable residents Brother Most Righteous, Skillis, Era and Deburgh.

OXJAM EDINBURGH TAKEOVER (PERCY MAIN SOCIAL CLUB ) PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Description: Percy Main teams up with Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover to host the inner-city festival’s after-party. Throw some shapes to feel-good party music all in aid of Oxfam’s Emergency Fund. WASABI DISCO (KRIS WASABI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Notorious sleazy disco, house and techno night helmed by Kris Wasabi, ex-resident of Optimo's Edinburgh parties. POP ROCKS!

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Pop and rock gems, taking in motown, 80s classics and plenty danceable fare (well, the Beep Beep, Yeah! crew are on decks after all).

NIGHTVISION: ELECTRIKAL X XPLICIT (MY NU LENG + DREAD MC)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £15

Fresh back from festival season, home-grown bass consortium Electrikal Sound System team up with Scotland's long-standing drum & bass brand Xplicit for a sesh at La Belle.

GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE IS 5 (CHEAP PICASSO + MARTIN VALENTINE + ROB RALSTON)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5

More classic Italo and straight-up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco, as Edinburgh’s GDM crew do their thing. Birthday edition! TEXTURE (CLERIC)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

Notorious name in 4x4 electro Jorden Hodgetts aka Cleric plays Texture’s autumn launch show.

Sun 16 Oct

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

NOTION

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

David Magowan and Flouche Records and guest DJs drastically improve your Tuesday night with an eclectic mix of underground house, techno and breaks.

Wed 19 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

Hella fun midweek throwdown playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more. CIRQUE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Local up-and-comers on the ones and twos chucking out house and techno.

Thu 20 Oct HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room. JUICE (AVALON EMERSON) (AVALON EMERSON + KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Californian producer Avalon Emerson’s recent release on the constant forward thinking label Whities was a fine example of techno in its ever-evolving form, expanding on the fundamentals with some of the brightest consonance synth lines and hypnotic loops.

Fri 21 Oct PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. SAMEDIA SHEBEEN (CHRIS ASTROJAZZ)

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Edinburgh tropical fun machine Samedia Shebeen continue their monthly residency at Paradise Palms. The resident DJs team and occasional guests spin fresh beats from Brazil, Latin America, Africa, Middle East and beyond. HOT WUK (THE HEATWAVE + ELECTRIKAL SOUND )

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £7 - £10

Mon 17 Oct

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £2 - £4

MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

FLIP

Strictly house grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

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

Get your sweat-threads on for a bashment and dancehall carnival at Studio 24

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Crackin’ indie, pop and dance from the 80s and 90s. If you don’t hear Kelis or Wheatus at least once, sue us! (Don’t.)

Tue 18 Oct

MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE )

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

SURE SHOT

Golden age hip-hop and R’n’B night hosted by two bearded men with an equal love of food and music; The Skinny’s Food Editor Peter Simpson and one half of Edinburgh’s Kitchen Disco, Malcolm Storey. FAR OUT

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Top up on your prog, psychedelic, jazz, funk, world and dub at The Wee Red.

Listings

FLIP THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. THE CRAIG CHARLES FUNK & SOUL CLUB

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £14.50 - £15.50

Damn good funk and soul brought to the LBA crowd by one of the longest players in the game. SLVR (JOEFARR) (ELLIOT + CUBA + GOOSE + MURPHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

In 5 short years Joefarr's built an impressive body of work, including recent productions on Bloc, Leisure System and Turbo, which have secured him a reputation as a forward-thinking, innovative and inspiring musical talent. HEADSET: BENEATH B2B PARRIS

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Hi & Saberhägen and Skillis warm up the crowd for a night with Beneath and Parris b2b in the Bongo booth.

NIGHTVISION (LIL’ LOUIS) (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

THE CAVES, FROM 00:00, £15

Chicago-born house producer Louis Sims (aka Lil’ Louis) brings the party to Nightvision at The Caves.

Sat 22 Oct TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. SOULSVILLE (NIK WESTON)

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Raw, high energy R’n’B from DJs Francis Dosoo and Cameron Mason. UNPOP

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

An indiepop dance party where turning up fashionably late just won’t do – early arrivals get free badges, cake and mixtapes, after all. POP TARTS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Mon 24 Oct

DAY OF THE DEAD PARTY (OUR LADIES OF SORROW)

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

NEHH revels in the celebration of death as part of Summerhall’s own Death Fest.

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £10

Dundee Clubs

MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE )

Sat 29 Oct

Fri 07 Oct

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

BUSKERS, FROM 22:00, £5

MIXED UP

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 25 Oct TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. NOTION

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

I Love Hip Hop is dead. This is Bongo’s brand spangling new Tuesday night house and techno party featuring TLFT boss, DJ and producer Telfort, Greenman and H&P faves Hi & Saberhägen.

TEASE AGE

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

RIDE (LAURYN ILL + CHECK YE OOT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

Nineties, noughties and present day hip-hop and R’n’B party tunes all night. SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Wed 26 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

Hella fun midweek throwdown playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more. CIRQUE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Local up-and-comers on the ones and twos chucking out house and techno.

Thu 27 Oct

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM (JAH SHAKA)

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger soundsystem. BLACK MAGIC NOSTALGIC

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £7 - £9

At Magic Nostalgic every half an hour a crowd member is invited up on stage to spin a wheel. Wherever it lands determines what kind of music gets played for the next 30 mins, be it Brit pop, power ballads or Prince vs MJ. Oh, the delicious spontaneity.

FIRE WALK WITH ME: A TWIN PEAKS HALLOWEEN EVENT

WEE RED BAR, 22:00–03:00, £8 - £10

The surreal and eerie world of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks returns once more to the Wee Red, with bespoke decor, themed music, coffee, donuts and a costume comp. KARNIVAL (MONKIA KRUSE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £12.50 - £14

Crackin’ indie, pop and dance from the 80s and 90s. If you don’t hear Kelis or Wheatus at least once, sue us! (Don’t.)

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

Karnival bring in Berghain resident and Terminal M label boss Monika Kruse for a spine-tingling Halloween bash at La Belle Angele. Fancy dress thoroughly encouraged.

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

EZUP

La Cheetah residents Ezup bring their electro basement party to the Palms for one night only.

DEFINITION (MARK BALNEAVES + MARTIN LIGHTBODY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Returning to the turntables, laptops and FX units to play Underground House & Techno inspired by the likes of Sonar, Fabric, Pressure and Berghain. ELEMENT

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

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

L’ANATOMIE (LIL TONY + THE LORD OF THE ISLES) (DECLAN LAW + KIERAN APTER + IAN HENDRY)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 22:00, £6

The second ever L’anatomie takes over the confines of CabVol with Helsinki hero Lil’ Tony and local boy Lord Of The Isles. LOGICAL RECORDS NIGHT

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 20:00, £5 - £8

Unconscious Collective’s very first LRN in the UK – a whole seven hours of partying, ft. local artists Gus and Dari J and Javier & Ivan in the main room.

Sun 23 Oct

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Shoogle Studios, Scotland’s last word in electronic music tuition, hosts a night of funky disco, cosmic live performance, and the best in house and techno at PP.

Listings

HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

HI-SOCIETY

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

Fri 28 Oct PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. FLIP

FINITRIBE (TIMOTHY J. FAIRPLAY)

Back from their August break, Finitribe presents Crimes of the future co-chieftain and electronic maverick Timonthy J. Fairplay.

Sun 30 Oct

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

SUCH A DRAG (GROUNDSKEEPER FANNY & FRIENDS)

MOXIE, JOSEY REBELLE & TELFORT FOR ON LOOP (MOXIE + JOSEY REBELLE + TELFORT)

Queen, queer or just straight up crazy, it matters not to Such A Drag’s groundskeeper Fanny (nor to her friends). Leave your judgements and dignity at the door and get involved in the live acts and dancing.

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

All-star house DJ lineup from NTS, Radio1, Boiler Room and Panorama Bar. NIGHTVISION (PAN-POT) (NEIL LANDSTRUMM)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £15 - £20

Berlin's duo Pan Pot drops by to deliver three hours of formidable techno on the last Nightvision before Halloween. SUBSTANCE 10TH BIRTHDAY (NEIL LANDSTRUMM)

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

House, techno and electro club Substance celebrates the turn of a decade. ACQUIRED TASTE

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

A showcase of live music with a mixture of old faves and up-andcomers stopping by. FLY: BIG MIZ

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

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

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, FREE

BIG FISH LITTLE FISH (DJ SLIPMATT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £8

A brand new night at La Belle, with DJ Slipmatt dishing out old skool rave, drum & bass and jungle. ASTORIA PRESENTS (DJ SLIPMATT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 14:00–16:30, £6 - £8

Edinburgh’s favourite family party-throwers host a skeleton rave with DJ Slipmatt.

Mon 31 Oct MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE )

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville. DENIS SULTA’S SPOOK DOWN

THE CAVES, FROM 22:30, £12.50

Denis Sulta trades in Sheikh-ing down for spooking down at The Caves.

FOOLS GOLD

Buskers’ indie club night where you’ll hear The Stone Roses (pre-terrible era), Joy Division, New Order, Primal Scream and The Libertines? OPTIMO

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £10

Optimo squires JD Twitch and JD Wilkes chuck a big’un at Reading Rooms.

Sat 08 Oct KEB DARGE (RED)

READING ROOMS, FROM 21:30, £5 - £10

Darge skims the cream of sixties wild surf, garage and a wee bitta rockabilly.

Fri 14 Oct

ALL GOOD (B. TRAITS) (VAN D + IDA)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–03:00, £12 - £14

The All Good chaps return, bringing in B. Traits for a Dundee debut. ÿ

Fri 21 Oct

DIXON AVENUE BASEMENT JAMS (FEAR-E) READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £8

Dan Monox Lurinsky and Kenny The Wasp Grieve bring raw street sounds to Dundee’s Reading Rooms.

Theatre Glasgow Theatre CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

OUTSIDE-IN/INSIDE-OUT FESTIVAL

5 OCT, 8:00PM, FREE

A celebration of radical poetry written ‘outside’ mainstream systems of power and acceptance, and which thematically, politically and formally challenge culturally accepted modes of writing. ST MUNGO’S MIRRORBALL SHOWCASE

6 OCT, 7:00PM, £5

A National Poetry day celebration of the life and work of George Mackay Brown on the twentieth anniversary of his death with readings and contributions from Mirrorball members. BUZZCUT: DOUBLE THRILLS: FIGS IN WIGS

19 OCT, 7:00PM, £6 - £8

Fri 28 Oct

Buzzcut, with their usual chaotic charm and warmth, bring a double bill of performance by radical artists from Scotland and beyond.

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, TBC

26-26 OCT, TIMES VARY, £2.50 - £5

BIG & BROAD (DJ DISORDA)

DJ Disorda’s brings the tune-selection smarts picked up during his two-decade experience manning decks to The Reading Rooms.

Sat 29 Oct

BOOK CLUB: SPOOK CLUB HALLOWEEN PARTY

READING ROOMS, 22:00–03:00, £8

Book Club becomes Spook Club, throwing a ghoulish club in honour of Halloween.

TRICKY HAT: THE FLAMES!

The Flames are launch a new performance company for the mature art spark. Expect plenty of surprises and guerilla action.

Citizens Theatre TRAINSPOTTING

1-8 OCT, 7:30PM, £12.50 - £22.50

Irvine Welsh’s coarse story of Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and Spud stuck in Thatcher-era Leith returns to the Citz. Matinees available. THE CHEVIOT, THE STAG AND THE BLACK, BLACK OIL

18-22 OCT, 7:30PM, £12.50 - £22.50

The Dundee Rep stage John McGrath’s story of the history and the tragedy of Scotland. THE GORBALS VAMPIRE

28-29 OCT, 7:30PM, £7.50 - £14.50

A tongue-in-cheek work by Johnny McKnight, inspired by real life events (which included a rumoured iron-toothed vampire) in Gorbals, 1954. Matinees available.

The SSE Hydro

GARY: TANK COMMANDER - MISSION QUITE POSSIBLE

20-22 OCT, 8:00PM, £30 - £45

A new show that’s likely to channel the United Nations meets Eurovision – an all fighting, all singing, (mibbe) all dancing (mibbe) extravaganza.

Theatre Royal KEEP DANCING

4 OCT-19 NOV, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Strictly vibes live on stage. So. Much. Spangle. Matinees Available. SCOTTISH OPERA: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

12 OCT-19 NOV, 7:15PM, PRICES VARY

It’s Figaro’s wedding day, and to add to the usual worries, Figaro learns that his philandering master, the Count, is out to tempt away his bride-to-be Susanna. Classic story told by Scottish Opera.

Tramway

NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND: HOME AWAY

8 OCT, 7:00PM, £6 - £9

The National Theatre of Scotland’s first festival of participatory arts, featuring new work from ten countries around the world, along with an industry symposium. BALLET BLACK: TRIPLE BILL FEATURING STORYVILLE

28-29 OCT, 7:30PM, £8 - £12

Ballet Black is a company for international dancers of black and Asian descent. For this show, they collaborate with three bold choreographers to bring a trilogy of abstract dance to Tramway.

LIFE IN FLIGHT FROM EVERY PRISON 21 OCT, 7:15PM – 8:45PM, FREE

A conversation with thinkers, speakers and organisers around prison abolition, investigating a possibly link between the ways we’re caged and exiled by the prison-industrial complex and the ways people’s bodies are categorised and segregated. CAPTIVE GENDERS: CRIMINALISATION

22 OCT, 2:30PM – 4:00PM, FREE

An open conversation investigating the phenomenon in which systems of repression grasp communities’ ways of being, living or surviving by applying laws of sexuality, gender or race to cast them as criminal. Pay what you can. [B]REACH: THE FUGITIVE CHRONICLES (OPEN REHEARSAL)

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

VICTORIA MELODY: UGLY CHIEF

19-29 OCT, 7:30PM, £16.5-50

29-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £6 - £8

A wacky inventor, his children and his pal Truly Scrumptious try to outwit a child-hating Baron and an evil child catcher. Matinees available.

Various Venues

ARIKA EPISODE 8: REFUSE POWERS’ GRASP

21-23 OCT, 6:00PM – 9:30PM, FREE

A celebration of the ungovernable ways queer, trans, feminist, anti-racist and prison abolitionist communities escape constraints, tear down the walls of normative culture and build joy in flight. Performances, discussions, sceenings and and a club.

Edinburgh Theatre

22 OCT, 4:15PM – 5:00PM, FREE

An open rehearsal of Gallery of the Streets’ ongoing development of [b]reach, an abolitionist black queer retelling of Marge Piercy’s feminist utopian novel Woman on the Edge of Time featuring Glasgow Open Dance School. Pay what you can.

LINEAGE FOR A MULTIPLE-MONITOR WORK-STATION

23 OCT, 5:45PM – 6:15PM, FREE

A generous, vulnerable and funny work which unpicks the assumption that we’re all distinct individuals and instead charts how our desires, struggles and capacities move through us and create us commonly. Pay what you can.

PREFIGURING THE WORLD WE WANT TO LIVE IN

23 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:00PM, FREE

An open conversation asking how communities might practice being one another’s means, in order to address the material problems facing them – criminalisation, immigration enforcement, poverty, health care access and homelessness. Pay what you can. JULIANA HUXTABLE

23 OCT, 9:30PM – 10:15PM, FREE

A new performance especially for Episode 8 by Juliana Huxtable charting the dissonant space and discrepancy between the presumed fixed norms of social life and the fluid lived experience those norms don’t allow for. Pay what you can.

Tron Theatre SHEEP

28-29 OCT, 7:45PM, £12 - £16

Inspired by attitudes to war and militarization – from historical perspectives to current media representation – Tron Young Company asks questions of accepted roles for women and men in conflict and modern society’s use of propaganda. GRAIN IN THE BLOOD

19 OCT-12 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Set against the eerie backdrop of an isolated rural community, Grain in the Blood is Rob Drummond’s noirish thriller exploring a timely moral dilemma: how much are we prepared to sacrifice for the greater good? Matinees available. DISCO PIGS

4-5 OCT, 7:45PM, £10 - £14

Two friends, born seconds apart, grow up together in an insular, intimate and obsessive friendship – before everything changes on their 17th birthday. By Enda Walsh, the Irish playwright responsible for West End hit Once. THE RISE AND INEVITABLE FALL OF LUCAS PETIT

12-15 OCT, 8:00PM, £7.50 - £10

Sleeping Warrior and Macrobert Arts Centre’s new work, which features an entirely unremarkable bloke who enters into a life of organised crime following a chance-encounter with god.

Festival Theatre ONCE THIS IS ALL OVER WE STILL HAVE TO CLEAR UP

4 OCT, 7:00PM, £11

New Scottish theatre company Yellow Magpies celebrate ‘all that is beautiful’ on the Festival Theatre Stage. Prepare for a scandalous amount of balloons and bubbles. CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

5-16 OCT, TIMES VARY, £27 - £47

A wacky inventor, his children and his pal Truly Scrumptious try to outwit a child-hating Baron and an evil child catcher. Matinees available. SILENT SPACE

14 OCT, 6:30PM, £7

Dance Ihayami presents a powerful fusion of traditional and contemporary Indian Dance with live music by Marion Kenny. DAN TDM: THE DIAMOND MINECART

29 OCT, 7:00PM, £15 - £21

Crazy-famous YouTuber Dan TDM fills out Festival Theatre with fanboys and fangirls the world over for chats, meet’n’greets and what is claimed to be an ‘amazing Diamond Minecart adventure’. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

31 OCT, FROM 19:30, £22 - £42

A ma-hoo-sive musical inspired by the famed recording session which united Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first (and last) time.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh THE FULL MONTY

24 OCT-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

New stage adaptation of the BAFTA award-winning film about six steelworkers with nothing to lose, well, except their clothes. THE MOUSETRAP (TOURING)

17-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Agatha Christie murder mystery, famous for being the longestrunning show of any kind in the history of British theatre. Matinee performances also available. GANGSTA GRANNY

5-9 OCT, 7:00PM, £17.50

David Walliams’ theatrical adaptation of his 2011 children’s book Gangsta Granny. Matinees available.

Royal Lyceum Theatre THE SUPPLIANT WOMEN

A one-on-one experience in which audience members express what they’d like to be heard when they can no longer say it.

The Edinburgh Playhouse BILLY ELLIOT

1-22 OCT, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

The story of that Geordie lad who just wants to dance, dad. Matinees available.

Traverse Theatre AS THE CROW FLIES

26 OCT, 7:00PM, £8.50 - £12.50

Created especially for children and adults, this performance celebrates human connections and differences between individual people in diverse locations and features live music and digital technologies. LIFELINES

19 OCT, 7:00PM, £4.50 - £6.50

An evening of short plays and monologues performed script-inhand in an informal setting.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: BREAKING THE ICE

4-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, £12.50

A Play, A Pie and A Pint returns with five new plays to light up your lunchtime. Ticket includes a pie and a drink. A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: MISCHIEF

11-15 OCT, 7:00PM, £12.50

A popular feature of the Traverse programme, A Play, A Pie and A Pint returns with five new plays to light up your lunchtime. Ticket includes a pie and a drink. MARK THOMAS: 100 ACTS OF DISSENT

14 OCT, 7:30PM, £8.50 - £16.50

Mark Thomas returns to Edinburgh to do what he does best, mischief: joyously bad behaviour with a purpose.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: WALKING ON WALLS

18-22 OCT, 7:00PM, £12.50

A Play, A Pie and A Pint returns with five new plays to light up your lunchtime. Ticket includes a pie and a drink. A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: ONE THINKS OF IT ALL AS A DREAM

25-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £12.50

A Play, A Pie and A Pint returns with five new plays to light up your lunchtime. Ticket includes a pie and a drink LUMINATE INTERGENERATIONAL CABARET

27 OCT, 7:00PM, £5.50 - £8.50

Luminate, Scotland’s creative ageing festival, teams up with Edinburgh’s finest purveyors of weirdo cabaret and decadent performance parties, Dive, to present a timeless cabaret for all ages and persuasions. CHRYSALIS: CLUB

20 OCT-18 NOV, TIMES VARY, £10.50 - £40

An original piece created by members of Teatru Manoel Youth Theatre and uses a mixture of and original material scripted by the actors, dance, music and physical theatre. Club explores the world of today’s cyber-teenager.

Written 2,500 years ago by great playwright Aeschylus, The Suppliant Women is one of the world’s oldest plays. At its heart are a group of young women in full chorus arguing for their lives, speaking to us through the ages. JUMPY

27 OCT-12 NOV, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

An irreverent and #relatable theatrical examination of motherdaughter relationships and life at the age of 50, by April De Angelis.

Summerhall

3-8 OCT, 7:30, £16.5-76

28-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £6 - £8

Theatrical re-telling of the hit movie, in full singalong glory with original music by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken.

ANDREW TIBBLES: IMMORTAL

29-30 OCT, 12:00PM, £5

1-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £30.50

Kings Theatre SISTER ACT

After a misdiagnosis, Victoria Melody was left with an unnecessary funeral that she’d planned for her ill father. She used the occasion as an exercise in exploring the taboos and practicalities involved with death.

BRIGHT COLOURS ONLY

One woman piece taking an unusual look at the funny side of funerals, death and the wake tradition.

THE SKINNY

Dundee Theatre Caird Hall

CHINESE STATE CIRCUS

10-11 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £59

Circus-style event featuring all sorts of acrobatic, contortionist and juggling wizardry, including 12 artists balancing on one bicycle. Matinees available. LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

14-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £23.52

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available.

Dundee Rep GLASGOW GIRLS

12-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £9 - £19

Inspiring story of the seven teenage girls who became known collectively as The Glasgow Girls, following their campaign to bring back their friend who’d been forcibly removed from her home in a dawn raid. Matinees available. FRANKENSTEIN

28-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Hallowe’en treats at the Rep in the form of a brand new adaptation of Shelley’s Frankenstein, featuring live music and puppetry. BLACK IS THE COLOUR OF MY VOICE

6 OCT, 7:30PM, £9 - £16

A play inspired by the life of Nina Simone, following a successful jazz singer and activist following the untimely death of her father. THE SEASON TICKET

25-27 OCT, 7:30PM, £9 - £15

A humorous, moving story of two bairns trying to hustle their way to a grand in order to buy NUFC season tickets.

The Gardyne Theatre THE BROONS

27 OCT-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Playwright Rob Drummond brings the iconic characters Granpaw, Paw and Maw Broon, Hen and Joe, Daphne, Maggie, Horace, the Twins and the Bairn to life with a thoroughly Scottish soundtrack.

Comedy Thu 06 Oct THE THURSDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 07 Oct THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 08 Oct THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

ORAN MOR, 20:00–22:00, £16

The Irish comedian presents an evening of talking and songs played on a stupid keyboard from 1986. Obv.

Tue 04 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 05 Oct COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £4 - £6

Ro Cambell and The Wee Man’s comedian rap battle-off, where a select batch of comics compete to see who’s got the most swagger when it comes to hippity-hop wit. NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. THE CAT’S PYJAMAS

DRYGATE BREWING CO., FROM 18:00, FREE

A monthly open mic hosted by Hannibal’s Pantry and Loddzilla. There’s two-for-one pizza deals, student discounts and lashings of craft beer – and they give prizes to their performers too, which is nice.

October 2016

THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit. KERRY GODLIMAN

ORAN MOR, FROM 20:00, £13

Actess, comedian and finalist in the Babycham Funny Women competition.

Sun 16 Oct

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Tue 18 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £3

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Wed 19 Oct

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his handpicked guests.

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’. STAND UP FOR TOMMY (FRANKIE BOYLE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 16:00–18:00, £12

A charity comedy benefit from one of Scotland’s most popular comedians.

Mon 10 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £16

The witty duo take to the road with their hit podcast.

Tue 11 Oct RED RAW

DAVID O’DOHERTY: WE ARE ALL IN THE GUTTER, BUT SOME OF US ARE LOOKING AT DAVID O’DOHERTY

Sat 15 Oct

Sun 09 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £3

Thu 04 Feb

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

THE ELLIS JAMES AND JOHN ROBINS EXPERIENCE

Glasgow Comedy

LAUGHTER EIGHT YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 12 Oct

NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. JOEL DOMMETT: LIVE 2016

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £10 - £12

The Stand brings highly acclaimed and ultra-energetic comedian Joel Dommett before a Glaswegian crowd.

Thu 13 Oct THE THURSDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. GARY DELANEY: THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT GARY

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £14

THE FRIDAY SHOW

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 26 Oct

SCOTT GIBSON: LIFE AFTER DEATH

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £8 - £10

A debut solo show from Scott Gibson which tells tales of pain, love, laughter and Blackpool. NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Thu 27 Oct YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 28 Oct THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 29 Oct THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his handpicked guests.

THE THURSDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 21 Oct THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 31 Oct

GARY LITTLE: A LITTLE BIT OF PERSONAL

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £10

The charming Gary Little returns, telling tales of paranoia, hillwalking and having prison pen pals.

Edinburgh Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of Comedy LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 22 Oct THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

Sun 23 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 - £12

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Thu 20 Oct

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Fri 14 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £3

Sun 30 Oct

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 07 Oct

RED RAW

The master of the one-liner, who thinks a good joke should be like a drunk Glaswegian, short and punchy... His words, not ours, FYI.

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

Tue 25 Oct

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 24 Oct TOPICAL STORM

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £5 - £7

Radical satire from Keir McAllister, Vladimir McTavish, Stu Murphy and Mark Nelson.

Tue 04 Oct

BENEFIT IN AID OF LEITH SEA CADETS

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £5

A comedy charity benefit in aid of Leith Sea Cadets, with Gus Lymburn, Gareth Mutch, Wayne Mazadza, Kimi Loughton and host Liam Withnail.

THE FRIDAY SHOW

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

No longer is Monkey Barrel sheltered beneath The Beehive – they’ve now got their very own Blair St. digs! Catch some Friday night stand-up with resident Rick Molland.

Sat 08 Oct THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

Sun 16 Oct

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

Laugh yourself into Saturday night stitches with Monkey Barrel’s multi-bill weekend show, featuring resident lol-stirrer Rick Molland.

Tue 18 Oct

GARY DELANEY: THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT GARY

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £14

The master of the one-liner, who thinks a good joke should be like a drunk Glaswegian, short and punchy... His words, not ours, FYI.

Wed 19 Oct TOPICAL STORM

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £7

Radical satire from Keir McAllister, Vladimir McTavish, Stu Murphy and Mark Nelson.

Sun 09 Oct

Thu 20 Oct

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

Laugh yourself into Saturday night stitches with Monkey Barrel’s multi-bill weekend show, featuring resident lol-stirrer Rick Molland. THE ELLIS JAMES AND JOHN ROBINS EXPERIENCE

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £16

The witty duo take to the road with their hit podcast.

Mon 10 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 11 Oct

JOEL DOMMETT: LIVE 2016

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £10 - £12

The Stand brings highly acclaimed and ultra-energetic comedian Joel Dommett before a Glaswegian crowd.

Wed 12 Oct

CAPITAL’S MAKE SOME NOISE COMEDY NIGHT

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £10

A comedy charity benefit with Capital Breakfast’s Des Clarke.

Thu 13 Oct THE THURSDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 14 Oct THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

THE THURSDAY SHOW

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 21 Oct THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

No longer is Monkey Barrel sheltered beneath The Beehive – they’ve now got their very own Blair St. digs! Catch some Friday night stand-up with resident Rick Molland.

Sat 22 Oct Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

Sun 23 Oct

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

Mon 24 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £3

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £18

Packed Saturday evening bill of standup headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

Sun 30 Oct

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

Laugh yourself into Saturday night stitches with Monkey Barrel’s multi-bill weekend show, featuring resident lol-stirrer Rick Molland. ADAM HESS & RHYS JAMES

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £10 - £12

The adorably misfortunate and awkward Adam Hess performs new show Feathers, while Rhys James brings along comedy-poetry combo show Forgives.

Mon 31 Oct

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art VOICING THE ARCHIVE

1 OCT-30 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

MAP presents a series of audio recordings of past MAP contributions, voiced by their authors and installed at a listening station in the CCA foyer and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. PIO ABAD: NOTES ON DECOMPOSITION

1-30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Pio Abad returns to Glasgow with new body of work for CCA’s gallery, exploring ideas surrounding value, cultural artefacts and political histories of the UK and the Philippines. The exhibition maps our current state of cultural disenchantment through a collection of objects bought, sold and sequestered from 1991 to the present. GLASGOW’S RADICAL INDEPENDENT BOOKFAIR PROJECT

7-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition celebrating ten years of the RIB project - supporting small press publishers and independent producers, circulating radical reading materials and information.

Compass Gallery JOHN JOHNSTONE: HOMAGE

1-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Solo exhibition – four decades of work by unique Scottish contemporary artist John Johnstone, including a body of paintings observed from everyday life. Johnstone is a creator of a private world, where the domestic and the visionary overlap and coexist.

Dundee Comedy

David Dale Gallery and Studios

RED RAW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £3

IRMÃO DOS HOMENS TODOS

Sat 08 Oct SEAN LOCK

CAIRD HALL, FROM 20:00, £23

RUSSELL KANE: RIGHT MAN, WRONG AGE

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £17

The shiny-quiffed Kane returns with a show all about growing up, growing down, and not quite feeling the right age.

1-8 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Pedro Wirz’s earthy nature-based sculptures and installations alongside Mauro Cerqueira’s assemblages of consumables, found objects and readymades.

Gallery Celine

ARM’S LENGTH GOVERNMENT BODY

8 OCT, 07:00PM-9:00PM

Glasgow-based artist Shona Macnoughton's new performance work in which looks site-specifically at the apartment itself, considering the ambivalent relationship of being a renting occupant who can never buy, but also the ‘heartwarming scenes of domesticity’ that take place.

Tue 25 Oct

1 OCT-13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

BRIGHT CLUB

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £5

A selection of comedic academics do a stint of stand-up for your entertainment and enlightenment. Laughs and learning in one neat package = tick.

Thu 27 Oct

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

THE SATURDAY SHOW

Glasgow Art

Glasgow Print Studio

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £18

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Sat 29 Oct

Art

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE THURSDAY SHOW

No longer is Monkey Barrel sheltered beneath The Beehive – they’ve now got their very own Blair St. digs! Catch some Friday night stand-up with resident Rick Molland.

Fri 21 Oct

Laugh yourself into Saturday night stitches with Monkey Barrel’s multi-bill weekend show, featuring resident lol-stirrer Rick Molland.

Sat 15 Oct

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £10

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £4 - £5

Thu 06 Oct

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW

Kerry Godliman shares her general bewilderment at then world in return for belly laughs at The Stand.

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Loved for his wondering, grumbling puzzlement at life, Mr Lock serves up some more deft observations on the world with his new tour, Keep it Light.

Wed 05 Oct The Stand hosts a monthly evening of total joke-pandemonium as Edinburgh’s top comics join forces.

THE FRIDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

THE SATURDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £18

No longer is Monkey Barrel sheltered beneath The Beehive – they’ve now got their very own Blair St. digs! Catch some Friday night stand-up with resident Rick Molland.

VIVA LA SHAMBLES

Fri 28 Oct

Wed 26 Oct

KERRY GODLIMAN: STICK OR TWIST

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £13

THE THURSDAY SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

TRIGGER WORDS

In an an exhibition reflecting upon the Glasgow Print Studio Press, GPS exhibits ten artists’ works that were been inspired by or somehow relate to a piece of Scottish literature.

Glasgow School of Art “THE MACK” DIGITAL RECOVERY BEGINS 7-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Cutting edge digital documentation techniques are employed by GSA’s Digital Design Studio to illustrate the Mackintosh building post-fire and to assist design teams in planning for the return of the building.

Listings

Glasgow Sculpture Studios

ZOFIA KULIK: INSTEAD OF SCULPTURE

1 OCT-3 DEC, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A debut UK exhibition from Polish artist Zofia Kulik, in which she investigate the reinvention of sculpture as a medium via serialised photographic works that are grouped as narrative tableaux.

GoMA

WOLFGANG TILLMANS: PICTURES FROM NEW WORLD

1 OCT-13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Turner Prize-winning Wolfgang Tillmans brings an exhibition of photographs from his series Neue Welt (New World) to the GoMA. After ten years spent abstracting and conceptualising, Tillmans exhibits a re-enchantment with seeing the world for what it is.

DEEP IN THE HEART OF YOUR BRAIN

1 OCT-13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

A major solo show from Jacqueline Donachie, a Glasgow-based artist whose ambitious new work explores disability, care and loss following over a decade of research and collaboration with scientific and medical professionals. PLEASE TURN US ON

1 OCT-22 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A group exhibition placing Glasgow at the core of a dialogue between early video art and international counterculture. Features What’s It To You?, a seminal work from Elsa Stansfield and Madelon Hooykaas, among other videographic works. JOHN SAMSON: 1975 - 1983

1 OCT-17 APR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of the complete works of enigmatic Scottish filmmaker John Samson (1946–2004), exhibiting the five films made during his lifetime.

Good Press MARBLES IN MY MOUTH

1-28 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Writer, musician and artist Fritz Welch presents a book about Austrian artist Viktor Rogy (1924204), who performed poetry recitals with marbles in his mouth and own a cafe called OM where he displayed defaced photos of right wing politicians.

Hunterian Art Gallery

WILLIAM HUNTER TO DAMIEN HIRST: THE DEAD TEACH THE LIVING

1 OCT-5 MAR 17, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

An exhibition curated by students on GSA / University of Glasgow’s students of Curatorial Practice, featuring objects and art which explore moments of synergy between the fields of art and science.

RENAISSANCE PRINTS: MANTEGNA, MARCANTONIO AND PARMIGIANINO

1 OCT-22 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collection of prints by three major figures in Italian Renaissance art: Andrea Mantegna, Marcantonio Raimondi and Parmigianino.

Intermedia Gallery

JOE SLOAN: PURIFICATION BY MUD

29 OCT-12 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Purification by Mud is an exhibition of new work that will feature and make use of anecdotal storytelling, life drawing, amateur singing, and prosthetic technologies such as voice prompters, POV cameras and medical audio recordings.

Mary Mary

MILANO CHOW: EGG AND TONGUE

1-29 OCT, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Milano Chow brings a solo exhibition – her first UK show – to Mary Mary. The show comprises a group of new works on paper installed around a custom-designed wallpaper.

Platform

MADE IN EASTERHOUSE FESTIVAL

1-31 OCT, TIMES VARY, TBC

Platform celebrates its 10th birthday with a big ol’ festival, featuring a Made in Easterhouse exhibition (1 Oct-27 Nov), performances and parties. See platform-online.co.uk for full festival listings.

Listings

Street Level Photoworks

LARRY HERMAN: CLYDESIDE 1974-76 1 OCT-27 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

NYC born sculptor Larry Herman revisits his original project (a project unseen since it was first exhibited at the Third Eye Centre, Glasgow in 1976) by adding new set of 78 black and white silver gelatine prints. BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2016

4-30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Street Level Photoworks support and host a programme of events and exhibitions across a selection of venues in recognition of Black History Month. See their website for detailed event information.

The Common Guild

SHARON HAYES: IN MY LITTLE CORNER OF THE WORLD, ANYONE WOULD LOVE YOU

8 OCT-3 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition by American artist Sharon Hayes, whose work explores the voice of the individual within wider political history. This exhibition draws from feminist and queer archives from the UK and the US to examines how political discourse is formed.

The Glue Factory

PATRICK COLE: DIVING

20-22 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £3 - £4

Through an ‘abstract narrative,’ Cole presents his persona’s ‘perceived threat to notions of masculinity within post-industrial culture’ in the sometimes damp and mouldy Tank Room of the Glue.

The Lighthouse KITCHENISM

1 OCT-28 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Lighthouse showcases furniture prototypes designed and made in Edinburgh, with the centrepiece of a new kitchen table for the Maggie’s Centre in Edinburgh, made from storm-fallen hardwoods donated by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. KATHY HINDE: LUMINOUS BIRDS

1 OCT-15 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Kathy Hinde brings her musical flock of luminous birds inspired by the flight-paths of migrating birds to The Lighthouse. GDFS: INTERNATIONAL POSTER EXHIBITION

22 OCT-25 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

A curated shortlist of entries to GDFS 2016 International Poster Competition which took place between June and August 2016 and received more than 3451 entries from more than 50 countries. GRAPHIC DESIGN FESTIVAL SCOTLAND

17-23 OCT, TIMES AND PRICES VARY (WEEKEND PASSES AVAILABLE)

Scotland's very own design mecca, featuring all kinds of workshops, exhibitions, live music, parties and screenings. See graphicdesignfestivalscotland.com for more info. PUTPUT EXHIBITION

22 OCT - 25 NOV, 10:00-5:00PM, FREE

PUTPUT lie in the intersection between art, design and concept, creating distinct visuals through self-instigated projects and commissions for clients. This exhibition is part of Graphic Design Festival Scotland. DESIGN DISPLACEMENT

22 OCT - 25 NOV, 10:00-5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition which explores the four grand themes of the opera; love, jealousy, ambition and revenge through an immersive audio-visual presentation. Part of Graphic Design Festival Scotland.

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane

NICOLAS PARTY: THREE CATS

1-29 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

In his second exhibition at The Modern Institute, Party presents a new body of pastel works within a faux-classical setting, featuring meticulously rendered marble effects and wall murals.

WALTER PRICE 1-8 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Walter Price exhibits a new selection of paintings and installations at The Modern Institute.

The Telfer Gallery

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS

1-16 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Edinburgh Art Arusha Gallery A SHIFTING UNCERTAINTY: PAINTINGS

A solo exhibition of new work by Luca George, a former breakdancer with The Original Prankster Crew who, after stumbling upon a dropbox of videos from the crew’s past created a multimedia exhibition exploring the effect of breakdancing on his life.

1-30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Tramway

PAPER TRAIL: DRAWINGS, WATERCOLOURS, PRINTS

JENNIFER WEST: FLASHLIGHT FILMSTRIP PROJECTIONS

1-30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Flashlight Filmstrip Projections comprises a screenless communal viewing space in which audiences activate film strips using handheld torches. Live performances will also take place on the opening night and intermittently during the exhibition’s run.

Transmission Gallery DON’T TREAD ON ME

1 OCT-5 NOV, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A group show exhibiting work by Sebastian Ymai, Angharad Williams, Orestis Lazouras and Lee Lazano.

A solo exhibition of new paintings by Pippa Young forming the second instalment of a two-part exhibition. The exhibition will include 16 new oil paintings and 13 small oil studies on board.

City Art Centre 1 OCT-21 MAY 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition exploring some of the many ways artists create works from the starting point of a fresh sheet of paper, including work by celebrated figures like Anne Redpath, Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi and Paul Sandby. WILLIAM GILLIES & JOHN MAXWELL

1-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition tracing the careers of William Gillies and John Maxwell, two Scottish artists of the 20th century with differing approaches and contrasting personalities but who exhibited, travelled and socialised together and remained friends for life.

Collective iota @ Unlimited Gallery HAMISH YOUNG: EXCAVATION Studios 1 OCT-20 NOV, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE PASCALE STEENKISTE

13-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Steenkiste’s first solo show, featuring abstract paintings in acrylic and mixed media on canvas, wood or board. Her creative process is based on intuition and emotion. Rich bold colours with texture are the essence of the work.

16 Nicholson Street OPPOSITE TENDENCIES

The curators of 16 Nicholson Street present their inaugural show Opposite Tendencies, a show bringing together three very different takes on photography from Mads Holm, Scott Caruth and Alice Myers, who travel internationally for their practice, but who are based in Scotland now.

Hamish Young’s new exhibition, comprising carved marble sculptures and a series of screen prints made with the residual marble dust.

Dovecot Studios NORTH LANDS CREATIVE GLASS: A PORTRAIT AT 20

1-29 OCT, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

An exhibition curated by Amanda Game which builds a portrait of North Lands Creative Glass, a glass studio based in Caithness on the North East Coast of Scotland.

Edinburgh Printmakers HISTORY MACHINES

1-22 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A UK premiere exhibition of new commissions and existing artwork by Toronto artists Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel which explores the enduring legacy of print that continues to shape how we communicate – even as we launch ourselves into a digital future.

Ingleby Gallery

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY: EARLY WORK

12 OCT-26 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

10 years after the death of Ian Hamilton Finlay, and 50 years since he moved to a little farm in the Pentland Hills called Stonypath and transformed its surrounds into a poet’s garden, the Ingleby presents an exhibition centred around the year 1966.

Interview Room 11 POLITICALLY UNBECOMING

1-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A group exhibition bringing together new work by national and international artists Sina Boroumandi, Alessandro Di Massimo, Natalie Doyle, Piotr Hanzelewicz, Janie Nicoll, Stephen Kavanagh, nick e melville and Derek Sutherland. The participating artist were invited to investigate and reflect on the shifting relationship between art and politics in relation to their practice.

Inverleith House I STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

1-23 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

I still believe in miracles is a celebration which brings together major works by leading artists based in Scotland and internationally who have made solo exhibitions for the gallery from Carl Andre and Louise Bourgeois to Robert Ryman and Richard Wright, alongside remarkable botanical drawings and models from the Garden’s Library Archive which have been an integral feature of the exhibitions programme throughout its history.

National Museum of Scotland

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

1 OCT-19 FEB 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1 OCT-28 MAY 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

51ST WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR EXHIBITION

The only Scottish showcase for the 51st Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, which will feature 100 awe-inspiring images, from fascinating animal behaviour to breath- taking wild landscapes.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA UNREALISED: ARCHITECTURAL IMAGINATION FROM THE RSA COLLECTIONS

1 OCT-13 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

RSA showcases the architectural plans, sketches and competition entries detailing plans for buildings that never came to be. Have a wander and wonder ‘what if?’. THE DAVID MICHIE GIFT

1 OCT-13 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

The RSA exhibits a collection of over twenty works gifted to them by artist, exhibitor, tutor and avid supporter of the RSA, David Michie. DAVID MICHIE RSA: STUDIO WORKS

1 OCT-6 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

A companion exhibition to RSA’s gifted David Michie showcase, featuring works from across his career which are available for sale.

Scottish National Gallery ROCKS AND RIVERS: THE LUNDE COLLECTION

1 OCT-30 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Long-term loan from one of the finest private collections of 19thCentury Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings, American collector Asbjörn Lunde, taking in 13 works by artists including Johan Christian Dahl, Alexandre Calame and Thomas Fearnley. TESCO BANK ART COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS 2016

1-27 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of 53 winning artworks from this year’s Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools, selected from over 7,400 entries. This year’s themes are ‘Creepy Crawlies’ and ‘Slimy Things’, ‘Circus’, ‘Horse’, ‘Darkness and Light’, and ‘Trees’.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art BRIDGET RILEY: PAINTINGS,1963-2015

1 OCT-16 APR 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A focused display of selected paintings from the works of Bridget Riley, born in 1931. The exhibition chronicles her earlier, iconic use of monochrome, her transition into using a grey palette, before an expansion into using an array of colour. 20TH CENTURY: MASTERPIECES OF SCOTTISH AND EUROPEAN ART

1 OCT-18 FEB 18, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of works offering a historical overview of some of the most significant artistic contributions made during the last century. The exhibition also aims to place Scottish modern art within an international context. RICHARD DEMARCO AND JOSEPH BEUYS: A UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP

1-16 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A showcase of the artistic works, lectures and ‘actions’ that Richard Demarco – an Edinburgh-based avant-garde gallerist – commissioned from post-war German artist Joseph Beuys. JOSEPH BEUYS: A LANGUAGE OF DRAWING

1-30 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The largest collection of work by German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) outside of Germany, this exhibition features 110 drawings covering the artist’s career between 1945 and 1986. KARLA BLACK AND KISHIO SUGA: A NEW ORDER

22 OCT-19 FEB 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Karla Black and Kishio Suga share in common their knack for taking ordinary everyday materials and using them to create beautifully complex sculptural works. Their exhibition at Modern One combines their work for the first time.

THE TWEEDDALES: POWER, POLITICS AND PORTRAITS

Artwork featuring and commissioned by the Tweeddale family, a highly influential dynasty at the heart of Scottish society in the latter half of the seventeenth century who were known best for contributions to politics and the military. SCOTS IN ITALY

1 OCT-5 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of the Scottish experience of Italy in the eighteenth century, a time when artistic, entrepreneurial and aristocratic fascination with the country was reaching boiling point. OUT OF THEIR HEADS: BUILDING PORTRAITS OF SCOTTISH ARCHITECTS

1 OCT-5 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

An opportunity to peer into the minds of some of Scotland’s greatest architects via The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection of portraits and designs. FACING THE WORLD: SELFPORTRAITS REMBRANDT TO AI WEIWEI

1-16 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 - £9

Taking lead from the ongoing phenomenon of self-portraits on social media, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery presents a collection of portraits spanning six centuries and various media, from paintings to Instagram posts. THE VIEW FROM HERE

29 OCT-30 APR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Taking the theme of landscape through photographs from the 1840s to the present day, this exhibition is drawn completely from the National Galleries of Scotland’s permanent photographic collection and aims to explore the techniques and processes of landscape photographers far and wide.

St Margaret’s House VISUAL ARTISTS’ UNIT

1-16 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Visual Artists’ Unit start October with their annual members’ show in Edinburgh. They’re a small but diverse collective of recent graduates based on a floor of the Crownpoint Studios in the East End of Glasgow. ERASURE: NEW DRAWINGS BY DEIRDRE MACLEOD

1-16 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A solo exhibition of large-scale and 3D semi-abstract drawings by Scottish artist Deirdre Macleod which deals with the effect upon urban light of changes to the built environment.

Stills JO SPENCE

1-16 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Stills exhibits two aspects of photographer Jo Spence’s creative output; documentary images from the 1970s illustrating the educational workshops that she developed with collaborator Terry Dennett, along with therapy-based self-portraiture.

Summerhall

CONTEXT IS HALF THE WORK. A PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP

1-5 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The Artist Placement Group (APG) was founded in the UK in 1966. This internationally acclaimed exhibition, curated by Naomi Hennig and Ulrike Jordan in dialogue with Barbara Steveni examines seven APG placements through a showcase of research material, video works, art works and documentation of the group’s activity. IAN SMITH’S STUDIO

28 OCT-27 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A celebratory retrospective of the work of the maverick performer and self-proclaimed ‘Art Gangster’. GRAEME WILCOX

28 OCT-27 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Glasgow-based painter Graeme Wilcox depicts people and scenes both real and imagined in an attempt to work through the strangeness of daily life and the people surrounding us.

GOOD GRIEF: PART 2 28 OCT-27 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Dundee Art

IN MEMORIAM: A GROUP SHOW

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

Attend a re-working of Ian Smith’s Good Grief installation originally made for the National Review of Live Art and leave tributes to loved ones past. 28 OCT-27 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A group show forming part of Summerhall’s Death Fest, featuring multi-disciplinary works by friends and loved ones recently passed, including Emma Hermann Smith, Abigail Mclellan, Jean Hendry, Graeme Gilmour and Roger Ely. ROSS FRASER MCLEAN: CEIBA CASA DE TODOS LOS MUERTOS

28 OCT-23 DEC, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Photographer-artist Ross Fraser McLean’s exhibition of works created when carrying out research trips into Mexican culture, investigating Mexico’s relationship with death and dying. COLIN GRAY: IT TAKES A VILLAGE

28 OCT-27 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A powerful and challenging series of portraits and personal stories crated by award-winning Glasgow based artist photographer Colin Gray with help from The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, exploring the notion of offering support to those who are dying.

Talbot Rice Gallery THE SUBJECT AND ME

1-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The first solo exhibition in Scotland of Alice Neel’s striking and resonant portraits, entitled The Subject and Me. The exhibition is part of a wider series promoting the work of leading women artists, previously including Hanne Darboven and Jenny Holzer. ECLECTRC PANOPTIC

1-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

KATY DOVE

1 OCT-20 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A memorial exhibition of drawings, collages, paintings, prints and animations by Katy Dove, an artist and former student of DJCAD / employee of DCA who passed away in 2015.

The McManus

DRAW THE LINE: OLD MASTERS TO THE BEANO

1-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A celebration of ‘one of the most basic and enduring of human activities’, The McManus showcases a selection of figure studies and portraiture, illustration, preparatory sketches, landscape and topography by historic and contemporary artists. CHARTING NEW WATERS

1-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition introducing two major acquisitions to Dundee’s collection, including Scottish artist Frances Walker’s dramatic icescapes of Antarctica, created after she was granted the James McBey Travel Award in 2007. REFLECTIONS ON CELTS

1 OCT-5 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

A delightfully pun-based name for an exhibition featuring two Iron Age mirrors – the British Museum’s Holcombe mirror and National Museums Scotland’s Balmaclellan mirror – in a partnership between National Museums Scotland and the British Museum.

Jess Johnson’s suite of drawings, tessellating patterns and VR tech which aims to bridge a portal into another realm. The installation takes genesis from psychomagic group rituals conceived by filmmaker and comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky. STEPHEN BRANDES: PARC DU SOUVENIR

29 OCT-17 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

A new body of work fixating on interests from modern European history to Enlightenment, architectural expressions of ideology in the rural and urban environment to the Northern Romantic Landscape tradition; Dada and Constructivist collage and beyond. THE TORRIE COLLECTION

29 OCT-17 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Torrie Collection represents the University’s founding art collection and features Dutch landscape paintings of the ‘Golden Age’ and Italian Renaissance bronze sculptures in the tradition of Michelangelo. It was given to the Talbot Rice in 1836. ROB KENNEDY: ACTS OF DIS PLAY

29 OCT-17 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An installation featuring a new video work, weekly performances, detritus, found objects, philosophical texts and a selection of contemporary and historical artworks by the likes of Merlin James, Conor Kelly, Julian Kildear, Tony Maas and David Tenier.

The Fruitmarket Gallery DAMIÁN ORTEGA

1-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Fruitmarket’s showcase of new sculptures from Damián Ortega, a prominent Mexican artist whose imaginative works will focus on how the forces of nature – wind, water, earth and fire – act on the earth, independently and in relationship to man.

Whitespace COLLECTOR

9-13 OCT, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

20 collectors from NW Edinburgh show off their various collections at Whitespace.

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

THE SKINNY

O U T C BA K

A Four-Pint Pub Chat A lot has happened since Arab Strap called it quits back in 2006. Now, as the alt-folk legends from Falkirk reunite for a highly anticipated tour, Aidan Moffat offers his take on the years they’ve been away Interview: Chris McCall

2007: Alex Salmond becomes the SNP’s first First Minister. There’s been an inconceivable number of political changes over these past ten years... “The past few years have been mental, aye, but it was great to see the country so politically engaged – and sometimes enraged! Salmond as FM was a first step toward the indyref, of course, and while I voted Yes, it’s not hard to see why plenty of folk aren’t keen on him. I’m exhausted by it all now, though, as I expect most of the country is, but the UK’s in a right state now. Seems like we’re all having a rest and saving our energy for the next time.” 2008: The Promise, by Girls Aloud, storms the charts. Best pop song of the noughties? “I love Girls Aloud and I’m very happy to say that I saw their last show in Glasgow, and it was absolutely outstanding. The Promise is probably my favourite of theirs too, but I’m not sure we can call it the best pop song of the same decade that Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love came out.” 2009: The Twilight Sad release second album Forget the Night Ahead. You obviously know James & co. well, but do you ever fear they might call a halt to the band? Critical acclaim doesn’t always pay the bills. “They’ve just done about 30 dates with The Cure in America, and they’re doing another 30 in Europe later this year, so I don’t think they’ve ever been stronger! I’m more worried that I’ll have to speak to James’s assistant PA a few years down the line just to organise a Thursday pint.”

reform, but you must play one of your old albums!’ I’m not interested in that sort of thing.” 2012: The fabled opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Worth the hype? “I liked the bit with the nurses, and Tim BernersLee, but I’d forgotten all about it until you asked.” 2013: Pixies release their first record in 20 years – should such iconic bands ‘only’ reunite to tour? “I’m very rarely impressed with reformed bands’ records, and I’m afraid to say the Pixies’ ones aren’t an exception. Sometimes it works – Dinosaur Jr. have done okay, but the one that really impressed me was Suede’s last album from this year, Night Thoughts. It’s probably their best record, and their gig at the Concert Hall was spectacular. So it can work sometimes, aye... but if you’re hinting at an Arab Strap one, there’s nothing planned. It depends how you do it. I think if you do it just to try to recapture your youth and repeat what you did before, it can only ever end up a bit shite and pointless. That’s what Suede got right – it’s still them but with a new perspective. And they still get to play a greatest hits set on the tour, so it’s all good for everyone.”

logo, which I’m really chuffed with. I try not to think about being a part of any kind of culture too much – that way arrogance lies.” 2016: Political rubbish aside, the year has been dominated by surprise album drops and confusing conversations about Tidal. Do you think the way we hear new music is changing, for better or worse? “Back when we started, there was a blueprint, a set of rules on how to release a record, that everyone followed. But these days you can pretty much

do anything you can think of and afford to – and that’s the key. Bands like Radiohead can afford to do a name-your-price album, and big pop stars can afford to live off streaming. I think there’s a real class system within music now, whereas in the 90s we had more of a level playing field – Arab Strap even scraped into the Top 40 once! But everything still seems a little in flux, so it’s hard to get a grip on anything. There’s no short answer here – definitely a four-pint pub chat.” Arab Strap play the Barrowland, Glasgow, on 15 & 16 Oct arabstrap.scot

“ I think there’s a real class system within music now, 2010: Celtic Connections hosts a celebration whereas in the 90s of Chemikal Underground. Now that you’re about to release a compilation spanning 20 years with we had more of a them, how would you describe your journey with the label? level playing field” “I was always into more of a DIY ethic, and Chemikal were perfectly suited to that when we signed – they were formed by a band to release their own records, so they all know exactly how a band functions and understand what the artists want and expect. Nothing’s really changed since then, to be honest. It’s no secret that indie labels are struggling these days, but it’s great to see Chemikal going strong, and long may it last.”

2011: Arab Strap perform a one-off show at Glasgow’s Nice 'N' Sleazy. Did you receive offers to do a bigger reunion tour? “Not really, and we did that gig for free to celebrate Sleazy’s 20th birthday, so we were going pretty cheap at the time! There was a vague offer a few years ago and the money being talked about was great, but I didn’t want to do it and the final offer never materialised anyway. I didn’t want to do it on someone else’s terms, I only wanted to do it if the time was right and we were in control, and that’s what we’ve done. We don’t even have a promoter for the Glasgow gigs, we’re doing it all ourselves. I was always a bit uncomfortable with that idea of throwing money at old bands and telling them what to play – ‘Here’s a five-figure sum to

October 2016

Aidan Moffat

2014: The Kelpies are officially opened in Falkirk. Do you still feel an affinity to the district? “I’ve been to see the Kelpies, aye, they’re pretty cool, as is the fancy new Helix playpark next to it. I go through and visit my Mum every few weeks, but otherwise I don’t really know much about the place anymore – I haven’t lived there for nearly 20 years. I’ll occasionally go for a walk through to see how it’s going, and there’s a shop in the Cow Wynd I always buy summer shirts from, but I feel far more at home in Glasgow now. I did actually think about moving back when my son was on the way, because I suppose we all want our children to have the same sort of upbringing we did, and it was a good place to be a child. But in the end, my kids ended up being first generation Weegies and we’re all happy where we are. 2015: The Hug & Pint sets up shop in Glasgow. How does it feel to have a bar named in your honour? “I think it’s great, and they even let me design their

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