The Skinny January 2009 Issue 40

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ISSUE 40•January 2009•FREE

Mickey Rourke in The wrestler

surf's up for vivian Girls

sub rosa at the citizens theatre

Optimo turns eleven

rex the dog

up-cycling at raw vintage

see the

Australia to ArgyLL, Devon to Berlin...

WORLD The Skinny Holiday special

Music | Film | clubs | theatre | games | books | events | art | fashion | listings

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This year I’m going to be my own boss

Let’s make this year, your year.

Even in this current economic climate, with a great business idea, anything is possible. If you’ve got one, we can help.

Our expert and impartial advisers can give you a hand to write a business plan and advise you on available funding. We also provide links to The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust. They can provide essential finance and support to entrepreneurs aged 18-25, living in Scotland.

And if you want to improve or develop your business knowledge and skills look no further. We offer free local workshops that do just that. You’ll even have the opportunity to meet others with the same ambitions.

For a brighter future, call 0845 609 6611 or text ‘Skinny’ to 64600 and we’ll call you back.

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Editorial WE DECIDED to run a Holiday Special, in this our January issue, to try to flog some travel-related ads in what is typically a quiet month. Looking through the mag, you'll notice this didn't work particularly well, but happily the Section Editors did a sterling job and we do in fact have a raft of really useful, inspiring holiday ideas.

Being a cultural mag at heart, we opted to divvy up our holiday content based on different themes of holiday you might choose to go on. So Chris Duncan our Clubs Editor recommends the best events for dancing your flip-flops off around the Mediterranean this summer (p. 43); Ruth Marsh gives a local's advice for a foodie tour of North Devon (p. 16 seriously, this sounds like a brilliant long weekend, if not your main holiday of the year); and Gail Tolley and Michael Gillespie offer a few pointers for classic movie locations dotted around Scotland (p. 20).

There's plenty more besides, so look out for the Holidays Special badge throughout the mag to whet your appetite for getting away.

THE MORE print-media savvy of you may have noticed that we're 'trimmed' this month. RisquĂŠ as that might sound, what it really means is that the serrated paper bits and perforations around the print area have now been removed, giving you a much nicer magazine to handle and leaf through. In line with what has always been a fairly organic evolution here at The Skinny, we decided to redesign the mag in line with this shift in production.

I learned a lot during the redesign process this month. 'Just make it look cool,' was about the sum total of my overview at the start of the process, and in response to anything that seemed too bright or chirpy I just sort of made moochy noises to indicate a lack of conviction.

Luckily, our creative head honcho Matt was full of conviction as to what would work and what wouldn't, and the snazzy new look is very much to his vision.

Issue 40, January 2009 Š Radge Media Ltd. Let us know what you think E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, The Drill Hall, 30-38 Dalmeny St, Edinburgh, EH6 8RG

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.

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I MENTIONED evolution back there, and rather lazily (albeit deliberately lazily) referred to the process as 'organic'. Scientists now seem to be saying that evolution can be understood as a geological process, and some of the implications of this point of view are fascinating (for those of you who don't subscribe to Kevin Kelly's blog 'The Technium', you should: to find out more and to subscribe visit www.kk.org/ thetechnium).

Another interesting trend of late has been the number of digital products to take evolutionary themes, particularly computer games like the epic Spore. As part of the UNESCO City of Literature series of events in February, The Skinny, in collaboration with the ESRC Genomics Network and Research Forum, is putting on a discussion to look into how digital representations of evolution match up to the real thing. Should be fascinating, and places though ticketed are free: more info is on page 9.

JANUARY is a time when magazines like to look forward to the events of the new year. We're no strangers to this here at The Skinny; in fact we're quite good at it: last year's 15 bands to watch included such names as Glasvegas, Frightened Rabbit, Broken Records, Noah and the Whale, Tokyo Police Club, MGMT and Yeasayer. It's like we picked the best sets at July's T in the Park, in January. Our artist tips for this year are on page 33, and a guide to pending albums runs across pages 36-37. Happy listening, happy days. rupert@theskinny.co.uk

THE SKINNY January 2009

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Of course, we all knew that colour and font and spacing were key to the readability of a page, but it's only when you get right into it and start making comparisons between at-first-imperceptible options that you realise just how much it matters, and the extent to which attention to detail is key.

Apart from looking ultra-modern (our new key-font, Soho, only came out in 2007), we hope you find the content easier than ever to read and engage with. We'd appreciate your comments, though, so fire any thoughts you have to hello@theskinny.co.uk and we'll bear them in mind (organic, eh? ...more like easily led).

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Publisher Editorial

Editor Online & Music editor Clubs editor Heads Up editor Deviance editor Fashion editor Theatre editor Film editor DVD editor Comedy editor Books editor Games editor Art & Showcase editor Food & Drink editor Aberdeen editor

Production

Creative director Production editor Subeditors

ABC: 28,592. 1/1/08 - 30/6/08

Sales

Enterprise manager Sales executive

Research

Listings editor Club listings

Cover Image

Sophie Kyle Rupert Thomson Dave Kerr Chris Duncan Erin McEIlhinney Nine Lindsay West Gareth K. Vile Gail Tolley Michael Gillespie Lizzie Cass-Maran Keir Hind Josh Wilson Rosamund West Ruth Marsh Jaco Justice

Matt MacLeod David Lemm Euan Ferguson Paul Greenwood Paul Mitchell

Lara Moloney Becca Pottinger

Becca Pottinger Andrew Cooke

Sky over Corstorphine Hill, Edinburgh by Pete Dunlop

4 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

Contents

6 8 10 12 16 18 20 24 25 26 29 30 32 52 56 57

Showcase

The Skinny's photographer Mike Byrne spent an extended period onproject with sex workers in Bangalore. Images, and biographical stories.

DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…

+ TOMMY SPARKS + WET PAINT

Heads Up

Alien Wars was a hit when it first came to the Arches in the '90s.

Now it's back, to the delight of sci-fi fans and thrillseekers alike.

Travel

An impassioned dialogue on the best travel footwear options, and a few random stories from Skinny writers' holidays past.

Fashion

'Up-cycling' is the term for getting old clothes tailored in funky new ways, by the likes of Glasgow's Raw Vintage. 'A damn good idea' is another.

Food & Drink

GLASGOW CARLING ACADEMY T Sunday S25th 2009 OLD OUJanuary Monday 26th January 2009

www.blocparty.com www.myspace.com/blocparty ‘INTIMACY’ out now

Devon is often bypassed on the way to Cornwall, but our Devon-born Food and Drink ed Ruth Marsh explains why gourmands should brake early.

Deviance

A look at the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener, a ground-breakingly progressive couple whose lives are being made into a film: The Danish Girl.

Film

GLASGOW ABC

Friday 6th February

Want to know where to go to get burned in a big body-shaped basket? Gail Tolley and Michael Gillespie are here to help.

Games Prince of Persia is a work of running, jumping, problem-solving class.

More reviews also, plus a look at Nintendo's plans for 2009.

Books

Keir Hind has a look at the current crop of Scottish-produced comics, including Total Fear and The Fat Man.

Theatre

Spooky! David Leddy takes over the basements of the Citizens Theatre for a chilling Victoriana-style take on power relations, with Sub Rosa.

Comedy

The Mighty Boosh show reviewed, plus an insider's advice on why the Melbourne Comedy Festival is a great event to base your Oz trip around.

Art ECA students do a grand job of turning a dingy Old Town cellar into a viable gallery space, while we have a look at art tourism destinations worldwide.

Music Vivian Girls' take on scuzzed-up surf rock has us very excited indeed.

Lauren Mayberry catches a wave, and a coffee, with the band.

Clubs

Rex the Dog are one of the most original and fun acts around. Following their storming set at Death Disco, we find out what the secret is.

Competitions Win tickets to see Jazzanova, along with soul legend Marlena Shaw and local favourites Digital Jones, for 30 January's Bulleit Originals event.

Listings Animal Collective (left) are one of our live music highlights playing this month: 13 January, Glasgow School of Art. All your listings needs are here.

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JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 5

the skinny showcase For the holiday special, we've opted for a travelthemed documentary Showcase. Here we present Mike Byrne's The Sex Workers of Bangalore series, taken while Mike was working with Indian NGO Society for People's Action and Development.

To view more of his work, go to www.faction.co.uk For more information on the NGO and their projects, visit www.spad.in Saraswathi (25yrs) A female sex worker, Saraswathi has 2 children (Rakshita 4yrs, pictured) and another baby 6 months old to support. Once a woman separates from a husband she cannot return to her own family. It is considered shameful for her to be taken back in by her own parents.

Kanaka (15yrs)

Chalu (21yrs) A Eunuch Sex Worker (ESW), Chalu has considered herself to be female since the age of 11yrs. She would cook, clean, dress as a woman and apply make-up to her face. At the age of 18yrs she became a woman publicly but has not had the operation to remove her male genitals. She was married to a man who would beat her and extort all of her money from her, that man was also her uncle. She has now run away from her uncle as his financial demands were increasing, as was the physical violence. She now shares a small house in the Sunnyasi Kunte Slum with another ESW. They are considered to be spoiling the culture of the community and drunken youths harass them on a daily basis. To survive she begs on the streets in the morning and works as a sex worker for the rest of the day.

6 THE SKINNY January 2009

A female sex worker in Bangalore, Kanaka was orphaned at a young age and was then living with her brother and his wife who were abusing her. She ran away from home at the age of 14. She was quickly taken from the street by an unknown man who trafficked her to the sex industry in Bangalore. I took this portrait 2 weeks after she had given birth to her first child. As she was living in a brothel she was forced to sell the baby to a local family. She received approx. ÂŁ60 for her child. Before I left India I enquired about Kanaka and discovered that a local community leader wished to take her in as a second wife to work in his home. Kanaka had refused to go with him so he forced the brothel to eject her onto the street. She is now living with another sex worker and continues in the sex industry in Bangalore. When we met I asked her what she hoped for the future. She replied: "I just want to be able to look after myself and live a happy life."

Sandhiya (29yrs)

A Eunuch Sex Worker (ESW), Sandhiya was adopted by another ESW (Bommi) who then helped to fund her operation to remove her male genitals. Currently living in the ESW colony near the truck stops of Bangalore and working nearby in a Hammam (bath house).

Ganesh (26yrs)

A male sex worker, also known as Men who have sex with Men (MSMs), Ganesh is pictured outside of a public toilet near Bangalore's City Market where he picks up clients.

Asha (28yrs)

A female sex worker, Asha is pictured waiting outside Bangalore's state hospital where she is waiting for a fellow sex worker to be tested for HIV. Asha is HIV positive.

January 2009

THE SKINNY 7

Heads Up

Alien Wars @ The Arches

Gutter Talk

Vesikouro puhua/jgheab vorbesc...

Erin McElhinney discovers that in Glasgow, no-one cares if you scream...

Brenda

Cam

Heather

Alan

Delphine

Tim & Lizzie

Brenda Why is Paraparaumu your dream destination?

Because of the outback lifestyle: it’s friendly, healthy and outdoorsy but they still like to get rat-arsed...

So you're sitting in your Glasgow flat one evening, you've just finished watching Alien for the umpteenth time with your fellow film buff pal, and you're discussing how cool it would be if you could enter that world and experience it, just for a few minutes... and you decide to ring the head of Twentieth Century Fox and ask him to let you take one of the world's most successful film franchises and create just such an experience. And he says yes. That's a pretty good day.

We are simplifying, but only slightly. Gary Gillies and John Gorman were successful artists in their own right - music production and set design respectively - but had no contacts, no money and no clout; just a lot of Glasgow cheek and a really, really good idea.

Alien War was first launched at The Arches in '92, and caused a pretty big media storm at the time; CNN flew over, Time magazine did a spread, Richard & Judy invited them on to the couch, and when they launched the London event they had none other than Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) herself to, er, flame throw open the proceedings. Says Gillies: "We got in touch with her agent, flew over to NY to meet him, and he drawled 'Sigourney got $10 million for her last movie, what are you going to pay her?' and I said 'Well, actually, we've got no money left.' He almost choked on his cigar. But we offered ticket royalties, he pressed a buzzer, Sigourney walked in, took a look at our promotional videos, said 'I want to do it' and that was it." Oh, apart from the bit where they asked Fox if they could have a poke around in their warehouse in Heathrow and accidentally uncovered all the original props from the movie, subsequently incorporating them into the project.

Fifteen years later, Gillies - now running his own record label - and Gorman - art director for Hollywood blockbusters - caved in to pressure to resurrect Alien Wars (do you see what they did there?), and knew there was no other location but The Arches, its original venue, to stage it in. "When we first thought it up, we were determined to do it in Glasgow; its people won't put up with anything stupid, so we knew if it worked here, it'd work anywhere" explains

Gillies. "And The Arches has the best atmosphere for it; even people that attended both the Glasgow and London events said the northern setting had the edge." Now set in the supposedly haunted basement tunnels of the venue, this Alien Wars has a whole new monster, storyline and set; the boys actually decided to go it alone without Fox this time, as the latter were "too scared of someone having a heart-attack. They were constantly scaling back, and we finally thought 'Right, let's just do it on our own and we can really go to town.'" Considering that the tamed down version had Micheal Jackson's bodyguards running for the emergency exit, and (after one unfortunate accident) prompted a clean set of underwear to be kept on set at all times, Alien Wars is promising a lot.

The basic premise is that during renovations, The Arches discovered an alien craft, and a new government organisation, S.U.B - your guess is as good as ours - has begun conducting small public tours of the basement area where it is located. So far, so twee, but once you're inside the experience - marketed as "total reality" as opposed to virtual - it's not long before the flickering lights, dank walls and military paraphenalia are beginning to do the job. It's the difference between playing Half Life on a computer monitor and having to actually peer round a corner knowing full well there could be something waiting to decapitate you; the marine escort is rather shouty to begin with, but after something begins tearing up the equipment right behind you and the whole group starts screaming and legging it down the corridor, you're suddenly rather glad to hear him/her telling you to run, run, run...

To a certain extent, as with anything in the horror/ thriller enactment world, you get out as much as you put in, but there's no doubt the setting, props and acting are all top notch; even the toughest should find their skin crawling a little, and for any die-hard fans of the original movies it's definitely worth a look. Just make sure you keep up. Says Gillies: "We have actually lost people in there. But you know, not often..." www.thearches.co.uk www.alienwars.com

Also on...

The Skinny highlights bits & pieces coming up in January The traditional Loony Dook takes place in South Queensferry on New Year’s Day, catch the Terri Shaltiel Quartet at The Jazz Bar on 2nd, The Gifted exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland closes on 11th, Stephen K Amos does one night at The Stand in Edinburgh on 18th and Glasgow on 19th, Welsh director Marc Evans’ documentary In Prison My Whole Life – focusing on the fate of imprisoned political activist and former Black

8 THE SKINNY January 2009

Panther member Mumia Abu-Jamal – comes to the MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling on 22nd for a special one-off screening with Q&A from John Watson of Amnesty International, Warner Bros re-release The Dark Knight on 23rd for those who missed it the first time round, Sunshine on Leith hits Eden Court at the end of the month whilst a stage adaptation of Takeshi Kitano’s film Dolls opens at the Tramway on 28th. See our website for more.

If you could pick anyone in the world to go travelling with, who would it be?

My daughter comes everywhere with me! She’s great.

Ever joined the Mile High Club?

Or the Sandy Bum Club?

The Sandy Bum Club? I might have... more like the Woods at the Back of the Golf Course Club, though!

(Brenda was the only Gutter Talker willing to answer this question. At least, on record...)

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

Shetland. The peace and quiet, the remoteness, the way of life: the fact that they leave their front doors open, and police themselves.

How’s your carbon footprint?

Can’t be too bad – I walk everywhere!

Alan Why is Mecca your dream destination?

Because the Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam!

Tell us your worst holiday horror story?

It was the journey more than the actual holiday experience, and that was a 24-hour bus trip to Paris from Glasgow!

And your best holiday experience?

Turkey, Istanbul.

If you could pick anyone in the world to go travelling with, who would it be?

My wife.

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

Arisaig, in the north-west Highlands.

It’s quiet, isolated, lovely friendly people.

How’s your carbon footprint?

Not bad. I went to one of these Royal Society lectures and I was in one of the best categories at that: I ride a bike, don’t drive a car and if I’m not on the bike I’m probably either on a bus or walking. I try to use eco-friendly products, prefer sodium bicarbonate to bleach, and that sort of thing.

Cam

Why is Timbuktu your dream destination?

Mali is lovely and hot this time of year.

Tell us your worst holiday horror story?

Don’t really have any holiday horror stories, but I used to have to take three flights to get to work, and three flights back! Working in the most remote central Queensland, so I had to spend a day going each way...

And your best holiday experience?

Going to Mahdia in Tunisia, which seemed like a little fishing town with nothing much there. We were going to head off the following day but it turned out the hotel we were in was full of all these really amazing people, so we ended up staying for four days!

Hung out on the beach, drank a lot, basically had a really fun, relaxed time, made some good friends.

If you could pick anyone in the world to go travelling with, who would it be and why?

Tom Robbins, the travel writer. His books are always fascinating, just really well-plotted and full of all sorts of great information. You get the impression that he’s only putting the tip of the iceberg in the books, and that he’s actually very well-read. He’s done a lot of way-out things and is just fun, basically.

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

Galway. Just a nice little town, great people. I’ve only been there once, but it was really a spectacularly good time.

How’s your carbon footprint?

Pretty high, probably. I live on my own, drive a car...

Delphine

Why is Beijing your dream destination?

I went when I was about 18, and would love to go again... see the Great Wall of China, and that.

Tell us your worst holiday horror story?

Most disappointing place I’ve been to is Tunisia.

If you could pick anyone in the world to go travelling with, who would it be and why?

Ewan McGregor and his motorcycle, after he did Long Way Round.

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

The west coast of Scotland, where I go sailing from time to time.

Heather Why is Japan your dream destination?

I’m interested in the culture... especially in old Japan. I’d like to see the mountains and the countryside.

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

Wales, for its natural beauty!

How’s your carbon footprint?

Quite good I think. I mostly walk or get the bus, and I try to recycle everything I can.

Tim & Lizzie Why is Timbuktu (via Casablanca, they’ve drawn a helpful map to show their route) your dream destination?

Lizzie: Casablanca because we’ve dreamed up things that will happen there... and Timbuktu because his name is Tim, so often when I’m with him we go to Timbuktu.

Tim: And after Timbuktu we’ll go to Timor! But we can’t go there till the war stops.

Tell us your worst holiday horror story?

Lizzie: Last year I went to Wales, and my friend booked a cabin for the wrong week, so we ended up stranded in Wales in the rain for two weeks, so we had to go and buy a tent and camp on a cliff. But it turned out to be a blessing!

And your best holiday experience?

Tim: Snowboarding through the trees with my brother. Just a perfect, captured moment.

If you could pick anyone in the world to go travelling with, who would it be and why?

Tim: All of our friends, so we could have lots of cake and they could help with the washing up.

Lizzie: Or Louis Armstrong!

Tim: Oh yeah, or Louis! That would be great.

What’s your favourite destination on the British isles?

Lizzie: I think my home. I go on a lot of adventures in my home...!

How’s your carbon footprint?

Lizzie: Oh, ace! I walk everywhere.

Compiled by Fergus Ray Murray

HEADS UP

Holiday Snaps Got holiday snaps you want to show off?

Email 'em to submissions@theskinny.co.uk and we'll add them to our online gallery!

IMAGES: JACO JUSTICE FAR LEFT, LEFT: VIETNAM ABOVE: NAOMI GILL TAKES THE SKINNY ON TOUR IN HALONG BAY, VIETNAM BELOW: CAMBODIA

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 9

TRAVEL

The Great Holiday Footwear Debate Roll up, it's boys versus girls on this one. Yes, we are being fatuous, and we don't care.

ANDREW’S TRAVEL FOOTWEAR TIPS LIKE all well-travelled individuals I’ve developed the somewhat tedious habit of offering advice on all matters pertaining to holidays and travel – where best to visit, when to visit, what to eat when there – everything short of suggesting you tell them Andrew sent you, “they’ll know who you mean”. Nevertheless, all the advice I proffer now, and perhaps ever, is completely undermined, not by lack of firsthand knowledge or experience, but by the adornment of the most repulsive and inelegant footwear available in the entire western world – the sports sandal.

Now I wouldn’t regard myself particularly fashion-conscious, but like most people I’m happiest when I don’t look like a total dickhead (no comment - Travel Ed). So why did I finally succumb, after years of active protest, to the temptations of the sports sandal? Firstly, they have the advantage of allowing air to get in and around your toes and feet, which is advisable in hot climates.

Secondly, and what clinched it for me, is their versatility: not only can you wear sports sandals on dry land, you can also wear them in the water; and unlike leather sandals, these graceless assemblages of plastic and rubber can cope with any dramatic environmental change.

The economy, alas, is a false one. Not only are my beloved sports sandals surrendering to a developed stage of entropy, salt water and sand replacing what once held them together, they also stink. Imagine four slices of Milano salami, a hand full of Kalamata olives and a couple of pickled gherkins sitting in a warm cupboard for a couple of weeks, just long enough for them to forget that they were once cured and preserved to withstand such a hostile environment, and then happening upon them one morning when you’re hung over and just about to risk the first snack of the day – et viola! Now imagine sitting across from me on a long, hot train journey with no air conditioning.

So what do I advise? What should one wear when holidaying in a hot climate? Flip-flops? Not on your fucking life! Have you ever walked behind someone wearing flip-flops? Did you too struggle to resist hobbling them Misery-style and then feeding them their own onomatopoeic footwear? Throughout southern Europe I studied these characters and tried to work out if it was their footwear or simply retardation that made them shuffle about so bloody slowly; and what is worse, some of these invalids refer to their flip-flops as thongs.

Just imagine, you’re sharing a dorm in Nice with nine Australian men, all wearing thongs. Mention that in your postcard to mummy and daddy, I dare you.

Then there are Crocs. These are the plastic, colourful clogs you’ve seen loads of unfortunates cutting around in this summer. Out of all the summer footwear options these are the most morbid: they speak to me of morgues, murderers, and forensic evidence (think of tiled floors, garages with drains and Austrian cellars).

If I were to have nightmares about aliens abducting me and probing me in intimate places they would all be wearing Crocs. But worse than any Croc adorned intimacy, both my parents own a pair.

Seeing as I started by undermining the advice I have to offer I guess no-one will be particularly arsed if I don’t give an alternative to the grotesquery currently available on the market. I’m tempted to return to the frightful sports sandal and suggest it’s the best of a bad lot.

However, I did see one guy in Greece wearing a rather tasty pair of leather sandals and looking all the more cool for it. Which brings me to my concluding point: have you ever seen my feet? I have freakish finger-toes, each as hairy as an oxter and longer than your average arm.

These toes look as though they could diligently play the keyboard for A Flock of Seagulls, hairstyle and all. They repulse me and surely every poor bastard who happened upon them in Europe this summer. I hope next years’ summer fashion will include brogues – please, for everyone’s sake. [Andrew Cattenach]

Holiday special ONE thing which irked last time I went 'travelling' (read traipsing for months from hostel to rundown hostel in a haze of cheap smoke and cheaper liquor) was the constant discussion of the traveller/tourist dichotomy by those more dreadlocked than I. These 'philosophical travellers' (when in need, play anagrams, I started this with the word 'tosser') universally agreed, however inadvertently, with the pompous declaration of American Travel writer Paul Edward Theroux that "Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they're going."

The overall content of this month's holiday special would suggest that this generalisation is as anachronistic as it is thoughtless. Holiday companies have responded to the growing diversity of consumer

10 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

taste by offering a huge selection of holiday types, from adventure and sport travel, to bars and clubs extravaganzas, romantic trips (straight and gay) and even ethical getaways (whatever that means).

In other words, the whole concept has evolved to match the individuality and preferences of the population, and there's nothing stopping you doing everything independently either. Each section editor has thoughtfully suggested expedition ideas based on the general content of their respective sections, most of which can be achieved without destroying the wallet or indeed the environment (though this again is subject to personal opinion).

Me? I got to preside over a wonderfully frivolous gender war on the merits of holiday footwear. Well, ultimately it is about having fun... [Paul Mitchell]

TOP: JACO JUSTICE'S BARE FEET IN THAILAND ABOVE LEFT: ROSAMUND WEST'S FLIP-FLOPS ABOVE RIGHT: PAUL MITCHELL'S FETCHING PINK FLIP-FLOPS RIGHT: ANDREW CATTANACH'S SPORTS SANDALS

THE FASHION ED’S RESPONSE: DEAR Poor, misguided Boy Traveller, I realise that traipsing as much of the Inca trail as your easyJet minibreak will allow, would and should consume the lion’s share of your attention whilst on vay-kay. Those GoogleMaps are not going to read themselves, after all.

However, is not a key facet of the travelling experience the imperative to keep your wits about you? Not falling for the hustlers that pray on hapless tourists, fleecing you for every cent you’ve got before you even notice they’ve gone? Swap the empty wallet in this metaphor for the gift of monstrous footwear and you’ll catch my drift.

Consider this your warning from the Home Office: being on holiday does not justify losing your shit and dropping good cash money on ridiculous accessories.

Have a seat, a cool down and a Calippo, and listen in.

1) Your nightmares are justified. I am 99.9% sure that Crocs, along with espadrilles and full-shoe jelly sandals, are manufactured in Satan’s workshop. That extra 0.1% is currently being tirelessly researched by Judy Finnigan and Gillian Tayleforth, but initial reports have been in the affirmative. In essence, wearing any of these at any time amounts to sartorial terrorism under any judicial system. So don’t ask me to bail you out of the Bangkok Hilton now you’ve been warned, and if you’re in for Crocs, I’ll be asking them to amp up the water torture on my behalf (that’s your folks done for).

2) Again with the percentages, consider your female

counterparts. Spending 99% of the year having five-inch platforms recommended by the fashion mainstream as suitable everyday footwear trumps your two weeks with hot feet. Suck it up, boys - the female of the species is regularly forced to choose style over comfort, and this might be your cross to bear if you’re interested in not looking like a douchebag. And if your current summer footwear consists of an open toe/strappy velcro combination, purchased from an ‘outdoors’ shop, trust me: douchebag. You have two very simple options. If your toes aren’t too Bilbo Baggins, you’re in luck - you win cool feet in surfy flip flops or leather Jesus sandals (not too Jesus, mind - think New Testament, New Balance).

Flip flops may slow you down a bit, but compared to how slow and special you look in those Crocs, it’s worth getting used to walking with a click-clack.

If, however, your toes are just too Middle Earth to unleash on the general public, you’re sweating it out in trainers with no socks. My personal pick? Converse Chucks or spanking new white K-Swiss. Roasted, are we? Blisters? Again, suck it up, homes, you’ll get no sympathy here. Until you’re hard enough to roll barefoot with the Balinese street urchins, you need to make some choices. And frankly, if you’re willing to risk footwear more befitting of a fifty-something chemistry teacher on a rambling trip to CentreParcs, rather than the hip, cool, Pacific Island-hopping twenty-something you are, then you’re going to have to up your sticks and pitch your tent elsewhere. We’ll have no purely functional footwear on my watch, thank you very much.

[Lindsay West]

ILLUSTRATIONS: DUNCAN KAY

You're Killing me!

“I’m Jazz, man - this is my bar,” said the slightly drunk Englishman as we entered a tiny dive in semi-suburban Prague. So we got talking. Or, arguing fiercely more like, because for all that this Jazz fellow was pretty funny, he was also an obstreperous bastard, and we just couldn’t take his claims seriously. “We’re descended from aliens, who built the pyramids” was a key theme. “I moved to Iceland to escape the apocalypse.” All this, put forth aggressively, followed by “I co-wrote the New Zealand national anthem, with Mauris.”

“Bollocks” we said. Bit of googling the next day and it turned out he wasn’t lying. But also our man ‘Jazz’ had failed to tell us his most outstanding claim to fame, that he was in fact Jaz Coleman, frontman of the occasionally mind-blowing post-punk outfit Killing Joke. [RJ Thomson]

Boxing clever I run Boxwars UK, so i got invited to put on an event in Haapsalu, Estonia at the Horror Film Festival there. There were only three international guests, two of which were well-known film directors in Europe: Marek Piestrak (a guy who did the first sci-fi shown in the Eastern Bloc) and Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator 2, Society), and me. So because I was grouped with them everyone in the festival assumed I was a film director too and I got free food / drinks / VIP area, lunch with the Mayor of Haapsalu etc. for two whole days until people realised I actually hadn’t directed any films, and was just there to put on an event where people beat the crap out of each other with cardboard tubes. Good times... [Demian Hobby]

Five Skinny writers were given the challenge of regaling us with their favourite travelling tales. We asked them to keep it short...

Off the rails

“TRAVELLING – see it’s not really my thing. I reckon the more places you see the less you appreciate the places you already know, and the more people you meet the less you appreciate your existing acquaintances. Therefore I only leave my house on average seven times a year, that way I get to appreciate myself, which is important... Most memorable recent outings were to post a complaint to Ofcom about Jonathon Ross (I hadn’t heard the show myself heard it was very offensive), and to visit the National Railway Museum in York. They really don’t make them like they used to. Stephenson’s Rocket: now that’s a beautiful way to travel...”

[John Dillon]

Luck 'o the Irish IRELAND, 2001, economic boom but I was seeing none of it. I wanted to get away, away from the drink and aimlessness, so I booked a trip as far away as possible: Australia. On arrival in Melbourne however I checked in to a hostel mostly populated by my bloody neighbours from home and proceeded to join them in a 6 week session. Since then I've been convinced that the rest of the world doesn't exist and the airplane flew round and round for hours, dropping me in a previously undiscovered part of deep southern Ireland, different only because of it's climate and deep sense of sporting arrogance. Cork maybe." [Mary Fitzmaurice]

Brown alert In Los Angeles, by a stroke of luck my friend and I had been invited to a USC sorority party.

Anyone who has ever seen Girls Gone Wild knows how these occasions always end up. Before, we went for dinner at this restaurant famous for fish tacos. You probably know where this is going... It was like fizzy gravy! Every time I thought about leaving the house, I was drawn back to the toilet as if by powerful magnets in the seat.

My mate went, and what I missed that night can only be found on the internet, pay-per-view! [Euan Ferguson]

GET MORE CONTENT AND FULL LISTINGS ONLINE

THESKINNY.CO.UK JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 11

TRAVEL

Holiday Snap-shorts

FASHION

Skinny

Jeans

(Scandinavian) Shop-We-Like:

Kakao by K

Kakao is the Danish word for chocolate, and the yummy collection of clothing and accessories in-store is bound to appeal to girls just as much as a bar of the sweet stuff.

Pack it in, kids...

Lindsay West gives the low-down on effective case-packing

1. People who are scared of creasing are big fat babies.

Rolling is better than folding, but it’s all compression, so wrinkles are inevitable in some form. Those people who do tissue paper between each item should be both checked for OCD and informed that it may be the packing equivalent of attempting to turn back the tide using a squeegee. Relax, don’t take a travel iron (even the most gnarly of hotels will have one they can lend you, if you really want to spend your holiday ironing), and just hang your stuff up when you get there.

It’s cool, you’re on vacation – have another pina colada and sit still at the bar till the creases fall out.

12 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

VIVIENNE LOWE

KATEHAZELL.COM

APART from the story about my first and last dancing display at age four (during which I ran off stage to the toilet just after curtain up, only to return as the curtain fell back down), the story most trotted out within my family in which I have a starring role is the account of my legendary feats of packing. Yes, in primary school, the game of choice that kept my best friend Katy and I (hello and sorry, Katy, if you’re reading this) amused for hours, nay years, was packing. Packing our assorted primary school-age shit (Cabbage Patch dolls, bouncy balls, Sweet Valley High Twins books, etc.) into Fisher Price suitcases and carting them the approximate 200 yards from one house to the other. All day. Back and forth. Hours.

And to this day, there’s nothing that makes me happier than getting the opportunity to harvest all my stuff into something portable and wandering about with it. It could be the only reason I ever go anywhere.

Maybe it’s the collector’s thrill of having all your acquisitions laid out where you can see them; maybe it’s a pack-rat, compression fetish, about paring down your possessions to the bare essentials; or perhaps it’s just the fact that I’m a bag lady to the core. Whatever, packing is my just simply my thing – please don’t judge me. But what I have learned, from all those miles traipsed across the same road, is a few useful things about getting packed that may aid you on your travels. You see, all those hours stuffing Stickle Bricks into a lockable Barbie vanity case? Life lessons, I tell you.

2. Size matters. You may feel ridiculous checking in a Herculean suitcase or snowboarding-size backpack on departure, but you know you’re going to be talked into that straw donkey and all those pashminas by overlyfriendly Javier at the market stall. On your return, one mammoth suitcase beats struggling with two: your old one plus a the cheap-ass new one you’ll buy, which will have been fitted with supermarket trolley wheels as standard.

3. Pack blister plasters. You know you bought new shoes/sandals/flip flops for going away, and you also know your poor, pasty, constantly be-socked tootsies aren’t used to the strain of barefoot living. If you want to be totally real, stick them on from the first day as a preventative measure.

4. Potential schoolboy error: if you decant your toiletries into those ever-so efficient mini containers, be sure to label them. Moisturiser will not wash your hair effectively, however hard you try.

5. Don’t take that outfit. You know the one. You’ll never wear it. ‘Just in case’ is the phrase that comes to mind because IT WILL STAY IN YOUR CASE, silly.

6. A person can go anywhere, do anything, if armed with a canister of dry shampoo. Saving lives since the ‘60s, Battiste dry shampoo will bail you out when you don’t quite make it to the shower on the morning after the night before.

7. Suitcases are just big carrier bags, so pack like my mum teaches the Scouts who attempt to pack her Asda bags at the checkout for charity. Heavy items at the bottom, delicates protected in the middle. And assorted crap can always be stuffed into shoes (this is not a tip garnered from Asda).

8. Oh, and don’t nick the hotel shampoo unless you’re staying at Trump Towers or The Palms. It’s swirly silver cash & carry crap and you won’t use it. Your hair will thank you.

RECENTLY arrived to Edinburgh’s boutique shopping destination, Thistle Street, Kakao by K offers a box of Scandinavian delights to those looking for something that little bit different.

'Kakao' (pronounced 'kah-kay-oh') is the Danish word for chocolate, and the yummy collection of clothing and accessories in-store is bound to appeal to girls just as much as a bar of the sweet stuff.

Having lived in Edinburgh for seven years, owner Karina Baldorf was keen to share a taste of her native homeland with those interested in fashion. By cherry picking a selection of Scandinavian designers and representing them on Scottish soil, she opens up a new world of style right in the heart of the city.

Daring brands like D’ahrling - offering 'clothes for everyday parties' - and Minus, make sublime statements on the rails. In contrast is Edith & Ella’s 1940s inspired skirts, knitted tops and slim-fitted jackets that Karina calls the “sexy librarian look”.

Kakao by K also houses garments by UK designers including London-based, Leleu and her handmade statement items, like a pillar box red trench coat with charming bow detail on the back. Not a scrap of material is wasted either I’m told, as the halfKorean designer uses anything left over for flower-like

brooches and hair clips that Karina has dotted around the shop floor.

Similarly kitsch accessories like Dixie bow purses, Edwardian umbrellas, and angora berets catch your attention as you move through to the Design by K jewellery display, with dainty pearl designs by Karina herself and leather flower necklaces, earrings and rings by local Edinburgh designer, Amanda Forrest.

Karina plans to add more up and coming designers to her international portfolio for 2009, kicking off with casual but edgy French brand, IKKS in January.

Kakao by K makes boutique shopping accessible to all by offering hot trends at reasonable prices, in a super friendly environment. With regular discounts and special events announced via the website, this sweet treat is well worth a try. [Emma Mcdonald] AN EXTRA SPECIAL TREAT FOR SKINNY READERS - GET 10% OFF ALL SALE ITEMS THROUGHOUT JANUARY WITH THIS ISSUE OF THE SKINNY!! VISIT KARINA IN STORE AND SHOW THIS ARTICLE TO CLAIM YOUR DISCOUNT. KAKAO BY K 45 THISTLE STREET, EDINBURGH, EH2 1DY 0131 226 3584 WWW.KAKAO.CO.UK OPENING HOURS: 10AM-6PM

skinny unirider artwork.eps 16/12/2008 15:39:44

FASHION

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JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 13

FASHION

Have Wardrobe, Will Travel IN THESE budget-crunching troubled times, smart girls know that there’s a brave new world to be found within tired old wardrobes, if you just know how to get there. One such smart girl is fashion designer and Raw Vintage boutique owner, Lisa Carr. Armed only with her trusty Singer and a boatload of vision, Lisa has spent the last three years taking outdated, ill fitting, and uninspired garments to more fashionable places. Welcome to the up-cycling revolution: not re-using so much as upgrading, here’s how to settle your economic and ecological conscience by using

what you’ve got, rather than staying on the ‘buy more’ treadmill.

We asked Lisa to work her magic on a couple of outdated vintage items, taking us on a journey from fashion don’ts to two thumbs up. For those creative types amongst you, the following may inspire you to take your own wardrobe on a style trip; but for those less familiar with a needle and thread, nip in to Raw Vintage quick enough, and you might just be the one to snag these very garments off the rail. All aboard, doors to manual – let’s get going on our fashion jaunt.

FROM THIS...

... TO THESE

DESCRIBED by Lisa as an “early ‘80s, seriously dodgy mum-of-the-bride dress” picked up in America, this little pink number may have started out as a questionable choice, but a few crafty alterations were enough to convert it into a chic drop waist party dress and sweet frilled capelet. “I literally chopped off two layers of the frills and shortened it right down,” explains Lisa, “and then added a beaded trim from the neckline of another dodgy ‘80s top for the sleeves. I liked the colour, the fabric, and the shape of the drop

14 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

waist to begin with, but it’s just a matter of making it more relevant and up-to-date. I also split the whole back of the dress to make it a bit sexier, and the cape is literally the two layers of frills, just whipped off and piped.” Wear belted with bare legs like our model, or pair with leggings or jeans as a cute tunic.

PINK DRESS WITH BEADED SLEEVES - £65 PINK FRILLED CAPE - £20; WORN HERE WITH BLACK CATSUIT - £25

FROM THESE...

+ ... TO THESE

BEGINNING its life as another American full-on ‘70s brocade and chiffon ensemble more befitting the realm of Abigail’s Party, after a nip and tuck or two, hey presto: a chic suit worn together, or cute separates to wear apart.

“There’s so much happening in the dress that the bow neckline it used to have was way too fussy, so I took that off and shortened the dress to make it sweeter.” says Lisa, “Also, this shade of green drains some people’s colouring, so by adding the black piping, buttons, and sash, it dilutes it. The shape of the sleeves on the jacket is fantastic, so I

just added a collar using the fabric from the bottom of the dress to make it a little bit more 'now'.” In the interests of the Vogue-sanctioned return of brocade for every day, we love this little jacket with jeans; but heartily recommend going with the full suit and pretending you’re Doris Day, with our compliments.

GREEN BROCADE JACKET - £45 MATCHING DRESS - £40 SUIT (BOTH DRESS & JACKET) - £80

Credits PHOTOGRAPHS:

JENNYANDERSON FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/FOTOJENNYGLASGOW

MAKEUP:

RACHELIMRIE WWW.RACHELTHEMAKEUPARTIST.COM

HAIR:

DEBBIE BLACK

STYLING: LISACARR

MODEL:

LUCIATURRIANI SHOESANDACCESSORIES-STYLIST’SOWN

To have your own wardrobe vacation, take your problem garments for a consultation with Lisa at the Raw Vintage Southside store. Both major and minor style surgery performed…

Raw Vintage 3 Abbot Street Shawlands Glasgow, G41 3XE 0141 649 2752

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 15

FOOD & DRINK

Devon Sent...

Ruth Marsh presents an insiders guide to North Devon's hidden foodie gems - a credit crunch trip that's cheap, cheerful and away from the madding crowds.

cream, or whole plaice on the bone, and has its pumps filled with light and drinkable Appledore Ale from the smallscale Jollyboat Brewery. Its expansive glass windows mean you can lull away a day watching an animated picture postcard of windsurfers, trawlers and rowing races with a soundtrack of lapping waves and clanging moorings. But note The Beaver is still firmly a pub, it hasn’t gussied itself up to gastropub levels.

We’re talking pool table, propped-up colour TV and flashing fruit machines, not exposed beams and white linen, but that makes it all the more enjoyable.

Appledore is also home to a sight that gives me a Proustian childhood flashback - a Hockings Ice Cream Van. Produced by the same family since 1936 and a genuine local institution, a Hockings is an unadulterated lump of frozen dairy which should be eaten topped with a ball of fresh clotted cream, with a flake stuck in for good measure. Though you can get versions flavoured with coffee, mint or raspberry, purists stick with plain vanilla. For a truly heart-warming sight, visit their website and watch as a man gleefully slices through a lump of butter the size of his own torso and adds it to a mix that very probably makes just one child’s portion.

We’re certainly into lactose county here and whatever you do, don’t shirk that cream tea. It may be retro and you may bring the average age of that tea room crashing down by a few decades, but when done properly with warm massive and misshapen fruit scones, yellow-crusted clotted cream, homemade strawberry jam and a vat of loose leaf tea, it’s an allis-right-with-the-world, inner-glow experience that’s hard to rival. Head along the Exmoor coastal road and stop off at Brendon House near Lynton to enjoy their Cream Tea-devoted garden while keeping an eye out for wild ponies and deer. Burn it off by walking three miles along the cliff path, with its views across the sea to Wales, to The Blue Ball Inn, a sprawling 13th century coaching inn with a vast inglenook fire perfect for toasting your feet back to life while nursing a pint of their eponymous, specially brewed bitter.

An area abundant with places to pitch your tent, North Devon is a good self-catering option. If you want to cook local produce for yourself, visit the main town of Barnstaple (to shop if not to stay - it’s a fairly generic ‘ooohhh, we’ve just got a Pizza Express’ small town and you’re better based somewhere more picturesque and peaceful). Its central Victorian Pannier Market and adjoining Butcher’s Row have sprung back to life over the last few years and were

Travel Tips Accommodation Boutique hotels are the one tourism trend yet to arrive in North Devon. Try a deluxe B&B instead - Bowden Farm, a grade II-listed house on an 82-acre organic farm in the village of Muddiford on the outskirts of Barnstaple, has doubles from £35pppn, or you can hire the whole place for a houseparty for 6 people from £800 per week (complete with homemade damson gin and your own drawing room). ▶ Tel: 01271 850 502 www.bowdenfarm.com

For a budget option, pitch a tent at North Morte Farm overlooking quiet Rockham Beach, round the corner from packed surfing paradise Woolacombe. Pitches from £13 per night for two adults.

▶ Tel: 01271 870 381 www.northmortefarm.co.uk

For self-catering, try one of the many former fishermen’s cottages that crowd higgledy-piggledy Appledore. Mariners Cottage has original oak beams and a private garden perched right on the sea wall and sleeps up to 6 from £340 a week.

▶ Tel: 01769 560 422 www.marinerscottage.net

Getting There If you can bear to take domestic flights, Flybe fly daily from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Exeter, with prices starting at £4 before tax. The train journey is an epic 7 hours; okay, it’s not quite the Orient Express (or even EuroStar) but it can be pleasant enough to kick back as you go on a whistlestop tour through most of England.

Prices start at around £70 return from Glasgow to Exeter and leave around six times a day.

WWW.NORTHDEVON.COM

A HOCKINGS VAN AT NORTHAM BURROWS

FOR a long time North Devon was viewed as opulent South Devon’s poorer cousin. While the South boasts Dartmouth, Totnes et al, where you can merrily reverse your yacht into a Michelin star restaurant or order a macrobiotic vegan salad without the locals going all Straw Dogs on your ass, the North was seen as a bit cream tea, scrumpy and a go on the 2p slot machines will do me, ta. This is a view cultivated in part due to the sheer difficulty of reaching the damn place - thanks to criminal short-sightedness the local train lines were shut down, leaving just one rickety branch line into the North out of the county’s capital Exeter, whilst many roads are high-hedged single country lanes where, as a child, our day trips consisted of four hours staring directly up the rectum of whatever animal was in the trailer in front of our car.

It’s worth the effort, mind - if the credit crunch has bitten and you want to holiday in the UK, North Devon has been re-discovering its local larder and slowly transforming itself into a mini foodie haven.

Whilst this gentrification has inevitably led to a few early-noughties chrome wine bar and ‘Thai’ food provincial monstrosities, the wiser establishments have ditched their reformed scampi scrapings and factory produced green curries in favour of reviving a taste for the spankingly fresh produce that has been fished out, dug up or shot down on their doorstep.

The coast may not be the hive of piscine activity it

16 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

once was, but still offers up lobster, crab, pollack and other non-endangered delicacies, the countryside and moorland are home to ethically farmed livestock and wild game, and there are fields full of asparagus, new potatoes, berries and many more virtuous treats.

One of the area’s most charming examples of regeneration is the cheeky reclaiming of those dismantled railway lines as well-mapped cycle tracks, traffic-free and perfect for novices, families, tandems and anyone who wants a riverside walk without a constant stream of traffic on their tail.

Fremington Quay Café on the Tarka Trail is a masterclass in how to cater to hungry hordes in a cheeringly non-exploitative way. Dishing up bowls of mussels from the estuary it overlooks and pies stuffed with lamb and laver from its neighbouring saltmarshes - wash them down with organic West Country cider, watch kids crabbing over the wrought iron fence and wonder how you’ll ever get back on that bike again.

If exercise defeats you, follow the coastline (well served by buses) round to the once-shabby fishing village of Appledore. Although a sufferer of the classic second home syndrome that can make it seem like a ghost town on weekdays and out of season, the arrival of artists, a book festival and seafood restaurants has seen the return of day visitors and recreational locals.

The Beaver Inn sits right on the shore wall, specialises in local fish dishes like monkfish and scallops in

THE BLUE BELL INN STUART WOOLGER

ONIONS AND A MAN, BARNSTAPLE STUART WOOLGER

recently featured in the Independent’s Top Ten Food Markets. Sure, there are days when all you can buy are felt artworks and second hand Clive Barker novels, but on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays it overflows with local produce that is seriously kind on the pocket (bunches of asparagus pulled out of the ground that morning for a quid, homemade rabbit pies still containing buckshot for a few pence more, buckets of wild sea bass from Bideford Bay cheaper than their farmed friends you’ll find elsewhere). Round it off by choosing from over one hundred local cheeses at the specialist West Country Farm Cheese Co. and stocking up on apple custard doughnuts and Germanic breads from the East & West Bakery. Despite recent marketing drives like the North Devon Food Festival, there is still an endearing coyness about the area there’s no trumpet-blowing and no hard-sell, meaning the best food can be got at cafés, pubs and shops with a refreshing lack of pretension or wild financial markups. Whilst many visitors trample through Devon to get to its neighbouring Cornwall, the smart way to avoid the throngs is to brake a little early.

The Stockbridge Tap

Chez Pierre

2-4 Raeburn Place, Edinburgh EH4 1HN Tel: 0131 343 3000

18 Eyre Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5EP Tel: 0131 556 0006

This warm, inviting pub instantly offers a feeling of comfort upon entry, and soft lighting and a relaxed atmosphere allow you to settle into viewing their menu of seasonal, local and organic produce. All very reasonably priced (£4 starter/£8 main), the range of pub food is unusual and eclectic, with a heavy Scottish slant. Cullen skink, pork belly, pheasant, beef and suet pie form a wee example of the variety on offer.

I tasted the mallard, walnut and pear salad - a very refreshing and interesting starter. My companion (vegetarian) only had the option of butternut squash soup or a ploughman’s and, after choosing the cheese platter (minus meat), was slightly disappointed with only one type of cheese, two chunks of bread and some piccalilli.

Not unappetising, just not particularly exciting either.

For the main course, pheasant, apple and cider casserole with mash was heartwarming winter food and a filling portion, but the flavours did not explode in the mouth, and while satisfying the dish was not as sumptuous as hoped. A vegetarian bake filled with mushrooms and artichokes was topped with a soft crumble and had a creamy, rich texture. Accompanied by salad and bread, some seasonal veg might have complemented the dish more suitably. The few puddings on offer included a very sweet apple crumble that almost tasted bought-in, and some ice cream.

If you are going for pub food then The Stockbridge Tap offers a better and more extensive range than any of your usual locals. While not gourmet, for the price the food is hearty, diverse and will definitely warm up your afternoon. Don’t forget to finish off by trying one of their huge collection of whiskies or ales. [Esme Jones]

Chez Pierre, on Edinburgh’s Eyre Place, is an unimposing sort of place: light and modern without a hint of twee save for the Christmas decorations - but then that’s the point of those. We sit, and I spot Pierre Levicky himself, owner and proprietor, plastered all over the placemats to advertise his new book. Granted, the man should have a presence in his eponymous restaurant, but this seems like something you’d expect to suffer in McDonalds. The book itself is Cooking Life - part a slightly stream-of-consciousness autobiography charting the infamous rise and fall of his bistro chain Pierre Victoire and part an approachable, have-a-go recipe collection of rustic French staples. It’s a ripping, cheerily confessional read, even if it smacks a little of a man eager to nosy himself into the celebrity chef canon.

Back in Chez Pierre, distraction from the publicity machine arrives when a waiter approaches with a ‘welcome appetiser’: shrimp in batter with a chilli dipping sauce.

And we’re off! An asparagus starter with poached egg and soldiers lacks flavour, but then, asparagus is long out

Vivienne Lowe

Food & Drink

Restaurant & Bar Reviews

of season. The deep fried squid in coats of crisp batter is a hit on both sides of the table. and the garlic mayonnaise an excellent compliment. Both mains arrive in kingly portions.

My lamb shank and potato gratin cannot be faulted gloopy and tender, it’s the sort of rich fare the French do best. The baked cod is a little more friendly on the arteries, with squid, mussels and potato, all fresh and flavoursome.

Dessert, a dark chocolate roulade, is light and fluffy as a cloud and the raspberries are a tangy accompaniment.

Again though, the addition of strawberries, so far out of season, is a lazy touch. Such quibbles, and the self marketing, leave an impression that Chez Pierre exists to line the pockets of Mr Levicky, rather than being a labour of love.

More attention to detail could make it something lovely.

[Louise Loftus] www.pierrelevicky.co.uk Cooking Life: The Story Of Pierre Victoire, published by AuthorHouse, is in the shops now.

get more restaurant and bar reviews online: theskinny.co.uk

Creative Bodies:

movement for the actor

RESIDENTIAL THEATRE COURSE February 7 & 8 2009 Intensive course on Isle of Mull with accommodation at the Isle of Mull Hotel & Spa. Only £99 Call Mull Theatre 01688 302673 education@mulltheatre.com

January 2009

THE SKINNY 17

deviance

Lili & Gerda Alma Cork looks back on two unconventional figures in transgender history was taking him over.

Eventually, after seeing several doctors for malaise, none of whom took him seriously (and one radiologist nearly killed him), he met Dr Warnekros of the Dresden Municipal Women’s Clinic, who, according to the biography, immediately understood Einar’s problem. This led to Einar travelling to Germany for a series of operations that would, in his mind, fully transform him into Lili.

"the female models in Gerda’s pictures were often none other than her husband" The first operation involved an orchidectomy, performed by Magnus Hirschfeld, a German-Jewish physician, sex researcher, and gay rights activist. Then Lili underwent further operations by Dr Warnekros, including an ovary transplant that was eventually rejected. The operations were totally experimental at the time, and Gerda supported Lili through them with letters and visits. Lili was also found to have rudimentary ovaries herself, confirming that she was actually intersex.

After the initial operations Lili returned to Copenhagen and faced a period of uncertainty in herself.

She considered herself to be a completely different person from Einar, yet struggled with the notion that she was a brand new person, without any past. With Lili’s blessing, Gerda petitioned the King of Denmark to dissolve their marriage. Then, again with Lili’s blessing, as she believed she had held Gerda back for so long, Gerda married Major Fernando Porta, an Italian officer, aviator, and diplomat. A lurid article was published about Lili in the local press, which led her to flee Copenhagen for her family home.

However, later on a friend wrote a far more favourable article, which made Lili feel like she was being

Rejected editorial topic ideas, Jan 2009 1. Top heroes and villains of 2008, numerous candidates having been helpfully supplied by friends. Nominees include Iris Robinson, Julie Bindel, Cazwell, Isis King and Sarah Palin. Dropped due to insufficient attention span for compiling proper list.

2. The curse of January, an annual quandary whereby I get no action for the first month of the year. Intention to accept this unfortunate situation, stay home with a good book, and get some other stuff done. Somewhat compromised by secret hope that saying all this will constitute foreshadowing and break the curse.

18 THE SKINNY January 2009

3. Some thoughts on non-monogamy and related issues, including negotiating honest and healthy, if blurry, involvements with various people.

Discarded due to potential for a proper feature at some point in future.

4. Shameless promotion of own blog, Everyone I Ever Kissed (http://everyoneieverkissed. wordpress.com), disguised as thoughtful meditation on the ethics of disclosure, and commentary on evolution of internet-based confessionals.

5. New Year’s resolutions, particularly one about tackling fear of commitment. To be applied across the board, from getting off with the same person more than once, to writing things that don’t run into a brick wall at the end. [Nine]

Alexandra Goodwin

Films about trans people are nothing new: we’ve had the saccharine simplicity of Transamerica, the downright patronisingly titled Normal, and the brutal Boys Don’t Cry. We’ve even had trans people on television, from the troubles of Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper to the car-crash existence of Ugly Betty’s Alexis Meade. Why, then, should it be newsworthy that another indie company is making a film about a trans person?

The film in question is based on a book called The Danish Girl, David Ebershoff’s fictionalised account of the life of Lili Elbe. Born Einar Wegener, a Danish painter in the early part of the 20th century, Lili Elbe was the first known person to undergo gender reassignment operations. The film, which is still in pre-production, will star Nicole Kidman as Wegener/ Elbe, and Charlize Theron as her wife Gerda Wegener, another Danish painter. What makes this film even more interesting, and has me hoping that they retain its source, is the original story behind Gerda, Einar and Lili, which, considering it took place between 1913 and 1930, is one of the most fantastic and downright radical stories of the last century.

Gerda and Einar met in art school and married in 1904. Einar had a propensity for landscape pictures, while Gerda preferred fashion magazine illustrations that became immensely popular at the time. Her oval watercolour pictures were sometimes erotic, displaying women in a variety of lesbian poses. The biggest shock, though, was that the female models in her pictures were often none other than her husband, Einar.

The story goes that one day Gerda was planning to paint a portrait of a popular Copenhagen actress. The actress, however, couldn’t make her appointment, so Gerda asked Einar to pose for her instead. It started as a game, but Einar’s costume proved so successful that, over time, Gerda asked him to pose more and more often. Einar began to develop his alter ego, Lili, and would on occasion go to parties as her with Gerda. This was no big shock to Gerda, who in fact encouraged it, and eventually the pair moved to the more liberal Paris, where Gerda could further her art career and, according to some sources, be more actively lesbian.

According to Lili Elbe’s biography, Man Into Woman (edited by Niels Hoyer, a pseudonymous friend of the Wegeners), for a few years Einar only dressed as Lili when Gerda was desperate for a model. Eventually, though, Lili was coaxed back out, and she was an incredible hit on the bourgeois Parisian scene, with its decadence, art, and sex. More people became initiated into the Wegeners’ secret, and Lili would wander through the crowds and parties of Paris. Slowly, Einar began to feel himself dying, and he realised that Lili

treated as a heroine, rather than an outcast, and she became revitalised. Eventually Lili recontacted the Dresden clinic and requested that one final operation be performed: the transplantation of a womb. Sadly, this operation proved fatal, and she died two days later in 1931.

Even though Gerda remarried, she remained close to Lili. The accounts suggest that they were more like sisters than spouses or lovers. Some even say that she never recovered from Lili’s death. In 1936 she divorced Porta and returned to Denmark. Her art had slowly drifted out of fashion and, eventually, she died alone and destitute in 1940.

It was tragic that a painter like Gerda, who was so industrious and fashionable in the early twentieth century, eventually drifted into obscurity. However, in 1984 her erotic watercolours, the most famous of

which are lesbian in content and were often posed for

by Lili, were discovered in a Copenhagen junkshop.

While her art hasn’t received the revival it likely deserves, at least it’s now possible to find prints of her work.

The Danish Girl does amend the story somewhat, and it remains to be seen how true the eventual film will be to the real story. Also, while both Kidman and Theron have experience of playing lesbian characters, it is slightly disappointing that an actual trans or intersex person was not cast as Einar/Lili. Still, I’m looking forward to this adaptation, purely because of the fascinating story, the hot leads, and the possibility that it might open a resurgence of interest in the sublime erotic style of Gerda Wegener. www.all-art.org/er_in_art/36.html

Club For Heroes Do yourself a favour and head along for some joyful mayhem Running for almost a year now, Club For Heroes is a fun, welcoming space that’s unpretentious and filled with glee. "It’s not a ‘gay club’," cautions its promo blurb, "because everyone’s welcome and anything goes (and gay clubs are shite, eh?)". Instead, it’s just for people who enjoy music that isn’t partitioned by genre. Dr Love founded it so he could go to a club where he could enjoy fine underground electro-pop alongside the likes of Prince and Kate Bush, and also get off with hot boys. The next event promises to be a good one, featuring delightful computer-pop from the Weej in the form of Tokyo Knife Attack. Do yourself a favour and head along for some joyful mayhem.

Friday 30 January, 11am-3am, £5/4 Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

DEVIANCE

Slutty McWhore

THE GREEN ROOM VENUE

In a climate of crackdowns, earning a living is becoming more difficult for our Scottish correspondent in the USA FRI 2ND

CHECK OUT THE 2009 NEW YEAR TECHNO MAYHEM FROM WOLFJAZZ, STEPHEN BROWN, WN, GAV RICHARDSON RICH CHARD ARDSO SON N & GEE GEE DUBS. DUBS 11-3 £5 ENTRY

SAT 3RD

MORE FRESH AND FUNKY BEATS FROM YOGI HAUGHTON & CO. HOUSE, FUNK & SOUL. NO REST FOR THE WICKED….10:30-3 £8/£6

FRI 9TH

THE DIRT RESIDENTS ARE JOINED BY AL MAGIC FOR SOME CHOICE ELECTRO, BREAKS AND DRUM & BASS. 10-3 FREE B4 12 £4 AFTER.

SAT 10TH

SUBSTANCE ARE BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH A NEW RESIDENCY AT THE GRV, AND TO CELEBRATE THEY’RE HAVING A FREE PARTY AND EVERYONE’S INVITED! WITH AN INCREDIBLE LINE UP OF ESPION, PATRICK WALKER, MORPHAMISH AKA SOLA PERPLEXUS, STICK 430, BRIAN D’SOUZA, GAVIN RICHARDSON, ECLAIRFIFI & WOLFJAZZ!

FRI 16TH

AFTER HUGE SUCCESS IN 08, RIDDIM TUFFA ARE BACK, KICKING OFF 09 WITH A NIGHT TO SHOW WHAT THEY’RE ALL ABOUT - MASHING UP BEATS! THE MIGHTY BASS WARRIOR SOUND & JEREMIYAH FROM HEAVY ROOTS MESSENGER CREW. REGGAE, JUNGLE & DUBSTEP. 10:30-3 £4 B4 11:30 £6 AFTER. ALASDAIR BOYCE

SAT 17TH

BE DAZZLED AS THE FOUNDATION HOSTS IT’S AMAZING B-BOY COMPETITION, WITH THE BEST HIP HOP IN TOWN FROM P-STYLZ. GET DOWN AND FUNKY ON THE DANCE FLOOR! 11-3 £5 ENTRY.

THU 22ND

LIVE BANDS FOLLOWED BY THE BEST IN INDIE & ELECTRO FROM TIGERTOOTH & THE ARMY OF ME. 10-3 FREE ENTRY AND DRINKS PROMOS.

FRI 23RD

CRAIG JAMIESON IS JOINED BY CHRIS GEDDES FROM BELLE & SEBASTIEN TO BRING YOU FURTHER ADVENTURES IN RETRO STEREO. SOUL, FUNK, SKA, GARAGE PUNK, 60’S POP AND MUCH MORE. 11-3 £4 BEFORE 12 £6 AFTER.

SAT 24TH - AUDACIOUS 1ST BIRTHDAY SUMMER 2008 was perhaps one of the most memorable for Laurie Ann Lewis of Cleveland, Texas – but certainly not in a good way. In August, Lewis was arrested and charged with prostitution after being caught in a sting operation in the Houston Four Seasons Hotel. Every sex worker dreads such a thing happening to them, but the stakes are even higher for those who moonlight as prostitutes and have ‘normal’ full-time jobs. Public sector employees, such as teachers or social workers, have the most to lose if caught, as their careers would likely be finished. Sadly, this is probably the case for Laurie Ann Lewis, who worked as a high school drama teacher.

I know nothing about Lewis’s fate because the media was only interested in presenting the titillating details of her arrest, and making a copy of her mug-shot available for all to see. They were more interested in sensationalised “Teacher works as hooker!” headlines than painting a more complex and nuanced portrait of Lewis, who is a divorced mother of two. She will probably never be able to work as a teacher again, and could also face a six-month prison sentence and a $2000 fine.

I feel for any sex worker whose life or career is ruined by such an event, but I was particularly interested in Laurie Ann Lewis’ story because I plan to start training as a teacher in January. I will receive no paycheque during the training, and will have no option but to support myself by sex work. I’d like to give it up once I actually start teaching and earning a wage, but circumstances may not allow me to do this immediately.

I love teaching, and will genuinely care about and help

my students, yet I would immediately lose my job and professional reputation if arrested.

In recent weeks, my paranoia about being caught has increased tenfold because the extremely popular website where I advertise my services has changed its policies. For years I made use of their free classified ads but I now have to provide a working phone number and pay a $5 fee in order to do so, using a valid credit or debit card. And police are able to subpoena the website to obtain the names and addresses of anybody who posted an ‘erotic services’ ad. I live in a very conservative state where prostitution ‘sting jobs’ seem to be increasing all the time, so I can only hope that the police have better things to do than bother about a simple erotic masseuse.

Even if I don’t need to worry about the police, the website’s policies have still had a profound effect on my job as a sex worker. I was always able to drum up enough business via this website, and very quickly, too, but now I’m afraid to post as many ads as I once did because I want to keep a low profile. My reduced advertising coupled with the poor American economy means that I now attract far fewer clients, so I have often found myself agreeing, out of desperation, to see clients I would normally have turned down. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any dangerous clients or situations, but there is no doubt that life as a sex worker is riskier for me now.

Once again, a measure designed to “crack down on prostitution” actually does nothing to reduce the number of sex workers, but serves merely to complicate and endanger our lives.

GET SLUTTY'S BLOG ONLINE

THESKINNY.CO.UK/BLOGS

SCOTTISH EXCLUSIVE PEACE-OFF LABEL NIGHT, (HTTP://PEACEOFF.C8.COM/) TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST BIRTHDAY! WITH VERY SPECIAL GUESTS ROTATOR, IN HIS 1ST EVER SCOTTISH APPEARANCE, AND AMPH WITH SUPPORT FROM KING TOM, LYALL ANDERSON & IDEATION DJS. 11-3 £5 B4 12 £7 AFTER.

THU 29TH THE BRIDGE RECTIFIER:

HAS FOUND A NEW HOME @ THE GRV, BRINGING YOU A MONTHLY OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS AN ORIGINAL ELECTRONIC MUSIC PERFORMANCE. AT IT’S CORE YOU’LL FIND GOODOVEREVILL, IBITRON & THE SKILLITANT PERFORMING LIVE, THEIR OWN UNIQUE ELECTRONIC SOUNDS SPANNING HOUSE, DUB, TECHNO & JUNGLE WITH LIVE VISUALS 11-3 £4 ENTRY.

FRI 30TH - KRIS ROE GIG DOORS 7.30 TICKETS £7 ADVANCE/£9 DOOR

KRIS ROE THE ATARIS FRONT MAN TAKES TO THE STAGE ON HIS AMAZING SOLO TOUR. FEATURING HIS OWN MATERIAL, THIS IS THE ONLY NIGHT ON THE TOUR WHERE HE WILL PLAY “SO LONG ASTORIA” INSTEAD OF “BLUE SKIES, BROKEN HEARTS” MAKING THIS AN EXCLUSIVE SCOTTISH GIG. SUPPORT FROM THE HIJACKS AND DICK DANGEROUS & THE LOVE BASTARDS

FRI 30TH NOCTURNAL

A NIGHT SHOWCASING LOCAL DRUM & BASS DJ’S AND LIVE BEATBOX

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LIVE MUSIC INFO: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEGRV WWW.THEGRV.COM // 37 GUTHRIE STREET EDINBURGH // 0131 220 2987

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 19

FILM

On Location:

A Scottish Film Travel Guide Nothing adds romance to a location like an association with the silver screen. Gail Tolley and Michael Gillespie recommend some of the best drama-spots in Scotland SOME of Scotland’s most dramatic scenery and impressive sites have been used on the big screen. From Rosslyn chapel in The Da Vinci Code, the helicopter and train chase sequence in Mission: Impossible, to the impressive countryside around Greenock in Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen (even if the rest of the film is rather bleak).

We’ve picked our top five here. And let’s not mention Braveheart (which was mostly filmed in Ireland!)

Corrour Station, Highlands Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996)

Outer Hebrides & Plockton, Highlands The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) Set in a remote island village called Summerisle, the exact real-life setting of this cult favourite isn’t certain. However, some believe the Isle of Harris’ barren, other-worldly landscape could have been the inspiration.

Head to the Outer Hebrides to experience this rugged, almost lunar landscape. Filming for The Wicker Man took place mostly in Dumfries and Galloway but for the harbour and seafront of Summerisle, the pretty Highland town of Plockton was used.

Doune Castle, Doune; Bridge of Allan; Castle Stalker, Argyll & Glen Coe Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, 1975)

While most of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is unlikely to feature on the usual tourist maps (that toilet anyone?) there’s one exception (well maybe two if you count the scene on Princes Street at the beginning). Renton, Spud, Sickboy and Tommy head out of the city on a trip up north. The famous scene with Renton’s “It’s shite being Scottish” speech was filmed at Corrour Station in the Highlands, on Rannoch Moor. It’s one of the most remote train stations in Scotland and not accessible by road. Take the West Highland Line north to get there.

Conic Hill Carla’s Song (Ken Loach, 1996) Ken Loach is to be commended for many things, whether he be bringing political and economic injustice to the mainstream, refusing to compromise for conservative sensibilities, or simply finding the best locations for his gritty stories. He is not, however, a picture postcard filmmaker and his Scottish films reflect this profoundly. That said, Carla’s Song features one of the most beautiful and remote locations in Scottish cinema: Conic Hill. Tucked away behind a car park in Balmaha, the film’s picnic site features spectacular views of Loch Lomond, and is a favourite for hill walkers and slightly unhinged drivers alike.

Planting a giant animated footprint all over the Arthurian legend, the Pythons shot Elvis Presley’s favourite film predominantly in Scotland. The attack on Castle Aargh! was shot in both Bridge of Allan and at Castle Stalker in Argyll, though you may have trouble identifying the Bridge of Death at Glen Coe. Should you visit Doune Castle you will be awaited not by “nasty big pointy teeth” but instead the location of the Swamp castle wedding, Guy de Lombard castle (that’s the taunter) and Castle Anthrax, where the chastity of Sir Galahad is put to the ultimate test. Coconuts readily supplied, silly voices and wooden rabbits not.

Forth Rail Bridge, East Lothian & Glen Coe, Highlands The Thirty Nine Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935) Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of John Buchan’s novel, The 39 Steps, makes use of two fabulous Scottish locations: the iconic Forth Rail Bridge and Glen Coe in the Highlands. On the run from the police, Richard Hannay flees from London to Scotland by train. On the verge of being caught he makes a daring escape just as the train is passing over the Forth Rail Bridge. Take a trip to South Queensferry for a close-up of this incredible ultra-structure. Further into the film the chase continues and takes in some of the countryside around Glen Coe, whose foreboding mountain scenery seems the perfect backdrop for the lonely existence of the fugitive.

Editorial Gail Tolley: There's more to film than just watching it This month we’d like to suggest a little film-related travel. A stroll around Central Park a la Woody Allen perhaps? Or a coffee in a Parisian café just off the Saint Germain, Anna Karina style? Or the karaoke bar in Tokyo featured in Lost in Translation? Nah, too obvious. How about all those film locations right on the doorstep, here in Scotland? Seriously, there’s more than you think and to prove it we’ve taken up the challenge and suggested some in our feature this month. A mini- Scottish-film-location-

20 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

NICK COCOZZA

travel-guide, so to speak. And if you’re pinching pennies post-Christmas and can’t make it to your film location of choice, well, I guess you could always just rent the movie.

Close up: Finlay Pretsell The Skinny catches up with the Scottish BAFTA award winner Finlay Pretsell & Adrian McDowall recently won Best Short Film at this year’s Scottish BAFTA awards. Their 12 minute film Ma Bar features 73year-old weight-lifting champion Bill McFadyen and will be shown at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival which takes place between 15-25 January in Utah.

How did Ma Bar come about?

FP: Myself and the co-director Adrian McDowall had made a film before called Standing Start, which is a film about an Olympic cyclist which took a different angle – we were trying to show the beauty of it, and the effort and the focus and the determination of a top athlete. We did it in a completely different way and not in a normal sport documentary way. And the Dumfries and Galloway Council happened to get in touch (as that’s where Adrian’s from) and they wanted us to do three profiles on athletes in the area to promote a new state-of-the-art sports centre that they were opening. There are no major athletes there at all; they’re all new and up-and-coming athletes.

So, we got a big list of people and we went down the list and saw this guy, Bill McFadyen, and we saw his date of birth and we thought, he’s a weight lifter? How bizarre! We definitely wanted to speak to him!

And it’s going to be shown at Sundance in January, which must be quite exciting?

Yes, it’s great! It’s one of the best if not the best film festival for independent films. Everyone’s heard of it, in the industry too, which is nice.

You are also involved in the Scottish Documentary Institute?

Yeah, we run a scheme called Bridging the Gap [which bridges the gap between amateur and professional filmmaking], so we can feed our own experiences back into the projects there.

And will you be going to Sundance for the screening of Ma Bar? Absolutely!

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BRIDGING THE GAP AT WWW.DOCSCENE.ORG

Film

"My name is Harvey Milk. And I'm here to recruit you."

The release of Milk, the new biopic on the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the US, is particularly well-timed. Gail Tolley discusses.

Milk has come at a pertinent time; despite the wave of optimism that followed the election of Barack Obama back in November, the issue of gay and lesbian rights has never been more significant. On voting day the people of California not only had the future president to think about, they also had the option of voting for or against proposition 8 – a proposition that proposed changing the Californian constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. 52% voted in favour of the proposition, effectively banning same-sex marriage just months after it had been made legal in the state.

The parallels with the story of how Harvey Milk struggled and eventually succeeded to become the first openly gay man elected to public office are evident. On one level the film highlights the successful steps that have been made towards the goal of achieving equality for gay and lesbian rights, yet on another (with proposition 8 sitting uncomfortably in the back of people’s minds) it serves to remind the audience of the challenges that lie ahead.

Gus Van Sant was perhaps the perfect director to bring what has for so long been a marginalised issue to the fore. His 1991 film My Own Private Idaho, featuring River Phoenix as a gay hustler, was viewed as a key film in the New Queer Cinema which emerged in the early 90s. Throughout his career he has straddled both the independent and mainstream film scenes creating such varied work as the conventional Good Will Hunting (1997) and Finding Forrester (2000) to the more experimental, European arthouse-influenced films such as Elephant (2003) which won him the Best Director and the Palme D’Or at Cannes.

Van Sant exhibits, more than anything, an understanding of the complexity of individuals; his sense

of humanity, in stark contrast to the all-too-prevalent caricatures of Hollywood, is profound. This is shown at its best in his more recent works such as Elephant, Last Days and Paranoid Park and it is evident here, too, in Milk. There is a strong feeling that behind this film is the desire to bring Harvey Milk’s story to the mainstream (if its accessible nature is anything to go by) yet for all its conventions the story is sensitively told, inspirational in its content and while emotionally moving avoids descending into cliché. One particularly powerful image stands out – that of Harvey as he talks to a police officer following the beating and murder of his friend, reflected in the shiny surface of a whistle, which was carried by many gay men at the time to ward off homophobic attackers.

There’s always the risk, when making a film about gay men, that women become written out of the picture, and this is acknowledged in a scene where Anne Kronenberg is brought in to co-ordinate Harvey’s campaign, much to the surprise of some members of his team. It alludes to another story to be told, if not of lesbian rights in particular, then of women’s rights in general.

Not surprisingly, Milk is in the running for the Academy Awards (it was produced by the same studios that made Brokeback Mountain) and it is likely to experience just as much buzz, something that should be celebrated. What Milk succeeds in doing is making the story of Harvey Milk feel like such a natural historical triumph that the recent results of proposition 8 seem embarrassingly antiquated.

Hopefully audiences will feel the same way. In many ways Milk feels like an important film, and its timing couldn’t have been better.

Milk is released on 23 Jan.

January film events There’s a whole host of film treats across Scotland in January.

In Edinburgh, The Cameo will be showing a satellite Q&A with Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, on the 6 January at 8pm. He’ll be discussing his wnew film Slumdog Millionaire, out this month.

Also in Edinburgh, The Filmhouse will be hosting the Middle Eastern Film Festival at the end of the month with a focus on Iranian cinema.

There will also be a Sam Peckinpah retrospective, including the classic re-release of Bring Me the Head of Alfred Garcia.

And if it’s a bit of 80s kitsch you’re after why not head along to the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre for a dose of Marty McFly in Back to the Future, showing on the 3&4 January?

January 2009

THE SKINNY 21

Film

Film Reviews Frost/Nixon Director: Ron Howard Starring: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell Released: 23 Jan Certificate: 15

The Wrestler Director: Darren Aronofsky Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei Released: 16 Jan Certificate: TBC

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The words “I’m not a crook” are forever associated with Richard M. Nixon. As Frank Langella plays him in Ron Howard’s wry drama about his 1977 post-presidential television interview with our own David Frost, you’d be hard pushed not to believe him. A boxing analogy serves well considering how the Frost and Nixon team corners plot the downfall of their respective opponents.

Unsettling and sickly at first, Sheen nails his performance of Frost. But the man whose over-perspiration cost him the 1960 election to Kennedy is revealed here to be not too dissimilar to your grandfather: thoughtful, fragile, and even humorous. But before we start browbeating Howard or Langella for making nice with a political villain of the twentieth century, consider the fact that he was, after all, simply human. To show Nixon as uncomfortable in his own skin and not the monolithic symbol of all evil is Howard and Langella’s true achievement. [Andrew McWhirter]

After years in the wilderness, Mickey Rourke makes the comeback of the decade as an ageing wrestler in a powerful and uplifting drama. Randy The Ram is decades past his prime, his overly tanned body now damaged from years of abuse in the ring. With the big arena matches of yesteryear past, our hero is reduced to signing autographs at conventions and performing in school halls, driven to keep on wrestling by the sound of the crowd chanting his name and a chance to relive his previous glory and fame. When he collapses in the changing room following a match his doctors tell him he must hang up the spandex or face death. Rourke delivers a performance that will leave no one mistaken that he deserves to win the Best Actor Oscar, in a film that is one of the greatest underdog stories ever told. [Kevin McHugh]

www.frostnixon.net

Rachel Getting Married Director: Jonathan Demme Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger Released: 23 Jan Certificate: 15

r “I’ve been a nightmare, you’ve been a saint.” So announces Kym, the young failure of a New England family.

Her dramatic statement comes during the rehearsal dinner of her perfect sister Rachel’s wedding. Released from rehab just for the wedding festivities, Kym crashes back into her family’s world, with awkward admissions at every inopportune moment. She jokes about her problems while creating more, and her sister is the only person who consistently refuses to treat her gently. The root of Kym’s woes sprouted before a family tragedy, but their origins are never addressed. Her absentee mother and their stark Connecticut environment are possible causes. Unexpectedly, the father and the fiancé prove to prey on the viewer’s sympathy most, for their unenviable relations to imbalanced women. Tunde Adebimpe shines as the fiancé, bringing comfort to the war-torn domicile (bonus points for singing a Neil Young song at the alter). The twist of the grieving father busying himself with household work, a traditionally maternal realm, is refreshing, as is the cold austere nature of the absentee mother. But Kym is a character that modern life has overdosed on: a self-absorbed pixie, who craves emotional upheaval, and the title of ‘complicated’. Anne Hathaway should stick to playing Disney princesses.

[Sara Nowak]

Slumdog Millionaire Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor Released: 9 Jan Certificate: 15

rrr If you can put all desire for realism to one side you’ll find Slumdog Millionaire an enjoyable enough fantasy romp. For fantasy is what it is; having grown up in the slums of Mumbai and orphaned from an early age, Jamal finds that the key moments of his life have serendipitously come together at this point in time for one purpose: to provide him with the answers needed for the big win on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Yet the money is the last thing on Jamal’s mind, who instead is only interested in the search for his childhood sweetheart Latika. Danny Boyle has created a colourful film with that all important feel-good factor. Bizarrely, though, the opening scenes (where Jamal is questioned and tortured by police in the belief that the only way he could have got so far in the show is through cheating) are uncomfortable to watch and appear tonally at odds with the rest of the film, which for the most part sways towards rom-com territory. Those accustomed to the inconsequentialness of game show/reality TV will find themselves well-placed to enjoy this melodramatic, Bollywood-inspired offering. [Gail Tolley]

www.sonyclassics.com/rachelgettingmarried

Better Things Director: Duane Hopkins Starring: Rachel McIntyre, Che Corr Released: 23 Jan Certificate: 15

rrrr The cynic might argue that the British film industry appears to have been kept afloat in recent decades on a raft of social realism. And while directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh have carved successful careers through their naturalistic portrayals of working-class British life, it’s refreshing to come across a more experimental visual approach to similar subject matter. In Better Things Duane Hopkins has created an unembellished, carefully crafted depiction of rural drug-addiction in the Cotswolds. His fragmentary approach to narrative gives the viewer a series of insights into the lives of both the young and old. The frequent use of stationary camera shots and measured pacing invoke a sense of confinement, futility and desolation. What lingers is the heavy atmosphere, a testament to this unique and affecting debut. This is far removed from such works as Happy-Go-Lucky, in tone, structure and aesthetic, and an exciting departure for British film. [Gail Tolley] The Skinny interviewed the director of Better Things, Duane Hopkins, see www.theskinny.co.uk

22 THE SKINNY January 2009

FILM

DVD Reviews OUT OF THE CLOUDS

EDEN LAKE

NO REGRET

DIRECTOR: BASIL DEARDEN STARRING: ANTHONY STEEL, DAVID LORENZ, JAMES ROBERTSON JUSTICE RELEASED: 26 JAN CERTIFICATE: U

DIRECTOR: JAMES WATKINS STARRING: KELLY REILLY, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, THOMAS TURGOOSE RELEASED: 19 JAN CERTIFICATE: 18

DIRECTOR: LEESONG HEE-IL STARRING: LEE YOUNG-HOON, HAN LEE, JO HYEON-CHEOL RELEASED: 12 JAN CERTIFICATE: 18

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Truffaut once noted that the greatest pleasure of Chaplin’s The Great Dictator was how much it had dated. The same could be said of this obscure Ealing entry, a film so painfully of its time it merits analysis by palaeontologists. Rejecting the anarchic spirit of their earlier films, Ealing here opt for a romantic ensemble drama, which resembles less an Altman opus and more a Carry On film with sentiment in place of sauce. The plot is essentially an excuse to promote the ten-year-old London (now Heathrow) Airport, with director Basil Dearden given the kind of access almost unimaginable today. Made between the war and the beginning of the angry young man period, the film is a strange but fascinating time capsule, in which cockneys sound like RSC luminaries, laddish men are “fantastically gay”, all foreigners dress as stereotypes and Sid James can pass for a New Yorker. [Michael Gillespie]

“Run for the hills, the hoodies are coming!”. Well, not quite, but that was the general response to James Watkins’ debut feature, a backwoods horror yarn in which middle class couple Jenny (Reilly) and Steve (Fassbender) find themselves at the mercy of an aggressive youth gang during a camping weekend.

The film’s setup will be familiar to anyone who has seen an early Wes Craven or Tobe Hooper film (or one of the recent remakes), and the efficient first hour does little to dispense with convention or cliché. That the film still works has much to do with the excellent work by the cast, particularly the youngsters (including This Is England’s Thomas Turgoose), who bring genuine credibility and pathos to what could so easily have been Daily Mail headlines on film. And this is where the film succeeds, taking the audience’s prejudices and assumptions and throwing them right back, while the genuine shocker of an ending is up there with The Vanishing. [Lisa Bourke]

rrr It is sometimes difficult for western audiences to comprehend eastern sensibilities. No Regret, dealing as it does with the world of male hustlers, proved scandalous on its domestic release in 2006. While there is nothing here as extreme as Paul Morrissey’s films or Mysterious Skin (nor as wacky as My Own Private Idaho), the film paints a vivid picture of a Seoul almost never seen.

A contemplative story exploring the economic circumstances that drive orphan Sumin into prostitution, and the painful desire he awakens in a rich man’s son.

The pacing can be a little too leisurely, while the final reel lapses into melodrama, which although conceivable, feels contrived. There is, however, much to appreciate. Despite a reported budget of $100,000, director Leesong Hee-Il shoots with a real eye for colour, composition and movement, and captures two moments of genuine poetry, one involving the scattering of ashes, the other recalling Wilde’s observation about the gutter and the stars.[Michael Gillespie]

WHERE NO VULTURES FLY

TROPIC THUNDER

THE ESCAPIST

DIRECTOR: HARRY WATT STARRING: ANTHONY STEEL, DINAH SHERIDAN, HAROLD WARRENDER RELEASED: 26 JAN CERTIFICATE: U

DIRECTOR: BEN STILLER STARRING: BEN STILLER, ROBERT DOWNEY JR, JACK BLACK RELEASED: 26 JAN CERTIFICATE: 15

DIRECTOR: RUPERT WYATT STARRING: BRIAN COX, DAMIAN LEWIS, JOSEPH FIENNES RELEASED: 5 JAN CERTIFICATE: 15

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rr Yet another bizarre time capsule (from 1951), this Ealing production casts Anthony Steel as a crusading game warden determined to rescue African wildlife from western poachers. That’s about all that can be said for the plot, which meanders from one episode to the next without developing characters or any kind of cohesive narrative. The film’s original marketing campaign promised “Terrifying Adventure! Actually Filmed in the Heart of Darkest Africa...The World’s Most Dangerous and Unknown Land!”, summing up everything a modern audience needs to know. While there are some stand-out moments (a rhino attack on a jeep, a very protective lioness and an elephant’s POV shot) the film is every inch a colonialist fantasy (including such jaw-dropping lines as “Nobody likes foreigners!”), although its politics are in the end more progressive than other works of its kind. A fate more terrifying than this awaited Steel: he would appear in both Let’s Get Laid and The Story of O. [Michael Gillespie]

This film is being released in a triple disc DVD, an excessive and self-indulgent move more than appropriate to the main feature. Operating under the ethos of James Cameron that “more is more”, Ben Stiller directs a frat pack love-in which, like his earlier Zoolander, works reasonably well as a broad comedy, but is utterly gumsy as a satire. The target is Hollywood, but while the opening trailers rival anything from Grindhouse for spot-on hilarity, the following two hours (far too long for a comedy) are only sporadically funny. Essentially a Saturday Night Live spoof of the making of Apocalypse Now, the film has too much money, too much talent and not enough discipline. Tom Cruise’s unctuous cameo hardly helps, while the only offensive thing about Downey’s character gimmick is how lazily modish it is. Amongst the detritus, however, there’s the effortlessly hysterical Jack Black, a bumbling Steve Coogan and Nick Nolte just being, well…

Nick Nolte. [Lisa Bourke]

Taking a much-deserved leading role, oor ain Brian Cox is on fine form in this surprising and unusual prison escape story. As Frank Perry, a longtime convict attempting to escape from his cell to greet his sick daughter, Cox is everything we have come to expect and more: vulnerable, dependable and menacing. All the usual prison ingredients are present and banged-up, from the wide-eyed innocent (Dominic Cooper) the resident psycho (Steven Mackintosh), the top dog (Damian Lewis) and the wise old veteran (Liam Cunningham), but director Wyatt fleshes out his characters with real flair and vigour. The film’s real trump card, however, is the escape itself. Exceptionally well crafted, the technique is ingenious, the storytelling devices daring and rewarding, and the ending, which takes the film into the most philosophical waters a film of this kind has yet navigated, will have you locked in conversation for a long while. [Steven Dalziel]

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JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 23

Games

Back on track in 2009?

The Wii's mainstream catalogue has been accused of leaving hardcore gamers out of the fold.

Tony McGuire looks at what Nintendo will be doing to save their reputation in 2009.

Each year, the festive period seems to come and go all too soon. Once the seemingly bottomless supply of cold turkey sandwiches runs out, it’s time to consider New Year resolutions. How many of us can honestly say we’ve seen them through as planned? This year, one game developer has made some pretty bold resolutions for 2009 and the industry will be watching very carefully to make sure they follow through.

Nintendo has been the target of widespread criticism since last summer’s lacklustre showing at the E3 convention in Los Angeles. The wide demographic appeal of Nintendo’s casual game portfolio left their core audience coming away feeling a bit betrayed. Inhouse projects like Wii Music and Animal Crossing have failed to douse the fiery discontent from the Nintendo faithful.

Since then, the developer has come forward to assure the punters that 2009 will be a memorable year with several high-profile titles. Both Wii and DS will enjoy their fair share of ‘hardcore’ games in the future, but will they be any good?

Sure to make the Daily Express hitlist for its over-thetop violence, Madworld, from Platinum Games, takes the bold, abstract styles of Okami and marries it with the brutality of bloodsport movies like cult Japanese hit Battle Royale. The game is entirely monotone, taking inspiration from film noir for its colour palette. Only the deep red of blood provides any sort of contrast.

As lumbering, hard-ass Jack, you must play through a gameshow called Deathwatch, set in a city where posters reading ‘We kill because we care’ are the order of the day. Not the safest, friendliest neighbourhood, but bursting with undeniable character. This looks set to be the ultimate Wii fighting game.

Sega will be publishing Madworld in 2009, along with Wii shoot-em-up The Conduit. Developer High Voltage Software has made the most of the system’s underutilised processing power to deliver some rather tasty visuals. Set in present-day Washington D.C., The Conduit follows a violent war between humanity and the Drudge, a volatile alien race. Unsurprisingly, it’s your mission to obliterate them with guns, guns and more guns.

It won’t be easy though, as the enemy AI has been touted as very responsive; aliens cleverly duck and cover,

while others wait for you to reload before charging your position. There’s also a massive amount of control customisation, so you can personalize your perfect play style. Add in obligatory online multiplayer, and Sega could be onto a winner with the Metroid fans out there.

If getting your hands dirty appeals to you, then join Rockstar on the DS as they take you down to Chinatown. Liberty City has once again been rebuilt from the ground up for Chinatown Wars, but in essence, the game world mimics a scaled down GTA IV. That’s not to say there won’t be loads going on. As soon as Huang Lee sets foot on US soil, you’re shot, robbed and left for dead before having to regain your honour and avenge your father’s death.

The top-down action comes with a smattering of all things explicit. Much of the gameplay is made up from minigames such as tattooing your gang recruits, drug dealing and hotwiring cars; all of which make effective use of the stylus. This is definitely one to watch for in 2009, especially for the amusing ad campaign provided

by BBC News.

But where are the gaming icons Nintendo built their reputation on? All-new Mario and Zelda games are reportedly ‘under development’, which could be industry-speak for ‘ages away’. However, all is not lost!

Under the working title of ‘Play it on the Wii’, Nintendo plans to reinvent some of the Gamecube’s classic titles to make modern use of the Wiimote. Suggested titles include Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Pikmin, Chibi-Robo, Pikmin 2, Mario Tennis, Metroid Prime and the sequel, Echoes. Also, the SNES classic Pilotwings and Treasure’s epic Sin and Punishment are being remade entirely for the home console and winging their way to the Wii next year.

The games mentioned here are only the tip of the iceberg for Nintendo’s hardcore strategy. In addition, the Western release of the DSi in Spring poses some interesting possibilities for connectivity between Nintendo hardware. We’re only two years into the lifecycle of the Wii, and this generation looks like it could be the longest yet. With that in mind, maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to jump the gun and assume all is lost before it’s even begun.

Will 2009 be the memorable year Nintendo needs?

Let’s hope so.

Madworld

Reviews rrrrr

Prince of Persia

Ubisoft Montreal Out now on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii £49.99

Nineteen years after its original release, the third incarnation of the series retains the great acrobatic platforming, sword duels and brain-melting puzzles the series is revered for. This latest trilogy features a new, more charismatic prince and is steeped in Persian mythology, coupled with a graphic visual style which resembles a hand-painted storybook.

Things kick off with the prince rescuing a princess (Elika) and finding himself stuck in the middle of a battle to imprison the evil god Ahramin and restore peace to the decaying City of Light. Obviously.

All of this is achieved by pulling off impressive acrobatic stunts such as swinging round flagpoles, scaling crumbling towers and running along walls.

Should you mistime a jump or be faced with certain death, Elika will always rescue you at the last minute without fail, removing the frustration of poorly-placed jumps present in previous instalments. Some players may find that this removes the challenge from the game, but given how often you can slip up, it is also a blessing in disguise.

Screenshots really don’t do this game justice; it needs to be seen in motion. Ubisoft has nailed the dream-like, mythological feel with the hand-painted quality of the visuals.

Purified districts contain light seeds, which must be collected to unlock new skills such as sprinting up walls and along ceilings, or flying short distances.

These open the game up and require a bit of lateral thinking, especially when trying to nab the hard-toreach light seeds.

With characters chock-full of charisma, gorgeous visuals, and an epic sound track, the game is a joy to play. Veterans may dismiss this for its constant hand-holding, but that would serve to deny another stunning entry into the Prince of Persia canon. [Dave Cook]

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SNK Out now on PS2 £29.99

Sony Out now on PS3 £49.99

This game showcases the usual array of characters, including the lithe and overly endowed female character, the morbidly obese slow moving wrestler, a martial arts expert and a few other clichés. And, as in the first World Heroes games, these characters all handle like a hippo on roller-skates. Play often reduces to pulling off the same attack over and over until your opponent is eventually slain. The AI feels cheap, and both defeat and victory feel hollow, as if you were watching the game from a safe distance rather than actively controlling it.

Other contemporary games in the genre have a greater sense of scope for character engagement; for instance, you can keep a distance from opponents’ attacks, counter attack when you spot a move coming or block appropriately if they take you by surprise. There is no such feeling here. You will soon find yourself pulling off moves and hoping blind that they work, rather than timing your uppercuts and leg sweeps with any sense of certainty.

There is nothing in the World Heroes Anthology that you haven’t seen before, except that it’s been done here worse. So much worse. [Si Wellings]

First person shooters have long been popular with developers looking to enliven their games and attract new players. Usually, this means using some new function, style or feel to spruce up the game. In making Resistance 2 (R2), Insomniac have failed to do any of those things. What is left is a sub-par videogaming experience.

Following immediately from where Resistance: Fall of Man finished, the game is set in an alternate future where an alien species (the Chimera) has invaded Earth. Following the capture of Europe, the Chimera have placed America firmly in their sights. Characters are limited to carrying two guns, but the variety available is good. The Magnum, with its secondary exploding slugs, is easily one of the game’s finest points. Sadly, enemy ‘intelligence’ is weak to say the least: after playing the game for a short time an almost psychic awareness of their next moves can be gained as they’ll either take cover repetitively or charge at you pointlessly.

Chimera also fail to acknowledge any other character on the screen, and wave on wave come charging past your team mates on a bee-line for your character.

The cooperative multi-player features are interesting, and competitive mode has huge levels to play about in, but these good features do not justify the game. In all, R2 is a very ordinary shooter. [Phil Harris]

World Heroes Anthology

www.snkplaymoreusa.com

24 THE SKINNY January 2009

Resistance 2: Fall of Man

SCOTTISH comics writers are doing very well at the minute in America, Mark Millar and Grant Morrison in particular, with the artist Frank Quitely also making a strong impression. But we lack any home-grown titles that have had similar success here. Still, if you want to give Scottish comic work a try, a here are a few titles that are available.

The first comic of note is the free title The Fat Man, an online comic with any profits (which come from where, exactly?) going to charity. New chapters are released on a monthly basis, with Chapter 4 appearing about now, in January. The three previous chapters, which take up 35 pages so far, have started an action adventure tale where our hero, codenamed The Fat Man, has become embroiled in a government conspiracy that seems to involve Nazi time-travellers. Clichéd as that may sound, it all whips by at such a pace that you can’t help reading on – though be warned, it’s dauntingly confusing to begin with. The plot may well be daft (Why Nazi time travellers? Why always those bleedin’ Nazis? Why not any other political group, just for the novelty factor? Next time why not have, say, the Sandinistas, the sans-culottes or even the Salvation Army!) but it’s still entertaining, AND free AND online, so there’s every reason to check it out.

There’s no particular reason to check out Wasted, a new comic ‘for Today’s Youth Gone Wild [tm]’.

It’s an attempt at printing a humorous set of stories, but it comes off like a knock-off version of Viz. I like Viz – that kind of humour is actually hard to do properly, and they consistently do it about as well as it can be done. But in Wasted, each story seems purely about cramming as many bad jokes in as possible, and it’s saddening to see the relentless straining after laughs that this produces. For example, they have a strip about the War on Drugs, surely a fertile subject, but it stars a character called ‘Johnny Kunt’. That’s the basic standard of joke. Two other titles: ‘Lust in Space’, and ‘Hell’s Belles: Dawn of the Ned’ give an idea of the low level of ambition here. The art team, which

BOOKS

Scottish Comics Roundup

Yes, Scottish Comics. Having received a few of those titles lately, and seeing that none of them were The Broons or Oor Wullie, Keir Hind decided to check them out...

even features Frank Quitely, is clearly talented, but the stories are a waste. Reading through it depressed me after a while, especially since it’s written in part by Alan Grant and John Wagner, two sometimes-great writers who apparently couldn’t be bothered for this title.

Another one of the writers wasted on Wasted is one Curt Sibling, who also provides art for the title.

However, Sibling also puts out his own title, Total Fear.

This title actually appears excerpted in Wasted, but it conforms to the rest of the content there by being not very good. Total Fear on its own is generally better. Sibling writes that it ‘features no drugs/violence/swearing that seems to be the cheap road to humour these days’ which illustrates the difference. Actually, it does feature some, if not all, of those things, but it unfolds at its own pace and doesn’t strain after cheap laughs at the expense of story. It’s still resolutely nuts, featuring H.P. Lovecraft spoofs and a ridiculous amount of nudity – sample caption: ‘The Cute Witch’s Clothes Are Destroyed - In A Manner That Is Not In Any Way Gratuitous’ – but this displays a certain self-awareness that makes it all very enjoyable, in a cheap ‘n’ cheerful sort of way.

Total Fear is an underground comic, however, and as such is harder to get hold of than Wasted, and certainly harder to get than The Fat Man (free, online and for a good cause folks)! Still, you can pick up Total Fear, and plenty of other underground comics, at Deadhead Comics if you’re in Edinburgh, and at (the amazing and fantastic) Avalanche Records if you’re in Glasgow.

If you are a comics fan, and you’re sick of those Broons and Oor Wullie annuals you got at Christmas, then underground comics may be just the antidote you need.

THE FAT MAN CAN BE SEEN AT WWW.THE-FAT-MAN.CO.UK WASTED IS AVAILABLE IN NEWSAGENTS. TOTAL FEAR, AND A MYRIAD OF OTHER UNDERGROUND COMICS, CAN BE PICKED UP AT DEADHEAD COMICS IF YOU’RE IN EDINBURGH, AND AT AVALANCHE RECORDS IF YOU’RE IN GLASGOW.

THE FAT MAN COPYRIGHT 2008 TWISTY HEADEDMANCOMPANY/ALAN TANNER

Reviews rrrr

GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ: A LIFE

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STOLEN STORIES

VARIOUS AUTHORS

BY GERALD MARTIN

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DANIEL X: ALIEN HUNTER

BY JAMES PATTERSON & LEOPOLDO GOUT

This mammoth biography takes in 80 plus years of the life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as well as setting that life inside some extremely eventful Latin American history. It’s not exactly the official biography - Gerald Martin describes himself as the ‘officially tolerated’ biographer - but it’s about as well-researched and entertaining as you could expect. The initial hard work in any biography, genealogy followed by childhood stories, is here, but once Garcia Marquez reaches adulthood the book becomes extremely enjoyable, and once he writes One Hundred Years of Solitude it really hits a peak. Martin seems to have been manipulated a little by the myths Garcia Marquez has spun around himself, but mostly he repeats extraordinary claims to debunk, or even augment them. The most valuable purpose of the book is to set Garcia Marquez in historical perspective, showing the political climates that shaped him as well as South America in general, and also to show western readers how Marquez has become more than a writer in South America – he’s a personality of continental importance, and still writing too. [Keir Hind]

Here’s a set of short stories collected by the people at The Forest Group, linked only by the fact that they’ve all been pilfered from somewhere. Each story also has an afterword entitled ‘Nature of Theft’ where the author has to confess what makes their story stolen, which is a nice compliment to the stories themselves. It’s a varied collection – the linking theme is rather broad, and so there’s little similarity between pieces. Nothing particularly wrong with that though. The best stories are the simplest: Ron Butlin’s ‘Not Dead Yet, Lily’ is a straightforward piece about an old woman digging her garden in a thunderstorm, based on a woman he’d heard of who had decided to live her old age however she pleased. Louis E. Bourgeois’ ‘Story’, however, ends with this sentence: “So, Marcel grew latescent as Alpha Centauri, and, with a renewed vigor of ague, went to his room”. There’s rarely any excuse for such overwrought nonsense. That piece aside, this is a good series of entertaining stories. Just don’t steal your copy! [Nat Smith]

‘From the No 1. International Bestselling Thriller Writer’ proclaims the front cover of this title. True, James Patterson has written some successful thrillers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s good at comics too.

Actually, he didn’t necessarily write this one – one ‘Leopoldo Gout’ is credited as a co-writer on the thing.

This is a decent enough yarn, about a boy, Daniel, with mysterious powers, whose father was an alien hunter and (not surprisingly) was killed by a nasty alien.

Daniel is therefore out to get all of the aliens his father was hunting – and in this volume he’s after number 7 (Number 1 is the toughest). This is a readable comic, with exhilarating pacing – like a thriller, in fact – but without any features that might distinguish it from any other title that might catch your eye. Daniel X can make anything he can imagine appear in front of him, but the book lacks any imagination in the way it treats this ability. It passes the time, but it’s too humorless to do more than that. [Ryan Agee]

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY BLOOMSBURY.

COVER PRICE £5.99. AVAILABLE ONLINE

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY CENTURY.

COVER PRICE £25.00.

OR THROUGH THE FOREST CAFÉ.

COVER PRICE £9.99.

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY FOREST PUBLICATIONS.

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THE SKINNY 25

Theatre

INK: New Writing for Scottish Stages Gareth K Vile's cynicism about the written word is confronted by a dynamic new project that aims to update the role of the script Perhaps more than any other aspect of a performance, a weak script can undermine an entire evening at the theatre. Unless the characterisation is spot-on and the tone exact, leaden words stifle the best acting, imaginative staging and innovative direction. The various pedestrian versions of Shakespeare wandering about Britain are a reminder that a skilled author isn’t enough - and the increasing appearance of devised and physical theatre insist that a playwright isn’t even necessary. Scotland’s theatrical renaissance isn’t always matched by the number of new, exciting writers: into this gap comes INK, a series of evenings that explore “what happens when the writers take over the theatre”.

Split between the Tron and the Traverse – two spaces known for their support of emerging writers – INK is a monthly event that showcases new short work from a range of promising writers. Developed by Oliver Emanuel, it offers a well-priced chance to catch pieces from, amongst others, Pamela Carter, Selma Dimitrijevic, while they are in development.

“This was an idea I had in the summer. I wanted to see new writing in Scotland but it seemed in short supply,” says Emanuel. “I have done writers’ nights in London before and always had a good time but when I looked around I discovered there weren’t any north of the border.” Asking around his friends to determine the level of interest, “they bit my hand off. I went to the theatres and asked for some time and space and they said yes.”

Emanuel is very clear about INK’s aims. “It’s an opportunity for writers to work without the burden of commission, a chance to try out ideas and experiment, and most importantly to connect with an audience.” Another member of the group, Lewis Hetherington, agrees. “The chance to get work in front of an audience, see how people react to it and hear their feedback: I like that it is writing for the sake of writing. Hetherington also comments on how INK has begun to inspire his work. “As a writer it’s always nice to have the chance to feel part of a gang as it can get a bit lonely; with INK we still retain our individual voice yet are part of something larger which is a positive opportunity.”

Dimitrijevic, a Croatian writer now based in Edinburgh, is equally excited about the project. “I was attracted to INK because it seemed like a great opportunity for experimenting with new styles and formats but mostly because I wanted to work with the rest of the writers in the group.” She sees it as a chance “to try things I wanted to try for a while, to revisit things I abandoned when I started writing in English:

and just generally to have a good time!”

This is certainly in line with Emanuel’s vision for the group: “I want the writers to have fun, test themselves and their audiences. This isn’t about self promotion or glamour (theatre never is) but about connecting with an audience and telling a story.” This particular energy – both towards the creation of new works and approaches, but never excluding the audience’s entertainment and engagement is a strong theme within INK’s process. Together, they provide a foundation for a powerful vision for modern performance.

Emanuel is more modest. “If we get our audiences hooked on one hour of new writing a month, we’ve achieved our goal.” Re-establishing the writer at the heart of the theatre is a noble goal, especially as many of the most exciting contemporary pieces have rejected the importance of pre-determined dialogue

and monologue.

Emanuel, however, strongly affirms the importance of the script. “The script is still the blueprint for most performances in the theatre, whether it’s devised work, performance art or a play. But with shifting mediums, the writer’s role has changed. I often find myself as a collaborator on a project rather than the lead artist. This is all fun and really helps develop your skills but I also like sitting down with an idea and characters and seeing where it takes me. Playwrighting isn’t dying out or going out of fashion. People will always want stories from a single authored voice, but the range of ways in which we experience and make theatre is constantly evolving and writers have to keep up.”

Even though I don’t strictly agree – work devised by a company often feels confidently natural, and

for every searing Sarah Kane experiment there are twenty authors puttering about with Pinter rip-offs and mannered issue-based nonsense – Emanuel’s vigour and imagination is bracing and convincing.

Besides, both Carter and Dimitrijevic have presented excellent works that do support his argument, and any attempt to break the formality of a night out at the theatre deserves support. As a sort of literary parallel to The Arches’ Scratch nights, INK is a writer-led powerhouse dertermined to champion quality and develop new territories.

Ink, Tron Theatre, 20 Jan and 24 Mar, 19:30, £3. Tickets are available from the box office, tel: 0141 552 4267. www.tron.co.uk www.traverse.co.uk

Theatre can be unpredictable

Top 5 events

It is perfectly possible to have a good time travelling, I guess; I quite enjoyed catching the bus to the Edinburgh Festival, and the trip up to The Lemon Tree is always exciting. But, once again, the theatre pages determinedly celebrate the interior journey, insisting that Scotland’s cities have got enough art to keep our critics out of the airports and off the motorways.

At a pinch, a few other cities can rival our relentless energy. The Cardiff Chapter Arts Centre has encouraged innovative performance, while Bristol’s Mayfest looks like becoming a fixture on the Live Art calendar. Manchester’s Green Room has a comprehensive annual programme. Yet with Scottish Ballet celebrating its fortieth year

The Skinny's picks for theatre across Scotland in January

26 THE SKINNY January 2009

in 2009, Tramway continuing to look to Europe after twenty-one bracing years, and the new energy around The Arches under Jackie Wylie, the revolution at home keeps me from heading abroad.

Then again, the theatre is never really going to act as an adjunct to the Scottish tourist board, with actors and directors lining up to recite trite lines to get the diaspora back. From the Traverse’s new writing events to Dundee Rep’s diverse productions, drama is a troublesome friend, seeking out the tensions and cracks, exploiting the anxiety.

Theatre, like travel, can be unpredictable, difficult and unsatisfying, conjuring the uncanny and a sharp corrective to those who mistake an expensive drink in an oak-panelled bar for some sort of sophistication. Here’s to another year of glorious provocation.

Fame

Underneath...

Edinburgh Playhouse, 9-17 January

The Arches, 17 January

Glasgow King's, 19-24 January

Explore the caves below the night club... sitespecific processional grim fun.

The musical of the film that inspired the television series... possibly not as harsh as the movie and ready to inspire another generation of triple-threats.

Dolls Tramway, 28-31 January

NTS make the interesting decision to recreate Kitano's ravishing movie. Could be a blazing interpretation that re-imagines the link between cinema and theatre.

Sex and Chocolates Dundee Rep, 10-12 January

Features chocolate, unrepressed desire and the threat of gangland violence - in a comedy.

The Tailor of Inverness Brunton theatre, musselburgh, 30 January

Popular show returns as part of a new tour, study an escape from wartime Poland to Scotland.

Melissa Trachtenberg witnesses Scottish Ballet's continued revival and talks to Quenby Hersh about being part of the company's revival

Review Scottish Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty

Theatre Royal, 6 Dec

rrrr The Scottish Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty is, quite simply, a triumph. The dancing balances the emotional weight of Tchaikovsky’s musical brilliance, while supporting elements of the performance create a vibrant, intelligent and modern interpretation of the fairytale.

Artistic Director Ashley Page created the movements in The Sleeping Beauty specifically for the dancers in his company. This is an intriguing process to imagine, yielding an overwhelming result. The moments when modern, individualized styles burst through the refined, elegant form maintain a sense of sincerity and originality, particularly powerful in a show brimming with stunning solos. We are given the sensation of witnessing a classical sculpture being made with new tools and fresh clay.

Amid the energetic and unique merging of styles, one of the more traditional duets shines as a highlight: the love scene between Princess Aurora (Claire Robertson) and the Prince (Erik Cavallari). It is a stunning enactment of pure romance. It looks exactly like you want fairytale love to look like.

The set and costumes are lush and spectacular – vibrantly bringing us from the seemingly carefree kingdoms of mid-19th century European royalty to the displaced yet defiant social elite of a post-war era. All the while, designer Antony McDonald plays with the contrast between fantasy and reality, displaying to-die-for fashions ranging from Midsummer-esque forest fairies to runway haute couture. The choreography mirrors this progression, supporting the magical sensation that a century has passed.

Like most girls (and many boys), Quenby Hersh wanted to be a ballet dancer since she was a young child. Her babysitter dragged her to shows and at the ripe age of five, she decided that this was the life for her. A whirlwind of training, scholarships, and international awards later, she now finds herself playing six different roles in the Scottish Ballet’s touring production of The Sleeping Beauty.

According to Hersh, it looks to be yet another intriguing display of the company’s pairing of classical and modern expressions of ballet. “Ashley Page, the [artistic] director, made it specifically for the company and its dancers, so it’s really well suited to what the company does.”

Quenby was completing a one-year graduate programme at the Royal Ballet School, when Ashley Page attended a class to scout the newest member of the Scottish Ballet. She was offered a role in Cinderella and since then has performed in a number of Page’s best works.

Her favourite? Pennies from Heaven. When asked why, we are reminded that beneath the well-honed talent of a mature artist, lives a woman to whom we can all relate: “I’ve always wanted to live in the 1930s – the fashions are amazing.” The Sleeping Beauty looks to be lavish and exceptional in this regard as well: “The set and costumes are amazing, you actually see the time pass, the century really go by… it’s gorgeous.”

www.scottishballet.co.uk

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January 2009

THE SKINNY 27

Theatre

Scottish Ballet's Sleeping Beauty

Theatre

Beneath the Citizens Theatre, Dark Passions Rage

Previews The Man Who Had All The Luck Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 16 Jan - 14 Feb

Gareth K Vile hunts beneath the stage for dark tales of revolution and death as David Leddy teams up with the Citz to plunge the depths of theatrical gothic

David Leddy has been messing with theatre for a while. Home Hindrance was performed in his own house, and Sussurus was an original take on the Botanical Garden audio tour. Taking on the January slack, he has teamed up with the Citz to plunge the depths of theatrical gothic.

For Sub Rosa, Leddy utilises the hidden spaces of the Citizens to consider the abuse of power. “It is a Victorian narrative using music hall as a metaphor for power relationships,” he explains. “The story is of a chorus girl who burns to death, and we follow her best friend’s attempt to avenge her death by staging a revolution and taking over the theatre. Along the way we meet these grotesque and amoral characters: an artist who impersonates Siamese twins twenty four hours a day; a drunken, opium raddled old chorus girl.”

Pulling on his script and more left-field influences,

Leddy is creating an intimate melodrama that is far from the standard two act two hander. A large cast, including Alison Peebles and Cora Bisset, will lead the audience through both the story and the building. “It’s exciting that the Citz has asked me to do it. I make a lot of site specific work and I really like it, but these old theatres are lovely buildings and you usually only get to work in them if you are doing [stuff like] Death of a Salesman. Nothing against Death of a Salesman, but that’s not what I do!”

Leddy’s approach is eclectic. “I specialise in new writing that brings in elements of performance art, and is often site specific.” What makes him unique is his willingness to engage with both traditional and radical approaches to performance. “My background is performance art, where you can do anything! It’s funny when I work with more traditional theatre

people, when people think the work is really radical.

I think that it isn’t all that! For Home Hindrance, they were bewildered when I would say there is a great tradition of people performing in their homes.”

This fusion of old school and new wave is where Leddy excels. He is a respected experimenter and a box-office draw. Sub Rosa will add a chill of horror and glamour to the freezing January nights.

Sub Rosa, Citzens Theatre, 19-31 Jan, £12/previews £4. Shows begin every 20 Mins, from 19.00-21.20; show lasts approximately 1hr 20 mins.

Sub Rosa will involve significant amounts of walking and climbing stairs. Please contact the Citizens Theatre box office to discuss your personal requirements. It is also recommended for those aged 16+. www.davidleddy.com www.citz.co.uk

Very few have claimed to be excessively lucky. Unlike bad luck, good luck is willingly accepted and rarely examined.

While Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman looks at the failure of the American Dream, his earlier play The Man Who Had All the Luck explores the themes of good fortune and prosperity. Following the Lyceum’s successful productions of Miller’s Death of a Salesman (2002) and All My Sons (2007), John Dove is returning to pursue his passion for Miller’s works in this new production.

The Lyceum’s production is well-timed for the currently over-propagated ‘credit crunch’, as the play is set during the Great Depression. The title character, David Beeves, seems to be resistant to disasters or fiascos that invariably happen to others around him. The young mechanic’s unusual luck makes him become exceptionally self-conscious, obsessed and inevitably paranoid about his never-ending success in the times of the general economic downfall. The ever-growing contrast between David’s and other people’s welfare makes him question God’s existence and the ultimate meaning of human life.

John Dove has already been praised for his directing talent and deep understanding of the dramatic structure of Miller’s plays. Paradoxically, the play’s initial failure almost destroyed Miller’s career, but it seems like Dove’s production might be another directing achievement.

[Agata Maslowska] The Man Who Had All the Luck, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 16 Jan - 14 Feb, 19:45, £12-£26 www.lyceum.org.uk

Reviews Sunshine on Leith Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 10 dec

rrr Sunshine on Leith is testament as to the importance of having theatre with a distinctly Scottish voice. And while some play scripts may have documented the multiple stories one can find in Scotland, such treatment has been sorely lacking in the musical theatre form.

Which is why it’s sad, almost tragic, that Leith doesn’t work any better, for it is a competent production of a script that is filled with flimsy, stereotypical characters and plot threads that are best described as ‘convenient’.

Stephen Greenhorn’s script is riddled with missed opportunities. It has some decent ideas, but most of them barely manage to extend past a single moment. He also has a habit of over-explaining scenes, making many of the musical numbers a bit redundant for the story.

What is a triumph, however, is Hilary Brooks’ almost miraculous work as musical director. She has moulded The Proclaimers’ music into impressive theatrical treats, allowing songs composed for two distinct male voices to be sung by an ensemble that includes a number of women. That these songs work as well as they do is down to both the Reid brothers’ often neglected brilliance, as songwriters and Brooks’ ability to shape these songs into theatrical gems.

Leith may not be the great Scottish musical it wants to be, but it is a fairly enjoyable production that has spirited performances, polished direction and contains some wonderful musical touches. It’s just a shame the script isn’t up to the potential this piece clearly shows. [Michael Cox]

28 THE SKINNY January 2009

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COMEDY

Melbourne International Comedy Festival:

Holiday Humour

Aussie stand-up Harley Breen tells The Skinny that, despite his wide experience of festivals, the one taking place in his hometown of Melbourne is bigger and better than the rest.

FESTIVALS are festivals are festivals. I’ve been lucky enough in my time as a stand-up to do several of Australia’s festivals, and have also had the brain cell diminishing pleasure of being involved in the Edinburgh Fringe.

But this isn’t a CV for how much money I’ve lost doing festivals; it’s about the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). To some degree every festival is the same - you perform in your allotted time, you drink as much around that time as possible, you forget which city or even country you’re in and at the end, the 'friends' you thought you made all leave and the chances of catching up for a coffee before the next festival is about a million to none.

So why even bother writing about the MICF? Because it’s the only festival in the world that for a month takes over a city with one art form, comedy!

(Although the Kilkenny and the aptly named Montréal Just For Laughs Festivals are both comedy-focussed, they’re much shorter) What a fantastical idea, let’s put on an arts festival forsaking all other forms of art unless it involves laugh, laugh ha, ha. Brilliant! And takes over the city, it does. There isn’t a corner of Melbourne’s city centre that you can turn down without being hit in the face with comedy. For one month all other things are

on hold, shop owners in Chinatown write gags on their abalone and sell them for $10 000 extra, tram warning ‘ding’s, are replaced by the more comical sounding ‘awoogah’s. Our local street dwellers also turn their hand at getting a laugh, replacing “Can I have some small change?” with “Hey C@#T give me ya F@#ckin money!” Oh, how we laugh.

There’s one other distinct difference with Melbourne’s festival - we are in nearly every way at the arse-end of the world. Sometimes I think it is forgotten just how far this great sandy continent/island/country is from... well everything else in the world, but yet this festival still brings in the big guns. Headliners from around the globe make Melbourne their home for a month, wowing audiences with one-liners through to stories beautifully completing this truly international festival. From England to Canada, Japan to New Zealand, South Africa to America, and locally Perth to Brisbane; Melbourne for one month becomes a comedy cauldron of international, interstate and local comedy. Come check it out; Melbourne will be waiting.

THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL RUNS FROM 1-26 APRIL 2009.

WWW.COMEDYFESTIVAL.COM.AU WWW.MYSPACE.COM/HARLEYBREEN

Reviews THE MIGHTY BOOSH IN GLASGOW

SECC, 28 NOV

rrrr

This show has been crafted specifically for the fans; lines from the television show are dropped in randomly for the sheer recognition value. For a franchise that is so heavily labelled and a group whose talent is beginning to be overshadowed by the heavy rolling machine of commerce, has the unthinkable happened – have they over-milked the Funk?

In the first half of the show, it looks as though they may have. Their variety show format involves 'guests' (characters from the show) taking to the stage for a series of sketches, which grind to a halt after a set malfunction. This forces Noel Fielding, flailing hopelessly inside an armchair, to eventually begin ad libbing and the show finally gains a sense of spontaneity.

The Funk is alive and well; The Boosh’s musical and comedic virtuosity is outstanding, which is why the televised version suffers by comparison to the sprawling, brilliant energy of the live show. But I can't help feeling that if they broke further away from the TV show and played smaller venues, they might just find themselves not at the height of an inevitably terminal corporate franchise but at the beginning of a truly ingenious future. [Ariadne Cass-Maran] THE MIGHTY BOOSH RETURN TO GLASGOW'S SECC ON 14 AND 15 JANUARY. A LONGER VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE. WWW.THEMIGHTYBOOSH.COM

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 29

Art

International Art Events 2009 A variety of our favourite writers and Showcasers have told us what art they really, really want to see in the coming year.

Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009

The Armory Show 5-8 Mar 2009

3 Feb - 26 Apr

My most exciting art event of early next year has to be Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009 at Tate Britain curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. For the fourth Tate Triennial, which opens in early February, the founding director of Palais de Tokyo is asking a bold question: ‘has the post-modernist period come to an end?’

Bourriaud’s exhibition explores how increased access to travel and communication have transformed our lives, no longer constrained by physical or cultural borders. He talks of living in an ‘archipelago of singularities’ within a wider global state of culture, artists ‘wandering’ through this situation, both historically and geographically, building itineraries of their travels.

My most exciting inclusions in the list of twentyeight artists, which for the first time at Tate Britain includes international participants, are Seth Price, Tris Vonna-Michell and David Noonan. Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009 opens at Tate Britain, 3 February until 26 April 2009.

Jamie Kenyon is an artist and curator who works for Tate Modern and SWG3

Venice Biennale 09

As I have yet to visit New York, or indeed the continent it sits on, I can’t wait to be in the throng of the Armory Show next year. With the media censoring the word recession like a highly strung yes or no game, it will be interesting to see if a rose by any other name will smell as sweet.

Arguably, with the regulation of banks and pruning of hedge funders it would be odd if the rise and rise of the contemporary art market continued. Downturnschmownturn, this must be a levelling of sorts. Time will tell if this is a good or bad thing.

The words choke me, but historically the most exciting art has often sprung from commercial galleries. And another thing: I wouldn’t be able to see as many art works in a year of normal life as I will during the three Armory Show days. With the impending changes within our major arts funders in Scotland, uncertainty prevails. We may have no choice other than to make our own ways in the art world. If private is the new public and public the new private then I’d rather go for broke this spring, with head firmly inside the mouth of the lion.

Daniella Watson is a writer based in Edinburgh and a member of the Embassy committee.

7 Jun - 22 Nov

Every other year Venice plays host to what is described by some cynics as the Euro Vision Art Contest, with artists representing their respective countries going head to head in an all-out 5 month long art battle. There are medals and everything.

Quite literally taking over the city, filling teetering palazzos, abandoned breweries and the odd island in the lagoon, the Venice Biennale is the swimming-pool bully of all the Biennales, showing off with its celebritystuffed parties, its helicopter-accessorised yachts, generally making all the other Biennales feel a bit crap.

There is so much to see in Venice during the Biennale that if you go for just a few days you will undoubtedly spend most of your time getting lost, failing to find the cheap bars and the good art. Go for a few months, like me,and you'll see some amazing art, but slowly lose the will to live in a city clearly suffocated by its tourism and soaring property prices. I would nevertheless advise making the trip to Venice this summer: stay in the cheap hostel on Guidecca, hang out in Campo Santa Margherita (the only place open after 10pm), and most importantly wear comfortable shoes - the taxis are even more expensive than in Edinburgh.

A brief interview with Rabiya Choudhry Where in the world would you like to go in 2009, cost irrelevant? Destinations, events?

Mexico! Frida Kahlo’s house. That’d be life affirming, I think. Do I get a prize for doing this?

No. Oh well. Also The Butcher Shop Gallery in Canada, I think Vancouver [yes, it’s in Vancouver - Ed)? It used to be an abattoir. I met the guy who runs it. Artists can live there, I think. And the most exciting thing is they’ve got sheep on the roof! And, and, I’d like to go back to the Svankmajer gallery in Prague. What’s it called? Gambra gallery! G-A-M-B-R-A. Cheers.

Can I say I’d like to go to space? Lots of people are going there these days. It might be quite nice to take a sketchbook.

Jessica Harrison lives in Edinburgh and is currently working towards a PHD in sculpture

Rabiya Choudhry is an artist

Art across the globe In honour of our January Travel/ Holiday special, artists and writers tell us where in the world they’d like to go this year. I’ve chosen Beijing. Colin Chinnery, in a recent Artforum article, described the Beijing grassroots scene’s swift evolution from reactive underground in the 798 Art District to state-approved “Base for Artistic Industry”, pumped full of money and, by implication, state-sanctioned creativity. The result?

Stifled creativity and the birth of further strata of the underground, artists on the edge making art exploring “miscommunication and illegible symbols instead of common accord”.

I went to Beijing once, briefly, in 2000. I was

30 THE SKINNY January 2009

entranced by the city, by all its fascinating contradictions and conflicting planes of reality. Preserved Imperial China jarring with Communist China jarring with the invading Capitalism of the KFC on Tiananmen Square, the sheer beauty of whose wide open space peopled with kite flying children juxtaposed insanely with the Western perspective of the epitome of the totalitarian regime. I remember a land of cherry blossom and concrete, temples and choking pollution through which marched battalions of soldiers, a constant reminder that the state was close and mighty.

40 years after the end of the cultural revolution, the state accidentally stifles creativity by embracing it too warmly upon realising its economic potential.

I’d like to see that. I like contradiction. [Ros]

The Pictoplasma Conference Berlin, 17-21 Mar 2009

I didn’t know whether the scene in front of me was real. In a grand, abandoned, 19th century postal headquarters in Berlin, three giant balloon faces spun slowly around the intricately crumbling domed central ceiling, while, below, a bucking bronco with a serenely simple smiley face was ridden by a man in a white boiler suit, seesawing in time to a saccharine circus mantra.

This surrealist pop fantasy was but a taster of the world of the Pictoplasma, at the Animation Festival

in 2007. This year sees the return of the Pictoplasma Conference, a 5 day spectacular where hundreds of character-driven exhibitions take over Berlin’s galleries, parks, street corners, warehouses and bespoke spaces, and includes talks from leading international artists and designers, as well as some of the most psychedelic parties you will ever attend. Mickey Mouse is not invited.

David Lemm is an illustrator and The Skinny’s Production Editor

Top 5 events The Skinny's picks for art across Scotland in January

THE DIRTY HANDS ALEX POLLARD & CLARE STEPHENSON CCA, GLASGOW. 31 JAN – 31 MAR

Excess beyond utility, dandified amorality and ritualistic gesture, apparently. I liked his stationery monsters in Venice '05.

CLOSE-UP FRUITMARKET GALLERY, EDINBURGH. unTIL 11 JAN

Last chance to see the mega group show.

NEW WORK SCOTLAND SANDY SMITH & ALEX GROSS COLLECTIVE, EDINBURGH. until 31 JAN

I’m going to keep saying it, because they’re good.

URBAN REFLECTIONS

KARLA BLACK

STILLS, EDINBURGH. until 22 MAR

MARY MARY , GLASGOW. 10 JAN – 14 FEB

Responses to the urban experience, check out the theskinny.co.uk for our review.

She seems to get a lot of press, but is it deserved?

You decide.

Roving art reporter Andrew Cattanach reveals what really annoys him about international galleries UNFORTUNATELY, even after finally overcoming my intuitive hatred of museums, some presiding deity has taken it upon him/herself to place yet another obstruction in the way of my enjoyment: people are now allowed to take photographs in most major art museums in Europe! Hooray, you might be thinking, I love taking pictures of old art in Europe. If so, you’re a delusional pervert, and I here intend to tell you why it is so. Brace yourself.

I always thought it one of the fundamental rules of the museum space not to take photos of the art works – up there with not eating them. It would appear that times have changed and now museums like the Vatican Museum in Rome and the Louvre in Paris allow the public to take as many photos as they like. As if liberated from the wicked hands of a totalitarian leader they swan about these ancient and wonderful museums snappy-snapping everything they can lay their eyes on short of my miserable coupon.

You want to see the Mona Lisa? Not only does the barrier prevent you from getting close enough to clearly determine the sitter’s gender (forget any enigmatic smirk) she also seems to have a permanent retinue of strobe-lit chimpanzees doing the Hokey Cokey. It’s thoroughly distracting. Why? I ask myself.

What do they think they are capturing when they press that release button? An aura, perhaps. Maybe Leonardo’s reputed genius will be replicated onto their memory card for future reference – 2Gb of Renaissance genius in your pocket.

Yet still worse, some exhibits attract a particular brand of imbecile that not only wants a picture of the exhibit but one of them standing next to the exhibit, smiling. Who do they think they are, Howard Carter?

Is this to show to their disbelieving friends that they actually saw the Venus de Milo when in Paris and

didn’t just say so for a joke? Imagine being that paranoid.

You think to yourself: that’s a nice sculpture, wait until I tell my friends about this. But hang on, my friends probably won’t believe me and presume me a liar, I’d better document this occasion so as to evade doubt. If this is a true representation of your thought processes then 1) you are mad and 2) you probably don’t have any friends anyway, so relax.

Maybe I’ve missed something and in fact a new craze for scientific diligence has undermined any remaining trust we had in human consciousness and this advanced stage of scepticism dictates that we must concretise all visual experience in an electronic format to be correctly processed at a later date. This would place the museum at the forefront of the posthuman condition – which is cool and might work in its favour – but I doubt this is the case. Museums are proper old school, for a start, and although I’m sure they utilise digital means to document their exhibits I hardly suspect it’s central to their ethos. And anyway, they’ll pay people lots of money to document the exhibits, which, I might add, are normally available for resale as either inexpensive postcards or part of a more comprehensive book – so please, stop with the photo quackery.

ART

Museum Photography

Reviews KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON NIDDRIE STREET, NOVEMBER 2008

rrrr

VIDEO STILL: RACHEL MACLEAN

This exhibition, featuring students from Edinburgh College of Art, never skips a beat, from Ross Christie’s amply stocked zine hut to Liam Crichton’s creepy Robo-Skeletorkilt-wearing mannequin. Similar to many a degree show, the work is presented as factional, and not curated as such, and the opening event is crawling with buzzing folk.

Adam Kennedy has a slogan placed upright on the musty floor towards the back of the cave. The words are written large in flimsy plastic and highlighted with pastel strip lights – a touch e-Flavin. Kennedy’s ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ offers the show its title and its lynch-pin. Looking like a Hollywood sign for the bunker generation, the words could easily be a place name of the future derived from a long forgotten endurance mantra. The boudoir-toned text

intonates lovingly - not that everything will be ok, but something similar and more believable.

Although the work in the space is compartmentalised, the pieces compensate for the darkness and often create the lighting themselves. The perky auras that surround the works act as ushers around the space. Amongst the derelict backdrop of heaving cracks and crumbling plaster, the effect is super strong. Rachel MacLean’s video illuminates the gloom. Her band of kinky baby doll-chimeras, faces painted with Scottish flags spliced with Rococco gilt, pump humour with menace into our reactionary world.

The cave has a bunker mentality I like – a motif for creative doings, hidden away here and there, or in art school until the time is right to take to the streets. [Daniella Watson]

EDINBURGH LISTINGS NATIONAL GALLERIES DUTCH MANNERISM: GOLTZIUS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 10:00, 05 JAN—30 JAN, FREE

INGLEBY GALLERY ELLSWORTH KELLY

10:00, 05 JAN—21 JAN, NOT 11TH, 18TH, FREE

Plant lithographs from the artist’s own collection.

LUCA FREI MODERN ART GALLERIES FOUR SCOTTISH PAINTERS 10:00, 05 JAN—30 JAN, FREE

10:00, 05 JAN—28 JAN, NOT 11TH, 18TH, 25TH, FREE

GALLERY OF MODERN ART

JOHN WATSON PRIZE 2008

PORTRAIT GALLERY THE INTIMATE PORTRAIT 10:00, 05 JAN—30 JAN, £6/4

Drawings miniatures and pastels from Ramsey to Lawrence.

10:00, 05 JAN—30 JAN, FREE

FRUITMARKET CLOSE-UP

MULTIPLE TIMES, 05 JAN—10 JAN

Collaborative art combining image, sound video and music.

STILLS URBAN REFLECTIONS

11:00, 05 JAN—29 JAN, FREE

Responses to the urban experience.

DOGGERFISHER SPARK EROSION

10:00, 06 JAN—23 JAN, NOT 10TH, 11TH, 12TH, 17TH, 18TH, 19TH, FREE

COLLECTIVE ECHO RESIDENCY

12:00, 06 JAN—21 JAN, NOT 11TH, 12TH, 18TH, 19TH, FREE

Series of events and exhibits, see website for details

NEW WORK SCOTLAND

12:00, 06 JAN—30 JAN, NOT 11TH, 12TH, 18TH, 19TH, 25TH, 26TH, FREE

GLASGOW LISTINGS SCHOOL OF ART TWO ALASDAIRS 10:30, 05 JAN—10 JAN, FREE

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE 19:30, 13 JAN, £TBC

Aesthetes with soul

INTENZIFI 21:00, 17 JAN, £12

Hardstyle, dutch hardcore.

SORCHA DALLAS REP’E.T’TION

ECHO AND TRANSCEND

11:00, 06 JAN—17 JAN, NOT 11TH, 12TH,

10:00, 07 JAN—30 JAN, NOT 10TH, 11TH,

FREE

CCA OPEN FIELD 11:00, 06 JAN—17 JAN, NOT 11TH, 12TH,

THE ARCHES ALIEN WARS MULTIPLE TIMES, 05 JAN—30 JAN, £10/8/5

THEATRE SETS 18:00, 05 JAN—19 JAN, FREE

Photography exhibition For Theatre Sets, Ines has photographed various productions across Scotland prior to each performance.

GALLERY OF MODERN ART

12TH, 13TH, 17TH, 18TH, 19TH, 20TH, 24TH, 25TH, 26TH, 27TH, FREE

SCULPTURE STUDIO GOOD TEETH 12:00, 08 JAN—30 JAN, NOT 11TH, 12TH,

FREE

13TH, 14TH, 18TH, 19TH, 20TH, 21ST,

Group exhibition presenting new work by 15 Scottish based artists, includes painting, projection, performance and haircutting.

25TH, 26TH, 27TH, 28TH, FREE

CLOSE FIELD 19:00, 15 JAN, FREE

An event accompanying the Open Field exhibition.

MARY MARY KARLA BLACK MULTIPLE TIMES, 10 JAN—30 JAN, NOT

extra content and full listings online

11TH, 12TH, 13TH, 14TH, 18TH, 19TH, 20TH, 21ST, 25TH, 26TH, 27TH, 28TH, FREE

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 31

MUSIC

Surf’s Up, and there’s Reverb in the Waves To say that Vivian Girls are an overnight sensation is to do them a disservice: an over-year sensation, if you have to. Lauren Mayberry sits down with the ladies to find out how they did it, and what not to mix with your milkshake.

The group are also realistic but shrewd when it comes to promotion via the internet, despite their retro style.

“We are girls in our early twenties, raised with the internet. We’re going to embrace all it has to offer, even the downsides,” the bassist explains. The band leaked the album themselves before its release, to avoid fans getting low-quality vinyl rips. “There’s nothing you can do to avoid being dragged into internet culture.

As many people can hear your songs, the better,” Ali enthuses.

Sarcasm and irony also play a big part in the trio’s approach. The intentionally dorky video for Tell the World and consistent in-joking make this seem like a band that just want to play and have a great time, ignoring the occasional ignorant outburst sent their way.

“I’ve only recently realised how many sexist men there are in the world,” Cassie drawls. “But there’s nothing you can do about it,” shrugs Ali. This is something the

HEIDI KUISMA

THEY LOOK LIKE THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, BUT YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER LIVED NEXT DOOR TO ANYONE AS COOL AT THIS.

TAKING a moment to think, Cassie Ramone looks at the ceiling, pouting and pulling on her blonde Chan Marshall hair. “Relationships are one of the only things I can write about,” she confesses, “because it’s what I’ve felt. I can’t write about politics, because I don’t know anything about politics, but I know all about my feelings.”

Having only been in existence for a year and a half, Vivian Girls are a contradiction. Their voices are sweet, but their music is all Stooges fuzztone. They are lighthearted and blithe, but possess a certain sage wisdom belying their years. They look like the girl next door, but you’ve probably never lived next door to anyone as cool at this. At least, I haven’t. Dreamed up over brunch in a Mexican restaurant, the band comprise Ramone, 22, on guitar and vocals, with ‘Kickball’ Katy, 24, contributing bass and vocals, and drummer Ali Koehler, also 22,

finishing off their sun-laden, Sixties harmonies.

Described as “surfy-punk with girl-group harmonies and lots and lots of reverb”, Vivian Girls are refreshingly retro with a twist, and enlighteningly unique in a climate of could-be-cloned indie bands. “We just wanted to make melodic punk like the Wipers, and we love Nirvana,” muses red-headed Katy. “Who are Nirvana?” jokes Ali. “Nirvana, Nirvana, Nirvana!”

Cassie yelps over both.

Their happily mish-mashed sound, referencing Shop Assistants and the Shangri-Las, was something of an accident. All The Time, opener of their ten-track, 21 minute self-titled debut, sets the tone. “We used to have a hardcore breakdown at the end of it, with Bikini Kill-esque screaming, but we thought, let’s make it pretty,” Cassie explains. “A stylistic choice that we haven’t regretted.”

Originally on indie imprint Mauled By Tigers, the album became a collector’s item in a matter of months, and had to be re-released. There is a lot of giggling and finishing each others’ sentences, a sense that this band knows the back of one another’s hands as well as their own. “We hang out with each other almost exclusively, so we’ve developed a strange, inbred sense of humour,” Ramone says. “In Monorail earlier, we used a series of laughs as a way of communicating... we don’t even talk like people anymore!” Ali adds. All this japery is not to say the Girls don’t get any work done. Design graduate Cassie handles all the artwork and visuals. The trio run their own label, Wild World, printing their own t-shirt and postcard designs, silk screening all release covers, updating a fan blog and managing themselves. “I almost had to drop out of college, booking a US tour in our first year. Luckily, we all graduated okay,” says Katy, smiling.

girls are struggling to get used to, having not received such judgement in their own community of bands in Brooklyn. It’s a tight-knit group, having birthed such bands as Chairlift and Crystal Stilts (counting former Vivian Girls drummer Frankie Rose among their ranks). “We’ve been friends with the guys from Cause Co-motion since before any of our bands existed. We support each other a lot,” says Cassie.

After a year packed with appearances at SxSW, gigs with Jay Reatard, Japanther and TV on the Radio, opening for Sonic Youth and a New Year show with Yo La Tengo and the Feelies, Vivian Girls aren’t ready to relax.

“We’re taking January off to write and hang out with our friends. In February, we’re going to Europe, then recording our second album, and doing a two month tour of the US and Europe again,” explains Katy. “We’re going to spend all summer petting dogs in parks in Brooklyn.

Drinking milkshakes! And lemonade! But not together, because that’s gross...” Cue a collective “eww”.

The swagger in their dainty strides and the hearts on their sleeves make us think that this year could be even better than their last. But the girls themselves aren’t too bothered. “Life is weird, in a good way... a wild wave we are continuing to ride.”

The Next Guid Thing Last year our scribes foretold glories for the likes of Frightened Rabbit, Yeasayer, MGMT and the now omnipresent Noah & The Whale and, by Jaga’s beard, were we right. Now, with the festive season all but a fuzzy memory, Billy Hamilton whips out his crystal ball to predict a batch of acts on whom to put your house in 2009...

MUSIC

Vivian Girls:

MAPS AND ATLASES

Math Rock may have slipped from the pickled brainboxes of de rigueur-happy aficionados but Maps and Atlases are far from Foals-mimicking rehashonistas.

Nestling between the algorhythmic rush of Cap’N Jazz and Battles’ more inclusive moments, this fresh-faced Chicago quartet have already whetted palates with a brace of mindblowing EPs in Trees, Swallows, Houses and 2008’s melodically serrated You & Me & The Mountain. Armed to the gnashers with barraging, algebraic percussion and spasmodic guitar taps, 2009 should finally be the year this band not only pins itself on your map but on the whole damn globe.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/MAPSANDATLASES

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

CRYSTAL ANTLERS

Crystal Antlers are more than a wee bit special. The Californian quintet’s debut EP is a craniumcompressing bruiser: skewering brutal guitars with whip-cracking drum thunderstorms to create a cacophonous frenzy of amp-blowing sound. As ravaging as this will no doubt be to hair-flicking indie hipsters, droplets of prog and classic rock can be found slithering between the sheets of every rambunctious number. And that’s what makes Crystal Antlers such a pant-pissing proposition: by having one foot in what was proven righteous in the past they’re about to catapult straight into the future.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CRYSTALANTLERS CRYSTAL ANTLERS PLAY ABC2, GLASGOW ON 30 JAN

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/WEWEREPROMISEDJETPACKS

JOE GIDEON AND THE SHARK

SKY LARKIN

A rip-roaring stomp of indie-pop, Sky Larkin teetered on the brink of a crossover last year. With more gazump than Los Campesinos! and less whine than Johnny Foreigner, the Leeds-born trio seem perfectly poised to make that final step when their debut long-player is released through Wichita in the coming months. With hooks aplenty and the bolshie tones of Katie Harkin at the helm the group’s live shows have become a must-see spectacle of raucous, virulent energy, and if they can muster up a record half as exhilarating then the world is theirs for the taking.

VIVIAN GIRLS’ SELF-TITLED DEBUT IS AVAILABLE NOW VIA IN THE RED. SURF’S UP 7” FUN PACK (WITH A T-SHIRT, POSTCARDS AND BADGE) IS OUT NOW VIA WILD WORLD. WWW.VIVIANGIRLS.NET

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SKYLARKINSKYLARKIN SKY LARKIN PLAY KING TUT’S, GLASGOW ON 26 JAN

New year, new music...

A new year in music brings much potential and this month you'll find every other pundit speculating over whose 15 minutes are at hand. And like Dolores O'Riordan and chums once posed: everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? See our run down of 10 propositions that might knacker your speakers in 2009 on the opposite page. But never fear if the next generation of sharp haircuts and bold new sounds should let you down in times of high nostalgia, as this year witnesses the return of some of the most iconic figures in the business.

Enter Dr Dre (don't tell me you forgot). Now, you might wonder what a gangsta funk pioneer who dedicates most of his tunes to smokin' endo and bussin' his Glock might have to offer the modern age, but the next episode is a curiosity in my book. Compton's most wanted is set to return with the long anticipated Detox this summer. Will Kevin Shields do likewise? The Music team spare a thought for all of the above and a few more of the year's forthcoming releases elsewhere this issue. Oh and for those lucky enough to elude the shadow of the forthcoming recession, we answer the question of which foreign festival fields you'd do well to end up in this summer. Send us a postcard eh?

A Muso’s Top 10: Dälek Having produced four albums of thoughtprovoking rhymes and challenging beats over the last decade (number five lands this month), Will Brooks (aka MC Dälek) gives up his 'recently played' list and proves that even the most socially conscious emcee knows when to get their smooth on...

Damn, if you look at my iPod it’s very schizophrenic. As far as new stuff I’ve been listening to goes, I’m a big fan of Flying Lotus and a huge fan of Kevin Martin – The Bug Project – I think that’s amazing. Other than that, I listen to a lot of old shit. I’m a big fan of Iron and Wine, and a lot of old school salsa. I still listen to old-school hip-hop, but this is what I’ve had on lately...

1. D’Angelo – Feel Like Makin’ Love 2. Héctor Lavoe – Mucho Amor 3. Iron and Wine – Radio War 4. James Brown – Out of Sight 5. Modeselektor - Earth 6. Tom Petty – Time to Move On 7. Al Green – Full of Fire 8. Billie Holiday – The Very Thought of You 9. Booker T and the MG’s – Mo’ Onions 10. Chris Kenner – Sick and Tired That’s funny, not one hip-hop song... I must’ve been fuckin’ that night.

NEW ALBUM GUTTER TACTICS : 26 JAN VIA IPECAC. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DALEK

Joe Gideon and the Shark are the kind of band your mother warned you about.

With scuzzed-up guitars leering over nihilistic pummels of drum, theirs is the sound of writhing rustic blues. To call this ‘electrifying’ would do little to convey the surging energy created by this London based brother-sister duo whose debut longplayer is set to embed itself within the nation’s ear-sockets early this year. Think the Archie Bronson Outfit muzzled by Mark E Smith’s flaming growl: there’s absolutely no doubt about it – you need Joe Gideon and the Shark in your life this year.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JOEGIDEONANDTHESHARK

OVER THE WALL

In almost every sense Over The Wall are a typical Glasgow band. The duo of Ben Hillman and Gav Prentice makes charming, minutiae-detailing paeans that bleed twee pop sensibility while stoking the fires of transient electronica. Really, the only noticeable difference between this pair of west coast wannabes and many of their hometown adversaries is this: they’re good. Very fucking good. Without pretence or sneer, the captivating ensemble have built up a devoted following on the back of ditties like the impeccable Thurso and equally elegiac A Grand Defeat. Having recently made a successful play for the nation’s airwaves, these lads should this year prove just how untypical a ‘Glasgow band’ they can be.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/OVERTHEWALL

MEURSAULT

2008 saw Edinburgh’s musical subculture rise with a boldness not seen since the halcyon days of Josef K and the Fire Engines. And sitting proudly atop Auld Reekie’s perch of creativity is the alchemistic sonics of local quartet Meursault. A schizophrenic ogre of heart-pounding acoustic folk and shuddering synth, the ensemble’s debut longplayer Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues – our album of the month in December – plundered lugholes with vehement surges of electronica before soothing the mind with lilting strums and frontman Neil Pennycook’s reassuring crow. Already a favourite amongst the Central Belt’s more tuned-in dilettantes, Meursault look set to venture out onto more luscious pastures over the next 12 months.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/MEURSAULTA701

32 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

Blessed with the most inspired moniker since Lesbian Dopeheads On Mopeds, We Were Promised Jetpacks have established themselves as firm favourites in these quarters. Now signed to the mighty Fat Cat Records via a nudge and a wink from Glasgow brethren Frightened Rabbit, the four piece wear the badge of Franz inspired indie-pop-pickery with brazen aplomb. Bulging with infectious riffage that rushes into you like a two minute knee-trembler round the back of the bikesheds, WWPJ have both the cheek and charm to launch beyond the stars in 2009.

PASSION PIT

Passion Pit ain’t exactly a band for all seasons. Toploaded with handclaps and synths, the Massachusetts-based quintet’s debut EP Chunk Of Change was built with one thing in mind: sunshine – and plenty of it. A firm sense of Hot Chip’s retro-tronica resonates throughout their gush-heavy reveries but below this floor-filling core is the good time pop sensibility of Phoenix and The Sleepy Jackson. Despite having only a handful of gigs under their belts, the group’s disco melodics and cuddling hooks have already wormholed their way through the blogosphere. And with Frenchkiss Records spurring them on, this lot will bedazzle you with sunshine long before the summer does.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PASSIONPITJAMS

HIGH PLACES

Exalting colourful yarns of banana slugs and dinosaurs with seagulls’ wings, High Places’ lyrical content bears more than passing resemblance to a Roald Dahl novel. But underneath the Brooklyn duo’s quirky, childish disposition lies an ocean-sized penchant for lucid melodies, woven into a tapestry of highly strung calypso and jovial, swooshing synths. The sublime collection of EPs 03/07 – 09/07 first brought the pair to The Skinny’s attention and the release of their luscious debut LP coupled with a hectic continent-hopping touring schedule will have this phosphorescent ensemble bending its way into your imagination soon.

ROB ST JOHN

The hushed reverence of Rob St John is a sound to behold. The Edinburgh based troubadour’s cerebral tones and stupefying sense of atmosphere is always breathtaking, and at best the purpose of adjoining strum and voice as one.

Tingling neck-hairs with his slow-handed brilliance, St John’s knack for a tune is similar to local luminary James Yorkston, but there’s enough autumnal despair in his finger-plucked trinkets to suggest Messrs Drake and Buckley have had a hand in developing his wispy, evocative laments.

Either way, Rob St John’s a remarkable, uncut diamond soon to be dug up.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ROBSTJOHN

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/HELLOHIGHPLACES

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 33

ORLD

EW W AN

MUSIC

I HEAR

Unusual and innovative music from Scotland and beyond Compiled by Milo McLaughlin Ish Marquez - Pipe Dream Memories I can’t imagine a better track to kick off 2009 with. The New York musician is an unbelievable guitarist who totally blew the audience’s mind when he played a gig with Jeffrey Lewis, Stanley Brinks and Withered Hand at Edinburgh’s Henry’s Cellar Bar at the end of last year. He’s ended up a part of the anti-folk scene more by his NYC location than sound, his tunes funky and soulful twists on guitar virtuosity that should really see him become a massive star. Damn it, you’ve just got to get up and dance to this track from his Goin’ Thru album, currently only available at his gigs (but you can hear it on this month’s podcast of course).

JUSTIN DYLAN RENNEY

Sellotape – My Left Tit Viki Sellotape has been described as Scotland’s answer to Mark E Smith due to her single-minded musical vision, inspired by the likes of X-ray Spex and Siouxsie Sioux. But given that her live performances consist of her strutting around the stage in tiny hotpants, I know who’d I’d rather spend quality time with, and it’s not the gnomefaced old Manc, despite his genius. Along with her bandmates, let her stamp you under her foot like a spurned lover with this seething sexually charged put-down.

A-Lix – I Know a Man A-Lix know a man. But then doesn’t everybody? What most people don’t know though, is that A-Lix are really rather good.

A truly international band based in Glasgow, including members of French and Argentinian origin. As pop as they are post-punk (some call it death disco), they wield their guitars like automatic rifles on this blistering, swaggering beast of a tune from their album Never Grow.

White Heath –When The Watchmen Leave Their Stations You know you’re in for a treat right away when a big feckin’ tuba kicks in, but just wait for the chorus when it all comes together in a swinging, serenading New Orleans march through the streets then onto a boat down the Mississippi river of lovestruck majesty. One of the highlights at the recent songbytoad.com Christmas party held at the brilliant new Edinburgh venue The Bowery, this is an early mix of the song, with an even better version promised soon.

YOU CAN HEAR ALL OF THE ABOVE ON THE PODCAST AT WWW.THESKINNY.CO.UK.

34 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

RoadWarriors In a manner somewhat suited to his band's style, The Bronx vocalist Matt Caughthran catches up with Ryan Drever on the road to talk records, movies and mariachi bands.

FOR around six years, LA’s The Bronx have kicked and screamed their way across the world from toilet venues to festivals, stopping only to make records and mend limbs. In this time, the band have managed to gather the praise and adoration of critics and fans across the board, culminating in the release of their third album, the well-received The Bronx (III). It’s no surprise to find them in the back of a van somewhere when I patch in a call.

“Uh... I think we’re in Virginia,” offers singer Matt Caughthran. “Hey, [calling to someone in the background] are we in Virginia today?” The voice soon calls him on his error. “Oh, we’re in Maryland!”

This blurring of state lines and merging of days into one another seems a key indication that The Bronx, like many others, have made the road their home.

These recent US dates follow around seven months of constant touring already and are in support of the first of two new simultaneously recorded offerings, The Bronx (III). I ask a deservedly tired Caughthran for the lowdown on the record, which is already getting the critical thumbs up. “We recorded the whole thing in our own studio for the first time and it was a lot more streamlined. The only real goal we had was to kinda trim the fat outta everything and make them as straight to the point as possible.” Although trimming and straightening can often be precarious for a ‘punk’ band, Caughthran seems more than happy with the

result. “Every record is different. It’s a fun experience recording each one, but yeah we’re definitely proud of it.”

With so much time spent on the road, it would seem difficult to draw from outside inspiration, so what lies at the lyrical core for the band on this occasion?

Tiptoeing over his words, Caughthran explains: “It’s a kind of a, dare I say, reflective record lyrically. As a band, we’ve had the opportunity to do some amazing things and travel the world, so it’s really just about looking back over the past few years and trying to make sense of it all.”

These times of opportunity have even seen the band turn their collective hand to film. A recent movie based on Darby Crash – lead singer of legendary punks The Germs – entitled What We Do Is Secret, sees The Bronx starring as their kindred spirits, Black Flag, to perform Police Story. So what is it like to play live in the guise of your heroes? “That was real cool to record a Black Flag song with Pat Smear (guitarist with The Germs and the Foo Fighters), and to be in a Hollywood movie, it was a lot of fun,” he exclaims genuinely. “It was an honour to be a part of that; I mean obviously they are a band we look up to so it was a real great experience.

I can’t think of another band that we could play in a movie... maybe Jefferson Starship!”

Musically, the band have found time to nurture altogether different ideas, albeit not in the usual

capacity of various side projects, but rather with an album that consists entirely of Mexican mariachi music, performed under the somewhat self-explanatory name Mariachi El Bronx. Set to be released in March, El Bronx was recorded at the same time as The Bronx (III), and this incarnation of the band have even supported themselves on tour. This is probably not exactly what existing fans might expect, but how did it come about? “That was inspired by a TV show we did where we were playing a song; they wanted us to do it acoustic and we wanted to do something different, so tried a mariachi style. It all just came from there.”

From the outside this may seem like extended novelty but Caughthran reveals that the album steers clear of shonky conceptual reworking of old songs for a ‘bit of a laugh.’ “They’re all original songs, there’s no like, mariachi style covers of Bronx songs [laughs]. It would be interesting though, that’s for sure.”

The band have just announced an extensive European tour and UK dates with Fucked Up and Rolo Tomassi for the second outing of the Shred Yr Face tour. So while we wait patiently for the Jefferson Starship biopic, it would seem the road is still very much home for The Bronx in 2009.

THE BRONX (III) IS RELEASED ON 26 JAN VIA WICHITA. THE BRONX PLAY THE GARAGE, GLASGOW ON 27 FEB. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEBRONX

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Music

2009’s Most Anticipated Albums

It’s All About Dre, Rae & Yea (sayer) While titans prepare their long-delayed returns and the music world readies itself to fall back on that Hollywood phenomenon they call 'the sequel', the indie rock pantheon will have its work cut out if it's going to shine in 2009.

Will it take a leap of faith to invest in new records by Dr Dre and My Bloody Valentine? Can Yeasayer and The Twilight Sad surpass their respective debuts? The Music team previews some of the most anticipated releases of the year.

The Shins

Title: TBC (Aural Apothecary) Release Date: TBC

2009 will be all change for indie darlings The Shins, a band it is illegal to write about without mentioning Natalie Portman.

Their burgeoning popularity, thanks to the Hollywood actress, coincided just in time for third LP Wincing the Night Away to be Sub Pop’s biggest commercial success. Then in June the band announced they were leaving for singer James Mercer’s own label Aural Apothecary. It seems more a business move than a musical one, so expect pastoral pop-perfection as usual. [Darren Carle]

One Day As A Lion

Mastodon

Title: Crack the Skye (Warner) Release Date: Spring

The fourth album from these Atlanta riff architects seeks to continue Mastodon’s exploration into themes beyond our – and perhaps even their own – comprehension. Helmed

by Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam), guitarist Brent Hinds tells us that Crack the Skye was largely written while he recovered from brain haemorrhaging last year. Drawing on concerns such as astral travel and Tsarist Russia, the LP looks to be taking an even bigger conceptual leap than their last - 2006’s critically acclaimed Blood Mountain. For fans of heavy progressive metal, you don’t want to miss this. [Ryan Drever]

U2

Title: TBC (Anti) Release Date: TBC

Title: No Line On the Horizon (Island) Release Date: 23 February

Tom Morello recently announced that there were no plans for a new Rage Against The Machine album, despite the resounding success of their 2008 tour. Given that he is responsible for Audioslave, we should probably be thankful. Zack de la Rocha has, however, continued to be a fountain of focused rage, and after teaming up with The Mars Volta’s ex-drummer, released a phenomenal EP of hard funk and bombastic rhymes in 2008. The originally mooted release date for the full-length release has been and gone, but we wait with baited breadth. [Ewen Millar]

For the benefit of any aliens who may be reading: U2 are massive.

Really massive. Even with no new music to flog they broke records in 2008 (for their 3D concert film, and only in Ireland, but still…).

Now all those fans thinking “yeah, I guess Elevation was good, but I really wish they sounded more like the Black Eyed Peas” are in for a treat, with the appointment of Will.I.Am to handle production duties alongside Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Ridiculous? You decide. Expect the fruits of their collaboration to amaze/amuse in February. [Chris Buckle]

Queens of the Stone Age

Title: TBC (Interscope) Release Date: TBC

Penning or otherwise perpetrating what should rightly go down as one of the noughties top ten hard rock albums – Songs for the Deaf – Josh Homme has put forth a pair of respectable QOTSA albums since, but never quite eclipsed that highwatermark of his 2002 triumph. Homme recently announced his intentions of a productive 2009 with a new Queens record – a “desert orgy in the dark”, Desert Sessions release and a remastering (whatever for?) of the Queens’ seminal debut all in the offing. [Jason Morton]

The Twilight Sad

Title: TBC (Fat Cat) Release Date: September

We couldn’t get enough of The Twilight Sad in 2007 (still can’t! – ed) thanks to album of the year Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, but now comes the all too familiar problem of how to avoid the sophomore slump. The perceived expectations of a fanbase can play insidious tricks on the mind of a songwriter, so our advice to the band is to chill; nobody’s looking, we don’t even care, see? Now go lock yourselves in a remote cabin and get on with it. [Ally Brown]

The Prodigy

Title: Invaders Must Die (Take Me to the Hospital) Release Date: 2 March

Deftones

Title: Eros (Warner) Release Date: Spring

Though his previous records have seen a heady blend of post-hardcore, hip-hop and tasteful touches of new romantic influence put to work on record, front man Chino Moreno describes Deftones’ latest effort as their most aggressive yet. However, plans to release the album in early 2009 have become secondary since the tragic news of bassist Chi Cheng’s hospitalisation in the aftermath of a serious car accident last November. At time of going to press he remains in a coma and any word on a firm release date is yet to be made. [Johnny Langlands]

36 THE SKINNY January 2009

It’s been diminishing returns from The Prodigy since 1994’s Music for the Jilted Generation. After its completion, Liam Howlett must have left the door of his underground bunker unlocked, letting idiot clown-farmer Keith Flint ‘ooo-ar’ over half of follow up Fat of the Land. It proved a good album nevertheless, but locking Flint out for Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned did little to reclaim former glories. The full-band, with an appearance from Dave Grohl, return with Invaders Must Die in March. [DC]

MUSIC

DR. DRE TITLE: DETOX (AFTERMATH) RELEASE DATE: SUMMER

For some, Detox is a Chinese Democracy in itself – rumoured and hinted at for years, compiled in secrecy from a reported 400 tracks – but Dre has upped the ante here by announcing his forthcoming 2009 LP as his final. This claim could be lessened given hip-hop stars’ propensity for unnecessary dramatics (Jay-Z, Eminem and Lupe Fiasco have all announced similar retirements, with the former two re-emerging shortly later).

However, Dre’s scarcity of rhymes on recent wax makes it almost a sure bet that Detox will be the final solo offering from this West Coast icon. [JM]

CONDO FUCKS (AKA YO LA TENGO)

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

TITLE: FUCKBOOK (MATADOR) RELEASE DATE: 10 MARCH

TITLE: TBC (TBC) RELEASE DATE: TBC

Bands today have no manners. In my day, Fuck Buttons, Fucked Up, Holy Fuck and the rest of their potty-mouthed kind would have been tutted at most severely, but now even pop royalty like Yo La Tengo are swearing willy-nilly and releasing albums under disgraceful pseudonyms. Sure, early signs suggest the music is as superb as ever, with a retro garage sound marking a change from 2006’s quirky I’m Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. But it’s the principle of the matter. [CB]

MBV’s live comeback last year was unexpected and unforgettable: especially if you weren’t wearing earplugs, in which case a constant skree in your ear will remind you of it 24 hours a day. But do we really want a new album 18 years after the seminal Loveless? All Axl Rose’s much-delayed opus did was prove the difficulties in still sounding relevant after such a break. Topping Loveless would be nigh-impossible, so do all you can to keep expectations low and it might just be a pleasant surprise. [AB]

THE NATIONAL

ALEXANDER WAGNER

TITLE: TBC (BEGGARS BANQUET) RELEASE DATE: TBC

2008 saw The National move from being a quirky Brooklyn outfit with a dour Leonard Cohen-esque vocalist singing over Interpol-style riffs, into the next Pearl Jam, buoyed by the slow burning success of 2007’s Boxer. Their transition to stadium rock, however, leaves them at a crossroads; will their next album see them continue upwards towards Boss territory, or will they do an Eddie Vedder and insist that they’re really a misunderstood ‘underground band’ that happens to have millions of fans? We’ll bet on the former. [EM]

JAY-Z

TITLE: THE BLUEPRINT 3 (ROC-A-FELLA) RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY

YEASAYER

TITLE: TBC (WE ARE FREE) RELEASE DATE: MAY

MGMT and Vampire Weekend may have stolen the limelight, but Yeasayer have equally impressed those paying attention. All Hour Cymbals may not have quite lived up to the expectations laid by single 2080, but judging by the new material performed at this year’s T in the Park, it could well stand as a full-dress rehearsal before the main event. “I think it will give us a chance to push any tendencies we had on the first record even further,” confirmed singer Chris Keating before retreating to his bunker last year. [DC]

It’s all about trilogies in hiphop these days: Kanye West signalled an end to his schoolthemed trio with the depressing 808s and Heartbreak; Lil Wayne became the biggest selling artist in America after Da Drought 3 built the hype for Tha Carter 3 and Dedication 3; and now Jay-Z is returning with eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3. Due in February with Kanye behind the desk, let’s hope this third is more Bourne than Godfather.

[AB]

RAEKWON

RACHEL WARNER

TITLE: ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX II (AFTERMATH) RELEASE DATE: MARCH

Mafioso-inspired 1995 release Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is widely considered a hip-hop standard.

Although later releases from Raekwon failed to meet the benchmark this album set, the announcement of a sequel has been met with fervent anticipation amongst Wu aficionados. Returning to the roots of the original concept, this album will again play on Raekwon’s storytelling ability and, with both The RZA and Dr Dre producing, all eyes are on the Chef to pull another one out of the hat. [RD]

...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD TITLE: THE CENTURY OF SELF (RICHTER SCALE) RELEASE DATE: 16 FEBRUARY

Trail of Dead were one of the few bands to deservingly defy the indie-to-major sell-out cliché. That is, until 2006’s somewhat overblown So Divided. The imminent Festival Thyme EP due for release on the band’s Richter Scale label may labour more heavily on piano than pedals, but hints that Conrad Keely and co can still create climactic, enthralling art rock without the pomposity. As for sixth album The Century Of Self – due for release next month – the proof will be in the pudding.

[Lauren Mayberry]

EMINEM

TITLE: RELAPSE (SHADY/AFTERMATH) RELEASE DATE: SPRING

The Boy Wonder to Dre’s Batman, Detroit’s perennial courter of controversy also has an eye on a 2009 release for his comeback album. Previously, Em has justifiably garnered acclaim for a vicious lyrical flow whilst being criticised as homophobic and misogynist before Michael Jackson famously called him on outright character assassination. Who Marshall might take on for his fifth full-length may not be clear, but it’s doubtful age has softened the rough edges of Mr Mathers. [JM]

GRIZZLY BEAR

TITLE: TBC (WARP) RELEASE DATE: SPRING

After rooting for Obama and supporting Radiohead on their 2008 North American tour, Grizzly Bear are set to pack an LP full of their haunting psychedelic folk and deliver a 2009 release. Head Bear Ed Droste confirmed a wider range of emotion on the forthcoming album in a recent interview, and after the experimentation of the Friend EP, listeners shouldn’t expect Yellow House part two or a collection of Knife rip-offs, but rather another quality album from this ever-diversifying Brooklyn band. [JM]

YEAH YEAH YEAHS

TITLE: TBC (INTERSCOPE) RELEASE DATE: SPRING

Unsurprisingly, YYY’s second album Show Your Bones divided fans neatly down the middle: a step too far towards mainstream acceptance for some, a perfect mix of their punk snarl with a genuine pop nous for others. Wherever you lay your hat though, they are undoubtedly one of the most exciting bands in a long line of exciting bands to have emerged from New York in recent years. As such, both camps will no doubt be wetting their lips in anticipation of their return. [DC]

MANIC STREET PREACHERS

TITLE: JOURNAL FOR PLAGUE LOVERS (COLUMBIA) RELEASE DATE: SPRING

What’s that you say? Lyrics by Richey? Recorded by Albini? Well sign us the fuck up.

Following the refinement of their latter-day arena rock oeuvre with 2007’s Send Away the Tigers, the Manics finally came to embrace the emotionally and sonically barbed material from their rawer, post-glam period when it came to touring that year. And now this curveball, dubbed by Nicky Wire as “a follow-up in many ways” to their darkest hour, The Holy Bible. A nostalgic gambit? Maybe, but we wait with interest. [JL] OF COURSE, this is all just a brief peek. Also on the horizon are forthcoming efforts by Animal Collective, Broken Records, Converge, Crystal Antlers, Dananananaykroyd, The Decemberists, Franz Ferdinand, Fuck Buttons, Glassjaw, HEALTH, Isis, Jubilee, Kid606, Klaxons, Lightning Bolt, Morrissey, Outkast (x3!), Pearl Jam, Placebo, Rival Schools, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Wilco. Obviously

there’ll be a few mandatory Mike Patton projects and some Manilow remasters on the cards too, not to mention a zillion other as yet unannounced gems flying under the radar.

Read more about our hopes and predictions for the coming year and tell us which records you’ll be hammering your piggy bank for over on the forums at theskinny.co.uk

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 37

Commit To Memory Graeme Ronald, lynchpin of modern classical ensemble Remember Remember, gets into a ‘loop’ with Darren Carle to discuss keeping it real in a computer world.

NEBULOUS seems the perfect adjective to describe Remember Remember. Cloud-like connotations sit perfectly with their ethereal sound, but it also aptly sums up a shifting line-up that snaps between an 11-piece string, brass and woodwind ensemble to a solitary guitarist armed with a loop pedal and a box of office stationery. “First and foremost it’s basically me,” states Graeme Ronald, the man in question. “I’m the only person who’s always been in Remember Remember, but it seems unfair to call it a solo project because the album was so collaborative.”

Ronald has previously played with Multiplies and The Royal We, however Remember Remember has been forming for some time, being his catch-all name for anything he did on his own at home on his computer. “I was initially put off performing it live because, to me, watching someone perform with a laptop is usually pretty boring. There aren’t many people that can make that kind of thing interesting,” he reasons. “Unless they dance!”

Deciding to take another route, Ronald became enraptured by loop stations, a guitar pedal that lets you, well, loop what you play in a live setting. “The songs mainly come from me having ideas and melodies in my head and the loop station is a brilliant song-writing tool for that,” he reasons. “As soon as you have an idea, you can put it down, loop it and then start to flesh it out with other ideas. For the first year, gigs were just me on my own, looping the guitar and complimenting it with other instruments.”

However, Ronald is keen to keep things ‘real’, particularly in the studio. “On the album I tried to avoid actually looping things as much as possible. It was more overdubs, so me and the other musicians were playing a riff as if we were looping it, but really we were just playing the same riff for like five minutes straight.”

He continues: “Producers are quite keen, especially these days with computers, to listen through a take for any slight trace of a mistake and then cut ‘n’ paste it out. I’m trying to work against that, trying to maintain the mistakes as long as they aren’t too awful. It’s good to keep that human feel to it. I don’t want people to mistake this for an electronic record.”

So how would Ronald describe his debut album?

“It’s the most fundamental question,” he concedes. “A musician should really be able to describe what their music sounds like. One thing that’s getting banded around a bit is the ‘modern classical’ thing, which sounds really pretentious, but tags like ‘electronic’ and ‘instrumental’ are really quite vague. To describe music as instrumental is pretty stupid.”

‘Modern classical’ on Mogwai’s Rock Action label?

“My record is a bit of a departure in a lot of ways from what they’ve brought out before,” he admits. “The clue is in the name, but I’d like to think that I fit in well with them. I mean, even Mogwai have their more tender moments.”

C

DEBUT ALBUM REMEMBER REMEMBER IS OUT NOW VIA ROCK ACTION.

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WWW.MYSPACE.COM/REMEMBERREMEMBER Y

CM

MY

Conflict Diamonds:

Big In Denmark WHAT’S in a name, asked William Shakespeare some 400 years ago. Not much if you’re Edinburgh duo Conflict Diamonds. They may possess a politically contentious moniker, but they’re not here on some moral crusade. “Really, I just like the words, that’s why I picked it,” confesses singer and guitarist Pete Wylde. “It wasn’t such a big issue then. Kanye West hadn’t done a track about it. Then all of a sudden, these slightly violent, activist types were writing to us, asking ‘hey do you wanna come and support us, play gigs at our rallies?’”

It hasn’t helped their exposure in a world where the internet is a pivotal tool for upcoming bands. “With ‘conflict diamonds’, there’s a huge issue that’s got nothing to do with us,” begins drummer Kevin Murray.

“So it’s actually quite hard to find anything about us.

But sometimes I check to make sure that we’re still a thousand hits down the Google search.”

If that’s an abject lesson to aspiring bands thinking up world-conquering names, then it seems it’s something the duo take in their stride. Chatting at Kevin’s Edinburgh home, they happily regale us with tales of playing at a Danish festival last year. “All the bands there thought we were the next Franz Ferdinand,” laughs Pete.

“They were like ‘What are you doing here? You’re real rock stars!’ We were like ‘Yeah, we’re just teaching you a lesson.’ We were just the same as them, but their music scene’s not as developed.”

It’s a sharp contrast to gigging on home turf. Having played the arse off Edinburgh, they’ve more than a few sobering stories. “Fucking Whistle Binkies, man,” Kevin grimaces. “That was the worst gig ever! Binkies is a cool

38 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

place but it’s not famed for having really good bands.

It’s kinda the place you go to watch pub rock. We were playing and then we’d stop and folk were looking at us going ‘what the fuck’s this?’”

Such trials, it seems, have only helped fuse the steadfast pair. “We’ve had jams with a roomful of people,” reveals Pete. “But it’s different with just two of us. You have to write music in a different way. Plus we’re quite disorganised so it helps there’s only two people that need to turn up.” “And we get to split everything fifty-fifty,” Kevin adds. “Yeah, that as well,” agrees Pete.

“It’s basically down to that.”

A four-track EP is nearing completion, full of skewed, dirty garage rock riffs and carelessly inventive drum fills that surreptitiously embed themselves within your psyche before punching their way out at a later date. A musical Alien gut-buster if you will. It’s a long way from the band’s formative music years. “The first CD I ever got given was Queen’s greatest hits,” admits Pete. “I was pretty well glammed up and gayed up as an eight year old, dancing around singing The Show Must Go On in the kitchen.”

A light clicks on in Kevin’s mind: “The first piece of music that I ever recall hearing, that I actually wanted to own, was Bohemian Rhapsody. I just couldn’t believe it. I was thinking, is this classical, is it rock – what the fuck is this?” “Maybe that’s what we are,” ponders Pete.

“We’re a Queen-inspired band. We didn’t even know that; we’ve just worked it out just now.”

CONFLICT DIAMONDS PLAY THE CAPTAIN’S REST, GLASGOW ON 30 JAN WITH POPOLO, THEN LIQUID ROOM, EDINBURGH ON 6 FEB WITH THE STRANDS.

Posing as rock stars, ‘gaying’ it up to Queen and a few cautionary tales? Darren Carle enters the crazy world of Conflict Diamonds.

CY

CMY

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Remember Remember:

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 39

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40 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

Good After six years in the wilderness, My Vitriol recently dipped their toe back in the water with a short UK tour at the end of last year. Ryan Drever has a word with a slightly tour-damaged Som Wardner to ask the simple question: Where the hell have you been?

BY 2002, London four-piece My Vitriol had achieved top 40 success with their debut album Finelines and the three singles it spawned. Effortlessly attuned, as they were, to the primal post-hardcore of Deftones and the shoegaze aesthetic of Slowdive, they found success despite being at odds with the overblown nu-metal scene of the day. Over the course of three years they toured solidly and went on to make a dent on America while becoming a firm favourite at home. Hell, they even appeared on Top of The Pops. With such accomplishments under their belt, it was no surprise that their steady following was left utterly puzzled when guitarist and vocalist Som Wardner announced the band’s decision to take an indefinite hiatus.

Six years later, and the band – minus original bassist Carolyn Bannister – have re-emerged, having embarked on a last minute UK tour at the end of last year. Despite a physically painful beginning to the dates – front man Som Wardner was hit with a self-proclaimed ‘double whammy’ during the tour, including an ever-worsening flu that caused him severe difficulty hearing and even singing – it seems like an achievement for the band to even get back to this point. But what inspired their lengthy hiatus in the first place? “Well basically, I guess it was just a case of too much too soon for the band,” offers Wardner. “We were very young and we basically ended up doing things we never thought we’d do in like a year of being together, like Top Of The Pops. We didn’t even really know each other that well!”

For an unsigned band attracting keen radio and label interest – which in itself was rare at that time for a band often dubbed as being ‘too heavy’– it isn’t hard to imagine saying yes to any chance at success, as Wardner recounts: “We were just so fortunate to have these opportunities, we weren’t gonna be like, ‘hang on a minute, just give us a couple of years to sort ourselves out’ [laughs]. You’ve got to take these opportunities whenever you can in life, so we went for it. But that wasn’t without its stress. So after three years of constant touring I was fried, and I just sort of said ‘I’m not enjoying this anymore’. It got to a point where it turned into a job.”

With such a relentless slew of new bands in recent

years, it seems many would love this to be their job, at any cost. But in the case of My Vitriol, the personal enjoyment and passion took priority. “I had to sit the guys down and say ‘look, let’s be bold. Let’s only do this, like we promised, if we really want to. There’s no point in us making a second album for the sake of being on time and rushing it for it to be shit, and for us to just regret it and for the fans to lose faith in us.’ It wasn’t the right thing to do.”

In the wake of this decision, where did that leave the band? “Well, basically, years ticked by (laughs), and I think I found myself having a life again. Once I got off that treadmill I enjoyed myself for a while, and I guess I needed something to write about. Otherwise every other song would be called ‘On the Road Again.’’’

Like anyone taking a breather, there is the lingering temptation to keep things the way they are, and perhaps never go back, but despite the decision to stall – rather than split – was there always the intention of getting the band back together? “Until we felt we were ready, it was not worth regrouping. Time ticked on and we all started to miss My Vitriol. So, we decided to do a one off show at Koko and it sold out. It was rusty, but it was great. That was the starting point I guess.”

A few further secret shows have once again ignited interest in the band, prompting a full rebirth. Following a limited EP, the band are left hounded with the inevitable cries of “how about that elusive second album?” Gardner still stresses the importance of getting it right. “We keep getting asked that, but no one’s buying albums these days!” There seems to be no shortage of material though and with 30 songs ready and waiting, it’s just a question of how. “We’ve talked about doing it for free, or doing a physical release with special packaging, or even vinyl. Vinyl does really well these days.”

Well, however they choose to play it and whatever the format, many will surely welcome the band’s return.

Whether they’re truly willing to climb the ladder back to their former stature and beyond remains another story entirely. But we’ll be watching.

MY VITRIOL ARE EXPECTED TO EMBARK ON A UK TOUR IN FEBRUARY, WITH AN ALBUM TO FOLLOW IN MARCH.

The Twilight Sad's James Graham exclusively reveals the Kilsyth quartet's plans for album number two.

So we are heading in to Chem 19 at the start of January, probably a couple of stone heavier and with our livers needing a wee break after the festive period. The record doesn’t have a name yet because we like to name it when everything is finished, but no doubt we will come up with something very long and very pretentious to try and make out that we are intelligent. All the songs are written and we hope to get it out in the second half of the year, but there will be a single and a video in the first half.

We have definitely moved on from 14 Autumns and 15 Winters, musically and lyrically. One thing that I can promise is that the lyrics are very dark, but you might have to look into them a bit to

realise. They are mainly based around things that have happened to me over the past two years, revolving mainly around losing people and being none too proud or happy with myself about my antics and situations I’ve found myself in. So if you’re looking for a record with a lot of hope and happy songs then fuck off, ‘cause you wont find it here with us! Maybe on the third album when we all have coke and heroin addictions things will start to look a bit brighter!

THE TWILIGHT SAD’S AS-YET-UNTITLED SECOND LP IS TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR A SEPTEMBER 2009 RELEASE VIA FAT CAT. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THETWILIGHTSAD

Scotland's cutting-edge culture magazine, online

extra content and full listings online

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THE SKINNY 41

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Back For

In the studio: The Twilight Sad

Music

Eleven Years of Loving Your Ears

Few clubs last 11 years, fewer still at the very forefront of musical style. Rosie Davies asks Twitch of legendary night Optimo about some of the secrets of the journey.

Think you’ve had a busy Christmas? Spare a thought for JD Twitch and JG Wilkes. Any selfrespecting hedonist will no doubt have attended at least one of their festive offerings, the Christmas party, Hogmanay at the Old Fruitmarket, or perhaps the obligatory ‘afterparty’ the following Sunday. But as the party people are binning the last of the bottles and sweeping away the signs of festive indulgence, the duo are still hard at work running a night that never seems to stop. In a year beginning with the slide into worldwide recession, with not even a Woollies pick ‘n’ mix to lift the spirits, it seems that Twitch and Wilkes may well remain the resilient light at the end of the tunnel for the city’s club scene.

Now into its eleventh year, Optimo has always been about charging the least amount possible in order to entertain those who don’t have wads of cash to spend on getting well and truly spangled. The Optimo crowd still remains a hybrid of crusted regulars, loyally heading down every Sunday night, and the latest wave of wide-eyed glittered-up scenesters looking for something new. I ask Twitch if the duo find themselves changing their sets to cater to the different crowds each act attracts.

“Not really, no. What changes it sometimes is the fact that there’s a band playing, and we have to set up the right atmosphere depending on who it is. With the bigger acts, we’re never going to make it too easy

42 THE SKINNY January 2009

and play lots of huge records.”

It’s just not their style. Optimo is renowned for being more challenging than the average club night, and the pair are renowned for throwing in snippets of tunes which you’d never expect to hear in a club.

I tell him that I have a theory. When I’ve been there to see ‘classic’ acts like the Bush Tetras or ESG, there’s a sense that the crowd is rewarded for their good taste, and given a set geared to please even the

“It's a lot harder now to know about things before everyone else - the internet's made it a lot more equal, everyone's got the chance to look things up and get in the know."

most determinedly nonchalant post-punk fan. He laughs again, coyly. Have I exposed his guilty secret?

“Ahh, maybe! When you DJ you never really know if its going to affect what you play, it’s never planned in advance. Maybe, though...”

He trails off, lost in thought, leaving me speculating over the glint in his eye. It seems a shame to ruin the atmosphere, but there’s an elephant in the room that, somehow, never fails to get mentioned in any recent interview about the club. The night’s been going for over ten years now, a night which was all but set to end after its tenth birthday in November 2007, “and here we are, still going”, smiles Twitch.

He takes the clichés in good-hearted jest. But then, when he talks about “his baby”, you can see why there’s no way they could have ended it in full flow.

The enthusiasm is still there. I ask if he still feels the same about the night as he did all those years ago.

“Absolutely. I’m amazed it’s lasted this long. I still feel exactly the same amount of excitement, and when that goes, then it stops.”

Pursuing this theme of music-first passion, he notes: “What’s nice is when you get someone [interviewing you] who genuinely knows the club, or who’s actually done some research. Many people have just been sent to us and they don’t seem to know what the night’s really about.”

You can’t really talk about Optimo unless you’ve

been; to extend the clichés further, it’s less a club than a state of mind. The crowd, veterans and casuals together, still never fails to climax each week with the heady chant of “one more tune”, fired at the grinning DJs with emphatic pointing arms, there’s even a club night named after the infamous routine.

It’s hard to say where they’d go without this, especially those experiencing the Optimo honeymoon period – where weekly commitments and the daily grind become simply the run-up to Sunday night.

But Twitch has noticed a change in the crowd.

“The current type of people who come out are a lot less hedonistic than they were when we started, noticeably so. They’re a bit more sensible... Does this bother me? Not really, no!” He seems bemused. “In the early days, whenever I got to speak to people in the crowd after I’d played, I’d always ask them what they did on a Monday. Most said university, a job, something like that. Then I’d stop and chat to them a few months later, and found that they’d dropped out. I’m glad I don’t have to feel guilty for that any more!”

Of course, Twitch himself dropped out of university before the final push, but for more viable reasons. “I got my ordinary degree and then left, and had to beg to get back into Honours. But that meant I had to do a dissertation, which happened to coincide with Pure [Edinburgh techno club where Twitch and ‘Brainstorm’, aka Wilkes, were resident] going mental. So, I never finished it, no.”

So you don’t think dropping out is just part of the whole Optimo aesthetic? “Not at all, as we’ve seen now. You can enjoy it and still go to work, have a good job. We’ve always encouraged people involved with the club to go on and do creative projects.

Glasgow’s an extremely creative city.”

Do you still find it easy to generate ideas?

“I suppose it must reach a limit at some point. But at the moment, it just seems to be flowing. I spend an awful lot of time just daydreaming about things, especially as I travel a lot and spend a lot of time on planes staring out of the window. I think up these ridiculous ideas and see if we can get away with it. And, naturally, sometimes they’re completely unworkable. But we do always try to make them work.”

For its fans, though, these “ridiculous ideas” are what it’s all about; they want to be challenged, shown new things and given new sounds, often years before they reach the mass public’s ears. Is it hard having to be constantly ahead of the game?

“It’s a lot harder now to know about things before everyone else - I’m not so sure we’d be two steps ahead on everything. The internet’s made it a lot more equal, everyone’s got the chance to look things up and get in the know.”

I mention a time when, years ago, the duo dropped Zombie Nation at a Hogmanay show, riling the crowd into a frenzy. This was around two years before the tune actually came out and became a dance floor stormer.

He screws his eyes up, trying to shift back through the many years, the many exclusive drops, the many tasters which sent the crowd mental. “That was maybe a time when we were a bit more arrogant. I’d be afraid of being like that now, because I think it’s definitely equaled.

“But then, I am in a very privileged position.

You’d expect it to be easier for me because this is my job – I can go and investigate something I like. And we know so many people involved in music, we’re constantly being given things, shown things. It’s not all luck though – it’s about being the sort of person who never stops, you’re always searching for the next thing and basically you devote every minute of your time to it.”

I can’t imagine that Twitch has much spare time - the club, the remixes, compilations and his own record label are amongst a few of his projects, as well as constant touring.

“Luckily, everything seems to melt into the one thing. Most of the bands I’ve met whose records I’ve put out have been through the club. It’s this one synergistic kind of thing.”

A longer version of this interview, with insights into their unique ability to attract big acts like Siman Mobile Disco and The Rapture, is online at www.theskinny.co.uk.

Optimo release their second compilation bundle on Ten Tracks on 10 January: www. tentracks.co.uk/channel/optimo. www.optimo.co.uk

MUSIC

PRIMAVERA SOUND BARCELONA, SPAIN

When I was a kid my mum used to tell me that my bedroom “looked like Beirut!” before flinging me a roll of black bin bags and some industrial strength bleach. An unfair comment on her behalf because Beirut hosts one of the boldest dance festivals the world has seen of late. Just confirmed for 2009, Coma Festival sees the return of the first dance music festival to take place in the Middle East, and it didn’t break the ice gently. The festival takes place on Al Maya Island, twenty minutes off of the coast of Abu Dhabi, and the event is an obscene sixteen hours long, featuring a variety of DJs. The party continues at the Forum De Beirut on the same weekend.

Also taking place in Barcelona is the worldrenowned Primavera festival. Teetering on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea the festival takes place from 28-30 May in a perfect start to the summer season. Some of the line up have already been confirmed and include the wonderful Kitty, Daisy and Lewis and the legendary My Bloody Valentine. Sunny Barcelona may be a stark contrast to the normal surroundings of the shoegazer kings but no doubt it’ll work.

Also dipping their oars into the Mediterranean waters are Gang Gang Dance, Throwing Muses, The Soft Pack, Michael Nyman, Extra Life and Spiritualized. A varied bunch indeed, and with more acts to be announced in the new year this could be the best way to start the sunshine season. Primavera? Sound.

COMA TAKES PLACE ON 14-15 NOVEMBER. FORUM DE BEIRUT TICKETS RANGE FROM $30-$90 EACH, WHILST AL MAYA ISLAND TICKETS ARE $425 FOR AN ALL DAY PASS. BUT IT TAKES PLACE ON SOMETHING THAT RESEMBLES TRACEY ISLAND FROM THUNDERBIRDS, SO IT’S WORTH EVERY PENNY.WWW.COMAFESTIVAL.COM

THREE DAY TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE VERY REASONABLE PRICE OF €90 FROM WWW.PRIMAVERASOUND.COM.

Chris Duncan explores the best dance festivals around Europe

SNOWSIDE FESTIVAL NASSFELD, AUSTRIA

EXIT

SONAR

NOVI SAD, SERBIA

BARCELONA, SPAIN

All quiet on the Serbian front in terms of line up announcement so far, but the tenth Exit festival will no doubt stick to its guns and provide an absurdly fun four-day extravaganza. The Exit festival website is currently running a survey to find out what performers the visitors would like to see, with the aim of booking as many of them as possible for the event in July. Spread across the huge area, with almost as many stages as there are performers (22 stages at the 2008 event) Exit is a goliath of an event. Last year saw the likes of 2 Many DJs, Booka Shade, Tiga, N.E.R.D., Paul Weller and even The Sex Pistols all performing live. For 2009, who knows, the crowd decide.

Sonar always swings a powerful right hook when it comes to the international festival scene. Layered on thick across three days during June, and taking place in the heart of Barcelona, the entire event is a mixture of various genres of music, split into Sonar by Day and Sonar by Night. The sheer size of the festivities may be slightly daunting to clubbers as hundreds of acts appear in eight areas across the city. But the festival is famed for its friendly atmosphere and located in a stunning city, so even if you do take a wrong turn looking for Manu Gonzalez & Vidal Romero at the Sonardome, you probably won’t even care. No line up has been announced as of yet, but a sly gander at last year’s schedule should exorcise any fears of a sub-par line up.

Soulwax, XX Teens, Richie Hawtin, Krazy Baldhead, Boys Noize, Roisin Murphy and Hercules and Love Affair all appeared alongside many more artists.

If your New Year’s resolutions include the vow to enjoy yourself a little more, then let us make snowside a suggestion. Like winter sports?

Great! Nassfeld, Austria, in the heart of the Alps, is one of the most picturesque areas in the region, with ski-friendly mountainscapes, beautiful lakes and interesting snow pursuits available from hiking and tubing to sledging and even snow biking, as well as excellent nursery slopes for beginners and first timers.

Don’t care too much for winter activities?

Well, you’re also in luck. Snowside Festival makes its debut in the stunning surrounds featuring an amalgamation of two of the most innovative clubbing communities in the UK, those of The Secret Garden Party and XFM DJ Eddy Temple Morris’s The Remix. At Snowside, The Remix will be presenting over sixty of the most talented DJs and live artists from the UK and around Europe, in keeping with its now famous mission statement: ‘Where Dance Rocks’... and everything in between! Those expected to perform include Rennie Pilgrem, DJ Fresh, TC, CTRL Z, Kris Menace, South Central, Qemists, the Japanese Popstars, Brookes Brothers, Matrix and Futurebound, and Silent Witness. The Secret Garden party was voted best small festival of 2008 at the recent UK Festival Awards and will be producing eccentric and colourful mountainside parties each night just over the border in Italy. If that hasn’t got you sold already: the late night frivolities will all take place in an old WWI military border crossing lookout post, complete with DJ in turret.

ADVANCE GENERAL PASSES ARE NOW ON SALE FOR €125 VIA WWW. SONAR.ES. SWONAR STARTS 18 JUNE AND ENDS LATE ON 20 JUNE.

TICKETS COST BETWEEN £289 AND £329 WITH AN EXTRA £110 FOR FULL SKI PASS.

COMA FESTIVAL AL MAYA ISLAND, AND BEIRUT

FOUR-DAY ACCESS TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FROM WWW. EXITFEST.ORG FOR THE BARGAIN PRICE OF JUST £72 EACH, CAMPING NOT INCLUDED. EXIT TAKES PLACE ON 9-12 JULY.

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 43

IMAGE: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE @ PRIMAVERA 2008 (PEDRO EL NEGRO)

Decks on the Beach

RECORDS

The Dirty Dozen The time for Slade and Wizzard has passed: it's new music we crave.

Nick Mitchell rates the first batch of 2009.

Travis have moved on from the traditional method of singing pop songs for other people. Now they sing a Song To Self (**, 5 Jan). Like much of their output since The Man Who, it’s inoffensive and melodious but largely forgettable, so just as well no-one’s listening. Travis aren’t the only band with a boy’s name. Alan are a London four-piece who release their debut single Shine (**, 19 Jan) this month. With their free use of organ and trippy, swirling guitars this is listenable but hardly groundbreaking psych-rock.

Banjo or Freakout is the musical moniker of Alessio Natalizia, a Londonbased Italian who caught some attention with a DIY cover of Burial. Mr No (***, 12 Jan), his debut single proper, is a dreamy, gauzy number, like Panda Bear without the Beach Boys harmonics. It’s backed by an acoustic cover of LCD Soundsystem’s Someone Great, which isn’t a patch on the original or Franz Ferdinand’s version for that matter.

They start the female singer/songwriters early these days. Lisa Mitchell is just 17, and her debut single Neopolitan Dreams (***, 19 Jan) is a sweet little breeze of folk-pop. What it’s got to do with Naples is a mystery to me. Shirley Lee, frontman (yes, man) of Britpop nearly-men Spearmint, takes time away from his bandmates to release his debut solo single The Smack of the Pavement in Your Face (**, 26 Jan). It’s predictably saccharine and tuneful, but nothing to make you sit up and take notice.

More interesting is Mareado (***, 19 Jan) by Leeds trio Lord Auch. Steeped in the weird lyricism of the art school scene, they make thoughtful indie-

pop with a dark streak. A band name like Safe2say doesn’t bode well.

And even if I was a fifteen-year-old with a straightened fringe, a taste for metal accessories and an ear for Lost Prophets, 3 Sides to Every Story (*, 26 Jan) would still give me a headache. Deltasound fail to raise the bar with Dust Can Explode (*, 19 Jan), a wholly inept, stultifying attempt at alt. rock.

Is the world ready for a band who sound like Lisa Maffia fronting the Happy Mondays? Reverend & The Makers’ Jon McClure evidently thinks so, since he was the culprit behind the formation of Mongrel. Comprising rapper Lowkey and ex-members of the Arctic Monkeys and Babyshambles, this ragtag bunch fail to gel on debut single Hit From the Morning Sun (**, 26 Jan). Le Corps Mince de Francoise want you to think they are the new CSS - albeit from Finland, not Brazil. And despite Bitch of the Bitches (**, 26 Jan) boasting quite a fresh electro beat, it sounds more like a Peaches cover band, if there were such a thing. Shempi (***, 12 Jan) is far from the best song on Ratatat’s last album, but with an organ riff that sounds vaguely like an old Scottish reel, it’s a notch above the average this month. This may be predictable, given The Skinny’s well-documented love for this band, but TV on the Radio claim Single of the Month with Dancing Choose (****, 12 Jan), an urgent, rap-led standout from Dear Science.

WWW.TVONTHERADIO.COM

RATATAT

Single Reviews DEBBIE LEGGO

THE EX-MEN

THE GUSSETS

CAR CRASH CROWD

THE CURATOR

DIRTY DISCO SEX BITCH

OUT NOW, FIRE

12 JAN, BEANSTALK

OUT NOW, T.I.M.S. RECORDS

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London quartet Debbie Leggo release their first single, Car Crash Crowd, an ambitious concept single in which “street poet” Gerry Mitchell plays an artist’s disastrous night out in Anytown, Scotland. Mitchell makes like a Caledonian Mark E Smith while the band roll through a trippy musical landscape which lies on the map somewhere between Hex Enduction Hour-era The Fall, minus the northern grit, and the more eerily pastoral of The Chills’ early singles. The band keeps directionless noodling to a medium, and Mitchell’s delivery, half atmospheric spoken word, half Smith impression, is convincing. This makes for an extremely promising debut release. [Gillian Watson]

In criticism, “not getting it” is as horrendous a faux-pas as it’s possible to make in one hundred words, but I’ll confess: I don’t really ‘get’ the Ex-Men. Sure, they’ve a talent for punchy electronica, but the moment the spoken vocals start, it resembles Adam and Joe spoofing avant-garde pomposity. Humour may be their strong suit – Godot On Call Waiting turns an awkward phone call into the amusing Beckettian absurdism suggested by its title – but smiles alone aren’t enough. The result is a puzzling single that sounds incomplete, like a fragment from a project yet to be fully realised. [Chris Buckle]

This mostly female outfit from Edinburgh undergo a remix at the hands of Timothy London for a sexually explicit single. The Gussets thrust their groins in roughly the same direction as Peaches and Anat Ben David, as well as utilising some of the lo-fi DIY trash punk that has served Glasgow’s own Fangs well in recent times. Yet this is pretty puerile stuff. It’s probably quite amusing through a club PA but in any other circumstances it feels whimsical and poorly thought-out. It’s perfectly illustrated by the B-side’s assertion that “Spermatazoa/ Spermatazoa/ He goes off like Krakatoa”. Boom boom! [Austin Tasseltine]

THE EX-MEN PLAY MAD HATTERS, INVERNESS ON 16 JAN AND WWW.FIRERECORDS.COM

THE QEMISTS FEATURING WILEY

THE 13TH NOTE CAFE, GLASGOW ON 22 FEB.

KEVIN RUDOLF FEAT. LIL WAYNE

DEM NA LIKE ME

LET IT ROCK

19 JAN 2009, NINJA TUNE

19 JAN, ISLAND

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SIXPEOPLEAWAY

IF.THEN.ELSE/EVE OUT NOW, UNSIGNED

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The Qemists are a Brighton-based production gang who dispense the sort of noisy, thrashy d’n’b popularised by Pendulum. Their last single, Lost Weekend, sounded like something off Chinese Democracy after some heavy breakbeat treatment. But on Dem Na Like Me, they recruit eski kingpin Wiley to inject a much-needed dose of streetwise swagger into the mix, his adept lyricism flowing slickly with the off-kilter beat and defiantly unpopular message of the chorus. The 99 Problems-style Rick Rubin riffing underpin a tuff, catchy chunk of digital dancehall that’s aimed straight at the club’s floor. [Euan Ferguson]

Pop music is a peculiar beast: sometimes overly formulaic, written by hacks for any number of identikit ‘stars’, mixed in such a way as to wring every last drop of humanity out of it, and danced to by pretty people with little musical discernment. Every so often though, a pop song comes along that does its job properly and lodges in your brain. Let it Rock is no such thing. Rather, it is a limp rock/rap hybrid that drowns in its over-production and lies twitching in a puddle of gloss. Lil’ Wayne tries to resuscitate it with a half-arserd rap interlude, but it’s hard to do CPR on a turd. [Ewen Millar]

Somewhere along the line it seems every other acoustic songwriter with a laptop started claiming “electronica” influences (blame whiney Get Cape.

Wear Cape. Fly, I reckon). Though sixpeopleaway do echo Get Cape’s aesthetic – straightforward winsome indie with the occasional spluttered beat or two – double A-side If.Then.Else/Eve suggests the act possess enough ardour to outlast the competition. The milquetoast warbling of If.Then.Else is revived by its fierce Mew-like chorus, whereas Eve only just falls short of evoking lip-wobbling emotion. So long as they don’t develop Sam Duckworth’s activist bent, the future continues to look bright for sixpeopleaway. [Chris Buckle]

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STROSZEK

9 FEB , FIRE EXIT RECORDS

TIMOTHY LONDON FEAT SIMBA

FLIGHT 210

…AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

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12 JAN, RICHTER SCALE

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MANUFACTURING CONSENT EP

FESTIVAL THYME EP

It’s hard to believe that this record was made in 2009 and is not, in fact, from the mid-80s having been unearthed at the rear of a dusty vinyl stockroom or car boot sale. The arrangements, the vocals, the instrument tones and even the production are so acutely retro that the astute level of observation involved on the part of the band and producers is really quite impressive. It summons vivid images of New Romantic haircuts and a swaying, foppish frontman miming on Top of the Pops with too many smoke machines going in the background. It’s certainly competent, but also somewhat irrelevant. [Austin Tasseltine]

There’s probably a genre tag out there somewhere which describes this.

“Narrative soft rap” perhaps, though that sounds more like a vegan lunch than music. Timothy London’s smooth, Wycliffe Jean-esque choruses are accompanied by the sweet, female vocals of Simba, yet the overall sound is immensely clichéd. Then we have to contend with the verses. Largely spoken – unconvincingly – from the perspective of a pilot in charge of a stricken jumbo jet, the best word to describe it is naff. It’s simply a bad idea and Mr London would have been better off relating the story in his own velveteen tones.

[Austin Tasseltine]

Fans and critics still wrestle over whether Conrad Keely’s troupe reached its creative zenith with 2002’s Source Tags & Codes, but hopes appear unanimous that Trail of Dead’s rough ride with a major label might have shaken them out of apathy. At odds with the lethargic trundle of Festival Thyme’s title track and the cloying, bombastic Bells of Creation comes Inland Sea – a piano-led beauty where Keely’s vocals remain tender until the building thunder all around forces him to bawl: “Wake up, remind yourself exactly who you were.” And it’s telling; on aggregate this is the sound of a band in the throes of an identity crisis.

Here’s hoping they work it out on the forthcoming LP. [Dave Kerr]

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44 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

RECORDS

Always Read the Label:

One Little Indian

Spawned in the depression of Thatcherism, One Little Indian has become one of the UK’s finest Indies. Billy Hamilton finds Digital Manager Toby McColl talking up its continued evolution...

CONTRARY to popular belief, 1985 was a great year for British music. Amidst a spew of poodle-permed rockers and gak-snorting pop philanthropists (say hello, Band Aid), the remarkable One Little Indian (OLI) was conceived. Founded by various sects of London’s dissipated underground scene – including members of renowned post-punk outfit Flux Of Pink Indians – it quickly established itself as a label focused on providing artists with three special Cs: complete creative control.

“One Little Indian was inspired by the DIY principles and anarchistic ideals of independent labels such as that of anarcho-punk band Crass,” explains the stable’s Digital Manager Toby McColl. “They became so frustrated with the restrictive nature of the music industry that merging the creative aspect with the distributive side of things became the only viable option.”

Twenty-three years on and the London-based label has evolved from its bohemian roots, becoming an influential player on the music industry’s mean streets.

Despite this rapid proliferation McColl believes OLI’s remained true to its stoic mission statement: “We don’t look for specific styles or trends with music, we sign bands that we love. So a One Little Indian band has to be a band that we believe in. They could be a metal band or folk, it makes no difference to us. That is why our roster is so diverse.”

And diverse it certainly is. A creative sanctuary for the likes of Bjork, The Shamen and Skunk Anansie during the 90s, OLI currently plays host to Rose Kemp, Minus and the majestic Asobi Seksu. “We have great relationships with all of our artists,” says McColl when discussing the label’s allure. “They are free to do what they want but we put their interests first all the time, and because of that it’s really a mutually beneficial relationship... One Little Indian has had a long history; we are very flexible, we are passionate about the music we sign and we stand by our bands.”

With such purist intentions OLI should be tender prey in an unforgiving industry but underneath its innocent exterior lurks the insatiable desire to evolve. Having already welcomed Clean Up, Partisan, Elemental and FatCat Records under its expanding umbrella, McColl believes the future lies in self-created opportunity.

“We have some great young people at the label who are very in touch with the latest trends and styles,” he enthuses. “There are infinite new possibilities and companies out there at the moment and it’s our job to find out which of these is going to work best for us and for our fans. We’ve started our own digital distribution

Ten Kens For Ten Tracks Compared with a multitude of indie luminaries, Ten Kens' debut LP was one of 2008's forgotten gems. So, in the middle of a recent UK tour, Billy Hamilton cornered vocalist Dan Workman to find out who this Toronto ensemble really are

THE MAJESTIC ASOBI SEKSU

arm, Second Wind Digital, that aggregates digital music, and have begun reissuing a lot of old releases on heavyweight DMM Vinyl. By presenting the music in new, unique formats, we feel our customers are listening.”

Armed with a scroll of effervescent artists, OLI’s quest for innovation ensures the label stands head and shoulders above its rivals. But with the credit crunch gnawing away at record company profits, McColl feels the time is ripe for indies to step up to the play.

2008 was quite a year for Toronto ensemble Ten Kens. Cherry-picked by the trend-inciting FatCat Records, the quartet’s gorgeous, genre-defying debut LP was met by a barrage of superlatives and compared favourably with indie luminaries Arcade Fire, Liars and Black Mountain. So during the band’s inaugural UK tour, The Skinny caught up with laconically worded vocalist Dan Workman for a quick chat about the group’s past, present and future...

How are you enjoying your first trip to the UK? We’re enjoying it so much we don’t want to leave.

The UK crowds, surprisingly, aren’t that different from Canadian crowds, you have to win them over the same way. Everyone comes out to be entertained, and entertain you must. They do like it loud however, abnormally loud. But that’s just fine with us.

True, we’re all about the decibels. So how did you guys get together?

Dean [Tzenos – guitar] and I met in art school. We started jamming together, with various musicians in the mix, all the while writing songs. Once we had enough material put together, we broke away and hid out in a townhouse for a year, writing and recording. At the end of that year we had an album... but no band. We rounded up Lee [Stringle – bass], another friend from art school, then held auditions for drummers, which is how we found Ryan [Roantree – drums]. And that was that.

Writing your debut LP in a townhouse sounds a little intense. How much of an impact did that have on the sound?

That situation made the record what it is. Dean and I went completely insane; we lived and breathed the project the whole time we were there. We never went outside. It was a labour of love and madness. It couldn’t have happened any other way.

Considering the claustrophobic environment, did you expect to produce a record as wide in scope?

We just wanted to make a cool record, pure and simple. Once we started recording we didn’t know what

“Bear in the mind, the music business has been in its own recession for over five years,” he declares.

“One good thing about being at an indie is that we are in a better state to deal with issues than the bigger institutions that take longer to adapt and change...It seems the majors are finding it hard to flex their muscles quite as much in these financially tougher times. [Indie labels] have always been up against it; we are used to smaller budgets and using our heads rather than our wallets all the time.”

ONE LITTLE INDIAN HAVE LAUNCHED A QUARTERLY CHANNEL FEATURING THE CREAM OF THEIR RECENT OUTPUT VIA WWW.TENTRACKS.CO.UK. WWW.INDIAN.CO.UK

to expect, but we definitely knew what we wanted.

All it took was working with the right people and a tremendous amount of patience.

You’ve been compared with a lot of influential bands, but are your role models really that predictable?

I think so. Throw some early nineties bands in there such as Pixies and Sonic Youth, and you’ve more or less got the bulk of our influences for this record covered. Those comparisons put us in some pretty amazing company, it’s definitely flattering.

Are you happy with the reviews you’ve received thus far?

Yeah, we’re really happy; most have been super positive. I’d like to say we don’t pay attention to the press, but we do. We’re so new, even bad press is exciting to us.

Talking of which, do you think the music press is still as influential as it once was?

We don’t think you writers are a dying breed, we actually think it’s scary how much power you all have.

Our good press has already helped us tremendously; I imagine bad press could harm us just as easily.

Considering there’s only four of you in the band, the moniker’s a little misleading. What’s the meaning behind it?

Ha, sorry, sworn to secrecy on that one. But by all means, feel free to invent your own, we’ve heard some very interesting theories.

Okay, if you’re sure. I have a ‘wacky’ Ken Dodd theory. Perhaps not, eh? So, finally, can we expect the next record to be your giant pop opus then?

Um, no. Our next record will be darker, louder and bigger... maybe.

REFINED BY TEN KENS IS AVAILABLE VIA THE FAT CAT RECORDS CHANNEL ON TENTRACKS. CO.UK ALONGSIDE CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE LIKES OF DAVID KARSTEN DANIELS, VETIVER, MAX RICHTER AND THE TWILIGHT SAD. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/TENKENS

JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 45

RECORDS

Album of the month ANDREW BIRD: NOBLE BEAST rrrr RELEASED 20 JAN, BELLA UNION Multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird follows 2007’s critical success Armchair Apocrypha with an intricate beauty of an LP that’s by turns introspective and instinctive, but always unique. Bird isn’t a singer-songwriter in the conventional, Dylanesque sense of the word: he doesn’t allow his vocal personality to dominate. Instead, the real charm of the record lies in Bird’s extraordinary attention to musical detail: each track has its own ambience painstakingly created through layers of instrumental tracks of which Bird’s trademark sardonic voice is just one.

This atmosphere is fleshed out by whistling and wordless backing vocals, while Bird’s trademark awkward phrasing holds down lyrics

that occasionally sound like they might fly off on the wings of their own weirdness. Bird concerns himself with the building and the breaking down of a pastoral idyll, underpinning his virtuoso violin work, evocative of natural landscapes, with edgy, nervous rhythms (most notably on the melancholy borderline-funk of standout Anonanimal) and the occasional painfully raw peal of feedback low in the mix. On this eighth effort, Andrew Bird creates a Noble Beast of a record with almost human complexity. [Gillain Watson]

WWW.ANDREWBIRD.NET

Album Reviews JIMI TENOR & KABU KABU

BRICOLAGE

4TH DIMENSION

BRICOLAGE

19 JAN, SAHKO-PUU RECORDS

26 JAN, CREEPING BENT

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FIGHT LIKE APES

...AND THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN MEDALLION 26 JAN, MODEL CITIZEN

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With his Andy Warhol glasses, black polo-necks and album titles like Beyond The Stars, it would be easy to dismiss Jimi Tenor as just a groovy lounge lizard. And although he is best known for the jazzual, wigged-out sounds of Intervision, the Finnish maverick has also ventured into industrial rock and techno. It’s not a surprise that his latest effort, 4th Dimension, sets him off on a different orbit altogether. What is surprising, though, is that it’s pretty much a straight-up Afrobeat affair featuring African trio Kabu Kabu. Tracks like Mystery Spot are very much 70s-style funk aimed straight at the dancefloor, but it’s left to the likes of Floating Orange, with its bubbly synth, to remind you most of the album was recorded in a Berlin nightclub. With enough energy to keep the listener involved, 4th Dimension is a spirited set of West African funk workouts, but the biggest surprise is that it doesn’t break a few more rules.

[Euan Ferguson]

Bricolage are unashamedly in thrall to Scottish indie from the 1980s. There’s no denying that the Glasgow-based foursome can pull off a convincing Orange Juice impression, as evidenced by Footsteps, on which vocalist-guitarists Graham Wann and Wallace Meek channel Collins and Kirk’s vocal interplay and sunshine-bright guitar lines. Elsewhere on their eponymous debut, Bricolage infuse their Postcard pastiche with Strokesian swaggering rhythms and a touch of Britpop jangle. A revival of literary pop will always be welcome to these ears, but much of the original Postcard bands’ brilliance lay in their shambling towards a bright new musical future. Glimmers of individuality appear on tracks such as the punchy Flowers of Deceit, but until Bricolage carve out their own distinct sound, they face an age-old problem: no matter how accomplished your interpretation of your heroes is, when you stick so slavishly to their musical template, you run the risk of sounding like mere parrots squawking back the old songs. [Gillian Watson]

Ireland’s Fight Like Apes splatter their debut album on an unsuspecting recordbuying public this month like Day-Glo paint. Singer Maykay makes like Jemina Pearl with added Celtic sass (and swears) on each of these 12 tracks, while her band spews out kaleidoscopic synth-punk reminiscent of Le Tigre. Recyclable Ass sounds almost like Come On Eileen fed through a computer processor, while, lyrically at least, Digifucker is a 21st-century You Oughta Know, with a nice titular pun thrown in for good measure (“Did you fuck her?/And did you stick things up her?” demands Maykay with comic rage). The Apes’ almost cartoonish inability to hold anything back (exemplified by their ridiculous scattershot lyrics, packed with non sequiturs and profanities for their own sake) occasionally distracts from their subtle way with a tune, but makes for an energising listen. This first effort is like a punch in the face: you might not like it, but it’ll certainly knock you for six. [Gillian Watson]

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NICKEL EYE

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LÓPEZ

THE PHANTOM BAND

THE TIME OF THE ASSASSINS

OLD MONEY

CHECKMATE SAVAGE

26 JAN, RYKODISC

26 JAN, STONES THROW

26 JAN, CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND

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A cynic might observe that members of The Strokes seem to feel obliged to each release a solo or spin-off album before the most celebrated of New York garage bands end their hiatus. In the past six months alone we’ve had guitarist Albert Hammond Jr’s second album, a debut from drummer Fabrizio Moretti’s side-project Little Joy, and now bassist Nikolai Fraiture gets in on the act with his ‘other band’, Nickel Eye. Making up the numbers are London trio South and – Fraiture being a Stroke n’all – cameos from Regina Spektor and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner. Unsurprisingly, the bass sits in the foreground of the mix, especially in the ska-tinged Brandy of the Damned, while there is more than a passing resemblance to Fraiture’s full-time band on You And Everyone Else. Putting preconceived expectations aside, this is a satisfying work of homespun folk-rock. Not the most earth-shattering of debuts, but it plugs a gap already part-filled by Hammond Jr and Moretti. [Nick Mitchell]

No prizes for guessing what this solo-excursion from former At the Drive-In and, more recently, Mars Volta founder López sounds like. Ten tracks of frantic, eclectic guitar mania accompanied by his instrumental cohorts from Mars Volta it is then. Rumours abound that this material was in fact due to serve as the follow-up to Volta’s 2006 album Amputechture before fickle artistic sensibilities kicked in. Certainly it’s more accessible than much of Lopez’s solo output. The drumming and bass work is, as usual, utterly superb. The guitar though, the crux of this largely instrumental album, occasionally drifts a little too far up Lopez’s backside, but manages to rescue itself early enough to avoid draining the spirits. Elsewhere, the title track whips along at a considerable pace and Family War Funding is a particular highlight. This can almost certainly be classed as essential for any Mars Volta fanatics, and worthy of investigation to the wider public. [Chris Cusack]

Named due to their somewhat elusive activities under a string of band names as long as your arm, Glaswegian collective The Phantom Band release Checkmate Savage, their first album proper. Lead single Throwing Bones was enough to prick up Chemikal Underground’s collective ear and it’s easy to hear why. If the somewhat unexpected barber-shop quartet breakdown midway through its quirky country bop-along doesn’t slap a big smile on your mug, you may want to check your pulse for recent activity. On Folk Song Oblivion, singer Duncan De Cornell comes across like Smog’s Bill Callahan ghost-writing for the Beta Band, with the end mantra of “I can’t see for the mountain’s silhouette” likely to stalk you for the remainder of your day. The pulsing bass and jangly guitar punctuations of opener The Howling invoke Stereolab holed up in a log cabin, the near-perfect layers of instrumentation and warm spacing providing an irresistible welcome to an impressive debut. [Darren Carle]

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ROSS CLARK

THE BRONX

WOMEN

YOU BROUGHT EVIL

THE BRONX (III)

WOMEN

19 JAN, INSTINCTIVE RACOON RECORDS

19 JAN, WICHITA

5 JAN, JAGJAGUWAR

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Whether Ross Clark has even crossed the Atlantic in his short life so far is unknown, but on You Brought Evil, he sounds as though his formative years were spent feasting on fried green tomatoes and Hank Williams records. Almost bizarrely, this results in an accomplished and enjoyable Americana record, albeit one emanating from somewhere in the southside of Glasgow. Clark’s marriage of country, blues and even gospel styles is nigh on expert and seamless: this is atmospheric, graphic and impassioned stuff. His often desperate, reverb drenched vocals dominate every track, from the opening lament to dreamless nights (Three Blind Wolves) to the concluding ode to a companion (Chewin’ On Bones). Clark’s solo debut recalls genre-defining artists like Bright Eyes and more recently Bon Iver, but kudos must be offered for his successful endeavours to create his own individual sound, particularly when many more celebrated artists are content to use such yardsticks as templates. [Finbarr Bermingham]

Three eponymous albums into their career and The Bronx still sound pretty much as they did when their eponymous debut came out. Eponymous second album The Bronx was met with reasonable acclaim, paving the way for this, the eponymous third album The Bronx. However, as with the album names, most of this material is entirely interchangeable. That’s not to say it’s bad, but save for some very slightly more grandiose moments of melody on the newer stuff, you might be forgiven for thinking the band would surely get a little bored of that same, gruff, full-tilt, punk-n-roll thing they’ve been kicking out since 2002. Opener Knifeman is pretty entertaining and Past Lives sits nicely alongside the classic White Drugs. Basically it’s a solid, if acutely predictable, rock album. Perhaps 2009’s scheduled fourth album – tentatively entitled El Bronx (sorry, no translation available) - will take a few more musical chances.

[Chris Cusack]

In keeping with the ethos of this album - reportedly recorded in a variety of unconventional, lo-fi ways - this review was scrawled in faeces on the walls of the Skinny toilet (yeah, thanks for that - Ed) and left there to be edited. Hopefully enough people are fooled by the novel medium and it too passes for a job well done. It’s a bit tragic when something with such an awesome cover turns out to be so disappointing. First impressions are massively important, as any prospective employer will tell you. Only thing is, if you happen to go for a job dressed as well as this, then proceed to mumble, hum and make farting noises for the duration of the interview you might also meet with some confusion.

Likewise it takes Women four tracks to even attempt a “song” - one of many weak stabs at 60s pop showcased here. The rest is little more than pretentious sub-Liars nonsense. [Chris Cusack]

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46 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

DÄLEK

NORMAN LAMONT

OKKER

GUTTER TACTICS

ROADBLOCK

TWO AXES

26 JAN, IPECAC

OUT NOW, HABIBI

OUT NOW , RADIO IS DOWN

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Like an industrial hip-hop soundtrack to your worst (or favourite) Lynchian nightmare, New Jersey duo Dälek prophesise the apocalypse via the medium of murky beats and a venomous pen on album number five. Surely it’s the same intoxicating ambience that draws the viewer further into the world of Mulholland Drive as grips the listener with Gutter Tactics. MC Dälek’s lyrical bent considers the damage done by imperialism, vicariously waving a finger in old America’s face with a sample from a speech by Reverend Jeremiah Wright where he traces terrorism back to slavery. If you’re of a certain – admittedly obscure – persuasion, the offer of a record which intertwines the ethereal drone of My Bloody Valentine with the rugged delivery of Mobb Deep could leave some jaws on the floor. Gutter Tactics has all that, and enough distortion to keep you in tinnitus for months. Happy days. [Dave Kerr]

Norman Lamont (don’t, he’s probably sick of it) is a well-known singer / songwriter on the Edinburgh acoustic scene, and Roadblock is his third album, released on new local online record shop SecretCDs.co.uk. It’s a work in debt to the 60s and 70s, particularly the languid guitar and hushed vocals of Dark Side of the Moon. Fans of Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave’s Boatman’s Call era will find solace in the moody depths, and title track Roadblock, as well as one called Anywhere But Here, are reminiscent of the dark dramas of The Doors.

Lamont proves himself to be an accomplished mood-setter and lyricist, with the overall effect one of quiet, rueful reflection. If all this seems a bit gloomy, there’s a bit of skanking to raise the mood on I’ll Be Back. If this sounds like your thing, Roadblock is well worth budgeting for in these times of economic crisis. I almost managed. [Euan Ferguson]

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WWW.NORMANLAMONT.COM

RECORDS

Album Reviews

Winter is a bad time to be promoting underground music. The sheer quantity of rubbish that crams the shelves of music stores turns even the most discerning consumers into slack-jawed zombies, who mystifyingly give their hard-earned cash to ‘artists’ like Dido. At the other end of the spectrum lies Okker, who, despite having only 400 friends on that fame yardstick called MySpace, have been signed to American label Radio is Down. Setting up shop somewhere between Slint, Polvo, Quicksand, At the Drive-In and Fugazi, this four-piece are so taut that they sound like robots. Slabs of twin guitars raise the alarm and sound the call to action, while the vocals switch between mumbled background static and urgent yelps and screams. Next time you’re in the queue at HMV, put down the Coldplay album – it’s okay, Chris already has plenty of cash (as does Gwyneth) – and seek out this phenomenal debut. [Ewen Millar] OKKER PLAY THE IVY, GLASGOW ON 29 JAN.

SCOTT WEILAND

CITY REVERB

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THE IRREPRESSIBLES

“HAPPY” IN GALOSHES

LOST CITY FOLK

FROM THE CIRCUS TO THE SEA

19 JAN, SOFTDIVE

2 FEB , DUMB ANGEL

12 JAN, OF NAKED DESIGN

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Although renowned more for his excesses than his music for too long now, it seems Scott Weiland had a weighty pop rock album in him all along. With guest appearances from Paul Oakenfold and three quarters of No Doubt — not to mention a writing partnership with INXS and alternating turns in the engineer’s chair between Steve Albini and Sheryl Crow’s producer — the prospect of “Happy” in Galoshes might read like one big bowl of wrong on paper, but the outcome is confoundingly coherent. Easily more focused than the narcotic haze of his solo debut 12 Bar Blues, this ambitious double disc finds the troubled troubadour refining his chameleonic tendencies and putting them to work effectively. From Weiland’s myriad turns as straight-up rocker, Costello-esque crooner and glammed up Bowie disciple, a schmaltzy cover of Fame by the latter is his only fumble on this otherwise gratifying 88 minute trip. [Dave Kerr]

City Reverb claim they are trying to soundtrack the modern city and provide us with a sonic guide to make sense of the confusion inherent in urban living. Useful, you might think, until you listen to it and realise it resembles a flavourless 90s chillout compilation which passed its sell-by date at the end of the last decade. Opener Everything Will Be Alright is not only weak but grossly inaccurate: things go downhill rapidly from there. The song When contains the line “stop making war, start making love” without a trace of irony and most others consist of similarly clichéd lyrics sung by bored-sounding people. The lowpoint is perhaps Hedonist, with its whispered refrain of “East End hedonist, West End hedonist, London hedonist”, coming across like a constipated Pet Shop Boys. As a work inspired by London, it’s not in the same borough as something like the evocatively eloquent Untrue. You’re better off with an A-Z. [Euan Ferguson]

Soundtracking Shelly Love’s film of forgotten circus players, Jamie McDermott assembles an orchestra to fulfil his fantastic musical dreams. Inter-song motifs hint at greater themes that expand into three full songs of haunting melody and despair, the swinging dynamics recalling dancers and the trapeze. Welling orchestral moods and cabaret vocals drenched in strings and lush horns expand in fluid song structures, and the tag of pop music begins to feel a little ill-fitting. It’s difficult not to hear Antony Hegarty echoed in McDermott’s voice, though he certainly captures the emotive strength to carry it off, the musical backing dense enough to sustain power. The Irrepressibles’ music entwines fittingly with the film, wrapping the images in a veneer of darkness and mystery, but alone, it feels under-developed. At only 20 minutes long, with seven tracks, the album could realise much greater heights with a little more expansion and progression. [Jamie Scott]

WWW.SCOTTWEILAND.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CITYREVERB

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEIRREPRESSIBLES

PENELOPE SULLA LUNA

BUBBLEWRAP HOLOCAUST

JACK PEACHEY

MY LITTLE EMPIRE

BUBBLEWRAP HOLOCAUST

A TYPING ERROR

OUT NOW, NAGUAL

9 FEB , TEXTILE RECORDS

1 JAN , SELF RELEASED

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Thus the ranks of the heavyweight post-rock genre swell even more as this Italian quintet toss their artistic hat into the ring. Opening full number Back to the Teenage suggests they fancy themselves as something of a doomy outfit akin to Pelican. It works to some extent, although the production here is too polite to really convey the weight and misanthropy required for that kind of sound. The record is far more at ease when Penelope sulla Luna veer towards the more ethereal twiddlings of Explosions in the Sky. They construct numerous pleasant and occasionally seductive swells of noise and the sinister Melodia is a particularly good example of pace and dramatic tension, enjoying more than six minutes of gradual building before emerging into a direct, driving refrain. Though My Little Empire doesn’t quite compete with many of the genre’s leading lights, it is certainly an admirable piece of work and could translate beautifully to a live setting. [Chris Cusack]

About as Scottish as they come, BubbleWrap Holocaust have evolved from their origins as a duo to incorporate a second bass guitar and dedicated Weegie vocalist extraordinaire. As is the tradition with foreign towns, they could comfortably be twinned with French, dual-bassed contemporaries Le Singe Blanc.

Both share that same love of the eccentric and both explore the potential of their unorthodox instrumental set-up to good effect. Easing from post-punk to swing via a myriad of other nuanced genres, BubbleWrap Holocaust’s identity is rubber stamped by Colin Stewart’s idiosyncratic vocals. Though largely unconcerned with melody and thus unlikely to be sung in many showers, they have a peculiar catchiness found in moments of clever sloganeering and post-modern poetry. If Captain Beefheart had grown up in Glasgow’s East End and smoked fewer cigarettes then he might well have sounded something like this. That’s no bad thing. [Austin Tasseltine]

Singer songwriter Jack Peachey turns pretty words into pretty music. This graceful collection of tracks highlights this talented musician’s poetic capabilities. Peachey is a young up and comer hailing from Nottingham and has been working the acoustic folk circle for the past two years both as a solo artist and with his band. A Typing Error is a re-release of a five-track EP and offers everything from quietly composed acoustic tracks partnered perfectly with a string section, to more rocky, melodic Jeff Buckley-esque treats. Peachey’s songwriting abilities are a stand-out element to this recording. Although supported by finely crafted musicianship, this man is quite the poet. Perhaps you will find Mr Peachey lurking in the shadows of Nick Drake and Damien Rice, but he’s not just another boy with his guitar: there is something greater hiding within A Typing Error. [Shelley Blake]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PENELOPESULLALUNA

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/TEXTILERECORDS

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/GALLERY47

ALEX TRONIC

RAYMY

TO INFINITY

OBAN & GOMORRAH

JAN 2009, ALEX TRONIC

OUT NOW, SELF-RELEASED

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The latest offering from Alex Tronic records is a real treat, for a number of reasons. The opening notes of the first track Life’s A Dream (I’m A Scratcher) suggest that the record may be going down a darker route, but within seconds the tone changes to one that promises a brighter journey. It happens quickly yet subtly and means the record opens rather pleasantly. Also, techno music can be rather inaccessible. As a genre, it seems to rub a lot of listeners up the wrong way, but this probably won’t be a problem for To Infinity. The overall tone of the record makes it not only accessible but highly enjoyable, whilst the instrumentals work well on every track. The inclusion of vocals from Susanna Holland and Amy Duncan are a large part of what makes this record the human and satisfying work it is. [Chris Duncan]

A little unsure of himself musically, Raymy switches between dub, polka and country pastiches, all filtered through a Scottish, small town sense of humour.

Ushering in a guitar solo with the priceless “you’re a wee shite Lauder!”, his irreverent jests – Castrate the Rapists – echo a devilish Half Man, Half Biscuit, and stand-out track We Don’t Do That Kind of Thing Anymore is more upfront than the darkest moments of Aidan Moffat. To boot, it’s perversely accompanied by Ivor Cutler’s Life in a Scotch Sitting Room. Unfortunately, the unfocused nature of Raymy’s music works against him: in merely aping his record collection, the comedic bent is overstated, preventing the songs from standing up on their own merit, especially with vocals at such a low volume. Often the pace is a little too slow to maintain attention, but still the slightly shambolic sound of one man having his fun is worth your ear for a moment or two. [Jamie Scott]

WWW.ALEXTRONICRECORDS.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/RAYMYMUSIC

Top 5 Albums 1. ANDREW BIRD - NOBLE BEAST 2. THE PHANTOM BAND CHECKMATE SAVAGE 3. DÄLEK - GUTTER TACTICS 4. OKKER - TWO AXES 5. ROSS CLARK - YOU BROUGHT EVIL JANUARY 2009

THE SKINNY 47

Music

Live Reviews Vivian Girls Captain’s Rest, 6 Dec

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heidi kuisma

The Vivian Girls are psychic. No, really. They demonstrate their powers tonight by asking a crowd member to whisper the name of a well-known celebrity in the ear of Cassie Ramone, and moments later Kickball Katy declares triumphantly “It’s Lindsay Lohan!” A squealed ‘ohmigod!’ confirms their supernatural omniscience, but their powers don’t stop there. Their prescience is eerie: it’s as if they somehow sensed the time was right for a band to take the sound of Edinburgh indie pop legends The Shop Assistants, amp up the shoegaze and harmonise their way into the blogosphere as ‘the best new band ever’ # 5447. But where fellow 2008 hype-ees like Black Kids have found themselves abandoned by impatient hipsters hungry for immediate results, the Vivian Girls tonight show a more tangible promise. They rattle through every song they know, dropping a note here and adding a giggle there, and the effect is utterly mesmerising. [Chris Buckle] www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Pumajaw

The Vaselines

Limbo, Voodoo Rooms, 4 Dec

ABC, 12 Dec

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When Sparrow And The Workshop‘s (****) vocalist Jill sings “I’d like to be impossibly obscure” in The Gun, she’s obviously not reckoning with our intentions. Her voice has a strong country twang – being American, it’s not at all put-on – and the rollicking rhythms of the drummer remind me of Sons & Daughters’ driving energy. But there are ballads too, which immediately touch a nerve; in fact every song is immediately striking in some regard, and – almost impossibly – they keep getting stronger. Riproaring finale The Devil Song sounds like a steam train crossing the desert: so we call in applause, “woo woo!”, and it’s like we’re announcing an arrival.

Pumajaw (***) have just released their fifth album, Curiosity Box, and appropriately they still seem to be a curiosity around these parts: no-one I talk to beforehand seems to know what to expect. Guitarist John Wills and singer Pinkie MacLure try to weave a new-age atmosphere which only needs clouds of smelly joss-stick smoke to complete the effect. Wills records and loops rhythmic and ambient sequences so he can fingerpick runs on top, and MacLure’s agile vocals tell mystical stories in the tradition of rootsy folk. She has a fantastic voice, and his methodical production method is also impressive, but there’s not much to grab on to for this small crowd of Pumajaw apprentices. [Ally Brown]

“The last time we played in Glasgow we were paid £12.50 and two tabs of acid.” This is the Vaselines’ first official gig in their home city for two decades, and everyone is acutely aware of it, from the crowd, who greet the band with a reverential hush, to founding members Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee themselves. Musically, everything is in place: Frances’s harmonies are still giddy and naive, while Eugene’s guitar creates the depth of sound which gives songs like Slushy their unique maudlin rainy-afternoon quality. Yet the pair are no longer impudent youngsters - he looks like John Lithgow, she looks alarmingly like my best friend’s mum - and tonight is somewhat akin to watching your parents do a really good Vaselines at karaoke, right down to the studiedly smutty patter. It’s endearing and amusing, but relatively absent of the sweat and the feeling of communal ecstasy you’d expect from a Vaselines show in their heyday. [Gillian Watson]

Pumajaw play Celtic Connections at Classic Grand, Glasgow on 16 Jan.

Sometimes confusion on stage translates to an ear-pleasing, cacophonic blend of voices and instruments, other times it’s just confusion. Canadian foursome Women (**) are difficult to peg; the addition of Chad VanGaalen (who recorded their debut album) to their numbers tonight brings a synth edge to their prog rock leanings, which balances quite nicely at first. But more often than not, the band seems lost in their own creative ecstasy, forgetting they’re playing a rather intimate show. Unfortunately, the audience misses whatever wavelength Women are coasting on and are left behind wondering what the hell just happened.

Never underestimate a man with a banjo. Canadian singer-songwriter Chad VanGaalen (****), known for rewiring Casio keyboards to build his own instruments, wins the small crowd back to the point of transfixion.

Plucking out melancholy songs like Willow Tree from his new album Soft Airplane, he is occasionally joined by members of Women on guitar and accordion. The atmosphere is enhanced by the microphone effect he uses which sends his ethereal voice echoing to the wistful corners of the mind, and, more practically, throughout the small venue. But anything bigger would be unnecessary; VanGaalen could certainly captivate a larger audience, but the intimate setting is the perfect accompaniment for his laidback style. [Marta Nelson]

www.myspace.com/pumajaw

The Prodigy Carling Academy, 8 Dec

Keith Flint and Maxim Reality take the stage in character, faces sneering and painted, as composer and sound wizard Liam Howlett unleashes the first broken beats of Worlds on Fire, an unreleased track from The Prodigy’s forthcoming Invaders Must Die. It’s well received and sets a pace that continues throughout a set speckled with some of the greatest British dance tracks of all time. But it’s not until the cannonade of crowd favourite Poison drops late into the set and works itself into Voodoo People that the crowd really reacts, with the climactic highlight of the night arriving with a harmonious, inebriated singalong to the ever-euphoric Out of Space. The decision to start and end with new material is a little bold and perhaps diminishes an escalating atmosphere, but the Prodigy can afford to experiment – they’ve built an illustrious career with their experimental tendencies and tonight we’ve been willing subjects. [Neil Walker]

Chad VanGaalen Captain’s Rest, 27 Nov

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The Prodigy play SECC, Glasgow on 7 Apr, 2009 www.theprodigy.com

www.myspace.com/chadvangaalen

More gig reviews online: theskinny.co.uk 48 THE SKINNY January 2009

Markus Thorsen

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www.subpop.com/artists/the_vaselines

Joan As Policewoman The Liquid Room, 13 Dec

rrrr It’s a bizarre sight to observe Joan Wasser work herself into a frenzy before appearing on stage, with a high pitched scream and a punch of the stage door before coming out to perform calm, plaintive, pianoonly versions of To Be Lonely and To Be Loved.

But then she’s never hidden her Kate Bush-esque ‘quirky’ side; and this performance does nothing to dispel that image. Backed only by bass and drums, with Joan herself flitting between keys and guitar, the orchestral arrangements of her latest release To

Survive and debut album Real Life are necessarily sacrificed. In doing so, it allows Wasser to bring to bear her prized asset, her wonderfully expressive, yet never laboured voice. Disappointingly, the set is cut short just as she prepares to launch into her new single, the superlative To America. But she makes up for it by closing with a tumultous version of Furious, neatly bringing the evening round full circle.

[Wilbur Kane] www.myspace.com/joanaspolicewoman

Broken Records Finbarr Bermingham caught up with Jamie Sutherland and Ian Turnball to hear what pursuits have kept Scottish music's hottest properties busy.

Who are Broken Records?

The short answer: a much-hyped seven piece indie-folk outfit based in Edinburgh. Helpfully, Ian is on hand to provide the background. “Jamie and I played in a band together at university, and when we moved back to Edinburgh we continued playing acoustic shows with Jamie’s brother Rory on violin.

We met Arne, our cellist, at one of these shows and he joined us from there. In December 2006 we got offered a support slot with Degrassi at Bannerman's and felt we really needed drums and bass to fill out the sound for it, so we roped in other some other university friends, Dave and Andy, to play piano and drums respectively. Jamie had been introduced to Gill through a friend and invited him to come and play bass, but I’d also been in the same music class as him at school years ago! It all seemed to come together really well from the first practice and it’s been the seven of us ever since.”

any conviction. If you have a hard and fast political view, and feel obliged to pen it, you can find yourself looking pretty foolish pretty quickly, so I have found myself researching a few lyrics to make sure I get the tone right.”

Sutherland is clearer on what he won’t be writing about anytime soon.

“Certainly the Arctic Monkeys style of observational lyrics has never appealed. I just take a walk down the Cowgate on a Saturday night to know how rancid it is. I always hoped that like Nick Cave or Tom Waits, the lyrics might take you somewhere you hadn’t been before, stretched your imagination a little.”

What do they sound like and where do they fit in?

Many column inches have been devoted to this one.

With their bohemian get-up, strings ‘n’ accordions and soaring crescendos, the Fourth Estate have happily lumped them in with the Arcade Fires and Beiruts of this world. While flattering, the band dismiss such comparisons as marriages of convenience. “It’s just lazy journalism,” rants Turnball, “and frustrating for us when someone sees seven people playing strings, mandolins and accordions and calls us a Scottish Arcade Fire because we don’t think our songs sound anything like theirs”.

The band may have to endure such scrutiny, with publications local and national hailing them as the “Celtic Arcade Fire.” The band’s actual influences, though, range from Calexico, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros and Mogwai, to Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Neutral Milk Hotel and Yann Tiersen.

Despite the band’s music tastes having a decidedly international flavour, there is a tangible Celtic element to their music, something which has won the band admirers at home and further afield.

The band’s frontman and lyricist Jamie Sutherland has earned plaudits for the diversity, literariness and originality of his songwriting. “I made a conscious effort not just to write about girls a couple of years ago, as the subject just bores me,” he explains when asked to identify his muses. “Certainly few things beat a well-written, personal song but I guess for me, only in moderation. I’ve tried writing about politics, yet have never had the courage to dive into it with

Where can we hear the band?

Last year, Broken Records released singles on both Young Turks and Distiller Records and the good news is there’s a debut album in the offing. “We were in a situation earlier in the year where a [record] deal fell through for various reasons and it caused us a few setbacks,” says Ian. “We’re currently in discussions with who we believe to be the right label, and that’s all we’re going to say on the subject for now. But all being well, we hope to begin recording an album in January.”

What were the band’s highlights of 2008 and what are their ambitions for 2009?

Having become fixtures on the nation’s festival circuit last summer, it’s unsurprising that some of those gigs feature heavily in Broken Records’ ‘Best Of...’ list. “We had an amazing time at the Latitude festival. We were playing on the Sunrise stage which was an incredibly beautiful setting in the middle of a clearing in the woods. To get to the backstage area you had to get ferried across a lake on a little boat and the atmosphere for that show was brilliant.

We also had a great time playing headline shows at Wickerman and Connect.”

Perhaps their most surreal moment of 2008 took place at Hyde Park, London. Ian explains: “When we got to our dressing room Portakabin backstage we found we were sandwiched between The Police on one side, and The Stranglers and Mick Jones on the other!”

As far as the year ahead, the band are understandably ambitious. “The main one at the moment is to get an album recorded and out on the shelves,” says Ian. “Then we’re really looking forward to playing festivals again, and because we haven’t managed to

do it the last couple of years we’d really like to play at Glastonbury. We just want more and more people to hear the music.”

Jamie also admits that the transatlantic success of Skinny favourites Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad is inspiring for Broken Records, too.

“To tour the States has long been a dream of mine, so seeing these bands doing so well is really encouraging, in that people there might be responsive to what

we do. We have already been offered a few shows in New York and the States, so hopefully we can get over there and try and make a name for ourselves as well.”

Watch this space... broken records play The Mill Glasgow Wednesday 11 Feb, 8pm The Mill Edinburgh, Thursday 12 Feb, 7pm www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh

Sign up to The Mill’s website (www.themill-live.com) to enter for an opportunity to score tickets to their upcoming events The Mill Glasgow – open every Wednesday

14th Jan – Foxface, Woodenbox 21st Jan – Black Alley Screens, Jocasta Sleeps 28th Jan – ID Parade, Mitchell Museum The Mill Edinburgh – open every Thursday

15th Jan – Woodenbox, Foxface 22nd Jan – Tie For Jack, Little Kicks 29th Jan –Meursault, Eagleowl

the mill glasgow takes place at oran mor, and the mill edinburgh at the caves. for more info see venue listings at www.theskinny.co.uk

MUSIC

Live Music

Previews

Highlights

ATTIC LIGHTS PERFORM AT CELTIC CONNECTIONS' SHOWSHINE SHOWCASE, ABC, 17JAN

CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2009

FRANZ FERDINAND

VARIOUS VENUES ACROSS GLASGOW, 15 JAN - 1 FEB

THE PICTURE HOUSE, EDINBURGH, 14 JAN

There have been more Scottish music festivals in the last couple of years than ever before, all clamouring for the tag of most eclectic and wide-reaching. Quietly but effectively getting on with it for the last 15 years has been Glasgow’s Celtic Connections - not held in a muddy tent, no gurning neds in sight, but with a genuine focus on the best of traditional Scottish music.

A look back at some of the festival’s past highlights shows how influential it has been in shaping the new pride Scotland has in its indigenous talents. But what started in 1994 as a showcase of local folk sounds has grown into a multinational celebration of Scotland’s place in the world music scene.

The three-week festival features over 200 events, but some particularly notable ones are a Jamaican Burns night at the Old Fruitmarket (Sunday, 25 Jan) with legendary Kingston producers Sly & Robbie and our own Edwyn Collins (also playing the ABC on Friday 23 Jan); the Showshine Showcase with Attic Lights, Glaswegian indie godfathers BMX Bandits and Norman Blake at the ABC (Saturday, 17 Jan); and the curious coupling of Martha Wainwright with Teddy Thompson at the Old Fruitmarket (Tuesday, 27 Jan). Another one to look forward to is The Burns Unit at the Old Fruitmarket (Friday, 16 Jan), a modern appraisal of the bard’s work by an all-star lineup that boasts King Creosote and Karine Polwart as well as Roddy Woomble’s sublime trio with Kris Drever and John McCusker. [Euan Ferguson]

Here’s a bona fide coup: the Picture House, still but a few months old, has secured one of only two UK dates in January by Scotland’s finest indie sophistos, Franz Ferdinand. The reincarnated venue will provide a suitably charismatic setting for the Glasgow band’s wry lyricism and jagged guitars — and now you can add funky basslines to that heady art-pop brew. Their full-bodied new album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand hits shops the following week, so expect singles like Ulysses and Lucid Dreams to move feet as much as Take Me Out. 1,500 eager fans have snapped up all the tickets, but this will still be an intimate affair for Kapranos & co. [Nick Mitchell]

TIMES AND PRICES VARY

8PM, £9.50

WWW.CELTICCONNECTIONS.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/LITTLEJOYMUSIC

7PM, £17.50 ALSO PLAYING BARROWLANDS, GLASGOW ON 4-5 MAR.

LITTLE JOY STEREO, GLASGOW, 17 JAN

Last year’s The Next Time Around brought the number of solo-Strokes releases to three, and like Albert Hammond Jr’s two pop treats, Little Joy offer plenty to keep folks content while Fabrizio Moretti’s more famous band continue to keep their heads low. Named, appropriately, after a trashy-but-hip cocktail bar on Sunset Boulevard, the Strokes drummer, along with his oddly named girlfriend Binki Shapiro and Rio rocker Rodrigo Amarante will bring their laidback summery sound to a sub-zero Glasgow in the middle of January. With mellow melodies and sweetly sung harmonies, it promises to be the perfect antidote to the post-festive comedown. [Chris Buckle]

Emotastic up-and-coming Reading lads Kill the Arcade kick off the new year with a gig at Glasgow King Tut's on 8 January. Great innovators they are not, but if anyone is up to the task of blowing away the January blues and putting a spring in your step, it's this lot. Expect a passionate, energetic stage presence and some serious riffing.

Something a little bit different will be going down at Aberdeen's The Tunnels on 9 January and Glasgow's ABC2 on 10 January, as Hayseed Dixie frontman John Wheeler (AKA Barley Scotch) rolls into town for a one-man show of spoken word and storytelling, featuring rye (arf) observations and uncensored tales of life on the road with the world's heaviest hillbilly ensemble. Oh, and you can expect some songs and all.

With Merriweather Post Pavilion poised to be one of 2009's most talked about releases, Animal Collective will play Glasgow School of Art on 13 January having unleashed their new opus the previous day – so expect this one to go off big time! This band is renowned for reinventing themselves in the live setting, so second guess them at your peril. The only thing we can be sure of is that it'll be worth seeing.

Making a play for must-see event of the month, The Gutter Twins (aka Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan) play a unique 'stripped-down' set at Glasgow's Òran Mór (15 January). Promising an even more raw and direct sound than on record, Dulli has stated that the set "will include many songs neither of us have performed in quite some time, or ever". We readily admit that the idea of an 'intimate evening' with Mark Lanegan scares us – but in a good way. This sounds like a hell of a night out.

Hotly tipped metalcore mentalists Bury Tomorrow will get lairy at Edinburgh's Studio 24 on 17 January and Glasgow's Classic Grand on 18 January. For those who can't decide if they prefer anthemic emo vocals or old-school Cookie Monster growling, well, these guys can do both! Throw in some unusually smooth riffing and you've got an enticing metal proposition.

They dropped one of the most polarising albums of 08 in the form of Skeletal Lamping, but most critics can agree that Of Montreal know how to put on a helluva show. Lead by the supremely charismatic Kevin Barnes, they'll be sure to deliver an eclectic set

MAKING A PLAY FOR MUST-SEE EVENT OF THE MONTH, GREG DULLI AND MARK LANEGAN WILL PLAY A 'STRIPPED-DOWN' SET AT GLASGOW'S ORAN MOR ON 15 JAN of energising, confusing and fascinating experimental pop. Glasgow's Oran Mor on 26 January is the place to be to witness one of the most dynamic and surprising bands of recent times.

Descartes: he may have been instrumental in shaping modern Western thought, but could he write a decent three-minute alt-rock song? Could he fuck! Dundee's Descartes, on the other hand, certainly can, and you can gather the empirical sense data to verify our claim by getting your arse down to Dundee University Union on 28 January. The usual influences are present and correct (Bloc Party, Interpol, erm, Tears for Fears...) but Descartes' songs have a unique swagger that marks them out as lads who might actually be going places.

Rounding out the month are fecking-phenomenal psych-rockers Crystal Antlers who, if there's any justice, will explode in 2009. If you've not already done so, you should go buy their debut EP, meditate for a while on how right we were about them being awesome, then go see them play at Glasgow Nice n Sleazy on 30 January and get your face melted off. It's a three-step plan for happiness, seriously. Also, their percussion player is called Sexual Chocolate. How much more convincing do you people need? [Ted Maul]

Buy tickets now!

Deerhunter @ Stereo, Glasgow, 5 Mar

8PM, £9

BARRY KLIPP

Bradford Cox, Deerhunter’s undisputed creative epicentre, had a mixed 2008. The unscrupulous leaking of Microcastle, its bonus disc Weird Era Cont., and the demos for surprise Atlas Sound release Logos prompted understandable blog-rant anger back in August. But by December things were somewhat less grim, with all and sundry queuing up to pay tribute to his alternative pop genius (a top ten placing in our own albums of the year list amongst Microcastle’s accolades). 2009 should continue the buoyancy with a return to Glasgow’s Stereo, and then fingers crossed he’ll forgive, forget, and let the finished version of Logos see the light of day. [Chris Buckle]

GUTTER TWINS, ÒRAN MÓR, 15 JAN

50 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

Music

Metal up your ASS New Year’s resolution to self: move to a country where some decent bands tour in January. What the hell is the problem with Scotland? Is it the weather? Surely the Scandinavians in particular can’t fall back on that as an excuse. Thus, it transpires that we find ourselves in the sorry state of affairs where the Kerrang Tour qualifies as one of the month’s metal highlights.

So to hell with the metal, let’s widen the net a bit. Thankfully Glasgow’s This Is Our Battlefield collective are still putting in a shift and bring English punk/hardcore quartet The Steal to the 13th Note (5 Jan). Appearances across the UK as well as on Radio One’s Lock-Up show have garnered considerable buzz for these guys. Support comes from local Amphetamine Reptile-obsessed noise trio Hyena, whose live show has been pretty special in recent times.

Five days later, The Captain’s Rest plays host to newly formed Dundee supergroup Thews, featuring members of Laeto, Avast and Alamos (10 Jan). Also playing are Glaswegian post-punk beasts United Fruit whose reputation is increasingly strong.

What January really didn’t need is an overlap, but sadly The Haunted appear at Glasgow Garage the same night as Architects set about The Cathouse (20 Jan). Fortunately, in a rare glimpse of raucous exuberance, Edinburgh entertains

Architects the following evening at Studio 24 (21 Jan) so the obsessive can make it to both. Certainly The Haunted make the icy trek from Sweden to these shores having destroyed a number of Glasgow venues in the past, and chances are they’ve only gotten better. Theirs is a real ale mind. None of your watered-down shandy. So be prepared for some brutality.

Which brings us to a belated Christmas turkey in the form of The Kerrang Tour (27 Jan) as some of modern music’s most elaborate haircuts hit the Barrowlands. About as cutting edge as a denim waistcoat, one can expect an evening of loud contemporary noises in a room full of people that make you feel so very, very old. New York industrial combo Mindless Self Indulgence head the bill, flanked by vitriolic Floridian teens Black Tide and mullet revivalists Bring Me The Horizon. Enjoy. Thankfully, The Captain’s Rest once again rescues Glasgow’s flagging heavy rock fortunes with The Sontaran Experiment and Black Sun (29 Jan). The former – named after a none less superb episode of Doctor Who – peddle distinctly misanthropic sludge, interspersed with bursts of frenzied blast beat. Black Sun head straight for the doom jugular... very very slowly. Chances are your bowels might well loosen before the night is done. [Austin Tasseltine]

Thews, The Captain’s Rest, 10 Jan

January 2009

THE SKINNY 51

Forget the bitter winter of Scotland and the recession.

Chris Duncan looks at where to blow that winter heating budget on a lavish trip to some of the finest clubs that the globe has to offer.

Cielo New York City, U.S.A.

Situated in the Meat Packing District of New York City the 350 capacity venue Cielo has a worldwide reputation as being one of the best clubs on the planet. The seating and lighting looks as though it was lifted directly from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, whilst the sunken dancefloor located in the centre of the venue puts the emphasis on dancing, not posing by the bar. Cielo’s popularity shows no sign of slowing down, especially after winning the Club World Award for best club in 2005, 2006 and 2008 as well as entering the top 50 clubs list in DJ Magazine.

Vincent Escudero

www.cieloclub.com

La Terrrazza Barcelona, spain

An open-air club on a mountain in Montjuic in Barcelona? Sold and sold! However, due to the venue lacking a roof there are sound restrictions in place. But on a clear night the stars will add to the club’s basic lighting giving it a unique twist, which is a trade off of sorts. Soma Records tend to host a summer party there every year, with the likes of Silicone Soul, Slam, Funk D’void and Decimal all appearing al fresco. Secretsundaze also hold an absurdly cheap event in late August which rounds off the summer season nicely. Beginning in the early evening and ending in the wee hours of the next day the annual party closes months of festivities rather well. www.laterrrazza.com

Rex Club Paris, france

For creatures of the Parisian night Rex Club has been a major player since 1992. Arriving with a bang, Rex Club opened its doors with the debut of “Wake Up”, a night curated by Laurent Garnier. Previous events include Bassculture, Bpitch Control Party, Back to Warehouse, Circus Company Club and Automatik, which celebrated its eleventh birthday this year. The new year sees Rex Club promising to push the boundaries further in providing Paris with the finest in fresh electronic music. The Mobilee Showcase takes place on 16 January and features Pan Pot and Anja Schneider. www.rexclub.com

aveoree

Clubs

Destination Venues for your Clubbing Holiday

Berghain/Panorama Bar Berlin, Germany

Blessed with a pretty much perfect soundsystem this former power plant located by the Berlin Ostbahnhof train station is an absolute haven for clubbers. Berghain combines the techno sounds of Marcel Dettman with the house music of Cassy in the upstairs Panorama Bar. The cavernous venue holds 1500 people and features an 18 metre ceiling above the dance floor. The aesthetic of the club is unusual, with bare concrete and steel being the main interior design. Berghain rose from the ashes of the legendary Berlin club Ostgut, which had its roots in the gay fetish club night Snax. The hedonistic history remains with Berghain’s inclusion of a dark room set aside for sex acts and a strict no photography policy. Only half of the building is in use but plans are underway to turn the remaining section into a concert hall. www.berghain.de

52 THE SKINNY January 2009

Cocoon Club

Womb

Frankfurt, Germany

Tokyo, Japan

Quite possibly the most striking club in the world in terms of design, the Cocoon Club comprises a restaurant and two dance areas, Cocoon Club and Micro. DJs and VJs work in perfect harmony to ensure that vistors are treated to a multimedia delight during events. The main hall features a 100-foot long “membrane wall which wraps around the main floor to give the impression of a living organism”. The cocoons from which the club takes its name are seating areas contained within the membrane wall that feature dimmable lights and touch screens to survey the rest of the club. Words cannot really do it justice so a visit to their website is highly recommended. The music policy is largely tech house and electro but the Micro area of the venue dips into different genres such as new jazz and broken beats.

Placed in the centre of Shibuya, Womb is a three level, 1000 capacity beast of a venue. Extravagant in its size, light shows, acts and mammoth mirrored disco ball, Womb is a surreal and wonderful experience.

Specialising in drum and bass, tribal, techno and filthy house, Womb hosts all manner of events across the year and opens most afternoons as a pre-club café bar. Previous guests include Alex Smoke, Dusty Kid, Four Tet, Fragments, Seb Fontaine and Radio Slave.

The club also features in the film Babel, for all you 35mm fact fans out there, and there are touch screens in the bathroom so you can write messages on the walls before they are beamed through to the opposite sex’s bathroom.

www.cocoonclub.net

www.womb.co.jp

theskinny.co.uk scotland's best clubbing guidE, online

Clubs

Can you still think when you're

MINCED? The Skinny is seeking new clubs writers. see theskinny.co.uk/jobs for more information

NESTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Starter for 6 programme is now open: Training, support and the opportunity to pitch for grant awards of up to ÂŁ10,000 open to innovative start up businesses across Scotland.

Application deadline: 26th January 2009

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THE SKINNY 53

Clubs

Club Previews Death Disco

Split

The Arches, 17 Jan

Cabaret Voltaire, 20 Jan

After their well received !K7 Tapes compilation were released last year, The Rapture’s Mattie Safer appears at the first Death Disco of 2009. Also gracing the shadows of The Arches are the excellent Joakim, jetting in from France to play a DJ set before their date at Fabric later in the week. Chicken Lips appear alongside DFA’s Runway and regular Death Disco residents in a night that is guaranteed to smear the glitter all over the faces of the punters. The whole shindig runs until 4am, just to prove that Death Disco has no intention of loosening its vice-like grip on the title of biggest superclub in Glasgow. [Chris Duncan]

Every Tuesday for the past four years the Split DJs have been hosting a free shakedown at Cab Vol for Edinburgh’s midweek clubbers.

Shadowskills and the Edinburgh:Bassed Collective control the main room, with MC Atomic, Sammy Peeps, Monterey Jack and DJ Believe rinsing out the heaviest in drum & bass and breaks alongside guests from hip-hop labels like Local Product.

The back room is run by Split founder Pyz, who favours an eclectic mix of slinky electro and upfront techno from a rotating team of residents such as Ingen, The Retard Playboy and Fresh Air. Despite being a night that could easily transfer to a weekend slot and have no problem charging for entry and still filling up, Split sticks to its founding principles and refuses to sell out - it’s strictly a Tuesday night affair, and it’s always free, all night, for everyone. [Chris Duncan]

11pm-4am, £12 + b.f. www.deathdisco.info

Limbo Voodoo Rooms, 15 Jan

Limbo is a well-honed weekly live music club night based at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, which recently celebrated its first birthday in November of last year. Part gig, part club night, the emphasis is on the best live music that the city has to offer. No line-up announced for the January 15th date yet, but with acts such as Kid Canaveral, Super Adventure Club, Isosceles, Pop Up, Xvectors, Bricolage, Juno, Foxface and Frightened Rabbit having already graced their stage the night looks set to go from strength to strength. For sure, one of the best places to hear the latest talent from Edinburgh and beyond. [Chris Duncan] 8.30pm-1am, £2 www.myspace.com/limboedinburgh

One More Tune Blackfriars, 10 Jan

Cropping up every second Saturday of the month in the heart of the Merchant City is the well kept secret One More Tune, aimed at the ever-growing population of skint revellers. Creators and resident DJs Define Define throw this party in the bowels of Blackfiars every month, allowing their favourite records to lead the way. No onegenre sets here, just rug-cutting and cheap booze aplenty.

The first date of 2009 features Ronnie Muirhead and Affi Koman of Sunday Circus, Shaun Fae Solar of Subcity Radio fame and residents Define Define. Come, dance, and sip your two pound pint in the shadow of neighbouring expensive cocktail bars as the world’s banking system continues to collapse in on itself. [Chris Duncan]

Tuesdays, 11pm-3am, free www.myspace.com/clubsplit

EQd V Club, Thurs 8 Jan

Thursday night in Glasgow gets a fresh start with the debut of EQd at the brand new V Club on Sauchiehall Street. Inspired in equal parts by New York’s loft parties, Berlin’s Berghain club and Glasgow’s very own dance music institutions, the night promises a blend of disco, funk, house and techno to dance, drink and disgrace yourself to.

Featuring residents Bobby Wilson, Casix and Truman Data plus a host of guest DJs and the occasional live band, EQd aims to attract a regular crowd of discerning club-goers with its varied blend of music.

EQd launches on 8 January 2009 with free entry for the first 100 people and a very special party featuring the resident DJs and Optimo’s JD Twitch filling a guest slot.

[Chris Duncan] 10.30pm-3am, first 100 free, £3 after

11pm - 3am, £5 www.myspace.com/onemoretune_club

Pressure feat.

Francois Kevorkian The Arches, 30 Jan

After a highly successful tenth birthday (the Arches were fit to burst until 5am even though Carl Craig pulled out at the the last minute) Slam kick off the new year with another strong Pressure line up. Minimal, progressive house and the finest techno are once again the manifesto for the evening. January’s date includes DJ sets from Francois Kevorkian, DJ Sneak, DJ Yoda and Slam whilst Robert Hood and Stimming perform live. Fresh off the back of his Fabric mix of last year, DJ Yoda should provide an eclectic hip-hop set, administering the formula that has served him so well up to this point. Work off the holiday weight by busting a move to everything on offer and wrestling your way to the bar through the legions of people this night is sure to attract. [Chris Duncan] 10pm-3am, £17 www.slamevents.com

Sick Note feat.

Dead Boy Robotics Cabaret Voltaire, 22 Jan

Resident Sick Note DJs Clash and Spies in the Wires present cooler-than-thou synth botherers Dead Boy Robotics this month. Hailing from Edinburgh (even if they think they’re from Shoreditch) the group play a storming live set, and cite their influences as Phil Collins, Cutting Pink With Knives and, bizarrely, Xbox 360. Entry to Sick Note is free every week and hosted by the very experienced and capable people behind Clash, Spies in the Wires, Dogtooth, Hobo and Spitfires. It's a musically bi-polar evening that could well be the best Thursday night out in Edinburgh. Ask nicely and they even promise to pen you a sick note for the Friday morning.

[Chris Duncan] 11pm-3am, free www.myspace.com/sicknoteclub skinny ad january.indd 1

54 THE SKINNY January 2009

18/12/08 3:10:36 pm

Get full clubbing listings oN page 60

even more club reviews and previews available online: theskinny.co.uk

Clubs

Rex the Dog: Canine It It is notoriously difficult for mainstream artists to get back to the kind of passionate following enjoyed by more off-centre acts. One approach is to completely reinvent yourself, explains Rex the Dog's Jake Williams to Chris Duncan & Emma Kilday Rex the Dog is the age-old tale of a man (Jake Williams) and his dog (Rex) coming together to create exceptional dance music. Canine and human, truly a partnership as old as time when it comes to the creation of fine electronic wares. Hiding behind a mask of homemade animations, Jake aims to bury the memories of his days creating hits for the mainstream and produce the music that he was always capable of.

His debut album, The Rex the Dog Show, was released in September of last year. It features some excellent remixes (The Knife’s Heartbeats and The Sounds’ Tony the Beat) as well as tracks penned by Jake himself, making up 14 tracks of light-hearted electro-pop interlaced with bizarre dog-themed soundbites have already proved a hit with critics and fans alike.

“The reaction has been amazing!” smiles Jake, “It’s an unusual album for some people because it contains a mixture of stuff that has been around for a while, and stuff that is brand new; but I’m very happy with it, and when we play the new stuff at shows, people are digging it!”

We ask about the strange clips of talking and noise that punctuate the gaps between each track. “They are mainly from movies,” he tells us, “but also we have a friend who has a kind of cute voice so we asked her to re-record some segments so that we wouldn’t get sued by some hideous conglomerate!”

The album also features samples from old eighties records and this, along with his passion for seventies musical equipment, means it is probably safe to assume that Rex the Dog is heavily influenced by early electronic and synth-based music.

“Oh totally. Early synth-pop, like Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Kraftwerk has been a passion since I was

like 7 years old - honestly! The challenge now is always to make sure we’re not making a kind of pastiche, but to just let it feed in with other influences.”

If you think a debut album that sounds this good must mean Jake has done this all before, then you’d be right. In fact he previously achieved chart success under the moniker ‘JX’, responsible for hits like There’s Nothing I Won’t Do, and Son of a Gun in the mid-nineties. His new material, however, has a very different and more innovative feel, which at the same time sparkles with retro charm. Was this move away from the polished commercial dance sound a conscious decision or just a natural progression?

“Well, there was quite a big gap between JX and Rex The Dog, and some quite serious things happened in my life in between that stopped me making music for a while. It was really when Rex arrived that I felt renewed and started buying loads of records, especially German stuff like Kompakt and BPitch Control. I bought the Korg 700S synthesizer and just went down a new avenue I think… JX seems like another life away now and I don’t really go there much.”

This new avenue certainly seems to be leading him towards great things. 2008 was an extremely busy year, with Rex the Dog doing countless live shows and appearing on the line-ups for festivals the world over.

Jake, however, isn’t the only producer around at the moment with an animal alter-ego, he has competition from Deadmau5, who often takes to the stage in the guise of a giant red rodent. We ask Rex which of the two creatures would win in a fight.

“Deadmau5 is a mouse, so, while I don’t wish to seem competitive or uncharitable, Rex would kick his ass,” he replies, but then dashes our hopes for a new slice

of musical controversy by adding “I personally love Deadmau5 so would do all I could to intervene.”

So who exactly is Rex then? A cartoon? Imaginary friend? Or is he based on a super-intelligent real life canine that helps Jake produce the music?

“He’s my dog! He is not imaginary, and he certainly doesn’t smell imaginary!” laughs Jake. “People wonder if he’s real because he only appears in cartoon form, but he is real, and together we are a team. One day soon we will do some photographs, but we want to wait until we have made a few more releases.”

Music is clearly not Jake’s (sorry, their) only talent.

Everything from Rex the Dog’s website to his album cover features colourful cartoons of himself and his canine companion carefully illustrated by Jake himself - even the press release for The Rex the Dog Show was written in comic strip form.

“I guess I do have an artistic background,” explains Jake. “ I went to art school in London while I was making the JX music and that’s when I started playing with animation. My degree show piece was an animated documentary about the development and demise of the hovercraft!”

His drawings have been brought to life in the animated video for his first single I Can See You, Can You See Me?. “For the 3D sections of the video I liaised with Eric the director and we went backwards and forwards with drawings until we made the characters look right. It took quite a long time and some delicate negotiation! There is a 2D section, and for that I did nearly all the drawing and another guy completed the animation. My animation skills are really quite primitive!”

Jake’s artwork also plays an important part in

providing the backdrop for Rex the Dog’s live shows.

We ask how important he feels visuals like these are to his performances and to the whole clubbing experience. “It tells a story that fits with the music.

Rex doesn’t come to clubs and I’m not keen to show my face all the time, so it’s a good way to present our attitude. For traditional club nights though, when you want to lose yourself on the dancefloor, I think visuals can be a distraction if they dominate the room too much.”

After recently playing the Christmas Death Disco at the Arches in Glasgow, Jake speaks about his loves for Scottish crowds. “I always look forward to it! It wasn’t the first time for us in Glasgow, we played at the Art School one time, which was lots of fun. We love the Scottish, they seem inclined towards going mental at gigs!”

With a busy summer season now behind him, what were the highlights of the 2008 festival season?

“A big highlight were the trips to Japan. We played at Wire Festival in Tokyo and the response was just insane. Rex came onstage at the end of the gig and the crowd roared like the president had just appeared. And they loved the music too!”

Following the success of The Rex the Dog Show what are the plans for 2009?

“We’re planning more and bigger shows, and to collaborate with more animators. We have just finished a stop motion video for Bubblicious with a French guy called Geoffroy De Crecy and it has turned out so well, it may be the highpoint of our career so far. That comes out in February 2009. And then of course, we might make some more music.” www.rexthedog.net

January 2009

THE SKINNY 55

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56 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2009

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Dundee Music Thu 08 Jan Strictly Strauss

Caird Hall, 19:30–22:00, £22/19/16

Like a Thief, Joy Foundation

saturdays

Northern pop and Edinburgh-based funk

Dance, trance, pop, rock and cheese

The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

A festive Viennese song and dance

Open Mic

The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, Free

Hosted by Wobble from The Frets

Sat 10 Jan RTK 9000 and the..., ComaToast!, The Spectres The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Alt. punk and rock

saturdays

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Dance, trance, pop, rock and cheese

Wed 14 Jan

Sat 17 Jan saturdays

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Dance, trance, pop, rock and cheese

Wed 21 Jan Karima Francis (Hello Pirates?, Karen-Rose)

The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

A girl from Blackpool, who moved to Manchester, found out she could sing, wrote some songs and acquired some very cool hair in the process. Flock, if you know what’s good for you.

Thu 22 Jan

Sneak promotions present: Survive Atlantica

Open Mic

Indie. rock

Hosted by Billy Mitchell from The Trend

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Thu 15 Jan London Concertante

Marryat Hall, 19:30–22:00, various

Chamber music led by violinist Adam Summerhayes

Aberdeen Music

The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, Free

Sat 24 Jan Beatnic Prestige Single Launch (Val Verde)

The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Indie punk

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Sun 25 Jan ’Yrock: Top of The Class’ The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

A battle of the bands

Thu 29 Jan Drama and Virtuosity Caird Hall, 19:30–22:00, £12.50

Alexander Lazarev conducts Borodin’s second symphony, with Alexandra Soumm on violin.

Fri 30 Jan Descartes, Healthy Minds Collapse The Doghouse, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Philosophy followed by mental decline.

Excellent comedy programming.

Thank you people in the Doghouse.

Sat 31 Jan Cappuccino Concert

Marryat Hall, 11:00–13:00, £4.50

An audio-visual presentation on Robert Burns with Prof David Purdie and Sheena Wellington. We think there’s probably coffee too.

Fri 09 Jan Shell Friday Live (Tattie Jam) The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Sat 17 Jan Bonesaw present: TEN TONNE DOZER, BONESAW, THRASHIST REGIME, NERRUS KOR The Moorings Bar , 19:30–22:00, £3

Sat 10 Jan

Hardcore metal and thrash. Raar.

Sun 18 Jan

Fudge present: SON HENRY BAND, LEONARD JONES POTENTIAL, SLOW HANDS IN THE BADLANDS, GRANITE RUIN

Belhaven Sunday Jazz (Encebar)

The Moorings Bar , 19:30–22:00, £3

Pussycat Dolls

Alt. rock

Sun 11 Jan Belhaven Sunday Jazz (Encebar) The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Fri 16 Jan Shell Friday Live (Craig Davidson) The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Alto Elite Moshulu, 19:30–22:00, £6

Pop/ rock from Dundee

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free AECC, 18:30–22:00, various

Slyly bringing burlesque to the MTV generation

The Wilders

The Lemon Tree, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Old time American honky tonk

Sat 24 Jan

Red Stripe Music Award 2009 Moshulu, 19:30–22:00, £tbc

Shiny beer trophies. Sophisticated stuff.

Sharleen Spiteri

The Music Hall, 19:30–22:00, £27.50

First steps of the UK tour

Karma Lounge presents: Adele Sande, Young Fathers and Kobi Onyame The Lemon Tree, 21:00–00:00, £tbc

Singer/ songwriter pianist plays headline to a diverse clout of homegrown talent.

Sun 25 Jan Belhaven Sunday Jazz (Maria Speight) The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Fri 30 Jan

Sharleen Spiteri

The Lemon Tree, 19:00–23:00, sold out

The launch of her UK tour

Shell Friday Live (Baskery) The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Sat 31 Jan

Fudge present: SNAKE TEMPLE KINGS, AUTOSAFARI, LIARS DICE, OXBOW LAKE ORCHESTRA

Fudge present: ONION TERROR, SCUNNER, BRONTO SKYLIFT, ESCAPE TO VICTORY

Rock

Alt. rock

The Moorings Bar , 19:30–22:00, £3

The Moorings Bar , 20:00–22:00, £3

Glasgow music Mon 05 Jan This is our battlefield: THE STEAL, HYENA, OUR TIME DOWN HERE, HOT DAMN! 13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Punky indie hardcore stuff

Acoustic Bazooka (Hosted

by Ramon with guests Lainey Scott Campbell and Psychedeliasmith) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Acoustic Bazooka gets a new year re-modelling in the form of a weekly guest host and 3 blingin’ acoustic acts. Bam.

Tue 06 Jan

THE ALT, MARIGOLD TAXI, LULL, ECHO BASS, THE SMOKING SUNDAYS Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £6

Indie rock

The Trade with Cuddly Shark ABC, 19:00–23:00, £6

The Down & Outs Box, 20:00–21:00, Free

Fresh from the TBreak stage at TitP 08, The Down and Outs play a regular slot every Friday, performing a mix of their own rocky and inspiring tunes with some covers thrown in for good measure.

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Weekly indie night

Thu 08 Jan

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £4.90

Glasgow-based rock four piece

Das Filth (The GFT, The Black Cherry Group) Barfly, 20:00–23:00, £6

Indie rock meets disco house meets something all together really quite dirty indeed.

Midnight Sessions (The Fire and I) Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Weekly post-gig hangout

Cry Parrot Promotion presents Ultimate Thursh, Ben Butler, Mouse Pad, Louts

Richard Burton Trio

Rock and pop

Jazz trio

The Twisted Wheel, 20:00–02:00, £4

Concrete Campfire (Mr Gavin McGinty, Ben TD) Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Acoustic night.

Kill The Arcade (Roxbury, City of Statues)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £4.90

aka The Gutter Twins

CROCTIMO (ELSANDWICHO!) (Ben Butler and Mouse Pad (LIVE) and A Live Meeting Between Two Strangers on Stage) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:00–03:00, £1.99

Mon 12 Jan

Alt. rock

3 Hits In 3 Days (The Black Hand Gang, Halcyon)

Revelations (Cameron Not Cameron Miller, Vigo Thieves)

Weekly alt. rock and metal night

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Experimental post-punk

See what they did there? The weekly portmanteau night from the Eclectic Collective proffers up some of the best genre defying trappings of this indecisive age

Wed 07 Jan

An Evening with Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan

WEENLIZ, DEATH OF THE DINOSAUR, BOOMEDAN 13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Sat 10 Jan Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Marie Curie Fundraiser (THE DOWN & OUTS, SOMEONES SONS, THE DEAD SEA SOULS, EPIC 26, THE BRIGANTIES) Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £10

Information Libre (The Phaetons, The Tenants, Devices, State of Confusion)

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Tue 13 Jan Chris Brown

SECC, 19:30–22:00, various

The corporate king of r’n’b

Animal Collective

Glasgow School of Art, 19:30– 22:30, £tbc

Aesthetes with soul

Wreckin’ Pit: RANDOM HAND, LOVE AND A .45, CHINA BULL SHOP 13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Punk, rock and powerpop

Eclectiv (Duelling Winos) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

See what they did there? The weekly portmanteau night from the Eclectic Collective proffers up some of the best genre defying trappings of this indecisive age

Wed 14 Jan Live at The Mill (Foxface, Woodenbox) The Mill Glasgow @ Òran Mór, 19:30–22:00, Free

An all-indie knees up

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

Playtone

The Prayers (Heroes For A Day)

Revelations (Foxgang, Trap 6, Junkyard Shift)

Rock/ indie/ pop band.

Alt. indie

Weekly indie night

Indie

Fri 09 Jan Box, 18:30–19:30, Free

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–20:00, £5

Barfly, 20:00–23:00, £6

Thu 15 Jan

No Tribe (Exigency, We the Last Men, Empires)

Glasgow Live Events Present: Casino Brawl, First Signs Of Frost, Elias Last Day, Dana Walker

Eclectiv (Meat Pie)

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Sun 11 Jan

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £17.62

Concrete Campfire (Rosco, Ten Storeys High) Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Acoustic night.

Fri 16 Jan Playtone

Box, 18:30–19:30, Free

Rock/ indie/ pop band.

The Wakes, Esperanza Maggie May’s, 19:00–22:00, £5

Indie

CYPRUS, THE VICOUNTS, SLOWTIME MONDAYS, VINYL Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £6

Alt. indie

The Burns Unit (Drever, McCusker & Woomble) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Rock

Shoeshine Showcase featuring Attic Lights, Norman Blake & The BMX Bandits ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Glasgow-based indie rockers

Academy Live Ft. Any Color Black (Broadcast 2000, The Volt, The Winchell Riots) Carling Academy, 19:00–23:00, £5

Academy Live showcases four new live acts, handing the leading reigns over to each respective artist in their home city.

JUMPING FLASH, SOUNDS LIKE SILHOUETTES, TIMEBOMB SOLDIERS, DAYBREAK, DECOY

Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Drive Carefully Records: THE COVERGIRLS, THE RED WELL

Fresh from the TBreak stage at TitP 08, The Down and Outs play a regular slot every Friday, performing a mix of their own rocky and inspiring tunes with some covers thrown infor good measure.

Barfly, 20:00–22:30, £6

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5.88

Midnight Sessions

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Weekly post-gig hangout

Sat 17 Jan The Corrie Dick Quartet Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Funk and jazz from a group of students on the BA Applied Music Course at Strathclyde

No Tribe

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Weekly alt. rock and metal night

Mon 19 Jan Buzzcocks (The Lurkers) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Slyly bringing burlesque to the MTV generation

Rock

The Bookhouse Boys

Hardcore metal

Pussycat Dolls

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Electronic folk

Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Celtic Connections: Damien Helliwell & The Mainlanders with Fraser Fifield: Stereocanto

The Down & Outs

Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Glasgow Live Events Present: Bury Tomorrow, Rip In Reality

L.A based trio

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £8.50

Traditional

Celtic Connections: Pumajaw and Shellyan Orphan

Some good old pension topping-up from the boys in da hood.

Little Joy (Dead Tress)

Alt. indie

Folk

Box, 20:00–21:00, Free

SECC, 19:30–22:00, £45/ 35

The punk pop four piece diligently perform the entirety of their first two albums, Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites.

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £6

Celtic Connections: Breabach with Mary Jane Lamond Òran Mór, 19:30–23:00, £12.50

New Kids on The Block

The Sears (The Frets)

SECC, 19:30–23:00, sold out

Tue 20 Jan HourGlass Promotions Present: From Collisions I Collapse, Always Until Victory, Cities And Skylines, 7 Car Pile-Up Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Rock metal

All That Remains, Haunted

Americana rock/ pop

The Garage, 20:00–23:00, £11.50

Get Loose

Metal

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Healthy Minds Collapse (United Fruit)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £4.90

Formidable alt. rock threesome

Sun 18 Jan Celtic Connections: Liam O’Maonlai with Lo Cor de la Plana

Eclectiv (Sonny Marvello) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

See what they did there? The weekly portmanteau night from the Eclectic Collective proffers up some of the best genre defying trappings of this indecisive age

Swanton Bombs (Threatmantics, Video Nasties)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5.88

Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

A Tuesday trio of rock acts to roll your week along.

Mairtin O’Connor (Cathal Hayden, Seamie O’Dowd with Karan Casey Band)

DAVID GRUBBS (John B McKenna, Monoganon, Skeleton Bob)

Acoustic folk from Galway

American singer/ songwriter

Sean-nós singing and the ancient Occitan traditions of southern France; an education in song.

ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Wed 21 Jan

Mono, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

January 2009

THE SKINNY 57

Glasgow music No Tribe

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Weekly alt. rock and metal night

We Are The Ocean (The Urgency, Deaf Havana)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6.86

Rock

Mon 26 Jan Roses Kings Castles

Captain’s Rest, 19:30–22:30, £6.50

The etheral, morally concrete brain child of Adam Ficek.

Of Montreal

Òran Mór, 20:00–23:00, £14

Camped up super pop

Sky Larkin

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Synthy electro fairytales

Tue 27 Jan Abigail Washburn (The Sparrow Quartet & Leon Hunt) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Banjo wielding singer/ songwriter from the depths of Nashville

Live at The Mill (Black Alley Screens, Jocasta Sleeps) The Mill Glasgow @ Òran Mór, 19:30–22:00, Free

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

THE LEADS

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Indie funk

Staind, Seether

The Garage, 20:00–22:30, sold out

Alt. rock

Delta Spirit (Vigo Thieves, The French Wives)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5.88

Original Fires

Battlefield Band

Sparky new sounds

Acoustic folk group play a ‘classic album’ concert, performing tracks from their 1980 album - ‘Home Is Where The Van Is’.

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £4/3

Fri 23 Jan Playtone

Box, 18:30–19:30, Free

Rock/ indie/ pop band.

Celtic Connections: Slide and Jennifer Port Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Trad. Irish

Indie

Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

The boy band of traditional Scottish music

Deaf Shepherd ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Traditional celtic folk ensemble

Grace Jones

SECC, 19:30–22:00, £35

Did you see the Dazed & Confused November cover? Go order a back issue.

I SEE SHAPES, SUPLEX THE KID, THE DARIEN VENTURE 13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Alt. indie

Celtic Connections: Nick Harper with Duke Special

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £6

THE GHOSTIES, SECOND GO LUCKY, THE CAMS, SLOW HANDS IN THE BADLANDS, THE SCALIES

The Delaneys, The Japanese Mafia, The Ideals, Dirty Angel

Indie indie indie, oi oi oi

THE PLIMPTONS

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £6

David Thomas Broughton, Doveman, Sam Amidon Captain’s Rest, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Fresh from the TBreak stage at TitP 08, The Down and Outs play a regular slot every Friday, performing a mix of their own rocky and inspiring tunes with some covers thrown infor good measure.

Thu 22 Jan

Genre-defying, knee slapping, folkish fun from accross the Isles

Indie pop

ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Revelations (Kalla Heartshake, Munchkins and Licker)

Celtic Connections: Skerryvore

Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

TRADE, TOURIST, THE STANDARD, STOLEN ORDER, DANIEL VZEU

The Down & Outs

Weekly indie night

Celtic Connections: The Broken Family Band and 9Bach

Edwyn Collins (The Bluebells)

American soul. An oxymoron?

Perhaps.

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Box, 20:00–21:00, Free

Celtic Connections: Tift Merritt and Clare Maguire Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

American female singer/ songwriter

DROPKICK, CARAVEL

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Alt. rock

Monrow

Barfly, 20:00–22:30, £6

Up ‘n’ comers for 2009... space, watch it, etc.

Shinedown

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £9.79

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:00, £5

Alt. indie

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

EP launch

Boys Like Girls

The Garage, 20:00–22:34, £11.50

Rock

Bad Bad Men

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Sun 25 Jan BLOC PARTY (Wet Paint)

Carling Academy, 19:00–23:00, sold out

London four piece of epic-indieelectro-pop proportions.

Cerys Matthews (Harem Scarem) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

The Welsh wonderwoman is back

Real McKenzies

Stereo, 19:30–22:03, £10

Canadian punk

LOW SONIC DRIFT

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Rock

Progressive psychedelic rock

Midnight Sessions

Escape The Fate

Weekly post-gig hangout

Rock

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Sat 24 Jan

The Cathouse, 20:00–22:30, £9

Blind Doors

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £4/3

Iain Carleton’s Public Information

Metal and hardcore for all you nice people who want to be deaf as well as blind

Concrete Campfire (Lipsynch for a Lullaby)

Edinburgh-based jazz

Chasm, Dana Walker, Siphon Plane

Acoustic night.

Afternoon punk

Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

The modern day troubadour and the Irish dreadlocked dandy

Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

The MeatMen

Maggie May’s, 17:30–20:00, Free

Get yer listings

online theskinny.co.uk 58 THE SKINNY January 2009

The Twisted Wheel, 20:00–23:00, £4

Three different takes on loud loud metal.

Kerrang Tour 2009 (MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE, BRING ME THE HORIZON, DIR EN GREY, BLACK TIDE, IN CASE OF FIRE) Barrowlands, 18:30–23:00, £15

Rodney Crowell (Justin Townes Earle) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Open-shirted, smooth-chested bluegrass country

Revelations (The Lonely Souls, Meet Me in the Sky, The Troves) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

Weekly indie night

Thu 29 Jan James Grant (Liz Durrett) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Songwriting lecturer at RSAMD and former frontman of Love and Money launches his brand spanking new album, Strange Flowers.

Mendelssohn 200

RSAMD Academy Concert Hall, 19:30–22:30, £7/ 5

The RSAMD Chamber Orchestra performs a classical programme, including Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas.

Cobra Starship

The Garage, 19:30–23:00, £11.50

Neon breakbeat from the dirty streets of NYC

THE LAYNES, THE KOSHER PICKLES 13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Garage and R’n’B

Celtic Connections: Jim Moray and Kaela Rowan Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £12.50

Rock and blues

The eponymous last hurrah of the Blue Panda

Rock

Eclectiv (Rudy Alba, Sanna, Kenny McMingal) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £0-5

See what they did there? The weekly portmanteau night from the Eclectic Collective proffers up some of the best genre defying trappings of this indecisive age

Joe Brooks

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5.88

Young acoustic singer/ songwriter

Wed 28 Jan

Folk

The Miss’s

The Twisted Wheel, 20:00–23:00, £5

Four piece girl group.

Weekly post-gig hangout

Blue Panda Party

The Garage, 20:00–23:00, £14.50

Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £12.50

Roll up, roll up before the dream is crushed and Tom Chaplin’s face hits puberty.

THE JACK-KNIVES

All American Rejects

Celtic Connections: Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers and Paul McKenna Band

Midnight Sessions

SECC, 19:00–23:00, £30.50

A digital reshaping of the traditional narrative folk song

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

13th Note, 20:00–22:00, Free

Keane

SHARLEEN SPITERI

Carling Academy, 19:00–23:00, £26.92

BUCKY RAGE, FILTHY LITTLE SECRET, THE WRONG BOYFRIENDS, THE FEUDS

Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £5

Concrete Campfire (Gareth Dickson, Rick Redbeard) Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Acoustic night.

The Sontaran Experiment, Black Sun Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Fri 30 Jan Playtone

Box, 18:30–19:30, Free

Rock/ indie/ pop band.

Celtic Connections: Ruarri Joseph and Iain Morrison

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Sat 31 Jan Sue McHugh Quartet Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Jazz

Celtic Connections: Genticorum with Liadan Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Québécois trio and all-female Irish six piece

Shockwaves NME Tour 2009 (Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, White Lies, Florence and the Machine) Carling Academy, 19:00–23:00, sold out

Having previously unearthed the likes of Muse, The Killers and the Arctic Monkeys this months line-up stands to be no less iconic.

The Treacherous Orchestra (6 Day Riot) ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

The elusively dangerous instrumentalists raise their multiple heads for one hazardous night only

Celtic Connections: James Yorkston and Sorren MacLean Band and Blue Rose Code Classic Grand, 20:00–22:00, £12.50

Three solo singer/ songwriters

The Symptoms, 3 Hits In 3 Days, The Jack Jones Band Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:00, £5

An acoustic journey accross the spectrum; from punk/ thrash to indie pop.

Dead Sea Souls, Satelitte Underground, The Jack Knives

Live at The Mill (ID Parade, Mitchell Museum)

Òran Mór, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

ABC, 19:00–23:00, £15

Geoff Martyn, Kathryn Edwards, The Oran Social

The Down & Outs

Multilayered poetic offerings from a gaggle of lyrically driven artists.

The Mill Glasgow @ Òran Mór, 19:30–22:00, Free

Fighting With Wire (The New 1920)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Rock

Acoustic singer/ songwriter lads.

Le Vent Du Nord (Ross & Jarlath) Québécois quartet

Box, 20:00–21:00, Free

Fresh from the TBreak stage at TitP 08, The Down and Outs play a regular slot every Friday, performing a mix of their own rocky and inspiring tunes with some covers thrown infor good measure.

McChuills, 20:00–23:00, Free

Indie

The Twisted Wheel, 20:00–23:00, £7

Under the Paving Stones (Kick to Kill, The Hallions, The Black Rats, King Japan) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:00, £5

A gritty post-punk, new-wave seeing off to January.

Edinburgh music Mon 05 Jan Open Mic

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–00:00, Free

A big old pillar in the grass roots music scene. If you’ve never stumbled on to the stage at Binkies on a Monday you don’t deserve that myspace page.

Tue 06 Jan TUESDAY JAM

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, Free

The House Trio backs drop-in guests

Band Showcase

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–03:00, Free

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/ Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Wed 07 Jan Oxjam (Das Contras, Missing Cat, The Joy Foundation and DJ Monkeyboy) Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–23:00, £3

The Napier University student organised charity gig presents a mix of live funk, soul and bluesy rock beats.

THE JAZZ BAR QUINTET

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, £4/3

Sat 10 Jan The Remains, MV5, Hot Lips The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Alt. rock

Eunoia, Joe Viterbo, Mills & Boon, Issues Of Morality, This Kong Must Die Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–03:00, £4 or invite

Henry’s second “Christmas” party, with a variety of bands whose only common ground is that fact that they all have members who work at Henry’s...

‘WORLD PREMIERE’ QUINTET (Colin Steele) The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, £4/3

Weekly make-shift 5-piece performance. Flung together on the night for some unadulterated lessons in improv.

Sun 11 Jan Threethirteen, Two Way Traffic, Machar Granite, Hannah O’Reilly The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

‘EXPOSED’ NEW BANDS NIGHT

Assortments of indie powerpop and all that

Four new acts present spanking new, unsigned material. Programmed by Dave Wright

Concrete Campfire (Ten Storeys High, No Pasaran)

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, £3

Thu 08 Jan Scottish Chamber Orchestra - The Fair Melusine

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £26-8

The first part of the SCO’s Mendelssohn 200 series, celebrating the bi-centenary of the composer’s birth.

The Leads

Citrus Club, 20:00–22:30, £4

Sunny indie punk

PAUL KIRBY QUARTET (Martin Kershaw, Aidan O’Donnell, Doug Hough) The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, £4/ 3

A bunch of new compositions

Ad Lib

The GRV, 22:00–03:00, £3

Live bands followed by deep house from John Tinsley.

Fri 09 Jan The Void, I See Shapes, Lions. Chase. Tigers

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Charity gig in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care

Sad Society, Apocaylpse Jones The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

City Café, 20:00–23:00, Free

Weekly acoustic night feat. local artists and DJ’s

SUNDAY SINGERS NIGHT: JESS ABRAMS The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, £4/ 3

Weekly showcase

RUB-A-DUB STYLE (Livin’FayaSound with JO MALIK) Dragonfly, 21:00–01:00, Free

Hobo

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Sonic adventures from Transylvania to The Great Wall of China.

Mon 12 Jan Open Mic

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–00:00, Free

A big old pillar in the grass roots music scene. If you’ve never stumbled on to the stage at Binkies on a Monday you don’t deserve that myspace page.

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–03:00, Free

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/ Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Wed 14 Jan TEATIME ACOUSTIC (Toby ‘Jack of Diamonds’ and Friends) The Jazz Bar, 17:00–20:00, Free

Guests from Sunday night’s rockin’, bluesy, rootsy band - unplugged.

Special drinks offers, free WiFi

Franz Ferdinand

The Picture House, 19:30–22:30, sold out

Haven’t got tickets? Well, tough chewy pointy leather brogues.

Gill Bowman and Rod Paterson

The Pleasance, 20:00–22:00, £7/ 5

Folk

NICK GOULD’S JAZZ MAIN The Jazz Bar, 20:15–00:00, £4/ 3

Quartet playing jazz standards

Playback: The Best of Edinburgh Open Mics

The Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–23:00, Free

Beware the hyperbole.

Thu 15 Jan TEATIME ACOUSTIC - DR RUBY’S MUSICAL SURGERY The Jazz Bar, 17:00–20:00, Free

Live acoustic session featuring established Singer/Songwriters and Bands.

Special drinks offers, free WiFi

THIEVES IN SUITS, BLANK CANVAS, DAILY RECORD COMPETITION WINNERS Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Electrified, dance-able pop from two Burgh-based bands, with the third slot being filled by the unannounced winners of the Daily Record band competition.

Live at The Mill (Woodenbox, Foxface) The Mill Edinburgh @ The Caves, 19:30–22:00, Free

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

Riistetyt, Happy Spastics, Down To Kill, Bottomfeeders, Spat Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:00, £5

Tue 13 Jan MUSICHESS

The Jazz Bar, 17:00–18:00, Free

Regular chess and music Teatime session.

George Duff and Tim O’Leary

Classic rock

The Village, 20:00–22:00, £6

This Is Music feat. Super Adventure Club

Acoustic

TUESDAY JAM

We think they’re ‘radge’. Super duper.

The House Trio backs drop-in guests

Sneaky Pete’s, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Band Showcase

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, Free

Hardcore punk from Finland

The Fabulous Corvettes, Sandra McBeath The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Bluesy r’n’b

Sebastian Dangerfield Citrus Club, 20:00–22:30, £4

Edinburgh-bred indie country

Fri 16 Jan DAS WANDERLUST, THE BRIGANTIES, NIXONS Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

City Café, 20:00–23:00, Free

Weekly acoustic night feat. local artists and DJ’s

Pure British indie gold.

Hobo

Sacre Noir, The Shellsuit Massacre, Sileni

Sonic adventures from Transylvania to The Great Wall of China.

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

Electro and a smattering of experimental/ down-tempo hip hop

Ten Tonne Dozer, Attica Rage, Lycanthorpe, Dog Tired, Illicit Still The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Metal

Sat 17 Jan Cancel the Astronauts, Team Turnip and Endor Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

Cancel the Astronauts, Team Turnip and Endor Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

ROB ST JOHN, LIVE A THIEF, CARRIE MACDONALD, TRAGIC O’HARA Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Rob St John bring forth the fragile haunting lulls of their newly released EP Like Alchemy, while the following three solo artists present an array of powerfully evocative vocal performances.

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Mon 19 Jan Whistlebinkies, 21:00–00:00, Free

A big old pillar in the grass roots music scene. If you’ve never stumbled on to the stage at Binkies on a Monday you don’t deserve that myspace page.

Tue 20 Jan BE A FAMILIAR, TANGO IN THE ATTIC Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Weegie 7-piece uber pop and a self proclaimed “Scottish version of East Coast lo-fi garage”.

Linda McRae

TUESDAY JAM

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, Free

The House Trio backs drop-in guests

Band Showcase

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £16-6

Olari Elts conducts a Romantic programme featuring Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Heavy, sweaty, progressively metallic stuff

Night Noise Team, Blessed Are The Fallen Stars, Transfer Audio The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

From melodramatic to experimental pop.

Sun 18 Jan

Folkish

Thu 22 Jan ST JUDE’S INFIRMARY, JESUS H FOXX, MILES MAYHEM (DJ IAN RANKIN)

Saint Jude’s Infirmary get all jovial to launch their new single ‘Little Sparta’.

Live at The Mill (Tie For Jack, Little Kicks)

The Mill Edinburgh @ The Caves, 19:30–22:00, Free

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

Salute Mary

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Alt. rock

The Bowmans (The Stantons) Americana indie pop from the other side of the pond, funny that.

Part of Leith Folk Club

Hardcore metal

Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Summer Nights in Wintertime (Kate Royal)

The Pleasance, 20:00–22:00, £7/ 5

Citrus Club, 20:00–22:30, £4

The Village, 20:00–22:00, £8

Bury Tomorrow (Blind Witness) Studio 24, 19:30–22:00, £5

Southern Tenant Folk Union

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Open Mic

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–03:00, Free

The French Quarter, We See Lights Heriot-Watt University Union, 21:00–01:00, Free

Concrete Campfire

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session Upfront, driving beats from Funk/ Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

The Black Rat Death Squad

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–23:00, £5/ 4

Black metal fae the depths of Glasgow

Fri 23 Jan Dan Dan Dan, Come In Tokyo

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

Wed 21 Jan

Alt. indie

Pain Jerk, Emeralds, Blue Sabbath, Black Fiji, Diva Abrasiva Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:00–23:00, £6 in advance, £7 on the door

Japanese noise legend, Pain Jerk, on his first ever UK tour. ticket@grindsightopeneye.co.uk

Royal Scottish National Orchestra: Beethoven’s Fifth

DUKE SPECIAL

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £10

Beautifully etheral optimistic narcissim like only the Duke knows how.

Emergency Red, Bullet VI The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Indie rock

The Energy Plan, Sounds Like Silhouettes Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:00, £5/ 4

THE GOTHENBURG ADDRESS, THE ELECTRIC GHOSTS, THE VALKRAYS

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:30–22:00, £28.00 - £10.00

A post-rock instrumental band, an alt country collective and old school guitar rockers.

Architects

The Real McKenzies (Sad Society)

Progressive metal

Rock

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Classical concert conducted by Roberto Abbado Studio 24, 19:30–22:30, £9

Alt. rock with a sprinkling of powerpop

Bannerman’s, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Get yer listings

online theskinny.co.uk January 2009

THE SKINNY 59

Edinburgh music Sat 24 Jan RED STRIPE NIGHT

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

Those lovely people that make that beer in the can with the stripe are hosting a night of free music. The line-up’s a secret. Coy coy lager pushers.

Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £26-8

Yannick Nèzet-Séguin leads a performance of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 5 ‘Reformation’; with a pre-concert talk held at 6.30pm

by Dr Fiona Elliot, giving a cultural and historical perspective on the composer’s work.

Live at The Mill (Meursault, Eagleowl) The Mill Edinburgh @ The Caves, 19:30–22:00, Free

Showcase double-bills for the best up-and-coming acts. For more information on these gigs go to: http://www.themill-live.com/gigguide. aspx

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mendelssohn - Elijah

Sun 25 Jan

Part of the “Homecoming Scotland 2009” tour. Och aye.

Katana, Basic Funk, The Lunes, The Vain Songs, The Runc Collective The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Variety and spice and all that.

Sharleen Spiteri

Jakil, The Manikees

Texas frontwoman

Alt. indie

Edinburgh Playhouse, 19:00–22:00, £30/ 25

Young Sensations

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Autosafari, Paper Beats Rock, The Gen The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Rock/ pop

Concrete Campfire (Jennifer Concannon, Machar Granite) City Café, 20:00–23:00, Free

Heriot-Watt University Union, 21:00–01:00, Free

The Bridge Rectifier (Goodoverevill, Ibitron & The Skillitant) The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £4

House, Dub, Techno & Jungle with live visuals.

Fri 30 Jan

Weekly acoustic night feat. local artists and DJ’s

ELECTROLITE, THE PEOPLE, SECOND GO LUCKY

RUB-A-DUB STYLE (Livin’FayaSound with BIG TOE’S HIFI (dj set))

Cabaret Voltaire, 18:30–21:15, Free

Dragonfly, 21:00–01:00, Free

Mon 26 Jan Open Mic

Whistlebinkies, 21:00–00:00, Free

A big old pillar in the grass roots music scene. If you’ve never stumbled on to the stage at Binkies on a Monday you don’t deserve that myspace page.

Tue 27 Jan From Plan To Progress (The Living Daylights) Bannerman’s, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

Punk

Kent DuChaine

The Village, 20:00–22:00, £6

A Leith Folk Club performance

TUESDAY JAM

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–00:00, Free

Melodious guitar driven alt. country stuff

Teddy Thompson (Tift Merritt) Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Intricately introspective country-inflected pop from Richard and Linda’s wee boy.

Drama and Virtuosity (Royal Scottish National Orchestra) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:30–22:00, various

Alexander Lazarev conducts Borodin’s Second Symphony

The Paranoid Monkeys, Hippo The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Indie rock

Sad Society (The Hostiles, The Murderburgers) Bannerman’s, 20:00–22:00, £tbc

The House Trio backs drop-in guests

Rock

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session

Club For Heroes (Tokyo Knife Attack)

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/ Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Psychedelic disco music from beyond the stars.

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Wed 28 Jan COME ON GANG!

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

The super energetic Edinburgh trio destined for big big things.

Thu 29 Jan SL RECORDS NIGHT with PAUL VICKERS & THE LEG, WITHERED HAND, LORDS OF BASTARD

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, Free

A hotpot of sweaty musical mischief from a diverse bunch

Love For Three Oranges (RSAMD) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:15–22:00, various

A collaboration with Scottish Opera, joined by young singers from Rostovon-Don in Russia. Directed by Lee Blakeley

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Tue 06 Jan

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5/4

Sat 31 Jan Love For Three Oranges (RSAMD) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:15–22:00, various

A collaboration with Scottish Opera, joined by young singers from Rostovon-Don in Russia. Directed by Lee Blakeley

Otters Sing Lullabies present - The Second Hand Marching Band, Debutant, No Pasaran Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:00, £4

An international gaggle of country indie kids who are out to entrance and mesmerise with their jumble of strings, brass and drums.

Strange Brew The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Alt. rock

60 THE SKINNY January 2009

Damnation (DJ Barry & Dec) Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

DJ Barry and guests present a night of alternative alternatives, with dancefloors specialising in rock, metal, industrial, punk, hardcore and emo. The grand setting of the Classic doesn’t even come at a price, as drinks deals run all night and entry is no more than a fiver.

An institution in the making.

Mon 12 Jan Junk (Marky Mark)

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric

Passionality (Shawn Roberts) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Tue 13 Jan

Jukebox! (Garry O’Pray & Nicky Wright)

The Twisted Wheel, 23:00–03:00, £5

Midnight Sessions

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Weekly post-gig hangout

Sat 17 Jan

Dress 2 Sweat (BOK BOK & MANARA (NIGHT SLUGS))

Pod Party

Saturdays @ The Courtyard (Laurence Hughes)

The Flying Duck, 20:00–03:00, Free

The Courtyard, 20:00–00:00, Free

BYOP (Bring Yer Own Pod) and Dez’ll play your songs

Fine purveyors of electro, tech, krunk, disco, house and funk.

EUREKA tuesdays (Robin B)

Bassline, ghetto house, bmore, hip hop, electro and techno all mixed up.

EUREKA tuesdays (Robin B)

The Hip Drop (Robbie Rolex)

Dance, RnB, HipHop, House, Indie, Rock, Festival, Bassline and Electopop.

Midnight Sessions (The Fire and I)

Dance, RnB, HipHop, House, Indie, Rock, Festival, Bassline and Electopop.

Reggae, funk and tekfunk.

Pod Party

The Flying Duck, 20:00–03:00, Free

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 19:30–22:30, £13.50

Scottish exclusive Peace-Off Label Night.

Passionality (Shawn Roberts)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin directs Mendelssohn’s Old Testament epic.

Genetically modified blues

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £7, £5 b4 12am

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric

BYOP (Bring Yer Own Pod) and Dez’ll play your songs

Leather and Beer Audacious (Amph, King Tom & Ideation DJs)

Mon 05 Jan Junk (Marky Mark)

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:30–22:00, various

SANDI THOM (Carrie Macdonald)

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £4

Glasgow clubs

Audioculture (Shazza Halliwell) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3

C U Next Tuesday

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £4/2 (students)

Indie and electro, punk and pop from DJ’s Paul Higgins (Pin-Up Nights) and Andy Kerr.

Wed 07 Jan

Black Sparrow, 23:00–03:00, £7, £5 b4 12am

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Weekly post-gig hangout

United Nations of Dance (Scotty Boy, Marc Anderson Steve Clarke, John Thomson and DJ Geddes) The Tunnel, 23:00–03:00, £4 before 12AM with flyer, £6 thereafter.

Clubland Anthems, Hip Hop and RnB.

Tapped!

The Twisted Wheel, 23:00–03:00, £3

TONGUE IN CHEEK (Gavin Sommerville, Andy Willson & Toast)

Indie.

R&b, hip hop and indie

Saturdays @ The Courtyard (The Eagle)

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Easy (Harvey Kartel & DJ Pumpio) The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Allure (DJ Darren)

The Tunnel, 23:30–03:00, £3 (2 for 1 entry with pocket pages/ matric card)

Scotland’s biggest gay night out.

Thu 08 Jan Hi-Fi (Dave Sinclair)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Indie and rock

Alternative Nation (BARRY & HARVEY KARTEL) Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11pm & 12 with matric

Rock, industrial, metal, punk and electro

CATHOUSE THURSDAYS (Billy & Colin) The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anthemic rock, metal, emo, extreme metal.

Clatty Pats (Mark Robb)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4, free for NHS workers

Kaleidoscope Live

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric. After 12am

Rubbermensch (ANDY WILSON)

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Fri 09 Jan Sound Museum (DJ Hushpuppy (Art School) & Chris Geddes (Belle & Sebastian)) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Fridays (Tam Coyle & Stevie) The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Classic and new indie

Bamboo Fridays (Gavin Sommerville & Sose) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (free before 11pm/ 12pm with matric)

R&B, hip hop, rock, indie and electro

Contrast (Gareth Binks (Absolute), Michael Hutcheson (Rectify), Gordy Robertson (Contrast), David Rust (Contrast)) Ivory Blacks, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

Tech-Trance & Hard-Dance.

ABC Fridays (Euan Neilson) ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Back Tae Mine (Gavin Dunbar) The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4), £3 b4 12am

Casa (DJ Lisa Littlewood) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Friday night house party with DJ Lisa Littlewoo.

Sat 10 Jan The Courtyard, 20:00–00:00, Free

Fine purveyors of electro, tech, krunk, disco, house and funk.

The Hip Drop (Robbie Rolex) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Reggae, funk and tekfunk.

Saturdays (Toast)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

indie bits, rock picks and student anthems

Friday Street presents Afterglow

The Twisted Wheel, 22:00–03:00, £3

Homegrown (Big Al, Dominic Martin & Robin B) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 10.30pm/12.30am students

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, Free

Audioculture (Shazza Halliwell) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3

C U Next Tuesday

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £4/2 (students)

Indie and electro, punk and pop from DJ’s Paul Higgins (Pin-Up Nights) and Andy Kerr.

Wed 14 Jan TONGUE IN CHEEK (Gavin Sommerville, Andy Willson & Toast)

Bob’s Full House (Bobby Bluebell) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Bobby Bluebell spins the best dance, pop and cheesy tunes.

Sabado Saturdays (Iain Thomson, Stuart McCorrisken, Paul Rea) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6)

Inner City Acid (SYNTHEME, pest control in room 2) Soundhaus, 23:00–04:00, £6 (£5)

Sun 11 Jan Disco Badger (Domsko, Kash & Mash) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4), free b4 11pm/12pm with matric

CROCTIMO (ELSANDWICHO!) (Ben Butler and Mouse Pad (LIVE) and A Live Meeting Between Two Strangers on Stage) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:00–03:00, £1.99

Distortion (DJ MUPPET) ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Alternative rock.

Sunday Service (Craig Loosejoints & Mark Robb) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4

Soul, jazz, latin, funk.

INTENZIFI (HEADBANGER, DJ SY, SEDUCTION, MC WHIZZKID, MC RIBBZ, DJ CHAOS, BEN BRENTON)

Glasgow School of Art, 21:00–03:00, £12

Hardstyle, dutch hardcore.

Homegrown (Big Al, Dominic Martin & Robin B) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 10.30pm/12.30am students

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Thu 15 Jan Hi-Fi (Dave Sinclair)

Absolution (DJ Barry and DJ Dec) A heavy alternative concoction involving styles from metal to emo, punk to industrial. Drinks offers all night to keep you absolved.

ABC Saturdays

Indie and rock

ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Alternative Nation (BARRY & HARVEY KARTEL)

Bob’s Full House (Bobby Bluebell)

Rock, industrial, metal, punk and electro

Bobby Bluebell spins the best dance, pop and cheesy tunes.

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11pm & 12 with matric

CATHOUSE THURSDAYS (Billy & Colin) The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anthemic rock, metal, emo, extreme metal.

Clatty Pats (Mark Robb)

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric. After 12am

ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 11.30pm with matric

indie bits, rock picks and student anthems

Easy (Harvey Kartel & DJ Pumpio)

Absolution (DJ Barry and DJ Dec)

ABC Saturdays

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

R&B, street soul, funk, rock and pop

R&b, hip hop and indie

R&B, street soul, funk, rock and pop

A heavy alternative concoction involving styles from metal to emo, punk to industrial. Drinks offers all night to keep you absolved.

Saturdays (Toast)

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4, free for NHS workers

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Kaleidoscope Live

Rubbermensch (ANDY WILSON)

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Fri 16 Jan Sound Museum (DJ Hushpuppy (Art School) & Chris Geddes (Belle & Sebastian)) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Fridays (Tam Coyle & Stevie) The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Classic and new indie

Bamboo Fridays (Gavin Sommerville & Sose)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Sabado Saturdays (Iain Thomson, Stuart McCorrisken, Paul Rea) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6)

Sound the Alarm

The Twisted Wheel, 23:00–03:00, £5

Monox (Abe Duque)

Soundhaus, 23:00–05:00, £12 (£10)

Techno & electro.

Sun 18 Jan Disco Badger (Domsko, Kash & Mash) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4), free b4 11pm/12pm with matric

Distortion (DJ MUPPET) ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Alternative rock.

Sunday Service (Craig Loosejoints & Mark Robb) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4

Soul, jazz, latin, funk.

Mon 19 Jan

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (free before 11pm/ 12pm with matric)

Junk (Marky Mark)

Rectify (Gordon Coutts with residents Mark Doc and Colin Bell)

Passionality (Shawn Roberts)

R&B, hip hop, rock, indie and electro

Soundhaus, 22:30–04:00, £tbc

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

House & techno.

ABC Fridays (Euan Neilson) ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Tue 20 Jan Pod Party

Back Tae Mine (Gavin Dunbar)

The Flying Duck, 20:00–03:00, Free

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4), £3 b4 12am

BYOP (Bring Yer Own Pod) and Dez’ll play your songs

Casa (DJ Lisa Littlewood)

EUREKA tuesdays (Robin B)

Friday night house party with DJ Lisa Littlewoo.

Dance, RnB, HipHop, House, Indie, Rock, Festival, Bassline and Electopop.

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Damnation (DJ Barry & Dec) Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

DJ Barry and guests present a night of alternative alternatives, with dancefloors specialising in rock, metal, industrial, punk, hardcore and emo. The grand setting of the Classic doesn’t even come at a price, as drinks deals run all night and entry is no more than a fiver.

An institution in the making.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, Free

Audioculture (Shazza Halliwell) Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3

C U Next Tuesday

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £4/2 (students)

Indie and electro, punk and pop from DJ’s Paul Higgins (Pin-Up Nights) and Andy Kerr.

Edinburgh clubs Wed 21 Jan TONGUE IN CHEEK (Gavin Sommerville, Andy Willson & Toast) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

R&b, hip hop and indie

Easy (Harvey Kartel & DJ Pumpio) The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Thu 22 Jan Hi-Fi (Dave Sinclair)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Indie and rock

Alternative Nation (BARRY & HARVEY KARTEL) Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11pm & 12 with matric

Rock, industrial, metal, punk and electro

CATHOUSE THURSDAYS (Billy & Colin) The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anthemic rock, metal, emo, extreme metal.

Clatty Pats (Mark Robb)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4, free for NHS workers

Kaleidoscope Live

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric. After 12am

Rubbermensch (ANDY WILSON)

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Fri 23 Jan

SHUFFLE CHARITY EVENT Soundhaus, 22:30–03:30, £7 (£6)

Dancing away from Racism, sending all proceeds directly to the ‘Street Kids Night Shelter’ in India http://www. childrescue.net Djs contributing are: Jason PussypowerDaz - Disco XKerin + McD - Ctrl+Alt+Del (ex Electrobix)Yaw DannixLoverat - Sleazy Social

ABC Saturdays

ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 11.30pm with matric

The Arches, 22:00–03:00, £18

Bobby Bluebell spins the best dance, pop and cheesy tunes.

Sabado Saturdays (Iain Thomson, Stuart McCorrisken, Paul Rea)

ABC Fridays (Euan Neilson)

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6)

Sun 25 Jan Disco Badger (Domsko, Kash & Mash)

Sin Vs. Digital Harlot Thrash metal, goth, industrial.

ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Alternative rock.

Sunday Service (Craig Loosejoints & Mark Robb) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4

Soul, jazz, latin, funk.

Mon 26 Jan The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Tue 27 Jan

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4), £3 b4 12am Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Friday night house party with DJ Lisa Littlewoo.

Damnation (DJ Barry & Dec) Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Wed 28 Jan

Midnight Sessions Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Weekly post-gig hangout

Numbers & Electric Eliminators (Martyn (3024) - live) Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£8)

Indie and rock

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Thu 29 Jan Hi-Fi (Dave Sinclair)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Weekly post-gig hangout

CRYOTEC

Live Digital by The Sound Engineers

Industrial, EBM and electronic dance.

Soundhaus, 23:00–04:00, £tbc

A night of live Electronica.

Sat 24 Jan Saturdays @ The Courtyard (The Wasp) The Courtyard, 20:00–00:00, Free

Fine purveyors of electro, tech, krunk, disco, house and funk.

The Hip Drop (Robbie Rolex) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Reggae, funk and tekfunk.

Saturdays (Toast)

The Bunker Bar, 21:01–02:00, Free

Indie bits, rock picks and student anthems

Homegrown (Big Al, Dominic Martin & Robin B) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 10.30pm/12.30am students

R&B, street soul, funk, rock and pop

Absolution (DJ Barry and DJ Dec) Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

A heavy alternative concoction involving styles from metal to emo, punk to industrial. Drinks offers all night to keep you absolved.

Fine purveyors of electro, tech, krunk, disco, house and funk.

The Hip Drop (Robbie Rolex) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

indie bits, rock picks and student anthems

Midnight Sessions

Pivo Pivo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Sat 31 Jan

R&b, hip hop and indie

Easy (Harvey Kartel & DJ Pumpio)

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, Free

Alternative Nation (BARRY & HARVEY KARTEL) Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11pm & 12 with matric

Rock, industrial, metal, punk and electro

CATHOUSE THURSDAYS (Billy & Colin) The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anthemic rock, metal, emo, extreme metal.

Clatty Pats (Mark Robb)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £4, free for NHS workers

Kaleidoscope Live

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £3, free with matric. After 12am

Rubbermensch (ANDY WILSON)

ABC 2, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Fri 30 Jan

Tue 06 Jan

Berlin, 22:00–03:00, £6, £5 b4 12am

Ludicrously cheap drinks

House, electrohouse and bootlegs.

Broke

Fake (JIMINAL (MANCHESTER), FAKE DJS, PUNK IN PUMPS, BUSDADDY & KOZMO)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Saturdays (Toast) The Bunker Bar, 21:01–02:00, Free

Homegrown (Big Al, Dominic Martin & Robin B) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 10.30pm/12.30am students

R&B, street soul, funk, rock and pop

Absolution (DJ Barry and DJ Dec) Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

A heavy alternative concoction involving styles from metal to emo, punk to industrial. Drinks offers all night to keep you absolved.

ABC Saturdays ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Ballers Social Club (Jamie Vex’d and Chesca) The Ivy Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5

Techno, electronica, hip hop.

Bob’s Full House (Bobby Bluebell) Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Bobby Bluebell spins the best dance, pop and cheesy tunes.

Dance! Dance! Dance!

The Twisted Wheel, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sabado Saturdays (Iain Thomson, Stuart McCorrisken, Paul Rea)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

It’s always free to get in, all night, for everyone. Hats off to it.

Wed 07 Jan Indi-Go

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2, £1 students

Late n’ Live

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

LIVE MUSIC.

The Pit

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

We Are Electric (Gary Mac)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, free b4 12am

The city’s leading punk-funk electrodisco party with resident electro-punk Gary Mac playing the sounds of Berlin & beyond.

Thu 08 Jan Laptop Lounge (Turn on, boot up, zoom out...)

The Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–01:00, Free

Event dedicated to the laptop artist.

Ad Lib

The GRV, 22:00–03:00, £3

Live bands followed by deep house from John Tinsley.

Techno, electro, bassline, house, rave

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Kinky Indie

Citrus Club, 23:00–03:00, £2 students/ £5 others

Sick Note (DJs from Clash, I Fly Spitfires, Spies In The Wires, This Is Music, Freshair.org, Dogtooth and Hobo, plus guest live bands) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

From indie and new wave to fidget house, Baltimore booty bass to nu-rave.

Fri 09 Jan Dirt (Al Magic)

The GRV, 22:00–03:00, £4, free b4 12am

Techno, electro, breaks, electronic.

Get Funk’d (Double D & Isla) Medina, 22:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Nuklearpuppy

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

Hard dance, house, trance.

Bassix

Luna, 22:30–03:00, £5

House, electro & proggresive trance.

Evol

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5

70’s, 80’s and 90’s hits

Fridays (Tam Coyle & Stevie) Classic and new indie

Deep, minimal, house & techno.

Soundhaus, 23:00–04:00, £8 (£7), £5 b4 12

Tease Age

Ludicrously cheap drinks

Broke

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Antics

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Split (Edinburgh locals)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

It’s always free to get in, all night, for everyone. Hats off to it.

Wed 14 Jan

Late n’ Live

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

LIVE MUSIC.

The Pit

Karnival (MIKE PINKERTON, MATT EDWARDS and RYAN ELLIS in the Main Room, plus MARK PRICE in Room Two)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, free b4 12am

Hip hop and funk.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5

House & techno.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

We Are Electric (Gary Mac)

Thu 15 Jan italoBLACK (Benetti & Cassavettes)

Much More (Nasty P & Currie)

Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

Medina, 23:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Bump

Musika (Derek Martin, Neil Bartley, Ewan Smith, Jamie McKenzie, Blair Harrower)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Kinky Indie

The Liquid Room, 23:00–03:00, £10, £5 b4 11pm

We Love Space Ibiza party.

Retribution

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 students

Saturday Night Fish Fry (The Banana Sessions)

Italo disco, space disco.

Citrus Club, 23:00–03:00, £2 students/ £5 others

Sick Note (DJs from Clash, I Fly Spitfires, Spies In The Wires, This Is Music, Freshair.org, Dogtooth and Hobo, plus guest live bands) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 b4 11.30pm

From indie and new wave to fidget house, Baltimore booty bass to nu-rave.

Substance (Espion, Patrick Walker, Morphamish aka Sola Perplexus, Stick 430, Brian D’Souza, Gavin Richardson, Eclairfifi & Wolfjazz)

Get Funk’d (Double D & Isla)

Techno, electro.

Planet Earth

The Egg (Chris & Paul)

Sun 11 Jan RUB-A-DUB STYLE (Livin’FayaSound with JO MALIK) Dragonfly, 21:00–01:00, Free

Hobo

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Sonic adventures from Transylvania to The Great Wall of China.

Late n’ Live

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

LIVE MUSIC.

More (Miss Kriss, Kaupuss)

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funky vocal house, electro and club classics.

Sections

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

2 rooms of Metal/Rock, Punk/PopPunk, EBM/Industrial, Goth/Grunge and Eighties.

Mon 12 Jan Electro, breaks, D’n’B and dubstep

The Latin Quarter (James Combe)

Xplicit

Mixed Up Mondays

Drum 'n' Bass evolution

Hip Hop, RNB, Pop, Chart.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Medina, 22:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Evol

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £5, free b4 10.30pm

70’s, 80’s and 90’s hits

Riddim Tuffa Sound (The Mighty Bass Warrior Sound and Jeremiyah from Heavy Roots Messenger Crew) The GRV, 22:30–03:00, £6, £4 b4 11.30pm

Compakt (Bruno FK (Split), Jamie McKenzie (Musika), Paul Thomas (Compakt resident), Jamie Kidd (Compakt resident), Dave Begg (Beetroot/Area 51), Chris Graham (Not So Dirty), Paul Morrice (Mono)) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5, free b4 12am

Deep house, minimal, tech house and rolling European techno.

Floorplay (Barrie Wilkins and Kiwi) Luna, 23:00–03:00, £5

ELECTRO HOUSE, HOUSE & TECH TRANCE.

Four Corners (DJs Simon Hodge, Johnny Cashback, Monkeyboy) The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 b4 12am The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

The Bongo Club, 22:00–03:00, $4/£3

Medina, 22:00–03:00, Free

Fri 16 Jan

SkunkFunk

Backlash

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £5, free b4 10.30pm

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £4

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £2.50 b4 12am

Bump

Vibe

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2, £1 students

Luna, 22:30–03:00, £8

Italo disco, space disco.

Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, (£1), free b4 12am

Indi-Go

italoBLACK (Benetti & Cassavettes)

Shift (Graeme Dunn, Phatkat, Jamie Ramage, Brother Luke)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, Free

Planet Earth

Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

A chewed up, spat out mix of electro. pop, chart, indie and retro floor fillers.

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £4

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6)

Sound Museum (DJ Hushpuppy (Art School) & Chris Geddes (Belle & Sebastian))

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £4, free b4 11.30pm

GRAND THEFT AUDIO

Reggae, funk and tekfunk.

DJ Barry and guests present a night of alternative alternatives, with dancefloors specialising in rock, metal, industrial, punk, hardcore and emo. The grand setting of the Classic doesn’t even come at a price, as drinks deals run all night and entry is no more than a fiver.

An institution in the making.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, (£1), free b4 12am

Bubblegum

Split (Edinburgh locals)

TONGUE IN CHEEK (Gavin Sommerville, Andy Willson & Toast) Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Trade Union (DJ Beefy & WolfJazz)

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £6, free b4 11pm

The Courtyard, 20:00–00:00, Free

Casa (DJ Lisa Littlewood)

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–01:00, Free

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Audioculture (Shazza Halliwell)

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4), £3 b4 12am

The Late, Great Jam Session

Soul Spectrum (Fryer & Jason Stirland)

Antics

DJ Barry and guests present a night of alternative alternatives, with dancefloors specialising in rock, metal, industrial, punk, hardcore and emo. The grand setting of the Classic doesn’t even come at a price, as drinks deals run all night and entry is no more than a fiver.

An institution in the making.

Saturdays @ The Courtyard (Nistaani)

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip Hop, RNB, Pop, Chart.

Studio 24, 18:00–21:00, £7 (£5)

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Dance, RnB, HipHop, House, Indie, Rock, Festival, Bassline and Electopop.

Back Tae Mine (Gavin Dunbar)

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Tue 13 Jan

Sanctuary

Damnation (DJ Barry & Dec)

ABC Fridays (Euan Neilson) ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Mixed Up Mondays

Sat 10 Jan

D-Fusion (DJ DAZZY B)

EUREKA tuesdays (Robin B)

R&B, hip hop, rock, indie and electro

Medina, 22:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union (DJ Beefy & WolfJazz)

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (free before 11pm/ 12pm with matric)

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, Free

The Latin Quarter (James Combe)

SkunkFunk

Back Tae Mine (Gavin Dunbar)

Friday night house party with DJ Lisa Littlewoo.

Distortion (DJ MUPPET)

Electro, breaks, D’n’B and dubstep

The Late, Great Jam Session

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5

Vibe

SLIDE IT IN (DJ Nicola Walker) 70’s, 80’s and 90’s cult rock classics.

The Bongo Club, 22:00–03:00, $4/£3

Soul Biscuits (NASTY P)

ABC 1, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4), free b4 11.30pm with matric

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4), free b4 11pm/12pm with matric The Cathouse, 23:00–23:00, Free

Mon 05 Jan Backlash

Diskokitten (Jason Cortez, Niall Angus and Paul Finlayson)

Casa (DJ Lisa Littlewood)

Passionality (Shawn Roberts)

Bamboo Fridays (Gavin Sommerville & Sose)

Pressure (Slam, Francois Kevorkian, DJ Sneak, Robert Hood (live), Stimming (live), DJ YODA, DUSTY KID (live))

Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £6, £5 NUS, £4 (with flyer)

Òran Mór, 23:00–03:00, £8

Fridays (Tam Coyle & Stevie) Classic and new indie

R&B, hip hop, rock, indie and electro

Hoouse & techno.

Junk (Marky Mark)

The Bunker Bar, 21:00–02:00, Free

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (free before 11pm/ 12pm with matric)

Bob’s Full House (Bobby Bluebell)

Sound Museum (DJ Hushpuppy (Art School) & Chris Geddes (Belle & Sebastian)) Brel, 21:00–01:00, Free

Bamboo Fridays (Gavin Sommerville & Sose)

Sat 17 Jan Sanctuary

Studio 24, 18:00–21:00, £7 (£5)

Bubblegum

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £4, free b4 11.30pm

A chewed up, spat out mix of electro. pop, chart, indie and retro floor fillers.

January 2009

THE SKINNY 61

Edinburgh clubs Fuse

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Nu wave, electronica and house.

Tease Age

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £6, free b4 11pm

Basics

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5

50’s and 60’s r’n’b

GRAND THEFT AUDIO

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip hop and funk.

Big 'n' Bashy

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6/£4 b4 12

The Latin Quarter (James Combe) Medina, 22:00–03:00, Free

Mixed Up Mondays

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip Hop, RNB, Pop, Chart.

The Late, Great Jam Session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union (DJ Beefy & WolfJazz)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, (£1), free b4 12am

Tue 20 Jan Vibe

Much More (Nasty P & Currie)

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £4

Retribution

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2

Medina, 23:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 students

Saturday Night Fish Fry (Das Contras)

Ludicrously cheap drinks

Broke

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bump

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Kinky Indie

Citrus Club, 23:00–03:00, £2 students/ £5 others

Sick Note (DJs from Clash, I Fly Spitfires, Spies In The Wires, This Is Music, Freshair.org, Dogtooth and Hobo, plus guest live bands) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

From indie and new wave to fidget house, Baltimore booty bass to nu-rave.

Fri 23 Jan EDINBURGH CHARITY FASHION SHOW 2009 LAUNCH PARTY Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £8

Get Funk’d (Double D & Isla) Medina, 22:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Big Toe’s Hi-Fi (Barba Poppa Choppa, C-Biscuit, New Mexican Bean and B-Dawg)

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

Wee Red Bar, 22:30–03:00, £5

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £2.50 b4 12am

Antics

Planet Earth

The Foundation (P-Stylz)

Split (Edinburgh locals)

70’s, 80’s and 90’s hits

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 b4 11.30pm

The Egg (Chris & Paul)

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £5

Hip-hop & R&B.

Ultragroove (Scott Mackenzie and Gareth Sommerville) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6 NUS)

Sun 18 Jan

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

It’s always free to get in, all night, for everyone. Hats off to it.

Wed 21 Jan Indi-Go

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2, £1 students

Hobo

Late n’ Live

Sonic adventures from Transylvania to The Great Wall of China.

LIVE MUSIC.

Late n’ Live

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

LIVE MUSIC.

More (Miss Kriss, Kaupuss)

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funky vocal house, electro and club classics.

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Pit

We Are Electric (Gary Mac)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, free b4 12am

Jungledub

Evol

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £5, free b4 10.30pm

Modern Lovers (Craig Jamieson, Chris Geddes from Belle & Sebastien) The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £6, £4 b4 12am

60’s pop, 70’s rock.

SkunkFunk

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Sat 24 Jan Sanctuary

Studio 24, 18:00–21:00, £7 (£5)

Soul Spectrum (Fryer & Jason Stirland)

The Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–01:00, Free

Bubblegum

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £4, free b4 11.30pm

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

A chewed up, spat out mix of electro. pop, chart, indie and retro floor fillers.

Dub, dubstep & jungle

Tease Age

Headspin (11th Birthday Party)

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)

Much More (Nasty P & Currie) Medina, 23:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Retribution

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 students

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £2.50 b4 12am

Sun 25 Jan RUB-A-DUB STYLE (Livin’FayaSound with BIG TOE’S HIFI (dj set)) Dragonfly, 21:00–01:00, Free

Late n’ Live

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

LIVE MUSIC.

More (Miss Kriss, Kaupuss)

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funky vocal house, electro and club classics.

Sections

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

2 rooms of Metal/Rock, Punk/PopPunk, EBM/Industrial, Goth/Grunge and Eighties.

Mon 26 Jan

LIVE MUSIC.

Mixed Up Mondays

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip Hop, RNB, Pop, Chart.

The Late, Great Jam Session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union (DJ Beefy & WolfJazz)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, (£1), free b4 12am

Tue 27 Jan

Backlash

GRAND THEFT AUDIO

Electro, breaks, D’n’B and dubstep

Indie, rock & electro.

The GRV, 22:00–03:00, Free

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip hop and funk.

We Are Electric (Gary Mac)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2, free b4 12am

Thu 29 Jan italoBLACK (Benetti & Cassavettes) Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

Italo disco, space disco.

Bump

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Kinky Indie

Citrus Club, 23:00–03:00, £2 students/ £5 others

Sick Note (DJs from Clash, I Fly Spitfires, Spies In The Wires, This Is Music, Freshair.org, Dogtooth and Hobo, plus guest live bands) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Bridge Rectifier (Goodoverevill, Ibitron & The Skillitant)

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Paper Models (Tigertooth & The Army of Me)

The Bongo Club, 22:00–03:00, $4/£3

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Late n’ Live

Medina, 22:00–03:00, Free

Scottish exclusive Peace-Off Label Night.

Mon 19 Jan

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2, £1 students

From indie and new wave to fidget house, Baltimore booty bass to nu-rave.

Italo disco, space disco.

Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

Wed 28 Jan

The Latin Quarter (James Combe)

Ludicrously cheap drinks

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £7, £5 b4 12am

It’s always free to get in, all night, for everyone. Hats off to it.

The Pit

Audacious (Amph, King Tom & Ideation DJs)

2 rooms of Metal/Rock, Punk/PopPunk, EBM/Industrial, Goth/Grunge and Eighties.

A night showcasing local Drum & Bass DJs and live beatbox.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Egg (Chris & Paul)

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 b4 11.30pm

italoBLACK (Benetti & Cassavettes)

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Split (Edinburgh locals)

Indi-Go

Vibe

Thu 22 Jan

Nocturnal

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Saturday Night Fish Fry (Heloise & The Savoir Faire)

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £6, free b4 11pm

Sections

Antics

Luna, 22:00–03:00, £4

Broke

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2

Aki’s tuesday heartbreak session The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Upfront, driving beats from Funk/Soul Guitarist Aki with his ‘Total Funk Experience’ groove ban.

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £4

House, Dub, Techno & Jungle with live visuals.

Fri 30 Jan Get Funk’d (Double D & Isla) Medina, 22:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Sugarbeat (KRAFTY KUTS, DJ YODA, DYNAMITE MC) Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £4

Sat 31 Jan Sanctuary

Studio 24, 18:00–21:00, £7 (£5)

Boombox (MAURO PICOTTO) Luna, 21:00–03:00, £tbc

Birthdate

Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–03:00, Free

Playdate, Steven & Stewart’s electric knees-up, hits it’s first Birthday. Holla’

AIM, Live DJ Set (AIM DJ set) The GRV, 22:00–03:00, £10

“From the lucid beauty of 1st album Cold Water Music to the recent gem Flight 602, AIM continues to captivate audiences worldwide. As well as building his own solid fan base, he has collaborated with artists such as Ian Brown, Lil’ Kim & St Etienne, continuing to break boundaries and reach new heights in music.”

Bubblegum

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £4, free b4 11.30pm

A chewed up, spat out mix of electro. pop, chart, indie and retro floor fillers.

Stereotype (Layo & Bushwacka!)

Berlin, 22:00–03:00, £10

Tease Age

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £6, free b4 11pm

GRAND THEFT AUDIO

The Speakeasy @ Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip hop and funk.

Messenger Sound System

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6.50 (£5 b4 midnight)

Big bass & sweet reggae with 360 degrees of consciousness..

Much More (Nasty P & Currie) Medina, 23:00–03:00, £4, £3 b4 11pm

Breaks, beats, bootlegs.

Optimo (Twitch & Wilkes)

Evol

Diverse music policy.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5

Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £5, free b4 10.30pm

70’s, 80’s and 90’s hits

Club For Heroes (Tokyo Knife Attack) Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5/4

Psychedelic disco music from beyond the stars.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £10

Retribution

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 students

Saturday Night Fish Fry (The Five Aces) The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £3 b4 11.30pm

The Egg (Chris & Paul)

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5, £2.50 b4 12am

Dundee Clubs Mon 05 Jan I do like Mondays! (DJ Joe Brodie) Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Pop, rock, indie and r’n’b

Tue 06 Jan Discoteca

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Pop, indie and r’n’b

Wed 07 Jan Student Wednesdays Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Foam parties, bucking bronko’s and the occasional 90’s rave

Thu 08 Jan fatty thursdays

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Anthems, classics and chart hits

Fri 09 Jan

G-Room

London Nightclub, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Presents Hip-Hop & RnB with £1 drinks all night.

Sat 10 Jan

Sun 18 Jan

Student Wednesdays

Tongue in Cheek

Foam parties, bucking bronko’s and the occasional 90’s rave

A lazy night of requests

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Mon 19 Jan

Fat Sam’s (DJ Ricky Harrison)

Thu 15 Jan

Current chart, hip hop and r&b anthems mixed with the usual ‘Saturday night favourites’ by resident DJ Ricky Harrison.

fatty thursdays

I do like Mondays! (DJ Joe Brodie)

Anthems, classics and chart hits

Pop, rock, indie and r’n’b

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30

Sun 11 Jan Tongue in Cheek

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

A lazy night of requests

Mon 12 Jan I do like Mondays! (DJ Joe Brodie) Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Pop, rock, indie and r’n’b

Tue 13 Jan

Fridays

Discoteca

House and chart

Pop, indie and r’n’b

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Wed 14 Jan

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

62 THE SKINNY January 2009

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Fri 16 Jan

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Tue 20 Jan

Fridays

Discoteca

House and chart

Pop, indie and r’n’b

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

G-Room

London Nightclub, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Presents Hip-Hop & RnB with £1 drinks all night.

Sat 17 Jan

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Wed 21 Jan

Fri 23 Jan Fridays

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

House and chart

G-Room

London Nightclub, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Presents Hip-Hop & RnB with £1 drinks all night.

Sat 24 Jan Fat Sam’s (DJ Ricky Harrison) Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30

Current chart, hip hop and r&b anthems mixed with the usual ‘Saturday night favourites’ by resident DJ Ricky Harrison.

Sun 25 Jan

Student Wednesdays

Tongue in Cheek

Foam parties, bucking bronko’s and the occasional 90’s rave

A lazy night of requests

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Mon 26 Jan

Fat Sam’s (DJ Ricky Harrison)

Thu 22 Jan

Current chart, hip hop and r&b anthems mixed with the usual ‘Saturday night favourites’ by resident DJ Ricky Harrison.

fatty thursdays

I do like Mondays! (DJ Joe Brodie)

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Anthems, classics and chart hits

Pop, rock, indie and r’n’b

Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30

Tue 27 Jan Discoteca Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Pop, indie and r’n’b

Wed 28 Jan Student Wednesdays Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Foam parties, bucking bronko’s and the occasional 90’s rave

Thu 29 Jan fatty thursdays Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

Anthems, classics and chart hits

Fri 30 Jan Fridays Fat Sam’s, 22:30–02:30, £tbc

House and chart

G-Room London Nightclub, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Presents Hip-Hop & RnB with £1 drinks all night.

Edinburgh THEATRE King’s Theatre Aladdin 19:00, 06 Jan—18 Jan, not 12th

Alan Stewart, Johnny Mac and a 3D Genie. Another one with multiple shows: check for details.

On Our Way to Lisbon 20:00, 13 Jan—17 Jan, various

Fame

The Tron Burns Night Political Cabaret 18:00, 26 Jan, 35

Festival Theatre Sunshine on Leith Multiple times, 05 Jan—24 Jan, Multiple prices

19:30, 09 Jan—24 Jan, not 11th, 12th,

Spectacular twins get the musical treatment

18th, 19th, Multiple prices

Sleeping Beauty

Blues Brothers Party

19:30, 07 Jan—10 Jan, from £7.50

19:30, 27 Jan—30 Jan

Playhouse

Royal Scottish National Orchestra: Beethoven’s Fifth 19:30, 21 Jan, £28.00 - £10.00

Fame

Classical concert conducted by Roberto Abbado

19:30, 09 Jan—24 Jan, not 11th, 12th,

Love For Three Oranges

Multiple prices

19:15, 29 Jan, various

Sharleen Spiteri 19:00, 25 Jan, £30/ 25

Texas frontwoman

Traverse New Year New Futures 19:30, 23 Jan—24 Jan, £5

workshop performances of some of the most exciting new play-texts the theatre receives each year.

A collaboration with Scottish Opera, joined by young singers from Rostovon-Don in Russia. Directed by Lee Blakeley

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Mendelssohn - Elijah 19:30, 29 Jan, various

Yannick Nézet-Séguin directs Mendelssohn’s Old Testament epic.

Drama and Virtuosity 19:30, 30 Jan, various

Alexander Lazarev conducts Borodin’s Second Symphony

Glasgow THEATRE King’s Theatre

Citizens Theatre

Cinderella

Sub Rosa

It is on about three times a day: check venue for times and details

19:00, 19 Jan—30 Jan, not 25th, £12

19:00, 05 Jan—11 Jan, from £10

Gilmorehill G12 Saucy Jack & The Space Vixens 19:30, 06 Jan—10 Jan, £12

The Pavilion The Wizard of Never Woz

19:30, 06 Jan—24 Jan, not 12th, 19th, from £10

Seasonal mayhem form the Pav ganf, and a bunch of people off of Real radio. Check their website to get a flavour of the production.

The Arches Alien Wars

Multiple times, 05 Jan—30 Jan, £10/8/5

Theatre Sets

18:00, 05 Jan—19 Jan, Free

Photography exhibition

David Leddy wriites Gothic stage horror

Tron Theatre INK 19:30, 20 Jan, £3

Theatre Royal Love of Three Oranges 19:30, 23 Jan—24 Jan, various

Go Dance 19:30, 27 Jan—30 Jan, various

Tramway Naked Neighbour 19:45, 27 Jan—30 Jan

Dolls 20:00, 28 Jan—30 Jan, £10

Aberdeen THEATRE The Lemon Tree Agent 160 19:30, 13 Jan—14 Jan, £10

Aphra Benn’s life and work

The Wilders 19:00, 18 Jan, £tbc

Old time American honky tonk

Chanceshot

Tue 06 Jan Wicked Wenches (Zoe Lyons, AL Kennedy and Eilidh MacAskill. Hosted

by Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £6/£5/£3

Wed 07 Jan The Stand Improv (Stu and Garry) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £5/£2.50

Thu 08 Jan The Thursday Show (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Fri 09 Jan The Stand (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle.

Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 10 Jan The Stand (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle.

Hosted by Raymond Mearns) The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 11 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

The Sunday Night Laugh-In (Kevin Bridges, Kim MacAskill, Phil Differ and Garry Dobson. Hosted by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 20:30–23:00

Burns! (Your Bard, By The Way) 19:30, 25 Jan, £8

Oraculum and At Home with the Smiths 19:30, 28 Jan, £8

Two short plays

His Majesty’s Sunshine on Leith

Grainne Smith’s play about a struggling fishing community on the North East coast.

Spectacular twins get the musical treatment

Multiple times, 13 Jan—24 Jan, not 18th, Multiple prices

Tue 06 Jan Wicked Wenches (Zoe Lyons, AL Kennedy and Eilidh MacAskill. Hosted by Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £6/£5/£3

Wed 07 Jan The Stand Improv (Stu and Garry) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £5/£2.50

Thu 08 Jan The Thursday Show (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Heresy

Jekyll and Hyde , 21:00–23:20, £3

Fri 09 Jan The Stand (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle.

Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

Sat 10 Jan The Stand (Simon Bligh, Zoe Lyons and Jeff O’Boyle.

Hosted by Raymond Mearns) The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 11 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

The Sunday Night Laugh-In (Kevin Bridges, Kim MacAskill, Phil Differ and Garry Dobson. Hosted by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 20:30–23:00

Get yer listings

Mon 12 Jan

theskinny.co.uk

Mon 12 Jan Red Raw (Siân Bevan and Graeme Thomas) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Tue 13 Jan Jason Manford Special The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £12

Wed 14 Jan Melting Pot

The Stand, 20:30–23:18, £5/£4/£2.50

Thu 15 Jan The Thursday Show (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Fri 16 Jan The Stand (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 17 Jan The Stand (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 18 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

FIND THE FUNNY (Stephen K Amos) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £12

Mon 19 Jan

Tue 27 Jan

Red Raw (Antony Murray and Viv Gee) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Shaggy Dog Stories (Raymond Mearns) The Stand, 20:30–23:18, £8/6

Thu 22 Jan The Thursday Show (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker. Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Wed 28 Jan Best of Scottish (Gary Little, Gus Tawse, Chris Forbes and Andrew Learmonth. Hosted by Joe Heenan) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £6/£5/£3

Fri 23 Jan The Stand (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker.

Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 24 Jan The Stand (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker.

Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 25 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Burns Night Special (Raymond Mearns, Graeme Thomas, Kim MacAskill and Derek Johnston. Hosted

by Joe Heenan) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £7/£5

Mon 26 Jan Red Raw (JoJo Sutherland) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Thu 29 Jan The Thursday Show (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley. Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Fri 30 Jan The Stand (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley. Hosted by Bruce Devlin) The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 31 Jan The Stand (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley. Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Edinburgh comedy

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

19:30, 20 Jan—21 Jan, £10

online

Glasgow comedy

Red Raw (Siân Bevan and Graeme Thomas) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Tue 13 Jan Jason Manford Special The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £12

Wed 14 Jan Melting Pot

The Stand, 20:30–23:18, £5/£4/£2.50

Thu 15 Jan The Thursday Show (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Heresy

Jekyll and Hyde , 21:00–23:20, £3

Fri 16 Jan The Stand (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 17 Jan The Stand (Junior Simpson, Keir McAllister, Carl Hutchinson and Nick Morrow. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 18 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

FIND THE FUNNY (Stephen K Amos) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £12

Mon 19 Jan Red Raw (Antony Murray and Viv Gee) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Wed 21 Jan

Tue 27 Jan

Benefit in Aid of Archie (Vladimir McTavish, Ro Campbell and Garry Dobson) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £7/5

The Stand, 20:30–23:18, £8/6

Wed 28 Jan

Thu 22 Jan The Thursday Show (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker. Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

Heresy

Jekyll and Hyde , 21:00–23:20, £3

Fri 23 Jan The Stand (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker. Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 24 Jan

Love for Three Oranges (RSAMD) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:15–21:30

Best of Scottish (Gary Little, Gus Tawse, Chris Forbes and Andrew Learmonth.

Hosted by Joe Heenan) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £6/£5/£3

Thu 29 Jan The Thursday Show (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley. Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £8/£7/£4

The Stand (Reginald D Hunter, Gary Little, Nick Coppin and Carly Baker. Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Sun 25 Jan Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Burns Night Special (Raymond Mearns, Graeme Thomas, Kim MacAskill and Derek Johnston. Hosted by Joe Heenan) The Stand, 20:30–23:19, £7/£5

Mon 26 Jan Burns Night Political Cabaret (Tam Dean Burn) The Tron, 18:00–22:00, 35

Red Raw (JoJo Sutherland) The Stand, 20:30–23:00, £2

Shaggy Dog Stories (Raymond Mearns)

Heresy

Jekyll and Hyde , 21:00–23:20, £3

Fri 30 Jan The Stand (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley.

Hosted by Bruce Devlin) The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £10/£9/£5

Sat 31 Jan Love for Three Oranges (RSAMD) Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 19:15–21:30

The Stand (Martin Bigpig Mor, Andy Sir, Eleanor Tiernan and Michael Manley.

Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:19, £13

Top acts.

Hot food.

An altogether great night out

January 2009

THE SKINNY 63