The Skinny January 2024

FREE January 2024 Issue 216

December 2023 - Chat

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THE SKINNY

The Skinny's favourite songs about leaping / jumping / otherwise propelling yourself in to the air?

Girls Aloud – Jump Leap Day William from 30 Rock The Pointer Sisters – Jump (For My Love) Vince Staples – Jump Off the Roof Destiny's Child – Jumpin' Jumpin' Basement Jaxx – Jump 'n Shout The Saturdays – Up Cardi B – Up S Club 7 – Reach House of Pain – Jump Around HAAi, Jon Hopkins – Baby, We're Ascending Scooter – Jumping All Over the World Django Django – Surface to Air (feat. Self Esteem) Electric Light Orchestra – Above the Clouds King Krule – Stoned Again Calvin Harris – Bounce (feat. Kelis) Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for

'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 216, January 2024 © Radge Media C.I.C. January 2024 - Chat

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Championing creativity in Scotland Meet the team We asked – 2024's a leap year! What're you going to do with your extra day?

Editorial

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "My friends got married on the 29 February with a white gold ring inscribed 'As demanded, one gold ring.' Happy fourth (?) anniversary to the most romantic couple I know."

Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor "Judging by these answers, congratulating lots of people on their recent engagements."

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor "I’m going to find a man and divorce him, and Amy Adams will star in the dramatisation."

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist "Probably something super exciting like untangling that tote bag filled with extension cords and HDMI cables."

Cammy Gallagher Clubs Editor "Have a bath."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Proposing to my many lovers."

Rho Chung Theatre Editor "I'm going to ask my cisgender heterosexual boyfriend to marry me!"

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "Thinking of all the things I could have done with my extra day."

Business

Production

Laurie Presswood General Manager "Dance-off with Phoebe for her man."

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager "Not sure but I'll certainly be 15 minutes late."

Harvey Dimond Art Editor "Hustle."

Ellie Robertson Digital Editorial Assistant "It's just after my birthday, so if all goes according to plan, I'll have a chart-topping hangover."

Sales

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist "Probably procrastinate."

Tom McCarthy Creative Projects Manager "I'll spend 29 February doing the same thing I do every Thursday: playing Dungeons & Dragons."

Sandy Park Commercial Director "Sleep, ideally."

Tallah Brash Music Editor "It's a Thursday, so I'll probably just go to work."

Phoebe Willison Designer "Propose to my boyfriend. Oscar honey, I know you never read these so my secret will be safe, please say yes cause I've learnt a dance routine x"

THE SKINNY

Editorial Words: Rosamund West

Our last issue celebrated the best of 2023, and now we look forward to what we hope to be some highlights of 2024.

The need for the whole team to take a very well-deserved break over the festive period means this magazine comes to you from mid-December, going to print in the darkness of the shortest day. It’s possible the whole publication is coloured by the pervasive midwinter gloom, which is perhaps how it should be when attempting to trend forecast. We’re feeling sort of optimistic, but also very cold.

Music editor Tallah has pulled together an (alphabetical) list of some of the Scottish talent to watch out for next year. Her predictions from last year have already gone on to win awards, nominations and various notoriety so you need to pay attention; she’s basically the Nostradamus of Scottish music. We’re also looking forward to Celtic Connections in general, here to provide a little musical cheer in the aforementioned endless winter, and their John Maclean Centenary Concert specifically.

For the uninitiated, he’s a pioneer of Scottish socialism and Red Clydeside who died 100 years ago – we meet writer and activist Henry Bell and musician Kapil Seshasayee to find out more.

From foundational Scottish activism to that of the present day, we meet some of the activists of Art Workers for Palestine Scotland to find out more about how they are organising to resist the complicity of the UK government in the ongoing genocide. In Intersections, Theatre editor Rho examines how reproductive and gender-affirming care are under threat,

particularly for trans people, and what that means more broadly in terms of bodily autonomy. Another writer, Josephine Jay, considers how the experience of life modelling allowed her to reconsider her relationship with her body.

Film looks forward to the Goethe-Institut’s annual celebration of all things German cinema, Fokus festival. We also meet writer-director Andrew Haigh to hear about his much-anticipated new release, All of Us Strangers. Manipulate Arts, meanwhile, returns in early February with another fine programme of puppetry, animation and visual theatre.

Comedy has also got in on the trend forecasting game, with a round-up of the team’s top picks for laughs in 2024.

We also meet Mumbai-based stand-up Urooj Ashfaq, winner of a prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award at the 2023 Fringe, who’s performing in Glasgow and Edinburgh this month and has therefore been quizzed on the relationship between the two cities.

We meet Free Love’s Lewis Cook to find out about his latest venture, the Glasgow Library of Synthesized Sounds, aka GLOSS. Books meets Hisham Matar to discuss his new novel, My Friends, while Food takes a trip to new Timberyard-backed joint Montrose, and our Design column meets some pyjama makers. Very on brand for this period of hibernation because, in case it is not clear, it is currently very very dark. We conclude with The Skinny On… swim school, who we now know really like Italian food and Beyoncé. Happy New Year!

January 2024 — Chat

Cover Artist Jamie Johnson is a Glasgow-based artist who works across painting, printmaking, mixed media collage and video. The work on the cover is titled Inner Tropic.

IG: @jamie.c.johnson jamie-johnson.co.uk

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Love Bites: R'n'B Romance Love Bites

This month’s columnist explores harnessing the warm passion and intimacy of R'n'B music in the cold, dark winter Words: Jj Fadaka

I

January 2024 — Chat

t’s pouring. And while everyone else seeks cover in warm pubs and under shop roofs, Victoria Monet keeps me company in the music video-esque rain.

‘Is your favourite colour blue ‘cause you something like my kryptonite,’ her lyrics in F.U.C.K (Friend You Can Keep) remind me to bring out my phone and write a modern-day love letter to a lover-to-be. ‘Let’s get together tonight,’ I type through the cold. Love song pioneers like Monet and my dedication to R'n'B in cold winter months keep me inspired and romantic in a period usually associated with cold, dark, isolating days.

Instead of longing for the hazy, smudged memories of summer (although I do plenty of that too), a new playlist of old and new love songs gives the perfect soundtrack to refamiliarise myself with my body, feel full, soulful, and connected. Gentle neo-soul vocals, jazz melodies and an electric guitar to keep me guessing wrap me like a handmade scarf as I replace long walks at the beach with dinner by candlelight. Usually, I am serenaded by Luther Vandross. ‘Never too much, never too much, never too much,’ he croons, and I take his passion for intimacy to heart.

I hum The Internet’s Hold On to myself, with sandalwood incense burning and a yoga mat on the floor reminding me to move and love my body, even if self-care is all practise until we feel worthy of it. To my friends, I give Ravyn Lenae’s voice whispering, ‘Don’t deny yourself from nothing, it’s not worth it,’ when they are anything but kind, honest and loving to themselves. I love R'n'B and the passion for passion it lights in me. As we wake up in this dark middle of winter, I’ll keep searching for honey vocals and romantic lyrics to bring me warmth.

Crossword Solutions Across 1. BACK TO SQUARE ONE 9. BREAM 10. SCHEDULED 11. SWAHILI 12. RENEGED 13. EXEMPTION 15. ADDED 17. STAMP 19. BLASTS OFF 22. ONTARIO 23. RISOTTO 25. EMBEZZLED 26. IDIOT 27. NOTHING VENTURED Down 1. BABY STEPS 2. CREMATE 3. TOMEI 4. SASHIMI 5. USHER IN 6. REDUNDANT 7. OBLIGED 8. ENDED 14. PAPARAZZI 16. DEFROSTED 18. AUTOBOT 19. BOOTLEG 20. ABRIDGE 21. OUTLIER 22. OCEAN 24. SKIRT

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Heads Up

Welcome to 2024! It’s looking good so far, with folk festivals, weird and wonderful exhibitions, and puppet-y and non-puppet-y theatre alike.

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz Photo: Ot Pascoe

Heads Up

Ot Pascoe + Joel T Davidson: Sluggish Sett Studios, Edinburgh, 26 Jan-4 Feb An immersive exhibition of uncomfortable and whimsical sculptural works by two of Sett Studios' resident artists, Ot Pascoe and Joel T Davidson’s Sluggish is, on the surface, an exploration of slug species – their bodies and their environments – which gives way to a broader exploration of how we, embodied and imperfect, find physical comfort and joy in the unusual and the uncanny.

Jekyll and Hyde Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 13-27 Jan, various times Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic classic is brought to life in this darkly comic one-person play written

by Gary McNair. Turning the well-trodden story on its head, Jekyll and Hyde collapses the gap between its “two” protagonists, exploring the depths of one man’s psyche and what happens when we hide our deepest, darkest secrets.

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Celtic Connections Various venues, Glasgow, 18 Jan-4 Feb We can’t quite explain it but winter is the season for folk: it’s frosty, the world looks like a fairy tale, fiddles just sound better. Perfect timing, then, for Celtic Connections, Glasgow’s weeks-long festival dedicated to folk, trad, and world music. There’s an abundance of concerts, workshops, and late-night sessions, featuring the likes of Julie Fowlis, RURA and Raveloe.

Sett Studios Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear

Photo: Craig McIntosh

Jekyll and Hyde

Benefit for Medical Aid for Palestinians Raveloe

Liam Withnail

Image: courtesy of Cooper Gallery

Image: courtesy of Stereo

The Stand, Edinburgh + Glasgow, 23+31 Jan, 7pm The Stand is throwing two comedy benefit nights, with all ticket proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians – one in Edinburgh, and one in Glasgow at the end of the month. The lineup is pretty stacked, with appearances from Josie Long, Christopher MacArthur Boyd, Mark Nelson, Vlad McTavish and Liam Withnail, with more acts to be announced.

The Scale of Things Joey Name & Rufus for Bodies in Motion

January 2024 — Chat

Bodies in Motion Stereo, Glasgow, 12 Jan, 11pm It’s tempting to spend the whole of January on your sofa waiting for it to be over, but we promise you will feel better if you move around a little bit. Ideal timing then, for Bodies in Motion, a club night at Stereo all about the joy of being with other people and moving.

There’s house, acid, angular techno and electronica from DJs Joey Name & Rufus, BLEEN and Moventia (VJ).

Grace Ndiritu, Becoming Plant, 2022 (film still) at The Scale of Things

The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until 20 Jan Image: courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute and Toby Webster Ltd Glasgow © Patrick Jameson Jack McConville, The Clearing

Bee Asha & The Band Tees + Queen of Harps Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 29 Jan, 7pm Photo: Tal Imam

Image: courtesy of MUBI

Jack McConville: Helium Quality

Cooper Gallery, Dundee, 26 Jan-6 Apr Bringing together three moving image works across genres and time periods by Grace Ndiritu, Saodat Ismailova and Margaret Tait, The Scale of Things explores how we situate ourselves within nature, and imagine the boundaries between the human and nonhuman. Bound up in ideas of intimacy and entanglement, the three works delve into theorist Donna Haraway’s inquiry into how we might be collectively at stake to each other.

I Hired a Contract Killer

The Cineskinny Film Club Summerhall + CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts, Edinburgh + Glasgow, 16+17 Jan, 7pm — 8 —

Bee Asha

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Image: courtesy of Schramm Film

AMPLIFI The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 31 Jan, 8pm AMPLIFI – The Queen’s Hall’s gig series curated by Arusa Qureshi and Halina Rifai – continues with a new season in the New Year.

Kicking things off is a stunning triple bill: Malaysian singer-songwriter Belly Rachel, Glasgow-based multi-instrumentalist Samantha Maya, and Edinburgh-based bedroom pop singer Ria Andrews.

Afire for Fokus

Belly Rachel for AMPLIFI

Peach Crumb

Image: © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc Licensed

by DACS, London, Warhol The Textiles at Dovecot Studios

Photo: Fraser Taylor

Andy Warhol, Ice Cream Desserts

Nadine Shah

Various venues, Scotland, 9-31 Jan Fokus: Films from Germany does exactly what it says on the tin: a festival dedicated to the very best of old and new German-language cinema, curated by the Goethe Institut and with screenings across Scotland. Highlights from the programme include Christian Petzold’s Afire, Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, and Tom Tykwer’s hallucinatory classic Run Lola Run.

Peach Crumb King Tut’s, Glasgow, 7 Jan, 7:30pm Peach Crumb, aka Becca Murphy (they’re anagrams of each other), started out as a solo venture in 2020, before collecting members and transforming into a full band. Following a debut sell-out show at The Old Hairdresser's in August, they’re now playing as part of King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution, with support from Witching Hour, Elvis Wedding and Dallas Love Field.

Burns and Beyond Various venues, Edinburgh, 25-28 Jan Burns Night doesn’t have to be all haggis and tatties, you know. Celebrate the life and spirit of Scotland’s beloved poet with this weekend-long programme of free and ticketed events across Edinburgh, from Mercury Prizenominee Nadine Shah at the Assembly Rooms to a Callum Easter TV Special and a Museum Lates ceilidh at the National Museum of Scotland.

Various venues, Edinburgh, 1-11 Feb A circus retelling of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, robots that transform into dancers, puppets navigating the changing set of a funeral home…it can only be Manipulate Festival, Scotland’s only festival dedicated to puppetry, visual theatre and dance. Spread out over venues across Edinburgh, including Summerhall, Traverse Theatre and Fruitmarket, the gorgeous programme includes performances, screenings and even a silent clown workshop.

The House, Manipulate Festival

Saint Sappho The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 10 Jan, 7:30pm

Photo: Laura Meek

Image: courtesy of artist

Photo: Jo Underhill

Lost in Leith, Edinburgh, 20 Jan, 7:30pm

Michelle Williams Gamaker, Our Mountains Are Painted on Glass

Michelle Williams Gamaker: Our Mountains are Painted on Glass Both Hands

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, until 24 Mar — 9 —

Saint Sappho

January 2024 — Chat

Image: courtesy of Sofie Krog Teater

Manipulate Festival

OK Pal Records Fundraiser for Gaza Aid

Heads Up

Photo: Oli Erskine

Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, 26 Jan-18 May Andy Warhol’s immense body of textile works, created in the 1950s and early 60s, are being exhibited in Scotland for the first time in this groundbreaking exhibition at Dovecot Studios. Andy Warhol: The Textiles brings together the commercial and artistic textile work created by Warhol before his infamous Silver Factory days, showcasing the beginnings of his interest in pop motifs and consumer iconography.

Image: courtesy of the artist

Andy Warhol: The Textiles

Fokus: Films from Germany

January 2024

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What's On

Photo: Rob Jarvis

All details correct at the time of writing

Eyes of Others

January 2024 — Events Guide

Photo: Tim Topple Nadine Shah

Photo: Gem Harris

Music It’s 2024! We did it! Here’s the first gig guide of the year. Pals at The Hug and Pint and King Tut’s are kicking things off on the right foot. Hug’s First Footing series runs from 3 to 18 January, with highlights including Lerones (3 Jan), Saint Sappho (10 Jan) and Bunkhouse (18 Jan), the latter doubling up as the Glasgow band’s My Reptile Brain album launch, while King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution runs from the 3rd right up until 27 January. Highlights along the way include Tina Sandwich (6 Jan), Fourth Daughter (11 Jan), Grayling (24 Jan), and 2023 Sound of Young Scotland winners No Windows (26 Jan).

This month also sees the return of Glasgow’s premiere folk, roots and world music festival, Celtic Connections. Running from 18 January until 4 February, the festival’s jam-packed programme takes place across a multitude of venues in the city, and there’s lots to get excited about. Highlights include Raveloe at The Hug and Pint (19 Jan), and Roaming Roots Revue, celebrating the great Scottish songbook with a slew of famous faces from Biffy Clyro, Idlewild, Del Amitri, Admiral Fallow, Brownbear, Camera Obscura, Emma Pollock, Hamish Hawk and more at Barrowlands (20-21 Jan).

Hannah Peel collaborates with Beibei Wang for a special performance at Drygate Brewery (21 Jan), Eyes of Others brings his “post-pub couldn’t get into the club music” to Broadcast (24 Jan), and back at Drygate, catch Kathryn Joseph and Lomond Campbell (25 Jan). As the festival rolls on, more local talents can be found. On 28 January, Becky Sikasa and VanIves play Saint Luke’s, while King Creosote plays the Old Fruitmarket, before 30 January sees Andrew Wasylyk play The Mackintosh Church and cellist Su-a Lee playing City Halls.

In Edinburgh, the end of the month brings with it Burns & Beyond.

Celebrating Robert Burns, the festival presents a whole host of musical delights – our highlights include The Callum Easter TV Special, Anna Meredith and Nadine Shah who all play Assembly Rooms on 25, 27 and 28 January respectively.

The day after, Independent Venue Week kicks off, running until 4 February. At this point in time, not much has been announced, but we can confirm that some of our favourite venues are signed up, including Sneaky Pete’s, Leith Depot and The Caves in Edinburgh; Stereo, McChuills and The Flying Duck in Glasgow, and MacArts in Galashiels, amongst others. Check your favourite indie venue nearer the time for a full list of shows. And for a full rundown of venues getting involved head to independentvenueweek.com Elsewhere, in Edinburgh, keep an eye out for the lineup announcement for OK Pal Records fundraiser for Gaza Aid at Lost In Leith (20 Jan), while on the same night at The Queen’s Hall Erland Cooper’s new commission helps celebrate the venue’s 200th anniversary, with AMPLIFI returning there later in the month (31 Jan). In Glasgow, Joe Hearty, former singer of much-loved Stonehaven indie-pop outfit Copy Haho, plays a show alongside Julia’s

Anna Meredith

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THE SKINNY

Photo: Stephen Sheriff Freedom to Run

Photo: Matthew A. Williams

Film The cinema has such sights to show you in early 2024! With the Oscars on the horizon, many of the Best Picture contenders arrive in cinemas over the next few weeks: we’re talking Priscilla (1 Jan), Poor Things (12 Jan), The Holdovers (19 Jan) and All of Us Strangers (26 Jan) to name a few (see reviews p49 and p51). But there is a smattering of one-off events for those less concerned with awards season.

The wonderful Fokus (9-31 Jan), from the Goethe-Institut Glasgow, returns with another celebration of German cinema, screening at seven venues across Scotland. In the Fokus programme you’ll find mint-fresh premieres like the opening film Sisi & I (GFT, 9 Jan) rubbing shoulders with recent gems of contemporary German cinema and cult classics like Run Lola Run (DCA, 14 Jan; University of St Andrews, 23 Jan). We run down some of the highlights on p28.

GFT have a great selection of guests coming to the cinema across January. Among them is Jeanie Finlay, who brings Your Fat Friend, her documentary about writer and activist Aubrey Gordon – Gordon will join Finlay on stage for a Q&A on 20 January. Also in town for a chat is Jane Giles for Scala!!! (17 Jan). Giles was a programmer at the Scala, London’s muchmissed grindhouse, and she’s co-directed a knockout documentary celebrating its wild sensibility and the community of misfits who flocked to the cinema in its 70s and 80s heyday.

And let’s make Freedom to Run (GFT, 21 Jan) a sell-out. The film follows a Palestinian running group called Right to Movement and a group from Glasgow, as they train for and run both the Palestine and Edinburgh marathons. Co-directors Cairsti Russell and Stephen Sheriff will give a Q&A after this ‘Pay What You Can’ screening, with all profits going to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Fans of short films and short film directors will be in heaven with this month’s Scorsese of the Month at GFT, which takes the form of a programme of Scorsese’s early short films (15 Jan). Glasgow Short Film Director Matt Lloyd will provide an expert introduction.

And with Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest (another Oscar contender) hitting cinemas next month (2 Feb), Cameo in Edinburgh are gearing up for it with the hilariously titled season Double Glazer, which features potty-mouthed crime flick Sexy Beast (7 Jan) and existential sci-fi Under the Skin (14 Jan). [Jamie Dunn]

Image: Mixmag

Clubs Commencing Return To Mono’s 20th anniversary year in Glasgow with an open to close at Sub Club, don’t sleep on SLAM’s 5 HOUR SET on Friday 12 January. At The Berkley Suite, it’s Rush with local favourite, Nightwave – support from Eurshopper, Bash Man, and Mi$$ Co$mix (12 Jan). The following day in the capital, label boss Lewis Lowe goes all night long for Redstone Press & Friends at Sneaky Pete’s (Sat 13 Jan).

Electrikal set up shop at Bongo for Wall of Bass with Simula on Friday 19 January, skipping into the new year with some of drum & bass’s finest via their very own soundsystem. In Leith, La Beat residents return for another instalment of nothing but the best of Northern soul, funk, Motown, modern soul and disco vinyl at Leith Arches on the same night.

At Sneaky Pete’s, on Friday 26 January George Fitzgerald plays an intimate sold out show, his first at the venue in over six years. In Glasgow, London’s finest, Bakey & Capo Lee link at Stereo, fresh off recent collaborations for an evening full of cool NUKG and confident word play (Fri 26 Jan).

Midweek at La Cheetah, Missing Persons Club head honcho, Lovejoy, joins Frenetik for a live set not to be missed (Wed 31 Jan).

[Cammy Gallagher]

Optimo

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Run Lola Run

Your Fat Friend

Photo: Alastair Brookes

January 2024 — Events Guide

Nightwave

Bureau (also, we’re advised, from Stonehaven) at The Hug and Pint (24 Jan), Richard Dawson plays St Andrew’s West Parish Church (25 Jan) and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal plays Stereo (26 Jan). [Tallah Brash]

Wall of Bass

THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy and © the artist. Photo: Glasgow Life Museums Installation photograph of Aqsa Arif, Anam Ki Almari (The Trophy Cupboard)

Photo: Jessica Maurer

Sarah Wood, Project Paradise

January 2024 — Events Guide

Photo: Matt Crockett Wicked

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Theatre In Edinburgh, start the year off right with Gary McNair’s adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde at the Lyceum (13-27 Jan). Promising to turn the story on its head by delving into one man’s psyche, and starring theatrical stalwart Forbes Masson, it sounds intriguing. Don’t miss Hannah Lavery’s show Protest (2627 Jan) at the Traverse – it’s a new play from the Edinburgh Makar about friendship and activism.

Not ready to leave the festive spirit of Christmas behind? Scottish Ballet’s production of Cinders! will be running for most of the month at Festival Theatre (5-20 Jan). With glittering sets and costumes by Elin Steele, it’s sure to sweep you off your feet. If you’ve still got a case of the January blues, maybe a musical would be just the ticket. Wicked (until 14 Jan) and Shrek The Musical (22-27 Jan) are both at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

In Glasgow, you can still catch some Christmas shows in the first week of January. The Òran Mór’s festive panto Snow White and The Seven Maws continues until 6 Jan, and family-friendly Aganeza Scrooge plays at the Tron until the 7th. Be quick though – at the time of writing, tickets for both shows were selling like hot mince pies. Star-studded musical The Bodyguard will bring a little sparkle to the Theatre Royal that week too (3-7 Jan). Want to see the next generation of Scottish acting talent before they hit the big time? Royal Conservatoire BA Acting students are showcasing a double bill of Romeo and Juliet and ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (20-25 Jan) and tickets are pay what you like.

Over in Dundee, honour the bard of Scotland in style – you can celebrate Burns Night at Dundee Rep with the Dundee Rep Ensemble (Burns

Image: courtesy of the artist

Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran in his studio, 2021

Art At The Hunterian in Glasgow, The Trembling Museum (until 19 May) is a collaboration between filmmaker, writer and scholar Manthia Diawara and art historian and curator Terri Geis that showcases and reinterprets the museum’s collection of African art.

Meanwhile, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, artist Aqsa Arif has been in residence for 15 months, working closely with the museum’s South Asian Collection. This has culminated in Anam Ki Almari (The Trophy Cupboard), a new film and installation work that sits at the heart of Kelvingrove. Arif’s installation is open to the public to view until April, while the Kelvingrove’s wider exhibition Glasgow – City of Empire – continues until the end of the year.

At Tramway, Sydney-based Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s first solo show in Europe continues until 21 April. Idols of Mud and Water features dizzyingly vibrant figurative sculptures that respond to iconography and mythologies from South Asia, while also reflecting on the artist’s own queer identity.

In Edinburgh, The Printmaker’s Art: Rembrandt to Rego, at The National Gallery of Scotland until 25 February, brings together prints by a range of historic and contemporary artists, from Hokusai to Warhol, Emin to Ofili.

At Fruitmarket, Sarah Wood, who uses found images to interrogate the relationship between historical narratives and individual memories, explores the 1974 Black and White Oil Conference, which took place in tandem with the imminent exploitation of oil and natural gas in the North Sea. Catch Project Paradise before it closes on 21 January. Fruitmarket celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, so look out for a dynamic programme of exhibitions and events throughout 2024.

At Talbot Rice, The Recent brings together artists exploring a vast array of geological, evolutionary, human and environmental timeframes, partially inspired by Edinburgh’s own unique geological history. Exhibiting artists include Helen Cammock, Otobong Nkanga and Simon Starling, open until 17 February.

In Dundee, look out for a series of Solidarity Screenings of films by Palestinian filmmakers throughout the month organised by Dundee Art Workers for Palestine, hosted by Generator Projects. [Harvey Dimond]

Scottish Ballet's Cinders

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THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy of Glasgow Women's Library

Supper on the Rep Stage, 25-26 Jan). As well as entertainment, the ticket also includes a delicious three-course meal and half a bottle of wine. Dry January what now? [Eliza Gearty]

Image: courtesy of The Lighthouse Bookshops

Comedy Coming to Scotland at the beginning of 2024 are a heady mix of tour shows and shows which are merely a twinkle in their creators’ eyes, set to be honed across the year.

For touring shows, Monkey Barrel has a shedload this month. We’re dead excited for Fringe Best Newcomer winner, Urooj Ashfaq, to bring Oh No! back to Edinburgh (23 Jan, 8pm, £16. Also at Glasgow Stand, 24 Jan, 8.30pm, £16). The Mumbai-based stand-up is this month’s big interview (on p40). Martin Urbano, another of this year’s Best Newcomer Nominees, returns to the city (14 Jan, 8pm, £12). It’s a subversive hour of ‘cancellable comedy’ which knows exactly what it’s doing. We’d also be remiss not to shout about returning shows from Robin Morgan (20 Jan, 8pm, £8-10), who’s touring with 2022’s Fringe show and Louise Atkinson at The Stand (30 Jan, 8.30pm, £8-10). Highly praised for her Fringe show in August, Atkinson won the Amused Moose Best Debut Award.

Over in Glasgow, Man Like Mobeen, Taskmaster and Our Flag Means Death star Guz Khan tours The Tour Continues to the Theatre Royal (21 Jan, 7pm, from £24.10). There’re limited tickets remaining so grab them quick.

There’s also something CERTIFIED FRESH in the air! This month, The Stand launches two brand new regular shows – The Edit (Stand Edinburgh, 24 Jan, £8-10, 8.30pm), a monthly political comedy gig hosted by Laura Davis and James Nokise, and Screen Time (Stand Glasgow, 29 Jan, 8.30pm, £8), a night dedicated to multimedia comedy, hosted by Fearghas Kelly. They’re joined by Material, Girl in their new home, Sunday afternoons at The Stand (28 Jan, 3pm, £7-8).

There’s also some brand-spanking-new Work-in-Progress gigs from some of the biggest names in comedy right now. Josie Long’s gearing up for nascent jokes about enormous old animals (Stand Glasgow, 10 and 11 Jan, 8.30pm, £8-10) and teams up with Jonny and the Baptists for a joint WIP at Monkey Barrel (17 Jan, 8pm, £12). Also at ‘the Barrel’™ are WIPs from Catherine Bohart (13 Jan, 6pm, £7) and Olga Koch (27 Jan, 8pm, £7) who also brings Prawn Cocktail to the venue the night before (26 Jan, 8pm, £14), while round the corner at Banshee Labyrinth, Phil O’Shea and Eleanor Morton road-test ideas for their 2024 Fringe shows (5 Jan, 8pm, £4.50/pay-what-youcan). [Polly Glynn]

Olga Koch

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Glasgow Women's Library

Image: courtesy of the artist

Photo: Rachel Sherlock

January 2024 — Events Guide

The Child of Hameln

Books Curl up with a good book (event) this January. Max Turner is launching his fairytale-inspired The Child of Hameln in a special supernatural mystery night at Lighthouse Bookshop on 17 January, while journalist Ali Millar launches their debut novel Ava Anna Ada at The Portobello Bookshop on 24 January. Our January book interview author Hisham Matar appears at Topping and Company (9 Jan) to launch the masterful My Friends (turn to page 41 for more on that). For a more hands-on approach, head to Glasgow Women’s Library to explore their archive of erotic lesbian journals from the 1980s and 90s (20 Jan), or Glasgow Zine Library for Un/Nature, their queer ecologies reading group (21 Jan).

Finally, don’t forget it’s Burns Night in January: The Scottish Storytelling Centre is hosting a birthday celebration on the day itself (25 Jan), while weekend festival Burns and Beyond resurrects poetry night Neu Reekie!, with a filmed performance of one of their best events on their website to watch through the month. [Anahit Behrooz]

Urooj Ashfaq

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5 Meet the Team — 6 Editorial — 7 Love Bites — 8 Heads Up 11 What’s On — 16 Crossword — 17 Ask Anahit — 32 Poster by Ruaridh LitsterCampbell — 35 Intersections — 43 Music — 49 Film & TV — 52 Design 53 Food & Drink — 54 Books — 57 Listings — 62 The Skinny On… swim school

Features 20 Spotlight on… New Scottish music in 2024.

23 Henry Bell and musician Kapil Seshasayee on the activist influence of John Maclean ahead of his Celtic Connections Centenary concert.

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26 Art Workers For Palestine Scotland on their activist work to resist complicity.

28 Looking forward to Fokus, Films from Germany, the film festival from the Goethe-Institut Glasgow.

29 We talk to Optimo as they turn 25 and release a celebratory compilation.

30 We take a tour through the programme of Manipulate Festival 2024.

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34 Trend forecasting for the Comedy highlights of 2024.

35 One writer explores how life modelling helped her to see herself and be seen.

37 We meet writer-director Andrew Haigh to discuss his new film All of Us Strangers.

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40 Mumbai-based stand-up Urooj Ashfaq on her 2023 Fringe win and plans for 2024.

41 Booker-shortlisted, Pulitzerwinning author Hisham Matar on his newest novel My Friends.

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Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Mark Anthony Gillies @magphoto; courtesy of Henry Bell and Celtic Connections; Marwan Kaabour; Run Lola Run; Andrew Cawley: Brian Hartley; coutesy of Anete Sooda; Agnes Xantippa Boman; All of Us Strangers; Marilena Vlachopoulou; Jonny Ruff; Hisham Matar

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On the website...

A recap of the Best TV of 2023, a host of playlists with our favourite tunes from last year, an examination of the erasure of Scotland from Yorgos Lanthamos's adaptation of Poor Things, a two-part 2023 round-up on The Cineskinny podcast… oh, and we went to Montréal!

Read our report from the M for Montréal festival.

January 2024 — Contents

39 Free Love’s Lewis Cook on Glasgow Library For Synthesized Sounds, and the returning ITEM music workshops.

THE SKINNY

Shot of the month Django Django @ The Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, 12 December by Kate Johnston

Across

Down

1.

1.

Returned to the starting point – recooks a banquet (anag) (4,2,6,3)

9. Amber (anag) (5)

10. Planned (9) 11. National language of Tanzania (7)

January 2024 — Chat

12. Broke a promise (7)

13. Immunity (9)

15. Appended (5) 17. Trample – emboss (5) 19. Launches (6,3)

22. Canadian province (7)

Tentative first moves (4,5)

2. Burn (7) 3. Marisa ___, actor (b.1964) (5) 4. Japanese delicacy (7) 5. Herald (5,2) 6. Unnecessary (9) 7.

Indulged – compelled (7)

8. Wrapped up (5) 14. Photographers (9) 16. Thawed (9)

23. Rice dish (7)

18. A Decepticon's nemesis – tuba too (anag) (7)

25. Misappropriated (9)

19. Pirated (7)

26. Imbecile (5)

20. Shorten (7)

27. "___ ___, nothing gained" (7,8)

21. Anomaly (7) 22. Canoe (anag) (5) 24. Garment – circumnavigate (5)

Compiled by George Sully

Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk Turn to page 7 for the solutions — 16 —

THE SKINNY

In this month's advice column, one person asks how to navigate a relationship that is (maybe) doomed I live, laugh and love my boyfriend, but he has become quite lazy whereas I am quite career driven and am looking to move back home (London). If he doesn’t follow me, I will be in pieces but know I will be fine. Is it bad? Am I investing time in something doomed?

January 2024 — Chat

First things first. I don’t think the measure of a worthwhile relationship is you not being fine if it ends – if anything, it’s the opposite. If you can see a life beyond this person then that means you’re not trapped.

You have choices. Choices are – even though I just want to be told what to do every second of every day – apparently good.

I want to focus on this idea of doom, i.e. fate., i.e. absence of (being required to make a) choice. I don’t know what it is that makes relationships last (this isn’t a rhetorical flourish, I genuinely don’t know! It’s very frustrating!) but I am starting to think it might just be an uninterrupted run of choosing each other. People who Stay Together Forever don’t happen to find themselves in a relationship that isn’t doomed; they just at every crossroad… choose the relationship. They say it takes work, but I think more than that it takes choice. And while it can be a little heartbreaking to not be in the kind of relationship where you are constantly choosing each other above everything else, it also probably indicates the kind of life you actually want. You cannot – and I want to be clear that I have not personally internalised this – have both. It doesn’t necessarily mean you will break up, but just that you’re building the kind of life where you will be fine either way. And that’s OK. As to whether it’s worth it in the face of that… well.

One of my friends once told me I had to stop trying to futureproof my relationships and second guessing everything based on whatever chain reaction of tragedy it could set off. The fear of being hurt can make us want to fast forward and make the right choices for that later version of ourselves. But what does the version in the present need? Do they want to stay with their boyfriend right now? Does he make them happy? It’s so embarrassing to admit but I truly don’t think time invested in someone you love and who loves you can be considered wasted. It just doesn’t sound like something all that doomed to me.

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January 2024

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THE SKINNY

This month's poster is a painting entitled I don't like winter by Ruaridh Litster Campbell. He is a multi-disciplinary artist from Arduaine, Argyll who works in paint, sculpture and jewellery design.

His paintings have a faux naive style heavily dependent on line and colour. ruaridhlitster-campbell.squarespace.com IG: @ruaridhlitstercampbell

Theme Intro

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January 2024 – Feature

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ast month we reflected on the year that was, and this month we’re looking forward to the year that has just arrived. We’ve got a mixture of short and long term future predictions, from the very immediate – as usual, here are the good things that are happening near you this month – to the more year-long, opening with our Music editor’s tips for Scottish acts to watch out for in 2024. We look at upcoming live highlights – Celtic Connections’ Red Clydeside: John Maclean Centenary Concert, which offers an opportunity to delve into Glasgow’s activist past and present; the Fokus film festival programme; and Manipulate’s annual celebration of puppetry and animation. We talk to club stalwarts Optimo as they release a compilation to mark their 25th birthday, and explore some of the work being done by Scottish arts organisations in support of Palestine.

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Photo: Mark Anthony Gillies @magphoto

Future Sounds In a bold attempt to predict the future, we shine a spotlight on some of the artists we’re excited about for 2024

January 2023 – Feature

Music

Words: Tallah Brash

Doss

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THE SKINNY

L

ast year was another exciting year for Scottish music. We had Young Fathers dominating on the live circuit, with award wins and nominations galore, while Hamish Hawk continued to go from strength to strength. Before the year was finished, other Scottish names were already appearing on future festival lineups – Humour are all set for Eurosonic in The Netherlands in January, LVRA and No Windows were both announced in the first wave of acts for May’s The Great Escape festival, swim school were announced in an early wave for

summer fest Mad Cool, BRENDA for Madrid PopFest, Barry Can’t Swim for Primavera, and corto.alto for Cross the Tracks.

And predictions-wise from last year, we did alright! Terra Kin won the award for BBC Introducing Act of the Year, No Windows won the 2023 Sound of Young Scotland award at The SAY Award, Casual Worker won Best Electronic Act at the SAMAs and Queen of Harps was nominated for a whole host of stuff. Having a go at predicting the future again, here’s who we’re excited about for 2024.

Photo: Greg Hall Bee Asha

Alice Faye From the first note we heard Alice Faye sing, we were sold, leading us to almost immediately book her for our 2023 stage at Kelburn Garden Party. Her piano EP, Deadbeat, is an unbelievable piece of work, with a voice far beyond her years. At the end of last year, she picked up the Scottish Alternative Music Award for Best Acoustic act and is set to play Celtic Connections this month, followed by her first Edinburgh headline show in February at Leith Depot, with, we’re told, more new music and festival appearances to follow throughout the year. instagram.com/alicefayemusic

Music

Photo: Demelza Kingston Alice Faye

Bee Asha Edinburgh poet, singer-songwriter and rapper Bee Asha isn’t afraid to discuss the big issues in her music, all the while managing to keep things bouncy and playful, which is an art in itself. Last summer she opened our stage at Kelburn Garden Party with help from her new band The Band Tees, and firmly got her exciting and ambitious Gitika Project underway, releasing the infectious singles Shy Guy and Gitika. With two shows coming up as part of Independent Venue Week (29 Jan-4 Feb), and loads more to follow in 2024 from The Gitika Project, Asha is one to watch for sure. beeasha.com

Photo: Mark Anthony Gillies @magphoto Doss

Bikini Body We’ve been enjoying the raucous energy and spiky dry wit of Bikini Body for some time now, and it feels like every time we see the Edinburgh five-piece live they’re tighter, more energetic and more fired up than ever. In short, they just keep getting better. Early this year they’re set to play their biggest headline show to date at The Mash House (9 Feb), and they’ve got new music coming very soon too, backed by a very reputable and exciting Scottish label… but that’s all we can say about that right now instagram.com/bikinibodymusic

Doss ‘Watch this space, keep your eyes peeled, we’re the real d-d-dd-d-d-deal’. Lyrics from Doss’s latest bold and confident single King of the Castle, or our thoughts? Why not both! Doss are another act we booked for our stage at last year’s Kelburn Garden Party after hearing one song – The Mullets Are Moving In – and they absolutely did not disappoint in bringing the party.

The end of last year then saw the gruff Glasgow disco-punks tour France, alongside announcing their debut EP Bootlicker, due this year. Watch this space, keep your eyes peeled. instagram.com/doss.c_nt

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January 2024 – Feature

Photo: Rory Barnes Bikini Body

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Photo: Robert Tait

LAMAYA We’ve been shouting about LAMAYA a lot since she released her debut single COMING FOR UR <3 last October. With one single, she arrived sounding fully formed, which is no mean feat. We went to check her out at AMPLIFI last month, and alongside producer and DJ Quested, she absolutely blew us away – she looks like a popstar, sounds like a popstar and we feel like she could be destined for big things. As part of her set she performed her next single Hung by the Water, so there’s definitely more music to come. instagram.com/laamaayaaa

neverfine Glasgow three-piece neverfine came barreling onto the scene last spring with their single Silhouettes, followed in the autumn by their exceptional debut EP, Do Everything, Feel Nothing.

Combining musical ideas from across rock, metal, industrial, pop and electro, Ashley Palkowski’s vocal soars majestically across their music, akin to Lauren Mayberry in CHVRCHES. This month, they play King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution and have loads more in the pipeline for 2024 that we’re not allowed to tell you about yet instagram.com/_neverfine

Photo: Kate McMahon

Image: courtesy of artist

January 2024 – Feature

Music

Photo: Kim Simpson

neverfine

LAMAYA

Nikhita

Pearling

Nikhita The dreamy, soulful R’n’B of Nikhita featured in The Skinny last May as part of our Pop issue. Popgirlz founder Rachel Alice Johnson selected Nikhita as one to watch then, likening her to SZA, describing her songwriting as ‘delicate’, ‘impactful’ and ‘addictive’. That same month she released the gorgeous Golden Child, which gained a lot of love across the board, and while she currently has nothing officially confirmed for this year, we spoke briefly via email about her plans which did include new music, so we’re excited to see what comes next for Nikhita. instagram.com/__nikhita

Pearling Glasgow producer Pearling first caught our attention with her atmospheric, glitchy track Swan Tooth, released last January.

As the year unfurled, her debut EP Celestia, Deep Sea Diver arrived in the spring as the perfect May release, all bubbling electronics, otherworldly twinkles, bubblegum vocals and hyperpop sensibilities. Pearling went on to be shortlisted for the Sound of Young Scotland Award as part of the annual SAY Award celebrations in October, and rumour has it there are exciting things to come this year, but our lips are sealed instagram.com/pearling__

Honourable mentions Other artists we’re excited about for this year include, but are not limited to: Pippa Blundell, Fourth Daughter, Lloyd’s House, Danny Cliff, Theo Bleak, Possibly Jamie, Water Machine, EYVE, Belly Rachel and Doom Scroller, as well as new projects from Hailey Beavis and Brian Pokora (Both Hands) and Rick Anthony and David MacAuley (Afterlands).

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Radical Remembrance Ahead of the Celtic Connections John Maclean Centenary concert, we speak with writer and activist Henry Bell and musician Kapil Seshasayee

Henderson and Morris Blythman, heralded as “the “It was always first swallow of the spring of the Scottish folk revival.” It was here that Henderson’s song John singers and poets Maclean March was first performed before becomwho understood what ing an anthem of Scottish socialism. Similarly, the 1973 event to mark the 50th anniversary of Maclean meant to Maclean’s death featured poets Edwin Morgan and MacDiarmid alongside music by The Laggan.

Scotland and to the HughThe centenary concert lineup includes Billy Bragg, Karine Polwart, Eddi Reader, Paul McKenna, working class” Siobhan Miller, Karan Casey, Megan MacDonald,

Henry Bell

Image: courtesy of Henry Bell and Celtic Connections

“Whether we’re singing about John Maclean or anticaste musicians like Bant Singh, the message isn’t that different” Kapil Seshasayee — 23 —

Red Clydeside: John Maclean Centenary Concert takes place at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 19 Jan celticconnections.com

January 2024 – Feature

John Maclean

Ewen Henderson and Jackie Kay. Their collective presence on a Glasgow stage will once again celebrate Maclean and the Red Clydeside movement with songs and poetry that advocate solidarity, the fight for social justice and the need to question and challenge authority.

Among them, Kapil Seshasayee, an Indian fusion musician renowned for protest songs that challenge the Indian caste system, presents his commissioned work, Surrounded by my Friends.

Inspired by the memories of his own Clydebank upbringing and walking by Solidarity Plaza, Seshasayee’s song captures the essence of finding hope in solidarity. “The central lyrical image that I conjured up is that of feeling of being a bit lost.

Then you happen upon Solidarity Plaza and you’re surrounded by friends whose goals and dreams align with yours. And you find meaning in that.

And new hope.”

Seshasayee will bring his own experience to the diverse stage where each values Maclean for different reasons. “Songs are fundamentally storytelling devices,” he tells me. “Whether we’re singing about John Maclean or anti-caste musicians like Bant Singh in India, the message isn’t that different. The fact that they’ve passed away long ago doesn’t change their scope of influence.”

The concert is a celebration of what these figures mean to us now looking forwards.

Maclean’s enduring resonance transcends time and avoids narrow alignment with any one cause. In Glasgow today, we remember figures like Maclean when organisations such as the Living Rent campaign fight against unfair treatment of tenants and rally for better housing conditions.

Songs in his memory are sung by the protestors who line the streets to oppose the bombardment of Gaza. The singers, writers and activists that remember him embody Maclean’s call from the dock to fight for the “right to protest against wrong, the right to do everything that is for the benefit of mankind.”

Music

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n 30 November 1923, the pioneer of Scottish socialism John Maclean died from pneumonia aged 44; his body weakened by prison, poverty and the barbarism of the institutions he fought to oppose. Maclean was a leading figure in the Red Clydeside movement, where political radicalism grew along the River Clyde together with working-class opposition to the First World War. One hundred years later, the 2024 Celtic Connections festival will celebrate the legacy of Maclean and the Red Clydeside movement with a tribute concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on the 19 January.

The concert is part of a wider programme of cultural activity organised around the centenary of Maclean’s death. It’s being produced by Maclean’s biographer, writer and activist Henry Bell, who believes firmly that poetry and song have shaped Maclean’s legacy. He tells me: “It was always singers and poets who understood what Maclean meant to Scotland and to the working class.”

Bell describes Maclean as “a radical outsider, who stuck to his convictions no matter what. An anti-war campaigner who was by no means a pacifist. A Leninist who would not let Lenin dictate to Glasgow. He founded the first party in support of Scottish independence but loathed nationalism.” Maclean’s legacy, like the man he was, is complex. It cannot be easily defined in a single cause or memorial.

There is a cairn dedicated to him near his birthplace in Pollokshaws, erected in 1973 to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Around it unfolds a city in flux; its fabric constantly shifting under a capitalism that erodes communities and amenities.

The cairn’s dedication described Maclean as ‘the Scottish link in the golden chain of world socialism’, asking us to look outwards beyond any narrow frame of singular commemoration.

Maclean’s legacy highlights the significance of radical remembrance in a city often mired by its own cultural amnesia, where an imperial legacy is often remembered over a radical one. “If you walk through the centre of Glasgow you’ll see nothing but the names of slavers, industrialists and aristocrats on the streets,” says Bell. “But Maclean wouldn’t want statues.” Instead, he is remembered in a diverse and lively cultural movement that keeps the Red Clydeside and its heroes alive through poetry, art and song.

For Bell, the Celtic Connections concert is part of a “vital living tradition that transmits radical memory and ideas. It’s about lighting up the movement that Maclean stood for and seeing how that can guide us today. It’s a dialogue with our own history.” It also builds on other events that have celebrated Maclean through song and poetry, such as the 1948 gathering organised by Hamish

Words: Kirsty Strang-Roy

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Advertising feature

New in Town: Visit Edinburgh in 2024 From festivals to food and drink, new sights to iconic architecture, here are just a few of the reasons to visit Edinburgh this year Words by: The Skinny

January 2024

Image: Courtesy of Forever Edinburgh Calton Hill

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here are many reasons to take a trip to Edinburgh this year (we’re about to take you through some of them!) but the ease of getting here is near the top of the list. Frequent trains from Glasgow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Newcastle and London drop you in the heart of the action – the Old Town, New Town, Princes Street and the St James Quarter all right in front of you. It’s also handy for many of the city’s newest places to stay – take your pick from the ‘much-discussed’ W Hotel at the St James Quarter and 100 Princes Street, a new five-star hotel in the former clubhouse of the Royal Overseas Legion, or stroll to Holyrood for a relaxing stay at The Scott, the freshly-revamped boutique hotel set in an 18th century mansion house run

by The University of Edinburgh.

Speaking of strolling, if you’re able to do so, walking is one of the best ways to explore Edinburgh, offering the chance to take in the city and check

out the new places and changed spaces since your last visit. You’ll also see how Edinburgh’s neighbourhoods fit together.

Here’s an example. You’re in the Old Town, walking down the Royal Mile; don’t stop at the Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyroodhouse. Keep going and you’ll hit Abbeyhill, with its thriving artist community and great independent bars, cafes and restaurants. Two great new additions are Fortitude Coffee’s latest outpost on Abbey Mount and Montrose, the delightful new restaurant from the team behind the Michelin-starred Timberyard.

Carry on down the hill and you’re onto Easter Road – check out Kitchen Table from the team at much-loved bakery Twelve Triangles. Beyond that it’s the always-exciting Leith with countless bars and cafes to check out, and its own array of festivals and events, including the Biscuit Factory Beverage Festival in April and the Leith Comedy Festival in October.

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January 2024

Image: Courtesy of Edinburgh Trams Edinburgh Trams in Leith

Experience the beauty of Edinburgh in 2024. Plan your visit with Forever Edinburgh – The Official Guide to Edinburgh ( www.edinburgh.org). Keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the city each month by signing up to the Forever Edinburgh monthly newsletter.

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Image: Courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland. Photo Credit: Campbell Donaldson, Ralia Media National Galleries Scotland

Don’t fancy walking? Edinburgh’s public transport is excellent. The bus network extends across the city, and the tram now runs all the way from the Airport to Newhaven; a combination of bus and tram will get you to Lost Shore, Europe’s largest surfing destination opening at Ratho in September.

For now, take the tram to Ocean Terminal and the Port of Leith Distillery – inside its jet-black structure you’ll find tours of the incredible vertical whisky distillery, an excellent bar and restaurant, and unmatched views across the waterfront to Granton. Keep that view in mind as you hop onto the bus; in 20 minutes, you’ll be at the new home of pioneering street food venue The Pitt, opening on the shorefront this spring.

The Port of Leith Distillery isn’t the only place in Edinburgh where you can take a fresh look at the national drink. The Scotch Whisky Experience on Castlehill reopened in December after a multi-million pound refurb; take an immersive trip through the sights, smells and tastes of Scotch. If gin’s your thing, look out for the new distillery and visitor centre from Edinburgh Gin, opening for tours and experiences at their new home on Market Street this summer.

Edinburgh’s world-renowned August festivals return in 2024 – the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe kick off on 2 August, with the Edinburgh Art Festival following a week later. When the Edinburgh International Book Festival returns, it will be in a brand-new location with a very special history. The Edinburgh Futures Institute is based on the site of the former Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, with a huge revamp turning the category-A listed building into a state-of-the-art space for teaching and collaboration. You’ll have the chance to look around when the Book Festival opens on 10 August.

National Galleries Scotland’s venues offer the double whammy of exciting new exhibitions and spectacular architecture. At the neo-classical Royal Scottish Academy, The Printmaker’s Art charts the development of printmaking with work by Tracey Emin, Bridget Riley, Chris Ofili and Hokusai. The exhibition runs until 25 Feb; while you’re here, pop into the National next door. A refurb has breathed new life into the William Playfairdesigned building, adding a new space showcasing Scottish art and artists. At the Modern in the West End, a new retrospective of Edinburgh sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi runs until April – a leafy stroll down the Water of Leith from Stockbridge will take you right to the galleries. In the category of ‘iconic piece of Edinburgh architecture with a nice walk to get there’, they don’t come better than St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile. The Cathedral celebrates its 900th anniversary this year, while the city itself celebrates its 900th in 2025 – a programme of community events are expected to mark the occasion.

Edinburgh’s theatres also provide the chance to experience a piece of the city’s heritage while taking in something new. The 2024 programme at the 95-year-old Playhouse includes visits from Shrek the Musical, Wizard of Oz and Six – which began its life at the Edinburgh Fringe back in 2017. There has been a theatre on the site of the Festival Theatre in the Southside since 1830, and the venue hosts Broadway mega-hit Hamilton this spring. In January, the Assembly Rooms – an Edinburgh landmark since 1787 – host this year’s Burns & Beyond festival. Catch indie songwriter Nadine Shah, Leith troubadour Callum Easter, and composer and multi-instrumentalist Anna Meredith from 25-28 Jan. February sees the return of Manipulate Festival; experience cutting-edge theatre, film and puppetry at a host of iconic venues including the former veterinary school at Summerhall in the Southside, and Fruitmarket, the contemporary art gallery next door to Waverley – an ideal place to start your visit.

Art

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Resisting Complicity The Skinny meets activists and organisers from Art Workers For Palestine Scotland to find out more about how they are challenging Scotland and the UK’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinian people Words: Harvey Dimond

January 2024 – Feature

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hree months ago, following the 7 October massacre by Hamas operatives, the world watched in horror as Israel’s 80 year-long genocide of the Palestinian people escalated so horrifically that it was difficult to comprehend. With backing from its historical allies the UK and the US, Israel launched an attack from the ground, sea and air that has resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 Palestinian citizens in the besieged Gaza Strip and the Occupied Territories, as well as the deaths of a number of innocent civilians in Lebanon. Over 7,000 are missing, presumed dead under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. America and Europe’s unyielding and committed support of Israel signals that the West’s genocidal, white supremacist and Islamophobic intent remains as vicious as ever.

Art Workers For Palestine Scotland (AWFPS) was founded in May 2021, in response to Israeli attempts to evict Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, as well as the subsequent violent attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli military. In a pattern of violence that has come to define Israel’s settler-colonial project, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) launched strikes into the Gaza Strip and carried out raids in the West Bank. In response, Palestinians across the Occupied Territories went on strike on 18 May that year, part of the Unity Intifada that occurred across historic Palestine. It was in response to these events, and the launching of the Unity Intifada: The Manifesto of Dignity and Hope, that AWFPS was formed. However, as representatives from the organisation tell me, their formation and continued activism is deeply connected to other global struggles: “We decided to try to respond to this public declaration of new found resistance, historical memory… and a sense that something about 2021 felt like a turning point. This was impacted by the renewed Black Lives Matter (BLM) uprisings in 2020 and the deep structural links between BLM and Palestine. We noted there was this taboo of speaking about Palestine, breaking a silence around Palestine, the arts sector we’re all working with in Scotland. In our immediate aims, we decided to try to do all we could to break the silence, point to the silence, expose the silence. We felt there was a swelling of support and love for

Palestine and yet this wasn’t reflected in our workplaces.”

Importantly, the organisation decided to name themselves as ‘art workers’, rather than ‘artists’: the group says this “signifies that there’s a rift between workers and bosses, workers and institutions, and because there had been conversations about workers within the cultural sector being underunionised and artists not thinking of themselves as workers.”

When Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank intensified in October 2023, the organisation began to meet, mobilise and undertake widespread direct action, alongside other organisations such as the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Over the past few months, AWFPS has organised sit-ins and protests at the Gallery of Modern Art and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow and The National Gallery in Edinburgh. Reflecting on these interventions, activists tell me these actions aim to “expose the institutional silence around genocide – but there’s also something really powerful about our actions happening within these sites of imperial plunder. The painting we stood in front of in The National Gallery was a colonial painting depicting racialised people – there’s something powerful about speaking within and against the imperialist architecture of the long established art establishment.” They also note their “more subtle form” of protest at the Scottish BAFTAs, a successful attempt “to try and achieve a specific aim… of getting Scottish BAFTA guests to use our sign to call for a ceasefire.”

The success and impact of the group’s activism has created off-shoots of activists across Scotland who are actively resisting the complicity of Scotland and the UK in the genocide of Palestinians. AWFP Dundee was founded to focus attention on activism in Dundee by members of the wider Scotland group who had been attending the solidarity marches and were involved in other forms of action. Representatives of the organisation tell me: “Collectively our members have worked with – and continue to work with – every cultural institution in Dundee and the surrounding area. More and more local arts workers are joining us as they continue to lose respect for the institutions we represent and who claim to represent us. We are thoroughly disappointed in these institutions’ hypocritical

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THE SKINNY

Image: Marwan Kaabour

Art

One of the most chilling developments in the arts and culture sector has been the systemic cancellation, and even dismissal, of artists, curators and writers who have criticised Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. One of the most notable and well-publicised was the firing of Artforum’s editor-in-chief David Velasco, who signed an open letter calling for Palestinian liberation that was published by an unknown employee of Artforum. This censorship and de-platforming of pro-Palestine voices has become particularly intense in Germany and the US. But arts workers are starting to resist this blatant attempt at silencing. Closer to home, Bristol’s Arnolfini gallery’s decision to cancel its events for the Bristol Palestine Film Festival in December 2023 has led hundreds of cultural figures (including Tai Shani and Brian Eno) to pledge their refusal to work with the gallery.

Here in Scotland, AWFPS have created a fantastic resource, called the Scottish Cultural Institutions Index, which lists Scottish arts institutions alongside their stance on the genocide – alongside references to their support or silence on Black Lives Matter and the conflict in Ukraine. The disparity between institutional stances on these two concerns versus their silence on the genocide of Palestinians is stark. This confirms that institutions have deep fears that making pro-Palestine statements will lead to loss of funding or support – because so many institutions are funded by bodies who are either explicitly pro-Israel or invest and trade with Israel. One of the largest of these funders is Edinburgh-based Baillie Gifford, who invest in companies linked to illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank – and who also invest in many Scottish arts institutions. The failure of arts institutions to put pressure on (and cut ties with) Baillie Gifford makes it crystal clear that they believe genocide is justified as long as the art world status quo can be maintained.

You can find AWFPS’s Scottish Cultural Institutions Index via their Instagram @artworkersforpalestinescotland

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January 2024 – Feature

silence in the face of genocide, and feel betrayed by their continued lack of action, despite building pressure from their artists, staff, and audiences.”

While there has been an explicit and notable distinction between Westminster and Holyrood’s approach to calling for a ceasefire, political involvement and solidarity from MPs and MSPs in Scotland has been limited. Representatives from AWFPS say that government calls for a ceasefire are the bare minimum: “Calling for a ceasefire is not enough; they’re not calling for sanctions, suspending the arms sales or charging leaders with war crimes. It’s one thing to call for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and to ‘open our doors’ for any refugees who actually want to come or have had to leave, but they’re still not addressing the issue and complicity of UK arms sales, Scotland-based factories producing weapons and the presence of Thales” (a company that builds weapons that are sold to the Israeli state, who have factories in both Rosyth and Glasgow).

AWFP Dundee also note a similar, limited local response: “Our local MPs and most of our MSPs (excluding the Tories) have voted in favour of a ceasefire and we support that, but we also recognise there are other people in powerful positions who we need to pressure into taking a stance, speaking up, using their platforms to decry injustice and oppose genocide… and generally putting their money where their mouth is. We are immensely disappointed in and disgusted by our city’s cultural leaders for lacking the bravery and humanity to leverage their powerful positions to effect change.”

The art world is very much complicit in the West’s continued support of Israel’s occupation and genocide. This has revealed what many people – particularly members of the global majority – have known for years; that not only is the art world deeply complicit in this genocide, it is still deeply racist, Islamophobic and anti-Black. Art institutions are more than happy to co-opt artists of colour and artists from marginalised groups for its own vapid virtue signalling and optics of being ‘de-colonial’, at the cost of genuine care, action and change.

However, what has been revealed in the last few weeks is that any apparent support, solidarity and care from institutions has been purely self-serving.

THE SKINNY

Film

Keen on Kino Fokus returns for an eighth edition with a sharply curated lineup of brand-new German films, recent highlights from some of Germany’s best contemporary filmmakers, and some little-seen gems made in the German Democratic Republic Words: Jamie Dunn

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January 2024 – Feature

erman cinema gets its annual celebration in Scotland once again with the return of Fokus, Films from Germany, the film festival from the Goethe-Institut Glasgow. Taking place 9 to 31 January, Fokus will be bringing the best of German cinema – past and present – to venues across Scotland, with screenings planned in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, St Andrews, Ayr and Dumfries.

It’s the perfect chance to catch up on some recent gems of contemporary German cinema, with films like Christian Petzold’s Afire and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man at the heart of the programme. You’ll also find powerful documentaries like Andreas Dresen’s Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush and Uli Decker’s Anima – My Father’s Dresses. Below we pick out five more highlights from this year’s programme.

Sisi & I (Dir. Frauke Finsterwalder) Fokus kicks off with Frauke Finsterwalder’s pin-sharp black comedy Sisi & I, which co-stars actor of the moment Sandra Hüller. After knockout performances in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest, Hüller is one of the frontrunners for this year’s Best Actress Oscar, but she’s equally great in this stylish and irreverent film as Countess Irma Sztáray, who was lady-in-waiting to Empress Elisabeth of Austria — or Sisi to her adoring subjects. Expect a wickedly funny period drama with a modern feminist bend, fun needle drops and gorgeous fashion. Director Frauke Finsterwalder will attend the screening for a post-film Q&A, which will be moderated by Lauren Clarke. Glasgow Film Theatre, 9 Jan The Forger (Dir. Maggie Peren) Rising star Louis Hofmann plays real-life Jewish artist and World War II resistance fighter Cioma Schönhaus. The film shows how Schönhaus used his talents as a forger to continue to live and survive in 40s Berlin right under the Nazi government’s nose. There’s an inherent tension in the setup, but director Maggie Peren is also interested in realistically portraying life in Berlin around this time. Hofmann is as compellingly watchable as ever as Schönhaus, a charismatic hustler trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Institut Français d’Ecosse, 22 Jan; Dundee Contemporary Arts, 23 Jan; Glasgow Film Theatre, 24 Jan

The Forger

Run Lola Run (Dir. Tom Tykwer) This crackerjack thriller from Tom Tykwer remains a high-octane highlight of 90s German cinema.

The film shows us three different versions of our kickass heroine Lola racing across Berlin in an attempt to save the skin of her small-time drug dealer boyfriend. He’s lost 100,000 Deutsche Marks belonging to some very bad men, and she has 20 minutes to get hold of the money or her boyfriend gets whacked. The sheer energy and colour of Tykwer’s filmmaking is invigorating, but at its heart it’s a sweet film about love with a banging industrial soundtrack.

Dundee Contemporary Arts, 14 Jan; University of St Andrews, 23 Jan Midnight Revue (Dir. Gottfried Kolditz) This cult comedy, made by DEFA – East Germany’s state-owned film studio that made films from 1945 up until the fall of the Berlin Wall – sounds wild and is ripe for discovery. It follows a film producer who boasts he’s going to make a new kind of revue film, and resorts to desperate measures to get it made: namely, having his young female assistant hold a dramaturg, a composer and a set designer hostage until they create a cheerful revue film that will please both the public and the critics – a possibly impossible task.

Goethe-Institut Glasgow, 30 Jan Coming Out (Dir. Heiner Carow) Another DEFA gem, Coming Out was released on the same night in 1989 that the Wall fell. It tells the story of a closeted schoolteacher whose life goes into a tailspin one night after stumbling into a gay bar and falling hard for a man. Coming Out is a raw and moving piece of queer cinema, and a great time capsule of this nervy moment in German history, filled with fine-grained details of what life was like for gay people in East Germany, taking in real-life leather bars and cruising scenes in Berlin parks. Glasgow Film Theatre, 18 Jan; University of St Andrews, 30 Jan; Dundee Contemporary Arts, 31 Jan Fokus takes place 9-31 Jan at Glasgow Film Theatre, Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Ayr Film Society, the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre in Dumfries, St Andrews University and Institut Français d’Écosse in Edinburgh, along with the Goethe-Institut Glasgow — 28 —

Sisi & I

Coming Out

Run Lola Run

Midnight Revue

Tickets and the full programme are available at the GoetheInstitut’s website or from participating cinemas

THE SKINNY

We Love

Your Ears Clubs

One of the country’s most cherished parties has reached a quarter of a century – cause for a new compilation and a wee chat with one half of the duo behind Optimo, Jonnie Wilkes Words: Peter Walker

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hat is it with Glasgow and long-running club nights? Harri and Domenic are nearing 30 years of Subculture, Orde and Stuart have put on Pressure for almost as long, and now Keith and Jonnie are celebrating 25 years of Optimo. On the eve of an anniversary compilation from the latter DJ duo, we had the chance to ask exactly that.

“We ran the party every week for 12 and half years, and it was a residency in the truest sense, as we really weren’t booking many guests, but yeah, Harri and Domenic have been going forever, and Slam have been together since the 80s,” says Jonnie Wilkes. “I think it’s the tradition that Mike [owner of the Sub Club] comes from, he feels that it’s important to have someone trusted at the helm on certain nights, someone who knows the room and the soundsystem, someone that really knows their crowd; it makes for something special.” What he’s described is exactly what Wilkes and his musical partner McIvor have developed over the last quarter of a century. But of course, it wasn’t always that way.

Before Optimo, Wilkes threw parties at The Glasgow School of Art, while Keith (AKA JD Twitch) was running the legendary Pure at Edinburgh’s The Venue, alongside previous partner Brainstorm. As

days, they’d be lucky to get 100 “I love the community peopleIn inthetheearly 500-capacity room, so there was much rearranging of furniture to make it feel more that grew up, the intimate. But despite a slow start, Mike Grieve bands that formed liked the vibe and stuck with them. “About 18 months in, one week there were just considerably more people there – 200 or 300 – and after that, as a result, we had the place filled every Sunday,” Wilkes people meeting explains. “It was a bit of an anomaly – there still aren’t many popular Sunday nights – but people their partners” planned their week around it...”

Jonnie Wilkes Wilkes tells it, he would catch buses that were put on to the club from Glasgow and he got chatting to McIvor via shared friends. As Pure wound down towards the end of the 90s, McIvor was offered Sundays at the Sub Club, and decided to create something more musically diverse than the straight techno night he had become increasingly lumbered with. “He’d been thinking about a party playing other parts of his record collection and knew I had similar ideas about what a club night could be,” remembers Wilkes. “Pure had gotten very maledominated and the fun was being sucked from the dancefloor at the end of the 90s – the sound was quite linear and it felt a rather isolating experience.”

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January 2024 – Feature

Photo: Andrew Cawley Optimo

With such a long run – the Sub Club residency spanned 550 nights from November 1997 to April 2010 – it’s been almost impossible to distil into a compilation. “I think we’ve done more than 2,000 parties and no two have been the same, so it’s impossible to make something definitive,” admits Wilkes. “Like with previous compilations, we’ve tried to pepper it with records that we love and seem applicable to an Optimo experience. Of course, there are inevitable disappointments when putting something like this together, due to the licensing, as not everything you want gets cleared, but I’m really pleased with how it’s come together.”

If this all sounds like the ending of an era, then that’s very much not the plan. Postpandemic, Optimo is in rude health, with a renewed Glasgow residency at the Berkeley Suite, a touring schedule that’s as busy as it’s ever been and their very own festival, Watching Trees. “We both feel incredibly fortunate to be doing what we’re doing, playing the places we do,” comments Wilkes. “We’re so glad to have something regular in Glasgow again – it’s a really diverse crowd, with a feeling that so many people look forward to it every few months – and because it’s literally a few minutes from our houses, it feels like home.

“As for Watching Trees, it’s very DIY, only 500 people, but having gone to a lot of festivals we always had ideas about how we’d do it, so when the opportunity arose with Ransom Note we gave it a go and managed to pull it off.

“We were certainly flying by the seat of our pants, but it was one of the most fulfilling things we’ve ever done,” says Wilkes, adding that next year’s edition is moving to a new site in Wiltshire as a 24-hour event with camping, with plans to expand to a full weekend the following year.

“Such a lovely crowd, no dickheads,” he mentions, which kind of feels like an apt description of all they’ve achieved.

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Animating Scotland Theatre

We catch up with Manipulate Arts CEO Dawn Taylor about the festival’s unique and ambitious programme Words: Andrea Cabrera Luna

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he Skinny: Can you introduce us to Manipulate Festival 2024?

Dawn Taylor: Manipulate has always been interested in showcasing artists that are playing the edges between art forms and pushing the boundaries of what puppetry and visual theatre can be. This year, we have robots and drones onstage and people pushing their bodies in different ways and speaking to audiences with a range of techniques.

This year you have three associate programmers, right?

Yes, they are Natasha Ruwona, Emily Nicholl, and Holly Summerson. We did that for the first time last year through Creative Scotland’s Radical Care Fund, which was about enabling me as a leader with small children to balance that with needing to see lots of work to curate, but also creating opportunities for other voices to come through. They’ve really asked questions of us and our process, which has made us think differently.

Do you think that the leadership model for women in the arts will be redefined?

Definitely. The model of leadership that we inherit is not just made for men, but for white, able-bodied people. The more the younger generations come through organisations, the more

they’re asking important questions. Holly Summerson is a hard of hearing person, an artist, and animator; and Natasha Ruwona is a young, Black woman who is very much thinking about how we reach a broader and more diverse audience.

January 2024 – Feature

Photo: Brian Hartley

What exciting surprises can we expect?

We usually lock down our programme by the summer. This year, because of the significant funding challenges facing the sector, it took us a lot longer to put that programme together. As proud as we are, there are a lot of Scottish artists who didn’t get their funding, and who would have been in our programmes. What that meant, is that by the time we went to Charleville Festival in September – which is like the World Cup of puppetry in France – we had an open space and we ended up with two really exciting pieces from Compagnie Bakélite; one is Love of Risk, a dinner party served by robot vacuum cleaners, which is one of the pieces I was talking about, which pushes the edges of what we mean by puppets and makes a really smart but hilarious comment on our relationship with technology. The other is Invaders, a classic object theatre piece about aliens using lots of jelly. Another French object piece is The Conquest, which is about colonialism and being a woman of colour in 2023. Object theatre artists can treat heavy subjects with delicacy, which allows shows to be fun and engaging while also grappling with some really big ideas.

What Scottish shows will we see?

We’ve got lots of exciting shows but in particular Megahertz’s Ruins, which is going to be three dancers performing in our big, clear cube with beautiful projections and animations on it.

Also coming finally to Manipulate is Tortoise in a Nutshell’s Ragnarok. It’s four years later, and COVID, and two babies, and all sorts of stuff that got in the way of our audiences seeing the show and now it’s back and it’s going to be big and beautiful.

Can you tell us about your online programme?

We are sort of the biggest and only festival dedicated to all forms of animation in Scotland. We’ve really stepped up our film offer this year, thanks to some funding from Film Hub Scotland. So, we’re trying to make sure that this is a celebration for animation in the same way that it is for puppetry and visual theatre.

Manipulate Festival, venues across Edinburgh, 1-11 Feb Megahertz’s Ruins

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manipulatearts.co.uk

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January 2024

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Ruaridh Litster-Campbell

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Comedy Forecast T

his will be my first time attending the Glasgow International Comedy Festival and I’m excited to see Big, If True with Casey Patmore and George Anderson. Closer to home, I’m snatching up tickets for several solo shows at Monkey Barrel – Krystal Evans, Josh Glanc, and Olga Koch in particular! I missed their shows at the Fringe and will *not* be wasting this second chance to see them. [Sofia Reyes Valencia] The wait for season 4 of the irreverently violent The Boys has felt like a lifetime. Luckily, it won’t be too much longer until I am once more crooned at by Karl Urban’s dodgy British accent, and get to see what new lows the show’s villain, Homelander, stoops to next! So long as there’s no more breast-feeding.

And, after being starved of the joys of The Delightful Sausage at Fringe 2023, it’s a relief to know the duo has more brewing. Icklewick FM is their new Radio 4 sitcom about a fictional, dysfunctional northern radio station – promising appearances from a series of beloved British comedy characters. Set to be broadcast this month, it’ll give you a mucky, hysterical start to the year. [Yasmin Hackett]

January 2024 – Feature

Josie Long has a string of stand-up gigs starting in January called A Work in Progress About Giant Extinct Animals – I personally can’t wait for some silly, informal fun with the promise of some dinosaurs or mammoths thrown in. Also, an honourable mention to season 2 of Jack Rooke’s pitch-perfect sitcom Big Boys, which is the most accurate portrayal of non-Russell Group uni life I’ve seen on-screen and the best British sitcom since Derry Girls. [Louis Cammell] The Free Association (London-based improv theatre/school, often about during the Fringe) have announced they’re expanding to Glasgow this year.

More shows and classes will be exciting but the fact they’ve chosen Glasgow out of all the cities in the UK says a lot about the quality of the existing scene (Glasgow Improv Theatre, thank you). I’m glad people can see it as a hub for comedy in a way that’s completely independent to the Fringe, especially for an art form that doesn’t have much of a hold in the UK to begin with. [Laurie Presswood] I’m very excited about Jessica Fostekew’s new show Mettle (Monkey Barrel, 5 Mar); and the long-anticipated season 2 of Nida Manzoor’s We Are Lady Parts.

Lauren Oyler’s collection of essays, No Judgement, is also a big moment: expect mordantly funny cultural commentary and incisive literary analysis. The biggest cultural event of the year, though, for me, is Miranda July’s new novel, All Fours. Her first novel, The First Bad Man, is a comic and erotic masterpiece, and the new novel will doubtless be just as singularly brilliant. [Emma Sullivan]

I’m looking forward to catching Leslie Liao and Sikisa’s sets in Glasgow this March.

Making waves on the other side of the Atlantic, Liao’s deadpan, dry delivery and style has had me cackling. I can’t wait to catch her set The Nighttime Routine, about the ‘life and loves of a single Chinese-American woman living in LA’.

Meanwhile, South Londoner Sikisa’s infectious charisma made her 2022 Fringe set, which tackled big topics from immigration to gender roles, a standout. Her new show, Hear Me Out, is based around a relatable premise – saying the wrong thing at the wrong time – and looks like a must-see. [Anita Bhadani] The Office is arriving in Australia with a cast led by Felicity Ward (Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee). This fresh remake of the influential mockumentary updates the workplace to suit the ‘post’ pandemic era.

Just as Steve Carrell made the character of Michael Scott his own in The Office USA, Ward will be hoping to do the same with Hannah Howard. Ward is renowned for her comedic candour, often uncovering her most cringeworthy moments on stage. Her portrayal of the oblivious and self-absorbed branch manager looks set to be a defining moment. [Ben Venables] Out of everything billed for 2024, I’ve spotted Amy Gledhill’s got a few WIPs in the diary so I’m dead excited to see brand-spanking-new stuff from her, alongside whatever insane concoction of — 34 —

Image: courtesy of Anete Sooda

Comedy

The Skinny’s Comedy Team reveal their hot picks for 2024

The Delightful Sausage

anti-comedy Sam Campbell’s whipped up for Wobservations, his first UK tour. Oh! And a new show from Fern Brady!

Over on the small screen though, I’m intrigued by Daddy Issues, a recently announced sitcom from writer and stand-up Danielle Ward, starring Sex Education’s Amy Lou Wood and David Morrissey. [Polly Glynn]

THE SKINNY

Holding Still A number of poses, a number of sketches – life modelling is a practice unto itself. One writer explores learning to see oneself and be seen in the artist’s studio and beyond Intersections

Words: Josephine Jay Illustration: Agnes Xantippa Boman

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thirteen poses in three hours. However, the quick-fire poses brought a new layer of physical discomfort as I spent each pose panicking about my next, realising the limitations of the flexibility I had overextended, the pliancy from my childhood that had vanished through neglect.

Sitting in the middle of the room during one of the longer poses, the glare of a spotlight bright in my eyes, I thought about how I have wasted a good portion of my life hating my appearance and continue to do so. Strangers saw parts of my body my parents haven’t seen for years. They saw the bruises on my knees, my belly rolls and the remnants of self-harm from my teens.

Whilst life modelling, I thought about clothes and their protection; the parts of my body I hide in jumpers and colour. I kept on my jewellery because it felt like the last part of my identity I could keep on, besides my tattoos. As a teenager, when my parents found my first tattoo they were apoplectic; however, where they saw disfiguration I finally saw something I liked on my skin.

Being able to bring them into the studio as an additive felt nice.

Since my breakup in April, I’ve spent the last few months in a cycle furiously downloading and deleting the dating apps in moments of weakness and disgust. With each shame-filled recreation of my dating profile, I find myself scrolling through the last ten years of photos. I look back at pictures of myself I hated at eighteen and see nothing wrong with them. Then, I wonder if I’m catfishing as I upload pictures from two years ago. I realise I don’t know what I look like. With every new profile, I wonder what image I want to project, who am I trying to impress? I flicker between different selections of photos; pictures in nature, pictures at home, pictures with friends. I realise I use busy photos to try and remove scrutiny from myself. Life modelling resists such self-curation.

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“The raw intimacy of eight strangers (and one friend) watching and recording my body from different angles was oddly calming” Online dating is like standing at the fridge with the itch of hunger, opening and shutting the door hoping that something other than a half-eaten jar of mayonnaise might materialise. It is a shallow game entertaining ideas of people based on a few photos, a few caustic prompts; dismissing them on arbitrary whims. It feels vulnerable offering up your own image to similar layers of inspection, forcing you to look at yourself from an outsider’s perspective. I surprisingly found life modelling less scary; once my clothes were off it felt as if I had reached the limit of my own insecurity – there was nowhere left to hide.

My friend from the drawing class has known me since we were teenagers and I saw how that coloured her art. She was perhaps kinder with her brush strokes than the others because she knew me. Likeness is a hard thing to freeze onto paper. Strangers perhaps are gifted in that they can look without filters acquired through association. Small glimpses of the others’ artwork caught different aspects: my posture, the strands of hair I keep defensively over my face, my rings. The gaze of the artists in the class was not as piercing or invasive as I’d thought it would be. Life modelling reiterated for me the ways different angles draw different truths from the same interaction. I’d like to do it again, some time.

January 2024 – Feature

t is a peculiar tonic, sitting still for half an hour.

My ears itched, my thoughts wandered and my palms grew sweaty on my legs as I sat naked in a room full of easels and artists a few Wednesdays ago in Glasgow.

I life modelled for the first time last year; it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

My friend had an opening in her drawing class and I immediately volunteered. I saw it as a way to make amends to a body I have not always liked or been kind to; a therapist once asked me to list all the things about myself I liked and I cried for half an hour.

I’ve gone to my fair share of life drawing classes, stood on the other side of the easel and thought it only fair to try things in reverse; I wanted to see what it would feel like to be captured in charcoal and ink. The raw intimacy of eight strangers (and one friend) watching and recording my body from different angles was oddly calming. I’d anticipated nerves and self-consciousness but the stillness and sharp smells of turpentine were meditative. Indeed, the class was shyer than I was. With each pose, they whipped away their drawings so quickly I only caught glimpses of my arms and legs.

While I sat still, my mind slipped away to entertain fantasies; arguments and brief moments from my day. I watched the others paint – the flickers of concentration, the creases of their faces and how tightly they held onto their brushes. I watched a woman mix skin tones two shades too light for my complexion. Once, a man let his easel slip; I saw he’d given me larger boobs.

Life modelling forced me to reckon with my own body in ways I did not expect.

I’d initially anticipated embarrassment as we rattled through

THE SKINNY

Intersections

General Strike For Bodily Rights Between unending waiting lists and impossible medical bills, bodily autonomy is under threat – especially for trans people. Our Theatre editor unpacks how reproductive and gender affirming care intersect with financial freedoms and constraints Words: Rho Chung Illustration: Phoebe Willison

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January 2024 – Feature

ccording to Scottish Trans, the estimated wait time for a first appointment in Edinburgh is two years. In Glasgow, it’s four. Reading over the information about Scotland’s four NHS clinics, it’s apparent that transition, regardless of the route you take, has an enormous cost.

As sites where the bodily autonomy of marginalised people is contested, reproductive and gender affirming care are inextricably linked.

Barriers to reproductive and gender affirming care constitute a class war in many ways. Being able to afford private care isn’t necessarily the same thing as being able to buy whatever care you want, but, set against a public system riven with obstacles, it begins to feel that way. Free care that you have to wait years for isn’t free. The cost of dysphoria, of waiting, of trying to live as yourself in a culture that refuses to see you is crushing. It’s like owing myself a debt that I will never pay off.

“To have a trans body is to be written over with external meaning; to transition, medically or socially, is to take back our power as authors of our own meaning” Trans people medically transition for infinitely varied reasons – while medical transition has nothing to do with the validity of trans identity, it’s a common choice amongst us. In medical care, medical transition is posited as a way of ‘treating’ gender dysphoria, but the impacts reach so much further. To show gender presentation to be composed of arbitrary and changeable signs is to reclaim one’s body back from the state. To have a trans body is to be written over with external meaning; to transition, medically or socially, is to take back our power as authors of our own meaning.

Bodies are subjugated in Scotland in so many ways – beyond gender affirming care, people with

uteruses face incredible obstacles to getting treated for the most commonplace issues. Of course, pretty much every kind of treatment has been affected by the incredible strain on the NHS, and this is not the fault of care providers. The difficulty of accessing reproductive and genderrelated care speaks to a hostility towards trans people and women at a governmental level. While the NHS claims that you can get voluntarily sterilised, a GP can refuse to carry out the procedure or refer you for it if they ‘do not believe it’s in your best interests.’ In practice, this means that a care provider can simply decide that they don’t feel like it – and, frequently, they don’t. There are few publicly available figures from the last ten years, but a 2008 pilot study found that fewer than half of the participants who asked their doctor about permanent birth control methods were referred to a specialist, and fewer than one in three actually got the procedure.

The overwhelming consensus of these obstacles seems to be that whether or not you can do anything to affect your permanent baby-carrying capacity is not up to you. This keeps people reliant on state care – if there is no permanent option available, then I have to routinely see a doctor to get permission to not get pregnant.

My point is that barriers to reproductive and gender affirming care are part of the same class war.

This is not to say that one could drop £5,000 at a private clinic and get sterilised next week, but surely having such money laying around would make the process easier. The crushing emotional weight of being literally powerless to do what you want for your body extends far beyond people with marginalised genders. A body under austerity is a subordinated one. Any system in which access to care is defined by access to money is violent toward the majority of its citizens.

This is not a new thought – but it’s important to me to remember that my ability to medically transition is my access to birth control which is my welfare under a capitalist state.

Recently, the UK government blocked the implementation of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, — 36 —

which would have reduced the red tape surrounding processes of medical transition. This honestly heinous intervention lays bare the threat that transness and transition – and, by extension, the legalisation of myriad forms of bodily autonomy – pose to state power.

When I write about this, I sometimes wonder why I’m bothering. If you’re reading this, surely you know the above already. Or maybe you’ve seen it in a tweet (sorry, post) recently. But it’s important that I say it and write it, to then suggest a good old general strike – because if my right to medically transition is bound up in my status as a cog in the machine of capitalism, then solidarity across these movements, not just in ideology, but in methodology and action, is a liberating force.

When my doctor tells me that if I legally change my gender marker, I will no longer be invited for routine reproductive health screenings, I hear, “General strike.” When the waiting list to have an elective vasectomy in Edinburgh is under four months, but my care provider told me it was pointless to even bother asking about permanent sterilisation, I hear, “General strike.” When the government continues to fund and profiteer from a genocide, while medical aid is attacked and rendered inaccessible, I hear –

THE SKINNY

The Power of Love

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expect Andrew Haigh to be a bit bleary-eyed this morning. After all, it’s the day after the British Independent Film Awards and Haigh’s stunning new film, All of Us Strangers, has just walked off with seven awards, including best supporting performance for Paul Mescal, best director and best screenplay for Haigh, and the big prize of the night, best British independent film.

Surely he was out celebrating? “Oh, I’m too old for drinking and having fun,” he laughs. “I was in bed by about 12.30 after a cup of tea.”

Adam, the protagonist of All of Us Strangers (played by Andrew Scott), is similarly partyingaversed – initially at least. As the film opens, he’s alone in his near-empty tower block in London, where he spends his nights gazing longingly across the city or watching archive clips from Top of the Pops while struggling to write a screenplay about the death of his parents. His lonely existence is punctuated one night by Harry (Paul Mescal), his only neighbour, who turns up at his door drunk and horny.

Andrew Haigh A lonely gay man longing for connection puts us in mind of Weekend, Haigh’s breakout feature from 2012, although a hint of the supernatural creeps into the new film. While researching his screenplay, Adam goes back to his childhood home to find his mother and father still living there, despite having died in a car crash when he was 12. “At one point, I was nervous that people would just see this as Weekend Part 2 with ghosts.” laughs Haigh. “I was like, ‘Oh God, I don’t want that to be what this film is.’” Haigh

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actors is clearly something he relishes and Andrew Scott is someone he’s wanted to work with for the longest time. “Obviously Andrew has had a lot of lead roles in theatre, and he’s done a lot of stuff on television, he has been in a lot of films, but I’ve never seen him be the centre of a film. And I’ve always thought, Why? Because he’s such a good actor.” Haigh also felt Scott would understand this world. “In real life, Andrew and I have similar experiences. Andrew is gay, so we understand what that experience was like growing up. Plus he really responded to the script. So it was just a no-brainer, really. He’s a really talented actor, he loves the script, and he understands it. It’s like the three things you want more than anything else.”

Paul Mescal matches Scott every step of the way. Haigh points to Mescal’s eyes as being the key to his performance. “It just feels there’s a whole world going on behind there that you want to sort of understand; there’s a soulfulness to him.

And with a role like Harry, you don’t know a huge amount about him. But Paul lets you know that he wants him to be compassionate towards Adam, and you also get the sense of his own demons. It’s all there in the eyes and I feel like Paul is so good at communicating two things at the same time, one thing on the surface, and then something else that’s underneath. And that’s rare.”

All of Us Strangers is released 26 Jan by Disney

January 2024 – Feature

“As queer people, we’re all trying to understand romantic relationships because we haven’t had a framework of what those relationships can be”

agrees that the films are in conversation in some way, though.

“Weekend was 12 years ago, and as I’ve got older, there were more things that I’ve wanted to explore about queerness and the nature of love. And I’ve poured that all into the new film.”

One theme that links the two films is the feeling of being outside of society as a queer person. “As queer people, we’re all trying to understand romantic relationships because we haven’t had a framework of what those relationships can be,” explains Haigh. “You know, you grow up in a family where everybody is straight, and everyone at school seems to be straight, and you’re not, so you’re unsure how you fit in with any of that. So I think it can take a lot of queer people a long time to understand what it is that they want. But it is not that you’re inherently lonely because you’re gay, which is what people used to think. It’s just that the world says we are that kind of person.”

The film is based on Strangers by Japanese author Taichi Yamada, which tells a similar narrative about a heterosexual writer. What drew Haigh to the story initially was its central concept of meeting your parents as they were when you were a child and you are now an adult. “The idea of being able to go back and meet your mum and dad on the same level would be an incredible experience,” says Haigh. “Often we think our parents should know everything. But then, when you get older and you look back, you’re like ‘Jesus, my parents were 32 when I was a kid. I was a mess when I was in my early 30s. Why did I expect my parents to know everything?’”

All of Us Strangers is undoubtedly Haigh’s most visually complex film. But like all his work it’s centred on great performances. Working with

Words: Jamie Dunn

Film

All of Us Strangers sees a lonely man embark on a new relationship while inexplicably reconnecting with his long-dead parents. Its director, Andrew Haigh, discusses queer alienation, understanding our parents and the soulfulness of Paul Mescal’s eyes

January 2023 – Feature

Music

THE SKINNY

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THE SKINNY

Modern Folk We catch up with Free Love’s Lewis Cook about his latest venture GLOSS – Glasgow Library of Synthesized Sounds – and their forthcoming Introduction to Electronic Music series

Music

The next series of ITEM starts on 7 Jan; sign up to the GLOSS mailing list at gloss.scot for future series, and follow them on Instagram @gloss_cic

January 2024 – Feature

— 39 —

Photo: Marilena Vlachopoulou

Lewis Cook

Photo: Marilena Vlachopoulou

“I feel strongly about trying to recognise electronic music in the same way somebody might recognise a folk art or tradition”

had never picked up an instrument before and were just interested in making music,” says Lewis.

“It brought everyone to this similar level and suddenly you’ve got all these ideas bouncing around: just because someone hasn’t played music before doesn’t mean they’re not creative, and we were able to give them the tools to apply their great ideas.”

Lewis stresses that ITEM is not just about providing instruction manuals to work a modular synthesizer. “The point of this isn’t: ‘Here’s a slab of information. Now, you go do the work’. We’re creating space and time for people to come learn together and share what they produce – less just sitting in a darkened room with the glow of a screen in front of you, making what can be quite an isolating thing into more of a communal experience.

“I feel strongly about trying to recognise electronic music in the same way somebody might recognise a folk art or tradition. This is our modern folk: this is a culture, a heritage, a history. So we’re not just outlining the latest gear and how to use it, though that is part of it – we’re learning what makes an 808 the sound everyone recognises, why is it in the cultural lexicon, what does it mean, things like this. You won’t just be a qualified engineer, you’ll hopefully be inspired and informed by the history and the culture that surrounds electronic music, understanding that it’s not just a pile of buttons and sounds.”

When talking about these ideas and how it has manifested in ITEM, Lewis fizzes with a palpable excitement about it all. That has been further channeled into the Glasgow Library of Synthesized Sound (or GLOSS), a non-profit intended to act as a sustainable infrastructure for ITEM and a host of other progressive ideas geared towards making electronic music something anyone can get involved in.

Based on similar pursuits in Prague and Los Angeles, the first innovation on the agenda is a library “which will have instruments and resources that would be otherwise out of reach, ranging from gear that would usually be unaffordable, old, rare pieces that are barely being used anymore that have a particular sound, or notable instruments and equipment used by actual artists on specific records,” says Lewis.

There are aspirations for a permanent residence, but as the project gains steam, pop-ups and other outreach is in the works. “It feels like the right time for Glasgow to have this kind of signposting centre which brings together all these different worlds [within electronic music],” explains Lewis. “Being in Glasgow, we’re outside the main financial infrastructure of what goes on in the music industry, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. We’re lucky because we have a very strong scene and things can work when people band together. We can end up creating something of significance that people have to take seriously.”

Photo: Marilena Vlachopoulou

I

t all started with a bodhrán. During lockdown, Lewis Cook – one half of Glasgow duo Free Love, alongside his partner Suzi – craved something new, finding it in online lessons for the Irish percussion instrument. “Fuck, it was amazing,” he remembers. “I was learning so much, meeting like-minded people.”

He learned a new skill; it also provided a small, but powerful, spark. Could he create the same educational and community-minded space for the knowledge and technique he and Suzi had accumulated making electronic music? The Cooks used social media to promote the idea, getting a bit of a rub from Synthstrom Audible, which manufactures sequencers, synthesizers and other electronic music gear. It resulted in around 80 people, from Europe to India, attending online workshops discussing how to use hardware, software and other resources to make electronic music.

They were a huge success, but what started as something relatively simple has turned into a long-term project looking to democratise the way electronic music can be created, making it more accessible, affordable and community driven. This month, Lewis and Suzi launch the second in-person run of ITEM – Introduction to Electronic Music – a series of free workshops at La Chunky Studios in the West End of Glasgow borne out of that passion to share wisdom around a genre of music that can be daunting and obfuscated to outsiders.

Building on the initial success of the programme – which saw 200 applicants vie for 16 places – musicians of all experiences will be able to join multi-level classes that continue to explore ideas of electronic music history, culture and practice. Thirty-two places will be available on the first level scheme, with an additional ten on a second, more advanced level. This round of the project has received backing from Creative Scotland, and input from Rubadub, Instruo, Ableton, and other major electronic music players. “[The first ITEM] had participants who’d already been very successful musicians, but maybe hadn’t touched electronics, to people who

Words: Tony Inglis

THE SKINNY

Oh Yes! Mumbai-based stand-up Urooj Ashfaq on her 2023 Fringe win, Festivals vs. Tours, Edinburgh vs. Glasgow, and what the near future brings

Comedy

Words: Sofia Reyes Valencia

U

rooj Ashfaq quickly stands out among her comedic peers as someone to keep an eye on. With a thriving career in India and the UK, a prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award under her belt and an upcoming tour, she shows no signs of slowing down. Her debut stand-up hour, Oh No!, showcases the best of Ashfaq as a comedian – her likeability, a charming sense of honesty, and a willingness to dwell within vulnerability. “I think about it almost every other day,” Ashfaq says, reminiscing over her win at the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Consistently sincere, she’s immediately forthcoming about her own thought process when asked to define Oh No! in her own words. Mining her own life for material, the subjects touched on in her show – childhood, therapy, old diaries, her parents’ divorce – prove the ‘write what you know’ theory all too well, but her passion and honesty pushes Ashfaq’s observational comedy to a new level. “It came from a very honest space, so maybe that’s why it was nice to watch.” Critics and

audiences seem to agree, with a successful Fringe run deftly setting her up for her first UK tour in early 2024.

Performing at the Fringe is no easy feat, especially when it’s your first time. However, Ashfaq reflects fondly on all the opportunities Fringe provides. “It kind of creates a safe space for you to [perform]... it’s okay if it’s a little outlandish, or it falls flat. It’s part of the deal!” And it’s a sense of safety like this one that encourages exploration.

“The positive... is that I’m not from there. So I can be anything! And I can experiment in the middle of my shows and try things that I would probably be too conscious to try [in Mumbai].”

Four months after her big win and a few weeks before her first tour, Ashfaq still marvels at how it’s all gone down. “You’re just like, you know, this was nothing when I began, now it’s something beautiful…” She assures us that the award itself is a high point, but can’t help but admit “the peak of this was when they mentioned… that I won ‘Best Newcomer’ in the Indian version of Who Wants To Photo: Jonny Ruff

January 2024 – Feature

Be A Millionaire.” Her excitement is contagious as she enthuses, “I think I finally have some legitimate ‘cred’ with my relatives!”

Ashfaq is undaunted when discussing her 2024 UK tour, bringing an upbeat, level-headed

“The peak of this was when they mentioned… that I won ‘Best Newcomer’ in the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” Urooj Ashfaq outlook to the table. “I have realised that my audience is now not just the audience that sees me on YouTube, it’s also people who follow the festival. So, the demographic of my audience has changed a little bit.” While talking about the process of re-tooling her stand-up to a mostly monolingual audience, she spins what many see as a challenge into an opportunity. “Having to do things in English is a small thing to adjust to be able to explore other parts of comedy, your show and your comedic persona.” And in her opinion, the trade-off seems more than fair.

In anticipation of her return, we rave on all that Scotland has to offer, and lament the perpetual lack of time she has here. “When I come [back] next year… I really want to climb up to Arthur’s Seat, go to some of the gardens… Scotland is so beautiful – I remember I would just sit in the Meadows for hours and just feel my feelings dramatically.” When filled in on the local rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow, she takes a moment to reflect: “It seems to be a worldwide phenomenon of ‘Two cities just squaring off’ trying to be the best. We have that here in India [with] Delhi and Mumbai.” As a fan of Scotland generally, Ashfaq volunteers herself as an impartial third party, happy to “observe both cities, make thorough notes, and then come back to you next year,” with her one hundred percent objective conclusion on which city shines brightest.

Urooj Ashfaq: Oh No!, Monkey Barrel Edinburgh, 23 Jan, 8pm, £16 and The Stand Glasgow, 24 Jan, 8.30pm, £16

Urooj Ashfaq

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@uroojashfaq on Instagram and YouTube

THE SKINNY

Brothers-in-Arms We chat with Booker-shortlisted, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar on his newest novel My Friends Words: Louis Cammell

Books

“You begin to see the hints of your intellectual and emotional geography, where else you might go, what else you might do”

Photo: Diana Matar

W

Hisham Matar again. Matar’s 2016 memoir The Return, for which he won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, chronicles his own search for what exactly happened. As a boy, he recalls people walking in and out of their home at any time of the day, the hours coloured by the slightly abstract radical dialogues of men committed to a common cause.

Breaking up the intensity was the food – a celebration of nature and an expression of love and delight – cooked lovingly by his mother and her sisters.

During phone conversations in My Friends, food is a topic by which Khaled and his parents can bypass the painful and dangerous topic of his fate, for who knows who could be listening. Where speaking straightforwardly could be calamitous, a question posed to his mother about his failed lamb tagine creates space for a reply heartbreakingly packed with subtext: “Khaled, habibi, tell me exactly what you did, and I’ll tell you where you went wrong.”

With the characteristic disclaimer that, of course, it shouldn’t be done in a self-indulgent way, Matar suggests that the writing process itself can engender a certain degree of self-knowledge.

“Before I started writing, if you were to ask me what I am passionate about, whatever I would have said would have been both sincere and deeply inaccurate.” But after numerous books, essays and poems published, he explains, “you begin to see the hints of your intellectual and emotional geography, where else you might go, what else you might do.”

Running through all of Matar’s books are people reluctant to accept preconceived models of — 41 —

Hisham Matar

being or behaving. “That tension I mentioned: between politics and the private life; aesthetics; intellectual life,” he says, “it’s a tension that often relies on a very particular idea of masculinity.

[That] to be a man is to be a man of action; is to act, to move the world. I think a lot of my characters are wondering about that. They’re not sure about that.”

My Friends situates itself around a character who cares deeply. Spoken in many different contexts, the words of Matar’s title contain multitudes. They have begun many a call-to-arms. They have laid blame, betrayed or condemned. But spoken by Khaled, citizen of Hisham Matar’s intellectual landscape, the words become more akin to fingertips placed delicately on an object, as if to take account of its value and its fragility.

My Friends is out 11 Jan via Viking Books. Hisham Matar will be launching the book at Topping & Company, Edinburgh, 9 Jan

January 2024 – Feature

henever Hisham Matar makes a statement about himself during our phone call, it is often preceded by a self-effacing disclaimer. “This sounds very childish,” he says, “but I’ve never lost that childlike wonder about the fact that when you are sitting with a book, you are stationary, but if you lock horns with it, you feel yourself cast into a very specific momentum, you know? We take our books for walks, or we walk into them, or through them.”

Yet there doesn’t seem anything particularly childlike about the thought that propelled Matar to write My Friends, his new novel whose reluctant protagonist Khaled begins his story while walking home through London. We first meet Khaled and fellow Libyan immigrant Hosam as they bid each other farewell at King’s Cross station, the entire interaction charged with a history we have not yet learned. “If I try to cast my mind back to the very early beginnings of [the book],” says Matar, “I thought I could spend some time thinking about the relationship of the present to everything that has happened before. That is one of the things that has always fascinated me. The fact that, on some level, we are all in the aftermath. Each one of us has come to this moment through so much.”

At the centre of My Friends are these two University of Edinburgh students, Khaled and Mustafa, whose lives are irrevocably changed by a single event; one that throws them into the dual and paradoxical states of perpetual motion and stasis. Near-fatal injuries, sustained at the hands of their own country’s embassy in London, implicate both young men into the real events of 17 April 1984, in which a gunman opened fire on a crowd of protesters. Miraculously, only one person – a twenty-five year-old police officer – was killed, but Mustafa and Khaled represent two of the eleven further casualties.

“I am painfully aware of the fact that I live in a world where it really matters what gender, race, nationality, religion you are. And it matters horrifically because it calibrates people’s outrage. No one really reported on, or knew of, the fact that as well as the tragic death of Yvonne Fletcher, there were these eleven young men who got shot,” says Matar.

Matar grew up in a political household in Tripoli, Libya. His father was considered a political dissident and was, when Matar was only 19, abducted in Cairo, never to be found

January 2024

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THE SKINNY

Album of the Month

Released 26 January

by XL Recordings rrrrr Listen to: Teleharmonic, Under Our Pillows, Friend of a Friend, Bending Hectic

T

Album of the Month The Smile — Wall of Eyes From the acoustic to the electronic, Wall of Eyes is texturally alive. Teleharmonic, previewed initially during Peaky Blinders’ sixth season, is a compositional marvel: Tom Skinner’s drums bubble and scatter, present over every inch of the mix. The synths are fit to bask in, warm and orange. And Thom Yorke, curious yet distant, remains ambiguous: ‘Will I wake in the morning? I don’t know,’ he starts, eventually finishing as an audience proxy: ‘Where are you taking me?’

There is no let-up of momentum on Side B. Friend of a Friend, while somewhat unassuming, brilliantly exists in its simplicity: bass, piano and a jazz drumline are joined by subtle brass and cascading and rippling vocal effects. ‘I guess I believe in an altered state,’ sings Yorke, once again situating himself from a perspective outside the lyrical narrative to comment on the very music we’re listening to. Bending Hectic, the album’s first single proper, stands particularly tall here. An odyssey that pushes through lilting shoegaze, Sade-esque soul and yet somehow still manages to bequeath Greenwood an absolute monster of a solo introduced in a final two minutes that are truly mindblowing; a development of the hook so brilliant it could singe your eyebrows. [Rhys Morgan]

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

Kali Uchis Orquídeas Out 12 Jan via Geffen Records

The Vaccines Pick-up Full of Pink Carnations Out 12 Jan via Thirty Tigers/Super Easy

Green Day Saviours Out 19 Jan via Reprise/Warner Records — 43 —

Alkaline Trio Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs Out 26 Jan via Rise Records

January 2024 — Review

he second studio album from The Smile, Wall of Eyes is a kaleidoscopic, mind-altering pronouncement: The Smile are not a band of their component parts, not echoes of their previous ventures. They are something exciting, ambitious, and genuinely brilliant; a sentiment delivered so resoundingly by their work here that it will leave your ears ringing.

The towering 13-song tracklist of their debut has been punched-up for eight lusher, longer, suite-like tracks, each with its own sense of movement, progress, and scope. And, while the heavier Jonny Greenwood guitars have been somewhat cast aside, there is still fun to be had.

Read the Room – its guitar bobbing axially to-andfro – and Under Our Pillows are the most recognisable in sound here, the latter bringing Side A to a close in a haunting crescendo of unsettling strings (spoiler alert: there’s a second use of this later that blows a hole through the wall, and it’s brilliant). These strings – provided by the brilliant London Contemporary Orchestra – are a recurring star on the album that almost feel like framing devices; hazard signs that we’re about to sonically shapeshift, or veer left somewhere into the unknown.

Albums

THE SKINNY

Bill Ryder-Jones lechyd Da Domino, 12 Jan

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January 2024 — Review

Listen to: If Tomorrow Starts Without Me, This Can’t Go On, Nos Da

Ty Segall Three Bells Drag City, 26 Jan

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Listen to: Void, The Bell

Having produced records recently for Michael Head, By the Sea and Brooke Bentham, Bill Ryder-Jones is back in the hot seat for a set of his own songs for the first time in a while. It’s a prescient move, as fifth album Iechyd Da is his best yet – full of graceful guitar, pinpoint piano and hushed tones. “It’s my most produced record,” he admits. “I haven’t been this proud of an album since [2013’s] A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart.”

There’s strings, samples, kids singing and even fellow troubadour Mick Head reading James Joyce’s Ulysses over the Ennio Morriconeunderwater swells of mid-album instrumental ... And The Sea... The glorious If Tomorrow Starts Without Me is the kind of guitar pop RyderJones’ Welsh brethren Euros Childs and Sweet Baboo specialise in, while widescreen epic This Can’t Go On is Mercury Rev by the Mersey and I Hold Something In My Hand connects the dots between his Coral and choral days.

There is a timeless and timely feel to these tunes and it sounds as if something stately is stirring in West Kirby. Good health, indeed.

[Alan O’Hare]

The latest opus from Ty Segall is a paranoid, claustrophobic enigma. He can still shred with the best of them, but across this hour-plus album he revels in upending expectations, whether through abrupt tonal shifts, fried-metal no-wave, or even a regular rocker that could pass for early Radiohead.

He gets a little help from his wife, Denée, on five songs, and when her deadpan vocals arrive during Move it’s a welcome but sharp contrast to his own keening falsetto.

Although there are lovely odes to her and to friendship, there is also plenty of nonsense and a trip down the meta-wormhole for the ages in Repetition, which consists of just the song’s title and the word ‘ringing’ repeated ad nauseam.

Two brilliant Segall epics open the album, both mini-odysseys that the rest of the album can’t quite match. But almost an hour later he and Denée close with What Can We Do; a loose, twangy affair. They answer the existential question in a way that’s wildly unsatisfying and right on brand: ‘I know what to do / Me and you / ...la la la la’. In Segall country, that’s about as near to closure as we’re likely to get.

[Lewis Wade]

Future Islands People Who Aren’t There Anymore 4AD, 26 Jan

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Listen to: King of Sweden, The Fight, The Sickness

Dau Gilly’s Wood Spirituals, 12 Jan

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Listen to: Camping, Neu, Mary

— 44 —

This month sees Future Islands release their seventh studio album, almost a decade to the day since that breakthrough Letterman performance. The Baltimore outfit, already three records in by that point, haven’t looked back in the intervening ten years, and now stand as sort of elder statesmen of stately synth-pop.

The question, then, is where is there left for the trio to go?

Pleasingly, People Who Aren’t There Anymore suggests there are plenty of musical roads for them still to travel.

The primary avenue they head down here is one defined by heartbreak, with both frontman Samuel T. Herring and bassist William Cashion reeling from the dissolution of long-standing relationships. The result is a pointed record resolute in its pursuit of redemption.

Opener King of Sweden has Herring defiantly reclaiming the memories of his years spent there with his last partner, while The Fight plays like a paean to the restorative power of moving on. Throughout, the group’s tried-and-true, gleaming synth-pop palette is flecked with fresh sonic ambition, particularly on slow-burning epics Corner of My Eye and The Sickness. At the centre of it all remains Herring’s fabulously expressive voice, tailor-made to spin tales of heartache. [Joe Goggins] Built around two hours of improvised reed organ recorded in the titular forest, Dau’s latest release is suitably pretty, a set of earnest, delicate pieces that feel like little hymns to the natural space they were recorded in. Neu is a representative opener, a gently optimistic little chord sequence that seems to accumulate sounds as if it's the wind moving through the woods, a soft pulse of leaves and sparrows.

It’s a style that could wear thin.

Every piece has the soft glow of a rural sundown, gently meandering, never diverting in any particular direction, simply slowly blooming into something greater than it began.

But it’s the way Dau animates these spaces that makes the album work so well. It’s in the little pushes of bass that make Camping press forward with its woozy momentum, or the way Mulberry seems to hover, totally weightless, just rotating in place. This capacity to be completely calming whilst never sitting still makes for a beautiful thing.

It’s a sound that in no way reinvents the wheel, but it’s superbly done. There’s an incredible command of tone on display on the record, and it cements Dau as an always experimenting, ever interesting solo artist.

[Joe Creely]

THE SKINNY

Listen to: Throw, The Hills, America

Katy Kirby Blue Raspberry ANTI-, 26 Jan

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Listen to: Fences, Alexandria, Table

In the gorgeous uncertainty of new love, the line between authenticity and artifice is porous: truth, future, the real you, the real them, it all collapses in those moments as you submit to absorbing the happiness of those moments. For Katy Kirby, that was a first love for a woman, and she chose to scout the contours of that fresh experience on Blue Raspberry.

The record begins at the end of something else, Kirby shooting withering takedowns. But something new is soon blossoming. Kirby focuses on the messiness, and excavates the positives on Cubic Zirconia. That image – of a fake diamond – repeats throughout, driving home the idea that striving for beauty and perfection in connection is as rewarding as attaining it.

Leaving behind the quiet/loud dynamics and scrappiness of her debut, the orchestration here is far more ornate and patient, as on slowcore dirge Alexandria, or the whisper of Salt Crystal. A hint of musical theatre elsewhere sees the record lose some of its bite, but in general it’s a robust rejoinder to some of the more depthless musicality of soul-baring, 'authentic', indierock. Kirby is instead funny, scathing and full of clarity about her personal epiphanies. [Tony Inglis]

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Listen to: Needlessly Wild, Small Finds, Don’t Feel Right

Marika Hackman Big Sigh Chrysalis Records, 12 Jan

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Listen to: No Caffeine, Big Sigh, Blood

— 45 —

Marika Hackman’s latest album Big Sigh is a cathartic release of melancholy reflection, self-described as the “hardest record” she’s ever made.

Opening with The Ground, an intriguing spacey, minimal instrumental, we land sharply in Hackman’s world, painted in shades of grey, haunted by the memories of those who have been loved and lost.

No Caffeine cuts deep to the core, offering mundane mantras of how to get through depressing days without a pick-me-up. She reflects on a number of frustrations as she drearily accepts the monotony of everyday living. The title track is mellow, with the punitive lyrics, ‘I’ve been good, I’ve been bad, I’ve been better’, but as she exhales her discontent, the track picks up pace transitioning into an optimistic rock ballad.

Looking for an escape from dull monotony, Hackman ponders the individuality of human nature, and sardonically jokes that all of life’s problems would be solved if we just took our Vitamins, while album closer The Yellow Mile looks timidly back on leaving behind a time where Hackman was ‘happy for a while.’ Big Sigh’s strength is in not holding back from confronting darker feelings, and revelling in the raw honesty of experiencing them. [Mia Abeyawardene]

January 2024 — Review

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Sleater-Kinney Little Rope Loma Vista, 19 Jan

Living in a world of perpetual crisis, it’s unsurprising that the vital backbone of Portland duo SleaterKinney’s first record in three years is grief. It’s a universal experience we all recognise in different ways.

Whether it’s the harrowing headlines or the 2019 departure of the band’s trailblazing drummer Janet Weiss.

But for guitarist Carrie Brownstein, her particular loss was raw. In autumn of last year, she was notified that her mother and stepfather were killed in a road accident. As the haunting Hunt You Down reflects, she was having to confront her worst fears. Don’t Feel Right finds the songwriter grasping everyday tasks for stability while Six Mistakes contemplates the unfathomable truth as howling lead lines spiral against Corin Tucker’s caterwaul call.

The band have admitted there’s a focus on Tucker to take the lead on Little Rope but recent Kimmel performance Say It Like You Mean It didn’t really showcase either. Instead the stadium-sized song wades into an anthemic singalong circa 2008 Kings of Leon. But then perhaps that’s every rock behemoth’s right of passage? Sleater-Kinney’s decadespanning songwriting style feels the same, but the electrifying assault and brutal guitar tones are missing. Give us a little more rope. [Cheri Amour]

Albums

Courting New Last Name Lower Third, 26 Jan

Courting quickly established themselves as one of the most exciting live bands in the UK following the release of their debut album Guitar Music. With their second offering, New Last Name, the Liverpool band break free from the confines of the post-punk genre they’re known for, and firmly establish themselves in high-energy pop-rock territory.

There are some massive, arena-sized songs throughout the album, like opener Throw and the brass-tinged noise of The Hills, which they combine with The 1975-style autotune that they began to experiment with on their debut.

However, reaching Emily G and Happy Endings, the novelty of this style starts to feel repetitive.

New Last Name is compelling in how it moves on from the post-punk elements of their previous music to embrace noisy new instrumentation, electronic embellishments and light-hearted pop. While this is an exciting new style for the band, the album could have benefited from more of the stripped-back moments that we hear in the likes of America. In the opening and closing songs of the album, we’re reminded why Courting are such a captivating band but New Last Name, while fun and energetic, sadly fails to match the impact and charm of their debut. [Vicky Greer]

THE SKINNY

Music Now We look back at what we missed in December, and look forward to new music from Kathryn Joseph and Lomond Campbell, Victoria Hume, Gillian Fleetwood and C Duncan, and more

January 2024 – Review

O

kay okay, so when we sent the December issue to print, not much had been announced yet in the way of Scottish releases, so this column didn’t exist last month. Since then, however, some pretty good stuff has happened, especially on 1 December. Hudson Mohawke released his collaborative album L’Ecstasy with Tiga featuring lots of rubbery bass, synthetic sounds and otherworldly bloops across its 73-minute runtime. Almost exactly a year on from releasing their debut EP, Humour returned with another, entitled A Small Crowd Gathered to Watch Me, featuring more of frontman Andreas Christodoulidis’ manic and intoxicating yelps over stringent guitar lines.

The same day also brought the debut self-titled EP from Get Wrong, which opens with the line ‘Happiness is a warm sandwich in the back of a Toyota Corolla on the hard shoulder’, which is just, *chef’s kiss*. The new project from The Spook School’s Adam Todd and Martha’s Naomi Griffin, Get Wrong was produced, recorded and mixed by Field Music’s Peter Brewis, and mastered by his brother and bandmate David; the EP’s five tracks ooze 80s, all swirling synths and party drums – we can’t get enough.

Elsewhere we missed Deterioration, pt. 2, the second EP from Glasgow post-punk outfit Poster Club, as well as a slew of singles from philomenah (i can’t wait), Doom Scroller (Cold River Flow), rEDOLENT (How are you making this look so easy?), Rudi Zygadlo (Fuck AI), Doss (King of the Castle), Maxwell Weaver (Where You Wanna Go), Health and Beauty (a remix of Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Bee Asha (Gitika), and Water Machine (Art Fair / Blisters). So yeah, we missed a lot, please forgive us.

Looking forward to new releases this month, here’s some of what we’re excited about. First up is Lomond Campbell’s remix of Kathryn Joseph’s exceptional 2022 record for you who are the wronged (19 Jan, Rock Action). Featuring remixes of five of the album’s tracks, Campbell has worked wonders here, turning the heart-shattering originals into cathartic dancefloorworthy bangers. Electronics are dark, eerie and witchy, but bright and breath-giving as hints of 90s trance euphoria, rave, techno and piano house lift Joseph’s voice to new blissful heights. This coming together of two masters of the Scottish music scene is the exorcising punch through the cold winter that we all need, hopefully leading us to a more prosperous 2024. Not to be greedy, but more of this please.

If leaning into the gloominess of winter is more your bag,

Photo: Stephanie Gibson

Local Music

Words: Tallah Brash

Victoria Hume

Photo: Mark Bevan

then the beautifully sombre and questioning Radical Abundance from Victoria Hume is the one for you. Out via Lost Map on 19 January, the record draws its inspiration from Jason Hickel’s book Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World, as well as discussions with Hickel and others who are attempting to challenge capitalism across their work in Scotland.

Combining alt-folk, jazz and ambient, the record perfectly captures the mood of the numerous difficult subjects Hume touches on. It’s in the long-held violin that cries over Steady State as she sings ‘There is a great funnel in the sky / That sucks up nature and time / And they call it enterprise’. It’s in the sluggish, lilting, almost eye-rolling guitars of Bad Lover as Hume likens the state of the economy to that of being in a toxic relationship. It’s in the gentle and delicate picked strings of Daughter’s Song as Hume sings ‘But if it’s all you do / Think of me / And their future too’. It’s in the hypnagogic piano motif of Borrowers as Hume muses: ‘I dreamed a dream that no one had to work to buy a house to live in’. Radical Abundance is a hopeful and stunning collection of songs, the ideal listen for those ready to start a gentle revolution.

Another stunning record we’re excited about for January is the gorgeous and atmospheric Together With Yourself At Sea Level (31 Jan) from Gillian Fleetwood. A collaboration with C Duncan recorded at Hospitalfield House, the record’s goal is ‘to celebrate art and its ability to help us restore, recover, connect and learn.’ Across its 13 tracks, everyone involved is given time to shine. Laura Wilkie’s fiddle soars, Suz Applebe’s cello adds a rich depth, Mike Owers’ brass adds pomp and menace. But the real star is Fleetwood’s deft playing of Hospitalfield’s 200-yearold Erard Grecian harp which sparkles like frosty blades of grass on a bright winter’s day, adding an almost mystical feel to a record that otherwise sounds undeniably rooted in Scotland.

Perfect new year winter listening.

Beyond those three releases, Beth Karp’s thoughtful Roots/Routes arrives on 3 January, while on the 12th we get My Reptile Brain, the brand new upbeat and boisterous record from Glasgow outfit Bunkhouse. Plus there are new singles from Pedalo (Mystery, 5 Jan), Quiet Houses (What My Heart Is For, 5 Jan) and Crush Mouse (Stunt Pegs, 16 Jan).

Kathryn Joseph and Lomond Campbell

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

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January 2024

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January 2024 — Review

Film of the Month

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Film of the Month

Film of the Month — Poor Things

RRRRR Released 12 January

by Disney Certificate TBC theskinny.co.uk/film

Barbie might have found herself paired with a physicist in a porkpie hat for much of 2023, but her real kindred spirit can be found in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.

Adapted from Alasdair Gray’s phantasmagorical Frankenstein tale, Poor Things stars a young woman named Bella (Emma Stone) as she travels through a gorgeous, garish world on a quest to become a real girl. While Barbie was built by the boys at Mattel, Bella is the science experiment/adopted daughter of Doctor Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe, sporting an impressive array of facial scars and an inconsistent but consistently entertaining Scottish accent), who re-animated a recently deceased young woman by replacing her brain with that of her unborn child. And thus, Bella was born.

She begins the story as a dawdling, toddler-like figure but her mind develops quickly – especially after she is whisked away on a globetrotting voyage by a drawling, debonair scoundrel named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). As their journey takes them through Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris, Bella’s horizons expand at a rapid pace and she hungrily devours each new sight, sound and taste, building an identity for herself one new pleasure at a time.

Where Barbie was missing some key parts of her anatomy, Bella discovers that she has the full complement and quickly begins finding new ways to enjoy this fact. Her journey of sexual self-discovery allows Poor Things to examine squeamish social conventions and sexist double standards in hilarious, incisive fashion. Bella sees the world through the wide eyes of a person — 49 —

who has arrived fresh into an adult, female body without being battered by misogyny along the way. With every frantically impassioned sex scene – and there are a great many – Bella becomes more self-possessed, more sure of her own mind and more secure in her own body, while Duncan unravels in hilarious, exasperated fashion.

Lanthimos’s usual brand of black humour runs all through Poor Things, filling each scene with obscenity and absurdity, all delivered with typical disorienting seriousness. The world of Gray’s novel is brought to the screen through eye-catching costumes and production design that suggests Wes Anderson after an absinthe binge, while Lanthimos deploys his usual bag of fish-eye lenses and other off-kilter tricks.

But Emma Stone is the star around which everything else revolves. It’s a bold and sweeping performance that captures the ungainly physicality of Bella’s early incarnation and the forthright woman she becomes – plus all of the messy evolutionary stages in between. While the film’s world often feels purposefully artificial, Stone ensures that there’s always an emotional reality to Bella’s journey through it.

Poor Things is a much sweeter, more compassionate and ultimately triumphant tale than we’ve come to expect from the director of cruelly funny comedies like The Lobster and The Killing of A Sacred Deer. It’s like some mad doctor jammed a human heart into one of his grotesquely amusing constructions and made it beat. The result is a film that’s wickedly funny, deeply idiosyncratic and furiously alive. [Ross McIndoe]

January 2024 — Review

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Kathryn Hunter, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Hanna Schygulla, Margaret Qualley, Suzy Bemba, Vicki Pepperdine

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Scotland on Screen

Scotland on Screen: Jack Archer Jack Archer’s documentary Bill Douglas: My Best Friend explores the friendship between Scotland’s greatest filmmaker and his lifelong companion Peter Jewell through interviews and Douglas’s unseen 8mm home films. Archer tells us more

Words: Connor Lightbody

Filmography: Bill Douglas: My Best Friend (2023), Orphans Reunited (2019), Bothy Life (2019), Village of Dreams (2018)

January 2024 — Review

hopscotchfilms.co.uk

B

ill Douglas, Scotland’s greatest filmmaker, only completed a handful of films during his career. There’s ‘The Trilogy’, a trio of mid-length features based on his early life, titled My Childhood (1972), My Ain Folk (1973) and My Way Home (1978); his epic historical drama Comrades (1986); and several short films he made at the London Film School, which include his graduation film Come Dancing (1970). The body of work is small but the talent is ginormous. Despite his artistry, Douglas’s work is still underseen in his home country, but new documentary Bill Douglas: My Best Friend, from director Jack Archer, should go some way to correcting that while also exploring Douglas's extraordinary friendship with his lifelong companion and collaborator Peter Jewell.

The film began when Glasgow-based production company Hopscotch Films were approached by Andy Kimpton-Nye, the filmmaker behind 2006’s Bill Douglas: Intent on Getting the Image, after he convinced Jewell to dig out Douglas’s unreleased home movies and short films. Archer describes these 20-plus shorts shot on 8mm films as “Douglas’s notebooks.”

“Some are just the two of them [Douglas and Jewell] larking about at the beach in Devon or in Venice, posing and looking cool,” explains Archer. “Others are Bill’s attempt at pastiching Hitchcock or surrealist films. There’s one called The Watercress File, which is his take on The Ipcress File. It’s a spy thriller set in London with toy guns. So on one hand, these are his sketches for things to come. On the other, these are movies where you can see how strong Bill and Peter’s friendship is.”

We’re speaking to Archer at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, where Bill Douglas: My Best Friend is having its world premiere.

The film making its bow here is important to Archer. After all, Douglas won the Silver Lion at the 1972 Venice Film Festival for My Childhood. “Some of the best footage Bill shot was his travelogue on his little 8mm camera, of him and Peter going around St Mark’s Square,” says Archer. “So, to come here, in his footsteps, it’s quite fitting in a full circle kind of way.”

The documentary has a strong focus on Douglas’s bond with Jewell. “We didn’t say I love you to each other because it wasn’t said in them days,” Jewell says of their friendship. Archer notes though that this “friendship” is not a euphemism. “Most of Bill’s films deal with masculinity and male relationships in some ways, especially in Come Dancing, but Peter has been very clear over the years that they weren’t a gay couple. When the film says that they would read scripts in bed, it was two single beds because a single room was all that they could afford.”

Archer adds: “There was no kind of sexual element to their friendship but there was this kind of creative kinship that expressed itself in different ways.” As to why Archer chose to focus on Peter Jewell, he states: “[Peter] was the most important person to speak to. He shouldn’t just be another talking — 50 —

Bill Douglas

head, he should be the spine of the film.” Further, Archer mentions that “Peter introduced Bill to the literature of Gorky and Kafka, and Bill would talk about his life experiences with Peter. The fusion of these alongside Bill’s thirst for cinema became this powerful creative force.”

Archer first encountered Douglas’s work around 2012 and was struck by their humanity. “I was expecting a very harrowing, serious experience because that’s the way his films are often discussed in academic writing. They’re harrowing but they’re also incredibly beautiful.” Indeed, Douglas is often associated with Scottish miserabilism, a name given to Scottish filmmakers who deal with heavier, often tragic themes. “It’s a horrible concept,” Archer says of the term. “People apply it to the likes of Lynne Ramsay [who appears in the documentary] when those films are so much more than that.” Douglas himself wouldn’t have been a fan of this description, Archer reckons. “Bill was someone who never wanted to be put in a box,” he says. “He never wanted to be defined as a gay filmmaker for Come Dancing, nor as a Scottish, working-class filmmaker for My Childhood.”

As for what Archer wants from the doc, he says that “the intention was never to preach to the choir, but to find a new audience for people unaware of Bill’s work.” At the Venice premiere, Archer asked the audience to raise their hands if they had seen a Bill Douglas movie. “Only a handful put their hands up to say that they had seen one, which was gratifying because now those people can go and watch his films and hopefully be as moved by them as I am.” Archer is undoubtedly passionate about Douglas’s work, citing that “the best films have an enthusiasm for the subject that goes beyond the existing audience and I wanted mine and Douglas’s love for cinema to come across.”

Bill Douglas: My Best Friend will be released later this year and Bill Douglas will be celebrated at both this year’s Glasgow Film Festival and Glasgow Short Film Festival in March. Each year, GSFF awards the Bill Douglas Award to an international short film that reflects the qualities found in Douglas’s work: honesty, formal innovation, and cinematic storytelling that places sound and image centre stage

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Priscilla Director: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

rrrrr

Released 1 Jan by MUBI; certificate 15

Priscilla

Scala!!!

Director: Jane Giles, Ali Catterall

rrrrr

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to; this line echoes throughout the chaos and debauchery described in Scala!!!. This lively documentary on the infamous north London cinema of the same name recalls a time when cinemas were a space where you could smoke, meet famous musicians, watch banned films… and sleep all night.

The Scala was a hub of selfproclaimed outcasts, misfits and counter-culturalists in the 1970s and 80s, many of whom went on to become famous artists, filmmakers, writers and activists. A colourful host of talking heads – including John Waters, Adam Buxton, and Stewart Lee – bring its walls to life through their memories of saucy screenings, riotous behaviour and illegal activity.

Throughout, the Scala adopts a mystical quality. One fan calls it a

Director: Alexander Payne

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa

rrrrr

From the nostalgic onslaught of retro logos to the warm, grainy cinematography and production design that looks like it was marinated in Jim Beam, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers walks a delicate line, balancing retro fun and harsh emotional realism.

But the film succeeds at every turn while nailing some pompous targets in its takedown of the cruelty privilege can nourish.

Part campus comedy (the high school politics frequently call back to Payne’s Election), The Holdovers centres around the relationship between a gloriously sarcastic teacher and an intelligent but troubled teenager forced to stay at boarding school for Christmas. These two are played respectively by the

Scala!!!

‘secret world’; another an ‘alternative reality.’ Remaining elusive, it shapeshifts between a place to watch X-rated independent films and the meeting point of the radical 1970s.

What is clear is that the Scala was a space that was defined by much more than its hair-raising programming. As Mrs Reeves, an elderly Scala fan, comments: “We call the Scala ‘her’ because we love her.” By the end of the film, her four walls are mirroring our own images of hope and rebellion.

Scala!!! is a testament to a riotous cinema experience from a time gone by. Although its subject matter is niche, and the stories can be wistful, it’s an interesting meditation on cinema’s fierce history of creating – and providing space for – community. [Anna Ireland] Released 5 Jan by BFI; certificate 18 Glasgow Film Theatre host a Q&A screening of Scala!!! with co-director Jane Giles on 17 Jan

The Holdovers

All of Us Strangers Director: Andrew Haigh

Starring: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, Jamie Bell

rrrrr

Adam (Andrew Scott) is a lonely screenwriter struggling to write about the parents he lost in a car accident when he was 12. He’s also beginning a tender and sensual relationship with his puppyish and enigmatic neighbour, Harry (Paul Mescal), which develops against a backdrop of neon-lit dancefloors and dark nights in bed, the two like vampire lovers thirsty for connection. At the same time, Adam pays a visit to his childhood home and discovers his late parents living just as they were right before their deaths. This gives Adam the chance to come out to his parents; to have his dad tell him “It’s okay, son” once more.

However brief, Adam’s rekindling with his parents beautifully portrays how music is entwined with memory, expressed through the film’s

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ever-wonderful Paul Giamatti, and impressive newcomer Dominic Sessa in (amazingly) his first film performance. The heart of the film, however, is Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s quietly devastating presence as Mary Lamb, the school’s cook grieving her son, a poor Black student who was unable to avoid the draft like his peers and was killed in the Vietnam War. If anything, the film would have benefitted from spending more time with Mary, whose pain serves as unspoken catharsis for much of the runtime.

In the canon of Christmas films where the protagonists are having a noticeably un-Christmassy time, The Holdovers fills a niche for those of us who don’t always enjoy the season as we hope we might. Whether that’s down to personal circumstances or the miseries of the world, this movie is sure to become a standby for the festively bereft. [Zoe Crombie] Released 19 Jan by Universal; certificate 15

All of Us Strangers

1980s soundtrack. (What Aftersun did for Queen, All of Us Strangers is bound to do for Frankie Goes to Hollywood). Haigh doesn’t let these moments of miraculous magic stop the film from speaking to the raw and time-warping nature of loss. Scott plays a man gripped in the claws of grief with a tenacious vulnerability, embodying both an abandoned child and guarded adult with equal force.

All of Us Strangers is a shattering meditation on loss and loneliness, a sentimental testament to the David Foster Wallace line that yes, every love story is also a ghost story.

But it also serves up a slice of hope.

It says that love – however messy and imperfect it is – can pierce through the isolating walls of grief.

[Katie Driscoll]

Released 26 Jan by Disney; certificate TBC

January 2024 — Review

Starring: John Waters, Stewart Lee, Cathi Unsworth, Adam Buxton

The Holdovers

Film

It’s hard to imagine another filmmaker taking on the bullet train comingof-age of Priscilla Beaulieu. Once again Sofia Coppola captures the otherworldliness of being a teenage girl, infusing this real-life story with empathy as it follows our reluctant heroine as she embarks on a controversial, hyper-scrutinised romance.

Inspired by Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me, Priscilla charts the 14-year-old protagonist’s isolation at a military base in Germany, which morphs into a different type of loneliness back in the States. Tiptoeing around the grandiose halls of Graceland, Priscilla (Spaeny) timidly makes her desires known and is repeatedly shut down by the man who professes to love her, played with charisma and fragility by Jacob Elordi.

The rockstar moulds the girl into the glamorous wife he deems fit

for the King, with Priscilla’s petite figure emboldened by bigger ‘dos, darker hair and dramatic eyelashes.

An impressive Spaeny turns breathing into Priscilla’s subtle emotional outlet, adoringly gasping for oxygen in Elvis’s presence only to exhale in fear after one of his violent outbursts. Quietly yet steadily, Coppola nurtures that imperceptible breath into a stubborn murmur, an assertive voice, a frustrated scream.

Flawlessly soundtracked till the final, ineluctable song, the film focuses on Priscilla’s tumultuous feelings as she dives into her first crush, but doesn’t fail to reveal the bars of this impossible relationship’s gilded cage. While Priscilla tones down a rape detailed in the book, it’s peppered throughout by brilliantly gut-punching scenes highlighting how the couple’s age gap wasn’t just jarring, but also bound to tear them apart. [Stefania Sarrubba]

THE SKINNY

Designer Dreams Local Heroes

We speak to the founders of Glasgow-based pyjama and bedding brand Irregular Sleep Pattern, Jolene Crawford and Mil Stricevic, to find out more about their eclectic patterns, dazzling colourways and new collection In Your Dreams

W

hen product designer Mil Stricevic and former arts television producer Jolene Crawford first moved in together, they couldn’t find any bold graphic bedding that they loved, and the idea for Irregular Sleep Pattern was born. The couple saw a gap in the market for design-led bedding and sleepwear that takes a confident approach to maximalist pattern and colour paired with an attention to detail in fit, cut and tailoring. “Fast forward a couple of years and I was turning 40 and Mil was turning 50; it felt like a good ’now or never’ moment” says Jolene.

The brand – much loved by designers and creatives – is now launching its second collection titled In Your Dreams. This comprises three new prints available as sleepwear and signature reversible duvet sets in two colourways. The couple describe their style as sitting at the intersection of art and utility and since both are musicians, they have incorporated their distinctive taste in music into a new gender-neutral collection that fizzes with energy and optimism.

Jolene describes Chameleon as being “a tip of the hat to jazz legend Herbie Hancock’s 1973 fusion masterpiece Headhunters – this print animates hand-drawn hardware components from a selection of musical instruments in shades of verdant jungle and cayenne pepper.” Barbarian hints at a staple from the traditional sleepwear world – Paisley pattern. Here it’s reinvented with a

January 2024 – Review

Photo: Josh Croll

dash of outsize botanicals and vivid blue and olive colourways. “This is actually based on the letter Z – a recurring theme for Irregular Sleep Pattern.

Barbarian is named in homage of the epic opening track from our favourite Joan as Police Woman’s collaborative 2021 album with Tony Allen and Dave Okumu” says Mil. Sidewinder is a playful twist on the classic candy stripe. “This pattern plays with three different weights and orientations of stripe in a graphic that is both familiar yet also ‘wrong’.

We think it’s guaranteed to put a spring in your step, like the Lee Morgan classic which inspired its name.”

Jolene explains that the ‘irregular’ part of the brand is about the outsized bold nature of the prints, but it also refers to their specific values as an independent design business. “We believe in small batch responsible production, we don’t follow seasons, and we only work with people we actually know as models. We developed the unique cut of our sleepwear – lightly tailored with a nod to workwear – to be both practical and flattering.”

Following the Charles Eames maxim, ‘The details are not the details; the details make the product’, Mil and Jolene have worked with an expert plussize grader based in New York to strengthen the offering of their three largest sizes. “We’re here to elevate your sleepwear game!” says Jolene.

With well-kent faces like comedian Joe Lycett and cellist Simone Seales wearing their sleepwear on stage, Irregular Sleep Pattern is fast becoming popular as day-wear. “The workwear style construction has meant that lots of people wear our sleepwear during the day and we are always super excited to see photos of ANYONE in our stuff – it still seems slightly surreal that our pyjama dream is out there in the world. For us, one of the real joys of trying to establish this brand is all the friendships we have made through our pyjamas, which tend to attract like-minded people – it feels more like growing a family than running a business!”

To launch the new range, Jolene and Mil wanted to do something special creatively: “All the patterns in the new In Your Dreams’ collection are inspired by music and we always like the idea of collaborating with other creatives. As our name suggests, we like to do things in an irregular way, so rather than using professional models in seductive boudoir poses we try to celebrate the irregular nature of the product in a joyful way. Due to the musical nature of the prints we thought it would be fun to do something with dance and choreography.

“Quite by chance, earlier in the year the artist and movement director Emma Lewis-Jones had offered to model for us, but we wanted to keep her in our back pocket for something bigger. Our brief for Emma was to imagine a cast of sleepers who — 52 —

Words: Stacey Hunter

Mil Stricevic + Jolene Crawford

awake in the night to find themselves in the middle of a slightly hypnotic dance party. It was really fun to discover that Emma had a temporary studio space in the old M&S department store on Sauchiehall Street, so the concept evolved from the opportunities and constraints that this presented, one of which was the discovery of the former cold food store, which has lain empty since the store closed and seemed a great setting for an irregular dance studio/set!”

The couple described how much they value being part of the supportive and friendly Scottish design community: “It feels that there is a growing energy and confidence in the Scottish design voice that doesn’t need to rely on cliches to have export value.”

Next month the Glasgow-based design duo will take Irregular Sleep Pattern to Shoppe Object – a design-led homewares trade fair in New York with the aim of reaching new US wholesale customers.

Meanwhile, customers here can fend off the grey Scottish winter with a burst of colour, pattern and joy from day to night via the online shop. irregularsleeppattern.com @irregularsleeppattern @localheroesdesign

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MONTROSE, EDINBURGH Some spectacular dishes, immaculate vibes and delightful glassware make Montrose – the new spot from the Timberyard team – a hard act to follow

montroserestaurant.co

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Photo: Abi Radford

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drenched in spiced butter, topped with a miniature haystack of wafer-thin fried potatoes. Did we think we’d need to use the phrase ‘high camp moules frites’ this early in the year? Nope, but we’re glad we had it ready. It’s earthy, spicy and savoury, and the potatoes hold their crunch and oomph under some very buttery circumstances. As for the game sausage (£20), boy oh boy. For starters, this thing is seriously hefty, and it sits on a throne of the best take on pasta and pesto you’ve ever had. Fregola are little balls of pasta, so they keep their bite when they’re flopping around in incredibly unctuous sausage fat, kale and garlic.

The sausage is the star of the show though – all black pepper and char, supremely juicy and unstoppably, almost unconscionably meaty. A carnivorous delight.

The pear frangipane tart (£9) brings things home in style. It’s supremely buttery, the pears are sweet, soft and almost caramelised, and as we dig in, an ambulance goes whipping down Abbeyhill with the sirens on, temporarily bathing the entire room in flashing blue lights.

That sums up Montrose really – comfy, cosy and expertly put together, with some moments of flash and unexpectedness that leave you wondering quite what’s just happened. Trust us when we say that not only is Montrose worth the hype; it’s worth your time and money.

January 2024 – Review

wine that comes as a bag-in-box.

Two: get loads of tiny little carafes. Our £6 glass of Poivre D’ane comes with the full wine theatre you normally only get with a full bottle, including the chance to have a sip then nod and say “yep, that’s pretty good.” If going out is your treat to yourself or a pal, you want it to feel like a treat – turns out that tiny glassware hits that mark pretty spectacularly.

The deviled eggs (£4) are also a nice little treat, but they’re gone in a flash. A good squidgy texture, not too heavy on the trout roe, a tickle of spice – folks, that’s how you devil an egg. The crudités (£8) are a source of some debate, not least because they are crudités, and they’re £8. There’s some very nice stuff going on here; fans of colourful turnips will have a field day, there’s fun to be had in picking through the colours and shapes on offer, and the pickled pieces are nicely balanced and not too sharp, particularly what we assume is radicchio although it was slightly too dark to really tell. The sesame and almond dip is excellent, but then this is a small plate with some bits of veg on it, and it’s £8.

This could just be sticker shock – combine that £8 with the £10 we drop on an outlandish dinner plate covered in salty, fatty but pleasingly mellow coppa ham and it does kind of balance out. At the same time, it’s £8 for crudités. It is delicious, you have been warned, let’s move on.

Stepping into the bigger plates, and things get a bit more spectacular.

The Shetland blue mussels with shoestring fries (£16) looks incredible – a collection of shelled mussels

Food

Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sun 12pm-12am

elcome to 2024, where times are, have been, and will presumably continue to be tough. Still, the minimum wage is going up, and that’s something; from April, it will be £11.44 an hour.

It’s something we’re always aware of when writing about food and drink with the expectation that, to a greater or lesser degree, people might a) read about a place and b) actually go to it. That’s why we put the prices in reviews – that’s what we paid for it, and soon you might do the same. After all, there’s a difference between a dish being nice, and being ‘an hour and a half of your time’ nice.

We’re keeping these issues in mind on our Thursday night trip to Montrose, the new venture from the folk behind the fantastic Michelin star restaurant Timberyard. It’s in the former Century General Store at the top of Abbey Mount, with a tasting menu restaurant upstairs and a cute, atmospheric wine bar downstairs. It feels laidback but refined, trendy and homely – fancy but not uncomfortably so. That fanciness extends to one of the best things we’ve seen in a restaurant in ages. Wine by the glass is often made to seem like a cheap relation compared to getting a bottle, giving it a funny little sip then waving it around like an aristocrat at the end of the Grand Prix, but Montrose work around this with two simple tricks.

One: use really nice

Photo: Abi Radford

1 Montrose Ter, Edinburgh, EH7 5DJ

Words: Peter Simpson

Books

THE SKINNY

The Promised Party

Welcome to the Club

The History of My Sexuality

You Dream of Empires

By Jennifer Clement

By DJ Paulette

By Tobi Lakmaker

By Álvaro Enrigue

Those who have read Jennifer Clement’s Widow Basquiat will not be surprised to learn that its followup, The Promised Party: Kahlo, Basquiat and Me is another perfect time capsule told in fragments of intoxicating prose. A book of two halves, the memoir is split between Clement’s upbringing in the Mexico City of the late 60s and early 70s, and the burgeoning art scene of late-70s New York City that Clement stepped into at just 18.

Frida Kahlo died six years before Clement was born but left behind her house, empty and unchanged, next to which Clement would grow up. As a child, Clement whiled away the hours in the painter’s old bathtub, imagining herself in Kahlo’s place. Clement is quickly conscious of her inheritance into the rich history of Hispanic art and artists. At school are the children of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and her interest in politics blooms. By the time she is grown, she has already been suspected of murder.

Nowadays it is hard to imagine the move from Mexico City to New York City striking fear into parents like it does hers. It is a reminder of its still-recent reputation as the world’s street crime capital. But the place where she will meet Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat is about to become legend. As with her last book, Clement’s account of New York’s changing face is hugely compelling. [Louis Cammell]

Welcome to the Club, the debut book from DJ Paulette – contemporary of David Guetta, Bob Sinclair, Craig Charles – is subtitled The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ. Told with wit and honesty that celebrates the struggle, it is a look back on thirty years behind the decks of some of the world’s most prestigious spaces in electronic music, as well as behind the scenes of the likes of magazines like MixMag, record label Mercury Records and the early days of Channel 4.

Paulette started as a resident DJ at Flesh, a weekly night at Manchester’s Haçienda. The club went on to be one of the most highly mythologised in the world, yet the LGBTQ+ night that flew in the face of Section 28 (the legislation that fueled the homophobic AIDS campaign in the early nineties) is finally more than a footnote.

This is one of those books whose absence from the canon of musical history goes largely unnoticed until it is written. It exposes the space given to the megastars of the industry versus the constant battling having to be done by those propping it up in overlooked roles or underground spaces. Some of those battles are with the prejudices of people of course, as she travels from London to Paris to Ibiza. But it’s the ones Paulette never saw coming (divorce, homesickness, menopause) that endear her to us the most.

[Louis Cammell]

Tobi Lakmaker’s autobiographical novel, The History of my Sexuality, explores the life of twenty-something old Sofie living in Amsterdam.

Loosely connected, non-chronological anecdotes structure the novel as Sofie figures out her relationship with men, women and sex, weaving together hilariously cathartic commentary on patriarchy and men, witty observations on the lesbian dating scene in Amsterdam, and raw pain at the recent loss of her mother.

The tangential structure is sometimes frustratingly difficult to follow, and it turns out this is intentional; in Lakmaker’s own words, something he just can’t help. This distraction perhaps reflects an urge to deflect the issue of gender, which appears as an afterthought compared to the brash directness with which Sofie’s sexuality is discussed.

This feels appropriate however: with gender inescapable in its relationality and deeply individual in its experience, Sofie is dogged by loneliness in her relationships with women: being with them is not enough for her to feel fully herself.

The seemingly chaotic and distracted narrative structure thus captures the relationship between gender and sexuality with subtle precision.

Originally published under the name of the story’s protagonist Sofie Lakmaker in Europe, recent editions have seen the novel released under Tobi Lakmaker. The book, and Lakmaker’s subtle address of gender, reads in a different light with this knowledge. Sofie’s journey continues beyond the hospital ‘where you can become more of a boy’, and it is comforting to experience this with him as an unwritten, lived epilogue.

[Riyoko Shibe]

On 8 November 1519, a small army of conquistadores led by capitán Hernán Cortés entered the mystical city-island of Tenochtitlan – now Mexico City – bringing with them a treasure far more valuable than gold.* In You Dreamed of Empires, Enrigue presents a reimagined account of this day: a strained afternoon of apparent calm after the Spaniard’s bloody journey to the heart of the Aztec empire leading to the fateful meeting between Cortés and emperor Moctezuma.

Tenochtitlan and its inhabitants come to life in Enrigue’s writing.

Much like the violent encounter of two clashing cultures, this is a novel of contrasts: fully fledged characters engage in cartoonish displays of brutality; vibrant descriptions and well-researched portrayals of real places, customs and historical events are sprinkled with anachronisms; history meets comedy and playful writing is used to lighten the tone of a deeply tragic tale.

Although slow to reach any substantial action, You Dreamed of Empires has many of the elements of a good political thriller: twists, turns, hidden motivations and a lot of tension. Not that this makes it an easy book to classify – despite the abundance of tropes, chaos is the moving force in the Mexican author’s psychedelic novel, resulting in an eclectic work of exceptional originality, narrowly rescued from becoming overwhelmingly absurd by an open awareness of its fictionality.

[Venezia Paloma]

Granta, 18 Jan

Harvill Secker, 11 Jan

January 2024 — Review

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Canongate, 18 Jan

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Manchester University Press, 23 Jan

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*The treasure was horses.

THE SKINNY

January 2024

— 55 —

January 2024

THE SKINNY

— 56 —

THE SKINNY

Listings Supported by

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

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

Glasgow Music Wed 03 Jan

THE WITS (THE TAKE BACKS + TANZANA + UNDER REVIEW)

Sat 06 Jan

TINA SANDWICH (SISTER MADDS + LOST TICKETS + CASEVETI)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Pop rock from Glasgow.

HOBO JOHNSON

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Hip-hop from the US.

LERONES (BIG MOSS + SCOTT ROBERTSON)

PEACH CRUMB (WITCHING HOUR + ELVIS WEDDING + DALLAS LOVE FIELD)

Pop rock from Scotland.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Glasgow.

Thu 04 Jan OH ROMANCE (FOREIGN2 + DOWNPOUR + SKYLOUNGE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Sun 07 Jan

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Pop from Scotland.

GRACE MORTON (SCOTSTOWN DANCE BAND + MOKUSLA) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from Scotland.

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Fri 05 Jan

Tue 09 Jan

DAYYDREAM (ZERRIN + HANK TREE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Dream pop from Glagsow.

CHRIS HELME

THE SANKARAS (FOG BANDITS + PUSH BAR + THE TRENCHES)

New Wave from Glasgow.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

Wed 10 Jan

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Alt rock from Glasgow.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from Glasgow.

Thu 11 Jan

FOURTH DAUGHTER (PLEASURE TRAIL + SHEARS + RUTH GILLIES) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Electro pop from Scotland.

LOW LIGHT LISTENING LOUNGE (LORI BETH + MARJUN) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Indie rock from Glasgow.

Fri 12 Jan

GIRLS.SPEAK. FRENCH (THE DOOLES + SPICE DREAM + LEISURELAND) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Indie from Scotland.

BITTERWOOD + WARNIN SHOT + SLOWLIGHT + HEY LONELY PLANET + SCOTT J BRICE THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

Sat 13 Jan ANORAQ

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Ambient spoken word from Glasgow.

PARADISE: TRANS FUNDRAISER

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Trans fundraiser with performances.

CLAY RINGS (TOAST BONZO SUNDAI) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from Glasgow.

Sun 14 Jan

BRIDE (VOITURES + AIM FOR TWO + WHITNEY KING)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Indie rock from Scotland.

Fri 19 Jan

BRING ME THE HORIZON THE OVO HYDRO, 17:30–22:00

Rock from Sheffield.

LAWSUIT (MALLET SPACE + LEANOVER) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

BREABACH + BEOLACH

PROJECT SMOK (KATIE MACFARLANE)

Folk and trad from Canada and Scotland.

Neo-trad from Scotland.

Folk from Scotland.

Indie folk from Scotland.

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

SAINT LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00

CONSCIOUS PILOT (EDGE OF THE BED + NATIONAL PLAYBOYS + THE SKINS)

Tue 16 Jan

JAZZ AT THE GLAD (GEORGE BURT & CLIONA CASSIDY + DILJEET KAUR BHACHU)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Punk from Scotland.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

TOMMY EMMANUEL + MOLLY TUTTLE

Improvised jazz from Glasgow.

BAD NEWS (EVERYDAY PHARAOHS) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

THE PAVILION THEATRE, 19:30–22:00

Americana.

HUGH CORNWELL (THE PRIMITIVES)

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 18:30–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

Wed 17 Jan

MILANGE (BRAT COVEN + EMPTY SPACE + SUBSPACE HIGHWAY) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Jazz punk from Glasgow.

SPANISH LOVE SONGS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rock from LA.

BUNKHOUSE (NIGHT CALLER + PETER CAT) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Pop from Glasgow.

Thu 18 Jan YOKE LORE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from the US.

SAN JOSE (OPIUM CLIPPERS + NU CROS + COWBOY HUNTERS)

RAVELOE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

THE LANGAN BAND

Singer-songwriter from London.

KITTI (GRACE & THE FLAT BOYS)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Jazz from Scotland.

RED CLYDESIDE: JOHN MACLEAN CENTENARY CONCERT (BILLY BRAGG + KARINE POLWART + EDDI READER + PAUL MCKENNA + SIOBHAN MILLER)

Sat 20 Jan

JEMBAA GROOVE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Jazz from Berlin.

SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE WITH EDGAR MEYER BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from Scotland and the US. MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

THE ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND: TRADITIONAL MUSIC SHOW

TEDDY THOMPSON (SARAH JAROSZ)

Trad from Scotland.

THE NORDIC FIDDLERS BLOC

Trad and folk.

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from London.

DILLON SQUIRE (THE FREAKWINCES + HONEY + OCEAN VIEWS) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Alt indie from Glasgow.

VALTOS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–22:00

XABIER DIAZ (BARZAZ TRIO) GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from Spain.

SKIPINNISH

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

Trad from Scotland.

EWEN HENDERSON (MAGGIE MACINNES)

Electro trad from Scotland.

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

Folk lineup.

THEATRE ROYAL, 19:30–22:00

STEREO NAKED (RAIN OF ANIMALS)

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

ROAMING ROOTS REVUE PRESENTS SONGS OF MODERN SCOTLAND

SKOLVAN (SHORELINES TRIO)

Trad.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

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

CHERISH THE LADIES

Folk from Scotland.

DREAMERS' CIRCUS (WESTWARD THE LIGHT)

Celtic from Ireland.

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

Folk from Denmark.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Indie from Cologne.

RAYMOND MACDONALD & FRIENDS

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

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

ANDI

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Electro pop from Canada..

Composer from Glasgow.

DES ROCS

ROSS AINSLIE + ALI HUTTON BAND (GOITSE)

JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN

WILD CHILD

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Post-punk from Scotland.

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Rock from New York.

CHRIS THILE WITH BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND RACHEL SERMANNI

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

Folk and country.

Trad from Brittany.

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

Indie pop from Austin.

MOOT TAPES X GLAD CAFE (ELAINE HOWLEY + JELLYPELT) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Electro pop from Ireland.

— 57 —

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Trad from Scotland.

Folk from Ireland.

KAIA KATER (BASSET) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Jazz from Canada.

DARLINGSIDE (THE HENRY GIRLS)

SAINT LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00

Indie folk from Boston.

Sun 21 Jan

BEN WALKER (CALLUM STEWART + LOW TIDE) KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

ALICE ALLEN

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–22:00

Trad from Scotland.

ROAMING ROOTS REVUE

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

Folk from Scotland.

METAGAMA & MARLOCH (LIZA MULHOLLAND)

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

Trad and folk.

CASSANI / CAMPBELL (FRASER FIFIELD TRIO) GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00

Instrumental folk jazz.

TAUPE (RE-GHOSTEREXTENDED) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Electro-acoustic from UK and Europe.

HANNAH PEEL + BEIBEI WANG (THE OTHER)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Synth from the UK.

Mon 22 Jan

THE BOTHY BAND

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

Trad from Ireland.

January 2024 — Listings

MAJESTY PALM (LECKI LECKI + BECKI RUTHERFORD + ALLAN PURVIS)

SAINT SAPPHO (JESHUA + RED VANILLA)

THE SKINNY JESSE ROPER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Blues from Canada.

Tue 23 Jan

THE SLEEPING SOULS (SEAN MCGOWAN) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Rock from the UK. THE WILLOWS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 14:00–22:00

Folk from Scotland.

GOOD LOVELIES (JOSIE DUNCAN)

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

Americana from Canada.

J MAHON

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Australia.

JACQUI MCSHEE'S PENTANGLE

SAINT LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from the UK.

Wed 24 Jan

SCOTT MATTHEWS (OUTLIERS) MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

GREG LAWSON: LEV’S VIOLIN CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Instrumental.

GRAYLING (NAOMI MUNN + SARA RAE + HANA JANE) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Country folk from Glasgow.

EYES OF OTHERS

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Edinburgh.

ASHLEY MCBRYDE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Country from the US. HAIKU HANDS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Alt from Australia.

ALTAN

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

Trad from Ireland.

THE CANNY BAND (ALEXANDER AGA ROYNSTRAND)

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

Trad from Glasgow.

SARAH JANE SCOUTEN

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Americana from Canada.

JOHN CRAIGIE (JEFFREY MARTIN)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Folk from the US.

Thu 25 Jan January 2024 — Listings

JESCA HOOP

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the US.

ALASDAIR FRASER + NATALIE HAAS BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Folk and trad.

THE JOHN MARTYN PROJECT MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Folk.

QUIET HOUSES (NIAMH MORRIS + JOE GOODALL + CORTNE)

Regular Glasgow club nights The Rum Shack

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Indie folk from Scotland.

SATURDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

TRIPLE 01S

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

MOJO WORKIN’

Drill from Glasgow.

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

ASHLEY MCBRYDE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

SATURDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

Country from the US. CELTIC ODYSSEE (GNOSS)

LOOSEN UP

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

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

Folk from Brittany.

PAUL MCKENNA BAND (ERLEND VIKEN + FRANKIE ARCHER) GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Folk pop from Scotland.

ALANA MACINNES TRIO (ELIR)

ROSIE H SULLIVAN (NIALL MCCABE) CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00

Folk from the Hebrides.

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

CLR THEORY (NICOLE CASSANDRA SMITH)

THE BLACK FEATHERS

Folk pop from Glasgow.

Trad from Scotland and Ireland.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

SBT (SARABETH TUCEK)

Americana.

KATHRYN JOSEPH + LOMOND CAMPBELL (SIIGA)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Indie from Scotland.

Fri 26 Jan

DUSTBOWL REVIVAL

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Roots from the US.

DÀIMH (AEVESTADEN) MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Trad from the Highlands.

ALISON BROWN (LOW LILY + LUCIE HENDRY TRIO) CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Roots from the US.

TRAGEDY ANN (MAGGIE RIGBY)

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from Canada.

NO WINDOWS (BOGLE + NEVERFINE + YOUTH FOR SALE) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Indie from Edinburgh.

ROISIN MCCARNEY SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Scotland.

LUKE MORLEY (HILLBILLY VEGAS)

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK. TOM BRIGHT

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the UK.

TALISK (SIOBHAN MILLER)

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Trad from Scotland.

WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Emo from the US.

KINNARIS QUINTET (CIARAN RYAN BAND + GANGAR) OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Trad from Scotland.

JULIETTE LEMOINE + CHRIS AMER

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

Folk jazz from Glasgow.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Indie rock from the US.

Sat 27 Jan

AN DANNSA DUB (JOY DUNLOP)

Sub Club

BLUE GIANT ORKESTAR (LUNA ERSAHIN)

SATURDAYS

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Folk from Europe.

KIEFER

THE RUM SHACK, 19:00–22:00

Indie jazz from the US.

NOGOOD BOYO (NICK HARPER) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Trash trad from Wales.

DALLAHAN (JULIE ALAPNES)

SAINT LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

World folk from Scotland and Ireland.

THE BREATH + PEDAIR

Sun 28 Jan

Folk from Scotland.

BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Folk from the UK.

BLUES NIGHT: BUFFALO NICHOLS AND MUIREANN BRADLEY MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Blues from the US. LOCHABER: A CELEBRATION

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

Trad lineup.

JULIE FOWLIS (BINNEAS)

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM, 19:45–22:00

Celtic from the Highlands.

JUNK PUPS (THE COWARDS + HOMEWORK + VELVET) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00

Art rock from Glasgow.

THE ORB

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Ambient house.

SAINT AGNES

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

RURA (THE OLLLAM) BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00

Trad from Scotland.

FOXING

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Post-rock from Missouri.

FAT DADS (THE RAMPANTS + CRUISE BALLOON) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Carlisle.

MARGO PRICE (KELSEY WALDON)

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Country from the US.

TMSA YOUNG TRAD TOUR

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–22:00

Folk lineup.

TRIP (BETH MALCOLM) GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from Glasgow.

FINLAY MACDONALD BAND (JOSE MANUEL TEJEDOR)

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

Trad from Scotland.

CEOL IS CRAIC: ADWAITH AND GABBA CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00

Indie rock from Wales.

ALLISON RUSSELL

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

SUBCULTURE

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

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) RETURN TO MONO

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

Cathouse

THURSDAYS UNHOLY

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

FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

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

SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Or Caturdays, if you will.

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

SUNDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) HELLBENT

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

SUNDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) FLASHBACK

Pop party anthems and classic cheese from DJ Nicola Walker.

SUNDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) CHEERS FOR THIRD SUNDAY

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

SUNDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) SLIDE IT IN

Classic rock through the ages from DJ Nicola Walker.

The Garage Glasgow MONDAYS

BARE MONDAYS

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

TUESDAYS

#TAG TUESDAYS

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

WEDNESDAYS

GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS ELEMENT

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

FRIDAYS

FRESH BEAT

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

SATURDAYS

I LOVE GARAGE

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

SUNDAYS SESH

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

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

WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE WEDNESDAYS

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

Singer-songwriter from Canada.

NEW TRADITION: FIONA HUNTER BAND + ADAM HOLMES + STEPH GEREMIA BARONY HALL, 19:30– 22:00

Trad from Scotland.

ROSS COUPER BAND (TIM EDEY) MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:00

Regular Edinburgh club nights Cabaret Voltaire FRIDAYS FLY CLUB

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

Folk from Scotland.

SESSION A9 (CITADELS OF THE SUN)

SATURDAYS

CITY HALLS, 19:30– 22:00

PLEASURE

Folk from India and Ireland.

DAS KOOLIES

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00

Alt indie from Cardiff.

DORIAN ELECTRA SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the US. Alternative.

SKATING POLLY

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Riot grrrl from Oklahoma.

KING CREOSOTE

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Folk from Scotland.

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–22:00

Folk from Scotland.

SKERRYVORE

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

Trad from Scotland.

LAMBCHOP

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

Jazz from Nashville.

LITTORAL: LEONARD BARRY (TARRAN)

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

Folk from Glasgow.

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

FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

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

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

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

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

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

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Folk from the UK.

DREW HOLCOMB (ALICE FAYE)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Americana from Nashville.

NICK HARPER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH) MESSENGER, 23.00

MUMBO JUMBO, 23.00

DISCO MAKOSSA, 23.00

THE WYNNTOWN MARSHALS

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

The Bongo Club

ELECTRIKAL, 23.00

ALI LEVACK

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

HEADSET, 23.00

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

MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

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

TUESDAYS

JAMES MARRIOTT

FRIDAYS (FIRST OR LAST OF THE MONTH)

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

OVERGROUND, 23.00

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

Folk from the UK.

BECKY SIKASA (VANIVES)

SAINT LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00

Neo-soul from Edinburgh.

— 58 —

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

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

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

SOULSVILLE INTERNATIONAL, 23.00

International soulful sounds.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH) PULSE, 23.00

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

Sneaky Pete’s MONDAYS

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

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

TUESDAYS RARE

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

THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) VOLENS CHORUS

Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) HOT MESS

A night for queer people and their friends.

SOUL JAM

SUNDAYS POSTAL

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

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) REWIND

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

The Hive MONDAYS

MIXED UP MONDAY

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

TUESDAYS

TRASH TUESDAY

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

WEDNESDAYS

COOKIE WEDNESDAY

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

THURSDAYS

HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY

Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY

Yer all-new Friday at Hive.

Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM

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

SUNDAYS

SECRET SUNDAY

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

Subway Cowgate MONDAYS TRACKS

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

TUESDAYS TAMAGOTCHI

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

WEDNESDAYS TWISTA

Banger after banger all night long.

THURSDAYS FLIRTY

Pop, cheese and chart.

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS

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

SATURDAYS

SLICE SATURDAY

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS

SUNDAY SERVICE

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

The Mash House FRIDAYS RESIST

A weekly techno extravaganza.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

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

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) PULSE

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

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Music Thu 04 Jan

THE GENTLEMAN BUSKER (AIMEE CORR + BILLY JACK + ELIZA JANE ) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Folk punk from Newcastle.

Fri 05 Jan

THE SILVER ARROW COLLECTIVE THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00

Country.

THE LINES (HUMAN RENEGADES) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Rock from Glasgow.

Sat 06 Jan

BASICALLY NOCTURNAL (SPACE VAN + LOLLAPALOOZERS)

Tue 23 Jan

Mon 22 Jan

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

FLIP TOP HEAD + DANCER

Post-rock from Brighton.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Silly, informal shows where Josie tries out new ideas.

Thu 25 Jan

28 JAN, 3:00PM – 4:00PM

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

SCREEN TIME

BRITISH LION

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00

Hard rock from the UK.

Thu 11 Jan

ALEX CORNISH

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Dunbar.

CHEKHOV’S GUN

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Post-hardcore from Reading.

Sat 13 Jan

SOUTHSIDE OF THE TRACKS (JOHN MCCUSKER + CAMMY BARNES + KIM CARNIE + BOO HEWERDINE + KAREN MATHESON) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from Scotland.

Thu 18 Jan

FOXING + SHINRA KNIVES

Emo indie from St Louis.

FROM THE JAM (SKIDS) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00

Sat 13 Jan

THE ORB

SWG3, 22:00–03:00

Rock from England.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Ambient house.

Sat 27 Jan

NIALL MCCABE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00

BOOTLACE

Indie rock.

SKATING POLLY THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Oklahoma.

Sun 28 Jan

BUFFALO NICHOLS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Blues from Milwaukee.

Mon 29 Jan

BEE ASHA & THE BAND TEES + QUEEN OF HARPS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Spoken word from Edinburgh.

JAMES MARRIOTT LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Alternative.

Dundee Music Thu 18 Jan ANTI-SYSTEM

Fri 19 Jan

Punk from the UK.

SEAN FINDLAY + ADAM SMITH CHURCH, 19:00–22:00

Indie from the UK.

Sat 20 Jan

PLÍNIO FERNANDES + BRAIMAH KANNEH MASON

CHURCH, 19:00–22:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Classical.

THE JIG SHOW

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Folk.

Sat 20 Jan

FAT DADS + THE VAUNTS + THE BALUGAS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Carlisle.

NUMBER 9S (SHOCK & AWE + NASTY NESTO) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Alt punk.

ERLAND COOPER: THE QUEEN'S HALL 200TH ANNIVERSARY PREMIERE THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Neo-classical from Scotland.

Sun 21 Jan

JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN

Techno.

Fri 19 Jan

THROUGH THE ROOF: 001 MARK BLAIR

KURNEL FIST

Rock from Dundee.

Sun 28 Jan

GINGER WILDHEART

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:00

Rock from the UK.

Glasgow Clubs

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Electro, disco and house.

RUSH WITH NIGHTWAVE

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and acid.

Electronica.

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

NIGHTTUBE

Bass and breaks.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Sat 20 Jan

Sat 13 Jan

CLUB UPRISING

SWG3, 22:30–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

TRAP NIGHT

Trap.

PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY (ASHTETIC + ARTIFICIAL LLAMAS + DONNY MAC + PSYAGRA) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Psytrance.

DISCO LOVE

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and house.

REDSTONE PRESS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

House and acid.

UK techno.

Sat 27 Jan

DILF

COMPRESSION (ANNE SAVAGE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

CLUB NACHT

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

Electronica.

CALL ME MAYBE 2010S PARTY

Pop and disco.

Hard house and trance.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Mon 15 Jan

MILE HIGH CLUB: PARRIS

Pop.

SWG3, 22:00–03:00

UK techno.

Techno.

BAKEY & CAPO LEE

Wed 17 Jan

Disco.

Fri 26 Jan

CARV + ALEX FARREL

Hard techno.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Grime and bass.

Edinburgh Clubs HAPTIC: BARTEK, SUB STANDARD, BOKONON, CAMY SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

LUCKY DIP WITH OBROTHER AND MÂ SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Hard dance.

DAVID BOWIE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop and rock.

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

Wed 10 Jan

PADDY MCDONNELL: STORIES

OLGA KOCH: COMES FROM MONEY (WIP)

Susan Riddell and Amanda Dwyer host a brand-new monthly Sunday afternoon show.

Paddy McDonnell, one of Ireland’s best storytellers, brings his new show Stories to the stage.

Following huge Fringe success, Olga Koch has a new show in the works.

19 JAN, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

29 JAN, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

MARTIN URBANO: APOLOGY COMEBACK TOUR

Edinburgh Comedy

Martin Urbano (Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer Nominee 2023) brings his tour show to Monkey Barrel Comedy Club.

A new multimedia comedy night hosted by Feaghas Kelly.

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club CATHERINE BOHART: WORK IN PROGRESS 13 JAN-13 JAN 24, 6:00PM – 7:00PM

As seen on Live at the Apollo and Mock the Week, Catherine Bohart brings her newest material as she gears up for a national tour.

ROBIN MORGAN: SNIP SNIP, BITCH 20 JAN, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

14 JAN, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

BLOODY GOOD COMEDY

15 JAN, 7:00PM – 8:30PM

Bloody Good Comedy is a charity show brought to you by the Edinburgh Revue and Monkey Barrel Comedy Club.

JOJO SUTHERLAND: RICHES TO RAGS (RADIO RECORDING) 16 JAN, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

A radio recording of Jojo Sutherland’s amazing Riches to Rags show.

27 JAN, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

The Stand Edinburgh STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW

9 JAN, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s long-running improv show: taking audience suggestions and making comedy gold.

SUSAN MORRISON IS HISTORICALLY FUNNY 21 JAN, 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Host of BBC Radio Scotland’s Time Travels takes you through some of Scotland’s seediest, skankiest and scandalous history.

And the funniest.

BENEFIT FOR MEDICAL AID FOR PALESTIANS 23 JAN, 8:30PM-9:30PM

With host Susan Morrison, Eleanor Morton, James Nokise, Laura Davis, Vlad McTavish and headliner Liam Withnail.

THE EDIT

One of the UK's fastest rising comedy stars Robin Morgan has a hilarious brand new show on tour.

24 JAN, 4:00PM – 5:00PM

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

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

UK techno.

Mon 29 Jan

Drygate Brewing Co.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

SIGNAL: REV LON SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

House.

House.

Fri 19 Jan

PALIDRONE: J WAX, DANSA, PROVOST SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

RHINESTONE RODEO

SUPERSTAR FISHBAR THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

CLUB MEDITERRANEO: DISCOSLICE B2B ANDREA MONTALTO

Balearic.

DECADE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop and punk.

ETERNAL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

The Old Hairdressers HAROLD NIGHT

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

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

A new material comedy night hosted by Chris Thorburn.

The Stand Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

TUESDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to eight acts.

FRIDAYS

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

The Glee Club FRIDAYS

FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

SATURDAYS

SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

Host Billy Kirkwood and guests act entirely on your suggestions.

PERFECT IMPROV SHOW SHOW

House and garage.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Glasgow Comedy

9 JAN, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

Country and Americana.

Sat 20 Jan

Climate-positive party.

SATSUMA SOUNDS

Thu 18 Jan

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Sat 06 Jan

Join Jonny & The Baptists and Josie Long for a special work in progress double bill.

THE BIG GREEN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Club.

Techno and experimental.

17 JAN, 8:00PM – 10:20PM

MEMBRANE: BAKE

Fri 05 Jan

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Sarah Keyworth (Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown) tries out a new work in progress show.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

UK garage.

PARABELLVM XVIII W / BERLIN GUEST + OPEN DECKS

PULSE

25 JAN, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

JONNY & THE BAPTISTS AND JOSIE LONG (DOUBLE BILL WIP)

MATERIAL, GIRL

Gabber and hardcore.

OVERGROUND

Punk and hardcore.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

PLANT BASS’D

BODIES IN MOTION (JOEY NAME & RUFUS + BLEEN + MOVENTIA (VJ))

MAYHEM (HERCETIC + OMEN)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Fri 12 Jan

ENDS

Hip-hop and R’n’B.

SPLURGE

Fri 05 Jan Trance and techno.

GEORGE FITZGERALD SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Tropical dance party.

Hip-hop and grime.

Fri 26 Jan

WEE RED BAR, 20:00– 01:00

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Tropical world beats.

SAY SO

ALCHEMIZE (MOJAMMA + AISHA MIRZA)

Disco.

SARAH KEYWORTH: WORK IN PROGRESS

16 JAN, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

Wade into the stream of improv comedy with the Glasgow Improv Theatre, based on stories flowing from a special guest monologist.

YER DA WANTS A WORD 23 JAN, 7:00PM – 8:00PM

Join us for our monthly show from friendly neighbourhood improv team Yer Da.

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights The Stand Edinburgh MONDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

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

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

THURSDAYS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

THE BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY, 20:30

Club.

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

Thu 11 Jan

MANGO LOUNGE

FRIDAYS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21

The big weekend show :00with four comedians.

UK garage.

Fri 12 Jan

SATURDAYS

HEADSET’S GAY GARAGE

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

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

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

UK garage.

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00

Folk from Ireland.

— 59 —

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel SECOND AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

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

WEDNESDAYS

TOP BANANA, 19:00

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

THURSDAYS

SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00

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

FRIDAYS

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

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

FRIDAYS

DATING CRAPP, 22:00

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

SATURDAYS

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

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

SUNDAYS

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

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

January 2024 — Listings

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Alternative from Edinburgh.

ACLP X ELATION PRESENT: “B2B’

Wed 03 Jan

Blues rock from the US. PRETTY CRIME + GOBY + BLOW UP DOG

FULL FRONTAL: JORDY JOANS & MAIRI ‘B’ POTS

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:00–22:00

Fri 19 Jan

House.

Fri 26 Jan

BEAUX GRIS GRIS & THE APOCALYPSE BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

TEA ROOM RECORDS

Classical from Turkey.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Country rock from the UK.

10 JAN-11 JAN 24, 8:30PM – 9:30PM

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00

BÜSRA KAYIÇI

Wed 10 Jan

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

JOSIE LONG: A WORK IN PROGRESS ABOUT GIANT EXTINCT ANIMALS

Wed 24 Jan

Singer-songwriter from Ireland.

THE RAILWAYMEN (LIAM HALLIDAY)

Indie.

The Stand Glasgow

Wed 24 Jan

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00

Rock from Edinburgh.

EDINBURGH UNI INDIE SOCIETY

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Theatre Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ROMEO AND JULIET + ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE 20 JAN-25 JAN 24, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Two classics of Early Modern drama are brought to life by the students at the RCS.

The King’s Theatre

SHREK THE MUSICAL 15 JAN-20 JAN 24, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Shrek and his loyal sidekick set out on a subversive fairy tale journey.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 2 JAN-7 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Classic panto magic starring Elaine C Smith and Johnny Mac.

WICKED

Learn the real story behind the Wicked Witch of the West in this Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical.

Artist duo use life-size sculptures and video to create a flagship store interrogating ideas of consumerism and labour.

2 JAN-14 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

1 JAN-28 APR 24, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

SHREK THE MUSICAL

Six Foot Gallery

22 JAN-27 JAN 24, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Shrek and his loyal sidekick set out on a subversive fairy tale journey.

VARNA INTERNATIONAL BALLET: SWAN LAKE 20 JAN, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

The ultimate tale of eerie doubles and tragic romance.

VARNA INTERNATIONAL BALLET: SLEEPING BEAUTY 18 JAN, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Tchaikovsky’s fairy tale classic brought to life by a critically acclaimed company.

VARNA INTERNATIONAL BALLET: THE NUTCRACKER

Head to Willy Wonka’s magical factory in this lavish musical.

Keep the festive spirit going into dreary January with this classic ballet.

Theatre Royal

THE SOUND OF MUSIC 10 JAN-13 JAN 24, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A reimagined production of the Julie Andrews classic.

THE BODYGUARD

3 JAN-7 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

A sexy, musical adaptation of the Whitney Houston classic.

GUZ KHAN

21 JAN, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Loveable and hilarious star of Taskmaster and Live at the Apollo comes to Glasgow.

Tron Theatre

AGANEZA SCROOGE

3 JAN-7 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Another Johnny McKnight panto turns the story of A Christmas Carol on its head.

Edinburgh Theatre Festival Theatre

SCOTTISH BALLET: CINDERS!

5 JAN-20 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

An intermittently genderswapped take on the Prokofiev classic.

GoMA

BEAGLES & RAMSAY: NHOTB & RAD

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY THE MUSICAL

23 JAN-4 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

January 2024 — Listings

The Edinburgh Playhouse

19 JAN, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Traverse Theatre PROTEST

26 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

A new play for young people by Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery about the exhilaration of resistance.

Glasgow Art Compass Gallery

THE WINTER SHOW 2023

1 JAN-31 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

A selection of paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics added to throughout the winter months.

Glasgow Print Studio ACADEMICIANS VI: PHILIP BRAHAM, VICTORIA CROWE, PAUL FURNEAUX, WENDY MCMURDO 2 JAN-27 JAN 24, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

The sixth in a series of exhibitions bringing together work by four renowned Royal Scottish Academicians.

WINTER OPEN CALL 2023 – WARM VOICES 2 JAN-9 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

An open-call exhibition of a diverse range of art.

ROTHNIE DALY

12 JAN-25 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Glasgow-based artist exploring the therapeutic potential of art through experimental textures and folk practices.

WARM VOICES

2 JAN-9 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Six Foot Gallery’s annual winter show, featuring twenty-five artists working in a diverse range of mediums, including sculpture, book arts, collage, jewellery, photography, painting, illustration, printing.

PEOPLE

11 JAN-25 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Portraiture locating the joy and beauty in the faces surrounding the artist.

Street Level Photoworks SIMON MURPHY: GOVANHILL

2 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Street portraiture of Govanhill residents encompassing several years of work.

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane

THOMAS HOUSEAGO: ONE BEAUTIFUL DAY

1 JAN-20 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Enormous large-scale paintings mark the return of Thomas Houseago to Scotland, exploring ideas of ecological renewal.

Tramway

BILLIE ZANGEWA: A QUIET FIRE

2 JAN-28 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Figurative collages handstitched from fragments of raw silk challenging the social perceptions of Black women.

RAMESH MARIO NITHIYENDRAN: IDOLS OF MUD AND WATER 2 JAN-21 APR 24, TIMES VARY

Elaborate ceramic sculptures examine the iconographies of social, political and cultural narratives.

Edinburgh Art City Art Centre SHIFTING VISTAS: 250 YEARS OF SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE 1 JAN-2 JUN 24, TIMES VARY

Sweeping landscapes both classical and modern are drawn from the City Art Centre’s permanent collection.

National Gallery

WINDRUSH LEGACY CREATIVE REFLECTIONS

1 JAN-28 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

An exhibition of poetry, prose and artwork made by people of Caribbean descent, co-curated by Scottish-Caribbean writers Jeda Pearl and Courtney Stoddart.

THE SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE AWARD

1 JAN-3 MAR 24, TIMES VARY

The inaugural exhibition of Scotland’s newest art open call, exploring both natural and man-made environments through traditional and boundary-pushing media.

YOUR ART WORLD

1 JAN-14 APR 24, TIMES VARY

Community exhibition created by young people, examining the power of creative process.

THE PRINTMAKER’S ART | REMBRANDT TO REGO

like Tracey Emin.

TURNER IN JANUARY

1 JAN-31 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

A group exhibition interrogating the both symbiotic and extractive relationship between people and trees.

National Museum of Scotland

SCOTTISH WOMEN ARTISTS: 250 YEARS OF CHALLENGING PERCEPTION 1 JAN-6 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Celebrating centuries of important artistic contribution from Scottish women artists.

MONARCHS OF THE GLEN 1 JAN-2 MAR 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

An exhibition exploring the ongoing cultural legacy of Monarch of the Glen, from shortbread to Schitt’s Creek and beyond.

ANDY WARHOL: THE TEXTILES 26 JAN-1 JUN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A groundbreaking showcase of the commercial textile designs of one of the most famous artist’s of the 20th century.

Edinburgh Printmakers JOURNEY

2 JAN-17 MAR 24, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Printmakers’ third annual members show exhibiting 78 artists.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

RISING TIDE: ART AND ENVIRONMENT IN OCEANIA 1 JAN-14 APR 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

An examination of our relationship to the natural environment told through responses to climate change by Indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander artists.

Open Eye Gallery

ADRIAN WISZNIEWSKI RSA: SCIENCE AND NATURE

12 JAN-3 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

Work characterised by a strong drawing element and fertile imagination, populated with contemplative figures set in vividly coloured landscapes.

DAVID EVANS ARCA RSA RSW (1942-2020)

12 JAN-3 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

An exhibition celebrating the life and work of David Pugh Evans, a Welsh born artist renowned for his hyperrealist paintings.

Royal Botanic Garden CONNECTING HISTORIES

1 JAN-13 APR 24, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

An extraordinary survey of Indian botanical drawing.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA

AIMÉE FINLAY: A THURIFER LEFT

1 JAN-31 JAN 24, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

An exhibition using the gallery’s foundry to explore the casting process as a means to simultaneously reproduce and transform sculpted replica’s of Thuribles.

WILLIAM GILLIES: MODERNISM AND NATION

1 JAN-28 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

ZARINA BHIMJI: FLAGGING IT UP

An anniversary exhibition of Scottish Modernist showcasing his portraiture, still life and landscape alongside drawings and associated photographs, archives and objects.

Photographic installations examine the possibilities of voice, politics and beauty as forms of resistance.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Fruitmarket 1 JAN-28 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

SARAH WOOD: PROJECT PARADISE 1 JAN-21 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

Found documentary footage interrogating the relationship between the narrating of history and individual memory.

Ingleby Gallery BRANDON LOGAN 27 JAN-9 MAR 24, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Stromness artist’s work navigates the line between sculpture and painting with nods to Orcadian traditions of weaving and tapestry.

Celebrating the centenary of the birth of Scottish pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi with a retrospective exhibition, including his Mickey tapestry and the tile designs at Tottenham Court Road tube station.

Scottish National Tracing the history of Portrait printmaking, from fifteenth- Gallery century pioneers to artists MAKING SPACE:

DEEP ROOTED

Dovecot Studios

27 JAN-21 APR 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

1 JAN-25 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

The famous annual exhibition of the National Gallery’s Turner watercolour collection.

1 JAN-25 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

PAOLOZZI AT 100

ALBERTA WHITTLE: CREATE DANGEROUSLY 1 JAN-7 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

An immersive exhibition exploring compassion and collective care as a mode of anti-racist resistance.

DECADES: THE ART OF CHANGE 1900–1980 1 JAN-7 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A dramatic journey through 80 years of art and moments of significant artistic change.

— 60 —

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARCHITECTURE 1 JAN-3 MAR 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Exploring the social footprint of architecture, and the ways people have documented it through the decades.

Sett Studios

OT PASCOE + JOEL T DAVIDSON: SLUGGISH

27 JAN-4 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

Immersive exhibition by two of Sett’s resident artists, informed by research into slug species, their environments and their bodies.

Uncomfortable and whimsical sculptural works.

Stills

CAFÉ ROYAL BOOKS 2 JAN-10 FEB 24, 12:00PM – 5:00PM

Spotlighting the work of Café Royal Books, an independent publisher dedicated to post-war photography from Britain and Ireland.

Summerhall

ROWAN WALKER: FOREIGN OBJECTS 1 JAN-25 FEB 24, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Sculptural installation using clinical aesthetics to explore our relationship to pain.

YUMIKO ONO: COMPOSITION IV

KATIE PATERSON: TO BURN, FOREST, FIRE

1 JAN-17 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

An immersive installation using scent and incense burning to explore the firstever forest on Earth, and the last forest in the age of the climate crisis.

The Scottish Gallery

MODERN MASTERS XVI

6 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

An overview of modernist and modern works.

PATRICIA SHONE: 25 YEARS OF MAKING

6 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Organic ceramic shapes inspired by the changeable landscape of the Highlands.

CALUM MCCLURE: POCO PIÙ IN LÀ

6 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Atmospheric landscape paintings rooted in representations of light, shadow and reflection.

WILLIAM KIRK: MODERN MASTER OF SILVER

6 JAN-27 JAN 24, TIMES VARY

Elegant, minimalist silversmithing from renowned 20th-century artist.

Dundee Developed out of a residen- Art 1 JAN-1 NOV 24, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

cy program in Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, this large-scale work explores intersections between art and architecture.

EMMA HISLOP: WHAT IS LEFT BEHIND 1 JAN-25 FEB 24, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

The inaugural exhibition at Summerhall’s previously closed Post Mortem Room is an appropriately forensic exploration of collisions between myth and science.

MELLA SHAW: SOUNDING LINE

1 JAN-25 FEB 24, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Sculptures fashioned from whalebone ash fashioned into large-scale sculptures inspired by whales’ innerear bones exploring ideas of ecological crisis and fragility.

CAMILA OSPINA GAITÁN: AN UNCANNY FEELING THAT SHE WAS BEING WATCHED 1 JAN-25 FEB 24, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Sculptural artwork exploring gender through redefining and reorienting the male gaze.

Talbot Rice Gallery THE RECENT

1 JAN-17 FEB 24, TIMES VARY

Group exhibition centring ideas of deep and geological time, examining how art can place us in a futureoriented timeframe.

Cooper Gallery

THE SCALE OF THINGS

26 JAN-6 APR 24, TIMES VARY

Three moving image works

by Grace Ndiritu, Saodat Ismailova and Margaret Tait exploring relations between humans and nonhumans through frameworks of intimacy and spirituality.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts MICHELLE WILLIAMS GAMAKER: OUR MOUNTAINS ARE PAINTED ON GLASS

1 JAN-24 MAR 24, TIMES VARY

A moving image work depicting a decolonised retelling of The Thief of Bagdad, exploring the ability of cinema to navigate structural violence.

V&A Dundee TARTAN

1 JAN-14 JAN 24, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A major new exhibition looking at the social, political, and aesthetic history of tartan.

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Venues A new taqueria in New Town and more stalls at Edinburgh Street Food spell a happy new year for the capital’s chilly and peckish crowds

Words: Ellie Robertson

Paz Taqueria 64 Thistle St, EH2 1EN Even though their Roxburgh’s Court and Teviot Place locations remain, the news that El Cartel Thistle Street would remain shut was a blow to Mexican cuisine fans in the New Town. If you were as disappointed as we were, then you might consider this news a late Christmas present.

Stuart McCluskey, the former owner of the Bon Vivant and co-founder of the Bon Vivant Group (which comprises El Cartel, the Devil’s Advocate, and more), has just opened Paz Taqueria, a Mexican restaurant in the same spot as the former El Cartel. In the words of their Instagram bio: walk-in taco lovers only.

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Fat Patty’s/Mr Boney Leith St, Edinburgh EH1 3AU Since opening last February, Edinburgh Street Food has become a hotbed for artisan scran, so group nights out will be buzzing to hear about the new additions to the family. Fat Patty’s is a cut above the average burger stand, with ingredients like truffle mayo giving them an edge against their myriad, mouth-watering neighbours. Other newcomers are Mr Boney, whose flagship dish is a 24-hour cooked bone-in-beef rib sandwich.

They also offer a Sunday Roast (only on Sundays, of course) complete with Yorkshire puddings and gravy.

January 2024 — Listings

Chotu 16 Haymarket Ter, EH12 5JZ If you could do with some heating up this winter, then it’s worth paying a visit to Chotu, the new Indian cafe on Haymarket Terrace. Their Bombay Babu has all the staples of a full English breakfast, plus masala beans and potato tikki, and their bacon, sausage and egg roti is served with spicy ketchup. If the heat alone isn’t enough to perk you up early in the morning, the great flavours will do the trick – their dosas (grilled chicken, cheese masala, and red pepper) are a particular highlight, and you can always get a cup of chai to go. The best part about it, it’s right across the street from Haymarket station – a great breakfast joint like Chotu might make your commute a little bit more bearable.

Venues

Image: courtesy of venue Mr Boney

THE SKINNY

The Skinny On... swim school S

Photo: Grace Equi @snaps.by.gracie

The Skinny On...

Ahead of what sounds like a pretty big year for the Edinburgh band, swim school’s Alice Johnson takes on our January Q&A

wim school have been on our radar for some time now. In fact, the Edinburgh outfit were meant to play our stage at Kelburn Garden Party in 2020 until you know what happened. Since then they’ve released an EP every year, they’ve been nominated for a SAMA, they’ve toured with Inhaler and The Amazons, and before this year even came into focus, they landed on Dork’s 2024 Hype list and were announced in the first wave of the lineup for Madrid’s Mad Cool festival. It looks like 2024 could be their year, so frontwoman Alice Johnson takes on our January Q&A, with answers just as punchy as swim school’s music.

What’s your favourite place to visit?

Brighton. Every show we have played there has been amazing, it feels like we’ve been in Brighton more than Edinburgh this year. The whole vibe is so cool but also quite chill, I wouldn’t be surprised if we moved there in the future.

What’s your favourite food?

Italian food – every time we’re on tour we make sure we find a good Italian. We recently had one in Manchester and of course had one when we toured Italy with Inhaler. heroes to me with the amount of challenges they have had to overcome.

Whose work inspires you now?

My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Slowdive – I love how timeless their music is and the guitar tones have massively inspired the newer swim school songs.

Who was your hero growing up?

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift – two very strong and powerful women who never let men hold them back or tell them what to do. They are both still Photo: Grace Equi @snaps.by.gracie

January 2024 – Feature

What’s your favourite colour?

Red. I feel like that is a running theme throughout swim school which I love.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?

Taylor, Beyoncé and Stevie Nicks – would love to get the gossip from them all. I’d order in an Italian.

What’s your all-time favourite album?

It’s a newer album by Slow Pulp, but it’s insane, it’s called Yard. The tunes are so so good and everyone needs to listen to it.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

We aren’t a big film-loving band so we don’t really watch films, and not a fan of musicals ironically – can’t stand them, far too cringey.

What book would you take to a desert island?

Just Kids by Patti Smith – that book destroyed me.

Who’s the worst?

Old male sound engineers (majority of them).

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When did you last cry?

Probably the last night of the [latest] tour [with The Amazons]. It was so much fun and I was gutted it was over.

What are you most scared of?

Spiders.

When did you last vomit?

Probably when I was hungover.

Tell us a secret?

New music and tour coming soon.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

I’m a lover not a fighter :) If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be and why?

A bird or a dog; bird would be fun to fly but dogs are my fave animal.

You’ve been announced for the Mad Cool lineup next year. Beyond that, what does the rest of your 2024 look like?

It’s gonna be a big year – lots of touring, including a headline UK tour and lots of new music. instagram.com/weareswimschool

THE SKINNY

Young Fathers Takeover

February 2023 – Feature

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January 2024 – Feature

The Skinny On...

THE SKINNY

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