The Skinny September 2017 by The Skinny

.CO.UK

INDEPENDENT FREE

CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

September 2017 Scotland Issue 144

ON GLASGOW, ROCK ACTION AND THE IMPENDING NUCLEAR WAR

MUSIC Zola Jesus EMA SlÃ¸tface Vessels Sparks DAREFest Nasty P Roddy Woomble MC Almond Milk

FILM Take One Action Krafta Doc SQIFF Scalarama Patti Cake$ Una

BOOKS Bloody Scotland Iona Lee & Sabrina Mahfouz Omar el Akkad COMEDY Nick Helm Welcome to Night Vale

ART Sahej Rahal Frank Quitely CLUBS Fergus Clark Huntleys & Palmers La La

Photo: Cameron James Brisbane

P.19 Signature Move

P.42 Roddy Woomble

P.31 Solo Travel

September 2017 I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 144, September 2017 © Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 1.9 1st Floor Tower, Techcube, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

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

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jan – Dec 2016: 27,332

printed on 100% recycled paper

Contents

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

Rosamund West Adam Benmakhlouf Alan Bett Claire Francis Ben Venables Kate Pasola Kate Pasola Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Tallah Brash Amy Taylor Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Kyle McPartlin

Sales Sales Manager Sales Executives

Sandy Park George Sully Keith Allan

Online Digital Editor Web Developer

Peter Simpson Stuart Spencer

Bookkeeping & Accounts Publisher

Rebecca Sweeney Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Photo: Mat Hay

P.10 Mogwai

Contents Chat & Opinion: The trouble with the 06 Edinburgh music scene; Shot of the Month; Spot the Difference; What Are You Having For Lunch?; Crystal Baws. Heads Up: September’s cultural calendar. 08 FEATURES ogwai's Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic 10 M Aitchison on their ninth studio album Every Country’s Sun, their label Rock Action, and their crucial role in the future of Scottish music.

12 Electronic experimentalist Zola Jesus

explores the acutely personal process behind her sixth album, Okovi.

15 We meet Erika M. Anderson, aka EMA, the

week after Charlottesville and explore the dark heart of her third long player, Exile in the Outer Ring. Norwegian punks Sløtface tell us about changing their name, feminism and their debut album Try Not to Freak Out.

16 We speak to Vessels' Lee J. Malcolm and

Martin Teff about the group's fourth studio album, The Great Distraction. Russell Mael of Sparks discusses their eight year hiatus, collaborating with Franz Ferdinand, and their 23rd album Hippopotamus.

18 Take One Action returns – we meet

Finnish director Elina Hirvonen to discuss her documentary Boiling Point, a cool-headed look at an increasingly incendiary subject: immigration. The creative process is under the spotlight at Krafta Doc, a new documentary film festival devoted to the work of artists, craftspeople and designers.

19 Chicago-based filmmaker Jennifer

Reeder talks us through her quietly radical feature Signature Move which closes this year's Scottish Queer International Film Festival, plus our Scalarama highlights.

indie rocker-turned-director 20 Former Geremy Jasper offers uplifting underdog story Patti Cake$.

enedict Andrews makes his film deB but with Una, an adaptation of David Harrower's play Blackbird.

22 Bloody Scotland returns to Stirling to celebrate Tartan noir.

The two women behind DAREFest – Lou Mclean and Ashley Stein – tell us their plans for the inaugural event.

24 Nick Helm is a thunderous hopeless

romantic who cares so much about his comedy.

September 2017

meet the co-creator and lead voice 25 We actors of the creepy and comedic

Welcome to Night Vale podcast.

of his exhibition in CCA this month, 26 Ahead Sahej Rahal discusses the protest politics and texts of resistance that inspired the work he will show.

28 Iona Lee and Sabrina Mahfouz discuss

the increasing volume of women's voices in the poetry scene.

29 Author Omar El Akkad discusses the

polarisation of, and battle lines running through, modern America.

30 Frank Quitely talks about exhibiting at

Kelvingrove Art Gallery as a comic book artist.

LIFESTYLE

31 Travel: Solo travel – it’s hard but dead good.

32 Showcase: We kick off a new column fo-

cussing on Scottish Design with a bit of a manifesto.

34 Deviance: Liz Aggiss and Louise Orwin

on the radical body, plus some thoughts on Feminist Porn.

37 Food & Drink: We kick off the annual

Food & Drink Survey (DEMOCRACY!), and meet the man behind FARE magazine.

REVIEW

41 Music: We meet Nasty P, Roddy Woomble and MC Almond Milk. Plus albums of the month and September live highlights.

46 Clubs: We chat with prodigal DJ talent

Fergus Clark and celebrate ten years of Huntleys & Palmers. Plus a La La guest selector, and clubbing highlights.

50 Books: Reviews and poetry news. 51 Art: Inverleith House, Jac Leirner and September exhibition highlights.

52 Film & DVD: Our pick of the month’s releases for cinema and home viewing.

54 Theatre: Eastern Promise return to

Platform with an expanded programme. Plus, CCA highlights.

55 Competitions: Win tickets for lovely music things, including Skye Live!

56 Listings: What’s on in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee this month.

LAST WORD

63 Our highlights as the annual Doors Open Days reveal a series of hidden worlds across Scotland.

Contents

Editorial

Be a Legend Roberta Pia, Marketing Manager for La Belle Angèle and The Mash House, PR Officer for Kelburn Garden Party, and all round legend, talks us through the problems with Edinburgh’s music scene Words: Roberta Pia

W I

t’s autumn – rejoice that the Edinburgh festivals are done for another year and we’re in the only season that the Scottish weather is any good at. On the cover for September you will find a certain Mogwai, back with their ninth studio album Every Country’s Sun. They’ve been going for an incredible 22 years – longer than some of the people in The Skinny office have been sentient – and kindly agreed to meet up and discuss Glasgow, Brexit, forming a record label and the imminent threat of nuclear war. What better way to soundtrack our inevitable destruction at the hands of the demented toddler in that America’s White House eh? Elsewhere in Music you will find words with Erika M. Anderson, aka EMA, whom we met the week after the horror of Charlottesville for a discussion coloured by that darkness. Zola Jesus explores the personal trauma – she was struck by lightning??? – behind sixth album Okovi; Norwegian punks Sløtface talk feminism and sexual harassment at gigs, something that is particularly on our thoughts round here after one of our team was extensively groped while photographing a gig in Edinburgh in August. Photographs of the guilty party available on request. Vessels pop by to talk about their fourth album, Sparks introduce Hippopotamus and we learn about DAREFest, a new female-fronted one dayer that has grown out of the Girls Rock School. Roddy Woomble talks about not being a folkie, while Nasty P celebrates Scottish hip hop and the vegan-friendly MC Almond Milk introduces his debut album. In Film, autumn means a slew of film festivals arriving to entertain, enlighten and engage. First up we’ve got Take One Action, back to contribute to a better world through incremental action and

education. The Scottish Queer International Film Festival presents a diverse programme ranging from Bruce LaBruce to Mexican lesbian wrestlers. New festival on the block Krafta Doc has been programmed by a former Venice Biennale staffer who aims to present work from the worlds of art and design. Touring film fest Scalarama also arrives this month – our Film editor shares a few highlights. We also meet the directors of Una and Patti Cake$, a new release about a plus-sized rapper from New Jersey who dares to dream big. Books looks forward to Stirling’s crime fest Bloody Scotland, and shares a conversation with poetry stars Iona Lee and Sabrina Mahfouz, here talking about the prominence of women in the world of spoken word. We also meet author Omar el Akkad whose new book American War, ten years in the writing, could not feel more prescient of the state of that weird nation at this point in time. Comedy has recovered sufficiently from the madness of the Fringe (we hope), enough at least to meet the brains behind podcast Welcome to Night Vale. Art meets Sahej Rahal, arriving in CCA with an exhibition exploring protest politics and resistance in India and Scotland. We also speak to Scottish comic book legend Frank Quitely about being in the unexpected position of starring in a blockbuster exhibition in Kelvingrove. In Clubs, Huntleys & Palmers founder Andrew Thomson explains why they’re not named after a biscuit brand and marks the occasion of a decade in the business with a look back over their formation. Finally, we have a Guest Selector from La La, who (horrifyingly, for me at least) was three when Faithless’ Insomnia came out. Apparently it’s really stood the test of time. I feel very old. [Rosamund West]

e need to talk about ‘the death of the Edinburgh music scene’. A venue that was close to our hearts has shut down and that’s sad. It was sad when it happened to The Venue. It was sad when it happened to The Picture House; to Electric Circus, Studio 24... and it was sad when it happened to all the other venues that have fallen victim to gentrification, coupled with an arguably unsupportive council. It’s an outrage that there is little to no encouragement from the powers that be to create art outwith the realms of August, and even then, the Fringe isn’t really for us either. But the music scene is only dead if you think it is. Let’s cast our minds back – beyond the realms of the capital – and think about the venues across the nation that were making amazing things happen before they met their inevitable demise. Because, sadly, nothing lasts forever. The Haçienda in Manchester, The End in London, The Arches in Glasgow: three venues off the top of my head that housed ground-breaking music and some phenomenal moments in time. Do we look at these cities now – where creatives and hedonists alike travelled to from far and wide to make memories – and lament the ashes of their music scene? Or do we focus our attention on the good times that we had whilst seeking out the next thing to sink our teeth into? Because believe me, there’s plenty more where that came from once you get beneath the surface. Those venues, amongst zillions of others, didn’t become legendary overnight. They were the result of hard work, sweat, tears and true love. They started small, fuelled by passion, and sculpted their own place in the history books. Edinburgh may have had a bad run of venue closures of late, but I remember when The Arches shut down and it was just as sad. Does Glasgow still boast a pumping music scene? Damn right it does – because as long as the city is filled with passionate people who like to throw parties, there will always be a diverse and creative scene for us to get stuck into. People often come to me for advice on places to go out and find music in Edinburgh. My first point of call is to check my regular haunts for what nights they have on, after that I’ll check Facebook events or groups, and after that I’ll check listings websites. The number of gigs, club nights, open mics, sessions and whatever else you can think of happening every night of the week is countless. Follow these simple instructions and I can guarantee you’ll find something you like on any given night of the week. Perhaps there’s an argument for centralising all this information into one place – but perhaps the real problem with Edinburgh’s music scene is that people aren’t trying hard enough. My general rule is this: if you can’t find a party you like, throw a party you like. Whether it's 90s parties, bondage parties or tea parties that you’re into – either find it, or put it on yourself. Don’t let the closure of a venue put you off. Find another venue. Pop into your local and ask if you can organise an event. Put on a gig in your living room. Throw a rave in your garage. Lest we forget, Wayne’s World began in his parents’ basement. I’m a born and bred Edinburgh bird who has worked in the music scene in various guises for over ten years now. I’ve performed, promoted, organised and enjoyed music of all shapes and sizes at various venues over the years. I’ve gone from venue to venue seeking out musical

pleasures, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of creative people who are doing the same thing to ensure that our city maintains its artistic merit. But the only way that this can work in the long run is if the people outside of this circle engage with the music scene as well. Negativity is contagious and there seems to be a somewhat defeatist attitude that automatically places the blame on the council. Whilst the council may well be responsible for the closure of a venue, they will never be responsible for the death of the music scene. The future of Edinburgh’s music scene is in our hands.

“ My general rule is this: if you can’t find a party you like, throw a party you like” Roberta Pia

Have you ever moved into a flat above a music venue and spent your life complaining about the music levels downstairs? If so, you’re almost certainly part of the problem. I used to live above a chippy that played techno every night of the week. Do you know what I did when I couldn’t sleep? Had a dance and thanked my lucky stars that I live in a place that allows us the freedom to express ourselves creatively and honestly. On the flip side, positivity is contagious too. There are still lots of good venues and good people putting on good music every night of the week – not to mention all the musicians and DJs busting their guts / vital organs to pay rent whilst making sure you can have a dance with your pals. I can vouch for them, I’m usually there. So, the next time you find yourself dewy-eyed and reminiscing about the good old days, ask yourself this: when was the last time you actively sought out good music? The only thing that will kill our music scene is complacency. Be a legend. Write the next chapter. Find Roberta's favourite Edinburgh nights out at theskinny. co.uk/music

COVER ARTIST This month's cover artwork was created by graphic designer Kyle McPartlin. When he's not designing The Skinny, Kyle works freelance specialising in graphics, collage, printmaking and logo design. You can contact him on kyle@theskinny.co.uk or check out more of his work at facebook.com/ kylemcpartlindesign

By Jock Mooney 6

Chat

THE SKINNY

Crystal Baws With Mystic Mark ARIES It’s very important whenever you’re asked to lift a heavy object, to keep your back and knees straight, your arms by your side and make a honking sound until they stop asking you to lift it. If the object still requires lifting, even after prolonged honking, it’s advised in the Health & Safety manual to stretch your legs towards the exit. TAURUS Wolf Fucking demonstrations at the zoo are at midday, 3pm and 6pm. Come and marvel at the skill of the handlers. GEMINI You watch in natural wonder as the spider in the corner of your room pulls the bluebottle trapped in its web towards its fangs and then sucks the juice from it like a Capri Sun. CANCER This month you finally take the plunge and take your tough, protective shell off to be vulnerable in front of your partner. This is only advised for relationships with some star signs. For instance, if your lover is an Aquarius then they’re just a lifeless jug with eyeballs that sits motionless on a shelf all day. Nothing to worry about there. LEO If you’re ever unsure of which path to take, listen to your heart. Listen to it go squelch-squelch, squelch-squelch, squelch-squelch. VIRGO In September you find out Batman has died when you see the Bathearse blast solemnly past your house towards the secret underground Batgrave.

LIBRA Jesus always says that he’s coming soon, but he never does, leaving you with jaw ache. SCORPIO This month you invent a back patting machine. Hoping it will immediately congratulate you for creating it, instead the hydraulics malfunction and it makes light work of the nearest wall, patting through it as if it were paper. For three hours it runs amok in the city centre, killing nine and wounding 29 more. You ring your PR agent to see if there’s any way you can spin this. SAGITTARIUS You’re always one to put yourself on the line for others, like when you’re at a restaurant and you insist on generously testing all of everyone’s food and wine for poison. Their shock at your selfless sacrifice is the only thanks you need. CAPRICORN Like goats, Capricorns are excellent organisers and their thin milk makes delicious cheese. AQUARIUS You’re aghast at how much dog porn there is on the internet. Every day you spend hours trawling through thousands of graphic dog images, shaking your head in disgust and calling your wife in to see how disgusting it all is. As another appalling canine blowjob snap rolls out from the overworked printer, you wonder what sort of sick monsters are looking at this stuff? PISCES You know your cat has fleas, you tell the vet, because you gave them to it. It also has a motorbike.

Wolf Alice

Online Only

theskinny.co.uk/music We talk to Wolf Alice about following the massive success of My Love is Cool with their new album Visions of Life; head over to the website to also find extended cuts of this month’s chats with Sparks, EMA, Vessels, Sløtface and Mogwai. There’s also a host of album reviews we couldn’t quite squeeze into this month’s pages – new LPs from The National, Bicep and Mount Kimbie head the pack (spoiler: they’re all very good).

theskinny.co.uk/students Yep, it’s that time again! Students – welcome to town, hope all’s well, now be sure to grab a copy of The Skinny Student Handbook for a handy primer to Scotland’s music, film, art and nightlife.

Non-students – there’s plenty in there for you too, from guides to the best daily food and drink deals (all aboard the £1 taco train) to a look at the early-career short films of some of our favourite directors. Grab a print copy from many of the usual places, or hit the website to find the whole thing in lovely clickable chunks. theskinny.co.uk/zap Stuck for stuff to do now summer’s over? Need a hand picking through the week’s cultural offerings? Like getting an email from your pals at The Skinny every Thursday? Get yourself signed up for The Skinny Zap newsletter; you won’t regret it.

Shot of the Month

Perfume Genius, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard, 30 Aug, by Cameron James Brisbane

Spot The Difference Climb every meow-ntain With yet another pair of cats to compare here, you might say we’ve reached peak Spot the Diff. But we need your help. One’s got a cosy night in the pipeline, the other’s about to be a frozen feline. One’s demonstrating camping aptitude, while the other’s opted to go high altitude. But which is which? We don’t mean to make a

mountain out of a molehill, but we’d really like your help. We’ve got one copy of Taduno’s Song by Odafe Atogun up for grabs courtesy of the cool cats at Canongate, and you could be in with a chance of winning. Pitch us your answer and you, too could be a happy camper. Follow your dreams; climb every meow-ntain. Or summit.

Competition closes midnight Sun 1 Oct. The winner will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

September 2017

Opinion

Six-piece band Neon Waltz hail from (or near enough to) John O'Groats. They've been plugging away for yonks and are finally enjoying some deserved attention for their debut LP Strange Hymns, released in August via Ignition. With Alex Turner-esque vocals, throwback 60s riffs and psychedelic vibes, it's hooky as fuck and your new favourite Saturday afternoon music. Go to Sneaks to see it live. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 7pm, £8

Neon Waltz

Sun 10 Sep

Mon 11 Sep

Tue 12 Sep

With the onset of autumn nippiness comes a natural desire for new garms. Where better to head than the Glasgow Independent Market at the Barras Art and Design centre? Well, a clothes shop, fine. But why bother with the nasty strip lighting and boring fare of high street haunts, when you can pick out something lovely from a range of local retailers and vintage sellers? There'll also be beauty products, homeware, kitchenware, prints, gifts, food, books. Done. BAaD, Glasgow, 10am4pm, free

Artist Tako Taal brings exhibition Compound to the CCA between 1-17 Sep. Investigating 'welcome gestures' and examining ‘figures of the stranger and an extended family’, the show comprises two new videos plus family archive documents, print and objects. The exhibition borrows its form from a common living arrangement in West Africa.’ CCA, Glasgow, until 17 Sep, free

Tonight, Soul Food Sisters open their arms (and their new Barras-based venue) to mark a year-long sequence of twinned events between two pretty similar East End urban companies; London's Company Drinks and Glasgow's Bottle of Ginger. Entitled A Couple of Drinks, the evening will feature an exhibition and screening of both companies' experiences so far, plus talks from those involved. We'd hazard a guess that the bevvy situation will be top notch too... Soul Food Sisters Cafe, Glasgow, 7pm, free

Compound

Barras Art and Design

Sun 17 Sep

Mon 18 Sep

The lush surrounds of Kelburn Castle are transformed tonight for the 2017 edition of The Psychedelic Forest Carnival, a one-nightonly mini Kelburn Garden Party. This year features reggae, samba, Afrobeat, dancehall, garage, tropical beats and way more from a sprawling line-up of artists, DJs and selectors including Afriquoi, Electrikal Soundsystem, Samedia Shebeen and Orkestra Del Sol. Dig your carnival costume out and get involved. Kelburn Castle, Glasgow, 7pm, from £43.50

Aussie electronic producer Thomas Jack is credited with having come up with the term 'tropical house' three years ago. Like all great Frankenstein narratives, his joke might have created a musical monster, but the man himself stays true to a classy yet thirst-quenching sound, complete with laid-back beats and live instruments like saxophones, flutes and pianos. Go have a boogie and pretend we're not plummetting head first into autumn. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 11pm, £5-10

Know what's better than a pub quiz? A pub quiz with actually good prizes. Know what's even better than that? A pub quiz with good prizes, hosted by an actually funny comedian. Hosted by John Gavin, Funny Little Frog Comedy and Quiz gives you the chance to slam dunk such grand prizes as a brewery tour, free pizza, indie comedy DVDs and Stand show tickets. What more could you want from your Monday? The Stand, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £2

The Psychedelic Forest Carnival

Thomas Jack

Photo: Neil Favila

Sat 16 Sep

Sat 23 Sep If you're a female-identifying / non-binary musician and feel you'd benefit from being around wicked, confident and proactive industry folk, get the fuck over to DAREFest. The daytime event features workshops and discussions from Scottish Women's Aid, Ashley Stein and Lou Mclean, plus feminist and LGBTQ+ stalls. Then, stick around for music from some of the best riot grrrl acts in the country in an inspo-gig that's open to all. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, 12-4.45pm & 7.30-10pm, £5-20

Skye Live

Photo: Paul Milne

Fri 22 Sep Got a fanciful notion you might travel to Skye, but scared you'll miss your city slicker comforts? Well, coincide your travels with Skye Live and you won't have to. The two-day festival's bringing a frickin' fantastic line-up to the glorious island, including Django Django, Pronto Mama, Bwani Junction's Graceland, Dàimh and Blazin' Fiddles, along with Mano Le Tough, Apparat, Dekmantel Soundsystem, Joy Orbison and Optimo (Espacio). The Lump, Portree, Skye, 2pm, £44-79

Bottle of Ginger

John Gavin

Lou Mclean

Wed 27 Sep

Thu 28 Sep

Fri 29 Sep

In case you haven't seen quite enough films this month, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival touches down between 27 Sep-1 Oct. This year's programme features 40 events, including the Scottish premieres for new works by cult filmmakers Bruce LaBruce and Jennifer Reeder, a season about bisexual desire, a feminist porn night (read more on p19) and a whole evening dedicated to failure. We're sold, SQIFF. See sqiff.org for times, locations and prices

Make a trip to Tramway for an event with CubanAmerican artist Coco Fusco. For this show, she will present her performance lecture Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind, in which she takes on the role of chimpanzee animal psychologist Dr. Zira from the original Planet of the Apes films, using satire to examine human aggression and predatory behaviour for the accumulation of resources. Sounds about right. Tramway, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £3-5

As the Scottish climes begin to chill, warm yourself up from the inside at the travelling Rum Festival, which reaches Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms between 29 Sep-1 Oct. For those in a lyrical mood, Flint & Pitch present their next poetry event tonight featuring performances of Caroline Bird's In These Days of Prohibition and Rachel McCrum's First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate. The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, 7pm, £10

Chat

Signature Move

Tramway

Photo: Ronan Park

With its crisp air, glimmering pavements and a distinct absence of flyerers, September's a gorgeous month to get stuck into some culture. Let us be your autumnal guide...

Here's something new; underground comedy in DUNDEE! That's right. The Icebreaker Dundee are bringing a September instalment to The Braes. Hosted by Luis Alcada, headlined by Rick Molland and featuring other jokers like Jake Bourke, Jade Stuart, Mike Forbes, Chris Iskander, David Innes and Jeanette Cousland, it'll be a really nice change from Sarah Millican at Caird Hall. The Braes, Dundee, 8pm, £donation

Rum Festival

THE SKINNY

Photo: Sarah Donley

Compiled by: Kate Pasola

Wed 6 Sep

Illustration: Louise Lockhart

Heads Up

Tue 5 Sep

Sat 9 Sep

Make the most of the last dregs of summer with the return of Art Walk Porty, everyone's fave beachbased art event which returns during the first third of September. This month's programme revolves around the theme of 'Edgelands', and along with the main exhibitions there'll be shops, talks, informative strolls and open houses / gardens. 1-10 Sep, various venues in Portobello, Edinburgh, see artwalkporty.co.uk for more information

Lunge into a lovely beery September with Drygate’s festival C>sk:17. For all its millennial mathlete branding (that greater-than sign, eh?), it looks to be quite the banging affair. Celebrating the best of cask beer from Scotland and beyond, there’ll be new brews from Drygate’s on-site brewery, and over 100 other beers from more than 20 breweries, plus DJ sets from the likes of Rebecca Vasmant and a free branded glass to commemorate the whole scene. 8-10 Sep, various times, £5-6, drygate.ticketline.co.uk

Today Festival Theatre screens part one of National Theatre Live's Angels in America a "gay fantasia on national themes". The first half of this eight-hour masterpiece by Tony Kushner is entitled Millenium Approaches and lays the foundations for a harrowing and heartening tale about life in 1980s NYC, from the AIDS crisis to a conservative Reagan administration. Part two takes place on 14 Sep at 7pm. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 7pm, from £14.50

Art Walk Porty

Rebecca Vasmant

Angels in America

Wed 13 Sep

Thu 14 Sep

Fri 15 Sep

Stuck for something to do tonight? How does a ‘no-budget’ film about a man repeatedly attempting to take his own life suit you? Unconventional as it might sound, Graham Hughes' irreverent and moving feature-length, entitled A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide was met with acclaim in the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival and nominated for a British Academy Scotland Award. Give it a go. CCA, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £4

If you missed Geordie tech-house star Patrick Topping's five-hour megashow at SWG3 back in late April, fear not. He's embarking on a GoT-esque 'city takeover' today in the capital, playing in five locations across Edinburgh before ending up in La Belle to throw a finale party with Nightvision. Meet him at the club. La Belle Angèle, Edinburgh, 9pm, £12.50-16.50

If you're up for a boozy one, get down to Stewart Brewing today for Oktobeerfest. The merriment takes place across two days, and if you've got wee ones you need to keep near, bring them along to the Saturday afternoon edition. Tonight's just for the grown-ups (who, in all likelihood, will no longer be acting like grown-ups by the end of the night). Stewart Brewing, Loanhead, 15-16 Sep, 6-10pm (12-8pm on Sat), £16

A Practical Guide to a Spectacular Suicide

Patrick Topping

Wed 20 Sep

Thu 21 Sep

Who owns culture? Not the sort of question we'll manage to answer in a 70-word entry into a Heads Up calendar, but Tiffany Jenkins – author of Keeping Their Marbles: How Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums and Why They Should Stay There – claims to. Tonight she hosts a talk about cultural ownership and appropriation, and though it's untold whether you'll agree or disagree, it's set to be an interesting contribution to a controversial debate. The Common Guild, Glasgow, 6pm, £3

Today Take One Action Film Festival continues its mission of showing local audiences world-changing cinema. This year's their 10th anniversary, and their stellar programme reflects it with a choice of 18 feature films and 10 shorts, 50% of which are directed or co-directed by women. Our Film Editor's picks include Whose Streets? and Boiling Point, two movies which "offer a fascinating take on race from both sides of the Atlantic." 13-24 Sep, venues across Edinburgh and Glasgow, see takeoneaction.org.uk for times and prices

You're spoiled for choice today, pal. Wu-Tang Clan big guy Ghostface Killah lands in Glasgow's SWG3 for a set with support from DJ Bunty, Physiks and Gasp and Kayce One. (7pm, £15-20). For afters, get over to La Cheetah for a show with Edwin and fast-rising Swedish producer Baba Stiltz at DABJ (11pm, £8-10). If you're in Edinburgh, lo-fi techno/ house wizard Mall Grab's got your night locked down at Odyssey. Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, 11pm, £10-12

Tiffany Jenkins

Photo: Ruth Clark

Tue 19 Sep

Whose Streets?

Ghostface Killah

Mon 25 Sep

Tue 26 Sep

Psychadelic outfit The Black Angels' sixth album Death Song was hailed by many critics as their finest effort to date. It's climactic, at times riotous, and fodder for a bloody good gig. Speaking of which, they bring their The Death March Tour to SWG3 tonight, complete with The Mustachio Light Show – don't miss it. SWG3, Glasgow, 7pm, £17

The Simpsons taught Yianni Agisilaou everything he knows. Seriously. He wrote a whole standup show about it. Sure, perhaps he was speaking in flippant terms, but it's safe to say that his show is an ode to the series in all its glory. Don't worry if you're only a casual fan either – Agisilaou slickly weaves context and clips into his quips, enabling even the most passive Simpsons consumer to get fully on board. The Stand, Edinburgh, 8pm, £12

The Black Angels

Photo: Alexandra Valenti

Sun 24 Sep Okay with being reminded that the younger generation will grow up to be cleverer, nicer, cooler and more successful than you? Awesome, head to Glasgow Youth Film Festival between 22-24 Sep. The mini festival is the culmination of a year-round mentor scheme, and films include EIFF Audience Award winner Just Charlie; Daphne, and a pop-up screening of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom. See glasgowfilm. org for screening times and prices

Moonrise Kingdom

Sun 1 Oct

Mon 2 Oct

First up, the pure babes at She is Fierce mag host their inaugural Noisy Girls Club, promising workshops, makers, performance, fashion shows, food, demos, talks, competitions, shopping, goody bags and, apparently, the nicest people on earth (we believe it). Whitespace, Edinburgh, 12pm, £20. Tenement TV's music fest Tenement Trail also returns, bringing in the likes of Spinning Coin, LUCIA, Neon Waltz, Catholic Action and way more besides. Venues across Glasgow, 2pm, £20

If you're one of the cultured masses who fall in the venn diagram of craft fans and documentary lovers, Kraftadoc is for you. The first international documentary film festival about making art, it's a unique prospect. There'll be 77 films from 22 countries and a seminar. 27 Sep - 1 Oct, The Lighthouse / Sloans, Glasgow, see kraftadoc.com for times and prices

Over in Dundee, Canadian artist Kelly Richardson brings her Scottish debut, an exhibition entitled The Weather Makers to DCA from late September. Programmed in partnership with Discovery Film Festival, the show features three large-scale video works and a new print series, and asks the viewer to consider what the future might hold if we do not alter our use of the planet's resources. Head down, if you can stomach it... DCA, Dundee, 23 Sep 26 Nov, free

September 2017

Photo: Ryan Johnston

Sat 30 Sep

Catholic Action

Neon

Oktobeerfest

Yianni Agisilaou

Kelly Richardson

Chat

Photo: Ryan Johnston

Fri 8 Sep

Photo: Mark Dawson

Thu 7 Sep

This Country’s Sons We speak to Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison about their ninth studio album, their own Rock Action label, and how they’re more crucial than ever to the future of Scottish music

n their own right, Mogwai are among the great survivors of both post-rock and the Glasgow scene from which they emerged in the mid-90s; they are now 22 years into a glittering career that’s spanned nine studio records and countless laps of the world – not to speak of their nice little sideline as omnipresent film and television soundtrackers. Their status within their hometown, homeland and the industry in general, though, extends further; their record label, Rock Action, has gone from an imprint through which to sell home-packaged seven-inches to one of Scotland’s premier purveyors of independent music. The spirit and ethos of what the label’s become can be traced back to the band’s own musical upbringing on Chemikal Underground, the legendary Glasgow indie that nurtured not only them, but the likes of Arab Strap, The Delgados and Iain Cook’s pre-Chvrches outfit Aerogramme. It was through Chemikal that they’d release their first two records, Mogwai Young Team and Come On Die Young, on which they established the uncompromising basics of their sonic approach. The turn of the century saw them depart Chemikal and spread their wings, inking a multialbum deal with Play It Again, Sam and decamping once again to rural New York to cut the record that their label would be named after. Rock Action was the sound of the band spreading their wings, too, no longer just relying on dynamics and volume and instead beginning to implement electronic and orchestral elements. It was the sound of a band ready to make a statement in the studio, not just within the confines of their live shows, which have always been incendiary.

“ The music definitely helped us to think about something else than the threat of impending nuclear war, or whatever” Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai

They continued to kick against the standard post-rock template and take genuine risks with their sound from that point forward, first with 2003’s moody Happy Songs for Happy People and then again in 2006 with the hyper-polished sonic cascade of an album that was Mr Beast, a record described by Creation Records svengali Alan McGee – admittedly a man not averse to hyperbole – as being better than My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. It was around this time, too, that the wider world began to take notice of Mogwai’s seemingly effortless knack for conjuring atmosphere and evoking a visceral response with their songs; they were blindingly well-suited to score the visual arts, to the point that they seemed wasted on their own music videos. Whether or not their first soundtracking effort, in 2006, came as a surprise would’ve depended on how well you knew the band at the time. Theoretically, your money would’ve been on them scoring some moment of profound emotional crescendo in a movie, or providing the unnerving backdrop for a highly-stylised television series – admittedly, they’d get to the latter later. Instead,

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they collaborated with the Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon on Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, a 91 minute film following French football legend Zinedine Zidane. No Mogwai fan worth their salt, though, could’ve claimed ignorance on the band’s love of football, one of many aspects of the group’s personalities outwith the music that stands in almost comical opposition to the other-worldly nature of their music. Mogwai are avowed Celtic fans and have never cared much about who knew about it, from the sticker of cult club legend L'ubomír Moravcík on one of Stuart Braithwaite’s guitars to the time in 2008 when they threatened to reveal the full home addresses of Rangers players unlesstheir singe Batcat made the top ten, the humour of which was predictably lost on both the club’s supporters and the Scottish tabloids. In that respect, Mogwai have always been remarkably scrutable guys. They’re self-avowed fans of comic books and video games, champions of Irn-Bru, and lace their work, via track and album titles, with a wicked sense of humour – you’d have to go a long way to find a better monikered record than 2011’s Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. They laugh off many of those names as in-jokes, but they provide the one window that the records themselves can into the character of the group, from the political George Square Thatcher Death Party, to the slyly self-aware A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters. They’ve also been around long enough to become masters of their own collective destiny; when they found themselves without a record deal in the lead up to releasing Hardcore Will Never Die..., they decided to test the waters for a self-release with Special Moves, a 2010 live album that became the band’s first on Rock Action. It went swimmingly, and they’ve not looked back since, with all of their subsequent albums also on the imprint, from their well-received soundtrack to the French supernatural drama Les Revenants to Rave Tapes, the studio album that followed and owed a heavy debt to its predecessor’s zombiefuelled sense of unease. They spent much of last year touring Atomic, their suitably incendiary soundtrack to Mark Cousins’ documentary Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise, which spans more or less the entirety of the nuclear age from the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki through the Chernobyl disaster and the modern benefits of atomic science in relation to healthcare. They follow it, now, with their ninth studio album proper, Every Country’s Sun, one that bears much less of a relationship to Atomic as Rave Tapes did to Les Revenants and that also brings them almost full circle; for the first time in 16 years, they headed back to upstate New York to record with Dave Fridmann.

done – you leave at seven or eight o’clock at night, and you don’t think about the music until you’re back in the next morning. We really lived and breathed this album, out in the woods with Dave, where there’s nowhere to go even if you wanted to. It’s a really immersive way of making an album... We didn’t spend too long on this album – two weeks recording, two weeks mixing – but all of that time was spent on the record.” The band are now reduced to a four-piece after the departure of longtime guitarist John Cummings in 2015. They were initially concerned about whether or not they’d be able to find a replacement capable of playing his intricate parts live. Those fears were assuaged when Alex Mackay stepped up to prove an able substitute, leaving the remaining four members to feel out the new studio dynamic during the writing of Every Country’s Sun. A lot of Every Country’s Sun’s early ideas were passed around digitally via Dropbox, a system that began out of necessity when guitarist Barry Burns moved to Berlin to open a bar (Das Gift),

but ended up becoming a staple of the way the group work even when the rest of them are in Glasgow. This independent approach between the four of them meant that there was never really a deliberately agreed strategy of moving on from Rave Tapes, even though there were the twin obstacles to navigate of both reacting against that album’s gloomy feel and ensuring that, unlike last time, this new record felt like a separate entity from the soundtrack that had preceded it. Mogwai’s records have never been overtly political, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that it’d be hard to apply an explicit partisan message to music that has largely been instrumental. Given that they’re so readily able to move the listener in emotional terms, though, it doesn’t seem unlikely on the face of it that Every Country’s Sun might reflect the rampant political upheaval that has changed the face of the western world in the three years that have passed since Rave Tapes was released. This is especially true when you bear in mind that the band have never shied away from being

Writing and Recording Every Country’s Sun “We wanted to get away, and go somewhere that was a long way removed from our own place,” says bassist Dominic Aitchison of Castle of Doom, the Glasgow studio that the band co-own with local producer Tony Doogan, he of early Belle & Sebastian fame. “Dave doesn’t travel to work with bands, so you have to go up to where he lives in Cassadaga, which is in the middle of nowhere. You stay and work in the same place, which actually is no bad thing. Sticking yourself out in the wildnerness is a good way of making sure you get on with the record.” “I think we were all looking forward to it, picturing it as being a bit of a holiday!” Braithwaite laughs. “A working holiday, I should add. Recording in Glasgow is great, but once you’re done, you’re

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Photo: Cameron James Brisbane

Interview: Joe Goggins

THE SKINNY

James Graham

outspoken in this arena in their own lives – Braithwaite in particular. For a start, his Twitter profile picture is the Neu! logo with the ‘n’ removed, and it’s been that way ever since the Leave vote prevailed in the EU referendum over a year ago. As a progressive, you can imagine the decidedly dim view he takes of both the Conservative government and the US President. Every Country’s Sun was recorded in the States mere weeks after the 2016 presidential election, and they were in the country on inauguration day, too. “We were in Las Vegas the day that he took the oath of office,” recalls Braithwaite, “and it was, as you can imagine, a very odd time. Pretty much everybody that we came into contact with couldn’t really believe it was happening, and that feeling just seemed to surround us the entire time we were there. I don’t know if any of the political events that have happened made it into the music, but it would’ve had to have been in a very subconscious way. I think the overwhelming sense everywhere, and especially that we picked up on when we were in America, was just of helplessness. There was a very similar atmosphere in Scotland after the Brexit vote, which had obviously come on the heels of the No vote being sold as the way for Scotland to remain in the EU which, as you can imagine, ended up seeming like the cruellest joke of all time.” What the impending completion of the record meant, at least, is that the process of finishing it provided plenty of distraction for the band from the 24 hour news cycle, to the point that Braithwaite described the project as feeling almost escapist. The album certainly sounds less down beat than Rave Tapes, even if it’s more turbulent than its predecessor – the guitars soar again in a way that they haven’t on a Mogwai LP in quite a while. “The last few years have just been really intense for the world,” Braithwaite reflects, “and we’re probably quite lucky that we do something that’s very absorbing and that isn’t defined by those kind of factors. If nothing else, the music definitely helped us to think about something else than the threat of impending nuclear war, or whatever.” The Rise of Rock Action Also diverting Braithwaite’s attention, as well as that of his bandmates, will have been Rock Action, which has taken on a status and importance not

September 2017

just in terms of their own career but for Scottish music in general that they could never have dreamed of, either when they first started it as an outlet for singles in the early noughties or even when they began to use it to release their own records as recently as 2011. “When we started Rock Action, we did it because it was just what pretty much everybody else was doing,” Braithwaite remembers. “We got £400 from my sister’s boyfriend, and we pressed up 500 seven-inches in the Czech Republic. The thing is, when you’re as young as we were then, you don’t ever really look more than three months ahead, let alone this far. As the years went by, I think we started to appreciate what Chemikal Underground had done for us as a young band, helping us grow; we thought that seemed like a good model to adopt and to do for other bands. It’s a nice position to be in.” Rock Action’s connections to the next wave of Scottish bands runs deep, even among those who haven’t been directly musically involved with it, which is certainly the case for James Graham, The Twilight Sad’s frontman, who works for the label when he’s not on the road. “I was always a massive fan of Mogwai, and when my band started out, they really took us under their wing and looked out for us – they took us out on tour quite a bit,” says Graham. “I was really interested to find out how the other side of the business worked, just to learn about it for myself, and Craig Hargrave, who runs the label with Stuart, asked if I wanted to come in and spend a bit of time in the office – which was nice of him, because I was skint!” Things have expanded particularly quickly for Rock Action in recent years; “When I started here, we were in a wee office in The Hidden Lane in Finnieston,” explains Graham. “We moved upstairs to a bigger office after a little while, and then again to an even bigger one. It’s been quite inspiring to watch how it’s grown, because the whole time, Mogwai have had complete control.” The success of the label can also be measured in considerably less tangible terms, of course. Back in 2011, Ben Power of Bristol noiseniks Fuck Buttons released a self-titled solo debut on Rock Action under the name Blanck Mass, having grown up citing Mogwai as a major influence. A year later, a track from the album, Sundowner, was played at three separate points over the course of

Photo: Ryan Johnston

“ It’s going to be quite weird emailing people about my own record... I might get emails back telling me it’s shite!” James Graham, The Twilight Sad

“I think it says a lot for the label,” says Graham, whose responsibilities at Rock Action include sifting through demos. “Back when I started, Sacred Paws weren’t the sort of band that I would’ve thought about being on the label, but now it makes complete sense. I don’t think you can say that there’s one kind of Rock Action band, you know? I get a lot of demos through from post-rock people, which is understandable... but if you look at the actual roster, it’s a pretty diverse set of records. That’s something that should be encouraging to a lot of young Scottish bands, and now more than ever after the year that Sacred Paws have been having.” Graham’s relationship with Rock Action is about to take another dimension, too; with The Twilight Sad currently on the back burner after touring extensively around the world with The Cure throughout 2016, he’s got a new side project – Out Lines – who are about to release their debut record, Conflats, via the label. Out Lines is James Graham, singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph and producer Marcus Mackay, who runs the Diving Bell Lounge studio in Glasgow’s East End. Graham acknowledges that his proximity to all things Rock Action will make the album’s rollout an unusual one. “It’s going to be quite weird emailing people about my own record, and I don’t know if that’s going to be a good thing for my brain – I might get emails back telling me it’s shite!” That the label have been so nurturing of Glaswegian projects, though, is reflective of the ethos at its core – which, in turn, is a reflection of the encouraging atmosphere that’s always permeated the city’s music scene. “It’s always

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been really supportive, as far back as I can remember,” says Braithwaite. “I remember, years ago, one of my housemates seemed to have the only bass amp of anyone that anybody knew in Glasgow – people would turn up every night to borrow it. I think the nicer people are to each other, the more inclined they are to be nice back. There’s always a real communal aspect to venues like Mono, Stereo and The 13th Note, and that’s something that’s true of a lot of different aspects of the arts scene but especially so in terms of music. It’s one of the best things about the cultural landscape in the city.” “It definitely never feels like a competition,” Graham concurs. “I’ve worked at label fairs for Rock Action, and there’s definitely a sense of community at them. It’s not like The Apprentice! You’d buy a CD from somebody and they’d say, ‘if you like this, you’ll like those guys over there as well, you should check them out.’ There’s a great relationship between Rock Action and Chemikal Underground especially; we’re always on the phone to each other, and I think you can tell that Mogwai have sort of paid forward the support they had from Chemikal in the early days.” From Braithwaite’s perspective, there was always a gap in the market for another Scottish label helping to support local artists, even if he’d never intended for Rock Action to be the one to fill that void. “Back then, what used to happen quite a lot is that there were always labels putting out singles and EPs, but in the end, a lot of bands would end up on a London-based label, or a European one, or an American one, and it was really beginning to become evident that surely it didn’t have to be that way. As the years went on, labels expanded and you could do things elsewhere – I’m sure a lot of younger bands now would think it was absolutely crazy that so many people thought the done thing was to move to London to be in a band, especially because the idea that a musician could afford to live there now is so ludicrous.” The Twilight Sad have been one of the beneficiaries of that expansion, and while the trio are signed to Brighton imprint FatCat, the help offered to them from Rock Action and Mogwai has been invaluable. “I’ve grown up a fan of Mogwai, toured with them, worked for them and now they’re releasing one of my records. They’ll always help people if they think they can, and they really have helped me. We’d never have been on those tours with The Cure if Stuart hadn’t introduced Robert Smith to our music. I’ve got a lot to thank Mogwai for, and many pints to buy them.” Rock Action, meanwhile, continues to go from strength to strength – mirroring Mogwai’s ongoing success, with a huge, celebratory homecoming date at the Hydro in December set to bring the curtain down on another vintage year. “It’s just nice that the label is doing so well in the current climate,” Braithwaite says, “especially given people’s attitude to buying records these days. We hope we can keep on putting out records we love and helping out bands on the label as best we can. I’ve got to say, I’m optimistic about the future.” Every Country’s Sun is available now via Rock Action mogwai.co.uk

Photo: Cameron James Brisbane

the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Power has gone on to release subsequent LPs on Sacred Bones, but the influence of both Mogwai and Rock Action remains indelible. In January of this year, meanwhile, Sacred Paws released their debut album, Strike a Match on the label, a triumph of sunny guitars and taut melodies that’s scored through with call-andresponse harmonies and sprinkled over with piercingly witty lyricism. By May, Strike a Match had been longlisted for the 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Award. The following month it was shortlisted, finally going on to win the grand prize ahead of Mogwai who were in contention with Atomic.

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It’s Protected

Acclaimed electronic experimentalist Zola Jesus describes the acutely personal process behind her sixth album, Okovi

immersive and atmospheric, because that’s how I feel being in the woods. You feel protected, in a weird way, like everything’s around you. It was far enough that I could get dropped off and wouldn’t be able to get home on my own.” The majority of Zola Jesus’ discography has been published by Sacred Bones, a hallowed label home to artists like Blanck Mass and Jenny Hval. Over eight years, her sound has swelled: the sparse, lo-fi dread of her debut, The Spoils (2009), grew increasingly complex, and Conatus (2011) became a breakout record of sorts, confirming her status as a visionary electronic musician and earning her a place on stages all over the world. Danilova takes pride in writing and producing every Zola Jesus record, but Taiga (2014) saw a slight change in procedure.

“ Music is my way to connect with people, and it’s intense for me” Nika Roza Danilova

Temporarily leaving behind the home comforts of Sacred Bones for Mute, the British label which launched Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and Goldfrapp, Danilova was determined to push harder. “I wan-

ted to fulfil potential, in a way,” she reflects. “I wanted to do everything I could so that Taiga was objectively good. I’m very masochistic and I’m hard on myself, so I wanted to say, this is ‘done’. It’s not suffering from production, or technique. I did everything I could do.” Co-produced with Dean Hurley, a regular collaborator with David Lynch, Taiga is a lush, eerie and thoroughly polished record. It’s a testament to Zola Jesus’ technical talent and towering ambition, but she still felt something wasn’t quite right: “I just missed the atmosphere I used to work with? I think I lost that, a little bit. So now I’m trying to put everything together. I’m ready to move forward and make a statement that doesn’t have to do with perfecting anything. It’s more about catharsis.” After moving back to Wisconsin from Seattle, Danilova built a house with the help of her uncles and father, on a patch of land already owned by her relatives. She reunited with Sacred Bones, too (“They’re just my family”), and touching base in these ways helped Danilova to zero in on “what’s really important”. Zola Jesus’ sixth album finds comfort in returning home, and tackles two unanswerable questions: life and death. The album’s title is a Slavic word for shackles, and is used to start an emotional, existential discussion about the purpose of our time on earth. Written in response to the struggles of those close to her, these songs are stories of life-threatening battles with mental illness, and of finding acceptance in terminal disease. Such sensitive material can be tricky to navigate, and Danilova explains that writing about experiences felt by other people “makes it

Photo: Tim Saccenti

ika Roza Danilova, the musician behind the Zola Jesus moniker, has an extraordinary ability to conjure musical drama – but her sixth album is strictly personal. Her songs have always been stormy and theatrical, with the power to fell a forest, or fill an opera hall. She’s a classically trained singer, and her self-produced albums of electronic, gothic pop are charged with a surreal electricity. Her new album Okovi explores extremely private trauma and, while writing it, Danilova was struck by lightning. “I still don’t know if I’m okay?” She exhales, laughing. “I mean, it’s never happened to me before. It was raining and thundering, and I was in my basement, with concrete floors. I touched my desk and all of a sudden I got shocked. To the point where it knocked me onto the floor. It shocked my entire body! Instantaneously. It was the most terrifying... I’ve never felt anything so intense, physically, like that. I still don’t really understand it.” Raised in Wisconsin, Danilova released her first full-length album in 2009. She remarks that the life of a solo artist can be difficult and introspective: “You kind of live in your own head, but almost to a fault.” But still, she prefers to work in isolation, and her albums have an earthy connectedness with the natural world. “I need solitude. Otherwise I feel like the energy around is so overpowering that I can’t really listen to the inside. So much about writing is listening to the inside, and I need to be alone to get there.” For Okovi, she took several self-imposed writing retreats in the forests near her home in Merrill, WA. “I guess I wanted the [record] to feel womb-like – really

Interview: Katie Hawthorne

very delicate... It’s precious and I’m very protective over them. This record, more than any other, is really fragile.” Okovi is an overwhelming listen. A culmination of all that Danilova’s learned from her previous records, it swings from hi-fi to DIY, and veers between thunderous industrial crashes, slick pop and earthy, heartbroken balladry. First single Exhumed begins with a rush of strings, and an abrasively morbid image: ‘Bury the tongue between the teeth.’ Relentless, hammering percussion drives a cyclical narrative of rebirth, and feels as severe as an icy shower. The video to the track, directed by Jacqueline Castel, is a nightmarish accompaniment: “I wanted it to be very foggy, black and white, almost like inkblots,” recalls Danilova. “I wanted it to feel other-worldly, and as maniacal as I felt when I was writing the song. Living out a dream.” These are excruciatingly huge emotions performed on a mountainous scale, and not one song on Okovi flinches from inflicting emotional damage: Witness is a stripped-back gut punch that tries to dissuade a person from self-harm, while Siphon speaks to those consequences with unflinching detail. On the surface, Soak might sound like the record’s most radio-friendly earworm, but look deeper and you’ll find a story that imagines the final, empowering thoughts of a serial killer’s victim. To realise the full scale of the album, Danilova invited cellist Shannon Kennedy (Pedestrian Deposit) and percussionist Ted Byrnes to experiment over her work: “I said, just play with it and give me whatever comes out. I like that as a way to add texture that I know I wouldn’t be able to add myself. They interpret the music in such a different way, they bring such different shades, and it adds this thickness.” After the album was completed, Danilova played it to long-term live band member Alex DeGroot. “I get to this point where I feel stuck,” she explains. “I need an outside perspective. I enjoy bringing someone in at the end of the process, to tighten it up and to almost encourage me that I have something. I have a hard time believing in myself and in my own skills, and Alex was very therapeutic. He’s almost like a vessel; he knows me so well that it’s seamless.” Sharing these stories with collaborators is one matter, but opening up an album like Okovi to public scrutiny is a potentially painful act in itself. Danilova is resolute that previous, “goofy” goals of topping the charts mean nothing, now. “This album has already served its purpose for me,” she states. “But if I can help somebody else that would make it even more worth it. That’s the only reason I’d make these songs public. But for anyone to be negative, or critical? There’s no room for that. “Okovi’s not about any sort of whimsical ambition, or excitement for the public. Music is my way to connect with people, and it’s intense for me. It’s about being able to connect purely on emotion, which is universal – and it’s important that you don’t need to be part of a cool club to get it. It should be visceral. “And it’s more difficult than usual, because I’m writing about other people. Usually I have more control over how much I want to share about myself, but because I’m choosing to put it out there, this time I’m a little bit more open about my own struggles. So I don’t want to know about people’s critical responses to these songs. To me it’s so personal. It’s not about good or bad, or if you like it. It already serves its purpose to me, and the people in my life. It’s not up for judgement. It’s protected.” Okovi is released on 8 Sep via Sacred Bones zolajesus.com

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THE SKINNY

September 2017

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THE SKINNY

Bridging the Divide Who will survive in America? We speak to Erika M. Anderson and explore the dark heart of her third long player, Exile in the Outer Ring merica is tearing itself apart. The weekend before we’re due to speak to Erika M. Anderson – aka EMA – white supremacists in Charlottesville, some carrying Nazi flags and swastikas, gather around a statue of Robert E Lee in Emancipation Park and clash with left-wing protestors. In an already turbulent year, it’s a new low. “If you had asked me a year ago if something like Charlottesville could have happened, I wouldn’t have said yes,” Anderson tells The Skinny from her Portland home. “But I could also sense some sort of darkness.” She’s deep into preparations for the forthcoming tour in support of Exile in the Outer Ring, a record that explores that “darkness” with surgical precision. A glance at the subjects it deals with – working class alienation, Middle America poverty, rising anger at inequality and injustice – would suggest she’s a skilled fortune teller, but Anderson has always had an uncanny knack for being prescient. EMA’s music has always been fiercely independent, burning white-hot with rage, anguish, or indignation. She rejects linear narratives in favour of sprawling scenes, sporadically zooming in on specific details to make her point and employing a variety of narrators. Regurgitating the minutiae of raw, human emotions can take its toll, but is something she sees as necessary to her process. “I don’t really care about art [that’s not purely aesthetic]; I’m more of a truth person than a beauty person,” she says. “It’s cool when art has a real world political dimension, but I don’t necessarily set out to write that; I write personal things.

It’s weird to me that it never gets talked about in interviews like that, art is always placed in this wider context.” Art often functions as a mirror, held up to help us see in reflection what we cannot with our own eyes, or as a catalyst for change. In the album’s accompanying press release, Anderson talks of showing people that “there’s another way – I want this record to bridge a divide.” That’s a big ask for an album we say. “That was wishful thinking,” she replies, acknowledging that “maybe I’m either too obscure or too hip for some of these ‘small town’ people.” But as a proud Midwesterner, she wants to reconcile the two forces currently pulling America in opposite directions, and is uniquely placed to understand the faults that lie on either side of the divide. “No-one was paying attention on the left as to what was going on in Middle America, there was a big vacuum and I think people rushed in to fill that. These people’s pain has been exploited. I wanted to go there and say: ‘Look, you can hate, or you can have a resentment to the signifiers of liberal culture – which would be avocado toast and nice coffee – and scoff at that, that’s totally fine. But it doesn’t mean that you should let your values erode to the point where you are carrying a Nazi flag.’” These are tricky topics to navigate around, and Anderson is aware of the difficulties involved in charting a course around outrage. The Outer Ring, as she conceives it, is that part of the suburbs where urban blue and rural red crash against

each other like waves at a headland, one being pushed out, the other being pushed in. It’s a place of decay and ruin, where the spirit of the American Dream has faded to a distant memory and broken promises rattle around abandoned strip malls. Overgrown parking lots and burnt out plots serve as a neat metaphor for the razing of a generation’s opportunities and aspirations, yet this is not an angry album. Instead, it sounds defiant, hopeful even; as close to the brink as America might be, salvation is still a possibility. These are heavy burdens to carry in one’s art, but Anderson is no stranger to picking the scabs others feel uncomfortable even acknowledging. Her debut record dealt unflinchingly with sexuality and abuse. She compares her desire to document such unsettling topics to “a person finding inner strength in the face of torment or turmoil. They find steel in their spine, to stand up and say: ‘OK!’” But the great question mark she always leaves hanging is the ultimate outcome; what becomes of her protagonists? We ask if she’s an optimistic person by nature, but she replies that we’re looking at it all wrong. “I don’t even know what that means, optimistic or pessimistic. The music I make is cathartic – I want it to leave me feeling stronger than I was before, and I don’t want to do it in a superficial way because some of these ‘power anthems’ can be infantilizing.” For an artist who often wears her nihilism as a badge of pride – not everyone would revel in songs titled I Wanna Destroy or 33 Nihilistic and

EMA

Photo: Alicia Gordon

Interview: Derek Robertson

Female – violence and rage is never the answer in her worlds. Instead, she preaches compassion; people are simply misguided, or corralled by forces outwith their control. Who will survive in America? “People are making strides, but I do worry,” she says. One gets the sense that Anderson has found her redemption, and believes that America can find hers too. Exile in the Outer Ring is out now via City Slang EMA plays Broadcast, Glasgow, 6 Oct iwannadestroy.com

I Predict a Riot Norwegian punks Sløtface tell us about changing their name, feminism and their debut album Try Not to Freak Out

ack in the early 90s, Bikini Kill frontwoman and riot grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna would go on stage with ‘slut’ written on her stomach in lipstick in an attempt to reclaim the word. Now, over twenty years later, Norwegian four-piece Sløtface are still fighting that exact same battle. “If you had something with dick in your band name then I don’t feel like it would be interpreted in as harsh a way,” says frontwoman Haley Shea of the band’s decision to change their name from Slutface to Sløtface in April last year. Initially, the name was merely intended as a bit of fun and wasn’t to be taken too seriously. “We wanted to be provocative and edgy and keep some kind of weird, messed up punk ethos alive,” says Shea. “But as we started to write more feminist-oriented lyrics and we learned about slut shaming and the SlutWalk movement, we thought it fit the themes we were trying to write about.” Now all in their twenties, the band have graduated from writing songs about their teenage angst to writing songs that address the confusion and anxiety that comes with figuring out adulthood. Their debut album Try Not to Freak Out is jampacked full of catchy pop hooks and clever, witty lyrics that prove them to be far more advanced than their years. It wasn’t until the band discovered the riot grrrl movement though, after watching Sini Anderson’s 2013 documentary The Punk Singer, documenting Kathleen Hanna’s legacy and her struggle with Lyme disease, that they really seemed to find their voice. “That’s when I feel like I understood more what the whole movement was about,”

September 2017

says Shea. “It was the first time I felt like I’d found punk music that was directly discussing issues that I was dealing with in my everyday life, regarding being a woman and feeling like you didn’t have the space you deserved in punk and in the whole scene.”

“ If you had something with dick in your band name then I don’t feel like it would be interpreted in as harsh a way” Haley Shea

Since then, they started writing songs told directly from a female perspective, with titles like Angst, and Shave My Head, and joined the likes of fellow DIY punk bands Diet Cig and Adult Mom in campaigning to make their gigs safe spaces for women to enjoy live music. “I think for me, and a lot of women, it’s just been one of those things – you’re trained that you have to accept people touching you inappropriately if you want to be in the mosh pit,” says Shea. “Mostly, we just think it’s really depressing because it’s exactly the same

Sløtface

thing that riot grrrl fought for in the 90s and it’s been twenty years and it’s kind of slipped off of people’s radars.” In recent years, many bands have spoken out against sexual harassment at gigs, and it’s not just female-fronted bands. Most recently, Brendan Ekstrom of Circa Survive walked off stage mid-song during a gig in St. Louis in July this year to help a woman in the audience who he witnessed being sexually harassed. Peace, Drenge and Slaves, amongst many others, have also taken to social media to condemn any kind of sexual harassment they have been made aware of at their shows. This sparked the Girls Against movement which encourages anyone, not just girls and women, to share their experiences of sexual harassment or unwarranted attention at gigs in order to establish a discussion around the topic and introduce a change in the way certain people behave at gigs. “We want to make sure that we talk about it as much as we can and try to be really concrete about protecting people at our shows,” says Shea. “We were in the States at SxSW and we did this interview with a feminist radio station based in DC called Femchord. They told us about how Speedy Ortiz have a phone number that’s posted around at their shows that you can

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text to get in touch with security anonymously if you want to tell them about something that you’re not comfortable with.” The band have since trialled the method at some of their gigs but believe they could be a lot stricter about putting their own rules in place at their shows and be more explicitly clear that their gigs are a safe space for everyone to enjoy live music. “There are people who have been pretty accommodating and have printed out signs for us and set up a designated person, but we feel like we might need to be even more strict about it and print out our own signs and hang them up,” says Shea. “We’re just going to try to be even more DIY about it for the venues that are maybe too small to be able to accommodate it because of their time or budget constraints, so we’ll just take it into our own hands even more.” It may have been twenty years since riot grrrl fought for the same issues but with a new wave of DIY punk bands like Sløtface willing to continue the fight then hopefully it won’t be long until people stand up and listen again. Try Not to Freak Out is released on 15 Sep via Propeller Recordings Sløtface play Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 9 Oct; Broadcast, Glasgow, 10 Oct slotface.no

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Photo: Press

Interview: Nadia Younes

A Welcome Distraction We speak to Vessels’ Lee J. Malcolm and Martin Teff about the group’s fourth studio album, The Great Distraction ver the last ten years, Leeds-based five-piece Vessels have steadily pushed the boundaries of their post-rock foundations, with each of their three studio albums edging further into electronic territory. Their fourth release, The Great Distraction, marks a further evolution for the group. “Some bands can just kind of get away with... I don’t want to say making the ‘same record’, but they’ve got a very distinctive style and parameters that they stick to,” muses Lee J. Malcolm, Vessels’ drummer and synth master. “I think for us, it just felt like we’d explored the sort of postrock/prog-rock thing as much as we thought was necessary. And it was either call it quits, or just try something new.” In another stylistic twist, four out of the ten tracks on the new record feature guest vocals from an impressive group of collaborators; John Grant, Vincent Neff (Django Django), Katie Harkin (Sky Larkin / Sleater-Kinney), and Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips) all feature making The Great Distraction undoubtedly Vessels’ most ambitious effort to date. Collaborating with The Flaming Lips was particularly meaningful for Vessels, says Malcolm, explaining how the Lips are a ‘favourite’ amongst all band members. “They’ve kind of evolved in quite an interesting way, but have always maintained a sound that’s theirs. We’ve got a lot of respect for that. It was great that Steven from the band [also] contributed, so it was very much a Flaming Lips collaboration and not just Wayne singing on it.” While these heavyweight guest appearances certainly imbue The Great Distraction with added prestige, the new album also delivers some of

Vessels’ best electronic productions to date. Album-opener Mobilise is an instant head-turner; a lengthy, energetic, polyrhythmic track that would not be out of place in a club setting. It sets a clear tone for the rest of the record, which features plenty more dark, dancefloor-focused moments, reflective of the group’s own maturing tastes, says guitarist and bass player Martin Teff.

“ I think sometimes people go to nights and all they want is a 4/4 kick drum that’s really pounding them in the face” Martin Teff

“I think you can hear that we’ve all gotten a bit older,” he deadpans. “When we were starting out, it was quite fun to make things as complicated as they could be, just because you could. I think over time maybe we’ve kind of got more interested in getting a bit more depth and sometimes things that are just a bit simpler. There are still things that are complicated, but it might be more about layering, or loops and stuff like that, rather

than thinking ‘can we play sixteen different time signatures in a row?’” he laughs. Though Vessels have long been likened to fellow post-rock instrumental outfits such as Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, their house and techno inclinations should come as no surprise. They cite the likes of Jon Hopkins and James Holden as major influences – back in 2012, they even released a cover of Holden’s classic remix of Nathan Fake’s The Sky is Pink. The Great Distraction certainly marks a confluence of two sonic aesthetics, marrying rock music with an increasing array of synths and electronica. With dance music frequently operating as a separate, segregated entity from other types of live music, how do Vessels select the right venue for their evolving sound, we ask? “It’s always a bit of a surprise when we turn up at a club – I mean, we generally give them warning [about the equipment] – but there’s always that element of when we actually arrive and set it all up and they go, ‘Jeeeeesus Christ’,” laughs Malcolm. Teff concurs: “It’s kind of an interesting one, ‘cause we’ve had some amazing shows in clubs, but it hasn’t always been a total success. I think sometimes our music goes down best at electronic festivals with a range of music, [where] it’s not just, you know, like banging techno and house music... I think sometimes people go to nights and all they want is a 4/4 kick drum that’s really pounding them in the face.” While the pair agree that their best shows have been the product of “the right setting, with the right kind of people with a reasonably open mind”, there’s no doubting that Vessels’ live show

Vessels

presents a unique audio-visual spectacle. “I guess the studio album that we produce is kind of one thing, and then often when we come to play it live we end up kind of reinterpreting some of the things we do,” explains Teff. “For us it’s always been quite interesting to finish the record and then think about how the live show works, and then actually mess a bit with it and do things slightly differently,” he concludes. “And then I guess you get the record at home, and then you get quite a different experience when you come and see the live show.” Whatever the setting, Vessels’ new album is sure to prove a more than welcome distraction. The Great Distraction is out on 29 Sep via Different Recordings Vessels play The Art School, Glasgow, 7 Oct vesselsband.com

Sparks and Recreation We speak to Russell Mael of Sparks about their eight year hiatus, collaborating with Franz Ferdinand, and their 23rd album Hippopotamus

ust how do you sum up Sparks, exactly? If you’re a fan, they’re the ultimate cult band – a madcap sonic circus where weirdo pop meets avant new wave – while those who “don’t get it” simply... don’t. For 50 years, the Mael brothers have skirted commercial success, instead opting to embrace their reputation as one of music’s greatest outliers. What the Hell is it This Time? reads the title of track six on Sparks’ latest LP, Hippopotamus, in a meta nod to their own penchant for wacky reinvention. Hippopotamus arrives at a strange juncture in Sparks’ career. After an eight year semi hiatus, Ron and Russell find themselves back on the lips of younger audiences: their rediscovered vogue owed in no small part to 2015’s titanic FFS collaboration with Franz Ferdinand. “Nothing changed musically for us as a result of that project,” Russell Mael tells The Skinny from his home in Los Angeles. “That album (FFS) was done at RAK Studios in London, which is huge, and it was recorded in about two weeks. Hippopotamus finds us back at home where we spent ten months recording.” If there was a suspicion that Sparks might be tempted to parlay the success of FFS into a new image and accessible sound, it quickly dissipated upon the release of Hippopotamus: the new album’s titular track, and a batshit lead single that would reference everything from Shakespeare to Hieronymus Bosch. “The song is one of those instances of taking an uncompromising stance on what a pop song can be,” he says. “It’s not typical

Interview: Graeme Campbell

pop fare... being about a guy who, to his surprise, finds any number of disparate objects in his swimming pool, from a painting by Hieronymous Bosch, to a woman with an abacus.” Lyrically, such Dada projections are perhaps an acquired taste, but technically, Sparks have never been anything less than redoubtable. Arguably the kings of the complicated pop song, Hippopotamus comes loaded with strange key changes and dissonant rhythms: it’s challenging, but also rewarding – the type of music that possesses the power to surprise six months down the line. Early reviews indicate it could be their best solo album in years, with some comparing it favorably to 1975’s Indiscreet. “We never have a routine when we start to record a new album other than the fact that both Ron and I are the givens,” says Mael. “We like to approach things with a clean slate every time we set out to record.” When we ask if there’s a secret to keeping their relationship fresh after this time, the vocalist is nonplussed. “We approach each album as though it’s our first one and attack it with the same enthusiasm, spirit, naivety, and lack of restrictions. With 23 albums, we always have to challenge both ourselves and hopefully our audience.” Hippopotamus, like most Sparks records, is manna from heaven for a music reviewer: it’s funny, outrageous, weird, complicated, dark, silly... name an adjective and you’ll probably be

able to apply it somewhere. Even better is the fact it sounds huge, which is mainly owed to the baroque instrumentation. For Mael, this is all down to advances in technology. “We wanted to combine the more rock elements of the arrangement with big orchestrations and also electronics. And lots of layered vocals. The technology has allowed us to take the time to do whatever we want without the constraints of being in a commercial studio and constantly looking at the clock.”

“ After the amazing reaction at the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow, we’re really eager to start the tour” Russell Mael

Adapting these songs to the live environment isn’t the most straightforward of tasks, but for a band with almost half a century on the clock, it’s one to embrace rather than shirk. In 2013, Sparks

embarked on the Two Hands, One Mouth tour, opting to perform alone, reducing each song to just keyboard and vocals. After that came the Kimono My House anniversary shows, which saw them perform classic hits like This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us while flanked by a 38-piece orchestra. What can fans expect from the Hippopotamus tour, then? “After the amazing reaction at the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow, we’re really eager to start the tour,” Mael excitedly answers. “The line-up will be the same as the Glasgow show, with the exception of one of the guitarists, Michael Shuman, who also plays in Queens of the Stone Age. They will be touring [their new album] at the same time as us. [Shuman’s] other bandmates, Zach Dawes and Tyler Parkford, from Mini Mansions will again be with us as will Steven Nistor on drums and Evan Weiss and Taylor Locke on guitars.” With our time winding up, Mael confirms that the hippo you see on the artwork for Hippopotamus is in fact a real hippo – how they managed to coax the African mammal into a Los Angeles swimming pool is a secret he wouldn’t reveal. Some things in life are best left not to be understood – Sparks themselves being the prime example. How do you sum up a band like Sparks, then? The answer is you don’t. Hippopotamus is released on 8 Sep via BMG Sparks play Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 20 Sep allsparks.com

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THE SKINNY

Photo: Imogen Love

Interview: Claire Francis

September 2017

Critical Temperature Finnish documentary Boiling Point is a cool-headed look at an increasingly incendiary subject: immigration. The film’s director, Elina Hirvonen, tells us why she wanted to create a documentary that treats people on both sides of the debate as human beings

he world is an ugly place at the moment. Turn on your TV or fire up your Twitter feed, and sandwiched between the new series of Bake Off and cute viral cat videos you’ll find glimpses of humanity at its very worst. We saw this last month when tiki torch-carrying white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, Virginia. This side of the Atlantic we’ve seen a similar situation, with fascist groups seizing an opportunity to present themselves as defenders of white communities in the face of mass immigration. Finnish filmmaker Elina Hirvonen documents this alarming rise of the Far Right in her home nation with compelling documentary Boiling Point. Hirvonen tells us that she’s sensed an “atmosphere of rapid polarisation” in her hometown of Helsinki since the first wave of asylum seekers from the Syrian Civil War began arriving in Finland and the rest of Europe in 2015. “I’d been following it closely because my husband works for the Red Cross here in Helsinki,” says Hirvonen, “so we’ve been getting all the phone calls,” which included an early morning wake up when a refugee shelter was petrol bombed at the beginning of 2016. “I remember waking up thinking, ‘Why is nobody making a film about this?’ and then I remembered I’m a filmmaker and said to myself, ‘why don’t I drop the project I’m researching and start making a film?’” The result of that epiphany is Boiling Point. It’s an urgent documentary, in more ways than one. “It all started at high speed,” Hirvonen recalls. “It was January 2016 when I had the idea for the first time then it was January 2017 when it premiered – so it was the fastest ever [feature-length] documentary filmmaking production in Finland.” The speed of production (the research, filming, funding and editing were practically concurrent) was necessary because Hirvonen didn’t just want to document the rise of fear and anger in her country, she wanted the film to be an inspiration for conversation. “We hoped it could be a cue for people to continue the debate in a more constructive way.” While the title suggests a blistering polemic,

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the resulting film is more tempered. Hirvonen is well-known in Finland as a left-leaning columnist and human rights activist, but she wasn’t making this film as a personal statement, at least not explicitly. “I wanted to show the different faces of what’s going on without telling people what to think about it,” says Hirvonen, “but still show everybody in the film as a complete human being.” We see anti-immigration group Soldiers of Odin marching and sloganeering, and these are juxtaposed with other Finns welcoming asylum seekers. This cross-cutting of fly-on-the-wall footage gives the impression of the nation in conversation.

“ It doesn’t help anyone to have monologues in your own circles and people picking the monologues they want to hear” Elina Hirvonen

We complement the approach. It’s a tonic to modern discourse, which tends to involve both sides shouting each other down. The filmmaker audibly bristles down the line when we use the “s” word, however. “I don’t like the idea that there are sides,” says Hirvonen. “I’m not sure how it is in the UK, but in Finland there is this strong narrative of seeing the whole debate as a debate between two sides. It’s more complicated than that; there are many sides.” A healthier attitude, she argues, would be to engage in a more civil

manner with the people with whom we disagree. “I think it is important for people to see other people who think differently from them and try to see where they’re coming from, discover what they’re scared of. While it’s important to always defend human rights, at the same time it’s important to see the people arguing against certain human rights as human beings also.” Surprisingly, this humane approach has proved controversial. “I’ve had many of my own friends from my human rights activist circles be very critical,” she admits. “Actually, they’ve been the most critical to my approach.” Hirvonen seems sanguine about this reaction, though. After all, she didn’t make this film for people who

Interview: Jamie Dunn already agree with her point of view. “The debate was already very polarised when I started making the film, there was no dialogue going on, and it doesn’t help anyone to have monologues in your own circles and people picking the monologues they want to hear. I wanted to make a film that would somehow break the barriers.” With Boiling Point, Hirvonen has created a film that gives you the space to think about its complex issues for yourself – that can only be a good thing. Join in the debate yourself when Boiling Point screens at Take One Action on 16 Sep, Filmhouse, Edinburgh, 5.45pm Take One Action runs 13-24 Sep. For full details, head to takeoneaction.org.uk

Portrait of an Artist The creative process is under the spotlight at Krafta Doc, a new documentary film festival devoted to the work of artists, craftspeople and designers, from world famous creatives to unsung artisans Interview: Jamie Dunn

cotland does not want for specialist film festivals during the autumn months, but a new one is entering the mix this September offering something unique. Krafta Doc, the brainchild of Silvia Righetti, is an ambitious new documentary festival devoted entirely to the creative process of artists, craftspeople and designers. We sit down with Righetti in Edinburgh’s bustling Fruitmarket Gallery a few months before the inaugural event, and the Italian producer and curator explains that the first seeds of the project go back to her time working at the Venice Biennale. Righetti had worked at the Biennale for over a decade, and had started to become disillusioned with the world’s greatest art festival. “More and more it feels like an exclusive event for elites, a huge party for millionaires,” she tells us. “For an artist to become part of the Biennale catalogue, for example, you have to pay thousands of euros just to have a logo included, meaning that a small organisation, say the Albanian Pavilion, can’t afford to be part of the catalogue so they have to participate independently.” Righetti was interested in creating a festival that celebrated the work and efforts that go into an artist or craftsperson’s practice. “I had this vision to collect these stories of the people who are behind these artworks,” she says, “so I developed this idea to create a small film festival about art and design, and art and craft.” This vision is compellingly expressed in the Krafta Doc programme: “Behind the materials there is history and memory, a lively network of partnerships and professions, a commitment, very often lived as a vocation. In a world of great change and fast information, we wanted to stop to listen to the voices of those who work in art, design and architecture.” The response from people with whom Righetti shared her initial idea wasn’t all that encouraging. “The idea was definitely criticised,” she laughs. When she began the search for films to programme at the debut event, however, the reaction was rather more enthusiastic. “When I launched the open call, which was inserted inside Visit Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design brochure, the response was fantastic.

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That gave me more energy to go ahead to see if it could become a project.” This first edition of the festival has three primary areas of focus based on geographic locations: ‘the Scottish Production’, ‘the Creative Environment in London’, ‘the Italian Artistic Traditions that are disappearing’. These locations are ones in which Righetti has worked and lived. She explains that the films from these regions also offer very distinct but interesting sensibilities. “There is a kind of style that you can recognise between the three nations: the documentaries from Scotland are very community focused and also have an interesting relationship with landscape; in the London films you see a lot about innovation and they’re maybe more open to the world; and the Italian films suggest that we Italians are still very classic in the way we express information, and there’s an interesting focus on traditional craft in the Italian films too.” Righetti hopes that the festival can help start a debate about the vital role artists play in our daily lives. “The funding to the arts is continuing to be cut everywhere, so maybe it’s a good time to think about, appreciate and celebrate the people who make art in our society,” she says. By bringing people from art, design and craft industries together, Righetti suggests the festival will also act as a crucible in which we can rethink how art and design fits into our modern economy, particularly with Brexit looming. Most importantly, however, the festival will act as a way to bring art and design to a new audience, and be an opportunity to see art in a different way. “When I worked at [the Venice Biennale] you would meet a boatman who would say he had no interest in art and had never seen anything at the Biennale, but he did have a connection – he’d be meeting all these artists who he’s ferrying around and could tell you so much. So I wanted to create a festival to be a different way to experience art, a different space, and to make it accessible.” Krafta Doc runs 27 Sep-1 Oct at the Lighthouse, Glasgow; the festival will also tour to London and Venice. For programme details and more information, head to kraftadoc.com

THE SKINNY

All The Right Moves Chicago-based filmmaker Jennifer Reeder talks us through Signature Move, her quietly radical new feature following the love story between a Pakistani lawyer and a Latina bookshop owner, which closes this year’s Scottish Queer International Film Festival

Interview: Jamie Dunn

“I

’m an empath,” says Jennifer Reeder over a glitchy Skype call from Chicago. The American writer-director pauses, then quickly rephrases her previous statement. “Maybe I should say that I feel like an empathetic person. Saying ‘I’m an empath’ makes me sound like I’m psychic.” We’re not too sure her quote needed correcting. As a filmmaker of such evocative short films as A Million Miles Away, Blood Below the Skin and Seven Songs About Thunder, she’s shown an uncanny sense for communicating the inner desires, fears, obsessions and insecurities of her characters, who more often than not are teenage girls in turmoil. Her new feature film, Signature Move, is similarly perceptive in its approach to its characters’ emotions, although unusually for Reeder she’s not working from her own script. Written by Fawzia Mirza (who also stars) and Lisa Donato, Signature Move centres on Zaynab, a gay Pakistani-American woman trying to balance life living with her widowed mother, who still holds out hope of her daughter finding a husband, and beginning a relationship with Alma, a Mexican-American bookshop owner who picks up Zaynab at a bar. Unlike Reeder’s strange and spiky short films, where you’re never sure if a character is going to break down crying or burst into song, Signature Move is closer to the rhythms of a Hollywood rom-com. It’s a sweet and gently comic love story that wears its heart on its sleeve. “It’s not the story I would write,” admits Reeder. “It’s not necessarily the same tone; I’ve never approached comedy with such lightheartedness.” Signature Move does break from the rom-com formula in one significant and quietly radical way: its focus is queer women of colour. The script landed on Reeder’s lap thanks in part to the depressing paucity of women in the filmmaking racket. “Fawzia’s producers were looking for a female director who was also Chicago-based,” explains Reeder. “Chicago is a great place to make films, but there are not a lot of female directors here with enough experience to direct a feature.” The story felt so timely to Reeder that she simply couldn’t say no. “I had to be part of this film that was representing everything that right now the administration in the US hates,” she says. “And of course at the time of making the film we were convinced that we would be touring this around under the first

Signature Move

woman US President, so now it feels like an even more important story.” In their bracing content and form, Reeder’s films are personal stories of inner turmoil that also say something salient about the world in which we live. “I’ve said this many times: I consider my filmmaking a form of social justice,” she explains, “but I also want the films to be entertaining, I want to connect to an audience emotionally and intellectually.” This approach means her films feel more like art than political agitprop, and they’re all the more impactful as a result. “Art and culture, be it literature, music, or films, can start a meaningful dialogue around social issues in a way something that starts off politically cannot.” Reeder points to Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight as a perfect example of this. It’s a film that was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, but also began conversations around all sorts of issues, from representations of queer people of colour to homophobic violence among children. “I would never assume that my films are beginning such profound conversations as Moonlight,” says Reeder, “but for instance, with Signature Move, I know for a fact it’s impacting people in a deep and meaningful way because of the Q&As after screenings. And that impact might be just that audiences are

looking at this film and seeing a brown woman as the protagonist and she’s Muslim and she’s queer and she’s funny and she’s attractive. After experiencing that feeling, I will never not want to make a film that has the ability to begin a meaningful conversation among the audience.”

“ I consider my filmmaking a form of social justice” Jennifer Reeder

Reeder is not above starting these conversations herself. Last year she weighed in on the lack of female directors given access to big studio films with a blistering op-ed for Talkhouse on the subject, which was particularly delicious for its takedown of Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow’s wrongheaded comments suggesting that the reason women don’t make blockbusters is because they simply don’t have the desire to. It was a righteous, angry piece, but 12 months later Reeder can see some of these attitudes shifting slightly, and much

of that might be down to Patty Jenkins’s kick-ass take on Wonder Woman. “There was so much scrutiny on that film,” says Reeder, “but it held up under such a different kind of microscope than Guardians of the Galaxy or Captain America or any of these other superhero movies, and I love that it obliterated the box-office worldwide.” Wonder Woman’s success proves to these producers who hold the big bags of money for these blockbusters that women directors are more than up to the job, but we need to keep holding these gatekeepers to account, says Reeder. “If we continue to be vocal in demanding equality, studios are going to start giving female directors these jobs because they’ll be tired of getting so much shit about it. They’ll be like, ‘fine, find a woman to direct this film.’” Of course, this is the wrong reason, but Reeder is OK with that. “They should be like ‘Awesome, she’s a great director, let’s give her a chance on this,’ but if they’re simply responding to a backlash, that’s fine. I don’t care how the door opens, I’m just like, ‘open the fucking door.’” SQIFF runs 27 Sep - 1 Oct Signature Move closes SQIFF on 1 Oct, CCA Glasgow, 8:30pm sqiff.org

Scaladonia Alert! Annual movie celebration Scalarama (aka Scaladonia north of the border) returns this September to “fill the land with cinemas.” Here are five Scottish screenings that caught our eye The Beast KinoKlub pay tribute to Walerian Borowczyk, the ingenius Polish animator who turned softcore surrealist. In its 97 minutes runtime, this preposterous gothic riff on Beauty and the Beast engages with topics of bestiality, paedophilia, masturbation, and incest, yet also manages to be deeply poetic. Quite an achievement, and the perfect Scalarama movie. 10 Sep, Summerhall, Edinburgh 7.30pm

boy realises his perfect family has a dark and yucky secret. On Saturday night, you’ll find a double bill of Clive Barker’s surreal Nightbreed and infamous Video Nasty slasher The Burning, which offered early roles to Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter. Screening entirely from VHS with original trailers. 15-16 Sep, Summerhall, Edinburgh

VHS Trash Fest VHS Trash Fest takes over Summerhall for two nights with a tasty line-up of VHS-era horror. Things kick off on Friday with Brian Yuzna’s fiercely political body horror Society, in which an all-American

Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes Brass Eye director Michael Cumming – who helmed all six episodes of the legendary comedy – has created a film about Chris Morris’s seminal tabloid news satire using hours of unseen footage from

his personal archive. Described as “part documentary, part artwork,” Oxide Ghosts promises to provide a rare glimpse into Morris’s extraordinary working practices. 17 Sep, CCA Glasgow, 7pm & 9pm Mad Max: ‘What a lovely day!’ Take a trip to George Miller’s post apocalyptic Australia, where nomadic tribes fight for precious gasoline and survival while dressed like they’re heading to the Marquis de Sade’s birthday party. All four of Miller’s Mad Max films are screening over two nights, and each has its own flavour, from the cheap-o exploitation original to the gorgeous wasteland opera that is Fury Road.

Words: Jamie Dunn

Luxuriate in their drum-tight storytelling, breakneck editing and breathtaking action. 20 & 28 Sep, Grosvenor Cinema, Glasgow, 8.45pm Borscht Diez Glasgow Short Film Festival presents a programme of the wildly inventive films of Miami collective Borscht, who are described as “an open-source filmmaking collective dedicated to articulating the voices of the New Miami and its idiosyncratic culture.” As part of this epic showcase of gonzo imagination expect films featuring Japanese Bunraku puppetry, fake found footage and lizard obsessions. 28 Sep, The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 7.30pm Scalarama runs in various venues throughout September. For full listings, head to scalarama.com

September 2017

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All Killa No Filler Former indie rocker-turned-director Geremy Jasper offers an uplifting underdog story about a plus-size rapper from New Jersey who dares to dream big Interview: Joseph Walsh

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itch all that shit.” That was Quentin Tarantino’s advice to Geremy Jasper when he was writing the script for his first feature film Patti Cake$. The Pulp Fiction director wasn’t being callous, he was grounding Jasper, forcing him to tighten up his script to ensure his film would make it to the big screen. Tarantino was just one of many – including Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and Tyger Williams (Menace II Society) – who guided Jasper along the way while he was developing his skills at the Sundance Labs. He found the process invaluable. “I don’t know if this film would have been made if I hadn’t had the Sundance Labs,” he explains. “This is my first movie and no one was going to give me the money for the film I had in the first script. I had to think about it as a producer and make it more contained. That set me off and I began to feel somewhat legitimised.” Patti Cake$ is a bold, brash and unashamedly feel-good film. At its heart is Patricia Dombrowski, played by star-in-waiting Danielle Macdonald. Patti (aka Killa P) dreams of leaving her New Jersey home behind and making it big in New York as a rapper. However, Patti’s life is getting in the way of her dreams. She has to contend daily with her abusive alcoholic mother Barb, played by

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cabaret singer Bridget Everett. Then there is her ailing but supportive wheelchair-bound grandma (an unrecognisable Cathy Moriarty of Raging Bull fame), whom Patti cares for in between pulling extra shifts as a waitress. With the help of her best friend Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) and Basterd, the Antichrist (Mamoudou Athie), Patti puts her plan into action to make the big time. The film draws on Jasper’s own experiences of living in New Jersey and dreaming of making it as a musician. While Patti’s genre is rap and hiphop, Jasper was into punk, playing the New York music scene as lead singer of The Fever – his contemporaries were bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes. However, he eventually grew tired of the life of a musician on tour. His experience directing music videos sparked an interest in making movies and he went to work on the short film Glory at Sea, with Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin. It was an experience that educated him in the practicalities of filmmaking. Soon after he decided to write Patti Cake$, but knew that finding the right actor to play the film’s eponymous wannabe rapper was essential. The Australia-born Macdonald is not your typical leading lady by Hollywood standards, but this was the direction Jasper wanted to go in

– using real, recognisable people with normal lives and hardships. Jasper recognised Macdonald’s raw talent as soon as he spoke with her and decided to bring her to Sundance to workshop the character, initially casting her from a picture alone. “Robert Redford pulled me aside towards the end of the project at Sundance,” recalls Jasper. “Normally he is like his own planet, so to be taken aside by Uncle Bob is a big deal, and he said, ‘Whatever you do, cast Danielle in your film,’ which was a real validation.” While Jasper is now a director well removed from the rock scene of his youth, music is still important to him. The film is a celebration of the genres he fell in love with as a teen, which include everything from glam rock to industrial punk, as

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well as hip-hop. He begins to recollect what he used to love about music. “It used to be that you would get into a genre and you couldn’t just pop down to the local music store and pick it up, you had to go on a quest and find and discover this music. You had to find someone who could turn you on to a certain type of music, and you would develop this musical family tree. Now everything seems flat. There isn’t a sense of history now.” Fortunately for us, Patti Cake$ celebrates good music as well as its history and, even if he believes the contemporary music scene is flat, his new film proves American indie cinema is very much alive and kicking. Patti Cake$ is released 1 Sep by 20th Century Fox

THE SKINNY

Bye Bye, Blackbird Theatre vet Benedict Andrews makes his film debut with Una, an adaptation of David Harrower’s play Blackbird. We talk to the director about stars Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn; Bergman, and the difficulties in getting a film about child abuse trauma made

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n retrospect, I understand what a motherfucker of a thing it is to get made.” We’re speaking to Adelaide-born, Reykjavík-based Benedict Andrews, who’s currently in London directing Sienna Miller and Jack O’Connell in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on the West End stage. The aforementioned “motherfucker” we’re here to discuss, though, is his filmmaking debut, Una, an adaptation of Scottish playwright David Harrower’s Blackbird, starring Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn. “It’s the type of film that doesn’t often get made,” he tells us, “and then doesn’t often get a theatrical release when one does because it’s a really tough subject matter.” Harrower’s Blackbird, for those unfamiliar, is a two-hander that depicts a young woman, Una, turning up at the workplace of a middle-aged man, Ray, who, 15 years prior, sexually abused her when she was 12. The two engage in a long, gruelling confrontation concerning both his imprisonment and subsequent new life under a new name, and her continuing struggles to understand the abuse and her conflicting emotions, which, amongst others, include what she felt were feelings of genuine love during their earlier time together. Key to Andrews’ decision to adapt Blackbird for his feature debut was the attachment he’d formed to the material. “I’d directed the play and it had really stayed with me,” he says. That production was in Berlin in 2005. “In the phase after directing it, I’d gone, ‘Fuck, this could be an amazing film.’ That kind of shock and adrenaline and rawness of the encounter between these two people had fascinated me back then.” In the intervening years, he’d enquired about the rights. “It had been in various [stages of] development – same producers but different directors. But it didn’t really happen.” The play’s cinematic possibilities kept him interested in the project, however. “What could you open up that theatre couldn’t do, that cinema could do about the experience of time, memory and events from the past coming into the present? I’d found that

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really exciting and was disappointed the rights weren’t available – and then just by a whole series of weird, freaky cosmic coincidences they were.” The film version includes new supporting characters and third act events set away from the confines of Ray’s factory. “David [Harrower] knew of my work, so he was excited and it just kind of went from there,” explains Andrews. “There was a draft that existed already; some things had already been opened up in that. Very smart decisions had already been made; Scott (a colleague of Ray’s, played by Riz Ahmed), he’d been invented already. We started working through it, and I think because I had the play in my bones, it wasn’t like I was at square one of just trying to work out what it was.”

“Rooney Mara is a great, unique face of cinema and every inch a movie star” Benedict Andrews

As Andrews mentions, even with the rights acquired, getting the film made was no mean feat. “I understand why they, for x amount of years, had various adventures and it didn’t happen,” he says. But once the wheels were in motion, it all happened rather quickly, or as Andrews puts it, “the stars aligned”. Mara was always his first choice for Una. “Rooney knew of me a little because she’d been working with Cate Blanchett [on Carol], and Cate and I had worked together,” he explains. “I’d said to her, either via Cate or via her people, ‘Look, she’s my first choice for this role. Is she into it?’

Then word came back immediately: she’d love to meet, she loves the play.” With Mara and Mendelsohn as the leads, Andrews had two of the most fascinating and demonstrative faces in cinema with which to work; their visages proved inspiring. “There are incredible shots of Rooney’s face reflected in the glass of the vending machine or in mirrors,” recalls Andrews. “That’s discovered from the camera watching her. The different faces she has throughout the film, and the way the camera can capture that beguiling beauty that she has and her incredible elegance mixed with complete rawness and vulnerability. She’s extraordinary, she really is. She’s a great, unique face of cinema and every inch a movie star.” What of Mendelsohn? “I’ve known Ben for a long time,” says Andrews. “I’ve directed him in the theatre. And I remember that moment where you see his mature face in Animal Kingdom and it’s like you’re looking at a mythic landscape. He has such a grain of truth and experience in his face and such light in his eyes. His, in a very different way, is the face as pure cinema.” Andrews explains that these faces became his centre of interest. “I won’t say there are more close-ups, but the film, as it goes on, starts to become a kind of study of faces. I’m very influenced by [Ingmar] Bergman. As a theatre-maker who starts to make films, of course he’s an important influence for me. But I only started to realise in showing the film in festivals that that study of the face, and the face as pure landscape that’s so essential in Bergman, was starting to come out in watching their faces.” With the camera focused on Mara and Mendelsohn, Andrews settled on a graceful approach to visual storytelling. “We’d worked out a method that we didn’t shake from. There’s not one handheld shot in there. There would be one version of this story where you’d have two handheld cameras shooting it like a boxing match, and we deliberately decided to enhance the sort of

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Interview: Josh Slater-Williams

claustrophobia of the story. It’s often very fixed frames, slow push-ins. So we had that system, but I was very open to things.” In wrapping up, Andrews tells us he’d prefer his next film to “come from more purely cinematic ideas,” rather than from a play, but he also addresses the prejudice that is often applied to stage directors transitioning to cinema. “I don’t think there should be any bias, because some of the great filmmakers have been theatre-makers: Bergman, Visconti, Fassbinder. I think there can be a stigma if you’re not aware of this essential alchemical shift that has to happen between forms. You can be the same artist but draw on different things. Bergman, he’s a great example of that because his films draw on everything that was singular to him as an artist that he’s exploring when he does Ibsen or Strindberg in the theatre, but every film he makes is questioning what a film is and exploring the boundaries of what filmmaking is. “Now in [Una], I think there’s bits that really open up into pure cinema and also use editing and filmmaking. And there are others where you feel, maybe deliberately, [that] this is almost like theatre for a moment; the two of them are locked in that room, pushing each other around in one long take. Not everyone will like that tension, but I like that you feel that tension. But I never wanted it to feel like an exercise in filmed theatre, I wanted it to always become something else. Or not be like just some polite opening up of the play – August: Osage County or Fences, where it’s still a play that’s been nicely filmed. The task we set ourselves was that it exists as cinema.” Changing the name also lets Andrews’ film stand alone from its stage origins. “We shot it as Blackbird, but when we were cutting it there were a few other films already, or about to be, called Blackbird. And I was like, fuck this, there’s not gonna be anything else in the world that exists with this title.” Una is released 1 Sep by Thunderbird Releasing in cinemas and video on demand

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Truth or Dare We speak to the two women behind DAREFest – Lou Mclean and Ashley Stein – about the plans for their inaugural event, empowerment and the vital importance of safe spaces Interview: Megan Wallace Photo: Sarah Donley

nyone familiar with the music of Lou Mclean and Ashley Stein (of the band Fistymuffs) might not see what the two have in common. Stein’s raucous brand of riot grrrl punk certainly doesn’t share much with Mclean’s confessional dream-pop. However, the two musicians share a passion for activism and feminism, and are committed to making music more inclusive for women and other oppressed genders. Having benefitted from the nurturing atmosphere at Girls Rock School, the Edinburgh music school for aspiring female musicians, they seek to create a space to learn and grow via DAREFest, a day of workshops for women and non-binary people, topped off by an evening of music from female musicians (open to all members of the public). To kick off the day, a selection of wonderful charities including LGBT Scotland and The Young Women’s Movement will come together to show attendees the type of activism going on in and around Edinburgh. Soon after, Women’s Aid will be running a station for making feminist pin badges and later Stein will be heading up a workshop on DIY Tour Management. In the latter half of the day, Mclean will be harnessing her background in psychology to deliver a workshop entitled ‘How to be a badass: Verbal & emotional self-defence for women in music’. In the spirit of bad-assery the evening gig is set to feature some of the best femalefronted bands in Scotland such as The Violet Kind and, of course, Fistymuffs and Lou Mclean. To get the ball rolling, Mclean explains the choice of name for the festival: “We settled on DAREFest because it’s about daring to do the things that you really deep down want to do but

are too scared to do. I always wanted to do music but I was too scared until I just totally embraced the fear and went for it and we want to help other women [do the same].” As she goes on to explain, the skills taught as part of DAREFest are fully transferrable and more geared towards general empowerment than music; “If you don’t want to be a musician that’s cool, there’s something you can take no matter what your skill set is. It’s totally about finding that thing you love, that you want to be good at, or think you might be good at, and just fucking going for it!”

“ It’s totally about finding that thing you love... and just fucking going for it!” Lou Mclean

Stein and Mclean are aware that the festival’s focus on women and non-binary people might ruffle some feathers. However, they also know that such conditions are necessary in order to create a safe, encouraging environment to help oppressed groups find their voice. For Stein, safe spaces will always be necessary when we live in such a prejudiced society: “Unfortunately, if we don’t like something or we don’t agree with it we’re not able to just take a step back and not

watch TV or not listen to music because it’s blasted at us. We can’t switch off from sexism and misogyny and racism because it’s there 24/7. So, we’re trying to do something which excludes all that and is just a nice space for everybody.” It’s unsurprising that she feels so strongly given the concerning number of sexual harassments and assaults taking place at live music events. However, women-run events can offer a different experience. Mclean has enjoyed this alternative type of environment by attending concerts facilitated by Girls Rock School: “Being at Girls Rock School gigs has been a total gamechanger for me, because for the first time in my life I’ve been able to see a band that I love and go right to the front and fucking dance and not worry about someone harassing me or trying to feel me up.” Explaining how her workshop will help to spread similar female-organised events around the country, Stein says: “Going by yourself round the country is freaking scary, especially for women: going to places you don’t know, where there can be strange people. I have a lot of contacts of people that are cool and I’m just going to give those away at the end, because you need somewhere to start. “Organising a tour is probably the next step for a lot of bands but if you don’t know what

you’re doing, it can be insanely difficult! Having the confidence to do something like that is going to be lacking for a lot of people so we go through how to fund, budget and promote a UK tour.” Helping to teach women how to handle difficult situations closer to home, Mclean describes the techniques which her workshop imparts: “When people are harassing you, there are techniques you can use to de-escalate the situation and come out positively. If someone’s going to be an arsehole it’s horrible, but there are techniques you can use to protect yourself. I wanted to make a workshop about that and about taking control of situations, being confident in yourself and different ways to improve that.” And these life-improving lessons aren’t only for the privileged few: DAREFest prides itself on being fully accessible to trans women, non-binary individuals, the differently abled and anyone experiencing financial issues. Stein elaborates: “We want it to be open to everybody; if someone can’t afford to come, they should just get in touch and we’ll sort something out, because we want everybody to have access to this.” As Mclean so perfectly sums it up: “We just want to help our sisters out, no matter what kind of sister they are!” DAREFest takes place 23 Sep, The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, 12pm facebook.com/DAREFestedinburgh

There's Been a Murder Dark and deadly happenings are predicted in Stirling on 8-10 Sep when our greatest crime writers gather for Bloody Scotland. But we find there is far more on offer than those big name authors to have put Scotland on the crime writing map

here is a whisper in the literary underworld... a name, wreathed in mystery, drenched with blood. A place, with a dark and tumultuous history (Stirling). A date that they dare not speak in public (8-10 Sep), but in the sheltered booths of inns (The Curly Coo on Barnton St, you know, just next to the Shelter charity shop) they speak of a gathering – the greatest criminal minds of a generation, all in one place. There is no end to the crimes that this group have plotted – from the petty and spiteful to the deeply transgressive, from the political to the purely gory. Time after time, they have blackmailed, bribed, injured and killed. But the criminals will not have the field to themselves. Here too are those who have tracked their footsteps, set their wills against their opponents, deployed all their natural cunning and determination to unravel motive, means and opportunity: the detectives. It will be dark. It will be bloody. It will be Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival – and these plotters and solvers of crimes? One and the same – and, of course, the authors. It’s the sixth year for Bloody Scotland, which has carved out a niche for itself at the heart – or at the very least, the liver – of Scotland’s flourishing literary festival scene. A combination of exceptional authors, atmospheric surroundings and

Review

enthusiastic audiences draws lovers of crime fiction from around the world. The festival’s gala opening will be held at Stirling Castle on Fri 8 Sep (6.30pm), launching the Bloody Scotland anthology and announcing the winner of the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The judges – crime writer Craig Sisterson, comedian Susan Calman, and Chair & Director of Granite Noir, Lee Randall – are faced with an impressive longlist of new Scottish crime, featuring both established authors and debut writers. Whoever takes home the prize, there’s not a red herring among them – we only hope the judges have nightlights. From the castle, onwards, to the Albert Halls, in a torchlight procession led by crime writer Ian Rankin. 2017 marks thirty years since our first introduction to John Rebus, Rankin’s iconic Edinburgh detective, in Knots & Crosses. Fans can look forward to a celebration of Rankin’s most famous character as the author joins fellow crime writer Mark Billingham in conversation (8.45pm, Albert Halls). It is thirty years too since Val McDermid’s first crime novel, Report for Murder, was published in September 1987, and her event on Saturday (12.15pm, Albert Halls) will see the bestselling author reflect upon her extraordinary career and discuss her thrilling new novel, Insidious Intent.

It’s not all anniversaries though – Bloody Scotland welcome new writers to the stage in Crime in the Spotlight, which on Sat 9 Sep this year will shine on the exciting New Female Crime Writer Award (launched by Virago in association with The Pool) before McDermid’s event. Pitch Perfect gives new novelists the chance to pitch their novels to industry professionals (Sun 10 Sep, 12.45pm, Allan Park South Church), while previous pitchers share their success stories at The Graduates: Past Perfect panel, featuring Joseph Knox, Steph Broadribb and Matt Wesolowski (Sun 10 Sep, 2.30pm, Allan Park South Church). The programme is packed with writing masterclasses, talks, and panels on everything from procedural detail to television adaptations. Friday’s Deadlier event sees authors Sophie Hannah and Cath Staincliffe introduce a compilation of the best and most bloodthirsty in women’s crime writing, from Christie to Atwood (5pm, Golden Lion) while on Saturday Four Broads in Search of a Killer set out to ‘prove that the female of the crime writing species is deadlier than the male’ (7pm, Allan Park South Church). This year’s festival also features two crimeinspired plays, Inspector Faro Investigates the Vanishing Vagrant by Alanna Knight (Golden Lion, Sun 10 Sep, 4pm) and A Tale Etched in Blood and

MUSIC / BOOKS

Words: Ceris Aston

Hard Black Pencil by Christopher Brookmyre (Tolbooth Theatre, Sat 9 Sep, 2.30pm & 8.30pm). Meanwhile, Friday night’s Never Mind the Buzzcops quiz, with teams led by McDermid and Billingham, promises to be bloody good, while the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers gig that follows it will be, well, criminal (10.30pm, Albert Halls). And, of course, there’s the Bloody Scotland Crime Writers Football Match on Saturday – Scotland vs. England – with old scores to be settled in the struggle for The Bloody Cup (2pm, Bowling Green Cowane’s Hospital). Bloody Scotland 2017 closes on a high on Sunday with award-winning author and screenwriter Lynda LaPlante, best known for her creation DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect (5.30pm, Albert Halls). The festival’s final event will celebrate LaPlante’s career as well as introducing audiences to her newest novel Good Friday. And then (perhaps after a drink or two) readers and writers alike will disperse – go their own ways, their bags weighed down with books. These, they will read, in the sheltered booths of inns – or perhaps just at home, solving crimes in their pyjamas until the next Bloody Scotland. Bloody Scotland takes place from 8-10 Sep across Stirling bloodyscotland.com

THE SKINNY

September 2017

Review

Fully Loaded Nick Helm is a thunderous hopeless romantic. Both simultaneously surly and sweet, he’s constantly teetering between loveable puppy and a man on the brink of a mental breakdown. But one who cares so much about his comedy Interview: Polly Glynn

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Illustration: Rachel Davey

really loved that show. I love all my shows.” Here Nick Helm’s talking about One Man Mega Myth, the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated triumph about forever being an underdog. And Evel Knievel. For his next feat, he’s undertaking a 25-date tour There’s Nothing You Can Do To Me That I Haven’t Already Done To Myself. So what hasn’t he done? “I haven’t been as kind as I should have been. But every day is a learning experience. If you’re going to get one thing out of my show, it’ll be to treat yourself kind and others kinder.” It’s a lovely sentiment. “Yeah, but I’ll be saying cunt a lot. “I’ve been working on this show for a couple of years now. I’m finding some really old material that when I first started out was shit, and I couldn’t work out how to do, so I’m going back and correc ting some bits that I never managed to pull off. I’m doing some of my favourite poems too and there’ll be songs but no band, because it’s too expensive.” Is it strange, then, getting to craft his first full show since 2013? “It is a bit weird because One Man Mega Myth came after three great Fringe hours, and they all came from the cycle of writing Edinburgh shows where you start to churn them out and get into a rhythm. It’s all about fixing yourself and rising from the ashes.” Not that Helm’s career needs raising from the dead. In 2017, he’s been on various screens with the final series of Uncle; Loaded for Channel 4, and he's just finished filming a food travelogue – Eat Your Heart Out – for Dave. It is less the busy schedule and more the expectations his TV roles give an audience that makes performing new material difficult. “Audience expectations are weird because of Uncle and Loaded. You get people that come to see me because I’ve done some telly now. Uncle was so successful and everyone loved it; I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people that I’m not Uncle. And I think it’s funny because you get fans that come along to see it, then leave confused. But I’ve got to be me.” It’d be rude not to mention the runaway success of Uncle, the BBC Three series which saw Helm play a slobbish, suicidal man given a new lease of life from having to look after his nephew. The final series was broadcast in January, but

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Helm would like to work again with Oliver Refson and Lilah Vandenburgh, the series’ writers, at some point in the future. “I’d love to, and I think the feeling’s mutual. There’s no Uncle on the horizon, we finished that and I think it all wrapped up nicely. They’re writing stuff at the moment and hopefully we’ll work together again.” Filming Loaded was a no less joyous experience, but in a different way. “That was a different experience. Because Elliot [Speller-Gillott, who played Errol, the nephew in Uncle] was a minor; I didn’t get to hang out with him. “Also in the second series, Daisy [Haggard, who plays sister Sam] had a baby and was breastfeeding between takes, so I spent a lot of the second series on my own. When I wasn’t working all the crew were setting up the next shot. It was quite an isolating experience. “With Loaded, we’re all in our thirties, we’ve all got similar interests. It was just really fun. Because it was an ensemble cast, there was no hierarchy or pressure on anyone to deliver more than anyone else. Again it was like the mutual appreciation society. We all loved each other, got on really well, and if anything else, I’d love to do another series because it was great hanging out with that lot. “I had so much emotional, creative and professional responsibility towards Uncle. I’m very protective of it. It was a real gift to be given that part. Henry Normal (recently retired producer of Baby Cow) gave me it without even auditioning me, and I’m terrible at auditions so wouldn’t have got it otherwise. He just had enough faith in me to say I was the right guy for it. Olly and Lilah wrote the series for me, I wrote the songs, and I absolutely loved that, but there was a tremendous sense of responsibility to that show, whereas with Loaded, I wasn’t part of the creative process, I was an actor. So I got to turn up for work and not feel that pressure. I wasn’t even a lead, I was a co-lead, so it was lovely not having that amount of stress every day.” Nick Helm: There Is Nothing You Can Do To Me That I Haven’t Already Done To Myself, Òran Mór, 13 Oct, 7pm, £12 nick-helm.co.uk

THE SKINNY

All Hail the Mighty Glow Cloud As the creepy and comedic Welcome to Night Vale podcast returns to Glasgow for its latest live show we meet co-creator Joseph Fink and lead voice actors Cecil Baldwin and Meg Bashwiner

Interview: Sarah Galletly

elcome to Night Vale is a fictional community radio show set in a small town in the Southwest American desert, where weird and paranormal occurrences are so frequent that they have become mundane to local residents. Guided through these bizarre incidents by their endearing local radio host Cecil Palmer, listeners are invited into a world of three-headed dragons, faceless old women who secretly live in your home, and sinister hooded figures who lurk near the forbidden dog park. The podcast was co-created in 2012, by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, who have been writing partners for almost a decade. Welcome to Night Vale has exploded in popularity over these five years, with the podcast’s ensemble cast embarking on several international touring productions. This success has also led to the publication of podcast script books and original novels set in the Night Vale universe, the second of which will be published this October under the title It Devours! Their fourth live touring show, All Hail, places the spotlight on the mysterious Glow Cloud, a fan favourite character who compels members of the community to chant their fealty to it while leaving a trail of dead animals in its wake. After its seemingly failed attempt to control the minds of the entire town early in the podcast’s run, the Glow Cloud remains in this desert community, eventually taking on the role of president of the Night Vale School Board. As co-creator Joseph Fink explains: “The basic rule we live by with Night Vale is that we try to make the weird mundane, and we try to make the mundane weird. So if you’re going to describe something really weird or horrifying you try and write it in a way that is as mundane as possible, and if you’re describing something simple that we have all experienced, you try to use language that alienates it from the listener and makes it seem strange even though it’s something they’ve actually experienced.” For Cecil Baldwin, who provides the voice of lead character Cecil Palmer, “at its heart Welcome to Night Vale is a force for good in a lot of ways. This character, Cecil, at the end of every podcast episode he finds his love for the town and for the people that share this community with him, and no matter what insane crazy monster has appeared that week, at the end of the day it’s the people in the town that keep the community going. And I think that really resonates with a lot of people who feel disenfranchised by the government or that are not part of socially recognised norms. That sort of sense of belonging and community really resonates with them.” When asked about the difference between the podcast and the live shows Baldwin explains that the show’s format as a staged reading with no sets and costumes actually aids his live performances. “It’s really basic, good old fashioned storytelling, and because of that it frees us up to let the audience use their own imagination and build the world for themselves... The humour is even better [in the live shows] and then the heartbreaking, human element of it is even better as well, because you’re able to actually connect with people face to face rather than through an earbud or online. And that’s really to me where Welcome to Night Vale shines.” When asked about his comedic influences, Fink admits that “I’m not super interested in comedy where it comes before anything else… where the story and characters are all just in service of getting in as many punchlines as possible. That just doesn’t do a lot for me. I really love comedy like Parks and Recreation, where it’s

September 2017

Cecil Baldwin

a very, very funny show, but it never loses sight of the fact that it needs to be true to its characters and tell stories that are honest to them.” Fink also loves Peep Show where “almost everyone in that show is a truly terrible human being and not likeable at all, but there is still a very deep honesty to those characters. Those characters feel real and consistent, and they never cheat in order to get a joke in. They always go for what the character is first, and that’s really what interests me, and what we try to do with Night Vale.”

“ We’re trying to have as much representation as possible on stage, while still being able to tour” Joseph Fink

“I’m always shocked that Americans don’t know The League of Gentlemen as well as they should,” Baldwin adds, before acknowledging the influence of Twin Peaks on his performance choices in WTNV. “In creating the character of Cecil Palmer I kept thinking of Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks. Kyle MacLachlan plays this sort of eternal optimist in a way that is funny, and at the

same time can also be deadly serious, and can have a love affair, and is a fully realised character. There’s something about that David Lynch quality of humour that really appealed to me. It is a dark humour, to be sure, but it’s honest and real and there was something [in the WTNV scripts] that really resonated with that.” Meg Bashwiner, WTNV’s resident proverb lady, live show emcee, and voice for the recurring character of Deb the sentient patch of haze, freely admits that when they first started touring they didn’t know what they were doing and that they “definitely learned a lot of things the hard way, but we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.” These live productions of WTNV rely upon a rotating stable of guest stars which vary depending on where the shows are touring, with the scripted reading usually accompanied by a musical guest serving as the radio show’s ‘weather’ and a live soundtrack from podcast composer Jon Bernstein (aka Disparition). While the live shows are scripted, Fink asserts that he and Cranor intentionally don’t direct their actors very much. “For the most part we try to cast people that are right for the roles and then just let them make the choices they make.” Even with their first touring show, The Librarian, which Bashwiner believes they toured close to a hundred times, “towards the end [of that run] we were still discovering things, every time we’d walk into a new audience, especially a new audience in a different culture… we happen upon different jokes and different rhythms that match to the response of our audience.” Listeners have responded positively to the diversity of characters that the podcast showcases, something that is reflected in the female-driven

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line-up for their upcoming European tour. “Because the show is written by two men and stars a man, we definitely want to try to be including the voices of non-binary people and women in the show,” Bashwiner explains. “We’re lucky to know so many talented female performers that Joseph and Jeffrey really do enjoy writing for them and fleshing that story out. We’re trying to have as much representation as possible on stage, while still being able to tour.” Bashwiner believes the current touring show is the funniest they’ve produced thus far. “I think we’ve hit a lot of different notes with our previous live shows, and I think this one is definitely a show for its time concerning the political climate of the world as well as one that is funny. So it’s kind of a humorous and uplifting take on where Night Vale is right now and maybe where the world is right now.” Fink affirms that this new script, “was very consciously written in response to the current political climate. It was hard not to… At the same time it’s not like an allegory, it’s not a sermon, it’s a comedy show in a lot of ways, and so it is very big and funny.” In balancing needs of die hard podcast fans without risking alienating newcomers, Fink feels they’ve managed to hit the right note. “Our goal was for long time listeners to finally deliver this story about the Glow Cloud that is this huge fan favourite character… and then for newcomers we wanted to tell a story that was funny but also that I think lands in a place that will feel very urgent given where we are right now.” Welcome to Night Vale – All Hail. Tramway Glasgow, 26 Sep, 7.30pm, £28 It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, published 19 Oct by Little, Brown Book Group, £16.99

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Infinite Resistance Ahead of his exhibition in CCA this month, Sahej Rahal discusses the protest politics and texts of resistance that inspired the work that he will show

ahej Rahal has come to CCA Glasgow for a chat, via Helensburgh where he is currently in residence at Cove Park. Here at CCA, he is presenting a major solo show titled Barricadia. For this, he combines historical and theoretical visions of a better world, as well as bringing in his own experiences of radical activism and resistance in India and, more recently, in Scotland. As a first premise, Rahal surveys his interactions with friends and those around him: “there’s this tacit agreement that things could be better. So what are the contours of that better place? This was becoming the meat of the conversation I was having with everyone, everywhere.” Some of the urgency of acknowledging these exchanges came from Rahal’s proximity to ‘Not in My Name’ protestors in India. Following the actions of the Hindu Nationalist Party, who are responsible for a general curtailing of a lot of behaviour and expression, vigilante groups began to appear. They call themselves “cow protectors”, and they commit acts of violence on someone who they suspect might be holding beef in their houses. “They actually checked what meat was in their house after they were lynched.” There was nothing. One of the most publicised events of this protest took place just over two months ago, on 28 June. While the pattern of violence caused by extreme vigilante extensions of state power continued for some time, what eventually motivated the huge 28 June action was the killing of 16-yearold Junaid Khan, after he had been castigated for being Muslim and presumed “beef eater”, the term that had been shouted at him by a mob following an argument over train seats. Rahal associates the Nationalist Party in power in India as – to an extent – part of the present “shape of the world we live in everywhere right now.” For this reason, while in Scotland he’s sought to find out how people organise here. Following this thread, he visited the anti-nuclear protest camps in Faslane. Here, he shot footage that will appear as one element in the exhibition this month. “It was interesting to see how they were organising. In the Ploughshares [a satellite protest camp at the Faslane nuclear facility], they were organising the protest through music. They were practising, literally handing the songs that had just been printed out, and I got to shoot them while they were preparing to learn how to sing.” It was an important way for Rahal to reconsider the presumption of protest as an “outburst of emotion and affect,” or more generally the image of protest as chaotic or disorganised. “So the preparatory act of this protest became a way of seeing how it is structured. It became a way for me of thinking about how would people prepare for this utopic imaginary space” and the kind of better world that is the topic of most of his conversations with friends and colleagues. More generally, this video work will be set in the midst of different sculptures and multimedia work. “One of the ways I work is almost like bricolage.” He describes finding and accruing elements, bringing elements of documentary and then performances into the work. In this vein, as well as the documentary footage, Rahal also includes a music video and performances: “these absurd kind of rituals.” In the tongue-in-cheek performances, he features “foreboding shamanic figures that are displaced across space and time, that don’t really know what they’re doing. [They are] these didactic, masculine figures who are lost” and have lost their GPS connection. Also featuring in the show as part of this critical amassing mash-up, Rahal’s including a “grimoire” in the show – an archaic-sounding

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fantasy term for a book of magic and spells. For Barricadia’s grimoire, Rahal assembles intellectually famous figures like Italian writer Italo Calvino and poet-artist Marcel Broodthaers, along with some of the more shadowy corners of last century intelligentsia, like Nick Land of the futuristic and tech centric Accelerationists, whose theories have become associated with strains of old right wing politics. As well as right wing fundamentalism, Land was associated with theory-fiction writing and speculative realism. Speaking in greater detail of some of the clay objects that he’s made on residence in Cove Park, Rahal mentions that there will be fetish objects, tools, weapons. With these, there will be dioramas, the kind that come in playsets or an architectural plan, so that creates a sense of what the objects might be used for if the suggested society existed. Looking simultaneously archaic and made in the present moment, “there’s a cyclical structure that’s immediately dismantled when you see, for example, the music video.” Going into greater detail on the music video, he hopes operates as a surprising or incongruous addition to the grimoire and shamanistic rituals, “there’s a creation myth. Without giving too much away, there’s a procession, then a voiceover about a DJ, who comes from an ancient line of DJs who were apparently exorcists who would scare away demons and witches using their music.” Then Rahal likely gives away more info than he’d intended as we excitedly talk about what sounds like a mysterious and intriguing film work.

“ Sometimes it’s okay to be cliché because the demons we face are cliché”

Sahej Rahal, Dry Salvages, 2017, Documentation of performance

Sahej Rahal

Speaking more generally, he goes on, “There’s all of these weird narratives, structures and voices floating in the background, attempting at creating structures to these objects. But what I hope is that when people enter the space, they bring their own narratives and memories. [They] will have these absurd objects in front of them and they will reconstruct Barricadia in their own tone. You could think of all the objects I’m creating as toys, something to play with, rather than fixed or hinged in themselves.” Thinking about how different theories and histories feature in the show, Rahal describes one sense he has of the present moment and how ideas and concepts circulated. “Not really about the show, even more generally and in a larger sense, where we are in history there’s a strange kind of knowingness we have.” He thinks of, for example, the way that critical Marxism, deconstructionist writers like Baudrillard, or feminist texts like The Second Sex circulate through the internet, memes and actually reading them. At the same time as having these “tools” present with us, they all exist at the same time as the things they are railing against: global capitalism, imperialism, sexual politics. He mentions the motion of passing milestones as part of a progressive history no longer being appropriate or convincing. As nationalism and

Sahej Rahal, Undergod, 2016, Mixed media sculpture

border-closing increases with rampancy, he characterises the past as “that person everyone knows that has the worst opinions on things” resurging. One potential response he suggests is salvaging ideas of Marxism, for one, from being passé or cliché and putting them to action. Though he qualifies: “sometimes it’s okay to be cliché because the demons we face are cliché.” In particular he thinks of the Ploughshares camps and people teaching one another protest songs, that answer one particularly apposite question: “How do we learn how to say ‘no’ again?”

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Rahal is careful not to think of this present moment as unique or distinct from the past, and speculates that it’ll likely come again in the future. “If we are facing some weird ideas that are from a feudal past, then the resistance [is also there]. What I’m trying to create is... a continuum of hope. The hope for a better world has to be eternal as well, if things against it and the world we live in right now is a monster from the past that didn’t die, then resistance also didn’t die.” Sahej Rahal, Barricadia, CCA, 16 Sep-29 Oct

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Photo: Reece Straw

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

September 2017

Women Speaking Out National Poetry Day is on 28 September, with the 2017 theme of ‘Freedom’. The perfect opportunity then to speak with Iona Lee and Sabrina Mahfouz about the increasing volume of women’s voices in the poetry scene

Iona Lee

omen have been historically excluded from the literary canon: it’s a fact. Academics and historians widely acknowledge that the social mores of the past severely limited the output of female writers. Furthermore, sexist assumptions about women’s writing being inferior means that it hasn’t been documented or studied to the same extent. Unfortunately, with the strong male bias that continues in the arts (and leads to male artists earning 19% more than women) not all of this is in the past. Spoken word, as a genre closely tied to political protest, can provide some much needed relief. Through this medium, women and minority groups such as POC and the LGBTQI+ community have been creating beautiful art — and expressing themselves in the process. Two women exploring the artistic potential of poetry and spoken word to their fullest are Sabrina Mahfouz and Iona Lee. British-Egyptian writer Mahfouz is a highly noteworthy figure in the UK literary scene, with a prolific output spanning theatre, poetry and fiction. The UK Young Artists’ Award Winner thematises notions of home and belonging, as well as tackling controversial topics like sex work, and is known for her powerful, lyrical delivery. A true star of the Scottish spoken word scene and a Scottish Slam Poetry champion, Iona Lee has been performing since the tender age of 17. Now 21, she combines her poetic practice with her studies in illustration. Considering that this year’s National Poetry Day comes with the theme ‘Freedom’ it seems particularly fitting that we talk to these two outstanding women, whose work helps to break boundaries and build bridges. Hot off the heels of their event Phenomenal Women Speak Out at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jemima Foxtrot and Sophia Walker, we were lucky enough to catch up with Mahfouz and Lee. With top spoken word poets like Kate Tempest and Hollie McNish currently making waves beyond the spoken word scene, it would seem that it’s women who currently rule its roost. Lee concedes that there is some truth in this assumption: “It is true that there is consistently a good male to female ratio at spoken word gigs and that many, if not most, of the top poets out there right now are female... I suppose the easiest comparison is

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to stand-up comedy, which has a shite gender ratio. So, better [at representing women] than comedy anyway.” However, as Mahfouz points out: “The relatively democratic way of getting noticed as a poetry performer is certainly more accessible than other routes such as acting, theatre work, publishing. This is true for women and for all groups outside the straight white male group, but this group still dominates even in spoken word. “Although it is more accessible, it still means having the confidence to get up on stage and deliver your own work, which is often more difficult for

those who are underrepresented in public speaking and have backgrounds that have not enabled confidence to flourish. But of course every year there are more women in the genre for other women to look to as inspiration and that is a wonderful thing.” There’s been a lot of talk recently about the ‘female gaze’ in art and cinema but does there exist a specifically ‘female’ poetic voice? The answer, at least according to Lee and Mahfouz, is far from clear-cut. “Everyone has a different perspective to offer,” Lee suggests, “... and it is true that we do experience this thing we call life differently dependent on our gender. So in relation to subject matter, yes of course. I don’t think that there are distinctions to be drawn between female and male writing in relation to style or tone though. There are more differences between ‘people’ than there are between specifically ‘men and women.’” However, women do need to rework traditions to create a space for themselves on the literary scene, an idea that clearly intrigues Mahfouz: “I’m doing a research project at the moment with [arts organisations] Jerwood and Shubbak into the forms female writers from the West and the Middle East use in theatre work, and if there’s a need for a difference formally in order to tell the perspectives that have for so long been ignored. I think there is some of that in all types of writing. Women needing to invent or reinvent forms to fit their words rather than the other way round.” Femininity is a strong theme in both their work, but in different ways. Mahfouz is keenly aware of the delicate ground one must tread between celebrating difference and highlighting the artifice behind social roles and divisions: “I don’t adhere to biological determinism arguments when it comes to femininity/masculinity. At the same time, I’m obviously aware that it exists as a social construct that affects us all and so becomes a kind of reality, however aware of the artifice we may be – so I try to give that the weight it requires while challenging it.”

Interview: Megan Wallace For Lee, her work serves as an outlet in which she can be unapologetically honest about the facets of femininity over which women are made to feel shame: “I talk (though not exclusively) about periods and female pleasure in sex and other, more ‘feminine’ issues. I suppose I am attempting to ease the stigma and the embarrassment on these topics. So much of what it is to be ‘feminine’ is not talked about. We feel embarrassed mentioning that we have period cramps to our boss, or embarrassed admitting that we really like shagging or that we have thrush. What it is to be ‘female’ is not discussed as much as what it is to be ‘male’ in the media and in art.” Lee takes the approach that “the personal is political,” saying that she has “only ever written a handful of explicitly political pieces, but all of my poetry is political in its way. It comes from a place of privilege to say “I don’t care about politics” as so many people do not have a choice. They have to care as it affects their lives every day. My writing about my experiences as a young woman is intrinsically political, even if I’m not writing about the tampon tax or the rape clause or some other female-related legislation. It is also important to use the platform that you are provided as an artist to tackle political issues, especially in the current climate.” However, for Mahfouz the personal is not the best vehicle for her version of poetic truth. “I think the only way for writers of fictional genres to be truly honest is through characters – this is definitely the case for me and so even my poetry usually employs characters to explore truth. I very rarely write autobiographical poetry.” This certainly doesn’t stop her work from being political, and as an author she is acutely aware of the power and influence her work holds: “I think there’s an argument to be made that every piece of writing and performance is political in some way, even more so in these highly volatile and extreme times.” National Poetry Day is 28 Sep | nationalpoetryday.co.uk

Sabrina Mahfouz

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THE SKINNY

History, Today Charlottesville erupted after Omar El Akkad completed his prescient novel American War, yet like many speculative authors he was frighteningly accurate. He discusses the polarisation of, and battle lines running through modern America

ith each week bringing some fresh political cataclysm, many commenters have remarked that the current verve for dystopian fiction comes as no surprise. As power structures wobble, whole demographics swing recklessly right and world leaders hurl out hand grenades of mindless bigotry in the form of grammar-resistant Twitter dumps, the works of Atwood and Orwell have become the most obvious guiding light for many trying to understand how we got here. Literary heavyweights like The Handmaid’s Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four have rapidly gone from distant allegories to darkened reflections of reality and while their worst case scenarios might still remain at least a few dark moves away, Omar El Akkad’s debut novel American War outlines more clearly than ever before how we might get swept from here to there in the blink of an eye. Let’s just remind ourselves that in Charlottesville, a cultural and political civil war is being fought over the removal of statues commemorating the actual American Civil War. And so, as imagined by El Akkad: by 2074, America has once again been torn into North and South and open war rages across the once-united nation. If, at a glance, that premise sounds farfetched, El Akkad draws the path towards a second civil war with such meticulous care it quickly begins to seem more possible than any of us would like to imagine. A total ban on fossil fuels as part of an environmental Hail Mary re-opens America’s oldest wounds. The South, with its reliance upon the industries that have just been illegalised, once again finds itself bearing the brunt of decisions made miles away by politicians with no interest in the traditions, pride or struggles of its people. The North sees these protests as unbridled ignorance, dismissing them as the ignorable opinions of backwards people. In a flash both sides become irretrievably entrenched on their side of a cultural border. In another, that border becomes a battle line. Once things are set in motion, all of the political and cultural complexities give way to the oldest of laws: an eye for an eye. More than anything else, this is the idea that drives El Akkad’s debut novel: “American War is a novel about the universality of suffering and the universality of revenge,” he explains, “It’s the story of Sarat Chestnut, a young girl in southernmost Louisiana whose life is upturned by the events of a second American civil war. The premise, and the book’s setting, is futuristic-sounding, but this isn’t a book about the future.” While it is set a few decades from now, every moment is grounded in today’s reality: “Almost everything that happened in the book has already happened – maybe not in the United States, but elsewhere in the world, usually to people who don’t have much of a voice with which to speak out. I certainly didn’t invent drones or waterboarding or refugee camps.” The major dystopian works which have enjoyed a recent resurgence have proven to be impressively and alarmingly accurate in predictions made decades ago, but even in the short years since he began writing his own dark prophecy, El Akkad has watched life imitate his art in disturbing fashion. “I started the first draft in the summer of 2014, and finished it almost exactly a year later (a few weeks before Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president),” he says. “When I started writing the novel, I was already aware that political polarisation in America was about as extreme as it has been in many generations, if not since the Civil War. But I never anticipated that polarisation

September 2017

leading to the election of someone like Trump, nor that things would get so bad that a work of dystopian fiction would start to be talked about in terms of its prescience.” To make the world of his novel feel real, El Akkad employs a two-pronged technique, splitting the novel between the intimate, personal story of Sarat Chestnut and more empirical, historical documents which offer a wide-angle view of how the conflict unfolded. He is quick to admit that the latter started out as “a bit of a crutch”. He says: “I was having trouble keeping track of all the moving parts of my invented future world. So, leaning on my decade of journalism experience, I started writing up fake historical documents to record the major events of this world. It was only later on that I thought about inserting them into the novel to break up the main narrative a bit, and I found that they lent a neat kind of textural quality to the book.” While the chapters which step away from Sarat are vital to fleshing out her world and providing a fuller view of the future American War describes, El Akkad is careful to always keep the reader closely tied to its protagonist. Explaining her vital role, he claims: “Sarat Chestnut is the only character in the book who came to me fully formed – everyone else in the novel was re-written time and time again, but Sarat remained the same. Once she showed up, the entire novel became hers, first and foremost.”

“ The angry young racists who marched through Charlottesville didn’t arrive in this country yesterday. The veins of hatred and white supremacy they tap date back to America’s founding” Omar El Akkad

Not all of American War’s predictions are so damning: while America flounders, the Middle East is able to achieve stability as the newly formed Bouazizi Empire. “The Bouazizi Empire in the book is based in large part on the creation story of the United States – a group of people from different backgrounds rise up against perceived tyranny, eventually succeed, and from a number of different states create a single one,” says El Akkad, drawing attention to the way in which the fates of these two empires have remained continually intertwined. “I think of all the geopolitical prerequisites for any part of the world to flourish, an absence of malicious outside interference is perhaps the most vital – and at least during my lifetime, American involvement in the Middle East has been the text-

Photo: Michael Lionstar

Interview: Ross McIndoe

book example of how the opposite is also true. Of course, since this is a novel concerned with turnabout, now the Bouazizi Empire is the one maliciously inserting itself into American affairs.” This touches on one of the major challenges the novel confronts its readers with: how differently would you think of the world if the images on your TV screen occurred somewhere closer to home? The underlying truth of American War is that the distance between us and the horrors of dystopian fiction is best measured not in time but in miles. The “turnabout” El Akkad talks about is vital to the novel’s central theme of revenge. Rather than relegating the process of radicalisation to a far-off part of the world in the midst of an alien culture, his novel lets it play out in one more familiar, demonstrating the ease with which anyone could be morphed into someone capable of atrocity. “When we see extremists, or the people on whom we usually throw the label ‘terrorist’ we tend to see them at the finish line – when they’ve already committed whatever heinous act for which they will forever be known.” For El Akkad, this process is not only unjust but ineffective: “If we have some interest in truly combatting extremism, we should expend some effort on understanding everything that came before all that. Otherwise, we have no chance at breaking the cycle.” That capacity to create empathy is a large part of why El Akkad chose to move from journalism to prose. “I don’t read novels to learn how to act, I read novels to remind myself about the importance of empathy,” he says. “To the extent that a novel might make its reader more willing to consider experiences outside their own, I think it can have a real impact on the world.” His journal-

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ism experience allowed him to write the grit and detail of the real world but his departure from it allowed him to go beyond the hard facts in which it deals: “Fiction was always my first home as a writer, the place where I felt most comfortable. Journalism for me has always been vital, but solely concerned with answers – who, what, where, etc. Fiction serves the opposite purpose; it’s where I go to explore questions.” Reality seems to be catching up with El Akkad’s fiction at an ever-increasing pace. With the Charlottesville attack seeming to confirm American War’s worst suspicions, it seems almost inevitable that things will have spiralled even further out of control by the time you read this article, but for now, El Akkad turns back to his journalistic instincts once more to leave us with hard facts: “I’ve been thinking a lot about the lengths America will go to avoid a clear-eyed look in the mirror. The angry young racists who marched through Charlottesville didn’t arrive in this country yesterday. The veins of hatred and white supremacy they tap date back to America’s founding. “There’s an instinctual reaction among many Americans – almost a form of self-defence – to look at this current bout of ugliness and say, ‘This is not who we are.’ But that statement is plainly at odds with history. Whether the United States can survive this round of vitriol and violence – and a White House whose occupants clearly support its instigators – will depend entirely on the capacity of Americans to finally bridge the chasm between what this country is and what it pretends to be.” American War is out on 7 Sep, published by Pan Macmillan, RRP £14.99 omarelakkad.com

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Comic Book Hero Frank Quitely (aka Vincent Deighan) talks about exhibiting at Kelvingrove Art Gallery as a comic book artist and the status of the medium today

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

comics. “It’s very much like the music industry. Some people will pay for digital content, [or it’s] more likely they’ll pay to stream content, which is much cheaper and almost nothing goes back to the artists. Then, of course, loads of people will get their digital content for free.” While the digital boom of cheap to free content has harmed the revenue of artists, it has made a difference for new artists at the very beginning of breaking through. “It’s easier to find an audience, and to put work out without going to the expense of printing and sending the material to people. It’s much easier to break in. It used to be that you’d at least have to fork out for some black and white photocopying – you don’t even need to do that anymore. Of course you’ve got the problem of numbers, as everyone’s doing the same thing [and the difficulty of] making that into a revenue stream. Maybe that’s where crowdfunding comes in, sites like PayTrain.” With this idea in mind of the popularity of comic heroes rather than the physical comic books themselves, Quitely wasn’t so confident that an exhibition on his drawings and artwork would draw the crowds. This was one of the nagging anxieties he had as the exhibition gradually grew in scale, literally with “graphics blown-up floor to ceiling,” as well as “apps, iPads and big screens.” This was a new experience for Quitely, compared to past shows in which he’s been included, usually at comic book conventions when “you give the organisers a bunch of pages, you turn up on the night… And there’s the work framed in a white room, usually with the work of lots of other artists around.”

“ I was being the casting director, the actor, the cinematographer, everything” Frank Quitely

ow exhibiting in Kelvingrove Art Gallery, comic book artist and writer Frank Quitely’s career is at the centre of The Art of Comics. Over the course of two decades, Quitely has drawn the likes of X-Men, Superman and Batman. With countless awards and accolades under his belt, Quitely marks the final month of the major retrospective of his work with the release of Jupiter’s Legacy Vol 2. This title is the final part of a collaborative project with Scottish comic book legend Mark Millar – well known as the writer of Kick-Ass. Into the last leg of the show, Quitely reflects here on how he came to show in Kelvingrove Art Gallery as a comic book artist, that slews of comic adaptations haven’t necessarily attracted a new readership, and why the question of whether comics are art is “redundant.” He also thinks of the reasons for the show’s marked impact on visitors. First off, despite living and working in Glasgow

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through his life, the invitation to show in Kelvingrove as a comic book artist was still a surprise, and not something he’d considered as a possibility. “I’ve been going to Kelvingrove since before I started primary school and went there a lot when I was an art student and I’ve gone a lot all through my adult life.” Nevertheless, he goes on: “my work, it’s not the same as the artworks that are upstairs in Kelvingrove or the artefacts that are downstairs in Kelvingrove. So it was never on my bucket list to have a piece hanging in Kelvingrove.” Is this evidence of the greater significance, or at least respect of comic books themselves? Thinking about this suggestion, Quitely’s not totally convinced that recent films and Netflix series are a mark that comics are any more popular than before. Despite a specific kind of resurgence as material for summer blockbusters, he’s clear that this hasn’t been paralleled in sales of physical

art, at the most general level he suggests “it’s a redundant question.” This isn’t dry speculation by Quitely, and rewinding to his teens, these ideas map directly onto his bio and emergence as an artist. After a stint studying Drawing and Painting at the Glasgow School of Art, it wasn’t long before he was making a living embroiled in as many design and artistic projects as possible. “I kind of wanted to do a bit everything. When I got chucked out of art school, I did posters for nightclubs, I did t-shirt designs, window displays in shops, commissioned portraits, murals for schools and restaurants.” Though he “loved the variety of it,” ultimately comics were where it was at. “I was writing and drawing my own stories [at Electric Soup]”. In drawing and writing comics, he describes the excitement of not being the “cog in a wheel” of some grander creative project. Instead, he found, “I was being the casting director, the actor, the cinematographer, everything. The more comics I drew, I realised what you could achieve, there were no restrictions in terms of budget, space, time.” Despite the infinite potential of comic books, according to the museum staff one of the most successful parts of the exhibition has also been one of the most humble works. “There’s an X-Men bit. I was redesigning the X-Men and their costumes with Grant Morrison and there’s a wee headshot of Jean Grey on a Marriot Hotel notebook.” There’s been many comments by visitors on this one little sketch, and he speculates some of the attraction. “There seems to be something in the simplicity or familiarity of a lined jotter or a hotel notebook with a biro or pencil drawing on it that actually appeals to people in a way they can see what it is, when they can’t with an amazing CGI animation.” Ultimately, this insight into the individual artist’s hand at work is, for Quitely, responsible for some of the successes of the exhibition at Kelvingrove. “You see all these huge [printed works], but framed in front of it is what looks like a really simple drawing on bashed paper. It’s just a good drawing, that’s it. There’s not really any jiggerypokey. I think that really appeals to people.” Frank Quitely: The Art of Comics, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, until 1 Oct

As he watched the tremendous amount of production and innovative curation going on, he still couldn’t shift the feeling that maybe it would all go unseen. “I was worried that no one was going to come.” As it goes, as he’s sitting and speaking months later, The Art of Comics has surpassed all expectations of the organisers, and might possibly become a touring exhibition as several other cities have expressed interest Despite never expecting or setting his ambitions on the works he makes being hung in Kelvingrove, Quitely nevertheless is slower to draw disciplinary limits between media or artforms. “Within the visual arts, whether you’re looking at a pre-Renaissance painting, 20th century figurative art, a political cartoon for a newspaper, a movie poster or a comic book panel, the basic rules of compositions about where and why you have a point of focus, using characters or elements that support the narrative or the symbolism, all the basic rules of compositions, anatomy, lighting, iconography, symbolism remain... The crossovers are unavoidable, but the political cartoons are not the same as a comic book, not the same as abstract art, or book illustration. They all have their place.” Nevertheless, he accepts, “How can you not be influenced by everything?” It’s for this reason that when it comes to asking if comic books are

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THE SKINNY

September 2017

et in the car.” And with those four words, the conversation had changed. His eyes narrowed. His hand, which had once held mine in a friendly shake, now closed around my wrist. I tried to pull back but his grip tightened. “I’m from Milan,” he sneered, pulling me closer to the window of the car. “Do you know what we would do to a girl like you, walking alone, in Milan?” I watched helplessly as cars sped past. This was a busy road. We were surrounded by watchful eyes, and yet they were all lost in their own worlds. A dizzying panic began to rise in my chest. Just minutes before, I had been minding my own business as I strolled along Rome’s Tiber river. I had stopped for a moment to check my map when a car beeped its horn and pulled up onto the pavement beside me. I watched, confused, as the driver wound down the window. The car was occupied by an elderly man, Italian but with good English and kind eyes. He explained that he had taken a wrong turn, and asked if he could borrow my map for a moment. We struck up a conversation, as you do, and everything had seemed above board until he produced a leather handbag from the back seat of his car and offered it to me. “I am the managing director of Valentino,” he said. “I want you to have this bag as a way of saying thank you for your help.” He tried to press it into my hands, as I tried to bite my tongue and refrain from asking why it was that the managing director of one of the world’s leading designers was driving a clapped out Fiat on a Thursday afternoon. Sensing a dodgy sales pitch coming on, I politely declined and tutted at myself for not smelling a rat sooner. It was when I tried to walk away, however, that he caught my wrist. I searched his eyes for the kindness which was once there, but it was gone. His grip tightened and he repeated the words, “Get in the car.” The panic had now shifted to frustration. This is just the kind of thing that would happen to you came the inner monologue. This is why you shouldn’t travel alone. It’s true. I do have a knack for finding myself in troublesome situations. Over the years I’ve clocked up a fair few horror stories – from falling down a drain in Singapore to getting lost in the Thai jungle – and so it’s no wonder that my family were a little mystified when I announced suddenly over Sunday dinner that I was off to Rome alone. “Are you sure it’s a good idea?” they asked, cautiously. I told them I was sure, and I acted it too. I had booked the trip in haste, fed up of the dreary Scottish winter and plied with a sufficient quantity of gin. I didn’t ask around to see if anyone was free to come with me, nor did I particularly want to. I had always traveled with friends. This time I was determined to do it alone. In the weeks leading up to my trip, I feigned confidence. If anyone asked whether I was excited, I’d tell them of course. After all, this was Rome we were talking about, a city I’d longed to visit since my primary school days, when whole lunchtimes were spent recreating battle scenes, and when garden steps became makeshift ampitheatres on sunny afternoons. With so much that I wanted to see and do it seemed irrational to let a little solitude hold me back. And so I psyched myself up, crafted an itinerary and boarded the plane. It wasn’t until I reached the city centre that first night that the anxiety took hold.

“G

One traveller embraces solo travel and finds the rewards outweigh the occasional perils

Conquering Rome Alone

Words: Izzy Gray Illustration: Louise French

Hampered by a one way street, my taxi driver had to drop me a few blocks from my hotel. It was close to midnight and thick wet rain dropped from the sky. I had no idea which way to turn and more importantly, no one to ask. Reality hit hard. The questions came thick and fast; Why did you think you could handle this alone? Why didn’t you take a bloody map? Who do you think you are, Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love? The truth was unsettling. I had not let myself think about how scary it can be to travel alone. I hadn’t thought about what I might do if something bad were to happen, or if I were to get lost. I hadn’t thought about whether or not I might get lonely. That last thought troubled me the most. Now I’m very comfortable with my own company, and love nothing more than whittling away an afternoon alone in a coffee shop with a good book. But it’s an entirely different thing to go on holiday by yourself, with no one to share the experiences with. Would it be weird to ask for a table for one? Would people take pity on me? Would rumours begin to circulate about the strange, lonely Scottish girl who had, presumably not long ago, been jilted at the altar?

“ I had booked the trip in haste, fed up of the dreary Scottish winter and plied with a sufficient quantity of gin” With so many questions swirling around in my mind, my first night in Rome turned out to be a bit of a sleepless one. This was not helped by the fact that the gentleman next door seemed to have a penchant for watching questionable payper-view content with the volume up max. Hiding beneath my sheets, I found myself wondering whether the Ryanair staff at Ciampino might take pity on me if I were to turn up first thing with a decent sob story and my tail between my legs. But alas, it’s amazing what a few hours kip and a suddenly sunny morning will do to rouse the spirits. As I took in the view from the hotel’s rooftop terrace over breakfast the worries began to dissolve. I gazed out over the rooftops of the townhouses, the ancient city lying just beyond. There was a whole world waiting to be explored. Over the next four days I fell in love with Rome. I climbed the hills and explored the ruins of ancient empires. I stood beneath the dome of the Pantheon and pondered over the works of Bernini, Da Vinci and Caravaggio. I sipped espressos in beautiful piazzas and ate more pizza than I care to admit, and I didn’t regret a thing. Most importantly, I learned how liberating it can be to travel alone. You see the sights that you want to see. You do the things that you want to do. You take courage from yourself. Of course, there were moments when I missed having a companion by my side. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to at the end

of each day. But it wasn’t nearly as lonely as I expected. If anything I probably met more people traveling solo than I would have with company. Travellers have a funny way of gravitating towards one another. There were also moments when I had to have my wits about me. Rome, like any big city, has its fair share of troublemakers and I lost count of the number of scammers I had to fend off. My initial politeness faded. By the end of the week I had my ‘naff off ’ look down to a T. I remembered this as the old man pulled me closer to the window of his car. I wasn’t going to

TRAVEL

let him make me feel vulnerable for travelling alone, and I wasn’t going to let him taint the memory of my time in Rome. Instead I left him with a few choice words, which I shan’t repeat here, but which I’m certain were still ringing in his ears as he eventually released his grip and tore away back into the line of traffic. I don’t know whether the gladiator mindset had set in or whether it was that final prosecco over lunch, but as I watched the sunlight dance across the Tiber, I realised that never before had it felt so good to be alone. theskinny.co.uk/travel

Lifestyle

Scotland’s Design Language Words: Stacey Hunter

hat characterises contemporary design in Scotland? What is our ‘design language’ – do we indeed have one? These are the questions we’re posing ahead of a regular feature where design curators Local Heroes take a close look at what the most interesting designers in Scotland are working on Since it was founded in 2015, Local Heroes have been championing the notion of a ‘new movement in Scottish Design’ first made visible with an ambitious exhibition of exciting souvenirs at Edinburgh Airport last summer. The new aesthetic is eclectic – at turns youthful, elemental, minimalist and maximalist. And while there was a time when Scotland seemed to look to other countries for inspiration, contemporary design in 2017 is confident, expressive and original – symbolic of Scotland’s pluralism and connectedness to the rest of the world. The broad brush perception of our design culture may be dominated by tartan and

nostalgia, however the work of Scottish mavericks like Mackintosh and Paolozzi imagined new futures. In fact, Paolozzi’s early 1960s output arguably pre-dates the radical design movement led by Italian Ettore Sottsass, and that bold approach to colour, context and technology is finding a new articulation in modern Scottish design. Designers Gabriella Marcella of Risotto, Karen Mabon, Juli Bolaños-Durnan, Alice Dansey-Wright, Jennifer Gray and Soizig Carey cheerfully and knowingly invoke a combination of 20th century painters, pop and ancient artefacts – rendered in paper, silk, glass, plywood and metal producing design that is fresh, exciting and highly desirable. The minimalist rigour of an Instrmnt watch or Patricia Shone vessel communicate beauty with restraint. Tom Pigeon’s wall hangings and mobiles are exercises in colour palette precision, while in a reversal of traditions and techniques Hilary Grant incorporates high-tech

Hilary Grant

Tom Pigeon

INSTRMNT

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

Jennifer Gray

Lynne MacLachlan

Alice Dansey-Wright

M A D A M E a Soizig Carey X Risotto collaboration for OPiN

PatriciaShone.Erosion Bowl

September 2017

Photo: Joris Jan Bos

Soizig Carey

chromostereopsis processes in her blankets and scarves, while Lynne MacLachlan employs moire in her 3D printed jewellery. The combined result is highly original work that embraces innovation and internationalism, and what these designers all share is optimism and intellectual rigour. The new movement is polished, professional and accessible. The strongest influence on contemporary Scottish design is definitely digital. Though geographically at the edge of Europe, high quality, popular Scottish design sits comfortably alongside the best of Danish, Italian or Dutch design in a way that was unimaginable pre iPhone, Adobe and Instagram. What we think we know about design is rapidly evolving: Dutch design, for so long known for its Droogish irreverence, is increasingly defined by socially responsive design. Still though, a distinctive aesthetic snapshot materialises when Scandinavian design is discussed in a way that it

SHOWCASE

simply doesn’t when Scottish design is. There are structural reasons for this, including a baffling lack of official platforms for design, government policy or opportunities to see and celebrate Scottish design. In response, with this regular column, Local Heroes will continue to shine a spotlight on outstanding design spanning interiors, product and industrial design, fashion, graphics and craft, and hopefully offer the mouthpiece designers working in Scotland have told us they need. Together with The Skinny we’ll be embarking on a tour of design and its contribution to Scottish culture. Join us each month as we present new projects, approaches and collaborations with the aim of uncovering what Scotland’s design language is, or could be in the future. localheroes.design

Two Women Talk

As part of our brand new series of radical conversations about the female body, Deviance rallied theatrical anarchists Liz Aggiss and Louise Orwin to chat feminism, firearms and the reaction to their Fringe shows... Interview: Kate Pasola

The Skinny: Liz, Louise; Louise, Liz. Could you tell us a bit about your shows? LO: A Girl & A Gun asks audiences to reconsider their appetite for what we consume in cinema, especially where women and violence are concerned. It is a live filmmaking experiment that asks why we have such an appetite for the kind of cinema that stars women and guns as their main plot devices, and interrogates Godard’s famous statement: “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Once I nailed the concept for the show (an unprepared male performer is asked to step into the role of action hero, and everything that comes with that: bullshit male heroism, full on sexuality, violence etc), the rest just flowed into the show. LA: As the title suggests, Slap and Tickle is a show of opposites; push and pull, slap and tickle, punishment reward... So, expect to see a mature solo woman (the enfant terrible of the bus pass generation) engaged in a feminist soup of collage and cut-ups, while lurching seamlessly, and humorously, between dance, text, song. Expect to revise your attitudes on mature female visibility. Expect a mirror to be held up to the invidious nonsense, name-calling and restrictions perpetrated to limit female expectations and aspirations. LO: Liz, what is your relationship to your own femininity, and how is this reflected in your work? LA: I breach the borders of good taste... I unashamedly make a spectacle of myself, de-familiarising the coding of femininity and playing with self-invention through performance. And, from a feminist perspective, I represent politics in the flesh... What do you say you ‘do’ when asked? LO: This always depends on who I’m speaking to, and how I’m feeling at the time. But it can be anything from live artist to theatre-maker, performance artist, artist, [or] writer / director / performer. I’ve always made work about things that bother me politically, societally, and I realised that making work was a way to try and get my voice heard on these matters. So I guess to answer your question, I’ve become a maker and a scratcher. On female tropes and audience reactions LO: [For my show], on a nightly basis I am subjecting my body to the kind of actions any female body might go through when performing this kind of role: I am objectified, reduced to ridiculous sexualisation, glamourised even as I am belittled, and of course I get to die over and over again on stage. What is more familiar to us than the sexy dead woman in cinema? The show deconstructs many of the female gender tropes we see in cinema: femme fatale, sexy dying woman, tragic heroine, hyper-sexualised harpy, and asks how comfortable we are seeing these tropes enacted live before us, especially when many of us might be more-than comfortable with seeing them on film. LA: As a mature, post menopausal, solo, female body, I use the space to act out and act up, and to test preconceptions about what an audience thinks I should be doing and why I should be doing it. Because this is a show that gives per-

Lifestyle

mission. I hope my audience will laugh, applaud with jaw-dropping adulation and leave with an empowered sense of purpose. LO: I’ve found that women of all ages can relate to the horror of seeing such familiar female tropes from cinema laid bare. The kind of roles many of us have grown up with, and have either glorified or fought against. The show also touches on issues of gendered violence and domestic abuse, which I have known to strike a note with many women. Many women who have come to see the show have found it really empowering too – seeing a woman on stage deal with these issues in a way that is completely on her terms, within her control.

“ What is more familiar to us than the sexy dead woman in cinema?”

Louise Orwin

Photo: Field and McGlynn

fter noticing the connection between women’s bodies and guns in pop videos, video games and hardcore porn, live artist Louise Orwin wrote an interactive audience experiment called A Girl & A Gun. In a bold and essential demand for sexual agency in senior citizens, performer and dance artist Liz Aggiss (who happens to be over the age of 65) wrote her own provocation, entitled Slap and Tickle. Both brought their shows to Edinburgh this August.

Louise Orwin

On the future of feminism LO: We need to get rid of this idea of the ‘guilty feminist’ for a start... I consider my feminism queer and intersectional, and with this I embrace the idea of pluralism. I understand that everyone comes from a very different place, and that we are all just trying to do the best we can to get along in this confusing world, so I embrace anyone who believes in the cause, and would never condemn anyone for being a ‘bad feminist’. LA: Recognition must begin early – in the womb would be a good start – and continue to flex its compulsory muscle while clarifying and articulating its demands in relationship to class and race. “Do I please you or do I please myself?” should be an obligatory rhetorical question. LO: I do feel that when we’re talking about feminism we need to make sure that we are as educated as possible on systems of oppression, and ensuring that privilege is as visible as possible. It is often here where feminism falls down – when we aren’t careful to include and protect some of the most vulnerable, especially trans and POC female-identifying people. On the hardest part of having a female body LO: Trying to reclaim it. The system of representation we currently live in is so heavily weighted against us, that having control over how we are viewed/spoken to and dealt with can sometimes feel like such a battle. A long time ago I came to terms with the fact that when I walk into a room, my body brings a certain amount of baggage with it: that I will consistently be treated as if I am less important, less knowledgeable, less remarkable than if a man walks into the room. LA: Tooth enamel aside... When young, [it’s] being cursed and riding the cotton pony. And now, in maturity – whiskers and a tough beard; early menopause; late menopause; anypause; to HRT or not to HRT that is the question; body dysmorphia; tricksy mirrors; wardrobe malfunctions; not wanting children; cystitis; leakage; heavy breasts; dry vagina and a dowager’s hump. What a treat for unsuspecting young ones! Liz Aggiss

louiseorwin.com | lizaggiss.com

DEVIANCE

THE SKINNY

Photo: Joe Murray

Porn to be Wild Women make up a huge proportion of overall porn watchers, so why is it still almost impossible to find material that isn’t bland, problematic or preoccupied with production values? Deviance catches up with SQIFF to dig a little deeper...

shame, then, that even lesbian porn isn’t safe from hypersexualisation, unrealistic narratives and fake orgasms. What’s more, on PornHub women are 113% more likely than men to search ‘hardcore’, a clear sign that they don’t mind a bit of smut even if it’s poorly-directed. Safe to say, many women seem to be finding an outlet for their fantasies in mainstream porn – but could feminist porn provide them with a more satisfying, empowering experience of pleasure? Queer influences A large majority of the most boundary-breaking feminist porn comes from a queer perspective. Take, for example, the long-running and acclaimed Crash Pad Series. Luckily for us, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival returns in October with its highly popular Feminist Porn Night, featuring queer vampire erotic movie Enactone by filmmaker, DJ and producer Sky Deep. Who better to chat to about the potential for feminist porn than Sky Deep herself and GSA’s Art Porn Society founder Dylan Meade?

espite what you might believe – or what society would have you believe – lots of women regularly watch porn. The numbers are uncertain, but it’s been reported that one in three do so on a weekly basis. Maybe you’re hard pushed to imagine women watching porn because the mainstream stuff isn’t often ‘female-friendly’. The cinematic repertoire of mainstream (i.e. male produced and directed) pornography is calculated so as to appeal to male sexual mechanics. This means that not only does it feel somewhat schematic, but it also often excludes the sexual needs of women and other femmes. Take for instance the classic cum shot (i.e. a man ejaculating on their sexual partner’s face). Though for some that’s a preference or kink (fair enough), for many others it’s a degrading thing to see – especially as the finale to sexual intercourse. Rather than focussing on female pleasure, such shots often reinforce a dynamic of male ownership and sexual dominance over women. Regardless, they’re still standard fare in modern porn. To me, that’s laughable.

“ Women don’t necessarily need porn to come with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Sometimes they just want a simple, unproblematic wank” Diversity issues What’s more, when I (and, I assume many other women) watch porn, I automatically feel inadequate about the ways in which I don’t measure up to the actors, which is far from a sexy feeling. Not everyone who identifies as a woman is skinny,

September 2017

blonde and feminine but the male-dominated realm of porn definitely gives that impression. Such a lack of representation and diversity in porn creates pressure on women to look a certain way, both during sexual exchanges and in other aspects of life. And, TBH, we get enough of that already. The most concerning facet of porn’s diversity problem is that it tends to feature exclusively white and cis individuals. When it does feature POC or trans people, it often does so in demeaning, fetishistic videos, based on offensive stereotypes rooted in racism and transphobia. The failure of the ‘Female-Friendly’ category The thing is, pornography forms part of a sexual discourse and needs to be regarded as something more than a dirty little secret, shrouded in mystery. It often plays a large role in our sex lives and has a hand in shaping sexual dynamics and determining gender relations. We need to push for a porn which is more representative and made by people who aren’t white, straight and cisgender male. Even the ‘female-friendly’ offerings of sites like RedTube and PornHub are substandard and banal (if you’re unacquainted, think candles, eye contact and the missionary position). In response to this problem, a feminist porn industry has blossomed. And, with ethical production values and a focus on diverse representation, as well as a concerted effort to show real orgasms and actual chemistry, it may well be the way forward. Feminist filmmakers like Erika Lust and Tristan Taormino are pushing the envelope by producing body-positive films which put women’s desire first. However, for many feminist directors, the interpretation of ‘feminist porn’ is often one which makes artistry a central concern as opposed to, ahem, functionality. The thing is, while lovely production values and successful arousal in porn aren’t mutually exclusive, it’s also true that women don’t necessarily need their porn to come with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Sometimes they just want a simple, unproblematic wank. Unconvinced? Well, intriguingly, studies have shown that women are most likely to consume lesbian porn, and at much higher rates than men. That’s surely indicative of women’s hunger for porn created without the male gaze in mind. It’s a

What is feminist porn? Meade is quick off the mark to define the genre as “Porn produced with, by and for the participants’ own desire, without discrimination or pressures to act or appear a certain way.” But sometimes it’s not so clear-cut, as Deep puts it: “Honestly, I’ve never thought about it specifically in definition form. I just know that I’ve always wanted to see naughty things from a perspective that I can relate to, and it used to be very hard to find. But it’s been very exciting that many, including myself, have taken matters into our own hands and created the changes we’d like to see in the world of porn. Our way.” Talking about the artistry versus functionality problem, Deep is keenly aware of the need to find that sweet spot in between the two, while being respectful of each individual’s personal preference: “I think it depends on the person. I prefer a blend of artistry and pleasure. Some people prefer the complete opposite.”

DEVIANCE

Words: Megan Wallace Illustration: Sonny Ross

Could porn affect societal progress? Meade elaborates on what he thinks feminist porn should achieve: “I think we’re all aware that just saying ‘smash the patriarchy!’ does not in fact smash the patriarchy. Reform needs to be enacted, and this takes constant work and a lot of time and effort. We’re talking about changing societal norms and capitalist values... You can’t change the past. You can only do the best you can now.” However, hefty obstacles prevent feminist porn’s growth as a genre. Deep identifies one of the leading problems as: “Money, money and more money. Men still statistically make more money than women on average, so they also have more recreational abilities depending on their bank book.” So, are the cum shots, manicured hand jobs and exclusionary castings as deeply affecting as they seem, according to the experts? Deep thinks so, but seems unruffled. “Yes, for sure. But they can’t rule your deepest authentic wet dreams. Make it happen.” theskinny.co.uk/sexuality

Sky Deep's Guide to Making Porn If you feel empowered to start making your own feminist porn, here’s Deep’s four-point formula to succeeding in the genre: 1. Arrange your own dreams and fantasies in real life first. 2. I nvolve your community (consensually, of course!). 3. Film and produce your work well. 4. W ith the permission of the participants, submit to as many places as possible.

Lifestyle

THE SKINNY

Vote in The Skinny Food & Drink Survey 2018 Once again, it’s time for you lot to let us know your favourite food and drink spots across Scotland Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Ailsa Johnson

“G

od, it’s that time already.” Yes, the enthusiasm was truly unbridled in The Skinny office when it was pointed out mid-Fringe that September means the return of our annual Food and Drink Survey. Lots of data, lots of tweeting, big bants all round. Top stuff. This is the seventh year of our Food and Drink Survey, and it’s safe to say that things have changed a lot in that time. Having started life as a way to get the opinions of the everyday Scottish food fan, it now seems that those opinions are everywhere, gushing all over the place like a burst water main or the proverbial pissing puppy. We’re not just talking about the other publications who’ve been ‘inspired’ by this Survey (he said, coughing repeatedly and making accusatory hand gestures), but the last seven years have seen an explosion in the ranking and rating game. Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp; all asking you to tip stars all over the place like a drunk Super Mario. We could get into a long old rant about the power and nature of star ratings, and the ways in which social networks bastardise the very idea of quality control, but that’s another story for another day – short version is ‘hardly anyone deserves a five or a one, and stop five-starring places that aren’t even open yet’. For now, we’re aware that the game’s changed a bit since we launched this reader poll, so this year we’re mixing things up. We still want to know the standard stuff – your favourite pubs, cafes, shops and restaurants, and your favourite new places from 2017 – but we also want to take a deeper dive into the individual dishes and drinks that make Scotland’s food scene tick. For example, where can we get the best pizza? A hole in the wall takeaway? A cool wood-fired pizzeria? Some other mysterious third option? Having spent years hitting you with occasionally vague category-based chat, we’ve decided to take our own advice from last year

and just say what we really mean. It’s the actual food and drink that make a place great, and most great spots have a standout dish that you’ll come back for again and again. So this year, we want to celebrate those great things. We want you to tell us where you cure your hangovers with shit-hot Bloody Marys, where we can get our hands on the best breakfast, the spot that does the best gin and tonic in all the land, and just where we can smash Scotland’s best tacos into our daft faces. We’ve put together a hit list of these and a few others, and want your help in putting together a one-stop cheat sheet for where to get the best of them. Fear not, this still won’t take long to fill out – we are fully aware that you’re doing all the heavy lifting on this survey, and are not massively inclined to start taking the piss about it. Voting is open now, over at theskinny.co.uk/ food, and will remain open until the end of November. Have strong opinions on your favourite food and drink? Get to voting, then share your thoughts over on those social networks (and tag @theskinnymag while you’re at it). Work in a great venue? Tell your workmates about this lovely opportunity for bragging rights, and politely harass your friends into voting for you. Eaten something, anything, in the last year and enjoyed it? Tell us, please. We’ll tally up your votes in December – because misery loves company, and we love to pair our panicked Christmas shopping with tens of thousands of spreadsheet entries – and we’ll get back to you with the results in our Food and Drink Special in January 2018. Like we said earlier, not everything in this life is fantastic and worthy of five stars, but we’d like your help in tracking down the food and drink that is. Hey, at least we only ask once a year... Vote in The Skinny Food & Drink Survey at theskinny.co.uk/food

2017 in Food So Far Need us to jog your memory about the year to date? Here are some of the food trends we’ve noticed so far in 2017

It’s Wine Time Don’t call it a comeback, they’ve been here for years. Wine bars appear to be making a resurgence; a few months back The Fat Pony (from the team behind venerable Edinburgh bistro The Dogs) joined the likes of Smith & Gertrude and Good Brothers in a new wave of places that you couldn’t really call pubs but within which you would still want to spend a ‘convivial’ evening. Of course, the good thing about this lot is they’re all a) nice places to be and b) serve delicious and varied vinos. We like wine, and are partial to a nice sit-down; as such we are absolutely fine with this continuing until further notice.

September 2017

Micro Machines The indie coffee scene in Scotland continues to go from strength to strength. In a similar vein to the craft beer and small-batch spirits waves that have left us all knee-deep in tasty and surprisingly strong liquid, there’s a pleasing level of DIYness to the growth of microroasteries across the country. Filament Coffee in Edinburgh’s southside have just opened the doors on their roastery, following in the footsteps of Fortitude, Machina Espresso and Williams and Johnson. Basically, at this rate every coffee shop in the country will be producing its own coffee beans by the end of the decade, and W&J’s dream of coffee planting on the side of Arthur’s Seat will become a reality. To be honest, we’d be on board.

Fest Foot Forward How do you feel about custom glassware? And strings of connected drinks tastings? What about demonstrations of how to prepare [INSERT DRINK HERE]? If you love all three, you’ll be cock-a-hoop at the apparently endless run of drinks festivals that have sprung up across the country. Tequila, rum, gin, cask beer, bottled beer, whisky, cocktails; there are so many of the little treasures that they keep almost accidentally stealing each other’s names. Just going to the pub is over, folks. The future, it seems, will be ticketed and feature ‘street food, live music, and a commemorative glass to take home with you’.

FOOD AND DRINK

Words: Peter Simpson

New Veginnings Shoe’s on the other foot, meat-eaters. After years of people sticking pulled pork on everything, it seems that the vegans are back in full effect. Go into any nice cafe or bar, and there’s a host of vegan-friendly cakes, mains and drinks on display. Say the words ‘nut milk’ to a barista, and you’ll no longer be met with barely-stifled giggles; instead, you’ll probably get into a debate on the relative merits of almond and cashew milk. People have stopped putting bacon on cakes. The future’s bright, and it appears to be almost entirely plant-based. theskinny.co.uk/food

Feature

Word On The Street We talk to Ben Mervis, editor of new food magazine FARE, about taking an in-depth look at the world’s cities and their food

ities, much like armies or millipedes, march on their stomachs. Think about your fondest memories or your favourite locations in your city of choice, and chances are there’s food and drink tied in there somewhere. Part of what makes city life so exciting is digging out those favourite places, finding that cafe that suits you best, embracing a food trend that might never make it outside of your neighbourhood. Well, it turns out it’s not just you doing this – everyone, in every other city, is at it as well. FARE is a brand-new Glasgow-based magazine which takes a deep dive into food culture, moving one city at a time, with the goal of distilling some of that city’s essence into a lovely print artefact. Issue one takes a 200-page dive into Istanbul, a city on the border of Asia and Europe that’s seen more than its share of column inches in recent years (attempted military coups and government crackdowns on dissent do tend to attract a bit of media heat). The issue takes a look at the places locals eat, the people who provide the spark to get things going, the dishes that keep the city moving – with nary a large museum or snappy list of Old Man History monuments in sight. At its helm is Ben Mervis, formerly of worldleading Copenhagen restaurant Noma, and a contributor to Netflix’s spellbindingly interesting food documentary series Chef ’s Table. After studying Medieval History in Glasgow, Mervis moved to Copenhagen – “within 24 hours of my first visit, I knew I wanted to live there… I didn’t have an apartment, or know anyone, or know any Danish.” From there, he’d go on to work at Noma alongside esteemed head chef Rene Redzepi. Following that experience, and with a background in journalism from his Glasgow days, Mervis decided that – as our collective food knowledge continues to build – it was time to create a project to provide an in-depth approach to food writing.

“As the world becomes more globalised,” he says, “we have a more nuanced understanding of cultures.” He cites Chinese food as a classic example – start talking about the unique properties of Sichuan cuisine and you’re likely to get into a conversation that you might not have a few years back. “These are real people [and cultures], so we should give them the respect they deserve.” FARE’s goal of covering specific foodie situations in extreme close-up makes it something of a spiritual successor to Lucky Peach, the cult food magazine which sadly closed earlier this year after publishing in-depth, exciting and hilarious issues on topics such as eggs, ramen, breakfast and street food. As for FARE’s central conceit of covering one city – and only one city – at a time, it’s all about applying a focus to the end result. “You’re putting blinders on,” Mervis says, “but in creative professions, putting blinders on helps you to really focus. You know exactly what’s going to be going down… and what could you really say about a whole country in 200 pages? [Stick to] one city, you can really reflect that place.” Much like a reflection, FARE isn’t designed to be a totally objective representation of what it’s showing. FARE’s debut issue is not intended, Mervis says, to be a guide or directory for Istanbul, any more than an Edinburgh street map can tell you everything you need to know about the delights of the Scottish capital. Instead it’s all about capturing “some of the essence of what it’s like to experience the city through its food.” And why Istanbul? “It’s familiar and unfamiliar; turn down one street, and you’re in another world. There’s this beautiful and profound chaos; you think ‘how are more people not interested?’” FARE’s debut issue takes in the city’s market traders, its tea vendors, its recipes and some of its idiosyncrasies, but while still presenting an honest assessment of what is currently a trou-

Photo: Liz Seabrook

Interview: Peter Simpson

bled city. “We didn’t want to present a vision of the city that says ‘everything’s perfect.’” With issue one in the bag, FARE’s future, Mervis tells us, lies in what he terms the ‘B-list’ cities. Not your Londons and New Yorks, where the sheer weight of people and production makes them difficult to assess, but those that can still wear their character on their sleeves without being overburdened with expectation and other people’s baggage. “Everyone wants Lisbon,” he tells us, following a reader poll in the wake of issue one’s release. “It’s the ‘It’ city.” A host of other possibilities then spring up in conversation, with Mervis stating that, eventually, an in-depth look

at Glasgow’s food culture and history is a dream. But ultimately, FARE could run and run, as our metaphorical appetite for insider knowledge and literal appetite for delicious things mean the idea is only as finite as the number of cities that exist. And cities and their food cultures, Mervis points out, are all unique in one way or another. “You can only ever call two cities similar if you’re not really looking at them. It’s like saying two people are ‘similar.’” Of course, that all breaks down once you get to know someone, and if they’re anything like us, then food tends to be as good a place as any to get started. FARE issue one is out now, £12, faremag.com

Food & Drink News A bumper month in Scottish food and drink features boozy festivals a-plenty Words: Peter Simpson

Photo: Liz Seabrook

Lifestyle

eptember kicks off with Drygate’s C>sk:17 beer fest, celebrating the best of cask beer from across Scotland and beyond. There’ll be brand new brews from Drygate’s on-site brewery, and more than 100 other beers from more than 20 breweries, plus DJ sets from the likes of Rebecca Vasmant and a free branded glass to commemorate the whole scene. Also, because it’s all cask and therefore needs to be used quickly, the phrase ‘pints from £2’ is being chucked about. Top stuff. 8-10 Sep, various times, £5-6, drygate.ticketline.co.uk Over in Edinburgh, Stewart Brewing get in on the festival act with an Oktobeerfest at their brewery in Loanhead. Expect a host of exclusive Bavarian-inspired beers for the two-day bash, alongside the usual mix of street food, live music and generally lovely vibes. Plus, you get a free commemorative glass; no need to drink your craft beers out of that stolen, chipped pint pot you nicked from the student union any more! 15 Sep, 6-10pm & 16 Sep, 12-8pm, £16, stewartbrewing.co.uk On the same weekend, Meet Your Maker brings together some of Scotland’s best craft distillers at the Barras Art and Design Centre in Glasgow. As the title suggests, it’s a chance to meet the folk behind some of your favourite bottles, and pick

FOOD AND DRINK

their brains on what makes their drinks so lovely while trying out samples of everyone’s wares. 16 Sep, 11am-2pm or 3pm-6pm, £15, baadglasgow.com/events/meet-your-maker-festival Moving away from the drinks cabinet for a second, the returning Take One Action film festival hosts Edinburgh and Glasgow screenings of Theater of Life, a documentary on the work of 60 of the world’s best chefs to run a soup kitchen using waste food from Expo2015 in Milan. Headed up by three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura, the results of the venture are laid bare in the film, with each of the screenings preceded by meals made using intercepted food waste. 15 Sep, 7.30pm, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St; 18 Sep, 7.30pm, Grassmarket Community Project, 86 Candlemaker Row, ticket details at takeoneaction.org.uk And finally, more alcohol festivals! This time it’s The Rum Festival at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, featuring more than 100 rums from all over the map, plus talks from the people behind the booze and – once again – a commemorative glass to take home. If nothing else, you won’t be short of drinking vessels come October. 29 Sep-1 Oct, various times, £10-12.50, therumfestival.co.uk theskinny.co.uk/food

THE SKINNY

September 2017

Lifestyle

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THE SKINNY

Open Your Mind Edinburgh producer Nasty P is passionate about Scottish hip-hop and raising awareness for his local scene, but as he tells The Skinny, he also has his own creative ambitions

ince Young Fathers won the Mercury Music Prize in 2014, it feels like every other music critic in the western hemisphere is suddenly an expert on Scottish hip-hop. They tend to cite individual examples of success: rap-rock group Hector Bizerk were nominated for the SAY Award, Paisley grime sensation Shogun went viral last year, and six-piece Stanley Odd can officially count First Minister Nicola Sturgeon among their fans. But while these achievements demonstrate the talent that lurks within the Scottish scene, they haven’t led to the wider legitimisation of Scottish hip-hop as a mainstream movement – at least not yet. Aged 39, Edinburgh producer Paul Rutherford, aka Nasty P, knows that better than most. Over the course of his career he’s seen artists and trends rise and fall in the blink of an eye. “I remember seeing Alloysious from Young Fathers on the bar of one of the clubs I used to DJ at,” he says. “I guess I’ve met everyone – it comes with age. I’ve been active for too long.” Age doesn’t explain the work Rutherford has put in over the years. His long list of collaborations and support slots includes Ghostface Killah, Rakim, Groove Armada and Jamie Cullum. Most impressively of all, he’s made these contacts without decamping from his Edinburgh home. It’s a city he’s proudly represented since discovering hip-hop during the early 90s as a teenager. It was a time when the genre was at its artistic zenith, with acts like Nas and Mobb Deep releasing classics that would be immortalised years later. Rutherford recalls first hearing these artists in videos of his favourite skateboarders. But it was the production side of things that made him want to make hip-hop music himself. “I remember I loved a film called Juice [which starred 2Pac],” he tells us. “It hasn’t aged well but it had scenes where they were mixing and scratching on decks and stuff. That really got me into it. Then I think I got my first gig for about 10 pence when I was 16. Before I could even buy a drink. “Once I started I did so much stuff – it’s hard just trying to jog my memory. I worked with some of the earliest Scottish hip-hop groups, like Scotland Yard [Emcees], and there was another guy called Silver Bullet who ended up being on Top of the Pops. I then ran a night called Soul Biscuits, where we’d throw rap battles and stuff – it was an 8 Mile kind of vibe back when battles were still all freestyled. I remember guys like Hudson Mohawke and Profisee would come to events. It’s amazing how things develop.” That’s not to say Rutherford has remained static while others have moved up around him. He dryly points out that if he’d worked on “even half the stuff promised by labels [he’d] be working with Jay-Z at this point.” Ultimately, the closest thing the Edinburgh producer has ever got to Jay-Z was sampling him for a mash-up track in 2007. But the fact he’s run the city’s main hip-hop club night at Bongo Club for the past six years tells you his commitment to promoting the scene at home is still very important to him. “I guess a lot of stuff that gets promised doesn’t really come to fruition,” he says. “So I try to capitalise on getting guests. For example, my first album had [UK hip-hop legend] Skinnyman on. Off that, I secured Akil from Jurassic 5 – then, when his DJ was ill, I ended up performing with him live. It was all just networking – these things feed other things. Once folk hear one thing, you’re the guy who then supports hip-hop acts when they come to Edinburgh.” Rutherford’s commitment to the genre he grew up with is all the more remarkable when you consider the moves made by his peers. While the accent can be a stumbling block for emcees, it’s

September 2017

easier for DJs to appeal to an international audience. And given the success enjoyed by Glasgow producers Rustie and Hudson Mohawke since they moved from hip-hop into the realm of electronica, it’s perhaps unsurprising even Nasty is feeling the itch.

“ If someone’s diet is McDonalds, you’re not going to just give them tofu straight away. You have to introduce it to them slowly” Nasty P

Step in Rich Mundi, not only the name of his new album due out this month but also his “more schizophrenic” alter ego. The album doesn’t necessarily mark a frustration with the limitations of hip-hop – the first single alone features no fewer

than four American emcees – but the eclectic array of styles betrays his wider ambitions as an artist. “I’ve wanted to move in this direction for a while but I’ve not had the balls,” he says. “It’s not just about making different music to sell out but taking new stuff on. I love boom bap, but there’s more to do. You don’t see many hip-hop DJs headlining festivals on their own after all. “When I first started, I was inspired by guys like DJ Premier and developed a skill set from using samples. He could use three notes and it [wouldn’t] get boring – I wanted to get slicker and slicker like that. But you also need to get to a point where you can confidently make songs without any samples.” Fusing rap with EDM, R’n’B and soulful instrumental jams, Rich Mundi is the natural reflection of what happens when you DJ in different environments. Despite all Rutherford does for hip-hop in his own city, he gets just as much pleasure performing festival anthems at Outlook Festival in Croatia or “more experimental soul material” with his frequent collaborator and vocalist Naledi Herman. “Naledi adds something that a beat alone sometimes can’t,” he tells us. “With her, you can convey an in depth experience and tell a story in a different way. There’s a track on the new album with her that I’m really proud of because it captures the energy of my own experience. “When I put music together, I work with

Music

Interview: Jonathan Rimmer Photography: Mat Hay

skeletons and then fill around as the concepts start coming. I had about 50 tracks for this record and I didn’t know how it would all fit until I got there. Some tracks have the signature drum parts, there’s some 808 synths on others, some are centred around Naledi, and then some are really minimal.” However, it’s not only artistic expansion on Rutherford’s mind. For him, the key to opening minds to Scottish hip-hop music and culture is to normalise it at every opportunity. Having worked with Scottish, English and American rappers over the course of his career, he’s concluded that little separates us other than accent and geography. “When I last played Outlook, I remember there was a dub tent kind of vibe so I started on things like Nancy Sinatra and ended up on grimy Edinburgh hip-hop,” he says. “That’s how you get folk interested. If someone’s diet is McDonalds, you’re not going to just give them tofu straight away. You have to introduce it to them slowly. You can’t go in all guns blazing with Scottish hip-hop. A DJ’s skill is in curating the music so that you don’t even notice the change until you’ve got there.” Rich Mundi is released on 18 Sep via KFM Records Nasty P plays every Friday in Sep at Cafe Voltaire; Bramble, 9 Sep; La Belle Angele, 5 & 12 Sep; The Liquid Room, 19 Sep - all Edinburgh richmundi.com

Review

Folk Off Roddy Woomble returns with a fourth album under his solo guise, signalling a shift that puts him further from his perceived folk roots Interview: Susan Le May Photo: Mat Hay t’s the day after Roddy Woomble’s birthday when The Skinny catches up with the Edinburgh native. He’s at home in the Hebrides, having spent an uneventful day mostly reading rather than celebrating. He’s less keen on birthdays the more he has, but is content with the peaceful island life he’s built. He’s now been involved in writing and performing for more than half of his life, with two successful concurrent musical paths in Idlewild and the output under his own name. “I don’t really think of myself as a solo artist and I never really have done,” he states. His new record, The Deluder, is very much a group effort, one that comes from a well-established collective of impressive musicians. This album should also help to quash the folk label that’s often tagged on to much of Woomble’s work, something he’s always found odd. “I don’t really like folk music... I always find it weird when I’m called a folk musician,” he admits. “I’m not really wild on singer-songwriters. I always found it quite strange that that’s what people saw me as. People still find it surprising that it’s not just me sitting on a stool playing acoustic guitar, emoting. It’s me with a five-piece band doing quite interesting music. That’s still something that we’re trying to get away from; trying to get people to realise that it’s quite a different thing from what they expect.” It’s over a decade since Woomble’s first release under his own name and this album is a world away from his debut. “The Deluder sounds like a different recording artist if you listen to that against My Secret is My Silence,” he suggests. It has a much more minimalist, spacious feel, infusing elements of jazz and unconventional sounds and melodies. Some of the tracks on the album were initially written with Idlewild in mind, but were deemed more atmospherically applicable to the other project. “We were trying not to make it this big full thing... using those [available] elements and that’s what’s really good about minimalism in any form of art,” he tells us. “If you don’t have access to red or yellow, you just have to paint with the other colours, and that can make a really interesting painting too. Similarly with music, that’s the way we were approaching it.”

The Deluder is perhaps a little more introspective and slightly darker than previous efforts. Woomble’s vocal is comfortingly familiar, though richer with time and age, but sonically the songs reveal innovative textures and concepts on repeat listens. “I really love electronic music and I was really keen to get an element of that without it sounding like me trying to go into a genre that I’m not really known for or comfortable in.” Woomble has been in the Hebrides for most of the time he’s been releasing music under his own name. Undoubtedly this will have influenced his music and lyrics, but he certainly doesn’t feel remote or removed from the world, with regular touring a large part of his life. “I prefer not to be surrounded by people and that’s why I live where I live. And that’s not because I don’t like people, it’s because I spent 15 years living in big cities and I just kind of got fed up of it. It’s natural to change as you get older.”

“ If you don’t have access to red or yellow, you just have to paint with the other colours, and that can make a really interesting painting too”

want to move back from this beautiful spot to Anniesland [in Glasgow] where he lived. And he was like ‘As I got older I wanted to be surrounded by life, by young people, by things going on’. It’s a very natural thing to get to a point in your life when you want to escape that but it’s also probably quite a natural thing when you want that back in your life.” The Deluder will take the band on an extensive tour of the UK and Ireland, with some dates in Europe where he hasn’t been before with the solo group. He says that Idlewild didn’t have much success in Europe, suggesting that being signed to a major label was detrimental. “A noisy, slightly off-kilter band from Scotland were just kind of getting lost… we would have been much better off being on an independent label,” he reflects. “I often thought that about Idlewild, but I don’t have regrets. Particularly in America as well, we probably would have done quite well

Roddy Woomble

He enjoys feeling tucked away from the rest of the world, but wouldn’t rule out a change in the future. “I remember having a conversation with [the poet] Edwin Morgan about that, because he lived in Loch Tummel for years and around that time I couldn’t believe why you’d

Do Not Miss

Preview

Pinact, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 10 Sep

Photo: Kat Gollock

Pinact

Photo: Conner Lyons

Chastity Belt

Roddy Woomble plays The Pleasance, Edinburgh, 13 Oct; City Halls, Glasgow, 14 Oct The Deluder is out on 1 Sep via A Modern Way / Empty Words roddywoomble.net

Lowkey, O2 ABC, Glasgow, 15 Sep

Chastity Belt, Broadcast, Glasgow, 8 Sep Seattle-based indie rockers Chastity Belt are touring this autumn off the back of releasing their third long player, I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone, of which came out at the start of June via Hardly Art. Expect witty and cutting lyrics from the four-piece, fused with a fun live performance in the intimate surrounds of Glasgow’s Broadcast. It’s their only Scottish date, don’t be a dafty and miss it; oh, and there’s support from Phillip Taylor of PAWS’ new band, Kælling.

if we’d have been signed to an independent.” Woomble is constantly evolving as an artist in both bands, not wanting to rehash the past or become a sort of nostalgia act. “[Idlewild] had a moment when the average man on the street would whistle our songs, but largely we’ve existed for music fans and that’s a nice place to be,” he says. “The general vibe towards the band was really positive [with the last Idlewild record]. Hopefully I’m going to find that with this solo record too. What I’m hoping is that I can find people that haven’t listened to me before, and similarly with the next Idlewild record, we’ll hope that there will be a whole new group of people that will be ready to listen to the band.”

London-based rapper and political activist Lowkey has been writing and releasing music since 2001. In 2012 he officially put his music career on hiatus, but returned last year with Ahmed. Since then he’s released three further singles – Children of Diaspora, Ghosts of Grenfell, and The Death of Neoliberalism. Fusing politically charged lyrics with hip-hop beats makes him one of the most relevant artists of the moment, so don’t miss him. He also plays The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 16 Sep.

Glasgow-based Pinact just released The Part That No One Knows at the end of August, their follow-up to 2015’s Stand Still and Riot, and we reckon it’s one of the best rock albums we’ve heard this year. Signed to Brooklyn-based label Kanine Records, they’ve a pretty solid US tour coming up so be sure to catch them at Sneaky’s before they head off. Tonight’s support comes in the form of Glasgow duo WOMPS.

MUSIC

Lowkey

Cowtown

Freakender, The Old Hairdresser’s, Glasgow, 15-17 Sep Glasgow’s garage, psych and pop festival Freakender is back for round two courtesy of El Rancho, Eyes Wide Open and Fuzzkill Records – three of the city’s most enthusiastic music lovers. This year’s line-up includes The Black Tambourines, Holy Mountain, Yassassin, COWTOWN, Hairband, and LYLO among others. They’ll also have merch and zine stalls and are planning a Bloody Mary Hangover Party. We’re sold!

THE SKINNY

Photo: Stuart Moulding

Cool Times We speak to James Scott, aka MC Almond Milk, about his debut record under his nutritionally rich and nutty moniker

etting old is inevitable. Everyone comes to a point at least once in their life when they feel they must make certain key decisions about what it is they really want, or should do. It is common during these periods in our lives to look back and see what we can learn from the past. We look at past memories, past mistakes, past opportunities, both realised and missed, and find out how to apply ourselves in the future with all that experience under our collective belts. In art, as much as life, this is a constant problem: “When we are younger we dream big and have the time and energy to fully commit ourselves to whatever we are passionate about, shout “D.I.Y ‘TIL I DIE!” and actually mean it, but then life gets in the way. You get into relationships, you get jobs that could become careers, you choose places to live, you become an adult basically.” So explains James Scott, aka MC Almond Milk, on a typically dreary day in a bar just off Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. We are talking such big, serious themes because his upcoming album Full Day, Cool Times marks the first time, as MC Almond Milk, Scott has taken time to fully consider his life up until this point and make it the central focus of his work. Through his previous solo work or his collaborative act with Jonnie Common (known as CARBS), Scott has generally shied away from talking about himself too much in his music. For instance, his last release – 2016’s Smell The Audi collaboration with Jay Rolex – was a far more light-hearted affair, rapping about things such as their mutual love for football, so why so serious now? “I made this record around the same time as the Jay Rolex collaboration, which was a fun experience but when it came to writing this one I decided to write much more heart-on-sleeve about what was going on in that period of my life; regarding things like my relationship, my career, my music. I’m approaching my thirties and I’ve made a lot of life changes in the last year perhaps reflecting that. It felt good, cathartic even, to write about myself and what I was feeling, even if it was fairly self-indulgent.” As a result, Full Day, Cool Times is by far the darkest project Scott has been involved with since his work with Conquering Animal Sound.

September 2017

shiftcmds.bandcamp.com

James Scott

This theme of exploring how the past influences the present is all over Full Day, Cool Times and it even touches upon entire “lost generations” and religion. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as Full Day, Cool Times also finds Scott at his most self-confident as a musician, which is largely why the album works without becoming too hard of a listen. Scott happily admits that he is generally “driven by collaborations with my friends, but it gets harder and harder to get other musicians to commit on a full-time basis, so you end up having to do things yourself” going full circle on his younger version of “D.I.Y ‘til I Die!” Ultimately, Full Day, Cool Times is Scott’s first completely self-produced record as MC Almond Milk, something he hasn’t done since his Japanese War Effort days. “I feel really comfortable with the sound I am producing now, probably for the first time ever. There was a point where I took side steps and was obtuse. I gave up singing for rapping when I first moved from

Lazy Day, Conroy’s Basement, Dundee, 28 Sep

Brooklyn power pop four-piece Charly Bliss released their debut album, Guppy, in the States back in April, and this month it’s getting a physical release in the UK. To celebrate, they’re coming over to our fair shores for a string of dates which will be their first ever in the UK. In the past Charly Bliss have opened for the likes of SleaterKinney and Veruca Salt; they have a really nostalgic 90s feel about them and we reckon they’ll be bags of fun live.

London-based lo-fi grunge quartet Lazy Day release their debut EP Ribbons this month via Eigg label Lost Map. Another first for the dreamy four-piece will be their September headline tour, taking in 12 dates across the UK including three dates in Scotland. This one in Dundee, with support from Joshua Gray and Catch; The Hug & Pint, Glasgow on 26 Sep with MISC. MEAT; and Leith Depot, Edinburgh, 27 Sep, with Breakfast Muff and Hailey Beavis.

Charly Bliss

Siobhan Wilson

Siobhan Wilson, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 24 Sep

Photo: Gaelle Beri

Charly Bliss, Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 17 Sep

Siobhan Wilson released her There Are No Saints record via Edinburgh label Song, by Toad earlier this year; a stunning listen from start to end, her vocal – a mix of English and French – is simply beautiful. Live is where Wilson really comes into her own – she has one of those voices that is truly captivating and we promise you’ll be hooked on her every word until the final note on the final song is sung.

MUSIC

Lazy Day

Preview

Photo: Eleanor Crewes

Paradise Palms Records are back with their second compilation release (Bonnie 2ropical) of local artists, and to celebrate they’re hosting a multimedia event in association with the Talbot Rice Gallery. There will be live performances from Hausfrau, Eyes of Others, Jacuzzi General, Total Leatherette and The Magic City. This will naturally be followed by an after-party at Paradise Palms featuring Donald Dust and Edinburgh Leisure DJs.

So injury-time scrapper Me IRL is the album’s one concession that there is still a positive outlook to be had from music and art for Scott. “Me IRL features the idea that music will always be something there for me, because I love to do it and that is the most important thing. Success and disappointments come and go, but music is ultimately what drives me, so hopefully, with that in mind, my next album won’t be quite such a tough listen.”

Japanese War Effort into MC Almond Milk. I realised I can be more creative and don’t have to be totally fixed in terms of rhymes and rhythms which really suits this new record’s lyrical content. I couldn’t become a sampling guru in terms of ‘record-digging’ like Jay does. My background is folk-pop or dark electronic music; I scrapped an album of both these styles because I felt neither was good enough. Now after moving on to rap and creating beats, I’ve incorporated those earlier styles into my rap music.”

“ Success and disappointments come and go, but music is ultimately what drives me”

Photo: Jacqueline Harriet

Bonnie 2ropical EP Launch, Playfair Library, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 16 Sep

It’s filled with lament and melancholia but retains Scott’s trademark self-deprecating sense of humour. The record looks at the past, especially on songs like 1995 which charts tracks Scott’s life in five-year intervals, mapping out his youthful enthusiasm through to the slow realisation that life doesn’t always take you where you hoped and often leads to disappointments. Scott explains: “It charts when I first got excited about playing music outside of school in 2005, to my successes with Conquering Animal Sound in 2010, to 2015 and thinking, ‘What am I doing here? What is this all for?’”

Photo: CJ Monk

Hausfrau

Interview: Adam Turner-Heffer

Album of the Month LCD Soundsystem

American Dream [DFA / Columbia, 1 Sep]

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rrrrr Shite rrrrr Boring rrrrr Solid

Since the very loud ending of LCD Soundsystem in 2011, James Murphy has kept busy. He’s worked with David Bowie and Arcade Fire, scored the music for Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young, and designed the Despacio Soundsystem with 2manydjs. Also, he created his own coffee and opened a wine bar. Comeback single Christmas Will Break Your Heart was the biggest surprise of 2015, and now in 2017 there’s a new LCD album. “It’s the best I’ve felt about an LCD LP ever,” confessed Murphy in a recent Facebook update, quickly followed by, “which could totally spell disaster.” Not to worry, for American Dream is made up of the same ingredients as previous LCD Soundsystem records, flowing beautifully from the opening tick of Oh Baby, to the lingering piano on closer Black Screen. Oh Baby’s ticking greets us, the kick drum sets a steady pace and gentle arpeggios drift over the beat before a warming crash sets the road for gravelly synths. Murphy sings ‘Oh baby / Oh Baby / You’re having a bad dream / Here in my arms’ and it's instantly comforting, like a long emotional embrace with an old friend you haven’t seen in years. Nine-minute-long How Do You Sleep? is a masterclass in composition and probably the record’s darkest moment – the opening three-and-

Roddy Woomble

The Deluder [A Modern Way / Empty Words, 1 Sep]

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Roddy Woomble has gained a reputation in his solo work for being a bit of a folkie at heart, but this fourth effort, The Deluder, sees him very much influenced by getting back with his erstwhile Idlewild bandmates for 2015’s Everything Ever Written. Gone are the fiddles and the stories of the land and in comes a darker element, although tunes like single Jupiter, written partly for and with his young son, are more playful and upbeat. With solo records Woomble has permission to be more experimental and introspective. He usually takes his time over these albums too, but this was recorded in a month with all the same musicians giving it a more focussed feel. Woomble’s ear for melody is as sharp as ever, and jagged guitars make occasional appearances. The lyrics, by turns bleak and surreal, are to the fore and at times sound more spoken than sung. Lead single Like Caruso muses on the first global superstar and is atmospheric and simply put together, hanging on Woomble’s voice and a smooth bassline. The Deluder is an album that will likely please fans of Idlewild more than fans of Woomble’s earlier solo work like My Secret is My Silence, but there’s a lot to like for both sets of fans. [Eala MacAlister]

Listen to: Jupiter, Like Caruso

Review

rrrrr Brilliant rrrrr Life-changing

a-half-minutes are filled with doom-laden drums, swirling bleeps and haunting strings. ‘Standing on the shore facing east / I can’t hear you / I can’t hear you anymore’, Murphy strains through the mist before bulbous synths appear. It’s relatable; about hypocrisy and wanting something better for someone, for everyone. ‘You warned me off the cocaine, and dove straight in… / There’s more for you, there’s more for you, there’s more for you’ he pangs, before ‘One step forward... / And six steps back’ – it feels painfully personal, at the same time relevant on a grander scale given current events in America. Elsewhere on the album, Other Voices is jubilant; a dancefloor banger full of glorious bleeps and squelchy synths, with bells, wood blocks and an exquisitely delivered Nancy Whang vocal. Change Yr Mind is threaded with guitar freak-outs; Tonite is a straight up pop hit; Emotional Haircut is thunderous and full of energy; Black Screen is filmic, bittersweet and beautiful. American Dream feels like Murphy’s darkest record to date, and like previous LCD records, only gets better with repeat listens. In short, it’s fucking glorious. [Tallah Brash] Listen to: How Do You Sleep?, Tonite, Oh Baby, Other Voices

LCD Soundsystem

MC Almond Milk

Adam Holmes & The Embers

Full Day, Cool Times [Save As Collective, 22 Sep]

Midnight Milk [Gogar Records, 29 Sep]

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Ageing is inevitable. Equally, nostalgia for the past quite often affects all of us too. We all reach certain points in our life where we lament missed opportunities, past mistakes and wonder “just where on earth are we going?” This is where we find MC Almond Milk, aka James Scott, on his latest record Full Day, Cool Times. Over the years, Scott has established himself as one of Glasgow’s most enigmatic musicians, and since moving into rap music has established a healthy sense of humour. While Full Day, Cool Times is easily the darkest record Scott has produced, as he fairly candidly considers his life up until now and going forward, if it wasn’t for his humour and inventiveness when writing one could be slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of ruminations. Thankfully, Scott speaks honestly and occasionally brutally about life’s myriad hope and disappointments on tracks such as the Why?-inspired 1995, the Fitter Happier-alluding Was Swept Away, I Think That Always Happens and the dark Black Coffee (featuring Julian Corrie of Miaoux Miaoux and, now, Franz Ferdinand). That said, Me IRL closes on a more positive note about creating art out of love, even if Pics or it Didn’t Happen leaves things on an uneasy climax. [Adam Turner-Heffer] Listen to: 1995, Lost in Drakies, Black Coffee

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When Edinburgh-based Adam Holmes started conceiving ideas for his latest album, he came to a realisation: he had more technology in his computer than Pink Floyd did when creating Dark Side of the Moon. So, instead of traversing into the studio, he ventured to write and record Midnight Milk in his own home. If it sounds as though that would lead to quite a minimalist record, then opener When Will I Be Free proves to be a surprise. With rapping and

Stephen McLaren

We Used to Go Raving [Errant Media, 29 Sep]

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The debut solo effort from Stephen McLaren, former master of reveries for Edinburgh dream pop outfit Collar Up, is a quintessential Central Belt record. All the touchstones are present: an overcast demeanour, a healthy dose of cynicism, plenty righteous anger in the face of injustice and, despite everything, a touch of nostalgia. And don’t forget the remorseful song about having made an arse of yourself on the swally the night before – that’ll be the one called Yet Again, I Have Offended Everyone.

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hip-hop-inspired record scratches alongside pounding bass drums, it’s a bold first statement. Sometimes, when Midnight Milk introduces bursts of gospel choir, melancholic piano and smoky, noir brass, it can be an atmospheric, cinematic experience, one it’s hard to believe it was recorded in his bedroom. At other times though, Holmes falls back on his warm tones and acoustic guitar. There’s a faint air of Paul Simon’s Graceland here and there, while Big Blue Island adopts a reggae melody – even if it’s ended with a dark and distorted breakdown, making for a rare moment of harshness amid the calm. Midnight Milk may not be particularly groundbreaking, but that helps to make it all the more comforting. [Eugenie Johnson] Listen to: When Will I Be Free Things get off to a melancholic start on the title track, a mournful ode to a withered friendship that doubles as a rumination on ageing. The achingly pretty backing vocals and the sheer urgency with which McLaren hammers the piano create a heightened sense of drama. On Immigrants, his vehement, hilarious caricature of rah-rah Brexiteers, you can practically hear the steam shooting out his ears, while heart-on-sleeve independence anthem No More (Say Yes) is similarly inspirited. It’s a pity, then, that he often sounds like he’s making his piece from the far end of a school gym hall. The production work on We Used to Go Raving is unquestionably rough around the edges, sounding more mud hut than Beach House on the dream pop scale. That said, we’ll take passion over polish any day. [Andrew Gordon] Listen to: Immigrants, We Used to Go Raving

THE SKINNY

Every Country’s Sun [Rock Action, 1 Sep]

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In the last few years, Mogwai have shed a guitarist of twenty years, released their first compilation album, and played a series of rapturously received anniversary shows at the Barrowlands. This spirit of reflection bleeds into Every Country’s Sun, their latest effort, which draws and borrows themes and styles from across their career to build a whole as monumental as anything they’ve achieved so far. Largely, the album takes a step back from the krautrock-influenced, synthesised aesthetic of Rave Tapes in favour of bigger, rockier soundscapes reminiscent of The Hawk is Howling or Rock Action (indeed, this is their first collaboration with producer Dave Fridmann since that album), particularly on lead single Coolverine and the climactic title track. Party in the Dark is the poppiest thing they’ve ever done, a close cousin to 2014’s Teenage

Sparks

Hippopotamus [BMG, 8 Sep]

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You can hear Sparks in Morrisey’s camp yelp. You can feel them in Björk’s juvenile humour and poignant poetry. They’re all over of Montreal’s weirdo charm. They’re right there in the high-kicking

Exorcists. The chorus is – and you might want to sit down for this – an almost Biffy Clyro-esque singalong. Synths and guitars dance around each other on this album, swapping back and forth between background and prominence throughout, particularly on Crossing the Road Material with its euphoric, uplifting payoff, and aka 47 is among the most ambient works the band has ever produced. Hallmarks of the band abound throughout the album – a sinister riff which leads off into nowhere here, a familiar chord progression over splashy cymbals there. Old Poisons sounds too much like Batcat for comfort, but otherwise the album pushes familiar ideas in fruitful new directions. Battered at a Scramble is conventionally heavy in a way Mogwai haven’t attempted in recent years, all keyboards and crunching riffs and wailing solos. If their Atomic and Before the Flood soundtrack work suggested Mogwai might be mellowing in their middle age, they were misleading. Their largest ever show at The Hydro beckons, and Every Country’s Sun leaves no doubt in the mind – they are ready. [Corrie Innes] Listen to: Party in the Dark, Don’t Believe the Fife, Every Country’s Sun

swagger of Franz Ferdinand and Supertramp. When Destroyer yawns a French phrase out of the side of his mouth, that’s Sparks. The duo’s quiet influence over indie music is the largest testament to their legacy. Twenty-odd albums in, the wit and ambition that got them here is intact. Album number 23 moves from literary jokes to Edith Piaf references, to IKEA musings, to a song that tributes the, um, missionary position? All with the drama and spectacle you’d hope for. Hippopotamus is their proper return, following

Mogwai

2015’s rejuvenating Franz Ferdinand collaboration. At nearly an hour in length, Hippopotamus indulges in every way it can. If you’re a fan of the band’s oddball humour, winding piano work and hyperbolic compositions, there’s a lot to like. Songs like the title track and Giddy Giddy are among the daftest the band have ever conjured, and they’re all the better for it. What’s painfully absent is the wild production of their early work to prop up the madness. It might be unfair to wish for the sound of a record

Zola Jesus

Vessels

Sløtface

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V [Wolftone / Caroline International, 22 Sep]

Perky, punchy pop-punk gems make up Norwegian four-piece Sløtface’s debut album Try Not to Freak Out. On album opener Magazine, the band challenge modern day body image ideals and beauty standards for women, reminding us that ‘Patti Smith would never put up with this shit’. While a lot of songs on the album have a political bent, many revolve around the mundanity of being young and not knowing where your life is going. Sløtface’s songs reach out to a disenfranchised youth, much like the pop-punk bands that dominated the airwaves in the late 90s and early 00s did. Although the band members may be too young to remember that time, they’re doing a good job of making those who can nostalgic for it. [Nadia Younes]

V sees The Horrors return to the abrasive noise they flirted with in their early days, moving on from a simple garage-rock fuzziness to the industrial (see: Machine, the end of Press Enter to Exit, or the bridge of Ghost). Elsewhere there is a return to the electronic embellishments that made Primary Colours such a hit, through the ghostly disco of Point of No Reply and the positively danceable Something to Remember Me By, which ends the album on a real punch-inthe-air moment. Overall, V feels like a consolidation of all of the strengths that The Horrors have built up over the last ten years, tightly bundled and perfectly accessible without sacrificing any of their artistic integrity. [Lewis Wade]

Okovi [Sacred Bones, 8 Sep] Death, in all of its many guises, has stalked Nika Roza Danilova for over a year. She moved back to the woods in Wisconsin where she was raised, only to find that those closest to her were either trying to cling to life, or let it slip from their grasp. It’s entirely unsurprising then that this is probably Danilova’s most musically crushing record. Okovi is laden with industrial beats, heart-pounding bass and doom-laden synths, all of which weave around Danilova’s already intense vocals. Dripping in catharsis that seems to pour straight from her soul, it’s rarely an easy listen, even when at its most accessible. But it’s also profound, and Zola Jesus’ most emotionally stirring record to date. [Eugenie Johnson]

Listen to: Exhumed, Remains

September 2017

The Great Distraction [Different Recordings, 29 Sep] What do you do when you’ve pushed the prog-rock envelope as far as it extends? In the case of Vessels, you call in a host of high-profile collaborators – step forward John Grant, Vincent Neff, Katie Harkin and Wayne Coyne – delve deeper into electronica territory, and wind up with what could well be your best album to date. The Great Distraction boasts a fistful of dancefloor-ready bangers. Mobilise is an eight-minuteplus stormer with a rollercoaster’s worth of thrilling peaks and troughs. Hypnotic moments such as Radiart, and the stealthy lowend wobble of Position would also be right at home blaring from a club soundsystem. If Vessels ever decide to cast aside the guitars, a career in house and techno production would surely beckon. [Claire Francis] Listen to: Mobilise, Deflect the Light

Try Not to Freak Out [Propeller Recordings, 15 Sep]

Listen to: Magazine, Pitted

The Horrors

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Listen to: Something to Remember Me By, World Below, Point of No Reply

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like 1974’s Kimono My House, given how much time has passed, but the sanitised sound of this album isn’t doing them any favours. What the Hell is It This Time? is driven by plastic guitars and grating mixing, while anthem-leaning cuts like A Little Bit like Fun never hit their mark thanks to flat sound design. The result is more tacky than glam. If you’re in it for the jokes, Hippopotamus is worth the effort. [Stephen Butchard] Listen to: Giddy Giddy, I Wish You Were Fun

Wolf Alice

Alvvays

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Visions of a Life [Dirty Hit, 29 Sep] Visions of a Life addresses each milestone of a relationship – from deep lust to extreme bitterness. The track order prevents the linearity of a classic love album and instead leaves you feeling caught up in an emotional whirlwind. Yuk Foo is brimming with resentment and should be prescribed to anyone suffering from excess teenage angst, while Beautifully Unconventional and Don’t Delete the Kisses are the perfect anthems for a developing crush. Wolf Alice have always been masters at lulling you into a gentle melody then pulling you out without apology, and this album is no exception. So sit back, relax and scream to your heart’s content. [Bella Spencer] Listen to: Beautifully Unconventional, Don’t Delete the Kisses, Formidable Cool

Antisocialites [Transgressive, 8 Sep] Alvvays’ self-titled debut was a summer delight back in 2014, and Molly Rankin and co have pushed things forward on album two. At the very least, they’ve moved stuff around a bit, taking a more freewheeling musical approach. Your Type is a nearperfect slice of garage rock, Hey’s jaunty hook and keyboards would fit in perfectly on a mid-career Belle and Sebastian LP, and there’s also woozy surf rock (Not My Baby) and synth-fronted noise (Saved by a Waif) to get stuck into. The band haven’t strayed far from what made their debut so refreshing, but Antisocialites is a more rugged and varied listen. This is Alvvays pushing the jangle pop envelope, perfect for when sunny summer turns to antisocial autumn. [Peter Simpson] Listen to: In Undertow, Your Type, Hey

Review

Photo: Cameron James Brisbane

Mogwai

Otherwordly Talent Ahead of his performance alongside Optimo’s JD Twitch for The Rum Shack’s 3rd birthday next month, we catch up with prodigal DJ talent Fergus Clark Interview: Michael Lawson Illustration: Michael Arnold

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his is an album by a guy called Larry Chernicoff. He was fusing instruments from all over the world in an avant-garde, Steve Reich-y sort of way: long droning percussion-led pieces with amazing synth lines. This one’s a Dutch 45 that my friend Sidney who works at Red Light Radio gave to me – 80s boogie kinda thing. Then this is from my friend Arne who runs the Themes For Great Cities label. It’s this German new wavey kinda track with fake exotica samples – almost so bad it’s good! This is Creation Rebel, a roots thing on Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label; and this one’s a Turkish psych rock LP with this slow, strange disco vibe.” It’s a Sunday evening in his tenement flat on Glasgow’s Southside, and young DJ Fergus Clark is excitedly sifting through a small fraction of the records he has on rotation at the minute. Touching on countless disparate genres and engulfing much of his living space, it’s a collection that would take most music lovers decades to acquire. The fact that Clark is just 22 makes it all the more remarkable. Despite his dad working in the reggae and dub section of a local record store (Music Mania on Byres Road when he was younger), his first real gateway into music came through dubstep. “I got really into it when I was at school and suddenly found myself on dubstep forums, listening to radio, ripping tunes and stuff like that.” He was given his first set of turntables for Christmas, and soon had his own show on Subcity Radio alongside friend Gareth Roberts, aged just 15. “I remember sneaking out of my mum’s house to do that. She’d go to bed while I’d stay downstairs watching TV and then head out at midnight to record the show.” As the dubstep scene reached the end of its cycle, Clark would turn to other genres: “ambient, jazz, folk, anything I could find really.” This passion was reinforced by friend Fielding Hope (now senior producer of Café OTO in London and co-runner of Counterflows Festival) who was throwing a number of exciting, out-there parties around the city at this time. “One that sticks out in the memory was a performance by an African folk band called Group Inerane that Fielding put on at the Kinning Park Complex,” he recalls. “These guys were playing these crazy extended live jams that just went on and on. Seeing that as a young guy was an inspiration for sure.” Being exposed to these esoteric musical stylings at such a young age clearly contributed to Clark’s wide-ranging tastes, but it was seeing Norwegian tastemaker DJ Sotofett at La Cheetah in 2011 that convinced him to communicate these flavours in his DJing. “Even though there were like 20 people in the club and it felt like a bar set, it went all over the place – different shit was getting weaved in all the time,” he explains. “Sotofett was the first guy I saw that bridged all the gaps. I saw Ben UFO a bunch of times and yeah it was cool, but it was still just dance music. Sotofett was going one further, and that’s something that really resonated.” Clark carried over this mindset into his first residency: a Wednesday night affair in the basement of Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, entitled So Weit So Gut. “We’d play a Blake Baxter record into an old funk record, trying and failing to do that really linear cross-genre mixing,” he laughs. “But I’m generally less concerned about mixing. Don’t get me wrong, there are ways you can have some technical skill and make it work, but the main thing was the freedom we were given. We were given the

Review

chance to play whatever the fuck we wanted, and that’s definitely something I’ve carried over.” As well as his willingness to go across the board and combine multiple styles of music in his sets, Clark’s intellectual approach to musical discovery is something that further cements his position as a unique talent. “I’ve always had that nerdiness of wanting to know every detail about the record. I need to know who’s on it, their story, what inspired it, what was on the same label at the time, what the concept was behind it,” he confesses. “I’ve always felt the need to find out the wider meaning of a record, rather than simply viewing it as a DJ tool. So perhaps there is an intellectualism, in that I’m acutely aware of what I’m playing and trying to make connections.” But rather than shunning dance music’s hedonistic traditions in favour of this academic approach, Clark is keen to combine the two. “I love the hedonistic element of dance music and I always want people to have fun and lose themselves,” he insists. “But at the same time it’s great to see people educating themselves by listening to new sounds. For instance I absolutely love when someone comes up and asks for the name of a track, and it’ll probably lead to the record running out because I’ve explained every little detail!” Even in terms of mixes, Clark’s tend to be more considered, with a conscious effort to create a certain mood or tone, as opposed to simply banging one out without a second thought. “From the sounds and themes of the records, I tend to have an idea of how to put things together to create a certain soundscape,” he agrees. “Like some kind of sonic story I guess. I find it far harder to record a mix that’s replicating a club angle.” 2017 is proving to be his busiest year yet, with a handful of solo and collaborative projects, alongside his role as one quarter of local collective, 12th Isle. “12th Isle is an imagined world, which ties into this concept of otherworldly music that we’re trying to promote. What you can’t comprehend in real life you can try and make sense of in really mysterious music, and we try to provide that kind of escapist outlet in the music we put out.” Also made up of Al White, Ruaidhri McGhee and Stewart Brown, what began as an extension of Clark’s Subcity show (12th Isle Transmissions) soon branched out to incorporate club nights, art exhibitions and a record label. Their maiden release, an LP from Ukrainian duo Dices + AEM out last July, combined cosmic house and Haruomi Hosono-influenced exotica in what was one of 2016’s most interesting electronic offerings. And the crew hope to have quadrupled their output by the end of 2017, with a string of releases in the pipeline. Their first, due out at the end of September, is an album by two Glasgow brothers who go by the name of Cru Servers. “These guys are multidisciplinary artists and this project is very much an extension of that,” Clark explains. This will precede releases from Russian ambient artist X.Y.R. and Canadian experimentalist Ramzi, with the latter performing at The Art School in November for an unofficial album launch party. Aside from helping run the label, Clark also compiled the first mix for Nic Tasker’s new cassette tape label, 88T, back in February. A quick glance at the mixtape’s footnotes suggests musical diversity in the true Fergus Clark sense of the term: the dots are joined between ‘Japanese commune folk’ and ‘electroacoustic purgatory’; ‘Outer-Hebridean

introspectives’ and ‘Brazilian new age’, with a flurry of other equally daunting classifications thrown in for good measure. But perhaps his most impressive achievement to date came with a recent compilation on Optimo Music. With the help of JD Twitch, the compilation explored the concept of Fourth World music, a term introduced by avant-garde composer Jon Hassell in the 80s. “What we have attempted to gather across this compilation is a body of work which we feel directly resonates with both the literal definition of ‘Fourth World’ music and indeed our own interpretation of this unique sonic vision,” read the sleeve notes written by Clark. A more challenging subject matter you’d be hard-pushed to

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find, but one Clark’s remarkable musical mind is far better equipped to tackle than most. He will be reunited with Twitch when the pair share a DJ booth at The Rum Shack next month, performing a special reggae set for the venue’s 3rd birthday. “It’s great because it’s always a really mixed crowd when I play there. If you can get some 50 year-old up dancing to Equiknoxx that’s pretty cool.” Looking to the future, Clark is mulling over a master’s degree in cultural musicology, but nothing is set in stone. Wherever he finds himself, it’s clear his obsession with the deepest, most complex musical realms will ensure his future is bright. Rum Shack Third Birthday: JD Twitch & Fergus Clark, 6 Oct, 9pm-1am

THE SKINNY

September 2017

Disco Biscuits How do you start your own club night? Huntleys + Palmers founder Andrew Thomson reflects on the tenth anniversary of his renowned party outfit, and offers some advice for succeeding in the game

he ever first Huntleys + Palmers party was “in a tiny tenement flat, like 100-person capacity,” recalls Andrew Thomson, “in part of the Glasgow Uni that’s not used for parties anymore. I booked Pilooski in the September, and [the event] was in December, and it was just months of total stress. I remember at the time I was like, ‘I’m never doing this again, this is so stressful’. And then it happened, and it was busy, and then afterwards I realised it was this thing that had been missing in my life, and I wanted to do it again. And I guess I’ve never stopped.” In the decade following that humble beginning in 2007, Huntleys + Palmers has grown into a renowned club night, label, and champion of some of the best underground artists in the UK and beyond. Huntleys + Palmers has played an instrumental role in launching the careers of many much-loved names, including Auntie Flo, SOPHIE, Mehmet Aslan, Alejandro Paz, Mamacita, and Hi & Saberhägen. Forming an integral part of the electronic movement in Glasgow, H+P parties have since extended to London, including a long-running affiliation with the iconic Plastic People venue, and have also hosted and played parties at the likes of Glastonbury, Fabric, Corsica Studios, and Berghain Kantine. Thomson’s role has also evolved

from that of a promoter, to a DJ and label head of the imprints Huntleys + Palmers, Highlife, and Belters, and the curator of the popular Clyde Built compilations that give a platform to emerging local acts.

“ In London, people actually go out to network, they go out to be visible. Whereas in Glasgow, it’s so organic, you just meet people!” Andrew Thomson

To celebrate their tenth anniversary, Huntleys + Palmers have hosted a string of events throughout 2017, with acclaimed acts including Actress, Ben UFO, Inga Mauer, Ivan Smagghe, Lena Willikens,

Mehmet Aslan, rRoxymore and Young Marco. In November, Thomson brings Talaboman – the portmanteau for the creative project of Axel Boman and John Talabot – to a special venue, Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. “It happened by complete chance,” Thomson exclaims. “Axel is in Stockholm, and Talabot is based in Barcelona, and they have their own tour schedules – one will be in America, one will be in Asia, so they don’t even chat to each other all the time. I had them booked for the middle of September, around about Freshers Week, it was all ready to go and I was about to announce it, and then Axel realised it was the date of his brother’s wedding! We thought we were going to have to push it back to next year, but then it all just kind of worked out... I was apprehensive about the whole venue thing, because it just seemed too good to be true!” But let’s go back to the beginning – how did Thomson, who was a regular patron of Glasgow’s clubs, evolve into a DJ, promoter, label owner and advocate for some of the boldest and best music in house and techno? He explains, “when I first started, I was just out in Glasgow all the time, like most people of a certain age. And then I went to Berlin in the summer of 2006, and I came back like ‘I don’t ever want to listen to minimal techno

Interview: Claire Francis again,' he laughs. “I was so sick of it.” He continues: “At the same time I started to work for the Sub Club, doing PR for them – I was going to the Sub Club regularly anyway – and from doing that I was just more and more into the Glasgow ‘scene’ and the behind-the-scenes part of it, the mechanics of it all. I wanted to put on my own night, I was just trying to figure out how to go about it.” In terms of establishing industry contacts, Glasgow’s welcoming reputation also helps, Thomson adds. “In London, people actually go out to network, they go out to be visible. Whereas in Glasgow, it’s so organic, you just meet people! And I guess the more after-parties and all the rest of it that you go to, it just opens you up [to the industry]”. Glasgow’s flourishing nightlife gave Thomson the platform and inspiration he needed to get Huntleys + Palmers off the ground, but the plethora of venues and parties the city offers can also be an obstacle, he warns. “People always thought that moving to London would be more difficult, but Glasgow has got so many promoters per capita that there were not enough people to go around; not enough punters. I think it’s always been quite tough in Glasgow, I don’t think anything has really changed. I have noticed a lot of nights come and go.” For those thinking of breaking in to the city’s crowded market of club nights, Thomson agrees that it’s important to buck popular trends and trust your own tastes. “I had an idea in my head that I wanted to book people who hadn’t really played in Glasgow before. I felt there had to be some kind of gap [in the market] and also at the time, the minimal thing was happening, and then the whole Ed-Banger thing, and musically I wasn’t into either of those things at all. They were getting a lot of hype – there was a night at The Arches that was getting around 2,000 to 3,000 people, and it was super-hyped... it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to do something that was more kind of musical.” Launching your own club brand unsurprisingly requires a lot of hard work, and despite Huntleys + Plamers’ success, it still remains very much a one-man operation, Thomson reveals. “People help me on certain things now and again, but that’s the thing I’ve really thought about, as the 10 years ends – if we’d just done a techno night, or something very defined to one genre, I think it’s easier to build a following because people know what to expect time and time again. So what I’ve realised is that at some point down the line, people need some sort of continuity, and I am that continuity. So I had to push myself a bit more, DJ a bit more and make mixes, so that people could get a sense of where it all comes from.” Finally, every good club night also needs a good name. In Huntleys + Palmers’ case, Thomson laughs when reflecting on the story behind the club night’s moniker. “I had booked this guy, but I had no name for the party, because I wasn’t even thinking about developing a brand or anything like that. Around the same time – and it’s quite interesting because recently there’s been a lot of press about it – I’d read about the Wolfenden report (aka the 1957 Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution). There was a court case and during the trial, I read that because it was the conservative 50s, they had these code names for homosexuals and prostitutes, which were 'huntleys' and 'palmers'.” “I liked the connotations of that name, but what I didn’t realise was that those names actually came from a biscuit company,” he concludes. “Ever since, people always send me pictures of these biscuits.” huntleyspalmers.com

Review

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THE SKINNY

Guest Selector: La La FLY Club resident La La – aka Lauren Andrew – delves deep into her record collection to share ten tracks that have helped shape her musical tastes, from Motown and soul icons to 90s house hits

Faithless – Insomnia I don’t know if you will believe me when I say this, but full credit goes to my dad with this one. He played the Reverence album pretty constantly when I was young, but I think it first properly registered with me musically when I was in first year in high school. Faithless were totally ahead of the game in my opinion. I was three when this was released; it really speaks volumes when a track can stand the test of time like this. LoSoul – Open Door 11.31 minutes of complete Chicago house pleasure. Gritty bassline complemented with some hard hitting drums – it is the giver that keeps on delivering. You can definitely expect me to play this whenever I can. The Funk Parlor – Something For The Dancefloor (Undergroundiscofunk Rmx) This is a secret weapon of mine – well it was until now! Michelle Weeks, the vocalist, always seems to grab my attention – [sometimes] without me knowing it’s her. It has a bit of everything you would want from a solid house track. Chaka Khan – Clouds (1980 Disco Purrfection Version) I never like to define my sound by genre but if I am honest with myself, there is something about disco for me that doesn’t compare to anything else. I think I first heard this in Journey Into Paradise – The Larry Levan Story. Essentially about heartbreak – ‘There in the distance/Is that number

one pain’ – at the time I couldn’t wait for heartbreak if it meant to feel something that deeply (now I will pass!) Chaka Khan can do no wrong in my books, but this one is a particular favourite. Kerri Chandler – Atmospheric Beats (Original Extended Version) Produced in what I would class as the golden era for house music, for sure. The way Chandler strips it right down to the essential beats and bass core (arguably one of the most perfect in the history of house) and keeps only these obsessive, euphoric synthetic horns... I see it has been resurfacing recently, which I am not complaining about. Lil’ Louis and The World — I Called U (The Conversation) Seeing Lil’ Louis play at Sub Club – that was the moment I knew the kind of DJ I wanted to be. To hear someone play tracks that [few] people in the room had even heard before, but still celebrate them like it was their favourite track... I stood there thinking “That is IT!” Lil’ Louis has honestly done a lot for me – I got the same gratification from this one, the penny dropped when I heard it. It was exactly the kind of track I wanted to play out myself. I would say that this is honestly my favourite house track ever made. I still get chills every time I hear it. Thank you Lil’ Louis, take a bow sir. Moloko – The Time Is Now The battle between this and Sing It Back is a tough one. The Time Is Now took the lead on Moloko’s third album Things to make And Do and quite rightly so. Apparently when producing it, budgets were tight so they couldn’t go with full-on disco strings as first planned, but I think it’s perfect as it is. Aretha Franklin – Get It Right Produced by Luther Vandross: an unbelievable combination, destined to do amazing things, and they did. If you don’t emerge from your seat when this comes on there is something wrong with your ears.

Photo: Aleksandra Modrzejewska

France Joli – Gonna Get Over You This is probably what [Beyoncé’s] Single Ladies is to other women. I mean the title is enough of a giveaway but I must have been going through a single lady moment, needing some empowerment, when I first stumbled across it. Even now, when not needing that edge I love it just as much as the first time I heard it. I’m yet to hear it in a club or play it myself – need to figure out a way to do that.

Interview: Claire Francis

Lovebirds – Want You In My Soul ft. Stee Downes (Original Mix) Want You In My Soul – I’ve always really appreciated the title. I think it pulls at my female heartstrings with a hope that someone will want me in their soul! After a long atmospheric build-up, a subtle but powerful bassline is added with the singing/ranting of Stee Downes. The lyrics scream

desperate love – it goes through many different climaxes but all round, a beautiful piece of sound engineering and composition. The only thing that is missing is knowing who it’s written about. La La plays FLY Open Air Festival, Princes St Gdn's, Edinburgh, 23 Sep with Eats Everything, Lil’ Louis, Leon Vynehall, Theo Kottis and more soundcloud.com/la-la-la-nd

Clubbing Highlights Reckless Kettle presents: Tama Sumo @ The Reading Rooms, Dundee, 8 Sep Tama Sumo is a superstar of the dance music industry, with decades of experience as both a performer and producer. The German DJ/ producer is signed to the Ostgut Ton label and is a resident DJ at Berghain, and she brings these illustrious credentials to Dundee this month thanks to the Reckless Kettle crew. Missing Persons Club presents: Anastasia Kristensen @ La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 8 Sep An emerging techno champion, Anastasia Kristensen’s high-octane mixing style has already been backed by the likes of Red Bull and Mixmag. The Russian-born, Copenhagen-based producer will make her Scottish debut at La Cheetah this month, as a guest of renowned party starters Missing Persons Club. SUPERMaX is 10! w/ DJ Billy Woods @ The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, 9 Sep Supermax is arguably Glasgow’s most beloved cult disco institution, a sweaty riot that brings together good people and great tunes. For this

September 2017

Words: Claire Francis

special birthday extravaganza, expect a night of the very, very best disco cuts from Supermax’s very own DJ Billy Woods. Animal Farm: Function @ Sub Club, Glasgow, 15 Sep Cited as ‘one of techno’s true underground heroes’ Dave Sumner – aka Function – has over 20 years of experience under his belt. This Sub Club event, which also features Animal Farm’s Quail and Turtle on the warm-up, is a rare opportunity to catch the Berghain resident, Ostgut Ton stablemate and owner of Infrastructure New York in very intimate surrounds. Boogaloo Freshers Party with DONT DROP @ Flat 0/1, Glasgow, 16 Sep What would September be without a million-odd freshers parties to choose from? This Boogaloo knees-up is a free entry affair, featuring the Flat 0/1 regulars plus special guests DJs the DONT DROP residents Kris McEwan and Andrew Torrance. The event also happens to be Boogaloo’s 6th birthday, so get down early and share the love.

ODYSSEY. 010 – Mall Grab @ The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 21 Sep Fast-rising Aussie talent Mall Grab — aka Jordon Alexander — is currently one of the hottest names in house music. The young DJ and producer returns to Edinburgh for Odyssey’s party at The Liquid Room Warehouse – go and see what all the fuss is about for yourself. Skye Live 2017 @ The Lump, Isle of Skye, 22-23 Sep If you fancy getting away from the smoky, sweaty club environment and into Scotland’s bracing outdoors, Skye Live 2017 has the scenery and the talent to match. The line-up features high-quality local and international acts, with Mano Le Tough, Apparat, Niteworks, Joy Orbison, Lord Of The Isles and many more taking to the decks over this two day festival. Lionoil: Jane Fitz & Telfort @ The Mash House, Edinburgh, 23 Sep Freerotation and Pickle Factory resident Jane Fitz impressed at Bicep’s SWG3 party back in February this year, with a techno and acid-laden set that drew scores of people out onto the

CLUBS

dancefloor in what was one of the best sets of the evening. Get acquainted with this underrated DJ at The Mash House, where Telfort will also be providing the warm-up. On The House & Broken Disco @ The Courtyard, Glasgow, 24 Sep “Tucked away within an old man’s boozer lies one of Glasgow’s most intriguing hidden gems, an open air courtyard awaiting the footprints of our fellow ravers.” The Courtyard parties have acquired cult status amongst Glaswegian ravers-in-the-know, especially in their Sunday Circus heyday. Head along to this On The House & Broken Disco Sunday event to discover a state of the-art sound system and some very special guests. Slam Events presents Dave Clarke @ SWG3, Glasgow, 29 Sep Known as ‘The Baron of Techno’, Dave Clarke has just announced the forthcoming release of The Desecration of Desire, his first album in 14 years. Ahead of the album drop, he plays SWG3 with Surgeon and Edit Select also on the bill. theskinny.co.uk/clubs

Review

Bard is a Four-Letter Word Our poetry columnist highlights the launch of Stairs and Whispers at the Scottish Poetry Library – an anthology from deaf and disabled poets. We also look at the best published poetry to have reached us this month

fter successful launches and events in London, Birmingham and Ledbury, this month will see the much-anticipated publication of the groundbreaking anthology Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back at the Scottish Poetry Library on 27 Sep. The collection is utterly electrifying – the UK’s first of its kind – and is edited by Sandra Alland, Khairani Barokka and Daniel Sluman, with a mixture of more established and emerging poets featuring from all across the nation, over 20% of whom are Scotland based. Many of the artists have included audio files of themselves reading in the e-book version, which can also be accessed on publishers Nine Arches’ website. Born from conversations and an idea in 2013/14, Stairs and Whispers seeks to address the fact that, up to now, there has been a marked lack of attention to deaf and disabled poets, and that there have been very few official invitations for them to share their experiences in this way. In the introduction to the anthology, co-editor and contributor Barokka explains, in words which cannot fail to touch, how her love of the art form has grown through years of labels, assumptions, measurements, diagnoses and ignorance: “It is

So Happy It Hurts By Anneliese Mackintosh

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through stanza that communion happens between the shades of life that we all know can’t be enumerated, can’t be delineated, can’t be kept hidden from ourselves…” As well as Barokka, readers and performers at the SPL launch will include Alland, Bea Webster, Claire Cunningham, Sarah Golightley, Alison Smith, Gary Austin Quinn, Emily Ingram, Nuala Watt and Mark Mace Smith. One of the major features of the evening will be a series of poetry films, the majority of which have involved Scottish film teams. The first four – The Stars are the Map by Kyra Pollitt, Kettle’s Boiling by Sandra Alland/ Alison Smith, Long Lost Lover by Sandra Alland/ Ania Urbanowska and Bilingual Poet’s Dilemma by Sandra Alland/Ania Urbanowska – are all in British Sign Language. Also on the programme are Goat Poem (for the kids) by Mark Mace Smith/Anigman and The Sword Swallower by Markie Burnhope by Sandra Alland/Ania Urbanowska. Get yourselves down there – it’s going to be an eye-opener. In Print It’s been a pleasingly folkloric month of reading. Miriam Nash’s debut collection from BloodAxe, All

Sour Heart

A Life of Adventure and Delight

By Jenny Zhang

By Akhil Sharma

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Roping together Ottila McGregor’s struggle to quit alcohol, recover from her father’s death, support her mentally ill sister and form a relationship which isn’t totally self-destructive, So Happy It Hurts is all about trying. Trying to be happy. Trying to be healthy. Trying to be kind. Trying to be better. You try, you fail, you try again and fail again better. In another author’s hands this might have strayed into vapid, ‘uplifiting’ self-help territory – think Drink. Pray. Love – but Mackintosh’s sharp humour is quick to cut down anything approaching saccharine, with Ottila writing her own sarcastic rebuttals to the lame advice prescribed by therapists and waiting room literature. The novel balances irony and earnestness perfectly, offering both a heartbreakingly sincere quest for happiness and an acerbic intolerance of hollow quick-fixes. Told through a scrapbook of letters, emails, Snapchats, therapy transcripts and text messages, Mackintosh builds a novel out of the language we actually use day to day. More than anything though, her characters bring it to life. Maybe it’s the intimacy of revealing them through their private messages, maybe it’s just how powerfully Mackintosh draws them and what they mean to Ottila, but the effect is so strong and the threat of some new catastrophe so tangible that each page turn feels like a horrible gamble with these people’s lives. When it hurts, it really fucking hurts. But when it’s happy, Anneliese Mackintosh’s latest work is positively radiant. [Ross McIndoe]

Nowhere is the quest for identity more pronounced or confusing than in the literature of the displaced – those who find themselves torn between two homes and unable to fully root themselves in either. Taking seven tales of immigrant daughters, Jenny Zhang’s Sour Heart explores the difficulty of being caught on the hyphen of Chinese-American in biting, brutal, darkly hilarious style. The young girls at the centre of her stories are unformed, still coming to terms with their bodies and gender, their strengths and shortcomings, their parents and siblings. They are still uncomfortable in their own skin – its shape, its colour, the way it changes. Their rundown homes are the only slice of the world for them to call their own, the blazing, bitter crucibles where they desperately try to define themselves with and against one another. The parents’ disillusionment and regret, the children’s jealousy and disappointment – all that sourness is internalised and intensified as they fight tooth and nail with each other and themselves. After six stories of obsessive friendships, vicious arguments, toxic marriages and furious children, Sour Heart’s final entry offers a vision of calm after the storm. This final, more reflective note deepens everything that came before, allowing it to offer hope without resorting to platitudes. We see the cracks get made as they tear at each other across six stories, and then we see the light get in. [Ross McIndoe]

Out now, published by Vintage, RRP £14.99

Out now, published by Bloomsbury, RRP £16.99

Review

the Prayers In The House (runner up for the Edwin Morgan Prize 2016) is truly a voice of the sea – at once young and ancient with a singing quality, currents of gentleness and passion fluctuating by turns. She tells her stories, full of salt-tinged visions of fish, selkies, lighthouses and folklore, which in their essence are of real-life hardship, growth and fears: “All those harbour years I lay in wait/ for you to bring a seal home from work/(I’d serve her mackerel on a poisoned plate)…” As well as channelling, at times, the imagined voice of Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived on her home island of Erraid, the collection details the shattering and resettling of a family unit from the changing eyes of a child, and how that later affected her own womanhood. Nash’s heartbreakingly precise descriptions of the everyday details which creep into life’s deeper troubles, such as neighbours, buying custard you hate as a gesture for a new stepmother, or saying prayers to a mixed gender God when afraid, add a unique clarity and poignancy to territory many of us would recognise. No less haunting is Kenneth Stevens’ Deirdre of the Sorrows, one of the best-known Celtic love stories retold in several narrative pieces. Stevens’ poetry introduces us to a couple not much older

Straddling India and the US, this collection of stories explores difficult relationships: sons and lovers, the first days after an arranged wedding, the few moments of deep love in a life of drudgery and repulsion. In a few details, Akhil Sharma captures the complexities and contradictions of emotional life: of feeling multiple things at once, of trying to keep it all locked in. So an Indian man finds that a relationship with his neighbour turns out very differently to the article in Cosmopolitan that he’s read; a young woman finds that married life is strangely disappointing; a boy feels only relief and disgust when his alcoholic mother is sent home to India to be murdered. Sharma’s prose style is simple, quiet, understated. There is life in the small details: the hurt and shame of the sight of two bin bags left out in the rain on the drive, full of a dead mother’s clothes, collecting little puddles of water in the creases of the black plastic. Something deeper is happening in all of these stories, but it is left to the reader to work out what that might be. At times he’s very funny – on sex and love, or the difficulty of getting on in life – and then he’s emotionally devastating, slicing right to the inner loneliness of life. [Galen O’Hanlon] Out now, published by Faber & Faber, RRP £12.99

Words: Clare Mulley

than children, both starved of love in their own fashion, and both in need of someone to listen to, save and complete them. As they make their home in the wilds of Scotland, the plethora of rich nature imagery reflects their innocent, yet maturing love: “A hundred tributaries shone from melting snow;/ and there, the first bowed heads of snowdrops./ And suddenly she realised that she missed him - /she picked one for Naoise then ran and ran to find him.” The later love scenes and subsequent tragedy of being captured are no less finely drawn, and will leave an echo in readers’ minds for days afterwards. Stairs and Whispers is out now, published by Nine Arches, RRP £14.99 The Scottish Poetry Library launch event is on 27 Sep, 6.30-8.30pm, £4 (£3) All the Prayers in the House is out now, published by Bloodaxe, RRP £9.95 Deirdre of the Sorrows is out now, published by Birlinn, RRP £8.99

Go, Went, Gone

By Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Berkofsky

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Any novel attempting to deal with a political issue runs many risks, including the danger of being heavy handed or overly sentimental, or of patronising either readers or the survivors depicted. Go, Went, Gone, the latest book by German author Jenny Erpenbeck, skilfully evades all of these pitfalls to become a powerful, moving, masterful novel. Go, Went, Gone is told from the perspective of Richard, a retired professor in Berlin who gets to know a group of African refugees and is drawn ever closer into their lives. Set when the tragedies of mass drownings in the Mediterranean were becoming ever more frequent and more publicised, the novel interweaves the stories of each refugee with Richard’s own narrative. Erpenbeck beautifully evokes the normality of the life each man led before being forced to flee, their jobs as mechanics or metal workers, their wives, parents, children. Meanwhile, she presents with painful clarity the Kafkaesque rules and regulations which determine the refugees’ fates once they have arrived in Europe. Erpenbeck herself worked closely with a number of refugees in Germany while writing the book, and this shines through in both her urgent empathy and her thorough understanding of the bureaucracy set up to ‘process’ the refugees. The result is a remarkable novel which questions our understanding of borders and identity and which calls above all for compassion. [Annie Rutherford] Out 14 Sep, published by Portobello, RRP £14.99

BOOKS

THE SKINNY

This Month in Scottish Art September brings new exhibitions in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, as well as events from artist Coco Fusco and renowned filmmaker-theorist Laura Mulvey Words: Adam Benmakhlouf Jac Leirner

Jac Leirner

The Fruitmarket Gallery

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120 lengths of cord have been mounted on the wall of Fruitmarket. There’s a pink piece woven with cobalt blue, a thicker black length, a nondescript beige, a zingy lime green with black speckles. The more you look, the more details emerge. 120 Cords (2014) is created by an artist with an eye for the peculiar within the everyday. The exhibit is part of Add it Up, Brazilian artist Jac Leirner’s latest show at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery. The exhibition marks Leirner’s first solo show in Scotland, although she is returning to the gallery, having exhibited works as part of Possibilities of the Object: Experiments in Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Art back in 2015. Throughout the exhibition, order, repetition and obsession pervade. A series of technical colour studies, for instance, meticulously document the interactions between hues, saturations and values. They recall Paul Klee and Josef Albers’

abstractions and similarly use grids to create rhythmic studies. Elsewhere, these same themes are addressed via the objects themselves: in The End, Skin (1992) and Pulmao (1987) the paraphernalia of an addicted smoker takes centre-stage. Leirner preserves roaches, Rizla papers, butts and cellophane wrappers. Skin is particularly memorable. Here, Leirner sticks Rizla papers in a grid formation. The delicate white papers bristle as you pass, and in the accompanying video, Leirner describes the piece as ‘if the wall had skin’. Leirner is at her best when between her minimalist roots and something more personal. Her recent work The Reinforcer (2016), straddles this masterfully. The exhibit, constructed of brown, pale mint and grey scraps of Rizla packets has a patient command of colour reminiscent of minimalist painter Agnes Martin. The piece is, however, invested with an intimate twist: the scraps were collected over many years and so each is tied to a place, a time and a memory. [Figgy Guyver] Jac Leirner, Add it Up at Fruitmarket Gallery until 22 Oct

Laura Aldridge

Plant Scenery of the World Inverleith House

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Taking its name from a suite of paintings by 19th Century artist-botanist RK Grenville, Plant Scenery of the World in the long-languishing Inverleith House ushers in new energy (and audiences) with an ambitious series of works which could, finally, unite the space’s twin interests of contemporary art and botanical science. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Gardens’ iconic modernist Front Range Glasshouses, the galleries are designed to mimic the climatic variances of the hot houses, each representing a psychic micro climate and showcasing the work of a single artist. Charlie Billingham has taken inspiration from both the architecture of the space and the surrounding gardens, filling the first room with boldly painted pots, a dividing screen, wallpaper based on coy and lily pads. Past a triptych of vast contemporary watercolours of the Gardens’ giant stinking ‘corpse flower’, we come to Laura Aldridge’s immersive, beautiful, multi-sensory installation. Shoes must be removed to avoid damaging the delicate cotton prints on the floor made from samples in the glasshouses using natural means – rust, soy and vinegar reacting with plant material to extract natural dyes. On top of these ghostly

September 2017

he month begins with the Glasgow School of Art’s Graduate Degree Show. From across the postgraduate roster, newly graduated students present their final show from Research, Design and Fine Art across the Tontine and Reid Buildings. After the opening on 1 Sep, the show continues from 2-9 Sep. From 1-17 Sep at CCA, artist Tako Taal presents Compound in the Intermedia space. The two new videos presented in the show examine ‘figures of the stranger and an extended family,’ with one shot at The Gambia Tourism Hospitality Institute, along with documents from a family archive, print and objects. The exhibition borrows its form from a common living arrangement in West Africa. Throughout the month, there is Czech Season in Scotland, with two photo exhibitions across Glasgow venues 16 Nicholson Street and Street Level Photoworks, both showcasing Prague-based photography. Also this week, after a much needed soujourn and postponement, Transmission return from a summer break with the annual Members’ Show. Membership is open to all, and the work dropoff is from 4 Sep, then opening 9 Sep. As the second show of its brand new gallery space, Peacock Arts in Aberdeen have invited artists Michele Horrigan and Sean Lynch to mount their exhibition Ignore the Management, opening Fri 8 Sep and continuing until 21 Oct. With a focus on their native Ireland, their activities find and develop models that challenge the societal measures and institutional values that aim to manage and orient human behaviour in our increasingly technocratic world. From 15 Sep, Embassy presents its graduate show with four artists selected from across the Scottish degree shows. The exhibition continues until 8 Oct. In Glasgow School of Art’s corridor space on Garnethill, they have assembled a series of printed

plant forms lie a series of multi-coloured glass eyes based on nazars, the anti-evil eye charms so ubiquitous in the eastern Mediterranean. The colours correspond to different emotions – pink for love, green for happiness – and the forms allude to protection, superstition, the gaze. Upstairs, Bobby Niven has created bronze casts of plant samples from the Botanics’ Herbarium. Combined and transformed into Paolozzi-esque constructions, each is displayed upon a carved wooden hand jutting into the room, proffering the work to the viewer. Ben Rivers’ video work Urth fills the final room, presenting a dystopic narrative of a research scientist documenting her last days in a hermetically sealed biodome postenvironmental catastrophe. Poetic work exploring a climatic apocalypse melding science and art – surely what this space was made for. The accompanying literature describes the glasshouses as the meeting point of culture and nature, a sly nod to the sustainable future of Inverleith House as evidenced by this exhibition. With this style of energised, labour-intensive curation and artistic-scientific collaboration the building offers a platform for cutting edge contemporary art which also engages the broader audiences of the surrounding gardens. [Rosamund West] Plant Scenery of the World, Inverleith House until 29 Oct

ART

textile works from their archive of patterns printed in the School’s Centre for Advanced Textiles. Titled Pioneers of Post-War Pattern, they focus on the output of mid-20th century female designers and GSA alumni Sylvia Chalmers, Dorothy Smith and Margaret Stewart, making an eclectic mix of vibrant colours and abstract patterns. See elsewhere in this issue for an interview with Sahej Rahal at CCA about his exhibition opening on 16 Sep then continuing until 29 Oct. In Dundee, artist Kelly Richardson’s exhibition The Weather Makers opens at DCA from 23 Sep-26 Nov. Richardson imagines the cataclysmic end of global environmental strains in a series for large scale CGI animations. In Dundee again, from 29 Sep, Cooper Gallery present a programme of screenings surrounding the film work and writings of renowned theorist Laura Mulvey and collaborator Peter Wollen. Over two weeks, their experimental videos will be shown over a series of evening and weekend events. On 29 Sep, Mulvey will open the programme with a talk at 7pm. In Tramway from 2 Sep, new exhibitions come from artists Stuart Middleton and Luiz Roque. For his largest solo exhibition, Middleton shows a new video of an undernourished dog prowling a white vivisection laboratory. Meanwhile Roque’s European premiere of HEAVEN, which speculates a version of 2080 in which a new virus affects mainly the trans population. Within this landscape, Roque sets a story of love under pressure. At the end of the month, Tramway host an evening event by Coco Fusco. On 28 Sep, the artist will present her performative lecture Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind, in which she revives and embodies the chimpanzee animal psychologist Dr. Zira from the original Planet of the Apes films of the late 1960s and early 1970s to deliver an intelligent and satirical filmed performance work.

Kelly Richardson, Mariner 9, 2012. 3-channel HD video installation with audio.

Review

In Cinemas Daphne

On Body and Soul

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Director: Peter Mackie Burns Starring: Emily Beecham, Geraldine James, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Nathaniel Martello-White Released: 29 Sep Certificate: 15 Daphne, the title character of Peter Mackie Burns’ spunky first feature, is both a force of nature and a bit of a mess. This contradiction is matched by Emily Beecham’s dynamic performance. The flame-haired actor plays Daphne as both sunny and surly; playful and prickly. A 31-year-old chef, Daphne lives alone in her neat little London flat with only her pet snake for company, and she likes it that way. She’s a party girl but she seems to have estranged herself from most of her friends. When it comes to love, Daphne’s of the Sigmund Freud school: it’s the psychosis of ordinary people. She expresses her contempt for the emotion a tad too often, however. Doth the lady protest too much? There’s a breezy looseness to the early section of Daphne as we’re immersed in the character’s ramshackle routine of work and play. Initially, Daphne seems satisfied with her hedonistic single lifestyle, but after witnessing a stabbing during a bungled robbery of an all-night corner shop, Daphne’s partying takes on a different flavour. Her freedom begins to look a lot like isolation, and wild nights partying start to resemble self-medication. Beecham dominates every frame, giving a crisp, lived-in performance that’s so winning it keeps us on side, even when Daphne is in narcissistic self-destruct mode. It helps that she’s a wit. “I know, I’m fucking hilarious,” she says at one point, and it’s hard to argue with. As well as a zesty character study, Scotsman Burns has crafted a great London movie. He finds new angles through which to view the city and vivid, less glamourous neighbourhoods in which to set the drama. The result is a film of compassion and soul, with a protagonist at its heart who’s sometimes hard to like but easy to adore. [Jamie Dunn] Released by Altitude

Director: Ildikó Enyedi Starring: Alexandra Borbély, Géza Morcsányi, Zoltán Schneider, Ervin Nagy, Itala Békés Released: 22 Sep Certificate: 18

Ildikó Enyedi’s magic-realist drama – winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival – centres around the gentle and awkward relationship between two slaughterhouse employees who discover they share the same dream each night. Géza Morcsányi plays Endre, the reserved foreman of an abattoir who is increasingly intrigued by the arrival of Maria (Alexandra Borbély), a new quality-control manager. The young woman is so socially inept, blunt and forensically analytical about her job that one assumes that she rates high on the autism spectrum. Enyedi shows that the workplace can be just as cruel as the playground as colleagues openly mock Maria and boorish senior management make sexist remarks about her over lunch at the cafeteria. After some bull aphrodisiac is stolen and the police are called in to investigate, a condescending psychologist is recruited to try and get to the bottom of the robbery, interviewing the employees about their dreams and childhood sexuality. It is at this slightly silly plot juncture

On Body and Soul

that Endre and Maria realise that they dream the same tranquil snowy woodland scene each night. A quiet and inelegant relationship begins to develop between the pair with each encounter yielding calamitous scenarios as Endre struggles to understand Maria’s lack of societal norms and fear of intimacy. The mood and pace is subdued throughout and the film is peppered with dryly hilarious moments (and two deeply visceral and gory sequences) that recall the humour of Aki Kaurismäki and

The Road to Mandalay

Una

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Director: Midi Z Starring: Kai Ko, Wu Ke-Xi, Wang Shin-Hong Released: 29 Sep Certificate: 15

Review

Director: Benedict Andrews Starring: Rooney Mara, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed Released: 1 Sep Certificate: 15 Imagine a Lars von Trier adaptation of The Breakfast Club and you’ll get some idea of the perverse tension running through Benedict Andrews’ debut feature. Sexually abused as a child, the title character’s confrontation with the once trusted family friend convicted of raping and abducting her is far from explosive. Instead, Una approaches Ray in a damaged, trance-like state. Locked together in the bowels of the warehouse he now manages under a new identity, the two discuss their brief but monumental relationship. Each has suffered enormously as a result of Ray’s actions, and we discover they have more in common than the polarised labels of victim and abuser imply. Andrews has bravely made a film in which despised criminals are shown to be capable and deserving of rehabilitation. The film’s overall problem is that its central figure is comparatively underdeveloped. An ethereal, tragic figure rather than a survivor, Una appears to embody a tawdry male fantasy. One may well question whether it was appropriate for a man to tell her story. [Harry Bach]

Released by Day for Night

Released by Thunderbird Releasing

Moon Dogs

Zoology

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Released by Mubi

Returning to narrative features after his last two documentaries, Taiwanbased Burmese filmmaker Midi Z directs his attention towards a pair of illegal Burmese immigrants navigating a new life in Bangkok, and the results are devastating. Despite the title, the eponymous city of Mandalay – with its exotic imagery and reputation – plays no part in Z’s film. Instead what is portrayed is the quiet desperation of those fleeing poverty and conflict for a fresh start in a foreign land. The sole part of Burma / Myanmar we see is the borderlands with Thailand, where strangers Guo and Lianqing (Wu in a steely performance) are packed into a van bound for Bangkok. With sparse dialogue and clinical imagery, Z paints a vivid picture of those fleeing poverty and conflict for the chance of opportunity and a brighter future. Tracing the paths of Guo and Lianqing through their new lives and relationships in Bangkok before building to a sudden and violent climax, The Road to Mandalay powerfully portrays two people being torn apart by all the promises and illusions of the immigrant experience. [Michael Jaconelli]

Director: Philip John Starring: Jack Parry-Jones, Christy O’Donnell, Tara Lee, Jamie Sives, Kate Bracken, Claire Cage, Tam Dean Burn, Shauna Macdonald, Dennis Lawson, Niall Greig Fulton Released: 1 Sep Certificate: 15

Daphne

Roy Andersson. Morcsányi is fantastic as the deadpan Endre and gives a direct, unsentimental – almost Bressonian – performance as a man who is world-weary and wants to distance himself from his womanising past. But ultimately it is Borbély’s film: the actor portrays her character with such vulnerable complexity and emotional intelligence that she is magnetic and mysterious in every scene. [Adam Stafford]

Director: Ivan I. Tverdovskiy Starring: Natalya Pavlenkova, Masha Tokareva, Aleksandr Gorchilin, Dmitriy Groshev, Irina Chipizhenko, Anna Astashkina Released: 22 Sep Certificate: 15

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Moon Dogs sees a young Scotsman, Welshman and Irishwoman venture on a road trip from Shetland to Glasgow. Michael (Parry-Jones) wants to reunite with his increasingly distant girlfriend who’s in the city for university; his stepbrother Thor (O’Donnell) wants to meet his estranged mother; Caitlin (Lee), meanwhile, is set to play at Celtic Connections. On the way, they’re involved in all kinds of silly and sexy mishaps. This Scottish-Welsh co-production sticks out in the current British film landscape thanks to being a road movie – a genre relatively uncommon in UK cinema for whatever reason. Is the journey it presents worth taking, though? Not so much, largely thanks to a screenplay rife with humour that very rarely lands and lacking in much invention to elevate its cookie-cutter narrative. There are some positives: the score, from Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, is occasionally arresting; Lee is charismatic, despite her sexually precocious chanteuse character being written as more a fantasy figure than a real person; and the vague echoes of Y Tu Mamá También have some appeal. [Josh Slater-Williams]

There’s nothing special about Natasha (Pavlenkova), the introverted, middle-aged protagonist in Ivan Tverdovskiy’s Zoology; nothing, that is, except for the long, fleshy tail that suddenly sprouts from the base of her spine. The appearance of such a deformity might make some women retreat even further into their shell, but instead it seems to give Natasha a new lease of life. She overhauls her drab wardrobe, begins drinking and dancing, and she even enters into a relationship with the young radiologist who examines her. Pavlenkova is wonderful as she charts the transformation in Natasha’s personality, and her witty and touching performance holds Zoology together whenever the director seems unsure about where exactly he’s taking his bizarre fable. The metaphorical import of the tail itself often feels a little fuzzy, and instead of exploring the many themes it touches upon, or deepening our understanding of Natasha, Tverdovskiy too often seems happy to coast along on the surface weirdness of his movie, ending with a cruel coldness that is both predictable and dispiriting. [Philip Concannon]

Released through Amber Content

Released by Arrow Film

FILM

THE SKINNY

The Ghoul

Director: Gareth Tunley Starring: Tom Meeten, Alice Lowe, Rufus Jones, Dan Renton Skinner, Niamh Cusack, Paul Kaye Released: 4 Sep Certificate: 15

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First time writer-director Gareth Tunley’s tightly-scripted psychological thriller stars comedic actor Tom Meeten as Chris, a detective called to London by his superior (Dan Skinner) to help investigate a double homicide where the forensic facts don’t add up. Suspecting Coulson (Rufus Jones), the letting agent of the flat where the crime took place, Chris goes undercover as a struggling depressive as a ruse to infiltrate Coulson’s psychiatric files for information. When he begins therapy with the suspect’s psychologist (Niamh Cusack), Chris begins to reveal to her that he fantasises about being a homicide detective and admits to quietly stalking his college friends (Skinner and Lowe). Is he a real detective, totally immersed in his undercover role? Or is Chris a fantasist with mental health issues and potentially dangerous? These are the questions that the film poses as the narrative slides into paranoia with Chris gradually befriending the unhinged Coulson and inadvertently becoming involved with another psychiatrist who has a fetish for the occult (the fantastic Geoffrey McGivern). We are now in the murky territory of Chris Nolan’s Following and Ben Wheatley’s Kill List where nothing is as it seems and twisty revelations appear almost scene-by-scene. The three leads – Meetan, Jones and Lowe – are terrific and hold things together well as the wheels begin to fall off by the third act. Impressively, Tunley shot the film in ten days over three locations for next to nothing, and the result is a good film that you wish was great. The Ghoul suffers technically from this hurriedness: the handheld cinematography is often flat; the editing is sometimes sloppy and reliant too much on scenic cut-away and voiceover; and the imposing music score brings to mind a Lynda La Plante murder mystery. These problems aside, this is a promising and absorbing debut from a director to watch.

The Big Knife

The Love of a Woman

rrrrr

Director: Robert Aldrich Starring: Jack Palance, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ida Lupino, Everett Sloane Released: Out now Certificate: PG

After directing Kiss Me Deadly, his ferocious and mysterious 1955 thriller, Robert Aldrich began adapting this play from Clifford Odets about the dark heart of the movie business, and the resulting noir, The Big Knife, carries much of the same hellish intensity as that previous work. We’re introduced to Charles Castle (a commanding Jack Palance), who’s one of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars. From the outside Castle appears to have it all, but his long-suffering wife is threatening to leave him if he renews his contract with studio boss Stanley Shriner Hoff (a Mephistophelian turn by Rod Steiger) and he has grown weary with his Hollywood lifestyle. Faced with a decision, Castle’s seemingly perfect existence begins to crumble around him as the artifice of his life is slowly exposed. From its nightmarish Saul Bass opening title sequence – which sees Jack Palance writhing in torment with his hands clasped about his head – to its bleak finale, Aldrich pulls few punches in exposing the rotten innards of Hollywood. Despite its qualities, Aldrich’s film can’t fully escape its theatrical origins, however, playing out largely in Castle’s increasingly cage-like Beverly Hills home and with dialogue that occasionally veers into pretentiousness and overt theatricality. The film’s tragic denouement doesn’t entirely convince either, but despite all this The Big Knife is still a powerful depiction of a man who sold his soul for fame and fortune – and of one who came to regret it all too late. Extras The usual trailers feature alongside a commentary by film critics Glenn Kenny and Nick Pinkerton recorded exclusively for the release. There’s also an interesting documentary from 1972 with Saul Bass about some of his classic film title work. [Michael Jaconelli] Released by Arrow Video

Extras Tunley and Meetan commentary, an in-depth ‘making-of’ featurette, short film The Baron, and an essay by horror writer Adam Scovell. [Adam Stafford]

Director: Jean Grémillon Starring: Micheline Presle, Massimo Girotti, Gaby Morlay, Paolo Stoppa Released: Out now Certificate: 12

How do you want to spend your life? Fittingly, the final film of acclaimed French filmmaker Jean Grémillon is a meditation on this final question. At the point in his life and career to take stock of his achievements and wonder about the roads not travelled, the characters of The Love of a Woman carry out his inner conversations, gazing forward to wonder how they will look back on their lives when the end approaches. Marie Prieur (Presle) arrives on the small island of Ushant to become the new island doctor, challenging local prejudices and winning the locals over with her medical talents and no-nonsense attitude. Presle’s brusque brightness energises the film, sweeping from house to house like a French Mary Poppins, making children take their medicine not because they’re promised a spoonful of sugar but because they have pneumonia and she is a doctor and she is an adult and they are children. Ushant itself presents Marie with a vision of time stretching out slowly before her. The man she replaces talks of his departure as the end of his life. The island’s schoolteacher has watched generations of children grow up under her tutelage as decades slipped away. Panning lugubriously across vast, empty expanses, fading lazily between days and months, Ushant appears as a quietly pleasant place to watch your life disappear. There’s a gracefulness to every frame and also something deeply melancholy. When Marie falls for a short-tempered engineer (Girotti), a crossroads awaits her: to seek meaning in the work she does, the skill with which she does it and the lives it touches, or to look for it in the love of another, protected from the lonely fate of the island spinsters. Extras Accompanying the new release is the feature length documentary In Search of Jean Grémillon – vital viewing for admirers of the French master. [Ross McIndoe] Released by Arrow Video

Released by Arrow Video

September 2017

DVD

Review

Not Just Music Glasgow’s Eastern Promise festival returns for its seventh outing and this year, for the first time, theatre will stand alongside the festival’s blend of vibrant and diverse live music

eturning to Platform for its seventh year, Glasgow’s Eastern Promise festival is branching out by adding theatre performances from some of Scotland’s most exciting companies to its latest line-up. Taking place on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 October at Platform, the new theatre arm of the festival is currently still being curated by the organisers. But, with less than a month to go, The Skinny can reveal that two one-person shows have been confirmed, with more names still to come. The first two shows are formally similar but explore very different subjects, each using eclectic and stunningly visual methods of performance to tell stories both familiar and new. The programme will showcase the diverse range of talent in Scotland’s theatre industry. With productions based on ancient Greek legend and contemporary Sri Lankan culture, Eastern Promise’s very first foray into theatre is sure to give theatre fans an intriguing introduction to the festival. One of the first to be announced is Achilles, an exclusive performance of the acclaimed Company of Wolves’ new work, which is due to be performed at Citizens Theatre and visual theatre festival

Words: Amy Taylor

Manipulate at the Traverse Theatre in 2018. Presented in association with Platform, Dance House and Citizens Theatre, Achilles is a reimagining of the Greek myth about the seemingly immortal warrior. Starring award-winning actor and director Ewan Downie, the piece fuses storytelling, dance and song to tell the tale of the legendary man who was said to be the Greeks’ greatest hero during the Trojan War. Ravaged by grief at the loss of his best pal Patroclus, the play focuses on that grief, his vengeance, and his attempts to exorcise his very human demons. The second play to be announced is solo show Make a HOO, presented by the actor and theatre maker Sita Pieraccini and Feral Arts. Performed at the manipulate Visual Theatre Festival earlier this year to great critical acclaim, the show was conceived during a two-month residency in Sri Lanka and was formerly in development for Arches LIVE! (RIP). This performance takes the audience to downtown Colombo and the crop fields of Tissamaharama, where she recreates the journey of a young woman, striving to reconnect with her own identity and that of the wider world in which she lives.

Make a HOO

Achilles

Caught in an elaborate and unusual game of call and response with an unknown and shapeshifting being who can only come alive at night, Pieraccini in her role weaves together elements of local folk songs, projected imagery, sound and energetic movement, to create the reality of a day and a night in the life of this young woman. While more acts are still to be announced, Eastern Promise’s foray into theatre plans to bring together various art forms and audiences, showcasing contemporary Scottish theatre at its very best. Elsewhere on the two-day bill, the Friday sees Pictish Trail perform a headline set alongside Portland’s Visible Cloaks. The globally influenced ambient duo have just released their Reassemblage

CCA Highlights T

he way people talk about the Edinburgh Fringe, you’d think either it or indeed the capital was the only source of culture in the known universe. This is not true, as the CCA in Glasgow proves month after month. Now you’ve dropped your last coin in the bin of a comedian who thinks knowingly self-aware jokes about his student days are his ticket to a life on BBC late-night specials, it’s time to get back to the surefooted discovery of curated art. Sonica – Cryptic’s biennial celebration of the visual sonic arts – is the first of three festivals coming to the CCA this autumn season. Great artists are present to stretch the possibilities of sound. A spontaneous record player that snores,

Review

album and will be accompanied by live digital and installation artist Brenna Murphy. On the Saturday, everyone’s favourite SAY Award-winning solo guitarist RM Hubbert will be performing his live score to Soviet silent film By the Law; a claustrophobic adaptation of a Jack London short story set in an inundated cabin, amid a swollen river. Further music will be provided by the legendary Sexual Objects, while further multi-arts performance will be on hand with Pauline and the Matches, fresh from the Edinburgh Art Festival. Eastern Promise, 6-7 Oct, full times and line-up TBC, day tickets £10 (£7.50). Weekend tickets £15 (£10), more information: platform-online.co.uk/whats-on/event/371

Words: Sebastian Fisher

Robert Bentall’s nyckelharpa (a Swedish string instrument that looks like an assault rifle) and a white light evolving in time to dense arrangements by Solveig Settemsdal and Kathy Hinde are just a few of the aural rare-candies you can find. Let your ears guide you from the 26 October. If you’re looking for a more traditional singersongwriter, we have Margaret Glaspy. The New Yorker’s debut album Emotions and Maths is a grungy gem and she brings it to the CCA on 9 September. New York’s music scene continues to rock at the CCA this season with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Alec Ounsworth will be in full voice as they thrash it out at the CCA on 16 September following

the release of their latest album The Tourist. Set aside the weekend at the end of September for the Scottish Queer International Film Festival, which kicks off with Bruce LaBruce’s The Misandrists, a kinky satire where the Female Liberation Army tackles the patriarchy and lesbian porn is used as a propaganda tool. More than just showings of queer film’s jewels, the festival also boasts workshops, discussions and parties that tackle the serious issues of cultural identity behind the subversion. It closes with Signature Move, charting the story of a female PakistaniAmerican immigration lawyer who falls in love with Alma, a Mexican-American bookstore owner – and it has wrestling! Celebrating diversity and love in

ART / THEATRE

Chicago, it’s a perfect rebuke to any Trumpian vision of the world. Speaking of said visions, celebrating its 15th year, we also have Document – Scotland’s longest running inquisition into Human Rights through the medium of film; a conscious attempt to engage unflinchingly with the travesties of the modern world. The screenings and workshops are forensic in their interrogation of how to confront the refugee crisis, the unfettered ravage of global capitalism and the ever more global fight for gender equality. If you want to get serious, political and download some data that may help you change the world, then head to Document between 19-22 October.

THE SKINNY

Win tickets to Colours Classical V

Win a pair of weekend tickets to Skye Live S

kye Live Festival takes place from 22-23 Sep in the surroundings of Am Meall, a small peninsula overlooking Portree Harbour with views of Raasay and the famous Cuillin Ridge – it’s nothing short of stunning. The line-up ranges from cutting edge electronica by Lord of the Isles to incredible folk music by Dàimh, or you can have a dance to the Island’s own Niteworks, of Mylo. Headline sets will also come from Django Django and Mano Le Tough, as well as a stage hosted by Glasgow’s Sub Club. While you’re there, tuck into some tasty local produce courtesy of some of Skye’s most-renowned chefs.

September 2017

hat venue will Colours Classical take W place in? a) SWG3 b) The SSE Hydro c) O2 Academy Glasgow Competition closes midnight Sun 24 Sep. Entrants must be 18 or over; though anyone aged 16 or over may accompany them. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms More info: thessehydro.com/events/detail/colours-classical

hich of these Skye Live acts are W not from Skye? a) Django Django b) Niteworks c) Mylo Competition closes midnight Sun 17 Sep. Entrants must be 18 or over, though anyone under the age of 18 may accompany them. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Win a pair of tickets to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – A Live Rendition ugees vocalist Lauryn Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, her straight-toclassic masterpiece, back in 1998. The album totally redefined the role of women in hip-hop, R'n'B and soul music. In it, Hill openly embraced motherhood and musicality with an organic warmth, love and understanding that still resonates, remaining as relevant today as it was a full 19 years ago. An exclusive group of some of the UK’s finest session musicians and outstanding vocalists have come together on this project to share the magic this amazing album embodies with a stunning live performance that will nail every open heart. With multiple sold out London dates, now it's time for the show to head to Summerhall.

legend Judge Jules, the man responsible for some of the biggest events at the venue, guest vocalists include Christina Novelli (the voice of Concrete Angel) and Bobbi Depasois (K-Klass), plus more to be announced. We're offering two lucky winners a pair of tickets each. To be in with a chance of winning, simply head to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question:

To be in with a chance of winning a pair of weekend tickets, simply head to theskinny.co.uk/ competitions and correctly answer this question:

More info: www.skyelive.co.uk

eteran club promoters Colours have announced an event celebrating all that was great about The Arches in Glasgow, taking over The SSE Hydro on 29 Sep for a night of dancefloor anthems – with a twist. The 60-piece Scottish Festival Orchestra will play some of dance music’s most recognisable hits – all the tracks that made The Arches an unforgettable venue when they were played throughout Colours' 20 year residency. The Arches was a spiritual home for Colours and thousands of clubbers between 1995-2015, so it's only right that something on this scale was arranged to commemorate the venue. Colours have been responsible for bringing dozens of dance music giants to Glasgow over the years, including Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Frankie Knuckles, Erick Morillo, David Morales, Paul van Dyk, Hardwell and Armin van Buuren. The event features some Colours stalwarts: some of the most legendary DJs to ever grace the decks at The Arches including Danny Rampling, Seb Fontaine and Tall Paul. Hosted by The Arches

We have three pairs of tickets for the 19 Oct show at Summerhall, Edinburgh to give away. To be in with a chance of winning a pair, simply head to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question:

Win tickets to Dick Valentine from Electric Six! R

emember Electric Six? Purveyors of the throwback, needlessly raunchy rock'n'roll of Danger! High Voltage or Gay Bar? Well, they're not playing anywhere this year. But their earnest lead man Dick Valentine is. Experience a seven-or-eight-times-in-a-lifetime chance to be up close and personal with "an American music icon". It’s a low pressure, feel-good affair as the Electric Six frontman strips down all your favourite songs from the band's catalogue, plays original solo material and swims in a sea of requested good-time covers. We've teamed up with Beyond Presents to offer three pairs of tickets to Dick Valentine's solo

acoustic gig at Stirling's Tolbooth on 14 Sep. To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question: Dick Valentine is the frontman of which band? a) Fusion Ten b) Electric Six c) Gas Four Competition closes midnight Sun 10 Sep. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms For Dick Valentine tickets and more information, head to http://bit.ly/dickvalentine

Lauryn Hill was a member of which band? a) Fugees b) Wu-Tang Clan c) The Black Eyed Peas Competition closes midnight Sun 1 Oct. Entrants must be 18 or over, though anyone under the age of 18 may accompany them. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms more info:summerhall.co.uk

COMPETITIONS

Review

Glasgow Music Mon 04 Sep

Fri 08 Sep

JAMES BROWN IS ANNIE (HAMISH STUART + LIGHTS OUT BY NINE)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

PLATFORM, FROM 19:00, £7.50 - £10

Jazz-funk group, who take their name from an Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live sketch.

SCOTT HIRSCH (MICHAEL CHAPMAN)

The steadfast collaborator heads out alone with his solo record. SINKANE

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12

The Yesayer and Caribou collaborator heads our way to showcase his Sudanese brand of motorik and funk. BLOCHESTRA

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Bloc’s own mini orchestra.

Tue 05 Sep AND YET IT MOVES

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

A new monstrous group by Dale Barclay formerly of The Amazing Snakeheads. RATTLE (MYLES MANLEY)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Formed by Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, Rattle began as an experiment in crafting rich songs and melody using drums and voice alone.

MATTHEW BOURNE

Matthew Bourne plays new album Isotach; skeletal piano motifs, an aching use of space and sparing cello arrangements are deployed to devastating effect. CHASTITY BELT

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Seattle rock’n’roll foursome made up of guitarists Julia Shapiro and Lydia Lund, bassist Annie Truscott and drummer Gretchen Grimm.

LIVING BODY (LIFE MODEL + CHRISSY BARNACLE + REV MAGNETIC)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7.50

Living Body is the new project from Leeds-based Chicagoan Jeff T. Smith (FKA Juffage) featuring longtime collaborators Katie Harkin and Tom Evans.

FIRST TEMPLE OF THE ATOM (FVNERALS + YELT) STEREO, FROM 19:00, £6

Doom DIY band from Glasgow. THE JERSEY NOTES

ORAN MOR, FROM 20:00, £0 - £6

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £7

Tribute to the Music of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons.

REALADAMS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £51.10 - £79.45

FANGCLUB

The Vetrigo signed band from Dublin hit Stereo. NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Brian Adams tribute act. TOM MCRAE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £18

Essex-born singer-songwriter adept at imbuing his songwriting with his innermost worries and woes. HONEYGRIP + KARIN + THE TALES

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

A trio of alt-rock Scottish bands for fans of QOTSA, Reuben and Biffy Clyro.

Wed 06 Sep WESTERMAN

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6.50

London-based singer-songwriter, whose modern folk ballads have made him an up-and-comer. NITE JEWEL (APOSTILLE + CUCINA POVERA)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £7

L.A. musician and multimedia artist who specialises in oscillating synth, shoegaze and R’n’B. Playing Stereo following the release of moody, dreamy record Liquid Cool in June. ELEANOR MCEVOY (LORNA BROOKS)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10

Contemporary Irish singersongwriter, currently with 11 critically-acclaimed albums to her name. CIRCUS RHAPSODY

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

The punk band hit the Wah Wah Hut. SLIPPERY NIGHTS PRESENTS: DROVES + KLEFT

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Powerviolence, punk, techno and experimental noise from two of Glasgow’s most innovative new bands.

Thu 07 Sep CULTURE

STEREO, FROM 23:00, FREE

The veteran Jamaican roots reggae trio tour with their current line-up, made up of Kenyatta Hill, Albert Walker and Telford Nelson. CLOUDBUSTING: THE MUSIC OF KATE BUSH

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £0 - £6

An evening of Kate Bush bangers.

AARON LEE TASJAN (SUNNY OZELL + GRAEME QUINN)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12

East Nashville rock’n’roller.

OUTBLINKER + BRIDAL SHOWER

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Hometown show as part of UK tour from the extremely loud electronoise rock band.

JOHN LEGEND

The acclaimed crooner brings his Darkness and Light arena tour to Glasgow. MANIFOLD

O2 ABC, FROM 18:00, £6.75 - £11.25

Big hair and even bigger riffs from the glam rock band. MIXPAK (DRE SKULL B2B JUBILEE + DJ ALIEU AKA TORNADOO + IRA)

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £7 - £9

A night with the Brooklyn-based label of Dre Skull. MOON STANGER (FLOSS + THE KALAHARIS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Alternative indie rock band.

Sat 09 Sep

KISS THIS: TARBEACH NYC

BROADCAST, FROM 20:00, £5

Punk 'n' roll at Broadcast. THE BUTTERTONES

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Alt rock band straight outta LA. GIRLPOOL

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12

LA-based indie duo made up of high-school friends Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker. SOLID GOLD SCOTLAND

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £4 - £8

Theatre spectacular paying tribute to the likes of he Proclaimers, Texas, Lulu, The Bay City Rollers, Paulo Nutini, Del Amitri, KT Tunstall, Annie Lennox and more. NO ONE KNOWS (REAL MCKENZIES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £10

The Real McKenzies mark their 25th anniversary with their 10th and very best long-player to date.

COBOLT COLLISION + CROW MOON (EMU WAR + JAMIE & THE BUZZ) BUFF CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

Two rock quartets, one from Preston and the other from Glasgow, headlining The Buff Club.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15

Sun 10 Sep BANFI

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

The London trio hit Broadcast after releasing an album just last year. PETER BROKERICK + DAVID ALLRED

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £12

Voices, violin and upright bass from this duo project, fresh offa the release of their debut album back in April. FAUX PAS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5 - £6

North Yorkshire outfit FFO The Cribs and Placebo. MASEO

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £15

An intimate shindig with the De La Soul hip-hop legend. THE MAINE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15

Arizona-hailing five-piece.

Mon 11 Sep THE RAILS

SISTER JOHN THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7.50

Lo-fi lush from multi-instrumentalists Sister John. DICK VALENTINE

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £12.50

The frontman of Detroit underdogs Electric Six does his solo acoustic thing, all joyful hooks and mischievous wordplay. JARET REDDICK (THE LOUNGE KITTENS)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £28.15

The American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, podcaster, actor and voice actor brings his musical wares to the O2. FLAKES + NEVERMEANT + VETO.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

A night of emo and overdriven sounds tha’ll make you bounce around in every conceivable motion.

Thu 14 Sep SISTER JOHN

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7.50

Lo-fi lush from multi-instrumentalists Sister John. AMOR

MONO, FROM 20:00, £7

A musical collaboration between Luke Fowler, Richard Youngs, Paul Thomson and Michael Duch. LAURA OAKES

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:30, £10

The songwriter swings by Classic Grand.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, TBC

SAVALAS (THE METHOD ONE + THE MORNING RETAKES + TRIMM)

THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

Scottish garage rock quartet from Ayrshire.

Sharp, true folk rock rarely heard since the 70’s.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, TBC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

NE-YO (SONNA RELE)

Tue 12 Sep

LA-based R’n’B artist, producer, actor and dancer who’s so sick of love songs; so tired of tears. Poor tyke.

Celtic Connections glitterati perform a night of inspiring covers, originals and classics. LOWTIDE (FAIIDES)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

Shoegaze and shimmering melodies from the Australian outfit. B BOYS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Trio of ‘psychos that came to be through fate by way of necessity’, with vibrant guitar and deep grooves. JESS & THE BANDITS (KEVIN MCGUIRE + THE STEP BROTHERS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, TBC

Country band Jess and the Bandits are fronted by Texan singersongwriter Jessica Clemmons, backed up by four Brits with an equal love for the genre. MY SECRET SAFE (FRA)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

French Metalcore sets to blow the roof off Bloc’s humble venue.

Wed 13 Sep DYLAN LEBLANC

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £14

Dylan LeBlanc plays CCA as part of a European tour following the release of his latest album, Cautionary Tale. TOM WILLIAMS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Rock “with a commerical edge”, if that’s your thing...?

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £49

TANGERINECAT + TIDES + BELL LUNGS

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , FROM 19:00, TBC

Anti-fash electronics and hurdygurdy from the Ukrainian duo, with cross-disciplinary music-dancevideo performance from Tides and post-folk psychedelic soundscapes from multi-instrumentalist Bell Lungs. GOLDMOLD

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

A showcase of new talent from one of Glasgow’s best DIY labels.

Fri 15 Sep

CHRIS T-T (CHRISSY BARNACLE + LOVERS TURN TO MONSTERS) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10

The Brighton-based troubadour (and, interestingly, the man behind #IamSpartacus) plays a gig at The Glad.

SCARLET (ATLAS RUN + THE GOOD ARMS + CHRIS CAPANNI + BAD JEFF)

BUFF CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

Scarlet kicked off the new year by playing in front of 20,000 people at Tbisili Open Air festival and releasing their debut album Effigy in Japan and the UK. LOWKEY

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £18

JAKE ISAAC

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

Ascendant South London singersongwriter. SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE: SILVER SCREEN SOUNDS

TRAMWAY, FROM 19:30, £5 - £14

A pick’n’mix selection of music witten for the cinema, featuring works by Barber, Copland, Janácek and more. SHAMBOLICS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

PAUL DRAPER

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16

The former former Mansun frontman hits the Wah Wah Hut. CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £16

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah play CCA following the release of their latest album The Tourist earlier this year. SPIRAL STAIRS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Spiral Stairs is the melodic and lyrically honest music project of Scott Kannberg. SUMMERHILL

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £13.50

Scottish jangle pop band formed by former members of Snakes of Shake.

GATECRASHER SCOTLAND (MAURO PICOTTO + SOLARSTOE + SCOTT BOND + MATT DAREY + GUY ORNADEL + DUMONDE + DAVID RUSTE + STEPHEN KIRKWOOD)

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £18.50 - £24.50

Big ol’ trance rager at SWG3.

DISASTOUR: 2017 (THE STUMBLERS + THE SEXY OFFENDERS + BIG KEV AND THE CHIBMARKS + THE FUCK UPS)

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £0 - £6

INFEXIOUS: 10 YEARS

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 20:00, £10

Hardstyle, hard dance and rawstyle (yes, we’re not sure either).

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £21.35

ELVANA: ELVIS FRONTED NIRVANA

Elvis-fronted Nirvana, obvs.

FREAKENDER (HOLY MOUNTAIN + THE BLACK TAMBOURINES + DUDS + THE #1S + MORE)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 19:00, £6-17.50

Freak out with Fuzzkill, El Rancho and Eyes Wide Open. MT. DOUBT + ACRYLIC

THE 13TH NOTE, 19:30, £6-8

Dark Pop sounds at 13th Note.

Sun 17 Sep

FREAKENDER (JACK COOPER + THE BELLYBUTTONS +TOMORROW SYNDICATE + KELORA + CIAN NUGENT)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 19:00, £6-17.50

Freak out with Fuzzkill, El Rancho and Eyes Wide Open.

SKYWALKER (COAST TO COAST UK + PARTING GIFT + NUMBER THEM)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

CHARLY BLISS

NYC power pop unit. VIR DAS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £4 - £8

Comedy and storytelling as Vir Das shares tales of growing up in India, studying in America and way more besides. THE LIQUID ENGINEERS (MAN MACHINE)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

Gary Numan tribute act. JOSH OKEEFE

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

Nashville-based singer-songwriter fresh offa the release of his debut album.

Listings

TRAILER TRASH TRACYS

Kaleidoscopic pop from the London-based quartet with a penchant for solfeggio harmonies. THE SHERLOCKS (THE SNUTS + THE RANZAS)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £14.10

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers. RYAN MCMULLAN

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £10

Young acoustic act from Portaferry. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, TBC

Following their reunion (and the release of new record American Dream on 1 Sep (five stars, would listen again)), LCD Soundsystem play a live show to their loyal subjects at Barrowlands.

Wed 20 Sep AN EVENING OF…

TRON THEATRE, FROM 20:30, £8.50

The Roots of Music trio bring you an evening of Americana and Nashville sounds. DIRTY FENCES

GHOSTFACE KILLAH SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15 - £20

Wu-Tang banger Ghostface Killah does his solo thing, with his inimitable stream-of-consciousness style rap narratives blasted out atop high-energy machine gunlike basslines. SHANE FILAN

SEC, FROM 18:30, £31 - £38

Him from Westlife. You’re busy that night. HENRIK FREISCHLADER

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £16.90

German blues guitarist, singer/ songwriter, producer and autodidactic multi-instrumentalist (aka one talented chap). KING NO-ONE (FANTANAS + ECHO PARK)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Yorkshire indie rock quartet. CORNERSTONED: NORTHERN NIGHTLIGHTS

SUNNY SENSE NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £4

Glasgow-based duo who fuse krautrock, experimental jazz, classical and a wee bit of pop to create a rich, multigenre sound.

SAVE AS #15: EMCEE ALMOND MILK (DTTØ) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

The Save As collective present a sparkling bill of talent for their September outing.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (THE VAN T’S)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £31.45

Riotous, adrenalin-soaked Scottish alternative rock unit in the fuzzy, scuzzy flesh. THE SOUTHMARTINS (DISTRICT 55 + CHERRY HEAD + CHERRY HEART)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £14.10

The Housemartins and Beautiful South tribute act.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

SCOPE (SWVN + BISKER RHYMES + OOKY)

Fri 22 Sep

A night of live musif from Technocom signed four-piece Scope.

Aggressive, heartfelt pop punk. THE WHOLLS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

CHARLIE & THE BHOYS

BARROWLANDS, FROM 14:00, £20

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Bedford-based alternative rock foursome.

Another Barrowland singalong with the Donegal Celtic rockers.

BARNS COURTNEY

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £0 - £6

Sun 24 Sep

NYC alt-indie / rock.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £8.50

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Night with a wedding band, anyone?

Micah P. Hinson brings his new record, a “modern folk opera” to Broadcast.

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £7

THE STEREO BEATS

MICAH P. HINSON & THE HOLY STRANGERS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £15

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £5

Bit of punk for ya.

Heavy rock at Broadcast.

A weegie rock band with a touch of prog to their timbre.

BLOCHESTRA

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Bloc’s own mini orchestra.

Ipswich dolk rock act hitting Edinburgh for a show.

Four-piece dreamy rock’n’roll band inspired by the best guitar based music from the 50s onwards. MEGALOMATIC

Solo side project of Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile, making shimmery guitar pop sounds.

Sat 16 Sep

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £11.25

British singer-songwriter who rose to prominence when his first track Bruises became the fastest streaming track by any new artist.

DUCKTAILS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £11

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8.50

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 19:00, £6-17.50

LEWIS CAPALDI

John Murry has two masterpiece albums, a heartbreaking and astounding life story, and help from American Music Club and Cowboy Junkies.

Tue 19 Sep

Los Angeles-based pop-meetsrock pups, made up of Ellington Ratliff, and siblings Riker, Rocky, Ross, and Rydel Lynch (yes, really).

SAINT LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £10

JOHN MURRY

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £13

After a long hiatus, Lowkey returns. Known for his controversial lyricism, Lowkey is an English rapper and political activist of Iraqi descent who first became known through a series of mixtapes released when he was just a teenager.

FREAKENDER (LYLO + PLEASURE POOL + BANANA OIL + MARBLE GODS)

Freak out with Fuzzkill, El Rancho and Eyes Wide Open.

Mon 18 Sep

QUEER THEORY

STEVIE NIMMO TRIO

One-half of the Nimmo Brothers, Stevie Nimmo – a longstanding figure in the blues and roots world Ð plays with his own live band trio.

BAD SLEEP (PALE KIDS + AUSTEROS)

An alternative evening of music, poetry, comedy and drag.

Power pop trio from Olympia, WA.

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, TBC

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £11.25

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

Following their reunion (and the release of new record American Dream on 1 Sep (five stars, would listen again)), LCD Soundsystem play a live show to their loyal subjects at Barrowlands.

ROCK YOUR COCCYX: AN EVENING OF ROCK, POETRY & SHENANIGANS (AUDIODRIVER + ST. PROVIDENCE + VIPERA BERUS + DEATH TO NOODLES + BRORA WOLF + ANNA SECRET POET) CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, FREE

Five bands spanning genres including, punk, rock’n’roll and hard rock.

Thu 21 Sep

OMNI (BREAKFAST MUFF)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9

Featuring ex Deerhunter guitarist Frankie Broyles, Atlanta based Omni play lo-fi pop that channels the spectre of the late 70s and early 80s. For fans of Television, Devo, and Pylon.

BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION: HEART OF SCOTLAND DINNER

ORAN MOR, FROM 18:30, £60

British Heart Foundation throw a fundraiser with a drinks reception, three course meal with tea and coffee, live entertainment, auction and more. MARK MCGUIRE (ANCIENT OCEAN + PEFKIN + I A)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

Ambient/minimalist muso from Cleveland, now going solo following his recent split from the band he helped found – Emeralds.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

NINA

Load up on synth pop and synthwave courtesy of London-based, Berlin-raised talent NINA. VULFPECK

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, TBC

American funk group responsible for the unnervingly catchy track Back Pocket. NERVO

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £19.50 - £27.60

The Australian sister duo (aka Mim and Liv Nervo) play a headline set, matching big melodic hooks with unashamedly dirty beats. LUCIDS (PLASTIC POETRY)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Four piece alternative band from Central Scotland. SKIPINNISH

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £25

Scottish Trad Award-winning band embarking on their next tour.

Sat 23 Sep

CEÒL’S CRAIC: OIDHCHE AMERICANA

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:45, £12

Oidhche Americana celebrates the links between Celtic and American traditional music. Stars of the contemporary Gaelic music scene perform country heartbreakers and honky tonkin’ good timers. AVEC SANS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Avec Sans are Alice Fox and Jack St James, an electro-pop band from Manchester and Trinidad well known for their energetic electronic shows.

IL SOGNO DEL MARINAIO (FT. MIKE WATT)

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

Mike Watt, founding member of seminal California punk band the Minutemen, teams up with Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia – with whom he released the 2009 album La Busta Gialla. BO NINGEN

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £12

Japanese four-piece acid punk band consisting of Taigen Kawabe, Yuki Tsujii, Kohhei Matsuda and Monchan Monna. JAMES YUILL

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

One-man electro folk.

GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH (THE POOCHES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

Portland surf ensemble. AGNIESZKA CHYLINSKA

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £29.50

The former vocalist in Polish rock band O.N.A. and self-titled unit Chylinska, now solo following the 2009 release of LP Modern Rocking. EMILY MIDDLEMAS

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £10

The Glaswegian X Factor finalist hits Classic Grand. SIGUR ROS

SEC, FROM 18:30, £31.20 - £42.50

The Icelandic ambient post-rockers par excellence tour their latest works. GAVIN OSBORN & THE COMMENT SECTION

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 18:00, £8.55

The fire-bellied raconteur touches down in The Glad Cade on the last show of his UK tour. WATERPARKS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, TBC

Texas trio who’re big fans of Ke$ha, apparently.

MICHAEL NAU (THE SAXOPHONES)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

An evening of alternative / indie vibes

THE SKINNY

HUXTABLE (FUCHSIA + LITTLE HANDS OF SILVER + ANIMALS TO CREATORS) KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Riff rock duo band based in Ayrshire Huxtable play a show with the bassy, percussive sound of London band Arrows Of Time and rock band PYRO.

Sat 30 Sep I LOVE THE 90’S TOUR

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £35

After selling out arenas across America, I Love the 90s invites the UK to reminisce about the trendsetting decade with some of the most iconic, indelible names in rap, hip hop and R’n’B. WOLFGANG FLÜR

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £15.50

The ex-Kraftwerk percussionist celebrates his latest album at Stereo.

Mon 25 Sep HOLLOWAY ROAD

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

Aka Jack Cooper and Robert Gulston, whose country pop hails from Southend-on-Sea. THE BLACK ANGELS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £17

The experimental psych-styled Texan ensemble take to the road. SIGUR ROS

SEC, FROM 18:30, £31.20 - £42.50

The Icelandic ambient post-rockers par excellence tour their latest works. JUANITA STEIN

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

Howling Bells frontwoman, heading out with her solo tracks. THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

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

Tue 26 Sep KAWEHI

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £18.50

Hawaiian singer/songwriter big on the catchy hooks and soul-baring lyrics. SLIM CESSNA’S AUTO CLUB

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Get a live preachin’ of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club’s commandments. LAZY DAY

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

The Lost Map signees hit H&P with their lo-fi dreamy-grunge sound. GOOD MORNING

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

Australian duo FFO Mac Demarco. BUSH

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £31.45

Multi-platinum Gavin Rossdale-led band of rockers taking in Glasgow as part of their European tour. MICHELLE BRANCH

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15

The Nashville pop rock talent tours with new record Hopeless Romantic. MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

One boy, one girl, lost somewhere in between The Melvins and Taylor Swift all the way from OZ.

Wed 27 Sep

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £40 - £55

Throughout his thirty year career with the Bad Seeds, Nick Cave has nary put a cloven hoof wrong. Go clamour for a ticket to this live airing of his catalogue. NEW FOUND GLORY

O2 ABC, FROM 18:00, £22.50

The American pop-meets-punk lot hit the road with their new LP, Resurrection.

WE CAME FROM THE NORTH (FRANTIC)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £4 - £6

The Edinburgh instrumental post-rock quartet pairing heavy distortion to melodic, delayed guitars and driven drum beats.

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT & HEATHER HORTON THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

An evening of both Heather and Michael performing solo, as well delving into The Westies catalogue.

Thu 28 Sep SOFT KILL

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

Portland Oregon’s Soft Kill are a band inspired by the Chameleons, Wire and The Sound. THIRD EYE BLIND

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £4 - £8

San Francisco rockers based around the songwriting of Stephan Jenkins and Brad Hargreaves. WHENWEWEREDEAD (ANCIENT OF DAYS)

DECEMBER

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £4 - £8

December, a band influenced by the likes of Springsteen and The Jesus and Mary Chain play Oran Mor. TENEMENT TRAIL 2017 (THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT + ANTEROS + THE BIG MOON + DEAD PRETTIES + SWAY)

VARIOUS VENUES INCLUDING NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, THE GLAD CAFE, O2 ABC, FROM 14:00, £22

Glasgow media dudes Tenement TV host their annual music fest, feat. all the above plus The Temperance Movement, The Big Moon, Catholic Action , Anteros LIFE, Emme Woods, LUCIA, Rascalton, Stevie Parker, SWAY and Fauves.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, FREE

ARMELLODIE: YIP MAN + EWAN CRUIKSHANKS + CUDDLY SHARK + GALOSHINS

REDWOOD MOUNTAIN

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6 - £7

Weegie metal band formed in June 2014. THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Dean Owens and traditional fiddle player Amy Geddes come together to form a brand new duo performing transatlantic folk songs. LOYLE CARNER

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20.20

The MC from South London stops off with more stirring, confessional hip-hop. AQUILO

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £9

Electronic duo, dreamily atmospheric and addicted to melancholy. STRETCHED

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The secret meeting place of contemporary jazz-enthused savants.

Fri 29 Sep MOMUS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

The mighty Momus (aka the alter ego of artist, musician and writer Nick Currie) rips through every musical style imaginable with lethal lyrical ease, as is his merry way. THE HIGH FLIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, TBC

Skimming the cream of Glasgae’s finest poetry, comedy and musical talent. COLOURS CLASSICAL

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 19:30, £39.75 - £43.70

A classical music and club night synthesis, featuring the Scottish Festival Orchestra, guest DJs and a selection of vocalists. THE SEA ATLAS

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5.80

Armellodie party it up in honour of their 10th year as an indie record label. Music, booze and cake – what’s not to like? GUNZ FOR HIRE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £16.90 - £27.60

A night of hardstyle as Gunz For Hire bring their Armed & Dangerous World Tour to Glasgow.

THE HAVANAS (THE MOODY CHANTS + HORIZONS END = LAST LIGHT) THE RECORD FACTORY, FROM 19:30, £4 - £5

Indie, blues and rock’n’roll vibes.

Edinburgh Music Mon 04 Sep SOUNDHOUSE: ÍMAR

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, Soundhouse host a special set from Ímar. THE WILDE

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Loud, raw, adrenaline powered rock’n’roll.

JEFFREY LEWIS + THE BURNING HELL + THE JUST JOANS (THE BURNING HELL + THE JUST JOAN)

HIBS SUPPORTERS CLUB, FROM 19:00, £9 - £10

The indie singer-songwriting legend Jeff Lewis comes to Leith, with support by The Burning Hell & The Just Joans, all playing acoustic sets.

Tue 05 Sep LEWIS CAPALDI

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, TBC

British singer-songwriter who rose to prominence when his first track Bruises became the fastest streaming track by any new artist.

Wed 06 Sep

THE BEAT (DAVE WAKELING)

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £20

One of the most popular and influential bands of the British two tone ska movement. FANGCLUB

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £7

With grungy 90s riffs over a throbbing pop heart, Fangclub are a deafening feedback loop of leather and amp stacks with a sugary sweet edge. NEON WALTZ

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Neon Waltz return to play at Sneaky Pete’s following the release of their debut LP Strange Hymns. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB (TANNAHILL WEAVERS)

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £7 - £10

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

The ‘burgh indie-rockers play a hometown show, adept at combining delicate melodies and harmonies with doses of all-out noisiness.

Sat 09 Sep

TONY WRIGHT (TERRORVISION)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £11 - £13

The legendary Brit rocker performs a special acoustic show. MILES & ERICA OF THE WONDER STUFF

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £14

The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls are touring the UK in support of their third studio album, spanning their new material and the older Wonder Stuff classics. LIVING BODY (URVANOVIC)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Living Body is the new project from Leeds-based Chicagoan Jeff T. Smith (FKA Juffage) featuring longtime collaborators Katie Harkin and Tom Evans. MEURSAULT (SAM GOODWILL + HAILEY BEAVIS)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, TBC

Neil Pennycook and his Meursault cohorts take to Henry’s. THE GOLD ROLLERS

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

Edinburghian rock’n’roll band.

THE RHYTHM ‘N’ BOOZE WHISKY CLUB (TOBY MOTTERSHEAD)

ASSEMBLY ROXY, FROM 19:30, £25

An evening of Polish hip hop and DJs.

STEVIE R PEARCE & THE HOOLIGANS

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

Hard rock and garage blues at Bannermans. AND YET IT MOVES

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

A new monstrous group by Dale Barclay formerly of The Amazing Snakeheads. COMMUNITY RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Weekly radio show presented by Palms resident and purveyor of passion plus sensual positivity Jacuzzi General. Exploring music from around the world. What it was, what it is, what it shall be. Plus special guests.

Fri 08 Sep

THE REAL MCKENZIES (COUNTING COINS + TARTAN HEATHER + BALSAL HEATHENS)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:00, £10

BUFF CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

CLOUDBUSTING: THE MUSIC OF KATE BUSH

Brighton based indie rock/pop band.

An evening of Kate Bush bangers.

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £28.65

Starting off as a two-piece and gaining record label interest and heavy praise from BBC Radio in a short time span, Sugarspun have now became a five-piece and claim they’ll give you the time of your life.

SUGARSPUN (AURORA BLUES + NASARI + TWO MINDS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

September 2017

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

Pop punk from four men residing in Glasgow who take influence from Neck Deep, All Time Low and State Champs.

LAND OF CAKES (KINGS OF CHEEZE + NERO DA ZERO)

Thu 07 Sep

Original Jam member Bruce Foxton swings by Oran Mor for a belter.

LOST IN STEREO

The country / folk band (which, incidentally features members of The Amphetameanies and Junkmans Choir) launch a concert to celebrate the release of new split LP Dead Man’s Vigilance.

A new kind of whisky tasting, hosted by Forbes whisky blogger Felipe Schrieberg, featuring local bands.

Canadian punk rockers, back for a killer show.

FROM THE JAM

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, £6

As they approach their 50th anniversary in 2018, the Tannahill Weavers are one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands. Their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies.

.Atmospheric folk rock from the Isle of Lewis drawing influence from the Hebridean winter surroundings. LUNA BLUE

THE HOOLITS (THE FNORDS + NORMAL SILVER & THE BOHEMIAN GROVE)

Sun 10 Sep

O.S.T.R + HADES (EMIGRACZE + PARALETIC UNIVERSE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–23:00, £20 - £25

CAMPBELL’S WILD (GENTLEMEN JACKALS + ALL SO SIMPLE + PEYTON PLACE)

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £5

Campbell’s Wild headline The Mash House with their pals on the last date of their summer Work On Monday tour. PINACT

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Pinact return with a UK tour and their turn-it-up-to-11 guitar sounds, outstanding melodic riffs and crashing cymbals. They release their new album The Part That No One Knows this August.

Thu 14 Sep

TV SMITH (BILLY LIAR + PAPER RIFLES)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

The Adverts punk legend plays intimate acoustic show. STEEL PAN FUSION

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, FREE

Londons Steel Pan Fusion kick off their UK summer tour after the successful launch of their debut album Melting Pot late last year. ILL FITTING THOUGHTS (CHOKA + PRETTY VILLAIN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Ill Fitting Thoughts present a transcendent evening of psychedelic blues rock to release their hard hitting single Haze. Featuring as special guests for the evening are psycho-surf trio Choka and Glasgow based rockers Pretty Villain. CHECK YOURSELF!

WEE RED BAR, FROM 20:00, FREE

Welcome Week party for BME, disabled, LGBT+ and women students (and their pals), hosted by the Students’ Association’s four Liberation Campaigns!

DOPESICKFLY (THE MICRO BAND + DJ KOALA TEA? )

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, FROM 19:00, £5

Founded in the summer 2015 having busked the streets of Glasgow, DopeSickFly jammed and evolved their sounds into a soulful / acid jazz / rock fusion with just the right amount of funk.

Fri 15 Sep

THE ORIGINAL GARY MOORE BAND

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £14

The Original Gary Moore Band (featuring Mick Simpson, Vic Martin, Pete Rees and Graham Walker) offer the unique opportunity to relive a night in the company of a legend. ELIZA NEALS AND THE NARCOTICS

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–01:00, £8

Eliza Neals’ mesmerizing voice and her band the Narcotics create and electrifying blues rock that crafts beautiful psychedelic rock and southern soul. RYAN ADAMS

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £33

The ever-prolific alternative country superstar continues to ride the wave of his fourteenth LP. DAVID FORD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £11

With four critically-acclaimed studio albums, songwriter David Ford is essential listening for anyone who gives a damn about music.

BABY STRANGE (RASCALTON + PLEASURE HEADS + LUCIA)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

Wed 20 Sep TOM BLACKWELL

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Spoonful-signed Liverpudlian touting his wares live.

SPARKS: THE HIPPOPOTAMUS TOUR

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:00, £24

Cali bros Ron and Russell Mael bring heir shaken-up pop sounds to the Queen’s Hall. THE NATIONAL

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £36.75

Glaswegian three-piece punk band (with a dash of grunge) veering between drones and dirges, wearing their art and world views on their sleeve.

Mighty American indie-rock outfit made up of singer Matt Berninger, twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and regular brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf.

TALBOT RICE GALLERY, 19:00–01:00, FREE

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Micah P. Hinson is an old fashioned trouble man for whom music was a saviour.

BONNIE 2ROPICAL (HAUSFRAU + EYES OF OTHERS + JACUZZI GENERAL + TOTAL LEATHERETTE)

A multimedia event held in association with the Talbot Rice to celebrate Paradise Palms Records’ second compilation release. Live performances, video installations from ECA students. Talbot Rice Gallery, 7-11pm followed by an afterparty at PP.

THE FIRST ANNUAL TURBOJUGEND (DEADEYES + BRATAKUS + MOTHERS LOVE + DIRTY PICKUPS) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:05, TBC

Good beer, good music, good food, good times and men in kilts. SCARLET (CHUCHOTER + MACHU)

OPIUM, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

Scarlet kicked off the new year by playing in front of 20,000 people at Tbisili Open Air festival and releasing their debut album Effigy in Japan and the UK.

Sun 17 Sep

NIKNAK (PADDY STEERS)

PARADISE PALMS, 20:00–01:00, FREE

Lovers of the unorthodox NikNak host another unique Sunday special. Paddy Steers has made a name for himself living in the left field of music offering up his considerable talents on everything from jazz drumming to Hawaiian guitar.

THE FIRST ANNUAL TURBOJUGEND (DEADEYES + BRATAKUS + MOTHERS LOVE + DIRTY PICKUPS)

MICAH P. HINSON + THE HOLY STRANGERS (L.A SALAMI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £15

Thu 21 Sep ERJA LYYTINEN

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £13.75 - £20

Finnish slide guitarist and singersongwriter, hitting the Caves for her Stolen Hearts UK tour. THE NATIONAL

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £36.75

Mighty American indie-rock outfit made up of singer Matt Berninger, twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and regular brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf. DUDS (SWEATY PALMS + ‘NICE CHURCH’)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

A tight Mancunian five-piece that is centred around sharp bursts of rhythmical energy. COMMUNITY RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL )

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £15

Good beer, good music, good food, good times and men in kilts.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:05, TBC

Edinburgh septet who specialise in acid croft (a tasty blend of trad and dance grooves).

Mon 18 Sep

Fri 22 Sep

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

SOUNDHOUSE: 3HATTRIO

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, Soundhouse host a special set from 3hattrio, a band comprising banjo, guitar, fiddle and double bass. BARNS COURTNEY

Ipswich dolk rock act hitting Edinburgh for a show.

VOODOO SIX (SKAM + JAG)

UK metal outfit touring to promote a new album. SOUL JAM: VICE CITY (PERCY MAIN + TUESDAY GONZALEZ)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Brush down your pink sports jacket and buff up your loafers as for one night only your tropical local transforms into the Malibu Club as Soul Jam puts the wiggle in your jiggle and soundtracks a night exclusively from GTA: Vice City’s Radio Waves.

TTWM: THE VAN T’S (THE MOTION POETS +/ STAR)

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, FROM 19:00, £7

Surf pop twin duo balancing rock swagger with sugary pop melodies.

Sat 16 Sep SCOPYONS

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

Alternative rock from Waterloo, Ontario. TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, FROM 20:00, £5

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £15

Channelling the late 70’s CBGB’s era of New York city’s punk rock scene, Glasgow two-piece Bad Mannequins have now revealed their raucous sound to a new generation. Support from Betty & the Bass and Fuzzystar.

A pick’n’mix selection of music witten for the cinema, featuring works by Barber, Copland, Janácek and more.

John Murry has two masterpiece albums, a heartbreaking and astounding life story, and help from American Music Club and Cowboy Junkies.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:05, TBC

Scorpions tribute make a welcome return to the stage to Rock You Like A Hurricane.

BAD MANNEQUINS (BETTY & THE BASS + FUZZYSTAR )

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £0 - £16

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £8

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

SCOTTISH ENSEMBLE: SILVER SCREEN SOUNDS

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, TBC

London based multi-instrumentalists Eugene and Paul bring their emotionally intense, synthy electronic sound to Henry’s.

Good beer, good music, good food, good times and men in kilts.

AMBERWOOD

Tue 19 Sep

THE FIRST ANNUAL TURBOJUGEND (DEADEYES + BRATAKUS + MOTHERS LOVE + DIRTY PICKUPS)

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes The Society Syncopators Dance Orchestra, an 11 piece band who specialise in British and American dancing music from the twenties and thirties.

JOHN MURRY SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £13

TANGERINECAT (NEW URBAN FRONTIER + CLAQUER)

Mon 11 Sep

SOUNDHOUSE: THE SOCIETY SYNCOPATORS

LOWKEY THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £16

RUTS DC

Formerly known as The Ruts – a much loved band of the punk rock era.

Listings

SIR PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE (STEREOCILIA + BELL LUNGS) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, TBC

An evening of live tunes headlined by Chicago band Sir Plastic Crimewave. INVISIBLE DEARS

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

Psych folk band nipping into the Wee Red for a set. UPSTAIRS (STEPHEN MCLAREN + BRAVE LITTLE NOTE + ERRANT BOY)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 00:00, £7

Stephen McLaren launches his new album at Leith Depot’s Upstairs series.

Sat 23 Sep SHANE FILAN

FESTIVAL THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £30 - £52.50

Him from Westlife. You’re busy that night. THE SWAGGER

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, TBC

North London duo specialising in indie, alternative, acoustic, folk, pop and punk. SCRUFF OF THE NECK: AYAKARA

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £7

Adrenaline groove for the soul, coming soon to a universe near you (also known as The Mash House). SNJO: MARTIN TAYLOR IN THE SPIRIT OF DJANGO

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £5 - £24

Tommy Smith and The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra welcome jazz guitarist Martin Taylor Mbe to perform the music of Django Reinhardt. LEZURE TAKEOVER

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The Lezure DJ collective, a group of pals renowned for booking some of the most interesting artists, local and international are bring their ethos of non-genre- specific dance music to the decks at Paradise Palms for a special tropicalocal take-over. DAREFEST (DAYTIME)

WEE RED BAR, FROM 10:30, £2 - £25

Workshops and discussions from Scottish Women’s Aid, Ashley Stein and Lou Mclean Music, plus stands from different feminist and LGBTQ+ organisations in Edinburgh. Open to female-identifying/nonbinary people only. DAREFEST (EVENING)

Thu 28 Sep

EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (THORBJORN RISAGER AND THE BLACK TORNADO + MAIN STREET BLUES) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £13

Edinburgh Blues Club is a Social Enterprise established to harness popular support for a regular blues events in Edinburgh to ensure that the city and surrounding areas do not miss out on quality touring blues acts.

Atmospheric folk rock from the Isle of Lewis drawing influence from the Hebridean winter surroundings. COMMUNITY RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL )

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

DEVA PREMAL & MITEN WITH MANOSE: TEMPLE AT NIGHT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £22.50 - £25

The traveling duo, still going 26 years strong, hit Queens Hall with their new Temple at Midnight tour. AVEC SANS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Avec Sans are Alice Fox and Jack St James, an electro-pop band from Manchester and Trinidad well known for their energetic electronic shows.

Mon 25 Sep

SOUNDHOUSE: JAMES LINDSAY

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, Soundhouse host a special set from genrehopping bass player James Lindsay.

Wed 27 Sep ASHENSKY

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

A night of rock/pop/country.

LA LA LAND: LIVE ON-SCREEN WITH ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £43.45 - £71.50

Remember that film you thought had gone away now? Nope. LAZY DAY (BREAKFAST MUFF + HAILEY BEAVIS)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, £7

The Lost Map signees hit Conroy’s with their lo-fi dreamy-grunge sound.

Dundee Music Tue 05 Sep

JEFFREY LEWIS (THE BURNING HELL)

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, £8

Wed 06 Sep

SUBHUMANS

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:00, TBC

Hardcore and chaotic punk from the Wiltshire mentalists (two words very rarely used consecutively). STRANGE BONES

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £5

Two brothers and their mate, busy constructing raw noise rock.

Mon 04 Sep BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

Fri 29 Sep

OPIUM, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Glasgow Clubs

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Four piece rock band based in Edinburgh, driven equally by Lidl’s bakery goods and creating fresh music.

THE BLACK FEATHERS

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, 19:00–22:30, £10

Folk-rock paired voices of Sian Chandler and Ray Hughes.

Sat 09 Sep

IRIE LION SOUND (RUDY ALBA + VFLAMBDA) (REGGAE DJS)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 05 Sep KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic Tuesday nighter playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

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

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

Wed 06 Sep

LIGHTS OUT (JOSE PERMO)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Italo disco, funky house and detroit techno. WRAP-IT

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

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

CONROY’S BASEMENT, 20:00–02:30, £6

Reggae and roots music to nourish your soul.

Thu 07 Sep

KEITH JAMES IN CONCERT: THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–01:00, FREE

Tue 12 Sep

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop.

Keith James performs music from the back catalogue of the most enigmatic, mysterious and sub textural songwriter the English speaking world has ever known. FLINT & PITCH

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Flint & Pitch rustle up another beauteous eve of poetry and music for your delectation.

Sun 24 Sep THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £10

OPIUM, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Energetic four-piece rock band based in London.

Born and raised New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book artist and indie-rock musician, sharing some aesthetic songwriting territory with the likes of Sebadoh, Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman or Kimya Dawson.

BELLAROSE (MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD + GLASS SHIPS)

Gilbert Varga and four handpicked soloists share the ingenious works of Xiaogang Ye, alongside works by Benjamin Britten.

Echoes of great artists such as Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and Nina Simone can be heard in the soulful sons of Siobhan Wilson.

FIGHTING WOLVES (SLEEPLESS GIANTS + GROUCHO UNDERDOG + BURN THE MAPS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

RSNO GALA CONCERTS: CHINA STORY

SIOBHAN WILSON

WEE RED BAR, 15:00–23:00, £30

Another soul music rendezvous in the capital featuring the above plus John Hosley, Dave Hazelgrave, Pete Hollander and Keith Whitson.

THE SEA ATLAS (MISS IRENIE ROSE + FISHER & SUNDERLAND)

WEE RED BAR, 19:30–22:00, £5 - £25

Music from some of the best riot grrrl acts in the country.

TRUE SOUL WEEKENDER (CLIFF STEEL + JAMES O’CONNOR)

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £18 - £36

TRUE SOUL WEEKENDER (LARS BULNHEIM + DAVE THORLEY + DAVE RAISTRICK + ALBERTO ZANINI)

WEE RED BAR, 12:00–17:30, £30

Another soul music rendezvous in the capital featuring the above plus John Hosley, Dave Hazelgrave, Pete Hollander and Keith Whitson.

SHAMBOLICS (BETTY & THE BASS + NASARI) OPIUM, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Four-piece dreamy rock’n’roll band inspired by the best guitar based music from the 50s onwards.

Sat 30 Sep

DIVINE CHAOS (FORGOTTEN REMAINS + KINGPIN + IRON ALTAR)

BANNERMANS, FROM 18:00, £6 - £8

A night of metal for all the headbangers.

EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (PAUL LAMB AND THE KINGSNAKES + LIGHTS OUT BY NINE)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £13

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £18 - £23

A sparkly eve of musical magic and sharp humour from Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham on their 31st year of working together. SAM BROOKES

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

London based songsmith Sam Brookes is one of the UK alt-folk’s best kept secrets, and his acclaimed 2014 album Kairos was tipped by The Independent for a Mercury Prize nomination.

BABY STRANGE (SAHARA + THE RANKINES)

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £8

Glaswegian three-piece punk band (with a dash of grunge) veering between drones and dirges, wearing their art and world views on their sleeve.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Thu 14 Sep

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

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £12

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

THE RUTS

UNHOLY

Reggae-influenced punk-rockers who reformed in 2012.

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:00, £5

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

HARD RAIN

ALL NIGHT PASSION

The songs of Bob Dylan, live at Clarks.

Jump on the night train and be taken on a journey through disco, love and magic.

Sat 16 Sep

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

SERGEANT (CAROUSEL)

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Four-piece indie rock band from Glenrothes, Fife. SINNERBOY

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £10

Rory Gallagher tribute act.

FIRST DATES (SPOOK SCHOOL DJS)

Post-everything indie disco with free entry.

Fri 08 Sep

MISSING PERSONS CLUB (ANASTASIA KRISTENSEN) LA CHEETAH, 23:00, £5-8

Sun 24 Sep

Emerging techno champion with a high-octane mixing style.

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:00, £6

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure.

WHITEHILL GROVE (THE KALAHARIS + THE RANKINES)

Anthemic indie rock from Edinburgh.

Thu 28 Sep STRANGE BONES

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 19:00, £5

Two brothers and their mate, busy constructing raw noise rock. LAZY DAY (JOSHUA GRAY)

CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 19:00, £5

The Lost Map signees hit Conroy’s with their lo-fi dreamy-grunge sound. SHAMBOLICS (THE GOOD DOCTOR)

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:00, £6

Four-piece dreamy rock’n’roll band inspired by the best guitar based music from the 50s onwards.

OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. DEATHKILL 4000

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

An eclectic clubnight which carousels through the genres of industrial, rap and electro. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 22:00, FREE

OH141 honcho Sarra Wild plays her monthly disco / Afro / house and world boogie night.

PROPAGANDA O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. ANNA & HOLLY’S DANCE PARTY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Rock’n’roll prom night extravaganza. FRIDAY NIGHTS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH! FRIDAY

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £0 - £6

Resident John McLean stirs up a fresh night of tunes for your delectation. RETURN TO MONO (SLAM & REBEKAH)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12

Monthly night from Soma Records taking in popular techno offerings of all hues, this month welcoming Slam and CLR prodigy Rebekah. LITTLE THOUGHTS

THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00, £3

A trip back in time to the days of MTV2 and 120 Minutes.

Sat 09 Sep NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SINGLES NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Andy Divine and Chris Geddes’ gem of a night dedicated to 7-inch singles from every genre imaginable. MONSTER HOSPITAL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Botch meets Beyonce DJ smash – a club night like no other. LOOSEN UP (FERGUS CLARK + DAVID BARBAROSSA + CHARLIE MCCANN)

THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00, £3

A second slice of Loosen Up which sees the All Stars delve deeper into their vast collections. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

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

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 22:00, FREE

The collective responsible for creating space for female, queer and marginalised voices throw on a rammy. ROYALE SATURDAYS

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. LET’S GO BACK TO RAVE (BOSCO + ROB MASON)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Rave. Belgian techno, rave and Detroit techno 1990 -1995.

SUBCULTURE XXX (SCHWARZMANN) (ÂME) SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £20

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests. SUPERMAX IS 10!

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £8

Supermax is arguably Glasgow’s most beloved cult disco institution, a sweaty riot that brings together good people and great tunes. LUIGI MADONNNA B2B ROBERTO CAPUANO

SWG3, 9:00PM, £15

One more night of night of Neapolitan techno at the Warehouse.

Listings

Sun 10 Sep SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

Mon 11 Sep BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 12 Sep KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic Tuesday nighter playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

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

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

Wed 13 Sep WRAP-IT

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

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage. DON’T BE GUTTED

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Patter champs Kiddney and Kedoja don their DJ gear for a night of party jams alongside Bluth and Criss.

ENJOYABLE MOMENT BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Cosmic Dead curated avanteelectro psyche-out DJs. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. WRONG HANDS

PARTIAL: 3RD BIRTHDAY

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Partial celebrate three big ones at La Cheetah. DATE NIGHT

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup. ELECTRIC SALSA (FYI CHRIS + BISSET)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Two south London DJ / producers playing their Scottish debuts.

SUB CLUB XXX (DUBFIRE ALL NIGHT LONG)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12 - £15

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

CLUB CHAI (8ULENTINA + FOOZOOL + DEEP BRANDY ALBUM CUTS + VOMIT69) THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

Party at The Art School.

Fri 15 Sep OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. DANSE MACABRE

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £5

Cake, drinks, and a whole lot of spooky fun. Don’t bite the Freshers. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.

MOJO WORKIN’ (FELONIOUS MUNK)

THE RUM SHACK, 20:00–01:00, £2

Sun 17 Sep NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 22:00, FREE

Wrap yourself up in this club night for lovers.

Art School residents Night of the Jaguar bring the flavour of their parties to the bar every fourth Saturday of the month.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £15

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

ANIMAL FARM: FUNCTION (FUNCTION + QUAIL + TURTLE)

The Animal Farm troops take to the Subbie booth. ELLEORDE PRESENTS

THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00, TBC

One half of Den Haan/Creme de Menthe, presenting a secret guest from Sweden – keep your eyes peeled.

Sat 16 Sep NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

BOOGALOO FRESHERS PARTY (DON’T DROP)

FLAT 0/1, FROM 22:00, FREE

A night of Northern soul, motown, 60s R’n’B, ska and more.

FRIDAY NIGHTS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

JELLY BABY

BODY PARTS

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £6 - £8

With Eurotrashy bangers on floor 1 and and new wave disco, house and techno on floor 2, plus performance and living sculpture by Frankie Mulholland, Suds & Sllim, Aquila Hassan & Horse Whisperer.

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Thu 14 Sep HIP HOP THURSDAYS

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12 - £15

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

This Boogaloo knees-up is a free entry affair, featuring the Flat 0/1 regulars plus special guests DJs, the Don’t Drop residents Kris McEwan and Andrew Torrance.

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 22:00, FREE

Another night of eclectic selections from Subcity’s Wrong hands.

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.

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop.

SUBCULTURE XXX (HARRI & DOMENIC) (DERRICK CARTER)

THE ROCK SHOP

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. FANTASTIC MAN

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Incoherent madness for those with a deathwish. CODE (VSK + NICK MORROW)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

SHOW (MK) (KC LIGHTS)

Dance icon Marc Kinchen brings good vibes, eclectic samples and infectious beats to Edinburgh, with lights by KC. SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

Mon 18 Sep BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 19 Sep KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic Tuesday nighter playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

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

Underground techno specialists Code throw another blazer at La Cheets.

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Wed 20 Sep

THE LANCE VANCE DANCE

Multi-hued adventure travelling through 70s funk, motown and 80s R’n’B, highlighted with glorious rays of disco sunshine. Or summat. SYCOPHANTASY

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 22:00, FREE

Cross-genre wild child Sycophantasy is one part of Push It, has played alongside Paula Temple and has risen through the ranks in the Glasgow DJ scene. Who knows what she’ll play, but it will be good. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

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

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage. ROYALE SATURDAYS

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. RUN THE WORLD

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £6 - £10

SWG3-based party paying tribute to the best women in hip-hop and R’n’B.

GOLDEN TEACHER

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Silk Cut and Ultimate Thrush collab, equal parts playful, experimental and danceable – taking cues from leftfield disco, acid house, electronic body music and various forms of African dance music. WRAP-IT

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

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage.

PALA (JG WILLKES + RESIDENTS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Sub Club and Panorama talent Domenic takes the reins at La Cheetah.

Thu 21 Sep HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

THE SKINNY

DRUGSTORE GLAMOUR

I LOVE GARAGE

UNHOLY

I LOVE GARAGE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Maxed out messy vibes; trashy, tacky, glamorous and ridiculous. Oh, and fun, too. Very fun. DABJ X EDWIN (BABA STILTZ + DIXON AVENUE BASMENT JAMS + BIG MIZ)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

DABJ are the sound of house and raw techno in Glasgow right now. Get involved at La Cheets. SHOW X 432 (RICHY AHMED)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10 - £12

fourthirtytwo label party hosted by honcho Richy Ahmed, who’s been busying himself with Jamie Jones’ Paradise in Ibizia all summer.

Fri 22 Sep OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

A night of left-field, experimental and classic hip-hop including free vegan baked goods. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. FRIDAY NIGHTS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue.

COOKING (PALMS TRAX + JM MOSER + SOFAY)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £12

Palms Trax continues his residency in La Cheetah. GO FUNK YOUR SOUL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

YOU HEARD THEM. Go get sweaty. THUNDER DISCO IS 8: (MAURICE FULTON) (HAMMER & JUBÉ)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

No frills all thrills eighth party with disco don Maurice Fulton.

INVISIBLE INC PRES NIKNAK (NIKNAK + IMMACULATE RIVOMBO) THE RUM SHACK, 20:00–01:00, £3

Paradise Palm dwellers NikNak join Invisible Inc for the night plus a live set from the Immaculate Rivombo. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £16.50

The dance party journey through time returns to make merry for a one-off airing, sticking to its tried-and-tested schtick of playing a hit a year from 1945 to present day, accompanied by screens playing the original videos.

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Rising techno star, Flug, takes to La Cheetah. JOINTS N JAMS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

The very best old skool hip-hop with a side plate of live percussion. SUBCULTURE (FRANKEY & SANDRINO) (HARRI & DOMENIC)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests. TRIASSIC TUSK’S WAX & WAYNE (TRIASSIC TUSK DJS) THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00, TBC

With past guests including Greg Belson, King Creosote, Withered Hand, Jo Foster and The Sexual Objects, expect a host of live goodness and rare wax delights. SUGO ITALIAN TRASH DISCO

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Shake what you got to the sound of the best of the worst Italo/Euro trash from the last four decades.

Sun 24 Sep SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes thorough the night. ON THE HOUSE & BROKEN DISCO

THE COURTYARD, 16:00–00:00, £7 - £10

Head along to this On The House & Broken Disco Sunday event to discover a state of the art soundsystem and some very special guests.

Mon 25 Sep BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 26 Sep KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic Tuesday nighter playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

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

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

Sat 23 Sep

Wed 27 Sep

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

NU SKOOL

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. I AM: 90S RAVE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £6 - £10

Back by popular demand – ask and you shall receive, it seems.

WRAP-IT

DJ Craig cures your Wednesday woes at The Garage. ALGORHYTHM (FEDE LNG)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £7

Soulful lo-fi treats courtesy of Axe On Wax and Axe Traxx don Fede Lng. FREAK LIKE ME

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Sultry new hip-hop, disco and soul night at Sleazy’s.

Thu 28 Sep HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup. BREAKFAST CLUB

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Gerry Lyons delivers 80s and 90s pop and rock hits. RENEGADES OF FUNK

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Two deejays exploring the sonic spectrum between funk and techno.

Fri 29 Sep OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. SHAKE APPEAL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Six decades of rock and roll on under one roof hosted by the ultimate DJ trivium. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

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

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. FRIDAY NIGHTS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue.

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £16.50 - £29.50

Jack of all trades Jamie Jones has his own band, label and events series. Catch him while he’s got finger in the live performance pie at SWG3.

SUBCULTURE (PROSUMER) (HARRI & DOMENIC) SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10

Mon 04 Sep MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 05 Sep TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

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

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

HOT DUB TIME MACHINE: FRESHERS WEEK

RUBADUB 25TH BIRTHDAY PT.2

Rubadub’s Martin McKay takes to the decks for a two-parter birthday bash.

2001 BEAT 106 REUNION (COLIN TEVENT) (STEVEN MCCREERY + MICHAEL KILKIE + STEVIE KERR + DJ MC MALLORCA LEE + WILLIAM DANIEL) CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 21:00, £15

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £0 - £12

Head back to trancey times of yesteryear with the help of a b2b set from Colin Tevent and Steven McCreery.

Wed 06 Sep

THE RUM SHACK, 18:00–01:00, £5 - £7

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

NEVER BEEN KISSED

A 90s/00s anti-prom party with a Never Been Kissed movie screening. Expect nostalgia-infused pop hits of yesteryear set to a music video time machine, PLUS prom photos, inflatable chair thrones, agony aunt wall and a LOT of glitter.

RUBADUB 25TH BIRTHDAY PT.1

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Rubadub’s Martin McKay takes to the decks for a two-parter birthday bash. HUNTLEYS & PALMERS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

H+P’s Andrew and pals play tunes across the board. SLAM (DAVE CLARKE) (SURGEON + EDIT SELECT)

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £16

The Baron Of Techno touches down once again in Glasgow.

FUSE (PROC FISKAL + MARTHA + KAMI-O + ALIA LOREN + MELLOWDRAMATICS + SWVN X K4CIE + ARM WATCHES FINGERS + KLEFT + NOVA SCOTIA) THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

Thu 07 Sep

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. GONZO

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

The quest to bring epic nostalgia back in the form of all things MTV2 (pre-trash) and 120 Minutes continues. The return of Indie Disco. DOMESTIC EXILE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

No retreat from chronic treats with Glasgow based Industrial and cold-wave cassette label Domestic Exile.

ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

Reggae, dub and good vibes all night.

OTHER THUMPERS (DONALD DUST + HOLLICK) PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Other Thumpers returns to welcome Hollick to the decks once again for pulsing percussion, mood house and Italo space effects with host Donald Dust. NIGHTVISION (GREEN VELVET)

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £26.95

House and techno legend Green Velvet (aka Cajmere) takes up the Nightvision duties. TEMPTATION

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £5

LGBT+ club night steeped in synthpop, electro-pop and Hi-NRG from the 80s to the present day.

Sun 10 Sep

COALITION (BELIEVE + FRIENDS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Fri 08 Sep

LUCKYME (THE BLESSINGS ALL NIGHT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

The globetrotting music, art and all-round party crew return to Sneaky’s diminutive lair. Expect to hear a broad range of genrespanning sounds, from brand new hip-hop to soul, techno, house and experimental music. SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

ELECTRIKAL

Soundsystem party-starters, part of a music and art collective specialising in all things bass. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

SWEET ‘N’ VICIOUS (LAURA LUREX + KILLER KIM)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Sweet ‘n’ Vicious returns for a night of musical delinquency, combining saccharine sixties girl group sounds, yé-yé, popcorn and borderline kitsch classics with mean rockabilly, wild rock‘n’roll and sleazy instrumentals. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. FLY (HYBRID)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5

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

Sat 09 Sep MUMBO JUMBO

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £7

Funk, soul, beats and bumps from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars and pals. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Fri 15 Sep HEADSET

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Fledgling night mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh DJs, including the chaps behind the Witness, Coalition and Big ‘n’ Bashy nights. MAIN INGREDIENT

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Main Ingredient bring their anything-goes ethos to Paradise Palms for a bi-monthly residency. Expect live synths, percussion, guest musicians and their vast record collections, touching on everything from soul to techno, jazz funk to rare groove and more. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. HOTLINE

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Brand smashin’ new cloob at Bongo, ‘run by women, for everyone’. R’n’B, disco, funk and freeee dancing. XOXO

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £5

Mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle played by inimitable residents Brother Most Righteous, Skillis, Era and Deburgh. THE EGG

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

A salad of genres: sixties garage and soul plus 70s punk and new wave, peppered with psych and indie for good measure. FRESH FRUIT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

A new queer party featuring house, disco, leftfield, that weird shit, whatever feels right, and probably that track you heard one night a year ago but could never find. NRG FLASH

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 21:00, £5

Detriot techno to acid house, breakbeat to old skool jungle.

Sun 17 Sep THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday. COALITION (THOMAS JACK + BELIEVE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Australian DJ and producer who pioneered a sound culled from styles as varied as deep house, acoustic rock and jam bands, using live instruments including saxophones, flutes, pianos, and guitars.

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion.

The fledgling queer night returns to the Wee Red.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

Live show at Edinburgh’s Bongo.

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £5

Mon 18 Sep

THE CLUB

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

Mon 11 Sep MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

Sat 30 Sep BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

MIGHTY OAK SOUND SYSTEM

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

DJ Cheers presents the all you can eat mind buffet.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

A monthly immersive tropical fun machine for dancers.

NU SKOOL

TEESH (DJ CHEERS + DJ EQUIPMENT) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

JUICE (KA MI + DAN)

VAJ. Power's club series, comprising visual art, music and performance.

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

September 2017

Edinburgh Clubs

BIG N BASHY THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 12 Sep TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. MASEO (DE LA SOUL)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £8

New weekly hip-hop night, with a side order of funk and soul.

Wed 13 Sep COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. JUNCTION

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Drum’n’Bass, bassline, garage, grime and jungle.

Thu 14 Sep JUICE (KA MI + DAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room. NIGHTVISION: PATRICK TOPPING DAY & NIGHT

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £11 - £15

Patrick Topping will be playing at five unusual Edinburgh locations throughout the day and night as part of his City Takeover tour, and La Belle plays host to the grand finale.

CHURCH 2.1: CAUSE & AFFECT (ASHMORE + WALTERS + GRAHMA) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £12

Undoubtedly one of the most versatile production forces on the circuit. Known primarily for injecting house music with distinctive garage flavours and a generous helping of bass.

PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £4

JACKHAMMER (DAVE CLARKE + NEIL LANDSTRUMM)

Jackhammer returns to The Caves with one of their best line ups to date.

ABSTRAKT: JEREMY UNDERGROUND & DOMENIC CAPPELLO LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £15

DJ sets from acclaimed Parisian selector Jeremy Underground and Subculture legend Domenic Cappello.

ONLOOP (MOXIE + JON K + TELFORT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Moxie is back, this time bringing hidden treasure in the form of Mancunian Jon K with his wildly creative sets, along with Edinburgh’s own Telfort. FLY (DENIS SULTA)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £14

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

Sat 16 Sep BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. DECADE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

One of Edinburgh’s best alt nights. Pop-punk, cheese and party. WASABI DISCO (KRIS WASABI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Four hours of mind-bending, genre-blending jams, with sleazy disco punk Kris Wasabi going at it all night. COASTS

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, £7 - £22

Pop hooks, rocky riffs and big choruses from a five-piece who released a new album back in August entitled This Life. JESSE ROSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 22:00, TBC

DJ, producer, label boss and tastemaker Jesse Rose plays a show in the CabVol rave cave. PERCY MAIN SOCIAL CLUB

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

A monthly social with Percy Main and pals spinning shakin’ disco, balearic boogie, gareish gospel and hermetic haus. Bring your friends, your mum and your dancing boots. SHAPEWORK

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Monthly techno and House soiree with residents Crimson, Rugman DJ and Sholto.

GA-GA ZIELONE (ZABKI + CZAPA + DJEMBE DRUMMERS)

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 19:00, £10 - £15

MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 19 Sep TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. KANYEFEST

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £3

D’you like the new Kanye? D’you miss the old Kanye? D’you love Kanye as much as Kanye loves Kanye? Prove it.

Wed 20 Sep COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. FUNGASM GAMESHOW

PARADISE PALMS, 20:00–22:00, FREE

After a run of shows in the Fringe, Fungasm is back! Re-live those post-school afternoons spent in front of the Generation Game... but with booze, more wigs and a slap of the silly. JUNCTION (BASSBELLY) (SUNSHIP)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Drum’n’Bass, bassline, garage, grime and jungle.

Thu 21 Sep JUICE (KA MI + DAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room. ODYSSEY (MALL GRAB)

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £10

Fast rising tech-house fella Mall Grab touches down at Odyssey.

Fri 22 Sep MJÖLK

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £5

Swedish Indie pop, 60s, 70s and indie goodness from near and far at the Wee Red.

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

Listings

HEADSET

JUNCTION

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £6

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Fledgling night mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh DJs, including the chaps behind the Witness, Coalition and Big ‘n’ Bashy nights. DEFINITION (MARK BALNEAVES + MARTIN LIGHTBODY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

House and techno inspired by the likes of Sonar, Berghain, Fabric and Pressure. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Drum’n’Bass, bassline, garage, grime and jungle. AT WITNESS (DJ Q)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £7 - £9

Garage, house, grime and, of course, Bassline from DJ Q who’s going all night, all Week, with sets from doors open until close.

Thu 28 Sep JUICE (KA MI + DAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

Dan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5

Fri 29 Sep

PROPAGANDA

FLY FIESTA (SIGGERS + ASHMORE)

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. ELECTRO CYCLE LATE

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

A very special late night session with guest DJs Charlie Says and RMY playing the best in Chicago house, deep house, tech house and funky house old and new.

HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

HOT MESS (DJ SIMON EILBECK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 22:00–03:00, £6

Disco, house, synthpop, techno, acid and probably some Prince. You will dance, sweat, maybe take your top off, make out, laugh, close your eyes and lose yourself in the heavenly swirl of sound and bodies. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Sat 23 Sep

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

BUBBLEGUM

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

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

Raw, high energy R’n’B at Bongo.

I AM A RAVER (DJ RANKIN + GARY MCF + DJ BAD BOY + DJ CAMMY + DJ ZITJUS + DEEKAY)

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, TBC

Gary McF takes the reins in an I Am a Raver September special. LIONOIL: JANE FITZ & TELFORT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Rotary mixer, delay pedal, Mash House main room, very little servicable air conditioning, early autumn megavibes. FLY OPEN AIR FESTIVAL AFTER PARTY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £10

Fly Open Air host an official after party at Sneaky Pete’s. YEEZY LISTENING

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £7

I’mma let you finish, but just bear in mind there’s a Kanye party at the Wee Red tonight... LIONOIL (JANE FITZ + TELFORT)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Get acquainted with this underrated DJ at The Mash House, where Telfort will also be providing the warm up.

Sun 24 Sep

COALITION (BELIEVE + FRIENDS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

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

Mon 25 Sep MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly House grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 26 Sep TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. THE OPEN DECKS (FOXXY DJ + VEERING EAST )

THE VILLAGE, FROM 20:00, FREE

Head down and do a set. XDJ, CDJ and vinyl ready to go, or bring your own controller / DVS. Any style, any genre. Any level (Hilton to Digweed).

Wed 27 Sep COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

Listings

NIKNAK

Nik and Nak are back for their lastFridayofeverymonth take over. Expect boogalo, humpers, star funk, pumpers, discotechno, Italo fudge, POP, electroniqueefa, wild dance moves and possibly a special guest or two. KARNIVAL (LEFTFIELD DJ)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £12.50

Leftfield have been at the cutting edge of dance music since the 1990s, releasing albums that have become some of the most influential electronic records of all time. SUBSTANCE (OBJEKT) (RIBEKA)

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

House, techno and electro club taking on awesome guest selectors every once in a while. FLY (ELLIOT ADAMSON)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

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

Sat 30 Sep BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. RIDE (LAUREL FACALL + CHECK CHECK CHECK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Live fast die young Ride girls do it well. A guilty pleasures night of R’n’B anthems from her to infinity. MADCHESTER

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £5 - £7

Established in 1994, Madchester’s a long running Edinburgh club night celebrating the baggiest beats from the late 80s and early 90s. MESSENGER

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £6 - £7

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger Sound System.

Dundee Clubs Thu 07 Sep UNCLE PHIL’S

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:00, £6

Join the crew at at Uncle Phil’s as Van D & MC Salum mix up a blend of disco, house and more.

Fri 08 Sep

RECKLESS KETTLE (TAMA SUMO)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £6 - £8

Reckless Kettle bring in Berlin DJ Tama Sumo, who’s signed to Ostgut Ton and a celebrated Berghain regular.

Sat 09 Sep

BOOK CLUB’S LOCAL HEROES: DON’T DROP (IS KILL + MARC DJ + DON’T DROP + KRIS MCEWAN + ANDREW TORRANCE)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:00, £5 - £8

Theatre

Edinburgh Theatre

Comedy

Glasgow Theatre

Festival Theatre

Glasgow Comedy

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF EARTH: A BREXIT OPERA

7 SEP, 8:00PM, £7 - £9

In a not too distant future an isolated Britain survives on an otherwise scorched earth, saved from nuclear misunderstandings by Brexit. And what is Boris doing in Downing Street in a tie-dye suit?

Theatre Royal A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

5-9 SEP, TIMES VARY, £19.90 - £27.90

Tennessee Williams’ classic drama presents haunting portrayals of the tempestuous relationships between aristocratic Blanche Dubois, her sister Stella and Stella’s brutish husband, Stanley Kowlaski. THE KITE RUNNER

11-16 SEP, 7:30PM, £12 - £43

A re-working of the epic novel by Khaled Hosseini – a tale spanning cultures and continents, telling the story of two motherless boys in Kabul and an event that will tear their worlds apart. TAP FACTORY

Book Club branch out into pastures afar, bringing in residents from further afield.

Citizens Theatre

24-25 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Thu 14 Sep

1-9 SEP, TIMES VARY, £20 - £30

HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES

ALL GOOD (MK) (KC LIGHTS)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:00, £15

In-demand American House DJ and producer Marc Kinchen gets stuck in with the All Good chaps.

Fri 15 Sep HEADWAY (DAX J)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £12

London born techno don Dax J gets involved at Headway.

Thu 21 Sep STAMINA

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5

Stamina resident Matt takes up the party duties all alone, bringing in heaps of house and disco.

Sat 23 Sep

LOCARNO: 7TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:00, £4 - £7

Red and Steven bring some alty 50s and 60s sounds to Locarno in celebration of 7 big ones, with help ffrom Reuben and Max.

Thu 28 Sep

RECKLESS KETTLE: CLUELESS PARTY

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5

Reckless Kettle party with a Clueless dress code? Ugh, as if. ALL GOOD (MIKE SERVITO)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, TBC

Resident DJ at The Bunker New York and close friend of The Black Madonna, Detroit dude Mike Servito has truly earned his recent resurgence in popularity.

Sat 30 Sep

BOOK CLUB: 7TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, TBC

The Good Stuff DJs spin all genres of disco house and techno, alongside anything else they damn well fancy.

THE ORESTEIA: THIS RESTLESS HOUSE

An adaptation of Greek tragedy The Oresteia, in which a father’s chilling sacrifice of his daughter initiates a cycle of grisly revenge. FAITHFUL RUSLAN

5 SEP-4 OCT, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

A satire on the Stalinist regime in Russia seen through the eyes of a guard dog which has been described as a modern Animal Farm for the world of Trump, May and Putin.

Rhythm-based theatre show showcasing urban tap dance and percussion, comedy and acrobatics. 18-23 SEP, 7:30PM, £15.40 - £38.90

Alan Ayckbourn’s tale of matrimonial mishaps embarks on a national tour.

Tramway

PROJECT X SYMPOSIUM: SCRATCH

22 SEP, 7:00PM, £6

An evening of short performances of Project X associate artists who have come through their development programme.

Oran Mor

Tron Theatre

10 SEP, 4:00PM, £4 - £8

28-29 SEP, 7:45PM, £13 - £17

DIVAS UNLEASHED

A night of dive bangers from the producers of Girls Night Oot. RAB FLORENCE – POETRY & SWEARING: VOLUME 1

14 SEP, 7:00PM, £4 - £8

The co-creator of Burnistoun brings a night of poetry, swearing, laughter and existential violence that is destined to go down as a milestone in Scottish culture, global comedy and the annals of hip-hop.

Platform ROCKET POST

19-20 SEP, 7:00PM, £3.50 - £8

A new show for everyone aged six and over, Rocket Post is a raucous mix of songs and storytelling. Full of humour, heart and hope, it’s a tale of miscommunication, vaulting ambition and the joyous discoveries that happen when everything goes wrong. A PERFORMANCE DESPERATELY IN NEED OF AN AUDIENCE

21 SEP, 7:00PM, £4 - £8.50

A silent play that bends the rules of puppet theatre. Stage props and settings become puppets, setting the scene of a war-torn shore where attempts at pursuing everyday activities are as dangerous as impossible. CURIOUS SHOES

30-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, £4 - £8.50

A joyful performance for people living with dementia and their loved ones to share.

SEC

TITANICDANCE

23 SEP, 7:30PM, £25.55 - £33.50

If Riverdance and Titanic had a lovechild, this would be it.

SWG3 Glasgow SPRING AWAKENING

5-8 SEP, 7:30PM, £12 - £14

Classical musical, this time set to a contemporary rock soundtrack, following a group of teens as they revolt against the status quo. Matinee performances also available.

The King’s Theatre BLOOD BROTHERS

5-16 SEP, 7:30PM, £16.90 - £59.90

The favourited musical tale of separated-at-birth twins who grow up on opposite sides of the tracks. Matinees available. OUR HOUSE

26-29 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Musical comedy inspired by the music of Madness, telling a tender tale of life, love and heartbreak in mid-80s Camden Town.

TWO MAN SHOW

Fringe First Winners RashDash return with their award winning, genre-defying hit about gender, language and humankind. THE SEVEN SONG CLUB

1-29 SEP, 8:30PM, £8.50

A continuation of Tron’s live acoustic sets in the Vic Bar with Sweetheart Revue and Fox Star Records. STAND BY

7-8 SEP, 7:45PM, £11 - £17

Written by a former police officer, Stand By shows the police service laid bare as four officers struggle to remain in control while their community disintegrates. BLANCHE & BUTCH

14-16 SEP, 8:30PM, £9 - £17

The witty story of the lives, loves and losses of three disabled men who used to be the sensational Heelz n Wheelz. LILY

14-16 SEP, 8:30PM, £5

Work-in-progress performance of Jo Lennie’s Progressive Playwright Award-winning play Lily.

RICHARD ALSTON DANCE COMPANY

22 SEP, 7:30PM, £20.50 - £23.50

Alson and his dancers return with an evening of choreographic panache. TAP FACTORY

24-25 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Rhythm-based theatre show showcasing urban tap dance and percussion, comedy and acrobatics. SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE

30 SEP, 7:30PM, £19.50 - £25

A performance inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe, set to a dance-punk score including LCD Soundsystem, James Holden and Fourtet.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh THE THREEPENNY OPERA

15-16 SEP, 7:30PM, £15

The Attic Collective bring their own take on the favourited musical theatre piece by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. SPAMALOT

26-30 SEP, 7:30PM, £18 - £31.50

Classic Monty Python tale telling the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Cue beautiful showgirls, cows and killer rabbits. Matinees available. TWELFTH NIGHT

20-21 SEP, TIMES VARY, £17.50

Merely Theatre tackle questions of gender, identity, love and loneliness. ROMEO & JULIET

20-22 SEP, TIMES VARY, £17.50

Shakespeare’s classic tale of teenage feels gets a vibrant new production with Merely Theatre.

Royal Lyceum Theatre WHAT SHADOWS

7-20 SEP, 7:30PM, £10 - £32

Birmingham Repertory Theatre present Chris Hannan’s play about Midlands MP Enoch Powell, ft. Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars). Matinees available.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

22-23 SEP, 7:45PM, £13 - £17

Fringe First winner Katie Bonna unpicks our obsession with lying in a fearlessly honest show for the post-truth era. AT A STRETCH

23 SEP, 12:00PM, £8.50

A poignant and playful show without words for children and families about two women who meet, get stuck together with elastic and despite their best efforts, fall in love. HEATHER

26-27 SEP, 7:45PM, £11 - £15

A beloved author reveals a disturbing new narrative. Explosive new writing from award-winning Thomas Eccleshare. THE COOLIDGE EFFECT

27-30 SEP, 8:00PM, £13 - £17

The Coolidge Effect uses an interactive blend of storytelling, poetry and science to examine how pornography affects our mental health, relationships and sexual experiences.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 18:30–19:30, £12 - £15

Bafta winner Jeff Pope’s tale of a young Liverpudlian woman who rose to stardom as the elgendary Cilla Black.

Dundee Theatre Dundee Rep THE STEAMIE

18 SEP-11 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Special edition of Tony Roper’s washhouse comedy, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the muchloved play. AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

1-16 SEP, 7:00PM, £9 - £25

A Scottish Premiere for Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play. STANDBY

25-27 SEP, 7:30PM, £10 - £15

Written by a former police officer, Stand By shows the police service laid bare as four officers struggle to remain in control while their community disintegrates.

Sun 10 Sep

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £4 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out.

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV (BILLY KIRKWOOD + STU & GARRY)

Two teams of comics battle it out for the biggest laughs under the watchful eye of ‘Improv Warlord’ Billy Kirkwood. KOMEDY

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

From the people who brought you CHUNKS comes a night of actual komedy.

Tue 05 Sep

RED RAW (CARMEN LYNCH + ASHLEY STORRIE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 06 Sep

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES (THE WEE MAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £4 - £6

Ro Cambell and The Wee Man’s comedian rap battle-off, where a select batch of comics compete to see who’s got the most swagger when it comes to hippity-hop wit.

Thu 07 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JAMEY GODLEY + JAMIE DALGLEISH + ROSS MCLELLAND + BILLY KIRKWOOD)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

19-23 SEP, 7:30PM, £17.90 - £51.90

The Ru Paul victor hits the O2 with a lolsome line-up. MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (MICHAEL REDMOND + ‘DONALD ALEXANDER + SUSIE MCCABE)

CILLA

Frothy musical favourite featuring leather clad limbs and hopelessly devoted highschoolers.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £39.93 - £141.18

Work in progress from the cantankerous soul that is Frankie Boyle.

11-16 SEP, TIMES VARY, £20.50 - £46.50

STRIPTEASE / OUT AT SEA

ALL THE THINGS I LIED ABOUT

FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

GREASE

21-22 SEP, 8:00PM, £13 - £17

A bizarre, politically-charged and hilarious double bill by master of the Theatre of the Absurd, Stavomir Mrozek. Directed by Matthew Lenton.

Mon 04 Sep

QUEENS OF COMEDY TOUR: HOSTED BY BIANCA DEL RIO (ALYSSA EDWARDS + KATYA + BENDELACREME + LADY BUNNY + CHARLIE HIDES)

YESBAR VIRGINS

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 08 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JAMEY GODLEY + JAMIE DALGLEISH + ROSS MCLELLAND + BILLY KIRKWOOD)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 11 Sep PAUL CHOWDHRY

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–21:30, £20

The Lafta award winner returns with a his highly anticipated new stand-up show.

Tue 12 Sep

RED RAW (GARETH WAUGH + SUSIE MCCABE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 13 Sep

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. BBC COMEDY PRESENTS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £4

BBC-selected sketch comedy showcase where handpicked new acts get their chance to shine – with each performer getting a quickfire 5-10 minutes on stage.

Thu 14 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (ROGER MONKHOUSE + PAUL THORNE + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 15 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (ROGER MONKHOUSE + PAUL THORNE + ‘RAYMOND MEARNS) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

Late night lols at Yesbar.

Sat 09 Sep

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

THE SATURDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JAMEY GODLEY + JAMIE DALGLEISH + ROSS MCLELLAND + BILLY KIRKWOOD)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

THE EARLY SHOW

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

Sat 16 Sep

THE SATURDAY SHOW (ROGER MONKHOUSE + PAUL THORNE + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

CROSSMYLAFF COMEDY

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

THE LATE SHOW

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 20:00, £9 - £12

An evening of stand-up comedy featuring Obie and Ashley Storrie and a hand picked selection of local up and coming comics. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

THE LATE SHOW

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm. VIR DAS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £0 - £6

Comedy and storytelling as Vir Das shares tales of growing up in India, studying in America and way more besides.

THE SKINNY

Sun 17 Sep

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (KAI HUMPHRIES + JAMIE DALGLEISH + KIRSTY MORRISON + MICHAEL REDMOND)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Tue 19 Sep RED RAW (ROB KANE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 20 Sep

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

BENEFIT IN AID OF HEARING LOSS (MICHAEL REDMOND + GARY LITTLE + SUSIE MCCABE + RAY BRADSHAW) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £8

Comedy charity benefit raising funds for the charity Hearing Loss.

Thu 21 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GARETH WAUGH + MANDY KNIGHT)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 22 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GARETH WAUGH + MANDY KNIGHT)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

BENEFIT IN AID OF THE QUARRIERS (SUSIE MCCABE + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHER BOYD + MARC JENNINGS + ALLAN PARK + JOE HEENAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–21:30, £5

Charity comedy benefit raising funds for The Quarriers.

Tue 26 Sep

RED RAW (GARETH WAUGH)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 27 Sep

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. YIANNI AGISILAOU: THE SIMPSONS TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING I KNOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–21:30, £12

The comedian, actor and occasional podcaster brings his blend of stand-up and musical comedy to The Stand.

Thu 28 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (SCOTT GIBSON + JIMMY MCGHIE + BRENNAN REECE + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 29 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (SCOTT GIBSON + JIMMY MCGHIE + BRENNAN REECE + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

THE SATURDAY SHOW (SCOTT GIBSON + JIMMY MCGHIE + BRENNAN REECE + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE LATE SHOW

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

Sat 23 Sep

THE SATURDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GARETH WAUGH + MANDY KNIGHT)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

Sun 24 Sep

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. JOEL DOMMETT

THEATRE ROYAL, FROM 20:00, £22.65

The face of MTV in 2012 takes to the stage with his latest stand-up show. YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 25 Sep CHUNKS

MCPHABBS, FROM 20:30, FREE

CHUNKS is a big night out entirely comprised of variety acts, sketches, monologues, character bits, animations, inanimations, contemporary dance, readings, or just anything silly, alternative and funny.

September 2017

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Sat 30 Sep

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:00, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:00, £10

Yesbar lols at – aye – 8pm.

Edinburgh Comedy Mon 04 Sep

RED RAW (CARMEN LYNCH + GARETH WAUGH)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 05 Sep

MIDWEEK COMEDY CABARET (SUSIE MCCABE + GARETH MUTCH + JOHN GAVIN)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £4

A midweek comedy fix to see you through the week. PROJECT X

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X.

Wed 06 Sep VIVA LA SHAMBLES

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £4 - £5

The Stand hosts a monthly evening of total joke-pandemonium as Edinburgh’s top comics join forces.

Thu 07 Sep

SPONTANEOUS SHERLOCK

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £5

A completely improvised Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Fri 08 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (ROGER MONKHOUSE + JOHN LYNN + WAYNE MAZADZA + KIMI LOUGHTON + RAYMOND MEARNS )

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sat 09 Sep

THE SATURDAY SHOW (ROGER MONKHOUSE + JOHN LYNN + WAYNE MAZADZA + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

AN EVENING WITH DAVID SEDARIS

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £33

The author, presenter and funnyman sets out an a tour of the UK. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city OWEN BENJAMIN: FEEL MY HEAT

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 16:30–17:30, £15

The comedian, actor and occasional podcaster brings his blend of stand-up and musical comedy to The Stand.

Sun 10 Sep

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show. PAUL CHOWDHRY

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–20:00, £20

The Lafta award winner returns with a his highly anticipated new stand-up show. PAUL CHOWDHRY

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:30–22:30, £20

The Lafta award winner returns with a his highly anticipated new stand-up show. PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

Mon 11 Sep RED RAW

Tue 12 Sep BONA FIDE

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:15, £5 - £6

Brand new material especially written for the theme of the night delivered by some of Scotland’s favourite comics. PROJECT X

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X.

Wed 13 Sep TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

BENEFIT IN AID OF THE POWER AGENCY LITERACY PROJECT (DYLAN MORAN + STU & GARRY + JAY LAFFERTY + WAYNE MAZADZA + SIAN BEVAN)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £5

Charity comedy benefit raising funds for the Super Power Agency.

THE BEST OF ‘MULHOLLAND & REDMOND IN…’ (PATRICK MULHOLLAND + SCOTT REDMOND + SPECIAL GUESTS) BEDLAM THEATRE, 19:00–20:15, TBC

Sketch Theatre. A compilation of all the best bits from Mulholland & Redmond’s 2017 shows, including;‘Hat, Poem, Poem, Hat, 2001: A Comeback Special, The Catering Equipment That Time Forgot and Pop-Culture Hell.

Thu 14 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (GARY LITTLE + BETHANY BLACK + MARTIN MOR) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY PRESENTS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, TBC

Regular night courtesy of the top folk at Monkey Barrel, bringing in guest shows and touring talent.

Fri 15 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (GARY LITTLE + BETHANY BLACK + MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sat 16 Sep

THE SATURDAY SHOW (GARY LITTLE + BETHANY BLACK + MARTIN MOR) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sun 17 Sep

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (KIRSTY MORRISON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show. PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

Mon 18 Sep RED RAW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

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

MULHOLLAND & REDMOND IN… (PATRICK MULHOLLAND + SCOTT REDMOND + SPECIAL GUEST) PARADISE IN THE VAULT, 20:30–22:30, £4.50

Mulholland & Redmond are trapped in the afterlife. Forget making a deal with the Devil, in Pop Culture Hell there is only one way home – win the hottest gameshow in the underworld. Will they make it? That is the £64,000 question.

Tue 19 Sep PROJECT X

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X. BENEFIT IN AID OF REFUGEE SCOTLAND (GARETH MUTCH + KIMI LOUGHTON + CUBBY + JOJO SUTHERLAND)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £10

Charity comedy benefit raising funds for Refugee Action Scotland.

Wed 20 Sep

TOPICAL STORM (MARK NELSON + KEIR MCALLISTER + STUART MURPHY + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £7

Radical satire from Keir McAllister, Vladimir McTavish, Stu Murphy and Mark Nelson. TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

Thu 21 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (MARK MAIER + STUART MITCHELL + SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Mon 25 Sep

RED RAW (JIMMY MCGHIE)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 26 Sep PROJECT X

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X. YIANNI AGISILAOU: THE SIMPSONS TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING I KNOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–21:30, £12

The comedian, actor and occasional podcaster brings his blend of stand-up and musical comedy to The Stand.

Wed 27 Sep TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene. BENEFIT IN AID OF SMALLS FOR ALL (GARETH WAUGH + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH + PAUL MCDANIEL + SUSAN MORRISON)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £7

Charity comedy benefit raising funds in aid of for Smalls For All.

Thu 28 Sep

THE THURSDAY SHOW (SEYMOUR MACE + ANDEA HUBERT + BRUCE FUMMEY + ROSS MCLELLAND + BRUCE DEVLIN)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. SPONTANEOUS SHERLOCK

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £5

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

THE FRIDAY SHOW (SEYMOUR MACE + ANDEA HUBERT + BRUCE FUMMEY + ROSS MCLELLAND + BRUCE DEVLIN)

SPONTANEOUS POTTER

A brand new Harry Potter play from some of Edinburgh’s most top notch improv wizards.

Fri 22 Sep

THE FRIDAY SHOW (MARK MAIER + STUART MITCHELL + SUSAN MORRISON + JIMMY MCGHIE) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

A completely improvised Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Fri 29 Sep

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BIG SHOW

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

THE SATURDAY SHOW (SEYMOUR MACE + ANDEA HUBERT + BRUCE FUMMEY + ROSS MCLELLAND + BRUCE DEVLIN)

Sat 23 Sep

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

THE BIG SHOW

THE SATURDAY SHOW (MARK MAIER + STUART MITCHELL + SUSAN MORRISON + JIMMY MCGHIE) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city JOEL DOMMETT - LIVE 2017

KING’S THEATRE EDINBURGH, FROM 20:00, £21

The face of MTV in 2012 takes to the stage with his latest stand-up show.

Sun 24 Sep

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (STUART MITCHELL + JIMMY MCGHIE) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show. PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sat 30 Sep

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Art Glasgow Art CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art SAHEJ RAHAL: BARRICADIA

16 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Since July, Rahal has been developing a new body of work on residency at Cove Park to be presented in CCA’s gallery spaces as his first solo project in Scotland. Rahal works with a range of media including performance, video, installation and sculpture to explore the imagined destruction of the world as we know it. His work draws upon sources ranging from local folk legends, political events and science fiction – which are brought into dialogue with one another in the space – creating an elaborate and absurd mythology of imagined futures. Using discarded objects found in present day Scotland, Rahal creates artefacts which act as portals to a multitude of different times and spaces. TAKO TAAL: COMPOUND

1-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Compound is an exhibition examining figures of the stranger and an extended family, and traces a personal narrative in a search to embody gestures of welcome. It presents new films shot in the Gambia, along with documents from a family archive, print and objects, borrowing its form from a common living arrangement in West Africa. Compound is a site where object and space are repeatedly imprinted through routine, gesture and language. DAVID ROEDER: IDEALS FOR A FUTURE LIVIN’

30 SEP-20 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Investigating aesthetic, spiritual and literary manoeuvres that we use in order to reconcile ourselves with the perpetual dread that lurks in our houses and homes, our walks to work and our wayward minds. Ten paintings, ten writings and something to listen to.

David Dale Gallery and Studios

CHRISTOPHER MACINNES

22 SEP-21 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

A new exhibition from Christopher MacInnes, forming the latest stage in David Dale Gallery’s 2017 exhibitions programme, entitled Annex.

Glasgow Print Studio CUT

1-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

CUT brings together a mix of modern and contemporary woodcut prints in celebration of the woodcut technique. Exhibiting artists include Claire Barclay, Grayson Perry, Ian McCulloch, Katsutoshi Yuasa, Ann Desmet and more. LOUISE BOURGEOIS: ETCHINGS

1 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A South Bank touring exhibition from Louise Bourgeois.

Glasgow School of Art GRADUATE DEGREE SHOW 2017

2-7 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A public showcase of the entire range of graduate work completed at GSA across architecture, design, fine art and digital art.

GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART MASTERS DEGREE SHOW 2017

2-9 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

From across the postgraduate roster, newly graduated students present their final show from Research, Design and Fine Art across the Tontine and Reid Buildings.

PIONEERS OF POST-WAR PATTERN 15 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of new products created by the GSA’s Centre for Advanced Textiles inspired by the work of mid-20th century female designers who are represented in the GSA’s Archives and Collections including . Silvia Chalmers, Dorothy Smith and Margaret Stewart. Also in the show will be work by Lucienne Day. EAST AND WEST WALK FORWARD

23 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A major exchange exhibition of work by 35 artists who also teach at the GSA’s partner institute in China, the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA). Among the featured works are piece by some of China’s leading artists including LI Xiangqun (President of LAFA) and WEI Ershen ( Former President of LAFA).

GoMA POLYGRAPHS

1 SEP-20 MAY 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

A group exhibition with a central point of Hito Steyerl’s film Abstract, which explores truth, fiction and evidence in a complicated world. Features Jane Evelyn Atwood, Muirhead Bone, Boyle Family, Gerard Byrne, Graham Fagen, Ian Hamilton Finlay and more. MARLIE MUL: THIS EXHIBITION IS CANCELLED

1 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Artist Marlie Mul has cancelled her first exhibition in Scotland. Until 29 Oct, the gallery will lie empty. To use the gallery for your own activities, speak to a member to staff onsite or download a proposal form from the website. TASTE!

1-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A snapshot of GoMA’s rich history combining artworks and archived material. Features work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Beryl Cook, Fischli/Weiss, Sarah Forrest, Andy Goldsworthy, Douglas Gordon, David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, David Shirgley, Stanley Spencer, Andy Warhol and Lawrence Weiner. STEPHEN SUTCLIFFE: WORK FROM THE COLLECTION

1 SEP-21 JAN 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow-based artist Stephen Sutcliffe brings a solo exhibition to GoMA, featuring works which draw upon a large personal archive of broadcast materials and printed ephemera. These new works focus on anxiety, self-doubt and the creative process.

Hunterian Art Gallery

ART OF POWER: MASTERPIECES FROM THE BUTE COLLECTION

1 SEP-14 JAN 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

Take the oportunity to see major paintings from the Bute Collection at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute. Exhibition split across two venues, The Hunterian and Mount Stuart – ticket price covers admission to both. NEIL CLEMENTS: ELECTRIC EYE

1 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Hunterian showcases new paintings and sculptures by Glasgow-based artist Neil Clements, whose work concerns tends to take the form of monochromatic paintings, shaped canvases and geometric sculptures. THE TRUEST MIRROR OF LIFE

1 SEP-21 JAN 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

A display of 19th century French caricatures showcasing work by some of its greatest exponents, including Honoré Daumier and Gavarni.

Mary Mary

SARA BARKER: THE FACES OF OLDER IMAGES

16 SEP-28 OCT, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Glasgow-based artist Sara Barker brings a group of four wall based relief works which traverse the line between painting, drawing and sculpture.

Platform PAINT IT RED

9 SEP-19 NOV, 9:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A contemporary portrait of Easterhouse - a cumulation of a year-long photography project

Listings

RGI Kelly Gallery

KEVIN LOW: WOMEN & MEN

1-9 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Kevin Low presents a new exhibition, the culmination of two years spent reassessing and discovering, during which his digital work has become oil paint and board.

Six Foot Gallery TRADESTON – A TALE OF ABANDONMENT

5 SEP-5 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A hotch potch of abandoned tenements, burnt out wastelands, low rise 1970’s industrial units, a testament to decades of poor planning and congenital mismanagement. This exhibition is a photographic journey though the condemned and abandoned area so close to Glasgow city centre.

Street Level Photoworks

ALEKSANDRA VAJD & MARKÉTA OTHOVÁ: WHAT IS LIFE?

9 SEP-18 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

The first joint exhibition from Markéta Othová (1968, Prague) and Aleksandra Vajd (1971, Maribor, Slovenia), two eminent figures in Central and East European photography in a show which highlights the universal quality of the photographic medium.

The Briggait AUTUMN/WINTER 2017

18 SEP-27 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An installation of new work by Beagles and Ramsay. New sculptures for Autumn/Winter 2017 include a selection of oversized statement handbags from the Fused Polyvinyl Chloride Collection. This display is supplemented by Bones in every available colour along with curated highlights from the Molar Lump & Lumps. A new medley of prints will also be exhibited, including both the Compulsory Chirper Range and Hits & Misses Redux.

The Common Guild

MARIA FUSCO: RADICAL DIALECT

1 SEP-30 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An ongoing project conceived by writer Maria Fusco, including a cycle of events, a series of commissioned publications and a major new performance, all taking shape across 2017 and 2018. See thecommonguild.org.uk for info.

The Lighthouse GLASGOW INTERIORS

1-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition showcasing Glasgow Style and Art Nouveau by pairing examples of Glasgow interiors with iconic Mackintosh chairs. REST AND BE THANKFUL HERITAGE PROJECT

1-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of the designs and inspirations behind KennedyTwaddle Architects’ project The Rest and be Thankful, a venue known in the motorsport community as a venue of international significance. KCD

1 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of work from KCD, an family company founded by Krisztina MucCulloch, which designs eco-friendly interiors inspired by the renowned architecture of Glasgow and Paisley. LINES OF THOUGHT

1 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Curated and organised by the Alexander Thomson Society, this exhibition celebrates the bicentenary of architect Alexander Thomson in a selection of pen and ink measured studies, detailed digital renderings, precision models, journals, sketches, film and the more abstract work of artists. 50 DABS

2-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition profiling the individuals who worked on the transformation of the Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow into the University of Strathclyde. Part of Scotland’s Festival of Architecture 2017.

Listings

Tramway

LUIZ ROQUE: HEAVEN

2 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The European premier of Luiz Roque’s intense film set in 2080, when the the Epstein-Barr virus has mutated into something more aggressive. The cast comprises transgender people in a plot which illustrates the health and sociopolitical implications of this virus for trans people. STUART MIDDLETON: BEAT

2 SEP-12 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition exploring various tensions between life and stock, featuring stop-frame animation, animated dead material and large sculptures. Beat was originally commissioned by the ICA, London and has been reconfigured for Tramway’s main gallery.

Transmission Gallery

FIELDS OF WHEAT: MEMBER’S SHOW 2017

9 SEP-14 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Transmission present their annual members’ show for your delectation.

iota @ Unlimited Studios BILL MCQUARRIE

16-30 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

High Society is inspired by the examination of contemporary themes, drawn from politics, religion, monarchy and culture. McQuarrie has produced a series of abstract paintings from direct observation, response to place and the desire of “withdrawing something from something else”. He translates the information derived from these themes into paintings, where layers of colour and texture create rich fields. His particular interest lies in using abstract drawing to create the illusion of three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface.

Edinburgh Art &Gallery CONSTRUCT

2-27 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of four abstract artists (Ele Pack, Hanna ten Doornkaat, Elfyn Lewis and Jai Llewellyn), each with their own visual language using line, form, colour and layer.

Arusha Gallery

ELAINE SPEIRS: PORTRAIT OF HER

1-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of work by Johannesburg-born painter Elaine Speirs, a regular exhibitor at the RSA, with VAS and the SSA.

City Art Centre EDINBURGH ALPHABET

1 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An A-Z of Edinburgh’s collections, Edinburgh Alphabet takes place across four gallery floors and features over 300 objects from paintings to tapestries, ceramics to silver. Each letter of the alphabet has been given a theme around which objects have been grouped.

Collective Gallery

ROSS LITTLE: THE HEAVY OF YOUR BODY PARTS AND THE COOL AIR OF THE AIR CONDITION

1-10 SEP, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Glasgow-based artist Ross Little graduated from GSA in 2011, and mainly works with film and painting. For his film project at Collective he will trace different forms of globalised labour found in the ship breaking yards of India and on board a transatlantic cruise ship.

Dovecot Studios BUILT IN TAPESTRY: DOVECOT TAPESTRIES AND ARCHITECTURE

1 SEP-17 MAR 18, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

A balcony-based exhibition at Dovecot highlighting projects from the studio’s history, featuring innovative and bold projects from commissions new and past. DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE

1 SEP-20 JAN 18, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Dovecot tells a tale of women’s work in the textile industry and within textile art in a group exhibition of work fro those who have contributed to the gallery’s history and present. Features Caroline Dear, Linder, Sonia Delaunay, Hanna Tuulikki and more.

Edinburgh Printmakers NEW EDITION

1 SEP-21 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition displaying newly commissioned printed works by Museums Press, Poster Club and Emer Tumilty, curated by Sarah Lowndes. The title of the exhibition underlines the generational group of all of the exhibiting artists, who were born between the late 1960s and the early 1980s, and represent the current wave of Scotlandbased artists working with print.

Embassy Gallery EMBASSY GRADUATE SHOW 2017

15 SEP-8 OCT, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Embassy presents its graduate show with four artists selected from across the Scottish degree shows.

Ingleby Gallery AND PER SE AND PART XIV: ST. SEBASTIAN & LOUISE BOURGEOIS

6-16 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Ingleby gallery reaches the midway point of year-long sequential exhibition and per se and, where one work is paired with another for two weeks at a time across a stretch of twelve months. Part XIII of the sequence brings together two strangely romantic meditations on human fortitude, made over 500 years apart.

Inverleith House PLANT SCENERY OF THE WORLD

1 SEP-29 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Exhibition presenting new, commissioned and existing work by Laura Aldridge, Charlie Billingham, Bobby Niven, Oliver Osborne and Ben Rivers; celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Botanics’ iconic modernist glasshouses.

Jupiter Artland LIZ MAGIC LAER: PRIMAL SPEECH

1 SEP-1 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Artist Liz Magic Laser responds to Brexit and Trump with a video and room dedicated to the primal scream technique, encouraging audiences to let out their frustrations. MARCO GIORDANO: SELFFULFILLING EGO

1 SEP-1 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Glasgow-based Italian artist Marco Giordano presents this year’s Temporary commission for Emerging Artists in the Outdoors at EAF. The new work draws interest from Le Cento Fontane and historic stonework set around the Jupiter estate, creating an avenue of sculptures that emit a mist of water, ‘blessing’ each visitor.

Museum of Childhood

IT’S ALIVE: MECHANICAL MARVELS FROM THE HOUSE OF AUTOMATA

1-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 20TH CENTURY: MASTERPIECES OF SCOTTISH AND EUROPEAN ART

1 SEP-18 FEB 18, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of works offering a historical overview of some of the most significant artistic contributions made during the last century. The exhibition also aims to place Scottish modern art within an international context. NOW

1-24 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A programme of contemporary art exhibitions celebrating the diversity of contemporary artistic practice, and the unique role of artists in society. Features Nathan Coley, Mona Hatoum, Louise Hopkins, Pete Horobin, Tessa Lynch, Jock McFadyen, Rivane Neuenschwander, Tony Swain and more. SURREALISM AND THE MARVELLOUS

1 SEP-31 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Focusing on artworks by Dalí, Ernst, Magritte and many other Surrealist artists, this exhibtion uncovers the unconscious, the irrational, the absurd and the marvellous within surrealism. There are also African and Oceanic sculptures on display alongside a cabinet of curiosities. ARTIST ROOMS: MUSIC FROM THE BALCONIES - ED RUSCHA AND LOS ANGELES

Mixing historical toys and contemporary art, this interactive exhibition features incredible clockwork characters from the 1800s, alongside exquisite new etchings exploring the history of automata and the meaning of mechanical life.

1 SEP-29 APR 18, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

1 SEP-29 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8 - £10

WENDY MCMURDO: LET’S GO TO A PLACE

In this site-specific installation, photographer Wendy McMurdo presents a series of portraits of Edinburgh children, in the atmospheric galleries of the Museum of Childhood. The portraits document a generation of digital natives, who inhabit both the ‘real’ and digital worlds.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA RSA OPEN 2017

1 SEP-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of small works sourced by open submission from artists across Scotland, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and photographs – all available to buy – from around 400 different artists. Expect the usual pick’n’mix wonderland.

Scottish National Gallery A MEETING OF TWO MASTERPIECES

A display highlighting the ways in which Ed Ruscha (b.1937, Nebraska, USA) draws upon urban landscape and architecture, cinema, brands, car culture and language that refer and relate to LA and Hollywood to create works about the American Dream. TRUE TO LIFE

Comprising more than 80 paintings, this exhibition recognises an almost forgotten generation of artists and explores British realist painting in the 1920s and 1930s. ABSTRACT ART AND BRITAIN BETWEEN THE WARS

1-30 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A showcase of nine geometric abstractions, including works from Ben Nicholson, Piet Mondrian, Margaret Mellis and more.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery SCOTS IN ITALY

1 SEP-5 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of the Scottish experience of Italy in the eighteenth century, a time when artistic, entrepreneurial and aristocratic fascination with the country was reaching boiling point. THE MODERN PORTRAIT

1 SEP-27 OCT 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Six-footer British masterpiece Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) by John Constable, displayed alongside another celebrated landscape painting, William McTaggart’s The Storm (1890).

A display collating paintings, sculptures and works from the Portrait Gallery’s twentiethcentury collection, ft. a variety of well-known faces, from Ramsay Macdonald to Alan Cumming, Tilda Swinton to Danny McGrain.

1-24 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10 - £12

1 SEP-1 APR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

1 SEP-25 MAR 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

BEYOND CARAVAGGIO

A collaboration between the National Gallery, London, the National Gallery of Ireland and the National Galleries of Scotland, this is Scotland’s very first exhibition of works by Caravaggio and his followers (the so-called ‘Caravaggesque painters’). POUSSIN’S SACRAMENTS

1-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

French artist Nicolas Poussin was the founder of the classical tradition in French art. National Gallery exhibits the Seven Sacraments, considered to be one of the greatest sets of paintings in the history of Western art.

REFORMATION TO REVOLUTION

An exhibition examining the cultural consequences of the national religion becoming Protestantism in sixteenth century Scotland. A PERFECT CHEMISTRY

1 SEP-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £9 - £10

A showcase of photographs by two Scots, Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848) who mastered the medium four short years after its invention. The images featured have been said to be among the first examples of social documentary in the history of photography. GRAHAM FAGEN: THE SLAVE’S LAMENT

1 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Graham Fagen presents a ‘soundclash’ in which Robert Burns’ The Slave’s Lament is performed by the Scottish Ensemble and Reggae singer Ghetto Priest, and produced by legendary On-U-Sound founder Adrian Sherwood.

GRAHAM MACINDOE: COMING CLEAN

#PROTESTMASKPROJECT

1 SEP-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Since recovering from years of his life as a heroin addict, Graham MacIndoe uses this body of selfportraits as a means of opening up conversations about dependency and recovery. HEROES AND HEROINES

1 SEP-31 MAY 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A re-examination of major Scottish figures which questions our habit of framing history around individuals and idols.

LOOKING GOOD - THE MALE GAZE FROM VAN DYCK TO LUCIAN FREUD

1 SEP-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A selection of portraits, from the National Galleries of Scotland and National Portrait Gallery, London collections illustrating elaborate fashions and grooming of courtiers and cavaliers in the 16th and 16th centuries, the 18th century dandy, the rise of the celebrity, and representations of gender and sexuality. DOUGLAS GORDON: BLACK BURNS

1 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A specially commissioned installation created in response to John Flaxman’s full-length marble statue of poet Robert Burns, which stands in The Great Hall of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Stills

KATE DAVIS: NUDES NEVER WEAR GLASSES

1 SEP-8 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The debut solo exhibition in Scotland from Kate Davis, which comprises a new photographic series with drawings and recent moving image works. This exhibition included the first gallery presentation of Davis’ Margaret Tait Award film Charity (2017).

Summerhall

ALASTAIR MACLENNAN: AIR A LAIR

1-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

This retrospective comprises drawings, performance artifacts and video documentation, encapsulating different series of artworks made from the 1970s onwards, up to MacLennan’s current practice. EARLY EVENTS: FIVE NARRATIVE SCULPTURES

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

In Early Events (1996-2000), Liliane Lijn brings to Summerhall five narrative sculptures, exhibited for the first time in the UK, that form part of a series in which the artist examines her psyche. THE TIME IS RIGHT FOR…

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Artists began to work with video from the late 1960s as a more accessible alternative to film. Although many of these artists are well known today, there are several women artists who experimented with video in the early years who have since been forgotten or marginalised. Works by Ketty La Rocca, Marikki Hakola, Giny Vos and Elaine Shemilt. RETURN: IN SEARCH OF STILLNESS

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The Sri Lankan Visual Arts programme is a journey of installation, visual and performance art, curated to explore the push and pull within community histories and individual memories of past violence, ongoing provocations, and the myriad of hopeful possibilities that exist within Sri Lanka. Features work by Kannan Arunasalam, Abdul Halik Azeez, Maya Bastian, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Sujeewa Kumari, Vijitharan M., Anoli Perera, Rajni Perera, Venuri Perera, Pala Pothupitiya, Alex Stewart, Kanesh Thabendran, Anup Vega, And Ruwanthie De Chickera and David Cotterell. SURA MEDURA, SRI LANKA

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

UZ Arts presents the work of twenty-one European artists who have been resident at Sura Medura in Sri Lanka since 2006. The programme includes performances, installations, video and visual arts. Features works by Sita Pieraccini, Maria Mccavana, Nicola Scrutton, Natasha Russell, Hannah Brackston and more.

CAT (Creative, Aesthetic, Transgression) started life several years ago as a social media project. The CAT mask became an emblem of protest spread via social media in 2014. CAT masks, handmade by artist, were adopted by 'owners' who travelled the world posting selfies on Social Media #proTestbed. THIS IS HULL! ROCK AGAINST RACISM

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A visually stunning retrospective of original silk screen prints, representing one community’s fight against racism.

PROTESTIMONY: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT CALAIS…

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

IMAGINE, a small non-for-profit organisation based in London, ran art workshops in Calais in 2016, and Protestimony exhibition is the fulfilment of the commitment to use this artwork for political purposes: protest, advocacy and awareness-raising. COSMIC COLLISIONS AT MERZ

1-24 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of new works by Charles Jencks, cosmologists Carlos Frenk and Noam Libeskind together with drawings and models by architect Daniel Libeskind for his recently opened Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics at Durham University.

Talbot Rice Gallery

STEPHEN SUTCLIFFE: SEX SYMBOLS IN SANDWICH SIGNS

1-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition named after a damming review of David Storey’s novel ‘Radcliffe’, investigating notions of self-doubt, obsession, cultural constructs and class conflict. Central to the exhibition are two new video works, plus a collection of notes and images from Sutcliffe’s personal archive associated with previous video works, placing emphasis on the central role of collage within his creative thought. JACOB KERRAY: LOOKY LOOKY

1-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A TRG3 commission in which Jacob Kerray explores and respond to the Edinburgh University’s vast art collection to create new work(s). His own work tends to draw on the visual cultures peripheral to his central interests – football, wresting and historical painting.

The Fruitmarket Gallery

Dundee Art Cooper Gallery URGENCY AND POSSIBILITY: COUNTER-CINEMA IN THE 70S AND 80S

29 SEP-7 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Cooper Gallery presents a two-week screening programme of the collaborative film works by influential film theorists and filmmakers Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen. The programme, selected with Laura Mulvey, includes the pair’s experimental shorts, features and documentary, which instigated Counter-Cinema in the 1970s. These works will be shown in a series of evening and weekend screenings.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts CLARE WOODS: VICTIM OF GEOGRAPHY

1-10 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

DCA exhibits a selection of vast oil-paintings by Clare Woods, in which found images of people at their most vulnerable are painted on large aluminium sheets. THE WEATHER MAKER

23 SEP-26 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Canadian artist Kelly Richardson’s first solo exhibition in Scotland, programmed in partnership with Discovery Film Festival. Via three large-scale video works and a new print series, The Weather Maker asks the viewer to consider what the future might hold if we do not alter our use of the planet’s resources.

The McManus FIRE AND STONE

1 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An continuation of the NMS and British Museum’s Reflections on Celts spotlight tour, featuring a replica of the Monifieth II Pictish stone which has been commissioned from stone carver David McGovern. MUSEOGRAPHY: CALUM COLVIN REFLECTS ON THE MCMANUS COLLECTIONS

1 SEP-31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A major new exhibition from Calum Colvin which showcases a series of strategically placed interventions of photographic artworks throughout the permanent galleries at The McManus.

JAC LEIRNER: ADD IT UP

1 SEP-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A Scotland debut from Brazilian artist Jac Leirner, who makes sculptures from a limited range of everyday materials which engage with notions of repetition, obsession and addiction. FRESH FRUIT SOCIAL FOR 16-25 YEAR LDS

7 SEP, 6:00PM – 8:00PM, FREE

Fresh Fruit is a group of young people aged 16–25 who work together and with artists to explore ideas and make and share art. Sessions are social, informal and free. AMBIENT AUDIENCES: MARTY HAILEY

22 SEP, 6:30PM – 8:30PM, FREE

In the latest of Fruitmarket’s relaxed electronica gigs, Marty Hailey plays a live set from new project Do I Sleep Now or in the Next Life? PANEL DISCUSSSION: THE POTENTIAL OF THINGS

21 SEP, 6:00PM – 8:00PM, FREE

Art historians Natasha Adamou, Alistair Rider and artist David Batchelor consider the relationship between objects and sculpture, obsession, repetition and the grid in the work of Jac Leirner.

THE SKINNY

Adventure Time Doors Open Days happen across Scotland in September, offering public access to normally private spaces. We take a look at the programme to pick out a few highlights

his is it – your annual opportunity to stick your nose where it’s not normally wanted and rummage around in private spaces that someone, somewhere has decided to make open to the public for one day only. Use this opportunity wisely, or live with regret for a whole year. Never ones to shy away from a party, Glasgow have turned their Doors Open Days into a weeklong festival, running from 11-17 September. With a 47-page programme encompassing everything from behind the scenes access to major cultural institutions to walking tours teaching the city’s radical history, there truly is something for everyone here. One of the joys of Doors Open Days is the opportunity to see inside buildings that are otherwise difficult to access. Falling into this category is the legendary Britannia Panopticon, the world’s oldest surviving music hall and location of Stan Laurel’s debut performance in 1906. It sits on the Trongate and flings open its doors to share what is intriguingly described as its ‘incredible, quirky, and in some cases downright disgusting past.’ Travel out west to Victoria Park to marvel at the Fossil Grove, formed 325 million years ago and originally part of a vast forest which eventually became the coal that powered Glasgow’s industry. Glasgow is home to a huge diversity of cultures, and Doors Open Day gives us an opportunity to learn a bit more about them. The city is home to two landmark Sikh temples, the gold-domed Central Gurdwara Singh Sabha and the purpose-built Glasgow Gurdwara Guru Granth Sahib on Albert Drive. Visit, share a (free!) meal, learn how to make chapatis but please be respectful – heads should be covered, shoes removed and no drinking or smoking. Learn about Islam at the Glasgow Central Mosque or take the kids to the Madrasa Taleem Ul Islam on Nithsdale Road, where they can colour their own mosaic based on patterns from mosques around the world. The Garnethill Synagogue is home to the Scottish Jewish Archive Centre and Museum and also some very nice stained glass. Churches across the city are also open for a nosy – notable buildings include the Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson-designed Glasgow City Free Church on St Vincent Street, included on the World Monument Fund’s list of the world’s most endangered buildings. Another ‘Greek’ greatest hit is the Caledonia Road Church which has been activated by WAVEparticle as a space for use by the local community and by artists from Glasgow, Scotland and beyond. Backstage access is a classic perk of Doors Open Days. You can take a look behind the scenes and find out what life is like in the wings / under the stage / in the dressing rooms of your favourite cultural institution. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow City Halls, Glasgow Film Theatre, the Royal Concert Hall and the new National Theatre of Scotland hub at Rockvilla are just some of the places offering tours and once-ayear-only access to the general public. Learn about the city’s history by stopping by the Glasgow Women’s Library (it’s open all year, people, you should be a regular already) or taking part in one of the many, many fascinating-sounding talks and tours that have been organised over the week. You could discover the history of such diverse gems as (amongst others) the city’s contemporary music scene, suffragettes, Toby Paterson’s skate routes, football, the Radical War or the Necropolis. There’s also a programme of pop-up gigs – head to Govanhill Baths or the Pipe Factory for special performances from the Scottish Ensemble, or

September 2017

Pollokshaws Burgh Hall for a ‘T’ dance accompanied by the venue's mighty wurlitzer. Over in Edinburgh (23 & 24 Sep) there’s less of a focus on revolutionary history and more of an opportunity to gain access to private (members) spaces that are usually closed to the public. Ever fancied checking out where the good people of the New Town like to swim? Today is the day you will be allowed into the exclusive Drumsheugh Baths at the top of Dean Village. You can also head to the Meadows and try your hand at croquet. It doesn’t get much more Edinburgh than that. Today is also the day to gain entry to some of the private gardens of the New Town. Explore the seven acre Dean Gardens, the largest of the four ‘pleasure grounds’ to border the Water of Leith with a layout virtually unchanged from the original Victorian era plans. Speaking of the Water of Leith, a popular haunt on Doors Open Days is St Bernard’s Well, recently restored in all its mosaiced, gilded glory. Behind George Square, off Middle Meadow Walk you will find the Chapel of St Albert the Great, a space for prayer which was renovated in 2012, fitted with an incredible bent wooden roof mimicking the forms of the surrounding trees. See what a £35 million restoration looks like at

McEwan Hall up the road. Another Edinburgh University hidden gem is the Anatomical Museum round the corner, where you may gaze upon such fascinating specimens as skeletons, death masks and weird pickled samples of biological grotesquery. Continuing the scientific theme, you can head out of the city centre and tour the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh on Blackford Hill for talks, demonstrations and exhibits. Get your backstage fix by taking a tour of the recently-reopened Leith Theatre which came back to life in May with the 2017 Hidden Door festival. In Granton you can visit the National Museums Collections Centre to see what happens in this artefact and art store. You can also poke about behind the scenes at the Kings Theatre, Filmhouse, Dovecot or Edinburgh Printmakers, where tours of the printmaking facilities are on offer. Up in Dundee (16 & 17 Sep), Doors Open highlights include local publishing favourites DC Thomson (they make the Beano!) opening up their offices for public scrutiny. Go behind the scenes at Caird Hall or Dundee Rep, or visit DCA to find out how their projections and printmaking operations work. There’s a chance to

Words: Rosamund West see some world class architecture at the Frank Gehyr-designed Maggie’s centre in the grounds of Ninewell Hospital. This being Dundee, you can take a tour of a pub – the Speedwell, aka Mennie’s, offered up as ‘one of the finest examples of Edwardian architecture.’ There’s also a gin tasting at Vine – screw the learning, let’s get drunk. Doors Open Days happen across Scotland so grab the car or railcard and head to the countryside to explore some of the country’s architectural treasures. This is an opportunity to view the iconic ruin of St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, accessible by appointment only (23 & 24 Sep). Arguably Scotland’s most significant modernist building, St Peter’s was designed by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia and was built in 1966 as a college to train young priests, and was recently revivified by NVA. In Helensburgh, visit Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s celebrated Hill House (by appointment, 23 & 24 Sep) designed as a family home for publisher Walter Blackie. This being Scotland there are also literally dozens of castles and kirks dotted across the land that are being opened up specially for Doors Open Days. Find out more and plan your itinerary on the website – happy exploring. doorsopendays.org.uk

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