The Skinny November 2009

.CO.UK

ISSUE 50 • NOVEMBER 2009 •

FREE

2 6 2,4 TED S LIS T N EVE

YO LA TENGO

OUTSIDER ROCK HITS GLASGOW

GIRLS! (THE BAND), PLUS DOLLSKABEAT & THE RAINCOATS

WIN STUFF!

TICKETS TO SEE THE VASELINES AT HOMECOMING LIVE, GIN, AND CHOCOLATE

GRUNGE! HALF OF SEATTLE,

INTERVIEWED

GOURMET TEA! WE HAVE A PARTY WITH SOME POSH TEA

WARP HITS TWENTY, AND THE COSMIC RISE OF...

HUDSON MOHAWKE

ON THE RUNWAY SCO

TTIS STAR HOLLY FUHLT NEW AUTUMON'S WINTER COL N/ LECTION

MUSIC | FILM | CLUBS | THEATRE | GAMES | BOOKS | COMEDY | ART | FASHION | LISTINGS

OUT NOW FOR THE PSP™ “Not only one of the most inventive GTA games ever, but one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with its brethren as one of the best games in the series’ history.”

- GamesMaster “...Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a triumph...”

- Eurogamer “...the most impressive GTA I have ever played on any console...”

- The Sun

www.rockstargames.com/chinatownwars Out Now for the PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and PSP™ go © 2007-2009 Rockstar Games, Inc. Rockstar Games, Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North, the Rockstar Games r logo, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and the Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software. 2, PlayStation, 7 and PSP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. The content of this videogame is purely fictional, is not intended to represent or depict any actual event, person, or entity, and any such similarities are purely coincidental. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame.

Skinny:fullpage2 22/10/2009 14:16 Page 1

2009 -2010 MMIX -MMX

The music and fireworks spectacular Thursday 31 December 2009

+ VERY

SPECIAL GUESTS...

Tickets £42.50 / £37.50 + booking fee

TICKETS ALSO ON-SALE NOW FOR: • Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party • The Keilidh Full programme details announced mid-November www.madness.co.uk – Total Madness Greatest Hits & The Liberty of Norton Folgate out now

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PLUS MARTIN CARR

FRI 6TH NOV EDINBURGH QUEENS HALL 0131 668 2019 special guests THE YOUNG Don’t Move

REPUBLIC

plus Special Guests

Mon 23rd Nov Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

GLASGOW Nice’n’Sleazys Wed 28th Oct

0131 668 2019 0871 220 0260

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Plus Special Guests

SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER

EDINBURGH QUEENS HALL 0871 220 0260 0131 668 2019

www.seetickets.com

NELL BRYDEN

GLASGOW

ORAN MOR

MONDAY 9TH NOVEMBER 0871 220 0260 www.seetickets.com

& the Fire Roddy Hart Lonesome

Tues 17 Nov Inverness, Hootenannys Wed 18 Nov Perth Theatre, Redrooms Thu 19 Nov Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s

Fri 20 Nov Glasgow, Oran Mor Sun 22 Nov Libertines, Ayr (solo) 0871 220 0260 www.seetickets.com

a Regular Music/Triple G/Mean Fiddler presentation Photo Credit: © Max Lakner

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0871 220 0260 WWW.SEETICKETS.COM

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FRI 27 NOV Glasgow Oran Mor sat 28 NOV EDinburgh CABARET VOLTAIRE

SATURDAY 14 NOVEMBER GLASGOW NICE‘N’SLEAZY

www.seetickets.com www.regularmusic.com

0871 220 0260 Ticket Scotland: Argyle St Glasgow, Rose St Edinburgh & Ripping Records.

[NB - We should be thankful that Griffin squirmed around his true beliefs, and didn’t stand up and say atrocious things while claiming that he speaks for the silent; we should also be thankful that Britain is a climate where that sort of thing is considered unacceptable, in law.]

The panellist who did most to skewer Griffin was Bonnie Greer, and her primary weapons were calm and circumspection (although she did slightly overdo the contempt).

In appearing like that Greer made a good case for the place of culture: the need for informed, independent and authoritative voices that exist outside the realm of politics.

This isn’t to say culture always gets it right, but the combination of composure and – because Greer couldn’t hide it entirely – fun that culture brings to the table, should always be welcome at even the highest level debates.

Just as Greer was effective in the method of her approach, the politicians on the panel were caught being too political. Much of their carry on – particularly regarding the key issue of immigration – resembled a normal edition of Question Time. But this wasn’t a normal edition; it was always going to be defined by the first appearance of this extreme political party.

What I’d like to suggest as a further point is a key lessonfor-life that applies quite broadly, but that the politicians on this particular show all failed to follow: sometimes, the best way to achieve what you want is to do the logical opposite of the obvious.

So, rather than noisily defending their parties against the other parties on hairline issues of policy, had just one of them made the decision to put party loyalty aside for an evening, and calmly open up the debate (on immigration in particular) to a more ideology-free discussion, Griffin would have suffered terribly. A bit of contemplation would have further emphasised just what nonsense he was talking. And a discussion on those terms would have given a better impression of politics in general (which does Griffin no favours). Further still, the panellist able to make that jump would have looked diplomatic, wise, and capable of leadership, all of which would have done their party great credit in the eyes of the massive audience.

This sort of contrary but practical thinking is exactly the sort of thing we can learn from the arts, from culture. It’s tempting to think that reason is our best weapon against fundamentalist irrationality, but it can only go so far.

Equally important, but harder to measure, are style and creativity. rupert@theskinny.co.uk

THE SKINNY November 2009 Issue 50, November 2009 © Radge Media Ltd.

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Sophie Kyle

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MR KIL

4 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

earlier this year.

That’s what they want – legitimacy – and so there’s no doubt Nick Griffin’s historic BBC appearance on Question Time on 22 October will have done his party good. Now, I’m not here to argue that the BBC shouldn’t have allowed him on when they were just following standard practice.

Nor am I going to attempt a wide-ranging and nuanced political overview: plenty of commentators are more naturally placed for such a piece. Instead I’d like to focus on a couple of more culture-related arguments that came to mind on the back of watching the programme.

I’d like to argue that one of the things that could have been handled better was the manner of the other panellists, who to a certain extent looked like politicians always do, and who failed to adapt to fit the occasion (the true nature of which should have been to nullify).

I’d also like to say that they weren’t creative enough in their approach to the challenge posed by Griffin’s appearance (not by Griffin himself).

So my concern is that an opportunity was wasted.

Griffin, despite looking a weak, deluded fool, wasn’t truly shown up by the other panellists, so much as berated.

I fully appreciate the extremely difficult job the three party representatives (Jack Straw, Sayeeda Warsi, and Chris Huhne) had to do, but these occasions demand the highest standards. To some observers, those who could consider voting BNP – they might well have seemed noisy and hypocritical, rather than cool and clear. All three came across as career politicians: eloquent yes, passionate, yes, but also part of the system (despite their differing personal histories). Those who already feel disenfranchised by this side of political life will have no new reason not to turn to an ‘outsider’ party of the sort Griffin represents, and may have found new reasons to resent the parties closer to power.

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.

THURs 5 NOV

SAT 7TH NOV

“THE BNP are a legitimate political party. The BNP are standing candidates in many constituencies throughout Scotland.” Those were almost exactly the words intoned by a near-chanting BNP campaigner, overheard on Sauchiehall Street, while I was taking part in a ‘sound walk’ as part of the Instal experimental music festival

Production Creative director Production editor Designer Chief subeditor Subeditors

Cover photography

Matt MacLeod David Lemm Mike Sterry Rosamund West Euan Ferguson Michael Gillespie Paul Mitchell Gillian Watson Sarah Roberts

Sales/Accounts Enterprise manager Sales Executive Accounts Administrator

Lara Moloney Steven Scott Erin McElhinney

Research Listings editor

Anna Docherty

Contents

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

GLASGOW ORAN MOR Thursday 12th November

EDINBURGH CABARET VOLTAIRE Saturday 14th November

COVER FEATURE

Warp Records Turns 20 We celebrate two decades of pioneering music with the label's best and brightest, including gobby upstart Hudson Mohawke.

6 12 16 20 22 24 26 28 32 35 36 38 54 60

Got plans for November? Scrap them, The Skinny's suggestions are way better.

Food and Drink

We single-handedly stop the global recession by holding a party in our flat with fancy teas and cakes, plus reviews of 56North and Sapporo.

Fashion

We feature digital print work with Francesca Chiorando and Katie Craib and talk to Holly Fulton about her new line.

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE

SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER

GLASGOW BARROWLAND T D OU OL SUNDAY S11TH OCTOBER

»8

Heads Up

+ LOS CAMPESINOS! + KRAKATOA (EDINBURGH ONLY)

GLASGOW O2 ACADEMYGLASGOW

www.thecribs.com www.myspace.com/thecribs

+ Sons and Daughters

ABC SATURDAY Tuesday 14TH NOVEMBER 6th October

DEBUT ALBUM ‘MADE UP STORIES’ OUT NOW! INCLUDES THE SINGLES ‘MADE UP STORIES’, ‘SHE LEFT ME’ & ‘DRIVE TO THE CITY’.

STANDARD AND DELUXE VERSIONS AVAILABLE DIGITALLY AND ON CD.

GLASGOW SECC

GLASGOW ORAN MOR

SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER

GLASGOW ORAN MOR

SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER GLASGOW ORAN MOR

+ DINOSAUR PILE UP + STAGE BLOOD

Sunday 8th November SEATING AVAILABLE ‘Minotaur’, the definitive Pixies boxset collection, available to pre-order now via www.ainr.com

+ TRIPS

GLASGOW SUNDAY CLASSIC1ST GRAND

SATURDAY 24TH NOVEMBER OCTOBER

+ DINOSAUR PILE UP + STAGE BLOOD

Deviance

A certain writer comes out as celibate, while another writer goes looking for sex with a stranger. Then there's us: needing sex, but not getting any.

Showcase

Take a peek at some stills from Eleanor Stewart's incredible animated film, then jump online to watch it. Then jump offline and finish reading our magazine, looking at our advertisers, and buying their products.

Digital

We cast an eye over the best in web-based schadenfreude while columnist Mark Daniels reveals his passion for things that go bleep in the night.

Reading

plus special guests

Power Acoustic Ensemble With Robyn Hitchcock and Friends

PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE OF DATE GLASGOW - ORIGINAL TICKETS STILL VALID QMU

THURSDAY 15TH OCTOBER

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY MONDAY 19th OCTOBER

Edinburgh EDINBURGH HMVHall PICTURE HOUSE The Queens TUESDAY 20th OCTOBER

'Two Suns' out now THURSDAY 12THAlbum NOVEMBER www.batforlashes.com

www.frank-turner.com www.myspace.com/frankturner GLASGOW CLASSIC GRAND GLASGOW

WEDNESDAY 11TH NOVEMBER

+ SUCIOPERRO + BLACK ALLEY SCREENS

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN + EXIT CALM GLASGOW ORAN MOR

SATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER Glasgow

We chat to the 22 year-old lad who set up Cargo Publishing, and who's rejected every draft of our manuscript. The pitch: a woman's breasts start to talk. Only one's a racist, the other a misogynist. Comedy ensues!

Barrowland

‘BLUE LIGHTS ON THE RUNWAY’ OUT NOW WWW.BELLX1.COM

WedNESDAY 14th October

Film

Michael Haneke discusses his Palme D’Or winning film The White Ribbon, and we gear up for a glut of Gallic genius at the 2009 French Film Festival.

The new album ‘The Fountain’ released on the 12th October www.bunnymen.com

+ MATT & KIM

Theatre

This month: we love the musical. In fact, one time we staged our own version of Cats in the alley behind our house with only a week-old fillet of salmon and a high-powered air rifle.

Comedy Never before has Comedy made us feel so unworthy, with previews on Sport Relief Übermensch Eddie Izzard, and the ClownDoctors benefit.

Art

+ ELLIE GOULDING + FAN DEATH

GLASGOW ORAN MOR SUNDAY 22ND NOVEMBER EDINBURGH HMV PICTURE HOUSE

www.the-sounds.com myspace.com/thesounds

SUNDAY 25TH OCTOBER

NEW ALBUM ‘CROSSING THE RUBICON’ OUT NOW. WWW.THE-SOUNDS.COM

www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk The Debut Album ‘Hands’ out now

TERPOINT + COUNBARROWLAND + SOILGLASGOW THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER

Music sexy party time with Dollskabeat, Pantha du Prince, Thunder Disco Club. Super sexy fun yes! Dance and play!

Listings

Normally we're stuck for a photo to put here. Really, what is effective visual shorthand for Listings? Then we came across Goatwhore, playing Glasgow 30 Nov. Look at them - they fuggin' DEFINE Listings.

GLASGOW CLASSIC GRAND

MONDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

+ KIZZY STAR

Edinburgh HMV Picture House

GLASGOW KING TUTS Wednesday 9th December

Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th & Friday 18th December

Music Clubs

IN ASSOCIATION WITH PCL PRESENTS

+ Magic Arm

Halloween brings the Scottish art world together, and we trundle down to London to check out Frieze.

Bend over, breath deeply and prepare to meet Girls, Miike Snow, Jerry Cantrell, Pelican Yo La Tengo and Paper Plans.

ABC2

THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER

GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY Glasgow ABC Saturday 7th November Thursday 22nd

October OF VENUE. PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE ORIGINAL TICKETS STILL VALID

+ THE PHANTOM BAND

GLASGOW ABC

GLASGOW THURSDAY 15TH OCTOBER ARCHES FRIDAY 6th NOVEMBER

‘Mind Blowing…a must see’ The Sunday Times : ‘Top 5 bands to see live in 2009’ The Observer : ‘I cannot get enough of these guys, they soothe the soul’ US President, Barack Obama

GLASGOW ORAN MOR MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER

TICKETS 24HRS 08444 999 990 • www.ticketmaster.co.uk • www.gigsinscotland.com

IN PERSON PERSON GLASGOW GLASGOW Tickets Tickets Scotland, Scotland, EDINBURGH EDINBURGH Tickets Tickets Scotland, Scotland, Ripping, Ripping, DUNDEE DUNDEE Grouchos Grouchos & IN & all all Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Ticket Ticket Centres.

Centres.

NOVEMBER November2009 2009

THE SKINNY 5

LIFESTYLE

HEADS YOUR

UP MONTH AHEAD Jenny Wallace

THE WIZARD OF OZ-TOBER WITH Christmas fast approaching, the inclination is to delve into a preparatory pre-tox in advance of the imminent blast of drinking, spending too much and sleeping too little. With this in mind, this month we’ve included some low cost options of the more relaxing variety, mixed with some of the best charity events on offer for November (it’s almost the season of giving, you know. You may as well get into the right mindset).

Of course, there are always those who won’t give a Christmas fig about resting or hoarding up the pennies.

If you’re one of them, rip out this section, stick it in your pocket and enjoy a busy month of cracking social options. There’s always next year to reel yourself in.

SAT, 7 NOV

No, The Arches aren't showing reruns of an old-ass show about a dolphin, but are instead hosting grotty San Fran punks FLIPPER (Glasgow, 7.30pm). Nirvana's Krist Novoselic used to play with them, y'know.

KE PI'C H T TH O N MO

TUES, 27 OCT

WED, 28 OCT

The only Japanese director to win the Palme d’Or twice at Cannes, Shohei Imamura, culminates a series of 5 films at the GFT with PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS,, an unashamedly upfront depiction of Japanese post-war life.

LGBT and human rights activist PETER TATCHELL shares his well-regarded musings with an open audience at the Gallery of Modern Art (6.30pm, free). Part of Glasgay!

SUN, 1 NOV

MON, 2 NOV

The eagerly anticipated SKY CRAWLERS closes the DISCOVERY FILM FESTIVAL. A must-see for fans of anime and gaming. Dundee Contemporary Arts, 6pm.

FRE E!

Metalcore rules at the NEVER SAY DIE TOUR 2009. 5pm-11pm, £12. www.thearches.co.uk

Lowsalt Gallery (opposite Stereo, Glasgow) and the 85A collective join forces with twice nightly screenings of the Polish epic ORZEL. Come ready for a WW11-esque attack on your senses. www.lowsalt.org.uk.

(7-8pm, 9-10pm, £3)

TUE, 3 NOV

With live graffiti art, live music and film screenings, the newly formed SHERWOOD FILM CLUB launches in the Voodoo Rooms Speakeasy. 7pm, £5 www.sherwoodfilmsltd.com

HO R SE (the b SUN, 8 NOV

Start your Christmas shopping and consecutively save the planet with the SAY NO TO PLASTIC VINTAGE SALE (Òran Mór, 12pm5pm, £2).

SAT, 14 NOV

OXJAM’S at the CCA with Studio 363 for some cracking music, VJs, artists, fashion and delights aplenty to fill your Saturday night.

(CCA, £5, 7pm-12pm)

MON, 9 NOV

Catch a Scottish television-turnedtheatre classic with THE STEAMIE, a jolly romp through the lives of some auld Glasgae burds oan Hogmanay.

7.30pm, Dundee Rep Theatre.

SUN, 15 NOV

Ten emerging playwrights, ten plays, ten minutes each. And only five pounds. Definitely more than ten reasons to check out TEN THEATRE (Traverse Theatre, 6pm)

SAT, 21 NOV

As the last of the late summer wasps die off, turn to a different type of PEST CONTROL – the weekend dancefloor kind, who put themselves up against SLABS OF THE TABERNACLE tonight (venue to be announced)

6 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

THU, 29 OCT

and)

TUES, 10 NOV

Scotland’s physical theatre, circus and street arts company Conflux meet with Russian dance companies Derevo and Akhe for an explosive UK premiere. Taking over The Arches, NATURA MORTE (part 1: 7pm, part 2: 9pm) is set to detonate perceptions of theatre arts and dance. Unmissable. (£16/£12)

MON, 16 NOV

Former supporters of Mylo, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, the FILTHY DUKES arrive from London to King Tut's in Glasgow with some sexy synth-pop. (£8, 8.30pm)

SUN, 22 NOV

IMPROV DOGS aren't actually dogs, but do actually improvise: live songs, sketches and sometimes unhinged improvised comedy all based on audience suggestions.

Adults only, and for good reason.

(Blackfriars, Glasgow. 8pm.)

F

S th V p E S b fr F

They Came from the Future As Warp Records blows out twenty candles, The Skinny talks to a cast of characters from its intimidating roster about the indelible mark the UK's biggest independent label has made on popular music.

W

8 THE SKINNY November 2009

With so many classic releases on Warp, it’s hard to know where to begin and easy to overlook some of the output. Here’s our pick of the absolute must-haves

Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children

Text: Bram Gieben arp Records: as Warp enters its third decade, it is increasingly difficult to imagine what the musical landscape of the UK would look like without the label and its impressive roster of iconoclasts. Warp’s ‘golden era’ of the mid-nineties – when they were releasing the seminal works of Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Nightmares on Wax – may be over, but in the past ten years the label has evolved to incorporate the angular rock of Battles and Maxïmo Park, and has developed and nurtured the careers of film-makers like Chris Morris, Chris Cunningham and Shane Meadows.

Warp is a successful and highly recognisable British media brand: one that co-founder Steve Beckett has worked hard to ensure is perpetually changing with the times, embracing new technologies and new sounds as they emerge from the bedroom studios, gig venues and dancehalls of the UK and beyond. In Rob Young’s exhaustive study of the label, Warp: Labels Unlimited, Beckett is quoted on Warp’s chameleonic approach to signing artists: “There is no ‘Warp sound,’ there is no Warp: it’s just a concept, like the equator… I just want to sign, nurture and develop incredible new artists in whatever genre they practice in.”

Nightmares on Wax, the label’s longest-serving artist, reflects on Beckett’s approach: “That’s the nuts of the whole Warp success story – seeing potential in something, and then allowing that potential to come out in its own natural way. A lot of labels see potential in artists and then tell them how to be. Warp don’t do that.”

The nascent Warp was conceived by Beckett and his partner and friend, the late Rob Mitchell. The pair ran a record store together in Sheffield during the mid- to late- eighties, and with some advice and knowledge from legendary producer Robert Gordon, they began releasing records to capitalise on the emerging, unique rave scene in Sheffield, the dominant sound of which would soon became known as Bleep.

Coinciding with the decline of the Madchester scene, and with roots reaching back to earlier Sheffield pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire (with whom Gordon had worked) and the Human League, the label developed a rich palette – incorporating influences from techno, house music and psychedelic rock. From the off, Warp artists approached music in a very open, liberated manner: cherry-picking sounds and techniques from every conceivable genre.

The history of Warp is in many ways also the history of the massive paradigm shift that has occurred in the music industry over the last two decades. Their first few releases, such as Tricky Disco, actually charted in the top 40, but by the mid-nineties the label was embracing the burgeoning internet community, selling records by courting fans on online forums, and on mailing lists such as Aphex Twin’s Intelligent Dance Music List. They were among the first labels to occupy a third space in the music industry, beyond traditionally visible sales conduits like the charts, or high-profile tours.

A Warp PR communiqué from 1994 shows remarkable prescience about the changes in distribution and

Warp Essentials

Filtered vocal loops and found sounds echo hypnotically over dubbed-out electronic soundscapes, producing a classic LP which is restful and restless in equal measure. The reclusive BoC are secretive about their recording process and equipment, and seem to inhabit a charmed world of strangely pastoral electronica. Exquisite stuff.

Aphex Twin I Care Because You Do The inimitable electronic pioneer and undisputed Emperor of bedroom producers, Richard D James experiments on this album with analogue strings, extended drum loops and (on Ventolin) sampled coughing, producing what is perhaps his most coherent album. Of course, once you own this, you’ll be wanting the rest of his albums too. I Care… is a great starter for ten.

Battles Mirrored For years, experimental rock music has been the forte of plodding, glacial noise merchants like Mogwai or Godspeed. Then came Battles. Known for looping extended jams live on stage and distorting vocals with an array of analogue and electronic devices, their debut Mirrored is arguably the first successful update of experimental rock in two decades. Tracks like Atlas are undeniably insistent and hook-laden, while retaining a level of sonic innovation not heard since Can’s Egebamyasi.

Anti-Pop Consortium Arrhythmia

Top: Tim Exile Above: Plaid

“That’s the nuts of the whole Warp success story – seeing potential in something, and then allowing that potential to come out in its own natural way.”

Nightmares on Wax

Right: Aphex Twin Far right: Hudson Mohawke (Photo: Sarah Roberts)

Incorporating elements of glitch, electro, techno and ambient while imitating none of these, it is impossible to estimate how influential APC’s first long-player was on the hip-hop scene. Ghostlawns was a crossover club hit, opening the minds of a generation of techno fans to the hyper-literate wordplay of the APC emcees. A slew of electronic hip-hop has followed, from Kanye to Cadence Weapon. APC are, quite simply, the daddies.

Plaid Double Figure Using a template of aquatic, rounded, smoothed-out electro, Plaid produced this masterpiece of sonic understatement. The chord progressions, melodies and arrangements are almost classical in their elegance, but avoid the trappings of ambient music by maintaining a pulsing, warm bass undercurrent and crisp drums. Few analogue instruments were used on Double Figure, but it is nonetheless one of the most organic and enchanting electronic albums ever released.

hudson Mohawke

November 2009

THE SKINNY 9

creation of music that were to follow: “It’s not going to be long before an artist can make an album, film, or CD… in his or her own bedroom… advertise the product to hundreds of thousands of people directly via the computer networks, and sell directly to them.

This will completely cut out the need for the trek around the usual entertainment companies looking for finance, and could lead to things getting really interesting.” This was a whole decade before the concept of MySpace and the netlabel had arisen.

By engaging with the burgeoning online distribution and social networks that grew up alongside dance music, Warp were able to nurture a generation of bedroom producers, with an emphasis on turning them into album artists, contrary to the approach of many shorter-lived techno labels.

Hudson Mohawke. For Braxton, the aesthetics are almost as important as the music: “Why record pieces for a large orchestra and electronics if you’re gonna release it in a manilla envelope and have the title written with a sharpie?”

Nightmares on Wax agrees: “I think there’s only one time that I didn’t have a hundred percent control of the design. The core idea has come from me, and I’ve seen it all the way through.”

F

ROM THE early excursions into Bleep with the likes of LFO, through voyages into the ‘Electronic Listening Music’ of Autechre, B12 and Boards of Canada, to the far-out noise terror of early Squarepusher and Aphex, and beyond, into the looped guitar madness of Battles and the purple aqua-crunk of Hudson Mohawke, Warp’s sound is one that is impossible to pin down. It is not experimental for the sake of it, neither is it populist – it’s a body of work that could only have been produced by a roster of artists given free reign to explore new sonic and visual territories. As Warp move into feature-film production and continue to stay ahead of the curve with their digital distribution and creative marketing, it’s just as difficult to imagine a future without Warp as it is to imagine a present without them.

For the label’s current stars, old and new alike, the future looks bright. Chris Clark is working on a clutch of remixes for the likes of Massive Attack, Tim Exile is performing live and experimenting with his selfcreated music software (details of which can be found on his blog, www.thenowwave.blogspot.com). Tyondai Braxton is splitting his time between promoting his solo LP and writing the new Battles LP. Hudson Mohawke is enjoying the attention brought to his music by the Warp PR juggernaut, despite a self-confessed shyness towards publicity: “It’s a total experience – I’ve never had such a high workload before, but it’s really exciting at the same time. There’s new opportunities every single day, new leads, new things going on.” A video for his Prince-tastic track Joy Fantastic is in the works, and the quite ridiculously addictive hooks of that tune could well propel him into daytime radio territory. HudMo himself remains coy: “I have no expectations, I think that’s the best way to be.” His ambition of working with high-profile artists as a superproducer is coming ever closer, now that he is signed to a well-respected label, and is working with a well-connected manager who also handles Bloc Party.

Nightmares on Wax meanwhile is experiencing a renaissance after two decades as a producer: “I’m going on to this next album, which will be my seventh album for Warp, with a sense of total and utter freedom.” He speculates on the future of the music industry: “We might be in a position in ten years where we’re in the studio, and as soon as you take your finger off the record button on the final mix, you can get it, it’s available!” He laughs heartily at the thought. “It’s exciting for me. I just see it as pure opportunity now.”

Tyondai Braxton sums up Warp’s value perfectly: “Warp has not only introduced groundbreaking artists through the years, but it has also proved that there is a model on how to be a successful indie label that deals in challenging music.”

Subsequent champions of the eclectic, such as Planet Mu, Aphex Twin’s Rephlex, and even guitar-oriented labels such as Domino all owe a little bit of thanks to Steve Beckett and Warp for refusing to be anything but iconoclastic; for championing new sounds and new approaches to business; and most of all, for never staying still. A true British classic, Warp’s contributions to the fields of music, film and design will continue as long as there are artists who need freedom to innovate.

When it comes down to it, aren’t those the only artists worth paying attention to in the first place?

I

T IS not just Warp’s business acumen which has made them legendary – the label and its artists also did more than anyone else to elevate dance music to an art form in the eyes of the critics, with Aphex Twin collaborating with neo-classical composer Philip Glass on the track Icct Hedral, and the likes of Nightmares on Wax bringing new cinematic approaches to instrumental electronic music.

Nightmares on Wax describes how he saw the influence of Warp and its artists inspiring subsequent, seminal labels such as James Lavelle’s Mo Wax: “When we dropped our first album, A Word of Science, it went over so many people’s heads. Because James was working in Bluebird Records, he totally clocked it – especially the more downbeat stuff that was on that album – and that was what inspired him to start Mo Wax. When he came to me with that story and asked if we wanted to do a track for the Headz compilation, I was like: ‘Shit… somebody’s actually getting the other half of what I’ve been thinking about!’”

Since the tragic death of co-founder Rob Mitchell in 2001, and after relocating to London, Warp has made some controversial acquisitions, leading some to accuse the label of betraying its principles and abandoning its fanbase. But Warp never really had a genre: it was in the business of subverting established styles, rather than following them.

One of the label’s more recent signings, Chris Clark, gives his view: “I think Warp tends to go for artists who sidestep genres. To me, there’s nothing more banal than an artist who tries to please people within a narrow set of boundaries.”

Nevertheless, the much-derided tag of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) has followed Warp around like a bad smell. Another recent signing, the talented live electronic performer Tim Exile, thinks the last few years have helped Warp distance themselves from any such pigeonholing: “It’s plain to hear in what Warp have been releasing recently that there’s a move away from the more ambient sounds of the nineties. I think there’s almost a bit of trepidation when it comes to anything that seems like it’s overtly geeky now.

Warp’s had this millstone – this ambient, IDM millstone – applied to it… When I go into the office and start talking about how I’ve programmed a new machine, they’re kind of like, ‘Oh shit, its another geek!’” *One of Warp’s most exciting additions to the roster of late has been wunderkind Hudson Mohawke, who emerged from Gasgow’s LuckyMe crew. He found the Warp approach to artist management was very hands-off: “I could really just do my thing. I think that Warp is one of the few labels where you can still do that. It’s one of the only labels that is really well established and still gives its artists total freedom.”

At 23, HudMo was too young to really explore Warp’s output in the mid-90s, although he does cite Aphex Twin and Squarepusher as big influences. “I was much more into really silly jump-up jungle and hardcore and that kind of stuff,” he says. Many of the Warp artists seem keen to distance themselves from any specific influences, but he admits to being very influenced by video games: “For years and years my big passions were DJing and scratching and playing games. That was pretty much my entire life.”

Staying humble, HudMo tries not to get too complacent about his newfound success: “It’s all I’ve wanted to do since I was eleven or twelve years old… to one day be able to do music and be able to travel with it. It’s somewhat different to how I expected it to be, but it’s still incredible. It still feels like it could evaporate at any moment. I’m not getting too used to it.” *Warp has had its fair share of controversy over the years, from the acrimonious departure of Robert Gordon to the long and drawn-out debate over IDM and ambient. Through it all, the Warp focus

10 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

has remained squarely on high-concept music and design, with the artists themselves in the driving seat creatively. This kind of freedom engenders a fierce loyalty from artists, as Nightmares on Wax attests: “I think they’re about ten years deep into not being looked at as a techno label now… Really it has always been expanding to become just a good music label. I can only say, just as Steve would say, that we couldn’t have done it without each other.”

Tim Exile describes the somewhat restrictive trajectory of the fast-moving dance scene: “Labels have a choice: if you invest too early in a scene it’s risky. Or you can flog a dead horse. So you have to tread the line between going with new stuff and investing in established stuff. I’m excited about what I want to do with my music, and I can imagine how Warp would be involved with that, because they are an open-minded label who are always getting into new things.”

Perhaps this is the key to Warp’s success – to never get so involved in any specific ‘scene’ that its demise is a problem.

The experimental rock of Battles’ Mirrored was perhaps the most critically-acclaimed album of 2008. The group’s de facto leader Tyondai Braxton has just released his debut solo LP on Warp, and he is full of praise for their approach: “They put their trust in you, but the great thing about being on a label like this is it pushes you to go that extra mile in your own work. I can’t come out with something half assed – this is gonna be in the bin next to Aphex and Boards of Canada man!”

Braxton is also enthusiastic about the strong design ethic that Warp has always maintained, from their early minimal sleeves by The Designers Republic up to the busy neon cut-andpaste of Konx-om-Pax, who works with Top: Nightmares on wax Above: Clark Right: Tyondai Braxton

WARP20 RELEASES:

“WARP IS ONE OF THE ONLY LABELS THAT IS REALLY WELL ESTABLISHED AND STILL GIVE THEIR ARTISTS TOTAL FREEDOM.”

HUDSON MOHAWKE

(RECREATED) – TWENTY-ONE COVERS OF WARP SONGS BY WARP ARTISTS, FROM MAXIMO PARK COVERING VINCENT GALLO, TO JAMIE LIDELL COVERING GRIZZLY BEAR, TO LEILA COVERING APHEX TWIN. (CHOSEN) – TWENTY-FOUR OF WARP’S FINEST RELEASES, WITH ONE DISC CHOSEN BY CO-FOUNDER STEVE BECKETT AND A SECOND THE RESULT OF OVER FORTY-THOUSAND WARP FAN VOTES ON WARP20.NET. (UNHEARD) – AN ELEVEN-TRACK COLLECTION OF SECRET TREASURES REDISCOVERED FROM THE WARP VAULTS, DATING FROM RIGHT ACROSS THE LABEL’S TWENTY YEAR HISTORY AND FEATURING CUTS BY BOARDS OF CANADA, PLAID, BROADCAST AND MORE IS RELEASED ON 9 NOV. HUDSON MOHAWKE’S BUTTER AND TYONDAI BRAXTON’S CENTRAL MARKET ARE BOTH OUT NOW. WARP.NET

November 2009

THE SKINNY 11

LIFESTYLE

FOODPOSH NOSH AND CHEAP EATS

& DRINK

Time For Tea (For Real) Looking for something a bit different for a school-night social? Think lingerie, semi-nakedness, girl-on-girl action and bowls of something that looks a whole lot like your best Moroccan. Okay, we’re trying too hard now…

PAR TY

Text Erin McElhinney Photos Jack Waddington

T TI ,H SH S reco teven T CHEFS' PAEARTY o m d m d 250 , che RTY SECRE end f at P TS cloveg beef m s his lam in red c s of pur ince, 250 b koftk Olive e a h g e i l d l l a i g and cum arlic mb m s. Mix pinc in powd ½ small , finely ince, 2 h of d e r 2tsp salt a r, 1tsp bl ed onioniced ¼ n a chopsesame d groun ck pepp , 2tsp bar ped c seeds d cinn er, a burg bequed oriande , a hand amon, r f o e serv rs or pann skeweleaf. Canul of ed sl ightlyfried as rs, grilledbe [Sus pink in patties. as an R B idde the cent est ll] re.

SCO

Large chunks of sugar. Flavoured. High in vitamin C (no, really). In cute jars saying ‘TRY ME’. It’s like Alice in Wonderland only in real life.

Anja Reinhardt, in blue, unpacks her wares from her boutique shop (Anja’s Tea Chest) in Glasgow. The Tea Party service she provides is absolutely free, all you have to do is clear the decks and bring the guests.

Ruth Marsh

NEW IN TOWN ‘Baby, it’s cold outside.

Think of my lifelong sorrow If you caught pneumonia and died’

WHILST I wouldn’t recommend listening to everything Tom Jones tells you (feel free to take your hat off and, Delilah, you don’t have to justify anything to that man) this is advice I can get behind.

This month, The Skinny is out to prove that autumnal hibernation dodesn’t have to mean turning on the TV ‘for company’ and jumping

everytime your doorbell buzzes. Instead, it’s the perfect seson to party and, if you’re the one to throw open your doors and play host, the drink and the people will come a’flocking. It beats shivering in a cold, slow queue only to be told you can’t come in. Plus, the only rules are your house rules! No getting chucked out for throwing up, dancing after the lights have come on and the music’s been cut. You can’t sleep here, pal. I think you’ll find I can!

This issue you’ll find out

12 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

what happens when you TY HEAR S let the experts host ARTHYE,FS' PARTY SECRET some P a tasting party in rs HC e IS ff T o T l O SC f, Pau ful your own home ood che g a pain Wedgw om in avoidin ch u s , y d rt is a (plus what P lw practica tion of Abigail’s omfortable c c happens when reprodu uests you are k-up dish ing g you add tequila g a bac in v a as invit vely h lternati for and to tea), pick up cooking eekily adding “a e’ to take m h o some at-home in tow. C edgwood @ H taking care ‘W y, tips from the hire the ut of your part g, setting ss o hoppin s kitchen and bar m ost o the stre fr g, and m thing of every cooking, servin g up!” professionals , in le wash the tab and watch us raid ntly the importa usan Riddell] Dumbarton Road’s [S charity shops to create the perfect retro party menu, Salvation Army-style.

Give a group of adults an infinite supply of squirtable icing sugar and eventually one of them will re-create the works of Picasso. Or this.

LIFESTYLE PART Y, H T

Start o ISH CHEFS' CO EARTY C favouri ff savoury w KTAIL SECRE TS ith a C te elery Dry sh of Bramble S o 12.5m ake 50ml gin wner, Jason our, l syrup Scott. , 25ml , 12.5m lemon celery l pin juice bit shake ters, ½ an e eapple juice , , gg wh and do ite, add 5ml uble st pagne ra sa ic shavin ucer and ga in into a cha e, m rn g signat s. For dessert ish with ce u le gin, 25 re Bramble , try the swe ry ete ml coc with c lemon juice ktail: stir 50 r and rus ml ice, po hed ice. Add 12.5 ml syru with c ur into a slin more crush p reme d g e e mure glass and la d ce ,a garnis h. [Sus dding a bram an Rid ble dell] SCOT

ve Mix e, 2 ¼ p

We were all particularly impressed at the state of Feargal’s underwear (see left of image). Bag by Glaswegian designer Gillian Kyle, who sells through Anja’s Tea Chest.

With a four page menu and everyone wanting a chance to pick out a blend, you start knocking it back like shots. An interesting side effect is that after the guests are gone, your bathroom smells of the most fragrant wee in the world.

PARTY, HEARTYETS

SCOTTISH CHEFS' PART

Y SECR

ests Tibo owner David Skilling sugg scone. a cheesy spin on the humble raising Simply rub together 660g selftsp baking flour, 110g margarine and 1 dfuls of powder. Add a couple of han k pepper. blac e som and dar ched ure mat ed milk mm i-ski sem of ml 300 in Stir surface. Cut and turn out onto a floured 225C for 15 into mini scones and bake at and serve minutes. Once cool, half them y bacon. with cream cheese and crisp [Susan Riddell]

It’s important to cleanse the palate between teas. If supplies of Tunnock’s are running low, share with a friend.

When moustache envy rears its head even before you’ve reached the iced-tea-vodka stage, that’s a good thing.

Get to know your tea. Not only did the blends uncannily resemble, among other things, weed, muesli and wedding confetti.

The one being manhandled here is Healthy Ghost.

Beetroot cake. Make a huge bowl of cake batter with sugar, chocolate and beetroot. Spoon it around whilst going ‘I know! Beetroot! But it tastes amazing!’ Then cook.

Anja re-uses and recycles packaging as much as possible, and the bags are specially designed to keep the loose leaf teas as fresh as the day you first fingered them.

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 13

LIFESTYLE

FOODPOSH NOSH AND CHEAP EATS

& DRINK

Tonight We’re Going To Party Like It’s 1979

The Skinny hits Glasgow's charity shops to take inspiration from food guides past.

Those of a sensative disposition should look away during 'Beef Spice Boats'

THE SKINNY WHISKY GUIDE

By Ruth Marsh THIS MONTH:

Benromach 10 Year Old Highland Malt

Text Chris Coulter 1979 – what a year! The year that Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, the Happy Meal was introduced and the first British nudist beach was given the go ahead in Brighton. More importantly, it was also the birth year of a good friend of mine.

A thirtieth birthday is a momentous occasion and demands celebration in a suitably debauched but, conversely, also reserved fashion. Everyone knows that after the ripe old age of 25 hangovers become a true force to be reckoned with. So it falls to the humble dinner party to bridge that gap between ‘bacchanalian MySpace house party’ and ‘in bed by ten with a mug of warm milk’.

The theme was simple: I would trawl the myriad of second hand book shops around Glasgow hunting out suitably old/old-fashioned books relating to the gastronomic arts and then prepare a sumptuous feast in honour of my friend celebrating the very best of ‘retro cooking’.

My first port of call was the Salvation Army on the Dumbarton Road, a huge shop which fulfills all of one’s used furniture and second hand, chipped crockery needs. They also do a nice line in assorted books so it was here that I picked up book number one, Vogue Body and Beauty Book. Not strictly a cookery book, granted, but it has an entire section devoted to nutrition and diets including the marvellous and ingenious ‘wine and cheese’ and ‘egg and hamburger’ crash diets.

My undertaking also saw me take in the various, musty delights of Oxfam, Voltaire and Rousseau, Caledonia Books and some smaller, but no less significant, charity shops. If it sold old books related to cookery it was fair game.

I had to wade through some serious tat (sorry, Anthony ‘Wibble’ Thompson and his Snickers pie has no place in my kitchen) but ended up with a choice few. As well as my Vogue book I also found; Cooking Through The Year by Audrey Ellis, Vegetable Cookery

by Nika Hazelton, and La Belle France by Garith Windsor et al. I went home feeling decidedly peckish but with a head full of ideas and a suspected dust allergy.

It was time to sort out my menu for the party.

So the Mateus, having been suitably chilled, was cracked open, seats were taken around the grand dining table, decoratively strewn with leaves and assorted autumnal adornments and the revelry began. Starters came courtesy of Vegetable Cookery: Curried Parsnip And Apple Soup. This fruity and seasonal little number managed the enviable feat of tasting worse than it actually sounds. With the colour, texture and possibly also taste of wallpaper paste the name alone caused looks of consternation from my fellow diners around the table. Napkins politely dabbed at mouths as spoons were left gingerly in barely-touched bowls of the foul broth. Fingers crossed that the mains would prove more of a hit.

Cooking Through The Year provided me with the inspiration for dish number two, the whimsically titled Beef Spice Boats. Admittedly I chose to serve this recipe based more on the name than anything else. But I thought, if nothing else, it might at least provide a few chuckles from those guests already drunk enough to appreciate such base humour. The dish called for a stew of sorts made from pumpkin and

14 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

WHERE’S IT FROM? Speyside’s smallest distillery, Benromach specializes in imaginative, smallscale bottlings like the first ever fully organic single malt and its Origins range , deliberately crafted to show how slight differences in the distilling process can deliver a wildly varied final product. Its ten year old single malt is the latest Benromach experiment to hit the shelves, launched to celebrate the re-opening of the near-derelict distillery back in 1998.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? A toasted, golden malt with a sweet, sticky nose that smacks of maple syrup, rich fruit cake and cocoa.

HOW DOES IT TASTE? You’ll get the tiniest hint of peat and the lingering taste is dry and slightly briny, surprising given that treacle-drenched aroma that hits you when you uncork.

Dubbed ‘a big taste from a tiny distillery’, this Benromach certainly delivers with mouth-coating layers of tropical fruit and aniseed.

WHERE CAN I GET IT? A 70cl bottle hits the shelves at an introductory rate of £24.99. Available from specialist shops such as Royal Mile Whiskies (Edinburgh) and Peckham’s (Edinburgh & Glasgow).

WWW.BENROMACH.COM

onions cooked in dripping, orange juice and vinegar with a bouquet garni comprising cinnamon, cloves and ginger. It was all topped off with a massive, bloody slab of beef like some sort of obscene meat frigate sailing upon a savoury ocean of deliciousness.

I adapted the recipe a tad so my steaks had their own individual sails made from parma ham hoisted high atop a cocktail stick cum mast. Top marks for presentation were unanimous however the taste test generally left everyone cold.

Roll on dessert and Crepes Flambees Grand Marnier lifted directly from La Belle France. Nothing puts the party into dinner party like a stack of flaming blue pancakes doused in liquor. It couldn’t fail really and at last everyone finished the dish put in front of them.

Despite being some sort of aesthetic bible to the lady

in the know in the seventies, Vogue Body and Beauty Book certainly didn’t shy away from recommending the odd glass or twelve in the pursuit of perfection. So comes the digestif, Rosemary Bordeaux, a perfect way to soothe the stomach after the vigors of such a mammoth feast.

Simply a fine Bordeaux infused with fresh rosemary.

Although the book didn’t specifically state that it should be swigged straight from the bottle, this was the way that things were going at the time.

To conclude, age old recipes may not always be that popular with our cynical twenty-first century palates, but dinner parties based around recipes found in second hand books will never fail to provide entertainment and a warm, fuzzy sense of nostalgia in a special way that only food can provide.

THE SKINNY WHISKY GUIDE IS SPONSORED BY:

Lifestyle

Great beers, Great burGers

Sapporo 2-6 Ingram St, Glasgow G1 1HA Tel: 0141 553 4060

Let’s be clear, Sapporo is catagorically not a first date restaurant. By sitting down at one of the communal teppanyaki tables at this vast new Japanese joint in the heart of the Merchant City, you’re complicit in having slices of potato flung at your head (you’re supposed to catch them in your mouth, stop ducking!), admiring a (genuinely pretty impressive) juggling show of cooking utensils and eggs and screeching as faux ketchup is sprayed at the best-dressed girl in your group. By the time the lights are dimmed and a seven-foot streak of flame bursts up in front of you, you’ll know you’re in a very Disneyfied version of Japan.

The menu is suitably epic - starters include a light prawn tempura and a vast sushi choice taking in everything from giant clam nigiri to the signature ‘Glasgow’ roll (smoked haddock and tempura asparagus

wrapped in flying fish roe). You’ll be pleased to know that the teppanyaki grill isn’t just for making comedy shapes in fried rice- it sizzles up everything a treat, from rare fillet steak to lobster, aubergine to scallops.

Those watching their sodium intake might want to turn away when the salt shaker appears to do a prolonged dance across your still-cooking dinner, but go to Sapporo with a group and you’ll have a blast- we were fortunate to be joined by a cheery bunch of BMI cabin crew.

Sapporo has sister restaurants down in Liverpool and Manchester and there’s no doubt its mix of bawdy fun and vast spreads of protein and carbs will kick off countless nights on the tiles up here, too.[Ruth Marsh] Dinner for two (exc drinks) £55 Sapporo, www.sapporo.co.uk

An epic and ever-changing selection of craft beers, premium lagers and real ales from around the world and beyond. Unbeatable gourmet burgers made with love & locally sourced produce.

2 beers, 2 burgers for £15.

All day, every day. (mention Skinny when you order)

“Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment” Jean De La Bruyère

Open 10am for breakfast ‘til late 9a Holyrood Road: Telephone: 0131 556 5044: www.theholyrood.co.uk

56North 2 West Crosscauseway, Edinburgh EH8 9JP Tel: 0131 662 8860

56North has all the air of one of Edinburgh’s latest fashionable bars: there’s the sleek décor, an extensive cocktail menu and a clientele that encompasses the more smartly dressed student and the professional after-work crowd. But what might not be so evident from the outside is that it also has a great menu of hearty dishes which will tempt those looking for a comforting eating experience as the evenings draw in. You can take your pick from the gourmet burgers, nachos or fish and chips as well as some more sophisticated selections. Exploring the lavish list of cocktails (some on offer for the tempting price of £3.50) I opt for the Hemingway Daiquiri, a fruity number perfect for those with a sweet tooth.

Onto the food and I choose the Italian crostini to start: crisp white bread loaded with mozzarella balls, chopped tomato and onion and green leaves. It’s an

honest ensemble, with a focus on the flavours of the fresh and simple ingredients. For main course I go for the peppered duck which is without doubt the highlight, served on a bed of light mashed potato with a rich creamy sauce, it’s a perfect piece of indulgence. My companion’s choice of lightly seasoned potato wedges to start and the sirloin steak for main course were also solid choices and characterise the menu’s focus on hearty dishes made with top ingredients. Desserts (we opted for sticky toffee pudding and chocolate fondue) were also wellpresented versions of well-loved favourites. This seems to be the success of this busy establishment: familiar, feel-good food in a young and lively setting.

[Gail Tolley] 3 course dinner for around £25 per person excluding drinks. www.fiftysixnorth.co.uk

Serving for over 100 years, welcome to the loveliest bar in Leith

Delicious bar food from local suppliers, wines & spirits from the rest of the world. Take your seat by the fire & settle in.

Spend £20 per table on Nobles food menu and we’ll throw in a bottle of our favourite white or red. All day, every day. (mention Skinny when you order)

Music Nights TUESDAY/ROOTS, 9PM THURSDAY/ACOUSTIC, 9PM SUNDAY SOUNDS BRUNCH BRUNCH FROM 10AM ALL DAY, MUSIC FROM 4PM. 44a Constitution Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6RS Telephone: 0131 561 8219

November 2009

THE SKINNY 15

LIFESTYLE

FASHION

COUTURE FOR THE FUTURE With a spectrum spanning psychedelic abstract brights and dark florals, digital print was abundant in the autumn/winter collections from Peter Pilotto and Aminaka Wilmont. Closer to home, Francesca Chiorando and Katie Craib, two newly graduated Glasgow School Of Art designers, produced MDes collections which showed the use of digital print within their own work. We selected some of their best pieces and took a trip...to Fife.

Fashion direction Alexandra Fiddes Photographer Meghan Giboin www.meghangiboin.co.uk Hair and make-up Paulina Siembor paulinasiembor@yahoo.co.uk Model Abi at Superior Model Management www.superiormodelmanagement.co.uk Photographer's assistant Chris Black www.solid-images.com Photographer's intern Sam Williamson Garments Francesca Chiorando www.chiorando.com Katie Craib katie.craib@yahoo.co.uk Clothes and accessories Laura Creer available through www.chiorando.com

16 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

Digital print dress, Francesca Chiorando ÂŁ800 (including sterling silver brooch by Laura Creer)

LIFESTYLE

Digital print top £195, Waistcoat £105 and handwoven purple skirt £425, Katie Craib

Digital print dress, Francesca Chiorando £800 (brooch as before)

Digital print dress, Francesca Chiorando £800 (brooch as before)

Digital print top £195 and handwoven turquoise skirt £485, Katie Craib

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 17

FASHION

Pattern Storming Rising star of Scottish fashion Holly Fulton knows firsthand the importance of retaining creative control whilst her label gains global recognition.

Interview Emma Segal FRESH from her second season at London Fashion Week’s Fashion East showcase, Holly Fulton is the latest in a slew of ‘Hot Scot’ designers. Being a Scottish designer, comparisons are inevitably drawn with her contemporaries, something Fulton is gracious about. “I am very proud to be Scottish, and flattered to be alongside Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders. Their level of success is good to aim for.”

Yet, it is Fulton’s unique aesthetic which the industry is taking notice of: a colourful world of simple silhouettes decorated elaborately with Swarovski crystals and art deco graphics. Fulton readily cites influences such as Eduardo Paolozzi’s Wittgenstein in New York, a work she says is “like holding up a mirror to the inside of my head”; her latest collection was also inspired by the black and white outfits of French actress Jeanne Moreau. The use of prints, a new avenue which Fulton hopes to expand on, was also celebrated by the press.

“Prints started to interest me; I’d not worked with them before, but I will definitely work with them more; they sold well because people responded to them.”

Ultimately, the aspect of her design which Fulton is most famous for is her use of couture techniques in ready to wear clothing. “The materials cost me a fortune! I have to work hard to get it all done, but I don’t see why technique should be compromised; it is possible to do at our price level.” This dedication to her craft is something Fulton encourages in her students whilst teaching at the Edinburgh College of Art where she was once a student. Lamenting the fact that Scottish designers are forced to go to London in order to get sponsorship and recognition, Fulton remains hopeful that the success of brands like hers will translate into more support from Holyrood for emerging Scottish talent.

Despite the business aspect of her brand growing daily, Fulton explains that she would never want to lose her links to the College. “It’s getting harder as the business side becomes more consuming, but even if I can’t teach in the way I do at the moment, I would still like to come back frequently as a guest lecturer.”

When asked about London Fashion Week’s All Walks Beyond the Catwalk campaign in which curvy models graced the catwalk, Fulton endorses the idea of making fashion accessible to a range of sizes. I ask whether she would consider using

FROM HOLLY FULTON'S AUTUMN/WINTER COLLECTION

"I DRAW SKINNY MODELS ON PURPOSE; IT’S THE IMAGE I GET IN MY HEAD. I DON’T THINK I COULD HAVE A MIXTURE OF MODELS BECAUSE I LIKE A COHESIVE, ORDERED SHOW.”

such models in her shows, to which she responds with honesty: “I like things that are exaggerated; I like androgynous, long, tall models. They look like my sketches, not because I draw skinny models on purpose; it’s the image I get in my head. I don’t think I could have a mixture of models because I like a cohesive, ordered show.”

Perfectionism and passion are evidently traits in Fulton’s work. She doesn’t see a reason for either to suffer because of the economic situation, nor for that matter because of her growing business.

Having worked for design houses including Lanvin under the formidable Alber Elbaz, Fulton explains that working with constraining briefs or budgets can be very frustrating.

“I said when I started my own line that I would stay as true to my designs as possible. Sometimes Swarovski (with whom I have a partnership) might give me an extra bag of jewels to work with; overall, I never constrain what I do.” For her, it makes sense to have an expensive catwalk collection as the starting point, diffusing it afterwards into prints, lower end embroidery and offshoot lines, such as her range for ASOS Hub, available from 9 November.

“I’m very excited about my collaboration with ASOS. The range still has my signature elements; it was important to me that it would have good attention to detail and finishing as well as being affordable.” Holly admits to not having felt the effects of the recession too strongly (her line was, after all, launched in a recession), but does note that people seem more willing to invest in accessories as a result. “The latest show was the first show with a full handbag collection. I did have one handbag in my MA collection but this time I pushed that more. When I design, I can’t think of clothes and accessories separately. People say I have to master one or the other, which I find odd as a designer!” Her white dress with black arrows pointing directly at a signature necklace in the latest show was, she admits, a visual way of saying she wants to master both.

“Creative control over my jewellery is something I would never want to delegate or relinquish as the business grows.” Though she ultimately foresees a time when she won’t be able to do it all, for now Fulton remains happily busy at a time when her star only continues to rise.

WWW.HOLLYFULTON.COM WWW.ASOS.COM

PREVIEWS CHARITY COUTURE

MADE IN THE SHADE MAISONETTE

ST ANDREW'S AND ST GEORGE'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH, 11 NOV, £10 INCLUDING FREE HAND-SEWN GOODY BAG

Pick up some tips from this month’s Charity Couture Fashion Show that will be showcasing imaginative ways to recycle clothes and textiles whilst raising money for a good cause. Head fashion honchos from Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) are coming together to style and organise particular elements of the show, taking place at St Andrew’s and St George’s Church, George Street (opposite the Dome) on Wednesday 11 November. All garments used in the show have been sourced from St Columba’s shops throughout Edinburgh and are an eclectic mix of old high street, new high street, home-made, vintage and designer labels. Beca Lipscombe, MDes Fashion and Textile Coordinator at GSA, and Mal Burkinshaw, Head of Fashion at ECA, who have worked for high profile designers including Chloe and Stella McCartney, hope the event will encourage people to become active users of their clothes by exploring ways to recycle, adapt and customise what we wear, in contrast to the throwaway ethic of fast fashion. [Emma McDonald]

18 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

UPPER FLOOR, DE COURCY'S ARCADE, CRESSWELL LANE, GLASGOW, G12 8AA, 1 NOV ONWARDS

The weekend of 30 Oct sees Made In The Shade Maisonette (or little house) open its doors to the public.

The Maisonette will not only become a permanent home for the Glasgow based craft collective, but a platform for Scottish creative design talent, and a showcase of carefully handpicked international work. Situated in a dinky unit on the newly reopened upper floor of Glasgow’s independent institution, De Courcy’s Arcade, The Maisonette will be a showcase space, gallery, classroom and retail outlet rolled into one dynamic little bundle. Designers on board for Autumn/Winter ‘09 include Donna Wilson, Angharad Jefferson, Lorraine Linton (INTO Textiles) Cosima Sempill (Kitty & Dude) and will also feature an exhibition from illustrator Jennifer Nicolson. A series of events from 11-14 November include creative craft workshops and the Tiny Glasgow Fashion Week.

[Alexandra Fiddes] PHOTO: ROBBIE SMITH

WWW.WEAREMADEINTHESHADE.COM

CERAMIC BIRD BROOCH BY KITTY & DUDE £20.00

LIFESTYLE

(RSNO)

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 19

Lifestyle

DEVIANCE

SEX, TRUTH AND POLITICS

No Room In This Closet For Two Coming out as celibate: the final taboo?

Text Gareth K Vile Illustration David Lemm Coming out has been a nightmare. Many of my friends were surprised, found it hard to believe and worried that I’d abandon them for a new, alien lifestyle. Some of them couldn’t believe that they hadn’t noticed and others have asked if I am sure.

Despite a long historical pedigree, celibacy is not well-respected just now. Considered the preserve of Catholic priests and journalists making a quick buck, it contradicts the casual acceptance of sex as good in itself. Since many supporters are religious - a quick google search reveals some fascinating medieval justifications for sexlessness - it's held in suspicion by a secular, materialist society that has spent the last forty years exploring the possibilities of sexual pleasure and intimacy. In any case, wasn’t this just an excuse for my inability to pull at The Shed on a Saturday?

Like journalist Hephzibah Anderson, author of No More Sex in The City, my retreat was inspired by dire encounters. A date ended with the offer of being the daddy to an unborn child “because I don’t know who the real father is”, suggesting that internet dating wasn’t the hilarious freefor-all I expected. And sex early in a relationship has often led to a false sense of intimacy, a short-cut that foundered on mutual incompatibility when we started talking.

The political strand to modern celibacy, I cannot claim – check out the Global Celibathon – but I haven’t taken to celibacy as an end: I see it as a means to a deeper understanding of myself.

This undermines its traditional purpose: in those moments at Inside Out or Confusion is Sex when topless boys and bikini-wearing women turn my mind into a cauldron of swirling lust, I repeat the mantra “it is only until Christmas” before retreating to a cold shower. Traditionally, celibacy was an ongoing project, a life lived outside the dictates of physical desire, and not a short-term self-help project.

Its associations with monastic life are today seen as oppresive but, as Dr Lesley Hall points out in Outspoken Women, it was a strategy for women to avoid the control of fathers and husbands. Hildegard of Bingen, a bright mind of the Catholic Church, cultivated her philosophical, artistic and musical talents because she was in a nunnery with no children to bear or husband to please. Yet beyond this, the sublimation of sexual love was part of a broader process to glorify God. Celibacy has allowed me to deep-freeze my desire, to observe the difference between love and lust, to identify how they develop the character and – best of all – laugh at my ineptitude in romance.

Phoebe Henderson seems to be following the same journey in a wildly different way: she is having more fun and her column is wittier. It has been a delightful escape from the treadmill of anxiety and competition, a good opportunity to mock my pretensions and dedicate some time to tidying the house. I haven’t learnt that much: come January the first, expect to see me seeking a sordid encounter round the back of the skip outside The Shed. womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk

Preview

Nine

monogamy and celibacy Somewhere between me writing this and you reading it, The Skinny will host a panel discussion titled Is Monogamy Deviant? My personal opinion: no, it's not. It's still the default setting in our society, frequently presumed among couples who haven't expressly negotiated it, and awarded legal privileges through the institutions of marriage and civil partnership. Sure, if you're non-monogamous you can get married, but only to one partner, automatically bestowing greater significance on your

relationship with that person.

Although few eyebrows may be raised at open relationships nowadays, this seems to hinge on their fitting the 'two partners who occasionally get off with other people' model – if you have more than one committed, long-term relationship, it's still liable to freak out people who aren't involved.

If monogamy is still the norm, though, I'd argue that celibacy does qualify as deviant in modern culture. If you've decided to wait until marriage, if for whatever reason you don't

20 THE SKINNY November 2009

feel ready for sex, or if you´re not convinced you'll ever feel keen at all, chances are people will make you feel a bit weird about yourself. Ever ordered something non-alcoholic at the pub and watched the concern spread across your friends' faces? Multiply that. By a lot.

Progressive attitudes towards sexuality can be selective in this respect. The basic notion of "do what you're comfortable with" seems to attract a degree of suspicion and incomprehension when you're comfortable with doing, well, not very much.

A Spot of b)other Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, 26 Nov - 14 Feb

b)other is the title of the artists’ collective formed in July 2009 by GoMA’s artist-in-residence Sandra Alland, comprising artists Stuart Crawford, Nathan Gale, Y. Josephine, Jennie Kermode, Rebecca Pla, Alison Smith, Penny Stenhouse and Kristiane Taylor. Spanning a variety of media this exhibition features Fingers, a British Sign Language filmed poetry performance by Alison Smith, and Here, Alland’s documentary that deals with LGBTI immigrants in Edinburgh. Accompanying this are 9 portraits of b)other members. Studio work by the group is also on display including poems, videos, digital art and paintings.

The show aims to broaden perceptions about gender and intersexuality, and force individuals to rethink their ideas about ability. Alland pointed out to The Skinny that “the majority of art presented in galleries is still by straight, white, able-bodied, cissexual men”. But in case you were about to dismiss the exhibition as an angry outcry about

the exhibiting artists’ plight, she firmly sets the record straight: “this show challenges a lot of assumptions about what kind of art you might assume an LGBTI disabled or deaf person would make (or what they might look like). Although b)other ask some difficult questions, we lean more towards the celebratory than the screaming banshee”. [Amy Birchard] A longer version of this article is online.

No strings Keen to avoid the emotional headfuck, Phoebe Henderson goes looking for sex with a stranger.

PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

Illustration Alasdair Boyce Writing a column of this nature has been a lot of fun, but it´s also ensured that anyone who knows me will not sleep with me for fear of being ‘reviewed’. This column isn’t about rating men or how good they are in bed, it’s about me experimenting and generally making a complete tit out of myself along the way.

My last fuck buddy is now winging his way across the world (not because of me, I might add – what a crushing blow to self-esteem that would be) and the only other current possibility has selfishly decided to get himself a rather lovely girlfriend, so again I find myself without a playmate.

Most of my liaisons have been with men I’ve known or become friendly with, which unfortunately means that occasionally feelings have gotten in the way (both mine and theirs), so I decided to make my next challenge simple.

Sex with strangers. No names, no messy connections, just sex.

So, making use of my internet connection (for something other than Twitter) I began checking personal ads for men looking for similar. In theory this should have been easy; however, the problem is not finding someone to sleep with, it’s finding someone who´s attractive, discreet, and most importantly won’t decide you look better in the boot of his car.

The personal ads are full of men looking to meet women for some ‘NSA’ sex and I think they all replied to my advert at once. The difference between what men and women look for became crystal clear from the 40 cock shots I received with no indication of what their owners actually looked like. I can’t make a decision based on a webcam photo of a penis – I don’t fancy a penis, I fancy the face and body it’s attached to.

A week later I found David: handsome, worked in the arts and seemed to share my no-bullshit approach. We chatted for a while over e-mail and I felt confident enough

"I can’t make a decision based on a webcam photo of a penis – I don’t fancy a penis, I fancy the face and body it’s attached to" to meet him. We met at his place and ended up having rather frantic sex on his couch while Metallica played loudly on his stereo. The sex was good, he was very nice and quite sexy, but something was missing. The physical attraction was there but it just felt empty. On the way home it dawned on me exactly what was missing. It was that messy, complicated connection I’d been so eager to avoid.

I’m sure there are a lot of people who do this successfully, but I need that spark you get with someone before you actually decide to have sex. Perhaps for men it’s purely physical, although I don’t want to generalise, but for me I have to be mentally excited as well as physically, and I wasn’t. It’s not arousing to know that I could have been just anyone.

I’m wondering if I’d feel this way in a group setting. Only one way to find out I guess... phoebehenderson.blogspot.com

Alasdair Gray ON STAGE AND IN CONVERSATION

ALASDAIR GRAY IS SCOTLAND'S GREATEST LIVING WRITER. THIS SPECIAL SKINNY EVENT MARKS THE LAUNCH OF HIS A GRAY PLAY BOOK, A COLLECTION OF HIS DRAMATIC WORKS FOR STAGE AND RADIO AS WELL AS STORYBOARDS FOR THE AS-YET-UNMADE FILM OF LANARK. TUESDAY 17 NOVEMBER (7.00PM), GLASGOW FILM THEATRE TUESDAY 2 DECEMBER (7.00PM), TRAVERSE THEATRE, EDINBURGH TICKETS: £6.50/£5.00.

EVERY STUDENT ATTENDING THIS EVENT WILL RECEIVE A PRE-PRODUCTION COPY OF THE BOOK ON PRODUCTION OF A VALID STUDENT CARD

November 2009

THE SKINNY 21

Lifestyle

SHOWCASE

THIS MONTH: eleanor stewart

Eleanor Stewart graduated this year from Glasgow School of Art. For her final year degree in Visual Communication she created an animated film to accompany the Classical music piece ‘Hoedown’ from the Rodeo Suite by Aaron Copland.

It is a stop motion animation inspired by Cowboy and Western films. In it cowboys, horses and the Wild West are brought to life from the pages of the musical score. She uses animated paper cut outs from sheet music to capture the mood of Copland’s music. In response to her animation, one internet fan wrote, “If a wee bit of the Old Copland doesn’t get your juices flowing on a Monday morning then you might want to check yourself for a pulse, my friend.”

Eleanor couldn’t agree more.

To watch the video in full, see www.vimeo.com/5020134 And to keep up with what she's working on, you'll find her blog at the address below: eleanorstewart.blogspot.com

22 THE SKINNY November 2009

Lifestyle

November 2009

THE SKINNY 23

Digital

upload

Screen Burns

Funniest Home Videos becomes Funniest User Websites Text Alex Cole Right now you can get a ghost puppet made out of tampons for $6.50 US. Or a baby-sized onesie with Robert Pattinson’s coked-out mug on it. Or a roll of toilet paper that’s been knitted by hand – only $15 if you act now. Jaded internet users (those who still wistfully recall a time when the activity was optimistically called surfing) are probably unsurprised that a site like Regretsy.com exists. Regretsy gathers the most skin-crawlingly-creepy artefacts posted on Etsy.com and makes an entire blog and guiltypleasure community out of them. It’s a pretty simple formula, after all: take one part open-forum site, add several thousand people just aching to get their embarrassing hobbies and social flubs out in the open, and let stand for a month or so. Sure enough, strange and wonderful things bubble to the surface, things best experienced when excised from their context and examined in the cold light of your blog reader.

Lamebook.com is a product of the same formula, culling the cringe-worthy Facebook posts that normally disappear into your news feed and assembling them

into a little freak show of status updates. While some degree of anonymity is preserved by blurring out the names, you can’t help but wonder how many steps removed you are from friending these people, or ending up there yourself. “David is going to turn his life 360 degrees,” goes one status update, and he has no idea how right he is. While websites have always delighted in the many inanities of the outside world, the fact that there are successful sites and blogs making entertainment out of other sites and blogs may be one of the key hallmarks of the internet as a cultural medium, and it is a medium generated entirely by user content. Nietzsche believed that the chief gift of the artist was not in getting a good idea, but in selecting the best ideas out of the many lesser ones. The recent trend of using the internet as a distinct entertainment medium, effectively crowdsourcing their content, may lend some credence to this, as these sites don’t need to add much to what’s already there: their genius lies in selecting the best of it. lamebook.com www.regretsy.com

download

Digital Dundee The digital industry descends on the UK`s media powerhouse Northeast of North Digital Arts Festival Dundee University Nov 13-15 Nov

Dundee may get its fame from jam, jute and journalism (and being the butt of Frankie Boyle’s jokes), but this month the city’s worst-kept secret hits the international stage. The first-ever Northeast of North (NEoN) Digital Arts Festival, running from the 13th through the 15th, will play host to big shots from all over the digital world, including luminaries from Pixar, Adobe, BBC, Microsoft, Channel 4 and HP, along with academics from digital programmes at the local universities.

Most famous for birthing Rockstar North and the Grand Theft Auto series, Dundee is home to over 10% of the UK digital industry, and its universities are well-known as the crucible of video games, designers, developers, and anything made or experienced on a computer. Now, the NEoN festival hopes to make the fourth-largest city in Scotland the centre of the digital universe.

Among the more prominent guests is Bud Luckey, one of the principal character creators from Pixar, as well as Graham Linehan of The I.T. Crowd fame. The weekend’s programme will include lectures, video

the feed

game exhibitions, films screenings, master classes and rounds off with the Scottish premiere of Videogames Live, the orchestral performance of the subversive theme songs from classic video games (sadly, not in 8-bit sound).

“NEoN is a unique event for the UK and this will be the first time so many recognised and respected players active in the digital arts will be together in one place,” says Donna Fordyce, project manager for Tayside Interactive. “This will be a unique opportunity for those working within the digital arts to rub shoulders with these highly influential individuals.”

Distinct from trade show pissing contests like E3 and CES, NEoN hopes to offer the community a forum for individuals to network with industry pros and entrepreneurs, as well as learn from the designers, coders, gamers, content creators and animators sitting next to them. Expect URLs and Flash animation tips to be traded more than business cards.

Even if you can’t make it to the festival, anyone can follow the events at @weareneon (what, you didn’t think they’d have a Twitter account?). Tickets start at £60 for a one-day student pass. News and updates can be found at www.northeastofnorth. com. [Alex Cole] www.northeastofnorth.com

by Alex Cole

Google teases with Chrome operating system, challenging Windows, MacOS, the Pope - New Blackberry, Palm Pre, carrier-free iPhones means overpriced smartphones for all - Manchester airport gets scanner to see through clothes, pinky-swears they won’t abuse it - New survey finds ¾ of young people feel they couldn’t live without the internet - Twitter defies court injunction to squelch reporting on MP question - Finland passes law guaranteeing right to broadband for every citizen

24 THE SKINNY November 2009

Sound of the Theramin

This month New Media Scotland's Director Mark Daniels tunes into some experimental Scottish sounds

I LOVE the sound of the words ‘Ondes Martenot’.

Close your eyes and repeat after me, ‘Ondes Martenot’.

It’s all in the ‘Ondes’, which is French for wave. That final ‘t’ is silent, but what the words describe most certainly is not.

Way back when, in 1928 to be precise, it was a bumper year for the invention of early electronic instruments. Maurice Martenot unleashed his Ondes Martenot the same year that the pesky Léon Theremin gave us the undoubtedly better known and equally eponymous Theremin. Both sounded similar, and spooky too—that would be the heterodyning oscillators inside—but for sheer bravado the Theremin won hands down as it required no human contact when being played. The Theremin emits an eerie and frankly bizarre sound much beloved of composers of movie soundtracks like the original version of The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Now, over ninety years on, I still love these kinds of experimental instruments but I have to admit I can be rather divided about experimental music. So I’m looking forward to November as it’s definitely a month to get to grips with new music here in Scotland. The 5th Sound Festival of New Music is taking place across the North East of Scotland from 28 October to 22 November. Bill Thompson’s Resonant Frequencies weekender stands out, in part for its exploration of the crossover between percussion and live electronics but also for the delicious-sounding solo set and duet

by Mark Westall and Will Guthrie in the lens gallery of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh.

Beyond the festival itself Sound are collaborating with pianocircus on a six month secondary school education project that aims to develop new

OVER NINETY YEARS SINCE THE THEREMIN, I STILL LOVE THESE KINDS OF EXPERIMENTAL INSTRUMENTS BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT I CAN BE RATHER DIVIDED ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC approaches to keyboard use and technology. We like this. It’s sustaining and developing skills in the region.

We hosted a performance by the piano and keyboard legend that is Stephen Grew at Inspace in Edinburgh last month. He toyed with our baby grand and he was brilliant, as were the rest of the performers. It was just one of ten 10th anniversary concerts that are forming this year’s Dialogues Festival. Inspace has provided a challenge for the Dialogues guys. It’s acoustically bright but it’s proved to be a veritable jewel box as the evenings draw in. We’ll get the balance right. Next up it’s composer and percussionist Lukas Ligeti (repeat twice) on 17 November at 8pm.

DIGITAL

NEW MEDIA SCOTLAND

READER OFFER

Fabrick, Edinburgh’s premier destination for custom printed clothing, in conjunction with The Skinny would like to offer Skinny readers a discount of 10% off our already discounted prices for any multiple orders of 4 or more t-shirts during the month of November, just bring this advert with you when placing your order.

These are examples of some of the thousands of t-shirts we have printed for sports teams, theatre performers, rock bands and student societies. Call in to our city centre store to discuss what we can do for yours or order online by uploading your logo to our custom website.

ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.FABRICKSHIRTS.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 25

REading

Young Upstart!, or, How to Set Up a Publishing House

Please Praise Gray's Plays...

The Skinny is helping to launch an Alasdair Gray Book - want to come?

Mark Buckland set up Cargo Publishing this August with the goal of "putting a firework up the arse of Scottish literature". No small feat for a 22 year-old. How did he do it? Read on.

Text Nat Smith Illustration Alasdair Gray

Interview Keir Hind

in Glasgow’s branches of Borders and Waterstones (though, unfortunately, you’ll have to look hard for it) or order it from the Cargo website. Cancer Party is about a boy from Paisley who supplements his University degree by dealing drugs to the ‘GOMA kids’, who hang out beside Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. It’s a well realised novel with a nice sense of place and some great set pieces, such as the party that takes place in a shopping mall the kids have broken into. It bodes well for future Cargo publications. Now to find more writers...

Cargo Publishing is a recently-launched book publisher that aims to provide books at an affordable price, whilst supporting new writing which might otherwise not get noticed. It’s the brainchild of Mark Buckland, a graduate of Strathclyde University who started running club nights with performances from writers while still a student. I talked to Buckland about how his new venture is going, and he had a great deal to say...

Mark Buckland’s message to Publishers: “Evolve a bit. Because for too long you’ve been too insular, and we all need to look at the wider world."

Buckland says his reason for starting Cargo Publishing is “To put a firework up the arse of Scottish Literature”. Why? “There’s a lot of potential” he says, “and no reason we couldn’t have a great literary scene. We’d contribute to that by trying to support very diverse artists who want to frame Scotland in an international sense”. And what does he mean by that, specifically? He’s pretty sure: “There’s plenty of coverage of literature about what it is to be English, but there’s very little on the Scottish paradigm because the literary scene is very London-centric”.

Maybe so. But how do you go about setting up a book publisher in order to change that? Mark put his money where his mouth was. “I thought there were a lot of artists who needed support and a platform to be heard” he says “so I just did it, I just read and researched it. The funds were from my own pocket initially, and later there was support from The Princes Trust”. And so starts the story of Cargo Publishing...

Mark Buckland’s message to Readers: "We hope readers will be excited by what we’re doing, and understand that buying locally is how we’ll build a scene. " Buckland says that “the ‘Golden Rule’ with Cargo

26 THE SKINNY November 2009

“It’s about the age old cliché of making someone feel something” is ‘thou shalt not bore’”. I press him on this, and so he explains that for him, entertainment doesn’t mean instant gratification. “It’s about the age old cliché of making someone feel something,” he says.

“I do believe that a reader might have to work to be rewarded – fiction that’s challenging is no bad thing”. Cargo’s first book is Cancer Party by Andrew Raymond Drennan. It’s out now and you can find it

Mark Buckland’s message to writers: "We want your submissions. But most of all we need your support, because what literary scene we have needs to stand together. " I ask Mark how he hopes to find writers for what he calls, “the label”. He says “Andrew Raymond Drennan was a Myspace find who I asked to perform at the club nights”. But the search for good new writing is “very, very difficult”. His methods are “open submissions, speaking to agents and going to readings – like an old fashioned talent scout”. So far the signs are very positive. Cargo launched in late August, and Mark says “initially we were getting very little. But now we’re starting to see some good submissions and there are a few interesting projects in the pipeline – hopefully including some collaborations with some big names.” It was a slow start, but now things are speeding up for Buckland, whose job “was and continues to be very stressful. But we’ll get there”. Where’s there? “5 years today,” Buckland says that “the plan is to have a label of very varied, strong artists that’s renowned for important works.

Important in the sense of inspiring and defining,” he says, adding “all controlled from my island in the Bahamas.”

I think he’s joking about that part...

Submissions of absolutely no more than one chapter of a novel or one short story can be sent to submissions@cargopublishing.com. www.cargopublishing.com

Alasdair Gray is known as a novelist and artist, but he’s also written a fair number of plays too. There’s some good work amongst these that isn’t as widely known as it could be, and so The Skinny is proudly sponsoring two events launching a new collected edition of Mr Gray’s plays. A Gray Play Book will be launched at the Glasgow Film Theatre on 17 November and at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre on 8 December. The book contains not only a number of plays written for the stage or radio, but also personal notes and, intriguingly, storyboards for an unmade film of Lanark, and a film script of Poor Things. (Trivial note: Gray’s favoured actor for the part of Baxter was Robbie Coltrane). The plays themselves stretch from The Cave of Polyphemus, a story from the Odyssey about the blinding of the Cyclops written by Gray for school, when he was a nine year old, to 2008’s Voices In The Dark. Amongst the plays are various works that later surfaced in other formats, whether that be novels (The Fall of Kelvin Walker) or short stories (Mavis Belfrage, McGrotty and Ludmilla). The events will feature Gray performing in extracts from these very plays – he’s been performing in this way at a few events lately, notably (at Aye Write, for example) as the Devil, or more correctly ‘Auld Nick’ in scenes from his retelling of Faust, Fleck. A Gray Play Book retails at £25 in paperback, but to sweeten up this event for the young and academical amongst you, a free copy of the uncorrected prepublication edition of the book will be given to every student attending this event on production of a valid student card. The events will cost £6.50 or £5 concession.

The launch of A Gray Play Book will be on Tuesday 17 Nov (7.00pm) at the Glasgow Film Theatre, and on Tuesday 8 Dec (7.00pm), at the Traverse Theatre Tickets £6.50/£5.00.

INVISIBLE

BY PAUL AUSTER

rrrr

A HISTORY OF BRITISH SERIAL KILLING

BY DAVID WILSON

rrrr University is meant to be one of the best and most carefree times of your life. However Adam Walker, the protagonist of Paul Auster’s fifteenth novel, is not so fortunate. It is 1967, and Adam is twenty. He is at Columbia University, diligently doing all he can to fulfill his ambition to be a poet and become more knowledgeable about Medieval Literature, while hoping to avoid the draft to Vietnam. His priorities change upon meeting an unusual couple at a party, as they drag him into their perverse games. Whilst destructive, they open him up to the possibility of other illicit passions. Later that same summer, he witnesses an act of extreme violence. His reaction surprises him. He knows he is no longer the same person and the events of 1967 haunt Adam for the remainder of his life.

Paul Auster’s plot driven novel has a complex structure that comprises of four distinct parts, multiple perspectives and focuses upon two years: 1967 and 2007. Invisible is complete with Auster’s tropes: a disorientated writing-obsessed protagonist, and elements of crime fiction and absurdism. He excels himself: this is a bold read that engages the emotions and the intellect. [Caroline Walters]

Anyone who expects the gruesome account of murders that this book’s title and blood-splattered cover jacket suggest is bound to be disappointed.

David Wilson presents a level-headed assessment of serial killers operating in Britain over the last 120 years. His aim is to quench the curiosity and intrigue that surrounds them, and give a voice to their victims.

However, Wilson soon expands the focus of this laudable goal and the book evolves into a critique, or rather condemnation, of modern British society.

Reluctant to place the blame of serial killing solely on ‘evil’ individuals, Wilson is interested in exploring the structure of a society that allows them to kill repeatedly. The book can seem repetitive as every chapter ends with the same conclusion. Nevertheless, the author is clearly very knowledgeable in the field and presents his arguments in an easily read, accessible manner, and at times there is even a sense of wry humour emerging. At the end of the book the reader is encouraged to question why serial killers are made into objects of fascination, and their own expectations in picking up a book about serial killers.

And that, it seems, is exactly what Wilson is aiming at.

[Mathelinda Nabugodi]

RELEASEED 5 NOV. PUBLISHED BY FABER. COVER PRICE £16.99

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY SPHERE. COVER PRICE £14.99.

MAGAZINE: THE BIOGRAPHY

THE PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEWS VOL 4

BY HELEN CHASE

BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

rrrr

rrrrr

“Magazine were always a connoisseur’s choice”, claims guitarist John McGeoch in this vigorous account of their short bittersweet career. As the late McGeoch and others attest, Magazine were a band whose influence far outweighed their sales. Post-punk frontrunners, they paved the way for Gary Numan, and inspired Radiohead, the Chili Peppers and, rather more regrettably, Mansun. In music writing the word ‘seminal’ is often overused; here though, it is appropriate. Chase gives a laconic overview of 24 Hour Party People-era Manchester and manages to breathe life into an overexposed narrative. Her prose is refreshingly unfussy for music writing, and she wisely steps back to allow those who were there to tell their own stories. Magazine’s life and death is plotted through their album releases, from upstarts looking to change the world (Real Life) to ennui-ridden journeymen (Magic, Murder and the Weather). Early on, Chase has an irritating knack of lapsing into Fanboy detail (listing the birth date of band members no matter how fleeting their tenure, for instance), but this is soon ironed out and the book captures the giddy adulation their reform earlier this year prompted. A fitting and overdue tribute to the ultimate cult band.

[Daniel Gray]

Literary journal The Paris Review interviews as many of the famous writers in the world as it can find, always about their creative processes as much as their careers. This 4th volume of collected interviews is another gem, with a wide range of writers featured, from Jack Kerouac to P.G. Wodehouse, and it’s all introduced by Salman Rushdie. In fact, Wodehouse, interviewed at the age of 93, is asked his opinion of Kerouac who, it transpires, he hasn’t realized has died: “Gosh, they do die off, don’t they?” is his response to the news. The interviews are fascinating on the creative process, but also to see where the conversations wander. Haruki Murakami talks about Radiohead, Marianne Moore talks about the Brooklyn Dodgers, Paul Auster talks about typewriters. The interview with Stephen Sondheim is a little odd, as it’s a transcription of an episode of Inside the Actor’s Studio, but Sondheim is good value nonetheless. The highlights are many, with Philip Roth and Marilynne Robinson particularly good value on the influences in their work, and V.S. Naipaul particularly confident about the value of his work. All fascinating, and as valuable to readers as it will be to budding writers.

[Ryan Agee]

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY PRESS. COVER PRICE £15.

RELEASED 5 NOV. PUBLISHED BY CANONGATE. COVER PRICE £14.99 PAPERBACK.

Edinburgh’s

Music and Audio Library Music from the movies Answer the following and you could win 10 complimentary tickets for the Vue Cinema at the Edinburgh Omni Centre. Name the film title: 1 Infamous documentary, capturing the savage murder of a Stones fan.

2 THE classic spoof heavy metal film.

3 A bogus music teacher transforms his music class into rockers.

4 Young William Miller goes on a tour with the rock band Stillwater.

5 Beyonce features in this musical based on a Tamla Motown girl group.

Answers are available on our blog at: http:// talesofonecity.wordpress.com or pop into the Music and Audio Library and ask the staff!

Email your answers and contact details to: central.music.library@edinburgh.gov.uk by 24th November.

Edinburgh Music and Audio Library 9 George IV Bridge Edinburgh www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libraries Check out our selection of movie music and songs.

Largest music library in Scotland • Order and collect music via any library • Diverse • Specialist • Knowledgeable staff

Page turner: Magazine

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 27

READING

REVIEWS

Film

Innocence Lost Michael Haneke has made some of the most politically challenging films of recent years and his latest film, The White Ribbon, is no exception. The Skinny met with the Austrian director to talk about his approach to radical filmmaking.

Interview Gail Tolley Michael Haneke, dressed all in black and with a thick white beard, is calmly sitting in a London hotel chatting to journalists about his Palme D’Or winning film, The White Ribbon. He’s a jovial presence, something that may surprise those who have seen any of his often bleak and challenging films, coming across as both intelligent and assured yet also modest enough to warm to.

I begin by asking him, perhaps conversely, about the final image of his latest film, which in my mind

appears to capture the essence of what the director is trying to achieve. It shows the inhabitants of a small German village gathered in church, silently facing the camera. Having followed the strange and frequently disturbing stories of several members of this community, this final image has a startling impact: it suddenly brings a mirror up to the audience.

“The film shouldn’t end on the screen,” explains the filmmaker, “it should end in the heads of the spectators. It’s like a ski jump, the ski jump has to be well built but the ski jumper has to do the actual jumping.”

And if there’s one thing that Haneke is encouraging

Gail Tolley

strange requests As I write this I’m listening to Schubert. It’s not my usual choice of musical accompaniment but I’m due to interview a cult American director who has specifically requested that journalists listen to the full soundtrack of his latest film before interviewing him.

Coincidently, the filmmaker’s band makes up a significant part of the soundtrack.

Alongside Schubert, that is.

It’s tempting to be cynical about such demands but being quite a fan of the director

in question and intrigued by the myth that has grown up around him this slightly unorthodox request has made me even keener to speak to him. It might all be part of an elaborate process to create mystery around his latest film but I’m going to put aside any scepticism and enjoy the ride.

Some of my favourite films create worlds full of strangeness that seem to mirror the most bizarre dreams and leave a sensation that lingers

28 THE SKINNY November 2009

far beyond the 90 minute story, so if this extends a little into ‘real’ life, great. Music is the other medium which is so good at creating worlds to disappear into which is why it’s perhaps not so surprising for a soundtrack to be given prominence in this way.

I’m not going to mention the director just yet but hopefully the interview will be coming to a copy of the Skinny near you in the coming months, have a look out for it.

his audience to do, it’s to jump, in more ways than one.

Across his films the director has never shied away from shocking images, presenting violence in an unflinching manner so as to illustrate the true horror and unexpected form that it can take. His 2005 film Hidden contains one unforgettable scene that is so unexpected and fearlessly presented that it produced audible gasps of shock from almost every cinemagoer who went to see it. At the same time his films are undeniably powerful and linger long after the lights have gone up.

The White Ribbon is no exception and sees Haneke as politically curious as ever. Set just before the outbreak of the First World War it recalls a series of strange crimes that mysteriously occur in a small German village. In one instance a trip-wire causes the local doctor to fall from his horse and in another a child is found beaten. Given the era that the film is set it’s initially tempting to see the film as a comment on the rise of Nazi fascism. And whilst this partly does seem to be Haneke’s aim, he is also adamant that The White Ribbon is not a historical film.

“What the film is trying to do is to show the conditions under which people are prepared to take on an ideological position, to follow an ideology,” he says. “It doesn’t really matter in the first place whether that’s a religious ideology, whether it’s an ideology of the left or of the right, that’s not the important question. The starting point for all of this in the case of a particular individual is some hopeless or humiliating situation in which they find themselves and along comes a ratcatcher who offers them a way out. Whether it’s a German fascist or a Stalinist who offers the solutions that’s another question entirely. The example of German fascism is simply the most obvious and prominent example.”

It’s easy to make connections with a whole host of

modern day situations. “It’s not for me to decide what the specific parallels are, that’s the job of the audience, argues the director. “But unfortunately these kinds of things are always happening over and over again, everywhere. And after ten years of course there will be new examples but they are all based invariably on the same principles. You could make a film in an Arab country about Islamism, that would be a different film but it would be the same complex of basic ideas underpinning it.”

What is heavily present throughout the film are the children of the village and some of the most haunting scenes are created through the juxtaposing of children (and the innocence implied by their presence) with horrific acts of violence. This is not just something we see in The White Ribbon but across his films. The reason for the presence of children (and also animals) he says, is because of their vulnerability, their existence at the bottom of society’s hierarchy.

For us to see them harmed or embroiled in acts of violence is all the more shocking and leads us to question the society that has created them.

There is little doubt that watching a film such as The White Ribbon can at times be an uncomfortable experience. Haneke’s films challenge audiences in a way that mainstream cinema rarely does, they demand a response and a degree of engagement from the viewer. “My films are always a reaction to cinema as it is, to films that try to calm or satisfy the audience or offer them some kind of hope. If the other films weren’t the way they were mine wouldn’t be the way they are either.” His films are both radical and also reactionary and for audiences looking for something to get their teeth into they are also ski jumps lying in wait, ready to give you lift off.

This White Ribbon is released on 13 Nov.

Film

Cinema, Je t'aime As the nights get colder, a bit of hearty Gallic flavour is just what’s required, with the 2009 French Film Festival Text Jenny Munro From Godard to gang violence, French cinema has been seducing international audiences for over a century. Now in its 17th season, the 2009 French Film Festival will treat British audiences to the finest France has to offer, with participating venues including Edinburgh Filmhouse, Glasgow Film Theatre and Dundee Contemporary Arts Cinema. From 8 November until 20 December, the programme showcases everything from award-winning films by emerging directors to celebrated classics. Festival Director Richard Mowe says: “What the festival has done over the years is to grow the audience for French film all year around – and now more titles from France are coming in to the distribution chain, a clear result of our work.”

Screening France’s newest exports, the preview section includes Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Prophet (Un Prophète) (Filmhouse 13 Nov, GFT 20 Nov). Jacques Audiard’s feature is a compelling portrait of life in prison for a naïve 19-year-old Arab, Malik, and his battle against the corrupt system to gradually build his own little empire. Martin Provost’s Séraphine (Filmhouse 20 Nov, GFT 21 Nov, DCA 22 Nov) stars César-winner Yolande Moreau as an eccentric housekeeper whose true talent as a bewilderingly creative outsider artist is revealed in this exquisitely shot biopic. Over in the Panorama selection is wartime satire Special Correspondents (Envoyés Très Spéciaux) (Filmhouse 23 Nov, GFT 1 Dec). When two war correspondents miss their flight to Baghdad, they decide to broadcast fake reports from a Parisian hideaway, with hilariously unfortunate results. Versailles (Filmhouse 17 Nov, DCA 20 Nov), a highlight of the Discovery programme which promotes emerging French talent, features the late

Guillaume Depardieu as a drifter left to take care of an abandoned child. Deeply human, yet unsentimental, Versailles echoes Ken Loach’s most powerful work. Among the documentary offerings the stunning Tabarly (DCA 19 Nov, GFT 20 Nov, Filmhouse 21 Nov), depicts the life of record-breaking French sailor Jean Tabarly. Scored by Yann Tiersen (Amélie), the film will be introduced by its director Pierre Marcel in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Two fantastic retrospectives also honour masters of classic French cinema. The Totally Tati programme provides a rare chance to view the almost complete works of this comedy pioneer, including slapstick masterpiece Mr Hulot’s Holiday (Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot) (GFT 22 Nov, DCA 28 Nov, Filmhouse 29 Nov), restored to mint condition in this new print.

Between 1947 and 1968 Tati wrote, directed and starred in four feature-length films, offering a playful alternative to the intellectual ponderings of his contemporaries, all of which are showing alongside his rarely seen shorts. Jean Eustache Rétro gives post-New Wave outsider Eustache a long-deserved reappraisal. His sprawling indictment of sexual freedom, The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et La Putain) (Filmhouse 21 Nov, GFT 23 Nov) is a visceral, unforgettable experience; equally fascinating are his uncompromising documentaries, showing the director’s unique view of the cruelties and beauty of everyday French life.

The variety of films offered by the 2009 French Film Festival undoubtedly gives proof, if ever it was needed, that the country in which cinema was born is still one of its finest producers.

The French Film Festival runs from 8 Nov - 20 Dec at various venues throughout scotland.

Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Prophet (Un Prophète) (Filmhouse 13 Nov, GFT 20 Nov)

www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk

November 2009

THE SKINNY 29

Film

november Events Coming to a cinema near you

FILM Reviews Séraphine Director: Martin Provost Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur Released: 27 Nov Certificate: PG

rrrr In the town of Senlis, 1914, a middle-aged cleaning lady and washerwoman spends her free moments collecting brush and seeds, animal blood and church candle-oil, and communing with nature to inspire her painting. By chance, German critic and collector, Wilhelm Uhde, comes to lodge at a house she cleans. So begins the long but deeply troubled relationship between artist and patron.

Repeatedly, turns of fate throw up seemingly insurmountable obstacles: Séraphine Louis seems to suffer some form of autism, eventually descending into schizophrenic dementia. And then there’s the war. What is most fascinating in Martin Provost’s film about the celebrated neo-primitivist is neither Yolande Moreau’s singular, magnificent performance nor Laurent Brunet’s elegant cinematography, but simply the sense of wonder it engenders in her painting. Viscerally imagining the artistic process, Provost helps unlock the meaning latent in these bustling, verdant works (alternately described by witnesses as ‘in terrifying motion’ and as ‘fleshy wounds’). Séraphine demands patience, but is exquisitely affecting. [James Campbell]

The Wall

It’s the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, and to commemorate this event the Filmhouse in Edinburgh is showing a mini-season, The Fall of the Wall. From 2-16 November, four films are being shown, including The Wall – not to be confused with the Pink Floyd classic – a powerful documentary by acclaimed filmmaker and painter Jürgen Böttcher that relies on visuals alone to tell its story.

For fans of German cinema and history, this is definitely the month for you. Head to the CCA in Glasgow on 11 November for Counter Images – East German Underground Films from the 1980s.

This special screening, presented by curator and filmmaker Claus Löser, features a selection of short films made between 1983 and 1989 by various musicians, artists and writers, including Helge Leiberg’s Action Situation.

Cold Souls Director: Sophie Barthes Starring: Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson, David Strathairn Released: 13 Nov Certificate: 12A

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Tabu (A Story of the South Seas)

At the Filmhouse again, there is a chance to see films representative of the different movements and periods of European cinema.

Preceded by short presentations by Pasquale Iannone of Edinburgh University, each screening of the Introduction to European Cinema ‘09 films is followed by a Q&A session. Most notable is the opportunity to see Murnau’s Tabu (A Story of the South Seas) on 10 November, and the Spanish classic The Spirit of the Beehive on 24 November.

At the Cameo on 7 November is a screening of Identity of the Soul, a film by Thomas Høegh. With much critical acclaim, featuring poems by poets including Henrik Ibsen set against a backdrop of images around the world, it promises to be a unique cinematic event.

The GFT in Glasgow has some retrospectives in November. For those who missed seeing The Thing at cinemas this month, the GFT is screening it again on 13 November, and it is definitely a film that deserves to be seen on a big screen. Also showing is Nosferatu, Murnau’s classic silent horror, on 1 November – the perfect way to relax after Halloween.

Cold Souls sees comic actor Paul Giamatti playing, curiously, a New York actor named Paul Giamatti who’s getting into character for Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya but unable to leave his personal baggage at the door. How inviting then when his agent gives him the lead on a new venture: soul storage.

In a simple op, Paul can offload his soul into a glass canister and pick it up again later, once he has fulfilled his acting obligations. This is a comedy brought to the screen by writer-director Sophie Barthes, where smooth soul transition isn’t going to be easy.

The ability to lose one’s soul for even a short time is an intriguing premise but unfortunately the film fails to truly turn this concept into the mother of all inventions, and whilst occasionally funny there’s the sense that it doesn’t quite make full use of Paul Giamatti’s comic abilities either.

[Matthew Arnoldi]

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno Director: Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea Starring: Berenice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin, Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani Released: 6 Nov Certificate: 15

rrrr Nosferatu

Fans of Manga (Japanese animation) should head to Dundee on 1 November for the final film of the Discovery Film Festival at the DCA. A Scottish premiere, Sky Crawlers is the new film by Mamoru Oshii, who may be recognised as the director of Ghost in the Shell. Set in a world where peace reigns, yet war is seen as entertainment, Sky Crawlers is the story of fighter pilots exploited for others’ pleasure. Featuring some 3D techniques, it should satisfy both eyes and mind.[Becky Bartlett]

30 THE SKINNY November 2009

During the early 1960s, a time when the whole world was looking to France for exciting and challenging films, one director, Henri-Georges Clouzot, embarked on an ambitious project to create a film that he believed would herald a new type of cinema. The film was called Inferno and with an unlimited budget the director set about experimenting with colour and light effects to create intriguing and stylish images that were to reflect the increasingly paranoid state of the central character of his film. However the film was never finished and the hundreds of reels of footage left to gather dust. This highly polished documentary puts some of this remarkable footage onto the big screen and explores the story of this doomed project. The film will appeal most to those with a special interest in filmmaking who’ll relish the opportunity to see the strange experimental images that Clouzot created brought to life. [Gail Tolley]

ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES

SHANK

SUNSHINE CLEANING

DIRECTOR: JONATHAN CAOUETTE STARRING: VARIOUS RELEASED: 9 NOV CERTIFICATE: E

DIRECTOR: SIMON PEARCE STARRING: WAYNE VIRGO, MARC LAURENT, TOM BOTT RELEASED: 2 NOV CERTIFICATE: 18

DIRECTOR: CHRISTINE JEFFS STARRING: AMY ADAMS, EMILY BLUNT, ALAN ARKIN RELEASED: 16 NOV CERTIFICATE: 15

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rr

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From the humble origins of Pontin’s holiday camp, the now global All Tomorrow’s Parties festival continues to stay free of corporate sponsorship. This mishmash of footage from fans, musicians and filmmakers is taken from 10 years of ATP. Tarnation director Caouette’s excessive use of split-screen suggests all footage is too precious to leave out, but clips of wasted festival goers falling about and inane comments from musicians threaten to hijack the film. It’s when the documentary focuses on the live acts, however, that the visceral connection between fans and musicians is captured. Portishead, Nick Cave and Akron / Family’s performances in particular have an intoxicating intensity. Steve Albini described the festival as “the ultimate mix tape”. This can’t be said of the film, though there are fragments of genius to be found amid the debris. [Alastair Roy]

Debutante director Pearce claims to have drawn this tale of a gang member coming out and cutting loose from real events. It certainly aims for urgency, its sincere sentiments backed up by hip-hop cutting and a stark opening 20 minutes. Unfortunately, any investment made up to that point is pushed aside, and the audience are positively happy-slapped with endless clichés, a baggy internal logic and some of the worst acting outside of Doctors. Pitching itself somewhere between Kidulthood and My Beautiful Laundrette, the film sorely lacks the authenticity of the former, with nothing of the latter’s subversive script or deft direction. In the end, it all amounts to a fairly condescending depiction of a working class ruffian learning that it’s OK to be gay from a mincing French rich-kid, at times laugh out loud funny and culminating in a badly judged sequence of risible revelations and violence. [Lisa Bourke]

JIMMY CARR: TELLING JOKES

BOOM!

DIRECTOR: TRISTRAM SHAPEERO STARRING: JIMMY CARR RELEASED: 2 NOV CERTIFICATE: 18

DIRECTOR: JOSEPH LOSEY STARRING: ELIZABETH TAYLOR, RICHARD BURTON, NOEL COWARD RELEASED: 11 NOV CERTIFICATE: 15

rrrr Jimmy Carr is a comedian in the most traditional sense: as the subtitle suggests, he tells jokes. In fact, it’s something of an obsession that he has, having written a book on the history of joke telling going as far back as ancient Greece. The bane of many an alternative comic’s life, his particular brand of one liners is pushed to its limits here, in both form and content. One section involves a ten minute Power Point presentation (well, it’s a bit snazzier than that) to aid the gags and an attempt to concoct jokes in as few words as possible, while his encore involves an experiment to find the most offensive joke in the world. You’ll already be familiar with Carr’s penchant for bad taste, but here he takes it to the limit, with some seriously sick stuff littered among the punning, observations and burying of hecklers. An assured performer, he gets the most important thing right: he’s funny. [Steven Dalziel]

rrrr John Waters cites Boom! as his favourite film of all time: it’s not surprising.

Liz Taylor shrieks and prances in some of the most outrageous outfits you’ll ever see, barking at servants on her island paradise: how dare they interrupt her days of opulent self-pity? She needs a man, and she gets one in the form of butch Burton (after he’s gotten his paws on a comely young widow), his manly presence transcending an astonishing kimono (not to mention some serious pink robes). Throw into the mix Noel Coward playing… well, Noel Coward (he signals his arrival with bird cooing), the expressionist compositions of legendary DoP Douglas Slocombe, a sexy score from Bond man John Barry, and a script from Tennessee Williams that gives the cast enough to not so much chew as hungrily dine on, and you have a film which may not be great, but is definitely fabulous. [Lisa Bourke]

Sunshine Cleaning is a a lovely wee film. Not, however, in the way that so many American indies (In Search of A Midnight Kiss, Away We Go, 500 Days of Summer) have tried to be in recent years. While its tale of two sisters establishing a crime scene cleaning business invites comparisons to the quirky, kooky and frankly infuriating aforementioned works, its low key direction, nuanced characterisations and unforced screenplay (from first-timer Megan Holley) make for a pleasingly relaxed viewing experience. In much the same spirit as the 70s era movies of Bob Rafelson and Hal Ashby, the film details ordinary lives without recourse to irony or self-conscious eccentricity. Adams, as a former high school babe turned struggling single mother, is superb, while Blunt is believably moody and ambiguous, with even Arkin downplaying his crackpot persona. There’s real warmth, wit and affection here. Did we mention it’s lovely? [Michael Gillespie]

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT & THE MCGARRIGLES: A NOT SO SILENT NIGHT DIRECTOR: VARIOUS STARRING: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, MARTHA WAINWRIGHT RELEASED: 2 NOV CERTIFICATE: E

rrr With just a month till Christmas (insert your choice of “Joy to the world” or “Bah humbug” here), DVD shelves are already overflowing with “gift ideas”. But while Santa Claus: The Movie and Miracle On 34th Street might seem the obvious choices, this bizarre concert should foot the bill for those of you with more discerning and, well, cooler taste. Rufus doesn’t quite outdo his Judy Garland tribute here, but his clan are with him all the way for some stirring renditions of old yuletide favourites. Guests Emmylou Harris and Lou Reed provide good work, but the stand-outs are Martha’s wonderfully raspy take on Old King Wenceslas, Justin Bond (of Shortbus) joining our main man for a drag duet of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and a wacky performance from Laurie Anderson. The only snag is the fairly bare bones approach to the filmmaking, but there are some nice extras and, for fans, it’s essential. [Michael Gillespie]

It’s still a few months away but preparations for next year’s Glasgow Film Festival are already in progress and we wanted to be the first to give you a snap shot of what’s lined up. Last year’s event included the premiere of one of Britain’s finest political satires in recent years (that would be In the Loop), a retrospective of shorts by cult artist and performer Miranda July, a plethora of events which fused music and images, not to mention a David Lynch inspired clubbing experience. With this in mind GFF 2010 really does have quite a lot to live up to, so what can we expect?

Building on Glasgow’s formidable musical heritage the Glasgow Music Film Festival looks set to grow. Look out for multi-platform projects which utilise music and visuals from top acts in a host of different venues.

This year’s retrospective will be devoted to style icon Cary Grant – stay tuned for details of which of his most well-loved films will be up on the big screen. And there’s also the Glasgow Shorts Film Festival, the hugely popular FrightFest and a strand dedicated to cinema from Japan.

18 - 28 Feb 2010 www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk

The focus is on film in the broadest sense, with events that take the moving image out of the cinema to new places and change the way we interact with them. There’s no other film festival that embraces such a varied programme; start getting excited now.

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 31

FILM

DVD REVIEWS

Theatre

The Magic of the Musicals

The musical, often a rightfully derided vehicle for star-names and sub-operatic melodies, is coming back into fashion.

Text Gareth K Vile The roots of western theatre lie in song. Classical Greek tragedy came from sung choruses, and opera has held its elite status for over three hundred years. The popularity of the modern musical, through the super-productions of Lloyd Webber, reveals the commercial, if not aesthetic, value of the recognisable tune. After the success of the films Mamma Mia and Hairspray, companies are linking drama and music, and seeking the emotional buzz that music supplies in short order, and even experimental outfits like Birmingham Contemporary Music Group are revelling in the opportunity to bring together composition and choreography.

There are a crop of shows performing this season that fit this trend: The Rocky Horror Show, Rumpelstiltskin, Scottish Opera's The Italian Girl in Algiers and even Queen musical We Will Rock You. The Rocky Horror Show is back again to keep alive the strange mixture of transvestites, rock’n’roll and counterculture humour. While The Time Warp has entered popular culture as a major irritant at discos, Richard O’Brian’s musical was originally a kitsch exploration of queer sexuality and has become a cult. David Bedella, this year’s Frank’n’Furter, observes there are fans who follow the tour across the country and become like family to the cast.

Popular enough to fill a major auditorium, yet retaining a core of supporters who will dress up and sing along, The Rocky Horror Show is more than a show: half adult pantomime, half subversive swipe at normality, Bedella believes that it remains a beacon for alternative values.

With its playful homosexuality, and the seduction of a straight couple into the wonders of sensuality, it still provokes, despite its popularity. Bedella was a popular Frank’n’Furter on the last tour, and has found himself the recipient of friendship and offers of sexual adventure from the fans, including a threesome. “I have become more like a confidante,” he laughs.

If The Rocky Horror Show straddles the divide between the underground and musical theatre – über-cool burlesquer Vendetta Vain is part of a shadow cast that performs at film showings – The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group aims for the intellectual style that characterises venues like The Arches and Tramway.

“Rumpelstiltskin is not an opera,” argues director Richard Jones. “The musicians play onstage, and are part of the visual picture. The music drives the narrative and the action, it is as much about listening as looking. It’s probably closest in feel to a silent movie, with the dancers’ actions and gestures articulating the music. The dancers make the music theatrical.”

Although BCMG have taken a fairy story for their story, this is not kid’s stuff. “It has a dark edge to it – and probably explains why this particular Grimm story has tended to be avoided by Hollywood and the Disney Studios,” Jones points out. His influences include “a tradition of composers writing ‘grotesque’ – Bartok, Hindemith, Schreker,

Rumpelstiltskin, Tramway, 20-21 Nov, 7:30pm, £8 Rocky Horror Show, Glasgow Kings, 23-28 Nov The Italian Girl In Algiers, EFT, 21, 25, 27 Nov We Will Rock You, Edinburgh Playhouse, 4Nov-9Jan, 7:30pm

Gareth K Vile

The Theatrical is the Personal Last month I was kidnapped by the National Theatre of Scotland, taken to a distant town and led to a local village hall. I listened to country and western music, heard about an island fisherman and danced a Strip The Willow.

Long Gone Lonesome is not scheduled for the Central Belt, and the only way to enjoy it is in the coastal villages of the Highlands. With no nudity, self harm or complex philosophical justifications, LGL is far from my usual Glasgow pleasures, but represents an important strand of the NTS’ programme: visiting

smaller communities, telling Scottish stories and using the richness of the ceilidh. Not a bunch of city sophisticates wowing the locals, LGL had a clear connection with the audience, and the lack of ostentatious design added to its charm. Its fusion of forms was as warmly experimental as anything at The Traverse, yet it was gentle and funny.

Back in Edinburgh, The Traverse is launching an Autumn Season that stretches the venue’s status as “the place for new writing”. Writing, in this case, includes choreography

32 THE SKINNY November 2009

Copland, Kurt Joos dance drama ‘The Green Table’, the Bauhaus ballets of Oskar Schlemmer” and contemporary visual artists Sarah Lucas and Robert Gober.

Through an accessible, archetypal tale, BCMG are able to take on big themes, and use music and musicians in a new way. “I think it’s interesting to take advantage of the fact that the musicians are visible, rather than to pretend that they’re not there. Musically, it’s structured like a puzzle, with recurring themes, repeating musical games which re-appear in different contexts.” It moves closer to the gig, while offering a taste of modern classical intellect.

The Italian Girl in Algiers is quite clearly an opera: staged

by Scottish Opera, it transplants the action of Rossini’s romance to the set of a television set. Since Scottish Opera have been experimenting with the format of their performances, without ever compromising the core qualities of elegance and beautiful voices, this is another example of their enthusiasm for finding imaginative interpretations of classics.

By abandoning drab realism, opera unleashes the profound emotions that lie beneath our daily routines: by placing the characters in complex situations and exotic locales, Italian Girl lends epic scope to the same feelings that lurk in the painful waiting for a text after a date or the tentative approach to the object of desire down Viper.

The aria, the crown of opera and familiar through Classic FM and superstar tenors’ gigs, is an effective expression of deep ideas and inner turmoil, wrapped up in swelling, ecstatic melodies.

Sometimes, our culture can be so obsessed with cool and status, the emotions are suppressed: the worldweary cynicism that litters Facebook status updates is burst open by the operatic voice to expose the romantic yearnings. A recent open rehearsal reduced at least one writer to tears as the Italian girl waited on her lover, captured in an orientalist fantasy harem. Despite the far-fetched plot, Italian Girl deals in everyday experience and hopes.

Finally, We Will Rock You hits the Playhouse. Essentially an excuse to sing Queen’s greatest hits – the plot is a device, something out of a prog-rock concept album – it makes the most sense of the many adaptations of existing music. Queen always had a theatrical edge, from Brian May’s flowing locks to Freddie’s extravagant on-stage carry-on, and their line for a hook has seen their tunes turn up everywhere from hip-hop pop hits to football terraces.

This one is straight up fun: rousing tunes, a science fiction adventure, celebrity singers, including “love-rat” Darren Day. Not taking itself quite as seriously as Lloyd Webber, this one guarantees pleasure, so long as you like Queen.

What all of these events share is a faith in the immediacy of music’s impact. Since the pop and rock markets overshadow nearly every other art-form, this synthesis makes sense: in its way, We Will Rock You is as experimental a fusion as Rumpelstiltskin – it mixes rock and musical theatre for an original blend. A supposedly old fashioned genre like opera still deals with essential emotions, and a fairy tale can grapple with complex ideas. Add a few good tunes, and the audience is going to be feeling it.

and puppetry, and the scripts are operatic librettos. Dominic Hill is being brave again, testing the preconception that The Trav is a haven for playwrights. It is refreshing to see a mid-scale venue getting cheeky with its own image. It’s my old theme: interesting performance is willing to experiment, but has a sense of the audience: the formally complex can be populist.

The uncanny recording of the Shetland songster and the physical twists of David Hughes are equally comprehensible and emotionally moving.

Top Five september Theatre Events Jesus Queen of Heaven

The Steamie

The Tron, 3 - 7 Nov, 7.45pm £8.50

Dundee Rep, 9 - 14 Nov 7.30pm £15 Theatre Royal, Glasgow 2 - 7 Nov 7.30pm £12.50 Eden Court, Inverness , 16 - 21 Nov 8pm

Jesus is back as a transsexual woman, and this time she is full of love, again. Glasgay! offers a challenging spiritual solo. www.glasgay.com

Scottish classic gets washed and ironed to look its best.

Solo Works by David Hughes The Traverse, 20 Nov 8pm £13

Mark Morris Dance Group

Scotland’s choreographer on top form with the Red Room, now goes intimate with some works from heavyweights.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre 6 - 7 Nov from £8.50

Topdog/Underdog

American contemporary with a polite edge, featuring live musicians and Morris’ wry and gentle humour.

The Citizens, 20 Oct - 7 Nov, various prices

The three card trick gets deadly on the streets.

[Gareth K Vile]

THEATRE

VENUE OF THE MONTH

This Month:

His Majesty's

Text Nicole Hepburn HIS Majesty’s Theatre (HMT), Aberdeen has played a central role in the performing arts in the North East since it opened its doors in 1906.

The iconic Frank Matcham design has been required to evolve with the changes in entertainment and changing demands made on public buildings, with refurbishments in the 1930s, 1980s and most recently in 2005.

The 2005 refurbishment was to completely change the face of HMT, while maintaining the grandeur of Matcham’s original design, to create a venue that is open all day with an in-house box office, education facilities and improved conditions for staff, performers and customers.

HMT is run by Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA), which was formed in 2000 to take over the running of both the theatre and the city’s Music Hall. The most recent addition to APA is The Lemon Tree.

As the only large-scale theatre in the North East of Scotland the programming of His Majesty’s is pivotal to its success, something of which APA Chief Executive Duncan Hendry is only too aware.

“The balance has to be struck across more than one dimension – so there is an artistic balance; a balance to ensure financial viability; a balance to ensure different art forms are represented. We try to provide high quality drama, dance, musicals, opera, ballet and panto that will appeal to a diverse audience.

“HMT also has a significant civic venue and one that many amateur groups aspire to. So it is an important role to present amateur groups and festivals but again one that has to be balanced with the other

programming demands,” explains Mr Hendry.

Following the £7.8million redevelopment of 2005, HMT has been able to realise its ambitions to become a producing theatre with successes Sunset Song and The Silver Darlings. With HMT now firmly established as more than just a receiving house it looks set to go on producing new works for some time Mr Hendry said: “We would hope to produce two or three in-house productions each year, however this is dependent on funding for these and on the overall financial situation with the company.”

Future productions at His Majesty’s Theatre this winter range from an in-house production of a new play by author and broadcaster Jack Webster, to an international award-winning musical, a 3D panto starring Elaine C Smith and the first Scottish date on a UK tour of the beloved Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice.

Starring Vivien Heilbron and Michael Mackenzie, The Life of Grassic Gibbon (6 and 7 November) tells the story of one of Scotland’s greatest writers, J Leslie Mitchell, otherwise known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon while Chicago (16 - 21 November) sees Gary Wilmot and Emma Barton in what is still one of the sexiest and most sensational musicals around and HMT’s hugely popular annual panto – this year Cinderella (28 November - 3 January) – is already shaping up to out sell the last two years’ record productions of Aladdin and Peter Pan. With a capacity of 1500 and over 275,000 customers through the doors last year it is hoped that HMT will continue to be a jewel in the crown of Scottish theatre for many years to come.

By JM Barrie By Barrie UP, UP and AWAY to a LAND of MAGIC and ADVENTURE!

27 November 2009 – 3 January 2010 By arrangement with the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Samuel French Ltd.

www.lyceum.org.uk/peterpan BOX OFFICE 0131 248 4848 GROUPS 10+ 0131 248 4949 TEXT RELAY 18001 0131 248 4848

Company No. SCO62065 Scottish Charity Registered No. SCO10509

WWW.HMTABERDEEN.COM

Opera. With tickets at only £10 if you’re under 26, it’s a safe bet.

scottishopera.org.uk

Registered in Scotland Number SCO37531 Scottish Charity Number SCO19787 Registered Office: 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow G2 4PT

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 33

Theatre

Previews Rain Man King’s Theatre, Edinburgh 10-14 Nov. Theatre Royal, Glasgow 16-21 Nov.

This production of the Oscar winning film had the potential to become a schmaltzy tearjerker but the adaptation by Dan Gordon, directed by Robin Hereford, avoids these pitfalls and brings the story bang up to date.

Charlie Babbitt, a brash and broke car dealer, is excluded from his estranged father’s will, only to discover that the money has been left to a brother hidden in an institution. Charlie plots to get his share of his father’s fortune.

Oliver Chris, of Green Wing fame, gives a notable performance as Charlie Babbitt, a character whose opinions of his autistic brother and relationships are dramatically altered as they hit the road to Las Vegas.

The humour in the adaptation is more developed than the film version and this lends itself perfectly to Oliver Chris and Neil Morrissey, who seem to have a natural, sparky wit and rapport.

Best known for comedy, Neil Morrissey instils this humour within Raymond without becoming trite: it instead adds to the character’s development as for the first time he experiences the outside world.

Ultimately, and as anyone who has seen the film knows, this doesn’t have the happiest ending, but it is inevitable and realistic and pulling reality back is Charles Lawson as Dr Breuner taking the production full circle. [Nicole Hepburn]

Autobahn

review

The Tron, 10-14 November, 7.30pm

Confessions Of A Justified Sinner Lyceum, until 7 November

rrrr Adapting such a complex novel for stage must have been quite daunting. Secondly, the piece touches upon the seemingly dated themes of Calvinist religion, predestination, good and evil. However, Thomson managed to smoothly transform Hogg’s fiction into a brilliant play and present the themes of faith, fanaticism, murder and madness through modern theatrical means to suit this contemporary production. As the Gothic tale unfolds, Robert Wringhim (Ryan Fletcher), one of the “chosen by God for salvation”, takes up a utopian task of annihilating all the world’s ‘sinners’.

His dark deeds are supported by the mysterious devilish doppelgaenger, Gil-Martin (Iain Robertson),

who forever inspires Robert to ‘do good’. While the audience listens to Wringhim’s somewhat unreliable confession, other characters appear and disappear from the eerie carousel graveyard stage set. The hypnotic quality of the play and excellent acting of the whole troupe completely suck the audience in: to the point when you forget to breathe. This powerful production brings the best out of Hogg’s novel and its universal themes, in the sparsely evocative images and the spectacular use of the stage set. The challenge has been met. [Agata Maslowska] 0131 248 48 48 for ticket details www.lyceum.co.uk

“Neil LaBute is arguably the best playwright writing in the USA today,” says Mary McCluskey, one of the founding members of the new theatre company Theatre Jezebel; she is speaking about the writer of their first production: Autobahn.

Originally produced as a benefit performance in 2004, Autobahn is a collection of vignettes set in the front seat of a car. Each segment not only differs in its cast of characters but also in style and temperament, resulting in a collage that many critics and audiences have called unsettling and provocative.

Speaking about LaBute’s writing style, McCluskey says that he “explores the human condition and relationships using bittersweet, and sometimes savage, language. At times we are sympathetic to his characters, at other times we are shocked and disgusted.”

For this UK premier, McCluskey teamed with Kenny Miller to direct. Miller is also designing the production, which is being produced by Anne McCluskey. All three are the founding members of Theatre Jezebel, which, according to their mission statement, was established “to create memorable theatrical experiences for audiences by using the wealth of talent within Scotland to produce distinct reworkings of classic texts and unique interpretations of contemporary plays.”

Speaking about directing a play set within a car, Mary McCluskey calls the challenge “liberating for both actors and directors” and goes on to say

that the writing “forces us to concentrate on text and performance.” And though the production is a collection of unconnected plays, she believes that each “has its own value as a piece of relevant contemporary theatre.”[Michael Cox] call 0141 552 4267 for ticket details www.tron.co.uk

Writer, Neil LaBute

Scottish Cabaret Various venues

Before December sees us fighting in shops with shopping-bag laden rivals, November has some treats in store for variety veterans and virgins.

Up first, the ever-popular Art Club Cabaret.

Promoted by Rhymes with Purple, fresh from their successful Cabaret Festival, the lavish surroundings of Glasgow Art Club offer from Rufus T, Lucille Burn, Gorman, Miss Dolly Tartan and The Not So Impressive Ben. Dress to impress and enjoy the elegant surroundings.

The 27th is double booked. The Supper Club is an eclectic musical Cabaret at the Tron. Says Peter Screen, “Upstage Theatre Supper Cabaret is trying to capture those times of the 70s and 80s where chicken in a basket was the norm, featuring members of Upstage Theatre Productions and very talented staff from the Tron theatre. They perform classics from the all genres, from 60s/70s pop to West End and Broadway shows. To top it all, a good

34 THE SKINNY November 2009

old-fashioned supper in a box is included in the price” It faces off against Rockaburley, with its first themed night, bringing an evening hosted by the “Bad Girls of Burlesque”. Burley babe Cat Aclysmic explains: “we’ll have heartbreakers, villainesses, and femme fatales, not to mention girls with a simple talent for mischief, and we want everyone to dress up as their favourite anti-hero – from The Vamp to Vampira; Mata Hari to Salome, and even Katie Price. We want everyone to put on their worst face and join us for a foray to the dark side.” With the year flying by, let’s all do as Cat clamours: “Have a blow out before the tinsel takes over”. [Clare Sinclair] Rockaburley, The Classic Grand, 8pm , 27 November Supper Club, Tron Theatre, 8pm, 27 November Art Club Cabaret, Art Club, 8PM, 6 November

Eddie Izzard: stripped

T H E

aberdeen AECC, 4 nov, glasgow SECC 10-11 Nov

It would be something of an achievement not to have heard of Eddie Izzard. You may know him best for his surreal, rambling comedy, his serious acting roles, such as with Minnie Driver in The Riches, or most recently his crazy fundraiser for Sport Relief. Eddie Iz Running saw him running more than 1,000 miles this year across the country. The total raised is still to be announced but Eddie’s hoping to raise a “silly amount of money” according to his website.

However you love him most, he’s grown in recent years to proper celebrity status, both here and in the US, where he’s starred in an increasingly impressive array of commercially successful epics, from Ocean’s Twelve to Valkyrie. And so, with a back catalogue

Comedy

Previews

that would make many a Hollywood-er jealous, it’s a welcome treat for fans to see him return to the platform which made him famous. World tour Stripped takes him throughout the world, finishing up ever-so glamourously in L.A., but doesn’t forget to stop off in Aberdeen (4 Nov) and Glasgow (10-11 Nov) on its way.

Expect meandering episodes of comedy tales, drifting into the fair lands of surrealism, through the mountains of Monty Python and into the galaxy that is Izzard. And look! A whole preview which didn’t mention the fact he occasionally cross-dresses! Oh...

[Siân Bevan] www.eddieizzard.com

COMEDY CLUB LIVE COMEDY

7 NIGHTS A WEEK

333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow

0870 600 6055 5 York Place, Edinburgh

0131 558 7272 www.thestand.co.uk

★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN

★★★★

★★★★

THE TIMES

THE GUARDIAN

Clowning Around The Bongo Club, Edinburgh 26 Nov

Going to a tenth birthday party and seeing some clowns probably isn’t quite what you had in mind for a night on the town. Hell, you probably didn’t want a clown at your own tenth birthday party.

Fortunately, the clowns we’re talking about here aren’t the floppy-shoed, scary-wigged, haunt-youin-your-dreams variety, but the playfully naïve kind. Children in wards up and down the country are being referred every week to the Clowndoctors, managed by Edinburgh based charity Hearts&Minds. They engage their imagination, make them laugh and all in all make them feel less sick. As the saying goes, laughter is damned good for you and as the Clowndoctors have been harnessing this power for a whopping ten years, they’ve decided to celebrate with laughs of a different kind.

Phil Kay, whose Oh, Edinburgh was one of only 3 shows The Skinny felt worthy of 5 stars during this year’s Fringe, will be headlining a special benefit to mark the occasion. Occasionally naked, often inexplicable, always lovely, Kay is joined by self confessed posh chap Miles Jupp, last in town for 4 star show Telling It Like It Might Be and our own Skinny blogger JoJo Sutherland. All are also graciously donating their funniest bones to wish the Clowndoctors a happy birthday and help raise money for them to be able to continue their excellent work. [Lizzie Cass-Maran]

‘the real deal’ THE GUARDIAN

MICK PERRIN FOR in association witH KBJ Management

Special Guest Arnab Chanda

TUES 3 NOV

Tickets are available by contacting enquiries@ heartsminds.org.uk or you can try your luck on the door of the Bongo Club, Edinburgh, on 26 Nov.

0131 529 6000

www.heartsminds.org.uk www.clowndoctors.org.uk

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE

Clown prince: Phil Kay

www.simonamstell.com

www.festivaltheatre.org.uk

www.mickperrin.com

November 2009

THE SKINNY 35

Art

Warehouse of Horrors Vs Way Out Is The Way Out A Halloween gallery swap signals an end of hostilities between the Glasgow and Edinburgh art worlds Text Rosamund West It’s all getting a bit spooky in SWG3 as the Embassy invades with a horror-themed exhibition opening to coincide with Halloween, while over in Edinburgh SWG3 present a group show of their own favourite artists in the Embassy space. Confused? The two galleries have organised an exchange programme, a mutual outreach if you will, the first step in the long process of art diplomacy between the traditional rivals of the Edinburgh and Glasgow art worlds. Overcoming their mutual suspicion, they have given each other free reign over their buildings to create what promise to be blockbuster exhibitions for the DIY scene.

Over in the Weeg, curator Ben Fallon has brought together a star-studded line up of artists with one thing in common: a fascination with horror. The selection is unconstrained by geography or level of fame.

Internationalists Paul McCarthy and Olaf Breuning rub shoulders with local heroes Alex Hetherington and Neil Clements, and work ranges from existing pieces to newly commissioned performances and installations.

All taking place within a space remodelled to look like a horror film set, and with a Rockabilly opening party,

this exhibition seems to be very much a labour of love, driven by Fallon’s personal preoccupation with horror and, uh, Rockabilly. Preview images reveal work that is visually stunning and not a little bit scary.

In the Edinburgh corner, a group of artists who commonly work and exhibit within the SWG3 gallery and studios. They’ve been chosen to display both the commonalities that develop between the warehouse artists, and, according to curator Jamie Kenyon, a branch of art making, predominantly painting, that you wouldn’t instantly associate with “the perceived Glasgow neo-formal trend”. It’s the friendly young face of Glasgow art, and a step away from the inscrutable installations of the older generation.

All in all, the two exhibitions promise to be unique and engaging and well worth a visit. The galleryswapping venture is in itself exciting, suggesting a growing level of cross-fertilisation between the art organisations of the different cities. Let’s hope it leads to more of the same.

Warehouse of Horrors, SWG3, Glasgow, 31 Oct - 15 Nov Way Out Is The Way Out, Roxy Art House, Edinburgh, 1 - 15 Nov

Chris Walker

reviews New Work Scotland 09 Collective Gallery 10 Oct - 22 Nov

rrr

Michael White, Flag, mixed media

Jennifer Grant, Swings, 2009, installation at Craig’s Close

Rosamund West

seen in the National Galleries’ collection anyway (and for free), and some rubbish British copies.

Moving on, in November keep an eye out for the triumphant return of Paper X, the open submission zine, sort of like a printed group show, created and published under the benign dictatorship of former Skinny Local Hero Sandy Christie. It’s launched on Thursday 12 November from 7pm, in the Bowery. A grassroots endeavour to encourage

36 THE SKINNY November 2009

Until 22 Nov, free

Top Five october art Events

Art rant Firstly, I would like to apologise for recommending the Discovery of Spain in last month’s issue. I hadn’t been to see it at the time of writing, and by the time I realised what a colossal disappointment it was (particularly given the entry fee of £8), it was too late. I shall try to keep the retrospective slagging to a minimum; suffice to say I was looking forward to a glittering array of borrowed Goyas and Velazquezes, and was instead confronted by a bunch of paintings I could have

First out of the trap for the tenth instalment of New Work Scotland are three artists: Michael White and Anna Tanner inside the gallery, and Jennifer Grant with an offsite installation down Craig’s Close across the road. Grant’s stacked glass and ceramic ornaments, glued together and suspended above the path of a dank Edinburgh wynd is the standout work of this round of exhibiting, lending a touch of magic and a wee surprise to a public thoroughfare, an intervention to subtly improve the daily grind.

From the street outside the gallery, we are confronted

by White’s giant, brightly coloured, rough hewn sculptures. They initially seem merely poorly made, yet gain a new sense of purpose when re-appraised after a brief reading of the accompanying publication. Is this necessarily a good thing, to have work that only functions

when contextualised by an accompanying text? Well, in the context of New Work Scotland, with its specially commissioned essays from emerging art writers and its emphasis on demonstrating the levels of collaboration necessary to create successful artwork outwith the college environment, yes it is.

Even the text could not engage this particular viewer with the work of Anna Tanner, unfortunately. Freeform writing to accompany allusive painting leads, in this case, to bafflement. On a more positive note, the Guest Room’s takeover by Glasgow-based curating team PLACE Projects (not to be confused with the Edinburgh-based curating team, The Place Project) looks set to create a fertile ground for discussion and invention, as they marry up two pairs of recent graduates and get them to work collaboratively and then exhibit. First to experiment with the process are Rachel MacLean & Simon Gowing. The completed outcomes are not yet on show at the time of writing, but we await them with bated breath. [Rosamund West]

more people to own emergent art, I would support it even if it didn’t contain one of my own images... For more info, check the Facebook group.

In terms of exhibitions, this month I am mostly looking forward to the SWG3 – Embassy gallery swap, which should take the inter city cross fertilisation of Glasgow and Edinburgh up a notch, as well as presenting some frankly scary artwork by some top class artists. More details can be found in the preview above.

MARTIN BOYCE - NO REFLECTIONS LA BIENNALE, VENICE UNTIL 22 NOV Last chance to hop that plane to Venice for the art Olympics. Support Team Scotland!

LUKE FOWLER MODERN INSTITUTE, GLASGOW 14 NOV – 30 JAN The acclaimed video artist has a solo show at home in the gallery recently featured in Art Review’s Power 100 (number 94, if you must know).

AYAH BDEIR – IDENITITIES IN MOTION PEACOCK VISUAL ARTS, ABERDEEN UNTIL 14 NOV Work challenging stereotypes of Arab identity.

TURNER PRIZE 2009 TATE BRITAIN, LONDON UNTIL 3 JAN There’s two Glasgow-based finalists this year.

Whether or not you subscribe to the hype, it’s always worth checking out where the art world thinks it’s at.

JESSICA HARRISON PETER POTTER GALLERY, HADDINGTON UNTIL 16 NOV Solo show of disturbingly beautiful sculpture from our former Showcase.

Expect cast tongues, fingers, and freakishly realistic hair samples.

4466_rcn_hotga_the_skinny_nov_v2.qxd:Layout 1

rr For those that don’t know, Frieze Art Fair is more or less a market place where art is sold instead of fruit and veg. But whilst fruit and veg is sold according to the quality of its material attributes – smell, colour and freshness – art’s value is defined by underlying, mystical powers, known only to the select few.

A friend of mine told me that the name Mary Mary is being batted about like a Geldof forename in a Shoreditch nightclub. This, he explains, is despite all the work on display looking like a homogenous mulch. Imagine a derelict house that has been partially redecorated.

Doggerfisher has the usual mixture of utopian mystics. While Mary Mary might look a little monotone, the Dogfish gang seem a more frenzied bunch – a Nathan Coley light-box, a Lucy Skaer print, an elaborate, miniature Claire Barclay installation, a Charles Avery drawing. Neil Clements has painted Jem’s guitar again and hung it out of the way of the big-league rammy, benefitting from the dissociation.

Ingleby Gallery’s stall appears eccentric at first, but

if you take away the seven foot photo of the sitting bear it seems considerably drearier. Asides from the beautiful, apparently smiling, bear, you are left with an assortment of works that collectively abuse the same limited palette – black, white and off-white.

The Modern Institute effortlessly steps up to the occasion and holds its head high among the bigwigs. It’s glitzy, it’s cool, it’s vapid, it’s scuzzy, it’s rich. Scott Myles’ work sustains my interest longer than most. A glass wedge, streaked with black is attached to the legs and castors of an office chair. It’s the Institute’s admixture of found and constructed objects.

Like the Barras market in Glasgow , Frieze Art Fair is there for the sheer spectacle of it. Contraband tobacco and toothless rogues are as equally remote from my day to day reality as art collecting oligarchs and Botox paralysis. One is as frighteningly alluring and repellently intimidating as the other.

At least you can get a little variety at the Barras.

And perhaps a roll and sausage.[Andrew Cattanach]

16:38

Page 1

the heart of the great

alone

scott, shackleton & antarctic photography

Photo : Linda Nylind

Bik Van Der Pol

Until 11 April 2010

CCA

rrr Subdued and with a small turnout for a CCA opening at the dawn of the art school term, perhaps the GSA freshers were put off by the exhibition’s distinctly cynical and somewhat mature tagline, It isn’t what it used to be and will never be again. It’s a shame they missed it though. However much it may catch in the throat, Bik Van der Pol might just be on to something.

Contrasting the theatrical, fantastical elements of both Stage Fright and The Last Days of Jack Shepherd, Dutch couple Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol refreshingly, unflinchingly look the viewer in the eye and tell them that they are living in a digitally obsessed, internet-centric, pseudo intellectual culture which prohibits and stultifies rather than incites real action. The work mimics the DIY aesthetic synonymous with the Glasgow art scene. In Past Imperfect computer print-outs plaster the walls.

Spanning information from Beelzebub to IKEA they reference the onslaught of anonymous, unmediated, regurgitated information constantly circulating online. More than a few cutting truisms expound from its pages including “to present yourself as a cruel and cynical man of mystery continues to be an attractive notion”, describing just about every male remotely affiliated with the art world.

Pieces include Loompanics, a collection of books investigating the tension between freedom of speech and responsibility, Past Imperfect, a research project exploring the impact of radical events upon the course of art history and The Disappearance Piece, a faux self-help book.

You might have to do some digging, like a wild Google goose chase generating false leads, but there’s insight to be gained here and a few hilarious, intriguing and bizarre snippets of information buried in amongst it all. [Amy Birchard]

Enjoy free re-admission for a year if you buy your ticket directly from us.

Simply register on your first visit.

0131 556 5100

www.royalcollection.org.uk

THE QUEEN’S GALLERY Loompanics. Courtesy of the Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

PALACE OF HOLYROODHOUSE November 2009

THE SKINNY 37

Art

Frieze Art Fair 09 Regent's Park, London

19/10/09

Music

A Muso's Top 10: Melvins In a special 50th edition of the Muso's Top 10, Melvins' frontman Buzz Osborne takes to his hammock, engages the caps lock and lifts the lid on his desert island discs.

Interview Dave Kerr Illustration Paul Milne

8. Butthole Surfers - Psychic... Powerless... Another Mans Sac Paul Leary told me the key to his guitar playing was to keep it stupid. If this excellent record is him keeping it stupid than I wonder what they would be like if he really busted his ass? I think this is their best record.

It’s beautiful yet perfectly psychotic. It’s great driving music.

1. The Stooges - Fun House Certainly their best if not THE best rock’n’roll record ever recorded, period. Nothing comes close. It’s pure, well thought out thug music. An animalistic, crude and savage terror trip whose beauty will never be matched. People who don’t get the importance of this album or of The Stooges’ total musical dominance are just plain stupid. I saw them live in 2005 and they were really fucking amazing. The Rolling Stones at their absolute zenith couldn’t even lick the balls of these guys.

9. ZZ Top - Tres Hombres A perfect record. Everything I love about these guys is here in living 'Texas' colour. ZZ Top maintains a groove that just kills me. The genius is in the delivery. Total attitude.

2. David Bowie - Station to Station I love that Bowie STARTS this record with the 10 minute long Station to Station. It’s a great song and a gutsy album opener AND you also have TVC15 which is one of his best songs ever. It’s hard to pick a favorite Bowie record. Every album from The Man Who Sold the World to Scary Monsters is fundamentally worthy.

10. Cream - Wheels of Fire Three monsters at the peak of their creativity. What most people don’t get is that this was Jack Bruce’s band and Clapton didn’t mean shit. Well, he did but I just can’t forgive Eric for that 'I Shot the Sheriff' crap he put out later.

Melvins ‘remix’ album Chicken Switch is out now via Ipecac.

3. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks None of my teenage friends in the Seventies could stand Rotten’s voice. To me this was a perfect extension of the heavy metal I was already listening to, and The Pistols’ ‘no redeeming social value whatsoever’ stance completely appealed to my developing juvenile delinquent brain. It made sense to me, still does. There IS an obvious and direct connection from Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop through to Johnny Rotten and we’re STILL waiting for the next one. I’d say it was Chuck D but he’s never even heard of these guys.

4. Brainiac - Electroshock for President I LOVE this record. The opening track mix just slays me every time I hear it. It’s hard to imagine what would have happened to these guys if the singer Tim Taylor hadn’t been killed just after this was released.

Tragic.

5. The Gun Club - Fire of Love Out of all the 'old school' L.A. punk rock records this is the one I listen to the most. It still sounds fresh and new. I BELIEVE them, even if it is total bullshit.

"People who don't get the importance of Fun House or of The Stooges total musical dominance are just plain stupid."

Buzz Osborne

6. Throbbing Gristle - Heathen Earth Load up on coffee, turn out all the lights and crank this up full bore.

7. The Latin Playboys - Dose It’s records like this that make me WANT to make my own music. It’s cool and smart and thrilling. It’s severely modern. Why didn’t this sell billions? Most people who buy records are stupid I guess.

Dave Kerr

let's do the time, warp Let's do the time, Warp As the wider music media turns its attention to end of year mania and Roxette suit up to surf in on the crest of some hellish reissue tsunami, we take a minute to reflect on what wasn’t so ridiculous about 1989. Besides marking the 20th anniversary of Warp records’ foundation, we set a table up for the smelly kids to party at in honour of Nirvana's understated debut. OK, so it took a couple of years for Bleach to catch fire on these shores, but that minor detail won’t deny us the convenience of celebrating the synchronous

duality of these key moments in alternative rock and electronic music history. Fate has it that many of Nirvana’s peers and influences are currently active, with several ringing in anniversaries of their own this autumn. Chief among them are Pixies, The Vaselines and Mudhoney, all three of whom earn high praise in our live reviews section this month.

Elsewhere, The Melvins – spiritual mentors to onetime roadie Kurt Cobain – dutifully reappraise the albums that get them by the skull (see above).

Guest columnists include

38 THE SKINNY November 2009

prolific producer Jack Endino and Gina Birch of London femme post-punkers The Raincoats, who recalls the better possibilities of a pre-Thatcher Britain.

Would Cobain have throttled Chad Kroeger if he were around today? We can only speculate, but it's a fair bet that The Raincoats might have enjoyed a greater renaissance had their ill-fated arena tour with Nirvana in 1994 not been cancelled.

There’s also other stuff from, like, 2009, but we'll concern ourselves with the here and now come December.

Jack Endino, Producer

Soaked in bleach “Bleach was half as loud as modern CDs are now, when you hear it on your iPod you have to turn the volume up. We recently gave it to George Marino who had remastered Led Zeppelin’s back catalogue and he understood it, he wasn’t going to make it sound like System of a Down. He didn’t slam it against the wall, he followed the doctors 'motto. First: do no harm. But Krist insisted on turning up the bass a little bit. I thought ‘alright, he’s the bassplayer, he gets to say that.’ It’s still a fairly accurate representation of what Nirvana sounded like in 1988. Kurt would later comment on how he didn’t like Nevermind – it was overproduced – and he wanted to record it again quickly on simpler equipment, like they did with Bleach. He did record again quickly with In Utero, they did that in a week or two – like, let’s make a simpler record

that’s not so pretty and slick. The nice thing about this reissue is the live material that’s added to it. It’s a complete show from February 1990 that I pulled from the vault and mixed down. That’s going to take people’s heads off.”

- Jack Endino, October 2009 Bleach: Deluxe Edition is released via Sub Pop / Rhino on 2 Nov. Read the full interview with Jack online at www. theskinny.co.uk. www.rhino. co.uk/nirvana

Californian band Girls sing about ‘soaking up the sunshine’ in true surf pop style. So how are they acclimatising on their European tour? The Skinny meets them as they stop over in Scotland Interview Nick Mitchell Photo Markus Thorsen “The froth is ice, like, the head is ice.” Chet ‘JR’ White is marvelling at the frozen crest on the pint of cider he’s just been served in an Edinburgh pub. Walking through the Grassmarket, White and fellow San Francisco resident Christopher Owens had claimed that they didn’t find the Scottish autumn too cold; I suspect the choice of frosty cider is now their way of proving it.

Owens and White are the two founding, permanent members of Girls, whose debut album, offhandedly titled Album, has launched them from their apartment-cum-studio to a European tour in matter of months. But in contrast to the vanguard of experimental rock emanating from the opposite coast of America, Girls revel in simplicity: vintage 50s and 60s pop tropes rub up against direct, heartfelt lyricism throughout this collection of starkly separate songs. And then there’s the non-descriptive naming practice. White, a droll character whose greying temples confirm that Girls are no fresh-faced newbies, recalls the reasoning: “What should we call the band? Girls. Oh awesome. And then we were like, what should we call the album? We came up with some names but didn’t like any of them. And one day Chris had like a mock-up of the album and inside were photos of different girls that are our friends.

It was like a photo album, so we thought we’d call it Album.”

Owens, wearing a chequered baseball cap over his long sandy hair, spends the first ten minutes of the interview picking at his dark nail varnish and looking downward, until asked about the recording of Album.

“We didn’t take time off work,” he says in a voice raw from nightly shows. “We just started to record songs one at a time, then we’d stop and we’d go on a tour

or something, or just not record for a month. It did take like a year to record but not that much actual time. It was easy, we didn’t have a deadline. It was picked up by a really small label, a friend of ours who said he’d put it out, so we didn’t feel any rush.”

They may not be driven by any career-plotting ambition, but what has set Girls apart from the clogged highway of garage rock bands is the hazy melancholia that envelopes the cracked vocals.

Album is overflowing with gnarled emotion, Owens variously singing about a missing father, an exgirlfriend, serial heartache or just everyday ennui.

“I think that’s just how life is,” Owens explains. “Just when you think things are going well, that’s when something crazy happens... The music itself is kind of medicinal for me. But yeah, I think there’s sadness because when you think about it life is really sad, for anybody. For other people more than me probably.”

But Owens’ background surely gives him licence for a little introspection. Raised in the infamous Children of God cult, he lived an unthinkably sheltered childhood before escaping at the age of 16 to live with his sister. “I don’t really care talking about it,” he warns.

“I think some people care more about that story than the music and I think that’s silly. I think if you’re trying to figure out the music and you want to know someone’s history I think it’s relevant but I don’t wanna become some kind of sensational story.”

While he may be reluctant to indulge in Oprahstyle couch psychology, Owens is willing to accept the influence his upbringing has had on the music: “I was singing every day with whole groups of people.

It was like the one time where we’d be free from all the little things that were just weird, and like, rules and chores. Singing was something happy and fun we did together and I think that made an impact on me. It was like spiritual, religious music.”

Appropriately, the formation of Girls came about

"Just when you think things are going well, that’s when something crazy happens...

The music itself is kind of medicinal for me" Christopher Owens

through mutual female friends, as White recalls: “I’d been hanging out with this group of really artistic, crazy girls who were just all friends. They met Chris and we became part of this group of maybe six or seven people and started hanging out.” Despite the fact that both Owens and White were playing in various Californian punk bands during this time, they didn’t write or play together until 2006. By then disillusioned with the punk scene, White was attracted to the stylistic freedom that Girls offered: “I went into making this record not feeling bound by any genre or anything, and we could follow whatever instinct we had.”

Such was the bond between the duo that they soon moved in together, quite literally. “There was just a wall between our rooms and French doors behind it,” White says. “We broke it down so we could just open up our rooms. So we ended up basically living in the same room for a year.”

As Cyndi Lauper once observed, girls just wanna have fun, and Girls are no exception. But they have already been caught off guard by the media interest in their lifestyle. “This story came out where we took ecstasy,” White says. “We spent three days with an interviewer and we just assumed, being naive and stupid, that it would be cool to just do it in front of him. And then it came out in this article, like very graphic, like how I took it and how Chris took it, it was very sensationalised.” White says that his parents were “really rational about it” when they read the interview. They’ll be pleased to know there were no substances taken on this occasion. Except cold cider, and that’s nothing to write home about.

Debut album, Album, is available now via Fantasytrashcan.

New single, Laura, is released on 9 Nov. www.myspace.com/girls

November 2009

THE SKINNY 39

Music

Girls Will Be Boys

Music

Legends of world music Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club 28 October Ladysmith Black Mambazo 14 November

Beyond Toxic

Miike Snow's Christian Karlsson has enjoyed great success writing music for pop superstars, but he says it's not as much fun as being in his own band.

Staff Benda Bilili 17 November Ojos de Brujo 30 November Ojos de Brujo

Plus much more…

0131 228 1155 www.usherhall.co.uk

Interview Paul Mitchell “We never really tried to be producers or songwriters. In the beginning we were really just hustling for money, selling beats so we could pay to use a studio.

It fell into our lap.” Miike Snow’s Christian Karlsson is acutely aware that his background as one half of renowned songwriting and production duo Bloodshy and Avant attracts its fair share of attention. They did, after all, conjure up Britney’s 2004 global phenomenon Toxic and have seen their work performed by the likes of Madonna, Kylie, and, em, Jennifer Lopez.

Karlsson does seem justifiably proud of Toxic, though admits its success came as something of a surprise: “It was a breath of fresh air for the charts but we didn’t write it thinking we would give it away. It came out of a studio session where we were just experimenting with different sounds, and we certainly didn’t have Britney in mind, it wasn’t like her stuff at all; but now that’s Britney’s sound.”

Electro-pop ensemble Miike Snow comprise of Karlsson, his Bloodshy and Avant cohort Pontus Winnberg (both Swedish) and American Andrew Wyatt (also of New York-based band Fires of Rome). Karlsson is quick to make a distinction between life as a producer and being in a band. “I think there’s a huge difference between writing songs for other people and doing our own music. If I wrote my own music for Madonna she wouldn’t use it, so you have to find a happy medium.” Freed from creative compromise, Karlsson acknowledges the pressures of autonomy are nerve-wracking but ultimately more rewarding; he is

40 THE SKINNY November 2009

particularly enthused about the prospect of playing live. “We have a rule that we’re not going to use any pre-recorded stuff or use computers on stage because we want to do all the programming and electronic stuff live. We don’t have any arrangements to stick to either so sometimes we stretch songs out really long, rave style. It’s more fun for us and more fun for the audience. We want them to feel they’re paying for something original, know that the songs can sound slightly different every time.”

Karlsson is not trying to distance himself from his past work, suggesting that it was a “fun ride”, but it wasn’t easy to make a burst for freedom.

“People came to us to try and get something crazy and original within the pop genre and I think we did pretty well with that,” he says. “We’ve been trying for so long to get away and do our own music but there have always been people calling. It took us a while to be able to shut the door and say ‘I’m not going to take any more phone calls’.”

And if Miike Snow doesn’t quite work out, will Bloodshy and Avant make a reappearance? “I don’t know. I’m glad we did it, but I wasn’t always writing what I wanted to! Sometimes I’ve said ‘This shit sucks, but here it is!’ If they want to buy it, they buy it. It is an awesome job to make music in any circumstance, it’s just better to make your own.”

Playing Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh on 28 Oct. Debut album Miike Snow is available via Columbia on 26 Oct. www.myspace.com/miikesnow

Alice in Chains’ lead guitarist and co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell reclines in The Skinny’s interrogation chair to spill the facts you never knew you needed.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Raincoats' seminal debut with its first commercial issue in 10 years this month, founding member Gina Birch recalls a world of possibilities during the formative years of the cult all-female post-punk outfit.

Interview Dave Kerr Photo James Minchin The first time I picked up a guitar… …was when I was in sixth grade. My mother was dating this guy and brought him home. He played guitar, my mother played organ and I remember them jamming. So I’m just checking this out and the guy hands me the guitar and shows me a couple of chords. In a few minutes I had them together and I could play two or three. He asked my mother ‘Does he play guitar?’ I’d played clarinet and sung in the choir. My mother goes ‘no, he’s never played a guitar in his life’. He’s like ‘well, you might want to get him one because he’s pretty good at it.’ So she bought me an acoustic.

The most memorable book I’ve read… …is probably The Stand by Stephen King, which was pretty intense for me. Another read that struck me from an early age was No One Here Gets Out Alive, Jerry Hopkins’ biography of Jim Morrison.

The last film I was impressed by… …that made a serious impact on me was The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. The visuals are amazing – some dark surreal imagery – very cool. In a nutshell, it’s about this Dr who kills an opera singer and brings her back to life to play in his performance and have his revenge on some other dude. Alice are making a video just now with Stephen Schuster who directed A Looking in View for us, he tells me that the twins who made that film [known as the Quay brothers] have done quite a few others.

The biggest guilty pleasure in my record collection has to be... ...Glass Houses by Billy Joel.

The last gig I went to as a punter… …was Pearl Jam in Los Angeles last week. I watched the whole show – took William [DuVall], he’d never seen them before. I was in the audience for the first half, but I got to go up and stand at the side of the stage and watch. So I’m watching the second encore and they do Hunger Strike, [Chris] Cornell was there - actually the whole of Soundgarden was there, Kym, Ben - and Matt [Cameron] of course was playing with Pearl Jam. So Chris got up and Temple of the Dog were together for a minute. They closed the show with Alive and I’m just sitting there having a good time when [Mike] McCready rolls over to me when it gets to the end solo, throws me his guitar and says ‘Solo in E!’ I’m like ‘What?’

‘Just solo in E, dude!’ So I got to go out there and rock out with them too. We all did a bow together, fuckin’ Pearl Jam, Cornell and me. It was a cool moment, a really nice thing. I went from punter to performer pretty quick.

If I could recruit one dream player to appear on the next Alice in Chains album it would be... ...Cornell. I’ve always wanted to do something with him again. We did Right Turn with Chris and Mark Arm and it was special, but maybe you can’t go home on that.

Given a life or death situation where I had to choose an ally... ...I’d vote Bruce Lee. Alice in Chains play Glasgow Barrowlands on 12 Nov. www.aliceinchains.com

I had just arrived in London in September 1976 to study Fine Art at Hornsey School of Art, where I met Ana. It was an amazing, exciting time. Punk was happening and we went to see loads of shows, particularly at the Roxy Club in Neal Street when it opened.

I was living in a squat, with no hot water and plaster falling off the crumbling walls, but life was good. It felt like we were part of something, we walked our own streets in our own way. I lived next door to Palmolive’s sister Esperanza and her partner Richard who had been in the 101’ers with Joe Strummer. In the street where I lived, there were lots of artists and musicians.

The houses have all been done up and now when somewhere becomes vacant, usually someone working in banking moves in.

Rough Trade record shop was open and it was a great meeting place with tables and chairs and magazines and people happy to talk about music. Ana worked in the shop for a while.

In early ‘77, The Slits formed and I went to all their early shows. I was completely blown away and realised that something was happening for us girls.

Possibilities were opening up. Maybe I could be in a band too. Ana and I discussed it, and eventually one day I bought a bass guitar. Ana was from Madeira and had spent the summer of ‘77 there. When she came back to London and heard I had bought the bass, we immediately got together and tried to write a song, with Nick Turner on drums and Ross Crighton also on guitar.

Eventually we found a perfect combination of Ana, myself, Palmolive, the best drummer in the world, who

had just been evicted from the Slits, and Vicky Aspinall on violin. Geoff from Rough Trade decided the time was right for us to make a single and Mayo Thompson came and worked with us on ideas and arrangements.

We then went to record the three tracks: Fairytale in the Supermarket, In Love and Adventures Close to Home. After the single release we did a tour with Kleenex and Spizz Energie, and came back to London to record the LP. By this time, we were as rehearsed as we could be, after 28 live dates, and we made the record very quickly. It was still a very exciting time.

The major cloud on the horizon was that Margaret Thatcher had come to power as Prime Minister, and was about to change the climate in Britain quite extensively. The creative period of punk was soon hijacked. In ‘81, MTV began, and awful bands like Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran took up the ‘creative’ challenge. I was very disillusioned in this period and we became more interested in how we could stretch things and make our own music in our own way. From being at the centre of something, things all started to fragment.

Scritti Politti eventually signed to a major, as did the Gang of Four, and tried to head for the charts, with some success. But things seemed to become more and more about appearance and surface sheen, shoulder pads and power dressing. God I hated aspects of the 80s!!

- Gina Birch - October, 2009 The Raincoats is reissued via We ThRee on 9 Nov. www.theraincoats.net

November 2009

THE SKINNY 41

Music

Get Born Again

Unacceptable in the 80s

MUSIC

Fly Like Paper Folding the squalling energy of early Yeah Yeah Yeahs into fresh pop shapes, Paper Planes are taking off in a big way.

Text Chris Buckle Photo Heidi Kuisma NO GREAT masterplan has guided Paper Planes’ initial trajectory. In fact, when New Jerseyite Jennifer Paley first journeyed to Glasgow, singing was the last thing on her mind. “Music had no sway on my decision to come overseas,” she explains. “I didn’t know anything about what was coming out of Glasgow or had come out of Glasgow besides the obvious, Belle and Sebastian, Jesus and Mary Chain, Franz Ferdinand... Only so much filters through to America.

My musical education started as soon as I arrived.”

That education involved three Scots with a track record on the Glasgow music scene. Chalk it up to serendipity: though joining a band wasn’t originally part of Paley’s agenda, when Christopher Haddow (guitar), Craig O’Brien (drums), and Fraser McFadzean (bass) asked her to sing, the answer was obvious.

“Everyone wants to front a band in their own dream world, so I just said yeah… Those first few months were pretty scary but also very interesting for me, I kept waiting for someone to call my bluff,” she recalls.

“As far as I was concerned there was not a musical bone in my body”.

If this was ever true it certainly ain’t now, as anyone lucky enough to catch Paper Planes live will attest. Paley’s firebrand rock ‘n’ roll caterwaul sits comfortably atop the band’s surf-influenced new wave indie, but she wasn’t always so confident onstage. “I couldn’t even give presentations at school because I got so ridiculously nervous in front of people,” she confesses. Though such anxiety must

42 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

seem pretty distant, several years and dozens of gigs later.

While performing no longer causes jitters, an unfortunate side-effect of the band’s transatlantic membership continues to haunt them. As a non-UK citizen, Paley’s residency here is subject to the shifting sands of bureaucracy, and having been forced on hiatus once before by visa issues, it’s an understandable worry. “This time around is going to be much harder,” she accepts. “I’m trying not to think about it just now. It’s pretty depressing to think you can just be booted out of a country after you’ve set up this whole life for yourself.”

Not that their last enforced separation stopped Paper Planes for long, the band swapping material back and forth across the Atlantic during their time apart.

Debut single Doris Day involved comparatively fewer air miles, coming together in the course of a single evening upon Paley’s return. Even the enigmatic title proved effortless. (“They were just words I had played in Scrabble the night before and they fit quite nicely.”)

It’s a punchy calling card that has augmented their buzz and attracted the attention of Stephen Pastel and Gerry Love, who both DJed at their single launch.

But the quartet aren’t about to start rushing things.

“We’re thinking about releasing another single, depending on how this one goes,” says Paley. “We’re just taking things as they come, letting the whole thing plot its own course. Everything will fall into place eventually.” Floating on the breeze like their origami namesakes: expect them to go far.

SUPPORTING JAY REATARD AT KING TUT’S, GLASGOW ON 11 NOV.

MUSIC

A Theory of Everything They read Stephen Hawking, question the laws of physics and still find a minute to make a wave on the local circuit. There's only one Trapped in Kansas Interview Finbarr Bermingham Photo Stephen Robinson WHEN a group of university students decide to combine forces and make music, the move is quite often inspired by cheap booze and the need for an alternative to daytime television. Not so, it appears, in the case of Ayr’s Trapped In Kansas. Guitarist Gregor Fair explains that the quartet’s intricate, tuneful brand of indie rock was born out of interband conversations on space, time travel, the Hadron Collider and other assorted quandaries of physics. “We genuinely have some intense scientific brain meltdowns whilst traversing the M8 in Chris [Ward]’s trusty Citroen Picasso.”

Ward, the band’s bass player and vocalist elaborates: “I would certainly say our biggest influence is science. We get into crazy chats about dark matter, parallel universes and Stephen Hawking.”

It’s a refreshing approach to songwriting, and one which has paid dividends this year. Though only formed in June 2008, Trapped in Kansas already have debut performances at RockNess and a headlining set in the T Break tent at T in the Park under their belt, having also featured in a filmed session for The Skinny and Off The Beaten Tracks at the latter.

Whilst Fair is loathe to define the band’s sound, he describes its intricacies as “thoughtful and sometimes challenging, without being complicated for the sake of it.”

He is sure, however, that Trapped in Kansas have found a distinct identity. “I think we’re instantly recognisable against other Scottish bands. Finn [Le Marinel]’s vocals are very unique which helps us stand out. The rhythms

and tempos are constantly shifting in our songs, which keeps people interested.”

It’s a reasonable summation, according to the few tracks the band have released. There’s a palpable element of math-rock, but the tracks are consistently melodic. Their palette owes much to the wildly varied tastes of the band’s members: drummer Iain Symes enjoys dubstep and drum & bass, whereas Le Marinel is, according to Fair, “a purveyor of anything devoid of time signatures.”

Fair’s own background is playing in punk bands, while Ward mainly follows indie bands like Belle & Sebastian, Stapleton and The Smiths. Collectively, the band enjoy more than the mere mysteries of the universe, sharing a love of Frightened Rabbit and American Football.

Having just completed a tour of Scotland with Bronto Skylift and Lions.Chase.Tigers., Ward is confident that another EP release from the band is forthcoming in the near future, though the process of formalising an agreement with the right label hasn’t been without its complications.

“We’ve had chats with some Scottish labels about doing a single deal, though thus far nothing has been right for us.

But we’re excited about the EP, it will be like the end of our first chapter and we can move away from those tracks and onto new material.”

With another round of Scottish gigs scheduled between now and the festive season, the opportunities to catch the dextrously talented Trapped In Kansas are plentiful.

Be sure and see them now before they turn the page.

PLAYING STIRLING UNIVERSITY ON 12 NOV, GLASGOW’S ÒRAN MÓR ON 3 DEC AND THE CAPTAIN’S REST, GLASGOW ON 15 DEC. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/WEARETRAPPEDINKANSAS

NOVEMBER 2009

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Music

Movement for Change With the future bearing down on them, can Pelican change gears and run with the big boys of post-metal?

Interview Jason Morton For any band involved in a progressive genre, the need to keep moving is an occupational necessity. But at the same time, shaking up the formula can make or break. So far, 2009 has seen a steady juggernaut of releases from heavier bands in that postition, such as Mastodon (Crack the Skye) and Isis (Wavering Radiant), both of which saw these stalwarts moving in new directions, to immense critical praise.

Throwing their hat in the ring with What We All Come to Need are Pelican, a kindred spirit known for producing alternatingly crushing and atmospheric albums; but as bassist Bryan Herweg suggests, the new album marks an intended change in trajectory for the Chicagoan quartet. “We wanted to try something different, just to simplify everything.”

Those familiar with the band’s back catalogue can only agree that Pelican’s fourth full length marks a definite change in gear. Early days of tracks extending to ten minutes and beyond have been left behind for a shorter, more groove based predilection, with songwriting structures becoming “a lot easier” according to Herweg. “We wanted [last album] City of Echoes to be a departure, more straightforward than we’d been in the past, but it came out a little more complicated than we hoped. This one is exactly how we thought it was going to come out. Everything just got toned down a little bit and I think that’s what needed to happen.”

The suggestion lingers momentarily before he adds: “We’ll see how everyone else takes it.”

Augmenting Pelican’s newfound structural clarity on the album is the pristine production – via Chris Common (Minus the Bear, These Arms Are Snakes)

44 THE SKINNY November 2009

– focusing more on uplifting guitar tones rather than the sludgy breakdowns of the band’s past repertoire.

The bassist cites the record as their best work to date, giving ample credit to Common: “It’s good production for one,” he says. “I feel like it’s more accessible. It’s my favorite recording that we’ve done. [Common] was good to work with – a great engineer.”

It was this producer who lured the members from their respective homes of Chicago and Los Angeles – a long commute for band practice if ever there was one – to the Pacific Northwest for the recording of both What We All Come to Need and the Ephemeral EP. With the latter release pulling in the assistance of Dylan Carlson of genre forerunners Earth, Pelican also netted a number of guests for the LP, including Seattle local Greg Anderson of SunnO))) and Hydrahead Records boss/Isis lynchpin Aaron Turner. Herweg says the collaborative process went smoothly: “We’ve known all these guys for a while.

We left it completely open for them to do what they wanted. We just called people up and they were into it – hopefully no-one was too reluctant!”

Another notable guest on the album is Ben Verellen of disbanded post-hardcore outfit Harkonen, but perhaps the most important addition is Allen Epley – guitarist and vocalist of The Life and Times – contributing the first vocals to be used on a Pelican track to album closer Final Breath. “It was an honour to have him do that,” says Herweg, happy that Epley’s inclusion kept in line with their current ethos. “We thought we needed to switch it up a little bit – shoot for vocals – and we’ve been talking about it for a little while now. The bone of contention has been who we’d actually have do it, because none of us sing well.”

Those familiar with the band’s back catalogue can only agree that Pelican’s fourth full length marks a definite change in gear.

Of course, the band never intended for the entire album to feature vocals, but the idea of including Final Breath as a hidden track was quickly jettisoned. “It came out so good that we thought we’d leave it right there, it’s the perfect closer.’” Herweg says the vocals were recorded in a separate session and sent to the band in much the same way their usual songwriting process is conducted nowadays, what with the band living on opposite sides of the continent.

Despite this distance, Pelican trudges on; Herweg regards geography as only a minor inconvenience.

“I think that was the only big hurdle: recording the record – and it went really smoothly – sending ideas back and forth over the internet, practising when we got together for rehearsal for tour… it’s a little tricky, but so far it hasn’t been bad.”

Having paid their dues on the road with numerous treks around the US and Europe over the last half of the decade, Pelican have assured their growing cult status. But current plans call for a cutback. “We’re trying to scale back on the touring for this record,” reveals Herweg. “We’ve played so much over the past four years that we’re all pretty burned out, we just want to try and get some home-life situations settled.”

When asked if this is the end of Pelican as a touring band, Herweg quickly rebuffs the idea. “We’ll definitely still be playing, just trying to cut it down.

We’re not calling it quits.” It’s reassuring, then, that while Pelican may be making less physical movement in the immediate future, they’ll still be among those pushing guitar music forward.

What We All Come to Need is released on 26 Oct via Southern Lord.

They've been around for years yet the critics continue to fall for Yo La Tengo with every new release. The New Jersey trio are prolific, achingly cool, but somehow not quite 'famous'. Ira Kaplan ponders mainstream success, alternative career paths and the death of music journalism.

Interview Paul Mitchell

Interview Paul Mitchell Photo Steve Guilick “Of course it crosses our minds, but it’s great that we have the opportunity to do whatever we want, and make a very nice living from it.” Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan ruminates over the fact that despite years and years (they’ve been around since 1984) of critical acclaim, and the fawning proffered by a core group of committed fans, they have yet to make a major mainstream impact. “Ultimately, there’s really not that much to complain about,” he continues, “we’re all smart enough to look around us and see that the people who do have mainstream success aren’t necessarily more satisfied in what they’re doing than we are.”

It has become a recent recurring theme of Kaplan’s to highlight the New Jersey trio’s happy position of doing pretty much what they like on record. By way of example, he points to the release earlier this year of Fuckbook (an album of 80s covers released under the alias Condo Fucks) which “came about by just plugging in a fuzzbox before a party and going for it.”

If anything, he gives the impression that he and his bandmates (wife Georgia Hubley and James McNew) exist in a bubble of contented whimsy, occasionally pricked into creative action by the spirits of spontaneity. Surely they take some time to consider where they’ll be headed next? “No, not really, or certainly a

lot less than you’d think. Sometimes people seem to find a narrative in a new record that simply doesn’t exist. You can take the Condo Fucks album and maybe suggest that there’s been some planning there but that’s not necessarily the case.”

Kaplan draws attention to the idiosyncracy of a supposed narrative by giving a history lesson in the early days of popular music, and the politicking that frequently took place which suggests that mostly, things were outwith the control of the artists in question. “I find it interesting to think of bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones etc. When their music was first released in the States, before Rock n’ Roll was treated seriously as an art form, the track listings were often different from the original versions. So in that sense, our storyline here in the U.S was different to what you guys in Britain experienced. The bands didn’t have much to do with that, it’s what people made of those tracks that provided the story”.

Yo La Tengo have just released their twelfth studio album, Popular Music – Kaplan won’t say if the title is ironic – with the critics’ words of praise again ringing loudly in their ears. At this juncture in his career, it may be that Kaplan, himself a former rock writer, wonders if the music journalism industry has any lasting relevance. “The whole star rating era we seem to have now… I don’t think it’s the form at its peak. It’s not just music journalism, it’s arts coverage in general.

I went to see a movie yesterday. I didn’t particularly

like it, but it was still an interesting movie to have watched. ‘Is it good or bad’ is hardly the most vital function that the serious critic can provide to their readership. Unfortunately, that is not the majority opinion these days.”

Based on the evidence of Popular Songs, it seems ludicrous to suggest that Yo La Tengo should call it a day anytime soon, though Kaplan admits the query does arise with increasing frequency. “The question of us stopping always takes me by surprise. It really hasn’t occurred to me that we might. I keep thinking that if we were bored we would stop doing it. Maybe that’s naïve, maybe we couldn’t resist the fact that people are willing to pay us to do stuff, even though we’re not enjoying it.”

This is not to suggest that Kaplan hasn’t given alternative career paths some serious thought. “Well, recently, we were in Italy and there was this one gelato [ice cream] place that we couldn’t stop going to.

At first we thought we should really try out different ones every day but this was clearly our favourite so we went there all the time. Then, and I can’t remember the exact Italian phrase, but I noticed they belonged to some kind of ‘Board of Artisanal Gelato Manufacturers’ and I thought ‘Hey, I could work for that company!’”

Love Music Hate Racism is an initiative dating back to 2002, launched as a counterresponse to a perceived rise in levels of racism and the undeniably growing popularity of the British National Party. Using music as the platform to “celebrate diversity”, the movement has organised over 400 separate events (from large festivals to local gigs and club nights) designed to urge people to vote against BNP candidates in elections.

Meantime, Perthshire electronic act Pumajaw are in the middle of writing their sixth album (due out next year) and running their own label (Bedevil). However, on 9 November the duo (Pinkie Maclure and John Wills) release a download single called Featherdown Quilt. 25% of the proceeds will be donated to the aforementioned cause. Here, Wills explains why: “Pinkie and I hate racism and bigotry of any kind and wanted to help in any small way to stop the rise of the BNP and the effect they have on society. The major parties have made themselves very alike and many people might think that voting has become almost irrelevant to their lives.

Also the expenses scandal has, understandably, turned many people away from politics. Voter apathy has given the far right the chance to creep into government through the back door. Scotland Secretary Jim Murphy said after the recent European elections, ‘The BNP vote in Scotland was higher than the ethnic minority proportion of the population in Scotland as shown in the most recent census.’

“After the recent gains they made in Northern England, the BNP are targeting Scotland as their next big push. Shocking but true. The BNP vote in Scotland is on the rise. In ten years their votes have gone from zero to 27,000. As musicians, Love Music Hate Racism seemed the perfect organisation for us to approach. Music has always thrived on multicultural and multiracial collaboration and brings all kinds of people together, eliminating suspicions and barriers between them. It is our way of getting the message across as clearly as possible. There is no place for racism in any community. Cultural diversity is something to be embraced and not feared. Don’t be bullied by the bigots!

“The forthcoming by-election in Glasgow in November is of particular concern. After speaking to Ned Mendez, Co-ordinator at LMHR he says our biggest weapon is simply to vote. It takes 15 minutes to walk to your local polling station and vote. The reason the BNP won their seats in England was due to voter apathy. Please use your vote, it really does make a difference.”

Featherdown Quilt is released via Bedevil on 9 Nov. The Glasgow North East by-election takes place on 12 Nov. www.lovemusichateracism.com

Playing ABC, Glasgow on 6 Nov. www.myspace.com/yolatengo

November 2009

THE SKINNY 45

Music

Popular People?

Love Pumajaw Hate Racism

RECORDS

THE DIRTY DOZEN

but also kinda cute.

The Horrors’ Whole New Way (***) is a strange choice for a single, a bonus track on the Japanese edition of their excellent recent Krautrock-inspired LP Primary Colours, it’s no standout in that context. Passion Pit’s full-length is a little tough to get through, because their rainbow-brite exuberance quickly gets annoying. But on its own, you’d need a heart of stone to deny Little Secrets’ (****) earnest effervescence. If songs were judged by verses, few would appreciate The Cheek’s Hung Up (****). But its brilliant stomping hornled chorus more than makes up for the flatness elsewhere.

John Peel woulda loved it.

Of all the Kate-Bush inspired femmes breaking this year, Mowgli’s Road (****) marks Marina and The Diamonds out as the weirdest. Marina is so kooky, she cuckoos. Either a genius or a quack, we’ll lean towards the former. Alex Turner is in typically graceful storytelling form on the Arctic Monkeys’ Cornerstone (****). It’s a perfectly measured slow pine for a lost love, but it just misses out on Single of the Month because Turner tries the most dubious rhyme of “ghost” with “toast” since Des’ree. Thin margins. Instead, the honours go to The Dead Weather’s unique and baffling I Cut Like A Buffalo. Set to a reggae syncopation, singer Jack White riffs on a confusion between “choke” and “joke”. “Is that you chokin’?” he hectors, “Or are you just jokin’?” It’s not very funny, but when he makes a rhythmic choking sound over the breaks it sounds equally like a large animal suffocating, or a DJ scratching. Is that what “cut like a buffalo” means? No idea, but it’s wonderfully eccentric.

Lyricists take note: "ghost" and "toast" can never be sensibly rhymed, 'cos Ally Brown says so.

COMPILING the Dirty Dozen is a dirty job because sometimes it involves bashing honest, hard-working bands who never upset anyone (because no-one ever listens to them). Then again, sometimes it involves bashing massively successful bands who make millions of girls greet, so that’s virtually a public service. Snow Patrol’s Just Say Yes (*) is as blubbery, wet and limp as a dead seal, and Gary Lightbody’s pleading to the unfortunate subject of his affections is delivered with all the gusto of someone telling a child their dog died. Mind the Grange Hill cast’s advice. Glasgow’s Kick To Kill do a pretty good Cure impression for the first 80 seconds of Cut Me (**), but it’s downhill from there due to the roughly four thousand repetitions of the shouted vocal hook. Dead Confederate’s The Rat (**) is dark and gloomy, only coming to life when someone gets accused of having “stupid human for brains”.

Eh? Local rockers Satellite Underground are already imagining a successful future, where they’ll regularly be gigging in front of a Sea Of People (**). But you cannae pair “at least we’re together” with “this time it’s forever” without causing a wave of groans. Water And A Flame (**) is an over-polished melodramatic ballad, duetted between Daniel Merriweather and Adele. Ewwww! Meanwhile, 39-year old Rivers Cuomo is still writing songs about high school romances. Wheatus – sorry, I mean Weezer’s (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (***) is ridiculous,

The Dead Weather

SINGLE REVIEWS NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION

CALLSIGNS EP 2 NOV, KSCOPE

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SOUND OF GUNS

WOWL!

ELEMENTARY OF YOUTH EP

THREE HITS

2 NOV, DISTILLER

23 NOV, SL RECORDS

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This space-rocking, be-bopping, genre-hopping Edinburgh trio’s debut EP is an ambitious affair. With two originals, a cover and a remix (courtesy of Kscope label mates Engineers), it may not sound substantial, but stylistically there’s a lot going on. Opening track, Cell Count is a joyously cosmic electronic cut – equal parts Flaming Lips and FOUND – which has just enough hook to prevent it from floating away on the breeze. It makes way for Ceiling Poem, which despite being a meatier, more frenzied effort, doesn’t quite match the heights of its predecessor. NAO’s cover version of choice speaks volumes about their promise; their take on ‘50s doo-wop number I Only Have Eyes For You by The Flamingos is tuneful, experimental and a lush show-stopper. [Finbarr Bermingham]

It takes a brave fool to start an indie rock’n’roll band these days. The long overdue demise of Oasis should have served as a warning that lad rock is in its last throes, a diseased convalescent only kept from flatlining by a dubious dripfeed of Kasabian and The Enemy. While it may be unfair to slap such a tag on Liverpool’s Sound of Guns when they’re just starting out, they’ve only brought it on themselves: ballsy, brash guitars; meaningless, clichéd lyrics; that bandname. The opening title track sounds like Roger Daltrey fronting The Courteeners, and it doesn’t get any better in the three cuts that follow. [Nick Mitchell]

German synth-rockers Wowl! clearly enjoy being an anomaly. Three Hits’ opener The Black Ark cuts a dark, brooding figure that grooves to the pound of jagged effects before bizarrely subsiding into a whistle-infused flash of feral pop. Continuing this trend of peculiarity, Bulbassador’s inane chiming is Dick and Dom electro – all smiles and japes that quickly becomes pointless. Closing number The Hand’s repetitive guitar gauze finally maintains a sense of consistency and, for that, it proves the EP’s most enterprising moment. A rollercoaster ride of varying quality, Wowl!’s anomalous ways are as much their downfall as they are their USP. [Billy Hamilton]

PLAYING SNEAKY PETE’S, EDINBURGH ON 16 NOV.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SOUNDOFGUNS

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/WOWL

BROKEN RECORDS

BEN TD

FRIGHTENED RABBIT

OUT ON THE WATER EP

LEAVES

SWIM UNTIL YOU CAN’T SEE LAND

2 NOV, 4 AD

9 NOV , LO-FIVE RECORDS

16 NOV , FAT CAT

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After all the column inches dedicated to them, it’s easy to forget that Broken Records are a relatively new band. A single album into their careers, and they’ve already been consecrated and desecrated a dozen times over. What this EP of demos and B-sides, recorded prior to their debut, serves to remind us is that there’s still a hell of a lot of potential to be mined within the talented Edinburgh outfit. Yes, they sometimes have a tendency to overdo things – a sense of melodrama creeps into Jamie Sutherland’s voice more than once – but here are five mostly excellent songs, peaking with Sutherland’s falsetto on Lessons Never Learnt and the superb instrumental outro of All So Tired. The question is: where to next? [Finbarr Bermingham]

Let’s give Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Ben TD the benefit of the doubt and say that his confused lyrics in Leaves are actually purposefully garbled. “I saw you in the street picking up leaves, isn’t that funny” he starts, before strangely backtracking “cos leaves are cool, but not that cool”.

That’s exactly the kind of mealy-mouthed blabbering that lovestruck men come out with, tongue engaged while brain’s away for a walk. Leaves is a very lovestruck song, but unfortunately Ben TD misses a natural opportunity to tie it up into a neat little 3-minute package because he’s got a minute more of pleading to do. Trim off that excess earnestness and this is a touching ode to the stupefying power of love. [Ally Brown]

PLAYING VARIOUS DATES THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND IN NOV.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BENTDMUSIC

PUMAJAW

I WAS A KING

Frightened Rabbit’s success is based on nothing resembling modernity: ever since the first lovesick caveman grunted a tune, his descendants have been trying to marry clear storytelling with earnest convictions without tipping into mushy sentimentality. That’s an easier balance to hold when girls aren’t involved, so Swim’s sexless metaphor about trying new things is delivered with a suitable level-headedness. Will Frightened Rabbit swim away from their comfort zone on album number three? Their breakthrough album was a break-up album; “Call this a drowning of the past,” he sings here, “she is there on the shoreline throwing stones at my back.” Let’s hope he’s not a specialist.[Ally Brown] PLAYING STIRLING TOLBOOTH ON 28 NOV, INVERNESS IRONWORKS ON 29 NOV, ABERDEEN MOSHULU ON 1 DEC AND DUNDEE FAT SAM’S ON 2 DEC.

FORTUNE

FEATHERDOWN QUILT

NORMAN BLEIK

HIGHWAY EP

2 NOV, BEDEVIL

16 NOV, SONIC CATHEDRAL

2 NOV, DISTILLER

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The latest offering from the now Fife-based enigmas is a far cry from the neo-folk scene they have been so uncomfortably shoehorned into by baffled listeners. On this single, available to download with 25 per cent of the cost donated to Love Music Hate Racism, they prove as fantastically uncategorisable as ever. Pinkie McLure’s otherworldly vocals float high and low, like a cross between Antony Hegarty and Nina Simone, over an ’80s industrial backdrop. Any newfound Fence influence is only apparent in the song’s rejection of convention; this is another unique and beautifully unsettling torch song from Pumajaw.[Euan Ferguson]

Let’s cut to the chase, I Was a King want to be Teenage Fanclub. In fact, so much do the Norwegian ensemble yearn to slip inside the Glaswegian luminaries’ skin they’ve entitled their new single Norman Bleik. It goes almost without saying then that these are three of the most fraudulent minutes of music you’re likely to hear all year. From the sunny twang of country guitar to the melancholic pop undertones, Norman Bleik is a shameless counterfeit that’s as lame as it is phony. With any luck, it won’t be just the Fannies who benefit from a restraining order. [Billy Hamilton]

If, like the real world, music has its localized commodities, then what you expect from a French export is effortless cool and – in the past decade at least – shimmering electro-pop. And while national profiling is never the wisest practice, Fortune only reinforce the standard view of our cross-Channel neighbours: primitive synthpop, club remixes, half-sung, primary school English lyrics. Fans of Sebastian Tellier or Phoenix will find nothing new in the title track, but that’s not to say that it isn’t a well-constructed pop song. Like their Gallic brethren, Fortune know how to sprinkle a bit of the old disco magic dust when the dancefloor calls for it. [Nick Mitchell]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PUMAJAW

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/IWASAKING

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ILOVEFORTUNE

46 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

RECORDS CLUBS

WWW.TENTRACKS.CO.UK

I Hear a New Gramophone To mark the 50th issue of The Skinny, music columnists Milo McLaughlin and Sean Michaels got on the blower (well, Skype) for a transatlantic chinwag about the Scottish music scene and how it's all changed since the magazine began in 2005 Interview Milo McLaughlin Illustration Eleanor Meredith THE Easy Gramophone was a monthly column written by Sean Michaels which ran in The Skinny from 2006 to early 2008.

As the title suggests it was intended as a companion to his hugely popular mp3 blog Said The Gramophone - deemed one of Time Magazine’s 25 best blogs this year.

For each column Sean handpicked a selection of tracks he loved which were available free to download somewhere on the net. In line with The Skinny’s eclectic, cutting-edge music coverage, these were songs from a dizzying array of styles, based on their quality rather than any fixed genre - and he was one of the first people in the UK to write about bands such as Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Beirut and Final Fantasy. When Michaels returned to his home city of Montreal, he passed on the baton to me, and the column morphed into I Hear a New World, with an accompanying podcast of ‘original and innovative songs from Scotland and beyond’. This included such cult heroes as Bonnie Prince Billy, Jeffrey Lewis, James Yorkston and Herman Dune as well as established and underground local acts such as Errors, eagleowl, King Creosote, The Pictish Trail, The Phantom Band, and The Japanese War Effort.

Now that he has the perspective of time and distance, I ask Sean how he feels about the Scottish music scene and how he sees his development since those formative issues of The Skinny. From where he’s standing, the east coast has seen the biggest change.

“The thing that I sorrowfully tell people when they ask about music in Scotland is that between the time I arrived to when I left, I didn’t discover a single great Edinburgh band that I hadn’t heard before I arrived. It gives me great pleasure and envy that after I left things have really come out of the woodwork, and it feels like it’s reached some kind of velocity.”

Despite his physical distance, Michaels continues to scour the web in search of great Scottish acts, having featured some of the new breed of Edinburgh artists such as Withered Hand and Meursault on his blog, even before many local commentators had caught on to their undoubted charms. However, whilst he believes that it’s important to be supportive of Scottish artists, it can also be counterproductive to lavish blanket praise based on geography alone. Some have suggested that this is at risk of happening with the recent explosion of predominantly positive coverage in the local blogosphere, but Sean is optimistic about the internal barometer of the genuine Scottish music fan. “Scots are great musicians, it’s a great place for music, and they also don’t put up with crap. In the case of bands like Uncle John & Whitelock people were responding to something that was very good, and that’s the crucial element.”

The ethos Michaels has brought to both the Said the Gramophone blog and the Easy Gramophone column is perfectly simple - to celebrate the magical synchronicity that leads an artist or band to come up with that one, amazing, addictive,

essential tune. “Your column led on from mine, where you’re highlighting great songs. And that’s what I’ve done with Said The Gramophone all this time - I think you can be enthusiastic much more honestly when you don’t need to say ‘this band is clearly the greatest band ever’ or ‘this album is a masterpiece’. Our small aspiration is to everyday give you three minutes that are wonderful.”

With the prodigious Sufjan Stevens recently questioning what the point of a song actually is, I ask Michaels if he too ever gets tired of the hunt for the next hidden gem. “Sometimes you have to sit down at your computer, take off your ears, and knock them against the desk and ask ‘how are you feeling today?’” Nothing hones that internal barometer better than a bit of perspective. “Sometimes you feel like hearing that hot

“SCOTS ARE GREAT MUSICIANS, IT’S A GREAT PLACE FOR MUSIC, AND THEY ALSO DON’T PUT UP WITH CRAP."

new CD that came in the post or that new mp3 you downloaded from that cutting edge blog, and sometimes you’re like, ‘okay, time to throw on the Neil Young; time to throw on the Bach.’ Reminding yourself and other people about great old songs is a really nice thing to do - I mean it’s what we do with friends, right?”

SEAN MICHAELS WRITES FOR THE GUARDIAN, BLOGS AT WWW.SAIDTHEGRAMOPHONE.COM AND IS CURRENTLY STARTING WORK ON HIS SECOND NOVEL. MILO MCLAUGHLIN BLOGS AT MILOMCLAUGHLIN. SQUARESPACE.COM AND WORKS IN AN OFFICE. AN I HEAR A NEW WORLD CHANNEL - FEATURING TRACKS FROM WITHERED HAND, GUMMI BAKO, MEURSAULT AND AMBULANCES - IS LAUNCHED ON TEN TRACKS IN NOVEMBER. WWW.TENTRACKS.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 47

RECORDS

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: CONVERGE

AXE TO FALL OUT NOW, EPITAPH

rrrrr Picture a runaway bus exploding through the front window of a department store; sheets of glass, tattered clothes and the defenestrated limbs of mannequins erupting into the air... that’s just the START of Axe To Fall. Converge are surely the undisputed kings of modern progressive hardcore. Since provoking one of heavy music’s biggest double-takes in 2001 with their pioneering Jane Doe album, they have consistently stretched half a dozen already-extreme genres to near breaking point.

The production here is more brutal than ever and the musicianship, especially Ben Koller’s drumming, is frequently breathtaking. As vitriolic as they are intelligent, the songs lose no fury in the pursuit of

technicality and the band only relent slightly during the closing numbers, Cruel Bloom is a particularly outstanding, dark waltz, with Neurosis’ Steve Von Till on vocals and betraying an apparent collective fondness for Tom Waits.

Recent releases have seen Converge increasingly call upon the skills of many friends and peers. Accordingly Axe To Fall features members of Entombed, Cave In, Hatebreed and Genghis Tron amongst others without diluting Converge’s evolving but idiosyncratic sound. This is a brilliant, furious album that manages to be both misanthropic in its message yet therapeutic in its sheer catharsis. [Chris Cusack]

ALBUM REVIEWS ESPERS

COLD CAVE

ADRIAN CROWLEY

III

LOVE COMES CLOSE

SEASON OF THE SPARKS

2 NOV, WICHITA

2 NOV, MATADOR

9 NOV, CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND

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If any genre of music epitomized the late 1960s it was psychedelic folk.

The meeting of acoustic guitars and trippy boundary pushing seems rooted in those few years when many believed that the counter-culture could win out over the political forces of evil. But such is the cyclical nature of music that, like just about any style you care to mention, psych folk has had its own revival. Along with bands like Animal Collective (in their pre-Moog days) and Six Organs of Admittance, Philadelphia sextet Espers have led this renaissance. III is their fourth album (presumably they don’t count covers album The Weed Tree), and like its predecessors it conjures all sorts of natural splendour: wide skies, dark forests, grand landscapes. The dextrous musicianship on songs like the eerie Caroline and the undulating That Which Darkly Thrives leave you in no doubt: psych folk can outlast its sell-by-date. [Nick Mitchell]

If La Roux and her silly quiff and slices of radio-friendly synth-pop hark back to the frivolity of the early eighties, Cold Cave summon up the darker spirits of that blighted decade. The whiff of dry ice may lurk perceptibly amidst the brooding banks of massed keyboards and in the portentous tones of mainman Wesley Eisold, but Love Comes Close is a cut above mere parody. Touchstone influences such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle make their gothic presence felt throughout, but especially on opener Cebe and Me – a robotic chiller that would make a fine soundtrack for the last dance at the disco at the end of the world.

Eisold’s pop sensibilities prevent the listening experience from being a chore, however, and his love of more melodious inspirations such as The Human League and (especially) New Order shines through in the title track and the joyous Youth and Lust.[Duncan Forgan]

PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 13 NOV AND ELECTRIC CIRCUS, EDINBURGH ON 14 NOV AS PART OF THE SHRED YR FACE 3 TOUR. WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ESPERS

PLAYING OPTIMO, GLASGOW ON 1 NOV.

DIGITAL LEATHER

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/COLDCAVE

The trees may be bare and the nights all-encompassing, but comfort at least can be found in the fact that people are still making heartfelt and generous records like Season of the Sparks to get us through the long dark months that lie ahead. On this, his fifth album, Irish singersongwriter and honorary member of Fife’s own Fence collective Adrian Crowley delivers the his most accomplished work to date. Pastoral allusions and yearning vocals provide an autumnal feel; a keyboard riff that could have been lifted from an outtake of Strawberry Fields Forever gets the album underway before Crowley intones the melody of Summer Haze Parade. From the hazy melancholy of the Beekeepers Wife to the Smiths meets Nick Drake stylings of the title track, Season of the Sparks is a treasure you’ll be happy to have melting out of your stereo as the throat of winter approaches. [Duncan Forgan] WWW.ADRIANCROWLEY.COM

WARM BROTHER

THE GOTHENBURG ADDRESS

THE GOTHENBURG ADDRESS

2562

16 NOV, FAT POSSUM

7 DEC, I MESSIAH

2 NOV, TECTONIC

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Opening up with a field-recording of wounded analogue synths weeping in deep space before segueing into a dirge about self-destruction on an island of pain is a pretty cool way to assert your miserabilist credentials. It also sets up a useful black ground against which Shawn Foree (aka Digital Leather) goes on to deploy some pretty sweet synth-pop moves. Foree is managed by Jay Reatard and his influence looms large on tracks like Bugs on Glue, with its familiar machine-gun vocals and wall-of-sound riffing.

Beats are mostly unobtrusive 4/4 drum machine fare, with Foree adding layers of texture and fuzz using his arsenal of gnarly vintage synths. It’s all broken up with some icy, ironic Gary Numan-esque knob-twiddling and the occasional guitar but behind the dense, noisy production the arrangements are pretty unadventurous. Foree’s characterful voice does however manage to transcend the simplicity of the songs on this deceptively accessible album. [Mark Shukla] WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DIGITALLEATHER

DANIEL JOHNSTON

The Gothenburg Address have two on guitars, one on bass, one on drums and zero on vocals; looks like it’s time to dig out the Post-Rock Thesaurus. So, are they glacial, turbulent, fervent or shimmering? Yes, frequently in quick succession. Are their crescendos tear-inducing, awe-inspiring, goosebump-raising or just plain old ‘soaring’? That’s too subjective to declare definitively - like most instrumental post-rock (particularly that which comes with non sequitur track titles like Senior in the Stripper’s Light) their ebbs and swells are something of a Rorschach test for the listener to gauge their emotions by. They might mine the same bruised vein as a dozen others (Mogwai the most obvious Scottish example), but frequent changes in speed - in addition to the genre’s more expected variations in volume - distinguish them from the field’s more pedestrian exponents. The Gothenburg Address are a storm on a mountain and a cliff-top in the rain and they’re bloody excellent. [Chris Buckle] SUPPORTING GLISS AT ELECTRIC CIRCUS, EDINBURGH ON 3 NOV AND ALSO PLAYING THE CAVES, EDINBURGH ON 19 DEC.

UNBALANCE

It’s dubstep, but not as Streatham or Croydon would know it. This second album from the Hague-based 2562 takes the blueprint of monstrous, murky bass, stop-start beats and disjointed samples that was drawn up in the suburbs of South London, and takes it on a jaunt to Detroit via Berlin. The arpeggiated bleeps and emotive synths of the Motor City dance over the Basic Channel-esque dubby basslines and compressed minimalism of the techno capital of Europe. From its inception, dubstep was typecast as lonely, male-dominated bedroom music, loved as much for its technological mastery as its tunes, and Unbalance doesn’t do much to change that stereotype. It’s clipped, sparse and rather cold in places.

But when the production allows some humanity to bleed through, as it does with the snippets of tweaked female vocals of Lost or the ghostly chords of Escape Velocity, the results are nothing short of beautiful. The future of dubstep looks assured. [Euan Ferguson] WWW.MYSPACE.COM/2562DUB

OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LÓPEZ

KESER

IS AND ALWAYS WAS

XENOPHANES

ROBO_GHOST

2 NOV, FERALTONE

9 NOV, RODRIGUEZ-LÓPEZ PRODUCTIONS

2 NOV, ALEX TRONIC

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On his latest album, Daniel Johnston forsakes the very sound that has come to define him; swapping his four-track and slapdash instrumentation for a studio, a fellow Beatles nut (Jason Falkner) and full band. It’s a bold move, likely to alienate some, but if anyone’s earned their day in the sun, it’s Johnston. The results are at times terrific. Somewhat surprisingly, Johnston thrives in his role of band leader, sounding dominant and more tuneful than ever. There’s a palpable Fab Four influence throughout, as well as thick psychedelic gauze (the Syd Barrett-esque title track is one of the highlights). Peel away the layers, though, and this is unmistakably his own work. Queenie the Dog sounds like one of the troubled troubadour’s cartoons brought to song; there are the familiar themes of love (Mind Movies), death (Freedom) and frustration (High Horse) and trademark candid lyricism. But with contemporary tools at his disposal, this is perhaps Johnston’s most singular and cohesive piece of music to date.[Finbarr Bermingham]

The solo work of Omar Rodriguez-López can vary wildly from sheer noise (see Despair) to records considered as Mars Volta releases in everything but name (Old Money, Cryptomnesia) given that he writes the music for both and they usually share the same musicians. This, his thirteenth solo album in five years, is the first to feature his own vocals (in Spanish), albeit distant and heavily manipulated by effects (try not to picture Ricky Martin singing along to King Crimson underwater). Being responsible for the lyrics and singing seems to have focused the more excessive guitar noodling and electronic doodles which often smother even the best of his solo work. Meticulously crafted throughout, Xenophanes - whilst undeniably a difficult and experimental affair - is largely (and surprisingly) shorn of excess. The result is an album that can sit comfortably alongside his full time band’s strongest output as a significant addition.

[Stephen Toman]

If Martin Hannett had lived to see 2009, I’m sure he’d have loved to produce an album like Robo_Ghost. As it happens, Keser have done a pretty good job without him. The dub-eyed urban soundscapes that Hannett unleashed with Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures are translated in the modern vernacular; on 3 Point Play (Set Piece), robotic beats are pumped out of drum machines rather than kits, whilst blasts of white noise replace boxy punk power chords. Amongst this post-rock ambience, however, there’s a track with enough pop appeal that it seems oddly bereft of a lead vocal: the deceivingly daft-titled Acts of Dog. Starting out like an early U2 ballad, the song is soon blitzed by a bombing raid of dangerously dirgy guitars before succumbing to a blissful fadeout. It’s a collection so image-laden that it dares you to write a dystopian movie screenplay, just so it can provide the soundtrack. [Joe Barton]

PLAYING QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH ON 4 NOV.

RODRIGUEZLOPEZPRODUCTIONS.COM

WWW.KESER.CO.UK

48 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

PLAYING THE GRV, EDINBURGH ON 23 OCT.

PAUL HAIG

MELVINS

GENTLE FRIENDLY

RELIVE

CHICKEN SWITCH

RIDE SLOW

16 NOV, RHYTHM OF LIFE

OUT NOW, IPECAC

2 NOV, UPSET THE RHYTHM

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What’s most surprising about Paul Haig isn’t that he’s still producing electrifying meshes of gnarly guitar, it’s that he’s doing it with so much zest.

Balancing on the precipice between the quirky glitches of Talking Heads and New Order’s early gothic pulse, the ex-Josef K frontman’s latest LP, Relive, unfolds as a bone-rattling thrill that could energise the darkened corners of any dancefloor. Furnished with Haig’s emaciated bark, brilliant opener Trip Out The Rider grooves through a creepy maze of cathedral synths and maniacal guitar. Less frantic, but equally as contagious, is the bassy fog of So Contemporary, while Round & Round’s disorientating clang bleeds the ear-canals dry with its swirling production. Despite Listen To Me’s middle-aged lull, much of this is prickly stuff, spurred on by the riveting combination of grimy instrumentation and Haig’s terse, doom-laden reveries. If shock and awe was the plan, this is certainly mission accomplished. [Billy Hamilton]

There is nothing you could dance to on this ‘remix’ album, not a single person with a ‘DJ’ prefix on the tracklisting. Instead, the Melvins have handed over entire albums to various electro-noise practitioners to destroy and rebuild as entirely new songs. As a result, it’s difficult to tell what most of the tracks originated as, with the material consisting mostly of manipulated feedback and drones. Amid the noise there are numerous highlights such as Sunroof!’s Fennesz-alike wash of digital reverb ambience and Panacea’s Suicide-like punishing glam stomper Queen (Electroclash Remix). Every so often a riff recognizable as the Melvins appears only to drown in distortion before crashing into what sounds like Dale Crover’s drumkits playing against each other. Even Melvin fanatics may have difficulty appreciating this conceptual novelty, but Chicken Switch still serves as a fair induction into the world of the noise genre’s premier antagonists. [Stephen Toman]

Of all the press-invented scenes tipped for great things at the beginning of 2009, sprawling lo-fi psych pop was not among them; though it has been spurred on in America by the release of No Age’s Nouns last year.

London pulse keepers Upset the Rhythm (also responsible for bringing High Places and Lucky Dragons to UK shores) keep this notion alive by issuing consistently great slabs of warped pop wax, the latest case in point being Gentle Friendly. Their debut LP features gluey tape manipulations that cloud over Hüsker Dü power pop proclivities, recalling elements of the 80s avant-garde and, more recently, their spiritual American bros found in Sub Pop and Elephant 6 stables. The strobing rate at which they fire off 15 tracks in half an hour is a joy to keep up with, and as such it’ll be a crime if this pleasant racket goes unnoticed within the gamut of great underground records this year.[Ian Crichton]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PAULHAIG

WWW.IPECAC.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/GENTLEFRIENDLY

CUDDLY SHARK

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS

PELICAN

CUDDLY SHARK

ORIGIN: ORPHAN

9 NOV, ARMELLODIE

2 NOV, ARTS & CRAFTS

OUT NOW, SOUTHERN LORD

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This LP would make more sense if it was made by a group of long-haired, intensely trendy, drug-hungry young dudes from Brooklyn or Austin, Texas, and if it had been, Cuddly Shark would probably be getting a lot more attention.

Cuddly Shark opens with the hard-rocking, muscular Bowl of Cherries, and follows with the equally arresting Woody Woodpecker. It then channels a range of American alternative influences – everything from Pavement to Pixies, Stooges to Cramps, rockabilly to straight-edge. It’s therefore surprising to find out that the band is in fact a boy-boy-girl trio from Elgin. But when you do learn that, it makes the record a whole lot more appealing. As they merrily sneer their way through the melodic riffs of tongue-in-cheek highlight What Goes Around Comes Around, you can clearly hear three people enjoying themselves thoroughly. It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re going – and Cuddly Shark have gone and made a cracking debut. [Euan Ferguson] PLAYING THE DIVE, GLASGOW ON 6 NOV; THE MOORINGS, ABERDEEN ON 7 NOV AND HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, EDINBURGH ON 11 NOV.

ASOBI SEKSU

WHAT WE ALL COME TO NEED

Ambition ain’t a trait you’d immediately associate with The Hidden Cameras. Their 2006 longplayer Awoo was a straight-up, unashamed twee-fest, expelling tunes so infectious it should have caused a pandemic. Jaunty, yes, but ambitious? Nae chance. Album number five will no doubt alter such dismissive preconceptions. Escaping the trappings of jingle-jangle bliss, Origin: Orphan is strewn with labyrinthine arrangements that reach for the stars but never quite take off. By removing simplicity from their repertoire, the Canadian ensemble plod through laboured opuses like Ratify The New and Walk On with all the direction of a compass-bereft rambler in the Rockys. At least the cutesy He Falls To Me and The Little Bit bear some semblance of cohesion, but the afrorhythmic abomination of The Underage strikes a nadir in a record marred by lulls. By all means applaud their ardour, just don’t expect it to have any substance. [Billy Hamilton]

What We All Come to Need could be construed as an assuming title. When ascribing the idea of necessity to one’s own project, one risks abject failure, though the delivery of an essential work may well be worth that risk. But what do Pelican, now a well-vetted force in post-metal, deliver?

Arguably, the most accessible album of their oeuvre. Need builds on – or rather, takes away from – the shortened and simplified song structures implemented on 2007’s City of Echoes, while the production highlights the band’s soaring riffs and sombre subtleties. The stand-out title track exemplifies this notion, exhibiting a spacey, almost-shoegazing aesthetic.

Wrapping things up comes a guest vocalist, a sleepy yet seductive voice from Allen Epley (of The Life and Times), bringing us the first Pelican song with lyrical content. So while necessity remains subjective, Pelican have finally succeeded in delivering an album more approachable to those outside the limiting sphere of heavy music.[Jason Morton]

PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 12 DEC.

WWW.HYDRAHEAD.COM/PELICAN

TORI AMOS

MIIKE SNOW

ACOUSTIC AT OLYMPIC STUDIOS

MIDWINTER GRACES

MIIKE SNOW

16 NOV, ONE LITTLE INDIAN

9 NOV, ISLAND

OUT NOW, DOWNTOWN

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Acoustic reworkings aren’t often worth the effort, either too similar to their original incarnations to warrant the additional labour or misguided and ill-fitting (oi Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Wrong…). With Acoustic At Olympic Studios, Asobi Seksu’s nucleus – singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna – easily avoid the first pitfall and go some way to sidestepping the second. Replacing their trademark blissful distortion with whistle-clean instrumentation alters the atmosphere considerably, stripping away swirling layers to reveal a sugar-sweet core. But it’s not too drastic a change, Yuki’s distinctive pitch provides the most obvious link (songs like Thursday could be sung a cappella and still enthral). Regardless, Acoustic… remains destined for fringe appeal, even amongst avid fans, for the simple reason that at no stage do they improve upon their own work, and the residual urge to re-visit their three proper albums instead is tough to shake. [Chris Buckle]

Every sane individual who has been involved in the guilt-driven, high street shopping orgy of December must surely shudder at the very thought of The Christmas Album. Wham, Cliff Richard and Slade on repeat. Every store. Same thing. For weeks. So it happens that Tori Amos has made an unabashed attempt to bring some credibility to what’s surely one of the most teeth-gritting genres known. Unsurprisingly, she’s only moderately successful in her attempts on Midwinter Graces. Whilst the faintly baroque modality of Candle and the lush A Silent Night With You provide familiar seasonal atmospherics, the overt (and obviously integral) religious themes will likely put many people off what are otherwise largely very accomplished Amos works. Emmanuel in particular is a beauty which would sit well on any of her previous albums. Unfortunately the wince-inducing, big-band brass of Pink and Glitter might well find it’s way in between Wham and Slade next year, ad infinitum. [Chris Cusack]

Stepping blinking into the spotlight come Scandinavian über-producers Bloodshy and Avant (with singing friend Andrew Wyatt) fresh from covering themselves in Top 40 glory with Britney, Kylie and Madge. This album screams (in a whispered, shy kind of way) that commercialised, producedto-the-hilt chart fare is not what they’re really all about. Instead understated piano ‘n’ synth pop is where it’s at: simultaneously mournful yet somehow danceable. It should be taken for granted that the production is superb; most tracks shimmer with layers of synths, basslines, piano riffs all coexisting harmoniously, doing what they should do. Tracks like Burial, Animal and Black & Blue display keen pop sensibility, and downtempo pieces such as Faker and Sans Soleil tick all boxes under the heading ‘melancholy’. The decision to disown their prior personas and bombastic commercialism is admirable, but it seems to have come at the expense of exuberance and genuine creativity.

Perfectly fine, just a tad half-melted in parts. [Wilbur Kane]

SUPPORTING WHITE LIES AT O2 ACADEMY, GLASGOW ON 28 NOV.

WWW.TORIAMOS.COM

PLAYING CABARET VOLTAIRE, EDINBURGH ON 29 OCT.

BEATEN AWAKE

THUNDER$TROKE 16 NOV, FAT POSSUM

rr Great bands always add up to more than the sum of their parts. Given the pedigree of Beaten Awake’s membership (they’re ostensibly the cream of the Ohio indie-rock flock) you’d hope for a better opener than Mr Thompson (Can You Dig It?), which sounds like an INXS B-side as produced

by Steve Albini. Obviously it’s awful, but at least it’s bafflingly awful – the subsequent tracks find the band content merely with settling into a groove of earnest, derivative guitar pop. Tremulous vocals that swerve without warning into unbelievable bombast; misjudged synth riffs; a drummer who can only play the beat to Robert Palmer’s Simply Irresistible – such is the gauntlet of mediocrity you must run if you are to make it to the end of this album. I’m Not Asking for the Moon and Coming Home manage to impress by slowing down the tempo and allowing the instruments a little space to breathe, but it’s too little, too late. [Mark Shukla]

TOP FIVE ALBUMS

1) CONVERGE AXE TO FALL 2) ADRIAN CROWLEY SEASON OF THE SPARKS

REVIEWS ONLINE rrr

ALICE RUSSELL POT OF GOLD

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BIFFY CLYRO ONLY REVOLUTIONS

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FUCK BUTTONS TAROT SPORT

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HUDSON MOHAWKE BUTTER

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KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW INVISIBLE GIRL

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LAURA GIBSON BEASTS OF SEASON

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MAXWELL PANTHER DO YOU FEEL DIFFERENT YET?

ISLAND ALWAYS WAS

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MOLINA & JOHNSON MOLINA & JOHNSON

5) THE GOTHENBURG ADDRESS

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RODDY HART SIGN LANGUAGE

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SUFJAN STEVENS/OSSO RUN RABBIT RUN

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THE TRAGICALLY HIP WE ARE THE SAME

3) PAUL HAIG RELIVE 4) DANIEL JOHNSTON THE GOTHENBURG ADDRESS

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BEATENAWAKE

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 49

RECORDS

ALBUM REVIEWS

Massive Attack O2 Academy, 29 Sep

Pixies

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SECC, 4 Oct

rrrrr Last time Pixies played the SECC, punters got Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits and Cud as support before the stage belligerently collapsed. There’s only one support tonight, but Sons and Daughters’ punchy introductions more than suffice. Racing through brittle voodoo-rock thrills, their energy is unsapped by the cavernous surroundings – and, more importantly, the stage stays sturdy as they depart.

Opening images of slicin’ up eyeballs has the crowd craving Debaser’s piercing riff, but first come Doolittle-era B-sides (including a violently unhinged Bailey’s Walk) which collectively threaten to outshine the main set, a complete run through the seminal Boston quartet’s aforementioned second LP. An encore concludes the period’s rarities with the night’s second version of Wave of Mutilation and Into the White’s taut squall of furious noise and deadpan vocals. And that, based on setlists for previous nights of the tour, should be that…except, gloriously, it isn’t, and anyone who smugly skipped out early to dodge crowds should weep. “Last time we came here the stage buckled…here’s the rest” smiles Deal, before racing through much of Come On Pilgrim and concluding with a soaring Where Is My Mind? Though their reunion has been criticised as a cash-in, the Pixies leave with smiles like those of their dazed and grateful audience.[Chris Buckle]

photo: Pete Dunlop

“So many new songs,” rasps Robert “3D” Del Nadja as he takes a breather from shadowboxing smoke and whispering his way through the wealth of fresh material Massive Attack road tests tonight. From global success in the Nineties to their more recent status as underground enigmas, this second sell out Academy show is proof positive that their cult remains intact.

With a distracting deluge of socio-political sloganeering adorning their LED backdrop, we’re four songs deep before the first familiar tones seep from the speakers and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall joins 3D on the mic for Risingson. Elsewhere, former Tricky muse Martina Topley-Bird’s seductive croon is on hand for Teardrop and an angry rendition of Inertia Creeps is sandwiched by flawless performances of Safe from Harm and Unfinished Sympathy by Deborah Miller, the redemptive glory of the latter undiminished with age.

Of the new music on offer, most notable is reggae veteran Horace Andy’s turn on the menacing 16 Seeter, a downbeat counterpart to the thunderous Angel. But an over-reliance on their murky, minimal, unreleased cuts – even the EP supporting this tour is yet to emerge – ultimately renders the mood lukewarm. Kudos to Massive Attack for moving forward, but this is too much progress for a restless crowd to take in one sitting. [Dave Kerr] LP5 from Massive Attack is due for release in February 2010. massiveattack.co.uk

Mudhoney HMV Picture House, 9 Oct

rrrrr Tonight’s homage to the fuzz pedal begins in earnest as St Deluxe knuckle down to the business of evoking Dinosaur Jr at their eardrum-popping best. With an aggressive array of riffs, they give the PA a fair workout as the set’s brevity curtails their more typically melodious side. It takes a powerful closing cover of Johnny Cash’s Big River to break the tension, with frontman Jamie Cameron’s Bolan-like delivery of the song showing off a welcome nuance to his vocal style.

Now in the second year of their full-blown reunion, The Vaselines have honed their harmonies and shed some of the ramshackle qualities of yore, exhibiting songs which – some 21 years after they were first committed to tape – have been beefed up into a fearsome ramalama.

Yet twee pop staples like Son of a Gun and Molly’s Lips

Sparrow and the Workshop Captain’s Rest, 8 Oct

rrrr When it comes to observational banter, “you know when you swallow a load of lip gloss and it’s all scratchy?” isn’t the most universal bugbear. Said scratchiness luckily has no discernible effect upon Kill It Kid’s Steph Ward, her smooth voice equally effective at the forefront of the band’s bluesy rock-n-roll compositions as it is providing harmonic support to fellow lead vocalist Chris Turpin.

The latter’s style is less conventional - like Eddie Vedder auditioning as Nina Simone for Stars in their Eyes - but no less successful, viscerally if not quite enunciatively.

Sparrow and the Workshop’s Jill O’Sullivan deserves similar acclaim for her flexible timbre and tone, her powerful vocals nestled at the heart of the three-piece’s dark, folksy balladry. However, Gregor Donaldson (drums) and Nick Parker (alternating between prominent bass and textural electric guitar) ensure there’s no mistaking the band for a “Cat Power + backing”-style solo affair, all three displaying a strong unity and close humour which makes their set all the more welcoming. Last Chance and The Gun are the pick of their more morose material, but Devil Song is the highlight, its whip-crack rhythm injecting tonight’s set with a welcome dose of vitality. [Chris Buckle]

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photo: Sonia Mallan

Music

Live reviews

www.sparrowandtheworkshop.co.uk photo: Pete Dunlop

have lost none of their naive charm and the stage rapport between Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee is endearing as they muse over the BBC’s belated censorship of Monster Pussy and seek consensus on the lure of Granny pants.

Mudhoney are bound by a promise to play a song from each of their albums, though the set ultimately leans more towards 2006’s Under a Billion Suns and the everlauded Superfuzz Bigmuff than on dalliances with the psych rock wilderness years they weathered in-between.

Whatever the record, there’s an infectious – almost vindicating – element to the Seattle veterans’ catalogue which elicits a mass reaction seldom seen at latter day gigs in Auld Reekie. It takes Mark Arm all of three minutes to find his Iggy-aping stride, by which point the batshit, crowd-surfing audience are already guzzling the scuzz from the palm of his hand. His energetic body contortions and the wide smile on Steve Turner’s face are proof alone that they still enjoy tearing the house down with wrecking balls like Sweet Young Thing and You Got It in all their proto-grunge splendour. Arm picks up a sweat-sodden shirt he finds on stage when it’s all over and laughs: “Oh look, it’s flannel.” Looks like we all saw what we expected here tonight. [Dave Kerr] The Vaselines Play Homecoming Live at SECC, Glasgow on 28 Nov. www.myspace.com/mudhoney

50 THE SKINNY November 2009

Crocodiles Stereo, 19 Oct

rrr With grizzly bear flags of the California Republic draped proudly over their amps, San Diego’s latest burp of youthful boredom, recently enlarged from recording duo to touring four-piece, romp their way through a convincing set of sunshine haze and delay-soaked ripple. Sounding considerably familiar throughout, Crocodiles tend to underplay their doo-wop feedback shrug, accentuating instead a somewhat lo-fi caveman thud. J&MC comparisons (and straight-out quotations) aside, these guys have found a comfortable stylistic spot in which to chill that, within the live setting, manages to bridge the generational chasm between psych treasures and SoCal forebears Electric Prunes and eighties drug-swallowers Spacemen 3. Opening with Neon Jesus (the debut single they proved their mettle with), the boys come across as much sincere and detached as they do confident and alert. The reverb is thick, the swagger is noticeably present and somehow rays of melody shine through murky clouds of feedback.[Eric Ledford] www.myspace.com/ crocodilescrocodilescrocodiles

Bat For Lashes / Yeasayer HMV Picture House, 20 Oct

rrrr After guesting on Bat For Lashes’ new-ish album, Brooklyn band Yeasayer were an obvious choice of support for this tour. Whether the audience knows it or not, their brand of apocalyptic psych rock is now louder than ever - the trio having replaced their old drummer and added a percussionist to the mix. They blast, boom and jam through five new tracks that range from (dare-I-say) Animal Collective-esque freeform beats to one overtly pop number with hints of Hot Chip. Although Ira Wolf Tuton’s fantastic basslines waft indistinctly up into the lofty proscenium, the trio make amends for any lack of detail on the closing couplet of Wait For the Summer and Sunrise.

This is the last night of the tour, so Bat For

Lashes could be forgiven if there were a few bum notes, coarse vocals or sluggish gestures. But Natasha Khan and her band, including ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, are utterly professional, effortlessly recreating the musical complexities of Fur And Gold and Two Suns, with added energy to boot. The dramatic female drummer almost steals the limelight in up-tempo tracks like Glass, Pearl’s Dream and the slow-building Siren Song, but Khan deservedly pulls focus with her stunning renditions of the more measured Horse and I and Prescilla. The only possible criticism is that such an abundance of talent can, bizarrely, give the illusion that they’re going through the motions. Put simply, they’re almost too good for their own good. [Nick Mitchell]

TripleG Nov 256x155 Skinny Ad PRINT.pdf

20/10/09

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NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 51

MUSIC

Live Music

Highlights

by Mark Shukla

Although the media has come very close to fetishising his mental illness on numerous occasions, there’s no denying the honesty and passion of Daniel Johnston’s musical output. Each public performance is a kind of catharsis for this perennial outsider - his gig at Edinburgh Queen’s Hall on 4 November should be memorable indeed.

The world can be a scary and uncertain place but one thing I can tell you for sure is that no one does progressive Danish indie as well as Mew. Delicate, complex and beautiful, these guys make a big, magical sound that will make everything seem all right. Assemble in an orderly fashion at Glasgow ABC on 5 November for a dose of heavenly medicine.

Amazing tunes and total fucking chaos seem to follow Jay Reatard wherever he goes, and I’m afraid that death is the only acceptable excuse for nonattendance of his upcoming sweat festival at Glasgow King Tut’s on 11 November. His band may have just quit, but don’t let that put you off: rabid monkeys could play this brutal caveman pop - and they probably will. We fully expect It Ain’t Gonna Save Me to cause multiple fatalities.

A Place to Bury Strangers’ new LP redefines the aesthetics of heavy music even as it saturates your consciousness with seductive dream-pop hooks - their live show takes it one step further and adds physical assualt with sound waves to the rap sheet. Their frontman makes a living from designing small metal boxes that turn electrical current into pure evil so you know this is going to be serious. Captain’s Rest, 12 November, with support from Canadian garage wreckers Japandroids (who also hit Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh the following night) - hell yes.

What comes to mind when I say the words ‘Australian music scene’? If it’s Rolf Harris huffing into a Didgeridoo then I feel sorry for you, you daft racist.

In 2009 it’s The Drones that are cutting the serious tunes down under - brutal emotionality and vicious guitar dynamics that will kill you. The badass sounds occur at Glasgow Nice n Sleazy on 13 November and Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s on 14 November.

Fans of modern psychedelic folk (yes, you at the back!) take note, for November sees one of the hottest triple-bills we can remember heading your way. The wonderful Cave Singers are joined by the otherworldly Espers and the charmingly ramshackle Woods for an evening of gratuitous fingerpicking and tuneless porch-rocker style wailing (that’s a joke dear reader, this shit is going to blow your mind). Glasgow Stereo on 13 November (as part of Shred Yr Face 3) and Edinburgh Electric Circus on 14 November. Essential.

DEATH IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE FOR NONATTENDANCE OF JAY REATARD'S UPCOMING SWEAT FESTIVAL AT KING TUT'S ON 11 NOVEMBER Wavves’ frontman Nathan Williams knows that deep down people don’t want to believe that their rock stars secretly long for big hugs and giant mugs of hot chocolate just like everyone else. On-stage breakdowns, alcoholism and inter-band punch-ups may get this guy the headlines, but Wavves can write some pretty supersonic fuzz-pop when they put their minds to it. Rubbernecking commences at Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 22 November.

We must have totally been looking the other way when he did it, but somewhere between his hilarious mid-’90s dalliance with industrial metal and his recently lauded on-stage karaoke session with Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan became cool again [it’s that Scottish Government ad what did it! - ed]. He’s looking good for his age, but then androids are less susceptible to turkey neck. Go and see him perform Cars and some other songs at Edinburgh HMV Picture House on 26 November and Glasgow ABC on 27 November.

Consistently underrated Mancunians Oceansize light up the Scottish gigging calendar with shows at Dundee Fat Sam’s on 29 Nov, Aberdeen Tunnels on 30 Dec and Glasgow King Tut’s on 1 December. Fans of intelligent Deftones-esque heavy music should check it.

Ok, so combining punk rock and hardcore may not be the trick of the century (David Blaine going mental in a box ftw) but there’s certainly something about Gallows’ fusion of black and blacker that adds an element of accesibility to their heavy, indignant sound. Expect nothing less than a riot at Aberdeen Moshulu on 29 November and Dundee Fat Sam’s on 30 November.

Jay Reatard, Glasgow King Tut's, 11 Nov

PREVIEWS CYMBALS EAT GUITARS

GRIZZLY BEAR

SNEAKY PETE’S, EDINBURGH, 16 NOV

ABC, GLASGOW, 2 NOV

THE GRAHAM COXON POWER ACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE

With Pavement set for a reformation, Cymbals Eat Guitars couldn’t have timed their breakthrough any better. That’s not to say that the young New Yorkers have deliberately set out to imitate the Californian legends’ blasé delivery and scattershot guitars, but they are the latest in a long line of American groups to take those elements and forge their own chaotic sound. Their self-released debut album Why There Are Mountains has propelled them onto this European tour through strong reviews and word of blog alone, so don’t miss them when they hit the underbelly of the capital this month. [Nick Mitchell]

So will Veckatimest be in your top ten for 2009?

That depends whether you can stomach arch indie austerity, sparse, loping, minor-key chamber pop, or yet another group of brooding, photogenic guys from Brooklyn. But the truth is that Grizzly Bear’s third LP has been seen by many to be their step into the limelight.

It’s also a step forward. No longer ‘Daniel Rossen and band’, the four members are all equally integral, and their vocal harmonies will make even the least receptive swoon. Top ten? After this show you’ll be talking top five at least. [Nick Mitchell]

7PM, £7

7PM, £15

7.30PM, £16.50

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CYMBALSEATGUITARS

WWW.GRIZZLY-BEAR.NET

WWW.GRAHAMCOXON.CO.UK

THE MILL HIGHLIGHTS ÒRAN MÓR AND CABARET VOLTAIRE , 12/19 NOV

QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH, 12 NOV

On a personal note, my 2009 Graham Coxon interactions have been mixed. Positive: sneaking into an in-store performance on the day of seventh solo LP The Spinning Top’s release and kindly being allowed access to their ‘dressing room’ (the store’s only toilet).

Negative: Coxon’s oyster-instigated illness delaying Blur’s T performance just long enough for me to give up and trudge home. Bah. This upcoming folk affair (featuring Robyn Hitchcock & Friends) will therefore prove the decider, and with the extravagant title The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble, chances are the balance will be tipped for the better – provided no rancid shellfish are involved…[Chris Buckle]

If you’re gonna release a single called Candy Girl, chances are high you’re going for weighty Sixties revivalism. The Valkarys (12 Nov, Cabaret Voltaire) prove to be on such a tip, being also psychedelic, rocking, embracingly dark, and defined to large extent

by Scott Dunlop’s confident vocal. Effortlessly good.

For their own definition, Washington Irving (19 Nov, Òran Mór) have gone for the name of an early American writer they no doubt admire. It translates to their sound: rich Americana country-styled songs, led by personal yet universal lyrics in a style widely practiced - and well delivered - by a number of current Scottish acts, that demonstrates a healthy confidence in their own voice and place. [Dylan Reed] TICKETS ARE FREE AND AVAILABLE FROM THEMILL-LIVE.COM

FIND OUT WHAT'S ON, AND DO IT IN STYLE THESKINNY.CO.UK 52 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

Music Slayer, Glasgow, 22 Nov

Text Eric Ledford For some reason, autumn seems to bring out the grim hordes like no other season. This November, the pagan buzz of Halloween oozes perfectly into a month full of musical malevolence that helps circumvent the onset of the banal materialism and obligatory religious drivel that is Christmas. Sorry, I mean X-mas. Anyways, our magickal incantations have apparently been answered, as we welcome visits by several metal gods, those who not only have been unearthed from ages past to keep our attention focused on the dark arts during the cold winter nights, but also some newer offspring who ensure things remain hellishly hot-blooded.

Glasgow’s O2 Academy will have its sweaty hands full with back-to-back appearances of two massive Cathouse Nov 256x155 Skinny Ad PRINT.pdf old-school heavyweights. First up are sharpshooting

speedfreaks Motörhead (19 Nov), fronted by none other than parolee hero Lemmy, who rightly deserves to be worshipped as the hardest working reptile in the history of rock. He will no doubt be on his best behaviour alongside openers Girlschool (and another band called The Damned who you might have heard of). Next come elder demigods Dio (21 Nov) to confirm the righteousness and durability of true ‘80s metal. Speaking of longevity, thrash saviours Slayer execute a large-scale satanic crucifixion at the Barrowland Ballroom (22 Nov) after the considerably less gruesome godfathers Deep Purple spacetruck their way through the Clyde Auditorium (11 Nov).

Edinburgh hosts several noteworthy gigs, as medieval crusaders Saxon and Anvil (6 Nov) persecute willing captives at HMV Picture House. The night before sees doom strategists Of Spire And 20/10/09 18:02:33 Throne lay waste to Bannerman’s (5 Nov) alongside

jackal-headed Guard Of The Dead, Electrozombies and other bottomfeeding sludge fanatics, while Scottish ultraviolence harbingers The Process and Uncalm (7 Nov) maintain the hatred and ugliness.

The end of the month sees this subterranean grotto boasting a more gore-splattered and death-obsessed line-up with Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ingested and Arkane (29 Nov).

Hawaiian thrash bastards Corrupt Absolute and Threshold Sicks are deadset to dissect practically every town and city in Scotland, most notably at Corinna in Perth (19 Nov) and The Windsor in Kirkcaldy (20 Nov). In smoke-stained Glasgow, necroticists Diamanthian and Nerrus Kor infest 13th Note (26 Nov), with shows to follow at Corrina in Perth (27 Nov) and Elgin City Hall (28 Nov). Black Elk spew their putrid Oregonian bile alongside the aural thuggery of Hammers and Citizens at Captain’s Rest (19 Nov), effectively delivering the perfect

fallout from rock deformists Take A Worm For A Walk Week who force their calculated delirium onto a sufficiently beer-soaked crowd of victims at Nice ‘N Sleazy (7 Nov).

Just days prior, populist dirge-peddlers Clutch groove their greasy, weed-reeking beards back into The Garage in Glasgow (5 Nov), while the same venue discharges metalcore luminaries Shadows Fall weeks later (25 Nov). This month’s requisite package tour visits the Arches with a tightly wound bill upheld by Despised Icon, Architects, Oceano and a slew of others (2 Nov). In a similar bleeding vein, the Cathouse presents Caliban, Emmure and After The Burial (11 Nov), and Killswitch Engage and In Flames unshackle their collective fury at the O2 Academy (27 Nov). Old or new, big or small, fast or slow, well-known or under-recognised… it’s all there this month. It’s your choice: either way it’s gonna be LOUD.

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THE SKINNY 53

CLUBS

Down with Prince (sort of) Hendrik Weber opens up and talks about his music, plans for his ever-changing live set and his forthcoming album Interview Chris Duncan OVER the years Hendrik Weber has gone by a few names, most notably Glühen 4 and Panthel. But it is his current work under the alias of Pantha Du Prince that has resulted in his most prolific output. He’s foundhis home at Dial, the Hamburg-based techno label curated by Carsten Jost and Lawrence. His sound is deep, dark, experimental, minimal and has earned itself a well deserved fanbase across the globe. What does Hendrik believe is the background to his sound?

“When I was a child I listened to my parents’ music a lot, like The Beatles, J S Bach, Pink Floyd, Schubert, Liszt and also early synthesizer music. In my teenager years I got really into noise pop bands like Ride and Slowdive, but I have always been listening to a great variety of music since the early days.”

“As I was always playing instruments since I was a teenager and my family have always been into music, sound experiences were always around. I started experimenting with electronic music in 1999, beginning with noise music, mixer feedbacks and an Atari computer with a ESI sampler.”

The speed of technological advancements must have had an effect on an experimental electronic artist whose career spans over a decade. How did it affect him and how do today’s productions differ?

“It was a lot of work those days to create music with a sampler. Later I got really into hard-disc recording and soft synths; I was basically waiting for the software to break down. After, I tried to influence the breakdown and record what was coming out while the computer created error after error, I recorded onto a minidisc. So I come from a more experimental approach.”

“As a DJ I use vinyl only, when I do a DJ-and-live combination I use Ableton Live along with vinyl. I think everybody should find a way that is suitable for them. In my studio I use field recordings, synthesizers and drum machines.

I always ensure I have my recorder with me when I’m travelling.”

While he may have a clear and direct approach for creating his own sound, is a different approach needed for his remix work?

“Well my approach is always different, it really depends on the source material. Basically I’m looking for sounds first, sounds that have something to tell, sounds that create an atmosphere that I can work with. Normally I start from there. So far I’ve done remixes for Depeche Mode, Animal Collective, Bloc Party, The Long Blondes, Phantom/Ghost and a few others.”

Aside from his remix work, Hendrik is putting the finishing touches to his new album, due for release in February next year. “I’m preparing a new live set just for it and I’m also working on a dance theatre project for 2010.”

PANTHA DU PRINCE APPEARS AT MEN AND MACHINES ON 28 NOV. STEREO, 11PM - 3AM.

Chris Duncan

TTTRIAL AND EROR WE HAVE some breathing space in the magazine this month, after touting our party at the Arches on every third page of the publication for the past wee while. Mind you, it all paid off in the end as the whole shindig went down a treat with cupcakes, analogue powders and burning effigies all making up a considerable silver lining to a successful evening. Onwards and upwards for next year, where we will be hosting a midnight rave on a ferry after months of

subliminal messaging and the deployment of sky-writers to ensure ample advance sales.

This month the topic of food and drink has been the guiding theme for our November issue. Not so much in this section. Anyone who wanted to read about what Drums of Death would have for his last meal on death row will be sorely disappointed. Instead, the theme of technology makes its presence felt in this month’s content, with the boys of Thunder Disco

54 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

Club explaining how the rise of the laptop allowed their night to take off. Meanwhile, Pantha Du Prince reflects on his decade long career and the plethora of different devices that have helped shape his dark and minimal sound.

Finally, we’ve introduced a clubbing highlights column, which is long overdue. Every month from now on there will be a run down of as many nights across the country as will fit in a half page, with no beat left untouched.

DJ CHART JG WILKES (OPTIMO) Runaway - Black Label Honey (TBD Remix) Great remix (two guys from !!!) 707 drum work out leading to an epic acid track

Monsoon – Wings of Dawn (Prem Kavita) Disco/Rock/Indian fusion made useful by an “unknown” editor.

Riva Starr - I was Drunk (featuring Noze) – (Made to Play) Reminds me of Cajmere/Dajae “You Got me Up” style with the wonderful Noze on vocals. Unique and hilarious house music.

Tyrell Corporation – Together Alone (Clone West Coast) Close to minimal synth/wave sound of early 80’s but with a rocky influence and real sounding drums. Awesome start for Clone West Coast.

Fever Ray – When I Grow Up – (Rabid ) Contrasting remixes from Dan Lissvik and DJ Spooky to the second single of my favourite band of the moment.

Diskjokke – The Bund – (Moshi Moshi Singles) Whoozy slow motion space-disco track on B-side of this nice little 7”.

Older Lover - Demon Seed – (Optimo Music) Noirish trippy DIY stuff from Douglas Morland – Glasgow’s undisputed King of Twang.

Q & A – Tubling Cubes – (DFA) Initially known as Expanding Head Band, it's , more than a nod to Detroit and some Carl Craig tricks but with their own touches make a very special record.[Chris Duncan]

SKINNY HALFPAGE No15 (NEW SIZE).pdf

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CLUBS bar / live music / club / private karaoke rooms

SUNDAYS 01.11 ExLovers, Kurran & the Wolfnotes*

OCTOBER

24th October

£3.00

25th October

£8.00

LITTLE BOOTS DJ Set ELECTRIC EEL SHOCK 29th October

ROCK AGAINST RACISM! w/ ATHLETE

NOVEMBER 03rd November

£10.00

13th November

£8.00

06th November

£15.00

08th November

£8.50

KIDS IN GLASSES HOUSES HOT CHIP DJ SET IDLEWILD THE HOLLOWAYS C

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15th November

ALABAMA 3

£16.00

16th November

£10.00

TRASHCAN SINATRAS 21st November

£14.00

26th November

£12.00

27th November

£20.00

SALSA CELTICA ELLIOT MINOR EDDY GRANT 28th November

SUGAR MINOTT

£14.00

29th November

£12.00

30th November

£8.00

GALLOWS CODEINE VELVET CLUB DECEMBER 1st December

£12.00

2nd December

£6.00

FRIGHTENED RABBIT FOY VANCE 5th December

£12.50

12th December

£10.00

29th December

£15.00

MR SCRUFF GOLDIE LOOKIN’ CHAIN BAD MANNERS

Tickets available to buy in person from: HMV Aberdeen | OneUp Records Aberdeen No booking fee for cash transactions

TUESDAYS 8pm: FREE POP QUIZ! 10pm: The best up & coming bands and alternative djs LIVE GUESTS: 03.11 Gliss & The Gothenburg Address 10.11 Come On Gang! Stormy Seas 17.11 Edward & The McCalls, Haight Ashbury 24.11 Vertis, Vendor Defender WEDNESDAYS 04.11 7pm: Portico Quartet, Sweet Billy Pilgrim* 11.11 7pm: Screaming Lights* 10.30pm: EVERY WEDNESDAY Resident djs I-Tallah Disco, Andrew Untitled THURSDAYS 05.11 7pm: Carrie Mac – album launch* 12.11 7pm, Frankmusik, Killa Kela* 26.11 7pm: Good Shoes, Copy Haho and Jesus h Foxx* FRIDAYS 5pm: Overtime 10pm: Live Band Karaoke 12am: Carry On DJs! SATURDAYS 7.11 7pm: Moriarty* 10.30pm: Ten Tracks night 14.11 7pm: Cave Singers, Espers, Woods* 10.30pm: Bang Bang Club HK119, DJ Kris Wasabi + visuals iMan4D 19.11 10.30pm: with guest dj Vic Galloway discotronic pop | art punk | twisted folk | electronic love 28.11 10.30pm Va Va Voom an eclectic mix of Burlesque, dance, theatre & performance TICKETS & BOOKINGS Ticketweb.co.uk, 08444 77 1000, Ripping Records, Tickets Scotland www.theelectriccircus.biz

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theelectriccircus.biz 36-39 MARKET STREET, EDINBURGH EH1 1DF 0131 226 4224

NOVEMBER 2009

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How does a new club night manage to sell out an almost unknown venue without booking any guest DJs or live acts? Welcome to the surprising case of Thunder Disco Club.

Interview Chris Duncan IT’S an extremely wet Friday night in Merchant City and the streets outside are filled with people in even more of a hurry than usual, desperate to find shelter.

However, if anyone took the time to cast a glance down a certain alleyway, they would come across something a bit unusual. A sizeable line of young people are bracing the elements for the second outing of Thunder Disco Club, a new night created by four friends and hosted in one of the lesser known venues in the city.

Inside the Lite Bar, the 250 person capacity venue fills quickly and remains full until almost the last song, the crowd lapping up every track. Without a doubt the evening has been a huge success and one fuelled simply by some eye-catching posters, Facebook and most importantly, word of mouth.

The following week I catch up with the creators Sandy, James, Angus and Ian to talk about their success.

As it transpires, they are just as surprised at the positive reaction to the evening as anyone else.

“It was our dream to have people lined up outside, and then it happened, a line of folk all out waiting in the pissing rain. I couldn’t believe it.” says James.

“The way it fell together on the first night worked, I don’t think I could have ever imagined the way it has turned out.” says Ian. “We don’t take it too seriously, we’ve still very much got our learner plates on.”

For better or for worse, the DIY culture of starting your own club night has exploded over the past few years and appears to be here to stay. The ease of promoting events over the internet for free and the rise of the ‘laptop DJ’ means that the cost of running a club night has been reduced to an extent that everyone is trying it out. However, where many of these nights are created and killed off in a matter of months, Thunder Disco Club has enjoyed a dizzying high very early on. I ask them about their use of technology and the night’s music policy.

“It’s very obvious that it’s more of a party than a

CLUBS

Thundercats Assemble

Clubbing

Highlights

by Chris Duncan

FRESH back from his hilarious mental breakdown on Twitter, Calvin Harris performs deck duties on 1 November at Snafu in Aberdeen. His latest album split opinion right down the middle, so best to tread carefully before parting with your hard-earned cash. 27 November boasts the Let It Bleed and Mixtape nights joining forces once again to present an exciting guest, this month in the form of French DJ and producer Brodinski. He’s the man behind the latest excellent Bugged Out! mix, so grab a copy should you need evidence of his ample talent.

Over in Paisley and underneath a curry house is the unique Club 69, the venue for Blink on 6 November, which features the home-grown talent of Martin Muir, Mofo, Andy Lyon and Nino for a four-hour set.

Auld Rekkie’s Cabaret Voltaire features a double header on 13 November as We Are Electric and Sick Note club together to present Dim Mak Records owner Steve Aoki. Normal services resume after his appearance, with Sick Note presenting The Boycotts live on 27 November.

Meanwhile Ocean Terminal is the venue for the rescheduled appearance of Felix Da Housecat on 7 November, with support coming from the esteemed Alex Metric. Finally, rounding up your Edinburgh highlights is Volume! at the Bongo Club on 6 November, hosted by residents Brian D’Souza and Paranoise. This month they welcome dubstep heavyweight Stenchman as their special guest.

Down in Glasgow it’s the usual case of November club night overload. Lets kick things off with Slabs of the Tabernacle at the Universal bar on 7 November, promising to deliver the unexpected with their rarely beaten eclectic sets. The same evening sees The Admiral host the beloved and famous Melting Pot, this month promising great things from Eric Duncan of Rub ‘n’ Tug and Mark E from Merc. Support comes from Glasgow deity JD Twitch, the resident Melting Pot record spinners and Autodisco DJs. The fertile basement of Stereo offers up its

THE FERTILE BASEMENT OF STEREO OFFERS UP ITS MUSICAL WARES THIS MONTH, TOP PICK BEING LUCKYME VERSUS CITINITE ON 13 NOVEMBER musical wares throughout the month, a particular highlight being LuckyMe versus Citinite on 13 November. Appearing live are Gosub and Jimmy Edgar, the latter of which can already list fashion designer, film director, graphic designer and worldrenowned photographer on his resumé. But it’s his innovative work as a DJ, producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist that first brought him international stature - and the attention of Glasgow’s LuckyMe collective.

Also on 13 November is the long awaited return of Faithless at The Arches. Opting to tour before their new album is released, this will be a chance for fans to experience their latest work ahead of schedule.

Last but by no means least, Mixed Bizness continues its ambitious growth with the Fools Gold Tour at the O2 ABC on 29 November. Running on to 4am (on a school night?!) it features A-Trak, Jokers of the Scene and GreenMoney. A line-up well worth missing double physics for, I’m sure you’ll agree.

“IT’S ELECTRONIC MUSIC, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE FORWARDTHINKING AND IF YOU HOLD THE MINDSET THAT YOU SHOULD STILL USE ONLY VINYL THEN YOU’RE GOING TO GET LEFT BEHIND.” serious night. Our evenings start out with mostly italo-disco until one o’clock, then afterwards we hammer it a bit but drop in some disco here and there.”

“Because we all only get one hour each to DJ we ensure that our sets are very tight and have no fillers in them. The only criticism we get is that we DJ off of laptops, but I think we give a type of variation that you can only get by using one.”

“It’s electronic music, it’s supposed to be forwardthinking and if you hold the mindset that you should still use only vinyl then you’re going to get left behind.”

“The ideal set up would be to have a combination of it all though. But without the advancement to laptops what we’ve done wouldn’t have been possible.”

THUNDER DISCO CLUB TAKES PLACE EVERY MONTH IN THE LITE BAR, BELOW THE CORINTHIAN.

Brodinski,Snafu, Aberdeen, 27 Nov

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THUNDERDISCOCLUB

NOVEMBER 2009

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Move to the Dollskabeat After the release of their debut single Zodiac Rising, Dollskabeat are receiving some well deserved attention.

Interview Rosie Davies Welcome to the world of Dollskabeat. If you wanted a comprehensive introduction, I could begin by listing a few epithets used of late to describe her music: “electropop”. “cosmic space-funk”. “illuminated synth-pop”. “The Knife going mid-tempo italo.”

“Glamour, sleaze and sheer class in equal measure.”

I’d probably then flag up the (accurate) comparisons with many female-fronted acts on the Italians Do It Better label, maybe even highlight it with a separate little ‘If You Like This…” section. Nite Jewel, Glass Candy, Chromatics… It’s true. If you like them, you’ll probably love Dollskabeat.

But the thing is, it’s for different reasons; she creates a world so disconnected to anything else that it’s difficult not to view it as an entity all on its own. There are definitely familiar references – the retro flashback to Gary Numan’s definitive synths, Kraftwerk’s nihilism, the Annie Lennox-esque commanding vocals – but for some reason, an overriding feeling both on record and at her live shows is one of a new world having been created.

Debut single Zodiac Rising was released on Optimo Music this June, but even if you didn’t know that, the attention to production is so typical to that label – think Hi-NRG sound obsessives Den Haan – that it’s likely you’d have guessed. You can sense the intensity of the recording sessions. It’s in the crisp synth claps, in the sighs blending with the melody before being swiftly snipped. It’s in the recurrent words “digitally”, “rhythmically”; the way the melody neatly scales its minor arpeggio; the sound of the resonant voice cutting through smooth, synthesized sharpness like a knife.

It’s no surprise that the term ‘spacer woman’ is being bandied around in every article; lazy journalism it may be, but it’s a perfect way of summing up the music, and it seems the best way to write about Lucy Ross. Personal details seem somehow irrelevant, unless it’s to say that she’s a music geek through and through.

Similar to label mates Den Haan, Ross wants the show to be completely live, and is willing to pay for quality in terms of time and effort; my friend excitedly informs me after the show that the drum machine was worth over a grand. “It’s very difficult to try and re-create electronic music live”, admits Ross, “but I hope to keep working on getting the show to the best it can be. I’d rather bring something completely new and fresh to the table with fewer shows, than do loads of them on a smaller scale.” In a club scene that actively defines itself as messy, dirty and filthy, this is the opposite: the lost art of perfectionism.

Zodiac Rising’s 3:57 minutes seem to shoot by and, with only the track’s B-side online for company, fans are left wanting – perhaps even needing – more. I state, a little tritely, that there isn’t much music online; for some, it could well be a deliberate ploy to garner hype, who knows.

I couldn’t be more wrong. “I know... I know!” she admits, understandably harassed. “I’ve been spending months working on an EP and a one-off single but recently had a disastrous computer meltdown when the cooling fluid leaked out. It’s taken me a while to get the tracks back to how they were, as I lost a lot of it but they’re well underway.”

There really is no tactic in the modest, music-obsessed world of Dollskabeat, and it’s utterly refreshing. As much as is ever possible in the music industry, the bubbling hype is not necessarily attached to a specific scene or fashion. Yes, the live shows attract the ubiquitous smattering of art school types in faux black-rimmed glasses and oversized woolly jumpers, but it’s by no means a uniform. Whereas some acts seem to create a fashion based around their own clothes, duly copied by adoring fans, Dollskabeat comes on stage in an understated t-shirt and jeans. There’s no hint of the Goldfrapp-esque coquettishness I expected. The music rightfully takes centre stage.

Similarly, the live show, like that of Nite Jewel, occupies a limbo position between gig and club which the younger crowd are perhaps unsure how to respond to.

Knots of leggings-clad girls giggle throughout the show, then sway, then stop, then get another drink; it’s difficult to know quite how to respond when the music demands

58 THE SKINNY November 2009

your rapt attention.

Take her collaboration with burgeoning Edinburgh house producer Linkwood, for example. They met in a studio while she was recording vocals, and bonded over “sound, producers and music we love”. The result was Linkwood agreeing to mix and engineer her album, and Ross recording vocals for a track on his debut album System.

“We went to the pub and chatted for hours about what makes music sound good, as we’d been hearing a lot of bad production at that time. Pretty geeky, but there you go.”

System strikes you for the same reason as Zodiac Rising: the attention to detail is just gorgeous. But whereas there are definite similarities – the classic disco bassline, for one – many of Linkwood’s tracks transport you straight to Detroit or Chicago. It’s music for the dancefloor. Dollskabeat definitely makes you move, and the creation of a separate world, where you can tune in and zone out, is what dance music is all about. But the seriousness with which the music is taken seems to affect the music a little more obviously.

Dollskabeat receive comparisons with many femalefronted acts on the Italians Do It Better label, such as Nite Jewel, Glass Candy and Chromatics.

I mention a track I was impressed with at the show, with Ross’s voice booming what sounds like the word ‘bullshit’ from the stage, distorted by a terrifyingly androgynous vocoder.

“That would be Bored Of Shit! I’m still working on that one. It’s very tongue-in-cheek with a serious message, and it’s a different style to the tracks on my EP. It’s a statement against general shit. The lyrics are very important to me; everything about the music is important to me.”

She is also conscientious about the way she’s perceived, having been misquoted in the past, and lacks the bolshy self-confidence the industry seems to encourage.

“I find it kind of cringey to push things too much and say, ‘Hey everybody, look at ME...it’s all about ME!’ I would never try to actively gain hype. It’s destructive to both the artist and the music in the longer term. I just make the music I like because I love to be in the studio and I’m always chasing the perfect song.”

She needn’t worry; with only one or two tracks floating about cyber space, there have already been a handful of slavering, yet honest, articles and reviews, from dance bible Mixmag to a piece she’s particularly fond of in Manchester student magazine Flux, paying typical attention to quality over quantity. “It was completely truthful and well written. There were no derogatory monikers or misquotes, which seems to happen a lot in modern music journalism. He talked about the music rather than where I was from and, best of all, he knew a lot about electronic music and bothered to research it.”

I don’t know when Dollskabeat will be ready to unleash more of her ethereal, cosmic sounds upon us, but you know when she does, it’ll even sound acceptable on YouTube. It’s that good.

Dollskabeat appear live at the Arches, Glasgow on 21 Nov, 10pm - 3am, £14/£7.

DRUMS OF DEATH PLAYDATE, 28 NOV

AUTOKRATZ AND ALEX METRIC RPZ, 26 NOV

Foamo Party Twenty-two year old DJ and producer Foamo makes his mark on the Arches this November.

In 2008 Glasgow’s Colin Bailey underwent a slow transformation. After releasing his debut EP and touring with Hot Chip and Peaches, his dark sound has consumed him. Performing his infamous live shows, applying his Mexican Day of the Dead make up night after night and brushing the ashes of his old club night Kaput! off of his clothes seems to have taken its toll. He may just be in danger of becoming his alter ego Drums of Death.Armed with a cracked sampler and a dented mic, each night Colin attempts to exorcise his demons via his live performances. His musical upbringing lies in a history of punk and metal bands with the success of his current project seemingly gauged on how fucked up his face paint is at the end of the evening. Expect energetic bass, smashed vocals and terror strobes throughout. [Chris Duncan] 11PM-3AM. ALSO APPEARING WITH FAKE BLOOD AT HYP? AT SUB CLUB ON 30 OCT.

NUMBERS LABEL LAUNCH SUB CLUB , 6 NOV

Numbers launch their record label later this year with its first two releases coming in the form of Lazer Sword’s Low Limit, Lando Kal’s The Golden Handshake EP, and Redinho’s Bare Blips. As Dress 2 Sweat, Stuffrecords and Wireblock have all shut up shop, the team behind all three labels are joining forces to create the Numbers imprint. After years of pinching each other’s artists, selling each other’s records, and trying to explain to friends the need for three similarly minded record labels, it came to them that it would be a good idea to gang up, start afresh, and operate together under the Numbers title. Their joint back catalogue of over 30 releases includes work from Rustie and Hudson Mohawke among many others. To celebrate the launch of the new phase of Numbers’ plan for world domination they’re throwing a party in Glasgow on Friday 6 Nov with Lazer Sword and Rustie both playing live. [Chris Duncan] 11PM - 3AM, £8 (ADVANCE) WWW.NMBRS.NET

DARE! CABARET VOLTAIRE, 28 NOV

Returning to Glasgow for the first time in two years, autoKratz are appearing for a very special date at the Vic Bar for RPZ. Their expansive European tour will be crossing the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany before touching down in Scotland. The English duo rose to fame after being picked up by the French record label Kitsune. The label’s die hard fan base and various music bloggers quickly voiced their support and success has followed them ever since Also joining autoKratz for their live performance is Alex Metric who is in high demand at the moment with a hectic touring schedule. Alex Metric new live show, which he will be unveiling for the first time on this tour, is shrouded in secrecy. All that we know is that it features “the reddest of red keytars, a treasure which Alex somehow managed to free from the clutches of a flea-infested junk shop in deepest, darkest L.A.”[Chris Duncan] 11PM - 3AM, £3/£4

PHILIP BADER HOTBOX @ THE UNIVERSAL, 20 NOV

Having made his DJing debut at Berlin’s Tresor club in 1999, Philip Bader helped establish the Max und Mortiz parties, then Gelee Royal, which kick-started the city’s now legendary Sunday ‘after-party’ scene.

The natural progression was a move into production and he delivered his Mes Amis debut on Monika Kruse’s Electric Avenue label in 2005, followed by releases on Kindisch, Still Vor Talent and MIS Records.

Sharing a studio with Heinrichs & Hirtenfuller of Subdup, Bader assisted the remix Raz Ohara’s Kisses, while he also had involvement in the chart-topping Hello Tokyo and has recorded with fellow producer Sascha Braemer. Nowadays, he’s best known for his Bar 25 residency, performing marathon sets of his signature deep, powerful, minimal sound at the riverside venue’s weekend long parties and also produces for its label off-shoot. Most recently he’s started the Dantze label alongside good friend Niconé, with the duo responsible for its acclaimed, Charma Doll release. [Colin Chapman] 20 NOV, 11PM - 3AM, £7 WWW.HOTBOXCLUB.COM

Interview Chris Duncan “I started producing when I was about 14 years old. I used to make drum ‘n’ bass beats on my parents’ computer with a pair of headphones. Then I started DJing soon afterwards. My mates and I used to DJ at these big, local raves for under 18s. They were actually really good. We got to DJ with some big name drum ‘n’ bass MCs on our sets, like Shabba, Det and Foxy. Those were good days.”

It’s hard to understand why Foamo is referring to his youth as the ‘good days’; it’s not as though it was the height of his success. On the contrary, at the age of only 22 he has already made a name for himself as an important producer and has received praise from the likes of Diplo and Rob Da Bank.

“I started listening to electronic music when I was 13, my mate got me into drum ‘n’ bass, and I was obsessed by it for years. I hardly listened to anything else. I got a bit bored of it though after a few years and lost touch with it so I began listening to a lot of garage, grime and dubstep type stuff. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I even started listening to anything that could be classed as house or electro. But it was mad, as after I’d spent years and years experimenting and making drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep, I never really got anywhere.

Then after my first attempt at making a house track, I suddenly got Radio 1 air-play and support from big DJs, so it was a massive surprise for me!”

Off the back of this success came a residency at Chew The Fat! in London, before the inevitable touring, with Foamo spending the past 18 months touring Europe, Canada and Australia.

With a background in DIY bedroom music production, what does Foamo make of the current rise of digital DJing?

“I just use CDJs. Nearly every track I play, I do some kind of edit, to try and bring something different to my sets, instead of just plain mixing.

“I’ve been thinking about trying out some kind of laptop set with Serato or Ableton though. I don’t think you should bash people who use Ableton for DJing, but as long as they’re using it to their advantage, doing stuff that you wouldn’t be able to do when just using CDJs. “Traditional beat-matching seems to be becoming more and more irrelevant, with CDJs and laptops making it easier, so people are beginning to look at other ways of making sets exciting.”

10PM-3AM, £14/£7, 21 NOV. FOAMO APPEARS ALONGSIDE RITON, THE COUNT AND SINDEN, CHEW LIPS (LIVE) AND DOLLSKABEAT

The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, Glasgow 0141 565 1000 www.deathdisco.info

Dare! launches this month, a new club night being held at Cabaret Voltaire on the last Saturday of each month. The night aims to become a celebration of electronic dance music in all its finery, from past classics to new tracks. Hosted by DJ Jon Pleased Wimmin, this will be a new Scottish residency for a man who has played at venues such as Puschca, Venus, Back To Basics, Miss Moneypennies, Slam, Fabric, Ministry of Sound, Cream and Renaissance. Musically, the night claims to range from Lindstrøm, Todd Terje, Mylo to Blondie, Giorgio Moroder or The Human League, all whilst holding a manifesto of inviting everyone, regardless of age, gender or sexuality. Dare! is a fine addition to the selection of club nights making use of the Speakeasy section of Cabaret Voltaire, allowing for a new sound in new surroundings. [Anna Seale] 11PM-3AM, £5

DOMINICK EULBERG KAPITAL, 20 NOV

This month Kapital welcomes Domonik Eulberg to The Caves. Dominik grew up surrounded by nature in the picturesque Westerwald region of Southern Germany, using this country environment as the inspiration to develop a lush sound with real depth. His sets have quickly earned him a great reputation on the festival circuit with his uncompromising and tough style of techno. Dominik’s own productions, along with a successful partnership with Gabriel Ananda and a clutch of EPs under the pseudonym Rocco Branco are a constant fixture in many record boxes across the globe. Here’s to a special night that aims to celebrate one of the most forward thinking electronic musicians around, in one of city’s most atmospheric and beautiful venues.[Chris Duncan] 11PM-3AM, £10 PLUS BOOKING FEE.

THE FIELD OPTIMO, 15 NOV

The Field is Stockholm’s Axel Willner, a man who goes by a variety of other recording titles (he also creates music under the names Cordouan, Lars Blek and James Larsson). Willner joined the Kompakt family back in 2005 with the release of his debut 12” Things Keep Falling Down. He describes his musical project The Field as “somewhere between soundscapes and ‘classic songs’”. Successfully managing to fuse pop song structures with ambient textures, fractured buzzes, clicks and inventive sampling techniques, The Field creates an extraordinarily complex sound, consequentially a remix of Annie’s Heartbeat catapulted Willner into the attentions of various blogs and webzines, resulting in him remixing Scandinavian group 120 Days. Following a well-received second single on Kompakt, The Field began touring with the likes of LCD Soundsystem and !!!. The Field has now evolved into a three-piece band consisting of percussionist Dan Enqvist and multi-instrumentalist Andreas Söderstrom, allowing for a new depth to their live performance.[Chris Duncan] 11PM-3AM, £7/£6 WWW.OPTIMO.CO.UK

THESKINNY.CO.UK

MORE CLUB PREVIEWS ONLINE NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 59

CLUBS

PREVIEWS

Glasgow Comedy Sun 01 Nov Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £3

Recommended for ages 8-12. No under 5s.

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (John Gordillo, Chris Henry, Derek Johnson and Rob Kane. Hosted

by Michael Redmond.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:35, £5/£4/£1

Mon 02 Nov Improv Wars

The Stand, 20:30–22:05, £4/£2

Brand new fast paced improv show featuring the nation’s top comics.

Red Raw (With Siân Bevan and Stu & Garry.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

Tue 03 Nov Red Raw (Andy Sir and Bruce Fummey.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

New acts, new material from old acts; a classic lucky dip of comedy.

Wed 04 Nov Wicked Wenches

The Stand, 20:30–22:11, £6/£5/£3

Thu 05 Nov Bratchy and the Wee Man’s Comedy Pub Quiz The Arches, 20:00–23:00, Free

Teams of up to five people

The Thursday Show (Lucy Porter, Mark Nelson, Diane Morgan and Andrew Learmonth. Hosted

by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Fri 06 Nov Jongleurs (Michael Legge, Des Sharples, Paul Sinha and Tom StadeMichael Legge, Des Sharples, Paul Sinha and Tom Stade) Jongleurs, 20:30–22:30, from £12

The Friday Show (Lucy Porter, Mark Nelson, Diane Morgan and Andrew Learmonth. Hosted

by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Sat 07 Nov

Mon 09 Nov Des Clarke Live!

The Stand, 20:30–22:25, £9/£8

Red Raw (With Marshall Chiles and Rick Molland.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

Tue 10 Nov Eddie Izzard:Stripped SECC, from 20:00, £30

Red Raw (Scott Agnew and Danny Angelo) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

New acts, new material from old acts; a classic lucky dip of comedy.

Wed 11 Nov

Jongleurs, 21:30–23:30, from £15

Melting Pot

The Admiral, 22:00–03:00, £12

Mixed bag of sounds.

Sun 08 Nov Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £3

Recommended for ages 8-12. No under 5s.

Scott Agnew’s Sunday Service (Mark Nelson, Viv Gee, Rab Brown and Kim MacAskill. Hosted

by Scott Agnew) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5/£4/£1

The Saturday Show (Simon Munnery, Neil McFarlane, Jimmy Mcghie and Jim Park.

Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Top acts. Hot food. A great night out.

Sun 22 Nov Recommended for ages 8-12. No under 5s.

The Stand, 20:30–22:26, £9/£7

Fringe preview

Thu 12 Nov The Thursday Show (Brendon Burns, Patrick Monahan, Bob Graham and Stephen Callaghan.

Hosted by Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Fri 13 Nov

The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £3

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Neil McFarlane, Jimmy Mcghie, Charlie Ross and Jeff O’Boyle.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:35, £5/£4/£1

Mon 23 Nov Red Raw (With Neil McFarlane and JoJo Sutherland.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

Dance Monkey Boy Dance The Stand, 20:30–22:32, £4

The Friday Show (Brendon Burns, Patrick Monahan, Bob Graham and Stephen Callaghan. Hosted

by Susan Calman.)

Monthly show featuring a mix of topical stand-up, filmed sketches and improvised games and songs.

Doors open 7pm

Red Raw (Neil McFarlane and Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Sat 14 Nov

Tue 24 Nov

New acts, new material from old acts; a classic lucky dip of comedy.

Top acts. Hot food. An altogether great night out.

Best of Irish Comedy (Kevin Gildea, Michael Redmond and Tara Flynn. Hosted

by Martin Bigpig Mor.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Sun 15 Nov Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £3

Recommended for ages 8-12. No under 5s.

The Ivory (Michael Legge, Des Sharples, Paul Sinha and Tom Stade)

Ivory Bar & Restaurant, 20:30–22:30, Free

New talent show with professional headliner

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Patrick Monahan, Tiernan Douieb and Martin McAllister.)

Mon 16 Nov Roy Chubby Brown Improv Wars

The Stand, 20:30–22:06, £4/£2

Brand new fast paced improv show featuring the nation’s top comics.

Red Raw (With Sean Grant and Chris Henry.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

Tue 17 Nov Red Raw (Phil Differ and Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

New acts, new material from old acts; a classic lucky dip of comedy.

Wed 18 Nov Benefit in Aid of Sense Scotland

The Stand, 20:30–22:28, £7/£5

Thu 19 Nov The Thursday Show (Simon Munnery, Neil McFarlane, Jimmy Mcghie and Jim Park.

Hosted by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

60 THE SKINNY November 2009

Sun 01 Nov Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy led by audience suggestions, with Stu and Garry.

The Sunday Night LaughIn (David Kay, The Wee Man, Jeff O’Boyle and Alan Sharp. Hosted

by Stu Murphy.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5/£4/£1

Mon 02 Nov Absolute Beginners

The Beehive Inn, 20:00–22:30, £2

Showcase of new comedy talent with an experienced headliner. www.fitothegiggles.com

Tue 03 Nov Simon Amstell: Do Nothing Edinburgh Festival Theatre (EFT), from 19:30, £20

Jongleurs (Jim Jeffries)

Jongleurs, 20:00–22:00, from £11

Wed 04 Nov The Broken Windows Policy

The Stand, 20:30–22:23, £4

Sketch show

Thu 05 Nov The Thursday Show (Noel James, Gordon Southern, Phil Differ and Elaine Malcolmson.

Hosted by Scott Agnew.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4 Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2/£1

The Saturday Show (Brendon Burns, Patrick Monahan, Bob Graham and Silky.

Hosted by Susan Calman.)

SECC, from 19:30, £21

Jongleurs (Michael Legge, Des Sharples, Paul Sinha and Tom Stade)

Sat 21 Nov

Jason Cook: Fear

SECC, from 20:00, £30

The Saturday Show (Lucy Porter, Mark Nelson, Diane Morgan and Andrew Learmonth. Hosted

by Billy Kirkwood.)

Top acts. Hot food. An altogether great night out.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Eddie Izzard:Stripped

The Stand, 20:30–22:35, £5/£4/£1

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Fri 20 Nov The Friday Show (Simon Munnery, Neil McFarlane, Jimmy Mcghie and Jim Park.

Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

Glasgow Kids Comedy Club

Jongleurs (Michael Legge, Des Sharples, Paul Sinha and Tom Stade) Jongleurs, 18:00–20:01, from £12

Edinburgh comedy

Wed 25 Nov

The Stand, 20:30–22:34, £7/£6/£4

Thu 26 Nov Al Murray The Pub Landlord’s: Beautiful British Tour SECC, from 20:00, £25

The Thursday Show (Kevin Gildea, John Scott, Gerry McDade and Sian Bevan. Hosted

by Martin Bigpig Mor) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Fri 27 Nov The Friday Show (Kevin Gildea, John Scott, Gerry McDade and Sian Bevan. Hosted

by Martin Bigpig Mor.) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Sat 28 Nov The Saturday Show (Kevin Gildea, John Scott, Gerry McDade and Sian Bevan.

Hosted by Padraig Hyland.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Top acts. Hot food. An altogether great night out.

Uisge Beatha

Uisge Beatha, 21:00–23:01, £6/£4

Sun 29 Nov

Fri 06 Nov Wicked Wenches (Lucy Porter, AL Kennedy, Diane Morgan and Jay Lafferty.

Hosted by Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:21, £6/£5/£3

The Friday Show (Noel James, Gordon Southern, Phil Differ and Elaine Malcolmson. Hosted

by Susan Morrison .)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Jongleurs (Jonathan Mayer, Peter Johannsen and Gordon Southern) Jongleurs, 21:00–23:01, from £14

Sat 07 Nov Jongleurs (Jonathan Mayer, Peter Johannsen and Gordon Southern) Jongleurs, 19:00–21:00, from £11

The Saturday Show (Noel James, Gary Little, Phil Differ and Elaine Malcolmson. Hosted

by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Jongleurs (Jonathan Mayer, Peter Johannsen and Gordon Southern) Jongleurs, 22:30–23:43, from £14

Sun 08 Nov Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy led by audience suggestions, with Stu and Garry.

The Sunday Night Laugh-In (Mark Bratchpiece, Sean Grant, Antony Murray and Lucy Oldham. Hosted

by Susan Calman.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5/£4/£1

Mon 09 Nov

Glasgow Kids Comedy Club

Absolute Beginners

Recommended for ages 8-12. No under 5s.

Showcase of new comedy talent with an experienced headliner.

The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £3

The Ivory

Ivory Bar & Restaurant, 20:30–22:30, Free

New talent show with professional headliner

The Beehive Inn, 20:00–22:30, £2

Tue 10 Nov Jason Cook: Fear

The Stand, 20:30–22:38, £9/£7

Fringe preview

Wed 11 Nov Melting Pot

The Stand, 20:30–22:41, £5/£4/£2.50

Watch a series of short comedy sketches, presented by top actors and comedians. Vote for your favourite, and see a longer version next month.

Thu 12 Nov The Thursday Show (Simon Munnery, Stu & Garry, Tiernan Douieb and Ailsa Johnston. Hosted

by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Sun 22 Nov Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy led by audience suggestions, with Stu and Garry.

The Sunday Night LaughIn (Steve Harris, Kim MacAskill, Michael Adams, Nick Morrow and Ben Verth. Hosted

by Billy Kirkwood.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5/£4/£1

Mon 23 Nov Absolute Beginners The Beehive Inn, 20:00–22:30, £2

Fri 13 Nov The Friday Show (Simon Munnery, Tiernan Douieb and Ailsa Johnston. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Sat 14 Nov Gilded Balloon Comedy Tour (Stephen Carlin) The Pleasance, 20:00–21:13, tbc

The Saturday Show (Simon Munnery, Tiernan Douieb and Ailsa Johnston. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Sun 15 Nov Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy led by audience suggestions, with Stu and Garry.

Mon 16 Nov Absolute Beginners

The Beehive Inn, 20:00–22:30, £2

Showcase of new comedy talent with an experienced headliner. www.fitothegiggles.com

Tue 17 Nov Simon Munnery’s Extraordinary AGM

The Stand, 20:30–22:46, £8/£7/£4

Wed 18 Nov Benefit in Aid of Dreamflight

The Stand, 20:30–22:48, £10

www.dreamflight.org

Thu 19 Nov The Thursday Show (Martin Bigpig Mor, Steve Harris and Derek Johnson.

Hosted by Scott Agnew.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Fri 20 Nov The Friday Show (Martin Bigpig Mor, Steve Harris, Carly Baker and Derek Johnson. Hosted

by Scott Agnew.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Sat 21 Nov The Saturday Show (Martin Bigpig Mor, Steve Harris, Carly Baker and Derek Johnson. Hosted

by Scott Agnew.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Showcase of new comedy talent with an experienced headliner. www.fitothegiggles.com

Tue 24 Nov Midweek Comedy Cabaret (With Stu & Garry and Bruce Fummey.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:51, £4/£2

Wed 25 Nov Best of Scottish Comedy (Raymond Mearns, Neil McFarlane, The Wee Man and Jim Park.

Hosted by Bruce Devlin.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:54, £6/£5/£3

Thu 26 Nov Clowning Around (Phil Kay, Miles Jupp, JoJo Sutherland) The Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £20

Benefit show for Edinburgh based charity Clowndoctors.

The Thursday Show (Miles Jupp, Tara Flynn, Keir McAllister and Michael Manley. Hosted by Susan Morrison.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8/£7/£4

Ease yourself into the weekend with top laughs and delicious food.

Fri 27 Nov The Friday Show (Miles Jupp, Tara Flynn, Keir McAllister and Michael Manley.

Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10/£9/£5

Doors open 7pm

Sat 28 Nov The Saturday Show (Miles Jupp, Tara Flynn, Keir McAllister and Michael Manley.

Hosted by Joe Heenan.)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Sun 29 Nov Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 12:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy led by audience suggestions, with Stu and Garry.

The Sunday Night LaughIn (Miles Jupp, Gordon Alexander, Jim Park and Elaine Malcolmson.

Hosted by Scott Agnew.)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5/£4/£1

Glasgow music Sun 01 Nov Dananananaykroyd (Dinosaur Pile Up, Stage Blood) Òran Mór, 19:30–22:30, £8

Indie pop from the unpronounceables.

Grouper

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Ambient indie.

The Henry McCullough Band

The Ferry, from 20:00, £15

James Lindsay

Jeremy Warmsley (Washington Irving, Elliot From The West)

Wolfe Tones

Open Mic Night

Brel, 19:15–23:00, £6

Stripped back music.

Folk pop whizz kid.

Irish folk ballads and full-on moustache band.

Roads of Siam, RM Hubbert

Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Acoustic rock and punk.

Portico Quartet, Sweet BilLy Pilgrim

The Arches, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Melodic post jazz, with more hooks that a ship of pirates.

Barrowlands, 19:00–00:00, £16

The Ferry, from 20:00, £20-£33.50

Wing and a Prayer

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Gentle blues.

Castanets, Jack Butler Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6.50

Shed Live Open Mic (David Duffy)

Experimental blues and funky indie respectively.

Street Dogs, Civet, Strawberry Blondes

Acoustic open mic night, plus special guests.

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5

Punk rock.

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Jazz session with James Lindsay.

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8

Brother Louis Collective Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Happy folk songs.

Mon 02 Nov

The Shed, 19:30–23:00, Free

Fire Walk With Me

Songwriting duo on vocals and guitars.

Damien Jurado

Andy Miller

The Blas Sessions

Top trio of alternaive indie folk.

Acoustic guitar.

Footstompng traditional music sessions.

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Stereo, 19:00–22:30, £12

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Blas, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Breed 77

Jeepster

V V Brown

Alternative metal racket.

Alternative rock.

Proclaimers

The Fall Of Troy

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

Punk and soul from the Laandan diva.

Tuesday Night Music Club

The Butterfly & The Pig, 20:30–01:00, Free

Acoustic open mic night.

Levee Breakers (Soulcircus)

The Glasgow Slow Club

Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Chilled out night, where punters are asked to bring their own 5-track playlist.

Kick To Kill

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Single launch night.

Colours

The Arches, 22:00–03:00, £15-£18

Stereo, 20:00–22:30, £10

Dance night with special guest Eric Prydz.

The Mill (Suspire, 32 Miles to Breakfast)

Black Cat Burlesque

Folk rock.

The Caves Singers, Espers, Woods

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Wed 11 Nov

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £9

SECC, from 19:30, £25

Experimental punk.

The Drones

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Psychedelic metal.

Acoustic Jam

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–00:00, Free

Weekly live jam session.

Alberta Cross

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

Alternative rock.

The Chapman Family (Always Me Me Me, Ryan Bisland, Little Eye)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Alternative post punk.

Frankmusik (Killa Kella)

Punk Rock Rammy

Electro powerpop with a penchant for the 80s.

Probably punk. And rock. And a bit of a rammy.

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £10

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Tue 17 Nov Rise Against

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £16

Punk rock from the US of A.

Colm Kirwan and The Best of Nashville’s Singer Songwriters

The Ferry, from 20:00, £10-£23.50

Filthy Dukes

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8

Electro pop.

Raunchy club night.

Life Among People (Lost Persona, Panisia, The Works)

Musicians of Bremen Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Alternative rock. Not from Bremen.

Nightmarchers, Dan Sartain Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

Grizzly Bear (St VinceNt)

Free new live music showcase. Request tickets from www.themilllive.com

Johnny Whoop Presents

Pure unadulterated rock.

Cave Bash

Loose rock beats and indie pop respectively.

The Concrete Campfire

Techno electro.

Acoustic indie to fall in love with.

Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Never Say Die Tour 2009 The Arches, 17:00–23:00, £tbc

Tour of new metal bands.

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Kurran and The Wolfnotes, Exlovers

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Alternative folk with tinges of pop.

Òran Mór, 20:00–22:30, Free

Sun 08 Nov

The Hours, Gliss (Acrylic Iqon)

Beverley Knight

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7

Alternative rock.

Weekly live jam session.

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Thank You, Quack Quack, Teenage Ricky 13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Punky rock types, with a classic edge.

Tue 03 Nov Applesofenergy, Wounded Knee, Monoganon

Bar Bloc, 23:00–03:00, Free

Weekly acoustic night.

Acoustic Jam

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–00:00, Free

Ivory Blacks, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

you can’t eat the word food Jangly indie rock from Glasgow.

Fri 06 Nov Yo La Tengo (Euros Childs) ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Alternative rock. Highly addictive.

Manta

Stereo, 19:00–22:30, £6

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £22.50

Soul-pop diva.

Shadows Chasing Ghosts, Converse With Ghosts, City Of Statues

Footstompng traditional music sessions.

The Soft Pack

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7

Relaxed poppish sounds.

Tuesday Night Music Club

The Butterfly & The Pig, 20:30–01:00, Free

Acoustic open mic night.

Tyrannosaurus Alan, Wonk Unit

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Acoustic punk types, wth a bit of rap thrown in from Tyrannosaurus Alan.

The Glasgow Slow Club with Ed Alfrey Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Chilled out night, where punters are asked to bring their own 5-track playlist.

Wed 04 Nov Joe Vezner

Brel, 19:30–23:00, £9

Plethora of alternative rock.

Andrea Bocelli

SECC, from 19:30, £45-£120

Classic Grand, 19:30–22:00, £10

Electro rock.

McIntosh Ross (Darden Smith)

Òran Mór, 19:30–22:30, £20

Duo from Deacon Blue.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

Hundred Reasons, Cantebury

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £12

Alternative rock.

Action Group

Andy Fairweather Low

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Chthonic (Sacred Betrayal)

Gary Johnstone’s Three Card Trick

The Ferry, from 20:00, £16-£29.50 King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £10

Death metal that might just make you draw blood.

Cosmo Jarvis

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Indie pop.

Psydoll

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Gothic punk.

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Sat 07 Nov Backstreet Boys

SECC, from 18:30, £30-£35

Soulful rock covers.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

SECC, from 18:30, £25

Will Young

SECC, from 19:00, £35

Costal Erosion

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Acoustic folk.

Openmiking

David Porteus, Paul Massey

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Kasabian

30H!3

Big Vern ‘N’ The Shootahs

Weekly open mic night.

Dave Dominey

Thu 12 Nov

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Puressence

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Indie rockers. In ABC 2.

Folky rock.

The Beatles Beat

Accident Music, Taking Chase

Lots of Beatles classics.

Òran Mór, 19:00–22:00, £10

Really rather nice lyrical pop.

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Indie rock.

Mon 09 Nov Psyko Dalek

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Hardcore metal with a hip-hop edge.

Men Diamler

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Guitar singer, with guest Clayton Blizzard.

Fionn Regan

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Punky blues.

The Holloways

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8.50

Indie punk; good for dancing to.

Acoustic Jam

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–00:00, Free

Weekly live jam session.

Tue 10 Nov The Airborne Toxic Event ABC, 19:00–22:00, £9

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £23

Grunge rock from Seattle.

The Cinnamons

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Single launch night.

The Electrics 21st Birthday Bash

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Antlers, Withered Hand, Tangles

Indie niceness. We heart Withered Hand.

Òran Mór, 19:00–22:00, £8

Top night of partying.

The Glasgow Slow Club

The Patriots, The Random Guy, Colours

Chilled out night, where punters are asked to bring their own 5-track playlist.

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Punk, rock and pop bag of tricks.

ACE Concert

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Wed 18 Nov Mariachi El Bronx

SECC, from 19:30, £10-£16

A Mountain of One

Òran Mór, 19:00–22:30, £10

Psychedelic rock melodies.

Three Days Born, D-Corum

The Hussys

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Progressive metal rockers.

Pop with a capital ‘P’.

Openmiking

Tropical rock.

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £8

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

The Halt Bar, 20:30–00:00, Free

Bedhed @ The Shed (Stylus Automatic, Kings Of Macumba)

Weekly open mic night.

The Shed, 19:30–23:00, £6.50

Yaman

Charity Tea Party

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Ivory Blacks, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

A Place To Bury Strangers, Japandroids

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Experimental rock.

Yaman

Live bands play for charidee.

Magic Carpet Cabaret

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

A night of singer/songwriters & bands.

The Concrete Campfire

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Footstompng traditional music sessions.

Acoustic open mic night.

Live music in association with Glasgow The Caring City.

Indian classical music on sitar and flute.

Blas, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Colin Hay

The Ferry, from 20:00, £15-£28.50

The Blas Sessions

The Butterfly & The Pig, 20:30–01:00, Free

New wave singer/songwriter. In ABC 2.

Weekly open mic night.

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Tuesday Night Music Club

Sat 14 Nov Hugh Cornwell

Alice In Chains

Jingly jangly sunshine rock.

The Halt Bar, 20:30–00:00, Free

Òran Mór, 19:30–22:30, £8.50

Soundhaus, 23:00–03:30, £7 (£5)

Speck Mountain

Blue Roses

Countrified R’n’B.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

New wave punk with long hair.

Soft-hearted electro from singer/songwriter Jack Allsopp.

The Arches, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Metro Battle of the Bands

The Shaky Hands

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8

Glasgow guitar-rock with a comical edge.

Pass the Peas, Andy Taylor

Five of the best new Scottish bands, as chosen by The Metro.

Jay Reatard (Paper Planes)

Funked up bass loops and a guest soloist.

Singer/songwriter with wit and sensitivity.

The Arches, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Indie, rock and electro acts - plus a dance club in the wee room.

The Halt Bar, 20:30–00:00, Free

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Alternative progressive metal.

Blas, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Melodic indie musings.

Una Fiori, Rinoa Rinoa, Turn it Sideways

Stripped back music.

Just Jack

Stripped back music.

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Openmiking

Open Mic Night

The Blas Sessions

Buffleheid

Echoey ambient soul.

Indie lovelies.

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Open Mic Night

Breakdown Bands Night

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

Broken Records

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Six-hour mini music fest.

SECC, from 19:30, £38

Noisy rock.

Anaesthesia, Beauty of the Betrayed, Deadline

Indie folk.

Deep Purple

The Flying Duck, 21:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £8

Alternative metal.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

And So I Watched You From Afar

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Rock. Good and proper.

Thu 19 Nov Selective Service, The Scuffers, Ewan Butler ABC, 19:00–22:00, £5

Alternative acoustic types. In ABC 2.

Dan Managan

Brel, 19:15–23:00, £tbc

Canadian folkster.

Hair Police, Upsilon Acrux

Weekly acoustic night.

Indian classical music on sitar and flute.

The System, Hiroshima Blackout, Pete Westwater

Mr Hudson, Malpas

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £9

A punk and indie bag of tricks.

I Need Musik

The Shed, 19:30–23:00, £2

Three new bands play live.

Steve Hackett

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Single launch night.

The Wallbirds (You Can’t Eat The Word Food, Will Hanson)

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Country folk; perfect for picnics in the park.

Make Love, The Ballad of Mable Wong, Lyons, Fox Gut Daata

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Progressive mix.

Shed Live (The Vigo Thieves, Daybreak, Jamie Cameron) Live music from the local talent.

The Ferry, from 20:00, £18.50-£32

Sun 15 Nov

The Mill (Washington Irving, Kitty The Lion)

Laura Marling

The Arches, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Indie folk darling.

Òran Mór, 20:00–22:30, Free

Free new live music showcase. Request tickets from www.themilllive.com

Love Pirates, The Speakeasies, The Feuds, Zoe Lewis

Black Elk

Cairnhall Trading Estate

Indie rock.

Datarock

Indie folk.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8.50

The King Hats

The Concrete Campfire

Stereo, 20:00–03:00, £tbc

A host of bands play into the wee small hours.

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Fri 13 Nov

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Emily Loizeau

French singer/songwriter.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Dark and shouty punk.

Classic rock.

Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Jack Rose (The Black Twig Pickers)

Jaunty indie rock.

Folk blues.

Australian singer/songwriter.

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Mew

The Celestians, 5 Days Today, Models for the Radio

The Luchagors (Zombina and the Skeltones, The Terrors)

The Ray Summers

La Roux

Blueflint

Indie electro touring new album.

Punky rock and indie pop.

Punky pop.

Psychedelic soulful pop.

The lady of the moment.

Americana tinged folk.

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Rock and pop.

Thu 05 Nov ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Stereo, 19:00–22:30, £7

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

Lisa Mitchell (Blueflint) Brel, 19:30–23:00, £7

Stereo, 20:00–22:30, £7.50

4dayweekend (Gorman, Marillo) Youthful acoustic rock. In ABC 2. Òran Mór, 19:00–22:00, £6

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Post punk.

Mon 16 Nov ABC, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Weekly acoustic night.

The Feuds, Vegas Nights Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Alternative indie beats.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

November 2009

THE SKINNY 61

Edinburgh m

Glasgow music Pentangle Duo

The Ferry, from 20:00, £14-£27.50

Michael Simons

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

The Butterfly Effect, Slaves To Gravity

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

GLASGOW ÒRAN MÓR, TOP OF BYRES RD SEE GIG LISTINGS

Alternative rock.

The Concrete Campfire

THURSDAY 19TH NOVEMBER 2009

Vidi Well (The Jiks, Blue Nova, Wall of Sound) ABC, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Minimalist metal. In ABC 2.

Syth, Ascension, Siphon Plane, Aces High Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

Thrash metal.

Rumpelstiltskin (BCMG) Tramway, 19:30–21:30, £8

Dance and new music, in Tramway style

The Skinny Villains

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Indie rock.

Drive Carefully Records Present

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Show-off punk tunes.

Thankyou Frankly

Hetherington Research Club, 21:00–02:00, £4

Monthly club night with live bands and DJs.

Exposure

Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

All things trance, from progressive to hard.

Johnny Whoop Presents Bar Bloc, 23:00–03:00, Free

Techno electro.

Sat 21 Nov SPEARBRAVE (Bismark) ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

Alternative indie. In ABC 2.

Bell X1 (The Postmarks, ADA) Òran Mór, 19:00–22:30, £12

Indie pop from Ireland.

Moishe’s Bagel

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £10

Ambient jazz folk.

Diementia, Fallen Fate, Immanis, Circle of Tyrants Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Heavy thrash metal.

Rumpelstiltskin (BCMG) Tramway, 19:30–21:30, £8

Dance and new music, in Tramway style

Crufts 3 with Findo Gask (Adult Emergency, Tokyo Knife Attack) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £4

Live tunes with Findo Gask.

Shimmer, The Digzys, Horizon, The 4/5s, The Seismics Maggie May’s, 19:30–22:30, £5 (£4)

Achren, Diamanthian, Nerrus Kor

James Lindsay

Aynsley Lister (Scattered Family)

Dark and deadly death metal. Sweet dreams.

Jazz session with James Lindsay.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Make Sparks, The Deals, Little Yellow Ukeleles Indie pop.

Fri 27 Nov

Indie pop; part of Homecoming Live.

Futuristic Retro Champions, Nevada Base, Ace City Racers 13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Electro pop megamix. We like.

Sun 29 Nov

Pop punk. In ABC 2.

Sun 22 Nov Little Feat’s Paul Berrere and Fred Tackett

The Ferry, from 19:00, £15-£28.50 Òran Mór, 19:00–22:30, £11

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £19

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

Punk edged tunes.

The Skinflints

The Glasgow Slow Club

Indie pop rockers,

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Chilled out night, where punters are asked to bring their own 5-track playlist.

Wed 25 Nov Lily Allen

SECC, from 18:30, £23

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

The Pastels (1990s)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

The Little Kicks

Gay For JoHnny Depp

Indie pop.

Post hardcore. With a silly name.

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Detachments (Castaway, First Tiger, Bad Day)

Three Trapped Tigers

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £5

Indie rock trio sing of lost love.

Wavves, Schnapps, Water Wolves, The Cinnamons

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Fresh sounding electro experimental.

Black Hack, The Part Time Martyrs, The Roses Project

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Punky pop and ambient indie respectively.

Mon 23 Nov New Beautiful South (Sandi Thom) ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20

The Beautiful South are now the New Beautiful South. How exciting.

UB40

SECC, from 19:30, £32.50

Rachel Stamp (Alkotron)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £9

Metallic pop.

Acoustic Jam

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–00:00, Free

Weekly live jam session.

Leigh Strokes

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Youthful indie pop.

Tue 24 Nov

Good Shoes, Copy Haho (Self-Starter)

Folky pop with jangling guitars and sweetheart vocals.

We Are The Ocean, The Amity Affliction

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8.50

Punk rock.

Simon’s Got Talent: Bandeoke Night

The Arches, 20:00–03:00, £10

Wannabe popsters perform, in aid of The Glasgow Simon Community for homelessness.

Openmiking

The Halt Bar, 20:30–00:00, Free

Weekly open mic night.

The Cut Ups, Joey Terrifying 13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

A punktastic mix.

Camembert

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free

Seven-piece jazz rock band from France.

Thu 26 Nov The Answer (Mammal, Black Spiders) ABC, 18:00–22:00, £13

Classic rock.

SECC, from 18:30, £26.50

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £8

Field Music, Epic 26, Mitchell Museum

Open Mic Night

Shed Live (Chief, Urban Acid Frenzy, The Daywell)

Stripped back music.

Live music from the local talent.

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

62 THE SKINNY November 2009

Full metal racket (see what we did there?).

The Shed, 19:30–23:00, £2

SECC, from 17:00, £20-£35

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10

Psychedelic blues.

Federico Aubele

Òran Mór, 19:00–22:30, £10

Cool Latin dub from New York.

The La Fontaines, Call Me Ishmael

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £6

Hippity hop and alternative indie respectively.

Verona Chard

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

London-based singer and her impressive quartet.

Blues For Pocketmoney, The Winding Sheet Whistlebinkies, 21:30–01:15, Free

Punk rock and afro-beat pop respectively.

Mon 02 Nov David Ford

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £10

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Raging melodic rock.

Open Mic Night

Whistlebinkies, 21:30–02:30, Free

Turn up and do your thing. Loudly.

The Great Jam Session

The Jazz Bar, 22:30–01:00, £2 (£1)

Renowned drop-in jazz session.

Pop rockers; part of Homecoming Live.

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

These Monsters

Medley of live bands and singers.

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Monsterous punk rock.

Mon 30 Nov Snow Patrol Foy Vance

Acoustic soul with velvety vocals.

Toxic Holocaust, Goatwhore, Skeleton Witch Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Thrash black metal.

The Mission District, Snakes Hate Fire, The New Cities King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £6

Pop rock trio of bands.

Saw Doctors

Acoustic Jam

Traditional Irish folksters.

Weekly live jam session.

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £20

Rock beats.

We Were Promised Jetpacks (Dupec)

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £8.50

The Rollin Clones

Pop rock from Good Shoes, with Copy Haho throwing in some disco beats.

Sat 28 Nov

Ambient acoustic.

The Doors Alive (Theory, Sinking Cities)

The Undead Family (Panisia, As Darkness Falls, Daedalus)

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Classic indie, with live bands before 11pm.

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Dawn Landes

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

Gdansk, Suplexthekid

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Lost Persona

The Halt Bar, 19:00–00:00, Free

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Slow Club

Slow and moody tunes, perfect for a Sunday.

PIN UP NIGHTS

Heroes Burn, Svengali, Scrapbrain

Woodlands Creatures

SECC, from 18:30, £35-£55

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £8

The Flying Duck, 20:00–00:00, Free

Punky pop.

Hard hitting rhythms.

Melodic pop that pulls at the old heart strings.

Homecoming Live

Paint by numbers pop rock.

Top line-up of new bands.

OK Pilot, The Holy State

The Caves, 19:15–22:00, £13.50

Grunge metal.

Theapplesofenergy, Mersault

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Twinkling jazz and post punk respectively.

Box, 20:00–23:00, Free

Alice Cooper

SECC, from 19:00, £32.50

Scar City

Changing rota of live bands from the Woodlands Creatures Collective.

Barrowlands, 19:00–23:00, £25

Dark and noisy rock.

ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Fridge Magnets, The Skitten

Indie popsters; part of Homecoming Live.

Slayer

Clubland Live

Trio of top new bands.

Gary Numan (Dirty Harry)

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

Seragon, Critikill

Mysterious experimental beats.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6.50

EP launch night.

Sergeant

Acoustic open mic night.

Sessions Part 1, The Long Walk to Freedom. An evening of Gospel inspired music with Special Guests.

Ducksoup Presents: Subscene Records

The Ferry, from 20:00, £12.50-£26

Stereo, 18:00–22:30, £6

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Acoustic rock.

Volcano The Bear

Live music from Subscene bands.

Acoustic Sunday special.

Out Of Sight (2 Thirds of Youth, Suspire)

Indie rock showcase.

The Flying Duck, 19:30–23:00, £4

Bluesy beats and rampant grooves.

The Alarm

Classic Grand, 19:00, £7/£5

The final of Forth One’s talent-spotting contest.

Kurran and The Wolfnotes, Exlovers

Industrial electro from the legendary old-timer.

The Butterfly & The Pig, 20:30–01:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £5

Monotonix

Tuesday Night Music Club

Alternative indie.

Bucky rage

Charity night for children living with cancer.

Glasgow Gospel Choir (Special guests Black Diamond Express/ Martin Gray/ Remedies)

Three new bands play live.

John Hinshelwood Americana-tinged folk.

Stereo, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Footstompng traditional music sessions.

The Sounds (Matt & Kim)

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, £2

Blas, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Bricks (Goeatglue, Simple Mistake, Screaming Falcon Punch)

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £3-£5

Magic of Motown

SECC, from 20:00, £20-£22

The Blas Sessions

Experimental punk rock.

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £6

Weekly acoustic night.

Some Boy

Fri 20 Nov

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–23:00, £tbc

Sun 01 Nov Forth One’s One To Watch (Dirty Modern Hero, Rosie Nimmo, The Wynntown Marshals, Bob David Bell, Townhouse)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Brel, 20:00–23:00, Free

Bar Bloc, 21:00–01:00, Free THE MILL IS AN 18+ VENUE. DRINK SENSIBLY

The Duel, The Untitled, The Fonetics

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–00:00, Free

Tue 03 Nov The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Leith Folk Club (Katy Moffatt)

The Village, 19:30–22:45, £8

Heady voiced folk siren.

Dan Lowe

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Acoustic electro.

Third Connection, Shoot the Breeze

Whistlebinkies, 22:00–23:30, Free

Indie rock.

White Noise

The Electric Circus, 22:00–03:00, £4

New live bands, plus alternative beats on the DJ decks.

Wed 04 Nov Esperi, The Kays Lavelle, Noiserv

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £4

Ambient electro folk with twinkling keyboards.

gh music Mon 09 Nov

Kids In Glass Houses (Tiger Please)

Mark McNight Organ Quartet

Powerpop idols.

Guitar dynamo from Belfast.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Annie Stevenson, Paper Planes, The Diversions

Open Mic Night

Studio 24, 19:00–22:00, £10

Portico Quartet, Sweet BilLy Pilgrim

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £10

Experimental jazz and electro pop.

Daniel Johnston

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:30, £20.50

Unassuming Texan singer/songwriter.

Easy Kings, Heroes Burn The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Indie rock.

13 Bats, Billy Liar, The Dirty Pickups

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Psychobilly and punk rock.

Unpeeled: New Bands Night The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £3

Four new acts perform live.

Thu 05 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

Carrie Macdonald

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Acoustic album launch night.

Storm In A D-Cup

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £4

Alternative rock.

Paul Lewis plays Beethoven

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:30, £8.50-£26

The 21-year old composer does Beethoven.

The Nolans

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, £35

Sisters are doing it for themselves.

Lazarus Blackstar, Electro Zombies, Gruel

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £5 (£4)

Whistlebinkies, 21:45–02:30, Free

The Mine Presents

The Jazz Bar, 22:30–01:00, £2 (£1)

Wee Red Bar, 22:30–03:00, £4

Fours new bands play live.

Sat 07 Nov Saturday Afternoon Jazz The Jazz Bar, 15:00–18:00, Free

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

The Bowery’s First Birthday (Mersault, Withered Hand) The Bowery, 18:00–22:45, £5

Birthday party fun with live local bands.

Mark Eitzel (Franz Nicolay) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £12

American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel plays solo.

Still Marillion

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Progressive rock.

The Go Away Birds (Adam Stafford, Louise Hendry)

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:00, £5

Brutal but brilliant hardcore.

Fri 06 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Sun 08 Nov The Wolfe Tones

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £20

Irish footstomping folk.

Karl Jenkins Charity Night Usher Hall, 19:00–22:30, £17.50-£27.50

Absent Elk (Hold Fire)

Choirs night in aid of the Teenage Western General Appeal.

Norwegian popsters.

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:30, £13

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Jimmy Webb

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:30, £26.50

Scott Matthews Crafty songwriting.

Grammy award winning songwriter with country at his heart.

Citizens (Hosemox, Munchkins)

Highlines

Post hardcore.

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–23:45, £4

EP launch night.

CRANACHAN

Myshkin

Classic rock covers.

Bannerman’s, 21:00–23:00, Free

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–23:00, £4

Jaunty and melodic Edinburgh fourpiece.

The Common Empire, The Steals, The Gazettas Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Indie up-and-comers.

Yellowman

The Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Dancehall king.

Indie rock misbehavers.

Whistlebinkies, 16:45–02:30, Free Ged Hanley does covers, then it’s blues and reggae rock.

Maria Speight

The Proclaimers

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, £25 (£22.50)

Scottish music legends.

The Village, 19:30–22:45, £8

Harp, cello and all things mellow.

Leith Folk Club (Trina Nestibo)

The Village, 19:30–22:45, £8

Songs inspired by wide open spaces.

First Year Thieves, Scrap Brain, Satellite Underground

Whistlebinkies, 22:00–00:45, Free

Thu 12 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

Mica Paris

The Jam House, 18:00–00:00, £30 (with meal)

Soul diva.

Indie pop and emo punk.

Frankmusik

White Noise

Electro acoustic bleepiness.

The Electric Circus, 22:00–03:00, £4

New live bands, plus alternative beats on the DJ decks.

Wed 11 Nov Screaming Lights

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5

Alternative rock.

The Proclaimers

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £10

The Specials

Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 19:00–23:00, £32.50

Legendary ska; oldies but goodies.

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:30, £16.50

Special concert based around new album ‘Spinning Top’.

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, £25 (£22.50)

The Mill (The Valkarys, The Law)

The Pineapple Chunks, Chinstrap

Free new live music showcase.

Request tickets from www.themilllive. com

Free spirited tunes.

DLDown, Katie and John

Scottish music legends.

The Bowery, 19:30–22:45, £5

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:30–22:30, Free

Bannerman’s, 21:00–23:00, Free

Saturday Afternoon Jazz The Jazz Bar, 15:00–18:00, Free

Ease yourself into the weekend, jazz style.

The Ged Hanley Trio, The Deal, Dignan Dowell and White

Whistlebinkies, 16:45–02:30, Free

Ged Hanley does covers, then it’s blues and reggae rock.

Western meets Indian classical guitar ensemble.

The Luchagors, Zombina and The Skeletones, The Terrors Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Scarily-named screamy punk.

Cuddly Shark

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–23:45, £4

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Fri 13 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

The Montevideo Five, Alma Fiera, Beau Nasties Whistlebinkies, 18:30–02:30, Free

Interpretations of rock: funk rock, classic rock and folk rock.

The Jam House Experience The Jam House, 18:30–03:00, Free before 8pm, £5.50 after

Live music, DJs and piano combos.

Atlas

Turn up and do your thing. Loudly.

The Jam House, 18:00–03:00, Free before 8pm, £5.50 before 11pm and £7.50 after

Live music, DJs and piano combos.

The Cave Singers, Espers, Woods

The Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £12

Top class acoustic indie folk.

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

Four new bands take to the stage.

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £12

Cult rock veterans.

Charity Music Event (Norman Silver and The Gold, KeNoDeKa Collective, Chandra)

Tollcross Community Centre, 19:00–23:30, £tbc

Charity music event in aid of Columbian children.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, £21.50-£24.50

Traditional South African harmonies.

The Bowery, 19:30–22:45, £tbc

Alternative pop.

Peg and The Bouffants

Indie rock types.

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Colin Hay (Roy Henderson)

Furious local punk rockers.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Fatalists

This Is Music (Japandroids, Super Adventure Club, Bronto Skylift ) Sneaky Pete’s, 20:00–03:00, £tbc

Indie electro fare with top bands.

Medley of live bands and singers.

Leith Folk Club (Jonathan Kalb)

The Village, 19:30–22:45, £8

Vintage bluesman.

Leith Folk Club (Tokyo Rosenthal ) The Village, 19:30–22:45, £8

Americana with real teeth.

Shock and Awe

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

New wave punk poppers.

Staff Benda Billi

Usher Hall, 20:00–22:30, £18.50 (£15)

Street musicians from the Congo.

White Noise

The Electric Circus, 22:00–03:00, £4

New live bands, plus alternative beats on the DJ decks.

Wed 18 Nov Melody Gardot

Husky vocals wrapped around blues and Latin rhythms.

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Hardcore metal rockers.

Khuda (Kokomo)

Bang Bang Club

Won Mississippi, Paul Wishart

Top dancey beats.

Chilled acoustic rock.

The Electric Circus, 23:00–03:00, £6

Great Junction showcase.

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Instrumental two-piece from Leeds.

Reggae and dub.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Tue 17 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:30, £4

Funky live music and DJs.

The Rigbys, Seneka, All At Sea, Ugly Baby

Renowned drop-in jazz session.

The Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–01:00, Free

Big Toes HiFi

Experimental rock.

The Jazz Bar, 22:30–01:00, £2 (£1)

Friday First

SXPP Presents

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

The Great Jam Session

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:30, £15

Indie ska with handclaps.

Thirteenseven, Mongoose Mayhem, Brightside

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Whistlebinkies, 21:30–02:30, Free

Hold

The Bowery, 19:30–22:45, £5

Corrupt Absolute, Threshold Sicks, Cancerous Womb

The Jam House Experience

Raw folky pop.

Colin Hay (of Men At Work) performs solo.

CD launch from this wonderful trio.

Open Mic Night

Jakil

The Caves, 19:15–21:45, £14

The Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–01:00, £5

Medley of live bands and singers.

Dan Mangan, Thomas Western

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Macmaster/Hay

Hairy metal.

Indie rockers.

Studio 24, 19:00–22:00, £6

Mon 16 Nov

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Trashcan Sinatras (Brother Louis Collective, The Seventeenth Century)

Queen’s Hall, 19:45–22:30, £10 (£7)

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Classic rock covers.

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

Soaring indie epics.

Simon Thacker and the Nava Rasa Ensemble

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £5 (£4)

CRANACHAN

Sat 14 Nov

Silvermash, Sinners Ensemble, Casino City

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

THE MILL IS AN 18+ VENUE. DRINK SENSIBLY

World-travelling Australian singer/ songwriter.

Punky rock fare.

Innovative piano tinklings.

SEE GIG LISTINGS

Genre-bending breakbeat from Rektchordz.

Trampoline Present

Folk rock and Celtic beats.

THE MILL EDINBURGH • 12TH NOVEMBER • 26TH NOVEMBER

Carus Thompson Band

The Caves, 22:30–03:00, £7 (£6)

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc Experimental acoustic.

The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Tom Gibbs Quartet

THE MILL GLASGOW • 5TH NOVEMBER • 19TH NOVEMBER

Az-tech

Spat, The Bum-Clocks

The Beau Nasties

UPCOMING GIGS

THE MILL IS AN 18+ VENUE. DRINK SENSIBLY

THURSDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2009

Leith Folk Club (Brown and Baxter)

Blues and gospel-tinged jazz.

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

SEE GIG LISTINGS

Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 19:00–23:00, £18

Glasgow's finest hillbilly rockers launch their album.

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

EDINBURGH CABARET VOLTAIRE, 36 BLAIR STREET

Tue 10 Nov

The Ged Hanley Trio, Gary Johnston Trio, Red2Red

Slovakia clashes with Scotland.

Poppish indie rockers.

Renowned drop-in jazz session.

The Enemy

Slovakia/Scotland Quintet

Whistlebinkies, 21:30–22:15, Free

The Great Jam Session

Ease yourself into the weekend, jazz style.

The Process, Uncalm, Shields Up

Sol Diablos

Whistlebinkies, 21:30–02:30, Free

Turn up and do your thing. Loudly.

EP launch night.

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £2 (£1)

Greasy thrash metal.

Pick ‘n’ mix bag of indie, rock and funk.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Nasty doom and sludge.

K.E.M.A.N.T.I.A.N.

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Zack Moir Band

Sun 15 Nov

The Jazz Bar, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Otaku, Vegas Nights The Ark, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Alternative pop rock.

Above Them (Taking Chase, Curators, We Modern Cadets)

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 19:30–23:45, £4

Dirty bass-driven rock with punk influences.

Acoustic loveliness.

Thu 19 Nov TEATIME ACOUSTIC

The Jazz Bar, 18:00–20:30, Free

Medley of live bands and singers.

Ed Rock Present

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £4.00

Four new bands play live.

November 2009

THE SKINNY 63

EDINBURGH MUSIC YES

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:30, £35.50

BREAKING BOUNDARIES IN MUSIC

Progressive art-rock that spans the decades.

36 BLAIR ST, EDINBURGH. 0131 220 6176

BSP Concerts & Cabaret Voltaire present

Wednesday 4th November

LAURA MARLING

were... ric4th November a ct 11pm-3am ele Mike khoury

listed, chicago

NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS Tuesday 3rd November

SHERWOOD FILM CLUB From 7pm - 10pm in The Speakeasy. Admission £5.

Thursday 5th November

BORN TO BE WIDE

From 7.30pm in The Speakeasy. Free admission.

8th November 2009 7pm - 10pm

THE WOLFE TONES

Thursday 5th November

A NIGHT AT THE CIRCUS From 7.30pm in The Ballroom. Admission £4.

Friday 6th November

GUMBOFUNK

From 9pm - 1am in The Ballroom. Free admission.

Sunday 8th November

PAUL CURRERI

Regular Music . From 7pm in The Speakeasy. tickets £10 stbf

Saturday 14th November

Peg and the Bouffants 13TH NOv 7Pm

JOE vITERBO

WWW.mYSPACE.COm/ PEGANDTHEBOUFFANTS

FATALISTS+ UNITED FRUIT+ VCHECKA From 8pm in The Speakeasy. Free admission.

Monday 16th November

MACMASTER / HAY From 7.30pm in The Ballroom. Admission £5.

Saturday 21st November

THE VOODOO ROOMS 2ND BIRTHDAY SOUL SPECTRUM & SOUL FOUNDATION From 9pm - 1am in The Ballroom. Free admission.

Saturday 28th November

VEGAS!

From 8.30pm - 1am in The Ballroom. Admission £5.

Friday 4th December

GUMBOFUNK

From 9pm - 1am in The Ballroom. Free admission.

Saturday 5th December

SOUL SPECTRUM Johnny Foreigner

29th Nov Over 14s

From 9pm - 1am in The Ballroom. Free admission.

Wednesday 9th December

MAGGIE BELL & DAVE KELLY From 7.30pm in The Ballroom. Advance tickets £15 (stbf )

Advance tickets are available from The Voodoo Rooms, Ripping Records, Tickets Scotland (Edinburgh & Glasgow), & www.ticketweb.co.uk. For more information visit www.thevoodoorooms.co.uk

FOXGANG (WHITE HEATH)

Ukulele open mic night. No guitars allowed.

EP launch night.

NOW TAKING CHRISTMAS BOOKINGS.

The Voodoo Rooms is open Noon - late Friday Sunday, from 4pm weekdays.

WWW.THECABARETVOLTAIRE.COM

64 THE SKINNY NOVEMBER 2009

ELLEN XYLANDER

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 20:00–23:45, £5 (£4)

Funky hip-hop.

MUGENKYO TAIKO DRUMMERS

JONI KEEN

Huge taiko drums not to be messed with.

Special singers night, with Joni Keen singing Ella Fitzgerald.

QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:30, £16

KOMODO

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Groovy rock beats.

FRI 20 NOV

THE JAZZ BAR, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

MON 23 NOV

BRAW GIGS PRESENT: FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE (AND GUESTS)

THE GREAT JAM SESSION

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Tribute metal acts.

GREAT JUNCTION STUDIO SHOWCASE

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Best of local bands night.

KENNY HERBERT AND RAB HOWATT THE CAVES, 20:00–01:00, £10

CONFUSION IS SEX

Turn up and do your thing. Loudly.

MYSTERY GIG

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Acoustic blues and jazzy ballads.

Medley of live bands and singers.

STILLS, 19:00–22:00, £5

VANTAGE POINT, NON-TALLICA

Edinburgh musicians playing traditional Scots, soul and blues.

QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:30, £25

OPEN MIC NIGHT

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

THE BOWERY, 19:30–22:45, £5

MADELEINE PEYROUX

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

WHISTLEBINKIES, 21:30–02:30, FREE

THE JAZZ BAR, 22:30–01:00, £2 (£1)

Renowned drop-in jazz session.

TUE 24 NOV

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 OR £4 IN COSTUME

Electro and glam techno - plus visual artists and the ‘Freaky Brides’.

SAT 28 NOV SATURDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ THE JAZZ BAR, 15:00–18:00, FREE

We could tell you, but we’d have to kill you.

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

Ease yourself into the weekend, jazz style.

THE MACRAZY VAUDEVILLE ORCHESTRA

Medley of live bands and singers.

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

CHILDLINE WINTER CONCERT

Medley of live bands and singers.

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)

Fiddle musings from Aly Macrae and his Macrazy Vaudeville chums.

OTTERS SING LULLABIES PRESENT AURORA STANDS IN SNOW THE BOWERY, 19:30–22:45, £TBC

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

USHER HALL, 19:00–22:00, £9 (£4.50)

Music, carols and popular classics from Edinburgh schools.

LEITH FOLK CLUB (MASSIE AND GREEN)

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

MR KIL

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £5

Ambient rockers fresh from supporting The Proclaimers.

String guitars and delicate melodies.

THE VILLAGE, 19:30–22:45, £8

PLASTIC ADULTS (INCENDIARY BATS)

Innovative instrumentaists.

NIGHT NOISE TEAM (COLLAR UP)

NIGHTLIFE

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

Pop rockers single launch.

Electro indie rock.

ELECTRONICALL

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:30–23:00, £4

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

STRANGE BREW, LA PAZ

WHITE NOISE

Psychedelic funk and experimental rock.

New live bands, plus alternative beats on the DJ decks.

Progressive new wave.

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

THE BATTLEFIELD BAND

QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:30, £12 (£10)

Celtic tunes, merging ancient and modern instruments.

MARTIN METCALFE, NEIL WATSON

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Troubled troubadours.

SAD SOCIETY

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4

Punk rock.

SAT 21 NOV SATURDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ THE JAZZ BAR, 15:00–18:00, FREE

Ease yourself into the weekend, jazz style.

TEATIME ACOUSTIC

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

Medley of live bands and singers.

ILLUMINATE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Religious group who met at a Scripture Union camp.

MAN OF THE HOUR (ATTICA RAGE)

STUDIO 24, 19:00–22:00, £6

Metal thrash up.

RED 2 RED, RUDI ALBA

THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:00–03:00, £4

WED 25 NOV RELL, ROB SPROUL-CRAN, THE MERCHANTS THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Punky rock and acoustic indie mix-up.

THE UNDEAD FAMILY

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Extreme Spanish metal.

THU 26 NOV TEATIME ACOUSTIC

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

Medley of live bands and singers.

GARY NUMAN

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £22

GOOD SHOES (COPY HAHO, JESUS H FOXX)

THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8

New wave pop.

THE MILL (LOST IN AUDIO, IDIOT CUT)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:30–22:30, FREE

Free new live music showcase. Request tickets from www.themilllive.com

THE HUSSYS, RANDAN DISCOTHEQUE, SNIDE RHYTHMS, THE YOUNG SPOOKS THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Pop, electro folk and disco. Made for dancing.

CHARITY BAW (COME ON GANG, BIG NED, LITTLE ESKIMOS)

THE DULL FUDDS

Top line-up of live bands and DJs, in aid of Oxfam.

CHRIS WALLCE AND LOOSE GRIP

FIFTY CALIBER SMILE, GHOSTS OF PROGRESS

Canadian drum beats.

THE BOWERY, 19:00–22:45, £10

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Acoustic rock and blues.

DEATH TRAP CITY, FREE KORPS BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Energetic rock and electro.

SUN 22 NOV FOUR SEASONS BY CANDLELIGHT

USHER HALL, 15:00–18:00, £16.50-£29.50

RIPPING RECORDS T: 0131 226 7010 WWW.TICKETWEB.CO.UK T: 08444 77 1000 TICKETS SCOTLAND T: 0131 220 3234

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, FREE

Norwegian singer/songwriter with a fondness for pop tunes.

Laid-back reggae.

for weekend Brunch, Lunch & Dinner & Midweek evening meals. Delicious specials plus our extensive range of bar snacks are available every day whether you are ravenous or peckish.

Why not sample our award-winning cocktail menu or try one of the Rums and tequilas from our comprehensive selection of spirits.

Our favourite indie poppers.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:30–22:00, £4

Classic rock covers.

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

With very special guest

Folky funk fusion.

CRANACHAN

1SP

The Queen’s Hall, EDINBURGH

FUTURISTIC RETRO CHAMPIONS (VENDOR DEFENDER)

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

UKEBOOGIE

THE BOWERY, 19:30–22:45, £5

Daniel Johnston

VASCO DA GAMBA, SONS OF FIONN, GARY STEWART BAND

Orchestral event performed in full 18th century costume.

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Jocular indie rock.

THE JAZZ BAR, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

FRI 27 NOV TEATIME ACOUSTIC

French musician, Jaycee, pits his wares against local talent, Mike Dred. Lovely stuff.

HAVANA FAYRE

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Indie funkiness.

WODENSTHRONE, HAAR, CNOC AN TURSA BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £5

Dark metal, perfect for a Saturday night.

FANATTICA

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 20:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Raucous Balkan-inspired folk music.

MOISHES BAGEL

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8-£10

Balkan-influenced jazz, klezmer and virtuoso.

SUN 29 NOV JOHNNY FOREIGNER

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

Noisy pop.

T120S, AKOLAYD, HEROES BURN, THE HOTS LIPS THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Indie rock.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, INGESTED, ARKANE BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £5

Death metal. With bells on.

RENEE STEPHANIE, VICTORIA BENNETT

THE JAZZ BAR, 21:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Two female jazz vocalists.

MON 30 NOV THE ACADEMY OF SOUND AND MUSIC

THE ARK, 19:30–23:00, £TBC

Rocky poppy niceness.

OJOS DE BRUJO (LA TROBA KUNG-FU)

USHER HALL, 20:00–22:30, £18.50 (£14.50)

THE JAZZ BAR, 18:00–20:30, FREE

Rumba, hip-hop and flamenco from Barcelona.

TANGO IN THE ATTIC, POSE VICTORIOUS, DEAD SEA SOULS

THESE MONSTERS, CASTROVALVA, JACKIE TREEHORN, VASQUEZ

Medley of live bands and singers.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £5

Triple bill of new bands.

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £5

THE CUT-UPS, JOEY TERRIFYING, BILY LIAR

OPEN MIC NIGHT

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

SOUL TRAIN KOSHER CEILIDH

Punky pop rock.

A one-off concert of Jewish folk and soul.

QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:30, £18

THE LOT, 19:30–21:30, FREE (DONATIONS)

THE BOWERY, 19:30–22:45, £TBC

Progressive math rockers.

WHISTLEBINKIES, 21:30–02:30, FREE

Turn up and do your thing. Loudly.

GOMEZ

THE GREAT JAM SESSION

Indie funk noisemakers.

Renowned drop-in jazz session.

THE JAZZ BAR, 22:30–01:00, £2 (£1)

Glasgow Clubs Sun 01 Nov

Fri 06 Nov

The Joni Keen Trio

Audio Filth

Free chilled out Sunday bands.

Slutty funk.

Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Liquid Cool

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Long-running house spectacular.

Disco Badger Halloween Party

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£4) or free entry in fancy dress before 12.30am

Halloween special.

Counterfiet

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

90s nu-metal.

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Countach

The Halt Bar, 19:00–00:00, Free

Disco dancing tunes.

Minted

Boho Club, 19:00–03:00, £14

R’n’B beats and a special cheat game, where someone wins a grand.

Maps (It Hugs Back)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Experimental indie.

Damaged Goods

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 after

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Punk, pop and disco funk over two floors.

Sabotage

The Research Club, 22:00–02:00, £3

Junk

Jazz and funk mix.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anything goes, with requests accepted all night long.

Optimo Espookio

Sub Club, 23:00–04:00, £tbc

The annual Halloween bash.

Mon 02 Nov Elevator

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £6 (free for ladies before midnight)

Hip-hop, grime and dancehall.

Tue 03 Nov

Argonaut Sounds

Reggae, dancehall and dub.

Eyes Wide Open

Blackfriars Basement, 22:00–03:00, £5

60s garage and psychedelic folk rock.

Music For Pleasure

Audio Filth

Slabs Of The Tabernacle (The Third Man )

Slutty funk.

Soulful house.

The Universal, 23:00–03:00, £6

Subculture

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 before midnight, £10 after

Electo funk for freaks.

Sun 08 Nov

Electro, soul and funk.

Ska, soul and reggae.

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 14:00–19:00, Free

The Easy Orchestra

Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Free chilled out Sunday bands.

Long-running house spectacular.

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £6 (free for ladies before midnight)

Disco Badger

Hip-hop, grime and dancehall.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Hip-hop, house and electrofunk.

Junk

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £3 after

Quirky night with street performers, live bands and, er, facepainting.

Whatchamacallit

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 or students free

Funk, punk and smooth beats.

Thu 05 Nov Bazodee

The Halt Bar, 20:00–02:00, Free

Reggae and dancehall.

Common Room

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Party anthems past and present.

45 Kicks

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Punk, funk and electro.

A Party Ya Cow

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £3

Rock and dance split over two levels.

Damnnation

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £8

Anything goes, with requests accepted all night long.

Mon 09 Nov Passionality

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Old and new house classics.

Tue 10 Nov

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Riot Radio

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Tetris

Bamboo, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Indie classics.

Hip-hop, pop and funk.

Tictactoeclub (Robert Dietz, Andrew Doran)

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £5

Guest DJs night.

Sat 07 Nov This Is

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £7 (£5) after

Hip-hop, house and pop.

Pandemic

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 after

Indie, garage and soul.

Infexious

Soundhaus, 21:30–03:30, £12

Hard trance over two areas, with a host of DJs.

All Tore Up

Blackfriars Basement, 22:00–03:00, £7

50s record hop. Whatever that may be.

Homegrown

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Indie, dance and soul.

Absolution

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Metal mayhem.

Cathouse Saturdays

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Killer Kitsch

Electro clash and 80s trash.

Wed 11 Nov Haribo

Common, 22:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Sweet pick ‘n’ mix of tunes.

Twisted

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £3 after

Quirky night with street performers, live bands and, er, facepainting.

Whatchamacallit

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 or students free

Funk, punk and smooth beats.

Thu 12 Nov

Common Room

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Party anthems past and present.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Altnation

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Rock, metal and punk.

Misbehavin’

Raunchy club night.

90s nu-metal.

Guilty pleasure themed third birthday party.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Skint/Vengeance

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Emo and pop rock. Or go dark in the back bar with death metal.

Cheap & Nasty

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

Funk, techno and party tunes.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Techno, beats and electronica.

Sat 14 Nov Sleazy Sunday

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 14:00–19:00, Free

Ska, soul and reggae.

This Is

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £7 (£5) after

Hip-hop, house and pop.

Homegrown

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Indie, dance and soul.

Absolution

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Metal mayhem.

Cathouse Saturdays

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Nu Skool

Eureka

All things funky.

Dance, indie and hip-hop anthems.

Sabotage

Upside Down

Anything goes, with requests accepted all night long.

Good music played by bad people.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Mon 16 Nov Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Old and new house classics.

Chart cheese and R’n’B.

Tetris

Bamboo, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Hip-hop, pop and funk.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Indie, dance and soul.

Shout Bamalama

Blackfriars Basement, 22:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 (£3) after

Dancefloor fillers from the 50s and 60s.

Electro clash and 80s trash.

Cathouse Saturdays

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Happy clappy mix of classic rock and emo pop beats.

Wed 18 Nov Haribo

Sabado Saturdays

Sweet pick ‘n’ mix of tunes.

Dance, R’n’B and soul.

Common, 22:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £8 after

TONGUE IN CHEEK

Rectify

Rockin’ indie and electropop.

Hard dance, techno and minimal trance.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Soundhaus, 22:30–03:30, £tbc

Monkey Puzzle (Eddie Railton, Peter Slater)

Nu Skool

Indie, electro and disco.

Rockshop

Bar Bloc, 23:00–03:00, Free

Whatchamacallit

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 or students free

Funk, punk and smooth beats.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

All things funky.

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Rock ‘n’ roll, all night long.

Singles Night

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight, £5 after

Thu 19 Nov

Playing only 45s, all night long.

Bazodee

The Halt Bar, 20:00–02:00, Free

Reggae and dancehall.

Slabs of the Tabernacle Vs. Pest Control (Rude 66) The Universal, 23:00–03:00, £10

Common Room

Subculture

Party anthems past and present.

Electo funk for freaks.

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 before midnight, £10 after

45 Kicks

Bottle Rocket

Punk, funk and electro.

Indie dancing club, with indie dancing.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Eureka

Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dance, indie and hip-hop anthems.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Sun 22 Nov

Skint/Vengeance

Sleazy Sunday

Emo and pop rock. Or go dark in the back bar with death metal.

Ska, soul and reggae.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Slip it out

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 14:00–19:00, Free

Swing Guitars

Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Synth

Liquid Cool

Alabama 3 Aftershow Party

Electro, future disco and distorted pop.

Long-running house spectacular.

Celebrate Alabama 3’s album launch with live bands and DJs.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

Dance, R’n’B and soul.

Soundhaus, 23:00–03:00, £10

Half My Heart Beats

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie pop for cool kids.

Nu Skool

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Rockshop

Rock ‘n’ roll, all night long.

Subculture

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 before midnight, £10 after

Electo funk for freaks.

Sun 15 Nov Ian Forbes

Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Free chilled out Sunday bands.

Liquid Cool

Classic rock.

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Cheap & Nasty

Funk, techno and party tunes.

Slutty funk.

Music For Pleasure

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 after

Electro, soul and funk.

Ballbreaker/Vice

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Rock and dance split over two levels.

Elevator

Mutant disco, punk and hip-hop.

Jazz and funk mix.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip-hop, house and electrofunk.

Sabotage

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anything goes, with requests accepted all night long.

Mon 23 Nov Passionality

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Old and new house classics.

Tue 24 Nov Audiocouture

Equalised

Tetris

Hip-hop, grime and dancehall.

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Electro grooves.

Hip-hop, house and electrofunk.

Junk

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £6 (free for ladies before midnight)

Emo and pop rock. Or go dark in the back bar with death metal.

Teenage Lust

Disco Badger

Jazz and funk mix.

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Eclectic electro.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Audio Filth

Raw Vibez

Long-running house spectacular.

Free chilled out Sunday bands.

Junk

Fri 20 Nov

Disco Badger

Rock ‘n’ roll, all night long.

Homegrown

Killer Kitsch

Skint/Vengeance

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Dirty electro and disco-rock.

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Orderly Disorder

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Hip-hop, house and pop.

The Arches, 22:00–03:00, £14

Audiocouture

Old Skool

Rockshop

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £7 (£5) after

Death Disco

Tue 17 Nov

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Sat 21 Nov This Is

Passionality

Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Sabado Saturdays

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Counterfiet

Ivory Blacks, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Wrong Island (Teamy and Dirty Larry)

Reggae and dancehall.

The Halt Bar, 20:00–02:00, Free

Black Cat Burlesque

Dance, indie and hip-hop anthems.

Indie classics.

Bazodee

Punk, funk and electro.

Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, Free

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

All things funky.

Sabado Saturdays Dance, R’n’B and soul.

Riot Radio

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £8 after

Altnation Eureka

Funk, soul and vintage disco.

Rockin’ indie and electropop.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Funky mix of tunes.

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £8 after

Old Skool

TONGUE IN CHEEK

45 Kicks

Rock, metal and punk.

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Happy clappy mix of classic rock and emo pop beats.

Happy clappy mix of classic rock and emo pop beats.

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Ballers Social and Citinite Present (Jimmy Edgar, Gosub)

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

The Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Jazz and funk mix.

Chart cheese and R’n’B.

Twisted

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Elevator

Funk, soul and vintage disco.

Rockin’ indie and electropop.

Damnnation: Black Friday

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Killer Kitsch

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Rock and dance split over two levels.

Punk rock, metal and emo.

Old Skool

TONGUE IN CHEEK

Ballbreaker/Vice

Liquid Cool

Hip-hop, pop and funk.

Sweet pick ‘n’ mix of tunes.

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 after

Sleazy Sunday

Audiocouture

Common, 22:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Music For Pleasure

Ballbreaker/Vice

Special Byblos presents night, with Stonebridge.

Haribo

Indie, motown and pop with a capital ‘P’.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Tetris

Wed 04 Nov

Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–02:00, £4

Sabotage

Electro, soul and funk.

Stonebridge

Electro clash and 80s trash.

Spitfire

Special live DJ set.

Old and new house classics.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Metal, industrial and rock.

Bamboo, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Fri 13 Nov

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £5

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 after

Passionality

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Second City (Marco Bernadi)

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

Chart cheese and R’n’B.

Bamboo, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Hip-hop, pop and funk.

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Funk, soul and vintage disco.

Ivory Blacks, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Rocking club night.

Killer Kitsch

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Electro clash and 80s trash.

Wed 25 Nov

Riot Radio

Haribo

Indie classics.

Sweet pick ‘n’ mix of tunes.

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Common, 22:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

November 2009

THE SKINNY 65

Glasgow Clubs TONGUE IN CHEEK

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Rockin’ indie and electropop.

Twisted

Byblos, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £3 after

Quirky night with street performers, live bands and, er, facepainting.

Whatchamacallit

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 or students free

Funk, punk and smooth beats.

Thu 26 Nov Bazodee

The Halt Bar, 20:00–02:00, Free

Reggae and dancehall.

Common Room

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Party anthems past and present.

45 Kicks

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Punk, funk and electro.

Twisted Byblos, 22:30–03:00, Free before midnight, £3 after

Quirky night with street performers, live bands and, er, facepainting.

Cathouse Saturdays The Cathouse, 22:30–04:00, £6 (£5)

Happy clappy mix of classic rock and emo pop beats.

Inside Out The Arches, 22:30–04:00, £tbc

Special birthday party night featuring Showtek.

Cosmic Microwave (Clinical) Bar Bloc, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funky electro and disco.

Men And Machines (Pantha Du Prince) Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £8

Electro acoustic beats.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Men and Machines, Pantha Du Prince

Eureka

Top class live DJ sets.

Dance, indie and hip-hop anthems.

Modern Lovers

Cryotec

Underground dance.

Bamboo, 23:00–03:00, Free

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Skint/Vengeance

The Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight, £5 after

Emo and pop rock. Or go dark in the back bar with death metal.

Retro beats, with guest Gerry Love (of Teenage Fanclub).

The Pump Club

Nu Skool

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Dubstep, techno and jungle beats, with live guests

Fri 27 Nov Audio Filth

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 (£3) after

Slutty funk.

Rockaburley VIII: Bad Girls of Burlesque

Classic Grand, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

Alternative burlesque night.

Soulsville (Tamla Town, 6TS George, Club Soul) Mono, 19:00–01:00, Free

Music for dancing along to.

Friday Street

Blackfriars Basement, 22:00–03:00, £5

Mod standards.

Music For Pleasure

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 after

Hip-hop, grime and dancehall.

Ballbreaker/Vice

The Cathouse, 22:30–04:00, £5 (£4)

Rock and dance split over two levels.

Electo funk for freaks.

Specialitee

Old Skool

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Common, 17:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £7 (£5) after

Hip-hop, house and pop.

Hip-hop and dubstep.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Soul shaking club classics.

Retro-fest, playing anything from 1970 to 1999.

Mixed Up

Misfits

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Playing everything but cheese.

Tue 10 Nov

Twisted disco.

Antics

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Tokyoblu

Alternative anthems.

Trade Union

Garage disco, house and funky Latin beats.

Playing everything but cheese.

Volume

Nu-Fire

Hip-hop and dubstep.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Tue 03 Nov Passion

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5(£3)

Chart mash-ups; this fortnight is a silent disco special.

Antics

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Alternative anthems.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£6)

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £7 or £6 with a mask

Dubstep special with guest Stenchman.

Skunkfunk

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Extreme funk, dance and disco.

Sat 07 Nov Jam The Box Goes Live

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Faultless breaks and hip-hop.

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Wed 04 Nov Hi-Jinx

The Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5

The GRV, 19:00–03:00, £5

GHQ, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Disco, chart and electro.

Musika Downtown with Felix Da Housecat Ocean Terminal, 22:00–03:00, £18

Special one-off with Felix on the decks.

Liquid Soul

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £4 before 11pm, £7 after

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sleazy Sunday Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 14:00–03:00, Free

Faultless breaks and hip-hop.

Tuesday Heartbreak

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Groove beats and swirling guitars.

Wed 11 Nov

Ska, soul and reggae.

Three Card Trick Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Common, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Long-running house spectacular.

Disco Badger Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £5 (£4) after

Hip-hop, house and electrofunk.

ABC, 23:00–03:00, £8

Junk The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Jazz and funk mix.

We Is Eclectic @ Speakeasy Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

The sister club to We Are Electric.

Thu 05 Nov We Could Be Heroes

Indie, dance and soul.

Old and new house classics.

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

66 THE SKINNY November 2009

Mixed Bizness

Ten Tracks Night

Surprise selection, with DJs playing their all-time faves.

Top music from our beloved Ten Tracks.

The Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–01:00, Free

Bounce

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5(£3)

Long-running indie house night.

Kitsch

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £2 after

Chart cheese.

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The residents slug it out on the decks.

Sneaky Beats

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bass-heavy underground sounds.

Homegrown

Sweet reggae rocking.

Born To Be Wide

Kitsch tunes and cool visuals.

Slide It In

Mon 30 Nov

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6.50 (£5)

The Electric Circus, 19:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, soul and electro.

Cult classics.

Messenger Sound System

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Anything goes, with requests accepted all night long.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Classic rock in the downstairs club.

Sucka Punch

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Carry On

The Electric Circus, 00:00–03:00, Free

Classic hits and dance faves.

Fri 06 Nov OVERTIME

The Electric Circus, 17:00–23:00, Free

Pre-club free fun.

Hip-hop, house and crunk.

The Electric Circus, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Egg

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Extreme funk, dance and disco.

Sat 14 Nov Circus

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £4 before 11pm, £7 after

Retro, disco and funky house.

Tease Age

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £6 after

60s mod, rock and soul.

Ascension

Indie pop.

Top dancey beats.

Electro goth in the downstairs club.

The Electric Circus, 23:00–03:00, £6

JungleDub

Bubblegum

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep and jungle

The Pit

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Poptastic mix of chart and retro disco.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Decklectic @ Speakeasy

We Are Electric

Colourful mix of art and psychedelic tunes.

Metal and rock request night.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

Underground electronica.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

Bubblegum

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Skunkfunk

Bang Bang Club

Metal and rock request night.

Fuel

Drum and bass.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk and blues.

Underground electronica.

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £10

Jerk Alert

Retro night of 50s rock, 60s grooves and 70s psychedelia.

Poptastic mix of chart and retro disco.

Xplicit

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Killer tunes and teapot cocktails.

The Pit

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Cheesy disco, comedy and childish games.

The Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5

Hi-Jinx

Beep Beep Yeah @ Speakeasy

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Liquid Soul

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

We Are Electric

The Snatch Club

Disco, chart and electro.

Soul Society

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £6

Split

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Sun 29 Nov

Twisted disco.

GHQ, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Dubstep and jungle

Indie pop.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £6 after

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Off-kilter indie.

JungleDub

Garage, punk and the occasional live band.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Misfits

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

LV Hz

The sister club to We Are Electric.

Passionality

Bamboo, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Planet Earth

60s mod, rock and soul.

The Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

This Is

Nu-Fire

Tease Age

Riot Radio

Sat 28 Nov

House and R’n’B

Jerk Alert

Sabotage

Indie classics.

Twisted

Hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

Special monthly with guest DJs.

Funk, soul and vintage disco.

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Mon 02 Nov

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £3 before 11pm, £6 after

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

We Is Eclectic @ Speakeasy

Soul and club classics.

Indie, electro and disco.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free Alternative punk, metal and goth.

Kandiflip

Soundhaus, 23:00–03:30, £7 (£5)

Monkey Puzzle (Eddie Railton, Peter Slater) Bar Bloc, 23:00–03:00, Free

Glammed-up house.

Sections

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Retro, disco and funky house.

Fun dance night.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Our House @ Speakeasy

Mixed Up

The Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–01:00, Free

Mon 09 Nov

Killer tunes and teapot cocktails.

Fools Gold Tour (ATrak, Joker of the Scene, GreenMoney)

How’s Your Party

Soul shaking club classics.

Groove beats and swirling guitars.

Liquid Cool

Byblos, 22:30–03:00, £6 (free for ladies before midnight)

Funk, afro and latin grooves with residents DJs Jiminez and Astroboy.

Subculture

Pressure Elevator

New wave, 80s synthpop and chart smashes.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Tuesday Heartbreak

Free chilled out Sunday bands.

Underground electro.

Twisted

Rock ‘n’ roll, all night long.

Electro, soul and funk.

The Arches, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

Gumbofunk

Circus

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 before midnight, £10 after

Psychedelic trance in the upstairs club.

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Killer Kitsch

Split

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £5 after

Cosmic

Alternative punk, metal and goth.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep and breaks.

Off-kilter indie.

Rockshop

Sections

Unmissable first Birthday of the Edinburgh branch of cabaret drawing class, Dr Sketchy.

Live bands followed by a funky house DJ soundtrack.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 after

Cabaret Voltaire, 20:00–03:00, £10 (£8)

LV Hz

The Hot Club

Black Tent

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £2 (members free)

Dr Sketchy’s Birthday Boudoir @ Speakeasy

All things funky.

Eruption

Punk, blues and burlesque dancers.

Sun 01 Nov Coalition

The Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Chilled out soul beats.

The Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Edinburgh Clubs

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Thu 12 Nov We Could Be Heroes

The Electric Circus, 19:00–03:00, Free

Kitsch tunes and cool visuals.

Bounce

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5(£3)

Long-running indie house night.

Kitsch

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £2 after

Chart cheese.

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The residents slug it out on the decks, this week with a special live set from Boycotts.

Sneaky Beats

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, soul and electro.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)

Fake

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £2 (members free)

Electro house megamix.

Grafik

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Indie rock in the downstairs club.

Karnival

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£8) Electro dance and soul with a live set from Harvey McKay.

Mumbo Jumbo

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 before midnight, £7 (£6) after

Funk, soul, electro and house.

The Egg

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2.50 before 11.30pm, £5 after

Mish-mash of sounds, from 60s garage to ska-punk.

Transmit: Volt

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Electronica and dance.

Asazi Space Funk Explosion The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Funky hip-hop, jazz and rock.

Sun 15 Nov

Sucka Punch

Coalition

Mish-mash of sounds, from 60s garage to ska-punk.

Bass-heavy underground sounds.

Dubstep and breaks.

The Go-Go

The Electric Circus, 00:00–03:00, Free

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2.50 before 11.30pm, £5 after

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Carry On

Killer Kitsch

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Classic hits and dance faves.

New wave, 80s synthpop and chart smashes.

Ultragroove

OVERTIME

Ska, punk and garage in the upstairs club.

Fri 13 Nov

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

The Electric Circus, 17:00–23:00, Free

Residents party night.

Pre-club free fun.

Asazi Space Funk Explosion

Kandiflip

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Funky hip-hop, jazz and rock.

Sun 08 Nov Coalition

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £3 before 11pm, £6 after

House and R’n’B

Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sections

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Alternative punk, metal and goth.

Mon 16 Nov Twisted

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Soul shaking club classics.

Mixed Up

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

Nu-Fire

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Retro-fest, playing anything from 1970 to 1999.

Killer Kitsch

We are Electric Vs. Sick Note

Hip-hop and dubstep.

One-off with special guest Steve Aoki.

Playing everything but cheese.

Dubstep and breaks.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

New wave, 80s synthpop and chart smashes.

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:30–03:00, £12

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Tue 17 Nov

Bounce

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5(£3)

Antics

Long-running indie house night.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Four Corners

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight, £4 after

Alternative anthems.

SRC Charity Night

Funk, jazz and hip-hop.

Avoid

Party charity club night.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Wee Red Bar, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£2)

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight, £4 after

Laid back house and deep dub, in aid of Wateraid.

LV Hz

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Off-kilter indie.

Split

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Kitsch

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £2 after

Chart cheese.

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The residents slug it out on the decks, this week with a special live set from Three Blind Wolves.

Faultless breaks and hip-hop.

Sneaky Beats

Tuesday Heartbreak

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, soul and electro.

Groove beats and swirling guitars.

Sucka Punch

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bass-heavy underground sounds.

Wed 18 Nov

Carry On

Hi-Jinx

The Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5

Killer tunes and teapot cocktails.

Jerk Alert

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Electric Circus, 00:00–03:00, Free

Classic hits and dance faves.

Fri 20 Nov

Indie pop.

OVERTIME

JungleDub

Pre-club free fun.

The Electric Circus, 17:00–23:00, Free

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep and jungle

The Green Door

The Pit

Rockabilly and rock’n’roll.

Studio 24, 22:00–03:00, £4

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Kandiflip

Metal and rock request night.

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £3 before 11pm, £6 after

We Are Electric

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

Underground electronica.

House and R’n’B

Kapital

The Caves, 22:30–03:00, £10

We Is Eclectic @ Speakeasy Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

The sister club to We Are Electric.

European techno from Domonik Eulberg.

Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Misfits

Twisted disco.

Riddim Tuffa Sound (Deadly Hunta, Solo Banton) The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £6 before midnight, £8 after

Reggae, dubstep and jungle.

Stepback

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Funky bass.

Vintage Violence

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £4

Vintage garage, soul and junk-shop glam.

Skunkfunk

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Extreme funk, dance and disco.

Sat 21 Nov

Bubblegum

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Poptastic mix of chart and retro disco.

Def Jam Tribute

The GRV, 23:00–03:00, £4 before midnight £7 (£5) after

Classic hip-hop.

Fuel

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

GHQ, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Disco, chart and electro.

Liquid Soul

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £4 before 11pm, £7 after

Retro, disco and funky house.

Tease Age

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £6 after

Compakt

Kitsch tunes and cool visuals.

Razor sharp house and techno mix-up.

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Beat On Beat Off

Electro indie in the upstairs club.

Groove beats and swirling guitars.

Wed 25 Nov The Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5

Killer tunes and teapot cocktails.

Jerk Alert

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop megamix.

The Egg

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2.50 before 11.30pm, £5 after

Mish-mash of sounds, from 60s garage to ska-punk.

Ultragroove

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £2 (members free)

Disco, or should that be D.I.S.C.O.

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 or £4 in costume

Electro and glam techno - plus visual artists and the ‘Freaky Brides’.

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Cool reggae beats.

Misfits

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Indie pop.

Twisted disco.

JungleDub

Pins and Needles Fifth Birthday

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep and jungle

Metal and rock request night.

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 23:00–03:00, Free

Confusion is Sex

Dondeman

Hi-Jinx

The Pit

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

We Are Electric

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £2 (members free)

House, disco and techno birthday bash.

Sugarbeat

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £15

Dance legends Plump DJs play.

Underground electronica.

Skunkfunk

We Is Eclectic @ Speakeasy

Extreme funk, dance and disco.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free before midnight, £2 after

The sister club to We Are Electric.

Soul Society

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

Funk and blues.

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Sat 28 Nov Circus

GHQ, 21:00–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Disco, chart and electro.

ElectroSushi

Thu 26 Nov We Could Be Heroes

The Caves, 22:00–03:00, £5 before midnight, £7 after

Kitsch tunes and cool visuals.

Liquid Soul

The Electric Circus, 19:00–03:00, Free

Minimal techno and house.

Night of musical fun.

Bounce

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £4 before 11pm, £7 after

Asazi Space Funk Explosion

Long-running indie house night.

Wire

The Electric Circus, 23:00–03:00, £6

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Funky hip-hop, jazz and rock.

Sun 22 Nov

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £5(£3)

Kitsch

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £2 after

Chart cheese.

Coalition

Ride

Dubstep and breaks.

Electro and hip-hop.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

New wave, 80s synthpop and chart smashes.

The residents slug it out on the decks.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Alternative punk, metal and goth.

Mon 23 Nov Mixed Up

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

Nu-Fire

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop and dubstep.

Trade Union

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Playing everything but cheese.

Tue 24 Nov Antics

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free

Alternative anthems.

LV Hz

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Off-kilter indie.

Split

aCabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Faultless breaks and hip-hop.

Tease Age

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £2 before 11pm, £6 after

60s mod, rock and soul.

The Hive, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £4 after

Poptastic mix of chart and retro disco.

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Retro, disco and funky house.

Bubblegum

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Killer Kitsch

Sections

CYBERZAP!

The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

MCF Hip-Hop Party (Music Comes First Records artists)

Wasabi Disco

Circus

Tuesday Heartbreak

Classic rock in the downstairs club.

Funky edged soul, for the Voodoo Rooms second birthday Party.

The Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–01:00, Free

We Could Be Heroes

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £4

A mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle.

Residents party night, with special guests Motor City Drum Ensemble.

60s mod, rock and soul.

The Electric Circus, 19:00–03:00, Free

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 before midnight, £7 after

Soul Spectrum

Retro-fest, playing anything from 1970 to 1999.

Thu 19 Nov

Big 'N' Bashy

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sucka Punch

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bass-heavy underground sounds.

Carry On

The Electric Circus, 00:00–03:00, Free

Classic hits and dance faves.

Fri 27 Nov

Dare @ Speakeasy

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5

New night playing the best in electro dance.

Grafik

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Indie rock in the downstairs club.

Headspin

The Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 before midnight, £8 after

Funky night with Jon Carter on his triple-deck and keyboard set.

OVERTIME

The Electric Circus, 17:00–23:00, Free

Playdate

Autobahn

House special.

Pre-club free fun.

The Strathmore, 20:00–00:00, Free

Kraut rock, synth-pop and punk.

UKBass

Henry’s Cellar Bar, 20:00–03:00, £5

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £2 (members free)

The Egg

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2.50 before 11.30pm, £5 after

Bass, jungle and old school.

Mish-mash of sounds, from 60s garage to ska-punk.

Kandiflip

The Mission

Po Na Na, 22:30–03:00, £3 before 11pm, £6 after

House and R’n’B

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free before 11.30pm, £6 (£4) after

Legendary rock night in the upstairs club.

Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free before 11pm, £5 after

Retro-fest, playing anything from 1970 to 1999.

Va Va Voom

The Electric Circus, 23:00–03:00, £6

An eclectic mix of burlesque, dance and music.

SIGN UP or DIE! We are not threatening you, just looking out for you. The Skinny CyberZap is a weekly condensation of our blood, sweat and tears where we strive to bring you essential information about what the hell is happening in Scotland. Not only does it include reminders and previews of the up coming gigs and shows that we cover in The Skinny, but we throw some little tidbits and secrets that only CyberZap readers will be party to.

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November 2009

THE SKINNY 67

aberdeen music Sun 01 Nov

Tue 10 Nov

Belhaven Sunday Jazz

Ruby Tuesday

Jazz, obviously.

Weekly acoustic sessions.

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Sound Festival 2009

Peacock Visual Arts, 12:00–22:00, varies

Aberdeen Sinfonietta Music Hall, 19:30–22:30, £12

Interpretations of Wagner, Strauss and the like.

Shooglenifty

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £12

Traditional with an edge.

Strange Rainbow (Catriona McKay, Alistair McDonald)

The Tunnels, 20:30–00:00, £7 (£5)

Harp, violin and live electronics.

Mon 02 Nov Jeremy Warmsley

The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £5

Folky whizz kid.

Open Mic Night

MUSA, 20:00–03:00, Free

Rock up and do your thing.

Tue 03 Nov Esperi (Sarah J Tingle, Amber Wilson, Kristoffer Morgan) The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £4

Acoustic singer/songwriter talent.

Ruby Tuesday

Bar 99, 21:00–01:00, Free

Weekly acoustic sessions.

Wed 04 Nov Maximum Rhythm and Blues

Music Hall, 19:30–22:30, £20 (£18)

Musicians and lone vocalists with rhythm.

Thu 05 Nov Blazin’ Fiddles

Music Hall, 19:30–22:30, £15

Fiddle filled tunes.

McIntosh Ross

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £20

Deacon Blues singer Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh.

Vocoustics Present Castanets, Quickbeam Malt Mill, 21:00–23:00, £5

Experimental live tunes.

The Dirty Hearts Club Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

Fri 06 Nov Friday Live

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Weekly folk and blues sessions.

Idlewild

The Warehouse, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

Popular rockers.

Sun 08 Nov Belhaven Sunday Jazz

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Jazz, obviously.

Sound Festival 2009

Peacock Visual Arts, 12:00–22:00, varies

The Holloways

The Warehouse, 19:30–22:30, £9

Indie punk.

Mon 09 Nov Scott Matthews

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £12.50

Talented lyricist, who won the Ivor Novello award for best song.

Vocoustics Present Meursault

The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £5

Bar 99, 21:00–01:00, Free

Wed 11 Nov Ladysmith Black Mambazo Music Hall, 19:30–22:30, £26

Intricate gospel harmonies.

Mr Hudson After Party

The Beautiful South return as New Beautiful South, with Sandi Thom in tow.

Fresh from supporting Calvin Harris, join Mr Hudson for the messy after party.

Sun 22 Nov Belhaven Sunday Jazz The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Alternative indie loveliness.

Sound Festival 2009

Thu 12 Nov The Dirty Hearts Club Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

Fri 13 Nov Friday Live

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Weekly folk and blues sessions.

Sat 14 Nov Kashmir Red Hells Bells

The Lemon Tree, 21:00–23:00, £14

AC/DC tribute act.

Sun 15 Nov Belhaven Sunday Jazz

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Jazz, obviously.

Sound Festival 2009

Peacock Visual Arts, 12:00–22:00, varies

Moishe’s Bagel The Lemon Tree, 20:00–22:30, £10

Klezmer and Balkan beats.

Mon 23 Nov Bruce Millers The Lemon Tree, 19:00–22:30, £6

Local music students rock out on guitar.

Open Mic Night MUSA, 20:00–03:00, Free

Rock up and do your thing.

Tue 24 Nov Bruce Millers The Lemon Tree, 19:00–22:30, £6

Local music students rock out on guitar.

Ruby Tuesday Bar 99, 21:00–01:00, Free

Weekly acoustic sessions.

Wed 25 Nov Japanese noise rockers.

Fresh jazz sounds.

Mon 16 Nov Open Mic Night

MUSA, 20:00–03:00, Free

Rock up and do your thing.

Tue 17 Nov Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings

Music Hall, 20:00–22:30, £24.50

Former Rolling Stones bassist.

Ruby Tuesday

Bar 99, 21:00–01:00, Free

Weekly acoustic sessions.

Thu 19 Nov Allen Toussaint

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £18.50

Americana R’n’B.

Fri 20 Nov Friday Live

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Weekly folk and blues sessions.

A Textbook Tragedy (The Arusha Accord, Ghosts on Pegasus Bridge, Set Light Our Kingdom, To Catch a Predator) The Tunnels, 19:00–22:00, £6

Night of new live music.

Chemikal Underground with The Phantom Band The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £15

Top Scottish independent record label night.

Sat 21 Nov Salsa Celtica

The Warehouse, 19:00–22:30, £14

Open Mic Night

Music Hall, 19:30–22:30, £17.50-£26.50

Four Seasons By Candlelit An evening of romance, performed by the Mozart Festival Orchestra.

68 THE SKINNY November 2009

Exclusive DJ set of glammed up disco.

Mon 02 Nov Latin Night with DJ Yuri The Tunnels, 19:00–00:00, £3

Rock Night

Gravelling Americana.

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £15

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £9

Funky Latin night with salsa classes.

Alabama 3 Empirical

Calvin Harris DJ Set

varies

Bo Ningen

The Warehouse, 19:30–22:30, £16

Korova, 22:30–02:00, £5

Peacock Visual Arts, 12:00–22:00,

Café Drummonds, 20:00–02:00, £3

Rocked-up indie.

Sun 01 Nov

The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £20

Jazz, obviously.

Café Drummonds, 19:30–00:00, £5

Celtic Latin megamix.

Rock up and do your thing.

New Beautiful South

Broken Records

Acoustic electro that we are really rather fond of.

MUSA, 20:00–03:00, Free

Aberdeen Clubs

The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £6

Thu 26 Nov Elliot Minor The Warehouse, 19:00–22:30, £12

Classical pop.

Marcus Bonfanti The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £9

Gentle voice singer/songwriter, plus guitar.

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Live rock and DJs.

Vodka Island

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £3.50 before midnight, £4 after

Dark and dirty rock with Fudge DJs.

Wed 04 Nov Radio

Weekly folk and blues sessions.

The Animals and Spencer Davis Group The Lemon Tree, 19:30–22:30, £15

60s nostalgia a-go-go.

Sun 29 Nov Belhaven Sunday Jazz The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Jazz, obviously.

Gallows The Warehouse, 19:30–22:30, £12

Indie rockers.

Mon 30 Nov Bruce Millers The Lemon Tree, 19:00–22:30, £6

Local music students rock out on guitar.

Oceansize (And So I Watch You From Afar, Vessels) The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £9

Experimental rock.

Open Mic Night MUSA, 20:00–03:00, Free

Rock up and do your thing.

Chart radio smashes.

The Deep End, Rebel Waltz

Electrique Boutique

Up-front underground house.

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Weekly night with guest acts.

Thu 12 Nov Takeover Thursdays The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £8

Mon 23 Nov Latin Night with DJ Yuri The Tunnels, 19:00–00:00, £3

Funky Latin night with salsa classes.

Requests night.

Rock Night

Electric Institute

Live rock and DJs.

Korova, 23:00–02:00, Free

Electro, house and disco.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Fri 13 Nov The Chocolate Factory

The Rig, 17:00–02:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 before 12.30pm, £5 after

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Vodka Island

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £3.50 before midnight, £4 after

Chart, R’n’B and party anthems.

The Black Tooth Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Dark and dirty rock with Fudge DJs.

Wed 25 Nov

Chart, 90s party and house classics.

Radio

Electrique Boutique

Mixtape: Zombie Disco Squad

Chart radio smashes.

Weekly night with guest acts.

Disco dancing tunes.

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Chart radio smashes.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Electrique Boutique Presents Geek Tres Chic Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Special geeky night, so don your finest corduroy trews.

Thu 05 Nov Takeover Thursdays The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Requests night.

Electric Institute

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £7

Sat 14 Nov Remix and Rewind

The Rig, 17:00–03:00, £tbc

Mix of tunes over two floors.

Ultimate Saturday Night

Fri 06 Nov The Chocolate Factory

The Rig, 17:00–02:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 before 12.30pm, £5 after

Chart, 90s party and house classics.

Edit-Select

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £6

Techno electro.

The Tunnels, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

Sat 07 Nov Remix and Rewind

The Rig, 17:00–03:00, £tbc

Mix of tunes over two floors.

Everything Else Sucks (Heavy Feet (Potty Moouth), EEZMA, TALCOLM X & KRAZZY MARTIN) Origin, 22:00–03:00, £6

Electro-heavy night down with all the juniors.

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight / £6 after

Mon 16 Nov Latin Night with DJ Yuri The Tunnels, 19:00–00:00, £3

Funky Latin night with salsa classes.

Rock Night

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Live rock and DJs.

Vodka Island

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £3.50 before midnight, £4 after

Chart, R’n’B and party anthems.

Wed 18 Nov Radio

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Chart radio smashes.

Thu 19 Nov Takeover Thursdays

Funky dance and chart hits.

Electric Institute

THE DEEP END (Funky Transport, Mr Green)

Korova, 23:00–02:00, Free

Button pushing electro beats from Funky Transport.

Mon 09 Nov Latin Night with DJ Yuri The Tunnels, 19:00–00:00, £3

Funky Latin night with salsa classes.

Rock Night

Electro, house and disco.

Fri 20 Nov The Chocolate Factory

The Rig, 17:00–02:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 before 12.30pm, £5 after

Chart, 90s party and house classics.

Burlesque Night (Malady de Winter)

The Tunnels, 20:00–03:00, £5

Electro, house and disco.

The Dirty Hearts Club Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

Fri 27 Nov The Chocolate Factory

The Rig, 17:00–02:00, Free before 11.30pm, £3 before 12.30pm, £5 after

Chart, 90s party and house classics.

Let It Bleed

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £12

Techno, heavy house and melodic minimal.

Sat 28 Nov The Rig, 17:00–03:00, £tbc

Ultimate Saturday Night Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £5

Funky dance and chart hits.

CUT/EDIT/REWIND

The Tunnels, 23:00–03:00, £4

Turntablism trickery, plus live bands and MCs.

THE DEEP END (Funky Transport)

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight / £6 after

Funky Transport (Classic/Playhouse) hosts the long standing house music night, one of the premier weekly events in Scotland for fouring to the flooring.

THE DEEP END

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £6

Button pushing electro beats from Funky Transport.

Trash Disco

The Tunnels, 23:00–03:00, £5

House music mayhem.

Mon 30 Nov

MIXTAPE

The Tunnels, 19:00–00:00, £3

Funky Latin night, with salsa classes.

Tunes on the wrong side of sleaze.

Rock Night

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £7

Sat 21 Nov

Vodka Island

Mix of tunes over two floors.

Chart, R’n’B and party anthems.

Korova, 23:00–02:00, Free

Latin Night with DJ Yuri

Remix and Rewind

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £3.50 before midnight, £4 after

Electric Institute

New burlesque night.

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Live rock and DJs.

The Tunnels, 20:00–00:00, £5

Mix of tunes over two floors.

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £5

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £6

Requests night.

Dark and dirty rock with Fudge DJs.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Requests night.

THE DEEP END

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

The Black Tooth

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Funky Transport (Classic/Playhouse) hosts the long standing house music night, one of the premier weekly events in Scotland for fouring to the flooring.

Thu 26 Nov Takeover Thursdays

Remix and Rewind

Ultimate Saturday Night

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight / £6 after

Weekly night with guest acts.

Live music charity night.

The Tunnels, 23:00–03:00, £3

The Dirty Hearts Club Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Bliss Club Night

THE DEEP END (Jesse Rose, Funky Transport)

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Electrique Boutique

Hero Next Door Charity Night

Local DJs play tech house, electro and progressive.

Electro, house and disco.

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Funky dance and chart hits.

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £5

Korova, 23:00–02:00, Free

New indie electro monthly.

The Lemon Tree, 12:00–14:00, Free

Snafu, 23:00–03:00, £3 before midnight / £6 after

Radio

Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

THE DEEP END (Funky Transport, Mr Green)

Funky Transport (Classic/Playhouse) hosts the long standing house music night, one of the premier weekly events in Scotland for fouring to the flooring.

Wed 11 Nov

The Black Tooth

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Friday Live

Dark and dirty rock with Fudge DJs.

Chart, R’n’B and party anthems.

Krack

Fri 27 Nov

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

The Dirty Hearts Club

The Dirty Hearts Club Electro indie rock for breaking hearts to.

The Black Tooth

The Rig, 19:00–02:00, Free

Live rock and DJs.

Vodka Island

The Rig, 17:00–03:00, £tbc

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £3.50 before midnight, £4 after

Ultimate Saturday Night

The Black Tooth

Funky dance and chart hits.

Dark and dirty rock with Fudge DJs.

Tiger Tiger, 22:00–03:00, £5

Chart, R’n’B and party anthems.

Snafu, 23:00–02:00, £3

Dundee Music Sun 01 Nov

Wed 11 Nov

Dundee Clubs Wed 25 Nov

Sweet Jamaica

Old Man of the Forest

Good Shoes, Copy Haho

Exclusive live DJ night.

Album launch night with live performance.

Healthy mix of pop and rock.

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, Free

Mon 02 Nov Idlewild

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £15

Indie rockers.

Thu 05 Nov Penetration

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £8

Melodic new wave.

Open Mic

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, Free

Musical free for all.

Fri 06 Nov Rush Tribute Show Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £8

Tribute to 60s band Rush.

Quiver and The Ladysnatchers, Shutter

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £5 (£3)

Experimental rock.

Sat 07 Nov Buck Rogers

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £6 (£4.50)

Indie punk experimentalists.

Lefty and Friends: Afternoon Session

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, Free

Rocky covers band perform a lunchtime special.

The Mirror Trap, Milk Klub, Bornwina

Dexter’s Lounge Bar, 20:00–00:00, £tbc

Three local bands rock out.

Sun 08 Nov Ugly Duckling

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £10

Hip hop with lighthearted lyrics.

The Reading Rooms, 20:00–00:00, Free

Fri 13 Nov The Shermans

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Pop and rock.

Quiver and The Ladysnatchers

Dexter’s Lounge Bar, 20:00–00:00, £tbc

Indie rock.

Transmission

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie, hardcore and electro pop.

Sat 14 Nov Revolver

Dexter’s Lounge Bar, 20:00–00:00, £tbc

Beatles tribute band.

Wed 18 Nov Threshold Sicks

Dexter’s Lounge Bar, 20:00–00:00, £tbc

Thrash metal.

Sat 21 Nov The Wallbirds

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £6

Country folk with lively bass guitar.

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £6 (£4)

Thu 26 Nov Out of Sight, Lights and Sounds

Yearning pop songs.

Fri 06 Nov

Fri 20 Nov

Open Mic

Techno and house.

Drum and bass.

Pop punk.

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, Free

Musical free for all.

Fri 27 Nov Elliot Minor

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £12

Classic rock.

Sat 28 Nov

The Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:00, £tbc

The Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:00, £tbc

Renegades

Entropy

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Alternative mash-up of funk, electro and trip-hop.

Sat 07 Nov Slam

The Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:00, £8 in advance, £10 on door

Tango In The Attic

Special four hour electro DJ set.

Indie garage.

Asylum (DJ Sleaze)

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Sun 29 Nov Oceansize

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £9

Experimental rock.

Saint Jude’s Infirmary, Kid Canaveral, Panda Su, Hookers For Jesus Westport Bar, 19:30–23:00, £5

Top indie pop line-up.

Special DF Concerts event with Fratellis in tow.

Dexter’s Lounge Bar, 20:00–00:00, £tbc

Silly shenanigans with a bouncy castle and foam cannon.

London Nightclub, 22:00–03:00, £5

PANGEA

Special party night of alternative indie.

Lions. Chase. Tigers

Silly shenanigans with a bouncy castle and foam cannon.

London Nightclub, 22:00–03:00, £5

HEADWAY

Codiene Velvet Club

Sun 22 Nov

Wed 18 Nov Beta

Fat Sam’s, 19:30–22:30, £5

Hanney Glow Party

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Wed 04 Nov Beta

The Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £8

Mon 30 Nov

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Metal disco fun.

Wed 11 Nov Beta

London Nightclub, 22:00–03:00, £5

Silly shenanigans with a bouncy castle and foam cannon.

Fri 13 Nov SPACEBALL

The Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:00, £tbc

Wonky dance beats.

Sat 14 Nov

Gallows

Asylum (Big Daddy P)

Noisy thrash rock.

Metal disco fun.

Fat Sam’s, 19:00–22:30, £12

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4 Punk party.

Sat 21 Nov Bleep Present High Powered Launch Party

The Reading Rooms, 21:30–02:30, £4 before 11pm, £6 after

Electro beats.

Asylum (DJ Beaker and Maxi)

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5 Metal disco fun.

Wed 25 Nov Beta

London Nightclub, 22:00–03:00, £5

Silly shenanigans with a bouncy castle and foam cannon.

Fri 27 Nov Messenger Sound System

The Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:00, £tbc

Roots and reggae.

The Beartrap

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4 Alternative and art rock, plus the odd live band.

November 2009

THE SKINNY 69

LIFESTYLE

Students and recent graduates flaunt their creative wares at BAD DUDES VS DRAGON NINJA, an exhibition and pop up shop launched as a collaboration with Edinburgh creative space Pageant (10 Lauriston Street). Not even the till point is safe from a bit of artistic revelry. Launching tonight from 7pm-9pm, and running until Friday 27 November.

WED, 4 NOV

The Filmhouse resurrects a cult classic with CITIZEN KANE (6pm, also on Thursday 5 November, £6.50/£4.90)

THU, 5 NOV

Wrap up warm and head down to the beach for Aberdeen’s WINTER FESTIVAL FIREWORKS NIGHT (7pm, events@ aberdeencity.gov.uk). Or grab your sparklers and go to your local annual display. Just leave your shell suits at home, kids.

WED, 11 NOV

Prada style with a Primark budget? St Columba’s charity shop teams up with the EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW SCHOOLS OF ART for CHARITY COUTURE, showcasing a modern mix of charity, vintage, and designer labels. Come and grab some tips on how to truly individualise your style on a budget. Tickets £10 from Edinburgh’s St Columba’s shops. www.stcolumbashospice.org.uk

SAT, 31 OCT

Grab a roll of sellotape, distort your face and join in a belter of a Day Of The Dead out with the GLASGOW ZOMBIE WALK (3pm, starting at Glasgow QMU).

Moan, fumble about and hell, lick bins if you want. The police are onto it, but that should only make it more amusing. tinyurl.com/glasgowzombiewalk

FRI, 6 NOV

Edinburgh’s experimental film festival, DIVERSIONS, arrives at the Filmhouse with a packed programme of cutting edge cinema, sourced both locally and from around the world. With an eclectic mix of special events and days out, this gives a great excuse – if you need one - for a weekend of filmic frolicking. www.diversionsfilmfestival.co.uk

THUR, 12 NOV

If you’ve ever fancied the look of those American roadside diners, THE RIO CAFÉ is for you. Free live jazz every Thursday night, picked by the self proclaimed jazzned, Mark Robb. Hyndland Street, Glasgow.

From 8pm.

MacR eady!

FRI, 30 OCT

FRI, 13 NOV

It’s a day of bad luck, so may as well hide in the cinema and scare yourself half blind with John Carpenter’s classic THE THING. GFT, 10.45pm, £3.

PHOTO: PETE DUNLOP

TUE, 17 NOV

If you’ve ever spent any amount of time pondering the beauty of the human form, why not grab your pencil and turn those thoughts to action with ALL THE YOUNG NUDES (Flying Duck, every Tuesday). Yes, it’s life drawing - but the bar’s open if you need some artistic dutch courage. (£4)

MON, 23 NOV

WED, 18 NOV

A mix of hardened swing and contemporary jazz, EMPIRICAL (playing The Tollbooth, Stirling, 8pm) are scooping up the plaudits from the music world… and quite rightly so. (£12/£10)

The 78 on Glasgow's Kelvinhaugh Street picks up where Paul McCartney left off with MEAT FREE MONDAY. With 2 courses for a paltry £8, you’ll save on the cash and the environment from all those nasty carbon emissions. Also at Mono and Stereo (every Monday, Glasgow).

THU,19 NOV FR

EE! Take a closer look at Glasgow style with GLASGOW STYLE EMBROIDERIES, a showcase of needlework and embroidery from the talented young folk at the Glasgow School of Art. The Burrell Collection, 2pm.

TUE, 24 NOV FR

EE! Chuck on your ra-ra skirt for the Tuesday residency at Blackfriars with a 50s blast from THE BOTTLENECKERS. Or just roll up your trouser leg a couple of inches.

That’s it. Now dance energetically.

FRI, 20 OCT

Aberdeen goes international with the launch of the WINTER INTERNATIONAL STREET MARKET MARKET. 9am-6pm, Union Terrace.

v o N 2 2 l i 't

WED, 25 NOV

The veteran of the head bang and maestro of the backcomb ALICE COOPER arrives in Glasgow. Hide your children. £32.50

NOVEMBER 2009

THE SKINNY 7

Edinburgh theatre Bedlam Theatre Pillowman Various times, 04 Nov—05 Nov, £4

Sinister bedtime story

Festival Theatre Grassic Gibbon 07:30PM, 06 Nov—15 Nov, not 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, £15–£12.50

The struggle of the lauded Scots author.

The Elixir of Love Various times, Multiple dates, £14–01224 641122

Giles Havergal’s version of the witty love opera

Italian Girl in Algiers 07:15PM, 22 Nov—27 Nov, not 23rd, 25th, 26th, 0131 529 6000

TV soap goes real opera

Playhouse We Will Rock You 07:30PM, 04 Nov—30 Nov, not 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, contact venue for details

Queen and sci-fi: stomping singalongs with a Ben Elton script

King’s Theatre House of Bernada Alba 07:30PM, 03 Nov—07 Nov, £12.50

Lorca goes Glasgow.

Rain Man 07:30PM, 10 Nov—14 Nov, £12.50-£25

Theatre adaptation of the Oscarwinning movie.

We’re Going On A Bear Hunt 10:30AM, 12 Nov—14 Nov, £8

Michael Rosen’s popular book is brought to life.

Rocky Horror Show 07:30PM, 23 Nov—28 Nov, www. ambassadors.co.uk

Kitsch classic

Royal Lyceum Confessions of A Justified Sinner 07:30PM, 02 Nov—07 Nov, 0131 248 4848

Presbyterian murder theology. Like Nick Cave in a kilt.

Peter Pan 07:30PM, 27 Nov—28 Nov, 01312484848

St Bride’s Centre Wit 08:00PM, 11 Nov—14 Nov, £9

the journey of Professor Vivian Bearing, who has been diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. There is no Stage V.

Traverse Snapshots: Creation and Play 07:30PM, 28 Nov, £5

Puppetry cabaret, with WARP winning animation

The Dough is Rising 12:30PM, Fri 6th, Fri 13th, Fri 20th, Fri 27th, £8

Edinburgh art Analogue Knock Knock

10:00AM, 02 Nov—14 Nov, not 8th, FREE

Collective New Work Scotland

11:00AM, 01 Nov—29 Nov, not 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, free

An annual exhibition of emerging Scottish artists. This year includes exhibits work by Katharina Kiebacher, Anna Tanner, Michael White, Rachel Adams and Jennifer Grant.

Corn Exchange Anna Sikorska

11:00AM, 13 Nov—27 Nov, not 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, free

Anna’s work uses found raw materials and objects from daily life.

Dean Gallery ‘Painter’ and The Studio 10:00AM, 01 Nov—30 Nov, free

With a traditional background in painting, McCarthy made his name with performance art, lashing out against traditional artistic ideas. His famous and irreverent video Painter (1995) satirises the formula of the artist as lonely genius in his studio.

Weekly new work with food

Letters of a Love Betrayed 07:30PM, 17 Nov, £13

07:30PM, 17 Nov—29 Nov, 0131 228 1404

Mellow fruitfulness from the Traverse, exploring what “new writing” might really mean

10:00AM, 01 Nov—30 Nov, free

This Keiller Library display is part of a programme of events, organised in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library, which will take place in venues across Edinburgh from October 2009 to January 2010.

Fruitmarket The End Of The Line: Attitudes To Drawing Various times, 14 Nov—30 Nov, Free

Explores a diverse range of contemporary approaches to drawing

Ingleby Gallery David Austen 10:00AM, 01 Nov—14 Nov, free

Modern Art Running Time: Artist films in Scotland 1960 to now 10:00AM, 01 Nov—22 Nov, Free

THE first ever exhibition dedicated exclusively to artist films in Scotland.

Artist Rooms 10:00AM, 01 Nov—30 Nov, free

Vija Celmins’ ethereal images of seas, deserts and the night sky, a complete series of landscape and portrait paintings by Alex Katz, and Francesca Woodman’s intimate, surrealist-influenced photographs.

National Gallery

Allende gets the operatic treatment that her work has called out for.

Traverse Autumn Festival

A Model of Order: Concrete Poetry

Picturing Britain

autumn09 12 Sep – 4 Dec

10:00AM, 07 Nov—30 Nov, Free

Watercolours of Britain.

The Discovery of Spain | British Artists and Collectors: Goya to Picasso 10:00AM, 10 Nov, free

A celebration of Spanish culture, as seen through the eyes of British artists and art collectors.

glasgow theatre CCA Hair I Am

07:30PM, 04 Nov—05 Nov, £7

Ginger activist, part of Glasgay!

Citizens Theatre Chronicles of Irania 07:30PM, 12 Nov—14 Nov, £12

RSAMD The Seagull

07:30PM, 02 Nov—07 Nov, £10

Chekov’s 100th anniversary

Ramshorn Antigone

07:30PM, 02 Nov—07 Nov, £6

Woman fights the ancient Greek state

Mercury Fur

07:30PM, 16 Nov—21 Nov, £6

Bleak futuristic morality tale

The Arches Natura Morte

07:00PM, 10 Nov—14 Nov, £16

Radical and award-winning Physical Theatre

Glasgow Art Club Art Club Cabaret 08:00PM, 06 Nov, £10

Theatre Royal The Steamie

Tramway Where does the human begin and the animal stop

Warehouse of Horrors

Whistler

Including works by Marc Bijl, Beagles and Ramsay, Olaf Breuning, Neil Clements, Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy

Dance with a colourful imagination

Rumpelstiltskin 07:30PM, 20 Nov—21 Nov, £8

Dance and new music, in Tramway style

Tron Theatre Jesus Queen of Heaven

get on your dancing shoes

07:30PM, 03 Nov—07 Nov, £8.50

Jo Clifford makes the obvious connection between marginalised characters.

Part of Glasgay!

Wee Home from Home 07:30PM, 18 Nov, 01415524267

Plan B classic comes back

The Maw Broon Monologues

drop-in classes and workshops for everyone

07:30PM, 03 Nov—08 Nov, £10.50

12:00PM, 10 Nov, free

Group exhbition by five young london based artists

CCA Cryptic Nights Horror Special 08:00PM, 05 Nov, £5

Earthy and supernatural short films, from the BBC Film Network.

As you slip into silence 11:00AM, 14 Nov—27 Nov, Free

New work by Glasgow-based artists Lynn Hynd and Sam Stead. Both artists create works that occupy a space between sculpture and painting.

Collins Gallery Namad:A Persian Journey in Felt

Various times, 02 Nov—14 Nov, not 8th, free

Mary Mary

Comic character gets philsophical

Torsten Lauschmann

Autobahn

A solo exhibition of new work by Glasgow based Torsten Lauschmann, including a new film installation work.

Scots classic makes the rounds.

Tough tales from the road

Grassic Gibbon

Waltz of the Cold Wind 07:30PM, 19 Nov—21 Nov, £10.50

12:00PM, Multiple dates, free

dancebase.co.uk 14 – 16 Grassmarket Edinburgh EH1 2JU

Sound obsessed drama

Pirates of Penzance

Supper Club Cabaret

Swash your musical buckles with Karen Dunbar

Return to the 1980s with food in a basket and classic hits

07:30PM, 10 Nov—14 Nov, £12

Components of the Image

Indepen-dance

07:30PM, 11 Nov—14 Nov, Call 0141 552 4267

The struggle of the lauded Scots author.

12:00PM, 01 Nov—15 Nov, not 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, free–Free

07:30PM, 06 Nov—07 Nov, £8

Various times, 02 Nov—21 Nov, £10–£12.50

07:30PM, 06 Nov—15 Nov, £15–£12.50

+44 141

06:00PM, 06 Nov, Free

This double bill premieres work choreographed specifically for Independance’s collaboration StopGAP Dance Company, UK.

Recoat Gallery Lost and Found Structures

12:00PM, 01 Nov—15 Nov, not 2nd, 9th, free

08:00PM, 27 Nov, 01415524267

70 THE SKINNY November 2009

Roxy Arthouse Way Out Is The Way Out 12:00PM, 01 Nov—15 Nov, not 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, Free

RSA Works by RSA Members and Scholars 10:00AM, Multiple dates, free

HOMECOMING: Past Masters Various times, 14 Nov—30 Nov, free

RSA 183rd ANNUAL EXHIBITION Various times, 14 Nov—30 Nov, £4 / £3 concs.

Sierra Metro In the Absence of Wolves 10:00AM, 10 Nov, free

Nieuwenhuizen’s practice investigates the realms of shamanistic and arcane ritual and behaviour

St Margaret’s House 3 way conversation 10:00AM, 21 Nov—30 Nov, Free

Stills Elín Jakosdóttir 11:00AM, 06 Nov—30 Nov, Free

FILM works

Talbot Rice

Scottish Charity No. SC025512

Original drawings and first editions on view to launch Laudens’ book of the same name.

Art Gallery Artist Rooms

10:00AM, 01 Nov—30 Nov, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, free

Vija Celmins’ ethereal images of seas, deserts and the night sky, a complete series of landscape and portrait paintings by Alex Katz, and Francesca Woodman’s intimate, surrealist-influenced photographs.

Arts Centre 7th International Mini Print Exhibition 10:00AM, 01 Nov—29 Nov, FREE

International exhibition of small format comprising of some 200 original mini prints. The exhibition also includes a number of larger works by well known invited artists.

Maritime Museum THE NEW LANDSCAPE

10:00AM, 10 Nov—12 Nov, free

Examining the way contemporary artists deal with rural landscape and the urban environment.

Kilau Kilau Art

Various times, 01 Nov—30 Nov, FREE

Group show featuring Jamie Donald, Craig Cunningham, Gordon Fox and Lyndsey Neill.

Peacock Identities in Motion: Ayah Bdeir

09:30AM, 03 Nov—14 Nov, not 8th, 9th, FREE

An Entangled Bank: Darwin and Edinburgh

Tamarind Impressions

10:00AM, 03 Nov—28 Nov, not 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd, free

PVA Printmaker Linsay Croall showcases a wide range of printed lithographic techniques produced while in residence at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico.

An Entangled Bank will show a series of diverse but interrelated works byfive invited artists and will be accompanied by an extensive education andevents programme.

glasgow Art

Humanimalia

07:30PM, 06 Nov—07 Nov, £8 / £5

Ab. Art

Sorcha Dallas Charlie Hammond

11:00AM, 03 Nov—27 Nov, not 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd, free

Solo show.

Modern Institute Luke Fowler

Various times, 14 Nov—30 Nov, not 15th, 22nd, 29th, Free

Solo show from the renowned Glasgow filmmaker

Tramway Hilary Lloyd

12:00PM, 01 Nov—29 Nov, not 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, free

Lloyd creates a form of ‘antiportraiture’, shooting situations and protagonists with a contrived passivity that allows the viewer to form their own narratives from her rhythmic and highly charged compositions.

Lara Favaretto

12:00PM, 01 Nov—29 Nov, not 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, free

Works of sculpture, photography, film and installation that produce a sense of magical fantasy and urgency, forming an immediate bond with the viewer through a sense of play.

Lars Laumann,

07:00PM, 11 Nov, £3 / £2

Ryan Trecartin

07:00PM, 12 Nov, £3 / £2

Video narratives founded upon a fluid yet orchestrated interaction between the artist and his collaborators: friends, family, fellow artists, and various acquaintances.

Transmission Die Show Im Oktober

11:00AM, 03 Nov—07 Nov, Free

Group show to celebrate 25 years of the artist-run space

09:30AM, 03 Nov—14 Nov, not 8th, 9th, FREE

Project Slogan Francesca Nobilucci

12:00PM, 02 Nov—06 Nov, FREE

Scultural work by Edinburgh based artist Francesca Nobilucci.

Provost Skene’s A City’s Pride : Hall Russel Ship Builders 1864 - 1992 10:00AM, 12 Nov, free

This exhibition looks at the ships, the shipyard and the men and women who made Hall Russell's famous.

Beautiful Mountain Sarah J Tingle

09:00AM, 01 Nov—30 Nov, FREE

New Drawings and Paintings by Sarah J Tingle.

Ab. the.

Arts Centre The History Boys

07:30PM, 04 Nov—06 Nov, £10

Alan Bennett’s school days drama

Desperate Fishwives

07:30PM, 21 Nov—22 Nov, £12

Songs and Sketches

His Majesty’s Grassic Gibbon

07:30PM, 06 Nov—15 Nov, £15–£12.50

The struggle of the lauded Scots author.

The Elixir of Love

Various times, 04 Nov—28 Nov, not 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, £14–01224 641122

Giles Havergal’s version of the witty love opera

Chicago

Various times, 17 Nov—21 Nov, £12.50

The dark side of the musical keeps touring

The Lemon Tree Memoria

07:30PM, 18 Nov, £5

PRIZES!

COMPETITIONS WEALTH BEYOND MEASURE

WIN TICKETS TO SCOTTISH OPERA! Scottish Opera, Scotland's largest performing arts organisation, begins its season with Donizetti's The Elixir Of Love and Rossini's The Italian Girl In Algiers.

Scottish theatre impressario Giles Havergal directs The Elixir Of Love, a story of unrequited love that brims with rustic charm, rousing choruses and emotional depth, all sewn together by a slickly paced plot. The Italian Girl In Algiers is New Zealand director Colin McCall's amusingly leftfield reinterpretation of Rossini's original vision. Set in a television studio during the filming of Algiers, a popular Latin soap about the lives and loves of the Mediterranean super-rich, the action continues even when the cameras have stopped rolling.

As a special treat, The Skinny and The Festival Theatre are giving away six pairs of tickets for these two operas. Entrants can choose which of the two shows they would prefer to see, and the date they wish to attend on. The tickets that we have available are: two pairs for The Elixir Of Love (22, 26 and 28 November), and three pairs of tickets for The Italian Girl In Algiers (21, 25 and 27 November).

To enter just answer this question :

In 2004, The South Bank Show Award for Best Opera was given to which Scottish Opera production?

Visit theskinny.co.uk/competitions before 16 november for your chance to win!

WIN TICKETS TO SOULWAXMAS! Christmas crackers don't come much more banging than Soulwaxmas at Braehead Arena on 18 December; an electro extravaganza that promises to add a distinctively Belgian flavour to your yuletide festivities.

Stephen and David Dewale will appear in their full band guise as Soulwax and as their pop bastardising alter-ego, 2manydjs, along with sterling support in the form of regular collaborator Tiga and Brazilian duo Mixhell.

The Skinny have teamed up with Colours to fill your stockings with ten pairs of tickets to Soulwaxmas - but not before we break into your house through the chimney and eat all your pies.

To enter just answer this question :

'E Talking' is a single taken from which 2004 Soulwax album?

Visit theskinny.co.uk/competitions before 28 november for your chance to win!

Terms and Conditions: Please refer to theskinny.co.uk/terms.

WIN A HAMPER COURTESY OF THE ETHICAL XMAS FAIR! The Ethical Christmas Fair (12 - 20 December) sets its stalls out for the third year running in Castle Street in Edinburgh's city centre. With more than 25 stalls, including Earth Squared, Zuri Designs, The One World Shop, Yakanaka, Tearcraft and RSPB, The Ethical Christmas Fair will bring together the very best selection of gifts, food, drink, homewares, jewellery, eco gadgets, crafts, books and music; all ethically traded, all organic and all environmentally conscious. One lucky reader will win a delicious Fairtrade hamper from Divine chocolate, a bottle of Juniper Green Sloe Gin and a bottle of Juniper Green Organic Dry Gin, made from 100% organic grain and botanicals from London & Scottish. Four runners-up will each receive a bottle of Juniper Green Sloe Gin and a bottle of Juniper Green Organic Dry Gin; a bottle that's also been awarded 14 medals in nine years for taste.

To enter just answer this question :

On which street in Edinburgh will this year's Ethical Christmas Fair be held?

Visit theskinny.co.uk/competitions before 28 november for your chance to win!

Terms and Conditions: Please refer to theskinny.co.uk/terms.

Terms and Conditions: Please refer to theskinny.co.uk/terms.

WIN TICKETS TO HOMECOMING LIVE - THE FINAL FLING! Homecoming Live - The Final Fling brings together an enticing premise of an all-Scots lineup at the SECC on 28 November that looks both to the past and the present, with a potent blend of the great and the good in Scottish music.

The Vaselines, forever etched in folklore as the mercurial duo co-signed by Kurt Cobain, are joined by fellow undergound legends Teenage Fan Club.

A nod to the contemporary Scottish scene comes in the shape of The View, The Dykeenies, Twin Atlantic and Codeine Velvet Club. Last, but by no means least, the evergreen talents of Idlewild complete the lineup. The Skinny are offering ten readers a pair of tickets each for the gig, taking place in Hall 3 at the SECC.

To enter just answer this question :

Dum-Dum is the name of an album released by which band The Vaselines featuring at Homecoming Live - The Final Fling?

Visit theskinny.co.uk/competitions before 22 november for your chance to win!

Terms and Conditions: Please refer to theskinny.co.uk/terms.

November 2009

THE SKINNY 71

JOIN IN THE HOMECOMING SCOTLAND FINALE CELEBRATIONS ON ST ANDREW’S DAY WEEKEND

HALL 3 - SECC, GLASGOW - SAT 28th NOVEMBER

ALL STANDING GIG

+ FESTIVAL KITCHEN WITH THE BEST SCOTTISH FOOD AND DRINK AVAILABLE ALL EVENING

WIN TICKETS INSIDE

THE VIEW TEENAGE FANCLUB IDLEWILD KING CREOSOTE THE DYKEENIES THE VASELINES TWIN ATLANTIC CODEINE VELVET CLUB THE LAW + MORE TBA

BUSES FROM ACROSS SCOTLAND

Fri 27th Nov

sat 28th nov

sUN 29th nov

+ GOLDEN GRRRLS

+ SPECIAL GUESTS

+ SPECIAL GUESTS

THE PASTELS + 1990s

SERGEANT

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

www.homecominglive.COM Tickets 24hrs: 08444 999 990 & 0844 395 4000 www.ticketmaster.co.uk / WWW.TICKETSOUP.com

WANT ACCESS TO ALL AREAS? LIMITED NUMBER OF FESTIVAL PASSES AVAILABLE NOW! GET ENTRY TO 2 OR MORE HALLS! In person: GLASGOW - SECC, Tickets Scotland, EDINBURGH - Ripping, Tickets Scotland, DUNDEE - Grouchos and all Ticketmaster Ticket Centres. direct bus services from Edinburgh, Inverness, Aviemore, Perth, Aberdeen, Dundee & Stirling. Check www.citylink.co.uk for more information.