The Skinny December 2024

THE SKINNY

June 2022

Graduate Showcase 2022

December 2024 Issue 227

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THE SKINNY

The Skinny's songs that have annoyed us most this year Belle & Meredith Braun – When Love is Gone (from The Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack) Sabrina Carpenter – Please, Please, Please [Radio Edit] Charli xcx – Apple Pinkfong – Baby Shark Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy) KSI – Thick of It Dua Lipa – These Walls Pitbull – Powerful Women (ft. Dolly Parton) Tom MacDonald – Facts (ft. Ben Shapiro) JoJo Siwa – Karma Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for

'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 227, December 2024 © Radge Media C.I.C. December 2024 - Chat

Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk 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.

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Printed by DC Thomson & Co. Ltd, Dundee

printed on 100% recycled paper

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Championing creativity in Scotland Meet the team We asked: What's the most brat thing you did in 2024?

Editorial

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "Added this question to the pageplan."

Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor "Waiting until the last minute to answer this question with ‘I don’t think I’ve done *anything* that’s brat, sorry xoxo’"

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor "That is between me and the next scheduled game of Never Have I Ever x"

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist "I released a song called Kermode, So Confusing about my beef with another film critic. But then we shocked the world when we worked it out on the remix."

Cammy Gallagher Clubs Editor "Sold my Charli xcx ticket."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Sending my pals a photo pretending I’d got engaged whilst my partner actually proposed to me."

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "Is it brat to call my mum when I'm crying? Imo yes."

Rho Chung Theatre Editor "[Refusing to participate in the brat-themed quiz]"

Business

Production

Laurie Presswood General Manager "I was told off by a stranger on the street for talking too loudly. For context I was on the phone to my mum, discussing her upcoming choir concert."

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager "Told a taxi driver I didn’t believe in traffic lights and refused to elaborate."

Phoebe Willison Designer "Learnt to DJ lol."

Ema Smekalova Media Sales Executive "Got banned from Germany, ate a cigarette, bought a pack of white tank tops for ages 5-7 from Poundland."

Emilie Roberts Media Sales Executive "As someone who pouts, crosses my arms, stamps my foot etc a lot, I firmly believe brat is a lifestyle. Brat every day, baby."

Gabrielle Loue Media Sales Executive "Voting for Kamala."

Harvey Dimond Art Editor "Started drinking non-alcoholic beer."

Ellie Robertson Digital Editorial Assistant "I threw a friend a Taskmaster themed stag party and embodied the most brat person I can think of – Little Alex Horne."

Tallah Brash Music Editor "I stole a bottle of prosecco from a gift bag I found in a bar and drank it with my pals on the way to the cloob."

Sales

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist "I listened to Charli xcx's hit 2024 album BRAT."

Sandy Park Commercial Director "Sighing profusely, every month, when I realise I’ve not put my monthly answer in on the morning of print day."

THE SKINNY

Editorial Words: Rosamund West

I

December 2024 — Chat

t’s look back on the year time here at The Skinny, and what a year it has been. Remember when we thought 2016 was shit?

A more innocent time.

We’re still not ready to abandon democracy though – our Music team have been polled, the ballots have been counted, and we are ready to announce our top Albums of 2024. The winner won by a landslide, and their cultural dominance felt at times near total. We also get more specific, looking back on the year in Scottish music to round up, in our highly subjective opinions, the best releases.

Film approaches the measuring of screen work in three ways – you’ve got your best Films of the Year, for the movies that were good and received generally positive acclaim. Then there are the Underrated Films of the Year, for things our team loved but felt didn’t get the attention they deserved from the wider world. Then there’s TV of the Year, which provides a list of gems that you could dive into this very evening in the comfort of your own home. Spoiler – Married at First Sight Australia is once again overlooked, a travesty.

We have some Books of the Year, with each writer picking their favourite and sharing why they love it, while the Comedy team look back on their highlights from the live circuit and on screen. The centre pages are once again an illustrator-designed sheet of wrapping paper, this year by local hero Emer Tumilty.

Pull it out and use it to wrap your gifts – it’s fully recyclable, the paper so biodegradable it’s a wonder it stays in one piece long enough for you to read the magazine. Maybe it doesn’t.

It’s been a year where grassroots organising has been more and more essential. Intersections offers a survey of some of the people and collectives who are offering community and resistance in a relentlessly hostile environment. We also look at the government’s new digital-first immigration process and consider what the true cost will be, as it further raises the barriers to entry. In Art, one writer examines the culture of complicity that has been revealed in the sector as some organisations maintain their silence over the genocide in Palestine.

With the year duly surveyed, we move on to talking to some artists about things they have made that we like. Wuh Oh, aka Pete Ferguson, talks about the distress of being dropped by a major label as his eponymous debut album is finally released and he reveals a new moniker, Ferguson. We get insight from Tina Sandwich on their recent experience of going on a DIY European tour in 2024, from sleeping in vans to bingo-based fundraising.

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath discusses the collaborative process in Personal Accounts, currently on show at Talbot Rice Gallery. We meet Guy Maddin and his frequent collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson to hear about Rumours, their new comedy about a crisis at the G7 Summit. Clubs meets Kami-O, one of Scotland’s top grime and dubstep exports, to look back on the year following his signing with White Peach.

We close the issue with The Skinny on… John-Luke Roberts, who won one of our Besties awards back in August for his Fringe show. His favourite thing about 2024 has been the sense of encroaching doom, so relatable. Happy holidays!

Cover Artist Jannik Stegen is a German artist & illustrator. His work is highlighted by his bold and quirky characters, abstract shapes and colorful compositions.

After trying out medical school, he went for a degree in visual communication and studied in Darmstadt, Valencia, Athens, Hamburg and Berlin.

IG: @jannikstegen jannikstegen.com

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THE SKINNY

Love Bites: Dance With Me Love Bites

This month’s columnist reflects on embracing dancing at parties and the embarrassment that ensues Words: Annie Bowles

“D

December 2024 — Chat

ancing at house parties is over,” my friend Nadia concluded. The rest of us nodded like bobble heads. “You go to the club to dance; you go to house parties to chat.”

We agree, chimed our internal platonic polycule hive mind. The six of us – my girl group from university days – were attending a party that night, hosted by a gaggle of cool London types. At previous parties of the sort, one or more of us had reached that potent mixture of starstruck and drunk and made a fool of ourselves, either by aggressively grinding on the dancefloor or stripping (or both).

Determined to save ourselves from fatally flawed exhibitionism, we repeated our mantra. We got ready together, in our usual way. Nadia angled her cheekbones high towards us to ensure proper blending. We questioned, yet again, what to do with Aggie’s hair? Oria applied her slow, quiet lick of eyeliner, an inky stroke to her hairline. Naomi wrestled herself into a corset, her breasts proud and high.

Catherine bopped to Aaliyah’s self-titled album on Aggie’s speaker, patting glittery eyeshadow on her pale lids. I fussed and fretted over my outfit, always ready first. Coat on, bag in hand, I waited for the others to come into the night. Some rituals are sacred without scripture.

At the party, our psalm of just a few hours past was inexplicably forgotten. As one, we flooded into the room, frothing. We shrugged off coyness with our jackets. I claimed the phone on the aux and led the procession of gyrating and vibrating. Every track was a hit (except Rather Be by Clean Bandit, Nadia let me know. “Who am I to resist the pull of nostalgia?” I replied). An unspoken connection dissolved inhibition in favour of fun. We danced without judgement into the early hours, long overstaying our welcome.

In the morning, eyes ringed with smudged mascara and sleep, we barely acknowledged our transgression. The hive mind need not repeat what it already knows.

Crossword Solutions Across 1. KENDRICK LAMAR 12. ECLIPSE 13. ARENA 14. MY 15. STEP 16. ACE 18. LAM 19. INSIDE OUT 22. ODE 23. ASSASSIN 25. TWINS 26. SALVAGE 27. ORE 28. CREATOR 29. ASHORE 31. DRINK 33. HERE 35. STORY 37. SET THE SCENE 39. HELENE 41. EGG 43. COOKIES 45. AVID 47. SOMEWHAT 49. INTACT 51. LIDS 52. EGO 53. CHALLENGERS 58. NADIR 60. X-RAY 62. SATAN 63. NORMAL 65. ONE 67. XMAS 70. MITOSIS 72. VARIETY 73. SUSHI 76. NAGS 78. THESAURUS 79. GOUDA 80. YEARS 81. COOK 82. NEICE 83. BROWNIE 84. TORTURED POETS Down 1. KAMALA 2. NO 3. LA 4. METRONOME 5. REPLETE 6. OLYMPICS 7. SPOILSPORT 8. CENSUS 9. LANDSLIDES 10. DECORATIVE 11. TATTIE 17. CUSTOM 20. BALATRO 21. INK 24. STRATEGY 30. ETHOS 32. KNEAD 34. ELECTIONS 36. MERE 37. SPOTTED 38. CHARLI XCX 40. ECHOES 42. SO 44. ENT 46. INDIANA 48. SOCKS 50. CAR 54. ANTITHESIS 55. LANDSCAPES 56. NUN 57. EUROVISION 59. ICE 61. ?? 64. ARROGANT 66. NAYSAYER 68. SASS 69. BE QUIET 70. MUTINY 71. SCRUBS 74. SNAFU 75. ISSUE 76. NACHO 77. GO OUT

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THE SKINNY

Heads Up

Say goodbye to 2024 with a host of glittery parties, festive films and theatre, and vibey gigs to see you through the final stretch.

Puppy Teeth

Charli xcx

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 12 Dec, 7pm Billed as for fans of Big Thief and Wolf Alice, Edinburgh-based band Puppy Teeth are just over a year old but already have two singles to their name, crafting an intimate, vibey mix of indie-rock and shoegaze. They’ve already played at the likes of King Tut’s, La Belle Angele and The Mash House – find them at Sneaky Pete’s this month, with support from Martha May & The Mondays and Dazed & Confused.

The OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 2 Dec, 6:30pm Brat summer will never die, no matter how cold it gets.

Charli xcx is in Glasgow this month on the official tour for our album of the year (other accolades are available), and while it is very extremely sold out, keep an eye out for returns or console yourself at one of several afterparties: cult classic at The Berkeley Suite or Shitepop x Rahul.mp3 at Stereo.

Charli xcx

Christmas at Glasgow Film Theatre

Image: courtesy of Sneaky Pete's

Heads Up

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 13-24 Dec Get into the festive spirit with Glasgow Film Theatre’s usual eclectic Christmas programme, featuring everything from family classics (Elf! The Muppet Christmas Carol!) and old school favourites (It’s a Wonderful Life! White Christmas!) to leftfield choices (In Bruges!

Eyes Wide Shut!) and the new, somewhat sacrilegious Christmas canon (Die Hard is a Christmas film, etc).

Works in Progress II Dissenter Space, Edinburgh, 14 Dec, 5pm A showcase of experimental audio works both performed live and broadcast on community radio station EHFM, Works in Progress is an incredible celebration of the boundary-pushing talent emerging from Edinburgh’s underground scene. The full programme is still in the works, but the likes of maniatrix, samwooddoowmas, Camilla Grudova and Ana Tewungwa are already confirmed.

Photo: Joanne Matthews

Photo: Belladonna Paloma

Photo: Ponyboy and El Hogg

Image: courtesy of Glasgow Film Theatre

Puppy Teeth

Works in Progress

Belladonna Paloma: The Grave in Full Vigour

December 2024 — Chat

It's a Wonderful Life

Ponyboy NYE Stereo, Glasgow, 31 Dec, 9pm Ring in the mid-point of the decade (and forget about what a horrifying notion that is) at queer dance party Ponyboy’s New Year’s Eve bash. The lineup is yet to be confirmed, but you can expect the usual incredible local DJs playing everything from hyperpop to techno, incredible lighting and visuals, and all-out costumes.

Mattiel Stereo, Glasgow, 10 Dec, 7pm

Image: courtesy of RSA

Jill Lorean at Lost Map Humbug Treasure Island

Lost Map’s Christmas Humbug

Treasure Island The Christmas Show

Photo: Andy Monaghan

Royal Scottish Academy RSA, Edinburgh, until 22 Dec

The Grave in Full Vigour

Photo: Dylan Drummond

Photo: Jess Shurte

The Christmas Show

Ponyboy

Generator Projects, Dundee, until 15 Dec A solo show, publication and collective reading event

by Shetland-based artist and poet Belladonna Paloma, The Grave in Full Vigour transforms the gallery space of Generator Projects into part-necropolis, partreading room dedicated to exploring the divine and abject nature of the trans body. Objects and words transform into devotional totems, exploring ideas of embodiment and the boundaries between sanctity and sacrilege.

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until 4 Jan

Mattiel

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Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 14 Dec, 1:30pm + 7pm

THE SKINNY

Image: courtesy of The Mirror Dance

The Mirror Dance presents Ruf Dug + Tia Cousins Various venues, Edinburgh, 21 Dec, 9pm Edinburgh party icons The Mirror Dance are putting on an extra special extravaganza for the last of their 2024 nights. They’re welcoming NTS host Ruf Dug and London-based DJ and producer Tia Cousins, who will kick off the night with a pub quiz in West Port Oracle’s airplane-themed basement, before heading to Sneaky Pete’s for a six-hour B2B.

Jyoty presents We’ve Been Here Before The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 6 Dec, 11pm As part of her world tour, Amsterdam-born and London-based DJ Jyoty is stopping off in Edinburgh for a night of genre-bending mixes and selections. Having established a name for herself on London community radio Rinse FM, she’s taking her skills into the material world – expect everything from house, garage, and grime to dancehall and R‘n’B.

Ruf Dug

Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh, 6-8 Dec Skip the hellish crowds of Princes Street and shop small and thoughtful this Christmas. There’s a wealth of Christmas Markets in the city that don’t charge a small fortune for mass-produced tat – one of our favourites is the Winter Markets at Out of the Blue, which features a host of local makers and artisans perfect for picking up treats for your loved ones (or, let’s be real, yourself).

Heads Up

Image: courtesy of Sneaky Pete's

Photo: Buy oh Buoy

Winter Arts Markets

Out of the Blue Winter Markets

Photo: Kim Simpson

Photo: Andy Ros

Jyoty

LAMAYA

LAMAYA Photo: Martin Senyszack

The Nutcracker

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 6-30 Dec, various times Escape the ever darkening days and duck into a magical world of sugar plum fairies, dancing dolls and scheming mice in this gorgeous production of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet. Catch it in Glasgow in the run-up to Christmas, or hang tight for a January run at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre to brighten the gloomy month. It doesn’t get more festive than this.

Eclair Fifi

Hogmanay Extravaganza

Photo: World of Twist

Photo: Patrick Jameson

The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 7 Dec, 9pm

The Mash House, Edinburgh, 20-22 Dec, 5pm Edinburgh club night Headset turns ten this year and to celebrate the big milestone, they’re throwing a three-day festival of some of the best names in Scotland across the spectrum of rave, sound system, techno and experimental. Find the likes of Feena, Neil Landstrumm, Hu-Sane, Proc Fiskal and Eclair Fifi playing across four rooms from 5pm-5am.

The Pitt, Edinburgh, 31 Dec, 6pm Photo: Baptiste Merel

Image: Columbia Pictures

World of Twist: Zag Erlat + Shaqdi

Headset Festival

Untitled, Monika Sosnowska

When Harry Met Sally

Zag Erlat + Shaqdi

When Harry Met Sally

Monika Sosnowska: Broken Glass Dirt and Dust The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until 15 Jan

Cameo, Edinburgh, 31 Dec, 4pm — 9 —

December 2024 — Chat

Scottish Ballet: The Nutcracker

SWG3, Glasgow, 6 Dec, 7pm East Kilbride singer-songwriter released her debut single last year, a sultry, gorgeously produced meld of soul, R‘n’B and dance that transcends the strict boundaries between genres. At only 20 years old, she’s poised to be one of the next big names in Scottish music: catch her headlining SWG3’s The Poetry Club this month.

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SLEIGH YOUR TRAVEL THIS CHRISTMAS Trams from every 7 minutes Free parking at Ingliston P&R

December 2024 — Events Guide

Free all-night trams on hogmanay

Scan here to purchase your tram tickets

£4.50 adult £2.25 child £8.00 family — 10 —

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What's On

Photo: Euan Roberston

Man Of Moon

December 2024 — Events Guide

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Romy

Photo: Rosie Sco

Dead Pony

Music It would be rude not to start proceedings with a trio of artists who play the OVO Hydro this month that feature in our top 20 albums of the year – cult classic Charli xcx (2 Dec), Dublin post-punks Fontaines D.C. (4 Dec) and New York wordsmiths Vampire Weekend (8 Dec). Also be sure to seek out Charli collaborators Romy at Old Fruitmarket (14 Dec) and A. G. Cook at SWG3 (15 Dec).

If you like your December gigs with a whole lot more Christmas spirit of course, then we’ve got you covered there too. If you want to be drowning in festive cheer, The Brothers Fife play shows in Edinburgh (Bellfield Brewery, 10 Dec) and Glasgow (The Rum Shack, 11 Dec). Meanwhile, Lost Map Records’ annual Humbug brings Afterlands, Alabaster DePlume, Susan Bear and Pictish Trail to Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre (14 Dec), and Tommy Reilly’s All Star Christmas 9 takes over The Rum Shack (21 Dec). Lineup TBA, all proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Earlier in the month in Stirling (6 & 7 Dec), raising funds for Tiny Changes, Sing the Greys celebrates the music of Frightened Rabbit over two nights at the Tolbooth, while the following weekend in Glasgow, Music Is the Light are raising funds for mental health charity SAMH at Stereo (15 Dec) with performances from Haiver (featuring Frabbit’s Billy Kennedy), Darren McGarvey and KMD. And the rest of the month, rich in local talent, looks like this. Jamie Sutherland celebrates The World As It Used to Be at The Hug & Pint (3 Dec) and Voodoo Rooms (8 Dec), Jill Lorean launches Peace Cult at Mono (4 Dec), Cahill//Costello celebrate their second collaborative record at The Rum Shack (4 Dec) and Sneaky Pete’s (6 Dec). Odd Luke launches Surface Tension at The Poetry Club (7 Dec), Wendell Borton launch Big Love at The Hug & Pint (13 Dec), Loup Havenith releases Understand at Stereo (13 Dec)', and all female and non-binary songwriting collective Hen Hoose celebrate EP3 at CCA (14 Dec).

Launches aside, in Edinburgh Amplifi returns to The Queen’s Hall for its last outing of the year with music from Groove Down, Juniper LAI and Nuna (4 Dec). Works In Progress takes over Leith’s Dissenter Space (14 Dec, 2-10pm) for a whole day of immersive and experimental audiovisual performances, while in the week leading up to the event successful applicants will have their music broadcast on EHFM. On the 17th, KuleeAngee bring their dancefloorfuelled indie-electro to Sneaky Pete’s (and Nice N Sleazy, 19 Dec), while Quiet Houses bring their dreamy indie-pop to Cab Vol (20 Dec).

In Glasgow, the Glasgow Songwriter Round returns to King Tut’s with Alice Faye, Grayling, Kenneth-Noah Blair and Julen Santamaria (9 Dec), while Dead Pony round off their biggest headline tour to date with a show at QMU (13 Dec). Celebrating ten years of the local queer feminist events collective, Spite House party at Mono with Lung Leg, comfort, Blue Kanues and Blues Angles (14 Dec), Theo Bleak headlines King Tut’s (19 Dec), Man Of Moon play Saint Luke’s (20 Dec), Roddy Woomble does double duty at The Hug & Pint (20 & 21 Dec), and Doss round out their year with a rager at Stereo (21 Dec).

After Christmas, Idlewild play the Night Afore at Assembly Rooms (30 Dec), while VoxBox get NYE celebrations underway early with their afternoon

Photo: Vic Lentaigne

All details correct at the time of writing

y

THE SKINNY

BYOB VoxBox Hogmanay Jamboree (31 Dec). On 1 January, Hogmanay celebrations continue in Edinburgh with The Vaselines and Sacred Paws at Portobello Town Hall, while for First Footin’ artists like Karine Polwart, Dead Pony, Zoe Graham and Spyres play various spots across the city. In Glasgow, King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution series kicks off on the 2nd, and The Hug & Pint’s First Footing shows get underway on the 4th. [Tallah Brash] Image: 2023 Focus Features LLC Sicaria

Clubs On Monday 2 December, celebrate the brat bank holiday, as Charli xcx hits Glasgow. Stereo’s Shitepop x Rahul.mp3: The Brat Afterparty is sold out, however you can still catch the cult classic afterparty at The Berkeley Suite (2 Dec). On Friday 6th, Glasgow’s Poole showcases his latest release to life, bringing live abstract electronics, visuals, and vocals, to EXIT. A few streets southwards, techno’s favourite stoners – Fjaak – light up Sub Club for Sensu. Otherwise, Gary Beck and A Deeper Groove join forces to launch brand new night, Visionaire to the seaside town of Ayr (6 Dec). On Saturday, FUSE turns eight in style, hosting the SICARIA UK Tour - BACK2BASICS feat. Hometown Soundsystem go to Glasgow’s Stereo – support from SOFSOF, Luckybabe & Chicha (7 Dec). Club Nacht welcomes home Wallace, alongside his tartan army and a bag of blistering house to The Bongo Club (14 Dec). Witness hundreds of Scottish acts, across four rooms, in support of one local HERO: Skillis hosts Headset’s 10th Birthday x 3-Day Festival from Friday 20 December at The Mash House – this may never happen again (20-22 Dec).

Meanwhile, in Glasgow Illian Tape roll through to La Cheetah with stone-cold drumfunk on Friday (20 Dec), while DUENDE X Decades of Dub shares global bass flavours to EXIT on Saturday (21 Dec). On Friday 27, it’s the Animal Farm 20th Birthday at Sub Club – our forecasts predict no nonsense doof. For more doof, Fraz.ier is back in Aberdeen at UNIT 51; this time with E.DN b2b Liam Capello (27 Dec). Techno birthdays persist across

Snowpiercer

Image: courtesy of the artist

December 2024 — Events Guide

The Holdovers

Film The year comes to an end with two key indie arts venues in Glasgow shut for the winter – OFFLINE is off because it still doesn’t have proper heating and the CCA has closed till April because of a budget shortfall.

Summerhall in Edinburgh, meanwhile, is essentially closed (and could potentially be sold) thanks to a winding up petition applied by HMRC. If it wasn’t abundantly clear, it’s a perilous time for the bricks-and-mortar institutions which are essential to Scotland’s bright film scene. So this festive season, be sure to head out and support the venues that are still operating.

You could watch some Christmas films, perhaps? The classics are screening, of course: there are many chances to catch the likes of It’s a Wonderful Life (13-24 Dec, GFT; 21-24, DCA; 20-24, Cameo) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (15-24 Dec, GFT; 23-24, DCA; 7-15 Dec, Cameo), but there are plenty of less traditional picks too.

Cameo’s selection is particularly inspired. As well as darker visions of Christmas like Batman Returns (6 Dec), Black Christmas (13 Dec), The Apartment (12&15 Dec) and All that Heaven Allows (16-19 Dec), the Edinburgh cinema is also making a case for more recent films like Little Women (7-9 Dec) and Tangerine (24 Dec) to be welcomed into the Christmas film pantheon, along with a trio of festive 2024 releases – The Holdovers (11 Dec), All of Us Strangers (18 Dec) and Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point (24 Dec).

Away from Xmas, BFI’s high-octane season The Art of Action comes to DCA with screenings of Point Break (13 Dec), The Adventures of Robin Hood (7 Dec) and Bong Joon-ho’s blistering Snowpiercer (4 Dec). There’s also a great double bill of female-led Mexican curios The Panther Women and The Bat Woman courtesy of Invisible Women collective (10 Dec)'.

GFT closes out a great year of CineMasters with a season dedicated to Scotland’s greatest-ever filmmaker, Bill Douglas. Douglas only made a handful of shorts and one feature, so the season is slim, but these stunning films shouldn’t be missed on the big screen. His award-winning trilogy of shorts – My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home – screens on 14 December and his 1986 epic Comrades is on the 21st. And to put the season in context, check out Bill Douglas: My Best Friend, Jack Archer’s documentary tracing Douglas’s friendship with his long-time collaborator Peter Jewell.

That doc kicks off the season on 11 December, followed by a Q&A with Archer. [Jamie Dunn]

Bill Douglas: My Best Friend

Wallace

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THE SKINNY

Photo: @kylehenryphoto

the weekend at The Bongo Club, firstly for 15 Years Of Pulse: Ben Sims on Saturday 28 December, followed by the 23-year finale of Jackhammer with Dave Clarke and Detroit Techno Militia. Round out the year in Edinburgh at the Mash House Hogmanay. Although it’s tricky to compete with fireworks and a 5am license, EXIT, Ponyboy, and The Berkeley Suite have Glasgow clubbers in safe hands come Tuesday 31 Dec. [Cammy Gallagher]

Image: courtesy of the artists Artist Self Portrait, in collaboration with Ajamu

Camara Taylor, Untitled (familiar document), Digital Print, 2014

December 2024 — Events Guide

Photo: Douglas Robertson

Photo: Tommy Ga Ken Wan

Cinderella

Theatre It’s December, and the family-friendly Christmas theatre is frankly inescapable – don’t fight it. Scottish Ballet transport you into a literal chocolate box with Tchaikovsky’s festive banger, The Nutcracker, taking up residency in Glasgow’s Theatre Royal (6-30 Dec) before touring the nation in the new year.

For the pantomime enthusiasts, your first port of call must be Glasgow’s Tron for Johnny McKnight’s Peter Pan and the Incredible Stinkerbell (until 5 Jan). Fans of this auteur of Scottish panto can also catch a production in Stirling’s Macrobert, with Snow White and the Seven De’Wharffs running until 31 December. Òran Mór’s panto comes via A Play, a Pie and a Pint, with Weans in the Wood(lands) serving up hyper local humour with a side of pastry (until 5 Jan).

Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre presents Cinderella (until 31 Dec), starring stalwarts of the genre Grant Stott and Allan Stewart as the wicked stepmother and fairy godmother respectively, featuring singing, dancing, some flying horses and a confrontingly large number of references to the Hibees. Festival Theatre’s Studio space also has a non-panto production, with Barrowland Ballroom’s The Gift (14-31 Dec) presenting physical theatre for the very young.

For a family-friendly theatre trip that doesn’t include anyone shouting ‘he’s behind you’ or lobbing sweets at your head, the Lyceum has you covered. Treasure Island (until 4 Jan) promises a swashbuckling adventure featuring a young Jim Hawkins working at North Edinburgh’s finest accommodation for reformed pirates and past-it privateers. Dundee Rep celebrates the city’s local heritage, with a live action musical production of Oor Wullie (until 30 Dec) catering to all your Jings! Crivvens! Help Ma Boab! needs.

Fraz.ier

Image: courtesy of the artist

Image: © Estate of Maud Sulter, courtesy of Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow Maud Sulter, Self portrait, 201 2, large format Polaroid

Art At Dundee Contemporary Arts, Soft Impressions (7 Dec-23 Mar) brings together the work of artists Helen Cammock, Ingrid Pollard and Camara Taylor. Spanning both gallery spaces, the exhibition includes new and existing print works from the early 2000s to present day, focusing on the artists’ shared engagement with the medium of printmaking.

Nearby at Generator Projects, a solo show by Belladonna Paloma titled The Grave in Full Vigour (until 15 Dec) sees the Shetland-based artist transform the gallery into a necropolis-cum-reading room devoted to the divine and abject nature of the trans body.

In Edinburgh, Fruitmarket’s final exhibition of the year is a treat. The first retrospective since his death in 2021, In a State of Flux brings together numerous sculptural works by the late Barry Le Va. One of the most important American artists of the 20th century, this major exhibition spans five decades of his career. Continues until 2 February.

In Glasgow, Tramway presents an immersive exhibition by the late Scottish-Ghanaian poet, artist, photographer, writer, curator, gallerist and publisher Maud Sulter. Curated in collaboration with the Maud Sulter Estate, the exhibition is the largest showcase of Sulter’s expansive practice in Scotland and showcases the artists’ rarely exhibited moving image and spoken word archives as well as large scale photographic works. Continues until 30 March.

At the Hunterian Gallery, Digging in Another Time: Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature (until 29 Apr) draws inspiration from the renowned writer and artist’s diaries. Bringing together works from across his career, the exhibition also features commissions by six contemporary artists – Andrew Black, Luke Fowler, Jade de Montserrat, Tom Walker, Matthew Arthur Williams and Sarah Wood.

It’s your final opportunity to catch Marlene Smith’s exhibition Ah, Sugar at the Reid Gallery at The Glasgow School of Art (until 14 Dec). Curated by Seán Elder, the exhibition brings together newly-commissioned photographic and sculptural work that demonstrates the artist’s ongoing interest in the material and bodily qualities of artistic practice. [Harvey Dimond]

Oor Wullie

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THE SKINNY

Photo: Jess Shurte

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic Hollie McNish

Books It’s a bit of a quiet month book-wise, after the chaos of the various November festivals. Bookshops are largely focused on festive selling in this period: head over to Portobello Bookshop and Golden Hare Books on 5 December for a late-night browsing session (complete with mince pies and mulled wine!). Also at Portobello, Hayden Thorpe drops by the shop on 10 December to tour his stunning musical adaptation of Robert Macfarlane’s Ness. Over at Scottish Storytelling Centre, meanwhile, there’s storytelling with Queer Folk Tales on 5 December and spoken word with Loud Poets on 6 December. For a dose of festive frolic, Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen brings his annual music and spoken word showcase Cold Turkey to Leith St Andrew’s Church alongside Hollie McNish, Withered Hand and Gemma Cairney. And for more poetry, Glasgow Zine Library have an open mic night (11 Dec) and Glasgow Women’s Library host an Urdu Poetry Special at their monthly Story Café. [Anahit Behrooz] Comedy You’ve no excuse not to catch some comedy on Sunday 8 December. At Glasgow Stand, take your pick from Ray Bradshaw performing and recording a best-of from his past three solo shows (4pm, £12) or supremely daft longform improv from the Spontaneous Potter gang (8.30pm, £12), who donate a percentage of their profits to a trans charity every year. In Edinburgh, choose between a fundraiser in aid of Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home (Edinburgh Stand, 8pm, £15), headlined by Fred MacAulay; or pop to Monkey Barrel for some highly alternative entertainment: jester John-Luke Roberts presents Geoffrey Chaucer’s Mediaeval Christmas Festivitye! (8pm, £15) – a night of gleeful nonsense with (jingle) bells on.

Regular gigs gearing up for Festive specials include The Improv Show, run by Will Naameh (aka MC Hammersmith, who’s just supported Jason Manford on tour), which unleashes Christmas chaos at Monkey Barrel on 10 December (8pm, £6), while Glasgow Improv Theatre debuts a new format with Couch Surfs the Web (17 Dec, The Old Hairdresser’s, 8.30pm, £6) – spontaneous scenes based on bad Trip Advisor reviews. Open Comedy’s last show of 2024, tentatively titled Mango-ho-ho!, showcases female, trans and non-binary acts on 17 December (Artisan Roast Leith Walk, 7pm, free) while Material, Girl fills Glasgow Stand with some Christmas-week chuckles (22 Dec, 3pm, £8). We’re also VERY excited to see the return of David Callaghan’s superb multimedia comedy night Progranimate (11 Dec, The Old Hairdresser’s, 8pm, £5.50).

Finally, three nights of superb stand-up bring the year to a close.

Dundee comedy fans should see Susie McCabe’s latest show, The Merchant of Menace, which comes to the Gardyne Theatre (11 Dec, 8pm, £16.75). In the same week, Liam Withnail records his first special across two shows on 14 December (Monkey Barrel, 6pm and 8pm, £10), with tickets left for the early performance only. Round it off with a HUGE lineup of some of the UK’s best-known stand-ups: Sara Pascoe is joined by Phil Wang, Rhys James, Jen Brister and Steen Raskopoulos at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall (15 Dec, 7.30pm, £28.50) and Glasgow 02 Academy (16 Dec, Doors 6.30pm, £30.20).

[Polly Glynn]

Phil Wang

Photo: Natasha Pszenicki

December 2024 — Events Guide

Treasure Island

Photo: Matt Stronge

Photo: Idil Sukan Jen Brister

Even Christmas won’t stop the Traverse from developing new Scottish playwriting talent. 4Play presents four plays by new Scottish playwrights (4-7 Dec) with new, full length works by Ruaraidh Murray, Mikey Burnett, Andrea McKenzie and Katy Nixon arriving on stage on consecutive nights. The Class Act Winter Showcase (12-13 Dec), meanwhile, presents work written by young people from Firrhill High School, Trinity Academy, Tynecastle High School and Intercultural Youth Scotland, brought to the stage by the Trav’s team of professional theatre makers. [Rosamund West]

John-Luke Roberts

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December 2024 — Events Guide

— 15 —

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GIFT VOUCHERS

LOYALTY CARDS

DISCOUNTS

TICKETS

FOR STUDENTS ART CLUBS / GROUPS & YOUNG SCOT CARD HOLDERS December 2024

SHOP ONLINE

CLICK & COLLECT

OR UK MAIL ORDER 129 Lauriston Place Tollcross, Edinburgh EH3 9JN

DATES THROUGHOUT DECEMBER

BOOK ONLINE AT:

www.EdinburghArtShop.co.uk — 16 —

THE SKINNY

5 Meet the Team — 6 Editorial — 7 Love Bites — 8 Heads Up 11 What’s On — 18 Crossword — 19 Ask Anahit — 20 Shots of the Year 40 Wrapping paper by Emer Tumilty — 44 Intersections — 61 Film & TV 67 Music — 68 Food & Drink — 70 Books — 71 Comedy — 72 Listings 78 The Skinny On… John-Luke Roberts Features 24 2024 in review: Albums of the Year - from Lost Worlds to brats, our writers have spoken…

31 We also found out their favourite Scottish Albums of the Year…

24

32

31

32 Before asking our film writers for their top ten Films of the Year both rated and underrated…

37 As well as their TV of the Year…

38 And then we asked another group of writers for their Books of the Year…

42 Before the comedy team got involved to remember their Year in Comedy.

37

42

38

44 In our Radical Review, we look at some of the grassroots organisations offering hope for the future.

47 As he releases his long-lost album, Wuh Oh talks overcoming the fear of failure after being dropped by a major label.

51 South African artist Gabrielle Goliath introduces Personal Accounts, a collaborative project on show in Talbot Rice Gallery.

47

51

57 Guy Maddin and collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson talk about crisis at the G7 in new film about Rumours.

58 We sit down with Scottish grime and dubstep producer Kami-O.

52

58

57

Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Buck Meek; TAAHLIAH; Peadar Ó Goill; Big Boys; Mahnoor Khan Steve Ullathorne; Magda Michalak; Joe Crogan at Zones Production; Luc Meneghel; Miriam Schlüter; Rumours; White Peach Records

— 17 —

On the website...

Yet more end-of-year chat on The Cineskinny podcast; a host of things to be won in our competitions (festival tickets! Art Passes! etc!); Spotlight On… new music interviews every week; reviews of Glasgow gigs from Kneecap, Barry Can’t Swim and English Teacher

December 2024 — Contents

44

52 We head out on tour with Tina Sandwich, following the release of their For the World EP.

THE SKINNY

Crossword Compiled by George Sully 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

12 14

10

11

10. Ornamental (10)

17

18

20

21

11. Slang for potato (6)

19

17. Bespoke – way of doing things (6)

22

24

25

20. 2024 breakout poker-themed indie videogame – lo, a brat (anag) (7)

26

27

21. Squid squirt (3)

28

29 33

35

41

30

31

32

37

32. Massage (e.g. dough) (5)

38

34. Public votes – at least 50 countries have had one this year (8)

40

42

43

44

45

46

36. Paltry (4)

47

37. Seen – polkadot (7)

48

49

50

38. Pop star responsible for our 'brat summer' (6,3)

51

52 53

54

55

56

57

58

59

40. Reverberations – the latest instalment in The Legend of Zelda franchise, ___ of Wisdom (6)

60 61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69 70

24. Plan – gets a try (anag) (8) 30. Spirit – beliefs (5)

34

36 39

8. Population survey (6) 9. Overwhelming majorities – avalanches (10)

13

15 16

23

9

71

44. Tree person from The Lord of the Rings (3) 46. Midwestern US state (7)

72 73

78

42. Then – very (2)

74

75

76

77

48. Mittens for your feet? (5) 50. Automobile (3)

79

54. Direct opposite (10) 80 82

81

83

56. Lady with a habit (3) 84

Across

December 2024 — Chat

1.

Hello and welcome to another ambitiously designed end-of-year crossword! Once again it is filled with stuff either only I care about, or things that happened in 2024, such as: This rapper had a notable public beef with Drake (8,5)

12. Occlusion of one celestial body by another (7) 13. Stadium (5) 14. Possessive pronoun (2) 15. Ledge – phase (4) 16. Score 100% – playing card (3) 18. On the ___ – hiding from the law (3) 19. 2015 Disney/Pixar film featuring personified emotions (had a sequel this year) (6,3)

55. Paintings – span decals (anag) (10)

57. Switzerland won this annual music competition this year (10)

29. On land (6)

67. Abbreviation for 25 Dec (4)

59. Crunchy water (3)

31. Bev (5)

70. Cell division – is moist (anag) (7)

33. In this location (4)

72. Type – diversity (7)

35. Tale (5)

73. E.g. maki, nigiri (5)

37. Establish context to an anecdote (3,3,5)

76. Badgers – horses (4)

61. Oh, you're looking for a clue? For this?

These two squares unconnected to anything else? You know what, put whatever you want here. I don't care. It's Christmas! Have fun with it! (2)

39. 2024 hurricane which devastated much of southeastern USA (6)

79. Cheese (5)

41. Ovum (3) 43. Biscuits (7) 45. Keen (4) 47. Slightly – rather (8) 49. Unscathed (6) 51. Tops (4)

78. Book o'synonyms (9)

80. Arsey (anag) (5) 81. Prepare food (let them do it?) (4) 82. Sibling's daughter (5) 83. Chocolate cake – girl scout (7) 84. The ___ ___ Department, 2024 album

by Taylor Swift (8,5)

64. Cocky (8) 66. Critic – objector (8) 68. Cheek – lip (4) 69. Shut up (2,5) 70. Uprising (6) 71. Medical garb – JD and Turk? (6) 74. Chaos – fauns (anag) (5) 75. Problem – edition (5)

Down

76. Triangular crisp (5)

52. Self-esteem (3)

1.

77. Be extinguished (with a bang?) (2,3)

53. Luca Guadagnino's sweaty 2024 tennis movie (11)

2. Refusal word (2)

25. 1988 buddy comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito (5)

58. Lowest point – drain (anag) (5)

3. City in California (init.) (2)

60. Skeleton snapshot (1-3)

4. Timekeeper – or memento (anag) (9)

26. Rescue (7)

62. Santa (anag) (5)

5. Full (7)

27. Raw metal (3)

63. Mr Loan (anag) (6)

6. International athletics competition (8)

28. Maker (7)

65. The loneliest number (3)

7.

22. Lyric poem (3) 23. Hired killer (8)

— 18 —

___ Harris, the first female vice president in US history (6)

Party pooper – I lost props (anag) (10)

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

THE SKINNY

In this month’s advice column, one reader – gasp! – fancies more than one person at a time

December 2024

Can you crush on two people at once and how long are you allowed to balance both without brain confusion?

When should you just commit to pursuing one?

I’ll be so real with you, sweet anonymous angel, the original draft of this response was 99% unchecked frustration and 1% advice but I have sat down, done some self-soothing, some introspection, some reading of the actual words of your question, and I have decided to take another spin.

Because what you’re asking is not about the ethics of the situation – which I simply do not think I could bear to answer one more time, that yes your feelings are valid, that yes pathologising anything that does not lead to the sanctified couple form is bad, actually – but about your capacity to handle it. Which, I guess, is really your call to make as to how easily confused your brain is. But I would question the relevance of confusion in this scenario at all, because it implies that there ought to be a singular focus here which you’re not allowing yourself.

You’re talking about a crush here, which means we’re not even wading into the messy quagmire of polyamory. You just… fancy more than one person?

You’re excited about the possibilities of… multiple people? You don’t… think just one person on this good green earth is fuckable? I don’t know man, just because the Victorians would lock you in a psych ward doesn’t mean it’s inherently mind-addling.

I, personally, think you could exist in this state forever. I, personally, would kill to be you right now. Do you know how rare crushes are in this economy? Do you realise how bleak life feels with only your past lovers to think about? If you’re caught up on the idea of it eventually leading to something, maybe see how the relationships naturally develop, and which one feels like the one you want to pursue. Maybe you won’t even have to choose! Please feel free to mentally insert that one El Dorado meme here. But for now, Jesus, hang tight to the fantasy of both for as long as you can.

— 19 —

THE SKINNY

Shots of the year Photo: Kate Johnston

September; Chappell Roan @ O2 Academy, Glasgow

Photo: Kate Johnston

ide @ La Belle An

gele, Edinburgh

June; Troye Sivan @ OVO Hydr

o, Glasgow

Photo: Serena Milesi

July; Brenda @ Pop Mutations, Glasgow

August; The Post al Service

@ OVO Hydro, Glasgow

November; Kneecap @ Barowlands, Glasgow

Photo: Dale Harvey

May; Honeyblood @ Stereo, Glasgow

March; Yard

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Ac t @ O2 Ac

ademy, Glas

gow

Photo: Marilena Vlachopolou

Photo: Serena Milesi

December 2024 — Chat

Photo: Anthony Gerace

raska-Ross

Photo: Laura Mu

Oc tober; Darks

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EDINBURGH

GLASGOW

MONDAYS

TUESDAYS

THE WEEKEND SHOWS FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS

FROM £5 | DOORS 7PM/7.30PM | SHOW 8.30PM

£15/20 | DOORS 7.00PM | SHOW 8.30PM

SCAN FOR FULL LISTINGS

WWW.THESTAND.CO.UK EDINBURGH | EH1 3EB GLASGOW | G3 6NG

— 21 —

December 2024

NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS!

THE SKINNY

The Art of Climate Action Words by: Shalmali Shetty Floods have long shaped mythology, history and contemporary life, representing both creation and destruction. Across cultures, water is revered as the source of life, a force capable of bringing birth, death and renewal. Today, in the face of rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and extreme weather events, this symbolism urges a reflection on climate change and prompts deeper discussions. Curated by Niamh Finlay, Waters Rising spans two rooms of Perth Museum: the first delves into global flood myths across cultures through artistic interpretations; the second focuses on the more local events in the Scottish region of Perth and Kinross, with a welcome space showcasing salvaged artefacts from the museum collection, severely damaged during the Great Tay Flood of 1993.

The first gallery opens with ARCHE 2000, a commemorative coin by renowned German designer Heinz Hoyer, featuring a figure adrift in a sea of waste, juxtaposed with an image of ocean pollution in Ghana from 2023, on loan from National Museums Scotland. Adjacent to this is displayed The Torrent (late 1800s) a woodcut by Johannes ten Klooster, inspired by his travels in Indonesia – this particular work was included to highlight the relentless flooding and the country’s ongoing struggles with the loss of land and property. Setting an atmospheric tone to the exhibition is Forty Below (1999), a five-minute video work by Irish filmmaker Clare Langan, the film’s visuals were created using hand-painted camera lenses to achieve an underwater effect.

One of the earliest recorded flood myths, dating back Image: Courtesy of Culture Perth and Kinross. Photo: Julie Howden

December 2024

Advertising feature

Waters Rising, a newly-opened exhibition at the Perth Museum, explores the story of the flood through the lens of climate breakdown

nearly 4,000 years, is the Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, inspired by the flooding of the Euphrates river. A replica of the tablet is displayed against a printed, enlarged backdrop of the same, allowing visitors to touch and experience its cuneiform script. This epic is believed to have further influenced the Abrahamic flood myths; also exhibited here is a rare 13th-century Illuminated Bible by William de Brailes; a mezzotint engraving

by John Martin titled The Deluge (early 1800s) depicting a dramatic and terrifying moment of figures falling into cavernous depths; and an etching by James Mynde (early 1700s) of the ubiquitous story of Noah’s Ark. Featured alongside this are the Hindu flood stories from the Dashavatara (the ten incarnations of Vishnu). The display includes a gouache drawing of Manu and Matsya, the fish incarnation who warns the first man of an impending flood.

Digressing from punitive flood narratives, the next section highlights the vibrant works of Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007), also known as Copper Thunderbird, a Canadian Indigenous artist from the Ojibwe community. These reproduced pieces reflect his culture and migratory people’s deep connection to the concept of the great flood, viewed as a metaphor for nature’s way of resetting itself. The gallery concludes with Where the Brahmaputra Meets the Clyde (2003), a series of four black-and-white photographs of the two rivers by Alan Kilpatrick, that explore cultural intersections through a personal narrative of Kilpatrick’s father, who emigrated to India in the 1950s post-World War II and post-Independence, along with other Scots in order to work in the burgeoning tea industry.

The second gallery focuses on the hyper-local context of flooding in the Perth and Kinross region, drawing attention to local concerns around climate adaptation, community resilience, and the persisting impacts of floods as we continue to experience them in daily life. Against the Flow (2018), a film by Helen McCrorie documents the Comrie floods and the community’s efforts to cope with the resulting destruction and loss of personal belongings. This film is set against a netted, cube-like installation adorned with personal photographs and postcards of regional floods, gathered from the general public through an open call for online submissions when the exhibition was announced.

With many residents holding vivid memories of significant floods that have caused lasting trauma, destroyed property and businesses, and altered lives, the exhibition provides a space for reflection, community engagement and healing.

The second half of the gallery space shifts focus to global climate activism, Scottish grassroots movements, and the experiences of climate refugees. A projected video features footage from the COP28 protests arising from the controversy surrounding its host location in the UAE. Meanwhile, a copy of the Declaration of Radical Independence showcases the Govan Free State Initiative inspired by the Pollok Free State and launched during COP26 in Glasgow. This initiative, organised by the GalGael Trust, represents a unique Scottish approach to activism rooted in Glasgow and further resonates through the display of a large five-metre scroll signed by activists, accompanied by self-printed passports that declares a free state, self-determination and challenges traditional power structures.

Collaborating with 10-12 activist groups, including Stand Up for Racism, Perth Against Racism, Extinction Rebellion Dundee, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, and the GalGael Trust, the exhibition makes diverse approaches to address climate challenges. In reflection of this, another display case features photographs, posters, placards, labels, quotes, and anecdotes from protests and campaigns, including contributions from younger activists, such as those inspired by Greta Thunberg.

— 22 —

Waters Rising, Perth Museum, until 16 Mar, open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm.

Pay What You Choose.

THE SKINNY

The Year in Review Illustration: Jannik Stegen

I

n the last issue of 2024, we look back on this tumultuous year, starting with the music that’s provided a soundtrack to ongoing chaos. The Music team has been polled to find out the albums of the year – turns out there’s one very strong winner whose cultural dominance (arguably, we will argue) kicked off on these very pages with a very specific graph.

The Film team have assembled their favourite cinema releases of the year, as well as sharing a rundown of the underrated gems that you may have missed, and the best TV they’ve been watching in 2024.

Books wraps up their top releases, just in time for you to buy them and give them to your loved ones (potentially in the stunning sheet of gift wrap designed by Emer Tumilty occupying our centre spread?), while the Comedy team share their funniest things of the year.

It’s been a year of organising and resistance – Intersections rounds up some of the grassroots organisations building community in a frequently hostile world, while Art documents the growing discontent with Scottish arts organisations response to the genocide in Gaza.

POSTER ARTIST (p40-41): Emer Tumilty is a designer from Northern Ireland, now based in Glasgow. With a background in both architecture and visual communication, her work draws inspiration from the built environment and the playfulness of postmodern design.

She works across a diverse range of projects from illustration and print design to murals and installations. Previous clients include Adobe, Warby Parker, Urban Outfitters, Atlantic Records, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, and Radiophrenia. emertumilty.com — 23 —

Albums of the Year

THE SKINNY

Albums of 2024

We polled our music team for their favourite albums of the year, and while individual lists were hugely varied, one bright green record in particular dominated like never before

#10: Still House Plants – If I don’t make it, I love u If I don’t make it, I love u, the title of Still House Plants’ third album, could be read as a tearful farewell or a tender apology.

Either way, it’s a fitting choice for a record that feels like a longstanding correspondence between kindred spirits. The trio of Finlay Clark, Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, and David Kennedy have been playing together for a decade, but this is the first album they’ve recorded while living in the same city. The result is an idiosyncratic record that bursts with emotion and a hunger If I don’t make it, I love u for human connection. was released on 12 Apr via Combining freeform jazz, discordant rock and a disregard Bison Records for conventional song structures, there’s an organic beauty to these tracks, as though they’re being written in real-time. stillhouseplants.

Hickie-Kallenbach’s vocals anchor the group’s sound, her bandcamp.com soulful voice direct, yet vulnerable. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s explorative drumming and Clark’s responsive guitar surround her words like scribbles in the margins of a dog-eared novella that’s been passed lovingly between friends. It may sound like the band are composing on the fly, but no matter how chaotic their playing gets, they never lose AOTY #20 to #11 their groove. Like the strange silence between a #20 Wunderhorse – Midas letter’s departure and its delivery, Still House [Communion] Plants’ music hovers delicately between longing and fulfilment. [Patrick Gamble]

#19 Nala Sinephro – Endlessness [Warp]

December 2024 – Feature

#18 Kim Gordon – The Collective [Matador] #9: Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee was released on 29 Mar via Realistik Studios cindylee.bandcamp.com

Why do we constantly have to reach for authenticity? Can we not fully realise ourselves in performance? On Diamond Jubilee, Cindy Lee whacks a crowbar into authenticity with her perfectly manicured hand. Like the hair of Patrick Flegel’s drag alter ego, this two-plus hour opus of retro-fetishistic, psychedelic pop is pristine, precise and impeccably paced, not a strand out of place, appearing as some unmarked relic on a website that looked like it was still loading, prompting you to send money into the ether for it, or not if you preferred.

‘All I’ve got is the truth, all I want is you’, Cindy Lee sings. Diamond Jubilee’s stories are all about dreams and journeys, about love and loss and loving again, about being with your baby or finding yourself alone. In these absolutes and archetypes, with her voice and her guitar, Cindy Lee communicates longing with the directness and containment of a spotlight. These are songs which feel like they’ve existed for decades. Performing femininity, actualising a wormhole out of the music industry rat race, making art as a way to be outside of time – Diamond Jubilee is Cindy Lee’s realisation of herself, showing that sometimes performance can be more real than the truth. [Tony Inglis] — 24 —

#17 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024, 28,340 DEAD [Constellation] #16 Mermaid Chunky – slif slaf slof [DFA] #15 Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven [Epitaph] #14 Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us [Columbia] #13 Waxahatchee – Tiger Blood [ANTI-] #12 English Teacher – This Could Be Texas [Island] #11 MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks [ANTI-]

THE SKINNY

Photo: Luis “Panch” Perez

Photo: Lissyelle Laricchia

Chromakopia was released on 28 Oct via Columbia Records

imaginaldisk.world

chromakopia.com

Albums of the Year

Imaginal Disk was released on 23 Aug via Mom + Pop Music

#8: Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk

#7: Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

When LA pop duo Magdalena Bay released their debut record in 2021, it was such a refreshing blend of indie-rock, art-pop and synth-futurism, that I remarked to myself Grimes, and an industry of pop-plants, wasn’t needed anymore. As with all forms of radical progress, their sophomore record Imaginal Disk substitutes even their past successes; the past has no roadmap for where they’re heading. Imaginal Disk should be visualised as a butcher knife separating the promises of 2010s pop music to this present fulfillment.

In a year replete with global cultural backsliding into the arms of neofascism, leave it to Mag Bay to catch escaping utopic dreams and release them as auditory bliss. Ear candy is a gross understatement, no producer or writer treated sounds the way the duo did in 2024, full-stop. Propulsion, distortion, ambience, and romance gained new meanings as Magdalena Bay jettisoned pop into the future it forgot it had for itself (somewhere in the TikTok fire, no doubt). They are savants of sound, and Imaginal Disk is the future realising itself in front of our eyes and stretching out into the endless ether. With this, they understand why we make pop: for when despair needs a kick in the ass. [Noah Barker]

Tyler, the Creator’s albums always seem to sit within a very specific cinematic universe, where he interrogates different elements of his own personality via alter egos. We’ve met Tyler Baudelaire, Igor and Flower Boy, to name a few, and now with his latest release Chromakopia, we enter the world of St. Chroma, a masked man pushing the boundaries of what he is capable of while simultaneously grappling with the paranoia of reaching midlife.

Militaristic opening track St. Chroma sets the tone for an album that is sonically diverse and introspective, beginning with a voiceover from Tyler’s mother Bonita Smith urging, ‘Don’t you ever in your motherfucking life dim your light for nobody’.

Tyler is a phenomenal storyteller and through the world of Chromakopia, we witness a progression in his lyricism, with the album emphasising how he excels at creating unique narratives. We hear this in the emotional Hey Jane which offers two perspectives on an accidental pregnancy, and the raw and complicated Like Him, where he questions whether he’s destined to end up like his absent father. Through Chromakopia, Tyler deconstructs his past self and the various versions we’ve come to know for the purpose of unpacking his present and what comes next. [Arusa Qureshi]

adriannelenker.com

— 25 —

December 2024 – Feature

Bright Future was released on 22 Mar via 4AD

The medium is the message in Adrianne Lenker’s exquisite Bright Future, an album so haunted by the ephemerality of love and memory that the soft whoosh of the analogue tape on which it was recorded feels as much part of its lyricism as Lenker’s words. Charting the rise and fall of a relationship, Bright Future is run through with a gentle kind of vertigo: Lenker invites us into a love caught simultaneously in the promise of the past and the crushed hope of the present, where desire and heartache tangle in strange and incongruent ways.

Love here is both quotidian and miraculous (‘Stove light glows like a fire / We’re sitting on the kitchen floor / Just when I thought I couldn’t feel more / I feel a little more’, Lenker sings on Free Treasure), yet the solidity of its narrative can collapse so easily (‘The seasons go so fast / Thinking that this one was gonna last’, she says plaintively on Sadness as a Gift). The bright future of its title, we come to understand, isn’t in the assurance of what is to come, but in the possibility that such a thing could exist, and did exist, at all. [Anahit Behrooz]

Photo: Buck Meek

#6: Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

THE SKINNY

Photo: @tmpllnt @shotbyphox

#5: The Cure – Songs of a Lost World

Albums of the Year

‘This is the end of every song that we sing’, Robert Smith declares on Alone, the opening track to The Cure’s first album in 16 years. It sounds like both an in-joke and a threat, as well as a chilling obituary for a world he describes as ‘burned out to ash’.

Forty-five years of the Sussex goths, and still no band does existential dread better.

Songs of a Lost World is a record about time; how unpredictably it moves, how inevitably it passes, and how easily it is wasted. From the clattering anxiety of Drone:Nodrone to the romantic, memory-stained All I Ever Am, these tracks are made of classic Cure stuff – but everything has changed.

Ghosts of Smith’s past haunt this album, from lost family members to his younger selves. The lush, swooning And Nothing Is Forever could be a wedding march, a sister to Disintegration’s Plainsong, yet it’s a deathbed promise. Smith’s voice, still boyish, holds a fearsome new grandeur, while the album’s slow-motion instrumentals are like watching an Antarctic ice shelf collapse into freezing seas. Closing epic Endsong is unrushed, spending six minutes lost in dreamy organ synthesisers and stately percussion before Smith promises, with just a flicker of a smile: ‘I will lose myself in time’. [Katie Hawthorne] Photo: Peadar Ó Goill

#4: Kneecap – Fine Art When Belfast rap trio Kneecap came screaming onto the scene with their record 3CAG in 2018, an entire generation of young Irish people’s lives were irrevocably changed. Here was Irish like we never knew it: funny, sharp and actually cool. Fine Art only builds on that legacy, with big swings – from the dubstep banger title track to more reflective moments like Better Way To Live (featuring Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten), to the noughties vibes of Love Making. These are swings that pay off, taking Kneecap from being the funny guys-next-door of rap to something a lot more elevated.

A concept album of sorts, we follow the lads on a meandering night out, replete with skits and interludes, on a noholds-barred ride – we air grievances in the pub in Belfast, get hounded by an English record exec and taken to London (Interlude: Kneecap Chaps is genuinely laugh out loud funny), before winding up back home in time for last orders. Losing none of their trademark wit on their debut, Kneecap have been unleashed on the world, solidifying themselves alongside other great Irish exports of legend: Guinness, hating Bono, and Paul Mescal’s tiny, tiny shorts. It’s parful stuff. [Emilie Roberts].

kneecap.ie

Let’s start by saying that lead guitarist Emily Roberts used to perform as Brian May in a Queen tribute band. This fact alone should give you an idea of the dramatics and bravado we’re talking about with The Last Dinner Party and their dazzling debut, Prelude To Ecstasy. Before the hedonistic rise of Brat Summer, music fans were experiencing a lavish spring renaissance. Reddit threads were overrun with users looking for baroque bodices and ‘Mori girl’ gowns. And, after a year like 2024, these poster girls for the ethereal aesthetic have every right to stride out in lavish silks and taffetas.

When describing standout single Nothing Matters, lead singer Abigail Morris insisted: “We didn’t want a limpid love song. We wanted something carnal and free.” The album revels in this liberation, dripping candle wax over banquet tables (Burn Alive) as they cosplay Roman emperors (Caesar On a TV Screen). But for all its bombast, there’s real skill in Prelude To Ecstasy’s compositions artfully steered by keyboard player Aurora Nishevci who composed a full score for the eponymous opening track. Forget the brohemian rhapsodies and feast on those feminine urges (corsetry optional). [Cheri Amour]

Prelude to Ecstasy was released on 2 Feb via Island Records thelastdinnerparty.co.uk

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December 2024 – Feature

Photo: Cal McIntyre

#3: The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy

Fine Art was released on 14 Jun via Heavenly Recordings

THE SKINNY

December 2024 – Feature

Albums of the Year

Photo: Simon Wheatley

#2: Fontaines D.C. – Romance Fontaines D.C. are at the peak of their powers. With their fourth album Romance, released in August, the Irish five-piece have gone from rawness to flair, naïvety to maturity, and dreams of becoming big to impending festival headliners. But Romance doesn’t just show how far they’ve come, it also encapsulates everything that guitar music can be in the modern day… it’s truly a rare feat.

Frontman Grian Chatten previously snarled at the mic during the band’s Dogrel days. Now, he’s melodic, effortlessly poetic and brimming with inimitability. From the suffocating energy of Starburster to the detachment of In The Modern World and the melancholic nostalgia of Favourite, Chatten’s lyrical craftsmanship is of the highest order.

Directors Luna Carmoon, Andrea Arnold and fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan have all contributed to the album’s music videos, steeped in shadowy mystique. Pair these with the band’s most expansive sonic range to date, and it evokes the sense that Romance isn’t just an album, but an entire world of its own. Blending their authentic brand of dark in a vivid new light, the crux of Romance lies in its shapeshifting unpredictability, and it’s this which makes Fontaines D.C. the most exciting they’ve ever been. [Jamie Wilde]

Romance was released on 23 Aug via XL Recordings fontainesdc.com

#1: Charli xcx – BRAT

BRAT was released on 7 Jun via Atlantic Records charlixcx.com

Okay, okay... okay, okay, okay. Here we go! That’s right. BRAT is our album of the year, and it’s with delight that we sit down and look back on all things Pantone 3507C. Released on 7 June 2024, BRAT is Charli xcx’s ascension to global megastar via left-field pop provocateur. BRAT is at once a celebration of Charli’s roots in underground UK rave culture and a sensitive appraisal of navigating success in a cutthroat industry. BRAT is the culmination of the work begun with the legendary SOPHIE on the iconic Vroom Vroom EP, 2020’s hyperpop masterpiece How I’m Feeling Now, and slick marketing of 2022’s commercial pop banger, Crash. BRAT is vital, it’s irresistible, and it’s changed the landscape of pop music.

BRAT throws us back to trashy 2000s electro-pop; think Princess Superstar, Bodyrox and the Ed Banger label roster. That said, there is a minimal, clean feel to the record that is clearly the product of the partnership with chart pop’s master distiller, A. G. Cook. Lyrically, Charli runs the gamut from doing lines to contemplating motherhood. Heaters 360, 365 and Club classics are all name drops, slut-drops and bass drops, while self-aware moments emerge on Sympathy is a knife and I might say something — 28 —

stupid: ‘Guess I’m a mess and play the role’. The record’s narrative weaves between moments of excess and the inner monologue of a 365 partygirl growing up and considering her legacy.

Whatever you feel about BRAT, its impact is undeniable.

Let’s look back at the brattiest moments: brat summer; endless memes; a BRAT wall in Brooklyn; an enormous gate-fold vinyl sculpture in LA; the Apple TikTok dance; word of the year in the English Dictionary; an iconic SNL appearance; that tweet by Azealia Banks; Boiler Room Ibiza, BRAT-inspired club nights, T-shirts, club edits and A-list celebrity remixes. Kamala Harris centred her entire presidential campaign on BRAT. The record was nominated for seven Grammys. No wonder Charli is considering a change in direction for the next record, apparently ‘a Lou Reed album’; how does one follow BRAT? It seems certain we’ll be talking about BRAT for decades to come, which makes it perfect for album of the year. Charli xcx has set herself apart as an artist who has found commercial success through being entirely herself, bringing a devoted fan base along with her and some much-needed levity in an increasingly grave world. Long live BRAT! [Vicky Kavanagh]

THE SKINNY

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— 29 —

December 2023

Friday 24th January 2025 O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH

THE SKINNY

Scottish Albums of 2024 We polled our writers for their favourite Scottish albums of the year too, and the results are in...

The Writings and the Pictures and the Song

#8 Savage Mansion – The Shakes [Lost Map Records, 16 Feb] Glasgow outfit Savage Mansion’s fourth album since 2019 is their most authentic yet, brimming with catchy choruses that linger in the memory for days. It saddens us then that before playing recent shows at The Hug & Pint they announced that they might be their last shows for a while… let’s hope that album closer The Second Life, “a sad song about a relationship that has to end even though neither party wants it to,” wasn’t a forewarning.

#6 Clarissa Connelly – World of Work [Warp Records, 12 Apr] Scotland-born, Denmark-based Clarissa Connelly captured the ears of our writers this year with her third album – and first on Warp Records – World of Work. Inspired by French Philosopher Georges Bataille’s L’érotisme, it fuses together Nordic folk song, Celtic myth, medieval grimoires, modern pop and experimental composition as Connelly explores its two main characters of ‘work’ and ‘desire’. #5 Walt Disco – The Warping [Lucky Number, 14 Jun] Almost exactly two years on from releasing their debut album, Glasgow’s Walt Disco returned with the ultra catchy, disco-fuelled You Make Me Feel So Dumb, the lead single from their sophomore record The Warping. Here’s what we said about the album: “Where the ultra-glam outfit’s previous Unlearning personified the panache of a West End musical, The Warping dances about in time and World of Work place.” #4 Hamish Hawk – A Firmer Hand [SO Recordings, 16 Aug] Released after the cut-off for the 2024 SAY Award, Hamish Hawk’s latest LP A Firmer Hand will no doubt follow in the footsteps of his last two records, so expect to see it up for the award in 2025. Here’s what we said earlier in the year: “A Firmer Hand is an album in which Hawk daringly takes a searchlight to the complexities of the relationships with — 31 —

The Warping

A Firmer Hand

men in his life and, by extension, to the complexities within himself.

The result is dazzling.” #3 rEDOLENT – dinny greet [Post Electric, 17 May] dinny greet Beating Mercury Prizenominated artists like Barry Can’t Swim and corto.alto, rEDOLENT’s long in the making debut album dinny greet was this year’s surprise winner of The SAY Award.

Combining impeccable I’m Totally Fine With It drumming, tumbling Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore electronic motifs and Robin Herbert’s unique pogoing vocal as he pieces together snapshots of his life, from debilitating mental health issues to teenage misadventure, dinny greet was a breath of fresh air in the Scottish release calendar. #2 Arab Strap – I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore [Rock Action, 10 May] Shortlisted for the 2024 SAY Award, I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore was the Glasgow duo’s eighth studio album, despite how Aidan Moffat feels about it. “As soon as we started this it felt like album two. It definitely feels like a fresh start from where we used to be.” According to Moffat, it’s a record “about the difference between a tangible world and intangible world and which one you choose to believe and engage with.” #1 TAAHLIAH – Gramarye [untitled (recs), 18 Oct] On Gramarye, Glasgow artist TAAHLIAH shows true artistic maturity as she blends glamour, emotion, and vulnerability through pop-driven motifs. When we spoke to her, she said: “The message I want to get Gramarye across is that what I’ve been through has made me the person that I am today – and that’s someone I really like. The lyric at the end of [the] outro song [Holding On / Let Me Go] – ‘And I’ll keep holding on even if you let me go’ – is not holding on to that person or that relationship, it’s more about holding on to yourself, understanding who you are and taking that forth into wherever you go.”

Wherever TAAHLIAH goes next, we’re excited for it.

December 2024 – Feature

#9 Becky Sikasa – The Writings and the Pictures and the Song [Self-released, 8 Mar] The Writings and the Pictures and the Song saw Becky Sikasa receive consecutive Halocline shortlist nominations for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. It’s yet another bold work of tender heart-on-sleeve soul as she tackles love in all its many forms: romance, friendship and self-love. As we type this, Sikasa is just finishing her German tour before heading off on a few dates with the one and only Nile Rodgers. She’s got a bright future for sure.

#7 Malin Lewis – Halocline [Hudson Records, 3 May] Named after the visible layer of water formed between saltwater and freshwater, Skye bagpiper, fiddler, instrument maker and composer Malin Lewis released the SAY Award-nominated Halocline back in May. They said: “As a trans person, I inhabit a similar in-between space, rich with its own vibrant and colourful culture [...] From childhood, I envisioned sounds that conveyed the joy, intrigue and queerness of the world; Halocline offers a glimpse into this lifelong pursuit of expression.”

Music

Ash Grey and the Gull Glides On

#10 Andrew Wasylyk & Tommy Perman – Ash Grey and the Gull Glides On [Clay Pipe Music, 30 Aug] Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman’s debut collaborative record, here’s what we said upon the album’s release earlier in the year: “The Tay estuary, situated on Scotland’s east coast, may not quite be as luscious as the Mediterranean. But through the imaginative minds of Dundee-based creatives Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman, anything is possible. […] Hopeful, forward-thinking and brimming with imagination, the Tay estuary could be paradise with this as its soundtrack.”

Words: Tallah Brash

THE SKINNY

Films of 2024 Films of the Year

The Skinny’s film writers have once again chosen their films of the year. Our top ten features tales of 80s Etruscan gravediggers and lesbian bodybuilders via stories of horny tennis players, brassy erotic dancers and livewire Irish rappers

10. Love Lies Bleeding

7. Poor Things

Dir. Rose Glass Love Lies Bleeding, Rose Glass’s sophomore feature, is a sapphic grindhouse version of Pumping Iron: all fluids (sweat, spit, egg yolk) and veins pulsing out of skin to the beat of a neon 80s soundtrack.

Jackie (Katy O’Brian) is a drifter and wannabe champion bodybuilder who walks into Lou (a mulleted Kristen Stewart)’s gym, and subsequently, right into her heart, with their love story evolving into a messy and phantasmagoric lesbian crime caper. No other film this year can claim to have featured a meet-cute that involves injecting steroids into someone’s ass or K-Stew being swallowed and spit back up by her lover, encased in goo – and they’re the worse off for it.

[Katie Driscoll]

Love Lies Bleeding

Poor Things

December 2024 – Feature

9. Kneecap

Dir. Rich Peppiatt For those whose memories of Irish class are falling asleep face down on their textbook during explanations of the modh coinníollach, the Kneecap movie is here to kick the doors down and remind you the Irish language is dynamic, beautiful and worth fighting for. The Belfast rap trio’s debut film appearance is a riotous good time that shows us biopics don’t have to be boring, conventionally structured or stiff – this one incorporates the surreal (claymation drug-induced hallucination anyone?), Michael Fassbender doing yoga and most importantly: great music. Next stop is the Oscars, where the Kneecap trio of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvai are representing Ireland for Best International Feature. Best of luck to you – or should that be, go n-éirí leat, buachaillí! You won’t need it. [Emilie Roberts]

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things is a moving celebration of curiosity with Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter as its pulsating heart and brain. Inspired by Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, this Victorian anatomical fable chronicles Bella’s liberation on a meticulously crafted steampunk mood board. Stone’s Frankenstein’s Monster-like creation harnesses her candour to reclaim control of the monstrous feminine, morphing into a fully fleshed being on a quest for purpose and pleasure. The men orbiting around her, meanwhile, are exposed as comically desperate figures.

Poor Things is an uproarious, occasionally squeamish story of (gender-based) violence concerned with who holds the scalpel and who lies on the table. Bella reflects on personal and collective responsibility throughout, emerging as a sharp mistress of her own destiny.

[Stefania Sarrubba]

6. I Saw the TV Glow

Kneecap

I Saw the TV Glow

8. All of Us Strangers

Dir. Jane Schoenbrun Central to Jane Schoenbrun’s suburban, dysphoric fantasy horror is the exposed truth of ‘nostalgia’ – that it’s a way of misremembering the past, an act of imagination that obscures material reality.

But I Saw the TV Glow also supposes that nostalgia preserves, to an unhealthy extent, an emotional state that is comfortable to remain in instead of discovering a reality-shifting new horizon.

Schoenbrun’s aching, synthesised exploration of a key chapter in the trans experience centres on choice for its timid, disaffected young protagonist (Justice Smith), and builds a potent sense of dread and inevitability for every indecisive, hesitant second he waits. [Rory Doherty]

5. Anora

Dir. Andrew Haigh Characters are often haunted in the films of Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years), but in this bruising study of grief, the spectres are literal.

Andrew Scott is devastating as Adam, a lonely screenwriter who’s trying to pen a story about his parents, who died when he was 12. His solitary life is interrupted both by a knock at the door from a horny neighbour (played by Paul Mescal) and a return to his childhood home, where he mysteriously finds Mum and Dad (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) alive and well. Fantastical the plot may be, but the emotions being picked at (childhood loss, queer alienation, gay desire) are heartbreakingly tender and real, and the Christmas setting provides a pleasing dusting of festive melancholy.

[Jamie Dunn]

All of Us Strangers

Anora

— 32 —

Dir. Sean Baker Anora is a comedy – until it isn’t. Mikey Madison is unapologetically brash as sex worker Ani, who fills almost every scene with personality and charm; her would-be beau, Ivan, slapsticks his way to endearment despite being the money-burning son of a shady Russian oligarch; the hired hands and sidekicks hired by Ivan’s family to break up the young lovers are hapless and clumsy. And in the last ten minutes, director Sean Baker makes you reevaluate everything you’ve just laughed at. Was that love story ever genuine? No matter how empowered you are, is all labour just exploitation? How does it feel to no longer be looked at, but seen?

[Tony Inglis]

THE SKINNY

4. Perfect Days

3. Challengers

Perfect Days

Dir. Luca Guadagnino It may seem strange that – in the year that brought us Gladiator II, Twisters and Furiosa – the most edge-of-your-seat, adrenaline-in-your-mouth film revolved around a game of tennis between two washed-up players and a failed polycule, but that’s the power of irrepressible Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino. His long-anticipated sports drama Challengers is a race to the proverbial bottom (because in this game, there’s only one top), where tennis plays out like sex and sex plays out like a grudge match. Exhilarating, sweaty, and backed by an unhinged techno score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers is the epitome of Here We Fucking Go cinema, a frenetic ode to the power of desire to make you worse, actually.

[Anahit Berhooz]

Challengers

Films of the Year

Dir. Wim Wenders Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days is about life’s biggest questions and its everyday trials. It’s about where the most meaningful core of our existence lies and how much we have to cut away to get there. And it’s about a guy who cleans toilets.

That guy is Hirayama, played by Kōji Yakusho in a performance that’s as meditative and mesmerising as the film itself. Hirayama lives a monastic existence, attending each daily task with an absolute focus. The moments of contentment he finds, whether enjoying a sandwich beneath a sun-dappled tree or blaring Lou Reed’s titular track on the drive home, are utterly enveloping. Is this a life of blissful solitude or simple loneliness? The film offers no easy answers, just a warm and quiet space to think about the question.

[Ross McIndoe]

The Zone of Interest

2. The Zone of Interest

December 2024 – Feature

Dir. Jonathan Glazer There are two films in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest: the film we see and the film we hear.

As the Höss family enjoys an idyllic life in their dream home next to Auschwitz, the faint shouts and gunshots, and the constant low hum of the machinery of death, remind us of the atrocities being committed next door. The Zone of Interest is about the things we choose not to see and hear, the lies we swallow and the bubbles we create to cut ourselves off from the horrific reality that surrounds us, and no film this year more potently represents the world as it is in 2024.

[Philip Concannon]

1. La Chimera

Dir. Alice Rohrwache Alice Rohrwacher’s latest is part crime caper, part modern take on Orpheus and Eurydice. Josh O’Connor (never looking better than in rumpled linen suits) gives a career-best performance as Arthur, a man grieving an unclear past heartbreak while he and his tombaroli friends plunder ancient Etruscan gravesites and sell the bounty. Just as Arthur is trapped in his own past and the allure of the treasures of his adopted country, the sun-dappled milieu of 1980s Italy feels decades older through Rohrwacher’s lens. Millennia of art, loves, and losses have shaped and continue to shape landscapes and people – even those, like Arthur, who just pass through. [Carmen Paddock]

La Chimera

— 33 —

THE SKINNY

Overlooked, Unloved, Misunderstood Film

Some films are universally adored, but others require a bit of work to appreciate their greatness. Here are 12 overlooked movies from 2024 that were misunderstood by critics, ignored by audiences and done dirty by their distributors

About Dry Grasses

Sasquatch Sunset

Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan Dependable brilliance can bring its own kind of fatigue for an arthouse superstar. Films will do well at the festivals, roll through the art cinemas for a week and then slink off to be revived in a Criterion box set in twenty years. This path has done a massive disservice to About Dry Grasses, a film that speaks with singular, coruscating honesty to our historical moment. [Joe Creely]

Dir. Nathan Zellner, David Zellner Feces and vomit and shrooms – oh my! The Zellner Brothers’ absurdist ‘nature’ comedy shines a whole new light on the talents of Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, with a Bigfoot biopic that lacks in plot what it makes up for in heart. A gloriously gross-out and existential romp. [Heather Bradshaw]

Sometimes I Think About Dying

The Apprentice

Dir. Ali Abbasi Sebastian Stan delivers an uncanny performance as Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s forensic study of the relationship that made him who he is – that with lawyer Roy Cohn. Jeremy Strong’s turn as the chilling Cohn brings this film home, along with a cracking soundtrack. Also – it’s a biopic that looks good. Unheard of! [Emilie Roberts]

Drive-Away Dolls

Dir. Ethan Coen Following Joel’s gothic Macbeth, Ethan’s solo debut is a much more Coen-esque affair. A wild caper involving a severed head and a lot of dildos, Drive-Away Dolls is carried by winning performances from Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan, and directed with a panache lacking in too many comedies. It has an irrepressible spirit that’s hard to resist. [Philip Concannon]

December 2024 – Feature

The First Omen

Dir. Arkasha Stevenson Arkasha Stevenson hijacks demonic classic The Omen to tell an eerily relevant story of bodily autonomy. All hail electrifying protagonist Nell Tiger Free, whose commitment makes this sequel exciting enough to appeal to new audiences and acolytes of Damien alike. Forget the finale – the full-frontal childbirth scene and a Possession homage will have you whisper “What the hell am I watching?” in the best possible way. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Sasquatch Sunset

Hundreds of Beavers

Dir. Mike Cheslik A film does not need a big budget, realistic effects or even dialogue to be successful; it just needs pratfalls. Chronicling one unlucky applejack salesman’s journey to master trapper, Hundreds of Beavers is a raucous throwback to Buster Keaton’s best silent films – with its extras dressed in full-body animal costumes. [Carmen Paddock]

Juror #2

Dir. Clint Eastwood UK audiences might have enjoyed Nicholas Hoult as a juror grappling with a dark secret, but in the US, Clint Eastwood’s courtroom thriller was inexplicably sidelined by Warner Bros, playing in fewer than 50 cinemas. Hopefully word of mouth will see the 94-year-old director’s latest receive the justice it deserves. [Patrick Gamble]

Megalopolis

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola’s confounding labour of love is verbose, pompous, problematic, inane, ugly and downright batshit. But it’s to be admired rather than ridiculed, because witnessing a generational artist reach for something and fail is an antidote to the ambitionless grey slop of most modern blockbuster filmmaking. [Tony Inglis]

Dir. Rachel Lambert Fran likes cottage cheese. That’s her ‘fun fact’ for the office icebreaker, which she divulges with eyes averted. Daisy Ridley imbues a sense of intense loneliness into her character, who muses on being dead. She’s torn between merging into the furniture or being seen, but in a life permeated with emptiness, the intricacies of human connection call. [Eleanor Capaldi]

The Sweet East

Dir. Sean Price Williams A choose-your-own-adventure-in-Wonderland as if crafted by Harmony Korine, The Sweet East follows Lillian (Talia Ryder) as she navigates the wild west of the Eastern Seaboard, meeting offbeat characters along the way. What’s most fun and subversive are the film’s playful nods to Lolita and Edgar Allen Poe, all the while hilariously challenging the trope of young, passive femininity.

[Katie Driscoll]

Trap

Dir. M. Night Shyamalan M. Night Shyamalan’s post-comeback thrillers all have a more noticeably playful, heightened tone, but this deliberately ludicrous cat-and-mouse thriller set at a pop concert is his funniest and most delicious yet. Josh Hartnett is simply dazzling as a wholesome father and secret serial killer whose neatly ordered world collapses over two hours. [Rory Doherty]

Problemista

The Sweet East

Dir. Julio Torres Through visionary Julio Torres’s kaleidoscopic eyes, Problemista presents The American (fever) Dream. Channelling the colours and shapes of Chagall and the bureaucratic dead-ends of Mandabi, it adopts a surrealist imagination to confront cold material truths. The film torques the wackiness of cryogenics and Craigslist, and ennobles the chaos of an artist’s actualisation.

[Lucy Fitzgerald] — 34 —

Hundreds of Beavers

Get free or half price entry to 100s of museums & galleries.

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Issued to members of National Art Collections Fund. Charity reg (Eng & Wales 209174 Scotland SC038331). 2 Granary Square London N1C 4BH. Fees, Ts & Cs apply. Entry subject to venue’s requirements.

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THE SKINNY

Rewards Season Resident Rewards Edinburgh is the Forever Edinburgh programme designed to help Edinburgh residents make the most of their city – here’s a look at what’s on offer Advertising feature

Words by: Peter Simpson

December 2024

Image: Courtesy of Forever Edinburgh

Camera Obscura

If you’re more of a ‘selection box’ person and like a bit of variety, check out the Resident Rates. These are special rates on a host of well-loved Edinburgh attractions and venues for EH residents, with a wide range of options to choose from.

Looking for a unique alternative to a night in the pub? With the Magical Bubbler Cocktails experience at the Department of Magic on Blair Street, you’ll put together your own cocktail concoction, and EH residents get 20% off. Got a sweet tooth?

Edinburgh bakery Mimi’s Bakehouse offer a 20% discount on online orders of their cupcakes, brownies and traybakes, delivered to local residents within 48 hours. If you want a night off from cooking, Resident Rates offers a 10% discount on food and drink at Hot Toddy, just off the Royal Mile, and 15% off at The Brasserie at The Scholar by Holyrood Park.

Resident Rates also offer a few opportunities to look at your home city with fresh eyes. Ricky’s Bicycle Tours take visitors on a pedal-powered journey on cycle paths and side streets from the city centre to the Shore – but for locals, it’s a great way to see Edinburgh from a fresh perspective (and maybe find a few new shortcuts for the next time you’re out on

your bike). A £4 discount is available for EH residents.

Alternatively, an Edinburgh Bus Tour is ideal for those of you who need a quick refresher on the city’s world-famous architecture, or a new vantage point for your photos. All Edinburgh Bus Tour buses are wheelchair-friendly, with audio guides available in multiple languages and subtitles on display screens, and Resident Rates get you 10% off your fare.

For a full list of Resident Rates, check out the Forever Edinburgh website.

Image: Courtesy of Forever Edinburgh

Edinburgh is an iconic city for a reason – it’s a great place to visit, and a great place to live – but annoyingly, regular everyday life has a habit of getting in the way of all the fun stuff the city has to offer. It can be easy to forget just how much there is to see and do across the city, and that’s where Resident Rewards Edinburgh from Forever Edinburgh comes in. Resident Rewards is a programme of discounts and offers designed to help Edinburgh locals explore their city, and make the most of its sites, attractions and hospitality. So if you want to make the most of living in one of Europe’s most interesting cities and save a bit of cash in the process, Resident Rewards is the place to go, and their Star Reward is a great place to start.

Each month sees a new Star Reward – an exclusive deal from an Edinburgh business or attraction, available to residents only. December’s Star comes from the excellent Lind & Lime gin distillery in Leith. EH postcode residents can get 25% off their Tour & Tasting in December; if you’re looking for an excuse for a pre-Christmas get-together, this could go near the top of the list. Deals on the way in early 2025 include discounts at Brazilian steakhouse Fazenda and the Ten Hill Place Hotel in the Southside, as well as a ‘kids go free’ deal at Camera Obscura.

Hollyrood Distillery

Resident Previews are early chances for Edinburgh residents to check out new exhibitions, events and experiences before they open to the general public. Past Resident Previews have included early access to exhibitions at the National Museum of Scotland, as well as early access to the revamped Nelson Monument on Calton Hill and exclusive tours of the new galleries at the National Galleries Scotland on the Mound – keep an eye on Forever Edinburgh’s socials and sign up to their Resident Newsletter to be the first to find out about new Resident Previews.

For a genuine, can’t-beat-it freebie, look out for Resident Free and Half Price Days. These are opportunities to try out local businesses and attractions at specific times for free or close to it. The Holyrood Distillery, in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, is an amazing building that celebrates the city’s distilling history alongside cutting-edge technology and impressive architecture. It’s well worth the trip, and EH residents get a regular chance to visit the distillery for free thanks to Resident Rewards.

Christmas is one of the most magical times to visit Edinburgh, but much like the residents that make the city so welcoming, that magic stays here year-round. Get out and explore some of the great stuff Edinburgh has to offer – consider it a Reward for all your hard work.

Sign up to the Forever Edinburgh resident newsletter for the latest updates at edinburgh.org/residentrewards

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Small Screen Delights The TV you should have been watching this year (and should catch up on over Christmas!)

Film

Top to bottom: Baby Reindeer; Big Boys; Dark Matter

Top to bottom: English Teacher; The Franchise; Mr & Mrs Smith

Baby Reindeer (Netflix) The show that stoked the fear of ‘Sent from iPhone’ into a nation, Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer is an exploration of how one act of kindness can snowball into something far more tragic and sinister. Martha (Fiona Harvey) goes from local weirdo customer to Donny (Gadd)’s stalker, sparking conversations around the complexities of mental illness, ambition, unprocessed trauma and sexual assault. [Katie Driscoll]

an avuncular, passionate young teacher at a Texan high school, inveighing against homophobia and culture wars, he amusingly navigates the jeremiads of overbearing parents and the revelations of generational gaps. Cutting, profane but also sincere, Alvarez reshapes the traditional sitcom template in his image. [Lucy Fitzgerald]

Dark Matter (Apple TV+) If you think you’ve seen too many multiverse stories recently, I promise Dark Matter is leagues ahead of any trendy comic book nonsense. Blake Crouch’s TV adaptation of his own 2016 sci-fi novel is a grounded, compelling and ultimately human puzzle-box thriller, where the science is a tool to explore those relatable ‘What if…?’ questions that haunt Joel Edgerton’s physics professor Jason. [George Sully] English Teacher (Disney+) Without diluting any of his signature smarts, Brian Jordan Alvarez handles the medium change from online comedy to television with aplomb. Playing

Manhunt (Apple TV+) Showrunner Monica Beletsky turns the hunt for John Wilkes Booth into both a nail-biting thriller and a poignant (never didactic) examination of the United States’ foundation in racist violence. With extraordinary attention to detail in production, neo-noir greats Carl Franklin and John Dahl helming several episodes, and a career-best turn from Tobias Menzies, the result is both sobering and electrifying. [Carmen Paddock] Mr & Mrs Smith (Prime Video) The best possible outcome of the IP era, this take on the 90s Brangelina vehicle turns it into something that’s completely different in style and tone, while still retaining the core concept – what if we explored a regular romantic relationship through shoot-outs and car chases? – that made the movie — 37 —

y; Shōgun

tick. A real luxury of a show, filled with lush locales, stylish outfits and expertly chosen guest stars. [Ross McIndoe] One Day (Netflix) The miniseries format serves David Nicholls’ timehopping novel extraordinarily well, separating each 15 July on which Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) flirt, fight, and fall in love over 14 years into its own self-contained episode. With Mod and Woodall turning in luminous performances, the petty frustrations and the sublime, star-crossed romance mark One Day as a future classic. [CP] Ripley (Netflix) As a TV series, Steven Zaillian’s Netflix adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley is naturally a much slower burn than Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film adaptation – perhaps agonisingly so – but is all the better for it. It forces us to stew in both the increasingly tangled deceptions that Andrew Scott’s glassy-eyed Ripley mires himself in, and the jaw-dropping chiaroscuro of virtually every shot throughout the show. [GS] Shōgun (Disney+) Adapting the first mammoth novel in James Clavell’s Japanese saga, Shōgun isn’t just an exemplary historical drama because of its huge scale and excellent performances (not least from Emmy-winners Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai), but because every episode is meticulously designed with dramatic pressure points that are developed with incremental, intensifying poise. It’s the rare miniseries that deserves sequel seasons.

[Rory Doherty]

December 2024 – Feature

Big Boys (Channel 4) In January, season two of Jack Rooke’s zillennial university sitcom continued to be the sweetest show on TV. I can think of no other show that has so accurately captured the limbo of a mid-league English university in David Cameron’s Britain.

Somehow, it manages to punctuate grief-stricken scenes with Cheryl-era X Factor jokes that have you laughing through the tears. [Louis Cammell]

The Franchise (Now TV) The Marvel machine might be an easy target, but that doesn’t mean it’s not cathartic to see Succession’s Jon Brown and The Thick of It’s Armando Iannucci land a good few punches.

Himesh Patel’s exasperated First AD weathers us through the production of Tecto: Eye of the Storm, the latest DOA effort from Maximum Studios. A perfectly-cast antidote to superhero fatigue. [LC]

Top to bottom: One Day; Riple

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Music

Books of 2024 Our intrepid book team tell us about their favourite books of the year – get ready to make that pile of books by your bedside even bigger

December 2024 – Feature

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Picador) Kaveh Akbar has written a deeply moving tale of grief that is rich with inventive narration. Martyr! navigates the inner turmoil of its protagonist Cyrus, along with all the people who love him, and in turn, who are often frustrated by his myopic views on life. The ending was magical and life-affirming and I feel fuller for having spent time with Akbar’s poetic prose. [Andrés Ordorica]

Illustrations: Mahnoor Khan

Nostalgia by Agnes Arnold-Forster (Picador) Nostalgia is generous with its historical, medical, scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic and critical insights into the disease that nostalgia used to be, its universal practice, and the collective weapon it has the potential to be. It traces the diagnostic roots of the emotion and tracks its evolution with sagacity and diligence. It is a thrilling and informative nonfictional read dedicated to observing the minute and major shifts that nostalgia has taken on as a condition and field of study. Arnold-Forster refreshes the field’s contemporary examination of this phenomenal subject matter with wit, intrigue, and relevance.

[Maria Farsoon]

Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode by Jen Calleja (Rough Trade) Before this book, I had never known non-fiction to be quite so riotously fun. Pop culture analysis through the lens of goblinhood is as mischievous and quirky as the little green fellas that you will come to spot everywhere after gobbling up this work. Calleja has the most readable voice as she excitedly tours us through why our favourite figures are goblin-coded and the depths of intimate personal trauma without missing a beat between the two. [Jo Higgs]

Private Rites by Julia Armfield (4th Estate) Against the backdrop of a decade-long downpour in a near-sinking city, three sisters process the loss of their father, an eminent architect and absent parent. Navigating their own complicated, queer relationships with lovers and with each other, Agnes, Isla and Irene’s personalities clash as the age-old competitiveness instilled by their father resurfaces even after his death. Meanwhile, watchful eyes peer out from the rain, still falling, through the floor-to-ceiling windows of their late father’s floating mansion, as the truth of their childhoods and respective mothers threatens to rise with the water levels. [Paula Lacey] Mother Naked by Glen James Brown (Peninsula Press) Mother Naked is a minstrel, Segerston is a small town and The Legend of The Fell Wraith is a terrifying story told through twists and turns the length of the book. Plumbing the horrors of the pre-reformation church and its tyranny, this vivid green book lays bare deep fissures of wealth and exploitation through their disastrous impact on a small community. Glen James Brown’s writing is electric; this is not a period piece, it’s a call to arms. [Marguerite Carson] — 38 —

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Film

Limelight and Other Stories by Lyndsey Croal (Shortwave) A collection of science fiction stories set on Earth and beyond from a prolific homegrown talent, Limelight interrogates our relationship with technol- My Friends by Hisham Matar (Viking) ogy in distant and not-too-distant futures through a Hisham Matar crafts a beautiful piece of personal, character-driven fiction from real-life events in his bold and incisive lens. Croal explores love, grief, utterly deserved Orwell prize-winner. In the 1980s, and the pursuit of a better self with a mixture of two Libyan students at the University of Edinburgh eerie images and empathy, always focusing on the human heart of her stories. A wonderful exploration find their lives upended by a tragic event at a of humanity and technology in all its myriad compli- protest outside of their country’s London embassy.

30 years later, one of them recounts the fallout of cations. [Katalina Watt] that day against the backdrop of the Arab Spring.

[Louis Cammell]

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber) Liminal states of desire and grief take centre stage in Sally Rooney’s fourth – and perhaps best – novel Intermezzo, in which two brothers find themselves trapped in the sticky quagmire of tangled relationships following the death of their father. I have been trying to pick apart just why I love Rooney’s writing so much, why I underlined this book like some kind of sacred text, and I think it is because she takes desire so seriously – the ecstasy of its subjunctive mood and the devastation of its (almost always) inevitable fallout. I felt it so acutely throughout Intermezzo: the tenderness and insanity about placing ourselves entirely in someone else’s control. But also, maybe, that is all that intimacy ever is. [Anahit Behrooz]

It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne De Marcken (Fitzcarraldo) A horror-comedy of a zombie novel, It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over sees its heroine adjusting to her new (after)life as she heads west through a postapocalyptic wasteland, carrying a dead crow in her chest and losing limbs as she goes, towards somewhere she knows, loves, but can’t quite remember.

[Terri-Jane Dow]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves (Neem Tree Press) Stefan’s best friend Mark disappears shortly after going away to uni at the Royal College of St Almsworth. When he encounters a woman who looks just like Mark years later, he is plunged into an obsessive quest that leads him to Dorley Hall, the exclusive student housing on the edge of campus, and what lies beneath it… This is a propulsive, thought provoking and deeply emotional look at power, gender, violence and redemption.

[Eris Young]

December 2024 – Feature

Namesake: Reflections on A Warrior Woman by N.S. Nuseibeh (Canongate) This is the book I’ve been thinking about since I first read it; the book I will recommend to anyone who’ll listen. Namesake is an essay collection about identity in the context of the occupation of Palestine. Nuseibeh draws parallels between herself as a British-Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem and her famous ancestor Nusaybah bint Ka’ab al Khazraji, the legendary female warrior.

Mostly written before October 2023, Namesake is as relevant now as ever, exploring topics like violence, religion and womanhood with a clear and approachable voice that will continue to resonate through time and geography. This is the kind of book the world might not deserve, but it desperately needs. [Venezia Paloma]

That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack (Canongate) That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz gives up its secrets guardedly, so when everything comes together the effect is unexpectedly profound. Tender-hearted, graceful, and subtly philosophical, this is a novel to be cherished. It’s an artful, and emotionally mature, evocation that every single life is extraordinary. [Alistair Braidwood] — 39 —

December 2021 – Feature

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Advertising Feature

December 2021 – Feature

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Illustration: Emer Tumilty

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Comedy Picks

of the Year 2024 Comedy

Photo: Steve Ullathorne

December 2024 — Review

Brian Jordan Alvarez, English Teacher

T

he final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm saw Larry David on trial after committing an uncharacteristically heroic – albeit illegal – act. Yet, it was the ensemble’s standout moments, especially those with J.B. Smoove, Susie Essman and the late Richard Lewis, that made Season 11 truly memorable.

On the stand-up front, I caught Larry Dean’s Dodger at Monkey Barrel in October – a charming, time-hopping show that explored his relationship with his Nan. Even with a story this moving, it’s Dean’s playfulness and sheer number of jokes that would have made his Nan proud.

[Ben Venables] If you’re a regular user of TikTok, you’ll no doubt have come across Brian Jordan Alvarez on your For You page. As he gyrates sensually to a sound bite from Gilmore Girls mixed with Olly Alexander’s cover of Breathe, it’s hard to look away. It makes no sense and yet it may just be the most effective indirect marketing campaign of the year. Ratings

Janey Godley

for his new show English Teacher have skyrocketed since the dancing began and for good reason – it’s a lighthearted, feel-good sitcom about a gay teacher in Texas, trying desperately to make a difference to his kids. The writing is witty and endearing in its tackling of contentious political and social debates, as Alvarez’s Evan Marquez faces gun-toting conservatives, book banning parents and chronically online teenagers.

When Ramy Youssef released his latest special More Feelings, Trump being back in the White House seemed highly unlikely. But months later, here we are and the sentiment expressed in More Feelings is all the more pertinent. Youssef interrogates his position as a Muslim in Hollywood, talking openly about his support for Palestine and frustration at the overwhelming apathy from Americans who refuse to engage with the reality in Gaza. More Feelings is bold in its jokes on Muslim representation and stereotypes, but Youssef’s tender delivery ensures it never veers towards the unnecessarily inflammatory.

Instead, it’s a show that asks us to consider — 42 —

empathy even when we’re divided, and to maybe even feel hopeful for the future of humanity.

[Arusa Qureshi] I loved Camille Bordas’s new novel, The Material – insightful on the nature of comedy and the newly elevated role of comedians – ‘the artists that the public turn to for enlightenment, for comfort and understanding’ – and a really enjoyable read.

Jordan Brookes’ Fontanelle was the standout show for me at the Fringe – a beautifully complex creation (the image of a chandelier kept coming to mind in thinking about it afterwards, but that might also have been the Titanic vibes). Sh!t Theatre’s Or What’s Left Of Us was also a knockout – funny, yes, and also sad and angry, and very beautiful.

And on TV, season two of deadpan romcom Colin From Accounts, was a joy – the leads, played by real life couple, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, are sensational, but it’s a real ensemble piece and the rest of the cast are excellent too.

[Emma Sullivan]

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The Skinny’s Comedy Team give us the lowdown on their most memorably funny moments of the year

Photo: Steve Ullathorne

Photo: Idil Sukan

Lara Ricote

Nish Kumar

shoes that I’m completely obsessed with (Google ‘comme des garcons shoe double toe’).

And last but not least, I know this is a fairly well-trodden meme format, but the best iteration of it, and the thing that’s made me laugh the hardest recently, was setting the intro to Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl by Chappell Roan to the McLovin scene from Superbad.

[Laurie Presswood]

It’s hard to pick highlights from live comedy this year – but Sam Lake’s impression of Penelope Cruz in a plane was peak Fringe for me. A bit further afield, I saw Caitriona Dowden doing some new material at the Women In Comedy Festival which was brilliant – equal parts stupid and completely idiosyncratic.

When David Sedaris came to the Usher Hall in July he told a story about meeting the Pope and was predictably weird and funny in equal measure.

The highlight, however, was his outfit – a fulllength priest’s cassock and a hideous pair of

Although Phil Ellis’ Come On And Take The Rest Of Me was my overall favourite gig this Fringe (fingers crossed it tours), one of the funniest gigs of the year was Nish Kumar’s Work-In-Progress at Pleasance Cabaret Bar. At a late-night Saturday show in the middle of the festival, you’d expect some characters in the crowd. For Nish, it was the two women who, after arriving late, left ten minutes into his show to catch their train. Once they’d drunkenly shuffled out of the building (which was excruciatingly funny in itself), Kumar turned detective quick-as-a-flash to find out more about these gig derailers. With the help of a railway — 43 —

YouTuber (step aside Francis Bourgeois) hidden in the crowd, Nish Kumar PI tracked them and their train down to unbelievable wheezes and whoops.

Some real Fringe magic.

And, as the year comes to a close, I’d like to raise a glass to Janey Godley. Her stand-up was brazen, unabashed and loved by many, yet it was her dedication to supporting new and up-andcoming talent, and her generosity towards them, which will be missed on the Scottish comedy scene the most.

On screen, Such Brave Girls, which I caught at the beginning of the year but was *technically* released at the tail-end of 2023, was a wildly refreshing sitcom from Kat Sadler. Razor-sharp and with some of the realest, cattiest dialogue on telly, it drilled into the psyche of dysfunction and the manifestation of trauma in a deeply funny way.

Also watch for a career-best performance from Sherlock star Louise Brealey.

[Polly Glynn]

December 2024 — Review

If you missed the show that won Lara Ricote the Best Newcomer Award at 2022’s Fringe, GRL/ LATNX/DEF is now available for free on YouTube.

Lara’s a bold new voice in comedy, and not just because she sounds like Bart Simpson on 1.5x speed (her words, not mine). Watch until the end for the most committed and out-there bit of musical comedy in a long while.

[Louis Cammell]

Comedy

Photo: Anneliese Nappa Jordan Brookes

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Intersections

Radical Review At the end of a difficult year, we’re grateful for the grassroots organisations who have shown us another way. We unpack a handful of these groups’ practices and teachings, and look towards 2025 with hope Words: Jj Fadaka Illustration: Magda Michalak

December 2024 – Feature

F

or marginalised communities across Scotland, 2024 has been one long inhale, with little release. Whether we’ve been waiting for election outcomes, the national budget, rent reviews, or an end to police brutality and far-right riots, after we survive one hurdle, there’s soon been another on the horizon. We’ve found relief in collective anger, although the foundations of already pressured communities have been pushed to their limit. Meeting to strategise, cry and rest together has helped us hold each other tightly.

If 2024 has taught me anything, it’s how to create in the face of destruction. We’ve had our finances and sense of safety slowly chipped away.

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to hide and give in to the world’s apparent apathy. The industry I work in – the arts and culture sector - was tight-lipped and closed ranks at any mention of genocide. My finances seemed to cover less and less of my necessities. Across Scotland, justified desperation and anger was spilling on the streets, in organised and spontaneous protests.

Meanwhile, as reported by The Scotsman and Big Issue respectively, an increase in shoplifting and the number of unhoused people exposed the slow churn of local services.

We could have stayed stuck: a shit politician got into power so let’s wait another four years; the far-right has taken the streets so let’s stay home; the police officer got off so we’ll forget the victim’s name. But grassroots groups have taken up arms, opened their circle and reformulated our avenues for change. Companionship and collective grief have been short-term relief in fighting for a world that exalts rather than tolerates our existence. For the end of 2024, I want to share practices from grassroots groups for community building and resisting an increasingly hostile world.

State the Reality of the Matter with Art Workers for Palestine It’s maddening to watch human-made disasters unravel on our screens, look up to the institutions

we engage with and feel as if the world has already moved on. In 2024, Art Workers for Palestine (AW4P) reignited accountability in the Scottish cultural sector by demanding explicit solidarity with Palestine from the country’s leading art organisations.

These institutions are smarter than we give them credit for. Anger in response to vague, abstract, footnote mentions of genocide – particularly those funded by the UK government – is justified.

AW4P cut through the noise of obscurity to state the reality of the matter. The Global North is funding, enacting and ignoring multiple genocides

‘Strong labour power should come with the community to hold the mess and anxiety of protest’ across the Global South. Investment companies like Ballie Gifford strategically fund the arts to move our understanding of their companies from war profiteers to benevolent philanthropists. The Scottish arts sector allows itself to be the storefront of this art-washing, moving its workers further away from the radical potential of art to critique and protest.

Such a statement may feel uncomfortable.

After all, the arts have been purposefully de-politicised to accommodate more funding, with little consideration of how money changes us and our morals. AW4P proudly identify themselves as workers; for them, art workers are the backbone of an industry staying silent on the lived reality of many people featured in its exhibitions, films, programmes and advertising. These prestigious spaces exist because we enter them, recommend — 44 —

them and create within them. We cannot forget the right to life for each of us, whether or not we have the money to buy your attention. Refusal to be a silently smiling majority frees our creativity to be used towards collective liberation.

Use your Labour Power with Fossil Free Books Fossil Free Books (FFB) is a collective of workers in the book and literary industry. From their inception in 2023, they have challenged the idea that one writer is more important than the rest of the planet. Bringing authors and book workers together, they demand the industry’s biggest sponsors divest from fossil fuels.

This isn’t a union but the worker solidarity is palpable upon realising that whatever your bookish role, your livelihood relies on the (good) practices of the book industry. FFB tells us we can’t continue to pretend art is made in a dark room by a lone auteur. Rather, it is a practice handed down from those producing paper to those using their hourly wage to buy a new novel. They all deserve clean air to breathe, a life free of bombing and to live to see the realisation of the world they read and dream of.

Solidarity isn’t easy, especially in an industry that intentionally separates artists and audiences.

‘Making it’ as an author comes with the (often false) promise of stability, but at this crucial political moment, so-called success might also mean abandoning your beliefs and the people who believe in your work. FFB don’t expect anyone to have all the right answers or to brave the realities of labour action alone. The group makes resources to educate their community on bloody money that cleans itself in book festivals and literary prizes.

They create templates to help workers explain why they want to withdraw their labour while also inviting industry leaders to join their demands for change. FFB understands that bravery relies on the faces that meet you on the picket line. Strong labour power should come with the community to hold the mess and anxiety of protest.

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Intersections

corporation eventually co-opting our history and activism and selling it back to us, our many big and small contributions can create something spectacular, here and now.

‘Everything worth hearing this year, I heard on the street’ Put New World Theories into Practice with Radical Book Fair Educational spaces aren’t free of restriction, discrimination or capitalism. Engaging with radical theory can induce feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Lighthouse Books has long been a refuge for those seeking change, hope, and warmth. Every year at the Radical Book Fair, they bring the curious and compassionate together to share radical ideas and imagine new worlds.

The Radical Book Fair looks to the future with optimism and practicality. This year’s theme ‘We Are It’ invited attendees to make a collective film, share actions in response to local and global issues and rest together. If we are to build a new world, they say, we have to make space for each of us.

Before you think about sharing knowledge, consider — 45 —

format, inclusivity, aftercare, discussion – and give people a meal! World-building is hungry work.

The Radical Book Fair creates a hub to respond to issues particular to Scotland. Rampant transphobia is especially close to the queer community they are intertwined with. They’ve long spoken up against transphobia, complicity and silence in the arts, cultural and literary sectors and provided a meeting space for organising groups, book clubs and community events.

Access to independent publishers means access to under-represented voices and disrupts the hegemony of white, middle-class professional writers. From anarchy to trans-feminism to the Black radical tradition, the Radical Book Fair brings ideas outwith the mainstream into collective focus. Come to find your future co-conspirators and stay to get ideas for your first action.

Yet still, we will come together this winter to grieve, rest, and celebrate with our loved ones. We will retreat with our grievances, less naive and maybe more cynical about so-called cultural leaders and voices for change, but we will have a newfound energy. We will be braver, bolder and more outspoken, with a collective voice of different registers and languages. Let the curated press releases and notes app apologies die in 2025. Everything worth hearing this year, I heard on the street.

December 2024 – Feature

Do-It-Yourself with Porty Pride We can re-make spaces that already exist. Old activist methods often don’t need to be thrown away, but simply remade, in the image of people that look and feel like you. Porty Pride stands alongside Edinburgh’s bigger Pride. It’s a volunteer-led, community-driven LGBTQ+ space hosting panels, intergenerational parties, film screenings, and (of course) a march. Anyone can suggest an event, as long as they have the will to see it through, giving local queer people a platform to DIY Pride. This gives inroads for a Pride that can centre intersecting marginalisations in the queer community; silenced, angry, questioning, joyful, quiet voices that would be drowned out by the need for a palatable ‘queer’ face elsewhere.

The power of stepping away from corporations – who remember they have queer staff once a year and use Pride for pink-washing – reclaims Pride as a radical queer space. Rejecting tokenistic sponsorship saw Porty Pride become the first fossil-free Pride in Scotland, keeping the organisation accountable to their local community, rather than an abstract list of funders.

Doing it yourself means you might not start big, but there is beauty in creating something that matters a lot to a small number. Attendees, volunteers and event participants put energy and resources in and get meaning out of it. Instead of a

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A Rift in the Scottish Arts

December 2024 – Feature

Art

Over the last 14 months there has been growing discontent at Scottish arts organisations and their response to the genocide in Palestine – Glasgow-based artist and writer Hussein Mitha tells us more

I

n the last 14 months we have witnessed a widening rift in the Scottish arts – as well as an intensification of its radical currents and subcultures.

Many cultural institutions who have long ridden the ‘decolonial’ wave and projected an image of ‘progressive’, anti-racist, socially-engaged commitments, found themselves structurally silent, complicit and lacking in solidarity when it came to the colonial genocide of Palestinians. Many of them who protested on social media about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Creative Scotland, for example) have had nothing to say about the daily massacre of Palestinians, enabled by the UK and Scottish governments. The urgent injunctions made by Palestinians for us to witness what was happening and for us to take action were met with stony indifference, unhinged cognitive dissonance, or outright hostility. Many, who dedicate themselves to the ‘contemporary’ and use hashtags like ‘A better world’ (SCAN – Scottish Contemporary Art Network), had nothing to say about the genocidal horrors of the present: the relationship of art to the contemporary. The configuration ‘contemporary art’ has never seemed more inadequate, more lacking, more flagrantly disingenuous, when the horrors of the lived moment are structurally unmentionable by the very same organisations that seek to connect art to the contemporary or the socially-engaged.

Many cultural organisations have been complicit financially through ties and sponsorships with Baillie Gifford, an Edinburgh-based investment company complicit in Israeli holdings, and have resisted attempts by art workers and audiences to act until eventually relinquishing and cutting ties with Baillie Gifford for fear of damage done to reputation. A handful of the most established and well-known artists in Scotland also still have work in the Zabludowicz Collection, a formerly London-based collection which acts as an art-washing front for Israel and has close personal ties to the Netanyahu regime, around which there has been a longstanding boycott and campaign to ‘deauthor’ (a process by which artists can remove work from the collection).

All of the above is complicity. Had the liberal bourgeois cultural institutions and artists of the imperial core taken a stand, and united in cultural resistance, refused to be silent about the genocide being livestreamed to them, Israel would not have been enabled to operate with such impunity. Israel has long manufactured consent for its colonial brutality via cultural means. Its profuse use of art and culture to manufacture consent and silence is part of its longstanding strategy to maintain the conditions in the imperial core that allow it to attempt to eradicate Palestinians. Colonial brutality is fuelled by imperial cultural consensus, by silence. The genocide is manufactured here, in the imperial heartlands, in every sense: both in terms of arms and culturally. Let history record that the official cultural institutions across the west, from Berlin to Toronto, to New York, Frankfurt and Edinburgh, played their role in facilitating the genocide. Had a professional art class not put their careers before Palestinian lives, had they refused with every fibre of their being to remain silent, Palestinian artists would not have died. Had organisations in Scotland stood by

their radical, decolonial programming, their supposed championing of oppressed voices and histories, their commitment to underrepresented artists, and understood the power of the relationship between art and the contemporary, and used the full weight of their cultural platforms to mobilise for Palestine and resist, we could have broken through the silence, the consensus and the horror.

“Colonial brutality is fuelled by imperial cultural consensus, by silence” On the other hand, across Scotland, countless cultural practitioners, community organisers and arts workers as well as grassroots cultural groupings have pushed back against this structural inertia, moral apathy, cowardice, indifference and silence of our larger organisations and institutions. Throughout Scottish culture, often disabled-led, queer, youth, racialised, and working-class arts workers and increasingly politicised small and artist-run spaces have mobilised unrelentingly for Palestine. 148 cultural organisations across Scotland have now endorsed PACBI – the cultural boycott of Israel, forming an ever-broadening front against genocide and imperialism in the arts. More and more people seem to be outraged and frustrated by the official bodies of the Scottish arts and the flagrant classism and racism that is structural and endemic. More and more art workers are questioning and holding their employers and funders to account, and we are at a new conjuncture which requires an ongoing politicisation of aesthetics, and a using of art towards liberation, rather than the aestheticisation of politics that has been the dominant trend of contemporary art in the last few decades.

As the forces of silence and normalisation rage on unrelentingly, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and conflagration of Israeli aggression into Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, threaten to become background noise. There are those who maintain the status quo across the Scottish cultural sector who want this to happen. It is also inevitable that the government will attempt a major crackdown on the cultural boycott if we let them. Now more than ever, it’s important for all of us who work in culture and who are principled anti-imperialists, who believe in a future for all and real justice for the oppressed, unite and collectively refuse to go on with business as usual. Let us reach into the radical currents within our subcultures and communities that can forcefully resist the official, dominant culture. Let’s not allow this rift to be papered-over and managed by the forces in the art world that maintain the genocidal status quo. Radical art should be a continuing renewal of outrage against the dominant mode of representation that prevents us from seeing the truth.

In times where the meaning of art seems at stake, we have to build class power and re-state the power of expression for world-changing collective liberation, as the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish said: “Every word has the power to change the world.”

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THE SKINNY

The Simple Life as a coping mechanism. “I felt so extremely alone and isolated and it made me feel like such a failure. There was such an immense feeling of, if I can’t make myself a success when I’m signed to a major label then I must not be good enough. And now I realise, actually, that’s not true... Basically, I’ve come to realise: music is about life, and life is not about music.”

Photo: Joe Crogan at Zones Production

“T

he lost album is finally found.”

Shelved four years ago by the major label that signed Wuh Oh, aka Pete Ferguson, off the back of seeing the £50 music video for his single Daddio, in October, his long-lost debut album, Wuh Ohs, finally saw the light of day. Shared with countless labels by a friend seeking a job in A&R, the playful video for Daddio – starring Ferguson in his best Beetlejuice meets Andy Warhol getup – incited an unexpected bidding war.

“It was all extremely hectic,” Ferguson recalls, perched on a park bench in The Meadows after a leisurely stroll in the November winter sun.

“My ego was exploding. I ended up signing to one of the Sony labels and realised quite quickly after I’d signed with them that they didn’t have much of a plan for me... When I went to my meeting to drink champagne and sign papers, one of the high-ups in the label whispered in my ear, ‘I promise you’ll never regret this.’ And as soon as they said that, I thought, ‘I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this. I think I already regret this.’”

Strangely, the label wasn’t interested in releasing Daddio as their first port of call. “They wanted me to release really obscure weird things because I guess it would take the pressure off me and the pressure off them, because if a really weird thing doesn’t connect, who cares,” Ferguson says. He continues with a sigh: “The wind was taken out of my sails, and the excitement at the label got less and less.

“By the time it came to the point of releasing [Daddio], everybody had kind of jumped ship, and I had lost hope in myself and in the project, and so it just kind of fizzled out. And then COVID happened; TikTok became a huge deal.”

When things started going south with the label, Ferguson pitched a single – Hypnotized – to pop icon Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who loved it. He took it to the label, and after a few months of feigning excitement, they finally admitted it wasn’t something they could get involved with. They gave him their blessing to release the song (which the pair did in 2023, accompanied by a glorious video shot at the Barrowlands) and essentially dropped him in the same breath.

After this rollercoaster, Ferguson turned to alcohol, something he admits he’d long been using

Words: Tallah Brash

“I just got fed up of writing shit songs for David Guetta maybe to release” Pete Ferguson, aka Wuh Oh Since parting ways with the label, daily life looks very different now for Ferguson. Attending regular AA meetings, coffee dates and time with friends and family the priority, music now forms part of what he describes as “a simple happy life.”

He confesses, “I went through such a journey [as Wuh Oh] of doing everything I possibly could so that nobody could see or judge the real me. I started writing music to make songs that I love and to show some people. So that’s basically what I’m going to do. I’m still happy to write songs with people or for people when it seems fun and inspiring... but I just got fed up of writing shit songs for David Guetta maybe to release,” he laughs.

With Wuh Oh a thing of the past, he’s looking to the future, and his new mononymous project as Ferguson. “I just want this to be me doing the music that I always loved.” Moving away from an electronic sound, he promises a strong emphasis on melody and harmony, and on pop, but with a sound more rooted in the 60s, 70s and 80s, albeit “with no expectations of reaching Beatlemania,” he quips. With 14 songs almost ready to go, featuring himself on vocals, his brother Mike on drums and Stevie Jackson from Belle and Sebastian – “my favourite band of all time” – on guitar, he describes it as “chaotic messy pop”.

Count us in!

At this point, it’s worth noting the difference in Ferguson’s demeanour when talking about his new project and his changed relationship with — 47 —

music compared to where we started. Coming out the other side a changed person, he says the experience has ultimately been a valuable one.

Offering advice for artists desperate to get signed to a major, he treads with caution. “It’s good to remember that it’s business,” he starts. “The money is good, but you have to do it all by yourself, they’re not your family or your friends [...] And do everything you can not to let your performance on that record label dictate how you feel about yourself as a person and as an artist.

“Do not let the fear of failing and being dropped affect the way that you make your music because at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter,” he says candidly, ending with a shrug and a hearty guffaw: “People get dropped all the time.”

Wuh Ohs was released on 10 Oct via Wuh Oh / Movie Records; available at Bandcamp: wuhoh.bandcamp.com Keep your eyes peeled for new music from Ferguson in the new year

Music

With his debut album as Wuh Oh finally released, we talk to Pete Ferguson about his experiences in the major label game, and look to his future as Ferguson

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THE SKINNY

Online Only

December 2024 – Feature

Intersections

The Home Office most certainly likes to keep busy. One writer explores the true cost of the country’s digital border

I

n 2022, the Home Office unveiled its plan to create an ‘end-to-end digital customer experience’ for immigration, moving every step of the process online – from application form to immigration documents. The plan sees the complete phase-out of all analogue paperwork by 31 December 2024, with Biometrics Residencies Permits (BRP) and Cards (BRC), along with all legacy documents including passport stamps and residency letters, set to be replaced by eVisas: fully digitised records of immigration status, accessible online-only.

First introduced with the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in 2019, which handled residency rights for EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, eVisas were progressively introduced to other schemes before applications opened to all in spring 2024.

Individuals currently holding BRP, BRC and other documents need to create a UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) account, download the Home Office app, and scan their documents using a smartphone to prove their status and access their eVisa. Additionally, legacy document holders may first need to obtain a BRP via a no-time-limit (NTL) application, before they can upload it to their UKVI account and obtain their eVisa. When requested to prove their status – for example, when taking up a new job, applying to rent or buy property, or accessing benefits – individuals will need to log-in to their UKVI account and generate a unique-use sharecode to give to the relevant authorities. The latter will then need to connect to the View-and-Prove online platform and input the share-code to view the eVisa.

Though the Home Office introduced eVisas as ‘simpler and more intuitive’ to use, the new system only seems to transfer the complex offline bureaucracy of immigration to online space, offloading all responsibility to the eVisa holder. While this series of events may seem rather straightforward to the technology-minded, it relies on three key components which fundamentally challenge its accessibility: a reliable internet connection, access to (quality) digital devices, and sufficient digital literacy to use them. Those cover all three barriers to digital inclusion identified by Ofcom and subsequently recognised by Parliament, as well as two of the four criteria outlined by the EU. Florence*, who is in the UK on a student visa, transferred to an eVisa earlier this month. When she registered her UKVI account, she struggled to scan her BRP with her Android phone, despite the phone complying with the Home Office app’s requirements. “I had to ask a friend with an iPhone, but still it didn’t work. I did manage in the end through asking other friends,” she says. “I find it easy to use these gadgets, but I can imagine it would be a challenge for someone who’s not technology literate.”

Digital exclusion can critically impact an individual’s capacity to engage in public life and

access services including jobs, benefits, and education. Research by the Good Thing Foundation, a digital inclusion charity, and the University of Liverpool, note that factors of digital exclusion intersect with other forms of disadvantage, increasing risks of exclusion for individuals living in poverty, and disabled and elderly people. A recent report from Audit Scotland found that 15% of all adults in Scotland lack foundational digital skills.

Digital rights organisation Open Rights Group (ORG) has warned that eVisas will further increase the digital divide, with communities concerned by the policy already at higher risk of digital exclusion.

Individuals using legacy documents, who are usually older, may be particularly affected, ORG argues, along with individuals with limited digital literacy who may struggle to keep their UKVI account safe from threats such as scams and phishing, a risk factor increased by the existing language barriers many already face.

Digital literacy is not only a key skill in using technology and identifying malicious actors, but is also important when navigating technical issues, which an online-only system may make all the more frequent. The3Million, an organisation which supports EU citizens in the UK, has gathered reports from eVisa holders under the EUSS across the past five years of the scheme. These include erroneous information automatically collected during the application causing delays and rejections, prolonged interruption to the system leaving

— 50 —

Words: Mayanne Soret Illustration: Amy Lauren

individuals without access to their eVisa, and data entanglement, where parts of someone’s data is displayed on someone else’s eVisa. The organisation has put forward a proposal to replace the current system with personal QR codes leading to a static online-only immigration status, saying the code could be used from a mobile phone or with physical cards and passport stickers. Despite these concerns, the Terms and Conditions for UKVI accounts states that the Home Office is not liable for ‘any loss or damage that arises from use of the UKVI account’ including ‘information that is lost or corrupted while data is being transmitted, processed or downloaded from the UKVI account.’

Thankfully, a Resolution Centre for technical issues is available, along with a list of organisations who can provide support. The Home Office also offers digital access support for eligible applicants via phone or face-to-face, weekdays only.

Amid the UK’s ever-violent treatment towards migrants, it is difficult to trust that the eVisas program has emerged solely from a desire to improve customer service, or that it will be implemented with sufficient care and support. While digitalisation may be convenient for some, the UK’s move towards an online-only immigration system in the face of growing digital exclusion risks leaving already vulnerable communities behind. *Name has been changed to protect privacy

THE SKINNY

The Experience of the Survivor The Skinny meets Gabrielle Goliath, the artist behind Personal Accounts, a decolonial and collaborative project of repair now on show at Talbot Rice Gallery

Would you say you gave up authorship as the artist with the initial concept to some degree in Personal Accounts?

Personal Accounts is very much driven by the agential capacity to give or to withhold. There are those who participate in this work who may be striving towards visibility as trans activists, for example. They want to be visible in the work they are in. There are those who choose to withhold and not disclose their identity. All of these decisions are so important and significant for each one of those individuals. And I think that’s what the work really grapples with. It’s this idea of giving an account and accounting for oneself, and the voice of the survivor is one that is so regularly discredited.

That makes sense. I like how daring it is to only let the audience hear sighs and filler words – but what do you think about those that might feel that you’re redacting the collaborators’ monologues and silencing them?

Well, I think firstly, it’s really important to note that it is a consented-to decision. So that’s really important.

And then of course, as I say, it’s this grappling with this so-called dichotomy of those who have a voice and those who do not. And what this work is really asking of those who come to it is to consider what happens when we forego lexicality. What happens within that paralinguistic space? And I think it’s really important to grapple with this idea of so-called transparency. That language apparently affords us to be known and transparent to one another, but in actual fact, rather to claim a form of opacity. I’m very careful around the languaging as well of the work.

This is not about editorial censorship, redaction, or a cut, all of which implies a form of conceptual and aesthetic and material violence, but in actual fact, this is driving towards an alternative, a different kind of aesthetic encounter. Also, it’s important to note, this is not a work about physical violence. These are not all solely accounts of violence and so this is not work that is asking for only victims to come forward.

So that’s a really important aspect.

Personal Accounts, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, until 15

Have you collected participants’ thoughts on the process or the film depicting them?

I think it’s been really important to think about how the work is produced right from the beginning. It’s produced in community and in dialogue with many, many individuals and partner organisations, so the preface to the making of this work is highly relational, and it’s my way of seeking to work in a subject-centred, ethical mode of artmaking that is extractive or ethnographic to some degree. And so in making my work, I look to firstly make sure that I put in place these relationships, friends, friendships, partnerships that make possible a way of me being held to account and of course being accountable to those who get involved in the work, from partner organisations such as the Talbot Rice Gallery to the collaborators that are assembled within a particular

Gabrielle Goliath, Personal Accounts, 2024, La Biennale di Venezia

— 51 —

December 2024 – Feature

Photo: Luc Meneghel

I’ve seen artworks by Sue Williamson in which she has done something that looked on the surface kind of similar to yours – by way of the media used and where she gets victims and perpetrators (sometimes perpetrators of injustices during the Apartheid era) to talk about the same subect matter. Would you describe her as an inspiration?

Well, I wouldn’t necessarily cite Sue Williamson as a precedent but rather, I look to a chorus of extraordinary black, brown femme and queer scholars, and practitioners who are really tackling head on a regime of representation itself inherently raced, classed and gendered, so a work such as Personal Accounts, as with all my other works really looks to tend and attend to the laundry of the social catastrophes of slavery, of colonialism and Apartheid. But of course, the ways in which we continue to inhabit the aftermaths of those catastrophes, and it shapes and informs all of our lives, and in actual fact, resultantly produces a differentially valued life. And so that is the bedrock to my entire practice.

context. They are made very much aware of what this work is about and invited to participate. And so those conversations are really quite key.

Personal Accounts is really centering around the experience of the survivor. One really then does need to think quite carefully about that particular subject position. I looked to untether them from the really reductive, problematic frame of victim and victimhood, but in actually exceeding that so regularly the terms of engagement, the terms of participation have political, affective, poetic and aesthetic implications.

Art

P

ersonal Accounts is a deeply immersive and contemplative series of video and sound works, where Johannesburg-based artist Gabrielle Goliath addresses the global normativities of gendered and racialised violence and its impact on survivors. Goliath worked in close collaboration with survivors and allies transnationally in Johannesburg, Tunisia, Oslo, Milan, Stellenbosch and now, for the exhibition at Talbot Rice, Edinburgh. Fresh from representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale with a rendition of Personal Accounts, Goliath tells us more about how she is using her platform at Talbot Rice to investigate these concerns.

Words: Akin Oladimeji

THE SKINNY

Just Do It! Following the release of her excellent For the World EP, we hit the road with Tina Sandwich to find out if the stress of touring in Europe is worth it or not

Words and Photos: Miriam Schlüter

December 2024 – Feature

Music

“I

Chatting to the sound engineer

— 52 —

don’t know if you’ll have heard of this place, but most of us actually met in a place called Aberdeen,” says Tilly O’Connor, aka Tina Sandwich, into the microphone. A packed back room on the Rue Blanche, just two doors down from the famous Moulin Rouge, responds with some tentative cheers. Two people come up to her after the show: they have been to Aberdeen, can she believe it?

For two weeks, O’Connor and her band have been touring Europe. Exploring cities, sleeping in vans, and meeting people along the way, they have taken part in a form of cultural exchange that is unique, tender, and always fuelled by music. I got the chance to sit down with O’Connor and speak to her about her experience of planning, executing, and living through a kind of experience that seems sometimes reserved for the super rich.

“We got asked to do it – the same way you get asked to do any show, really,” says O’Connor about how the tour came about. Seven shows in total, with nights off in between: Utrecht, Rotterdam, Paris, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. Not only a lengthy, but an expensive undertaking. She mentions the financial uncertainty that was present from the very start. “There was probably a bit of uncertainty. Do you really wanna do it? It’s going to cost a lot of money. But the rewards could be worth it.

“It became clear very early on that we would need to do a fundraiser type thing,” reflects O’Connor. On tour in support of London rockers LEAP, the majority of any profits would go to them.

While headlining bands, able to potentially profit from or cover costs with ticket sales, can have a much easier time organising tours, the expenses pile up much quicker when you’re playing as a support act mostly benefiting from the exposure to new audiences rather than financial reward.

Having to ensure that each band member was able to take a two week holiday at the same time was only the first hurdle. Flights, ferries, van hire, board and lodging for five people (plus the occasional friend who decided to tag along) quickly added up.

“The van was probably the biggest all-in expense, but that was mostly covered by the bingo night,” explains O’Connor. A bingo night at Nice N Sleazy to help fundraise and celebrate the release of their For the World EP was only one way the band tried to pull in money to make the dream of touring Europe a reality. An unconventional sort of evening at the Glasgow hotspot, the night felt almost like a celebration of community.

“We had a lot of favours and love pooled in from all our friends in the scene, donating prizes and stuff like that. That was really lovely,” reminisces O’Connor. The bar was packed, filled with friends and fans alike excited to contribute.

THE SKINNY

Pinball and photo booths to pass the time before the gig

from the experience is worth mentioning, too. “I’ve enjoyed meeting everyone and chatting after the show and it just didn’t feel draining in any way – I wish I was doing it again tonight. It felt very recharging, reaffirming almost?

“Those Düsseldorf shows at the end were the best of the run and having so many kind people come up after to chat about how much fun they had kinda made us all feel like, ‘hell yeah, we should be doing this’.” At the end of the day, while hometown crowds provide a sense of loyalty and familiarity that can be comforting for local bands trying to define their sense of self, heading out into uncharted waters is an experience that O’Connor would recommend to any band – if only for the excellent European hospitality that Tina Sandwich experienced along the way!

We end our chat by asking what advice O’Connor would give to any Scottish bands trying to tour internationally? “Just do it!” she says. “Big advice: stay out in the countryside and not in the city. You can’t really party after the shows all night but I think that’s probably done us good. We had really gorgeous places to stay, lots of peace and quiet. And yeah, you don’t have to worry about paying for parking and your van being broken into. It’s not super rock’n’roll but I think it’s the way to do it. And then you have the odd night, like your day off, where you can go a little crazy. That would be my advice: don’t go too hard every night, get a good sleep. Prioritise sleep. And be nice to the venue staff and they’ll be nice to you.”

Music

Topping the night off with an intimate live set, a sense of vulnerability shone through that seems typical for a band who know how to make a crowd dance but don’t shy away from discussing delicate, political and emotional matters in their music either. That exact mixture of fun and tenderness, of seriousness and silliness, translated effortlessly to audiences all across Europe.

“We found a bit of a language barrier with chat between songs. Maybe even just accents,” says O’Connor when asked about the experience of playing to crowds of non-native English speakers. But while understanding each other in a literal sense was sometimes difficult, there seemed to be an inherent level of understanding carried via the music, as evidenced by the fruitful merch sales and post-gig conversations the band experienced.

As fulfilling as those exchanges were, there was some pressure attached to them as well: “We’re riding on our coattails a little bit, needing to sell T-shirts every night to get to the next city pretty much,” O’Connor explains.

For her as the frontwoman, trying to make the tour happen has also been a huge personal sacrifice. “For the past six months, all my spare money has gone on getting Airbnbs.” There is no such thing as a work/life balance when it comes to touring: it is something your heart and soul has to go into in order to make it happen.

O’Connor also reflects on having to be in charge of the organisational side of things. “I found it quite stressful as well, I was always worried about the rest of the band not liking it.

Will they not like this Airbnb or will they not like this choice I made about going to this city or something like that? So I found that super stressful, the weight of everyone’s opinions.”

But somehow, everything seemed to fall into place for them: each band member seems to be elated, glowing with how joyous the experience has been for them. “Everything I was stressed about, everything I was frightened of hasn’t happened. It’s really been a dream.”

The band, operating for the last two-and-ahalf years between Aberdeen and Glasgow, are used to having to organise things between the five of them, taking into account people’s various schedules and responsibilities. At this point, they’re a well-oiled machine, on and off the stage.

“I feel like we’ve sort of formed a hive mind now,” O’Connor reflects. “We’re just delirious with the giggles all the time.”

When asked if she thinks the organisational and financial effort that went into the tour was worth it, she points out that worth is something that’s hard to define. “It’s great to just have lots of fun with your friends and see lots of cities you wouldn’t necessarily get to see. That’s so worth it,” she says. But the artistic fulfilment they have gained

Stewart and Calvin giving it their all

Setting up for the gig

For the World was released on 8 Aug Tina Sandwich play in support of Parliamo at Beat Generator Live!, Dundee, 29 Dec with headline shows planned in the new year in London (19 Feb) and Edinburgh (26 Feb) instagram.com/tina__sandwich — 53 —

Right before the show

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Image: courtesy of An Independent Zebra

Photo: Paul Marr

Image: Mary Buchanan

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Image: courtesy of The Craft Pottery

Image: courtesy of The Craft Pottery Studio

The Craft Pottery

The Craft Pottery Studio

December 2024

Photo: Jo Edwards Soul of Fire

Soul of Fire Soul of Fire Artists’ Charcoal is handmade in Scotland using traditional methods and local, sustainable resources. Their charcoal sticks come in all shapes and sizes, reflecting the willow trees they’re made from. And they can be used by anyone, no matter what age or ability, and no matter what project is on the go. Buy yours online today:

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Look out for their collaborations with local businesses around the city for special events. Whether you’re studying at GSA or have never held a paintbrush, you’re guaranteed to have a great time.

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THE SKINNY

A rundown of some special offers and events this festive season

Monkey Barrel Comedy

Strangers Brewing Local favourites Strangers Brewing create handcrafted, artisan brews on a small farm along Union Canal in Linlithgow. Alongside a great range of traditional Scottish ales and crisp lagers, check out their seasonal specials too – like stout with chillies or a saison with local rhubarb. Grab a mixed case, and look out for their gluten free options, gift sets, and merch. Shop online at strangersbrewing.co.uk.

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Monkey Barrel Comedy, Christmas & Hogmanay Specials The Big Show is back at Monkey Barrel this winter!

Throughout December, you can see some of the best comedians in the country on stage in Edinburgh. Forget markets and late-night shopping, brighten up your festive period by seeing a selection of top stand-up talent at Scotland's best comedy venue (Chortle Awards).

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Image: courtesy of Fruitmarket

Photo: Benjamin Soedira

Image: courtesy of Monkey Barrel Comedy

December 2024

Department of Magic

The Alchemy Experiment

Fruitmarket Shop

Department of Magic Step out of the cold and into immersive, magical experiences in Edinburgh this winter! At the Department of Magic, you can test your puzzle-solving skills in two top-rated escape rooms, make delicious potion cocktails in their cosy potions tavern, or indulge in a tasty afternoon tea filled with enchanting, locally-made delights. More than 1,500 5-star reviews on TripAdvisor.

The Alchemy Experiment The Alchemy Experiment is a creative art space, gallery & coffee shop that features original artwork and prints from over 100 local artists. In the run up to Christmas, the space will host its annual Festive Markets with a rotation of local artists & makers every Saturday & Sunday. The space also caters to events, workshops, talks and more.

Fruitmarket This Christmas, Fruitmarket Bookshop are featuring design-led storyful objects that showcase their ethos and ethics and have thoughtfully selected so many good books too. They’ve been described as a ‘dangerous’ and tempting shop and a bookshop ‘for the person who has everything’.

Mainly, they’re thinking through contemporary culture with great books and well-made objects.

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— 55 —

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December 2024

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— 56 —

THE SKINNY

Mainstream Maddin?

We chat with Guy Maddin and his regular collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson about Rumours, their new comedy about a crisis at the G7 Summit. They tell us how they embraced a more conventional film style without losing any of their puckish surrealism

T

Any film about politicians flailing in the face of adversity will undoubtedly be read for its political intent, but Evan Johnson says they were keen to avoid any obvious commentary through their depictions of these international relationships. “We wanted the neoliberal hollowing out that is G7 summits, the empty spectacle and how to make an engaging movie about that, but it means you have to avoid meaning when you can in creative ways,” he says. “Or you can goad people, like, tempt people into thinking, is this a symbol?

No, it isn’t. And sometimes it is! That’s the other thing: there are obvious things in there that are metaphors. There are big clunky obvious symbols in the movie, and yet at times we try to deny that that’s true.” Galen Johnson adds: “It’s right there in the title, Rumours. It’s like, nothing is confirmed.”

Maddin and the Johnson brothers are unequivocal in their praise of their cast, all of whom are terrific fun to watch. The ensemble is led by Cate Blanchett (as the stern German Chancellor), Charles Dance (as the inexplicably British US President) and Denis Ménochet (as the French

Rumours is released 6 Dec by Universal

Rumours

— 57 —

December 2024 – Feature

he first thing you’ll probably notice about the new Guy Maddin film is that it doesn’t look like a Guy Maddin film. For more than three decades, Maddin’s signature has been his delirious adoption of early cinema aesthetics allied to a surreal sense of humour, but Rumours – which Maddin co-directed with regular collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson – looks shockingly like an ordinary movie. “There’s no way to justify using archaic, early part-talkie film vocabulary units in something set in the present,” Maddin explains. “I also wanted the challenge of going... the word ‘normie’ isn’t right, but just something that would have fewer alienating effects.”

Yes, as evidenced by the Universal Pictures logo before the film, Rumours is by far the closest to the mainstream that Maddin has ever ventured.

However, before we place bets on Maddin dethroning James Cameron as Canada’s most commercially successful director, it’s worth taking a closer look at the film’s content. Rumours is a comedy about a group of clueless world leaders getting lost in the woods at the G7 Summit, and its plot prominently features masturbating zombies and a brain “the size of a hatchback,” while the third act hinges on an AI chatbot designed to entrap paedophiles. “Oh yeah,” Maddin admits with a chuckle. “It’s still plenty alienating.”

The idea of a comedy about the G7 had been percolating for Maddin and the Johnsons for a while, forming a subplot in a screenplay they’d been developing that had sprawled into something unmanageable. They junked the rest and focused on the G7 idea, feeling that this annual meeting of the world’s most powerful people was ripe for skewering. What happens when these leaders are faced with a genuine apocalyptic scenario, and they can rely on nobody but themselves to figure out how to deal with it? The increasingly ragged politicians spend much of Rumours wandering aimlessly in the fogbound forest, futilely attempting to draft a joint statement on the unspecified crisis.

President, obsessed with sundials). But Rumours is stolen by the hilarious Roy Dupuis as Canadian Prime Minister Maxime Laplace. Largely unknown here, Dupuis is described by Maddin as being as big as Brad Pitt in French Canada, and someone who could “run for Prime Minister and sweep Quebec”. In Rumours, Laplace is the Alpha of the group; a heroic, square-jawed lothario who makes both Blanchett’s chancellor and the British PM (Nikki Amuka-Bird) weak at the knees, and the filmmakers clearly enjoyed placing a fellow Canuck in this role.

“We’re Canadians and we’re used to needing a Canadian star for our government financing,” Evan Johnson says, “and Roy is our favourite Canadian star. The idea that Canada would be leading was funny because we’re like the 7th most important G7 country. Although interestingly – or possibly not interestingly – Canada was invited to the G7 under Pierre Trudeau, because Pierre Trudeau was the most bilingual world leader in French and English and they wanted someone who could help lead the group, so Canada was added.

So there’s some historical truth to the idea, but for us it was a joke about Canada.”

One wonders what the G7 themselves would make of this lampooning, or the fact that the film opens by thanking the group for their (non-existent) consultation and the poster for Rumours announces itself as The Official Motion Picture of the G7. “Yeah, we just made up this claim,” Maddin admits. “We were surprised that our distributor let us say that.” Evan Johnson adds: “I think we got a note from one distribution person who suggested that you can’t say that. But we said it!” Perhaps it’s his newfound status as a mainstream studio director that has put Maddin in a particularly bullish mood, as he declares, “I say, G7, lawyer up!”

Film

Guy Maddin, Evan and Galen Johnson

Words: Phil Concannon

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Keeping it low-key Kami-O is one of the country’s top grime and dubstep exports. Having recently signed with White Peach, with two albums under his belt to date, we sit down with the elusive Scottish producer to seek out the sauce

Clubs

Words: Cammy Gallagher

T

he Skinny: You’ve been signed to one of the most hype 140 labels in the UK. How do you keep it so low-key?

Kami-O: I’m not particularly hype. I’m quite introverted. I keep myself to myself a lot of the time. I definitely don’t do the scene. I don’t drink and can be a bit socially anxious. In any arts scene there’s always pressure to do drugs and drink, especially in Scotland, and you know, to be the guy sitting with a fizzy water… I wonder if this has held me back.

Do you think you gravitate towards an introspective sound?

Yeah, my tunes aren’t exactly reload material. I like something that’s intricate but also hard-hitting. I’m trying to find that perfect balance between wheelup-worthy tunes and something you could listen to on a train journey.

December 2024 – Feature

‘Wheel Up Train’.

Haha, I’m going to coin a genre here. I’ve had a few over the years that fit the brief, like Aavaas, from my first album. That gets a big response from a dubstep crowd.

it in the first place. I got my mum to do the artwork, I wanted to make it this family-based project. We had a good relationship, but he didn’t know me as an adult, so it was a way of exploring his life, and my relationship with him.

There’s a mature sound to your music. How would you describe your process in the studio and where did it all begin?

I went to Riverside Music College back in 2010. I had gotten FL studio around the time and just wanted to be like Sir Spyro and Mala, so it wasn’t the best thing for me then.

How old are you now?

30 this Friday.

Doing anything special?

I’ll be in uni. I’m doing Sound for the Moving Image at The Art School. The course suits where I’m at right now. I’d like to work with film and add another kind of feather to my cap. We recently went on this big walk recording sounds outside, so I tried

to make this stripped-back kind of DMZ dubstep soundscape only using foley.

What defines a dubstep track for you?

The best ones are just a handful of well-made elements. This is something I suffer from. I’ll have like 1000 elements just to keep it interesting.

Some of the best tracks, like Pulse X or Rhythm & Gash, are just an eight-bar loop for six minutes and people love it. I’m quite critical with my own stuff. I can get an idea down on paper in an hour, but it’s how to make that loop four minutes and interesting the whole way throughout that can take months.

You certainly managed it with Clash. How did the White Peach link-up come around?

I met Zha, who runs the label, four years ago at FUSE in Glasgow. We hadn’t spoken since, but about a year ago I shared a showreel of tunes and he asked to put something out. I’m working on a second EP for them now.

How would you assess the 140 scene this side of the border?

I’m a big fan of Feena. Also, CRPNTR is one of the best rappers I know, he’s also just written a play, he’s got such a way with words. Zolf and Spray had me on their Subcity show Grime is Now – they seem to really care about it, which is nice because sometimes in Glasgow people don’t understand the style. Grime mixing is very fast... you’re flying between tracks. I think the transition from a sevenminute techno transition to five grime tracks back-to-back can be a bit jarring.

Were there any particular influences behind your first album Biren?

I wanted to do something with my Indian heritage. I’ve got loads of family over there that I’ve never had a chance to meet. Obviously, I’m not Indian.

I’ve only experienced the culture through my grandpa who moved here when he was 21, so I wanted to do it respectfully.

What kind of impact has the culture had on your life here?

I was lucky to grow up around all the subtle parts of my grandpa’s lifestyle. The food he ate, the incense he burned, and the records he had. It gives you a better appreciation of people. When he moved over, he was the only person of colour in his area… it must have been brutal.

Any shows to shout about?

I recently played Sneaky Pete’s for Form 696 and Big Zuu was on the mic. The energy was nuts... I’ve never been in a band, but I would guess that’s what it would feel like. My next show is Headset on 20 December at Mash House.

What did he think about the final product?

He passed away beforehand.

That was my reason for doing

Kami-O plays Headset's 10th Birthday at The Mash House, Edinburgh, 20 Dec — 58 —

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A GFT CHRISTMAS

Your invitation to Glasgow Film Theatre’s festive programme of cinema. From family favourites to cult classics there’s a treat for everyone this Christmas!

December 2024

TICKETS ON SALE NOW Visit www.glasgowfilm.org/christmas for more information

www.EdinburghArtShop.co.uk

Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is registered in Scotland No. SC097369 with its registered office at 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB. GFT is a company limited by guarantee and is registered as a charity (No. SC005932) with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

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November 2024

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Film of the Month

Film of the Month — All We Imagine as Light RRRRR Released 29 November

by BFI Certificate 15 theskinny.co.uk/film

W

ith her blistering documentary debut A Night of Knowing Nothing, Payal Kapadia announced herself on the world stage and she’s only going to win over more admirers with her beautiful and delicate sophomore feature, All We Imagine as Light.

On one hand, All We Imagine as Light is a poetic character study comprising the interwoven portraits of three women, all of different ages but brought together by their shared profession and having moved to Mumbai from elsewhere. On the other hand, Kapadia has created a lyrical ode to Mumbai at night, one that is slick with rain and cast in a dreamy blue hue that is reflected by the uniforms worn by the three characters. In the opening moments, disembodied voices talk about coming to the city – a city of dreams but also one of loneliness. Mumbai is drenched in the blue of sadness, the blue of distance, the blue of longing.

Each woman is struggling with their own form of dislocation or isolation. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is dealing with an estranged marriage, her husband having moved to Germany for work shortly after they were wed; she hasn’t heard from him in over a year, but she longs for intimacy. The younger Anu (Divya Prabha) has a boyfriend, but he is Muslim, so they sneak around in secret and worry about the impossibility of their situation. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is older and a widow who is being — 61 —

forced out of her shanty town home by developers who claim she doesn’t hold the correct papers.

Kapadia takes what might be two-dimensional stereotypes of women in Indian cinema and beyond – the waiting wife, the loose young harlot, the forgotten widow – and brings them fully to life. Here they are imbued with the energy of the city and, in turn, imbue the city with themselves. Prabha’s relationship with her absentee husband is complex and full of inconsistency; when a kitchen gadget arrives from Germany, presumably from him, she is torn between being grateful and angry. Anu’s reputation amongst the other nurses for promiscuity, meanwhile, belies the sweetness of her courtship with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon). Parvaty and Anu’s stories hint at political narratives going on around them, whether based on social standing or religion, but Kapadia remains true to these three women.

In the film’s third act, the action is relocated as the trio take a trip out to the small seaside village that Parvaty is from.

Here Kapadia allows for some almost magical realist touches that allow for these women to experience some of the connection and support that they have not had – or understood to be – around them in the city. Expressive but subtle, All We Imagine as Light has a keen eye for the blueish ennui of the city and for the gestures and glances that proffer connections, whether fleeting or quietly profound. [Ben Nicholson]

December 2024 — Review

Director: Payal Kapadia Starring: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Aziz Nedumangad

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How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies Director: Pat Boonnitipat

Starring: Putthipong Assaratanakul

Film

rrrrr

A good-for-nothing Twitch streamer attempts to worm his way into his dying grandmother’s good graces for financial gain in the feature debut of Thai director Pat Boonnitipat. When the screen-addicted M (Putthipong Assaratanakul) finds out that his ‘amah’ (Usha Seamkhum) has Stage 4 cancer, he decides to trade in his (non-existent) professional gaming career for a few weeks of hardcore brown-nosing that will guarantee he is first in line for her inheritance.

Beyond the clickbaity title is a perfectly-pitched comedy-drama that stays as far from the exploitative as it does from the saccharine, instead painting a heart-rendingly authentic family portrait anchored by Assaratanaku's performance. To use streamer-speak, his resting derp face

belies an underlying charisma that’s wielded with just enough restraint so as to sneak up on you, as it does on his character’s target. Seamkhum’s own charm, as his elderly relative who he realises too late he can’t live without, is hidden behind her own deceptive performance as the at-first prickly pensioner. Both actors’ smiles burn holes through the screen, yet they deploy them sparingly to great effect.

Similarly to 2019’s The Farewell, grandma’s imminent death kicks off an exploration of the moral complexities of white lies. When should we protect our loved ones from hard truths, and who gets to decide? Without discussing them outright, the film’s characters bump clumsily against such questions. As with real life, resolution sometimes eludes them. Boonnitipat does an expert job of avoiding easy answers while still delivering a recognisable – yet fresh – narrative arc. [Louis Cammell]

December 2024 — Review

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, Omar Apollo

rrrrr

In Mexico City, sometime in the early 50s, an American expat in a crumpled linen suit cruises seedy bars looking for another shot of tequila and someone to take home. This is Lee (Craig), who’s stopped in his tracks one night when he claps eyes on the lean frame and delicate features of Eugene (Starkey), a younger man whose emotions, and crucially his sexuality, remain unreadable, even after he and Lee sleep together.

Craig has surely shaken the spectre of Bond with this twitchy, rakish and deeply compassionate turn. Lee cuts a pitiful figure in his various addictions, which extend beyond Eugene, but there’s also something beautifully endearing about his optimistic hunt for love and understanding. Starkey’s role is less complex: Eugene is simply an

Director: Rungano Nyoni

Starring: Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela, Henry B.J. Phiri

rrrrr

Released 26 Dec by Vertigo Releasing; cert. 12A

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl opens with Shula (Chardy) driving down a dark road in Zambia wearing headwear straight out of a 2009 Lady Gaga lookbook. When she finds her uncle’s body dumped on the verge she is inscrutably unmoved, and as we follow her through the next few days as her family reunites for the funeral, her reaction becomes increasingly complex as long-buried secrets begin to come to light.

In its opening stages, Rungano Nyoni’s film suggests something familiar: a generational culture clash film. But she tears up this trope with furious intensity, refusing to let any issue be simple. Each character in this family is dense with complexities and implicit connections to the film’s central traumas. Every familial

Queer

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

Queer

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

inscrutable object of lust; luminously shot by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, it’s easy to see why he sends Lee into a horny tailspin.

There’s a pleasing artifice to Luca Guadagnino’s vision of midcentury Mexico. Shot on expressivelylit soundstages, with miniatures charmingly deployed to depict skylines, Queer’s aesthetic suggests a drug-fuelled fever dream long before Lee starts shooting up. An anachronistic soundtrack featuring the likes of Nirvana, New Order and Prince adds to the discombobulation.

This confident, highly stylized film only falters in its final stretch, with Guadagnino reaching for an approximation of Lynchian surrealism to bring Lee’s search for human connection to a bitter close. But until then this is a haunting study of unrequited desire filled with heartbreak and tenderness, centred on a revelatory performance from Craig.

[Jamie Dunn] Released 13 Dec by MUBI; certificate 18

Nightbitch Director: Marielle Heller

Starring: Amy Adams

rrrrr

Think The Shaggy Dog. Think Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage.

Think any insufferable Amy Schumer pop feminist movie. Mix these disparate works together and you get Nightbitch, a tonally unstable comedy/body horror that lacks teeth.

Amy Adams plays an exhausted mother who sacrificed her professional ambition as an artist to do the thankless work of rearing a toddler largely alone in suburban tedium.

She cleans up weapons-grade messes in the kitchen every day and tolerates a caricaturally unhelpful husband. But she experiences a spiritual and physical metamorphosis: she transforms into a red husky and taps into an unprecedented sense of freedom as she roams the suburban streets at night, rediscovering her infinite power. Guided by her female ancestral line (stupidly manifesting as dogs watching over

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interaction – which at times are incredibly funny, and at others slyly vicious – pulsates with hidden depths.

This pinpoint balance of tone makes the moments where On Becoming a Guinea Fowl loses its nerve all the more frustrating. Dream sequences and flashbacks often feel like they have wandered in from a less interesting film, one less prepared to gamble on the audience’s ability to read into its usually expertly measured ambiguity. But beyond plotting, it is the atmosphere that makes the film soar. Hovering somewhere between Weerasethakul and Haneke in its tranquil yet unnerving iciness, the film comes to a head in its searing finale which unleashes a dormant intensity that cements this as one of the finest cinematic explorations of trauma in recent times. [Joe Creely] Released 6 Dec by Picturehouse Entertainment; certificate 12

Nightbitch

her in the park), the film speaks to the inherited pain of the female condition, I guess…

Interstitially Nightbitch is affecting, but largely it suffers from Barbie Essentialist Syndrome: it’s full of rudimentary Feminism 101 soliloquies of soporific impact. The heavy-handed monologues are as radical in their insight as Florence Given’s first book, ultimately leaving you questioning, who is this for?

The film’s presentation of its grand thesis – Woman Has Multitudes! – is amusingly uninspiring. I wish it fully leaned into the freakish potential of its animating substrata; I wish it really sat in the dark contemplation of the beast.

Nightbitch is simply not weird enough or smart enough. To put a bow on the film’s identity crisis, there’s a ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic soundtracking. Woof!

[Lucy Fitzgerald]

Released 6 Dec by Disney; certificate 15

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Scotland on Screen: Review of 2024 Allison Gardner – CEO, Glasgow Film; Director, Glasgow Film Festival Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

I’d have to say Viggo Mortensen attending the festival with The Dead Don’t Hurt. It was a great screening and a very special moment. I was very honoured to present our inaugural ‘Cinema City’ award to him at GFF24.

Favourite film of 2024?

I think Poor Things was exceptional, and we had a great preview with Alasdair Gray’s son introducing the screening at GFT, which made it very special.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

GFF25, my last one before I retire in October.

I love the audiences, filmmakers and industry colleagues and I will miss it hugely, so let’s make it a good one!

Paul Ridd – CEO and Festival Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

Has to be a tie between the brilliantly wild energy of the packed-out UK premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance as the last night of our Midnight Madness at EIFF, and the Opening Night of GFF with Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding – Allison Gardner was a class act host for one of the best films of the year.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

I have adored the experience of my first year as CEO and Festival Director at EIFF. Working with such a brilliant group of people to put together our Festival has been a total joy. I’m looking forward to my second year and all its possibilities. Bring it on!

Matt Lloyd – Director, Glasgow Short Film Festival

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Making jam and riding my bike.

Alison Strauss – Director, HippFest

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

I enjoyed desecrating Ingmar Bergman’s childhood cinema with a rare dual 16mm projection of Nick Zedd’s Whoregasm.

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

Hands down this was the screening of The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric (1933) for the Opening — 63 —

The Rugged Island, HippFest 2024

Night of HippFest 2024 in March at the Hippodrome Cinema, with live music accompaniment by Inge Thomson and Catriona Macdonald, both from Shetland themselves. The film was directed by Jenny Gilbertson who moved from Glasgow to Shetland and fell in love with the island, and with her leading man! It’s an extraordinarily beautiful film and deserves to be more widely seen. The new music commission was the realisation of a long-held ambition of mine, over seven years in gestation, and the cherry on the

December 2024 — Review

Favourite film of 2024?

No film moved me as much this year as Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw – fantastic performances, cinematography and production design. I was struck by the intricacy of its construction and doomy grandeur. Loved the symbolically loaded use of wrestling, the ‘curse’ red herring and the subtle descent into nightmare. A major film.

Favourite film of 2024?

Two shorts have bookended this year for me. Firstly, the Haitian film Dreams Like Paper Boats by Samuel Suffren, which tenderly yet unsentimentally portrays a fatherdaughter relationship long after the mother has left for a better life in America. In crisp monochrome with dashes of surrealism, it seemed to capture the spirit of Bill Douglas’s Trilogy. And in the last month, I’ve caught the latest work by UKbased Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory, Razeh-del. It’s her most effective fusion yet of textures, archive film and text on screen, combining in a timely recounting of the history of Zan, Iran’s first women’s newspaper. Maryam has made a significant professional sacrifice this year in publicly withdrawing her work from several international festivals that have stifled criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and her fearless commitment to liberation for all is etched into every frame of this monumental work.

Special mention to two long films: La Chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher) and The Wild Robot (dir. Chris Sanders)

Scotland on Screen

It's been a horrible year for arts funding in Scotland, but our film festivals and programmers continue to keep the scene vibrant with their rich and diverse curation and events. We speak to some of our favourites to hear their highlights of 2024

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Scotland on Screen

Photo: Eoin Carey Viggo Mortensen and Solly McLeod at Glasgow Film Festival

December 2024 — Review

cake was that our screening was introduced by Janet McBain, founding curator of the Scottish Screen Archive who unearthed Gilbertson’s film in a henhouse back in the 70s.

Favourite film of 2024? Àma Gloria (dir. Marie Amachoukeli) – a completely immersive portrait of love and variations of familial bonds and how they are impacted by socio/political economics, featuring an unforgettable performance by six-year-old Louise MauroyPanzani as Cléo.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Memoir of a Snail (dir. Adam Elliot). I loved Elliot’s last feature, the stop motion animation for grownups, Mary and Max, which came out 15 years ago.

Finally, this new feature will be released here in February and I can’t wait. It’s billed as a ‘tragicomedy’ and is apparently loosely inspired by Elliot’s own life – following the life of a lonely misfit called Grace. I’m anticipating laughs, tears and lovably dark, detailed animation.

Megan Mitchell and Sean Welsh – Programmers and Producers, Matchbox Cine and Weird Weekend Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

We were most proud of our one-two Weird Weekend screenings of Louise Weard’s

four-and-a-half-hour Castration Movie Pt 1 and the new, hour-long film we commissioned from Louise for our annual UNSEE event. We brought Louise over for the festival, the audience was incredible and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Favourite film of 2024?

Louise Weard’s UNSEE, “the most important trans film of the year” according to Vera Drew, director of The People's Joker. It was a mystery to the audience before it screened and was intended to be shown only once, in the hour before the clocks go back. To have people arriving to the already packed festival at 1am just to see it was heartwarming and it was great to hear and read all the responses afterwards. Louise made a transgressive, hilarious, heart-breaking film that we’re definitely a little sad is now lost forever.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

A sleep (and releasing The People’s Joker to UK cinemas).

Rachel Hamada – Director, Take One Action Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

One of the screenings I’m proudest of this year is our Making Masculinities short film programme and discussion, which was curated in partnership with Pillow Talk and SQIFF at Glasgow’s CCA. At a — 64 —

time when misogyny and transphobia seem to be rife, we wanted to present a safe holding space to collectively, openly and even playfully contemplate and explore masculinities in all their guises.

Favourite film of 2024?

My pick for 2024 is a late entry, Naqqash Khalid’s In Camera. It’s exciting to see such original, confident work from a young writer-director who’s not scared to play with form and to take on the cognitive dissonance of contemporary British life.

Khalid is a director who is clearly up for interrogating unspoken systems and conventions and that’s very much up our street!

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

In 2025, I’m beyond excited for our Real Utopias film festival, which will tour Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Dundee after kicking off in Edinburgh on 18 September. We’re currently crowdfunding to ensure we can work on a really ambitious programme, much of which will be co-designed with grassroots groups in and around those cities. The plan is to collectively explore through film and activities ways of building better futures in the here and now.

Milo Clenshaw – Producer, Alchemy Film & Arts Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

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Photo: Sanne Gault

Scotland on Screen

Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival - Focus on Noor Abed

This is an easy answer for me; by far the most electric screening room I’ve been in this year, and the one I’ve been most proud to be a part of, was Alchemy’s Artist in Focus screening of work by Palestinian filmmaker Noor Abed. The films themselves are powerful, but it was the Q&A that followed which made the event feel especially magic.

Favourite film of 2024?

It’s impossible to choose only one! I’m really glad that I managed to catch We Are Parable’s Glasgow premiere of Banel & Adama (dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy) – it’s a film that’s stayed with me all year.

Favourite film of 2024?

Perfect Days by Wim Wenders – a patient, thoughtful, wise and beautiful film which is a very effective balm for our troubled times!

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

We’re lucky to get to work with some great artists through Alchemy’s residencies programme, and a lot of those projects will have their premiere at next year’s Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. I’m looking forward to seeing the audience’s response to new work by Luke Fowler, Corin Sworn, Mark Lyken, Francisco Llinás Casas, Maybelle Peters and Miwa Nagato-Apthorp.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

The Brutalist by Brady Corbet. I’ve already seen this, and I can’t wait to bring it to GFT audiences in January and February. It’s an awesome piece of filmmaking, in the truest sense of the word, made for the big screen and a truly epic viewing experience – with a built-in intermission that just enhances the feeling of it being an event. Look out for details of 70mm screenings at GFT in the new year.

Paul Gallagher – Programme Manager, Glasgow Film

Richard Mowe – Director, French Film Festival UK

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

I’m going to cheat and mention a whole series of screenings I programmed at GFT this year, to mark the cinema’s 50th Anniversary. We celebrated the

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2024?

Jim’s Story, the ninth feature from Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, adapted from a novel by Pierric Bailly. They were in London in November as part of — 65 —

this year’s French Film Festival UK with the premiere, and it was a memorable occasion to be in the same room as those fraternal filmmaking brothers, Arnaud (58) and Jean-Marie (59), who have been making their idiosyncratic range of work for 25 years.

Favourite film of 2024?

Emilia Pérez (dir. Jacques Audiard). On the surface, it sounds like one of the most unlikely of premises for a film by the French auteur behind A Prophet and Dheepan. It’s a Spanish-language musical themed around a Mexican drug cartel and featuring a dealer who wants to escape the whole scene because he is finding his true self as a woman. Yet Audiard pulls it off with a frenetic energy that bludgeons the viewer into submission, not least because of the high voltage score and dazzling technical trickery (it was all shot in a studio). Pedro Almodóvar must be devastated he did not stumble across the story first because it would have been a perfect fit.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Can’t wait to see Timothée Chalamet in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown. From what I’ve seen of the trailer he looks pretty convincing as Bob Dylan, surrounded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie and so many more. I just hope he can match the look with the sound.

December 2024 — Review

occasion by playing 14 films through the month of May that have struck a chord with GFT audiences over the past 50 years, including Cinema Paradiso, City of God, In the Mood for Love, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Aftersun. The response from audiences was amazing, and the buzz and sense of love for cinema (and for GFT) in all these screenings was really very special.

December 2024

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Music Now What a way to end the year – CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry presents her debut solo album, while Scotland’s own female/non-binary songwriting collective Hen Hoose drop another EP of excellent collaborations Words: Ellie Robertson Local Music

Photo: Charlotte Patmore

B

Lauren Mayberry

– the album even borrows its aesthetic from the PS1 era – these nine tracks make use of shimmering chimes and rapid drum loops that will transport you right back to a time when dial-up dominated. On 13 December, Becca Starr releases Defixio on her label Family Starr Records. As well as the hip-hop prowess we expect from the SAMA winner, Starr shows off dark and soulful vocal performances, R’n’B-style beatmaking, and a confrontation with personal, troubling themes – after all, Defixio is a Latin term for a cursed piece of text. On the same day, plucky-but-grungy Glasgow four-piece Wendell Borton release their debut album Big Love. It’s got that capital-R Rock combo of heavy electric guitars and precise, falsetto vocals, and the LP provides a much-needed antidote to winter blues.

One to watch next year could be Glaswegian pop composer ODD LUKE, who releases Surface Tension on 6 December via Verdigris Records. This EP is a selection box of dynamic dance hits, and if it seems like ODD LUKE is a ready-made rising-star, his experience as a touring musician for artists such as Lewis Capaldi might explain how he can effortlessly attain that larger-than-life sound. The new Christmas single by MALKA (When You’re Here, 3 Dec) has a place on your festive playlists, and don’t forget to check out singles by Little Acres (Kintsugi, 2 Dec), Sonotto (First Date, 9 Dec), Maranta (Into The Evening, 13 Dec), and Ciar Nixon (Murmurations (Fade), 16 Dec).

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December 2024 – Review

efore unwrapping December, there were a few firecrackers that didn’t make it into last month’s column; make sure to check out EPs from Psweatpants (2LeftFeet), Washington (XTC), Loup Havenith (Understand) and Pedalo (Migration), as well as singles from Blanck Mass (Bloodhound), Jacob Alon (Confession), Zoe Graham (When Living Came Easy), SISTER MADDS (Purgatory), C Duncan (Delirium), Linzi Clark (The Couch), Sacred Paws (Another Day), Cloth (Polaroid), Gout (Bed Sores) and Franz Ferdinand (Night or Day).

The last month of the year has only just started, and we’re already tired of overplayed Christmas hits. Make a little time for synth-pop this season, and check out Vicious Creature (EMI Records, 6 Dec), the debut solo album from CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry. Since the Stirling native teased the release with lead single Change Shapes back in March, we’ve been keen to get our hands on the full record, and it’s well worth the wait – Mayberry shows a side of herself that didn’t quite fit into CHVRCHES, a more confrontational character that doesn’t always play nice with others. About the writing process, Mayberry wanted to “feel comfortable telling certain people to fuck off when they treat me like shit – on this record, and in these songs, I get to do that.”

It shows in tracks like Punch Drunk and Sorry, Etc. These are fiery invectives that are deeply danceable, like much of Mayberry’s work. The record also has a sensitive side, showcasing emotive melodies and revelatory songwriting like in Oh, Mother and A Work of Fiction. Throughout, mixes sound bassy, bubbly, and cola-sweet, but Mayberry still doesn’t compromise on her more complex feelings. If what you’re hearing on supermarket PAs this month is monstrously commercial, this is one Vicious Creature that could use some love.

That’s not the only December drop with a year-long build-up. Local female and non-binary songwriting collective Hen Hoose release the third and final instalment in their 2024 discography, EP3 (4 Dec), pairing together prominent artists for a five-track end-of-year bash. Their previous compilations came to us back in June and September, so make sure to check those out before the grand finale.

EP3 opens on Bad Decisions, a collab between Scottish Alternative Music Award-winning DJ/Producer K4CIE and rapper XZO. Fucked Up is a buzzing, icy blend of styles from Scottish music mainstays Carla J. Easton and Elisabeth Elektra. On The Mountain, Tanya Mellote provides a dreamy, ethereal score to a spoken-word performance by disability rights campaigner Kiana Kalantar-Hormozi. Ray Aggs and Sarah Rayes, two prolific multi-instrumentalists, create the brilliantly complex For All I Can, and dance track Pressure, by AMUNDA and Nightwave, closes this triptych of records. Hen Hoose founder MALKA said back when the collective was formed: “All artists have been affected by the pandemic, the problem is women were at a disadvantage in the industry to begin with.” What started as a means to protect those undervalued by the Scottish music industry has become a highly successful creative force in its own right. We can’t wait to see what Hen Hoose hatches in 2025.

For a strong dose of nostalgia, check out World (6 Dec), the newest album by Edinburgh-based composer Daniel McGurty. Written in the vein of ambient 90s computer music

THE SKINNY

MARGO, GLASGOW Margo’s pan-European, all-comers approach makes a great first impression

Food

three good bites of crunchy, crispy shell and gooey, savoury interior, all covered in cheese. The focaccia (£5) isn’t quite at that level, but it is a very nice bit of bread served with a smoosh-it-yourself garlic butter that’s sweet, salty and fatty all at once. Crucially, there’s enough of it to help mop up the various sauces that will come along later. It’s monumental. It’s jumbo. It’s a good amount of bread.

The beetroot, goat’s curd and cocoa tortellini (£9) is a sweet, earthy and surprisingly goth dish; if we’re being honest, there’s slightly too much sweetness here, but when the curd cuts through the beet it’s a good time. The charred pumpkin (£9) is more successful, with a serious char on the squash, and a pumpkin seed butter that brightens up everything it touches. It’s seasonal, it’s a bit zesty, it’s no croquette but it’s a solid option. Next up is pork belly with hispi cabbage (£12), working in a fatty-and-sour mode with a load of cider and mushrooms thrown in.

When you hit a particularly crusty bit of pork, it all comes together, while its tablemate – a stuffed roll of Swiss Chard (£12) – is excellent in a totally different way. It’s fibrous, it’s herby, packed with goats cheese and there are pistachios all over the place. These are both very rich so eating them in tandem is a bit like watching a band with two front people who can’t agree on who’s the leader, but it’s just as entertaining as that would be. At this point we look across at the next table, and don’t recognise a single dish they have.

Photo: Naomi Vance

December 2024 – Review

margo.restaurant

M

argo is massive. From the big M dangling in the middle of Miller Street to the high ceilings, mezzanine level and big booths, the sheer scale of the place is impressive. That scale extends to an exciting, varied and Quite Large menu that feels less like a kitchen hedging its bets and more like a group of chefs aching to play with all of their new toys at once.

And so reporting back from somewhere like Margo risks ending up like those weird Google reviews of a river path or forest; there’s a non-zero chance we all approach from completely different angles, with contradictory expectations, and no-one learns anything. Also, dare I say it, running hog-wild down the menu without a care in the world might not result in the most helpful write-up for you lot. Instead, after a bit of digging, we’ve found that the average UK restaurant-goer spends around £30 per head when they go for dinner… so that’s the budget. £30 per head, times two heads, sixty bucks, spoiler alert: we pretty much did it.

The menu is divided into four sections, increasing in size and price as they go, so you’ve got to be tactical. We go for the classic fewfrom-each plan, and a fairly omnivorous palate. A whole lemon sole in prawn butter does sound delicious, but it’s two-thirds of the budget so it has to miss out. No matter your strategy, some items are mustorders. The ham hough croquettes (£4) might look dinky, but that’s just a trick of perspective. They’re two to

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Photo: Naomi Vance

68 Miller St, Glasgow, G1 1DT Mon-Thu, 12-3pm & 5-10pm; Fri-Sun, 12-10pm

Words: Peter Simpson

Anyway, dessert! In one corner, a brown butter almond tart (£6) that’s a cross between an apple pie and the biggest amaretti biscuit you’ve ever seen. A dollop of creme fraiche, poached quince that’s so tasty we suspect they’ve replaced it with a nicer fruit (but no, it’s genuinely quince!), and a sweet, sticky, chewy bounce to everything. In the other, a zingy and clean lemon posset (£6) topped with an extremely herbaceous and absolutely delicious sorrel granita. Did we think we’d be saying the phrase “delicious sorrel granita” in 2024? No, but we’re glad it’s happened. Also we’ve gone £3 over, but these desserts are worth breaking the rules.

Margo is very impressive and almost too vast to judge on one visit, but we’ll give it a go. The cooking is great and the variety is impressive, and once you accept that ‘orderer’s remorse’ is an occupational hazard you’ll have a really good time. Get the croquettes, save room for dessert, and don’t be afraid to roll the dice.

Whole lemon sole in prawn butter, we’ll be back for you in 2025.

THE SKINNY

Food

December 2024 – Review

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Books

THE SKINNY

Gliff

Feast While You Can

Wandering Stars

Freakslaw

By Ali Smith

By Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta

By Tommy Orange

By Jane Flett

In Ali Smith’s Gliff, the sublime is described as ‘something that elevates you, fills you with wonder because it’s amazing and terrifying… at the same time.’ It’s something that fills you with awe, but unsettles you to the core. Smith’s latest book – a natural dystopian progression from her Seasonal Quartet – is something of the sublime itself. Every sentence in Gliff is perfectly calculated so that it’s laced with meaning, metaphor, and story. It’s incredible to read, but also, on a profound level, filled with horror.

It follows the story of two young people, non-binary Briar and their sister Rose, through a world where they have become ‘unverifiables.’

This is a new subclass of society, where Smith never fully explains the characteristics of its inhabitants: many are dissidents, but many could have been consigned for reasons of race, gender, class, or parentage. The State encircles the homes of the unverifiables with red paint, and their inhabitants are taken to re-education camps and forced to undertake dangerous labour. It’s not uncommon for children, who are stripping batteries, to be severely burned or lose a hand.

Although set in a near future, the horror of Gliff comes in its realism. In a post-Brexit, capitalist and hyper-productive Britain, it’s not outwith the realm of our imaginations for Gliff to become our world, and soon. Gliff is a remarkable read; poignant, perfect, and utterly terrifying. [Beth Cochrane]

Candenze is a small, backward town set high in the mountains and nobody goes there. The Siccos are a sprawling family as much a part of the landscape as Big Joe the mountain, a single girl born to each generation. San Rocco is evoked often and rarely associated with the Catholic religion he belongs to; Candenze takes its morals from old stories, whispers and folklore.

Angelina Sicco loves it though, it’s her hometown and her project.

She’s working to turn it into a queer outpost as (almost) the only lesbian in town, and it’s working – sort of.

Until she accidentally wakes a monster, something from deep in the pit, and it’s hungry.

Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta’s second novel together, Feast While You Can is a vivid queer horror that toes the line between the supernatural and the purely paranoid. The monster is terrifying, and it might all be in your head. Staging a complex critique into isolated, strange places and what it means to ‘develop’ them – set against the inescapable visibility of being queer and brown in a white, straight space – Feast While You Can mines the heart of what it means to belong, and to escape. Clements and Datta’s writing is sure; by turns unsettling and exciting and always seeking to climb inside you. Writing queerness, and queer sex, deftly and effectively is not easy, but this book makes it look it. [Marguerite Carson]

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange is a transcendent novel about one family’s intergenerational pain and grief. Set across two centuries, the novel follows the Star family from the horrors of a massacre in 1865 to a shooting in 21st-century Oakland.

Orange offers an intimate exploration of his cast of characters who descend from the Cheyenne people as they navigate trauma and displacement. The story never waters down the cultural erasure and systemic racism still faced by Native American people, instead confronting it head on with affecting honesty. Written with the adept skill of an archivist and heart of a poet, this novel is truly expansive thanks in large part to how Orange weaves the historical into the familial. There is an ever-present question haunting the Stars – how can you keep alive a history that was beaten out of your people?

The vestiges of this pain manifests into various addictions starting with alcohol and moving to the present-day opioid crisis. What will become the family’s salvation is storytelling and the passing on of ancestral knowledge. This desire to commune with the ancestors drives the youngest Star back to the land in hopes of finally healing his family: “I’ve known what this world’s about. I been running into it.” At times the viscera of addiction can feel uncomfortably raw, but even in moments of deep crisis, Orange holds space for humour and fierce love.

[Andrés Ordorica]

Jane Flett’s Freakslaw is a riot of a novel, one where the irresistible force of the titular travelling fair and its exotic inhabitants meets the immovable object of the conformist townsfolk of Pitlaw, a place where those who don’t fit the locals’ norm are mocked, bullied, and socially ostracised. With a dark magical realism, and using carnival tropes and types, there are – among many others – echoes of Fellini, Tod Browning’s Freaks, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and even The League of Gentleman, as both sides wish for individuals to become ‘one of us’.

The novel is populated by vivid characters. Among the most memorable are young townsfolk Ruth and Derek, who are intrinsically drawn to the fair and the possibility of alternative lives, and the charismatic and otherworldly Zed and Nancy. Nancy in particular is an unforgeable creation, wishing to watch the world burn just to see what it feels like.

Whether using a Barbie for voodoo, enjoying a breakfast vodka, or trepanning an unsuspecting lover, there’s a nihilism in Nancy which is both terrible and attractive. Flett’s turn of phrase throughout is an absolute joy, memorable and eminently quotable, with the most unexpected points of reference (Sartre and the Singing Kettle!). In terms of the sheer thrill of reading, I haven’t enjoyed a novel this much all year. Full of rich language, arresting imagery, and visceral horror, it’s magical, sensual, weird and completely wonderful. Welcome to the Freakslaw. [Alistair Braidwood]

Hamish Hamilton, out now

Simon & Schuster, out now

Harvill Secker, out now

Doubleday, out now

December 2024 – Review

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THE SKINNY

Dream Gig

Glasgow comic and half of Material, Girl with Susan Riddell, Amanda Dwyer takes part in an absurd gig while dreaming up something even more fantastic!

Illustration: Jack Murphy

Comedy

I

room designated to nervous farts wouldn’t hurt either and it makes the farter undetectable. I mean is that too much to ask?

Can a girl not fart in peace when she’s petrified? ‘SAKE. The setting is my high school auditorium, purely because in the centre of the stage someone once did a poo and during the investigation into whose poo it was, there was a circle drawn around it. That circle is still there and has forever been known as ‘the jobby circle’ and I love the thought of the acts getting to perform in the famous jobby circle.

Anyway, I’m hosting the show to mostly tipsy millennials (they just get me better than anyone else). The line-up consists of Maria Bamford, my comedy bestie Susan Riddell and David Brent from The Office. He thinks he’d be a natural and dies on his arse for twenty minutes straight. I can’t think of anything more cringe than that, and I love a wee bit of cringe. We all console him backstage and he brings out his guitar for a sing song. Bob Mortimer headlines – he can do anything he wants and I will find it hilarious.

My ex-husband is in the audience and no matter how much he doesn’t want to laugh at me he simply can’t help it; he finds me too hilarious. He stands up and admits I was the funny one after all, in front of hundreds of witnesses. One guy in the audience thought that he could do better though and he approaches me at the end to give me some advice. I knock him out with one punch and face zero repercussions. I celebrate by having a big pizza and a game of chap door run away with Bob Mortimer.

Material, Girl is at The Stand, Glasgow every 3rd Sunday of the month.

The next Material, Girl is on 22 Dec, 3pm, £7-£8 The show also has an accompanying podcast (available wherever you get yours) Amanda Dwyer: I Did Something Bad (WIP),Van Winkle West End, 15 Mar 2025, 1.50pm, £3-4. Part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival

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December 2024 – Review

ncredible gigs stick with you and my most recent one was just last month at the Old Hairdresser’s in Glasgow.

It had the makings of being absolutely rotten for me because my period arrived earlier that day…

I spend hours dreading the gig: ten minutes before I have to leave the house, I’m crying on my couch about how much I do not want to go tell jokes. It’s really pathetic of me in hindsight, but, at the time it feels like the worst thing in the world.

Reluctantly I drag myself to the venue. The show’s called Gnash and is an experimental comedy gig which focuses on the relationship between art and comedy. Sounds a bit mad, and for all I know, it could be a disaster.

The show starts, and as it goes on my mood is completely transformed – it’s bloody miraculous! There’s some prop-based stand-up to start, followed by an insane interactive bedtime story about a big bit of ham and the moon. The act before me is a full-on puppet show, only with a live band doing the soundtrack. Think Punch and Judy, but with real jokes and less domestic abuse. It’s one of the most creative, amazing, original things I’ve ever seen and the audience love it. I’m sweating buckets at this point because I’m thinking ‘How am I going to follow all this weird and wonderful stuff and hold their attention for 20 minutes just standing there with my silly wee jokes?’ – there’s absolutely no chance.

I reluctantly make my way to the stage, fully expecting to die a big death, but the opposite happens. The audience is so lovely and I end up running over by a few minutes because they’re laughing so much.

There was just a wee bit of magic in the room that night and I went home with my PMT completely cured. Highly recommend following a puppet show over a straight white guy telling jokes about his knob any day. It was just so different and fun and did something wholesome for my inner child.

As for my dream gig – I think if we’re talking like out of this world dreamy – there would have to be some sort of therapy dog or even better – therapy PIG – in the green room. A corner of the

December 2024

THE SKINNY

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THE SKINNY

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

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

Glasgow Music Mon 02 Dec THE SHEEPDOGS

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Saskatoon.

KATIE GREGSONMACLEOD

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Inverness.

CHARLI XCX

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Pop from Essex.

Tue 03 Dec NIKO B

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Rap from the UK.

ENTER SHIKARI

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from St Albans.

KATY J PEARSON

Indie pop from the UK.

JAMIE SUTHERLAND THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Edinburgh.

68 (THE HOMELESS GOSPEL CHOIR)

Trad from the UK.

Noise rock from Atlanta.

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:30

FONTAINES DC THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Post-punk from Dublin.

STRAIGHT ARROWS THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:30

Alt indie from the UK.

Thu 05 Dec LUKE LA VOLPE

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Blues rock from West Lothian.

SODA BLONDE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00

Alt pop from Dublin.

THE JOY HOTEL

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Glasgow.

THE DAMNED

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from London.

HOPE OF THE STATES STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Wed 04 Dec

Post-rock from Chichester.

MONO, 20:00–22:30

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

JILL LOREAN

Indie from Glasgow.

JAMES MCVEY

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

PETE TONG

Dance and electronica.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

THE HORRORS

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Rock from the UK.

Fri 06 Dec

MARTIN STEPHENSON & THE DAINTEES ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from the UK. LUKE LA VOLPE

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Blues rock from West Lothian.

THE MARTELLS (NERVOUS HABITS + RIVIERA + WHITNEY KING)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Experimental.

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Pop from Scotland.

POTENTIAL FRAUD (PALE FIRE + KEV HOWELL)

EUROS CHILDS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Alternative.

Eclectic lineup.

LOLA YOUNG (BUG EYED)

EXIT GLASGOW, 20:00– 23:00

POOLE

Ambient from Glasgow.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from East Kilbride.

THE SLOW READERS CLUB STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie electro from Manchester.

THE BURGERS (START FROM SCRATCH + LOST ANGELS) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Experimental and electronica.

CIVIC HOUSE PARTY X RUBADUB CIVIC HOUSE, 17:00– 00:30

Music from Glasgow.

Sat 07 Dec THE CHATS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Australia.

THE LILACS (STRANGE DIMENSIONS) KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Indie from Wigan.

TELEVISION PERSONALITIES (CULT FIGURES + BIG LANES) MONO, 20:00–22:30

Post-punk from the UK.

THE SKIDS (SPEAR OF DESTINY)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:30

Punk rock from Scotland.

Country from Scotland.

GLASGOW SONGWRITER ROUND (ALICE FAYE + JULEN SANTAMARIA + GRAYLING + KENNETH-NOAH BLAIR) KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Eclectic lineup.

DAYSEEKER

Rock from East Kilbride.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

OLLIE WRIDE

CUD

Post-hardcore from the US.

Indie rock from Leeds.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Electro.

JULIA HOLTER

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

Experimental from LA.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

UNCLE FRANK (FRANK BENBINI + NAIM CORTAZZI)

Sun 08 Dec

Soul from Leicester.

Soul from the UK. DAVID SHAW

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from New Orleans.

WHILE SHE SLEEPS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Metal from Sheffield.

MIXED BILL #4: ONAT ONOL (HUNKS OF FUNK + BUFFET LUNCH + NORMAL SERVICE + MERCUROCHROME)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Tue 10 Dec PERENIAL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

Alt indie metal from England.

NAMESBLISS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Hip-hop from the UK. MATTIEL

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Atlanta.

JACK J

Eclectic lineup.

THE FLYING DUCK, 18:00–22:00

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

JAZZ AT THE GLAD (ARIANE MAMON)

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Punk from China.

BONE IDLE BROS

Indie from Seattle.

STONE FOUNDATION (NEW STREET ADVENTURE)

Soul from East Kilbride.

Metal from Scotland.

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Glasgow.

Rock from Scotland.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

CAHILL//COSTELLO

THE HOME TEAM

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:30

LAMAYA

KING NOBODY (MISOPHONIA + THE UNDERNEATH)

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

THE CROOKS

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Indie from London.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

THE SNUTS

Indie from Glasgow.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

ODD LUKE

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

WEATHERMAN (STONE ASHES + IZIT? & WENDS + LOUIS RIVE)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:30

GLASGOW EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC SERIES (DRONEHOPPER + STEPHEN CHASE + ANTONIA KATTOU + RICHARD CRAIG)

THE COWBOY MOUTH

Alt rock.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND (TEENAGE FANCLUB) THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Balearic from Canada.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Jazz.

Wed 11 Dec

Indie rock from New York.

THE SOUP DRAGONS

Mon 09 Dec

Funk and rock.

RESTLESS ROAD

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Country from Nashville.

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

DIIV

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

CVC

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Rock from Wales.

INDIE CHAOS (CECILE + SNAILS FROM JUPITER + SPICE DREAM) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00

Shoegaze from the US.

Indie from Glasgow.

ONE LEG ONE EYE (HARRY GORSKIBROWN) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Experimental folk.

Thu 12 Dec THE VIEW

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Dundee.

THE DEEP BLUE

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Indie from Manchester.

CROWDED FLAT’S NOT SO SECRET SHOW NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

Indie from Glasgow.

KISHI BASHI

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

THE VIEW

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Dundee.

THE ERA (SAINT SAPPHO + CHEEK TO CHEEK) KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Pop rock from Glasgow.

DEAD PONY

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Glasgow.

CLAY RINGS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Glasgow.

ALCEST

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Post-metal from France.

Alt indie from the US.

THE SAW DOCTORS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Ireland.

BRAD COX

Country from Australia.

THE SAW DOCTORS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Ireland.

GLASGOW ALLSTARS (5TH ELEMENT + SOUL LEVEL COLLECTIVE + SKYMAN) STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Hip-hop from Glasgow.

APOLOGIES (LOVE FIELD + PUSH BAR)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Falkirk.

THE HUMAN LEAGUE THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Synth-pop from Sheffield.

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Fri 13 Dec

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

LOUP HAVENITH

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Slowcore from Glasgow.

FRANTIC LOVE (FIENDZ YT + LITTLE HANDS OF SILVER) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Hard rock from Glasgow.

WENDELL BORTON (HOMEWORK + TREQUARTISTA) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Pop from Aberdeen.

December 2024 — Listings

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

JANICE BURNS + JON DORAN

THE SKINNY

Sat 14 Dec ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

THE RIFLES

CIAR NIXON

Synth pop from Liverpool.

Pop from the UK.

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie rock from London.

10 YEARS OF SPITE HOUSE (LUNG LEG + COMFORT) MONO, 20:30–22:30

Eclectic lineup.

JEFF MILLS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Techno.

THE KAIROS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Rock ‘n’ roll.

THE COLONY (BEYOND TIES + HOPES AVENUE) THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Metal from Glasgow.

GUN

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Hard rock from Scotland.

ROMY

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Electronica from London.

THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG

GIRLS ROCK SCHOOL (LOU & THE KILLJOYS) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Rock from Belfast.

Riot grrrl.

SAM FENDER

SIOBHAN MILLER

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

Pop from the UK.

Folk from Scotland.

ELLA KENNEDY (DRENCHED IN DREAMS)

MAN OF MOON

Indie folk from Scotland.

HOW TO SWIM (THE MARTIAL ARTS)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Wed 18 Dec KARATE

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Rock from Boston.

DAD’S BEST FRIEND (SAM LEYDEN + SILVERTONE + VOID)

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Glasgow.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Indie pop from Glasgow.

DYLAN JOHN THOMAS THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Indie folk from Scotland.

THE PRIMEVALS (OPIUM CLIPPERS + THE REVERSE COWGIRLS)

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

JOSIE DUNCAN

LIV DAWN

THE RUM SHACK, 20:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

RODDY WOOMBLE

THE GLAD CAFE, 14:00–18:00

Indie.

SECRET COAST SONGWRITERS THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30

Songwriting showcase.

KATIE MALCO

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie rock from the UK.

Sun 15 Dec CHINA CRISIS

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Glasgow.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

EVERGREY

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:30

Prog metal from Sweden.

THE MARY WALLOPERS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Folk from Ireland.

THE GUILTY MEN

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Rock from Manchester.

Garage rock from the UK. THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie rock from Scotland.

DISCOLA (THE BACK PAGES + XPOSURE & THE EUPHONICS) ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Glasgow.

Sat 21 Dec

PUBLIC HOUSE + SLOWDANCE + FAT SALAMI + NOVA SCOTIA

Synth pop from Liverpool.

Thu 19 Dec

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Country from Nashville.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

CALLUM BEATTIE

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

THEO BLEAK

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

KAMERON MARLOWE A.G COOK

Producer from the UK. TOM MEIGHAN

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from the UK.

MUSIC IS THE LIGHT: SAMH FUNDRAISER (HAIVER+ DARREN MCGARVEY (AKA LOKI THE SCOTTISH RAPPER)) STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

JAZZ LAMBAUX

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Experimental pop from France.

BELUGA LAGOON

Folk from Scotland.

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Rock from Dundee.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Folk from Ireland.

SARA RAE (PARDON) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

NUCLEAR CLUB (GF + CLAY RINGS)

Pop rock from Essex.

THE MARY WALLOPERS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Folk from Ireland.

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

MOONEY (CHLOE HAWKINS + SONOROUS + DISCO MARY) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

Indie pop.

CALLUM BEATTIE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

BABY CHAOS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Ayrshire.

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

COLONEL MUSTARD AND THE DIJON 5

OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Glasgow.

TRAVIS

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Rock from Glasgow.

RODDY WOOMBLE THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie rock from Scotland.

Sun 22 Dec DEL AMITRI

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Scotland.

RY BUDD

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:30

Cyberpunk from Glasgow.

ARCHIE & FERESTER THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Folk from Scotland.

Mon 23 Dec DEL AMITRI

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Scotland.

Sat 28 Dec

Alt rock from Glasgow.

Sat 04 Jan

AVENUE STREET (THE FEAR + HITLIST + THE HIGH FLATS) KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Indie rock from Glasgow.

FOG BANDITS (ESCAPE GOATS + HAZEL TERRACE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Alt rock from Glasgow.

ILI (NEAVE MARR + FLORENCE JACK)

Folk.

Sat 07 Dec STOP STOP

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Birmingham.

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 14:30–16:30

Jazz and Blues from Edinburgh

SWING INTO CHRISTMAS (THE DOWN FOR THE COUNT ORCHESTRA) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00

Alternative.

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

CALUM BOWIE

Pop from Glasgow.

BALDERDASCH (KARYS + PAPASOB + CAITLIN CONNOR) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

SKINNY LISTER

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

CALLUM EASTER + THE ROULETTES (IONA ZAJAC) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00

Rock and pop from Edinburgh.

STARFACE (ALDOUS) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Indie rock.

Punk.

Sun 08 Dec

TELEVISION PERSONALITIES (CULT FIGURES) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Post-punk from the UK.

UNCLE FRANK (FUN LOVIN’ CRIMINALS’ FRANK BENBINI + NAIM CORTAZZI) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Soul from Leicester.

JAMIE SUTHERLAND THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Tue 03 Dec EDDIE 9V

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:30

Blues from Atlanta.

Singer-songwriter from Edinburgh.

JACK J (LIVE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

ACUA ((A MEAN GREEN) 3P SLOT MACHINE)

Ambient.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Mon 09 Dec EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

Psych.

Wed 04 Dec

THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS, 19:00–22:30

ANNA KIARA (HEAVENQUEEN + DIKAJEE)

Art rock from Manchester.

KOZA MOSTRA

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

AMPLIFI (GROOVE DOWN + JUNIPER LAI + NUNA)

AULD SPELLS

Metal.

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Thu 05 Dec

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00

Folk from Ireland.

CALUM BOWIE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Folk rock from Greece.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Dream pop.

Tue 10 Dec

Rock ‘n’ roll.

Country from Scotland.

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

HEIDI TALBOT ( BOO HEWERDINE)

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

SEÁN R. MCLAUGHLIN

EUROS CHILDS (SELMA FRENCH)

Sun 05 Jan

Eclectic lineup.

CHRIS ANDREUCCI

Ambient from Glasgow.

Jazz and Blues from Edinburgh

VINTAGE EXPLOSION BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

SWING INTO CHRISTMAS (THE DOWN FOR THE COUNT ORCHESTRA)

Mon 02 Dec

Folk from Scotland.

Mon 16 Dec

CASEVETI (EYES OF HOME + THE KEITHS + THE NOISE CLUB)

Electro punk from Glasgow.

THE MARY WALLOPERS

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Heavy metal from Iowa.

Fri 03 Jan

DOSS

BAD NERVES

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

CALLUM BEATTIE

Pop rock from Scotland.

Pop from Glasgow.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

SLIPKNOT (BLEED FROM WITHIN)

BARROWLANDS, 14:00– 17:00

KING TUT’S, 19:30– 22:30

Edinburgh Music

Fri 20 Dec

Alt rock from Perth.

Eclectic lineup.

THE MARCHES (BARRANQUISMO + MISCELLANIA + PINKY PROMISE)

KULEE ANGEE

SIOBHAN MILLER

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:00–22:30

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

CAHILL//COSTELLO

Thu 02 Jan

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00

Alt rock from the UK.

Punk rock from Scotland.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:30

Mon 02 Dec

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR (DELTA SLEEP + SLOW CRUSH)

Fri 20 Dec

RICK ASTLEY

THE SKIDS (SPEAR OF DESTINY)

Tue 17 Dec

Swing and festive classics.

Glasgow Clubs

THE WONDER STUFF

Rock from Manchester.

Alt folk from Glasgow.

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:30

Fri 06 Dec SAM MILLAR

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

Folk punk from the UK.

December 2024 — Listings

SAM FENDER

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

CHINA CRISIS

THE VIEW

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Dundee.

Wed 11 Dec

SIMEON CHIEN & THE NOISY BOYS (BEARFACE)

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock.

— 74 —

O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH, 19:00–22:30

Thu 12 Dec

BORIS GREBENSHIKOV THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Russia.

PUPPY TEETH (MARTHA MAY & THE MONDAYS + DAZED & CONFUSED) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock.

Fri 13 Dec

THE KYMATIKS (MOTHMAN)

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Folk rock from Scotland.

PORKPIE (PRETTY GREEN) THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:30

Ska from Scotland.

FREE MONEY (3P SLOT MACHINE + DOLL BOY) WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:30

SHITEPOP X RAHUL. MP3: THE BRAT AFTERPARTY (BABYJAII + TEKHOLE + ELFZ + SUNSHINEBBY + HONEY + ZULAA + LOLA DING + MASSEDUCTION + DILL + ADRASTEIA)

LOST IN VANCOUVER

Pop and baile funk.

THE IRRESISTIBLE URGES (THE CROM + THE SHOREZ) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Edinburgh.

DEL AMITRI

Rock from Scotland.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

CULT CLASSIC: THE CHARLI AFTERPARTY

THE EXPLOITED + AFTERPARTY

Pop.

Indie rock.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–03:00

Punk.

Sat 21 Dec RHABSTALLION

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from the UK.

Sun 22 Dec

THE BLUEBELLS

BLUE CHRISTMAS 2024

Indie from Scotland.

Blues.

Alt indie.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

THE KAIROS (RED VANILLA + TWISTED ENDS)

Mon 23 Dec

Rock ‘n’ roll.

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

SKERRYVORE

ABANDONED STUFF

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Wed 04 Dec

INR PRESENTS: HANG TOUGH + TEODOR + LEWIS ROBERTSON LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Garage and electro.

Thu 05 Dec LF SYSTEM

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

House.

Fri 06 Dec

SWIFTOGEDDON

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

HOMETOWN SOUND SYSTEM FEAT. HORSEMAN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Scotland.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

THE SOUP DRAGONS

Fri 27 Dec

DIGITAL GARDEN (ROO HONEYCHILD + PIGEON STEVE)

Funk and rock.

Sat 14 Dec

DANIEL MARTINEZ FLAMENCO COMPANY THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–21:30

Folk from Spain.

MIDGE URE

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:30

Pop from Scotland.

NORTH ORBITAL

WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

Indie rock.

PRETTY CIME (SHAMBOL!CA + SO BORING) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Garage rock.

999 (COWBOY HUNTERS + SHOCK & AWE) THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

New Wave.

Sun 15 Dec 1945

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Punk rock from Montreal.

O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH, 19:00–22:30

Folk from Scotland.

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

SENSU (FJAAK + JUNIOR)

THE POSTCARDS

Club from Glasgow.

Post-punk.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

Sat 28 Dec

MISSING PERSONS CLUB: 12TH BIRTHDAY (SLIN B2B TARKNO + DJ SMOKER + ANDY BARTON)

VIDA

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Alt rock.

Sun 29 Dec

BLACK CAT BONE THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Blues rock from Edinburgh.

BAD MANNERS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00

Ska from London.

Dundee Music Thu 05 Dec

THE SKIDS (SPEAR OF DESTINY) CHURCH, 19:00–22:30

Punk rock from Scotland.

AYNSLEY LISTER

Sat 07 Dec

Blues rock from Leicester.

CHURCH, 19:00–22:30

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:30

PORKPIE

DICTATOR

Ska from Scotland.

Indie pop.

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 13:00–22:30

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Mon 16 Dec

TOYAH + ROBERT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:30

New Wave from the UK.

JAZZ LAMBAUX (MANIATRIX + JOCK FOX) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Experimental pop from France.

Tue 17 Dec

Dub and dancehall.

WINTER METALFEST

Metal.

Mon 09 Dec LUKE LA VOLPE

CHURCH, 19:00–22:30

Blues rock from West Lothian.

Techno.

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–05:00

Techno.

EXIT PRESENTS: D.PHYLLEIA + SLYNN + BOX5IVE EXIT GLASGOW, 23:00– 03:00

Techno and electro.

Sat 07 Dec

QUEER THEORY: CAMP AS CHRISTMAS NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

Cabaret.

HOLY PRIEST

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Hard techno.

FUSE GLASGOW X STEREO: SICARIA (CHICHA + LUCKYBABE + SOFSOF)

STEREO, 23:00–04:00

Dubstep, grime and bass.

RED MUSEUM VIII X SVBKVLT (SIDEPROJECT + HYPH11E) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Experimental club from China and the UK.

Fri 13 Dec

LA CHEETAH 15 X DEKMANTEL SOUNDSYSTEM

DUCK SLATTERY’S, 19:00–22:30

Techno.

KIMMIC

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

DEREK FORBES

WORLD OF TWIST: ZAG ERLAT + SHAQDI

Rock from Dundee.

KULEEANGEE

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:30

THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00

Rock from Scotland.

Disco and psych.

Indie from Glasgow.

Sat 21 Dec

Wed 11 Dec

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Thu 19 Dec ISABEL MARIA (AMATEUR + SPACEMAN)

BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:30

Singer-songwriter from Sunderland.

THE MIRROR TRAP

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–22:30

DISCLAIMER: OLIVIA ROSLIN

Indie rock from Dundee.

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Thu 02 Jan

ANJUNADEEP

BAD MANNERS

CHURCH, 19:00–22:30

Ska from London.

Breakbeat and garage.

SUB CLUB, 22:00–04:00

Techno and house.

THE SKINNY

Regular Glasgow club nights The Rum Shack

SATURDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) MOJO WORKIN’

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

SATURDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) LOOSEN UP

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

Sub Club SATURDAYS SUBCULTURE

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

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) RETURN TO MONO

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

Cathouse

THURSDAYS UNHOLY

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

FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

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

SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Or Caturdays, if you will.

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

SUNDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) HELLBENT

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

SUNDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) FLASHBACK

Pop party anthems and classic cheese from DJ Nicola Walker.

CATHOUSE WEDNESDAYS

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

SUNDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) CHEERS FOR THIRD SUNDAY

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

SUNDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) SLIDE IT IN

Classic rock through the ages from DJ Nicola Walker.

The Garage Glasgow MONDAYS

BARE MONDAYS

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

TUESDAYS

#TAG TUESDAYS

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

WEDNESDAYS

GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS ELEMENT

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

FRIDAYS

FRESH BEAT

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

SATURDAYS

FRIDAYS FLY CLUB

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

SATURDAYS PLEASURE

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

The Bongo Club TUESDAYS

MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00

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

ELECTRIKAL, 23.00

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

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

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

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

DISCO MAKOSSA, 23.00

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

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

OVERGROUND, 23.00

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

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

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

MESSENGER, 23.00

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

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

MUMBO JUMBO, 23.00

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

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

SOULSVILLE INTERNATIONAL, 23.00

International soulful sounds.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH) PULSE, 23.00

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

Sneaky Pete’s MONDAYS

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

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

TUESDAYS RARE

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

THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) VOLENS CHORUS

Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) HOT MESS

A night for queer people and their friends.

Fri 13 Dec DAIRE

SWG3, 22:00–03:00

EDM.

QUEER HISTORY OF SYLVESTER (JUNGLEHUSSI)

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

SUNDAYS SESH

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

SOUL JAM

SUNDAYS POSTAL

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

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) REWIND

DOSS AFTERPARTY

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

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

LEZURE 076: MAVEEN + TEKHOLE + EWAN PARTIAL + SLOAN OF LEZURE LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

Techno and house.

I LOVE ACID FT. LUKE VIBERT + EMERALD THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00

Acid.

The Hive MONDAYS

MIXED UP MONDAY

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

TUESDAYS

TRASH TUESDAY

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

WEDNESDAYS

COOKIE WEDNESDAY

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

THURSDAYS

HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY

Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY

Yer all-new Friday at Hive.

Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM

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

Banger after banger all night long.

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00

THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00

Afro and disco.

EXIT CLUB - JUNGLE

EXIT GLASGOW, 22:00– 03:00

Drum ‘n’ bass and jungle.

Tue 17 Dec

JAMIE BLACK: CAMP AS CHRISTMAS. DARK AS SIN.

Pop, cheese and chart.

TALKLESS DANCE MORE

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS

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

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

Techno and jungle.

SATURDAYS

Thu 19 Dec

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

SLICE SATURDAY

BREATHE PRESENTS: KRYSTAL KLEAR

SUNDAYS

House and electro.

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

DISSONANCE (DJ GARLIC BREATH B2B DJ ALADJI + ISO YSO)

SUNDAY SERVICE

Fri 20 Dec

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

The Mash House

Club and bass.

TUESDAYS MOVEMENT

House, techno, drum ‘n’ bass and garage.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

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

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) PULSE

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

— 75 —

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN PRESENTS DJ DANIFOX

House and disco.

House and Afrobeat.

THE GLAD CAFE, 20:00–01:00

EXIT NEW YEARS EVE

EZUP IS 12

Techno and house.

Wed 01 Jan

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

House and techno.

ABYSS RELAUNCH: GARY BECK + LIAM CAPPELLO + JUNIOR (SENSU) + DAN-R

NEW YEAR’S DAY 2025! LOUIE VEGA

ROOM 2, 23:00–04:00

Techno and house.

Sun 22 Dec

LET YOUR ELF GO! CHARITY PARTY

SUB CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Sat 14 Dec

Wed 18 Dec

FLIRTY

Club from Glasgow.

JAIVA X THE GLAD CAFE NYE PARTY! (BUTHOTHEWARRIOR)

EXIT GLASGOW, 22:00– 03:30

Thu 26 Dec

Synth pop cabaret extravaganza.

THURSDAYS

OCCULTMAS (DJ M.O. + OC OBI )

House and techno.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00

TWISTA

House.

Techno and electro.

LOOSEN UP

WEDNESDAYS

House.

House from Paris.

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Breakbeat and experimental.

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

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

LOOSE JOINTS: UPSAMMY + LIBRA ESTERLINA + DILLY JOINTS + SUMA BAC

TAMAGOTCHI

Techno.

12TH ISLE (DJ SUNDAE + ANNABEL FRASER)

Techno and club.

TUESDAYS

DISFUNCTION: BASSWELL

Electronic and ambient.

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

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

Sat 21 Dec

BRUCE GLENNY B2B RORY JAMES B2B LOVESHAUN

STEREO, 23:00–04:00

TRACKS

Trance and techno.

ALLIYAH ENYO + NAAFI TILL LATE [FUNDRAISER FOR GAZA ESIMS]

SUNDAYS

MONDAYS

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Disco.

EXIT GLASGOW, 22:30– 03:00

Subway Cowgate

CÉLESTE W/ JUDE BRADSHAW

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

4 YEARS OF CURATED WAX (ADI + ELK + PATCH FD)

SECRET SUNDAY

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

GET SASSY WITH...

HAYLEY ZALASSI LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

House and deep house.

Fri 27 Dec

ANIMAL FARM 20TH BIRTHDAY: MARRØN + ALTINBAS + QUAIL SUB CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno.

SUB CLUB, 21:00–02:00

House.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

UNTITLED

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

ACT ONE MIO ALBUM LAUNCH THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

House.

EXIT X HEALTHY NEW YEARS DAY

Wed 11 Dec

House and ambient.

Rave.

EXIT GLASGOW, 12:00– 03:00

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 03 Dec LF SYSTEM

OVERGROUND SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Thu 12 Dec

RED ROOM SOUND: FACTA & SMIFF SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

UK techno.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Fri 13 Dec

Wed 04 Dec

WEE RED BAR, 23:00– 03:00

House.

LF SYSTEM

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

House.

RADIO RATZ (RADIO RATZ DJZ)

Alt and dance.

MISS WORLD: MANTRA, FEENA & MIIRA

CO-ACCUSED WITH ANTHONY ROTHER

Thu 05 Dec

Techno and electro.

WEE RED BAR, 22:00– 03:00

SO FETCH: 2000S PARTY XMAS SPECIAL

Fri 06 Dec

Pop and hip-hop.

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00

BOTANICA (WENDS + MGANGA)

Sat 28 Dec

Dub, reggae and jungle.

SWG3, 22:30–03:00

ALIEN DISKO WITH SPECIAL GUEST: HIGH P (PINK RIZLA RIDDIMS)

STACK CITY GLASGOW

House and hardcore.

VOCAL OR VERSION THE RUM SHACK, 21:00–01:00

Reggae, ska and roots.

Sun 29 Dec

STREETRAVE X SUB CLUB

SUB CLUB, 22:00–04:00

House.

Mon 30 Dec

FRAZI.ER B2B DARIA KOLOSOVA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno.

Tue 31 Dec

NRG NYE SPECIAL (999999999 + CADZOW + DKEN) SWG3, 21:00–04:00

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Hardcore and jungle.

JYOTY PRESENTS WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE THE LIQUID ROOM, 23:00–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Jungle.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

INKOHERENT X ETERNAL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

TRANCEPARENCY THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Trance.

Sat 14 Dec

WE ARE STILL YOUNG

WALLACE (RHYTHM SECTION) + PERCY MAIN + HOBBES

Emo and pop punk.

House and disco.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

WEE RED BAR, 19:00– 22:00

BORLEY ROOM PRESENTS

HAND-MADE WITH LOVE

Techno.

Boogie.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Sat 07 Dec

DECADE X YOU ME AT SIX DJ SET

Hyperpop.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

DIFFUSION

ASCENSION

Techno and house.

Industrial and goth.

PONYBOY NYE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Queer club.

CIRCLE: SABRE

SWIFTOGEDDON

Techno and electro.

Pop.

House and techno.

STEREO, 21:00–05:00

NEW YEAR’S EVE 2024 WITH HARRI & DOMENIC

SUB CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno and house.

ELATION: TESTPRESS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00

Emo and pop punk.

EHFM X REFUGE WORLDWIDE: GRAMRCY + FEENA + MAVEEN + NOODLE

MILE HIGH CLUB

Trance and techno.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Club.

REGGAETON

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Reggae.

Mon 16 Dec SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

UK techno.

Wed 18 Dec

MEMBRANE: JON K & DAKSH SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Experimental.

December 2024 — Listings

FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)

Techno.

Techno and bass.

MOJXMMA X STEREO: TYGAPAW (PLANTAINCHIPPS + BELLAROSA + SALAM KITTY + STAR EYE)

FRIDAYS (FIRST OR LAST OF THE MONTH) HEADSET, 23.00

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

I LOVE GARAGE

Regular Edinburgh club nights Cabaret Voltaire

ILIAN TAPE

FLIPSIDE

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

WEDNESDAYS

Thu 12 Dec

THE SKINNY

Thu 19 Dec

AGORA X ILIAN TAPE: ZENKER BROTHERS SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

Fri 20 Dec

EDINBURGH DISCO LOVERS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:00–05:00

Latin and global.

OVERGROUND

THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–05:00

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Rave.

HEADSET’S 10TH BIRTHDAY

DISORDER: RESIDENTS SPECIAL

Techno.

Drum ‘n’ bass and jungle.

Disco.

THE MASH HOUSE, 17:00–05:00

Fri 03 Jan

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

THE MIRROR DANCE: RUF DUG B2B TIA COUSINS

Dundee Clubs

Space disco.

Fri 13 Dec

Sat 21 Dec SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

KEEP IT STEEL: ANTI XMAS

WE ARE STILL YOUNG CHURCH, 22:30–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Emo and pop punk.

HEADSET’S 10TH BIRTHDAY

FLAKHOUSE PRESENTS: ALEX FARELL

Metal.

THE MASH HOUSE, 17:00–05:00

Techno.

Sun 22 Dec HEADSET’S 10TH BIRTHDAY THE MASH HOUSE, 17:00–05:00

Techno.

Mon 23 Dec YBZ X PSYKED

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Bass.

Wed 25 Dec

HEADSET CHRISTMAS DAY THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–05:00

Techno.

Fri 27 Dec

XMAS MEGARAVE 2K24 THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno and jungle.

TELFORT’S GOOD PLACE SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

House.

Sat 28 Dec

15 YEARS OF PULSE: BEN SIMS THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno and house.

DILF: FESTIVE FLING! LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–04:00

Disco and house.

EDINBURGH UNDERGROUND

December 2024 — Listings

SAMEDIA HOGMANAY TROPICAL SOUNDCLASH: NYE PARTY

THE MASH HOUSE, 15:00–22:00

Day rave.

Sun 29 Dec

JACKHAMMER: 23RD BIRTHDAY (DAVE CLARKE + DETROIT TECHNO MILITIA) THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–05:00

Techno.

Mon 30 Dec

Fri 20 Dec

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 23:00–02:30

Techno and industrial.

Tue 31 Dec DUNDEMO

CHURCH, 22:30–03:00

Pop punk and emo.

Glasgow Comedy The Glee Club

CHRISTMAS COMEDY SPECIAL 5-21 DEC, 8:15PM – 10:30PM

Four of the best comedians out there, a delicious festive menu and an afterparty.

The Old Hairdressers HAROLD NIGHT 3 DEC, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold.

Featuring F.L.U.S.H. and Raintown!

YER DA WANTS A WORD 10 DEC, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Glasgow Improv Theatre Presents: Monthly show from Yer Da! Stick your name in the bucket for the jam at end.

COUCH SURFS THE WEB 17 DEC, 8:30PM – 10:00PM

Glasgow Improv Theatre Presents: A night of improv comedy where Couch... surfs the web.

The Stand Glasgow

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 12-14 DEC, 7:30PM10:30PM

A brilliant weekend line-up.

SNEAKS ALL STARS

HOGMANAY SPECIALS

Club.

See out the year in style with a comedy bill worthy of more than a dram.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Tue 31 Dec

PLEASURE X HECTORS NYE HOGMANY SPECIAL (KT + NOODLE + MACKA + MORE) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–05:00

Techno and house.

FLY NYE 2025 (LUUK VAN DIJK + THEO KOTTIS)

THE CAVES, 23:00–05:00

House.

RARE NYE: BIG MIZ SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00

Acid.

27-31 DEC, TIMES VARY

SCREEN TIME

5 DEC, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

Exciting new multimedia comedy.

RAY BRADSHAW: SPECIAL RECORDING

8 DEC, 3:00PM – 4:00PM

Ray Bradshaw films a very special show.

THE BIG CHRISTMAS KIDS SHOW 7-21 DEC, 1:30PM – 3:00PM

Crazy Christmas comedy for the kids.

SPONTANEOUS POTTER

8 DEC, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

An unofficial improvised parody for Potter fans everywhere.

LOOKING FOR LAUGHS: REAL BLIND DATE 15 DEC, 3:00PM – 5:30PM

Comedy dating show.

MATERIAL GIRL

22 DEC, 2:00PM – 5:00PM

A showcase of female-led stand-up.

COMEDY FUNDRAISER FOR EDINBURGH DOG AND CAT HOME

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

A fantastic line-up of comics give their time and talent to raise money for Edinburgh Dog & Cat Home.

FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH

8 DEC, 7:00PM – 10:30PM

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL EARLY SHOW 14 DEC, 4:00PM – 6:30PM

Our Christmas Special with outstanding line-up of some of the best acts in the UK. HOGMANANY EARLY SPECIAL

DEC, 3:00PM – Edinburgh 31 6:00PM See out the year in style Comedy with a comedy bill worthy

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club RACHEL FAIRBURN: WORK IN PROGRESS 21 DEC, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Join Rachel (Live at the Apollo) as she tries brand new material ahead of her 2025 tour.

CAMPFIRE IMPROV 20 DEC, 10:00PM – 11:30PM

Gather round the campfire to watch some of Scotland’s top improvisers create hilarious scenes based on stories from a special guest monologist.

GARRET MILLERICK: ONE TREE PONY 13 DEC, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

Creator and star of BBC R4's hit new comedy Do Gooders brings his standup to Monkey Barrel for a special one off performance.

LIAM WITHNAIL: LIVE AT MONKEY BARREL 14 DEC, TIMES VARY

Join Liam Withnail as he presents a special one-off night of his classic stand up routines from over the years, to be filmed for his debut special.

GEORGE ZACHAROPOULOS: THE RIGHT SWIPE THAT RUINED MY LIFE 15 DEC, 8:00PM – 9:00PM

George met a girl in 2018.

The Dream Girl. A doctor, a mother of two, beautiful, smart, and funny. And then things happened...

GEOFFREY CHAUCER’S MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS FESTIVITYE 8 DEC, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

John-Luke Roberts presents a night of ridiculous carousing hosted by the “great poot” Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Queen’s Hall

SARA PASCOE, PHIL WANG, RHYS JAMES, JEN BRISTER, AND MORE: LIVE AT CHRISTMAS 15 DEC, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Stacked comedy lineup.

The Stand Edinburgh

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 12-14 DEC, 7:00PM10:30PM

A brilliant weekend line-up.

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH IN 15-22 DEC, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

See your week out with a line-up of the best comedians.

HOGMANAY SPECIALS

of more than a dram.

Glasgow Theatre

Drygate Brewing Co.

DRYGATE COMEDY LAB, 19:00

A new material comedy night hosted by Chris Thorburn.

The Stand Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

WEANS IN THE WOODLANDS

2 DEC-5 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

An original, subversive panto full of the usual laughs and boos.

MONDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 3-6 DEC, TIMES VARY

THURSDAYS

SHE LOVES ME

3-6 DEC, TIMES VARY

Based on the same source as You've Got Mail, this classic enemies-to-lovers musical was nominated for five Tonys when it premiered in 1964.

Theatre Royal

FRIDAYS

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

FRIDAYS

FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

SATURDAYS

SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

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

THE BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY, 20:30

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

FRIDAYS

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21

The big weekend show :00with four comedians.

SATURDAYS

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

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

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel SECOND AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

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

WEDNESDAYS

TOP BANANA, 19:00

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

THURSDAYS

SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00

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

SCOTTISH BALLET: THE NUTCRACKER

FRIDAYS

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

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

FRIDAYS

DATING CRAPP, 22:00

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

SATURDAYS

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

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

SUNDAYS

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

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

6-30 DEC, TIMES VARY

Scottish Ballet’s retelling of the dance classic, ripe for the festive season with its dreamlike narrative and Tchaikovsky’s magical score.

Tron Theatre PETER PANTO AND THE INCREDIBLE STINKERBELL

1 DEC-5 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

The new Johnny McKnight pantomime takes on a journey from Glasgow’s West End to a magical otherworld.

The King's Theatre

Royal Lyceum Theatre

MARY: A GIG THEATRE SHOW

1 DEC-4 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

Music and spoken word come together in this bold reimagining of Mary Queen of Scots' life story.

TREASURE ISLAND

A playful musical adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic set in Edinburgh and on the high seas.

The Edinburgh Playhouse JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT

3-29 DEC, TIMES VARY

PETER PAN

1 DEC-5 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

Return to Neverland in this classic panto with legends Elaine C Smith and Johnny Mac.

Edinburgh Theatre

Andrew Lloyd-Webber goes Biblical in this musical classic.

The Studio THE GIFT

14-31 DEC, TIMES VARY

The ephemera of gift giving become the entire story in this balletic ode to imaginative play.

Traverse Theatre

Festival Theatre

TROUBLE IN SPIRITLAND

PANTO 2024: CINDERELLA

1-31 DEC, TIMES VARY

Head to the ball this Christmas with a classic panto - just be sure to leave before midnight.

17-18 DEC, 7:30PM10:30PM

Adapted from the mythic epic narrative poem of the same name, this electrifying spoken-word piece explores ideas of unrest and social struggle.

27-31 DEC, TIMES VARY

See out the year in style with a comedy bill worthy of more than a dram.

— 76 —

ETHAN GOURLEY: UNVEILED PERCEPTION

2-16 DEC, 9:00AM – 5:00PM

Paintings that encourage the viewer to foreground their own interpretation, exploring the potential of art to speak in dialogue with the viewer.

Street Level Photoworks

SHEILA ROCK: REBELS AND RENEGADES 1 DEC-23 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

Part of a two-part exhibition foregrounding the work of two pioneering female directors who captured the zeitgeist of the punk era.

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

Dickens’ classic festive tale is brought to life by students from the BA Performance for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Actors programme in a uniquely visual retelling.

Legendary new material night with up to eight acts.

The Glee Club

Host Billy Kirkwood and guests act entirely on your suggestions.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

RED RAW, 20:30

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

The Stand Edinburgh

Oran Mor

TUESDAYS

South Block

19-21 DEC, 7:30PM10:30PM

Dundee Theatre Dundee Rep

Glasgow Women’s Library

KATE DOWNIE: CONVERSATIONS WITH JOAN

2 DEC-25 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

Contemporary painter and printmaker places herself in conversation with Joan Eardley, exploring the ongoing affinities within Scottish art.

OOR WULLIE THE MUSICAL

GoMA

Scotland’s most mischievous boy is back for Christmas.

1 DEC-23 FEB 25, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

3-30 DEC, TIMES VARY

Glasgow Art Glasgow School of Art

MARLENE SMITH: AH, SUGAR 2-14 DEC, 10:00AM – 4:30PM

Newly-commissioned photographic and sculptural work explore the material and bodily qualities of artistic practice.

SCOTT MYLES: HEAD IN A BELL

An exhibition of painting, sculpture, print, moving image and sound exploring ideas of exchange and circulation, and the cyclicality of materiality.

JOHN AKOMFRAH: MIMESIS: AFRICAN SOLDIER 1 DEC-31 AUG 25, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

A film installation from acclaimed artist exploring the significant contribution of over six million African, Caribbean and South Asian people from across former colonies who fought and died in World War I.

JILL FURMANOVSKY: REBELS AND RENEGADES 1 DEC-23 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

Part of a two-part exhibition foregrounding the work of two pioneering female directors who captured the zeitgeist of the punk era.

The Briggait

CHRISTINA MCBRIDE: DINNSEANCHAS 1 DEC-8 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

A series of photographic works exploring the specific of the Irish landscape and its entanglements with the Irish language.

The Modern Institute

MONIKA SOSNOWSKA: BROKEN GLASS DIRT AND DUST 2 DEC-15 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

Sculptural works exploring architectural entropy, inspired by the structural and societal changes that occurred in the shift from pre- to post-Soviet Poland.

Tramway

LEONE ROSS: DIRTY DANCING FLOWERS

1 DEC-23 MAR 25, TIMES VARY

Words act as the building blocks for a series of paintings and prints that explore the interplay between image and text in vibrant, experimental ways.

MAUD SULTER

1 DEC-30 MAR 25, TIMES VARY

An immersive exhibition by the Scottish-Ghanaian poet, artist, photographer, writer, curator, gallerist and publisher whose work sought to claim space for Black Artists and address the erasure and representation of Black Women in art.

Edinburgh Art &Gallery

ANNUAL WINTER EXHIBITION

7-21 DEC, TIMES VARY

Featuring one artwork from each artist represented by the gallery, this show showcases work across a variety of media.

City Art Centre INKED UP: PRINTMAKING IN SCOTLAND

1 DEC-1 JUN 25, TIMES VARY

A survey of the historic versatility and experimentation in Scottish printmaking practices.

THE SKINNY

POP LIFE

1 DEC-9 MAR 25, TIMES VARY

Examining the intersection between popular culture and contemporary figure drawings, this exhibition explores and subverts the traditional distinction between high and low art.

THROUGH LINE

1 DEC-2 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

Museum of Edinburgh

GABRIELLE GOLIATH: PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

1 DEC-23 FEB 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

This first solo exhibition in the UK by South African artist Gabrielle Goliath uses video and sound installations to explore decolonial and Black feminist projects of repair.

TAPE LETTERS

A project exploring practices of sending messages on cassette tape as an unorthodox method of communication by Pakistani migrants between 1960-1980.

The culmination of a series of four group exhibitions at the City Art Centre featuring the work of nine artists including David Connearn, Ian Hamilton Finlay, and Andrew Lamb, spotlighting contemporary art and craft practice in Scotland.

Open Eye Gallery

Collective Gallery

A retrospective of paintings by the seminal 20th-century Scottish artist.

PASS SHADOW, WHISPER SHADE

1-22 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A group show by artists in the 2024 Satellites Programme exploring ideas of inheritance and legacy.

Dovecot Studios

STITCHED: SCOTLAND’S EMBROIDERED ART 2 DEC-18 JAN 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A new exhibition in collaboration with the National Trust for Scotland brings together an extraordinary collection of their embroidered textiles.

PTOLEMY MANN

2 DEC-15 MAR 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A groundbreaking exhibition marrying intricate techniques of hand-weaving with vibrant, expressive painting.

Edinburgh Printmakers HOPE/DÒCHAS

1 DEC-16 MAR 25, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

An exhibition of work by the Edinburgh Printmakers’ Members Community.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

ETCHINGROOM1: WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY IN A WONDERFUL WORLD 2 DEC-1 MAR 25, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Fruitmarket

BARRY LE VA: IN A STATE OF FLUX 1 DEC-2 FEB 25, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

The first retrospective since the artist’s death in 2021, this exhibition is a survey from the 1960s to his last works, exploring the particular relationship between drawing and sculpture across his work.

Ingleby Gallery

STILL DANCING...NEW ADVENTURES IN NONREPRESENTATIONAL PAINTING & SCULPTURE 4-20 DEC, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Following a stint at The Armoury Show in New York, this exhibition arrives in Edinburgh, exploring the significance and potential of abstraction.

3-21 DEC, TIMES VARY

A group exhibition exploring the landscape of Edinburgh.

ALBERTO MORROCCO 3-21 DEC, TIMES VARY

Royal Botanic Garden FUNGI FORMS

2-7 DEC, 10:00AM – 6:00PM

An exploration of the biological and cultural presence of fungi, told through music, literature, fashion, design, scent and visual art.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA

BENNO SCHOTZ AND A SCOTS MISCELLANY

1 DEC-19 JAN 25, TIMES VARY

Showcasing the work of Scottish-Estonian artist Benno Schotz alongside the work of other artists who made Scotland their home over the decades.

THE CHRISTMAS SHOW

1-22 DEC, TIMES VARY

A wide selection of work by Royal Scottish Academicians, many of which are available to purchase.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

WOMEN IN REVOLT! ART AND ACTIVISM IN THE UK 1970–1990 1 DEC-26 JAN 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Fresh off a stint at Tate Britain, this exhibition documents two decades of seismic social and political change and the art that emerged from and challenged the ensuing culture.

EVERLYN NICODEMUS 1 DEC-25 MAY 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

The first ever retrospective exhibition by landmark Edinburgh artist, whose joyful artworks explore and resist the global oppression of women and the profound impact of racism.

Stills

JESS HOLDENGARDE: GLIMMER 7 DEC-8 FEB 25, 12:00PM – 5:00PM

Camera, body, light, silver, and sound come together to explore how photographic practice can encapsulate moments of transition.

Talbot Rice Gallery

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA: PIEDRAS DE FUEGO (FIRE STONES)

2 DEC-15 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

Sculptures, paintings and murals explore narratives of healing and recovery, drawing on global healing and shamanic practices.

Dundee Art Cooper Gallery THE IGNORANT ART SCHOOL: SIT-IN #4: OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

2 DEC-1 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

Sit-in #4: Outside the Circle, is an exhibition and public event series inspired by and generated from feminist and queer movements since the beginning of the 20th century.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts HELEN CAMMOCK + INGRID POLLARD + CAMARA TAYLOR: SOFT IMPRESSIONS

7 DEC-23 MAR 25, TIMES VARY

Print works by three landmark artists examine artistic practices as a means of responding to identity and re-thinking historical narratives through soft, poetic actions.

Generator Projects

BELLADONNA PALOMA: THE GRAVE IN FULL VIGOUR 1-15 DEC, 12:00PM – 5:00PM

Half-show, half-reading event, this exhibition by Shetland-based artist is devoted to the divine and abject nature of the trans body.

V&A Dundee

KIMONO: KYOTO TO CATWALK 1 DEC-5 JAN 25, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Part-fashion survey, partexploration on material culture, this exhibition traces the history of the kimono from 17th-century Japan to contemporary runways.

A FRAGILE CORRESPONDENCE 1-30 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

The Scotland commission from the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale arrives in Dundee, examining the fascinating connection between land, language, and architecture.

Glasgow venues round-up: December 2024 Ahead of the festive season, we look at some of the best food spots that have popped up recently around Glasgow Words: Tara Hepburn BRUNSWICK CELLARS 239 SAUCHIEHALL ST, G2 3EZ

Brunswick Cellars is the newest addition to the Glasgow nightlife scene but don’t be confused if the name rings a few bells. The original Brunswick Cellars occupied the very same spot ten years ago, closing its doors in 2014. A decade later and it has been given a new lease of life by Skye Live Festival’s Ali McFly. The room is relatively small but well-equipped for noise and now more than punches above its weight on visuals and lighting. It’s a refreshing burst of energy in the Sauchiehall Street area – open Thursdays to Saturdays until 3am, it has hosted a variety of club nights since opening earlier in the year. Musically, Brunswick does all kinds of stuff, from vinyl-only nights to Freshers Week parties and the club’s regular night Trace.

Hosted by Chris Curtis, Trace is as musically open-minded as the Brunswick Cellars itself as Curtis is joined by a different guest DJ each time, meaning no two Trace nights are the same.

HOUSE OF GODS 65 GLASSFORD ST, G1 1UP

In the past year Glasgow’s hospitality development has trended upwards, with fairylit bars and popular restaurants taking up residence on rooftop spaces around the city.

House of Gods has carved out a niche for itself in this area with a rooftop bar that you can visit all year round. The secret garden sits on the hotel’s roof but is basically a glass box, offering views over the city centre and serving a crowd-pleasing menu of cocktails made with the kind of care you’d expect from a luxury hotel. Which is what House of Gods is – an elegant hotel with rooms styled like Orient Express cabins, and a butler service to bring guests milk and cookies at the touch of a button. Still, the bars in this hotel have become a Glasgow destination in their own right, from the dark wood cosiness of the downstairs bar (particularly stylish when decked out for Christmas) to the light and floral rooftop restaurant.

with a desire to do as much in-house as possible. Margo even do a bit of in-house butchery. The result is a seriously accomplished menu; from the salty, crackly focaccia right through to the short dessert menu – the chocolate nemesis comes highly recommended – there is so much to enjoy here. The menu is designed to share, mainly small plates, with a few show-stopping big plates such as whole lemon sole or sirloin served on the bone. Some menu highlights include: crab tart, beetroot tortelloni, charred pumpkin and a simple but delicious roasted broccoli with almonds. If there was a bad dish on the menu, we couldn’t find it.

SEBB'S 68B MILLER ST, G1 1DT

It’s hard to mention Margo without mentioning Sebb's, the cool cocktail bar which lurks downstairs and opened within a few weeks of the restaurant. The two make for good neighbours with some crossover vibes, particularly in the neatness of this basement bar’s aesthetic. This is another stylish place, warm-toned and dimly lit with beautiful glassware. Their menu is similarly considered, but this time it’s the cocktails that take centre stage. The list is innovative, and staff are keen for customers to sample their in-house creations. The cherry sour is particularly good, as is the chip shop martini (a more pickly twist on a traditional Gibson).

There’s a pretty fulsome food menu too – think elevated bar bites – all cooked up in a busy open kitchen.

December 2024 — Listings

A collaboration between Ukrainian artists Kristina Yarosh and Anna Khodkova, this mural articulates the artists’ experiences of conflict and their strategies for resilience.

EDINBURGH ENVIRONS

2 DEC-15 FEB 25, TIMES VARY

MARGO 68 MILLER ST, G1 1DT

Margo is the long-awaited latest venture from the team behind two of Glasgow’s most popular restaurants: Ox and Finch and Ka Pao. Occupying a large space on Miller Street, this stylish spot is the team’s first venture outside of the West End. A former library, the high-ceilinged space is cleverly used, with a mezzanine dining level and high side tables. The menu focuses on locally sourced ingredients and seasonal produce, — 77 —

Sebb's

THE SKINNY

The Skinny On...

John-Luke Roberts The Skinny On...

2024 Besties winner and gloriously silly comedian John-Luke Roberts chats colours, crackle and crying ahead of his festive fête at Monkey Barrel this month

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?

My grandparents’ old cottage in the countryside – it feels like safety. I know this is publicising a comedy show, but I think my answers are largely going to be sincere – rest assured though, the show is very funny.

Favourite food and why?

Ramen, I think. Edible, drinkable, it’s every type of meal in one. It’s even got an egg in it, which means it’s technically also breakfast.

Favourite colour and why?

Big fan of colours generally, especially bright ones.

If I had to narrow it down to one I’d maybe go with a nice, warm yellow (because I am looking at my nice, warm yellow sofa). I’m very fond of seafoam, but that’s my ex-spouse’s favourite colour, so I’m worried that my attachment to the colour might just be a slightly toxic way of keeping a wound open. Yeah, on second thoughts, fuck seafoam!

Seafoam broke my heart!

Who was your hero growing up?

Not seafoam, that’s for damn sure.

Who or what makes you laugh the most?

I once spent half an hour laughing at an aubergine.

I don’t know why – it was quite a normal-looking aubergine. I then felt very resentful, because I’d spent quite a lot of money on training at clown school, and here was a completely untrained vegetable knocking it out the park.

Whose work inspires you now?

Sisyphus. What a trooper.

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

I would invite Snap, Crackle and Pop. I would prepare a bowl of Crunchy Nut cornflakes, just to see the looks on their faces. Huh, maybe the answers *aren’t* going to be sincere.

Who’s the worst?

I can’t pick just one, that’s not fair.

When did you last cry?

I cry all the time, but I’ve just realised I haven’t cried for a few weeks actually, so the first thing I’ll do when I finished writing this is make myself cry.

What’s your all time favourite album?

The Soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

It would be a dead heat between Man of Steel and Prometheus, but I first saw Man of Steel in the cinema ON MY BIRTHDAY, so that pips it.

Photo: Natasha Pszenicki

What are you most scared of?

I was thinking about what the scariest thing would be, and I thought “well people are really scared of snakes and spiders, so a snake with spider’s legs would be the scariest thing ever” but actually, on reflection, I think that would be less scary than both.

Spiders are maybe scary because they have so many legs, and snakes are maybe scary because they don’t have any – so combining them would cancel them out and create the least scary creature ever.

When did you last vomit and why?

I think it was a good few years ago, after eating a steak tartare in Portugal. The weather was too good for raw steak to be a good idea.

December 2024 – Feature

Tell us a secret?

No. Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

Elmo, depending how strong the person whose hand he’s on is.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?

For sure a bird of some kind. I was thinking an eagle, but on second thoughts, a little bird might be better. I could flit about more and people would leave me food in tubes in the garden.

What’s your favourite plant?

Big old trees.

What’s your least favourite thing of 2024?

The sense of encroaching doom.

OK, I’m gonna cry now.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Mediaeval Christmas Festivitye! Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 8 Dec, 8pm, £15 @jlukeroberts on Instagram and Bluesky — 78 —

THE SKINNY

Young Fathers Takeover

October 2024 – Feature

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