The Skinny December 2025

The Skinny's songs of the year

KPop Demon Hunters - Golden

CMAT - Take A Sexy Picture Of Me

Chappell Roan - The Subway

Geese - Cobra

Long Fling - Cool Bottle Water Park

Lady Gaga - Abracadabra

Barry Can't Swim - About to Begin

Gelli Haha - Piss Artist

Baxter Dury - Allbarone

Rosalía - La Yugular

Ice Spice - Big Guy - from "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants"

Lorde - What Was That

Cid Rim - Fire (Can You See It)

Oklou - blade bird

Hayley Williams - Parachute

quickly, quickly - Hero

Esdeekid, Fakemink & Rico Ace - LV Sandals

Kneecap - The Recap

Big Thief - Double Infinity

Lily Allen - Relapse

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for 'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 239, December 2025 © Radge Media C.I.C.

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. Get in touch to find out more.

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Meet the team

Championing creativity in Scotland

We asked: What's your album / book / film / insert artform here of 2025?

Senior Editorial

Rosamund West

Editor-in-Chief

"Sitting in the middle of The Queen's Hall front row for Jacob Alon, Kathryn Joseph and the rest of the MAP fundraiser was magical, entrancing, gig of the year, maybe my life."

Commissioning Editors

Cammy Gallagher Clubs Editor "Bugonia is everything I could have ever asked for."

Peter Simpson

Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor

"Severance One Battle After Another. Christopher MacarthurBoyd saying the word 'mounjaro' in the voice of an imagined Mediterranean chef."

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor

"It's all about Jen Calleja's hybrid-memoir Fair and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives for me. Also, kombucha."

Anahit Behrooz

Events Editor, Books Editor

"My two big discoveries this year were Love Is Blind and Italo disco."

Rachel Ashenden

Art Editor "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams. Flashlight by Susan Choi. Pillion. And a bonus exhibition: Rae-Yen Song's 宋瑞渊 - •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~•"

Jamie Dunn

Film Editor, Online Journalist

"I’d love to say something edgy and profound, but it was probably watching Kylie belt out Love at First Sight at the Hydro."

Polly Glynn

Comedy Editor

"Comedy of the year: Live show: gorgeous gossipy glutton John Tothill’s third fringe outing This Must Be Heaven / Online: the absolutely pin-sharp meme-ery of the Stockbridge Yummy Mummy insta (will be thinking about the Christmas Bucky one for the whole next year)."

Tallah Brash Music Editor

"I love Gelli Haha's album Switcheroo, full of technicolour bops, sass and stone cold bangers. Thanks to Aimee at Good Vibes for the rec. Also, shoutout to @justtatem iykyk."

Mika Morava Theatre Editor

"Daniel Blumberg's score for The Testament of Ann Lee gave me a religion and an insufferable personality for the latter part of the year."

Business

Laurie Presswood General Manager

"SpongeBob big guy pants ok."

Production

Dalila D'Amico

Art Director, Production Manager

"Narrating my own life out loud like it’s a documentary. Two stars. Critics say: deeply unhinged and the lead appears confused by their own plot."

Phoebe Willison Designer

"The artform is me performing Rosalía's album in various places in my daily life whilst Oscar cringes (the car, the kitchen, at work, on the sofa) and it's a commentary on being a woman."

Ellie Robertson

Editorial Assistant

"Boys Go To Jupiter at Glasgow Film Festival. Sam Nicoresti at the Edinburgh Fringe. The many memes about that conclave we just had."

Sales

Sandy Park Commercial Director

"Seeing Oasis live at Wembley, the stadium (albeit a new version) where they performed and recorded Familiar to Millions back in 2000, a live album I grew up with on repeat, was hard to beat. LG x"

Joanna Hare

Business Development Executive

"The cardboard box 'Silly Sin' confessionals at Kelburn."

Ema Smekalova

Media Sales Executive

"I'm still processing 2017 but ok. I think puppets are having a real moment."

Emilie Roberts

Media Sales Executive

"Twas another big year of Ireland being cool. We have to enjoy it while it lasts - much like our heyday of Eurovision, it could go in an instant. Yup CMAT, Jessie Buckley, Eimear McBride, etc."

Editorial

Words: Rosamund West

Can you believe it’s the final issue of 2025? I certainly cannot. Here we are though, brightly pulling together our top picks of cultural goings on while the apocalypse plays out in the background. This year’s end of days was brought to you (in part) by AI ft. the destruction of all human creativity and paid labour. Wonder what 2026 will have in store?

Our Music team have cast their votes, those votes have been counted, proposals on how to rig them to exclude things we personally don’t like have been discussed and abandoned due to our unwavering commitment to democracy. Here you have it, the ten greatest albums of 2025! Following that, we’ve got a rundown of the best Scottish albums of the year. It’s a competitive field, a strong year, wall-to-wall excellence in the top ten.

Books has taken a more individualist approach, with each writer invited to pen a tribute to the work they have personally loved this year. Design takes a stand against all the AI-willdestroy-the-creative-industries-and-it’s-all-your-fault-forlooking-at-Instagram-too-much-now-we-all-labour-underground doommongering by asking some local design heroes for their positive news of 2025.

Film’s polled the team and drawn up two distinct lists – the best films of the year, and the best underrated films of the year. Comedy asked the writers for their picks of the funniest things to happen this year – selections range from the widely accessible (TV shows) to the sorry you missed it (various Fringe shows) to the idiosyncratic and exclusive (unnamed friend did this funny thing one time sorry you missed it also). We complete the reflection on the year with Intersections’ thoughtful piece on flags, their symbolic usage in 2025 as divisive tools of both unity and oppression.

Our centre spread is a sheet of wrapping paper to pull out and use, hopefully once again located on the correct pages to actually be useful. This year it’s a charming design by Agnes Xantippa Boman. Christmas continues with some words with the director and writer of this year’s Tron panto, Sally Reid and Johnny McKnight respectively, reflecting on the theatre’s history of staging anarchic, self-aware pantomime.

We meet the man behind a record celebrating Scottish identity with some of the nation’s finest hip-hop artists, dropping on St Andrew’s Day, Aberdonian producer Vagrant Real Estate. As an event making the centenary of pioneering British composer Daphne Oram arrives in Scotland, we talk to some of the nation’s leading electronic artists about her influence. Art looks forward to a pair of exhibitions highlighting political points with vivid colour – Felicity Hammond at Stills and Jamie Cooper at Fruitmarket. We also hear from Shen Xin, whose Highland Embassy, work exploring Indigenous identity and practice, is on display at Collective until 21 December.

We meet some of the Scotland-based programmers who’ve participated in Film Hub’s New Producers this year, to find out more about what the opportunity has brought them, pairing up with venues across the country to share the films they’re passionate about. Clubs offers a personal reflection on the importance and impact of Optimo, then we look forward to Hogmanay with a guest selector from Headset ft. 12 tracks from 12 DJs.

We close with The Skinny on… Michael Pedersen, who chose to ignore the ban on alliteration when sharing his personal reflections on celebrity dinner parties, desert island reading and making friends with Aragorn. We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year.

Cover Artist

Julia Kluge is an illustrator whose work is based on abstract shapes, graphic structures and bold colours. She likes to play with poetic and humorous translation of texts and is always searching for new and demanding ways to translate complex ideas into dynamic images.

Since finishing her studies in Illustration in Halle and Berlin her editorial works have been published in magazines such as the New York Times, Die Zeit, Le Monde and Strapazin. Her latest book Wo dichte Äste wild sich ranken was awarded by Stiftung Buchkunst as one of the most beautiful German books of 2024. Living and working in Leipzig, her work has been exhibited in Brussels, Prague, Hamburg and Berlin.

I: @ju_kluge kluugel.de

Love Bites: Checking Out

This month’s columnist celebrates the small joys of connecting with others across a supermarket checkout

Words: Ema Smekalova

My local supermarket closes early one evening in November. They’re putting more self-checkouts in. When it reopens, I discover that the checkout area has been expanded, and the space where flower bouquets and magazines once lived is now occupied by machines.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to limit the number of times I have to talk to other people as much as the next guy, but I do wonder about all the things we’ve sacrificed in the name of convenience.

I think about being a kid and eating bread rolls from the grocery store while still shopping, then apologetically asking the cashier to mark up what I’d consumed on my way to the checkout. I think about saying ‘you too’ at the wrong times, the weather-related exchanges, the small smiles I share with the cashier at the shop I’ve been going to for years.

Maybe it’s silly to hyperfixate on a machine as innocent as a self-checkout, in a world where actual robots and superintelligent computers are commonplace. But do they not ultimately stem from the same logic? A logic that supposedly makes our lives easier by eliminating those clunky, slow, awkward human encounters. A logic that isolates.

The truth is, as the dark sets in and I get the annual urge to hibernate, what I secretly crave most is those little interactions with strangers. It’s the sensation of reaching out beyond yourself; a reminder that you exist, and that others exist too. Life should be uncomfortable or unpredictable sometimes – that’s what makes it real.

Before they get rid of human checkouts completely (although I’m hopeful that they won’t), I’m resolving to make 2026 my year of inconvenience. It’s nice to take the long way round sometimes.

Heads Up

Christmas at Glasgow Film Theatre Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 12-24 Dec, various times

The GFT’s eclectic Christmas programme returns. There are approximately one million screenings of It’s a Wonderful Life, on the big screen right where it belongs, as well as more underrated and quirkier offerings: sweet Cary Grant romance The Bishop’s Wife, crime classic Die Hard, Stanley Kubrick’s heady erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut and, of course, one of the greatest literary adaptations of all time: The Muppet Christmas Carol

Mermaid Chunky Mono, Glasgow, 4 Dec, 8pm

Ring in the final month of 2025 with Christmas film programmes, Hogmanay club nights and some really excellent gigs.

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Wilding Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, until 2 Feb

The first posthumous exhibition by artist, activist and curator Jaune Quickto-See Smith, member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, Wilding marks the first time her work has been seen in Scotland. The exhibition includes a selection of paintings and a large canoe sculpture conceived especially for Fruitmarket, as well as a selection of works from across her career.

Inspired by folk, trance, and everything in between (and that’s a lot), Mermaid Chunky’s output is incredibly and perfectly weird, incorporating surrealist lyrics, playful, squelchy melodies and a tonguein-cheek air. The duo is made up of artists Freya Tate and Moina Moin who bring a fun audiovisual element to their performances – well worth braving the cold to see live.

Morning Factory:

Ravelston + St. Sunday People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh, 5 Dec, 11pm

Two of EHFM’s best and brightest –Tuesday’s morning show host St. Sunday and Friday’s morning show host Ravelston – are pivoting to the nighttime to launch a brand new club night, dedicated to all things house (deep house! progressive house! probably other forms of house!). Join them for this inaugural edition down at the also new-on-the-block People’s Leisure Club.

William E Jones: It Only Looks As If It Hurts

The Modern Institute, Glasgow, until 14 Jan

Oklou

QMU, Glasgow, 1 Dec, 7pm

Her debut album Choke Enough is number three on our albums of the year list, so it’s safe to say we are fully signed off on French electronica whisperer Oklou. Made in collaboration with Canadian musician Casey MQ, Choke Enough is an alternately ethereal and jagged series of soundscapes that bring to life strange pop-infused dreamworlds.

Seeking Mavis Beacon: Palestine Fundraiser

Leith Depot, Edinburgh, 7 Dec, 7:30pm

Part of Leith Kino, a community programme of new and underseen films showing at Leith Depot, this screening of Seeking Mavis Beacon – a documentary investigating the Haitian-born cover model behind an old typing software – also doubles as a fundraiser for families in Palestine, with proceeds going directly to crowdfunders. It’s being screened alongside the short film The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing, a work by a filmmaker based in Scotland.

Slàinte Mhath Hogmanay Leith Cricket Club, Edinburgh, 31 Dec, 9pm

Christmas at Jupiter Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, 6-14 Dec

Wolf Alice OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 7 Dec, 6:30pm

Image: courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow Photo: Patrick Jameson

Photo: Rachel Fleminger Hudson

Photo: stuarttweediemedia

Photo: Neil Hanna

Image: courtesy of GFT

Photo: Susan Hay

Image: courtesy of artist

Photo: Gil Ghabri

Photo: Simon Pizzey

Tai Shani at Jupiter Artland

Al Gu for Slàinte Mhath Hogmanay

Wolf Alice

William E. Jones, After Warhol (Man Bound with Duct Tape), 2025.

Oklou

Mermaid Chunky

Seeking Mavis Beacon

St. Sunday

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, I See Red Indian Drawing Lesson

The Bishop's Wife

Sam Campbell, Tim Key, Josie Long, Amy Gledhill: Live At Christmas

The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 13 Dec, 7:30pm

Find an incredible comic lineup at this all-star festive stand-up show. Taskmaster star and gently weird comedian Sam Campbell is joined by cult comedian and poet Tim Key and Glasgow legends Josie Long and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, hosted by Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Amy Gledhill.

It’s a rare opportunity outside of the Fringe to see this many comedy icons back-to-back.

Acolyte

People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh, 6 Dec, 7pm

Experimental Edinburgh-based band Acolyte are releasing their latest single Warm Days in December at the newly minted People’s Leisure Club, with a live support set from DJ and producer Ravelston. Made up of award-winning poet Iona Lee, Maranta star Gloria Black, percussionist Daniel Hill and bassist Ruairidh Morrison, Acolyte blend spoken word and electronica to create a mesmerising live performance.

Beauty and the Beast

The Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, 2-31 Dec, various times

There’s something so delightfully nostalgic about festive theatre: every panto, fairy tale retelling or cosy Dickensian play feels pulled right from your childhood. The Citz’ new adaptation is no exception, bringing the tale of Beauty and the Beast to magical life and marking a triumphant return for their annual Christmas show.

The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh, 9 Dec-4 Jan

Charlotte Maishman: Holding Time Generator Projects, Dundee, until 14 Dec

An immersive exhibition by ceramist and sculptor Charlotte Maishman, this sea of porcelain tiles layered with projection mapping explores the paradox of both porcelain and life: as something fragile yet capable of great strength. Acting as a documentation of memory and time, the tiles hold within themselves the long, labour-intensive process of their construction and the ways in which time shapes us all.

AMPLIFI

The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 3 Dec, 8pm The second of AMPLIFI’s gigs taking place on the main stage of The Queen’s Hall welcomes a new lineup of rising stars from across the UK. Headlining are Uninvited, a three-piece pop-punk outfit from Glasgow who won the BBC Live lounge competition in 2022, with support from experimental soul queen Lamaya, who melds tender storytelling with Afro-futuristic energy.

New Year’s Eve - BODYHEAT party: Joy Orbison b2b Ben UFO

SWG3, Glasgow, 31 Dec, 9pm SWG3’s Hogmanay party invites some of the best names in British dance music to take over their decks. Headlining are house, techno and dubstep king Joy Orbison playing back to back with Ben UFO, with support from Scotland’s own Eclair Fifi, Frankie Elyse, and LWS. If you can dance to it, they’ll be playing it here.

Elephant Sessions Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 23 Dec, 7pm

Mamma Mia!

Serve! x Stereo : Office Xmas Party w Mykki Blanco Stereo, Glasgow, 19 Dec, 9pm

Sudan Archive QMU, Glasgow, 6 Dec, 7pm

Photo: Yanran Xiong

Photo:

Photo:

Photo: Stephanie Gibson

Photo: Alex Brady

Photo: Charlotte Maishman

Photo: DumiVisuals

Image: courtesy of SWG3

Photo: Laura Meek

Mykki Blanco

Elephant Sessions

Sudan Archive Mamma Mia

Holding Time

Beauty and the Beast Nicholas Marshall as Beast

Joy Orbeson

Uninvited for AMPLIFI

Acolyte

Josie Long

What's On

Music

As the year begins to wind down, so too do band tour schedules. But there are still some highlights. French synth-pop artist Oklou brings her debut album choke enough to QMU (1 Dec), before the technicolour, recorder-playing, dancefloor-bothering Mermaid Chunky kick things into high gear at Mono (4 Dec). The rest of the first week of the month brings Jesca Hoop to The Hug & Pint (5 Dec), Snow Strippers to SWG3 (6 Dec), Sudan Archives to QMU (6 Dec), Porridge Radio to St Luke’s (7 Dec) and Wolf Alice to the OVO Hydro (7 Dec), before Caribou (Barrowlands) and The Futureheads (Òran Mór) kick off week two on the 8th.

Scottish artists continue to shine bright throughout the month, of course. For the second of AMPLIFI’s main room shows at The Queen’s Hall, headliners Uninvited are joined by LAMAYA (3 Dec), while Malin Lewis Presents Flook and Sian the following night. Glasgow doomgazers Cwfen play Legends (5 Dec), Sarah/Shaun launch their In Silence Love Speaks Loudest EP at The Bongo Club (6  Dec) and Acolyte celebrate their latest single, Warm Days at People’s Leisure Club (6 Dec), while Cowboy Hunters (11 Dec) and Megan Black (18 Dec) round out the year with shows at Sneaky Pete’s. Dundee residents can also catch Cowboy Hunters at Beat Generator Live! (4 Dec), or head to Livehouse for Idlewild on the 6th. In Stirling, Sing the Greys – A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit takes over the Albert Halls (5 Dec) featuring Kathryn Joseph, Louis Abbott, Katie Gregson-Macleod and more.

In Glasgow, the 5th is busy with shows from James Yorkston (CCA), Pistol Daisys (The Poetry Club) and Jacob Alon (Mackintosh Church), while the 6th brings Humour to King Tut’s and Rianne Downey to Old Fruitmarket. Peach Crumb launches her debut EP, You’re Too Young and Pretty to be Sad, at Mono (11 Dec), while Lacuna launch Nest at King Tut’s (12 Dec). Shindig host a Palestine Fundraiser at The Hug & Pint with Water Machine, Maz and the Phantasms, Junk Pups and Vibrator (16 Dec), and Ask Alice rounds out the year with a King Tut’s headliner (30 Dec).

When it comes to Christmas shows, your options are plentiful. In Glasgow, King Tut’s host a Present Drive with Gallus, Tina Sandwich and Woeful Idle (7 Dec). Conscious Pilot host their first annual Christmas party at McChuills with Dancer, Bestco International Supermarket, festive tunes and a raffle (10 Dec). Collection Box are raising funds for Amma Birth Companions at The Doublet with Martha Ffion, Jill Lorean and Goodnight Louisa (17 Dec), while on the same night A Georgia Cécile Kinda Christmas comes to Old Fruitmarket. No a Mean City IV: Warmth In the Winter with VLURE, Dictator, Pearling and iwanttobeontv takes over Beech Avenue Social Club (19 Dec), Tommy Reilly’s All-Star Christmas returns to St Luke’s (22 Dec), and Intibint curates Hogmanay at The Glad Cafe (31 Dec).

In Edinburgh, Queer as Punk host Queer Xmas: It’s a Synth! with Thundermoon, Gravelle and Demi and the Urge (Wee Red Bar, 6 Dec), Lost Map presents… HUMBUG with Free Love (DJs), Both Hands, Gulp and Seamus Fogarty (Leith FAB Cricket Club, 13 Dec), and Post Electric and Friends presents A Christmas Celebration in aid of Gig Buddies Thera Trust with Hamish Hawk, rEDOLENT and The Citrines (Sneaky Pete’s, 17 Dec). Hogmanay celebrations get underway early as Vitamin C host Swim School and waverley. at Assembly Rooms (29 Dec), before the massive Concert in the Gardens takes over Princes Street Gardens where headliners Wet Leg are supported by locals Hamish Hawk and Lucia and the Best Boys (31 Dec), before a glut of free First Footin’ shows take place across the city on 1 January. [Tallah Brash]

All details correct at the time of writing

Photo: Alex James

Photo: Simon Murphy

Photo: Laura Meek

Photo: Simon Pizzey

Goodnight Louisa

Mermaid Chunky

VLURE

Hamish Hawk

Film

It’s Christmas time, so you don’t need me to tell you that your local cinemas will be jam-packed with perennial faves like It’s a Wonderful Life, The Shop Around the Corner and The Muppet Christmas Carol. It took those films decades to cement themselves in the Christmas rotation, but it’s interesting to observe the rapid ascent of a new classic: The Holdovers, Alexander Payne’s bittersweet comedy set at a boarding school during the Christmas break. It was only released two years ago, but it’s already an Xmas staple, with GFT (13-23 Dec), Filmhouse (12-13 Dec) and Cameo (6-7 Dec) all giving it multiple screenings.

Also look out for more creative, and less cosy Christmas programming happening across December, like Filmhouse’s screenings of François Ozon’s murder mystery musical melodrama 8 Women, in which French acting royalty (think Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardant) trade barbs in a snowbound château (screening on 35mm, 20-22 Dec). At GFT, Batman Returns (15 & 18 Dec) and Eyes Wide Shut (21 & 22 Dec) make the spiky Christmas cut, and Cameo delivers some nasty winter chills with 30 Days of Night (8 Dec) and Black Christmas (12 Dec).

Talking of horror at Christmas, Filmhouse are filling that liminal space between Boxing Day and New Year with some terrifying films from the mind of Stephen King. We’re talking masterpieces like Brian De Palma’s Carrie and Rob Reiner’s Misery; Tobe Hooper’s chilling take on Salem’s Lot and John Carpenter’s stylish automobile slasher Christine; Mary Lambert’s gothic version of Pet Sematary and Frank Darabont’s tense and ultimately brutal The Mist. See filmhouse.org.uk for details.

The grisly festivities continue with the Zodiac Killer Project, Charlie Shackleton’s ingenious cine essay about failing to get the rights to make a film based on Lyndon E. Lafferty’s true-crime book. While explaining the film he would have liked to make while avoiding infringing on Lafferty’s copyright, Shackleton also creates a wry critique of the true-crime documentary genre in general. Shackleton is one of the most inventive minds in UK filmmaking – be sure to pick his brains when he brings the film on tour, with Q&A screenings at DCA (3 Dec), GFT (4 Dec) and Filmhouse (5 Dec).

Another cinema maverick bringing their work to Scotland is Louise Weard. She’s on tour with the first two films of her magnum opus, Castration Movie, a labyrinthine post-modern epic about gender (Anthology iii. is due next year), and SQIFF will be presenting screenings in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps screens at Filmhouse on 6 December, while Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds screens at GMAC on 12 December and at Filmhouse the following day. Weard will present the latter two screenings in person. [Jamie Dunn]

Clubs

Start your weekend early at DUB CLUB with Hometown Sound System at The Art School in Glasgow on Thursday 4 December. On Friday 5 December, Numbers showcase Blawan, Hekt, Rustie, and more at The Art School – oh, it’s good to be back. At The Berkeley Suite, house and techno legend John Talabot takes the reins till 5am with support from Dilly Joints (5 Dec).  On Saturday 6 December, Helena Hauff brings stripped techno and electro to Sub Club for Subculture x Basement Philosophy. If you’re in the pursuit of bass, however, head north to The Flying Duck for Redstone Press x Sweatbox with Kode9 and Toumba (6 Dec).

On Monday 8 December, Caribou comes to town for a sold-out show at Glasgow’s Barrowland. If you’re travelling back to Edinburgh and still feeling it, get down to Ride n Bounce – Sneaky Pete’s cheekiest school night (8 Dec).

On Friday 12 December, Slam & DVS1 deliver a no-nonsense techno masterclass at Sub Club, meanwhile Will Bankhead gets weird at EXIT for Court presents: Science versus Life – skate photography Q&A from 8pm (12 Dec).

On Saturday 13 December, Optimo (Espacio) is back at The Berkeley Suite with support from Nurse (Live).

On Saturday 20 December, it’s the Eclectic Mud Christmas Special at The Argyle and Cellar Bar in Glasgow – the name plus free entry feels intriguing enough. Dance off your gluttonous sins on Friday 26 December inside People’s Leisure Club for INFOLINE with Franck, SIKOTI and more – max energy, no phones. On Wednesday 31 December, Edinburgh’s favourite four-room rendezvous returns, as HeadsetNYE hosts every local DJ you could hope to see at The Mash House. In Glasgow, SWG3 go large with a big bill topped by Joy Orbison b2b Ben UFO, and The Art School is transformed for Ponyboy NYE. [Cammy Gallagher]

Photo: Fabian Hammer

Photo: Marie Staggat

Helena Hauff

Castration Movie Part II Blawan

The Holdovers Salems Lot

Art

December marks the final chance to catch Shen Xin’s solo presentation at Collective, Edinburgh. Rooted in themes of migration and belonging, Highland Embassy showcases two films and a series of paintings by the Isle of Skyebased artist. The exhibition is part of We Contain Multitudes, a project that creates systematic change for disabled people in Scotland’s visual arts sector. Highland Embassy is on show until 21 December.

From 13 December, Glasgow artist Jamie Cooper presents LEVELLING UP at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh. Satirically named in homage to the Tory party’s policy that targeted ‘left-behind’ towns, LEVELLING UP is an audio-visual installation featuring sculptures that critique the privatisation of public services. LEVELLING UP lights up Fruitmarket’s Warehouse until 18 January.

At Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh presents Afrofuturist photography that exposes forgotten histories in the cities of Glasgow, Bradford, Belfast and Cardiff. Alongside portraits by emerging UK photographers, Muluneh’s work is at the heart of Nationhood: Memory and Hope, a touring exhibition that celebrates diversity in the UK. On view until 8 February.

At Timespan in Helmsdale, Alex Sarkisian presents kar (Քար), a film work that traces the survival of Western Armenian places through a journey to the artist’s ancestral home, Kharpert. Kar traverses monasteries, cities and landscapes within the borders of modern-day Turkey to illuminate structural erasure through military occupation and neglect. As part of the gallery’s programme on land justice, Timespan places Kar in dialogue with the Highland Clearances and the dispossession of land in Palestine. The exhibition continues until 1 March.

Unmasked: Exploring Scottish Portraiture at City Art Centre interrogates the dynamic between sitter and artist through a range of media. From oil on canvas to photobooth, the exhibition spans 400 years of portraiture in Scotland, starring works by contemporary artist Sekai Machache and the Scottish Van Dyck, George Jamesone. It’s here until 31 May.

[Rachel Ashenden]

Theatre

There’s no escaping pantomime season (would you want to?), and Glasgow is leading the charge. At The King’s Theatre, Elaine C. Smith and Johnny Mac dive under the sea for The Little Mermaid (Until 4 Jan), promising aquatic chaos and two of Scotland’s most reliable panto powerhouses. A few streets away, the Tron Theatre doubles down with Gallus in Weegieland (Until 4 Jan), Johnny McKnight’s annual festive fever dream with glitter and Glaswegian wit. Edinburgh counters with something more storybook. The Royal Lyceum’s Cinderella: A Fairytale (Until 3 Jan) blends puppetry and live music to re-enchant the tale.

At Summerhall, panto arrives for the very first time with Snow White Comes to Summerhall (11-14 Dec). Notably, the titular Snow White is described as curious and independent, and with gender neutral pronouns! It promises a welcome twist on the old fairytale, fitting for Summerhall’s dedication to boundary-pushing programming.

Dundee Rep answers with Jack and the Beanstalk (Until 30 Dec), a musical where Caroline the Highland cow steals the spotlight in a locallyinfused twist on the tale. And if you can’t get enough of the fee-fi-fo-fum, you can also catch a Jack and the Beanstalk panto at Festival Theatre in Edinburgh (13 Dec-11 Jan). In Glasgow, the Citizens Theatre returns triumphantly to its Christmas slot with Beauty and the Beast (2-31 Dec).

For those needing a break from holiday sparkle, the Traverse Theatre offers two quieter, sharper palate cleansers. Untethered: A Rehearsed Reading (6 Dec) introduces a woman who doesn’t realise she’s dead. The performance is tagged as immersive, offering what could be a collaborative exploration of the cyclical nature of life and death – fitting, perhaps, for a season insistent on merriment while the world outside reminds us of the wintering death required for rebirth. In a similar vein, Finding Balance: Winter (16 Dec) gathers fresh texts and experiments for an end-of-year scratch night. Finally, Òran Mór wraps up the season with It’s a Wonderful Life… Mostly (15–28 Dec), a brand new show riffing on the beloved film. Whether it’s established pantomimes you’re after, or new works leveraging the fullness of the season, December theatre programming this year tries to make the festivities a bit less one-note. [Mika Morava]

Photo: Eoin Carey

Photo: Kimberley Ross

Olivia Hemmati rehearsing as Ella in the Royal Lyceum's production of Cinderella: A Fairytale

Caribou at Lingotto Fiere

Shen Xin, Highland Embassy at Collective, Edinburgh

Alex Sarkisian, kar (Քար )

Photo: Stuart Armitt

Nicholas Marshall as Beast in Beauty and the Beast

Photo: Alex Brady

Comedy

December’s really spoiling us (must mean we’ve been pretty nice). First up is the wickedly funny Rosie Jones playing Glasgow and Edinburgh with her latest hour (Glasgow Glee, 3 Dec, 7pm, £18 / Edinburgh Stand, 4 Dec, 8.30pm, £18). That’s followed by Josie Long performing a homecoming version of her gorgeous Fringe show Now Is The Time Of Monsters at the suitably grand Òran Mór (5 Dec, 7pm, £22).

That weekend there are even more shows we’d recommend. Liam Withnail’s recording Big Strong Boy, his hit Fringe show about his dramatic move to Edinburgh in the mid-00s, on 6 December (Monkey Barrel, 5.30pm & 8pm, £12). The 7 December has even more in store: half of The Delightful Sausage, Chris Cantrill, tests out new material about murder mysteries and the Sycamore Gap (RIP) (Monkey Barrel, 8pm, £7); The Stand Edinburgh is hosting a Benefit in aid of MAP with a stellar lineup (4pm, £12/£8); and new(ish) on the scene clowning showcase, That’s Clown!, has their last show of the year at Gael & Grain in Glasgow (7.30pm, £5).

And for getting you in the festive spirit, here’s three of the best: JohnLuke Roberts appears once more as the delirious ‘poot’ (his words, not ours) Geoffrey Chaucer with a slew of cracking guests (Geoffrey Chaucer’s Mediaeval Christmas Festivitye 2025!, Monkey Barrel, 11 Dec, 7.30pm, £15); Adam Riches hot-foots it to Glasgow for another go at being Yorkshire’s second biggest bastud (after Frankie Monroe) Sean Bean (The 12 BEANS OF CHRISTMAS, Glasgow Stand, 10 Dec, 8pm, £16); and Paddy Young gets in on the action with A Night With The Stars!, a late night madcap Stars-In-YourEyes of sorts featuring Dan Tiernan and Sam Campbell (Monkey Barrel, 13 Dec, 11pm, £16).

Finally, there’s a real treat in the new year with the lovely Sara Pascoe gracing Edinburgh for three nights to work up her new show Jazz (Monkey Barrel, 12-14 Jan, 7.30pm, £10). Based on her dad’s wild ambition to turn Joyce’s Odyssey into an epic jazz one, this is her probably less saxophonic take on it. [Polly Glynn]

Photo: Michael Julings

Rosie Jones

Dan Tiernan

Paddy Young

Photo: Jack Hauxwell

Photo: Jiksaw

Features

22 The Albums of 2025 – as voted by our Music writers.

28 Looking closer to home, the best Scottish Albums of the Year

30 We’ve got a rundown of the Books writers’ Books of the Year.

32 Amid much ‘death of creativity’ speculation, we asked some friendly local design legends for positive tales from their Year in Design.

34 The Film team have battled it out to create our definitive list of their Films of the Year.

38 Not to be outdone, the Comedy writers share their Funniest things of the year, from Fringe shows to that thing their pal said that one time.

45 Johnny McKnight and Sally Reid reflect on the Tron’s tradition of self-aware pantomime.

49 Solo exhibitions by Felicity Hammond and Jamie Cooper highlight political points with vivid colour.

50 Isle of Skye-based artist Shen Xin on their Collective show Highland Embassy.

53 Scotland’s leading electronic artists reflect on the influence of Daphne Oram.

54 We meet this year’s cohort of Film Hub New Producers.

57 12 DJs pick out 12 tracks you can expect to hear at Headset ’s Hogmanay party.

On the website...

The Cineskinny podcast revisits the best films of 2025, and the writers’ individual top tens so you can pick your favourite based on how much you agree with them; a batch of gig reviews, Spotlight interviews and our new Scottish music playlist; a whole load of festive stuff from our Guide to Christmas and Hogmanay

Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) courtesy of Columbia; Nico Utuk; Fiorella Quaranta; courtesy Jonny Mowat; Kimberly French; Rebecca Need-Menear; Mihaela Bodlovic; Kate Elliot; Eoin Carey; Elly Lucas; courtesy artist; courtesy Headset

Shot of the month

Milesi

Least warm (7)

Windpipe (7)

Made fun of (9)

Bestow (5)

Satan (anag) (5) 12. It keeps things warm (9) 13. Blunder (7)

Changes (7)

Con (7) 19. City in California, home of Disneyland (7)

20. Most mean (9) 22. E.g. potato (5)

Discomforts (5)

Exaggerate (9) 26. Frequent – predictable (7)

Lego sub-brand – chic net (anag) (7)

1. Novelty Noël knitwear (9,6) 2. Weighed down (5)

3. Beguiled – 2007 film starring Amy Adams (9)

4. Counts up (7)

5. Large amount (of cash) - I'm dusty (anag) (4,3)

6. Glean (anag) (5)

7. (Of a body) completely (4,2,3)

8. Given human-like characteristics (15) 14. Sparkling (9)

16. Know-it-all – wise guy (5,4)

18. E.g. shades (7)

19. One of the good guys in the Transformers universe (7) 21. Relating to the schnozz (5)

23. Scottish child (5) Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk Turn to page 7 for the solutions

by George Sully

Sour Windows @ Barrowland Glasgow, 17 November by Serena

In this month’s advice column, one reader wonders why there are no single men

Every single man I am interested in turns out to have a beautiful lady at home! Where the hell are the single men??!

Nowhere! They don’t exist!! It’s really fucking annoying! Every now and then something will occur that will make me realise that as much as we like to pretend we have evolved as a society, we could nevertheless airdrop Jane Austen into our modern dating scene and after her initial disorientation she would be like, yes this is extremely familiar to me and here is a beautiful novel about it. I think this every time I go to a wedding as a single woman and all the couples act like they are in an exclusive-entry cult, and every time someone in a happy relationship gives me well-meaning and idiotic dating advice. And I also think this whenever I look at the gendered nature of dating and how fucked women who fancy men are.

Bluntly put, men have more social capital which means they are more in demand which means they are usually not available. I’m sorry but it’s true. If you are a moderately attractive man (I was going to add kind and stable but to be honest those do not matter even slightly) you are in high demand and will therefore not be single for very long. If you are an inordinately attractive and intelligent and interesting woman, you might very well die alone. Them’s the breaks. Mr Darcy acts like a cunt and he has like 20 women obsessed with him. Lizzy Bennet is cool and hot and funny and Mr Collins proposes to her. I really do believe that this, and not the pain of childbirth, is the curse Eve’s original sin saddled us with.

I don’t really have much of a solution here except to keep trying and hoping. Supply and demand is at the end of the day a numbers game (or something?? If you are a sexy economist and would like to explain this further, hmu) so you just have to wait for it to work out. The only other solution is polyamory but to be quite honest if Jane Austen knew what being the third in an existing relationship was she would write a scathing novel on why it is a terrible idea and she would be right. Be patient! Keep trying! Buy a vibrator! Good luck :)

Do you have a problem Anahit could help with?

Get in touch by email on pettyshit@theskinny.co.uk, send us your quandaries with an almost-unhelpful level of anonymity via NGL, or look out for Ask Anahit callouts on our Instagram stories

A walk through Glasgow’s muralled streets brings up memories of visiting the tenement flat of the late John Kraska, a community activist and artist

Words: Myrtle Boot

In the context of the late John Kraska’s life, the postcode G3 is a gesamtkunstwerk: a total work of art made up of the tessellated mural, preserved tenements, the aging mosaic, and, in its North-Eastern corner, his flat.

I never had the fortune of meeting Kraska, but our lives briefly touched this summer. I received a message on my dormant LinkedIn account and instantly recognised the sender’s name. Kraska was an eminent artist within Glasgow’s mural scene in the 1970s and a figure of interest in my undergraduate research on community art across Scotland.

Kraska had equally chanced upon me. While preparing for an exhibition at SWG3, he stumbled across an article I had written about Glasgow’s murals and reached out in the hope I could reconnect him with a fellow artist. I gladly did so and he subsequently invited me to talk about his work over a cup of tea.

Before these plans could firm, his son, Sam, informed me of his passing in July. Sam kindly welcomed me to his father’s flat and obliged my curiosity in his work as an artist. From engaging school children to create the celestial mosaic wall in Garnethill Park, to successfully taking Glasgow’s Council to court over plans to demolish much of the residential neighbourhood, Kraska fought tooth and nail for his neighbourhood’s prosperity.

A tour of his flat revealed the outpourings of his creativity, covering wall to floor of each room. Life-sized puppets perch on kitchen cabinets, wardrobes and ledges, each representing fellow artists who assisted Kraska with the staging of a particular exhibition. On his kitchen wall, there was a photograph I immediately recognised: a sunsoaked snapshot of his bygone mural on Scott Street, Garnethill. Kraska painted what he described as “Scotland’s largest poem,” constituting the words ‘ethereal’, ‘cosmos’, ‘astral’, ‘mound’, ‘island’, quartz’ and ‘Garnet’ in vermilion.

My impression of John Kraska is that the survival and betterment of Garnethill was his greatest art project. It took a lifetime of Kraska’s work to shape Garnethill into a work of art, understated and alive.

Wrapping

Paper by Agnes Xantippa Boman (p40-41)

Agnes Xantippa Boman is a Swedish illustrator based in Glasgow. Her work explores the humour and tenderness in everyday life, from short comics to editorial illustration and animation

IG: @agnesxan agnesxan.com

Best of 2025

Celebrate the end of another apocalyptic year with our rundowns of all of our favourite things to come out of said apocalyptic year!

We’ve done some polling, asked our writers to vote on their top albums, films, books and funny things that happened of 2025. Such is our commitment to democracy that even things our section editors do not like have kept their position in our top tens [*cough* Tallah hates West End Girl *cough*].*

They say that art is subjective but we disagree – read on to find out what releases were definitively, objectively the best of 2025.

*Tallah has requested a correction: “Hate is a very strong word, I just think musically it isn’t very good.”

Albums of 2025

We've polled our music writers for their albums of the year and compiled a top ten that some could agree on... These are albums from artists with a strong identity, message and vision, albums that stand out from the crowd, with a landslide victory for our 2025 Album of the Year

The present moment is a bridge between two infinities: the forever of the past and the forever of the future. The title track of Big Thief’s new album Double Infinity finds singer Adrianne Lenker standing between ‘what is forming, what is fading’.

The New York band’s 2022 record exploded their lo-fi folk-rock into a sprawling collage of whimsical imagination. Double Infinity, by contrast, is deep, earthy and thorny, enveloping the listener in its thicket of wiry, twisting guitar and flickering tape loops. The trio are joined by ambient musician Laraaji whose rhapsodic vocals and glinting zither are threaded through the project. Each song feels worn, lived-in. Words is folksy and frazzled, frayed guitar tangling around skipping percussion. ‘Let gravity be my sculptor, let the wind do my hair’, sings Lenker, contemplating ageing on Incomprehensible. Wistful Los Angeles never fully indulges either nostalgia or regret but looks forwards with steadfast hope: ‘I’ll follow you forever, even without looking’.

Many songs are simple country-folk singalongs at heart. How Could I Have Known is achingly romantic, exploring how one moment can contain an eternity. And within the molten guitar of Grandmother, Lenker finds an imperfect way to contain the double infinities swirling around her: ‘gonna turn it all into rock and roll’. [Zoë White]

AOTY #20 to #11

#20 Deftones – Private Music

#19 Alex G – Headlights

#18 Djrum – Under Tangled Silence

#17 Panda Bear – Sinister Grift

#16 Blood Orange – Essex Honey

The music world held its breath in anticipation of Virgin, and since its summer release, it’s proven to exceed even the highest of expectations, offering a potent reminder that Lorde is – and consistently has been – an artist of vulnerability, passion and constant reinvention. Her music has always been an effective window into her psyche and perception of self, allowing listeners to feel a deep connection and affinity with her. On Virgin, her fourth album, Lorde grapples with and explores these numerous facets of herself.

She navigates her relationship with femininity, desire and passion on GRWM and Man of the Year, in which she blurs the lines of gender and questions what it means to be a woman. On Favourite Daughter and David she illustrates how her relationships with others influences her sense of self, explored through the lenses of self-worth, idolisation and sacrifice. Sonically, the tracks are alive and charged, Lorde’s raw vocals working in harmony with enthralling electronic sections to create an album full of intensity and feeling.

For Lorde, music has always represented a tapestry of evolution. Virgin is yet another milestone in this trajectory, undoubtedly emphasising her skillful, authentic artistry as she’s created one of this year’s most striking and profound records. [Sophia Goddard]

#15 Turnstile – Never Enough

#14 Sam Fender – People Watching

#13 Wednesday – Bleeds

#12 Dijon – Baby

#11 Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

#10: Big Thief – Double Infinity

#9: Lorde – Virgin

Double Infinity was released on 5 September via 4AD bigthief.net

Virgin was released on 27 Jun via EMI

lorde.co.nz

Photo: Daniel Arnold

Photo: Thistle Brown

#7: Lily Allen – West End Girl

#8:

Jacob Alon – In Limerence

Freshly announced as the first Scottish winner of the BBC Introducing Artist of the Year Award, Fife singer-songwriter Jacob Alon joins an impressive list of previous winners like Arlo Parks, Self Esteem and Olivia Dean, and it seems like they are well on the way to major headliner status themselves. All of this hype would be for nought, of course, if the songs didn’t stand on their own. In Limerence is a stunning debut packed with gorgeous folk-indebted tunes exploring the singer’s youth in Fife, forbidden love and heartache.

Liquid Gold 25 explores emotionless Grindr hookups with lyrics that are surprisingly tender and expressive, while the feather-light Fairy in a Bottle showcases gorgeous guitar playing and haunting vocals reminiscent of Nick Drake or Rufus Wainwright. For years Alon has matured on the Scottish folk scene and these years of careful study coupled with rare insight and perspective means that whether writing about youthful infatuation or heartbreak and disappointment, these gentle, impeccably rendered songs are as timelessly expressive as they are sharply sketched. As a debut album, In Limerence is a remarkable introduction, but best of all, you get the sense that it’s just the first tantalising hint of what Alon is capable of. [Max Sefton]

West End Girl opens like a fairytale. A newlywed Lily Allen skips up the stairs of a Brooklyn brownstone, is offered the lead in a play, and shares the news with her celebrity husband. Mid-song, a voicemail detour introduces the record’s real narrative: that husband sucks beyond belief. From there, Allen carefully picks through the wreckage of her marriage like an air crash investigator. Sleepwalking maps a night of mental waterboarding: the guilty party talking and justifying while their blindsided partner drifts into catatonia. Tennis sits in a more domestic place, emphasising the family life that was tossed aside. Madeleine introduces the story’s other woman (one of many!!) over country-inflected guitars and irresistible gunshot percussion.

In Limerence was released on 30 May via Island/EMI jacobalon.scot

lilyallenmusic.com

The record’s narrative comes alive in small details. Pussy Palace’s ‘Stuck on the F, there’s a problem on the line’ places us in the scene with her. Allen has spent the past seven years flirting with other careers (acting, fashion, podcasting) and even considering musical retirement. West End Girl isn’t merely a love letter to the album format or one of the most precise and devastating breakup records in years, it’s a necessary reminder of what happens when a great songwriter gets back in the office. [Tara Hepburn]

On their second album moisturizer, Wet Leg returned stranger and more self-assured than ever. The Isle of Wight outfit lean into a fuller and scrappier band dynamic this time, with a thrilling leap from their mischievous debut into something more emotionally unhinged and thornier, but also warmer and charismatic. Recorded with their full five-piece band lineup (Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers joined by guitarist Josh Mobaraki, bassist Ellis Durand, drummer Henry Holmes), the band’s animated ferocity lands tighter arrangements and production that carry the sound as if listening to them live. The result is a punchier and meatier record, expansive with a snarling, almost confrontational edge. Lyrically, moisturizer is an exploration of obsession, desire and self-discovery. Teasdale reveals a more deeply personal side, embracing her queer identity and writing love songs that feel less like detached satire, and read more as full-throated confessions. The words still fizz with their trademark surreal humour and deadpan digs, but there is definitely a new undercurrent of self-reckoning. If their debut announced Wet Leg as unexpected disruptors, moisturizer cements them as artists with staying power. As the uncannily bizarre album cover suggests, it seems that they’ve taken a confident and chaotic step forward. [Rhea Hagiwara]

moisturizer was released on 11 Jul via Domino wetlegband.com

West End Girl was released on 24 Oct via BMG

Photo: Charlie Denis

#6: Wet Leg – moisturizer

Photo: Alice Backham

Photo: Nico Utuk

Trams will be running between West End - Edinburgh Airport and Picardy Place - Newhaven every 10 minutes throughout the night. And guess what? They are free after midnight!

#5: billy woods – GOLLIWOG

billy woods hot-wired the English language, made his horrorcore masterpiece, and took us on a whirlwind joyride that still astonishes on every play. GOLLIWOG is not a casual listen, is not for having on in the background. It’s the vital antithesis of the tedious artificially-generated muzak you’ve been reading about and hopefully staying well away from. It’s a headphones album, full of detail both sonic and lyrical, by turns a phantasmagorical tour through a world of rabid dogs, rag dolls and snakes devouring their own tails, and a response to the horrors perpetrated by colonial powers, the lingering scars and generational trauma passed on.

Production is handled by a conveyor belt of talent including Conductor Williams, Kenny Segal, The Alchemist, El-P, DJ Haram, and yet GOLLIWOG is a remarkably cohesive listen, bound by the vision, energy and intelligence of its chief creator. The genesis of this album is a short story that woods wrote as a nine-year-old about the titular ‘Golliwog’. His mother told him it was ‘derivative and needed work’, which if anything shows the importance of honest feedback. woods also found time to release another Armand Hammer album (Mercy) this year. He’s one of the best artists on the planet right now, long live his golden age. [Craig Angus]

#3: Oklou – choke enough

billywoods.bandcamp.com

Unfolding across four movements alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, LUX is given additional heft by Pulitzer-winner Caroline Shaw and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Rather than leaning on electronic gossamer, LUX is carved from raw instrumental texture: ornamentation functions as architecture with choral punches worthy of Philip Glass. Reliquia moves from Michael Riesman-like clarity into a Justice-esque coda, one of the album’s few flashes of pop voltage. Elsewhere, La Rumba del Perdón reminds us that Rosalía can still summon an earworm with unnerving ease.  Her voice sits exposed in this soundscape; its production startlingly dry. She moves between crystalline soprano, flamenco melisma, whispered invocation and full-throated declaration; a performance both disciplined and impulsive, all-at-once intimate yet monumental such that it raises hairs on arms.

The choir on Berghain, the orchestral surge of La Yugular, the volatile percussion of Dios Es Un Stalker: each collaborator is granted space, yet Rosalía yields none of her own gravity. Singing across more than a dozen languages, many not her own, she navigates idioms she does not fully inhabit, informed by saints, mystics and literary forebears. Catalytically, LUX becomes both a generational myth and a personal testament, an orchestral autobiography in which Rosalía asserts herself as performer and visionary in equal measure. [Rhys Morgan]

Oklou’s choke enough is pop music for the internal, for the daydreamer, for opening every window on a hot day but not venturing outside. On ict, Marylou Mayniel sings of escapism – ‘Strawberry dancer, vanilla summer, driver pull over, ice cream truck’ – but it’s streaked with colour and idealised in a way that reality rarely is now. These songs whisper and gurgle, barely raising their heads from the subaquatic near-beatless netherworld they live in. It’s Y2K pop, tinged with the scent of nostalgic Eurotrance echoed from the walls of a Kos nightclub, transcribed through the internet, and stripped for parts. When the production feels built on fleeting memories, it perfectly matches the sentiment of burrowing into yourself. choke enough lives on the edge between acceptance as a shut-in and embracing freedom, between existing within the lines and transcending them. Or as Oklou would put it, ‘Is the endless still unbound, or am I just different now?’ But even she gets bored looking inside herself forever – if there’s an open window, at some point you have to jump through it. On blade bird, she accepts – and wills you to accept – that living out in the world is what we’re made for. [Tony Inglis]

GOLLIWOG was released on 9 May via Backwoodz Studioz

Photo: Natalia Vacheishvili

#4: Rosalía – LUX

LUX was released on 7 Nov via Columbia rosalia.com

choke enough was released on 7 Feb via True Panther Sounds

oklou.com

Photo: Grace Pickering

EURO-COUNTRY was released on 29 Aug via CMATBaby / AWAL

cmatbaby.com

#1: CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY

When Cameron Winter released his debut solo album Heavy Metal this time last year, it’s fair to say that no one could have predicted what would happen next. The young, brown-eyed New Yorker’s cult-like mystique hosts beguiling shades of Dylan, and now he and his band Geese have been bestowed from fans and critics alike as the buzziest band around.

Winter is Geese’s guiding light. But on Getting Killed, the four-piece’s fourth album, everyone excels. 100 Horses exemplifies this best via Max Bassin’s thundering drums, Emily Green’s freewheeling guitar, Dominic DiGesu’s punchy basslines and Winter’s distinctly brooding vocals. Etched with biblical motifs throughout, lyrically, it’s an album that doesn’t shy away from existential themes such as deteriorating relationships (Cobra; Au Pays du Cocaine), non-conformity (Taxes) and isolation (Husbands) all framed within the context of the inescapable modern day.

Typically nonchalant yet undeniably talented, Geese are reshaping the rock canon while still bowing to their peers of old. It’s no wonder that they are being hailed as Gen Z’s version of The Strokes. Getting Killed is not only a tour de force from the unshackled Brooklyn band – its cultural relevance will be highlighted for years to come. [Jamie Wilde]

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that you have to leave a place to write about it – James Joyce famously had to depart from Ireland to give us Ulysses and 100 years later, CMAT had to leave to give us EURO-COUNTRY

There is a cultural cachet in being Irish at the moment and with that comes a temptation to portray the place as a faultless utopia, unblemished by all the pitfalls of being British, somewhere one doesn’t have to be embarrassed to be from. Luckily, CMAT doesn’t fall into this trap on EURO-COUNTRY, from shout-outs to some of the less glamorous parts of the country (no offence Ballybrack, Finglas or Blanchardstown Shopping Centre), to cutting take-downs of the government post-economic crash. She even uses Irish to ask if she’d be beautiful bald.

What is distinctly Irish, though, is her particular brand of humour, taking heartbreak, confusion and isolation and undercutting it all with a cheeky dick joke, a lyric about bingo wings and Doritos, a song called Jamie Oliver Petrol Station. It’s the work of a songwriter who is not only in her stride, but one who doesn’t care if you don’t get it. References to niche Irish towns, her accent, figures of Irish myth and Kerry Katona, it is a lesson in not shying away from specificity, something that feels refreshing in a world of algorithm-driven music, and lowest common denominators; ‘This is making no sense to the average listener!’ she gleefully croons on the aforementioned Jamie Oliver Petrol Station.

Aside from skewering a certain type of Oirishness, all manner of topics are covered here – misogyny and beauty standards, the loneliness of living under capitalism, the horror of losing a friend – delivered with tunes so jaunty they’ll make you want to join the local line dancing club and hooks so infectious they have TikTok dances.

Sitting like a jewel in the crown is the excellently titled Lord, Let That Tesla Crash. A ballad for a late friend, it’s a shining example of CMAT’s deft balance of humour and pathos and her best song yet. Plaintive without being cloying, heartwrenchingly honest, and at times silly, as grief can sometimes be. ‘I heard death comes in threes / I misheard it being from Dublin / I thought deaths in the trees / Which makes sense cause they’re the saddest cunts of plants’. I mean, it has to be said, not even Joyce thought to call trees cunts. [Emilie Roberts]

Getting Killed was released on 26 Sep via Play It Again Sam geeseband.com

Photo: Simon Wheatley

#2: Geese – Getting Killed

Photo: Lewis Evans

Photo: Sarah Doyle

Shop Local

A rundown of some special offers and events this festive season

Patisserie Florentin

Just around the corner from the most Instagrammable street in Edinburgh (Circus lane), Patisserie Florentin is more than just a café – it’s a slice of Parisian elegance with a warm, local touch. Known for its delicate, hand-crafted pastries, sweet treats and aromatic coffee, Florentin brings a taste of Europe to your daily routine. Every croissant is baked fresh each morning, every tart glazed to perfection, and every cup of coffee brewed with care. Don’t miss their signature croque monsieur with ham – or a Scottish twist with haggis.

5 N W Circus Pl, Edinburgh EH3 6ST

Perth Museum

Discover the perfect festive gift this year at Perth Museum. Explore a selection of locally inspired gifts, artisan crafts, and more, and buy a unique present for that special someone in your life.

perthmuseum.co.uk

facebook.com/perthmuseum

The Jazz Bar

Discover Scotland’s longest-running independent jazz venue, a not-for-profit supporting local musicians. Live music every day in their iconic Edinburgh basement bar: jazz, blues, funk and more. December features seven family-friendly events, including interactive kids’ shows and a daytime Family Hogmanay party, not to forget their regular late-night Hogmanay Party.

1a Chambers St, Edinburgh, EH1 1HR thejazzbar.co.uk

Glasgow Film Theatre

Since 1939, Glasgow Film Theatre has been the city’s home for passionate film fans. Give the gift of cinema this Christmas with a GFT Gift Voucher or CineCard Membership. Members enjoy exclusive perks, save money on every visit, and help support a much-loved cultural charity. The perfect way to share the big screen experience this festive season. glasgowfilm.org

Blackwoods Distillery, Inverkip Raise spirits this Christmas and gift an experience at the Blackwoods Distillery. Gift a voucher for your loved one to enjoy expert-led tours and tastings, shake up a cocktail in a hands-on masterclass or enrol in gin school and create their own bespoke bottle of gin!

Bankfoot Farm, Inverkip, Inverclyde, PA16 0DT blackwoodsgin.co.uk/collections/all-products

Scottish Storytelling Centre

Located in the heart of Edinburgh’s old town, the Scottish Storytelling Centre bookshop offers a thoughtfully chosen selection of folktale collections, storytelling resources, children’s books and so much more! Step into their medieval luckenbooths to explore an emporium of fables, myths, tall tales, forgotten histories and bedtime stories for all ages.

scottishstorytellingcentre.com @ScottishStorytellingCentre

Scottish Opera

The Great Wave off Kanagawa– Dai Fujikura and Harry Ross

This world premiere by 'Japanese sound magician' (BBC Radio 3), Dai Fujikura, and librettist, Harry Ross, is a must-see for lovers of Japanese culture, art history, and storytelling at its boldest. Journey to 19th century Japan as artist Hokusai and his daughter Ōi defy tradition and risk everything to create The Great Wave – a masterpiece that changed Japan forever.

scottishopera.org.uk

Top of the Scots

We take a moment to celebrate the wealth of music that’s come out of Scotland this year, pulling from reviews and features from the past 12 months, we celebrate ten of the best

It’s been one of the busiest years for releases in Scotland that we can remember, which in turn has made it all the harder for our writers to agree on a top ten. While debut albums from Brógeal, VLURE, Water Machine, Humour, Rianne Downey, Former Champ and Cwfen sparked excitement, returns from Goodnight Louisa, Emma Pollock, Constant Follower, Ailie Ormston, Sian and Claire M Singer also caught our writers’ attention. But none enough to break the top ten, where you’ll find three releases on Mogwai’s Rock Action label including, spoiler, their own, three debuts, this year’s SAY Award winner, a bunch of artists returning with new knock-out albums and the recently crowned BBC Introducing Artist of the Year. Without further ado, in reverse order...

#10 Mogwai – The Bad Fire

[Rock Action, 24 Jan]

Just creeping over the line is the eleventh studio album from Glasgow post-rockers Mogwai, helping celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary in style. The first record since their 2021 SAY Awardwinning and Mercury Prize-nominated album As the Love Continues, of The Bad Fire we said, “It’s a record that calls back on various points from their oeuvre, such as the sparse atmospherics of Come On Die Young on the impressively unnerving Hi Chaos and What Kind of Mix is This? or the bombast of Happy Songs For Happy People while offering a fresh and, dare I say it, poppier version of the band on stompers such as Fanzine Made of Flesh or Lion Rumpus.”

reinvent the wheel [...] Songs like Baby Blue and Just Say Yes contain the bouncy spiky riffs synonymous with Sacred Paws, their buoyant bass grooves call to mind Field Music and the resounding choruses of Always Running and Deadline evoke erstwhile outfit Frankie & The Heartstrings. With slicker production, cleaner tones and plenty of their own unique charm thrown in, Dancer may not make big-budget blockbusters, but they may make your favourite cult-indie classic.”

#8 Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear [Domino, 10 Jan]

#9 Dancer –More or Less [Meritorio Records, 12 Sep]

Following on from their 2024 debut, 10 Songs I Hate About You, Glasgow post-punk, art-rock outfit Dancer returned this year with More or Less. We said: “Dancer don’t try to

Franz Ferdinand returned this year with their sixth studio album, The Human Fear; their first album in seven years, it was also the first to feature guitarist Dino Bardot and drummer Audrey Tait. Upon the album’s release, bassist Bob Hardy talked us through the album track by track saying, “We set ourselves the goal with this record of completely embracing our identity as Franz Ferdinand and a key part of that, from our point of view, is that songs need to groove.” We said: “A lot of the classic Franz Ferdinand sounds are present here [...] there’s a sense that the Glasgow band are having fun as they settle into a new era.”

#7 Cloth – Pink Silence [Rock Action, 25 Apr]

The third album from Glasgow siblings Rachael and Paul Swinton, aka Cloth, and advice from its producer Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey, Yard Act) was to “let go” – the pair did exactly that with Pink Silence. In our review we said: “For Cloth, [letting go] meant aiming for a more muscular, expansive sound” aided by strings from Owen Pallett and guitar from Portishead’s Adrian Utley, but found that it was in “Paul’s lyrics where Cloth truly let go. His words of loss and heartbreak are carried by Rachael’s serene, hushed vocals, ensuring that on Pink Silence, Cloth expand their sound while retaining their intimacy – ultimately they succeed in letting go.”

Words: Tallah Brash

Franz Ferdinand

Cloth

Kai Reesu

Photo: Sandra Ebert

Photo: Callum Bentley

Photo: Fiona Torre

#6 Barry Can’t Swim – Loner [Ninja Tune, 11 Jul]

Starting the year off with the third spot on BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2025 list, Joshua Mainnie’s second album as Barry Can’t Swim arrived in the summer, showing a more introspective side to the Edinburgh producer and musician. We said: “What elevates Loner is Barry’s willingness to shift gears. Tracks like About To Begin burst with intense momentum, while Cars Pass By Like Childhood Sweethearts swerves into wistful jazz textures. These contrasts feel purposeful, painting a picture of dislocation and identity in flux. With Loner, Barry Can’t Swim cements himself as a boundarypushing voice in electronic music, one fluent in mood, movement, and meaningful reflection.”

#5 Brìghde Chaimbeul – Sunwise [tak:til / Glitterbeat, 27 Jun]

Smallpipes virtuoso Brìghde Chaimbeul returned this summer with the absolutely gorgeous Sunwise, a record rooted in winter, the customs of the season and Scottish folklore. Featuring original material as well as traditional music arranged and reworked by Chaimbeul, Duan features a Gaelic spoken word contribution from her father about New Year’s Night / Hogmanay folklore. Of the record, Chaimbeul said: “It’s a music and language that has survived so much and for so long – it’s the music of people. It’s music of the land. And I think it’s extremely relevant to hold on to that and learn from that in current times.”

#4 Brooke Combe – Dancing At the Edge of the World [Modern Sky Records, 31 Jan]

Dalkeith singer-songwriter Brooke Combe has had one of her biggest years yet, joining Benson Boone on his North American arena tour and receiving a SAY Award shortlisted nomination for her debut album. Of the record, we said: “What’s most impressive is the album’s rawness. Combe’s versatile, unfiltered vocal shines throughout. Her newfound creative freedom allows her relatable lyrics of pain and detachment to flow with an unbridled sheen of self-empowerment, especially on L.M.T.F.A. (Leave Me the Fuck Alone) and This Town. By trusting her own instincts and refusing to dwell on the past, Combe has penned a sensational debut record, delivering ten sumptuous tracks of

old-school soul that ooze with the essence of an artist in full bloom.”

#3 Kai Reesu –KOMPROMAT vol. i [self-released, 12 May]

It was a surprise guest appearance from Glasgow-based rapper Jurnalist with Man of Moon at Kelburn Garden Party that alerted us to Kai Reesu’s existence back in July. A little late to the party, KOMPROMAT vol. i is a phenomenally cohesive crossover jazz and hip-hop record that catapulted them into public consciousness when they won The SAY Award in November. In a feature with the band in August, we said: “the sextet are making music that genuinely feels fresh and unlike anything else coming out of Scotland right now. Their recent KOMPROMAT vol. i mixtape firmly cements them as serious ones to watch.” And they essentially told us this is just the start; with work already well underway for KOMPROMAT, vol ii, you’d best not sleep on Kai Reesu.

#1 Jacob Alon – In Limerence [Island/EMI, 30 May]

#2 Kathryn Joseph – WE WERE MADE PREY. [Rock Action, 30 May]

Kathryn Joseph’s fourth album WE WERE MADE PREY. is, as we’ve come to expect of Joseph, another record of immeasurable beauty. It saw her music expand and evolve in more electronic and textured ways, thanks to working alongside producer and synth whizz Lomond Campbell, whose soundscapes we described earlier this year as “a welcome backdrop to Joseph’s almost fickle voice [...] The animalistic spaces Joseph occupies are tethered to her original mix: the incongruence of tragedy told in gentle, softer tones. WE WERE MADE PREY. conjures, eerily, even more delicate ways to doubt, rage and come to terms with being.”

Finally, we reach the number one top spot. We’ve already said a lot about this album on the previous overall Albums of the Year pages, so here we’ll share an excerpt from our Album of the Month review back in May. “Alon’s voice is the central weight that everything else orbits around. Like Thom Yorke, they stretch their vowels out until they’re thin, laid over us in a high tenor. Other times they’re hazed and weary, like on August Moon and Sertraline. Sometimes Alon’s voice wobbles in the way that Orlando Weeks’ or Adrianne Lenker’s might. That is perhaps inevitable given the honesty of this record. In Limerence is a debut album that is at once confident and vulnerable. That interchange and trade-off is presented most clearly in the lyrics of Sertraline: ‘You’re tired / Well who isn’t, babe / It’s the price for being awake’.”

In an interview with Alon back in April, we pointed out the feeling of hope and perseverance found across the record. “There’s a lot of despair I’ve felt and that has inspired a lot of the music, but I suppose the act of creating in itself is an act of hope,” Alon told us. “I believe in the other side of despair – transforming, healing, moving through pain and having it blossom into something beautiful. The album begins stepping into the mouth of the world of dreams and spiralling over the edge of what is real and what is memory, fiction, fantasy.”

Photo: Jonny Ashworth

Jacob Alon

Photo: Niko Utuk

Brìghde Chaimbeul

Barry Can't Swim

Mogwai

Dancer

Kathryn Joseph

Photo: Ben Hanratty

Photo: Steve Gullick

Photo: Jack Reuben

Photo: Marilena

Vlachopoulou

Books of the Year

We asked The Skinny book team to name their favourite book of 2025 – it’s not too late to make your reading goals for the year

The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey

A möbius strip has no beginning and no end; it curls around itself, furling and unfurling forever. So too does Catherine Lacey’s remarkable The Möbius Book: start at one end and it’s a short story about a marriage falling apart, start at the other and it’s a memoir about the aftermath of her own relationship breakdown. Not quite informing each other, the circling halves instead point to the forever evolving and failing nature of narrative, and the impossibility of ever trying to fix any kind of linear meaning onto your life. It’s one of the best books on heartbreak I’ve ever read; it’s also one of the best books on writing I’ve ever read. [Anahit Behrooz]

The Möbius Book is out now with Granta

Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood

Patricia Lockwood’s Will There Ever Be Another You is a strange and affecting novel with darkness at its heart. There’s palpable pain which, although well-hidden, permeates throughout. It is also hugely entertaining, a place where high and low culture meet and get on famously. Literary, artful, funny, and emotional, it could be read as stream of consciousness, with these apparently scattergun musings on art in particular an attempt to avoid confronting other, all too real, concerns. Written in an unapologetically self-conscious style which reflects the substance, Patricia Lockwood digs deep into the personal and articulates it with care and compassion. [Alistair Briadwood]

Will There Ever Be Another You is out now with Bloomsbury

Love Languages by James Albon

James Albon’s graphic novel, drawn in a style that recalls European bandes dessinées, follows two women muddling through an exchange of languages and hearts in their respective mother tongues of English and Cantonese. Things start to look up for Sarah, a young Brit working a suffocating corporate job in Paris, when she meets Ping, an au pair from Hong Kong. No one is more surprised than Sarah when their friendship quickly develops into something words can’t quite describe. I adored this understated queer romance which is also an ode to language-learning as well as proof of Edinburgh’s thriving comic book scene. [Louis Cammell]

Love Languages is out now with Top Shelf Productions

Illustrations: Fiorella Quarata

Fuck Me Judith by Claire Star Finch

The best thing about Fuck Me Judith is not the decidedly smutty sexual exploits of our heroine or that it’s ostensibly Judith Butler fan fiction, or even the delicious critique of a certain Parisian lesbian scene and its famous boat parties. Instead, what makes this small book both a raucous and unputdownable read is the perfect depiction of the heartbroken ego. Claire Star Finch elucidates with a sharp satiric edge entanglements of academic celebrity, democratic theory and the everyoneknows-everyone dyke millieu. Our hero wallows, fucks, despairs and fucks more; nothing will get Judith out of her head. [Marguerite Carson]

Fuck Me Judith is out now with After8

Perfect Victims: and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed el-Kurd

Mohammed el-Kurd writes with scrupulousness about the caging of the Palestinian people, and the obfuscation of their clear struggle against genocide and colonisation. El-Kurd refers to this as a Politics of Appeal, a “narrow node of victimhood” to which Palestinians are often herded to find false and restricting refuge. His writing spares no time for vacillation. El-Kurd also saves room for his lyrical prowess and essential footnotes that abandon ‘western’ expectations of the Palestinian to epistemically debate the struggle of his people. In reading Perfect Victims, you forgo the deliberate and reductive treatment of Palestinians as either hero or victim. There is no room for contention, only fact, and el-Kurd commands your willingness to meet the eyes of those who suffer the violent consequences of that deliberacy. [Maria Farsoon]

Perfect Victims is out now with Haymarket Books

Good Girl by Aria Aber

Set in 2000s Berlin, Aria Aber’s Good Girl is a gut-wrenching and nostalgic coming-of-age saga. It follows 19-year-old Nila, the daughter of Afghan migrants, through a destructive relationship and drug-fuelled nights in the city’s underbelly. Aber is a poet. And Good Girl, her first novel, drips with a poet’s affecting prose. Raw and dark in its commentary on capitalism, family expectations and the far right, a softness also threads throughout as we witness our protagonist’s queer awakening and see her fall in love with her art. Good Girl is a dizzying and deeply considered interrogation of migrant identity, inheritance and loss. [Parisa Hashempour]

Good Girl is out now with Bloomsbury

Crossing by Sabrin Hasbun

In the wake of her mother’s death, Sabrin Hasbun turns to memoir to unpack grief both from having lost a parent but also her birthplace of Palestine. What makes Crossing so interesting is that much of the story centres on Anna, Hasbun’s Italian mother, and her journey from a small village in Tuscany to eventually starting a family in historic Palestine with Rami, an artist. By doing so, Hasbun showcases the emotional determination of the Palestinian people through Anna’s eyes, despite the oppressive reality of apartheid and conflict. This is a moving story of love, loss and redemption against unimaginable odds. [Andrés Ordorica]

Crossing is out now with Footnote Press

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

Kate Folk has followed up her sensational and bizarre short story collection Out There with a debut novel that is as sincere as it is absurd. Sky Daddy follows Linda, a content moderator who harbours a secret life goal to ‘marry’ a plane and consummate their love in an explosive and permanent finale. Folk presents a compelling and truly singular protagonist in Linda and her stalwart focus to achieve her ambition. A surprisingly heart-warming and darkly hilarious novel about female ambition, the epidemic of loneliness, and finding authentic connection in contemporary capitalist America. [Katalina Watt]

Sky Daddy is out now with Hodder & Stoughton

Creativity Lives!

In the face of literally everything, we look at some design industry top hits to remind us all that creativity is alive and well

Sometimes it can feel like the creative industries are a burning cesspit of doom. Just look at D&AD’s new brand campaign and manifesto, claiming creativity is dead – and it’s the fault of creatives themselves. A grainy selection of typographic gravestones tells us we killed creativity by scrolling, writing think pieces, using our phone cameras and having no original thoughts – although ironically, the campaign has been accused of copying the work of London creative agency Morning Studio.

But as I look around to my peers, colleagues and collaborators at The Skinny and beyond, I see a glorious creative congregation, thriving in the face of funding cuts, cost of living crises, all the while fighting a billion dollar addiction machine that lives in all our pockets.

So, in an attempt to spread the good word of hope, and celebrate some wins from the year, big and small, I’ve asked some friends of The Skinny for their creative top hit from 2025.

Ophelia Davis & Yexabel Rivero

Founders of creative talks night Unknown Errors

Our highlight would be a collab between SQIFF and Excuse My Beauty that took place mid-July. We loved how it showcased emerging talent by combining a mix of short and long form media, as well as bringing community together by inviting local grassroots groups to share about themselves and the support they offer to the community. Especially now with services getting stripped back, it’s more important than ever to come together and provide for each other, and we felt like this event did that brilliantly.

@unknown_errors__

James Gilchrist

Director of design agency Warriors Studio

My creative win for this year is seeing design being pushed in extreme and polarising directions while coexisting.

There is a strong movement in contemporary visual culture away from clean, efficient, functionally-inspired aesthetics. It’s becoming more common to see organic, grotesque, chaotic aesthetics bleeding into the mainstream. This offers opposition to commercial functional design which relies on clarity, speed and efficiency.

Alongside this, we’re simultaneously seeing a surge in hyper industrial, minimal, functionallyfocused aesthetics and objects – particularly in the domestic space.

I think these aesthetically and theoretically opposing forces coexisting and gaining popularity side by side is fascinating and makes the world a richer place to be.

warriorsstudio.com

“Seeing people hold, wear, and make real-life connections with my work”

Jamie Johnston

Words: Phoebe Willison

Agnes Xantippa Boman

Illustrator

A big design highlight for me in 2025 was joining the Inkygoodness Bootcamp. It’s an online illustration programme, for creative development and industry insight. I went into it looking for motivation and structure, and came out of it with a refreshed sense of direction and a community of artists who genuinely inspired me!

@agnesxan

Thea Bryant

Designer and Illustrator

My creative highlight was when a stranger walked past me in the street wearing a T-shirt I designed!

@__bythea

Jonny Mowat

Designer and Filmmaker

My highlight has got to be writing and directing my short film Behold, This Dreamer Cometh. I’ve taken a break from design to complete a Masters in filmmaking, and this film felt like a culmination of both my filmmaking learnings and my design sensibilities, and it was really fulfilling to apply a visual approach built up over years working in design, to this new and novel medium that tickles my brain. OLD WORLD – NEW WORLD – SYNERGY jonnymowat.co.uk @jmowatstuff

Magda Michalak

Illustrator

Funnily enough, I think it was letting myself stop doing almost all commercial projects for a while and giving myself time to figure out which direction I truly wanted to take in art and illustration. I opened myself to a new, more artistic path – I started doing life drawing and focusing on painting and writing in my studio instead of digital art. My old style and idea of what kind of illustrator I wanted to be totally flipped. Well, I can’t wait to see where this leads me!

@magda__michalak

Jamie Johnston

Designer

My creative highlight has been continuing my work in magazine, merchandise, and album design. Seeing people hold, wear, and make real-life connections with my work feels more important than ever in an increasingly digital world. @byjamiej

Agnes Xantippa Boman for Inkygoodness Bootcamp

Thea Bryant

Jonny Mowat on set

Ophelia Davis & Yexabel Rivero

Films of 2025

The Skinny’s film writers have put their heads together to choose their ten best films of the year. From a deeply sexy vampire flick to a low-energy heist movie via tales of trauma, reunion and resistance, 2025 was a great time to be a movie fan

10. It Was Just an Accident Dir. Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner follows the spiralling day of Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) as he, along with an accumulating band of participants, attempts to work out whether the man he has impulsively kidnapped is the same man who tortured them while they were political prisoners. The focus on Panahi’s long-running legal persecution at the hands of the Iranian government, while an essential backdrop to his work, can often overshadow what a remarkable filmmaker he is, and he’s at the peak of his powers here with a film that’s at once devastating and farcical while never losing its constant throb of sickening tension; there aren’t many filmmakers alive who can channel defiance and searing rage with such grace. [Joe Creely]

Released in cinemas 5 Dec by MUBI

9. The Brutalist

Dir. Brady Corbet

With the exception of One Battle After Another, no film released in UK cinemas this year has felt as big as The Brutalist (sorry, Tom Cruise). It’s not just because both Paul Thomas Anderson and Corbet’s movies were shot using VistaVision, making them two of the first productions to use the high-resolution film format since the 1960s (Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia joined the VistaVision bandwagon too). But Corbet’s immigrant epic is also giant in structure, including its onscreen architectural structures – a thorny rumination on desperately navigating existence and fulfilment when facing foundations built on poisoned soil, and the seemingly inescapable corruption and destruction that results. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Released by Universal; streaming on Now TV

8. Hard Truths

Dir. Mike Leigh

Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an astonishing performance in Mike Leigh’s compelling tragicomedy, Hard Truths. The title might imply the almost cathartic release that comes with a difficult individual being presented with a mirror to highlight their poor behaviour. Here, there is no such release. Instead, we’re constantly confronted with the challenges faced by the spikey Pansy (Baptiste) – who’s struggling in the grips of grief and depression – and those around her. It’s a compassionate portrait of a British-Caribbean family centred around Pansy and her charismatic sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin), that peels back façades to mine the complexities and contradictions that power us all. [Ben Nicholson]

Released by StudioCanal; streaming on Netflix

7. Sentimental Value

Dir. Joachim Trier

Renate Reinsve reunites with her The Worst Person in the World director, Joachim Trier, in this gentle family saga that sees cinema as a soulbaring olive branch. She plays actress Nora, who baulks at the offer from her filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgård) to star in his next movie due to his long absence from her and her sister’s lives. Sentimental Value is crushing in its slow accumulation of small exchanges, where the fractures of a family rupture like fault lines, and calcified hearts open up to the possibility of connection. Trier posits that art has the illuminating power to communicate what words alone cannot say.

[Iana Murray]

Released in cinemas 26 Dec by MUBI

6. The Mastermind

Dir. Kelly Reichardt

A heist movie played at half-speed, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind is a quiet delight. It carefully reconstructs a more tactile, pre-digital world where out of sight meant out of mind, and robbing an art gallery just meant shoving stuff into pillowcases and legging it past the security guards. It doesn’t take a man as clever as JB (Josh O’Connor) thinks he is to pull off that kind of crime, which makes his failure both funnier and sadder. Deeply cynical but never outright mean, The Mastermind is a deftly painted portrait of a far too recognisable type of would-be genius.

[Ross McIndoe]

Released by MUBI; streaming on MUBI from 12 Dec

5. Nickel Boys

Dir. RaMell Ross

RaMell Ross uses first-person perspectives and a collage, quasi-documentary approach in adapting Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel to create an exquisite picture of abandoned youths. Nickel Boys mixes the minutiae, monotonies and petty horrors of Nickel Academy with things more symbolic and strange through Elwood’s and Turner’s eyes, making sense of their experiences through a bitterly real history, the legacy of which remains unaccounted. Even when Ethan Herisse (Elwood) and Brandon Wilson (Turner) are seen almost solely through the other’s eyes, their terrific performances meld seamlessly into the camera’s gestures, putting the audience directly into their hopes, dreams, and secrets. The result is spellbinding. [Carmen Paddock]

Released by Curzon; streaming on Prime Video

Hard Truths

The Mastermind

The Brutalist

Sentimental Value

It Was Just an Accident

Nickel Boys

4. Sorry, Baby

Dir. Eva Victor

An unwavering portrayal of the aftermath of sexual assault, Eva Victor’s debut follows a college professor (played by Victor) who renegotiates the ‘bad thing’ that happened to her. Even at its most funny and affecting, Victor’s film retains a generous dose of candour. Where Luca Guadagnino’s verbose approach to the same topic in After the Hunt falls short, Sorry, Baby finds justice and levity in the everyday, and love in those who stay around after everyone else has left. It’s a frank, often funny and fundamentally hopeful first feature, putting Victor on the map of filmmakers with a fresh perspective on the highs and lows of existence. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Released by Picturehouse; streaming on MUBI

3. Die My Love Dir. Lynne Ramsay

Both child and discord are birthed in Die My Love’s glorious defacement of motherhood. Jennifer Lawrence plays Grace, a young mother in thrashing and erratic psychosis, charging a domestic mutiny and a disturbing shakedown of the self. Think Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World or George Galloway on Big Brother as Grace crawls through high grass with the predatory poise of a big cat. Thrillingly, this is J-Law getting to be properly weird for the first time; past stoic and charming heroines be damned. Lawrence retools and sets fire to her signature winning moxie, with a careening wheel turn towards the stormy, the stimming, and a Rowlands-Cassavetes-like bathos.

[Lucy Fitzgerald]

Released by MUBI; currently in cinemas

2. Sinners

Dir. Ryan Coogler

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every films of the year list should – ideally! –include a scene where someone spits in someone else’s mouth. Lucky for us, then, that Ryan Coogler gave us Sinners this year, his insanely sexy and exhilarating take on the Southern Gothic vampire tradition, in which twin brothers (Michael B Jordan and…Michael B Jordon) attempt to set up a speakeasy on the outskirts of a Jim Crowsegregated town. There’s blood and guts galore, but also unspeakably moving mediations on the historic power of Black music and the intoxicating pull of freedom, whatever the cost. Twilight could never. [Anahit Behrooz]

Released by Warner Bros; available on VOD

1.  One Battle After Another

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is his most mainstream-friendly film, but he doesn’t sacrifice any of the eccentricity, audacity, complexity or capacity for surprise that has distinguished his prior work. Anderson immediately hooks us into the film’s unusual, undulating rhythms, and there are long stretches of filmmaking here that are simply astounding in both their ambition and execution. From a revitalised Sean Penn to the captivating newcomer Chase Infiniti, every performance is impeccable. One Battle After Another feels exhilaratingly alive, and like most of Anderson’s films, it only gets richer and more rewarding with each subsequent viewing. An instant classic. [Philip Concannon]

Released by Warner Bros; currently in cinemas

Head to theskinny.co.uk/film in Dec to read our writers’ individual top tens

Sorry, Baby

Die My Love Sinners One Battle After Another

2025’s Underrated, Overlooked and Unloved Movies

These are the films of 2025 that flew under the radar, didn’t receive the critical love they deserved, failed to find a substantial audience in cinemas or were simply buried on a streaming site

Afternoons of Solitude

Dir. Albert Serra

Documenting the rituals and routines of matador Andres Roca Rey, from his fawning entourage to the high camp savagery of his work, Albert Serra’s latest is unlike anything else this year. While Afternoons of Solitude has provoked discomfort in its brutality and its reticence to overtly comment on its subject, as a sensuous examination of masculinity and death, it’s utterly electrifying. [Joe Creely]

Released by ICA

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Dir. James Griffiths

Tim Key and Tom Basden bounce off each other perfectly in this wholesome (b)romance set on a fictional Welsh island and inspired by their 2007 short. Elevated by the duo’s delightful banter and Basden’s original songs, the film sees a folk duo’s reunion gig turn into a reflection on nostalgia, art and love, with Carey Mulligan joining to hit the high notes. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Released by Universal; available to rent on VOD

Caught Stealing

Dir. Darren Aronofsky

Anyone going into Darren Aronofsky’s latest in search of psychological melodrama will be disappointed; Caught Stealing’s pleasures are more visceral. A violent, darkly comic thriller set in the New York underworld, there’s something oddly satisfying about watching Austin Butler’s prettyboy bartender get beaten to a pulp for most of the runtime. [Nathaniel Ashley]

Released by Sony; available to rent on VOD

The Colors Within

Dir. Naoko Yamada

In this delightful anime, high schooler Totsuko possesses a synaesthesia that allows her to see people as colours. Her condition draws her into the orbit of fellow misfits Kimi and Rui, and

when they start a band, the film takes flight. Rarely has the act of songwriting and creativity been so excitingly depicted – and the songs are straight-up bangers. [Tony Inglis]

Released by Anime Ltd

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Dir. Christian Gudegast

It’s been a rewarding year for Gerard Butler, with the Scotsman revisiting his two most celebrated projects from the past decade: How to Train Your Dragon and cops-and-robbers thriller Den of Thieves. This sequel to the latter is another Michael Mann-flavoured heist flick, relocating from LA to the French Riviera for a diamond job driven by process and bullish personalities. [Rory Doherty]

Available to stream on Prime Video

Final Destination: Bloodlines

Dir. Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein

How glorious to see a sequel reboot whose only concessions to nostalgia are one poignant cameo and the reappearance of certain lethal logs? Otherwise, the sixth Final Destination film is not interested in anything except the most creative, blood-soaked kills, setting up each trip down Death’s list with delicious malice. [Carmen Paddock]

Released by Warner Bros; available to rent on VOD

Here

Dir. Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis’s investigation of family and place, reuniting him with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, moved back and forth through millions of years while keeping the camera locked in a single location. If you can accept its contrived superstructure, however, Here is an astonishingly moving contemplation of historical and spiritual concerns, playing like a raw B-side to the pop grandiosity of Forrest Gump. [Ian Mantgani]

Released by Curzon; available to stream on Prime Video

Highest 2 Lowest

Dir. Spike Lee

Cinema audiences were short-changed when this cracking thriller was dumped onto streaming. Lee’s typically idiosyncratic Kurosawa remake takes a while to ignite, but everything from the train switcheroo onwards is tremendously involving. Denzel Washington is unsurprisingly mesmerising as the beleaguered mogul, and A$AP Rocky holds his own in the film’s superbly staged climactic face-off. [Philip Concannon]

Released by Apple; available to stream on Apple TV Islands

Dir. Jan-Ole Gerster

Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands brings us Sam Riley on top form as a washed-up tennis coach embroiled in a missing persons case. What begins akin to a Highsmith-style mystery unfolds in a more understated fashion, which might be why it flew somewhat under the radar. Nevertheless, it’s well worth seeking out. [Louis Cammell]

Released by BFI; available to stream on BFI Player

The Threesome

Dir. Chad Hartigan

“A guy goes home with two women and ends up getting both of them pregnant” might sound like the tagline to a sub-par rom-com from the early 2000s, but Chad Hartigan’s film takes that premise and turns it into something infinitely smarter, savvier and funnier than you’re expecting. [Ross McIndoe]

Available to stream on Prime Video

To discover more of our writers’ underrated films of 2025, head to theskinny.co.uk/film

Caught Stealing

The Ballad of Wallis Island

2025’s Funniest

Our writers pick their funniest things of the year

If the funniest thing of the year is supposed to be the show stuffed with the most one-liners or with a zany, high octane energy, I may have woefully missed the brief. Even if the consensus is that it should be a show promising at least one joke, then there is an argument that Mark Silcox’s Gold Trader still falls short.

But no show has felt more excitingly authentic to whatever singular vision the performer was aiming for: toe curling awkwardness, incoherent mumbling and steadfast confidence in the face of staggering bemusement. [Cameron Wright]

It’s hard to pick between moments like Celia Imrie farting on Celebrity Traitors or Fringe highlights like Rob Duncan’s tech turning against him (Printer of the Year), or Cam Poter’s clowning masterclass (Just to be Close to You), so I won’t. Mostly because my friends are way funnier than any of them; from one working on a new walk to avoid getting static shocks from the taps at his work, to another barrel rolling into the sea in Barcelona after Primavera at 7am, they are the best! [Tallah Brash]

Luke McQueen’s audacious bonfire of the vanities, Comedian’s Comedian, was the top live show for me. On screen, Such Brave Girls (BBC3) was savagely brilliant – ruthless in its satire on feminine wiles, and South Park, meanwhile, doubled down on the seepage between the banality of internet culture and the banal evil of Trump and his crew. And then two very funny books: Nicola Barker’s TonyInterruptor – an antic exploration of art and authenticity that makes for compulsive reading, and Richard Ayoade’s The Unfinished Harauld Hughes: his ‘auteur-biography’ which is an absolute joy. [Emma Sullivan]

Sam Campbell combines genuine unpredictability with a frankly inexplicable mainstream appeal; people *love* this weird wee guy. His material is great, he’s very engaging, but it’s his Andy Kaufman-esque moments of confrontational oddness that stay with you. The ‘I’ve abandoned my show, now what’s gonna happen’ conceit is one thing; paying that off by getting a full haircut with 40 people watching, staring them all down via the barber’s mirror, is another, and exactly how he ended Joke Experts, his three-hander with Rose Matafeo and Paul Williams at the end of August. Like Kaufman, he’s a man born to annoy, but forced to entertain. [Peter Simpson]

Maybe it’s because I’m in my thirties now, or perhaps because the ‘here-lies-my-trauma-peppered-amongst-some-shite-puns’ brand of comedy feels, frankly, exhausted, but the comedy I’ve enjoyed the most this year has come from

middle-aged women who have simply stopped giving a fuck. It’s refreshing, it’s often shouty, it’s the right amount of self-deprecating and self-aggrandising and it is, most importantly, really funny.

Desiree Burch’s hour at the Fringe this year – The Golden Wrath – in which she laid bare the horrifying symptoms of the perimenopause kicked things off for me, and it culminated just a few weeks ago at The Stand’s Bona Fide where Loretta Maine (Showstopper’s Pippa Evans) sang about how equally crap and delightful having a kid can be. If we’re forced to exist (and break down) in a patriarchy, thank Lord(e) there are funny women compelled to write and perform about it.

[Sarah Hopkins]

It was an absolutely vintage Fringe year for John Tothill. His show This Must Be Heaven (touring in 2026) was life-affirming and all the usual Fringe bait but more importantly, deliriously funny and told the story of Victorian oyster fiend Edward Dando in a way that no Wikipedia page could ever live up to. I will happily pay to see

Tothill perform a Fringe show every year until one of us dies.

Also, do yourself a favour and Google ‘trombone covers of popular songs pt 1 – Jet 2 holiday’ [Laurie Presswood]

Reshma Meister had me in complete stitches at Piggy Time in the Fringe. Her grinch-fingered, sellotape-faced League of Gentlemen-esque character ‘The Guy at That Party’ is a phenomenally odd creation and I can’t wait for her to do something longer-form with him. It totally captured what the Fringe is all about and I’m pleased to say ‘I best be doing my rounds’ has wormed its way into my lexicon.

A worthy runner-up is Ed Night. Thanks to his Comedy Award nom, he had the (anti) pleasure of performing five minutes to a room of yawning pensioners (and me) for Radio 4 in the final throes of the festival. Within seconds he accused them of knowing him from work (his occupation, dark as you like). Watching their outrage cascade from row to row was intoxicating. [Polly Glynn]

John Tothill

Photo:

Photograph by Matt Crockett. Design by Rebecca Pitt.

Illustration: Agnes Xantippa Boman

Flagging It

It’s near impossible to look back on the last 12 months without catching sight of a flag or two. We unpack how flags have risen in the political consciousness, and question the multiplicity in meaning they hold

In 2025, red, white and blue have claimed numerous lampposts and street signs. The cheap polyester flags sink in the rain, clinging all the more tightly to their makeshift masts. The flags remain for weeks, months; soon, their presence is accepted as not simply commonplace, but also somewhat permanent.

This summer – cloudy and impatient –brought with it another round of far-right riots. The Union Jack, unsurprisingly, flew high amid the violence. In September, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the nation that he’s a “supporter of flags”. He even has an England flag pinned up in his home, he told us. We were expected to accept this as a symptom of unity and hope; we weren’t fooled. Our Labour government has insisted on digging its racist heels into the ground to make the lives of migrants all the more difficult: with current asylum reform proposals including an end to ‘Right to family’ claims and the removal of high value items from asylum seekers, it’s clear that not all are welcome. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll in October 2025 found that 27% would vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in an upcoming general election. Amid this hostility, the flags remain.

‘We understand flags as universal; this year, I’ve learned that flags are anything but. Place to place, person to person, their meaning shapeshifts’

Few of us are accustomed to thinking about flags this often. In school, some kid always had a thing for flags (and that kid was never me). They knew all the countries, all the colours. “Test me, test me,” they’d say, thrusting a world map into disinterested faces. Nowadays, we think about flags often – sometimes, without realising it. Such is particularly true for people of colour. Sometime in October, an early Friday afternoon calls for post-work drinks at the local pub. We enter and I see only white and red – think of England and its flag – and panic, a little. But, no need: the red and white is simply taped across a low ceiling. It is a safety measure, rather than a warning signal. The pub is too crowded, we leave and I’m surprised to find myself relieved. I’m less surprised to find that my white friends weren’t seized by the same discomfort upon entering. We understand flags as universal; this year, I’ve learned that flags are

anything but. Place to place, person to person, their meaning shapeshifts.

My early teen years played out against the backdrop of Scotland’s 2014 Independence Referendum. Much of the campaign was steeped in Scottish exceptionalism; however, there was a genuine collective agreement that Scotland wanted to be a country that welcomed anyone. It felt hopeful and, as a young person of colour grappling with my racial identity, I understood that I was allowed to share in that hope. Today, as our Saltire too-often joins the Union Jack on streets across the country, I’m less sure what it symbolises and what it wants to symbolise.

Then, in autumn, a new flag arrives. Palestine-Saltires appear around Glasgow and Edinburgh, claiming a particularly strong presence within Glasgow’s Southside. One half of the flag holds the blue and white of Scotland’s Saltire; the other half holds Palestine’s red, black, green and white. In the weeks since their mounting, they’ve become well-documented on blurred and wellzoomed Instagram stories. As the flag’s presence has grown, its absence has become increasingly noticeable. Walking down a street in the Southside, it takes some time for me to realise what has changed, what has shifted: the Palestine-Saltires I’d become accustomed to had been removed. It isn’t clear why or by who, but it isn’t difficult to guess.

And so, I’ve sought flags, as much as I’ve avoided them. Palestine flags, trans rights flags, pride flags – they signal solidarity and, often,

Words: Eilidh Akilade

safety. It is an odd state of affairs: to reject a form so adamantly and then, also, hope for it. Such is partly because not all flags hold the same purpose: while some aim to intimidate and ostracise, others aim to welcome and celebrate.

In December 2020, Katie Goh, then Intersections Editor, penned an article reflecting on how statues had become “ideological battlegrounds” that year. Five years later, I find myself returning to it and thinking of flags. “It’s been some long-overdue, national soul-searching; but hopefully this look to the past will lead to a better future,” wrote Goh. Nowadays, calls to reflect on historic violence are largely drowned out by current violence. And so, 2025 doesn’t seem all that better than 2020. But, still, we hope for better – and we pin a flag to our coat while doing so.

In 2020, our conceptions of communal space shifted dramatically due to COVID regulations (and the inequalities they revealed) coupled with global Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd. As Goh notes, statues cannot be the “final goal”; nor do we aim to win a nation-wide flag pitching competition. Rather, there must be safe and open access to asylum in the UK; there must be access to trans healthcare; there must be an end to the genocide in Palestine and our government must take accountability for their complicity in the violence. And so, in such times, now is paradoxically not the time to surrender our flags. With flags, we map streets of solidarity. No symbol will save us but in holding onto some, we’re holding onto each other.

Photo: William Gibson

TICKETS

Shared Wonderlands

With Gallus in Weegieland, panto veterans Johnny McKnight and Sally Reid reflect on the Tron’s tradition of self-aware pantomime –and how a certain scrappy joy remains at the heart of it all

Johnny McKnight’s latest panto, Gallus in Weegieland, is one of several Christmas shows across Scotland proclaiming the festival season open with a return to basics. In many ways, the craft of writing a pantomime – usually based on traditional children’s stories, otherwise stories most know – entails such a return.

We sit down with McKnight and the director of Gallus, Sally Reid, to discuss everything from Scottish panto, the politics of representation and self-referentiality in modern-day pantomime, the Tron Theatre, and their experiences with the medium. Naturally, this included the topic of source material, since McKnight has done everything from Babes in the Wood – i.e., Weans in the Wood, currently playing at the Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling – to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Gallus also indicates a kind of return for McKnight, who has described the production currently gracing the Tron Theatre’s auditorium as a “reworking” of his 2017 text to feature new cultural references – e.g. Ozempic intake – and in doing so, brings the whole experience up-to-date. Indeed, Gallus is a revival, but feels completely new: in McKnight’s words, “comedy ages like vinegar” and warrants updating where possible.

It was while studying performance, live art, and devising in Glasgow that McKnight realised what he calls the “subversive” potential of panto. The Tron pantos under Forbes Masson, one of the associate artists at the Royal Shakespeare Company who began his career at the Tron, exemplify some of the most self-conscious, socially savvy offerings in recent memory, which Reid recalls. She remembers starring in Masson’s 2005 hit Weans in the Wood, in which she had to perform a wordy political patter song. These pantos were “anarchy” and “just bizarre, but in a brilliant way,” Reid tells me; if these were to be put on anywhere, they would be staged at the Tron, which has typically differed in its offerings from the commercial panto in Scotland.

The Tron’s uniqueness as a venue partially boils down to its self-subsidised status, and how this bears on the contents and concerns of its programming – but especially productions with a unique tendency to the self-aware. In the case of panto, as McKnight explains, the characters could poke fun at the budget limitations apparent in the show’s scenic design, or the absence of a specific set-piece required by a story (the storm in The Wizard of Oz, for example), again because of budget. The selfawareness of panto can be used to draw attention to politics – hence the importance of keeping up-todate, or revitalising a production like Gallus to tackle current affairs. In this way, the Tron, maybe more than its commercial counterparts, exhibits a strong history of the progressive subversion which McKnight says first drew him to the medium.

In Gallus, we find a non-traditional panto with explicit emphases on inclusivity, acceptance, and being yourself: “a madcap journey,” says Reid,

Words: Aidan Monks

‘Given the present crises of inclusivity and freedom of expression, we can locate the nerve-endings of political outcry within Gallus’s fantasia’

into a fantasy wonderland through which our protagonist, Alice, will end up becoming herself. It is probably unsurprising that a panto with McKnight’s typical mishmash of ironic cultural allusions and emotional sincerity, coupled with a “bold and big” (Reid’s words) social ethos about inclusivity, has been met with such an enthusiastic audience and critical response. Given the present crises of inclusivity and freedom of expression, we can locate the nerve-endings of political outcry within Gallus’s fantasia, indeed the tracery of the Tron’s progressive heritage.

It’s true enough that what you see on stage does make a difference, and the theme of inclusivity in Gallus also finds its incarnation in a dynamic cast, including the inimitable Louise McCarthy who fills McKnight’s shoes as the Queen of Hearts. Importantly, McCarthy – who also starred in Aganeza Scrooge under Reid’s direction – takes on the panto dame this time around, thus opening up an exclusive sphere. Since McKnight started working in panto, the field has certainly become more progressive, which he remembers as being largely homophobic and sexist back then – but opportunities for women to play the dame are still slim today. One look at McCarthy in this role will have you asking why.

It’s interesting how different McKnight and Reid’s introductions to panto were. McKnight recalls seeing his first panto in Ayr and being

terrified by the ugly step sisters; he didn’t catch another until he’d turned 20. Reid, conversely, remembers seeing pantos in Perth as a child and thinking, “They’re talking to us. They’re talking to me” – meaning, they were about things and people she recognised. She even describes these pantos as a “turning point” for her, and possibly one of the reasons she pursued theatre-making. But both ended up entrenched in the Scottish panto scene, and the Tron panto in particular. Their stories are a testament to the myriad ways panto as a medium reaches people – and the different age groups it can appeal to, whether that’s a child entranced by the essential themes of good versus bad (good wins), or an adult audience member enticed by a panto’s political messaging. Or maybe, as McKnight says, it is the capacity for a panto – when it’s really working – to help “folk forget the world is outside, to forget it’s raining,” that accounts for its enduring popularity. There’s something undeniably true about the fact panto attracts so many different types of people, of different ages, walks, and backgrounds, and the Tron’s latest is absolutely no exception – an irresistible rabbit hole for anyone and everyone, we’re all of us invited.

Gallus in Weegieland is playing at the Tron Theatre until 4 Jan tron.co.uk

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Spotlight On... Vagrant Real Estate

Aberdonian producer Vagrant Real Estate may have just released the most Scottish record of 2025 – we catch up with the man behind the moniker, Nick Cronin, to find out more

Dropping on St Andrew’s Day, Neither Collar Nor Crown features an incredible 25 Scottish artists – from established rappers like Bemz, Chef the Rapper and PAQUE, to pioneers of Scottish hip-hop such as Madhat McGore and Mog, and the distinct voices of trad singer Iona Fyfe and alt-pop talents Florence Jack and Katherine Aly. To understand how it all came together, we speak to Nick Cronin, aka Vagrant Real Estate, about the ideas, inspiration and identity shaping the album.

“As a producer, one of my favourite things is to create a canvas for people to voice whatever they want to talk about”

Nick Cronin, aka Vagrant Real Estate

The record responds to outside perceptions of Scotland, turning them on their head with your own celebration of Scottish identity. What sparked that idea?

It was an internal thing. A lot of the initial reactions I get are like, ‘Oh, Scotland’s rubbish, nothing happens up there, and it’s cold’ – especially being from Aberdeen! But I think that’s not necessarily the case. If you take the time to explore some of the creative fields across the country, there’s a lot to be proud of. [Neither Collar Nor Crown] is a hip-hop album, but I wanted to push that boundary and encapsulate all of this poetry and folk music that we have a rich history of.

You sample a lot of traditional Scottish folk and Gaelic music across the album – what inspired that?

At the very start of the project, when I was just picking up vinyl records and digging through YouTube, it became a bit of an exploration for me. It’s music that you don’t necessarily hear that much unless you’re looking for it. There would be certain bits that would kind of catch my ear, or elements that I would be like. ‘Okay, how can I kind of rework this to fit into the modern landscape?’ I think there’s a lot of really excellent vocal tones in the choir and harmony pieces – they stood out to me, and I wanted to develop them further with modern musicians.

What themes run through the record for you?

It’d be very easy to have this album entirely marketed as like Scottish rap, but I’ve tried to have it

where there’s universal themes – you don’t necessarily need to be from the country to come away from it with something. The main feature is Jackill, who’s also from Aberdeen. And I think throughout all of his writing there is a running theme of community perseverance and self-belief. That was something that came up a lot in the features.

How did you bring so many different features together for the album?

When I was reaching out to artists, I would give them an idea of what the album was about, and I would look for their personal experiences – what it means to them being from Scotland, or even being in Scotland. I left it fairly open because I didn’t want to corral them too much into writing what they thought I would want to hear – I wanted to see how they would approach it. As a producer, one of my favourite things is to create a canvas for people to voice whatever they want to talk about.

What did you take from working with such a wide range of talented artists?

Patience! I think just with the nature of the album, it was always going to take time to get over the line. With releasing this independently, I was afforded the time to get it where I wanted before putting it out. With Iona Fyfe, for example, I think it was like a year between initially reaching out and then getting the vocals, just because she tours so much. When she recorded her vocals, she was in her flat, recording them on like a Tuesday evening and had a 5AM flight to the States the

next morning. It was just the one moment we were able to get them done!

You’ve been part of the scene for a while now – what do you see for the future of Scottish rap? Any thoughts on Kai Reesu’s recent SAY Award win?

It’s continuing to go up and up, there’s been an explosion in different styles. People are getting more comfortable with the identity within hip-hop – but that’s something that is just going to take time. In the next few years, there will be somebody who breaks through on a much, much larger scale. It’s great to see hip-hop continue to be recognised [by The SAY Award], and will hopefully spur on more of the next generation to explore the history and pedigree of MCs, DJs, producers and the like that we have here. Ultimately, I hope it continues to develop the legitimacy of the local accent, as has happened south of the border.

What do the next few months hold for you?

There’s a couple of music videos that we’re currently sorting out that’ll be getting dropped at some point and then I’ve got another project that’s pretty much ready to go – I’m waiting on a couple of last features with an MC that’s down in England. That’ll be releasing in the first quarter of next year.

Neither Collar Nor Crown is out now instagram.com/vagrantproducer vagrantrealestate.com

Words: Calum Skuodas

Photo: Rob Thain

COMEDY GALA

Political Highlights

In Edinburgh, solo exhibitions by Felicity Hammond and Jamie Cooper highlight political points with vivid colour

Colour is often seen as one formal detail in an artwork. Felicity Hammond and Jamie Cooper seem to question this logic. More than attractive elements, appealing to the eye and uniting a composition, these artists embrace bold colour choices to root their artworks in specific sociopolitical contexts, immersing viewers in the complexities of their critical points of view.  Hammond is concerned with the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI). Throughout her artistic practice, she maps how digital media is made, connecting screen-based images to realworld sources; the elements and minerals, the industrial players and faceless labourers who underpin the production of technological systems. Hammond’s exhibition V4: Repository at Stills builds on a series of research exhibitions held across the UK, in Brighton (2024), Derby and London (2025), each exploring how digital images morph and malform in relation to the physical world. At Stills, the data gathered through this series has been artistically deposited to create a surreal stage set. Recalling a factory, or dystopian IKEA, this set-up aims to haunt machine learning systems and the way digital images are made by connecting these technological processes with the ecological impact of industrial mining.

Hammond’s orange is a shade of Arizona, highly saturated and noxious. The colour appears throughout V4: Repository, on the installation’s cage-like architecture as well as in the photographic prints affixed to this. Evocative of the desert spaces where mines are often found, this orange also recalls the paint colour used to protect industrial machinery from the corrosion caused by processes of geological extraction. Further, for Hammond, the lucidity of this colour resembles the acidic byproduct of industrial mining, runoff, a toxin which transforms whole ecosystems into wastelands. Applied to Hammond’s exhibition scenography, this orange highlights how the extraction of ecological

materials, such as lithium, silicon and other elements essential to the manufacture of computers, is coeval with the production of digital images; we cannot have a digital world without the wrecking of our own.

The green-screengreen walls in V4: Repository work in a similar manner, pointing to both the natural world and how images are made through CGI technologies. Alongside this structural use, Hammond’s green features in the photographic prints that punctuate the installation. Used in the backgrounds, in the floors and frames of these ambiguous scenes, this green appears as a mist, out of which labouring figures creep. A direct reference to the pixel, grids recur throughout these compositions making each image look like a photo held in a state of loading, a green state, somewhere in between pre- and post-production. For Hammond, this state of flux is precarious, an allusion to the way digital data malforms as it migrates across different storage systems, further connecting digital and physical worlds.

Words: Toby Üpson

“The artists embrace bold colour choices to root their artworks in specific sociopolitical contexts”

From orange to green to pink. Jamie Cooper’s solo exhibition at Fruitmarket, LEVELLING UP, is set to be another occasion where bold colour is used indicatively. Cooper often creates kitschlooking sculptures that recall brand or public service provider logos (the kind of illuminated signs found in shopping centres). Alongside newly produced audio and moving image artworks, LEVELLING UP will feature a number of these ‘characters’, as Cooper calls his branded sculptures, all situated within a space floodlit dewy pink.

The exhibition’s title is a direct, satirical reference to the Conservative Party’s 2019 Levelling Up policy, which was aimed at spreading opportunity more equally across the UK by increasing public spending in workingclass, ‘left-behind towns’. It was ultimately a non-starter. As with

his previous artworks, such as Nomnom (2021), which transformed the aesthetics of retail into an icon of liberation, for this exhibition Cooper will create a number of sculptures, as well as audiovisual artworks, which aim to subvert this Conservative rally cry; transforming the policy slogan into an assembly of disenfranchised figures, still waiting for the political promise that Johnson’s Government preached. Cooper will use pink light to flood Fruitmarket’s industrial Warehouse gallery, seemingly riffing on the way political rhetoric acts as an affective smoke screen; a tool to gain voters by appealing to emotions rather than the ability to deliver civic action.

Alongside the allusion to UK politics, the exhibition title alludes to video games to mark a user’s progress, new growth and power. In this way, Cooper accentuates the gamified nature of much contemporary politics, where characters emerge as gluttonous icons hunting for power through a pink cloud of their own creation.

Amongst a flood of other physical and theoretical details, colour operates across Hammond and Cooper’s artworks to highlight key political motivations, making the complexities of their critical points of view visceral and engaging.

Felicity Hammond, V4: Repository, Stills, until 7 Feb

Jamie Cooper, Levelling Up, 13 Dec-18 Jan

Felicity Hammond, V3 Model Collapse

Photo: Kate Elliott

Jamie Cooper, Cosmic Debt installation view. Glasgow Project Room, 2020

Photo: Patrick Jamieson

Rethinking Roots

We speak with Isle of Skye-based artist Shen Xin about the ecological and spiritual themes running through their work, currently on display at Collective

The Skinny: Presented at both Collective in Edinburgh and TINA in London, Bearing fruit of fondness (2025) uses the leaves of the cotoneaster plant, a so-called ‘invasive species’ that affects local habitats on the Isle of Skye, where you live and work. How do you use this particular plant to ground the film’s narrative and themes?

A plant inherently is a manifestation of stories, elemental stories of how it came to be, and elemental relations of how it arrived or departed from history and place. I spent a long time just listening and sensing these stories of cotoneasters, free of hierarchies of ways in knowing, for its abundance is part of the everyday path at home, the change of seasons, and effecting the giving and taking of life for many beings that the plant touches. I do not intend to have a relationship with cotoneaster based on any particular one of its stories, whether how it was brought to the UK in the 19th century as an ornamental plant from Eastern Asia, its medicinal values in relating to the flow of air and blood across various traditions and practices, or how certain types of cotoneasters are considered ‘invasive’ due to the limestone landscape in Scotland.

I see a plant that is a manifestation of relationships coming together in different places and times, as if it’s involved in a magical display through time and space. It is from this perspective of insight, I worked with its abundance by

managing its growth at home, and used the leaves of cut plants to make developers for the images of life lived while uniting with a sense of belonging that is unhurt. It’s unhurt because, just like the plant, the capacity to belong in every one of us is abundant. I think it’s important to be able to really see my collaborators when we engage in working together, in this case the cotoneaster.

I am interested in the pace of narration in your film work, which takes the form of spoken poetry. You’ve also written and illustrated a short children’s story, The child of the mountain (རི་

ཕྲུག in Tibetan), which reflects on the overharvesting of caterpillar fungus in Tibet. You’ve described language as “a way of honouring relationships”, and have been learning Tibetan, Scottish Gaelic, and Arabic languages through your life and artistic practice. What is the relationship between visual and verbal forms in your work?

In the embodied practice through Buddhism, language used relatively bears awareness of the coming together of forms and signs, the phenomena of how the object of perception momentarily attaches itself to names, appearances and identities. So, language walks this path of awareness, that it can become a form of violence that has the capacity to harm. Language is a way to honour relationships, just like moving image is awareness in action.

Temples are inspirations for some of your other film works, including The Gay Critic (2015) and Strongholds (2016), which focuses on the

Words: Jelena Sofronijevic

“I see a plant that is a manifestation of relationships coming together in different places and times”

Shen Xin

Tibetan Buddhist temple in Scotland, the first and once largest in Europe. How have you related your interests in ritual and spirituality to the particular context of the Observatory on Calton Hall?

The kind of spirituality that I’m tuned into is one that allows a continuous erosion of understanding, that is uncompromising in its practice, and one that is embodied, namely Buddhism. The exhibition’s title, Highland Embassy, alludes to this process. I believe that it can be the practical and relative position of an embassy, one that is open to change through collaborations; in this case, the visitors and the place are its collaborators.

Your practice considers the intersections of ecological and ethnic identities; importantly, you refer to the land, not the nation state, of China. Often, environmental interest and activism begins from a position of altruism. How, from our own personal positions, can we explore wider environmental and ecological themes?

Thank you for the insight. I think that perspective, along with the question of personal positions, is precisely a view I’m trying to cultivate. As a lot of my teachers have said in different ways, true giving is without the giver, the gift, or the receiver. True giving is an action coming from being able to see the deepest ecological connections between all things,  the acceptance that oneself and another are never separate beings.

Many of your works explore indigenous identities and practices in different contexts. Unfortunately, a singular term of ‘Indigenous art’ remains present within our contemporary art, historical, and media landscapes. Could you describe the importance of comparative study, and plurality, in your work?

In being fixated to terms and discourses, as an effect, our collective agency might be held in suspense. The coming together of multitudes is often about acknowledging the capacity to host stories of others by others. It’s significant because I believe that it’s our inherent capacity to love the kindred. But this love requires skillfulness, diligence, compassion, patience, moderation, and many other forms of power. I feel that one’s artistic practice can be a good way to realise that too.

Shen Xin: Highland Embassy, Collective, Edinburgh, until 21 Dec

Shen Xin, Highland Embassy at Collective, Edinburgh

Photo: Eoin Carey

Mothers of Invention

As the Oram Awards’ oram/100 comes to Scotland to mark British composer Daphne Oram’s centenary, some of Scotland’s leading electronic artists reflect on her influence – and the persistent challenges in today’s electronic scene

If asked to consider the pioneering women of electronic music, your mind might wander to musical chameleon Björk or more recent additions like BBC 6 Music staples Kelly Lee Owens and Nia Archives. But a century ago a different name was laying the foundations of the genre. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Daphne Oram, a visionary whose techniques paved the way for many of the BBC’s most famous effects and themes.

Declining a place at the Royal College of Music, Oram joined the BBC in 1942 as a junior studio engineer, largely because the post was available while many men were away fighting the war. Regardless, she quickly made her mark, exploring new technologies like the tape recorder, splicing and looping, layering, and building complex electronic scores. These earlier audio adventures propelled Oram (alongside fellow co-founder Desmond Briscoe) to form The Radiophonic Workshop. The very same BBC sounds effects unit that Delia Derbyshire would go on to join in the 1960s, realising the iconic Doctor Who theme from songwriter Ron Grainer.

Oram’s inventive spirit continues to resonate with some of Scotland’s leading electronic musicians. Bell Lungs, the moniker of Scottish-Turkish artist Ceylan Hay, recalls a similarly playful approach to sound early on. “During my childhood, I mucked about with mixtapes and recording sounds, speeding them up and slowing them down.” Her

enthusiasm grew when she discovered artists closer to home, uncovering sounds in unconventional ways. “I got so excited reading about people like [Scottish musician] Janet Beat, who was exploring different ways of generating tones.”

Edinburgh-based composer and harpist Deborah Shaw, who performs as Aurora Engine, is equally inspired by found sounds in her practice, especially when evoking memories of a bygone era. “I’ll hear a sound, find it fascinating, and capture it. Sound can really create a world in a way that visuals or photographs can’t. I like that time-hopping element, bringing the past sound into live sets.” Shaw was already planning an Edinburgh event to mark Oram’s centenary when she discovered the Oram Awards – an initiative elevating women and gender non-conforming artists in sound through bursaries and mentorship – was staging events across the UK. But she quickly noticed a gap – “They didn’t have a Scotland date on the listings!”

The omission was more a matter of resource than resistance. “They’re living on funding bids, like the whole of the arts community is at the moment!” In response to low application numbers from women in Scotland and the North East, a partnership was born. Alternative Music Award and Youth Music nominee SLY DIG, the moniker of Jess Aslan, also joins the oram/100 event bill in Edinburgh. Aslan recalls her first encounter with

Words: Cheri Amour

“We don’t need that male gaze on what we’re doing. We’re just doing it anyway”

Ceylan Hay, aka Bell Lungs

the co-founder of the Radiophonic Workshop. “When I studied music at university, I focused on Oramics and later worked with the Oram Archives, shout out to James Bulley and Ian Stonehouse!”

Even with trailblazers like Oram in the 1940s and Delia Derbyshire in the 1960s, women remain underrepresented in electronic music. In 2022, Fix The Mix reported that women and non-binary people made up only 5% of recognised producers globally, and less than a third of electronic festival lineups. Many festivals and booking agents argue that there simply aren’t enough female artists out there available for festival bookings. Initiatives like female:pressure, a transnational database and network of women, gender nonconforming, and non-binary visual artists and composers, challenge that notion.

Closer to home, Hay has noticed a shift happening in Scotland’s scene over the last six years. “[Previously] I would go to gigs and if a woman came on stage with some effects pedals, she herself would say, ‘Oh, I’m just going to use these boys' toys.’ Now, there’s more ownership of space and empowerment within the women themselves. We don’t need that male gaze on what we’re doing. We’re just doing it anyway.”

In October of this year, another boost to Scotland’s experimental soundscapes opened its doors. Founded by artists Lewis and Suzi Cook, who also perform together as Free Love, Glasgow’s Library of Synthesized Sound (GLOSS) is the UK’s first non-profit, artist-led electronic music library, providing access to instruments, gear and education. For Aslan, spaces like this are crucial, particularly to encourage newcomers. “There’s a great electronic music scene in Glasgow. Monthly nights like Attack Release; if you’re interested in getting an introduction, they’re a good place to go.”

Just like their namesake, the Orams continue to champion artists experimenting outside established systems. But as the British composer herself faced, there are still a few barriers to break down a century on, as Shaw reflects. “The number of times I turn up at a gig with a harp and put it through loads of effects, and someone says, ‘Why bother with all of these? Just play the instrument.’ Would you say that to a guy with loads of guitars?”

oram/100 featuring Aurora Engine, Bell Lungs, SLY DIG and more takes place at St Vincent’s Chapel, Edinburgh, 13 Dec

More info at oramawards.com

SLY DIG

Photo: Deborah Mullen

Meet the New Producers

Every year, FilmHub Scotland selects four Scotland-based film programmers to be their New Producers, a scheme that teams early-career film producers with established film organisations for training and mentoring. We meet this year’s cohort

While doomscrolling the other day, a seemingly innocuous Instagram story threw me into a rage. “Who wants to move to Edinburgh and programme manage the film fest?” asked a prominent London film producer while sharing a story from the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s feed advertising for a Programme Manager. What vexed me, of course, was the implication that there was no one currently living within commuting distance of the Scottish capital who might be suitable for the position.

This thinking is, of course, poppycock. Scotland has one of the most exciting film scenes in the UK, and that’s thanks in no small part to the wit, knowledge and ingenuity of the homegrown programmers who put on inventive and forwardthinking film events up and down this fair country. One organisation that’s trying to bolster this scene’s talent pool even further is Film Hub Scotland with its New Producers programme, a paid training scheme for early-career film event producers to help them gain experience in programming, marketing, and delivering film screenings.

Four participants are chosen for the scheme every year. Each is paired up with an established film organisation, with whom they’ll work and train for several months, during which time they’ll contribute new film events for the organisation. With the year’s activities now nearing completion, we spoke to this current cohort to find out what got them interested in film programming, how this year’s New Producers activities went, and what they’ll take away from the scheme.

Michael Lee Richardson

Teamed with Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

Michael Lee Richardson’s career in film has been pretty varied thus far. “My CV is very millennial,” he says, “in that I’ve always been attempting to have at least three careers simultaneously.”

Those careers include as an award-winning screenwriter (he won a Scottish BAFTA in 2018 for his bruising short film, My Loneliness is Killing Me) and a programmer as part of the selection team at Glasgow Short Film Festival, so he’s coming into the New Programmer scheme with plenty of experience. But more substantial, long-term programming gigs had eluded him. “In honesty, I’d applied for a few jobs in film exhibition, and I think that slightly sporadic experience was what was holding me back, so I applied to New Producers to put all my experience in one place.”

Placed with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF), Richardson’s programme was a diverse lineup of screenings exploring conversations around art and mental health. His philosophy

of film seems to chime well with SMHAF’s ethos. “Film is a feelings business, and I’ve always believed in cinema as an empathy machine,” he says. “The theme of this year’s festival was ‘Comfort & Disturb’, so I was thinking about films that hold both of those feelings in the same breath, that invite us to sit with discomfort and discover something tender within it.”

His programme ranged from Jane Campion’s 1990 feature An Angel at My Table (screened from 35mm at GFT) to the new documentary A Want in Her, Myrid Carten’s searing exposé on her relationship with her alcoholic mother (screened at Filmhouse, followed by a Q&A with Carten). Looking back at his programme, Richardson can see a strong theme of family shining through: “They were all, in their own way, wrestling with what it means to belong, to love people who might hurt us, to define ourselves beyond the stories we’ve inherited and to find connection even in isolation.”

Richardson put together a pretty heavy lineup for SMHAF, but if he was given free rein to programme anything, he’d take a different tack.

“I’m a big fantasy film fan; I make a podcast with my partner, Once Upon a VHS, where we revisit 80s and 90s fantasy films, so I’d love to do some screenings of those films, stuff like Return to Oz and The Dark Crystal and The Witches of

Words: Jamie Dunn

Eastwick.” He even used his time on the New Producers scheme for a bit of a recce. “When I did my screening in Dundee, I got a tour of the projection room, and they had all the gear set up for a VHS screening they were doing as part of Dundead, which has really got my gears turning!”

Caireen Stuart

Teamed with Scottish Documentary Institute

“Film programming appeals to me because it brings communities together,” says 28-year-old Glasgow-based filmmaker, curator and sometime stained-glass designer Caireen Stuart. “It isn’t just about selecting films: you’re creating a space where audiences can explore ideas collectively and connect with each other.” Stuart applied to the New Producers scheme in 2024 but didn’t make that cut. She wasn’t deterred, though. “I received really helpful feedback from my interview and knew I wanted to put it to use and apply again if the opportunity arose. I saw it advertised in June of this year and was determined to secure a placement – and I did!”

Stuart was teamed with Scottish Documentary Institute, who put her to work developing Who We Are, a new season aimed squarely at younger audiences. She explains that a quote from French philosopher Simone Weil – “to

Caireen Stuart

Erin Brockovich screening at Mither Earth film festival in Ballater

be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul” – was on her mind when planning her programme. “I’m really interested in this idea of cultural roots – the stories, songs, traditions and languages that connect us to our communities,” Stuart explains. “I wanted not only to celebrate those ties, but also to explore what happens when our roots are severed, forgotten, or taken away, and how people find ways to reconnect, rebuild, or reimagine them.”

Her programme took the form of three special screenings at the Filmhouse in Edinburg in November, each with additional elements beyond the screening and with sliding-scale ticket prices applied. There was the animated doc Endless Cookie from Seth Scriver, which included an intro from Scriver; a programme of shorts titled Young Scots on Screen, which featured a Q&A with the filmmakers; and Augusto Zegarra’s doc Runa Sumi, which was followed by an indigenous language workshop. “[I wanted] to create meaningful conversations about intangible cultural heritage,” explains Stuart, “and to show that film is a powerful tool in keeping roots alive, of connecting the past and future. I wanted audiences to reflect on their own cultural identities, to recognise the value of preserving stories and traditions, and to see how film can spark dialogue across generations and communities.”

You’ll be seeing more screenings from Stuart in the near future. “I’m currently in the process of organising film events focused on the 1926 UK General Strike,” she reveals. “May 2026 marks the centenary of the Strike, and I think it’s an important opportunity to reflect on, reevaluate and commemorate this historic moment in UK workingclass history. Looking back at the Strike allows us to ask essential questions about how past struggles can inform our present challenges. How might this history empower people now?”

Archie Kershaw

Teamed with North East Arts Touring

Archie Kershaw hails from Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, but the 22-year-old’s current home is

in the North East, where he’s just graduated from a sociology degree at the University of Aberdeen. He says his passion for film was instilled in him by his parents (“my mum and dad brought me up on movies”) and the New Producers scheme allowed him to stay in the city and explore this passion fresh from uni. “The entry-level position was ideal as I have no prior experience in film, so [this opportunity] provided an immediate entry into the world of film exhibition.”

Kershaw was assigned to North East Arts Touring, an organisation that brings film screenings to communities across the North East of Scotland. His chief piece of curation was a mintfresh film festival called Mither Earth. The title takes inspiration from the Doric word for ‘mother’ – mither – combined with earth, reflecting both the festival’s local roots and its shared focus on the environment and sustainability.

Mither Earth Film Festival would be screening to rural communities, and Kershaw’s aim was to curate a programme that was as friendly to a casual film audience as possible. “I wanted to use popular Hollywood films with recognisable faces to draw audiences in,” he explains. “Movie stars matter to me, so I enjoyed displaying excellent actors in important films.” Stars don’t get much bigger or more iconic than Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) or Brad Pitt (Ad Astra), to name two films in the Mither Earth lineup. But the choice of these big names wasn’t just to put bums on seats, it was to put the festival’s message across to the biggest audience possible. “I have a passion for climate change (after spending summers previously planting trees), so using cinema to push the message, but subtly, was meaningful to me,” Kershaw explained.

He’d like to continue programming festivals around legendary actors: “I would love to do a festival around iconic male stars from the 60s and 70s like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, James Dean and Clint Eastwood. Possibly with an angle on men’s mental health and masculinity. Newman, McQueen, Dean and Eastwood were more than archetypes of toughness; they were portraits of vulnerability, independence, craftsmanship, and

moral struggle. Their films invite contemporary audiences to rethink what strength looks like – and to discover the humanity that has always lived beneath the surface of the ‘strong, silent’ man.” I’m sold!

Olivia Knight

Teamed with MacRobert Arts Centre

When 25-year-old English and film studies graduate Olivia Knight decided to make the leap into the film industry, she was met with a familiar story. “I had the ambition and heaps of enthusiasm, but was constantly being met with the response that I needed more hands-on experience,” she recalls. “Of course, it’s then that catch-22 of needing experience to get experience.”

When she heard about the New Producers scheme, it felt like a “perfect match”.

Knight reckons that from a young age she’s been using film as a way to open herself up to the world around her, and programming is just an extension of that. “Programming provides me a vehicle to share with other people, to offer up a piece of work and allow them to experience it for themselves.” The reaction she gets once the credits roll is one of her favourite parts of the process.

“What I’ve always loved about film is the debrief: the conversation afterwards, whether it’s split opinions or a shared admiration, I want to be a part of the journey that delivers films to the audience.”

She’s had plenty of chances to be part of this journey with the New Producers scheme.

MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling was her assigned venue, and her array of work there included designing events for MacRobert’s ongoing cinema activities as well as the opportunity to curate for the venue’s biggest film event, Central Scotland Documentary Festival. One of Knight’s contributions to the latter was a screening of Kim A Snyder’s documentary The Librarians in a pretty unique but apt location: Stirling’s indie bookshop cafe, The Book Nook. “I’d always liked the idea of hosting a screening in a cafe, and after visiting The Book Nook, I knew it was the perfect venue,” explains Knight. “Since it also doubles as a bookshop, I was inspired to find a title that worked with the space thematically, and it all fell into place when I came across Snyder’s film.”

Knight also dug into the archives for a programme to complement the University of Stirling’s exhibition Remembered: 80 years since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She came up with a double-bill of films made in the 1950s by filmmakers shaped by the atomic bomb (Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz’s March to Aldermaston and Norman McLare’s Oscar-winning anti-war short Neighbours), as well as a screening of Isao Takahata’s harrowing animation, Grave of the Fireflies. Elsewhere, she curated several films for MacRobert's contribution to BFI’s nationwide season Too Much: Melodrama on Film, the final element of which screens on 6 December. “I’ll be hosting an event titled Blondes vs. Brunettes: A Hollywood Debate, consisting of a double-bill of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Gilda, and a creative workshop for those who attend both screenings. The screenings aim to unpack the ‘blonde vs. brunette’ debate, reclaiming it as a celebration of women’s individual strengths.”

Archie Kershaw

Olivia Knight

A love letter to Optimo

For almost three decades, Optimo has reshaped lives and stomped its legacy into dancefloors. After the heartbreaking loss of Keith McIvor – one half of the duo – we hear why the culture they built can never truly die

You enter the club. A song about making sandwiches on the dancefloor blares through the speakers: you know you’re in the right place.

For the past 28 years, Glasgow DJ duo Optimo (Espacio) has been comprised of Jonnie Wilkes, aka JG Wilkes, and Keith McIvor, aka JD Twitch. When Keith sadly passed away in September, I thought Optimo might change or, worse, stop playing. But what’s become clear is that the spirit of Optimo culture hasn’t dimmed at all. Keith lives on through the fans and the music, as Jonnie so valiantly carries on the Optimo legacy.

In the four short years I’ve lived in Glasgow, I’ve learned that Optimo culture lives and breathes through its fans: people who show up, are always ready for a dance, and who really give themselves to the music. At Optimo’s Berkeley Suite residency, the crowd has always carried a mature energy, helped by the ‘no-phones’ policy or a feeling that the dancefloor isn’t overtly drug-focused. This may be because many Optimo fans are those in their 30s, 40s and 50s, who might be at The Berkeley Suite on the Saturday and looking after the kids on the Sunday. This amazing mishmash of age groups, all attending in the same spirit of ‘dressing to sweat’, is something that feels very rare, and also beautiful – it is a refreshing respite from the polarising oldie take that ‘raving isn’t what it was in the 90s’ (which I don’t think anyone has ever disagreed with).

Words: Arthur Richardson

There is always a respectful, interested and safe crowd at an Optimo gig, giving you the freedom to properly lose your limbs. This doesn’t seem to change wherever you attend a night, be that in Glasgow, Glastonbury, or even at their own festival, Watching Trees. It’s surely this crowd behind Watching Trees landing a Best Festival nomination, and Optimo’s haven The Berkeley Suite being shortlisted for Best Club in DJ Mag.

Optimo nights have also mastered the art of building a set, creating layers and call-backs between lyrics and melodies, while moving effortlessly between BPMs and genres. This might mean jumping from a percussion-heavy ESG track to an electro swinger like Plastique by Crème De Menthe, or a Baltimore club track like Bring in the

Katz by KW Griff, to a head-banger like Damaged Goods by Gang of Four, before finishing with a track like Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA or Hung Up by Madonna. The track selection is playful and experimental, making every set feel new and exhilarating. But Optimo also wraps you into a sentimental relationship with setlists, re-playing tracks that are known and almost ‘rehearsed’ by their fans. These are tracks like She Has a Way by Bobby O, Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus, and just about any Liquid Liquid track. Optimo have mastered the art of reading and controlling a crowd. Once I even saw Jonnie sitting at the back of the dancefloor, quite literally reading the crowd. This isn’t to say that Optimo always gives you what you want as a listener. In fact, part of the cult appeal is being constantly challenged with music that’s exciting, strange, or sometimes even difficult to listen to. Being an Optimo fan often means learning to love, or at least ‘get’, the tracks that prick your ears up. To some, that might sound undesirable or even a bit pretentious, but I think it makes the whole experience far more engaging. You’re not just dancing; you’re thinking,

reacting, and becoming a tiny bit critical on the dancefloor. UK clubbing culture can often take itself too seriously, but Optimo instead embraces humour and playfulness in a way that feels unique – like playing the track Sandwiches by Detroit Grand Pubahs. Why not end with a fun song that everyone knows, to really piss off the ‘heads’?

Seeing Optimo since Keith’s passing has been a surprisingly uplifting experience. A quick glance at any comment section across socials reveals the sheer number of people whose lives have been touched by Optimo’s permeating culture and generous, ever-adventurous approach to music. Despite only recently becoming a part of Optimo culture, it has given me countless unforgettable nights dancing to new music with friends and strangers alike. Optimo and its culture can never die.

Optimo (Espacio) with Nurse (live), The Berkeley Suitie, Glasgow, 13 Dec

Also catch Optimo at Subculture, Sub Club, Glasgow, 27 Dec and at Good Clean Fun, Glasgow, 28 Dec

Optimo at Sub Club

Image: courtesy of Sub Club

Headset’s NYE Selector

One of Scotland’s biggest club nights, Headset, is taking over The Mash House this New Year’s Eve – 12 DJs pick out 12 tracks you can expect to hear on the night

Underground club night, record label and purveyors of excellent merch, Headset have been throwing parties for over ten years, and this New Year’s Eve they take over every nook and cranny of Edinburgh’s The Mash House for a four-room extravaganza, headed up by Eclair Fifi B2B LWS. With each room specially curated for the night, you’ll find techno, electro, breaks, house and UKG in room one, hip-hop, R’n’B, disco, funk and dancehall in room two, dubstep, grime, breaks, bass and dub in room three (powered by Messenger Sound System), and jungle, hardcore, rave, electro and techno in room four (powered by Inca Sound System).

Needless to say, it’s gonna be massive! So to help get you in the mood for ringing in the bells on

arguably the biggest night of the year, Headset founder and DJ Nick Karlsberg, aka Skillis, has corralled a whole host of the night’s selectors to share one tune each that they plan to play on the night.

Capricorn One – Nightcode (unreleased)

This one bridges my deeper garage material into something more driven and tense. It’s built for that moment when the room shifts gears, nothing flashy, just leaning much harder into the low end. [Capricorn One (live)]

Tim Wokan – Afrogroove

For the kids. Let Unc show you how they did it in the 90s. [DJ Posture]

Words: Tallah Brash

666cmg – Sierra Leone

Big one that always gets the crowd moving (reeeeeeee ree-ree-ree). [DV60]

Ila Brugal – Late Bloomer

Out now on Not Bad For A Girl’s Equal Parts imprint, it has Ila’s signature hypnotic, cyclical vocal sample and a proper thundering kick drum. I love the sharp perc that cuts through the heavyweight low end, it gives it a high energy movement and I can’t wait to hear it on the Messenger Sound System! [Feena]

We™ – 12 Diablos

This one is a thrilling wee gem from some experimental 90s weirdos; perfect to set the stage for the turning of the years! [Katelate]

Carré – Air Sign

Love this one. The atmosphere and tension it builds while still on the deeper side of things makes this a huge Headset-style banger for the main room. [Lara Sinclair]

Patrice Bäumel – Lowrider

I play this in literally every set, it’s such a versatile track. You can blend it into anything and you can blend it out of anything – a murky chugger in the truest sense of the word! [LWS]

Simone – Rekka (Bonus Beat Chant –Castro’s Edit)

I’m gonnae play this tune to separate the folk who can belly dance from those who cannae.

[Marinello Studio]

Cash From Hash – Rager

Wanna play that tune because it’s by my Portuguese prince Pedro and will do exactly what it says on the tin, also cause it’s a rager x. [quarterpoundernocheese]

Dubrunner x Yushh – Trash Panda

Rolling and plippy-ploppy techno dubstep tool that will sound wicked on the Messenger Sound System. I’m closing the 140 room post-looking after Headset so gonna keep it moving on a deeper tip.

[Skillis]

Foul Play – Being With You

Huge track on the legendary Moving Shadow. An all time favourite that demands to be played in every Jungle set. The breakdown is a moment of absolute brilliance. [Usurp]

PARIAH – Squishy Windows

This track has a sort of swampy, hazy vibe to it. The distorted sounds and textures scratch the brain, which make it very satisfying to listen to. Looking forward to hearing it on Messenger. [Zo3]

Headset NYE – 4 Rooms, The Mash House, Edinburgh, 31 Dec instagram.com/headset_scotland

Some of the Headset selectors

Music Now

The year may be closing out, but there’s still plenty of exciting new Scottish music to be squeezed into what time we have left – we’re listening to new releases from Sonotto, Emma Capponi, Lacuna and more

Words: Laurie Presswood

As usual we’re not just scanning the horizon for new releases, but also the path behind us. Some musical highlights from last month includes singles from KuleeAngee, Bratakus, Grow Up, Comfort, Lou McLean, Rahul. mp3, Cowboy Hunters and Haiver (led by Billy Kennedy of Frightened Rabbit). There were also some standout EPs from Rosie H Sullivan, Becca Hunter, Nama Kuma, Nani Porenta, Alice Faye and Julen Santamaria and Higgs + Dubh – as well as an album from Faex Optim and a special 10th anniversary reissue of Young Fathers’ White Men Are Black Men Too featuring an accompanying dub mix of the album.

Looking forward (and there’s much to look forward to), on 1 December Sonotto kicks the first door down from your advent calendar with new EP i’m sorry :(, in which the Stirling-born, self-styled enigma mines their life for stories of pride and shame (“the songs are expressions of egoic stories and patterns […] which I would feel ashamed to tell anyone.”) For all its Kevin Parker-esque glazed vocals, this is an EP you can move to, whether you’re dancing to the progression of drums on LONESOME HOUSE or jolting at the exquisitely uncomfortable production on standout track NEVER TURNING BACK.

There’s a cluster of intriguing releases on 5 December – first up is Edinburgh-based Australian folk artist Emma Capponi with her debut album Buried. This collection of folk songs, all recorded live in her friend’s living room, are interpretations of Child Ballads (a 19th-century anthology of English and Scottish folk tunes), showcasing a lyrical darkness and sinister sound that you might not expect from 200-year-old British music. These are more horror story than any sort of tale of Christian morality, laden with eerie drones and full-throated, plaintive storytelling. Capponi interprets the tracks through varied lenses, from the endlessly circling vocals and synthesisers on Buried in Kilkenny to something closer to a traditional dance number on Tri Coloured House.

Also coming to us on the 5th is the second EP this year from Glasgow six-piece Lacuna, entitled Nest – expect expansive dream-pop and intricate soundscapes anchored by a purposeful rhythm section. Nest has a darker, more intense flavour than Lacuna’s output to date, guiding the listener “through the story of a soul unravelling.” Listen to the title track to enjoy a haze of atmospheric guitar driven by a bassline that wouldn’t sound out of place in an old-school

post-punk outlet, or Checkerboard Man for harmonic, Americana-tinged soulsearching.

Finally on the same day, acclaimed composer Craig Armstrong (known for his collaborations with Baz Luhrmann on Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby) releases his three-movement suite Pacific for piano, cello and electronics via CMA Records. Given its title, it’s not surprising that Pacific is in turns static, expansive, and agitated, with subtle texturing and suspenses that carry you away (but reward on second listen). Proceeds will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross, amongst others.

On the 18th, just when the pressures of Christmas are starting to get too much and you just need to cry, comes the stripped back mixtape Bargaining from Theo Bleak. Its acoustic melancholy, inspired by the process of picking life apart at its messiest junctures, is like an empathetic hug at a time of year when one is especially needed. Keep an ear out for John in particular, a track that builds textures and weaves them into a delicate, hazy structure that sways in the wind.

Elsewhere, there are EPs from PELOWSKA and Neverseer, as well as an album of collaborations from Oğuz Kaplangı called RESIST, exploring themes of human resistance/resilience. Also on the way is ONE YEAR UNREAL, a new live recording by Moni Jitchell to celebrate one year since the release of their debut album. The limited edition cassette (there are only 50 copies!) features an expanded ten-piece band made up of friends from across Scotland’s music scene – members of Water Machine, Kapil Seshasayee, Daysleeper and others.

Lastly, look out for the little treats dispersed across the rest of the month – we’ve got gentle, acoustic(ish) singles from Juniper, M. John Henry, Quiet Man and Pippa Blundell (Blundell’s is an Unharm remix of her breakout track wasted). For those after something a bit rockier, there’s also releases from Kelso Bypass and Clay Ring (psychedelic indie rock and Spanish Brit-Rock respectively), and Acolyte release their latest single, Warm Days, with a launch party at the People’s Leisure Club on the 6th.

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

Photo: @tyler_tuncer

Photo: Rosie Sco

Sonotto

Lacuna

Film of the Month — Sentimental Value

Director: Joachim Trier

Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning

RRRRR

Released 26 December by MUBI Certificate 15

theskinny.co.uk/film

It may seem counterintuitive to consider Sentimental Value Joachim Trier’s most expansive film to date, given that it mainly revolves around a single house. The latest from the Norwegian filmmaker, who again teams up with writing partner Eskil Vogt, is a poignant drama on the practicalities of family life across different generations. An annexe to his Oslo trilogy, Sentimental Value hinges on a home whose walls carry the ghosts of baggage past for sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and their estranged dad, acclaimed film director Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård).

Now a cosy mausoleum of memories sedimented in time, this red two-storey house lies empty after Nora's and Agnes’s mum, Sissel, passes away. Career-driven Nora, a melancholy actress with depression and stage fright, longs for a place to belong, while her younger sister, Agnes, who is a historian, has managed to build a loving family upon the ruins of their parents’ marriage. Despite their differences, these sisters share a close bond, with their dialogue guaranteed to strike a chord with anyone who has grown up in a broken home, figuratively or otherwise.

Much like the foundational cracks in property, the fractures in this family’s relationships are exposed when Gustav returns to Oslo with the intention of turning the house into the set of his new film project. With a bleakly amusing, affecting script that rejects all embellishments, Trier and Vogt carve their way into the unspoken truths of parents and children. These are the blanks one tries vainly to fill after it’s too late, with mortality looming large on Sentimental Value and its Oslo house.

The movie goes back in time to the house’s various occupants, including Gustav’s mum Karin, who died by suicide there. A Nazi prisoner who endured unspeakable torture, Karin is the subject of Gustav’s upcoming film, but there’s more to his emotionally ambitious plan to revive his career. Larger-than-life, Gustav would rather put on a big Netflix production with an American star, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), than go to therapy and admit to his children and himself that he messed up. He’s a man who struggles to take accountability for his problematic ways, though Skarsgård infuses the character with a palpable fragility and an endearing quality.

What could mend his fraught bond with his daughters, particularly Nora, seems out of reach for Gustav, but is apparent to an external observer like Fanning’s Rachel. She stands on the doorstep of the Oslo home — a strategic viewpoint in a house whose inhabitants tend to run away — dissecting the familial dynamics with lucidity and candour. Agnes possesses the same kind of emotional intelligence, guarding a world of her own as she mitigates her sister’s and father’s outbursts and insufferable common traits.

In a host of beautifully restrained performances, Reinsve delivers another knockout turn. More than a virtual sequel to The Worst Person in the World, Sentimental Value peels layers off the Messy Woman cliché with devastating honesty. Reinsve’s raw performance vibrates with bubbling resentment – towards her dad and herself, but not towards the house, a cocoon of timber and concrete that has held her on her worst days and a place she’s learning to let go of. [Stefania Sarrubba]

Cover-Up

Director: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus

Starring: Seymour Hersh rrrrr

Few journalists have been at the frontline of investigating the United States’ darkest deeds as often as Seymour Hersh, and after two decades of her asking, he’s finally agreed to a documentary by Laura Poitras. Hersh, the 88-year-old journalist who across his seven-decade career broke scandals like the My Lai massacre and Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses, is straightforward and sharp, a compelling presence whose inquisitive approach is unafraid to question the powerful and secretive. Archival footage is judiciously spliced into present-day interviews, juxtaposing how the cases Hersh covered – be they world-shaking human rights abuses or insidious secret testing of chemical weapons causing ‘unexplained’ animal deaths and human illnesses – were treated by the media

Lurker

Director: Alex Russell

Starring: Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Havana Rose Liu, Sunny Suljic, Zack Fox, Daniel Zolghadri rrrrr

In writer-director Alex Russell’s cautionary thriller about stan life, “I’m with the band” becomes a psychic vortex as an interloper penetrates the circle of trust and reshapes it in their own disturbed image. From Rob Reiner’s Misery to Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ Swarm, we have seen the violent delights of obsession reach violent ends as professed love mutates into unforgiving control. Lurker has familiar machinations but is more quietly torturous, as it presses on the specific desperations of the attention economy and its impermanent currencies.

Lurker inspects the parasite du jour: the wannabe creative director. Théodore Pellerin plays Matty, a retail worker who ingratiates himself with his favourite cool-guy, alt-pop

before Hersh and his colleagues dug beneath the surface.

Cover-Up is not without flaws; it doesn’t grill Hersh on proven erroneous reporting, notably in Syria, and other causes célèbres where reports conflict. It also leaves his reliance on anonymous sources underexplored – an ethical quandary, though vital for sensitive investigations. But in a career as long as Hersh’s and considering his cooperation in the documentary, these are not surprising omissions.

While not a complete portrait of a man or the recent epochs of US history, Cover-Up gets to the rotten heart of US journalism, where ‘selfcensorship of the press’ hollows out the country’s illusion of transparency, freedom and fairness. It is disheartening to see how little has changed across a career dedicated to holding the powerful to account; this documentary reminds us how much work is still to be done. [Carmen Paddock]

Released 5 Dec by Netflix; certificate 15

star Oliver (Archie Madekwe), in a manipulated meet-cute that lands him his dream gig: a bona fide member of the music entourage as Oliver’s on-call documentarian. Capturing the artist in situ on home video and on tour, he becomes an almost comic voyeur, emboldened – and armed – with a camcorder, capturing Oliver’s every angle in disquieting proximity. On the payroll and at the party, Matty forges an identity from the newfound street cred of an inflated reality. But when the fatal yes-men hierarchy undergoes a reshuffle, third-wheeling becomes psychological warfare. Russell artfully distorts moral absolutes as everyone on screen is, in part, to be pitied and feared. Lurker presents access and attention as dangerous humiliations and warns of the interminable transaction that is success. Let the good times erode you. [Lucy Fitzgerald]

Released 12 Dec by Universal; certificate 15

It Was Just an Accident Director: Jafar Panahi Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi rrrrr

Revenge has rarely felt as searingly political, ethically complex, or unabashedly absurd as in Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident. A filmmaker known to have suffered at the hands of the regime in his native Iran, he is well placed to craft this film about such survivors. It explores their experiences via the central conceit of a man, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), who chances upon the sound of a squeaking prosthetic limb that he identifies as belonging to ‘Peg Leg’ (Ebrahim Azizi), a prison torturer whose cruelty he’d suffered when incarcerated years prior. Vahid promptly kidnaps the man with the intention of exacting retribution. Unsure about his course of action, Vahid collects a coterie of fellow former detainees who clamber

Preparation for the Next Life Director: Bing Liu

Starring: Sebiye Behtiyar, Fred Hechinger rrrrr

When Atticus Lish’s debut novel Preparation for the Next Life was published in 2014, one New York Times critic described it as ‘perhaps the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade.’ Arriving 11 years later from Oscar-nominated director Bing Liu (Minding the Gap) and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright-turned-screenwriter Martyna Majok (Cost of Living), the film adaptation certainly lives up to the ‘unsentimental’ label.

Liu’s slow-burn drama centres on the unlikely romance between two lost loners in contemporary New York: Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar, very compelling in her feature debut), an undocumented Uyghur immigrant labouring for little pay in Chinatown’s underground kitchens, and Skinner (Fred Hechinger), a young American combat veteran who’s just arrived in

into the back of his beat-up van and debate the rationalisations and consequences of their desired justice – and whether they concur the man even is Peg Leg at all. From a bride and groom in their wedding get-up (Hadis Pakbaten and Majid Panahi) to the raving Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) who advocates vengeance regardless of successful identification, they run the gamut.

It Was Just An Accident borders on farce, but Panahi never allows it to spill over into territory that undermines the integrity of the film’s multivalent dialogues. Scarred by trauma, the ensemble wrestles with whether killing Peg Leg is justified, what it means to sink to the level of those who hurt them, and how to retain their own humanity. Old wounds remain painfully exposed, and Panahi expertly probes their moral and psychological implications. [Ben Nicholson]

Released 5 Dec by MUBI; certificate 12A

the city with a determination to do anything but return to his home state. The only obvious connective tissue in their backgrounds is an interest in physical training – hers inspired by the military father she lost; his as a means of managing PTSD symptoms that his prescribed meds aren’t calming, their supply dwindling anyway due to how being discharged has screwed his healthcare.

As a studio-backed film that’s at least trying to meaningfully tackle the subject of oppressive governmental systems impeding people simply trying to live and love, the film is a commendable, sometimes stirring work. But while many of the best sequences are rooted in the textured aesthetics of its cinematography and sound design, the overall portrait of individuals navigating emotional and legal unpredictability feels too lightly sketched in its details. [Josh SlaterWilliams]

Released 12 Dec by MetFilm Distribution; cert. 15

Lurker

Cover-Up

Preparation for the Next Life

It Was Just an Accident

Scotland on Screen: Review of 2025

We survey some of our favourite Scottish film festivals and programmers to hear their cinema highlights of 2025 and get a taste of what they’re cooking up for Scottish cinemas in 2026

Paul Gallagher – Head of Programme for Glasgow Film

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

I hosted a big premiere with Hollywood legends Jessica Lange and Ed Harris as part of GFF this year, for a screening of their new adaptation of Long Day’s Journey into Night. That was definitely one of those ‘pinch me’ moments in my working life; getting to spend a bit of time meeting and talking to them about their years of working in Hollywood was a real treat. The screening itself was brilliant, thanks to the feeling of being in an absolutely buzzing, sold-out GFT1 audience, which is pretty unbeatable.

Favourite film of 2025?

Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier. It is Trier’s best film yet, I think, in terms of the maturity of the writing, his deft handling of layers of storytelling and the exceptional performances he gets from the whole cast.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

Glasgow Film Festival 2026 – it will be my first edition as Head of Programme, and it’s going to be a good one. We’re at the point right now where there is still so much work to do to ensure it all happens, but what I am loving is putting the pieces together and gradually getting a sense of what the big picture of GFF26 is going to look like; from what I can see, there is a lot to start getting excited about.

GFF, 25 Feb-8 Mar, glasgowfilmfest.org

Rod White – Director of Programming, Filmhouse

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

Hosting the lovely Tim Key for two Q&As for The Ballad of Wallis Island back in August. After the first sold-out event, he suggested he’d be up for a second – as were we!

Favourite film of 2025?

It’s not released until next year, but Oliver Laxe’s Sirât is the best film I’ve seen this year. You never know, it might just be screening at Filmhouse from 27 February...

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

The first anniversary party (27 Jun) to mark Filmhouse’s triumphant ‘phoenix from the ashes’ return to becoming, once again, the essential Edinburgh cinema! filmhouse.org.uk

David Nixon – Head of Cinema, DCA

What was your favourite film event/ screening of 2025?

Our flagship film festivals – Discovery and Dundead – which sit at complete opposite ends of DCA’s programme spectrum but equally continue to deliver such meaningful events every year. As part of Dundead Halloween, we commissioned musicians Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman to create and perform a new live score for The Phantom of the Opera (1925) to celebrate its centenary – the result was magical! The contrast between the electronic music and the 100-year-old silent film was stunning, and we were proud to tour it at partner cinemas across Scotland. And welcoming thousands of school pupils and families into the cinema, some for the very first time, to watch the best family films from around the world during Discovery Film Festival was also a beautiful thing. A personal highlight was Czech animation Living Large, which we’re distributing to cinemas in the coming months.

Favourite film of 2025?

Nickel Boys. Despite it coming out right at the very start of 2025, RaMell Ross’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel stayed with me more than any other film this year. Difficult subject matter told through refreshingly innovative filmmaking.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

I can’t wait to bring California Schemin’ home to Dundee and share it with our audiences. This is James McAvoy’s directorial debut, which tells the true story of two young Dundonians who achieved a record deal and fame in the early 2000s by pretending to be American rappers. I saw it at Toronto International Film Festival and can confirm it is a wild ride from start to finish.  dca.org.uk/cinema

Paul Ridd – CEO and Festival Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

I am proud of all the filmmakers who competed in our main competitions at EIFF 2025. There is something truly special about all those world premiere screenings during the Festival and being there at the beginning of a film’s journey. But witnessing Abdolreza Kahani, a true maverick, win the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence on our Closing Night this year with his powerful film Mortician, was a gorgeous moment. Kahani’s humane, arresting and highly resourceful films defy all apparent constraints on budget, style

Words: Jamie Dunn

and independent voice. They are, quite simply, a reason to keep believing in cinema and its limitless potential.

Favourite film of 2025?

Canadian director Sophy Romvari’s debut feature Blue Heron is a total knockout, a film which combines a vivid and haunting evocation of childhood with playful metafictional flourishes. These elements finally come together in an ending that is simply devastating and cathartic. I cannot think of a film which moved and stirred me more this year. Romvari’s filmmaking voice, its clarity and unflinching honesty, that’s what we’re all looking for, isn’t it? I felt the same way about Laura Carreira and On Falling last year.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026? Two editions of EIFF in, and I am loving working with such a brilliant team of people to deliver a top-notch festival. Mark our new dates – 13-19 August – in your calendars, people! I cannot wait for round three. I am also super excited to see what our friends at Glasgow Film Festival deliver in the first months of 2026. There are some big shoes to fill there, obviously, with the departure of the legendary Allison Gardner, but I am confident that the new team will rise to the challenge. Bring it on!

EIFF, 13-19 Aug edfilmfest.org

Alison Strauss – Director, HippFest

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

The HippFest Opening Night screening of With Reindeer and Sled in Inka Länta’s Winterland (1926, dir. Erik Bergström) was extraordinary. It’s a stunning documentary-drama hybrid, about a family of Sámi reindeer herders. We partnered with Tromsø International Film Festival to bring over four exceptional musicians to perform, including a Sámi-Finnish joik/electronic musician. The photography and storytelling are awe-inspiring, and combined with the music, it was unforgettable. A little bit of Glastonbury in Bo’ness!

Favourite film of 2025?

I Swear. It felt properly and authentically Scottish but without being swallowed up by well-worn tropes of desperation and hopelessness. The performances by Robert Aramayo and Ellis Watson blew me away, but big shout-out to our very own Hippodrome Cinema and Front of House colleague Kieran, who appeared in the sequence when young John takes his girlfriend to see Tootsie. It was such a thrill to be in the sold-out Hippodrome for a screening and see our cinema on the big screen – a meta moment that made my year.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

We’ve been running hugely popular chocolate taste-along screenings for a while now, and our next one will be a screening of Groundhog Day for Valentine’s Day. Expert chocolatier Nadia Williams carefully crafts a bespoke experience at which each guest is given numbered chocolates tailored to correspond with key scenes in the film, and you simply wait for the number cue to eat.

HippFest, 18-22 Mar hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest

Rachel Hamada –Director, Take One Action

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

My favourite film screenings of 2025 were Take One Action’s collaborations with Living Rent across Scotland. We screened archive film Red Skirts on Clydeside, about the 1915 Glasgow rent strikes, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness, and local branches of Living Rent held post-screening audience workshops about local campaigns and actions. It was fascinating to hear the commonalities in housing struggles between cities, but also some of the different issues, from negligent landlords to the impact of tourism.

Favourite film of 2025?

I would like to flag Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky, shown at Jali, the brilliant new African film weekender. Set in Tunisia, it features three Ivorian women, each trying to navigate life there. It was refreshing to see a film exploring migration set outside the Western contexts we are often shown.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?  I’m most excited about returning to our

co-programming partnership with grassroots groups across Scotland. This was a pilot aimed at decentralising film programming in Scotland, and groups selected and planned their own events as part of our Real Utopias festivals – these were really popular and we are going to be working with the same groups to do further screenings this spring, so watch this space!

takeoneaction.org.uk

Matt Lloyd – Director, Glasgow Short Film Festival

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

First, a brief visit to Alchemy Film Festival in Hawick, by train and bike, to see Luke Fowler and Corin Sworn’s On Weaving. Attending Alchemy in early May is always a joy, when spring has properly arrived and daft lambs are nutting about the fields. On Weaving explores the modernist home designed by Peter Womersley for textile artists Bernat and Margaret Klein, and considers their legacies in the mills of the River Tweed. Its resonances and associations swirled around me as I battled headwinds back to Galashiels station. And in September, I was very privileged to attend Minikino Film Week, Bali, a festival brimming with passionate enthusiasm for cinema and its possibilities as a catalyst for social change.

Favourite film of 2025?

Whammy Alcazaren’s Water Sports (Philippines), in which two sad boys harness the power of their love to try and survive a world devastated by climate change, speaks pretty eloquently to our time in its absurd, horrific beauty. I’ve not seen many long films this year, but One Battle After Another was a treat.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

I’m hoping for a year of bravery, solidarity and constructive collaboration to combat the growing forces of reaction, oppression and apathy at home and around the world. Also more opportunities to cycle to film festivals.

GSFF, 18-22 Mar glasgowshort.org

Michael Pattison – Co-director, Alchemy Film & Arts

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

Seeing 100 locals audibly reminisce their way through the first-ever ‘Hawick Pictorial’, shot on 8mm in 1965 and digitised by Alchemy Film & Arts as part of our ongoing screen heritage initiative. Watching 400 school pupils descend upon Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival to see the likes of We Deh Here, Maybelle Peters’ Alchemy-produced 16mm installation about Scotland’s colonial role in the Black Atlantic. Sitting in electric silence through Immigration Services, a performance by Esperanza Mayobre in which the Venezuelan artist lights 100 candles one by one inside Heart of Hawick’s dark but increasingly aglow auditorium – a bodily and mercurial commitment to the sequential and structural qualities of cinema, and a work that therefore demanded collective spectatorship.  Each of these was a welcome reminder of why cinema is a social experience, of why we should consume it large and with others.

Favourite film of 2025?

Madison Brookshire’s Set

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?   Keeping things live, and lived: to the challenge of

Immigration Services by Esperanza Mayobre Alchemy 2025

Photo: Sanne Gault

promoting cinema as something that needs people in a room while resisting the industry’s ableist logics, its tendency to exclude and marginalise.

Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, 30 Apr-3 May alchemyfilmandarts.org.uk

Rachel Pronger, Lauren Clarke and Camilla Baier – Founders and Programmers, Invisible Women

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

Our highlight of the year was undoubtedly our ongoing Mexican melodrama season, a rare chance to bring these electrifying, barely-seen golden age films to UK screens. Working closely with the Filmoteca UNAM and the Permanencia Voluntaria archive in Mexico City, it felt genuinely special to share work that sits so powerfully within Mexico’s popular cinema history but is almost impossible to encounter here. Watching Scottish audiences react to those big emotions, lavish aesthetics and fearless performances, as well as seeing them on the big screen for the first time ourselves, has been a real joy.

Favourite film of 2025?

Rachel: In terms of new films, that would be a tie between Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm (fresh, funny, surprising and mega stylish in a kitschy 90s way) and Louise Weard’s Castration Movie Part II (epic four-hour-plus DIY filmmaking taken to its limits, genuinely so transgressive and bold while also being totally engrossing).

Lauren: Michèle Stephenson’s True North was a standout for me this year. It shines a light on the 1969 student protests against racism at Concordia University in Montreal, a little-known event in Canadian history. It brings together archive with newly shot intimate interviews, painting a portrait of resistance and championing the role of collective action in bringing about change.

Camilla: Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here. A powerful reflection on (collective) memory, survival and political resistance, all anchored by such a stunning, career-defining performance from our Brazilian national treasure Fernanda Torres. And it feels especially meaningful to see Brazilian cinema finally beginning to take up more space internationally.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?  Next year is the 100th anniversary of Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest surviving animation. Reiniger is one of our longstanding IW heroines, and her work was super important in terms of the development of animation as a serious cinematic art form – Walt Disney even stole some of her ideas! – so we’re hoping to be able to use that centenary as an excuse to celebrate Reiniger’s work with some screenings... watch this space!

invisible-women.co.uk

Rosie Beattie - Programmer, Indy Cinema Group and Queer Cinema Sundays

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

Every Queer Cinema Sundays screening at GFT has been special this year, but I particularly enjoyed screening Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in May. I have loved this underseen Robert Altman gem since seeing it at

SQIFF a couple of years ago, and it was great to see it so warmly received by the audience at GFT. It also had a wonderful introduction by the excellent Jaye Hudson (TGirlsonFilm). Special mention to the CineSkinny team for their collaboration back in January for a wonderful screening of Matthias & Maxime!

Favourite film of 2025?

I was really stunned by the feature debut from Slovenian director Urška Djukić, Little Trouble Girls. It’s a tender coming-of-age film that explores sexual awakening and Catholic guilt with the sensual backdrop of the Italian countryside.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026? I have been doing a bit of behind-the-scenes work with the lovely programming team at Dublin International Film Festival, so I’m excited to see the whole programme come together and attend the festival for the first time in 2026.

glasgowfilm.org/queer-cinema-sundays

Tomiwa Folorunso, Isabel Moura Mendes and Carmen Thompson – Founders and Programmers, Jali Collective

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025? 2025 was a huge year for us as it marked the formation of the Collective and also the launch of our inaugural Film Weekender in October. Although it is an impossible task, if we had to pick just one event from the Weekender, it would probably be our opening night! We screened the Scottish Premiere of Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser’s magical sci-fi romance Memory of Princess Mumbi to a packed Screen 1 at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse. It was such a celebratory moment for Jali, as the culmination of so much work that went into making the Weekender a reality, but also the film really embodied everything about the type of work we’re hoping to share through the Collective. We were so grateful to and humbled by everyone who joined us to mark our first festival and who shared their thoughts and reflections during the post-screening discussion. We’ll remember the night for a long time!

Favourite film of 2025?

Tomiwa: Kouté vwa from filmmaker Maxime Jean-Baptiste. I saw this film almost a year ago, and then it closed out Alchemy Film & Arts in Hawick in May. Set in French Guiana, it’s intimate and painful, yet finds an equilibrium between the heaviness of grief and trauma, the lightness of life, and the necessity of community through it all.  Isabel: It would have to be Hanami, which was included in our Jali Film Weekender this year. It’s a beautifully contemplative feature by Cape Verdean director Denise Fernandes. As someone who is very familiar with these volcanic islands – where my own heritage is from – I was moved by this story of longing and belonging, which will ring true to anyone who exists within the diasporic sphere.

Carmen: I don’t know how I could choose a favourite, but a film I still think about a lot is

Malaury Eloi Paisley’s L’homme-vertige: Tales of a City, a documentary about Paisley’s home city of Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. It is an incredibly poetic and haunting film, and there is such a tenderness to Paisley’s filmmaking and the way she worked with the individuals featured – it moved me a lot.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026? We’re really just getting started at Jali Collective. The Weekender was our first big event, and more than anything, what it confirmed for us was that the absence – of Black, African and diaspora film culture – that we have all individually felt for so long as Edinburgh residents has also been felt by so many other people living in the city, and beyond. We can’t wait to continue building on this work, collectively, with our audience. As well as looking forward to the next edition of the Weekender, we also have lots more things cooking already for 2026, so watch this space! jalicollective.co.uk

Morvern Cunningham – Member, Leith Kino; Coordinator, Local Cinema Network

Cinema adjacent highlight of 2025?

Leith Kino’s ‘standing gig only’ screening of Stop Making Sense at the Leith Cricket Club. Have you ever yearned to watch a famous filmed gig in a gig environment? Well, Leith Kino made magic happen earlier this year with 100+ revellers dancing, whooping and singing along to one of the best concert films ever made, followed by Talking Heads-themed DJs. I can’t wait for the next one.

Favourite film of 2025?

On Falling by Laura Carreira. Quite rightfully winning the Scottish BAFTA for Best Film (and for Best Writer) this year, Carreira shone a light on the little-reflected plight of algorithm-driven work in her debut feature, which followed protagonist Aurora as she spends her days scanning a range of seemingly unrelated items in a nameless warehouse somewhere in Edinburgh.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

New documentary Still Pushing Pineapples and its upcoming seaside tour. The film follows Black Lace member Dene Michael as he strives for one more novelty hit beyond the band’s (in)famous Agadoo. The tour will visit some of the UK’s most popular seaside towns from January onwards, emulating Dene’s regular touring schedule. instagram.com/leithkino

Abdolreza Kahani wins the Sean Connery Prize at EIFF 2025

Photo: Kat Gollick

Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊: •~TUA~• 大 眼 •~MAK~• @ Tramway, Glasgow

A giant tentacled creature and its tiny co-conspirators occupy Tramway, as Rae-Yen Song’s world-building reaches hypnotic heights

I’m in the belly of a giant beast, bathed in a glow of purple light and surrounded by the sound of twinkling keys and the hiss of exhalation. Glasgow’s Tramway has been transformed into a home for this gargantuan creature in the latest offering from multidisciplinary artist Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊, whose exhibition •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~• encompasses ceramic, textile, light, sound and moving image to create a fully immersive world within the old train depot’s walls.

Immersive is, so it seems, the latest art-world buzzword, bandied about too often without carrying the weight of true immersion. Song’s exhibition, however, is a living, breathing, embracing entity. At its heart, •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~• is an exploration of mythology, in particular, the mythologies that permeate the artist’s family ancestry and Daoism more generally. A guiding presence throughout the exhibition is Tua Mak (大眼; ‘big eyes’ in the Teochew dialect), a Song family ancestor who drowned at sea at thirteen. This personal lineage extends into a wider mythological framework, with Song also drawing inspiration from the Chinese myth of Pangu, a deity of creation whose decaying body became the elements. Song repositions these disparate mythologies, linking them via their ecological roots and speculating on the decomposition, consumption, and regeneration of these past bodies.

“Song’s exhibition is a living, breathing, embracing entity”

The exhibition text promises a ‘sub-aquatic world,’ and Song delivers, creating an ethereal realm ruled by micro- and macroscopic creatures, the largest of which occupies almost the entire space. Its iridescent purple tentacles undulate, winding their way around the gallery and doubling as tunnels to meander through, cocooning visitors and beckoning them to

the centre. Here, nestled under its inflatable, bouncy-castle-esque skeleton, we rest in the creature’s central atrium: its belly, its brain, its heart? Anatomy aside, it feels like a safe space inside the beast, with plush red benches to settle into and observe the fish tank inhabited by an ecosystem of scurrying creatures.

Gazing into the tank with several other spectators, our eyes meet through the murky water as time slows and we move at a more meditative pace in the presence of the aquatic cultures that reside within. These microscopic lifeforms are Song’s co-creators who, along with experimental sound artist Flora Yin Wong, compose the ever-evolving soundscape that reverberates around the gallery. Provoked by the creatures’ movements, the sounds are a blend of discordant chimes and laboured breathing that evoke the slumber of a sleeping giant and have a lulling, hypnotic effect.

Alongside the show’s central behemoth, smaller-scale ceramics, suspended costumes, and richly embroidered textile banners are dispersed around the gallery. Every object is anthropomorphised, given blank, cartoonish faces with puckered, pouting mouths; for shrieking, for singing, for kissing? Perhaps Song’s instinct to grant every object

a face is about giving the non-human form, features and feelings. At the end of each tentacle, on the outer edges of the creature’s reach, lie mouth-blown glass heads, bell-jarshaped with Song’s signature gaping O-shaped mouths. Trapped inside are 3D renderings that function like glimpses into a parallel world, a near-distant future, or a long-forgotten past. These renderings – made by 3D artists Maurice Andresen and Tim Dalzell – dance and shimmer, existing somewhere between sci-fi hologram and pure magic, captured and doomed to dance forever in a glass prison. Song’s world-building is emboldened by these many collaborations, which add intricacy and brilliance to an already rich landscape. It’s refreshing to see all the

collaborators listed, showing that building a world such as this takes the time and care of many hands. Through evocative ancestral stories and a focus on non-human intelligence, •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~• highlights the delicate dance of mythology and ecology. The exhibition interrogates the role of our non-human counterparts, ruminating on how they long precede us and will long outlive us. In this sense, Song’s world has the ability to make you feel existential, but refreshingly so. I leave the exhibition feeling both insignificant and boundless, micro and macro. Anything is possible.

Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊: - •~TUA~• 大眼 •~MAK~•, Tramway, Glasgow, 15 Nov until 24 Aug 2026, Wed-Sun, 11am-5pm

Words: Holly Allan

VINETTE, EDINBURGH

From the folk who brought you Noto and Tipo, Vinette is a comfy, cosy bistro with some all-action cooking

The latest branch of the Stuart Ralston tree that brought us some extremely buttery crab (Noto) and some very, very nice pasta (Tipo), Vinette takes up residence in a cosy little brushed concrete warren on Broughton Street. Head in the door, turn that way, then turn again and you’re in a lovely, cosy dining room filled with warm light, soft furnishings and a surprising number of curtains.

Menu-wise, the preamble talks of a ‘Parisian-style bar à vin’ with ‘bistro-style’ cooking; what that means in practice is a short menu of classic European dishes where you could conceivably want to eat one of everything. Vinette do serve a three course lunch, with wine, for £36 – more on that later – but stuck between the desire to cover the table in dishes and the knowledge that we’ll have to pay for it, we split the difference and go ‘nibbles, mains, loads of dessert’. It’s a classic strategy folks, feel free to use it next time you’re out.

Our nibbly trio of Rarebit, Pig’s head croquettes and Potato chips (£6 each) are proof of some very clever folk in the kitchen. The rarebit is a square of four smaller cheesy squares, drizzled with Worcester sauce and served with a very nice onion marmalade. Effectively, it’s four small bits of cheese on toast, but in this configuration, on this lovely plate, when you’re waiting for lunch, that’s more than alright. The use of shape is a recurring theme throughout lunch; whether it’s perfectly spherical bread rolls or pleasingly sharp edges on garnishes, fans of geometric shapes will have a great time.

Elsewhere, the croquettes are little but loaded with flavour, extremely crunchy on the outside but inside they’re dribbling with juicy, salty pork from somewhere on the big fella’s head. And the chips are just the fanciest pre-meal snack you’ve ever seen in your life – homemade crisps, served alongside a chivey cream cheese topped with some trout roe. It’s a chip so thin you can almost see through it, and a dip so decadent the gold kintsugi nubbin on the bowl feels completely normal. This trio are an object lesson in taking comparatively straightforward ingredients (A potato! One piece of bread!) and making them look nice and feel special.

The Steak frites (£18) is another geometric wonder, a little rectangle of perfectly cooked bavette on a very nice and, it has to be said, comically large plate. Present the steak like this and bring some excellent fries and a sweet, tangy Choron sauce in separate dishes, and all of a sudden we’ve got some theatre and an ‘ooh look at all my stuff’ moment, before everything inevitably gets dipped in everything else.

If the steak is a nice, contained and refined bit of extremely flavourful business, Vinette’s burger (£18) is like being bear-hugged by the word ‘savoury’. This thing is outrageous: a bacon-heavy relish on the bottom, an immensely cheesy Mornay sauce on top, plenty of pickles, and a beef patty that has all the sear and chew and oomph you could ever need. It has a deceptively straightforward

Words: Peter Simpson

look – grab a pen and draw a burger in the margin of this page, you have five seconds… that’s what it looks like – but the flavour and texture are all there.

And then there’s the Potato and celeriac tartiflette (£5). A little cast iron dish filled with shredded veg and so much cheese it’s a surprise the thing doesn’t start mooing, it’s exactly the kind of decadent winter treat that makes leaving the house seem worthwhile. It’s oozy, it’s salty, it’s absolutely covered in bacon – it’s root veg and cheese but turned up to full blast.

The Marjolaine cake (£8) is a big rectangle of praline and ganache and crunch and a dollop of ice cream on top. Again, fairly straightforward stuff, but set a good kitchen loose with the ideas of ‘chocolate’ and ‘salted caramel’ and you’re in for a good time. The Basque cheesecake (£8) is another big tick; intentionally burning something is always a bit dicey, but this one has the rich, caramelly outer and spongy middle without going too far. It’s served with some very nice and pleasingly chunky plum compote.

So Vinette is great, in ways both expected and unexpected. Is it a ‘cheap eat’? No. But is it expensive? From our recent experience, not really. If you hit the aforementioned lunch deal you’d get a starter, that extremely good steak, the big praline fella from the last para, and drinks, for under £40, and they’ll have to roll you round those corners to get you out the door. That is a good deal – in this season of goodwill, we suggest you take it.

36 Broughton St, Edinburgh EH1 3SB Lunch Fri-Sun, 12-2.30pm, dinner Wed-Sun 5.30-9pm vinette.co.uk

All Consuming

By Ruby Tandoh rrrrr

Like most things that hinge – quite literally – on matters of taste, the modern plate is far more than the sum of its parts. Shaped by visions of plenty (via mukbangs), performance (via tradwives) and mass participation (via trending recipes), what we eat does not just speak to who we are but who we aspire to be. However, as Ruby Tandoh surmises in her latest book, All Consuming, many of these exercises in choice actually boil down to a remarkably simple credo: “If all those people are doing it, then it must be good; and if it’s good, then I should be doing it too.”

What mainstream culture determines to be aspirational is both an ever-moving target and a measure of taste’s direction of travel. And who does any of this serve? All Consuming attends to this question with care: it is an exceptional survey of the ‘shared culinary grammars’ that have shaped modern life and keep us striving for something more. It is also a tremendously funny, forthright and tightly-stitched study of the things Tandoh has realised upon reflection, amongst friends or amid the ‘emotional plasma of the kitchen.’ For every penetrating analysis of how our tastes are impacted by the flow of capital, the borders of class and the ignoble engines of commerce, there is a personal anecdote about Come Dine With Me, a pithy reference to the now-discontinued Calippo Shots or a perfectly-formed shot of snark.

[Tara Okeke]

Palestine - 1

Edited by Basma Ghalayini rrrrr

Palestine - 1 presents 12 viscerally imaginative and real stories that ask us to tread lightly around the question of fact versus fiction, for stories like these do not manifest so binarily.

During a Q&A at this year’s Edinburgh’s Radical Book Fair, contributor to the book Mazen Maarouf stressed that “you cannot write fiction from a totally unimaginable place… you cannot manipulate facts.” In this collection, the writers’ use of the phantasmagoric and absurd are exact reflections of the vicious atrocities imposed by Israel, and manifest both in ghostly characters and settings, like the original Palestinian towns and places desecrated by the occupation. In the Introduction, editor Basma Ghalayini writes that it is our decision whether we “pay tribute to these original places (and their people) or be haunted by them.” Some pieces, like Abdalmuti Maqboul’s searingly satirical Eastwards, command hope in the wake of grotesque onslaught.

It goes without saying that this is a book of love, in its most courageous and bare form, with ‘love’ being the final word of the book itself, followed by a question mark. In these tales, harmony and uncertainty, like fact and fiction, go hand in hand. All 12 stories migrate through the connected and unspoken traumas of the land, its people, and their minds, working together to dismember the monsters of the past and present, and to restore a smiling promise of return. [Maria Farsoon]

By Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore rrrrr

Terry Dactyl by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is a deeply intimate and transcendent novel. Sycamore chronicles two significant chapters in Terry’s life while growing up against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis and later surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

Terry’s journey highlights how history repeats itself and what we stand to lose if we don’t pay attention to patterns of oppression and societal neglect. As Terry navigates these two crises which will have deep ramifications for her community, she experiences a political awakening all while delving into the hedonistic and colourful world of artsy gender-bending club kids of New York.

Sycamore’s protagonist is a funny, fearless, yet imperfect character. Terry at times is incredibly judgemental and myopic, which makes for a refreshing portrayal of queer loss and community building. Terry, a trans woman raised by politically progressive lesbian mothers who recently have grown more centrist, is left to make sense of a frequently changeable world. As forest fires surround her hometown of Seattle and racial tension erupts in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Terry learns to embody care and solidarity in truly moving ways. In her spirited dancing, while leading chants at demonstrations, and running over the grassy fields of her youth, we see Terry truly come alive. Through rich lyrical prose, Terry Dactyl serves as an urgent reminder of what it means to overcome and survive in times of immense turmoil.

[Andrés Ordorica]

By Jessica Gross rrrrr

Jessica Gross’ Open Wide reveals itself fully only with hindsight. It starts as an examination of romance and obsession, before taking those themes in such an unexpected direction it makes your head spin. However, upon reflection, the clues as to what transpires are there all along.

Radio presenter Olive records her life and all her interactions privately and guardedly, a secret which brings her comfort and selfdefinition. This proves to be just the beginning of her obsessions. When she meets surgeon Theo, her initial interest is fired by very specific physical characteristics – the gap between his front teeth and the tendon of his left leg. Attraction quickly becomes infatuation, as Olive needs to know and understand every aspect of Theo’s life and uses all available means to do so. The reason for this behaviour can be found in Olive’s other defining relationship, that with her mother, which is one of extraordinary mutual passive aggression. What follows can be summed up by the title of Part Two, Metamorphosis, as we move from an intense and erotic love affair to all-out body horror. In doing so Open Wide proffers flesh for fantasy, a place where Anaïs Nin meets David Cronenberg.

With vampiric, even cannibalistic, tendencies it may prove a challenge for the faint of heart (or stomach), but Gross has written a pitchblack, satirical, and sensual examination of the desire to belong, to love and be loved, and what it means to be needed. It is undoubtedly disturbing, yet all too human.

[Alistair Braidwood]

Out now with Cipher Press

Out now with Harvill Secker

Terry Dactyl

Open Wide

Behind

Donny Vostok, one of the brains behind cult airhorn-blaring alt comedy night Chunks, takes us behind the curtain as the collective celebrates its 11th year of shows

Words: Polly Glynn

Tell me about Chunks...

Chunks is a night dedicated to unleashing unabashed goofballenergy. It functions like a machine-gun-paced scratch night for alternative comics to try out characters, roughly-thought-out sketches, songs or just anything silly. As long as their bit doesn’t work as stand-up and is under three minutes, we’d welcome any insanely dumb idea onto stage.

How did it come about?

The central Chunks politburo is myself, and comrades Chris Thorburn and Richard Brown. My oldest friend, Jamie Rolland (currently establishing the Buenos Aires chapter), and I wanted to set up a night for total nonsense.  We’ve had so many brilliant comics join in (too many to mention, but big airhorns to you all xx) and it’s now developed this community mentality amongst its ever growing-membership. We hope that inclusive dedication to silliness spreads to the audiences also.

What was the first Chunks like?

It was way back in June 2014 at the sorely missed Halt Bar in Glasgow. The acts included: Old Codge, The Boy With Walnuts for Eyes & Blaine Champagne’s Dickonomics. It was really fast, very chaotic, always on the verge of disaster and put together at the last minute (a model we’ve stuck to for the last 11 years). At the time we just wanted to put on something before the venue closed and didn’t think it would be anything other than a one-off. But it was so much fun that we just kept doing it and it’s steadily built up this lovely cult following since.

What would be your dream Chunks line-up?

Ever since I saw Dr Dre’s Up in Smoke Tour on VHS as a wee guy, I’ve been obsessed with how they got a 1964 Chevrolet Impala onto the stage for Let Me Ride/Still DRE. It’s just so ridiculous but also genuinely amazing. My dream is that we get Chunks to the point where we can get a car driven onto stage as part of an alternative comedy night. This would presumably involve a ram that we can’t currently afford. Comrade Pearse’s now-legendary 2016 bicycle ride through The Griffin came closest to fulfilling my dream, but I think we still need a car on stage at some point.

What’s been your best takeaway from running it?

One of the wonderful things about Chunks is that nobody really knows what to expect until it’s actually happening. I think this unpredictability gives the night an amazing tension and excitement. It’s scruffy and sometimes it’ll lose momentum, but I prefer a certain DIY roughness compared to making the night more regimented. We’ve hopefully made a space that encourages that sense of playing around and you just have to trust the

act’s instincts. If you’ve surrounded yourself with talented, creative people, things will work out even when it’s not always smooth like smooth peanut butter and instead it gets crunchy like crunchy peanut butter. It’s still peanut butter and peanut butter is great.

Who or what on the comedy scene should folk look out for?

There’s so many great gigs going in Scotland. I’d highly recommend; The Fever Dream Comedy Society, Clown Extravaganza!, The Glasgow Improv Theatre, Progranimate and That’s Clown. All are doing really creative, inventive stuff playing with alternative comedy.

Who’s the funniest comedian you’ve seen?

At an open spot night, I once saw a dog trick double-act. This dog howled through every other comic on the bill and, when onstage, refused to play along with any of their owner’s jokes (i.e. the punchlines might be “Sit” or “Roll over”). With this failing, the owner went into their non-dog-based material, while totally ignoring their partner’s attempts to remove the barking dog from behind a chair at the back of the stage. I still don’t know how much (if any of it) was planned, but it’s honestly the most I’ve ever laughed at anything. I’ve never seen that dog at any gig since.

Any news on the long-promised Chunks Christmas novelty single?

Yeah we’re always in the studio fine-tuning. The flood that ruined six months of experiments in sleigh bell tonalites was a knockback, but we’re building again towards the perfect CHUNXMAX banger. Hopefully if we can find the right throatsinging choir we’ll get the single out for Xmas 2026.

What’s next for Chunks?

Outside of the monthly night, we’re back at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival with Chunks of the Year 2026 More gigs further afield hopefully, maybe a little tour at some point might be nice. Then Chunks on Ice?

Chunks is on monthly at Gael & Grain, Glasgow. More details at goodeggcomedy.co.uk. Next show is 22 Dec, 7.30pm, Free.

Chunks of the Year, Gael & Grain, Glasgow, part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival, 13 Mar, 10.15pm, £7

Donny Vostok: Heet (The Crowd Work Show, I Swear I'll Try My Best To Not Talk About 1995's Heat For An Hour), Gael & Grain, Glasgow, 20 Mar, 10.15pm, £5Talk About 1995’s Heat For An Hour), 20 March, Gael & Grain, 10.15pm, £5

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 1 Dec

D-BLOCK EUROPE

THE OVO HYDRO Hip-hop from the UK.

DON BROCO

BARROWLANDS Rock from Bedford.

TONY CHRISTIE

ST LUKE'S Schlager from the UK.

OKLOU QMU Synth pop from France.

SANAM THE FLYING DUCK Psych jazz from Beirut.

JIM E. BROWN

STEREO Indie from Manchester.

Tue 2 Dec

JARED JAMES NICHOLS THE GARAGE

Singer-songwriter from the US.

MUMFORD & SONS

THE OVO HYDRO Folk rock from the UK.

FLORENCE ROAD

KING TUT'S Rock from Ireland.

MAX MCNOWN BARROWLANDS Country from Oregon.

CHRIS HELME THE HUG AND PINT Singer-songwriter from the UK.

SADIE JEAN ST LUKE'S Indie from the US.

BEAUX GRIS GRIS & THE APOCALYPSE THE RUM SHACK Roots rock from California.

NOTHING MORE SWG3 Rock from Texas.

TORS SWG3 Pop from Devon.

CAITLIN KRISKO AND THE BROADCAST STEREO Soul rock from North Carolina.

MURDO MITCHELL THE GLAD CAFE

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

Wed 3 Dec

JAMIROQUAI

THE OVO HYDRO Acid jazz from London. TWIN ATLANTIC BARROWLANDS Alt rock from Glasgow.

ASHLEY HENRY THE HUG AND PINT Jazz from London.

RYAN MCMULLAN ST LUKE'S Indie from Northern Ireland.

ISABEL LAROSA SWG3 Alt pop from the US. RECKAGE (MEEP + ZONED OUT + COLLATERAL DAMAGE)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Metal from Glasgow. BETTY BOO STEREO Rap from the UK.

MURDO MITCHELL THE GLAD CAFE

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

Thu 4 Dec

MERMAID CHUNKY MONO

Avant-pop from the UK.

LITTLE MISS NASTY CATHOUSE Goth from LA. CALL ME AMOUR THE GARAGE

Electronica from the UK. CHELSEA GRIN THE GARAGE Deathcore from Salt Lake City.

HARLEYMOON KEMP KING TUT'S Country from the UK.

BABYSHAMBLES O2 ACADEMY Rock from London.

TWIN ATLANTIC BARROWLANDS Alt rock from Glasgow. JOE & THE SHITBOYS THE HUG AND PINT Punk from the Faroe Islands.

MURDO MITCHELL THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

MILLION DEAD (THE MEFFS + DEUX FURIEUSES) QMU Post-hardcore from London.

SUCKLE (STARSKY RAE) THE RUM SHACK Indie from Leeds. ALABAMA 3 SWG3

Americana from the UK.

BOHEMIAN MONK

MACHINE (FUZZY)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Funk from Perth. PANJABI HIT SQUAD STEREO Eclectic DJ lineup.

Fri 5 Dec

LAST HOUNDS

THE GARAGE Hardcore from the UK. BABYSHAMBLES O2 ACADEMY Rock from London. CALUM BOWIE BARROWLANDS Singer-songwriter from Scotland. JESCA HOOP THE HUG AND PINT Alt indie from the US. JAMES YORKSTON CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS Folk from Scotland. SOFT RIOT (VIGILANCE STATE + INVISIBLE LOGIC) THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Synth post-punk from Glasgow. KING PRINCESS QMU Pop from New York. MICK FLANNERY + SUSAN O'NEILL DRYGATE BREWING CO. Indie. TRADE (KYOSHI STATION + MISTY MOUNTAINS) THE RUM SHACK Rock from Glasgow. 808 STATE SWG3 Electronica. PISTOL DAISYS SWG3 Alt pop from Glasgow. HEX GIRLFRIEND NICE 'N' SLEAZY Dance punk from London. THE COMMONERS STEREO Roots from Toronto. ADAM THOM THE GLAD CAFE Country folk from Glasgow. Sat 6 Dec KATATONIA. THE GARAGE Heavy metal from Sweden. MADNESS (SQUEEZE) THE OVO HYDRO Pop from London. HUMOUR (DUTCH WINE + BANDIT COUNTRY)

KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow.

ABOVE & BEYOND (AMY WILES + GRUM)

O2 ACADEMY Electro from the UK. SOFT LOFT THE HUG AND PINT Indie from Switzerland. SUDAN ARCHIVES

QMU R'n'B from the US.

CWFEN (GOUT + THE RHUBARB)

ROOM 2

Doomgaze from Glasgow. SNOW STRIPPERS SWG3

Hyper pop from the US.

RIANNE DOWNEY

THE OLD FRUITMARKET Country from Scotland. THE MARCHES NICE 'N' SLEAZY Rock from Scotland.

MARCONI UNION NICE 'N' SLEAZY Electronica from Manchester.

MARTIN KERR STEREO Indie from Canada.

Sun 7 Dec

RAHSAAN PATTERSON

THE GARAGE R'n'B from the US. WOLF ALICE

THE OVO HYDRO Rock from London.

DREW BALDRIDGE ORAN MOR Country from the US.

IDLEWILD BARROWLANDS Indie rock from Scotland.

BELIEVE IN NOTHING + MRS. FRIGHTHOUSE THE HUG AND PINT Rock.

PORRIDGE RADIO

ST LUKE'S Indie punk from Brighton.

JESSE WELLES

THE OLD FRUITMARKET Country from Arkansas. THE ICICLE WORKS STEREO Alt rock from Liverpool. JOHN DOUGLAS (+ SULIDAE)

THE GLAD CAFE

Founding member of The Trashcan Sinatras)

Mon 8 Dec

BILL RYDER-JONES MONO

Psych pop from the UK. EKKSTACY CATHOUSE Indie from Canada. THE FUTUREHEADS ORAN MOR Post-punk from Sunderland. THE ROLLING PEOPLE

KING TUT'S Indie from Stockport.

CARIBOU BARROWLANDS Folktronica from Canada. STEREOLAB SWG3 Indie from London.

Tue 9 Dec

JENNIFER WALTON

THE GLAD CAFE

London-based diary pop THE BAND CAMINO THE GARAGE Rock from the US. THE WHISKEY BROTHERS THE GARAGE Folk rock from the US.

SETH LAKEMAN

ORAN MOR Folk from the UK.

JOHN MAUS ORAN MOR Indie from the US.

SKINNY LISTER (CLAUDIA KATE + VANDOLIERS)

KING TUT'S Folk punk from the UK. FUZZ LIGHTYEAR THE HUG AND PINT Punk from Leeds.

ANDREA VANZO ST LUKE'S Post-minimalism from Bologna.

THE NORTHERN BOYS ROOM 2 Rap from the UK. HEMLOCK (THE SABBATS + LOST IN TRANSLATION + REVELATION 23)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Rock from Scotland.

MUSICALL: MOVE ON UP THE GLAD CAFE

Showcase for Glasgow music charity

Wed 10 Dec

KENNYHOOPLA + GIRLFRIENDS

CATHOUSE Pop from the US.

ORANGE GOBLIN THE GARAGE Stoner metal from London. STEREOPHONICS

THE OVO HYDRO Rock from Wales.

OH MY GOD! IT'S THE CHURCH

KING TUT'S Funk.

THREE DAYS GRACE

O2 ACADEMY Rock from Canada.

HOUSE GOSPEL CHOIR

ST LUKE'S House gospel from London. CG5 SWG3

Singer-songwriter from the US.

MAX FRY (SUISSIDE)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie from Florida.

Thu 11 Dec

PEACH CRUMB (RUBY GAINES + CHRIS MCCRORY) MONO Indie pop from Glasgow. AMY MACDONALD (BETTER JOY) THE OVO HYDRO Folk rock from Scotland. HAIVER ORAN MOR Indie rock from Glasgow. BLAIR DAVIE (DIRTY BLOND)

KING TUT'S Singer-songwriter from Scotland. BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB O2 ACADEMY Rock from the US. HAMISH HAWK (CLOTH + GOODNIGHT LOUISA)

BARROWLANDS Indie from Edinburgh. THE MAGIC NUMBERS SWG3 Indie pop from the UK. PLANT SCIENCE + HIGH STREET + BLUEJAYD SWG3 Local lineup. SALARYMEN NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie from Sydney. DEAN OWENS & THE SINNERS THE GLAD CAFE Desert noir.

Fri 12 Dec

CREEPING BENT: PORT SULPHUR + THE LEOPARDS + THE BLUEBELLS + THE SECRET GOLDFISH + JAMES KIRK MONO Eclectic lineup. SANCTUM SANCTORIUM THE GARAGE Metal. AMY MACDONALD (BETTER JOY)

THE OVO HYDRO Folk rock from Scotland. THE SLOW READER'S CLUB ORAN MOR Rock from Manchester. LACUNA (ISABELLA STRANGE + WAVERLEY.)

KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow. THE CHARLATANS BARROWLANDS Rock from the UK.

SIMON JOYNER THE HUG AND PINT Rock from Omaha.

THE TWANG ST LUKE'S Indie rock from the UK.

HIGH FADE QMU Funk from Scotland.

JOE GOODALL SWG3

Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

CLAY RINGS

NICE 'N' SLEAZY

Rock from Glasgow. OMO (CUTTY'S GYM + RHINS)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY

Sludge metal from Glasgow.

FORMER CHAMP

STEREO Alt rock from Glasgow. Sat 13 Dec

CASKETS

CATHOUSE Rock from Leeds.

RACHEL NEWNHAM

THE GARAGE Indie from Southport.

GUN BARROWLANDS Hard rock from Scotland. THE CLAUSE

ST LUKE'S Indie from Birmingham.

FIRST LADY (AKAPO + MALLET SPACE)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Soul from Glasgow.

Sun 14 Dec

SWALLOW THE SUN

CATHOUSE

Death doom from Finland. OF MICE & MEN

THE GARAGE Rock from California.

SCRATCHCARD

WEDNESDAY

KING TUT'S Pop from Scotland. TOM MEIGHAN BARROWLANDS Rock from Kasabian. CLASSIFIEDS + LAGOMORPH + DANIEL MORRISON NEIL THE HUG AND PINT Eclectic lineup. QUADECA ST LUKE'S Alt indie from the US. THXSOMCH SWG3 Singer-songwriter from Toronto.

ROSE ROOM

THE GLAD CAFE Jazz from Glasgow.

Mon 15 Dec

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES SWG3 Pop from Wales.

Tue 16 Dec

MAJESTY PALM (BRONTES + SACUL) KING TUT'S Pop from Glasgow. NECK DEEP BARROWLANDS Pop punk from Wales. IDER ST LUKE'S Singer-songwriter from London. DEAN MCG + RUGER 0151 SWG3 Eclectic lineup. JAZZ AT THE GLAD: HOMELANDS THE GLAD CAFE Jazz quartet led by Alicia Gardener-Trejo.

Wed 17 Dec

SPIKE AND THE GIMME GIMMES THE GARAGE Punk rock from San Francisco. TOM MCRAE KING TUT'S Indie from Marlborough. CIAN DUCROT (ANNIKA KILKENNY) O2 ACADEMY Singer-songwriter from Ireland. THE MARY WALLOPERS BARROWLANDS Folk from Ireland. SKINNY LIVING SWG3 Indie soul from Wakefield. SWAGFEST NICE 'N' SLEAZY Metal from Glasgow. Thu 18 Dec CLUTCH O2 ACADEMY Rock from Maryland. THE MARY WALLOPERS BARROWLANDS Folk from Ireland. AMELIA BAYLER AND THE SNACKS THE HUG AND PINT Comedy punk. MICO SWG3 Indie pop from Toronto. THE DUNTS SWG3 Punk from Scotland. IO (KING NOBODY + INJECTION DOOM + SERPENT) NICE 'N' SLEAZY Rock from Birmingham. Fri 19 Dec ROSS LEIGHTON KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow.

Regular Glasgow club nights

The Rum Shack

SATURDAYS (LAST OF EVERY OTHER MONTH)

VOCAL OR VERSION, 21:00

Wed 31 Dec

Sun 7 Dec

SATURDAYS

SUBCULTURE, 23:00

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

Vintage Jamaican music on original vinyl by resident DJs and guests. Sub Club FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

Regular Edinburgh club nights

Cabaret

Voltaire

FRIDAYS

FLY CLUB, 23:00

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

SATURDAYS

PLEASURE, 23:00

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

Sneaky Pete’s

MONDAYS

RIDE N BOUNCE, 23:00

R‘n’B, pop, rap and hip-hop bangers every Monday.

TUESDAYS

RARE, 23:00

House, UKG and occasional techno from special guest DJs and rising locals.

THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

VOLENS CHORUS, 23:00

Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook.

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

HOT MESS, 23:00

A night for queer people and their friends.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

SOUL JAM, 23:00

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

SUNDAYS

POSTAL, 23:00

Bass, breaks, grime and more from a selection of Cowgate all stars.

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.

THE MARY WALLOPERS

BARROWLANDS Folk from Ireland. YOGI-G AND THE FAMILY TREE (YON MON) THE HUG AND PINT Rock from Manchester. MICHAEL MARCAGI (EVAN HONER) QMU Singer-songwriter from the US.

DRINK THE SEA ROOM 2 Rock. THE HIGHSCHOOL PROPHETS

SWG3 Folk from Ireland.

DIVING HORSE (JORDAN FYFE)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie pop from Glasgow. Sat 20 Dec

THE WAKES

KING TUT'S Rock from Glasgow.

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

FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)

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.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)

MESSENGER, 23.00

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

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

CHROMATIC, 23.00

Championing all things UKG, grime, dubstep, bass and more, with disco, funk and soul from Mumbo Jumbo upstairs.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

PULSE, 23.00

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

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

HOBBES MUSIC X CLUB

NACHT, 23:00

A collaboration between

THE MARY WALLOPERS

BARROWLANDS Folk from Ireland. THE SUPERNATURALS ST LUKE'S Indie rock from Glasgow. THE SILENCERS SWG3 Pop rock from Scotland. ROSIE ALICE SWG3 Pop from Scotland. MIKI BERENYI TRIO (FO MACHETE)

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Shoegaze from the UK. HOW TO SWIM STEREO Pop rock from Scotland. MICHAEL CASSIDY THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.

Sun 21 Dec

PAT HAMILTON KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow.

longrunning club night and Edinburgh record label ft. house, techno, electro, UKG and bass.

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

REWIND, 22:30

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

The Hive

MONDAYS POPTASTIC, 22:00 Pop, requests and throwbacks to get your week off to an energetic start.

TUESDAYS TRASH TUESDAY, 22:00

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

WEDNESDAYS

COOKIE WEDNESDAY, 22:00 90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.

THURSDAYS

HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY, 22:00 Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY, 22:00

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM, 22:00 Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SUNDAYS

SECRET SUNDAY, 22:00

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

Subway Cowgate

MONDAYS

TRACKS, 21:00

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

TUESDAYS

TAMAGOTCHI, 22:00

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

WEDNESDAYS

TWISTA, 22:00

Banger after banger all night long.

THURSDAYS

FLIRTY, 22:00

Pop, cheese and chart.

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS, 22:00

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

SATURDAYS

SLICE SATURDAY, 22:00

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS

SUNDAY SERVICE, 22:00

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

The Mash House

TUESDAYS MOVEMENT, 20:00

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

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN, 23:00

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

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

PULSE, 23:00

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

THE BLUEBELLS ORAN MOR New Wave from Scotland.

Fri 2 Jan

PAPERCUT PEACH

KING TUT'S Blues rock from Glasgow.

Edinburgh Music

Mon 1 Dec

BEAUX GRIS GRIS & THE APOCALYPSE THE VOODOO ROOMS Roots rock from California. SIMEON CHIEN & THE NOISY BOYS (THE WHITE NILE) BANNERMANS Noise from the UK.

BRÒGEAL THE CAVES Folk from Falkirk.

SPACESTATION (THE HERONS)

SNEAKY PETE'S Psych-rock from Iceland.

Tue 2 Dec

TONY CHRISTIE THE VOODOO ROOMS Schlager from the UK. BRÒGEAL THE CAVES Folk from Falkirk. THE WOMBATS

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Indie rock from Liverpool.

AIROSPACE (SCOTTISH GABBER PUNK + KAKIHARA)

SNEAKY PETE'S Hip-hop from Atlanta.

Wed 3 Dec

CAITLIN KRISKO & THE BROADCAST BANNERMANS Roots and blues.

EROTIC SECRETS OF POMPEII

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk from Bristol.

AMPLIFI: UNINVITED + LAMAYA

THE QUEEN'S HALL Pop and rock from the UK.

Thu 4 Dec

CAST

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Indie rock from Liverpool.

CUSP SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock from Milton Keynes.

MARK BRZEZICKI'S BIG COUNTRY

LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Scotland.

MALIN LEWIS PRESENTS: FLOOK + MALIN LEWIS + SIAN THE QUEEN'S HALL Eclectic folk lineup.

Fri 5 Dec

MARCONI UNION

VIKING SKULL (RAZOR

SHARP DEATH BLIZZARD)

BANNERMANS

Heavy metal from Corby. ABOVE & BEYOND (PROFF + GRUM)

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Electro from the UK.

JARAD ROWAN THE MASH HOUSE Folk from Galloway.

Mon 8 Dec

THE ICICLE WORKS THE VOODOO ROOMS Rock from Liverpool.

Tue 9 Dec

WOOM SNEAKY PETE'S Ambient folk from London.

Wed 10 Dec

SCOTTY AUSTIN

BANNERMANS Rock from the US.

SALARYMEN (HER PICTURE)

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie from Sydney.

Thu 11 Dec

LUKE COMBS

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Country from the US. COWBOY HUNTERS

SNEAKY PETE'S Punk from Edinburgh.

Fri 12 Dec

PESTILENCE (DAMIM)

BANNERMANS Death metal from Holland. THE ZEBECKS SNEAKY PETE'S Indie from Glasgow. PORKPIE (PRETTY GREEN)

THE QUEEN'S HALL Ska from Scotland.

Sat 13 Dec

FOG BANDITS

SNEAKY PETE'S Rock from Glasgow.

CREEPING BENT (GARETH SAGER + NECTARINE NO. 9 + MACKENZIES + THE SEXUAL OBJECTS) THE WEE RED BAR Indie and alternative.

Sun 14 Dec

AYNSLEY LISTER THE CAVES Blues rock from Leicester.

LAURA STEVENSON (EZRA BRIGGS) SNEAKY PETE'S Singer-songwriter from New York.

CARA DILLON THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from Northern Ireland. UNDER THE SURFACE THE MASH HOUSE Jazz folk from the Netherlands.

Mon 15 Dec

THE JIG SHOW THE WEE RED BAR Folk.

Fri 19 Dec

THE BROTHERS FIFE SUMMERHALL Folk from Scotland. MIKI BERENYI TRIO (F.O. MACHETE)

SNEAKY PETE'S Dreampop from London.

PHIL CUNNINGHAM'S CHRISTMAS SONGBOOK THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from the UK.

STALLION THE MASH HOUSE Country from Scotland.

Sat 20 Dec

BIG COUNTRY THE LIQUID ROOM Rock from Scotland. THE CORDS (HOMEWORK + THE CATBURGERS) THE WEE RED BAR Indie and alternative.

BADLY DRAWN BOY THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock from the UK.

BETTY BOO THE MASH HOUSE Hip-hop from London.

Sun 21 Dec

PHIL CUNNINGHAM'S CHRISTMAS SONGBOOK THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from the UK.

Mon 22 Dec

CHINA CRISIS THE VOODOO ROOMS Rock from Liverpool. THE IRRESISTIBLE URGES (DOLLSTOY + ZOO THE GROUP) BANNERMANS Rock from Edinburgh. DEL AMITRI USHER HALL Alt rock from Scotland.

PHIL CUNNINGHAM'S CHRISTMAS SONGBOOK THE QUEEN'S HALL Folk from the UK.

Tue 23 Dec

ELEPHANT SESSIONS USHER HALL Folk trad from the Highlands.

Sat 27 Dec

THE LAST FIGHT (WE CRY WOLF + LOLLAPOLOSERS) BANNERMANS Rock from Fife.

SKERRYVORE EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Trad from Scotland.

Sun 28 Dec

PARTY FEARS THREE LA BELLE ANGELE Synth pop from Scotland. Mon 29 Dec

Fri 5 Dec

BROGEAL BEAT GENERATOR LIVE! Folk from Falkirk.

Sat 6 Dec IDLEWILD LIVEHOUSE Indie from Scotland.

Glasgow Clubs

Thu 4 Dec

VARSITY 03: GEMS X DEMS X PARADE MOVEMBER FUNDRAISER SUB CLUB Techno and house. FUNK THE SYSTEM THE BERKELEY SUITE House, disco and funk. OXIDE PRESENTS: NIHASA + RITA DC + AIOLOS + FINNMAK NICE 'N' SLEAZY Techno.

Fri 5 Dec

RARE CLUB: SKREAM B2B KRYSTAL KLEAR SUB CLUB Techno.

LEZURE 083: KT + CARMEN BAIA + DARUSH + BART. + SLOAN OF LEZURE LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and house. ABRUPT PRESENTS SCULLY B2B CONOR HUGHES ROOM 2 Techno and gabber. GIRLS DON'T SYNC SWG3 Electronica. EGREGORE EXIT

Experimental. NUMBERS: BLAWAN HEKT + OK WILLIAMS + NATALIE SPENCER + TOM BOOGIZM THE ART SCHOOL House. QUEER THEORY NICE 'N' SLEAZY Queer club. RINSE FM X STEREO: ARTHI + YEMZA STEREO Bass and club.

THE MARY WALLOPERS

BARROWLANDS Folk from Ireland. CHINA CRISIS THE OLD FRUITMARKET Rock from Liverpool. CASSANI, CAMPBELL & STEPHEN THE GLAD CAFE Jazz and improvisational.

Mon 22 Dec

HOTHOUSE FLOWERS BARROWLANDS Rock from Ireland. EAGERMAN

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Indie from Glasgow. SCHEME HING TAKEOVER

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Hip-hop and grime.

Tue 23 Dec

DEL AMITRI

BARROWLANDS Alt rock from Scotland.

Sat 27 Dec

HAZY SUNDAYS

NICE 'N' SLEAZY Indie rock from Glasgow.

Sun 28 Dec

TONTO

KING TUT'S Indie from Scotland. THE VINTAGE EXPLOSION

BARROWLANDS Soul rock from the UK. CHRIS ANDREUCCI

ST LUKE'S Country from Scotland.

Mon 29 Dec

CALUM KERR THE GARAGE Indie from Musselburgh. CALUM KERR

ORAN MOR Indie from Musselburgh.

SAN JOSE

KING TUT'S Psych folk from Scotland. HEAVY BEVERAGE (THE EMBERS)

THE GLAD CAFE MAP fundraiser.

Tue 30 Dec

ASK ALICE KING TUT'S Indie from Scotland.

SNEAKY PETE'S Ambient from Manchester.

MIK ARTISTIK'S EGO TRIP THE WEE RED BAR Indie rock.

Sat 6 Dec

SARAH/SHAUN THE BONGO CLUB Dream pop from Edinburgh. ACOLYTE (RAVELSTON)

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Experimental from Edinburgh.

RESTRICTED CODE (BIG LANES)

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk from Glasgow. ACE & ALL THE ANIMALS

THE MASH HOUSE Singer-songwriter from Edinburgh. QUEER AS PUNK WITH THUNDERMOON, GRAVELLE, DEMI & THE URGE THE WEE RED BAR Synth pop from Scotland.

DR. ROBERT & MATT DEIGHTON THE VOODOO ROOMS Psych folk. CULLODEN (VICTORIOUS + REKENDYKE)

BANNERMANS Heavy metal from Newcastle.

JENNIFER WALTON SNEAKY PETE'S Experimental from London.

Tue 16 Dec

SHACK LA BELLE ANGELE Alternative rock from Liverpool.

Thu 18 Dec

GUNS AT BRUNCH (FIGHT ROBOTS FIGHT + THE MENAGERIE)

BANNERMANS Indie from Edinburgh. MEGAN BLACK (NIKHITA + CORIN) SNEAKY PETE'S Feminist pop from Scotland.

BAD MANNERS LA BELLE ANGELE Two-tone and ska from London.

Sat 3 Jan

THE FAUVES (STOATERS + THE FRAUDS) BANNERMANS Rock from Australia.

Dundee

Music

Thu 4 Dec

COWBOY HUNTERS BEAT GENERATOR LIVE! Punk from Scotland.

Sat 6 Dec RP X SB: KODE9 + TOUMBA + ANIKONIK B2B LEWIS LOWE + SOF SOF B2B ZOLF THE FLYING DUCK Footwork and jungle. KIN—TU04: DJ FUCKOFF + DJ FLUFFIE + TEKHOLE + MAVEEN THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno. WRONG PARTY! PRESENTS INTERGALACTIC GARY LA CHEETAH CLUB House and electro. SHUGZ X MATTY RALPH SWG3 Techno. DON'T FORGET TO EXIT: DJ GONZ + RRRKRTA + VÍZ + SUNFEAR + ALLIYAH ENYO + JAYJAY EXIT Experimental. ACT NATURAL NICE 'N' SLEAZY Italo disco. DUSTY DAN 'ND GLASGOW PALS STEREO Techno and bass. Sun 7 Dec SUB CLUB PRESENTS: THE BLESSED MADONNA +

Wed 10 Dec

ANJUNADEEP GLASGOW SUB CLUB Deep house. KORE 9 NICE 'N' SLEAZY Latin.

Thu 11 Dec

PAIGE TOMLINSON + CÉLESTE // FLY GLASGOW

SUB CLUB House and tech house. VICE VERSA

PRESENTS BARON

VON TRAX

THE BERKELEY SUITE Trance and techno.

BRAVE (LAZLO + LG +

ORLA HALLIGAN + JOHANN) - FUNDRAISER FOR UKRAINE STEREO Bass and techno.

Fri 12 Dec

GULLYGULLY: LAUREN

DUFFUS + CHIZU

NNAMDI + RAIVO SLOAN THE FLYING DUCK Experimental and R'n'B. I LOVE ACID PRESENTS LUKE VIBERT THE BERKELEY SUITE House and acid. LA CHEETAH CLUB

HOT FAT NICE 'N' SLEAZY Hip-hop and techno. FUSE GLA 9TH

BIRTHDAY X TECTONIC SOUND

20TH ANNIVERSARY: PINCH + BEATRICE M. + V.I.V.E.K

STEREO Dubstep and bass.

Sat 13 Dec

STEW001: ACIDOCIELO + KINZ

LUIZ + NORTHSTAR + SAPARILLA + SPXO

THE FLYING DUCK Bass and experimental. OPTIMO (ESPACIO)

GLASGOW RESIDENCY THE BERKELEY SUITE Disco and industrial. ABYSS: CASSY ROOM 2 Techno and house. EXIT: BABYSCHÖN + ELAZER + SAEKO KILLY EXIT Hyperpop.

POLKA DOT DISCO CLUB & FEMMEDM PRESENT: CHRISTMAS CABARET WITH SALLY C THE ART SCHOOL House and club.

PARADISE: ACT I (DJ TINYHANDZ + HUNTRESS + DJ

HOTWATERBOTTLE B2B JORDANPORDAN + LUXX + NORTH STAR)

STEREO Techno and hardcore.

Wed 17 Dec

GCFS X THE BERKELEY SUITE THE BERKELEY SUITE House and techno.

PRTY: KLOFAMA THE ART SCHOOL Techno and gabber.

DEEPER LOVE: UNDERCURRENT + AURE + MONTY LA CHEETAH CLUB House and disco.

BREAK, RINSE, REPEAT NICE 'N' SLEAZY Jungle.

Thu 18 Dec

BREATHE: CRAZY P SUB CLUB House and electro. SOUND FOUND THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno and acid. THE 909 SOCIETY NICE 'N' SLEAZY House.

DATACLASH: IRL AFTER PARTY STEREO Techno and dubstep.

Fri 19 Dec

CÉLESTE W/ THELMA THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno and house. EZUP 12TH BIRTHDAY WITH BASHKKA LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and house.

MISFITS XMAS PARTY: BEN NICKY + DARREN STYLES SWG3 Techno.

PRTY: NEEK THE ART SCHOOL Techno and gabber. CASUAL LOOK NICE 'N' SLEAZY House and disco.

SERVE! X STEREO: OFFICE XMAS PARTY FT. MYKKI BLANCO STEREO House and ballroom.

Sat 20 Dec VI: 005: CLERIC + QUAIL + JOSH HUNTER THE FLYING DUCK Techno.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT: LEZZER QUEST + BLAIR BASIL B2B JP THE BERKELEY SUITE Disco. EVENIN' XMAS PARTY LA CHEETAH CLUB House.

THE OLD SCHOOL R&B SLOW JAMS WINTER FESTIVAL SWG3 R'n'B. JORDAN PEAK SWG3 House. EXIT CLUB EXIT Techno.

U-PHORIA NICE 'N' SLEAZY Techno and trance.

Fri 26 Dec

AF21: SETAOC MASS + IGNEZ + QUAIL SUB CLUB Techno.

Sat 27 Dec

I LOVE YOUR ENERGY: AUSTIN ATO + AUNTIE FLO THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno and house. EAST END DUBS SWG3 Dub.

Sun 28 Dec

STREETRAVE FESTIVE SOIREE SUB CLUB House.

PRADA2000 SWG3 Hard trance.

Wed 31 Dec

DRIP NYE THE FLYING DUCK Techno and electro. JAIVA NYE: BUTHOTHEWARRIOR THE FLYING DUCK Jazz and Afro house. VOCAL OR VERSION NYE REGGAE DANCE: GRACE OF SPADES + JAKE MILLER + DOC MURDOC THE RUM SHACK Dub and dancehall.

NEW YEAR'S EVEBODYHEAT PARTY:

JOY ORBISON B2B BEN

UFO SWG3 House and techno.

EXIT HOGMANAY

EXIT House and techno.

PONYBOY NYE THE ART SCHOOL Hyperpop and techno.

SCANDAL.GLA X STEREO NYE

STEREO R'n'B and hip-hop.

HOGMANAY AT THE GLAD (EYVE + DIJA + INTIBINT + MAVEEN + RIA ANDREWS) THE GLAD CAFE

R'n'B and hip-hop.

Edinburgh Clubs

Wed 3 Dec

YBZ: RYOTA SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

Thu 4 Dec

SKREAM B2B KRYSTAL KLEAR SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Fri 5 Dec

DISORDER PRESENTS:

T>I (CRITICAL MUSIC / SOFA SOUND) THE BONGO CLUB Drum 'n' bass.

MORNING FACTORY:

RAVELSTON + ST.

SUNDAY PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and deep house.

BALKANARAMA LA BELLE ANGELE Balkan.

Sat 6 Dec

SOUR THE WEE RED BAR Queer club.

CAB VOL PRESENTS: STREET ASSIST

FUNDRAISER CABARET VOLTAIRE Trance and house. AUSTIN ATO + MAIRI B POTS B2B HOBBES THE BONGO CLUB House and disco. THE BEAT LAUNDRY'S ACID KANTINA PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and acid. EHFM SNEAKY PETE'S Club.

SO FETCH - 2000S PARTY XMAS SPECIAL LA BELLE ANGELE Pop.

Thu 11 Dec

HIDDEN CTRL CABARET VOLTAIRE Hip-hop and R'n'B.

Fri 12 Dec

AUTUMNS THE WEE RED BAR Industrial and electro.

MANTLE: CARRÉ SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

REGGAETON PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE Reggaeton. LAGOS PARTY THE MASH HOUSE Afrobeat.

Sat 13 Dec

NOSTALGIA #2 CABARET VOLTAIRE House.

SPECTRUM PRESENTS

UTAH SAINTS + MR C PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and acid.

HAND-MADE WITH LOVE: MILLOS KAISER SNEAKY PETE'S House.

SWIFTOGEDDON LA BELLE ANGELE Pop.

PARDEE BASS THE MASH HOUSE Multi-genre.

Wed 17 Dec

RED ROOM SOUND: MELLA DEE SNEAKY PETE'S House. Thu 18 Dec

AGORA SNEAKY PETE'S Techno.

Fri 19 Dec

DISCOTIA SNEAKY PETE'S Disco. BOOGIE WONDERLAND LA BELLE ANGELE Disco.

Sat 20 Dec

DECADE DOES... DIVORCED DAD ROCK LA BELLE ANGELE Rock. THE ONION CELLAR THE WEE RED BAR Indie and post-punk.

NIGHTVISION: PATRICK TOPPING THE LIQUID ROOM House. THE MIRROR DANCE SNEAKY PETE'S Disco.

Fri 26 Dec

BONGO BOXINGDAY RAVE: OVERGROUND THE BONGO CLUB Techno and jungle. TELFORT'S GOOD PLACE SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Sat 27 Dec EPIKA: LINDSEY HERBERT THE BONGO CLUB Techno. DEEP EXCURSIONS: LINKWOOD + CRAIG SMITH PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Techno and house.

Wed 31 Dec

NYE FLY HOGMANAY WITH LOCKLEAD & PAPA NUGS THE CAVES House and deep house. LIKE THIS NYE PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and acid. SNEAKS NEW YEARS EVE SNEAKY PETE'S House. HEADSET NYE THE MASH HOUSE Multi-genre. SAMEDIA TROPICAL SOUND CLASH LA BELLE ANGELE Afro-latin. SLÀINTE MHATH HOGMANAY LEITH CRICKET CLUB House, disco and electro. Thu 1 Jan MILE HIGH CLUB BOXING DAY SNEAKY PETE'S Techno.

Sat 13 Dec

DISCO LOVE AFFAIR: DICKY TRISCO + NATASHA KITTY KATT CANVAS Disco.

Sat 20 Dec

DAY MOVES WITH AMYELLE NOLA BAR Techno.

Glasgow Comedy

The Glee Club ROSIE JONES: I CAN'T TELL WHAT SHE IS SAYING

WED 3 DEC

Join self-professed prick and star of Taskmaster Rosie Jones as she heads back out on the road with her brand-new stand-up show.

The Old Hairdressers

HAROLD NIGHT

TUE 2 DEC

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold. Feat. Saved By The Beep and With Bits!

HAMISH NIGHT

TUE 2 DEC

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold. Featuring tubducky and Smoking Cat!

BOUNCE HOUSE: SOLVES EVERYTHING

TUE 9 DEC

Solving all of the petty squabbles they come across with improv comedy.

SPREAD: UNDER THE COVERS

TUE 9 DEC

Improvised comedy inspired by print media.

COUCH SURFS THE WEB

TUE 16 DEC

A night of improv comedy where Couch looks up bad reviews of places the audience have been to.

GIT IMPROV CAGE MATCH

TUE 16 DEC

Two improv teams battle to be crowned champions of the Glasgow Improv Theatre this month. Audience decide who wins!

Oran Mor

JOSIE LONG: NOW IS THE TIME OF MONSTERS

FRI 5 DEC

A show about extinct, gigantic, charismatic megafauna from three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee.

Edinburgh Comedy

The Queen's Hall

SAM CAMPBELL + TIM

KEY + JOSIE LONG + AMY GLEDHILL: LIVE AT CHRISTMAS SAT 13 DEC Festive comedy lineup.

The Gilded Saloon

THE COMEDY SHOW (GIULIA GALASTRO + ROBIN GRAINGER + IFRAH QURESHI + ORO ROSE + CHRIS THORNBURN)

FRI 5 DEC

Mixed bill of stand-up comedy.

AMADAN & MORTAIR

KILL THE KING

THU 11 DEC

A comedic play by Tartan Tabletop.

THE COMEDY SHOW (AMY MATTHEWS + TAMSYN KELLY + AMELIA BAYLER + SABINA + KRYSTAL EVANS) FRI 12 DEC Mixed bill of stand-up comedy.

HOT COMEDY (NICHOLAS ELLIOTT + EVA PERONI) SUN 14 DEC

Mixed bill of stand-up comedy.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: LOVE ACTUALLY WED 17 DEC

Love Actually is run through translation software and read on stage by comedians seeing the script for the first time.

THE COMEDY SHOW (SAM LAKE + KATHLEEN HUGHES + ALANA JACKSON + SEAN CHALMERS + STUART MCPHERSON)

SAT 20 DEC

Mixed bill of stand-up comedy.

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club

LIAM WITHNAIL: BIG STRONG BOY

SAT 6 DEC

The hit Fringe show about dropping everything and moving to Edinburgh.

GEOFFREY CHAUCERS

MEDIAEVAL CHRISTMAS FESTIVITYE 2025! THURS 11 DEC

John-Luke Roberts returns with his annual night of festive carousing hosted by the great poot Geoffrey Chaucer.

PADDY YOUNG: A NIGHT WITH THE STARS SAT 13 DEC

As promised, Paddy Young is joined by a host of stars, including Dan Tiernan and Sam Campbell.

Glasgow Theatre Citizens Theatre

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

TUE 2 DEC-WED 31 DEC

An enchanting production of the beloved fairytale marks a return for the Citizens Christmas show.

THE GIFT

SAT 6 DEC-SUN 28 DEC

Sweet family dance and fun from Barrowland Ballet.

Oran Mor

IT'S A WONDERFUL

LIFE...MOSTLY

MON 15 DEC-SUN 28 DEC

A twist on the classic Christmas film, filled with laughs.

MARY DOLL POPPINS

TUE 25 NOV-SUN 4 JAN

Mary Poppins is given a hilarious modern twist –think a father obsessed with crypto, kids that can't get off their phones, and a nanny that's nothing like Julie Andrews.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

TUE 2 DEC-FRI 5 DEC

What could be more festive than blood and gore?

Final year musical theatre students stage a stunning version of Stephen Sondheim's classic.

The King's Theatre

THE LITTLE MERMAID

SAT 22 NOV-SUN 4 JAN

Join Glasgow panto superstars Elaine C Smith and Johnny Mac as they dive into the ocean for this year's Christmas show.

Theatre Royal HAMILTON WED 29 OCT-SAT 27 DEC

Head to the room where it happens in this global musical sensation.

ICE DRAGON MON 1 DEC-FRI 12 DEC

The four seasonal dragons find adventure in this family friendly play.

SCOTTISH BALLET: THE SNOW QUEEN SAT 3 JAN-SAT 17 JAN

A lavish production of the winter classic with music from Rimsky-Korsakov.

Tramway

SCOTTISH BALLET PRESENTS WEE NUTCRACKER FRI 12 DEC-WED 24 DEC

Tchaikovsky's ballet is specially adapted for little ones in this festive family spectacle.

Tron Theatre

GALLUS IN WEEGIELAND

WED 19 NOV-SUN 4 JAN

Johnny McKnight's annual Christmas Panto descends upon the Tron.

Edinburgh

Theatre

Assembly Roxy

CXCAMPBELL AERIAL

CABARET

SUN 7 DEC

A thrilling showcase of skills on trapeze, hoops, silks and more.

Festival

Theatre

SCOTTISH BALLET: THE SNOW QUEEN

UNTIL SUN 7 DEC

A lavish production of the winter classic with music from Rimsky-Korsakov.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

SAT 13 DEC-SUN 11 JAN

Jack climbs a beanstalk of enormous proportions in this Christmas panto.

Royal Lyceum

Theatre

CINDERELLA: A FAIRYTALE

THU 27 NOV-SAT 3 JAN

Music, puppetry and performance bring the classic fairytale to fresh life.

Studio Theatre

SNOWY

WED 17 DEC-WED 31 DEC

Snowy the pup goes on a magical adventure of friendship and fun.

Summerhall

SNOW WHITE COMES TO SUMMERHALL

THU 11 DEC-SUN 14 DEC

Summerhall hosts its first ever pantomime, with sassy mirrors and stepmaws a plenty.

THE ELF THAT WASN’T ELFING

SAT 20 DEC-MON 22 DEC

A magical family show set in Santa's workshop.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

MAMMA MIA!

TUE 9 DEC-SUN 4 JAN

Beloved jukebox musical telling the tale of paternal intrigue through the music of ABBA.

The Gilded Saloon

SHORT ATTENTION

SPAN THEATRE

WED 3 DEC

Theatre performance of six short plays.

WHO'S AFRAID OF SANTA CLAUS?

THU 18 DEC

Traverse Theatre

UNTETHERED: A REHEARSED READING

SAT 6 DEC

A new staged reading of a woman unaware of her death.

FINDING BALANCE: WINTER

TUE 16 DEC

A scratch night of new texts and works.

DANCING SHOES

THU 4 DEC-SAT 20 DEC

A heartfelt tale of friendship and masculinity, as a leaked video of a dance routine threatens to upend a community.

4PLAY

THU 11 DEC-SAT 13 DEC

Four starts to new plays from up and coming writers in Scotland.

Dundee Theatre

Dundee Rep

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

SAT 29 NOV-TUE 30 DEC

Caroline the Highland cow brings a bold new twist to this panto adaptation of the classic fairy tale.

Glasgow Art

Common Guild

PENG ZUQIANG:

AFTERNOON HEARSAY

UNTIL 7 DEC

The first solo exhibition by the artist in Scotland centres on a new threechannel film installation of the same name, co-commissioned by The Common Guild and the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai.

GoMA

JOHN AKOMFRAH: MIMESIS: AFRICAN

SOLDIER

UNTIL 20 APR

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.

THE MILKY WAY

UNTIL 9 JAN

Part of a touring exhibition looking at the culture of infant feeding in public spaces.

STILL GLASGOW

UNTIL 13 JUN

An extensive exhibition using photography to look at Glasgow's past and present.

Ingleby Gallery

CHARLES AVERY: THE EIDOLORAMA

UNTIL 20 DEC

Abstract, world-building paintings in which simple pictorial forms which combine to form more complex and charismatic structures.

Platform

ALAN DIMMICK:

DAYTRIPPING

UNTIL 1 JAN

Exhibition by local photographer examining the importance of daytrips in and around Scotland.

South Block

MATT SILLARS:

FRAGMENTS: THE RAINFOREST AND THE GHOST WOOD

UNTIL 8 DEC

Street Level

Photoworks

NATIONHOOD:

MEMORY AND HOPE

UNTIL 8 FEB

A group exhibition celebrating the diversity of the UK.

The Modern Institute

LEWIS MILLER: A DOLL'S ROOM

UNTIL 14 JAN

Models of domestic and interior life explore ideas of social convention, blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction.

WILLIAM E JONES: IT

ONLY LOOKS AS IF IT

HURTS

UNTIL 14 JAN

16mm advertising films from the 1960s scratched over and handpainted explore the materiality of commercial products.

CHRIS JOHANSON

UNTIL 14 JAN

A new suite of paintings made from reclaimed materials evoke feelings of harmony and peace.

Tramway

LEAP THEN LOOK: PLAY INTERACT EXPLORE

UNTIL 11 MAY

An exhibition of interactive artworks created by artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie.

RAE-YEN SONG

UNTIL 24 AUG

Glasgow artist transforms Tramway’s vast gallery space into a sub-aquatic world, which serves simultaneously as a spectacle, a memorial and a refuge.

Edinburgh

Art

City Art Centre

MICHAEL FULLERTON

UNTIL 1 MAR

A new body of paintings by Glasgow-born artist, as well as prints and works selected from the City Art Centre Collections.

Collective

Gallery

SHEN XIN: HIGHLAND

EMBASSY

UNTIL 21 DEC

Three projects by artist and filmmaker that use storytelling to explore themes of migration and indigenous communities.

Dovecot

Studios

IKEA: MAGICAL PATTERNS

UNTIL 17 JAN

An innovative exhibition exploring six decades of textile design by IKEA and the development of interior design.

PICKING UP THE THREAD: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF TAPESTRY

UNTIL 14 FEB

68 artists from nine countries present over 90 tapestries in The British Tapestry Group’s celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Fruitmarket

JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE

SMITH: WILDING

UNTIL 1 FEB

The first posthumous exhibition in a public gallery or museum of the work of the artist, activist, curator and enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

The Stand

Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

Host Billy Kirkwood & guests act entirely on your suggestions.

TUESDAYS RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Glee Club

FRIDAYS FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

SATURDAYS SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

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

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

The Stand

Edinburgh

MONDAYS RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

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

THURSDAYS THE BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY, 20:30

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians.

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

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

Jupiter Artland

GEORG WILSON: THE EARTH EXHALES

UNTIL 1 MAR

Folkloric, eerie paintings imagining a wild natural landscape untouched by humanity, and the inherent autonomy of the nonhuman.

TAI SHANI: THE SPELL OR THE DREAM

UNTIL 1 SEP

A new sculpture by Turner-prize winning artist, in which a luminous giant figures lies and breathes gently in Jupiter Artland's orchard space.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Edinburgh

FUNGI SESSIONS

UNTIL 11 JAN

The premiere of Edinburghborn composer Hannah Read’s albums The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 as an audiovisual installation.

RSA: Royal Scottish Academy

THE CHRISTMAS SHOW

UNTIL 22 DEC

The RSA's annual winter show, presenting work by Royal Scottish Academicians, many offered at an affordable price.

NATURE TURNS

UNTIL 18 JAN

Bringing together painting, print, drawing, photography and sculpture, this exhibition explores solace in the natural world.

SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel

Comedy Club

SECOND AND THIRD

TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

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

WEDNESDAYS

TOP BANANA, 19:00

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

THURSDAYS SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00

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

FRIDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

FRIDAYS

DATING CRAPP, 22:00 Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Farmers Only...Come and laugh as some of Scotland’s best improvisers join forces to perform based off two audience members dating profiles.

SATURDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

SUNDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

RESISTANCE: HOW PROTEST SHAPED BRITAIN AND PHOTOGRAPHY

SHAPED PROTEST

UNTIL 4 JAN

An unmissable exhibition conceived by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen.

Scottish Portrait Gallery

ALFRED BUCKHAM: DAREDEVIL PHOTOGRAPHER

UNTIL 19 APR

Take to the skies in this extraordinary exhibition looking at the life and work of the pioneering 20thcentury aerial photographer.

Stills Gallery

FELICITY HAMMOND: VARIATIONS V4: REPOSITORY UNTIL 7 FEB

Staged in four venues across the UK, this exhibition is an evolving installation exploring the relationship between geological mining and data mining, image-making and machine learning.

Summerhall

RUTH BOND: TEXTURES OF LAND AND SEA SAT 13 DEC-SUN 14 DEC

PAUL ANDERSON MACPHAIL: RESURRECTION SAT 13 DEC-MON 15 DEC

Found objects left behind by the tide or people are turned into sculptures, giving these objects a resurrection.

Talbot Rice

Gallery

THE CHILDREN ARE NOW UNTIL 7 FEB

Examining the relationship between children and the structural global challenges we face, this group exhibition draws on imaginative practice to articulate patterns in history.

Dundee

Art

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

LAUREN GAULT: BONE STONE VOICE ALONE UNTIL 18 JAN Sculpture, print, sound and moving image using the mythological figure of Echo to investigate the land of Tayside and beyond.

V&A Dundee GARDEN FUTURES: DESIGNING WITH NATURE UNTIL 25 JAN

A festive parody of the American classic.

A reflection of time spent in the ancient woodlands in the North and West of Scotland.

Landscapes based on different Harris Tweed swatches.

Bringing together artists and thinkers such as Derek Jarman and Jamaica Kincaid, this exhibition looks at the politics and aesthetics of the modern garden.

The Skinny On... Michael Pedersen

Ahead of his annual Christmas show and New Year’s Day appearance with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the incumbent Edinburgh Makar takes on our Q&A

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?

Cambridge. It’s where Hollie McNish lives, it’s quaint and campestral – thatched cottages and a house boat-studded river – and has an ancient university bubbling in the belly of it. I adore gothic architecture and hide away in this city a good chunk of the year writing in the old University Library knowing I’ll bump into no-one I know, or almost.

Favourite food and why?

Home-made fruit salad. I feel like I’ve got my shit together when I start the day with a home-made fruit salad – so juicy and global.

Favourite colour and why?

I love purple clothes and purple skies and the notion of taking purple back from the royal association it carries – the ancient dye, Tyrian purple, having being rare and expensive to produce and thus becoming a symbol of status and wealth. Let’s democratise purple – like the gritty Gogol Bordello once sung.

Who was your hero growing up?

Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully in the X-Files. A sword-smart, scientifically-minded, and sapient

problem-solving wonder who was willing to believe in otherworldly magic when presented with the evidence. What layers.

Whose work inspires you now?

Och, it’s a cruel question because there’s SOOOOOO many – I’ve going to have to illicitly lay down some parameters. Here’s some living heroes from the literary world: Ocean Vuong, Kae Tempest, Jackie Kay, Ada Limón, Blindboy and Irvine Welsh.

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

Problem is I’ve just used some of the top guests in the run above. So here’s a gaggle of folk I’d summon from the realms beyond:

Scott Hutchison. I miss him every day, formidably and phenomenally.

Isobel Wylie Hutchison (Scotland’s first great female explorer, botanist and poet – no relation to Scott above). I was commissioned to write a poem about Isobel by the National Library of Scotland for their Treasures Exhibition and have been obsessed ever since.

Robert Louis Stevenson. I need to know what he reckons of the rendition of him as a ghost, resurrected from the grave, in my new novel. Even if he said ‘sh*te’, I’d stick that quote on the cover.

Scott’s 44th birthday. I cry for that glorious man regularly, I always will and what a privilege to have such cherished pangs.

What are you most scared of?

Stickers – especially those thin whispy f*ckers on fruit, and the yellow nooses of death on loaves of bread. The sound they make when removed rips through the air and I begin to feel them assaulting my skin.

When did you last vomit and why?

At this question. Sickos!

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

Very few, they’ve all got personal trainers and many have done skilled fight scenes in movies or music videos. I would challenge Viggo Mortensen (dressed as Aragorn) to a fight in the hope he’d take pity on me after distributing the beating. I could then denounce my ways and attempt to forge a friendship with him.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?

Gryphon – why choose between a lion and an eagle when you don’t have to? Plus they’ve a penchant for gold/bling and a beak that could bite a sword in half.

Shaun Murawski

And I’d cook up a ramen – I did a wee cooking course in Japan that was soup noodle-focussed.

What book would you take to a desert island?

A-Z Encyclopaedias – there’s got to be all sorts of tips in there for evolving my small society into a thriving community. Or maybe that Guinness Book of World Records with the reflective cover, that way I could use it to bounce sunbeams out like a SOS flare.

Who’s the worst?

Farage. He’s the biggest current risk to a kinder, more compassionate, empathetic, humanitarian and internationally minded society in the UK. It has to be him – peddling hate, smarming his way through life, hoodwinking and hogwashing. What a beast of a bundle of bones. Of course, Netanyahu, Trump, and Putin are all in that club of truly odious humans.

When did you last cry?

Today – 20 November 2025 at the time of writing. It would have been

What’s your favourite plant?

I love a cheese plant. We had a huge one in the front room when I was wee that overtook the house and made me believe myself to be a jungle explorer.

What’s your album / book / film / insert artform here of 2025?

Album: Garbage’s Let All That We Imagine Be The Light. It’s fantabulous and a real show of force for a band at their zenith 30 years after their debut. Book (joint honours): Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness and Hollie McNish’s Virgin

Song of the year?

Kae Tempest – Breathe. It’s one of the most salient tracks on a stunning album and also incorporates words and production from our own Young Fathers. Glory be this resplendent coming together – the musical personification of chippy sauce on hot chips on a dark and frosty night.

Cold Turkey Christmas Fandango, Summerhall, 5 Dec, 7pm

Muckle be the Light: Manson, The Makar & Dreamers Beyond, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, Portobello Town Hall, 1 Jan, 6pm

Muckle Flugga is out now published by Faber & Faber

Photo:

RVNG Intl. &

Releases

Arriving in 2026