Happy Birthday Mark E. Smith

​​Everyone's favourite reprobate (well, almost everyone...) Mark Edward Smith turns 56 years of age today, and he doesn't look a day over... Um... Errr... Actually, scrap that.

Anyway, Mr Smith is one of the finest lyricists this country has ever produced and his ever-changing band The Fall continue to exert considerable influence on many artists, young and old. So, why not take a moment to reflect on how much we still need the man by reading an interview where he manages to actually quite charming, or by remembering his attack on execrable Cameronite dung-mongerers Mumford & Sons? Or, why not let the music speak (decry, declaim, slur and spout) for itself (see below)?

Whatever you do, please join us in wishing a very happy birthday to the one and only Mark E. Smith.

From their debut album "Live At The Witch Trials" 1979

The Fall "Kicker Conspiracy" from the dvd "PERVERTED BY LANGUAGE BIS/LIVE AT LEEDS"

Review: Veronica Falls (with La La Vasquez) Live at St Leonard's Shoreditch Church, 8 February 2013 →

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It all gets a bit much for our Andrew R. Hill when he catches the one and only Veronica Falls​ in action in London

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HTB - 'Brid' / SAVAGES NYC [Nathan Corbin]

Everyone knows that Savages are the most exciting band in Britain, and with little more than a 7", a live EP and a string of coruscating live performances (including an appearance on Later...with Jools Holland) to their name. They've just announced a short UK tour for May here. SAVAGES' superlative label, Pop Noire, has also announced the debut release from HTB: 

"HTB is an improvisation trio by Johnny Hostile, Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth. Each piece of music is recorded with the members performing simultaneously in three separate rooms – Hostile and Thompson creating the natural soundtrack to Beth’s spoken words. In this context, the musicians only rely on what they hear and react to one another spontaneously.  Each track was left exactly as it was performed. Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth are also members of the London quartet ‘SAVAGES‘. Johnny Hostile is a musician and producer who previously worked on  LESCOP, SAVAGES and John & Jehn albums. Jehnny Beth and Johnny Hostile are co-founders of Pop Noire records."​

To promote the ​forthcoming release a video of SAVAGES first trip to New York City, shot by Nathan Corbin, has been posted on YouTube. HTB's disorientating and atonal Brid​ contrasts with imagery from the shows with haunting results. All of Pop Noire's output thus far has been impeccable - HTB certainly look likely to follow suit. They play their debut gig on 27 March at Corsica Studios. As for SAVAGES... Well, we'll see you down the front at the Glasgow gig on 2 May.​

Watch in 720p. 'Here is one director's take on the London band Savages - Nathan Corbin filmed the quartet on their first time in New York City, NY, 2012. Soundtrack : 'Brid' by Savages' side-project HTB (HostileThompsonBeth) - HTB is an improvisation trio by Johnny Hostile, Gemma Thompson and Jehnny Beth.'

Review: 'cavalcade' - POST →

Dynamic, intelligent and 'damn good fun', POST's debut mini-album, cavalcade, is a ride worth taking, as Andrew R. Hill finds out.

Freitags #9

Glasgow's Green Door Studios is one of the country's most exciting recording studios, and they're celebrating their 5th birthday in style at Nice'N'Sleazy tonight! The party consists of a typically eclectic line-up of bands and DJs, including the malevolent disco of Golden Teacher and the marvellously melodic (or should that be melodically marvellous?) post-punk of POST. This special event kicks off at from 20.00 and continues until the wee small hours - entry is only £1 and you get a free CD of recordings made in 2012. If you're in the area, there's no excuse.

Golden Teacher started life as a studio collaboration between Glasgow's noise punk trio, Ultimate Thrush and Glasgow's all analogue house duo, Silk Cut. The results of their collaboration turned the ears of all who heard them, not least Twitch who after one listen asked if he could release the project on Optimo Music label.

In a city that's spoilt when it comes to art galleries, Edinburgh's Fruitmarket continues to challenge and provoke. A new exhibition of theirs is always cause for investigation (and often celebration), and Massimo Bartolini certainly looks to be no exception. The exhibition is free, running from today until 14 April, and there will be a series of talks and events relating to it, including a talk from the artist himself.

Massimo Bartolini, Organi, 2007/08 ART BASEL 41(2010) / ART UNLIMITED

Back to Glasgow with a special event happening at The Old Hardresser's on Wednesday (6 February). Nite Flights is "An evening of video and performance curated by Glasgow based artist Michelle Hannah, taking theme from the fractured disco of Scott Walker's Nite Flights [and] features work by local and national artists". Regular readers know how much we love the artist otherwise known as Noel Scott Engel, so to say we're intrigued would be something of an understatement. It's free and runs from 20.00 'til midnight.

Uploaded by iantm on 2010-12-14.

Blasted regulars will also know how much we love the lexically dexterous writer, filmmaker, and contrarian Jonathan Meades. So, we were understandably very happy to see him return to our TV screens this week with a new film entitled - in typically drôle manner - The Joy of Essex. It's on the iPlayer now - bear in mind there's only four days left to get your fix. His excellent collection of essays, articles and scripts, Museum Without Walls, is available on Unbound now.

Writer and critic Jonathan Meades eats beaver. From episode two of his BBC documentary Magnetic North

Freitags #8

On Saturday we went to see The Lyceum’s production of Shelagh Delaney’s play A Taste of Honey. There were some fine performances (particularly from Lucy Black, who plays Jo’s witty yet neglectful mother), but we left the theatre unconvinced: this was a fairly entertaining piece of work, but it didn’t have the freshness and resonance we had been hoping for.  If anything, it reminded us how convincing Tony Richardson’s film version (from 1961) really was: 

Jo feeling depressed. Geoff tries to help. Great scene from 'A Taste Of Honey' (1961). From the film by Tony Richardson. Based on the play by Shelagh Delaney. One of the best dramas to come out of the British New Wave/kitchen sink movement of the 1950's and 1960's.

Far from being the gritty, ‘kitchen sink’ drama it is often (and lazily) described as, the film manages to be a sharp and at times extremely funny portrait of how fragile relationships can really be. A talented and underrated writer (check out her other play The Lion in Love and her collection of short stories Sweetly Sings The Donkey),  Shelagh Delaney was clearly a massive influence on the young Morrissey:

Música.

A Taste of Honey runs at The Lyceum until Saturday 9th February.

Influential (arguably, post-)punk band Wire announced late last year that they have a new album coming out on 25 March, entitled Change Becomes Us, on their own Pink Flag label. Their semi-namesake The Wire also reports that a ‘huge’ book - Wilson Neate's Read & Burn: A Book About Wire - is to be released the same month. Special bundles of the new album and book can be pre-ordered in a variety of combinations on Pink Flag’s webshop. There’s a preview of the new record, and a reminder of an old classic, below.

Track One from the forthcoming Wire album "Change Becomes Us"

In an act of contrition I lay down by your side It's not your place to comment On my state of distress For this is for real I've tears in my eyes Am I laughing or crying?

We’re sure you’ve all heard about the trouble that HMV has found itself in recently, and while it looks like it may yet survive, there’s been little mention of the fate of a shop beloved of many music and cinema fans – Fopp. A chain of music shops that began as a market stall in Glasgow in 1981, Fopp was bought by HMV in 2007 after rapid expansion led to them closing down. There’s a campaign on Facebook calling for the survival of Fopp, and its reinstatement as an independent chain (if that isn’t an oxymoron).

We might be suffering from intermittent reader’s block, but we are determined to carry on with our Ulysses challenge. We’ve put up with the unbearable Buck Mulligan, listened to Stephen Dedalus’ philosophical and political meanderings, and we are now getting to know ‘Ulysses’ himself, Leopold Bloom. We’ll keep you posted about our thoughts. In the meantime we’ll leave you with Paulo Coelho’s scathing attack, and this rather amusing (and in some ways reassuring) blog from The Spectator. Feel free to drop us a line to discuss the above article, the book or to join our challenge.

Freitags #7

Time's a funny thing isn't it? it seems like hardly any time at all since the last brace of Freitags, and here we are again. It certainly doesn't seem like six years since the last album from (Aidan Moffat's pseudonymous electronica project) L. Pierre was released (Dip), but it's most cheering to see that the follow upThe Island Come True will be released on Monday through Melodic. The Quietus has a glut of articles related to its release, including an interview with the bearded bard, a stream of the album and an outstanding piece of writing from editor John Doran.

Lucky Pierre , From Album Touchpool

Stills and the CCA are co-hosting ECONOMY, a group exhibition focusing on the impact of global capitalist on our daily life. We are particularly interested in Stills' Film Lounge programme, showcasing work by Michael Glawogger (Austria), Francesco Jodice (Italy) and Maria Ruido (Spain).

Speaking of film,  we are very excited about The Glasgow Film Festival. The festival only started in 2005 and had been growing steadily ever since. The full programme was announced yesterday - we have a staggering 368 events, 57 UK premieres and 6 world premieres to keep us entertained  this February.  The highlight for us could be Souvenirs of Serge, a documentary charting the relationship between Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. The film will be followed by a performance from Jane, who will be interpreting  a few classics penned by the Gallic genius/provocateur. We are also attending a screening of Carl Dreyer’s stark and extremely powerful The Passion of Joan of Arc. A classic that deserves to be seen in a good cinema, and that cinema happens to be Glasgow Cathedral, a rather perfect setting. The GFF opens on 14th February with French comedy Populaire: we will be keeping an eye on it on a daily basis and report anything we find of interest. Watch this space.

Uploaded by None on 2009-05-04.

Song: Fratres - Arvo Part

Last year's Counterflows was a multi-venue event dedicated to underground music and art that occurred in Berlin, London and Glasgow simultaneously. The 2013 line-up for the Glasgow edition has just been announced for April and it's looking pretty special already. Particularly noteworthy are appearances by Peter Brötzmann and Loren Connors, but the most exciting announcement may well be that the ever-enigmatic Jandek will be playing with the superlative Richard Youngs and Alex Neilson at Stereo (Youngs and Neilson having backed Jandek at his first ever gig in 2004). See you down the front.

Music video by Christopher Zorker for Jandek's "You Standing There" off the 1998 album New Town.

Listism: Best of 2012

Our love of lists borders on compulsion, so a 'best of 2012' was inevitable. Please note these are by no means exhaustive/comprehensive, and in no particular order:

Andrew R. Hill:

• VIC.ism
• The Pastels @ Neu! Reekie! (Summerhall)
• Cry Parrot vs Green Door @ Nice N Sleazy
• Eastern Promise @ Platform
• Savages @ The Führer Bunker
• Grouper (part of Counterflows) @ St Andrew’s in the Square
• Leo Condie @ The Voodoo Rooms
• Veronica Falls, Palms @ Stereo
• Bish Bosch – Scott Walker
• Electric Cables – Lightships
• Lawrence of Belgravia - Paul Kelly
• Holy Motors - Leos Carax
• Berberian Sound Studio - Peter Strickland
• Hitchcock season @ The Filmhouse
• David Lynch retrospective @ The Filmhouse

Erika Sella:

• The Monochrome Set/Wake The President @ The Vodoo Rooms
  
• VIC.ism
• Muscles of Joy @ Summerhall (part of Art Late South)
• Tabu - Miguel Gomes
  
• Berberian Sound Studio - Peter Strickland
• Holy Motors - Leos Carax
• Lawrence of Belgravia - Paul Kelly
• Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock  (Thank you, Sight and Sound)
  
• Picasso & Modern British Art @ The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
• Flying to Berlin/Husbands - Savages
• North - Casual Sex
• Lemondale - Bill Wells