...and we're back. A Happy New Year to all you fellow acolytes of the Gregorian Calendar and a howdy-do to the rest of you. We're feeling suitably refreshed after the holiday period and are (just about) ready to get stuck into what already looks to be a pretty action-packed (dare we say vintage) year.
Ever-excellent in their programming, the Filmhouse are currently hosting a season dedicated to the work of Roman Polanski to coincide with the BFI's reissue of his classic neo-noir, Chinatown. The season has already commenced, running through February, and features earlier works such as Repulsion and Macbeth. Whatever you think of the man, there's no denying his talent.
Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965).
It's happening! The long-awaited new album by The Pastels, Slow Summits, is due to surface soon on Domino Records, and a tantalising preview (see below) appeared on Hogmanay. We were fortunate enough to catch a short set from them a few weeks ago and we're really very excited to hear the record - you should be too.
Having fallen head over heels in love with their single Shuggie a few weeks ago, another record we're looking forward to is the second album from Foxygen, the succinctly titled We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, due out on 21 January on Jagjaguwar. They've just released the video for (second single from the album) San Francisco and it's another corker.
It should come as no surprise to regular readers that we're big fans of Christchurch's Flying Nun Records and New York's Captured Tracks. As such, it's pretty pleasing to see two fantastic record labels join forces. No doubt this will be a thoroughly fruitful union. An oldie from Flying Nun and a future classic from Captured Tracks below, courtesy of The Verlaines and Mac DeMarco respectively.
It might not be the cheeriest of titles, but looks to be fascinating all the same From Death to Death and Other Small Tales: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the D.Daskalopoulos Collection. The exhibition currently on at The National Galleries of Scotland's Modern One and runs until 8 September.
Finally, a quick mention that we officially commenced our Ulysses book club this week, in which we will read 80 pages (there aren't chapters per se) of James Joyce's Modernist classic a week and post some thoughts here on the blog. As we've said before, the literary sorts among you may laugh, but it's a text that many have tussled with and lost. Here's hoping we fare better this time. Just drop us a line if you'd like to join in.