Record Store Day: Vic Godard & Subway Sect’s ‘Caught in Midstream’ 7” and Vic Godard & The Sexual Objects live in Mono, Edwyn Collins, and more…

20 April is this year’s Record Store Day, the day of the year that music fans and musicians celebrate their love of those most wondrous spaces – independent record shops. Since 2007 the event has grown and grown, with record shops across the world opening their doors (often early) to incredibly lengthy queues, hosting in-store performance and offering exclusive releases.

This year’s exclusive releases are of a particularly high standard (a full list can be found on the RSD website)  but one that has particularly caught our ear is Vic Godard’s Caught in Midstream 7”, produced at West Heath Yard by Edwyn Collins compatriot Seb Lewsley, and released on Collins’ label AED Records. Both sides of the 45 come from the sessions for the follow up to 1979 Now (the follow up to 1978 Now) a future release of another ‘lost’ Subway Sect album that saw them in their influential (but largely undocumented) Northern Soul phase.

Godard will also be playing a special set of Velvet Underground songs for RSD at Mono in Glasgow with the inimitable Sexual Objects. World Peace and Ela Orleans are also playing and Deena E. Jacobs, David Barbarossa, Jenny Rollo and The Brogues will be DJ-ing throughout the day.

Listen to A. Caught In Midstream: Vic Godard & Subway Sect by Analogue Enhanced Digital | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

Listen to B. You Bring Out The Demon In Me: Vic Godard & Subway Sect by Analogue Enhanced Digital | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

On a related note, Edwyn Collins will also be releasing a 7” with The Heartbreaks for RSD, and all of Orange Juice’s wonderful LPs are to be re-released on vinyl for this celebratory day. Collins is currently on tour and is in fine fettle, as we can attest to, having seen him at Glasgow’s ABC last night. Tears may have been shed.

Wherever you are and whatever you’re into, independent record shops are important for so many reasons, get along to your local (or locals) tomorrow if you can, even if it’s just to get reacquainted with that smell (you know what we’re talking about).

Casual Sex 'Stroh "80"' single launch at Nice'N'Sleazy this Friday

Glasgow's rarely short of excellent bands and now is no exception. At the forefront of the current scene are Casual Sex (featuring Sam Smith, previously of the much missed Mother & The Addicts) who bring to mind David Bowie, Magazine, Josef K and the Monochrome Set - in other words, they're bloody (s)excellent. They launch their new single Stroh "80"​ this Friday (5 April) at Nice'N'Sleazy, playing alongside The Amazing Snakeheads and Asian Babes, and costing an arousing £5 on the door, or an irresistible £3 in advance from Monorail Music or Tickets Scotland.

If you can't make that (or even if you can) then you can do far worse than to listen to their recent BBC 6Music session for Marc Riley, or to stream the single's erotic A-side below. A sexy 7" (or a download, if you so prefer) is available now on the Moshi Moshi Singles Club and can be bought directly from the band, the label, or any record shop worth its salt... The grooves on our copy are practically worn out already. See you at Sleazy's.

The debut single from Glasgow's Casual Sex. Released on the Moshi Moshi Singles Club on 1st April on limited edition 7" vinyl and download. www.facebook.com/casualsexmusic

Mark Cousins' 'What Is This Film Called Love?' + Q&A at the Filmhouse this Thursday

It’s important to take a breather after the stress and strain of a ‘big job’ - even a prolific workaholic like Jean-Luc Godard decided he needed to work on a smaller project after the the challenge of working on the big budget Cinemascope epic that was Le Mépris.

Mark Cousins may not appear to have much in common with Godard, but like the Swiss director, he completed a mammoth  (15 and ½ hours long, and 6 years in the making) guided tour the history of cinema, the superlative The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Passionate, always engaging and clearly in love with the seventh art, Cousins is a rarity amongst modern-day film critics.

His latest work, What Is This Film Called Love?, was ‘made for £ 5.80’ and shot over 3 days in Mexico. A meditation on the nature of happiness, it seems like a very personal film - a world away from the academic approach of The Story of Film (Cousins himself noted that he never used the word “I” in the commentary). It also features music by Blasted favourites PJ Harvey and Bernard Hermann.

You could do much worse then get down to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse on Thursday at 18.15 and see it for yourself, and maybe even ask the man himself a few questions.

You can read more about What Is This Film Called Love? here, and you can also follow Mr Cousins on Twitter.

FOUND + Aidan Moffat + King Creosote - FREE Gig in Edinburgh this Thursday

Tomorrow (21 March), not one but three of Scotland's finest artists will grace the stage at The Caves. FOUND and "Falkirk's answer to Barry White" (not our words - FOUND's Ziggy Campbell there, although he does have a point), Mr Aidan John Moffat, have previously collaborated on the experimental #UNRAVEL project (video below) and the latter has just released a new album in his L. Pierre guise, so who knows what could happen. King Creosote is of course the fine purveyor of his own brand of pop-infused folk (or should that be folk-infused pop?) and head honcho of Anstruther's Fence Records. Not only that but it's free, with entry on a first-come-first-served basis, so there are no excuses really. Check it out.

#UNRAVEL is a new collaboration by FOUND + Aidan Moffat on the reliability of memory. This is a 3 minute documentary featuring the artists explaining the project. www.unravelproject.com

Found Footage Festival

When I was a student at Glasgow University, I found an abandoned box on the pavement near my flat on West Princes Street. The box contained notebooks, gig and cinema tickets, and lots of photographs. I was of course  immediately fascinated my with my new treasure and tried to join dots and build a story around those discarded fragments. Who were those people? Why had the box been chucked?

Although a bit less dreamy, the spirit behind the Found Footage Festival is in a similar vein. Founded in 2004 by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, the festival is essentially a comedy event that features VHS tapes gathered at second-hand shops, flea markets and jumble sales. The videos are often comical (a highlight of the current tour is a 1996 tape that teaches viewers how to care for their ferret), and sometimes very weird (I am personally intrigued by The Sexy Treadmill Workout).

http://www.foundfootagefest.com A small sampling of some of the weird and wonderful found footage on display in the brand-new Found Footage Festival touring show, coming to your city in 2012.

The FFF has been growing steadily for the past 9 years, and it easy to see where its charm lies. It is a celebration of how bizarre the everyday lives of ordinary people can be. Those VHS tapes are, in the words of organiser Nick Prueher, "A more truthful representation of who we are as a people than the greatest films of the last 75 years".

The festival is currently touring the UK, so catch it at  Edinburgh's Cameo Cinema at 9pm on Wednesday 20 March or at Glasgow's Grosvenor Cinema at 9pm on Thursday 21 March.

Follow @FoundFootage on Twitter and YouTube.

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