The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 8 February

GRIMES: "HOW CAN YOU HATE BEYONCE?"
In a considered post on her Tumblr this week (6 Feb), Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, published a critique of anti-pop music snobbery, which set off a chain reaction of responses, re-posts and arguments in its wake. In the post, which was a reaction to the negativity aimed at Boucher in the comments on her earlier 'albums of 2012' post (now deleted), in which she named Beyonce and Gangnam Style producer Psy among her favourite artists of last year. The criticisms flew thick and fast, leading Grimes to publish her pro-pop missive. "I don’t see why we have to hate something just because it’s successful, or assume that because it is successful it has no substance," wrote Boucher.

Her impassioned defence of Beyonce began: "How can you hate Beyonce?  She's changing the world. She stands for people of colour and women everywhere succeeding in a stifling patriarchy without compromising her morals. And she makes challenging, interesting art... the fact that she is hugely successful is not a shitty thing. It’s an important and amazing thing and she clearly works hard for it." She went on to defend Psy in saying: "Psy wrote and produced Gangnam Style himself and directed the video HIMSELF. No one made Psy... His art is creating a generation of kids that will grow up seeing Asian culture as being as valid as western culture." She finished by praising Mariah Carey as one of her musical heroes, and bemoaning the sexist attitiudes which assume Carey's music is simply a vehicle to sell sexual imagery.

Since the impassioned post went up, Grimes continued to find herself at the eye of a social media shit-storm, and on Wednesday night deleted her entire Tumblr, apart from the critique, and an explanation of the deletion, in which she apologised for behaving "rashly," going on to say: "I’ll start writing here again once I am finished [the next album]. I also just need to fully process having a ‘public life.’  I haven’t parsed all this stuff yet and it’s been a real shock to the system." Surely no apologies need be made. Whatever your feelings on Beyonce's tunes, you can pledge support for Grimes' rationale by tweeting: #FuckYeahMariahCarey

MOONWALK EDINBURGH
Charity organisation Walk The Walk are searching for participants to take part in Edinburgh's MoonWalk 2013, the annual charity walk which aims to raise money and awareness to fight breast cancer. Taking place this year on 8 June, participants are asked to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship or donations, and pledge to walk either the New Moon (a cake-walk rather than a moon walk, at just 6.5 miles), the Full Moon (a pretty hefty 26.2 miles), the Half Moon (a less intimidating 13.1 miles), or the new Over the Moon walk, which is a staggering 52.4 miles - staggering, because that's what you'll be doing by the time you see the finish line! Joking apart, this is a great way to get fit, raise money for a good cause, and a fun night out into the bargain. Once you sign up, you'll be given a welcome pack which includes hints and tips on diet, training and exercise, so if you've been looking for an excuse to get fit, get involved now!

BEHAVIOUR 2013: LIVE PERFORMANCE AT THE ARCHES
The fifth annual Behaviour Festival takes place at The Arches from 3 April to 11 May this year, featuring new works in theatre and live performance from a huge cast of actors, performers, writers and directors from Scotland and the worldwide stage. The programme includes the fruits of the Auteurs Project, a collaboration between The Arches and the National Theatre of Scotland, which will see the debut performance of new works developed over two years by Rob Drummond, Kieran Hurley, Gary McNair, Nic Green and Clair Cunningham. There's also an all-male Wuthering Heights; a death metal gig dubbed #TORYCORE, with lyrics cribbed from George Osborne's 2012 budget announcement; alongside performances from drag artist Taylor Mac, Berlin collective Gob Squad, and performance artist Peggy Shaw. Full details are available from The Arches website.

FESTIVAL WATCH: SLAM DUNK, GREEN MAN
The Slam Dunk Festival takes place in fiive locations -- Slam Dunk North is on 25 May at Leeds University, Slam Dunk South is at The Forum in Hatfield on 26 May, while Slam Dunk Midlands is at Wolverhampton Civic on 27 May. There are dates in Wales (at Cardiff University) on 28 May, and Scotland (at the o2 ABC) on 24 May. The festival focuses on punk and ska. The Scottish date sees performances from Four Year Strong, Pierce The Veil, and Memphis May Fire (tickets here). Those dates south of the border will feature Deaf Havana, King Prawn, Allister, Transit, Me Vs Hero, Yashin, and The Word Alive, among others. Visit the festival's website for more details and tickets.

Taking place in scenic Glanusk Park in Wales, The Green Man Festival (15-18 Aug) have a UK festival exclusive -- indie rock troupe Band of Horses will be headlining one night of their main stage, while other acts announced so far offer a diverse lineup of international talents including The Horrors, Fuck Buttons, The Pastels, James Yorkston, Andrew Weatherall, Jon Hopkins, Moon Duo and Rozi Plain, among others -- see our earlier story for a lowdown on the full bill announced so far. Tickets are on sale now.

NEW MUSIC: MAKE YER ANE COMP IV, GIBBY HANES & JACK WHITE
First up, let's doff the cap to DIY punk promoters Make-That-A-Take Records, who put on shows in Dundee and Perth, representing some of the best bands from the Scottish scene (and beyond!). Their simple manifesto is a laudable one -- they are "anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-homophobic," and have "a fairly open view of what constitutes 'punk.'" They have a rather fine blog, they sell badass limited edition vinyls, and once in a while, they unleash an awesome compilation. Their latest, Make Yer Ane Comp IV, features tracks from UNIFORMS, Kaddish and Billy Liar, and will set you back a meagre £2 for 33 (count 'em) tracks. Stream and purchase here. Here's the rather fabulous Billy Liar with a track from the album, The Ghosts of Punk Rock.

Meanwhile, Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes has teamed up with White Stripes lynchpin and semi-professional moustache-wearer Jack White to record a track for his Third Man: Blue Series of singles. The duo have covered New York thrash heroes Adrenaline A.D.'s song Paul's Not Home, and two original collaborations, for their three-track single, out on 14 Feb. You can pre-order now.

NEW VIDEOS: LIARS, DAWN MCCARTHY & BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY, PLUM
Experimental rockers Liars unveiled their new video this week -- inspired by basketball, and the myth of Sisyphus. Soundtracking the title track from their acclaimed album WIXIW [reviewed here], the black and white video is beautifully shot, and its circular, repeating structure is a perfect accompaniment to one of the more downbeat songs from the album. 

Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy are set to release their collaborative album What The Brothers sang, a tribute to The Everley Brothers, on 18 Feb. This week they unveiled a new behind-the-scenes video about the making of the album, including a few tantalising snippets of songs. Watch the video below, and read our review of the album.

Folk-rap fusionistas Dizraeli & The Small Gods have a new video out -- their track Million Miles is taken from the album Moving In The Dark, out 18 March (we have a review in our forthcoming issue). Dizraeli comes from a long and successful career as a firebrand performance poet, making his lyrics engaging, literate and a cut above the usual copycat, hard-man banter of London emcees, and his band are bonafide traditionalists, using ancient folk rhythms, instruments and forms to back his intricate raps. They play Glasgow's O2 ABC on 28 Feb. 

Closer to home, we offer our congratulations to Edinburgh-based unsigned artist Plum -- she has become the first female solo artist to be nominated for the Best Electronic Artist award at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards, facing stiff competition from the likes of Roman Nose, Discopolis, and the much feted CHVRCHES. This video, the title track from her fan-funded 2012 album The Seed (still available to buy), is not new, but is a great introduction to the weird and wonderful music of Plum. She has a new EP, Betsy Thunder, coming in June 2013 -- keep an eye on her website for details.

FAREWELL TO THE STOOL PIGEON
It was with great sadness that we heard the news of The Stool Pigeon's closure. Founded in 2005, the paper and website reached over 60,000 people a month, and with its fiercely independent editorial style, determined focus on ground-breaking music from both new and seasoned artists, became a beacon of quality in the UK freesheet market. Editor Phil Hebblethwaite bid readers goodbye, saying: "Running out 60,000 copies of a free newspaper six times a year and distributing them to 100 cities/towns across the UK has become untenable, and also increasingly less effective and exciting than publishing journalism online.I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and it’s unquestionably been a fascinating period to cover music. YouTube launched a month after we did in 2005. Everything has changed." We at The Skinny would like to bid The Stool Pigeon team a fond farewell, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

#HASHTAG #GENRES #2: POST-DUBSTEP
The second Red Bull Music Academy documentary about the arcane, labyrinthine world of musical microgenres went live this week, this time discussing the 'post-dubstep' sound with producers including Mount Kimbie, Praveen Sharma and Machinedrum of Sepalcure, Bondax and Deadboy, as well as Dave Hayes of Soundcloud and Thristian bPM of Boiler Room. Watch H∆SHTAG$ - Episode 2 - Don't Call It #PostDubstep below.  

SWAN LAKE, IN A LAKE (WELL, A POOL)
Just as the Bulletin went to press we received word of a very special and unique performance of Swan Lake taking place on 9 Feb at 7pm at Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow. The performance was devised by Katy Dye and Sarah Short, both students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland studying Contemporary Performance Practice. Working with the Gorbals Leisure Centre's able and willing staff of lifeguards, they have created an 'out of place' rendering of Tchaikovsky's great work, using brass band musicians, in a pool. So why did they decide to take on this ambitious, and not a little bit strange, project in the first place? "We have been questioning the accessibility of 'high art' and how to make an impossible idea possible," say Dye and Short. Get yourself down on Saturday and see if they manage to pull it off!

WEEKEND GIG PICKS: FAT GOTH, THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY TRIBUTE BAND
As usual, we refer you to The Skinny's Top Ten Events for a run-down of unmissable events taking place in the central belt over the next seven days, including highlights from the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Here are two extra gigs we highly recommend taking in.

FAT GOTH @ NON-ZERO'S, DUNDEE, 9 FEB
Dundonian heavy rockers Fat Goth (also announced as 'Best Rock/Alternative' SAMA nominees this week) are on a roll after releasing their fantastic sophomore album Stud (reviewed here). The band, formed from the ashes of Alamos, Pensioner and Laeto have a wry humour and an exuberant, feral energy that few in the Scottish rock and indie scene can match. Catch them in this hometown show with support from Cuddly Shark and Carson Wells. Details here.

THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY TRIBUTE BAND @ THE GARAGE, GLASGOW, 9 FEB
As mentioned in a previous Bulletin, 9 Feb marks the 30th anniversary of legendary Glaswegian maverick Alex Harvey, whose ground-breaking work with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band is some of the best-loved avant garde rock and roll to ever emerge from Scotland. From 1pm to 4pm on 9 Feb, fans will gather at The People's Palace to pay tribute to Harvey, and to unveil a new bust of the singer sculpted for the occasion. Afterwards, a band of seasoned Glasgow musicians will perform hits from the SAHB back catalogue at The Garage. Don't miss what is sure to be a moving and exuberant tribute to this most mercurial of Scottish artists. Details here.