The Bulletin: Arts & Culture Roundup | 5 July

EDINBURGH CITY OF LITERATURE REMEMBERS IAIN BANKS
The sudden passing of much-loved Scottish author Iain Banks was a devastating blow to the world of Scottish literature. Banks' influence and popularity are still being assessed, with heartfelt tributes to Banks the writer and the man continuing to pour in. Beginning this month, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature are planning a very special series of events in the Scottish capital, in the form of an Iain Banks season, taking place from this Sunday (7 July), and culminating at a series of readings and discussions at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Film screenings, special quizzes, live literature performances and creative writing workshops all feature in the programme, which can be viewed in full at the City of Literature site. Events include an exhibition of science fiction-themed poetry at the National Poetry Library of Scotland, which opened yesterday, and runs until the end of August; and a very special night of spoken word performance with a 'utopian' theme inspired by Banks' hugely popular Culture novels, curated by Illicit Ink, and hosted by Andrew J. Wilson, editor of the Nova Scotia collection of Scottish SF writing, and a personal friend of Banks. Wilson's moving tribute to Banks was published in our May edition of The Skinny - read it here. Going back a little further, we produced a beginner's guide to Banks' enduring science fiction creation, the Culture, which you can read here.

On Sunday 25 August, the season's most anticipated event comes to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, as Scottish literary heavyweights Ken MacLeod, Val McDermid and Ian Rankin come together to discuss the writer's legacy, examining his work from debut novel The Wasp Factory up to his final novel, The Quarry, to which we gave a glowing 5-star review last month. 

Ali Bowden, director of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, commented: "The Iain Banks season lets our City of Literature pay tribute to a brilliant author, a local and someone we knew and loved. It’s a varied programme of events and we hope encourages new readers to Iain’s work, as well as those familiar with it to explore more widely."

NEW VIDEOS: NINE INCH NAILS, THE KNIFE, PHOENIX, MONEY, COLD WAR KIDS, MODERAT, HODGY BEATS
The David Lynch-directed video for the new Nine Inch Nails track Came Back Haunted - the band's first new material since 2008's The Slip - has been doing the rounds this week. It features stroboscopic images of Trent, and some incredibly strange backing dancers. The new NIN album Hesitation Marks is due out on 3 September.

Lynch, whose sophomore album The Big Dream is out on 15 July, also hit the headlines this week, telling The Independent that he has grave doubts about making another feature film. "With alternative cinema - any sort of cinema that isn't mainstream - you're fresh out of luck in terms of getting theatre space and having people come to see it," he comments. "Even if I had a big idea, the world is different now. Unfortunately, my ideas are not what you'd call commercial, and money really drives the boat these days. So I don't know what my future is. I don't have a clue what I'm going to be able to do in the world of cinema."

In the same interview, Lynch comments that he could be tempted back into working as a TV director, raising the prospect of the long-mooted Twin Peaks Season 3 as a possibility in the minds of fans. "I like the idea of a continuing story," he says. "And television is way more interesting than cinema now. It seems like the art-house has gone to cable."

The Knife's new video showcases a live performance from the duo, recorded in Stockholm. The track featured is Raging Lung, one of the standouts from Shaking The Habitual (reviewed here). It's a visceral, blue-lit performance, displaying the band's extravagant costumes and powerful, synth-led sound.

We interviewed Thomas Mars of Phoenix for this month's magazine, ahead of their set at the 20th annual T in the Park. "We always get out of our comfort zone,” Mars told our interviewer of their most recent LP's genesis. “Because comfort and creativity, they are enemies - they don't get along. We rely more on things that are random. I don't think we were scared of not having inspiration; we were more scared of not highlighting the good things, editing the good things, and not choosing the right moment for a song.” Their new video for Trying To Be Cool culminates in a live performance of the track.

Cover stars of this month's NorthWest edition, Mancunian rising stars MONEY also have a new video out this week - read our in-depth interview with the band here. The ballet-themed video for Hold Me Forever is directed by none other than actor Cillian Murphy, of Batman Begins and Inception fame. 

The latest video from Long Beach, Californian band Cold War Kids is for the track Lost That Easy, taken from the album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts. The track has a pulsing, electronic backbone, elevating it from mournful, introspective indie to synth-pop torch song.

Moderat is the collaboration between Berlin electronic duo Modeselektor and Sascha Ring, aka Apparat, another Berlin-based producer. They've been collaborating on and off since 2002, with a series of releases on the BPitch Control label. This year they return with a new album, a follow-up to their 2009 full-length debut, simply titled Moderat II. The album gets a physical release on 6 August via Mute. Moderat will be coming to Edinburgh on 10 October to play The Picturehouse. The animated video for next single Bad Kingdom is below.

Finally, the new video from Odd Future affiliate and MellowHype main man Hodgy Beats explores the theme of solitude - Alone is taken from the free-to-download EP Untitled 2.

DAVID CONSTANTINE WINS THE FRANK O'CONNOR AWARD FOR TEA AT THE MIDLAND
Salford-born poet and author David Constantine this week became the first English author to take home the coveted Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award for his recent collection Tea at the Midland, published by Comma Press. Constantine was shortlisted in 2010, but lost out to American author Ron Rash. This year, he returned triumphant, and was awarded with a 25,000 Euro prize fund.  

In an interview with The Guardian, Constantine commented: "I don't write like others - I think of myself chiefly as a poet who also writes prose." Now 69, Constantine began publishing his poetry through imprints such as Bloodaxe in the 1980s. "When Neil Astley set up Bloodaxe it was a conscious polemical blow against the 'Oxbridge London mafia' as he called them," Constantine tells The Guardian. "Being up there in the north east, he had a perspective which was other. He took on people who were not mainstream, looked for foreign writers - it felt easier, I could be very distinctive and not be required to be of any party or tendency." 

The collection's title story has already been showered with prizes, having won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2010. His prose work has been admired by writers such as A.L. Kennedy and A.S. Byatt. 

KILTR STREET FEASTIVAL, GLASGOW
Launched in 2010, KILTR connects Scottish businesses, people and companies via their bespoke network. Anyone with a connection to Scotland, both at home and overseas, can join. This year, the team behind the website have decided to stage a Street 'Feastival' - by which they mean a festival with a strong focus on Scottish and international food and drink of all stripes and descriptions.

Taking place in Glasgow over two weekends, 20 & 21 July and 17 & 18 August, the 'feastival' will feature street food from the likes of leading Glasgow eatery Stravaigin, Vietnamese fare from Hanoi Bike Shop, curry from the Babu Bombay Street Kitchen, Caribbean roots and 'ital' food from Fire In Babylon, barbecue and pulled pork treats from Smokey & The Bandit, seafood from local specialists The Finnieston, and Korean delicacies from Kimchi Cult.

The event also features a pop-up eco-fashion show curated by Glasgow designer Aimee Kent, and music from the likes of Esa (Highlife), Harri (Subculture), hip-hop turntablist Pro-Vinylist Karim, and disco kingpin David Barbarossa among others. Booze comes from The Chip Wine Club, craft brew experts Williams Brothers, and artisan coffee from Dear Green Coffee Roasters. The event takes place at the Barras Art & Design Centre,and entry is free. More information is available at the Kiltr website.

TRAILERS: DU ZHAN (DRUG WAR), EUROPA REPORT, BYZANTIUM
Prolific and respected Hong Kong action director Johnnie To's new film Du Zhan (Drug War) is one of his most ambitious projects to date, telling the story of a cocaine lord who turns snitch to avoid the death penalty, culminating in an explosive police raid. 

Europa Report is a found-footage science fiction film telling the story of the first manned mission to Jupiter's icy moon. Praised by geek culture website io9 for its 'hard SF' realism, Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordero's first English-language film looks set to appeal to fans of Moon and 2001: A Space Oddyssey. 

We reviewed Neil Jordan's return to the vampire genre, Byzantium, back in May, and we also interviewed the director about his second foray into the world of the succubi after his more classical take on the genre, Interview with the Vampire. Jordan described Byzantium as "the first historically accurate vampire movie," and those who prefer their bloodsuckers sparkly and teen-angst-y may do well to avoid his arty, meditative take. Serious genre fans however should rub their hands with glee - the preview promises the most interesting take on vampirism since Let The Right One In.

Finally, film fans would do well to check out our extended feature Paradigm Shift: Beyond The Silver Screen, where we talk to a selection of up-and-coming and established film-makers about the future of cinema, and the technological and commercial changes currently facing the movie business. It includes opinions and observations from Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List and Sightseers; John McKay, director of Scottish rom-com Not Another Happy Ending; and producer Claire Mundell, current chair of Scottish BAFTA.