The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 20 November

THE TWILIGHT SAD, WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS & HOLY MOUNTAIN – LIVE  
Just announced, support for The Twilight Sad's homecoming show at the Barrowlands will arrive in the form of Auld Reekie alt.rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks and epic riffers Holy Mountain on 15 Dec. Tickets are £15, and will be moving faster than grease off a hotplate, so get in there quickly! Meanwhile, have a listen to Liars' take on 'Nil', taken from The Twilight Sad's forthcoming remix album... 

FREE MP3 FROM MONO
Seminal Japanese post-rockers Mono roll through Glasgow on Dec 3, playing Oran Mor. This band make a cinematic, expansive racket, their multi-instrumental performances incorporating everything from flutes and strings to glockenspiel and timpani alongside the sheet-metal guitars. The band are promoting their new album For My Parents. You can stream a track from the album below, and watch the video for Legend: A Journey Through Iceland, but that's not all! Visit our Competitions page to win tickets to the gig, a limited-edition copy of the LP, and an exclusive Mono t-shirt!

Dream Odyssey by oneinchbadge

R. KELLY TO GO BACK IN THE CLOSET
Pee-loving R&B star R. Kelly recently announced an imminent return to his epic, sprawling, voyeuristic 'rap opera' – an internet phenomenon for some time – Trapped In The Closet. For the uninitiated, each episode of the opera sees R. Kelly recounting a voyeuristic episode in the life of a range of different characters, most of whom are played by R. Kelly. Previous highlights have included a woman catching R. Kelly cheating on her with a dwarf, played by R. Kelly.

In each episode, one character becomes 'trapped in the closet' - providing R. Kelly an opportunity to describe their philandering, and their attempts to keep it under wraps, through the medium of song. It's a camp classic, totally bizarre, and it's very hard to tell whether the project is meant to be taken seriously, and is juust unintentionally hilarious, or whether R. Kelly is in on the joke. Talking to Pitchfork, Kelly somments: "I don't have a job, so I sit in the studio and think of stupid stuff." The new episodes announced feature a blind hooker, and a Jerry Springer-style talk show, where the characters discuss their infidelities, no doubt in the voice of R. Kelly. The new episodes premiere on internet video channel IFC later today. Catch up now by watching the last episode below, and click through for previous epsiodes.

ALAN MOORE'S CROOK & FLAIL: NEW TRACK WITH TUNDE ADEBIMPE (TV ON THE RADIO)
Following Alan Moore's recent single The Decline of English Murder, written for the Occupy movement, and the announcement of a new short film – Jimmy's End – the comic book legend, magical thinker and publisher has revealed the video for another new song, recorded under the Crook & Flail moniker used on 2010's Unearthing album. Featuring a collaboration with Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio, the song, entitled Queen of Midnight, will feature on the soundtrack to Jimmy's End. It's yet another sign of a creative renaissance for Moore, since his move away from the comics industry, as detailed in our 2010 interview. 

NEW MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE GASLAMP KILLER
Brainfeeder mainstay and all-round psych shaman The Gaslamp Killer revealed his strange, horror-themed video today for his collaboration with Dimlite, Seven Years of Bad Luck for Fun. Featuring witchy symbols, shaky camera-work, half-seen shallow graves, hairless cats and scenes of head-shaving, not to mention mysterious old Japanese ladies standing menacingly in a park at night, it's a sublime piece of dark weirdness. Watch below, and read our five-star review of his debut full-length album Breakthrough.

CONTROVERSIAL ARTIST DINOS CHAPMAN TO RELEASE ALBUM
Alan Moore's not the only one switching to music from another art form - Dinos Chapman, one half of the infamous Chapman Brothers, announced his debut album, to be titled Luftboler, on The Quietus website today. Thus far no tracks have been released, but if the album is half as transgressive as some of the Chapman Brothers' artworks - which have included mutilated Goya etchings, Nazi toy soldiers, and children with genitals for faces - then it is bound to be a headline-grabber. Talking to The Quietus, Chapman described his music as: “... like a naked mole-rat plucked untimely from its snuggly basement-burrow, on its back, all squirmy, exposed to the suns dissecting rays,” and namechecked Stockhausen, Squarepusher and Throbbing Gristle. Luftboler is due out on The Vinyl Factory on 25 Feb.

SNOOP DOGGY BHOY?
All it amounts to right now is speculation and rumour, based on a few quotations – but it looks like Snoop Dogg has his sights set on buying shares in Celtic. The Daily Record reports that Snoop became interested in the team after seeing them beat Barcelona 2-1. "I am passionate about my sport. The boxes at Celtic would never be the same once I have hosted a party there,” Snoop told the Record, also mentioning his plans to get celebrity ball-kicker, clothes horse and stench-merchant David Beckham interested. This seems like one of those stories that is all headline and no trousers, although we do relish the prospect of hearing the massed crowds of Hoops fans at celtic Park singing Gin & Juice in honour of their new patron...

IRVINE WELSH, JAMES KELMAN  & EWAN MORRISON NOMINATED FOR SALTIRE AWARD
It's been a strong year for Scottish fiction, and the Saltire Society will be celebrating this, with recgnition for several of Scotland's leading authors. The Saltire Award for Book of the Year has announced its shortlist for 2012, with nominations for Irvine Welsh (for Trainspotting prequel Skagboys) , James kelman (for Mo Said She Was Quirky) and Skinny favourite Ewan Morrison, who gains a nomination for his rather excellent Tales from the Mall. You can read our interview with Morrison here, and check the full list of nominees for this prestigious prize on the Saltire Society's website.

PROFESSOR DONATES £1.8M ART COLLECTION TO SCOTTISH MUSEUMS
Renowned psychiatrist and art collector, professor Henry Walton, has bequeathed his massive art collection, estimated value £1.8m, to Scottish art musems, The Scotsman reports. The collection, which includes works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Goya and Cezanne, was donated to the National galleries of Scotland after the Professor's death last week. The Galleries will also benefit from a trust fund, set up by the Professor and his late wife Sula Walton, also a celebrated psychiatrist, which will allow them to purchase artworks for display in Scottish galleries.

That's all for today! Remember to email us your stories at news@theskinny.co.uk. The Badger will return...