The Bulletin: Arts & Culture News | 28 November

EXCLUSIVE! LISTEN TO A NEW TRACK FROM RICK REDBEARD'S DEBUT ALBUM


Rick Redbeard is the solo moniker of The Phantom Band's Rick Anthony. Eight years ago, he began work on his solo album No Selfish Heart, recording the majority of the tracks at his parents house in Aberdeenshire, and at his home in Glasgow's West End. It's an intimate, emotionally warm collection: "I’ve always been attracted to comforting music," says Anthony. "For me, Leonard Cohen’s music is never depressing, it's soothing. I want people to hear my songs in the same way I’ve heard certain music over the years: like kind words from an old friend.” There are more brooding, melancholy moments too, one example being the track Cold As Clay, which you can stream above. No Selfish Heart is slated for release through Chemikal Underground on 28 January.

EELS ANNOUNCE UK TOUR DATES
Sixteen years ago, Eels burst onto the worldwide music scene with their first album, Beautiful Freak. It catapulted singer Mark Everett (known as E) into the limelight, a position where the shy, retiring, often miserable front-man was uncomfortable. And yet, the band and E himself proved to have amazing staying power, going on to record ninestudio albums, and a number of solo projects. Their tenth studio album sees E moving towards more cheerful, life-affirming territory – Wonderful, Glorious is due out on Feb 4, and the band are touring the UK, playing Glasgow's O2 Academy on 18 Mar. Tickets go on sale on 30 Nov. Listen to the first single from the album, Peach Blossom, below.

EMMY & TIM'S ZOMBIE CHRISTMAS
Emmy & Tim are Emmy The Great, a London-based singer-songwriter known for her quirky lyrics, and Tim Wheeler of Ash. Together, they recorded an album of festive songs late in 2011, and the album, called This Is Christmas, has been re-released just in time for this year's yuletide season. They have also made a fun, gore-filled video for the single Zombie Christmas, which is out on 17 Dec. The duo play Glasgow's Oran Mor on the same date.

LUCKYME MAKE FACT MAGAZINE'S 'LABELS OF 2012'
Electronic music tastemakers FACT magazine announced their Top Ten Labels of 2012 this week, with Glasgow collective LuckyMe making the grade at number ten. The label have had an amazing year, with high-profile releases by TNGHT, S-Type, Baauer and Machinedrum. Label-head Dominic Flanagan spoke to FACT, saying: "What a year. Five of our bestselling releases to date. Countless gigs. No sleep... So, we’re feeling pretty good about everything. The whole team did good this year." S-Type's Billboard EP was named as one of the essential releases of the year. Read our review here, and watch the video for the title track below. Congratulations to LuckyMe!

CRIM3S MIX FOR LOGO
London duo CRIM3S released their debut EP late in 2011, a thrilling mix of industrial drums, rumbling neo-rave bass and custom-distressed synths, all tied together by singer Sadie Phelps' excoriating post-punk howl. The duo have been quiet for most of this year, dropping a few remixes here and there and showcasing a demo last month on their Soundcloud page. This week they constructed a delightfully unhinged mix for fashion blog Logo, taking elements of rave, pop, R&B, experimental electronica and rap and smashing them together at high speeds. It's pretty special.

100 BEARDS, 100 DAYS
Artist Jonathan Daniel Pryce - who was named Scottish Fashion Photographer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards - launched his new exhibition in Edinburgh this week, at Ruffians Barbers. Pryce spent 100 days in London photographing 100 men with beards, in a celebration of all things hirsute. The exhibition runs until 6 Jan – watch the preview below. We reviewed Ruffians back in June – here's what our reporter had to say.

LAST SHOP STANDING – A NEW FILM IN CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOPS
Last Shop Standing is a new documentary, claiming to chart "the rise, fall and rebirth of the independent record shop." Featuring interviews with the likes of Norman Cook, Johnny Marr and Paul Weller, it is a celebration of the independent record shop, and an optiimistic look at the possibilities for growth and success in this small corner of the UK music industry. The doc's take on the situation is in sharp contrast to that shown in the BBC documentary Sound It Out, shown last week, which looked at the last surviving independent record shop in Teeside.

Where the BBC's doc was somewhat exploitative – focusing on the oddball characters who frequented the shop, and the struggles of its owner – Last Shop Standing uses its' high-profile music industry insiders as cheerleaders for independent stores. The truth of the situation probably lies somewhere in between these two extremes, as is demonstrated by the whirlwind of voices coming out in support of the ailing Edinburgh shop Avalanche Records. Plenty of people want Avalanche to succeed; for it to remain a vital part of Edinburgh's musical landscape. However, with the decline in sales of physical formats, the rise of digital audio, and the buying power of the corporate conglomerates increasing year-on-year, Avalanche and its contemporaries face an uphill struggle. They will need to find innovative solutions in order to keep trading. You can read our full feature with the makers of Last Shop Standing and the author of the book that inspired it in the December issue of The Skinny, out next Tuesday (4 Dec).

What are your thoughts on the status of independent record shops? How often do you spend money in your local independent? Speak your brains in our comments section. Watch the trailer for Last Shop Standing below.