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Preview – the Glasgow Comedy Festival

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Stuart Humphries gives GUM readers his top 5 Must See Shows of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival

Everyone likes to get treated on their birthdays, and the Glasgow International Comedy Festival is no different. Between the 15th March – 1st April, GCIF turns ten and we are getting spoilt rotten. This year is set to be bigger than ever, and with over 330 comedians coming to town, just picking a show seems like a daunting task. To make things a little easier I give you my 5 must see shows of the GICF: 

1. Simon Munnery: Hats off to the 101ers & Other Material

The Stand, 20th March

Alternative comedy at its finest, Munnery returns to Glasgow with a show which he describes as “an extravagant mess of foaming bubble hats, superlative jokes, bad guitar riffs, delightful monologues, hand-made engineering feats and an overly ambitious one-man punk musical about the R101 airship of the 1930s.”

2. Late Night Gimp Fight

The Tron Theatre, 30th/31st March

The Gimps bring their own brand of sketch comedy to the Tron Theatre after a successful Edinburgh Fringe. With the artistic director of the Soho Theatre directing this show, it promises to deliver the most flamboyant and creative knob-gags anyone will ever see.

3. Mark Nelson: Live and Unleashed

Oran Mor, 30th March

A complete sell-out in the last few CGIFs, this festival favorite is back after swiftly becoming a regular on the U.K circuit. Support Scottish comedy and go see Mark Nelson.

4. Tony Law: Go Mr. Tony, Go!

The Stand, 28th March

Nominated for ‘Best Breakthrough Act’ in the 2012 Chortle Awards and winner of the 2011 Amused Moose Laughter Award, Tony Law is a very funny man and a must see of the GICF.

5. Doug Stanhope

The Kings Theatre, 30th March.

Doug Stanhope returns to Glasgow after storming the Comedy Festival last year. Seen recently on Charlie Brooker’s Screewipe, this no-holds-barred comic is definitely no stranger to controversy. Those easily offended may want to stay away!

Frogbeats – Unleash the Beast

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GUM’s friends over at Frogbeats have a monthly night at Sub Club, and here’s why you should head down and join us for a dance.

If there’s one thing Glasgow’s missing, it’s the call of the wild. Drum and bass and jungle are rarities up here so it’s with relief that we can finally unleash a monthly night of tasty beats at Sub Club. Frogbeats has just started up, but is already pulling in the native tribe with resident and guest DJ’s showcasing some classic tunes from the old and new. So put on your war face and head down this Thursday, you’re in for a treat this week as the Beast is let loose. Expect some massive tunes to move yo’ feet.

Check out their facebook page for more information on up and coming events: http://www.facebook.com/events/347512171955415/

REVIEW: The Maccabees – Given To The Wild

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Since 2007 and their debut Album ‘Colour It In’, The Maccabees have come a long way from singing about wave machines and ‘Toothpaste Kisses’. Their third album ‘Given To The Wild’ was released on Wednesday the 9th of January and has proven evidence of the band’s observable maturing since their adolescent, harmless debut.

‘Given To The Wild’ entered the UK mid-week charts at #1 before debuting at #4 on the official weekend charts, the band’s highest ever placing album. With this record, there are remnants of the old Maccabees, there is an essence that holds this album and the last together however, with it’s bigger, more anthemic sound and subject matter – as well as the hype factor off  the back of their last album obviously – it’s no wonder that this album is looking to propel them to new heights.

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PREVIEW: Beats Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

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As part of this year’s Glasgow Music and Film Festival, both The GFT and Cineworld will be holding a screening of Michael Rapaport’s feature length documentary on one of Hip Hop’s most influential groups A Tribe Called Quest. Rapaport explores the often turbulent relationship between band members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammed and Jarobi, from their early days in Queens, New York to their rise to fame, and through the making of their five albums. The film combines early footage of the groups performances and interviews throughout the late eighties and nineties documenting the making of the first three albums, Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low and Theory and Midnight Marauders, and the challenges they face making their fourth and fifth albums before the group officially split. The love/hate relationship between group members and old friends Q-Tip and Phife comes to a tense climax during the making of the penultimate album Beats, Rhymes and Life which marks the beginning of the end for the Tribe. However, Rapaport joins the group in 2010 when they reunite to perform at Rock the Bells festival after Phife’s health problems put the group’s disputes into perspective. Interviews from De La Soul, The Beastie Boys, Common, Pharrell Williams and many more illustrate just how influential Tribe’s jazz inspired beats are in the music industry. Beats Rhymes and Life is both funny and in parts touching, but the highlight of the film has to of course be the music itself.

SHOWINGS:

@ Cineworld on Wed 22nd Feb, 1pm and

@ Glasgow Film Theatre on Sat 25th Feb, 10.45 pm.

(see respective websites for more information about tickets etc)

By Ruby McDougall

COMPETITION! High Places and Umberto @ The Arches

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GUM has teamed up with the Glasgow Music and Film Festival (part of Glasgow Film Festival) with a fantastic gig competition for readers. Three winners will win a pair of tickets each to see High Places at the Arches on Thursday 16th February and also Umberto at SWG3 on Saturday 25th February as part of the festival.

DIY dance-punk bedroom experimentalists High Places recorded their debut album in 2008 using anything they could get their hands on – a 12 string guitar, banjo and kalimba as well as plastic bags, mixing bowls and other household objects. The result was an idiosyncratic combination of elements – global polyrhythms, hip-hop beats, post punk basslines and field recordings, bound together by a rough, DIY production which hovers somewhere between a dance punk, folk and lo-fi aesthetic. Live, it’s much the same ethos, with Mary manipulating her vocals with delays, pedals and loops, and Rob creating percussion with drum pads, samplers and IRL percussion like wood blocks. Now relocated to LA from New York, they’ve been swept up in the wave of nu-cool, experimental bands– touring with Deerhunter, Yacht, Dan Deacon and last year’s GMFF guests Lucky Dragons, to name but a few.

The alter ego of musician Matt Hill, Umberto is a one-man band crafting horror score creep-scapes for the digital age. Umberto’s music is a hypnotic, all-consuming journey, reeling you into a foggy, neon-lit world of graveyards, stalkers, haunted houses, witches and blood-stained corpses. Evoking the unsettling progressive rock of Goblin and the sinister, dystopian synth-work of John Carpenter, his acclaimed releases have garnered considerable praise for their staggering, gothic take on italo disco and new-wave synth pop. Flying over exclusively from Kansas City, Missouri, Umberto will be performing a live soundtrack to a secret film, with support from power-sleaze duo Organs of Love & Strange Vice DJs. Join David Barbarossa, Claudia Nova, Older Lover and Henry Fondler at the official afterparty at SWG3 from 11pm-2am. More at www.facebook.com/glasgowmusicandfilm.

Now in its fourth year, the Glasgow Music and Film Festival is a series of one-off events combining audio and visuals. Lovingly co-curated by film buffs and music geeks from the Glasgow Film Festival and the Arches, the results range from the entertaining to the inspirational to the downright weird.This year’s festival runs from 16th-26th February 2012 and and comprises a series of gigs at venues across the city, complemented by a programme of music documentaries and fiction films at the GFT. If you’re not lucky enough to win this time, tickets for High Places, Umberto and all GMFF gigs are available from both the GFT (0141 353 6535) and Arches box offices (0141 565 1000). You can also book online/get more festival information at www.thearches.co.uk orwww.glasgowfilm.org/festival.

Just answer the following question:

From which American city did High Places originate?

Please send answers, with your name and mobile number to meggiemdonald@hotmail.co.uk by Wednesday 15th February to win!

Terms & Conditions:

Competition open to over 18s only
Prize is not transferable
Prize is three winners to receive a pair of tickets each for High Places and Umberto as part of GMFF

Album review: A Place to Bury Strangers – Onward to the Wall

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A Place to Bury Strangers, the current flag-bearers of American Noise, will be releasing their latest Ep Onward to the Wall this month (7th of February) on the record label Dead Oceans. With the release of this new extended player, a short 5-track explosion, a slightly new feel is noticeably present. Although not far removed from their trademark sound of surfy, grimy, feedback driven rock, the sound has been sculpted into something typically reckless, yet more mature, without losing its chaotic charm. There seems to be more control on the Ep’s five tracks with lead singer and song-writer Oliver Ackerman venturing up new and unexpected sonic avenues.

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