The Weekly Seven: 27th August 2012

Total Recall

MOVIE No, not the pale remake. The Paul Verhoeven 1990 original, and best – on ITV 2 this Wednesday (29th August) at 10pm. Is this Arnie’s finest hour? It’s certainly up there with them and, with Showgirls and Starship Troopers, up there with Verhoeven’s best too. In the week after Neil Armstrong’s death, it’s right to dream that a journey to Mars might, one day, be something we’ll all be able to do to escape the Bank Holiday weather. Over the top Sci-Fi action movies don’t come much better.

Scapa 16 Year Old

DRINK Ahead of the Whisky Lounge’s Whisky Festival at Camp and Furnace (8th September), it’s time to warm up, and get your tongue in training. There is more – much more – to life than Glenfiddich. Our current favourite is this island charmer, smooth as Berlusconi’s hair, soft as a restaurant review in the Echo, this is a stunning Orkney beauty. It’s £50 a bottle, but by God it’s one 16 year old that goes down a treat. More information →

Ex-Easter Island Head – Mallet Guitars Two

ALBUM Our favourite local guitar-botherers have just released their brand new LP on Low Point Records. Utilising their excellent blueprint: intricate percussive hits, mind-bending rhythms and primal guitar bumps, this one feels a lot more expansive: dronier, and more ambitious. It’s the sound of musicians completely comfortable with where they’re heading, and we can’t wait to follow them. Hear it over on the Low Point site, where you can also order it (there’s copies in Probe in Liverpool, too). Stream and buy →

The Big Sky

LOOK ABOVE With Neil Armstrong and Bernard Lovell dying within weeks of each other (and Neil Armstrong’s family’s wonderful statement) there’s never been a more important time to look to the skies. You’ll never be able to see the images beamed back from Curiosity – but the Jodrell Bank site has them lined up ready for your inspection as well as a guide to help you navigate your way around our skies. Now’s the best time to seek out Uranus, too. No sniggering at the back. www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky

Bido Lito

MAGAZINE Because it’s looking (and reading) better than ever. And Esco Williams looks cool as fuck on the cover. Enough reasons? www.bidolito.co.uk →

Of Monsters And Men

BAND Every band from Iceland are good. This is an actual, proven fact. This bunch of youngsters make a thrashy, joyful, folky racket: think Arcade Fire in Lopapeysas (those Icelandic wooly jumpers, duh) or Mumford & Sons if they weren’t, y’know, completely terrible. You might have heard the rabble-rousing ‘Little Talks’ all over 6music, and their equally impressive debut album’s out this week. www.ofmonstersandmen.is →

WowGreat

BLOG This fantastic little Tumblr is the website equivalent of one of those electrical lightboxes that make you happy when the weather’s awful: a carefully picked series of images thematically linked by abstract marks, shapes and patterns. As a result, pumped together in the form of a never-ending tumblr page, they make an eye-feastingly lovely mishmash of colour that’ll switch your brain into ‘creative’ mode straight away. wowgreat.tumblr.com →