Alekia Gill
One day someone told me: ‘you look like you go to La Beat’. Naturally, I went along to figure out if that was a compliment or an insult, and I’ve been going ever since. The soul club in Edinburgh features a complete set on vinyl and a lovely mixed crowd. A hidden gem for those who love a boogie. 

Brian Donaldson
Finishing off a long-running series is an onerous and often thankless task but Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith got it note perfect with their finale of Inside No 9. Lots of delicious inside jokes and cross references elevated their denouement (of nine series, naturally) as it all came full circle by smartly mirroring the very first episode, ‘Sardines’.

Claire Sawers
I loved Miranda July’s wise, strange novel All Fours so much that when I finished the paperback, I downloaded the audiobook which comes with July’s deadpan voice: even better. I didn’t want to leave that fortysomething character as she presses pause on motherhood, reflects on creativity, dances, has crushes, and flips patriarchal notions of ageing and relationships on their head.

Danny Munro
After more than a decade and a half of consistent innovation, pop pioneer Charli XCX finally captured the zeitgeist with her sixth studio album, Brat. The collection of club-ready bangers and moments of vulnerability were marketed tactfully thanks to the instantly iconic lime-green branding, and listeners were left feeling as though they were finally hearing Charli’s pièce de résistance.

Eddie Harrison
For many, the premium rush experience of 2024 was taking part in the phenomenon of mass internet migration. With Threads a false dawn, arriving at the calm sanctuary of Bluesky felt serene. Most online oases become a dystopian hellscape eventually, but ditching toxic influences soothed like shared communal zen. 

Emma Simmonds
Unleashing an avalanche of well-crafted absurdity, Rumours is a must-see comedy from Guy Maddin and Evan and Galen Johnson which turns the G7 summit into a batshit survival situation featuring marauding bog creatures and socially awkward characters. Cate Blanchett headlines but Roy Dupuis steals the show as the hunky and heroic Canadian PM. 

Isy Santini
Premiering at Weird Weekend, Castration Movie proved to be a refreshing and utterly unique piece of LGBTQ+ cinema. The film comes in at a whopping four and a half hours (and that’s just Part I!) but with its frank and humorous look at trans life, it’s sure to become a celebrated cult classic.

Jo Laidlaw
Clearly, this drips with cultural privilege, but standing on a windswept beach gazing up at Jacob Nash’s monumental whalebone set, witnessing the extraordinary Baleen Moondjan at the Adelaide Festival was utterly unforgettable. Maybe the purpose of art is to show us the things we don’t know we don’t know? This opened my mind and shattered my heart. 

Kelly Apter
If you could have bottled the feeling inside Murrayfield during a memorable weekend of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, world peace would be within our grasp. Swapping friendship bracelets, singing along to every single word, dancing so hard we caused an earthquake, and all united in our adoration of this unfeasibly talented performer: Scotland’s Swifties have been on a comedown ever since.

Kevin Fullerton
Gangrenous flesh, make-up smeared across faces, blood fire-hosed over an audience of smiling idiots. These are just a few of the grotesque spectacles in The Substance, clawing their way out of the cinema screen in a litany of delighted obscenities. That Coralie Fargeat has made this a mainstream hit is testament to her talent.

Megan Merino
Director Jane Schoenbrun insisted that her sophomore feature I Saw The TV Glow (a Buffy-coded, coming-of-age story dripping in angst and queer awakenings) would have ‘the best original soundtrack ever’. Created by artists spanning Caroline Polachek, Yeule and Phoebe Bridgers, this standalone masterpiece of an album also becomes its own character in the film’s dark static world.

Murray Robertson
It was an absolute privilege to watch Amy Gledhill perform her show Make Me Look Fit On The Poster just a few hours after she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Despite having had ‘some prosecco’, she put on a stunning hour of comedy and cemented herself as one of my favourite comedians.

Paul McLean
The Motive And The Cue relived the turbulent gestation of a 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet, which starred Richard Burton under the direction of John Gielgud. In a funny and ferocious production, watching Johnny Flynn as Burton was like a firework going off on stage, but Mark Gatiss stole the show as waspish theatrical legend Gielgud.

Rachel Morrell
My wholesome highlight comes courtesy of @indipine who, inspired by famous baby hippo Moo Deng, has encapsulated characteristics of King Arthur’s knights in an assemblage of chunky endangered species to make Knights Of The Rotund Table. Animal charities are benefitting, and you can even find Scotland’s own stout superstar, Baby Haggis.

Main picture: The Substance