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In celebration of "St. George's Day (Patron Saint of England)" ABSOLUT MANDRIN offers you the dreamy art of Jonn Herschend. Scroll down to Friday's divider to see what Jonn envisions as a new distribution system for Mandrin.
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COMEDY
Sixty Acts in Sixty Seconds
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| when: | Tue 27 Apr (7:30pm) |
| where: | 8-10 Brewer Street (W1, 07950.278.256)
Tube: Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £10 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Enough about New York minutes — in a London minute, everyone can laugh. At least, they had best, because that's all the time the comics in tonight's lineup have to elicit a chuckle from the crowd. The premise is as simple as the name makes it sound: each of the five-dozen featured acts receive exactly 60 seconds of stage time so that at hour's end, it's all over. We recommend taking notes for future small-talk material. And practising your shorthand. (DL)
 
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| | Everyone Alive Wants Answers, the sole release from striking French avant-gardener Colleen, chimes with the bold-faced charm of an underwater carnival — mermaid merry-go-rounds, electric eel ferris wheels, and blowfish bumper cars. An instrumental album, aside from the frightening baby babble in "Carry-Cot", EAWA relocates ambient drones inside derelict toy factories, where the playful and the sinister are inseparable, and grins quickly sour into grimaces. Colleen's live performances tenderly assuage these dichotomies, staking out emotional grey areas swathed in layers of pink, as she caresses a violin, plucks at strings, and turns her smiling eyes from beneath her bangs onto the crowd, which looks on rapt, in astonishment. (YS)
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| | Since its inception some 20 or 30 years ago (we'll let the rap-ologists figure it out), hip-hop's face has gradually mutated from a wink to a sneer. Not so with tonight's pairing of beat-boxing maestro Biz Markie and self-effacing dubber Roots Manuva. Manuva's 2002 album Dub Come Save Me saw the ragga-tinged rhyme slinger trading the smirk of "Witness (1 Hope)" for a relatively straight-faced reverberating patwa. Markie has yet to escape his one bona fide hit, "Just a Friend" in 1989, but his position as hip-hop's unofficial mascot remains unchallenged. Sing it with him: "Oh baby yoooooooouuuuuuu! You got what I neeeeeeeeeeeed!" (YS)
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| | Remember when all good bands came out of Bristol? Massive Attack, Portishead, and Tricky, to name a few. These days, they fill more space in the "Where Are They Now?" pages than in music sections. But while the Bristol pioneers slowly trip-hopped up their arses, Kosheen, who came in the second wave, realised that having a rock sensibility mattered. Their debut album, Resist, had more than a few catchy singles ("Hide U", "Catch", "I Want It All") ranging from drum 'n bass to pop, and their second album, Kokopelli, continues this trend. Live, it's all about fun, big beats, catchy singalongs, and dancing. (NC)
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Peter Beste: Norwegian Black Metal
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| when: | Thur 29 Apr (12-6pm) |
| where: | Horse Hospital (Colonnade, WC1, 020.7833.3644)
Tube: Russell Square |
| price: |  FREE |
| links: |
Event Info | Peter Beste |
| | Chaos, blood, Satan worship, desecrated churchyards, neo-Nazism, thunderous riffage — even real-life murders. For the past decade, these have been staples of Norwegian death metal, a genre headed by bands such as Satyricon, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, and Mayhem. Photographer Peter Beste's life-size portraits document the scene in all its graphic, face-painted glory. Exclusive video footage captures the top bands live on stage, while listening posts feature his interviews with the key protagonists, including Rolf Armand Rasumussen, a minister whose church was burned down by death metal devotees. (KW)
NB: The exhibition runs until 15 May (Mon-Sat: 12-6pm). Tonight at 7:30pm is an evening of readings, All Writing Is PigSh*t, featuring author and death metal authority Adam Parfrey, Peter Sotos, formerly of extreme metal band Whitehouse, and cult author Jack Sargeant.
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DJ
Body Rock
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| when: | Thur 29 Apr (10pm-3am) |
| where: | Turnmills (63b Clerkenwell Road, EC1, 020.7250.3409)
Tube: Farringdon |
| price: | £7 / £6 before 12am / £5 NUS |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Rave stalwart and jump-up junglist Mickey Finn launches this new monthly drum 'n bass night, where the selling point is the absence of any growling MCs. Instead, the focus is on genuine vocalists (tonight it's Cleveland Watkiss) delivering smoother harmonies and letting the music breathe. Of course, with guest DJ Grooverider — dark uberlord of all things d 'n b — on the turntables, whether the music will "breathe" or not is a moot point. Renowned for raging sets of pure dubplate pressure, he lays down blacker-than-black b-lines and the sort of hardcore machine funk that has speaker repairmen laughing all the way to the bank. (KW)
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| | When Thai-born Udomsak Krisanamis arrived in New York, he taught himself English by reading newspapers, striking out words he knew until the text gradually disappeared under a hail of pencil lines. From this paper grid came the framework of works in paint, ink, and collage. Krisanamis stripped words and letters of their significance by layering them densely, creating thick surfaces from which all that could emerge were the negative spaces of ciphers like b, d, and o. Previously, his collage media has included all but the kitchen sink, but for this, his second Victoria Miro exhibition, he chooses culinary simplicity. His ascetic approach is not haut cru, but quotidian, coating black canvases with thousands of white noodles. (AO)
NB: The exhibition runs until Sat 22 May (Tue-Sat: 10am-6pm).
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| | Some lineups are so good they make you drool. The selection of hip-hop artists at the Message goes one step further by doing it all for charity. This gig in support of Un-Habitat raises funds for kids in slums and inner-cities worldwide. Uber-politicos Dead Prez lead the bill, but GZA/Genius from Wu-Tang is close behind. On the other, rather more relaxed, end of the spectrum, is Philadelphia's own Jazzy Jeff. Additionally, the event, hosted by Lisa Maffia and Rodney P, who also perform, brings together the cream of the UK scene with acts including Estelle, Killa Kela, and the Mixologists. Expect a heavy dose of dancing with your politics at this kick-arse event. (FG)
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FILM
Bukowski: Born Into This
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| when: | Opens Fri 30 Apr |
| where: | ICA (The Mall, SW1, 020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £6.50 / £5.50 Mon-Fri before 5pm |
| links: |
Event Info | Bukowski: Born Into This |
| | More of a literary movement unto himself than a writer, the late Charles Bukowski was one of those cultural entities you either love or hate — or love to hate, as many, especially women, might rejoin. What's lost in that crossfire is how terribly human his writings and he himself often were, an oversight this documentary remedies to a moving effect. True, the boozy, womanising Bukowski, wrote — and spoke, footage reveals — in a free verse often unhindered by metaphor, let alone basic decency. But in this faun-less biopic a story emerges of a violent yet lamblike man who worked and loved with an evenhanded industry that proves impossible to entirely dismiss. (LR)
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FESTIVAL
Italian Film Festival
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| when: | Opens Fri 30 Apr |
| where: | Riverside Studios (Crisp Road, W6, 020.8237.1111)
Tube: Hammersmith |
| price: | £5.50 / £4.50 concessions |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Say buongiorno to a tribute to Italian cinema, kicking off with a screening of Daniele Luchetti's comedy Dillo con parole mie (Ginger and Cinnamon) attended by the director, and encompassing an Ermanno Olmi retrospective that includes the Palme d'Or-winning L'albergo degli soccoli (The Tree of Wooden Clogs). Unfortunately, Fellini's iconic La Dolce Vita has been withdrawn, but there are plenty of other highlights, including Nanni Moretti's moving drama The Son's Room and A Farewell to Beat — a portrait of literary legend Fernanda Pivano, a friend of Hemingway and Kerouac arrested by the Nazis for her translation of A Farewell to Arms. (LCD)
NB: The festival runs until Mon 10 May.
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FILM
Space Is the Place (1974)
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| when: | Sat 1 May (6pm) |
| where: | ICA (The Mall, SW1, 020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £6.50 |
| links: |
Event Info | Space Is the Place |
| | Sun Ra's avant-garde jazz has enough power to fuel his spaceship, but can it save the future of black America? Drawing visual inspiration from cheesy sci-fi, blaxploitation films, and Ra's own neo-Egyptian cosmology (with a nod to Bergman's The Seventh Seal, when Ra faces off against a menacing pimp called the Overseer), Space Is the Place finds Sun Ra touching down in Oakland in the '70s, talking black liberation with the Outer Space Employment Agency, and trying to lead his people away from Earth's apocalypse. With concert interludes, heady philosophising, and trippy effects, this cult favourite (here restored to its original length) invites us each to be a player in the vast Arkestra of the cosmos. (PDS)
NB: The film also screens on Wed 28 Apr (8:30pm) and Mon 3 May (9:30pm).
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MUSIC: Fusion
John Scofield and the Uberjam Band
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| when: | Sat 1 May (7:30pm) |
| where: | Queen Elizabeth Hall (Belvedere Road, SE1, 020.7960.4242)
Tube: Waterloo |
| price: | £15-22.50 |
| links: |
Event Info | John Scofield |
| | Guitarist John Scofield ceaselessly searches for new ways to make a first impression, never content to stay with any single sound or style. Active since the mid-'70s, lately he's alternated standard (but never staid) trio and small group recordings (working with Steve Swallow and Brad Mehldau, among others) with full-on funk-fusion jam sessions that have included John Medeski and Karl Denson. A veteran of Miles Davis' electric bands of the '80s, Scofield's stinging guitar lines traverse the borders of post-bop, rock, and fusion, describing the outline of a restless musical mind. (PDS)
NB: Local musicians MGM open the show.
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DJ
Split vs Atomic Jam
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| when: | Sat 1 May (10pm-7am) |
| where: | Turnmills (63b Clerkenwell Road, EC1, 020.7250.3409)
Tube: Farringdon |
| price: | £15 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Reports of techno's death are greatly exaggerated, especially if lineups like this are anything to go by. Dave Clarke is still British techno royalty, thanks to a deft mix of driller-killer beats and electro-charged breaks. Chicago's DJ Rush lays his own vocals over loops of black plastik fury, and house legend Marshall Jefferson jacks it up a notch or two with his box of classics, anthems, and future hits. And to top it all, acid house pioneer-turned-junglist A Guy Called Gerald plays live. Residents Ben Sims and Chris Finke are no slouches either, with choice lines in hard funking dance floor science. (KW)
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MUSIC: Electro
Elektrofest 2004
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| when: | Sun 2 May (2-11pm) |
| where: | Astoria (157 Charing Cross Road, WC2, 0020.7344.0044)
Tube: Tottenham Court Road |
| price: | £14 advance |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | What better way to spend your Sunday than cloistered away with some of the best industrial, darkwave, and electro-goth acts around? Germany's Project Pitchfork headline this event at the Islington Academy, where they are joined by XPQ-21, B-Movie, Greenhaus, Billy Ray Martin, Ju Ju Babies, and others for a daylong indoor extravaganza. Everything you need is here, including food, drink, and a place to chill if it all gets too much. And best of all, by the time you do actually leave the venue, it'll be dark again outside. (DL)
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THEATRE
Follow My Leader
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| when: | Mon 3 May (7:45pm) |
| where: | Hampstead Theatre (Eton Avenue, NW3, 020.7449.4200)
Tube: Swiss Cottage, Finchley Road |
| price: | £13 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Comprehending Bush and Blair's duplicity in the build-up to the Iraq war and the chaos that has been the outcome requires a suspension of disbelief. So it makes perfect sense that Alistair Beaton has put the whole business on stage. When everything we think we know about the conflict has to be gleaned from the filtered versions of the truth broadcast by CNN, Al-Jazeera, and the Today programme, at least this satirical musical version is frank in its partisanship, giving us Blair and Bush kneeling at the front of the stage, singing, "We're sending you a cluster bomb from Jesus". If you weren't laughing, you'd cry. (KVH)
NB: The show runs until Sat 15 May (Mon-Sat: 7:45pm / Sat: 3pm).
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FILM
Polish Comedies Weekend
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| when: | Sat 1 May - Mon 3 May (various times) |
| where: | Everyman Cinema (5 Holly Bush Vale, NW3, 087.00.66.4777)
Tube: Hampstead |
| price: | £9-15 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | A Czech, a Pole, a Jew, a Hungarian, and an Italian — not the components of a bad joke, but the characters in Janusz Majewski's The Deserters, Part 1, which kicks off Polish Comedies Weekend. Yes, the award for this week's strangest concept goes to Hampstead's Everyman Cinema. Who even knew the genre existed? Well, it does, and these five films make for an entertaining three days. In addition to army adventure The Deserters and its sequel, catch social satire Killer, gangster comedy Va Banque, and cult '80s movie Sexmission, all directed by Juliusz Machulski. You have been watching, as they say in Poland. (LCD)
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ART
Barbican Art Gallery Re-Opening
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| when: | Thur 29 Apr - Sun 1 Aug (10am-6pm / Wed: 10am-9pm) |
| where: | Barbican Centre (Silk Street, EC2, 020.7638.8891)
Tube: Barbican |
| price: | £8 / £6 concessions |
| links: |
Event Info | schedule |
| | The Barbican Art Gallery reopens with two summer exhibitions after a year of renovation work. The upper level shows the first major retrospective of Helen Chadwick, a (or perhaps the) pioneer of British contemporary art. The show features 70 chronologically curated works spanning her life — photographs, sculptures, and installations, including the famous chocolate fountain, Cacao, and the Piss Flowers, bronzes made by casting the holes left after urinating in the snow. The gallery's lower level displays 150 vintage and rare prints from photographers Tina Modotti and Edward Weston's '20s Mexican years. Weston's shots are architectural, while Modotti's explore social and political themes; together they form a striking depiction of the pre-revolutionary country. (SR)
NB: Admission is for both exhibitions.
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| | Two years on from Original Pirate Material, Mike Skinner returns with a new album and live show. During his recording hiatus, the likes of Dizzee, Wiley, Lady Sovereign, Kano, and Tinchy have met music industry interest with their underground achievements, and London's lampposts now host as many cack-handed sticker campaigns as cock-legged canines. Although limited in linguistic gymnastics, Skinner is the UK's gold medal hope as regards mass-market lyrical relevance; over a million people worldwide have bought his debut, mocking the notion of his supposedly parochial appeal. Tickets for the preceding night went like hot hash cakes, so don't sleep on this chance to catch the arch rabble-rouser in his natural habitat. Check next week's flavorpill for our verdict on A Grand Don't Come for Free. (ND)
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GETAWAY: Upcoming
Isle of Wight Festival
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| when: | Fri 11 June - Sun 13 June |
| where: | Isle of Wight |
| price: | £80 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | The Charlatans aren't the only ones making a return appearance on the Isle of Wight this year. One of the biggest guns on the bill hits the island for the second time — although it's been 34 years since Saturday headliners the Who last made the trip. Once renowned for its legendary festivals of old (1968-1970), the popular holiday destination has again become a seasonal contender with the event's rebirth in 2002. Other performers at the Nokia Isle of Wight Festival '04 include Super Furry Animals, British Sea Power, and the Libertines, with additional headline sets from David Bowie and Stereophonics. (DL)
NB: The weekend-long event is all part of the larger Isle of Wight Festival, which features music across the island from 4-19 June.
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| CD REVIEW: The Orb, Bicycles & Tricycles |
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Cooking Vinyl
3 May 2004
£10.99 (Amazon)
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Bicycles & Tricycles is a more melodic and accessible chillout landscape than much of Orb mainman Alex Paterson's previous work. Most of the tracks stand strong on their own, incorporating new sounds (female MC Soom T updates the ambience with urban influence on "Aftermath") while maintaining cohesive shapes. "Gee Strings" plays like angels in heaven trading in their harps for record players, divinely blending trumpets and organs with thundering bass and turntables. And old-school Orb fans will enjoy the narrated visit to the psychedelic "Land of Green Ginger" that's bound to be full of little fluffy clouds. Catch the Orb live at the Coronet 14 May. (JD)
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| SHOPPING CARNIVAL: Brasil 40°C |
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Selfridges' last foreign odyssey was a fantastic month of Japanese goodies. This May, it's the turn of some damn sexy and stereotyped South American passion with Brasil 40ºC, a month-long festival of culture, fashion, and food. A full-scale Brazilian feira street market has been recreated, together with authentic streetstalls, food stands with traditional fare and imported fruits, a carnival shop, a caipirinha bar, favela street art, and car boots full of exclusively sourced fashion labels. For girls, this means the country's famous bikinis, beachwear, and Havaianas flip-flops, with menswear themed around futbol, beach culture, and capoeira. Brasil 40ºC runs at Selfridges from 3-31 May. (SR)
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| STREAMS: Solid Steel |
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Solid Steel is a worldwide syndicated radio show that was started by Ninjatune founders Jonathan More and Matt Black (aka Coldcut). The ever-eclectic show features a mix of all things beats, breaks, jazz, and hip-hop with some funk and soul thrown in for good measure. On a weekly basis, it's mixed, cut, and scratched on the decks by an array of special guests and hosted by main ninjas Strictly Kev, DK, and, of course, the Coldcut boys themselves. (CJN)
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| CREDITS |
| Header Design: |
| Jonn Herschend | | |
| Editors: |
| Lucy C. Davies | | Nick Doherty | | Francesca Gavin | | Jocelyn K. Glei | | Çemile Kavountzis | | Sascha Lewis | | Doug Levy | | Mark Mangan | | Shiraz Randeria | | Yancey Strickler | | Kieran Wyatt | | |
ABOUT US
flavorpill LONDON is a free weekly mailer covering music, arts, and cultural events in London. All listings are pure editorial, never paid advertisements. No money is accepted from venues, artists, or promoters. Read more about us, then spread it...
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To let us know about an upcoming event that you think belongs here, please email us at events. |
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| Contributors: |
| Robin Burrowes | | Nick Clarke | | Caroline Cohen | | Jason Doyle | | Frosty | | Katharine V. Hibbert | | Paul Laster | | Lavina E. Lee | | Bobby M | | Aoife O'Brien |
| Lisa Rosman | | Amy Schmalz | | James Thornton | | Robbie Wolstenholme | | Zia Wordingham | | |
| Production: |
| Anjuli Ayer | | Jen Bachman | | Krista Freibaum | | David Morrow | | Peter D. Stepek | | Emily Welsch |
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