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8 JUNE - 14 JUNE
The early morning transit of Venus brings flavourpill to you earlier than schedule today. And with the mayoral elections and — to a slightly lesser extent — our special reader survey, your opinion is needed this week. Let us know what you think of our publication, who you are, and how we can do better. And on Thursday, we all have the opportunity to shape the capital's next four years. You've got a vote, so use it, and spread it.
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| | With Venus in retrograde, be wary of making important decisions regarding love, finance, career, or personal appearance. More importantly, with Venus in transit, be wary of keeping your eyes low to the ground or you might miss the planet passing betwixt the Sun and Earth for the first time since 1882. The Royal Observatory has its solar telescope open to the public for the event, which begins here at 6:20am. The transit can also be viewed by the naked eye, but a warning: avoid staring directly at our local star without donning special protective spectacles, as it can cause significant damage. At Venus, of course, look all you want. (YS)
 
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ART: Opening
Summer Exhibition 2004
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| when: | Tue 8 June (10am-6pm) |
| where: | The Royal Academy of Arts (Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J, 020.7300.8000)
Tube: Piccadilly and Green Park |
| price: | £7 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | No sooner has the PizzaExpress Prospects contemporary drawing prize closed than the venerable Royal Academy opens its Summer Exhibition with the focus on, you guessed it, drawing. This year, famed painter David Hockney and Allen Jones (he of the bondage mannequins pliant beneath tabletops) helm the selection, errant artist Richard Long's work is showcased, and another blockbuster, sculptor Anish Kapoor, coordinates the installation. Not only do entrants have their works hung in the grand rooms of the Academy on Piccadilly, but more than £70,000 in prize money will be awarded. As last year's winners included the Chapman brothers, this could be the phoenix from the ashes of the Momart fire. (AO)
NB: The exhibition runs until Mon 16 Aug (Sat-Thur: 10am-6pm / Fri: 10am-10pm).
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DISCUSSION
McSweeney's #13 Launch: Seth & Chris Ware
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| when: | Tue 8 June (8:30pm) |
| where: | ICA (The Mall, SW1, 020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £10 / £9 concession |
| links: |
Event Info | McSweeney's |
| | Part of the ICA's brilliant Comica festival, this event sees Chris "Jimmy Corrigan" Ware shyly discussing his comic edition of Dave Eggers' cult periodical McSweeney's with Canadian artist Seth. Ware has broken every boundary between art, design, and literature, bringing comics serious mainstream attention; his McSweeney's is stunningly designed, and includes everyone from Charles Burns to Chester Brown. Other highlights of the festival include a screening of feature-length documentary The Mindscape of Alan Moore, a talk with Craig Thompson of Blankets fame about comics and autobiography, and additional events at the Institut Français, including an exhibition based on Tintin. (FG)
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| | The title of Swedish band the Sounds' debut album, Living in America, is a bit of a lyrical feint — the title track actually boasts, "We're not living in America / And we're not sorry". However, the Sounds do mine the best aural veins of '80s America (and Britain), with frontwoman Maja Ivarsson acting as a diminutive cross between Debbie Harry and Catatonia's Cerys Matthews while commanding the combined energy of the two. Their live shows are spectacles of the sort that only unapologetic dance-infused rock 'n roll can give rise to. (DL)
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| | Mark Kozelek, best known for his brooding and beautiful work with Red House Painters (the band, increasingly a Kozelek solo project, was ultimately dumped by label 4AD), returns with Sun Kil Moon, a new group that similarly foregrounds his plaintive vocals. Three of the songs on their debut, Ghosts of the Great Highway, draw from the bloody lore of boxing, including a 14-minute epic about the young South Korean who died in a title bout that went 14 rounds ("Duk Koo Kim"). Filigreed, turbulent, and fit to stand with "Medicine Bottle" and other RHP classics, it demonstrates the best that Kozelek has to offer, as he goes toe to toe with ghosts of present and past. (PDS)
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COMPETITION
Elections
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| when: | Thur 10 June (7am-10pm) |
| where: | Various locations |
| price: |  FREE |
| links: |
Election Info |
| | Today is the day of big decisions for the capital's denizens with the London, local, and European elections being held. Making things more complicated this year, voters have three ballot papers and five votes: first and second choice for London mayor, two London Assembly member votes, and one for the European election. The most important issue involved in this election — the congestion charge aside — is the possible rise of the BNP, for even five percent of the vote ensures a place in the European Assembly. (FG)
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| | The creative hotbed of East London gives itself a pat on the back with this showcase of emerging talent. Launched in 1932 as a forum for new artists "living or working east of the famous Aldgate Pump", the Academy has established the careers of those such as Anthony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread. This year's crop looks no less interesting — Olivia Plender's comic strips are juxtaposed with Zatorski & Zatorski's real-time video of a dying wasp in the gallery, while out on the streets you can see Dan Griffiths' billboards and Mattia Paganelli's five-metre-long football pitch. (LCD)
NB: The exhibition runs until Sun 29 Aug (Tue-Sun: 11am-6pm / Thur: 11am-9pm).
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| | Despite the contagiousness of the Rapture's shimmy-shimmy shake, some post-punk is unfashionable after all — in particular Flowers of Romance-era P.I.L. (melodies? What melodies?) and Confusion Is Sex-era Sonic Youth (the "art" in art-rock). London quartet Ikara Colt spring from the latter post-punk tributary, all droning guitars and propelling rhythms locked in death struggles for mind and body. The band's debut, Chat and Business, kicks off wonderfully with the revved up "One Note" — a title that unfortunately assesses the rest of the album too well. On stage, however, their songs benefit from a sizeable steroid injection. (YS)
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| | Cargo's Champion Sound presents those loveable Zombie Disco fellas and club fixture Luke Wallace for a night of low-slung bass and electro beats, with a special live set from Playhouse Records' Spektrum. Far from your average mullet-sporting East End punk-funk revivalists, Spektrum make a joyful racket, fusing the liquid grooves of ESG, A Certain Ratio, and 23 Skidoo with the soulful swagger of Basement Jaxx. They're naturals on stage, too — more concerned with getting a crowd moving than the whims of fashion. That's not to say they don't look great while they're doing it, though. (DS)
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MUSIC: New Wave
Sparks
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| when: | Sat 12 Jun (8pm) |
| where: | Royal Festival Hall (Belvedere Road, SE1, 020.7960.4242)
Tube: Waterloo |
| price: | £17.50-25 |
| links: |
Event Info | Sparks |
| | Sparks are like the Pet Shop Boys' sinister uncles. One never seems to grow old, and the besuited, moustachioed one behind the keyboards could be the global winner of Accountant Idol. The brothers Ron and Russell Mael look like they take things Very Seriously Indeed: set lists done on spreadsheets, font size 10.5 — that kind of thing. But their music reveals a wonderful sense of pop whimsy, lyrical humour, and operatic magic. Their electronic mini-epic song titles are very similar to those of the PSBs, as well as Morrissey, who personally invited the duo to play in this year's Meltdown Festival. For this one-off gig of electric sym-funnies, they perform their exalted Kimono My House (1974) and Lil' Beethoven (2002) albums in their entirety. (SR)
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DJ
Red Alert Launch Night
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| when: | Sat 12 June (10pm-4am) |
| where: | Carling Academy Islington (16 Parkfield Street, N1, 020.7288.4400)
Tube: Angel |
| price: | £8 / £5 with RSVP |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | London was made for nights like Red Alert, where the musical blueprint is ripped up, stuffed in your mouth, masticated for a bit, and then spat out as a big sticky gloop of funk. Rich Thair (formerly of jazz-mungous breaks kings Red Snapper) leads us in our dance along with darkside electro kingpin Keith Tenniswood (aka Radioactive Man and one half of Two Lone Swordsmen), who lays down his hardcore sci-fi braindance. Dub-tinged grooves come from the legendary Don Letts, while Ninja Tune's Hexstatic crank up the windmills of your mind with their synapse-frying AJ/VJ show. (KW)
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FILM: Double Feature
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
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| when: | Sun 13 June (12:15pm) |
| where: | Curzon Soho (99 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1, 020.7734.2255)
Tube: Leicester Square |
| price: | £6 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Back in 1989, when you could still distinguish between US indie films and Hollywood blockbusters, thoughts of a big budget were but twinkles in the eyes of then-novice directors Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant, who were busy honing their cinematic thumbprints in these two films. The misbegotten sexual encounters with in-laws and ex-friends' wives in Soderbergh's sex, lies, and videotape are shot in a doggedly un-glorious black-and-white, but something creaky in the meaningful silences and vague philosophising sticks in everyone's craw. And Drugstore Cowboy's palette of smeary watercolours and oddly sincere snark paved the way for a whole new generation of slatternly, drug-induced flack. Think sex, drugstore cowboys, and a whole lot of high-strung chitchat. (LR)
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THEATRE
Passa Passa
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| when: | Sun 13 June (8pm) |
| where: | Hackney Empire Theatre (291 Mare Street, E8, 020.8985.2424)
Tube: Hackney Central BR |
| price: | £18-20 |
| links: |
Hackney Empire |
| | Making its name as a Wednesday-night street dance held on Spanish Town Road, West Kingston, Passa Passa has fast become a Jamaican institution. Rammed with revellers dressed to kill and moving to thrill, it's now so much a part of the pop-cultural landscape that it has been used as the backdrop to this bittersweet drama staged by the Blue Mountain Theatre at the newly revamped Hackney Empire. The dance enjoys a uniquely good-time reputation as an arena for uptown and downtown dwellers to mingle freely, soundtracked by bumping bashment rhythms. But this can prove to be an explosive mix, too — and that's where the action starts. (DS)
NB: Passa Passa also plays on Fri 11 June and Sat 12 June (8pm).
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FILM
Edward Said: The Last Interview
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| when: | Mon 14 June (4:15, 6:30 & 8:45pm) |
| where: | ICA (The Mall, SW1, 020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £6.50 / £5.50 concessions |
| links: |
Event Info | Edward Said |
| | Renowned, revered, and sometimes reviled, Edward Said possessed one of the great minds of the 20th century. A prolific renaissance man, Said excelled as a writer, scholar, diplomat, and even musician. His simultaneous support of Palestine and recognition of Israel left him in a difficult position for political allies, but at the heart of it all was a true humanist perspective — perhaps best embodied by the West-Eastern-Divan orchestra, which he co-founded with Israeli Daniel Barenboim in his final years. Said became increasingly private after learning of his terminal leukemia in 1991, but he granted this rare final interview in late 2002. A complex look at a complex man. (DL)
NB: The Last Interview runs from Fri 11 June - Thur 24 June.
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| | "It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat. But only one to wear it." Remember the shock tactics of the anti-fur lobby in the '90s? Respect for Animals' Design Against Fur competition couldn't be more timely, as fur creeps back onto the catwalks and models conveniently forget they'd "rather go naked than wear fur" (yes, we mean you, Naomi). Art students from around the UK competed to design a poster for RfA's 2004 campaign, and tonight's ceremony at Clerkenwell's Artbank Gallery reveals the winning images. (LCD)
NB: The winning designs are on display at the Artbank Gallery from Tue 15 June - Sat 19 June (Tue-Fri: 11:30am-6pm / Sat: 12-4pm).
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MUSIC: Indie Rock
Adem (of Fridge)
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| when: | Mon 14 June (7:30pm) |
| where: | ICA (The Mall, SW1, 020.7930.3647) Tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus |
| price: | £7.50 / £6.50 concessions |
| links: |
Event Info | Adem |
| | Band members' offshoot solo projects rarely achieve much notice from anyone beyond the group's own diehard fans. The boys from Fridge, however, are apparently set on turning this notion on its ear. Kieran Hebden, one-third of the glitch-pop trio, has already made a much bigger name for himself as Four Tet, and now Adem Ilhan is attempting the same feat supporting his debut solo album, Homesongs. A moving collection of sparse, beautifully orchestrated singer/songwriter fare, it's a far cry from his bandmate's melodic blippery, but a can't-fail crowd-pleaser for fans of Badly Drawn Boy and Sondre Lerche's more melancholy musings. (DL)
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ART
Stella Vine: Prozac and Private Views
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| when: | Thur 10 June - Sun 4 July (Fri-Sun: 1-6pm) |
| where: | Transition Gallery (110a Lauriston Road, E9, 079.4120.8566)
Tube: Mile End, Bethnal Green |
| price: | FREE |
| links: |
Event Info | Stella Vine |
| | It was at Transition Gallery, a converted garage in Hackney, that Charles Saatchi bought Stella Vine's painting of Princess Diana, catapulting the ex-stripper into the Brit-art spotlight. Self-dubbed "bad painter" Vine returns to Transition for her first solo show, Prozac and Private Views, featuring iconic female subjects from Sylvia Plath to Courtney Love. The vibrant and crudely daubed portraits are often controversial — her depiction of young heroin addict Rachel Whitear was widely lambasted as tasteless — but their childish style and signature rosy cheeks are somehow joyous, with a definite sense of humour. Well worth the journey to E9. (LCD)
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FESTIVAL
Morrissey's Meltdown 2004
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| when: | Fri 11 June - Sun 27 June |
| where: | Royal Festival Hall (Belvedere Road, SE1, 020.7960.4242)
Tube: Waterloo |
| price: | £8-30 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | "Some of you have iPods; I have Meltdown." The eminently quotable Morrissey is this year's Meltdown Festival curator, cherry-picking his favourite artists for another eclectic three-week South Banker, this time including Nancy Sinatra, Jane Birkin, Gene, and the New York Dolls. Morrissey himself performs two unsurprisingly sold out gigs Fri 25 June and Sat 26 June, but here's the thing: phone 0870.401.8181 for returns. Someone may have broken both legs, won a holiday to Curaçao, or had a barney with the girlfriend. You never know your luck. (SR)
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| | The UK charts are often peppered with on-the-verge indie bands who make sudden, unexpected leaps into the limelight, but in the US, this rarely happens. Modest Mouse, a group from the American Northwest, have survived for eight years as indie rock A-listers, earning college radio airplay, T-shirt sales, one TV advertisement appearance, and not much else. With new single "Float On", however, all of that has changed, as they've found themselves suddenly chart-bound. Supporting MM tonight is Bright Eyes, the onstage guise of heavily coiffed Nebraska singer/songwriter Conor Oberst. You'll want to keep your girls far from the stage during this one, lads. (YS)
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| | The Jacksons, Hansons, and Osmonds have absolutely nothing on the Trachtenburgs. Using old second-hand slides as source material, this family band create quirky, catchy tunes to accompany their found visual backdrops. Nine-years-young Rachel bangs the drums behind her dad, Jason, on guitar and vocals, with mum, Tina, on projections. Auxiliary musicians are often recruited, making wondrous studio tracks such as "Fondue Friends in Switzerland", "Let's Not Have the Same Weight in 1978", and "Wendy's, Sambos and Long John Silver's" an equally enjoyable onstage reality. In 2002, the Trachtenburgs became the first unsigned band to play Late Night with Conan O'Brien; a couple of years on, America is all but seduced. Now it's our turn. (ND)
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| CD REVIEW: Junior Boys, Last Exit |
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Kin
June 2004
£9.99 (Boomkat)
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 All hail Junior Boys. The brainchild of Jeremy Greenspan and the now-departed Johnny Dark, these canny Canadians elegantly re-craft electro pop as a genre of pace and invention. Rather than looking exclusively backwards — as so many electro artists insist on doing — these ten tracks take the '80s template and marry it to microhouse's depth and detail. Last Exit drips with class, effortlessly living up to its billing — if you use reference points such as Timbaland, New Order, and the Beach Boys in your promotional material, you have to be confident in your credentials. Pleasingly, Junior Boys have waged their war via cyberspace, eagerly and patiently building a receptive fan base and a solid critical foundation. Join them. (ND)
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| AIRWAVE: FUSEbox |
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Presented by Emma Sutton on East London's local radio station, Sound Radio, FUSEbox has rocked the airwaves for 18 months now. Each Tuesday night, Sutton snags interviews with graffiti writers, snowboarders, B-boys, and a seriously varied selection of musicians — she's had everyone from GZA and DJ Format & Abdominal to NYC street artists Faile and the folks from record label Wall of Sound down. Plus, her music is getting so fresh that each week she's playing tunes straight from producers' computers. Hotter than wasabi, FUSEbox airs every Tuesday evening from 9-11pm on Sound Radio 1503AM/MW and streams online. (FG)
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| STREAMS: D*I*R*T*Y |
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The Parisian D*I*R*T*Y sound system has a fanatical
allegiance to the experimental underground. The collective has earned
its street cred through the critically acclaimed mix CD Dirty
Diamonds, being the in-house music supervisors for Paris'
super-chic boutique Colette, and by consistently broadcasting mixshows
from only the hottest independent artists. But musical education is
not the only end to which they are toiling — they're also
working to showcase the experimental side of fashion and design. Site
founder Guillaume Sorge has selected three of their top mixes to
dirty up your sound system. (JPLS)
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| CREDITS |
| Header Design: |
| Keats | | |
| 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
flavourpill 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 | | Edward Chamberlin | | Nick Clarke | | Caroline Cohen | | Jason Doyle | | Frosty | | Katharine V. Hibbert | | Paul Laster | | Bobby M | | Elizabeth L. McDonald | | Aoife O'Brien | | Nick Parish |
| Lisa Rosman | | Amy Schmalz | | Jonathan P.L. Spooner | | Dave Stelfox | | James Thornton | | Robbie Wolstenholme | | |
| Production: |
| Anjuli Ayer | | Jen Bachman | | Krista Freibaum | | David Morrow | | Peter D. Stepek | | Emily Welsch |
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