6th February 2012

gigs clubbing art comedy theatre blog competitions

Illustration by Julie Khan

Carnival Rule

After the party is the after-party. And after next weekend’s Notting Hill Carnival, there are more after-parties than you could shake an exotically hued headdress at. With so much going on, it can be tough, for both first-time Carnival goers and grizzled veterans of the Lilt alike, to decide which parties and after-parties are worth checking out. Fortunately for you, we’ve put together a helpful guide to the best Notting Hill after-parties. In addition, Joe caught up with Carnival legend Norman Jay to find out what the big man is recommending this bank holiday.

But if you don’t fancy Carnival this year, then fret ye not, because there’s a host of other great events going on around town. Next week is a particularly good one for live music with Swanton Bombs, Eugene McGuinness, Crystal Antlers and Three Trapped Tigers all performing. There’s also comedy, theatre, clubbing and the longest title for an art exhibition that we’ve ever seen.

Follow our Carnival updates on Twitter: #nhc09
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Friday 21st

For her first London solo show contemporary artist Marina Kassianidou is fiddling about with the very fabric of the Tenderpixel gallery space.

Adding stains to walls, scratching the flooring and rejigging various elements, Kassianidou's art is of the hidden, barely-there kind. Intriguing.

IMT presents an interactive exhibition of musical compositions by Polish contemporary artist Wojciech Kosma.

Visitors are encouraged to perform some of these experimental scores alongside video performances. One wonders if Kosma's performance piece Blow Job is part of the proceedings...

The second part of the Brazilx2 programme at the Old Red Lion Theatre to promote Brazilian Theatre, The Last Days of Gilda is an erotic, eye-opening ghetto poetry. Already a cult hit in Brazil, this one-woman show about the seductive power of food and the conflicted but yearning soul of the favelas starring Gael Le Cornec (Frida Kahlo) as the

Saturday 22nd

Vice always have a habit oflaying on amazing line-ups for their parties, but this time they've managed to outdo even themselves and land an exclusive of epic proportions. Taking over Village Underground (yep, that place with the tube trains on the roof), the guys have managed to coax not one, but two sets from The Bronx, who are no doubt the

London’s very own festival kids the Sugar House Crew join forces with burners far and wide to throw down London’s first ever pre-compression party. In other words, this is a Burning Man warm-up – a mess around to get you going for the biggest most glorious event on the planet. Meet other Burners, plan your attack and get excited together

The dance-punk enthusiasts at DFA Records, home to the likes of The Juan Maclean and Hercules and Love Affair will be staging their first official DFA Party since James Murphy (co-founder) curated Matter in Oct 2008.

Are we excited? Yeah, you could say that

Sunday 23rd

One-off DIY comedy night where whoever turns up decides how to run the night, who performs, and so on. Will the night descend into comic anarchy? Or will it be the perfect, utopian open mic show?

Interesting and fun idea from comedian and MC Dale Lately. See if it works in the Queen's Head this Sunday.

Stand up comedian and multi award-winning writer Adrian Poynton comes to the Camden Fringe with his brand new show. Mixing uplifting stories with observations, ponderings and improvisation, Poynton is one of Britain's friendliest comedic talents.

Going through some things at his parents house Adrian came across an old photo from his very first class at school. He realised he didn't know anyone on it any more. In fact he knew nothing about any of them at all. Where were they? What were they doing? Who was alive, who was dead?

Monday 24th

The last time we saw Monotonix they absolutely destroyed ULU. Seriously. Supporting Silver Jews the guys played the lobby, hung off balconies and generally acted like Iggy Pop meets the kid with ADHD who threw oranges about your maths class and got stuck in isolation all the time. They were so good in fact they made Steven Malkmus look a bit boring. We're not sure if Wes ever got over it.

So expect the unexpected when they hit The Garage tonight. Knowing these guys, they'll probably end up sacrificing a goat and setting the drum kit on fire.

Frog Morris presents a unique revue of comedy, music, fortune telling, dog handling, on-stage action painting and poetry about pig-breeding, accompanied by a select choice of special guests.

Well established in the fine art circles, Frog's eccentric brand of performance has appeared in museums, galleries and festivals across Europe.

Tuesday 25th

Whilst the rest of the world has been going crazy for Animal Collective, here in London Three Trapped Tigers have been loosening bowels, blowing speakers and releasing records that have been making everything in our record collection seem stale and old. And guess what? They're only releasing another one at White Heat tonight.

Taking their name from a novel by Cuban writer Cabrera Infante, this trio make avant noise that sounds like the feedback you find on Sonic Youth records moulded into incredible free-form acid-trips that slowly build into joyously melodic jams that you can't help but nod your head to. It's jazz, but not as we know it.

Few bands can walk a tight-rope like Crystal Antlers. On the one hand the music is quite trippy, with a layered, almost space rock feel that is easy to get lost in, but just as quickly their music can descend into Led Zeppelin meets the Meat Puppets style freak outs.

It's a bit of a strange analogy, but they're a bit like that scene in Platoon where Charlie Sheen is weirded out on weed and Tom Beringer steps up looking like a nutcase and snarling 'I am reality'. Scary, weird, and intense, but really, really good.

Wednesday 26th

Dust off your Foucault - it's time to get theoretical! Kazakh contemporary artist Erbossyn Meldibekov has been perusing the Structuralist Frenchy's brilliant The Order of Things of late and been inspired for this exhibition at Rossi & Rossi.

Performance, sculpture, photography and drawing combine to explore the social and political changes that have affected Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the post-Soviet era.

Held in wicked Kensal Rise venue The Paradise, this is a increasingly popular club that mixes headline names with new, up-and-coming acts. Tonight's show looks like a goodie with the sharp-witted Ian Stone headlining, supported by socio-political comic Inder Manocha, Funny Women Finalist 2008, Rachel Stubbings and keen observational stand-up, Amadeus Martin.

Thursday 27th

Inspired by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Sam Holcroft's new show at the Gate Theatre is a tragicomic tale of unrequited love. As ever, the Gate promise a fresh interpretation, in this case removing all the extraneous characters and action and focusing tightly on the two doomed love triangles.

Removing the supporting cast that previous versions of the show have relied upon, Vanya promises an up-close encounter with the characters and their emotional tribulations as they struggle with and somehow survive love.

A Domino signed London-Irish singer songwriter, Eugene McGuiness is one of those guys who is annoyingly hard to categorise.

At only 22 he already has two critically acclaimed albums under his belt that are both sprawling, schizophrenic masterpieces that skip over boundaries with gleeful abandon and an acidic sense of humour.

Friday 28th

And, by unanimous decision, the prize for most unwieldy exhibition title of 2009 goes to this bizarre-sounding Sean Edwards project at Limoncello.

'Portrait (for a screenplay) of Beth Harmon' - From the novel 'The Queen's Gambit' by Walter Tevis is a long-running project that features work by artists invited to take part by Edwards.

The whole concept involves responding to the character of eight year old Beth Harmon, shy and introverted until she starts playing chess. The film adaptation of The Queen's Gambit has been in pre-production for years, but bedevilled by problems such as the death of scheduled director Heath Ledger, perhaps this exhibition is all that will ever become of it...

During the August bank holiday weekend, Vibe Bar plays host to South East in East, a festival of live music and art showcasing London's hottest new talent.

Tonight the line-up is being controlled by South London creatives Off Modern, and is typically ecletic with sets from fired-up garage rockers Thee Vicars and experimental dance outfit My Tiger My Timing both taking the stage. Should get pretty crazy.

A conceptual indie duo from London, by way of Essex, Swanton Bombs have been turning heads all summer by disseminating pounding riffs and tongue-in-cheek lyricism throughout the UK.

Sounding a bit like those weird songs on a Blur album, they're cute without ever crossing over into hopelessly twee territory, and could just be our new favourite band.

Saturday 29th

Since the release of their first album, 'If The Blues Comes Calling' in 2006, Birmingham-based bluegrass and swing outfit, The Toy Hearts, have gained an enviable reputation as one of the UK's hottest country acts.

Taking influences from old US family outfits like The Carter Family, they're a dazzling array of bold harmonies, original songwriting and an instrumental virtuosity rarely seen on this side of the Atlantic.

Trevor Griffiths' new play brings to life the radical author Thomas Paine, author of The Rights of Man and original inventor of the minimum wage, against a backdrop of ferment and revolution across Europe and the world.

Paine was an English Radical born in 1737 who lived through times of massive change, when old shackles were cast off and freedom was an an enticing new possibility for thousands of people across the world. He emigrated aged 37 to America, and wrote the pamphlet Common Sense, arguing for independence from England. Subsequently, his work and especially The Rights of Man (1797) were a huge influence on the French revolution. He moved to France where he was elected to the National Convention despite not speaking a word of the language, and became a hero of the Girondists. Eventually he returned to America where he died a celebrated figure.

Slutty Fringe is a blog. A music blog which mixes upfront club tracks with blistering copy. They turn three years old tonight (an age in blog terms) as well as celebrating the revamp of their site.

They've bagged Trevor Jackson to spin some of his magic, plus Grovesnor with the full six piece band and I Haunt Wizards playing live.

The indomitable Slutty Fringe protagonists John Power and Tony Poland will of course be serving a deep mix of disco-punk-funk-crunk.

Get in the ring.

Sunday 30th

After three quiet years off the live circuit, Edinburgh Fringe favourites 'The Trap' return with a brand new sketch show. Comprising of Jeremy Limb, Paul Litchfield and Dan Mersh, the trio were renowned for their Bad Play show series - a parody of student theatre using innovative multimedia and ludicrous props like glass bagpipes and tandem bikes. They quickly gained a cult following and were snapped up by Steve Coogan's Baby Cow production company who are currently in the process of adapting their stuff for TV.

Established indie-dance troupe Simian Mobile Disco join the hotly-tipped Bloody Beetroots to headline an official after-party for South London's iconic electronic summer day festival at Clapham Common, Get Loaded In the Park. In Room 1 Wetyourself residents Peter Pixzel & Co. provide solid support for the Simian boys with crackin' electro, while in Room 2 the up-and-coming California native Steve Aoki backs up the Beetroots with dizzying power house. Room 3 sees Portuguese duo Stereo Addiction serve up a more minimal flavour.

Everybody loves Notting Hill Carnival, the two-day street party in West London celebrating Caribbean culture and offering the chance to dance in the streets to a variety of different sounds, from laid back reggae and dub to funk, soul, house, bassline, grime, dubstep, drum n bass and hip hop. The predominant sound is Soca, and Calypso from the steel bands for which Notting Hill Carnival is famous.