Entertainment

Not got around to voting yet? Take a look at what the main parties active in London want to do with arts and culture. Labour Labour wants to guarantee a universal entitlement to a creative education so that every young person has access to cultural activity and the arts in schools and after-school clubs. The party has said it would require any institution that receives arts funding to open up their doors to young people, and work with public bodies to rebalance...

By Stephen Mayne  It was film that brought me to Elliott Smith, and it’s in film that director Nickolas Dylan Rossi finds him again. I was 15 and in search of something when I first came across the scene in The Royal Tenenbaums where Luke Wilson tries to take his own life. Playing over it is Needle in the Hay, a devastating song off Elliott’s second solo album. The intense pain and beauty had me hooked. That’s how it is with...

By Declan Roberts (@DeclanMR) It’s been a while since we last heard music from London based singer-songwriter Michael Baker. His earlier singles, released a couple of years ago now, actually make up a sampler of 'Keys To The Kingdom'. Although he’s been quiet on the release front, he has been exceptionally busy on the tour circuit with various appearances around London, a stopover show in Cologne and most recently a trip down to Brighton at the Night House. Opening track...

By William Cooper Art books don’t often attain cross-discipline popularity, but David Balzer seems to have achieved just that with his discussion on the rise of curating, a book which is becoming almost as prolific as its subject matter. Not since the YBAs of the 90s have books about art captured the wider public’s imagination and intrigue (Julian Stallabrass’s High Art Lite springs to mind here) as powerfully. Back then we were interested in the lifestyles and characters behind an unmade...

Ah, what a difference a week makes: feels like only yesterday we were bringing you the best in outdoor art to enjoy in our sunny city. Now that the clouds have rolled over just in time for the Bank Holiday (standard), here’s a quick arts guide for Sunday and Monday, with a few indoor options for those damp moments. Pick Me Up graphic arts festival The graphic arts festival returns with drawings and prints by artists, creative groups and galleries from...

By Daniel Drage (@DanDrage) The Drum Sound To some it may resemble the sound of someone bouncing a peddle bin on a trampoline, but I really love the snare sound on St. Anger – the most tribal, guttural, ballsy noise that ever was crafted within Lars Ulrich’s jazzy little palms. Like clocking on for an eternal nightshift at the factory of ROCK, the tight snares represent the sound of industrial Metallica – a production line of sinuous meta-beats, atonal enough...

By Julia Prigmore (@JuliaPrigmore) Islington Assembly Hall, London, 23.04.15 Maintaining their signature ornithological theme in almost all their records, latest venture Bonxie provides Oxford quartet Stornoway with a new found energy and confidence, which is instantly apparent as the band hit the stage of Islington’s grand Assembly Hall following a pleasant mellow vibe from supporting Irish duo, The Lost Brothers. Stornoway kick off the set with the new album’s opening track, ‘Between the Salt Marsh and the Sea’ filling the...

Pamflet, a self-described “London grrrl-culture zine”, launched its thirteenth issue this week, after a four-year hiatus. The zine’s creators, Anna-Marie Fitzgerald and Pheobe Frangoul, hosted a night of wine and chat at Soho’s The Trouble Club – all female member’s club / den of intellectual feminine iniquity, founded by the Evening Standard’s Joy Lo Dico – to celebrate the occasion. “We heard about The Trouble Club and came here for a drink,” said Anna-Marie. “We thought it sounded fun.” The...

By Richard de Winter  @rgdewinter  @TLE Now it may have escaped your notice, gentle Reader, but there is a General Election imminent.  You could be forgiven for not knowing.  It’s not like the newspapers and news bulletins have been blathering on about nothing else for the last few weeks, or that social media have been filled with ever more offensive streams of invective.  Some of you may not even be aware that a worrying number of people seem to believe...