Culture Diary w/c 30-04-12
Monday – Sin City @ FACT 9pm
In 2005 Frank Miller teamed up with Robert Rodriguez to bring his graphic novel Sin City to the screen. With characteristic violence and a pleasingly stylised aesthetic, the resulting film attracted popular acclaim. If you like your heroes of the ‘anti’ variety, this is for you, and with Sin City 2 due out next year, serves to whet the appetite.
Tuesday - Metropolis (anime) @ FACT 6.30pm
Hot on the heels of Fritz Lang’s restored classic, FACT are giving Rintaro’s anime interpretation of Metropolis an airing. Inspired by Lang’s Weimar Republic – era film and loosely based on the post WWII manga of the same name, this 2001 effort translates into a meaningful film which stands on its own merits.
Wednesday - WEIRD DREAMS @ Parr Street Studios 7.30pm, £5 adv
Weird Dreams first came to our attention when they played a winning support slot for The War on Drugs earlier this year. With this month’s release of debut long player Choreography, the East London dream-pop four-piece have graduated to headliners, and quite right, too.
Thursday - HOWLER + hooded fang @ The Kazimier 7.30pm £8
Often all too easy to make lazy comparisons with a new band in trying to describe their sound, it’s hardly stretching things to suggest Howler are pretty big fans of The Strokes. Their debut album, America Give Up has a similar immediacy as The Strokes’ Is This It. If not quite matching the track-for-track perfection of ‘the album that saved rock n roll ™’, AGU still has much to recommend it. There should also be a few hooded fang converts by the end of the night, too.
Clearspotting Presents ‘The Twilight Zone’ @FACT 9.30pm, free (booking required)
Clearspotting are the improvised music collective, featuring musicians from the bands Cavalier song, Vasco Da Gama and Magic Youth Club. This Thursday at FACT sees them interpreting two episodes (Where is Everybody? and A Thing About Machines) of Rod Sterling’s cult sci-fi series The Twilight Zone. Music and sci-fi, for us, is a heady combination. Throw in the all-important FREE factor and you can consider us sold.
Friday – Galapagos @ The Bluecoat, free
Galapagos. The very word conjures so many thoughts and feelings, all wrapped up in narratives of Darwin and his theory of evolution. For their latest exhibition, The Bluecoat selected 12 artists to produce work on the basis of research undertaken during residencies on the islands. Expect work dealing with the thorny issue of ‘the delicate tension between a pristine environment and human curiosity and intervention’ featuring artists as diverse as Marcus Coates and Semiconductor.
Liquidation @ Magnet 11pm free
Late on Thursday, social networks were a-buzz with the sad news that after getting on for 20 years of service to indie-kids, le bateau had closed its doors for the last time. A place and a night synonymous with top tunes and memories to match, it was tough in The Double Negative household, believe us. As sad as the news undoubtedly was and is, an immediate panacea was offered; Liquidation is set to continue at The Magnet.
Sunday – Kids We Used To Be 7.30pm £3 Cancelled
Snub, a night rising from the ashes of the Masque, instigated by Gemma Smith, has now become a full-blown beast in its own right. So successful was it that Smith used the name for her new promotions arm, establishing a reputation for alt. rock and metal, this looks set to be continued this Sunday.