January Egg Race Dream by Thomas Truax

Following on from Darren Hayman’s ‘January Songs’ project, New Yorker Thomas Truax has set himself the slightly less demanding goal of writing, recording and releasing a new track once a month, throughout 2011. The idea is to produce a ‘living, mutating album’, influenced by the ‘changing of the seasons… dreams, personal and world events as they unfold’. His first offering is ‘January Egg Race Dream’, a slightly sinister, spoken-word piece about the cruellest and most preposterous of all school sports day events – the egg and spoon race.

As an aside, it’s a wonder he has time to make music at all, what with a sideline in inventing unusual musical instruments, such as the amusingly named ‘Hornicator’ and the ‘Stringaling’ – what appears to be a small bongo, attached to a tumble dryer pipe. All tracks are available for free, for a limited time, via Soundcloud. Catch him at The Spice of Life, Cambridge Circus, on February 20th.

Thomas Truax – January Egg Race Dream by snipelondon

Exhibition Guide: 31 January – 6 February

Hilary Lloyd
Raven Row, 56 Artillery Lane, Liverpool, E1 7LS

Intense and arresting, Hilary Lloyd’s exhibition at Raven Row Gallery has been specifically created for the sparse and echoing space. Having been preparing for this show for over three years, watching as the gallery emerged from a building site, Lloyd’s photography, videos and slides capture spontaneous moments as if they were but a blink of the eye. Until 6 Feb.

www.ravenrow.org

Shannon Oksanen
Union Gallery, 94 Teesdale St, Cambridge Heath, E2 6PU

Inspired by the work of Franz West, Cy Twombly, Niki de Saint Phalle and Constantin Brancusi, the Canadian born Shannon Oksanen’s handmade objects conjure up a palpable sense of nostalgia. Constructed with everything from found objects to plaster, Oksanen’s sculptures are humble, oddly beautiful and modest constructions. This solo exhibition also comprises of a short film. Until 5 Feb.

www.union-gallery.com

Never The Same River (Possible Futures, Probable Pasts)
Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Rd, Finchley Road & Frognal, NW3 6DG

Curated by British artist Simon Starling, Never The Same River (Possible Futures, Probable Pasts) brings together works by 30 artists and designers, revisiting the rich history of the Centre. By re-positioning objects that previously occupied the space alongside new works, Starling draws compelling parallels between the past, present and future. Until 20 February.

www.camdenartscentre.org

Testing Ground
Zabludowicz Collection, 176 Prince of Wales Rd, Chalk Farm, NW5 3PT

The third annual Testing Ground features this year’s Future Map 10, an exhibition of works from recent graduates from University of The Arts, London. Now in it’s thirteenth year, this exhibition is renowned for showcasing the best of future generation – compiling a discerning selection of figures that will help shape our cultural landscape. Until 6 Feb.

www.zabludowiczcollection.com

London agenda for Tuesday 1 February

1. Visit a strange, magical world filling an almost secret gallery [Le Cool]

2. Catch the works of Robert Mapplethorpe as curated by Scissor Sisters [Le Cool]

3. Compare Wooster vs Jeeves [Run Riot]

4. Hear Wilko Johnson, A Genuine Freakshow, and Alice Walker at the Lex [London Gigs]

5. Take a yoga class at the Maha Lakshmi Vidya Bhavan [Tired of London]

6. Celebrate the first anniversary of South London spoken word phenomenon Kid, I Wrote Back [Jon Davis]

Metronomy

‘She wants’ is the first single to be taken from Metronomy’s forthcoming album ‘The English Riviera’ and pretty wondrous it is too. Moody synth and modulated bass give way to a fine poppy chorus: sparse, catchy and devastatingly effective. Download it for free, via their website. They play Heaven tomorrow night (Feb 1).

Metronomy – She Wants by snipelondon

Hereafter

Hereafter opens with a disaster which renders high-powered television journalist Marie (Cecile De France) unable to ignore questions about her destiny, and forces her to rethink her seemingly perfect life. Meanwhile, London school-boy Marcus (George and Frankie McLaren) is confronted with the untimely death of someone close to him and must address mortality alongside the arguably worse burden of living with his junkie mother in South London. Stateside, George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a blue-collar San Franciscan who is struggling to keep his psychic abilities at bay, but is unwittingly drawn into the lives of Marie and Marcus. Will the three find what they’re searching for? Is there anything beyond our own ephemeral existence? Could Matt Damon’s character be any more monotonous?

London agenda for Monday 31 January

1. It’s the sugar-rush joy of the Go Team at Rough Trade East [Le Cool]

2. Catch the experimental shorts of various cities with Civic Life [Run Riot]

3. Learn how to run a successful club night [Run Riot]

4. Eat in a one-table restaurant [Thrillist]

5. Relax in the Fox and Anchor [Tired of London]

Week in Books: Geoff Dyer to Ginsberg

Utter! – 7.30pm Tuesday 1st February
Pat yourself on the back, grab yourself a strong drink and get some poetry ear pampering because you’ve made it end of January! This spoken word night is the perfect way to welcome the friendly and short February.
Green Note, 106 Parkway, NW1 7AN. Tickets £5

Kid, I Wrote Back – 7.30pm Tuesday 1st February
If you need another reason to celebrate get yourself down to Kid, I Wrote Back’s first birthday. Expect the usual word slinging and potty mouth talk from this fresh and exciting open mic poetry night.
Bar Kick, 127 Shoreditch High St, E1 6JE. £3

Ginsberg Talk – 8pm Wednesday 2nd February
If you’re an ‘angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night’ or if you recognise these lines from Allen Ginsberg’s Howl this events for you. Tonight celebrates and explores the ground breaking poem by the luminary of the Beat generation.
Saison Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Rd, South Bank, SE1 8X. Free

Shoreditch Literary House Salon – 7pm Wednesday 2nd February
Tonight this brilliant literary Salon plays host to Jojo Moyes, Francesca Beauman and Snipe favourite Geoff Dyer. Each will be giving an illuminating talk about their most recent work, except thought on love letters, lonely hearts ads and donuts. All this and a free G&T and pizza, what more could you ask for.
Shoreditch House, Ebor Street, E1 6AW. Free (you are advised to arrive early)

Changin' by Galapagos

Galapagos is producer Jacob McNaughton from Phoenix, Arizona. He makes laid-back jams, cutting-up vocal samples and live instruments to make a kind of hypnotic mess – think a slowed down Todd Edwards, without the garage vibes. He’s also remixed Snipe favourites Blackbird Blackbird. Currently working on an EP and putting the finishing touches to a second volume of released and unreleased tracks – Sounds, vol. 2’ – you can download ‘Sounds, vol. 1’, for free, from his Bandcamp. Or be nice and pay for it.

Galapagos – Changin’ by snipelondon

Tuition-fee protestors release iPhone/Smartphone app to help students avoid kettling

London campaigners Sukey say that they will release some apps tomorrow to help tuition-fee protestors successfully get their message across and avoid the inconvenience of kettling.

From their blurb, the app is to:

To keep peaceful protesters informed with live protest information that will assist them in avoiding injury, in keeping clear of trouble spots and in avoiding unnecessary detention.

The application suite gives maximum information to those participating in a demonstration so that they can make informed decisions, as well as to those following externally who may be concerned about friends and family.

It should make full use of the crowd in gathering information which is then analysed and handed back to the crowd.

It’s still a secret how it works right now, but check out their page tomorrow morning, before heading to the demo.

Video of David Brent meeting Michael Scott on the Office

Last night, the American TV network NBC broadcast a very special episode of the US version of The Office — a chance meeting between Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton manager Michael Scott and out-of-work, former Wernham-Hogg Slough manager David Brent.

(H/T Beehive City)