London (un)covered – The Insider 12 – 17 April

Icelandic indie outfit Rökkurró play the Windmill in Brixton on Wednesday. Photo: Laurent Gauthier / Flickr

The Insider is The First Pint’s expert on all things cool and London. Picking out the best of the week’s events and activities; one-off or regular, unique or mainstream. So we have a day by day selection of the best events to keep you occupied all week long. Enjoy.

Apologies for the late start to the week, a by-product of running at the city a little too fast perhaps, leading to the need to send grovelling excuses to my esteemed editors on a Monday morning. Back on my feet now for a week of idiosyncratic Indie cinema from the States and odder sounding offerings from Spain. Music from Iceland, a gathering of Gals with Guitars and a collection of esteemed musicians at the ICA.

Tuesday 12

Anyone remember film director Hal Hartley? He seems to have slipped a little in public consciousness these last few years, so pleased to see a mini retrospective offered by Close Up film library in their regular Tuesday night screenings throughout April. Tonight Hartley’s second feature Trust, starring Adrienne Shelly and Martin Donovan, is a small town deadpan romance. Doors are at 7.45pm for and 8pm start, £5 entry fee payable on the door. The Hartley style is not to everyone’s liking but if you get a taste for it, screenings of Flirt and Henry Fool in subsequent weeks are highly recommended.

Wednesday 13

A random gig plucked from the listings –  Icelandic band Rökkurró play the in the delightfully divey surrounds of the Windmill in Brixton, a side street pub with a stage in the corner and an almost daily eclectic choice of music. Tickets are £5 in advance and doors open at 8pm.

Thursday 14

The Current Affairs Forum organise pub based topical discussions, and with war raging in Libya seems like an apt time to look back on intervention policies and tonight’s subject From Baghadad to Benghazi: The Fall and Revival of Humanitarian Imperialism seems likely to stir up some interesting debate. The event is free but registration is encouraged, starts at 7pm at the Perseverance in Bloomsbury.

Friday 15

I’ve enjoyed the music of Alexander Tucker in the past, am overly fond of the ICA bar and can’t really resist the call of an evening of music entitled Weirding Modules. Hanging out on the Mall on a Friday night might not seem that rock and roll, but it all sounds like a promising cocktail of psych, drones and oddness. Tickets are £5 and the doors open at 7.30pm.

Saturday 16

A collaborative composition project that runs through Friday and Saturday for Gals with Guitars, electric guitars specifically, culminates with a free live mass performance at the Elevator Gallery in Hackney Wick from 7.30pm tonight.

Sunday 17

The Tate Modern cinema takes a Spanish turn throughout the weekend, partially to coincide with the Miro exhibtion in the main galleries and also to shed some light on alternative Spanish Cinema with a programme entitled From Ecstasy to Rapture. May make it along to a few screenings over the weekend, but the closing film, the mystical cult classic Arrebato directed by Iván Zulueta at 5pm seems like a good way to round out the week. Screenings at the Tate Modern tend to be a bit of a bargain in London terms at only £5.