That kool aid

Weekend Combo: Ryan Gosling, Record Store Day and Californian vibes in the capital
By Alex James Taylor | Art | 17 April 2015
Above:

Still, Lost River 2014 © Bold Films

This article is part of Weekend Combo – What to do this weekend

We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 17th April – SUNDAY 19th April 2015

Still waters run deep
Our film recommendation for this week sees Ryan Gosling taking his first turn behind the camera for his directing debut Lost River.

The film follows a similar formula to Gosling’s acting roles in films Drive, Only God Forgives and The Place Beyond The Pines. The script is sparse, the cinematography breathtaking. Gosling’s eye for finding beauty amidst chaos lends itself to the narrative – a dark parable about the death of the American heartlands.

Set in a decaying small town the plot revolves around single mother Billy and her eldest son Bones who gets a in a freud with the deranged, gold-jacketed skinhead named Bully, played by a wildly leering Matt Smith.

Gosling lays his influences bare in his vision, an extended Lynchian dream sequence set in a Terrence Malick world populated by characters thought up by Harmony Korine. Sounds good, right?

Lost River, 105 mins. In cinemas now

Alright, alright, alright
You might say it’s pushing it to describe the sudden heatwave hitting the UK this week as ‘California-esque’, but The Royal Academy of Arts is stepping up to the plate. This weekend they are transforming Burlington House into a Beverly Hills mansion to mark their current exhibition; artist Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park series, painted from his Santa Monica beach view house.

As part of the event the Royal Academy will be channelling all things Orange County, complete with meditative kirtan chanting by Illumina, live surfboard art by Pistache and 70s surf garage courtesy of Sky Murphy and the General.

It’s a mega line up, and here’s the clincher: skater and filmmaker Winstan Whitter will be giving his insight into the emergence of skateboard culture in California and its history, from 70s Z-boys through to the current street skate scene from London to New York.

Crack open the kool aid (electric or otherwise) and soak in the retro, sunshine psych DJS will be spinning all night. Oh and take note of the dress code. It’s all about denim, denim, denim – particularly flares, dungarees or Levi’s 501s. Think Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused, alright, alright, alright.

California Soul takes place tomorrow, Saturday 18th April from 6.30-10pm at Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts
Tickets are £22 and are available here

Hugh Holland ‘Locals Only’ 1975-1978. Courtesy the artist

Ocean Park No. 129, oil on canvas by Richard Diebenkorn, 1984

Waxing lyrical
This Saturday it’s Record Store Day, that one day a year you can splash the cash on records without an ounce of guilt. This year there’s plenty to get stuck into, here’s a couple we reckon you should check out:

Rough Trade
Record store staple Rough Trade East has a stellar line up of in-store gigs to mark the occasion, acts performing including Hooton Tennis Club, Wire and Ultimate Painting.

Sister Ray
Next up, Soho. Head over to Sister Ray and pick up a ticket for the annual Berwick Street Festival. There’ll be five independent vinyl stores on DJ duties whilst flogging some exclusive record store day releases. There’s also live band sets on the hour every hour, including a certain Dr John Cooper Clarke, a chance to see the punk poet, bard of Salford live is not to be sniffed. Oh, and it’s all free.

Ample Play
A pop-up record store – the smallest in the world – will open for one day only on Saturday in Stoke Newington. Ample Play is the brainchild of two guys from Cornershop (creators of the summertime classic Brimful of Asha). A record label by trade, the pop-up store will be selling a host of their releases and merch.

And of course, there’s a mouth-watering list of exclusive record store day releases to get your mitts on; a live Tame Impala EP, an Amorphous Androgynous compilation, a heart shaped Father John Misty single, reissues from Bowie, The Doors, The Animals and Stephen Hawking singing Monty Python’s classic Galaxy Song. Yep.

Find more info on Record Store Day here

Get a load of this
Psst, after you’ve filled your boots at Rough Trade East head over to Hoxton Hotel on Great Eastern Street for a Jonathan Saunders sample sale. Quality clobber priced upwards of £30, there’s bargains to be had. Cushti.

The sale is at Hoxton Hotel and is open Saturday 18th April (10am – 5pm) and Sunday 19th April (11am – 4pm)
Register to hit it up here

Fat White relatives
Here’s one to clear the cobwebs from your ears, Trashmouth Records have organised a pre-record store day party to celebrate Warmduscher’s debut album Khaki Tears.

If the name Warmduscher leaves you head scratching let us fill you in, they’re the side-project of everyone’s favourite Brixton vagabonds Saul and Jack from The Fat White Family. So you already know the night is going to be a messy one.

As well as Warmduscher the line up boasts other Trashmouth bands including Meatraffle, Pit Ponies, Bat-Bike and Madonnatron. Things are going to get weird, wallow in it.

Trashmouth Records Party takes place on Friday April 17th at Brixton Windmill
Tickets are £4 and available here

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy
The sun is blaring down in London town, summer’s on its way and with it comes a whole heap of rooftop bars for you to soak up the sun in whilst you soak up the drinks.

So before the Trashmouth gig in Brixton make a beeline for Model Market on Lewisham High Street, an abandoned 1950s market transformed into a mini village chock-a-block with street food vendors, restaurants and bars, from tiki bars to burger shacks.

Make like a sunflower and follow the sun upwards. Hit up ‘the high line’ – a tongue-in-cheek reference to New York’s railroad, a tad more idyllic than our overground, some may say – a rooftop terrace tequila bar with views overlooking London. Take it in your stride this weekend.

Model Market is open now until September at196 Lewisham High Street

Model Market, Lewisham

TOP GALLERY IMAGE CREDITS:
1. Still, Lost River 2014 © Bold Films

2. Still, Lost River 2014 © Bold Films
3. Still, Lost River 2014 © Bold Films
4. Still, Dogtown and Z-boys 2001 © Sony Pictures
5. Hugh Holland ‘Locals Only’ 1975-1978. Courtesy the artist
6. Hooton Tennis Club shot by Amy Gwatkin for HERO 12: Darkness Falls
7. Ultimate Painting. Photo courtesy the band
8. John Cooper Clarke, photo courtesy of artist.

9. Warmduscher photo by Lou Smith
10. Bat bike photo by LOOOLEEE
11. Model Market, High Line Lewisham. Photo courtesy of Model Market
12. Model Market, High Line Lewisham. Photo courtesy of Model Market
13. Model Market, High Line Lewisham. Photo courtesy of Model Market




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