Been wanting to check out the recent screenings at The Cineroleum, a converted petrol station in Clerkenwell, yet they’ve all sold out straight away, unfortunately. Metropolis is one film that deserves to be shown on the big screen, with its dystopian vision of future Berlin still incredible looking today; ironically, of course, the huge 'ivory towers' of upper-class city financiers that the film satirises are not too far from the petrol station's location when transposed to London.
In the same spirit of DIY, Upset The Rhythm’s recent second Yes Way event in a warehouse in deepest Peckham, along with Boat Ting’s experimental nights on Bar & Co boat moored at the Thames, were events well worth the time and effort to check out. At a time when there are arts funding cuts left, right and centre, it’s still vital to have some kind of left-field music worth celebrating. The quality of some of the acts at Yes Way may have been variable - Hype Williams sounding like bad 80s porn film soundtrack music (though maybe that’s the point) and Pheromoans’ wackiness beginning to grate – but there was also some interesting explorations into drone (The Haxan Cloak, Time, Gentle Friendly), brilliantly executed thrash (Ultimate Thrush), noise (Temperatures, Blood Stereo) and dub/electronica. Along with Café Oto, The Hackney Pearl/Elevator Gallery Hackney Wick scene, and The Others, it makes a change for once too to go to a venue that has a different approach to food and drink than any homogeneous Carling-owned franchise of music venues. It’s vital that this kind of DIY spirit still exists now more than ever, with the Foundry and Barden’s Boudoir now closed.