Simon Bookish

Playing reworked versions for piano at Mary Magdalene Church, with Leafcutter John on live sampling. Photo by Vicki Churchill. Set highlight: “Long Haul”, from the underexposed masterpiece Trainwreck/Raincheck.

Trainwreck / Raincheck by Simon Bookish

Botany

On very rare occasions, a press release describes a new band better than journalists could hope to. This Botany release is one such text. GAUZY PATINA ffs. “‘Feeling Today is Spencer Stephenson’s debut release under the Botany moniker. The culmination of years of assembling music, this EP, and his forthcoming full-length, flow with a transcendental radiance. Under the gauzy patina of decades-old samples, this Texan sound-sculptor masterfully merges the past and the present, the earthly and the infinite.”

Botany – Waterparker by snipelondon

Recipes for your left over pumpkin mush

Being thoroughly Americanised by now after years of exposure to the greatest excesses of their culture, you’ll doubtless be carving a pumpkin this weekend – hopefully into one of these extreme pumpkin lanterns guaranteed to scare away the most obnoxious 10-year-old sweet bandits. But what to do with the goo inside? Here are five unusual pumpkin recipes to make sure all that orange goodness doesn’t go to waste.

Dead easy pumpkin cocktail
Pumpkin, vodka, orange juice, lemon. What could be simpler? For best effect, serve from carved out pumpkin shell, and use lots and lots of vodka.

Cute pumpkin muffins
What could be better for the morning after the Halloween party before? You wake, hungover and covered in a sticky red substance which may be make up, or may be real blood. There’s no way to tell. What you need for your banging headache and possible blood loss is something light, sugary, delicious, snacky but still filling. Thank god you planned ahead and made a batch of these muffins the day before.

Nigella’s pumpkin and seafood curry
Straightforward, delicious sounding Thai curry. Also a welcome rare outing for that bottle of Fish Sauce which has been three quarters full for the last 2 years. It’ll still be alright.

Pumpkin Fondue
Sometimes an idea comes along of such instinctive genius that just hearing the juxtaposition of the words involved sends a shiver of joy down the spine. Pumpkin fondue is one such idea. It’s fondue, but served in a pumpkin. It’s pumpkin fondue.

Pumpkin Pickle
Pickles and chutneys are way underrated, but Snipe is tipping them to be big in 2011 when no one has any money left. You heard it here first. All you’ll need to accompany this recipe is a hunk of cheese and your snack worries, (and be honest, which of us doesn’t have snack worries?) will be a thing of the past.

London agenda for Thursday 28 October
1. Tail the folk of the “Shake It” club nights at On a night like this [Le Cool]
2. Debate the motion Exploring is good for the explorer but not much good for those being explored. [Run Riot]
3. Glammy swagger with The Duel, Shag Nasty, Larp, and Snide at Rock Bar [London Gigs]
4. 80s Brit pop meets ELO with Magic Kids, Fanzine, and Blood Oranges at the Lex [London Gigs]
5. Descend into Viktor Wynd’s Little Shop of Horrors [Tired Of London]

New Daft Punk music video from Tron:Legacy, Derezzed

And, for once, the UK premiere of Tron:Legacy will be the same day as the North American one, 17 December.

The Taqwacores

Director Eyad Zahra
Country USA

The Taqwacore Muslim punk movement was once the imagining of American writer Michael Muhammed Knight. But young Muslim Americans soon championed Knight’s 2003 fictional account of a bristling Islamic punk rock scene and started to form their own wildly popular bands. And thus Taqwacore was born.

This year director Eyad Zahra bring Knight’s seminal work to the screen in his gritty and energetic debut feature, The Taqwacores.

The story sees shy Pakistani-American engineering student, Yusuf (Bobby Naderi), move off-campus with an unconventional group of Muslims in Buffalo, New York. These include Indonesian stoner Fasiq (Ian Tran), Shi’a skater Amazing Ayyub (Volkan Eryaman), the moralistic Sunni Umar (Nav Mann), mohawked Sufi Jehangir (Dominic Rains) and burqa-clad feminist Rabeya (Noureen DeWulf). This disparate and conflicted bunch introduces Yusuf to the Taqwacore Islamic punk scene. As the housemates veer wildly from drug- and sex-fuelled parties to prayer, Yusuf starts to reexamine his views on faith.

Zahra’ first feature film is choppy and rough around the edges although this anarchic aesthetic is ultimately fitting. And it makes up for a lack of polish with spirited performances and some visually striking scenes. (The climactic scene of a riotous Taqwacore show had the audience talking long after the credits rolled.) Overall, this is an original take on cultural, religious and sexual identity in America – with a kick-ass punk soundtrack.

Bad taste costumes for Halloween 2010

Halloween is a sacred festival, deeply rooted in traditional English folk culture. Either that, or it’s a chance to dress up in deeply offensive costumes and force feed each other Haribo until you explode. Here are five edgy, semi-topical costume ideas for this weekend which are guaranteed to raise eyebrows, heckles and your party profile.

Gazza and Raoul ‘Moaty’ Moat

What you’ll need:

For Gazza: England football wear, 4 KFC cartons, 1 child’s fishing net, 4 pack of beer, 1 comedy geordie accent.

For Moaty: Black clothes, 1 tub of protein shake, 1 toy gun, 1 comedy geordie accent.

Paul the Octopus (RIP)

What you’ll need:

1 pair boggly eye glasses, 8 kitchen gloves attached to cardboard tubes, 1 pipette full of ink for “hilarious” squirting gag.

Cat Bin Lady

What you’ll need:

1 horrible wig, 1 bin, 1 cat.

Wayne Rooney and Jennifer Thompson

What you’ll need:

For Jennifer Thompson: 1 set frilly underwear. 4 cans fake tan.

For Wayne Rooney: 1 disgustingly oversize wallet.

Anything that gives away the Mad Men Season 4 Finale

The worst costume crime of them all. Don’t you dare – some of us are still catching up…

Mazes

Manchester 5-piece Mazes have been brightening up our day today with their effervescent, twangly indie-pop. They’ve just signed to the excellent Fat Cat label, and are aiming to release their debut long-player in Spring 2011.

Mazes – Go-Betweens by snipelondon

London agenda for Wednesday 27 October
1. Fake a smile in Stratford with Reasons to be Cheerful [Le Cool]
2. A horde of secret special guests will be joining the Homework residents to confess the embarrassing true stories of their worst gigs ever [Run Riot]
3. See what two members of Cajun Dance Party have come up with in Yuck [Spoonfed]
4. Visit Rules, London’s Oldest Restaurant [Tired of London]
5. Experience Toronto’s top (and quite possibly only) bubblegum-noir band The Birthday Massacre with the Velvetines at Islington Academy [London Gigs]

Black Swan

Recommending this film is not the easiest thing to do. You have those who already know and appreciate the prospect of a new Darren Aronofsky film, granted some of those fans fell off at The Fountain, his most personal and ambitious work, before being pulled back in by The Wrestler.

Then you have those yet to be convinced.