Co-writer and guitarist on the first three Beth Orton albums, the solo Ted Barnes is described by his record company as "a national treasure" -- and for once this apparent hyperbole is actually warranted. There's something quintessentially English about Barnes' work -- like a discerning marriage of Nick Drake's pastoral reveries, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra at their least whimsical and a brooding soundtrack to some atmospheric documentary about rusting seaside piers. His latest album, Underbelly (Sketchbook), is a sumptuous, wordless joy, full of lush strings, resonant acoustic guitars and melodies at once familiar yet hard to place. Originally conceived as soundtrack music for Channel 4 (who unceremoniously ditched Barnes for a blander, if more famous composer), it was one of 2005's most criminally overlooked albums. Tonight's show is an opportunity for the gifted if reluctant Barnes to remove his light from the bushel and remind us what "a national treasure" actually looks and sounds like.

A delicious slice of Parisian beau monde in the West End, says the Baronessa's tempting invitation to the Tea for Two Cabaret, a celebration of the art of tea. Curiouser and curiouser. London is bursting with cabaret at the moment, but this one stands out because of its charming invitation from an unknown Baronessa, the beautiful venue and enigmatic mix of performers. The evening will be compered by Dusty Limits, cabaret boy wonder from Australia who recently appeared as compere of the Vaudeville Cabaret at Edinburgh Festival Fringe's Bongo Club. The Baronessa also promises appearances from Lady Grey Tease, pianist Rod Melvin and singer Corliss Randall, with mime from mysterious performance artist Ryan Styles. What, no child prodigy playing the harp? All this will take place in the elegant Parlour room at Sketch. Tea of course is optional, but champagne is definitely on the menu! Dress up -- the Baronessa recommends boaters and blazers for the boys, and tango frocks for the girls.

NB: to attend you must send an email to soiree@baronessaball.com.

Director Markus Michalowski, ex-Pina Bausch dancer Lorca Renoux and producer Zekai Fenerci bring a hip-hop take on Romeo And Juliet to the London stage. A 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit and winner of a prestigious "Fringe First", a Herald Angel Award, and the Guardian's Best Physical Theatre Award, this high energy production promises to take your breath away. Rumble's nine dancers will battle to the rhythms of beatboxing and drums with moves ranging from contemporary to street and hip-hop dance. And with added video footage and cello music, the feud between the Montagues and Capulets will take a whole new dimension. Be warned and be entertained.

NB: Rumble is performed on Thu 02/02 and Fri 03/02.

Okay, so there is a kind of bitter irony in the tale of a man who loves bears so much that he decides to live unarmed with them for 13 years, only to end up as victim of the only fatal bear attack ever recorded in the Katmai National Park. This tragic if not entirely surprising demise is a logical end to the life chosen by Timothy Treadwell, and an introduction to the film about his life. Hundreds of hours of footage recorded by Treadwell, the "Grizzly Man", over his last five summers in Alaska's Kodiak Island have been edited and set against interviews with those who knew him. German filmmaker Werner Herzog believes that there is something much more delicate and beautiful to be seen in the footage than just the precarious balance between man and beast. It is as much a portrait of a complicated and confused individual as it is a film about nature. Treadwell's original footage provides not only a shocking series of interactions between man and bear, the likes of which have never been seen before, but also shows the struggle to survive as an interloper in both worlds.

NB: Grizzly Man is released in London on 03/02. Another film of note being released on the same day is the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. On Fri 03/02 (6:40pm) at the Curzon Soho catch WSPA's bear expert, Victor Watkins, give a brief introduction before the screening of Grizzly Man. Watkins has been with WSPA for 26 years and has set up bear sanctuaries all over the world, including Pakistan and Turkey.

You must have seen that rather annoying BBC ad with Jonathan "Woss" waxing ly-wical about Asian cinema? Annoying because it draws your attention to the fact that no matter how cultured and sophisticated your film choices may be, you probably aren't watching as many far flung films as you would like to imagine! Well Woss is right, Asian cinema is brilliant, and stuck right in the middle of its broken ground are Japanese filmmakers. Some of its youngest talent have been heavily influenced by Manga, a fact that is picked up in this ICA season exploring their films and theory. First showing is outsider-adventure Cromartie High School (05/02 and 06/02), based on Eiji Nonaka's hit series directed by Yudai Yamaguchi, which, unlike its US counterparts, features robotic students and a 400-pound gorilla! The season continues with My House (Bokunchi) (03/02 till 07/02); Blue (04/02 till 08/02); winner of the FIPRESCI prize at the 1991 Venice Film Festival with Ichikawa Mikako (Best Actress, Moscow International Film Festival); Nowhere Man (04/02), based on cult Manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge; and finally Fancy Dance (05/02 till 09/02). If you want to know more, enrol in the seminar (05/02) and get Manga-ed by Yudai Yamaguchi, Jasper Sharp, Yoko Ono and Paul Gravett.

NB: Comic Proportions runs from 03/02 till 09/02.

Hot young things The Boyfriends are perfectly suited to The Windmill pub's sticky charms. The band are an antidote to the anodyne guitar muck clogging the charts and indie discos -- it's odd to think that "alternative" music as touted by eyeliner-wearing Ivy Leaguers or spotty little herberts from the North is now as cliched and formulaic as the most cynically-manufactured pop. They play rock music with a soft edge in the style of the best British indie of the mid-'90s, tempered by their image (handsome and charming-looking ruffians, the kind of guys you'd not want to start a fight with if they waltzed into a party and snogged your girlfriend in front of you and all your friends) and a level of Internet -- and press-fuelled hype not seen since -- well, the last big thing to happen to guitar music. Catch them live before they find themselves selling out Brixton's better known and significantly pricier venues and you can see for yourself what the fuss is about.

This Saturday LSE hosts a daylong symposium in honour of the aesthetic philosopher Arthur Danto, organised by the people at Naked Punch. Danto is a long time professor of philosophy at Columbia University, and for two decades he has written criticism for the venerable American magazine The Nation. This octogenarian's wrinkles of wisdom come from a lifetime of refereeing the finer points of Kant and Hegel and their immortal debate about the nature of art. In the past Danto declared that art ended in the mid-'60s as the world was awakening to subtle jabs of new art such as Warhol's infamous Brillo boxes. The art philosophy community has a tendency to overplay the cynical roles that Duchamp and Warhol played in the history of art, and this symposium may continue to follow that route. Although Danto can be an honest evaluator of his career, everyone wants to know how many times can art end? Philosophers are dropping their robes and are rushing like maddened school children to get copies of his latest re-release The Philosophical Disenfranchisement Of Art signed as they fly hot off the press this week.

Kevin Martin's transformation from industrial beat terrorist as Techno Animal to the distorto-dancehall king known as The Bug is nothing short of remarkable. His instrumental attacks on the sound of Jamaica would be sufficient enough but the vocal additions of MC Ras Bogle and the magnificent Warrior Queen elevate them to one of the most exciting live acts on the circuit. His forthcoming album Killing Sound on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label should help redefine the sound of ragga for the laptop generation. In the meantime, get down to the Telegraph and watch him level Brixton. It's a London thing.

NB: this event is a benefit and all profits go to Starfish, an international charity helping to support children made vulnerable or orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.

The current musical climate is pretty thin on the ground when it comes to militant techno organisations. Detroit's Underground Resistance are one notable exception. Since the early '90s, they've done everything in their power to keep the humans involved out of the limelight, leaving us their fantastic music and secretive legacy as reference points. You could say they were the original practitioners of "Faceless techno bollocks". Numbering the likes of Jeff Mills and Mad Mike Banks as past members, they've evolved into something resembling a mini-army of producers, DJs and musicians. This evening's entertainment will see the legendary Suburban Knight take techno into darker territory with apt support from DJ 3000 and Technasia. A night of uncompromising man-machine music.

Certain clubs are so inextricably linked to their venues that a forced relocation can kill them off for good. When Wang's spiritual home The Premises finally called time it seemed that the club would be forced to wander, Ancient Mariner-like around the hinterland of clubland forever. But you can't keep a good club down, and finally after a lengthy hiatus Wang have found themselves a new home, a former pub in Hackney Wick that promises to live up to their former glories. Carrying on from where they left off, the likes of Radioactive Man (Keith Tenniswood), Bass Junkie and J Saul Kane lead from the front with the sort of ridiculously bass heavy electro bangers that will keep the faithful dancing right through till dawn.

NB: to ensure entry you'll need to download a membership form from the Wang site.

Terrence Malick's new film retells the story of Pocahontas, the Powhatan princess who, in an astonishing performance by the then 14-year-old Q'Orianka Kilcher, finds two very different types of love, first with military explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and then with devoted tobacco-farmer John Rolfe (Christian Bale). The New World echoes themes raised in Malick's The Thin Red Line, in which Jim Caviezel's deserter Pvt. Witt found solace amongst Polynesian natives and Sean Penn's Sgt. Welsh railed vitriolically against the notion of "property". Here it is the inherent conflicts that arise between the "naturals" and the "settlers" for the land, and in essence their respective futures, that fuels Malick's exploration of man's relationship with nature and the underlying theme of possession that manifests itself in the extremes of greed or love. With languorous storytelling and sublime cinematography, the film flits between dream and nightmare as the settlers experience the wonder of a new paradise and the harsh realities of the struggle to survive. Malick's artistic style may not appeal to some, but with exceptional performances and despite some flaws, the result is still a breathtakingly beautiful and poetic film that manages to connect with both the senses and the heart.

NB: The New World was released in London on 27/01. Two other films of note released this week on 03/02 are Grizzly Man and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line.

In February 1956 a group of young filmmakers launched their manifesto at the NFT. Utilising the new found freedom of the handheld camera and live sound, filmmakers like Lindsay Anderson, Michael Grigsby, Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson wowed audiences with their short, low-budget films about everyday English life. The notes to their programme were titled Free Cinema and declared "No film can be too personal. The image speaks. Sounds amplifies and comments. Size is irrelevant. Perfection is not an aim. An attitude means a style. A style means an attitude." The series of six Free Cinema programmes were a sell-out success. 50 years on, the NFT will be showing a selection of films from the original programme. The evening will be introduced by BAFTA-winning, Free Cinema veteran Michael Grigsby, who will also be doing a Q&A after the screening. You can also catch some of the Free Cinema films online in the archive section of C4's FourDocs, such as Lindsay Anderson's O Dreamland, Reisz and Richardson's Momma Don't Allow and Leslie Daiken's One Potato, Two Potato. If that's not enough, the bfi will be launching a three DVD Free Cinema box set with over five hours of the films!

Venice Biennale (2005) artist Tino Sehgal returns to the Goethe-Institut to talk with Dr Simon Glendinning, Fellow and a widely published author on European philosophy. The agenda is not for the faint-hearted, tackling the lumbersome and stubborn questions of phenomenology and metaphysics; intangible concepts that sit uncomfortably alongside the physical object in art, and seem to bruise easily. Organised in conjunction with the second stage of the artist's three-year artistic commitment to the ICA, the discussion will focus on the notion of process as theory, as the lynchpin of the artist's work, whilst considering the wider association and currents of contemporary philosophy. Side effects may include a mild sense of instability and a propensity to question just about everything.

NB: the talk is programmed in conjunction with Tino Sehgal's three part exhibtion at the ICA (Part I ran from 17/01/05 to till 03/03/05, Part II runs from 03/02/06 to 19/03/06 and Part III runs from 26/01/07 till 11/03/07).

In his essay, Bridging Art And Science, renowned architect Chris Wilkinson set out to define the design approach that underpins the work of his practice, London-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects. He ended up, essentially, with a series of boundaries, investigating the border lines between technology and art, art and architecture, architecture and engineering. This fascination for the points where disciplines meet, the no man's land between one skill and the next, seems to be an ongoing obsession with Wilkinson, whose latest book carries the same title as this talk: Exploring Boundaries. Since their projects have often been of a highly technical nature -- bridges in South Quay and Floral Street, the Stratford market depot, the soon-to-be New Crystal Palace -- Wilkinson Eyre have often been viewed as a scientifically oriented studio. Chris Wilkinson sees them "more as artists than technicians". If one has to choose, that is.

Sultry French chanteuse Francoiz Breut returns to the UK this week to showcase her third album. Une saison volee (released in the UK on Bella Union), features collaborations with Herman Dune and Joey Burns (Calexico), a distinctive cover version of "Le premier bonheur du jour" first sung by her '60s namesake Francoise Hardy, and a honeyed blend of captivating vocals and introspective lyrics, which take in a typically Gallic, Left Bank sound, but skewed and twisted across genres as wide as trip-hop and electronica, rock and blues. Beautifully produced, Une saison volee sees new departures for the radiant Breut, as she experiments with more rock-edged songs. Occasionally picking out the gentler strains of Jeff Buckley, she then doubles back to a more smoky, jazz-inflected tone, creating a supple blend of melancholic charm, somewhere between the '60s downbeat pop of Jeanne Moreau (to whom her voice is often compared) and the darker, modern-edged, but no less sensual, Leslie Feist.

Almost two years after featuring at the dedbeat festival and playing an incendiary set at the ICA, Atmosphere -- featuring rapper Slug and producer Ant -- at last return to London for a highly awaited gig. One of the most successful and influential underground hip-hop groups of the last ten years, Atmosphere rose to prominence largely due to Slug's storytelling confessional lyrics detailing an individual's struggle through life and difficult human relationships. Lazily known by some as "emo rap", this combination of dexterous minimalist production, melodic hooks and explosive delivery steadily acquired a passionate cult following, particularly amongst fans of more guitar-based music. The last two releases, 2003's Seven's Travels and last year's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We Are Having, (both released on punk label Epitaph) have been at once experimental yet more accessible, as the band engage a larger audience. As of 2005 Atmosphere now tours with a full live band of guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, which should imbue their tight rhythms with a fresh organic edge. This will be a great gig and it will undoubtedly appeal to any fans of Sage Francis, Saul Williams, El-P or the Anticon collective.

At last: the two most avant-garde bands of dronecore/heavy/post-metal scene join forces to make the Carling Academy glow in electric guitar riffs. Sunn 0))) -- a project of Khanate/Burning Witch's Stephen O'Malley (owner of Southern Lord Records) and Goatsnake's Greg Anderson -- has established itself as a definite trendsetter in the current music scene. With a mission "to create trance-like soundscapes with the ultimate low end/bottom frequencies intended to massage the listeners' intestines into an act of defecation", the duo has gathered fans from all fields with its fusion of metal, minimalism, drone and noise, in short, "post-" or "avant-" metal if you may. Sunn 0))) are joined by their mentor Earth. Famous for using only Sunn amplifiers on stage, Earth was founded in the early '90s by guitarist Dylan Carson (a close friend of Kurt Cobain). Inspired by minimalists Terry Riley and La Monte Young and originally on Sub Pop, they are now back as a new trio after a nine-year break. Their newest release Hex merges avant-metal with... "black Americana". For a band remixed by the likes of Mogwai, Jim O'Rourke and Autechre -- with whom they have shared a bill -- and opened to noise-duo Whitehouse, you can be sure to be blown away.

In conjunction with the release of the brilliant L'enfant, the highly deserving winner of this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes, the bfi is hosting a retrospective of the Dardenne brothers' films. The two -- Jean-Pierre and Luc -- come from the working class city of Liege in Belgium, and have over the past 25 years trained their cameras on those trying to make ends meet. Working often with the same cast of characters -- Jeremie Renier, star of L'enfant, made his cinematic debut in 1996's La promesse -- they create exquisite morality tales that are often out of sync with prevailing film trends. Never mawkish or manipulative, the films achieve an almost Greek sublimity through the unfolding of their classically crafted premises. Le fils, for example, is the story of a carpenter who works in rehabilitating former social delinquents, and who has been assigned to mentor the boy who killed his son. Rosetta, which also won the Palme d'Or in 1999, watches a young girl choosing between her own welfare and that of her alcoholic mother -- they're all must-sees. (This retrospective runs till 28/02.)

NB: catch both brothers live on Sat 11/02 when they chat about their work and take questions from the audience after a special preview screening of L'enfant.

"You call at 6am in the morning to tell me my daughter has been murdered?" Peter Kashlin, a TV movie director of crime thrillers, roams about the Los Angeles film set while he is on the mobile with Nancy Delport, a Cape Town detective. Stuart Croft's new nine-minute film, Century City, is a two-screen projection, two people talking on each screen. Kashlin gets disconnected several times as the detective answers other calls, the communication is awkward and the plot strangely suspended. The detective suggests that Kashlin himself has committed the murder and the situation neither collapses nor is resolved. Interestingly, actor Matthew Marsh who plays Kashlin, is normally cast as a police man in TV productions by crime author Lynda La Plant. The professionalism of Century City bears resemblances to the art films of Annika Larsson or Jesper Just. Century City may be written, directed and edited by artist Stuart Croft but the credit list acknowledges the Executive Producer, Casting Director, Director of Photography, Production Designer, Line Producer, and Stills Photographer. This is not a typical low-fi art video shot in one take.

NB: runs till 12/02.

Lapointe, a Quebecois lyricist hired by the Opera Garnier to write an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales, arrives in Paris. Hot off the plane, he meets the manager of the opera house. Lepage brilliantly funny and witty, sets the tone for the rest of the evening and gives a sharp take on the art world. The production by Ex Machina, Lepage's company, is precise and poetic and enhances the beauty and sincerity of this solo piece. Using a very stylised set and video projections on a screen through which the actor can walk, Lepage seamlessly recreates the magic of fairytale. The rendition of The Shadow is simply beautiful and could be a show in its own right. Following one of Andersen's fables, The Dryad, the show unfolds like a tale of self discovery for the writer and for the opera manager where sexuality, yearning for recognition and betrayal are milestones on the path of reconciliation with one's bad and cruel human nature. The flames of hell conclude a show that provides true and honest glimpses of human joys but that also reminds us that "l'homme est un loup pour l'homme" (The man is a wolf for the man).

NB: runs till 18/02.

In an age of shrinking technologies and ever-increasing need for all aspects of civilised life to become portable, an art exhibition that folds up into a suitcase is certainly a practical entity (remember Marcel Duchamp's Boite-en-valise?). The works on display in the arty Carnaby Street fashion shop Beyond The Valley are obviously and necessarily small, but innovative and resourceful in their approach to solving the problems of space and time that so often complicate the principle of the group show. A series of films about scale and movement can be viewed on a hand-held PSP, and a series of 3D photos can be viewed on an old-fashioned viewmaster, saving wall space and geared towards travelling light. Accompanied by a series of meticulously constructed sculptures that are impossibly small, and a veritable textbook of a catalogue, the level of skill and consideration of larger issues do not suffer for the miniature scale of the works on show. Should you find yourself in the neighbourhood, this collapsible creation is definitely worth checking out.

NB: runs till 25/02.

It was never going to be easy to follow up on Dear Catastrophe Waitress -- not merely the finest effort of Belle and Sebastian's prolific, now decade-long career but conceivably the best song-based album of the decade so far by anyone, thank you. But while the decline from that pinnacle to The Life Pursuit may not be as vast as, say, The Clash's from London Calling to Sandinista! -- and with any luck will not be as conclusive -- for the moment, at least, Stuart Murdoch & Co. seem a bit befuddled, mixing songs that sound pretty much like the Belle and Sebastian we know and love, but emotionally cocooned, with others veering off in unlikely directions, including an all-too-recurrent T. Rex-like chug-and-swagger -- well, their original label was named after a Marc Bolan tune, after all -- achieved at the cost of some rather brittle vocal mannerisms. Yes, there are enough flashes of the old brilliance -- most notably "We Are The Sleepyheads", whose urgency belies a name seemingly calculated to flag the band's former, never-deserved "twee" tag -- to keep long-term fans interested, but we'd hoped for more.

To buy The Life Pursuit online click here.

KultureFlash is a free, weekly newsletter covering contemporary culture in and around London. Each week we track down some of the more unusual and interesting events taking place in the Capital and deliver them straight to your inbox. Featuring art, gigs, films, talks, clubs and more -- we are committed to bringing you an eclectic mix of the most stimulating events in London.

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