Held as part of the Tate Triennial, artists Ryan Gander, Mark Leckey and Daria Martin are getting together to chew over the thorny issue of sound art's relationship to music. All three have music credentials alongside their artistic ones, albeit a little tenuously in some cases: Gander has previously managed bands, while Leckey's work has trodden a more obviously musical path in his videos, performance and sound-system installations. Perhaps the best qualified is filmmaker Martin, who has just presented a performance in collaboration with experimental New York harpist Zeena Parkins, who has previously worked with John Zorn and Bjork, at Tate Modern this past Sunday. The piece saw Parkins performing a new composition alongside a slide show specially created by Martin, and as this is their second collaboration she will no doubt have strong opinions on the sound art-music discussion. A lively debate is likely to be had by all.

Blues music has played an important part of the development of the popular alternative mainstream musical canon and attracted a legion of high-profile devotees. It's not difficult to see why this wonderfully rich form of music has such enduring popularity and as a result there are enough contemporary acts who owe it such a favour that the kind people at the Spitz have been able to piece together a month-long line-up for the Festival of Blues, starting on 05/04 with experimental funky bluegrass from Son Of Dave. Further highlights of the festival include Chatham Singers -- featuring Stuckist poster-boy and hellraiser Billy Childish on vocals -- and Little Axe, comprising the Sugarhill house band with knobs twiddled by dub maestro Adrian Sherwood. Check the full line-up for more incredible names and be sure to attend the final concert in the season, the raw and electrified Black Diamond Heavies (29/04). Trad blues fans take note that you will see your beloved art form twisted and tweaked into shapes you can barely recognize, but be prepared to be wowed by some of the acts performing in this charming and intimate venue. An unmissable month's worth of entertainment.

NB: The Spitz Festival Of Blues 2006 runs from 05/04 till 29/04.

Part of their ongoing series of exhibitions dedicated to performance art which began in 2002, A Short History Of Performance Part IV consists of two weeks of screenings, each day a new screening followed by an evening discussion with a critic. Whereas the past three exhibitions have been presented as surveys of key works from the performance canon since the '60s, the current exhibition focuses on contemporary work, made specifically in the cast of artist-directors extricating themselves from the action, and instead directing a company of actors in a more conventionally filmic way. Three notable events might be the talks with Francesco Vezzoli on 06/04, Liam Gillick on 10/04 and Barbara Kruger on 11/04.

Vezzoli's screening of a trailer for a possible remake of Gore Vidal's infamously lurid 1979 film version of Caligula will be followed by a discussion with Achim Borchardt-Hume, curator of modern and contemporary art at Tate Modern. The five-minute film, undeniably riotous and decadent, was a much discussed favourite at the last Venice Biennale (it is currently on view at the Whitney Biennial). It continues Vezzoli's exploration of themes of transient glamour, especially in relation to the legacy of the diva, within the film industry. On one level this has been taking form as a series of shorts, loosely based on the work of directors ranging from Truffaut to Pasolini, each short focusing on a particular scene and expanding it to subvert any meaning generated from narrative sequence, in place of an extended sequence of pure spectacle.

Gillick will be discussing his role in Anna Sanders Films' Vicinato 2 (1999). The film narrates various conversations between five friends, about art, politics and the like, a supposed continuation of previous conversations held in the prequel Vicinato. The participating artists were Gillick, Douglas Gordon, Carsten Holler, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno and Rirkrit Tiravanja. (However their conversations were recorded and performed for the film by actors.)

The theme of the conversation continues in Kruger's recent film Twelve (2004). 12 separate conversations between various groups of people, including politicians, art critics or students, span issues from global politics to family relations. The conversations usually take place in nondescript settings, and the actors are filmed in extreme close-up. A continuous line of subtitles is screened alongside the action, supposedly expressing the secret, unspoken thoughts of the characters. The work demonstrates that even conversational communication is fraught with a disjunction to the real, resulting in a radical compromise of truth. It continues Kruger's exploration of the transfiguration of the language / truth, real / simulacra relations effectuated by the consumerism and media expansion of '80s capitalist society, through her infamous series of text-based works that manipulated the messages of stereotypical slogans such as "I love you" and "I shop therefore I am".

Garlanded with numerous festival awards yet curiously overlooked at the Oscars, The The Squid And The Whale is the movie that mines that rich vein of peculiar, quirky American indie dramas. The sparkling script, written by the over talented Noah Baumbach, fizzes with intelligence, esoteric literary references, and some savagely funny gags centring on swearing that thankfully stop the whole thing from flying clean over your head. Set in 1986 Brooklyn and circling around the cord-wearing Berkman family, the story centres on the marriage break-up of Bernard (a grizzly Jeff Daniels) and wife Joan (Laura Linney) and the strain this put on oddball sons Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline). Dumped writer Frank fails with every manuscript he delivers, Joan has an affair with a hippy tennis pro, Walt plagiarises a Pink Floyd song for a school concert and Frank wipes his semen over some library books. It's a film that will sate your appetite for some fiendishly astute dialogue, remind you why '70s fashions will never return and also has a brilliant cameo from William Baldwin.

NB: The Squid And The Whale is released in London on 07/04. Three others films of note released on the same day are Unknown White Male, New York Doll and Pierrepoint.

New York Doll is the uplifting story of how the bassist from the influential '70s glam rock group of the same name managed to re-live the rock'n'roll high-life. After a falling out with lead singer David Johansen decades ago, and not playing in The New York Dolls for more than 30 years, Arthur "Killer" Kane appears to be further away than ever from achieving his dream of re-uniting the band. Greg Whitely's first feature-length film is a sharp and funny mix of interviews and fly-on-the-wall footage of how good fortune returns to Kane's life. The film begins in Los Angeles in the late '90s, a point where Kane has very little money and just about gets by working as an assistant in the Family History Centre. From here New York Doll quickly moves into familiar rockumentary territory, with Morrissey, Bob Geldof, Iggy Pop and members of The Clash and Blondie among the rock luminaries commenting on the greatness of The New York Dolls. However, the documentary works much better when Kane's newest fans -- his colleagues, mentors and bishops from the Mormon Church -- start to provide insightful anecdotes about the man behind the rock star, adding depth to the fascinating footage of the aging bassist making the rock'n'roll dream happen again.

NB: New York Doll is released in London on 07/04. Three others films of note released on the same day are Unknown White Male, The Squid And The Whale and Pierrepoint.

So you think people can be famous for all sorts of odd things now? Famous for having an affair, famous for taking drugs, famous for being famous? But imagine Heat being filled with pics of a man famous for being a hangman. Yes, back in the...er..."good old days", when people had morals, school was harder and you could leave your front door open, the law used to kill, and so popular was this form of rehabilitation (!) that once Albert Pierrepoint's guarded identity became public he became a celebrity. Like his father before him Albert became an executioner in 1934; climbing the ranks he hung over 600 people before resigning in 1958 (the profession was becoming less popular) and now his story is being immortalised by super brit-flick star Timothy Spall. Spall has featured in many of our modern classics, including Quadrophenia, Life Is Sweet, Secrets And Lies and even Harry Potter. He's joined in this film by Juliet Stevenson but you can catch him solo talking about Pierrepoint and more after the screening. His Barbican Q&A sold out so book now.

NB: Pierrepoint is released in London on 07/04. Three others films of note released on the same day are Unknown White Male, The Squid And The Whale and New York Doll.

Leap Into Dance, Richmond's Spring festival of dance continues this week. Last week kicked off with contemporary dance and ballet. This week's highlights are from entirely different dance styles: urban street dance and aerial performance. On Fri 07/04, catch Impact Dance's Xtreme Circumstance. This is a high-energy performance combining street, hip-hop, contemporary dance and physical theatre. Impact Dance is one of the UK's leading street dance companies and schools, and has performed at Sadler's Wells' annual hip-hop festival Breakin' Convention. On Tue 11/04, catch a unique double bill of two very different aerial artists, in the amazing gothic setting of the Landmark Arts Centre. Lifeline is the story of a lifetime: a stunning solo performance portraying a journey from birth to death. This takes place on the literal lifeline of a single, vertically hung rope -- performed by acclaimed aerialist Matilda Leyser. Voices, choreographed by Vicki Amedume who is also associate director of Greenwich + Docklands Festivals (one of the best London events for aerial work), takes its inspiration from an anthology of African proverbs and is a powerful aerial duet.

NB: catch Impact Dance at the Richmond Adult Community College on 07/04 and Matilda Leyser + UpSwing at the Landmark Arts Centre on 11/04 (both events are part of Leap Into Dance which runs till 15/04).

In New York in 1982, Jenny Holzer's first electric words scrolled across Times Square, competing for eye-grabbing garishness with the massive Coca-Cola slogans. Since then she has become the nemesis of the advertising age, promoting poetry and thought in projections, posters and LED signs that use, rather than abuse, public spaces. Her For London project will dress some of London's landmarks with words in light. Norman Foster's City Hall will be wearing Henri Cole, Orwellian Senate House a flowing Mahmoud Darwish poem, and Samuel Beckett's prophetic texts will light up the Barbican as part of their centenary Beckett celebration. The results will be dramatic. With words storey-high and visible for miles around, London's nights this week are a must-read. (Runs till 14/04.)

NB: For London has been programmed in conjunction with the Barbican's Beckett Centenary Festival and runs for eight evenings on five different landmark buildings from 07/04 till 14/04 (City Hall, St Paul's Church, Senate House, Somerset House and the Barbican).

A single cursory viewing of the Jem Cohen produced documentary film Instrument instantly conveys the force, power and legacy of seminal DC punk band Fugazi. Their frontman Ian MacKaye, armed with a baritone guitar, now joins forces with fellow punk luminary Amy Farina (from The Warmers) on the drums, to form The Evens. They have stylistically transmuted their punk spirit into an intimate and minimalist folk-inspired sound; sparse arrangements drift hauntingly within dual tender vocals, MacKaye displaying an infinitely broader range than his previous breakneck delivery. Tracks such as "On the Face of It" are imbued with a hauntingly ethereal beauty, textured arrangements perfectly entwined within politically charged lyrics. Presented by London's inspiring live music collective Upset The Rhythm, this will be an amazing chance to witness the musical evolution of a legendary figure (although MacKaye would undoubtedly reject such a title). As ever the show's admission price is cheap, all ages, no smoking, no alcohol -- yet with such a unique spectacle onstage, it is unlikely that any other stimulus will really be desired.

NB: doors open at 7pm and The Evens go onstage at 8pm -- expect these times to be strictly adhered to so don't turn up late!

Another week, another Poke line-up that reads like a veritable "who's who" of electronica DJs who make KultureFlash hot under the collar. It's the first birthday party (happy birthday Poke) and, to celebrate, old friends such as Mike Paradinas, Luke Vibert, Cylob, Mike Dread, DJ Rephlex Records, DMX Krew and DJ Qwerty join John Power behind the wheels of steel for an unmissable night that blows parties with cakes, candles and bouncy castles into orbit. If you're not familiar with these artists and don't know what to expect, don't worry, as you're certainly not alone -- while each of the names is notable for making cutting-edge contributions to the world of sample-heavy, analogue-splattered dance music (generally along the acid breakbeats route with much hearkening-back to old skool's finest moments, an eye for the Miami sounds of deep booty bass and electro, interspersed with techno and furious, rinsing jungle) the DJ sets they put on are the unpredictable stuff of legend where stone-cold party bangers sit next to wilfully obscure experimental weirdbeat.

Amidst the soulless proliferation of chain bars and restaurants that is Angel, one venue continues to survive as a bastion for the underground. The determinedly messy Electrowerkz continually hosts challenging evenings of often harder edged sounds, and this is certainly no exception. For the purposes of this evening, the "Original Gangsters of Noise" are in the house. This will be a collaboration between KK.Null and Z'EV, two leading lights of the underground, who've been producing their distinctive sounds for literally decades. Null is the legendary Japanese experimentalist, darling of avant circles and fearless and unpredictable scholar of an incredible range of sounds. Accompanying him will be Z'EV, initially hailing from America's early industrial scene. Over an amazing career, Z'EV has been involved in producing, creating and performing a staggering range of sounds. From early work in punk, to a latter day involvement in "spatial poetics", including sounds created by utilising random materials raging from pipes to metallic sheets: this artist is deep. Playing together should produce a visceral soundtrack to the evening. The support (including Japanese experimentalists DJ Scotch Egg and Ove Naxx) is similarly stunning. This truly is a night to challenge your perceptions of sound.

Things are not always what they seem. Liza Lou's exhibition of sculptural work at White Cube falls into the category of things that could bear closer examination. What at first seems to be a headless Jesus figure kneeling on the ground looks, from a distance, as if it might be covered in some kind of gold, but something about it draws you in to take a closer look. A chain link fence ringed with barbed wire forms an empty pen in the centre of the gallery, but there is something about the way the light hits it that makes you want to look at the fence itself, and not at what would be inside. What you find is a mix of spatial installation on a formidable scale combined with an obsessive and strangely feminine approach to rendering the surface detail in the form of millions and millions of beads. A unique technique applied to a number of ambitious projects scattered around the gallery make for an interesting -- if a bit disjointed -- exhibition, the best of which is to be found in the upstairs gallery.

NB: runs till 08/04.

Though much of our culture is a constant recycling of fashion, arts, design and ideas, we still manage to produce enough rubbish every hour to fill up the Albert Hall. With this extraordinary fact in mind, London electronica club Sprawl presents a day of reinvented sounds in tandem with Brentford Recycling Action Group, with artists resampling, cutting and splicing music and image. Static Caravan's Tunng elegantly blend acoustic guitars with laptops, Janek Schaefer recombines decaying vinyl into exploratory performances, whilst The Pogues and Longplayer impresario Jem Finer and Chiller Cabinet's Ben Eshmade spin the wheels of (recycled?) steel. Screenings of Saint Etienne's Finisterre and D-Fuse's Beck pop promos complete the day. Finally it's acceptable to shout "rubbish" at a concert.

NB: theatre and films run from 6 - 8pm and live acts from 8 - 11pm.

Alexander Balanescu, a stalwart of the contemporary music scene as a violinist and composer returns to his Romanian roots in a collaboration with the "actress that also makes music", Ada Milea, to create a song cycle based on the Romanian poet Gellu Naum's surrealist take on Robinson Crusoe. Apart from Balenescu, the other artists contributing to this performance are barely known outside Romania, so this is good chance to catch something completely new to the UK. Milea has a cult reputation as a radical vocalist / actress / songwriter in Romania, with her songs rapidly twisting between emotions and characters, switching between idiocy and complete seriousness, and in moments sounding like Kurt Weil songs played by Dadaists, blurring the boundaries between theatre and music. Balenescu's technical musical ability and Milea's theatrical ability, combined with Naum's surrealist take on poetry should make an interesting concoction. Balenscu acts as a conduit to bring his native Romanian culture over here. Let's hope nothing is lost in translation.

NB: this event is part of the iF Festival (runs till 09/04).

As usual, whilst genre-led rock bands continue to reinforce the principles of genre via the classic set of bass, drums, guitar and voice, it's the bands on the edges that provide the more interesting sonic outings. And bands that live on the more extreme edge actually get closer to the heart of what makes rock music so great. The tectonic plate shifts induced by the current drone doom / stoner / psychedelic / noise / ambient rockers from the US has had far-reaching implications. In particular, the work of Dylan Carlson and Stephen O'Malley via their bands Earth and Sunn O))) respectively have surgically taken the "roll" out of rock 'n' roll and amped everything else to breaking point. To say that Boris sound like a Japanese Motorhead is just lazy journalism. Throughout the course of their 16 albums they reconfigured themselves every time, moving from moody experimentalism to searing feedback and, yes, Motorhead-style riffing. Forget meaningful lyrics, inner thoughts and ego and prepare yourself for a pure, undiluted rock assault.

If you want to know how to pitch your film with un-turn-downable panache or the best way to deliver a 30-second plot synopsis whilst casually taking a second foie gras and caperberry canape, the Cannes Survival Seminar is a must-do before you cross la Manche in a month's time (The 59th Festival is from 17/05 to 28/05, with the award ceremony taking place on 28/05). Organised by The NPA (New Producers Alliance), the seminar offers tips from Cannes insiders and representatives from both the UK Film Council and the NPA. The evening promises to give the low-down on the full gamut of events (parties, screenings and the like) plus providing maps, strategies for approaching distributors and notes on how to wangle invites to meetings and receptions.

NB: can't make the seminar, buy Cannes: A Festival Virgin's Guide, by Benjamin Craig.

Historically the curator desired anonymity but today in the vibrant art market the curator is often master of the territory, shifting focus and perspective in often equally bewildering and inspiring ways. At London's RCA curators are being nurtured towards this professional practice through their Curating Contemporary Art course which could potentially grate against the teeth of artists, but in fact annually offers up a show that has consistently surprised and delighted since its inauguration in 1992. Again For Tomorrow presents artists who look to the past to re-imagine the future, featuring such works by Philippe Parreno and Rirkrit Tiravanija's Stories Are Propaganda (2005), a witty video reminiscence of the not-so-old good old days, and David Maljkovic's video of heritage-seekers visiting a Croatian World War II monument in the year 2063. An active performance programme accompanying the show climaxes on 08/04 with the all-dayer "Future Focus", featuring film, video games, live-streamed actions, virtual libraries, story-telling, and of course the obligatory retro futuristic disco night.

NB Again For Tomorrow runs till 09/04.

The urban super-gallery that is sketch's video showcase may seem an unlikely place to witness a volcano, but James P Graham's film Iddu provides an eerily engaging view of just such a natural disaster. Using a halo of film equipment reminiscent of one of Terry Gilliam's surveillance apparatus, Graham has shot a series of complete uninterrupted panoramic views of Stromboli, a small island off Italy's Calabrian / Sicilian coast; an island both formed by and famed for its volcanic activity. His dedicated approach to this panoramic format over the last five years culminates here, appropriately in the video-quarium at sketch -- one of the few London media venues that is virtually designed for this unique type of presentation. Oscillating between serene, close-cropped landscapes and catastrophic cascades of lava and ash, the Super 8 film Iddu overtakes the space in such a way that it requires an elaborate game of "musical sofas" in order to fully grasp the whole picture. Although the footage is at times reminiscent of an (albeit stunning) evening nature programme, the format is one that could truly never be captured by the medium of television. A well-balanced mix of grainy film, ambient sound and powerful subject matter make Iddu a thoroughly engaging experience.

NB: runs till 29/04.

In A Lonely Place is the first in a series of installations commissioned by the RIBA Trust. In A Lonely Place is, as the architects FAT declare, also the title of a Joy Division song. What FAT don't say is that the film of the same name inspired the song. Given FAT's predilection for popular culture and art, we'll use the film as a means to review the installation. The film is renowned for its genre defying status ("romantic-murder"?), which would have appealed to the architects who enjoy convention-subversion themselves. That FAT have two websites and multiple public identities is consistent with our media age in which buildings, like films, are sold with strap lines such as the RIBA's claim that this is "the world's first inflatable folly". In the end, the film is a portrait of an artist whose creativity, especially when stifled, puts him at odds with the professional context in which he plies his trade, Hollywood. That RIBA today hosts FAT signals that yesterday's enfant terrible has entered a complicit middle age. This might even prompt the ghost of Ian Curtis to say "How I wish you were here with me now".

NB: runs till 02/05.

We'd always found it difficult to write about the previous works of Richard D James aka Aphex Twin. He's spent the majority of the noughties simply re-issuing old material; obviously he's so far ahead of the curve that it takes everyone else a decade to catch up. But whilst this CD album compiles a year's worth of vinyl releases, it feels like the most complete long-player since 1996's Richard D James Album (we still regard Drukqs as a half-assed compilation). This is a CD-friendly pick of 41 tracks he released on the Analord series of records during 2005, and, having listened to (and bought) the entire series, we don't think you're missing anything by not hearing the 31 omitted tracks. Sonically it's simply urgent, accessible, electro-pop; crafted with care and incredible attention to compositional detail. There's none of the mischievousness that afflicted earlier works and the whole thing is a joy from start to finish. The best examples are the opening headrush of "Fenix Funk", where altered synths and growling vocoders do table-top battle with rapid fire beats and emotive piano chords; and the astonishing "PWSteal.Ldpinch.D", which is probably the best house tune to come out in this or any year. Help Rephlex uphold shareholder value and mark this down as one of 2006's landmark releases.

To buy Chosen Lords 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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