October kicks off with a frenzy of unmissable art events that will keep all keen art-lovers' diaries packed. The jewel in the crown is Frieze, along with the usual tide of accompanying events. Yes, once again, it's time for London's art-fans and artists to flock to Regent's Park and stroll up and down the fluo-lit aisles of concepts-on-offer, celeb-spotting and art-speaking. As the general view of the comtemporary art-scene can become shamelessly London-centric throughout the year, Frieze is a chance to take the blinkers off and have a look at what's happening across the globe. With over 150 international galleries in attendance, the inevitable host of artistic delicacies on offer (from the peculiar to the progressive) promises to provide inspiration for both artists with a flagging creative-drive as well as the contemporary connoisseur. To assist all you devoted Flashers in navigating the vertiginous array of events and exhibitors, we have compiled a list of highlights that might take your fancy.

NB: see our special Frieze 2006 Guide for our picks of what to do and see.

As part of the Barbican's refreshing programme of live art or alternative theatre (call it what you will) we are treated to a retrospective of three works by Ursula Martinez, part of Duckie and known as "a veteran of the queer cabaret scene". All three are fascinating, but if you have to choose one we'd recommend A Family Outing, an extraordinary, devilish play on confession-as-entertainment -- or as Martinez puts it, "aversion therapy" -- she's embarrassed about her parents. And so, Oprah-like, her very real Mum and Dad walk on stage and enter into the proceedings. What we know as fiction and reality (both the real and TV kind) are delicately knotted up before long, so that when Martinez asks Dad "do you mind me being a lesbian", he says he can't remember what he's supposed to say, and reaches for a scripted speech of open-minded acceptance.

NB: arrive early and check out Richard Wilson's fantastic new show in the Curve for free.

When you've completed a marathon, hit and surpassed that wall of pain, the time to warm down, replenish your salts and carbs is often complemented by a moment of self reflection, not to mention a warm bath. The common consensus on the Serpentine Gallery's monstrous "Marathon", hosted by the men in black -- Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist -- was "a kind of intellectual rave", where the 24 hrs of free fall frenzied intellectual enquiry on the notion of the city of London tested the staying power of even the most defiantly conceptual minded participants. Now, Frieze week provides the context for the cultural industries' self reflective moment, asking of itself, who is calling the shots -- the powers that be in the cultural industries or the men in suits dishing out the money? Or in a less cynical vein, how does culture function in a global economy, how does it sound and look, and where does this new platform for our cultural landscape reside?

NB: the Post-Marathon takes place over two days, on 13/10 from 6:30 - 7:30pm and 14/10 from 12 - 6pm.

Another drastic shift in this year's Frieze Music edition, distancing itself from its two opening editions. After last year's performance of the monumental Kontakte and Oktophonie by legend Stockhausen, the focus now will be -- with the help of one of London's most active music promotion collective Upset The Rhythm -- on heavy drone doom metal, intense noise and post-punk. Headlining the entire two-day event is Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's project Sunn O))), now famous for having brought forward the hidden roots of doom metal -- joined by Hungarian black metal vocalist Attila Csihar from Mayhem. Before that, some (distinct) noise sets: the electronic duo of Russell Haswell and Florian Hecker revisiting the multi-channel electro-acoustic work by Iannis Xenakis, the UPIC computer music system; C Spencer Yeh aka Burning Star Core through his use of pedals, violins and astonishing voice. The 14-all girls Leopard Leg vocal / drum outfit from Brighton, promises quite a performance.

NB: the festival runs through Saturday with a post-punk input led by Liars with Erase Errata, Barr and The Curtains. For noise fans check out the performance on 12/10 of Mego's founder Pita with Z'EV, and laptop maniac Mattin at [no.signal]'s noise#2 edition at the state51 warehouse.

For the past three years the Adaadat label has established itself as one of the most exciting independent labels. Fresh, modern and unrestricted by genre, the label features computer and instrument based artists producing sounds ranging from breakcore, noise, spaz-rock and experimental electronic music. The only criterion seems to be originality, quality and an irreverent, playful attitude. Featured artists include the dense hypnotic experimentalism of Horacio Pollard; the intense and manic melodies of Romvelope; Silverlink's synth inspired noise; and the quirky guitar rock of Agaskodo Teliverek (featuring Miklos the Accountant). Perhaps the most interesting artist is Ommm, who has made a name for himself with his compelling live shows and highly distinctive abstract electro lo-fi. What unites all the artists is a desire to put fun, entertainment and performance back into independent music. In short, it's some of the freshest and most exciting music around right now, and with the quantity and diversity of artists, it represents excellent value. Expect to be converted to the Adaadat world.

Anybody remember the old Prince tune, "Pop Life"? You know, the one with the lyric "Tell me, what's that underneath your hair? Is there anybody living there?" In the wonderful world of Archigram, the radical English architecture group that got together in the early '60s to produce a magazine and change the world of the dreamt environment as we know it, a building sitting underneath someone's hair seems like a highly plausible invention. With a name fusing two hot topics of their day (ARCHItecture and the teleGRAM), original members including Peter Cook, David Greene and Ron Heron brought their vision of the future -- inhabited by Walking Cities, Living Pods and Plug-In architecture -- to the streets. Still going strong, this workshop sees the group create a "distributed university" in St James' Park together with critics and students. Hair or no hair, it's bound to be a very Pop Life indeed.

NB: to secure a place on this workshop interested flashers need to apply online. On Sunday, there is a packed day of talks, the Archigram opera and a chance to see the back catalogue of Archigram films and their new digital archive. (For architecture flashers make sure you catch Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA on 17/10 at RIBA and Farshid Moussavi, Sean Griffiths and Jason Martin on 16/10 at the RA.)

Chris Burden has appeared in yet another form in London, with his sculpture / performance piece The Flying Steamroller, a massive and impressive mechanical monstrosity that might, 100 years ago, have been accompanied by a travelling sideshow. The Flying Steamroller is half "Age of Industry" joyride and half fun-fair thrill ride, but faster, heavier and (slightly) subtler. While Burden's work has always suggested an intrinsic relationship between danger and the work of art, he has set the stakes higher in previous work. The Flying Steamroller has a sense of fun about it, but if you are familiar with his oeuvre this is not a piece you need to rush out and see. It is, however, a nice and easy intro for any newcomers to Burden's unique artistic take on danger and spectatorship.

NB: The Flying Steamroller flies every half hour; first flight is at 10am and last flight at 6pm (till 18/10). Chris Burden's 14 Magnolia Double Lamps are on view at the South London Gallery (till 05/11).

The Knife are a brother-sister duo from Sweden. Making music together since 1999, and releasing it on their own label, the group has rarely had to answer to outside authorities. The result of such intense collaboration is something that sounds like rainbows piercing holes through glaciers, if such a phenomenon could produce sound. You might know Karin Dreijer Andersson, one half of the duo, as the vocals on "What Else Is There?", the best track on Royksopp's most recent album, The Understanding. You might not know that The Knife are the original producers of "Heartbeats", an amazing song that was later popularised by Jose Gonzalez. Recently they donned their usual hawk-like masks and gave a luscious performance in a subterranean space at this year's Sonar music festival. It was a perfect introduction to their third album, Silent Shout (2006). Bjork comparisons abound, and they are not unfounded, but The Knife certainly interject something that is all their own.

Dance Umbrella, London's fantastic festival of contemporary dance, is on. For 28 years, it has been the leading festival of dance in Europe. The Forsythe Company is a serious highlight. Three Atmospheric Studies is William Forsythe's most explicit and political work to date. It's subject is the imagery of the ongoing conflict in Iraq. This material -- combined with his radical, devastatingly beautiful aesthetic -- is going to produce one very explosive show. Forsythe is one of the most important choreographers currently working in dance. For over 20 years he was artistic director of Ballett Frankfurt. This is the Forsythe Company's second visit to London since it was established in January 2005.

NB: Three Atmospheric Studies is performed on 12/10, 13/10 and 14/10.

With a completely original and idiosyncratic approach to filmmaking in his work to date (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy) director Harmony Korine is someone who is either hailed as a genius, or is considered completely bonkers. As the first American (and first English-language) film to be made to the Dogma 95 manifesto, Korine attempted to make pure cinema by representing the world in fractured images -- to make the audience view life much as the schizophrenic Julien would experience it. By doing this Korine is illustrating author Daniel Frampton's theory of Filmosophy, in that a film has its own existence and mind. Truly unclassifiable cinema, Julien Donkey-Boy charts the story of Julien (Ewan Bremer) and his dysfunctional family -- pregnant sister Pearl (Chloe Sevigny) and disturbed father (Werner Herzog). After the screening, Frampton will be in conversation with Korine about the film and talk about the forms and effects of cinema.

Gary Cooper is the innovative young Howard Roark a principled architect who simply will not let his progressive designs be messed with. Directed by King Vidor and adapted from the novel by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead (1949) is Rand's vision of the ideal man -- Roark's qualities of fierce independence, high self esteem and integrity only serve to bring him down inside a culture which favours collective mediocrity above the ideals of the individual. Rand also wrote the script, which lets the film down at times with some frank exchanges sounding dumb and cartoonish especially whilst highlighting Roarks plight against the ignorance of others. These details do no real harm, however; the core ideas are there and are articulated gracefully enough to redeem this fascinating adaptation.

NB: The Fountainhead screens at the ICA on 11/10, 15/10 and 22/10.

In 1973, Michael Craig-Martin famously called a glass of water on a shelf, The Oak Tree. Heralded as something of a turning point in the development of conceptual art, The Oak Tree caused much provocation in art circles, as it claimed the supremacy of the artist's intention over the actual objects in the piece. Craig-Martin went on to tutor at Goldsmiths during the prime YBA breeding years, and now is known mostly for his large-scale, colourful, graphic wall drawings of common objects. In conversation at Tate Modern Richard Cork, the critic and art historian, and Michael, two long time friends and collaborators, will discuss Craig-Martin's works. Having written over the years for the Evening Standard (before Brian Sewell took over), The Listener, The New Statesman, Cork has now penned a book on his old pal to accompany Craig-Martin's current retrospective at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.

NB: for other artist talks catch Raquib Shaw on 14/10 and Jane and Louise Wilson on 25/10 (both these talks take place at Tate Britain).

Once part of the legendary New York School of composers that shaped the direction of music in the 20th century and included John Cage, Morton Feldman and Earle Brown, Christian Wolff makes an appearance with the experimental group Apartment House. Much of Wolff's music is based upon choices made by performers during the performance, so improvisers often fit in well. And who better to join Apartment House than John Tilbury and Eddie Prevost, members of the legendary AMM, who have blazed new directions in improvisation since the '60s. Alongside Wolff's music sits the quiet chaos of Feldman and that of the master of juxtaposition Charles Ives.

NB: there's more Wolff and Apartment House on Thu 12/10 with back to back concerts featuring Parkinson Saunders playing Wolff's music, then Apartment House playing Tim Parkinson and James Saunders' music among others at The Warehouse, Waterloo.

Laila Diallo makes her Dance Umbrella debut accompanied by Theo Clinkard (Probe). Diallo, a former member of the Random Dance company, has the grace and elegance of an antelope; the precision of her movement is only matched by the purest of contemplative stillness. For this second collaboration Diallo and Clinkard, who previously worked on Of Sight In The Direction Of My Body presented as part of Random Dance's AWOL, bring a piece that evokes the tales of distance and nearness and captures moments of togetherness. Distance is familiar to Diallo; originally from Canada, she developed her career in London with Wayne McGregor's Random Dance before leaving the capital to embark on a freelance dance maker career. This performance will combine her dance and her latest findings in her search for her own dance aesthetic and language.

NB: Laila Diallo performs on both 16/10 and 17/10 right before Teresa de Keersmaeker and her company, Rosas (these events are part of Dance Umbrella 2006).

Choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and her company, Rosas, has had an incredible impact on contemporary dance. Dance Umbrella's Focus On Rosas celebrates her work through performances, live music from collaborator Steve Reich, films of her work and a study day. Sadler's Wells, The Barbican, Laban and The Place all get a piece of the action. But best of all -- there's a chance to see her major works from the '80s and '90s. The Repertory Evening includes three of her signature pieces. More than cult classics, these are works that defined the aesthetic language of an art form. She also performs her personal, solo work -- Once -- at The Place.

NB: Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker performs at Sadler's Wells on 16/10, 17/10, 19/10 and 20/10 and at The Place on 31/10 and 01/11 (these event is part of Dance Umbrella 2006).

When films on the five-star promotional trail come to town, the issue of whether or not they're actually much cop often gets lost in the asphyxiating cloud of celebrity interviews, adverts, trailers, insider gossip and marauding critics. Meanwhile, all but a few arthouse gems fall into the shadows cast by the blinding glare of the big-budget goliaths. The LFF is a chance to see some films ahead of the game and rate them on your own terms. There's some good 'uns featuring this year, plus screen talks, workshops and the fantastic outdoor screening in Trafalgar Square on the 27th. Our picks are:

The Last King of Scotland
18/10 @ 7pm (opening gala)
James McAvoy and Forrest Whittaker breathe life into Giles Foden's book about a Scottish doctor's macabre relationship with Idi Amin. With both comedic moments and chilling atrocities -- this is a complex portrait of the brutal leader.

Venus
20/10 @ 3:30pm and 29/10 @ 8:30pm
A bit like The Mother (Roger Mitchell and Hanif Kureshi's last collaboration) this deals with the taboos of inter-generational relationships. Platonic (well, borderline) antics between Peter O'Toole as a pervy old man and Jodie Whittaker as a slutty ingenue are sometimes a bit hard to stomach, but worth watching never the less.

Stranger Than Fiction
20/10 @ 8:30pm and 22/10 @ 1:30pm
Will Farell plays a tax auditor whose life turns out to be in the hands of Emma Thompson's novelist. Basically it's Spike Jonze's Adaptation -- but less convoluted and with more easy comedy.

37 Uses For A Dead Sheep
22/10 @ 1:30pm
A lyrical and off-beat documentary about the journey in exile of the Pamir Kighiz tribe from central Asia, by experimental British filmmaker Ben Hopkins. A thoughtful and humorous mediation about place and the challenges inherent in the transition from an old culture to new ways.

The Journals Of Knut Rasmussen
22/10 @ 9pm and 23/10 @ 1pm
The second film from the team behind the brilliant and beautiful 2001 Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, once again set in the Canadian arctic. Focusing on the period when explorers and anthropologists were encountering the Inuit, it is a tale of a clash of cultures and shamanistic beliefs.

Infamous
26/10 @ 6pm and 27/10 @ 3:30pm
Capote swept up a handful of gongs last year and Infamous, even though it treads a similar path, is set to do the same. Daniel Craig plays killer Perry Smith whose relationship with Truman Capote teeters dangerously on the brink of deeply sinister.

Bobby
26/10 @ 8:30pm and 27/10 @ 1pm
Director Emilio Estevez steps up to the bar with this interesting take on the second Kennedy assassination, or to be more specific, the minor intrigues and personal dramas surrounding the build up to the party celebrating Bobby's 1968 political success, moments before which he was killed. One to catch if only to see Sharon Stone, Helen Hunt, Demi Moore and Lindsay Lohan in a room together (and that's just the girls).

Breaking And Entering
27/10 @ 8:30pm and 29/10 @ 1:30pm
Jude Law basically does a version of his character in Closer in this King's Cross fable, but it's still an interesting project from Anthony Minghella. Juliette Binoche convinces as the Bosnian seamstress whose son does the physical crimes of the title, but it's as much about emotional violations too, and that's what makes it work.

For Your Consideration
28/10 @ 6pm and 29/10 @ 4pm
Christopher Guest does his genius satirical thing once again, as only he can. The film industry is the butt of the jokes this time, as Guest's character directs a 1940s period piece generating Oscar buzz that sends all his cast into a hysterical flap.

Hollywoodland
30/10 @ 8:30pm and 02/11 @ 3pm
George Reeve, the first Superman (A1 casting sees Ben Affleck in the role), is found naked, shot dead, in his bedroom. Murder, suicide or something more sinister involving Reeve's sugar mummy (Diane Lane) and her studio boss husband? Wily private dick Simo (Adrien Brody) gets on the case. Quality period suspense.

Ten Canoes
01/11 @ 6pm and 02/11 @ 1pm
Combining black and white images mixed with gorgeous saturated colour, this ancient Aboriginal tale, set in dreamtime, was filmed in the lush Arafura swamp region using an all-Aboriginal cast. Stylish, humourous and enchanting.

Our Daily Bread
01/11 @ 6:15pm and 02/11 @ 4pm
A gastronomic trip around Europe -- not through the consumption of food, but through its production. A surreal, sometimes disturbing but strangely poetic documentary look at the journey that our food undertakes from source to store.

Babel
02/11@ 2pm (closing gala)
This completes Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's trilogy, which began with Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Taking its cue from the biblical reference to communities scattered around the world, speaking different languages and unable to communicate, the film focuses on three difficult stories in Morocco, Mexico and Tokyo. Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael Garcia Bernal are part of an eclectic cast.

NB: LFF 2006 runs from 18/10 till 02/11.

Many happy returns -- the birthdays of three composers whose music is not heard enough in this country are being celebrated in various ways by Ixion. Milton Babbitt, pioneer of serialism, complexity and one of the first synthesizer players, is 90 this year. Chris Newman (possibly the antithesis of Babbitt), a composer of songs "...about gambling, sport and highway robbery" bridging the profound and puerile, has his birthday on the very day of the concert. These will be performed by special guest singers accompanied by Michael Finnissy on the piano, who in turn will have his 60th celebrated again this year (more than the Queen?) with 10 specially dedicated short piano pieces from a broad cross-section of composers, all contrasted with the works of Gerald Barry, Andrew Toovey and Morgan Hayes, played by the technically excellent Ixion.

The "brown note" has for some time been a holy grail of sonic misfits; for years experimental, avant-garde and industrial groups have searched for the elusive frequency that can cause audiences to lose control of their bowels. This Friday might finally see the end of that quest, an unintended consequence of Radio 1's Mary Anne Hobbs gathering together some of the hottest names in dubstep, grime and electronica for the launch party of her Warrior Dubz compilation. Combine the dangerously low end frequencies of The Bug, Loefah, Kode9, Milanese and Virus Syndicate with Mass's brutally powerful sound-system and you end up with a sound closer to a force of nature than music, a clenched fist of bass repeatedly punching you in the stomach.

Glowsticks at the ready, a proper rave is brewing down at the Coronet as Seed Records host their second Soviet party. Building on the success of the first one, they've gone all out this time with a massive line-up that features some legends from the last two decades of dance music. Headlining the night and coming out of retirement, head torches and all, is Orbital's Phil Hartnol, whilst playing live for the first time in ten years will be techno superstars The Grid. Add to that, performances from the likes of Detroit Legend Kenny Larkin, homegrown heroes the British Murder Boys (Surgeon & Regis) and the cream of the current electronica crop (Cursor Miner, Neil Landstrumm, Ddamage) and you have one of the biggest and diverse techno nights of the year. Whistle crew make some noise!

Like the oeuvre of their immediate Lower East Side predecessors, the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls 'brace of early '70s albums made scant commercial impact on release but their influence on a subsequent generation of musicians is incalculable. Sadly, the lack of material success and, most pertinently, raging narcotic misuse, took the lives of Dolls Billy Murcia, Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane -- the latter passing away soon after the surviving Dolls had reformed to play Morrissey's 2004 Meltdown shindig. In July 2005, the last Dolls standing -- singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvan Sylvain -- decided to soldier on with a world tour and a surprisingly limber new album, One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This. That said, tonight's show in the inappropriately swish environs of the Jazz Cafe will be first foremost a nostalgic wallow and a toast to absent friends.

One of the founding members of seminal band Swans, part of the massed-guitar armies of Rhys Chatham and later of La Monte Young's rock excursions, Kane is one downtown NYC drummer legend. His own project is strongly focused on a revisiting of blues. Picture a blasting sound as an instrumental blues-drone with a minimalistic, pulsatic rock topped with a perpetual propulsion of '70s Krautrockers Neu!. His solo album February was released on the challenging Table of The Elements label. This energetic live set brings together Jonathan with four guitarists and one bass, played by Ernie Brooks, founding member of Modern Lovers. To join the bill, [no.signal] has invited probably one of the best drummers around, Chris Corsano. A must see master at work. In his solo set Chris incorporates sax reeds, violin strings and bows, pot lids, adhesive tape, and other household devices into his drumkit. The London-based Rothko will be open the proceedings.

On the eve of its £1.5 billion makeover, the Battersea Power Station, in all its derelict glory, hosts an Oriental tea party with a difference. In scale -- taking over a Turbine Hall and the grounds outside; in scope -- including filmmakers, architects, visual artists, soundscapes and Chinese bicycles; and in subject -- post-industrialist China. This has to be one of the hugest exhibitions London has ever seen. Whether you go for the Yauatcha tea and dim sum, for the art -- including recent work by contemporary Chinese artists Cao Fei, Gu Dexin, Lu Chunsheng, Song Tao and Xu Tan -- or for a chance to see inside London's most troublesome landmark, this one's not to be missed. (Be sure you check out the view from the third floor.)

NB: China Power Station: Part 1 is open from Thu to Sun from 12 - 7pm.

In the week of Frieze's 3rd edition, Jay Jopling's move back West is confirmation of both the success of his white cube and that of London in general. Our city may just be the most fashionable in the art world -- not quite the biggest nor the most successful, but certainly it generates the most hype. And what a week for hype! Returning to his Duke Street roots, White Cube in Mason's Yard is not Hoxton Square's evil twin, rather the more sassy younger sister. Also designed by MRJ Rundell, this version is both slicker and much larger. How big is it? Well, master game-player and poetic "readymaker" Gabriel Orozco has grown his seminal work Black Kites, a skull chequered with a graphite grid, into the size of a 14m long whale -- this time with ripples. It is as spectacular as the space is dramatic!

NB: while on Duke Street, drop into Thomas Dane and The Drawing Gallery. Also see Hauser & Wirth new Old Bond Street space Colnaghi and go to the Royal Academy at Burlington Gardens for USA Today.

Marjane Satrapi smokes... joyfully! This Paris-based Iranian, who's about to hit the big time with an animated version of her autobiographical comic book, Persepolis, has been described by Catherine Deneuve -- who provides the voice of her mother in the French version -- as her "favourite author" and describes Satrapi as "breathtaking". Her comic book is Joe Sacco, David B and even Joe Matt all warped into one. In graphic black and white with very simple lines, Satrapi's style is just basic enough to keep the pathos at an easy distance, but sophisticated enough for her characters to come alive. Taking place through the fall of the Shah and the rise of the Ayatollah, there are episodes here that are both surreal and darkly funny, but more important, she is a woman and from the Middle East, and thus gives voice, emotion and humanity to a people that we mostly know through news stories.

NB: MacArthur genius grant winner, and Julius Knipl creator Ben Katchor will be speaking on 20/10 and the documentary Moomin Memoirs about Tove Jansson screens on 22/10 (all events are part of the ICA's Comica season which runs till 25/11).

Richard Wilson, best known for his installation 20:50, first shown at Matt's Gallery in 1987, has punctuated both ends of this unusual exhibition space with large video screens blocking the view into the gallery. The first, (Meter's Running) by the main entrance, shows the artist in a claustrophobic and frantic struggle to dismantle the insides of a Hackney Cab. The cab itself rests at a precarious angle behind the screen, its hollow shell punctured by holes used to film the process as well as two larger entry routes for the artist. At the other end, Trailer Trash appears to be a slowed re-enactment of a cliff edge disaster. A caravan sits on a slowly rotating axis accompanied by a live feed projection that shows the swinging and tumbling insides as if we are witnessing a paranormal event. Wilson has successfully mixed sculptural brilliance with bizarre narrative. The result is an intriguing mix of beguiling fantasy and mesmerising reality.

NB: runs till 14/01/07. On 22/11 (6:30pm) catch Richard Wilson in conversation with Tim Marlow.

With Carsten Holler's gigantic slides invading the Turbine Hall, visitors might be tempted to queue for a go at the playful Test Site rather than venture towards the galleries, but that would be a grave mistake. Indeed, if it's playfulness you're after, bypass the short-lived tingled of the slide ride and head straight for Fischli & Weiss: Flowers & Questions. The first UK retrospective of Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss is likely to give you a whole lot more to think about, to look at, and to question than the relevance of installing a playground staple in a public museum... Indeed, their work is all about possibility. Have the immobilised planes of the photographic series Airports just landed or are they about to depart? Can a rat and a panda bear find answers to metaphysical issues? Will precariously balanced household items invariably fall and why can't we stand to look at them without feeling a burning urge to move them? Fischli & Weiss are serious about taking a long hard look at the disregarded and they're even more serious about having a sense of humour.

NB: runs till 14/01/07 (Fischli & Weiss' work is also on view at Monika Spruth Philomene Magers, 7 Grafton Street, W1 from 13/10 to 18/10).

Cut from the same cloth as Aeroc's classic debut album Viscous Solid, Christopher Willits' previous offerings were works of precise guitar laced with interruptive electronics and considered use of effects. They were experimental in compositional structure with emphasis on exploring the range of sounds he could muster from his guitar, laptop and software patch setup. Surf Boundaries, however, is more song-based in approach, which is made clear from the opening summer wash of "Colors Shifting", where five-part vocal harmonies (with assistance from New Zealand vocalist Latrice Barnett) slide alongside glitch-ridden riffs and soft echoed rhythms. From this auspicious opening, the album then moves into more textural fields with passages of drone, ambience and even noise. Moods shift from track to track, but somehow the album retains its narrative. You could say this could soundtrack seasons in a state-of-flux; a time for transition, change, renewal.

To buy Surf Boundaries online click here.

Opening with the fun "Clean Break", which contains a solid house rhythm that would have worked well on the dancefloor if it weren't for the cacophony of playful pips and squeaks, My My take on a more serious tone with the echo chord of "When It Rains". And therein lies Songs For The Gentle's formula: summery excursions in melody that can suddenly take sharp turns into obtuse, introverted minimalism. All these elements come together perfectly on the album highlight "Propain". It doesn't escape criticisms, though; a slight trimming of a few skip-button fillers here and there could have brought the running time down a tad. But, when all is said and done, what you have here is a fantastic set of well-produced, idea-loaded house music. My My maybe aiming for the gentle, but with this debut, they should succeed at being heard by a lot more.

To buy Songs For The Gentle online click here.

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