If you fancy taking a sneak peak at the future of hip hop you could do a lot worse than pop your head into the Bush Hall this week, as not one but two of the scene's freshest talents are over from the States and in town. Headlining are Shape Of Broad Minds, Jneiro Jarel's new group, whose debut album Craft Of The Lost Art (released this past August on Lex Records) is being hailed as a signpost for a genre of music that has been looking decidedly devoid of new ideas in recent times. In support is Flying Lotus: LA resident, nephew of jazz legend Alice Coltrane and the latest signing to Warp Records, whose own brand of sci-fi soul and rugged futuristic hip-hop beats has been another musical highlight this year. A world away from the commercial mainstream, this is the next level right here, right now.

NB: after the gig Flying Lotus will also play at the Deviation Sessions from 9pm - 2am at Gamaphone (60-62 Commercial St., E1). And if you cannot make either of the gigs, catch him next week on 17/11 (8pm) at Cargo.

Appliances is a monthly residency held by the Not Applicable artists and hosted by the delightfully low key cafe and vintage scooter shop Scooterworks in Waterloo. Appliances provides a forum for new adventures in electro-acoustic music and improvisation, immersing the audience in short sets by a varying line-up of Not Applicable members and guests throughout the night. The spirit is one of intrigue and musical conversation, giving you the chance to discover some of the most colourful and experimental musical personalities London has to offer. This month's featured guest is Adem Ilhan, best known for his recordings on Domino and as the curator of the Homefires festival. No stranger to electronic music production techniques with his band Fridge, but rarely seen improvising himself in the company of electronics, it could well prove to be a transformative experience.

NB: Appliances continues on the first Thursday of every month.

It's been a hectic few years for Anders Trentemoller. Though a presence on the dance scene since the late '90s, it was his Run Jeremy edit of Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" in 2004 that marked him out as one of the biggest electronic producers in the world. With newly released second album, The Trentemoller Chronicles to promote, the Dane is over in town for a stupidly rare live performance of his dubby, minimal techno. Having previously reserved his full live set-up just for appearances at festivals like Glade and Glastonbury, Londoners are in for a treat as he is teaming up with guitarist Mikael Simpson and fashion designer/drummer Henrik Vibskov for this show at The Forum. In support are the Lunaseeds, the latest psychedelic folk guise of Lamb's Andy Barlow and Danish DJ Buda.

NB: for more techno catch Michael Mayer, Superpitcher and Geiger at Fabric on Saturday.

One of the best films shown at this year's London Film Festival, Into The Wild left us rather speechless. Based on the book by Jon Krakauer, the film recounts the true story of a young American middle class college graduate, Christopher McCandless who, philosophically inclined (and possibly influenced by Henry David Thoreau's Walden), donates all his $24,000 savings to Oxfam, abandons his car and moves into the wild to wander the country under the name of Alexander Supertramp. Directed with a deft and delicate touch by Sean Penn, beautifully shot on location throughout by Eric Gautier (The Motorcylce Diaries, Intimacy, Irma Vep...) and starring Emile Hirsch (who must win every acting award there is next year), this is a rare and beautiful film, the like of which we have never encountered. It not only made us smile (a lot) but also left us questioning everything about... everything. And we are still reeling a week later.

NB: Into The Wild is released in London on 09/11. Other films of note released on the same day are Air Guitar Nation and In Memory Of Me.

Chicago-born multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird is a muso favourite about ready to break into the mainstream. Classically trained in the Suzuki method from a young age, this ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers' abilities with the violin are rarely surpassed; that he is also perfectly adept with the guitar and glockenspiel is an indication of the man's myriad talents. With solo album releases stretching back to 1996 (see debut album Music Of Hair), Bird's latest Armchair Apocrypha (2007) is one of his most celebrated to date and a worthy follow-up to the much-acclaimed (and oddly titled) The Mysterious Production Of Eggs (2005). Charting high on the Billboard chart Stateside, the new album has already brought Bird's music to the attention of a much wider audience via a series of television appearances. Using delay pedals and loop technology to enrich his already alluring sound, in the live environment Bird lets his songs take flight in directions occasionally very different from their on-record tangents. His show at London's spacious and salubrious KOKO venue will inevitably see the curious uninitiated -- in on the back of music press praise -- discover a new contemporary songwriter to treasure.

This Portugese music event is always a sonic treat, covering all threads of sonic art. Tonight's features exclusive audiovisual collaborations with some of the global electronic network's most sought-after artists, co-curated by the Portuguese labels Grain Of Sound, Cronica and Sirr. Soundscapists Richard Chartier, Sawako, Shinjiro Yamaguchi, Terre Thaemlitz, Stilb, Manuel Mota, Jonas Olesen, Tim Hecker and Safe & Sound, alongside visual artists Joao Silva and M0rph3u, combine to provide unique minimal-but-rich evocations. Highlights include label mainstays US 12k artist Chartier's and Sawako's tasteful interaction, plus Canadian Hecker's (who previously worked with Godspeed You! Black Emperor) intricate radio noise laptop movements with (or against?) Safe & Sound. Redefining "microsound", Thaemlitz, known for his conceptual piano alternatives, plays with the crackling processed field recordings of Stilb, and is joined by Danish Olesen, and the Derek Baileyesque improvised guitar of Lisbon's Mota. An evening of quiet exotic eclectica is guaranteed.

NB: the Grain Of Sound Night is part of the Atlantic Waves festival (runs till 11/11) and is linked to the The Wire magazine's 25th birthday (runs till 22/11).

So Shoreditch is rubbish these days yeah, and Camden's on the brink of being transformed into a hellish Bluewater-esque retail portal. So where to go now? What's that, New Cross you say? Yeah The Lock Tavern have tarted up the Amersham Arms and invited all their friends down. It's true, Friday nights at the Amersham Arms used to be all about watching that kid from your school play bass in a Nirvana tribute band. Not anymore though, as someone finally cottoned onto the idea that Goldsmiths students might actually want something a bit more musically satisfying. This Friday, indie label and fez enthusiasts Young Turks take over with a very special headliner in Toronto's evil super group Holy Fuck. Despite a cringe-worthy name equal to Trash Fashion or Does It Offend You Yeah?, it's the music that's important, and thankfully Holy Fuck are rather good. Avoiding the prerequisites of current music production -- the laptop and preprogrammed beates -- Holy Fuck used abandoned casio equipment to somehow produce their debut album, the excitingly named LP, which should make for an interesting live perfomance. Sharing the bill are Dead Kids, who sound like a modern day PiL hooked on cheap pills and vodka and Nottingham's Lovvers, whose droning vocals and guitar wails transcend witty description.

Anarchic rave revivalists Bangface are asking their dedicated followers to look horrific this month, with the aid of Berlin glitch-techno duo Modeselektor and the breakcore exhibitionist with more than a penchant for the dark side, Otto Von Schirach. Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary are making their fourth and final appearance in the UK before taking the material from their new album, Happy Birthday, to Japan. Appropriately, the former acid house enthusiasts are playing their only London gig to one of the capital's most credible gatherings for '90s rave reminiscences. Expect plenty of dabbling though -- their latest release shimmies through hip-hop, tech-hop, house, electro and the downright avant garde. It's no wonder they've found a big fan in the ever-experimental Thom Yorke. It could be a pretty free-form affair, as they and Von Schirach will play individually and together. Miami resident Von Schirach usually goes to great lengths to make his live sets visually as well as audibly arresting, cramming in thousands of sampled instruments and layers, crazed visuals and even costume changes. It all feels a bit like Aphex Twin's attempts to wear everyone out. If you're looking to punish your weary ears and limbs, you could do a lot worse.

NB: for more techno catch Michael Mayer, Superpitcher and Geiger at Fabric on Saturday.

Self proclaimed phenomenologist Shepard Fairey is probably better known as OBEY, the urban persona that has been "manufacturing quality dissent since 1989". Forget your Noam Chomsky, Fairey has achieved a worldwide state of agreeable confusion by plastering the streets of the world with stickers, posters and stencils that are instantly recognizable for their tongue-in-cheek use of good old fashioned propaganda strategies and stark aesthetic. His work has quietly invaded our lives to become a staple of any urban escapade as well as a symbol of underground credibility via his work for DJ Shadow, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins and more recently the poster art for the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line. The giant has fittingly chosen to exhibit in StolenSpace, the Truman Brewery renegade art spot privileged by the best local urban artists. What's more, this part of east London and its surroundings is an open gallery for some of the best grafitti and stencil work in town.

NB: runs till 25/11.

A thoroughly blistering tale of vengeance and honour: Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel star as French officers who fall foul of each other at the beginning of the Napoleonic era and continue the feud right up until they die. The feud begins as Carradine, the more reluctant of the two, somehow insults the feisty honour-obsessed Keitel and so battles it out with him in a duel set in a barn. Both men go off to fight in a war where they bump into each other and continue to fight. Their only obstacle is the rule that an officer cannot fight a soldier beneath his rank, so both men struggle to rise up the military hierarchy. Marvellously photographed in natural light throughout by Frank Tidy, the film has the look of a series of Caravaggio paintings while the performances are sublime, the art direction impeccable and Ridley Scott's direction without fault. A masterpiece.

NB: catch The Duellists at the BFI on both 10/11 (6:20pm) and 13/11 (8:45pm). These screenings are part of the Conrad On Screen season (runs till 30/11).

Georg Baselitz's wooden carving at the entrance of his RA retrospective, of a man gesticulating with rigid arm, caused controversy when it was exhibited at the 1980 Venice Biennale and was duly interpreted as Hitler's Nazi salute. In fact Baselitz was, and is, simply trying to address issues of German history and his identity as an East German. His examination of the Holocaust and National Socialism relates him to contemporaries Sigmar Polke and Anselm Kiefer, yet Baselitz has always maintained his own unique style, which has earned him the largest show ever devoted by the RA to a living artist. According to Norman Rosenthal, Baselitz "manages to stand outside 'isms' of art yet remain central to its history", which is illustrated by the figurative paintings seen here, produced by Baselitz in the '60s in reaction to an extended period of abstract expressionism dominating art. A distinction is made between the different styles developed by Baselitz, from his complex "fracture paintings" such as B For Larry (1967), via his signature inverted paintings such as Finger painting - Apple Trees (1973), to his recent "remix" paintings, which although not quite so emotionally invigorating, still demonstrate that, aged 69, Germany's most important living artist still has the capacity to surprise.

NB: runs till 09/12. On 11/11 (12pm) at the Curzon Mayfair catch a special screening of Georg Baselitz (directed by Heinz Peter Schwerfel, 2004). Seventeen years after Baselitz's first interview with Schwerfel, the art critic and filmmaker confronts him with his provocative statements of 1987 on the occasion of his big retrospective at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.

Independent in action and in spirit and now an institution of US alternative rock, Chicago's Thrill Jockey imprint (launched by ex-Atlantic junior A&R tyro Bettina Richards in 1992) remains -- embarrassingly for the unreconstructed patriarchy that is the 21st century music biz -- one of the few high profile labels anywhere run by a woman. Best known as the home of '90s post-rock, since the millennium the label has has become a broad church. While still boasting enduring post rockers-in-chief Tortoise, it now proffers everything from the bonkers keyboard pop of The Fiery Furnaces and tongue-in-cheek glam stylings of Bobby Conn, to the long-gestating solo albums of pernickety, sometime Television leader Tom Verlaine (whose previous record was released before Thrill Jockey was born!). The label's 15th anniversary celebrations are spread over two days. Sunday's all-dayer finds the aforementioned Fiery Furnaces headlining with support from the Brazilian-hued indie pop of Sam Prekop's The Sea & Cake, splenetic post-rock from Trans Am and thoughtful Americana from California. They'd all be worth checking out in their own right, as would Bobby Conn who turns out on Monday in support of headliners Tortoise, and without whose polyrhythmic, genre-blurring instrumentals it just wouldn't be a Thrill Jockey "do".

In the early '90s Oulu, Finland, burst onto the global consciousness with the creation of the annual World Air Guitar Championships. Immediately embraced by the unique species known as air guitarists, the stage was set to raise the skill to an international art form. For years Finns, Germans, Australians, Dutch and British battled it out for supremacy -- but where were the Americans? Air Guitar Nation charts the debut journey, from initial heat to heady final, of America's finest. An epic battle commences between perennial second-place finisher Bjorn Turoque and the Hello Kitty-wearing, self-appointed God of Air C-Diddy to claim the ultimate rock'n'roll accolade of World Air Guitar champion. Never-say-die Turoque refuses to be outplayed, and plagues his nemesis for rematches, culminating by pitching up (rather unexpectedly) at the World Championships for the ultimate showdown. Things then turn global, as the cream of international "airness" takes to a Glastonbury-style stage before an ecstatic crowd of 5,000 screaming fans. An hilarious portrait of heavy metal, half-baked philosophy ("To err is human, to air guitar divine..."), cutthroat ambition, crazed self-publicists and patriotic fervour, the film is really one of the funniest things this year.

NB: Air Guitar Nation is released in London on 09/11. Other films of note released on the same day are Sean Penn's Into The Wild and In Memory Of Me.

As an 18 year-old law student, Arkady Babchenko was drafted into the Russian army to fight in "Yeltsin's Vietnam" -- the First Chechen War. Conscripts were treated appallingly by their own colleagues: "You can be absent from the barracks for weeks and no one will be after you. You may get murdered, or abducted and sold into slavery and no one will know." But falling into Chechen hands hands meant an even worse fate -- one comrade was split open and strangled by his own intestines while still alive. Incredibly, Babchenko volunteered to return for the Second Chechen War. His book, One Soldier's War In Chechnya, describes the degradation of life on the frontline of this devastation. Unsentimental and with unblinking honesty -- "I have no answer to why I went there again. I don't know. I just couldn't help it. I was irresistibly drawn back" -- Babchenko traces his journey from innocence to casual violence, culminating in his own murder of civilians. The book won an award for Best Debut of the Year in Russia and a "Writers In Translation" award from PEN. He talks to Martin Sixsmith, former BBC correspondent in Moscow and author of The Litvinenko File, about his experiences. Disconcerting stuff.

Skilled spoof artist and long-time celebrator of the ridiculousness of social stalwarts like the TV news, Chris Morris' trademark language and dreamlike visual pacing -- though since co-opted by other avant-garde shows -- remain for the most part unmistakably his own. Both disturbingly sinister and diabolically clever, Morris' programmes subvert the notion of television as information media, using it instead as a mirror: a reflective means of social commentary. Often unpopular in celebrity circles, Morris also provided a deceptively sympathetic stage upon which anyone he interviewed could quite happily -- even enthusiastically -- make a complete and utter ass of him (or her) self. Although he is best known for his satirical news special on paedophilia for Channel 4, his most influential and universally accessible series were current affairs rip-off Brass Eye (of which the paedophilia episode was an offshoot), and evening news send-up The Day Today, lamentably absent from the marquee. For those with a more adventurous palette (and by this we mean a strong stomach and sick sense of humour), Jam presents an absolute feast in two parts of the immoral and downright weird. For fans, undoubtedly Morris' best and most unsettling work.

NB: this event is part of the BFI's Celebrating Channel 4 season (runs till 30/11).

The theory of how people relate to their environment (both constructed and natural) is often discussed in contemporary Britain in the surge of work thrown up by writers as they explore the exciting nooks and crannies of the world. Typically travelling on foot to prevent a "wind-screen-based virtuality", they describe the unpredictable layers of people, history, places and buildings in their path. One such work is provocateur Will Self's Psychogeography. Subtitled "Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place", it is an assortment of 50 of his columns -- or explorational ramblings -- from The Independent. As someone who hiked the 26 miles from his home in south London to Heathrow Airport, caught a handy flight to JFK (well he couldn't really walk there could he?) and marched on into the middle of New York to "explore", Self is probably entitled to label himself a "psychogeographist". (For more evidence, check out his writing room here.) Illustrated with the brilliant, scrawly drawings of Ralph Steadman the book is a post-millennial, post-9/11 meditation on the effects of our environs on our emotions and behaviour. Don't miss the Self-styled-satirist this time.

NB: Kevin Jackson, broadcaster, writer and film critic will join Will Self in conversation.

The folks at TAXI like getting things done. From being a small fish in a vastly overcrowded pond, this Canadian agency (who set up shop in the early 1990s) has since conquered the US market , rising to prominence with their blend of high profile clients and gorillaesque tactics. And operating on the edge seems like a nice place to be, judging from both the industry buzz surrounding them and their plethora of recent awards. Paul Lavoie sits in the driving seat as co-founder and creative director and it is arguably his strong leadership and clear vision that directs their ethos to "doubt the conventional, create the exceptional". Their name may be attached to such names as MINI, Coca-Cola, and Nike to name a few, but they see themselves as the alternative therapists of the industry, rejuvenating weary brands through their holistic and philosophical approach. The short and sweet of it is that anyone who can market Viagra deserves a hearing!

In this, his third show at Sadie Coles HQ, Zurich-born artist Urs Fischer continues his investigations into space, material and transience. In a small garage, out of sight down an anonymous Mayfair mews, Fischer has indulged himself in his characteristic refusal to be bound by practicalities. On entering the garage -- having negotiated your way past the prison-like bars of a car lift -- you are presented with a deep hole cut into the concrete floor, its dug-out contents forming a raised lip around the edge. The brutal reality of this stark work of art exerts an allure simply by its presence (or rather, absence) and the extreme urban anonymity of the site to which it is specific. A door behind conceals a staircase leading to three more pieces that demonstrate a real breadth of both intention and fabrication in this artist's work (look again at the earlier links). If only for the rawness of the experience, this show turned out to be one of the highlights of the Frieze-week events.

NB: runs till 17/11. This show is located at the back of Sadie Coles' new South Audley Street space, which is currently showing Rudolf Stingel (till 24/11). Off-site at 53 Central Street, catch a show by Matthew Barney (till 17/11) and at the Heddon Street space a show by Christiana Soulou (till 24/11).

Fashion photography as an art form is something of a contentious issue, and the works of French photographer Guy Bourdin (1928-1991), currently on display at Victoria House (41 in total, available to view as well as purchase) certainly add fuel to the fire. Bourdin worked a great deal with French, British and Italian Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and shot numerous fashion campaigns. On show here is a selection from French Vogue, and campaign shots for Charles Jourdan, from the 1970s and 80s. They combine an aggressive use of colour and high-octane fashion gloss with abstract constructions and surrealist touches. Darker issues lurk with sinister and tangential provocativeness -- sexual and psychological undercurrents provide an uncomfortable frisson, while self-reflexive visual tricks unsettle. They make for an interesting collection and certainly worth a look if you're in the area.

NB: runs till 24/11. Also on display are works due to be auctioned on 20/11, in a collection called Photographs Including The Brits. Featured photographers include Sam Taylor Wood, Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Idris Kahn and Diane Arbus.

Film director Michael Winterbottom loves a challenge. For Welcome To Sarajevo (1997), he dodged land mines in war-torn Bosnia, just five months after the end of the war. While filming The Claim (2000), he found himself some 7,000 feet above sea level negotiating minus 28 degrees of ice and snow in the mountains of Canada and in 2002, he followed the entirely perilous silk road taken by Afghan refugees from the camps of Peshawar, Pakistan, through Iran and Turkey for the breathtaking In This World.

His latest project, A Mighty Heart, was shot on location in India and Pakistan and stars Angelina Jolie as former journalist Mariane Pearl, on whose memoirs the film is based. The story of her agonising search for her husband, Daniel, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who, while researching a story on shoe bomber Richard Reid, was kidnapped by Islamic militants, held captive, videotaped and then beheaded some ten days later. The film is a harrowing re-enactment of events that shook the world. And while one might consider that, tackling such a seemingly difficult subject while directing maybe the world's biggest movie star in a reputedly volatile environment might be problematic, the unflappable Winterbottom remains thoroughly unabashed.

To read the interview 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.

If you want to tell us about an upcoming event please do so by sending an email to: events@kultureflash.net. We receive many emails and thus please realise that sadly we cannot reply to all of them. Every single email receives attention and we will contact you if we need anything further. Please note that KultureFlash is not a listings ezine and we do not receive any payment from venues, artists, managers or promoters.

Please send all press releases, invites, books and CDs to:

KultureFlash Ltd.
52 Cranmer Court
Whitehead's Grove
London SW3 3HW