I've spent much of this week in Hackney Wick for an upcoming le cool project, and wonderful it's been too. What struck me though was that for an area that's literally in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium so little is 'trickling down' from across the Lee River Navigation. I'm not sure whether it's the fact of the Stadium being on a metaphorical (and very real) island that breeds such economic distance, or whether this is just the way of the world with these billion-pound enterprises, but the businesses and venues popping up in old factories on the Wick seem to be doing so with no help from across the river. But then relying on local trade and community is probably a better bet than going cap-in-hand to a two-week wonder. More power to 'em.

Coffee 'n' cake at the Counter Cafe please, say Chloe, Tom, Josh, Mat, Clare, SJ, Delaina and everyone else at the le cool London hacienda.
 

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If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise. Well, when we say ‘woods’ we actually mean the ‘ArtHaus in Hackney’, and the sumptuous five-course meal from this East London pop-up restaurant isn’t so much a surprise as an absolute bargain. Apologies, we don’t mean to bamboozle. The Wild Food Kitchen isn’t just for those who want to experience the best in wild and foraged UK produce, it’s also for you creative types, with the capital’s best busking talent and art from charity Art Against Knives providing the backdrop. The menu includes wild nettle gazpacho, deconstructed Eton mess and other such delicacies that could never be found in a high street eatery. Hurry, this place is only around for four days! / Wendy Davies

All the hippest groups have a Z in their name - NZCA/Lines, Zun Zun Egui, Azalia Banks – but Shabazz Palaces have two together, which makes them awesome, right? Well if you’re not convinced how about being the first hip hop act signed to grunge mega-label Sub Pop and coming from Seattle? Now, I’ve been to Seattle and its highlights are a monorail, rain and the dog from Frasier turning tricks like Pudsey for doggy gin, so a rap collective is automatically awesome. But it is their actual music which makes them truly exciting; being more akin to EL-P and Quannum than R 'n' B’s bling, giving them a highbrow lyrical edge. 2011’s album Black Up is a velvety shower of sporadic beats and ancient bleeps which drive through a refined afro-jazz resulting in an intriguing live show. / David Newbury

Let's be honest. We've all had solitary moments of doubt when it comes to music. It can be hard to keep the faith when Dalston urbanites won't stop singing harmonies about flaxen maids and America's stolen dubstep. Come to confessional in Hoxton tonight to worship at the alter of South African genre-shirking Spoek Mathambo. His future sounds never take the easy way out. He fuses Paul Simon-esque classic African guitars with something far grungier. He spits razor-sharp lyrics about conflict diamonds over sunshine sounds. Check out the Joy Division cover for a taster of this bundle of contradictions. He's joined by garage-tinged 14th and the crew behind London's best transport anthem. We have a pair of tickets to give away. Follow us on Twitter for more info. / Clare Considine

A confession: though I love any kind of video of extreme sports video and will happily spend a day watching skiers getting dropped from helicopters onto fresh Himalayan snow, or parkour types tearing up New York, I've never taken part in anything like that. My sense of balance is so poor that just walking and texting is a genuine feat, and any attempt to join the urban sports elite would immediately lead to a trip to A&E. No, I'm content to watch, and I'm getting stoked about the first film from the guys at Slam City Skates, City of Rats. The clips I've seen are mesmerising - the best skaters the capital has to offer, cruising London's streets at night, dropping tricks and spills as they go. Well worth a watch, and if you do head down then come and say hello. I'll be the one wearing elbow pads at the bar. / Rob Valid

I never need an excuse for another viewing of Performance - Nic Roeg's hallucinogenic look at stardom, violence, identity and sex is one of the sixties' best films. On the surface it's a simple tale of a gangster (James Fox) hiding out in the Notting Hill pad of a sybaritic rock star (Mick Jagger). But its non-linear structure, games with identity and trippy soundtrack imbue the whole thing with a palpable sense of menace. If I did need an excuse though, the presence at this screening of a rare showing for Kenneth Anger's Invocation of My Demon Brother, with a Moog soundtrack by Jagger, might just tip me over the edge. Well worth a trip. / Rob Valid

It’s common knowledge that geeks rule. In fact, geeks rule so hard that museums and galleries have had to start regularly opening late to accommodate all of us. Once a year, they coordinate their keys and leave doors open for a mass learning allnighter, Museums at Night. The long list of activities include finding out how much Thames water is in your beer at the National Maritime Museum, listening to celeb snapper Terry O’Neill at the Ragged School Museum, hearing tales of 19^th century amputations from the Old Operating Theatre Museum, discovering Roman make-up at Mortimer Wheeler House, wincing at eye-watering early tattoo practices at the Horniman Museum and perhaps my favourite – enjoying the beauty of steam engines by candlelight at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. / Amy Smith

I love how sometimes the tube map is worn away in places by people using their fingers to track their journey. Funny that it’s usually the station they are standing in that is most worn. The latest exhibition at the London Transport Museum not only celebrates the iconic tube map but also probes into our relationship with space and identity. The opening tonight doesn’t just promise drinkies but author Craig Taylor will read from his book on mapping Londoners through their personal stories, there’ll be a spoken word performance, music from DJ Bob Stanley, tours from the curator and an artist-led workshop. And if you suddenly forget everything that’s just happened, not to fear, resident cartographer Emily Wilkinson will be mapping the evening. / Amy Smith
 

With releases to his credit as The Count (alongside Kiss FM's Sinden), Action Man, Machines Don't Care, Speaker Junk & Voodoo Chilli it seems incredible that Joshua 'Hervé' Harvey has yet to release a solo album. Well that's all about to change with the imminent release of 'Pick Me Up, Calm Me Down, Sort Me Out' and this Friday he's throwing a party at the Nest to celebrate the occasion. Always renowned for his eclectic approach to both music production and DJing, throwing everything from house, garage and jungle to electro and pop into the mix, it all comes together on an album that features both rising stars such as Ronika and more established names like The Beta Band's Steve Mason. Joining Hervé behind the decks for this august occasion are the inescapable men of the moment Rudimental, plus Baxta and Pixel Fist, the latest signings to Hervé's own label, Cheap Thrills. / Beth Metal

Welcome to 2012... that moment of the future where all our music, art and books are located on one anorexic looking device backed up to an invisible i-cloud that none of us can see but rest our faith soundly in, knowing he's there. Well one thing that cloud or Kindle, pod or pad will never be able to do is charm the pants off us with some old-skool human interaction. This Saturday is all about holding physical record sleeves and talking to actual people about music you like. Independent Label Market host their third outing at the Old Spitalfields Market and remind us all about how music should remain - a social experience where we discuss opinions and admire each others vintage shoes! Take advice, give advice, marvel at rare first editions of Led Zep, and nod in agreement to the sounds of a sub-sub-genre you never knew you liked - an experience that can't be downloaded. / Therese Mullan

The go-to guy for Hollywood ‘bad guy’ roles, Steven Berkoff, draws upon his wealth of screen experience in his latest play, ‘Six Characters in Search of a Director’. Having shot over 50 films, including box office smash ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, Berkoff is able to bring his extensive screen palette to the masses, with this comedy exploring the relationship between actors and their director. Starring West End star Neil Stuke (Boeing Boeing and Entertaining Mr Sloane) and RSC veteran Philip Voss, ‘6 Characters’ promises to lift the lid on what really happens when the person that pulls all the strings yells “Action!”. Bring your popcorn to the arches and discover who really calls the shots. / Wendy Davies

Festivals usually have their headliners and then a host of emerging talents. The new Words in the Park festival lineup is all big-hitters under one giant gazebo. The organisers have played cupid and paired literary figures together, crime writer P.D. James and fellow author Penelope Lively, journalist John McCarthy and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, foodie Sophie Dahl and Mary McCartney, political heavyweight Tony Benn and social commentator Owen Jones. These couplings aren’t radical, I doubt any fierce debates or fisticuffs will erupt, but they are built for intimate conversations. Attend all three days and travel from 60s fashion to hostage situations in the Middle East, while taking in the beauty of clouds, her Maj and contemporary China. / Amy Smith

The twang of a tremolo guitar immediately garners nostalgic images of big convertibles and 50s tiki bars where the boys are clean cut and cocktails are in coconuts. There’s a seedy side too; the desert’s underbelly of dust and blood, as occupied by Lynch and Tarantino. Duane Eddy is able to occupy both worlds with his legendary guitar instrumentals that limbo dance with a razorblade. Having influenced The Shadows, Springsteen and every schoolboy with a whammy-bar guitar his music has entered every inch of popular culture from TV themes to line dances. Peter Gunn, probably the greatest riff ever, has been endlessly sampled and parodied, yet Eddy’s surf inflections remain authentically unwavering and toe-tappingly identifiable. / David Newbury

Anyone out there watching The Bridge on BBC4 at the moment? Good innit? Though don't tell me what's happening cos I've got a couple of issues taped. And if you are watching have you, like me, been saying to yourself 'just who is it singing that haunting bit of music over the credits?'. Well, if you could be bothered to google it you'd know it was Denmark's Choir of Young Believers. They're not in fact a choir, or even a duo, but the work of lone Copenhagenite Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who corrals different musicians to help build his glassy, soulful, electro-folk. A massive star in Scandinavia, Jannis is finally bringing those jams and that voice to the UK for a one-off show at Stoke Newington's Birthdays. /  Rob Valid

Back in the dim and distant mists of time, when I was just a poor student and dinosaurs roamed the earth, Clerkenwell was pretty grim. In fact, in the eighties, I don't think I ever visited, or thought of it as anything more than 'that big stretch around Old Street that makes getting a cab into town so expensive'. Nowadays of course it's all high-end advertising agencies, bespoke fixies and five-quid flat whites. And designers, lots of designers. So if any London area was going to hold a successful Design Week, it was here. You'll need a couple of hours with the website to figure out everything that's going on, but expect open-studios, exhibitions, bargains in the design shops and parties. (By the way, I know we're in a time of austerity, but a Design Week that lasts three days? That's a pretty severe cutback.) / Rob Valid

When I was growing up and exploring the music of the past the rule seemed to be that American folky stuff (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young) was good, the British equivalent (Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny) was bad. This generation though luckily seem to have far fewer qualms about embracing Brit-folk and there's been a huge critical rehabilitation of these sixties pioneers. And at their head is Sandy Denny, the tragic, angel-voiced singer from Fotheringay and Fairport Convention. She's not with us any more but tonight at the Barbican her work will be recollected and reinterpreted by the likes of Joan as Policewoman, PP Arnold and folk supergroup Bellowhead. A lovely way to dip your toe into a forgotten ouvre. / Rob Valid

Who doesn't love a little something for nothing and this, my friends, is a bona fide two-in-one. There's a new contemporary art gallery opening in north London, only it's in a flat in Stoke Newington, not another white cube. Not a palatial flat, just a normal flat, and the first exhibition sounds wicked (I should know, I curated it!). On the 23rd at Flat C, insanely brilliant poet Ross Sutherland will entertain with a reading and a Q&A after the screening of Every Rendition on a Broken Machine, a hilarious film about Ross’ quest to find a computer program that can write better poetry than he can. See some art, watch a film, meet a literary genius. Brilliant. There are only ten tickets available (yes, ten!) so get your skates on! / Crystal Bennes

le cool is a free weekly magazine distributed every Thursday that features a selection of cultural events and leisure activities, revealing the things you really shouldn't miss. We filter out, among other things, the best art, film, music, and club nights, as well as a careful selection of extraordinary bars, restaurants and other fine places. Our new 2.0-oriented website offers le cool readers new ways of sharing our recommendations and organising their own weekly agenda. le cool content is chosen because we believe it is worth your time and will never be traded for money.

To contact our editorial team, email Mat and send press releases to our lovely assistant editor, Clare. For interviews and photography, it's Tom. For cover art, and silly jokes - always Josh.

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Published by: le cool Publishing

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