Accidental Collectors - Aram

I have often walked past the Aram store on Drury Lane, looked in the window and thought that the various trendy bits of furniture looked nice and colourful but no doubt completely out of my price range. £3000 for a slightly uncomfortable chair pretty much reached my expectations. On the third floor at the minute though is an interesting collection of artifacts. Aprons, clothes pegs, gas lights and glassware are among the things that have been collected and put on show here. All very interesting, particularly given the location - found things like these in a shop which makes itself exclusive mainly through price. The exhibition itself is appealing though showing a potted history of design through its pieces but also how design can be based on necessity or lack of resource - the kerosene lamps from India being a key example of this. It attempts to show the different mindset of "collectors", people who are obsessed with finding artifacts that fit their designs. I'm going nowhere fast with this but suffice to say its a nice little collection - worth a look but unless you have money flying out your ears don't be tempted to look at the sofas on the way out!

Noisettes @ Fopp

So a far bigger audience than last time I was down here and despite 3 Drowned in Sound acts being on tonight the Noisettes are by far the biggest pull.Playing an acoustic set, rather than blowing the roof off in this little basement, they sound very different to on the album "What's the Time Mr Wolf?" It's a crowd pleasing set though, LEAD SINGER, has a powerful voice and emotes the songs even more when not competing with the electric guitars. An unexpected cover of I Wanna Dance With Somebody was lovingly performed and you realise that this lot are not quite as serious as first seems. Next big thing? Maybe