A combination of a new freelance job - and my ability to get utterly lost in the time it takes to change the song on my ipod - meant that this week I did something that I hadn't done for ages: walked through parts of London I'd never visited before. I watched seagulls swooping under a frosty Putney train bridge, ate a beanburger in the the ornate gardens in the heart of Bromley, and wandered the London high street with the least number of chain stores (you might be thinking it's Marylebone, but it's actually Brentford).

And I'd forgotten how surprising London can be; so, in a very belated spirit of this new(ish) year, I've decided to try and visit one place I've never been before every week. Expect to be bored stupid with my thoughts on the delights of Cockfosters or Harrow-on-the-Hill very soon...

Let's get lost say Chloe, Tom, Josh, Mat, Clare and everyone else at the le cool London hacienda.

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Not only does this evening launch Speech Debelle's second album, Freedom of Speech, it launches her European tour - presenting both record and live show to the world. The first was ridiculously well received, coming seemingly out of nowhere, snatching the Mercury Music prize from under everyone's noses - and totally deserving it. It seemed to give Speech massive confidence, if the performances that followed that are anything to go by. And that confidence has carried over onto this latest set of songs; though they are more mature, their delivery retains the punch of the underdog. The standard is raised and the battle plan is set: being in the Jazz Café tonight will be the equivalent of waving her off to wage war… / Craig Clark

Broken Loops will take its audience down the Waterloo tunnels (which never fail to be exciting) and into a working men’s club stuck in the 90s... in (yes there’s more) a performance that involves audience digital participation. This ticks so many of my boxes I’m starting to look like a consumer satisfaction survey for Adele. There’s pool, there’re Walkers crisps, there’s not much action but plenty of judging stares from men sitting on stools decorating the walls. The plot: a mother and daughter meet after 10 years apart. The audience helps unlock memories trapped in the objects around them by choosing the sequence for a series of audiovisual triggers. How this will be done is as yet a mystery. That it will be exciting is for sure. / Delaina Haslam

It may seem a wrong thing to say, but Marx is in urgent need of a re-brand. Stalin hijacking your theories for his own totalitarian ends? Talk about your PR-nightmares. Karl couldn’t half use a Max Clifford style guru to bat back some of the bad press of the McCarthy era. And how can a battered old Penguin classic copy of the communist manifesto possibly compete with the slick advertising campaigns of capitalism? Marx Reloaded is an attempt to re-relate to the public: a mixture of animation and interviews, with appearances from the likes of Slavoj Žižek and Antonio Negri. It takes some of the central ideas of the 19th century German socialist and philosopher and applies them to our modern monetary madness. So take the red pill, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes… / Vyvian Raoul

Seeing as nobody pays for music anymore, you can forgive indie band members looking to top up their benefits by doing a bit of extra curricular deejaying. After all it must be pretty annoying having to spend so much time in the company of drummers just to watch some git turn up with a wallet of CDs and get all the glory. What is unforgivable though is that 99% of them are utter sh!t, bad mixing, bad tune selection, bad times. Deep Sh!t is a new night put together by Friendly Fires' Jack Savidge and Edwin Congreave from Foals, and they are the 1%, being both technically great DJs and with an amazing taste in proper techno, house and disco. They've even got great taste in venues kicking things off at the wonderful Plastic People, just don't go expecting to hear Kasabian. / John Power

Too often Japanese festivals involve one origami class, a short drum session and a little row of wagashi. So, prepare to have your tabi (socks) blown off this weekend. Hyper Japan extends beyond the enjoyable realms of eating lots of new food and drinking lots of new things to also encompass anime and manga (of course), fashion shows, demonstrations, seminars, and most interestingly: workshops. Cosplayers will be out in force, making it all a little bit more barmy than your average weekend out, and you can catch a live performance of two from a couple of notable Japanese singers, most famously Natsuko Aso. I'll be busy by the sushi-roll championship and the top sake taste-off. / Claire

With increasingly disturbing news and images coming out of Syria, the question over what should be done to halt President Bashar Assad’s brutal assault on his own people reverberates around the world. An estimated 6,000 have already died in the crackdown and an Arab League inspection mission did nothing to halt the violence. Russia and China have vetoed the U.N. Security Council’s resolution condemning Assad’s actions - so what now? Nobody wants another war, but those suffering daily in Syria are desperate for help. Should the international community step in? A panel of journalists and leading Syrian figures debate the options for a country on the brink as part of Frontline’s ongoing BBC Arabic Series. / Laura Mannering

Remember those days when Peugeot 106s played 2-step from lowered, tinted windows? Ed Case and K Warren pushed through walls behind Tina Moore, and we'd go to Eros, Watford and dark rooms in Camden to dance to it? Don't think for one second that grime, dubstep - or anything else I hear about first now from the Guardian - doesn't have its roots firmly in the UK garage scene. And Heritage, thankfully, knows this too well, as they are hosting a night that revisits all that was perfect about 2-step and four-to-the-floor. King of garage DJs EZ, will be headlining, alongside one part of the legendary Tuff Jam duo Matt Jam Lamont, and Double 99 who will be playing their first London set in 10 years. Throw in Sticky, DJ Narrows, Scott Garcia, Heny G, Nico Lupo, Rude Boi Brand, amongst so many others, and I've had to put on my old garage mix-tapes just to steady myself. / Chimene Suleyman

For me music in the 1980s consisted of listening to tapes from my parents' generation in the back of a Ford Cortina whilst being ferried about to school and the like. The era that spawned MTV, iconic artists and legendary bands passed me by with nothing but a distinct memory of Bros on Going Live. 30 years later Midnight a Go Go gives everyone - including those livid at their parents' sense of reproductive timing and subsequent denial of living in the 80s - a chance to indulge in that decade's best music. New wave, yacht rock, synth pop and classic hip hop will be played along with new tracks inspired by the decade to classic visuals of cult film, TV clips and music videos. Live performances from the Cymbals and the Idles round off the nostalgia. / Leonie Ellis

Visions is always a fair bet for a night out, in fact the last time I went back in December we ended up having to fight our way past a police cordon just to get in. Still whilst the thin blue line probably won't be needed to restore order outside this Saturday, the 2nd installment of Flinkmapingo should still bare witness to some full on scenes down in the basement as Batty Bass resident Hannah Holland and Hot Creations' Bubba join the residents spinning all manner of house music. It's just £4 in on the door as well, so if it does all go a bit acid house '89 and the police hoof down the door at least you should have some spare change for your bail money. / John Power

This is Alberto Burri’s first major retrospective in the UK. Which, given that his death pre-dates the Sensations exhibition, simply beggars belief. There is one plausible, and, of the art world, illuminating explanation for this oversight: Burri never sat still long enough to be an –ism. In this I see Burri as one of the finest translators of human nature. Not only do his pieces excite in the purest aesthetic sense but his inability to settle of one form of visual dialogue speaks volumes
on his most human of tendencies: fickleness. Upon leaving this wonderfully curated exhibition I was struck by one overriding impression: Burri was a scientist. He took great pleasure from the exploitation of materials in various states of flux; be it tar, burlap or simply paint. He approached the process of artistic creativity with a child’s eyes, never stagnating, always exploring and most importantly, always exciting. / Sam Frankl

Django Django's inaugural album was written by Beach Boysesque androids roaming crimson craterous landscapes in spacesuits with rayguns and bubble cars. Now even if the previous statement is completely untrue, Django Django would still definitely be the soundtrack for such adventures. After creating a splash on its release last month, the eponymous album has been supported by a string of sold-out gigs, sowing the seeds for the bands ascension to the ranks of 'Bands to Watch 2012'. Now this is never a good thing - I don't say this to subscribe to the hipster axiom 'the more people know about a band the worse it is', but rather because becomes increasingly difficult to see them live. Lucky for you you're learning about them before everyone else, hopefully. / Hugo M

I stumbled across this place after a few cheeky pints of amber nectar at the nearby Spurstowe Arms one evening. This outlet, open since the summer of 2011, is the second shop to open from the people behind Borough Wines of Borough Market (name gives it away right?) They’ve taken the bold move of branching out to the hallowed pavements of Hackney, and we couldn’t be more grateful. As well as selling a range of wines to take away or even enjoy in/outside the shop, they also offer an impressive wine re-fill service. Buy a bottle for two quid, fill it up for a fiver, then when you run dry you can head back and re-fill it direct from the cask. You can choose from red, white or rose. The owners are French, and while the French offerings dominate the booze bins in there, you’ll also be able to find some excellent new world wines amongst the old favourites. Mine’s a glass of red. / Firas Waez

The film Alex Cox is most famous for is Sid & Nancy, his controversial and somewhat fanciful bio-pic of Sid Vicious. The film he should be most famous for is his previous effort, 1984's Repo Man. Starring a pre-Mighty Ducks Emilio Estevez, the movie tells the story of a bored, depressed punk rocker in 80s LA who falls into to the lucrative (and as he soon discovers, bizarre) world of automobile repossession where he is mentored by Bud (the always impressive Harry Dean Stanton). The whole thing is capped off by a brilliant soundtrack featuring Black Flag, The Circle Jerks and Iggy Pop amongst others. The screening is celebrating the fourth birthday of Midnight Movies, so there will be cake and cocktails and even a DJ before the film starts! / Elliott Childs

Wow, this is a good book club. The Post-Apocalyptic Book club meet up, drink and discuss end-of-the-world books and dystopia in general. Will Smith’s got to be a member, right? I mean he’s your go-to man in these situations. In fact, I’d be extremely disappointed if this meet-up isn’t a bit like an early episode of Lost, or Children Of Men. The men stagger in, wearing white wifebeaters with slightly dishevelled hair. At least one is a technical geek/genius who’s previously been ignored/misunderstood by everyone at the office as a weirdo but now he’s interpreted the alien signals/created a nuclear-proof hideout - well he was right all along! The girls in the group? Gutsy and attractive. This month’s book is The Clockwork Orange. / Charlie Tuesday

Musical legend Jonathan Richman (founder of influential early punk band the Modern Lovers) is in town this week and he's packing his mega-impressive back-catalogue of witty, enduringly entertaining songs and bringing them with him. Tracks such as 'Abominable Snowman in the Market' and 'Hey There Little Insect' showcase his astute, deceptively naive lyrics and melodies, but with such a rich legacy to draw on and such diverse influences expect a well-rounded show. Timeless and ageless this is bohemian music to make you smile. If you can’t catch him tonight, he’s also playing tomorrow at the Tabernacle and Friday at the Union Chapel. / Rose Cooper-Thorne

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.

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