Community Pinboard: Local Music Special (plus lots of food & booze, of course)

1. Indie-pendence at the Bull & Gate. K-Town’s busiest promoters, Club Fandango, are lining up a month of parties to celebrae 35 years of independent label trade champions A.I.M. The ‘Labelled With Love’ festival takes over the iconic back room at the Bull & Gate from next Saturday (22), where indie imprints curate their very own nights alongside the Fandango faithful. Xtra Mile, CRC, Too Pure, Fierce Panda and Alcopops! are already booked in. If you’re an indie label the invite stretches out to you, so get in touch and throw a bash too. Meanwhile Club Fandango’s midweek mash-up Club Spangle is on again this Tuesday too.

2. Blag a Roundhouse freebie. The annual ticket free-for-all that is the iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse is currently midway through its run of gratis gigging. There’s still time to throw your name into the metaphorical hat for a chance to see Lana Del Ray, Hot Chip, Ellie Goulding, Madness, Muse and more until the end of the month. And if you don’t win, it’s all streamed live online for that small screen vibe. This Saturday is the turn of the man voted the world’s number 1 DJ David Guetta. For those that claim he’s not a ‘real’ DJ (and they are a very vocal bunch), there’s always the World DMC Championships up at KT’s Forum on the 27th & 28th for the ultimate in performance turntablism and wheels of steel battle posturing.

3. Electric Ballroom’s Friday Facelift. Fear not the scaffolding currently up, Camden’s legendary ex-roller disco is only having a bit of a nip and tuck round the front, but the party calendar remains unaffected down on the vast subterranean dancefloor. In fact, a brand new night of all things indie and electro called ‘Exist’ opens tomorrow night (14th) with Belakiss playing live and popular Camden jocks Ed Wilder, Scott Thomson and Sidco Styli airing their music collections too. All sounds very much like business as usual.

4. Party to Help Plant Trees. Fab urban charity types Trees For Cities are throwing a fund-raising club night on Saturday at intimate space The Social off Gt Portland St. It’s the official after event for the Tree-Athalon 5km run around Battersea Park in the daytime. So if you’re not built for that kind of thing (there’s still time to register if you are), then pop down and shake a leg in the evening instead. The Trees crowd have fearsome party credentials so it’s guaranteed the music and the post-race people will be highly spirited.

5. Win the Londonist Quiz at The Monarch. Our like-minded friends at citywide guide The Londonist held the first of a new series of Wednesday night quizzes at The Monarch on Chalk Farm Rd last night. Perhaps you were there? And perhaps you even scooped one of their self-proclaimed ‘naff’ prizes? We have promised to assemble a Kentishtowner team soon so, erm, look out. The plan is for this to be a weekly trivia calendar fixture. £2 in the pot for a chance to finally put all that mental ephemera about music, celebs and more to some productive use…

6. Foraged Feasting Tonight. Ssshh Supperclub returns this evening behind the secret bookcase at Somerstown Coffeehouse. The theme is ‘farmed and foraged’ as farmer/chef/hunter James Fraser serves up dishes he’s either grown, rooted out, shot or caught himself. Look out for Kent Slow braised rabbit on a courgette and red lentil cassoulet and signature roasted pigeon and wild berry jus (pictured here). Give them a call on 07718 122685 to see if there are any places left. Only £30 for 3 courses, tea and aperitif.

7. Eat Nose to Tail at The Abbey. Farmer Tom Jones is the new chef at NW5 instiution The Abbey, bringing an intimate knowledge of all cuts of meat to their new menu. The self-styled travelling meat man has found a home for his butcher’s skills here in KT and the Abbey is now offering such carnivorous delights as a £15 (per person) feast menu for 2, roasts throughout the day on the terrace on Sundays and also meat masterclasses such as the one in this video (book in advance with the pub). We’ll report back when we’ve checked it out.