Following a little well-deserved R&R, the Combo has had a little rest, a little reset, and is back looking ten years younger.

“All I wanted was a new recliner chair!”
Kane Parsons is a twenty-year-old auteur at the forefront of a generation that went viral on YouTube before graduating to the big screen. His debut feature, Backrooms, is based on a notorious creepypasta image of an eerily empty office space that scared the shit out of everyone for reasons nobody could pinpoint – popularising the internet’s obsession with liminal spaces (check out r/LiminalSpace). After building a cult following with his Backrooms YouTube series, Parsons has landed an A24 big-screen adaptation. Here, Clark – Chiwetel Ejiofor – discovers a mysterious portal beneath the furniture showroom where he works and becomes consumed by the sprawling labyrinth of uncanny, seemingly endless rooms hidden beyond it. Check out our video interview with Finn Bennett, who also stars.

Backrooms is in cinemas now. 

Don’t rush it
Guerin Projects’ latest show, The Tenderness of Time, is an exploration of the value of longevity in a time plagued by the instantaneous nature of throwaway content, featuring works from British artist Gigi Ettedgui and British-American photographer Robin Hunter Blake. Ettedgui refashions ideas of Florentine portraiture, depicting a flower blossoming over time and an abstract vision of the myth of Venus, while Blake presents a series of monochromatic images of dancers, fragmenting bodies into sculptural figures.

The Tenderness of Time: Gigi Ettedgui & Robin Hunter Blake runs at 15 Bateman Street, W1D 4AQ, until June 9th. 

You get a mag! You get a mag!
Clerkenwell’s beloved magCulture has been popping up at Selfridges for the past few weeks, and this weekend is the last chance to browse. As part of the department store’s Club Culture programme, the pop-up shop is filled to the brim with a selection of 200 magazines, with titles covering fashion, film, culture, art, sport, photography and more – including *cough* the latest issues of HERO and Heroine.

magCulture’s pop-up runs at Selfridges until 7th June. 

Shania at the Shack
We had to double triple-check this one. This Saturday, Shania Twain plays at The Shacklewell. Wtf – we know. In town to support Harry Styles at his upcoming twelve-night Wembley residency, apparently Shania just couldn’t resist the sticky, sweaty Shacklewell stage – Wembley Schmembley. If you’ve got tickets, don’t let them out of your goddamn sight. If you don’t, use all your nouse to get yourself in, this is one for the history books.

Shania Twain plays The Shacklewell Arms on Saturday 6th June.

Alone in rural Sweden
Former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman was a lifelong Spurs fan before signing his first professional contract in 2017. But last year, at the age of 26, Whiteman decided to quit while still in his prime, rejecting his football dreams to turn his hand to directing and photography. In 2021, while on loan at the rural Swedish football team Degerfors IF, Whiteman began documenting the boredom and mundanities of an athlete stuck in the Swedish countryside. The result is a body of work that captures the surreal repetitiveness and isolation of training, imbued with a candid sense of humour.

Alfie Whiteman: A Loan runs until 27th September at OOF Gallery, more info here. 

A-sharp
Academy Award-winning director Daniel Roher returns with his first narrative feature, Tuner. Leo Woodall stars opposite Dustin Hoffman as a piano tuner with a hearing condition called hyperacusis, which causes excruciating pain when hearing loud noises. That acute sense of hearing not only makes him a perfect piano tuner but also equips him with the ability to crack safes with ease – obviously. What starts as a one-time favour spirals out of control, and Woodall’s character, Nikki, finds himself in the midst of a criminal underworld way out of his control.

Tuner is out in cinemas now.

XL Slice
Dough Hands has upped sticks and headed East after just over a year-long residency at The Old Nun’s Head. Founder Hannah Drye has opened the doors to a new residency at All My Friends, the Hackney Wick bar from the team behind The Cause. Serving up a selection of twenty-inch pies and slices, the steadfast classics such as cheese and pepperoni remain, but the new location introduces a series of original flavours. Expect to see toppings such as garlic sausage and pistachio pesto, coppa and pineapple with guindilla, and Lamiri Harissa aubergine with salted ricotta. Grab a slice, or go big.

All My Friends is located at Unit 1, Hamlet Estate, 96 White Post Ln, E9 5EN, more info here. 

Looking for sunnier climes?
Now, we usually stick to home soil when it comes to the Weekend Combo, but this week we’re heading a little further afield. After what now seems to be a fluke London heatwave, we’re all in need of some vitamin D, and Ibiza is looking quite appealing. If you find yourself on The White Isle, then The Standard is a must-visit. Located in the heart of Ibiza Town, aside from the 67 perfectly furnished rooms and rooftop pool, the hotel is home to two of the best restaurants on the island. On the hotel’s roof, UP has unveiled a new concept menu for the summer season. Titled Sea & Fire with a Latin Soul, the concept is headed up by Chef Iker Llona Orozco, creating a series of shareable dishes such as grilled beef entrecôte, flamed sea bass with glazed sweet potato and grilled mini corn with jalapeño foam alongside a Raw Bar offering up exceptional seafood. Meanwhile, on the ground floor, Jara is the farm-to-table bistro offering modern takes on traditional Spanish cuisine, such as a selection of Ibicencan flatbreads, tuna tartare, huevos rotos and the infamous el mejor flan de tu vida, translating to ‘the best flan of your life’.

Find out more about The Standard Ibiza here.