Apr 6 - 12
Monday 6th
Old Blue Last: Birdfeeder / Lifeloose / Of Canaan / Jet Blonde
Leftfield electronic music at the Old Blue Last - headlined by Atomiser founder Birdfeeder, & his ‘fonky rompler poetic brain damage dance show’, joined by the hyperpop duo Lifeloose.
Shacklewell Arms: JJ & The A’s / Grazia / Rubber / Keno
Return to London for the raw & nasty Copenhagen punk band JJ & the A’s - supported by a lineup of local punks.
Horse Hospital: Unstable (John Edwards / Daniel S. Evans / Kiran Leonard)
The latest edition of the Horse Hospital’s un/stable series, showcasing improvised music – featuring a trio formed of the renowned free jazz bassist John Edwards, multi-instrumentalist & Shovel Dance Collective member Daniel S. Evans, and the prolific & eclectic songwriter/producer Kiran Leonard.
Tuesday 7th
George Tavern: Goodbye / Djank / Bugbear
London headline for Brighton’s dream-pop groovers Goodbye - who just released their debut EP ‘These Things Take Time’. They’re a really great band, with an engaging balance of big sounds & frantic, immediate rhythms - and they have good stage banter. Djank & Bugbear are two v good support acts as well!
Old Blue Last: Kiss Gem Burn / Kristina Rhodes / My Theatre Friend
Kiss Gem Burn have been hyping up the size of band they’ll be deploying for this gig - promising a 13 piece mega band. I saw them last at a busy Windmill Brixton, my view of the stage was blocked & I couldn’t count the members, but the sound was immense.
ICA: Kulku / Kiran Leonard / Gentle Stranger
Kulku are a free form collective, ‘a deep-cutting ceremony of primitive music’, whose music revolves around wooden percussion, homemade insruments & ‘influences from early minimal music, ritual music and art rock’. Support comes from Kiran Leonard & the ‘post clown’ trio Gentle Stranger.
Wednesday 8th
Cafe OTO: Al Karpenter / Bill Dietz / Triple Negative
From the Basque country, Al Karpenter are a ‘post genre punk’ band, who ‘fuse improvisation/free jazz, Afrobeat, computer music, and garage punk into a strange sonic world.’ They’ll play Cafe OTO on Wednesday following the release of their 4th album ‘Greatest Heads’ in July last year.
Stone Nest: Export Import / Weaving in Purgatory
An enticing double-bill from promoters Kneejerk - featuring the sprawling, anarchic ensemble Export Import & the dark folk fables of Weaving in Purgatory – “free entry, late close, everything your heart can take”.
M.O.T: Dog Saints / Shoplifting 1080P / Newbuild / Sweetfish
A mini festival, billed as “Hafizfest”, featuring some of the best in London’s emo scene. Headlined by shoegaze/midwest emo band Dog Saints, in celebration of their guitarist Hafiz’s return to London.
Thursday 9th
Shacklewell Arms: magda(1999) / Sevy Verna / Caledonia / unnamed band
Noisy evening at the Shacklewell, with Brighton noise-psych-punks magda (1999) - joined by screamo kings Sevy Verna, Caledonia & a mysterious unnamed band.
St Giles Church: orchestra379 (v5) / May Kershaw
orchestra379 are a collective based around the Life is Beautiful record label - this iteration features aloisius, Bianca Scout, Jasper Maurice, Isaiah Hull, abi asisa, Damsel Elysium & BJ Holy, performing ‘a semi-improvised interpretation of the forthcoming album ‘vernacular’ by aloisius’. Before them, May Kershaw of BCNR will perform a set which incorporates the St Giles Church organ.
Club Cheek: Conjuring #2 (Laura Groves / Hinako Omori / Maxwell Sterling / Kenichi Iwasa)
Another one-night only improv ensemble! Also featuring a lineup of incredible musicians – the songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Laura Groves, Krautrock Karaoke founder Kenichi Iwasa, jazz bassist Maxwell Sterling & the Japanese composer, musician and producer Hinako Omori.
Friday 10th
Sebright Arms: Holly Head / Kissing On Camera / Highdrive
The sort of lineup which is well suited to a basement venue, loud, fuzzy & immediate. Holly Head are a high energy, garage rock band from Manchester, joined on Friday by the shoegaze/emo bandKissing on Camera, and Brighton’s Highdrive.
Piehouse Co-op: Brown Wimpenny
Presented by Broadside Hacks & Folk of the Round Table, Brown Wimpenny are a folk collective, once ‘growing as large as 25 members before being whittled down to its current number of 11’ – who take an experimental approach to traditional Irish folk ballads.
A debut London party for the ‘Northern Gothic’ label & collective Fixed Abode, ‘a home for experimental, boundary-pushing artists, with a focus on highlighting undiscovered talent from the North of England’ & a tendency towards deep dark murky sounds.
Palais: Rhythm Section Fridays #1
First in a series of Fridays at Peckham’s newly reopened Palais, in which the venue is taken over by Bradley Zero, founder of Rhythm Section International, a Peckham-based indie label and party collective which has been running since 2009. Palais is a great club, the soundsystem is awesome & they have these great shower-lasers that project onto the dancefloor.
Rhythm Section’s vibe generally skews joyful - if you prefer something a bit nastier, then down the road at MOT the promoters Trauma Unit and Evolver are coming together to curate a night of desconstructed, dark club music.
Saturday 11th
House Show: LOLA / Sarah Meth / Birdfeeder / Lewis
LOLA, the minimal, gothic alt-pop artist, is hosting a house party! Joined by the amazing Sarah Meth, Birdfeeder, and a band called Lewis.
George Tavern: Middleman / Lifeloose / Lo Simple / Silica
Another Kneejerk night! This time co-promoted by Lost Wisdom and headlined by Middleman, who I really like, and think sound a bit like the Replacements, along with a live set & DJ set from lifeloose.
Underground, experimental club music curated by the label Fixity - featuring ‘the latest label signees and new affiliates from London, Paris, Helsinki and Boston… cutting-edge club, smoke and even more strobes.’
A night of dnb & dubstep - headlined by innovative breakbeat scientist Breakage.
Sunday 12th
Jumbi: The Dub Techno Chess Club
Exactly what it sounds like. The club night is visiting from Manchester for one night only, to take over Jumbi in Peckham. Ruf Dug has a mix on NTS recorded at a Manchester edition of the chess club, if you want to get a sense of the vibe!
Prince Charles Cinema: Reprise (2006)
One of my favourite films! ‘Reprise’ is Joachim Trier’s debut film about two competitive friends trying to be professional authors, both inspired by a reclusive & esoteric poet called Sten Egil Dahl – it’s full of these amazing hypothetical future-dream sequences which show the many paths their lives could take. I think it’s a beautiful film. The cinema is also showing the rest of Trier’s Oslo trilogy & his newest film ‘Sentimental Value’, if you wanted to make a day of it
SET Social: Marx Reading Group
A monthly reading group at SET social in Peckham, working through Marx’s ‘Capital’ & ‘aiming to make Marx’s writing accessible by working through it slowly, sharing thoughts, questions and ideas as a group.’ Open to newcomers & with no need for prior knowledge.