London Zine of Music, Arts and Miscellaneous Happenings. Monthly updates & seasonal physicals.
/ˈpɪnˌdrɒp/
1) adjective describing the silence produced when a performance leaves the audience speechless (ie: one could hear a pin drop)
2) verb to indicate the location of a particular happening
02
___The Heavenly Bodes @ Sebright Arms FREE Outfit: Summer of Psych - Heavenly Bodes bring to audiences their signature blend of bright, wonky garage rock all the way from their Cornish environs. Expect pithy riffs and warped melodies at this free show: an instalment of this year’s Summer of Psych Festival. tickets
03
___Širom @ 100 Club £22 Baba Yaga's Hut - The best approximation of Slovenian trio Širom’s mighty strands of free-folk would be a soundtrack to some sort of mythical forest sprite jamboree. Piled with a variable assortment of droning strings and percussion like woodland rainfall – including the long-awaited comeback of ‘the wobbleboard’ – their live performances are as bizarre and hypnotic as those pixie gatherings are sure to be. Support comes from Nick Granata, one of the Shovel Dance Collective, whose take on classic English folk pushes into similarly abstract territory. tickets
07
___Pindrop Presents: Domina @ Windmill Brixton £6 - Pindrop Mondays are back again for the month of September (as we are every month), and we’ve gone niche for niche with these pulls. Billing includes synthpop darlings Domina, the synth masters of C.O.B.S., the dynamic Spring and the honest electro-poetry of blankfacebails. You’d be silly to miss this. See to showing yourself some seriously stupendous soon-to-be star-studded artists. tickets
08-10
___pencil’s residency @ Next Door Records Two £8.39 - With their new lineup, London’s chamber pop darlings Pencil play three consecutive nights at the intimate Stokey record shop. In moments, they invoke bouncing jubilance, otherwise retreating into the smoke of cycling arpeggios, strings, and soft harmonies. A different act supports each night: the piano-centred songwriter Finn Lacey, prog-pop duo Nico & Linus and the folkish alt-rock band Half Star. tickets
09
___Laraaji @ EartH Theatre £28.18 FORM - An ambient pioneer even before being noticed on a sidewalk by Brian Eno, Laraaji has been creating zither-based meditations since the late ‘70s. He’s been experiencing somewhat of an overdue renaissance as of late, following a support slot on Big Thief’s UK/IE tour. He returns to London for a rare performance that’ll no doubt be brimming with pensive zither and kalimba jams. Alex Rita will open the night with a stack of jungle and broken beat familiar to listeners of her NTS radio show, Touching Bass. tickets
___Shallowater @ MOTH Club £16.79 Bird on the Wire - Ploughing deeper into the slowcore avenues of alt-country teased out by Neil Young and Jason Molina, Texas’ Shallowater bring their sludgy guitar ‘n’ pedal steel jams to MOTH Club for an evening of depressive cowboy reminiscence. Australian counterparts Twine whet the appetite, lacing the twang with their own dose of violin-guided noise rock, perfect for those missing their Windmill headline earlier in the month. tickets
___Sin Clair @ Blue Basement £9 - Sin Clair brings textured piano, stacked harmonies and field recordings into contact with harsher industrial electronics. The sound moves between intimate songwriting and colder, more mechanical textures, with organic elements constantly disrupted by industrial drum loops and shifting layers. tickets
11
___Lunacy @ Shacklewell Arms FREE Bad Vibrations - Pennsylvania’s Lunacy offer lysergically bleak journeys into cassette industrial and minimal synth, pushing their darkwave credentials towards formless ambient territory. Think the liminal aesthetics of hypnagogic pop if it was obsessed with Cosey Fanni Tutti and Skullflower instead of Donnie & Joe Emerson. Joining them are Citizen Above Suspicion, keeping the coldwave ice floe chilly via their own inclination towards noise. tickets
12
___Frank Hurricane @ Old Blue Last FREE MOOF - Starting with some splanking American Primitive guitar, DIY folk-nomad Frank Hurricane’s droning ballad ‘Girthworm Jim’ shows a snapshot of the America’s surreal underbelly he meets: “oooo it really pissed off the boss, when you dipped your testi-cualies in the sauce”. Without his booming resonant voice and acoustic chops, the song would fall flat; instead, his music is as funny as it is moving. tickets
___Perfect Binding @ Old Church Stoke Newington £13.26 REAL - Occupying that space between lofi-intimacy and considered composition, Sam Bedford’s Perfect Binding brings audiences cozy songwriting perfect for the beginning of autumn’s chill. Be sure to arrive early for the opener, Dublin DIY veteran Leigh Arthur’s bittersweet and emotionally candid solo project. tickets
14
___untitled (halo) @ Windmill Brixton £8 - Nestled within the intriguing Goldilocks zone between slacker rock, glitch pop, emo-rap and even jerk, untitled (halo) are surely the most intriguing hyper-online collective repurposing ‘90s nostalgia for a numb age. With supports tbc, this is the first of two nights, the second already sold out. tickets
___Hana Stretton @ Grand Junction £17 Upset the Rhythm - Ten years on from her lo-fi sensation ‘The Thrill of Loneliness’, Australian-British ambient folkster Hana Stretton returns from isolation in New South Wales behind her sophomore LP tiarn. Having garnered a Phil Elverum (The Microphones/Mount Eerie) cosign in the meantime, her collagist field recordings will be a treat to hear in Grand Junction’s natural reverberations. WOOM’s spine-tingling vocal quartet will no doubt attest to that in their support slot. tickets
17
___ShitKid @ Scala £22.75 FORM - In its first life as a cinema, King’s Cross’ Scala once played host to a mash of London's alternative subcultures. They gained a cult following for showing pretty much anything they could (which did eventually get them shut down). It seems fitting that ShitKid, a Swedish songwriter veering more towards abrasive lo-fi punk, takes to the Scala stage for a night. Her music encompasses the free-spirited absurdity that the cinema once harboured. It's a match made in heaven! tickets
19
___Lau's Visa Party: HAAL @ George Tavern £8 2b2c - A post-rock celebration for London promoter Lau Pacifici’s successful Global Talent Visa application, harkening back to her night’s original name of Lau’s Birthday Party. Headlining are the brilliant quartet HAAL, who extend beyond familiar Slint-territories with their Bristol DNA of dub and electronics. Support comes from the tempestuous and sprawling kiss gem.burn group. tickets
21
___Van Quan @ Sebright Arms FREE Androids Dream of Electric Bands - Van Quan deal in loose, melodic noise rock with a jangly sensibility that just won't quit. Clive, making the pilgrimage down from Manchester, push things into tighter, more intricate territory with math-rock prowess. Golden Toad bring the darker turn, pulling post-punk tension and experimental textures through a sound that is raw and immediate. tickets
23
___The Future of Shoes and Music: Export Import @ Barfly Camden £7.77 - After cancelling their August gig at the Lower Third, Canning Town’s resident performance art troublemakers are back. Now apparently shilling for shoe company New Balance, nothing is ever as it seems in Export Import’s world – an admission that also extends to their live appearances, which more often than not become pseudo-cultish experimental rock rituals with boundaries cast to the wind. You have been warned. tickets
24
___Club Precious #8: Language of Flowers @ The Victoria £16.18 Precious Recordings of London - It would be rude not to show up in your A-line dress and mary jane's for this duo. Language of Flowers return with their twee dream-pop expertise to make the room jive. The Belfast-based band haven’t been to London in 20 years, so you best grab up your chance now. French band Coup Dur join them to maximise on indie charm. They recently released an EP titled, The English Want Coup Dur and I guess that's what they're giving us. Their music is playful and doused in charm. This may call for a pair of colourful tights too. tickets
___Mahogany @ Strongroom Bar £9 - The faint memory of some noughties art show – for the last 30 years NYC duo Mahogany have exemplified both the era’s optimism and experimentation, manifesting as quiet hooks swaddled by dense, galloping double-12 string guitar, droning synth, and dense, purring drum machines. It's refreshing to hear music so dreamy without the post-Slowdive reliance on massive reverb and posh production. tickets
29
___Doom Club @ Old Blue Last FREE Flashback Records - Dancey electro-punk to fling yourself around the floor to. Or to stand and nod to if you must. Either case, Doom Club are well loved regulars on bills around the city and if you haven’t seen them yet you really need to get on it. Their songs are doused with intriguing vocals and repetitive lyrics that make for addictive riffs. The synth is a highlight. All of this and more for free… tickets
30
___The Tubs @ Scala £21.35 Bad Vibrations - If the sudden return of UK guitar pop (not to be confused with ‘indie’ music) could be traced back to its conquistadors one would find themselves tangled in the intricate janglings and amusing-yet-lacerative lyrics of The Tubs. Their collective/label Gob Nation have help foster other bands including support acts and fellow Cardiffians Bramwell, alongside their myriad side projects. With their biggest show yet, this spells promising things for the emotional sweater-wearers still out there. tickets
___Klein @ ICA £22.5 - The secret to London composer Klein’s transfixing progressive electronica is its emotionality, with an epic range of soundscapes that scratch grating trenches and sculpt flowing canyons across her sprawling discography. One moment you may find yourself lighter in shimmering aether, or dancing to muddied industrial textures. tickets
by BW
Tonight, in the death throes of a heatwave that’s stifled the joy out of any activities shorn of a nearby alcoholic reservoir, the dizzy rattle of the George’s ceiling fans are for once more soliloquy than alarm. Indeed, as all three sets slink into the evening, there’s a steady dribble of punters ploughing through the crowd to enter the beer garden oasis with nary a glance at the stage. An understandable casualty of the sun’s insomnia, but a grievously missed opportunity as tonight those raised planks are hosting August, one of the States’ finest exports in recent years.
To cool us down before their haywire antics comes Captain Stoney, the solo outing for Mary in the Junkyard’s vocalist/guitarist Clari Freeman-Taylor. Her debut gig under this moniker, the George’s dripping four walls are treated to a set of whimsical avant-folk glistening with her trademark vaporous vocals. Surrounded by sketchy drum loops and the groan of a harmonium, they steam and float like dew poised on the edge of a leaf. There’s even an exploration into field recordings at the halfway mark as she wields a wooden frog and whistling tube amongst pre-recorded rain sounds, trying to charm the skies; sadly, to no avail.
Jackson Roy flirts with a comparable tranquility, although his prog-pop piano yelps can’t resist leaping from shelter across his soul-baring slot. Taking turns between a trio setup and solo guitar, his songs hiccup slightly uncomfortably — little bubbles of emo-country ache and teasing time-signatures that ultimately don’t congeal. Disarming the frothy crowd chatter for a segment of electric guitar and vocal is more impressive: the kind of frank reminder that emotions need room to breathe in front of flickering eyes.
Orange heavens now broken by darkness, August bring(s) the intensity up during their inaugural George performance. Much like their frilly renaissance garb already burnished by sweat, their music operates within a filigree soaked by sloppiness. “Pellmell” is a brilliant example, fencing piano and violin streaked by blots of guitar. These nestle within dynamic shifts, as on “Pinkopolis” and “Ear”, their regularity rescued from tiresome repetition by frontman August Janklow’s warbling charisma. Beamed through a New Yorker vocal cadence part Cameron Winter, part Harry Nillsson, it alternatively lends itself to a tremulous hush oft-spilled inside the Windmill or a more haggard rasp to grit the quieter moments.
Folks acquainted with their SoundCloud-exclusive live EP from earlier this year know the band sprinkle a lone cover into their setlist. There it was: Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love”, performed as convincingly as possible sans, well, David Bowie’s backing vocals; tonight, fellow Velvet John Cale gets his turn, “Paris 1919” dispatched with a clipped aggression that suggests a jealous Reed butting in on the courtly session. As the night lances to a close, perennial set finale “Dirt” erupts from every member’s throat. Although still in its public infancy, the piece is crowned by sandpaper harmonies buoyed with the baggage of an anthem. Taking their one last big bow, for a second the only heat in the room is the race of applause. And…curtain.
by NF
Elliot Smith’s legacy, felt so prominently throughout the London scene, is one deserving of dedication, and with a tribute night sold out with a packed room, it is clear people have shown up in full support. Proceeds from tonight's tickets are going to Mind, a charity working to support those struggling with their mental health, chosen to memorialise Smith’s own struggles. While an all-star lineup of Beabadoobee, Jo from School, and Scarlett Woolf filled the first two ‘acts’, with a third part to come, attendees arriving late face an intense wall of heat, indoctrinating newcomers to the cult of Elliott Smith.
Heka is first to the stage. Her solo work is a blend of atmospheric folk with muted electro, lo-fi instrumentation, but tonight she is paired with just a guitar. The crowd, attentive in full admiration, fall instantly silent. The first notes of “I Figured You Out” are picked on her guitar, prompting crowd members to look around at each other in excitement. Individual stories are shared through glances, associating parts of people’s lives with the song’s lyrics of growing out of an unrequited relationship. Heka takes back attention with her voice, isolated and passionate. Just Heka and her guitar sit on stage, memorialising Smith with a performance similar to a royal send-off. Alongside the house band, Dermot Henry, a fresh-faced songwriter with experience far surpassing his age, joins Heka. Covering “Alameda”, Heka and Henry’s faces contort simultaneously as they carry the song to completion. Once solo, Henry sits with his guitar, hunching over it as he plays “St. Ides Heaven”. His voice is all-encompassing, reflecting the song’s brutal honesty by walking you through Smith’s addiction: ‘And I won't come down for anyone’. It's partly idealistic with heartbreaking undertones that are so well vocalised. Throughout, he captures the pain that Smith tries to ignore, slowing the song and making it all the more purposeful. Henry then throws himself into a performance of “Independence Day” as he embodies Elliott Smith playing so freely that he encourages the crowd to move with him.
Five days after her George debut as Captain Stoney, Clari Freeman-Taylor of Mary in the Junkyard weaves her way through the tight-knit crowd to play next. Her airy voice fits the high register and devastating isolation of Elliott Smith's writing. A highlight for the night is the cover of “Say Yes” that she plays accompanied by keys. The song explores the parallels of a breakup. She brings to the stage her cello, which she plays as if it is an extension of herself. The cello hits the deep parts of the story, covering the parts Freeman-Taylor leaves untouched within her vocals. Lines like ‘a happy day and then you pay’ are heard through the two ends of the scale. They are indecisive and contrary. Together they express the excruciating uncertainty that lingers around after a relationship ends. The keyboard hits the centre of the song that is avoided in each extreme. It explores the optimism that is often overlooked in Smith's other songs, glimmering over the lines ‘I’m standing up the morning after’. The instruments in unison are holistic and immersive. The two artists have a clear idea of the song, journeying through Smith’s contrasting emotions. A true service to the song.
Maria Dearest of Avice Caro follows with “Waltz#1”. The song talks of a past relationship for Smith. It is a haunting song. Long-carried vocals drift over memories of a past love. It’s self-isolating: ‘I wish I’d never seen your face’ sung to ensure an end to the toiling. Dearest’s voice carries the song well, holding the importance of the notes but all the while radiating a detachment in the pairing of her phone, held closely to remember the lyrics. Abigail Morris of the Last Dinner Party hops up onto the stage, joining Dearest to sing “Waltz#2 (XO)”. Their performance feels eerily like watching a friend who knows they are a good singer try far too hard at karaoke. The vocals are overly dramatic and reminiscent of a Kate Bush performance, which aren’t exactly fitting. The compilation ends on “Clementine”. Now alone, Dearest stands on the stage and gives the crowd a worthy finale. Her voice is clear and smooth, emphasising the importance of the lyrics. The song forces the end of the night with the bartender ‘turning around that open sign’. Everyone here will soon file out, leaving a little part of their heart in the room. For now, the unique tuning of the guitar settles the crowd with the gentle playing reminiscent of a lullaby. The sweat on everyone's foreheads blends with tears shed as the last line, ‘dreadful sorry Clementine’, comes to a finish.
BW
___Touch Glass by Soli City (Denmark, 2026)
___M. Dada by Prostitute (US, 2024)
___Caught In A Jam by Portraits of Tracy (US, 2026)
NF
___Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes by Kevin Ayers (UK, 1972)
___Penguin Random House by Gem Stark (UK, 2026)
___High on a Rocky Ledge by Moondog (US,1978)
LD
___This and That by The Glowworms (UK, 2026)
___Drivers Side by Harrison Gordon (US, 2025)
___Magna Carta by Andrew Montana (US, 2025)
EM
___Old Myth Dying by Wendy Eisenberg (US, 2026)
___Ring of Stones by Tele Novella (US, 2026)
___Barefeet and Hot Pavements by Bridget St John (UK, 1969)
Pindrop is BW, EM, GKA, JR, LD, MLT, NF, OS, SE, TM
Contact us at @pindropzine (instagram) and pindropzine@gmail.com (email)