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
03
___By Storm @ ICA £21.38 - Formed from the ashes of legendary experimental hip-hop group Injury Reserve, RiTchie and Parker Corey continue to push rap’s boundaries as By Storm. Following the death of Stepa J. Groggs, their new work is both reflective and forward-thinking, with live sets blending rap performance and electronic improvisation. On their first UK tour in years, this is a must-see for anyone who hasn’t kept up with their work since Injury Reserve. Support comes from London-based Tommy Barlow, bringing an experimental take on folk. tickets
___Lover's Skit @ Sebright Arms £6 eveningstar - An evening of live electronic music. With catchy hooks and percussion, Swedish duo Lover’s Skit slowly morphs between rhythms and grooves whilst blown out instrumentation rings out. Joining them are Ashnymph with crunchy synths, effected vocals and offbeat lyricism. tickets
03-05
___Collisions Festival @ Old Blue Last £10 / 20 Scream/Shout - What an immense 3-day lineup with absolutely no fat. Friday’s headline comes from one of Bristol’s great live acts Quade, and their dreamy, violin-and-synth-centred slowcore. Saturday sees experimental post-punks Borough Council, who have remained rather elusive since a short run of singles in 2024 (what are they scheming??). Sunday culminates in the dancy, glitchy, electro-gaze of Manchester’s Crimewave. Honourable mentions across the dates are some Pindrop favourites: Glasshouse Red Spider Mite, studio20, BUFFEE, Doom Club, Potato, Shoplifting, and KiosK! tickets
04
___Cowboy Builder @ Cafe Oto FREE / £13 / 15 Bison - Odd percussion, two drum kits and off kilter DIY instrumentation, the maximalist and experimental outfit Cowboy Builder truly take you on a ride. At points dissonant and others endearing, you are never quite sure where the songs will lead. If you ever wondered what music Death Grips would make if they took Samba classes then you’ll be fond of support act Handle’s anxious, yet groovy music. tickets
05
___VASCHA @ Shacklewell Arms FREE Bad Vibrations - An evening of the capital's best up-and-coming hyperpop. Out-of-tune synths over club ready beats, driving basslines and crazy sound design. The genre is clearly in good hands. rsvp
06
___Birdfeeder @ Old Blue Last FREE SEXMAGIC - A smorgasbord of experimental electronica. Check out Birdfeeder, and his raw, minimalist tunes of woozy synths, off-kilter guitars, and naïve vocals. Support comes from Lifeloose, whose infectious live act is so genuine, it gives the sense that you’ve stumbled upon two girl-friends screaming karaoke in their bedrooms – except they're cooking up spooky melodies and dubby pop music. Another act of note is OF CANAAN, with his CD-skipping maximalism and crazed sound design. Check out his beautiful single ‘Dwell’ from December, where his melodious singing puts the song somewhere between euphoric IDM and alternative-RNB. rsvp
07
___kiss gem.burn @ Old Blue Last FREE SEXMAGIC - Some reeeeeeaaaaal post-rock: colossal, droning, and through-composed. Often manning multiple drum sets and bass guitars, kg.b’s sheer power will knock you off your feet. To prepare you, support comes from rising emo trio My Theatre Friend and the dulcet ambient cello work of Kristina Rhodes. Promoters SEXMAGIC demonstrating once again they know what’s up. rsvp
08
___Domestic Partners @ Sebright Arms FREE Scream/Shout - Getting more comfortable with each visit, since their Pindrop debut in August, the Liverpudlian frantic avant-prog honky-tonkers play their first headline in the capital. Virtuosic drums and crazed piano set the stage for shrieking sax and 100-mile-an-hour shouts. Make sure you check out support from Bristol’s 1000 Legs with their spacey and experimental post-punk. rsvp
10
___Brown Wimpenny @ Piehouse Co-op £13.2 Broadside Hacks - Split between Manchester, London, and Liverpool, the 11-piece folk orchestra unearth traditional songs of the British and Irish Isles with a tornado of tremolo-picked and soaring vocals, rushing and falling in rhythmic freedom, ‘rubato’. tickets
___Time Is Just A Weapon: A Party from Pearl2 @ Spanners £11.33 - A night curated by London electro trio Pearl2. Expect textured electronics, trip hop grooves and heavily effected vocals. 3 live sets and DJ sets from Tatyana and Benvolio, this is a lineup that walks a line between experimentation and groove. tickets
11
___toe @ Troxy £30.86 Pink Mist - Recently upgraded from Electric Brixton, Japan’s math-rock legends toe take the stage at Troxy. Primarily instrumental, the group are known just as much for their intricate, unorthodox drum grooves as their twinkling, shimmering guitar harmonies. Beautiful. tickets
13
___Pindrop Presents: TBC @ Windmill Brixton £6 - Electroclash & maximalist indie – announcement imminent!
___Norman D. Loco @ Shacklewell Arms FREE Bad Vibrations - Fans of the Philly shoegaze sound shall kneel and praise God for answering their calls: London’s Norman D. Loco’s torrid slacker sound centres around woozy production, heavy synth presence and digital collaging and manipulation, while catchy tunes underlie everything. rsvp
16
___Acopia @ Village Underground £21.38 Bad Vibrations - Australian outfit Acopia bring their melancholy, yet hopeful, dream pop to the capital. Drenched in reverb and pads, their sound equally leftfield and catchy. Opening the night is Max Winter, with his idiosyncratic art pop that's filled to the brim with drones and strings, and the mask donning Pollyfromthedirt who, backed with drum machines, outlines English suburban bleakness in beautifully constructed songs. tickets
17
___EarthBall @ Cafe Oto £13.77 Upset The Rhythm - Aggressive, spontaneously composed noise from Vancouverites Earthball, equipped with squealing, temple-pounding saxophone, shared vocals, and vicious guitar chords. Sometimes crawling at sludgy, doomed tempos, or climbing to breakneck speed, on the brink of implosion. tickets
18
___Shearling @ The Lexington £16.5 JOY - Monstrously loud, bleeding, and brutal. We had the pleasure of hosting LA’s Shearling for their London debut in September; now they’re back and on a bigger stage. It is impossible to mimic the physical effect that a dimed amp has on the body – all knobs at 11 – shooting walls of air pressure in fever pitch feedback. And somehow, rising over this raw power, spits the crazed soliloquies of frontman Alex Kent, who, for an hour at a time, makes himself as vulnerable as noise-rock should, but rarely does. tickets
___gegenpress @ George Tavern £9.5 Badlands - Dissonance – it’s what we need! The trio peel back the talons of Big Chorus with music that is genuinely dark, moody and enrapturing. Celebrating the release of a colossal debut album, Don’t Live For Heaven, come if you want to hear a sound that London is lacking. Get down early for support as mry, newbuild and Van Quan will all be laying it down. tickets
20
___Peaches @ Kentish Town Forum £41.82 Metropolis - “Sucking on my titties like you wanted me…” goes the first line of her monumental track ‘Fuck The Pain Away’. With raw electro-punk climbing to a recent peak, it is only right to make a pilgrimage to an icon of the sound. With her first record in over 10 years, Peaches retracts nothing, lyrics as outlandish and unabashedly queer as ever. tickets
21
___Myer U Clark @ Morocco Bound £12 - An all-Bristol lineup from some of the city's rising singer-songwriters. Headlining is Myer, recent signee of the Broadside Hacks label and frontman of Pindrop’s favourite art rockers The Scuttlers. Whimsical and sweet, his music is like wrestling a lover in a pile of leaves and rising covered in thorn scrapes and lipstick impressions. Support comes from Dan Pacini and Eva Penney – both well worth catching! tickets
23
___Secluded Bronte @ Cafe Oto £10 / 15 / 18 - Part of a residency for the legendary experimentalist Adam Bohman, who for 40 years has marked his territory in the underground with his found-object soundscapes (oft involving forks, springs, and metal cups rigged to contact microphones and manically blue-tacked down to a table). Seclude Bronte is his demented dada-pop trio alongside brother Jonathan and singer/guitarist Richard Thomas. tickets
by MLT
Tonight we find ourselves trudging down the steps into the basement of Jaguar Shoes for the last night of Compost Compost Compost’s four-week residency – a group who have been showcasing their penchants for experimental noise, electronic pop, folk laments, and alt rock. Reaching the bottom step, a gust of warm, stagnant air hits along with the shredding notes of opener Lots Of. Relatively new to the scene, it is immediately impressive seeing their singing drummer's skills for multitasking, as the trio meld together spindly guitar riffs atop a rubbery and full bass tone. Lots Of layer their hushed vocals, mathy verses into power rock choruses, teetering ebb and flow until the moodiness tumbled into rage.
The second act, Ropeburn, pack the stage with floppy-haired musicians sitting on stools. A lusciously instrumented and emotionally charged folk-rock outfit, Pindrop have had our eye on them since the start of the year. Equipped with the surprising addition of banjo and trumpet, they tune and tinker for a quick line check. Gently introducing us into their sonic set-up, a gentle jam leads us right into their first song. A track that delicately piles vocals atop each other, accompanied by an addictive bassline and chipper plucked banjo. Perfecting their seamless transitions, the following tune begins with Ropeburn’s next lead vocalist (the guitarist), whose deep timbre guides us through a story of alienation. “I wanna be something else”, he sings, accompanying himself with clean guitar lines that ring with bright optimism despite singing of what once was. “I don’t forget I won’t be long”, they all whisper together as each instrument finds its way back into their melody. Shifting into a jaunty beat with more pop-jive than their other songs so far, the three singers beautifully blend their voices, harmonising angelically. Growing in intensity, the trumpet rings out above it all, gliding through the heavy air of the Jag’s basement. Deep, rounded, rich drums bellow out as the banjo line repeats and the layers keep adding until a rich wall of music bellows out in affirmation.
It’s almost impossible to see Compost Compost Compost through the total of bodies in the crowd. Instantly greeted by a wave of rich, driving guitar, enriched by an oscillating synth that eerily filled the air as hints of the lead singer's yearning vocals trill reflectively. The drummers' sticks crack the rims of their drums, adding a metallic tonality to the whirl of humming guitars and bass. As their playing intensifies, the band explode into a huge sound of crashing cymbals and running riffs that collide, solidifying the band's talent for manipulating dramatic dynamics. After breaking to don an acoustic guitar, the house lights flash red as Compost x3 explore a harsher, heavier section where they soar and cry in desperation. The tension between instruments builds and builds, throwing out unsettling dissonance. And then it suddenly dissipates, and the band set down their axes to a strong round of applause. A perfect night, with a genius lineup thanks to Too Bright To See (fka Lau’s Birthday Party). Only one question remains: are these bands all huge Radiohead fans?
GKA
___Heaven Sent by KiosK (UK, 2026)
___Seamstress by Gegenpress (UK, 2026)
___Hit 'n' Run by Formal Sppeedwear (UK, 2025)
MLT
___Nancy (Let Your Hair Down for Me) by (UK, 1988)
___Drakkar Noir by Phoenix (France, 2013)
___Go Wild in the Country by (UK, 1980)
EM
___Don't Forget Whose Legs You're On by Arctic Monkeys (UK, 2010)
___Crash Landing by mary in the junkyard (UK, 2026)
___Suite No.2 in F Major, HWV 427:1. Adagio by George Frideric Handel
JR
___Greenlander by Pavement (US, 1992)
___Fuck by glaive (US, 2025)
___Orange Shirt by Discovery (US, 2009)
Pindrop is JR, SE, GKA, EM, JK, MGB, MLT, & PM
Contact us at @pindropzine (instagram) and pindropzine@gmail.com (email)