London Zine of Music, Arts and Miscellaneous Happenings. Monthly updates & seasonal physicals.
02
___Warmduscher @ Rough Trade £17 [LIVE & SIGNING] - Just as soon as the 6 boisterous boys finish one tour, it seems they’re back on the road. Loaded with their new album, filled to the brim with scuzzy, profound profanities, ‘Too Cold To Hold’, frontman Clams Baker Jr continues to expose his pessimistic tales over motorik-drenched, mosh-inducing anthems. The sound of the band has been progressing, the stories are darker and the influences are more eclectic – this could be Warmduscher at their best. tickets
03
___Sculpture Park @ The Social £8 - With slow and wistful art-rock creativity, ever shifting with chamber orchestration and male falsetto, the London quintet use longer forms and improvisation to coax out your curiosity and then pounce on it with lyrics of sudden heaviness. Support comes from the sparse songwriting of deathcrash guitarist ‘Satan Club’. tickets
05-07
___Shovel Dance Collective Residency @ Cafe Oto £18/20/48 - Not many bands can be said to push traditional folk music far beyond mere collection and replication like the Shovel Dance Collective. The group, 9 members strong, are committed, not merely to deifying the the music of the British Isles, but its oral, patchwork and community-based culture as well. Alongside a plethora of guests over the residency, the group manipulates the strophic form of dark ballads with unnerving, bewildering drones and wide vocals. tickets
05
___Crimewave @ Next Door Records £10 - In an era where shoegaze has come to mean any indie band carelessly drenched in reverb or fuzz, Crimewave remains true to the seemingly overlooked wall-of-sound texture pioneered by the shoegaze greats while bringing the genre affirmingly in the 2020s. His obsession with sound indicates a fascination with that same amyl-nitrate haze but melts in digital techniques, splicing and warping the sound over fractured electronic drums. tickets
___UNIVERSITY @ 100 Club £13.44 - The greatest band from Crewe to have a full-time member playing Xbox 360. So much more than merely ‘emo’, UNIVERSITY are glitching, spitting, noise. They splutter fearful hatred over distorted, twiddling guitar and a garage punk pulse. Learn the lyrics and get ready to scream them. tickets
06 choices, choices!
___100 Club XMAS Party – Snapped Ankles £24 - Snapped Ankles could easily have you dancing all the way into the new year; unfortunately for you, they’ll only be playing for an evening. But what an evening it will be! Weirdly, their 2025 tour seems to be narrowly avoiding so it seems your only chance to catch the high-energy-electro-dance-punk-ghillie-suit-collective do their thing. Move quick! A long list of supports – names sticking out are Bristolian noise-rockers LICE and London favourites The Orchestra (For Now). tickets
___The George Tavern Christmas Partie £8 - And now for something completely different. If you want to set a calm, wistful tone for your hollibobs, come down to the partie at the George. Headlining is the psychedelic songwriter Ethan P Flynn, who has credits on every good album from David Byrne to FKA Twigs. Hear deep and emotive lyrics spring out of unexpected instrumentation. If you want something gentle and tender, support comes from Gently Tender, Heka and Ike, the frontman from Tapir! tickets
07
___Mandy, Indiana (in-the-round) @ ICA £22.5 - What better way to experience the francophonic Manchester-Berlin behemoth of all things leftfield and industrial than in total surround sound? Layering dark techno kicks, metallic synth-magic and field-recordings underneath vocalist’s Valentine Caulfield musings, they are the perfect group to blast from all angles. tickets
08
___Lolina @ MOTH Club £11.9 - Returning to MOTH Club after a successful RELAXIN RECORDS party in October, Lolina will be performing on the 8th alongside independent artists great area, RIP Magic and spirit blue. Expect distorted dreamy vocals from spirit blue, minimal synths and clicky percussion from great area and a surprise from RIP magic, who has no projects out on streaming. Come in from the cold, mean streets of Hackney and let the post-punk wash over you. tickets
09
___Pindrop Zine Issue 2 Launch Party @ Windmill Brixton £6 - Pindrop presents the release party for our 2nd-ever zine (yippee)! Featuring interviews with artists like The Orchestra (For Now) and Jim E Brown, gig and song reviews, puzzles and more. Watch it sell like hotcakes; it may be your only chance to get your hands on the issue. The night showcases the great trios London has to offer. Headliners Big Red are the Americana side-project of The Orchestra (For Now) that will have your toes tapping to their terrific tunes. Gegenpress are bringing the Post-Hardcore punk that sounds larger every time we see them. Prog rockers Saint Mega come crashing in with excellent grooves and even cooler synths and Ozempic are opening the night with their mathy, finger-breaking riffs. tickets
11
___"Hyper-place" - Music for 40 Musicians @ Venue MOT £7.5 - 4 groups, lined up against each wall, conjuring droning, minimalist compositions that shift as the audience moves freely through the installation space. It’s not every day you get to witness quadraphonic sonic experimentation, yet December is clearly the month of the avant-garde at Pindrop – indulge with us! tickets
___Hideous Magazine Launch @ Windmill Brixton £5/10 - Our homies at HIDEOUS are back with a killer lineup and a killer issue! Including interviews from Rotterdam’s Left of The Dial festival, Hideous Mag’s 2nd Issue will be worth the read. Headlining they have Brighton’s ever-growing Flip Top Head, who rocked Rotterdam with some of the most beautiful arty-indie tracks of this year – perhaps with some of the most unmatched vocals in the scene. Support comes from other LotD bands: Weaving In Purgatory, Ladylike & Charlemagne. tickets
12
___Flashback Records Xmas Party - BLACK FONDU @ Shacklewell Arms £7.5 - Everyone’s favourite record shop chain rounds off the year in style. And by style, we mean with utter bombastic energy from the Pindrop-favourite and capitol’s rising abstract-grime extraordinaire BLACK FONDU. One of his rare but captivating headliners, witness the screaming, singing, rapid with wild, warping synths. This is going to be the gig to see this month. tickets
13
___Kaeto @ Corsica Studios £14.17 - The art-pop star perfectly blends her beautiful, breathy refrains with magical compositions of swirling synths, expansive pianos and breakbeat. Listen to ‘U R MINE’ of her 2024 debut album ‘INTRO’ and you will be converted. Tremendous moments arise from heavy indulgence in electronic experimentation and showcasing her whispered sensitivities.tickets
16-17
___Puce Mary Residency @ Cafe Oto £22 - Maleficent drones and whirring, curdling static emanates from Dalston Junction. The beauty of Danish noise artist Puce Mary’s music is its balance: highly detailed yet grounded in cold and calculated pacing. She knows to not show her cards too early. Whether descending into pulsing sub-bass or blasts of wide-frequency white noise, every track describes a journey. Her use of eerie melodies and whispered stories of feminity, power and violence make the blasts of noise ever more poignant and meaningful. tickets
17
___Body Orchestra @ Shacklewell Arms FREE - Dark and brooding, Body Orchestra’s unorthodox orchestration of guitar, violin, double bass, and drums transports you into a morose pastoral scene, leaving behind conventions of song structure. Expect wandering melodies, underpinned by the wails of strings and electronic drones. rsvp
18
___The Last Whole Earth Catalog @ Shacklewell Arms £4/8 - Grounded in creative indie folk, the writing of Dan Parr is sung hush and sweetly, whether playing with ironic comedy or bleak morbidity. Equipped with his recent album ‘We’re All Down The Rabbit Hole’, he takes his live band down to the Shack to make us cry and laugh (and dance). tickets
21
___Marla Kether @ @ Jazz Cafe £11 - Kether brings a blend, smooth like butter, of tempered bass, silky keys, techno-inspired electronica and live Latin percussion to the Jazz Cafe. A bassist, producer and DJ, she mixes London jazz with Congolese music – like a soukous Berlioz. There’s no wonder Kether’s played alongside Loyle Carner and Oscar Jerome. Support comes from the wild Geordie Jazz-fusion quintet ‘Knats’. Do not miss them. tickets
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by MR
Perennial Windmill favourites The Orchestra (For Now) have returned to London after a successful stint at Rotterdam’s Left of the Dial Festival. A church is an interesting venue to hold a rock gig, in part because of the unique acoustic challenges posed by such an echoey space. Of course, the venue is not without its upshots, the triptych above the altar and varying pieces of religious ephemera throughout the space adding to the atmosphere. The distinct scent of musty incense and floorboards permeates the whole space; someone jokes that this must be the smelliest the church has ever been and it’s hard to resist the urge to joke about the black midi fanbase.
A series of cryptic Instagram posts have fans speculating about the possibility of a new single, but the speculation can only last so long when the band take the stage. After playing an intro which slowly builds to a delightful climax, they launch into “Land Ahoy” (also sometimes titled “Zero Percent and Tears”), a song which shares a melody with Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” and references “Gangsta’s Paradise” repeatedly. This is a fan favourite and for good reason: the angularity of the violin on top of a start/stop pattern provides space for the audience to shout interjections into the rests, with often humorous effect. Another highlight of the setlist is “Big One,” a song with an almost cabaret-like piano line underpinned by serrated cello and terrifically energetic drumming; there’s a charming theatricality to the song. TOFN have made it clear they’re a live band first, and it comes across crystal clear in the frenetic energy they apply to their performances.
The Orchestra (For Now) aren’t afraid of referencing, and this plays well with an audience who is already in on the joke. On “All Weekend,” slowcore band Deathcrash and London-based author Zadie Smith both make appearances, the climax of the song harping on the pretentious posturing of middle-class parents, frontman Joe Scarisbrick howling about how well-read he is. The hook works though, it’s the sort of thing you can imagine a full audience screaming along to once the song is released and people know the lyrics. The crowd never quite gets into a moshing mood but spectators still jostle and jump around to the energy of the set, enthralled by the energy the septet are able to summon.
Then: a pause. The audience is informed of an impending announcement. The crowd looks to stage-left, where rhythm guitarist Neil Thomson is proudly holding a stack of printer paper, each sheet bearing a different word written in bold marker. He mimes an announcement: a new single to be released on the 13th of November. Before the audience can properly cheer on the news, the Orchestra launch into their longest song to date, the eight-minute “Wake Robin.” The interplay between the violin and the cello is more developed here than in previous iterations of the song; the dynamic shift between the loud, fast sections and the slow, quiet ones means that the song never drags, in spite of its foreboding length. When the final notes dies out, the buzz for the new single is palpable. There is a clear thirst for whatever the band might release next, but this performance was enough to quench it (for now).
by MLT
Bras, corsets, slips, and purses (likely stolen) adorn the George Tavern’s stage—a hat reading “same vagina forever” sets the tone for a night of perfectly grotty femme rock and pop. “Collecting boys like Yu-Gi-Oh cards,” Dolly Grip shouts over wobbly beats that feel like an AJ Tracey and RuPaul collaboration. Performing solo for the first time, Dolly wears a meringue prom dress, nonchalantly belting absurdly demanding songs, lamenting for both a giant penis and a sexy girlfriend. Between hair whipping, voguing, and slut drops, she sings, “I want to be disgussstinggg.” Dolly introduces her next act, “Girl-Next-Whore,” as a bit that often misses its mark. Turning into a static Stepford Wife possessed by a public service announcement, she dubs herself the model wife.
Cuckoo Spit follow, filling the room—a solid feat for a Monday post-Halloween. The band delivers dreamy, fuzzy guitars, with relaxed yet punchy drumming driving their momentum. Shifting into a sludgier tempo, the playful lead vocals drift over the sound as the band builds to a crashing crescendo, prompting soft moshing. Their romantically dark music feels perfect for these late winter nights. Lottie Morton’s echoing vocals elevate the shoegazy post-punk sound, showing how much better it resonates with a female voice—no monotonous droning here! As the guitars screech into a cacophony, the set ends with flair, proving rock music shines with a floral-covered Stratocaster.
The night closes with YUKI, now a three-piece band recalling the greats of femme-punks and goths. Their sound travels from hauntingly moody to pockets of upbeat energy from their EP. Lead singer Yuki giggles, introducing a cover she jokes was once mistaken for Blink-182—it’s actually Liz Phair’s “Fuck and Run,” a sly nod for the initiated. Ending with “I Hate My High Street,” a track mimicking the protective late-night solo walking pace, the bassist-keyboardist stands out, adding texture to the escalating dissonance. Piercing screams and erratic keys culminate in chaotic noise, met with cheers that drown it out.
by MR
It’s 12:30 in the morning and the show has yet to start, the front row becoming more and more packed by the minute. The demographic of the crowd itself is fascinating: a ragtag mix of neo-scene kids with bedazzled flip phones, electronic music fans in leather, and of course the typical London rock sorts sprinkled throughout. Finally, the wait is over: Maria Manow (vocals) and Ike Clateman (production) take the stage. Bassvictim have arrived.
Manow begins the set with their relatively new track “Alice,” stomping around the stage in white leggings and ludicrously short shorts. She’s only singing every fourth word, but the energy of the room in conjunction with the heaviness of the bass means no one minds. The crowd does most of the work singing back anyway, shouting “fuck you mean bitch!” over and over until it feels more like a football chant than a lyric. Artist Oatmilkandcodeine joins the duo on stage for ‘Canary Wharf Freestyle’, singing a grand total of three of his lyrics out loud; the backing mix already includes his verse and the crowd is too busy dancing to notice. There is something ferocious and communal about the atmosphere at the show. It’s as if the crowd’s collective passion is focused more on the frenzy than the actual live performance itself. The songs that go down best with the crowd are not always the most intuitive. The audience is relatively calm when “I Like It” is played; there’s some dancing but no real singing along, yet when Manow launches into the chorus of “Flop,” the crowd erupts into a chant of “usually dance, usually drink, usually babble.” The audience absolutely eats it up. There’s an irony here, with a song about an overly crowded and bad night out being played to such an enthusiastic audience. Manow tells the crowd how happy she is to be back in London, giving a shout-out to the city’s underground culture.
When the RYM-bros discover Bassvictim they will surely get lumped in with other boy/girl electronic duos which are having their moment right now (ahem, Snow Strippers). Still, the appeal here is something slightly different; there is a “found” quality to Bassvictim’s aesthetic that evokes the wonder of early social media; the cover for “Curse is Lifted” looks directly lifted out of a bad Tumblr edit. This is reflected in the crowd they attract, people who are usually early to the trend cycle, the type who are trying to bring back skinny jeans and camcorders. Bassvictim’s sound captures the fuzzy, saturated memory of growing up through a filter-drenched Instagram (with that different logo) with Lady Gaga, 2010s trap, dubstep and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs blaring through Ipods and tinny earphones. The way in which the group taps into this collective, developmental experience, only heard but never witnessed by this new generation of Indie Sleaze fans is why the audience are going mental. Everyone is letting out a decade of pent-up, uncoordinated dancing, once hidden behind their bedroom doors.
DR
___Busco Algo Burato by Mecano (1984, Spain)
___Crocodile Tears by Kuruki (1981, Belgium)
GKA
___LONG SEASON by Fishmans (1996, Japan)
___Crispy Skin by Squid (2024, UK)
MLT
___Pin by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2003, US)
___Free Man In Paris by Joni Mitchell (1974, US)
MMB
___Throw Some D’s by Rich Boy (2007, US)
___Blow the Whistle by Klein (2024, UK)
MR
___Não Enche by Caetano Veloso (1997, Brazil)
___Ilex Court by Mitsubishi Suicide (2023, UK)
SE
___Pile! No Pile! Pile! by Brave Little Abacus (2010, US)
___For Want Of by Rites of Spring (1985, US)