London Zine of Music, Arts and Miscellaneous Happenings. Monthly updates & seasonal physicals.
01
___Spencer Cullum @ MOTH Club £17 Bird on the Wire - London-born Nashville-bred, Cullum’s inspirations pull from either side of the Atlantic. His new record stirs memories of Syd Barrett’s voice, Davy Graham’s droning acoustic work, country pedal-steel guitar (of which he is a maestro), and early Sufjan Stevens, yet its myriad details and effortless songwriting solidify his work as truly brilliant. tickets
___holr @ The Betsey Trotwood £10 Malevolent Audio Systems - For music so sprawling and spacious, the instrumental “post-rock” of holr is mind-bogglingly tight, not exclusively, but seriously assisted by their Jaki Liebezeit-like drumming. Wailing like a singing saw or avant-garde saxophone, the overtones of a cello paint abstract melodies over intertwined guitar. The band’s dynamism sits on the pico-scale: a single chord plucked brighter than its counterparts; the unison slide down into a subdued section; the faint, beeping sonar of guitar noise. (Listen to the few tracks we could find) tickets
04
___Truthpaste @ The Lexington £13.60 Bad Vibrations - Coming off the back of the release of their debut EP I Don’t Know Either, the multi-instrumentalists (and their trusty drum machine) always look like they are having fun on stage. Constantly dotting between instruments and the odd quip between songs, Truthpaste are folky, leftfield at points, and always endearing. tickets
___Palestine Fundraiser @ Shacklewell Arms £8.24 / 13.39 / 18.54 - A night in support of Medical Aid for Palestinians. Featuring sets from Godzooki, whose indie charm is reminiscent of some of the ‘90s best DIY bands, Tunbridge Wells trio Caledonia, swelling slow-core outfit Mry, and synth-backed rockers Magda (sometimes billed as Magda(1999)– what's that all about?). Other artistic goods will also be on showcase, including fellow zine makers. A great night for a great cause. tickets
05
___LL Burns @ Vespers Club Peckham £14 - Brothers Paraic and Michael Morrissey began by directing music videos for the likes of Fat White Family and King Krule. However, their musical project LL Burns deserves an equal amount of attention. Piano-backed and soulful, flitting between sombre and funny Lyricism, LL Burns feel equally forward-looking and nostalgic. They’re clearly as good on stage as they are behind the camera. Joining them are the cinematic Patch_T41B, whose instrumentals verge on film scores. Opening up the night is the free-jazz-infused Fiscal Harm, featuring ambient drones and searing saxophones. tickets
___THEATRE @ The Elephants Head FREE So Young - Limerick rockers THEATRE are another example of the flourishing Irish alternative scene. Huge choruses, lots of reverb, belting vocals, the band feel equally organic and refined. rsvp
07
___ Conjuring: Loraine James x Valentina Magaletti x Cameron Picton @ Club Cheek £20.9 Studio Njoku - A unique collaborative improvisation between three London musicians whose disparate sounds will produce an evening of magic never to be seen again. The trio comprises electronic and ambient musician Loraine James, multi-genre drummer Valentina Magaletti (of Moin and other projects) and black midi/My New Band Believe’s Cameron Picton. tickets
___Saint Clair @ The Blue Basement £7 - In celebration of their debut single “Too Young To Notice”, Saint Clair play a 2nd night at the Blue Basement, with their Wednesday show already sold out. Gritty and tense, the alt-rockers have been playing the circuit for some time now, but seem to be kicking up a gear as of late. tickets
___Thredd @ Ormside Projects £18.36 Scenic Route - Long-time collaborators Max Winter, Imogen Williams (Imogen and the Knife), and Will Lister released their debut record It's Lovely, Come On In last summer to critical acclaim. A project that's equally interesting as catchy, self-coined as “cold pop”, you are never quite sure what sound is coming next. Starting the night is the synth-pop New Jersey native Hornet. tickets
08
___Big Long Sun @ George Tavern £12.65 Parallel Lines - While it seems the indie cohort has shunned the dominant 7th chord, Brighton 8-piece Big Long Sun do not shy away from the harmonic pastiche of ‘60s pop. The brainchild of singer and guitarist Jamie Broughton, the group takes on a psychedelic sheen, with ricocheting echo-drenched vocals and fuzzy guitar lines. tickets
___Potato @ Ivy House £8 - An evening of some of the capital’s best art rock. South-east London sextet Potato headline the night, with beautiful instrumental passages that are laden with string swells and flutes. Joining them is Morgan Noise and Big Oil, whose playing is both intricate and beautiful. tickets
09
___Anatole Muster @ Oslo £19.45 Bird on the Wire - Going viral for his dazzling ‘hopecore’ productions, Switzerland’s Anatole Muster combines shimmering nu-jazz chords, falsetto vocals, and virtuosic melodies played across the accordion, “breathalyser” MIDI controller, and even a laptop keyboard. tickets
11
___Pindrop Presents: A Northern Night @ Windmill Brixton £6 - After a successful all-Bristol lineup last year, we’ve sent our southern spies on a reconnaissance mission; we present you with their findings. Headlining is an all-time Pindrop favourite, BUFFEE, Manchester’s electro-pop deconstructionist, who conducts and manipulates her infectious tracks in real time with a Roland SP-404. Next are Leeds’ Normal Village, who drive off-kilter and dangerously fast with life-affirming shouts and clanging, almost-baroque chords; yet, they never derail. Another Leeds band, Clive, get mathy with wild double-guitar synergy, while openers, Manny’s COB, sit between chamber post-punk and black metal. tickets
13
___holybones @ Windmill Brixton £11.59 FORM - Laden with drum breaks and growling Reese basses, it is clear how holybones would translate to the dance floor. Yet with spoken word and euphoric synth lines, they slot seamlessly into a burgeoning scene that puts its own spin on electronic music. tickets
14
___Sassy 009 @ ICA £20.24 Ear Your Own Ears - Mixing trip hop, dance pop, and autotune, the Oslo-based Sassy 009 has been releasing music for the best part of a decade. Lots of reverb, frequent acid house synths and the odd guitar, Sassy 009 mixes the atmospheres of shoegaze with club-ready grooves. tickets
16
___Bathtime Day Party @ George Tavern £10 Bathtime Sounds - A delectable smorgasbord of sound, as always with Skydaddy’s Bathtime nights. See side-project sets from the likes of Blue Bendy’s sardonic frontman Arthur Nolan, the vocal-centred group WOOM’s Alice Barlow, and Moreish Idol’s guitarist Crook Decker. A couple of bands too, with the exciting headline of the ever-brilliant Drive Your Plow, and Manchester’s Disgrace. tickets
20
___The Ex @ 100 Club £24.99 Baba Yaga’s Hut - Dutch experimental-punk legends have been pushing boundaries since 1979, with both their spiky sonic annihilation and confrontational politicking (their song ‘White Liberals’ prophesies the limp truisms of much modern ‘political’ music). Perfect support comes from London’s avant-nutcases MPTL Microplastics, to whom confrontation comes easily. tickets
21
___bog band @ Sebright Arms FREE Scream/Shout - A perfect soundtrack to the transition between spring and summer, Dublin duo bog band’s ‘laptop soul’ transports you to sunny afternoons, lying with squinting lethargy on hot grass, kissed by soft breezes. Always catchy, their best songs lean more daringly into electronic manipulation. rsvp
22
___Weatherday @ Scala £21.92 FORM - Propelled by online music boards to cult status with their 2019 confessional debut Come In, a headline at King’s Cross’ Scala demonstrates how far Swedish noise-pop star Weatherday is from their humble beginnings of bedroom wall-of-sound Garageband production and singing into a headset microphone. tickets
24
___BRUIT ≤ @ Oslo £18 Portals - Their name taken from the French word for “noise”, the music of Toulouse-based post-rock quartet BRUIT ≤ is cataclysmic. A roaring cyclone of drums, synths and guitar is whipped up with orchestral backing. tickets
28
___Screamo Bingo #3 @ MOTH Club £9 Far From Presents - A curious concept, but I guess it does half-rhyme, London promoter powerhouses Far From put on their 3rd night of Screamo Bingo, this time soundtracked by Crewe emos UNIVERSITY, alongside a couple of London’s rising acts Scadenza and My Theatre Friend. tickets
29
___Algae Bloom @ New Cross Inn £14.3 Real Life - Rolling out the red carpet for the Norwich screamo legend’s final London gig. For the last 12 years, the duo have set the standard for the genre’s emotional rawness, where strained lyrics are central, outlined by clean twinkling guitar and sparse, standing drums. tickets
by JR
Having been adequately warmed up with the enchanting indie folk of Luce Rushton, the audience at the Ivy House has reached that relaxed-yet-eager state which is really only possible at a folk gig. There isn’t the pop fan’s fervour or unrest of a post-punk crowd but a calm and open receptivity to the music–a receptivity rewarded in spades when Rowan and Friends take the stage with a hodge-podge of instruments (there’s even an accordion!). Aptly named, the band comprises York-based Rowan Evans and his various mates, with the music itself reflecting the warmth of friendship in its soft acoustic textures. This isn’t to say they don’t get energetic at times–there’s plenty of that–but rather that the music contains a rare earnest quality that feels like a conversation with a friend or the first sip of a pint on a hot day.
Sincerity is reflected frequently in the lyrics of Evans’ work, which often invoke God or Jesus. The most explicit instance of this is “I’ve Been Thinking About Jesus”, which sounds like it could veer into the scylla of a post-ironic deadpan or the charybdis of Hillsong-core. Yet the song never descends into either vice, embracing the universality and fragility of the human condition. While there is a bit of a wink and a nod with the lyrics, Jesus here feels symbolic of our wider capacity for change, and more importantly, for redemption. Propelled forward by a steady drumbeat, the song is better for its simplicity in message and in composition.
This is not to say that Evans can’t embrace complexity when he doesn’t want to. In the referential “David Berman’s Apartment,” Evans compares his troubles in life to those in songwriting. For all the lamenting about these struggles, the song is replete with hooks. First is the way the titular “apartment” is sung, as “apar-ar-ar-artment.” It’s quietly infectious, doubly so because the backing vocals emphasise the extended pronunciation. Then there’s the lead into the chorus: first, you think Evans is going to sing “forever and ever and ever,” but the audience is denied this closure. Instead of the final “ever,” Evans opts to shrug and say “and you know what I mean,” furthering the comparison between the futility of life and songwriting. There is a deep sense of longing which suffuses the performance of this song, one which clearly captivates the crowd.
The clear capstone of the set–as evidenced by a large sign with the title in black block letters–is the charming and devastating “You Will Never Get That Feeling Back.” The title is immediately reminiscent of the Lacanian idea that all experiences are mere re-experiences–every new occurrence is felt through traces of what has already preceded it. Recurrence, redemption, and falls from grace all populate this song, which begins with the start of the bible (in the beginning there was light) and takes the crowd through the fall of man from Eden through to St Augustine’s redemption, Elvis’s death, Joni Mitchell’s history of blackface, and finally, the breakup of the narrator. There’s humour here in spades, but the real centrepiece is that terrible and pathetic part of the human condition, that we are always arriving too late and leaving too early, that we are always chasing that missing piece within ourselves which can never be found back out in the world. It’s the kind of melancholy which feels immediately better when you realise someone else is feeling it, and this is much of the charm of Rowan and Friends.
SE
___Death by Preoccupations (Canada, 2015)
___Spanish Harlem by Ben E. King (US, 1961)
___Heart of Darkness by My New Band Believe (UK, 2026)
JK
___Otis by The Durutti Column (UK, 1989)
___Emotions by John Glacier (UK, 2025)
___The One to Wait by CCFX (US, 2017)
JR
___Oblivious by The Strokes (US, 2016)
___I'm Still Your Fag by Broken Social Scene (Canada, 2002)
___London Belongs To Me by St Etienne (UK, 1992)
GKA
___Sunday Gas by Rampressure (UK, 2026)
___To Appease by Able Noise (Netherlands/Greece, 2024)
___Get Gone by Fiona Apple (US, 1999)