Music
Johnny James, Managing EditorReturning legends, their noisy heirs and centuries-old music made new.
Many of the heavier bands we cover in this guide (this updated included) operate in the lineage of industrial pioneers Cabaret Voltaire. 50 years after the Sheffield band first dreamed up their tape experiments and DIY electronics, founding members Chris Watson and Stephen Mallinder re-unite one last time at Albert Hall, to honour the late Richard H Kirk.
From the originators to their heirs. Described by Pitchfork as “a rage-forward bulldozer of poetic wordplay and experimental hardcore”, Brighton-based industrial band Ditz perform at The White Hotel for the first and last time this October, supported by Bathing Suits. At the same venue, things mellow out dramatically with Copenhagen’s GB, whose spindly art-rock is well worth a look.
Another artist whose been around the block, and who has more than a few stories to tell about it: two decades on from his misanthropic Smog days, Bill Callahan meets mortality and family with a dry laugh on his latest record, My Days of 58, which he brings to Aviva Studios.
Finally, some very old classical music is getting a contemporary rewiring this October. English Touring Opera’s two nights at Buxton Opera House include Gluck being reorchestrated with electronics by former Metalheadz producer Leo Grant. Meanwhile, Manchester Collective and griot percussionist Sidiki Dembélé set Playford and Purcell against West African folksong.
