Culture Guides
Destination Guides
From Irish hip hop to Afrobeat, absurdist punk to post-metal, this month’s music guide is a real melting pot.
Below, read about Kojaque, a Dublin rapper who fuses silky jazz beats with poetic lyrics about the issues that he sees plaguing his home city. With rumblings of an explosive future, catch him at Soup Kitchen before he graduates to larger stages.
Over at YES on the same night, Fuck Buttons co-founder Blanck Mass will be reflecting on the chaos of modern Britain. His recent Animated Violence Mild is one of the bleakest, most intense electronic albums of 2019, and is sure to make for a thrilling live show.
We’re also shining light on local talent this month, starting with Pijn, the city’s most distinctive post-metal band. Their debut album Loss has a pretty amazing backstory, which you can read about here before it’s performed in full at Soup Kitchen.
Manchester’s own MOLD, meanwhile, are a punk band with a tendency towards grim absurdism. Joined by three more Manchester bands, they’ll be dreaming of a black Christmas in the bowels of YES. Ahead of the gig, we caught up with the quartet to see why we should all check out the MOLD in the basement this December…
Nudging into the new year, London 8-piece Kokoroko are bringing their soul-shaking blend of neo-jazz and Afrobeat to Gorilla. They’ve been on our radar ever since Gilles Peterson closed his We Out Here compilation with their addictive ‘Abusey Junction’.
Besides all of that, you can read about Black Pumas, Hayden Thorpe, Omni, Whitney, Julia Jacklin and Stealing Sheep in our full music guide below.
Here are our picks
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1. Pijn at Soup Kitchen
Joe Guppy Pijn at Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 6 December 2019, 7:30 pm–11:00 pm, from £5 - Book now
One year on from its release, Manchester’s own Pijn are performing their celebrated post-metal album Loss in full at Soup Kitchen.
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2. MOLD at YES
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3. Stealing Sheep at Kazimier Stockroom
Stealing Sheep Stealing Sheep at Kazimier Stockroom, Liverpool, 12–14 December 2019, from £12 - Book now
A triumphant final call on their extensive nationwide tour, Stealing Sheep’s tryptic of homecoming shows in Liverpool will be something special.
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4. Kokoroko at Gorilla
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Culture Guides
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