The clocks go back on Sunday, but the week before is all about small rooms and first visits. Tō Yō play London for the first time on Monday, UCHE YARA brings her debut album to Dalston on Thursday, and The Windmill does what it does best three nights out of seven. If you can only make one, make it Muireann Bradley at Rough Trade East on Sunday evening.
Monday 19 October
Tō Yō + Painkiller – The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston
A Japanese band whose sets run on heavy-psych and kraut grooves, Tō Yō are making their London debut in the Shacklewell’s back room. Long, hypnotic and loud is the general idea, and a Monday crowd in a 200-cap room is the best way to catch it. Painkiller (UK) open. Doors 7.30pm. Tickets · Event page
Tuesday 20 October
Hollow Hand + Mega Bog – The Lexington, Angel
Hollow Hand is Brighton songwriter Max Kinghorn-Mills, and Wish Road South, out on Loose last month, is a sun-faded psych-folk record that sits somewhere between late-60s baroque pop and the Espers end of things. Mega Bog share the bill, which alone is worth the ticket. Doors 7pm, £12–£14. Tickets · Event page
What’s Next Issue 2 Launch: Casual Smart, Big Red, Lifeloose, Auntie – The Windmill, Brixton
A zine launch doubling as a four-band showcase for £6. Nights like this are how The Windmill keeps feeding the rest of London’s venues with bands, so go early and come away with a new favourite. 7.30pm. Tickets · Event page
Ags Connolly (Album Launch) – The Water Rats, King’s Cross
Green Note have taken their Ags Connolly launch down the road to The Water Rats. Connolly writes straight-ahead honky-tonk country of the kind you rarely hear done this seriously on this side of the Atlantic, and his last few records have been worth the wait. Doors 7.30pm, music 8.15pm, £18. Tickets · Event page
Wednesday 21 October
Bobbie Dazzle + SANTÙ + Mango In Euphoria – Bush Hall, Shepherd’s Bush
Siân Greenaway used to front doom band Alunah; as Bobbie Dazzle she makes 70s-style glam rock with big riffs, singalong choruses and a flute. New album Star Power came out at the start of the month, and Bush Hall’s chandeliers suit the sequins nicely. Doors 7pm, from £16.50. Tickets · Event page
Thursday 22 October
UCHE YARA – The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston
The Austrian-born, Berlin-based UCHE YARA spent two years on her debut album BODYSCANNER, a record that mixes guitar-led songs with club tracks, written for people who never felt at home in Berlin’s big clubs. It’s her first London show in two years. Doors 7.30pm, £15–£17. Tickets · Event page
Saturday 24 October
Brooklyn To Brixton All-Dayer – The Windmill, Brixton
Linked to Doc’n Roll Film Festival’s screening of Before It Was Cool, a film about the Brooklyn scene around Lauterbach’s, this afternoon bill pairs Al Lee Wyer, M. West, Kenny Young and the Eggplants and Frank’s Museum with south Londoners The Kitchen Sink Band, Dura Mater and Neuro Placid. Seven bands for £7, from 4.30pm. Tickets · Event page
Sunday 25 October
Muireann Bradley – Rough Trade East, Brick Lane
The Donegal fingerstyle blues player calls into Brick Lane on her record-store tour, two days after new EP Blackwood Pew, named after the guitar she plays, made from wood reclaimed from an old Tasmanian church pew. Seeing her pick from a few feet away is a different thing entirely from a seated hall. Doors 6pm, tickets from £16.89. Tickets · Event page
Drive Your Plow + Pink Eye Club + Mi.el + BABY XL – The Windmill, Brixton
Finish the week with a fiver at The Windmill: Drive Your Plow’s loud, many-handed experimental folk-rock, alt-disco from south London’s Pink Eye Club, Mi.el’s cowboy-tinged dream pop, and BABY XL, the synth-and-drums project formerly known as Ziplock. 7.30pm. Tickets · Event page
