Blog
FAT BOY SHARIF + COLD LIGHT + RETROPXSSY
Triple feature at Cafe OTO headlined by underground cult rapper from New Jersey, Fat Boi Sharif; the apocalyptic brand of trip-hop, neo jazz and dub from Bristol’s Cold Light; and Retropxssy, excellent as ever.
CAFE OTO · London · 01.09.2026
I haven’t enjoyed previous experiences photographing at Cafe OTO with such minimal lighting and often with not much space to move around and look for nice angles, but I’m pretty happy with what I got from these shows. Especially with (again) Retropxssy as she’s so expressive, theatrical, camera-friendly and such a good subject - this set of hers gives me Hammer horror vibes!
Cold Light are a collective from Bristol with a smoky, deep, apocalyptic brand of trip-hop, neo jazz and dub. Intense and heavy on the basslines.
And headliner Fat Boi Sharif is a prolific underground rapper from New Jersey’s alt hip-hop scene, with love of avant-garde art and psychological horror - thus rounding off the night's horror theme. Eerie, minimalist and cold. Commanding yet likeable stage presence.
Music | Fat Boi Sharif
Music | Cold Light
Music | retropxssy
Fat Boi Sharif
Cold Light
Retropxssy
SLY AND THE FAMILY DRONE +
Launch party for Sly and the Family Drone’s new album, “With Love”, at the gorgeous and cosy King Alfred Phoenix Theatre in Hampstead Heath.
KING ALFRED PHOENIX THEATRE · London · 29.08.2026
Launch party for Sly and the Family Drone’s new album, “With Love”, at the gorgeous and cosy King Alfred Phoenix Theatre in Hampstead Heath. I’ve watched quite a few Sly and the Family Drone’s gigs over the years and they are always consistently and brilliantly primal and communal in their approach to live performances. An absolutely unclassifiable controlled chaos of free jazz, noise and rhythm.
Opening for SatFD was Daranijoh Sanni aka E The Artist (photos at the bottom of the page) with some intense and doomy reconstruction of black club music. Falling Cat Problem also performed but I was late unfortunately.
Music | Sly and the Family Drone
Music | E The Artist
RETROPXSSY
Retropxssy’s show at the Windmill Brixton for the Some Weird Sin all dayer, performing a set with some of her newer songs. One of the best live performers from London’s underground scene.
WINDMILL BRIXTON · London · 15.08.2026
Retropxssy’s show at the Windmill Brixton for the Some Weird Sin all dayer. I hadn’t seen her live for a while, so it was great to see her perform a different set with some of her newer songs. Sounded fresh - but I missed some of the earlier songs!
From my previous Retropxssy posts: she’s hands-down one of the best live performers I’ve seen in a long time, one woman taking up the whole stage.
An independent, genre-blurring singer, rapper, and producer shaped by Tumblr-era internet subcultures, Retropxssy is tightly embedded within the London underground arts and skate scenes and is playing as much as she can, and getting new songs out there on a regular basis.
Music | retropxssy
crowd
JEANIE AND THE WHITE BOYS
Jeanie Crystal once again imposing herself on the stage - this is charisma on steroids and stilettos - her raspy, sometimes bluesy voice leading a band through some furious glam-punk. Almost like Amy Winehouse singing The Cramps.
WINDMILL BRIXTON · London · 15.08.2026
Another “best of the year” show from Jeanie and the White Boys after that January gig at Dalston Superstore.
Jeanie Crystal once again imposing herself on the stage - this is charisma on steroids and stilettos - her raspy, sometimes bluesy voice leading a band through some furious glam-punk. Almost like Amy Winehouse singing The Cramps.
They tell us to “think New York Dolls, think Grace Jones doing punk karaoke in a drag dungeon”; they quote Debbie Harry and Nina Hagen, and it all makes sense. It’s sweaty, it’s sexy, and from here their only way is up.
SPIT (SNIFFANY AND THE NITS, F*SLUR, GIMIC)
Another incredible queerpunk SPIT party at Dalston Superstore’s basement, with Sniffany and the Nits, F*SLUR and Gimic - they were really good!
DALSTON SUPERSTORE · London · 13.08.2026
Another incredible SPIT party at Dalston Superstore’s basement. Here pictured are Sniffany and the Nits all out punk; the returning queer punk F*SLUR with Kurtis Lincoln again dominating the room; and the ferocious, honest, non stop hardcore punk energy of Bristol’s Gimic, standing up for working class values - they were really good! Unfortunately I arrived late for Kelan.
As usual, the crowd at SPIT is the best crowd!
Music | Sniffany & The Nits
F*SLUR Instagram
Music | Gimic
Sniffany and the Nits
F*SLUR
Gimic
SPIT crowd
MPTL MICROPLASTICS
One of the most active bands in the UK live music circuit, MPTL Microplastics is a sprawling industrial folk collective building a reputation for their unhinged live shows that pack small pub stages to the absolute bursting point. This is one of their shows at the Windmill Brixton.
WINDMILL BRIXTON · London · 01.04.2026
One of the most active bands in the UK live music circuit, MPTL Microplastics (aka My Pussy Tastes Like Microplastics) is a sprawling industrial folk collective building a reputation for their unhinged live shows that pack small pub stages to the absolute bursting point - my friend Antonio wont stop trying to convince me to go every single one of them.
They released their debut full-length studio album, “Sod In Heaven”, in early 2026. I heard them being compared to the Virgin Prunes.
Music | MPTL Microplastics
CROWDS (AT MPTL Microplastics)
A night at the Windmill Brixton watching MPTL Microplastics play. A youthful audience in a fever state, taking in every second. I love capturing the expressions of joy from a crowd deep in it - even, and sometimes BECAUSE, they come out as a chaotic blur
WINDMILL BRIXTON · London · 01.04.2026
A night at the Windmill Brixton watching MPTL Microplastics play. A youthful audience in a fever state, taking in every second. I love capturing the expressions of joy from a crowd deep in it - even, and sometimes because, they come out as a chaotic blur.
Music | MPTL Microplastics
JEANIE AND THE WHITE BOYS
Jeanie and the White Boys bring chaotic punk energy to SPIT at Dalston Superstore, London, photographed on 29 January 2026.
SPIT at DALSTON SUPERSTORE · London · 29.01.2026
Jeanie and the White Boys playing at queercore party SPIT at Dalston Superstore’s basement. Jeanie Crystal is an impossible to ignore chaotic whirlwind of energy and trashy, punk aggression.
Music | Jeanie & The White Boys
SPIT JANUARY 2026
“Punk for benders”, a party of queercore live music and clubbing at Dalston Superstore in London. January 2026 edition, photos of party goers.
DALSTON SUPERSTORE · London · 29.01.2026
“Punk for benders”, a party of queercore live music and clubbing I’ve been going to. Never disappoints. I love the gigs and the crowds there - not your usual club goers at DSS, and they are my focus here.
Instagram
SKINTERN
Menacing and transgressive Skintern, a rising four-piece band from London making a name for themselves in the extreme music underground - here playing an intense set at queercore party SPIT.
SPIT at DALSTON SUPERSTORE · London · 29.01.2026
Menacing and transgressive Skintern, a rising four-piece band from London making a name for themselves in the extreme music underground - here playing an intense set at queercore party SPIT. Psychological distress, true-crime and subculture narratives permeate their 2026 debut cassette, FREE USE.
Music | Skintern
HILARY WOODS (WITH GABRIEL FERRANDINI)
Sold out show at Cafe OTO mark the launch of “Night CRIÚ”. A very silent, very dark room in what felt more like a ghostly religious service. Beautiful. Gabriel Ferrandini on percussion and drums.
CAFE OTO · London · 08.01.2026
Sold out show at Cafe OTO mark the launch of “Night CRIÚ”. A very silent, very dark room in what felt more like a ghostly religious service. Beautiful.
Hilary played with Oliver Turvey (violin and electronics) and Gabriel Ferrandini (percussion and drums). Gabriel’s excellent career I already knew from Lisbon.
Music | Hilary Woods
VAIAPRAIA
Vaiapraia’s end of the year (2025) performance at ZdB in Lisbon - as usual with an ecstatic crowd of die-hard fans singing every single word of every single song.
GALERIA ZÉ DOS BOIS · Lisbon · 27.12.2025
I don’t think there has been, for many many years, a better song writer, lyricist and live performer in Portugal than Rodrigo Vaiapraia. This is the band’s end of the year performance at ZdB in Lisbon - as usual with an ecstatic crowd of die-hard fans singing every single word of every single song. It’s like going to church.
Music | Vaiapraia
CLEAR CHANNEL + VAIAPRAIA
A glowing disco-punk performance from Washington DC’s Clear Channel’s at The Horse Hospital, in London. One of my favourite gigs of 2025. Vaiapraia played an acoustic set.
THE HORSE HOSPITAL · London · 24.11.2025
My main goal was to go to another Vaiapraia gig, but I was floored by Clear Channel’s performance (recommended by Rodrigo Vaiapraia), even if they played without their drummer and had to improvise. A radiant, fiercely political disco-punk duo from the Washington DC’s underground scene. Pure danceable unadulterated joy as a revolutionary tool. One of my favourite gigs, and albums, of 2025 (“Public Access” is actually from 2024 but counts as favourite albums I listened on repeat in 25).
Rodrigo included a snippet of my absolute favourite song from Vaiapraia, “Rapaz #1” in a medley of this acoustic show. It’s very rare that this song gets played on his live sets, so all in all a great evening!
F*SLUR
F*SLUR, a campy four-piece queer punk/glam rock band from East London, fronted by energetic and charismatic Kurtis Lincoln, in a proper live performance at the queercore SPIT party!a
SPIT at DALSTON SUPERSTORE · London · 01.10.2025
Campy four-piece queer punk/glam rock band born out of the East London underground scene, fronted by energetic, charismatic and camera-hungry Kurtis Lincoln, with Jordan Hearns (from SMUT Press) on drums. Thumbs up for this proper live performance at the queercore SPIT party!
Instagram
BEAUTIFY JUNKYARDS
This show served as the official launch night for acclaimed Lisbon’s Beautify Junkyard’s 2025 UK Tour to promote their highly acclaimed fifth studio album, “NOVA”, released via Ghost Box Records. Stellar evening with friends.
THE WAITING ROOM · London · 19.09.2025
This show served as the official launch night for acclaimed Lisbon’s Beautify Junkyard’s 2025 UK Tour to promote their highly acclaimed fifth studio album, “NOVA”, released via Ghost Box Records. Stellar evening with friends.
Music | beautify junkyards
BABA YAGA’s HUT: 19TH ANNIVERSARY
A full day of music and friends in celebration of the 19th anniversary of the most relevant driving force of underground live music in London: the promoter Baba Yaga’s Hut.
NUMBER 90 · London · 26.07.2025
A full day of music and friends in celebration of the 19th anniversary of the most relevant driving force of underground live music in London: the promoter Baba Yaga’s Hut (I still miss their Raw Power festival).
Line up:
Part Chimp
Sly & The Family Drone
Michael
Rainbow Grave
Moist Crevice
Barbican Estate
Haress
Dawn Terry
Spirit Data
Wayne Adams
DJ Proteus
2rana 3crana
Teeth Of The Sea (DJ Set)
Baba Yaga's Hut
Michael
Michael
Rainbow Grave (below: Rainbow Grave and Part Chimp)
Dawn Terry
2rana 3crana (below: Moist Crevice and Barbican Estate)
Haress
GUITAR WOLF
Guitar Wolf are legendary for their live performances and they did not disappoint. Absolut raucous, chaotic, drunken, over the top show with buckets of sweat and unreasonably loud amps from these three piece Japanese garage-punk samurais.
NEW CROSS INN · London · 11.07.2025
Guitar Wolf are legendary for their live performances and they did not disappoint. Absolut raucous, chaotic, drunken, over the top show with buckets of sweat and unreasonably loud amps from these three piece Japanese garage-punk samurais.
Music | Guitar Wolf ギターウルフ
BAD BREEDING
The uncompromising Bad Breeding playing a release show for their EP “Blood Manifest”. Intense, in your face, vital British punk rage.
THE LEXINGTON · London · 27.03.2025
The uncompromising Bad Breeding playing a release show for their EP “Blood Manifest”. Intense, in your face, vital British punk rage. Chris Dodd is one hell of a front man!
Music | Bad Breeding
RADON + DONNA CANDY
Antifascist feminist blackened-doom trio from Switzerland, Radon; and noise rock masters Donna Candy performing at the New River Studios in London.
NEW RIVER STUDIOS · London · 28.02.2025
I came for noise-rock masters Donna Candy, which I had seen before also at the New River Studios and blew my mind then, but this evening my stand out was antifascist feminist blackened-doom trio from Switzerland, Radon: WOW. This was the most excited I’ve been about a new metal band in quite a while. A cathartic, sludgy performance that stayed on my mind long after the show - probably my 2025 favourite. I’m counting the days to see them back in the UK.
Music | Radon
Music | Donna Candy
Radon
Donna Candy
MERMAID CHUNKY
Mermaid Chunky’s immersive Lipstick Party at Hackney Baths, London, photographed on 14 February 2025.
THE BATHS · London · 14.02.2025
The audiovisual art-pop duo Mermaid Chunky hosted their live “Lipstick Party” event at Hackney Baths in celebration of Valentine’s Day, with their unique mash-up of medieval folk, house, electronic trance, and psych-pop. A wild immersive show feeling both like a house party and carnival, and was one of my favourite gigs of 2025.
MERMAID CHUNKY
