But that’s the appeal. Each night is a curious offering unto itself, spanning introspective ambient sets, sampledelic jamborees, and in one case, a sort of hyperpop power-hour. This reflects Pitchfork Magazine’s taste for emergent, strange subgenres; taken together, these sets, across six days, will be catnip for any music nerd.
A good place to start is at KOKO on November 3rd, where three dream-pop artists, usually only seen together in the most esoteric playlist you’ve ever seen, will take the stage.
The first is Ana Roxanne, an ambient instrumentalist and singer who has been brewing up a soft storm over the past few years. Her 2026 LP 'Poem 1' is a gorgeous clarification of the sound she’s honed. It can be seen as Roxanne’s equivalent of Grouper’s 'Ruins', decloaked of feedback haze so that her melodies are more direct and affecting. These minimal songs seem to come spontaneously, though they are meticulously arranged and accented by a lush string section. The gently eerie ‘Keepsake’ is a good starting point for those interested.
The next is The Radio Dept., a cult band out of Lund, Sweden, whose digitally-sheened shoegaze feels at home amid the darkening winter nights. The appeal is not dissimilar to The Jesus and Mary Chain’s. Wistful, crepuscular pop, with a sugary edge so that it doesn’t feel like a drag. 2010’s ‘The Video Dept.’, with its thrumming bassline and foggy vocals, will hook listeners as well as any track in their brilliant catalogue. They’ll be joined by Copenhagen-based A Good Year, who are steadily building their portfolio of streamlined, grungey indie.
Moving on chronologically, November 4th will see a glitched-out EDM party at Oslo Hackney. This night will feel like a fever-dream of your favourite niche, internet-brained, hyperstimulating electroclash into one 375-capacity room. Duo MGNA Crrrta will lead, a set that will be much anticipated, given their building hype. Their latest LP, 'Beautiful Disaster', sounded like filtering late 00's dance-pop and dubstep through a VTech camera. It’s chintzy, but addictive. Their 2022 track ‘Girl Party’ is one of their best, with gossamer vocals contrasting a stabbing synth section. This is music like amethyst crystal, pretty and glowing, but with a sharp surface.
They are supported by daine, whose song ‘Wishing Well’ takes a surprising direction, towards chiming indie-folk. Touching Ice, the other support, has a more aggressive sound - they will bring sliced-up melodies and industrial churn to the function.
With those two nights offering a smorgasbord of sounds both soft and harsh, the next night, November 5th, will be a chance to focus on just one. Los Thuthanaka, the project of California-based siblings Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, will play at EartH, Hackney. Prepare to hear something genuinely experimental. The siblings have taken the dance music of their Aymara (the indigenous populations of central South America) roots and retooled it with ferocious guitars and warbled samples. These are still huaynos, kullawadas, caporals and salays, all folk dances, and the pair sport traditional attire in their live shows to reflect that. But those wonderful forms are collaged into something equal parts menacing and spiritual, which strives, successfully, to collapse the distance between the traditional and the futuristic. The instrument list evidences this: ronrocos and bombo-italique drums sit alongside clipping distortion and keytar. The experience, to paraphrase one YouTube commenter, is like driving somewhere near the Bolivian border, and picking up stray competing signals on the radio. If you are at all interested in experimental music, you should go to this show.
The sound-collages continue into Friday, but with a lighter tone as Melbourne’s beloved The Avalanches take over the Roundhouse in Camden. Their presence is a testament to what Pitchfork’s people have tried to achieve in curating this festival. Cherished cult acts can be found just down the road from the weird up-and-comers, and gig-goers will enjoy drifting between the two. The Avalanches fit in perfectly because they plunder from such a wide range of music to achieve their dreamy, almost-fantastical sample pop. Perhaps they could make an album purely from the lineup of this festival. Their last LP shone particularly because they managed to blur their sampling with actual features; ‘Reflecting Light’, for example, featured a guest performance from Sananda Matreiya while throwing in a sample from Vashti Bunyan. The music nerdery is off the charts.
The Aussies are accompanied by an American and a Brit: Panda Bear and Sonic Boom. Panda Bear, the performance name of Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, is also a sound-obsessive, and his 2007 record 'Person Pitch' should be heard by anyone who likes any of the music listed here. Lennox takes all - The Beach Boys, Kylie Minogue, Kraftwerk, and more - turning them over in 12-minute wheels of sound. Now, he makes more typical, but no less beautiful, guitar pop.
To finish strongly, you’ll want to see the Dalston Takeover on Saturday night. At least 23, some established and some emerging, mostly loud bands will shatter glass in multiple East End venues.
Sounds will include - deep breath - the thrash-rock of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, the lovelorn grunge of MX Lonely, the itchy, shuffling twee-pop of cootie catcher, the nostalgic 10’s emo of Turnspit, and many more. If you like any of that, then Mandy, Indiana, maybe the jewel in the crown of noisy, glitchy, bass-boosted rock acts right now, should also appeal.
Over 80 artists across six days - only a few of those gigs have been listed here. If you miss the summer festivals, then here is the cure. What more could you ask for?
Alex Bentley
Image: ‘Beautiful Disaster’ Official Album Cover