Tuesday 1st The Space Lady + Yu Ching ้ป้จๆด + Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani; A sure-to-be-miraculous show by legendary outsider, street musician and birdwatcher The Space Lady. A kind of Casio-wielding Moondog (helmet included), TSLโs songs transmit โmessages of peace and harmonyโ but with the faintly unsettling naivete of Joana Newsom or Mary Timony, which may explain why her music only started to reach a global audience in the 2010s, two decades after it was first made. Similarly extraordinary support comes from Taiwanese artist Yu Ching ้ป้จๆด performing songs from her eerie, fun, sparkling debut album The Crystal Hum, and Oxfordโs own Moondog, Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani. The Nest; 7pm
Wednesday 2nd
Thursday 3rd
Friday 4th No Worries If Not, The Complex, BST; The Library; Pseudo-ironic dance bangers from tonightโs All Will Be Wired headliners No Worries If Not (they remind me of Warmduscher and Wet Leg, but thatโs because I listen to 6music and not enough dance music) plus support from new Octavia Freund project The Complex and Tiger Mendozaโs Drum n Bass alter-ego. 8pm | Lee Bains III; Earthy singer-songwriting from Alabamaโs Lee Bains III in the intimate confines of Caper Bookshop tonight; 7:30
Saturday 5th Swelt + Twisted Suits + iiis; Folk inflected post-rock songs from Bristol and London, excitable Duster-style riffs from Leeds, plus Oxford’s own slowpopsters iiis; 7:30
Sunday 6th Arab Strap; self-consciously dour, expansive indie-rockers play a sold-out launch show for their third Rock Action record Half-Told Tales; Truck Store; 1pm (waiting list) | The Campus + Catnip Cartel + Safe Ground; Aylesburyโs The Campus only have one song online – itโs called โThe Breezeโ and it sounds exactly like a young bandโs first demo should – the chords have one-too-many notes, theyโre not playing to a click track, honestly I applaud it, I am heartened by it. AI could never! Take a chance on this if youโre at a loose end, with the proviso that itโs an all-male bill by the looks of it. The Bullingdon; 6pm | HOxStock feat. Abi O’Meara, Peerless Pirates, Maisy’s Rainbow Dream, Wilderness States, Mid Air; Reliably-programmed all-dayer of local bands all raising money for Homelessness Oxfordshire. Featuring Country Rock songs from Abi OโMeara, Smiths-esque Sea Shanties from The Peerless Pirates, and various other shades of guitar music. Tap Social; 2pm
Monday 7th
Tuesday 8th
Wednesday 9th A Place to Bury Strangers + Die Anstalt + Everything Else; Very loud Anglophilic rock music from 2000s New York at The Bully tonight. Die Anstalt provide pogo-ing German electronica, and Everything Else supply everything else. Only kidding – they provide the Galaxie 500-like shoegaze. The Bullingdon; 7pm
Thursday 10th Jon Anderson & the Band Geeks; Jon Anderson, (lead singer of Yes, voice like a kettle-whistle) fell out with guitarist Steve Howe, with whom he wrote some of the best prog-rock of the 1970s, around two decades ago and so now tours with a young covers band who faithfully reproduce those songs. But unfortunately nothing from those two really good Jon + Vangelis albums. Plot twist: I would love to be there. The New Theatre; 7:30 | Hana Stretton + WOOM + Jerkcurb + The Bobo; Microphones-endorsed folkish soundscapes from Australiaโs Hana Stretton headline tonightโs Divine Schism show, plus earnest vocal experimenting from WOOM, arch, atmospheric rock songs from Jerkcub and glassily warm singer-songwriting from Oxfordโs own The Bobo. The Nest; 7pm
Friday 11th
Saturday 12th The Meffs; Earnest, Leftfield-stage-at-Glastonbury-type punks launch their new album Business; Truck Store, 6pm | Ocean Planet, Severed Tongues, Compounds, If Death Do Us Apart; Kevin Costner-themed local metal sextet headline a four-band bill where all the other logos are unreadable, because itโs metal. It sounds quite fun to me, with a bit of a Spinal Tap voice-over at the beginning of their latest album, but honestly I have very little idea of what Iโm talking about – anyone want to be our metal correspondent? The Bullingdon; 7pm | The Deadly Romantics; Canadian classic rock/Oi revivalists call it a day after 21 years. Studio Se7en; 7:30
Sunday 13th
Monday 14th
Tuesday 15th Katie Gregson-Macleod + Bonnie Kempay; Gregson-Macleod writes pretty folk-rock from Aberdeen – I donโt mean to undersell it, itโs knowingly slight, and thatโs really nice. The songs have bridges! And hammond organ! Honestly, I like it. Support from Edinburghโs Bonnie Kempay, who sounds like the Dirty Hit artist she is – part Eliott Smith, part Beebadoobee, and honestly Iโm a bit cynical about it, but itโs exactly the kind of thing that I like, and you should probably go to this to see that next big thing. Little Bully; 7pm
Wednesday 16th Matching Outfits + Spacemen & The Spaceband + Catkin; Whimsical songs from Berlin that sound like theyโre from California (apart from the accents, which makes them even more whimsical). Support from Tongue side-project Spaceman & The Space Band, who have a fair amount of whimsy themselves, and Oxfordโs newest hot tip, dream-pop crew Catkin. Iโm sure theyโll be able to conjure up some whimsy for the occasion. The Library; 7:30 | Willie & The Bandits; Feel-good blues-rockers Willie and The Bandits present their environmentally-conscious new album Salt Roots at tonightโs Haven Club show. Does that make it Feel-bad? The Bullingdon; 7pm
Thursday 17th The Alan Fletcher Band; Dr. Karl Kennedy from Neighbours brings his roots-revival music to Oxford tonight. Honestly it baffles me, but I canโt help but admire it – he obviously cares about this stuff, and he obviously perceives some kind of niche where he can sell Australian country music to daytime TV fans, or he is so confident in its power that he thinks he can convert those people, as unlikely as it sounds. Me, Iโm such a fan of the twice-canceled soap that I canโt bring myself to listen to it – after all, wasnโt part of that character that everyone hated his music? Maybe his music is really good, and Susan Kennedy has terrible taste. Maybe this isnโt Karlโs music at all. But will he play Free As A River? Perhaps this is the timeline we deserve. The Bullingdon; 7pm
Friday 18th Beaker + I, Doris; Oxfordโs returning riot women Beaker seem more angry than they were two decades ago, for example on their seething, Gisele Pelicot-inspired recent single โ50 Menโ. But who wouldnโt be? I really hope thereโs an album on the way. I, Doris, are, Iโm sure, angry too, but they express it with the kind of sped-up Bye Bye Baby beat that features handclaps. The Bullingdon; 7pm
Saturday 19th ICHI gig + workshop; Nagoyaโs ICHI brings together two themes of this monthโs gig guide, whismy and Moondog, into one playful package. Enjoy ICHIโs performance from 2:30-3:15, and stay (with your kids, sorry) and make your own instruments like the bug pipe and the wind whistle; Florence Park CC; 2pm | Morag Tong + Dead Lettuce + Indica Blues; An evening of enjoyable stoner rock at The Jericho, ranging from the RPG-themed to the Liz Truss-inspired. The Jericho Tavern; 7pm | As It Is; UK-based American-fronted pop-punk-emo stuff, you know the kind of thing. Slightly twiddly guitars, big choruses. Likeable enough! The O2; 6:30 |
Sunday 20th King King; Glaswegian Southern Rock (and no, I donโt mean theyโre from Castlemilk, or Giffnock, or Cambuslang). [while youโre here, a bugbear of mine – there are no descriptions of this show on any of the pages on which it is listed. Do people in fact know who this band is? Would potential fans (in my more open-minded moments, Iโm sure there are some) just be expected to turn up? Are we all so siloed that noone takes a punt on a gig any more, or at least such behaviour is assumed by the O2, Gigantic, etc? strange] The O2; 7pm
Monday 21st
Tuesday 22nd
Wednesday 23rd Sports Team; The kind of post-irony 6music indie-rock that seems to predominate on the UK live circuit, or did a few years ago. The guy does a bad impression of Jarvis Cocker and the band play like Scouting For Girls. Before you say, Mike, isnโt that a bit mean – well yes youโre right, it is, but the last time I saw them (at this very venue), all the young people were singing along and I felt very out of touch. So there! The Bullingdon; 7pm | Connor Selby; Slight Stax-revival blues rock, the kind of thing Craig Charles plays in his weaker moments.Just play the old stuff Craig! Honestly could be fun. Little Bully; 7pm
Thursday 24th The Lemonheads; I havenโt followed Evan Dandoโs career, but his band seems like an honest venture. Maybe they will play that Simon & Garfunkel cover? But honestly it struck me as odd that a Dinosaur Jr/Husker Du-adjacent band were playing a gig at The O2 at this stage in their career, maybe there is some context here, perhaps, some allegations, and yesโฆ yes there isโฆ The O2; 7pm
Friday 25th DB Band; Supergrass bassist Mick Quinn plows a similar furrow as his new (old) band launch their first new music in over a decade, the EP Empty Highways; Truck Store; 6pm | Hannah Lou Larsen + Pettaluck + Folly Oh Yes; A trio of experimental, playful, melodic singer-songwriters at tonightโs Gappy Tooth event; Common Ground; 8pm | PRXLUDES: Standard Issue + Stomping Ground; New contemporary music and conversation hosted by PRXLUDES magazine at Oxford’s best new venue – Little Clarendon street will be jumpin’ tonight, see above; The Nest; 7pm | Peach Free + Liasons; More slow rock music* as atmospheric, melodic Oxford quintet Peach Free launch their debut EP; The Library; 7:30pm
Saturday 26th The Amazons; somehow โarena-sized brand of indie rockโ is not an obvious contradiction-in-terms to some people; The O2; 7:30 | Osprey; Local scene stalwart Mark โOspreyโ O’Brien brings his rock music to Jericho; The Harcourt Arms; 8pm
Sunday 27th Adam Ross & Gillian Fleetwood w/ Grace Pounds; Adam Rossโs lovely story songs wear their piano-and-organ E Street Band instrumentation lightly, even more lightly than his countryman Al Stewart. So lightly in fact that there are echoes of Belle and Sebastian here and there. Or maybe thatโs just the accent. Am I that bad?? Grace Pounds plays her yearning, strummy songs in support; Jericho Tavern; 7pm | Pozi + Prayer Tech + Earwurms; Divine Schism favourites Pozi bring their post-Lodger Art Pop to The Bullingdon tonight. Unhurried, playful and expansive, replacing the guitar with violin in the typical power trio instrumentation allows them space that few rock bands can create, and they use it to carve out something beautiful, yes, but also, crucially, fun, and even groovy. Support comes from their own, rockier side-project Prayer Tech plus unexpectedly whimsical Kim Gordon fans Earwurms; The Bullingdon; 7pm | Albedo, Demesne Furze, Dub Kaizer, MindSpikes, Morph, Neurish, Sebastian Reynolds. Wild Marsh East; short sets from up-and-comers alongside more establish acts in tonights Electronic Music Open Mic; The Handlebar; 6pm
Monday 28th
Tuesday 29th Kristin Hersh; Throwing Muses singer and prolific songwriter Kristin Hersh returns to the oldest purpose-built concert space in Europe for a solo set of songs promoting new album Sugar On Blackstone; Hollywell Music Room; 7:30
Wednesday 30th We Are Scientists; The Strokes-with-jokes tonight at the O2, probably the most earnest jokes youโve ever heard; The O2; 6:30 | Shaun Kirk; More country-rock from Australia; The Bullingdon; 7pm | Gurriers; Perhaps now is exactly the right time for grim, driving rock music from Dublin, I donโt know – in any case, Gurriers launch their second album in Oxford tonight; The Bullingdon; 7pm
*I’m averse to the term ‘slowcore’ for some reason? appending ‘core’ to everything doesn’t work for me
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