Spanning a week from 7th to 13th November 2023, it promises to build on the enormous success of last year, with some of the most exciting acts from around the world performing in iconic venues all over the capital. With last-minute tickets still up for grabs (get yours here), here are seven acts you simply can’t afford to miss.
Ezra Collective
When: 7th November
Where: Royal Albert Hall
Credit: Press
Fresh off their historic Mercury Prize win for their album Where I’m Meant To Be, Ezra Collective will grace the stage of the Royal Albert Hall to open this year’s festival. The quintet, comprised of drummer Femi Koleoso, bassist TJ Koleoso, keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and saxophonist James Mollison, made history by becoming the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize.
It’s an accolade that has massive ramifications for the UK jazz scene. Ezra’s fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and afrobeat is impossible not to be energised by, and you’ll probably spend the entire evening on your feet.
Weyes Blood
When: 13th November
Where: Hammersmith Apollo
Credit: Getty
Weyes Blood will be closing out the festival at the Hammersmith Apollo. Her latest album explores poignant themes of social anxiety. In our review, whynow gave the album four stars, saying: “With rich vocals that are somehow both deeply emotional and entirely cut off, lyrics that are relatable without offering any advice, and music that plays with the familiar and the uncanny, the unprecedented becomes art in her hands.”
Alabaster Deplume at KOKO
When: 10th November
Where: KOKO Camden
Credit: Press
Alabaster DePlume is a Mancunian saxophonist, composer, and spoken word artist. Known for his unique blend of ethereal jazz and poetic storytelling, it isn’t easy to place him in one category. After a misspent youth that featured a spell amongst a “strange little group” who were “happy to scare people” by carrying knives, Alabaster thankfully turned to music instead. Still, it’s a background that clearly inspired rich material for his music, evidenced in his excellent recent album, Come With Fierce Grace.
Balming Tiger
When: 8th November
Where: Village Underground
Credit: Nikolai Ahn
Defying the stereotypes that have emerged in the last decade around Korean music, Balming Tiger are playing a sold-out show at the excellent, wonderfully acoustic Village Underground. Celebrated for their hits like ‘Just Fun!’ and collaborations with BTS, the band are keen to broaden the scope of how Western audiences perceive Korean musical acts.
Speaking to NME, frontman Omega Sapien was particularly assertive about this: “Right now, when people think of K-pop, they think of groups like BLACKPINK, NewJeans and BTS, but as time goes on and as more artists like us emerge, the definition will naturally become more diversified. It’s just a matter of time.”
Yaeji
When: 11th November
Where: Roundhouse, Camden
Credit: Press
From Korea again, but this time via Brooklyn, producer and DJ Yaeji is set to grace the Roundhouse stage with her blend of house and hip-hop. Yaeji’s penchant for raping and singing in both Korean and English always makes for an electrifying show that dances between cultures and genres.
Sleater-Kinney
When: 10th November
Where: Roundhouse, Camden
Credit: Press
Formed in Washington in 1994 and initially part of the riot grrrl movement by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney are known for their feminist and liberal politics. Their latest project, Dig Me Out, celebrates 25 years of their breakthrough album Dig Me In, with contributions from the likes of Courtney Barnett and Wilco.
Youth Lagoon
When: 12th November
Where: Earth Theatre
Credit: Fat Possum Records
Real name Trevor Powers, Youth Lagoon has been around since 2010 but has endured a staccato career, downing tools in 2016 but reemerging in 2022 with Heaven Is A Junkyard. Powers’ music blends pop, electronic, and indie elements to create a yearning, often melancholic siren-sound. In 2021, he suffered from a debilitating illness that forced him to reconsider everything, from the musical to the metaphysical.
Speaking to NPR, Powers mused: “But I always sensed there was something there, this greater mystery that I could feel in the wind on walks and see it in the trees and all of that. And this experience with my voice, it taught me something. I used to think that God watches people suffer, but this showed me that God actually suffers with you.”
All of this enlightened thinking really shows on Heaven Is A Junkyard, and there few better venues in London to allow its full potential to sound out than Earth in Hackney.
