What's On / Bristol Gigs / drone/noise

Drone, Noise & Experimental

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Bristol's Drone/noise Scene

Bristol’s drone and noise rock scenes are some of the most awesome musical niches found in this city. Small packed-out gigs, captivated crowds and performers pushing the boundaries between music, white noise and sound art. While international names like Tim Hecker and the Haxan Cloak have made appearances in Bristol, it’s local label Howling Owl Records and promoters Cacophonous Sarcophagus who are leading the way here. Keep your eyes peeled for gigs at the Arnolfini gallery, The Cube cinema, The Exchange and small events spaces like the Scout Hut and Centre Space.

Intimate Drone/noise music in Bristol
The Bristol drone/noise scene, it’s not just the Bristol Hum like you’d think! Bristol drone and noise gigs can be some of the most intimate around, the crowd all huddled in silence in one of Bristol prestigious venues (like the newly rebranded Bristol Beacon). Although lacking big local names to rival international drone artists like William Basinski or Tim Hecker, there’s been a recent increase in ambient gigs, nights like Dark Alchemy and Lust Pattern have taken the beat out of music but still made it droney and noisey, and just very Bristol.

Buy tickets for drone/noise events in Bristol

Our recent drone/noise recommendations

Sell out warning! Strange Brew are truly spoiling us with this magnificent double-bill! NTS Early Bird angel and folkloric dream-pop experimentalist Maria Somerville meets avant-garde supergroup Good Sad Happy Bad - the woozy art-rock project Mica Levi reformed from the ashes of Micachu. Seriously unmissable FFO: Relaxin’ Records, James K, Moin, Grouper, Space Afrika, AD93. Double headline show! Whimsical kraut punk and art-rock experiments from the band formerly known as Micachu and the Shapes (comprising CJ Calderwood, Marc Pell, Mica Levi, Raisa Khan) + starry eyed pop, and hypnotic drones with trad Irish motifs from Maria Somerville

Spring has finally sprung and multi-visual, multi-media crew Cellar Door are celebrating the shedding of our winter cocoons with Lipworm’s wiggy psych-rock, swooning dream-folk shoegaze from Ladylike + Rabbitfoot’s sprawling electronica, baroque-pop and post-rock fusion. Essential FFO: Black Country, New Road, bdrmm. Audio-Visual & arts jamboree spanning folk, shoegaze, baroque pop, noise-rock, jazz and electronics. Music across 2 floors, exhibition in the cellar!

SSP returns from their near death experience to shake Kino with sonic oblivion through the Chewing Glass Subs. Inside: Severin Black’s isolationist drone landscapes and Nic Krog’s spoken word hardware confessionals. Delectable outsider clobber FFO: Pan Sonic, Biosphere, Nick Klein, Pavel Milyakov, Dale Cornish. ...are you healed yet?

Berlin ‘No-Age Krautrock’ collective make their Bristol debut at The Cube. Frontman Andreas Riska weaponises his bilingual psycho-babble amid the brute force of Kulku’s instrumental repetition + Mosquito Farm explore the chaotic radiance of latticed drone and clatter. FFO: Steve Reich, Can, hitting scrap metal, Swans’ chiller side, Kali Malone. Trance-inducing Berlin-based septet with support from London's Mosquito Farm.

What our editors say

“Where do we go from here? With WRNTDP’s sound making graceful stretches outwards into folky minimalism, shimmering IDM and languid ambient there is no way to tell for sure, but it’s a guarantee that wherever it may go, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s Music is perfect for soundtracking the building of a new world, or the ending of an old one.”
From: Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

“The Confederate Dead are a London-based five-piece crafting reverb-drenched songs of colour. Weaveing together elements of ’60s psychedelia, garage rock and neo-psychedelic drone, drawing influence from The Doors, The Stooges, Galaxie 500, Joy Division, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Live, they deliver immersive performances filled with smoke, electronic elements, strobe lights, driving rhythms, and stark contrasts between loud and quiet tension.”
From: The Confederate Dead

“Cuculi Records is a DIY label based in Bristol, run by a woman-led collective of musicians and songwriters with the aim of helping grassroots artists navigate the complexities of releasing music independently. We work with bedroom composers, folk singers, ambient explorers and unusual ensembles, often creating beautiful sounds that don't have a name yet.”
From: Kate Griffin & Matchume Zango / Tamsin Elliott

“Careful Spider sound like nothing you've heard before, familiar elements in a truly original blend that hits hardest in a live setting. Think drone plus spacerock plus psych plus punk topped with soaring harmonies, driving rhythms and post-pop sensibilities. Get drawn into an epic web.”
From: Careful, Spirder

“Fresh on the scene, this is Cryptbreaker's first show celebrating the release of their EP "Delusions of Adequacy". Joined by Docile & Cave Walker for a night of dark ambient sounds, guttural screams, and sweaty moshing.”
From: Cryptbreaker, Docile, & Cave Walker