Pop Mutations

Pop Mutations Pop Mutations is a festival and in-house event promotion collective from the heads behind The Flying

dear diary... here is the Pop Mutations 2026 A/W collection so far, lots to look forward to and lots of good stuff TBA o...
09/09/2026

dear diary... here is the Pop Mutations 2026 A/W collection so far, lots to look forward to and lots of good stuff TBA over the next few months so keep your peepers peeled

Info and Tickets at www.popmutations.com, Citizen Ticket, See Tickets, Tickets Scotland and Resident Advisor ***links in bio***

poster by chloe keppie

08/09/2026

friday~~
Pop Mutations presents:
Drook
+ Half Time
+ Kelpie
Friday 11th September
The Glad Cafe
18+

Drook's debut LP, The Pure Joy of Jumping, stands as a testament to the lofty ambitions of the Richmond, Virginia-based group and their ever-spinning wheelhouse of interests and tastes. Written up and down the east coast, in studios, bedrooms and coffee shops, the contents of Jumping are as traveled as the band itself. Conceived over a period of four years, this deeply personal coming-of-age record explores identity, interpersonal relationships, and the modern malaise of American life. Underscored by an earnest sense of humor and pointed self-evaluation, Jumping plays out over 11 songs driven by frenetic rhythms, blissed-out guitars, and colorful synth arrangements. It's an aggregation of self-expression with a limitless approach to form.

Pop Mutations presents:My New Band Believe+ Special GuestsTuesday 9th MarchSaint Luke's14+Already featuring in The Fader...
08/09/2026

Pop Mutations presents:
My New Band Believe
+ Special Guests
Tuesday 9th March
Saint Luke's
14+

Already featuring in The Fader, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Clash, Time Out & NME’s ‘Album Of The Year So Far’ lists, My New Band Believe’s eponymous boundary pushing debut album continues to win plaudits. The group are currently touring until early November, with further dates internationally to follow.

As the bassist and sometime frontman of black midi, Picton and his bandmates practiced an explosive form of musical world-building, weaving complex story-telling through thrilling passages of controlled chaos. When the group called it quits in 2023, the artist didn’t immediately feel like making a solo record or jumping back into another band. It was from this position of a not-quite team player, not-quite bandleader that Picton entered the studio and the seeds of My New Band Believe gradually began to emerge.

The group’s debut is a massive and hallucinatory record. It is a collection of music that swerves through wildly different emotional and thematic registers, all the while unraveling an endlessly compelling thread of dream logic. Picton is an unreliable but charismatic narrator and together with a cast of all-star players including Kiran Leonard, Caius Williams, Steve Noble, Andrew Cheetham, he not only comes into his own as a bandleader but arranges conflicting, fragmentary, and hysterical ideas until they form a brilliant new kind of sense.

“On the surface former black midi bassist Cameron Picton doesn’t carry over much from his old group to My New Band Believe – a name that apparently appeared to him in a delirious fever dream. MNBB’s self-titled debut replaces skronking prog-noise-punk with tumbling loops of acoustic guitar, swooning strings and pastoral elegance (with help from arty rock octet caroline). Really wrap your ears around My New Band Believe, however, and you’ll discover Picton’s same penchant for meticulously knotty songwriting and epic maximalism. It’s a record to tuck into the details, sidle up to the characters, let yourself wallow in its billowing strums and luscious layers. The most luxurious indie rock album of the decade so far.” Time Ou

Pop Mutations presents:Locust+ Mock UncleSaturday 26th SeptemberThe Glad Cafe18+Mark Van Hoen's project Locust has been ...
07/09/2026

Pop Mutations presents:
Locust
+ Mock Uncle
Saturday 26th September
The Glad Cafe
18+

Mark Van Hoen's project Locust has been in existence since the early 1990s, acclaimed for their singular permutations which have taken in everything from IDM (Van Hoen has previously played shows with Aphex Twin and Autechre), My Bloody Valentine, Trip Hop to Eno, and their latest line-up began to take shape in 2024.
"Olive Kimoto (vocals, keyboards) instigated all this. I was playing a solo show in September 2024 and she came to that. She had been running a club called Heaven or Los Angeles, a Cocteau Twins reference which I immediately liked. When we met, she said how much she liked my music. She did a two hour radio special with me on my music and we decided to collaborate."
The new Locust played their first show in 2025, the first show back since opening for Massive Attack in the 90s, and since then they have fleshed out new material for a new album, Spectral+, with parts added as developed onstage.
"We're establishing this identity as a live band. We've really bonded, all really good friends, all rooting for it. People can see we're a tight band, they're not hired hands."
The band also includes Derek Mabra on guitar and Jaelyn Valero on drums.
Spectral+, which builds on the success of the previous Locust album, is an eclectic, uniquely slanted collection of songs which use classic influences as jumping off points into fresh waters. The album title reflects the sheer variegation, the range of colour across these songs, as well as implying something of the sense of spectres of pop's past.
"I'm much more interested in songs these days, the songwriting process," says Van Hoen.
So, "Shape Of Another", with its heavy, radioactive buzz, reminds faintly of The Bug as well as echoes of very early Locust material. "Long Distance Lover", with its chromium neo-synthpop and echoing guitar figurines, rings out with Neil Halstead's unmistakable guitar, while "All Of Them" feels like epic pop from a parallel universe, with vocals from Nick Holton of the group Black Hearted Brother (a project with Mark Van Hoen and Neil Halstead).

next friday~~Pop Mutations presents:Drook+ Special GuestsFriday 11th SeptemberThe Glad Cafe18+Drook's debut LP, The Pure...
03/09/2026

next friday~~
Pop Mutations presents:
Drook
+ Special Guests
Friday 11th September
The Glad Cafe
18+

Drook's debut LP, The Pure Joy of Jumping, stands as a testament to the lofty ambitions of the Richmond, Virginia-based group and their ever-spinning wheelhouse of interests and tastes. Written up and down the east coast, in studios, bedrooms and coffee shops, the contents of Jumping are as traveled as the band itself. Conceived over a period of four years, this deeply personal coming-of-age record explores identity, interpersonal relationships, and the modern malaise of American life. Underscored by an earnest sense of humor and pointed self-evaluation, Jumping plays out over 11 songs driven by frenetic rhythms, blissed-out guitars, and colorful synth arrangements. It's an aggregation of self-expression with a limitless approach to form.

Pop Mutations presents:The Reds, Pinks and Purples+ Special GuestsWednesday 17th MarchMono18+As The Reds, Pinks and Purp...
02/09/2026

Pop Mutations presents:
The Reds, Pinks and Purples
+ Special Guests
Wednesday 17th March
Mono
18+

As The Reds, Pinks and Purples, Donaldson makes unabashedly melodic indie pop in the late ’80s mold, sketching out the simplest and sweetest of pop songs from the barest of elements: strummy guitar chords accented with occasional synth or casio keyboard line, undercut by the gentle patter of a drum machine with lyrics so bitterly melancholy and mildly misanthropic they would be heartbreaking if the music itself wasn’t so appealing.

Prolific singer songwriter and concerned social commentator Glenn Donaldson is the central pivot of The Reds, Pinks and Purples. A band that effortlessly captures the essence of indie rock’s golden era. With a sound that echoes the equally prolific and fellow British-Invasion-disciples Guided by Voices, they weave a tapestry of melodies that are both nostalgic and refreshingly original. Imagine the raw, lo-fi charm of GBV meeting the atmospheric melancholy of The Cure, all while channelling the storytelling of The Go-Betweens. Joining the esteemed Fire Records,  the band has finally landed where their music belongs.

“Fire has one of the most iconic catalogs in indie music, I am humbled to be working with them. I count The Chills, Television Personalities, The Lemonheads, Spacemen 3 and more as formative.” – Glenn Donaldson

Having penned over 200 songs and released eight albums in the last six years, their brand of emotional pop music is set to infiltrate many more troubled bedrooms by crystalizing the tragic self-celebrating kingdoms of fortunate failures, false heroes and humanity in the grips of all its romanticized wonder and woe.

Glenn: “The music is there to set the mood, I’m fond of sad songs but I’m trying to weave in humour, it’s that kind of sadness that’s like laughing at yourself.”

An archival first-time on vinyl collection of rare tracks is set to be released in June, followed by their highly anticipated Fire Records debut in late 2025.

‘The World Doesn’t Need Another Band’….for The Reds, Pinks and Purples are the harmonious convergence of all your favourite artists.

last call for tomorrow~~Pop Mutations presents:Fatboi Sharif+ tues.+ Jamie ScottWednesday 2nd SeptemberThe Old Hairdress...
01/09/2026

last call for tomorrow~~
Pop Mutations presents:
Fatboi Sharif
+ tues.
+ Jamie Scott
Wednesday 2nd September
The Old Hairdresser's
18+
 
 The Garden State Gargoyle, Fatboi Sharif, is an American avant-garde Hip-Hop artist that is looking to take over the globe with his abstract lyricism, spine-chilling soundscapes, illuminating intensity, and his million-dollar smile. It is either the highest level or nothing for Sharif when it comes to putting out projects and performing on stage. He treats the live show as a spiritual experience where Sharif takes the crowd on a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world as if from a location outside their physical body. By the closing track he tells the crowd to involve themselves in a call & response that simply repeats “MY FAMILY!” because by the end of his set he’s grown a connection with the crowd that could only equate with that of your family.

 Different channels of inspiration are always a must. Inspired by Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, Alice Coltrane, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Ultramagnetic MC’s, Freestyle Fellowship, Cannibal Ox, Rob Zombie, Pig Destroyer just to name a few. Fatboi keeps constant inspiration around him to push the limit. If not, he’s better off without it. Sharif has studied all genre-pushing works of music, film, and literature. His debut “Ape Twin” from 2017 was re-released on vinyl, via Needle to the Groove, with exclusive bonus tracks only available on wax. The reason Sharif can re-release a project from 2017 in 2025 is because his sound is evergreen. Fatboi Sharif is one of the most charismatic and embracing individuals you’ll have the pleasure of meeting. The Garden State Gargoyle of Elaborate Literature Challenging the Unknown.

“Sharif is one of the most distinct artists across any scene.” – Rolling Stone

“Imagine a Cenobite raised on MF DOOM and Wu-Tang Clan, and you’ve got something approximating a rapper like Fatboi Sharif.” – FADER

“But if the sound has grown stagnant in the sun, hip-hop’s future may lie underground with bold voices like Sharif’s.” – US Weekly

dear diary, here's what we've got coming up in SeptemberTicks at the link in bioArt by chloe keppie
31/08/2026

dear diary, here's what we've got coming up in September

Ticks at the link in bio

Art by chloe keppie

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