It has today been announced that Japanese Television will be the headlining act for the September edition of Hidden Herd presents night at The Hope & Ruin. Support on the night will come from Radio Anorak, Drive Your Plow and MAGDA.
Let’s meet the lineup…
BBC Radio 6 Music favourites Japanese Television don’t just play music – they summon it, beaming their sounds straight from a black-lit UFO parked somewhere between 1968 and the heat death of the universe. Founded by cosmic misfit Tim Jones (guitar), the band gained its low-end swagger when Eléa-May Bonnet (bass) joined for their debut album, ‘Space Fruit Vineyard’. A year ago, they expanded their alien frequencies with Riko Fango, who plays organ and taishogoto like he’s channeling ghost transmissions, and Kevin Barthelémy, a drumming wizard who hits the skins like they owe him money. Japanese Television’s otherworldly sonic voyages feel like stumbling into a Dario Argento fever dream, where surf guitars crash into Martian sunsets. Fresh from releasing their second album, ‘Automata Exotica’ – which was once again backed by longtime fans Steve Lamacq, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe – they recently unveiled a remix of its single ‘Typhoon Reggae Police’ featuring psychedelic groove wizards GOAT. This year, they’ve already blitzed across Europe, turning venue after venue into a retro-futuristic soundscape.
Radio Anorak is a Brighton-based project directed by musician Toma Sapir and visual/verbal artist Hugo Winder-Lind. With a unique approach to music-making, the duo have crafted an album of home-recorded spoken word tracks that transmit a singular vision, pinning a poetic skin onto a skeleton of expansive sonic landscapes. Their debut release, a 33-minute album titled ‘Rememberer’, constructs a landscape of ephemeral childhood memory within a vast, mythological, romantic vision of the British Isles. With innovative use of field recordings, synthesisers, strings, an array of collected instruments and extensive creative percussive patterns and improvisation, the result is an honest and emotionally expansive body of work that sits somewhere between the legacy of anti-romantic punk-folk tradition and the endless doom-scrolling, ADHD attention span of post-pandemic online culture. Since the album’s creation, Radio Anorak have morphed into a raucous five-piece live band, performing recently alongside Brighton favourites such as The New Eves, big long sun and Freddie J Watts & The Hot Rocks.
London six-piece Drive Your Plow craft a sound that’s intricate and immersive – an evocative blend of chamber folk and experimental rock that draws on the raw energy of Black Midi, the orchestral swells of Fleet Foxes and the fearless ambition of Black Country, New Road. Across a string of live Bandcamp releases, the band have offered glimpses into their unique world – a place where grit meets grandeur. Live, the band have headlined The Windmill in Brixton, played alongside exciting fellow newcomers such as RABBITFOOT, Dove Ellis and Speedial, and also recently played a night at The Shacklewell Arms, handpicked and curated by Mary In The Junkyard.
Championed by Left of the Dial as purveyors of “uncompromising, raw and chaotic post-punk,” MAGDA are an exciting alternative outfit based between London and Brighton. Wearing influences ranging from Pixies to Mount Kimbie to ovlov on their sleeves, debut EP ‘Hole Punched in Cloud’ has already earned them a dedicated cult following, as well as airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music’s New Music Fix. Led by the erratic yet magnetic stage presence of frontman Max Lambert, MAGDA have quickly built a reputation for their powerful live performances – blending crunchy guitars, driving basslines, relentless drums and ethereal synths to create something both visceral and hypnotic. On tour, they’ve played a sold-out show at Hamburg’s Fabrik supporting Fischer-Z, as well as sets at The Shacklewell Arms, Green Door Store, The George Tavern, The Social and The Hope & Ruin. Up next, they’re set to play Homegrown Festival and Left of the Dial in Rotterdam later in the year.
Find Magda on Spotify HERE.
Tickets are on sale for this event, which is taking place on Wednesday 10th September at The Hope & Ruin, and can be purchased HERE.
