Friday, September 11: two routes into London’s left-field electronic night

London’s next live-music stretch runs Thursday, September 10 through Sunday, September 13, and Friday offers a compact route for listeners drawn to electronic music with a taste for friction, texture and unusual, patiently sequenced record selections across the capital. Start in Dalston with HEVLIGHT, a newly assembled trio of Crystabel Efemena Riley, Nkisi and Seymour Wright at Cafe OTO; later, south of the river, Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi bring their DJ partnership to The Fox and Firkin. The bills share a curiosity about sound’s physical detail, yet their formats are usefully distinct: one is a three-way live encounter, the other an open-ended night of selections.^[1][2][3]

HEVLIGHT at Cafe OTO centres musicians whose practices meet across percussion, electronics, production and saxophone. Riley’s work has grown from drums, electronics, make-up and sculptural materials, with a particular attention to skins and patterned surfaces. Nkisi works across live music, DJing, production and curation, drawing together African rhythmic ideas, hard-dance forms and synthesised pressure. Wright’s saxophone practice is framed by the relationships between people, technique, history and the instrument itself. That combination makes the trio a promising close-listening proposition: three established approaches placed in the same room, with no need to force them into a familiar band format. The Wire’s current Cafe OTO listing also places HEVLIGHT inside a September programme dense with improvisers and experimental artists.^[1][3][4]

The Fox and Firkin presents a different kind of shared language. Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi arrive as DJs, with the venue describing a broad sweep through progressive sounds, electronic music and techno. Torabi’s wider musical history gives the pairing an especially useful entry point for listeners who like psych and experimental rock alongside club material; the format lets the night move by association and record choice. It is an event built around a pair’s taste and collection, a contrast that gives Friday’s route a second, more social rhythm after Cafe OTO’s concentrated live trio.^[2]

A practical Friday route

HEVLIGHT is scheduled for Friday, September 11 at 7.30pm at Cafe OTO. Steve Davis & Kavus Torabi follows at The Fox and Firkin from 7.30pm. The two venues sit at opposite ends of a long cross-city trip, so treat them as separate destinations or plan travel with time to spare. Check each venue’s official event page again before leaving for door times, ticket availability, age guidance and any last-minute programme changes.^[1][2]

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Sources

1. HEVLIGHT = A trio: Crystabel Efemena Riley / Nkisi / Seymour Wright — Cafe OTO
2. Steve Davis & Kavus Torabi — The Fox and Firkin
3. Events - Gig - Cafe Oto — The Wire
4. Crystabel Efemena Riley – 6.9.24 — Cafe OTO