Bristol's Experimental Pop Scene

Experimental pop events in Bristol are easy to find: Bristol has always been the place for music with a bit of an edge to it (notorious local act the Pop Group are anything but....) There's a range of smaller venues in the city like the Crofter's Rights, the Old England and the Cube that regular put on gigs of the experimental variety - often crossed over with those pop hooks you know and love.

Bristol's music crowd is well-known for it's open minded tastes so DJs in the city can get away with playing experimental music, even in busy mid-week venues like the Galllimaufry. Stokes Croft is really the place, with venues like Cafe Kino and the Arts House also putting on experimental pop gigs as well as folk and noise.

Buy tickets for experimental pop events in Bristol

Our recent experimental pop recommendations

Forget yr single-minded Saint Valentine’s devotion, this one’s an orgiastic 5 bander across the kaleidoscopic alt/art rock spectrum, led by psychedelic octet Big Long Sun – a genre-bending delight FFO: Arthur Russell, The Flaming Lips + Of Montreal. Add in Shaking Hand’s swooning post-rock and baroque pop lushness from Blue Bayou… and you’ve got a love-in for the ages. Big Long Sun + Shaking Hand + Little Grandad + Blue Bayou + The Marlarkey + Multi-media exhibition in the cellar

Scene royalty and Brilliant Corners/Experimental Pop Band alumnus Davey Woodward joins both Karen and The Winter Orphans for a ramshackle new wave/alt-rock/twee pop double-billing. With scrappy poetics and lo-fi intimacy, this is C86-style indie with actual C86 pedigree! Essential FFO: Big Star, Wilco, The Pastels, Hefner, Sarah Records. Bristol Indie royalty to some

21st century synth punk survivalists who sleep in leather and eat electroclash journos for breakfast. Adult have cruised through 20 years of disorientating EBM mania with immortal style and Detroit cyber-electroid aplomb. They are THE unfuckwithable icons of icy androidgynous dance FFO: Dame Area, Wax Trax, Throbbing Gristle, the Knife, the Soft Moon, Cybotron. Legendary Detroit synth duo channelling electro, techno, punk, and darkwave into kinetic and unsettling EBM'. Plus Spike Hellis fresh minimal EBM blasting a gospel of disenchantment and sarcasm

What our editors say

“Known for crafting nocturnal, surrealist music that feels both intimate and otherworldly, Dalt has spent over a decade reshaping the boundaries of experimental pop, sound art and electronic composition.”
From: Danger To Ourselves Tour

“BIG LONG SUN 'A quirkily catchy, lo-fi, psychedelic-funk, dadaist-influenced, wonderfully oddball, original release by the Midlands-born, Brighton-based poet, painter, film-maker and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Broughton. A follow-up to 2024’s big long sun: speaking, all-round DIY creator Broughton conjures a variety of instrument and sounds, including guitar, synths and samplers, bass, drums, woodwind and layered vocal harmonies with a charming sparseness of eccentric eclecticism, with influences from woozy Conan Mockasin-esque psychedelic weirdness or the pop-funk-jazz of Steve Lacy or the alternative, experimental pop of Field Music.'-www.song-bar.com/”
From: Big Long Sun - Valentine's Special

“Anyone familiar with electronic music will know Mechatok, aka Emir Timur Tokdemir. He made his name touring globally and releasing a series of records and collaborations with some of the most forward-thinking artists of the past decade, from Drain Gang (Bladee, Ecco2k, Whitearmor, Thaiboy Digital) to Charli XCX to Lorenzo Senni. Often subtle in delivery, these works circulated widely across underground and adjacent mainstream scenes, subtly shaping the direction of experimental pop and club music.”
From: Mechatok + special guests

“Spanning experimental pop and club music, Babymorocco blends hyper-emotional songwriting with a palette drawn from early 2000s dance, French electro, 2-step, and hardcore. Over the years he has received support from Pitchfork, The Guardian, NME, The FADER, DIY, and more.”
From: Babymorocco + Tailtiu + iKeda

“Joining them is LA's Spike Hellis, with their fresh spin on minimal EBM blasted with dark, experimental pop, new beat, techno & freestyle, shot through with disenchantment and sarcasm - one of the most exciting new acts in the scene and with a hard-hitting live show.”
From: Adult. + Spike Hellis