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

What our editors say

“Two eccentric El Rincon debuts for the price of one! - a conglomerate smorgasbord evening of music, ranging from improvisation, pop melodies and spoken word, to extraordinarily-bassoon-led compositions and “dirty furniture music”. The Crash Bandicoots are musical collaborators Taz and Quinn, who play original music on piano and bassoon, influenced by a wide range of unexpected genres – expect folk, reggae, pop, and blues like you’ve never heard before. Sorry is one half of ThankyouSorry, a clever, funny and singularly inventive experimental pop duo from Bristol featuring the voice & piano of Sally. We can’t wait!”
From: The Crash Bandicoots & Sorry

“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

“Producer, vocalist, DJ and dancer Andras_2020 combines the sonorous ripples of their Latin America with experimental pop, deconstructed club music and avant-garde. With influences that range from baile funk to neo-perreo, their music features lyrics that encompasses the explicitness of those genres, clashing with hard hitting drums and their soft falsetto.”
From: CONQUEER w/ ANDRAS_2020, KIIK AMOR & BJ HOLY

“ThankyouSorry are an experimental pop duo from Bristol based around the voice and piano of Sally Stevens and the bass clarinet of Owen O Neill. They have been likened to dirty furniture music and talk about themselves in the third person.”
From: Moon Street Associates + ThankyouSorry. Cancelled

“Hal Kelly is launching her new EP, ‘Let Go Everything’ - a five-track journey which spans post-post-modern environmental angst, extra-terrestrial observations, a doomster call to action, and finally comes to rest in the peace of spiritual liberation. The music floats within the realms of experimental pop and psychedelic electronic music, scattered with field-recordings, breakbeats and meditative ambience.”
From: Let Go Everything // Lydia & Sebastien