Swell Maps C21 + Special Guests

Towards the end of 2021, Café Oto in Dalston hosted two nights of music from ten musicians under the moniker of Swell Maps C21, a new reimagining of a group that burst out of Solihull in the late 70s and shaped the sound of acts including Pavement, Sonic Youth and Blur. Now the circle is complete, as we welcome Jowe Head and his merry band back to Birmingham for the first time since 1978.

The original Swell Maps might not have emerged without punk, but they always had a tenuous relationship to that scene and stirred together influences from Can and King Crimson to T-Rex and Bowie. Swell Maps C21 are equally eclectic, mixing compositions by Jowe and the Godfrey brothers (Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks) with new material that shows the same playful, absurdist bent.

Support comes from the Maps’ Solihull contemporaries Cult Figures, similarly reassembled over the last few years following a long hiatus. Co-founded by Jonathan Hodgson – better known in Flatpack-world as an award-winning animator – the band riff on their origins with titles including Deritend and The 166 Ploughs a Lonely Furrow. Completing the bill are Magnatas Court, a noisy four-piece from the Black Country who are keeping the punk torch burning