Saving You A Trip to Brixton: The Eight Most Definitive Projects from the London Windmill Scene

Ever since David Bowie sashayed across the soil of London’s vaguely troubled borough Brixton, the South London neighborhood became a designated gathering point for a ‘high-drama, low-sincerity’ norm of artistic expression. Since then, it seems that the unassuming venue keeps popping out mini-celebrities of the international indie scene. To name a few: Black Midi, Black Country, New Road, and Squid have all repeatedly passed through the South London community. While there can be an undeniable streak of insufferability haunting the Brixton music scene, it draws the sort of artists that bemoan the death of the concept album yet do nothing about it, or would refer to an artist’s fourth record as their ‘senior project.’ Sometimes the worst people to hang out with make the best music (seriously - ‘Don’t meet your heroes’ has turned to idiom for a reason).

 

Some of the more nimble, cerebrally-engaging music coming from the venue are testaments to the payoff that can come from risk-taking; others are dense and prosecutorial enough in tone to compel listeners to cut the acidity by listening to “Wonderwall” after. To save everyone the dignity of turning to such drastic measures, I have compiled four records and four singles from some of the more definitive projects coming from the wee yet widely extolled Windmill pub.