Photo by Wumni Onibudo
GAIKA will host this year’s Curse Of The Red Kiss at the London EDITION on Halloween night.
The party is named after the musician’s two-part EP The Spectacular Empire, and will feature guests including Mensa, Jevanni Letford, Glor1a, Deji Okeze, Dr Bombo, Janelle Wynter and Hiteca.
“Welcome to a world in which authority has been removed and cities destroyed, a world where chaos reigns,” reads the seemingly ominous introduction to the event, which will blend immersive mythologies with visions of a dystopian world.
“It’s like the ghost in the machine. If you listen to grime, trap, dancehall, hip-hop, reggae, there’s this glory in the face of death, a celebration of the impermanence of life,” says Gaika of ‘ghetto-futurism’, an apt term to encompass the ethos of ‘The Spectacular Empire’.
“Ghetto’ isn’t just to do with black people,” he says, “but it’s all the people who live under the boot, the 99%, and how we end up reveling in what other people deem the shadow.”
Earlier this year, he released his debut album Basic Volume, described by The Quietus as a “vital debut that captures a dark, uncertain time, but counters displacement – in all its forms – with grace, nerve, and a spine-tingling call to arms, and perhaps just as importantly, a call to dance.” Read our review of Basic Volume here and an interview with Gaika here.
Gaika takes the venue on Halloween Night. Get your tickets here.
