Monday 5 January 2026, 7.30pm
Damon & Naomi (of Galaxie 500) return to Cafe OTO in the New Year for a three-day residency of music, friends, surprise guests, and a celebration for the UK publication of Damon’s book Why Sound Matters (Yale University Press). Expect unannounced musical collaborations, non-musical collaborations, and Damon insisting on playing the drums at least once.
Damon & Naomi began playing music together as the rhythm section, co-songwriters, and sometime singers in Galaxie 500. The band’s three albums on Rough Trade (Today,On Fire, and This Is Our Music) were genre-defying landmarks of atmospheric post-punk, inspiring countless other artists who followed in their wake. Since the early 1990s, Damon & Naomi have worked as a duo exploring folk music, psychedelia, and collaborations with other like-minded musicians on a series of albums for Shimmy Disc, Sub Pop, Drag City, and their own label 20/20/20. In addition to their work as musicians, Damon & Naomi are the publishers of Exact Change, a small press dedicated to avant-garde literature and artists’ writings. Damon is also a writer, author of several books and essayist for publications such as Pitchfork, Artforum, and his own newsletter Dada Drummer Almanach. Naomi is also a visual artist, photographer and graphic designer, as well as director of music videos (Sharon van Etten, Steve Gunn, Lee Ranaldo, Meg Baird, Waxahatchee, Julia Holter) and the essay film Never Be A Punching Bag for Nobody.
Stewart Lee (“the world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” The Times), is in danger of being left behind. He’s approaching sixty with debilitating health conditions, his TV profile has diminished, and his once BAFTA award-winning style of stand-up seems obsolete in the face of a wave of callous Netflix-endorsed comedy of anger, monetising the denigration of minorities for millions of dollars. But he can still pack ’em in at CAFÉ OTO!
Gina Birch has never been one to stay silent. The artist-songwriter-filmmaker-feminist-icon has had an undeniable and outspoken hand in shaping the UK’s independent music scene, perhaps most notably as a founding member and bassist of post-punk legends The Raincoats, a band which to this day is responsible for socially conscious rock groups being formed in garages and rec halls across the globe. In 1977, she debuted one of her most recognized art pieces, the short film 3 Minute Scream, in which she stares down the camera and, as the title suggests, screams for the duration of a Super 8 cartridge. Viewed in the present day, it’s still a rage-filled, prescient, important piece of work—so much so that in 2024 it was shown in Women in Revolt, an exhibition of feminist art and activism at Tate Britain. Aptly, Trouble is the name of Gina’s newest solo album, a fiery yet introspective collection of post-punk, dub, experimental rock, and indie. Much like 3 Minute Scream, Trouble is a declaration, but not an angry shout into the void—it’s a statement of intent, a commitment to uninhibited creativity, an artist letting her audience in on her wildest thoughts and innermost emotions.
Why Sound Matters will be published January 6 in the UK and copies will be available at Café Oto during this residency Jan 3-5. Some advance notices:
“Why does sound matter? This book will tell you. There’s always more to life than meets the eye—and there’s certainly more to life than meets the ear. Read this book to find out exactly how much more. It’s a modern masterpiece.”—Jarvis Cocker, Pulp
“Why Sound Matters is an inspiring guide for how to envision change in a world of noise pollution and music devalued by the corporate algorithm. This is a crucial read for every musician today and for anyone who cares about music.”—Julia Holter, singer-songwriter
“An urgent dive into the tangibility of sound and community. Damon Krukowski explains why something you can’t physically touch or see offers so much immeasurable wealth to our lives, and connects the dots between sound, the natural world and the systems that exploit both.”—Heba Kadry, mastering engineer
“In his work as a musician, activist, publisher, and writer, Damon Krukowski has always been an inspiration. This book is no exception.”—Jeff Mangum, Neutral Milk Hotel
“Music is the original gig economy, in many ways forecasting the future of the wider world. So what is to be done? Well, organization and solidarity, as Krukowski proposes in this hopeful book.”—Stephin Merritt, The Magnetic Fields
“Why Sound Matters convincingly argues that issues of music and creative labor today are rooted in a general misunderstanding of the value of sound—a vital contribution to the conversation on where music and audio culture goes from here.”—Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
“At a time when music teeters somewhere between a gift beyond price and literally worthless, Damon Krukowski insists on sound as a material force in the world—something that can harm and heal, a resource that’s exploited but that could be liberated. The questions raised and answers offered will reverberate through your mind long after you close the book.”—Simon Reynolds, author of Futuromania: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines and Tomorrow’s Music Today
