Billy Woods, Moor Mother & ELUCID Triple Headline London Pitchfork Festival [Review]

The London installment of Pitchfork Festival is back for the fourth year running. Whether you’re holding a grudge against them for giving your favourite album a 4 out of 10 or not, it’s hard to ignore the work that has gone into this festival in recent years. The multi-venue approach makes the festival accessible to almost anyone and everyone. My particular interest happened to lie within the triple headline show of Billy Woods, Moor Mother and ELUCID at Fabric.

As a fan of each artist respectively I was intrigued by how the show would be constructed, the idea of all three artists on stage at once tickled my brain. The trio has plenty of music together, so it would’ve been totally doable.

Pitchfork enlisted the Brooklyn-born, Blackheath (South London) residing Goya Gumbani to get the crowd fired up. A one-man band armed with a SP-404. Goya is easily the most stylish guy in hip-hop, and his music is no different. With new music in the chamber, Gumbani used us as guinea pigs to preview some brand new tracks which went down a treat. I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get to hear his latest single, “Chase the Sunrise,” featuring Yaya Bey, Lojii and Fatima, one of my favourite tracks this year. There’s always next time, Goya.

With ELUCID’s latest project, REVELATOR, out less than a month ago now, I was very eager to hear this one live. I’ve always felt that ELUCID albums, in fact, aren’t albums at all. They feel like sound collages and dreamscapes in music form, and REVELATOR is no exception. Yet perhaps Nightmare-scape would be more apt. The project showcases a more industrial, harsh side of ELUCID that we caught a glimpse of in We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, more specifically, “Trauma Mic.” Fabric boasts an incredibly bassy sound system, which brought ELUCID’s set to life and struck fear into the crowd during some of the more unhinged drum and bass-inspired breaks in REVELATOR.

Next up, Moor Mother. Someone who holds the title of ‘most unsettling’ gig I’ve been to. Sometime last year at Hackney’s Church Of Sound Moor Mother performed her album The Great Bailout, this album holds an uncanny resemblance to the vinyl they find Evil Dead Rise (2023), the one with the demons trapped inside. This time round, she took a more upbeat approach, performing tracks from the album prior to Jazz Codes. I got the impression that the majority of the audience were not familiar with her work and were visibly stunned, which is probably the biggest compliment you can receive as an artist.

With only myself to blame, I potentially spoiled this next set by seeing Billy Woods only 3 days prior at Turin’s Club to Club Festival, where he played an almost identical set. I’m not complaining, though; double Woods, to me, is like an early Christmas. Opening the set with a track from the recently-passed Hip-Hop legend Ka, may he rest in peace. A touching moment from someone who was very close to the man.

This was probably one of the most diverse sets I’ve seen from Woods, pulling tracks from albums over 7 years old, not to mention his verse on Mach Hommy’s “383 Myrtle” found on the 2017 project Dumpmeister. Recapping highlights from Hiding Places, Church, Aethiopes and finally Maps, of which there are many. Towards the end of the set, Woods was joined by ELUCID for some Armand Hammer shenanigans.

The sheer amount of talent on stage all in one night is rare, and we’ve only got Pitchfork to thank for such an expertly curated event. For more information on the future of Pitchfork Festival, head over to their official website.

Pitchfork London Festival 2024 new additions