Opened in 2008 by experimental music-loving couple Hamish Dunbar and Keiko Yamamoto, Cafe Oto is a charmingly ramshackle, no-frills café-cum-performance-space on a backstreet around the corner from Dalston Junction System, and arguably the best venue in London for catching experimental music.
By day, it serves up a hearty, daily-changing menu of Persian-inspired flavours (think nourishing soups, salads, sarnies and moreish baked goods) while patrons read and work on laptops. By night it welcomes a loyal audience of discerning (some might say unbearable) musos, gathered to watch a wildly eclectic line-up of maverick acts.
Screeching saxophonists, maniacal white noise merchants, practitioners of musique concrète, global folk artists playing little-down traditional instruments: Oto’s stage has been graced by the lot. Although when we say ‘stage’, what we really mean is a clearing at the back of the room. Gigs at Oto are about as immediate, intimate and stripped-down as it gets. And you might spot a few famous fans in the crowd too; Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore are both regulars.