Your live music agenda for December

Dear Readers,

It’s the first day of the month, the time our friend cizenbayan shares her live music picks with you. As usual, you can listen to the artists mentioned below on the Canım Istanbul SoundCloud. If you want to buy tickets for any of the shows, you can use the affiliate links at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

It is already December and the countdown to the New Year has begun. Luckily, we felt the summer breeze in Istanbul until the last days of November. Thanks to this energetic and happy mood, we want to hit the streets rather than stay home, and one of the best things to do in our city is to listen to fine live music! After the busy November schedule, we present you with our live music picks for December.

Mark your calendar for December 4, as Rone will be on the Babylon Bomonti stage for XXF Very Very French Festival that started last month, organized by Babylon and the French Cultural Center. We suggest Infinity Ink’s performance at Indigo on the same night for those who want to keep dancing after Rone.

Rone

The “Off The Hook” series will kick off with Editors at the Volkswagen Arena on December 6 (you can buy combined tickets to see Hozier in March as well). We had the chance to listen to Editors in Istanbul in the past so trust us on this one! They recently pleased their fans after releasing a single from their forthcoming album. BİZ, one of the most successful Turkish indie bands, will warm up the crowd beforehand.

Editors

On December 8, Salon will host Californian multi-genre bass player Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat, who worked with Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar. Thomas Dybdahl will also take the Salon stage; mark December 10 to listen to his romantic songs.

Thundercat

Berlin’s biggest jazz festival XJAZZ is coming to Istanbul from December 10-12. Many artists from the two cities are already in close touch so it wasn’t so hard to decide who would perform at the festival. Coop will host Günter Sommer & Tolga Tüzün on December 10 as well as Komfortrauschen and Barış Demirel on December 12. Studnitzky Quartet and Maden Öktem Ersönmez will be at Roxy on December 10. You can see Memento and Ercüment Orkut ‘Low Profile’ at Zorlu Performing Arts Center on December 12.

A difficult decision awaits us on December 11. Considered as one of the best live soul performances, Monophonics from San Francisco will give a contemporary twist to the 60’s and 70’s soul and funk at Babylon Bomonti. On the same night, Salon IKSV hosts Dutch musician Jacco Gardner who gets his inspiration from 60’s and 70’s psych sound. What do do, what to do…

Monophonics

Get ready to dance at Indigo with Adriatique on December 12. Formed by two Swiss DJs both named Adrian; Adriatique will make you dance till the morning with their fast-paced melodic house and techno tunes.

Adriatique

Babylon will host Blonde Redhead for two consecutive nights on December 15 and 16. Beware: Kazu Makino’s charming bitter voice may lead you to depression but missing this concert will do so as well. In any case, don’t worry, Belgian musician Selah Sue (who sounds a bit like Lauryn Hill) will lift you up at Babylon Bomonti on December 17.

There are fewer events announced as Christmas and New Year approaches. Kolektiv Turmstrasse’s performance at Indigo on December 19 may be our last chance to dance the night away before the big parties. We expect that more events will be announced for the last two weeks of the year and we will be glad to share them with you.