https://sonicpaths.co/journal/the Sonic Paths journalen-gb https://sonicpaths.co/journal/london-mayor-licensing-powershttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/london-mayor-licensing-powersTue, 10 Nov 2026 09:00:00 +0000On 3 November 2026 Sadiq Khan gained the power to call in licensing decisions on venues, late hours and festivals. What the law lets him do, what is still unpublished, who objects, and why a Hackney club was saved that week by a planning refusal instead. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/union-chapel-islingtonhttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/union-chapel-islingtonTue, 10 Nov 2026 09:00:00 +0000Two five-star reviews a week apart said the same thing about a church in Islington designed to seat 1,600: it shrinks to the size of a front room. Here is how the pews, the queue, the curfew and the 1877 organ work, checked against the chapel's own pages on 9 November 2026. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/moby-on-the-thameshttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/moby-on-the-thamesMon, 26 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Thirty years of meaning to see Moby play live, settled on a sold-out Saturday in a square Christopher Wren built for sailors, with the Thames at one end and Jacob Lusk at the other. One of the best gigs I have been to in God knows how long, and the practical bit for next summer's series. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/time-at-durham-cathedralhttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/time-at-durham-cathedralMon, 26 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000On the closing night of Time by Luxmuralis, I walked into some of the earliest rib vaults in Europe and was carried, in forty-five minutes, from a clock the size of the nave to the end of the world and back. What it was, who made it, where it goes next, and how to hear the building for free all year. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/knats-king-street-social-clubhttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/knats-king-street-social-clubMon, 26 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000The night after the Mercury Prize, Newcastle's Knats opened their tour in the concert room of a working men's club in North Shields, with bingo on the calendar downstairs and Man Power on the decks after. I went in the rain with a last-minute ticket and a friend who lives on the street. The right band in the right room, and the tour dates for the rest of you. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/elbphilharmonie-at-tenhttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/elbphilharmonie-at-tenWed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Hamburg's glass wave on a brick warehouse turns ten on 11 January 2027, and the anniversary season is as good a reason as any to go. How to get a seat in the Grand Hall for €12, what the Plaza costs now, which concerts to aim for, and the bridge closure that will catch you out until 2028. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/spiritland-at-the-barbicanhttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/spiritland-at-the-barbicanWed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Spiritland opened a hundred-seat room on Level 2 of London's concrete arts centre on 20 October 2026, with a pair of Living Voice R252s and an album played in full at five every day. It runs to July 2027. Here is what it is, how to get a table, and the two other London rooms that opened in the same eight weeks. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/nyege-nyege-on-the-nile-2026https://sonicpaths.co/journal/nyege-nyege-on-the-nile-2026Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Four days, seven stages and more than 200 artists at Kalagala Falls, 19 to 22 November, with the African Electronic Music Conference the three days before. The eleventh edition is themed on Wakaliwood, so parts of the site will be working film sets. Here is how to get there from Entebbe, Kampala, Nairobi and Kigali, where to sleep, what it costs, and which sets to play before you fly. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/kampire-a-dancefloor-in-ndolahttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/kampire-a-dancefloor-in-ndolaWed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000Born in Kenya to Ugandan parents, raised on her father's records in Ndola, Zambia, and a core member of Kampala's Nyege Nyege collective since the label began. Three sets you can press play on, one compilation that explains all of them, and the reason she plays the past at the front of the mix. https://sonicpaths.co/journal/is-anyone-actually-listeninghttps://sonicpaths.co/journal/is-anyone-actually-listeningWed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000London got three listening bars in eight weeks and a published backlash. Here is a five-part test for telling a real one from a bar with a turntable, built from what the people who run the good ones say, with rooms you can check it against.