New venue, komunal, to open in Birmingham

A new community music space is set to open in Birmingham.

Opening in Digbeth on 15th August, komunal is dedicated to “high-quality electronic music”, and promises to provide a platform for “thoughtful programming and independent global voices”, according to a press release.

The komunal team space will also house the karavan, a livestream booth inside a converted caravan, where regular sessions for the new komrad online radio station will be held.

komunal will host a launch party on 15th August with Berlin-based Croatian DJ Dea Dvornik, part of the duo ERIS.

Further down the line, the komunal team have described their programming as “a rotating line-up of carefully curated selectors and DJs, each bringing a distinct perspective on contemporary club culture”.

Check out the komunal Instagram page for event updates. You can also join the club’s WhatsApp group for updates here.

In other Birmingham club news, a new 2000-capacity club was opened earlier this year by the same team behind Forum Birmingham, which shut down permanently in April.

December 2024 also saw the arrival of a new “back to basics” underground club in the city called Colette.

These new venue arrivals bring a welcome note of optimism to a landscape in which cultural institutions in Birmingham have recently faced major funding cuts and grassroots venues around the country have faced closure due to soaring costs.

Last October, the UK’s Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) warned that UK clubs could be “extinct” by the end of the decade should the rate of closures continue with such intensity. In the past four years, approximately three late-licensed music venues have closed each week.

Most Popular

Rezz

Vote for Rezz and show her some love

 

Rezz is an electronic music producer and DJ; her sound has been described as “midtempo bass” and a modern styling of “new beat”. In 2015, MTV called her the “new queen of the dark techno scene”, writing she had been “making electronic and techy beats for two years” at that point. EDM.com’s Niko Sani wrote Rezz’s “deliciously ominous, often alien-sounding bass music” helped gain her popularity within the electronic music scene in around 2016. Other music writers have referred to Rezz’s music as sounding “dark”, as well as “menacing”, “mechanical”, “haunting and industrial”. Spotify’s outlet For the Record profiled Rezz, calling her “one of the most highly regarded producers of downtempo soundscapes”, and saying she “strikes a firm balance between minimal original tech compositions and the all-heavy bass.

 

Rezz has described her music as “eerie, grungy, dungeon sounds”.She has stated while growing up, she listened exclusively to bands,particularly punk and rock bands. My Chemical Romance, Bring Me the Horizon, and Underoath have been cited as such bands she listened to in her youth. She cited Silverstein as one band that she frequently listened to that had an influence on her EP It’s Not A Phase. Deadmau5 is an early inspiration for Rezz. She has also mentioned Zeds Dead and Metric as fellow Canadian artists who have influenced her. Rezz is known for the signature LED spiraling “hypno glasses” she wears during live performances