On Thursday 9 October, The Jazz Cafe hosts Populous and Joaquín Cornejo, two producers who fold landscapes, traditions and club culture into forward-thinking electronic performance.
From Lecce in southern Italy, Populous (Andrea Mangia) brings his new live A/V show built around Isla Diferente. Released on 11 April as the first outing on his own Latinambient imprint, the album was born during a residency on Lanzarote, and the island runs through every beat: percussion that rumbles like shifting rock, synth lines scorched with desert heat, and wide ambient passages that feel cut from open sky. Just as crucial were the island’s clubs, where nights on the floor sharpened the low-end weight and percussive drive. Live, those forces collide: cumbia-leaning rhythms snap into heavy bass, while stark, colour-saturated visuals mirror the volcanic landscapes behind the sound. The result is both physical and hallucinatory, a set rooted in Lanzarote’s ground yet built for the dancefloor.
Where Populous shapes his sound through the dialogue between landscape and club culture, Joaquín Cornejo works through improvisation. Raised in Quito, and with recent years split between Berlin, Manchester and the Ecuadorian capital, the composer and producer builds his sets entirely in the moment. Andean rhythms weave through modular synths and tape machines, with folkloric echoes unravelling into polyrhythmic loops or collapsing into dub-heavy drones. His latest release, Cap I Cua on YUKU, gathers tracks shaped by his time working on a farm and exploring connections with plants, people and creatures that gave him strength. Built largely from live improvisations with synths and acoustic instruments, the EP reflects the same instinctive approach he brings to the stage. No two performances are alike: one night a dense weave of percussion aimed at the floor, the next a slow drift of drones and textures — always grounded in spontaneity and instinct.
With Earthly Measures on DJ duties — a London crew known for their globally-minded club nights and eclectic label output — the night links Mediterranean leftfield electronics, Andean echoes and the capital’s own underground. Expect tropical percussion, bass-driven experimentation and improvised electronics pushing the dancefloor into new territory.
Populous, Joaquín Cornejo & Earthly Measures bring their worlds together at The Jazz Cafe on Thursday 9 October. Tickets are available HERE