Five years after their last visit, the heaviest band on the planet returned to Manchester for this MIF17 exclusive. SUNN O))) have become both famous and notorious worldwide for their immense live shows, crushing collisions of slow-motion riffs and atmospherics memorably described by The New York Times as ‘not unlike listening to an Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake’. The group recently released Kannon, their seventh studio album – but they’re best experienced live, when you’ve no choice but to immerse yourself in their astonishing sound. Support was from Demdike Stare, Manchester’s magnificent dark electronica pioneers.

‘A grandiose occult drama of noise’ Intertainment Magazine

‘A tumultuous textured, beautiful and yet unsettling soundscape that seeps into your pores’ Louder Than War

Curated by Mary Anne Hobbs for MIF17, Dark Matter was eight immersive shows from pioneering national, international and Manchester-based musicians.