London’s foremost experimental music venue, Cafe Oto, has two particularly exciting series of events planned for 2012.

The first is a run of concerts programmed by Sunn 0))) guitar hero Stephen O’Malley. The first event, which takes place on February 4, showcases the talent on Ideologic Organ, the label he runs through Vienna’s Editions Mego. In a short space of time, IO has established itself as a buy-on-sight imprint, with vinyl releases spanning the otherworldly throat-singing of Phurpa, Nurse With Wound’s industrial-strength remixes of Sunn 0))) , and precious neo-classical composition and medievalist vocalisations from Eyvind Kang and Jessica Kenney, all clad in stunning artwork by O’Malley himself. Kang and Kenney will perform together for the Oto show, as will Andrew Chalk and Timo Van Luijk (as Elodie).

According to The Wire, between four and six concerts are planned for the year, and O’Malley will be in attendance, though not necessarily be performing, at each. More information and tickets here.

On the evenings of February 28 and 29, Japanese avant-garde icon Keiji Haino will take up residency at Oto, following a similar stint last year. It’s impossible to predict what Haino’s performances will entail; his illustrious 30 year career has routinely confounded expectation, taking in freeform rock, live percussion onslaughts, caustic electronics and uninhibited vocal experimentation, not to mention collaborations with the likes of Jim O’Rourke, Tony Conrad, Merzbow and Pan Sonic. More information and tickets here.