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Amnesia Scanner isn’t so much music as it is a movement, one that intrudes living rooms and sweltering, neon-lit dancefloors alike. The Berlin-based duo’s profoundly impressive debut &lsqu...

burger service is a solo project by Jan Tromp that combines lofi, punk, Dutch, and wave. burger service is een soloproject van Jan Tromp waarin hij lofi combineert met punk, Dutch, en wave.  ...

Oroko Radio is an independent internet radio station based in Accra, Ghana. With the goal to connect, inspire, and empower through conversation, collaboration, and community, Oroko seeks to reclaim an...

Accommodation in Utrecht is in high demand during the festival and the prices can be potentially increased during the time. Therefore, it is recommended to also look into accommodation options in the surrounding areas of Utrecht, where there may be more rooms available, including budget-friendly options.

The famous Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ('Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices') is comprised of 22 members. Performing in traditional clothing, the varying voices of the cho...

Born and bred in the isolated, outstretched emptiness that's the Mojave desert, The Soft Moon’s Luis Vasquez projects equally desolate imagery to voice his darkest fears. Each album peels away a...

Born Otis Calvin III, OCnotes has been an artist, musician, DJ, author, motivational speaker and vibrant figurehead within Seattle’s music scene since the turn of the decade. An ever-curious art...

Alanis Obomsawin received worldwide acclaim as a filmmaker and visual artist. Her work is binded by crusading for the rights and well being of indigenous populations while simultaneously celebrating t...

Manchester figurehead Jane Weaver’s twenty-year career has mostly been aimed at molding dream pop, avant-folk and psychedelic music into fully realized artistic concepts. Weaver's last two effor...

Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin have cut their teeth with psych trailblazers Hookworms and dream pop authors Deadwall respectively. As XAM Duo, they've blossomed into an ethereal electronic jazz o...

Seattle-based musician Jesy Fortino (who also formed Mirrorring together with Grouper’s Liz Harris) returns as Tiny Vipers after an eight-year album hiatus. With the electronic soundscape-based...

Still the crudest, strangest and loudest band from Atlanta. On their eighth LP, the cheekily titled 'Satan's Graffiti or God's Art?', the band unrolled an 18-song epic revelling in Wall Of Sound grand...

Two years ago, Zimbabwe-born, UK-based musician/poet Farai delivered a straight-up banger in ‘The Sinner’ on the Vol. 1 compilation of African diaspora collective NON Worldwide. Consider t...

Brian Case’s debut solo album ‘Tense Nature’ consists of abstract ambient tracks depicting a dark environment, built around tape loops and repetitive grooves. The Disappears-frontman...

Danish sample-duo Den Sorte Skole creates magical, musical storytelling across time and space. By sampling obscure records from all over the globe, all possible genres and from all times, these guys t...

As a live act, Japan’s Vampillia are an anomaly if there ever was one. They embrace and command both eerie silences and punishing volumes of dark oozing noise. It’s no surprise this 11-pie...

Nicole Mitchell, the former first female president of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), is an award-winning flutist, composer, poet and educator. Invoked by...

Roger Eno is a multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer from Suffolk, England. Known for his minimal approach, Eno crafts an ambient sound rooted in classical music. Together with his original pia...

Takuro Kikuchi’s subdued piano compositions move adrift between tranquility and contemplation. The 35-year-old musician hailing from Sendai, Japan, has been playing since the age of nine, drawin...

Maria Chavez approaches the turntables as an instrument of transmission. This Peruvian artist doesn’t opt for just its function of mixing different types of music. Her approach is more primordia...

Tokyo-based group Kikagaku Moyo forges heavy-improv psychedelia, including elements of German Krautrock, classic Indian raga and acid folk. Kikagaku Moyo - Japanese for "geometric patterns" - finds a...

Enter the dark, mythical world of minimalist composer and praised lute-player Jozef van Wissem. Accompanied by his twin-necked, 24-stringed baroque instrument, Van Wissem creates strange, sonic sounds...

Triggered by various Latin American rhythms and tremendous joy, a Meridian Brothers concert always results in one big dance party. Led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Eblis Álvarez, this...

Renowned for her extraordinary vocal range, The Chicago Reader described Maja S. K. Ratkje as “one of the most astonishing singers on the planet.” Even more of an accomplishment when you t...

‘What’s in a name?’, they say. In Richard Fearless’ case, a lot. He’s the mastermind behind Death In Vegas, not to mention an accomplished producer and DJ whose scope ext...

The ‘Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales’ (ONCEIM) is an orchestra of 34 musicians dedicated to the art of creation and experimenta...

The ‘Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales’ (ONCEIM) is an orchestra of 34 musicians dedicated to the art of creation and experimenta...

Joe Coleman is a performance artist, collector and painter whose hyper-detailed works depict celebrities, historical figures and artists with the same graceful iconography as the Gods and prophets of...

Painting, dancing, baking, and a degree in neuroscience for good measure; Madeline Kenney is good at a lot of things. One of those things also happens to be music; more specifically, writing and produ...

Oft-compared to Karen Dalton and Hope Sandoval, Ora Cogan’s mystic folk is dark, beautiful and poignant. On latest album ‘Crickets’, the Vancouver-based composer and filmmaker abando...

British collective Seefeel straddled that chasm between experimental rock and ambient techno long before artists like Radiohead and Broadcast – and even later, Dirty Beaches and Caribou –...

Chasing Reels presents; in collaboration with Leiden International Film Festival; dir. Ethan Hawke The film ‘Blaze’ is about the unsung songwriting legend Blaze Foley, a relatively obscur...

Before TivoliVredenburg opened in 2014, Le Guess Who? had its headquarters at beloved pop venue Tivoli Oudegracht. This year, we are happy to return to our roots with a very special project: Collabora...

Embracing music from both bygone and current eras, Miranda Cuckson is regarded as one of the most acclaimed performers of classical and modern music. The New York Times called Cuckson “a prodigi...

Norwegian-born, Berlin-based artist Stíne Janvin has the special ability to morph and manipulate her vocals into beautiful sound abstractions, to the point even where you forget it’s a vo...

Hosted by FACT Slikback is Freddy Njau, an emerging Kenyan producer currently situated in Poland. Associated with the infectious Kampala collective Nyege Nyege, his 2019 EP Tomo renders footwork, gri...

Vivian Wang is one of the founders and multi-instrumentalists of Singapore-based art rock ensemble The Observatory. After initially honing her skills as a classically trained pianist, Wang approaches...

During this decade, Atlanta art-punkers Deerhunter have further established themselves as one of the finest bands alive, consolidating an unmistakable sound with restless reinvention. The electronic-d...

The sprawling universe that is the great Acid Mothers Temple was formed in 1995 by Kawabata Makoto. This fabled Japanese collective always held a deep dedication and devotion to improvised music. From...

The Bandcamp-bio for Petbrick deadpans that it’s just ‘Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura) and Wayne Adams making horrible noises that melt your face’. But press play and you’ll find th...

Hidden Musics Ustad Saami is the last living khayál master, widely considered a precursor of qawwali music that originated in Pakistan. That’s no small distinction, as Saami’s voic...

Turkish psychedelic music group Baba Zula performed the opening set for the legendary Selda Bağcan at Le Guess Who? 2014:  AboutBaba Zula uses an outlandish mix of field recordings of natural sounds, traditional Turkish instrumentation and modern acoustic and electronic musical instruments and effects. While predominantly Turkish...

In the universe of Mykki Blanco, art and real life don’t imitate each other, but are symbiotic and reciprocal. Few artists could infiltrate mainstream audiences with cinematic, experimental trac...

Collaboratorium Harpist Mary Lattimore and guitarist William Tyler may have honed radically different string-instruments, their respective cunning for vivid storytelling with instrumental music is re...

This blood pact marries the ink-black, minimal productions of Alessio Natalizia (aka Not Waving and member of Kompakt stalwarts Walls) with the smoke-suffused vocal drawl of alt-rock minstrel Mark Lan...

In the vocabulary of Icelandic artist dj. flugvél og geimskip – translation: ‘dj airplane or spaceship’ – the notion of choice is pretty overrated. Why not rapturously e...

Collaboratorium Step inside the tractor beam, because at Le Guess Who?, Mythic Sunship will organize a momentous assemblage of wondrous sound. Of course, this Copenhagen quartet has room aplenty for...

Brooklyn five-piece Gustaf have generated a surprising loud buzz for a band which hasn’t been in circulation for more than a few years. Formed in 2018, they quickly garnered a reputation in punk...

In our opinion, by the time November rolls around, Catalan duo Tarta Relena should head a-many top-of-year lists thanks to ‘Pack Pro Nobis’. The release, an expanded edition of prior works...

San Francisco platform The Earth Girl Helen Brown Center For Planetary Intelligence Band (or E.G.H.B.C.P.F.I.B), lead by Helen Brown, was first devised  by Sonny Smith for his 100 Records Project...

Luc Bersier’s band Reymour exchanged the quietness of the Swiss Alps for Brussel’s busyness, and out of it came ‘Leviosa’, released under Amsterdam label Knekelhuis. Their debu...

In the Ubuntuhuis you can listen to Ubuntustemmen (voices) Part 1 & 2. In Part 1 you will hear Roos and Amara. Amara plays traditional Guinese kora music and djembé. Roos adds a layer of te...

Originally from Uganda, Daniel Okiror is an ethno-fusion musician and change-maker passionate about telling the ‘true’ African story. His performance, accompanied by other musical instrume...

Rotterdam’s new livewire post-punk act Tramhaus have quickly carved out their own space within the iconic Dutch port city. On stage Tramhaus create shell-shocking havoc, with fragments of unfort...

With their 2021 debut record ‘Dive’, Rotterdam folk outfit Ilsha intend to offer comfort to those who are ‘sad and weeping’; the project, released under the wing of Dutch DIY T...

The documentary 'Before Wisdom' follows the journey of Pink Oculus, the alter ego of Amsterdam based artist and producer Esperanza Denswil, in presenting her debut album 'Before Wisdom' at the Le Gues...

‘Visions of Bodies Being Burned’, clipping.’s 2020 release is another cornerstone in their terrifying discography. The West Coast-based hip-hop trio, made up of producers Jonathan Sn...

Lebanese producer and hybrid DJ Liliane Chlela makes purposeful music; be it as a soundtrack to film and dance or to make listeners reflect through a cutting-edge sonic experience. Her sound - self-de...

This February, Australian post-punk, atmosphere, and dub-inspired band EXEK released their album, 'Advertise Here', via Castle Face Records. The cheekily-titled record echoes the work of forebearers H...

Although this Ireland-centered collaboration between Paddy Shine of GNOD and Phil Masterson of Los Langeros, Damp Howl, and Bisect, is technically “new folk”, the listener should tread car...

Britain's 'reggae maestro' Dennis Bovell earned his reputation over four decades ago as one of the genre's boldest pioneers. The Barbados-born musician and producer moved to the UK at twelve, where he...

Outsider music pioneer Brian Leeds (also known as Pendant, Huerco S., Loidis, and Royal Crown of Sweden) got his start playing for punk and metal bands while growing up in Kansas. In the quest for the...

blondewednesday's omnivorous ears are never turned off. She traded her home country Portugal for Rotterdam to revel in the open space between the club microcosm and experimental music. Part of Pantrop...

This cosmic project began when producer Karl Jonas Winqvist befriended multi-instrumentalist Arouna Kane in Toubab Dialaw. In this village, an hour away from Dakar, Wingvist began improvising with Kan...

Let’s face it. Algorithms play a significant role in how we find music today. With digital platforms offering us more of what we already know, this panel considers how we can work against algori...

Go on a 2-hour meaningful walking Migrantour through the Lombok district of Utrecht. The tour is co-created and taught by Migrantourguides with a first or second migration background. With the Mi...

Discover what De Voorkamer is all about: come along and take part in all kinds of creative 'mini' activities. These activities will give you a good impression of everything that takes place at De Voor...

The art of storytelling gives you an imaginative experience and a great opportunity to connect, learn, share, exchange and have fun. De Voorkamer has a few amazing storytellers in their community and...

Chicago's Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble have released a new song from their upcoming album 'NOW', to be released on April 9th. With a mix of pulsing trumpet sounds, 'Keep Your Mind Free' originated from the reflection that Covid-19 has different outcomes for each group of society, especially for people in prison...

When he was eleven, Haydar came to the Netherlands, got into Turkish music and started playing darbuka. Now, Haydar has been playing darbuka for over 40 years. Coming from Dutch and Turkish culture, h...

Even with just limited material out, the enigmatic Black Country, New Road became a steadfast live sensation with their mixture of post-punk, ashen Slint-like minimalism and pastoral dark folk leanings.  Ahead of their performance at Le Guess Who? 2021, Turkey's Bant Mag. did a track by track interview with the British ban...

Would you like to dance? These four master drummers from Nigeria make sure you do! Enjoy the beautiful music and cultural tradition of the Yoruba people from Nigera, performed by the Ìsò...

Amara Diabate, who lives in Zuilen, is a master drummer and kora player. He is hosting a djembe workshop where all those present can feel everything the drums produce and what it awakens. Diabate guid...

We're very excited that this year, Le Guess Who? will coincide again (for the first time since 2018) with the Mega Record & CD Fair (November 13 & 14 in Utrecht), which is Europe’s biggest record fair. As a preview for both the festival as well as the fair, we're collaborating with The Quietus on a new series where we...

Classic Water is a new Utrecht-based project, created by Tom Gerritsen (The T.S. Eliot Appreciation Society), in which surrealistic lyrics are combined with drawn-out instrumental parts. During U?, in...

In partnership with Seoul Community Radio Seoul Community Radio (SCR) is South Korea’s premier community radio station. Established in 2016, Seoul Community Radio (SCR) is a multi-platform online broadcaster at the center of Asia’s fast-growing electronic music community, created by the scene for the people that make it great...

Joram Feitsma composes neoclassical, minimal, melancholic piano music with an electronic twist. In October, he released his new album 'Stroom', with both music and poetry, that arrives at deeper groun...

Prepare for a giant meeting of improv artists. The copper horns of Stichting BUI, a celebrated gathering of titans of improv, will come shoulder to shoulder with poetry performer Wordbites and beatbox...

Zaahirah began her studies of Oriental dance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After that she moved to Portugal, Spain and is now based in the Netherlands where she teaches bellydance and performs at differe...

Nijhof & Toonk make improvisational clever electronics fuelled by post-rock and dub-laden styles. In their immersive and lingering live-shows, unique pathways are explored and take shape, as the d...

U?, het gratis toegankelijke stadsprogramma van Le Guess Who?, viert lokale en creatieve communities, met een sterke focus op Utrecht. U? keert van 8-10 november 2024 terug voor de vierde editie. U? onthult nu het volledige programma voor 2024, met op zaterdag 9 november een festival-playground in het Cartesiusgebied, en daarnaast veel a...

This video is about a young cultural group composed of the youth of two families in Sake Town. In just the last 20 years, Sake inhabitants have been forced to displace from their town, fearing conflic...

Maltash is a Lebanese experimental musician currently based in Brussels, Belgium. He mostly works in the realm of deconstructed metal, industrial, as well as the tradition of tarab, and reshapes them...

Conjunto Papa Upa, the so-called Afro-Caribbean retro psychedelic rhythm machine of Venezuelan, Amsterdam-based musician Alex Figueira, has released a new video for 'Todo Parao'. His music, a quirky combination of lo-fi surf rock, funk, psychedelica and samba, resounds the street scenes of Figueira's salad days in Caracas. You can w...

In partnership with REProduceA hub of seasoned Indian creatives looking for a new way to be, to reconsider and reassert the India they grew up with and forged: this Embassy aims to present Goa as it e...

In partnership with Space21Hardi Kurda, a sound artist and curator of Kurdistan-Iraq’s first experimental festival, Space21, takes us on a listening journey to the city of Slemani and its cultur...

For Le Guess Who? 2022, Baltimore quartet Animal Collective has curated their own program featuring their their inspirations and fellow like-minded artists. While Animal Collective themselves unfortunately had to cancel their performance (instead, Panda Bear & Sonic Boom will perform after releasing a spectacular album earlier this ye...

What you seek you shall find in Taipei sample-based psychedelic sibling duo Mong Tong 夢東’s music. Psychedelic journeys into the depths of Taiwanese folklore? Musings on the eighties’ med...

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, visual artist and record label owner John Dwyer was one of the curators for Le Guess Who? 2021, presenting his personal program with inspirations and fellow like-minded artists. As part of the curation, Dwyer also performed twice himself on the final day of the festival: first with jam-loving c...

‘Music For Four Guitars’, veteran improviser Bill Orcutt (of Harry Pussy)'s 2022 cut, has struck a chord with listeners on record. Now, the left-field LP, released in last year’s fal...

The Good Ones will surprise you, delight you, and break your heart, says The Independent. This one-of-a-kind quartet’s music is embedded in pain, as the band formed as a healing process followin...

Yessica Deira is Soft Break, a DJ and multidisciplinary designer hailing from Rotterdam. Early encounters with the city’s bustling music scene feed into her DJ work, which is highly eclectic; wi...

Detroit native DJ Stingray 313, real name Sherard Ingram, is a menacing node in the vast tangle of electronic music's history, present, and future. His eyes, which shine behind the mask which otherwis...

Since debuting in 2017, Miami-based producer Coffintexts (whose real name is Alexandra Muggli) has been growing her unruly catalog. Despite largely centering club music, much of Coffintexts’ mus...

British-Armenian producer Hagop Tchaparian did not walk into dance music in a straight line. Rather, he was previously most known for playing guitar in the short-lived British pop-punk band Symposium....

Across his discography - now spanning over a decade -, UK-based musician, composer, producer, and label-head Lee Gamble begs the question; can you philosophize on the dancefloor? His own answers have...

Alan Sparhawk is entering uncharted territory. In 2022, long-time musical partner vocalist and drummer Mimi Parker, with whom Sparhawk founded the mythical slowcare band Low three decades ago, passed...

This year, Le Guess Who? presents the fourth edition of Hidden Musics, a project that focuses on deeply localized music and features artists embedded in rich, often centuries-old musical traditions that have been developed with little or no outside influences. The first series was initiated in 2019 by Le Guess Who? in collaboration w...

How does one put Ndox Electrique into mere words? It is wild, dark, and solar; it is feminine and powerful, groovy and heavenly. Most importantly, Ndox Electrique is a ritual of possession which comes...

This summer’s lively ‘Soola’ is The Homesick announcing themselves back, renewed and reshaped. The Frisian trio, made up of Erik Woudwijk on the drums, Elias Elgersma on the guitar a...

Copenhagen-based noise free rock band Selvhenter’s music surpasses genre and instead plunges towards something much more elemental. Since coming together in 2010, drummers Jaleh Negari and Anja...

With ‘Flowers At Your Feet’, Iranian-American multidisciplinary artist Rahill reveals her deeply personal artistry. Released on Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada, the artist’s new label ho...

A relentless crate-digger, Cuba-born Cami Layé Okún’s work as a DJ goes beyond curatorship; be it behind the booth - the artist has performed across landmark stages such as the one...

Could there ever be an edition of Le Guess Who? without psych maverick DJ Fitz present? Having only missed the festival’s first-ever 2007 edition, the Irish-born groove-master is naturally back...

Go nuts on the dancefloor, get some dirty doom in your eyes and become slightly intoxicated. One man band Schwierige Franz combines the meanest and the leanest of EBM, postpunk and fuzzy rock ‘n...

Pain Against Fear is the final part of the controversial music theater trilogy PERMANENT DESTRUCTION, produced by theater maker and performer Naomi Velissariou in co-production with Theater Utrecht. T...

Amsterdam-based artist RAGASA produces glitchy, mostly sad, electronic music where she uses her voice as another sample for processing and translating emotions. Inspired by the early 2000’s wave...

Cruise Control, the creative force behind Queerparty Electronique. This bold event redefines sound with its alluring mix of gritty and explicit elements. Navigating the queer party realm, Cruise Contr...

Abundantly accoladed, London born poet, Raymond Antrobus will share in a performance and interview (with GRAMMY-winning producer and author Ian Brennan) what it means to him to be an ‘investigat...

Anh Phi is a Vietnamese-French music producer, DJ, and filmmaker, co-founder of Saigon-born collective Nhạc Gãy.Raised by Vietnamese parents in the suburbs of Paris, he later moved to Ho Chi Mi...

On Saturday, November 11th, we will be listening to the stories presented by the participants of De Voorkamer's Storytelling Master Class. Together with Soula Notos, these women have practiced their c...

Hister is a rock duo from Groningen. They play edgy rock songs, sometimes poppy and up-tempo, sometimes dark and slow. Their musical journey started in January 2022 when they combined their love for L...

Braima Galissá, born in Guinea Bissau with griot heritage, immersed himself in the Kora craft. Under a mango tree in Bankulé Bissau, his music met Dutch musician Jori Collignon. Alongsid...

Dive into darkness and discover the pulsating sounds of Amsterdam based Raderkraft - a masterful fusion of minimal synth, darkwave and Nederwave with post-punk elements. Raderkraft was born from his l...

BITOI, standing for Bass Is The Original Instrument, is Swedish-Ethiopian composer and bass player Cassius Lambert’s newest and most comprehensive work thus far. For it, Lambert plays the bass a...

With their podcast, U?TCAST showcases street culture talent from Utrecht along the full width.MokerjongCrow NesstybeatsWith Nesstybeats we have one of the most active connectors in the Utrecht sc...

The Getdowns are a young hardrock/punkband from Utrecht. Influenced by grunge bands like Pearl Jam and legendary classics like The Beatles, the four boys produce a massive amount of noise characterise...

Crashing drums, growling bass and haunting guitars: that’s what Ziggy Splynt is. A dive into a musical world that is somewhere inbetween dreamy landscapes and a raging tempest. The alt-rock trio...

In partnership with Liquid Architecture. Liquid Architecture (LA) is Australia's flagship organisation for artists working with experimental sound and listening practices. Based in Naarm (Melbourne)...

Since co-founding the seminal Sonic Youth in the early 80’s, Gordon has remained at the nexus of music, art and (more recently) books and film. Kim Gordon continues to redefine her legacy with h...

Beneath Still House Plants’s post-rock skin thumps a glowing pop heart, and this year’s ‘If I don't make it, I love u’ reveals the UK trio’s anatomy better than any previ...

Vocalist Martin Kanja (or Lord Spikeheart), has become a nominal head in the Kenyan metal scene - first with speed-core group Lust of a Dying Breed, and later alongside Le Guess Who? alumnus Duma. Now...

A new wave is washing over Gnawa, the traditional North African music genre started by the Gnawa people of Morocco. Despite being an essential part of the tradition, only now are female bands appearin...

Out of this year’s Touching Bass curatorship comes a thrilling end-of-week back-to-back featuring two of the South London-based movement’s leading lights - Errol and Sammseed. Touching Bas...

Interview: Kathryn Mohr Recently, we’ve visited the Eastern region of Iceland for an extensive chat with our 2025 COSMOS Embassy Seyðisfjörður Community Radio. This time, we’re moving a mere 100km further to Stöðvarfjörður, another fisher village in East Iceland that doubles as a hideout for cre...

Musician, producer, composer, educator, speaker, entertainer, and overall self-described ‘musical polyglot’ Jowee Omicil has achieved prominence for blending African rhythms, Haitian spiri...

Nick León and Kelman Duran are standing side by side for a b2b set that promises to whisk us away on nightly adventures. Long-time collaborators - Duran remixed León’s ‘Apret...

Peruvian legends Los Wembler’s de Iquitos performed live during the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2025. You can now listen to and relive the full performance via the recording below. Creators of the Amazonian cumbia, Los Wembler’s de Iquitos have been among the pioneers of psychedelic cumbia in the ’60s - when shoema...

Driven by chance and unpredictability, Utrecht-based artist Gert Wessels creates work that emerges intuitively and reactively. In his process, form takes precedence, without being guided by a rigid th...

The legendary Amersfoort hardcore punk trio Seein' Red formed around 1989 from the ashes of Lärm. The band quickly found their line-up consisting of brothers Paul & Olav van den Berg, on guit...

Born from the ashes from other unknown bands, Human Dogfood is a three-piece punk group hailing from the suburbs of Paris. Music-wise, two vocalists scream and shout on fast three-chord (max) songs. T...

For the Brazilian-born producer and vocalist Lyzza, boundaries are something to be scoffed at. Since the tender age of sixteen, the unfearing creative has established herself as a force to be reckoned...

S*an D. Henry-Smith is a poet, photographer, performer and collaborative practitioner, engaging the legacy of Black diasporic experimentalisms.This performance is part of the program curated by Raziya...

Chasing a sense of connection, LYZZA has been world-building and paving her way towards a sense of belonging through music in the age of information. The electro-pop avant-gardist slips into a surreal...

Utrecht Students for Palestine introduces you to an educational, creative and practical space that is focused on Palestine, Lebanon and resistance. As the genocide in Gaza is escalating and expanding...

Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle sits between the mountainous regions of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand. The locals call it Sop Ruak - miles and miles of rocks, and, well, opium. London’s Sex Swing...

Sadaa Sound Syndicate presents Sawt Syria, a two-part essay film that delves into the inner worlds of the alternative music scene in Syria and its exilic diaspora in Europe. Through intimate conversat...

Some music instruments carry a whole world of tradition, faith and culture. It’s the case of the tanbur, a millenia-old lute strongly tied to the city of Kermanshah, western Iran. Its practice is associated with mystical Yarsan religious beliefs and its knowledge is passed down through generations. Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian, a you...

Touching Bass is the London-based musical movement, founded by Errol and Alex Rita. A community-come-club night, award-nominated record label, staple NTS Radio show, concert series and curatorial stud...

LE 18 is a multidisciplinary cultural and residency space established in 2013 and located in the medina of Marrakech (Morocco). It aims to provide time and space for research, creation, encounter, mut...

Japanese-American musician and composer Patrick Shiroishi is best known for the new ways he bends notes out of the saxophone’s mouthpiece, both in a band setting (The Armed, Wild Up, and Upsilon...

The music of V/Z might as well be a hallucinatory experience, an unidentified box full of postcards. They depict boats in East London, dusty Italian scenarios from the 70s, turmoil in Baltimore, an ad...

Can samba carry a message of redemption? With his celebratory albums Curyman and Curyman II, Rogê seeks to spread joy, “so that we don’t give in to sadness, to laziness, to a lack of...

“Enigmatic, astral minded” multidisciplinary artist Semiratruth opens portals through words and the alchemy of found sounds, in-between abstract hip-hop and sound collage. As a nuanced sto...

It takes a few instants to pick up on the explosive and contagious rhythms of Ndagga Rhythm Force. Led by the stunning stage presence of veteran percussionist Bada Seck and singer Mbene Diatta Seck, t...

With his uniquely flamboyant performances, Devendra Banhart became one of the defining artists of the 2000s international indie music scene. Over the years, his already colourful songwriting expanded,...

Masello Motana transcends disciplines to create work that is both culturally restorative and creatively groundbreaking. Her artistic signature lies in blending nostalgia, social realism and history, t...

Without beating around the bush, Forbidden Wizards makes punk. Shouted vocals, scorching power chords and whiplash-fast drumming drive their snappy tracks. Loud, fast and straight to the point, while...

Layered vocals, electronic experimentation, field recordings and film intertwine for a special performance influenced by the present, to imagine a sonic future for Palestine. Experimental singer-songw...

Ever since being a young boy, Katokye dedicated his life to traditional songs from the Bahima (Western Uganda). He roamed his homeland to refine his art and now—in his mid-50s—he is one of...

In this talk, artist Mihir Raina (Lacuna) shares his practice of working with sound archives, from large institutional holdings to intimate personal collections. His research asks how these fragile an...

Cézanne is a multi-disciplinary and genre-blending artist whose music paints musical landscapes, creating a fusion of alternative R&B, electronic neo-soul and folk. She crafts songs that de...

Record label Mississippi Records presents a live presentation combining film, slide show and audio, exploring 20 years of the label’s vast and rarely-seen archives.  Label head and filmmak...

Femme+ connection in pressured times In a noisy and pressured world, we come together through music, care and connection: We Survive in Sync is a femme+ gathering hosted by The FemDem, a collective o...

Musician, activist, podcaster and LGW 2025 co-curator Amirtha Kidambi invites us into her vision of ‘Outernationalism’, a concept introduced by the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto to descri...

Started as a one-off performance in 2023, instrumental supergroup Motherfuckers JMB & Co. evolved with an improvisational approach, channeling ‘70s space rock while venturing into drone and...

Singer and songwriter GAVINA is known for her fusion of reggaetón, trap, and dancehall, with influences from Panamanian folklore and jazz. Her work reflects the strength, freedom, and authentic...

Music is perhaps widely known to serve as a means of collective and individual healing. Yet how seriously do we consider sound beyond that of the auditory experience? What thoughts arise when consider...

In The Black Queer body remembers, Naomie Pieter invites the audience on a journey through Caribbean rhythm, memory, and spiritual resistance. Drawing from the ancestral dance tradition of Tambú...

Gert Wessels crafts dynamic pieces that fuse form and function. His creations, marked by vibrant and distinct shapes, challenge nature with materials. Embracing chance, he sculpts polyurethane foam in...

Made of Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead (of Raime and Blackest Ever Black), as well as percussionist visionary Valentina Magaletti (of Tomaga, Vanishing Twin, and Holy Tongue, also performing at this yea...

Leisha Thomas is Alpha Maid, a guitarist, vocalist, and producer hailing from South East London. Her first solo release on the C.A.N.V.A.S. collective label, 2021's 'CHUCKLE', garnered significant cri...

Chicago-bred singer and producer KeiyaA may be a newcomer to R&B, her airy yet thoughtful 2020 debut, ‘Forever Ya Girl’ may very well be her ticket to being spoken in the same breath a...

Mazaher are a small group of mostly women musicians and singers who play Zãr music: chanting songs and playing hypnotic polyrhythms used as a purification and exorcism ritual to help pacify and...

Utrecht’s own synther-songwriter BoterBoter uses his hilarious, absurdist and poetic Dutch-language super-disco as a coping mechanism for his existence in this bizarre world. His unpolished but...

Somewhere close to the sounds of trains leaving and entering Utrecht Central Station, you can find the Ping Pong Club. Ping Pong & DJ’s will take place in this industrial former warehouse. P...

When her 1983 album Through The Looking Glass was reissued last year by WRWTFWW/Palto Flats, Japanese composer Midori Takada received a new surge of recognition. Takada has remained very productive th...

Le Mini Who? presents the contemporary (Dutch) underground, in collaboration with independent local stores, shops and bars. It transforms Utrecht's city streets into a festival area, with more than fi...

In Utrecht’s suburb Lombok, you're immediately welcomed by Turkish and Moroccan grocery stores, bakeries, the smell of kebab, and huge piles of colorful fruits sold in the streets. The impressiv...

It's kind of funny how one of Mario Batkovic's most well-known pieces is called Restrictus, as ‘restricting’ is quite the opposite of his enthralling mastery of the accordion. The Switzerl...

Jazz musician, composer and visual artist Matana Roberts nosedives in concepts of ancestry and creative expression. The stories she tells through music; of human experiences, spirituality, improvisati...

From sit-ins and disruptive street actions to social media campaigns: we are living in an era of mass protest. As we reclaim our rights, demand justice and catalyse change, all actions are aimed at on...

Berlin-based Colombian DJ, producer and Le Guess Who? 2025 guest curator Edna Martinez brings La Saramuya soundsystem to TivoliVredenburg’s Pandora to close off the festival with the sounds from...

Wilfred Guerrero is the heart and soul of El Dragón Turbo Láser, one of Colombia’s most iconic picós. Inherited from his father, who founded the system in the 1960s, it serv...

Returning again this year is our ongoing collaboration with the University of the Arts Utrecht's ‘Music & Technology’ department to produce an experimental showcase, which will be crea...

LGW’s resident photographer Juri Hiensch has been rediscovering the city of Utrecht lately, capturing the unique character of several neighborhoods outside the city center and offering some inspiration for your next trip to Utrecht. The third photo & video series is dedicated to Transwijk & Kanaleneiland. These neighborhood...

Rhode Island noise dissidents Lightning Bolt's shows are the stuff of myth and legend. When the group performed at Le Guess Who? in 2015, we spoke with Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale backstage about distortion and masks, and captured their explosive live performance afterwards. Watch below:  Now, the noise rock...

Seattle-based hip hop voyagers Shabazz Palaces produce transcendental albums from an intuitive frame of mind. Following the release of their two new 'Quazarz'-albums, Ishmael Butler, Tendai Marai...

Rotterdam-based four-piece band Rats on Rafts release a new live track and video from 'Excerpts From Chapter 3 DELUXE'. An absorbing mix between choral elements, goosebump-inducing piano sounds and Rats on Rafts’ unique post-punk and modern lo-fi musical vocabulary, the single entitled ‘Second Born Child’ invites listene...

Following the announcement of the curated programs and the initial names for the general program of Le Guess Who? 2022 last month, we are now adding four special projects to the program. These include the third edition of Hidden Musics and programs hosted by Coco Maria, GNOD, and Uncloud. Hidden Musics Le Guess Who? proudly presents the...

The music of visionary Dutch/Iranian-born Sevdaliza is an open and safe arena for human expression. For this Effortlessly, she molds R&B, electronic music, folk, neoclassical and industrial t...

We've made the stream of Shabaka & The Ancestors' powerful performance at Le Guess Who? 2017 available now, which was curated by James Holden for the festival.  Listen to British jazz s...

Being part of the Seattle scene for three decades, grunge godfathers Mudhoney have stood the test of time. Celebrating their fuzz-filled legacy, Mudhoney released their first live album ‘LiE&rsq...

Combine Moor Mother's everlasting, raging voice with DJ Haram’s dissonant Middle Eastern melodies and hard hitting club beats, and the result is the noise-infested yet cleansing sound of Philly...

We're very pleased to present you the curators and initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2018. A gentle reminder: current 4-Day Festival Passes are available until Thursday, 7 June, and will increa...

Recently, Colin Stetson has been teasing his new soundtrack for the far-from-typical horror film 'Hereditary'. You can now stream Stetson's full horrifying score below. While you're at it, you can als...

Last week, Discwoman-affiliated producer DJ Haram joined renowned footwork crew Teklife to deliver a dazzling mix of ramped-up trap edits, B’more bounce and distorted non-Western...

Ras_G & The Afrikan Space Program recently released a new album via Leaving Records titled 'Stargate Music': an astral ode to women and a spiritual reflection on earthly life, which features...

Having fled from the fundamentalists in their home country of Sudan, the original members of psychedelic group The Scorpios established themselves in London during the 80s. After releasing their self-...

Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's one of Chicago’s finest producers and "the unsung godfather" of footwork RP Boo, who &nd...

We're sorry to inform that both Ebo Taylor and Rose McGowan have to cancel their performances at Le Guess Who? 2018. Ebo Taylor has to withdraw because of health issues; Rose McGowan has cancelled due...

We're proud to reveal the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2018 with 47 new additions to the program. Starting today, day tickets for the festival are also on sale.  The final additions to the Le...

Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This time, we highlight a bubbly, crisp pop tune by American singer-songwriter Madeline Kenney. 'Cut Me Off' is taken f...

We're thrilled to reveal the guest curators for Le Guess Who? 2019. During the upcoming edition of the festival, we'll celebrate curated programs by the pioneering voice of Mali, Fatoumata Diawara; award-winning Dutch fashion radical Iris van Herpen & sound artist Salvador Breed; Norwegian multi-disciplinary artist Jenny Hval; sh...

Philly-based noise artist, activist and wordsmith Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) returns to Le Guess Who? for the third consecutive year. After being curated by Jerusalem In My Heart (2017), and being a festival curator herself (2018), she now teams up with ZONAL, the project of Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Goldflesh, Napalm Death) and Kevin M...

Richmond, Virginia-based collage-rap/noise duo Prison Religion show that the heaviest of music is often-times economical and raw in its execution. Following the release of their 2018 EP 'O Fucc Im On The Wrong Planet', the group is set to release their new album 'BEACHHEAD' in July. The new album is characterized by "an avant-club me...

The Bug (Kevin Martin) and Burial (William Bevan) have once again teamed up. Their new two-track EP 'Dive/ Rain' was released under the moniker Flame 2. 'Dive/Rain' is The Bug and Burial's second joint release, following last year's 'Fog/Shrine' (Flame 1). You can listen to 'Dive/ Rain' below. Dive / Rain by Flame 2 "Flame 2 sees the ve...

Coucou Chloe's malformed take on pop music is as mind-melting as it is urgent, ripping the elements of hip-hop, industrial, sampling and electro-pop asunder. The French artist and producer is also the co-founder of burgeoning label/collective NUXXE, and some of the tracks released via the label have also found their way onto fashion week...

LGW’s resident photographer Juri Hiensch has been rediscovering the city of Utrecht lately, capturing the unique character of several neighborhoods outside the city center and offering some inspiration for your next trip to Utrecht. The third photo & video series is dedicated to Transwijk & Kanaleneiland. These neighborhood...

Le Guess Who? is proud to welcome both artists and visitors of many different nationalities to Utrecht each year. In collaboration with SPEAK, we started a new video series in which Utrechters with foreign roots introduce an artist on the Le Guess Who? 2021 line-up from their country. SPEAK connects locals, newcomers and migra...

Le Guess Who? 2021 will see the festival joining forces with the esteemed Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1945. It's not the first time we're collaborating though: in 2017, the orchestra performed Lili Boulanger's towering 'Du Fond De L'Abîme' at our festival. This year, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra will honor...

Japanese minimalist composer and percussionist Midori Takada participates in Bant Mag.'s "Letters from musicians" series ahead of her performance and curation at Le Guess Who? 2021. As it’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions, Bant reached out to a number of musicians to hear about their varying feelings, reali...

One of the first acts announced for Le Guess Who? 2021 is the Brazilian singer-songwriter Sessa. His music, sung in Portuguese, resembles the sensual lyrics and melodic flourishes of Bossa Nova, in the vein of classic Brazilian artists like Caetano Veloso and Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in...

Last November, Alan Sparhawk returned to Europe to play some select solo shows, the first being a performance at Le Guess Who?. Three decades ago, Sparhawk co-founded the band Low alongside vocalist and drummer Mimi Parker, who sadly passed away in late 2022. Their music derived elemental power from its fearless exploration of quiet, ge...

For the third time Le Guess Who? has initiated an educational project in collaboration with four different local high schools. 131 pupils delved into the program of Le Guess Who? 2019 during their art classes. The pupils formed duos and chose an artist from this year’s line-up, for whom they designed a new visual product based on th...

Jenny Hval’s output has been consistently evolving throughout the years. In her music, moments of melodic beauty light up like quivering candles within a pitch black solitude of sonic abstraction. Hval's new album, 'The Practice of Love', is no less ambitious and proves a thrilling exploration of Hval’s unique examination of t...

Op donderdag 19 september onthult Le Guess Who? de volledige line-up voor de komende festivaleditie in EKKO, met optredens van Ben Shemie (SUUNS), Conjunto Papa Upa, Lechuga Zafiro en een speciale editie van Stranded FM x The Current. Conjunto Papa Upa is de band van Amsterdamse Venezolaan Alex Figueira. De muziek kun je omschrijven als...

ZONAL, aka Kevin Martin (The Bug) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, JK Flesh) release their first single 'System Error', featuring vocals by Moor Mother. The track is taken from their upcoming debut album 'Wrecked', which will be released on 25 October via Relapse Records. Besides 'System Error' the album contains several collaborations wit...

Portland duo Visible Cloaks recently released 'serenitatem', their collaborative album with Japanese musicians Yoshio Ojima and Satsuki Sibano as part of the long-running FRKWYS series from the New York label RVNG Intl. Originating from the exchange of MIDI-based musical ideas, this is music that blurs concepts be...

Graindelavoix is notorious for their daring and alienating performances that embrace the imperfections of what it means to be human. During Le Guess Who? 2018, the Antwerp ensemble gave an overwhelming performance of the four-hour piece ‘Tenebrae Responsoria’ by Carlo Gesualdo: a 17th-century progressive composer fro...

Red Bull Radio has premiered the full recording of 'Unanimous Goldmine', the collaborative performance between actor, screenwriter and renowned harbinger of noise poetry and hip hop futurism Saul Williams; and accomplished Philly-based musician, DJ, author and producer King Britt.  On the explicit invitation of M...

During Le Guess Who? 2018, the Portuguese platform Canal180 traveled to Utrecht to capture a film in collaboration with the festival. Titled 'Representing the Underrepresented', it reveals the story and ideology behind Le Guess Who? and, following its March 29 premiere at MIL Festival in Lisbon, the film is now available to watch online....

Hailed as one of the greatest songwriter of his time, California-based artist Cass McCombs performed twice at Le Guess Who?, leading up to the release of his new album 'Tip of the Sphere' (out February 8th via ANTI- Records). Right after his second show (on the Sunday of the festival, as part of our Collaboratorium in Kytopia), McCombs he...

In 1970, soul artist Jerry Williams, Jr. radically reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg: an anti-hero who smashes the conventions of commercial R&B music, and whose subversive lyrics earned him a spot on Richard Nixon’s infamous enemies list. Consequently, Swamp Dogg became one of the quintessential outsider figures in American musi...

Armed with a West African cross between a lute, bridge and harp, troubadour Sourakata Koite uses his special modified Kora to interpret his Senegalese roots. He is also a griot, which means he is a story- and history-teller and singer. Picked up by music blog and record label Awesome Tapes From Africa, Koite will soon reissue his debut al...

Jerusalem In My Heart, the project of Lebanon-born and Montréal-based artist Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, announces its new album. Entitled 'Daqa'iq Tudaiq', the record will appear on 5 Octo...

One-half of Philly duo 700 Bliss and member of the Discwoman collective DJ Haram speaks to The Quietus about the scene in her base of Philadelphia, linking up with Moor Mother and the Discwo...

Meet Maria Chavez: a Peruvian avant-garde sound artist who approaches the turntables as an instrument of transmission. Ravelin Magazine caught up with the cutting-edge artist to talk about her hi...

Moroccan Gnawa master Maâlem Houssam Guinia performed live at Le Guess Who? 2017. This performance was curated by James Holden for the festival: About:Maâlem (or ‘master musician&rsquo...

Greg Fox: "I got to know Pharoah Sanders music at first mostly from listening to John and Alice Coltrane recordings. his playing on 'Journey in Sitchananda' is especially influential for me, the way...

Moving Furniture-founder Sietse van Erve aka Orphax is performing as part of our 12-Hour Drone during Le Guess Who? 2017 on Sunday, 12 November. Now, he shares his new album 'Somniātōrēs', the follow-...

Liars' Angus Andrew has shared an exclusive track that was made available for Thirty Days of Yes, appearing on a subscription mixtape that will release a song a day over 30 days. Listen to&n...

Nadah El Shazly is one of the most versatile and progressive Egyptian musicians. The Cairo-based artist garnered that status by immersing herself in many different stylistics, including jazz, classica...

The official Le Guess Who? 2017 program guide is here. Read & dive in to prepare for next week: all artist biographies in one neat place, as well as more info on wristband pick-up and our fringe e...

The two very gifted musicians Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) and Richie Thomas (Dif Juz) found each other in a stunning new project named Lost Horizons. Their debut is out now, and features an impress...

The Sai Anantam Ashram Singers - hailing from the Ashram that Alice Coltrane herself founded in LA - perform Coltrane’s ecstatic music which was recorded in seclusion inside the temple. It is th...

Today, James Holden & The Animal Spirits release their brand new album. Built around Holden's modulair synths, it is inspired by spiritual jazz and Moroccan Gnawa: "Legendary jazz band leaders&nbs...

Rabit just finished his work for Björk's new album, but is now also releasing his own. 'Les Fleurs Du Mal' is out now: a record that features collaborations with Chino Amobi and Elysia Crampton....

Liars seem to have found secret wormholes to travel between genres like corrosive noise, freewheeling art-rock and seedy electronics, coming up with unique blends of it with every new album. Earlier...

Le Guess Who? is cooperating with local graphic school X11 this year. We introduced our festival to the students, and also introduced some of our artists to them. For some of them, it was th...

Czech's Full Moon Magazine, one of our long-time mediapartners, have put together a playlist previewing Le Guess Who? 2017 with some of their favorite selections. It includes key tracks from Grouper,...

The Daily Indie, een van de mediapartners van Le Guess Who? dit jaar, deelt hun allereerste talkshow: een gesprek met Kurt Overbergh, artistiek directeur van AB Brussel; Peter Reen, programm...

The Line Of Best Fit interview Dälek's Will Brooks, on 3 albums he'd be crate-digging for at the World's Biggest Record Fair, happening in Utrecht during Le Guess Who? 2017. R...

Following this year's highly acclaimed and healing album AFTER..., Fhloston Paradigm aka King Britt gave us this unreleased track before his live solo set at Le Guess Who? 2017. '...THE MOON' feature...

Lost Horizons, the collaborative project formed by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richard Thomas of instrumental quartet Dif Juz, will release their new album 'Ojalá' this Friday via Bella...

This year's Le Guess Who? features a project which is like nothing we ever brought to you before. Choreographer Nicole Beutler directed '7: Triple Moon': an interdisciplinary project with a combinatio...

Last weekend, Farida Mohammed Ali performed on Dutch national television during Vrije Geluiden. The Iraqi singer is dubbed 'The Mother of All Maqam', as she's a master in 'Maqam al Iraqi': a...

KEXP have captured a full live performance by Kevin Morby last August at The Triple Door in Seattle, and now shares the footage, featuring a lot of songs from Morby's latest album 'City Music'. W...

"I consume more music backstage on tour than at any other time. It’s essential for me as a ritual to have sounds blaring in the green room from load-in to load-out. Partially I think this is so...

The kind people at The Wire have made an essay from Jerusalem In My Heart's Radwan Ghazi Moumneh available online for free in their archives. In the Epiphany piece, Moumneh writes about the...

The Line Of Best Fit interview Liars' Angus Andrew, on 3 albums he'll be crate-digging at the World's Biggest Record Fair, happening in Utrecht during Le Guess Who? 2017. Featuring...

Lost Horizons is a new collaborative project formed by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richard Thomas of instrumental quartet Dif Juz. The duo's upcoming album 'Ojalá' will be released on R...

"Even in the strange world of the Japanese underground, there’s never been anybody quite like Keiji Haino. Improviser, noisemaker, guitarist, jazz man, poet, vocalist - he’s none of them a...

Following the announcement of their new album, together with first single 'A Private Understanding', Detroit's Protomartyr now share second song 'My Children' from the album. Listen below. "Anxiously...

Linton Kwesi Johnson’s impressive body of work includes stints as "dub poet", political orator, recording artist and author/journalist. A vocal personality who fights oppression against bla...

Last night, Aldous Harding gave a stirring and striking performance of 'Horizon' on Later… with Jools Holland. The track is taken from her new album 'Party', out now via 4AD. Watch below....

On her debut EP ‘Kisswell’, Zimbabwe-born, UK-based musician/poet Farai joins forces with producer Basil Anthony Harewood, aka TØNE. The results are a visionary and self-possessed e...

Les Amazones d'Afrique are a gathering of some of the most powerful female voices of West-Africa. These performers use their music as a weapon to address the disempowerment of women across Africa and...

Besides our Infectious Grooves playlist with weekly inspirations both new and old, we're now launching Re/Fresh: a weekly updated playlist with a selection of new music from artists who performed at previous Le Guess Who? editions.  Currently featured in Re/Fresh: former festival curators Julia Holter, Devendra Banhart and Patrick H...

Norwegian multidisciplinary artist Jenny Hval is one of the curators for Le Guess Who? 2019. Hval will host her very own program at the upcoming edition of the festival, inviting a.o. Japanese musician and sound artist Haco; Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based ambient artist Sarah Davachi; French sound sculptor Felicia Atkinson; Glasweg...

Want to get acquainted with our program for 2017? Dive headfirst into our Spotify playlist, where we've selected two tracks from every performing artist. Listen here. Of course, we'll keep updating wi...

Ever the experimentalists, Rotterdam post-punk quintet Rats on Rafts bring their multi-disciplinary spectacle, Visions of Chapter 3, to Le Guess Who? for its first public-facing debut. And, as frontman David Fagan admits, there’s no telling just quite how it will all pan out…

Le Guess Who? is a Celebration of Sound. From 10-13 November, the festival returns to Utrecht, The Netherlands, for its 15th Anniversary Edition. We now reveals the guest curators and their full curated programs, as well as the first artists for the general program. Curated programs by Animal Collective, clipping., and CURL Inviting gue...

A nice surprise came our way recently. The sound engineer at De Helling during Le Guess Who? 2021 was able to capture the intense performance of Dutch outfit Plague Organ. Or at least, almost the entire performance: apparently the engineer was so overwhelmed upon the start of the show that he was about half a minute late with starting the...

Did you forget to walk by the merchandise desk during Le Guess Who? 2021? There are still some sweaters, t-shirts and slip mats left. The items, which were designed by Dylan Marcus McConnell and Koen Delaere, are now available in our webshop. Visit webshop The sweaters and t-shirts were printed at by local print workshops Kapitaal a...

In an interview for The Quietus, Jasper Willems talks to Guatamala-born experimental cellist and composer Mabe Fratti. Following the release of her third album 'Se Ve Desde Aquí', Fratti opens up about the value of friendship in the creative process, how to get an authentic sound, and how to overcome your own artistic instincts. Re...

*Update: Horse Lords have released their new album 'Comradely Objects' in full - listen below: Something special happened this year while we were working on this year's program: our guest curators Animal Collective and clipping. both had Baltimore experimental rock quartet Horse Lords on their wishlist to perform at the festival. Needl...

The Brother Moves On is the captivating South-African performance art ensemble from Johannesburg, famous for the way the artists masterfully draw from past, present and future within music. Now, the group releases an uplifting and inspirational new album entitled '$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You' via Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Rec...

During the 15th Anniversary Edition of Le Guess Who? in 2022, West Coast hip-hop trio clipping. performed live as part of their guest curation at the festival.  We're thrilled to now share the concert film of the performance, with clipping. performing tracks from throughout their discography, including fan favorites such as ‘N...

Following the announcement of the initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2023, including programs curated by Heba Kadry, Nala Sinephro, Slauson Malone 1 and Stereolab, we now add several special projects to this year’s festival edition, featuring COSMOS, Hidden Musics and The Anonymous Project. Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective COSMOS...

Incredibly devastating news: Brazilian icon and legendary musician João Donato has unexpectedly passed away on Monday in Rio de Janeiro. João Donato was scheduled to perform twice at Le Guess Who? 2023, to honor his life and career and celebrate his 90th birthday at the festival.  Donato has been a massively influenti...

Lee Gamble creates genre-agnostic music. Across his discography - now spanning over a decade -, he has incorporated amongst others dub, garage, and jungle, bleeding into grindcore metal and machine-strength techno. Now, the UK-based musician, composer, producer, and label-head returns with his new album 'Models'.  The album, mastere...

We’re pleased to announce that Khyam Allami, Animistic Beliefs, Natural Information Society, Antipop Consortium, Wayne Phoenix, Badume’s Band & Selamnesh Zéméné, Kim David Bots & Lyckle De Jong, Toumba, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Radio Choir performing Delius’ A Song of the...

Rapper and producer Ashanti Mutinta, aka Backxwash gave a life-affirming performance at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda during Le Guess Who? 2023. Our residential photographer Melanie Marsman was present to capture some of the special moments, on stage as well as backstage. View the full photo series "Stark warnings of viewer discretion mark...

Recently, we celebrated the 100th festival recording being included in our online recordings archive. Now, we are elated to share the concert film of Anglo-French avant-pop group and festival curators Stereolab live at Le Guess Who? 2023. Hailed as one of the most influential and fiercely independent groups of the 90s, Stereolab's influe...

Presented by Basilica Hudson and Le Guess Who? in collaboration with Sarah Van Buren, 24-HOUR DRONE is set to return to Basilica Hudson Saturday, May 18th – Sunday, May 19th, 2024 (noon to noon) in Hudson, New York. Tickets are available here.  24-HOUR DRONE features an international roster of musicians and sonic artists acros...

As part of her curation at Le Guess Who? 2024, Mabe Fratti presents some very special Mexican and South American acts that have influenced her personal development, including experimental jazz artist Germán Bringas. The short documentary Caminatas, created by Smiling C, dives into the life and work of the multi-instrumentalist and...

As we near the start of Le Guess Who? 2024, we’d like to share the behind-the-scenes struggles and frustrations we are experiencing in trying to obtain visas for the artists we’ve invited to Utrecht. At Le Guess Who?, our focus and dedication has long been on developing a diverse and inclusive program, also through extensive...

From Rio to Cairo, Miami to Kampala, Chromesthesia tracks Afro-diasporic rhythms and explores the history that undergirds Afro-descendant electronic music. At Le Guess Who? 2024, British-Egyptian award-winning social and intellectual historian Hannah Elsisi presented the 13-hour durational performance of Chromesthesia. Our residential ph...

A transcendental opening ceremony took place at the start of Le Guess Who? 2024, thanks to a special collaboration between the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra and visual artist Arion de Munck, who presented the world premiere of Hadra Immersive at the festival.  The Hadra is an ancient northern Moroccan ceremony that leads participan...

London-based Mexican violinist, composer, and improviser Gibrana Cervantes performed live at Le Guess Who? 2024, as part of the program curated by Mabe Fratti. You can listen to the full performance below, featuring two unreleased tracks: ‘Blur of Memories’ and ‘Verdad vs. Error’, as well as ‘Moving Through...

During Le Guess Who? 2018, we spent a weekend with musician and visual artist Lonnie Holley in Utrecht. On the opening night of the festival, Lonnie performed with expressive trombone & drums duo Nelson Patton; the next day, he gave us a guided tour through the city of Utrecht, showing the many unique ways of how Holley experiences hi...

Driven by an appetite for boundless experimentation, producer and composer Ziúr has always been subverting expectations, corkscrewing through hardcore, metal and punk before veering towards electronic music's turbulent fringes. Today, the Le Guess Who? 2025 guest curator releases her new album Home via Kuboraum Editions. On t...

Jazz master and saxophonist Gary Bartz has shaped the history and evolution of the genre since the 1960s. One of the best purveyors of what he calls “informal composition” (as opposed to traditional jazz improvisation), he has worked with luminaries like Charles Mingus and Miles Davis. For a career spanning show at Le Guess W...

Le Guess Who? has grown into a leading international festival, known for presenting groundbreaking music in inspiring ways. The festival promotes sounds that are often overlooked and platforms fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. As part of the 2025 festival edition, Le Guess Who? now announces the first edition of Sound &...

Each year, Le Guess Who? invites guest curators to create their own dedicated programs, highlighting their inspirations, emerging acts and fellow like-minded artists, with an emphasis on discovery and exploration.Musician and visual artist Lonnie Holley introduces his curation at Le Guess Who? 2025 with a personally compiled playlist.

Le Guess Who? 2025 guest curator Amirtha Kidambi launches a new podcast: Outernational. The podcast explores the relationship between music and revolution, featuring discussions with musicians who are using their music and platforms to grapple with the intersecting global crises of our times.  Hosted by Amirtha Kidambi, a vocalist,...

Le Guess Who? needs your support For almost 20 years, Le Guess Who? has been a sanctuary for adventurous music from all over the world, bringing people together through the power of sound. Now, we face one of our biggest challenges yet—and we need your support to ensure the next 20 years. The current financial challenges we’...

Through saxophone, cello, piano and flutes, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio offers the chance to engage with songs intended for healing. The group performed twice at Le Guess Who? 2025, curated by Lonnie Holley. You can now relive the performance during the closing night of the festival: tune in below.  At its heart, The Cosmic Ton...

Every year, COSMOS - our hybrid platform highlighting independent music scenes from around the world - links up with new partners, inviting them to grant us a glimpse into their unique musical environments. We’re now rolling out the visual component of these partnerships: short but powerful mini-documentaries, by the scene, for the...

Every year, COSMOS - our hybrid platform highlighting independent music scenes from around the world - links up with new partners, inviting them to grant us a glimpse into their unique musical environments. In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out the visual component of these partnerships: short but powerful mini-documentaries, by th...

Last week, COSMOS' first international residency started in Goa, India. Composer, sound artist and improviser Hardi Kurda from Kurdistan-Iraq was invited by curator and filmmaker Rana Ghose to work at the new studio and gallery space 999. For two weeks, Hardi collaborates with a number of local artists to explore themes relating to m...

For U? 2024, Hof van Cartesius presents a diverse program created together with the artists that are located in this unique circular workspace for creative entrepreneurs. Photographer Rogier Boogaard documented two artists who will be part of this year's festival program. Last week we highlighted Sophie Wantia, today we present artist an...

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) On Saturday 9 September, U? presents a program at HE:LEEN Festival in the Le Guess Who? office. This year, HE:LEEN Festival returns to Rotsoord for a new edition full of talented musicians, artists and performers. The festival highlights the creative and energetic appearance of the area. I...

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) U? is the participatory & freely accessible day program of Le Guess Who?, which returns 10-13 November to Utrecht. It hosts a multitude of events and activities which are created for and with local citizens, initiatives, entrepreneurs, social institutions and community centers. U? featu...

Electronic explorer James Holden presented his new performance ‘James Holden and The Animal Spirits’ live at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring two tracks from his new album; a record that enhances Holden’s past in trance music with his love for Moroccan Gnawa music. Audio recorded by Marc Broer at Le Guess Who? 2017 on Sa...

Mourning [A] BLKstar performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who?'s 15th Anniversary Edition in 2022. The collective, made up of musicians, writers, and multimedia artists, has a bountiful track record, amassing several releases under its belt since 2015. Their music is for both eulogies and revolutions, as they expand upon contem...

The Netherlands 3FM: Eva Koreman nieuwe presentator 3voor12 radio 3FM: Le Guess Who? 2018: Ralph-Herman snapt niet wat Colin Stetson doet3FM: Timo op Le Guess Who: van gevoelige liedjes in een kerk tot stoned rappers3voor12: Kijk terug: James Holden & The Animal Spirits op Le Guess Who? 3voor12: Festivals willen dat je een kaart...

3voor12 Live Sessions At Club Nine on the top floor of TivoliVredenburg, the main location and hub of Le Guess Who?, Dutch broadcaster VPRO 3voor12 recorded live sessions with artists from LGW21. Watch live sessions featuring Bendik Giske, Automatic, Mario Batkovic, and Vanishing Twin. WATCH 3voor12 LIVE SESSIONS

Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.

Mutant Radio is a media platform that focuses on various directions: mixes, interviews, educational shows, live performances and discussions. Gathering artists, DJs, and interesting personalities to focus on the subject of their preference and their interest, Mutant Radio offers like-minded people an opportunity to enjoy quality music and...

Ajabu Ajabu is a screen, a studio, and a collective devoted to the preservation, production, and presentation of audio-visual art forms in Tanzania. For COSMOS, they presented  "A Stream of Consciousness" - a hybrid audio-visual festival taking place at the Ajabu Ajabu Audio-Visual House ft., a digital stage from COSMOS alongside li...

In partnership with Oroko Radio.  Oroko is a not-for-profit independent internet radio station based in Accra, Ghana. We aim to connect, inspire and empower through conversation, collaboration and community. Oroko Radio provides a stage for musicians, DJs, thinkers, moderators, and content creators: an independent hub for expression...

More line-up

Le Guess Who? aims to present a festival that is accessible for everyone, but unfortunately not all festival venues are equally accessible. Please have a look below or at the specific venue pages for more information. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us via accessibility@leguesswho.com. Website accessibili...