Search: Black Country New Road
Istanbul psych trio Lalalar releases new song 'Mecnun'dan Beter Haldeyim'
Istanbul's psychedelic trio Lalalar has released their new song 'Mecnun'dan Beter Haldeyim'. The track was inspired by the mid-eastern tale Layla and Majnun, which is a dead-end love story that dates back to ancient times. The song's title can be roughly translated as “I am in a situation way worse than Majnun” and...
Future Feminism
Johanna Constantine presents "Rise"&Kembra Pfahler and the Girls of Karen Black present "Fuck Island" Founded by New York-based artists Kembra Pfahler, Johanna Constantine and Anohni, Future Femi...
Dry Cleaning
London's Dry Cleaning's debut LP is filled to the brim with unheard-of snark, courtesy of vocalist Florence Shaw's quick-witted lyrics. Last year’s 'New Long Leg' follows their acclaimed 2019 EP...
Watch: H. Hawkline shares new video for ‘Means That Much’
H. Hawkline's goofball pop has the special ability to make the mundane sound quirky. Last June, he released his new album 'I Romanticize', which has been nominated for this years Welsh Music Prize. No...
Listen: Earth Girl Helen Brown release 'Earth' EP, featuring members of OSEES, Black Dice, and Total Control
Earth Girl Helen Brown Center For Planetary Intelligence Band (or E.G.H.B.C.P.F.I.B) is an inclusive, expansive, non-discriminatory communicative platform with a primary objective of directing and energy and capital toward organizations and causes committed to longevity, peace, popular intelligence, responsib...
Watch: Eli Keszler performs new album ‘Stadium’ live
Having dismantled the idea of a drum's sound for over a decade, New York-based composer Eli Keszler released his ninth solo album ‘Stadium’ on 2 October via Shelter Press. The inspiration for the album came from his recent move from Brooklyn to Manhattan and reflects the feeling of disorientation in overwhelmingly overcrowded...
COSMOS Embassy: Slemani, Kurdistan-Iraq
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 cultural and art activities. Here, the view of the mountains and nature mix with the urban sonic environment. The sound of power generator noises...
On Broadwater Farm: From Son House to Dub Housing
Musical selections and a conversation with Edward GeorgeArtist and filmmaker Edward George explores how Caribbean consciousness—sonified through the music of dub—gives the housing estate o...
"Maybe we can rebuild something here": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in China
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in China We discuss LGW Embassy: China with Ivan Zhang two days before the Chinese New Year: a talk about BIE Music’s COSMOS collaboration and the diversity found in local music scenes across China; how going back to basics can also be a way forward; and how China is not the cloistered cultural island many...
Paranoid State
Three veterans from the Dutch hardcore scene bring you an intense and melodic form of post-hardcorepunk in the vein of Wipers, Black Flag and Bad Brains. With two full-length albums under their belt,...
Film: Kokomo City
Violence, beauty and wisdom abound in this crackling portrait of four Black trans women in New York and Atlanta—on their raw reality of earning money through sex work, their place in the Black c...
Stella Chiweshe (2017)
In her home country of Zimbabwe, music icon Stella Chiweshe is endearingly called The Queen of Mbira, becoming the first female artist to gain widespread recognition for a strictly male-dominated disc...
Ahmed Fakroun: rediscovered pioneer in modern Arabic music, live with Dutch-Turkish act Altin Gün
Ahmed Fakroun is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, raï singer (based on a form of Algerian folk music from the 20's) and pioneer in modern Arabic music. As a kid, Fakroun already developed a f...
Psychic Ills
Although Psychic Ills started as a bedroom recording project fifteen years ago, this New York-based band has been in constant evolution ever since. Never one to shy away from experiment, their music i...
Listen: Black Country, New Road release debut album 'For the first time'
The enigmatic seven-piece band Black Country, New Road have released their long anticipated debut album 'For the first time'. It was recorded with Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine) and is released via Ninja Tune. In anticipation of the album release, The Quietus spoke to four of the members about what really...
COSMOS Embassy: Pernambuco, Brazil
In partnership with Coquetel MolotovRecife’s Coquetel Molotov teamed up with music producer Benke Ferraz (Boogarins) and launched a musical incubator for artists outside Pernambuco’s capit...
W.I.T.C.H.
Once upon a time, W.I.T.C.H. ruled Zambia. In the seventies, the band responsible for pioneering ‘zamrock’ often needed police to control the crowds riled up by lead singer Jagari (whose n...
Listen: Lewsberg performs 'The Corner' live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Lewsberg, hailed as "Rotterdam’s answer to The Velvet Underground" by NME, performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022. We now share the track 'The Corner' from that performance (taken from their 2021 album 'In Your Hands') just as the band are about to go on an international tour which will bring them to Germany, USA,...
Deena Abdelwahed announces new album 'Jbal Rrsas'
Deena Abdelwahed draws as much from clubbing as she does from the avant-garde scene. Since the release of her debut LP Khonnar, the DJ and producer has been showered with praise for the fine-drawn ways in which her work paints the diversity of Arabic music.
On 8 September, Abdelwahed will release her new album Jbal Rrsas, which she will present at Le Guess Who? 2023. It was produced as part of Consortium Commissions, an initiative set up to showcase emerging artists from the Arab world, run by Brussels-based NGO Mophradat.
None of the album's tracks will be released ahead of release due to a desire to present the record as one whole project. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry, who also curated her performance for Le Guess Who? 2023.
Badume's Band & Selamnesh Zéméné
Since 2007, Badume’s Band has tasked themselves with the joyous mission of bringing the golden age of Ethiopian music to new eyes and ears. In Selamnesh Zéméné (Debo Band, T...
Black Mother
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver Part film, part baptism, in Black Mother director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and...
Playlist
Facts & Figures Browse through our Facts & Figures magazine, in which we offer you an insight into the impact and results of LGW ON/OFF, with data from both events, photos, and quotes from media. Press Archive Our archive includes press previews, reports and interviews for ON/OFF. Have a look at all published articles...
Black Power Tarot Exhibition by King Khan & Michael Eaton
Under supervision of surrealist filmmaker and spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorowsky, King Khan and Game of Thrones-designer Michael Eaton created ‘The Black Power Tarot’. The cards are depic...
Black Lips
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...
Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble
The past and the future wage a perpetual dialogue with one another and Damon Locks’ Black Monument Ensemble could be considered a testament to that very notion. What started as Damon Locks proce...
Saâdane Afif: Black Chords
Centraal Museum presents Black Chords is an installation by the French ‘post-conceptual’ artist Saâdane Afif, which consists of thirteen electric guitars and the same number of ampl...
Listen: Rotterdam four-piece Lewsberg release new cassette 'Sweets'
For their upcoming tour, Rotterdam-based band Lewsberg has put together a unique, extremely limited cassette tape 'Sweets', featuring two new indie pop gems. To accompany the catchy 'Sweets' song, Lewsberg also pieced together a sweet, captivating DIY video that's assured to lift you up. While the track 'The Playground' offers list...
Every Thought Flies (Time is the Teacher)
‘Every Thought Flies (Time is the Teacher)’ is a short documentary coinciding with the archival release of Italian pianist, composer and performer Tiziano Popoli’s ‘Burn The Ni...
Watch: Pink Siifu releases new short film 'NATION TYME!'
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu has released the short film 'NATION TYME!'. Apart from the song of the same name on his latest solo album 'NEGRO', the film also features new music. 'NATION TYME!' quotes 'It's Nation Time', an iconic poem of writer, teacher, poet and political activist Amiri Baraka. As Pink Siifu states, he...
Bant Mag. publish Zoom conversation between Matana Roberts and Moor Mother about new paths, music and racism
Ahead of Le Guess Who? 2021, Turkey's Bant Mag. hosted a Zoom chat between irreverent saxophonist and LGW21 curator Matana Roberts and LGW18 curator and musician/activist Moor Mother. During their conversation, the artists talk about new ways to reinvent and produce music during the pandemic, the music industry and Black Lives...
Watch Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble perform 'The Body Is Electric' live at LGW21
Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021. Curated by Matana Roberts for the festival, it marked the group's European live premiere. Now can now relive the performance with this video of the ensemble performing 'The Body Is Electric' from their latest & acclaimed album 'NOW'. AboutThe past and...
Listen: Shabazz Palaces remix Gonjasufi for new album 'Mandela Effect'
Gonjasufi has just released his new remix album 'Mandela Effect', and gathers an impressive list of collaborators for the album. The album was released on Warp and features a.o. Le Guess Who? artists...
Irreversible Entanglements feat. Pat Thomas
In early 2015, free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements first came together to perform at the Musicians Against Police Brutality event in New York. Drawn from the instrumentalists’ indivi...
Stream Jane Weaver's new EP 'The Architect'
Earlier this year, Manchester figurehead Jane Weaver released 'Modern Kosmology': a thrilling mix of dream pop, avant-folk and psychedelic music. Now, just six month later, she shares her new EP 'The...
Angel Bat Dawid & Patricia Kaersenhout
Presented by Le Guess Who? & BAK - basis voor actuele kunst Le Guess Who? and Jeanne van Heeswijk connected the Chicago-based pianist, clarinetist and composer Angel Bat Dawid with visual artist,...
Important info: wristband pick-up at Le Guess Who? 2018
Upon arrival at the festival, you will need to exchange your ticket for a festival wristband to ensure entrance to the festival venues. Please note: You can only do this at our ticket desk in TivoliVredenburg (Vredenburgkade 11, right next to Utrecht central station), not at other venues. Please note that you can only coll...
Sons Of Kemet with Special Guests
Sons of Kemet’s latest record, ‘Black to the Future’, was released in May – mostly recorded after the murder of George Floyd. For The Guardian’s Kitty Empire, the album f...
Dreamcrusher
Dreamcrusher began on Kansas-born, New York City-based Luwayne's Glass Myspace page in 2003. Nineteen years, forty releases (including this February's ‘Dreamcrusher Plays the Hits: (LIVE 2-2-...
The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
The Master Musicians of Jajouka, led by Bachir Attar, performed live at the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the Hidden Musics project following the release of their new album 'Dancing Under The Moon', released earlier in 2022 via Glitterbeat Records. You can listen to and relive the full performance below. About B...
COSMOS Live: YL Hooi
‘An immaculately frayed conception of dubwise dream-pop’, wrote Boomkat about ‘Untitled’, YL Hooi’s standout 2019 debut. Valya Ying-Li Hooi’s project, whose first L...
Watch the video for 'Imagining My Man', by Aldous Harding
Aldous Harding offers us some more isnight into het new album 'Party' to be released in May via 4AD. Watch her new video for 'Imagining My Man' via the link below. Harding is curated by Perfume Geniu...
Listen to Sun Kil Moon's new album in full
Mark Kozelek releases his new Sun kil Moon record: a double album called 'Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood'. Stream it in full below; "a Stream-of-Consciousness Epic," as Rolling Ston...
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares amongst NPR's '150 Greatest Albums Made By Women'
"Why make a list of the greatest albums made by women? To start a new conversation, and to rewrite history." NPR Music just published a list of '150 Greatest Albums Made By Women': a beautiful select...
Listen to Protomartyr's new album 'Relatives in Descent'
"Now, on its fourth album, the band is moving toward an idiom that’s more flexible and contrasty yet just as gripping: Protomartyr’s own post-post-punk. Its expanded vocabulary includes re...
Bliss Signal
Diving headfirst into genres like shoegaze, post-rock, noise and black metal, Bliss Signal unleashes a claustrophobic blast of furious energy. The project marks the collaboration between two experimen...
Group Listening
Group Listening is a joint project by UK-musicians Stephen Black and Paul Jones. Black and Jones met at music college before their respective paths strayed. Reconnecting years later after various ende...
Paranoid State
Three veterans from the Dutch hardcore scene bring you an intense and melodic form of post-hardcorepunk in the vein of the Wipers, Black Flag and Bad Brains.Drie veteranen van de Nederlandse hardcore-...
Jerusalem In My Heart announces new album 'Daqa'iq Tudaiq', co-commissioned by Le Guess Who?
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...
B. Cool-Aid
You can only mix so many flavors of Kool-Aid before its colors start to smear. Hereby lies the inspiration behind vocalist Pink Siifu and producer Ahwlee (pronounced “Ali”)’s group n...
Revealing the full program for Le Guess Who? 2022
From 10-13 November, Le Guess Who? returns to Utrecht for its 15th Anniversary Edition. We now proudly reveal the full 2022 line-up, with new additions joining the likes of Abdullah Ibrahim, Low, Lole Montoya, Nia Archives, as well as festival curators Animal Collective, clipping., and CURL. General program Joining Le Guess Who?&rsquo...
The Scorpios
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. Once there, they built a gr...
Playlist: An Introduction to Art Ensemble of Chicago, compiled by Ben Ratliff
In the mid-1960s, Art Ensemble of Chicago sprung from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Ever since, they have been celebrated as one of the most remarkable free jazz movements to arise from Chicago’s already rich jazz heritage. Moving far beyond jazz, avant-garde and performance art, the ensemble...
Cass McCombs announces new album 'Tip of the Sphere', shares lead single 'Sleeping Volcanoes'
Labeled as one of the greatest songwriter of his time by New York Times, California-based artist Cass McCombs is a creator of sublime, hazy pop songs, taking you deep down into realms of experimental soul, twisted psychedelia, and mesmerizing rock. Just before his performance at Le Guess Who?, McCombs now announces his new album 'Tip...
Read Bandcamp's feature about Minyo Crusaders' Japanese folk music for the post-modern age
The 10-piece Japanese ensemble Minyo Crusaders breathes new life into traditional Japanese folk songs. The word 'Minyo' refers to these songs, that have mostly disappeared from everyday consciousness in 21st century Japan. On their new album 'Echoes of Japan', they merge the traditional minyo with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms and...
blondewednesday
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...
Listen: Tara Clerkin Trio announce 'In Spring' EP and release title track
Bristol-based group Tara Clerkin Trio have announced the new EP 'In Spring', to be released October 1st. It is the second release by the experimental trio that draws from jazz, folk, modern composition, trip hop and downtempo electronica, yet evading all of those categorisations. The EP's title track was released alre...
"It feels like you have done your part": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Khartoum, Sudan
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Khartoum, Sudan We discuss LGW Embassy: Khartoum, Sudan with Hassan Kamil: a talk about portraying another image of the continent, the country, and the city; how music in Khartoum grew to be ‘a form of resistance’; and how it is home to a rich array of meaningful, beautiful, and unique sounds; dif...
Listen & relive: Sarathy Korwar live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Sarathy Korwar performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 on the night preceding the release of his new album 'KALAK'. You can now relive the full performance below, which includes tracks from that album, as well as 'Coolie', performed live together with Alabaster dePlume. AboutBorn in the US, Sarathy Korwar grew up in Ahmedabad and Ch...
Scene Report: Hermel, Lebanon
Jaafar Touffar is a prominent Arabic Hip Hop artist from Lebanon. He has created a unique sound mixing Rap with Ataba (a traditional Arabic musical form) and Folkloric music that couldn't be studied i...
Podcast: Part 2 of 'DJ Fitz: The Birth of a Scene'
Le Guess Who? presents 'The Big Playback', a podcast about all things music. For the occasion of Le Guess Who’s 15th Edition, we pay tribute to DJ Fitz- the man, the legend, the only artist to have been on every single lineup.
In this final episode of the series (revisit the first part here), we follow Fitz to Berlin and beyond, where he co-founds Kreuzberg venue West Germany, labors to propagate Turkish psych on dance floors across all Hipsterdom, and fully evolves into DJ Fitz- festival DJ extraordinaire.
COSMOS Embassy: Khartoum, Sudan
In partnership with Hassan Kamil & AndariyamagKnown for its strong rhythms, melancholy lyrics, and bittersweet taste, the Sudanese music scene is more active than ever. This Embassy features a sel...
COSMOS Embassy: Khartoum, Sudan
In partnership with Hassan Kamil & AndariyamagKnown for its strong rhythms, melancholy lyrics, and bittersweet taste, the Sudanese music scene is more active than ever. This Embassy features a sel...
Scene Report: Buenaventura, Colombia
Buenaventura is located in Colombia's southern Pacific Coast. The city is not only located in one of the most impactful economic regions in the country, but also hosts one of Colombia’s most imp...
Scene Report: Venezuela
Since its founding in 1975, Venezuela’s System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras called “El Sistema”, has used music education as a vehicle for social change. It cultivates an...
Scene Report: Caracas, Venezuela. Part III
Over the past few years, the alternative music scene in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, has been plummeting amid the country’s economic collapse – and the COVID-19 pandemic has just added...
Amsterdam-based indie rock crusaders Personal Trainer release new song 'Former Puppy'
*Update: Personal Trainer have released their debut album 'Big Love Blanket' in full, listen below: Big Love Blanket by Personal Trainer Just a week before Le Guess Who? 2022, Personal Trainer will release their debut album 'Big Love Blanket'. It's as euphoric, energetic and colorful as the band itself is, and to whet your appetite, the...
MIKE shares new single 'Red Jacket 6'
New York City rapper MIKE releases new single ‘Red Jacket 6’, which he produced with DJ Blackpower, Tony Seltzer and RedLee. It is his first material since the release of last year's 'Beware Of The Monkey'. The new single arrives ahead of MIKE’s Young World festival. In July, the freely accessible festival returns t...
Keenan Mundane
When Dutch rapper Keenan Mundane grabs the mic, there’s no choice but to listen. Inspired by the sounds of foreign agents such as JPEGMAFIA, Earl Sweatshirt, and MF Doom, Mundane chews up his in...
Ana Frango Elétrico releases new album 'Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua'
Ana Frango Elétrico has been hailed as an indie wunderkind and "the most effervescent and innovative voice to surge up from Brazil’s new wave". Their 2019 album, Little Electric Chicken Heart, garnered plural accolades and even a Latin Grammy nomination; now, they releases their third and most confident album to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours.
The album hints to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but also adds flourishes of modern pop sensibilities. As the Rio artist also mentions: seventies drums with eighties processing, funk-inflected R&B, art pop, cinematic chanson with lush strings and indie slacker Mac Demarco as well as nods to LGW23 curator Stereolab all grace the album. Listen below.
Resident Permission (Film Screening)
Many creatively inclined Indians are moving to Goa, united by a desire to find out if the reasons are personal or reflective of a broader shift in what it means to make things in this country. ...
Resident Permission (Film Screening)
Many creatively inclined Indians are moving to Goa, united by a desire to find out if the reasons are personal or reflective of a broader shift in what it means to make things in this country. ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson
His impressive body of work includes stints as "dub poet", political orator, recording artist and author/journalist. His 1978 reggae album ‘Dread Beat an' Blood’ is a statement akin to Gil...
Zeal & Ardor
Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux funnels the spells of black metal into howls of Tom Waits-esque juke joint blues. Suffice to say, results are nothing short of spectacular. Debut album ‘De...
Jenny Hval
In her enigmatic avant-pop excursions, Jenny Hval breaks free from rigid concepts of sex, mortality, biology and pop culture. Her concept album ‘Blood Bitch’ occupies a fractured but heroi...
Listen to Zeal & Ardor's new album 'Devil is Fine'
Zeal & Ardor just released their debut album 'Devil is Fine'; stream it in full below. "‘Devil Is Fine’ offers a dazzling array of elements somehow working in cohesion, be it hallowed...
Liars share 2 new tracks: 'Coins in My Caged Fist' & 'The Grand Delusional'
Last month, Liars announced their new album 'TFCF', to be released in August via Mute. After first single 'Cred Woes', the band now shares two new tracks from the album: 'Coins in My Caged Fist'...
Listen: Tiny Vipers returns with new album 'Laughter'
After an eight-year album hiatus, Seattle-based musician Jesy Fortino (who also formed Mirrorring together with Grouper’s Liz Harris) returns with the electronic soundscape-based album 'Lau...
Protomartyr share new song 'Don't Go To Anacita'
This Friday, Detroit's Protomartyr will release their new album 'Relatives in Descent'. Following first songs 'A Private Understanding' and 'My Children', the band now share third song, entitled 'Don'...
Robbie Cornelissen: animated films
Centraal Museum presents Utrecht artist Robbie Cornelissen creates films, drawings and installations and was one of the main curators of the Centraal Museum exhibition De Line Up. Cornelissen is know...
James Holden & The Animal Spirits - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
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...
Jah Shaka Sound System
Music derived from Rastafarian sound system culture has known many incarnations over time, but Jah Shaka remains true to its spiritual roots and essence. He arrived as teenager from Jamaica in London...
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
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...
Éliane Radigue: a personal quest in exploration of sound
On Thursday, 8 November (the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2018), French experimental orchestra ONCEIM will perform twice in Utrecht’s iconic Dom church; a collaboration between Le Guess Who? a...
Stream Kikagaku Moyo's new album 'Masana Temples' in full
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...
Space Afrika
Joshua Inyang and Joshua Reid are not just from Manchester themselves; so is their music. Space Afrika's latest record on Dais Records, ‘Honest Labour’, is their defining statement to date...
Moon Duo announce new album; share title track 'Stars Are The Light'
Psychedelic/krautrock mystics and LGW19 curators Moon Duo have risen up as one of the most intoxicating live acts of this decade. Now, the group announce their new album 'Stars Are The Light', to be released by Sacred Bones on 27 September and produced by Sonic Boom. The Oregon band’s trademark sound is as much acqu...
The Strangeness of Dub
Music as Spectral Infrastructure Writer, researcher and musician Edward George’s radio show The Strangeness of Dub combines critical theory, social history, a cross-genre musical selection, and...
Eavesdrop with Christine Kakaire
In Eavesdrop with Christine Kakaire, the Berlin-based writer, editor, teacher and speaker invites artists performing at this year’s Le Guess Who? for live interviews, discussing the inspirations...
In Conversation: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart) x Anupa Mistry
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, better known as Jerusalem In My Heart, has been nurturing the craft of contemporary Middle Eastern music for over a decade. In 2017, he was one of the guest curators for Le Guess...
Nia Archives
Nia Archives, one of the most talked-about newcomers to the jungle scene, is busy crafting every introverted extrovert's dream soundtrack. After teaching herself how to produce at sixteen, the prodigi...
Explore the line-up of Le Guess Who? 2021 with our official playlist
After a new line-up announcement with 46 artists added to the program of Le Guess Who? 2021, we have updated our official festival playlist. You can stream the playlist via Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music. You can also support the artist directly by buying their music on Bandcamp via Buy Music Club. The playlist features a.o. B...
Argentinian "giant of musique concrète" Beatriz Ferreyra, curated by Lucrecia Dalt for LGW21, releases new album 'Canto+'
Beatriz Ferreyra is an 84-year-old composer and sound artist from Argentina, currently living in Hameau de Hodeng, France. Recently dubbed a "giant of musique concrète" by Pitchfork, Ferreyra has now released her new album 'Canto+' via Room40, the follow-up to last year's 'Echos+'. The album collects five pieces...
Mourning [A] BLKstar
'A band whose importance is fast becoming evident', wrote Wire Magazine's Neil Kulkarni on Mourning [A] BLKstar. The collective, made up of musicians, writers, and multimedia artists, has a bountiful...
Divide and Dissolve
Music is a powerful tool for the oppressed, but few have flexed their artistry for change as vigorously as Divide and Dissolve. The Melbourne doom duo - Takiaya Reed (saxophone, guitar, live effects)...
South London post-punk four-piece Italia 90 release new song 'Road To Hell'
Following the release of their track 'An Episode' last month, UK post-punk outfit Italia 90 now share new song 'Road To Hell' from their upcoming EP 'Italia 90 III', to be released on Friday, 15 November. 'Road To Hell' shines more light on the brutalist tendencies of the "EP III" package: galloping bass and manic guitar li...
Read: a personal introduction to Czech duo Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi's haunting music, by Pavel Klusák
Ever since they started working together in the mid-eighties, Czech artists Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi have traveled far and wide, crossing continents, cultures and mediums with styles of European classical music ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary. In the process, the duo made fans which include Sufjan Stevens, The National's...
Scene Report: San Agustín, Venezuela
San Agustín is a south-central Caracas, Venezuela, district that began to form in the late 1800s. People from Margarita Island and the Venezuelan Andes, but especially from the Black areas of V...
Ale Hop & Laura Robles present Agua Dulce
Alejandra Cárdenas, or Ale Hop, and Laura Robles grew up houses apart in Lima, Peru, without ever meeting each other; now, the two musicians, currently based in Berlin, are presenting ‘Ag...
South African drummer & composer Tumi Mogorosi announces new album 'Group Theory: Black Music'; listen to 'The Fall'
*Update: the full 'Group Theory: Black Music' album is out now: Ever since his debut album 'Project Elo' in 2014, Tumi Mogorosi has built a reputation of being one of the most captivating young creatives in the South African scene, collaborating with Shabaka & the Ancestors along the way. This July, the Johannesburg-bas...
Listen: Weyes Blood covers Soft Machine and Fred Neil on new single
Following the release of her acclaimed album 'Front Row Seat To Earth', multi-instrumentalist and singer Natalie Mering aka Weyes Blood now reveals her new single, featuring two cover songs: Soft...
Marta Salogni performing Pauline Anna Strom
With her music, San Francisco composer, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom (best known under the pseudonym Trans-Millenia Consort) mapped an inner world of imagined pasts, possible futures, and alt...
Listen/read: Flamenco innovator Lole Montoya: “I would not be able to sing something I’m not feeling”
Already at an early age, Lole Montoya decided that she wanted to dedicate her life to singing. But not only did she indeed become a singer, she also redefined the flamenco genre by bringing in new influences, genres and poetry. Her skill has been displayed across a long repertoire, which includes her work as part of the renowned duo Lole y Manuel, surely one of the most important musical duos in popular Spanish music.
This year, Lole Montoya gives a rare performance at Le Guess Who? as part of the Hidden Musics program. We asked Marina Herlop, a Barcelona-based musician, singer and sound artist, to give a personal introduction to Lole Montoya’s music, vision and in the end: to her life’s work.
Words & audio by Marina Herlop
Thanks to Natalia Brovedanni
‘New nest, same flight' - Live Screenprinting by Birdguy
Aloïs van Bruchem, aka ‘Birdguy’, creates multidisciplinary work. He is best known for his cartoon-like birds, which you see on canvases, skateboards, clothing or as street art. At Ku...
Baltimore experimental rock quartet Horse Lords announce new album + share video for 'Mess Mend'
*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...
Scene Report: Beirut, Lebanon
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...
Ava Mendoza
There is a good reason why names such as John Zorn, Matana Roberts, and Fred Frith have rushed to play with Ava Mendoza, as the Brooklyn guitarist, vocalist, and composer has built a reputation as one...
Lost Girls
Two years ago, Lost Girls, made up of daring Norwegian duo Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden turned heads with their sensual debut LP ‘Menneskekollektivet’. Now, they are returning with &...
The Anonymous Project
Le Guess Who? premieres a new format as part of its 2023 festival edition. The Anonymous Project is a new avenue for artists to present their work and for listeners to discover it. During The Ano...
Aldous Harding (2017)
Kiwi musician Aldous Harding stops you dead in your tracks with her remarkable dark folk hymns. A magnetic stage presence, Harding taps into different moods and characters, often in the very same song...
Gigi Masin
Oft-sampled though never imitated, Italian composer Gigi Masin’s deft ambient collages first entered our consciousness in the 1970s. Masin finally earned recognition with his 1986 LP ‘Wind...
Stream 'Tommy'; Klein's new EP for Hyperdub
Following the release of her EP 'Lagata' last year, London producer Klein now shares 'Tommy', her first release for Hyperdub. Listen in full below and read Tiny Mix Tapes' review here. "Klein d...
Watch Abdel Karim Shaar's full performance at LGW17, curated by Jerusalem In My Heart
Lebanese legend Abdel Karim Shaar performed live at Le Guess Who? 2017 for his 2nd show outside his home country, curated by Jerusalem In My Heart. We've captured the full performance on video, which...
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Few musicians are as versatile, risk-taking and compulsively explorative as Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. This nomadic musician redefined math and noise rock with 90 Day Men and helped spearhead druidic dr...
Klang & Ivan Vukosavljević present 'The Burning'
In cooperation with Gaudeamus Ivan Vukosavljević’s brand new work arms Ensemble Klang with an array of deconstructed electric guitars, the ensemble reborn as prepared/tabletop/eBow guitarists....
Premiere: Jozef van Wissem shares new song 'Bow Down' & presents new album at LGW18
Enter the dark, mythical world of minimalist composer and acclaimed lute-player Jozef van Wissem. Accompanied by his baroque instrument, Van Wissem creates highly distinctive sonic soundscapes by blen...
COSMOS Embassy: Lisbon, Portugal
East Side Radio is an online radio platform streaming from Lisbon’s East Side, Portugal. It’s designed to be a hub connecting widely recognized domestic and international talent. This COSM...
Julie Byrne
Julie Byrne's lucid and enchanting folk songs speak immensely to the imagination, providing visions of the stars of the high desert, the fatigue of change, the wild flowers of the California coast, as...
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders isn't just one of the biggest jazz icons to ever set foot on a stage. In many ways, he transcends jazz music's conventions like few others. His employment of the tenor sax is unequaled...
Mary Margaret O'Hara
Declared a ‘cult hero’ by The Guardian, Perfume Genius has invited Canadian songwriter and actress Mary Margaret O’Hara to Utrecht for a very rare live performance. The undisciplinar...
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe releases Sonambient recordings
The ever-versatile Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is a soul that keeps creating, with each undertaking achieving new depths, textures and vocabularies. Now, Lowe releases his new 12" called 'Levitation Praxi...
Stream Fhloston Paradigm's new album 'After...'
Fhloston Paradigm is one of the many groundbreaking excursions of renowned Philly producer, musician and DJ King Britt. His new album has just been released, entitled 'After...', and featuring collabo...
Rodrigo Amarante
Brazilian singer-songwriter Rodrigo Amarante is most famous for writing and performing ‘Tuyo’, the theme song for the Netflix hit series ‘Narcos’. Just don't pin his work down...
Read: Bandcamp offers an introduction to Greg Fox through different collaborations
Greg Fox started as drummer for the black metal band Liturgy, but ended up making free jazz with Milford Graves. In between, there were involvements in classical music and new age, collaborations with...
John Maus announces new album & shares first single 'The Combine'
Six years after the release of his last album, avant-pop maestro John Maus finally returns. He now announces his new album 'Screen Memories', to be released 17 October via Ribbon. A first taste is giv...
Kikagaku Moyo
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...
Stream Thurston Moore Group's new album 'Rock N Roll Consciousness'
Thurston Moore shares his new album 'Rock N Roll Consiousness'. His current group features an all-star cast: Debbie Googe (My Bloody Valentine) on bass, James Sedwards (This Is Not This Heat) as...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s 1970 album, reissued by Super-Sonic Jazz this year, is a lush folk-jazz album in the vein of peers such as Tim Buckley and Joni Mitchell. After a twenty year absence, th...
Greg Fox Quadrinity
Using the drums as his main outlet, Greg Fox is a multi-instrumentalist, interdisciplinary artist, and teacher based in New York. Attaching sensors to his acoustic drum kit, Fox triggers sequenced syn...
Miho Hatori
Co-founder of celebrated poly pop duo Cibo Matto and collaborative partner of influential acts as Gorillaz and The Beastie Boys, Miho Hatori is a rare and inimitable talent from New York City. As prol...
Listen: Orphax shares new album 'Somniatores'
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-...
Jenny Hval's The Practice Of Love
Whether it’s a stage, a computer screen or a page from a book: Jenny Hval’s multi-disciplinary work aims to break beyond these confining zones to form a deeper connection with her audience...
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt’s floor shows are the stuff of myth and legend, unleashing a hailstorm of noise that would leave every venue smoldering in dust and vapors for weeks. Two decades after their accla...
Listen: Kojey Radical releases new grime-meets-jazz single ‘Water’
The multitalented British-Ghanaian Kojey Radical dropped a new, smooth-as-silk hip hop tune named ‘Water’. This soulful track also features Atlantic vocalist Mahalia and the grime-meets-ja...
Tracing the Roots: Vashti Bunyan and her mystical trails
Dive deep into the mystical trails and the long, weary road that made Vashti Bunyan's career even more mythical. After a hiatus lasting over thirty years, her musical career finally got back on t...
Deerhoof & Tigue play 'Friend Opportunity'
Deerhoof is one of those fantastic beasts the world has been lucky to find, an anomaly of a band that can twist any crunch of noise into saccharine hook-heavy pop euphoria. Their wide-eyed trial-and-e...
Greg Fox - Drummer in Residence
Collaboratorium The cartoon physics of Brooklyn experimental outfit Zs, the Lovecraftian doom tandem Ex Eye with Colin Stetson, the blast beat barrages of Liturgy; Greg Fox has an uncanny knack for t...
Listen: Mudhoney share 'Kill Yourself Live', an organ-filled odyssey on internet fame
Legendary grunge rockers Mudhoney have shared an organ-filled new single from their upcoming album 'Digital Garbage'; their first in five years. 'Kill Yourself Live' is a bleak examination of viral cu...
Brigid Dawson & Sunwatchers
Brigid Dawson may have become known as a centerpiece for Thee Oh Sees, in which her whimsical harmonies gave the band’s psychedelic rock new meaning. Now, she takes her keyboard and vocals elsew...
Stream: Oliver Coates releases new album 'Shelley's on Zenn-La'
London cellist, composer and producer Oliver Coates has released his new album 'Shelley's On Zenn-La' via RVNG Intl. The inspiration for the album was a legendary nightclub in the city of Stoke-on-Tre...
Mount Eerie releases new live album '(after)', recorded at Le Guess Who? 2017
Mount Eerie has released his new live album '(after)', which was recorded in full at Le Guess Who? 2017. The performance was curated by Perfume Genius for the festival, and took place at the Jaco...
Neneh Cherry releases new album 'Broken Politics', produced by Four Tet
After an absence of 4 years, Neneh Cherry made a phenomenal comeback by with the single 'Kong' earlier this year. Following up with two more breathing tracks, she now releases her fifth solo album 'Broken Politics'. Produced by Four Tet, Neneh Cherry expands her ever-widening sonic palette on a political-charged record that...
Shoko Igarashi
Shoko Igarashi, born in Yamagata prefecture, Japan, took her talent for the saxophone and flute all over the world, from New York to Brussels. Shoko has dabbled in a variety of musical genres, includi...
Ayman Maas
Joey van der Kaaij and his neighbor Nuno Monteiro began experimenting recording together in a studio in a student building in de Bijlmer, Amsterdam. That collaboration has transformed into Ayman Maas...
The Body Electric (Koen Delaere)
The performative character of the work of painter Koen Delaere can be compared to experiencing a live music performance or to making music in which meaning evolves while listening and playing. A spont...
Le Guess Who? 2019 Press Archive
“With the able steer of festival curators Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Fatoumata Diawara, and Iris Van Herpen, this year’s boundary-crossing festival Le Guess Who?? welcomed visitors from over 60 countries and proved that even in times of political divide, music and art can bring us together into a more hopeful future.” - The...
Listen: The Bug and Burial release new EP 'Dive/Rain'
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...
Le Guess Who? expands Untitled program with film festival, live interviews, Angel Bat Dawid's sonic healing session, more
Along with exploring the festival program, visitors of Le Guess Who? 2019 can also immerse themselves in various activities during the day throughout the city of Utrecht, including the ‘Untitled’ program. Untitled made its debut as part of Le Guess Who? 2018. We're eager to expand the programming to include more daytime...
Animistic Beliefs (live)
Animism is the idea often found in indigenous belief systems that everything possesses a spiritual essence. A pre-colonial tradition connected with Marvin’s Moluccan and Linh’s Vietnamese-...
Leoni Leoni
Swiss self-described ‘sound maker’ Leoni Leoni is a quintessential lullaby sculptor. Between 2019 and 2021, she has released four tapes which have made her a leading figure in the Bern und...
They Hate Change - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Tampa rap duo They Hate Change performed at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by clipping., following the release of Finally, New; their debut album for Jagjaguwar. Relive the ecstatic performance below with our concert film, featuring two unreleased tracks produced by John Carroll Kirby and Zach Witness: AboutTampa&rsq...
Cheikha Rabia & Esraa Warda - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Renowned rai singer Cheikha Rabia & Esraa Warda, a prolific dancer expert in traditional North African dance forms, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the Hidden Musics project. Relive the mesmerizing performance at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora via our concert film below: AboutCheikha Rabia and Esraa Warda both hail from...
Lewsberg - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Lewsberg, hailed as "Rotterdam’s answer to The Velvet Underground" by NME, performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022. We now share the track 'The Corner' from that performance (taken from their 2021 album 'In Your Hands') just as the band are about to go on an international tour which will bring them to Germany, USA,...
Talk: Digging Against The Algorithm
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...
Damon Locks discusses Black Monument Ensemble's 'NOW' with Nombuso Mathibela for PAM
Pan African Music (PAM)'s contributor Nombuso Mathibela had the opportunity to interview Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble about their latest album, 'NOW', which features Erica Rene, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Phillip Armstrong, Eric Tre’von, Monique Golding, and Angel Bat David (clarinet) and Ben LeMar Gay (cornet and me...
Brooklyn's Gustaf, curated by John Dwyer for LGW21, release video for 'Book' from upcoming album
Gustaf are New York's 'hardest working…and most reliably fun bands' according to BrooklynVegan. Now the five-piece announce their new album 'Audio Drag For Ego Slobs', out October 1st via Royal Mountain Records. As a result of their magnetic live show, the band caught the attention of a.o. Beck (who had the band open...
No Man's Land x U?: De Meesterproef
In honor of 900 years of Utrecht, the moment the city was born, No Man’s Land and U? are organizing a one-off musical trip through time. Leonard Luka, GINGE (ft. .Multibeat) and STACH x TANO are...
billy woods
A perennial figure in the New York abstract hip-hop scene, billy woods has been defined by his association with Cannibal Ox's Vordul Mega and as half of both Super Chron Flight Brothers and Armand Ham...
Watch: Rats on Rafts reveal new video for 'Second Born Child'
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...
Randall Dunn
New York composer, sound designer, and producer Randall Dunn’s oeuvre is expansive enough to make it hard to pin down, but, still, all of his works are imbued with a specific density that distin...
Listen: Rival Consoles preview upcoming album 'Now Is' with four new tracks
* Update: Rival Consoles' new album 'Now Is' is out now; stream it in full below. Throughout his critically acclaimed fifteen-year career, London-based producer Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles has continuously increased his drive to humanize sound. The mesmerizing and emotional sonic explorations that form the four new tracks lead...
COSMOS Embassy: Goa, India
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...
Watch a video portrait of Egyptian Zar ensemble Mazaher
Mazaher are a small group of mostly women musicians and singers who play Zãr music: chanting songs and playing hypnotic polyrhythms traditionally used as a purification and exorcism ritual to help pacify and cleanse the human spirit. Zar practitioners have been stigmatized because of this exorcist tradition and the aim of...
COSMOS Embassy: Goa, India
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...
Black Country, New Road share stripped back, acoustic version of 'Track X'
Following the release of their debut album 'For the first time' earlier this year, the enigmatic Black Country, New Road now display a new, more intimate side of the band with a stripped back and acoustic version of their single 'Track X', retitled into 'Track X (Guest)'. Listen below. "This version is where the lyri...
Listen to upsammy's new track 'Agglo', taken from the 'Virgin Forest' benefit compilation
Dutch electronic producer upsammy constantly shapeshifting sound gleefully travels outside of club conventions like a kid skipping class. During Le Guess Who? 2022, she will collaborate with multidisciplinary artist Sjoerd Martens. Meandering through digital and analog interactions, they form an introspective but expansive, ever-morphing...
Armand Hammer
In 2021, explosive New York City rap duo Armand Hammer (half ELUCID, half billy woods) released ‘Haram’, their collaboration with legendary producer The Alchemist. Two years later, the rec...
Rhys Chatham
By fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of the early sixties with the punk fury of the Ramones, New York composer, guitarist, trumpet player, and flutist Rhys Chatham has been shifting rock music's...
Maral, curated by Animal Collective for LGW22, announces new album + shares first track 'Feedback Jam'
*Update: Maral has now released her album 'Ground Groove' in full; listen below: Ground Groove by Maral LA-based, Iranian-American DJ and producer, Maral, announces the release of her upcoming album ‘Ground Groove’ and shares one of the tracks entitled ‘Feedback Jam.’ Featuring captivating electric guitar and bas...
KORG Berlin: Instruments beyond electronics
KORG Berlin is a transdisciplinary development lab designing new musical instruments. As a team, KORG Berlin operates on the belief that releasing a product always has a societal, economical, and envi...
Pop-Up Radio: KORG Berlin: Instruments beyond electronics
KORG Berlin is a transdisciplinary development lab designing new musical instruments. As a team, KORG Berlin operates on the belief that releasing a product always has a societal, economical, and envi...
Natural Information Society
Since 2010, acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams has been gradually expanding the conceptual underpinnings and musical references of Natural Information Society. As New York Time...
Dear Omens
Dear Omens is a musical melting pot from the bustling streets of Amsterdam. This band intertwines krautrock, new waves, and dark tones into an idiosyncratic sound. With a fusion of organ, percussion,...
William Basinski
Best known for his famous four-part masterwork ‘The Disintegration Loops’, William Basinski has been a vital figurehead in the New York art scene for over three decades. Starting his music...
Accommodation
There are several good places to stay in Utrecht. Check out the Stay22 map below for an overview of accommodation options during Le Guess Who? 2023. Curious about where the festival takes place exactly? Check our venue map here. This is subject to change slightly, as we are constantly working on finding new locations and entering into...
Pissed Jeans
The image post-hardcore group Pissed Jeans paint on their violent and earth-scorching new LP ‘Why Love Now’ isn't a pretty one. It's nevertheless a vivid reflection of post-Trump America t...
James Holden & The Animal Spirits
Electronic explorer James Holden is not only a musician, he’s also a producer, remixer, and the founder of the Border Community label, where he releases the music of equally genre bending electr...
New music from Sarah Davachi: All My Circles Run
Today, ambient composer Sarah Davachi unveils her new album All My Circles Run. Check it out below. "Like Brian Eno at his solo best, it's the sort of ambience that doesn't flood, that hovers precari...
Lost Horizons
Lost Horizons is a new collaborative dream-pop project formed by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richard Thomas of instrumental quartet Dif Juz. The duo's upcoming album 'Ojalá', released o...
Stream: LGW curator Perfume Genius' new album 'No Shape'
'No Shape', Perfume Genius' fourth album might be his most impressive and ambitious yet. We're very proud to have Mike Hadreas share his inspirations, interests and befriended artists for a curat...
Lighthouse: Films by Paul Clipson
Paul Clipson is a San Francisco-based experimental filmmaker who often collaborates with sound artists and musicians. His Super 8 and 16mm films aim to bring subconscious visual abstractions to light....
Han Bennink Trio & Joris Roelofs
Award-winning Dutch composer, bass clarinet player and saxophonist Joris Roelofs has performed with Han Bennink multiple times since forming an experimental duo together last year. Roelofs has practic...
Aldous Harding's new album 'Party' is out now
After releasing two singles 'Horizon' and 'Imagining My Man' (featuring Perfume Genius), Aldous Harding's new album 'Party' is out today via 4AD. Stream it in full below. Aldous Harding will pe...
Moon Duo (2017)
Moon Duo’s torrent blotchy psychedelics inventively coalesce with meditative, minimalist pop. Indeed, this is inflammatory music that submerges and manifests within the subconscious like a livin...
Stream Visible Cloaks' new album 'Reassemblage'
"Visible Cloaks’ hard-to-classify ambient music is a fascinating mix of organic and synthetic, past and future." - Pitchfork Today, Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile release their new album a...
Brian Case
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...
Martijn Comes
Dutch musician/composer Martijn Comes specializes in new media, sound design and electronic-acoustic compositions. Some of his harmonies sound as if they’re being exhumed from the dregs of harsh...
Ben Shemie
Indeed, the voice of Suuns has plenty more junk in his trunk. Ben Shemie’s fascination with classical music, radio art, new technologies and the free-form experimentalism of labels like Warp Rec...
Watch Zeal & Ardor's new video for 'Blood In The River'
The genre-bending Zeal & Ardor share the video for 'Blood In The River', taken from their debut album 'Devil is Fine'. The track was recorded live in the Off The Road Studios. Watch below.&nb...
Protomartyr announce new album, share first single 'A Private Understanding'
Detroit's Protomartyr just announced their new album 'Relatives In Descent', to be released September 29th on Domino Records, and co-produced and recorded with Sonny DiPerri (Animal Collecti...
Nobody (Willis Earl Beal)
Willis Earl Beal has gone incognito as a new masked superhero persona: Nobody. By leveling everything all the way back to zero, Nobody can continue to captivate with the idiom of his previous guise: a...
Listen: Grouper shares new song 'Children'
After the release of 'Paradise Valley' 7" last year, Grouper now shares contemplative new song 'Children'. The track was recorded around the time of the sessions for her latest album, 'Ruins'. "I pus...
The Ex (2017)
The adventurous, innovative Dutch band The Ex have defied categorization ever since their origination in 1979. Born out of the punk explosion, when anything and everything was possible, the band have...
Watch Mario Batkovic's new video for 'Semper'
Bosnian accordion master Mario Batkovic shares the video for the first single of his newest, self titeld album. The video for 'Semper' displays the accordionist playing live in a dark, mysterious tunn...
Hello Skinny
One oath sworn by Hello Skinny – founded by Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – is to create improv music that doesn’t sound improvisational. Inspired by New York’s late &lsquo...
Oliver Coates
Oliver Coates is an exceptional cellist, composer and producer from London. Guided by his atypical music tastes, Coates transcends the traditions of classical composition and finds a new definition fo...
The Breeders
Originally formed by Pixies’ Kim Deal and Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly, The Breeders are back in rumbling, restless style. Gaining worldwide recognition with their smashing, gummy hit sin...
Watch Black Lips' new video for 'Crystal Night'
This year, Black Lips released their 8th album 'Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?', and now the band share a brand new video for 'Crystal Night' from the album. The clip tells a tragic love s...
Hailu Mergia
Before Hailu Mergia fled to America in 1981, his group Walias Band was a guiding light in Ethiopia’s thriving nightclub scene. In America, Mergia ended up driving cabs for almost 30 years, but h...
METZ announce third album, share new track 'Mess of Wires'
On September 22nd, METZ will release their third studio album 'Strange Peace'. Earlier on, the band already released new songs 'Cellophane' and 'Drained Lake Ahead'. Now, they share 'Mess of Wires fro...
Aquaserge share new album 'Laisse ça être'
France’s Aquaserge shape their own fantastic musical planet, sprouting out lush prog workouts, weirdo pop and meditative dance grooves. The collective now releases their fifth album 'Laisse &cce...
Listen: Moon Duo share new album 'Occult Architecture Vol. 2'
Moon Duo makes inflammatory music that submerges and manifests within the subconscious like a living rorschach drawing. The psychedelic duo now release their new album 'Occult Architecture Vol. 2...
Serpentwithfeet
As former choir-boy suppressing his queer feelings, New York producer and songwriter Josiah White unleashes his true nature in the boundary-breaking project Serpentwithfeet. Creating an elaborating, e...
Read: The Quietus interviews Klein about her new EP and the intensity of her music
In a new interview with The Quietus, UK producer Klein discusses being a woman and a producer, and 'Tommy'; her new EP for Hyperdub. Stream a track below, and read the interview here. "Live sho...
Read Jerusalem In My Heart's Epiphany essay on meeting Abdel Karim Shaar (via The Wire)
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...
Sevdaliza reveals new track 'Mad Woman'
For Sevdaliza, rigid concepts of sex, gender, image and ethnicity are as fluid as her employment of musical boundaries. Following the release of het debut LP 'Ison', she now reveals her new track 'Mad...
King Champion Sounds
Fronted by Kenia-born musician Ajay Saggar, King Champion Sounds are an impetuous, eight-headed band from The Netherlands and England. Fronted by the inimitable G.W. Sok (former singer of the iconic D...
Midori Takada (2018)
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...
Explore James Holden's curated program for Le Guess Who? 2017
(Artwork by Raimund Wong) Playing live following ‘The Inheritors’ was a complete new experience for James Holden; improvising with live drums, sax and synths opened a new world for Holden...
Watch James Holden's video for the title track of new album 'The Animal Spirits'
Following the release of first two tracks 'Pass Through The Fire' and 'Each Moment Like the First', electronic explorer James Holden now shares the video for the title track of his new album 'The Anim...
Soichi Terada
With a career that dates back to the 80s, Soichi Terada has long been a bastion of soothing house music in Japan. Thanks in part to Hunee, who provided a showcase of Terada’s work via the Rush H...
Sarah Hennies & Jessica Sligter
So what do inventive New York-based sound wizard Sarah Hennies and avant-folk/electronic artist Jessica Sligter have in common? Well, they’re both reality-augmenters: Hennies can use any space t...
Watch: Black Lips perform live for The Pyles Sessions
When performing in San Diego last June, Black Lips also visited Signature Sound to perform some tracks from their latest album 'Satan's Graffiti or God's Art?' in session for FTW New Music....
Listen to Den Sorte Skole's Mixtape for Le Guess Who? 2017
Denmark's Den Sorte Skole create magical, musical storytelling across time and space. For Le Guess Who? 2017, the duo have put together a special mixtape with artists performing at the festival. Liste...
Neneh Cherry
Across decades, Neneh Cherry traversed and transcended every known faction of the music world; from bona fide pop stardom to the peripheries of punk rock, club music and jazz. Even more recently, Cher...
Delia Gonzalez
Based in both New York City and Berlin, Delia Gonzalez is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spreads over a wide variety of disciplines, including composing, choreography, sculpting/painting and p...
Jacco Gardner's Somnium
Dutch multi-instrumentalist and psych pop traveler Jacco Gardner will be heading back to Le Guess Who? this year, where he premieres the ‘Somnium’ experience. This will also be the live de...
Endless Boogie
Formed in 1997, Endless Boogie is an American rock band who are living up to their own band name. They’re well known for their seemingly infinite, minimalist jams, onstage as well as on record....
Video portrait: Jerusalem In My Heart at Le Guess Who? 2017
Le Guess Who? & de Volkskrant bring you video portraits of artists performing at Le Guess Who? 2017. Jerusalem In My Heart is the main project of Lebanon-born, Montreal-based artist and producer...
Patrick Higgins
He reimagines classical composers like Bach with modern-day instrumentation. He interrogates the role of individuality in the digital world. He tackles the cataclysms of climate change. Indeed, music...
Conrad Tao
Conrad Tao first touched a piano as a one-year-old toddler, and by the age of eight, he already performed Mozart’s Concerto No. 12. So, becoming one of the most exciting new faces in classical m...
Miranda Cuckson
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...
Watch: Vinyl Factory premieres videos of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares live at LGW17
Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares performed music from their new album 'BooCheeMish' live at Le Guess Who? 2017, in Utrecht's iconic Dom church (dating back to the 13th centu...
Felicia Atkinson
French sound sculptor Félicia Atkinson once curiously speculated that “music always existed, even before humans appeared." She might be onto something: under her spell, a seemingly random...
Mary Margaret O'Hara - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
During Le Guess Who? 2017 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O’Hara gave a very rare live appearance, curated by Perfume Genius for the festival. We are extremely proud to share the video and audio recordings of the performance, with the video premiered by The Wire. Declared a ‘cult hero&r...
Doug Hream Blunt
In the late 80’s, Doug Hream Blunt moonlighted music with a job at a care home in San Francisco. As a relative late bloomer at age 35, he started writing songs after attending a How To Start A B...
Träd, Gräs och Stenar (Träden)
For a band whose name translates to “Trees, Grass and Stone”, obviously, these lionized Swedish innovators have upheld their utopian ideals both in ethos and sound since the early 70&rsquo...
Melissa Laveaux
Mélissa Laveaux’s most recent album ‘Radyo Siwèl’ reclaims the Ottawa-born, Paris-based songwriter’s Haitian roots with a collection of native folk spirituals. Th...
Oiseaux-Tempête & Friends
Oiseaux Tempête’s cross-cultural, multi-genre improv rock has a tendency to unfold in places of turmoil, recording records in Greece, Turkey and Lebanon in the past. The core duo of Fr&eac...
Minyo Crusaders
Minyo Crusaders breathe new life into traditional Japanese folk songs (‘minyo’) by merging them with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms and flourishes of exotica. By doing so, the 10-pie...
Mythic Sunship
Equally adept at noisy, feedback-laden jams as spaced-out, repetitive voyages, Mythic Sunship's self-styled "anaconda rock" has been described as one of the most riveting movements of the European psy...
Efterklang
Whether it’s the early, more electronic-driven beginnings or excavating field recordings at an abandoned settlement in the Arctic Circle, these Danish pop adventurers express boundless enthusias...
Listen: Sons of Kemet release new album on Impulse!
In March 2018, Shabaka Hutchings and his comrades of Sons of Kemet released their new LP ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’ on the prestigious Impulse! label, known for jazz greats like John Coltra...
Vladimir Ivkovic DJ
Hosted by FACT Belgrade-based DJ Vladimir Ivkovic sees his chosen profession as a deeper philosophy than just filling up dancefloors. For him, DJing is a way to enter or create new places, to trigger...
Sarah Louise
Sarah Louise Henson operates from the roots of Appalachian folk music, but is likewise influenced by spiritual jazz, contemporary classical music and even new age. Her music has never sounded as penet...
William Tyler & Mary Lattimore
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...
Aldous Harding
Pop music canon has always compelled the listener to unravel the mystery behind the song. But the music of Aldous Harding inspires something arguably more powerful: an individual whose voice can seaml...
GAIKA reveals video for new track 'Crown & Key'
Next month, on July 27th, genre-bending vocalist and producer GAIKA will release his debut album 'BASIC VOLUME' via Warp Records. Today, he offers a new taste of the LP with the masterful video for&nb...
Ko Shin Moon
The duo Ko Shin Moon are entertaining in a similar way as back when you changed the instruments of sample tracks on a keyboard, just out of sheer curiosity how it would sound. Musicians Axel Moon and...
Le Mini Who?
Le Mini Who? is a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?. It turns venues, cafes, art spaces and even a fire station of the fast-developing and creative area Cartesius into improvised venues for (mainly)...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland: “I was making music for a generation that had yet to be born”
A classical singer. A multi-instrumentalist. A transgender artist. An experimental pioneer of electronic music. A children’s show composer and actor. A Buddhist practitioner. A psychotherapy co-...
Kikagaku Moyo announce new album 'Masana Temples'; share first track 'Gatherings'
Japanese for "geometric patterns", Kikagaku Moyo serves heavy-improv psychedelia with elements of German Krautrock, classic Indian raga and acid folk. The band have just announced the follow-up to 201...
Track of the Week #11: Ancient Shapes - 'Public Hymns'
Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we pick Ancient Shapes, a new project fronted by songwriter Daniel Romano. Always having been a...
Oren Ambarchi
Oren Ambarchi’s love for obscure and unexplored soundscapes has led him to join forces with fellow Le Guess Who? alumni, such as master experimenter Keiji Haino. This year, the man once named &l...
the Microphones
Ever since Phil Elverum began releasing records as the Microphones and Mount Eerie, he has been continuously moving the goalpost of musical storytelling to new and exciting horizons. The Microphones&r...
Tarta Relena
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...
Eleanor Friedberger releases video for 'Are We Good?'
On her latest LP, the 80s Goth disco-inspired ‘Rebound’, Eleanor Friedberger creates a cinematic and eccentric dimension by adding layers of repetitive drums, sweltering synths, muted...
Listen to Swamp Dogg's new album 'Love, Loss and Auto-Tune'
Soul maverick Swamp Dogg has released his new album ‘Love, Loss and Auto-Tune’ via Joyful Noise Recordings. Although Jerry Williams Jr. said goodbye to the life of a conventional...
Authentically Plastic
Authentically Plastic’s world is made out of contradictions - beginning, of course, with the music. Picking up inspiration from northern Ugandan rhythms, afro-futurism, techno and vogue, there i...
Watch: Sons of Kemet perform 'Your Queen Is A Reptile' for Boiler Room & Mercury Prize
Sons Of Kemet's new album 'Your Queen Is A Reptile' (released in March via Impulse!) is the "jazz" choice for nomination in this year's Hyundai Mercury Prize. Ahead of the event, the band gi...
Track of the Week #18: Boogarins - 'Foimal'
Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we dive into the psychedelic, fleeting world of the Brazilian psych rockers Boogarins. Exploring their...
The Line of Best Fit premiere video for Valley Maker's new song 'Beautiful Birds Flying'
Seattle-based singer-songwriter Austin Crane (aka Valley Maker) creates mystical folk songs with one of the most remarkable voices in contemporary pop music. His debut album 'When I Was A Ch...
Daniel Romano's Ancient Shapes release new album 'Silent Rave'
Daniel Romano has always been a free and restless spirit, as well as a gifted and masterful musician. His new brainchild is Ancient Shapes: a fast and rebellious punk poetry outfit. Now, the...
Track of the Week #21: Lonnie Holley - 'Sometimes I Wanna Dance'
Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we highlight a track of acclaimed improvisational maverick and storyteller of the highest order: Lonnie Holle...
John Surman & Alexander Hawkins
John Surman’s career recently entered its sixth decade, an impressive feat of which this composer, one of the most prolific to emerge from the British Isles in recent memory, can be proud of. Ma...
Read: The Quietus interviews Joe Cardamone ahead of LGW18
Ahead of his appearance at Le Guess Who? 2018, The Quietus interviews Joe Cardamone about his searing new multimedia project, making art in the era of Trump, and how he survived the end of the gr...
Watch: King Champion Sounds release new video 'Memory Is Imagined'
Leading up to their forthcoming album 'For A Lark', set to be released on the exact same day as their performance at Le Guess Who?, King Champion Sounds has shared a new video for 'Memory Is Imagined'. Premiered via Louder Than War, this track is a deeply psychedelic and transformative song featuring heavy guitar action courtesy...
LGW & Gaudeamus collaborate to present ONCEIM in Utrecht's stunning Dom Church
Thursday 8 November, on the opening night of this year’s festival, we present two performances by ONCEIM in the Utrecht Dom Church, in collaboration with contemporary music organization Gaudeamus. ONCEIM, short for ‘Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales’, is a French...
Jamael Dean & Sharada Shashidhar Quartet
Pianist and producer Jamael Dean and singer Sharada Shashidhar were already jazz prodigies in their own right, even before getting together to make more wondrous music. Dean, the grandson of legendary...
Guido Nijs & Jos Smolders
Through sampling and re-sampling of pre-recorded material and live performed pieces, Jos Smolders (modular synthesizer) and Guido Nijs (saxophone and other wind instruments) are trying to find new way...
Open Podium West
presented by Jongerentheater Link Discrimination, prejudice, exclusion, racism; these subjects are all up for discussion at Open Podium West. Hear and meet people of all ages from the neighbourhood,...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Live at Le Guess Who?
New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Now, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Transgressive Records have officially released the full recording of...
Basilica Hudson & LGW announce return of 24-HOUR DRONE + launch open call for artist submissions
24-HOUR DRONE is an immersive, all-encompassing event featuring an international roster of musicians and sound artists collaborating and working in experimental, classical, non-western/traditional, durational and other genres incorporating drone to create a full 24 hours of unbroken sound. Multidisciplinary arts center Basilica Hudson an...
Open Ateliers, Exhibitions & Live Painting
De Nijverheid is a cultural freeport full of artists from all kinds of disciplines. Over fifty artists call this their second home, making De Nijverheid an artistic hub that sparks new creativity, une...
Insert Blank Records
Insert Blank Records is very proud to present to you their very first real-life showcase event. The new record label worked hard to build a diverse and joyful organization that represents the exciteme...
The Chisel
London band The Chisel’s new EP, ‘Come See Me / Not The Only One’ embodies a variety of British punk traditions, brought on by each member’s distinct origin story; Blackpool, C...
Uncloud Transliminal Exhibition
Uncloud 2021 takes the form of a pop-up museum for contemporary and media art. The exhibition, titled ‘Transliminal’, is about the temporary estrangement that takes place during the interm...
Revealing the guest curators for Le Guess Who? 2019
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...
Saul Williams & King Britt present 'Unanimous Goldmine' – Live at Le Guess Who? 2018
In one corner, the shamanistic Saul Williams, actor, screenwriter and renowned harbinger of noise poetry and hip hop futurism. In the other corner, cleric of eclecticism King Britt, accomplished Philly-based musician, DJ, author and producer. On the explicit invitation of Moor Mother, who was a guest curator at Le Guess Who? 2018, these...
Public art: Cem Berendsen & Wessel Kok – FROM NOISE
Location: Neude What happens when you embrace noise? FROM NOISE is an audio-visual sculpture consisting of countless noise frequencies. The noise is used as a building block in an abstract landscape...
Efterklang - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Whether it’s the early, more electronic-driven beginnings or excavating field recordings at an abandoned settlement in the Arctic Circle, Danish pop adventurers Efterklang express boundless enthusiasm with each radical new undertaking. The band performed on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2019, following the release of their new...
Haco collaborates with Takako Minekawa, Dustin Wong and Tarnovski on 'Kannazuki'
Japanese musician and sound artist Haco has released a new collaborative ambient piece with Japanese composer and musician Takako Minekawa, former Ponytail guitarist Dustin Wong and the Czech experimental artist Tarnovski. The track, entitled 'Kannazuki', is a live recording of the collaborative, one-off improvisational show of...
Girl Band shares video for new song 'Going Norway', from upcoming album 'The Talkies'
Dublin's Girl Band has released the new song 'Going Norway' from the upcoming album 'The Talkies', which will be released on 27 September via Rough Trade. Going Norway' follows the previously released 'Shoulderblades' and comes with a both disturbing and witty video that was directed by Bob Gallagher; watch below. Girl Band's Dara Kiely...
Watch Petbrick's video for new track 'Radiation Facial'
The duo of Petbrick, comprising Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura) and Wayne Adams are known for making horrible noises that melt your face. The minute you press play, you hear the new audial destination of electronic experimentation, hardcore attitude, dystopian dread and in-the-red dementia. The group now reveal the intens...
Cate Le Bon - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Cate Le Bon performed live at Le Guess Who? 2019, following the release of her latest album 'Reward'. You can now relive the performance with a video of Cate Le Bon performing 'Home To You' from her latest album, as well as the songs 'Love Is Not Love' and 'Wonderful' from 2016's Crab Day. Additionally, you can stream the full performance...
Donato Dozzy announces sound installation album '12H' on Lorenzo Senni’s Presto!? Records
Donato Dozzy has a rare ability to work his way into peoples’ minds in both contemporary and classical settings. Now, the Spazio Disponibile boss will debut on Lorenzo Senni’s Presto!? Records with a two-hour-long album titled '12H', due out on October 25. The music is a summary of the material that...
Anastasia Coope
Nearly a hundred years after the birth of surrealism in Europe, folk artist Anastasia Coope is keeping it alive and well in upstate New York. Both disruptive and whimsical, this nineteen-year-old pain...
Cate Le Bon and Deerhunter's Bradford Cox to release collaborative EP; listen to 'Secretary'
Earlier this year, Cate Le Bon collaborated with Deerhunter to produce their new album, 'Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?'. Now, their collaboration continues, with Cate Le Bon & Deerhunter's Bradford Cox uniting on a new collaborative EP 'Myths 004', to be released via Mexican Summer on November 1st. Fo...
Moon Duo release disco & groove-oriented album 'Stars Are The Light'
Today, psych/kraut mystics and Le Guess Who? 2019 curators Moon Duo release their new album 'Stars Are The Light' via Sacred Bones. Taking disco as its groove-oriented departure point, the album shimmers with elements of ’70s funk and ’90s rave. 'Stars Are The Light' is one large hallucinogenic, repetitive trip,...
Laurel Halo
Despite drawing inspiration from multiple musical lineages, Laurel Halo’s consistency has allowed her to form her own signature sound, recognizable to both long-time and short-time listeners. Th...
COSMOS / U? 2021
COSMOS As an international festival, Le Guess Who? has always worked with a borderless and boundary-crossing ethos. Now, the organization further enhances this focus with the launch of COSMOS: a new, hybrid platform that connects the local, physical festival environment with exclusive content that is available for worldwide, online strea...
Moundabout
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...
WaqWaq Kingdom ft. Kalma present Glitchy Nature
Nature’s opulence - its ability to morph, adapt, and flourish - inspired Glitchy Nature, the imaginative new crossover between Japanese tribal bass duo WaqWaq Kingdom (Kiki Hitomi and Shigeru Is...
Sarathy Korwar - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Sarathy Korwar performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 on the night preceding the release of his new album 'KALAK'. You can now relive the full performance below, which includes tracks from that album, as well as 'Coolie', performed live together with Alabaster dePlume. AboutBorn in the US, Sarathy Korwar grew up in Ahmedabad and Ch...
The Brother Moves On - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
The Brother Moves On, the captivating South-African ensemble famous for masterfully drawing from past, present and future, performed at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of '$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You' via Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Recordings. You can now listen to & relive the full performance. AboutTher...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland releases 'Live at Le Guess Who?' LP
New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Now, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Transgressive Records have officially released the full recording of...
Stories of Lombok (Buurttour)
Through the Buurt tour, you will explore the neighborhood Lombok and discover some favorite spots of De Voorkamers’ community members. They will match Dutch speaking with non-Dutch speaking part...
Psych/kraut mystics Moon Duo share new single 'Eternal Shore' from upcoming album 'Stars Are The Light'
Oregon psych/kraut mystics and Le Guess Who? 2019 curators Moon Duo have risen up as one of the most intoxicating live acts of this decade, embracing everything from 80’s disco, occult literature, electronic music and film soundtracks, armed with a mountain of effect pedals, shreds of reverberations, hallucinating gui...
Horse Lords
Baltimore experimental rock quartet Horse Lords are as unbridled as ever on ‘The Common Task’, their fourth long-form sonic inquiry. In it, they dwell once again on twisted time signatures...
Listen: Efterklang shares new single 'Uden Ansigt'
The musical trademark of Danish trio Efterklang is a tapestry of acoustic and electronic elements. The group will release their new album 'Altid Sammen' on September 20th via 4AD; now, they share the third single from the album, titled 'Uden Ansigt'. 'Altid Sammen's songs are about belief and togetherness,' frontman Casper Clausen s...
Valentín Clastrier
The hurdy-gurdy is an instrument few play and less master, but Valentín Clastrier does. The French musician’s career started out eclectic, as he picked up on choral singing, the cornet, a...
Jeff Parker
On his 2021 record, ‘Forfolks’, Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker proves why he is considered one of contemporary music’s most versatile and innovative composers - be it in pop, rock, j...
Eddie Chacon - Live at Le Guess Who? 2021
Eddie Chacon performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021 following the release of his latest album ‘Pleasure, Joy and Happiness’, made in collaboration with producer John Carroll Kirby. You can now watch & listen to four tracks from the performance below. AboutAs part of the soul duo Charles & Eddie, Eddie Chacon exper...
COSMOS Embassy: Bangkok, Thailand
WTF Gallery & Café was founded in 2010. The gallery has consistently embraced progressive thinking and pushed the barriers of what a small independent art space can sustain and present in terms of diverse art forms. A pioneering successful independent space, WTF is a vital meeting point for local artists and offers a rare platf...
COSMOS Embassy Film: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
In partnership with V2X Mag V2X represents a new generation of Vietnamese creatives shaping their own identities. Operating as an independent media company on the intersection of art, music, culture, V2X highlights creative communities from all corners of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Their work curating emerging cultures in today's metamod...
Film: Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel
The legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York is being turned into a boutique hotel, and its permanent residents have been living in the mess for the last nine years. Dreaming Walls captures the last visibl...
COSMOS Embassy: Pernambuco, Brazil
In partnership with Coquetel MolotovRecife’s Coquetel Molotov teamed up with music producer Benke Ferraz (Boogarins) and launched a musical incubator for artists outside Pernambuco’s capital - an open call focused on artists to produce new music. Ten names were selected and brought to Caruaru for three days of immersion with B...
Listen: FLOHIO releases new single 'Whiplash'
Followiung the release of her mixtape 'No Panic No Pain' back in November, FLOHIO is now back with a new, one-off single called 'Whiplash'. The UK based, Lagos-born rapper wrote on her Instagram, “I can’t lie this is gonna be nuts. I love you and I’m proud we are in this together. Friday I’ll drop somethi...
aural conduct: Luke Cohlen b2b Mary
Luke Cohlen is a DJ and programmer whose sounds tread a variegated landscape, from quiet introspection to trippy and rhythmic club-terrains. Through an inherent drive to spotlight music and artists wo...
Listen: Pink Siifu releases new album 'GUMBO'!'
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu has released new album 'GUMBO'!', the follow-up to his 2020 release 'NEGRO' (which got expanded to 'NEGRO DELUXE' earlier this year). 'GUMBO'!' features guest appearances from a.o. Georgia Anne Muldrow, Bbymutha, Nick Hakim, Liv.e, and Maxo. Production comes from a.o. the Alchemist, Monte Boo...
Video portrait: Gebroeders Dieleman van Eeckhout discuss faith, grief, and musical playgrounds during recordings
Gebroeders Dieleman van Eeckhout is the new collaborative project of Colin H. van Eeckhout (Amenra) and broeder Dieleman. The former is captain of one of metal's most innovative live acts, whereas the latter writes idiosyncratic Zealandic folk songs, intersecting pop and experimental idioms. Both have at least one thing in common; they ar...
Listen: LA-based songwriter Shannon Lay releases new album 'Geist'
Shannon Lay has already released an array of critically acclaimed solo records which were praised for their poetic lyrics, ingenious songwriting and commanding vocals. Now, she adds her new album 'Geist' to the catalogue: an album with tender intensity and of ethereal beauty. Lay first recorded vocals and guitar at Jarvis Tavinere...
Celestial Spaces: This Leo Sunrise
This Leo Sunrise is an alt-folk-indie rock band from Utrecht. Honest songs are mixed with cinematic, repetitive drones, creating a broad sound spectrum. The songs, atmosphere, production and lyrics &n...
COSMOS Embassy: Lisbon, Portugal
East Side Radio is an online radio platform streaming from Lisbon’s East Side, Portugal. It’s designed to be a hub connecting widely recognised domestic and international talent. This COSMOS Embassy was the first happening by East Side Radio after a long pause, during which a new broadcast studio was designed and constructed,...
Timetable & last program additions for LGW21 revealed + limited Saturday Tickets to go on sale
With just one week until the 14th edition of Le Guess Who?, the organization shares the timetable and last program additions for this year’s festival. Aside from some cancellations, the Utrecht festival for boundary-crossing music and culture now announces 41 final program additions, featuring live music performances, film screening...
LGW x SPEAK present: Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena introduced by Román Sánchez & Ayla Losada
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...
Poernaka Expo
Throughout the month of November, Hof-artist Poernaka will be showing his new exhibition at multiple locations at Hof van Cartesius. Always wanted to take a look in his studio? Then visit the Hofloods...
Cavolo Nero
Cavolo Nero is the ingredient for all kinds of Tuscan specialties, but also a six-piece band from Utrecht. The brand new project was born out of love for afrobeat and groove-oriented music. With inspi...
Het Grote Gebeuren: Art of the In-Between
Jeffrey Bruinsma is researching the extent to which people can draw a line underneath their past and create something from scratch, the same way a painter starts with a blank canvas. A search for new...
Lucrecia Dalt
With each of her releases, Berlin-based experimenter Lucrecia Dalt unbolts a new sonic door. She is led by assorted references, informed curiosity (the same which has led her to embark on many cross-d...
African Head Charge
‘A bad attitude is like a flat tire - you can’t go anywhere until you change it’. So commences African Head Charge’s new record ‘A Trip To Bolgatanga’ - their first...
Goat announce new album 'Oh Death'; listen to new track 'Under No Nation'
*Update: Goat have now released their new album 'Oh Death'. Stream below: Goat announce the release of their upcoming album ‘Oh Death’ and share one of the tracks entitled ‘Under No Nation.’ A fascinating blend between 70s funk and 80s post-punk, ‘Under No Nation’ transports listeners to a colourful,...
ZULI & Omar El Sadek present λ
The work of multi-talented sound artist Ahmed El Ghazoly (also known as ZULI) has spilled over Cairo's borders onto the rest of the world, garnering support from the likes of Aphex Twin and Autechre....
Yama Warashi
Born in Japan, Yoshino Shigihara had been based in Bristol until settling in London. Her 2019 move inspired 'Crispy Moon', the project’s biggest record yet, released last May. Having fully immer...
Listen: composer Flore Laurentienne released the second single from his upcoming album 'Volume II'
*Update: Flore Laurentienne has now released his new album 'Volume II' in full. Stream below: A brilliant mix between rich sound, romanticism and sublime experience, Flore Laurentienne's second single 'Voiles' from his new album 'Volume II' takes the listener on a thought-provoking voyage exploring the fascinating relationship between...
Listen: LGW22 curators clipping. release new remix EP 'CLBBNG Vol. 1'
West Coast-based hip-hop trio clipping. have refined their horror-inspired sound through multiple acclaimed releases over the years. In November, they will not only take the stage at Le Guess Who?, but they have also put together a personal and eclectic program for the festival ranging from rap to noise, from footwork to doom. ...
Scene Report: Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Mpya is a short documentary showcasing new Kenyan music culture, which is currently led by two genres or movements called SHRAP (Sheng + Trap + Pop) and Gengetone (Kenyan Pop). It briefly takes...
Scene Report: Kafr El Dawar, Egypt
This report follows the work of Yunis, an artist, and musician from Kafr El Dawar, Egypt. Here, Yunis discusses his work as a mediator between traditional, popular music and contemporary productions....
Scene Report: Kyiv, Ukraine
Ivanov Down is one of the main representatives of the Ukrainian 90's avant-garde music scene, influencing the trajectory of post-punk and the new wave movement in Ukraine. A film by Worn Pop. Kyiv,...
COSMOS Embassy: Bangkok, Thailand
WTF Gallery & Café was founded in 2010. The gallery has consistently embraced progressive thinking and pushed the barriers of what a small independent art space can sustain and present in t...
COSMOS Embassy: Delhi, Goa & Bangalore, India
REProduce Live is a peer to peer live streaming platform that showcases left leaning artistic expression within India. Their goal is to weave a new fabric by challenging expectations of what contempor...
Taiwan psych duo Mong Tong 夢東 release new album 'Tao Fire 道火'
Mong Tong 夢東 is the Taiwanese psychedelic group formed by brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi, whose music is heavily influenced by Southeast Asian culture, including its mythology and folklore, as well as 60s and 70s psychedelic music. Now, the siblings release their newest album, Tao Fire 道火, via the Kikagaku Moyo-ran Japanese label Gurug...
The Phantasmagoria of Jathilan
At the time of Dutch colonial rule, trance was a lifeline for the Javanese people, pulsating with fervor as an expression of their yearning for freedom. Now, Indonesian duo Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'on...
Price Attack
Price Attack is the new group allying the talents of Stef Kett (vocals and guitar), Leo Kurunis (bass guitar), and Jem Doulton (drums). Their songs leap across a tight-knit structure, and each track s...
Voice Actor release new album ‘Fake Sleep’
In October last year, the duo of Noa Kurzweil (Supertalented) and Levi Lanser (Ludittes) released their genre-defying three-and-a-half hour debut, Sent from my Telephone, under the moniker of Voice Actor. Now, the experimental pop duo shares what can be considered a condensed version of their debut. Consisting of 13 tracks chosen from th...
Four new projects added to Le Guess Who? 2022
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...
Mark Leckey
English contemporary artist Mark Leckey makes use of a variety of media, including film, sound, sculpture, and performance. His versatile practice focuses on the relationship between popular culture a...
Decisive Pink
Decisive Pink is the duo made up of Angel Deradoorian (formerly of Dirty Projectors) and Russian experimental pop artist Kate NV. The music they make together, much like the Wassily Kandinsky painting...
Liv.e shares new track 'Ghost'
While Dallas-bred Liv.e might take cues from artists as diverse as Erykah Badu, DJ Screw, and Sun Ra, she mainly crafts her own idiosyncratic breed of lo-fi R&B. In the words of NME, she's 'R&B’s new avant-garde star who’s ‘tired of whispering.' That categorization is more true than ever on new track 'Ghost', he...
Pankisi Ensemble
The Pankisi Ensemble goes against the typical 'ethno-fusion' grain in two ways. First, by not restricting tradition to a putrid, embalmed state, but by allowing their experimentation to take them to n...
Unearthed: An exclusive interview with Abdullah Ibrahim published by The Wire in 1984
This November, Le Guess Who? will feature a spellbinding solo piano performance by Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa’s most eminent pianist, anti-apartheid activist and a world-respected master musician. Abdullah Ibrahim's effervescent music is instantly recognizable, taking the audience on a journey through gospel and jive, American jazz and classical music. Once heard, his music holds a special place in the heart of the listener.
To find out more about Abdullah Ibrahim's life, inspirations and faith, as well as the role his music plays in the freedom struggle, read this in-depth interview by Graham Lock.
***
This article was published in The Wire Magazine issue 8, October 1984. It is reproduced here by permission of The Wire and Graham Lock. A slightly different version of the article was published in Graham Lock’s book Chasing The Vibration (Stride, 1994).
Nok Cultural Ensemble
Glitching beats unfold on African timelines, expressed through free jazz sensibilities and the futuristic pulse of dub technologies; such is the sound of Nok Cultural Ensemble, Nigerian-British musici...
Domenico Lancellotti
Musician Domenico Lancellotti (of +2's and Orquestra Imperial) grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and samba was the soundtrack not only in the city but also at home; his father, Ivor Lancellotti, is a revered...
Listen/read: Kamilya Jubran: Witnessing a transcendent moment on stage
This November, Le Guess Who? features a performance by Kamilya Jubran, which was curated by mastering engineer Heba Kadry. Born in Palestine and currently based in Paris, Kamilya Jubran is one of the most revered figures in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes.
Through her multi-disciplinary work, Jubran continues to inspire a new generation of both musicians and audiences. One of those musicians is Sandy Chamoun, part of the Lebanese group SANAM who are also performing at Le Guess Who? this year. We asked Sandy Chamoun to share a personal introduction to Kamilya Jubran’s life and work.
Words & audio by Sandy Chamoun
Photography by Alexia Fiasco
Photo series: Sophie Nzayisenga by Serrah Galos
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 with Chris Eckman (Glitterbeat Records) and GRAMMY Award-winning producer Ian Brennan.
This year, Le Guess Who? is bringing the Sophie Nzayisenga, the master of the inanga from Rwanda, to Utrecht as part of Hidden Musics.
Photography by Serrah Galos
Pedro Ricardo
For every record he spins, Pedro Ricardo takes on new challenges. The artist, who will be doing a DJ set at Le Guess Who?, relies on the strength of the grooves he plays, bringing forth a feeling of i...
Armand Hammer release new album ‘We Buy Diabetic Test Strips’
New York rap virtuosos billy woods and ELUCID, collectively known as Armand Hammer, are back with their much-anticipated album, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips. This release serves as a follow-up to their 2021 cult hit Haram, produced by the Alchemist. Listeners can also expect some familiar sounds of Le Guess Who?, as the duo has invited th...
The Homesick
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...
Irreversible Entanglements release new album ‘Protect Your Light’
Irreversible Entanglements, the free jazz collective hailed by NPR as “Perhaps the most thrilling band in jazz right now,” has released their new album Protect Your Light. Released through Impulse! Records, this album marks a significant milestone in the world of experimental jazz. The group is comprised of vocalist Cama...
Volunteering applications for LGW23 now open
We got an amazing amount of enthousiastic responds to our call for volunteers, so therefore we closed the registrations for now. However, schedules always change and there is a chance that a spot will open up. That's why we opened a waiting list. You can sign up for the waiting list here.Please keep in mind that being on the waiting list...
Listen/read: AMPFEMININE: "Your excuse of ‘there aren’t that many good female and non-binary DJs’ is not valid"
You can also listen to this story – below or via your favorite podcast app. Words & audio by Cheri PercyPhotography by Tengbeh Kamara Rotterdam based-DJ collective AMPFEMININE scours its diverse database to bring an evening of fresh feminine energy to this year’s Le Guess Who? proving that female and non-b...
Special Interest
With last year’s ‘Endure’, New Orleans-based Special Interest cemented themselves as everyone’s readily-embraced champions of joyful and biting glam punk. Thanks to fearless vo...
Hof van Cartesius Side Program
The Hof van Cartesius is a unique circular work spot for more than 100 makers and entrepreneurs. It is also an incubator for new talent, a hub for experiment and a meeting space for the local communit...
COSMOS Embassy Film: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
V2X represents a new generation of Vietnamese creatives shaping their own identities. Operating as an independent media company on the intersection of art, music, culture, V2X highlights creative comm...
Watch Rose City Band perform live at KEXP
‘Porch music’, a term coined by acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo), aptly describes his country psychedelic rock project Rose City Band. At first inspired by warmer months, Johnson has now embarked on a forever summer. Their new album, 'Garden Party', is said to be, &ldquo...
COSMOS Live: The Phantasmagoria of Jathilan
At the time of Dutch colonial rule, trance was a lifeline for the Javanese people, pulsating with fervor as an expression of their yearning for freedom. Now, Indonesian duo Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'on...
COSMOS Embassy: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
V2X represents a new generation of Vietnamese creatives shaping their own identities. Operating as an independent media company on the intersection of art, music, culture, V2X highlights creative comm...
Keep Dancing Inc
In just a few years, Keep Dancing Inc has etched an indelible mark on the indie alternative scene with their suave and serene approach. European tours alongside Blossoms, collaborations with Altin G&u...
Baby's Berserk
Baby's Berserk, a radiant manifestation from Berlin's Toy Tonics label, weaves the vibrant threads of 1980s New Wave and Y2K Indie dance sensibilities. Guided by Lieselot Elzinga, a sage presence in a...
First artists & full curated programs announced for Le Guess Who? 2022
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...
Nusantara Beat
Amsterdam-based six-piece Nusantara Beat has quickly amassed a cult following, largely due to their exciting new take on Indonesian tradition. By infusing the sounds of traditional Indonesian songs fr...
EIGEN RISICO shares new single 'en mil piezas me partí'
Eigen Risico is the project from the multidisciplinary artist Héctor Garcia Martin also known as Hache. Initially formed as a collective where live art performance and music melted into an intense live show, Héctor now decided to go solo. He now shares his new single en mil piezas me partí. How to rebuild yourself af...
Joanna Sternberg
New York City singer-songwriter Joanna Sternberg has made a delightful splash this year, with the release of their second album ‘I’ve Got Me’, which music critics were quick to showe...
Synth & Beat
5 December is just around the corner, which means Synth en Beat are back in the Netherlands, this time for a unique five-hour jam session. In relay style, a whole group of artists will be alternating...
Nijveraars
De Nijverheid is a cultural haven in Utrecht’s Werkspoorkwartier district, with artists’ studios and creative workspaces for more than 50 autonomous artists, designers and creatives.Het Kl...
The Getdowns
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...
Nomono’s Ambient Hang-out // Hosted by Too many birds
Too many birds exists on the precipice of music and nature. Music writer Ruben van Dijk (Front, OOR, et al.) is drawn to sounds that renegotiate our relationship to the world around us and blur the li...
Kamilya Jubran
Palestinian-born, Paris-based musician Kamilya Jubran is one of the most revered figures in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes. Raised by her music-loving parents in Galilee, for 20...
Gert Wessels
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...
Eigen Risico
Eigen Risico is the project from the multidisciplinary artist Héctor Garcia Martin also known as Hache. Initially formed as a collective where live art performance and music melted into an inte...
Salutingrome
Originally initiated as a solo effort by Zamity Mitelembe, Salutingrome has since evolved into a respected rock band, accompanied by Victor Keyser on guitar and Tijmen Aalberts on drums. Commencing wi...
Black Country, New Road announce new album 'Ants From Up There' + share first single 'Chaos Space Marine'
Over the last months, Black Country, New Road have become a steadfast live sensation with their mixture of post-punk, ashen Slint-like minimalism and pastoral dark folk leanings. Following the release of their debut album earlier this year, the group now already announce the follow-up: 'Ants From Up There' will be released February 4 via...
About Cosmos
COSMOS amplifies local scenes from around the world. We connect international music communities and share their stories. COSMOS is an ever-growing network of partners that support, inspire, and educate one another.
Watch Black Country, New Road perform new songs on ARTE's 'Echoes' with Jehnny Beth
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. Recently, the band signed to the more electronic-driven Ninja Tune label, for the release of their debut album 'For The First Time' in early February. Recent...
Press - Artist-focused stories
Below are just a couple of examples of artist-focused stories that have been created around Le Guess Who? throughout the years; either before, during or after the festival. Some of the examples have been created in collaboration with media partners such as Azeema, Dazed and The Ransom Note; others have been created independently by writer...
Revealing 46 program additions for Le Guess Who? 2021
It is true that making plans for shows and festivals in 2021 is a bit of a gamble. But Le Guess Who? believes that it’s important to have something to look forward to. In the spirit of cautious optimism, we are proud to announce the second round of confirmations for November 11-14 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Le Guess Who?’s...
Revealing the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2021 with 70 new program additions
Le Guess Who? exists to bring people together through art and music, and despite the uncertainty of the times we have continued to work toward that end. Some things might change, and some things will change, but we have put together a festival for 2021 that we are extremely proud of, and will bring it to you in whatever form possible.&nbs...
Revealing the curators and initial program for Le Guess Who? 2021
Inviting guest curators to build their own programs has become a hallmark of Le Guess Who? over the years. Featuring both their inspirations and fellow like-minded artists, this allows upcoming acts to perform alongside established artists. We are genuinely excited to now reveal the curators for Le Guess Who? 2021, as well as the first pe...
Brooklyn post-punk five-piece Gustaf share video for new single 'Best Behavior'
Brooklyn post-punk group Gustaf have generated quite the buzz for a band which hasn’t been around for more than a few years. On October 1st, the five-piece will release their long awaited debut album 'Audio Drag For Ego Slobs' via Royal Mountain Records. Following the release of first song 'Book' last month, Gust...
Kenya's Duma, curated by Phil Elverum for LGW21, release new single 'Cannis/Mbukinya' via Sub Pop
Duma's Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugo are figureheads of the flourishing Nairobi underground metal scene. After releasing an overwhelming debut album last year through Uganda's Nyege Nyege Tapes, the duo now return with new single 'Cannis/Mbukinya' for Sub Pop's Singles Club. Listen to both songs via the emb...
Vanishing Twin announce new album & share video for 'Big Moonlight (Ookii Gekkou)'
London's Vanishing Twin's mission is to ‘synthesize psychedelic traditions from around the globe’, inviting psych-jazz and psych-pop flavors from Europe to Southern America. Their previous records clearly signal a job well done, and later this year, they will follow-up with their new album 'Ookii Gekkou' (Japanese for Big Moon...
Bertie Marshall releases new compilation 'Exhibit' featuring songs, spoken word, and poetry from the 80s & 90s
In the early 1980s, Bertie Marshall was the frontman for post-punk boundary-pushers Behaviour Red, a group that fed off sound experimentation, tribal drumming, searing vocals, and guitar feedback. In 1983, the group broke up, but Bertie continued sketching out atmospheric compositions, leading to his solo debut in the 1990s. Here, Bertie'...
Read via The Quietus: which records would Vanishing Twin seek out at the Mega Record & CD Fair?
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...
Read via The Quietus: which records would Jean-Hervé Peron (Faust) seek out at the Mega Record & CD Fair?
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...
Watch Faust's Jean-Hervé Peron in conversation with Julian Brimmers for LGW ON
Recently, we revealed 46 new program additions for Le Guess Who? 2021, including Faust IV Live! as part of John Dwyer's curation at the festival. Now, we're sharing the video conversation that journalist and filmmaker Julian Brimmers had with Faust's Jean-Hervé Peron last November for our online TV channel LGW ON. In th...
Tracing the Roots: Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Great Black Music, Ancient To The Future
In the mid-1960s, Art Ensemble of Chicago sprung from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Ever since, they have been celebrated as one of the most remarkable free ja...
COSMOS Embassy: Beijing, China
In partnership with Mentha Project & BIE MusicThe project curated and produced by the Beijing-based BIE Music showcases the originality and creativity of China’s diverse indie music scenes with live sessions of Howie Lee, Hualun, Gong Gong Gong, Otay:onii, and Naja Naja. These globally established Chinese acts, who are asso...
COSMOS Embassy: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
In partnership with V2X. About V2XV2X represents a new generation of Vietnamese creatives shaping their own identities. Operating as an independent media company on the intersection of art, music, culture, V2X highlights creative communities from all corners of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Their work curating emerging cultures in today's m...
Listen: Cate Le Bon, The Notwist, Kate NV & more rework the music of Aksak Maboul on 'Redrawn Figures 1'
For over forty years, Belgian avant-garde group Aksak Maboul has been mixing and deconstructing genres to continuously re-invent themselves. In 2020, the group reappeared from a long hiatus with 'Figures', a double album hailed by critics as ambitious and mischievous. Now, the band release 'Redrawn Figures 1': an album of reworks, remixe...
Meet Spirit Fest: members of The Notwist and Tenniscoats offer delightful moments of nostalgia
Spirit Fest is an international dream collective of musicians spread across England, Germany, and Japan. The quintet is formed by Saya and Ueno, aka Tenniscoats; Markus Acher, best known as singer of The Notwist; Mat Fowler, who plays with Jam Money and Bons; and Cico Beck, who’s making music with Joasinho, Aloa Input, and The...
Watch: KeiyaA features in Solange's Saint Heron's short film 'Passage'
Neo-soul sensation, singer and producer KeiyaA stars in Solange's Saint Heron's 'Passage', a short film created in collaboration with avant-garde collective Standing on the Corner. The short was recorded to celebrate the 2021 International Woolmark Prize, an award that honors fashion talents from around the world who showcase th...
Read: Noisey on The Unexpected Rise of Zeal & Ardor's Spiritual Black Metal Blues
Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux funnels the spells of black metal into howls of Tom Waits-esque juke joint blues. A strange request at the notorious 4chan forum lead to Zeal & Ardor's...
"These artists have their own voice - a real one": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Cairo, Egypt
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Cairo, Egypt We speak to former LGW artist Yunis and B-62's Khaled Bargona about their highly creative film produced for the latest COSMOS edition. Here, we learn more about Cairo’s post-revolution music scene; how the artists that are featured in the film are creating a space for themselves in Cairo&rs...
Introducing: Black Midi: storming UK’s underground with piercing, tense noise rock
We would like to introduce you to Black Midi: part band, part mystery. Despite the fact that they've got almost no online presence and are still unsigned, the group has already garnered praise from me...
Listen to Nihiloxica’s new album ‘Source of Denial’
As Nihiloxica, musician Spooky-J and producer pq harness the full force of the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble's ancient Bugandan drumming tradition of Uganda and focus it on the contemporary dance floor through a dark lens of techno sensibility. Their new album, Source of Denial, which serves as a follow-up of their 2020 debut album Kaloli,...
This Wednesday at Louis Hartlooper Complex: watch the premiere of SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg
This week, you can start your Le Guess Who? 2021 experience already on Wednesday. That night, at 8PM, Louis Hartlooper Complex will screen the premiere of 'SPAZA – Road to Johannesburg'. Free entrance upon showing your LGW21 festival ticket at the door. This film is a new LGW production, made after the South African collective SPAZ...
Listen to Lonnie Holley's ambitious and mesmerizing new album 'Mith'
With his self-taught piano improvisations and stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach, Lonnie Holley is a storyteller of the highest order. Now, Holley releases his new album 'Mith' which, unlik...
Revealing the first curators & initial line-up
The first curators are announced for the 11th edition of Le Guess Who? 2017, each hosting a range of inspirations and befriended artists, and also performing themselves. Perfume Genius invites a.o. Bu...
Track of the Week #23: The Scorpios - 'Mashena'
Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. As the festival is getting closer and closer, we dive deeper and deeper into this year's worldly, prismatic line-up. This week, we highlight the elated mix of Arabic rhythms, raw Eastern funk and vintage psychedelia of The Scorpios. Having fled from the...
Interview: Future Feminism with Johanna Constantine
On a sinking ship penetrated by patriarchy, what do you “choose” to do?: Future Feminism with Johanna Constantine This year, Le Guess Who? collaborates with Turkey's Bant Mag. The independent magazine, based in Istanbul, has been bringing together new and exciting tendencies about music, film, arts and culture since 2004. Sta...
"I have these stories in my mind": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Pernambuco, Brazil
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Pernambuco, Brazil Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to Ana Garcia and Benke, the people behind Coquetel Molotov to discuss the local music scene in the city of Caruaru; how their involvement in COSMOS became Coquetel Molotov’s first musical incubator; and di...
Jacco Gardner: "Mysteriously, the things I feel connected to just find their way onto my path"
Before debuting his immersive multimedia-performance Somnium at this year’s Le Guess Who?, we had an extensive chat with Dutch musician, songwriter, and composer Jacco Gardner. About Dutch explorers, silent film soundtracks, Zambian rock legends, strange peninsula’s and of course, his upcoming LP Somnium. Jacco Gardner, sitti...
Read via The Quietus: which records would Pink Siifu seek out at the Mega Record & CD Fair?
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...
Audio archive update: Elza Soares live at Le Guess Who? 2016
After eight decades of triumph and tragedy, Brazilian protest singer Elza Soares is lauded as queen of samba and a powerful voice against repression and injustice relating to gender, race, sexual orie...
LGW x SPEAK present: UK hip-hop/grime artist Pa Salieu introduced by Hannah Johnson
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 migrants i...
Launching COSMOS, a new, hybrid platform by Le Guess Who?
As an international festival, Le Guess Who? has always worked with a borderless and boundary-crossing ethos. Now, we further enhance this focus with the launch of COSMOS: a new, hybrid platform that connects the local, physical festival environment with exclusive content that is available for worldwide, online streaming, via cosmos.legues...
"The perfect place to run away to": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Goa, India
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Goa, India Following different collaborations with Le Guess Who?, including for LGW Embassy: Goa, India which debuted last November, COSMOS talks to Rana Ghose (REProduce) about risk-taking as a focus area; instinct as a curatorial aspect and how Goa differs from the rest of India. As one artist chimes in: "E...
Sudanese/London collective The Scorpios release new single 'Mashena'
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-...
Introducing Siti Muharam, the 'golden voice of Zanzibar' & great granddaughter of taarab legend Siti Binti Saad
Zanzibar singer Siti Muharam, the great granddaughter of famed taarab singer Siti Binti Saad, brings a modern twist to taarab on her debut album ‘Siti of Unguja'. Her show at Le Guess Who? 2021 will mark her first ever European performance. Taarab is a popular music genre in Tanzania and Kenya, combining musical elements from A...
LGW x SPEAK present: Egyptian ensemble Mazaher introduced by Ahmed Mostafa
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...
"If you keep something to yourself, you kill it": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Slemani, Kurdistan-Iraq
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Slemani, Kurdistan-Iraq Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to Space21's Hardi Kurda about the concept of illegality; the musical cacophony of Slemani; the US-led invasion of Iraq, which happened twenty years ago, and also how it led to surprising musical discoveries...
Damon Locks' Black Monument Ensemble announce new album 'NOW'; watch the video for the title track
Originally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist/activist Damon Locks’s sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. Follo...
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley announces new album '11th Street, Sekondi', shares first single 'Black Woman'
Ghanaian saxophonist, singer and guitarist Gyedu-Blay Ambolley returns with a brand new album, entitled '11th Street, Sekondi', and now shares the first single 'Black Woman'. On the album, named after the area of West Ghana where he grew up, Ambolley looks back at the area and musical styles that shaped his life. '11th Street, Sekond...
Read/watch: Behind the Scenes, the new series by COSMOS
Behind the Scenes is the new series by COSMOS, Le Guess Who?’s hybrid platform, in which we dive into local stories from across the world together with our global partners. Here, we talk to the people behind the video content that was created for the latest COSMOS installment to learn more about their local cultural scenes; their c...
Listen/read: How seven trailblazing LGW artists reimagine their cultural & musical heritage
You can also listen to this story – below or via your favorite podcast app. Words by Julian BrimmersAudio by Cheri PercyCover photo by Gianfranco Bello For 16 years and counting, Le Guess Who? has strived to create a space for generations of music lovers and makers to come together. A podium, where icons of their trade n...
Irreversible Entanglements, curated by Matana Roberts for LGW21, announce new album + share video for 'Open The Gates'
Irreversible Entanglements is a jazz collective from Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC, who have successfully cultivated jazz and associated Black music through a gripping form of avant-garde and free jazz. The group have just announced their new album 'Open The Gates', which will be a split release between the labels Internation...
Listen: Tia Maria Produções create new EP in the time span of what should have been their trip to LGW21
Tia Maria Produções were set to present their very own program at Le Guess Who? on Saturday, 13 November. But after the Dutch government announced a partial lockdown and new restrictions for cultural events just the night before, these performances were not able to happen anymnore. Devastated but not broken, the Lisbo...
Xylouris White share 'Tree Song' video & new song 'Black Sea' from upcoming album 'The Sisypheans'
Xylouris White is the alliance between Greek singer & lute player George Xylouris and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three). Xylouris White reconciles not only the tandem’s respective roots, but above all, a deep friendship forged in 25 years. Now, the group share 'Tree Song', the first single from their upcoming album...
Interview: DRINKS: "Nonsense is a good reaction to everything that’s going on"
DRINKS are set to return to Le Guess Who? with a fresh batch of offbeat psych pop vignettes. We linked up with eternal nomads Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley via FaceTime to talk about living off the grid...
Listen: Muriel Grossmann releases new album 'Universal Code'
At the helm of her acclaimed Quartet, Muriel Grossmann creates beautiful, moving and engaging music that leaves its mark in the hearts and souls of listeners. Now, Muriel Grossmann releases her new album 'Universal Code', an album that successfully extends the spiritual jazz tradition in the 21st century. With Muriel Grossmann singing, R...
Niger's desert blues group Etran de L’Aïr announce new album 'Agadez'; listen to 'Adounia'
Etran de L'Aïr, the best of Saharan rock, has been in the game for 25 years. They're well-known for their hypnotic sound and sun-bleached melodies. This family band of brothers and cousins shared a common ancestry; in the shadow of the grand mosque, Etran's members are all the sons of nomadic families who settled in Agadez's small ne...
Indofuturist Sanctuary: A COSMOS Goa Residency Recap
In the spring of 2023, COSMOS – Le Guess Who’s? global music community – organized its first artist residency in Goa, India. Over the past few years, Goa has become a sanctuary for artists and freewheeling spirits of all kinds, including REProduce-founder Rana Ghose. In collaboration with Rana, COSMOS created a space for...
Revealing new projects & program additions for Le Guess Who? 2018
In addition to the previously announced initial line-up and curators, we now reveals a range of special projects and performers for the festival: Future Feminism; 15 years of RVNG Intl.; ONCEIM; and t...
Video portraits: Elza Soares, Julia Holter, Lee Ranaldo & more at LGW16
Le Guess Who? & de Volkskrant bring you video portraits of artists performing at Le Guess Who? 2016. We meet legendary Brazilian protest singer Elza Soares before her performance, and talk...
Revealing the full program for freely accessible city festival U?
U? is our new initiative: a new, participative and freely accessible day program created for and with the city of Utrecht. U? presents many cultural activities in different neighborhoods throughout the city of Utrecht and will take place during Le Guess Who’s festival weekend, 11 – 14 November. Now, we reveal the full program...
Revealing our new satellite event: 'Untitled', featuring exhibitions, film screenings, talks & more
We are excited to present you a new satellite event during Le Guess Who? 2018: ‘Untitled’. The program focuses on all disciplines other than music and is an exploration of other artistic e...
King Khan & Michael Eaton present The Black Power Tarot at Le Guess Who? 2017
If you're a regular Le Guess Who? attendant, then surely you know musician/producer/writer/artist Arish Ahmad Khan, known by the stage name of King Khan. The artist also played the festival back in 20...
KORG Berlin: Instruments beyond electronics
KORG Berlin is a transdisciplinary development lab designing new musical instruments. As a team, KORG Berlin operates on the belief that releasing a product always has a societal, economical, and environmental impact – and their goal is to be positive in all of them. As part of the COSMOS takeover at the Pandora Foy...
Listen: Saul Williams shares new single 'The Flaw You Worship'
The shamanistic Saul Williams is a singer, rapper, poet, actor, screenwriter and renowned harbinger of noise poetry and hip hop futurism. At the moment, Williams is working on his Kickstarter film pro...
Moin release 'Clocked Off', new EP with outsider jams
"Moin are subtly but brilliantly reinventing rock music", wrote Pitchfork last year in their review of the London three-piece's album Paste. Rest assured, they keep doing exactly that with the release of their new EP Clocked Off, self-described as "Outsider jams that rolled out of the studio. Part experiments, part sketches." Compr...
A Genre In Motion: Lydia Lunch & New York No Wave
Le Guess Who 2018 will host the influential Lydia Lunch and her Big Sexy Noise. How did Lunch become the revered anti-establishment figure she is today? This article offers a brief exploration of the...
Watch: Le Guess Who? volunteers share their experiences
Each year Le Guess Who? works with a big team of volunteers, consisting of enthusiastic, new music-loving friends from all over the world. The festival offers a place to connect with new people, to gain working experience and to discover new and inspiring music. To give you an impression of what it is like to volunteer at Le Guess...
Vera Sola releases gloomy and stunning video for new single 'The Colony'
New York-based vocalist, poet and multi-instrumentalist Vera Sola recently released the single 'Small Minds' and now, she brings us the follow-up in the form of 'The Colony'. Both songs will appear on...
Introducing: acoustic guitar visionary & urban mythologist Sibusile Xaba
With a wonderful blend of African folk, flamenco, bossa nova and jazz, Sibusile Xaba is slowly conquering the hearts of audiences outside of his home country South-Africa. His sound - both playful and...
LGW x SPEAK present: Colombian musician Julián Mayorga introduced by Carlos Tapias & Camila Duarte
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 migrants i...
Abdel Karim Shaar: an emotional exchange in Tarab - 2nd performance ever outside Lebanon
Just like the masterful Egyptian songwriter Umm Kulthum, Abdel Karim Shaar is linked to the concept of 'Tarab': a musical form that expresses a state of emotional transition. Shaar is a legendary sing...
Photo series: Ustad Noor Bakhsh by Asa Wahag
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 with C...
Revealing the initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2019
We're pleased to reveal the initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2019, dedicated to boundary-crossing music from all over the world. The first 87 acts include very rare performances by Asha Puthli, Ustad Saami, and Ayalew Mesfin & Debo Band, as well as the curated programs by Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins and The...
Interview: Emel Mathlouthi: "The most important thing is to be truthful"
Ahead of her performance at Le Guess Who?, we catch up with Tunisian singer, musician & artist Emel Mathlouthi while on her way to a performance in Washington DC. It became a talk about being challenged by collaborators, the Arab Spring and the role of social media, being categorized by singing in Arabic, and the importance of being t...
Listen: The Brother Moves On release new album '$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You'
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...
"If you keep something to yourself, you kill it": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Slemani, Kurdistan-Iraq
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Slemani, Kurdistan-Iraq Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to Space21's Hardi Kurda about the concept of illegality; the musical cacophony of Slemani; the US-led invasion of Iraq, which happened twenty years ago, and also how it led to surprising musical discoveries...
"Anything you set out to find, you'll find it here": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Mexico City, Mexico
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Mexico City, Mexico We speak to Daniel (Danny) Alvarado Chávez, head of Sonido Confirmación, an independent project made to ‘represent and connect Mexico City through images and music’, while diving into the capital's music scene. Every minute, new acts mushroom across the city&rsquo...
Thurston Moore, Sudan Archives, Meredith Graves and Weyes Blood get Tarot readings at Le Guess Who?
"Tarot," says King Khan, shuffling a deck of cards rhythmically back and forth, "was designed to give power back to the people." - Dazed At Le Guess Who? 2017, King Khan and Game of Thrones...
Letters from musicians: Bant Mag. talk to Damon Locks
Ahead of his performance at Le Guess Who? 2021, Turkey's Bant Mag. talk to Chicago visual artist, musician and sound artist Damon Locks. The interview is part of their series 'Letters from musicians'; as it’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions, they have reached out to a number of musicians to hear about their varying f...
LGW x SPEAK present: Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab introduced by Zainab Jamal & Tauqeer Raza
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 migrants i...
Goat celebrate 10th Anniversary of debut album 'World Music' with limited edition remastered LP
Ever since the release of their debut album 'World Music' in 2012, Swedish psych/fusion group Goat remain a mystery and ghostly presence on the music scene. However, shortly after the release of the album, public and critical praise quickly caught up with them, with Happy Mag naming the record one of the greatest psychedelic rock albums o...
Photo series: COSMOS Residency in Goa, India
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...
Track of the Week #9: Hailu Mergia - 'Yefikir Engurguro'
Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's Ethio-jazz legend Hailu Mergia with a contemplative solo piano track. Together with the Wa...
LGW x SPEAK present: Lisbon's DJ Lycox introduced by Ana Góis & José Teixeira
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...
Read/listen: The Face interviews Nia Archives, "the red-hot jungle producer taking over the UK's dancefloors"
Nia Archives is bent on taking space in jungle as a young black woman, representing her Jamaican roots - and succeeding, becoming one of the most talked-about newcomers to the jungle scene. In March, she released her 'Forbidden Feelingz' EP, with the title track becoming a future classic. In that same month, she won the NME Award for Best...
"Angel Bat Dawid taps into the root of all black music": Chicago Reader discusses spiritual jazz album 'The Oracle'
At the age of 34, Chicago-based Angel Elmore quit her job selling high-end lingerie and pursued her childhood dream to become a musician. Now, as Angel Bat Dawid, she sings, composes, and plays keyboard and clarinet, which led to the release of her spiritual jazz album 'The Oracle' earlier this year. She recorded it over a period of more...
Announcing the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2017
The full line-up for Le Guess Who? is now revealed, with 60 acts completing the program - check out the full line-up here. The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda performed by...
OCnotes: a wildly unpredictable yet razor-sharp sound explorer, curated by Shabazz Palaces
Born in the Southwest of the United States as Otis Calvin III, OCnotes was influenced at an early age by skateboard culture and developed a fascination for cartoons, as well as receiving musical educa...
Podcast: listen to part 4, the final part of 'For the Record'
Le Guess Who? presents 'The Big Playback', a podcast about all things music. Episode 3 is a four-part series entitled 'For the Record', exploring the role of the archivist from all angles, released in weekly installments.
In this new series, host Margaret Munchheimer talks to an independent archival collective in Indonesia; a sound and performance scholar decolonizing sound archives; a journalist turned label founder offering alternative histories of the global South; and a producer/dj using archival material as a springboard for musical collaborations in the here and now.
Sustainability
Le Guess Who? is dedicated to boundary-crossing music & culture from all over the world. Our mission is to platform underrepresented sounds* that are rarely heard in other places, but that have the power to enrich lives. *with ‘sounds’, we do not only mean music, but also other art forms, disciplines, ideas, or ways of l...
Read: Antipop Consortium are hip-hop's most notorious futurists
Coming up at the turn of the century, when underground rap was all about dusty loops and intricate battle rhymes, Antipop Consortium mixed an experimental, electronically charged sound palette with lyricism sharpened on the NY poetry scene. While they quickly summoned a cult following stateside, Europe’s alternative music circuit took note as well, leading them to releasing albums on London’s leftfield institutions Warp Records and Big Dada.
After a tumultuous career – including break ups and make ups, free jazz collabos, touring with Radiohead, and celebrated solo endeavors – the four members Beans, High Priest AKA HPrizm, M. Sayyid, and producer Earl Blaze finally regroup. At Le Guess Who? 2023, APC will perform their long-awaited comeback show – their first European gig since 2009. To learn more about what to expect from these hip-hop iconoclasts, we spoke with the group’s founding members Beans and High Priest.
Words by Julian Brimmers
Pa Salieu teams up with slowthai for new single 'Glidin'
Gambian-British grime/hip-hop artist and BBC Sound of 2021 winner Pa Salieu is one of the most exciting new voices in Britain’s flourishing hip-hop scene. Following the release of his celebrated 'Send Them to Coventry' last year, Pa Salieu now teams up with UK rapper slowthai to deliver the new single 'Glidin'. Watc...
Irreversible Entanglements announce new album 'Protect Your Light' via Impulse! Records
Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements, spearheaded by former LGW curator Moor Mother, met amidst an event protesting police brutality. Since then, they have released three full-length albums, the last being 2021's Open The Gates. Now, the collective add a new offering to their catalogue; their new album Protect Your Light will...
Listen: Kelman Duran drops new mixtape 'MOON CYCLES III'
LA-based Dominican producer Kelman Duran has just released his new mixtape 'MOON CYCLES III', once again featuring a highly distinctive combination of minimalistic reggaeton beats, chopped up voc...
Nicole Mitchell releases new album 'Maroon Cloud'
Today, improvisational composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell releases her new album 'Maroon Cloud' via FPE Records. The record sees Mitchell featured in a drumless chamber quartet together with so...
The New Yorker picks Etran de L'Aïr's cellphone-recorded 'No. 1' as album of the year
Etran de L'Aïr are a wedding band based in the town of Agadez, an urban center of the desert, and a city renowned for the production of music – in particular the electric guitar and the so-called “desert blues”. The name Etran de L'Aïr translates to “the Stars of the Aïr,” the mountainous regi...
Listen: spiritual soul sensation Gabriels release new single 'Blame'
With their last record 'Love and Hate in a Different Time', released earlier this year, neo-soul sensation Gabriels seek to address hate, hardship and war, but most of all how to push through. The album received praise from the likes of Elton John, Gilles Peterson, and Virgil Abloh. The group, featuring vocalist Jacob Lusk ...
LGW19 curator Jenny Hval releases new album 'The Practice Of Love'
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...
Listen: King Britt shares new Fhloston Paradigm track 'Run'
King Britt / Fhloston Paradigm's music features impulsive experimentation, cosmic ambience as well as more structured techno leanings. Britt now releases a new Fhloston Paradigm track, entitled 'Run'. Set on embodying afro-futurist ideals, this pulsating track has a threatening, ongoing drive which haunts you down to the ve...
Sudan Archives shares new track 'Water'
Violinist and vocalist Sudan Archives writes, plays, and produces her own music. Drawing inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers, she is self-taught on the violin, and her unique songs also fold in el...
MHYSA shares new album 'Release Control'
MHYSA is the underground popstar alter ego of multidisciplinary artist E. Jane. In her experimental club tracks, she channels the legacies of Black women icons into visions of utopias. Born in Maryland, E. Jane was enamored with singing form an early age, performing at church and school. Since 2015, they has been developing the perf...
Serpentwithfeet releases debut album 'soil'
Today, New York-based artist Josiah Wise, a.k.a. Serpentwithfeet, releases his long-awaited debut album 'soil' via Secretly Canadian/Tri Angle Records. His first full-length is an accomplished ex...
Listen to South African collective SPAZA's soundtrack album 'UPRIZE!'
South African collective SPAZA released their new album ‘Uprize!’ last month. It was recorded in 2016 as the soundtrack for Sifiso Khanyile's 2017 documentary of the same name, which tells the history of the 1976 uprisings in Soweto against the racist apartheid government. On the album, the SPAZA ensemble displays a mixture o...
Klein announces new album 'Harmattan'; watch the video for 'Hope Dealers'
South London musician, composer and multi-disciplinary artist Klein's work sounds delightfully disheveled - ghostly R&B tracks not meant for the world to listen to. Next month, she'll return with 'Harmattan', her newest album, to be released November 19th via Pentatone. Klein wrote, produced, performed, and mixed the album hers...
Listen to voice artist Hatis Noit's new album 'Aura'
Hatis Noit's musical awakening took place at the tender age of sixteen during a trek to Buddha's birthplace in Nepal. One morning when staying at a women’s temple she came across a female monk singing Buddhist chants whose otherworldly sounds moved her so intensely that she was instantly aware of the visceral power of the human voic...
Listen to Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon)'s new song about dreaming of touring with Elliott Smith
Mark Kozelek aka Sun Kil Moon will perform on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2017. Apparently, one of Kozelek's dreams involves touring with the late, great Elliott Smith, which he talks about in...
GAIKA releases debut album 'Basic Volume'
Exploring a multitude of musical influences and concepts about contemporary black British music, GAIKA releases his debut album 'Basic Volume' today. Reflecting on dark, uncertain times with a co...
LGW TV content now online, feat. Reports from Other Continents, Vunk on Vacation & more
Following the launch of LGW ON, our very own online TV channel which streamed mid-November 2020, we are now sharing a lot of programs and video content that premiered on the channel via our YouTube account. We've published the videos as part of our new Reports from Other Continents project; all episodes of our alternative travel sho...
Zwangere Guy - Live at Le Guess Who? 2021
With his unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, Zwangere Guy quickly became considered ‘the boss of Brussels rap’. In his live shows, his boastful, insolent and exciting personality always shines bright. Zwangere Guy performed live at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda during Le Guess Who? 2021 on the nig...
Ryley Walker x Kikagaku Moyo - 'Deep Fried Grandeur', live at Le Guess Who? 2018
Chicago-based songwriter and guitarist Ryley Walker and Japanese psych-rockers Kikagaku Moyo gave a special collaborative performance at Le Guess Who? 2018. Now, the artists release the recordings of that show called ‘Deep Fried Grandeur’; two lengthy, kaleidoscopic jams featuring a revolving cast of folk jazz, acid rock, and...
Watch: Sudan Archives releases 'Confessions' video, from upcoming debut album 'Athena'
Violinist, singer, songwriter and producer Sudan Archives shared the first single from her upcoming debut album, now she follows up with a stunning video for 'Confessions', whose closing section also debuts portions of new song 'Black Vivaldi Sonata'. Both tracks are from her impending debut full length 'Athena', out 1 November via S...
Circuit des Yeux releases live album 'Reaching for Indigo: GAIA INFINITUS' recorded at Le Guess Who? 2018
For a very special, one-time performance at Le Guess Who? 2018, Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr enlisted an eight-piece ensemble featuring members of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. With this performance, Fohr further expanded the captivating compositions of her latest, acclaimed album ‘Reaching for Indigo’, which c...
Blanck Mass amongst final line-up additions + announcing venue hosts
Today, we announce three final line-up additions for Le Guess Who? 2018, including a performance by British electronic musician/producer Blanck Mass. We are also sharing some venue hosts during the festival; find their descriptions below & see when/where they are hosting in our downloadable time schedules. Blanck Mass Sin...
Watch: Kevin Morby shares video for 'Downtown Lights'
Kevin Morby wanders through Paris in his new black & white video for 'Downtown Lights' from his latest album 'City Music', released earlier this year. Watch below. "I set out to write a sim...
Revisit The Independent's portrait of dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson
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...
Read: The Guardian interviews Moor Mother
Hip-hop powerhouse Moor Mother fought her way out of the projects – and is now using poetry, music and ‘DIY time travel’ to build a better future for black America. "Our past has be...
Watch: Zeal & Ardor in session for Couleur3
Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux funnels the spells of black metal into howls of Tom Waits-esque juke joint blues. Live, Zeal & Ardor becomes an overpowering sensation. To get an idea, watch...
Watch: COLORS Shows with LGW22 artists Liv.e, Zebra Katz, and Lex Amor
Over the last couple of years, COLORSxSTUDIOS has become an important music platform aimed at showcasing exceptional new talent from around the globe. In their own words: "All COLORS shows seek to provide clear, minimalistic stage that shines a spotlight on the artists, giving them the opportunity to present their music without distractio...
Open Call: participate in U?, the freely accessible day program of Le Guess Who?
(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) U? is the freely accessible day program of Le Guess Who? In 2023, U? takes place on 11 & 12 November. With this open call, we want to give everyone with ideas the opportunity to participate. The program of U? consists a multitude of events and activities which are c...
LGW23 Program Update
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 High Hills, and Fievel is Glauque will be joining us this year.
Revealing the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2018 + day tickets on sale now
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...
Listen: Model Home release collaborative album with Saint Abdullah
Washington-based experimental hip-hop duo Model Home have released a new collaborative album with Iranian dub duo Saint Abdullah. 'Invasive Inclinations' is described as a meeting of forces from "two similar planets in different galaxies but interchangeably habitable". The album was recorded in one day at Pioneer Works Center F...
Listen: Pink Siifu releases NEGRO DELUXE
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu's has become known for his mercurial talent for intersecting styles and culture. Last year, Pink Siifu released 'NEGRO', an album that employs influences from Sun Ra, Bad Brains and the late great Ras G to materialize a firebrand, revolutionary assault on police brutality and racism. Now, the rapper an...
Kickstarter x Kapitaal host LGW Hang Out with live interviews, listening sessions & art exhibitions
Like last year, Utrecht’s beloved independent print workshop Kapitaal will transform into the official Festival Hang Out during Le Guess Who? 2019. Through live interviews, listening sessions, art exhibitions with select LGW? performers and all things print and sound, Kapitaal will transform into a three-day meeting...
Introducing: BASIS - a sanctuary for house/techno lovers at Utrecht's medieval canals joins LGW18
This year, Le Guess Who? will feature three new venues for the official music program: WAS., BASIS, and Poema. All of them are part of Utrecht’s buzzing nightlife and are among the most prominent clubs in town. This time, we introduce you to BASIS: an Utrechtian sanctuary for house and techno lovers. "BASIS is located at a unique v...
Listen: Peter Brötzmann discusses post-WWII politics of sound & the European free jazz scene
During Le Guess Who? 2017, Red Bull Radio met up with German jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann (who collaborated with Han Bennink at the festival), to discuss post-WWII politics of sound...
Read The Vinyl Factory's story about how Dur-Dur Band defined Somali funk
Somalia's legendary Dur-Dur Band played a major role in the 1980s nightlife of the capital Mogadishu. After reissues by Awesome Tapes From Africa and Analog Africa, Dur-Dur Band's mix of vibrant funk and traditional Somalian rhythms earned renewed recognition globally. The Vinyl Factory's longread tells the story about how the Somalian C...
Congolese-Canadian musician & songwriter Pierre Kwenders wins 2022 Polaris Music Prize
The 2022 edition of the Polaris Music Prize, an organization that "annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction", has declared Pierre Kwenders’ latest album ‘José Louis and the Paradox of Love’ to be Canada’s album of the year. Pierre Kwenders, the stage name of Jos&...
Important information about your visit to Le Guess Who? 2021
From 11-14 November, we'll celebrate the 14th edition of Le Guess Who? and we can't describe how excited we are to finally welcome you to Utrecht after two years. But first, there are a couple of things we’d like to draw your attention to. It won't surprise you that things will be a little different than usual this year. Please rea...
LGW x SPEAK present: Dutch jazz musician Ronald Langestraat introduced by Renee Telkamp
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 introduce an artist on the Le Guess Who? 2021 line-up from their country. SPEAK connects locals, newcomers and migrants in the city of Utrecht, b...
LGW x SPEAK present: Japanese composer Midori Takada introduced by Risa Arai
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...
LGW x SPEAK present: Brazilian songwriter Sessa introduced by Carlos Santos
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...
Photo & video series Tweede Daalsebuurt: discovering Utrecht through the eyes of photographer Juri Hiensch
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 first neighborhood in this photo & video series centers around the Tweededaalsedijk. Well, t...
Lombok Festival announces full 2019 program
Lombok Festival, one of Le Guess Who?’s satellite events, returns on Friday 8 November. The freely accessible festival is a celebration of the cultural diversity of this city’s district, initiated in collaboration with various locations, musicians, key figures and residents of Lombok. During Lombok Festival, various performan...
Listen: Sudan/UK collective The Scorpios live at Le Guess Who? 2018
Sudan/UK collective The Scorpios performed on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018. Inspired by traditional Sudanese music and 60s and 70s pop, the group create an elated mix of Arabic rhythms, raw Eastern funk and vintage psychedelia. You can now listen to their full festival performance: About Having fled from the fundamentalists i...
Watch: a portrait of Alanis Obomsawin by Charles-André Coderre (Jerusalem In My Heart)
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...
The Como Mamas: gospel trinity that can move and save you, lift you up & pull you through
Hailing from the small town of Como, Mississippi, The Como Mamas consist of Sisters Angela Taylor and Della Daniels together with their friend Ester Mae Smith. They have been singing together since ch...
Watch (360-degrees): Sarah Davachi's drone performance on Calgary's Knox United Church Organ
Sarah Davachi is a real sonic thrill-seeker who enjoys pushing the textural properties of music to the surface. CJSW, Calgary's Independent Radio, recently filmed Davachi creating drones on one of the...
Revealing the full program + timetable for U?, LGW's largest free day program to date
U? is Le Guess Who’s participatory and freely accessible day program, made for–and with–the city of Utrecht. With U?, Le Guess Who? extends its mission to enrich people through music and culture even further to the city.
From 10-13 November, U? features music performances, exhibitions, brunches, silent disco’s, boxing matches, skate workshops, city walks + much more. Explore the full free program & timetable via leguesswho.com/u.
Listen & relive: The Brother Moves On live at Le Guess Who? 2022
The Brother Moves On, the captivating South-African ensemble famous for masterfully drawing from past, present and future, performed at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of '$/He Who Feeds You…Owns You' via Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Recordings. You can now listen to & relive the full performance. AboutTher...
Watch: Vrije Geluiden sessions at LGW22, featuring Hatis Noit, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Noori & His Dorpa Band + more
VPRO Vrije Geluiden were present at Le Guess Who? 2022 to capture several sessions with festival artists in TivoliVredenburg. Over the next couple of weeks, these will go online every Sunday. The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar Jajouka is the name of a hidden village in the Jebala foothills of northern Morocco. Here, The...
Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood release collaborative album 'Jarak Qaribak'
Celebrated Israeli singer, musician and producer Dudu Tassa and award-winning composer and guitarist Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead, The Smile) have teamed up for the collaborative album Jarak Qaribak, which is released today via World Circuit Records. Jarak Qaribak translates, more or less, as ‘Your Neighbour Is Your Friend. It&r...
Playlist: LGW23 curated by Heba Kadry
As a hallmark of Le Guess Who?, the festival each year invites trailblazing creatives to curate their own dedicated programs, highlighting fellow like-minded artists and those that have inspired them.
Heba Kadry, a mastering engineer born in Egypt and currently based in Brooklyn, has curated a program for Le Guess Who? 2023 that she now introduces with a personally compiled playlist with favorite tracks of the artists she invites to Utrecht.
Watch/Listen: French indie-pop band Keep Dancing Inc performs live at 3voor12 Radio
French indie-pop band Keep Dancing Inc debuts on Dutch Radio with a live-session at 3voor12 Radio.
Read: Jori Collignon talks running Gris Gris Records with Tânia Baldé
Having spent many years touring and drawing inspiration from many corners of the world, Jori Collignon has at last found a home in the idyllic Palmela, Portugal. It is here where you can find a home complete with a guesthouse, garden, studio, and a vibrant hub where artists from different parts of the world come together to exchange ideas...
Listen/read: Ndox Electrique root their sound in Senegal's healing ceremonies
You can also listen to this story – below or via your favorite podcast app. On the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2023, the festival features the first international performance of Ndox Electrique, whose music is inspired by an ancient ritual of the spirit-world originating from Senegal’s n’döep ceremonies. ...
Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023
Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023
Test jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023
Watch/read: ZENITH x Zilzal by Rogier Boogaard
For U? 2023, Utrecht-based collective ZENITH and independent, Palestinian sound platform Zilzal join forces at the former Pieter Baan Centrum that serves as a powerful channel for 00970, gbw9, RAGASA, and Noise Diva to express their “current mental situation.” Photographer Rogier Boogaard documented a part of the artists ZENIT...
Innofest x Le Guess Who? 2023
Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023
Test jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023
Listen to Shabaka & The Ancestors’ powerful performance at LGW17, curated by James Holden
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...
Listen: Richard Fearless' one-hour NTS set full of dub, reggae and roots
Last week, the mastermind behind Death in Vegas Richard Fearless returned to the NTS studio to deliver a relaxing live set filled with dub, reggae and roots. Listen to the one-hour set below...
Track of the Week #6: Sons of Kemet - 'My Queen Is Harriet Tubman'
Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's one of the projects of jazz superforce & festival curator Shabaka Hutchings, who released t...
Track of the Week #15: Georgia Anne Muldrow - 'Great Blacks'
Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we zoom in on an old-school-esque hip-hop track from LA-based producer, musician and vocalist Georgia Anne Mu...
Track of the Week #19: Madeline Kenney - 'Cut Me Off'
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...
Dreamcrusher - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Dreamcrusher, the project of multidisciplinary artist Luwayne Glass, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by clipping. You can now listen to his performance below, released via Dreamcrusher for Bandcamp Friday. Live at Le Guess Who? 2022 by DREAMCRUSHER AboutDreamcrusher began on Kansas-born, New Yor...
Pink Siifu releases video for 'lng hair dnt care' from upcoming album 'GUMBO’!'
Rapper and producer Pink Siifu has a mercurial talent for intersecting styles and culture. Following the release of 2020's 'NEGRO' (which got expanded to 'NEGRO DELUXE' earlier this year), Pink Siifu is now already preparing his follow-up, entitled 'GUMBO’!', out August 3. The album will feature contributions by Nic...
Watch: experimental hip-hop duo Model Home release video for 'Night Break'
Model Home is a hip-hop formation from Washington D.C. Instigated by rapper NAPPYNAPPA and producer Pat Cain, the duo is known for their experiments in liberated sound. On November 5th, the group will release their new album 'both feet en th infinite' via Don Giovanni Records. Completed in just two days and designed with live perfo...
Read via The Quietus: which records would Angel Bat Dawid seek out at the Mega Record & CD Fair?
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...
Watch Romani singer Mónika Lakatos in session at Festival Imaterial, captured by Vincent Moon
Mónika Lakatos was born in Budapest to an Olah Gypsy family, and it was her family and community who taught her to sing. In 1996, she became the first Romani singer to win Hungary's most popular talent show. With her powerful vibrato, both polished and gruff, she continues to collect accolades as an ambassador for her community&rsq...
‘A sudden, uncontrollable urge to dance’: the magic of Nyege Nyege Tapes & Hakuna Kulala Club Night
Forget Detroit, Chicago, and Berlin for a minute. Some of the most exciting electronic music records are being cut in the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and many are coming out of label Nyege Nyege Tapes. The collective is committed to shedding light on some of the best outsider music made in Kampala and all around East Africa. This Novembe...
COSMOS Embassy: Delhi, Goa & Bangalore, India
REProduce Live is a peer to peer live streaming platform that showcases left leaning artistic expression within India. Their goal is to weave a new fabric by challenging expectations of what contemporary artistic risk taking in the region could look and sound like. For COSMOS, REProduce Live presented a selection of events they've pr...
Read: The Guardian talk to The Necks' Tony Buck about improvising and bypassing the brain onstage
After a highly impressive performance in 2015, we can't wait to have dynamic, improvisational trio The Necks back at Le Guess Who? this November. Founded in Australia in 1987, the group have been happily making music on the fringes for over three decades, working outside of conventions and allowing stories to unravel with painst...
Ryley Walker & Kikagaku Moyo release collaborative live album 'Deep Fried Grandeur', recorded at LGW18
Chicago-based songwriter and guitarist Ryley Walker and Japanese psych-rockers Kikagaku Moyo gave a special collaborative performance at Le Guess Who? 2018. Now, the artists release the recordings of that show called ‘Deep Fried Grandeur’; two lengthy, kaleidoscopic jams featuring a revolving cast of folk jazz, acid rock, and...
Watch: Conjunto Papa Upa releases video for 'Todo Parao'
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...
10 things you might not have discovered (yet) in the LGW19 program
Le Guess Who? 2019 is almost upon us! There is an abundance of performances and activities happening this week, so we can imagine that some acts or activities may have slipped through the cracks. Therefore, we've selected 10 things you might not have discovered (yet) in the LGW19 program. 1. Three-day Film Festival at Springha...
Join the collaborative performance of Patricia Kaersenhout & Angel Bat Dawid; sign up now
Le Guess Who? and artist Jeanne van Heeswijk (of project Trainings for the Not-Yet) connected visual artist, activist, and womanist Patricia Kaersenhout with Chicago-based pianist, clarinetist and composer Angel Bat Dawid. Both women tap into the meaning and history of black life and experimental forms of radical self-care through various...
Explore Melissa Laveaux's Haitian roots and native folk spirituals in The Guardian interview
The work of Ottawa-born, Paris-based musician and singer Mélissa Laveaux brims with defiance, cheekiness, and pride, combining lost traditions with modern influences like psych rock, calypso, folk pop, and punk. In an interview with The Guardian, Laveaux talks about her third and most recent album 'Radyo Siw&e...
Listen: Patrick Higgins' album 'Dossier', released through Nicolas Jaar's Other People
New York-based composer and guitarist Patrick Higgins has been exploring the possibilities and limits of music throughout his career. His latest album 'Dossier', which was released last year through Nicolas Jaar's label Other People, was recorded live without overdubs or edits. 'Dossier' deals with themes of alienation and individua...
Listen to Art Ensemble of Chicago's full performance at LGW18, curated by Moor Mother
In the mid-1960s, Art Ensemble of Chicago sprung from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Moving far beyond jazz, avant-garde and performance art, the ensemble has created a realm that is entirely original. On the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2018, and on the eve of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s 50t...
"Through The Eyes of Lonnie Holley": a guided tour through Utrecht as part of our Untitled program
Next week, we'll present our newest satellite event, 'Untitled', with one of the goals being 'an exploration of other artistic expressions by festival artists'. As part of Untitled, we will present a guided tour through Utrecht by acclaimed visual artist, improvising musician and 'Lover of Mother Universe' Lonnie Holley. Led by the m...
Watch: Emel Mathlouthi releases stunning video for 'Kaddesh'
Tunisian singer-songwriter and producer Emel Mathlouthi combines the vibrant sounds of psychedelic folk with heavy electronics and atmospheric melodies. Following the release of her album 'Ensen' last...
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe's show is rescheduled; Colin Benders & Maarten Vos perform tonight
Unfortunately, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe can't perform today due to a cancelled flight. Colin Benders & Maarten Vos will play instead at Hertz, 21:15-22:15. Rob Lowe's show is rescheduled to tomorr...
Why you should experience Pharoah Sanders live at LGW17, according to Fhloston Paradigm
Fhloston Paradigm aka King Britt: "My parents were collectors and my mother was exposing me to more spiritual jazz as a kid. I heard music he did with Don Cherry & Sun Ra first. Opened up sonic p...
Listen to Insecure Men's first single
Insecure Men, featuring Saul Adamczewski (Fat White Family) and Ben Romans-Hopcraft (Childhood), have shared their debut single 'Sebura Nights'. According to The Quietus it's "easily one of the best t...
Read The Guardian's intimate interview with Hieroglyphic Being
Jamal Moss, better known as Hieroglyphic Being, is one of the most distinct figures from Chicago's rave scene. Throughout his impressive output, Moss’s glitchy style draws from the roots of spir...
Listen to OCnotes' DJ mix for KEXP's Midnight in a Perfect World
"OCnotes is known for his wildly unpredictable and consistently on-point DJ sets, which could be considered snapshots of his comprehensive appetite for original sounds," as we wrote in our bio fo...
Listen & relive: Ice Balloons live at Le Guess Who? 2021, curated by Matana Roberts
Brooklyn-based noise/rock band Ice Balloons features Sean Kennerly (Samiam) on bass and vocals, Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) on synthesizers and modules, and Lyla Vander (Habibi) on drums and vocals. According to the band itself, it was a ‘common misinterpretation of psychosis’ that led Ice Balloons to start making music. The...
Listen: Idris Ackamoor releases avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from the 70s
From the archives of Idris Ackamoor comes the first ever vinyl release of Ackamoor's debut avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from 1971 with The Collective entitled 'Idrissa's Dream.' Released via Strut Records on double 12" LP and digital formats on November 4th 2022, 'Idrissa's Dream' is exactly what the title implies - dreamy and...
Announcing the full line-up for 24-HOUR DRONE at Basilica Hudson, NY
24-HOUR DRONE is an immersive experience featuring musicians and sound artists experimenting within the spectrum of drone. Together, they create 24 hours of unbroken, uninterrupted sound. The event blurs the line between artist and attendee to create transcendence through communal experience.
Happening in-person for the first time since 2019, 24-HOUR DRONE returns to Basilica Hudson in 2023 on May 27 & 28 (noon to noon), coinciding with Drone Day. 24-HOUR DRONE is presented by Basilica Hudson and Le Guess Who? in collaboration with Sarah Van Buren. We now reveal the full artist line-up.
Listen: Dreamcrusher releases 'Live at Le Guess Who? 2022' for Bandcamp Friday
Dreamcrusher, the project of multidisciplinary artist Luwayne Glass, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by clipping. You can now listen to his performance below, released via Dreamcrusher for Bandcamp Friday. Live at Le Guess Who? 2022 by DREAMCRUSHER AboutDreamcrusher began on Kansas-born, New Yor...
Watch the concert film of Mourning [A] BLKstar - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
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...
African Head Charge release 'A Trip To Bolgatanga', first album in 12 years
Founded in 1981, pioneering dub-reggae ensemble African Head Charge has gone on to achieve cult status with epic live shows and 13 albums under their belt. Now, the group returns to On-U Sound with A Trip To Bolgatanga, their first new album in twelve years. A Trip To Bolgatanga is described as a musical journey to founding member,...
Listen: Roadburn release recordings of Backxwash's European live debut
Born in Lusaka, Zambia, rapper and producer Backxwash's work is based in the horrorcore, hip-hop and industrial metal genres, and includes a culmination of themes around the intersection between faith, identity, and queerness. In April, the magnificent Roadburn Festival in Tilburg hosted Backxwash's European live debut with two special s...
Playlist: New & Notable at Le Guess Who? 2018
As every year, an important part of the Le Guess Who? program is about making new discoveries; experiencing new sounds and artists that might become new personal favorites in the future. To help you e...
Listen to Tampa rap duo They Hate Change's new LP 'Finally, New'; curated by clipping. for LGW22
Tampa's They Hate Change is a project born out of the duo's more-than-encyclopedic sonic knowledge. In between East Coast hip-hop influences and hyperlocal bass-music leanings, Dre and Vonne bond over their omnivorous appreciation of everything from grime to emo. The duo recently released their new album 'Finally, New' via Jagjaguwar to...
Track of the Week #5: Beverly Glenn-Copeland - 'Ever New'
Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's the new age & folk-jazz pioneer who has been curated by Devendra Banhart as well as Moor Mo...
Listen: Jenny Hval shares new song 'High Alice' from upcoming album 'The Practice of Love'
Norwegian singer, producer, novel writer and Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Jenny Hval has released a new song called 'High Alice'. It is taken from her upcoming album 'The Practice of Love', which will be released in September. In a statement accompanying the release of the song, Hval says that 'High Alice' felt like the narra...
New Zealand's Orchestra Of Spheres release new album 'Mirror'
Filled with whimsical forays into glossed up afro-funk, psychedelic disco and sprawling electronics, New Zealand's Orchestra Of Spheres have released their new, bewildering album 'Mirror' via Fire Records. Opening with the almost-ten-minute-long title track, their album is a mainly instrumental exploration of energies and atmospheres...
Liars announce new album 'TFCF'; listen to 'Cred Woes'
Today, Lauren Laverne on BBC6 Music premiered Liars' new track 'Cred Woes'. The song is taken from their new album 'TFCF', which will be released 25th August on Mute. Listen below. ...
Footwork legend RP Boo announces new album ‘I’ll Tell You What!’
The originator of footwork music and one of Chicago’s finest producers RP Boo will release his new album ‘I’ll Tell You What!’ on 6 July via Planet Mu. Leading up to his new LP...
Revealing the full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2019
Following the announcements of the curated programs by Fatoumata Diawara, Iris van Herpen & Salvador Breed, Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins, and The Bug, we are now proud to reveal the full program for Le Guess Who? 2019. New additions include the premiere of AEAEA (Patrick Higgins & Nicolas Jaar), Aldous Harding, Deerh...
Listen: composer Flore Laurentienne announces new album 'Volume II' and shares the first single
Flore Laurentienne announces the release of his new album 'Volume II' and shares the first single 'Navigation IV'. With this single, the composer reveals the mood and concept of the new album. Flore Laurentienne is the project of Canada-based composer Mathieu David Gagnon. His score-like string compositions meet analog synthesizers in an...
Mount Eerie announces '(after)', recorded live at Le Guess Who? 2017
Mount Eerie has announced the release of '(after)', a new live album recorded live at Le Guess Who? 2017. The performance was curated by Perfume Genius for the festival, and took place at the Jacobike...
Greg Fox's new album is out now + watch the video for 'By Virtue of Emptiness'
Drummer extraordinaire Greg Fox's new album 'The Gradual Progression' is released today. His rapid fire, blistering playing style is a true force of nature, and Fox’s unique take on his instrume...
Stream Liars' new album 'TFCF' in full + watch new video for 'Cred Woes'
Let's cut that wedding cake. Liars' new album 'TFCF' is out today, and you can stream it in full via the embed below. As Angus Andrew previously said about the album: "My favourite feeling is goi...
Jane Weaver announces new EP 'The Architect'
Following the release of her acclaimed album 'Modern Kosmology' earlier this year, Manchester figurehead Jane Weaver new announces her new EP 'The Architect', featuring the title track (stream be...
Ben Frost announces new album 'The Centre Cannot Hold', shares first video
Following the release of new EP 'Threshold of Faith' last week, Australian-born, Iceland-based composer Ben Frost now announces his new album. 'The Centre Cannot Hold' will be released via M...
Watch: Yves Tumor's new video gives new meaning to the word 'claustrophobic'
Yves Tumor is one of the most mysterious and gripping experimental musicians to emerge in recent memory. Watch his new video for 'Broke In' below, from his latest 'Serpent Music' LP. In an interview w...
Listen to Greg Fox' new single 'Catching an L'
Drummer extraordinaire Greg Fox just shared a new single called 'Catching an L'. It's a track from his upcoming album 'The Gradual Expression' which will be released in September. "His new LP, The Gr...
LGW19 curator Jenny Hval shares new song 'Ashes to Ashes' from upcoming album 'The Practice of Love'
Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Jenny Hval's multi-disciplinary work aims to break beyond the confining zones of a certain genre or discipline to form a deeper connection with her audiences. Now, the Norwegian avant-pop artist announces her new album 'The Practice of Love' (out 13 September 13 via Sacred Bones), and shares its first singl...
LGW presents The Anonymous Project: a radical new format for artists and listeners
Le Guess Who? premieres a new format as part of its 2023 festival edition. The Anonymous Project is a new avenue for artists to present their work and for listeners to discover it. During The Anonymous Project, artists will perform in a white cube on stage with scenography commissioned to ensure the artists will remain anonymous at...
Lolina (aka Inga Copeland) releases new album 'Who is experimental music?'
UK hybrid pop and stripped-down techno artist Lolina (aka Inga Copeland) has released a new album called 'Who is experimental music?' It features six new tracks of warped grooves and vocal loops and is the follow-up to Lolina's live album 'Live In Geneva', that was released in February. 'Who Is Experimental Music?' both embodies and...
Listen: pianist Conrad Tao releases new album 'American Rage'
Today, pianist and composer Conrad Tao releases his new album 'American Rage' via Warner Classics. The album features compositions by Frederic Rzewski, Julia Wolfe and Aaron Copland, and explores the roots of rebellion from the 1930s Harlan County labor disputes, through the trauma of 9/11, to the deep divisions of the present day. Conra...
Listen: YĪN YĪN releases new album 'The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers'
Today, Dutch psych/funk group YĪN YĪN release their new album 'The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers' via Les Disques Bongo Joe. With South-East Asian music from the '60s and '70s as their main inspiration, the group brew a strange cocktail made of disco grooves, powerful “thaï beat” tunes and spacious synths. ...
Lightning Bolt announce new album 'Sonic Citadel'; listen to new music + watch the LGW video portrait
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...
Tropical Fuck Storm shares video for new song 'Who's My Eugene?'
Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm, with former The Drones members Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, have released a new song and video from their upcoming album 'Braindrops'. 'Who's My Eugene?' is the third single from their new album, to be released 23 August via Joyful Noise/Flightless Records. You can watch a...
Madeline Kenney releases new album ‘Perfect Shapes’
Madeline Kenney has released her new album ‘Perfect Shapes’. It was recorded in the woods outside of Durham, North Caroline, where she explored new methods in writing, recording,...
The Breeders share new video for 'Spacewoman' via Tidal
Following the release of legendary foursome The Breeders' new album 'All Nerve' (their first in 10 years), the group now share their new video for 'Spacewoman' in collaboration with Tidal. Directed by...
Watch: John Maus shares new video for 'Touchdown'
John Maus' new album 'Screen Memories' will be released this Friday, 27 October. But first, Maus now shares the video for new song 'Touchdown'. Watch below. "Directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratf...
Watch Liars' new video for 'Staring At Zero'
One month ago, Liars' Angus Andrew releases his new album 'TFCF'. "It's the oddness of Liars, that weird shamanic essence of Angus Andrew that has shaped their best albums and most unhinged gigs,...
Watch Perfume Genius' new KEXP session
The great people of KEXP have just released a new session with our festival curator Perfume Genius, performing songs from his new album 'No Shape' as well as a cover of This Mortal Coil's Kangaroo. Wa...
Stream Julie Byrne's new album 'Not Even Happiness'
Julie Byrne has just released her stunning new album 'Not Even Happiness' - stream it in full below. "Singer-songwriter Julie Byrne’s new album has the lucidity and tactility of...
Revealing the full program for Le Guess Who? 2023
Le Guess Who?, considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals around the world, returns to Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 9-12 November for its 16th edition. We now reveal the full 2023 line-up, after previously announcing festival curators Heba Kadry, Nala Sinephro, Slauson Malone 1 and Stereolab, as well as performances by...
Oliver Coates announces new album, shares 'A Church'
London cellist, composer and producer Oliver Coates has just announced his new album 'Shelley's On Zenn-La', to be released in September via RVNG Intl. The album follows collaborations with artis...
Stream: Roger Eno releases new album 'Dust Of Stars'
Known for his minimal approach, Roger Eno crafts an ambient sound rooted in classical music. After collaborations with a.o. John Cale and his brother Brian, Eno now releases his new album 'D...
Stereogum navigates the many styles of Yves Tumor with 9 essential tracks
The enigmatic pop experimentalist Yves Tumor wins over new audiences every time he releases new music. Over the years, he has explored the most extreme genres, using harsh noise, field recordings...
Listen to Devendra Banhart's new song about the 25th Amendment
Led by his swirling trail of mystic folk, raga spirituals and Latin-American rock, Devendra Banhart tackles one of the 27 amendments to the United States Constitution in a new song, logicall...
Soundscape master Chihei Hatakeyama releases new album 'Afterimage'
Tokyo's sound artist, mastering engineer and record label founder Chihei Hatakeyama has released his new album 'Afterimage': a record that was composed in inspiration from a photograph that...
Minyo Crusaders - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Japanese 10-piece ensemble Minyo Crusaders performed at Le Guess Who? 2019, following the release of their debut album ‘Echoes of Japan’, at one of the festival main stages: TivoliVredenburg's Grote Zaal. It became a life-affirming and glorious performance that you can now relive with the audio recording of the full show, and...
Oiseaux-Tempête & Friends - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Oiseaux-Tempête & Friends gave an overwhelming and immersive performance at Le Guess Who? 2019, joined on stage by G.W. Sok (King Champion Sounds, formerly The Ex), Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band), Mondkopf and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, also LGW17 curator). Oiseaux-...
Kelman Duran releases new album 'A Night In Tijuana' on Scorpio Red
Dominican-American producer Kelman Duran has released his new album 'Night In Tijuana'. The album is the first release on his own label Scorpio Red, that he started together with visual artist Annie Mackinnon. Apart from music, the label will also release commissioned essays and prints by artists. Over the past years,...
Aldous Harding shares hypnogogic new video for 'Zoo Eyes'
With her latest album 'Designer', Aldous Harding creates a strange, but inviting world where she operates according to her own baffling internal logic. On the album, she renders instrumentation and voice into the most vivid and impressionistic of scenes. Now, Harding shares a new hypnogogic video for new single 'Zoo Eyes'...
Jerusalem In My Heart release new album 'Daqa'iq Tudaiq', co-commissioned by Le Guess Who?
Jerusalem In My Heart is an audio-visual happening with roots in both Montréal and Beirut, combining the best of both worlds. Figurehead Radwan Ghazi Moumneh has been nursing the craft of...
Cass McCombs performs 2 new tracks for La Blogothèque's Take Away Show, captured during LGW18
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...
Joe Cardamone shares video for new track 'East Side No One'
L.A. based experimental musician Joe Cardamone, formerly of The Icarus Line, is now performing under his own name and preparing the release of 'Holy War Collection'. He now releases a new single...
"An Innovative Flutist With an Afrofuturist Vision": New York Times interviews Nicole Mitchell
In a recent interview with The New York Times, award-winning Flutist Nicole Mitchell speaks about her influences for her acclaimed album 'Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds', as well as the role o...
GAIKA shares new single 'Immigrant Sons (Pesos & Gas)'
With his debut album 'Basic Volume' out 27 July on Warp, vocalist and producer GAIKA now shares his new single 'Immigrant Sons (Pesos & Gas)', co-produced by SOPHIE. With Jamaican a...
Le Guess Who? supports new initiative 'Geef een Toegift'
(Nederlandse versie hieronder) Between a partnership of more than 40 Dutch festival, a new initiative emerged, called ‘Geef een Toegift’ (‘Give an Encore’). Festival visitors...
Listen: James Holden's brand new album 'The Animal Spirits' is out now
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's new album 'Les Fleurs Du Mal' is out today
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....
Lost Horizons' share video for 'Score The Sky' + new song 'I Saw The Days Go By'
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...
Dedekind Cut announces new album; shares title track 'Tahoe'
Fred Welton Warmsley III aka Dedekind Cut has announced his new album 'Tahoe', for which he signed to Kranky. The album's release is scheduled for February 2018, although you can stream the title trac...
Stream METZ's Steve Albini-produced new album 'Strange Peace'
Post-grunge/noise/hardcore juggernaut METZ is back with their new, Steve Albini-produced album 'Strange Peace'. This time around, the band have captured the notorious intensity of their live show...
Listen to James Holden's new track 'Each Moment Like the First'
After offering a first taste of his new album 'The Animal Spirits', electronic explorer James Holden now shares the second track from the album, 'Each Moment Like the First'. Listen below. ...
Listen: Dälek's new album 'Endangered Philosophies' is now up for streaming
Veteran agitators Dälek have never been ones to stick within the rigid parameters of the hiphop genre, holding the utmost contempt for conservative expectations. The trio just released their new...
James Holden added as curator + more new additions; day tickets on sale now
Electronic sound explorer James Holden is added as curator for Le Guess Who?, hosting multiple stages on Saturday, 11 November. Performing is Moroccan Gnawa musician Maâlem Houssam Guinia &...
James Holden announces new album, shares first track 'Pass Through the Fire'
Electronic explorer James Holden has just announced his new album 'The Animal Spirits', to be released 3 November via his own Border Community label. The album follows 2013's acclaimed The Inheritors....
Listen to Protomartyr's new song 'My Children'
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...
Listen to Ekin Fil's new album 'Ghosts Inside'
Istanbul-based ambient/drone artist Ekin Fil just released her new album 'Ghosts Inside'. Behind an icy fog of dripping reverb, her vocals hardly ever register beyond whispers and sighs, always just o...
Moor Mother releases new track 'Hardware', feat. Mental Jewelry
On her new track 'Hardware', Moor Mother works together with Philadelphia noise producer Mental Jewelry. Last year, Moor Mothers album ‘Fetish Bones’ garnered acclaim for masterfully reima...
Nobody (aka Willis Earl Beal) releases new album 'Turn'
Willis Earl Beal releases his first record under his new moniker Nobody, entitled 'Turn': listen in full below. In a recent interview with Far Out Magazine he said: "On the street, I am known as...
Coco María presents Club Coco: vital new music influenced by vintage sounds
When DJ and artist Coco María moved from Mexico to Europe, she brought the hidden gems of Latin American musical culture with her. Growing up surrounded by music, Coco María not only grew fond of the sounds of her childhood but also developed a love for sharing them with the rest of the world.
Born out of this passion of hers is the show ‘Club Coco’, hosted on Worldwide FM, on which Coco María shares the best of contemporary and heritage music rooted in Latin sounds. A captivating exploration of African rhythms that lie embedded within Central and South American music, ‘Club Coco’ is as colourful and memorable as Coco María herself, leaving listeners in a joyful and energetic mood.
U?: Girls In Synthesis share new single 'Pulling Teeth', embodying their "new mission statement"
(Nederlandse tekst hieronder)Girls In Synthesis is a London-based post-punk and noise rock band that has been releasing records for 4 years and counting. With their DIY mentality they’re not afraid to experiment. You can now listen to their latest single ‘Pulling Teeth’.<a href="https://girlsinsynthesi...
Full line-up for 24-Hour Drone 2018 in Hudson, NY
A collaboration between Le Guess Who? and long-term partners Basilica Hudson, 24-Hour Drone is a roving, international series featuring musicians and sound artists experimenting within the spectrum of...
Stream Ras_G & The Afrikan Space Program's new LP 'Stargate Music'
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...
Chicago footwork originator RP Boo releases new album 'I'll Tell You What!'
RP Boo is the originator of footwork music and one of Chicago's finest producers. Now he has released his new album 'I'll Tell You What! via Planet Mu, which is his first album since 2015's 'Fingers, Bank Pads, and Shoe Prints'. It shows off RP Boo's raw experimentalism, floating free between abstraction and precision, for which RP Boo has become known over the years. Recently, RP Boo already released a few tracks from 'Ill Tell You What!' via a mixtape for Noisey Mix.
"I always move on with what’s to be unexpected, not afraid at all and let the results speak for itself with room to learn, as well for shaping what’s to come."
- RP Boo in an interview with Noisey (April 2018)
RP Boo’s performance at Le Guess Who? 2018 is curated by Moor Mother. This curated program also features The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, 700 Bliss, DJ Haram and many more.
Senyawa announce new LP 'Sujud'; listen to an album sampler
Hailing from Jogjakarta, Senyawa pushes traditional Indonesian music and experimental music far, far beyond their accustomed boundaries, resulting in a thrilling blend of their cultural heritage,...
SASAMI signs to Domino; releases new track ‘Not The Time’
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter SASAMI has released her new song ‘Not The Time’, the follow-up to her debut track ‘Callous’, released earlier this year. ‘Not The Time...
Revealing the full time schedules for LGW18 + new acts added to the line-up
We've published the full time schedules for Le Guess Who? 2018. Dig in and find out who's playing when & where here. We’ve also added some new acts to the program: The Bug vs Miss Red,...
Aldous Harding - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Following the release of her latest album ‘Designer’ last year, New Zealand songwriter Aldous Harding performed at Le Guess Who? 2019, becoming one of the audience’s highlights of the 13th edition of the festival. The show rendered instrumentation and voice into the most vivid and impressionistic of scenes. Harding&...
Listen to French sound sculptor Félicia Atkinson's new album 'The Flower And The Vessel'
Today, Shelter Press just releases Félicia Atkinson's new album 'The Flower And The Vessel'. The French experimental composer and poet was partly influenced by the French classical pieces that shaped her childhood, including Maurice Ravel's 'L'enfant et les sortilèges', Debussy's 'La Mer', and Erik Satie's 'Gymnop&...
Listen to Richard Youngs' new album 'Foot Songs'
Glaswegian singer, guitarist, improviser, and experimentalist Richard Youngs has always been a super-productive musician, with over twenty releases over the last two years alone. Now, he adds the new album 'Foot Songs' to the collection, which is released through his own label No Fans Records. In January 2019, Youngs also released...
Los Pirañas announce new album 'Historia Natural'
Los Pirañas have announced their new album 'Historia Natural', to be released 11 October via Glitterbeat Records. It's the third album of the Colombian band featuring Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers), Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero, Ondatropica) and Pedro Ojeda (Romperayo, Frente Cumbiero). 'Historia Natural' was recorded li...
Isokratisses & Christopher C. King - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
On November 9, 2019, the Greek polyphonic vocal ensemble Isokratisses gave a rare performance at the Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Founded by Anna Katsi, the group dedicates itself to the polyphonic singing of Poliçan, an ethnic Greek village in southern Albania. All the members are...
YĪN YĪN celebrate release of new album 'The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers' at LGW19; listen to first single 'Pingpxng'
Using South East Asian music from the 60s and 70s as their main inspiration, Dutch psych/funk group YĪN YĪN combines these influences with disco, funk, and electronic music for a blend that they like to call "Thaichedelic". After two remarkable singles released through Bongo Joe Records, they now announce their new album 'T...
Listen to a unique collaboration between Ahmed Ag Kaedy and Marjo Smolander on new single 'Tenere'
Tuareg guitarist Ahmed Ag Kaedy has released a new single called 'Tenere' in collaboration with Finnish musician Marjo Smolander. Marjo plays the Finnish traditional instrument Kantele and together with Kaedy's enchanting guitar playing, the sounds blend together as one. Even if you can't understand the words they're both singin...
COSMOS Embassy Mix Vol. 1: Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective (HCMC, Vietnam)
Embassy Mix Vol. 1:Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective (HCMC, Vietnam) This year, COSMOS once again proudly partners up with acts, institutions, and collectives from around the globe. The 2023 Embassies are located in Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Greece, UAE, Peru and Ghana. In order to introduce the amazing talents behind these coll...
Jessica Moss announces new album 'Phosphenes'; listen to first track 'Contemplation II'
Jessica Moss, a violinist and composer based in Montreal, will release her new album 'Phosphenes' (the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye) on November 19th. Moss began her music career in 2014 and currently has four albums under her belt. She uses violin and vocal to create music that are inspired by Middle Eastern...
Interview: Pink Oculus presents Before Wisdom through collaborative show where art, scenography and music become one
“Performing is a part of my identity”, says the Dutch Surinamese vocalist and producer Pink Oculus. Two years of not being able to do what she loves the most led to a brand new sound, and new music too: her forthcoming album, ‘Before Wisdom’, is expected in 2022. At Le Guess Who?, she will premiere these songs thro...
Listen: Kinshasa's KOKOKO! release new EP 'Elongi na Elongi'
Hailing from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the collective of KOKOKO! was born from radical youth protest. Known for rewiring and up-cycling materials such as metal, cans, engine parts, and plastic containers, the group provide the perfect soundtrack for the Congolese city’s harsh, yet explosively creative, reality. KO...
Listen to Copenhagen-based composer and viola player Astrid Sonne's new song 'How Far'
In Astrid Sonne's music, electronic experiments coexist with baroque approaches, and there is space for improvisation amongst composition. Following her album 'Ephemeral Camera Feed' which was released earlier this year, Astrid Sonne now releases her new song 'How Far' as part of The Hearing Experience, a new series of singles from Londo...
Watch: Tarta Relena release video for new single 'Las alamedas'
Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena have released a new song called 'Las alamedas'; the first single of their new upcoming album 'Fiat Lux', with a release date for the album to be announced later. 'Las alamedas' was based on a poem by Spanish poet, writer, theater director and one of the key figures of the 20th-century Spanish lite...
Introducing our new video series 'Hi! How Are You?'; watch the first episode, feat. RP Boo, Maria Chavez, and Isokratisses
We're introducing our new video series ‘Hi! How Are You?’, in which we check in with previous LGW performers about how they are doing & what’s been keeping them busy. First up in episode 1 are the originator of footwork music RP Boo, Peruvian sound artist Maria Chavez, and Greek vocal group ...
Listen: Deerhunter shares 13-minute new song 'Timebends'
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. Now, the group release a 13-minute new song called 'Timebends'; their first new music since the release of 'Why Hasn't Everything Already disappea...
Rotterdam's The Sweet Release of Death shares new single 'Sick Girl'
Rotterdam's beloved The Sweet Release of Death have announced their return with new album 'The Blissful Joy Of Living', out October 10th, via Subroutine Records. The album finds the band reaching for their core instincts, channeling the brimming energy of their live shows. You can now listen to new single 'Sick Girl', which is a...
See Tropical Fuck Storm transformed into a band of apes in new video 'The Happiest Guy Around'
Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm maps their own music from noise-rock and post-punk. This August, the band released their new album 'Braindrops' through Joyful Noise and now they share a new video for album track 'The Happiest Guy Around'. Directed by Glendon and Isabella, who are also known as 'the animators for the stars', we s...
Le Mini Who? moves to new area Cartesius for 2019 edition
For Le Guess Who? spin-off festival Le Mini Who?, 2019 marks the move to Cartesius. Le Mini Who? transforms local bars, restaurants, venues and warehouses into improvised venues for (mainly) Dutch underground bands to play. For its 11th edition on Sunday 10 November, Le Mini Who? settles in the Cartesius area, located in the nor...
Girl Band release new track 'Salmon Of Knowledge'
Girl Band will release their sophomore album, 'The Talkies' on 27 September via Rough Trade. The Irish post-punk group already shared 'Shoulderblades' and 'Going Norway' from the record, now they are back with new track 'Salmon Of Knowledge'. The track is named after a creature from Irish mythology, and was once in the running for the tit...
Oiseaux-Tempête share video for new single 'He Is Afraid And So Am I'
Oiseaux-Tempête will release their new album 'From Somewhere Invisible' on 18 October: a collaboration with former Le Guess Who? artists Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, also LGW17 curator) and Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band), as well as G.W. Sok (King Champion Sounds, for...
Ayalew Mesfin & Debo Band - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
After his music has gone unheard for 40 years, either on stage or on record, quintessential Ethio-groove performer Ayalew Mesfin gave his first ever European performance at Le Guess Who? 2019: a show that featured the Debo Band, who formed in 2006 to keep the spirit and craft of Ethiopia’s golden age of pop alive. A...
Gilla Band - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Irish wrecking crew Gilla Band has become one of the most fearsome live units of the decade thanks to their intense and propulsive performances. And somewhere down the dark corridors, you can hear the demented straitjacket howls of frontman Dara Kiely, an unrelenting fury waiting to detonate at the slightest prick. The group perfor...
Eleanor Friedberger reveals new video; talks about latest album in Clash interview
Eleanor Friedberger has released a new video for ‘It’s Hard’, taken from her fourth solo album ‘Rebound’, released earlier this year. The video, in which Friedberger is p...
Joan of Arc share new song ‘Indelible in the Hippocampus is The Laughter’
Tim Kinsella's art-rock band Joan of Arc have released their new song ‘Indelible in the Hippocampus is The Laughter’, which is a selection of audio from the live score the band made f...
Listen to Jacco Gardner's new track 'Levania' ahead of his appearance at LGW18 tonight
Le Guess Who? 2018 is in full swing, and tonight sees the debut of Jacco Gardner's 'Somnium' experience. That's not the only premiere Gardner has in store for you though, as we have the honor to share the second track from his upcoming, instrumental album. 'Levania' is a highly uplifting and catchy track, marked by Gardner’s si...
Listen: Vera Sola shares new song 'The Cage'
The day after her performance at Le Guess Who? this Thursday, Vera Sola will release her debut album 'Shades' via Spectraphonic Records. Prior to the album release, Sola shares a new track, entitled 'The Cage': a dark and intense song with an equally powerful video. Watch and listen below: "New track ‘The Cage’ comes comple...
Premiere: King Champion Sounds - 'Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah'; new album 'For A Lark' released during LGW
Formed by Kenya-born musician Ajay Saggar in 2013, King Champion Sounds are an impetuous, eight-headed band from The Netherlands and England. Fronted by the inimitable G.W. Sok (former singer of...
Vera Sola reveals video for new song 'Small Minds'
Vera Sola is a New York-based vocalist, poet and multi-instrumentalist. Her musical endeavours in recent years have included performing with Elvis Perkins as well as writing several film and...
Mudhoney announce new album 'Digital Garbage', share first single 'Paranoid Core'
Seattle icons Mudhoney have announced their new album, to be released on 28 September via their home base Sub Pop. 'Digital Garbage' will be the band's tenth record, with even more reason to celebrate...
Stream Circuit des Yeux’s new LP ‘Reaching For Indigo’
Inspired by “a moment that fell down in the life of [Haley] Fohr on January 22, 2016”, Circuit des Yeux explores this deep personal experience on her new album ‘Reaching For Indigo&r...
Listen to Tom Rogerson's new song 'Idea of Order at Kyson Point', a collaboration with Brian Eno
Tom Rogerson's piano skills are once again on full display in new song 'Idea of Order at Kyson Point'; a collaboration with Brian Eno. The dreamy track will be available on Rogerson's upcoming al...
John Maus' new album 'Screen Memories' is out now
It has been six years since John Maus' last record 'We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves'. In between, he graduated in Philosophy, but now he's back and you can listen to his brand new alb...
METZ share new video for 'Drained Lake' from their latest album
Last month, METZ brought out their third record 'Strange Peace'. Now, just before their tour kicks off, the band share a new video for 'Drained Lake'. Frontman Alex Edkins explains the song as "t...
Listen to two versions of Kevin Morby's new song 'Baltimore'
Kevin Morby's latest albums 'Singing Saw' and 'City Music' were two companion pieces. Now, the songwriter releases two versions of his new song 'Baltimore'. 'Baltimore (Sky At Night)' was written...
Jane Weaver shares new video for 'The Architect'
Just before her new tour starts, Jane Weaver shares a video for 'The Architect'; the title track from her forthcoming EP, out 27th October. Watch the artistic video below, which is a creative col...
Watch METZ's short film on the making of new album 'Strange Peace'
With new album 'Strange Peace', METZ frantically push their well-established sound even further, capturing the notorious intensity of their live shows. The album was recorded in just four days wi...
Listen: 12-Hour Drone artist Orphax shares new track 'Somniatores'
Sietse van Erve has been composing under his Orphax-moniker for the better part of the past two decades. He forges sound from electronic and acoustic instruments, other people’s composition...
Stream Ben Frost's new album 'The Centre Cannot Hold' in full now
Ben Frost's new album, produced by Steve Albini, is out now, and you can listen to it in full below. In his biography for Le Guess Who? 2017, we described his music as a 'huge, piercing sound: gr...
Watch: Aldous Harding premieres new song 'Elation' in her KEXP session
Earlier this year, Aldous Harding released her beautiful album 'Party', striking that rare balance between fragility and full-blown, theatrical possession. Now, she premieres new song 'Elation' i...
Big|Brave's new record is out now; stream in full
Montreal's Big|Brave merge guitar torrents, withered noise bursts and shamanic yelps. Now, the trio release their new album 'Ardor' via Southern Lord Records. Stream it in full below: 3 slowly de...
Ben Frost shares 'Ionia' from new album 'The Centre Cannot Hold'
Today, Ben Frost shares a new track of his upcoming album 'The Centre Cannot Hold', which will be released september 29th via MUTE. Listen to 'Ionia' here - it follows the release of the title tr...
Watch Shabazz Palaces' new video for 'Shine a Light'
Shabazz Palaces two new ‘Quazarz’ releases on Sub Pop mark the hip hop duo's biggest celestial quest yet. Now, Ishmael Butler and Tendai "Baba" Maraire share the video for 'Shine...
Klein announces new EP 'Tommy'
Following the 'Lagata' EP last year, Klein is now preparing a new release for Hyperdub. The 'Tommy' EP is to be released September 29, and a first cut called 'Run Reprise' is now published - watch bel...
Read: Juana Molina releases 'Halo', and is already planning a follow-up
Juana Molina just released her new record 'Halo' last May, but she’s already thinking of a new record. In a recent interview with Billboard she said: "For the next one, I want to half-finish, no...
Listen to Ben Frost's new EP 'Threshold of Faith', produced by Steve Albini
Icelandic producer and composer Ben Frost is equally influenced by classical minimalism as by punk rock and metal. Frost just released his new EP 'Threshold of Faith', which you can stream n...
Listen to Dedekind Cut's new track 'unknown [ Katla edit ]'
Under the moniker of Dedekind Cut, Fred Warmsley occupies that sweet spot between contemporary hip hop and Brian Eno’s ambient experimentations. The Sacramento native just released his new...
Stream Shabazz Palaces' 2 new 'Quazarz'-albums
Hip hop futurists Shabazz Palaces are one of our curators for Le Guess Who? 2017, and have invited a.o. jazz legend Pharoah Sanders, OCnotes, and Natasha Kmeto. Before november though, they are releas...
Moor Mother shares another new track featuring Mental Jewelry
On her new track 'Matter of Time', Moor Mother collaborates with Philadelphia noise producer Mental Jewelry. It's the second track of the upcoming EP which will be released June 16th. "Often dreamy,...
Stream Jane Weaver's new record 'Modern Kosmology'
After critical acclaim in a.o. MOJO Magazine, Uncut, Q Magazine, and The Guardian, Jane Weaver finally release her new album 'Modern Kosmology' today: an album that melde modern psychedelia, the...
Brötzmann/Leigh share new album 'Sex Tape'
Peter Brötzmann duos with American pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh, performing at Le Guess Who? as part of the program curated by Grouper. The recordings of their new album 'Sex Tape' to...
The Como Mamas release new single 'Count Your Blessings'
Gospel trio The Como Mamas from Mississippi just released their new single 'Count Your Blessings'. Their album 'Move Upstairs' will follow in May. It's "the kind of gospel that can move and save...
Listen: Mount Eerie releases new album 'A Crow Looked At Me'
Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum releases his new album today: a deeply personal document of grief, having written the first song just 11 days after the passing of his wife. It’s an emotional and...
Rolling Stone interviews Pissed Jeans on new album 'Why Love Now'
Pissed Jeans' new album 'Why Love Now' will be out tomorrow via Sub Pop. Today, Rolling Stone share their interview with frontman Matt Korvette, on how Lydia Lunch, author Lindsay Hunter helped s...
Stream 'Field of Love', the new album by Mozart's Sister
Caila Thompson-Hannant aka Mozart's Sister was curated by Perfume Genius for Le Guess Who?. Today, she releases her new album 'Field of Love', a record that 'keeps dishing out earworms and infectious...
Re/Fresh: a weekly updated playlist with new music from former LGW artists & performers
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...
Listen: billy woods shares new album 'Church'
A perennial figure in the New York abstract hip-hop scene, billy woods has been defined by his association with Cannibal Ox's Vordul Mega and as half of both Super Chron Flight Brothers and Armand Hammer - but his solo releases have reshaped the genre just as much. Following the release of 'Aethiopes' earlier this year, billy woods...
Nia Archives shares new single 'Baianá'
After receiving the NME Award for Best Producer earlier this year, and being featured as "the red-hot jungle producer taking over the UK's dancefloors", prodigious UK raver Nia Archives is back with new single 'Baianá'. Watch the video for 'Baianá' below. The samples the traditional Brazilian choir Barbatuques, Nia Archives...
Listen: Dry Cleaning release new single 'Don't Press Me' from upcoming album 'Stumpwork'
*update: the band have now released their new album 'Stumpwork'. Stream below: Just a year after 'New Long Leg', which was filled to the brim with unheard-of snark, courtesy of vocalist Florence Shaw's quick-witted lyrics, London's Dry Cleaning have announced the follow-up to their debut album. 'Stumpwork' is out October 21 via 4AD. T...
"The result is yet to be discovered": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Palestine
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Palestine Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to brothers Elias and Youssef Anatas, the people behind Radio Alhara, about creating a new form of public space and bringing people from different parts of the world together. Words by Beatriz Negreiros During t...
El Kontessa releases new album 'Nos Habet Caramel'
As El Kontessa, producer, DJ, and multidisciplinary artist Fajr Soliman deconstructs Cairo’s soundscapes and combines them with accelerating polyrhythms, echoing Mahraganat percussion, vocal hits and bursts of synths, turning them into multilayered sonic explorations. Since debuting in 2018, El Kontessa has been a staple of Egypt&...
Arp Frique releases two new records: 'Radio Verde' & 'Improvised Suites For Analog Machines'
With a super contagious cocktail of Afrobeat, disco and funk, Dutch producer Arp Frique is the past, present and future scrambled together in one groovy, bright-lit musical skirmish. Today, Arp Frique returns to Rush Hour with no less two new releases: 'Radio Verde', a compilation of rare Cape Verdean dancefloor diamonds compiled to...
Joanna Sternberg shares new single 'Neighbors'
New York City singer-songwriter Joanna Sternberg is having a stellar 2023 so far. Earlier this year, their second album ‘I’ve Got Me’ was showered with praise for its personal and openhearted character. Now, the artists releases their new single 'Neighbors' via Fat Possum Records. 'Neighbors' was recorded at Sternberg&r...
Bombino releases new album 'Sahel'
Despite being raised on Hendrix and Knopfler, Omara 'Bombino' Moctar breathes new life onto his strings with the mission to earnestly share the beauty of Tuareg culture with others. The first-ever GRAMMY-nominated artist from Niger was raised amidst governmental violence and persecution, and the force of resistance is brought out in each...
Pedro Ricardo releases new EP 'Dança de Rua'
For every record he spins, Pedro Ricardo takes on new challenges. The artist, who will be doing a DJ set at Le Guess Who?, relies on the strength of the grooves he plays, bringing forth a feeling of intense freedom to the dance floor through a selection of warm, inviting rhythms. Jazz-fusion, disco, and funk are to be expected, but house...
The Breeders release ‘All Nerve’, the band’s first album in ten years
Last March, the beloved nineties alt-rock band The Breeders released a new album; the band's first in ten years. With the iconic ‘Last Splash’ line-up brought back together, their new full...
Ian Svenonius releases new Escape-Ism album 'The Lost Record'
The mythical performer and rock 'n roll reinventer Ian Svenonius has released 'The Lost Record'. It's the second album of his solo project Escape-Ism, after 2017s 'Introduction to Escape-Ism'. With hi...
Listen: Eli Keszler releases new solo album 'Stadium'
After creating a score for an award-winning visual artist, collaborating via Laurel Halo, and being part of Oneohtrix Point Never's world tour, Eli Keszler is seemingly at the top of his creative...
Amsterdam-based DJ/producer/vocalist LYZZA releases new EP 'IMPOSTER'
Born and raised in Brazil, DJ/producer/vocalist LYZZA is becoming a familiar face during radical, underground club nights all over the world, from Amsterdam all the way to Shanghai. Now, she releases...
Listen: JK Flesh releases new EP 'In Your Pit' via The Bug's PRESSURE label
"With his pioneering industrial metal band Godflesh, Justin Broadrick writes songs built on concussive beats, apocalyptic riffs, and feral howls. It’s music made for an audience who, during live shows, reward the storm of sound with rapt attention. But when Broadrick performs in techno clubs as JK Flesh, he wears a hoodie that...
Prana Crafter announces new split-LP 'Symbiose'; stream 'Jagged Mountain Melts at Dawn (part I)'
From eerie detuned piano atmospherics to smouldering avant-blues licks, Prana Crafter’s sonic spells are enveloped by a dense and rugged charm. Following the release of 2018's 'Bodhi Cheetah’s Choice', hailed by Aquarium Drunkard as "an alchemist of dark voodoo boogie that is entrancing and hypnotic", Prana Crafter now an...
Listen: Mala collaborates with Joe-Armon Jones and Nubya Garcia on new track 'Scratch & Erase'
Responsible for some of dubstep’s most iconic cuts, DJ, producer and label owner Mala is now part of a select group of producers taking it to thrilling forward-thinking pastures. His newest track is a collaboration with Joe-Armon Jones and Nubya Garcia. 'Scratch & Erase' is part of the compilation album 'Unti...
Le Guess Who? 2020 Press archive
The Netherlands 3voor12: Dit zijn de vijftig belangrijkste festivals van Nederland3voor12: Le Guess Who? slaat 2020 over3voor12: Beverly Glenn-Copeland blijft onverstoorbaar hoopvol3voor12: Le Guess Who? organiseert fysiek en online evenement3voor12: Le Guess Who? maakt volledige line-up LGW OFF bekend3voor12: Alternatie...
Mary Lattimore releases stirring new 15-minute song 'Quintana'
Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore is having a creative streak the last couple of years. Last year, she released her critically acclaimed album 'Hundred of Days', and back in March she teamed up with Mac McCaughan on the collaborative LP 'New Rain Duets'. Now, she releases a stirring and wondrous 15-minute compostion...
Listen to Italia 90's frenzied post-punk on new track 'An Episode'
South London's four-piece Italia 90 returns with the release of 2019 'An Episode': a fierce post-punk track and the first single from their upcoming EP, 'Italia 90 III', which will be out later this year. The distinctive vocal is paired with frenzied and textured guitar work, propulsive percussion and a distorted and dogged...
"The result is yet to be discovered": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Palestine
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Palestine Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to brothers Elias and Youssef Anatas, the people behind Radio Alhara, about creating a new form of public space and bringing people from different parts of the world together. Words by Beatriz Negreiros During t...
Galya Bisengalieva announces remix album 'Aralkum Aralas' and shares first track featuring Jlin
Kazakh/British violinist and composer Galya Bisengalieva has announced the new album 'Aralkum Aralas', which features remixed tracks from her 2020 album 'Aralkum'. This new collection of remixes will be released 15 October via One Litte Independent and includes contributions of a.o. Moor Mother, Coby Sey, Nazira, Jing, and CHAIN...
Listen: Lyra Pramuk releases 'Delta', a new take on a traditional remix album
Last year, Lyra Pramuk, a Berlin-based futurist folk musician, released her debut album 'Fountain'. The album was arranged entirely from the sound of her own voice, inspired by the collective ecstasy found in Berlin raves. Now, Pramuk releases an equally impressive work. 'Delta' is a new take on a traditional remix album and a...
Boss of Brussels rap Zwangere Guy releases new single 'FAMILIE BOVEN ALLES' with rap crew STIKSTOF
Zwangere Guy is renowned for his honest lyricism and compelling live shows. His unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, led him to quickly be considered 'the boss of Brussels rap'. Now, together with rap crew STIKSTOF, Zwangere Guy releases 'FAMILIE BOVEN ALLES' (featuring Dutch rapper Sticks), the title...
Niger's Etran de L'Aïr share new single 'Toubouk Ine Chihoussay'
Hailing from the town of Agadez, which is known as “the gateway to the desert”, Etran de L’Aïr capture the pulse of everyday life at weddings, baptisms, political events, outdoor soirees alike. In 2020, The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich picked the group's 'No. 1' as her favorite album of t...
Midori Takada to present new durational sound work [ THUS TIME GOES BY ] at LGW21, created especially for the Jacobikerk
Unfortunately, Midori Takada won’t be able to make it to Le Guess Who? 2021 due to ongoing Covid restrictions. But she will be with us in Sound & Spirit. "I really wanted to be here with you. Instead I fly my spirit to you and wrap you up in the warm vibrations of the music" - Midori Takada On Friday and Saturday, we p...
Support Le Guess Who? with a regular or one-time donation
Le Guess Who? is an ever-changing format: we are always full of new ideas and looking for new ways to do what we do. In order to keep developing the festival the upcoming fifteen years on the same level as we did the last fifteen, we could use your support. Over the past fifteen years, we have developed into a platform that showcases...
Oakland-born writer, MC, and producer Nappy Nina shares new single 'Amen'
While Nappy Nina previously made appearances on Yaeji, Quelle Chris, and Son Lux's music, her characteristic breezy flow has led her to conquer stages worldwide in her own right. For her Le Guess Who? performance, she will be joined by DJ Stas THEE Boss. Now, the Oakland-born writer, MC, and producer releases her new song, produced...
Listen: The Sweet Release of Death releases new album 'The Blissful Joy Of Living'
Today, Rotterdam's noise pop revisionists The Sweet Release Of Death make their much-anticipated return with third LP 'The Blissful Joy Of Living', out now via Subroutine Records. The album could be considered a playful counter-statement to their own name. Over the span of six songs, it offers an acute glimpse of a band mired in tota...
Watch: Efterklang debut new album 'Altid Sammen' live at the iconic Elbphilharmonie concert hall
Recently, Danish pop adventurers Efterklang released their fifth studio album 'Altid Sammen'. The day after the release, they debuted the record live in its entirety at the iconic Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg during this year’s Reeperbahn Festival. The trio was joined on stage by Øyunn on drums,...
Listen: Efterklang release new album 'Altid Sammen'
'Altid Sammen' is the fifth album from Danish pop adventurers Efterklang, marking their first release in seven years. It's a record full of sonic experimentation, which the trio are known for, and examines the relationships that connect us from nature to death and much more in between. 'Altid Sammen', out now via 4AD, is the t...
DJ Firmeza drops new EP 'Ardeu'
Following his 2015 debut 12” and numerous international forays, DJ Firmeza’s new EP ‘Ardeu’ sees the free-spirited Portuguese artist inject devilish detail into his productions at no expense to his signature. All four cuts are intensely rhythmelodic and include two highlights revolving Firmeza&r...
Negativland announce new album 'True False', listen to first single 'Discernment'
Experimental outfit Negativland have bursted many bubbles over the decades with their quizzical remapping of pop culture, media and advertising. Now, the group is set to release their new album 'True False', out 25 October. It is one of two interconnected double albums the band plans to release within the next year. In 2015, t...
Listen: Föllakzoid releases new album 'I'
Today, Chilean cosmic group Föllakzoid releases new album 'I'. It is the fourth full-length album by Föllakzoid, described by the band as a multidimensional reconsideration of what the process of songwriting, performance, and creating a work of recorded music can be. To achieve this, the record was constructed ou...
Watch Bbymutha's new video for 'SICK'
As one of the most refreshing role models and MCs to have emerged from the rap game, Tennessee-based MC and rapper Bbymutha debunks a lot of myths surrounding sex, motherhood and identity. Now, Bbymutha has released a dark new video for 'SICK', which was featured on last year's 'The Bastard Tape, Vol. 1'. In the video, she rec...
Makaya McCraven - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Makaya McCraven is one of Chicago’s most versatile and in-demand drummers. At Le Guess Who? 2019, McCraven, together with his stellar live band, gave a wonderfully free-spirited performance. As debut of the show, the group played the brand new song 'In These Times', which you can view below, as well as listen to the entire perf...
Watch: Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Indigo Rising perform ‘Evernew’ in stunning new video
As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, musician Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released 'Keyboard Fantasies' in rural Ontario in 1986. Recorded on an Atari-powered home-studio, th...
Relive Beverly Glenn-Copeland's glorious performance at LGW18
New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a very rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Beverly Glenn-Copeland - 'Sunset Village', live at Le Guess Who? 2018: About: After a twent...
Jessica Pratt announces new album 'Quiet Signs'; shares first single 'This Time Around'
Songsmith Jessica Pratt’s captivating, wistful coo evokes a mirage-like warmth, seducing the listener into a state between dream and real time. Now, she announces her new album 'Quiet Signs'; the follow-up to 2015's 'On Your Own Love Again' will appear in February 2019 via Mexican Summer and City Slang. Jessica Pratt now also...
Introducing: WAS. - from a raving punk celebration to stunning club beats
This year, Le Guess Who? will feature three new venues for the official music program: WAS., BASIS, and Poema. All of them are part of Utrecht’s buzzing nightlife and are among the most prominent clubs in town. In this feature, we introduce you to the pop-up nightclub of WAS.; a place where many electronic music freaks are assured t...
Premiere: Please The Trees share video for 'Infinite Dance'; new album out 19 September
Czech Republic's Please The Trees originally hail from the forests of a mountainous region in East Bohemia. Grounded in the psychedelic riffs and motorik beats of krautrock, the band will present...
Meridian Brothers share new video for 'No Me Traiciones'
The Bogotá-based sextet Meridian Brothers offer a very distinctive and playful take on tropical sounds like salsa, cumbia and reggaeton in an electronic context. The band have now shared t...
Introducing: Canada collective Crack Cloud construct something radically new out of post-punk’s past
Crack Cloud is not what you should consider a regular band. A self-described ‘mixed media collective’, they take shape as a fluid collective of numerous individuals from Alberta, Canada wi...
Track of the Week #7: Katey Red - 'Where Da Melph At'
Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's a high-energy celebration of New Orleans bounce from one of the first openly gay artists within the...
Circuit des Yeux shares new video 'Falling Blonde'
Last year, Circuit des Yeux released her fifth studio album 'Reaching For Indigo'; a deeply personal record and probably Haley Fohr's most fulfilled full-length to date. Now, Circuit des Yeux has...
Revisit James Holden & The Animal Spirits' live performance at LGW17
Electronic explorer James Holden presented his new performance 'James Holden & The Animal Spirits' live at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring tracks from his new album; a record that enhances Holden&rs...
Tune-Yards announce new album; share first single 'Look at Your Hands'
Tune-Yards' follow up to 2014's Nikki Nack will be released early 2018 via 4AD, entitled 'I can feel you creep into my private life'. Now, the band share the first single from the album, 'Look at...
Listen to John Maus' latest track 'Teenage Witch'
Avant-pop maestro John Maus announced his new album 'Screen Memories' late August, and now, he shares the new track 'Teenage Witch' from the album. Watch the video below, featuring footage of a very y...
The Soft Moon announce new album 'Criminal'; listen to first single 'Burn'
As we wrote in The Soft Moon's bio for their performance at this year's Le Guess Who?: 'Each album peels away another layer to reveal more brutal truths behind Vasquez’s industrial/postwave lean...
Rabit announces new album 'Les Fleurs du Mal' + shares first single
Houston producer Erik Burton aka Rabit just announced his second album 'Les Fleurs du Mal'. The record features vocals from Cecilia and Chino Amobi, whom Burton also collaborated with earlie...
Meet Lombok Festival, our new satellite event highlighting this vibrant neighborhood
Cycle or walk through Utrecht suburb Lombok's main street, and you're immediately welcomed by Turkish and Moroccan grocery stores, bakeries, the smell of kebab, and huge piles of colorful fruits sold...
Listen to Cairo-based Nadah El Shazly's new track 'Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory)'
Nadah El Shazly is one of the most versatile and progressive Egyptian musicians, channeling traditional Egyptian vocal techniques through genres like jazz, classical, blues, punk rock and el...
Listen to Brian Case's new album 'Spirit Design'
Just one year after his debut, Disappears' Brian Case is already releasing his second solo album, entitled 'Spirit Design'. The record features intense drone, combined with ambient soundscapes and con...
Listen to Perfume Genius' new Spotify Singles
Perfume Genius curates his very own program at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring a.o. Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Mount Eerie, Aldous Harding, Weyes Blood, and Pharma...
Listen: OCnotes releases new album 'Doug Morris'
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. He just releas...
Stream Coby Sey's 'Whities' EP + new track 'Petals Have Fallen'
Coby Sey's atmospheric sound spans the realms of live instrumentation, sample-based productions, and classical and experimental music. Similar to Actress and Dean Blunt, Sey's work reflects the steamy...
Gospel trinity The Como Mamas reveal new album 'Move Upstairs'
"I used to get chills listening to Elvis Presley, but on Sundays, secular sounds took a back seat. My grandfather was a big churchgoer, and on Sunday morning the radio was on the gospel station." So...
Watch Jesca Hoop's live session from Granada Studios
Jesca Hoop released her new album 'Memories Are Now' earlier this year. A new session recorded at Granada Studios sees her performing songs from the album in intimate setting. Watch the recordings bel...
Interview: "Meet Sevdaliza, A Dutch-Iranian Roamer Finding A Spiritual Home In Music"
The Fader recently interviewed the Dutch/Iranian Sevdaliza about Teheran, Rotterdam, her new album, and being a plant collector. Listen to her new album 'Ison' while you dive into the interview here.&...
Meet avant-garde guitarist/composer Patrick Higgins, live with Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Patrick Higgins may be best known as guitarist for the noise-rock band Zs, which New York Times called "one of the strongest avant-garde bands of New York", but his solo work is just as striking. From...
Gruff Rhys announces new album 'Pang!', shares title track
Welsh artist Gruff Rhys is best known as spearhead of perpetually wry pop oddballs Super Furry Animals, though his side projects and solo records are just as brilliant, both on a sonic and conceptual level. Now, Rhys announces his new solo album 'Pang!', to be released 13 September via Rough Trade and sung entirely in Welsh with a couple...
Playlist: Devendra Banhart's Ten Finest Tracks
With roots in both Venezuela and L.A., Devendra Banhart has been making highly singular music for a long time. Over the decades, he has shown us that he is an eclectic artist capable of both reinventi...
Watch: Japanese ambient composer & sound designer Hinako Omori releases new video
Earlier this year, Hinako Omori released her new album, 'a journey...'. Now, the Yokohama-born, London-based electronic composer and sound designer releases a live video for 'The Richest Garden in your Memory' from the album. It was filmed at London's Omved Gardens, in collaboration with director Jessie Rodger. The video, as mysterious an...
Volunteering applications for LGW22 now open
Unfortunately, it is currently no longer possible to register as a volunteer for Le Guess Who? 2022. Keep an eye on our website for more information about the participation possibilities next year.***We are beyond excited to let you know that Le Guess Who? 2022 is upon us and will once again fill the streets, venues, churches and hidden c...
Watch: video reports from Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan & Yemen now online as part of our new series of Reports from Other Continents
Reports from Other Continents is a platform for people to tell their own story. After the overwhelming response to the Reports in 2020, Le Guess Who? continued to reach out to artists, musicians, and creatives across the globe to find stories from within their local communities that should be shared with the world. In Reports from Other...
EIGEN RISICO share new single 'Divine Intervention Ceremony'
EIGEN RISICO is a Groningen-based experimental art project that switches form- from one day to another without regards to genre whatsoever. Now, the group release 'Divine Intervention Ceremony' the first single from their new mixtape that will be released soon. The track was produced by EIGEN RISICO & Gerrie Hendrix and is released by...
Watch: Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul release new spellbinding video for 'Mantra'
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul are a Belgium-based duo famous for exploring topics such as cultural appropriation, racism and post-colonialism through their music. They prove themselves to be rare tale-tellers in electronic music, funneling the zeitgeist into playful synth concoctions. Now, the duo release a new kaleido...
Listen: Derya Yıldırım releases compelling new track 'Darıldım Darıldım'
As part of their upcoming EP 'Dost 2' out on November 11, Derya Yıldırım releases new track 'Darıldım Darıldım'. A compelling mix between traditional Anatolian sounds and warm beats, 'Darıldım Darıldım' leaves listeners in a unique state of trance, combined with an irresistible desire to dance the night away. Derya Yıldırım & G...
Watch: Kee Avil releases a new live performance video for 'HHHH'
Kee Avil is the one-woman project of the Canadian artist Vicky Mettler, celebrated for combining guitar, voice, electro acoustics and electronic production in an exciting and idiosyncratic way. Now, the Montreal-based producer and guitarist releases a new live performance video for the track 'HHHH' from of her debut LP 'Crease'. A fasci...
Model/Actriz share new single ‘Winnipesaukee’
Brooklyn-based experimental group Model/Actriz are known for their genre-blending sound that incorporates elements of post-punk, noise rock, and electronic music, gaining recognition for their innovative approach.Earlier this year, Model/Actriz captivated audiences with their debut album, Dogsbody, blending relentless noise with frontman...
Colleen announces new double LP; listen to 'Subterranean (Movements I-II-III)'
French artist Cécile Schott, aka Colleen, is fearless when it comes to her willingness to explore new ways of expressing herself as a solo performer. Now, she announces Le jour et la nuit du réel: her first double LP and the follow-up to the glistening ambient pop of 2021's The Tunnel and the Clearing. Le jour et la...
Slauson Malone 1 releases new album 'EXCELSIOR'
Slauson Malone 1 is the musical project and performance piece of artist Jasper Marsalis. With this project he explores the intersections of popular music and performance art. Following two critically acclaimed prior releases — 2019’s A Quiet Farwell, 2016-2018 (Crater Speak) and 2020’s Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Crater Speak), he now releases his new album EXCELSIOR via Warp Records.
Lee Gamble shares new album 'Models'
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, mastered by LGW23 curator Heba Kadry, features a suite of illusory anthems, subliming vulnerable, half-remembered fragments of dream pop, Soundcloud rap and trance in the process. Featuring cybernetic voices singing in an almost wordless language, these widescreen memories reverberate across the last few decades of pop history, smudging Elizabeth Frazer's surreal poetry into disembodied diva cries and Lil Uzi Vert's abstract, AutoTuned mumbles. Tune in below.
Neighbours Burning Neighbours return with new single 'Neil Young'
Rotterdam's Neighbours Burning Neighbours, known for their malformed brand of noise-pop, are masters of discord-turned-harmony. After three years, we can now celebrate their much-anticipated return in the form of new single Neil Young.The band, which consists of some of Rotterdam's most idiosyncratic rock makers Daanie van den IJssel, Kat...
Stream Joan Of Arc's new album '1984'
Over the past twenty years, Joan Of Arc has been the primary instrument of Tim Kinsella's limitless imagination. With a constantly revolving cast of musicians orbiting around Kinsella, Joan Of Arc&rsq...
Read: FACT Magazine meets Lucrecia Dalt to discuss her geology-inspired new album 'Anticlines'
FACT Magazine recently caught up with Colombian experimental producer & composer Lucrecia Dalt to talk about her sixth studio album 'Anticlines': an unnerving, atmospheric album on which...
Kojey Radical releases new double single '97: Pure'
Kojey Radical is at it again. The hyper-productive rapper, dancer, model, illustrator and video artist recently released a hauntingly beautiful video for 'Soak It Up': his collaboration with UK produc...
Jerusalem In My Heart shares new track ‘Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam Pt III + IV’
Jerusalem In My Heart has shared ‘Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam Pt III + IV’ from the forthcoming album ‘Daqa’iq Tudaiq’. For this track, Jerusalem In My Heart asse...
Cate le Bon releases new album 'Reward'
Today, Cate le Bon releases her fifth solo album 'Reward'. It was written in the county of Cumbria in North West England and it is Le Bon's most personal record to date, described as intensely introspective and profound. The record clings to the value of meaning and is a warning against lazy comparisons and face values. Stream...
Listen: Prana Crafter releases new split-LP 'Symbiose'
Prana Crafter summons cobwebbed guitar meditations, kosmische drones, and mystic acid folk mantras. In their 2018 Best Albums-list, Aquarium Drunkard described William Sol’s project as “an alchemist of dark voodoo boogie that is entrancing and hypnotic.” In collaboration with Tarotplane, Prana Crafter has now relea...
Video: Aldous Harding performs 'Designer' and 'The Barrel' live at Le Guess Who? 2019
Following the release of her latest album ‘Designer’ last year, New Zealand songwriter Aldous Harding performed at Le Guess Who? 2019, becoming one of the audience’s highlights of the 13th edition of the festival. The show rendered instrumentation and voice into the most vivid and impressionistic of scenes. Harding&...
LGW21 curator Lucrecia Dalt & Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes) release collaborative album 'Lucy & Aaron'
Following the release of 'Field Recordings in the forest of Colombia' last year, experimental producers and sound artists Lucrecia Dalt & Aaron Dilloway now release their new collaborative album called 'Lucy & Aaron'. The duo met each other 10 years ago at a festival and have been fans of each other ever since. 'Lucy &a...
Listen: Maria Reis, curated by Animal Collective for LGW22, releases new EP 'Benefício da Dúvida'
Last year, Maria Reis released 'A Flor da Urtiga', a beautiful EP produced by Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear. Now, the Lisbon-based artist returns with 'Benefício da Dúvida' (or 'Benefit of the Doubt'), her newest EP. The project’s title mirrors the artist’s openness to give into risk and to be...
Listen: Catalan's Marina Herlop, curated by Animal Collective for LGW22, releases new album 'Pripyat'
Conservatory trained composer, vocalist, and pianist Marina Herlop has been releasing music since 2016. Now, she has releases 'Pripyat', her first album released via PAN, the label also known for releasing records by Pan Daijing, Eartheater, Arca, and others. With 'Pripyat' Marina Herlop's production applies the same approach of ch...
'Pleasure, Joy and Happiness': listen to and learn about the return of soul singer Eddie Chacon
As part of the soul duo Charles & Eddie, Eddie Chacon experienced proper fame in the nineties. After two decades of silence, he returned to the spotlight in 2020, releasing ‘Pleasure, Joy and Happiness’, the collaborative album he recorded with Solange and Frank Ocean collaborator John Carroll Kirby. In November, they...
COSMOS Embassy Film: Accra, Ghana
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 of sel...
LGW & Basilica Hudson announce return of 24-HOUR DRONE; initial program revealed
For the sixth consecutive year, Le Guess Who? and Basilica Hudson present the all-encompassing and immersive 24-HOUR DRONE: EXPERIMENTS IN SOUND & MUSIC in Hudson, NY, taking place Saturday, April 25 - Sunday, April 26, 2020. Tickets are available now. An experimental music and sound program, 24-HOUR DRONE featur...
About
COSMOS is a globe-spanning initiative that amplifies local scenes from around the world. Through films, interviews, performances, and artist residencies, we connect international music communities and share their stories. We build long-lasting relationships and an ever-growing network of partners that support, inspire, and educate one another. We believe in the transformative powers of music and community.
AEAEA (Nicolas Jaar x Patrick Higgins) - Live at Le Guess Who? 2019
We’re thrilled to share the video of AEAEA (Nicolas Jaar x Patrick Higgins)’s live premiere at Le Guess Who? 2019. AEAEA is the recent collaboration of two of today’s most acclaimed musical visionaries; in 2019, Le Guess Who? proudly presented the duo’s live premiere as part of Patrick Higgins’ curation at th...
Full curated programs + various special projects announced for Le Guess Who? 2019
Following our initial line-up announcement in May, we're now pleased to reveal the full curated programs by Fatoumata Diawara and Iris van Herpen & Salvador Breed for the festival, as well as new additions for Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins, and The Bug curations. We're also announcing Príncipe Discos and Spazio Disponibil...
Virginia Wing reveals new video ‘Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day’
Manchester experimental synth pop duo Virginia Wing have unveiled the video for ‘Eight Hours Don't Make A Day’. The video was shot by Virginia Wing's Sam Pillay, who states that, while the...
Watch Kikagaku Moyo's new video for 'Nazo Nazo'
Tokyo-based psychedelic group Kikagaku Moyo share another taste from their forthcoming album 'Masana Temples', to be released 5 October via Guruguru Brain. This time, it's the video for 'Naz...
Le Mini Who? returns as part of LGW18; 10th Anniversary edition marks move to Rotsoord
Le Mini Who? returns as part of Le Guess Who? 2018 on Saturday, 10 November. As a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?, it transforms many of Utrecht’s local bars, restaurants, venues and warehous...
The Mauskovic Dance Band release ecstatic new track 'Things To Do'
While The Mauskovic Dance Band, brainchild of producer and multi-instrumentalist Nic Niggebrugge, is based in Amsterdam, the group create an ecstatic and exotic fusion of Colombian rhythms, 70’s afro-beat and hypnotic disco. To celebrate their UK debut mini-tour, the group is set to release a 7" single;...
The Big Takeover premieres 'Dig A Hole', an exclusive track from 'BC35'
Starting off with a deep, sludgy bass line, 'Dig A Hole' is a new, bold track from the 'BC35' album, which celebrates the 35-year Anniversary of the BC Studio (the legendary recording studio founded b...
Watch serpentwithfeet & the Heritage Orchestra's hauntingly beautiful performance at BBC Proms
As the boundary-breaking serpentwithfeet, New York producer and songwriter Josiah White bridges the gap between the sensual and the spiritual with a blend of experimental R&B,...
The Fader premieres Kojey Radical's new video for 'Soak It Up'
Today, The Fader premiered the intimate and hauntingly beautiful video of Kojey Radical's collaboration with UK producer MJ Cole, entitled 'Soak It Up'. Accompanied by a highly affecting vid...
Breakdown: The Thriving & Roaring Sound of Colin Stetson
In this new breakdown-series we analyse and extract the groundbreaking work of pioneers in their line of musical duty. In this article, we explore Colin Stetson’s unconventional approach to the...
Premiering Sun Ra Arkestra's LGW17 recordings, spanning decades of the Sun Ra legacy
With their cosmic jazz celebration, Sun Ra Arkestra was one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2017. We're pleased to now bring you the full recording of this show, spanning decades of the Sun Ra le...
Liars share exclusive new track 'Fountain and Repeat'
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...
Listen: Liars live in session at BBC Radio 6 Music, performing songs from 'TFCF'
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...
Listen: K Á R Y Y N shares new release 'QUANTA 1:11'
K Á R Y Y N is a producer, composer and vocalist who makes textured and emotional music, counting Björk among her admirers. Now, she shares the third installment of her 'QUANA'-series: a t...
Watch: Ex-Easter Island Head shares new video for 'Sixteen Snares'
UK-based musical collective Ex-Easter Island Head utilize horizontally-laid electric guitars and bass, developing their own distinctive musical language, eschewing digital processing and effects for a...
Watch Shabazz Palaces' Tiny Desk Concert for NPR
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...
Watch: Le Guess Who? & Volkskrant video portrait of James Holden
Le Guess Who? & de Volkskrant bring you video portraits of artists performing at Le Guess Who? 2017. We visit James Holden in his London studio to discuss his new album 'The Animal Spirits', play...
Watch: METZ perform songs from 'Strange Peace' live in the CBC Music Studios
"The loudest band we've ever had in the studio"; with those words, CBC Music shares a new session with METZ, performing songs from their latest album 'Strange Peace'. Watch below. "The noise ro...
Tom Rogerson collaborates with Brian Eno on new album; listen to 'Motion in Field'
The skills of British improvisational pianist & composer Tom Rogerson were previously on display with experimental rockers Three Trapped Tigers. For his debut album 'Finding Shore', Rogerson colla...
Listen: Yves Tumor surprise-releases new album
Yves Tumor just surprise-released his third album 'Experiencing the Deposit of Faith': stream it below, but you can download it for free as well. "Experiencing The Deposit Of Faith continues to...
Read a rare new interview with Grouper's Liz Harris
There aren't many interviews with Grouper's Liz Harris around, but now, she's spoken with Love Lion about her dreams, adventures and the things she likes doing the most. Read the full interview here....
Stream Kevin Morby's new album + read an interview with Under the Radar
Songwriter Kevin Morby released his fourth album 'City Music' this summer, and now, Under the Radar speaks with him about the sonic home of City Music, and how city life influences his music. Rea...
Watch Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares' new KEXP session
The famous Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ('Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices') is curated by Perfume Genius for Le Guess Who? 2017. Performing in traditional clothing, the...
Listen to Protomartyr's '580 Memories'
You're right, this isn't exactly a new song: Protomartyr's '580 Memories' was already published by Joyful Noise in 2015, as part of their limited edition Flexi-Disc Series. It just appeared online how...
Oiseaux-Tempête share new album
Oiseaux-Tempête return with AL-'AN ! (And Your Night Is Your Shadow; A Fairy Tale Of Piece Of Land To Make Our Dreams). A rich album, partly recorded in Beirut with local musicians and creating...
Listen: Pharmakon returns with new album 'Contact'
Margaret Chardiet aka Pharmakon returns with 'Contact' the follow up to her 2014 album 'Bestial Burden'. Stream below. "The composition of the album is structured around four generalised stages that...
Stream Mario Batkovic's new, self titled album
After touring with BEAK>, Bosnian accordion master Mario Batkovic was signed up to Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, leading to the release of his latest, self titled record. You can stream the...
Listen to 'République Amazone', the new album from Les Amazones d'Afrique
Les Amazones d'Afrique are a collective of west African musicians campaigning for gender equality. The first single from the album was 'I Play the Kora'. "Its message, in bringing together...
Interview: The Quietus speak to Baltimore quartet Horse Lords
In an interview for The Quietus, Jakub Knera speaks with Baltimore experimental rock quartet Horse Lords. Days before the release of their upcoming album 'Comradely Objects,' Horse Lords open up about their new record, politics and architecture in their music and how the pandemic changed the way they play. Read the full interview here, an...
Front & LGW present: live session + interview with Dutch post-punk outfit Private Banking
As part of our new, hybrid platform COSMOS, we once again collaborated with Dutch music platform Front to bring you live sessions with rising Dutch artists. Following the publication of the first session, with pop noir singer/songwriter/guitarist Anna van Rij, we now share the session with new Dutch post-punk outfit Private Banking...
Le Guess Who? launches freely accessible city festival U? / Le Guess Who? lanceert gratis toegankelijk stadsfestival U?
Le Guess Who? exists to bring people together through art and music. In 2021, the international festival for boundary-crossing music and culture makes a new addition to the upcoming festival edition: U?, a new, participative and freely accessible day program created for and with the city of Utrecht.
Special projects revealed for Le Guess Who? 2023
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...
Listen to Deena Abdelwahed’s new album ‘Jbal Rrsas’
Today, renowned Tunisian DJ and producer Deena Abdelwahed has unveiled her highly anticipated sophomore album, Jbal Rrsas, now available through InFiné Music. For this album, Abdelwahed has enlisted the help of producer and instrumentalist Khalil Hentati (aka Khalil Epi), composer and musicologist Khyam Allami and master...
Lost Girls (Jenny Hval & Håvard Volden) release new album 'Selvutsletter'
Lost Girls, the Norwegian duo made up of former LGW curator Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden, released their sensual debut LP Menneskekollektivet in 2021, which was named one of the year’s best releases by Pitchfork, The FADER, Brooklyn Vegan, Paste, and more. Now, they return with their second album Selvutsletter, released throug...
Library Card shares new single 'Cognitive Dissonance'
Rotterdam-based post-punk outfit Library Card effortlessly distinguishes itself within the city's already rich guitar music scene. The band's latest single, Cognitive Dissonance, perfectly encapsulates the essence of post-punk: angular guitar riffs, angsty spoken-word vocals, and an undeniable, incendiary charisma. Library Card comprises...
12-Hour Drone in former factory Pastoefabriek: from sitar and cello bass drones to shamanic noise
An immersive event and all-encompassing experience, 24-Hour Drone is a roving, international series presented by Basilica Hudson and Le Guess Who?, featuring musicians and sound artists...
Initial line-up announced for 24-Hour Drone 2018 in Hudson, NY
Originated in Utrecht as a collaboration between the festival and long-term partners Basilica Hudson, 24-Hour Drone is a roving, international series featuring musicians and sound artists experimentin...
Stereogum premieres Colin Stetson’s haunting track ‘Charlie’
Saxophone powerhouse Colin Stetson released a new instrumental track entitled ‘Charlie’. Premiered via Stereogum, this nerve-wracking, eerie track is composed for the upcoming horror film...
Revealing the curators & initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2018
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...
Lucy Railton's solo debut 'Paradise 94' is out now
Cellist and electronic composer Lucy Railton recently released her solo debut 'Paradise 94', marking a new chapter in her long-term engagement with contemporary music. Released on Boomkat’s...
Stream Colin Stetson's horrifying 'Hereditary' film score
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...
Listen to Circuit des Yeux cover Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes' 1969 song 'Soeur de Race'
In a new episode of Red Bull Radio's Open End, Circuit des Yeux premiered her cover of 'Soeur de Race', from French-Portuguese avant-garde singer Catherine Ribeiro. With her band Alpes, Ribeiro r...
Orchestra of Spheres share first single 'Koudede' from upcoming album 'Mirror'
Orchestra of Spheres send their listeners on a reflective voyage of sonic discovery on their new song 'Koudede'. With the track, the adventurous psych pop group share their love for the Tuareg and Nig...
Introducing: Kelsey Lu: cello experiments turned into minimalistic, R&B-infused folk music
Raised in North Carolina, Kelsey Lu (although she prefers you just call her 'Lu') is the daughter of two devout Jehovah’s Witnesses. From a young age on, Lu was always encouraged to surround her...
Cass McCombs shares cover of Fred Neil's 'Dolphins'
Cass McCombs' most recent solo album 'Mangy Love' already dates back to 2016, but this week the California-based singer-songwriter shares a new recording. Together with folk rock duo The Chapin...
Watch: Neneh Cherry performs ‘Kong’ on ‘Later with… Jools Holland’
Neneh Cherry performed her new song ‘Kong’ on BBC Two's ‘Later with… Jools Holland’ this week. The track is taken from her upcoming album ‘Broken Po...
The Bug's Kevin Martin announces solo album 'Sirens'
The Bug's Kevin Martin has announced his new solo album 'Sirens', to be released via Room40 on May 31st. It is the first time the electronic producer and composer releases a record under his real name. 'Sirens' is about the emotional rollercoaster that Martin experienced becoming a parent, heightened through the complex circumstances...
Donate
Le Guess Who? is an ever-changing format: we are always full of new ideas and looking for new ways to do what we do. In order to keep developing the festival the upcoming fifteen years on the same level as we did the last fifteen, we could use your support. Over the past fifteen years, we have developed into a platform that showcases und...
Asher Gamedze - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
Asher Gamedze is a cultural worker based in Cape Town, working mainly as a musician, writer, organizer and an educator. With his band, he performed live during the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022. You can now listen to three tracks that the group performed live from their 'Dialectic Soul' album (2020): 'Eternality', 'Siyabulela...
"Maybe we can rebuild something here": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in China
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in China We discuss LGW Embassy: China with Ivan Zhang two days before the Chinese New Year: a talk about BIE Music’s COSMOS collaboration and the diversity found in local music scenes across China; how going back to basics can also be a way forward; and how China is not the cloistered cultural island many...
Listen to Zwangere Guy perform 'Beter Leven', 'Wie is Guy?', and 'RAF (Rien à Foutre)' at LGW21
With his unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, Zwangere Guy quickly became considered ‘the boss of Brussels rap’. In his live shows, his boastful, insolent and exciting personality always shines bright. Zwangere Guy performed live at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda during Le Guess Who? 2021 on the nig...
Read Pitchfork's interview with Arooj Aftab, "the Defiant Singer Who’s Reimagining Traditional South Asian Music for Today"
Performing at Le Guess Who? 2021 as part of her first ever European tour, the Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, listed by NPR as one of the top 100 young songwriters, talks to Pitchfork for an in-depth interview about her new album 'Vulture Prince', her inspirations, family, and the journey to escape the obvious. Inspired by the wo...
"Anything you set out to find, you’ll find it here": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Mexico City, Mexico
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Mexico City, Mexico We speak to Daniel (Danny) Alvarado Chávez, head of Sonido Confirmación, an independent project made to ‘represent and connect Mexico City through images and music’, while diving into the capital's music scene. Every minute, new acts mushroom across the city&rsquo...
Bremer/McCoy share insight in their songwriting process with 'Utopia' video
Jonathan Bremer and Morten McCoy are two Danish musicians knee-deep in many different endeavours, performing under the name Bremer/McCoy. On October 18, they duo released their new album 'Utopia' via David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. Now, the group release an accompanying video giving insight into their creative processes and their way of ma...
Vier de LGW19 line-up announcement met Lechuga Zafiro, 19 september in EKKO
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. De Uruguayaanse DJ en producer Lechuga Zafiro probeert de grens tussen het verkennende karakter van de c...
Read: Pitchfork interviews Neneh Cherry on the records meant the most to her throughout her life
Ahead of the release of her new album ‘Broken Politics’ this Friday, Pitchfork has interviewed Neneh Cherry, stating that “even by pop vanguard standards, it’s fair to say Nene...
LGW & Utrecht Early Music Festival start long-term collaboration; first joint project at LGW18
2018 marks the start of a long-term collaboration between the Utrecht Early Music Festival and Le Guess Who?. The first joint project, a marathon concert by musician and anthropologist Björn Schm...
Celebrating 30 years of Mudhoney at LGW18 + watch our Hot Snakes video portrait
On Sunday afternoon, we’ll take a deep dive down into the depths of punk, new-wave and blood pounding rock ‘n roll. Together with long time festival location dB’s and brand new venue WAS., we will set the stage for a raving punk party, leading up to the celebration of 30 years of Mudhoney. Endless Boogie & Bloody Ma...
Kapitaal: Official Hangout of Le Guess Who? 2018
This year, Le Guess Who? will have its very own, official festival hangout, hosted by Kapitaal: a Utrecht-based -open- studio for screen-, etch- and risoprint. A meeting place with a proper program, filled with exhibitions, lectures and music, owners Carlien and Ramon create a social place where craftsmanship, design and pop-culture meet....
Read: the official Le Guess Who? 2018 program guide
With just one week left until Le Guess Who?, we are now publishing our official 2018 program guide, where you'll find all artist biographies, plus sections for Le Mini Who?, Lombok Festival, and our new satellite event 'Untitled', as well as a Utrecht Treasure Guide (with 40+ special offers for festival visitors) and several Illustra...
Read Fractured Air's in-depth interview with Colin Stetson about the 'Hereditary' OST
In a new in-depth interview with Fractured Air, bass sax virtuoso Colin Stetson details the making of his captivating soundtrack to Ari Aster’s debut horror film 'Hereditary', alo...
Watch: The Breeders release homemade video for 'Nervous Mary', recorded in Nijmegen
In their artist bio, we describe The Breeders as 'one of the most playful and wayward acts to emerge from the 90s grunge scene'. Their playful spirit sure becomes apparent with a new homemade video th...
Watch Devendra Banhart's intimate session for 'quiet, please!'
Here's a must-see fo you: a new, intimate session from extraordinary singer-songwriter and Le Guess Who? 2018 curator Devendra Banhart, recorded for 'quiet, please!'. Situated in a futu...
Elza Soares - Live at Le Guess Who? 2016
After eight decades of triumph and tragedy, Brazilian protest singer Elza Soares is lauded as queen of samba and a powerful voice against repression and injustice relating to gender, race, sexual orientation and class. At Le Guess Who? 2016, Soares gave a powerful performance, presenting work from her 34th album, 'The Woman at the End of...
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
Linton Kwesi Johnson's impressive body of work includes stints as reggae poet, political orator, recording artist, and author/journalist. His 1978 reggae album Dread Beat an' Blood is a statement akin to Gil Scott-Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. A vocal personality who fights oppression against black youth, the Jamaica-born...
Ice Balloons - Live at Le Guess Who? 2021
Brooklyn-based noise/rock band Ice Balloons features Sean Kennerly (Samiam) on bass and vocals, Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) on synthesizers and modules, and Lyla Vander (Habibi) on drums and vocals. According to the band itself, it was a ‘common misinterpretation of psychosis’ that led Ice Balloons to start making music. The...
The Scorpios - Live at Le Guess Who? 2018
Sudan/UK collective The Scorpios performed on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018. Inspired by traditional Sudanese music and 60s and 70s pop, the group create an elated mix of Arabic rhythms, raw Eastern funk and vintage psychedelia. You can now listen to their full festival performance: About Having fled from the fundamentalists i...
Abdel Karim Shaar - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
Lebanese legend Abdel Karim Shaar performed live at Le Guess Who? 2017 for his 2nd show outside his home country, curated by Jerusalem In My Heart. About Abdel Karim Shaar:Abdel Karim Shaar is the last of his generation still performing classical ‘Tarab’ repertoire: a musical form that expresses a state of emotional transit...
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Live at Le Guess Who? 2018
In the mid-1960s, Art Ensemble of Chicago sprung from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Moving far beyond jazz, avant-garde and performance art, the ensemble has created a realm that is entirely original. On the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2018, and on the eve of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s 50t...
Circuit des Yeux - 'Reaching for Indigo: GAIA INFINITUS'
For a very special, one-time performance at Le Guess Who? 2018, Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr enlisted an eight-piece ensemble featuring members of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. With this performance, Fohr further expanded the captivating compositions of her latest, acclaimed album ‘Reaching for Indigo’, which c...
Mourning [A] BLKstar - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
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...
Mount Eerie - (after)
Mount Eerie has released his new live album '(after)', which was recorded in full at Le Guess Who? 2017. The performance was curated by Perfume Genius for the festival, and took place at the Jacobikerk, a magnificent gothic church that dates back to the 13th century, in front of a reverent crowd. '(after)' features songs from Mount...
Sun Ra Arkestra - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
With their cosmic jazz celebration, Sun Ra Arkestra was one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2017. We're pleased to now bring you the full recording of this show, spanning decades of the Sun Ra legacy. The song 'Discipline 27-II' features a special guest appearance by King Khan. Read on below for the astonishing story 'Sun Ra Ar...
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares - Live at Le Guess Who? 2017
Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares performed music from their new album 'BooCheeMish' live at Le Guess Who? 2017, in Utrecht's iconic Dom church (dating back to the 13th century). The performance was curated by Perfume Genius for the festival. About:The famous Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix...
Arooj Aftab - Live at Le Guess Who? 2021
Earlier this week, Brooklyn-based, Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab won the GRAMMY Award for Best Global Music Performance for her song ‘Mohabbat’. She performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021, the international festival for boundary-crossing music & culture, as part of her first ever European tour. Arooj Aftab is the first Pakis...
Tortoise - Live at Le Guess Who? 2016
Tortoise is easily one of the most influential, experimental outfits of the past 25 years. The Chicago-based collective is widely regarded as one of the spearheads of the post-rock genre. For all of that, Tortoise have more up their shells, mashing styles such as electronic music, dub, jazz and progressive rock into new territories with r...
The Mandolin Sisters - Live at Le Guess Who? 2016
Throughout the years, the infamous Mandolin sisters have given over two thousand concerts across India and abroad. Siblings Sreeusha and Sireesha honed a captivating, unprecedented take on classical southern Indian movements, generally referred to as Carnatic music. While the mandolin has been part of folk traditions for many, many gener...
Destroyer - Live at Le Guess Who? 2015
Shortly after the release of ‘Poison Season’, Dan Bejar and his band gave an exceptional performance at TivoliVredenburg’s Grote Zaal during the festival. "There are a few bands battling for the title of Best Live Act in the World Today at present, but we’re rallying round Destroyer’s flag on this one....
Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Live at Le Guess Who? 2015
Listen to Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou's full performance at Le Guess Who? 2015: About: ‘The all-powerful polyrhythmic orchestra from Cotonou’, as translated in English, isn’t by any means a hyperbolic way of describing the sheer profusion of musical riches these Benin-based legends harness. Back in...
Neneh Cherry - Live at Le Guess Who? 2018
Genre-bending singer Neneh Cherry performed at Le Guess Who? 2018, presenting work from her latest album 'Broken Politics'; you can now listen + watch part of the performance below: Neneh Cherry - 'Shot Gun Shack', live at Le Guess Who? 2018: About:Across decades, Neneh Cherry traversed and transcended every known faction of the...
Digable Planets - Live at Le Guess Who? 2016
Hip hop visionaries Digable Planets played an exclusive show at Le Guess Who? 2016. Three tracks are now available to stream: 'It's Good To Be Here', '9th Wonder', and hit single 'Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)': Recorded by VPRO 3voor12 on Saturday, 12 November. Watch the entire performance at the festival below. More Le Guess...
Autechre - Live at Le Guess Who? 2014
English IDM group Autechre performed live at Le Guess Who? 2014. Thanks to the group themselves, who captured the full performance, you can now stream or purchase the recording as a download via their website or stream below. The show was captured on Saturday, 22 November 2014, at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda. "Yes, Autechre com...
Pink Oculus - Live at Le Guess Who? 2021
Dutch-Surinamese artist Pink Oculus premiered her new project 'Before Wisdom' live at TivoliVredenburg during Le Guess Who? 2021. 'Before Wisdom' is a special collaboration with audiovisual artist Boris Acket, spatial designer and scenographer Dennis Vanderbroeck, and writer Vincent van Velsen. The newest video to appear online now...
Lole Montoya - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
From the minute when flamenco innovator Lole Montoya stepped onto the stage at the Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2022, we knew we were in for a magical moment in time. Together with guitarist Juan Carmona, she gave a rare and very touching performance as part of the Hidden Musics project. Luckily, you can relive it now with our concert...
Dry Cleaning - Live at Le Guess Who? 2022
London's Dry Cleaning performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of their sophomore album, the John Parish-produced Stumpwork. You can now relive the performance with our concert film below. It features the Stumpwork-tracks No Decent Shoes For Rain, Don’t Press Me, Conservative Hell and Driver’s Story as well a...
Le Guess Who? 2021 Press archive
"Overcoming lockdown obstacles, Le Guess Who? united a global cast of adventurous artists." - Crack Magazine The Netherlands 3voor12: Le Guess Who? strooit alvast met eerste namen en curatoren voor festivaleditie 20213voor12: Dit zijn onze 14 tips voor Le Guess Who? 20213voor12: Playlist Le Guess Who? 20213voor12: LGW21: De gestolde j...
Le Guess Who? 2018 Press Archive
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...
"These artists have their own voice - a real one": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Cairo, Egypt
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Cairo, Egypt We speak to former LGW artist Yunis and B-62's Khaled Bargona about their highly creative film produced for the latest COSMOS edition. Here, we learn more about Cairo’s post-revolution music scene; how the artists that are featured in the film are creating a space for themselves in Cairo&rs...
Le Guess Who? 2017 Press Archive
The Netherlands 3FM: "3voor12 is op Le Guess Who?, waar basketballen tegen aan het plafond geschroefde gitaren worden gegooid"3voor12: "Eerste 67 namen voor Le Guess Who? 2017" 3voor12: "Kelly Lee Owens, dagdromer met kennishonger" 3voor12: "Le Guess Who? str...
"I have these stories in my mind": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Pernambuco, Brazil
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Pernambuco, Brazil Following their broadcast during Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of COSMOS, we talk to Ana Garcia and Benke, the people behind Coquetel Molotov to discuss the local music scene in the city of Caruaru; how their involvement in COSMOS became Coquetel Molotov’s first musical incubator; and di...
"The perfect place to run away to": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Goa, India
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Goa, India Following different collaborations with Le Guess Who?, including for LGW Embassy: Goa, India which debuted last November, COSMOS talks to Rana Ghose (REProduce) about risk-taking as a focus area; instinct as a curatorial aspect and how Goa differs from the rest of India. As one artist chimes in: "E...
"It feels like you have done your part": COSMOS goes Behind the Scenes in Khartoum, Sudan
COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Khartoum, Sudan We discuss LGW Embassy: Khartoum, Sudan with Hassan Kamil: a talk about portraying another image of the continent, the country, and the city; how music in Khartoum grew to be ‘a form of resistance’; and how it is home to a rich array of meaningful, beautiful, and unique sounds; dif...
Front / SPEAK 2021
Le Guess Who? x Front As part of our new, hybrid platform COSMOS, we once again collaborated with Dutch music platform Front to bring you live sessions with rising Dutch artists. Watch and listen to the live sessions + interviews with Dutch post-punk outfit Private Bankingand and Anna van Rij. LE GUESS WHO? X FRONT
COSMOS Embassy: Accra, Ghana
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...
COSMOS Embassy: Khartoum, Sudan
In partnership with Hassan Kamil & AndariyamagKnown for its strong rhythms, melancholy lyrics, and bittersweet taste, the Sudanese music scene is more active than ever. This Embassy features a selection of considerable Sudanese music and artists including Noori & His Dorpa Band, who mixes diverse genres using Noori's Tambo-guitar...
Resident Permission: Film
Many creatively inclined Indians are moving to Goa, united by a desire to find out if the reasons are personal or reflective of a broader shift in what it means to make things in this country. In April 2023, COSMOS commissioned their first artist in residency program in Goa, India with experimental composer and performance artist H...
Volunteering
We got an amazing amount of enthousiastic responds to our call for volunteers, so therefore we closed the registrations for now. However, schedules always change and there is a chance that a spot will open up. That's why we opened a waiting list.
Volunteering
We got an amazing amount of enthousiastic responds to our call for volunteers, so therefore we closed the registrations for now. However, schedules always change and there is a chance that a spot will open up. That's why we opened a waiting list. You can sign up for the waiting list here.
Please keep in mind that being on the waiting list is an uncertain position and perhaps hard to combine with travel arrangements.
Freely Accessible U? Programme Highlights
U? is Le Guess Who’s participatory and freely accessible day program, made for–and with–the city of Utrecht. With U?, Le Guess Who? extends its mission to enrich people through music and culture even further to the city.
From 10 to 13 November 2022, U? returns for its second edition. The program is made with, or even entirely by, Utrecht residents, local initiatives, entrepreneurs, social institutions and neighborhood centers. Residents and local initiatives were invited to participate by means of an open call, which resulted in a large amount of diverse and exciting submissions.
LGW Supporters
Thanks to visitors like you, Le Guess Who? has been able to grow into a leading international festival for underrepresented sounds over the past 15 years. We feel it is important to showcase these sounds that are rarely heard in other places.
Feel the same way? You can help us to continue our mission by becoming a LGW Supporter. Your donation will be invested directly in the festival program, and will therefore help us to bring your next favorite artist to LGW.
COSMOS Embassy: Goa, India
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 exists at the end of 2022.This film features a series of short performances - both music and otherwise - woven together with interviews with...
Press info
"Eclectic and probing" - New York Times "LGW proves that even in times of political divide, music and art can bring us together into a more hopeful future" – The Line of Best Fit "Je weet nooit wat je precies zult horen op Le Guess Who?, maar dat je wordt meegesleept, staat vast." – de Volkskrant "You go for the mus...
Press 2021
Press Archive Our archive includes press previews, reports and interviews for LGW21. Have a look at all published articles at the link below. VISIT PRESS ARCHIVE