Search: Black Country New Road

Rotterdam-based band Lewsberg are fond of taking matters into their own hands. Just like their self-titled 2018 debut and sophomore record, their latest mini-album, last fall's 'In Your Hands', was re...

Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver This heart-warming road movie, directed by Philippe Godeau, follows the titular protagonist, the 13-year-old Senegalese Yao, in his quest to meet his hero...

At the tail-end of 2022, your new favorite supergroup was born. Inside Lisbon’s famed Lux  Frágil club, dance music label PRÍNCIPE-adjacent shooting stars DJ Nigga Fox, DJ Dan...

The First 5 Years Dive into our Five Years publication with pictures, reports and all the details about the first five editions of the festival.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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)’ is a short documentary coinciding with the archival release of Italian pianist, composer and performer Tiziano Popoli’s ‘Burn The Ni...

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...

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...

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...

Youthful, energetic and ambitious, that’s what Moon and her band are all about. As soon as she hits the stage, you want to follow her on her road to adulthood. In a genre that is mostly dominate...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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’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 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, 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...

‘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...

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

Chicago trio FACS makes pensive art rock under the guise of the thought that impermanence prevails. Via their music, which feels at once heavy and delicate, they continuously provide the listener with...

‘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...

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...

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...

"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...

"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...

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 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...

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, 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...

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...

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...

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...

Singing in their native language of Portuguese, Boogarins’ music will let you reevaluate the turbulent life of today. On their latest EP ‘Lá Vem a Morte’, the Brazilian psych...

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...

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...

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'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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

*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...

Born Yallah Gudencia Mbidde in Kenya and raised in Uganda, MC Yallah is a seasoned industry veteran, having first stepped onto the hip-hop scene in 1999. Her expressive and poetic rhymes, which came i...

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...

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...

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. ...

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. ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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'...

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...

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'...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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, 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...

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...

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...

'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...

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)...

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...

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...

South Carolina-based artist Khari is a multifaceted creator. Making music as Contour is only one of his many artistic exploits, among which he includes film scoring (Half-Day, One Magenta Afternoon),...

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...

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...

*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...

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...

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...

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...

*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...

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...

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...

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 &...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

In cooperation with Gaudeamus AEAEA is the new duo from composers and performers Patrick Higgins and Nicolas Jaar. Utilizing instrumental performance and live digital resampling, the aim of the group...

Mega Bog instills a wonderful and somewhat disorienting kind of confusion on her stunning latest LP ‘Dolphine’, conjuring a nautical journey of seventies folk, soft rock, new age and psych...

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....

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...

Juan Juan taught his girlfriend to play the drums to his own songs, which draw on the music of Devendra Banhart and The Velvet Underground. His debut album ‘New Mexico’, recorded on a four...

After a blistering summer full of food and worries in the French Ardennes, singer-songwriter Ootes is ready to share his new repertoire. Originally English songs became Dutch, but the main characters...

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'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 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...

Maybe it’s because of their location changes throughout the years (New York – Berlin – Los Angeles), but like the best method actors, Liars take up an entirely new set of tricks and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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’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...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

Loving is an experimental pop collaboration between musicians David Parry, Lucas Henderson and Jesse Henderson. Latest release ‘If l am only my thoughts’ marks a newfound appreciation for...

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...

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...

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 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...

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 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...

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, 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...

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 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...

“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...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

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...

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...

Heralded by The New York Times as 'one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York', Zs is an ever-shifting experimental cluster. They have been incarnated as everything from a sextet to a duo, and...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

* 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

*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 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...

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...

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 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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

'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...

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....

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...

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’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...

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

"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’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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Dälek’s signature corroded rap experimentalism bubbled up with masterpiece ‘Filthy Tongue Of Gods And Griots’, released on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label. These veteran agitat...

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...

12-Hour Drone artist Martijn Comes composition 'Eann' will be performed by Malgosia Fiebig on the Dom church carillon. He wrote it for his son, exploring themes like family, roots, saying go...

Rabit is the moniker of Houston producer, composer, DJ, and record label owner Eric Burton. He combines industrial, hip hop, noise, and sound collage to foster sonic spaces for the exploration of sexu...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Vera Sola is a New York-based vocalist, poet and multi-instrumentalist. In recent years, she has worked on numerous projects, including performing with folk-rock artist Elvis Perkins and writing sever...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

(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...

Raised in North Carolina as the daughter of two devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kelsey Lu moved to New York at the age of 18 to study cello. Her debut EP ‘Church’ - which gained acclaim...

As Olan Mill, UK sound artist Alex Smalley’s work holds a sublime measure between the realms of modern neo-classical composition and ambience, with tender and elegant clusters of sound. His late...

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, avan...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

Psychedelic/krautrock mystics Moon Duo have risen up, understatedly, as one of the most intoxicating live acts of this decade. The Oregon band’s trademark sound is as much acquainted with minima...

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...

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...

Indeed, as adroit players of the harp and the violin respectively, Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz’s joint project LEYA inspired some emphatically gorgeous music. With the help of fellow expe...

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...

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...

Vilde Tuv has been dubbed as Norway’s finest one-woman orchestra. With just voice, bass drum and guitar at her disposal, Tuv’s songs can swell from raw minimalism to celestial beauty on th...

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...

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...

Drone-based music often wields the power to blur that stark hierarchy between audience and stage, to level everyone in the room as both participant and listener. Korean duo TENGGER are no exception to...

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...

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’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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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? 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)...

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-...

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...

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’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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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’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...

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...

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...

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...

For musician, composer, and new media artist Antye Greie (aka AGF), limiting sound to music is too meek. The self-described sonic sculptress frequently utilizes her recordings to capture everything fr...

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...

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’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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

DUTCH CULT/CAMP TV, THINGS THAT DRIVE YOU MAD, AND NOISY GRINDPUNK!!!!!! ZALM IS A NEW EINDHOVEN-BASED ONE-MAN BAND THAT BRINGS UNPREDICTABLE SCREAMS AND DEEP, DARK GRUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZALM IS FOR...

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

LGW ON Program LGW ON introduces a freely accessible online TV channel with films and documentaries selected by past performers, Reports from Other Continents, previously unseen LGW recordings, and more.  FULL PROGRAM LGW ON

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...

Theater Kikker x U? presents The EarIn the 30-minute one-on-one performance Sensory Sensation Series No.1 – The Ear, the ear of the participant is central. The participant, the ear and the...

The First 5 Years Dive into our Five Years publication with pictures, reports and all the details about the first five editions of the festival.

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...

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 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 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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

Melika Ngombe Kolongo is Nkisi - DJ, producer and co-founder of NON Records, a collective of experimental African artists and of the diaspora. Born in Congo, she adopted the moniker after moving from...

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...

‘We are many, they are few!’, GNOD’s Chris Haslam cried out once. The Manchester’s collective constitution is indeed ever-growing. For their current line-up, they are joined by...

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...

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 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, 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

General info about U?

Algemene informatie over U?

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

‘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...

*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,...

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....

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...

*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...

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. ...

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...

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....

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

A little over thirty years ago, avant-pop icons Stereolab splashed onto the scene with 1992’s ‘Peng’, a debut more agleam than most, revealing a charisma many bands never possess. Th...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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, 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...

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

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...

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...

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...

There aren't many music performances that can be described as frightening, but Wolf Eyes' intense and bizarre live shows have garnered the band a truly creepy reputation. Formed in Michigan in 1998, t...

Cape Townian gem DIORA currently calls Rotterdam her home. The multi-disciplinary artist, DJ, and visionary’s work goes beyond herself, as she explores and researches the complexities of trans w...

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...

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...

‘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...

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...

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...

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, 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...

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...

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 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...

This São Paulo-based horn driven instrumental group’s music draws a link between the past and the present; as written by PopMatters, the band balances a sense of modernity with musical in...

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...

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...

A shepherd becoming the ‘world’s best guitarist’ (according to Noisey), Omara 'Bombino' Moctar makes use of the electric guitar like few others. The Nigerien Tuareg musician was rais...

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 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...

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...

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 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 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...

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...

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...

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. 

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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'...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

As an international festival, Le Guess Who? has always worked with a borderless and boundary-crossing ethos.

With COSMOS, we amplify local scenes from around the world to an international audience.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

(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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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&...

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...

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...

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

Le Guess Who? 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’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, 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. 

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...

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...

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...

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.

French indie-pop band Keep Dancing Inc debuts on Dutch Radio with a live-session at 3voor12 Radio.

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...

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 jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023

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...

Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023

Test jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023

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...

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...

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...

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...

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, 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.&nbsp...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. ...

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...

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 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,...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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-...

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,...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

(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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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. ...

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...

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 &...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

(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...

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...

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...

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.

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,...

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...

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,...

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&...

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&...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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, 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...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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 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...

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...

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 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 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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

*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...

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...

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&...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...