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Every year in our visitors survey right after the festival, we ask you what your favorite performance of the festival. Below are your 17 choices of Le Guess Who? 2017. We're pleased to also share the...

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-...

The Storyscope is a mobile installation that merges classical shadow puppetry with modern technology. The imagination comes to life using projections and animated images. Follow illustrator Lydrich Wi...

Each year, COSMOS – Le Guess Who?’s global music community – partners up with eight new Embassies to showcase their music scene. For this, we commission local filmmakers to portray t...

Each year, COSMOS – Le Guess Who?’s global music community – partners up with eight new Embassies to showcase their music scene. For this, we commission local filmmakers to portray t...

Each year, COSMOS – Le Guess Who?’s global music community – partners up with eight new Embassies to showcase their music scene. For this, we commission local filmmakers to portray t...

The tour if full. You can sign up for the waiting list via this form.Le Guess Who? and Triomf invited nine artists to present their work in the public space of Utrecht during Le Guess Who? 2021....

Utrecht's beloved independent print workshop, Kapitaal, collaborates with Stranded FM and Julian Brimmers to host the official Le Guess Who? 2022 Hangout through all things print and sound. The progra...

BizaarWebWide is a collection of happenings curated and hosted by Raouf Alaïa, member of the BizaarWebWide collective. This event transforms the venue Kapitaal to a universe of outlandish express...

Modulation is Utrecht’s own accessible night of live performances and concerts centered around modular synthesizers and other hardware electronic instruments. A place for newcomers as well as ve...

The Bug's Kevin Martin has announced his new solo album 'Sirens', to be released via Room40 on May 31st. It is the first time the electronic producer and composer releases a record under his real name. 'Sirens' is about the emotional rollercoaster that Martin experienced becoming a parent, heightened through the complex circumstances...

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...

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...

Festival curator Slauson Malone 1 performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 following the release of his latest album EXCELSIOR via Warp Records. On stage, he is joined by cellist Nicky Wetherell. Relive the performance with our concert film: Speaking about his role as curator at the festival, Slauson Malone 1 (real name: Jasper Marsalis) s...

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...

Brazilian Funk goes beyond the sound we all know. The different layers that compose the culture enchant everyone who experiences the dance, the places and its surroundings in a constant game of unstop...

Under his EDWVN moniker, Edwin produces thoughtful, otherworldly music that genuinely pushes against the African grain. His music taste and production style aim at expanding the existing boundaries of...

Jota Ortiz is a collector, selector and musician from Panama. He has been roaming his hot and humid homeland for the past 10 years searching for lost gems on vinyl to preserve for future generations....

Meshell Ndegeocello is a true multitalented and multifaceted artist: singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, collaborator, GRAMMY-winner, neo-soul movement igniter. Yet, even when sinking seamlessly into each one of her many roles, she has always worn her artistry and identity as a proud Black queer woman on her sleeve.  You can now rel...

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...

Starting DJing at thirteen, Mari Larrington-Nelson, AKA Shy One, was introduced to the flora and fauna of London’s sound early on. Record-collecting soon turned into beat-making for local names...

Operating in the vicinity of intense states of anxiety and pleasure, discomfort and relief, the experimental sound of Chebedajha challenges perception and sensitivity to become part of the collective...

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...

Noise Diva is an Amsterdam-based producer and DJ, Garage Noord resident, and co-founder at KLAB. Her musical stylings bridge together a variety of genres, from Moroccan trap to Egyptian R&B, Frenc...

Jagannathan Sampath, or DINfidel, is a computer programmer who makes music on his computer called DIN Is Noise. Sampath started his screen career elsewhere, as he began writing computer animation soft...

Born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Japan, and currently based in the UK, DJ, audio producer, and presenter Nooriyah has fostered a following that not only celebrates her creative accomplishments but acti...

What Lynnée Denise hears carries meaning. Through her performance, she passes it on to us, instructing us on her new and bold listening practice, which she calls Turntable Epistemology. The sta...

French multidisciplinary artist, journalist, and producer Christelle Oyiri is Crystallmess, the fearless embodiment of a disco ball on fire. For Le Guess Who?, Crystallmess will treat audiences to a l...

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

South London-based musical movement slash curatorial platform Touching Bass is curating a three-in-one surprise; in one booth, they are linking not one, not two, but three beatmakers. For this highly-...

Enigmatic would be one word to append to this mysterious British contemporary producer and singer-songwriter. As a Black, Caribbean-British musician, Florence Sinclair’s music is like a flower w...

smother is an Amsterdam-based doll of many trades: DJ, freelance writer, communications girlboss at a cultural fund, and co-founder of trans-femme Los Angles Collective through which she organizes T4T...

RVILLA is a French-American hip-hop artist using her art and voice in service of truth, freedom, and empowerment. Primarily focused on rap, she also seamlessly blends elements of R&B and soul into...

Maurice, AKA Mau’s Acid Machine, is a Rotterdam based performer and DJ. Combining a passion for tinkering and electronic music, Maurice was put on a path of patching and modulating to build his...

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...

Introducing: the playful and colorful sound journey of vocal artist and DJ, TiZi. Internet based and passionately learning about music - how it provokes the body to move -, seeing colors in music and...

B3CKI is a DJ, visual artist, and aspiring musician from Jakarta, Indonesia based in Cologne, Germany. As a DJ, B3CKI's sets always include hard-hitting drums mixed together with distortion, deconstru...

A mixture of essences is what u can expect when you hear DJ C4MPURS4R1 on the decks. Inspired by traditional and modern sounds, they'll deliver something where your body can't help but to move.

Rizqita (they/them/dia) is a queer Javanese-Minangkabau transdisciplinary relational artist, community organizer, and DJ. They consider themselves as a spatial jockey in their arts, where their practi...

A musical hunter-gatherer, Badreddine Haouat, AKA Retro Cassetta, has spent years digging through crates in the lookout for North African music gems. His gargantuan cassette collection forms a musical...

I.L.L.N.O.L.E.D.G.E. is an acronym for: Intuitive, Limitless, Liberal-minded, New-fangled, Original, Luminous, Educative, Dedicated, Genuine, Elevators. The duo, consisting of brothers Steve Hartley a...

14:00 - 14:20 / Boot 122Chaotic noise and breaks inspired by reflecting on her relation to reality: Etta HarBar uses circuit bent toys and hacked technology to make her own style of music that is orig...

18:00 - 18:20 / dB'sAfter spending some time testing the musical capabilities of everyday equipment DJ Ninja Hagen is now doing a hybrid DJ performance. From 20 to 2000 bpm.

YoungWoman is an Amsterdam-based Egyptian DJ, producer and cofounder of Amsterdam’s first T4T Collective: Los Angles. With sets that feel like drinking an energy drink and hopping on a rollercoa...

Martha Da'ro is a multi-disciplinary Belgian-Angolan artist - whose creative career spans from music, film and theater. In 2020 she released her genre-bending EP ‘Cheap Wine & Paris’,...

Birdcage Radio is a creative community and daily online radio that focuses on forward thinking events and dance music. Next to the events Birdcage is also a record label and collaborates with visual a...

L/MA0RI is a selector known for her genre-defying radio curation and shows. Besides DJing, she shares her love for music and community as a member of the Amsterdam-based Radio Tempo Não P&agrav...

Insecure Men is the wacky side project of Fat White Family-member Saul Adamczewski and Ben Romans-Hopcraft (Childhood). First release ‘Karaoke For One’ contains nine stripped cover songs d...

King or prince, this plate spinner’s name is always preceded with a royal title for good measure. The Jamaica-born dub mixer and record producer got his start as a dub master at King Tubby&rsquo...

Over the years, Taiwanese-born, Montréal-hailing Alex Zhang Hungtai (formerly Dirty Beaches) has dived fully into the role of composer. Tinkering with the saxophone, synthesizers, percussion, and piano, Zhang has embraced the free form, focusing on explorations of improvised music, free jazz, and ritualistic music of liminality....

After featuring on ‘COSMOS Embassy: China’, multifaceted Chinese-American artist Otay:onii is fully taking her practice (which spans music, performance, installation, and film composition)...

In an richly textured blend of sound and re-imagining of the poetic music traditions of the Xhosa people of South Africa, Dumama joins forces with saxophonist and synth artist Pachakuti, and drummer-v...

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...

Haram is an Arabic term for ‘forbidden’, which might give you an idea of what Zubeyda Muzeyyen’s work is all about. This Philadelphia-based artist, DJ and producer throws down club a...

Gaining reputation as an ‘all-round musical badass’ and self-proclaimed Synth Queen, SASAMI (Ashworth) is a prolific contributor to the L.A. music scene. On top of that, she’s a musi...

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 Tiv...

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...

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...

Much of John Dwyer’s curatorship for this year’s Le Guess Who? reflects his attraction for music that is as exciting as it is mad, loud and potentially deafening. All these attributes can...

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

Many questions arise when listening to K Records’ Old Time Relijun. Is it for real? Is it ironic? When leading man Arrington de Dionyso channels his best David Byrne impression under a cacophoni...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

Orchestra of Spheres send their listeners on a reflective voyage of sonic discovery on their new song 'Koudede'. With the track, the adventurous psych pop group share their love for the Tuareg and Nig...

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

Meant to perform at last year’s LGW OFF event, in 2021 Gebroeders Dieleman van Eeckhout join the main line-up of Le Guess Who?. This project is carried out by unorthodox duo Colin H. van Eeckhou...

No one is doing mystical psych quite like Vanishing Twin. The London-based psychedelic quintet is intriguing even just looking into their line-up, which includes singer Cathy Lucas (Innerspace Orchest...

It has been speculated how the current environmental crisis we face will inspire musicians, the same way warfare and social justice have. Perhaps no current artist embodies this prediction as heartily...

French label Versatile Records prides itself on encouraging artists to stray far from the norm. ‘Jours De Grève’, helmed by French folk muse Emmanuelle Parrenin and German electroni...

New York-based Ana Roxanne became the talk of the town in ambient music circles thanks to her second record, ‘Because of a Flower’ (2020) - and deservedly so. Her most recent contemplative...

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...

As hard as it may be to pigeonhole certain acts to a determinate category or adjective, perhaps this mission is never as hard as when trying to pin down what kind of music you can expect from a Marcel...

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...

Despite being a relative newcomer, South London artist Lucinda Chua is blessed with a singular sensibility for music and artistry. Chua utilizes little more than her voice, a cello and an array of eff...

Brooklyn born and bred experimentalist L’Rain’s music can’t be put on just as background noise; it urges the most attention. This is because this ambitious multi-instrumentalist is l...

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...

Ever since their performance at Le Guess Who? 2018 has been confirmed, Alabaster DePlume's latest record 'The Corner of a Sphere' has been on high rotation in our office. We'd now like to introduce yo...

It is no wonder that this Spencer Clark project is inspired by eighties cult horror movies, such as ‘Hellraiser II’ and ‘Pin’. Every album released under Typhonian Highlife sou...

Berlin-based, Spanish-born musician Adrián de Alfonso has collaborated with names like Lydia Lunch, El Guincho and Le Guess Who? curator Lucrecia Dalt. However, it is on his own that...

This avant-rock group's relationship with Le Guess Who? goes way back; the three-piece Montreal band has played the festival time and time again. This year, it only made sense to mark our return to fo...

The guitar has always occupied a special place in Spanish music - namely in flamenco, where players often perform with complicated and acrobatic techniques. But Madrid-born Víctor Herrero rose...

A sort of Japanese Clark Kent, Shinji Masuko is a journalist by day and a rockstar by night. He unleashes his otherworldly persona on stage on not one, but two projects; iconic Osaka experimental rock...

There is something odd, but at the same time staggeringly honest, about Klein’s music. Her tracks sound delightfully disheveled - ghostly R&B tracks not meant for the world to listen to. It&...

Rarely has a band sounded so much like their name. It’s as if Egyptian-Austrian artist Leila Hassan and collaborator Francesco Cavaliere picked it out before the instruments themselves. Just lik...

The name of this Columbian project means, in Spanish, “suck my finger”. One might wonder if that could be a reference to hallucinogens, since this is decidedly the same state of fever drea...

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...

Besides being a captivating composer, violinist, and vocalist, Jessica Moss is also a skillful story-teller. Listening to her first solo ventures, one is immediately transported into the icy Montreal...

If you’re on the lookout for a perfect description of Japanese duo Tenniscoats, look no further than Swedish soundscape artist Tape’s assessment: 'they literally play themselves to sleep'....

University Challenged are Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy), Oli Heffernan (Ivan The Tolerable) and Kohhei Matsuda (Bo Ningen). The trio, which splits itself between the Netherlands and the UK, is also glorio...

When Alogte Oho was a boy, all he ever dreamt of was to join the church choir. When he turned thirteen, he did so and quickly ascended to stardom as a Frafra-Gospel artist. But in his twenties, a seri...

Mónika Lakatos was the first ever Romani singer to win the popular Hungarian television talent show Ki Mit Tud? in 1996 - to which she was enrolled in without her knowledge! To this day, she co...

Jazz superforce Shabaka Hutchings curates his own program at Le Guess Who? 2018, hosting a variety of inspirations, interests and like-minded artists. Now, he has put together a personal playlist...

At the center of this neo-soul joint’s music lies one sentiment above all others; perseverance. With their latest record, ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’, Gabriels – v...

Born to a Gabonese father and a Singaporean mother, Devi Mambouka is a quintessential child of the world. After relocating to the United States at twelve, she found singing an unlikely refuge. Nowaday...

In 2020, Lyra Pramuk published a picture of her vocal cords on Instagram – a display-case of the force behind her debut album ‘Fountain’, arranged entirely from the sound of her...

For a number of years, LA-based musician Shannon Lay played both for the post-punk number Feels and on her own. She released an array of critically acclaimed solo records which were praised for their...

Born to Moroccan parents in Barcelona, Ikram Bouloum began to sprout out of the local music scene much thanks to her ‘sound literacy’ sessions. In them, the artist seeks to create a club u...

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...

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...

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

Automatic is a fairly recent Stones Throw export, and the positive attention captured by their debut, 2019’s ‘Signals’, prove they are a successful gamble for the left-field label. T...

This summer, The Mauskovic Dance Band’s Nic Mauskovic introduced the wonderful world of Nicolini with ‘Penni’s Palace’, released by Amsterdam label South of North. Picture this...

Le Mini Who? returns as part of Le Guess Who? 2018 on Saturday, 10 November. As a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?, it transforms many of Utrecht’s local bars, restaurants, venues and warehous...

Another one of Knekelhuis’ exports, Patricia Kokett’s unique outlook on leftfield electronic music is in line with the Amsterdam label’s daring roster. With his 2020 debut ‘Biz...

Luc Bersier, Low Bat, Leonard Prochazka and Ariel Garcia may all hail from different places in Western Europe, but the Jean-Luc project drew them together to make several vibrant EPs – each...

Born to missionaries in Atlanta, Angel Bat Dawid followed her family from Georgia to Kentucky to Kenya – and when they settled in Chicago, she took up clarinet and music education. Nowadays...

Ahead of the release of her new album ‘Broken Politics’ this Friday, Pitchfork has interviewed Neneh Cherry, stating that “even by pop vanguard standards, it’s fair to say Nene...

Before coming together more recently, Eddie Chacon and John Carroll Kirby may have seemed completely different characters in music. Chacon had experienced proper fame in the mid-nineties, as part of t...

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...

On her new album ‘Acquainted with Night’, Lael Neale is looking to untangle the paradox that is the difficulty of thinking, speaking and singing simply. The Virginia-raised, LA-based artis...

Controlled Voltage Vision is a machine in the mind of a human. It triggers feelings, samples memories and multiplies reactions. Live stepping sequencers and early electronic devices. To capture this m...

When De Ambassade first began dropping music unannounced, the Dutch scene noticed and proceeded to ask for more; and so, there came more cold and distant synth-wave tracks, whose reverb wrapping made...

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...

For this performance, song and dance collide in a partnership between producer Rian Treanor and video artist Leila Ziu. ‘Altered States on the Dancefloor’ sees director Ziu opening doorway...

According to the band itself, it was a ‘common misinterpretation of psychosis’ that led Ice Balloons to start making music. The Brooklyn-based noise/rock band features Sean Kennerly (Samia...

No one does softness - so gentle it brushes moving – like Ichiko Aoba. The Japanese singer has been a staple of the country’s acoustic folk scene since her debut ‘Kamisori Otome...

Matana Roberts and Jessica Moss have been close friends and collaborators for nearly two decades. Though they have pursued different career paths, they have remained linked at heart. Because they've r...

Veteran Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara (aka DJ Scotch Egg) is no stranger to collaboration. Nearly two decades after he began experimenting with genre-busting ear bleeders, he arrives in Hakuna Ku...

Italian sonic shamans San Leo deliver a swarming, uncompromised blend of heavy music and minimalism, with a particular taste for epic, cathartic live shows. Thanks to constant touring and through...

Two full decades after their debut, punk group OvO sound just as hardcore as they did back then. Their latest record, 2020’s ‘Miasma’, sees the savage band seeking to represent...

When Kelman Duran was first invited to play at a party, he opened the set with Biggie’s brooding ‘Suicidal Thoughts’. Over the years, his music has become decidedly more festive. Sta...

‘Erratic Weather’, the digital art project of French digital artist Mathieu Le Sourd (Maotik) and Dutch cellist, composer and producer Maarten Vos, is a sonic picture of the chaos of clima...

This Belgian band has been continuously re-inventing itself, mixing and deconstructing genres to create its own unique sonic palette, ever since they first emerged over forty years ago. The only perma...

Based in San Antonio, Texas, claire rousay makes extraordinary out of the everyday. Voicemails, haptics, environmental recordings, stopwatches, whispers are all made suddenly big, their significa...

Code of Conduct Le Guess Who? is a non-profit foundation that has been aspiring to smooth a path for artists in a wealth of music genres by giving them a stage in the heart of Utrecht since 2007. Social safety, inclusivity, and equity are indispensable to the infrastructure that facilitates our international audience, team and art. Pass...

The music of Plague Organ inspires superlatives of a particularly brutal nature. This mutating self-reproducing entity assimilates the qualities of metal, noise, free-jazz and experimental rock. Often...

Made up from an ensemble cast of Finish rock musicians – with members hailing from bands like Speedtrap, Maailmanloppu, Perikato, and Kylmä Sota – Kohti Tuhoa is hailed as a...

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...

Dutch media artist Mark IJzerman and French sound designer Sébastien Robert team up to present ‘As Above, So Below’, an exploration of the changing landscape of La Araucanía...

Equipped with an unorthodox vision of a centuries-old tradition, singer, producer, NTS radio host and engineer Arushi Jain has made waves with her music, which re-imagines North Indian ragas with the...

With just one week left until Le Guess Who?, we are now publishing our official 2018 program guide, where you'll find all artist biographies, plus sections for Le Mini Who?, Lombok Festival, and our new satellite event 'Untitled', as well as a Utrecht Treasure Guide (with 40+ special offers for festival visitors) and several Illustra...

Kleine Crack is the only Belgian artist signed to Burning Fik. The cult-rapper and his producer-teammate Slagter create ominous hip-hop, set to heavy beats. In their hometown ANNA (Antwerp) they are s...

Originally a punk band, Lola’s Dice have evolved into a tropical, funk, and psychedelic rock rhythm machine. With sounds that are rooted in Latin American percussive music, Lola’s Dice is...

Kamiel Thomas is an indie songwriter and former member of the avant-garde dark rock ensemble GOLD. Kamiel's songs are worthy of arthouse films while also creating a sense of home. Kamiel Thomas i...

Don Kapot creates powerful jazz grooves with Jakob Warmenbol on the drums, Giotis Damianidis on the bass, and Viktor Perdieus on the saxophone. You can expect some self-irony and humour in their music...

KULTUS, a solo project by Otto Kokke, is exploring the lines dividing music from sound. Stripped of all rhythm and melody, KULTUS songs are all about creating a physical sound that is much larger than...

Genre-bending singer Neneh Cherry performed at Le Guess Who? 2018, presenting work from her latest album 'Broken Politics'; you can now listen + watch part of the performance below:  Neneh Cherry - 'Shot Gun Shack', live at Le Guess Who? 2018: About:Across decades, Neneh Cherry traversed and transcended every known faction of the...

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...

Jasper Boogaard has felt at home in Rotterdam all his life, but to find his musical peers he needed to look elsewhere – in Philadelphia, home to bands like Hop Along, Alex G and Algernon Cadwall...

Petersburg is one of the most mysterious and unique indie bands in the Netherlands. The band, formerly known as Petersburg Orderer and consisting of Camiel Muiser, Erik van de Paardt, Boris de Klerk (...

The South African, Afro-psychedelic collective BCUC gave an ecstatic performance on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2018, curated by Shabaka Hutchings. Relive the full set below, and watch the video for the group's performance of 'Yinde': About:BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) started out as a social gathering in their nati...

The South African, Afro-psychedelic collective BCUC gave an ecstatic performance on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2018, curated by Shabaka Hutchings. Relive the full set below, and watch the video for the group's performance of 'Yinde': About:BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) started out as a social gathering in their nati...

Howart is operating in the psychedelica, kraut and noise pop realm. The project was founded by Anneke Nieuwdorp and has been her vehicle for experimenting, exciting art for the past ten years. The ban...

The Fire Harvest balances beautifully between slow core, country-noir and post-rock. They master the art of dosage, of giving substance to their music in the right way so that tension is preserved. Wh...

Mevrouw Tamara opens up your mind by telling people’s honest, personal stories, embodied in a calm voice with dreamy electric guitar. Inspired by artists like St. Vincent, Radiohead and My Brigh...

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

Even if Neptunian Maximalism, also known as NNMM, are more of a sparse community of ‘multi occultural engineers’ than a band per se, their mission is crystal clear; to explore the evolutio...

The solo project of Luxembourgish-Finnish musician Maria Rossi has been described as one of the most striking ones to emerge from Glasgow’s underground scene in a decade. Conjuring simple yet ot...

Jenny Hval’s first novel 'Paradise Rot', which was released in Norway in 2009, has recently been translated into English by publishing company Verso Books. In an interview with Huck Magazine, she explains that the book is "an opportunity to understand my lyrics in a different way, and my music in a context where words have a higher...

"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...

Artists community NoEsUnaGaleria NL is organising a program with live painting sessions and performance art by artists Ricardo Saga and Mario Gildardo from Mexico and Harmke Datema-Chang and Laur...

De Schuurman’s 2021 release – ‘Bubbling Inside’, a collaboration between Kampala-based label Nyege Nyege Tapes and Rotterdam’s platform Pantropical – centers around...

Composer Mario Batkovic is no stranger to praise from the public and the press; his debut self-titled solo album was listed by Rolling Stone among the best avant-garde releases of the year. In 2021, t...

Norwegian-German saxophonist Bendik Giske has likened his art to the one of a machine, but, still, through his music - most recently his second solo album, 2021’s ‘Cracks’ - there is...

Le Guess Who? presents ON/OFF

King Hannah are Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, a dynamic, creative duo hailing from Liverpool. “If we hadn’t found each other, we don’t know where we would be”, says Craig o...

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.

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.

Le Guess Who? 2012

Le Guess Who? 2014 Audio Recordings There are lots of recordings available in our audio archive, including Selda Bağcan, Baba Zula and many more from other editions of the festival. 

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...

Photo Gallery Our photo team captured a lot of special moments during Le Guess Who? 2012. Take a scroll through our 2012 photo archive:  VISIT PHOTO GALLERY

During the summer of 1997, Mark Nelson, guitar player and singer of US post-rock outfit Labradford, wanted to explore the possibilities of sampling and computer technology as well as his interests in...

Le Guess Who? 2019

Please note: in order to attend this film screening on Wednesday 10 November, you can just show your festival ticket at the entrance of Louis Hartlooper Complex. In this film, Johannesburg record lab...

COSMOS is a hybrid stage that aims to bring the Le Guess Who? experience to the world, and the world to Le Guess Who? COSMOS is a sanctuary for experimentation and inspiration, taking place from...

LGW19 Line-up Le Guess Who? 2019 featured programs curated by Fatoumata Diawara, Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins, Iris van Herpen & Salvador Breed and The Bug. View the full line-up via the link below.  LE GUESS WHO? 2019 LINE-UP

On a quest for the awakening of true beauty on stage and all around us, Mathieu David Gagnon conjures up in Flore Laurentienne’s chamber music the lushness of vintage film, blossoming spring, an...

South London-based TONE created his most recent body of work, this year’s ‘So I Can See You’, during the pregnancy and birth of his daughter. Basil Anthony Harewood decided to captur...

Alabama-born, Marseille-based artist and musician Turner Williams Jr. (formerly Ramble Tamble)’s latest record, 2021’s ‘Let It Warp’, was shaped by the thirty-two winds of the...

Jannis Stürtz first had the idea of co-founding his own music label amid traveling to North Africa. It was there that the Berlin-based crate digger was introduced to a brand new world of music fr...

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

Jana Rush started DJing in her native Chicago aged only ten. Three years later, she started producing - releasing music with ghetto house pioneer DJ Deeon as ‘DJ Deeon Presents The Youngest Fema...

Rotterdam’s Rats on Rafts’ most recent album, ‘Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths’, is proof of their ambition - and even more so is their one-off performance at Le...

Each moment that passes on this avant-garde trio’s music is an excuse to take a left turn - making every song, record, and concert a unique, unrepeatable experience. Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storl...

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...

Besides being a musician, North West England’s Keeley Forsyth is also an actor. This is made clear by her second LP, 2022’s ‘Limbs’. Surrounded by sparse arrangements, Forsyth&...

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

Contradiction alone could describe this Copenhagen-based composer, producer and viola player - but it wouldn’t be enough. Inspired by postmodern and minimalist music, singing in a choir and play...

Dallas-bred Liv.e is as much as a crossover between Erykah Badu, DJ Screw, and Sun Ra as she is her own lone breed of lo-fi - making her, according to Afropunk Magazine, ‘one of the most intrigu...

We’re thrilled to share the video of AEAEA (Nicolas Jaar x Patrick Higgins)’s live premiere at Le Guess Who? 2019. AEAEA is the recent collaboration of two of today’s most acclaimed musical visionaries; in 2019, Le Guess Who? proudly presented the duo’s live premiere as part of Patrick Higgins’ curation at th...

Continuing the legacy of her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar is considered to be one of the world’s most renowned sitar players. In 2018, she performed at Le Guess Who?, together with Austrian percussionist and Björk collaborator Manu Delago and the 27-member string section of the Metropole Orkest, conducte...

Le Mini Who? returns as part of Le Guess Who? 2019 on Sunday, 10 November. As a free spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?, it transforms many of Utrecht’s local bars, restaurants, venues and warehouses into improvised venues for (mainly) Dutch underground bands to play. For its 11th edition on Sunday, 10 November 2019, Le Mini Wh...

"De curatoren van Le Guess Who? 2019 maakten een zorgvuldige keuze, maar het aanbod blijft overweldigend.", aldus Gonzo (circus), het Vlaams-Nederlandse magazine voor muziek en andere kunstvormen. De redactie van Gonzo (circus) heeft daar iets op bedacht: De essentiële Le Guess Who? 2019-leeslijst aan de hand van de ke...

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​-...

Tampa’s Dre and Vonne met as teenagers, finding common ground in their music obsession - no matter how distinct. In between Dre’s East Coast hip-hop influences and Vonne’s hyperlocal...

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...

For a decade and a half, Mary Ocher has been weaving thought-provoking and often challenging art concerning authority, identity, and conflict. The artist's musical output encompasses everything from t...

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...

Oakland-born writer, emcee, and producer Nappy Nina cut her teeth in the Bay Area scene before uprooting to Brooklyn, where she released her 2019 debut album ‘The Tree Act' to much acclaim. Havi...

Upon arrival at the festival, you will need to exchange your ticket for a festival wristband to ensure entrance to all the festival venues. Like last year, our Ticket & Info area is located in TivoliVredenburg on the ground floor.  Please note: - You can only exchange your ticket for a wristband at our ticket desk in Tivoli...

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...

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...

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...

Video Recordings Relive the festival; watch live performances by Mazaher and Suuns. The upcoming time, we'll be sharing more performances on this website and our social media. VISIT VIDEO ARCHIVE

Born in Alexandria and currently based in Cairo, Nancy Mounir is an artist of extraordinary versatility, which allowed her to leave a deep mark in Egypt’s alternative music scene. Her work has l...

Kazakh-British composer and violinist Galya Bisengalieva performed her latest album 'Aralkum' in full live at Le Guess Who? 2021, as part of the program presented by Uncloud. You can now listen & relive the entire performance.  "It has been speculated how the current environmental crisis we face will inspire musicians, the sam...

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...

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

Zanzibar singer Siti Muharam performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021, marking her European live debut. In 2020, she received the prestigious Songlines Awards for African Artist of the Year following the release of her album 'Siti of Unguja'. Now, Songlines premieres the concert film of Siti Muharam's performance at Le Guess Who?, featur...

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...

Asher Gamedze is a cultural worker based in Cape Town, working mainly as a musician, writer, organizer and an educator. With his band, he performed live during the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022.  You can now listen to three tracks that the group performed live from their 'Dialectic Soul' album (2020): 'Eternality', 'Siyabulela...

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...

During Le Guess Who? 2022, flamenco icon Estrella Morente and Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra came together for a magic showcase of warmth and joy. You can now watch the full concert film of the stunning performance at Utrecht's Jacobikerk, presented in collaboration with Ud Festival.  The daughter of world-famous Enrique Morente,...

Sudan's Noori & His Dorpa Band performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022, presented in collaboration with Ostinato Records. Below, you can relive the performance with our video of a part of the concert, as well as the audio of the full show, with a spirited introduction by Ostinato's Vik Sohonie before the band came on stage. Additionall...

Alabaster DePlume gave a special performance on the opening night of Le Guess Who?'s 15th Anniversary Edition, joined on stage by a.o. Jeff Parker (Tortoise) on guitar and Asher Gamedze on drums. Revisit the performance with our concert film, featuring ‘What’s Missing’, ‘Visit Croatia’, ‘Mrs Calamari&rs...

From the minute when flamenco innovator Lole Montoya stepped onto the stage at the Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2022, we knew we were in for a magical moment in time. Together with guitarist Juan Carmona, she gave a rare and very touching performance as part of the Hidden Musics project. Luckily, you can relive it now with our concert...

Swedish psych outfit Goat performed live at Le Guess Who?'s 15th Anniversary Edition in 2022, following the release of their latest album 'Oh Death' via Rocket Recordings. You can now relive part of the performance via our concert film below, which features the tracks 'Under No Nation', 'Gathering of Ancient Tribes', 'Do The Dance', 'Disc...

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom performed at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of Animal Collective's curation, following the release of their latest album 'Reset'. Relive the performance below with our concert film, which features the songs Everyday, Edge of the Edge, Danger, and Livin’ in the After.  AboutSix years ago, Peter Kember,...

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...

More LGW Embassies

Georgia's Pankisi Ensemble performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the Hidden Musics program. Now, you can relive this touching performance with the full audio of the show, recorded at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during the festival. AboutThe Pankisi Ensemble goes against the typical 'ethno-fusion' grain in two ways. First, by not res...

One year ago, Le Cri du Caire released their hauntingly beautiful, self-tilted debut album. We are now thrilled to share the recording of their mesmerizing performance at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2023, where the group performed the majority of the album, as well as new material. AboutSinger, writer, poet, and expressio...

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

"This is flamenco punk", said Niño de Elche towards the end of his performance at Le Guess Who?. It's a fitting statement: the Spanish musician, who is also called a 'singer, poet and omnipresent master of ensorcelling souls' has been challenging conservative and picturesque perceptions of flamenco for over two decades. You can re...

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.

Le Guess Who? exists to bring people together through music and culture. U? is its participative and freely accessible city program celebrating local and creative communities. ⁠ Le Guess Who? heeft het doel om mensen samen te brengen door middel van muziek en cultuur. U? is het gratis toegankelijk stadsprogramma van Le Guess Who? met een...

More line-up

November 2025 Le Guess Who? exists to bring people together through music and culture. U? is its participative and freely accessible city program celebrating local and creative communities.Le Guess Who? heeft het doel om mensen samen te brengen door middel van muziek en cultuur. U? is het gratis toegankelijk stadsprogramma van Le Guess...

Nihiloxica exploded out of Kampala in 2017 with their groundbreaking fusion of Bugandan drumming and UK bass. The band explores the darkest depths between two separate cultures of dance music, uniting abrasive club electronics with raucous percussive energy. At Le Guess Who? 2023, the group presented their late latest album 'Source of De...

Lost Girls is the Norwegian duo made up of experimental guitarist Håvard Volden and former LGW curator Jenny Hval. Their latest album, 2023's Selvutsletter, continues the intuitive, late night feel of the group's previous work with topics such as cities after dark, music rituals, band practices of the ‘90s, and the early days...

Each year, we work with a big team of volunteers, consisting of enthusiastic music-lovers from all over the world. We'll update this page as soon as we have more information about volunteering at Le Guess Who? 2025. If you have any questions concerning volunteering at Le Guess Who?, please send us an e-mail. Superkracht This year, we...

Durban-based Gqom futurists Phelimuncasi (Nyege Nyege Tapes) brought their life-affirming energy to Le Guess Who? 2023, providing ample space to dance and sweat at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora stage. Relive the performance with our concert film below.  About Much like the South African bee after which they named their most recent a...

Relive Ndox Electrique live at Le Guess Who?, the first international performance of the genre-blurring musical ensemble that originated in Senegal, and whose music is inspired by an ancient ritual of the spirit-world originating from Senegal’s n’döep ceremonies.  About How does one put Ndox Electrique into mere...

U? is Le Guess Who’s participatory and freely accessible day program, made for–and with–the city of Utrecht. With U?, Le Guess Who? extends its mission to enrich people through music and culture even further to the city. From 10 to 13 November 2022, U? returns for its second edition. The program is made with, or even ent...

Montreal-based artist Myriam Gendron performs live at Le Guess Who? 2024, featuring music from across her three albums: Not So Deep as a Well, Ma d​é​lire - Songs of love, lost & found, and 2024's Mayday. About Before the release of her first record a decade ago, Quebecois musician Myriam Gendron was busking in Paris, singi...

Brian Jackson performed live during the closing night of Le Guess Who? 2024, featuring a string of classic tracks such as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Home Is Where the Hatred Is, and Winter in America. You can now listen to, and relive, the full performance below.  As one-half of power duo Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jac...

Following his impressive 'Microphones in 2020' LP last year, Phil Elverum has announced the next release under his moniker of The Microphones, entitled 'Foghorn Tape'. In Phil's own words: "Literally just the noisy fuzzed out tape loop of a “fog horn” (actually a distant pitch-bent bass) that plays through-out the backgro...

Audio Recordings Listen to performances of the Microphones, Mazaher, FLOHIO, Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak, Zwangere Guy, Suuns, Ice Balloons and Plague Organ. VISIT AUDIO ARCHIVE

Deeply embedded in the Utrecht music scene, Luke Cohlen tries to celebrate all things that spring from his city via his involvement in Stranded FM and with his own Cultfarm events. A DJ himself as wel...

Repetition, repetition, repetition; these three 'r's are paramount to multi-instrumentalist Daniel Foggin's project Smote. Despite only bursting onto the scene in the hazy times of early quarantine, t...

In the early seventies, Horacio, a butcher by trade, and his guitarist friend Emidio Pontes decided to form África Negra; the rest is Sao Tome and Príncipe music history. Their unparalle...

At the helm of her acclaimed Quartet, Muriel Grossman makes music to uplift those who listen to it. The Austrian composer and saxophonist, born in Paris, has been releasing her own work yearly for ove...

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...

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...

Bolstered by diverse global sounds and powerful female vocals, this thrilling Tokyo-based tribal-psych trio draws from each of the member’s distinct musical influences to create a dreamy tale so...

Grit is something Lisbon-based Maria Reis has in spades, which captured the attention of Animal Collective’s Panda Bear. After the success of Pega Monstro, the punk band created with sister J&ua...

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...

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...

As a wind of change blows through Kinshasa - an alternative cultural scene that escapes the restrictive category of ‘world music’ -, the sound of the KOKOKO! project is heard in the air. B...

San Francisco-based artist Victoria Shen opposes signal and information through 'chaotic sound'. Her unconventional sonic havoc is carefully built with analog modular synthesizers, vinyl and resin rec...

If you want to support us, and help us to continue developing the festival and COSMOS in the upcoming years, you can make a one-off or a regular donation.

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

Dutch-Surinamese artist Pink Oculus premiered her new project 'Before Wisdom' live at TivoliVredenburg during Le Guess Who? 2021. 'Before Wisdom' is a special collaboration with audiovisual artist Boris Acket, spatial designer and scenographer Dennis Vanderbroeck, and writer Vincent van Velsen.  The newest video to appear online now...

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

London-based producer Ryan Lee West, aka Rival Consoles, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by clipping., following the release of latest album ‘Now Is’. You can now listen to and relive the full performance below.  AboutThroughout his critically acclaimed fifteen-year career, Rival Con...

Catalan artist Marina Herlop performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by Animal Collective, following the release of her latest album 'Pripyat'. Relive the mesmerizing performance with our concert film below, featuring the songs miu, doiloi, abans abans and shaolin mantis.  *Update: following the release...

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,...

General info about U?Algemene informatie over U?

London trio Moin, comprised of Raime’s Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead together with percussionist visionary Valentina Magaletti, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the program curated by Stereolab. You can now listen to and relive the full performance, featuring a previously unreleased track: "'Moin are subtly but br...

Thank you for supporting Le Guess Who?. We look forward to welcome you to our 14th festival edition, 11-14 November 2021 in lovely Utrecht.

Palestinian-born, Paris-based musician Kamilya Jubran, one of the most revered figures in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes, performs at Le Guess Who? 2023, curated by Heba Kadry. Relive the mesmerizing performance with our concert film.  About Raised by her music-loving parents in Galilee, for 20 years she was...

Following a stellar performance last year, Alabaster DePlume was an undeniable invitee to Le Guess Who?'s anniversary edition. This time, he too is celebrating - in his case, the release of this year'...

Le Guess Who? x Front As part of our new, hybrid platform COSMOS, we once again collaborated with Dutch music platform Front to bring you live sessions with rising Dutch artists. Watch and listen to the live sessions + interviews with Dutch post-punk outfit Private Bankingand and Anna van Rij. LE GUESS WHO? X FRONT

‘Dos City’, Tokyo-based experimental hip-hop trio Dos Monos’ 2019 debut album, followed the hype the eccentric group had spawned through their live performances around Japan and in E...

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...

Levan Luka Nakashidze is a Georgian Music producer and DJ. During his career Luka moved through various music genres with the alias Exit!. 
His mixes are often eclectic, versatile and contain multiple...

Raised in the small German town of Weilheim, Markus and Micha Acher were brought up surrounded by music, performing alongside their father in the New Orleans Dixie Stompers. But, through the catalogs...

Want to be among the first to hear about the latest news & program updates? Download our official festival app. When you switch on notifications in the app, you'll receive news and last-minute update on your phone. During the festival weekend you can explore the line-up, create your personal timetable, find your way through Utrecht w...

The synthpop songs of the Utrecht one-man band Yakuni Tunes contain solid drum computer beats, dreamy vocals and layered retro keyboards. These songs go hand in hand with lyrics about heartache, faile...

|grens| likes to live in the momentum while sipping a lovely Gin Manderin and tucking into a nice meal. An outlook on life that is reflected in their music. All the tracks are one take recordings usin...

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

Klokpack6ix is a music- and art collective with more than twenty members/affiliates. A ‘mixed media clusterfuck’ (their words) of young rappers, producers, designers, writers, and performa...

Treasure of Grundo had many different configurations, but is now back to its original form, just Yannick Tinbergen in a room full of synthesizers. Between the debut and the sophomore album, a lot of c...

The synthpop songs of the Utrecht one-man band Yakuni Tunes contain solid drum computer beats, dreamy vocals and layered retro keyboards. These songs go hand in hand with lyrics about heartache, faile...

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...

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...

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...

Following the release of three excellent singles, Brooklyn born and bred experimentalist and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, better known as L’Rain, releases her second album 'Fatigue'. This is an important record, asking some fundamental questions; how do we embody change? How do we enact it in the compa...

puurvuur is a DJ and producer from Utrecht, who plays and makes beats that sit in the cracks between bass music, hiphop, and club. Selections span from breaks to uncategorizable productions around 140...

On the quays at De Nijverheid you will find the annually renewed open-air art exhibition KunstKoers. Prick up your ears as you wander along the art works, so you won’t miss out on composer and s...

Whip is the combination of Ben Kalb (Pizza Knife) and Bob Mollema (Fluisteraars). They don't know what kind of music they make; it's genreless but explores all the areas they find relentlessly inspiri...

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

Salutingrome started as the aperture for the evocative solo-experiments of Zamity Mitelembe, and has recently transformed towards a poetic and transgressive live-format. Stepping up as a band, with a...

Le Guess Who? presents ‘The Big Playback’, a conversational, in-depth podcast about all things music. In the second episode of ‘The Big Playback’, host Margaret Munchheimer talks to four different musicians about the shifting relationship between Art and Identity and who in some way explore the self as a mediu...

An instrumental post-rock project by English musician Pete Barnes. Having toyed with the idea of writing atmospheric instrumental music for a while, Barnes was left bedridden following a serious cycli...

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...

De Witte Kunst is a Dutch musical ensemble consisting of multi-instrumentalist Lyckle de Jong and songwriter and singer Koen van Bommel. In their songs they dream about a better world, resulting in a...

Flevoland is a 2-person boyband from Utrecht. Their music is inspired by the empty landscape of Flevoland and tells the story of two young adults, plowing through the fields of life.Flevoland is een t...

Le Guess Who? 2021 has teamed up with TimeSquare again to present you the Official LGW Festival App. You can use the app to curate your personal timetable by saving your favorite artists, to find your way through Utrecht with the interactive festival map, to listen to the official LGW21 Playlist, and read about the latest festival news....

In our post-lockdown society, talent is sprouting all around and with it, the voice of a new, young generation. A generation that wants to do things differently, but that also longs to riot after year...

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...

The Antwerp-based nine-piece ensemble Condor Gruppe takes you on a hypnotic trip through their record collections, paying tribute to obscure Italian 70s film soundtracks, krautrock and psychedelic gro...

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,...

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

Turkish independent magazine Bant Mag. created a series of Illustrated Stories about artists that are performing at Le Guess Who? 2021, giving an introduction to their life and career and what to expect from their festival performances. Bant Mag. has been bringing together new and exciting tendencies about music, film, arts and culture s...

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, visual artist and record label owner John Dwyer is one of the curators of Le Guess Who? 2021. One of the artists he invites to the festival is German krautrock group Faust, who will perform their iconic album 'Faust IV'. Earlier this year, Dwyer's main band OSEES played a l...

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...

Last year, Kevin Martin released his first non-collaborative full-length LP in seven years. 'Fire', brought out into the world via Ninja Tune, is maybe his heftiest yet, and already a landmark in his...

Op donderdag 19 september onthult Le Guess Who? de volledige line-up voor de komende festivaleditie in EKKO, met optredens van Ben Shemie (SUUNS), Conjunto Papa Upa, Lechuga Zafiro en een speciale editie van Stranded FM x The Current. Ben Shemie, beter bekend als zanger/gitarist van SUUNS is inmiddels geen onbekende meer van Le Gues...

Via therapeutic frequencies, forest bathing, and binaural sound, Hinako Omori's solo work is more akin to immersive cartography of the mind in ambient tradition than a plain recording. The Yokohama-bo...

Hatis Noit’s vocal awakening came at the age of sixteen, during a trip to Nepal in which she was moved by a female monk’s chant. This experience led her to begin exploring the visceral pow...

Mabe Fratti’s second album, 2021’s ‘Será que ahora podremos entendernos’ (‘will we be able to understand each other now’) is an exploration of the challenges...

U?, het gratis toegankelijke stadsprogramma van Le Guess Who?, keert terug naar Utrecht voor de vierde editie. U? viert lokale en creatieve communities gevestigd in Nederland, met een sterke focus op Utrecht. Onze missie: Amplifying local communities from the fringe, U? is Utrecht’s radical playground for experimentation, co-creati...

Born in the US, Sarathy Korwar grew up in Ahmedabad and Chennai in India. He began playing tabla aged 10, but was also drawn to the American music that he heard on the radio and leaking through the do...

Aziza Brahim’s music is a reflection of her and her people's legacy. It is full of sorrow, and, yet, hope dashes through. Although Brahim had led a traveled existence - having studied in Cuba an...

Composer, saxophonist, and storyteller/poet Alabaster dePlume will be Le Guess Who? 2021’s Artist in Residence this November. Now, Upcycled Sounds in collaboration with OCM presents a beautiful and intimate session with the group, captured at Oxford's Covered Market, in which they perform a composition based on the poem 'B...

After the last minute cancellation of Plague Organ's show at LGW OFF last November due to the global pandemic, Le Guess Who? and Roadburn collaborated and facilitated the band's live debut at Roadburn Redux on April 17th 2021.  After a limited availability at the Roadburn Redux website, the show is now available in full through...

Pakistani singer Faiz Ali Faiz gave a spectacular performance as one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2023. You can now relive this glorious moment with our concert film, as well as the full audio of the show.  "Another kind of passion was found in the lovely old Vredenburg hall with the transcendent qawwali of Faiz Ali Faiz a...

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

During Le Guess Who? 2021, Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie / The Microphones) was one of five guest curators for the festival. Aside from putting together a personal program of inspirations and like-minded artists, Phil Elverum also performed live with guitarist Jay Blackinton to present Elverum’s latest album, 'The Microphones In 20...

De Witte Kunst, consisting of multi-instrumentalist Lyckle de Jong and writer/singer Koen van Bommel, craft songs about dreams of a better world, the fear of being touched and just how to carve out a...

Nala Sinephro is a composer, producer, and musician of Caribbean and Belgian origin, whose music is a blend of jazz, folk, field recordings, and meditative sounds. She recently released her debut album 'Space 1.8' via Warp Records. Hailed as 'Best New Music' by Pitchfork, the outlet describes the album as "a benchmark in ambient jazz feat...

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...

Chanting songs and playing hypnotic polyrhythms, Egyptian ensemble Mazaher gave a rare performance at Le Guess Who? 2021. It was their first European show in over 15 years. Mazaher is an Egyptian ensemble, a small group of mostly women musicians and singers who play Zãr music: a combination of chanted songs and hypnotic polyrhythm...

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...

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

With Le Guess Who? 2022 approaching, we have once more teamed up with TimeSquare to present you the Official LGW Festival App. You can use the app to curate your personal timetable by saving your favorite artists, find your way through Utrecht with the interactive festival map, listen to the official LGW Playlist, and stay up to date on t...

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...

*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,...

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...

In 2019, the concert series Hidden Musics originated between Le Guess Who?, Chris Eckman of Glitterbeat Records and GRAMMY Award-winning producer and writer Ian Brennan, from the shared belief that it is important to platform underrepresented artists, and magnify music produced far from the mainstream. In 2022, we are proud the present th...

Tom Skinner has been a staple of the burgeoning underground music scene for the better part of the past twenty years, having performed alongside musicians such as fellow Le Guess Who? performer Jonny...

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...

*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...

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),...

2023’s ‘Shoreline’ flows from London-based instrumentalist, composer, experimental sound, visual, and performance artist Damsel Elysium's first encounter with the double bass. For it...

South East London producer, vocalist and DJ Coby Sey excitingly intersects contemporary club, DIY-art, and music production. After performing at Le Guess Who? in 2017, he now returns as part of the London collective & guest curators CURL, together with Mica Levi and Brother May.  This week, Coby Sey released his debut album 'Con...

* 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...

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. ...

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 p...

Drummer, composer, and percussionist Valentina Magaletti (of Vanishing Twin) emerges on this year’s Le Guess Who?’s line-up thrice, further establishing her versatility. As Holy Tongue, sh...

Earlier this year, Hinako Omori released her new album, 'a journey...'. Now, the Yokohama-born, London-based electronic composer and sound designer releases a live video for 'The Richest Garden in your Memory' from the album. It was filmed at London's Omved Gardens, in collaboration with director Jessie Rodger. The video, as mysterious an...

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&...

Upon hearing the richness in their tracks, you’d be surprised to discover MEMORIALS is not a 5-piece band, but, rather, a duo made up of Verity Susman (frontwoman of Electrelane), and Matthew Si...

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...

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 p...

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

*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...

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

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...

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...

Raja Kirik is the Indonesian duo of Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'ong Santoso Pribadi, two radical artists who draw on Java's rich cultural traditions and its history of struggle against colonial oppression to create music that surprises, challenges and educates in equal measure.  Now, the group shares their new release: The Phantasmagor...

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...

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...

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

*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...

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&...

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) For a long time, the Utrecht collective (...) Centraal was hardly visible online, but that has now changed: on June 30, their debut single 'Spokenjong' was released. It is the first single from their upcoming EP.  “The collective of (…) Centraal makes everythi...

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...

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...

As Nine Inch Nails' keyboard, guitar, and bass player, Alessandro Cortini has carved out for himself a reputation as one of the foremost figures of contemporary electronic music. However, one would be...

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

James Holden's 'Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities' may sound fresh, but his 2023 release is also a fond look back at the musician's twenty-year spanning career. The UK elec...

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 series, host Margaret Munchheimer talks to an independent archival collective in Indonesia; a sound and perfo...

Pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams first performed ‘The Zodiac Suite’, now regarded as a breakthrough in the history of jazz, to mixed audience reactions. Over seven decades later, 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...

Via 2021’s ‘im hole’, her deconstructed club gem of a first album, aya made sure to make an impression on the hearing world. And, yes, aya is indeed a real person, stationed in the N...

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...

Kenya's Duma, figureheads of the flourishing Nairobi underground metal scene, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021 as part of the program curated by Phil Elverum (The Microphones/Mount Eerie).  Martin "Lord Spike Heart" Khanja and Sam Karugo released their self-titled album in 2020 through Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Tapes and were i...

Dutch-Surinamese artist Pink Oculus premiered her new project 'Before Wisdom' live at TivoliVredenburg during Le Guess Who? 2021. 'Before Wisdom' is a special collaboration with audiovisual artist Boris Acket, spatial designer and scenographer Dennis Vanderbroeck, and writer Vincent van Velsen.  The newest video to appear online now...

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 p...

As a part of Japan’s northernmost indigenous people, OKI celebrates Ainu folk, while blending it with reggae, dub, throat singing, and Irish, African, and Central Asian tradition.  Songlines recently featured the artist in their magazine, focusing on the tonkori, the rare lyre instrument traditionally played by the Ainu, and h...

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...

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...

Listening to musician collective Maya Ongaku’s ‘Something In Morning Rain’, off their 2023 debut ‘Approach to Anima’, the listener is immediately transported, without kno...

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...

Ana Faria Fainguelernt is Ana Frango Elétrico, the Brazilian indie wunderkind whose 2019 album, ‘Little Electric Chicken Heart’, garnered plural accolades and even a Latin Grammy no...

COSMOS is Le Guess Who?’s globe-spanning initiative that amplifies exciting music scenes from around the world. Through films, interviews, performances, and artist residencies, COSMOS connects international music communities and shares their stories. Now, COSMOS reveals the 2023 Embassies, together with its first-ever live program,...

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

*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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

*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...

The cult album Faust IV was the fourth studio album released by the German krautrock group in 1973. Reimagining the music from the iconic album, Faust IV was performed live at Le Guess Who? 2021 as part of the curated program by OSEES' John Dwyer. Faust IV Live! captured the strange magic that then and now defines Faust as an entity unto...

Throughout their decades-long musical partnership, Czech artists Irena Havlová and Vojtěch Havel 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 and friends which include Sufjan Stevens and T...

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) NAR and 3voor12 Utrecht have wanted to collaborate for a long time, and now, it’s finally happening. The program contains music with influences from different countries and various music styles. The bands and music are both challenging and exciting, aligning with the festival’s...

Free Tekno parties were on the forefront of electronics since the birth of acid-house. In this short documentary, our resident photo- & videographer Juri Hiensch explored the past and present of this fascinating subculture, with a big & close community present in Utrecht. Watch the mini documentary below + view the photo/video ser...

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

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...

Our official Le Guess Who? 2024 app is now available, made in collaboration with TMSQR. With this app, you can explore the line-up, create your personal timetable, find your way through Utrecht with the interactive festival map and listen to the official LGW24 playlist. You can also switch easily between Le Guess Who? and U?, our freely a...

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

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

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

This November, Le Guess Who? will feature a special performance by Pakistani qawwali singer Faiz Ali Faiz. Having been born to seven consecutive generations of qawwals (those who perform the ancient form of religious Sufi music from Pakistan and Northern India - Punjab - known as qawwali), Faiz Ali Faiz was raised on the practice. After...

How exactly to describe one of Australia’s greatest cult bands? Avant-garde? Jazz? Ambient? Somehow, none suffice. Safe to say, the trio made up of Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck, and Lloyd Swanton (...

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...

Released with Pharoah Sanders’ blessing, Luaka Bop now presents the definitive, remastered version of Pharoah, the trailblazing saxophonist’s seminal record from 1977. Misunderstood upon its release, the album has long been a holy grail and has been bootlegged for years. Featuring two previously unreleased live performances...

Brooklyn-based experimental group Model/Actriz are known for their genre-blending sound that incorporates elements of post-punk, noise rock, and electronic music, gaining recognition for their innovative approach.Earlier this year, Model/Actriz captivated audiences with their debut album, Dogsbody, blending relentless noise with frontman...

Ever since her Boiler Room session made her signature brand of low-end energy viral four years ago, Londoner DJ SHERELLE has not kept still. MixMag called her the ‘leader of a paradigm shift in...

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...

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...

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. Anglo-French avant-pop group Stereolab have been hailed as one of the most influential and fiercely independent groups of the 90s. For Le...

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

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,...

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 &...

After last year's success of full rooms, beautiful films and interesting conversations, we are bringing the Film & Discourse Program back to Le Guess Who?. We are excited to present our full program and the partners we created it with. Film Program This year, Le Guess Who? once again collaborates with IDFA (International Documentary...

Baltimore quartet Animal Collective has been reshaping the face of what is easiest to call indie rock since the dawn of the new century. Their return earlier this year with ‘Time Skiffs’, the band’s first album in more than half a decade, marked a true return to form.  Recently, the group visited the Massachusetts...

Bala Desejo is one of Brazil’s most coveted bands, and smash hit ‘Passarinha’ proves why. The young group, made up of Dora Morelenbaum, Julia Mestre, Lucas Nunes, and Zé Ibarr...

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

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) Amsterdam dance-punk quartet Baby’s Berserk releases their self-titled debut album via Berlin’s Toy Tonics label. Drawing inspiration from the eighties' new wave and indie dance music, the album, composed by Mano Hollestelle, boasts highly associative lyrics from Puggy Beales a...

Nusantara Beat is an Amsterdam-based six-piece, consisting of members of EUT, Altın Gün, Jungle By Night, POM and Surf Aid-Kit. Through Swiss label Les Disques Bongo Joe and Indonesian label La Munai Records (who are also one of our COSMOS Embassies this year), they now announce the release of their second EP, on which they breathe n...

Athens-raised, Berlin-based pianist, singer, composer, and performer Maroulita de Kol’s belief in the healing power of art comes across in her mythology-infused work, and particularly this year&...

At Le Guess Who? 2023, veteran improviser Bill Orcutt (of Harry Pussy) was joined live by an all-star team of seasoned guitarists, made up of Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parish. The four tackled Orcutt’s rhythmic tapestry released on 'Music For Four Guitars' (2022), following the intricate composition’s thread wh...

Portuguese singer and songwriter Freddy Locks is deeply passionate about Roots Reggae. His journey began in Lisbon's punk-rock scene, later transforming through encounters with positive reality and re...

Le Guess Who? 2024 is approaching, and we're looking forward to welcome you to Utrecht for our 17th festival edition.  We can't wait to share an amazing wealth of sounds with you again, but first, there are some important details we'd like to share with you. Please take a moment to review the following information before your visit...

The Getdowns are a young hardrock & punkband from Utrecht. Influenced by bands like Pearl Jam and The Beatles, the four boys produce a massive amount of noise characterised by distortion pedals and raw vocals.

Following a mutually respectful relationship, initially held in Instagram DMs and reciprocal admiration for each other’s work, we should be thankful for the invitation sent by Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) to Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) to collaborate on a new album. Today, the results of that collaboration are released in the form o...

Since co-founding the seminal Sonic Youth in the early 80’s, Kim Gordon has remained at the nexus of music, art and (more recently) books and film. Earlier this year, she redefined her legacy with her sophomore solo album The Collective; now she releases the new, stand-alone single ECRP.  The song comes accompanied by a vide...

After more than a decade of silence, we're absolutely thrilled to announce the return of Old Time Relijun, "one of the most distinctive and feral rock groups", in the words of The Stranger. Headed by the idiosyncratic Arrington de Dionyso, the group is celebrated for their raw and life-affirming songwriting. After qui...

COSMOS: Behind the Scenes in Athens with stegi.radio In 'Behind the Scenes', COSMOS dives into local stories from across the world together with our global partners. The scene in Greece has undergone a renaissance of sorts, with Athens becoming a hotspot for creative minds from around the world. Needless to say, this development hasn't...

London trio Moin, comprised of Raime’s Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead together with percussionist visionary Valentina Magaletti, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the program curated by Stereolab. You can now listen to and relive the full performance, featuring a previously unreleased track: "'Moin are subtly but br...

‘Dogsbody’, Brooklyn-based quartet Model/Actriz’ first album, crashed onto music listener’s radars earlier this year like a seismic sea wave. It is easy to see why Cole Haden a...

With her raw, vulnerable and forceful music, Zsela established herself as a singer-songwriter of cavernous depth. Anticipated by the singles Lily of the Nile, Fire Excape and Not Your Angel, Zsela now releases her debut album Big For You on which she's built a sonic landscape that flows between grandiosity and intimacy.  Refl...

Sydney Lowell is a creative spirit, human, artist and entrepreneur from Amsterdam. She mainly operates as a poet, but recently started incorporating music and movement into her creative practice. Next to that, she’s a teacher, voice actor, host, and co-founder/producer of creative platforms We The People and 2PHRASE. Sydney sees...

Ana Frango Elétrico has been hailed as an indie wunderkind and "the most effervescent and innovative voice to surge up from Brazil’s new wave". Their 2019 album, Little Electric Chicken Heart, garnered plural accolades and even a Latin Grammy nomination; now, they releases their third and most confident album to date: Me Cham...

Festival curator Slauson Malone 1 performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 following the release of his latest album EXCELSIOR via Warp Records. On stage, he is joined by cellist Nicky Wetherell. Relive the performance with our concert film: Speaking about his role as curator at the festival, Slauson Malone 1 (real name: Jasper Marsalis) s...

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. The Egyptian producer now returns with his newest EP, Komy.  The EP features Haykal, Dakn, Cocktail Party Effect, and Maoupa Mazzocche...

Rotterdam-based quartet Neighbours Burning Neighbours are unfazed by chaos; they even embrace it. Their first scattered releases introduce listeners to their irresistible, malformed brand of void-pier...

Rotterdam-based quartet Neighbours Burning Neighbours are unfazed by chaos; they even embrace it. Their first scattered releases introduce listeners to their irresistible, malformed brand of void-pier...

Enmeshing R&B, slowcore and pop influences, Still House Plants’s latest album If I don't make it, I love u is the band’s fullest embodiment of the UK trio’s sound to date.  Critically acclaimed, the record marks the post-rock outfit's decade of friendship and consolidates their research for a richer, deeper sou...

Nature, afrofuturism, jazz, and hip-hop have come together to form Phantom Wizard’s ethereal work. The artist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist of Surinamese descent was born and raised in th...

‘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...

Today, the Beirut-based free-rock post-folk sextet SANAM releases their debut album, 'Aykathani Malakon ص​ن​م - أ​ي​ق​ظ​ن​ي م​ل​ا​ك​ٌ'. The album is mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart), who was one of the guest curators for Le Guess Who? 2017, and mastered by Heba Kadry, who is one of the guest curators for Le Guess...

Last month, Baskot Lel Baltageyya (meaning 'cookies for thugs'), a Cairo-based project headed by musician Adham Zidan and poet Anwar Dabbour, released their self-titled debut album. An album that serves as an extension of their phantasmagoric live show. Baskot Lel Baltageyya by Baskot Baskot Lel Baltageyya started as...

This November, Le Guess Who? will feature a special performance by Cheikha Rabia, a renowned singer with over five decades of experience in reinventing rai music. Her performance will be a collaboration with Esraa Warda, a prolific dancer expert in traditional North African dance forms. Both artists hail from Algeria, but currently, Cheik...

Already at an early age, Lole Montoya decided that she wanted to dedicate her life to singing. But not only did she indeed become a singer, she also redefined the flamenco genre by bringing in new influences, genres and poetry. Her skill has been displayed across a long repertoire, which includes her work as part of the renowned duo Lole...

Palestinian-born, Paris-based musician Kamilya Jubran, one of the most revered figures in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes, performs at Le Guess Who? 2023, curated by Heba Kadry. Relive the mesmerizing performance with our concert film.  About Raised by her music-loving parents in Galilee, for 20 years she was...

Dutch composer Wouter van Veldhoven explores the possibilities offered by archaic magnetic sound recording, processing and playback. He uses refurbished/adapted tape recorders, wire recorders and disc...

Ease Anais creates musical landscapes in analogue electronics. The duo is mainly inspired by the Japanese Ambient from the 1980s that results in a unique style that transforms your perception of your...

Tom Skinner performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the program curated by Stereolab, following the release of ‘Voices of Bishara’. Relive the magnificent show with our concert film, and listen to the full audio of performance, in which the group also pays homage to American cellist Abdul Wadud with interpretations o...

Ali I. H. Taqi, aka 00970, is a Palestinian sound designer and DJ, graphic designer and the co-founder of Zilzal Platform. 00970 is an electronic musician who shifts back and forth between clubbing an...

Honingbeer is the solo project of violinist Marthe Lasthuis. In her latest EP ‘Opia’, Honingbeer’s musical colors shine. It’s a fully realized vision shaped by her background i...

During the 2020 lockdown, composer, organist, and synthesist Kali Malone found herself in Berlin with time and conceptual space to spare. So, she decided to form an ensemble with her close friends and...

Chanting songs and playing hypnotic polyrhythms, Egyptian ensemble Mazaher gave a rare performance at Le Guess Who? 2021. It was their first European show in over 15 years. Mazaher is an Egyptian ensemble, a small group of mostly women musicians and singers who play Zãr music: a combination of chanted songs and hypnotic polyrhythm...

Improvisation and songwriting entangle through a plurality of voices, languages, strings, and unidentifiable noises. Songs of all forms sprout. Sberna's vocals shine and blaze fiercely in a dark warmt...

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...

LUIZGA, the creative moniker of Luiz Gabriel Lopes, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer. With origins in Minas Gerais, his music blends MPB with global influences like pop and folk. Spanning...

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...

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...

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...

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...

COSMOS x Honiunhoni announce their 2024 Embassy in Karachi, Pakistan Honiunhoni is an independent production company and record label founded by musician and anthropologist Daniyal Ahmed.  Rooted in the ethos of ethnographic research, Honiunhoni celebrates Pakistan's cultural richness and diversity by curating and highlighting the...

From 10-13 November, we'll celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Le Guess Who? We hope you have a wonderful time in Utrecht and are excited to celebrate together with you. But first, there are a couple of things we'd like to draw your attention to. Please read the information below carefully before visiting the festival. Download your ticke...

Our residential photographers Juri Hiensch and Melanie Marsman have been exploring Le Guess Who? again in 2022, captured different photo series during the festival. The upcoming time, we'll be sharing these series on this website and our social media. Curated by Animal Collective, by Juri Hiensch For LGW22, Baltimore quartet Animal Co...

Our residential photographers Juri Hiensch and Melanie Marsman have been exploring Le Guess Who? again in 2021, captured different photo series during the festival. The upcoming time, we'll be sharing these series on this website and our social media. Portrait series at LGW21, by Melanie Marsman At Le Guess Who? 2021, residential phot...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Le Guess Who? and COSMOS are excited to announce the continuation of their partnership with Berlin-based community radio Refuge Worldwide in 2025. Together, we will once again present sounds and stories from around the world, hand-picked by local artists. Since 2021, Refuge Worldwide has become an important community radio and cultural h...

COSMOS: Behind the Scenes with POP Montréal In 'Behind the Scenes', COSMOS dives into local stories from across the world together with our global partners.   Ever since Le Guess Who?'s very first edition, there's been a strong bond with POP Montréal’s 20+ year long history of platforming cutting-edge music. Fo...

Modulation is Utrecht’s own accessible night of live performances and concerts centered around modular synthesizers and other hardware electronic instruments. A place for newcomers as well as veterans, from ambient to noisemakers, explosive beats, cinematic soundscapes – and everything in between. All performers will be playin...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

With just two weeks left until Le Guess Who? 2019, we now present you our official 2019 program guide, where you'll find all the info you need to know about this year's festival. You can discover all the artist biographies, plus explore sections for Untitled, Le Mini Who? and Lombok Festival. While you're browsing through the...

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...

When DJ and artist Coco María moved from Mexico to Europe, she brought the hidden gems of Latin American musical culture with her. Growing up surrounded by music, Coco María not only grew fond of the sounds of her childhood but also developed a love for sharing them with the rest of the world. Born out of this passion of he...

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...

COSMOS x Underground Music Academy announce their 2024 Embassy in Detroit, USA A place to learn about the past, present, and future of dance music. With the Underground Music Academy, Detroit’s own Waajeed has created a utopian space for the city's aspiring musicians. Among music fans, few places occupy a similar space in the coll...

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 collaborations, we're starting a new interview & music series call...

Le Guess Who? and COSMOS, our worldwide music community, are excited to announce a new partnership with Berlin-based community radio Refuge Worldwide. Beaming out of Oona Bar in Berlin’s Weserstraße Kiez since 2021, Refuge Worldwide has grown into an important community radio and cultural hub, spreading cutting-edge music wit...

During Le Guess Who? 2018, VPRO Vrije Geluiden recorded a two-part television special featuring studio sessions with festival artists. The first part featured performances by Sibusile Xaba, Vera Sola and Ill Considered, as well as live recordings from the festival shows of Anoushka Shankar and Neneh Cherry. You can rewatch the complete ep...

This year, LGW is collaborating with IDFA, one of the world's leading documentary events. IDFA believes in the power of documentary film as a high-quality, artistic form of information and reflection. We’re presenting a film program on Friday, Saturday & Sunday during LGW22. This program is screened at Slachtstraat Filmtheater...

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...

This November, Le Guess Who? features a performance by Kamilya Jubran, which was curated by mastering engineer Heba Kadry. Born in Palestine and currently based in Paris, Kamilya Jubran is one of the most revered figures in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes.  Through her multi-disciplinary work, Jubran continues t...

Coming up at the turn of the century, when underground rap was all about dusty loops and intricate battle rhymes, Antipop Consortium mixed an experimental, electronically charged sound palette with lyricism sharpened on the NY poetry scene. While they quickly summoned a cult following stateside, Europe’s alternative music circuit to...

Utrecht based photographer Rogier Boogaard captured documentary photo series of artists involved in the festival.De Utrechtse fotograaf Rogier Boogaard heeft artiesten die betrokken waren bij het festival vastgelegd in documentaire fotoseries.

(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...

(artwork by Grouper's Liz Harris) Liz Harris aka Grouper is one of the most prominent and inspiring musicians exploring the space between sound and song. While mostly ambient based, her compositions...

Utrecht's beloved independent print workshop, Kapitaal, collaborates with Stranded FM and Julian Brimmers to host the official Le Guess Who? 2022 Hangout through all things print and sound. The program includes radio and DJ sets, artist interviews, live sessions, art exhibitions, film screenings, and print-making from Friday 11 November -...

Time to get your anticipation fully going: leading up to Le Guess Who? 2022, dublab, a platform for discovery and the cultivation of next-wave music, arts and culture, shares three showcase mixes put together by the festival’s program-team. 

Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023Test jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023

COSMOS x Santuri announce first 2024 Embassy Ahead of their first-ever electronic music summit, Kilele, COSMOS sits down with Santuri co-founder and director David Tinning as well as Nairobi staples Nyokabi Kariũki and KMRU.   For a full decade, the Santuri organisation has been supporting, highlighting, and releasing a mix of con...

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 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...

COSMOS: Behind the Scenes with Oroko Radio In 'Behind the Scenes', COSMOS dives into local stories from across the world together with our global partners. Within the first two years of their existence, Oroko Radio has come from a beautiful idea to a globally renowned fixture in independent broadcasting, connecting the dots between Accr...

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...

Sudan's Noori & His Dorpa Band performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022, presented in collaboration with Ostinato Records. Below, you can relive the performance with our video of a part of the concert, as well as the audio of the full show, with a spirited introduction by Ostinato's Vik Sohonie before the band came on stage. Additionall...

Le Guess Who? is celebrating an impressive milestone with the publication of its 100th festival recording: dub-reggae ensemble African Head Charge live at Le Guess Who? 2023. Over the years, the festival has continuously expanded its online recording archive via leguesswho.com/recordings. The archive reflects the eclectic nature of Le Gue...

COSMOS: Behind the Scenes with Sharjah Art Foundation In 'Behind the Scenes', COSMOS dives into local stories from across the world together with our global partners. Located in Sharjah’s historic Art and Heritage Areas, Sharjah Art Foundation activities and events take place throughout the year and include exhibitions featuring t...

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...

Khorshid Dadbeh is an Iranian instrumentalist, improviser and composer based in Rotterdam. She presents her music by performing Tanbour, Tar, and Setar. Tanbour music belongs to the category of mystic and Sufi music that has more than five thousand years of history behind it. She learned this music from the masters who formed a bridge bet...

Our official Le Guess Who? 2023 app is now available, made in collaboration with TMSQR. With this app, you can explore the line-up, create your personal timetable, find your way through Utrecht with the interactive festival map and listen to the official LGW Playlist. You can also switch easily between Le Guess Who? and U?, our freely acc...

With her Quechua pop music, songwriter Luzmila Carpio has been one of the most influential artistic and spiritual ambassadors of Andean communities. Between innovation and ancient tradition, she spreads messages of indigenous struggle, female empowerment and love for the environment around us. Luzmila Carpio is bringing her iconic voice t...

Today, Friday 5 March, is Bandcamp Friday again, meaning the platform waives its fess in order to help artists and labels impacted by the pandemic. Jazz musician, songwriter and poet Alabaster dePlume takes the occasion to release the beautiful new instrumental track 'Bean' that is only available via his Bandcamp page for 2...

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

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...

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...

At Club Nine on the top floor of TivoliVredenburg, the main location and hub of Le Guess Who?, Dutch broadcaster VPRO 3voor12 recorded live sessions with four artists who performed at Le Guess Who? 2021.Watch and listen to the sessions with Berlin-based abstract saxophonist Bendik Giske, Los Angeles indie punk band Automatic, Bosnian-Swis...

VPRO Vrije Geluiden has been a partner of Le Guess Who? for numerous years, and during this year's festival, they again captured several sessions with artists - recorded at Bibliotheek Neude in Utrecht - that will be revealed over the next couple of weeks. Watch below.  The Good Ones The Good Ones will surprise you, delight you,...

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

Nusantara Beat are a psych-groove sextet from Amsterdam. The group has quickly amassed a cult following, largely due to the deep connection to their Indonesian roots and a passion for honoring their cultural heritage. Photography by Juri Hiensch

COSMOS is Le Guess Who?’s hybrid platform with both live and on-demand exclusive content. Beyond music, beyond film, and beyond borders, COSMOS translates the festival’s mission to the online environment. From 10-15 May, 2022, the 2nd edition of COSMOS will be freely available for worldwide streaming via cosmos.leguesswho.com....

This week, Red Hot releases Outer Spaceways Incorporated: a Sun Ra tribute compilation album lead by Kronos Quartet with many guest contributions. Leading up to the release, the track Blood Running High is now shared: a collaboration between Le Guess Who? 2024 artists RP Boo and ELUCID (who is one half of LGW23 artist Armand Hammer). ...

Avant-garde cellist and vocalist Mabe Fratti returns to Le Guess Who? in 2024 as guest curator and performer. Now, she releases her new album Sentir Que No Sabes: a brave album, rich in both sonic inventiveness as emotional depth. At Le Guess Who?, Mabe Fratti will perform the music from the album accompanied by the London-based vocal gro...

Pakistani singer Faiz Ali Faiz gave a spectacular performance as one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2023. You can now relive this glorious moment with our concert film, as well as the full audio of the show.  "Another kind of passion was found in the lovely old Vredenburg hall with the transcendent qawwali of Faiz Ali Faiz a...

Debuted by BBC Radio 6 Music with Mary Anne Hobbs, Le Guess Who? 2024 artists Rafael Anton Irisarri and KMRU reveal their new, collaborative track Red Moon Tide. The track is part of veteran composer and Ghostly International alumnus Irisarri's new album FAÇADISMS, to be released on 8 November. FAÇADISMS by Rafael Anton Irisarri...

Cutting edge Palestinian rapper/producer duo Shabjdeed & Al Nather released their collaborative album SULTAN earlier this year: an album "full of abstract poetics, existential reflections about daily life in Palestine, and cutting commentary that holds all systems and authorities accountable," in the words of GQ Middle East. Now, the...

After busy years of activity with Armand Hammer and various collaborations alongside RP Boo, Shabaka Hutchings and others, rapper and producer ELUCID releases his third solo album REVELATOR, out on 11 October via Fat Possum Records. REVELATOR by E L U C I D "The New Yorker’s at the peak of his powers on his stormy new album, a mix...

We are excited to present our film & talk program, as well as a special exhibition, new additions to our 2024 line-up and the long-awaited time schedules for Le Guess Who? 2024. Time Schedules Start your scheduling now! The time schedules for Le Guess Who? 2024, as well for U?, our freely accessible city program, are online now. Pl...

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...

Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's a synth-driven song by singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart, with nonchalant nods to disco. ...

In 2020, Cape Town, South Africa-based drummer Asher Gamedze found himself in Cairo assembling a quintet made up of some of the capital’s finest improvisers; Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop, Cherif El-Masri, and Adham Zidan. Another Time Ensemble had come to be. In 2024, the group performed live at Le Guess Who? 2024 as part of Chromes...

Conservatory trained composer, vocalist, and pianist Marina Herlop has been releasing music since 2016. Now, she has releases 'Pripyat', her first album released via PAN, the label also known for releasing records by Pan Daijing, Eartheater, Arca, and others.  With 'Pripyat' Marina Herlop's production applies the same approach of ch...

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...

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...

Polish guitarist Raphael Rogiński presented his album Žaltys live at Utrecht’s Pieterskerk during Le Guess Who? 2024, accompanied on stage by Lithuanian singer and kanklės player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. You can now listen to the full performance, which was co-curated by Unsound as pa...

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...

(artwork by Emma Fischer) At a very young age, Han Bennink started drumming for his grandparents on pans and cookie cans, and with curtain rods as sticks. All over the world, Bennink is celebrat...

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...

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

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...

From the minute when flamenco innovator Lole Montoya stepped onto the stage at the Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2022, we knew we were in for a magical moment in time. Together with guitarist Juan Carmona, she gave a rare and very touching performance as part of the Hidden Musics project. Luckily, you can relive it now with our concert...

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...

"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...

Deena Abdelwahed draws as much from clubbing as she does from the avant-garde scene. Since the release of her debut LP Khonnar, the DJ and producer has been showered with praise for the fine-drawn ways in which her work paints the diversity of Arabic music.  On 8 September, Abdelwahed will release her new album Jbal Rrsas, which she...

James Holden's musical life is full of diversity, be it in roles assumed (producer, remixer, DJ, record label boss, synth maestro, band leader, mix engineer, and software developer) or in genres explored (trance, progressive house, minimal techno, IDM, synth, and jazz). His latest rave record, Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of...

Slauson Malone 1 is the musical project and performance piece of artist Jasper Marsalis. With this project he explores the intersections of popular music and performance art. Following two critically acclaimed prior releases — 2019’s A Quiet Farwell, 2016-2018 (Crater Speak) and 2020’s Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Cra...

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...

Test your sustainable or social innovation at Le Guess Who? 2023Test jouw duurzame of sociale innovatie op Le Guess Who? 2023

Lebanese free-rock, post-folk sextet SANAM performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2023, following the release of their debut album 'Aykathani Malakon'. Relive the performance with our concert film, and the audio recording of the show below: About SANAM's music is akin to a ritual, somewhere between a marriage and an exorc...

Vietnamese-French DJ, producer & label boss Anh Phi, who was involved in the creation of COSMOS' Vietnam Embassy Film in 2023, connects the dots between Ho Chi Minh City, Paris, and Berlin. To celebrate his debut EP, Bu​ô​ng, we proudly present this exclusive mix for COSMOS, dedicated to the buzzing Southeast and East Asian unde...

(scroll naar beneden voor de Nederlandse tekst) U?, the freely accessible city program of Le Guess Who?, returns in 2023 for its third edition. The program of U? is created for, but especially with the city of Utrecht, to celebrate the city’s creativity in all its diversity. With U? we aim to let Utrecht residents come in contact...

(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...

Lost Girls is the Norwegian duo made up of experimental guitarist Håvard Volden and former LGW curator Jenny Hval. Their latest album, 2023's Selvutsletter, continues the intuitive, late night feel of the group's previous work with topics such as cities after dark, music rituals, band practices of the ‘90s, and the early days...

W.I.T.C.H., the band responsible for pioneering zamrock, returned to the stage during Le Guess Who? 2023 following the release of their new album 'Zango', their first in nearly four decades. On stage, they were joined by a.o. Jacco Gardner, Michael Rault and Nico Mauskoviç. Relive the performance below with our concert film and the...

The work of multi-talented sound artist ZULI has spilled over Cairo's borders onto the rest of the world, garnering support from the likes of Aphex Twin and Autechre. Recently, the artist released his new album Lambda; leading up to the release, the musician and producer, who is determined to uplift other Middle Eastern creative voices, p...

Drummer, composer, and bandleader Asher Gamedze formed a new 10-piece ensemble: The Black Lungs. Together they announce the new album Consitution, to be released on the 30th of August via International Anthem. The expansive double album - recorded in a one-day-session in Cape Town – is an elaboration of the possibilities of autonomo...

Every first Monday of the month, COSMOS broadcasts episodes of their radio show on Refuge Worldwide, highlighting their deep-running network of partners from around the world. On Monday, 2 September, from 4-6 PM, COSMOS returns with two new episodes. Buh Records The first hour is curated by Peruvian avant-garde stalwarts Buh Records who...

Ever since 1982, The Wire stands out as one of the best independent, in-depth print and online music magazines. The Wire celebrates and interrogates the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical, marginalized and undervalued musicians on the planet, past and present.  Leading up to Le Guess Who? 2024 we're very honored to...

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

VPRO Vrije Geluiden once again teamed up with Le Guess Who? the festival to capture several intimate sessions with festival artists - recorded at restaurant De Klub, just opposite of TivoliVredenburg. All sessions are now available to watch below.  Eli Keszler NY-based artist, composer, and percussionist Eli Keszler has garnered...

For the April episode of COSMOS' monthly, globe-traversing radio show on Refuge Worldwide, we're bridging the gap between new currents in Egyptian club music and their traditional roots.  For this mix, our Embassy partners from Cairo, Khaled and Yunis, connected us with DJ/producer Shah, who represents Kafr El-Dauwar Records, an ind...

An immersive event and all-encompassing experience, 24-Hour Drone is a roving, international series presented by Basilica Hudson and Le Guess Who?, featuring musicians and sound artists...

Filmmaker and songwriter Alanis Obomsawin performed songs from her 1985 album 'Bush Lady' live for the first time at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring music of the Native American Abenaki people. The perf...

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...

Ahead of his appearance at Le Guess Who? 2018, The Quietus has interviewed lo-fi rap and trap producer JPEGMAFIA. In the interview, he talks about the study of journalism  the curr...

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...

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...

Kahil El'Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble celebrated their 50th anniversary on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2024, commemorating half a century of continuously shifting gears and tempos in the jazz-blues continuum. Listen to, and relive, the full performance below.  The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble was founded by El’Zabar in...

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...

Ugandan record label Nyege Nyege Tapes will present its own Hakuna Kulala club night during Le Guess Who? 2021. Now, Hakuna Kulala announces a new white label vinyl series, and kicking off the series is festival artist Menzi; a steady presence in South African electronic music for numerous years.  On August 27th, Hakuna Ku...

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...

Utilizing little more than her voice, a cello and an array of effects, South London multidisciplinary artist Lucinda Chua composes ambient pop songs that feel both intimate and colossal. Earlier this year, Lucinda Chua released her beguiling 'Antidotes 2' EP, "a haunting four-song set of slow-burning ambient chamber-pop, w...

Last year, Maria Reis released 'A Flor da Urtiga', a beautiful EP produced by Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear. Now, the Lisbon-based artist returns with 'Benefício da Dúvida' (or 'Benefit of the Doubt'), her newest EP. The project’s title mirrors the artist’s openness to give into risk and to be...

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...

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...

The Hague innovative music Ensemble Klang, known for their dynamic approach to contemporary music and sonic adventure, were invited by this year's LGW curator Midori Takada to perform at the festival. They will present 'Thrift Hybrids' by composer and producer Matthew Wright and soprano Claron McFadden, which already exists as a video ins...

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...

DJ Fitz is a regular guest of Le Guess Who? and to be considered our resident DJ, seeing that he has participated in pretty much each edition of the festival. Fitz is also one of the world’s primary authorities in making obscurities part of a larger canon, and he has now released a cassette with super rare melancholic jams...

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...

South London's Wu-Lu, spearheaded by musician/vocalist Miles Romans-Hopcraft, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2024 as part of Bo Ningen's curated program for the festival. Below, you can watch the group perform the tracks Ten & Blame from the album LOGGERHEAD, released via Warp Records. “Powered by artistic freedom and sens...

Genre-bending singer Neneh Cherry performed at Le Guess Who? 2018, presenting work from her latest album 'Broken Politics'; you can now listen + watch part of the performance below:  Neneh Cherry - 'Shot Gun Shack', live at Le Guess Who? 2018: About:Across decades, Neneh Cherry traversed and transcended every known faction of the...

In this new breakdown-series we analyse and extract the groundbreaking work of pioneers in their line of musical duty. In this article, we explore Colin Stetson’s unconventional approach to the...

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...

Electronic explorer James Holden presented his new performance 'James Holden & The Animal Spirits' live at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring tracks from his new album; a record that enhances Holden&rs...

Detroit's Protomartyr performed at Le Guess Who? 2017 as part of the program curated by Basilica Soundscape. Here, the band present work from their newest album 'Relatives in Descent', as well as song...

Le Mini Who? is a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?. It transforms many of Utrecht’s shops and bars into improvised venues for (mainly) Dutch underground bands to play, where people jostle for...

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...

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'...

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...

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...

Pitchfork have just published their list of best albums of the 1960s - no less than 200 choices, that include jazz icon Pharoah Sanders' influential and cosmic 'Karma', as well as The Peter Brötz...

'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...

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

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? & 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...

With roots in both Venezuela and L.A., Devendra Banhart has been making highly singular music for a long time. Over the decades, he has shown us that he is an eclectic artist capable of both reinventi...

With the motto of Listening is the Way Forward, Le Guess Who? exists to promote sounds that are often overlooked, and to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. Artists from all over the world push the boundaries of expectations and offer an insight into the unprecedented diversity of human creativity. Our mission: A pl...

This November, Le Guess Who? will feature a spellbinding solo piano performance by Abdullah Ibrahim, South Africa’s most eminent pianist, anti-apartheid activist and a world-respected master musician. Abdullah Ibrahim's effervescent music is instantly recognizable, taking the audience on a journey through gospel and jive, American j...

This year, Le Guess Who? has partnered with AZEEMA, a publication that explores women and non-binary folk within West Asia, North Africa and South Asia, diasporas and beyond. Leading up to the festival, Dalia Al-Dujaili talks to North African dancer and educator Esraa Warda. Exploring the artist's talent of decolonizing dance as well as r...

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...

In an interview for The Quietus, Jakub Knera speaks with Baltimore experimental rock quartet Horse Lords. Days before the release of their upcoming album 'Comradely Objects,' Horse Lords open up about their new record, politics and architecture in their music and how the pandemic changed the way they play. Read the full interview here, an...

London-based producer Ryan Lee West, aka Rival Consoles, performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by clipping., following the release of latest album ‘Now Is’. You can now listen to and relive the full performance below.  AboutThroughout his critically acclaimed fifteen-year career, Rival Con...

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...

U? is Le Guess Who’s participatory and freely accessible day program, made for–and with–the city of Utrecht. With U?, Le Guess Who? extends its mission to enrich people through music and culture even further to the city.  From 10-13 November, U? features music performances, exhibitions, brunches, silent disco&rsquo...

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...

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 Quietus have premiered an intimate session with OKI captured live in Utrecht by Vincent Moon during Le Guess Who? 2022, along with a Q&A with the artist. OKI performs 'Muysoka hanene' and 'Tonkori Monimahpo-Yaykatekar (Medley)' in the garden of Grand Hotel Karel V in Utrecht. Watch the session and read the Q&A here via The Qui...

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...

Ghent-based duo Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of their acclaimed debut album 'Topical Dancer'. You can listen to & relive their performance with 3 tracks: 'Mantra', 'Ceci n'est pas un cliché', and 'Thank You'. About Cultural appropriation, misogyny, rac...

As part of their upcoming EP 'Dost 2' out on November 11, Derya Yıldırım releases new track 'Darıldım Darıldım'. A compelling mix between traditional Anatolian sounds and warm beats, 'Darıldım Darıldım' leaves listeners in a unique state of trance, combined with an irresistible desire to dance the night away.  Derya Yıldırım & G...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Anglo-French avant-pop group Stereolab have been hailed as one of the most influential and fiercely independent groups of the 90s. Their curation at Le Guess Who? 2023 features a.o. UK’s noted electronic artist James Holden; Nigerien Tuareg musician Bombino; composer and organist Kali Malone together with cellist Lucy Railton and gu...

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

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. ...

African Head Charge performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2023 following the release of their new album 'A Trip To Bolgatanga'. You can now relive the performance with the full audio of the show, which is assured to put a smile on anyone's face.  About'A bad attitude is like a flat tire - you can't go anywhere until...

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

Georgia's Pankisi Ensemble performed live at Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the Hidden Musics program. Now, you can relive this touching performance with the full audio of the show, recorded at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during the festival. AboutThe Pankisi Ensemble goes against the typical 'ethno-fusion' grain in two ways. First, by not res...

Catalan artist Marina Herlop performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by Animal Collective. Last year, we released the concert film with tracks from her 2022 album 'Pripyat'. Now that its follow-up is out, 2023's 'Nekkuja', we release the video of 'La Alhambra', one of the tracks from that new album.  "T...

As part of Slauson Malone 1's curation at Le Guess Who?, New York City rapper MIKE performed live at the festival with tracks from all across his discography and an emphasis on material from his 2022 album Beware of the Monkey and its follow-up, Burning Desire. Tune in below.  "A magnetic stage presence fused with one of the most...

"This is flamenco punk", said Niño de Elche towards the end of his performance at Le Guess Who?. It's a fitting statement: the Spanish musician, who is also called a 'singer, poet and omnipresent master of ensorcelling souls' has been challenging conservative and picturesque perceptions of flamenco for over two decades. You can re...

One year ago, Le Cri du Caire released their hauntingly beautiful, self-tilted debut album. We are now thrilled to share the recording of their mesmerizing performance at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2023, where the group performed the majority of the album, as well as new material. AboutSinger, writer, poet, and expressio...

Phantom Wizard is an artist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist of Surinamese descent who is born and raised in the Dutch capital. He embarks on a deeply personal yet profoundly universal journey, punctuated by experimentation and improvisation. Nature, afrofuturism, jazz, and hip-hop have come together to form his ethereal work. He use...

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 x ICRN announce their 2024 Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania Bringing together DIY broadcasters from the Baltics and beyond, the Independent Community Radio Network (ICRN) has created an impactful platform that proves once more, that there is always strength in numbers.  In 2022, a handful of activists and community radios from...

This year, Japanese psych-rock outfit Bo Ningen are one of the guest curators of Le Guess Who?, with their curation is dedicated to “representing the Bo Ningen community, with lots of collaborative projects and with a strong focus on audiovisual performances.” As an introduction to their program, Taigen Kawabe, lead singer a...

With the ethos of Listening is the Way Forward, Le Guess Who? is widely considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals around. Le Guess Who? exists to promote sounds that are often overlooked, and to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. Artists from all over the world push the boundaries of expectations...

Mixing electronic music, punk and rap, LustSickPuppy's live shows are a perfect mix of experimentation, chaos and rave energy: a must-see for fans of hyper-pop and digital hardcore.  Last April, performer and producer Tommy Hayes released CAROUSEL FROM HELL, their debut album under the moniker LustSickPuppy. The record infiltrates i...

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

Have you ever heard of Roy and Silo, the famous male chinstrap penguins, who formed a pair at New York's Central Park Zoo? What about the red flour beetles who engage in same-sex relationships simply to practice mating? Did you know that clownfish can change their sex if needed? Or that among bonobos (who share almost 99% of their DNA wit...

Every first Monday of the month, COSMOS broadcasts episodes of their radio show on Refuge Worldwide, highlighting their deep-running network of partners from around the world. On Monday, 5 August, from 5-7 PM, COSMOS returns with two new episodes. The first hour is curated by our friends from POP Montreál. The iconic Canadian fest...

You could describe Eucademix (Yuka Honda) as an electronics instrumentalist, composer, and producer, but mostly, she enjoys calling herself a "decomposer". The artist just released her new EP Farm Psychedelia II. the follow-up to an EP that was released earlier this year, in a further creative burst of "Sensory Music" - again, in her on w...

Widely considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals, Le Guess Who? exists to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. Artists from all over the world offer insights into the unprecedented diversity of human creativity. Le Guess Who? returns 7-10 November 2024 for its 17th edition in Utrecht, The Netherland...

Blending soft vocals with harsh industrial beats, HYPER GAL summon a brave new sonic world in which maximalism and minimalism are no longer sworn enemies. The duo now release their new album After Image, the group work with a canvas larger than ever before, fearlessly alternating bold, avant-garde strokes with intimate, deliberate gesture...

The artistic practice of Otay:onii (Lane Shi) spans across music, performance, installation, and film composition. After featuring on our COSMOS Embassy Film, we're honored to welcome her to the Le Guess Who? stage this year. Now, the artist reveals her new album True Faith Ain't Blind, a record that challenges established norms between c...

Invited by Bo Ningen to perform at Le Guess Who? 2024, GAISTER announce their self-titled LP and share the first single Sento. The song’s repeated line "I feel everything, everything, everything can be felt" encapsulates the running themes across the record. All the elements - the layers of the earth's crust, the fire of the volcano...

Based between Amsterdam and Berlin, Insan Larasati is a community organizer, DJ, designer and inclusivity officer. With artist Shasti Andara they founded Nusaqueer Diaspora, an open-structured collective that focuses on community events for the Indonesian and Southeast Asian Archipelagan queer diaspora. Freshly graduated from the Willem...

Hard in style, soft in core. For Luna van der Laan (Looney Lunatic) and Carlos Kok (Boot 122), their passion for noisy, fast music stems from a broad artistic (self-)schooling, high levels of passion for music and, above all, an open mind. With a DIY-mentality, a grounded aversion of the establishment and a substance-over-style-approach,...

United Screens for Palestine is an open and decentralized collective of programmers, cultural workers and venues, responding to the paralysis brought about by the ongoing genocide as well as the increasing policing, censorship and criminalisation of everything Palestinian. As a collective, they aim to make each screening a space for conve...

U?, the freely accessible city program of Le Guess Who?, returns to Utrecht this year with an emphasis on community. As a festival that aims to amplify local communities from the fringe, U? understands the importance of free spaces that are available for creation and for communities to thrive. Words by Gloria MaPhotography by Mirel Masic...

Electronic luminary Darren Cunningham aka Actress, whose work merges and morphs elements of techno, electro, R&B and concrète, performs at Le Guess Who? 2024 following the release of Statik, and just a couple of days ahead of the release of his new mixtape Д​а​р​е​н Д​ж​. К​а​н​н​і​н​г​е​м, out now via Smalltown Supersound.&nbs...

Sounds of Places, a residency-based sound gathering that focuses on the sonic aesthetics of place, celebrated its world premiere at Le Guess Who? 2024 with the presentation of Christmas in Mourning and Faster than light, always. The first edition of the residency, initiated by Radio Alhara and commissioned by Wonder Cabinet, took place i...

ASA-CHANG & Junray performed live at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora during Le Guess Who? 2024. You can now relive the full, spellbinding performance via the recording below - a mesmerizing hour of unprecedented music making.  ASA-CHANG is the founder and original bandmaster of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, who, upon leaving the en...

Two years after her stunning Le Guess Who? performance, the Guatemalan-born, Mexico-based vocalist and cellist Mabe Fratti returned in 2024 as a performer as well as festival curator. As part of her curation, Mabe Fratti presented some very special Mexican and South American acts that have influenced her personal development. Our residen...

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 not just pass the baton to those that carve out a new path – but where they engage on eye-level. In 2023, Le Guess Who? once again boasted an array of young artists...

Polish guitarist Raphael Rogiński presented his album Žaltys live at Utrecht’s Pieterskerk during Le Guess Who? 2024, accompanied on stage by Lithuanian singer and kanklės player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. You can now listen to the full performance, which was co-curated by Unsound as pa...

Meshell Ndegeocello is a true multitalented and multifaceted artist: singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, collaborator, GRAMMY-winner, neo-soul movement igniter. Yet, even when sinking seamlessly into each one of her many roles, she has always worn her artistry and identity as a proud Black queer woman on her sleeve.  You can now rel...

Started out as a social gathering in their native township of Soweto, BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) is an South African alliance of guitarists, djembe players, flute artists, and spoken wo...

For Vinyl Factory's monthly Soho Radio Show, Hello Skinny's mastermind Tom Skinner joined VF editor Anton Spice to introduce his latest LP 'Watermelon Sun', alongside a handful of its influe...

LGW ON TV Guide For the broadcasting times of all programs, have a look at the TV Guide or download and print your own PDF version. BROWSE THROUGH THE TV GUIDE

Brooklyn-based, French cellist, composer and sound artist Leila Bordreuil has released her debut album 'Headflush'. The album was recorded in a single afternoon in Brooklyn and comprises a collection of unprocessed amplified cello works, exploring the limits of tonal perception. As a result of Bordreuil's aim to challenge convention...

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...

Linton Kwesi Johnson's impressive body of work includes stints as reggae poet, political orator, recording artist, and author/journalist. His 1978 reggae album Dread Beat an' Blood is a statement akin to Gil Scott-Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. A vocal personality who fights oppression against black youth, the Jamaica-born...

Richard Dawson performed live at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the program curated by Slauson Malone 1. You can now listen to the British folk master performing Museum (from the 2022 album The Ruby Chord) and Two Halves (from 2020).  "The next song is from the point of view of a robot or an AI, somethin...

Following the release of 'No era sólida' last September, Lucrecia Dalt's latest album, the Colombia-born, Berlin-based experimental producer and sound artist now releases six outtakes from the album via RVNG, which she herself describes "a selection of the unselected." Among the six remixed tracks is one called 'Gt', whi...

Jazz musician and poet Alabaster dePlume has recorded three covers for The Lagniappe Sessions, for which LA audio journal Aquarium Drunkard asks musicians to pay tribute to some of their favorite artists.  The session includes covers of 'A Little Lost' by the late avant-pop artist Arthur Russell, friend and contempora...

Jesu’s Justin Broadrick has released the original deluxe remaster of 'heart ache', Jesu's debut EP that was initially released in 2004, short after Godflesh broke up. The remaster also features a rare live performance of 'ruined' with guest appearances from Aaron Turner on guitar, Roderic Mounir on drums, featuring Diarmuid Da...

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...

After an overwhelming first edition in 2019, the celebrated concert series Hidden Musics returns to Le Guess Who? from 11-14 November 2021 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Hidden Musics presents international musical performances that are not usually experienced on stages or at festivals; these rich, often centuries-old musical traditions ar...

Knekelhuis is an Amsterdam-based independent record label that heightens the aesthetic similarities between different genres, eras, and scenes, including wave, punk, synth-pop, industrial, ambient, techno, and abstract electronics. This year, Knekelhuis is presenting an international selection of label-related artists and dear friends th...

‘Dos City’, Tokyo-based hip-hop trio Dos Monos’ 2019 debut album which balanced jazz and hyperactive verse spitting, became an introduction to the group’s uncompromised and intense sound. As we wrote in the trio's biography: "a certain promise of more purely original cacophony to come." Now, Dos Monos share a new...

OKI's identity, as a part of Japan’s northernmost indigenous people, is central to his person and his art. His music, as heard on this year’s ‘Tonkori in the moonlight’, celebrates Ainu folk - while blending it with reggae, dub, throat singing, and Irish, African, and Central Asian tradition.  Now, Bandcamp h...

In 2018, Finnish electronic music composer Pekka Airaksinen and NYC-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ka Baird convened in Utrecht to write, rehearse, record and perform live. These recordings will be released on October 22 as the 17th installment of RVNG Intl.'s FRKWYS series. The album was completed six...

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...

In 2018, as part of a program presented by Brooklyn-based independent record label RVNG Intl., Finnish electronic music composer Pekka Airaksinen (known for his work with ultra-radical, proto-noise group The Sperm) and NYC-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ka Baird convened in Utrecht to write, rehearse, record and perform live.&n...

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...

Never shying away from disrupting societal norms and expectations, visual artist and performer Authentically Plastic picks up inspiration from northern Ugandan rhythms, afro-futurism, techno and vogue to organize explosive queer raves, to produce industrial music, and to found the ANTI-MASS collective, which is dubbed a "no...

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...

Le Guess Who? presents ‘The Big Playback’, a conversational, in-depth podcast about all things music. In the second episode of ‘The Big Playback’, host Margaret Munchheimer talks to four different musicians about the shifting relationship between Art and Identity and who in some way explore the self as a mediu...

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...

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...

As it’s been a whole year under the pandemic conditions, Bant Mag. reached out to a number of musicians to hear about their varying feelings, realities and experiences. Next up in this series is songwriter and LGW21 curator Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and The Microphones, who discuss time restrictions for his creative processes...

Le Guess Who? presents ‘The Big Playback’, a conversational, in-depth podcast about all things music. In ‘The Big Playback’, host Margaret Munchheimer talks to musicians, scholars, record label owners, and music managers and delves into different topics exploring individual and collective musical experiences. You c...

The music of deranged Dutch duo Plague Organ inspires superlatives of a particularly brutal nature. Often-times, the group surpasses the threshold of sheer heaviness to sound completely hypnotic, assimilating the qualities of metal, noise, free-jazz, and experimental rock.  Last November, LGW OFF should have mark...

When UK-based experimental collective Ex-Easter Island Head steps on stage, the electric guitar - an instrument whose possibilities sometimes seem to have been exhausted - is born anew. Mechanical preparations, extended techniques; call it what you want, but, to us, it's more like auditory magic.  Watch our concert film of the group...

The Body & Dis Fig performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2024. Relive the full, overwhelming - sonically as well as physically - performance below.  A crossover between American duo The Body, who have been tinkering with noise and metal since 1999, and Berlin-based DJ, producer, and vocalist Felicia Chen (AKA Di...

LGW? 2021 Line-Up Le Guess Who? 2021 featured programs curated by John Dwyer, Lucrecia Dalt, Matana Roberts, Phil Elverum and Midori Takada. View the full line-up via the link below. LE GUESS WHO? 2021 LINE-UP

Zware Metalen, het grootste e-zine in het Nederlandse taalgebied voor metalliefhebbers, sprak uitgebreid met Le Guess Who?-curator Kevin Richard Martin, beter bekend als The Bug. Het resultaat is een enerverend gesprek met een specifieke gedachte, aldus Zware Metalen: wat kunnen metalheads leren van Kevin's roekeloze a...

Canadian sound artist, composer and pianist Sarah Davachi performed a live composition with church organ and electronics at Le Guess Who? 2019, curated by Jenny Hval. We are very pleased to now share the immersive recording of the full performance, captured by Concertzender at the Janskerk in Utrecht.  About:That strange intermedi...

Powerhouse duo Lightning Bolt performed live at Le Guess Who? 2019 in Utrecht, The Netherlands, marking the 25th Anniversary of the band. The performance was curated by Patrick Higgins. Now, we're pleased to help you relive this intense show in both video and audio, captured at 2AM on Friday night at the festival. Listen + watch more Le...

Le Guess Who? 2015   

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...

On the closing night of Le Guess Who? 2018, Indian Carnatic music pioneer Kadri Gopalnath gave a mesmerizing performance, curated by Shabaka Hutchings. Listen to the full show, and watch and excerpt from the performance below.  About: Kadri Gopalnath’s life’s work is to incorporate the woodwind instrument into the cla...

New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a very rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Beverly Glenn-Copeland - 'Sunset Village', live at Le Guess Who? 2018: About: After a twent...

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...

To fight the ordinary, Paddy Steer does the extraordinary. Surrounded by knobs, wires, keys, and wearing self-made, Sun Ra-inspired costumes, Paddy Steer looks and sounds like a music wizard from anot...

Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, it's a song from Ghanaian Highlife legend Ebo Taylor. Over the last six decades, 81-year-old Ta...

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...

Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara gave a very rare live appearance at Le Guess Who? 2017, curated by Perfume Genius. Together with VPRO / Vrije Geluiden, we were able to record her full...

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...

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....

Maâlem Houssam Guinia is the son and successor of the late Maâlem Mahmoud Guinia, an emblematic figure in the practice of West-African Gnawa music. Maâlem means 'master musician', an...

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...

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 &...

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

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...

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...

“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 initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2019 has now been revealed. Delve into the music of all artists announced as part of the initial with our handpicked, official playlist. From Asha Puthli's cosmic disco anthem 'Space Talk' to the juggernaut industrial/metal of Godflesh, back to the vulnerable and healing music of La Bruja de...

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...

Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up via our Track of the Week series. With #10 just posted - Devendra Banhart's 'Fig in Leather' - we thought it would be a g...

Le Guess Who? 2018 features a wide variety of club & dancefloor-oriented music, which we've now brought together in one playlist for you to explore. Check out the 'Club Cuts of Le Guess Who? 2018'...

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...

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...

During Le Guess Who? 2022, flamenco icon Estrella Morente and Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra came together for a magic showcase of warmth and joy. You can now watch the full concert film of the stunning performance at Utrecht's Jacobikerk, presented in collaboration with Ud Festival.  The daughter of world-famous Enrique Morente,...

Le Guess Who? presents 'The Big Playback', a podcast about all things music. For the occasion of Le Guess Who’s 15th Edition, we pay tribute to DJ Fitz- the man, the legend, the only artist to have been on every single lineup.  In this final episode of the series (revisit the first part here), we follow Fitz to Berlin and beyo...

Gonzo (circus) is een Vlaams-Nederlands magazine voor vernieuwende muziek en andere kunstvormen, en is al jarenlang partner van Le Guess Who?. In aanloop naar LGW22 presenteert Gonzo (circus) nu een dossier met interviews met en artikelen over onder andere GNOD, billy woods, Divide and Dissolve en Liz Harris (The Garbage Man). Ook is er e...

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul are a Belgium-based duo famous for exploring topics such as cultural appropriation, racism and post-colonialism through their music. They prove themselves to be rare tale-tellers in electronic music, funneling the zeitgeist into playful synth concoctions.  Now, the duo release a new kaleido...

Kee Avil is the one-woman project of the Canadian artist Vicky Mettler, celebrated for combining guitar, voice, electro acoustics and electronic production in an exciting and idiosyncratic way. Now, the Montreal-based producer and guitarist releases a new live performance video for the track 'HHHH' from of her debut LP 'Crease'. A fasci...

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...

Asher Gamedze is a cultural worker based in Cape Town, working mainly as a musician, writer, organizer and an educator. With his band, he performed live during the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2022.  You can now listen to three tracks that the group performed live from their 'Dialectic Soul' album (2020): 'Eternality', 'Siyabulela...

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

Hailing from the seaside communities surrounding Enoshima, a small island located 50 km southwest of Tokyo, Maya Ongaku is a collective of local musicians offering a transcending brand of earthy psychedelia. The group have just released their debut LP Approach to Anima via Guruguru Brain, the label founded by members of Kikagaku Moyo, wh...

Much like the Wassily Kandinsky painting which inspired their band name, the music of Decisive Pink (the duo made up of Angel Deradoorian (formerly of Dirty Projectors) and Russian experimental pop artist Kate NV) is a colorful puzzle, bursting with joy and romance.  Now, Decisive Pink release their debut album 'Ticket To Fame', on...

Catalan artist Marina Herlop performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of the program curated by Animal Collective, following the release of her latest album 'Pripyat'. Relive the mesmerizing performance with our concert film below, featuring the songs miu, doiloi, abans abans and shaolin mantis.  AboutOn ‘miu’, a s...

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,...

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

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom performed at Le Guess Who? 2022 as part of Animal Collective's curation, following the release of their latest album 'Reset'. Relive the performance below with our concert film, which features the songs Everyday, Edge of the Edge, Danger, and Livin’ in the After.  AboutSix years ago, Peter Kember,...

London's Dry Cleaning performed live at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of their sophomore album, the John Parish-produced Stumpwork. You can now relive the performance with our concert film below. It features the Stumpwork-tracks No Decent Shoes For Rain, Don’t Press Me, Conservative Hell and Driver’s Story as well a...

Following the release of our initial line-up for 2023, and our Special Projects, we now announces the world premiere of The Harvest Time Project: A Tribute to Pharoah Sanders, which celebrates the legacy of Pharoah Sanders and his seminal composition, Harvest Time (1977). The Harvest Time Project is an ever-evolving concert which will ha...

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...

As a hallmark of Le Guess Who?, the festival each year invites trailblazing creatives to curate their own dedicated programs, highlighting fellow like-minded artists and those that have inspired them. Heba Kadry, a mastering engineer born in Egypt and currently based in Brooklyn, has curated a program for Le Guess Who? 2023 that she now...

French artist Cécile Schott, aka Colleen, is fearless when it comes to her willingness to explore new ways of expressing herself as a solo performer. Now, she announces Le jour et la nuit du r​é​el: her first double LP and the follow-up to the glistening ambient pop of 2021's The Tunnel and the Clearing.  Le jour et la...

Aged only 24, MIKE's demeanor, voice, rhyme technique and release schedule are that of a veteran. Following his latest solo album Beware of the Monkey and several guest verses - most recently on Sentry by Earl Sweatshirt and Alchemist - the New York City rapper now joins forces with Wiki and legendary producer the Alchemist once again for...

The Homesick, originating from the quaint Dutch town of Dokkum, is boldly entering their "weirdopop" era with their new self-titled album, released almost a decade after their first EP Television.Departing from their guitar-driven roots, the trio, comprising of Elias Elgersma, Jaap van der Velde, and Erik Woudwijk has been recognized...

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,...

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...

The Bug performed live as one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2022, accompanied on stage by MC's Dis Fig, Flowdan and Logan to bring the buzzing energy found on The Bug's record to life. Relive part of the performance with our concert film below, featuring Fat Mac and Dirty/I Luv You (Freestyle) feat. Flowdan, Take feat. Dis Fig and...

Lost Girls, the Norwegian duo made up of former LGW curator Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden, released their sensual debut LP Menneskekollektivet in 2021, which was named one of the year’s best releases by Pitchfork, The FADER, Brooklyn Vegan, Paste, and more. Now, they return with their second album Selvutsletter, released throug...

Nihiloxica exploded out of Kampala in 2017 with their groundbreaking fusion of Bugandan drumming and UK bass. The band explores the darkest depths between two separate cultures of dance music, uniting abrasive club electronics with raucous percussive energy. At Le Guess Who? 2023, the group presented their late latest album 'Source of De...

As one of the special projects of Le Guess Who? 2023, the festival celebrated the legacy of spiritual jazz icon Pharoah Sanders and his seminal composition, Harvest Time (1977). During the closing day of the festival, The Harvest Time Project: A Tribute to Pharoah Sanders brought together Irreversible Entanglements, Domenico Lancellotti,...

Rotterdam's Neighbours Burning Neighbours, known for their malformed brand of noise-pop, are masters of discord-turned-harmony. After three years, we can now celebrate their much-anticipated return in the form of new single Neil Young.The band, which consists of some of Rotterdam's most idiosyncratic rock makers Daanie van den IJssel, Kat...

Uncloud is a non profit contemporary and innovative art & music organization based in Utrecht. In this short documentary, our resident photo- & videographer Juri Hiensch visited Uncloud at their home base and during their first club night at WAS. Watch the mini documentary below + view the photo/video series on our Instagram. D...

Raja Kirik is the Indonesian duo of Yennu Ariendra and J. Mo'ong Santoso Pribadi, two radical artists who draw on Java's rich cultural traditions and its history of struggle against colonial oppression to create music that surprises, challenges and educates in equal measure.  Now, the group shares their new release: The Phantasmagor...

Le Guess Who? has always worked with a borderless and boundary-crossing ethos. It led the organization to create COSMOS: a hybrid (both online and offline) platform that promotes international collaboration. Via this platform, organizations and initiatives from around the world give an insight into their local cultural scenes through film...

Reports from Other Continents is a platform for people to tell their own story. After the overwhelming response to the Reports in 2020, Le Guess Who? continued to reach out to artists, musicians, and creatives across the globe to find stories from within their local communities that should be shared with the world. In Reports from Other...

In 2024, Le Guess Who? starts a pilot with Low Income Day Tickets, specifically for those who otherwise would not be able to attend the festival. This initiative arises from the fact that we hear that the ticket price is one of the biggest barriers for people to visit the festival. We want to give people - who would like to visit the fes...

Richard Dawson performed live at Utrecht's Jacobikerk during Le Guess Who? 2023 as part of the program curated by Slauson Malone 1. You can now listen to the British folk master performing Museum (from the 2022 album The Ruby Chord) and Two Halves (from 2020).  "The next song is from the point of view of a robot or an AI, somethin...

Made up of Syrian vocalist, composer and musician Lynn Adib and Lebanese underground pioneer, music producer and multi-instrumentalist Zeid Hamdan, Bedouin Burger is a duo who mesh classical and Arabic folk music with streaks of modernity, braiding narratives between past, present, and future. After releasing their debut single 'Taht El...

For Le Guess Who? 2024 guest curator Arooj Aftab, the night is a big source of inspiration: to the night she dedicated the new album Night Reign, out now via Verve Records.  "There is an exhilarating sense of potential on Night Reign: dew glistens and flowers prepare to bloom as Aftab opens herself up to new love. Throughout the alb...

Fresh on the heels of her Sun Ra Tribute Album Red Hot & Ra : The Magic City and last year's The Omnichord Real Book, acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and neo-soul movement igniter Meshell Ndegeocello has announced her second Blue Note album No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin. The album is an homage to the e...

As we recently wrote in her artist biography: ganavya's prowess is hardly contained within the realm of recording; it comes to life on the stage. Now, that fact is on full display with a live performance that the transdisciplinary scholar, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and word-craftswoman gave on Later... with Jools Holland.  He...

With his music, Tashi Wada explores resonance, dissonance and alternative tunings to create rich and unanticipated effects. Now, the Los Angeles-based composer and performer releases What Is Not Strange?, his first full-length solo album via RVNG Intl. The album - his most ambitious and impassioned yet - finds him rummaging through a puz...

With whirring synths and chirping guitars, Rafael Toral’s Spectral Evolution sounds like a message sent from space to earth. The latest album by the experimental musician is a monumental drone suite in which horns morph into electronic instruments for a soundscape that sounds natural as much as it sounds otherworldly.  Since h...

Each year, Le Guess Who? invites trailblazing creatives to curate their own dedicated programs, highlighting their inspirations, emerging acts and fellow like-minded artists, with an emphasis on discovery and exploration.Errol & Alex Rita, founders of the London-based musical movement Touching Bass, introduce their curation at Le Gues...

Le Guess Who? exists to promote sounds that are often overlooked, and to platform fresh perspectives on what is possible in music. Artists from all over the world offer an insight into the unprecedented diversity of human creativity.  Le Guess Who? returns 7-10 November 2024 for its 17th edition in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We&rsq...

Trailblazing and exhilarating: previous Le Guess Who? visitors will already know Tropical Fuck Storm’s powerful live performance. After many years touring around the globe, the Australian band now release their first live album Inflatable Graveyard via Three Lobed Recordings.  The record captures the band's 2022 show at Chic...

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new collaboration was initiated between Amenra's Colin H. van Eeckhout and idiosyncratic folk artist broeder Dieleman. With a live premiere scheduled at LGW that year, unfortunately this has to be cancelled last-minute due to COVID restrictions, but the duo did record a collaborative album, support...

South Carolina-based artist Khari Lucas is a multifaceted creator. Making music as Contour is only one of his many artistic exploits, among which he includes film scoring, fashion work, radio programming, and more. Contour is a vessel for his musical research, songwriting, and production. Via soundbites and references, Contour draws in hi...

The Growth Eternal release their new EP Songs In The Key Of Growth, "a collection of radically reinterpreted cover songs". In these ethereal four tracks, the multi-instrumentalist re-imagines and mixes songs by Steve Lacy, Tyler, The Creator + Frank Ocean, Stevie Wonder, Dijon & Mk.Gee as well as an avant-garde jazz rendition of Chron...

Musician, singer-songwriter and producer Bryce Cloghesy announced his second album as Military Genius: Scarred For Life, out on the 1st of November via Unheard of Hope. The record is a genre-flexing mix of bass-heavy R&B, spaced dub, and jazz that is newly grounded within a traditional rock framework and centered on lyricism. Together...

The village of Cileunyi, located in the mountainous areas surrounding Bandung, West Java, is home to Reak, a spiritual trance ritual that has existed in the region for hundreds of years. Seni Reak Juarta Putra, an original community of the Reak ceremony, offers this year’s Le Guess Who? audience a rare glimpse into the ritual. Th...

Le Guess Who? 2024 will host a rare and exclusive extended vinyl set by Theo Parrish. The acclaimed DJ now releases his new 2 track EP Traffic Jams, "a response to stagnation and nonmovement", via his Detroit based label Sound Signature. The first ever-flowing song Positive Mental Attitude Solves All is a tribute to the eternal elder and...

Psychedelic noise-rock group GNOD has been working on rewiring the band's sound together with MC Sissi. This transformative collective now announces their upcoming collaborative album Inner Fucking Peace, out on the 25 October via Rocket Recordings. In anticipation of the record and of their show at Le Guess Who? 2024, the artists share t...

Relive Ndox Electrique live at Le Guess Who?, the first international performance of the genre-blurring musical ensemble that originated in Senegal, and whose music is inspired by an ancient ritual of the spirit-world originating from Senegal’s n’döep ceremonies.  About How does one put Ndox Electrique into mere...

Detroit ghettotech heroes HiTech share new high-octane single SPANK! featuring GDMRW. The new bouncing track by the rap group is released together with a fittingly “irreverent, psychedelic, and unflinchingly horny” videoclip, directed by IGOBYCY. "HiTech’s latest perpetuates a kind of closed-loop booty ecosystem,...

On Friday, 8 November 2024, the compilation album Chromesthesia: the Colour of Sound Vol. 1 is set to be released. Brainchild of British-Egyptian historian Hannah Elsisi (NYU AD, Cambridge), Chromesthesia—aptly named "the colour of sound"— tracks afro-diasporic rhythms from the Whole Mangrove World. Now, the first single from...

On Friday, 8 November 2024, Le Guess Who? will witness the magic of legendary Cumbia and Gaita ensemble Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto. To say that we are excited about welcoming them to Utrecht would be a massive understatement. In fact, the influence of this Grammy-winning, generations-spanning band on the trajectory of Latin American musi...

In 2021, DARKSIDE released their highly-acclaimed, sophomore album Spiral, hailed by publications such as Crack, The Quietus, and MOJO as an awe-inspiring assemble of rhythmic sonic landscapes. Now, the group offers audiences a first taste from their new recording sessions with new single Graucha Max. "The track written during sessions...

COSMOS, our global music community, is a hybrid platform designed to be experienced digitally and IRL. As such, we’ll offer multiple ways of getting involved online and onsite during Le Guess Who? 2024. Here’s how:

Noura Mint Seymali performed on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2024 as part of the program curated by Arooj Aftab. You can now listen to, and relive, the full performance below.  Noura Mint Seymali is a nationally adored Mauritanian musical star, born into a prominent line of Moorish griot; West African praise singers, poets a...

Montreal-based artist Myriam Gendron performs live at Le Guess Who? 2024, featuring music from across her three albums: Not So Deep as a Well, Ma d​é​lire - Songs of love, lost & found, and 2024's Mayday. About Before the release of her first record a decade ago, Quebecois musician Myriam Gendron was busking in Paris, singi...

Kahil El'Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble celebrated their 50th anniversary on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2024, commemorating half a century of continuously shifting gears and tempos in the jazz-blues continuum. Listen to, and relive, the full performance below.  The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble was founded by El’Zabar in...

A New Year's gift and a souvenir from Le Guess Who? 2024. The full live performance by Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri at Utrecht’s Jacobikerk is now available as free, or pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp.   When Abul Mogard (AKA Guido Zen) and composer, record producer, and mastering engineer Rafael Anton Irisarri first pl...

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

Brian Jackson performed live during the closing night of Le Guess Who? 2024, featuring a string of classic tracks such as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Home Is Where the Hatred Is, and Winter in America. You can now listen to, and relive, the full performance below.  As one-half of power duo Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jac...

The Body & Dis Fig performed live on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2024. Relive the full, overwhelming - sonically as well as physically - performance below.  A crossover between American duo The Body, who have been tinkering with noise and metal since 1999, and Berlin-based DJ, producer, and vocalist Felicia Chen (AKA Di...

Often titled an 'Asian guitar army', CHELA performed live during the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2024, curated by Bo Ningen. Relive the full performance below, with the duo performing music from their 2023 album Diagonal Drift. Made up of long-time friends and collaborators Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy) and Kohhei Matsuda (Bo Ningen), CHE...

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

In 2020, Cape Town, South Africa-based drummer Asher Gamedze found himself in Cairo assembling a quintet made up of some of the capital’s finest improvisers; Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop, Cherif El-Masri, and Adham Zidan. Another Time Ensemble had come to be. In 2024, the group performed live at Le Guess Who? 2024 as part of Chromes...

When UK-based experimental collective Ex-Easter Island Head steps on stage, the electric guitar - an instrument whose possibilities sometimes seem to have been exhausted - is born anew. Mechanical preparations, extended techniques; call it what you want, but, to us, it's more like auditory magic.  Watch our concert film of the group...

(Nederlandse tekst hieronder) Following the success of last year's pilot, we are continuing to offer Low Income Day Tickets for Le Guess Who? 2025. This initiative is specifically for those who otherwise would not be able to attend the festival. This initiative arises from the fact that we hear that the ticket price is still one of the...

Having performed the song live for some time, Kelly Lee Owens now shares the full studio version of her cover of Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman'. The single also features her own remix of the...

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...

For several years, Paris-based photographer Felipe Vasquez has been working on a series of photo portraits focused on women in the arts, celebrating the impact they make in the art world as...

Saxophone powerhouse Colin Stetson released a new instrumental track entitled ‘Charlie’. Premiered via Stereogum, this nerve-wracking, eerie track is composed for the upcoming horror film...

Earlier this year, Sibusile Xaba unleashed his astonishing, spiritual sound through his debut double album ‘Unlearning/Open Letter to Adoniah’. Supported by expressive fingerpicking and hu...

Over the past twenty years, Joan Of Arc has been the primary instrument of Tim Kinsella's limitless imagination. With a constantly revolving cast of musicians orbiting around Kinsella, Joan Of Arc&rsq...

FACT Magazine recently caught up with Colombian experimental producer & composer Lucrecia Dalt to talk about her sixth studio album 'Anticlines': an unnerving, atmospheric album on which...

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...

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...

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...

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 ha...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...