Search: Ill Considered

Here’s a first impression of London four piece ensemble Ill Considered to spark your curiosity: their self-titled LP sounds like free-wheeling jams left on the cutting room floor for Curtis Mayf...

Ill Japonia, the trap/bass music alter-ego of Bo Ningen's frontman Taigen Kawabe, collaborates with movement artist Masumi Saito. They blend London's eclectic music scene and Rave culture with Masumi'...

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...

It’s obvious why Caila Thompson-Hannant chose the moniker Mozart's Sister. Like that ersatz sibling, the Montreal musician has a swift ear for bubbly, uplifting melodies. In hyperkinetic and gle...

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

India-born, The Netherlands-based sitar player Surajit Das is a savant in the canon and exploration of Indian Classical Music, having studied under Kashinath Mukerjee and vocalist Chinmoy Lahere. Mast...

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. Her music reflects her Indian background as...

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

Manchester-based synth pop duo Virginia Wing fully embrace the perfect counterbalance of the considered and the superficial. Wrapped in catchy, playful synth tunes and upbeat drum loops, their latest...

Fashion designer Iris van Herpen and sound artist Salvador Breed curate a lineup of artists and performances symbolizing their highly intertwined aesthetics, developed over years of collaborating on n...

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

Mélissa Laveaux’s most recent album ‘Radyo Siwèl’ reclaims the Ottawa-born, Paris-based songwriter’s Haitian roots with a collection of native folk spirituals. Th...

In 1995, Serbian-born, Brazil-based producer Mitar Subotić – also known as Suba and Rex Illusivii – created ‘Wayang’, an album that would be considered visionary even by today&...

The past and the future wage a perpetual dialogue with one another and Damon Locks’ Black Monument Ensemble could be considered a testament to that very notion. What started as Damon Locks proce...

On Zwangere Guy’s debut album ‘Wie is Guy?’, there is a swagger in his flow that displays confidence usually only found in rappers who have been around for a while. It is perhaps thi...

Lubomyr Melnyk doesn’t like being called a composer; ‘I don’t know what I am’, he says. But the seasoned Ukrainian pianist certainly brought something novel to the instrument,...

On his 2021 record, ‘Forfolks’, Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker proves why he is considered one of contemporary music’s most versatile and innovative composers - be it in pop, rock, j...

Alternately playing the tar, the tanbour, and the setar, Iranian musician Khorshid Dadbeh is seasoned far beyond her years. She began her musical journey early, having grown up in an artistic family a...

Alternately playing the tar, the tanbour, and the setar, Iranian musician Khorshid Dadbeh is seasoned far beyond her years. She began her musical journey early, having grown up in an artistic family a...

Since 2007, Badume’s Band has tasked themselves with the joyous mission of bringing the golden age of Ethiopian music to new eyes and ears. In Selamnesh Zéméné (Debo Band, T...

RP Boo (sometimes spelled Arpebu), or Kavain Space, is widely considered to be among the fathers of footwork, the Chicago-based, fast-paced, genre-leaping electronic music genre. Online crate digging,...

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

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...

Indian classical pioneer Kadri Gopalnath has devoted a lifetime to integrate the saxophone into the classical Indian genre of Carnatic music. We trace down the roots of this boundary-breaking art...

Art Ensemble of Chicago’s oeuvre is equally impressive as it is extensive. In their 50-year existence, Chicago’s acclaimed and praised free jazz collective recorded dozens of live and stud...

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

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...

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...

Kojey Radical is at it again. The hyper-productive rapper, dancer, model, illustrator and video artist recently released a hauntingly beautiful video for 'Soak It Up': his collaboration with UK produc...

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...

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...

Sons Of Kemet's new album 'Your Queen Is A Reptile' (released in March via Impulse!) is the "jazz" choice for nomination in this year's Hyundai Mercury Prize. Ahead of the event, the band gi...

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...

The sensational Afro-psychedelic collective BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) started out as a social gathering in their native township of Soweto, South Africa. Even with a relatively short h...

"It feels like signing with Impulse has given validity to the way I've perceived my music act. It is a legitimate part of the jazz canon" We meet up with jazz superforce Shabaka Hutchings in Utrecht...

Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we offer you an extraordinary mix of bossa nova, flamenco, jazz and prog folk, courtesy of&nbsp...

Hello Skinny, the project founded by Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, takes inspiration from a.o. UK jazz, Jersey house, R&B, hip-hop, footwork and Arthur Russell-minimalism. The nods to footwor...

In an interview with Paddy Steer, The Quietus talk to the musical maverick about making your own costumes, designing the arse-controlled wah wah pedal, and much more. Read the full interview...

Last year, Red Bull Music captured The Comet Is Coming’s futuristic, astral sound in an exclusive live session. During these recordings, they played blistering versions of ‘Final Eclipse&r...

In March 2018, Shabaka Hutchings and his comrades of Sons of Kemet released their new LP ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’ on the prestigious Impulse! label, known for jazz greats like John Coltra...

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...

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...

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...

With Slumberland, Belgian musician, composer, and instrument maker Jochem Baelus creates hypnotic krautrock and post punk colored with distorted exotica. Recently, he started collaborating with Sainkho Namtchylak, a 64 years old voice artist from Tuva, an autonomous republic in Russia north of Mongolia. Namtchylak is regarded as the...

Before debuting his immersive multimedia-performance Somnium at this year’s Le Guess Who?, we had an extensive chat with Dutch musician, songwriter, and composer Jacco Gardner. About Dutch explorers, silent film soundtracks, Zambian rock legends, strange peninsula’s and of course, his upcoming LP Somnium. Jacco Gardner, sitti...

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...

Best-known as spearhead of post-alternative band Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys has a long history in British rock. The Welsh artist is rightly considered one of the UK’s most unique and creative songwriting talents. Now, Rhyss releases his new album 'Pang!', the sixth record under his own name, for which he assemble...

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...

Zwangere Guy is renowned for his honest lyricism and compelling live shows. His unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, led him to quickly be considered 'the boss of Brussels rap'. Now, together with rap crew STIKSTOF, Zwangere Guy releases 'FAMILIE BOVEN ALLES' (featuring Dutch rapper Sticks), the title...

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 a recent interview with The Spinoff, Shan...

"OCnotes is known for his wildly unpredictable and consistently on-point DJ sets, which could be considered snapshots of his comprehensive appetite for original sounds," as we wrote in our bio fo...

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...

U? is opening up a monthly reading group, not as a fixed program, but as a shared space to gather, reflect and think alongside one another. Each month, we’ll come together to explore questions that matter to the people in the room: How can we build collaborations that are non-extractive and non-hierarchical between grassroots init...

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...

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...

Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm maps their own music from noise-rock and post-punk. This August, the band released their new album 'Braindrops' through Joyful Noise and now they share a new video for album track 'The Happiest Guy Around'. Directed by Glendon and Isabella, who are also known as 'the animators for the stars', we s...

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 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...

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...

Japanese psych-rock outfit Bo Ningen is no stranger to Le Guess Who?. After several performances, they returned to the festival in 2024 with their own curation dedicated to 'representing the Bo Ningen community', with many collaborative projects and a strong focus on audiovisual performances. "Bo Ningen, one of this edition’s curat...

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...

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...

With his unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, Zwangere Guy quickly became considered ‘the boss of Brussels rap’. In his live shows, his boastful, insolent and exciting personality always shines bright.  Zwangere Guy performed live at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda during Le Guess Who? 2021 on the nig...

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...

Today, Rotterdam's noise pop revisionists The Sweet Release Of Death make their much-anticipated return with third LP 'The Blissful Joy Of Living', out now via Subroutine Records. The album could be considered a playful counter-statement to their own name. Over the span of six songs, it offers an acute glimpse of a band mired in tota...

Rotterdam's beloved The Sweet Release of Death have announced their return with new album 'The Blissful Joy Of Living', out October 10th, via Subroutine Records. The album finds the band reaching for their core instincts, channeling the brimming energy of their live shows. You can now listen to new single 'Sick Girl', which is a...

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...

Every week, we bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. Almost a half year ago, we started off with Kojey Radical's powerful and stirring track 'If Only'. Now, twenty-four weeks later, we have highlighted some of the most remarkable musical treasures of this year's line-up, ranging from Katey Red's fast-paced...

On a sinking ship penetrated by patriarchy, what do you “choose” to do?: Future Feminism with Johanna Constantine This year, Le Guess Who? collaborates with Turkey's Bant Mag. The independent magazine, based in Istanbul, has been bringing together new and exciting tendencies about music, film, arts and culture since 2004. Sta...

Songsmith Jessica Pratt’s captivating, wistful coo evokes a mirage-like warmth, seducing the listener into a state between dream and real time. Now, she announces her new album 'Quiet Signs'; the follow-up to 2015's 'On Your Own Love Again' will appear in February 2019 via Mexican Summer and City Slang.  Jessica Pratt now also...

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...

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-...

In a new episode of Red Bull Radio's Open End, sitar player Anoushka Shankar traces an arc of Indian classical music, from lesser-known recordings by her father Ravi to modern works. Equally, in...

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...

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? exists to bring people together through art and music. In 2021, the international festival for boundary-crossing music and culture makes a new addition to the upcoming festival edition: U?, a new, participative and freely accessible day program created for and with the city of Utrecht. 

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

In October last year, the duo of Noa Kurzweil (Supertalented) and Levi Lanser (Ludittes) released their genre-defying three-and-a-half hour debut, Sent from my Telephone, under the moniker of Voice Actor. Now, the experimental pop duo shares what can be considered a condensed version of their debut. Consisting of 13 tracks chosen from th...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

Le Guess Who? is a playground for discovery and exploration, and once again that's deeply reflected in our 2024 program. Now that we've revealed the full line-up, including the curated programs by Arooj Aftab, Bo Ningen, Crystallmess, DARKSIDE, Mabe Fratti, and Touching Bass, it's time to start your musical discovery again. Take a deep...

Born in Beirut and based in Montreal, Liliane Chlela is a producer, DJ and performer whose progressive sound experiments brought her to the forefront of the electronic and experimental music scene, both in Lebanon and far beyond. At Le Guess Who? 2024, Liliane Chlela will present the live premiere of I, the hybrid and the antidote. &ldqu...

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

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...

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.Paris-based artist and producer/DJ Crystallmess introduces her curation at Le Guess Who? 2024 with a playlist that she...

U?, the freely accessible city program of Le Guess Who?, returns 8 & 9 November to Utrecht for its fifth edition. Through public programming, U? aims to connect people and foster personal encounters. U? is dedicated to celebrating local and creative communities based in the Netherlands, with a strong focus on Utrecht. On Saturday, 8...

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...

With his unshakeable conviction, found all over his rhymes and delivery, Zwangere Guy quickly became considered ‘the boss of Brussels rap’. In his live shows, his boastful, insolent and exciting personality always shines bright.  Zwangere Guy performed live at TivoliVredenburg's Ronda during Le Guess Who? 2021 on the nig...

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...

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...

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...

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

With the motto of Listening is the Way Forward, Le Guess Who? is widely considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals around. 

In partnership with NORRM Radio & LaMunai Records.    An introduction to Indonesia’s few select musicians and musical groups that portray the eclectic and diverse sounds, created through a variety of methods and different environments. Norrm Radio and La Munai Records wishes to capture the creative process of these m...

About Le Guess Who? With the motto 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...

Founded by the international music festival Le Guess Who?, COSMOS invites vibrant music communities from every corner of the map to share their stories - both online and offline.