Search: Martin Bisi plays BC35

New York-based musician Martin Bisi is hailed as iconic producer who defined the sound of New York noise. This year’s release ‘BC35’ celebrates the 35-year Anniversary his of BC Stud...

Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and KMRU (Joseph Kamaru) are proposing something new. The two electronic music heavyweights come from different worlds; Kevin Richard Martin’s is dark, deep, and g...

Japanese artist Hatis Noit’s accomplished range is astonishingly self-taught. Hoit is inspired by everything she can find from Gagaku — Japanese classical music —, Bulgarian and Greg...

‘Concrete Desert’ is a colossal masterpiece created by The Bug (Kevin Martin) and Earth's Dylan Carlson. On this tandem project, Carlson and Martin plunge into deep sonic abysses, with dro...

With her latest album 'Designer', Aldous Harding creates a strange, but inviting world where she operates according to her own baffling internal logic. On the album, she renders instrumentation and voice into the most vivid and impressionistic of scenes.  Now, Harding shares a new hypnogogic video for new single 'Zoo Eyes'...

Eigen Risico is the project from the multidisciplinary artist Héctor Garcia Martin also known as Hache. Initially formed as a collective where live art performance and music melted into an inte...

Cirkel om de Haard is an initiative started by Avan Omar, Ali Authman and a group of Kurdish musicians – most of whom live in Overvecht. At this concert Ali Authman plays the violin and the viol...

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...

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​-...

In partnership with V2X. About V2XV2X represents a new generation of Vietnamese creatives shaping their own identities. Operating as an independent media company on the intersection of art, music, culture, V2X highlights creative communities from all corners of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Their work curating emerging cultures in today's m...

Cedric Vermue is a Dutch pianist and a producer of neo-classical music based in Amsterdam. In 2019 he released his debut album, ‘Left Upon Us’, mixing piano with electronics and ambiences....

‘The Invaders’ talks about a generation of civil rights activists who originated from Memphis in 1967, consisting of students, Vietnam veterans, musicians and intellectuals who were inspir...

Luka Productions is the bedrock of Mali-based producer, multi-instrumentalist and rapper Luka Guinda, responsible for 2017’s more mysterious and downright sensational releases. ‘Fasokan&rs...

Do you know what total destruction sounds like? It’s sounds like MC/singer Miss Red, aka Sharon Stern, and producer The Bug, alias Kevin Martin, hitting the stage. The Bug’s monstrous, all...

Musician, producer and composer Kevin Richard Martin’s chosen moniker has always been a fitting one. As a defiant experimentalist ceaselessly exploring sonic extremities, contrasts and frictiona...

Since its inception a decade ago, King Midas Sound’s gloom-ridden transmutations of dub, lover’s rock and ambient music have made an unyielding impression. Producer Kevin Martin (The Bug)...

Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Goldflesh, Napalm Death) and Kevin Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound) initially consolidated their mutual love for abrasive noise, dub and industrial as Techno Animal. If that...

One listen to Duma’s track “Lionsblood” is enough to let us know what this outsider Kenyan project is all about. Martin Khanja and Sam Karugo, figureheads of the flourishing Nairobi...

Arizona duo Trees Speak are nowhere close to slowing down creatively, having recently released their fourth record, 'Vertigo of Flaws', in just over one year. It is a colossal leap into an unknown son...

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...

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

Award-winning Dutch composer, bass clarinet player and saxophonist Joris Roelofs has performed with Han Bennink multiple times since forming an experimental duo together last year. Roelofs has practic...

Violinist and vocalist Sudan Archives writes, plays, and produces her own music. Drawing inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers, she is self-taught on the violin, and her unique songs also fold in element...

Cellist and composer Mariel Roberts plays her instrument of choice like an actor performs a scene, completely engrossed and enraptured within the composition’s totality. As both solo performer a...

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...

New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Now, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Transgressive Records have officially released the full recording of...

Are you ready for music from Afghanistan? Ghafar Amini is known within the Afghan community in the Netherlands and plays well-known Afghan songs. Along with the music, you will be able to fully experi...

Inkhorn Controversy is a band from Utrecht that plays both Dutch and English alternative pop rock. Their sound is Britpop/Postpunk-like with some Progrock influences. With theiridiosyncratic texts the...

Koen Boeijinga plays saxophone and wind-instruments. At Wishing Well West he explores various eclectic sound worlds through improvisation using saxophones and a wide range of wind-instruments. A conte...

Le Guess Who? will host a special lunch at LOU Oudenoord. A place for conversation, reflection, relaxation and great food. Engage in talks with your fellow festival visitors about all the things you&r...

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...

Paris-based Niamké Désiré began studying graphic design and cinema, but soon enough, he was designing and creating his own digital instruments. After several musical collaboration...

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...

Fuzzy Dreamer plays minimal music inspired by dreamscapes. He asks what it would sound like if Philip Glass and Steve Reich played reverb and delay drenched guitar. His music draws the listener into t...

Moonwatch plays layered dream indie pop, merging spellbinding melodies with reverb-drenched textures to convey the moods of the night sky. The members of the five-headed band from Utrecht joined force...

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

Daniel Okiror, whose roots lie in Uganda, plays authentic string instruments from Africa. With his band of professional musicians, he will take you full swing on a safari tour of his African repertoir...

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...

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...

Cervus plays a mix of heavy stoner, doom and 70’s hard rock with intermittent sidesteps into psychedelics. The band’s many influences ensure an immersive and daring blend of stomping, slur...

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

In partnership with Radio AlharaRadio Alhara presents an unprecedented collaboration between Beirut-based multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar, electronic musician Sary Moussa, and Bethlehem...

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

In partnership with Radio AlharaRadio Alhara presents an unprecedented collaboration between Beirut-based multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar, electronic musician Sary Moussa, and Bethlehem...

For this unique crossover, two worlds collide; that of dragonchild, the solo project of Debo Band’s Ethio-American saxophonist D.A. Mekonnen, and that of Sunken Cages, the moniker of Indian-born...

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...

Collecting and sharing music is only one of Zakia’s many pursuits, but it is keenly connected with the rest of her practice. The British broadcaster, writer, and DJ is known for broaching a vari...

As a DJ, Wes has an affinity for sounds from across the globe, both from the past and present. With a passionate interest in history, he’s always keen to track down the stories behind the music...

Three people. One will be in "character". One may not be. The former will be reacting to what the latter does sonically. The latter will be generating cues for the former to send back to him. The thir...

Three people. One will be in "character". One may not be. The former will be reacting to what the latter does sonically. The latter will be generating cues for the former to send back to him. The thir...

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

A Study of a Shared Meal is an invitation to come together in the preparation and sharing of a meal. Inspired by Harney and Moten’s idea of “study” as what you do with other people,...

DJ, producer, wide web digger mesin slat plays with music and sounds like shadow play - giving sonic outline but neva borders. One second you think it's gamelan (traditional Indonesian percussion orch...

Zelfkant's music plays with tension and relaxation, with long, slow builds that lead to intense, sonic bursts, only to return to serene, minimalist passages.  The music feels both meditative and...

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

PL3TH0RA is a DJ, producer and performance artist based in Rotterdam of Surinamese and Dutch descent. Breaks, kicks and bass are the core of her sets while exploring breakbeat, raggatek and dubstep, a...

Utrecht's independent print workshop Kapitaal, once again hosts the official Le Guess Who? Hangout through all things print and sound. The program is a culmination of print, live music, DJ's, pizza's...

Blazing electronics and distortion melt with vocals rooted in classical Arabic singing, yet seek to reroute tradition. The project Ghadrغدر (treachery) consists of three key figures of Lebanon&rs...

أحمد [Ahmed] plays music of heavy rhythm, repetition and syncopation, producing a stamping, swinging, relentlessly propulsive music where profundity and physicality root back to ecstatic feeling. They...

Starting off with a deep, sludgy bass line, 'Dig A Hole' is a new, bold track from the 'BC35' album, which celebrates the 35-year Anniversary of the BC Studio (the legendary recording studio founded b...

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...

Gaining worldwide recognition with their smashing, gummy hit single ‘Cannonball’, The Breeders were a leading figure in the 90s grunge scene. After a ten-year hiatus, they recently release...

In addition to the previously announced initial line-up and curators, we now reveals a range of special projects and performers for the festival: Future Feminism; 15 years of RVNG Intl.; ONCEIM; and t...

Vera Sola is a New York-based vocalist, poet and multi-instrumentalist. Her musical endeavours in recent years have included performing with Elvis Perkins as well as writing several film and...

The Wire Magazine shares an exclusive collaborative track from Le Guess Who? curator Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit, entitled 'After The Storm'. Listen to the track and read a statement about the duo's collaborative project here on The Wire's website. To receive a free download of t...

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...

Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) has released 'Sirens', the first solo album under his own name. The album, released through Room40, is about the arrival of parenthood, and the complex and tumultuous journey Martin and his wife went through in the first month of their son's life, when he had to undergo t...

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...

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...

ZONAL is the collaborative noise, dub and industrial project of Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, JK Flesh). The group now announces their debut full-length album, to be released this fall via Relapse Records. The first two tracks; 'Cage Version' and 'No Versio...

Since its inception a decade ago, Kevin Martin (aka The Bug) and Roger Robinson's gloom-ridden transmutations of dub, poetry and ambient music as King Midas Sound have made an unyielding impression. This year, the duo returned with 'Solitude', a bleak and barren spoken-word/ambient record that laments the crumbling of a relationship....

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

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

We're thrilled to let you know that the great Kapitaal, Utrecht's independent print workshop, together with online radio station Stranded FM, will once again host official Le Guess Who? 2023 Hangout on Friday, Saturday & Sunday during the festival.  Find Kapitaal at Paardenveld 5B (behind the palmtree!), where they host live per...

Last night, Friday, 8 November, we welcomed Björk for a surprise DJ set in the TivoliVredenburg venue. Björk was present at the festival as a guest of 2019 festival curators Iris van Herpen, a Dutch radical fashion designer, and sound artist Salvador Breed. Iris van Herpen and Salvador Breed have invited a.o. Danish pop adventu...

During Le Guess Who? 2021, VPRO Vrije Geluiden recorded live sessions with multiple artists who performed at the festival. All sessions are now online, featuring Etran de L’Aïr, Víctor Herrero, Mario Batkovic, Mazaher, and Zaur Nagoy in collaboration with Jrpjej, presented by Ored Recordings. Mazaher, Ored Recordi...

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...

"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...

As a defiant experimentalist ceaselessly exploring sonic extremities, contrasts and frictional collisions, The Bug's obsession with beats, bass, body horror, and dub technology has been mirrored throughout his turbulent, mutating career. Le Guess Who? residential photographer Juri Hiensch spent four days with Kevin Richard Martin aka The...

Duma's Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugo are figureheads of the flourishing Nairobi underground metal scene. After releasing an overwhelming debut album last year through Uganda's Nyege Nyege Tapes, the duo now return with new single 'Cannis/Mbukinya' for Sub Pop's Singles Club. Listen to both songs via the emb...

ZONAL has shared the title track to their forthcoming album 'Wrecked', which is out on 25 October via Relapse Records. ZONAL is the collaborative noise, dub and industrial project of Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, JK Flesh). The album contains...

FACTmag talks with The Bug and Dylan Carlson about volume, time and space in their only in-person interview. You can read it here to know why you should attend their show at Le Guess Who? 2017. "They...

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...

Eigen Risico is the project from the multidisciplinary artist Héctor Garcia Martin also known as Hache. Initially formed as a collective where live art performance and music melted into an intense live show, Héctor now decided to go solo. He now shares his new single en mil piezas me partí. How to rebuild yourself af...

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...

Tuareg guitarist Ahmed Ag Kaedy has released a new single called 'Tenere' in collaboration with Finnish musician Marjo Smolander. Marjo plays the Finnish traditional instrument Kantele and together with Kaedy's enchanting guitar playing, the sounds blend together as one. Even if you can't understand the words they're both singin...

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...

Violinist and vocalist Sudan Archives writes, plays, and produces her own music. Drawing inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers, she is self-taught on the violin, and her unique songs also fold in el...

Violinist and vocalist Sudan Archives writes, plays, and produces her own music. Drawing inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers, she is self-taught on the violin, and her unique songs also fold in el...

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...

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...

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

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

We're pleased to reveal the initial line-up for Le Guess Who? 2019, dedicated to boundary-crossing music from all over the world. The first 87 acts include very rare performances by Asha Puthli, Ustad Saami, and Ayalew Mesfin & Debo Band, as well as the curated programs by Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins and The...

With their new album ‘Full Upon Her Burning Lips’, Earth's core duo of Dylan Carlson and Adrienne Davies tap into the Platonic ideal of Earth— an elemental band, where every guitar note and every strike on the drum kit carries the weight of the world. Carlson describes the album saying: "I wanted this to be a &lsqu...

Noise-rap duo Prison Religion has released new music in anticipation of its upcoming album 'BEACHHEAD', to be released in July. In May, Prison Religion already released 'XNF NTC / B.O.O.T' featuring experimental noise-maker (and LGW18 artist) Eartheater. Now there is the second track 'Candy', a collaboration with experimental el...

ZONAL is the collaborative noise, dub and industrial project of Le Guess Who? 2019 curator Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, JK Flesh). Now, the group release their debut album 'Wrecked' via Relapse Records, containing several collaborations with lyrical poet (and LGW18 curator) Moo...

Jah Shaka is an absolute pioneer in sound system culture and has been spreading his message of love and spirituality across the world for over 40 years. On Saturday, 9 November, he will bring his legendary dubs to Le Guess Who? for a 4-hour set, performing on Krackfree Soundsystem, a collective operating from Eindhoven. The soundsystem c...

Today, Chilean cosmic group Föllakzoid releases new album 'I'. It is the fourth full-length album by Föllakzoid, described by the band as a multidimensional reconsideration of what the process of songwriting, performance, and creating a work of recorded music can be. To achieve this, the record was constructed ou...

Three of the Le Guess Who? 2019 curators have just announced new albums and released new music to go along with it: Jenny Hval Norwegian avant-pop artist Jenny Hval will release her new album 'The Practice of Love' on 13 September via Sacred Bones. At Le Guess Who?, she will present her new performance baring the same title as the album...

The Wire is an independent, monthly music magazine celebrating and interrogating the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical, marginalised and undervalued musicians on the planet, past an...

Insecure Men, featuring Saul Adamczewski (Fat White Family) and Ben Romans-Hopcraft (Childhood), have shared their debut single 'Sebura Nights'. According to The Quietus it's "easily one of the best t...

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...

Brooklyn-based punk band Surfbort's supercharged vintage 80s glam punk sensibility is a potent and passionate vessel for addressing addiction, mental health and sexuality. Now, Crack Magazine publishes an interview with Lead singer Dani Miller, who explains how Surfbort originated, growing up, the release of their debut 'Friendship M...

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...

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...

COSMOS: Behind the Scenes with Liquid Architecture In 'Behind the Scenes', COSMOS dives into local stories from across the world together with our global partners. For over two decades, Liquid Architecture has grown from a student project to Australia’s premier festival for experimental and avant-garde music. In its current form,...

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...

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...

There's a sense of spontaneity and playfulness present around Merope's upcoming album Vėjula. Before the album reaches your ears in full on 5 November (released via Stroom), the duo of Lithuanian singer and kanklės player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and guitarist/producer Bert Cools share their latest, soothing single Lopšinė.  Lopšinė...

As part of her curation at Le Guess Who? 2024, experimental cellist and vocalist Mabe Fratti performed live at the festival together with London-based vocal group Shards. Watch the concert film of the performance, featuring the tracks Kravitz, No Se Ve Desde Acá and Desde el Cielo: With her hypnotic pieces, Mabe Fratti comb...

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...

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...

Hailing from the town of Agadez, which is known as “the gateway to the desert”, Etran de L’Aïr capture the pulse of everyday life at weddings, baptisms, political events, outdoor soirees alike.  In 2020, The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich picked the group's 'No. 1' as her favorite album of t...

In the early 1980s, Bertie Marshall was the frontman for post-punk boundary-pushers Behaviour Red, a group that fed off sound experimentation, tribal drumming, searing vocals, and guitar feedback. In 1983, the group broke up, but Bertie continued sketching out atmospheric compositions, leading to his solo debut in the 1990s. Here, Bertie'...

Spirit Fest is an international dream collective of musicians spread across England, Germany, and Japan. The quintet is formed by Saya and Ueno, aka Tenniscoats; Markus Acher, best known as singer of The Notwist; Mat Fowler, who plays with Jam Money and Bons; and Cico Beck, who’s making music with Joasinho, Aloa Input, and The...

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...

New Age & Folk Jazz pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a rare performance on the closing day of Le Guess Who? 2018 together with five-piece ensemble Indigo Rising. The performance was curated by both Devendra Banhart and Moor Mother. Now, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Transgressive Records have officially released the full recording of...

Like last year, Utrecht’s beloved independent print workshop Kapitaal will transform into the official Festival Hang Out during Le Guess Who? 2019.  Through live interviews, listening sessions, art exhibitions with select LGW? performers and all things print and sound, Kapitaal will transform into a three-day meeting...

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...

At the age of 34, Chicago-based Angel Elmore quit her job selling high-end lingerie and pursued her childhood dream to become a musician. Now, as Angel Bat Dawid, she sings, composes, and plays keyboard and clarinet, which led to the release of her spiritual jazz album 'The Oracle' earlier this year. She recorded it over a period of more...

Chilean cosmic group Föllakzoid release a new track from their upcoming album 'I', for which the band recorded over sixty separate tracks in isolation, without a producer in the room, allowing their music to truly become a intuïtive living beast of sound. Entitled 'IIII', the song is part of a one hour edit made...

Last year, Australia's Tropical Fuck Storm (with Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, formerly of The Drones) released their debut album 'A Laughing Death in Meatspace': nine seething and addictive tracks and subsequently, a live show which saw the band being described as "a force of nature". Now, the group is already gearin...

As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, musician Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released 'Keyboard Fantasies' in rural Ontario in 1986. Recorded on an Atari-powered home-studio, th...

Jerusalem In My Heart is an audio-visual happening with roots in both Montréal and Beirut, combining the best of both worlds. Figurehead Radwan Ghazi Moumneh has been nursing the craft of...

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...

Cycle or walk through Utrecht suburb Lombok's main street, and you're immediately welcomed by Turkish and Moroccan grocery stores, bakeries, the smell of kebab, and huge piles of colorful fruits sold...

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...

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...

With their cosmic jazz celebration, Sun Ra Arkestra was one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2017. We're pleased to now bring you the full recording of this show, spanning decades of the Sun Ra le...

Unfortunately, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe can't perform today due to a cancelled flight. Colin Benders & Maarten Vos will play instead at Hertz, 21:15-22:15. Rob Lowe's show is rescheduled to tomorr...

In collaboration with Vrije Geluiden, we recorded one of the performances of Niger's Les Filles de Illighadad at Le Guess Who? 2016. Pan African Music now premieres these recordings, ahead of the rele...

Mark Kozelek aka Sun Kil Moon will perform on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2017. Apparently, one of Kozelek's dreams involves touring with the late, great Elliott Smith, which he talks about in...

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...

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...

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. ...

For every record he spins, Pedro Ricardo takes on new challenges. The artist, who will be doing a DJ set at Le Guess Who?, relies on the strength of the grooves he plays, bringing forth a feeling of intense freedom to the dance floor through a selection of warm, inviting rhythms. Jazz-fusion, disco, and funk are to be expected, but house...

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As part of her curation at Le Guess Who? 2024, experimental cellist and vocalist Mabe Fratti performed live at the festival together with London-based vocal group Shards. Watch the concert film of the performance, featuring the tracks Kravitz, No Se Ve Desde Acá and Desde el Cielo: With her hypnotic pieces, Mabe Fratti comb...

With their cosmic jazz celebration, Sun Ra Arkestra was one of the closing acts of Le Guess Who? 2017. We're pleased to now bring you the full recording of this show, spanning decades of the Sun Ra legacy. The song 'Discipline 27-II' features a special guest appearance by King Khan. Read on below for the astonishing story 'Sun Ra Ar...

Fatou Seidi Ghali and Alamnou Akrouni reside in the tiny village of Illighadad, Niger. Fatou plays the tende, and an old blue guitar, slightly bent because of the extreme weather. She is one of only two Tuareg female guitarists. Together with her cousin, vocalist Alamnou Akrouni, they strip Tuareg music from all progressive leanings, righ...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

The Netherlands 3FM: "3voor12 is op Le Guess Who?, waar basketballen tegen aan het plafond geschroefde gitaren worden gegooid"3voor12: "Eerste 67 namen voor Le Guess Who? 2017"           3voor12: "Kelly Lee Owens, dagdromer met kennishonger"           3voor12: "Le Guess Who? str...

In partnership with Radio AlharaRadio Alhara presents an unprecedented collaboration between Beirut-based multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar, electronic musician Sary Moussa, and Bethlehem-based tenor of the Greek Orthodox chorus of the Nativity church Laurence Samour. The experiment is as much an attempt to apprehend an unfor...

In partnership with Radio AlharaRadio Alhara presents an unprecedented collaboration between Beirut-based multi-instrumentalist and puppeteer Yara Asmar, electronic musician Sary Moussa, and Bethlehem-based tenor of the Greek Orthodox chorus of the Nativity church Laurence Samour. The experiment is as much an attempt to apprehend an unfor...

In partnership with REProduceA hub of seasoned Indian creatives looking for a new way to be, to reconsider and reassert the India they grew up with and forged: this Embassy aims to present Goa as it exists at the end of 2022.This film features a series of short performances - both music and otherwise - woven together with interviews with...

In partnership with Coquetel MolotovRecife’s Coquetel Molotov teamed up with music producer Benke Ferraz (Boogarins) and launched a musical incubator for artists outside Pernambuco’s capital - an open call focused on artists to produce new music. Ten names were selected and brought to Caruaru for three days of immersion with B...