Lineup
The Sweet Release Of Death triumph over doom-and-gloom with a pinch of dark humor and a penchant for stretching guitar-based music’s outer peripheries. The group forms a maelstrom of ear-splitti...
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&...
Taiwan duo Scattered Purgatory is named after a Taoist ritual that redeems and releases souls from a state between life and death. As it turns out, they adopt this notion quite literally in both perfo...
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Belgian dancer and choreographer Judith Clijsters isn’t just someone who constructs and performs a dance movement. She observes. More specifically, she observes our bodies, and how we use them....
Whether it’s a stage, a computer screen or a page from a book: Jenny Hval’s multi-disciplinary work aims to break beyond these confining zones to form a deeper connection with her audience...
DJ Quesadilla and DJ Fitz, two swashbuckling archeologists of music who habitually turn dancefloors all over the world into journeys of sweet sonic oblivion. The former is one of the most prominent fi...
With over twenty releases under a closely-related variety of names – Orinoka Crash Suite, OCS, Orange County Sound, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, and Thee Oh Sees, and now just Oh Sees – f...
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 place for craftsmanship and de...
Once dubbed the ‘High Priest of L.A. Freak Folk’, Devendra Banhart leaves a swirling trail of mystic folk, raga spirituals and Latin-American rock in his wake. With his weird and wonderful...
Fred Warmsley was once a vital member of Joey Bada$$'s Pro Era crew under the moniker Lee Bannon. Gradually however, the Sacramento native started to veer into more amorphous sonic territories. Under...
With ‘Devotion’, UK-based producer and songwriter Tirzah has created one of the most critically-acclaimed and downright magnetic debut records of 2018. A childhood friend of Mica ‘Mi...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
The Burial Of Kojo follows the story of Esi, as she recounts her childhood and the tumultuous relationship between her father, Kojo and her uncle, Kwabena...
Presented by IMPAKT - Centre for Media Culture
The Sound Of One Computer Thinking invokes a paradox or question that is essentially unanswerable. Are love, death or humour uniquely human or biologica...
Lili Boulanger (1893) is a unique and prodigious case studies in music history, taking up singing, organ, piano, violin, cello and harp at the premature age of five. In 1913, she became the first woma...
‘FIS’ stands for ‘forever in search’, and in all respects, this is exactly the intent of producer Olly Peryman. The monumental soundscapes of FIS highlight that sense continuit...
Under the name Nivhek, Liz Harris (Grouper) maps richly detailed inner worlds where enigmatic vibrations and voices glide dimly in and out of the void. Double album ‘After its own death / Walkin...
Phil Elverum's latest Mount Eerie album ‘A Crow Looked At Me’ opens with the words "Death is real/someone's there and then they're not". The album is a deeply personal document of grief, h...
Veni Om is the guise of towering sax fiend Otto Kokke, one half of death jazz deconstructionists Dead Neanderthals. Kokke takes less of a Lovecraftian approach as Veni Om however, proving he can pull...
DNMF is a Lovecraftian abomination comprised of death jazz zealots Dead Neanderthals and prolific experimental musician Machinefabriek. Two formidable elements – the latter’s shrewd on-the...
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...
‘What’s in a name?’, they say. In Richard Fearless’ case, a lot. He’s the mastermind behind Death In Vegas, not to mention an accomplished producer and DJ whose scope ext...
The legendary Sun Ra Arkestra isn’t so much an ensemble as it is an ideology passed on from generation to generation. Founder Sun Ra (visionary pianist, poet, electronica pioneer and composer He...
Tropical Fuck Storm’s wailing backing harmonies sound like a coven chanting hellish incantations, and the filthy percussive thrusts, the otherworldly synth flourishes of the band’s debut L...
Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s devotion to spirituality defined the final decades of her life. In 1983, she established the 48-acre Sai Anantam Ashram outside of LA, where she quietly began...
The Botanical RevolutionGardens have appealed to our imagination for centuries. We associate them with harmonious bliss, a place to witness the cycle of life and death, a place of contemplation, and a...
Emerging from Bristol’s thriving artistic community, the four lads of LICE create a rather peculiar and inventive crossing of rockabilly and post-punk, featuring in-your-face lyricism covering s...
Michele Mercure’s shrouded cinematic works overlap ambient, abstract, and industrial sensibilities, always with a keen and playful sense of their surroundings and acoustics. Not surprisingly, th...
Quintessential Ethio-groove performer Ayalèw Mesfin has joined forces with the renowned US-based ensemble Debo band for his first European live performance ever, and in truth, few collaboration...
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...
The famous Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares ('Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices') is comprised of 22 members. Performing in traditional clothing, the varying voices of the cho...
Chasing Reels presents; dir. Paul Elliott & Sean Lamberth
‘The Library Music Film’ is a quest for some of the most original, but largely unnoticed music ever recorded. In the document...
The sprawling universe that is the great Acid Mothers Temple was formed in 1995 by Kawabata Makoto. This fabled Japanese collective always held a deep dedication and devotion to improvised music. From...
When Girl Band prowl the stage, you’d best prepare for a barb-wired wallop of first class agit-rock. This Irish wrecking crew has become one of the most fearsome live units of the decade thanks...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
Franco Rosso’s Babylon had its world premiere at Cannes in 1980 but was deemed “too controversial, and likely to incite racial tension”...
When ex- COIL member Drew McDowall decided to revive the group’s 1998 masterpiece ‘Time Machines’ to the present, two decades after its release, the joke was probably not lost on him...
With Sons of Kemet, sax wizard Shabaka Hutchings takes cues from Afro-Caribbean carnival to contemporary UK grime and hip hop. This is music played with punk drive, the immediacy of club music and rid...
After a hiatus lasting over thirty years, the musical career of singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan finally got back on track at beginning of this century. Her 1970 debut album ‘Just Another Diamond...
Monolithic and majestic, elusive Montreal guitar drone wanderer Thisquietarmy presented a whopping forty releases over the past twelve years. One of the more recent, ‘The Democracy of Dust&rsquo...
Chasing Reels presents; in collaboration with Leiden International Film Festival; dir. Ethan Hawke
The film ‘Blaze’ is about the unsung songwriting legend Blaze Foley, a relatively obscur...
In the early 70’s, free-jazz evangelists Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids sprung from the tutelage of the great Cecil Taylor. Drawing furthermore from the vast cosmos of Fela Kuti, Pharaoh Sand...
Wolfgang Voigt's groundbreaking project GAS is the sound of organic matter and technology living in perfect harmony. As he himself puts it: 'bring the forest to the disco and vice versa'. Voigt struct...
As Yves Jarvis, Jean-Sebastian Audet’s gauzy post-R&B vignettes are driven by color, both as a visual and thematic component. His 2017 album ‘Good Will Come To You’ (released und...
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...
Dälek’s signature corroded rap experimentalism bubbled up with masterpiece ‘Filthy Tongue Of Gods And Griots’, released on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label. These veteran agitat...
Lost Horizons is a new collaborative dream-pop project formed by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richard Thomas of instrumental quartet Dif Juz. The duo's upcoming album 'Ojalá', released o...
Driven by trance-like repetition and adventurous spirit, Colin Stetson’s performances are an unworldly display of sonic inventiveness and emotional release. Exploring the full scope of his instr...
In 1979, The Raincoats helped shape the timeless notion that punk is what you make it to be—an act of raw expression, not any one sound. Their anarchy was poetic. The group’s debut album &...
Electronic explorer James Holden is not only a musician, he’s also a producer, remixer, and the founder of the Border Community label, where he releases the music of equally genre bending electr...
Originally from the forests of a mountainous region in East Bohemia in Czech Republic, Please The Trees is grounded in the psychedelic riffs and motorik beats of krautrock, striking out with mesmerizi...
Han Bennink will engage in a sonic tête-à-tête with none other than Thurston Moore. Moore claimed fame as co-founder and singer/guitarist of influential noise rockers Sonic Youth. A...
Coby Sey is a NTS Radio DJ and musician who released a 5-track record on Young Turks' sub-label Whities this year. A long time collaborator of Mica Levi and Tirzah, Coby now forges his own path as pro...
Alexander von Schlippenbach is the founder of the famous free jazz super-ensemble Globe Unity Orchestra, which at different points featured Peter Brötzmann, the late Jaki Liebezeit, Paul Rutherfo...
Alanis Obomsawin is a renowned filmmaker and visual artist. Before she released her album 'Bush Lady', which she will perform in full for the first time at our festival, she made Incident at Restigouc...
As Olan Mill, UK sound artist Alex Smalley’s work holds a sublime measure between the realms of modern neo-classical composition and ambience, with tender and elegant clusters of sound. His late...
Co-founder of celebrated poly pop duo Cibo Matto and collaborative partner of influential acts as Gorillaz and The Beastie Boys, Miho Hatori is a rare and inimitable talent from New York City. As prol...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s 1970 album, reissued by Super-Sonic Jazz this year, is a lush folk-jazz album in the vein of peers such as Tim Buckley and Joni Mitchell. After a twenty year absence, th...
Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s 1970 album, reissued by Super-Sonic Jazz this year, is a lush folk-jazz album in the vein of peers such as Tim Buckley and Joni Mitchell. After a twenty year absence, th...
Madensuyu have always been charmed by the mysterious and esoteric, the notion that two mortal souls can inhabit a stage and conjure something bigger than themselves. Their angsty, sprawling brand of n...
Since the release of his self-titled debut in 2011, Benjamin John Power, aka Blanck Mass, has demonstrated his versatility as an experimental drone/ambient musician and producer. Apart from being one...
Armed with a twenty-two stringed Kora (a West African cross between lute, bridge and harp), troubadour Sourakata Koite uses this traditional instrument to interpret his Senegalese roots. Moving to Par...
Toukadime is comprised of two DJs, Krimau and Bachir, with the intent of preserving music from the Northwest African Maghreb region. Both DJs garnered steady following by deejaying and mixing differen...
Shabazz Palaces have always drawn inspiration from the heart and human instinct; the Seattle-based hip hop voyagers produce transcendental albums from an intuitive frame of mind. ‘Black Up&rsquo...
Cinema Perdu is the moniker of Utrecht-based Martijn Pieck, who has also been involved in woodbender and the [law rah] collective. Fascinated by urban found sounds, he works with manipulated samples a...
In early 2017, modern art rock outfit FACS rose from the ashes of Chicago band Disappears. Joined by Cat Power’s Alianna Kalaba, FACS use minimalism and space to constitute a darker and more bru...
FRKWYS is a series initiated by Brooklyn-based independent record label RVNG Intl.; aimed at an ambitious and unique pairing of modern artists and their musical predecessors for the creation of a coll...
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...
Hosted by FACT
A pact made between Justin ‘JK Flesh’ Broadrick and Takeaki ‘Goth-Trad’ Maruyama when they released split-EP ‘Knights Of The Black Table’ resulted i...
Post-grunge/noise/hardcore juggernaut and overall cool Canadians METZ have released two albums worth of aural onslaught. This time around, the band frantically push their well-established sound even f...
Loving is an experimental pop collaboration between musicians David Parry, Lucas Henderson and Jesse Henderson. Latest release ‘If l am only my thoughts’ marks a newfound appreciation for...
Lucy Railton’s voice has bloomed from the root of more than 25 years of classical instrumentalism. The cellist and electronic composer’s acclaimed 2018 solo debut 'Paradise 94' marks a new...
Mary Lattimore is a Los Angeles-based musician and composer who uses her Lyon and Healy concert grand harp to conjure up beautiful glacial melodies that evoke a host of memories, landscapes and allusi...
As Moor Mother, Philly-based noise artist, activist and wordsmith Camae Ayewa shapes the vocabulary of hip hop and energy of punk rock into a musical tour de force. Informed by history, Afrofuturism a...
Fronted by Kenia-born musician Ajay Saggar, King Champion Sounds are an impetuous, eight-headed band from The Netherlands and England. Fronted by the inimitable G.W. Sok (former singer of the iconic D...
While some records appeal to the brain’s immediate pleasure zones, other music trickles down the subconsciousness like a warm and alleviating light. Swedish duo Thet Liturgiske Owäsendet&rs...
‘Every Thought Flies (Time is the Teacher)’ is a short documentary coinciding with the archival release of Italian pianist, composer and performer Tiziano Popoli’s ‘Burn The Ni...
Although Mairee Sioux grew up with no musical ambition, music came to be the best vessel to fill a cultural void filled by severed connections to her Polish, Hungarian and Native American ancestry. Sh...
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...
Diving headfirst into genres like shoegaze, post-rock, noise and black metal, Bliss Signal unleashes a claustrophobic blast of furious energy. The project marks the collaboration between two experimen...
Experimental rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA vouches for a stunning and destructive performance, delivering a thorough reminder that in a dangerous world, sometimes nowhere is safe. Earlier this year, t...
Before Hailu Mergia fled to America in 1981, his group Walias Band was a guiding light in Ethiopia’s thriving nightclub scene. In America, Mergia ended up driving cabs for almost 30 years, but h...
Oliver Coates is an exceptional cellist, composer and producer from London. Guided by his atypical music tastes, Coates transcends the traditions of classical composition and finds a new definition fo...
Efterklang singer Casper Clausen presents his (yet to be released) solo music, made up in a small studio by the river in Cacilhas (Lisbon). With songwriting still in progress, Casper has only played s...
Hidden in the rural area of Limburg until recently, this Belgian post-punk gem is ready to take the world head-on. With their latest release ‘Winter / Milk,’ Fornet displays their nonconfo...
Collaboratorium
Harpist Mary Lattimore and guitarist William Tyler may have honed radically different string-instruments, their respective cunning for vivid storytelling with instrumental music is re...
Having formed only a year ago, London four piece Black Midi is storming UK’s underground scene with tremendous and terrifying force. Following a notorious live session at NTS radio - during whic...
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...
Painting, dancing, baking, and a degree in neuroscience for good measure; Madeline Kenney is good at a lot of things. One of those things also happens to be music; more specifically, writing and produ...
Based in both New York City and Berlin, Delia Gonzalez is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spreads over a wide variety of disciplines, including composing, choreography, sculpting/painting and p...
Crack Cloud is a rather peculiar project: a multimedia collective that includes members from different cities, ethnicities and origins. Their debut release ‘Anchoring Point’ is based aroun...
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. LYZZA recently rel...
Cate Le Bon is celebrated for her playful lyricism, and her inventive pop melodies combined with post-punk takeoffs. Last year, the Welsh avant-pop songwriter released her most tantalizing record yet...
After attending a workshop in deejaying and music producing by East African platform Femme Electronic, model Anita Kevin decided to try it herself. Watching her do her thing as DJ Turkana, we would be...
Velvet-Rebel’s dynamic and energetic sounds carry an important message of living fully with a mysterious dark edge. His use of a tight rhythmic spine of drums combined with bass with acceleratin...
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 (...
Colombian experimental producer Lucrecia Dalt creates multilayered and surreal dimensions through sound. Whip smart electronic compositions are shaped into atmospheric sounds, complemented with tradit...
Taking his name from a spot near to his heart and home, Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and The Microphones makes music heavily imbued with that foggy green mood of Washington state. But far from limiting...
London band The Chisel’s new EP, ‘Come See Me / Not The Only One’ embodies a variety of British punk traditions, brought on by each member’s distinct origin story; Blackpool, C...
On their self-titled debut EP, released in 2019, Bristol’s Tara Clerkin Trio capture a unique mood through their breed of smoky jazz, chamber-pop, trip-pop, and sometimes pure experimentalism. T...
In this film, Johannesburg record label Mushroom Hour Half Hour’s rotating SPAZA ensemble takes you on a journey through their creative process as they delve into a new project. SPAZA are a band...
Brigid Dawson may have become known as a centerpiece for Thee Oh Sees, in which her whimsical harmonies gave the band’s psychedelic rock new meaning. Now, she takes her keyboard and vocals elsew...
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...
Drawn together through a mutual love of synthesizers, electronics, and trance-inducing music, English electronic musician James Holden and Polish clarinetist Wacław Zimpel spent four days intensely wo...
Sons of Kemet’s latest record, ‘Black to the Future’, was released in May – mostly recorded after the murder of George Floyd. For The Guardian’s Kitty Empire, the album f...
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...
With their latest record ‘Oh Yeah?’, New York free-jazz quartet Sunwatchers released their most accessible & melodic work to date. Their aesthetic is best described through the acknowl...
De Schuurman’s 2021 release – ‘Bubbling Inside’, a collaboration between Kampala-based label Nyege Nyege Tapes and Rotterdam’s platform Pantropical – centers around...
Having participated in pretty much every edition of the festival thus far, internationally recognized DJ Fitz, is by now basically Le Guess Who? royalty. One of the world’s primary authorities o...
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,...
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...
As Teamforest, German musician and filmmaker Philip Bückle already released recordings via internationally renowned labels like Morr Music, Aesthetics and Eglantine Records. In 2014, Bückle...
Ever since Phil Elverum began releasing records as the Microphones and Mount Eerie, he has been continuously moving the goalpost of musical storytelling to new and exciting horizons. The Microphones&r...
In PAINT, LA guitarist and songwriter Pedrum Siadatian is no longer one fourth of the band Allah-Las, but rather his own person. By himself, he has an opportunity to stretch out his musical and lyrica...
With her wistful, feathery voice as your guide, Shannon Lay channels the turmoil and fears of seeking out an unconventional life. Her 2017 album ‘Living Water’ was produced by The Cairo Ga...
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...
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...
This experimental duo, born from members of Dutch dream-pop ensemble Bird On The Wire, has been telling vivid stories with their music since 2017, the year in which they released their debut EP. Altho...
Colombian artist Julián Mayorga reminds us how freeing it can be to not take ourselves too seriously. Upon graduating from a Masters degree in electroacoustics and algorithmic composition in Ma...
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...
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...
2019 was quite a different year for ethnographic label Ored Recordings. Instead of setting out on expeditions throughout the frozen Caucasus mountains on a quest to collect traditional music from the...
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...
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...
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...
Girls In Synthesis is a London-based post-punk and noise rock band, that has been releasing records for 4 years and counting. With their DIY mentality they’re not afraid to experiment. Be prepar...
Esperanza Denswil’s alter-ego Pink Oculus began as an exercise to self-love. Since her vibrant 2013 breakthrough, the Dutch-Surinamese artist has risen to quick acclaim, thanks to her standout l...
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&...
With their 2021 debut record ‘Dive’, Rotterdam folk outfit Ilsha intend to offer comfort to those who are ‘sad and weeping’; the project, released under the wing of Dutch DIY T...
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...
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...
Through a blend of tradition and modernity, Egyptian producer YUNIS is distilling and reinventing his country’s folklore – finding inspiration in Sufism, the Egyptian wedding and the conce...
The cult album Faust IV was the fourth studio album released by the German krautrock group in 1973. Listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, where it is referred to as a "krautrock...
Johanna Constantine presents "Rise"&Kembra Pfahler and the Girls of Karen Black present "Fuck Island"
Founded by New York-based artists Kembra Pfahler, Johanna Constantine and Anohni, Future Femi...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, tells the time-traveling tale of the mystical musician and vocalist - who gave a very rare performan...
Together, the most revered merchant of noise and two of the most resounding voices in grime form an alliance of gritty UK fringe music that simply knows no equal. These three artists will stretch the...
An intimate portrait of the circumstances surrounding the creation of Jerusalem In My Heart’s live recording of “Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam” (The language of speech has brok...
In the mid-1960s, Art Ensemble of Chicago sprung from the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Ever since, they have been celebrated as one of the most remarkable free jazz mo...
Hailing from the small town of Como, Mississippi, this vocal trinity of gospel singers perform their spirituals together with musicians from the Daptone family. Each heartwarming voice has its own set...
Le Mini Who? is a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?. It turns venues, cafes, art spaces and even a fire station of the fast-developing and creative area Cartesius into improvised venues for (mainly)...
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...
Named after a Yoruba deity, OSHUN preaches spirituality, rebirth, identity, unity and the blessings of Mother Earth with an Afrofuturistic center of gravity. The duo of Niambi Sala and Thandiwe...
Julie Byrne's lucid and enchanting folk songs speak immensely to the imagination, providing visions of the stars of the high desert, the fatigue of change, the wild flowers of the California coast, as...
Mo DJ is one of the first artists to successfully integrate Malian music within the electronic mixing spectrum. His journey began as cassette salesman at one of the station roads in Bamako, Mali, moon...
As a spin-off festival of Le Guess Who?, Le Mini Who? transforms many of Utrecht’s local bars, restaurants, venues and warehouses into improvised venues for (mainly) Dutch underground bands to p...
Centraal Museum presents
Black Chords is an installation by the French ‘post-conceptual’ artist Saâdane Afif, which consists of thirteen electric guitars and the same number of ampl...
In cooperation with Utrecht Early Music Festival
Olga Pashchenko, one of the world’s most accomplished piano and keyboard virtuosos, will bring a unique take on one of the most famous horror so...
Naming a band after something concise and universal seems to naturally generate some of the most physically punishing music in existence. If Sunn O))) and Sleep are part of a three-headed beast of &ld...
Liu Fang is known for her virtuosic and expressive interpretation of traditional pipa and guzheng music from China’s classical and folkloric traditions. Celebrated as being one of the greatest v...
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...
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...
Composer, guitarist and producer Patrick Higgins (also a member of New York avant-garde outfit Zs) will perform with string ensemble of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. The performance will feature...
Declared a ‘cult hero’ by The Guardian, Perfume Genius has invited Canadian songwriter and actress Mary Margaret O’Hara to Utrecht for a very rare live performance. The undisciplinar...
Many nomadic Tuareg artists channel and preserve the vibrancy of life that was once the everyday in Mali. Ahmed Ag Kaedy initially set out to do the same, but instead his haunting eight-track LP...
Hosted by FACT
As sparkplug of dubstep’s golden age the previous decade, Mala is now part of a select group of producers taking it to thrilling forward-thinking pastures. Responsible for some o...
Flaunting an impressive resume of bands (notably as singer/guitarist of trance-rock cosmonauts Spacemen3) and production credits (Panda Bear, MGMT, Beach House), Pete Kember’s genius has now spa...
Farida Mohammad Ali's mastery of the ancient maqam discipline - a lifetime’s pursuit - is truly extraordinary. In execution, this traditional singing technique requires full command of complex m...
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is the true originator of simigwa-do, a Ghanaian fusion of afro funk, soul and jazz. His work with the Uhuru Dance Band and the The Apagya Show Band (the latter with one-time mento...
The story of Somalia’s legendary Dur-Dur Band is one of regrouping and resilience. In the 80s, their vibrant Somali funk music embedded the nightlife of the capital of Mogadishu. Since dictator...
Hidden Musics
Lakha Khan is a living legend of Rajasthani folk music. As the undisputed master of the sindhi sarangi, Khan is one of the last remaining Manganiyars to have honed this complex instrume...
Invoking the cosmic spirits of Sun Ra, futuristic three-piece The Comet Is Coming creates an impetuous blend of jazz, afrobeat and electronica. The group turn their intergalactic jazz into a mythologi...
Hidden Musics
Christopher C. King’s relationship with the folk traditions of Epirus, a mountain region connecting Greece with the southern parts of Albania, occupies a special place in his hear...
In cooperation with Gaudeamus
AEAEA is the new duo from composers and performers Patrick Higgins and Nicolas Jaar. Utilizing instrumental performance and live digital resampling, the aim of the group...
He reimagines classical composers like Bach with modern-day instrumentation. He interrogates the role of individuality in the digital world. He tackles the cataclysms of climate change. Indeed, music...
The ‘Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales’ (ONCEIM) is an orchestra of 34 musicians dedicated to the art of creation and experimenta...
In collaboration with Future Feminism
New York-based performance artists Kembra Pfahler and Johanna Constantine call for the emergence of a feminine collective consciousness with their project Future...
The incomparable Instant Composers Pool Orchestra are like the Jedi Knights of improvisation: a collective of musical marvels hacking the conventions of their individual instruments, setting an arena...
This blood pact marries the ink-black, minimal productions of Alessio Natalizia (aka Not Waving and member of Kompakt stalwarts Walls) with the smoke-suffused vocal drawl of alt-rock minstrel Mark Lan...
Hellvete is the solo moniker of Glen Steenkiste. Previously active in Silvester Anfang and one of the founders of the Funeral Folk label, Steenkiste draws influences from early minimalism to old folk...
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...
‘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...
Hailing from Amsterdam, The Mauskovic Dance Band is a brainchild of producer and multi-instrumentalist Nic Niggebrugge, a.k.a Nicola Mauskovic. After years of playing drums for bands like Jacco Gardne...
Please note: limited capacity, sign up (between 5-7 November) via bit.ly/lgwlonnie
Since 1979, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity through drawing, painti...
Presented by Centraal Museum
Visual artist Eva Spierenburg from Zeist is the winner of the K.F. Hein Stipendium 2018. Physicality is omnipresent in Spierenburg’s work. Whether it is the visuali...
Oiseaux Tempête’s cross-cultural, multi-genre improv rock has a tendency to unfold in places of turmoil, recording records in Greece, Turkey and Lebanon in the past. The core duo of Fr&eac...
With their curious mix of infernal free-jazz and post-rock, LOTTO are one of the most inventive groups of the Polish underground. Embracing the minimalist spirit of The Necks, Godspeed You! Black Empe...
dir. Maris Curran
As a prolific artist, musician and lover of Mother Earth, Lonnie Holley treasures the discarded. Nurturing the neglected, he finds healing in the transformative power of art. This s...
Having fled from the fundamentalists in their home country of Sudan, the original members of psychedelic group The Scorpios established themselves in London during the 80s. Once there, they built a gr...
In her home country of Zimbabwe, music icon Stella Chiweshe is endearingly called The Queen of Mbira, becoming the first female artist to gain widespread recognition for a strictly male-dominated disc...
Throughout her chronicle of life, it’s easy to understand how Vivien Goldman earned the title ‘Punk Professor’. In the 70s, Goldman wasn’t simply satisfied standing on the side...
Les Amazones d’Afrique are a gathering of some of the strongest artistic voices of West-Africa campaigning for gender equality. These musicians and vocalists have joined together to create a for...
Hidden Musics
Female vocal ensemble Isokratisses both uphold and reinterpret one of the world’s oldest remaining folk music traditions: the polyphonic songs of Epirus. Thanks to the vast mounta...
Príncipe Discos presents, hosted by FACT
“Her music is dazzling in all senses, a trance-inducing tangle of boxy drums, vivid swirls of synthetic melody and buzzsaw grime bass,” The...
Istanbul’s Lalalar remind you of your favorite 80’s cult show theme, and simultaneously sound like a delightful dumpster dive of spaghetti western-psychedelics, Anatolian funk, sampling an...
Chicago stalwart Tim Kinsella initially made his mark with emocore trailblazers Cap ’n Jazz. Over the past twenty years, Joan Of Arc has been the primary instrument of his limitless imagination....
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Utrecht University
In the wake of his recently published fifth book ‘Silenced by Sound: the Music Meritocracy Myth’ and driven by his ongoing field-record...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver, hosted by John Doran (The Quietus)
Hream follows the 25+ year career male nurse and adult music student Doug Hream Blunt as he embarks on a world tour, p...
In Utrecht’s suburb Lombok, you're immediately welcomed by Turkish and Moroccan grocery stores, bakeries, the smell of kebab, and huge piles of colorful fruits sold in the streets. The impressiv...
The audio-visual happening of Jerusalem In My Heart has roots in both Montréal and Beirut, also combining the best of both worlds. Figurehead Radwan Ghazi Moumneh has been nursing the craft of...
The slinky, cinematic music of Midnight Sister is brought to you by the isolating landscape of the San Fernando Valley — its colors, its diners, its lunatics, its neon lights. The duo of Juliana...
Over the span of two albums, the dynamic of pedal steel player Heather Leigh and brass/woodwind maestro Peter Brötzmann has become truly transcending: a continually evolving high-energy exchange...
Indeed, as adroit players of the harp and the violin respectively, Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz’s joint project LEYA inspired some emphatically gorgeous music. With the help of fellow expe...
‘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...
Psychedelic/krautrock mystics Moon Duo have risen up, understatedly, as one of the most intoxicating live acts of this decade. The Oregon band’s trademark sound is as much acquainted with minima...
Porto collective HHY & The Macumbas compose mind-blowing permutations of experimental jazz, dubbed-out noise, and hypnotic African folk. Lead by artist Jonathan Saldanha and a rotating cast of pla...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
The directorial debut from Boots Riley presents an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, California, when telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in...
The power of the imagination is arguably the greatest during youth, and Oslo-based collective DNA? AND? bring this notion into play in the most remarkable fashion. Comprised of special needs children...
Fhloston Paradigm is one of the many groundbreaking excursions of renowned Philly producer, musician and DJ King Britt. Hyperdub debut ‘The Phoenix’ and this year’s follow-up ‘...
Over the past decade, Malian, Grammy-nominated artist, musician, and actress Fatoumata Diawara has been universally praised as one of Africa’s most trailblazing and outspoken voices. Diawara&rsq...
Conrad Tao first touched a piano as a one-year-old toddler, and by the age of eight, he already performed Mozart’s Concerto No. 12. So, becoming one of the most exciting new faces in classical m...
Embracing music from both bygone and current eras, Miranda Cuckson is regarded as one of the most acclaimed performers of classical and modern music. The New York Times called Cuckson “a prodigi...
With a super contagious cocktail of Afrobeat, disco and funk, Arp Frique is the past, present and future scrambled together in one groovy, bright-lit musical skirmish. The Dutch producer’s new l...
As we struggle to keep up with a world enwrapped in digital technology, its influence on art and communication is often dismissed as harmful. Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile's ambient project Visible C...
Though a prosaic name like Circuit may not jump at you on a festival poster, this bunch’s modus operandi epitomises all kinds of absurd. Circuit isn’t so much a band as it’s a lab of...
Joe Coleman is a performance artist, collector and painter whose hyper-detailed works depict celebrities, historical figures and artists with the same graceful iconography as the Gods and prophets of...
Fela Gucci and Desire Marea are on a mission. As performance art duo, FAKA could just as easily be labeled as a cultural movement. With a combination of sound, live performance, literature, video and...
France’s Aquaserge shape their own fantastic musical planet, sprouting out lush prog workouts, weirdo pop and meditative dance grooves. Comprised of a rotating cast of characters from acts like...
Kelman Duran presents‘To The North II’ is an experimental documentary by Dominican producer, multimedia artist and filmmaker Kelman Duran. It is the follow-up to ‘To The North I&rsqu...
Tongue-in-cheek, hilarious and often controversial, Ghanaian duo FOKN Bois coined their sound as gospel porn rap, which might be a cryptic way of calling their art slyly subversive. Their music has be...
Cindy Lee is the 60s girl group persona of Pat Flegel, once the voice of now-defunct indie pop outfit Women. Though his former band flirted with sounds of the past, Flegel now follows through, bending...
In recent years, Ghanaian star King Ayisoba ascended the West African pop charts with his futuristic approach of traditional styles. A master of the ancient kologo instrument - a two-stringed lute -,...
Whether they intend to or not, Negativland have bursted many bubbles over the decades with their quizzical remapping of pop culture, media and advertising. Though Negativland consider themselves artis...
Seattle-based singer-songwriter Austin Crane (aka Valley Maker) has one of the most remarkable voices in contemporary pop music. Accompanied by heartfelt, wistful acoustic guitar arrangements, Valley...
Takuro Kikuchi’s subdued piano compositions move adrift between tranquility and contemplation. The 35-year-old musician hailing from Sendai, Japan, has been playing since the age of nine, drawin...
If you were to compare the world of noise music to our physical world, Prurient occupies the very bottom; the deepest and darkest dwellings in our oceans. Sound artist Dominick Fernow's output of obli...
Deerhoof is one of those fantastic beasts the world has been lucky to find, an anomaly of a band that can twist any crunch of noise into saccharine hook-heavy pop euphoria. Their wide-eyed trial-and-e...
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...
Despite Sun Foot being a three piece, they could easily be defined as the exact opposite of a power trio. Labeled as surf noise and anti-beach pop, the members of Sun Foot play at a low volume, frisky...
Besides being one of Chicago’s finest producers, Kavain Space a.k.a. RP Boo is also known as the originator of footwork music. Emerging from Chicago house in the late 90’s, the genre inclu...
In collaboration with Centraal Museum
The Colombian ambient producer Lucrecia Dalt composed a commissioned piece for the exhibition De Line Up, which displays a rich overview of the power of drawing...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
Lutz Gregor’s documentary Mali Blues takes a vivid look at the West-African nation’s rich and diverse musical fabric, following folk star Fato...
Pop music canon has always compelled the listener to unravel the mystery behind the song. But the music of Aldous Harding inspires something arguably more powerful: an individual whose voice can seaml...
Presented by BAK - basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
Trainings for the Not-Yet is a project convened by artist Jeanne van Heeswijk and BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, in collaboration with many other...
RVNG Intl. presents; dir. Tony Lowe
‘ICON EYE’ is RVNG Intl.’s first film production, about the making of the FRKWYS recording ‘Icon Give Thanks’. The film evokes a feel...
Collaboratorium
The cartoon physics of Brooklyn experimental outfit Zs, the Lovecraftian doom tandem Ex Eye with Colin Stetson, the blast beat barrages of Liturgy; Greg Fox has an uncanny knack for t...
The duo Ko Shin Moon are entertaining in a similar way as back when you changed the instruments of sample tracks on a keyboard, just out of sheer curiosity how it would sound. Musicians Axel Moon and...
Having become somewhat of a mainstay in Utrecht, Stranded FM celebrate and share music from all over the globe, becoming the city’s bastion for discovering fresh sounds. During their four-year r...
Jamal Moss, better known as Hieroglyphic Being, is one of the most distinct figures from Chicago's rave scene. Throughout his impressive output, Moss’s glitchy style draws from the roots of spir...
Composer Howie Lee’s greatest triumph isn’t even his immediately satisfying jumbling up of the traditional and futuristic. It’s how he channels such giddy enthusiasm into each one of...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
A selection of short films of Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series curated by GRAMMY-winning record producer Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & BAK - basis voor actuele kunst
Le Guess Who? and Jeanne van Heeswijk connected the Chicago-based pianist, clarinetist and composer Angel Bat Dawid with visual artist,...
Blazing Suns is an ever-evolving entity of artists, musicians, audiofreaks and sound explorers orbiting around it. At Le Guess Who?, the quartet of Salvador Breed, Boris Acket, Nick Verstand and Maart...
Collaboratorium
With Brian Chippendale and Greg Fox – two figures of drum royalty – are in the neighborhood, we felt a deep urge to bring them together in the same room. Both artists have...
Collaboratorium
Step inside the tractor beam, because at Le Guess Who?, Mythic Sunship will organize a momentous assemblage of wondrous sound. Of course, this Copenhagen quartet has room aplenty for...
Minyo Crusaders breathe new life into traditional Japanese folk songs (‘minyo’) by merging them with Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms and flourishes of exotica. By doing so, the 10-pie...
Renowned for her work with guitarist Sonny Sharrock in the 60s and 70s, Linda Sharrock has become a leading light in the world of experimental jazz and avant-garde. Her vocal delivery is a hallmark of...
In collaboration with Future Feminism
This screening event dives into the performance archives of Future Feminism, giving an insight in the project’s history of creating explicit and extreme pe...
The ‘Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales’ (ONCEIM) is an orchestra of 34 musicians dedicated to the art of creation and experimenta...
Producer and musician Cate Le Bon creates a unique vocabulary of freak folk, post-punk and psych pop. Thanks to her jagged guitar playing and Welsh diction, Le Bon is the definition of elusive. Behind...
Equally adept at noisy, feedback-laden jams as spaced-out, repetitive voyages, Mythic Sunship's self-styled "anaconda rock" has been described as one of the most riveting movements of the European psy...
Hidden among the rabble-rousing tourists and historic canals, Red Light Radio (RLR) is an online seminal DIY radio booth squat and international music platform based in the middle of Amsterdam’s...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Fotodok & Casco Art Institute
Being born and raised on the island of Curaçao, the work of Kevin Osepa (1994) revolves around his identity and the identity...
Centraal Museum presents
Utrecht artist Robbie Cornelissen creates films, drawings and installations and was one of the main curators of the Centraal Museum exhibition De Line Up. Cornelissen is know...
During this decade, Atlanta art-punkers Deerhunter have further established themselves as one of the finest bands alive, consolidating an unmistakable sound with restless reinvention. The electronic-d...
While the festival’s numerous performances spread all over the city of Utrecht, there will be one moment we all come together, and that is at the afterparty. The line-up will feature dub-king Ke...
Former Screaming Tea Party-member Koichi Yamanoha was once better known for his scream than his whisper. ‘Hazy Eyes Maybe’, the Japanese-born, London-based musician’s debut LP under...
Overviewing the impulsive career of Asha Puthli, it’s dizzying how one individual can encapsulate such a ridiculous range of juxtapositions. Puthli’s notoriety really depends on who you as...
The “demonic” and “physical” shows of this feisty Flemish couple are well-documented, ruthlessly steamrolling onlookers like some indomitable force of nature. The Glücks b...
The Chilean colossus known as Föllakzoid, are clerics of both the cosmic heritage of Can and the more progressive electronics. The trio are no longer bound by concept or narrative on their latest...
Margaret Chardiet doesn't need to change costumes to completely transform on stage. As Pharmakon, she creates an echo chamber of monstrous proportions, making Pharmakon one of the heaviest and most di...
Grouper, the moniker of Liz Harris, continues to bewilder with the most basic resources: a voice, one instrument and the ambience of her surroundings. Her sparse compositions occupy an intimate space...
Felix Manuel’s ears are attuned to the spontaneity of jazz while his production chops create original compositions out of a wellspring of samples, textures and beats. Manuel’s extraordinar...
Six standalone stories are featured in this film, which are united by a common theme of violence and vengeance. Director Damián Szifrón takes the idea of human behavior of people in dist...
Haley Fohr’s Circuit des Yeux creates an unprecedented deep and rich sound. On Fohr’s latest, acclaimed album Reaching for Indigo, she combines 50s & 60s avant-garde with drone, experi...
Nicole Mitchell, the former first female president of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), is an award-winning flutist, composer, poet and educator. Invoked by...
La Double Vie de Véronique is a story of two women that go by the same name and share the same hopes and dreams, even though the one lives in Poland and the other in France. Unaware of the exis...
Founder of the Moving Furniture label Sietse van Erve has been composing under his Orphax-moniker for the better part of the past two decades. Van Erve wields his minimalist music as a stream-of-consc...
Singer-songwriter and producer Emel Mathlouthi combines the vibrant sounds of psychedelic folk with heavy electronics and atmospheric melodies. She gained global recognition when her recording 'Kelmti...
In the late 70’s, as member of the notorious Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lydia Lunch was a leading figure in the rise of New York City’s no-wave scene. Grounded in a dissonant and atonal...
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...
Pharoah Sanders isn't just one of the biggest jazz icons to ever set foot on a stage. In many ways, he transcends jazz music's conventions like few others. His employment of the tenor sax is unequaled...
Jessica Pratt’s peculiar brand of astral folk has a way of stopping you dead in your tracks. The LA-based songsmith’s captivating, wistful coo evokes a mirage-like warmth, seducing the lis...
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...
In the vocabulary of Icelandic artist dj. flugvél og geimskip – translation: ‘dj airplane or spaceship’ – the notion of choice is pretty overrated. Why not rapturously e...
The words ‘wacky’ and ‘profound’ often walk hand-in-hand in the world of Gruff Rhys. The Welsh artist is best known as spearhead of perpetually wry pop oddballs Super Furry Ani...
Despite its apparent frigid exterior, Hilary Woods’ debut LP ‘Colt’ is ultimately an inviting listening experience. Woods’ minimalist ambient pop compositions come to life with...
With her enrapturing deviations of electronic music, R&B, jazz and all-out pop, Sudan Archives - born Brittney Parks - doesn’t just bend the rules, she breaks them. Her innovative take on th...
Public Poetry takes the written word into our shared communal life in public space; it brings people together for the sake of the most intimate of verbal arts. In this session, LGW artists are invited...
Once, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs’ guitarist Adam Ian Sykes said: “on stage is where the slaughter takes place.” This is probably the best way to describe a performance of thi...
In 1970, soul artist Jerry Williams, Jr. radically reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg: an anti-hero who smashes the conventions of commercial R&B music, and whose subversive lyrics earned him a spot...
After 15 years of performing for passersby at Paris’s Line 2 Metro, Algerian musician Mohamed Lamouri’s trademark ragged voice and buoyant Casio keyboard melodies are reaching ears all ove...
The King of Keyboard himself, Rizan Said, remains one of the most famous and influential musicians from Syria. He’s made a name for himself as composer for all kinds of Syrian artists, as well a...
Dominican producer and multimedia artist Kelman Duran creates a club-situated, tense merger of Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Despite being rooted in the thriving L.A. club circuit, his music doesn’t l...
Maâlem (or ‘master musician’) Houssam Guinia is the son and successor of the late Mahmoud Guinia, an emblematic figure in the practice of West-African Gnawa music. Gnawa is an extens...
Essaie pas is one of the most exciting bands you’ll find on James Murphy’s influential label DFA Records. The group features burgeoning Canadian electronic maestro Marie Davidson as one of...
A true scion of the experimental noise scene, Lasse Marhaug embodies the term noisenik and then some. The Norwegian artist frequently applies a brutalist heavy metal sensibility to his potent and loud...
Before our very eyes, the mysterious Yves Tumor suspends set expectations of music and performance into a vortex of sheer disbelief. His unforgettable show at last year’s Le Guess Who? was a bre...
Japanese musician and sound artist Haco received international recognition as the founder, singer, and composer of legendary avant-pop group After Dinner. Hailed as one of the first female proponents...
Hidden Musics
If it makes any sense – mystical phenomena rarely do – Octavia Mendoza Anario, aka La Bruja de Texcoco (‘The Witch of Texcoco’), reinvigorates the canon of Mexic...
Serrated guitar assaults, check. Sinister bass rumble, check. Piercing drums, check. And a sardonic sneer that oozes pure misanthropic disdain, well, check. Indeed, Italia 90 checks off a lot of boxes...
Príncipe Discos presents, hosted by FACT
DJ Marfox’s raves are like spinning a Ferris wheel of Afro-Caribbean beats, Kuduro, footwork, grime and urban electronics until it goes supersoni...
Le Guess Who?-curator Patrick Higgins, visual artist Matthew Schreiber and choreographer Monica Mirabile will present the European premiere of their awe-inspired audiovisual project DOSSIER X, immersi...
Like Stereolab and Broadcast exemplified so fervently before them, Empath’s offbeat brand of guitar pop turns discord and noise on their upside, turning and twisting them into agents of jo...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Centraal Museum
Initiated in 2015, Elegy is a long-term commemorative performance project by South African artist Gabrielle Goliath. Staged in various locations...
Once labeled as one of the greatest songwriter of his time, California-based artist Cass McCombs has made quite a name for himself. On his ninth studio album ‘Mangy Love’, the songwr...
Noise brutes Sex Swing violently grasp the listener with a probing sense of acute danger. You can expect no less from an alliance of musicians from bands like Part Chimp, Bonnacons Of Doom, Dethscalat...
As one of the many groundbreaking brainchilds of renowned Philly producer and musician King Britt, Fhloston Paradigm will return to Utrecht to host a DJ set featuring impulsive experimentation, cosmic...
Spazio Disponibile presents
Crossing Avenue is one of the central projects of Donato Dozzy's and Neel's Spazio Disponibile label. Debut EP ‘Malandra’ provides a taste of what to expect: a...
Hidden Musics
Grammy-winning producer and author Ian Brennan has accumulated a resume that would make anyone in his fields blush. Brennan’s most pertinent and important work, however, isn&rsquo...
The music of improvisational collective Oiseaux-Tempete is bred from places in turmoil, be it Greece, Turkey or Lebanon. Oiseaux-Tempete embraces the freedom of improvisation, as well as the communal...
Even though the four members of Bo Ningen originate from various regions in Japan, the band was originally formed in London. With their fiery stir of psychedelic experimentation, vigorous noise and se...
Caspar Brötzmann has embraced a similar vocation as his father, free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann: disrupt conventions through the virtues of noise, innovation, and chaotic physical performan...
In his 45 years as a musician, Japanese sound wizard Keiji Haino devoted himself to one constant: to never repeat himself. To this day, Haino has done just that, always walking the unexplored passages...
Oft-sampled though never imitated, Italian composer Gigi Masin’s deft ambient collages first entered our consciousness in the 1970s. Masin finally earned recognition with his 1986 LP ‘Wind...
Composer and cellist Leila Bordreuil grew up in rural Aix-en-Provence, France, before moving to Brooklyn in 2012. Having composed in silence for most of her life, the bustle of Broadway didn’t d...
In one corner, the shamanistic Saul Williams, actor, screenwriter and renowned harbinger of noise poetry and hip hop futurism. In the other corner, cleric of eclecticism King Britt, accomplished Phill...
Foundation De Pastoe Fabriek presents
De Pastoe Fabriek promotes the objective of good design from an aesthetical and corporate social responsibility perspective, stimulating designers to appreciate...
In early 2015, free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements first came together to perform at the Musicians Against Police Brutality event in New York. Drawn from the instrumentalists’ indivi...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & De Utrechtse Boekenbar
Within the setting of one of Utrechts’ finest curated bookstores, our artistic director Bob van Heur will discuss with Grammy-winning pro...
Innerwoud is the moniker of Ghent-based double-bass player Pieter-Jan Van Assche. His music is often described as ambient, drone and neoclassical. Drones are layered on top each other, revealing a vas...
Le Mini Who? presents the contemporary (Dutch) underground, in collaboration with independent local stores, shops and bars. It transforms Utrecht's city streets into a festival area, with more than fi...
Vivian Wang is one of the founders and multi-instrumentalists of Singapore-based art rock ensemble The Observatory. After initially honing her skills as a classically trained pianist, Wang approaches...
The Bandcamp-bio for Petbrick deadpans that it’s just ‘Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura) and Wayne Adams making horrible noises that melt your face’. But press play and you’ll find th...
Roy Montgomery has been a staple artist of Kiwi imprint Flying Nun. The native of Christchurch lives in an environment often struck by natural disasters, which could be why his work generally has a su...
Lebanese legend Abdel Karim Shaar is the last of his generation still performing classical ‘Tarab’ repertoire: a musical form that expresses a state of emotional transition. Shaar develope...
Príncipe Discos presents, hosted by FACT
DJ Firmeza is a member of the Príncipe Discos crew, one of the most interesting and landmark-shifting movements within the modern European club...
With her signature Southern drawl, bold experimentalism and whip-smart lyrics, Tennessee-based artist Bbymutha has established herself as a bona fide hip-hop truther. As one of the most refreshing rol...
Charles-André Coderre is a Montréal-based filmmaker dedicated to working with analog techniques. Coderre is a member of the Montreal collective of experimental cinema Double Negative and...
In the early 00s, Eleanor Friedberger became known as one-half of indie sibling duo The Fiery Furnaces. Since their hiatus in 2011, Eleanor Friedberger unleashed her true songwriter capabilities and h...
The adventurous, innovative Dutch band The Ex have defied categorization ever since their origination in 1979. Born out of the punk explosion, when anything and everything was possible, the band have...
Angel Bat Dawid’s first album ‘The Oracle’ provides a new radical benchmark for contemporary jazz music, capturing a unique mystique within its economical recording methods. Meditati...
In their four-decade career, The Ex have experimented with countless styles and ideas. They are revered by many of their guitar-wielding peers, notably Sonic Youth, Tortoise, and Steve Albini. But the...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
This heart-warming road movie, directed by Philippe Godeau, follows the titular protagonist, the 13-year-old Senegalese Yao, in his quest to meet his hero...
L.A. based experimental musician, producer, auteur and artist Joe Cardamone, formerly of The Icarus Line, stated ‘he doesn’t care about bands anymore’, so he began his own solo proje...
As Lone Taxidermist, musician, performance artist, costume maker and provocateur Natalie Sharp relishes in the grotesque. Her unruly and flamboyant electro-punk performances make audiences an active p...
Belgium’s STUFF. is much more than your typical jazz quintet. Adding dazzling layers of hip-hop, funk and electronic sounds to their jazz foundation, the group forges an energetic storm of instr...
Dutch musician/composer Martijn Comes specializes in new media, sound design and electronic-acoustic compositions. Some of his harmonies sound as if they’re being exhumed from the dregs of harsh...
Sarah Louise Henson operates from the roots of Appalachian folk music, but is likewise influenced by spiritual jazz, contemporary classical music and even new age. Her music has never sounded as penet...
Under supervision of surrealist filmmaker and spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorowsky, King Khan and Game of Thrones-designer Michael Eaton created ‘The Black Power Tarot’. The cards are depic...
Hailing from Brixton, vocalist and producer GAIKA developed his own take on the numerous currents of London’s contemporary music scene. With Jamaican and Grenadian roots, GAIKA creates a sonic b...
Lightning Bolt’s floor shows are the stuff of myth and legend, unleashing a hailstorm of noise that would leave every venue smoldering in dust and vapors for weeks. Two decades after their accla...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Centraal Museum
James Merry is a visual artist, originally from Gloucestershire in the UK, who is now based in Iceland where he has been living and working with Bj&ou...
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...
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...
Finnish experimental metal band Dark Buddha Rising combines ghostly drone music, sinister guitar currents and shamanistic singing to startling effect. A constantly evolving beast, Dark Buddha Rising d...
Listening to Proto Idiot is listening to Bass, Drums and Vocals, like they’ve come straight from the 80’s, as a missing link between the likes of Gang of Four, Wire, and Swell Maps. But ac...
Willis Earl Beal has gone incognito as a new masked superhero persona: Nobody. By leveling everything all the way back to zero, Nobody can continue to captivate with the idiom of his previous guise: a...
Maybe it’s because of their location changes throughout the years (New York – Berlin – Los Angeles), but like the best method actors, Liars take up an entirely new set of tricks and...
With his nimble improv playing, composer Eli Keszler can make an average drum kit sound like electronic textures. It’s not much of a surprise that sonic contortionists such as Oneohtrix Point Ne...
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...
As kaleidoscopic as tUnE-yArDs manages to sound, it's always remarkable how she seems to pull sounds out of the hat by sampling a modest drum set, a small detuned ukelele or her own elastic vocals. On...
Along with Shy Girl and Sega Bodega, French artist and producer Coucou Chloe is the co-founder of burgeoning label/collective NUXXE. Her malformed take on pop music is as mind-melting as it is urgent,...
Group Listening is a joint project by UK-musicians Stephen Black and Paul Jones. Black and Jones met at music college before their respective paths strayed. Reconnecting years later after various ende...
Ashtoreth is the solo moniker of Belgian musician Peter Verwimp. As Ashtoreth, Verwimp draws heavily from the power of shamanism, to adapt and incorporate influences from other religious and spiritual...
There is plenty of intrigue surrounding Buenos Aires-based musician Juana Molina. At the height of her popularity as a TV host, she fully immersed herself into her prime interest: music. Over a two de...
Rabit is the moniker of Houston producer, composer, DJ, and record label owner Eric Burton. He combines industrial, hip hop, noise, and sound collage to foster sonic spaces for the exploration of sexu...
The Violent Magic Orchestra (VMO) is an offshoot of Japan’s brutal orchestra of everything Black, Vampillia. In collaboration with Pete Swanson (ex-Yellow Swans) and French composer Paul R&eacut...
YĪN YĪN is a jam-packed romp of South East Asian psych pop, funk, disco grooves and electronic music. The project was conceived by Kees Berkers and Yves Lennertz, two familiar faces in the Maastricht...
Islam Chipsy’s hyperactive keyboard mashing and drum duo EEK’s chaotic bliss rev up crowds into utter frenzy. This mighty Egyptian alliance is without question one of the most rowdy live a...
At last year's Le Guess Who?, British jazz stalwart Shabaka Hutchings performed with free jazz futurists The Comet Is Coming. This time around, Hutchings seeks out ghosts of the past with his South Af...
The Star Pillow is a drone/ambient moniker of Italian guitar impressionist Paolo Monti. Monti's craft is mainly informed by his research on the relation between sound, space and human emotion. On stag...
Renowned for her extraordinary vocal range, The Chicago Reader described Maja S. K. Ratkje as “one of the most astonishing singers on the planet.” Even more of an accomplishment when you t...
One famous sci-fi film once sported the tagline ‘in space no one can hear you scream’, but Prison Religion put that hypothesis to the test and then some. This Richmond, Virginia-based coll...
As a transgender, Katey Red was one of the first openly gay artists within the masculine bounce hip hop-scene. Red became known for her rapid, machine gun-like beats and her explicit, gender fluid lyr...
We welcome 69-year-old Kadri Gopalnath, saxophone maestro and pioneer from India. Gopalnath’s life’s work is to incorporate the woodwind instrument into the classic South Indian Carnatic m...
“The Jimi Hendrix Of Africa” Sekou Kouyate is a renowned Kora-player, a free radical with one leg planted into the tradition of his homeland Guinea. The other travels out and about into mo...
Presented by SPRING Performing Arts Festival
Happiness explores the area where man and artificiality converge, where synthetic substances help us to re-humanise, maxi-humanise or, for a while, abando...
Yonatan Gat became known as a member of revolutionary Israeli punk band Monotonix, as well as an acclaimed recording artist. After powwow drum group the Eastern Medicine Singers initially turned down...
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)...
Mega Bog instills a wonderful and somewhat disorienting kind of confusion on her stunning latest LP ‘Dolphine’, conjuring a nautical journey of seventies folk, soft rock, new age and psych...
Anatolian psych folk revivalists Altın Gün are, most simply put, a power pact between members of Jacco Gardner and Jungle By Night, who wound up crossing paths with musicians Erdinç Ecevit...
Sonic tinkerer Paddy Steer dives into the realms of lo-fi pop, new age, acid jazz and cosmic funk like a kid with a new box of crayons. With a multitude of instruments at his disposal, this Manchester...
Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux funnels the spells of black metal into howls of Tom Waits-esque juke joint blues. Suffice to say, results are nothing short of spectacular. Debut album ‘De...
Born and raised in China and currently residing in Berlin, Pan Daijing is a groundbreaking artist, composer and storyteller who creates a raw and rare mixture of noise music, performance art, dance an...
For a band whose name translates to “Trees, Grass and Stone”, obviously, these lionized Swedish innovators have upheld their utopian ideals both in ethos and sound since the early 70&rsquo...
Presented by Centraal Museum
Alles is Rond (All Is Round) was made in the city where Louis Andriessen and Madelon Hooykaas both grew up: Utrecht. Both artists have worked together before, but this is...
Formed in 1997, Endless Boogie is an American rock band who are living up to their own band name. They’re well known for their seemingly infinite, minimalist jams, onstage as well as on record....
Norwegian-born, Berlin-based artist Stíne Janvin has the special ability to morph and manipulate her vocals into beautiful sound abstractions, to the point even where you forget it’s a vo...
Over the past decade, Mali rapper Master Soumy has been a key figure within the West-African nation’s youth movement. Along with his peers, Soumy’s sharp-witted lyrical mastery became the...
The most riveting, template-shifting music often comes from a state of displacement or transience, and the Luxembourg-based, Cape Verde-born ensemble Grupo Pilon is certainly no exception. Founded by...
Across decades, Neneh Cherry traversed and transcended every known faction of the music world; from bona fide pop stardom to the peripheries of punk rock, club music and jazz. Even more recently, Cher...
You could describe Detroit’s Protomartyr as a post-punk outfit, but then again, the foursome could probably care less about what genre you stick to it. ‘A flaying intensity’ might be...
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...
Best known for his famous four-part masterwork ‘The Disintegration Loops’, William Basinski has been a vital figurehead in the New York art scene for over three decades. Starting his music...
Angus Fairbairn (aka Alabaster DePlume) has a knack for turning the everyday into the absurd. On the opening track of his recent LP ‘The Corner of a Sphere’, he wails: “I’m mak...
Music derived from Rastafarian sound system culture has known many incarnations over time, but Jah Shaka remains true to its spiritual roots and essence. He arrived as teenager from Jamaica in London...
French sound sculptor Félicia Atkinson once curiously speculated that “music always existed, even before humans appeared." She might be onto something: under her spell, a seemingly random...
After notable stints as Inga Copeland and Hype Williams (the latter with Dean Blunt), Alina Astrova once again brandishes her signature Baudelairean hybrid of pop and stripped-down tech...
In the late 80’s, Doug Hream Blunt moonlighted music with a job at a care home in San Francisco. As a relative late bloomer at age 35, he started writing songs after attending a How To Start A B...
Oorutaichi takes the word ‘fun’ into hyperdrive. This Japanese producer shakes the rules of techno, electro pop and sampling like a can of soda and lets things fly with contagious enthusia...
Canadian artist Sarah Davachi's creates immersive soundscapes with a playful exchange between ancient acoustic instrumentation and analogue synths. Davachi is a real sonic thrill-seeker who enjoys pus...
The sensational Afro-psychedelic collective BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) started out as a social gathering in their native township of Soweto, South Africa. BCUC is an alliance of guitari...
K Á R Y Y N is a producer, composer and vocalist who makes textured and emotional music inspired by the human condition, science and spirituality. Born in Alabama, baptized in Aleppo and raised...
They’re fast, they’re fearless, and they’re amazing. Meet screaming vocalist Jackie Jackieboy, shredding guitarist Dick Riddick, and their super tight friend: the drum machine. Toget...
Dutch multi-instrumentalist and psych pop traveler Jacco Gardner will be heading back to Le Guess Who? this year, where he premieres the ‘Somnium’ experience. This will also be the live de...
FRKWYS is a series initiated by Brooklyn-based independent record label RVNG Intl.; aimed at an ambitious and unique pairing of modern artists and their musical predecessors for the creation of a coll...
The involvement of Meredith Graves (Perfect Pussy) in both mainstream and underground culture is as wide-ranging as it's confronting. Through her roots in hardcore-punk, and her activities as a writer...
Raised in North Carolina as the daughter of two devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kelsey Lu moved to New York at the age of 18 to study cello. Her debut EP ‘Church’ - which gained acclaim...
Two years ago, Zimbabwe-born, UK-based musician/poet Farai delivered a straight-up banger in ‘The Sinner’ on the Vol. 1 compilation of African diaspora collective NON Worldwide. Consider t...
BAK presents
Maria Hlavajova, general and artistic director of BAK, basis voor contemporary art, has been interested in exploring what she calls “the art in the otherwise”. Committed to a...
BAK presents
London research agency Forensic Architecture is known for its unconventional research methods in order to investigate the violation of human and nature rights. As a Turner Prize 2018 nom...
Alanis Obomsawin received worldwide acclaim as a filmmaker and visual artist. Her work is binded by crusading for the rights and well being of indigenous populations while simultaneously celebrating t...
Joseph Shabason demonstrated his mastery of woodwind, horn and brass instruments on iconic records such as Destroyer’s ‘Kaputt’ and The War On Drugs’ ‘Lost In The Dream&r...
Foundation De Pastoe Fabriek presents
De Pastoe Fabriek favours a new international counter-culture to break the hegemony of the global financial institutions and to reverse the tide of narrow-minded...
Like Patrick Higgins, Tyondai Braxton is an innovator in the purest sense. As a former member of Battles, he ventured far beyond the outer dimensions of what we consider pop music. Braxton earned his...
In the lexicon of John Maus, pop music has always been a vessel for endless possibility. Much like fellow voyager Ariel Pink, pop serves as the Trojan Horse for Maus's avalanche of ideas, philosophies...
Hailing from the idyllic Caribbean island of Martinique, DJ Noss’ music is deeply rooted in his Martiniquan heritage. Armed with both turntables and a traditional Bèlè drum, his ec...
Enter the dark, mythical world of minimalist composer and praised lute-player Jozef van Wissem. Accompanied by his twin-necked, 24-stringed baroque instrument, Van Wissem creates strange, sonic sounds...
Amnesia Scanner isn’t so much music as it is a movement, one that intrudes living rooms and sweltering, neon-lit dancefloors alike. The Berlin-based duo’s profoundly impressive debut &lsqu...
Berlin-based, Argentina-born noiseniks Mueran Humanos enlisted Carmen Burguess to direct a companion film for their last LP ‘Hospital Lullabies’, which will be screened before the group&rs...
Collaboratorium
At this year’s Le Guess Who?, drummer Greg Fox (Liturgy, Ben Frost, Ex Eye) will be the festival’s whimsical X-factor. One of the artists he will court is composer and for...
Zia Anger’s short films have premiered at the New York Film Festival and Locarno. She has directed music videos for an impressive roster of artists, including Angel Olsen, Mitski, Beach House, Z...
Summoning songs that are deeply vulnerable and achingly confessional, Perfume Genius has become a formidable force. Applying both pop smarts and sonic innovation, the work of Mike Hadreas is a primal...
Like some people collect stamps, Sofia Jernberg collects vocal disciplines. Born in Ethiopia in 1983, the Oslo-based artist mastered myriad styles – from opera singing to pitchless singing &ndas...
Indeed, the voice of Suuns has plenty more junk in his trunk. Ben Shemie’s fascination with classical music, radio art, new technologies and the free-form experimentalism of labels like Warp Rec...
Roberto SOLO Fonseca still lives in the heart of his birthplace Havana, which explains why his adaptation of Cuba’s musical heritage remains so refreshingly renegade and immediate. He spawned ex...
Composer Maarten Vos is what you’d call a voyager: he transforms traditional instrumentation into newfangled sounds and wields technology like something intricately human. Known as much for his...
The music of visionary Dutch/Iranian-born Sevdaliza is an open and safe arena for human expression. For this Rotterdam-based artist and musician, rigid concepts of sex, gender, image and ethnicity are...
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...
In collaboration with Casco Art Institute
Throughout Beverly-Glenn Copeland’s extraordinary 74 years on this planet, he has consciously and constantly dealt with his process of becoming and bei...
Although best known for his work evoking the sounds of classic country music, Daniel Romano has always been a free and restless spirit, as well as a gifted and masterful musician. His new brainchild i...
Few musicians are as versatile, risk-taking and compulsively explorative as Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. This nomadic musician redefined math and noise rock with 90 Day Men and helped spearhead druidic dr...
Queens based artist Alexandra Drewchin, a.k.a. Eartheater, throws you back and forth with her unconventional, tumultuous sound. Featuring bizarre clashes of acoustic and digital music, Eartheater&rsqu...
Some bands exist to obey your sweetest aural proclivities, but Mueran Humanos is no such band. This Argentinian, Berlin-based duo aims to unnerve and shudder with their strangely fascinating, queasy c...
Nadah El Shazly is one of the most versatile and progressive Egyptian musicians. The Cairo-based artist garnered that status by immersing herself in many different stylistics, including jazz, classica...
Muddersten's ambient soundscapes make you feel like you're part of one of an archaic sci-fi flick: gyrating drones, white noise and dissonant tones orbit the brain like satellites and spaceships. The...
The title track of Lifafa’s most recent album ‘Jaago’ tells you all you need to know about the Indian producer, veering from its swooning, rustic flirtations to joyous electronic res...
DJINN, an alliance formed by musicians in Swedish outfits Hills and GOAT, has quickly flourished into a marvel in and of itself. Extracting sonics from the fabric of Alice Coltrane’s astral jazz...
With a career that dates back to the 80s, Soichi Terada has long been a bastion of soothing house music in Japan. Thanks in part to Hunee, who provided a showcase of Terada’s work via the Rush H...
Singing in their native language of Portuguese, Boogarins’ music will let you reevaluate the turbulent life of today. On their latest EP ‘Lá Vem a Morte’, the Brazilian psych...
Godflesh is an austere beast that intersects elements of industrial, metal, noise rock and post-punk in truly defiant, engrossing fashion. With its juggernaut drum thuds, shredding bass throbs, cauter...
Nora Mulder is a renowned Dutch pianist. California-born, Amsterdam-based multi-instrumentalist Mary Oliver performs the violin, viola and Hardanger fiddle in free-spirited fashion as member of Nieuw...
Senegalese house producer Stephen “Ibaaku” Bassene’s dazzling debut ‘Alien Cartoon’ was originally meant to be the soundtrack of a sci-fi fashion show created by fellow c...
Stockholm musician and composer Ellen Arkbro is motivated by generating and absorbing sound. Whether she has her hands on a 400-year old pipe organ or a grid of digital equipment, the results are equa...
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...
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...
Ben Bertrand is a Brussels-based bass clarinetist who cut his teeth in the Belgian modern classical scene. Bertrand once invented a device that enables him to transform the natural sound of his instru...
Ian Svenonius & Alexandra Cabral present
The mythical performer, author, and filmmaker Ian Svenonius, who performs as Escape-Ism, shows a selection of experimental short films he made with filmma...
As Vive la Void, Sanae Yamada emerges from Moon Duo’s copious fuzz-drenched blast-offs like a floating space capsule. Inspired by the constant going and froing of tour life, Yamada’s glass...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Centraal Museum
As co-creative director for Björk on visuals, mask-maker James Merry is primarily known for his hand embroidery on sportswear, but he also create...
Somehow, Faten Kanaan composes mesmeric, hypnotic music without the use of sequencers or arpeggiators. With that tranquil sense of endlessness as her core principal, she tells evocative stories with b...
Ben Frost’s interests are as vast as his output is, creating music for dance companies and films, and collaborating with visual artists and poets. Frost’s music is influenced by classical...
Club 3voor12/Utrecht is a free entrance event, showcasing 3 local/Dutch bands. Featuring the loop-based, lo-fi electronics of Bieldermann; Fungo Bat, the project of multi-instrumentalis...
Islaja is the moniker of Finland-born, Berlin-based sound artist Merja Kokkonen. The ever inventive musician often furnishes her malformed pop with surprising influences and bold instrumentation. Isla...
As a teenager, Klavikon’s Leon Michener saved years worth of allowance to get himself a small analogue Moog synth. Needless to say, Michener has yet to surface from the rabbit hole experimentali...
Libya’s Ahmed Fakroun is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and pioneer in modern Arabic music. As a rhymist (based on a form of Algerian folk music dating back to the 1920s), he is one of the...
Sun Kil Moon challenges the notion that life imitates art. In the curious case of Mark Kozelek, life is art. His stream-of-consciousness folk narratives and nylon-stringed guitar meanderings make Sun...
Originally formed by Pixies’ Kim Deal and Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly, The Breeders are back in rumbling, restless style. Gaining worldwide recognition with their smashing, gummy hit sin...
Spazio Disponibile presents
Few DJs and producers are as universally acclaimed in techno circles as Italian connoisseur Donato Dozzy. Dozzy possesses that rare ability to zigzag his way into peoples&...
Musician Arish Ahmad Khan – better known as King Khan – will read ‘Black Power Tarot’ cards for festival visitors. It’s a series of tarot cards he created with filmmaker...
In the universe of Mykki Blanco, art and real life don’t imitate each other, but are symbiotic and reciprocal. Few artists could infiltrate mainstream audiences with cinematic, experimental trac...
Guitarist Marisa Anderson dreamy dustbowl fingerpicking style focusses on both perplexing melodies and noisy textures. Her reworkings of vintage American classics are stripped from their lyrics, shini...
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...
You know that mechanism where you whisper a message in a circle of people – and as its passed on back to you, that message becomes distorted? That’s a little bit what Portland duo Visible...
Lending his singular talents to artists as diverse as Liturgy, Glenn Branca and Colin Stetson, drummer extraordinaire Greg Fox’s rapid fire, blistering playing style is a true force of nature. F...
With his self-taught piano improvisations and stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach, Lonnie Holley is a storyteller of the highest order. Apart from being an acclaimed visual artist, Holley also cr...
Julianna Barwick’s neoclassical/ambient compositions revel in the art of reverb, a crystalline pollination of tiny sonic particles into soothing bundles that fill up entire rooms. Having such a...
A librarian by day, Richard Youngs spends pretty much every other minute of his waking life living and breathing music. His fascinations reach all corners of the world, from Syd Barrett’s quirky...
Yves Tumor is one of the most mysterious and gripping experimental musicians to emerge in recent memory. On his critically well-received LP ‘Serpent Music’ he combines abrasive, slithering...
As a live act, Japan’s Vampillia are an anomaly if there ever was one. They embrace and command both eerie silences and punishing volumes of dark oozing noise. It’s no surprise this 11-pie...
After initially cutting her teeth with critically-acclaimed drone ensemble Vibracathedral Orchestra, Bridget Hayden’s first solo outing ‘An Indifferent Ocean’ turned a lot of heads w...
Spazio Disponibile presents
Aimée Portioli, also known as Grand River, is a Dutch-Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in Berlin. While mainly connected to the fields of...
Spring Heel Jack is an electronic duo with roots in drum&bass and jungle. Highlighted by their 2001 album ‘Masses’, Ashley Wales and John Coxon morphed their musical blueprint into the...
Lebanese-born producer and DJ Rabih Beaini (formerly known as Morphosis) specializes in grainy, imaginative analogue techno. A range of influences—improvisational jazz, krautrock, new wave, elec...
Natasha Kmeto's music sounds like pure pop exposing itself under the x-ray machine: fully-formed, but its anatomy and innards laid bare for all to see. Her albums ‘Crisis’ and ‘Inevi...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
Following the footsteps of Islamic mystics on the Indian subcontinent of Pakistan, the Swiss director Annette Berger managed to document the spiritual eve...
In cooperation with Gaudeamus
Ivan Vukosavljević’s brand new work arms Ensemble Klang with an array of deconstructed electric guitars, the ensemble reborn as prepared/tabletop/eBow guitarists....
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...
Adrift somewhere in purgatory between Syd Barrett and Robert Wyatt, the immense spacious beauty of Ed Dowie’s debut LP ‘The Uncle Sold’ can’t be overstated enough. Drawing insp...
Priscilla Telmon & Vincent Moon are a collaborating multidisciplinary artist duo working as independent filmmakers and sound-explorers. Together they produce ethnographic experimental films and mu...
“Ceramic popcorn exploding in craniums.” This is just one of many lyrics that encapsulates Orchestra Of Spheres’ strange but infectious experimental pop, sounding like a Moebius sci-...
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...
The Avonden is the brainchild of prolific Dutch musician and visual artist Marc van der Holst (ex-Hospital Bombers and Spilt Milk). Debut LP ‘Nachtschade’, issued on Subroutine Records, ta...
The Israel-born, Switzerland-based Omri Ziegele is a self-taught alt sax player, honing his skills in London and at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Ziegele has performed in theatre and with the cir...
For eclectic London-based group The Heliocentrics, musical boundaries are invisible. This collective has the ability to fluently string together a broad spectrum of genres, including jazz, hip-hop, ps...
Curated by Shabaka Hutchings; dir. Marc Levin
‘SLAM’ is an 1998 independent film starring actor, screenwriter, noise poet and hip hop futurist Saul Williams. The film tells the story of R...
New York musician/composer Lea Bertucci threads the needle between the physical and abstract. The soothing movements she creates with alto saxophone, electronics and bass clarinet interact with device...
The Graindelavoix ensemble from Antwerp is notorious for their daring and alienating performances that embrace the imperfections of what it means to be human. Now, they presents the four-hour piece &l...
Cate Le Bon, Tim Presley & H. Hawkline present
Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley form the musical duo DRINKS, but also practice other arts and crafts as a means to enter a different headspace. Together...
RVNG Intl. presents; dir. Misha Hollenbach & Johann Rashid
‘Sunshine Soup’ is a documentary about the making of the FRKWYS recording ‘We Know Each Other Somehow’ by Robert...
Russian collective Shortparis is all about tension, friction and disruption, obscuring the boundaries between audiovisual theatre, techno raves and punk rock performance. Whether it’s shattering...
Still the crudest, strangest and loudest band from Atlanta. On their eighth LP, the cheekily titled 'Satan's Graffiti or God's Art?', the band unrolled an 18-song epic revelling in Wall Of Sound grand...
Xylouris White is firmly rooted in the past and future: a tight alliance between Greek musician and songwriter Georgios Xylouris and drummer Jim White. Xylouris White reconciles not only the tandem&rs...
British collective Seefeel straddled that chasm between experimental rock and ambient techno long before artists like Radiohead and Broadcast – and even later, Dirty Beaches and Caribou –...
Jerusalem In My Heart invites friends from Beirut and Montreal to take over the decks to fill the night to the wee hours of the morning with some badass music. Dress sharp...
On one of her newer songs, Cut Connection, Jesca Hoop tries to reconcile a love with the words "be the drummer in my heart". The magnetic Hoop laces her distinct anti-folk with likewise playful lyrici...
Justin 'KUTMAH' McNulty was born in Brighton, England to an Egyptian mother and Scottish father. After moving to the United States at twelve years old, KUTMAH ultimately made a name for himself as an...
As former choir-boy suppressing his queer feelings, New York producer and songwriter Josiah White unleashes his true nature in the boundary-breaking project Serpentwithfeet. Creating an elaborating, e...
‘’7: Triptychon - Dreamtime' is an interdisciplinary project: a combination of dance / performance, a three-dimensional art installation and a magical ritual that makes Nicole Beutler phas...
Whether it’s the early, more electronic-driven beginnings or excavating field recordings at an abandoned settlement in the Arctic Circle, these Danish pop adventurers express boundless enthusias...
South Korean outfit Jambinai performs a thrilling mix of post rock, noisy jazz, dreamy ambient, electro and metal. Their traditional rock instrumentation is given quite the upgrade with electronics, e...
Lombok Festival, one of Le Guess Who?’s satellite events, returns on Friday 8 November. The freely accessible festival is a celebration of the cultural diversity of this city’s district, i...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a stunning portrait of a musical genius who nearly slipped away. Director Jeff Feuerzeig exquisitely depicts a perfect ex...
Vilde Tuv has been dubbed as Norway’s finest one-woman orchestra. With just voice, bass drum and guitar at her disposal, Tuv’s songs can swell from raw minimalism to celestial beauty on th...
12-Hour Drone artist Martijn Comes composition 'Eann' will be performed by Malgosia Fiebig on the Dom church carillon. He wrote it for his son, exploring themes like family, roots, saying go...
That strange intermediate state during lucid dreams, when the body physically reacts to images summoned by your imagination: that’s a pretty apt way to describe the impact of Sarah Davachi&rsquo...
H. Hawkline’s goofball pop has the special ability to make the mundane sound quirky, whether it’s a perfectly formed bit of toothpaste on your toothbrush or shoelaces tied equally tight to...
Great pop songs with magic sprinkles of Eastern soundtracks, Spaghetti Western’s spacious twang and some grooving yé-yé sounds, that’s Khana Bierbood in a nutshell. Not surpr...
While growing up, Amsterdam based electronic music producer Vincent-Paolo developed an early fascination for the chords in soul music and the drums in his dads jazz records. Initially getting into ele...
The phenomenal Yat-Kha, a legendary Siberian ensemble led by Albert Kuvezin, has expanded Tuvan folk music and throat singing into a global phenomenon. Kuvezin was also the founder of traditional Tuva...
Together with three powerful Maghreb voices, the ultra-low TR-808 bass and potent beats, Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Youssef (a.k.a AMMAR 808) takes you into the dark realms of North African futuris...
Drone-based music often wields the power to blur that stark hierarchy between audience and stage, to level everyone in the room as both participant and listener. Korean duo TENGGER are no exception to...
Paul Clipson is a San Francisco-based experimental filmmaker who often collaborates with sound artists and musicians. His Super 8 and 16mm films aim to bring subconscious visual abstractions to light....
Last year, Dunedin lo-fi pop singer Kane Strang debuted his winsome first album ‘Blue Cheese’, and just like that, he joined the Dead Oceans roster. On sophomore LP ‘Two Hearts And N...
The steady yet ever versatile Kevin Morby extends his musical range with each project he's a part of. Morby exhibits a fleeting beauty and folk rock romanticism in his songwriting, hypnotically explor...
Casco Art Institute presents
‘Evolved in shared relationships’ is a solo-exhibition by Finnish artist Alma Heikkilä. Feeling the urge to understand our ecological atmosphere and cons...
Seattle icons Mudhoney are widely regarded as trailblazers of the grunge movement. With shock and awe, they stormed onto the scene with ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’, a song that riffs on acer...
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...
Leo Svirsky is an American composer, improviser, pianist and accordionist based in The Hague. He explores the ways our listening behavior alters the way we register musical vocabularies. Disorientatio...
UK-based musical collective Ex-Easter Island Head incorporates multiple prepared electric guitars struck with percussion mallets, creating music that explores group interplay, repetition and melodic i...
Presented by Le Guess Who?, Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, No Seat At The Table, BAK - basis voor actuele kunst, Urban Futures Studio (Utrecht University), RAUM
“In urban social...
In her enigmatic avant-pop excursions, Jenny Hval breaks free from rigid concepts of sex, mortality, biology and pop culture. Her concept album ‘Blood Bitch’ occupies a fractured but heroi...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
Part film, part baptism, in Black Mother director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and...
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leonardo Campelo Gonçalves, stage name Negro Leo, stands out from Brazil’s flourishing experimental music scene, without a doubt. By adding ele...
Presented by Le Guess Who? & Springhaver
In this genre-defying film, Zerzura follows a young man from a small village in Niger who leaves home in search of an enchanted oasis. His journey leads h...
Holly Herndon’s vital album ‘PROTO’ is an inquisitive, affirmative work that interplays elements like Sacred Harp choirs with an A.I.-entity called Spawn, therefore splicing the orga...
His impressive body of work includes stints as "dub poet", political orator, recording artist and author/journalist. His 1978 reggae album ‘Dread Beat an' Blood’ is a statement akin to Gil...
Holly Herndon’s vital album ‘PROTO’ is an inquisitive, affirmative work that interplays elements like Sacred Harp choirs with an A.I.-entity called Spawn, therefore splicing the orga...
Manchester figurehead Jane Weaver’s twenty-year career has mostly been aimed at molding dream pop, avant-folk and psychedelic music into fully realized artistic concepts. Weaver's last two effor...
Holly Herndon’s vital album ‘PROTO’ is an inquisitive, affirmative work that interplays elements like Sacred Harp choirs with an A.I.-entity called Spawn, therefore splicing the orga...
Acid Rooster are pretty much a wet dream for heads who cram their cabinets with Amon Düül, Spacemen 3, Wooden Shjips and Magma. The dynamics of this band diverge from weightless, spaced out...
Renowned Slovenia-born, Netherlands-based pianist Kaja Draksler brings a wondrous revisionist stamp on homegrown folk, classical modernism, improv and pop. Draksler will perform with none other than T...
Operating on a crossroad between genres like rock, jazz and avant-garde, Schnellertollermeier execute with great precision, skill and clarity. With instrumental power at the heart of their music, they...
‘Carefree’ doesn’t even begin to describe the music of DRINKS. Untroubled by anything resembling internal logic, White Fence’s Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon indulge in deliciousl...
Hosted by FACT
Slikback is Freddy Njau, an emerging Kenyan producer currently situated in Poland. Associated with the infectious Kampala collective Nyege Nyege, his 2019 EP Tomo renders footwork, gri...
“Her playing conjures a vision of some vintage piano genius like Art Tatum coming back to life and getting high on post-minimalism,” Pitchfork once concluded. Indeed, if some renowned comp...
Japanese noise and avant-garde maestro Keiji Haino and free-spirited Dutch drummer/percussionist Han Bennink are born miles apart, but share their ability to shape music from any place, object or situ...
Step into the boundless and ambient-overlaid world of Chihei Hatakeyama; a sound artist, mastering engineer and record label founder from Tokyo, Japan. By processing acoustic instruments such as guita...
Brazilian singer-songwriter Rodrigo Amarante is most famous for writing and performing ‘Tuyo’, the theme song for the Netflix hit series ‘Narcos’. Just don't pin his work down...
The duo endeavors of Marcia Bassett (guitars) and Samara Lubelski (violin) originated in 2009, creating alternate musical scores to existing films. It became a neat starting point to create original m...
Kiwi musician Aldous Harding stops you dead in your tracks with her remarkable dark folk hymns. A magnetic stage presence, Harding taps into different moods and characters, often in the very same song...
The words ‘holy minimalist’ immediately jump out when skimming the artist biography of Mexican producer Murcof. Fernando Corona appears to shift techno music from its hedonist, more secula...
The image post-hardcore group Pissed Jeans paint on their violent and earth-scorching new LP ‘Why Love Now’ isn't a pretty one. It's nevertheless a vivid reflection of post-Trump America t...
Moon Duo’s torrent blotchy psychedelics inventively coalesce with meditative, minimalist pop. Indeed, this is inflammatory music that submerges and manifests within the subconscious like a livin...
Every year, Le Feast invites you into a living room in Utrecht, to enjoy a feast together with people you don't know (yet). Many Utrechtian home-chefs will transform their living room into a cozy brun...
As a former member of legendary Tokyo-based psychedelic band Yura Yura Teikoku, Shintaro Sakamoto became a cult star in his motherland of Japan. In his solo work, Sakamoto creates post-apocalyptic exo...
Ekin Fil's ambient compositions sound like eerie, disintegrated remnants of a Cocteau Twins tune. Istanbul-based musician and composer Ekin Üzeltüzenci happily chooses full-on abstraction ov...
The multitalented British-Ghanaian Kojey Radical is an ever-evolving artist. Performing a sensational balancing act between UK grime, hip hop and alternative rap, this 25 year old poet-turned-rapper i...
Saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and drummer/percussionist Han Bennink will forever be linked by Brötzmann’s 1968 fearsome album ‘Machine Gun’. Since then, both musicians have f...
Equal parts acoustic guitar visionary and urban mythologist, South-Africa’s Sibusile Xaba creates a wonderful blend of African folk, flamenco and jazz. Supported by expressive fingerpicking and...
One oath sworn by Hello Skinny – founded by Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – is to create improv music that doesn’t sound improvisational. Inspired by New York’s late &lsquo...
Hailing from Jogjakarta, Senyawa pushes traditional Indonesian music and experimental music far, far beyond their accustomed boundaries, resulting in a thrilling blend of their cultural heritage, avan...
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...
Jerusalem In My Heart is the main project of Lebanon-born, Montreal-based artist and producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh. Moumneh collects sounds and melodies, both archaic and futuristic, to create a trans...
Prana Crafter summons cobwebbed guitar meditations, kosmische drones, and mystic acid folk mantras. In their 2018 Best Albums-list, Aquarium Drunkard described William Sol’s project as “an...
Ami Dang, a Sikh-American electronic pop artist living in Baltimore, splurges the canvas with a stupefying range of influences, including Indian hymns, Bollywood hits and nineties diva house. She swir...
By Special Arrangement with Ecstatic Peace Library. No matter how far his musical interests stretch, Thurston Moore’s stylish poise is always prevalent in his work: red-hot, risqué and ra...
US-born, Swedish-based artist Kali Malone builds a truly remarkable synthesis of analog and electronic music, drawing in listeners with discernible warmth and timelessness. Whether she’s utilizi...
Jonathan Bremer and Morten McCoy are two Danish musicians knee-deep in many different endeavors. Bremer is a renowned jazz player, producer and owner of the Unity Rec. label. McCoy, meanwhile, is a pi...
The ever-versatile Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is a soul that keeps creating, with each undertaking achieving new depths, textures and vocabularies. Lowe's been a mainstay with math rockers 90 Day Men and...
Brain-melting psychedelic pop that trespasses your neurons like a dream machine on some spaceship. Argentina’s Los Siquicos Litoraleños is truly a baffling operation, embracing wacky expe...
Before TivoliVredenburg opened in 2014, Le Guess Who? had its headquarters at beloved pop venue Tivoli Oudegracht. This year, we are happy to return to our roots with a very special project: Collabora...
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Steve Beresford applies his impressive background in free-improv and jazz with witty intellect. Whether he uses toy instruments to create soundscapes, scores TV prog...
Le Bazarre is a renowned and travelling market inspired by quality vintage, second hand and indie craft. It hosts curated vendors and takes place on a new, inspiring location within the city of Utrech...
As J-E-T-S, producer compadres Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum (Travis Stewart) developed a project that’s a wee bit more complex than your average cross-pollination of ideas. By applying their comm...
Regarded as one of Chicago’s most versatile and in-demand drummers, Makaya McCraven moves between genres like jazz, hip-hop and funk at lightning speed. Unquestionably respected as a jazz artist...
As a full-time member of Utrecht-based folk/slowcore formation I Am Oak, Dutch musician Robby de Selby is a versatile talent with an ear for both delightful melodies and foggy atmospherics. De Selby h...
Vera Sola is a New York-based vocalist, poet and multi-instrumentalist. In recent years, she has worked on numerous projects, including performing with folk-rock artist Elvis Perkins and writing sever...
Matthew Benn and Christopher Duffin have cut their teeth with psych trailblazers Hookworms and dream pop authors Deadwall respectively. As XAM Duo, they've blossomed into an ethereal electronic jazz o...
Tokyo-based group Kikagaku Moyo forges heavy-improv psychedelia, including elements of German Krautrock, classic Indian raga and acid folk. Kikagaku Moyo - Japanese for "geometric patterns" - finds a...
Montreal's Big|Brave occupy a unique sonic space. Merging guitar torrents, withered noise bursts and shamanic yelps into a fully fleshed-out artistic vision, Big|Brave make believers everywhere their...
A librarian by day, Richard Youngs spends pretty much every other minute of his waking life making music. This sonic shapeshifter’s fascinations range from Syd Barrett’s oddball folk to Gr...
This year, Le Guess Who? will host a special collaboration between Chicago-based songwriter and accomplished fingerstyle guitarist Ryley Walker and Japanese psych-rockers Kikagaku Moyo. With both arti...
Experimental electronic music doesn’t always have to be dark and twisted, such proves Moscow-based producer Kate NV. Normally, she’s a guitar-wielding post-punker and performer within Mosc...
Unconventional and hard to categorize, producer/lyricist Quelle Chris is well-versed in several genres, including punk rock, poetry, abstract soul, and experimental hip-hop. As a beatsmith, he tends t...
Multi-disciplinary artist Lafawndah (Yasmine Dubois) uses performance as something strangely non-performative: her shows become a safe space to communicate with as many curious listeners and onlookers...
Le Bazarre is a renowned and travelling market inspired by quality vintage, second hand and indie craft. It hosts curated vendors and takes place on Utrecht’s famous Domplein (Dom Square), locat...
Besides running a festival, label, and events series, Thomas Martojo and Casper Tielrooij somehow still manage to find time to dig in to through every inch of record stores to build their music collec...
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...
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...
Born and bred in the isolated, outstretched emptiness that's the Mojave desert, The Soft Moon’s Luis Vasquez projects equally desolate imagery to voice his darkest fears. Each album peels away a...
Rock ‘n Roll revolutionary and punk veteran Ian Svenonius is back in town. The mythical performer, author, and filmmaker is currently taking the world by storm with his solo project Escape-Ism....
Gregory Shorter Jr., also known as Ras_G, is an instrumental hip-hop producer, DJ and afrofuturist. Active in L.A.’s avant-garde beats scene since the early 2000’s and associated with the...
Using the drums as his main outlet, Greg Fox is a multi-instrumentalist, interdisciplinary artist, and teacher based in New York. Attaching sensors to his acoustic drum kit, Fox triggers sequenced syn...
Hosted by FACT
Ziggy Devriendt doesn’t exactly tiptoe around his many music-related interests. Whether he’s hosting his monthly show at London’s NTS radio station, running streaming...
Writing to us, Mark Wynn mentioned that he “leaves the UK to dance for money when the money is acceptable.” With remarkable British accent and lyrics dipped in parody, Wynn creates noise-r...
Danish sample-duo Den Sorte Skole creates magical, musical storytelling across time and space. By sampling obscure records from all over the globe, all possible genres and from all times, these guys t...
Steven Warwick is a British-born, Berlin-based musician and visual artist who performed under the moniker Heatsick in the past. Warwick moulds hypnotic dancefloor-focussed tracks in a similar way to h...
Weyes Blood's West Coast folk reverie can be as sensitive as surreal. Multi-instrumentalist and singer Natalie Mering’s inspirations range from Harry Nilsson’s pop majesty to Wolf Eyes&rsq...
In the past, Tim Koh made his mark as steady collaborator with oddball pop outfits such as Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Prince Rama and Gang Gang Dance. In his solo work, the Amsterdam-based K...
Gonjasufi established himself as a mainstay in the Warp Records-family with druidic masterpiece 'A Sufi And A Killer', effectively patching together psychedelic music, drones, electronic music, sampli...
In the early 2000s, Hot Snakes rose to combine Rocket From The Crypt’s walloping garage rock anthems and Drive Like Jehu’s feverish post-hardcore stabs. With aforementioned bands reuniting...
Clarinet master Cüneyt Sepetçi and his Orchestra Dolapdere are among the greatest musicians Turkey has ever produced. Not just adept at blasting out Turkish gypsy music with firecracker fe...
Those familiar with acquainted acts like Meridian Brothers and Romperayo already how deliciously fun, kooky and strangely sophisticated Los Pirañas are on stage. But, to spell it out for the ye...
Hosted by FACT
Belgrade-based DJ Vladimir Ivkovic sees his chosen profession as a deeper philosophy than just filling up dancefloors. For him, DJing is a way to enter or create new places, to trigger...
Seattle-based musician Jesy Fortino (who also formed Mirrorring together with Grouper’s Liz Harris) returns as Tiny Vipers after an eight-year album hiatus. With the electronic soundscape-based...
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...
This multi-nationality Anatolian rock outfit is fronted by Turkish vocalist and musician Derya Yıldırım. With members from Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek of...
Eiko Ishibashi’s acumen as multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter speaks for itself: she spans genres like classical, jazz and improvisation with aplomb, crossing creative swords with li...
Art Feynman is a musician and recording artist based in California. Rooted in the world’s oldest religion ‘Animism’, which asserts that all things living and inert are endowed with s...
The Philadelphia-based, noise-infested 700 Bliss is a collaboration between spoken word artist & sonic time-traveler Moor Mother and Discwoman-affiliated producer DJ Haram. Originated during Phill...
As a hurdy-gurdy player, composer and sound artist, Yann Gourdon focuses on the various ways acoustic instruments work together with landscapes, objects and man-made structures. Simultaneously, he lea...
If you think sinister post-punk/no wave undertones and ornamental art pop make strange bedfellows, then you haven’t heard a Moon Relay album yet. The group (featuring frequent Jenny Hval-collabo...
Oft-compared to Karen Dalton and Hope Sandoval, Ora Cogan’s mystic folk is dark, beautiful and poignant. On latest album ‘Crickets’, the Vancouver-based composer and filmmaker abando...
Other pages
“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...
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 t...
Le Guess Who? 2021/2022 (English)
In 2021, Le Guess Who? celebrated its fourteenth edition from 11-14 November. The 15th edition of the festival dedicated to showcasing boundary-crossing music &...
The Netherlands
3voor12: Dit zijn de vijftig belangrijkste festivals van Nederland3voor12: Le Guess Who? slaat 2020 over3voor12: Beverly Glenn-Copeland blijft onverstoorbaar hoopvol3voor1...
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" &n...
Version March 2021
Since the 2018 implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Le Guess Who Foundation (hereafter referred to as LGW) is obligated to outline what personal...
Thanks to our dedicated, open-minded and adventurous audience, Le Guess Who? has grown to become a leading international festival. Over the past fifteen years, LGW has developed into a platform that showcases underrepresented sounds that are rarely presented on other stages and in other places, but deserve to be heard because we believe they enrich our worldview.
In order to keep developing the festival the upcoming fifteen years on the same level as we did the last fifteen, we could use your support.
Visitors of Le Guess Who? describe the character & atmosphere of the city of Utrecht among the most important reasons to visit the festival. Words most used by our visitors to describe the city of Utrecht are friendly, atmospheric, hospitable, high-quality, open-minded and a trusted surrounding.
"Spiralling outwards from the cobbled, canal-studded streets of the old town, Utrecht is an architecturally beautiful city in the centre of the Netherlands." -
Crack Magazine
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Le Guess Who? is dedicated to boundary-crossing music from all over the world.
In 2022, the festival takes place 10-13 November in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Le Guess Who? takes place across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
ENTRANCE: Le Guess Who? is only accessible with a valid wristband, unless otherwise noted.
AGE RESTRICTIONS: Children up to 12 years old are welcome to accompany their parents free of charge. We stro...
Participating locations and initiatives in 2e Daalsebuurt, Werkspoorkwartier and Cartesius: Ping Pong Club, dB’s, Hof van Cartesius, De Nijverheid, The Village Coffee & Music Roastery, NAR, De Havenloods and Jimmy’s Gym.
Deelnemende locaties en initiatieven in de 2e Daalsebuurt, Werkspoorkwartier en Cartesius zijn de Ping Pong Club, dB’s, Hof van Cartesius, De Nijverheid, The Village Coffee & Music Branderij, NAR, De Havenloods en Jimmy’s Gym.
COSMOS will present exclusive Le Guess Who? documentaries, interviews, visual experiences and other innovative formats to allow the audience to experience Le Guess Who? beyond Utrecht.
Click READ MORE to view the full program.
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.
Le Guess Who? heeft het doel om mensen samen te brengen door middel van muziek en cultuur. Daar wordt komende editie een nieuw onderdeel aan toegevoegd, genaamd U?. Een nieuw, verbindend en gratis toegankelijk dagprogramma gemaakt voor en mét de stad.
Do you want to help us to make Le Guess Who? the best experience possible? Or do you want to gain working experience at a festival? Become a part of our team as a volunteer, where you’ll meet like-minded music lovers from all over the world.
To make sure Le Guess Who? is a safe environment for everyone involved, we ask you to follow up on the below:
BEFORE LE GUESS WHO? 2021
Please note that traveling to and from the Netherlands is the...
The full program for U?, with almost a hundred performances activities, has been revealed.
Het volledige programma van U?, met bijna honderd optredens en activiteiten, is bekend.
Participating locations and initiatives in the Binnenstad (city center) are Utrecht Public Library, Akwaglot, Koffie Leute, De Utrechtse Boekenbar, Lou Oudenoord, Stranded FM and Kapitaal.
Deelnemende locaties en initiatieven in de Binnenstad zijn Bibliotheek Neude, Akwaglot, Koffie Leute, De Utrechtse Boekenbar, Lou Oudenoord, Stranded FM en Kapitaal.
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.
General info about U?
Algemene informatie over U?
Relive performances from LGW19
We captured some performances by Aldous Harding, Ayalew Mesfin & Debo Band, Efterklang, Girl Band, Makaya McCraven and Minyo Crusaders on...
Facts & Figures
Browse through our Facts & Figures magazine, in which we offer you an insight into the impact and results of LGW ON/OFF, with data from both events, photos, and quotes from me...
Le Guess Who? 2018 Line-up
Le Guess Who? 2018 featured programs curated by Devendra Banhart, Moor Mother and Shabaka Hutchings. View the full line-up via the link below.
LE GUESS WHO? 2018 LIN...
Representing the Underrepresented
During LGW18, Canal180 shot a documentary of our festival. “Who is a headliner? Everyone has his personal headliner and I think that’s what music sh...
Participating locations and initiatives in Lombok are Stadsklooster, De Voorkamer, Wishing Well West, De Zware Jongens, Perron West, Molen de Ster, Mosque square and Ulu Mosque.
Deelnemende locaties en initiatieven in Lombok zijn Stadsklooster, De Voorkamer, Wishing Well West, De Zware Jongens, Perron West, Molen de Ster, Moskeeplein en Ulu Moskee.
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.
https://www.citycenterlodgeutrecht.nl/There are many good places to stay in Utrecht. Stayokay Utrecht Centrum is a top pick for festival visitors, located ideally at Neude Square in the city center (just a couple of minutes from TivoliVredenburg and other venues).
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.
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
"Eclectic and probing" - New York Times
"LGW proves that even in times of political divide, music and art can bring us together into a more hopeful future" – The Line of Best Fit
"You...
Audio Recordings
There are lots of recordings available in our audio archive, including Junun feat. Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the Rajasthan Express, Elza Soares, Patty Waters, Tortoise, Scot...
As a creative organization we are always looking for new ways to do what we do. As we say: Le Guess Who? is an ever-changing format. But being an independent festival, we couldn’t do it without...
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 streaming.
LGW17 Photo Archive
Our photo team captured a lot of special moments during Le Guess Who? 2017. Take a scroll through our 2017 photo archive:
VISIT PHOTO ARCHIVE
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...
Dive into our 2016 program guide, with info on artists, side programs during the festival, like Le Mini Who?, Le Bazarre, Juri Hiensch's Photo Exhibition on 10 Years of Le Guess Who?, and Le Gig Poster.
Participating locations and initiatives in Transwijk are Vechtclub XL, Brewpub De Kromme Haring, Studio Patrick and de Klub.
Deelnemende locaties en initiatieven in Transwijk zijn Vechtclub XL, De Kromme Haring, Studio Patrick en de Klub.
Program & Other Guides
Dive into our 2016 Program Guide with artists biographies; info on Satellite Events like Le Mini Who?, Le Gig Poster and Le Bazarre; and Juri Hiensch's Photo Exhi...
We are grateful for all your support; thanks to all artists, visitors, volunteers, crew, venues & partners. U? will return in 2022, 10-13 November. We can’t wait to have you with us again!
Volgend jaar zijn we er weer. We zijn dankbaar voor al jullie steun; dank aan alle artiesten, bezoekers, vrijwilligers, crew, locaties & partners. U? keert terug in 2022, 10-13 november. We kunnen niet wachten om je weer bij ons te hebben!
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.
The official Le Guess Who? 2021 merchandise, including t-shirts, sweaters, slipmats, tote bags, and beanies, is now available.
Thanks to the continuous support of your loyal visitors, Le Guess Who? has developed into an international leading festival and a platform that showcases underrepresented sounds over the past fifteen years.
In order to keep developing the festival the upcoming fifteen years on the same level as we did the last fifteen, we could use your support.
You can do so by becoming a LGW Supporter, or by making a one-off donation.
Visit our recordings archive for exclusive audio & video recordings of Le Guess Who? performances.
Featuring Aldous Harding, Deerhunter, Efterklang, Girl Band, Makaya McCraven, Circuit des Yeux, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Neneh Cherry, Mount Eerie, Sun Ra Arkestra, James Holden, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Selda Bağcan, Junun feat. Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the Rajasthan Express, and many more.
Le Guess Who? 2013
Live videos from LGW13
VPRO 3VOOR12 captured live performances from different locations in Utrecht. Watch below:
Le Guess Who? Recordings
Audio and video recordings of some performances from Le Guess Who? 2017 are available in our archive. Including Mary Margaret O'Hara, Sun Ra Arkestra, Les Amazones d'Afr...
Vacancies
Le Guess Who? is a festival that is dedicated to boundary-crossing music & culture from all over the world. Le Guess Who? presents sounds that you don't get to hear so often in oth...
Together we are stronger than when we are alone.
Le Guess Who? is setting up LGW Embassies around the globe and you can join us, wherever you are.
Le Guess Who? takes place across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from pop venues and theaters to churches, galleries and warehouses. Most are within walking distance from each other.
Visit our festival archive for an overview of all previous editions.
Dig into past line-ups, recordings, video portraits and photo series from over the past years.
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Le Guess Who? takes pace across 20 locations in the city center of Utrecht; ranging from churches and galleries to theaters and pop venues. Most are within walking distance from each other. Here are a couple highlighted.
Photo Archive
Our photo team captured a lot of special moments during Le Guess Who? 2014. Take a scroll through our 2014 photo archive:
VISIT PHOTO ARCHIVE
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
Supervisory Board: Tanja de Jonge (chairperson), Matthijs Timmer (secretary), Roelof Bleker, Cas Boland, Silvie Dees, Ayla Schneiders
LGW ON Program
LGW ON introduces a freely accessible online TV channel with films and documentaries selected by past performers, Reports from Other Continents, previously unseen LGW recordings, and m...
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...
Want to be among the first to hear about the latest news & Le Guess Who? program updates? You can now also subscribe via WhatsApp to receive festival updates.
To do so, add +31 6 8379 7340 to you...
Le Guess Who? aims to present a festival that is accessible to everyone, but unfortunately not all festival venues are equally accessible. You can find more information about the accessibility in our venue map overview.
Relive performances by Elza Soares, Julia Holter & Digable Planets
VPRO 3VOOR12 captured the full performances on video at TivoliVredenburg's Grote Zaal. Watch below:
WATCH THE VIDEOS
Le Guess Who? 2022
4-Day Passes for Le Guess Who? 2022, 10-13 November in Utrecht, The Netherlands, are now available for €158 including service costs. Day tickets will become av...
Learn more about who are helping us realize the festival.
Learn more about who are helping us realize the festival.
Le Guess Who? 2022 takes place 10-13 November in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
“What the Dutch festival really excels at is diversity, showcasing artists who have been blurring boundaries for decades and reminding us that a better world is possible.” – BUST Magazine
“An open-minded, open-hearted festival.” – Uncut Magazine
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.
Do you have a question regarding your festival visit, picking up your festival wristband, traveling to The Netherlands, traveling through Utrecht, the festival's accessibility or volunteering? Have a look at our FAQ.
The full line-up for Le Guess Who? 2021 has been revealed: