Search: lost horizons

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...

Two years ago, Lost Girls, made up of daring Norwegian duo Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden turned heads with their sensual debut LP ‘Menneskekollektivet’. Now, they are returning with &...

Too many birds exists on the precipice of music and nature. Music writer Ruben van Dijk (Front, OOR, et al.) is drawn to sounds that renegotiate our relationship to the world around us and blur the li...

The film installation 'Memory Lost' is heralded as a masterpiece in the career of photographer Nan Goldin, whose work is raw, intimate and tender, often intertwined with her own life experiences and w...

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...

Ottawa-born Myriam Gendron settled in Montreal at age sixteen, working as a book dealer. Her kinship with literature resulted in her first release ‘Not So Deep As Well’, being a nine-track...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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&...

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...

Wanderwelle & Floor van het Nederend present their debut graphic novel ‘De Duizendpoot’ (The Millipede). The Wanderwelle duo is known for their electro-acoustic compositions and more....

‘Promises: Through Congress’ explores visual artist Julie Mehretu’s painting Congress (2003) and the 2021 album by electronic composer and musician Floating Points, jazz titan Pharoa...

Alison Cotton's 2022 album 'The Portrait You Painted of Me' - her first for Rocket Recordings - eerily coalesces the viola, the harmonium, and the human voice, to conjure a rich and dark matter of son...

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

We are delighted to share with you this report from Iraqi composer, oud player, poet, and humanitarian Naseer Shamma. His story is remarkable, as his passion and intentions are as pure as his talent....

Before the release of her first record a decade ago, Quebecois musician Myriam Gendron was busking in Paris, singing Leonard Cohen songs. In a striking full-circle moment, the artist’s newest re...

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Prince, Wu-Tang Clan, Steve McQueen; the diversity of Gaika Tavares’ (or GAIKA) influences mirror his multifarious artistic persona. The South London artist and writer, who...

The legendary Amersfoort hardcore punk trio Seein' Red formed around 1989 from the ashes of Lärm. The band quickly found their line-up consisting of brothers Paul & Olav van den Berg, on guit...

Multidisciplinary artist and researcher Joshua Schoonen will take over SETUP, a venue where artists and experts from various disciplines work to develop installations, images and vocabulary that make...

The improvised singing practice of qawwali is one of the most exhilarating genres to experience live. This year, our audience can dive into it through the three-day residency of legends Rizwan-Muazzam...

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

The two very gifted musicians Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) and Richie Thomas (Dif Juz) found each other in a stunning new project named Lost Horizons. Their debut is out now, and features an impress...

Lost Horizons, the collaborative project formed by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richard Thomas of instrumental quartet Dif Juz, will release their new album 'Ojalá' this Friday via Bella...

Electronic sound explorer James Holden is added as curator for Le Guess Who?, hosting multiple stages on Saturday, 11 November. Performing is Moroccan Gnawa musician Maâlem Houssam Guinia &...

Le Guess Who? & de Volkskrant bring you video portraits of artists performing at Le Guess Who? 2017. We meet up with Perfume Genius’ Mike Hadreas to discuss his live performance, and his cu...

This year, Black Lips released their 8th album 'Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?', and now the band share a brand new video for 'Crystal Night' from the album. The clip tells a tragic love s...

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Natalie Merling aka Weyes Blood returns to Le Guess Who? this year, invited by Perfume Genius for his curated program. Pitchfork recorded a mesmerizing session with We...

The European Jazz Network (EJN) is the Europe-wide association of 170+ organizations and promoters from 34 countries who specialize in creative music, contemporary jazz and improvised music. Every year since 2012, the EJN awards a European promoter who succeeds to create visionary and fascinating musical programs.  Le Guess Who? is...

The mythical performer and rock 'n roll reinventer Ian Svenonius has released 'The Lost Record'. It's the second album of his solo project Escape-Ism, after 2017s 'Introduction to Escape-Ism'. With hi...

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

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

Rock 'n Roll visionary Ian Svenonious currently performs with his solo project Escape-Ism, and will release his second disc of solo-sneers titled 'The Lost Record' on 7 September. Talking to The Washi...

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

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

Le Guess Who? 2019 curators and Oregon psych/kraut mystics Moon Duo have personally put together a playlist for their curation at the festival, with their favorite tracks from each artist they have invited.  The music of Moon Duo manifests like a moving painting, punishing and hypnotic at the same time. Recent years have seen t...

Dive deep into the mystical trails and the long, weary road that made Vashti Bunyan's career even more mythical. After a hiatus lasting over thirty years, her musical career finally got back on t...

Scott Fagan’s lost 60s classic South Atlantic Blues is a gorgeous synthesis of Donovan-ish pop, jazz, R&B and Caribbean sounds plus a grandiose vocal delivery that recalls Scott Walker and B...

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

Le Guess Who?, considered to be one of the most forward-thinking festivals around the world, returns to Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 9-12 November for its 16th edition. We now reveal the full 2023 line-up, after previously announcing festival curators Heba Kadry, Nala Sinephro, Slauson Malone 1 and Stereolab, as well as performances by...

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

Every week, we’ll bring you a must-hear track from the Le Guess Who? 2018 line-up. This week, we feature a track of Eleanor Friedberger's latest full-length 'Rebound'. As former half of indie si...

French sound sculptor Félicia Atkinson will release her new album 'The Flower And The Vessel' early next month. The record was was crafted while pregnant on tour, "in impersonal hotel rooms in foreign cities", and is partly influenced by the French classical pieces that shaped her childhood (Maurice Ravel's 'L'enfant et les so...

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

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

Le Guess Who? 2019 is almost upon us! There is an abundance of performances and activities happening this week, so we can imagine that some acts or activities may have slipped through the cracks. Therefore, we've selected 10 things you might not have discovered (yet) in the LGW19 program.  1. Three-day Film Festival at Springha...

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

Following our initial line-up announcement in May, we're now pleased to reveal the full curated programs by Fatoumata Diawara and Iris van Herpen & Salvador Breed for the festival, as well as new additions for Moon Duo, Patrick Higgins, and The Bug curations. We're also announcing Príncipe Discos and Spazio Disponibil...

Experimental outfit Negativland have bursted many bubbles over the decades with their quizzical remapping of pop culture, media and advertising. Now, the group is set to release their new album 'True False', out 25 October. It is one of two interconnected double albums the band plans to release within the next year.  In 2015, t...

The work of Ottawa-born, Paris-based musician and singer Mélissa Laveaux brims with defiance, cheekiness, and pride, combining lost traditions with modern influences like psych rock, calypso, folk pop, and punk.  In an interview with The Guardian, Laveaux talks about her third and most recent album 'Radyo Siw&e...

MusicMap.Global is a site dedicated to celebrating the global underground. Leading up to Le Guess Who? 2018, they interview some of the artists playing the festival. First up is Brazil's Negro Leo, ak...

After a triumphant performance at Le Guess Who? 2014, which saw legendary Turkish protest singer and political activist Selda Bağcan close the festival that year, the singer will return to Utrecht on...

Perfume Genius curates his very own program at Le Guess Who? 2017, featuring a.o. Bulgarian women's choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Mount Eerie, Aldous Harding, Weyes Blood, and Pharma...

Kevin Morby wanders through Paris in his new black & white video for 'Downtown Lights' from his latest album 'City Music', released earlier this year. Watch below.  "I set out to write a sim...

Patrick Higgins may be best known as guitarist for the noise-rock band Zs, which New York Times called "one of the strongest avant-garde bands of New York", but his solo work is just as striking. From...

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

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

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

Ever since they started working together in the mid-eighties, Czech artists Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi have traveled far and wide, crossing continents, cultures and mediums with styles of European classical music ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary. In the process, the duo made fans which include Sufjan Stevens, The National's...

We’re pleased to announce that Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, Alabaster DePlume, The Bug feat. Flowdan, The Notwist, África Negra, Max Cooper, EIGEN RISICO, Smote, and The Brother Moves On will be joining us this year. View the full line-up here.  We’re also announcing programs, films & exhibitions presented by...

New York City singer-songwriter Joanna Sternberg is having a stellar 2023 so far. Earlier this year, their second album ‘I’ve Got Me’ was showered with praise for its personal and openhearted character. Now, the artists releases their new single 'Neighbors' via Fat Possum Records. 'Neighbors' was recorded at Sternberg&r...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Le Guess Who? presents a three day residency of Pakistani legends Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali during the 2025 edition of the festival. The vocalist duo, nephews of qawwali master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, together with their ensemble will present three different performances at different locations during the festival.  Rizwan and Muazzam Mu...

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

Scott Fagan together with members of Trembling Bells perform Fagan's lost 60s classic 'South Atlantic Blues' in full at Le Guess Who? 2016. AboutFor every generation-defining icon, there’s an equally impressive talent who fizzled into obscurity. Scott Fagan’s lost 60s classic South Atlantic Blues is a gorgeous synthesis of...

Selda Bağcan is a legendary Turkish singer and political activist. Her first singles, about political struggle and the demands of the working class, sold over 1 million copies. Selda’s psychedelic interpretations of traditional Turkish folk music and her political views have lost Selda her passport and caused her to be repeatedly im...

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

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

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

“With the able steer of festival curators Jenny Hval, Moon Duo, Fatoumata Diawara, and Iris Van Herpen, this year’s boundary-crossing festival Le Guess Who?? welcomed visitors from over 60 countries and proved that even in times of political divide, music and art can bring us together into a more hopeful future.” - The...

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 should be”. And that makes us reflect on what role a music festival should play nowadays. It should be a place for discovery where viewe...

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