Unsound 2024 takes place this year from Sunday September 29 to Sunday October 6, around the theme NOISE, but in a small shakeup the main music program begins on a contemplative note with a free Morning Glory concert on Monday September 30. (A film program and other events will take place on Sunday September 29.) Weekly and Long Weekend Passes are on sale via Going tomorrow June 12th at 3pm CEST, priced at PLN 790 (Weekly) and PLN 670 (Long Weekend).

Final Announcement

Unsound Kraków 2024 starts this Sunday September 29 in a lowkey way with a soundwalk and party at Sekta Selekta, before the massive music and discourse program kicks off on the next day with a free Morning Glory show from FUJI||||||||||TA. It’s time to let you know about a few of the smaller parties, including some off-Unsound events. Also: see below for the latest ticket summary to find out which shows are now sold out. Note: You can download the Unsound app with full schedule and live notifications here, or get a PDF version of the festival booklet here.

Before that, a couple of things regarding previously announced shows. For reasons outside our control, the concerts on Wednesday October 2 at Philharmonic Hall (Mica Levi & Sinfonietta Cracovia, Tarta Relena and Jana Shostak) have been moved to Łaźnia Nowa. In terms of date, Marco Fusinato’s DESASTRES show has been moved from Friday October 4 to Saturday October 5. Also, we’ve added one more artist to the late night lineup at Kamienna on October 5: Uruguayan producer and DJ Lechuga Zafiro, who will play a DJ set ahead of his upcomhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1kBN97ybUR_iIA6a8Gugw-rrNErp9JNOX/viewing album on TraTraTrax.

The official Unsound Opening Party takes place at Poczta Główna – Kraków’s former Central Post Office – on Wednesday October 2 and features the triumphant return of one of our favourite DJs ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, and DJ sets from PAN-affiliate upsammy, DJ E (aka Chuquimamani-Condori), and Kraków legends Olivia and Chino going b2b. Swiss musician Julian Sartorius opens with a solo live percussion set mirroring his Morning Glory show. Note: this event is not included in the festival pass.

As for the Closing Party, we’re connecting to Unsound of yesteryear when rather wild parties took place in the city’s mediaeval cellars. This year’s late night closing event takes place in Alchemia, is free, and will feature live basement shows from Australian “smut noise” outfit Concentration, Kraków’s ehh hahah – and more to be announced. Entry to this event is free.

Another more intimate party takes place at the Ukrainian club Sekta Selekta on Sunday September 29 at 22:00, presented by Kraków collective KRAKSA. Special guests include Paszka, Berna and duo Hmokio Uhęę, while KRAKSA members are Semprey, Sompti, DJ Doktor and Rukatunturi. Tickets at the door cost 20 PLN. For those with lots of energy: Sekta Selekta will also host sunrise afterparties at 06:00 - 12 midday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, featuring DJs Fukinsei, DE:MA, nmga, Lil Dave, Meke, Badalian, Daniel Drumz, Kondrat and Karma. The festival pass does not cover these events.

There are two other off-Unsound events: Ultra Before Unsound at Pacura Studios on Saturday September 28, as well as OFFSOUND, a party put together by a crew of longtime Unsound fans, at 16:00 on Sunday September 29 at Święta Krowa. Check the links for more info including lineups.

On the afternoon of the last Sunday of the festival, festival goers can attend Sunday Chapel at Hedwig’s, a bar in a desacralised baroque chapel built in the 14th-century, with Piotr Kurek playing an extended DJ set from 13:00-16:00. Also in the afternoon, from 15:00 until 19:00, Warsaw-based Ukrainian DJ Zoi Michailova and her guest - Kacha - will play in the gardens beside Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, which were revitalised as part of the fifth edition of the BMW ART CLUB – The future is Art project. The space, which was inaccessible to residents in recent years, has returned to the urban fabric as a place of respite.

Last but not least, the infamous Unsound Karaoke will also make a return on Tuesday October 1, taking place at 23:00 at Feniks Klub, Krakow’s oldest dancing club, in the Old Town. And also free!

As for additions to the discourse program, contributing moderator Sebastian Cichocki will be joined by Ukrainian journalist/cultural organiser Maya Baklanova, artist agent/writer Yuko Asanuma and Berlin-based Lebanese curator/writer Edwin Nasr for the Curating in the Age of Political Upheaval discussion, whilst artist/researcher Eryk Salvaggio, percussionist/composer Valentina Magaletti and Leyland Kirby aka The Caretaker will grace 0xSalon's Wassim Alsindi's experimental Dissonant Cartomancies. Polish journalist and co-author of Podcastex Mateusz Witkowski will lead the Far From the Madding Crowd conversation with Małgorzata Halber.

See you soon in Kraków!

Third Announcement

Hyperdub affiliate aya will present a premiere live show based on entirely new music, while percussionist Valentina Magaletti will team up with Afro-Portuguese electronic producer Nídia – a key artist from the Príncipe label as well as a producer for Fever Ray – around the release of their joint album Estradas. Egyptian artist ZULI will also present a live show connected to his recent Subtext album Lambda, combining trip-hop, industrial vignettes, fractal ambience and electroid pop. Polish/British duo Bassvictim will blast audiences with their signature basspunk sound, while Petronn Sphene (aka Guttersnipe's Urocerus Gigas) will sonically bludgeon with her “No Wave Rave”. Selected from the Unsound 2024 open call, Harry Górski-Brown will play a noise set on deconstructed Highland bagpipes.

This announcement also includes more details of Antonina Nowacka’s presentation of her new album Sylphine Soporifera; joining her will be harpist Anna Pašić and flautist Magdalena Gajdzica, while Iceland-based Polish artist Weronika Izdebska will create visuals. They’ll open for Bill Callahan’s solo set at Kino Kijów. Meanwhile, Amirtha Kidambi (of Elder Ones) will be part of Raphael Rogiński’s performance of Plays Coltrane and Langston Hughes, around the reissue of the album and ahead of their show at the Alice Tully Hall later this year for Unsound New York. Kraków composer and saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski will team up with Swiss percussionist Julian Sartorius, whose solo albums sit alongside collaborations with everyone from Gyða Valtýsdóttir and Shahzad Ismaily to Matthew Herbert. Also from Kraków, Aleksander Wnuk plays Polish noise legend Zbigniew Karkowski’s Form and Disposition for solo percussion with live electronics, as an opener to a club night.

DJ sets added to the club program include Mexican techno sensation Regal86, Some Guest’s drill-infused experimental club, Egyptian deconstructionist Assyouti, bass-heavy sounds by Warsaw’s Gummi and Unsound Lab alumna Leandra, following her b2b with Juba at Ephemera.

The full discourse program schedule will be released in September, with more than 20 sessions across six days – all free of charge. For now, new additions include Bill Callahan in an artist talk with Philip Sherburne, who will also lead a conversation with Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture; Mack Hagood, the author of Hush: Media and Sonic Self-Control will explore our increasing demand for noise-cancelling technologies and the underlying ideologies that drive this industry; artist and writer Steve Goodman (aka Kode9) will reexamine his seminal book Sonic Warfare to map out how the acoustic forces have been mobilised over the last decade in a b2b lecture with Marie Thompson, a scholar and author who treats tinnitus not just as a condition, but as a window into the auditory politics of today. We’re also delighted to announce sessions with two Unsound Lab Summer School mentors: 0xSalon’s Wassim Alsindi with a Fau0x Salon card game to autonomously facilitate a panel discussion, and Lyra Pramuk with both chamber and public listening sessions – more info on both in the next announcement.

Second Announcement

Tickets on sale from July 29 include:

• UNSOUND CLUB PASSES covering late night events from October 3–5
• CLAMOUR – October 4, Łaźnia Nowa with Yellow Swans / Still House Plants / The Body & Dis Fig
• REFLECTION – October 5, Auditorium Hall at ICE Kraków with Lankum / Kali Malone presents All Life Long (for organ, choir & brass)
• CLATTER – October 5, afternoon, Theatre Hall at ICE Kraków with Piotr Kurek presents Songs & Bodies / Ka Baird with Henry Fraser, Artur Majewski & Paulina Woś / Ash Fure presents Animal. Note: this event is not included in the Weekly / Long Weekend Pass.

All other individual tickets, including Bill Callahan, and tickets to individual club nights, will go on sale in mid-August, when the full program and schedule will be released, with a slew of new names.

Cult noise duo Yellow Swans, recently reunited after a long hiatus, will perform their first European show in 16 years – also their only European show for the time being. The inclusion of Bill Callahan in the program, one of the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation – emerging from his lo-fi origins as Smog – underlines the fact that the Unsound 2024 Noise theme does not simply mean pummeling sound; he will perform a solo set.

Manchester’s Rainy Miller will present the premiere of a new work, Joseph What Have You Done, while Saint Abdullah & Eomac will join forces with visual artist Rebecca Salvadori to perform A Forbidden Distance, a co-commission from Unsound, Atonal, Semibreve and Sónar, as part of the TIMES Platform. Laurel Halo’s Kraków performance of Atlas will feature cellist Leila Bordreuil, while Raphael Rogiński will present a show around the Unsound label reissue of his landmark work Plays Coltrane & Langston Hughes featuring old and new interpretations of Coltrane. (Note also that Rogiński’s album Žaltys has also just dropped on the Unsound label.) Bianca Scout will treat audiences with her unique mix of chamber music, dark pop and ethereal ambience, while the Polish duo SSRI brings outernational compositions on their self-titled debut album. Meanwhile, Italy based Polish artist Antonina Nowacka will present the outcomes of a SHAPE+ residency.

Following up on a similar format for our 2023 edition, the program will also celebrate various interpretations of noise in the form of interventions, including the legendary Japanese artist Keiji Haino disrupting the main room in the middle of a club night; Raven Chacon, the first Native American winner of the Pulitzer Prize, who has written scores to be played on foghorns, guns or screamed out of a window; Kraków experimental saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski; and multidisciplinary artist and musician Chuquimamani-Condori blending country, Andean music and layers and layers of digital effects into a euphoric collage. Belarussian artist and activist Jana Shostak will continue her long-standing protest Screaming for Belarus at Unsound. The festival will also again showcase the strength and diversity of Poland’s drumming scene, with Polish percussionist Daniel Szwed – well known to Unsounders for his work with BNNT – and newcomer wh0wh0, following a sublime release as part of a trilogy by the Outlines label.

The late night program includes a series of back-to-back sets, including: the first ever between Evian Christ and Surf Gang founder EvilGiane, who has produced for everyone from Babyxsosa to Kendrick Lamar; CCL and Lee Gamble, both practically Unsound residents will go b2b for the first time; Poland’s 2K88 – fresh off the release of his new Unsound-released album SHAME – and the Moroccan-Belgian DJ ojoo, returning after her incredible set at last year’s opening party; and Latinx artist Manuka Honey with the Venezuelan producer Safety Trance aka Cardopusher. The swiftly rising Brazilian producer RHR will play a DJ set taking Brazilian funk to new heights, mixing it with a huge assortment of genres, while footwork innovator Heavee appears in the wake of their Hyperdub release Unleash, and Oramics affiliate dogheadsurigeri follows her debut single Fluid Matter. Polish rap duo mosa.tech will present their club-ready deconstruction of trap.

Bridging the performance and discourse programs, Palestinian artist Bint Mbareh – part of Unsound’s Weavings show in New York – will present a work combining sound, music and words, giving voice to nonhuman stories and highlighting kinship in fugitive positions. She will also run an experimental choir workshop. Writer and researcher Günseli Yalcinkaya, of Dazed, will lead a discussion on screaming in music, as well as another on AI, aliens and government disinformation. The Quietus’ John Doran will present a live documentary performance on heavy metal, noise, and modernism, with A/V & sound prepared by artist and filmmaker Sapphire Goss.

Three more discourse program open-call winners are also included in the program. Sound artist, composer and lecturer Radek Sirko will run a DIY electrotechnical workshop on building noise boxes; Declan Colquitt, Hannah Cobb and Aadita Chaudhury will give a presentation based on their 032c text Post-Music: Apocalypse Soundcheck examining competing West Bengali sound systems; and Nina Franklin Lupini’s performative presentation interrogates the history of broadcasting as a radical act.

Finally, we are sorry to announce that as well as 1127 and Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxon will not be performing at Unsound this year due to reasons outside of anyone’s control. As Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxton’s show was programmed for CLATTER on Saturday afternoon, it does not affect pass holders.

First Announcement

Tickets go on sale for concerts on Saturday October 5 in the auditorium hall at ICE, with a double bill including the Polish premiere of the Dublin band Lankum, exploring their dark, contemporary take on traditional Irish folk forms, and Kali Malone, who will present All Life Long (for organ, choir & brass), music from her critically acclaimed album, to be performed by Malone and Stephen O’Malley (organ), Capella Cracoviensis (choir), and a brass section of local musicians. (Note: this event is also included in the festival pass.)

Other special projects include Mica Levi, one of the most singular voices in contemporary music, who recently scored the film The Zone of Interest. At Unsound they will present a suite of orchestral works with Sinfonietta Cracovia, including a new commissioned piece. Co-commissioned with Berlin’s CTM Festival and GMEA, Ukrainian composer Heinali will present a new show with Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko called Гільдеґарда based on the work of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century abbess, composer, philosopher and visionary, fusing modular synthesis, Ukrainian folk singing and high mediaeval polyphony and monophony music. Field recordists Chris Watson and Izabela Dłużyk will present the continuation of Białowieża, their collaboration based on field recordings from the last primaeval forest in Europe, on the border between Poland and Belarus. This project is part of TIMES project, co-commissioned by Atonal, Semibreve and Sónar.

Further collaborations will take place between jazz legend Anthony Braxton and Detroit noise outfit Wolf Eyes; New York experimentalist Ka Baird teams up with bassist Henry Fraser, Wrocław trumpet player Artur Majewski and violinist and violist Paulina Woś. (Note: these two shows will take place in the daytime on Saturday October 5th at the ICE Theatre Hall, and will require a separate ticket on top of the pass.) Dis Fig will perform with American metal duo The Body after their celebrated collaborative album.

Aïsha Devi and Slikback will present the premiere of a new collaboration, joined on stage by bela and Lord Spikeheart. Korean artist bela will present a new show based on their album Noise and Cries (굉음과 울음) in collaboration with Theresa Baumgartner featuring visuals from Lukas Feigelfeld, commissioned by Unsound, Le Guess Who? and Lunchmeat. Other premiere performances include Catalan duo Tarta Relena presenting És pregunta around the release of their new album, and Crystallmess debuting her live show, joined on stage by Oxhy, curated with Le Guess Who as part of TIMES. Piotr Kurek will return to Unsound with the new project Songs and Bodies, bringing his singular sound to life with an ensemble of guitar, electric bass, and drums, venturing closer than ever to songwriting.

Visual artist and noise musician Marco Fusinato will present DESASTRES, a show for guitar and visuals which was formed at 2022’s Venice Biennale, where he performed for 200 consecutive days. Norwegian noise musician Lasse Marhaug draws from jazz, rock and extreme metal, and performs ahead of a new album. Lord Spikeheart – of the duo Duma – will take the stage with his dark fusion of metal and club music. Experimental trio MOPCUT is made up of drummer Lukas König, guitarist Julien Desprez and vocalist Audrey Chen. Mobilising the elemental force of sound, composer and sound artist Ash Fure will perform her work Animal, while Polish artist Zamilska presents a new show blurring industrial, noise and techno. On a much quieter tip are Japanese experimental organist FUJI|||||||||||TA and Portuguese ambient guitarist Rafael Toral.

Experimental rock band Still House Plants will show why they’re one of the most talked-about acts of the moment; Danish experimental alt-rock sensation ML Buch will bring her ultra-vibrant sound; Valentina Magaletti and upsammy will present a collaborative show blending electronics and percussion; Actual Objects and Rick Farin, known for visuals for everyone from Jai Paul to J Balvin, will present their AV show; UK rapper and producer Florence Sinclair will bring their unique postmodern sample blend; Björk-endorsed newcomers sideproject will play in the wake of their SVBKVLT release.

In terms of DJ sets, the influential Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture will make a long overdue Unsound appearance following the re-release of his iconic mixtape 1 + 1 = 3, and Brazil’s DJ Anderson Do Paraíso will debut his minimalist dark version of funk mineiro. UK techno innovator Actress – who just released a new album – will go back to back with German breakbeat wizard Skee Mask for the first time, as will Surusinghe and TSVI. Argentinian DJ, producer and Rosalía collaborator Tayhana will return to Unsound. Kode9 will play a special DJ set celebrating and navigating 20 years of Hyperdub.

One of the artists selected from the Unsound Open Call is Cairo-based 1127, fusing grime and techno into Egyptian music. We will announce all other names selected from the open call, including the discourse program, in the next announcement – and contact everyone who submitted soon.

Amongst the first confirmed participants of the discourse program are artist-researcher Eryk Salvaggio reviewing the cacophony of AI-generated noise; Jace Clayton aka DJ /rupture in an artist talk investigating his impactful career and ideas; artist and noise musicians Marco Fusinato and Ash Fure; Daniel Muzyczuk, curator at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź; a discussion about tinnitus including journalists Seb Wheeler and Cyryl Rozwadowski; and Chris Watson and Izabela Dłużyk, discussing their field recording project.

The discourse program will also host the multifaceted Noise Research Union, whose members – Martina Raponi, Sonia de Jager, Cécile Malaspina, Mattin, Miguel Prado, and Inigo Wilkins – will lead diagramming workshops opening the doors into noise’s multidisciplinary (re)interpretation. Noise Research Union representatives will also be joined by scholar and translator Patrick Leftwich in a discussion on alien noise.

Additionally, please note that this year, following the Unsound Lab Summer School in Sokołowsko in July and August, the discourse program will also include a special strand of Unsound Lab events, furthering and enhancing the discussion and topics undertaken at the Summer School.

We’re also pleased to announce the return of the notorious Unsound Movie Marathon, this year curated by the formidable duo of Natalia Sielewicz (art historian and curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw) and Daša Anosova (Ukrainian curator and researcher).

We hope to see you in Kraków in autumn! The next announcement is coming soon, with many more names included in the Unsound program!

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LINEUP SO FAR

2K88 b2b ojoo (PL/MA) / Actress b2b Skee Mask (UK/DE) / AKA HEX (Aïsha Devi x Slikback) with special guests (CH/KE) / Aleksander Wnuk plays Karkowski's Form and Disposition (PL) / Antonina Nowacka presents Sylphine Soporifera feat. Anna Pašić, Magdalena Gajdzica & Weronika Izdebska (PL/IT/IS) / Ash Fure presents Animal (US) / Assyouti (EG) / aya (UK) / Bassvictim (PL/UK) / bela, Theresa Baumgartner & Lukas Feigelfeld present Noise and Cries (굉음과 울음) (KO/DE) / Bianca Scout (UK) / Bill Callahan (US) / Bint Mbareh (PS) / CCL b2b Lee Gamble (DE/US/UK) / Chuquimamani-Condori (US) / Chris Watson & Izabela Dłużyk present Białowieża (UK/PL) / CRYSTALLMESS + OXHY (FR) / Daniel Szwed (PL) / Dogheadsurigeri (PL/UK) / DJ /rupture (US) / DJ Anderson Do Paraíso (BR) / Evian Christ b2b evilgiane (UK/US) / Florence Sinclair (UK) / FUJI||||||||||TA (JP) / Gummi (PL) / Harry Górski-Brown (UK) / Heavee (US) / Heinali & Yasia present Гільдеґарда (UA) / Jana Shostak (BY) / Ka Baird with Henry Fraser, Artur Majewski & Paulina Woś (US/PL) / Kali Malone presents All Life Long (for organ, choir & brass) feat. Capella Cracoviensis (US/SE/PL) / Keiji Haino (JP) / Kode9 presents History of Hyperdub (UK) / Lankum (IE) / Lasse Marhaug (NO) / Laurel Halo presents Atlas feat. Leila Bordreuil (US/FR) / Leandra (PL) / Lord Spikeheart (KE) / Marco Fusinato presents DESASTRES (AU) / Marek Pospieszalski & Julian Sartorius (PL/CH) / Mica Levi & Sinfonietta Cracovia (UK/PL) / ML Buch (DK) / MOPCUT (US/AT/FR) / mosa.tech (PL) / Petronn Sphene (UK) / Piotr Kurek presents Songs and Bodies (PL) / Rainy Miller presents Joseph, What Have You Done (UK) / Rafael Toral (PT) / Raphael Rogiński presents Plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes feat. Amirtha Kidambi (PL/US) / Raven Chacon (US) / RHR (BR) / Regal86 (MX) / Rick Farin & Actual Objects (US) / Safety Trance b2b Manuka Honey (ES/US) / Saint Abdullah, Eomac & Rebecca Salvadori present A Forbidden Distance (IR/IE/IT/AT) / sideproject (IS) / SSRI (PL) / Some Guest (PL) / Still House Plants (UK) / Surusinghe b2b TSVI (AU/IT) / Tarta Relena present És pregunta (ES) / Tayhana (AR/MX) / The Body & Dis Fig (US/DE) / upsammy & Valentina Magaletti (NL/IT) / Nídia & Valentina Magaletti present Estradas (IT/PT) / wh0wh0 (PL) / Yellow Swans (US) / Zamilska (PL) / ZULI (EG)

Source: press release