First names revealed for Unsound Krakow 2016
Veronica Vasicka, Senyawa and Rabih Beaini, Severed Heads and more will feature.
Whilst the Juno Plus office was closed and its writers nursing hangovers, Unsound went ahead with a typically top-drawer first round of artists to explore this year’s theme of Dislocation at their flagship event in Polish city Krakow in October. Especially-commissioned projects are a key draw to Unsound and it is no surprise this year finds several of them tied to locations in Central Asia, the Caucasus and remote regions of Russia, where the festival is producing events in 2016 and 2017. Two of these feature in the initial round of announcements with a collaboration between Moritz Von Oswald and Bishkek-based Kyrgyz band Ordo Sakhna, presented with the Goethe-Institut and Poland’s Stara Rzeka teaming up with Samo, a traditional band from Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
With the world delighting in the music of Severed Heads thanks to the continued reissues served up by Dark Entries, it is exciting to see Tom Ellard’s cult Australian act have been booked to perform at Unsound. The ever-entertaining Ellard will also give an artist talk, as well as launch an online installation during Unsound called Treasure Map 2 exploring location/dislocation. Forest Swords will perform material from his as-yet unannounced new album, whilst Raime will also ” perform live in an extended line up including percussion.”
The realm of synthesis is represented with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith in the Buchla Easel corner and Kara-Lis Coverdale in the VST corner. The latter Canadian artist will work with Unsound’s resident visual Marcel ‘MFO’ Weber to create a ‘digital cemetery’ in which the show takes place. Rabih Beaini’s Morphine Records have a noticeable presence among the first round of announcements; he is set to perform with Senyawa on a new project called Rawr, whilst the Indonesian label act will also play live themselves. Morphine signee Sote is also scheduled to perform, whilst Optimo’s JD Twitch has been booked into lay down an all-Muslimgauze DJ set.
Staying on the DJ tip, Minimal Wave boss Veronica Vasicka makes her Unsound debut, with the much-loved Weimar collective Giegling also representing in the shape of founding member Konstantin and Edward. Footwork always seems an integral factor in Unsound’s bookings and Krakow will see the inimitable Trax play a B2B set with Tokyo’s DJ Fulltono and Wroclaw’s Paide, a DJ connected with the Polish Juke collective.
The above is only scratching the surface on the first round of the line-up with all of the bookings so far listed below. Week-long and extended weekend tickets for the event went on general sale yesterday and appear to have sold out – expect further tickets to be made available over the coming months. More information on the line-up and festival can be found at the Unsound website.
Unsound will take place in Krakow on October 16-23.
Unsound Line-Up
Performance:
Anna Zaradny (PL)
Babyfather (UK)
DJ Fulltono b2b Traxman (JP/US)
DJ Lag (ZA)
Edward (DE)
Felicita (UK/PL)
Foodman (JP)
Forest Swords (UK)
GAIKA (UK)
Horse Lords (US)
In the Mouth of the Wolf (Ancient Methods & Cindytalk) (DE/UK)
J.D Twitch (Optimo) plays: Muslimgauze (UK)
KAFR (Rabih Beaini & Senyawa) (LB/DE/ID)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (US)
Kara-Lis Coverdale & MFO (CA/DE)
Konstantin (DE)
Lotto (AU/DE/PL)
Matmos presents Robert Ashley’s “Perfect Lives” feat. Sinfonietta Cracovia quartet (US/PL)
Moritz von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna (DE/KG)
Nan Kolè (IT)
Orphx (CA)
Paide (PL)
Raime (UK)
Roly Porter & MFO (UK/DE)
Samo (TJ)
Senyawa (ID)
Severed Heads (AU)
Sote (IR)
Stara Rzeka & Samo (PL/TJ)
Veronica Vasicka (US)
Installations:
Treasure Map 2 – Tom Ellard
Talks:
Johannes Klabbers – “How Can A Posthumanist Be?”