Text by CLOT Magazine
Unsound Festival returns to Kraków from September 29 to October 6, 2024, embracing the bold and expansive theme of Noise. As always, Unsound challenges expectations, pushing the boundaries of what sound can be and how it intersects with life, politics, and technology. This year’s lineup explores noise in its various interpretations—musical, cultural, and political—setting the stage for an intense and thought-provoking week of performances, discussions, and artistic interventions. The festival promises to probe the complexities of this pervasive, unsettling, and often misunderstood phenomenon.
From its roots in industrial machinery and urban soundscapes, as the Unsound team point out, to its subversion of traditional musical structures, noise is not merely dissonance – it’s also protest, excess, and interruption. Unsound 2024 channels these energies into a sprawling lineup
While the theme suggests intensity, silence is also one of noise’s many expressions. Unsound 2024 will kick off in an unexpectedly quiet and meditative fashion. On Monday, September 30, the Morning Glory concert with Japanese experimental organist FUJI|||||||||||TA will offer a contemplative entry point to the festival, signalling that noise can be as much about silence and reflection as it is about volume.
Exploring further the resonance capacity of organs, Kali Malone will present All Life Long, 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 in a double bill that also will include the Dublin band Lankum, exploring their dark, contemporary take on traditional Irish folk forms.
The inclusion of singer-songwriter Bill Callahan (formerly known as Smog) in the lineup, shows that Unsound 2024’s interpretation of noise is broad and unexpected. Callahan’s introspective songwriting may contrast with the festival’s noisier acts, but his presence emphasises that noise is not merely a sonic experience but emotional and philosophical.
The festival’s exploration of noise extends to an eclectic array of artists, from Rainy Miller’s premiere of Joseph What Have You Done to Bianca Scout’s haunting chamber music, Kraków experimental saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski; and multidisciplinary artist and musician Chuquimamani-Condori who blends country, Andean music and layers and layers of digital effects into a euphoric collage.
By this Unsound demonstrated that noise can be felt in everything from a single voice to a wall of sound, to the more expected side of noise with acts like legendary Japanese artist Keiji Haino, cult noise duo Yellow Swans, The Body and Dis fig, Lasse Marhaug, MOPCUT, Zamilska or 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;
The programme is also packed with cross-institutional collaborations and premieres. 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. At the same time, Saint Abdullah & Eomac join forces with visual artist Rebecca Salvadori to perform A Forbidden Distance. Both projects are part of TIMES project, co-commissioned by Atonal, Semibreve and Sónar.
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. Korean artist bela will present a new show based on their album Noise and Cries (음과 울음) in collaboration with Theresa Baumgartner featuring visuals from Lukas Feigelfeld, commissioned by Unsound, Le Guess Who? and Lunchmeat.
This year will also see many premiere performances, like the one by Aïsha Devi and Slikback, who will debut a new collaboration, the Catalan duo Tarta Relena presenting their new album, and Crystallmess debuting her live show, joined on stage by Oxhy, curated with Le Guess Who as part of TIMES, Hyperdub affiliate aya, and Piotr Kurek, presenting Songs and Bodies, a new project from the Polish artist, featuring an ensemble of guitar, electric bass, and drums, moving closer to a songwriting format.
Other AV shows this year include visual artist and noise musician Marco Fusinato who will present DESASTRES, a show for guitar and visuals which was formed at 2022’s Venice Biennale, where he performed for 200 consecutive days. And Actual Objects and Rick Farin who also will present their AV show.
The DJ programme for Unsound Kraków 2024 promises an electrifying fusion of boundary-pushing styles and cross-genre experimentation. Iconic DJ /rupture makes a long-anticipated return, celebrating the re-release of his seminal mixtape 1 + 1 = 3, while Brazil’s DJ Anderson Do Paraíso introduces his dark, minimalist take on funk mineiro. UK techno innovator Actress will go back-to-back for the first time with German breakbeat master Skee Mask, and Argentinian DJ Tayhana, known for her work with Rosalía, who will makes her return tro the festival. Meanwhile, Kode9 will celebrate 20 years of Hyperdub with a special DJ set.
The club program also features standout pairings like Latinx artist Manuka Honey alongside Venezuelan producer Safety Trance and a b2b set from CCL and Lee Gamble. Additional sets include Mexican techno powerhouse Regal86, experimental club from Some Guest, Egyptian deconstructionist Assyouti, Warsaw’s bass-heavy Gummi, and emerging Polish talent like Leandra and 2K88.
As for the discourse program, this year it will delve deep into the sonic and political dimensions of noise, bringing together a diverse array of artists, researchers, and thinkers. Highlights include Eryk Salvaggio‘s exploration of AI-generated noise and a powerful artist talk with Jace Clayton (aka DJ /rupture) reflecting on his career. The Noise Research Union, featuring Martina Raponi, Sonia de Jager, and others, will offer multidisciplinary workshops unlocking new interpretations of noise, while a discussion on tinnitus, led by journalists Seb Wheeler and Cyryl Rozwadowski, promises to reframe this auditory condition as a window into our sound-saturated world.
Palestinian artist Bint Mbareh, fresh from Unsound’s Weavings show in New York, will present a powerful work intertwining sound, music, and nonhuman narratives, as well as an experimental choir workshop. Other standout sessions include a live documentary performance on heavy metal and noise presented by John Doran and Sapphire Goss, and Mack Hagood‘s deep dive into the noise-cancelling industry. Robin Fox will return to pay homage to Jacques Attali’s Noise: The Political Economy of Music, reflecting on its impact on his own work and contemporary sound culture.
To ease usthe audience into the festival, for those early goers, on Sunday, September 29th, a special soundwalk led by Unsound founder Mat Schulz will offer a moment of reflection on Kraków’s changing cultural landscape. Titled A Remembrance of Festivals Past, it invites participants to listen to the city and consider the festival venues that have been lost to time.
For those who believe music should challenge, disturb, and transcend the known, Unsound 2024 promises to be an unforgettable celebration of the power of noise. Prepare for the unexpected—and embrace the chaos.
