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Rewire announces first artists<br>for 2018 festival

25 Oct 2017

Laurie Anderson, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein perform Stranger Things, Nina Kraviz, Floating Points and more artists confirmed for Rewire 2018.

The eighth edition of Rewire takes place from 6 to 8 April 2018. Spread across The Hague’s city centre, the festival will feature interdisciplinary performances, commissioned projects, special collaborations, club nights, talks and screenings. Rewire 2018 will also present several thematic focus and context programmes that connect music with wider cultural and social issues, to be expanded on at a later stage. The first artists and projects are announced today. Festival Passes are on sale for the early bird price of €60 until 1 November 12pm CET at Tickets.

Rewire are honoured to present Laurie Anderson as the inaugural Artist in Focus at the 2018 festival. With this new concept, Rewire will showcase early pioneers who’ve had a profound impact on and continue to shape the worlds of music and art. A true innovator in the realms of electronic music and performance art, Laurie Anderson has been using technology to transform the way we tell stories since the 1970s and remains one of the most daring creative voices around today. At Rewire 2018, she presents the latest iteration of her ongoing series, The Language of the Future – a new multi-media performance about contemporary culture that crosses the borders between dreams, reality and the elusive world of information – as well as an artist talk and additional programme contributions, to be announced.

Masterminds of the year’s most iconic soundtrack, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein will present their music for the award-winning seriesStranger Things in a rare performance at De Electriciteitsfabriek. Inspired by the likes of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, the two composers traveled back in musical time with a toolbox of vintage synths to craft a dreamy, throwback score and a masterclass in tension and synth soundscapes. The Dutch premiere of the live performance follows on the heels of Stranger Things Season 2.

In another Rewire premiere, newly-formed underground supergroup UUUU, which features Wire members Edvard Graham Lewis and Matthew Sims, Coil and Spiritualized keyboardist Thighpaulsandra and Tomaga percussionist Valentina Magaletti, will make their Dutch live debut at next year’s festival. Individually, these four musicians have spent the past few decades pushing the boundaries of sound to their limits. Collectively, they now form a free-wheeling sonic powerhouse where rock, electro, drone and more esoteric fare collide.

Floating Points will present a rare solo live performance at Rewire 2018. Built around his new EP Ratio, as well as other forthcoming releases, the performance will see Floating Points extend the legacy of his breakthrough LP Elaenia while harkening back to the driving electronica and dance floor bliss of his recent past. Sharing the bill are Italian outfit Ninos du Brasil.The electrifying electro-percussion duo will showcase their highly-acclaimed new album, Vida Eterna.

The Rewire 2018 club programme will be helmed by none other than Nina Kraviz. Among the most popular and influential artists in club music today, the past few years have seen the Siberian-born DJ and producer venture into the adventurous realms of her techno sound, a move reflected in last year’s acclaimed fabric 91 mix and the eccentric releases of her distinctive label projects трип and GALAXIID.

Joining Nina Kraviz is UK-based artist and producer Karen Gwyer, who will unleash her energetic analogue live performance. New York-based platform Discwoman will showcase the wealth of female-identifying talent in the electronic music community, bringing along homegrown stalwarts Umfang and Volvox and global affiliates Deena Abdelwahed and Ziúr.

SUUNS have refined their psychedelic krautrock grooves and electronics over the course of four critically-acclaimed albums. With their fifth slated for release this spring, the Canadian quartet will present an exclusive performance of the new record at Rewire 2018.

Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro will present the Dutch premiere of her For Organ & Brass together with the Zinc & Copperbrass ensemble. One of the revelations of 2017, For Organ & Brass focuses on tuning, intonation and harmonic modulation, and reflects on her studies with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela.

Two other recent revelations confirmed for next year’s festival are Berlin-based producer JASSS and Zimbabwean-born musician and poet Farai. Following the release of her highly-praised debut album Weightless, JASSS will showcase her pulsating new live set, while Farai performs the visionary synthesis of new wave, post-punk and futuristic pop of her breakout EP Kiswell.

Philadelphia-based multimedia artist E. Jane will present two new live performances, first as their pop-star alter ego MHYSA and then joined by lawd knows as the sound and performance art duo SCRAAATCH. Their new performance as MHYSA takes the form of a live audiovisual experience and is based on this summer’s acclaimed debut album fantasii.

Chino Amobi is a producer, visual artist and co-founder of NON, a collective of African artists from the continent and the diaspora. Chino Amobi weaves music and politics together through a barrage of epic instrumentals, brash percussion and cathartic sonic violence. UK-based contemporary Visionist pushes grime into new frontiers and experimentation. Joined by Portuguese visual artist Pedro Maia, the duo present their new live audio-visual performance based on Visionist’s new album Value.

The Thing is the legendary trio of Scandinavian free jazz heavyweights Mats Gustafsson (saxophone), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). Formed nearly two decades ago, the outfit fuse elements of garage rock, noise and punk to craft a vigorous maelstrom of improvised power jazz.

A mainstay of the Chicago’s revered jazz, experimental and rock scenes, Joshua Abrams and his ever-evolving musical group Natural Information Society will present Simultonality, a new work in which traditional musics, american minimalism and improvised jazz converge around a three-stringed Moroccan lute called the guimbri. Hailing from Slovenia, Širom’s vivid performances oscillate between imagined instrumental folk sounds and contemporary post rock meditations, drifting from improvisation to structured composition and back again.

Expanding the realms of improvisation is newly-formed duo of Rupert Clervaux & Ben Vince. Armed with a drumkit and a looping saxophone, the duo produce a fierce tapestry of sound that moves between energising grooves and clusters of noise. Ben Vince will follow suit with a solo saxophone performance.

Portland duo Golden Retriever are set to transform their new album Rotations into a lush, meditative and intensely emotional performance for modular synthesizer and amplified/effected bass clarinet, and Sugai Ken will conjure the profound ambience of a night in Japan with his hypnotic blend of field recordings and traditional Japanese instrumentation.

And finally, Amsterdam-based artist Raphael Vanoli will showcase his unique solo performance, conjuring rich, cinematic sonic worlds with his blowing techniques on electric guitar, while Grumbling Fur’s Daniel O’Sullivan and the six-piece Dream Lion Ensemble perform the luminous pop incantations of his recently released debut VELD.

More artists including several commissioned and special projects will be announced in the coming months. Early Bird Passes for €60 are available until 1 November at 12:00 CET.

We look forward to welcoming you to Rewire 2018.

Rewire 2018 lineup so far:

Ben Vince
Chino Amobi
Daniel O’Sullivan & Dream Lion Ensemble
Deena Abdelwahed
Ellen Arkbro + Zinc & Copper
Farai
Floating Points
Golden Retriever
JASSS
Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society
Karen Gwyer
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein perform Stranger Things
Laurie Anderson
MHYSA
Nina Kraviz
Ninos du Brasil
Raphael Vanoli
Rupert Clervaux & Ben Vince
SCRAAATCH
Širom
Sugai Ken
SUUNS
The Thing
Umfang
UUUU
Visionist + Pedro Maia
Volvox
Ziúr

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