The line up for the fifth edition of The Hague’s Rewire Festival – this year on Friday 1 and Saturday, May 2nd – is shaping up nicely with more than 20 new artists announced today. Newly confirmed are: The Bug, Pearson Sound, Holly Herndon, Shabazz Palaces, TCF, Julianna Barwick Expanded, Blue Daisy, Jac Berrocal + David Fenech + Vincent Epplay, Alessandro Cortini, Mbongwana Star, RSS B0YS, Tomaga, Total Life, Dandana and DJ Sniff. Phuture West will present a showcase of west coast sounds including Cliff Lothar, Marsman, Antenna, Unit Moebius Anonymous and more. While Wichelroede – online platform for contemporary culture – presents Cloudface, Garoeda and Gerben Louw.

These artistscompliment previously confirmed artists like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grouper, and Evian Christ. Among the venues for this year’s festival are: Korzo Theatre, E.ON Electriciteitsfabriek, The Old Catholic Church, Club Hoop, Idazaal, 330 Live and Paard van Troje. The full programme will be announced in late March. Ticket sales are already underway.

The Bug (UK)
Summarizing the work of The Bug (aka: producer Kevin Martin) is almost impossible. A member of King Midas Sound and the man behind Pathological Records, Martin can point to an illustriuous catalogue of remix work (e.g. Grace Jones and Einstürzende Neubauten) and work with artists such as Justin Broadrick, Pete “Sonic Boom” Kemper, Kevin Shields and Anti Pop Consortium. The Bug’s recent work has recently been released on Ninja Tune; for example 2013’s Filthy EP, and 2014’s LP, Angels and Devils. The Bug – joined by MC Manga – will perform his latest album live.

Pearson Sound (UK)
As one third of the team behind the Hessle Audio label, David Kennedy’s Pearson Sound moniker has become synonymous with cutting edge UK dancefloor music. He released a critically heralded FABRICLIVE compilation and remixed artists like Radiohead, The xx and M.I.A.. Kennedy’s also found the time to run the vinyl only club night, Acetate, in Leeds. In March he released his self titled debut album.

Holly Herndon (US)
Holly Herndon has become a leading light in contemporary alternative and electronic music by fearlessly experimenting within the outer reaches of dance music and pop songwriting structures. Herndon is known for her releases on RVNG Intl. and uses the programming language Max/MSP to create custom instruments and vocal processes to create her inimitable brand of cyber pop music. Her second album ‘Platform’ will be released in May on 4AD and will be premiered live in The Netherlands with a special A/V show at Rewire 2015.

Shabazz Palaces (US)
The Seattle-based hip-hop experimentalists need little introduction. With two incredibly diverse and inventive LPs under their belt (2011’s Black up and 2014’s Lese Majesty) Ishmael Butler, aka Palaceer Lazaro and Tendai “Baba” Maraire have cemented a reputation for dizzying, genre-defying sounds.

→ https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNXxd3yYDaM

Blue Daisy (UK)
Since first striking gold when receiving Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Music’ award, Kwesi Darko a.k.a Blue Daisy has become the poster-boy for the dark arts within electronic music. By fusing Hip Hop and Grime with doses of Black Sabbath and Godspeed, Blue Daisy has received support across the press. Blue Daisy conjures up an explosive live show, splicing Hip Hop’s stage presence with Punk’s reckless abandon; Iggy Pop meets Chuck D.

Julianna Barwick Expanded (US)
Ethereal is a term that is often associated with Julianna Barwick. And Barwick has openly stated that her rural and churchgoing background has influenced her work. Her acclaimed LPs, “The Magic Place” on Asthmatic Kitty, and 2013’s “Nepenthe”, on Dead Oceans, are built around delicate, mysterious phrases and refrains that are then subjected to multiple loops and additional layers of her voice. At Rewire Julianna will be joined by a local female choir and cellist. More details will be announced soon.

→ https://www.youtube.com/embed/kIQVjRCL6jI

TCF (NO)
Artist, graduate of Frankfurt’s famed Städelschule, and “experimental computer musician” formerly known as Cracksmurf, Lars Holdhus’s work as TCF explores themes of code, cryptography and privacy. To do this he creates a dizzying, often inspiring mash of visual, sonic, built and written concepts. Boomkat raved about his recent release, 415C47197F78E8… on Liberation Technologies: “Ultimately, words fall well short of adequately describing this stuff; it simply needs to be experienced, fully immersed… pupils dilated.”

Jac Berrocal + David Fenech + Vincent Epplay (FR)
This French avant-garde super-group consisting of Parisian trumpeter Jac Berrocal, sound artist Vincent Epplay and guitarist David Fenech release their LP, ‘Antigravity’ on the Blackest Ever Black label. Release is scheduled for April 27, 2015.

Mbongwana Star (CD)
Mbongwana Star, from Kinshasa – the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo – look to challenge the standard preconceptions around African music. Mbongwana Star (‘Mbongwana’ meaning ‘change’) fuse traditional Congolese rhythms with post-punk and electronica. Inspired by life in the townships around them, the band are adept at ‘making magic out of garbage’. So says producer and band member Doctor L (who also produced Tony Allen’s ‘Black Voices’ album).

RSS B0YS (PL)
The stories behind RSS B0YS are intriguing. Anonymous travelling musicians, B0y 0ne and B0y Tw0 apparently met and formed RSS B0YS in Benin. Regardless of the duo’s roots, they have been incredibly productive over the past three years; with four enervating, eclectic, avant-garde LPs (released on Mik Musik) and two tapes to their name; the most recent being the double LP ‘HDDN’ a split with Mik and the BDTA label. Their music follows their motto: ‘Freedom of choice is kind of important. From African deserts to European dancefloors’. Indeed.

→ https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bia_pRrKoW4

Alessandro Cortini (IT)
Well known for his work with Nine Inch Nails, Cortini also busies himself with a number of other projects; namely SONOIO, Modwheelmood and blindoldfreak. At Rewire, Cortini will play his new solo LP ‘Sonno’; for the first time in the EU. ‘Sonno’ – a staple of many end of year lists – was recorded in hotel rooms using a Roland MC 202 put through a delay pedal, sometimes straight into a small portable speaker system.

Tomaga (UK)
UK duo Tomaga draw on a long pedigree of experimental music making; having played in bands like The Oscillation, Neon Neon, and Voice Of Seven Thunders. Tomaga’s minimalist compositions are darkly psychedelic and imaginative; soundtracks for surreal dreams.

Total Life (CA)
Kevin Doria of Growing has a new solo project, Total Life. Ad Hoc magazine wrote of Doria’s new work: “If Eliane Radigue and Kevin Drumm made a record together it might sound something like Total Life. Kevin Doria creates a sound world with deep inner dynamics shrouded by distortion. Whether you stay on the surface or listen deeply, the energy in this work is vivid.” Total Life will support Godspeed You! Black Emperor on Friday May 1 at Paard van Troje.

Dandana (NL)
Terming themselves a “coalition” and drawing on socio-countercultural influences (skateboarding culture being their main source of inspiration) the Hague’s Dandana create long, often improvised jams and instrumental passages that nod to funk, soul, African, 70’s psych & electronic music.

DJ Sniff (JP)
DJ Sniff (aka Takuro Mizuta Lippit) is described as a “turntable musician working in the field of improvised and experimental music.” Takuro’s work looks to conjure up ideas of time and place; something that is reflected in the text on the back of his release, ‘EP’: “With every scratch, our memory of a past is suspended and we hear and here the now.” To do this, he has created a unique setup of custom hardware and software along with one turntable and DJ mixer.

Marsman (NL)
Marsman is a gigging DJ and the owner-come-spiritual-guide of Rotterdam’s Pinkman label. His seductive, sensual music shouldn’t be overlooked in all of this activity, however. Using wave as a starting point, his work encompasses crunched up house and mashed techno cuts to create smooth, patient work-outs that lean towards the spiritual.

Antenna (NL)
Drawing inspiration in the early, free-spirited, “anything goes” days of house music, Antenna creates exciting, off-the-cuff mixes of jacking house and wave for labels like Pinkman. There is no pre-recorded material; no random visuals and no apple logos to be seen during an Antenna live set. Rather, Antenna’s set is built up courtesy of an MPC2000 and a Juno; all fed through a saturated analog circuit.

Cliff Lothar (SE)
A veteran of the early Cybernetic Broadcasting System scene, Cliff Lothar’s reputation was forged by 2013’s ‘White Savage’ EP, released on Viewlexx. This release and the follow up, ‘Skudge White 05’ were praised by the likes of John Talabot, Claude Young, Thom Yorke and Anthony “Shake” Shakir; who described Lothar’s music as “sinister, dark and funky”. A recent collaboration with Legowelt – under the name Pagan Sector – resulted in the rave-techno-deephouse hybrid EP, ‘Hermopolis Magna’, released on Amsterdam’s Knekelhuis.

→ https://www.youtube.com/embed/OLeZuPFfktM

Unit Moebius Anonymous (NL)
First there was Unit Moebius; the legendary industrial-acid techno act released on Bunker Records, beloved of Aphex Twin and and cornerstone of the notorious Acid Planet nights. Unit Moebius Anonymous is the latest chapter in the story; one dating from 2007 when the key player from the band, Jan Duivenvoorden, started producing and playing live again. For any techno fan, seeing Unit Moebius Anonymous is an absolute must.

Gerben Louw (NL)
Gerben Louw runs Wichelroede.net together with Fallon, a website that publishes a vast array of new electronic music, and sells music and related cultural items through the Wichelroede Shop. With a versatile taste in music, Gerben is always searching for new sounds to incorporate in his surprising and varied dj-sets. During Rewire, Wichelroede hosts a room at club Hoop which boasts Canadian artist Cloudface’s live debut in the Netherlands.

Cloudface (CA)
Emerging from Vancouver’s Mood Hut collective Cloudface (aka David Reynolds) has released two records to date; 2012’s EP ‘Wyre Drive’ (first as a cassette on Nice Up Intl, re-released on UK label Going Good) and debut long player ‘Devonian Garden’, on Mood Hut Records. Both are examples of ambient, contemplative techno that also boast lush passages of sound.

Garoeda (NL)
Born and raised in The Hague, Sameer, aka Garoeda, is part of a new generation of talented producers from that city. Still in his early twenties, Garoeda is quickly developing a grainy, ambient-meets-house sound; inspired by innovators such as Huerco S. In 2014, he released two mixes through Wichelroede (in total, over 120 minutes of original material). Garoeda will make his first ever club-debut during Rewire, playing a dj-set in the Wichelroede showcase.

Friday 1 May:
Alessandro Cortini (IT), Bronze Teeth (UK), Evian Christ (UK) Godspeed You! Black Emperor (CA), Grouper (US), Lorn (US), Powell (UK), Ron Morelli (US), Saskia Lankhoorn / Kate Moore (NL/AU), Holly Herndon (US), Shit and Shine (US/UK), Svengalisghost (US), TCF (NO), Thomas Ankersmit presents ‘Eartones’ (NL), Tomaga (UK), Total Life (CA)

Saturday 2 May:
Antenna (NL), Blue Daisy (UK), Cliff Lothar (SE), Cloudface (CA), Dandana (NL), DJ Sniff (JP), Garoeda (NL), Gerben Louw (NL), Gnod (UK), Jac Berrocal + David Fenech + Vincent Epplay (FR), Jenny Hval & Susanna (NO), Julianna Barwick (US), Marsman (NL), Oren Ambarchi (AU), Pearson Sound (UK), Shabazz Palaces (US), Siinai (FI), The Bug (UK), Unit Moebius Anonymus (NL), Yodok III (NO/SE/NE)

Tickets:
Regular Weekend Ticket: € 39,95
Day Ticket: € 28
Hotel Package Day (2 people): € 150
Hotel Package Weekend (2 people): € 270
CJP cardholders will benefit from a €3 discount on both weekend and day tickets.