As Rewire’s 15th edition draws closer, let’s looks at another round of recent albums from artists on this edition’s lineup – works that push boundaries and highlight the full breadth of experiences the festival will offer when it returns to The Hague in 2026. Dive into part two and discover what lies in wait at Rewire 2026.
Theodora Laird is the vocalist and multidisciplinary artist behind the project feeo. Goodness (2025), her debut album with label AD93, features wrinkled synth lines, bit-crushed into insectoid murmurs, and organ chords stretched out into infinity – suggesting an intimate yet haunting hymnal quality. Goodness is a trove of experiments in drone, ambient, electronics, improvisation, and minimalist dance music – all bound by themes of connection and isolation.
Watch "feeo - ‘The Hammer Strikes The Bell’ (Music Video)" by "feeo" on https://www.youtube.com/
Tortoise – Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker – rose to prominence in the mid 90s by taking the familiar independent rock ingredients of the era and tossing them into a frothy kraut-jazz cauldron: from this effervescent mirth, their iconic, creative, rhythmic sound bubbled up into existence. Almost a decade on from the 8-bit textures of The Catastrophist (2016), Tortoise re-emerged with “Oganesson,” a fluid, jazz-tinged track that hinted at the sonic direction of their new album Touch (2025). With the album now out through International Anthem and Nonesuch Records, it carries their experimental lineage into a fresh chapter.
JJJJJerome Ellis is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer who creates atmospheric soundscapes using saxophone, organ, hammered dulcimer, electronics, and their voice – an approach beautifully reflected on their 2025 sophomore record Vesper Sparrow. The album continues their ongoing study of the intersections between music and sound, stuttering, and Blackness, explored through the lens of time.
From a series of charged improvisational performances, Cara Tolmie and Rian Treanor developed their thrilling debut album. Body Lapse (2025), released on Planet Mu, channels the kinetic energy of their live shows into pounding rhythms and intense vocals. The duo blends digital textures, voice, and imaginative narrative into a tactile, playful sound world. Within this dreamlike space, breath and body become points of connection and tension, sparking encounters that are surprising, whimsical, and distinctly unconventional.
A fluffy white dog with a human head sits obediently, spotlit against a mysterious dark backdrop of silhouetted trees: this is the cover of Juana Molina’s DOGA (2025), her eighth album and first new material since Halo (2017). Molina’s music has long been full of sonic curiosities, blending 1990s esoteric J-pop, 1970s South American folk, and futuristic pop of the 2080s. DOGA distills these signature elements while pushing toward a singular, wholly original sound. Surprising melodies, delicate organic textures, subtle minimalism, repetition, and layered lyrics create a landscape that delights longtime listeners and offers an inviting entry point for newcomers.
Alejandra Cárdenas's music bursts with curiosity. Her playful and off-kilter electronics and left-field guitar style are melodically intriguing and brim with the gaiety of someone who is familiar with skirting conventions. A Body Like a Home (2025) marks her first time releasing under her own birth name. It centres on Cárdenas’s own voice, which takes on the dual role of witness and confessor, speaking to political upheaval and change in her home country. At Rewire 2026, Alejandra Cárdenas will be joined by Gibrana Cervantes on violin and Ignacio Briceño on guitar.
WRENS is a quartet made up of musicians Ryan Easter, Jason Nazary, Elias Stemeseder, and Lester St. Louis. The feverish sophomore album from the group, Half of What You See (2025), provides a vision of a noise-encrusted free jazz rich in diabolic rap sonics. Its spoken word verses and bassy electronic percussion take on mutant hip-hop sounds, while its trumpet and piano tug at traditional jazz lexicons, hoping to tear them apart and use them anew.
ex_libris is the latest project from former The Hague local Dave Huismans, whose releases as 2562 and A Made Up Sound on labels such as Tectonic, Delsin, and The Trilogy Tapes were mainstays of the then-burgeoning dubstep-techno crossover and experimental dance music landscapes. He returned in 2025 with two 12-inch records of deep, textural leftfield house. Across the tracks released so far, the ex_libris sound fizzes with gritty textures, leaning into ambient territory with its pads and tones, yet it is also undeniably club-ready, with low, heavy frequencies that pack a punch.
Armand Hammer is the New York City hip hop duo of rappers ELUCID and billy woods. For over a decade Armand Hammer's undaunted lyricism and unparalleled flow has placed them uncontestedly at the forefront of underground hip hop. They just released Mercy (2025), where legendary hip hop producer The Alchemist meets the duo head on, paving soulful sample-heavy cuts for the duo to tread on joyfully. Their sound pays homage to old school rap yet is truly of-the-moment, extrapolating east-coast hip hop flavours out towards infinity.
In a Dutch premiere, composer, musician, and producer Raül Refree and key contemporary flamenco figure Niño de Elche perform their dreamlike electronic reimagining of flamenco and beyond. Following five years of touring together, the cult duo released their first collaborative album together in late 2025. Cru+es (2025) brings together the mutant flamenco-infused electronica of Refree – who has produced for and collaborated with artists such as Rosalía and Sílvia Pérez Cruz – with the booming yet sensitive vocals of Niño de Elche – a stalwart of and beloved figure in Spanish avant-garde music.
Watch "Raül Refree, Niño de Elche - Antes De" by "NinodeElcheVEVO" on https://www.youtube.com/
feeo, Tortoise, Cara Tolmie & Rian Treanor, JJJJJerome Ellis, Juana Molina, Alejandra Cárdenas, WRENS, ex_libris, Armand Hammer, and Raül Refree & Niño de Elche will perform live at Rewire 2026. Book tickets via rewirefestival.nl/tickets