Unsound Festival is a 10-day festival that is happening in New York, London, and for the first year in two cities in Poland – Warsaw and Kraków. The festival will hit the start on October 2nd until October 6th in Warsaw and it will continue between October 8th-11th in Kraków! During the turnover on October 7th there will be a special Unsound train between the two cities. You will be able to experience different shows in the two cities as not a single artist will be repeated.
This year the theme is SOFT POWER, a concept used to denote influencing without force but via culture. This is a call for collective desire for comfort, intimacy, vulnerability.
You are able to get passes that cover both cities or if you prefer, you can get tickets for individual acts. You can buy your tickets on Resident Advisor.
There will be free discourse programmes, workshops, and artist talks that are free of charge.
Founded in 2003, Unsound is a special festival that pushes the boundaries of contemporary culture and ties in politics, platforms, and human networks. Expect club nights with an ambient post-club brunch, discussions on sonic resistance, looksmaxxing & sex, history of sonic surveillance and many more.
Here are some highlights in both cities as the picks are hard to make, given the quality of the programme.
See you in Poland!
Highlights on the line-up in Warsaw
October 2nd
At Jasna 1, Warsaw’s underground club, you will find Donato Dozzy, Beatrice M, emerai b2b Vi, Dtekk, Tom Boogzim.
October 3rd
You can start your day with the slow-moving and vulnerable performance by Ana Roxanne feat Hashtag Ensemble or if you don’t want to wake up early, you can make the second session at 14:00 at Arkady Kubickiego – Zamek Królewski.
October 4th
Another chance to catch Morning Glory, but this time with Milkweed and Klein at Nowa Miodowa.
For the curious minds, in the afternoon there will be a workshop with musician and educator Max Alper(aka Peretsky) and sound artist Edka Jarząb who will engage in field recordings and mapping out Warsaw!
October 5th
On October 5th, you can fill your evening with Diamanda Galás who will perform avant-garde jazz and opera.
October 6th
Amsterdam-based Devon Rexi & John T. Gast, together with Wendy Eisenberg (who played last week in Amsterdam via subbacultcha) and Giant Claw x Julek ploski present CONTROL FREAK will sound Klub OCZKI with post-punk and experimental sounds.
October 7th
If you manage to hop on the Unsound Train, you will not regret the truly special experience with Errorsmith, Radical Polish Arkestra, ZBIGNIEW, Julien Desprez, Elvin Brandhi, Paweł Szamburski, Szymon “Pimpon” Gąsiorek, Dona Jeka, Ramona Nagabczyńska, Olivia and Eltron.
Highlight on the line-up in Kraków
October 8th
Straight in Kraków, the clubnight Sway with DJ Spin, Deli Girls, K Means, Blawan, gyrofield, weed420 and more will play in a brutalist Hotel Forum, a Communist-era strip club.
October 9th
In the afternoon there will be a discussion and reflection of how 2020s sound like – something that not that many festivals dare to ask.
Later on, Actress will present his Radical Frame, a brand new A/V that accompanies his sound. Barcelona-based pianist Marina Herlop and Liars will perform before and after Actress.
October 10th
If you feel inspired, on the second to last day, you can browse through CDs, vinyls, cassettes during the Independent Record Label Fair.
The last clubnight will be DJ Spanish Fly, Kode9b2b Nikki Nair, CCL b2b GLASSZ & many more. Before that Persuasion will present L’Rain, Mandy, Indiana & One Leg, One Eye moving between experimental rock and noise.
October 11th
The last day will finish up with Nest with location tbc, where Polish group Księżyc and Berlin/Manchester based Space Afrika will accompany each other.
