If you’ve been reading the Quietus much over the last couple of years you’ll know we’re big fans of Unsound, the festival that takes place in Krakow, Poland, every October, and draws together all manner of delights electronic, stern and heavy. They’re already well on the way through announcing the names for this year’s Polish edition of the festival, which runs from 13th to 20th October and features names as diverse as RP Boo, Regis, Magic Mountain High, Pete Swanson, Forest Swords, Robert Rich and King Midas Sound.
Now they’ve announced that, in advance of this year’s Krakow edition, Unsound will be hosting a sister event in London. It’s their first event in the UK, though they’ve previously run festivals in New York and Adelaide, and will run from 26th to 29th September, with shows at the BFI, Cafe Oto and LSO St. Luke’s.
The line-up features a host of Polish artists as well as a few from elsewhere in Europe, and intends to showcase some of the best new music coming out of Poland. It’s timely indeed that the line-up includes Stara Rzeka, the one-man black metal/drone/electronic hybrid project whose album Cień Chmury Nad Ukrytym Polem has just landed in at a very healthy 12th place in our albums of the year so far.
The festival’s opening night, which takes place at the BFI on Thursday 26th September, features Demdike Stare performing their collaboration with Danny Norbury and Michael England. Titled Concealed, it’s an audiovisual set finds them working alongside string players from Krakow’s Sinfonietta Cracovia. They will be joined by Warsaw’s Anna Zaradny, an electronic musician whose work incorporates stark drones and sub-bass pulsations, touching on the work of forebears like Pan Sonic.
The following night, Friday 27th, at LSO St. Luke’s Church, the headliner will be Lustmord, fresh off the release of his new LP The Word Is Power on Blackest Ever Black. He’s long been involved with the festival’s Polish edition, but this is his first UK show in 31 years. He’ll be joined by Poland’s Pianohooligan, who will be performing pieces from his latest album which finds him reworking the music of Polish composer Penderecki.
Saturday 28th is presented in association with BleeD, and will take place at a yet-to-be-confirmed venue. Heading up the bill is Forest Swords, who despite having released his excellent Dagger Paths album/EP several years ago has yet to play in London. He’ll be joined by German ‘prepared turntable’ artists Durian Brothers and Robert Piotrowicz, whose When Snakeboy Is Dying is another of great Polish album released this year.
Sunday 29th, the closing night, takes place at Cafe Oto, and is headed up by former Napalm Death man Nic Bullen, whose recent work has taken in musique concrete/electro-acoustic processes. He’ll be joined by Stara Rzeka (which, needless to say, we’re very excited about), along with Innode and Poland’s BNNT.
Says festival director Mat Schulz: "Unsound London is a great opportunity to make the link between Poland and the UK developed via our festival even stronger, as well as bring artists or projects to London that wouldn’t usually appear here, especially in such combinations. The Polish contemporary music scene is very strong right now, but too often overlooked, so we’ve given it particular attention throughout the programme."
Tickets for each particular event are available from the venues in question, although there’s more information (plus details of their Polish festival, which is selling tickets very swiftly this year), at the Unsound website. Click here to visit the site.
