Word reached tQHQ a while back about this year’s edition of Berlin Atonal, the festival’s first after a twenty three-year hiatus, and very promising murmurings about its line-up and venue. Well, after spending some time perusing what the festival, which runs from Thursday 25th July to Wednesday 31st, has to offer, we can confirm it’s looking very good indeed.
Atonal is set to take place at the appropriately named Kraftwerk venue, an abandoned heating plant in Mitte, and is described as "a mazy industrial complex that will host 6 days of world-class musical events and large scale audio-visual installations as well as streetfood and a full catalogue of seminars, lectures, master-classes and screenings."
The festival’s theme is Forming Space, which seems both to refer to the dark, brutalist architecture of the venue and also to the festival’s line-up, which includes plenty of artists working around the regions where techno collapses into noise and industrial ambience. Among the Quietus favourites making an appearance are a series of artists from Bristol’s Subtext label including Roly Porter and Paul Jebanasam, Vladislav Delay, Donato Dozzy & Neel’s Voices From The Lake, Kassem Mosse and Actress.
There’s also a very impressive day’s worth of music on Sunday 28th presented by Blackest Ever Black and Contort, including Raime, Vatican Shadow, Cut Hands, Ancient Methods, Russell Haswell, Violetshaped and many more.
For more information about Atonal and tickets, you can click here to visit the festival’s website. Its full line-up, split by day, runs as follows:
THURSDAY 25th JULY
Kurt Schwitters
Ursonate Perormed by Frieder Butzmann
The Glenn Branca Ensemble presents ‘Twisting In Space’
Roly Porter
Paul Jebanasam
Eric Holm
Lucy Benson & Marcel Weber (MFO)
FRIDAY 26th JULY
Jon Hassell Quartet presents Summerthrill
Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland
Vladislav Delay
Kangding Ray
SATURDAY 27th JULY
Voices From The Lake
Murcof & Simon Geilfus
Dadub
Grun
SUNDAY 28th JULY
Raime
Vatican Shadow
Cut Hands
Ancient Methods
Russell Haswell
Violetshaped
Rashad Becker
Grischa Lichtenberger
Samuel Kerridge
Positive Centre
Lower Order Ethics
Zan Lyons
TUESDAY 30th JULY
Actress
Francesco Tristano
Kassem Mosse
Anstam
WEDNESDAY 31st JULY
Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble
Jacaszek
Z’EV
