NOVEMBER NEWS
November 14, 2024
Even though the month's halfway through 🥸 November updates ripped straight from the newsletter, this time featuring odds n ends ~ featuring the last release of the year and the last shows to go with it!
UK MICROCASE TOUR SOUVENIRS
September 10, 2024
Image bucketing the .net with memories from the British isle aka the breakfast tour with Younes Zarhoni, Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia and Firmaet Forvoksen. Three days of mates and music, fuelled by cross-channel petrol and M&S prawn sandwiches!
AUGUST 24 NEWS
August 21, 2024
Post-heatwave scribblings hatched in a tub and snatched from our newsletter, featuring 2 new releases and a tour announcement!
KRAAK FEST 2024 IN PICTURES
March 12, 2024
The yearly pictorial recap of the sounds and faces that made up KRAAK Festival, as captured by Hans van der Linden's all-seeing lens ❤️
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Tibor Szemző
March 01, 2024
Budapest-born composer Tibor Szemző has been an unavoidable fixture of the Hungarian avant-garde since the 70s, as a founder of the minimalist ensemble Group 180 and other multidisciplinary performance outfits like the Gordian Knot Cinematic Music Lab. His extensive solo output spans over 40 years yet still remained somewhat on the “cult” end of things until reissuings of his work made recent rounds. His stealthily slitherings between the realms of ambient, new age, minimalism and spoken word render an undefinable vision that feels grounded in the modern world, which just as soon evaporates into inscrutability as soon as you think you got it. Below: a late game special peek into Hungarian composer Tibor Szemző's visual world!
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Sax Tape
February 27, 2024
Here’s some leftfield freshness from the ever-prescient Spettro microverse: Simone Bornati of the Twoonky/TwoMonkeys/Chorus Abstracta/etc and prime selector/sound artist Luisali sonically enmesh for one of the most confoundingly enjoyable musical trips in recent memory. Dystopian trip hop for liminal dance floors, where what initially feels clumsy and unsynchronized quickly gains a sense of its own, sending confusing signals to your body about what to do with all the moves that invariably ensue.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Cluster Bomb Unit
February 27, 2024
Originally formed in Stuttgart in 1989, Cluster Bomb Unit has been touring the world many times over with their straightforward, no bullshit German Raw Punk Kommando march. Founding member Oliver gives us a short update on the current state and possible futures of CBU, and we've assembled a small footage dump to get everyone fist pumping before their arrival on the KRAAK Fest stage this Sat!
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia
February 27, 2024
Longtime sound explorers Nina Garcia and Maria Bertel collide in a fever dream come true. As a duo, textures and rhythms come alive through burning amp bulbs, guitar and trombone reacting and refracting, a powerful complementarity slicing through roaring blasts. Their first collaborative release KNÆKKET SMIL is out this February from a unique co-release constellation formed by No Lagos Musique, Otomatik Muziek and KRAAK’s yours truly.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Horacio Pollard
February 26, 2024
Originally from the larger Norfolk area and based in Berlin for far too long now, the shifty wheeler of electronic dealings known as Horacio Pollard has been subtly infiltrating under and higherground scenes since at least 2002, including this here one with his 2020 KRUT EP Cordial Invite. Disruptive, hypnotic and aptly described as “almost danceable”, Pollard’s post-industrial baitings take us into brazen new worlds of sonic misdirection where we’ll gladly bide our time. That golden mic is the true beacon of hope.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Jooklo Duo
February 26, 2024
Blowing minds around the world with occasional high-caliber accomplices, Virginia Genta and David Vanzan been steamrolling ears and stages as Jooklo Duo since 2004. Demented psychedelic improvisations that defy all notion: percussive batterings relentlessly crash and collide through the frenzied drive of the reeds, opening expansive fields of sonic possibility that leaves you nothing short of bewildered, taking your ears places only your third eye can see.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Elastic Systems
February 23, 2024
Hopping over from the ridges of Nantes, Arnaud Aubry and Thomas Durand began their adventure as Elastic Systems in 2022, diving deep into human/machine synergy by means of wiggly electronic playtime. These improvisations can just as soon melt into free-floating waveforms that push listeners - and their dance moves - to engage in a perpetually shifting sonic worldbuilding, bringing it all together in a choose-your-own-adventure cascade of relentless euphoria.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Venediktos Tempelboom
February 22, 2024
When Ghent-based Benoît Monsieurs, aka Venediktos Tempelboom, starts playing his 12-string guitar, reclusive roamers line up to ride the whimsical sound waves he produces, spontaneously joining him in his meditative body rocking and headbanging. Imbuing his surroundings with a transcendental quality, the Tempelboom always manages to transform the bleak, melancholy landscapes of East Flanders into vast majestic terrains that approximate what the Romantics meant by the sublime ~ terror and awe unite!
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Mosquito Farm
February 20, 2024
The musical brainchild of artist duo Maddie Banwell and Grace Black, Mosquito Farm, revolves around homemade instruments. In 2022, the pair started making music with setups containing objects like powdered milk, fans, ping pong balls, camping tables and plastic bottles. They make their way through this noisy pen of automated and manually played acoustic creations in a playful yet seemingly deliberate manner, like true puppet masters, orchestrating erratic percussions and ominous industrial drone sounds.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Maria Valentina Chirico
February 20, 2024
Turin-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Maria Valentina Chirico and her harmonium seem to be inseparable. Trained in baroque, classical and contemporary music, Chirico uses her angelic voice, harmonium, tapes, and electronics to create haunting and magical ambient-folk songs. You may find yourself longing for a past that was never yours, reminiscing about falling in love with an instrument you’ve never even played ~ music for building a snowman and watching it slowly melt.
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Elatu Nessa
February 16, 2024
Since 2015, Finnish multimedia artist Rusto Myllylahti has been using the moniker Elatu Nessa to spread his DIY, meditative, lo-fi sounds throughout his home country and across Europe. A mix of field recordings, psychedelic guitar, hypnotic chanting, and soft humming ~ the owls and foxes are already jumping out of their hiding places to experience his trance-inducing loops and will happily be rocked into sweet and gentle never-ending reveries. Het Bos may never be the same again!
KRAAK FEST 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: Andra Ljos
February 16, 2024
Why try to come up with new descriptions when Andra Ljos’s album titles are eager to communicate the feeling her music evokes? Based in Vilnius, the Russian-Armenian artist Aleksandra Evseeva creates sonic stories that feel indecipherable, uncanny, otherworldly and megalithic, yet also exude a sense of familiarity and intimacy. No matter what kind of oasis you end up in, you’ll want to hang around and let the place inspire you to do some worldbuilding of your own.
FEBRUARY NEWS
February 16, 2024
KRAAK Fest prep in full swing, new releases and an emotional twist, ripped straight from the newsletter :')
RAVI REFILL + FUM VIDEO
September 12, 2023
A fresh repress of last year's magical hit by Romain de Ferron, with loving visuals to boot 🥲
HOLIDAY BREAK + KRAAKER BOGOHP SUMMER VINYL SALE
July 19, 2023
Something to tide over the KRAAK vaccuum until our mid-Augustian return!
TREFPUNT + UH NIGHT FOOTAGES
July 07, 2023
Still from two of our latest shows, from a sludgehead extraordinaire event in Ghent to a relocated Budapest into the heart of Brussels.
15/04:: KRAAK'S FUTURARESISTENZAATRON @ Au Kalme, Brussels
April 11, 2023
THIS SATURDAY AT AU KALME IN BXL: a first collaboration between two Flemish orgs exiled in the capital. KRAAK & Futura Resistenza join forces for a semi-showcase night of featured talent and future prospects!
KRAAK FEST 2023 IN PICTURES
March 06, 2023
A look back at this year's sights and vibes by the all-seeing lens of Hans van der Linden ~ friendly faces, joyous music, floods of feesthondjes, unexpected collabs (TIMOTHY!) and endless camaraderie are henceforth immortalized as we count blessings and look forward to what's next 🥲❤️
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Chillera
March 03, 2023
Closing act of the festival is Chillera, whose floating sun-drenched surf jams will be just the right thing to carry the night to its lovable climax. Bringing hope from the brink of despair, this these three put the capital P in Power trio ~ an unmissable end to an unmissable day!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Morthen Kiang
March 03, 2023
We're happy to have Maldegem’s very own Morthen Kiang as our closing DJ for this fest! Banker by day and Technics terrorist by night, the Kiang gets to break out all the technos and all the houses for these KRAAKheads: he’s got acid and booty, Chicago and New York, and whatever breaches can be found in between. No way to not bounce to this man’s skills!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Younes Zarhoni
March 02, 2023
Antwerp-born Younes Zarhoni has been consistently performing and making music for just about a decade now, notably as YZ ~ the crossroad between techno and Sufi poetry~ and now under his own name for a series of meditative polyphonic pieces that transfix like sculptures in time. More about his process and practice below!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Valentina Goncharova
March 02, 2023
An unsung pioneer of the 20th century's new music movement, Valentina Goncharova forewent the classical for the avant-garde and infused it with an ethereal aura that expands through the drones of her violin. In her sonic journey, Valentina hits that sweet and rarified spot where electro-acoustics collide with New Age sensibilties, inviting frequencies like whale song to tap into something ancestral and primordial. Here she talks about her trajectory and about what may still come as we rev up for KRAAK Fest THIS WEEKEND 🙀
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Turner Williams Jr.
February 28, 2023
Having previously performed under the Ramble Tamble moniker and frequently collaborated with New York guitar duo Elkhorn, the Alabama man Turner Williams Jr. finds rebirth in his God-given name, armed with an electric shahi baaja and effects board which steer the bluesy folksy tradition into trebling psychedelic turfs. Here he tells story of his life and the wild journey that brought him and his tunes from Birmingham to Marseille.
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker
February 27, 2023
Continuing the KRAAK Fest 23 highlights are none other than Silvia Tarozzi & Deborah Walker, two Italian musicians whose undeniable talents are mutually reinforced by collaboration and friendship. They took some time from their world-trotting schedule to talk about their latest album, which based on the traditional folksong of Italian female rice workers and upon which their set at KRAAK Fest will stem from 🌾
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Nuit Noire
February 26, 2023
Some 25 years ago, after a night walk through the French woods, Tenebras set out to create through Nuit Noire a unique blend of black metal, lo-fi and indie rock tropes which would eventually become known as “Faerie Punk”, a musical language associated with destruction and depression which is repurposed for hope and acceptance. Behold, the origin story and Faerie musings by the sword-wielding man of the night!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Justice Yeldham
February 24, 2023
Decade spanning research finds Justice Yeldham stripping down turntablism to its absolute core, where diamond tip becomes roadside glass and pedalboards replace carefully engineered noiseless transformers. The legendary Aussie pioneer of visceral cringesonics discusses pain, practice and devotion to arm your senses for his upcoming KRAAK Fest performance!!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Food People
February 23, 2023
Sometimes you hear bands which - especially after two years of pandemic insolence - you just really want to see in a live setting. Food People are one of those bands: longtime friends Lila Matsumoto, Matthew Hamblin and Greg Thomas have been quietly putting out albums of their improvisations with guitar, violin, tape, stray sounds and sparse vocals. Read about friendship and process (or lucky lack thereof) below!
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Daphne X
February 22, 2023
Continuing the highlight parade is Greek-born, Austria-based multidisciplinary artist Daphne X. Her musical practice takes the term “electronic experiments” to the task, with frequencies caught like specimens that are studied at a near-atomic level and harmonies dissected and looped to disorienting effect. Below, some words about the origins that made her and non-musical forms that inspire her.
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Charmaine's Names
February 21, 2023
Projects that purport to “explore the borders of masculinity and sensuality” are not exactly the jam du jour, but a non-Talking Head David Byrne whose provenance is as enigmatic as his facial hair opens that exploration for the indisputably better. Charmaine's Names has us under his many grips with his seductive baritone and sax game ~ this crooning, confusing troubadour opens the gates just a crack for us - and you - to catch a glimpse of the enigma (and his untrustworthy guts).
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Bâton XXL
February 20, 2023
Big sticks & big sounds, all the way from Amiens coldest but biggest heart ~ Bâton XXL charges fistfirst into KRAAK Fest with the energy of drumming heartbeats. We got Romain to talk about his overflowing ambitions and tech rig, and the importance of letting go & reach higher strata of trance states (and insomnia).
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Aya Suzuki
February 17, 2023
No stranger to the KRAAK scene, Aya Suzuki is one of those rare talents whose virtuosity is palpable through the sparseness of her actions, as marimbas, vibraphones, pots and the ground itself present manifold opportunities for resonance and rumination. Here she opens the curtain into her sonic universe, unveiling dreams and approaches that we're all too happy to witness and be part of 🥲
KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Alto Fuero
February 16, 2023
Here we go, the virtual parade of this year's KRAAK Fest artists begins! Kicking things off is Alto Fuero, the union of two shapeshifters from the Brussels/Marseille conflux whose sounds feel like club music that has seeped through the meshes of alternate realities. Loto & Victoria talk some alien shop down below::::
KROG II THROWBACK
February 13, 2023
Finally uploaded these from our last show of 2022 at the ever wonderful SMOG venue ~ a magical evening of cello, steel guitar and warmth provided by all the fellow fellows around. The Belgrado/Depraetere documentarian duo report thusly:::
JEF MERTENS NO MATHEMATICS & RELEASE SHOW
February 09, 2023
Out today, the debut LP of Jef Mertens, documentarian of the underground and dadaist taper from humble Geel. We celebrate with a release show at AB Salon, with support by the most inimitable & ineffable Neil Young/Bromp Treb 🗿
KRANKY STARS + KRUT FEST 22
January 03, 2023
Moving images of last November's Ghentian voyages, with video lovingly scraped and put together by Goldscammer Inc on the KRAAK Tube. Many minutes of outstanding live performances and multifarious shredding lie ahead, with performances by Mariachi, Ailbhe Nic Oirentaigh, Chien Fer, Territorial Gobbing, Fantôme Josépha, Umarell & Zdaura & mucho more
UNDONE SHAL RELEASED PHOOTAGE
November 11, 2022
Sights and sounds of the release for Firmaet Forvoksen's Undone Shal LP at Beursschouwburg, with the best lighting yet for the Belgradian archivery of Natalia Beylis's sewing machine antics, Firmaet Forvoksen's outsidercore bouncing, and Paul Arámbula's antidystopian pop hymns. Videos always courtesy of Goldscammer Prod, now with rotating logos!
DEKANT TIMES KRAAK IMAGERY
November 07, 2022
Fun times at Villa Bota with the Dekant pals during the first Brugesian adventure of our tenure, with Megabasse's dreamy strums, Luster's romantic folkisms and funhouse horror party with Harry Merry to light it up. Hereby Belgradian photo report + video'd footage courtesy of Goldscammer Prod.
MILLI MILLE MILLE RELEASE VISUALS
October 21, 2022
Some snippets - static and moving - of Bloedneus & de Snuitkever's release recital at KIOSK Ghent with Sans Âge, all amid Lisa Vlaeminck's psychomagic artworks. Auloi, snake sausages, yoga balls, and a whole lotta blowin right this way:
NÜ TOUQUET RHYTHMIC VISUALS
October 10, 2022
Impressionistic flurries from that infamous night at New Touquet with Hiele, Innercity and DJ Bontés. Wild Child Belgrado's point and shoot skills always on point!
Ravi Release Beach pics!
September 09, 2022
Belgradian hot takes from our return to shows at OHK in Ostend, all for the release of Romain de Ferron's sweet sweeet transportational Ravi tape ❤️ Sunsets, foliage, red faces and songs to jump back into the grooves.
DE NEUS IN 2022 THUS FAR
July 12, 2022
A giggly radio'd compendium of the past six months lived in De Neus Van God ~ someone get us on Spotify already!
Volksken Filth in pictures
July 11, 2022
A small crop of blurry snaps by the Belgrado 2001 Sony point n shoot: memories are certainly this hazy, especially after all those pints of Mauvais Voeux 🥴
Divagation x KRAAK's incantational soirée photographs
July 04, 2022
The menace Belgrado goes back into the wilderness of the concertlife, this time for another collab with Brussels' hardest working one-man org Divagation. On the bill for these incantations: Manoir Molle, El manantial, Le diable dégoûtant and G.S. Sultan!
KRAMP - BEESTEN LOPEN CIRKELS
June 29, 2022
A glimpse into KRAMP's upcoming album SONGS OF BALKENBRIJ via videoclip! Dinner at oma and opa Wybouw goes way Lynchian to the gurgling sounds of "BEESTEN LOPEN CIRKELS", smakelijk.
Coastal Shrimpin Snaps
June 09, 2022
Photo reportage of our two day Ostendian adventure back in May, in glorious early 2000 point n shoot quality courtesy of our lady Belgrado. Nobody fell into the ocean, except for Timmy D's sense of self 🥲
AZONE KRAAK KARAVAN TOUR DIARY
April 05, 2022
Visual stills of the most salient moments gone down during last month's Azone KRAAK Karavan with Apulati Bien & fiends! Reliving the mostly offstage moments & roadside snacking scene, presented with minimal commentary thank god.
KRAAK FESTIVAL 2022 IN PICTURES
March 15, 2022
Still high from the cloud that was this year's KRAAK Festival and already got some sweet photo souvenirs from the always great Hans van der Linden. Synthetic meanderings, utopic drone settings, voices like lava, songs like wildfires, intravenous noise excursions and floaty rhythms for eternal dancing: all are captured here for the now and the tomorrows. Next year ain't soon enough, we tells ya <3
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Petronn Sphene
March 11, 2022
Rounding off this year's artist highlights is Leeds' own sonic terrorizer Petronn Sphene::::: known as one half of explosive insectoid rock duo Guttersnipe, Petronn Sphene’s No Wave Rave is a frenzied force of drum machine chaos, xenomorph shriekings and shards of noiseful synthwaves coming from every which way. Here she gets the juices going on the eve of her performance at our fest ~ unfiltered and unhinged utter realness, just the way we love 'er!!
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Luster
March 11, 2022
May the Belgian folkways hail their new queens (and Jelle): Luster is a sextet formed in 2012 by a group of friends and music lovers from the East and West Flanders fields. Cello, ukulele, flute, harmonium and violin meet the guitar-bass-drums trifecta in a quirky crossroads where ancestral doom folk, heady post rock and Stereolab-tinged pop seamlessly meet. Behold, the most candid conversation about music, influences, not-wanting-to-be-the-saxophone-player and post-birth trivia that we were kicked out of the room for!
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Paul Arámbula
March 10, 2022
Yung Paul Arámbula left his native Phoenix for Berlin’s greying prospects, keyboard in tow and words about trials, tribulations and the nothing in between swirling around. His songs are populated by inner demons, mixed feelings, home cooked scenarios, rides to nowhere and missed connections, with internal turmoils and random thoughts manifesting alongside some serious fist-pump-worthy melodies. In high anticipation for the weekend, he sent us words about leaving homes and finding new ones, intimate compositions and today and tomorrow's dreamings.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Sholto Dobie
March 10, 2022
Edinburgh native Sholto Dobie works with sound in a literally hands-on way: homemade organs, hurdy-gurdies, and field recordings of different calibers are just some of the contraptions used to spin delicate yet radiant compositions. Here he talks about his myriad forms of exploration, whether they be through collaborations, travels and solo journeys, in a time and place where things could get bleak. Still, hope and possibility permeate everything, and so the exploration continues.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Donna Candy
March 09, 2022
The Marseillais outfit Donna Candy is the unlikely union of Sale Garce, Js Donny and Nadi Füdli who, having heard the calls for more jump-tha-fuck-upness in the scene, wasted no time in heeding. A certain nostalgia for Limp Bizkit (!) comes along right at time when going to the pit never felt more necessary - behold the highly kiffable Candy Circus Show in full boom!
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Dror Feiler
March 08, 2022
Cerebral, dense and unapologetically effusive, Dror Feiler’s music is the kind to get your wits jumping out of your bodily carcass for a lucid moment in time. The Israeli-born Stockholm-based composer and performer has been blowing out eardrums for years through a unique sound wall of brass and abrasive electronics. Hereunder he shares some thoughts about his musical trajectory, archipelagos of noise, and fights that never cease to be fought.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Dhavali Giri
March 07, 2022
Much like the snowy Himalayan peaks after which the takes its name, Dhavali Giri’s effects are of the meditative yet woozily exhilarating kind. The rotating members of this Lyon-born formation use each musical meet-up as an opportunity to explore uncharted sonic avenues, improvising textures and resonances into long-form psychedelic unwindings. We got Antoine "Bravo Tounky" to shed some light on the enigmas lurking behind the Giri's towering forms.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Piotr Kurek
March 07, 2022
A late but nevertheless extremely welcome addition to this year's line up: Warsaw-based multi-instrumentalist Piotr Kurek has been steadily building a corpus of work that impresses and affects through its approach and boundless ingenuity. Here he talks about his (surprising!) musical awakenings and future plans as his latest album World Speaks continues inspiring all those who come across its enigmatic power.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Antonina Nowacka
March 07, 2022
No stranger to our KRAAK circles with some unforgettable performances in sisterly duos WIDT and Mentos Gulgendo, we're thrilled to have Antonina Nowacka present her enchanting vocal work which she has been developing through loner voyages into caves and other locales of resonant magic. Always the intrepid traveler, Antonina tells us about her trips, dreams and explorations in these chimerical times.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Marcia Bassett
March 03, 2022
A true icon of the experimental scene for the past 20 years +, Marcia Bassett has been tirelessly performing in all sorts of configurations, whether it be in groups like Double Leopards, GHQ and Hototogisu or solo as Zaimph. Now back in Europe under her own name, Marcia shares dreams and visions in the run up to KRAAK Festival, where she will be joined by Swiss media artist Ursula Scherrer for what is gearing up to be a hallucinatory experience for both mind and irises.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Barn Sour
March 01, 2022
A thief of others' illnesses well-versed in the art of happy accidents, Winnipeg's enigmatic Barn Sour lifts the shroud of mystery ever so slightly to discuss his process and progress as a champion of purgative strategies. Grotesque concepts paired with actions of unlikely beauty: seems to be the way of the Sour.
KRAAK FEST 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Bloedneus & De Snuitkever
February 28, 2022
Spearheading the caravan of KRAAK Festival highlights is our all-time favorite aulos head Bloedneus & de Snuitkever, whose layered drones evoke true ancestral liturgies for timeless vibing. It's also a good a time as any to announce his upcoming album on this KRAAKing label :000 We caught the man in the middle of what he called "a traditional Flemish weekend of watching cycling competitions" and got him to answer some questions and share even more emotions and tunes.
20/02/2022:::: KROG I with Aya Suzuki, Mik Quantius & Romain De Ferron
February 16, 2022
Our first collaboration with Brussels' improv-experimental venue collective SMOG is happening this Sunday 20 February. On the bill: Japanese percussionist Aya Suzuki, improkraut legend Mik Quantius and lyonnais cosmic scorer Romain De Ferron. Come early and let the jams spirit you away.
02/02/22 RUISKAMER #4: Alvin Curran / Two Envelopes / Ï Î
February 01, 2022
A very special evening of sober listenings and metaphorical sound washings with living legend Alvin Curran and a duo of duos with local imagineers Two Envelopes and Ï Î.
KRAAK FEST 2022 FULL LINEUP + TICKETSSS
January 24, 2022
March is basically around the corner and so are the names for our not-soon-enough edition of KRAAK Festival:::::::
A YEAR IN "RADIO": De Neus Van God 2021 Highlights
December 29, 2021
A quick recap at some of this year's aventures at Radio Panik, with the world of Zoom opening up interview possibilities beyond our wildest imaginings and enough slacker-style freeform radio to keep us blabbing and sharing many a sick tune in spite of the global health sitush. Honorable mention to Total Stooge FM fest which was not archived, though won't be the case for long WINK.
OFFICE SOUNDINGS #2: Deep in de humus
December 01, 2021
Here at the KRAAK HQ, the current vibe can be best described as deep & dark mole people times, dwelling in the dirt of earthly metaphors. Luckily we got heroes, homies and haters worldwide to keep our chins up ~ none of us like the cold and all of us definitely hate adult homework, but these tunes keep us warm and on point. At least they tried!
Radio Hito live at Kiosk Radio
November 30, 2021
A magical moment at everyone's go-to Brussels sound sauna to celebrate the release of Radio Hito's latest outing on our dear label. Watch it and weep!
THIS SATURDAY NOV 12 IN MECHELEN!
November 10, 2021
gr'Ambachting with claire rousay and Xaxi + finissage "1000 Ogen "by Erwin Van Looveren
OFFICE SOUNDINGS #1: Wormhole Mindset
October 25, 2021
The first instalment of our new procrastinatory series (?) presenting what we listened to/trolled each other with at KRAK HQs in recent times. Upskirt cumbias, wheezing improvisations, literally prepared banjos, Franco-Chilean folk covers, teenage bedroom tracks and some Freddie Gibbs to help swallow them bureaucratic pills.
KRAAK FESTIVAL 2021 IN PICTURES
October 05, 2021
Rocking bolts, fanfare tents, watery sounds & sights and a whole lotta groovin' ~ a look back at this year's festival's sights and moods, as captured by the inimitable Hans van der Linden.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Simon Van Honacker
September 30, 2021
As a symbol of gatherings past and the voices that trailed behind them, Simon Van Honacker's setting up his installation Tempo In Vlaanderen for anyone to visit/get lost in mentally and sonically in the Het Bos courtyard. Ambient characters and trademarked organic symphonies are just a ghost braderie away ~ ~ ~
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Spuk Disk
September 30, 2021
Rounding up the performer parade are lathe utopians Spuk Disk. A spaced-out spazzed-out medley of cuts and beats bouncing from three corners of the room and lasting till who knows to end the festival in all flyness. New stuff will be tried out to melt limbs and heads all the way to the bus!
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: soccer Committee
September 29, 2021
Mariska Baars, aka soccer Committee, is back after a hiatus of a decade-plus. Delicate yet deeeep guitar singings and a yearning for simpler moments with nature will affect those sitting or standing around sC's tender siren's songs. Catch her on Saturday ~ THIS SATURDAY!
KRAAK FESTIVAL 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Cassis Cornuta
September 29, 2021
The bad first: Pierre Elitair will sadly not make it to the festival due to health complications. But here's the good: his comrade in crimes Daniel De Botanicus has gracefully stepped up to close the Friday night ceremonies with a multi-synth set for the ages as his Antwerp-renonwned alter ego Cassis Cornuta. KORGING TIMES AHEADDD.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Million Brazilians
September 28, 2021
Settling into the dusk, we'll find the mysterious outfit known as Million Brazilians. Coming from the rocky mists of Maine, Grant Corum, Suzanne Stone and a rotating cast of fellow sound seekers bring their strangely transcendant improvisations and supernaturally-tinged visions to our KRAAKed out spot in the Schelde.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Michèle Bokanowski
September 27, 2021
We're thrilled to welcome Michèle Bokanowski, a mostly unsung heroine of the electroacoustic slate whose works have been thankfully rediscovered and republished in recent years. Her visionary compositions vary from the melodically ambient to the utterly abstract, effecting and affecting aurally and sensorially. A real treat, and also an occasion to see her artistic and life partner Patrick Bokanowski's work!
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Le Diable Dégoûtant
September 27, 2021
Picking up the pace for the KRAAK Fest Focus Fest, here's Pauline Marx, aka Le Diable Dégoûtant all the way from the deep recesses of Brittany's lore. Witchy incantations from a half-woman half-creature from the woods are in store as the twilight sets on ye attendees ale-lit faces.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Heta Bilaletdin
September 24, 2021
Surfing on the waves of her album release announcement, we're happy to present Heta Bilaletdin as one of the many shining beams at this year's KRAAK Festival ✨ Heavy HEAVY bass and sparkling squirrely sound snackies, and an exclusive FIRST DIBS at her amazing debut Nauhoi next Friday!
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Justine Grillet
September 23, 2021
Justine Grillet is no stranger to Antwerp's art spaces, as she has been exhibiting and playing music consistently for the past year and more (?!). Keeping to her home turf, she'll be opening this year's KRAAK Fest with her dreamlike soundscapes straight out of a magically woodsy RPG game ✨
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: JD & THE CC
September 22, 2021
Jon Dunbar, an enigmatic Greek with a free-floating group of Cheese Chandeliers, came into our hive radar through the scrambling chaos of internet shares. Going through his all-over-the-place discography, our hive minds promptly fizzled upon getting a load of his strange, nihilistic jams tinged with crude pop allusions which, at the end of the day, spell out some damn good times. Also: A KRUT BE UPCOMING.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Elisabeth Klinck
September 21, 2021
Belgium's got some young talent, and violinist Elisabeth Klinck is kicking proof of that. After a stint on our TOTAL STOOGE FM FEST, we got her back for an in-da-flesh performance at this year's KRAAK Fest for a soaring intimate set in Het Bos's exhibition space. Let them violins roar up in space:
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Ilpo Numminen
September 20, 2021
Proceeding with the proceedings, we have the ultra slick melodies and fashion statements of Finland's Ilpo Numminen. One of that land's premier syntheads, he'll be running some test flights at our KRAAK fest for a nighttime set of cosmic deliriums to send us all into the space lands of our mindddddddds.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Foudre Rockeur
September 18, 2021
Now here's some honest to goodness rock n roll: Foudre Rockeur, these self-appointed demons of rock, are the collision of Mr Marcaille and a group of residents from the Pôle Habitat ADAPEI in Widranges. Together they blast out forthright jams that need no words be chanted along with.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: EC Band
September 17, 2021
As the fermenting grounds for freshly-baked and potentially heart stirring projects, KRAAK fest is always game for taking those changes, espcially when it's from one from our favorite KRAMP and New York multi-instrumentalist Luke Calzonetti. As EC Band, they take us to woozy territories through dark guitar meanderings. Dusky Friday night music comin' your way.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Dominique Grimaud
September 16, 2021
Here at the KRAAK HQ we developed a big heart for legendary French underground dweller Dominique Grimaud's warped rehashings of sixties psychedelia on his 19 Feedbacks album ~ a fitting soundtrack for those jarring and surreal months of confinement. Made sense then to have the man himself over for this year's fest to spill out his looping electronic experiences, augmented by Veronique Vilhet's hypnotic drumming. Strange jams for times that never cease to be strange!
KRAAK Festival 2021 Highlights: Cucina Povera
September 14, 2021
Continuing the KRAAK Festival focus is Maria Rossi aka Cucina Povera, whose music drips with an enchanted melancholia that is impossible not to be affected by. Here she shares with us a special video made for one of the tracks from her latest album ~ let the swooning begin.
KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Container
September 14, 2021
We're proud to present the heads and sounds of this year's KRAAK Festival in Het Bos 🥴 First off, weird techno legend Container and his demented bangers to have you bouncing off your chair and into head-melting sonic stratospheres!!
Zondag Acht Dagen is back!!!
September 08, 2021
This Sunday we're back in Ghent's De Koer for a sunny (if not in weather at least in spirit!) afternoon filled with jammings of all sorts, criss-crossing our tiny land with some of the finest acts gracing the local-ish scene.
KRAAK Festival 2021 at Het Bos
July 07, 2021
New location and exceptionally in the fall ~ because we couldn't get through this year without it (fingers still crossedddd). See you in the forest by the Schelde, more info soon! Line up and links hereunder:
Ignatz(less) Beachside Release Jam pics
June 23, 2021
Our return to shows with a sweet Pleasure Island collab, featuring ladr.ache, Annelies Monseré & Floris, doggies and seagulls and the Oostend surf. Pictures by Victor Van Wassenhove.
New website!
June 22, 2021