KRAAK FEST

March 01, 2024

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 Abstract/etc and prime selector/sound artist Luisali sonically enmesh for one of the most confoundingly enjoyable musical trips in recent memory. Luisali’s tape manipulations, which cover field recordings, warbled disco, sampled beats and indiscernible cosmic soundings, provide a launchpad for Simone’s sax diversions, looping and echoing seemingly from another time and place. The result is 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: Cluster Bomb Unit

February 27, 2024

Founding member Oliver gives us a short update on the current state and possible futures of CBU + footage dump to get everyone fist pumping



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 KN​Æ​KKET 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: Jooklo Duo

February 26, 2024

Active since 2004 and blowing minds around the world with occasional high-caliber accomplices like Chris Corsano, Bill Nace, Makoto Kawabata, Dror Feiler, Mik Quantius and Thurston Moore, Virginia Genta and David Vanzan been steamrolling ears and stages as Jooklo Duo. 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: 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. Her music triggers that strange mix of melancholy and happiness that is as comforting as it is unsettling. 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. His latest album P​ä​ä​portti, released on Ultraääni & Raatoraita in 2023, was recorded, mixed and produced in Helsinki, London and by the sea. Still, this sound wizard will have no trouble working his magic in the dark and mysterious Antwerpian forest, as 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.



FEBRUARY NEWS

February 16, 2024



OCTOBER NEWS

October 03, 2023

Posted late for archival purposes 🥴



SEPTEMBER NEWS

September 13, 2023

A show and an announcement, snatched 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 🥲



AUGUST NEWS

August 24, 2023

As seen on our newsletter



HOLIDAY BREAK + KRAAKER BOGOHP SUMMER VINYL SALE

July 19, 2023

Something to tide over the KRAAK vaccuum until our mid-Augustian return!



JUNE NEWS

June 07, 2023

The monthly Substack rip of KRAAK happenings, without the mini bonuses °_°



MAY NEWS

May 09, 2023

As seen in our Substack, minus the minor perks :}



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: 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 unlikely crossroad between techno and Sufi ~



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 F

February 27, 2023



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: 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 ~ 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 + NIEUWJAAR'S FETE + NO MATHEMATICS RELEASE IMAGERY

February 13, 2023

A big bucketload of show pics & vids from the latest kraakins: the second collab with SMOG, our version of a New Year's shindig at Atoma, and our latest release party for Jef Mertens::::



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 🗿



JANUARY NEWS

January 11, 2023

As seen on our newsletter (mostly) 🤑



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



SHOWS TO END THE YEAR

December 02, 2022

In Mechelen's gr'Ambacht & Brussels' SMOG!



UNDONE SHAL IMAGERY RELEASED

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!



NEXT WEEK: KRANKY STARS & KRUT FESTS

November 09, 2022

This month is basically making up for lost Ghentian time!



DEKANT TIMES KRAAK IMAGERY

November 07, 2022

Fun times at Dekant 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 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 Mauvaus 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

Foto's van een tweedaags Oostends avontuur in mei, in Skyblogkwaliteit dankzij lady Belgrado. Het enige dat in de zee viel, was Timmy D's gevoel van eigenwaarde 🥲



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 HIGHTLIGHTS: 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: 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!



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: 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: 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:::::::



2021 "RADIO" HIGHLIGHTS

December 29, 2021



OFFICE SOUNDINGS #2: Deep in the hummus

December 01, 2021

Hier op het KRAAK HQ zijn het donkere tijden met dwalende molmensen diep in het vuil van aardse metaforen. Gelukkig hebben we helden, homies en haters wereldwijd om onze kin omhoog te houden ~ niemand van ons houdt van de kou en we hebben allemaal zeker een hekel aan volwassen huiswerk, maar deze tunes houden ons warm en scherp.



Radio Hito live op Kiosk Radio

November 30, 2021

Een magisch moment in ieders go-to Brusselse geluidssauna voor de release van Radio Hito's nieuwste tape op ons dierbare label. Kijk en huil!



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

October 25, 2021

First instalment of the new procrastinatory series (?) of what we listened to/trolled each other with at KRAK HQs. Upskirt cumbias, wheezing improvisations, prepared banjo licks,



KRAAK FESTIVAL 2021 IN PICTURES

October 05, 2021

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 - and closers of the festival - are lathe utopians Spuk Disk



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!



Million Brazilians

September 28, 2021



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 HIGHTLIGHTS: Heta Bilaledin

September 24, 2021

Surfing on the waves of her album release, we're happy to present Heta Bilaletdin as one of the many shining beams in this KRAAK Festival. Heavy HEAVY bass and sparkling squirreling sound snackies



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: John Dunbar & The Cheese Chandeliers

September 22, 2021

This enigmatic Greek and his possibly imagined Cheese Chandeliers came into our hive radar through the scrambling chaos of internet shares, and our hive minds definitely fizzled upon grasping his strange, nihilistic jams tinged with crude pop allusions which, at the end of the day, spell out some damn good times. Come & meet this John Dunbar, we will too!



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:



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. Trip on!!



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, here's one from our favorite KRAMP and New York's 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!



Cucina Pover

September 14, 2021



KRAAK FEST 2021 HIGHLIGHTS: Container

September 14, 2021

Dance-noise veteran Ren Schofield has been screwing up club floor enthusiasts as Container for at least a decade now. Spasmodic beats and modulated anarchy fly mercilessly about as techno iterations fold into each other and explode into micro anthems for uninhibited swaying. Time bends, and so does sound, as Schonfield proves over and over and over, and never over.



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(loze) zanderige release jam foto's!

June 23, 2021

Onze terugkeer naar de concertwereld met het zoete Please Island, ladr.ache, Annelies Monseré & Floris, harige en pluimige beesten en de Oostendse branding. Foto's door Victor Van Wassenhove.



Nieuwe website!

June 22, 2021

Hoppa, Kraak.net heeft haar vorige huid afgeworpen en is klaar voor een vers decennium. Met nieuwe rubrieken en andere klikbare dingetjes!