A season of Encounters

In 'O amor natural', choreographer Andrew Graham explores the complexity of touch in human relationships where care, romance, and desire come together. For people with disabilities, touch is often linked to medical care, with other needs frequently ignored.

The concept of consent raises many questions. How do we know what we do and do not want? And how do we communicate this? On what basis can we consent to something we do not yet know? Graham delves into the depth of connection and consent, moving beyond a simple yes or no. Consent is explored in all its non-verbal richness. Whispers, body temperature, breathing, gaze, and speed of movement weave a web of intimacy.

Graham describes 'O amor natural' as "a choreography of non-verbal haikus, where touch is the key to exploring trust between bodies, like the tango that connects two hearts." It invites a deeper understanding of human connection.

In 'MadDoG,' dancer and choreographer Lydia McGlinchey pays homage to the aesthetics of the knot, Gothic, horror, and heavy metal. Inspired by centuries-old lace techniques, she transforms the theater into an impressive artwork where the scenography forms the core, like a 'knot' connecting various elements and issues.

'MadDoG' does not label darkness as evil but rather superficiality and challenges us to think further. The title of the performance refers to the madness of contemporary images of mass murders, advertisements from electronics stores, and photos of photoshopped women on yachts. High and low culture are intertwined. In this experience of closely connected disturbing contradictions, McGlinchey sees knotting as a relevant aesthetic concern. In 'MadDoG,' the knot symbolizes the impossibility of purity.

Three performers and a musician take center stage, combining spoken word, dance, and music.

Mette Ingvartsen, resident artist at VIERNULVIER, has been collaborating with dancer Manon Santkin for 20 years. Especially for her, Ingvartsen wrote the solo 'RUSH,' a tribute to their long, intense collaboration and to performance itself.

Manon Santkin presents a retelling of previous performances she created with Ingvartsen. In a tumultuous 'rush,' highlights are brought back to life, and new forms emerge. Within the framework of a larger body of work, Santkin tells her own story, and her body undergoes a chameleon-like transformation. A tidal wave of energy emerges, with the joy of performing radiating from it.

Theatre maker and performer Simon Baetens was a co-founder of the Ghent drag collective House Of Lux. With 'I'm Not Done,' he presents an intense, playful performance about self-projection, loneliness, and being on the road. For the first time, his drag alter ego 'Electra' leaves the club and appears on stage.

Electra takes the audience on a musical journey through transformative virtual and emotional landscapes. Through a combination of drag, music, video, and text, a dream-like world is created where the boundaries between technology and reality are no longer distinguishable.

'I'm Not Done' is a performance like a doomscroll, where pop music guides you through the labyrinth of the internet. It pays homage to the shameless theatricality of pop concerts and the poetry of song lyrics. Can exuberance and depth go hand in hand?

They disappear and reappear through doors that are somehow separated from the walls. They rush to be part of a play that has either not yet started or ended decades ago. They sink down on the sofa and cry. They leap furiously out of their armchair, only to slump back into themselves like amnesiacs. The piano plays the same tune over and over, the melody becoming more distorted and twisted.

With Tim Etchells, NTGent adds a prominent name to the list of (inter)national artists who are creating a production for the series Histoire(s) du Théâtre. For the title of his contribution, Etchells, the artistic director of the renowned collective Forced Entertainment, has chosen a phrase from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: "How goes the world."

From ancient Greece to today: the female voice is often labeled as unnecessary or, more bluntly, annoying noise. Choreographer Jan Martens amplifies a different voice. With 'Voice Noise,' he gives innovative, unknown, or forgotten female musicians from the past hundred years of music history a stage. From the delicate Broadway soprano Ruby Elzy to Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq.

'Voice Noise' is inspired by Anne Carson's 1995 essay 'The Gender of Sound,' in which the American poet reveals how patriarchal culture attempts to silence women by associating their voices with monstrosity, disorder, and death. Six dancers confront recordings in which the human voice is heard in various forms: humming, soothing, screaming, whispering, or singing. Along the way, they discover their own voices.

'Maggot Brain II: A Soliloquy of Ghosts' is a metaphysical, poetic journey and search for worlds no longer subject to colonial imaginations. Mathieu Charles creates an ode to the multidimensionality of the African Diaspora through text, sound, smell and movement. He samples different mythologies and cosmologies to trace the idea of a Diaspora Continuum through possessed landscapes.

The ancient Greeks saw an art in predicting and recognizing omens such as the flight of birds, the position of trees, the wandering of bees. They called this Mantikê tékhnê. Just like back then, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe's performance 'Mantike Bloom Boom' seeks the signs necessary for restoration and urgent renewal of our thinking about the world.

'Mantike Bloom Boom' starts from the electrically charged atmosphere of an abandoned landscape. The moment when everything seems to be going to ruin - Boom! - and suddenly light appears on the horizon - Bloom! Like the prelude to a storm, when the cows gather under a tree, the sky darkens, and the first breeze picks up. What can a person still undertake in such a landscape?

Like a whirlwind, actress Marjan De Schutter storms onto the stage in various forms. There is only one last link between dying bees and our fate. 'Mantike Bloom Boom' is a hopeful warning with predictions and vivid explosions. The end time is narrowly avoided.

Imagine a burglar who steals only the frames of the artworks in your home, but not the works themselves. How would you then look at the art? This is a question the French philosopher Jacques Derrida once posed. In 'Frames', Alexander Vantournhout turns the question around. If you frame something, does it then become a work of art?

'Frames' explores that one element of theater that is usually left untouched: the frame through which the audience looks. What happens if you detach that frame from the theater and place it outdoors? 'Frames' invites the audience to take a walk and explore the boundaries of theater and perspective.

The dance company Not Standing literally takes you out of the theater and directs your gaze not only to the four performers hanging and climbing in those frames, but also to everything around them: the horizon, the sky, and the other viewers.

They're coming down for YOU (one more time) !

NewWaveClassiX.be is proud to present one final extra FRONT 242 'Black Out' tour date:
SATURDAY 04/01/25 @ Concerthall De Vooruit - Ghent (B)

Support: NEON ELECTRONICS (feat. Dirk DaDavo from 'The Neon Judgement' and Radical G)

+ After-party (DJ's tba)

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THE OCEAN TO RELEASE 10TH STUDIO ALBUM "HOLOCENE" ON MAY 19

Following a world tour, The Ocean returns with Holocene, an album that concludes their paleontology-inspired series and takes a step towards electronic music while maintaining their signature heavy sound. The album opens with the synth-driven track "Preboreal," setting the tone for the entire record. Holocene addresses the current epoch in which humanity has drastically shaped the planet.

For the first time, the album is entirely based on synth ideas from Peter Voigtmann, leading to a fresh, exciting musical direction. The mix, handled by Karl Daniel Lidén, offers a clear, powerful sound that balances electronics with orchestral grandeur.

Holocene delves into themes like alienation, the quest for eternal youth, and social critique, inspired by Guy Debord. The album wraps up the series, tackling modern issues like fear and the breakdown of values. After 20 years, The Ocean continues to be a powerful force in the music world.

Corruption. Paranoia. Blackmail. A circle of violence and retaliation. A tangle of deceit and fear. The inescapable tentacles of the underworld. Bloody debts settled. Traitors betrayed. Revenge calls, when the law isn't enough....

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats are one of the most eccentric bands of the post-Sabbathian realm. With a sound variously borrowed from classic doom, psychedelia, garage rock, underground, and occult heavyness. Proof of this is their latest record NELL' ORA BLU. A particularly cinematic record, inspired in part by the dark magic of the Italian Giallo film movement, but also drawn directly from Kevin Starrs' own grimy and fearless imagination. An entirely unique listening experience that thumps and screams with gruesome intentions.

Belgian five-piece Whispering Sons brings a dark and unique blend of experimental and frenetic post-punk. The propulsive instrumentation combined with Fenne Kuppens’ deep vocal delivery amounts to a constant sense of unease that’s been inherent in their music since the beginnings. With their energetic and captivating performance, the band has firmly cemented themselves as a must-see live act.

Over the last years, the band has been slowly but surely redrawing their own boundaries and going beyond them. Where their debut album ‘Image’ (2018) was theatrical and widescreen, their following record ‘Several Others’ (2021) focused more on their greatest strength: sheer, unpretentious intensity. After the release of ‘Several Others’ the band started working on a new album over a period of two years. This third full-length album titled ‘The Great Calm’ might surprise long-standing Whispering Sons followers. It’s less dark than ‘Several Others’ and less grand than ‘Image’. Yet that typical Whispering Sons identity is still inherent in every song, as the band never strays far from their raw energy and emotion. This new album might be more uplifting and playful, but that ominous undertone is still lurking. 

“The record is more hopeful, there’s more beauty in it. Our last album was very dark and always very destructive. I guess this one is still a bit destructive, but there's hope in that destruction.”
- Fenne Kuppens, Whispering Sons

After six years, Vive La Fête, the electro band around Els Pynoo and Danny Mommens, is releasing new work. On Nov. 5, 2024, the first single “Sauvage” sees the light of day. A song that stays true to the sound the band is known for. It also immediately sets the tone for the upcoming EP 'LES SAUVAGES' to be released in early March 2025. After celebrating their 25th anniversary with a series of sold-out gigs across Europe, Vive la Fête now announces their first 'Les Sauvages' tour dates in Belgium and the Netherlands.

God is an Astronaut has mesmerised audiences worldwide with their unique and immersive musical landscapes, both in intense concerts and albums. The trio from Wicklow is known for their seamless blend of progressive, psychedelic and post-rock influences, pushing boundaries and taking listeners on their psychedelic trip.

God Is an Astronaut combines psychedelic and krautrock influences with driven rhythms from drummer Lloyd Hanney. Collaborations with guest musicians such as Dara O'Brien, Jo Quail and Sean Coleman enrich the sonic landscape of their latest album ‘Embers’ with elements such as sitar, cello, zither, shaman drums, string shalter, wind chimes and tanpura. With their distinctive atmospheric sound, the band continues to renew themselves and expand their musical horizons, which this album clearly proves.

Jo Quail will join the band and is a renowned composer and cellist from London, known for her innovative looping techniques that surprise and inspire audiences during her live performances. 

The Canadian collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor has been synonymous with epic music for over thirty years. Born from punk and political convictions, they have created a discography filled with iconic albums. Their album G_d’s Pee AT STATE'S END! (2021) once again delivers intense instrumental tracks, pulling listeners into moments of immense catharsis. Always revolutionary, the band sounds more relevant than ever, with a message about the failure of governance and the need for a new beginning. The band shuns personal exposure: no social media, no videos, and only two official band photos in 25 years. Since their comeback in 2010, they’ve released four new albums. Their ninth album, NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28.340 DEAD, was released on October 4, 2024.

This Will Destroy You is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year with a tour where they will perform their iconic self-titled album S/T in its entirety. Hailing from Texas, the band is known for their long, instrumentally layered, and intense compositions. Released in 2007, the album is considered a groundbreaking work within the post-rock genre. It features iconic tracks like The Mighty Rio Grande and Burial on the Presidio Banks. The album is praised for its dynamic build, taking the audience through a range of subtle, ethereal passages to massive, cathartic bursts of sound.

The band consists of Jeremy Galindo, Christopher Royal King, Robi Gonzalez, and Jesse Kees, and they have toured the world over the past two decades. Their visually stunning live shows have been featured at festivals like ATP and Rock Herk.

For fans of God Is An Astronaut, Explosions in the Sky, and Mono.

With 'Het Langste Jaar', Het Zesde Metaal released their sixth and most emotional album in January, just months after the passing of close friend and multi-instrumentalist Tom Pintens, who completed the album as producer.

The audience embraced the record immediately, with a sold-out club tour across Belgium and the Netherlands. After a summer of unforgettable performances, Het Zesde Metaal will embark on an intimate theater tour in the spring of 2025.

Settle into the cozy red seats of De Vooruit’s Theaterzaal and let yourself be carried away by new songs like 'Het Langste Jaar' and 'Nog Maar Begonnen'. Of course, HZM classics will also be given a new, intimate arrangement that will surely blow you away.

November 29 sees the release of the new Daan album “SPACE,” a retro-futuristic whirlwind of 10 lyrical songs about everything the man is passionate about - and that's a lot. The sound of the new record promises an even nippier and warmer live sound, with a whole new setlist of new and unexpected older gems from Daan's long career as a rebellious rock crooner. He is still surrounded by his faithful all-stars band, featuring Isolde Lasoen (drums), Jeroen Swinnen (keyboards), Geoffrey Burton (guitar), Jo Hermans (trumpet) and Ewen Vernal (bass). All 15 fall shows are hopelessly sold out, so we are happy to announce a new run of shows for early 2025!

Since her debut with Soldier's Heart and Warhaus, Sylvie Kreusch has evolved into one of Europe's most impressive and exciting solo artists. Her groundbreaking songs and visuals have turned heads in the worlds of music, film, and fashion. Kreusch is known for her bold, expressive lyrics and her unique blend of experimental and pop music.
 
 

William Basinski is an experimental composer and classically trained musician who works with analog tape loops and obsolete technology. His melancholic soundscapes explore the impermanence of time and memory. His masterpiece, The Disintegration Loops, received global acclaim and was reissued as an award-winning box set. Together with James Elaine, he created installations and films showcased worldwide. Basinski composed music for Robert Wilson’s opera The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. Orchestral performances of his work have been held in renowned venues like The Met and Queen Elizabeth Hall. He is currently touring with his album On Time Out of Time (2019).

Since their unholy inception in 1995, death metal miscreants Aborted have been one of the
pioneers of the genre and have annihilated friend and foe with relentless intensity and an
uncompromising mix of flawless technicality and raw emotion. They released their 12th studio
album in March 2024 through Nuclear Blast on which they dive deep into the vaults of VHS
cassettes and stories that have been haunting us all for decades.