Get ready for a new batch of artists joining the this year’s festival lineup: from touching dreamy melodies to brutal hard-core gut-punches.
Tank And The Bangas (Aug. 3, Perlage Main Stage)
Party like there’s no tomorrow, New-Orleans style! Tank and the Bangas is energy incarnate, tapping into an explosive combination of soul, rap, funk, and rock that nobody can resist. At the helm is the charismatic singer Tarrion “Tank” Ball, backed by a massive rhythm section: Joshua Johnson (drums) and Norman Spence II (bass), along with Albert Allenback on sax and flute. The lineup expands as needed for the Bangas’s live shows, and three minutes into the first track, you’ll feel like part of the collective, too. Wherever Tank and the Bangas go, there the earth quakes, booties shake, miracles happen, and history is made.
Hagop Tchaparian (Aug. 4, Rossmann Czujesz Klimat? Forest Stage)
This British-Armenian producer from London sett aside his guitar to pursue ethereal, electronic sound collages, releasing his debut LP Bolts on Four Tet’s label, Text. The two are old pals: Tchaparian was, for years, Kieran Hebdan’s tour manager. And it was during his downtime on tour that Tchaparian pieced together the material for his first record. But this isn’t a nepo-baby arrangement: the debut is as impressive as it is belated. Pitchfork calls it a “personal and collective catharsis.”
TONFA (Aug. 4, Experimental Stage)
“Tonfa: new land / novel bullshit” is how this Warsaw duo introduce themselves on their 2024 album Trzecia szyna [The Third Rail], and they’re not joking. Since their debut in the fall of 2019, Tonfa have been blazing new trails for Polish hip hop. This is a dark, psychedelic trip, driving the wrong way down a one-way street. It’s the best thing that’s to emerge from the local hip-hop scene since Syny.
Jad (Aug. 2, Perlage Main Stage)
Ból [Pain] or Strach [Fear]? Your choice. If you didn’t know, both are titles of albums by the Warsaw group Jad. There’s no room for nuance or foreplay here. Jad plays metal-tinged punk that echoes the early days of Siekiera (look it up) while offering a possible counterpoint to the dominant hardcore sound of today (finally). Their live shows are a lightning round of quick and powerful jabs: a KO in round one and you’re done.
Lasy (Aug. 4, Rossmann Czujesz Klimat? Forest Stage)
The emergence of Lasy [Forests] was predicted many years ago in a feverish vision by Polish metal giants Behemoth, who sang about the forests of the Baltic coast. Lasy hail from the seaside city of Gdańsk. Maciej Wojciechowski (Stendek) and Jacek Prościński (wh0wh0) play electronic music that sounds like a modern take on the ecstatic 90s, driven by live drumming. This show is going to be pure chaos.
BLIK Open Stage
A unique stage that’s accessible to everyone! Stop by throughout the weekend for performances featuring Polish Sign Language interpretation. This pioneering format gives deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members an enhanced musical experience. BLIK Open Stage lets people of all abilities feel the electrifying atmosphere of the OFF Festival.
Magda Kluz (Aug. 2, BLIK Open Stage)
Magda Kluz is nothing if not consistent in her navigation of aquatic themes — from her LP Głębiny [Depths] and EP Akweny [Basins], to the single “Rzeka” [River], her musical explorations flow and sway, gently rocking you to sleep. Better known as one half of the duo Seals, Magda is one among the most intriguing new voices on the cerebral, poetic pop scene in Poland.
UnMute (Aug. 4, BLIK Open Stage)
They were hair’s breadth away from becoming Poland’s Eurovision contestants in 2022 with the song “Głośniej niż decybele.” Had they been chosen, it would have been quite the revolution. For the band’s members — all of whom are deaf — their music is a way to tell the world about themselves, their problems, and their needs.
Pola Nuda (Aug. 3, BLIK Open Stage)
Pola Nuda’s ostensibly naïve, subversively brilliant, carefully deconstructed songs can leave you both irritated and fascinated. Julia Woronowicz knows exactly what she’s doing: her musical credentials are solid, as is her background in the visual arts – she holds a degree in painting and sculpture. This artist is part of that new Polish scene that really marches to its own drummer.
