Prepare to be blown away by The Blaze as they end the night with a mind-bending sonic and visual performance. And, of course, there’s the usual OFF fare: Renaissance post-punk, black metal jazz, emo rap, Cumbia Amazonica, shoegaze, dream pop, and even neo-zombie-post-folk. Where else, if not at the OFF Festival?
The Blaze
Dance music often gets short shrift — sometimes rightfully so. Luckily, artists like The Blaze are here to remind us that dance music can be a work of art and a platform for debating the most pressing issues of our time. This French duo navigate the realm of ambient and French house with ease, invariably carving out space for spirituality and visions. Quite literally, in fact: A show by The Blaze is in equal parts an auditory and visual experience. Cousins Guillaume and Jonathan Alric have been collaborating for nearly a decade, garnering critical acclaim with their debut video, “Virile.” Their touching follow-up “Territory” landed them an award at Cannes. And as last year’s LP Jungle demonstrates, The Blaze have since become classics in their own category.
John Maus
Nostalgia, irony, and mystery are core elements of the music of John Maus, who subverts the naïveté of 80s synth pop with post-punk experimentation and knowing nods toward Renaissance and Baroque music. This American loner has enjoyed well-deserved cult status since the release of his critically acclaimed third record, We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011), and to say that he leaves everything onstage would be an understatement.
Imperial Triumphant
New York City, avant-garde jazz, black metal, Expressionism, Futurism… What if a band combined all of the above into a cohesive style that most of the planet’s population found bewildering, but which a select few — as crazy as the artists themselves — would call ingenious? That, more or less, is the concept behind Imperial Triumphant: a visionary trio of virtuosos that have pushed the limits of extreme music. Their latest album, Spirit of Ecstasy, is a masterpiece that’s worth repeated listens as you prepare for this one-of-a-kind concert experience.
DC the Don
“I just want kids to feel like they can do whatever they want, and be themselves,” DC the Don once said in an interview when asked about the message behind his perplexing, metaphor-laden lyrics. “Whatever you wanna do, you can do it being you.” It’s a timeless and straightforward truth woven into the convoluted verses and emotional roller-coaster of DC’s music. The Milwaukee-born emo rapper debuted in 2020 with the album Come as You Are; he gave himself a lavish burial on last year’s Funeral, only to return on Rebirth, slated for release later this year. We’ll retrace his entire story live this summer in Katowice.
Los Wembler’s de Iquitos
Get ready for a fascinating history lesson about a genre that remains all but unknown in Poland. After all, news from Iquitos, the capital of the Peruvian Amazon, travels slowly — the city is not connected by any roads; the only modes of transportation available are boats and airplanes. It was there, in 1968, that Solomon Sanchez came up with the idea of a band that would combine local rhythms with the sound of the electric guitar, and enlisted his five sons to join him. Their debut track “Cumbia Amazonica” gave its name to an entire genre that has only recently gained worldwide recognition and popularity. At this year’s OFF Festival, we’re drawing straight from the source.
Bar Italia
This London trio could try to deny that their record collections are chock full of well-worn Brit-pop albums, shoegaze, stuff from Seattle, and everything Pavement ever released, but they’d be fooling no one. Instead, they wear their influences like a badge of honor, audible in every last note of their charmingly sloppy songs. To find out what that means, check out their latest LP, The Twits.
Nourished by Time
The Baltimore artist Marcus Brown, who performs under the moniker Nourished by Time, envisioned and recorded his debut album Erotic Probiotic 2 in his parents’ basement. So successful were the tracks that they launched him right onto the stages of the world’s leading festivals, where he continues to spin his poetic tales, teetering, in his own special way, on the edge of 90s soul and dream pop.
Puuluup
This Estonian duo performs neo-zombie-post-folk: a dark and funny yet absolutely mesmerizing variety of music. Playing along on talharpas — bowed lyres that were as common in Medieval Northern Europe as electric guitars are today — Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson sing songs of quotidian neuroses and… characters in Polish TV series.
