The closing night of SONICA 2025 brings a hybrid concert rave with three stunning live shows and a closing DJ set.
The programme includes the Slovenian debut of the extraordinary Japanese black metal/gabber/IDM phenomenon Violent Magic Orchestra, the new ‘Machine’ show by the cult UK bass wizard The Bug, an AV performance by Hungarian IDM trailblazer Gábor Lázár and DJ set by Slovenian techno veteran Shekuza. Prepare for a sonic assault on all senses!
The Bug presents ‘Machine’ (UK)
“You will experience a few shows in your life that are revolutionary; that are life-changing. And that’s what the Bug is all about for me: sound that can change your life.”
John Doran, The Guardian
The Bug is the principal outlet for Kevin Martin, the shape-shifting producer with an unrivalled reputation for his punishing live shows and a heavyweight catalogue of projects/collaborations including Techno Animal, King Midas Sound, Razor X Productions, and a longstanding alliance with firebrand London MC Flowdan. On stage he remains a force to be reckoned with, whether calling on an arsenal of MCs including Flowdan, Dis Fig (with whom he released the In Blue collaborative LP on Hyperdub), Manga Saint Hilaire, Logan and Magugu, playing noised-out solo sets based on the ‘Machine’ material of industrial dubs just released on Relapse, or with his increasingly deep instrumental Bug (In Dub) club sets that join the dots between mutant strains of dancehall, acid ragga and grime.
Violent Magic Orchestra (JP)
“On DEATH RAVE, the Japanese group brings a fusion of black metal, techno and visual art as an ‘absolutely new and overwhelming experience’.”
James Balmont, DAZED
VMO aka Violent Magic Orchestra is an “Ultimate Extreme Supreme Art” project that uses humans, strobe lights, smoke machines and intense visuals to create an all-encompassing, smoke-filled, luminous blend of techno, black metal, gabber, hardcore, industrial, noise and contemporary music. “It is like black metal meets Kraftwerk or like Aphex Twin with corpse painting,” the band says. Their debut album Catastrophic Anonymous (Virgin Babylon Records, 2020) featured Chip King (The Body), Attila (Mayhem) and Sunn O))), heralding their aesthetic trajectory. Their Principle of Light Speed Invariance EP (Never Sleep, 2020) introduced the frontman Zastar, Their second album DEATH RAVE (Never Sleep, 2024), featuring Attila (Mayhem), Kælan Mikla, Dylan Walker (Full of Hell) and Ican Harem (Gabber Modus Operandi), won them rave reviews and new tours. They have been invited to concert halls, clubs, galleries and festivals (Roadburn, Brutal Assault, Le Guess Who?, CTM, Roskilde, Sónar, MUTEK and others) all over the world to make bodies dance, throw people into mosh pits, white out people’s vision, destroy people’s hearing, and invite their audiences into new dimensions.
Gábor Lázár (HU)
“Lázár’s sound is rawer in concept than his peers’, and manipulated with an implacable, impressive fussiness most producers would never attempt.”
Daniel Felsenthal, Pitchfork
Gábor Lázár is a Hungarian artist producing electronic music at the intersection of advanced club music, music technology and the aesthetic tendencies related to the culture of computer music. His studio recordings and live performances are both expressions of his self-developed software instruments and music-making systems. Through his critically acclaimed albums of the past ten years, he has explored various territories of electronic music and defined his own musical language. Between 2013 and 2024, he released nine LPs, including a collaboration with Mark Fell and a split release with Russell Haswell. He has been working with record labels such as Raster-media, Planet Mu, Shelter Press, The Death of Rave, and Presto!?. Gábor has performed at festivals, clubs, and institutions worldwide in the past ten years. Some notable venues include Mutek, CTM Festival, Berlin Atonal, Unsound and Terraforma Milan.
Shekuza (SI)
»Ljubljana’s master of adventurous modular techno.«
Asiana Jurca Avci, Radio Študent
Since 2019, Ljubljana-based synth wizard extraordinaire, DJ, producer and musician Miha Šajina, known for his work with bands like Moveknowledgement, Warhorse and Ewok, has explored the outer limits of modular synthesis. His albums De Sica (Kamizdat, 2019) and Coriolis Effect (Kamizdat, 2020) are a masterclass of syncopated techno, with elaborate arrangements and mind-altering sound design. Since 2022, he has been a key member of the Slovenian modular community Clockwork Voltage. He also produces special effects and music for animation and documentary films. The Floorcuts EP (Tehnopolis, 2023) saw him in his deadliest form yet, compressing his sturdy machine funk to its pure essence. His sturdy techno productions have also been featured on compilations such as Clockwork Voltage Vol. 1, Tehnopolis in Tehnopolis XXII.
SONICA 2025: -STREAM
15 ─ 18 April 2024
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ticket – presale / doors: € 25,00 / € 29,00
Festival ticket: € 60,00
Co-produced by MoTA – Museum of Transitory Art, SONICA Festival Institute and CUK Kino Šiška. Supported by the Ministry of culture RS and the Municipality of Ljubljana – Department of Culture.
www.sonica.si
