This year’s Electrum Up To Date Festival will take place on new dates: 30.05-02.06. Once again, the festival explores a variety of sonic areas, giving voice to passionate artists who create with courage and take the listener on a true sonic adventure, whether they play techno, electro, bass or ambient music. Audiences can look forward to 4 days full of concerts, parties, exhibitions, and conferences in picturesque Białystok. In opposition to the obvious programming choices that dominate today’s scene, the Electrum Up To Date program is an invitation to a hidden club of genre lovers, where a secret handshake opens the way to truly cosmic journeys. Much of the techno program of this year’s edition is a celebration of not only DJs but also producers and exceptional live and concert performances. This year’s Electrum Up to Date Festival features a wide spectrum of expression, from pioneers from the British or Dutch scenes through young representatives of fresh genres, the most interesting artists and creators from the Eastern European region to a strong representation of the Bialystok music scene.
Colin Benders will bring the heaviest luggage. He’s an artist who performs on a powerful modular system. The detail and precision of the sound is due to the unique idea of his instrumentation. The Dutchman, who has released jointly with Speedy J and Dax J, among others (the gentlemen are not related), specializes in multifaceted compositions and improvisations that impress with their depth of sound and the incredible dynamics of vast soundscapes.
Known mainly under the pseudonym Shifted, Guy Andrews will present a premiere live show under the Carrier alias, in which he lets his fascination run wild with abstract sounds. The classic sound of the 90s will be brought to Białystok by ArthurRobert. Georgian HVL, known for his collaboration with the now legendary club and label Bassiani, will perform in Poland for the first time. We hope that Midgar Records head Severja will have time to beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth by May and put together a wonderfully hypnotic set in the meantime. A solid groove will be taken care of by Sepehr, while deep sounds will be presented by mysterious projects VC-118A, Mod21 and the slightly less mysterious but equally interesting Konduku and Prague-based Turk PinkConcrete. The b2b set will also feature other representatives of the Czech scene: fleika and MariePravda. Faster rhythms will be taken care of by MichalMacewicz, a resident of Wrocław’s Ciało, and the more detroit-based sound comes MATRIX3K from Warsaw’s Miazmat.
Electro fans will find treats in the performances of LakeHaze or Tafkamp, but it’s the appearance of the anonymous project Client_03 will undoubtedly also be a highlight. Also appearing for the first time in Poland will be the genre-breaking, lo-fi project Rezzett, featuring Lukid and Tapes. Making a rare appearance on stage is MPU101, which will turn up at Electrum Up To Date after successful releases with Ilian Tape. Edemski and MARMØ, both from Białystok, will present a joint premiere show.
Another representative of the Białystok scene, the great eclecticist AndrzejZielinski, will play at the intersection of genres. The illegitimate daughter of Aphex Twin, AlbertaBalsam moves somewhere between electro, acid and idm. Blank and GrazynaBiedroń will meet in a surprising b2b.
KidDrama, one of the creators of the experimental form of drum & bass called autonomic will be joined by a representative of the DrumObsession collective, Alegria. Also flying in from the Islands will be d&b player Mantra and legendary dubstep pioneer and DMZ co-founder Loefah. Another of the ’00s veterans, Pinch, will perform an intergenerational duet with Madam X, a devotee of fresh, heavy bass sounds. The heaviest guns, in turn, will be brought out by KatatonicSilentio and TheUntouchables, inspired by the darkness of urban music. The bass part of the program is complemented by Re:ni, whose hybrid approach to sets fuses together different factions of contemporary club music.
Electrum Up to Date is not dance music, but also a broad overview of what’s interesting in the experimental scene. Slovak-Hungarian artist AdelaMede creates personal songs on the border of folk and ambient, exploring both her personal history and seeking inspiration from her roots. Tradition is equally important to Niczos, who, singing in Podlachian, creates new worlds at the intersection of places, where the local becomes global. The artist will present a new project together with composer AntoninaCar called “Ton”. A special ambient AV project will also be presented by the późno collective.
Exploration in the field of interesting electronic textures is the modus operandi of Italian artist MartaDePascalis, who draws rich, psychedelic sounds from synthesizer minimalism. FloraYin–Wong, on the other hand, operates with concrete music techniques and experiments with delicate electroacoustic sounds. Composer StefanWęgłowski also uses delicate drones, and beautiful electro-acoustics are the domain of Kenyan KMRU. At the other end of the spectrum lies the music of Aleksi Perälä, who has been using culundi frequencies as the basis of his music since 2013.
In addition to her solo performance, American composer LeaBertucci will also direct a performance of her composition “Vapours” for string quartet, which will include Resina and JuliaZiętek. The band Malediwy, consisting of Marek Pospieszalski and Kuba Janicki, will premiere their new album entitled “Eden.” The local experimental scene will also be represented by TymekPapior with a solo performance for percussion and electronics.
The opening night at Arsenal Elektrownia Gallery (at Elektryczna 13) will, in turn, provide an opportunity for a Polish-Ukrainian meeting and a wide-ranging look at dance music, from trance and hypnotic sounds heard in the sets of Shjva or Rethe, to the luscious techno of RichieBeige to the frantic deconstructed rave of JmDasha. The event will be presented in conjunction with Arsenal Gallery and accompanies the MAYBE WE CAN HAVE FUN TOGETHER exhibition by Ivan Svitlychnyi, which is co-curated by a team consisting of: Dmytro Fedorenko, Tatiana Kochubinska, Liera Polianskova. The exhibition will be on view at the second location of Arsenal Gallery (2 Mickiewicza St., Bialystok) from 10.05 – 21.07.2024.
Up To Date Festival has become recognized for its great love of independent music, its unique commitment to social issues and its concern for the planet. The last point in particular has become a strong link between the festival and Bialystok-based Electrum, a leader in Climate Tech. Shared values and goals, as well as a vision of long-term cooperation based on respect and understanding, became the spark for closer ties between the entities. The year 2024 has therefore become not only an opportunity to celebrate the festival’s 15th anniversary, but also a new chapter in its history, which it is entering together with a like-minded title partner as Electrum Up To Date Festival.
FULL and NIGHT passes for the Electrum Up To Date Festival are now sold out. Single event tickets are on sale, as well as Industrial Outdoor passes (3rd pool on sale!) entitling you to enter the party nights on festival Friday and Saturday. To meet the needs of festival goers and in line with the #dontworrybeyourself philosophy, the organizers have introduced group tickets, which entitle groups of friends to cheaper entry to the festival. The number of tickets and passes for the festival is limited.
