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Free for Different Class members
How do you measure time? By counting birthdays, the seasons or perhaps by calling to mind your most memorable concert experiences? This year Different Class and Ancienne Belgique decided to celebrate ten marvellous years of The Sound of the Belgian Underground.
As an independent arts and culture community, Different Class aims to make room for the innovative, those who tend to make sure they are heard. Ever evolving with time, they added two exciting twists for SOBU 2024! Firstly, they asked two young music programmers Somto Offor and Florian Meersman to curate the lineup. It will feature ten must-see live acts, a performance and for the first time ever - which brings us to the second twist - The Sound of the Belgian Underground will groove into the night with five B2B DJ sets!
Join us in commemorating a decade of sonic exploration, in a place where the beat of Belgium’s underground music scene bangs louder than ever. Leave with your ears ringing while asking: ‘Can you still hear that?’ It's the Sound of the Belgian Underground.
Live lineup:
Sergeant
Physicality and theatricality intertwine with each other during the concerts of Sergeant. The three band members are led by Ferre Marnef and deliver experimental ambient/indie rock sounds that swirl together in a melange of cuts and copy-pastes. This Brussels-based band are non-conformists at heart and once you listen closely you will hear the political poetry in the underbelly of their music.
Egidius
Leuven-based artist Egidius is something special. What started by playing the guitar in his childhood was followed by the call of the synths during the pandemic and resulted in a chameleon-like ability to evade the confinement of genre. He released his first EP in 2023 which was described as ecstatic electropop, melodic techno and electronic dream pop. One thing is certain: it always ends in a synergetic mess of effervescence.
Lazzaro
Singer-songwriter Lazzaro creates a musical plane which allows the ethereal and earthbound to coalesce. In this process of breaking structure and finding her way back to it, Lazzarro harnesses a sound experience that is both poetic and experimental. With haunting vocals, her first EP The Inner Land is Wide and Free is an atmospheric soundscape transporting you to a forest where the banalities of everyday life long to be heard.
Suzan Peeters
Like commanding a breathing organism, Belgian accordionist Suzan Peeters creates distinct sound textures through the bellows reverberated by the lung of her instrument. As both an improviser and a composer, Peeters strays away from the expected and explores the electronic nature of the accordion and its elusive potential as a synthesiser. Mixing the acoustic with the electronic, the lines of where one begins and the other one ends blur, allowing for creative experimentation and improvisation to shine through.
Moenen & Mariken
Musician and producer Neil Claes and actress and writer Maria Magdelena de Cort come together in music. They mix the ever-transforming narrative of the personal with the stillness of the everyday. Moenen en Mariken set words ablaze on a techno backdrop while blending the potency of spoken word with the lyricism and depth of poetry. With Sappho and punk poetry as their muses, the outcome is a ‘rebellious child of the always-faster generation’.
Youniss
With depth and authenticity cloaked in punk elements, musician and producer Youniss likes to blend different genres. His artistry delves into the discomfort of the self, traversing through what it means to be a black man with an Arabic moniker in the West. Accompanied by a drummer, his live performances will have you in a tizzy, with sounds influenced by hip hop, R&B, electronica and techno, all while maintaining his own unique twists.
Hayek
Equipped with the knowledge of sound design and the theory behind music, Belgium-based producer, musician and DJ, Hayek makes it easy for someone to identify the quality and precision in his sets. Born and raised in Egypt, he identifies as one of Egypt's pioneers in the hardcore techno scene. The thread of creativity is evident alongside his breadth of musical knowledge. He blends multiple soundscapes into one through meticulous mixing. His first name means ‘the one who knocks’, and we suspect his last name to mean ‘your socks off’.
bontridders
Sam De Clerq is the mind and musical soul behind bontridders. She is also one of the members of BRORLAB, a dream computer/punk band. Her first solo electronic exploration will have you grooving and dancing to tracks steeped in reverb instrumentation as well as faded vocals that make up her sonic landscape. Playful both sonically and onstage, be prepared to be hypnotised by the colours and sounds that emanate from her.
Jo Rwaka
Rapper, singer and composer, Jo Rwaka fluctuates between alternative rap and R&B, with influences from contemporary muses such as BROCKHAMPTON and Tyler, the Creator. With the recent release of his third EP, aptly named OTO 3, he aims to create music that is intimate, a testament to his adolescence. As life is always in flux, his tracks are a way to document the chapters of his life as sincerely as he can, thus creating a space that allows people to communicate how they feel.
Camille Keller
Perhaps more known for DJ sets and passages on NTS Radio, French-born but Brussels-based Camille Keller is also a musician venturing further into his musical abilities. With his latest digital song release, You do you, he explores a non-conforming sound that injects the atmosphere with a melancholy ambiance that will have you reminiscing over the future. This musical friend of Rogergoon and Dviance will set the stage for the more danceable part of the evening.
Viva Los DJ's (performance)
Aspiring pop icons Aron Wouters and Finn Waters make up Viva Los DJ’s. They come together through their love of everything pop which means entertainment is always on the menu when these two appear on stage. Pooling together all the fabulous flourishes of pop music, their debut album New Year New Me, with pop references galore, guarantees a hyperactive, rush-inducing performance that can only be described as Tomorrowland meets Eurovision.
Line-up DJ’s:
Laura Conant B2B crat
Casting her net far and wide by encompassing a broad set of genres, DJ and producer Laura Conanti is known for her various mixes exploring different musical niches. With influences ranging from ambient to post-club dance, her sets provide moments of both reflection and euphoria with a whiff of the experimental.
As an artist and promoter, Brussels-based Crat has a keen interest in the social and political undertones of music. You’ll hear that throughout his events, sets and tracks. Together, powerhouse DJs Laura Conant and Cratje, run the eponymous label and event series MONTAGE.
Donia B2B erykah
Ghent-based DJ Erykah is on a mission. Every event must be a memorable one, with listeners congregating on the dancefloor enveloped by a vortex of arrhythmic vibrations accompanied by rhythmic breaks. Listeners become dancers and are carried through this unique sonic experience. Her recent delve into the music scene finds her leaning towards Jungle-influenced sounds and breakbeat rhythms when in the booth.
Known for bass and breaks, Donia is a Brussels-based DJ and cofounder of Sketchy Lines Records. As your local dopamine dealer, she’ll catch you in the street-lit corner of your soul just to stretch genres. Lose your ego and focus on your inner dance.
jujulove B2B TOGO
A resident of both Kiosk Radio and LYL Radio in Brussels, jujulove cites herself as a builder of worlds. Given her inspirations emerge from feminist science fiction, manga and the fantastical, it is no surprise that at 170 bpm, she opens up realms of existence parallel to our own. Based in Amsterdam and Brussels, it is a joy to witness this earthbound rave elf work her magic in the booth.
Having been drawn to music from a young age, TOGO is a Belgium-born Mongolian electronic composer and DJ. He draws inspiration from his environment, from French hip hop to the obscure scenes of the electronic underground. Even with a tendency for bass mixed with tender melodies, genres have borders or hierarchy in his booth. This attentiveness to the subtle differences between musical genres, allows for doors to swing open during his creative process, integrating his ancestral culture and his Western influences.
instar B2B Stella K
Instar is one of the four resident rave DJs at Burenhinder. The Dutch word translates to neighbour nuisance, Burenhinder is a female collective from Antwerp that focuses on combining hard genres with visual art by FINTA+ artists from Belgium. Her sound ranges from heavy gabber to funny juke, with the sprinkling of cheeky edits amongst more serious beats.
Between Paris and Brussels, Stella K is a resident at Call of Dirty Brussels, LYL Radio, Ola Radio and part of the Sal de Fête collective. With a universe this big, her avant-garde, electronic dance music, fabricates the landscape of her created world with energetic rhythms and ethereal harmonies set to an undertone of a bassline. Forming an eclectic style, her priority is a well-regulated mix, dense yet airy, with some well-placed bridges that give a main character energy to the crowd.
KIMYA B2B icedlattina
Cairo-born and Brussels-based, KIMYA aims to deliver an unsettling yet euphoric experience not bound by the limits of genre. Her sound is sure to be gnarly, coarse and hard-hitting.
Alongside her is icedlattina, a Kiosk Radio staple, and the embodiment of unpredictability.
From ambient dust to plugg, muffled trap to soft drill, with the sprinkling of baile funk; the result is a tapestry of woven sounds that delights the ears. While nonchalant on the bpm but intentional with the selection, when in the booth icedlattina invites you to decolonize your mind and get in touch with your inner self through the space that music creates.
