Improvisation, psychedelia and noise are always welcome at the OFF Festival. And as you’ll find out in today’s announcement, these artistic techniques can take myriad forms, from jazz to hardcore to hip-hop.

No Age

“It sounds like holding a power saw up to the sun” is how one Pitchfork reviewer welcomed the release of the American band No Age’s fourth album, titled Snares Like a Haircut, early this year. This record sees bandmates Dean Spunt and Randy Randall freely navigating the triangle of noise rock, shoegaze and hardcore. No Age takes the best of 1990s guitar rock and enriches it with a modern feel and witty, topical lyrics.

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek

Ex oriente lux. This musical project owes its sound to a unique blend of Anatolian roots music and trippy psychedelia that, while invented in the West, has always been inspired by the spirituality and aesthetics of the East. The charismatic singer and multi-instrumentalist Derya Yıldırım is without a doubt the driving force behind this ensemble, but she is supported by an equally noteworthy cast of musicians. Featuring artists from Turkey, Germany, the UK and France, Grup Şimşek performs bold reinterpretations of Turkish standards, original compositions, and stratospheric improvisations.

Lonker See

Lonker See started out as an ambient duo comprising guitarist Bartosz “Boro” Borowski and singer/bassist Joanna Kucharska, of 1926 and Kiev Office fame, but soon expanded to include a saxophone, keyboard (Tomasz Gadecki) and drums (Michał Gos), while augmenting the palette of colors the band use to paint their abstract soundscapes. Their music evades all attempts at description, flowing freely between psychedelic rock and jazz, but who needs labels? Having heard Lonker See’s captivating new album One Eye Sees Red (Instant Classic), we know that the record is a mere starting point for the sensational concerts that are the trademark of this Tri-City quartet.

Meek Oh Why?

He’s made quite an impression with his records, and it’ll be nice to finally meet him in person. Everything from his EPs Księżniczka i Buc and Rękopisy nie płoną to his full-length debut Miło było poznać (Nice to Meet You) and his recently-released concept album Płyta rodzaju make this artist stand out in the world of Polish hip-hop. What makes Mikołaj (that’s meek-OH-why) Kubicki unique is his literary sensibility (comparisons to Łona are warranted, if incomplete) and musical versatility (more than just a rapper, he’s a producer and trumpet player, and has performed with artists like Voo Voo and DagaDana). Meek Oh Why? is more than just a rapper: he’s a visionary, and we’re eager to be swept away by that vision.

Pokusa

Natan Kryszk (baritone sax), Tymek Bryndal (bass) and Teo Olter (drums) record for the label Lado ABC, so rest assured that there’s something going on here. On Einz, Pokusa’s sophomore studio release, that something is improvisation, drones and noises, all blended into a consistent musical amalgam. This isn’t 20th-century smooth jazz: it’s more like smart jazz that’s charging into the future — that is, if you can even put Pokusa in any genre pigeonhole to begin with.

Sierść

Sierść released a live album titled Spoko że wszyscy umrzemy (We’re all going to to die, but that’s cool). Let’s hope death doesn’t come before August, because this is one band you just have to see (ahem) live. The nihilistic title happens to mesh well with the trio’s sound, in which Scandinavian black metal meets garage noise rock. The trio features Jakub Lemiszewski, an artist with musical roots in Warsaw’s defunct club Eufemia (which OFF audiences will remember as the venue for Złota Jesień), a member of such acts as the shoegaze group Social Cream and the punk band Gołębie, and a dance music producer. But with Sierść, this dance leaves no room for the holy spirit.

M.I.A., Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ariel Pink, Grizzly Bear, Zola Jesus, Jon Hopkins Live, Aurora, Turbonegro, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah z płytą „Some Loud Thunder”, Marlon Williams, John Maus, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead grają „Source Tags & Codes”, Big Freedia, David August, Egyptian Lover, Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares (The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices), Oxbow, Bishop Nehru, Kult gra „Spokojnie”, Unsane, King Ayisoba, Housewives, Chastity Belt, Or:la, Jacques Greene, Harry Merry, Gary War, coL,The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Mystery Lights, DJ Paypal & DJ Taye, Wednesday Campanella, Sensations’ Fix, Hańba!, Furia, The Como Mamas, Coals, Moses Sumney, Yasuaki Shimizu, Yellow Days, Legendarny Afrojax, Adam Strug, ARRM, Wojciech Bąkowski, Nanook Of The North, Good Night Chicken, MIN t, tęskno, Bass Astral x Igo, Sorja Morja, Skalpel Big Band and Sonbird.

The 2018 OFF Festival Katowice will take place August 3–5 at Three Pond Valley. Three-day passes are now available at the OFF Shop for 330 PLN. This price lasts until June 10 or until the third batch of tickets is sold out! Campground tickets are also available for 70 PLN.