This November, Le Guess Who? returns to Utrecht’s iconic TivoliVredenburg, once again redefining the boundaries of contemporary music programming. Across four days, the festival continues its tradition of genre-agnostic curation, welcoming artists whose work challenges, expands, and elevates global underground sound. From boundary-pushing electronics to resonant experimentalism and visceral live sets, the 2025 edition constructs a landscape where tradition intertwines with innovation.

Anchoring the electronic spectrum, kinetic engineering comes courtesy of ARN4L2’s uncompromising rhythms, Bclip’s percussive fractures, and Calibre’s peerless command of drum and bass. Ciel choreographs techno into shapes both urgent and sublime, while gyrofield manipulates breaks with intricate digital agility. Objekt’s set promises a complex conversation between body music and immersive sonics.

Ale Hop threads her Peruvian roots through radical signal processing, sitting comfortably beside the enigmatic narrative journeys of Nicolas Jaar. Subversive club textures take centre stage with DJ Haram and the polyrhythmic ritualism of Aquiles Navarro, while Emptyset’s stark architectures delve deep into the materiality of sound. Fatima Al Qadiri’s immersive visions blur regional signifiers with haunting synthetic compositions.

The bill bridges disparate edges—Jabu’s post-dub meditations, Julianna Barwick’s vocal cathedrals, and live improvisations from Salenta. Sunn O)))’s presence evokes tectonic ritual, their dense sonic mass a gravitational force within the programme. Traditional forms are inherited and mutated by The Zawose Queens and the chaotic urgency of YHWH Nailgun.

Meanwhile, Mary Lattimore brings harp explorations that trade in memory and possibility, keiyaA bends future soul with an experimental mindset, and Lonnie Holley and Carlos Niño unravel mythopoetic jazz transmissions. The Space Lady’s celestial synthpop invites transcendence. Club innovation is everywhere: 33EMYBW’s abstract futurism, Goth-Trad’s sub-heavy constructions, and the exploratory sets of Sea Man, Sara Persico, and Able Noise.

Dubwise and experimental currents run through Al Wootton, Klein, and the idiosyncratic Phew. Percussive dialogues arrive via Valentina Magaletti, while upsammy, Voice Actor, and DJ Marcelle chart immersive, unpredictable courses. Lady Lykez, Ziúr, and others underscore the festival’s commitment to disruption, hybridity, and new forms of presence.

Le Guess Who? 2025 crafts a singular context where unconventional visions exchange, resonate, and mutate. At TivoliVredenburg, shared attention becomes sonic possibility, dissolving boundaries and remapping what’s next for experimental music.