CTM 2026: First weekend

I had a fantastic time during my first visit to CTM Festival in Berlin last weekend. CTM is the sister festival of the perhaps more well-known Transmediale, but both of them have been around since 1999. In fact, CTM stands for Club Transmediale. No wonder then, that CTM is not only about music, but also sound art, performance and knowledge-sharing. As you may know, Transmediale has been at the forefront of exploring digital cultures and art and CTM adds music to that mix.

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘dissonate – resonate’, which can mean many things. But interestingly, they’re not opposites which you might think at first glance. The opposite of dissonance is consonance, at least when you are talking about musical intervals. Resonance merely means the proliferation of a sound through material, but of course we also use the term more freely.

The opening of Saturday night of CTM 2026 was definitely more about resonance than dissonance, as Sarah Davachi took the stage at Radialsystem (pictured above, photo by Udo Siegfriedt). Playing a reed organ, paired with a visual work projected behind her, it set the tone for an evening that was truly about music ‘beyond sound’.

Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro came on next, and although I’m Swedish I have never really acquainted myself with her music properly. I know that she is an aficionado of the organ (like many others, such as Anna von Hausswolff, Kali Malone etc.) and she put out an improvisational album last year called Nightclouds. For CTM she premiered a new work for organ and and instrument called crumhorn. Together with the London Crumhorn Consort, she played the reed organ, with the other musicians joining in to create harmonies. Apparently playing a stable tone and pitch on a crumhorn is near impossible, so the intonation varies over time.

I had been curious about this venue, because I last time I was in Berlin I stayed just across from the building that is Radialsystem. From there, I continued on to Haus der Visionäre, which is a venue located in an old flohmarkt. Basically just a shell of a building, it was freezing cold but warmed up during the course of the night. This was the main event of the day and included both live and DJ sets, all routed through a surrounding set of speakers handled by a spatial mixer.

The French but Berlin-based DJ ophélie opened up the floor with a soothing set of bass music. She is also a producer and released an EP in 2024 and last year she appeared on one of my favourite compilations of the year, called Water Bodies. I’m really glad I got there early to hear her set. I really liked the visuals as well – there was a huge LED screen behind her that was used for most of the night.

It really came to life as Shapednoise came on stage because with him he had visual artist Sevi Iko Dømochevsky. Together they did an audio-visual performance called Absurd Matter Continuum and if you were ever into any 16-bit games you would have loved these visuals. But they were really blown out of the water by EYE and C.O.L.O. who played a bit later. Their show is by far the best audio-visual piece I’ve seen, the music seemingly made up on the spot and the graphics reacting instantly to every nuance and shift.

I think the reason people were so impressive was because of the dramaturgy of the whole thing, which started with very minimal sounds, single notes and the screen was just showing black or white. I thought this would go on for the entirety of the show 15 minutes in. But then colours started appeared and before you knew it everything started revolving in three dimensions. The visuals became more and more ironic and extreme as the music veered into global club sounds and some extreme bpms. EYE, or Yamataka Eye, is a Japanese artist mostly known for being the vocalist of noise rock band Boredoms who formed way back in 1986. I can’t wait to see the show again later this year.

Net Gala from Seoul made a big impression too, even though it’s now been a while since he released anything. He played all original music as far as I could tell so it was somewhere between a live and a dj set. His album Galapaggot had me interested when it came out back in 2024, because it’s out on the African label Hakuna Kulala that’s run by the Nyege Nyege collective. Net Gala is a part of the Korean underground, which is quite small because most young people are entrenched in the K-pop world. But it does include many amazing artists, such as ETIC whom we wrote about recently. As the majestic track ”Retrograde” came on, I just wanted to close my eyes and drift.

For me the absolute highlight of the night was Kavari, because I’ve been obsessing over her music for the past year and I’d really been longing to catch one of the dj sets. While she just released a EP for XL Recordings and may be heading for bigger and more mainstream crowds – it felt like Kavari was still our little secret on this dancefloor. A dancefloor that went quite wild during her set, which is so different from her original productions but still so much her. It was a crazy mix of trap beats with super heavy bass and fast techno, probably including some of her own edits. I was too busy dancing to think too much about it. She had also brought a slideshow of obscenely dark images, some of which I wish I hadn’t seen – but it’s all part of her world-building. If you’ve seen her blood paintings you now what I’m talking about.

Finally, I was at long last able to catch a dj set by DJ Mell G, whom I’ve been a fan of ever since she started the juicy label and put out that 12” together with DJ Fuckoff, who has since become an even bigger name. Last year DJ Mell G put out her best original music so far, on the Mechatronica label, and I really hope things brings her to even bigger crowds in the future. I’ve rarely seen anyone look so effortlessly cool while playing – without being cringe – and it’s just so important to see DJs who actually have fun while they’re playing.

There had been some technical issues which meant that Melina came on a bit late. Luckily the crew allowed her to play until 6.30 am and I danced until the end. It’s not that often we’re treated to a great electro set, heavy on the breakbeats. I mean, Jensen Interceptor has been known to do that for years. And while I really enjoyed his set too, it was very different because he played live and went into the more experimental territory that his latest album Interception represents really well. Really recommend checking out this release from September on his own label International Chrome – one of the most legendary electro labels out there.

We’re back at CTM tomorrow, and while it breaks my heart to miss Blood of Aza I still can’t wait for the packed lineup this Thursday.