The Sunday at Rewire is usually the day that allows for a bit more reflection, and in the particular case of this festival – appreciation of all the heartstopping music that exists, and the opportunity to explore it in Europe. This year I had a lot of sleep to catch up on, so I didn’t have much time to walk around a sun-drenched Den Haag and see some of all the art exhibitions that are also a part of the festival. I even had to skip my scheduled stop at Bookstoor – my favourite café in the world – where I usually sit down with pen and paper or flick through a book.
I struggled to even make it to the 3345 record store, which has had long a partnership with the festival, selling records inside Grey Space. They usually host a Sunday instore with artists that may, or may not, be performing at Rewire. Sadly I missed Susu Laroche, which I had been anticipating since I didn’t see her set at the festival. We included a track from her recent album for Doyenne, called War Against the Lie, in our Rewire playlist.
I wasn’t prepared for 3345 being filled to the brim as I arrived, for the last few minutes of the guy from Black Midi. As I got inside later I realised there were live shows going on and not just DJ sets. I was really pleased I got to see YPY (who had performed earlier together with Valentina Magaletti) from Japan play some of his own music from a digitakt.
Then I had to hurry back because I couldn’t miss the launch of Rewire Reflections at Page Not Found. This is a zine that is produced on location during the festival, as a part of a workshop series with a separate open call. I’ve always dreamed of creating a zine, but I wasn’t able to partake this year either. For 2026 they had roped in editor, writer and architect María Mazzanti to facilitate the workshops and the launch took place at the talk about ‘music journalism today’.
The panel was led by Laura Snapes who’s the deputy music editor of The Guardian, and last year she was the one who led the zine workshop. I think most of the zine-makers were at the talk and it’s also highly interesting to me personally, even if my journalistic effort is not so much about criticising and politicising as it is about providing a platform. I don’t really believe we need criticism anymore, since knowledge about music has become democratised to the point where you can throw words like ‘triplet’ and ‘microtonal’ about without raised eyebrows.
The zine ended up a real work of art, as much due to the design, format and printing as the writing – so huge props to everyone involved. I would also highly recommend getting a copy of the Rewire anniversary book Further Listening that was published together with Page Not Found. It includes texts from many notable artists and writers and different chapters have different designers. Looks great as you can see below.
Having said all that, my main priority that afternoon was to see Ugnė Uma & Pavel Milyakov. I’ve become a huge fan of Uma’s work so far and I’ve listened to some of her radio shows. I have to testify that she simply has that kind of voice that deceptively draws you in, whether you like it or not. Naturally, I was worried that more people might be feeling like this, and that the venue would be full – which happened at the similarly scheduled Milan W. show last year. But luckily that wasn’t the case and when the pair came on stage, Uma with a small radio in her hand, we knew that something special was about to happen.
Milyakov, whom I just know as Buttechno, completely surprised me with the deep, triphop-like beats he provided as well as the sparse guitar playing. He shouldn’t have though, because he’s been releasing music for more than a decade and has experimented with a myriad of sounds. The strong Young Marble Giants associations that came out of both the instrumentation and the music during the show, was apparently something he had approached already in 2023. For Smalltown Supersound he and Perila (another Russian artist based in Berlin, just like Pavel) did an album as pmxper, which I checked out after this gig.
Uma staged the whole performance as a radio show, beginning with her trawling through static and broadcasts and welcoming us to the studio. With only a microphone at her aid, she commanded the audience with simply a glance. As Milyakov suddenly broke out a bluesy drone, she half sang half spoke ”take me to the other side” in what could easily have been a Spacemen 3 cover. (I actually had to listen to their song by the same name later, just to make sure it wasn’t a cover). It mostly sounded like unreleased material, well she hasn’t released much to begin with, but the whole set sounded like it would make a stunning album.
Perhaps this clip gives you a tiny inkling of the greatness we experienced. I stayed until the end (maybe the only show I saw in its entirety?) rather than ducking out to catch Juana Molina. That says a lot.
From there I continued to Lutherse Kerk to see Eliana Glass – one of those artists I hadn’t listened to that much before the festival but whose music is just better heard and felt live. Also, that church is one of my favourites during Rewire and the way the sun comes in, lighting up the stage, during the this time of the day is mildly spiritual. Glass played solo from a grand piano, didn’t talk much, but still enthralled the audience.
The Australian, New York-based composer and singer played several tracks from her jazzy record E on French label Shelter Press. She said E is her nickname and she dedicated the track ”Good Friends Called Me E” to all the Es out there. After the festival Shelter put out a 7” called E At Home, on which you can hear 4 tracks in a similar setting. Well, the digital version has 6 tracks, but they’re all recorded on her mother’s piano on a reel-to-reel.
I took a chance by venturing over to Koninklijke Schouwburg, where one of my friends normally works. Because I’m a big fan of Beatrice Dillon and she was playing there together with the sextet Explore Ensemble, whom she’d brought with her from London. I was only able to hear a couple of tracks but it was a beautiful few minutes and such a contrast to some of the harsher sounds of the Saturday. It was actually the world premiere of a new piece called Where Never. It builds on the acoustic, almost classical Seven Reorganisations created with Explore Ensemble in 2024. The new work however, combined electronic sounds with the ensemble’s classical instruments.
Finally, I was also able to see a part of Hilary Wood’s performance, which also took place in Lutherse Kerk. I had missed her set at CTM, despite it being among the shows we had told people not to miss. Like Eliana Glass, she was first alone on stage, beginning with a noise-filled number that had some in the audience walk out. Later she was joined by two musicians, on percussion and violin. Some of the music was taked from her autumn release on Sacred Bones, called Night CRIÚ. It was the first record to feature Woods’ voice and it sounded even better in the architecture of the church.
Doubling back to Koninklijke Schouwburg, I thought that KMRU would also be filling up before the scheduled start, but once again I was surprised to find it not even full as the Berlin-based Kenyan artist took to the stage, seated in darkness at the back of the stage. Surprised, mostly because his new album on Editions Mego, Kin, is a minor masterpiece of ambient music that also features Fennesz on one track.
His performance together with Nick Verstand was also completely unique and created for this world premiere. Working with the physical space, much like Billy Bultheel’s premiere last year, As Nature is an audiovisual collaboration built on field recordings and incorporating scent as well. Verstand’s part was a huge lightweight fabric that stretched from one side of the stage to other. During the performance it was lowered down and manipulated with air, lasers, LEDs and smoke. The entire show was also filmed by Rewire, so if I were you, I’d be keeping a close watch on their channels to see when it’s published.
After this I ended up seeing Jennifer Walton’s show simply because her participation in the conversation ‘Fragile Minutes’ earlier had piqued my interest. Another reason was that I couldn’t get in to see Cello Octet Amsterdam, which turned out to be one of the most popular program points at Rewire, with the queue going around the block from the church out into Grote Markt. This might have had something to do with the fact that they had five guest vocalists with them (one of whom happened to be Arooj Aftab, who was among the headliners in 2025).
Instead, I prepared for the 2026 headliner Einstürzende Neubauten. I had never been able to see the German legends live before, despite being a fan since high school. Needless to say, I’m more of a fan of their 80s output (which to a large extent shaped what we know as industrial music) than their recent material. Still, I was filled with awe seeing Blixa Bargeld on a stage, decked out in glitter and long nails, struggling to play a sample from his phone.
Again, I had decided to be there early since I had nearly missed Laurie Anderson’s closing set last year. This year however, Rewire had solved this issue with ‘plus tickets’ for this show and the other headliner Oneohtrix Point Never. This meant you were guaranteed a spot for an extra 4€. But it also seemed like not everyone had been convinced, because Amare was not full when the band started playing. In fact, the whole balcony at the top was empty. That might have been a conscious decision though, since the view is not great from up there (I know this from Anderson’s concert last year).
Either way, there was plenty of space stage front so I moved as close as I could. The band consists of only one more original member – N.U. Unruh – after the departure of Alexander Hacke last year. The bass is now played by Josefine Lukschy of the Berlin band Crashpad (apparently they’d held auditions for the role). She did a stellar job and was the one leading the rhythm for several numbers.
I didn’t get to hear any of my favourite songs, but that doesn’t matter much to me. Blixa Bargeld’s presence and banter alone was more than enough. They played a few songs from Silence Is Sexy which were probably the most recognisable. That record also came out in 2000 when I was discovering the band. ”Dingsaller” is a huge favourite and I remember hearing it in live recordings from the time. It’s crazy to think that is 26 years ago. They didn’t play that particular gem sadly. Otherwise about half of the set was lifted from their two most recent albums (and only releases in this decade).
Thank you Rewire, for once more showing that unpopular music and expressions existing on the borders between art and pop culture still has a place in the entertainment and event business. It’s not all algorithms and AI curation yet.
Top photo by Alex Heuvink
