Krakow’s Unsound Festival will push music festival boundaries by constructing its 2010 event around the theme: “HORROR”. The festival will explore the way that music and sound interact with visual images in horror films, and present artists inspired by horror film music. Other artists will perform music that causes feelings of fear or disquiet.

The French duo “Zombie Zombie” will perform the songs of John Carpenter, a director known not only for his horror films, such as “Halloween”, “The Fog” and “The Thing”, but pioneering electronic music soundtracks.  Expect much more synth-ridden darkness to be announced in coming weeks and months, as well as glow-fi delights.

Underlining the way Unsound crosses not only music genres, but art forms, the festival will also include a preview of “The Pretty One”, a neo-gothic ghost story on the thin line between concert, film and performance.

Designed by the controversial Belgian theatre collective Abattoir Fermé to present the work of musician Kreng, there are two main sources of inspiration: the specific musical universe of Kreng and the life of Leslie Van Houten, former beauty queen and member of the Manson gang. As Abattoir Fermé says: “The neo-gothic ghost story will slowly slip into a baroque slasher movie: from Henry James all the way up to Dario Argento.”

Having created theatre music for the theatre collective, Kreng’s first critically acclaimed release – “L'Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu” - was for the Norwegian label Miasmah. Kreng’s performance will be part of a wider Miasmah showcase, with artists dealing with the darkly disturbing yet beautiful sounds for which the label has become known.

Unsound Krakow won’t only be about trying to scare the hell out of people. There will also be plenty of relief in the form of some great club nights, post-classical and ambient music.

“But we want to create an event that’s exciting for the ideas it explores, as well as the music,” said Mat Schulz, Unsound director. There will also be panel discussions, presentations and installations – and when you have a theme as rich as ‘horror’, it’s an exciting prospect.”

Other artists currently announced to perform include the Mortiz von Oswald Trio, made up of the legendary Mortiz von Oswald, of Rhythm & Sound and Basic Channel Fame, as well as Sasu Ripatti (Vladislav Delay, Luomo, Uusitalo) and Max Loderbauer (Sun Electric, nsi.).

The mysterious Oni Ayhun has been confirmed, whose music inhabits a decidedly experimental realm on the outer limits of techno. Oni Ayhun describes Oni`s productions as “disturbed dance music on the border to insanity with free dreamy drone stories without a beat”. 

Shackleton will emerge from his Berlin-based studio to perform his electrifying live show, blurring the lines between dubstep and techno. Also UK-based Actress will debut in Poland with his live set, soon after his second album is released on Honest Jon’s Records. Other artists traversing such advanced music territory will be announced soon, including those appearing on the next instalment of Unsound’s “Bass Mutations” series, dealing with the latest bass mutated club music.

Unsound 2010 is presented in collaboration with Insomnia Festival in Norway and Rettir - Rejkiavik Round Up in Iceland, and will strongly connect with this geographical part of the world, as well as Sweden and Denmark. These cold climates definitely intersect with the horror theme, and as Tone Foundation’s (the organisation behind Unsound) president, Gosia Plysa says “The realisation of this unique program is possible in great part thanks to the grant from Cultural Exchange Fund under the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, which aims to foster and support collaborations between Poland, Norway and Iceland”. 

In February 2010 Unsound also teamed up with partners in New York to present Unsound Festival New York, which gained the festival a greater international name. These connections – with organizations such as the the Worldess Music series and Bunker - will be maintained, especially considering a second installment of Unsound Festival New York is planned for 2011.

“Unsound Festival is about crossing geographical as well as musical borders,” said Mat Schulz.

Unsound Krakow will take place between 17th and 24th October, 2010.