Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season: All Night Apocalypse

Unsound 2012 kicks off with a movie marathon curated by the A/V duo Jigoku, the start of a 6-day series. Feast upon the Orson Welles' narrated doomsday documentary "The Late Great Planet Earth", the end of world atomic attack movie "This Is Not A Test" and trashy "Mad Max" style thrills in the Italian post-apocalypse flick "Point of No Return Vol 1: Endgame". Also watch the 50's "educational" shorts "Fall Out Shelter" and "Duck and Cover!" on how to deal with a nuclear blast, and the animation "Les Temps Morts" about humanity's self-destruction.

Tickets: 15 zl

LIKE THE VOICE OF A THOUSAND WATERS, presented with ECAS

KTL is Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) and Peter Rehberg aka Pita, residing in the darker realms of experimental music. Using guitars, electronics and effects, they perform a live soundtrack to the classic "Sunrise", a film coming at the conclusion of the silent era, giving an unexpected slant on the Unsound 2012 theme "THE END." This project was first commissioned by the Louvre in Paris. Poland's Jacek Sienkiewicz opens with a contemplative, experimental set he says "will try to capture and hold in a mere 20 minutes all the past editions of the festival."

Tickets: 25 zl BUY HERE

UNSOUND OPENING PARTY

Ease into the festival week in style with friends of Unsound celebrating the 10th edition. Andy Votel of Finders Keepers DJs, incorporating visuals from classic Polish animation; music critic / producer Philip Sherburne, Opium Hum (aka Michail Stangl of Berlin's Leisure System and CTM) and Mi$gogo of PussyKrew also DJ. Chino plays a live show.

Visuals: Pussykrew

Tickets: Free

Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season

"The People Who Own The Dark" (1976, SP, dir. Leon Klimovsky) is a Spanish "Omega Man" style obscurity about a band of bourgeois survivors struggling to survive the fall out of a nuclear explosion, "peasant ghouls" and masked soldiers ordered to exterminate all "infectnts". Directed with grim, spooky proficiency from legendary Spanish horror auteur Klimovsky.

Tickets: 5 zl

Q&A with Andy Votel, presented with The Wire

Andy Votel is a crate digger's crate digger, delving deeper than just about anyone else into obscure and forgotten music, which he releases on his Finders Keepers label - including soundtracks by Polish composer Andrzej Korzyński. He discusses this, the ideas behind his label, and will also talk about what "THE END" means to him personally and in popular / outer-edges culture. In conversation with Philip Sherburne.

Tickets: Free

OPENING: A Trip Down Memory Lane With Unsound - An Exhibition of Festival Design 2003 - 2012

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary this year - a good opportunity to reflect on how festival culture, design and contemporary club and experimental music has changed over the decade. We started soon after the millennium fever waned, and 10 years later we're pondering The End. Unsound posters and flyers from our decade of life will be displayed in Bunkier Sztuki, from Monday until Sunday. Come to our exhibition opening.

Tickets: Free

I FLED, WITH MY FACE IN MY HANDS

Three of the world's most important figures in noise / experimental scenes are brought together on a single night. Chicago's Kevin Drumm draws on electronics, improv, metal and more to create dense, extreme music. LA's Vatican Shadow (aka Prurient) blends raw, aggressive sound and techno. Fushitsusha is Keiji Haino's legendary Tokyo band, influenced equally by noise, experimental rock and psychedelia. Polish percussionist Hubert Zemler opens with a solo foyer concert.

Tickets: 25 zl BUY HERE

BAMBINO SOUND SYSTEM

Bambino Sound System return to Unsound, utilising early 1960's portable Bambino record players and Polish sound postcards to recreate the raw atmosphere of an old school apartment party during communism.

Tickets: Free

Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season

The exploitation trash fest "Point of No Return Vol 2: She" (IT, 1982, dir. Avi Nesher) is a schizophrenic mash up of barbarian movie, road warrior flick and every genre in the Grindhouse canon thrown at the wall. Two brothers enter a post apocalyptic wilderness to rescue their sister and encounter an array of freaks and monsters. Music by Judas Priest and Motorhead!

Tickets: 5 zl

The End of the Notion of the Artist, presented with Glissando

The days when we celebrated the birthdays of our favourite artists are gone. Today we often don't know their real names - and frequently it is unclear if they even exist (Ursula Bogner, anyone?). But is this important? With Piotr Tkacz, Filip Lech, Agata Pyzik, and Andżelika Kaczorowska. In Polish.

Tickets: Free

Presentation: Slouching Toward Toddlerdom, presented with The Wire

The three-fold fact of mass unemployment, Willow Smith and fetal wolves spells only one thing: an end of the world in a different key than we’ve ever seen. Tracking back through a century and a half of our most recurrent apocalyptic fantasies, author Evan Calder Williams looks ahead from salvagepunk - the rediscovery of old hatreds in the scrapped and wasted - to its horrifying and fresh-faced successor.

Tickets: Free

CEASELESSLY INTO THE PAST

Andy Votel is currently releasing the film scores of Polish composer Andrzej Korzyński on his Finders Keepers label. Korzyński created music for the "Pan Kleks" trilogy, beloved by past generations of Polish children as well as Andy himself, now commissioned to create the homage "Kleksploitation." Innercity Ensemble is a new 7-piece collective with members drawn from the Polish improv / experimental scenes; their live show will present highly atmospheric jazz-based soundscapes.

Tickets: 25 zl BUY HERE

NOW EVERYBODY

Tuesday night fun-time vibes with three very different and very live shows. Ducktails is the blissed out, woozy "pop" project of Matthew Mondanile, guitarist from the band Real Estate. Teengirl Fantasy play music of a more futuristic bent, with a new LP on R&S that has feet planted firmly in house and techno. Opening is Piotr Kurek's unmissable Polish project Piętnastka, a playful blend of electronics and traditional instruments.

Tickets: 25 zl BUY HERE

Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season

"Lifespan" (1975, NL-UK, dir. Sandy Whitelaw) is a tale of humanity's obsession with aging, where a doctor is plunged into a metaphysical quest to discover the secrets of eternity. A quirky, left field mediation with elements of sci-fi, horror and sleaze. Featuring a killer progressive electro score by Terry Riley.

Tickets: 5 zl

Q&A with Stuart Argabright, presented with Blackest Ever Black

Stuart Argabright, founder of Ike Yard and Black Rain, discusses NYC's multiple "ends" in film, books, music and reality to possible ends of the world. Argabright, who recorded the aftermath of 9/11 from atop his building in Lower Manhattan, will also touch upon street survival in NYC, surviving a suitcase nuke attack in an urban area and the development of the nuclear hand grenade. Kiran Sande, head of Blackest Ever Black, leads the talk.

Tickets: Free

Collaborations I - Q&A with Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin, presented with The Wire

In the spring of 2012, two leading names in electronic music Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin (OPN) came together in Brooklyn to record. Their work will be the first in the SSTUDIOS series to be released on Software, focusing on out/free jazz/electronic collaborations. Performing live for the first time at Unsound, Hecker and Lopatin discuss their collaboration and more.

Tickets: Free

UNQUIET SLUMBERS FOR THE SLEEPERS IN THAT QUIET EARTH

T'ien Lau are a new duo, using radio sets to create contemplative works influenced by Jewish music. Tomek Choloniewski is a Krakow-based percussionist, and along with Hubert Zemler (earlier in the Unsound 2012 program), he shows the possibilities of percussion as a tool for experimentation.

Tickets: Free

Panel: Music Industry Circa Now: Flatline or New Horizon?, presented with The Wire

Music journalists, label heads and artists discuss the current condition of the music industry. Is it in collapse, or slowly being reborn? Moderated by Andy Battaglia.

Tickets: Free

SOMEONE ELSE WAS DREAMING HIM

Three artists performing impeccably produced music that draws on multiple sources of inspiration. The youngest is Haxan Cloak, with a dark, fractured sound featured on his new Tri Angle Records release, far more electronic than his previous work. pole presents his new live show, with a warm, stripped back, dubby sound connected to his earliest productions. Atom ™ (aka Senor Coconut) will perform a revamped version of his celebrated AV show. Polish act BNTT opens with a "sound-bombing" foyer concert.

Tickets: 25 zl BUY HERE

BETWEEN THIS AND THAT

Strewth! It's the M Division Recordings showcase featuring Hey Convict!, Ransom & NHJ. From Melbourne to Milky Beach, this contingent of antipodeans bring the profanity of the Aussie disco. Grab a giveaway of 'Milky Beach Settlers', a sun-drenched mix of Australian-only obscurities recorded by Hey Convict! exclusively for Unsound. All the more reason to shake your shackles and get loose!

Tickets: Free

Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season

A screening of "The Afterman" (BE, 1985, dir. Rob Van Eyck). Two decades after nuclear devastation, a lone man leaves his shelter to find a world ravaged by barbarity and sickness. A shocking mantra on humankind’s inhumanity (with no dialogue!), Van Eyck’s pessimistic tome is a raw, uncompromising howl of rage that is not for the sensitive or squeamish.

Tickets: 5 zl

There Will Come Soft Rains, Presented With The Wire

Author Dave Tompkins presents a rare recording of the Ray Bradbury BBC radio adaptation of "There Will Come Soft Rains," about the last automated house standing on Mars after a nuclear holocaust. Produced by the Radiophonic Workshop in 1977, and composed with analogue synth and vocoder by the late great Malcolm Clarke.

Tickets: Free

Collaborations II – Q&A: Biosphere, Lustmord & MFO on TRINITY, presented with The Wire

Geir Jenssen (Biosphere) and Brian Williams (Lustmord) discuss the Unsound-commissioned project "TRINITY", which saw the artists travel to the New Mexico desert to record sound, image and explore archives connected with the first tests of the atomic weapon. Marcel Weber (from MFO) talks about the creation of the project's visual component. Andy Battaglia leads the conversation.

Tickets: Free

Presentation: Where Does a Circle End? Magick and Pop Music in Britain, 1888-1978, presented with The Wire

Mark Pilkington explores British occultism's origins in the bohemian groves of late 19th century London, and charts its impact on popular music and some of its players. This is a story as much about the death and transformation of the magic arts as it is about their origins - concluding with the advent of punk and the chaos magick movement, both of which tore down the altars of music and magic in their wake.

Tickets: Free

A WAY A LONE A LAST A LOVED A LONG THE

Mazzoll is a legend, one of the originators of the Yass movement, a Polish genre with roots in Jazz, punk and Zappaesque surrealism. This is his first live show presenting work from his new album "Responiso Mortifera." Niski Szum opens, a powerful, enigmatic songwriting project from Marcin Dymiter, a leading figure in Poland's experimental scene.

Tickets: Free

RA Live Exchange with Hieroglyphic Being, presented with Resident Advisor

In collaboration with Resident Advisor, Unsound presents two RA Live Exchange talks, part of a conversation with artists, labels and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape. Speaking with two of the acts performing at Unsound 2012 will be RA editor-in-chief Todd L. Burns. This Exchange features Hieroglyphic Being.

Tickets: Free

THE IMMENSE ARCHIVES OF THE SKY

Two unique performances in the stunning surrounds of a 16th century Gothic church that are sure to be a festival highlight. Celebrated singer/songwriter Julia Holter will perform a special one-off show with a string quintet drawn from Sinfonietta Cracovia, adapting her music especially. Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) join forces live for the first time, to present collaborative work ahead of their joint LP.

Tickets: 50 zl BUY HERE

A THOUSAND CRASHING CARS

The music tonight is darkly hued, driven by a variety of rhythms, some ear-shattering, others fractured. Holly Herndon's unique sound flows and fragments, Evian Christ slowly seduces with dark electronics and skeletal beats, and Emptyset promise a brutal, captivating show. Factory Floor make disco music for the apocalypse, both assaulting and immersive, and Berlin's Shed concludes with his powerful brand of evocative, experimental techno. Gathaspar opens with a set of experimental dubby music featuring Polish folk songs.

Tickets: 30 zl BUY HERE

Jigoku's "THE END" Film Season

"A Boy And His Dog" (US, 1975, dir. LQ Jones) features a pre-"Miami Vice" Don Johnson, wandering a post devastation future with his telepathic dog. When an impotent but "civilized" underground society is discovered our protagonist is used as a stud bearer to re-invigorate the human race. However, fate has another deadly card in its deck...

Tickets: 5 zl

Panel: Talking About The End, presented with The Wire

What is "The End"? A round-table panel stares down a question for the ages and mulls the end of music, the end of style, the end of aesthetic ghettoization, the end of festivals, the end of history, the end of the-end-of-history, the end of public space, the end of private space, the end of the world, the end of times.

Tickets: Free

RA Live Exchange with Demdike Stare, presented with Resident Advisor

The second of two RA Live Exchange talks. This talk features Demdike Stare, discussing – among other things – their Unsound-commissioned work “Concealed.” RA editor-in-chief Todd L. Burns leads the conversation.

Tickets: Free

Presentation: The Beat Who Cheated Death: Endless Low End in Miami, presented with The Wire

Dave Tompkins presents a cultural, geological and political history of 1980s Miami, propagating from bass. A distortion of terms and technology to recording engineers, “sustained decay” speaks to properties of 808 bass as well as a sub-history of Miami’s foundation and development – from microscopic fossils to man-made beaches, riots and roller-rinks to cocaine, coral reefs and a U-boat attack in 1942.

Tickets: Free

THE FINDER CANNOT UNSEE ONCE IT HAS BEEN SEEN, Presented with PAN and CTM

Part of Unsound 2012's spotlight on PAN Records, the UK's HELM breaks down acoustic and electronic sounds into a dense aural landscape, while Brooklyn's Ben Vida performs "psycho-acoustic trickery," utilizing frequencies to stimulate bones inside your ear. Black Rain presents his pioneering post-industrial music released on Blackest Ever Black, as well as works with Ukrainian artist Kotra.

Tickets: TBC

Red Bull Music Academy Session with Theo Parrish

Detroit House legend Theo Parrish is performing in Poland for the first time at Unsound 2012, presented by Red Bull Music Academy. In conversation with Krakow DJ Eltron John - an RBMA graduate - he offers insight into the philosophy / working methods behind his productions and unique DJ sets.

Tickets: Free

BEHIND THEIR BACKS THE GREAT DARKNESS BEGAN

Tonight's program offers two very different perspectives on "THE END." "Trinity" is a project commissioned by Unsound, bringing together Biosphere and Lustmord, with visuals by MFO. Via sound and image, they explore the first tests of atomic weapons in the deserts of the United States. "Proper Kaput" is the first appearance of V/Vm since 2006. Their specially prepared show promises to make you weep, laugh, cringe and cry out in abject horror.

Tickets: 50 zl BUY HERE

ONE WORLD TO ANOTHER

Friday night promises to run the gamut of dance music. It ranges from the experimental and leftfield productions of VFTL, Shackleton, Interplanetary Prophets and Sienkiewicz to the surefire crowd-pleasers of Beautiful Swimmers, Ron Morelli, Juju & Jordash and more. At the centre is none other than Detroit House legend Theo Parrish, presented with the Red Bull Music Academy. A third intimate room takes things to the outer-edges of rhythmic experimentation with Etamski, Pienikowski and others.

Tickets: 35 zl BUY HERE

Sangoplasmo Records: Exhibition and Performance

The DIY gallery New Roman presents Sangoplasmo records - an independent label from Wroclaw. The label doesn't focus on a particular genre, but gathers and promotes a variety of projects sharing common yet indefinable inspirations. As a part of an exhibition/installation, the gallery will present premiere performances by: The Phantom and Piotr Kurek (known from his "Piętnastka" project) with Sylvia Monnier and Lutto Lento.

Tickets: Free

Panel: H+ // music, presented with Glissando Magazine

The end of humanity as we know it, and a dawn of a new technological utopia? Posthumanism is a cultural movement glorifying human beings' ability to constantly challenge their own boundaries. Today many artists strive towards a sound that cancels fixed identities: electronic/acoustic, natural/artificial, Eastern/Western, human/non-human - and technology works in their favour. Krakow's own hauntologist Olga Drenda and Jacek Plewicki from Glissando magazine discuss this topic with guests to be announced.

Tickets: Free

BORN AWAY BY THE WAVES, presented with Skanu Mezs

Experience a pleasant Saturday afternoon, Unsound-style, with some of the freshest electronic music around. Curated by John Elliot of Emeralds, Spectrum Spools is represented by two artists: Bee Mask will dazzle with his creation of synthetic psychedelia that almost sounds alive, while Container's twisted techno will have both your brain and body moving. Vessel has his debut album on Tri Angle, a highly original take on techno and house filtered though fog. Presented with our festival partner in Riga, Skanu Mezs.

Tickets: 15 zl BUY HERE

INTO THE DARKNESS UNTIL HE WAS THE PIN POINT OF LIGHT

Immerse yourself in thrillingly dark music on the eve of the apocalypse, imagined or otherwise. The world debut of the band aTelecine, direct descendants of the pioneers of industrial music, is one of the most talked-about events of Unsound 2012. Festival favorite Ben Frost returns, with a new, ferocious show with two drummers. Raime also played their debut show at Unsound 2010, and now come back, to celebrate the release of their debut LP on Blackest Ever Black.

Tickets: 50 zl BUY HERE

186,000 ENDINGS PER SECOND aka BASS MUTATIONS

Our Bass Mutations events in Krakow and New York started out as a focused survey of dubstep and its stylistic offshoots, yet the scene(s) have expanded so rapidly since the need for the name itself has become obsolete, marking another kind of "THE END." So this is club music from a plural, globalized, post-internet world, be it Mala's processing of native Cuban sounds, Fatima At Qadri's compacting of Muslim chant to juke, DJ MikeQ's retake on vogue-inducing ballroom music, Kuedo's sci-fi visions or Oneman's high-speed DJ sets - and much more. Step into the 21st century.

Tickets: 35 zl BUY HERE

Workshop: Bring the noise!, presented with Glissando Magazine and Muzykoteka Szkolna

An experimental workshop curated by Muzykoteka Szkolna and The National Audiovisual Institute. Encouraging you to reject your daily role as a passive listener, Bartek Kalinka (of XV Parówek) helps you gain rudimentary knowledge on how to find your voice with noise and prepare not-so-musical compositions. You can bring your own tools - instruments, effects, toys, whatever you feel sounds good or bad - but it's not obligatory. The focus is on children and teenagers, but adults are welcome too.

Tickets: Free

ATOM

This is the first of two sessions of the stunning ATOM installation. Created by Robert Henke (aka Monolake) and visual artist Christopher Bauder, the piece involves 64 illuminated helium balloons, their motion controlled and triggered by sound. ATOM will take place in Teatr Laznia Nowa, an impressive post-industrial space in Nowa Huta, a suburb built during communism.

Tickets: Free

ATOM

This is the second session of the ATOM installation.

Tickets: Free

EVERYTHING HAS ENDED, AND EVERYTHING ENDS

Demdike Stare return to Krakow with a commissioned project, tailored to Unsound's "The End" theme. Created with cellist Danny Norbury and visual artist Michael England, "Concealed" is the duo's first take on live instrumentation featuring players from Krakow's Sinfonietta Cracovia and live video. Opening are one of Unsound's favorite Polish acts, Sza/Za, playing music to accompany the experimental films of Stefan and Franciszka Thermerson produced in Poland in the 1930s.

Tickets: 40 zl BUY HERE

SO THAT, IN THE END, THERE WAS NO END, presented with PAN and CTM

Unsound's closing party is built largely around the side of PAN devoted to experimental dance music, with NHK'Koyxeи, Bass Clef and a DJ set from label head Bill Kouligas all represented. Hieroglyphic Being's solo show is the perfect addition to this line up, and a couple more names are coming soon!

Tickets: Free