Sounds of Dour

“It’s unprecedented”, states Dour Festival about their brimming 2023 line-up. In July, the annual festival bursts with names as Janelle Monáe, Peggy Gou, Bladee and Aphex Twin, as well as a brand new stage and a dedicated place for ‘experimentation par excellence’—the unruly Rockamadour. As the program has shaped up to dizzying size, we’d like to like to highlight five acts on the program.

LYZZA

LYZZA’s music has been coined as a “transdisciplinary club pop experiment”. On a handful of EP’s, through collaborations with Shygirl, Amnesia Scanner, Mykki Blanco and Nicolas Jaar, and on her full-length mixtape MOSQUITO, LYZZA traverses the smoky world of club music or unleashes intimate pop ballads. “One thing’s for sure: LYZZA is a force to be reckoned with.”

Bolis Pupul

It’s quite the challenge to capture the music of Bolis Pupul in exact words. The buckets of ‘electro-pop or art pop’ spill over. It’s wry, progressive and minimal. Pupul has joined forces with his long-term musical collaborator Carlotte Adigéry, on 2020’s amazing Tropical Dancer. “Cultural appropriation and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte and Bolis have ripped up the rulebook with their debut record.” On Dour, Pupul will grace the stage solo, ahead of the release of his single Neon Budda. “The track is inspired by a dream Bolis had of a pagoda in Hong Kong featuring a contemplative Buddha made of neon lights. A Love from Outer Space chug.”

Zohar

“In Zohar’s renewed modus operandi analog and digital techniques interact with dissected and transformed sound experiments — an eclectic approach that honors the wide musical scope the artist seeks refined and surprising connections in.” Zohar’s latest self-released project pulses, pummels and drives. Ever-changing drum patterns flow overhead, weaving dense shapes and forms without ever dropping the mystical mood and high tempo danceability. It’s a thrill to never know what’s around corner.

Aphex Twin

As the idiosyncratic’s musician, composer and DJ’s bio reads: 34 51 49 33 59 20 2b 5c 2f 5c 2f 31 4f 20 31 24 20 2b 33 53 56 39 20 30 51 20 45 30 56 53 20 47 33 24 2b 31 57 34 7c 21 20 34 51 49 33 59 20 2b 5c 2f 5c 2f 31 4f 20 31 24 20 2b 33 53 56 39 20 30 51 20 45 30 56 53 20 47 33 24 2b 31 57 34 7c 21 20 34 51 49 33 59 20 2b 5c 2f 5c 2f 31 4f 20 31 24 20 2b 33 53 56 39 20 30 51 20 45 30 56 53 20 47 33 24 2b 31 57 34 7c 21 20 34 51 49 33 59 20 2b 5c 2f 5c 2f 31 4f 20 31 24 20 2b 33 53 56 39 20 30 51 20 45 30 56 53 20 47 33 24 2b 31 57 34 7c 21 20 34 51 49 33 59 20 2b 5c 2f 5c 2f 31 4f 20 31 24 20 2b 33 53 56 39 20 30 51 20 45 30 56 53 20 47 33 24 2b 31 57 34 7c 21 20. Need we say more?