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At the initiative of Reset - a creative space and Brutalist architecture highlight in Brussels - the city can add a new annual multidisciplinary festival to the list. From October 9 to 13, Brussels will be captivated by Abrupt, dedicated to emerging, contemporary, and unconventional music. Reset itself, a former bank with alluring clinical spaces, will serve as the festival's home base, with events spread over cathedrals and other notable cultural locations across the city.
This inaugural edition aims to act as a nexus for sonic innovation with a transdisciplinary approach that seamlessly intertwines music (from electronic, to jazz, to hiphop), visual art, debate, science, and a festival experience both rooted and spread throughout Brussels. With promising A/V shows, unconventional venues like Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule, and club spaces such as Reset and Botanique, Brussels will be the scene of progressive culture. Here are our recommendations for Abrupt’s debut.
Opening concert with out-of-the-box duo KRM (The Bug) and KMRU
Abrupt opens with the fresh and somewhat surprising collaboration between Kevin Richard Martin (KRM, known as The Bug) and KMRU at Bozar. The reason for this fusion is their recently released album ‘Disconnect’, on which the two artists speak a musical language that is deeply poetic, expressive and haunting. Their immersive approach combines The Bug’s depth-trawling dub with KMRU’s ambient and vocal sensibilities, born from a rich, back-and-forth creative dialogue. ‘Disconnect’ is an impressively successful result of this process, soon to be experienced live in the Brussels art deco arts house Bozar.
Location: Bozar, Brussels
Date: October 9, 20:00 - 23:00 CET
After a five-year hiatus, Scottish IDM artist Lanark Artefax returns to the stage
SKY H1 & Mika Oki present ‘Chromaesthesia’ (live A/V)
On Saturday the 12th, Bozar will transform into a space for visual and sonic experimentation, as Paris-based electro-acoustic and visual artist Mika Oki and Belgian avant-garde producer SKY H1 reunite to present their latest audiovisual show, ‘Chromaesthesia’. This AV installation merges sound and sight into a sensory experience, resulting in a burst of colours and associated moods and mental states. The performance invites the audience to meld with the music on a molecular level, to experience it with our entire body, and to see each frequency as a pigment of colour and a projection of our inner space.
Location: Bozar, Brussels
Date: October 12, 20:00 - 23:00 CET
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The return of Lanark Artefax
Remember the melancholic tearjerker ‘Touch Absence’ from 2017? Not a single club visit went by without hearing this masterpiece that year. After a five-year hiatus, Scottish IDM artist Lanark Artefax returns to the stage, following his latest release ‘Metallur’ from last April on AD 93. Artefax is renowned for his laser-sharp precision and eye for percussive detail. He effortlessly fuses metallic forces with warping tempos, resulting in sophisticated club tracks.
Location: Botanique, Brussels
Date: October 12, 19:00 - 01:00 CET
The return of Lanark Artefax
Remember the melancholic tearjerker ‘Touch Absence’ from 2017? Not a single club visit went by without hearing this masterpiece that year. After a five-year hiatus, Scottish IDM artist Lanark Artefax returns to the stage, following his latest release ‘Metallur’ from last April on AD 93. Artefax is renowned for his laser-sharp precision and eye for percussive detail. He effortlessly fuses metallic forces with warping tempos, resulting in sophisticated club tracks.
Location: Botanique, Brussels
Date: October 12, 19:00 - 01:00 CET
Abrupt Lab: Talks and workshops on resistance at Reset
During Abrupt, Reset will give space to Abrupt Lab for two days of exchanges, with a variety of formats: radio broadcasting, round tables and workshops. Abrupt Lab will question the role of artists and players from the independent cultural sector before today’s socio-political turbulence. From Ukraine to Gaza, passing through Georgia, Abrupt Lab will tune in to territories in resistance advocating for their rights, freedom and sovereignty.
Location: Reset, Brussels
Date: October 11-12, 11:00 - 19:30 CET
Maxime Denuc conquers the organ in a Brussels cathedral
For this special occasion, Brussels-based composer and ambient sound artist Maxime Denuc will take over the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula' organ. That choice doesn’t come out of nowhere; Denuc is an expert in finding connections between church organs and contemporary electronic music. His acclaimed album Nachthorn, for example, was composed for 'MIDI organ', in which the acoustic instrument is operated by a computer, thus becoming a powerful synthesizer. Carefully oscillating between dub techno and acoustic harmonies, Denuc’s approach results in hypnotic pieces of music enticing a trance-like state, perfectly suitable for a spiritual church experience.
Location: Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels
Date: October 10, 20:00 - 23:00 CET
Laurel Halo presents her album ‘Atlas’ supported by Leila Bordeuil (live)
During the live performance of her highly acclaimed album ‘Atlas’ from 2023, electronic composer Laurel Halo joins forces with Leila Bordeuil, a cellist, composer and sound artist with an experimental and electro-acoustic approach. Exploring the acoustic realm herself, Halo incorporates acoustic piano in her work as well as the broader spectrum of jazz music. Cleverly combining this with ambient, Halo has created an album that layers two worlds, resulting in a suite of sensual, dreamy collages: chaotic and swirling, yet warm, tender, and elegant. Reset forms the brutalist backdrop of the presentation of this delicate album.
Location: Reset, Brussels
Date: October 11, 20:00 - 23:00 CET
Skee Mask B2B Actress
Abrupt organises and curates club nights at various venues during its festival, including one at Reset. The line-up on Saturday, October 12, promises a special B2B with Skee Mask and Actress in this dark and ominous space. Prepare yourself for a night full of anonymous dancing, stimulated by the realms of IDM, dub and breakbeat.
Location: Reset, Brussels
Date: October 12, 23:00 - 06:00 CET
For more information on the programme, visit the Abrupt Festival website.
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