Insert your preferred cliché about Xmas coming early, as Roadburn Festival has just loosed a massive lineup announcement that will bring more than 30 bands and solo artists to the 2024 edition set for next April in the fest’s customary home of Tilburg, the Netherlands. They’ve brought on The Bevis Frond for the first time since 2006, and Health, Torpor, Full Earth, Darsombra, Alber Jupiter, Royal Thunder, Birds in Row, Deaf Club, Blood Incantation, on and on and on for a totally overwhelming multi-day experience that’s still just a fraction of what Roadburn will have on offer by the time the next few months have passed.

While I’m here and perhaps have the relevant attention, I owe Roadburn an apology for what was a misunderstanding on my part as regards Khanate. I said when Khanate announced additional shows that I could’ve sworn they were Roadburn-exclusive. In fact, that was never the case and my “could’ve sworn” was incorrect. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Not making excuses or anything, but I was definitely stoned when I put that post together. While I’m being honest, sometimes I forget that anyone might read this or that the words I say might have any consequence whatsoever. I’m doing my best, kids. The mind wanders.

Often to thoughts of Tilburg, but I guess having a dog named Tilly will do that too. In any case, permanent, unflinching, deep-in-the-muscle-tissue love to all at Roadburn out front and behind the scenes. It goes without saying there’s some stunning stuff here, and should you be attending, I hope whatever Roadburn choose-your-own-adventure you undertake is a personal landmark.

From the PR wire this morning:

Roadburn adds over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup including Health, Kavus Torabi, UBOA and a second clipping. set.

Roadburn has today added over thirty new names to the 2024 lineup. Amongst the artists announced is Health who will make a triumphant return to the festival, Kavus Torabi who will perform a specially commissioned project, and a second set for experimental hip hop group, Clipping.

These artists – and more – join Blood Incantation who were announced for the festival last week. The Denver-based four piece will perform their ambient album, Timewave Zero, in full, as well as a second set that will encompass tracks from their metal catalogue.

Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments: “It’s a huge pleasure to finally bring you this extensive announcement. We have been working intensely for such a long time. As we add these artists to the lineup, we can see it beginning to reflect the broad scope and feel of Roadburn 2024, truly showcasing the underground as it is today – varied, innovative and incredibly exciting.

“We are flying in a lot of these bands from all over for the festival, and we know how daunting it can be for an artist to travel halfway across the world for just one gig. With that in mind, we have asked several of them to play multiple sets. This will help make the most of their time at Roadburn, amplifying their voices as much as possible and giving them a rare chance to fully express themselves through all of their different artistic and musical facets.”

Roadburn 2024 will take place between April 18-21 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tickets are on sale now.

Following a mind-blowing performance at Roadburn 2022, HEALTH will return to Tilburg to bring their distinctive sound and unparalleled energy back to the festival – this time on the main stage. With the release of their brand new album Rat Wars propelling them forward, the sky’s the limit for Health.

clipping. have added a second set – the experimental hip hop trio will now play both Thursday, 18 April and Friday, 19 April, promising that “one will be more of a “party” (more upbeat, dance-floor-ready tracks) and the other will be something darker (more of our harsher, less beat-driven tracks).”

Kavus Torabi – renowned for his work with the likes of Gong, The Utopia Strong, Knifeworld and The Holy Family – will present a commissioned project titled Lion of The Lord’s Elect. This performance will comprise original material, performed for the very first time, commissioned by Roadburn.

Uboa will be an artist in residence at Roadburn – performing three distinctive sets over the course of the festival, including the live debut of The Origin of My Depression in its entirety. The Australian noise artist will showcase different facets of her creativity across the trio of performances.

Labelmates Ragana and Drowse will perform a brand new collaborative piece of music titled The Ash from Mount Saint Helens. These two artists both release music under The Flenser label, and are uniting to create a new composition that will premiere at Roadburn.

Also announced:

• Alber Jupiter will release a new album in 2024 and promise interstellar kosmische missives galore.
• The experimental folk and drone of Annelies Monseré is set to leave an impression on Roadburn audiences.
• After biding their time, Benefits will make their presence felt this coming April..
• Birds In Row will perform their 2022 album, Gris Klein, in its entirety.
• Body Void will return to Roadburn to perform their new release, Atrocity Machine, in full.
• After much unavoidable delay, Cult Leader will finally performA Patient Man at Roadburn this Spring.
• Krautrock and misty soundscapes collide as Darsombra prepare to take to the stage.
• The effervescent Deaf Club will make their Roadburn debut.
• Melancholic, ambient solo artist Kyle Bates aka Drowse will perform his own show as well as the collaboration with Ragana.
• Eye Flys bring their distinctively caustic sound to Roadburn.
• Drawing influence from the bleak tones of a post-industrial Northern England, Forest Swords will bring his spectral soundscapes to life.
• Making their first foray into Europe, Frail Body will stop by Tilburg to perform tracks from their hotly anticipated new album.
• Fuck Money are an incomparable band from Austin, TX – bringing their chaotic maelstrom of transgressive audio aggression to our doorstep.
• The brand new psychedelic, organ-driven sound of Full Earth is heading to Roadburn.
• Having dominated Europe already this year, Home Front will return with Roadburn in their sights; expect synth-driven post-punk.
• The acerbic sound of macabre grindcore will make an appearance thanks to Knoll.
• Industrial beats, apocalyptic noise, and gothic flourishes will all make an appearance during Lana Del Rabies’ Roadburn set
• Laster will perform their incredible new album, Andermans Mijne, in full.
• Titillation and transformation are high on the agenda for Patriarchy.
• Having made a huge impact with their latest album, Desolation’s Flower, Ragana will at last make their Roadburn debut.
• Richard Dawson’s distinctive take on British folk is long overdue an appearance at Roadburn.
• Royal Thunder will perform two sets at Roadburn; one career-spanning set titled TIME + SPACE + REVIVAL and the other being a run through of their latest magnificent opus, Rebuilding The Mountain.
• Sunrise Patriot Motion offer up an alluring take on gothic post-punk
• New Jersey’s Sunrot will be making their first trip to Europe, starting at Roadburn.
• Shadowy three piece, Thantifaxath, will bring their angular take on black metal to the festival.
• After many years, The Bevis Frond will return to Roadburn – having last appeared with their take on psychedelic sonic explorations at the festival back in 2006.
• Oppressive doom trio Torpor will perform their latest album Abscission in full.
• Belgian-based trio Use Knife will present their radiant energy to Roadburn.

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The Bevis Frond, “Lead” live at Roadburn 2006

Here be the second announcement from Roadburn 2024. The first one, made just over three weeks ago, brought skin-crawl legends Khanate as the first confirmtion, and really — I’m just being honest here — that was probably enough. Yeah, one band for a festival that’s like 10 days long now or something is probably a little light in terms of a general bill. But Khanate, you get one whole day to see them play three songs and then like five or six days to recover while you meander Tilburg in a stupor. Perfect plan.

This, along with irrelevance, poor networking skills and a general lack of utility, is perhaps a fraction of why I don’t book Roadburn. The groundbreaking Netherlands-based festival continues to push boundaries in their annual celebration of progressively-defined heavy. 2024 will make half a decade since I was last there — which I’ll tell you flat out is longer than I ever in my life wanted to again go, and while we’re honest I’m a little sad about it — but I carry a decade-plus of vivid and wonderful memories of the precise sort that I know those fortunate enough to witness it in 2024 will be making.

The lineup announcement came through the PR wire:

Roadburn announces first names for 2024 including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Chelsea Wolfe, Lankum and clipping.

Having already announced KHANATE for the 2024 edition of the festival, Roadburn has today made its first broader line up announcement, including THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, CHELSEA WOLFE, LANKUM, and CLIPPING. Roadburn 2024 will take place between 18-21 April in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers, comments:

“With this announcement, we are diving straight into the heart of what Roadburn 2024 is about. These artists that we are proud to unveil today are all of great significance for what the festival has become in recent times. We feel these artists represent the broad scope of Roadburn. With the first of the commissioned music projects also being revealed, we are as always, looking firmly into the future as well, presenting entirely new music. This is the start of many great things to come.”

—

It’s simply not possible to capture the true essence of THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN within a few words. They are a band who have made such an impact on the world within which Roadburn operates, their legend feels outsized, too large to fully comprehend. The Jesus and Mary Chain offer up a heady blend of fuzz and melody as a transportation device; whisking us a way to a different time and place of rose-tinted romance, wistful existentialism and just the right dose of hedonism.

Alongside the announcement of a new CHELSEA WOLFE album, we’re thrilled to reveal plans for her return to mainland Europe – at Roadburn 2024. In the twelve years since her first Roadburn appearance, this already remarkable artist has blossomed into an unstoppable force. As a songwriter and consummate creative entity incorporating evocative songwriting and unparalleled artistic vision, Chelsea Wolfe wraps the entire package in an ethereal, shimmering bow.

To witness LANKUM live is an intimate experience – no matter the size of the room. The four Irish musicians on stage play a dizzying array of instruments between them and possess a deep understanding of traditional folk, an appreciation of heaviness and deft hand for putting a twist on what has gone before them in the folk genre.

Experimental hip hop trio CLIPPING will make their Roadburn debut in 2024. A force to be reckoned with in the live arena, their minimalist onstage aesthetic belies the sonic complexities that they effuse. Experimenting with confrontation and heaviness within hip hop is part of what makes Clipping so exciting, and to our ears, makes them a band that belongs at the heart of what we do at Roadburn.

The first commissioned performance of 2024 to be announced will be crafted by the hand of MAT MCNERNEY. Music for Gloaming: A Nocturne by the Hexvessel Folk Assembly will be an entirely original composition, written and performed exclusively at Roadburn 2024. Evoking night-time mysticism, a realm where daylight bows to advancing darkness, unraveling both the external twilight tapestry and the internal landscapes of memory and thought, this commissioned work promises to be something truly special.

Additionally, HEXVESSEL will perform their latest album, Polar Veil in full at Roadburn 2024. On this striking release, a majestic shroud of black metal grandiosity is overlaid upon heaving doom and psychedelic flourishes that capture what is at the heart of Hexvessel.

Los Angeles based ecstatic black metal group, AGRICULTURE, will make their European debut at Roadburn, flying in for an exclusive one-off performance.

Mysterious Dutch black metal band, FLUISTERAARS will play their second ever show – their first in mainland Europe – at Roadburn, showcasing what has made them such an integral part of the underground black metal scene for so many years.

CLOAKROOM will bring their particular take on interplanetary exploration to Tilburg, playing tracks from their latest album, Dissolution Wave and more.

With the promise of a new album on the horizon, melancholic black metallers DÖDSRIT will return to Roadburn this coming April.

Delivering a dose of bloodsoaked blasphemy, DEVIL MASTER will make their Roadburn debut, traveling from Philadelphia to bring their malevolent magick to the masses.

—

The artwork for Roadburn 2024 has been unveiled; a striking video created by French artist, David Fitt is available to view in full via the Roadburn website. This extraordinarily talented French artist has been on our radar for some time now, and we had the great honour of hosting an exhibition of his portraits at Roadburn 2023. From there our appreciation for his work blossomed into a creative relationship that has resulted in the work that we’re thrilled to present to represent the 2024 edition of the festival.

4-day tickets for Roadburn 2024 are now on sale. Other ticket options – including single day tickets and accommodation – will follow on November 3. More artists will be announced in the coming weeks. For all information including tickets, please visit www.roadburn.com.

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Hexvessel, Polar Veil

Yes, in fact the universe did collapse in on itself this past Spring when the long-defunct chasm of hate-filled drear that is Khanate returned from the spike-filled abyss in which one imagines they were perfectly comfortable in order to release their first record since 2009, the title-as-mission-statement To Be Cruel (review here), through Sacred Bones Records. The label — home to Zola Jesus, Thou, Boris, Marissa Nadler, Moon Duo, John Carpenter and David Lynch, among many others — has featured prominently in Roadburn lineups over recent years, so one might’ve anticipated Khanate making an appearance as well. That is, if one had anticipated Khanate making live appearances at all, which is something I genuinely didn’t expect them to do.

But, here we are, still picking up surgically removed teeth and bits of skin to reassemble ourselves in the wake of the album, and a Roadburn set has been announced. The band will also have physical reissues of their first two LPs — the self-titled and Things Viral (discussed here) out Dec. 1 on Sacred Bones. You’ll recall they originally came out on Southern Lord, which tells you Khanate have been very nasty for a very long time.

What to expect? Well, I recall seeing Khanate what was apparently the better part of two decades ago, and it’s a big universe, so let’s think for a second. You know that scene in Caddyshack where Rodney Dangerfield shouts, “Hey everybody we’re all gonna get laid!” and then the music starts and it’s a big party? Start with the opposite of that, add a supermassive black hole, and scratch your fingernails into your own face until you bleed. There you go. That’s Khanate live. Memento mori.

Here’s a picture of dudes and words from Roadburn on socials:

Roadburn will host the long awaited live return of Khanate at the 2024 edition of the festival.

In the years since Khanate were last active there have been many heavy bands that followed in their footsteps. Some are able to emulate the abject bleakness, some capture the low-end rumble, a lot of them are undoubtedly extremely heavy. But none quite capture the grotesque combination of all three components quite like Khanate. We urge all worshippers of the low and the slow to brace for impact come April. This is going to be one for the history books.

“As a collective, Khanate has been silent during our dormancy, but now we will get loud; very loud. We’ll be returning to the stage, to explore tension and the elasticity of time – at Roadburn 2024. Get dead.” – Khanate

Roadburn 2024 will take place between April 18-21 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. 4-day tickets for Roadburn 2024 are now on sale. Other ticket options – including single day tickets and accommodation – will follow on November 3.

Khanate is Alan Dubin (vocals), Stephen O’Malley (guitar), James Plotkin (bass) and Tim Wyskida (drums).

www.roadburn.com for more information. Photo by Ebru Yidiz.

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Khanate, To Be Cruel (2023)