Leading up to our annual Krakow festival in October, Unsound is headed to London for a special edition between 26-29 September. The programme has been produced in association with the Polish Cultural Institute in London, Unsound Productions and Fundacja Tone. It spans events at the BFI, Barbican Centre and Dalston’s Café Oto, along with a night presented with BleeD. Unsound London follows three successful editions in New York, as well as a 2013 edition as part of the prestigious Adelaide Festival.

The biggest audience outside Poland for Unsound comes from the UK, with more than 30% of passes sold in 2012 to UK residents. Bringing UNSOUND to London is a logical development of this existing interest in the festival, as well as UNSOUND’s mission to reach out to new audiences. Artistic Director Mat Schulz says, “Unsound London is a great opportunity to make the link between Poland and the UK developed via our festival even stronger, as well as bring artists or projects to London that wouldn’t usually appear here, especially in such combinations. The Polish contemporary music scene is very strong right now, but too often overlooked, so we’ve given it particular attention throughout the program.”

Opening night on 26 September is at the BFI Southbank presented with Sonic Cinema, featuring the Unsound-commissioned project "CONCEALED", which sees DEMDIKE STARE collaborating with visual artist MICHAEL ENGLAND as well as string players from SINFONIETTA CRACOVIA. "Concealed" will be performed alongside an opening performance from Polish sound artist ANNA ZARADNY.

In 2010, Unsound was responsible for coaxing LUSTMORD to perform his first public show in more than three decades. Now, after a 33-year absence, Unsound is bringing Lustmord to the UK stage to present his immersive A/V work. This will take place on Friday 27 September at the Barbican Centre, St Luke’s church. This not only marks Lustmord's first ever London show, but the release of his new LP “The Word As Power” on UK label Blackest Ever Black. Lustmord’s performance has been paired up with young Krakow pianist PIANOHOOLIGAN, who will perform works from his critically acclaimed album "Experiment: Penderecki", reworking pieces by Penderecki.

The line up for Saturday is presented with BleeD, one of the London's most adventurous promoters, and a natural collaborator for Unsound with their forward-thinking, wide-ranging and deliciously skewed approach to curating. The programming takes on a panoramic approach, with an international cast of artists veering from harsh noise to rhythmic excursions and the madcap reappropriation of technology. FOREST SWORDS will perform a long overdue London headline appearance, playing an A/V set ahead of an UNSOUND Krakow booking in October. German group DURIAN BROTHERS, who just released a split EP on UK label FatCat, will perform their pioneering show for the first time in the UK, using turntables prepared with elastic bands, sticky tape and Post-it notes to create complex polyrhythmic patterns. The bill will be rounded off by the abrasive, synth-driven sounds of Polish artist ROBERT PIOTROWICZ, with special guests to be announced.

The Closing Night Sunday event at Café Oto on Sunday 29 September showcases a range of experimental musicians working with noise, drones and mutations of metal. STEFAN NEMETH (ex Radian) heads a new project called INNODE (Mego), blending percussion and electronics to explore tensions between harsh sounds, silence and rhythm. Poland’s BNNT use self-made instruments and drums to “sound bomb”, while STARA RZEKA (Old River) fuse black metal, Slavic folk and electronics to create something that sounds entirely fresh. Birmingham artist NICHOLAS BULLEN was a founder of Napalm Death in the 1980s - his recent acclaimed debut album on Type is very different, featuring an electro-acoustic sound he has perfected over the decades.

Individual tickets for Unsound London can be bought from the venues/promoters. There will be no festival passes for the London event. A website will go live for Unsound London in the first part of August - in the meantime head to the event's Facebook page for up to date information.

UNSOUND in London is produced by the Polish Cultural Institute in London, Unsound Productions and Fundacja Tone.

In other news, more than half of the WEEKLY and LONG WEEKEND passes for Unsound Krakow have now been sold, indicating passes to the event will sell out far in advance of its opening night on October 13. If you want to buy one, then act quickly. We will announce another wave of artist names for Unsound Krakow later this month. You can also head to the event's Facebook page for up to date information.