Music Guide 2026
© David Kranzelbinder
In 2026, Elevate once again becomes a focal point for contemporary electronic and experimental music. In its 22nd edition, the festival presents an intentionally diverse club programme, focused concert formats, and adventurous interdisciplinary projects. A total of 75 international and local acts and bands, comprising around 150 musicians, perform across 12 different stages—more programme than ever before. Venues include established festival locations such as Dom im Berg and Orpheum, atmospherically charged spaces like Graz Cathedral and the Mausoleum, clubs including GRNGR, Parkhouse, and the newly added ppc, as well as Helmut List Hall. The programme traces development lines and synchronicities within contemporary genres and aesthetics, placing them in a wider context. Genre pioneers encounter emerging artists; pop culture icons meet figures of the subcultural underground; avant-garde ensembles share stages with DJs and club producers. Together, they reflect the musical currents of the present in all their complexity.
Concerts
Pop Affinities Beyond the Mainstream
The steadily advancing dissolution of boundaries between mainstream and underground is clearly reflected in the 2026 programme, which shows a pronounced affinity for more pop-oriented sounds.
The most prominent artist in the programme is Marc Almond, who closes the festival on Sunday. As the voice of the legendary formation Soft Cell, Almond helped shape music history with minimalist yet emotionally charged synth-pop. Cult songs such as Tainted Love move between dark romanticism, urban subculture, and powerful melodic hooks. His performance will feature both Soft Cell classics and material from his solo repertoire.
Another widely anticipated act is Anika. The Berlin-based British exile and former political journalist is often compared to Nico of The Velvet Underground. Her velvety yet cool vocal delivery lends her songs a hypnotic depth. Personal and societal themes intertwine into introspective indie-pop compositions with undeniable addictive qualities, earning Anika cult status among discerning audiences.
Equally light-footed yet deeply soulful are the tracks of Herbert & Momoko. Musician, producer, and film composer Matthew Herbert appears as a duo with Momoko Gill, a producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist long regarded as one of the UK’s best-kept secrets in electronic and jazz music. Together, they navigate the space between dancefloor energy and intimate moods.
Representing the underground’s new pop sensibility is also musician, producer, and NTS Radio host Maria Somerville. Her warm, nuanced sound is situated between dream pop, ambient, shoegaze, and experimental folk. Hazy, ghost-like vocals and atmospheric soundscapes take centre stage. Here, it is all about the vibe.
Opening Night: Immersive Compositions and Explosive AV Performances
Beyond pop-oriented forms, Elevate opens space for experimental sonic languages. The festival’s opening sets a strong statement with Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, a key work of minimal music. The performance is realised in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and under the artistic direction of Klangforum Wien, interpreted by students of the PPCM programme. Pulsating patterns, micro-rhythmic shifts, and subtle sonic transformations generate a hypnotic pull in which time itself appears to dissolve.
Also performing on the opening night is Bendik Giske, the Norwegian musician and composer widely regarded as one of the most striking saxophonists on the international scene. His work exists between minimal avant-garde, jazz, electronic music, and traditional Scandinavian and Balinese sound worlds. His performances are both meditative and flamboyant, bridging academic music and underground aesthetics.
Later in the evening, the programme moves to the Detroit Hall at Helmut List Hall, which this year places a strong emphasis on audiovisual performances. The Finnish–German duo Amnesia Scanner, frequently collaborating with French visual artist Freeka Tet, present their hyperreal blend of deconstructed club music, noise, hyperpop, and digital aesthetics. Driven by a fascination with information overload and sensory excess, their work carnivalises the present moment.
Also exploring digital world-building is Zora Jones, the Austrian-born, Barcelona-based musician and artist and co-founder of the audiovisual platform Fractal Fantasy. Through immersive audiovisual formats, she creates hyperreal environments in which organic and artificial elements blur. Additionally, the high-profile formation PLF, in collaboration with software developer and video artist Patrik Lechner, presents an intense audiovisual show. Behind the cryptic acronym are Austrian sound artist Peter Kutin, percussionist Lukas König, and British vocalist Freya Edmondes (also known as Elvin Brandhi). Their abrasive feedback, unpredictable rhythms, and eruptive vocals coalesce into cathartic, dark noise compositions.
Sound Production as Resistance and Ritual
The following day continues with uncompromising energy when the legendary British formation Cabaret Voltaire takes the stage at the Orpheum. Pioneers of experimental electronic and industrial music, the group developed a sound in late-1970s Sheffield that merged post-punk, tape experimentation, and early synthesiser work—raw, powerful, and conceptually charged. Their influence continues to resonate across techno, industrial, and club cultures. In 2026, founding members Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson reunite for their final joint headline tour, presenting a live set focused on classic Cabaret Voltaire material reconstructed using vintage equipment.
The Barcelona-based duo Dame Area bring similarly raw intensity. Synth wave meets EBM pulses, driving ritualistic percussion, and expressive vocals, resulting in an intense, physical live experience.
This trajectory reaches another peak with bela, whose work transforms Korean folk percussion (Pungmul), guttural vocals, metal noise, and sub-bass-heavy distortion into a queer ritual of rage and mourning. Here, performance becomes a cathartic practice.
Ritualistic rhythms also inspire the Indonesian duo KUNTARI, performing on Saturday at Orpheum Extra. Led by multi-instrumentalist Tesla Manaf, the group fuses jazz, noise, punk, and experimental electronics into an explosive, genre-defying sound, dissolving boundaries between traditional instrumentation and digital manipulation through sheer kinetic energy.
Experimental Highlights: From Organ Concerts to Turntable Alchemy
The French composer, musician, and artist Maxime Denuc, based in Brussels, has recently emerged as one of the most exciting figures in the European experimental music scene.
At the Mausoleum, Denuc presents “Elevations”, a newly conceived installation in which a computer-controlled organ instrument generates a dense, immersive sonic field, setting the space into constant acoustic motion. The project is realised in cooperation with the Institute for Art in Public Space Styria (KIÖR). In total, Denuc contributes three artistic works to the festival: alongside Elevations, he presents the latest instalment of the long-running Elevate series Music for Elevators, as well as the world premiere of his new album, released on Caterina Barbieri’s label, performed as an organ concert at Graz Cathedral. The artist undertook a multi-day residency in Graz to develop these site-specific works.
Another canonical figure of contemporary turntablism is Mariam Rezaei. Her turntable performances merge experimental new music, improvisation, noise, and hip hop into a highly virtuosic, physical practice. Through self-developed techniques, she radically expands the instrumentarium of turntablism.
Strong signals also emerge from Vienna’s experimental scene. In a commissioned work for Elevate, two key figures of Vienna’s independent scene have joined forces to form DÄ LIVER. Maja Osojnik and Stina Fors develop a performative sonic language that interweaves electronic textures, gestural vocals, physical intensity, and poetic ruptures—serious and humorous at once.
TIMES Commission with Kelman Duran: Voices, Bodies, Migration
A festival highlight is the commissioned work “Pitch, Pigeon, Puerta”, initiated as part of the EU-funded TIMES project by the festivals Le Guess Who, Insomnia, Nuits Sonores, and Elevate. Created by Dominican producer and musician Kelman Duran, the transdisciplinary, multisensory piece was developed in collaboration with Finland-based musician, artistic researcher, and composer AGF (Antye Greie-Ripatti), Puerto Rican movement artist Kianí del Valle, and lighting artist Theresa Baumgartner. Percussionist Lukas König joins the ensemble as a residency artist.
The work places the human voice at its centre while addressing questions of migration and diaspora. Different languages, rhythms, and sonic fragments are woven into a raw poetic fabric of punk-inflected spoken word and free jazz textures, accompanied by choreographed movement and lighting.
Local Indie Sounds at Orpheum and Dom im Berg
Friday evening places a strong focus on local music production. Eli Preiss is among the most visible artists of the younger generation. Her hybrid mix of R&B, neo-soul, cloud rap, and electronic pop addresses identity, desire, and self-empowerment—direct, confident, and contemporary. As a rapper, singer, and songwriter, she has quickly established herself as an authentic voice in the German-speaking music landscape.
Positioned within indie pop rather than hip hop is Beaks, a Vienna-based artist known for introspective songs between dark wave and indie pop. Her lyrics capture fleeting inner states, while sparse instrumentals hover between reality and daydream.
Providing a counterpoint is Austrian–Nigerian musician Uche Yara, whose ecstatic, high-energy sound merges indie, soul, alternative rock, and futuristic pop. Her expressive urgency has already gained international attention through performances on programmes such as Later… with Jools Holland.
Another representative of the Austrian indie scene is Aki Traar, a Vienna-based musician, producer, and composer whose work moves fluidly between indie pop, deconstructed club, and sound design. His album Hound balances sensitivity and determination with understated intensity.
CLUB
Legacy Club Acts in Graz
Genre-fluid DJ sets have long become standard practice, and Elevate features numerous artists adept at navigating stylistic boundaries. One of the most renowned is Kittin (formerly Miss Kittin). Alongside her long-time collaborator The Hacker, she shaped the electroclash movement in the 1990s and became a pioneering female role model within club culture. Her sets move between techno, electro, and synth pop—dynamic, ironic, and self-reflective.
Another genre-defying headline act is Modeselektor. For over two decades, the Berlin duo has shaped contemporary club culture through releases on their own labels Monkeytown Records and 50Weapons. Their sound combines techno, bass music, and IDM with relentless drive and experimental audacity.
Josey Rebelle represents the uncompromising spirit of the London underground. Her precise yet intuitive mixing connects raw analogue beats and deep sub-bass with warmth and emotion, spanning bleep, Detroit techno, and hardcore jungle.
Experiment Goes Club: From Polyrhythms to Ambient Spaces
Further blurring the boundaries between club and experimentation are Polygonia, Stenny, and Pavel Milyakov (Buttechno). Their performances range from subtle techno and polyrhythmic structures to ambient, drone-based live sets that transform club spaces into immersive listening environments.
Saturday night continues at Dom im Berg with Carrier, the project of Guy Brewer, whose atmospheric, slow-moving sound worlds bridge percussion, ambient noise, and reduced rhythmic structures. Anna Z further expands this spectrum with sets that merge experimental electronics, post-rave rhythms, and immersive sound design.
Global Bass Music at ppc
Bass music in all its forms is also prominently represented. DJ Storm, co-founder of the legendary Metalheadz label, brings uncompromising drum & bass rooted in UK jungle culture. Pinch, founder of Tectonic and Earwax, represents the Bristol dubstep lineage, combining minimal structures with deep sub-bass and sound system culture.
The Canadian-born, Berlin-based DJ Darwin bridges UK bass, techno, breaks, and jungle into powerful, physical sets. DJ Spinn, a central figure in Chicago footwork and co-founder of Teklife, brings hyper-fast rhythms and dance-driven precision to the second floor, joined by Brussels-based producer ojoo, whose sound blends experimental club structures with detailed bass work.
Techno States and Local DJ Culture
Hardcore and gabber take centre stage at GRNGR with Somniac One and Talita Otović, both pushing high-speed, uncompromising intensity. The closing of Saturday night at Dom im Berg is handled by Spekki Webu and Woody92, whose nuanced, hypnotic take on avant-garde techno unfolds in an extended back-to-back set.
The local DJ scene is highlighted throughout the festival, with collectives, hosts, and artists shaping daily programmes across venues. Sunday concludes the club programme with a daytime party at Parkhouse, blending house, techno, and leftfield sounds.
Music
Aki Traar (AT) | Alice (AT) | Amnesia Scanner (FI/DE) | Anika (UK) | Anna Z (DE) | Apua (AT) | Attila (AT) | Beaks (AT) | bela (KR) | Bendik Giske (NO) | Benedikt Alphart (AT) | Bibi & Tina (AT) | Cabaret Voltaire (UK) | Carrier (UK) | DÄ LIVER (AT/SI/SE) | Dame Area (ES) | Darwin (CA/DE) | Distortina (AT) | DJ Deadlift (AT) | DJ Jackhammer (AT) | DJ Spinn (US) | DJ Storm (UK) | Eli Preiss (AT) | Goldberg (AT) | gyrofield (NL) | Herbert & Momoko (UK) | Inou Ki Endo (AT) | jess_whereyouat (AT) | Josey Rebelle (UK) | Jukebox Utopia (AT) | Kelman Duran (DO/US) | Kessel Vale (PR/AT) | Kianí del Valle (AT) | Kittin (DE) | Klimentina Li (AT) | KUNTARI (ID) | Lucia Kagramanyan (AT) | Lukas Koenig (AT) | Mama Feelgood & Mr. Farmer (AT) | Mara Never (AT) | Marc Almond (UK) | Maria Somerville (IE) | Mariam Rezaei (UK) | Maxime Denuc (FR) | Milès Borghese (AT) | Mitra (AT) | Miyra Lim (AT) | Modeselektor Dj-Set (DE) | OJOO (MA/BE) | Oko Oko (AT) | Olgica (AT) | Pavel Milyakov (DE) | Pinch (UK) | PLF (AT) | Polygonia (DE) | PPCM Ensemble (AT) | Rena Volvo (SE) | Romain FX (FR) | Sibil (SI) | Somniac One (LT) | Spekki Webu (NL) | Stenny (DE) | Steve Reich (US) | Music for 18 Musicians | Stryke (AT) | Talita Otović (FR) | TEZIBEL (AT) | Theresa Baumgartner (DE) | Toupaz (AT) | UBICA (RS) | UCHE YARA (AT) | vince (DE) | Woody92 (NL) | Zahra Mani (AT) | Zlata (AT) | Zora Jones (ES)
