FRIDAY LINE-UP: Luxury Nan Smell / BUFFEE / Masė / UKAEA
SATURDAY LINE-UP: Aja Ireland / Worm Saliva / Egomašina / Manacles / A’Bear & Egle Saka / Pat Grimm & Reuben Sutherland / Nova Guardia
Centrala and Kikimora Records have teamed up to present Incantations Fest 2025, a festival of boundary-pushing sound. In collaboration with the Lithuanian Culture Institute, Incantations brings artists from around the UK and Eastern Europe to Digbeth for two days of dancing to the finest in experimental, electronic, post-punk, hyper-pop and psych.
Formerly known as Eastern Incantations, the festival will take place from Friday, 11th April to Saturday, 12th April 2025, showcasing a dynamic blend of Eastern European and British underground music alongside immersive daytime creative workshops.
FRIDAY NIGHT
On the first evening of Incantations, Friday night headliners, and Centrala favourites, UKAEA, aka Dan Jones, will be bringing their foot-stompingly tribal and highly intense dancing experience. Soundwise, with their timbral and rhythmic invention, unpredictability, sonic bombardment, bursts of colour – expect something simultaneously futuristic and organic. To experience UKAEA live is to experience a ritualistic calling for a collective renewal.
Sharing the stage on Friday of Incantations is Leeds’ Leeds-based producer BUFFEE who skillfully inhabits the intersection of experimental production techniques and pop sensibility. This sits brilliantly alongside the noisy mathrock-scented sounds of LUXURY NAN SMELL, a three-piece based in Birmingham, who celebrate a return from hiatus. Plus Kaunas’ MASĖ who deliver high-energy synth punk built on toothsome post-hardcore basslines.
SATURDAY NIGHT
A jam-packed programme, headlined by award-winning sound and performance artist Aja Ireland. Her new album, Cryptid, a fusion of noise, techno and deconstructed club, featured on Bandcamp’s Essential Releases in January thanks to its “terrific ickiness”. Expect an expansive hardware set up and an aggressive, inclusive, immersive performance.
Elsewhere on the lineup, Nova Guardia’s dark techno and A’Bear’s pulsating synth pop will nudge up against the mutated post-punk dub of Spirit Data and textural analog visuals of Egle Saka. Garage rock trio Egomašina and hardcore punks Manacles will be bringing the best of Lithuania’s heavy guitar sounds with a sprinkling of synths and a generous helping of righteous rage. The day will also be host to the Birmingham debut of Worm Saliva, an experimental e-textile project from Kikimora freak-folk favourite Me Lost Me. Pat Grimm will team up with Reuben Sutherland to bring us a combination of Liquid Visual using analogue technique and electronic sound design that fuel each other.
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“Centrala are so excited to bring this new iteration of the festival to you all.” – Marion Andrau, Centrala’s Event Producer
“Kikimora Records are thrilled to partner with our friends at Centrala to deliver a programme of exploration, connection, and furious dancing!” – Rosie Tunley & Emily Doyle, co-founders of Kikimora Records
Early bird tickets are now available to buy!
For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: centrala@centrala-space.org.uk
Instagram @centrala_space, @kikimorarecords