Lineup

Aroh DJ
Born and raised around Brussels, Kontakt Group founder Aroh DJ has spent the last decade shaping the city’s underground as DJ, label-head, and curator. Known for his broad sonic palette, he blends deep archival gems with cutting-edge cuts, navigating the outskirts of Techno, Wave, EBM, and Rave. His sets are dramatic, obscure, yet always cohesive, transcending BPM boundaries. A key figure in Belgium’s scene, he’s performed at Horst, Pukkelpop, Fuse, Gay Haze, Doel, Paradise City, and more. With recent appearances at Nitsa, Mihn Club, Garage Noord, and Left Bank, Aroh continues to export Brussels’ underground spirit internationally.

Maraschino
Maraschino is a night lover and sound seeker, channeling raw energy into sets that weave heavyweight breaks, deep bass, and driving techno with constant forward momentum. From gritty electro to percussive booty beats, she builds tension and release, locking the floor into motion. Her instinct for dancefloor electricity was sparked early by her mom blasting La Rocca classics, shaping a lifelong passion for high-energy club sounds. Dedicated to inclusivity, she founded HER Collective, a platform championing FLINTA× talent and creating a vibrant community where underrepresented voices thrive.

Azu Tiwaline is a Tunisian artist weaving Saharan rhythms, dub’s spatial depth, and techno’s kinetic drive into spellbinding sound worlds. Rooted in her heritage and the freeing spirit of soundsystem psychedelia, her music transforms inner realms into ecstatic dance and meditative connection. With acclaimed releases on IOT Records and Livity Sound, and appearances at Dimensions, Freerotation, and Unsound, she has become a singular force in contemporary electronic music—crafting immersive, rhythmic universes that celebrate nature, transcendence, and the beauty of human connection.

Hailing from Perth, Burna has emerged as one of Australia’s most exciting electronic artists. Known for electrifying dancefloor anthems and high-energy sets, he’s taken his sound worldwide with performances from Paris to Kuala Lumpur, leaving an unmistakable mark on every stage.
Blending influences from the UK and Latin America, his productions carry a distinct sonic fingerprint, dembow-inspired drums, heavy basslines, and a percussive fusion of techno and hard drum. The result is raw, kinetic energy built for peak-time moments, a vibe that’s earned support from Sicaria, Jamie xx, Conducta, Bambii, and more.
With acclaimed releases on TraTraTrax, International Chrome, and Ec2a, where his record sold out in just 20 minutes, Burna’s tracks echo across Boiler Room, BBC Radio 1, and festival stages like Coachella and Glastonbury, cementing him as a rising force in global club culture.

Get familiar with Cheyanne Hudson, British Jamaican slash Hong Kong DJ and creative spirit, born and raised in The Netherlands. Hip-hop is where her heart lies, and the aim is to unite that love with the rhythmic pulse of club music. It has led her to associate with MAD CITY, a promising Dutch collective brewing in the Amsterdam underground. Whereas Cheyanne’s personality behind the booth is light and breezy, the dark and gloomy sounds she emits tend to seize audiences, drawing them deep into her world. It’s the rich musical legacy of Jamaica’s Sound System culture in which the young artist moves frictionlessly: snappy amen breaks, low-end frequencies and dubby chants form the red thread through her sets. It’s not too hip-hop for the techno kids, nor too techno for the hip-hop kids… it’s just right! Already getting picked up by Boiler Room, ADE and now Horst Festival, it’s clear as to where she’s headed. Catch her bi-monthly on Gimic Radio and/or your nearest dancefloor.

clïo’s sets revolve around varying percussion, non-conforming rhythms and enthralling sounds, aimed at creating a very energetic atmosphere with surprising elements. He tends to bring a mix of drum-heavy music such as harddrum, jersey, juke & footwork for their energetic patterns, whilst combining these with infectious clubsounds from a wider spectrum of genres such as electro, trap or IDM, guaranteeing a sweaty dance session. From time to time you can find him tuning the heat down, bringing softer listening sets of ambient, dreampop or experimental halftime stuff.

dBridge (Darren White) is a key figure in electronic music, known for shaping drum and bass as part of Bad Company UK and later evolving into a forward-thinking solo artist. His music blends deep atmospheres with experimental sound design, always pushing boundaries. As founder of Exit Records, dBridge champions innovative artists and sounds beyond the mainstream. Respected for both his production and vision, he remains a vital force in modern electronic music.

After the release of their collaborative EP Made In Silence [EXIT097], dBridge and Madison Willing return with This Life, an unreleased project that expands the edges of neo classical soundscapes and ambient dance music. Their partnership began in 2020 when dBridge came across a mixtape by Willing, written during the stillness of the first lockdown. Despite their different backgrounds, Willing as a classical film composer and dBridge as a pioneering drum and bass producer, they discovered a shared musical sensitivity that grew through long distance collaboration. This Life merges Willing’s intimate piano writing and confessional diary texts with dBridge’s distinctive beat programming, offering a fresh voice within contemporary classical performance. Created for forward thinking and site specific venues, the project connects underground dance heritage with a new wave of classical experimentation.

Berlin-based artist, DJ Spit emerged in 2018 as an exciting new artist with fast-mixing and multi-genre hybrid sounds, filling a void between bass, amen break, techno and hi-tech futuristic music. This is evidenced by his recent project EXPLORERS, a platform designed to investigate the contemporary music and protagonists of these subgenres in many different formats. DJ Spit has curated podcasts for Dekmantel, Fabric and Crack Magazine, and his sets and appearances include Resident Advisor, NTS, Rinse FM and a residency at Refuge Worldwide. He has performed at Berghain/Panorama Bar, Waterworks Festival, K41, Dekmantel Selectors, Draaimolen and Pitch Festival; played b2b with heavyweights like VTSS and Sherelle; and produced a session for Boiler Room, among many others. He’ll continue to blaze a trail to the very extremes as a hardcore & rave vein of clubbing music.

DONIA is based in Brussels and co-founder of sketchy lines records. As your local dopamine dealer she catches you in the streetlit corner of your soul to stretch genres until they lose their ego so you can just focus on your inner dance.

echofarmer (BE) is the alias of Brussels-based producer and musician Arne Nuyts.
With a sound as suited for the club as for the couch, echofarmer crafts enchanting miniverses.

Hyper-detailed percussion and deep subs fuse with vocal-like synths, acoustic instruments, and found sounds. Combining childlike joy with surgical precision, every live set is infectiously unique—unified by echofarmer’s tactile approach to sound and relentless appetite for experimentation.

From teletubbie hyperjungle to bedroomstep and pillowcore, echofarmer blurs the line between dance floor and blanket fort.

Fairyprincesswithmagicpowers is a Peruvian and Italian performer and artist based in Belgium. She combines sculpture, scenography, and sound to create immersive narratives that reimagine our relationship with space. DJing is an organic element of her performances, where she blends experimental music, Latin rhythms, and electronic textures. By weaving together contemporary and ancestral music, sound pollution, ethereal realms, and digital utopias, she aims to create transformative spaces where all entities engage in the game of storytelling... Inviting audiences into a world of hybrid existence… Seeking to step beyond our capitalocenic perspective.

Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the main figures in the realm of experimental music and audio art. Over the past forty+ years he has realized hundreds of live performances, projects with environmental recordings, and sound installations in over eighty countries of the six continents. His work has been released by nearly 500 record labels / publishers worldwide.

Hassan Abou Alam (he/him) is one of Egypt’s most influential electronic music exports, active since 2008 and based in Cairo. Known for his bold productions and dynamic performances, he’s released on acclaimed labels including Nerve Collect, Yuku, Rhythm Section, Banoffee Pies, Naive, Nehza and Casa Voyager. His 2024 EP Mesh Mafhoom made waves worldwide, with standout track “Basha” becoming a festival favorite. Earlier releases Shalfata and Fasla cemented his reputation for a distinctive, unpredictable sound. His music is championed by leading DJs globally, with Ben UFO inviting him for a Hessle Audio mix, later chosen as Resident Advisor’s “Mix of the Day.” Having recently played CTM, ReWire, Tresor, and festivals across Europe, Hassan continues to expand his international impact with both DJ and live sets.

As resident DJs of Brussels-based collective Nebula, JVDA and Endor channel the project’s eclectic spirit straight to the dancefloor. Their b2b sets are explosive, weaving heavy basslines, wild percussion, and global club influences into high-energy eruptions built to move crowds.
Endor brings the heat with a melting pot of Caribbean, Portuguese, and African sounds, spiced up with electronic and UK bass flavors. JVDA fuels the fire with his fresh, genre-bending approach, blending breaks, Latin club rhythms, and steamy grooves. Together, their b2b sets embody what Nebula stands for: boundary-pushing music, sweaty dancefloors, and a global vision rooted in Brussels’ eclectic nightlife.

Kali Malone (born 1994) is an American composer and organist based in Stockholm. Her works implement unique tuning systems in minimalist form for analog and digital synthesis often combined with acoustic instrumentation. Her performance at the Cathedral of St. Michael & Saint Gudula features select compositions from her critically acclaimed albums "All Life Long" and "The Sacrificial Code", adapted for the Great Grenzing organ.

Known for her meditative precision and emotional depth, Malone’s music unfolds through slowly shifting harmonic patterns and ancient tuning systems, offering a space for deep listening and reflection. Her distinct approach to composition reimagines polyphonic structures and historical tonalities, opening new paths into the architecture of sound and the experience of time.

This show includes special accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on several four-handed organ pieces, deepening the immersive sonic world with the weight and intensity he’s long brought to projects like SUNN O))) and KTL.

Kia is a DJ, curator, and label boss with a gift for weaving atmospheric, psychedelic sounds that create immersive, pulsating worlds. Based in Naarm/Melbourne, she helms Animalia and Cirrus, platforms that champion organic and kaleidoscopic shades of electronic music. Known for her context-driven approach, Kia adapts effortlessly to any moment, from sunrise sets to dark, intimate dancefloors.

Her community-driven ethos fosters a global network of forward-thinking talent, while her celebrated sets—like those at Sustain Release and her award-winning Dekmantel mix—reflect creative honesty and adventurous energy. In 2025, she holds residencies at Berlin's Climate of Fear and New York's Nowadays Club, cementing her place as a rising star in electronic music.

Under the title “invite the producer”HIIIT joins forces with a new generation of creators, digital natives who make music using laptops and think in terms of sound as samples. The pioneering percussion ensemble from The Hague, formerly known as Slagwerk Den Haag, has long ventured beyond classical boundaries, famously adapting the music of footwork producer Jlin for concert halls.

Earlier this year, HIIIT released SIIIX Vol. 2 on resident Brussels label Maloca Records, the second installment in an ongoing series of sonic dialogues between HIIIT and boundary-pushing electronic artists. Once again, the ensemble opened up its extensive collection of percussion instruments, offering a dynamic sample bank to a hand-picked group of rhythmically focused producers including 3Phaz, Zoë Mc Pherson, and Rrose.

To celebrate the release, Maloca brings the project to life at Abrupt Festival with a special performance on Bozar’s Terarken stage. Four of HIIIT’s musicians will team up with Rrose and upsammy for an exclusive collaborative live set: an adventurous ritual of hypnotising rhythms and organic soundscapes that blurs the lines between electronic and acoustic music.

Niels Orens is an electronic music producer with a knack for blending acoustic and electronic textures into a soundscape that feels deeply human. Orens pours emotion into every beat, crafting music that’s as dynamic as it is introspective. His latest EP, s/low nights (2024), stands as a testament to his artistic ethos—embracing slower tempos to create a space for reflection in a fast-paced electronic scene. A classically trained composer, Orens lives in the quiet town of Neerlinter but is regularly in Brussels, where his residency at Volta fuels his dual influences of calm and chaos. This contrast mirrors his music, which oscillates between moments of tranquility and intensity. Tracks like “AM Rinse” evoke the gradual shift from night to dawn, with deep basslines and warm cello harmonies reflecting the arc of a night out. “Underflow” captures the peace following a spring downpour, inviting listeners into a moment of natural calm. Orens’ journey in electronic music has been shaped by collaborations with visionary artists, particularly Max Cooper. Starting as an intern, Orens contributed to Cooper’s Unspoken Words album and later joined him, alongside other musicians, on the SEME project. This ambitious project reimagines classical Italian music through a contemporary electronic lens. Together, they’ve brought this genre-blending work to iconic stages like London’s Barbican and the Salzburg Easter Festival. With performances across Europe and support for acts like Forest Swords, Rival Consoles, and Gold Panda, Orens has captivated audiences with his AV Live Show. In February 2025, he’ll debut a new live experience at AB Club in Brussels, marking an exciting step forward in his career. Additionally, fans can look forward to his collaboration on Max Cooper’s upcoming album, set for release in early 2025. With a sound that invites both introspection and movement, Orens continues to redefine what electronic music can be.

Approaching his selections with the knowing of an old hand but with the enthusiasm and spark of a newcomer, Oblig has built a solid fan base out of finding common cause between Grime, Drill and Club music, smudging the boundaries and nurturing a hotbed of cross-pollination, subsequently introducing them to new ears and bigger conversations.

That idea of connecting is a central theme in what Oblig does. Famed for his genre merging sets, he’s also keen on collaborating, regularly inviting DJs from a wide span of genres to join forces with.

That combined with his freestyle series on Rinse FM, he has cemented himself as one of the most exciting up and coming DJ’s in the UK.

Joining him for this set is UK MC Logan aka Logan_OLM, famous for collaborations with RHR, INVT, Le Motel & many others.

ojoo is a Brussels-based, Moroccan-born musician, selector and organiser whose work lives where sound, politics and community collide, driven by heavy bass. Part of Psst, an intersectional feminist collective, they co-built the Pssound System, a DIY rig for marginalised genders, an act of resistance made from plywood, wires and community. Raised on bootleg CDs, ojoo thrives in the spaces between dubplate and distortion, favouring raw blends, concrete rhythms, sirens and silence. They have played Unsound, Out.fest and Dekmantel, underground squat parties, and dub workshops, and curate radio shows on Kiosk Brussels and Noods Bristol. In 2025 they brought artists including Dali de Saint Paul, Grove, DJ Marcelle, Shackleton and Demdike Stare to Botanique and Listen Festival. Every set is a terrain of political, sonic and personal pressure.

Experience the genre-defying collaboration of Pino Palladino and Blake Mills.

The first a legendary session bassist with a career spanning four decades that has shaped the sound of artists ranging from The Who and D’angelo to John Mayer and Erykah Badu, the latter a visionary Grammy-nominated guitarist known for his innovative work with artist like Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes and Bob Dylan. Together, they weave soulful grooves, jazz-infused textures, and boundary-pushing improvisation.

Joining them on stage are avant garde saxophonist Sam Gendel and drum virtuoso Chris Dave.
Witness two of the most in-demand musicians at the height of their creative powers.

Rival Consoles has been concurrently in the foreground and background of electronic music since the late 00s; conjuring tense melancholia for Black Mirror soundtracks, playing in front of 10,000 dance fans at Drumsheds, selling out London’s Barbican Hall, and logging an expansive, wandering collection of synth-sculpted albums that explore a myriad different styles and aesthetics—but always with human emotion as their lodestar. Landscape from Memory, the ninth studio LP from the UK producer and musician born Ryan Lee West, finally blossomed following a frustrating fallow year away from the production desk.

Rrose is the latest incarnation of Seth Horvitz, a California-born, London-based interdisciplinary artist whose 25-year musical history spans academic circles and electronic music culture. Their work explores microtonality, perceptual limits, and machine idiosyncrasies, creating sensual, hallucinogenic techno that challenges mind and body. Rrose collaborates with luminaries such as Bob Ostertag and Charlemagne Palestine and reinterprets 20th-century composers like James Tenney. On stage, they perform in shadow, using he and she interchangeably, referencing Marcel Duchamp’s female alter-ego. Since debuting on Sandwell District in 2011 and releasing a string of EPs on Eaux, Rrose’s live and DJ sets have played Berghain, Unsound, Movement, Mutek and beyond, crafting finely woven sonic experiences that continue to shape contemporary techno.

Shackleton is one of the most influential and uncompromising figures in exploratory bass music culture, who with his recent work - including collaborative works with Holy Tongue, Six Organs Of Admittance and Waclaw Zimpel/Siddhartha Belmannu, as well as his ongoing solo activities - has become a genuine polymath operating in and out of the club sphere.

Brussels-based producer, DJ, and Maloca Records founder, Le Motel blends music with visual artistry. His 2015 breakthrough album OKA set the stage for collaborations with Clara!, Bryte, Logan, and Magugu. In 2024, he worked with Flowdan on a Fabric compilation, scored Bottega Veneta’s AW23 show, toured China and Canada, and released new 160bpm footwork-inspired tracks on YUKU. Alongside DJing, he collaborates with AV artist Antoine De Schuyter on a constantly evolving modular live show.

Thessa Torsing, aka upsammy, crafts music that balances comfort and desolation, blending crystalline melodies, intricate rhythms, and field recordings. Her DJ sets and live performances traverse experimental DnB, oddball techno, and trippy electronics. A multidisciplinary artist with a background in Image and Media Technology, she explores sound, photography, and video, releasing EPs and albums on Nous’klaer Audio, AD93, Dekmantel, PAN, and topo2, including Wild Chamber (2019) and Strange Meridians (2024).

At Abrupt they team up for their first ever back-to-back set.