AETHER – a transcendental waveform market

Born in Brazil and based in Berlin, alys(alys)alys explores the (dis)similarities between experimental, club and soundcloud music and has been developing a dynamic approach to her own productions and eclectic DJ sets for years. Since the age of 16, alys(alys)alys has been DJing, always combining many different sounds – from indie rock to early dubstep, from pop curiosities of the early 2000s to the club music of her native Brazil. Since 2018, she has performed at venues and parties such as Berlin Atonal, Rewire, CTM Festival, Venice Biennale, Herrensauna as well as some of the infamous Brazilian parties such as Mamba Negra, with which she remains closely associated. In her booty&legs series, she produces dark, club-ready dub mash-ups by musicians such as Mica Levi, Yung Lean, Lolina, Burial, Elvin Brandhi and Coil.

The soundscape of Cyprus-based musician Maria Spivak oscillates between dreamy, synthetic rapture and timeless pop romanticism to a tantalising sense of déja vu-like familiarity. Spivak has spent a decade working towards this seemingly effortless style. After completing her MA in architecture in England, she put down roots in Cyprus. The energies of the small but active local scene and the island’s turbulent recent history against a backdrop of myth-enshrouded topography may lend her style this distinctive, quiet yet conflicted soul. On the three LPs and one EP released so far, the lyrics switch effortlessly from Greek to English while their live performances consist of intimate sound liturgies with energetic outbursts.

Olan Monk moves along catchy deconstructions into experimental songwriting. Melancholy serves as an important source of material for storytelling, which fits into a sound backdrop that Olan Monk once described as autotune punk. Over the course of three albums, music and lyrics have sedated together in a futuristic shoegaze structure, blurred in precision and with an edgy soft focus. This work, which has always been accompanied by his distinctive voice, has been released on labels such as AD93. Olan Monk co-founded the small but important cosmos around the label C.A.N.V.A.S., which operates not only in the world of music but also in the visual arts along the axis of Ireland (Olan Monk’s homeland), London and Berlin.

Lukas De Clerck is a Brussels-based composer, musician and researcher whose work constantly oscillates between the contemporary and the ancient. His artistic practice is currently centred on the aulos – an ancient Greco-Roman double-reed flute that became extinct more than a millennium ago.

After several years of studying in depth the making of aulos reeds and playing replicas of ancient instruments, De Clerck followed curiosity and the desire to free the instrument from its cryptic past. The result was a new, contemporary version of the aulos, the sound spectrum of which appeared on De Clerck’s album The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas (2024) on Stephen O’Malley’s Ideological Organ label.

This self-designed instrument allows De Clerck to narrow down his research into the sound qualities of the instrument, in which microtonality, psychoacoustics and sound texture are central elements.

ZULI is a pioneering force of radical beats and unleashed breaks. His instrumentals have paved the way for many Egyptian rap voices who, together with him, have opened the hyper valve of a generation between trap and experimental electronics. ZULI’s first release (Trigger Finger, 2018) was one of the most relevant situation reports of contemporary Arabic club music in the decade.

Then, in 2024, Lambda was released and the distorted drums were joined by autotune. The result is no less radical: the punk remains carved between the harmonies and spreads to wherever it is given space. And it now has more of this space than before: the rhythms are less intricate and less fast, but the vibe is still in the air with absolute urgency. At Aether, ZULI presents his album Lambda (2024) in an audiovisual realisation.

Honour is Based. Currently in ********* Taking the long way home. #Free Max B
We don’t know much about Honour. But we do know that the anonymous producer and musician released a highly atmospheric and multi-faceted debut album on the Berlin cult label PAN (including Arca, Eartheater, Marina Herlop) in 2023. Àlàáfíà paints a gothic landscape, criss-crossed by distorted beats, swelling orchestral sounds, choral chants and shrill fuzz – a space in which the physical and the spiritual meet.

Àlááfíà is a quiet exploration of life, death and love, inspired by the quiet poetry of casual conversations, field recordings, literature, found objects and personal archives. The album is dedicated to the beloved deceased grandmother and at the same time a tribute to their shared cultural heritage and spirituality.

A daring idea, but with a certain outcome into the unknown was our original idea: The b2b premiere of Mika Oki and Dis Fig. Unfortunately, Mika Oki has to cancel due to health reasons. However, we are delighted that ojoo will be playing b2b with Dis Fig at Aether. A combination that also holds the potential of an all-round hit from electric guitar to global bass music. Both artists share a proven openness for the raw as well as a nose for internet obscurities. And where the edge of the plate usually ends is where both artists like to begin. Both Dis Fig and ojoo have already proven this in solo performances and other collaborations respectively.

ojoo, aka OJOO GYAL, is known for her eclectic mix of styles, tempos and sounds and has a knack for fusing different elements into a captivating and infectious experience – across a whole spectrum of genres. From old-school dancehall to its most futuristic and distorted mutations, winding through dub, reggaeton, grime and sometimes excursions into the loud, dirty and sludgy.

Dis Fig is mainly known as a live musician, but has already passed the vibe check behind the CDJs several times. The range blazes from industrial caverns to trap sinuses – it’s all about extremes here.

During a DJ set by Apostat, we are subject to an obscure but open dynamic. Because here it’s all about various beat exchanges within a short space of time. Stylistically, categorisation is difficult to impossible, but it’s always about what music can be: Namely angry, conciliatory, disobedient, unabashed, simply a rampant mirror of the present. And those who enter into this last hour of the night with as little fear of contact as Apostat himself will be rewarded with unexpected connections from known and unknown milieus of club music.