This May, C2C Festival makes its US debut at Knockdown Center with an immaculate lineup that does full justice to their “avant pop” mission statement. Oneohtrix Point Never brings his collaborative a/v set with Freeka Tet, cosmic jazz breakout Nala Sinephro leads an ensemble, British electronic pranksters Two Shell play a live set that doubles as a sort of admin reveal, and neo-post-grime-rnb singer John Glacier performs work from her outstanding new album Like A Ribbon.
With headliners as strong as these, many bookers would pad out the rest of the lineup with filler and friends, hooking up their homie’s solo project with an early-evening warmup slot and calling it a day. Not C2C. Every artist on the bill is singular, even visionary. Last month, a fresh batch of names was announced, and it would be a disservice to these artists to call them “support acts.” Let’s take a second to explore their work.
Jlin
Gary, Indiana’s Jlin is one of the most remarkable and forward-thinking artists to emerge from the footwork underground that thrived in Chicago in the late ‘00s. Mentored by genre-founder RP Boo and featured on the second edition of the seminal Planet Mu Bangs & Works series (top contenders for best compilations of the 21st century), Jlin nonetheless rejects the genre label. Her masterful percussive arrangements are composed freely, following their own intuitive logic. Instead of opting for a new genre name like “post-footwork,” Jlin flips the script entirely and refers to her work as “naked.” Speaking to RBMA, she expanded on this concept: “Naked, vulnerable, because when I create, that’s the space that I’m creating from, I’m creating from a very vulnerable state, from the core of my being, and then presenting it to the rest of you guys to hear.”
Since her breakout, her work has received countless accolades and Jlin has been an active collaborator. She’s worked with choreographers, new music ensembles, and even Philip Glass. She was last at Knockdown Center two years ago for Outline, and the set was frankly mind bending. We can’t wait to welcome her back.
Kode9
Kode9, aka Steve Goodman, is the founder of Hyperdub, one of the most visionary and relentlessly innovative labels of the 21st century. His roster includes Burial - arguably the most influential electronic artist since Aphex Twin - alongside foundational bass music and post-dubstep, critically-acclaimed experimental LPs, way-out footwork and more. Rooted in a turn-of-the-millenium moment where leftist theory, message boards and drum n bass swam freely together, Goodman’s curation has set the standard for a generation.
If that was all he did, his reputation would be secure. But he’s also a renowned producer in his own right, as well as an anti-imperialist scholar and author. HYP001, the debut release from the label, was a collaboration between Kode9 and now tragically deceased vocalist The Spaceape. An exceedingly loose interpretation of Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times,” their “Sine of the Dub” is about as pure a distillation of dread as you can get.
His primary lane, however, is in frenetic, stepping club bangers. That said, just because his tracks are soundsystem-ready doesn’t mean Kode9’s productions feel formulaic or rote. Tracks like “Eyes Go Blank,” “Bad” and “The Jackpot” crackle with energy, fusing junglist drum science, techno propulsion, dubstep funk and the confronting springiness of footwork into a beautifully unhinged sound. It’s impossible to miss the continuity between his work and his peers, his forebears and any number of underappreciated subcultures from across eras and stylistic idioms. To discover Kode9’s work is to tap into an ongoing, decades-long conversation between the cerebral, the physical and the revolutionary.
Nick León
Nick León is one of the hallmark artists of Miami’s recent latin-electronic boom. The city was for years seen as a cultural backwater, home to plenty of ridiculous clubs and ostentatious displays of wealth, sure, but precious little music of merit. But we all know how fertile obscurity can be. Famously, when a young John Cage was asked by a European composer how he could work so far from “the centers of culture,” he responded with “how are you able to compose so close to them?"
León and his cohort exploded into the collective consciousness coming out of the pandemic with a joyously ravey sound that drew heavily on reggaeton, cumbia and their many sister sub-genres. Perhaps it was just what the moment needed, coming out of lockdown; put on “Xtasis” a try to not get hyped. In 2022, he proclaimed that Miami is “objectively better than New York.” It’s up for debate, but let’s see what he’s got.