David Sefton’s Unsound festivals were polarising events. They were the 2013 to 2016 Adelaide Festival director’s pet projects, delighting a niche scene of noise-art lovers and confounding traditional Adelaide Festival crowds. After four venue-hopping years, Sefton departed and Unsound was no more – its patrons left with little hope of seeing the type of artists it championed play this town again.
That was until Nicole Raine and Celeste Aldahn picked up the techno torch. “It’s our …” Raine hesitates, “dodgier version,” she says, laughing. “Our friend Del [Lumanta], who plays in [Sydney band] Video Ezy, actually came up with the name. We’re trying to do the same thing, just on a slightly smaller scale.”
Their new Bungsound festival lines up “experimental electronica and underground club music … techno, house and noise artists” from around Australia. Many are playing SA for the first time.
Raine is “pretty stoked for Adelaide to get to see some of [her] favourite acts. “Adelaide audiences can be very open to the new and experimental,” she says.
Raine and Aldahn modeled the event on similar festivals presented by Melbourne’s Dero Arcade and Sydney’s Paradise Daily. “[They] put on shows dominated by female, trans or gender-diverse artists, something I haven’t seen in Adelaide,” explains Raine. “They’re always fun, very welcoming events and there’s a different energy from what some people might be used to.”
Headliners Lucy Cliché (Sydney) and Simona Castricum (Melbourne) lead an impressive program of underground and emerging artists. Local acts include Deep Red, Water Bear, Blast Rhombus and All Gold DJs.
Where else would you throw a party like this than the hallowed, grubby basement of Ancient World? “They’ve been hugely supportive,” says Raine. “Brad [Cameron] – who runs the venue – is playing, actually, [under the moniker Botanic Gordon] on Friday. He’s one of the first people on.”
Bungsound 2017 is on Friday April 28 and Saturday April 29 at Ancient World. Tickets are $15 at the door.
