Music review: Unsound Adelaide 2025
Mesmerising soundscapes met heavy percussion at Unsound 2025, with a healthy dose of hypnagogic nostalgia thrown in for good measure.
The annual gathering of Adelaide’s esoteric weirdos and curious out-of-towners took place again over the weekend as Unsound returned to Lion Arts Factory for the first time since 2017 on Friday, under the green chandelier of Hindley Street Music Hall on Saturday and into the depths of Ancient World until the early hours of Sunday morning.
A nicely curated lineup of in-vogue experimentalists meshed perfectly with scene veterans and a rock icon, promising something for anyone remotely curious about off-kilter electronica, walls of sound and mosh-worthy club music.
The added bonus this year was the love given to local producers and disc jockeys, who held their own unflinchingly on the lineup alongside some of the world’s best music-makers.
There was little to be miffed at this year; the sound was rarely below excellent, and the crowds were open-minded.
Wandering through the various smoking sections of each venue and striking up conversations with close friends and interstate pals, the topic of discussion was only ever whether one personally liked each act or not. The music on display, as it usually is, is divisive; certain strokes for certain folks. But for this reviewer, there was not a single bomb; each act brought something unique and exciting to Adelaide for the 2025 edition of the Poland-born festival, which is certainly the jewel in the crown of Illuminate Adelaide’s music programming.
Friday July 11
Stepping out of the rain and into Lion Arts Factory on Friday night, we were met instantly by a mesmeric and highly percussive opening set.
Nídia & Valentina Magaletti (who also played the following night with Moin) were the ideal introduction to the weekend, which turned out to be more rhythmic than anticipated.
Magaletti’s skills across her set of various drums and tuned percussion were enviable and world-class, and were enveloped by digital beats and FX from Portuguese producer Nídia.
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‘Rapido’ — a track defined by its sex-moans-as-beats — was a highlight here, but the remainder of the set was polyrhythmic and hypnotic, warming up our stiff legs for the evening.
The next set was easily the most anticipated from those I spoke to ahead of the festival. The enigmatic and elusive Chuquimamani-Condori (aka Elysia Crampton) teamed up with their brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton to present LOS THUTHANAKA — also the name of the duo’s latest LP.
The pair stepped out in matching electric blue matador outfits. Chuquimamani-Condori played the keyboard, and their brother strummed an electric guitar. It was tough to know what to expect given the variety of the LOS THUTHANAKA album, but the live experience of the recorded offering was a brilliant encapsulation.
It was a deconstructed 80s pastiche, bewilderingly odd and freakishly catchy at times, combining natural sound with Casiotone beeps and boops. When Chuquimamani-Condori slapped on the keytar for the final song, the crowd got amped. The set walked a fine line between sincerity and irony, but ultimately landed fully into the camp of the former. A genuine passion for the subject matter — dive bar blues — brought the performance into focus. It was a shame when it had to end.
The stage managers at Lion Arts were almost too good at their job, with barely time to get some air or hit the bathroom between sets. It meant that when London-based avant-electronic producer aya stepped out, the crowd was still compartmentalising the LOS THUTHANAKA performance.
She did away with those thoughts quickly, and launched right into the performance called ‘hexed!’, named after the record she recently released via Hyperdub.
If anything, aya was exactly what the festival needed to expunge any idea that it was for chin strokers and naval gazers; it was half-standup comedy routine, half-gabber/hardcore/rave explosion. It was unrelenting, and the quips she launched into between tracks calmed and made the energy physically manageable.
For me, this was the standout performance of the Friday night; it was weird, bewildering, unrelenting and imbued with something special. True personality was on full display, and to be able to laugh after being slammed in the face with 180 BPM gabber is a beautiful feeling.
Before the club portion of Friday kicked off, Yellow Swans took to the stage. The noise music veterans were the wall of sound that many go to Unsound to experience — the roof shook and eardrums rattled.
Sparks of fireworks sounded like they were exploding off the stage and peppering the fully- engaged crowd with light. Moments felt like time was slowing down, with that gritty amp noise you hear when removing a guitar cord appearing to be stretched out by 1000. Delightful guitar melodies escaped the noise, like baby earworms looking for soil amongst the chaos.
Local DJ xxxquisite took to the Lion Arts Factory stage next, kicking off the club portion of the first night’s programming.
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While the space wasn’t perfect for clubbing, it meant there was plenty of room to dance, and xxxquisite made the act of wriggling and bopping easy.
Raime followed with another highly percussive set, followed by Nídia again, and the night closed at about 3 am by DJ PGZ, a Gunai/Kurnai & Yorta Yorta artist.
Saturday July 12
Many who dared to take on the full two-day program would’ve spent most of Saturday in bed, rising only to enter the very dark Hindley Street Music Hall. In fact, on entering, my partner and I said simultaneously, “It’s so dark”.
We didn’t realise that the gloom was just scene setting for the opening act Wolfgang Voigt, who played a set as GAS; a project inspired by an LSD trip in a German forest.
That much was evident by the kaleidoscopic imagery projected behind the veteran artist, which at times resembled a Magic Eye puzzle before transforming into a trippy forest scene. The music itself was both unsettling and gorgeous; a soundscape perfectly suited to an eerie Denis Villeneuve flick, perhaps. Thumping beats were the marching band-like foundation to the durational ambient piece which warped and moved like treacle.
UK alt-rock outfit Moin were up next and were this reviewer’s most anticipated of the weekend. The electronic-infused, artfully designed songs were captivating. A robotic voice peppered the tracks with musings that felt like kick-ons chatter, while the guitars roared above Valentina Magaletti’s deft drumming. The band has considerable hype right now and for good reason; they’re bringing something entirely fresh to the genre and leaning into the clubbier element of nightlife to boot.
But it was Velvet Underground legend John Cale that many, including the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, were at Hindley Street Music Hall to see. The bona fide icon was a treat to see in the flesh; how often do you get rock n roll royalty like that into Adelaide? It’s testament to the unmatchable brand power Unsound has that delivers visionary artists like Cale to our city, and the crowd was deeply appreciative of his coming here.
Cale performed the longest set of the festival. He powered through track after track, barely taking a breather for crowd chatter. His oddball approach to pop rock was delightful, and he pulled the crowd through his sizeable catalogue, and a track by his former collaborator Nico too. He came out for an encore but decided not to play it at the very last second — a strange moment, but the crowd left pleased.
Many called it quits then, but the troopers among the throng crossed the road and trudged down an alley to cult nightclub Ancient World for the customary closing party.
Unlike the previous evening’s club session at Lion Arts, this was a deeply intimate and sweaty affair. A line to get in snaked around the corner of the building, all the way up to Hindley Street, such was the draw of the evening’s DJ lineup — three out of five who were locals.
Skorpion King kicked it off with a dubby, wubby session that had everyone weaving, many without shirts. It led into a set from DJ E (Chuquimamani-Condori) who powered through tech issues to play a curious mix of highly edited pop tracks. It felt at times like a transmission from a midwest dive bar on Mars.
Aya was up next and didn’t hold back. She brought the crowd along deftly into the more turbo tracks on her USB, pausing occasionally to make quips on the mic like she did the previous night.
Local DJ Strict Face was born to play Unsound, and his incredibly tasteful ear blessed the bustling basement as he noodled expertly across four CDJs.
To cap off the festival, Nausea doyen Bibbe Zee played a darker-than-expected set still imbued with her signature love of electro. The final song of the night, played aptly at 5 am: Salem’s ‘King Night’.
Trudging home on sore and blistered feet, I couldn’t help but smile. Unsound fed us well and yet again proved it is the must-attend event of the year.
Unsound Adelaide 2025 ran from July 11 – 12 as part of Illuminate Adelaide