Nienke Leone
Fred Gata
Fred Gata sits somewhere between soul and hip-hop, warm tea and a smoky Sunday night. His voice pulls you in, his lyrics make you stay. Since casually bagging both the jury and audience prizes at Sound Track 2023, he’s been sharing stages with big names and giving the spotlight to new ones. No smoke machines or over-rehearsed moves, just presence, straight-up honesty, and the kind of energy that speaks for itself. Fred makes space for feeling, for dancing, and occasionally, for just the right amount of chaos.
Hiltje
Hiltje blends emotion, melody, and a healthy dose of weird into something strangely irresistible. He broke out with the jerseyclub banger Iedereen Is Onzeker - an anthem for overthinkers who still love a good dancefloor - and kept the momentum going with the genre-bending EPs Hillside and his latest, Brokken Piloot. Mixing raw trap with dreamy pop, Hiltje lays it all out: loneliness, growth, and trying to figure it all out (like the rest of us).
Niels Orens
Niels Orens is an electronic music producer with a knack for blending acoustic and electronic textures into a soundscape that feels deeply human. With deep basslines, warm cello harmonies, and a classical heart beating beneath rich electronic layers, Orens invites you into a sonic world where emotion takes the lead. His introspective yet dynamic live sets blur the lines between acoustic and electronic, calm and chaos. Following the release of his 2024 EP s/low nights, Orens continues to carve out space for reflection in a fast-paced scene. Fresh from collaborations with Max Cooper and performances across Europe, his AV live show will be featured at Hit The City.
Grote Geelstaart
Grote Geelstaart, the psychedelic noise-rock outfit from Zeeland, throws the audience into a runaway vehicle powered by pounding bass and two drummers. But just when you think you’ve got the ride figured out, the wheel jerks left. Noise-rock melts into a twisted disco beat, drummers become guitarists, and robotic voices bounce off rectangular synths. Dressed in white shirts and ties, this band steers a wild, genre-bending trip filled with punk, funk, and absurdity. With every turn, they surprise, confuse, and delight. No one knows the destination but one thing's certain: Grote Geelstaart is impossible to forget.
Dylan van Dael
Born in Bogotá and shaped by Berlin’s underground, Dylan van Dael is a boundary-pushing producer, artist, and musician. Since 2018, he has been crafting soundscapes that cross borders, producing for international artists and blending styles inspired by global encounters. His music serves as a meeting point of cultures, genres, and raw emotion. Whether in the studio or on stage as a guitarist, Dylan builds bridges between creative communities. Now, he brings that energy to Altstadt. Expect hypnotic textures, cinematic intensity, and a performance that speaks every language of feeling. At Hit The City, Dylan also unveils his first solo project as part of the music innovation program. A deeply personal release brought to life alongside Pokka, a 3D character reflecting the project’s immersive and imaginative world.
Violent Magic Orchestra
Violent Magic Orchestra (VMO) is the ultimate extreme visual art music project where techno, black metal, industrial, and noise converge into a blinding spectacle of sound and light. Imagine black metal meets Kraftwerk, or a blackened Aphex Twin, VMO is both and beyond. Known for their ferocious energy and staggering power consumption VMO delivers an electrifying audiovisual experience like no other. Their past collaborators include members of The Body, Sunn O))) and Mayhem, with releases on labels like Deathwish’s Throatruiner and Never Sleep (Gabber Eleganza). From Berghain to Roadburn, DARK Mofo to CTM, and now Hit The City. Brace yourself as the doors of the DEATH RAVE swing open
GLINTSAL
Singer-rapper Glints and DJ-producer Faisal have been creative partners for years. Together, they co-founded Abattoir Anvers a collective based in a former halal slaughterhouse in Antwerp and launched a namesake hip-hop show on Studio Brussel. Their musical chemistry is both undeniable and inevitable. Now performing as GLINTSAL, their debut album ‘GLINTSAL Vol.’ 1 blends Glints’ lyrical fire with Faisal’s genre-bending beats. After their explosive set at Eurosonic, HUMO wrote: “The festivals that skip this are crazy, incompetent, or just plain suicidal. Fuck yeah!” We’ve been listening. At Hit The City, their monster alliance comes to life.
Sad Banana
Ever wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of an overripe banana? Sad Banana crafts an existential fruit salad in the form of a music concert. They are blending punk, rap, and dadaism into a bittersweet cocktail of sound. Their lyrics teeter between bravado and breakdown, vulnerability and kitsch, politics and pastiche. It’s absurd, it’s emotional, it’s post-capitalist pulp with a pulse. Catch them live at Dynamo during Hit The City. Tears become beats if you squeeze them hard enough. Sad? Very. But also unmissable.
EDLP
Born out of a shared love for midwest emo, punk and whining about your emotions, EDLP came together. With catchy guitar riffs and honest lyrics, they mold all the clichés into something uniquely their own. Their sound invites you to scream, cry, and lose yourself in the moshpit. Crying in the moshpit is absolutely allowed. Catch EDLP live at Hit The City and let their raw energy and heartfelt tunes take you on a wild ride through the beautiful chaos of youthful angst.