Horse Lords is not a conventional band, but a continually reconfiguring sound system that has been exploring the boundaries of rock, minimalism and experimental music since 2010. Emerging from the fertile Baltimore eco-system around noise and outsider art, but always with a broader perspective. Rhythm becomes architecture, microtonality a motor for movement and friction.
 
Their music balances between mathematical precision and physical drive. Their influences are as omnivorous as they are keenly chosen: Julius Eastman and La Monte Young, but equally James Brown and Roscoe Holcomb. The spirit of Fluxus lingers, through figures like George Maciunas and Henry Flynt. Collaborations with composers like Arnold Dreyblatt – which resulted in the acclaimed album Extended Field – deepen their interest in just intonation and structural clarity.
 
Since 2021, Horse Lords has been partly based in Germany, which opened up new performative and orchestral possibilities. Live, this translates into an interplay between quartet-discipline and collective-expansion. On their album Demand To Be Taken To Heaven Alive! (RVNG Intl.), which is to be released in June 2026, the format is subtly expanded with wind instruments and vocals. Bass clarinet, trombone and vocals colour the tight framework without letting it go.

References range from Anni Albers’ textile structures to Islamic geometry, and from electronic pioneers such as Maryanne Amacher to the conceptual clarity of Tom Johnson. The title refers to Vladimir Majakovski and does not suggest escape but rather intensification. Not in the afterlife, but focused on an “eternal now”. Repetition as ritual, change as necessity. Horse Lords doesn’t sound like a genre, but like a proposal.

“Horse Lords construct layers of punching, syncopated phrases using just intonation, drawing from krautrock, African polyrhythms and classical minimalism.” - Pitchfork

Nina Garcia is one of the most exciting voices in contemporary experimental guitar music. Using just a guitar, a pedal and an amplifier, she creates intense soundscapes that strike a balance between improvisation, noise and pure emotion. Her recent album ‘Bye Bye Bird’ was released on the renowned Ideologic Organ label and has been praised by Thurston Moore, amongst others.

Live, Garcia draws her audience into a compelling world of tension, feedback and surprising silences. A unique and uncompromising opener for this evening.