Jacques Demierre is a Swiss pianist, composer and improviser whose work spans acoustic and electroacoustic music, free improvisation, and sound poetry. Known for a sensitive yet eruptive piano language and open-form compositions such as Thirty Pianos, he continuously explores the boundaries between sound, language, and everyday noise. Active internationally, he performs solo and in collaborations across music, dance, and interdisciplinary projects, notably in long-standing work with Vincent Barras in sound poetry. His practice reflects a transversal, experimental approach to music as listening and awareness. He is a laureate of the Ville de Genève Music Award (2007) and the Swiss Music Prize (2018).

These days, if you hear a spinet, it’s probably because a delicate young woman is in the drawing room, essaying Handel in a Jane Austen movie. And sure enough, the instrument played by Jacques Demierre dates from 1771. A spinet is a smaller version of a harpsichord, so Demierre is embracing some limitations unfamiliar to most 21st-century keyboardists. In notes for an earlier record, Demierre describes the amplification of the instrument as “careful.” Yep: There’s much more to it than just making the spinet louder. The mics pick up the physicality of the instrument. Typically restrained in the drawing room, the spinet becomes more of a percussion instrument in the hands of a contemporary experimentalist. And oh, the textures. Here again, Demierre uses the limitations of the spinet to his advantage. 18th-century keyboards don’t give you the dynamic range of a modern piano, even with an amp attached. Instead of exploring what, say, Cecil Taylor might sound like on an inappropriate instrument, Demierre opts for milder melodic statements, alternating with cascades of sound that slightly overwhelm the amplification. (from a review by Jeff in AMN Reviews) - Photo by Yann Staffelbach

German artist and musician Grischa Lichtenberger and Polish multi-instrumentalist and composer Qba Janicki operate as a duo at the intersection of digital precision and improvised performance. Their work moves between programmed structures and spontaneous interaction, drawing from experimental club music, electroacoustic practices, and contemporary sound art. Using digital and analog electronics, amplified acoustic instruments, mechanical interfaces, and feedback systems, they create dense layers of rhythm and texture that constantly shift between control and unpredictability. Their collaboration avoids homogeneity and instead emphasizes the dialogue between their individual approaches. At times, their sound recalls post-punk, abstract hip hop, or contemporary jazz, while ultimately remaining exploratory, tension-filled and deeply focused on sonic detail.

Maria Bertel is a Danish trombone player and composer. The acoustic sound of her amplified instrument draws inspiration from drone and noise music. Movements, metal and breath, sounds that are usually hidden, become a swirling part of her compositions. Organic patterns emerge as tiny sounds and rich overtones are brought into focus. Alongside her solo work, she performs and composes with groups such as Selvhenter and the improvised noise duo Nina Garcia & Maria Bertel. She has also collaborated with artists including Lao Dan, Tashi Dorji, Nick Klein, and Valentina Magaletti. Her music has been presented at international festivals including Unsound Festival, Roskilde Festival, Sonic Protest, and Borealis.

New addresses. An idea of comfort that Maria Bertel (trombone) proposes in her Monophonic on Relative Pitch Records. The ten telluric tracks are conceived as pages of a novel between avant-garde and Impro/jazz. The sound design is not lacking, but the emotion of the super cool 'fabrics' wins. Her propulsive section is based on essential rhythms and noise visions, as an approach to 21st-century impressionism. Free improvisation, from music to dance and performance, integrating different dimensions of her interdisciplinary work. Maria Bertel is an authentic and innovative musician, constantly engaged in artistic experiences characterized by deep research. Her sensitivity allows her to absorb influences from different musical fields, from jazz to electroacoustics. Her latest album represents a fascinating and original sound journey. Rotundity, Invisible Host and Contradictions live on post-punk encounters, while Sci-fi and Cognitive Dissonance split the urban frequencies in two. The acoustic sound of her amplified instrument creates an output that draws inspiration from drone music. What is normally inaudible presents itself, movements, metal, and breath become a swirling part of her compositions. Mutable organic patterns are emerging, tiny sounds become brutally clear. Blue notes are breaking away, duties are transformed into abstract capsules over the top. Cultured avant-garde. (review in Windout Magazine) - Photo by Lin Wuqi

Alex Buess is a Swiss musician, saxophonist, composer, producer, and label owner. He plays/played in the groups ICE, GOD, Phantom City, The Bug, Sprawl, Cortex, and his own group 16-17 and has collaborated with artists like Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, Bill Laswell, and Kevin Shields in the wide field of improvisation, electronics, electroacoustic music, and composition. Alongside this, he developed a significant body of compositions for contemporary ensembles, performed internationally at festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage. From the mid-1990s, he increasingly engaged with audio technology, working as an engineer and producer in London studios and later for labels including Virgin and Island. His work combines electronic systems, contemporary composition, film music and computer-based production, with a strong interest in machine processes and their metaphors. His compositions SSSSOSCHHHH!! (2018) and Metenfes (2003) will be reinterpreted at Xciting Festival by Sebastian Hofmann, Martin Lorenz, Marta Zapparoli, and Nicola Romanò.

Alex Cortex is a singular figure in electronic music. Born in Heidelberg, he released his first record at the age of 17 on Move D’s influential label Source Records, immediately marking himself as an original voice in the club scene. Since the 1990s, he has created a body of work defined by short rhythm studies and abstract sound sketches, each exploring its own distinct sonic world. His music moves freely between Detroit techno, ambient, electronica, IDM, and raw industrial textures with a surprising sense of soul, shaped by dense atmospheres, fractured rhythms, and abstract harmonies. After his last release in 2018, he withdrew from public musical activity. For Xciting Festival - The 8th Alex Cortex returns to the stage for a one-off performance. Known for his unpredictability, he is expected to deliver another deeply immersive and unconventional live experience.

In their latest collaboration Majestic Noise, Sote and Tarik Barri create immersive audiovisual worlds that, despite their abstraction, carry a strong visceral and symbolic impact. Themes such as isolation, loss, and social tension emerge from deeply personal experiences. Isolation appears as aggression, sadness, resignation, and madness, while beauty and hope remain as guiding forces and a sense of longing that drives the work forward. The piece reflects both their own perspectives and observations of others, including loved ones, strangers, victims, and perpetrators. Ata Ebtekar, known as Sote, is a Tehran-based composer and sound art ist working across electronic music, experimental sound, and hybrid acoustic-electronic forms. His work spans club-influenced sound, experimental solo electronics, and cross-disciplinary collaborations, with releases on labels such as Warp, Sub Rosa, and SVBKVLT. Tarik Barri is a Dutch audiovisual artist based in Berlin. He develops real-time 3D audiovisual environments using his own software Versum and has collaborated with artists such as Radiohead, Nicolas Jaar, and Monolake. - Photo by Arash Bolouri

With Marta Zapparoli, Sebastian Hofmann, and Martin Lorenz, three outstanding musicians from the experimental music scene have come together to form a new project called Liminal Resonatrix. Their collaboration is more than a meeting of sound sources. It is an exploration of the boundaries between rhythm, structure, and sonic imagination. Liminal Resonatrix moves within the field of electroacoustic improvisation, percussive complexity, and performative sound research. Each member brings a distinct artistic voice: Zapparoli’s work with radio waves and electromagnetic fields, Hofmann’s sensitive approach to space and friction and Lorenz’s precise, kinetic percussion merge into dense, often trance-like soundscapes. For this year’s Xciting Festival the lineup is completed by Nicola Romanò, whose cello, combined with vibraphone, timpani, and electronic elements, creates a dense interplay between acoustic instruments and spatial sound. - Photo by Corinna Harl-Micori

Psychic Defence is a live and studio project of hard-hitting experimental beats, bass, and noise, combining the psychic and sonic forces of Lynx and Christoph Fringeli. Standing on the dance floor at the confluence of outer space speedcore, classic breakcore, deep bass immersion, and the dark, uncharted territories of noise, Psychic Defence brings an unexpected temperament to the rave. Started in 2014 as the couple’s psychogeographical wanderings through historical Berlin locations, the project captured characteristic sounds with Lynx’s iPhone 4 and evolved from decades of dancefloor mutations. Psychic Defence host the monthly experimental electronics night re:focus in Berlin, held every first Thursday at Lauschangriff, where they also appear as resident DJs. They have performed across Europe and the US, including cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Basel, and San Francisco. - Photo by Georg Kronenberg

Blending the sound worlds of traditional folk music and experimental improvisation, Strasbourg-based bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy player Lise Barkas explores the hidden textures and harmonic possibilities of her instruments. Drawing from both folk-dance traditions and noise music, her playing moves between haunting melodies, blown sounds, scratches, multiphonics, and whistling tones, reshaping familiar instruments through immersive sound explorations. In addition to her solo acoustic performances, she has collaborated with artists including Yann Leguay, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, Zoe Heselton, and Lisa Käuffert. - Photo by Nicolas Hueber

Sensational, born Colin Julius Bobb in Brooklyn, NYC, is a rapper and hip-hop performer known for his raw, experimental approach to the genre. Early in his career, he also performed under the names Torture and Perfection, quickly standing out in the early 1990s underground scene for his unconventional style. He first appeared as a teenager with the Jungle Brothers, initially as a dancer before moving to the mic. As Torture, he contributed to the single Troopin’ On The Downlow and appeared on the group’s unreleased Crazy Wisdom Masters, produced by Bill Laswell, which was shelved for being too experimental. In 1995, he was signed to WordSound and renamed Sensational, releasing his debut Loaded With Power (1997), a landmark of lo-fi, avant-garde hip-hop. He has since collaborated with artists such as Kid606, Cardopusher, Kohei Matsunaga, and Spectre. His life has been marked by instability, including periods of homelessness, as documented in The Rise and Fall and Rise of Sensational. Despite this, he remains an active and influential figure in underground music, continuing to release and perform work in New York and beyond.

Madteo, the alias of Italian-born producer and DJ Matteo Ruzzon, is based in Queens, NYC. A dedicated record collector and obsessive music listener, he developed a singular approach to electronic music shaped by hip-hop, dub, soul, disco, house, and techno after moving to the US in the early 1990s. Drawing from decades of deep listening and a vast vinyl collection, his productions blend raw textures, slow-burning rhythms, and unconventional structures into a distinctive and unpredictable sound. Known for his streetwise rather than avant-garde sensibility, Madteo’s work moves fluidly between house, techno, and experimental club music. His releases have appeared on labels such as Workshop, Sähkö, Wania, Latency, Morphine, and Languid, establishing him as a unique voice within contemporary electronic music. At Xciting Festival 2026 Madteo will play a DJ set.