There's a particular kind of silence that falls when someone who spent their life filling rooms with sound suddenly leaves. Matt Tolfrey, the English DJ, producer, and founder of Leftroom Records, has passed over the weekend and the news is shattering.

A former punk musician turned sonic architect. Three performances in a church — one with a double bassist, one with the full Detect Ensemble, one bridging into AFAR's live set. Acid Pauli at Detect Classic Festival 2025 was something rare: music born in the moment and cherished just as fleetingly.

At a time when live music can feel increasingly polished and predictable, Berlin’s Detect Classic Festival has carved out a reputation as a sanctuary for the experimental and the authentic.

Nika Neelova seals her own tears inside glass sculptures that will dissolve in air. She carves roses from shark teeth millions of years old. She salvages bannisters from demolished houses and carves them into the symbol for infinity. She calls all of this reverse archaeology — bypassing the straightforward to find what the material already holds. The Lacrymatories in UMBRA, Paris, have been disappearing since September 2024. That is not a metaphor. It is the actual thing it describes.

Anika is an artist who defies easy categorization—a sonic alchemist weaving together dub, post-punk, and psychedelia with flashes of drum & bass, all anchored by her striking voice and confrontational lyricism

Today, we’re speaking with Malagüera a multidisciplinary artist originally from Santiago de Chile, now based in Berlin, whose work fluidly bridges theater, music, and electronic performance.

Damon Albarn, frontman of Blur and co-creator of Gorillaz has long used music as a force for unity and taking a stand.

"Vessel of Love" — pulses with emotion, tackling intimacy, repression, and liberation through a hypnotic, transcendent lens.