Line-up Lift Pukkelpop 2024

Meet Gianmarco Cellini, a Belgian-based artist with proud Italian roots who creates percussion-driven and dancefloor-ready electronic music inspired by traditional influences from across the globe. His eclectic DJ sets go from hard-hitting techno to sublime house music, reflecting his unique perspective on electronic music and his talent for creating an energetic and engaging atmosphere in whichever style he likes. More so, his live sets are characterised by infectious flows, driving basslines, and intricate percussion, creating a rich and textured outcome that sounds organic and electronic, modern and timeless.

The most enduring artists don’t just make songs: they invite you into an entire world. That’s the mission in a nutshell of Wasia Project, aka London-based siblings Will Gao (20) and Olivia Hardy (18), whose intoxicatingly honest alt-pop has generated an entire ecosystem of like-minded fans with deep connections to the band’s scalpel-sharp take on adolescent growing pains. “Our fanbase is very young as well, and they're growing with us,” says Olivia, “We’re so in touch with [our audience] because of social media, which helps us create a place of belonging where you’re not alone.”That ethos has made Wasia Project one of the UK’s most exciting new pop acts. The band has an online audience of over almost 200K, eight million Spotify streams, and, in 2022, the duo’s music was streamed in 179 nations around the world. You’d be forgiven for not knowing that many countries existed. But their massive reach is a corollary of their pan-global approach to pop.Will and Olivia’s music dynamically melds styles and influences that cut across genre lines — and even entire hemispheres of musical tradition. In their songs, hushed bedroom DIY combines with classical nous, and spiky disco melds with freewheeling jazz, in a merging that’s underpinned by the duo’s deep knowledge of both Western and East Asian Classical styles. Wasia Project kicked off 2023 with “Petals on the Moon,” a multifaceted slice of indie pop perfection with an air-punch of a chorus that’s so addictive it should come with a warning. As well as the monster hook, there’s a sly depth to Olivia’s vocals as she sings “I can’t help but feel I’ll always be so blue” that lends the song the emotional heft of a young Joni Mitchell or Rickie Lee Jones. The same emotional nuance coursed through the band’s 2022-released debut EP. Titled how can i pretend?, the four-song project’s songs could pull you from the brink of tears to unabashed euphoria in the space of seconds. “You can’t stay high all the time,” says Olivia. “Without the moments of feeling down, you can’t have the wonderful ones.” The siblings grew up in Croydon, south London, with childhoods that were underscored by music. “Every night we would just dance,” says Will. “It was like 18 years of a nightclub — but the music would play all day.” They were raised by a Beijing-born mum and British dad who had, as Olivis puts it, the “wackiest” taste, and whose CD collection included musical theatre soundtracks, ABBA, Queen, Frank Sinatra, ELO, and jazz, as well as Western Classical and music from China and Japan. Both learned instruments from a very young age, with Will opting for classical piano, and Olivia learning violin with the Japanese technique of Suzuki, which focuses on learning to play by ear rather than sheet music. While at primary school, Will joined an acclaimed local choral group. “When my voice was higher, I was in the Trinity Boys Choir,” he says. “I ended up doing lots of opera on quite big stages, like Glyndebourne in the UK. It sparked my love of performance, but there are also these spine-tingling moments on stage in opera that sparked my love of catharsis in general.” Olivia was less enchanted with the genre. “I never got into it,” she says flatly. “I was a firm hater!” But the siblings did share a love of Stephen Sondheim’s “big leaps and random chord changes,” and Will can remember the exact car ride where he heard “Hey Jude” — down to the “ugly-ass building” in Purley that they were driving past at the time. “It was the first time that I felt something with lyrics and melody joining together to portray an emotion,” he says. “Before that it was just classical music.”Drawing from a lifetime of immersion in various musical traditions, Olivia and Will first began sharing music on SoundCloud in 2019. Their first track “why don’t u love me,” created on Garageband, was a threadbare blues confessional that you could imagine hearing in a smoky 1950s Soho jazz club. In an auspicious signpost of the real-talking candour and humour that enlivens Wasia Project’s songwriting to this day, the song’s caption read: “Did they friendzone u? Coz same.” For how can i pretend?, the band ditched laptop software for professional recording with Luke Pinell, a producer and a member of London’s Suedejazz Collective. The beat-switching jazz ballad turned euphoric party-starter “impossible” was a particular breakthrough, melding Will’s background in jazz with Olivia’s pop sensibility. “Olivia actually wrote the song when she was 14 and it was just an acoustic number,” says Will. “I was like, "This song could have a drum beat and compressed vocals. That became a pure blend of both of our vibes.” While Wasia Project is Oliva’s first experience with the flush of fame, Will is already a household name thanks to his character of Tao Xu in the sunny high school love story Heartstopper, a graphic novel series turned global Netflix phenomenon. The band are refreshingly candid about the benefits of the Heartstopper connection, but rightly don’t let that association define them or their rapidly growing audience. “Heartstopper fans found the music and related the music, so there was definitely a bonus from that,” says Will. “But we’re seeing an incoming listening audience of music lovers, and areas outside of the universe of Heartstopper.” They’ll always be a spot at Wasia Project shows for the Heartstopper cast though, some of whom Will says have become “my best friends” — one recent show featured a “very hidden” Kit Connor in the audience, singing his heart out. Artists can put up walls between themselves and their fans. But Wasia Project take a sledgehammer to any dividing hierarchy between themselves and their audience, creating space for creative connection to flourish. At their sold-out December show at London’s Omera, the band partnered with a local bubble tea vendor to offer free drinks to fans, many of whom were under 18. The gesture invited fans to experience a nostalgic treat that’s close to the siblings’ hearts. “We wanted to give them something we've grown up enjoying,” explains Will. And in early 2023, the band personally wrote thank you notes to dozens of fans, sending custom-designed postcards inspired by traditional Chinese woodblock prints. “The personal depth to the music can be expressed in a whole bunch of different ways,” says Olivia. “It’s not just limited to a show and an album. There are so many cool things we can do.” In a music industry that puts a premium on trend chasing and viral hits, Wasia Project make the quietly radical move of choosing to play the long game — and doing it in their own relatably real way. “We’re brutally honest with each other and there’s no bullshit,” says Will, as Olivia nods in agreement, before adding, of their sibling bond: “There’s no stepping on eggshells with us. Basically, it’s pure authenticity because we know each other so well.”

Blondshell is the angriest, clearest, and most vulnerable side of LA-based singer/songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum. Blondshell is a woman who knows where her wounds are and instead of looking away, she studies them, cleans them, and sews them back up.Growing up in the early 2000s, in a chaotic New York City household, Teitelbaum sought comfort in the music of legends like Patti Smith, Joy Division, and the Velvet Underground. In a fingerless gloves phase, she found Imogen Heap and Elliott Smith, singing their songs at open mic nights around Manhattan. She discovered her sexuality around this time and found confidence in her queer identity while walking around the Lower East Side, listening to Tracy Chapman and Sophie B. Hawkins.Teitelbaum quickly learned to tell her own stories through songwriting and found relief in confessional lyricism - equal parts devastating and droll, sexy and tempestuous, yet always deeply relatable. It took her some time and a previous project to find her sound, but she has always clung to uncompromising truth in music, having honed her technique with producer Yves Rothman.Over wailing guitars and a masterful sense of melody, Blondshell sings about getting saved “not by Jesus but by validation.” Although her tones are predominantly dark and brooding, there is a bright sense of hope that shines through her adventurous song structures and undeniable hooks. Why else would you sing about getting saved, if not for believing that things could actually get better?

For METTE, the route to music was circuitous but destined. Now, she has found herself ready to emerge with music that explores tender emotions, complex feelings, and her life’s narrative.Growing up, she railed against the small town monoculture of Alexandria, Minnesota. The daughter of two ‘army brats’ (both of her grandfathers served in the U.S Army), her familial home instilled in her not only a disciplined work ethic, but a passion for music. Anita Baker, James Taylor, Chaka Khan, Pink Floyd, Lauryn Hill, and The Delfonics were the soundtrack to METTE’s younger years. With an eclectic musical taste, METTE began taking musical theatre classes, learning to play the bassoon, and attending youth choir, where she felt the first firm draw towards performance. It quickly became clear that performing was the end game. “I didn’t have the confidence to do music straight away, but dance just came more quickly to me,” she says. Identifying as a Black woman of mixed-race heritage, METTE didn’t see herself often mirrored in the live performance space growing up. But suddenly in 2014, with one single phone call inviting her to audition as a dancer for Pharrell, her direction started to change.After traveling the world with Pharrell performing concerts all over the globe, METTE won the coveted starring role in the N.E.R.D and Rihanna ‘Lemon’ video. This opportunity hurtled her towards fame. After years of grueling touring, METTE found herself in London working on a film project and was inspired to explore her musical dreams. And then Covid hit. “I was going through something when lockdown hit. I hadn’t seen my mom for 18 months, and out of my longing came a song about mothering, birthright, and her legacy… a celebration of imperishable bonds.” The outcome was what would later become her single, Mama’s Eyes; a track that has filled dance floors across the world with its syncopated dance beat that gradually heats up into a celestial gospel choir preaching the chorus.METTE’s signature is music to move your body to. Unrestricted by the need to align with one genre, she finds her sound at the crossroads of dance music and a myriad of possibilities. Her fans will undoubtedly want to see her dance and express herself through movement, and they can and will get that.

The last twelve months have been a whirlwind for Henry Counsell and Louis Curran, the men who make up Joy (Anonymous). Having established themselves during the Covid-19 era by playing impromptu meet-ups on London’s South Bank, they have graduated to bigger venues, and recorded their second album, Cult Classics. Their music revels in the euphoria of being alive and all the feelings, good or bad, that come with it. 

Wisp is a 19-year-old Shoegaze artist originally from San Francisco. Inspired by the likes of Whirr and Deftones, she has released four singles — the first of which, 'Your face,' having now generated over 57m streams on Spotify since it’s April release. Proficient at numerous instruments including violin, guitar, and piano, Wisp has quickly become the fastest growing Shoegaze artist in the streaming era and was recently named a Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Artist to Watch in the year ahead. Her debut EP, Pandora, was released April of this year — which has come out in conjunction with her debut headline tour in the US.

Jazz Brak maakt sinds het begin deel uit van de Brusselse hip hop groep STIKSTOF. Samen met Zwangere Guy, Astrofisiks en DJ Vega plaveien zij sinds 2010 gestaag de weg naar boven met klassiekers en bangers. Als Brusselaar toont Jasper De Ridder solo een inkijk in zijn persoonlijke leven en zoekt hij de juiste woorden om de haat-liefdesverhouding met de hoofdstad te beschrijven.

“Leeds’ music scene is the best in the world”, Lily Fontaine, English Teacher’s vocalist, guitarist, and synthesist declares without a blink of hesitation. Doug Frost, drummer, helpfully elaborates: “Even though it’s really small, there’s a huge jazz scene, there’s a huge classical scene, a big folk scene, a lot of techno. It’s got everything.” Lead Guitarist Lewis Whitling chips in too: “It’s so compact as well! There’s lots of music venues in a small space.”  “It’s a very incestuous scene,”, Lily, one-time moonlighter for fellow West Yorkshire band Eades concludes, “but that’s why it’s such a good place.”Contemporaries at Leeds College of Music (now Leeds Conservatoire) who mingled at various house parties as students,  English Teacher’s four working parts - completed by bassist Nicholas Eden - had each been tinkering on their own various projects before, at last, settling on each other’s talents. Lily, Doug and Nicholas were house-sharing when they invited Lewis for a front-room ‘rehearsal’, and began working on new material post-haste. ”Straight away when Lily asked me to come out and see what it was like, it clicked pretty quickly,” Lewis remembers.The latest post-punk resurgence in the late 2010s - spearheaded by Shame and Fontaines D.C’s, among many others - informed this quartet’s musical impetus The music had to be biting, punkish and direct. It had to fire straight at the quick of the heart, not merely by force, but with a melodic sleight of hand, and an adroit songsmithery. “That’s one point which we all tend to come back to.”, Lewis explains, “To create something that’s interesting, but also a good, catchy song.” “You want people to be able to sing it back to you”, Lily confirms.Independently releasing  a slew of dream-popping singles during lockdown - debut “the World’s Biggest Paving Slab'' remains a feature of their live set - it was upon their signing to Nice Swan Records (Pip Blom, Fur, Courting) where the wheels started picking up pace. A brooding brace of masterful singles in the Spring/Summer of 2021, “R & B” and “Wallace”,  sowed the first seeds of interest among the country’s tastemakers.The strangeness of the Pandemic meant theirs was a swift and unusual rise. How many other Leeds’ bands could say their first ever show was a filmed DIY Big Bank Holiday Weekender in Hackney Wick? “It was a weird first show, going straight to London”, Lewis recounts, “I remember us being in absolute silence in the taxi. It was a 20 minute taxi, we didn’t even breathe.” “I was gonna throw up”, says Lily, “someone pulled us for an interview for Sky News afterwards.”Building on this early success, the group spent a week bunkered in Eastbourne with producer Theo Verney to track what would become their acclaimed debut EP Polyawkward.  Lighter in mood than the singles preceding it, the 5 song set unloads a treasure trove of songwriting smarts, swirling instrumentals and gunpowder jams, each struck in a sequence of handsomely spun kitchen-sink yarns. There’s the puppeting ebb and flow of the eponymous opener; the waltzing “Mental Maths which purrs like a cut from Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug. EP lead single, “Good Grief” narrates a puckish covid satire starring twin leads “Track” and “Trace”, as they witness far too much pandemic chaos and far too little of each other’s bedrooms. Finally there’s the ‘hangxiety’ chronicles of “A55”, and the soul-burnishing, spoken word of “Yorkshire Tapas. In the live arena, the latter mutates into whirlwinding free-jazz theatre - like a Richard Curtis Rom-Com eloped with the Doors’ Horse Latitudes, and ended up in Harehills.Throughout PolyAwkward, Lily Fontaines’ lyricism remains a focal point: “For me, It’s the part I enjoy”, she notes. “I love music, I did a degree in it! But I always wanted to be a writer, so [the songs] are a nice vessel for me to do creative writing”. Drawing from Orwell’s Dystopian fiction, the social commentaries of John Cooper Clark and Alex Turner, and the comic writing of Phoebe Waller Bridge and Rob Auton, her lyrics weave the personal with the political, the poignant with the pretty, the humorous with the heavy. Gleaning spirited praise from across the indie press’ blogs and ‘zines, the EP’s launch dragged a whole host of  noteworthy achievements in its wake.  A 3rd place in Glastonbury Rising competition earning them a bucket list slot on the Worthy Farm billing. (“I Cried on stage!” Lily confesses) Support slots for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Parquet Courts and Yard Act accompanied appearances at Green Man Festival and sojourns to Europe.And yet, despite these feats, English Teacher’s have their eyes cast firmly on the future. There are new songs to write (“somewhere between Adele, Jockstrap and Fontaines D.C is what we’re tryna do”) and more heady dreams to chase: “I really wanna do Jools Holland.” Lily beams,” Then my Mum will be proud.”

Since emerging in 2015, Sextile have been a party-provoking force on the LA underground, capable of kicking up a riot with the raw-edged squall of a synth or the sharp-elbowed jerk of a guitar. Originally formed by Brady Keehn and Melissa Scaduto after the pair relocated from New York to LA, Sextile released their debut album A Thousand Hands in 2015, with its Grand Canyon-sized echoes, haunted screams, and post-punk invocations, before pushing synths further down the front with 2017 effort Albeit Living. Sextile’s taste for electronics matured on the throbbing EBM-meets-industrial pick-me-up of 2018’s 3 EP, cut from an analogue stash that included their trusted Korg MS-10 and LinnDrum, but the band put things on ice shortly after its release. Sextile guitarist, synth player, and original member Eddie Wuebben, who joined Sextile in 2015, tragically passed away in October 2019. Cameron Michel later re-joined on guitar and synths. Separately, they each turned their focus to other projects, with Scaduto on S. Product, Keehn on Panther Modern, and Michel as a visual artist. In 2022, the group reconnected and dropped their first new material in three years via the split single “Modern Weekend / Contortion” and “Crassy Mel”. 

Deeply informed by both the imaginative sound waves of the cosmos as well as the earthly musical culture of Japan, Mount Matsu is the reflection of a chaotic environment of influences slowly coming into focus. Infectious, strangely harmonious and highly energetic, the record is also the first by the band that came into being as the result of a truly democratic process among four befriended musicians. Mount Matsu is bound to do well in end of year lists for anyone into warm and tapey sounding psychedelic disco, fat global funk, electronics and tribal experimentsHailing from Holland’s southernmost city of Maastricht, Yīn Yīn entered the scene back in 2019 with the Thai psychrock influenced album The Rabbit that Hunts Tigers, which was followed up in 2022 with the more spiritual and cosmic sounding The Age of Aquarius. Mount Matsu finds the band - who now live and record in a nearby Belgian countryside home and studio - somewhere in between the two first albums as their sound has gradually shifted towards instrumental traditional music of Sōkyoku, and a hint of citypop, but in their own unique way.Sticking to pentatonic scales, the band’s largely instrumental sound - created with a unique set of instruments including vintage synthesizers and a traditional Chinese string instrument, the guzheng - features big jumps between notes with melodies that are easy to love as they draw the listener into unfamiliar territories. The songs on Mount Matsu have - for the first time in Yīn Yīn’s lifetime - been co-created by all members of the band. “Art and ideas are personal and precious and the process of doing this truly together has been about more than just making an album, it was also a study of how collectives work,” notes Remy, Yīn Yīn’s bass player since day one. “It’s sometimes hard, seeing your own artistic ideas challenged being part of a group, but we’re very proud of the result. When you truly co-create, literally every sound on a record has been tested and thought through. We have decided to only use vocals sparsely, which leaves plenty of room for the listener’s imagination: you can really let your fantasy run wild as you listen and dance to it. The process of creation felt like the tedious but very satisfying ascent of a mountain, hence the title of the record: Mount Matsu.

With only two releases to her name, the Spanish-Dutch artist Julia Sabaté already performed on stages in Madrid and Bilbao, as well as AFAS Live, Melkweg, and TivoliVredenburg. During Eurosonic Noorderslag 2024, she performed a show every day, leaving a significant impact with her melodic pop songs influenced by alternative electronic music. Her lyrics are deeply personal, reflecting on her experiences and growth, which haven't always been smooth. You can feel the pain and doubt, but Julia transforms them into an energy that spreads and gets everyone dancing.Every year, Julia Sabaté travels twice to Barcelona to visit her family. Classical music plays a crucial role in her household, and at a young age, Julia was recognized as a talented violinist. A world of possibilities laid before her, but her attention was drawn to a pop venue on her aunt's street. She dreamed about what it would look like inside and how it would feel to stand on that stage and perform for a full audience. Two days before the end of 2023, that dream came true, and Julia Sabaté stood before an euphoric crowd at Sala Apolo in Barcelona. Meanwhile, her music gained recognition in Spain, and was featured in Spotify playlists like Fresh Finds España and EQUAL España. In 2024, she returns to Madrid for a performance at the Mad Cool Festival.It's a dream but also a struggle. Growing up with two cultures has its advantages, but sometimes it leads to confusion. Who are you, how do you identify yourself, and which values align with you as an individual? Spanish passion versus Dutch realism, listening to your parents or boldly choosing your own path? Eventually, the balance comes naturally, and Julia can best express her thoughts in the Spanish language, supported by pop songs with dynamic melodies and lively guitars, drums, and beats. The stage is her home, anywhere in the world. There, she sings, dances, and pours her soul into the songs, supported by the two musicians who write and produce the songs with her.

With their unique and intoxicating blend of electronica, saudade, indie and folk music, Ão have rapidly become one of the most exciting acts in the rich and diverse Belgian music landscape. Debuting with single Mulher in late 2022, they made an immediate and big global impression, even reaching the influential Seattle based KEXP. A year later debut album ‘Ao Mar’ landed to rave reviews and popular acclaim, boasting summer sounds and ingenious, multifaceted and captivating tracks like Avó, Meninas and More. Singing in Portuguese and English, frontwoman Brenda Corijn entwines her mellifluous voice with the southern guitar of Siebe Chau, the ambient sounds of Jolan Decaestecker and the eclectic percussion of Bert Peyffers. Live the fourpiece are a mind-blowing and immersive experience, dazzling stages in Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond. At ESNS in Groningen, they deeply impressed the European music industry in attendance, resulting in, among other things, a spot on the roster of French booking agency AFX and an invitation to Reeperbahn Festival later this year. A fantastic 2023 was topped off with a Belgian music industry award nomination for best breakthrough act.

Chalk is the three-piece project of award winning musicians and filmmakers Ross Cullen, Benedict Goddard, and Luke Niblock.The band formed after they met whilst studying film and realised they shared the same musical vision and ambitions. Inspired by the ferocity and live performance of Dublins Guitar Band scene, and informed by the sweaty hardcore dance scenes of their native Belfast (the breeding ground for acts like electronic duo BICEP), the band are IDLES meets Daniel Avery, Death Grips meets Bicep - techno-infused gothic post-punk.The trio sprung out of the gates live, supporting London's PVA in for their first ever shows, before selling out dates across the UK, performing on the European Festival circuit and ending the year with a stunning performance at the legendary Rencontres Trans Musicales and a KEXP session, due out in early March 2024.With the release of their debut EP 'Conditions', the band interweave their industrial noise/techno hybrid soundscape andthe monochromatic gothic visual landscape they have created for themselves in an evocative and seamless manner.

Hailing from south London, Fat Dog’s formidable and high-octane live shows have garnered them a fervent fan base enraptured by frontman Joe Love. With support slots for Viagra Boys, Shame and Yard Act plus international shows under their collar, Fat Dog sold out London’s Scala on the strength of one single, the wild 7 minute, genre traversing behemoth “King of the Slugs” and have now announced new single “All the Same” alongside a huge homecoming show at Electric Brixton.

It’s no coincidence that Bolis Pupul’s music sounds the way it does. Born in Belgium to a Chinese mother and Belgian father and raised in the super-cool creative city of Ghent, Bolis’ music is a joyous cross-cultural assemblage. Mixing widescreen electronica – think early Mr Fingers-like techno and Yellow Magic Orchestra’s exuberant man-machine minimalism – with the warm-hearted and wonky naivete of Belgian New Beat, Bolis’ singular sonics are at once playful, emotive, unrelenting and tender.