Join us for a two-night showcase of Auckland’s experimental and underground LGBTQIA musicians. Auckland’s experimental music scene is rich with diverse performers that have long been disconnected from the mainstream queer community due to the experimental nature of their art. We hope to showcase the best queer performers in the experimental music and noise category so that they may no longer be sidelined.

Queer music is as fluid and diverse as the community it comes from. Queer and trans people have been at the forefront of so many burgeoning musical movements across history, from disco, to rock & roll, to experimental harsh noise. However, many of our most forward-thinking queer musicians find themselves unfortunately sidelined from two directions – on the one hand for their identity, and on the other hand for the uncompromising nature of their art. Please join us for an evening celebrating the diversity and creativity of Auckland’s queer music scene at our city’s premier location for sonic exploration – Audio Foundation.

We are showcasing a hand-picked selection of Auckland’s best experimental, underground, and “out-there” LGBTQIA musicians, across the spectrums of gender, sexuality, and genre, including:

bb gurl
deepState
Eden
Elegant World
GayBlade
Jazmine Mary
Kraus
monoga.my
Samara Alofa
Unisex Fuck Club
Vow Cave
Wellness

Expect ear-melting guitar feedback, arcane magic rituals, euphoric hyperpop bangers, Dadaist ballads, surreal soundscapes, and more. Anything goes in this experimental free for all, and we can’t wait to blow you away.

Friday 16 April @ Audio Foundation, 8PM
Saturday 17 April @ Audio Foundation, 6PM
$15 unwaged // $20 waged on the door or $25 for both nights via presale

Eden
Well-known as a member of Oamaru noise-rock ensemble, The Trendies, and recently relocated to Tāmaki Makaurau, Eden’s blistering, brash guitar provides ecstatic raptures leaving ears soft and mushy as if after a deep tissue massage.

GayBlade
GAYBLADE approaches, clad in velvet and steel, telling tales of war and woe. In their dungeon synth duo, Amelia Berry’s (Fimo, Polyester, Babyteeth, Old Chips, PWB) and Aaliyah ‘Baby Zionov’’s sound songs as if across a lonely moor… Prepare for arcane onstage rituals.

Jazmine Mary
Jazmine Mary is a Dream Folk Artist from Gippsland Australia, Visceral and haunting. Her surreal rose-tinted sounds will allow you to be transported somewhere bold and watery.

goosebump-inducing dark folk – UTR

Elegant World
What began as a support group for four like-minded individuals touched by quasi-religious experiences of angelic, extraterrestrial abduction was to transform into something much more unusual; melodic subtropical grunge cloaked in 69 psychedelic shrouds of ear-melting feedback. Critics are calling ELEGANT WORLD “transsexual culture weaponised into the merciless sabre of Baphomet.”

monoga.my
Ever since sparking a passion for DJing on the decks at Melbourne’s hugs&kisses, monoga.my decided to spread their wings and shake up queer parties trans-tasman. From holding residencies at Melbourne’s Thursgay and Auckland’s G.A.Y to creating and playing at Auckland Pride 2021’s fastest selling event, NYMPHO, if there’s one thing monoga.my knows – it’s how to give the queers everything they want and more. Their sets are pure hyperpop fun with house influences; bubblegum latex from the year 3000. With monoga.my, the future is now (on dial-up)

Vow Cave
Melding soundscapes and shuddering electronic loops, melodious folk hymns and hysterical chants. Chaotic cacophonies, falling towers, and tales of ancient despair. Sinister sounds for the golden age.

Wellness
Wellness is a rock band composed of four members. They describe their sound as “a herring” — the fish in the bay, on the beach, by the cove. Goth Country with pop-punk undertones and jangling hints of emo, this will be their fifth performance.

Unisex Fuck Club
A blind twink, master pianist, spiritualist and club-kid raver join souls to make Dadaist ballads for the cult choirs of the future.

Samara Alofa
Samara Alofa is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau. Their music seeks to create new worlds using enchanting soundscapes, stories of the past, future, and present, surreal visuals, and ritualistic rhythms/loops. Magnetic, enchanting, authentic and pure in purpose.

bb gurl
Transcore cyberpunk bitch music.

Kraus
KRAUS is a psychedelic musician based in Auckland, New Zealand. Since 2002 he has released 18 albums, and presented his endlessly evolving live performances throughout New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

a multi-instrumental avant garage threat, whose first album was reissued by Ultra Eczema (so you know it ain’t hay). The instrumentals range from garage-oid pseudo-band workouts to electronics based mood-splurts and even some proggy spots in between these. – Byron Coley / The Wire

deepState
deepState is the moniker of Tāmaki Makaurau based musician and producer Jess Morgan. deepState is inspired by a particular sense of nostalgia for 90s dance and house music along with new-age, ambient and techno influences.