New Ruins Festival 2026

New Ruins Festival takes place across 4 days at The Lubber Fiend and Lubber Kitchen. The festival moves between heavy experimental music, fractured dance forms and artists reshaping inherited traditions for the present. Moving between acoustic and electronic, abrasive and intimate, the festival centres a shared approach: pushing at the edges of genre, treating sound as material, and rebuilding musical forms through DIY practice and collective experimentation.

To find out more about the festival, the venue, accessibility and inclusivity please check out the festival website here: https://www.newruinsfestival.c...

Or email any questions to info@thelubberfiend.com

!!Please note: from March 31st we will be launching our new Lubber Fiend Membership Scheme. Members are entitled to purchase discounted tickets to gigs like this one, plus many more bonus perks. For more information, check out our membership portal !! https://app.joinit.com/o/the-l...

Day splits and tickets will be announced at a later date.

We are incredibly excited to reveal the inaugural festival line up:

Maria W Horn - Swedish composer, sound artist and co-founder of Xkatedral label. Horn’s work explores the inherent spectral properties of sound and moves from fragile and beautiful to abrasive and powerful. Her compositions employ a varied instrumentation ranging from analog synthesizers to choir, string instruments, pipe organ and various chamber music formats. Synthetic sound is often paired with acoustic instruments in order to extend the instruments timbral capacities with precise control of timbre, tuning and texture. 

Rezzett - First surfacing back in 2013, the duo stitch together a grimey, lo-fi angle on live jungle, techno, footwork and experimental electronic soundscape, keeping it raw and analogue, switching from harsh to majestic in the blink of an eye. Their output on The Trilogy Tapes has been part of the labels flagship offering, creating this future-nostalgic and blown out sound.

Devon Rexi - Coming hot on the heels of a killer collaborative album with John T Gast on Bristol’s Accidental Meetings, Devon Rexi make the trip from Amsterdam to play Newcastle for the first time. Playful dubby experimentations and fried-Farsi vocals sit at the core of Nicola Reverda, Nushin Naina and Goya van der Heyden’s sonic world. A psyched-out blend of bass-heavy permutations and rhythmic pandemonium, Devon Rexi’s unparalleled sound is as hypnotic as it is danceable.

Elena Colombi - A swirling headrush of techno, post-punk, industrial and experimental spoken word can only try to sum up Elena Colombi’s DJ sets. Founder of Osàre! Editions, a label supporting boundary-pushing artists, spanning everything from 1990s darkwave to forward-thinking dance music, their taste is dynamic and immersive. A regular on the international clubbing circuit, including the heavy hitters like Dekmantel, Atonal and Unsound, we’re pleased to let her loose in the open ground of New Ruin’s late night club spot to blend style, history and texture.

Smote - Taking folk, rock and drone, with cues from the 70s Swedish and 90s Japanese Psych scenes, Smote has honed their sound to a razor edged ritualistic and transcendental march. Live the band often expands to include multiple extra members adding violin, hurdy gurdy and other instruments, giving even more clout and psychedelic swirl to their time dilating sets.

Rashad Becker - An infamous name within electronic music, most of you have probably listened to a record mixed or mastered by Rashad Becker. Based in Berlin, Becker’s abstract compositions for PAN have been hugely influential in shaping a new era of experimental music. Releasing his first album in nearly a decade last year, on the incident Becker brings a distinct sense of narrative to proceedings that infuses atonality with alien glossolalia to unrivalled effect.

Voice Actor - Perhaps THE artist from recent Stroom Records releases. The Belgian label sure can pick them and Voice Actor is no exception. Across a slew of missives, Voice Actor curates a bewildering and compelling world of low slung trip-hop, ambient/illbient, dream pop, dub and cracked electronics. All chopped and screwed, fucked about with and of the highest order.

O Yuki Conjugate - Legendary and a little unsung in our opinion, O Yuki Conjugate were part of the early wave of post-punk/industrial/”dirty ambient” groups that emerged in the early 80s across the UK. Moving from a slightly more beat driven sound early on, they crystallized into so called “dirty ambient’ on 1984s Scene In Mirage, but have been active with various line-ups up to the present.

Vanity Productions - Vanity Productions is the solo project of Christian Stadsgaard, a crucial figure in the contemporary Nordic electronic and experimental music scene. Co-founder of Posh Isolation, Stadsgaard’s compositions under the Vanity Productions name are rooted in a beautifully balanced combination of noise aesthetics and modern-day melancholia. Releasing his latest full-length album The Vanity Project on Northern Electronics, Vanity Productions will grace the stage of New Ruins to deliver a tender yet powerful performance of live electronics.

Sewer Election - Part of the incredibly prolific, distinct and innovative Discreet Music/Gothenburg scene - Dan Johannson aka Sewer Election is part of a dizzying array of projects such as Enhet For Fri Musik, Neutral, Amateur Hour and so many more. As Sewer Election though his music has largely been grotty lo-fi noise which runs the full gamut - from hushed creaking and churning debris to crushing and screeching blunt force sonics.

Cowper - Between Stations label boss and Noods Radio resident Cowper joins us on DJ duties, bringing his low slung and woozy mix of new beat, EBM, trance and ambient. Blended up with a healthy dose of sleaze ideal for smoke-filled rooms and late nights, Cowper makes a compelling case for unpredictable combinations that’ll keep New Ruins going into the early hours.

Handle - I guess you could say post-punk, but really it’s a tumbling, sideways, creaking, hypnotic and barely held together trio of bass, drums, keys, and poetry/vocals. Janky and frenzied in the best possible way, with an urgency and exuberance that drives the whole thing forward.

Alyssa - A newish duo consisting of Dan Johannson (playing at the fest as Sewer Election) and Irma Krook. Alyssa is a mix of ice cold vocals and loops with piano and synths, all with that classic grey murk associated with Discreet Music that we love so much. A sort of minimal waveish vibe but completely hypnotic and compelling.

The Shits - Repetition as bludgeoning transcendence, rock music boiled down to its essence and exploded back in sleazy dirges. Maniacal vocals narrate these paeans to The Stooges and Brainbombs with tales of murder and lust, albeit with a sardonic and self-parodying nature.

Sallad Egg - The alias of Sally Evans, an artist, maker and renowned DJ from London. A Sallad Egg set will transport you on a warped journey with as many twists and turns as you can imagine. Spanning new wave, post-punk, far-flung psych and much more, Sally’s selections are always imaginative and full of intrigue. The perfect spot between deep listening, adventurous discovery and keeping it fun, Sallad Egg is the perfect way to end the festival on Sunday night.

Philipp Otterbach - As an early resident of the epoch-defining Salon Des Amatures, Philipp has spent over 2 decades honing his craft as polymathic DJ, producer and remixer. His productions shine a glinting eye on epic ambient soundscape, his DJ sets can be like a frenetic jungling of post-punk, krautrock and percussive tribal rhythms, all expertly poised. With a newly developed live set in tow, we are proud to welcome Philipp back to the venue across multiple days and performances at the festival.

Pefkin - Pefkin is the alter ego of Gayle Brogan, a prolific solo musician and a part of many groups and collaborations in the UK’s weird-folk fringes. Pefkin’s sound creeps, unfolds and emerges from the beauty and complexity of the natural world. These sonic landscapes take on ritualistic qualities, pulling those in its orbit into symbiosis. Her layering of vocals, strings, electronics, found objects and field recordings creates varied textures and aural space. A prolific recording artist, Pefkin has released on labels such as, Wild Silence, Reverb Worship, Digitalis, Pseudoarcana, Nite Hive and Siren Wire and several sold-out lathe cuts on Sonido Polifonico. Her most recent album, ‘Unfurling’, was released on Morc in 2026.

Shelter and Orion - From the minds that brought you the brilliant Les Disques Omnison and Protopost comes forth Shelter and Orion. Perhaps not the most groundbreaking of the two aforementioned labels, nonetheless Shelter and Orion absolutely rules. The perfect amalgam of dub and post-punk through an experimental electronics lens. Think Sheriff Lindo and Earthquake Studio et al - trudging and whomping, delay and reverb soaked bliss.

i-sha - Bristol-based selector i-sha works her way through dub, industrial, experimental electronics and wonky club music with a scuzzy, textural touch. A resident on Noods Radio, Mutant Radio and Accidental Meetings, she's known for patiently built sets that drift between deep low-end pressure, strange textures and moments of real intensity. Never tied to one sound for long, she pieces together unexpected connections that keep things moving without ever feeling predictable.

The Sprigs - Genuinely Life affirming music that makes you want to stride out and enjoy the pleasures of life. Drifting, spinning and swirling - the music moves between spidery guitar passages and more abstract soundscapes with bird calls, snatches of radio/tv/film, thunks and gurgles. It has that seamless quality that acts like Brannten Schnure seem to conjure and which immediately draws you in. An utterly daft concept (in the best possible way) of a Wind in the Willows themed folk band done with an avant garde sensibility that never gets too serious or too silly. Utterly uplifting and captivating, just try not to be moved by the soaring guitars in “Freedom is the mole who will turn the world upside down”! They played at Lubber this February and blew us away, we absolutely had to get them back for the fest!

Sw1-n Hunter - The solo project of co-founder of the iconic The Old Police House venue, Adam Denton’s SW1N-HUNTER sees the artist & musician venture on a dérive through frazzled samples, feedback systems, decayed electronics and “disarmingly joyful noise”. Sonically sculptural in essence, Denton’s performances are immersive experimental divagations. Atonal and terse,yet with a warmth and beauty that is buried beneath the noise.

Beer Fear and Posset - Local legend Posset, king of the dictaphone and garbled sounds/vocals teams up with relative newcomers Beer Fear. Their performances are hard to pin down but the trio has a real sensitivity to sonics and each other, interweaving and perfectly complimenting each other. Hushed vocals, bass wobbles and rumbles, field recordings, scattered piano and mangled tapes all combine in symphony.

Harvey Parkin-Christie and Teruki Chan - fire music from this Leeds saxophone and drums duo. Think Coltrane/Ali, Ayler/Murray, Brotzmann/Bennink. Some lofty names, but these two know how to play and they have the same spirit of adventure and fun. Have no doubt it’s serious gear, but it's never pompous or dull.

Meagre Offerings' Formless Oblation Band - Newcastle has always had a small but dedicated and prolific experimental music scene. The venue was started in part to support this, and when bar staff and managers had an idea about a specific night for this we jumped at that chance. Meagre Offerings is a monthly get together with performances of improvised and experimental music and film with an open invitation jam at the end that anyone can take part in. It was a no-brainer to invite them to do a performance at the fest. Think free jazz, A-Band, Vibracathedral and a heavy dose of what the fuck is going on and you are somewhere there.