After a wild 2024 concert with Snow Strippers and Surf Gang’s evilgiane and Eera, we had to have the NYC collective back for the festival proper. In a takeover of Alte Münze’s Maschine floor, we’re gathering a host of these unholy noisemakers for a night of debauched aural pleasures—all guts, no gloss.

Collective co-founder Eera’s influence stretches beyond his own tracks, reshaping the landscape of underground music by fusing trap’s hard-hitting percussion with sugary hooks reminiscent of ‘00s pop. His collaborations with figures like Babyxsosa, Bladee, and Black Kray have expanded this sonic palette, reinforcing his reputation as both a tastemaker and innovator. His own work channels the chaotic energy of the internet era into a distinctive merging of 8-bit nostalgia with sprawling ambient futurisms.

Surf Gang founder evilgiane has become a cornerstone of alternative rap’s DIY ethos. His fingerprints are all over the underground and mainstream alike, shaping its pulse with ethereal, genre-blurring productions for everyone from Playboi Carti and A$AP Rocky to cult favorites like Bktherula and Black Kray. Layering complex emotions into sounds that are equal parts gritty and surreal, his vibe thrives on unpredictability and the extremes of emotion—ecstatic highs, crushing lows, and seething anger.

fakemink embodies a stark dichotomy of luxury and grit through both his music and persona. At just 19, he operates almost entirely from the confines of his bedroom, a cluttered sanctuary where an unrelenting stream of creativity takes form. fakemink’s sound skirts the boundaries of jerk-inspired rhythms, but distilled through a sense of nocturnal detachment, rich with introspection and the alienated confidence of someone meticulously crafting their vision since childhood.

In the dim, fogged chambers of Lauren Duffus’ aurals, there’s a palpable tension between ruin and rebirth, each moment teetering on the edge of dissolution before lurching into clarity sculpted from shadow: unyielding structures redolent of dredged choirs and the flickering whisper of shrouded lanterns. Drawn heavily on witch house’s haunted atmospherics and the somber pulse of drill’s mournful chords, Duffus channels cinematic compositions that reverberate with the catharsis of unspoken emotions, supplicating a sublimation of personal pain into soundscapes that creak and shriek.

Berlin’s CTM Festival supports an open, networked, mutually-collaborative, global music culture through its yearly 10-day festival. The 26th Edition takes place 24 January – 2 February 2025 at various venues in Berlin.