by Allan Sko
SoundOut 2025—the International Festival of Jazz Improvisation, Free Jazz & Experimental Music—will mark its SIXTEENTH instalment come 31 Jan – 2 Feb. In an increasingly turbulent market, the longevity of the now-iconic event serves as testament to Director/ Performer Richard Johnson and the numerous artists and attendees who have fanned the flames all these years.
It is further impressive given that SoundOut eschews the commercial, the mainstream, and the subsequent triple j-esque promotional streams.
“We see our role as fostering continued creative collaborations between some of the best artists the world has to offer with our own brilliant Australian talent, and showcasing these to the community,” Director Richard Johnson enthuses.
“In 2025, we have 26 artists from Australia, France, Germany, and the USA that will combine, crossfertilise, and move sound mountains.
“The aim is to uplift the ears and replenish the mind during the 3-day event, which should work out to be around 17 hours of music, over 22 sets.”
Government funding has been key in keeping this dream alive for so long, with SoundOut 2025 receiving assistance by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, as well as the ACT Government via artsACT.
This, however, hasn’t always been the case. Past events have seen Johnson further knuckle down to raise the necessary finances, calling upon the community that he, and SoundOut has grown and fostered over the years.
“There seems to be more people behind it and more people aware of how important a festival this has become than ever before,” he says.
“In the past, Jon Rose [avant-violinist] has backed it with material including books and CDs, which helps a lot. Another entrepreneur in Sydney has been very helpful, and various friends and musicians are more aware of helping and spreading the word.”
Once again, the fest brings together a diverse array of artists, creators, and innovators who gleefully operate within the world of experimental and avant-garde music. With a well-earned reputation for its commitment to tickling the boundaries of what music and sound can be, SoundOut 2025 promises to continue this tradition with an even more ambitious line-up, showcasing a variety of performances, workshops, and discussions from some of the most cutting-edge artists in the world of experimental music.
To whit, there’s French quintet HUBBUB, who fellow publication Soundohm describe: “Five men walk on stage, two carry saxophones, one a guitar, and the pianist and drummer sit down at their instruments. It looks like a conventional notion of a band…
“And then HUBBUB starts to play, and that visual presence remains in place, almost a tableau, as warm reminder and comforting insistence on the acoustic experience and the tradition of watching people play musical instruments rather than laptops, oscillators, synths and sampling machines.
“In Hubbub’s hands, every technique for the typically discrete sound is regularly exchanged for a drone.”
There’s ZOSHA WARPEHA, a Minnesota-born, Brooklyn-based violinist, composer, and Hardanger d’amore player working in a meditative space at the intersection of contemporary improvisation and folk traditions.
Hailing from Canada, the festival also welcomes PEGGY LEE, whose remarkable structural ingenuity and globally admired improvised-music scene saw the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, held in late June, book Lee to perform with eight different acts during the ten-day event.
The Palestinian-born-and-raised, Berlin-dwelling MAGDA MAYAS is a pianist and composer/ performer who proves there’s more than one way to play a piano. Over the past 20 years she has honed a vocabulary via both the interior keys and the exterior parts of the piano, using amplification, preparations, and objects that become extensions of the instrument itself.
And there’s Italy’s GIANNI MIMMO, who has built an international reputation for his unique treatment of musical timbre and his exploration of the advanced techniques on the soprano saxophone.
This highlights but five of the 26 artists the festival offers.
To conclude with a circuitous continuation of the theme of community, the coming together of these bright and brilliant artists with the cybernauts of sound that are the audience has created some of the more singular live experiences a person can have.
“Festival newcomers can expect a deep listening experience to take them to new places in sonic awareness, and to marvel at new ways of approaching instruments and techniques,” Johnson says.
“It has the relaxed atmosphere of, say, a rock concert with a studied awareness.
“It’s a great festival,” Johnson gleefully concludes. “And a wonderful way to spend a weekend listening to exploratory music.
“AND you don’t have to travel all the way to Melbourne or Sydney to experience it!”
So, whether you be a lifelong fan of contemporary composition, sound art, improvisation, and exploratory electronic music or you are a bright-eyed, curious newcomer, SoundOut is here for you.
As it once again offers a vital platform for discovering new and exciting works that challenge the norms of traditional musical experiences, here’s to 16 more, says I.
Head to the SoundOut 2025 Humanitix event page for more info and to purchase your tickets.
SoundOut Improvisation + Art Workshops
Sound Drawing Workshop: Guided by visual artist Locust Jones with jazz drummer, Haley Chan | Friday, 31 January from 1 – 4pm Drill Hall Gallery, ANU
Workshop in Free Improvisation: With the Hubbub ensemble | Saturday, 1 February from 9am – 12pmDrill Hall Gallery, ANU | Hubbub are: Frédéric Blondy – piano > Bertrand Denzler – tenor saxophone > Jean-Luc Guionnet – alto saxophone > Jean-Sébastien Mariage – electric guitar > Edward Perraud – percussion
Workshop in Improvisation : With by renowned pianist, Magda Mayas | Sunday, 2 February from 9am – 12am Drill Hall Gallery ANU
Tickets for the workshops are $15/$20 each or $40/$55 for the all workshops bundle via Humanitix.
Visit SoundOut Recordings on Bandcamp to listen to past and present recordings of the festival.
