ALTER FESTIVAL
10/9/2026 - 12/9/2026
ALTER creates inspiring and vibrant spaces for boundary-pushing and innovative art and music. The festival takes place from September 10–12 across multiple venues in Aarhus.
Below you can read about the programme at turkis. The full festival programme can be found at: alterfestival.dk
PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 11
OCTO OCTA
Dance music has often romanticized the idea of the anonymous artist who quietly lurks in the shadows, but Octo Octa (a.k.a. Maya Bouldry-Morrison) has no interest in hiding who she is. She’s an openly autobiographical artist, and one who’s eager to tell her story as a radical queer trans woman polyamorous witch.
The New Hampshire-based DJ, producer and live performer has been active for nearly a decade, but in recent years she’s leveled up, fueled by the rising tide of North America’s queer DJ scene, not to mention the success of her albums Where Are We Going? (2017) and Resonant Body (2019). Resonant Body was released on T4T LUV NRG, a label she runs alongside her romantic and DJ partner Eris Drew. The two can often be found going back-to-back in the booth, and together they’ve created a platform that actively celebrates trans love and visibility, along with the potent healing magic of the dancefloor.
House, techno and breakbeat are Octo Octa’s genres of choice, although these kinds of descriptors ultimately feel a bit clinical given the intensely personal nature of her music. Gravitating toward the ecstatic, the joyful and the openly emotional, it’s no wonder that Bouldy-Morrison’s uniquely uplifting vision has been enthusiastically welcomed on dancefloors around the globe. While her path—especially outside the club—has often been (and continues to be) challenging, it’s in dance music that Octo Octa has found connection, self-realization and true love. She’s got a story to tell, and it’s powerful.
Listen to Octo Octa: https://octoocta.bandcamp.com/album/sigils-for-survival
OM UNIT
As a producer and DJ, Om Unit’s persistent presence in an ever-changing musical landscape has solidified his place as a known electronic music innovator. Beginning this project in the late 00’s, the English producer has sought to challenge himself and his audience by going beyond the confines of typical genres and styles. In the process he has found success by striving for a more human approach to connecting styles of electronic music in unique and daring ways.
Ambient without stagnation, acid without nostalgia, and dub without formula. A play with electronic music and sound system culture filtered through a personal, refined gaze. For over fifteen years, Jim Coles has been messing around, tidying up, and deconstructing various club music genres, working with everything from footwork, jungle, dub, techno, and ambient. The references and history behind the music are always as important as the soundscape itself: from early releases under the alias Philip D Kick to releases on labels such as Metalheadz, Cosmic Bridge and, not least, collaborative projects with Martyn, TM404 and Deadbeat. With Acid Dub Studies, he delves into the fluid, repetitive and ritualistic aspects of acid and dub. The project has evolved through three different albums and countless live shows.
PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 12
CORTISA STAR
Bursting onto the scene with her raw talent and fearless authenticity, Cortisa’s music blends hard-hitting rap with powerful storytelling, making waves online and earning her a plethora of co-signs from Charlie XCX to Lil Nas X and many others. Known for her unapologetic lyricism and unique sound, she’s been recognized for pushing boundaries in both her artistry and her identity as a trans woman in a space that’s often resistant to change.
Cortisa’s recent viral success is a testament to her undeniable presence and the magnetic energy she brings to every track. Her latest single “Fun” is making significant waves online after her viral “From The Block” performance, earning her press features on The Fader, Out Magazine, Dazed and several others while garnering over 5 million global streams independently.
DJ STINGRAY 313
DJ Stingray 313 – donning his emblematic balaclava, his heavy, relentless, almost cyborg-like DJ sets continue to leave audiences captivated for decades. This skilled approach to the dancefloor gives Stingray quite the in-demand gig schedule, appearing at landmark festivals and venues across the globe
Stingray’s most notable connection, however, is through the iconic electro outfit of James Stinson and Gerald Donald aka Drexciya. As Mystic Tribe A.I, he first appears on the Clone Records release “Sunday Night Live at the Laptop Cafe”, a split 12” with Stinson (aka The Other People Place). Further meetings with Stinson and Donald earned him the nickname “Drexciyan DJ Stingray”, becoming the group’s official touring DJ.
DJ Stingray 313 remains a steadfast figure in his uncompromising sound, craftily setting the soundtrack to the not-too-distant future.
Listen to DJ Stingray 313: https://djstingray313.bandcamp.com/music
TAYHANA
Argentinian DJ and producer, Tayhana, has established herself, in a short period of time, as one of the most relevant and promising figures in the club scene around the world. Self-taught by her experience as a founder of one of the most radical parties in South America that revalued the original music of the continent, she is recognized as a central figure in the Club Latinx genre.
Thanks to her aggressive way of playing, a fearless imagination mixing different rhythms, BPMs and a wide range of experimental sounds from Latin America, but mostly because of her creative capacity as a producer and a beatmaker to push the boundaries of what has been possible in the encounter of urban and traditional music from all over the continent, she has called the attention of artists such as Rosalía, Daniela Lalita, Mare Advertencia Lírica, Gaika, among many others producers and well known DJs in the industry.