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Oli XL builds pop songs that refuse to stay assembled, which raises an obvious question: How does he play them live? How do you perform music that exists in a state of permanent reconstruction?
Stockholm's glitch-pop auteur has spent the past decade making tracks that feel structurally impossible—sounds materializing in the gaps between other sounds, chamber orchestras warping into glittering arpeggios before dissolving due to packet loss. Sometimes it’s kind of like Fennesz remote-producing Daft Punk’s Discovery through a pair of Metaverse goggles: MaxMSP electro-pop refracted through twenty open browser tabs and a weak internet connection. If anyone can figure out how to stage that kind of chaos, it's Oli.
His work operates on a tightrope between mad science and pop immediacy. It's rarely clear how many instruments are in play, or whether "instrument" is even the right word, yet the songs remain instantly gratifying: playful, intricate, reliably sticky without sanding down the strangeness. Whether that's happening in a DAW or on a stage might be irrelevant.
Dream-pop futurist james K opens with a DJ set, and if I get there early enough, I will probably check out Ambient Skate, featuring Instupendo and DJ Listen To Your Heart B2B Texas Baby. The whole night happens in a roller rink, which somehow makes perfect sense to me: restless music in a room designed for continuous motion.
His work operates on a tightrope between mad science and pop immediacy. It's rarely clear how many instruments are in play, or whether "instrument" is even the right word, yet the songs remain instantly gratifying: playful, intricate, reliably sticky without sanding down the strangeness. Whether that's happening in a DAW or on a stage might be irrelevant.
Dream-pop futurist james K opens with a DJ set, and if I get there early enough, I will probably check out Ambient Skate, featuring Instupendo and DJ Listen To Your Heart B2B Texas Baby. The whole night happens in a roller rink, which somehow makes perfect sense to me: restless music in a room designed for continuous motion.
Feb 5, 2026