“The best thing in Boorloo every year.”

“The only festival I’ve been to that leaves me with more energy after a set than when I arrive.”

“Just joyful. I could not fault anything with the way it was run.”

AE is an artist-led, international festival of exploratory music. It’s held annually on Whadjuk boodja since 2017. It includes delightfully strange songs, forward-thinking club sets, brazenly weird experiments, bracing noise, virtuosic improvisation, anti-virtuosic improvisation, listening through dancing, new directions for ancient music, dinners, treats and strolls.

Our mission is to make a low pressure, fun atmosphere, and a powerful, attentive listening culture. We carefully curate a program of stuff that is really good, putting little-known experimentalists on a prominent stage. We invite you to experience a festival with no headliners, that is more about realness, kindness and building culture together.

In a radical and unprecedented turn (🤪), AE’26 is all in one venue: Victoria Hall in Walyalup. We’re taking over the whole space, with room for impromptu participatory play, resting or dining between sets, courtyard boogies or massive sets in the main hall. If AE has a theme this year it is finding ease: the festival is still a journey, the music sometimes moody or challenging, but everything you need is close to hand.

Program

Download and read the program as a PDF.

Or read this plain text version of the program on CryptPad.

To RSVP to a workshop, fill out this workshop RSVP form.

Lineup

Ainslie Allan, Paul Boyé & nobu ' launch and read from Tone List's new book TL10Y
alicec presents hear her breathe
amby downs (Naarm) *
Nina BC & Montana b2b
Lyndon Blue presents Winding with Flora Carbo (Naarm)
Business Partner late night set
Ryan Borrett & Eduardo Cossio present a soundwalk
Mark Cain launches Threads
Simon Charles & John Kinsella present Pressure Bells * with Djuna Lee, Jameson Feakes & Saskia Willinge
Jack Duffy (Dublin) hosts a trad session
Emelyne (Naarm) DJ
Cal Folger Day (Baltimore/Dublin) presents gráinne with Phil Christie & Jack Duffy (Dublin)
R. Glacken & Lia T *
Patrick Gunasekera hosts a pre-gathering gathering about gathering
Ira Hadžić (Berlin)
Jsuk Han (Seoul) presents Load-Bearing Tone
Jonnine (Naarm)
Jonny Marks (Pōneke)
Make-Shift presents Movement, Sound, Play, Performance
Maria Moles (Naarm) & Jameson Feakes
Pure Rave
Raissa Febriani (Bali)
Sage Pbbbt & Lily Tait (Naarm)
Rational Playtime
Nathan Thompson and the village kids present Embai
DVJRGL presents AI: Artificial Intuition
Umbel (Naarm)
Saskia Willinge with Uma Volkmer (Warrang) & Naoko Uemoto *

Plus:

Larry's Arms bar
Local Weirdos wine
North54 dinner service
Pound coffee
RTR2 playlists by King Crezzo, Josten Myburgh & Lia T, Peter Sage and Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung
Suku lunch
Jess Tan puzzles, autumnal whimsy, spiralling upwards
Teeter Bakery pastries
Y1 wearables

*Support these new commissioned works and collaborations for the festival via the Audible Edge Seed Fund.

Accessibility

Victoria Hall is an 8 minute walk from Fremantle Station (about 550m) over footpaths and paved roads. 915 and 502 bus routes stop immediately outside the venue.
Victoria Hall is wheelchair accessible via the side entrance (still on High St, right next to the main door). Our front-of-house team will meet you at the front entrance to open the door for you. Some steps separate the bar from the outdoor courtyard, however there is an alternative accessible pathway within the venue around the other side of the main hall.
We encourage non-mobility aid users to keep an eye out for folks who might have access needs by making sure that pathways and doorways are kept clear.
Seating is available throughout the venue including chairs and rugs/cushions on the floor. Events are always mixed seating/standing, and we encourage you to go wherever you want to in the venue.
The music in the festival is extremely diverse, ranging from extremely quiet, minimal and silent music to loud, repetitive and rhythmic music, noise and drone. A few keywords are given for each set, and a short description, to help you decide if something is for you or not.
Lighting is a mixture of natural light and warm, atmospheric light. The 'club' space in the festival may be quite dark at times, but we are running a second PA outside so that the music can still be heard clearly in a more warmly/naturally lit space as well.
Haze is used at times in the venue, especially towards the end of programming in the club space (Fremantle Small Projects).
No lights flashing faster than 5Hz or strobe lights are used in the festival. No video projections are being used.
There is a dedicated quiet, low-stim space in the venue. There are also indoor and outdoor social spaces which can be used for a rest between or during sets, and a chill corner of the main venue with soft seating.
Snacks are available during morning programs, and dinner is available for purchase inside the venue in the evenings. Lunch is best found by going for a short stroll (our friends at Suku have given a discount to ticketholders). You can BYO snacks in the venue (but not drinks).
We have a small accessibility budget set aside for any attendees who need financial assistance in order to attend. That could be to pay a support person to come with you, or to get accessible transport to and from the venue door. We encourage disabled folks to get in touch with us to have a chat if you require financial support in order to make your attendance more comfortable.
We are also welcome to other questions or requests about accessibility and will do our best to respond - our email is info@tonelist.com.au.

Acknowledgments

Audible Edge is a project of Tone List, a Boorloo-based label for exploratory music founded in 2016.

Tone List operates on Whadjuk Noongar boodja: sovereign Country for eternity. We pay respects to Elders and custodians across time. We dream of a culture of sounding & listening which supports restorative justice and the Lore of the land.

Aboriginal and Palestinian folks are welcome to flexible-price or free tickets to our program as a token of our acknowledgment of their continuing struggles for justice. You can book these via the ticketing portal, no need to contact us.

Tone List and Audible Edge are principally sponsored by the WA government through the Department of Cultural Industries, Tourism & Sport (CITS), with additional support from the City of Fremantle, Liquid Architecture, the Audio Foundation, Frontrunner AV, Culture Ireland, and Fremantle Small Projects. Our food & beverage sponsors are Pound Coffee, Local Weirdos & Ripple Brewing.

Graphic design by Michael Gunson (Mike Midnight).

Contact the host of Audible Edge '26 — a festival of exploratory music

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