ELECTRONIC ROCK DUO WORKING WITH SELF-BUILT INSTRUMENTS, SENSOR-AUGMENTED GUITARS, AND POST-PUNK INFLUENCED PERFORMANCE
OBI BLANCHE AND KRISTINA TICA MET IN LINZ, AUSTRIA, DURING AN UNEXPECTED B2B DJ SET AND QUICKLY RECOGNISED A SHARED LANGUAGE IN SELF-BUILT INSTRUMENTS, MINIMAL BEATS, AND RAW MELODIC STRUCTURES.
IN 2024, THEY FORMALISED THEIR COLLABORATION UNDER THE CONCEPT OF #POSTDIGITALPUNK, A PLATFORM MERGING DIY INSTRUMENT BUILDING, MINIMAL SONGS OF MELANKOLIKA AND SOMATIC PERFORMANCE.
THEIR HYBRID DJ LIVE SET MOVES BETWEEN DANCE FLOOR MOMENTUM AND TANGIBLE EXPERIMENTATION WITH SELF-BUILT GUITARS. OBI BLANCHE’S SOUND BALANCES DIRTY TRANSISTOR RHYTHMS WITH UNSTABLE, EXPRESSIVE GUITAR TEXTURES, SHAPED BY YEARS OF WORK ACROSS EXPERIMENTAL AND POPULAR CONTEXTS. KRISTINA TICA, ROOTED IN THE BELGRADE UNDERGROUND, PERFORMS ON BRAKE, A CUSTOM-BUILT BASS. HER MINIMAL YET HEAVY LOW-END LINES AND WORN BARITONE VOCALS GROUND THE SET WITH PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND RESTRAINT.
INFLUENCED BY UNDERGROUND CLUB CULTURE, ART SPACES, AND EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE, THE DUO CREATES IMMERSIVE LIVE ENVIRONMENTS WHERE BODY, BASS, AND TENSION BECOME PART OF THE COMPOSITION.
IN 2024, THEY FORMALISED THEIR COLLABORATION UNDER THE CONCEPT OF #POSTDIGITALPUNK, A PLATFORM MERGING DIY INSTRUMENT BUILDING, MINIMAL SONGS OF MELANKOLIKA AND SOMATIC PERFORMANCE.
THEIR HYBRID DJ LIVE SET MOVES BETWEEN DANCE FLOOR MOMENTUM AND TANGIBLE EXPERIMENTATION WITH SELF-BUILT GUITARS. OBI BLANCHE’S SOUND BALANCES DIRTY TRANSISTOR RHYTHMS WITH UNSTABLE, EXPRESSIVE GUITAR TEXTURES, SHAPED BY YEARS OF WORK ACROSS EXPERIMENTAL AND POPULAR CONTEXTS. KRISTINA TICA, ROOTED IN THE BELGRADE UNDERGROUND, PERFORMS ON BRAKE, A CUSTOM-BUILT BASS. HER MINIMAL YET HEAVY LOW-END LINES AND WORN BARITONE VOCALS GROUND THE SET WITH PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND RESTRAINT.
INFLUENCED BY UNDERGROUND CLUB CULTURE, ART SPACES, AND EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE, THE DUO CREATES IMMERSIVE LIVE ENVIRONMENTS WHERE BODY, BASS, AND TENSION BECOME PART OF THE COMPOSITION.
HIGHLIGHTS
PERFORMANCES AT DIM BELGRADE, FOTOGRAFISKA BERLIN, 8MM BERLIN, BOILER ROOM BERLIN, STWST LINZ
COLLABORATIONS WITH ANIKA, YURI LANDMAN, ISABELLE WENZEL, THOMAS AZIER
FEATURED IN POST-PUNK.COM, GROOVE MAGAZINE, BANDCAMP DAILY
DEVELOPED CUSTOM POST-DIGITAL GUITARS (RAKE / BRAKE)
PERFORMANCES AT DIM BELGRADE, FOTOGRAFISKA BERLIN, 8MM BERLIN, BOILER ROOM BERLIN, STWST LINZ
COLLABORATIONS WITH ANIKA, YURI LANDMAN, ISABELLE WENZEL, THOMAS AZIER
FEATURED IN POST-PUNK.COM, GROOVE MAGAZINE, BANDCAMP DAILY
DEVELOPED CUSTOM POST-DIGITAL GUITARS (RAKE / BRAKE)
FOR FANS OF
GRAUZONE
SUICIDE
SUUNS
DE AMBASSADE
GRAUZONE
SUICIDE
SUUNS
DE AMBASSADE
Discogs
email: tica.kristina[at]gmail.com / obiblanche[at]gmail.com
HOME PAGE: postdigitalpunk.cargo.site
news:
20:00h DJ Set | 22:00h DJ Set | 00:00h
Live Set
04/03/2026
Featured: NO WEAPON IS ABSOLUTE W/ COSMO VITELLI | NTS /
Featured: NO WEAPON IS ABSOLUTE W/ COSMO VITELLI | NTS /
new song:
Obi Blanche & Kristina Tica - Key
out via INFRA
mix: Sebastian Lee Philipp (Die Wilde Jagd)
master: Klas Sasse Lindblad / Blackhead Studios
Obi Blanche & Kristina Tica - Key
out via INFRA
mix: Sebastian Lee Philipp (Die Wilde Jagd)
master: Klas Sasse Lindblad / Blackhead Studios
17 December 25
TANGIBLE MUSIC CLUB #9: OBI BLANCHE / DORFTV
*
Radio FRO: TAM Club IX mit Obi Blanche und Yuri Landman / INTERVIEW
https://www.fro.at/tam-club-ix-mit-obi-blanche-und-yuri-landman/
**********
:upcoming
PAST EVENTS
10/04/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica w/ Samt Martin / Gesso | Mucca, Munich
03/04/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica w/ Indirekt Grell | *ask a punk*, Vienna
28/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda* w/ Mozo Mozo• | CK13, Novi Sad
26/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica | Dim, Belgrade
19/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda* w/ Mozo Mozo• | Robot, Budapest
04/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda | 8MM, Berlin
17/01/26 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set | STROM, Linz
17/12/25 Obi Blanche solo sensor guitar w/ Yuri Landman | STWST, Linz
12/12/25 Obi Blanche & Kristina Tica x Muri Anda w/ T.R.A.S.H. | KOJE, Vienna
29/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB w/ Arlette, | DeKoer, Ghent
27/11/25 Obi Blanche & Muri Andaº | Asymetric, Cologne
14/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB | Gekko/Megaworld.xyz, Vienna
06/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB | Hemingway’s | Linz
04/10/25 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
05/07/25 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
06/06/25 The Spill In Dreams, Obi Blanche & BOB, Tommy Wieso | STWST, Linz
29/05/25 Obi Blanche & BOB Compost Festival | Linz
01/03/25 Kristina Tica solo DJ set / STROM | Linz
31/01/25 Obi Blanche & BOB / Milla Club | Munich
06/12/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / KAPU | Linz
05/12/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STWST | Linz
11/10/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / Holzstock | Linz
27/09/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
26/09/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / Artmagazin, Tabakfabrik | Linz
28/06/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
10/04/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica w/ Samt Martin / Gesso | Mucca, Munich
03/04/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica w/ Indirekt Grell | *ask a punk*, Vienna
28/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda* w/ Mozo Mozo• | CK13, Novi Sad
26/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica | Dim, Belgrade
19/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda* w/ Mozo Mozo• | Robot, Budapest
04/02/26 Obi Blanche x Kristina Tica x Muri Anda | 8MM, Berlin
17/01/26 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set | STROM, Linz
17/12/25 Obi Blanche solo sensor guitar w/ Yuri Landman | STWST, Linz
12/12/25 Obi Blanche & Kristina Tica x Muri Anda w/ T.R.A.S.H. | KOJE, Vienna
29/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB w/ Arlette, | DeKoer, Ghent
27/11/25 Obi Blanche & Muri Andaº | Asymetric, Cologne
14/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB | Gekko/Megaworld.xyz, Vienna
06/11/25 Obi Blanche & BOB | Hemingway’s | Linz
04/10/25 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
05/07/25 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
06/06/25 The Spill In Dreams, Obi Blanche & BOB, Tommy Wieso | STWST, Linz
29/05/25 Obi Blanche & BOB Compost Festival | Linz
01/03/25 Kristina Tica solo DJ set / STROM | Linz
31/01/25 Obi Blanche & BOB / Milla Club | Munich
06/12/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / KAPU | Linz
05/12/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STWST | Linz
11/10/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / Holzstock | Linz
27/09/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
26/09/24 Obi Blanche & BOB / Artmagazin, Tabakfabrik | Linz
28/06/24 Obi & Kristina b2b DJ set / STROM | Linz
* Muri Anda: murianda.bandcamp.com | epilepticmedia.bandcamp.com/album/loose-concepts
• Mozo Mozo: https://mozomozo.bandcamp.com/
Obi Blanche
Experimental electronics, guitars, and broken vocals from Finland. Dirty transistor-distorted electronic beats and squealing no-wave guitar destruction are mixed together in his personal take on melodic popular music. Building his own guitar (known as ‘Rake’), with the guidance of Dutch inventor Yuri Landman, has been the culmination of his research towards his sound: perfectly imperfect and raw.
Guitarist at Thomas Azier, formerly Anika (Stones Throw) and Norman Palm (City Slang).
Currently pursuing his academic research at Postdigital Lutherie, Tangible Music Lab Linz.
links:
Kristina Tica
Interdisciplinary artist and researcher, with her most recent practice centered on the artistic and theoretical exploration of the aesthetics and ethics of machine learning applications in visual computational processes. Tracing the impact of emergent technologies in popular culture under critical theory and philosophy in media and arts, her work spans various disciplines - from visual arts to coding, writing, and music.
Since 2024, collaborating with Obi Blanche as a vocalist and bass player [BRAKE], and being a co-author of the #postdigitalpunk project.
Currently pursuing her practical and theoretical PhD research at the intersection of media theory and law, between the Department of Media Theory at die Angewandte Vienna and the Metaverse Lab [LIFT_C] at JKU Linz. Formerly a lecturer in Feminist Hacking Strategies at MA Postdigital Lutherie, Tangible Music Lab Linz. Works recently published in ACM Journals; Leonardo Journal (Vol. 57);and The Practice of Art and AI by Hatje Cantz.
links:
ticakristina.com
first public version
16/04/24
postdigitalpunK:
combines the DIY and counter-cultural attitude of punk with the technological and cultural features of the digital age.
it is a research in postdigital self-built instruments, somaesthetics and acoustics
it emerges in a world saturated with digital tools, software and platforms, but retains the rebellious, raw and experimental spirit of punk.
this style consciously distances itself from polished, commercial and technologically perfected music and uses digital tools according to its own rules.
it’s a countercontrolculture let it happen!
it emerges as a cultural reaction that lives along the technological accelerations and the digital world,
challenging it’s norms and rules, living with-and-against them.
How to Keep it real?
to reign on the decadence of digital culture, stripping it off unnecessary hyper-reality, hyper-augmentation and self-optimisation
more existentialist than rebelious, more opportunist to gamble
with possible alternatives and alternate realities of what life can be,
the notion of music made grasps the immediacy and the intimate momentum of oneself:
infinite access and infinite presence make us think that all we got is: now!
we take over analogue and digital tools and shape them to our own ends
using DIY approach to technologies and the aesthetics of the works,
we care less about trends and more about features that we can claim for our own
taKe all that is given, otherwise it might be taKen away.
to do so:
I
LIVE
[to /lɪv/ & to be /laɪv/]
[to /lɪv/ & to be /laɪv/]
to claim the importance and authenticity of immediate, physical experience as a counterweight to virtual worlds, yet not cancelling the transposition of these live experiences into the digital realm.
~it can be irregular, non-linear and unpredictable.
the music may use atypical instruments, various technical disturbances or improvised soundscapes.
~it can be irregular, non-linear and unpredictable.
the music may use atypical instruments, various technical disturbances or improvised soundscapes.
postdigitalpunk welcomes experimentation and improvisation.
II DIY
embracing a DIY spirit, where technology is creatively and intentionally misusedthis means ~ combining old analogue devices with new technology, such as
~ doing self-built instruments, reuse old hardware, do custom-made software, or using digital platforms to create art and communication on their own terms.
combine your knowledge, give your efforts like you are well paid to do so.
~ doing self-built instruments, reuse old hardware, do custom-made software, or using digital platforms to create art and communication on their own terms.
combine your knowledge, give your efforts like you are well paid to do so.
III ELECTRIC
blending of digital and analogue technologies and the blurring of the boundaries between them.
guitars, basses and drums may be combined with electronic elements such as samplers, synthesizers or computer software, making an organic sound with a touch of tech.
VHS recordings or computer vision systems,
digital soundscapes or high voltage second-hand vintage amp
technology is a tool, not the master... just add some power to it.
guitars, basses and drums may be combined with electronic elements such as samplers, synthesizers or computer software, making an organic sound with a touch of tech.
VHS recordings or computer vision systems,
digital soundscapes or high voltage second-hand vintage amp
technology is a tool, not the master... just add some power to it.
IV DISORDER
postdigitalpunk favours errors and imperfections in sound and vision.
this can include the use of digital "glitches" as a creative element, lo-fi recordings, or intentionally unstable chords and vocals.
aesthetically,
postdigitalpunk is essentially
raw.
it does not aspire towards the polished, perfect slick or hi-res aesthetic.
both human and machinic errors make the gap that makes it special, if not unique.
this can include the use of digital "glitches" as a creative element, lo-fi recordings, or intentionally unstable chords and vocals.
aesthetically,
postdigitalpunk is essentially
raw.
it does not aspire towards the polished, perfect slick or hi-res aesthetic.
both human and machinic errors make the gap that makes it special, if not unique.
V LO-FI / HI-FIVE
the music does not strive for perfect sound quality.
lo-fi aesthetics, meaning intentionally low-resolution sound, and glitch soundscapes, where technological errors play a significant role, are common.
recordings can be raw and untidy, deliberately devoid of fine-tuning.
sometimes, instead of a stanley knife, we use a saw - it’s important that it cuts through!
lo-fi aesthetics, meaning intentionally low-resolution sound, and glitch soundscapes, where technological errors play a significant role, are common.
recordings can be raw and untidy, deliberately devoid of fine-tuning.
sometimes, instead of a stanley knife, we use a saw - it’s important that it cuts through!
VI DISLABELED
postdigitalpunk encourages the release of music independently without major labels.
using digital platforms or their own websites allows artists to share their works directly with the public.
monetised by the big platforms and social media, your presence could seem like a waste of time.
however, it’s a social consensus we are in.
no pressure to have it all there, but do not avoid it at all costs either.
if you give, give it so it can be shared. as much as you make it for yourself, you do it for others, that’s the exchange.
you’ll be less broke if you share it than if you don’t, whatever the currency... if you don’t do it, someone else might!
using digital platforms or their own websites allows artists to share their works directly with the public.
monetised by the big platforms and social media, your presence could seem like a waste of time.
however, it’s a social consensus we are in.
no pressure to have it all there, but do not avoid it at all costs either.
if you give, give it so it can be shared. as much as you make it for yourself, you do it for others, that’s the exchange.
you’ll be less broke if you share it than if you don’t, whatever the currency... if you don’t do it, someone else might!
VII COUNTERCONTROLCULTURE
postdigitalpunk emerges from the survival momentum of the monopolisation of technology,
the culture of control, capitalism and consumerism, while offering alternative ways of interacting with technology, as living through it,
all on a tic-tic-ticking clock.
it reacts to the dominance of the digital age and its standards, but at the same time it uses these technologies to its advantage.
it is heavily influenced by the digital world, but at the same time it maintains punk's original tradition of resistance to normative structures and systems.
the culture of control, capitalism and consumerism, while offering alternative ways of interacting with technology, as living through it,
all on a tic-tic-ticking clock.
it reacts to the dominance of the digital age and its standards, but at the same time it uses these technologies to its advantage.
it is heavily influenced by the digital world, but at the same time it maintains punk's original tradition of resistance to normative structures and systems.
#postdigitalpunk ©
obi blanche & kristina tica
16/09/24 first public version
latest update 12/05/26
website development/design: kristina tica