This year’s C2C Festival was no exception. Speaking with people who have attended for years, a recurring sentiment emerged: the festival has gradually moved away from its experimental roots, making room for recognisable names and a broader audience. This year, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Turin festival welcomed Robyn, Oklou, Arca, Shygirl, Kelela, The Avalanches, and more. And we’re certainly not complaining. Having experienced fewer editions myself, I can’t claim to know exactly what C2C Festival used to be, but after spending Friday and Saturday at Lingotto, I found myself questioning whether reaching a wider audience necessarily means losing the experimental identity that made C2C Festival what it is.

It’s also worth remembering that almost half of this year’s lineup featured artists who had already played at C2C Festival years ago, sometimes more than a decade earlier. In that sense, the 25th anniversary felt a bit like a family reunion. After all, when you celebrate such a big milestone, you want your whole tribe around you. And there must be something pretty special about welcoming back artists you championed years ago, only to see that some of the kids have grown up to become legends in their own right.

I also think that this debate needs to be placed in a wider context: at a time when the rising cost of living is bringing people into the streets, access to culture is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. With rent, groceries and everyday expenses taking up a growing share of people’s income, attending a concert is no longer always a spontaneous decision. Music hasn’t lost its audience, but audiences are being forced to become more selective about where they spend their money.

The live music industry reflects this contradiction: while major tours continue to attract enormous crowds, smaller venues, independent promoters and festivals face mounting financial pressures. Rising production costs, artist fees and the increasing expense of touring make it harder to take risks, especially when ticket sales are far from guaranteed.

Within this context, the presence of an artist like Robyn on C2C Festival’s lineup deserves a more nuanced reading. For some, booking an internationally recognised popstar represents a departure from the festival’s avant-garde identity, but does popularity automatically exclude experimentation? And could a more familiar name also provide an entry point into a musical world that audiences might otherwise never explore?

Someone buying a ticket to see Robyn might end up discovering an artist they had never heard of, and that is part of what makes festivals culturally valuable: they create connections between artists, genres and audiences.

Of course, financial sustainability shouldn’t become an excuse for abandoning artistic ambition, and criticism around ticket prices, accessibility or organisational shortcomings remain legitimate, regardless of the economic climate.

C2C Festival might have changed over the years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it has lost what made it interesting in the first place. Perhaps, being experimental today isn’t exclusively about presenting the most obscure artists, but also about creating the conditions for musical discovery to happen, especially when those spaces are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.

C2C Festival might not be the same festival it was 10 years ago. Whether that evolution represents progress or compromise is open to debate but what remains undeniable is the importance of having a festival in Italy capable of bringing together international artists, experimental music and audiences from different backgrounds. In an increasingly precarious cultural landscape, that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Rather than questioning whether C2C Festival is still avant-garde enough, maybe we should be asking how festivals can keep supporting experimental music when culture itself is becoming a luxury.

Now, Louie El Ser has decided to revisit “Track 10”, the beloved closing track from Charli XCX‘s 2017 mixtape Pop 2. Their version, titled “track10 pero despacio”, brings the song into their own musical world, mixing experimental electronic pop with Latin alternative influences, and wrapping the whole with a dreamy touch. This isn’t necessarily the kind of vibes we’d usually go for, but “Track 10” is one of our favourite Charli songs, and quite possibly one of our favourite songs of all time, so there was no way we were skipping this one. Louie has a personal connection to the original, which has influenced both their production and songwriting, and this reinterpretation feels like their way of paying tribute to a song that clearly means a lot to them. And we can certainly relate to that. Stream the remix below or via our Forecast Tape playlist on Spotify.

Now, GiGi Girls are revisiting their catalogue with a remix album featuring 18 new versions of their songs. First up is “L’Anima”, their gorgeous duet with John Moods, which Luigi Lazzaro has transformed into a proper Italo disco number. The remix brings a punchier rhythm and infectious 80s energy to the original, without losing its bittersweet charm. There’s an interesting contrast here, too: while the music invites you to dance, the lyrics question our increasingly complicated relationship with artificial intelligence. The song comes with an equally nostalgic video, created by Janosch Pugnaghi. Watch below and stream “L’Anima” remix via our Forecast Tape playlist on Spotify.

Made up of Frederik Fog Bruun and Liza Dries, who first connected through Cologne’s underground music scene, the Copenhagen based duo have been making some wonderfully unpredictable pop music. Their sound brings together the restless energy of UK bass, the haziness of shoegaze and the melancholy of 90s trip hop. Their debut EP, My Petswan, arrived in 2024, and for a while, the two were living in different countries, making music whenever they could visit each other or simply exchanging files online. That back and forth, both geographically and musically, has become part of what makes their music so distinctive.

One winter day, Liza wrote “ciao” in the snow covering a parked car and sent a picture to a friend. The photo eventually became the artwork for their single “moving in”, and the word stuck around. Since it can mean both hello and goodbye, it also seemed like a fitting choice for two musicians who had spent years moving between cities.

Released on October 23, their Ciao EP packs an impressive amount of ideas into just 16 minutes. Written and produced between Berlin, Groningen and Copenhagen, its five tracks are full of chopped vocals, restless breakbeats, fuzzy guitars and melodies that seem to appear out of nowhere. There’s even room for video game sounds, wonky flutes and broken glass. Already featured in our Best Songs of 2026 playlist, “moving in” turns a pounding club beat into something strangely sentimental, while “traffic lights” and “sad song” feel like hazy dreams you could dance to. Elsewhere, “make a waterfall” plays with fragmented samples, and “wonderland” brings a softer, more nostalgic touch.

And while the whole thing sounds effortlessly playful, getting some of these tracks to work wasn’t always easy. As Frederik explains, “Some of the tracks found their true form really late in the process after we thought it might never work out, becoming something really dear to us”. Perhaps that’s part of the charm of Ciao: even when the beats get messy and the melodies take unexpected turns, there’s always something warm and personal holding everything together.

Her new single, “My Collection,” released via Tambourhinoceros, is quite a departure from the alternative rock of her previous records. Inspired by her recent obsession with 1970s songwriters like Judee Sill, Dory Previn, and Scott Walker, the timeless and elegant track starts as a slightly woozy piano ballad before gradually introducing organ, trumpet, and Mellotron. The result is a curious mix of jazz, cabaret, and chamber pop, with Brimheim‘s warm vocals holding everything together. Interestingly, this change of direction came after months of struggling to write new material. As she puts it, “It felt like receiving a gift from the universe.”

“My Collection” follows a mysterious woman who collects things that other people have thrown away, from forgotten objects found in the street to treasures washed up on the beach. These discarded items are actually a metaphor for the parts of ourselves we tend to hide because others don’t appreciate them. It’s a rather sweet idea, although there’s a darker twist: the collector is very protective of her treasures, and anyone who disrespects them might not make it out alive.

The accompanying video, directed by Stine Emil, who previously worked with Brimheim on “Brand New Woman” and “Normies,” was filmed on an old horse farm. With its deliberately timeless atmosphere, it’s hard to tell whether we’re watching something from the present or a century ago. But it is a fitting visual companion for a song that feels nostalgic and wonderfully peculiar.

Despite all that experience, Littauer is only now getting ready to release his debut solo album. Titled Heartbreak Stew, the record arrives on November 13 via Danish label Escho. His previous single, “Okay,” has already made its way into our Best Songs of 2026 playlist, and now Yangze is giving us one last taste of what’s to come.

Despite its rather blunt title, “F*** No” is actually a tender, bittersweet ballad. Built around delicate guitar arpeggios, the track captures that strange feeling of leaving something behind, whether it’s a city, a relationship, or a bit of both. Listen below.

Now she’s back with “Dream Q”, a gorgeous new track that finds her exploring the more delicate side of electronic music. Her unmistakable voice floats over shimmering synths and ethereal melodies, punctuated by delicate harpsichord notes, while the restless, almost mechanical percussion brings a welcome contrast. The whole thing gradually unfolds, blossoming into something even more beautiful in its second half. Roby wrote and recorded most of the song during a 2024 residency at Canada’s National Music Centre, where she also began working on her third album.

The single comes with an equally elegant video directed by Tess Roby herself, filmed alongside Hugo Bernier and edited by Trevor Blumas of E-Prime. Shot along the striking white cliffs of southern England, the cinematic clip follows her wandering through an almost otherworldly landscape. Watch and support below.

On “You Move”, Avery Friedman is in a more playful and confident mood. The guitars are louder, the rhythms more insistent, and there’s a restless energy running through the whole song. Friedman is still interested in the complicated feelings that make us human, but she addresses them in a more straightforward way. This time, she’s singing about the excitement of falling for someone when everything else in your life feels uncertain. It’s about letting yourself want something, even when you have no idea where it’s going.

As she explains, “You Move is about savoring the unexpected fruits that reveal themselves amid times of uprootedness. It is a song about putting trust in the glimmer of new love, and carefully sowing the seeds for it to sustain.” There’s something lovely about the way the song balances desire with vulnerability. Friedman sounds more willing than ever to follow her instincts and enjoy the moment, without needing to know what comes next.

If you liked New Thing, you’ll be happy to know that “You Move” is actually the first single from her upcoming sophomore album, expected in 2027.