Dirtbound13, LemanCapo, Astralproject1on, Erdem, Demain C Mieux et Maeve Chustar live at the Suisse Workshop, Lausanne, October 17.
A dark coworking space humming with joy, excitement, and restless energy. I arrive early, wandering through the venue like an explorer before the crowd awakens. A smoking room. A game room. An arcade console on a flat screen, built, I’m told, by one of the music acts of the night LemanCapo. Controller in hand, I start chatting with one of the acts.
The evening will close with the Dutch duo Maeve Chustar — Noa and Rayan — pure screamo laced with distorted guitars and free-form improvisation. We talk about touring, the venues they’ve set ablaze with their sound. We talk about emo, shoegaze, screamo… they explain how they work, how they blend energy and vulnerability. We exchange about influences, including basketball. Their sound is singular – they bulldozed the Workshop with raw power, a soft yet in-your-face attitude but we will come back to it later.
Astralproject1on is like a guide who leads his companions on an evening out. The various productions of the Lausanne artist released on different platforms have helped put this very town on the map. And tonight’s whole crew is following in his footsteps. The protean musical genre is particularly rich, and each guest tonight brings their own unique style. That’s what we’re going to review.
For now, the night belongs to a Lausanne constellation of talents : Erdem, LemanCapo, Dirtbound13, Demain C Mieux, and AstralProject1on. Thanks to the networking power of SoundCloud (and similar platforms), this generation of bedroom producers has learned to sculpt its sonic worlds with tools like Ableton or Reaper — drawing from anime culture, gothic graphic novels, pop surrealism, and video games.
Dirtbound13, Astralproject1on, LemanCapo, Erdem and the crowd.
First up on stage: Dirtbound13 (photos above). The show begins around 10 p.m. with Cainhurst, a nod to Bloodborne in the title. Dirtbound13’s music is emotional, melodic, built on short progressive sequences — a melting pot of pop subgenres (Kubrick, Lynch references), music waves from drill to drone, from trap to emo.
The lyrics speak of mental prisons, bleeding universes, impossible love and fantastical despair — a poetry in red and black, almost Stendhalian in contrast yet far more expansive in inspiration. It’s vivid, cinematic poetry: melodies that strike straight to the heart, lyrics whispered rather than screamed. The tracks are short, raw, and piercing — each one landing like a wound and a revelation.
Erdem, master of ceremonies, sculpts sound like a surgeon. On the computer screen placed on stage, the waveform pulses, visual proof of how meticulous and precise each track is. All night long, the performance revolves around a single microphone, passed from hand to hand, uniting voices in an elegant choreography of sharing and chaos. Erdem serves up refreshing, dreamy music, with youthful notes in a rich sound with distant, oriental influences and references to the world. His rap is luminous and his stage presence serves the purpose well.
Charismatic, LemanCapo brings the people into his dreampop constellation of songs
LemanCapo follows with a set of upbeat “transgressive emo hits” in French and English, sealing the promise with grooves that shimmer in the dark, a Lausanne dreamscape, glowing from within. Ethereal inspirations come out of LemanCapo mix. The tide is wild, the music soothing, the interaction with the audience on a real high. Welcome to the pleasure musical dome. Charismatic, LemanCapo brings the people into his dreampop constellation of songs.
AstralProject1on is hitting the stage as an asteroid. As a « grand frère » who backs up his partners, he invites them within his 40 minute long set, the emotion as real as blood under the skin. We feel the unity. This line-up is united. Erdem, watching the whole music set up unfolds as a DJ. « Astral » moves like Marc Bolan resurrected in 2025 — a glam ghost wired to an electric soul, in a Soundcloud rap scene. He has a real strong presence. It is undeniable. Astralproject1on’s music is an ode to reverie, with strident then cottony sounds, alternating between a smooth voice and controlled belches over saturated drum and bass beats. There is research and inventiveness at « Astral ». We are in a cinematic art house sound. And the movie is freaking good.
Then, the dance begins anew, AstralProject1on and Dirtbound13 bond again like they did a bit before during Dirtbound’s set with Tamagotchi, that hypnotic pulse that brings bodies and souls together in fluid motion. I like this non-stop back-and-forth call to collaboration… with just one mike.
The last part of the night is an attempt to break rigid barriers, let our souls loose. To me there’s a direct lineage with the New York noise and electroclash scene in the proposition of both Dirtbound13, LemanCapo, Erdem and Astral Project1on and a kinship with the punk hardcore scene. Demain C Mieux, whose track Ça va mieux crackles with tender rage. The singer raps and repeats “J’arrive pas dire ce que je ressens » and he is transforming the workshop space into a moshpit of emotions and pogo influenced moves of the spectators/dancers.
Finally, Maeve Chustar takes the stage: a screamo duo unleashing their energy in black-metal-inspired waves. It’s fun, animal, wild, spectacular — yet strangely peaceful at times, a pure expression of what comes from deep inside the gut. Noa’s screaming vocals come in waves, alternating with moments of melodic calm, anchored by thunderous guitar riffs that evoke the spirit of Sonic Youth.
Links :
Astralproject1on, Demain C Mieux, Dirtbound13 Erdem LemanCapo Maeve Chustar
Suississimo 