Sonic Protest is a yearly

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

focused on left field music genres like

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

and

avant garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original eleme ...

. The first edition of Sonic Protest took place in 2003. The editions from 2003 till 2011 took place in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Acts like

Deerhoof Deerhoof is an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. It consists of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band ...

, Shit & Shine, Noël Akchoté, Charles Hayward, Keiji Haino and many others have performed at this festival. At the 2006 and 2008 editions compilation cds with all the artists featured on the festival were released The 2012 edition was set up bigger than the predecessing editions and took place in five cities:

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

and

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. Local organisations such as GRIM in Marseille, supported the festival in the other cities.

Line up 2003

Hawk and Hacksaw,

Sunroof A sunroof is a movable panel that opens to uncover a window in an automobile roof, allowing light and fresh air to enter the passenger compartment. Sunroofs can be manually operated or motor driven, and are available in many shapes, sizes and s ...

, Lena Circus, Anla Courtis, Documents, Los Lichis.

Line up 2004

Pelt A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

, Noxagt, Jérôme Noetinger, Blood Stereo, and others

Line up 2005

Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee—a tall, hairy, highly intelligent species originating from the planet Kashyyyk. He is tall, and typically wears only a bandolier an ...

Duracell Duracell Inc. is an American manufacturer of alkaline batteries, specialty cells, and rechargeables; it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2016. The company has its origins in the 1920s, through the work of Samuel Ruben a ...

, Esquilax, Excepter,

Gang Gang Dance Gang Gang Dance is an American band based in Manhattan, New York City. They are known for their distinctive sound which blends elements of psych-rock, ambient electronics, hip-hop, and Eastern music influences with the vocals of singer Lizzi ...

, Magik Markers,

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, Voltage#Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units, International System of Uni ...

, and others

Line up 2006

Volcano The Bear,

Monno Monno (Camunian dialect, Camunian: ) is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is situated above the right bank of the river Oglio, in upper Val Camonica. Geography Location Monno is located along the road which ...

Don Caballero Don Caballero (often shortened by members as 'Don Cab') was an American math rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although the band has had numerous lineup changes with co-founder Damon Che (drums and percussion) being the only constant m ...

, Hair Police,

Ben Wallers Benedict Roger Wallers, also known as The Rebel, is the frontman, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the band Country Teasers. His lyrics often deal with taboo subjects such as racism, sexism and xenophobia from first-person standpoints. B ...

, Bul Bul (AU), Viki, and others. We Jam Econo (documentary about

Minutemen Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Min ...

Line up 2007

No-Neck Blues Band, Astral Social Club, Tetuki Akiyama, Harry Merry, and others

Line up 2008

, Parenthetical Girls, Dimension X, Noël Akchoté, Shit and Shine, Jean-Louis Costes, and others

Line up 2010

Fred Bigot, Vincent Epplay, Aarnaud Maguet, Opera Mort, Dum Dum Boys, and others.

Line up 2011

Pekka Airaksinen (FI), Das Synthetische Mischgewebe (DE, FR), Dror Feiler (SE), Rinji Fukuoka (JP), Sachiko (JP), Andrew Chalk & Timo van Luijk, Astma (RU),

Sightings Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something previously unrecognized as meaningful, "portal". In sciences and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and involves providin ...

(US), Tom Smith, K-Branding (BE), and others.

Line up 2012

* Paris: Rice Corpse,

Jozef van Wissem Jozef van Wissem (born 22 November 1962) is a Dutch minimalist composer and lute player In 2013 Van Wissem won the Cannes Soundtrack Award for the score of '' Only Lovers Left Alive'' at the Cannes Film Festival. Career Jozef van Wissem was b ...

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed the Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

, Keiji Haino, Flipper, Terrie Ex ( The Ex & Paal Nilssen-Love), Eugene S. Robinson, Truus de Groot, Plus Instruments, Tapetronic, and others * Marseille: Tony Conrad, Chantal Morte, Keiji Haino, Terrie Ex & Paal Nilsson-Love, Bim Johnson,

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars (band), Liars, Jad Fair ...

( Home Swinger workshop & ensemble performance), and others. * Reims: Terrie Ex & Paal Nilssen-Love, Super Reverb,

Justice Yeldham Lucas Abela (born 7 May 1972), also known by the stage name Justice Yeldham, is an Australian noise music, noise musician. He is most famous for creating an instrument made from a diamond-shaped pane of glass, fitted with contact microphones and ...

, Tapetronic and others. * Tours: Super Reverb, Plus Instruments, Tapetronic * Dijon: Keiji Haino, Tapetronic

Line up 2013

* The Dead C *

The Red Krayola Red Krayola (originally Red Crayola) is an American avant rock band from Houston, Texas formed in 1966 by the trio of singer/guitarist Mayo Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme, and bassist Steve Cunningham. The group were part of the 1960s Te ...

* ...

Line up 2014

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by Masami Akita, best known for a style of harsh noise music. Since 1980, Akita has released over 500 recordings and collaborated with numerous artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada a ...

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

* ...

References and sources

External links

Official website of Sonic Protest
{{Electronic music festival 2003 establishments in France Experimental music festivals Noise music Electronic music festivals in France Electroacoustic music festivals Music festivals established in 2003