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SYPHEN x BABA YAGA'S HUT PRESENTS:Slikback, Lord Spikeheart, Aho Ssan, Blood of Aza & Mvcoko at the ICA
May 22nd, 6.30 to 11pm
DIASPORIC EXPLORATIONS
A celebration of the black diaspora through sonic dualities.
SYPHEN, Baba Yagas Hut and the ICA team up to bring some of the most exciting artists from the black diaspora together for a deep dive into experimentalism.
Slikback
Slikback (real name: Fredrick M Njau) is an electronic producer from Nairobi, Kenya mainly focusing on experimental music, noise, bass and high intensity rhythms. Over the years his sound has morphed into various forms all meant to be an expression of different ideas and emotions. Unbound by any specific thing, his unique blend of sounds can be found in his multiple releases.
“Attrition" (July 18, 2025) marks his first full-length album for Planet Mu, delivering an immersive melding of cinema and game sound design with tough dance music, drawing on elements of Gqom, Dubstep, Tech-Step, and Hardcore Techno. It's like a sci-fi film for the ears, exploring a chain of events with dark atmospheres and dramatic pacing; trapdoors and auditory jump scares. A standout moment in Slikback’s career, "Attrition" is a masterclass in sound design and vision. Strange yet beautiful, intense yet rewarding.
Lord Spikeheart
Dedicated to his iconic grandmother Muthoni wa Kirima, the only woman to earn the rank of Field Marshal during Kenya's Mau Mau uprising against British colonists, Lord Spikeheart's long-awaited solo debut 'The Adept' is an album that seethes with revolutionary energy. He's a unique vocalist and enigmatic storyteller who's found his niche in the space between genres, freely mangling elements of death metal and grindcore with rap, mystical folkloric incantations and ear-splitting techno in his unrelenting search for peak sonic intensity. Screaming, growling and rhyming in Kikuyu, Kiswahili and English, he cuts an idiosyncratic shape into the cultural landscape, shining a spotlight on the African continent's hardest, heaviest music.
Aho Ssan
Aho Ssan is the artist name of Paris based Niamké Désiré. After studying graphic design and cinema, he began to compose electronic music and create his own digital instruments. His debut LP Simulacrum was released earlier this year via Subtext Recordings. Based on the concept of Jean Baudrillard, it pitches society’s presentation of inclusivity and equality against his own experience of growing up black in France.
Blood of Aza
Blood of Aza is a London-based artist, producer, and DJ whose blissful sonic palette ranges from soothing MIDI lullaby magic and speaker-blowing club edits, to hell-raising ambient soundscapes. Gaining prominence on SoundCloud by releasing remixes of pop and rap idols, the 21-year-old released her debut EP, “Beneath Wings,” on Berlin-based label Soulfeeder in late 2022 before self-releasing album I Heard Your Calls in 2024. Deftly ricocheting between dissonant noise and delicate atmospherics, Blood of Aza is a consummate purveyor of extreme
MVCOKO
MVCOKO is London-based dj, producer and founder of SYPHEN. Their work engages with the extremities of emotion - drawing on anguish, rage and tension as core materials. Through layered, narrative-driven sets, MVCOKO uses sound as a form of emotional processing, tracing arcs that shift between chaos and calm, abrasion and beauty. Their sets are relentless and unpredictable, distorted and melancholic blending noise, punk, industrial, hardcore, film scores, ambient and more. Each performance brings a state of intensity, reflection and surrender through sonic storytelling.
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Event Venue
ICA Institute Of Contemporary Art, The Mall London SW1Y 5AH,London, United Kingdom
Tickets
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