In 2020, The Flenser will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the label’s first release. The San Francisco based label has been committed to releasing experimental, avant-garde music for a whole decade – which – naturally – has not escaped our notice here at Roadburn HQ. Among the bands that have a place in the histories of both Roadburn and The Flenser are pivotal artists such as Wreck & Reference, Panopticon, Planning For Burial, Bell Witch – and of course, Have A Nice Life.

To celebrate this milestone and to acknowledge the impact that The Flenser has had on our record collections and the broader musical landscape we have invited several of the label’s current artists to perform at Roadburn 2020. The umbrella of The Flenser showcase gathers together five essential artists who will help to define Roadburn 2020, and the future of this incredibly special label.

The Flenser label manager, Jonathan Tuite comments: “Roadburn is my absolute favorite festival in the world. The lineup is always diverse, the audience enthusiastic, and the curation is second to none. I can’t think of a more appropriate place for The Flenser to celebrate our ten years of existence.”

Madeline Johnston AKA Midwife will make her Flenser debut in early 2020 with her second full length Forever. Whilst we anticipate the arrival of new music, thankfully there is a 2017 album Like Author, Like Daughter to tide us over.

As a multi-instrumentalist, Madeline has sculpted a fuzzy take on experimental dream pop, drenched in melody and punctuated with distortion. Despite a central theme of “devastation” Midwife makes for nuanced and evocative easy listening that can’t help but feel like something of an audio honey trap. We’ll have to wait until April to find out exactly what lurks beneath the surface…