Dead Neanderthals were due to celebrate their tenth anniversary at the ill-fated 2020 edition of Roadburn Festival, with a series of special sets and collaborations that highlighted exactly why they are such an enduring and captivating part of the Dutch underground music scene. With those plans shelved, at least for now, you’d be forgiven for thinking things have been quiet at Dead Neanderthals HQ.

On the contrary…

With the irrepressible duo bursting at the seams with creative ideas, we knew they’d be perfect candidates for one of the all new commissioned projects for Roadburn Redux. At the time of writing this, the project is still being developed but already has us hooked, keen to find out exactly what’s in store come April. Otto and René have teamed up with Dutch singer/songwriter Aafke Romeijn, and Jonge Woudloper, one of the musicians in Aafke’s band, to create IXXO.

Each letter of the title represents one of the key participants, who will join together to perform a brand new Krautrock-inspired composition, heavy on the synths but promising warmth and depth. The spark for this collaboration dates back to 2012 when Aafke toured in the UK with Dead Neanderthals, and nine years later, the stars have aligned for this specific bit of magic to be made a reality.

We asked them for more insight on IXXO and this is what they told us:
“For this commissioned piece we’ve got one thing to say and we’re gonna stick to it. IXXO is all about creating a headspace that enables you to get lost in the music and making the micro-movements feel like major changes. For each of us this means extreme restraint and perseverance at the same time. None of us has a traditional musical role in this piece to fall back on, so all expression is aimed at strengthening the central core of what IXXO is.”
Getting lost in music sounds exactly like what we need right now, so count us in… 

credits

released April 22, 2022