Sofia Underground 2025 welcomes aya - a human musician from the North Atlantic famous for a distorted, deconstructed and raw sound that fundamentally shakes and reshapes the body.
Melding the sprawling bifurcations of soundsystem culture with delocalised internet scenes and post-hardcore reminiscences, she casts stark sculptures in a genre alloy.
In October 2021 she released her debut LP ‘im hole’ to great critical response - Pitchfork’s Best New Music chief among the lot. Aya runs the aforementioned label YCO with BFTT and has scored projects for the BBC, Manchester International Festival, NTS and CTM Festival. Her work has been released with labels such as Hyperdub, YCO, Tri Angle, Wisdom Teeth and Astral Plane recordings.
Her new album Hexed (28.03, Hyperdub) was quickly dubbed "Best New Music" by Pitchfork and "Album of the Week" by The Quietus among other accolades. To celebrate the new release SU2025 has invited aya for her debut set in Bulgaria along SUTRA’s very own SAUD (RS), among other local legends.
SAUD joins the night and colors the vitalist legacy of hardcore continuum's breakbeat patterns with contemporary, iridescent gradients to craft a renewed expression of rhythmic psychedelia. Alongside Dorian Fuk, he is the founder of Belgrade's future-oriented rave platform SUTRA that has brought artists such as Gabber Modus Operandi, Aïsha Devi, ZULI, Slikback, Batu, ABADIR, Aya and many more.
Since his Boiler Room in 2019, SAUD has positioned himself as Belgrade's foremost fwd-thinking DJ, specializing in multicolour hypersonics laid across divergent rhythms and tempi, never losing the grip on dynamics and physicality. He has played at Nyege in Uganda as well as NYC, Berlin, France, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Czechia, Italy, Poland, Beirut, Istanbul, Cairo, and all around the Balkans.
These two legends will be joined by local icons cccvvv, Fal$e from Kofti Squad (BG), Stefmino, Alkemist, and Bezdaren.
Vasil Vladimirov, known by his aliases cccvvv, DJ Cute Cat, and Vasil Duran, is a versatile DJ based in Sofia. As cccvvv, he seamlessly blends genres, earning a reputation across the city's top clubs and local festivals. Each alias represents a distinct musical style, showcasing his range and creativity in the underground scene.