CTM Festival on Telegram
The official channel of Berlin's festival for adventurous music and art: club and concert announcements, the first CTM 2027 names and open calls for sound artists.
What it is
CTM Festival is a Berlin festival that describes itself as a "Festival for Adventurous Music and Art". Its official Telegram channel, linked straight from the festival's official website, runs all year rather than only around festival week. Posts are short, in English, and written by people who clearly enjoy describing sound: doom-folk gets called "blackened", microtonal electronics are said to "breathe with uncanny organic life".
When we checked, the channel had around 3,000 subscribers and was posting several times a week. The posts fall into three groups. First, off-season shows in Berlin: Irish doom-folk from One Leg One Eye with Bridget Ferrill, modular electronics from Rashad Becker, the Berlin debut of Krallice. Second, announcements for the next festival. Third, open calls and residencies for musicians and sound researchers.
Why we picked it
Experimental music is hard to find by accident. Streaming algorithms pull you back toward the familiar, while a festival like this is programmed by curators who have followed the scene for years. In September the channel announced the first artists for CTM 2027: global hardcore from A.N.I., Evil Grimace and NZIRIA, plus audiovisual album premieres from Modeselektor, Dis Fig and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. A separate post explained that Modeselektor's new album "MDSLKTR" will get its world premiere at the festival. Another announced two concerts by Kali Malone at the Gedächtniskirche for her new album "Burning Song", with Lucy Railton on cello and Stephen O'Malley on acoustic guitar.
Even if you never make it to Berlin, every announcement doubles as a listening list. Read about the "psyched-out hardcore hypnosis" of Spekki Webu and Matti Vilho's visual worlds, then go and look up the records.
The open calls are the other reason to follow. The Spatial Audio Experimentation Lab offered several days of hands-on work on how space can become part of a composition, with applications open until 15 October 2026. There was also a call for Vorspiel, the citywide program in which independent Berlin spaces open their doors from 15 to 31 January 2027.
Where to start
- Scroll back to the September posts with the first CTM 2027 names and note the artists you don't know.
- Find the Kali Malone announcement and listen to her earlier records before the new one arrives.
- If you make music or work with sound, watch for posts marked Open Call.
- Turn on notifications if you're ever in Berlin. Concerts tend to be announced a week or two ahead.
Who it's for
People who listen to ambient, drone, noise, experimental electronics and anything else that doesn't fit a genre playlist. Musicians looking for residencies and calls in Europe. And anyone planning a trip to Berlin in late January, when the festival takes place. Everything is in English, and most of what matters is names and dates.
Quick answers
Is this the festival's official channel? Yes. It's linked from the festival's official website.
What language are the posts in? English.
Is it useful if I'm not going to Berlin? Yes. The announcements work as ready-made listening lists, and the open calls accept applications from artists in many countries.
