Dubtopia 15 years in ZW
Dubtopia is going into its 15th year, and we are celebrating round 2 of 3, this time at Zentralwäscherei in Zurich. Based at Dachstock in Reitschule, Dubtopia draws audiences from all over Switzerland and beyond as the longest-running Dub & Dubstep session — always with a soundsystem and no compromise! Some might remember that Dubtopia was in Zurich back in 2013 at the ABS squat in Labitzke-Areal, and it's a fond memory. Let's wheel forward to the present: this is our 30th session, and we are running at a high pace, delivering the weight and the vibe twice a year, alongside operating the record labels. Over the years, we've had many key figures of the scene: from Mala to Pinch, from Sicaria Sound to Darwin, from Commodo to Kahn, and from Vivek to Om Unit, just to name a few.
This session shines bright with OJOO hailing from Belgium. Seeing them at festivals this summer, they completely hit the nail on the head with her impeccable energy and thoughtful selection, always keeping the dubwise ethos afloat. Flanked by local vibe researcher CRI, who has proved to bring all elements for an engaged dancefloor regardless of genre boundaries, and the hosts and soul of Dubtopia, phrex & Cutkachi, who'll be playing a very rare back-to-back set with timeless sonic goodies from the last 20 years of dubstep history. Warming up the space with foundation sound and steppers is the soundsystem-provider: Redubtion Soundsystem. They didn't just build one of the heaviest dub-soundsystems in Switzerland; they are also able to set the tone for the night with an expertise and profoundness in the past and present of Dub, Roots, and Steppers.
Is it over yet? No, it isn't!
In KW, Send/Return Soundsystem will provide the Speakerstacks for a diverse selection of DJs playing beyond strict dancefloor mechanisms. First diving into a wider spectrum of dubwiseness by Timnah, one of the most poignant and profound DJs in the game for well over two decades. Taking it from there, Chewlie, whose hyper-emotive soundscapes run deep, will make you feel all fuzzy before Send/Return Soundsystem, hailing from Basel and providing the speaker stacks, have made themselves a name with an ever-evolving culture of supportive sound-empowerement and on-point selection JABY, usually playing hypereclectic sets combining a wide variety of Afrocentric music, will showcase the calmer, more introspective side of her selection. Closing KW are the legends who brought dubstep to the center of attention in Zurich back in the late 2000s / early 2010s. Still unforgotten: their seminal Dubexmachina nights at Club Cabaret.
Dubexmachina is Guyus and new.com. Guyus, a DJ who never disappoints with his classy and momentum-seeking knee-deep selection of Grime, Dubstep, and bass-centric music, is teaming up with new.com, curator, dj and producer who runs his own label and mix series comfortnoise, always seeking the foggy experimentations of dubwiseness.
As an add-on, BR will be a space to rest your ears, dive into 15 years of screen-printed Dubtopia posters, and dig through a crate of records.
You'll also be able to explore the exhibition Diaspora Frequencies, which revolves around sound system culture in the Philippines and its relationship to community, diaspora, and informal infrastructures.
culture in the Philippines and its relationship to community, diaspora, and informal infrastructures.
TICKETS AVAILABLE ALSO AT THE DOOR!
Saturday 10 October 2026
Google calendar
Outlook
iCal
Kulturraum Zentralwäscherei GROSSE HALLE – Zürich
- Doors open at:
22:00 - Event starts at:
22:00
Organized by: Kulturraum Zentralwäscherei
Send and Return Sound
Send and Return Sound featuring Ortovis and Nightmanager, the Basel based soundsystem bringing some of the finest dubplates of percussive halftimers. A seriously powerful and heavyweight soundsystem, built to shake the dancefloor with deep bass pressure and weight. They’ll also be playing some forthcoming releases from their very own label, Bodywarmer.
Redubtion Sound system
Active since 2013 and originating from Gruyère, Redubtion is above all a collective of sound system culture ethusiasts, in a Dub style. From building their own sound to music production and through their involvement with the association La SouCHe, they make it a point of honor to do by themselves as much as possible.
ojoo
OJOO is a Brussels-based, Moroccan-born musician, selector and organiser whose work hits where sound, politics and community collide, all shaped by mighty physical bass weight.
They’re part of Psst, an intersectional feminist collective, and co-builder of the Pssound System, a fully DIY rig built from the ground up by and for marginalised genders. Not a flex, but an act of resistance. Plywood, wires, community. Raised on bootleg CD culture and shaped by constraint, OJOO found their voice in the pressure zones between dubplate and distortion. No clean lines, no polite transitions. Just raw blends, concrete rhythms, sirens, and silence.
They’ve played Unsound, Out.fest, Dekmantel, but you’re just as likely to hear them rinsing bass weight at warehouse squat parties or partaking in dub EQ workshops off the grid. Regular radio on Kiosk (Brussels) and Noods (Bristol) lets them build out their world besides the dancefloor.
They also curate nights, bringing their vision to venues and festivals; their latest shows in 2025 were at Botanique and Listen Festival, inviting artists to their home-town including Dali de Saint Paul, Grove, DJ Marcelle, Shackleton, Demdike Stare, and more.
OJOO doesn’t play music to pay homage, they live it, twist it, and push it to rupture. Every set is a terrain of pressure: political, sonic, personal.
CRI
CRi is a DJ from Zurich whose musical roots lie in the intersections of hip hop and funk. Over time, her sound has expanded to embrace a broad spectrum of genres, from UK garage and jungle to global bass, breaks, and psychedelic trance elements. Her sets are characterized by rhythmic energy and heavy basslines, always leaving space for moments of melody and familiar tunes. As a member of the collective Beach Club Underground, she plays an active role in the creative pulse shaping Zurich’s club and music scene.
phrex & Cutkachi
phrex & Cutkachi will be playing a very rare back-to-back set with timeless sonic goodies from the last 20 years of dubstep history.
Timnah
Timnah lives, works and feeds the cats in the Northwestern extremities of Switzerland. Brought up in her parents’ jazz clubs and deeply influenced by her brother’s love for dub and soundsystem culture, she started DJing just after the massively feared Millenium Bug had threatened to offset our relation to time and space. Dedicated to drawing her own map of late 20th century sonic landscapes, she spent the early 2000s exploring 90s electronics including breakbeat, triphop, ambient techno, drum&bass, house and jungle. After a short but sweet excursion into producing in the early 2010s, Timnah dedicated herself fully to spinning the wheels and transversing genres, gravitating towards her current signature sound that spans immersive sound baths and
intergalactic carpet rides in half-time. Timnah is a member of Amenthia Recordings and a recent addition to the A Walking Contradiction Collective.
JABY
The sets of Basel based DJ, sound artist and musician, consist of bass-heavy sound, groovy rhythm and melodic freedom. her main musical influence is of african descent, centering Black sounds and culture. JABY combines different afrocentric genres from below, as well as dub-tunes or grime, and plays a selection of her favourite discoveries, revolutionizing club music through the lens of the Black experience.
Chewlie
Julia Häller (she/none) aka Chewlie is a Bern-based producer, visual artist, and DJ navigating the fringes of bass music with a fondness for asymmetry and atmosphere. Her sound is rooted in Leftfield Bass, Deconstructed, and Ambient - exploring the balance between weight and space, tension and release. Both meditative and floor-focused, her live sets and productions drift through eerie textures and fractured rhythms, always with a quiet, deliberate intensity.
dubexmachina soundsystem
Guyus and newdotcom joined forces in 2007 with their long-running party series dubexmachina, which brought many key figures of the early dubstep and bass music scenes to Zürich. They soon adopted the name dubexmachina soundsystem for back-to-back sets that blend their diverse backgrounds in drum’n’bass / jungle and dub techno with their shared love for classic dub, dubstep foundations and cutting edge bass music. Today, their selections span a wide range of styles and tempos, united by a common thread of low frequencies, space, and syncopated rhythms. Get ready for a deep sonic exploration!
