Songs like intimate conversations in the middle of the night – ruka is honest, approachable, and direct. Modern pop mixed with organic sounds and rock influences. Inspired by artists such as Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams, her music particularly appeals to a generation caught between heartbreak, loss, and the search for their own identity. With themes such as grief, anxiety, and the silent struggles of growing up, ruka bares her soul in her lyrics, always with the aim of giving listeners a sense of being understood.

LIVE & FREE is sponsored by:
Landesmusikrat NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia State Music Council)
Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

On Thursday, November 20, Schleuse Zwei will be transformed into a metaphysical space of the subconscious by artist Mona Steinwidder's music project, Museum Of No Art.

Since the release of her first album in 2020 on the Canadian label Séance Centre, Steinwidder has played concerts in many different venues, often in unusual contexts. For example, at the Minimal Music Festival in Amsterdam, where she played a “wake-up concert” for a sleeping audience. The artist has also created project-based works that are always on the borderline with visual art, such as “site-specific music” for the contemporary art space Het Hem (also in Amsterdam) and the soundtrack to the poems of artist Mitko Mitkov.

On her second album, “A Serpent Called Emit,” released in 2024 on the tape label Cosima Pitz, her focus is on the clarinet and other woodwind instruments. Over a period of two years, she has repeatedly developed new approaches to these instruments. Minimalism and complexity revolve organically around each other, creating connections between the poles. The music transports us to surreal and unknown places—this time into the shadow of a floating stone.

In the summer of 2025, her latest EP, “Travelling at the Speed of Time: With Museum Of No Art,” was released on the Dispari label. In the Schleuse, you can experience this special mix of music.

On Saturday, November 22, Schleuse Zwei will once again become a place for imaginative ventures. That's when Perfektomat and Retrogott will really let loose here. For the band, both hip hop and jazz are expressions of a musical attitude whose greatest strength lies in maximum openness to creative experimentation without blinders.

Their signature sound is therefore unique, rooted in the scene, ambitious, and at the same time casually down-to-earth—born in the coordinate system between soulful bass, straight boom bap beats, and playful funk.

Added to this is the lyrical quality of Retrogotts' texts: this is German spoken word par excellence, beyond commercial clichés, which hits you right in the heart and mind. It's about connection and the impossibility of it, about difference and commonality as two sides of the same coin.

After their debut “Zeit Hat Uns,” which caused a sensation in 2023, the band will present their new album, due out on November 7, 2025, at the Musikbar im Bunker. It has the working title “Enteignung!” (Expropriation!) and will be released on ENTBS.

Line-up:
Retrogott – vocals, DJ, trumpet
Simon Below – keyboards
Joshua Knauber – drums
Joscha Oetz – bass

LINE UP //

Kuoppamäki & Herbst
Multipolar
Phasenmensch & Antoine Saint-Martin
Eyal Talmor
Laktose Intolerant (DJ)

Supported by:
Kunst- und Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf
Kulturamt Düsseldorf

Female Empowerment in Schleuse Zwei: On Wednesday, December 3, Düsseldorf-based independent artist, producer, and songwriter Thunder Bae (Natalie-Isabel Knopps) will thrill us with her strength and her sound. Genre-wise, we find ourselves somewhere between electronic art pop and romantic grunge.

She recently recorded an entire album with the cult band Propaganda and is featured on their remix album alongside acts such as Tangerine Dream, Moby, and Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka). At the same time, she is writing her debut album, which is characterized by female empowerment, radical honesty, and themes such as transience, love, and identity.

With songs like Wasteland, Dance of Broken Hearts, and Supernova, Thunder Bae has already reached several million streams—and this is just the beginning of her journey.

Supported by: 
Cultural Office of the State Capital Düsseldorf
District Representation 3
Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf Art and Culture Foundation
Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland

sipgate Undays
In cooperation with sipgate, Schleuse Zwei has launched sipgate undays – classic off days during touring, when concerts are not usually held. We are delighted to be able to entertain you on these very days with a diverse mix of musical treats in the music bar at Bilker Bunker.

On Sunday, December 7: Die Wilde Jagd – live

Die Wilde Jagd is the music project of producer and songwriter Sebastian Lee Philipp, who has been working for ten years on a multi-layered version of avant-pop that has long attracted international attention. With minimalist, dark intensity, Die Wilde Jagd weaves a dense and atmospheric web of drama, romance, ecstasy, and melancholy.

The project has released four studio albums and several EPs, followed by numerous international tours and concerts. The latest work, “Lux Tenera – A Rite to Joy,” a commissioned composition for the Roadburn Festival, was created in collaboration with the Grammy-winning Metropole Orkest.

At Schleuse Zwei in Düsseldorf, Die Wilde Jagd will present a special club set as a duo with live drums, focusing on songs from the first two albums.

In their performances, Frauke Berg, Julia Bünnagel, and Anja Lautermann develop astonishing approaches to sound textures that are based on the compositional structures of “new music” on the one hand, while on the other hand producing architecturally inspired constructions or building on improvisational elements. Microphoned objects, synthetic and electronic sounds, classical, homemade analog and digital instruments, sampled fragments, prepared records, and the human voice create their own internal mechanics.

Noises, eccentric rhythms, voice, and experimental melodies form the repetitive, hypnotic sound of the three musicians. Expansive noise merges into finely chiseled, minimalist atmospheres that grow into menacingly rough, rumbling beats – the result is a fascinating musical hybrid of performance, modern electronic music, sound generation experiments, and idiosyncratic house music.

In their performances, Berg/Bünnagel/Lautermann use sound art to address fundamental questions of belonging, boundaries, stability, changeability, permeability, dominance, but also trust, affection, solidarity, and individuality – in order to question different perspectives, patterns, and visions with regard to complex contexts through this artistic practice. Their performances are always forays into new, individual sounds and structures that open up exciting approaches for listeners from a wide variety of backgrounds.

On Wednesday, December 17, there will be two pre-Christmas gifts for lovers of rock, post-punk, and noise pop: Marquis fet. .gio and Brave Men Run will give a double concert at the Musikbar im Bunker—and admission is free!

The four-piece Düsseldorf art rock band Marquis was formed in January 2020 by Steven Höke (guitar, synthesizer), Jan Brüggemann (guitar), Cédric Schroers aka “c-ouvert” (drums, sampler, vocals), and Philip Marx (bass, vocals). The band released their first album in October 2025.

Their music is characterized by its diversity of sound – from atmospheric, calm sounds to distorted, aggressive post-punk. Marquis has taken an open approach so far, collaborating with external musicians, for example. So it's no surprise that they will be hosting Giovanna Gauss aka .gio at Schleuse Zwei.

The Düsseldorf artist has her head in the clouds and her heart on her sleeve. She wraps her thoughts in delicate melodies with her powerful voice, driven by an insatiable energy for more. Experience a performance full of emotion, hope, and an unshakeable connection to the inner child.

Guitar and drums – these are the instruments used by the noise pop duo Brave Men Run from Mönchengladbach and Neuss to let loose. And they do so in the truest sense of the word, as the duo's main influences are Sonic Youth, Wipers, Dead Moon, Dinosaur Jr., and No Age.

Founded in April 2022, the band recorded their first album, “Neo-Ancient Rites,” in 2023 and released it as a pink cassette with an art zine. This was followed by their first concerts and the recording of their second album, “Home,” which was released on Mörtel Sounds in 2025.

Supported by: 
Cultural Office of the State Capital Düsseldorf

On February 10, musician Streichelt will be performing at the Musikbar im Bunker, and then it's time to get down to business. On his “Rosenkrieg” tour, Streichelt goes where it hurts: straight into the honest and profound topics that cause pain.

Streichelt used to be active as a musician in various band constellations, but today he stands alone at the front—and quite convincingly so. What began as a side project between university and shared apartments has now become his own cosmos of disco drums, synth pads, and lyrics that don't stay on the surface but go deep.

On his upcoming EP “Rosenkrieg” (released February 20, 2026), the musician tells in six songs about everything that can't be covered in three sentences of small talk: separation, dependence, emotional roller coasters, new beginnings. “Self-doubt that turns into self-confidence,” is how he sums up the mini-album himself. It is this revelation from the inside out, the step from uncertainty to clarity, that holds “Rosenkrieg” together. Streichelt writes and produces everything himself, mostly at home. No grand master plan, no sophisticated staging. Just a guy who makes songs until they sound exactly the way he has them in his head. And we are only too happy to listen to him!

Presenters: Rausgegangen
Tour organizer: Emerged Agency GmbH