At Tallinn Music Week 2026, electronic artists are making the case for human-made music

For the past century, electronic music has become a prolific platform for genre-bending experimentation. At Tallinn Music Week (TMW) 2026, talent in this arena is overflowing, from mainstream genres to niche underground scenes you wish you knew more about. Spread across four days in the surprisingly sunny capital of Estonia, Tallinn, the festival welcomed a plethora of such artists at this year’s edition. MusicTech spent the weekend in Estonia as a guest of TMW to chat with some noteworthy acts, experience left-field sonic works, and discuss the current climate of electronic music. The ambiance of TMW Playing a 30-minute stint in Fonoteek, the festival’s designated space for all things avant-garde electronica, was Estonian minimalist duo V4RL. The setup for this was extremely cosy, the DJs playing to a candlelit room of music fans nodding their heads solemnly to the minimalist electronica. A little later, Kiwanoid took to the same stage with the complete opposite energy. Opening with TV static as visuals and a fuzzing loop of glitchy electronica, Kiwanoid transformed the room’s energy with a dizzying charge of hard-hitting experimental cuts. French producer S8jfou then took to the stage with a rather unusual setup. The artist sat down with a table and chair, facing away from the crowd, and performing with just a keyboard and mouse. “I created a computer interface because I’m shy,” the artist typed on-screen. The performance blended atmospheric ambience with breakbeats and drum ‘n’ bass. It was an unusual but admittedly thrilling experience, and was emblematic of the kinds of digital experiments that artists at TMW were showcasing. Indeed, this year’s TMW was packed with such acts. While some projects, such as Apparatus&Apparata and K-X-P, brought dark shows, weaving in hints of metal and punk into electronica, others like heleenyum and IKARVS leaned more towards the electro-pop side. Estonian industrial trio Apparatus&Apparata’s set was a theatrical performance of ominous sounds. Between the dark, earthy vibrations coming from composer Jürgen Reismaa’s desk and sombre vocals/spoken word split between Reti Pauklin and Taavi Eelmaa, Apparatus&Apparata put on an experience that was almost ritualistic. Despite playing just two songs, this trio needn’t more time to impress us. Each track stood around 10 minutes in length and summoned you with cryptic sirens and snake-like flutters. Their songs often drove into breathtaking climaxes before dropping to solemn, eerie noise. We managed to briefly speak with them at the festival, to ask what gear and techniques empower them to create such an experimental, avant-garde show: “Our concerts are mainly playback, with live vocals,” says Reismaa. “We sometimes collaborate with musicians who play guitar, but it’s mainly playback, which I use Ableton Live for. I’m not even on the stage, either. I mix front of house, using a Behringer Wing Compact. Reason is also my main tool for writing. I have used it forever. Since the very first Reason, which I think was 20 years ago now.” Two decades of Tallinn Music Week Celebrating its 18th edition, TMW has for almost two decades prided itself on championing the next wave of emerging artists — and community is at the heart of it all. Outside of the festival, Estonia has made a name for itself as the home of many weird and wonderful electronic projects, from the flamboyant chameleon Tommy Cash to electronic-pop superstar NOËP, and others. “For me, [TMW] is an opportunity to present my music to a big international audience,” says singer-songwriter and producer, heleenyum. “It means I can meet many different industry professionals who can maybe book me for their festivals. I also met quite a lot of super cool artists here. I haven’t been meeting with a lot of professionals, but artists; we share a lot of common ground.” Weaving sounds of pop, soul, jungle and more, heleenyum’s approach to electronica is unpredictable. She usually plays solo, comfortably, but some musicians have recently shown interest in joining her on stage. “Lately, a lot of drummers have come [up] to me after my show and said they want to play live drums,” heleenyum tells us. “Because it’s interesting for drummers to play my crazy drum ‘n’ bass breakbeats.” The AI conversation The music industry’s climate has been heavily influenced by the AI discourse over the past few years. Unsurprisingly, at TMW it was a topic raised across numerous panel talks, including ‘Music and AI in 2026 – Entering the Operational Era’ and ‘Too Much Music. AI Is Flooding the Market. Who Survives?’ While human-made creativity arguably has more integrity and influence than artificial intelligence, who’s to say that this new era of technology is or isn’t a threat to this scene? And how does it affect emerging electronic artists who are trying to establish themselves? SFISTIKATED, a multi-genre electronic duo, weigh in on the matter during our conversation with them: “Truly, sometimes I think that