Uboa releases the live album “Every Reactor Four a Friend (Live at Roadburn 2024)” through The Flenser on 22 September 2026, with a vinyl edition to follow as part of the label’s Membership Series 8 Exclusive. The three-track release is a recording of “Meltdown,” a piece Roadburn commissioned Uboa to compose for its 2024 edition.

Uboa’s ‘Meltdown’ performance from Roadburn 2024

Roadburn commissioned Uboa to write two original works for its 2024 festival: “Calm Down,” a quieter piece, and its counterpart “Meltdown,” performed alongside TOomD’s “Shut Down.” “Every Reactor Four a Friend” is the live recording of “Meltdown,” captured from the mixing desk at Roadburn and later remixed and reworked, since some onboard vocal effects and microphones were missing from the available stems. The title refers to Reactor Four at Chernobyl, the reactor that melted down in the 1986 disaster.

Musically, the release leans on power electronics and cut-up harsh noise, closer to the extremity of Uboa’s 2018 album “The Sky May Be” than the more intricate construction of her recent records. Uboa described the themes behind the performance directly: “It’s about embracing the overwhelm rather than shaming oneself for it. All the shame, anger and overwhelm was put in this short performance.” She added: “Sometimes it’s fine to just crash the fuck out. Sometimes it is necessary.”

The album runs three tracks: “Dys,” “Do Not Comply In Advance” and “Ascension Threshold.”

The Flenser also published a full-album stream of the performance:

All Bandcamp proceeds from “Every Reactor Four a Friend” go toward covering Xandra’s gender-affirming surgery costs through 21 October 2026.

About Uboa

Uboa is a solo power electronics and noise project active since 2010, based in Melbourne, Australia. Early releases “Sometimes Light” (2010) and “Jouissance” (2013) were self-released before the 2018 album “The Sky May Be” arrived on the Australian label Art As Catharsis. “The Origin of My Depression” followed in 2019, initially self-released before The Flenser reissued it on vinyl after Uboa signed to the San Francisco label in February 2023. The Flenser then released the 2024 studio album “The Great Impossible Light,” featuring contributions from Blood of a Pomegranate, Otay:Onii, Charlie Looker and Haela Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy.

Uboa performed three sets at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, in April 2024, including the live debut of “The Origin of My Depression” performed in full alongside the commissioned pieces “Calm Down” and “Meltdown.” “Every Reactor Four a Friend (Live at Roadburn 2024)” is the recording of that “Meltdown” performance, released through The Flenser two years on.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com