Music emanating from this land, as well as music originating from beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea, reunited under the same island sky. The 2026 edition of Sulky Rock is finally arriving in Sant'Antioco , doubling its dates this year at the Arena Fenicia with two dates scheduled: the first of which is this Tuesday , with doors opening at 6 pm for the iconic Sick Tamburo and the Sardinian bands Ilienses and Gentilesky , along with the eagerly awaited international guests Mogwai and Ditz .
And to open the dances on the 18th, there can only be two stars of the island scene: on the one hand the ancestral and at the same time avant-garde sounds of the duo of Mauro Medde and Natascia Talloru , baptized in 2018 as Ilienses ‒ the same name handed down by history for the Nuragic tribes of Barbagia ‒ in an identity "dark folk" already well tested by the debut " Civitates Barbariae " (2020) and the subsequent, acclaimed " Jae " (2024), and on the other the underground essence from the capital of Gentilesky , unleashed since 2021 in their explosive mix of post-punk, noise rock and garage punk and also with two esteemed works under their belt, such as " Ways of Seeing! " (2023) and " Dream " (2026).
The baton then passes to Pordenone's Sick Tamburo , founded in 2007 by ex-Prozac+ members Elisabetta Imelio and Gian Maria Accusani , with the latter still leading the group after Imelio's premature death in 2020. Standing out from the start for their trademark black balaclavas, the band has over time built a cult following thanks to their ability to blend singer-songwriter tensions and punk aesthetics in a minimal approach : the most recent proof of this is " Dementia ", released this year on the faithful label La Tempesta Dischi . No less impactful is the subsequent performance by Ditz , originally from Brighton who made their debut in 2022 with " The Great Regression ", an acid concentrate of post-punk and noise rock with hardcore veins, the first step towards the art-punk and industrial experimentations of their second " Never Exhale " (2025). At their very first date on the Island, the British quintet promises a ferocious, visionary live show full of vintage effects.
But the true, great guests of the evening could only be the legendary Mogwai : formed in Glasgow during the "swan song" of British alternative rock, the band quickly established itself at the head of the second wave of post-rock thanks to historic albums such as " Mogwai Young Team " (1997), " Come On Die Young " (1999) and " Happy Songs for Happy People " (2003), moving between slowcore, space rock, ambient, shoegaze, electronic and noise suggestions . Thirty years later the myth of Stuart Braithwaite and company does not seem to be waning, seeing them still active on stages all over the world and in the studio with their ethereal and layered style, between soft silences and powerful explosions .
Sulky Rock will continue on Saturday 29th with its second date, which will see the Arena's spotlights turn on for the Sardinians Riflesso , Purple Drip and Sikitikis , together with the famous Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti and the English The Kooks, a historic indie rock band.