The Short Circuit festival returns to London’s Roundhouse on May 12-14 with an extraordinary line-up drawing on the rosters of the Mute and Raster-Noton labels.

Perhaps second only to Factory, Daniel Miller’s Mute is arguably the seminal label to be born out of post-punk Britain, and has recently regained its independence after a long stint under the ownership of EMI. The two Mute-curated nights at EMI will feature some of the imprint’s most long-serving and legendary artists alongside more recent signings. Friday 13 May boastd live performances from Recoil, EBM overlords Nitzer Ebb, industrial/noise iconoclast NON (Boyd Rice), Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk and Carter Tutti (AKA Chris & Cosey) in collaboration with Factory Floor’s Nik Void, plus Thomas Brinkmann, Pole, Komputer, The Balanescu Quartet, T. Raumschmiere, Thomas Fehlmann and, playing a DJ set, Miller himself.

The following night, Saturday 14 May, will be peerless mentalists The Residents and Laibach, joined by Erasure, Liars, Big Deal, S.C.U.M., Poppy & The Jezebels, Simon Fisher Turner with Mira Calix, James Brooks, Peter Gregson and Alison Moyet. DJ sets come from Danny Briottet of Renegade Soundwave, and Can’s Irmin Schmidt and Kumo playing The Sound Of Can – CAN ARCHIVES SPECIAL, a set of newly discovered material.

Saturday daytime will feature talks from the likes of Pole (‘An Introduction into the science of Mastering’) and Gareth Jones, and screenings of films including the 2009 Mark Stewart documentary On/Off and an exclusive Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds film by acclaimed artists Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard.

Before all the Mute festivities, Short Circuit opens on Thursday 11 May with a showcase from Germany’s Raster-Noton. This will feature the live premiere of a new work by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto, and additional live performances from Anne James Chaton, Grischa Lichtenberger, Atom™, Byetone and .snd’s Mark Fell.

A series of installations are also planned, including works by Berlin based synth boutique Schneiders Buero (“a unique carousel where visitors can play with new modular and hardware synths”), Irmin Schmidt & Kumo and Felix’s Machines. A specially created sound piece, The Raster-Noton / Mute Sound Halo will consist of sound loops created by artists from both labels and will run overnight from 12 May to link the two events.

More info here. Tickets are on sale now, with further line-up announcements to be made in the coming weeks.