MENU: BEACONS, DEKMANTEL, DIMENSIONS, EASTERN ELECTRICS, FREEROTATION.
With more than twenty Truants running around worldwide and the majority of us visiting festivals around the globe, we decided to look back at a handful of European ones that really got us talking. Until the time finally comes when the crew will join and congregate at one single festival, we’ll have to make do with pooling our thoughts into this post to help decide which one, and instead dream of a TT takeover. From the brand new Dekmantel festival in Amsterdam and the second edition of Eastern Electrics in London, to adventures at Freerotation in Wales, the muddy but appealing northern fields of Beacons and parties at the Croatian beaches during Dimensions. Bring on the next festival season!
Freerotation Festival, July 12 – 15
Going to Freerotation for the first time is like being initiated into the world’s friendliest cult. The three day festival, held at Baskerville Hall Hotel in Wales, is known for being exclusive – for readers who might not have heard of it, to go to Freerotation you need to be a Freerotation member or be invited by a member. For this reason each year the consistently excellent line-up delights and excruciates in equal measure. Despite knowing that the purported exclusivity of the festival is mainly a safety measure (the site is only 650 capacity), I was still apprehensive on the trip up from London. But every single person I met was excited to welcome a new member into the family, and the vibe couldn’t have been warmer. This might have been in some part due to the almost unbearably excellent weather, as we were blessed with sunshine the entire weekend. The combination of the tiny crowd, the open atmosphere, the beautiful setting and the satisfaction-guarantee of the line-up means that Freerotation is less of a festival, and much more like the greatest house party you’ve ever been to. The lineup is a combination of brilliant residents as well as guests, and organizers Stevio and Suzybee operate a serious quality control policy, with the result that it was possible to wander in and out of each of the three rooms and be guaranteed to hear something fascinating.
The entire weekend was real magic, but there were some particular highlights. John Heckle, whose live set is majesty to behold, delivered a combination of dreamy melodies and jacking beats. Objekt, a Truants favourite, did us proud with one of the most unbelievable sets of the festival, playing a genuinely uncompromising fist-punch of face-smashing, body-destroying techno and jungle and god-knows-what. It was a set that gave you no option but to dance yourself into a filthy frenzy, but it was mixed with a breathtaking precision. Pure ribena-passing glory. Delta Funktionen’s deep, dark and industrial set was excellent, and I actually shed tears to Shackleton’s live set, which was, as expected, superlative. Jane Fitz showed us the meaning of the word cosmic, with an amazing set that was as melodic as it was mesmerising. Peverelist went in hard for his closing set, ending with some serious jungle that left everyone with the euphoric exhaustion that marks the end an incredible party. Someone popped a bottle of champagne before adding some brandy in and passed it around the crowd mid-way through Move D’s celebratory Sunday afternoon set, and those three sun-drenched days were full of moments like that. It’s impossible to go to Freerotation without being transformed into a kind of techno hippy, finding yourself uttering phrases like “the transcendental power of music” in total seriousness. A joyous weekend, and a truly exemplary festival. (TABITHA THORLU-BANGURA) Back to top.
Surgeon (ambient set) at Freerotation 12th July 2013 by dynamic tension
Eastern Electrics Festival, August 2 – 4
Another festival returning for its second year was Eastern Electrics. Having run a string of successful warehouse parties in London, the Eastern Electrics team staged their first festival last year – an all-day affair at the Greenwich Peninsula. It became the fastest selling electronic music festival of 2012 and this success has seen Eastern Electrics develop into a three day weekend festival with the location moving to Knebworth Park.
Running for twelve hours from 6PM and boasting an exceptionally strong lineup, the Black Atlantic stage was unquestionably the highlight of the festival. Few selectors hold as strong a reputation as Theo Parrish and it was immediately apparent why. His unique and dynamic approach to mixing glued together what could have easily been a very disparate set, as the Detroit native moved through funk, soul and techno with ease. “Stuck” drew a great reaction while the man himself seemed to be enjoying himself as much as anyone. Ben UFO and Levon Vincent delivered typically excellent sets with Innervisions head honcho Dixon also living up to his billing as one of Berlin’s best as each of his mixes delivered with masterful precision. Arguably the biggest name on the Black Atlantic bill, the crowd certainly swelled when Joy Orbison stepped up. Tronco Traxx’ “Walk 4 Me” was a memorable flashpoint from a bass-heavy set which also featured the Special Request VIP of Tessela’s “Hackney Parrot”. If that wasn’t enough then the aficionados were in for a treat when the still unreleased “GR Etiquette” was drawn for. Judging by his 90 minute set it’s abundantly clear that Joy Orbison’s standing as one of the best producers and selectors in the business is certainly justified.
The Saturday and Sunday may not have appealed to us as much as the Friday but we were certainly not lost for someone to have a dance to. One of our favourite stages at the festival was the Igloovision Tent and it was here where we were treated to a masterclass from Roman Flugel. Sunday meanwhile saw Panorama Bar favourites Prosumer and Tama Sumo arrive to close down proceedings. The former is a firm favourite here at the Truants Mansion – with his Panorama 03 mix perfectly exemplifying why the man boasts such an esteemed reputation behind the decks as he mixes house, techno and even UK funky faultlessly. Just as he did on his Panorama CD, Prosumer opted for an eclectic approach which never failed to get the crowd shaking a leg – whether it be to Atlantic Records funk classics or harder 4/4 rhythms. By the time 10PM drew near and Gerd closed on his rework of “Do You Feel Me” – one of our favourites this summer – we were left wanting more.
Overall Eastern Electrics move to Knebworth Park was a definite success and their transition into a fully-fledged weekend festival is something to be celebrated. It was not without areas for improvement however. The volume tailed off slightly as the early morning hours hit and while it was better on certain stages (the Igloovision Tent seemed to suffer less from this problem) it’s something which did detrimentally impact upon certain sets. Despite this, it’s difficult to be too annoyed at a festival which manages to keep music of such quality going on so late (at least on the first two nights). We’re looking forward to next year already. (MATT GIBNEY) Back to top.
Roman Flugel 45 min Boiler Room x Eastern Electrics Festival mix by BOILER ROOM
Beacons Festival, August 16-18
We talked pretty extensively about Beacons Festival in a little (not so little) guide we wrote for you in August and thought it was probably time to sit down and tell those of you that didn’t make it down what you may have missed out on. Aside from the music, one of the main attractions of this entirely British festival was the Yorkshire setting, and boy, did it live up to the hype. The site was perched on a hill just outside Skipton, North Yorkshire and boasted a beautiful morning view; it was small, and easy to navigate, meaning that when that one sip of henny too many did kick in and you found yourself vibing amongst a crowd of strangers, it didn’t bother you that much. Now, Beacons is a festival with huge amounts of potential, it’s actually a baby when pitched against some of the huge festival names it actually stands along side. We feel we have to mention though, that the sound in some of the tents (Resident Advisor particularly) wasn’t really up to the standard we would have liked it to be, which is an absolute shame considering some of the brilliant bookings found there. Artists like Anthony Naples, Move D, John Talabot, Theo Parrish, Floating Points, Machinedrum, Ben UFO, Bicep, and many, many more were seemingly let down by the fact that you could constantly hear the hum of chatter throughout the crowd. A bitterly disappointing fact when you’ve actually come to hear music.
That being said, the general feeling of ease and safety in which you could roll around the festival, was second to none. There was this feeling of ‘Village Fête’ and everyone was really friendly, which is always what makes a festival such a great environment to be in. And of course, there was some music too; the organisers really did bring it this year and we want to commend them for such a varied booking policy, they weren’t afraid to take risks with this one and brought the best from Leeds city centre and beyond with them. Despite the dodgy sound from the RA tent, Floating Points was definitely on point, and we fell even more in love with the beautiful Fatima then ever. It absolutely warmed our cockles to see them roaming around the festival together after their sets on the Saturday. Fun Adults were another one that caught our eyes, dealt with the daunting task of opening the main stage on Friday, the boys did not disappoint, and the sounds of their beautiful electronic and acoustic influences managed to lure many a lurking festival explorer into the Loud & Quite tent. Probably obviously, as we’ve never heard of this man disappointing a crowd, Oneman was top form. After announcing that Beacons was his favourite festival of 2012, and after dropping “Ni**as in Paris” with “I’ll bring you flowers” last year, it was reassuring that he still delivered a brilliant set. Some other Highlights were Truants favourite Anthony Naples, and of course, the infamous Danny Brown, who arrived late and finished early but honestly, his set was so charged and his DJ was so great that no one even cared. (JESS MELIA) Back to top.
Summer13at45 by floating points
Dekmantel Festival, August 23 – 25
When it comes to throwing good parties in Amsterdam, the guys behind Dekmantel are no strangers to the field: bubbling up in 2007 with the aim to bring something rejuvenating to the Dutch nightlife, they’re hosting a residency in MC Theater nowadays, occasionally involve North Sea Jazz Club for the bigger events, and run a record label and booking agency on the side. At the end of last August, the founders of Dekmantel Casper Tielrooij and Thomas Martojo set their first three-dayer in motion in het Amsterdamse Bos, a landscape park in the municipalities of Amsterdam. It is an underemphasis to say Dekmantel Festival was successful, as it was much more than that. Where Dekmantel has grown from intimate parties in the city centre via their Lentekabinet one-dayer to a full weekend with more than seventy different DJs on the bill, they’re still pushing the same agenda of bringing quality line-ups to the city of Amsterdam.
Although the Dekmantel Festival stages were hosted by Resident Advisor, Boiler Room, Red Bull Music Academy, FACT and Warsteiner one could naturally expect a tremendous line-up, but the entity of artists who played the festival far exceeded anyone’s expectations. The bill consisted of a majority of headliners for a comparatively small audience that was made up of a handful of thousand visitors: from Ben Clock, Jeff Mills, LFO, Robert Hood and Surgeon to the Hessle Audio crew and Levon Vincent, we decided to give up on making any decisions and go wherever the day would take us. The settings of the stages were minimalistic yet effective, and armed with an army of Funktion Ones the sound was exceptional for an open air festival. The planning of the stages was responsible for a good amount of the atmosphere: the main stage was able to host a large number of spectators, the FACT stage was surrounded by trees, the Warsteiner stage reminded us of a beach party more than anything else, where the first and second day RBMA stage allowed for a more accustomed festival experience. The layout and sizes of the stages with the headliners spread out over all of them made for a great division in the audience: it was never too crowded nor empty anywhere.
On the Friday the festival kicked off in full splendor, with the highlight of the day being the live performance of Underground Resistance as Timeline (with MGUN) at the odd hour of eight ‘o’clock on the main stage. Whereas one wouldn’t expect UR to work at a time when the daylight fades, the show leaned more towards jazz than techno with tracks as “Hi-Tech Jazz” accompanied by live improvisation. Although the following day leaned towards being showery, we caught bits of Jeff Mills (arguably a little heavy for us that early in the day), Joy O and James Holden before we settled down at the FACT stage to catch Gerd Janson and the first part of Ron Morelli‘s set, who both took the merry route of killer disco and vintage house sets. We have to give a special shout-out to Morelli opening with Rockers Hi-Fi’s “Push Push“, which turned into our verified Dekmantel Festival hype track as the weekend progressed. The Hessle Audio trinity meanwhile were playing back to back at the RBMA stage where we caught a bit of Pearson Sound and a huge chunk of Ben UFO‘s set, delivering wonderful sets as usual.
Although sunny, the last day of Dekmantel seemed more quiet than the others both in the sense of the amount of people being there and the majority of people on the grounds having a hard time getting started, but everyone carried on in good spirit and a few hours in the larger part of visitors made their way from the food stands and the comfortable hangout spots to join in on the dancing. One of the best sets of the day was delivered by Maxmillion Dunbar and Ari Goldman as Beautiful Swimmers, whose own fatigue and clanging didn’t stop them from creating a great atmosphere in the sunlight. One of our favourites from the Saturday, Gerd Janson, had returned to the main stage to play together with Marcel Dettmann which made for a fun merger of sounds, eventually finding a house-y midway between Dettmann’s usual deeper track choices versus Janson’s tendency towards disco. Levon Vincent was up next, keeping the audience on their toes with a two hours set and taking care of one of the highlights of the festival with dropping “The Sun Can’t Compare”, which had the majority of the crowd singing along and embracing their friends. Another artist who played that day that we should mention is the Dutch producer Conforce, who performed a live set as Versalife, playing work from his brilliant album “Vantage Point” to a small crowd at the Warsteiner stage as the sun went down.
The crowned head of Dekmantel however was Blawan, who showed up after Hessle Audio on the Saturday to play a live show with Pariah as Karenn, delivering an hour of forthright and raw techno which had us pining for more. And Dekmantel took good care of us as the originally Yorkshire producer re-entered the main stage at the very end of the festival with Surgeon as Trade. With our only reference point being SHEWORKS005, their live show was a pleasant yet relentless surprise. The first half of the set started out more vigorous than Blawan’s effort the night before, but the British Murder Boy and his younger counterpart made for a brilliant set where Dekmantel didn’t hold back on the light show, flashing projections and theatrical fog, and we were treated to a spectacular ending of the festival. Overwhelmed, we jumped on one of the shuttle buses back to the city and looked back on the weekend, unable to pinpoint our favourite moments. There are many things to take away from Dekmantel Festival, but the most remarkable point of all is that we’ve never been to a Dutch festival of such scale with a quality line-up like Dekmantel’s that accomplished to remain harmonious and good-natured throughout. We’re keeping our diaries open for next year, and the years to follow. (SORAYA BROUWER) Back to top.
Dekmantel Festival – Sunday Warm Up (mixed by Thomas Martojo) by dekmantel
Dimensions Festival, September 5-9
Organised by the same team behind Outlook Festival, Dimensions returned for its second year with a lineup boasting some of the most respected names in house and techno. Dimensions has already crafted its own distinct identity despite its affiliations with its sister festival. Elements of continuity exist – such as the location and the arenas used (as well as the handful of artists booked for both festivals) – but Dimensions feels very much like a separate entity with the age profile rising and nationalities diversifying significantly.
Thursday night saw Hessle Audio take control of The Moat and bring a few of their friends along for the ride. New York’s L.I.E.S. imprint (named Resident Advisor’s label of 2012) and their lo-fi, analogue sound has been supported heavily by DJs such as Ben UFO and thus Ron Morelli was an astute choice to open proceedings; his seamlessly mixed techno whetting appetites nicely. A live set from Bristol’s Livity Sound (formed of Asusu, Kowton and Peverelist) followed before Pangaea and Pearson Sound kicked things up a notch, the latter ending on the Special Request VIP of Tessela’s “Hackney Parrot” (which was unquestionably one of the tunes of the festival). Elsewhere, Move D brought the party to Fort Arena 1, with a set dominated by uplifting house grooves which fully worked the crowd. Armand Van Helden’s club classic “You Don’t Know Me” and MK’s “Love Changes” drew big reactions but it was Lovebirds’ “Want You In My Soul” which was the highlight, the crowd singing along to every word. Prosumer even allowed Move D to overrun half an hour into his set, such was the fun everybody was having.
Friday night was all about Surgeon and Blawan with their dark industrial sounds seemingly tailor made for their Moat setting. Blawan was particularly relentless – his thrashing techno taking no prisoners – but the crowd was backing him every step of the way and the sense of enjoyment was palpable. Mosca catered for those after something less intense with the Conant Gardens Posse remix of Omar S’ “S.E.X.” proving that it still gets the dance going.
Navigating a lineup as stacked as Dimensions’ is often problematic and clashes proved unavoidable. A late change to Saturday night’s scheduling meant that we missed Omar S, however Gerd Janson relieved us of all frustration with Chic’s timeless “I Want Your Love” – the standout moment of a disco flavoured and fun-fuelled set. Sunday saw a Detroit invasion as the 3 Chairs super-collective (comprised of Marcellus Pittman, Moodymann, Rick Wilhite and Theo Parrish) shut things down in style with an epic set that exceeds eight hours. Not even the arrival of some late festival rain could dampen spirits.
The Dimensions team should be praised for making full use of their beautiful setting at Fort Punta Christo. The 16th Century fort provided some wonderful arenas which were utilised to full capacity with exemplary soundsystems at each stage. The beautiful beaches not only provided a perfect place to relax and recover from the previous night’s excesses but were also the location of some great daytime parties (Mr. Scruff and Floating Points 8 hour takeover was especially good). All in all, Dimensions was a magical festival. While security did seem to be overly zealous and at times brutal, the festival organisers should be commended on producing such a great festival in just two years. Let’s hope there’s many more to come. (MATT GIBNEY) Back to top.
Call Super – Dimensions Festival 2013 Mix by Dimensions Festival
Photo credits: Raymond van Mil (Dekmantel), Dan Medhurst (header), Scott Salt (Dimensions Festival), Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura (Freerotation), Eastern Electrics Facebook page, Ben Bently (Beacons Festival).