As far as lineups go for new festivals, No Bounds really went all out. Located across the hilly city of Sheffield, UK, attendees were treated to three days of all sorts of electronic delights. Most of the festival focused on two venues: Trafalgar Warehouse, where the majority of the live shows took place, and Hope Works, a medium-sized club in an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city centre.
The festival kicked off with a Q&A and live AV show from Terre Thaemlitz, followed by the live programming/club music hybrid of Algorave over at Access Space. We were then treated to the first of two club nights held in Hope Works’ three rooms. The main space is an approximately 500-capacity former warehouse which, despite its reasonable size, manages to retain a degree of intimacy. The second stage for the event was in the courtyard’s marquee, which then led into a tiny sweatbox of a third room that could take around 50 people. There was plenty on across the venue throughout the evening, but the programme’s variety in the courtyard was particularly appealing. If you’ve ever managed to catch DJ LAG before then you’ll know that he’s a must-see, and both he and Nan Kolè brought the pressurised sounds of gqom to a willing Yorkshire audience. Ikonika followed, moving through the likes of Destra’s “Dip and Ride” towards some harder fare in the lead-up to the shimmering, plotted chaos of Rian Treanor’s exceptional live set. Folks in the main room were treated to Mr. G’s ride cymbal dynamism whilst those who could make it into the tiny third room witnessed Luca Lozano throw a proper rave full of breaks and acid.
Saturday was jam-packed with events throughout the city. The primary run of live shows transpired at Trafalgar Warehouse and included a captivating performance by Laurel Halo, accompanied by fellow Truants favourite and Dust collaborator Eli Keszler. For those with a fever for faster tempos, Sheffield institution Off Me Nut took over Trafalgar Warehouse in the evening with Om Unit headlining their stage. Over at Hope Works, Inga Copeland and Mark Fell kicked things off in the courtyard. The latter performed a live show of Sensate Focus material, Fell’s microscopically detailed and skittish take on breaks and 2-step which was nothing short of mind-melting, the rapturous reception he received a testament to how well-respected he is in this city. The main room had a techno and electro lover’s dream lineup, with Anastasia Kristensen playing wrenching thumpers to a packed room on her very first England gig – not a bad way to start at all. It must have been pretty intimidating, knowing that Jeff Mills would immediately follow as the festival’s main headliner. The Wizard is clearly still a huge draw, with a not-insignificant portion of the crowd in attendance primarily to catch his titanic three-hour set of the finest electro.
The courtyard was filled with Truants favourites on the Saturday too, with DEBONAIR chugging out delightful selections of dark EBM and electro. Hot off his highly-regarded recent release on Whities, Minor Science brought the tempo up, throwing in some recent classics such as Pearson Sound’s “Rubber Tree” for good measure. A personal highlight followed in the form of Batu, whose relentless, raw and above all captivating set brought things up, down and back round again in a relatively short 90 minutes. It was hard not to feel that witnessing the set was to witness a modern-day master at work. He set it up well for Swing Ting, this evening comprising of Samrai, Platt and MC Fox, who let their arsenal of in-house crew productions loose in the breezy early morning. Those still standing got to witness the savant DJ Stingray run through his finest Drexciyan jams, bringing to conclusion a very special weekend which will no doubt only expand.
Photos by Alex Morgan: Mr. G (top), Laurel Halo and Eli Keszler (middle) and Samrai, Platt and MC Fox (bottom).
Words by Antoin Lindsay.