5 Reasons to Check Out Paris Electronic Week this September

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From 25 to 29 September, the 7th edition of Paris Electronic Week will turn the French capital into European’s electronic music hotspot. PEW is a hybrid and multidisciplinary festival, attracting artists, music fans and enthusiasts to party, visit record shops and attend various other PEW branded events. From 25 to 27 September, the festival will offer a programme of specialised, conferences, workshops and masterclasses focusing on topics surrounding electronic music and cultures. The latter will take place at Gaité Lyrique.

The speakers announced so far:  ​1024 Architecture, AMS Booking, Anetha, Burning Man, Dif Production, Entente Nocturne, Femur, François X, French Burners (Megasame), Horst Festival, Jean-Yves Leloup, Malo Lacroix, Marc Ippon De Ronda, Nuit Parallèles, Nuits Sonores, RAW, Rinse France, Romain Tardy, Spiral Tribe, Surprize, Teki Latex ​and ​Yoyaku.

In this article, we present our five top reasons to visit PEW this September.

Audiovisual Performance and Stagecraft at the Heart of the Party

25 September, Gaité Lyrique

With music as the main engine, large-scale live events are now increasingly including new forms of art such as vjing, set design and audiovisual performance, and all of this is designed to hold your attention and offer you a 360-degree show. Often left in the shadows, the highly skilled technicians who create these magnificent constructs are nevertheless an integral part of the festival and party process. But how do you make a name for yourself in this world, and what do you need to know about these arcane practices to make a name for yourself?

Tomorrow’s Party Becomes an Immersive Exhibition

25 September, Gaité Lyrique

Parties have gone beyond their initial role as an outlet for exuberance and are no longer a simple ode to dance, now being more of a call to discovery. The border between music and art has never been as porous as it is today with new formats where music, sculpture and installations merge. And so, far from being limited to the ordinary, the party now finds its place in institutions that previously would never have hosted ‘raves’. But the big question is, how do you attract audiences to this new form of festive artistic expression?

Les Veillées Électroniques à la Gaîté Lyrique

25 – 26 September, Gaité Lyrique

Les Éveilles, a support association for exiles, organizes two exceptional performances at the Gaîté Lyrique, audiovisual and lives, with experimental programming at the forefront of electronic music.

25 September
Jeff Mills will debut his Things to Come live A/V show. Anthony Linell aka Abdulla Rashim and Ali M. Demiral will display their Winter Ashes live A/V show. Kanding Ray will play his DJ hybrid DJ set.

26 September

Monolake will play live as well as Peder Mannerfelt. Murcof and Malo Lacroix will perform a live A/V show.

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2390328481212904/

How to Make a Label that Lasts?

27 September, Gaité Lyrique

Former trader, François-Xavier Zoumenou has left everything to focus on his true passion: electronic music. As a key artist on the thriving techno scene, François X has built a reputation and been an important part of the movement. In 2011, he co-founded the Dement3d label with Heartbeat. In 2019 there was another important development with the creation of a parallel project ‘Dement3d XXX’ where François X plans to allow artists to share house and techno without limiting themselves to the definitions of the genre. In this talk, he will discuss the challenges of staying efficient in a tough and competitive environment, while explaining how to keep things fresh and relevant after more than 8 years of existence.

Everyday Magic – 24 Hours in the Life of a Manager

27 September, Gaité Lyrique

As the previous workshops, two speakers will help you get genuine insight into the top jobs in order to make informed and intelligent choices about your future path to success. How do you manage the follow-up for an artist about to sign a deal? How do you adapt your vision to that of the artist? How to manage negotiations and the relationship with your artists? These are all questions that will be dealt with during this workshop.

More information regarding the programme will be released on August, 21.

Paris Electronic Week
September 25-29, 2019

https://www.pariselectronicweek.fr/
https://www.facebook.com/pariselectronicweek/
https://www.instagram.com/pew_france/
https://twitter.com/pew_france

Recondite, Riche Hawtin and Sven Vath are Added to Sea Dance 2010

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The sixth edition of Sea Dance Festival just got even bigger with the news that techno titans Recondite, Riche Hawtin and Sven Vath have been added to an already extensive bill for the event which runs Friday August 30th to Sunday September 1st on Buljarica beach in Budva, Montenegro on the Adriatic coast.

Further highlights from it include  David Guetta, Armand van Helden, Basement Jaxx and Felix da Housecat for the festival that is powered by Exit in Serbia.

This year’s edition of Sea Dance will be marked by a world exclusive because, for the first time in its history, EXIT’s famous Dance Arena will leave the fortress and come to one of the most beautiful beaches of the Adriatic. Together with the legendary EXIT Festival Stage will come spectacular production – a perfect foil for the many brilliant artists on offer.

Tickets are €44/£39 + b/f, from the Sea Dance website.

Neopop Festival Announce Dax J, Jeff Mills and Matrixxman

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The 2019 edition of Neopop is one of the best yet with a mammoth line up of some of the world’s best techno talents.

It unfolds from Wednesday August 7th to Saturday August 10th on the beautiful Atlantic Ocean in Northern Portugal’s Viana de Castelo, a historic region that is baked in sun.

he most recent additions are Dax J, Jeff Mills and Matrixxman and these come on top of a long list of titans including  Chris Liebing,  DJ Deep, Dasha Rush (Live), Héctor Oaks, Interstellar Funk, Ivan Smagghe, Laurent Garnier, Nastia, Nicolas Lutz and Ø [Phase].

Tickets start at 60€ and are available from the Neopop Festival website.

Camp Bestival 2019 – REVIEW

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CAMP BESTIVAL 2019 REVIEW

Graham Tarrant

Camp Bestival is often described as the ultimate family festival, for kids big and small, from 8 months to 80, and it’s easy to understand why.

For the little ones, children’s TV royalty Mr Tumble, entertained with his catchy singalong and slapstick set, Mister Maker brought his favourite shapes and moves, and Shaun the Sheep came with his own Vegetable Orchestra and farmyard frolics.

There was so much else for the whole family – from Rak Su showing why they won the X Factor, to Lewis Capaldi who will surely be a headliner in in future years due to size of the crowd, Scottish charm and melancholic hits.

Dads squeezed into their now ill-fitting t-shirts to sing along to Ash, Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape and the Human League. Shed 7 made the fateful mistake of uttering the words no fan of revival music likes to hear, namely “Here’s a song of our new album’– the audience shivered despite the sun, wanting more of their 90’s gold.

Nile Rodgers, Chic, and Sister Sledge rolled back the years with their timeless disco hits and good times. During Sister Sledge’s slot, they tested who truly was the greatest dancer and no one could hold a candle to young Rupert’s smooth moves in front of a sell-out crowd.

As well as the main stage, there was also such a wide mix of entertainment for all other family members across the site. From Napalm Death’s ear-splitting head-banging set in the Big Top, Vengaboys arriving on their party bus, Mr Motivator’s energising session for the fitness bugs, to The Cuban Brothers hilarious (if somewhat inappropriate) funky acrobatics and breakdancing on stage.

The theme of the weekend was Superhero’s and Jess Glynne came on stage with pyrotechnics to her No. 1 hit ‘Hold Me Hand’– dressed as her own idol, Cher.

Spectacular fireworks over Lulworth Castle brought the weekend to a close.

After leaving the magic of the festival, the outside world feels very Black and White – without the colourful fields painted with a bright hullabaloo of sequins, glitter, inflatable, and colourful flags, everything feels beige in the surrounding fields of Dorset.

In addition to the music, Camp Bestival brought even more enchantment across the site this year.  There was so much else to see, that you could visit for the weekend and have a great time and not even visit any of the main stages. The Wild Tribe area offered drumming circles, leafy adventures, and an escape from any technology and computer screen, Sleep Retreat provided free yoga workouts to recover from the hedonistic previous night, and a feast of food stalls where you could eat something different for the next month, provided you didn’t venture to the world’s biggest bouncy castle afterwards.

This is all without mentioning the Caravanserai, which can only be described as a festival itself within a festival. Aerial performers hustled high above the quirky mix of ramshackle caravans, Wurlitzers, carnival DJ’s and Victorian fairground rides among other curiosities and oddities.

Fortunately, the sun shone on the crowd all weekend and the superhero theme was warmly received, with all family members getting into the spirit and squeezing into costumes.

Full credit must go to Rob Da Bank and Josie’s superhuman effort for coming back again this year and hosting the incredible party in the south.

Roll on next year’s Camp Bestival – let’s hope the party continues for many more years to come.

Review and photos: Graham Tarrant

 

5 Bucket-List Festivals to do Before You Die

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The festival market has exploded in recent times.

You can now party anywhere in the world, in any temperatures, any setting, at any altitude. Which is great, because there is so much competition that festivals are falling over themselves to get your attention and wow you.

Many idyllic escapes now exists so here are our five favourites.

Epizode, Vietnam

epizode.com

After three much-talked about editions, there a special and unique atmosphere has now been created at Epizode that has quickly made it one of the most respected and essential experiences in the year. The carefully curated week-long showcase is a cultural spectacular that runs around the clock and makes you the lead role in a one-of-a-kind film, and it all unfolds on the blissful beaches of Phu Quoc, an island paradise hideaway off Vietnam’s West coast with a soundtrack from returning favourites and exciting new names such as Ricardo Villalobos, Apollonia, Loco Dice, Lehar, Lilly Palmer, wAFF, Guti, Nicolas Lutz and Craig Richards as well as plenty of Russian and Asian artists.

SXM Festival, St Martin

sxmfestival.com

This festival took a year off in 2018 because of the devastating hurricane that wrecked the Caribbean island. Now it is back, bigger than ever, with the whole island’s infrastructure having been rebuilt. Stages are on beaches and jungle clearings and are truly beautiful. This year Zip, Axel Boman, Apollonia, Fumiya Tanaka, Traumer, Francesca Lombardo, DeWalta, Enzo Siragusa, Archie Hamilton, Guy Gerber, Marco Carola and more all played so expect more of the same in 2020.

Envision Festival, Costa Rica

envisionfestival.com

Envision is a four-day wellbeing and music festival held on a beach on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast with the rainforest as a dramatic backdrop. Lee Burridge, Bedouin, John Acquaviva, GRIZ, Sabo, Tycho, Nicola Cruz, Trevor Hall and many more will all play, and there is plenty of yoga, natural remedy workshops and astrology to enjoy next to the music.

Groove Island, Island of Catalina

grooveisland.com

Groove Island is a game changing, truly one of a kind new event in the paradise of Catalina Island. It takes place on September 27th – 30th and offers a wealth of music, activities, great accommodation and plenty more, zip wires, a gold tournament, the worlds largest ballroom dancing hall, a wine mixer, hiking, natural beauty on the mountains bays, beaches and sea. and DJs include Andrew Rayal, Mark Knight, Shiba San, Chus & Ceballos and many more.

Burning Man, Las Vegas

burningman.org

There is no line up for Burning Man but anyone who is anyone from the worlds of house and techno play. It goes down in a sandy Nevada desert which becomes huge pop up city where money is replaced with bartering and art installations litter the site, which also features giant stage structures such as the iconic Robot Heart. This is one culture gathering that genuinely changes peoples lives.

Four Tet, Sven Vath, Mr Scruff, Pearson Sound, Willow, Dungeon Meat and More Line up for Motion Bristol’s 10th Season

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The first wave of names for Bristol’s 10th season of In: Motion events has been revealed. The award winning party has now been serving up big scale raves in a raw warehouse for a whole decade and once again they offer plenty to get excited about between now and Christmas.

Brands and labels like Drumcode, Bugged Out’s 25th Anniversary, MK Presents Area 10 and Wum Disco Club welcome DJs such as Four Tet, Pearson Sound and Eclair Fifi, Sven Vath, Paul Oakenfold, Mr Scruff, Dana Ruh, Green Velvet, Maya Jane Coles, Steffi, Pan-Pot, Nicole Moudaber, Sub Focus, Camo & Krooked, Shy FX, Problem Central and many more.

Further announcements will crop up over the next few months as In:Motion landslides into its tenth season, firmly remaining a spearhead of UK nightlife.

Pre-sale tickets are live at the In: Motion website.

Terminal V Adds 10000 Capacity Space ‘The Hangar’ Plus More Names

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‘The Reckoning’ from Terminal V is all set to be the largest Halloween rave Scotland has ever seen at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre on Saturday October 26th.

It has just been announced that the rave now takes place over a third party space with an additional 10000 capacity, so the total goes to a whopping 20000 people. The new interconnected space will allow for even more lights, lasers, special visual effects and unique new stage designs to add to the unrivalled experience of the whole thing, making this potentially the biggest Halloween rave in Europe.

The second wave of names announced to play  include Âme, Annie Mac, Bontan, Horse Meat Disco, Jamie Roy, Krystal Klear, Laurent Garnier, Luciano, Maceo Plex, Sally C, Rennier Zonneveld, Stephen Brown, Theo Kottis, Michael Bibi plus 1 very special Terminal V favourite who will be announced 1st week of August. These artists join the already announced Ben Klock, FJAAK, Marcel Dettmann, DJ Koze, Gerd Janson, DJ Seinfeld, HAAi, Red Axes, DJ Tennis, Alan Fitzpatrick, Skream, Hot Since 82, Frazier & Rebuke, so you can be sure of an unforgettable night.

Folk By The Oak 2019

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With being the first time attending Folk By The Oak I wasn’t too sure what to expect as I am so used to a lot more rock music than folk. Attending the festival I entered the grounds of Hatfield Park which is just North of London. The site is filled with grasslands and woodland areas. Entering the festival was really quick and first thing I saw was a huge selection of food and drink vendors from roast pork and stuffing rolls to vegan cakes and tea to freshly made lemonade. There were gazebos and tents with people chilling on their chairs and blankets with picnics. Folk By The Oak had 2 stages which was the main stage and the Acorn Stage both showcasing some amazing acts throughout the day.

My most notable acts were The Trials Of Cato a power-folk trio from Wales. I first heard of these guys from a family member who has seen then busking around the city of Cambridge so I made sure to check them out. The trio put on a fantastic performance with songs such as ‘Tom Paines Bones’ ‘Gloria’ ‘Haf’ and more. I will definitely be checking these guys out again when I can. Their album Hide and Hair is out now and worth having a listen to.

Another band I really enjoyed was the Acorn Stage headliners the Scottish band Elephant Sessions an indie folk band who infuse folk, funk and electronica together. They had the whole tent dancing to their music and I could definitely see them playing the main stage one day.

Another big thing at the festival was The Lost Words: Spell Songs which is a book for children to help learn lost words that are not used as often anymore. They had the book for sale and had an area which had little shows performed by a cast under some trees. Also a musical companion piece to The Lost Words was performed by a collaboration of folk artists on the main stage which was bringing nature back to life through the power of music, poetry, art and magic.

There was plenty of activities for everyone to enjoy including archery, bubbles, arts and crafts, wood carving and then stalls selling nic nacs.

The festival closed with Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls a punk folk style band. They were a little confused as to why they had been picked to play the festival but were very happy to play. A great moment was when Frank mentioned that they usually get the crowd to do a circle pit but considering it was a folk festival they were to do a circle jig, which is probably the first one to be done at a show.

I will definitely be coming back next year to see what more delights Folk By The Oak can offer.

 
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Review and photos by Kane Howie 

Truck Festival Preview

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In just a few weeks time, Truck Festival is due to take place in Oxfordshire with being a sell out its sure to be the best festival of the year! The lineup for this year is by far one of the best we have seen. Summer Festival Guide has been covering the festival for the past few years and we think its great to let you know on who we think you should check out.  See below for the top bands to check out at this years Truck Festival!!

HOT MILK – Saturday-The Nest-13.15

 

YONAKA-Friday-The Nest-19.30

 

DODIE-Sunday-The Market Stage-19.00

 

DECO-Saturday-Truck Stage-14.15

 

STRANGE BONES-Sunday-This Feeling-20.45

MARSICANS-Friday-Truck Stage- 15.00

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN-Sunday-The Market Stage-14.45

We hope you liked some of the bands we chose. You can see the full line up and more information at the Truck Festival website https://truckfestival.com/ 

Have a Truckin time!!

Download 2019 – Slayer’s final UK show REVIEWED!

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Ahh, it’s that time of year again. The last stand of the big bands. With Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and countless others over the last couple of years doing their ‘final’ tours and including Donington as a must-do stop, we seem to have these epic/ sad endings coming thick and fast. Honestly though, given I’m about half a generation behind the curve of these bands, I’m pretty glad I’ve had the opportunity to see them at all. Tonight it is the turn of the mighty thrash merchants Slayer to bid us farewell, in their last ever UK show, and the Zippo Encore stage area is awash with black tshirts as far as the eye can see. This is hands down the fullest this arena has ever been in the whole of Download history, and I can see half a dozen kids-on-shoulders who have yet no idea how insanely lucky they are to be at this show, given that these guys have been playing for almost 40 years.

The stage is set with all the trappings you’d expect of metal royalty, pentacles, skulls, chains, fire… and the crowd are already chanting ‘Slayer’ in unison. Walking onto the stage with all the clear purpose and confidence of a band who have made performing live their home, it’s a sobering moment to think that we are about to see this for the very last time, that this is our metal history we’re saying goodbye to. We can’t wallow for long though, ‘Repentless’ is wild and immediately gathers a hot and chaotic mosh pit, before the band break into early track ‘Evil Has No Boundaries’. It’s certain that tonight we’re getting a history lesson.

We’re spoilt with a list of raw, furious shredding from ‘Disciple’ to ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ as pyro cannons shoot flames across the inside of the stage and inverted crosses burn in the darkening night. Rocking a ‘Kill the Kardashians’ tshirt, guitarist Gary Holt is ripping Donington a new one alongside Tom Arya and Kerry King in his signature belt chains, and as the first ominous notes of ‘South of Heaven’ shimmer across the arena, I feel actual chills. Slayer played at the first festival I ever went to – here at Donington for Ozzfest 2002 and those notes, that moment will be forever etched into my memory – now, alongside this one. As the band scream into the iconic ‘Raining Blood’, thousands of people are windmilling their hair and headbanging like their necks aren’t over 30 and going to be immobile by work on Monday, it’s a sight to behold.

Shutting Donington down with ‘Dead Skin Mask’ and ‘Angel of Death’ is exactly the fire fueled, gut-punch of an ending I expected of Slayer, they are masters of their craft and Gods of the genre, that much is undeniable. With a final “Thank you for being here” and Tom Arya reluctantly leaving the stage, with what looks to be tears in his eyes, we in the crowd can only chant their name in appreciation and thanks. I think it’s testimony to their legacy that everyone is just still standing, still throwing horns into the air – instead of legging it straight to the main stage. This night is too important to so many, and I hope we gave Slayer the farewell they deserved.

© Photo courtesy of Download Festival, do not use without permission.
© Photo courtesy of Download Festival, do not use without permission.