Beside The Seaside
Over what sort of landscape does your mind's eye roam when you think of festivals? There are tents, fields and thousands and thousands of other people, right? A wave of young bodies mounts the crest of a hill like in Zulu; some people who like jazz are in a yurt; hippies grow in the mud (they reproduce a bit like mushrooms do). You're probably either thinking, "yeah, that's mainly what festivals are about," or saying, "of course not, these days I only turn up for hand-picked line-ups in retro holiday villages or the grounds of country houses".
'Boutique' festivals (as some people, mainly broadsheet journalists, are calling them) seem to be multiplying; this year they were pretty much impossible to keep up with. The ones you've probably heard of are honestly not the half of it.
Some, like Secret Garden, Truck or Green Man aim to recreate the rural experience on a much smaller scale and arguably in a much more pleasant way. Others, like All Tomorrow's Parties, offer something somewhat different: the whole festival takes place in a seaside holiday camp, like a '60s Mod weekender or an episode of Hi-de-Hi!. Some people might find an aging Butlin's slightly grim compared to rolling meadows on a sunny day, but there are benefits. It doesn’t matter if it rains, because all the venues are indoors. All the venues have bars. You get a chalet to stay in. It has real beds, a real shower and real toilets that haven’t been used by 4000 people since they were last cleaned.
The usual idea at small festivals is either something-for-everyone eclecticism or basically a load of indie bands. But for people who like the Hi-de-Hi! set-up and are interested in electronic music, events inspired by rave and club culture are starting to appear – contrary to the refinement and quiet times suggested by the annoying 'boutique' tag.
The first ever Bloc Festival happened last year on the Norfolk coast and comfortably sold out, so next March it’s back. It's run by a small group of fans and grassroots promoters, so the whole thing has a nice, personal feel and performers are booked in a totally independent way. Detroit's Underground Resistance collective will be there, and are pretty much the antithesis of everything bland in techno – whatever anyone thinks of the quirky, funk- and jazz-derived sound of the label at the moment, no-one has ever tried to claim it’s soulless or formulaic. Rephlex Records, co-founded by Aphex Twin and also pretty unique, will have a showcase too including Luke Vibert and Ceephax Acid Crew. There's going to be dubstep, organised by the London’s FWD night and Shackleton's Skull Disco label, and far too much other Techno, Electro, House and electronica to mention. There'll even be a small Finnish delegation to represent the obscure, slowed-down, electro-, hip-hop- and funk-inspired movement known as Skweee.
Competing with Bloc is March's Bangface Weekender in Sussex, sort of a weekend omnibus edition of the London club night. For the hyper Bangface kids (you'll know the sort of person if you've been to the regular night) there's plenty of Breakcore on the line-up, like Kid606, Aaron Spectre and Venetian Snares – plus an extra-big stockpile, no doubt, of the customary blow-up toys to throw about. Hopefully dubstep from Mala and Kode 9, who are slightly more, well, sensible, will tip the balance just a bit in favour of calm. The Rephlex crew are showing up to this one too, as well as old buddies Squarepusher and μ-ziq. Altern-8 and Krome and Time will be representing old rave, and the first UK show from reclusive electro bods Dopplereffekt should be special. A seaside music-hall vibe actually sounds like an appealing look for Bangface, not least because a swirly red carpet is clearly going to be better than the filthy floor at their regular home Electrowerkz.
Hopefully both these events will turn out to represent a trend: with the exceptions of the long-dead Dedbeat and the Glade festival, which gets slightly bigger and slightly more stressful every year, the only dance-music options used to be the unadventurous weekends with a corporate feel organised by 'clubbing brands' like Cream and Gatecrasher. The idea possibly makes sense when you think about the decline of so-called super-clubs in favour of smaller, independently organised nights.
Some people might question the value or feasibility of effectively going clubbing three days and three nights in a row, but there is this thing called taking it easy that's a good idea now and again. And the main thing is, it's hard to say no to more good music than you can actually deal with, all within walking distance of four walls and a bed. Wandering back to your chalet or going to the beach at the end of each night definitely beats taking a night bus across London, so if you’re into the electronic underground, there are a couple of Mondays you might want to book off work next Easter.
Bloc Weekend Website
Tickets are available through the festivals' own sites.
