EarPIPE

The Early Bird Catches the Sonar Worm | Festival Preview

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 | Event Preview | No Comments

We’re barely out of January but thoughts are already turning to summer festival activities. If you were militantly organised you would have booked your Glasto ticket back in October. Crazy, I know. But the early bird catches the worm and all that. Another early bird special on the go is EarPipe favourite Sonar festival. Situated in and around the city of Barcelona over 3 days and 2 nights, Sonar combines forward thinking music and the multimedia arts to create a diverse and fun filled festival to the backdrop of a beautiful city. Ok the night time events in an exhibition hall on an industrial estate do lack that modernist Gaudi finesse you might expect from Barcelona, but the climate and music definitely make up for that. Also, during the day you’re based in the city so you’re free to explore all over as opposed to being penned in some camp site for the whole weekend. That pretty much sums up the whole weekend for Sonar – you get all the delights of a music festival, yet you have the freedom to explore Barcelona itself, and none of this camping bollocks, just festivals, parties and when you need it, beds, showers and running water. › Continue reading

Tags: Air, Barcelona, Grace Jones, Hawtin, Jeff Mills, LCD Soundsystem, Marcel Dettmann, Orbital, Richie Hawtin, Sonar

Some Reasons Why Not to Waste Your Time on Clapham Common this Bank Holiday

Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Event Preview | 2 Comments

All things exciting seem to point to Clapham Common on the bank holiday weekend. But in all honesty, it’s not really all that it’s cracked up to be. Here are some reasons why not to waste your time on the common and some canny alternatives.

Rubbish Soundsystems

Being stuck in the heart of Clapham means you’re in the middle of a massive residential area. Residential area equals people with dogs, children, twitching curtains and a massive thirst for pissing on any parade. Call me crazy but these people hate it when their windows are vibrating during afternoon tea. Unfortunately they also pay taxes and actually have a say in how the world is run. So despite the soundsystem probably having tens of thousands of watts bottled up at its disposal, you can probably expect that the local council has it capped to a dreary cesspit tap drip. So the only way you’re going to hear anything of worth is if you’ve camped out inside the bass bin like some free party crusty.

What you need is some grotty warehouse space where you can crank it up a few notches. It just so happens that Eastern Electrics will be holed up in some grotty warehouse space › Continue reading

Tags: anja schneider, Ben Klock, Circus Company, Clapham Common, Claude Von Stroke, Damien Lazarus, Danny Howells, Detroit, Digweed, Dixon, Doc Scott, Eastern Electrics, Glimpse, Guillaume and The Coutu Dumonts, Hawtin, Henrik Schwarz, Innervisions, James Zabiela, Marcus Worgull, Mulletover, Need2Soul, Oslo, Patrice Scott, Resident Advisor, Richie Hawtin, Sasha, Sasha & Digweed, Secretsundaze, Steve Bug, Trevor Jackson, Warm

Wild in the Country Q&A with Renaissance’s Geoff Oakes

Thursday, June 26th, 2008 | Event Preview | No Comments

With only a week or so until Wild in the Country, EarPipe decided to have a chat with Renaissance’s main man Geoff Oakes about what to expect, what’s new and what’s making RenHQ giggle like school girls with excitement.

What can we expect this year from Wild in the Country?
18 hours of the very best in electronic and indie live acts and djs, funktion one sound, beautiful décor, lots of fun stuff to keep you amused and possibly the prettiest festival location in the UK.

Whats different this year from last year’s festival?
we have increased the hours by 50%, so it’s now an 18 hour marathon, starting at 1pm, with a much bigger and more diverse line-up. We only had 3 live acts last year, whilst this year we have 20, and there’s been a greater focus on making Wild in the Country feel like a fun and interesting festival experience. Whether it’s a surreal cuppa and cucumber sandwich at the mad hatters tea party, lazing away the afternoon in the enchanted forest or braving the fairground rides, there’s plenty to do both day and night.

So there are now 6 arenas what can we expect from each arena?
there’s a lot of musical diversity and we have programmed each arena to flow as if it were its own individual night. Each will have their own specific décor and funktion one sound, making every arena feel much more like a club than a festival tent.

What is Ren HQ most excited about at this year’s festival?
I think it has to be attracting Bjork for her only UK festival appearance. Danny Tenaglia’s first festival appearance in 6 years, Richie Hawtin hosting the only Minus arena at a UK festival this summer and Pendulum’s Live show will also be highlights.

Yoda was added to the bill. Will he be wowing us with one of his special AV shows?
He isn’t doing the ‘film score’ set, but he always delivers something special………. We were really pleased to land him and I can’t wait to see him play.

Richie Hawtin and friends are there celebrating 10 years of Minus, will they be doing their new cube live show concept thing??
No, the mysterious Cube is coming later in the year! However, this is a true Minus showcase and, with Carl Craig as a special guest, is a techno connoisseurs dream.

Are there any more acts to be announced?
No, we’re 10 days away as we speak…… everything is locked-in and the site build has already started.

Will there be an after party anywhere for those that don?t want to stop?
I am sure there will be but our focus is on the 18 hours of the festival, so no Wild in the Country endorsed after parties I’m afraid………. Not totally discounting turning up at one myself though!

Is mud banned from WITC this year and is the sunshine booked and confirmed for the 5th?
last year we had what was quite possibly the wettest day of the wettest summer on record, so it can only get better! We took a lot of lessons from last years weather and are much better equipped to deal with it should it happen again. The forecast for the south is looking pretty good though, so fingers crossed for a hot and sunny weekend.

What sets WITC away from your usual GlobalCreamfieldsbury Festivals?
the bigger the festival, the more pressure there is to load up the line up with as many djs and acts as possible to ensure the huge ticket sales required to break even are reached. This often means that too many acts are crammed into an arena with short sets and things don’t flow musically. We’ve tried to maintain a specific feel to Wild in the Country by putting together a credible and coherent line-up that makes real sense musically, giving set times of up to 4 hours to some DJs. The integrity of the line-up, coupled with an equal focus on a relaxed and fun experience, means we attract a great crowd that creates a unique festival atmosphere. The absence of a hard house tent feels like a breath of fresh air!

Tags: Bjork, festival, Geoff Oakes, Hawtin, Knebworth, Renaissance, Wild in the Country, Yoda