I had an absolute blast at my first ever Twisted Frequency.
First, I was invited to play a leftfield ambient set in the Dojo. There are so many dark, weird and spacious artists I spend a lot of time exploring, so it was great to focus on this sound – a complete left turn from my normal house-grooves vibe.
Interspersed within these masterworks, I dropped some beatless edits of my tunes…
…including one that I hastily prepared on the drive in!
Listen through to the end of the mix to hear a nod to one of my all time favourite surreal TV shows (not made by David Lynch) – The Leftovers. Also a nod to Max Richter and the Pixies, coming together in a few piano notes.
Highlights
The real highlights were:
- Swimming in the river every day (except for leaving day, when my urgent kids rushed me to pack up!).
- Chilling "watching tennis" at the skateramp.
- The Chillery stage in general:
Biggest house-grooves quotient by far, especially sundown house, the best kind.
Under cover but still very open.
- Downtime. Forgetting about time and messaging/internet/the world for five days.
The stage design / production / soundsystems, and constant four channel 24x7 festival grooves were also a massive highlight. The specific highlights below are just a wee taster of some acts that stood out to me.
The Horse laid down a block party set of ghetto hip-hop, perfect way to kick off an afternoon. I love it when DJs are having as much fun getting down as the crowd (or more).
Ebb played an absolute blinder of a festival headliner set, in the best way. His set straddled new years eve, so the first half was rinse-step-drop-repeat for 30 mins, then fireworks, then into the techno.
E-Kare made an outsize impact with their ~12 minute set, a masterclass in performance and engaging the audience. Some tricks that I have learned from watching them do their thing:
- While doing soundcheck, repeatedly tell the audience: "This is not the set. When we start doing our set, you'll know." Hype.
- When you finish soundcheck, personally greet everyone in attendance.
Don't forget to greet any walk-ins mid-way through set too!
- Short songs are fine. Even better if you have one slightly longer song, and every other song is the exact same length. Tell the audience this, active expectation!
- Vocals.
Headland played two sets – a dark dubby afternoon set on the main stage and a crisp, dark digital-dub set at Beat Bach (above). Absolutely loved both.
Shouts out to my gang slash family! Like us, if you work at it, you will achieve Top Couch®.
