After our rundown of the top homegrown festivals, we’ve rustled up a primer to the best summer shindigs taking place in more exotic climes.
Pleasant as yet another weekend in a British field/holiday camp can be, sometimes it pays to cast one’s net a little futher. Castles, islands, open air museums – there are no shortage of remarkable locations to be investigated, not to mention a similar abundance of top-notch line-ups.
Given the profusion of new festivals popping up all over the globe, it’s near impossible to offer a truly comprehensive survey. A few crackers – New York’s Unsound festival and Detroit’s Movement, to name two – have already been and gone. Equally, some of reliable events (Elevate, Club To Club) are keeping shtum about their line-up for now. Still, here’s a lean fifteen picks for the venturesome music aficionado. From the cerebral to the carnivalesque, there’s something here for all breeds of traveller.
Note: listed ticket prices are for the event in full, and do not include booking fees.
SÓNAR
June 14-16
Barcelona, Spain, 155€
The Goliath of electronic festivals returns for its nineteenth year of music, art and shades-and-wifebeater combos. During the day, the festival sets up stall in Barcelona’s wonderful Centre de Cultura Contemporania; come sundown, things decamp to the sprawling Fira Gran Via L’Hospitalet complex. New Order, James Murphy and Lana Del Rey demonstrate the festival’s booking muscle, but it’s sets from Flying Lotus, Untold and Blawan (b2b with Mary Anne Hobbs) that we’re especially excited about. Particularly charmed names in a great line-up include Richie Hawtin, Jacques Greene, Julio Bashmore and Daedelus. In a year that’s seen the Sónar brand expand into Sao Paolo, it’s great to see that the Barcelona edition is as on point as ever.
More info and tickets
Jeff Mills plays Canada’s MUTEK this weekend
TAURON NOWA MUZYKA
August 23-26
Katowice, Poland, c. €50
The Polish gathering takes place in and around an abandoned coal mine, and the organisers have correspondingly dug deep to snare some great leftfield dance names. DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn will be spreading the footwork gospel, and John Talabot will be capitalising on a banner 2012. Sepalcure and L-Vis 1990 are on the cards, and Hot Chip and Caribou & Four Tet will bring in the punters. Throw in three of the finest freneticists around – Rustie, Mouse On Mars and Gang Gang Dance – and you’ve got a sterling bill.
OUTLOOK
August 30 – September 3
Fort Puna Christo, Pula, Croatia, £135
Somehow, Croatia has managed to establish itself as the new dance festival capital of Europe. The bass-orientated Outlook remains the biggest of the bunch, and the 2012 line-up packs some serious punch as a result. DMZ, Skream, The Bug (w/ Flowdan and Daddy Freddy) and Hatcha will all represent the low-end. Pearson Sound, Pinch and Joker also get the nod. Moreover, Outlook have assembled some seriously good old timers: you’re unlikely to catch Souls Of Mischief, Lee Scratch Perry and DJ Marky on the same bill anywhere else. Numerous boat and beach parties should keep things on a lively tip.
MUTEK
May 30 – June 3
Assorted venues, Montreal, Canada, up to $260
As the festival market balloons, one common complaint is that most line-ups are increasingly interchangeable. Not so with Montreal’s MUTEK festival, which offers a hoard of unique, high-concept and one-off performances. Kode9 will present his collaborative film-score project with MFO and Ms. Haptic. Tim Hecker and Stephen O’Malley will present a live collaboration in St. James’ Church, and Lustmord and Biosphere will be giving their Trinity collaboration a second spin. FACT will also be hosting a killer showcase on the Thursday. Jeff Mills will be debuting at the festival with a live presentation of his The Messenger/Sleeper Wakes project, and Monolake will show off his surround-sound Ghosts audio-visual set. Demure visionary Shackleton completes the bill for the evening. Roly Porter, Blondes and Nicolas Jaar also feature.
EXIT
July 12-15
Petrovaradin, Serbia, £95
Like the 400+ year old fortress which hosts it, EXIT is now a formidable bulwark on the summer festival landscape. The Serbian bash always pans wide with its line-up, leading to one of the most winningly schizophrenic bills around. Even if Guns’N’Roses and Duran Duran don’t prod your buttons, the likes of Laurent Garnier, Richie Hawtin and Erykah Badu should do the business. There’s also an R&S showcase, featuring nifty folks like Lone, Pariah and Teengirl Fantasy. Further acts include New Order, Space Dimension Controller, Addison Groove and Azari & III.
BAD BONN KILBI
May 31- June 2
Düdingen, Switzerland, CHF 165
This relatively humble Swiss event has all sorts of interesting curiosities. Oneohtrix Point Never, Dimlite, Rustie and Clark will all be playing live. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry will stop by with his The Whitebellyrats sidemen, and Nguzunguzu will throwing a global pop sounds into a blender. Mudhoney and The Afghan Whigs will also a bit of scuzz to proceedings. The festivities also take place a stone’s throw from the majestic Lake Schiffenen, so bring some flat stones for skimming.
Erykah Badu will be Serbia’s EXIT in July
DOUR
July 12-15
Dour, Belgium, 117€
The Francophone village of Dour, situated in Western Belgium, is normally a relatively sleepy spot. That changes in July, when Belgium’s pre-eminent electronic festival – recently declared by Last FM to be the world’s best for discovering new music 0 sets up stall for four days. There’s absolutely no shortage of class acts on the bill: Actress, Mount Kimbie, James Blake and Pantha Du Prince will all be filling rooms with their highly distinctive, similarly immaculate brands of dance music. Hats off to the hip-hop booking team, who’ve managed to assemble The Pharcyde, Black Star and DOOM on the same bill. Other treats include Ben Klock, Battles and Mosca.
DIMENSIONS
September 6 – September 9
Fort Puna Christo, Pula, Croatia, £120
Outlook spin-off Dimensions shares a venue and a sensibility with its progenitor, but offers an altogether more sophisticated bill. Carl Craig will be appearing under his phenomenal 69 guise, and Moodymann and Theo Parrish will also be representing Detroit. Surgeon and Marcel Dettmann will be adding a hard edge, whilst Floating Points and Nathan Fake will offer somewhat dreamier sounds. Other big draws include Joy Orbison, Four Tet, Kyle Hall and Tessela.
Panthu Du Prince appears at Belgian festival Dour in July
OPTIMUS PRIMAVERA SOUND
June 7-10
Porto, Portugal, 179€
Considered alongside Dimensions, Optimus Primavera Sound suggests that 2012 might be the year of the spin-off festival. Spawned from Barcelona’s big league San Miguel Primavera Sound, which takes place the previous week, the Portuguese edition has arguably trumped its bigger relative in the line-up stakes. The Weeknd will be giving his freshly minted live show an airing, and The xx will be rocking up with new material in tow. Numbers will be running a showcase, featuring resident talents Jackmaster, Onemanand Deadboy. Washed Out, James Ferraro And The Bodyguard, Forest Swords, John Talabot and Demdike Stare are all on the bill, and there are some sizeable alt.rock names (Wilco, Jeff Mangum, The Olivia Tremor Control) to boot.
More info and tickets
WORLDWIDE
July 2-8
Sete, France, 179€
Gilles Peterson returns with a very special festival constructed in his own image. Worldwide’s biggest boon is its enviable set of venues: day parties take place on the beach, evening shows in the waterside Theatre De La Mer, and late night parties by the Mole St. Louis lighthouse. The bill has clearly been lovingly assembled, darting from skewed dance (Machinedrum, Koreless, Scuba) through to earthier fare (Robert Glasper, Tinariwen). Carl Cox, LV and Alexander Nut will be helping beach parties. Moodymann playing at sundown by the sea? Difficult to argue.
OPTIMUS ALIVE
July 13-15
Lisbon, Portugal, £103
The Portugal do (the second on the list to be sponsored by Continental phone-hawkers Optimus, the canny brutes) will no doubt be teeming with amped-up Stone Roses fans; fellow headliners The Cure and Radiohead are hardly niche concerns either. Away from the bright lights, however, there’s a good spread of interesting bookings. SBTRKT and Katy B will continue their respective journeys towards mainstream infiltration, and Tricky will be performing Maxinquaye in its entirety with Martina Topley-Bird. James Murphy, Buraka Som Sistema and Caribou also make the cut.
STOP MAKING SENSE
August 2-6
The Garden, Tisno, Croatia, £100
Another Croatian jaunt with plenty of character. Stop Making Sense eschews mega-names in favour of a well crafted, cannily curated electronic selection. Chicago legend Lil Louis is the biggest draw, but Jimmy Edgar and Move D will both keep things moving. George Fitzgerald, Mickey Pearce, Endian, Chris Coco and Benji B are all on board. The boat parties are always the most beguiling part of the SMS package: Electric Minds, Bridging The Gap, Secousse, Deviation and Dalston Superstore are among the club nights taking to the waves.
ROCK THE BELLS
August 18-19/August 25-26/September 1-2
San Bernardino, California/Mountain View, California/Holmdel, New Jersey, ticket prices vary
Hip-hop’s First Festival returns to bum rush the show, rock the block, &tc. The travelling festival makes two stops in California and one in New Jersey, and boasts a mercurial line-up. A recently reunited Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will be performing E.1999 Eternal from top to tail, and resurgent don Nas will be laying down the gauntlet. Method Man & Redman will perform Blackout in its entirety, and EPMD and Redman will unite as The Hit Squad. Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q will be repping Black Hippy, whilst A$AP Rocky and Mac Miller will also stop by. Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane, meanwhile, will be on call to remind the striplings how it’s done.
MELT!
July 13-15
Ferropolis, Gräfenhainichen, Germany
Islands and fortresses are splendid in their own way, but Germany’s Melt! festival (yes, the exclamation mark is compulsory) gets big ticks for its brilliantly barmy location. The event takes place in the Gräfenhainichen Ferropolis (aka “the city of iron”), an open air museum of enormous mid-20th century machinery. Modeselektor will present a special ‘Melt!Selektor’ set, Laurent Garnier and Richie Hawtin will put their respective experience to good use,. araabMUZIK, Shed, Hudson Mohawke, Lana Del Rey, The Gaslamp Killer and the Motor City Drum Ensemble will also be providing the perfect soundtrack for gazing at dilapidated bucket wheel excavators.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry will be at Outlook and Bad Bonn Kilbi.
OBEY CONVENTION
May 31 – June 3
Various venues, Halifax, Canada, $35
Amidst all the sun-struck European dance bashes, we couldn’t help but sneak in something a little pricklier. Run by record label DIVORCE, Obey Convention brings a fistful of noisy and experimental acts to delightful Halifax. Black Dice’s Eric Copeland will be keeping things off the wall, and Gary War will be touting his mangled pop gems. Ex-Harry Pussy man Bill Orcutt will also be beating seven shades of shit out of his acoustic guitar. Bloodshot Bill, Pink Noise and Shearing Pinx are among the other acts making a lo-fi, low-spec racket.
SOUNDWAVE
July 19-23
The Garden, Tisno, Croatia, £105
The sun-soaked Croatian coast plays host to Soundwave, a festival agreeably heavy on the boat parties – get ready to board ships captained by the likes of Hoya Hoya & Eglo Records, Tru Thoughts, Hyponik and the one and only…Craig Charles. DJs/artists confirmed so far include Alexander Nut, Throwing Snow, Kutmah, Funkineven and Illum Sphere.
ELECTRIC ELEPHANT
July 12-16
The Garden, Tisno, Croatia, £89.99
Prior to Soundwave (see above), Croatia’s picturesque Tisno venue The Garden will play host to the similarly enticing Electric Elephant festival. This is one for the dance music connoisseurs – strap in for sets from Michael Mayer, Karizma, Michael Mayer, Mike Simonetti, Trevor Jackson, Marcellus Pittman, DJ Deep, Rebolledo and A Love From Outer Space co-pilots Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston.
