Justin Robertson and Terry Farley in a deserted forest outside of London? This whole thing’s an acid house cliché from the word go.
But it does look irresistible.
Along with the aforementioned legends of club culture, a long line up of UK and international DJs and live acts are booked to play this July at Farr Festival, the 5-year-old weekend shindig in the glorious Hertfordshire countryside.
Colourful, flamboyant American headliners Hercules and Love Affair, Innervisions Records duo Âme – who’ll be playing a full live set – and Mount Kimbie are just a few of the artists on a bill that caters for fans of disco, house, techno, reggae, ska, dub, and dubstep.
But with so many good choices, who should you make sure to see? We narrow down 5 can’t miss artists.
From consistent resource for mixes, astute record tips, warped, idiosyncratic artwork and photography, to international touring DJs and label owners, Belfast pair Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar are everywhere right now. Much akin to their driving ‘90s house and techno informed productions, which sound like a modern sonnet for the sorts of records that once came out of New York and New Jersey on labels like Swing Street, NU Groove, and Nervous Records, Bicep’s DJ sets are crammed with jacked, juiced, pumping, ovary-rattling Roland rhythms, expansive, ethereal pads, sushi-chef sharp high hats, disco diva vocal samples, and flecks of Italo to boot.
Get acquainted with their blog here, where this week can be found samples from AFX Twin’s ‘Caustic Window’ LP with appropriately dark and comic graphic design.
Hun Choi aka DJ Hunee is another who, like Bicep, has risen to the top of the underground in a very short space of time. A former Los Angeles resident now residing in Berlin, he’s been releasing some of the grooviest, most thoughtful house tracks in recent memory for labels like Rush Hour, Internasjonal, and W.T. Records since 2009.
His heart clearly beats for disco, but his deep, hypnotic, polished yet dusty productions dressed in carefully flipped samples possess all the hallmarks of classic house labels like Prescription and Balance.
Read his blog here.
Although David Moufang is 47 and has been producing music and DJing for more than 20 years, one could be forgiven for thinking he is less of a veteran than a newcomer, given that he only this year contributed to the illustrious Fabric mix series, and only in the last couple of years began to appear high up the RA Top 100. But while Move D, a charismatic selector from Heidelberg was escaping the fickle glare of the overground, he was busy nurturing a reputation in the underground for releasing elegant pieces of Avant-garde electronic music and playing deep house and techno sets laced with the best grooves and soul of 20th century music.
More recently, Move D has released music on Smallville and Workshop Records, and regularly plays at some of the best clubs in the world.
He’s remixed Primal Scream and Ricardo Villalobos, was one part of seminal production outfits Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen, and he’s played at the Hacienda. He still plays the finest clubs in the world, and the dirtiest dive bars, week in, week out; and despite looking like the love child of an Iranian mullah and a Hell’s Angel, once lived in a vicarage.
Arguably the finest DJ the UK has ever produced, don’t miss the weird and wonderful world of Andrew Weatherall at Farr Festival. Weatherall’s happenings at the Rotters Golf Club.
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They’ve been described as ‘one of the best DJ duos going right now.’ But we can do better than that.
Known most for their genre disregarding DJ sets and no longer with us Sunday club night, Optimo Espacio at Glasgow’s Sub Club, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes are two of the most consistently on it selectors these islands ever begot, and DJs who actually warrant the cliché, DJ’s DJs.
Fishing from enormous record collections, which reputedly run past the 30,000 mark each, Keith and Jonnie play funk, dub, jazz, bleep, indie, disco, electro, psychedelic rock, proper pop, every kind of oddity with a groove; and even just straight up, classy house sets with plenty to work the spotters.
If you’re not convinced, take in their played-with list, and listen to this:
Farr festival takes place 18-20th July 2014 in Hertfordshire, ‘just along the corn fields and through the gap in the trees..’ Full line up, tickets, and information can be found here: http://www.farrfestival.co.uk/