BEYOND THE AUTOBAHN
Daft Punk might have Giorgio Moroder, but the electronic Daft Punk mi music pionee music pioneers from the 70s that you can see this year are Kraftwerk. And Kraftwerk. And there’s a whole lot more on offer at T in the Park for electro for electronic music fans, as Hamish Brown explains
O ccupying an area somewhere between an IMAX 3D screening and an art installation, there’s little doubt German krautrock legends Kraftwerk’s live show is a major highlight of the 2013 T in the Park Park bill – for fans of any music. Titans of the transistor they might be, but Kraf Kraftwerk (German for power station) haven’t released any decent new mus music since 1981, and besides their mighty live show, there’s a whole lot lot more on offer for fans of contemporary electronic music. Every bit a ‘fes ‘festival within a festival’, the Slam tent’s consistently great line-up means dan dance lovers may have little need to visit the rest of the T site at all. Th Things get going straight from the off, with still new ‘bonus day’ Friday featu featuring Glasgow’s Silicon Soul, whose take on moody house has been on e on excellent form on their Darkroom Dubs Radio mixes. With a similarly deep deep love of deep bass, Bristol’s Eats Everything has rapidly earned a rep reputation for his fun sets, which often take in classics and the neglected gen genre of vocal house. Later on, it’s the first of many back-to-back (b2b) pa pairings taking place over the weekend (playing a few records each, sy symbiotically feeding from each other’s style), with Numbers lynchpin an and general man-about-Glasgow Jackmaster’s atmospheric style meeting Jo Joy Orbison’s twitchy UK garage take on dubstep. From then on, things ge get sexy quickly, with sets from Maceo Plex, a self-confessed fan of ‘funk, ‘funk, beauty and sex appeal’, and Green Velvet’s signature blend of non-stop party-starte party-starters. In a move In a move showcasing the expert curation at play here, Saturday kicks off with some light re some light refreshment as Claude Von Stroke brings his sense of fun to proceedings. Expect colour Expect colour and possibly the sound of steel drums. Similarly, a Chicago veteran- themed triple themed triple b2b set from Mark Farina, (downtempo with a chance of jazz flute) Derrick Car Derrick Carter (soul, with a chance of disco) and DJ Sneak (funky with a chance of classics) of classics) will keep the vibes upbeat into the evening. From then on, we enter a darker z a darker zone, firstly via Slam themselves, then through Maya Jane Coles’ atmosphe atmospheric dubstep-influenced house (see page 76 for an album review), before we emer we emerge to the sound of the funky synths of Laurent Garnier’s sun-drenched house. S house. Saturday headliner Richie Hawtin is a techno institution, and knows how to delive to deliver a damn fine DJ set. Picture Picture the scene. It’s Sunday at T in the Park. Someone tells you that today will feat will feature ‘special guest’ appearances from Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshir Sweatshirt. You’re tired and emotional after Saturday’s marathon. What you need is two of th is two of the new wave of DJs making a return to evocative, melodic and emotive side of house m side of house music, namely Jamie Jones and Lee Foss (both also of Hot Creations label and ‘supergroup’ Hot Natu label and ‘supergroup’ Hot Natured) whose focus on the funkier, sexier side of things should see you through. Seth Troxler may be one of through. Seth Troxler may be one of the most popular DJs around right now, but the event many will have their eye on this weekend is a b2b set from Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann, a duo who perhaps best represent the harder techno sound of the Ostgut Ton label and Berlin club institution Berghain that has been so influential in recent years. With Adam Beyer continuing the dark and heavy sound into Sunday night, rest assured, you are in safe hands.
T IN THE PARK
T IN THE PARK - YEAR ONE On T’s 20th birthday, Allan Brown looks back at the festival’s first ever line-up
Prior to year one of T in the Park, rock festivals in Scotland were as rare and as fleeting as the Highland wildcat. Fittingly, then, in 1979, an early stab was staged in a zoo; or, rather, a bear park near Loch Lomond. By most accounts it was a ramshackle affair, heavy with security and a bill comprising whichever acts had answered the phone first: The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, The Skids. Mention must also be made of the Calderglen rock festival of 1984, which culminated in some US heavy metal has-been informing the (non- existent) crowd that ‘East Kilbride, you’re the best audience in the world!’
Over the decade following,
matters would sharpen up decisively. Promoters began to look beyond one-night stands; they established their own venues and forged links with promoters overseas. Audiences were growing pan-generational. A well-assembled bill was equally an invitation to extreme hedonism or a jolly day out with the family. Such was acknowledged in the location of T’s inaugural offering, Strathclyde Park, an expanse of recreational greenery near Hamilton. And so it was that a fleet of chartered Corporation buses rolled up on a rank of dusty blaize pitches and disgorged over 40,000 music fans, most of whom would’ve assumed they were witnessing yet another fly-by-night and doomed attempt to defy the Scottish weather.
Rather, they’d stumbled upon the earliest days of a business that was starting to take its duties seriously. The bill was impressive – Blur, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Rage Against The Machine, Cypress Hill – but the viewer was impressed also that it was all an actual proper thing, with bands appearing at the times the programme said they would. Back then, few believed such a thing could happen in Scotland. It was a heck of a lot rougher and readier than it is today but happen it did.
13 Jun–11 Jul 2013 THE LIST 19