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BEACONS
16th – 18th
August 2013
Heslaker Farm, Skipton
Following a last minute cancellation of their first ever year in 2011
due to flooding, you’d have been forgiven for reading Beacons Festival’s last
rights. I mean, boutique festivals like this are becoming more and more
disposable in Austerity Britain. It seems that for every one that opens another
closes, which creates a worrying instability among an industry so important to
British arts culture. Two years later though, and Beacons has crawled back from
the depths of extinction with one of the best lineups this summer, sitting
firmly among a group of UK festivals with capacities of less than three
thousand offering more concentrated lineups for prices that don’t resemble
German hyperinflation.
Like many UK festivals, Beacons is jumping on the healthy UK electronic
music scene. Friday's headliner BONOBO already has an album of the year under
his belt, bringing his sample heavy, multifaceted style of music further towards
mainstream culture with the clean vocals of long-term collaborator Bajka.
Arguably the best booking of the festival though, comes in the form of
Barcelona producer JOHN TALABOT. I mean take it from someone who Google’s ‘John
Talabot UK Date’ almost daily, this is going to be unreal. His debut album Fin
was a highlight of 2012 and is one of the most accomplished debut albums from
any producer this decade, with tracks like So Will Be Now and Destiny
providing a master class in supersaturated aesthetic and build and release.
It’s house music, lost in heavy curtains of synths and a sea of fog claps;
wickedly infectious and deliriously exciting. BEN UFO has deservedly earned the
title of the best selector in the UK right now, making any set by the Hessle
Audio co-founder un-missable. Lancaster’s BONDAX brought Liverpool one of its best
sets in memory at Abandon Silence last year, and with their debut album set for
release in the coming months, you’d bet your house on the young duo reaching
Disclosure level heights by the end of the year. Catch them now before you’re
forced to pretend you hate them. Surrey’s VONDLEPARK are glaringly low on
Friday’s bill, so make sure you arrive nice and early to witness their sultry,
80s tinged take on R&B (if you need any more persuasion, just stick on Quest
and thank me later). GOLD PANDA’s excellent second album Half of Where You
Live was stunning in its breadth, with an array of gawky, arrhythmic
directions coming together to form a fearsome whole, landing the Berlin based
producer at the summit of Saturday’s lineup. FLOATING POINTS falls on the more
elegant side of electronic music and has been called the ‘brainy heir to
Four-Tet’s London Throne’ (me neither). His set on Sunday will create a
menacing fog around those Yorkshire hills though, with tracks like ARP3
and Vacuum Boogie pushing those third day festival blues to their limits.
There is something to offer for those who don’t fancy spending the
weekend gurning their face inside out, with LOCAL NATIVES sitting atop of an
impressive group of guitar-based acts. Renowned for their gorgeous harmonies
and vocal counterpoint, the LA group will be showcasing their excellent album Hummingbird
to Saturday evening’s main stage revelers. Birmingham’s JAWS are the closest
the UK has got to a Californian paradise, propping up a strong group of UK
bands alongside the likes of DJANGO DJANGO, HOOKWORMS, DRENGE and the enigmatic
SKY LARKIN.
The lineup is impressive in its diversity. With one of the best
electronic music bills this summer, it would be easy for them to sit among the
likes of Gottwood and Dimensions as a specialised Electronic Music festival.
Instead though, they have balanced it with a healthy portion of guitar-based
music. I’m not suggesting that there is anything wrong with the former, far
from it, but anyone who has spent a weekend watching DJ sets on another fucking
planet will know that it is an exhausting experience. The drug culture that
surrounds it is also something that detracts many lovers of UK electronic music
from attending such events. So this amalgamation of two essential UK music
scenes will provide a perfect platform for the many crossover fans that already
exist to see the shit they love and to feel like they belong. I know it
probably isn’t nearly as contrived as I’m making out, but try saying that when
you’re hiding in a tent at Creamfields because some dude in a mankini is trying
to sell you a Gary for twenty quid.
