10 July 2013
Alasdair Byers
in 2006 promoters asked "can we get people to Croatia?" Skip forward six years and Croatia's gone from Ex-Yugo Oddity to a place that everyone from blogs as niche as their owner's haircut right the way through to boat-shoe and tweed mainstream media have agreed to label "The New Ibiza". Promoters now face a different challenge: Croatia's more than popular: Croatia's becoming full. With 11 festivals in approximately as many weeks spread across Croatia's key launchpads: Petrcane, Pula, Rovinj, Umag and Zrce the task facing promoter now is one of differentiating themselves from every other event offering sun, sand and serious music sessions.
The latter point may be the prize in contention: Ibiza has house. Swathes of western Europe have techno, progressive and trance whilst mainstream America has, for now, EDM. Croatia seems yet to find it's vibe. Hot sunsets, boat parties and sunrise sets certainly lend themselves to a White Isle esque vibe but line-ups continue to be diverse.
One festival that appears to have taken matters into it's own hands is Soundwave. Located in Croatia's Tisno: home of cult Garden and alternative Electric Elephant Festivals, this event boasts an impressively diverse line-up on first impression: a student friendly grouping with nods to electronica including DJ Shadow, DJ Yoda & Riot Jazz but < a href="http://www.soundwavecroatia.com/lineup/"> look closer ; massive emphasis has been placed on live electronica. Ranging from Ghostpoet's moody urban melodies, to Submotion's Orchestra's epic take on avant-garde electronica - the like of which arguably hasn't been seen since Aphex Twin - the festival programmers are pushing forward into space only provisionally explored by rivals. Here's a rundown of Music-News's most anticipated
Kutmah
Egyptian-Scottish, Brighton based and American raised Kutmah boasts a sound as diverse as his background. Breaking in LA as part of bass-deity Flying Lotus Brainfeeder collective, Kutmah , mixture of pioneering DJ sets and gamechanging production has pushed him firmly onto the radar of the UK's own British Power Crew. Flying into Soundwave following his Fabric Set in London the week before Kutmah's rep as an ambassador for 'grown up bass music' should add an interesting perspective on Soundwave's stage.
Kutmah Bio Page
Ilum Sphere
Hailing from UK and, increasingly, Croatian-conquering music city Manchester, Illum Sphere is known in parallel both for his quality as a producer and performer as well as for his pioneering night Hoya:Hoya the latter having helped push the likes of bass heavyweights Four Tet, Kuedo and Dabrye. 'Sphere's nights and own DJ sets are a hot bed of genre exploring, visually stunning, spontaneous set pieces: a package that's seen him play LA, Sydney and release on Martyn's label 3024, Young Turks and now managed by the leftfield authorities Ninja Tune.
Ilum Sphere Bio Page
Om Unit
Om Unit has enjoyed an adventure: starting out in Jungle and moving through the ranks until he represented the UK under the then moniker 2tall as the world DMC championships. Collaborations in the UK with the Foreign Beggars and the US with Stones Throw 2tall retired, reemerging a short time later as Om Unit. London-based, Om Unit has in a short space of time already released on Planet Mu, All City and will gracing Soundwave as part of an international tour that peaks in August in LA's Low End Theory and NYC's Museum of Modern Art - approximately the same time his debut OM Unit album launches. A veteran and a new producer all at once then: it'll be interesting see the angle he takes in Croatia.
OM Unit's Soundcloud
Flako
Maybe it's his part Chilean roots, or maybe it's a reaction to his Berlin upbringing, but Flako's a bass artist with a difference: where most dive into new landscapes of sample-twisting madness, Flako's interest lies in bringing a souful, verging on accoustic sound to his sets and his production. With backing from the likes of LA's Gaslampkiller and Scotland's Hudson Mohawke Flako inhabits a world of eerie vocal echoes, background-noise recordings and organically complex drum patterns: the wildcard choice for our must-see of Soundwave bass artists.
Flako Bio
With the US EDM bubble showing signs of strain whilst in Europe many are asking how long will we love deep house - the next 18 months could spell a dramatic shift in focus toward an unconventional sound: more grown up perhaps than parts of dubstep - less confined than conventional breaks. Soundwave Festival has thought ahead of the game with their line-up. Music-News eagerly awaits to see how things pan out on the mainstage at this suddenly cutting-edge festival
You still have 2 weeks! Info on the festival can be found here
