Loop Festival - Brighton, 18/8/07
3/5
On venturing into the confines of a modern-day tent-cum-castle moated by grey road rivers in the middle of Brighton's traffic island, I was somewhat surprised as to the peasants and heroes I found inside. Loop festival - the 'celebration of digital culture' was held on the 18th of rainy August this year and being in its primary year of existence, was a bit of an unknown entity. I did however have slightly judgmental preconceptions about such a florescent audience, all with massive glasses and Nike pumps, and was surprised and enchanted upon acknowledging an arty, well connected and diverse mass of 18 - 40 year olds swanning around pissed up, but encouragingly not pilled up, across the muddy grass behind the metal boundaries of Loop. The whole thing seemed neatly organised and little green necklaces told the movements of performers in the 4 main areas (Futures, The Hub, Limits and The Outer Limits).
The first couple of DJ sets were unimpressive and fell into the beer that was consumed as more and more posh art fags joined us in the blanket of rain which fell consistently and annoyingly into Brighton's ostentatious version of an old school rave. The visual arts which accompanied the eclectic mixes and ambient acoustic soundscapes laid down by Mira Calix were however intriguing and mildly emotive although Metaluna felt in parts like a Neil Buchanan art attack gone wrong.
In typical 'too-cool-for-school' Brighton style, the crowd seemed to enjoy the dark liquid pop jazz sequences in the You & Me set, which sound like reoccurring dreams, both surreal, strangely beautiful but not life changing - and showed their upbeat enthusiasm by either a) nodding their heads; b) smiling and staring at the stage occasionally mocking a dance move to a friend or c) drinking and staring at the stage - Brighton are an indifferent crowd to say the least.
If V-Festival was pop art, Isle of Wight would be picturesque landscape photography and The Loop festival would be abstract art. Music defined by little nonsensical dots and swipes which somehow work - and throughout the day you begin to find your own taste and develop a sense of what works and doesn't within these music installations. It's an educational journey as opposed to a catchy noise fest - but hey, we are all knowledge thirsty children inside are we not?
A flann
el of dispraise has been wiped over Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pips' performance at Loop - however in appropriate style (lyrics to 'Thou Shall Not' kill include 'Thou shall not stop liking a band just because they've become popular') I actually really enjoyed it. Dan le Sac's sample hi bred constructions connected by attention grabbing beats are concrete foundation to Scroobius Pips' genius lyrical architecture. It's driven, heartfelt and mocks itself just at the point of seriousness. Humorous and determined with likable characters and realistic events featured in the sets gems 'Angels' and 'Thou Shall Not kill' - the performance is bettered only by the music itself and although the soundmen in both tents were clearly drunk prostitutes found the night before and persuaded easily for a fiver to 'play with the buttons' (maybe) - the guys on stage did the best with what they had.
The Bays' highly accomplished experimental 4/4 DnB/jazz improvisations had me transported into an acid trip on speed. Yep. Even the Brighton crowd went overdrive and actually nodded their whole bodies as opposed to just their heads. The one-off musical installations captured imaginations the whole tent through and I was astonished and enamoured with the bands' short set, definitely winning the ingenuity award for me at Loop.
After catching a middle of the road and unmemorable performance from Shy Child, I jumped ship to catch The Aliens - a Beta Band offshoot who have produced a sea of material but seem to be relentlessly treading water rather indifferently. I must admit to being slightly perplexed by the swamp of attention the Aliens trudged around in during their average set - an actual mosh pit had people jumping around on invisible pogo sticks from the 80's, an unlikely scene amongst this pretentious crowd. I heard the word 'iconic' used more than once and felt physically sick.
Alas, the sound for this festival really was a joke, particularly during headliners The Go! Team. The mixes were all over the place and the council's restriction on noise leaves is baffling in a city where the main allure is the promise of never ending parties. The other thing which ruined the day was the organisers clear lack of thought taken over the question of how many people could fit in one tent. It was like trying to fit 10,000 hammers into a human tear, and during the star acts the space between the tents was riddled with dissatisfied battery chickens clucking about having no place to go.
However, as a pilot, The Loop Festival definitely puts itself on the map for future years. The music in its obscurity was pleasant and at times exciting and different - electronica gone pop, with artists who knew how to perform often slightly generic, but as often enjoyable shows.
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