Skateparkpages at the BLOC Festival 12th - 14th March 2010

BLOC OUT!
Words by Alice and Necta Selecta
Pics by Mathew Smith

Big Up to Loriann Luckings @ Big Box Media for hookin us up on this one.

A late Friday start saw us kicking off proceedings in the red bloc with the FWD>> line up. Zinc laid it down hard with plenty of well known tunes remixed in the crack house style accompanied by vocals from a lively Ms Dynamite- the set culminating in a rendition of the duos recent banger 'wile out'. The line up was running out of sync with the program so between flitting between the other blocs and the chalet we only managed to catch a brief appearance by Wiley and some of the N-Type set.Saturday and we managed to get up early enough for the ableton music software demo in the dome:bloc area (a geodesic dome erected in part of the central foyer of butlins.)

Al Tourettes had a feed from his monitor up on the dome's projection screen and took us through some of his live material (full uninterrupted set was enjoyed later on!) deconstructing a loop and talking us through the advantages and potential of ableton as a performance and composition tool.This was followed with an excellent set by Surgeon thus demonstrating ableton's djing uses. For the rest of the time the screen in the dome was filled by the incredible work of RFID (Owners of the so named Recursive Function Immersive Dome and groundbreaking surround projection system) which was best appreciated by lying on the floor during less busy periods and looking upwards at screen which covered the entire sides and roof of the dome - utterly next level business and well worth looking out for on the festival circuit. We also caught Kelpein the dome on Sunday -the highlight of the festival for us also well worth checking.


Later tecbloc and the Subloaded line up delivered top dubstep sets from Joker, Kode 9 b2b Martyn and Pinch B2b Distance followed by Tiki Man on mic, who's vocals fitted perfectly - never lost in the music nor overpowering the dancehall and bashment provided by Mark Ernestus of Rhythm & Sound fame. Headliners Salt & Pepper looked great and like they were having fun, starting with some earlier material firmly rooted in Miami bass / electro before moving into the more familiar 'push it', 'express yourself' 'what a man' etc

There was time for a quick dose of Autechre in red bloc, still as weird as ever, mangling our brains with snippets of alien electronic melody woven into fractured beats and constantly shifting grooves in the total darkness . The perfect antidote was to be found over in centre bloc with techno Godfather Juan Atkins' Model 500 accompanied by Mad Mike from Underground resistance performing everything from their unadulterated 80s classics to newer more current sounding material and everything in between with some older material updated where necessary. We later returned to centre bloc for some jungle and skanked the rest of the night away to a good half of Congo Natty's 3 hour set.

Sunday was mostly spent in centre bloc with an evening of classics: Channel One Sound System ft. Mickey Dread and Ras Kayleb kicked things off on the dub tip followed by incredible deck skills and hip hop served up by Beastie Boys Dj Mix Master Mike and then dubstep from Benga, Skream and host Sgt. Pokes.

At points during this set at the front the crowd was going so mental the floor was bouncing and it was like you were dancing even if you tried to stand still!

More dubstep was had later with an unexpected but incredible set from up & coming minimal dubstep Dj / producer Adam G, filling in for Komonazmuk and smashing it in the pub bloc area. The last dance of course had to be Derrick May in the centre bloc - upfront immersive techno pounding away for two hours and ending with an incredible crescendo, all acid analogue arpeggios, breathy uplifting synth pads and the ever pounding techno bass kick sounding so nice and warm through the funktion one p.a, standard throughout the main areas at the festival.

Some Bloc regulars were reporting a slightly less all-out party vibe compared to previous years but bloc's focus on quality underground music was more than enough compensation for any perceived lack of atmos in this reviewer’s opinion.

Roll on Bloc ‘11!

Want to chat more about all thing BLOC then check out the OFFICIAL BLOC WEBSITE
to get involved.

BLOC LINE UP! WTF.

Autonomic

* D:Bridge
* Instra:Mental
* Breakage
* SP:MC

Braindrop

* DJ Hype and Daddy Earl
* MJ Cole
* Reso b2b Vent
* McMash Clan
* Raffertie b2b Kanji Kinetic
* AGT Rave Cru
* Bass 6

Disco Bloodbath

* Ben Pistor
* Dan Beaumont
* Damon Martin

FWD and Rinse

* MS Dynamite
* Wiley
* Zinc
* Greeneus
* Marcus Nasty
* Chef
* Katy B
* Boy Better Know
* Youngsta b2b Ntype
* Roska b2b Scratcha
* Spyro
* MCs Tippa and Crazy D

Fenchurch Dome

* Billy Nasty
* Radioactive Man
* Debasser
* Micheal Forshaw
* Luke's Anger
* Ben Pest
* Al Tourettes
* Yimino
* Subliminal Criminal
* Kelpe
* RekOrdah
* Lukid
* Point B
* DMX Krew
* Neil Landstrumm
* Alden Tyrell
* Jerome Hill
* Bass Junkie B2B The Dexorcist
* Noyeahno
* Joe Hart
* Hip Hop Karaoke
* Make Me DJs
* Dutty Girl
* GirlCore FT. Isa GT & Naomi
* Lusinda
* Human Shield FT. Ali Renault, Casionova, Tommy Walker 3 & Peter Mangalore
* Rebel Intelligence

Main Stage

* Salt N Pepa
* Grandmaster Flash
* Adam Beyer
* Flying Lotus
* Skream and Benga
* Roots Manuva
* Autechre
* Mixmaster Mike
* MS Dynamite
* Derrick May
* Model 500 Ft. Juan Atkins, 'Mad' Mike Banks, DJ Skurge and Mark Taylor
* Luke Slater AKA Planetary Assault Systems
* Joker
* Wiley
* Lindstrom
* Anti-Pop Consortium
* Nathan Fake
* Ellen Allien and Pfadfinderei
* DJ Rush
* Congo Natty
* MJ Cole
* Kode 9 and Martyn
* Surgeon
* Joris Voorn
* Channel One Sound System Ft. Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb
* Boy Better Know
* Zinc
* Deuce DJs Ft. Marcell Dettmann and Shed
* DJ Hype
* Luke Vibert
* Pinch
* Omar S

Man Make Music

* Joy Orbison
* George Fitzgerald
* MMM DJs

Mulletover

* Lee Curtis
* Geddes

Overkill

* Autechre
* Luke Vibert
* Congo Natty aka Rebel MC
* 16bit
* Rob Hall
* Loops Haunt
* N>E>D Vs Punksi

Subloaded

* Mark Ernestus feat. Tikiman
* Joker
* Kode 9
* Mungos Hi Fi
* Pinch b2b Distance
* Appleblim b2b Peverelist
* Subeena
* Blazey
* T++
* MC Crazy D
* SGT Pokes
* MC Dread

Unspecified Stage

* Mixmaster Mike
* DMX Krew
* Neil Landstrumm
* Alden Tyrell
* Jerome Hill
* Komonazmuk
* Bass Junkie B2B The Dexorcist
* Marco Bernardi AKA Octogen
* Jim Masters
* Make Me DJs
* Dutty Girl
* GirlCore FT. Isa GT & Naomi
* Lusinda
* Subeena
* Human Shield FT. Ali Renault, Casionova, Tommy Walker 3 & Peter Mangalore
* Rebel Intelligence
* Subhead
* P45
* Placid
* Joe Hart
* DJ Planet Mu
* Unlikely
* Matt Whitehead (Cyantific)
* Noyeahno
* Cliche DJs

LOOKS A BIT LIKE THIS...