Electron Festival 2013

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  • Geneva doesn't rank high on the list of European clubbing hotspots. It's not even high on the list for Switzlerand—there's more happening in Zurich, and Basel and Bern have comparable scenes. This makes the ongoing success of the Electron festival all the more commendable, with 2013 marking its tenth anniversary. This year Electron took place over the Easter weekend at ten venues around the city. The main hub consisted of three venues—Palladium, Rez and Zoo—each located a stone's throw apart. Two ballet performances kicked off the festival. The second, choreographed by Guilhermo Botelho and soundtracked by InFiné regular Murcof, was particularly rousing. The main attraction on the first night was a Kompakt showcase at the Palladium, held to celebrate the Cologne label's 20th anniversary. Mohn, the duo of Jörg Burger and Wolfgang Voigt, opened with a live show of mood-setting electronics, and Sasche Funke's driving house set earned approving whistles from the crowd. But the night's highlight was Justus Köhncke, whose chunky, funk-laden grooves were backed by his own vocals, most memorably on a cover of The Alan Parsons Project's "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You." Over at Silencio—one of Electron's satellite venues—Kenny Dope was working his way through a selection of funk, soul and house. The crowd here was markedly different (considerably older for starters), and the event could have easily passed for an unrelated club night. The lack of organised transport between the festival HQ and outlying venues might have put people off from checking out parties like this one. Photo credit: Thiago Lemos On Friday afternoon I went to Geneva's contemporary arts centre, where former Throbbing Gristle member Genesis P-Orridge spoke with refreshing candour about his life and art. A couple of hours later he performed live on stage with Brian Dall as Thee Majesty (Genesis read poetry while Dall toyed with guitar pedals). It was a cosy venue and an arresting performance. Friday night saw rave veteran LFO play a live set that literally shook the Palladium floor. It had the older heads in raptures and the younger members of the crowd watching on in a mixture of awe and bemusement (I counted at least three people nearby reach for their ear plugs). At Rez, Rone's set of melodic techno was one of the best performances of the night, and, indeed, the entire festival. He played to a heaving crowd, leaving the Palladium relatively sparse as Mute Records boss Daniel Miller banged out a fairly bland set of big room techno. Saturday offered the best choice of music by a considerable margin, with Theo Parrish, Mala, Shackleton, Jets, Tiga and Erol Alkan all onboard. Having been told that Parrish's six-hour set was taking place in a small venue (Fonderie) that was bound to fill up early, I arrived at 11 PM, which meant missing both Mala and Shackleton's performances at Rez. The first hour of Parrish's set was plagued by sound problems—at around midnight he turned off the music and addressed the crowd directly, blaming "digital mixer demons" and asking for patience while promoters sourced an analogue mixer. Those in attendance took it with good humour but some of the momentum was, temporarily at least, taken from what could have been a festival highlight. Photo credit: Thiago Lemos I used the downtime to chat to some attendees. Most were Swiss (either from Geneva or travelling from different parts of the country). One Electron veteran told me the festival was instrumental in the development of electronic music in the city: "These guys brought house music to Geneva," he said. Theo being Theo, he pulled it back and delivered a typically broad, EQ-heavy set that included tracks from Funkadelic, Eurythmics and the Maurice Fulton-produced Mim Suleiman cut "Hebu." Resisting the temptation to stay for the long haul, I made my way back to the Palladium, where Erol Alkan and Tiga played to a packed, up-for-it crowd. The former ended with some Night Slugs tackle ("Bring In The Katz" from KW Griff's Club Constructions 12-inch), while the latter closed the venue out with his usual flair. Over at Zoo, Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum, AKA Jets, worked through a frantic assortment of tunes, ranging from Cybotron classic "Clear" to more contemporary, bass-heavy selections. After three days of drizzle and grey skies, the sun finally shone on Geneva on Sunday. The festival was winding down, with only Zoo and Rez hosting gigs (although the nearby cinema, Spoutnik, was showing cult films all night, so I treated myself to a viewing of Blade Runner). When I emerged to check out the music, the mood was happy and upbeat. Scaling down the last night to two venues was a good move: both were packed. I stayed upstairs at Zoo as Deepchild played robust techno and DJ Sneak weaved together a set of stomping house, before Swiss act Round Table Knights powered home to close out the festival in raucous fashion.
RA