- Echo Fest is one of the most hassle-free events you are ever likely to attend. It's set on a forested hillside in Kanegra that runs right down to the crystal blue sea, and once you arrive you won't need to leave or buy any tokens for anything: the stages, beach, supermarket, small bars, restaurants and accommodation are all within a few hundred meters of each other, and you never have to queue to get in or out of anywhere. Granted, it's only in its second year, and the roughly 800-strong crowd could easily double in size without outgrowing the site. But there were plenty of memorable moments across the adventurous four-day programme.
With more than 30 hours of music scheduled for every day and night, and 65 artists playing in all, Echo 2013 was ambitious for a so-called "small" festival. Before sundown, it was mostly UK promoters and residents playing down on the Beach Stage, with the sounds varying from African and funky to deep and hypnotic. The finest afternoon set of them all came from Outboxx. Starting with Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place" and ending with Ce Ce Rogers' "Someday," the Idle Hands pair read the lazy, sun-licked situation perfectly, dipping in and out of Omar-S, Jennifer Mayanja and Round One while everyobe on the beach and on various inflatables in the sea bobbed along receptively.
Photo credit: Khris Cowley (Here & Now)
The beach stage stayed open right through to 6 AM each morning (save the first night when the generator ran out early, and the last night when torrential rain made it unsafe for John Roberts to play), meaning plenty of music was set to the beautiful backdrop of a fire red sky as the sun went down and came back up. Nothing sounded better than Redshape's one-hour live show. Bathed in red stage lights (per his request), he reconstructed his own material on various machines, the unmistakable sci-fi-ness of it all sounding incredibly fitting under a sky full of stars. Next came Kassem Mosse. Though not the best DJ technically, he delivered an impressive selection of devilishly dishevelled techno and knackered house, pumped out at a crisp and clear volume that brought complaints from across the bay in Slovenia.
Unfortunately, during the tea time hours when people left the beach to go relax, the likes of Braiden were left playing to a mere handful of people—maybe a brief enforced closure of the stage could solve that problem in the future. In any case, they always came piling back later on each evening to enjoy everything from Space Dimension Controller's intergalactic disco-tech (and his similarly cosmic swimming shorts) to Delano Smith's deep and driving house.
Photo credit: Khris Cowley (Here & Now)
From 7 PM each evening the larger Field Stage sprung into action, resplendent with extra production and a backdrop of intricately projected lights. The first night it opened with Well Rounded Housing Crew members, including Donga, James Fox and XXXY, who went from warm and deep Genius of Time and Steffi cuts right though to all out party beats come 6 AM. Andres was divisive later in the week, essentially cutting and chopping his way through a mega mix of modern school disco hits. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" cut into "New 4 U," anyone? Ion Ludwig live and a DJ set from Magda kept the flag for minimal machine funk flying, while Nick Höppner won set-of-the-festival for many with his epoch-spanning 4/4 style.
There were occasional mishaps, with broken decks and re-arranged set times, and it's fair to say that there's room for more production to make the site feel a bit more magical. But with its secluded location, clean and convenient accommodation and heady booking policy, Echo surely deserves your consideration in 2014.