- A new festival, held in the woods on the outskirts of Milan, with mostly lesser-known artists playing—when Terraforma was first announced it felt like a bit of a gamble. There was just one stage, plus a wooden structure acting as a bar. The idea was to respect nature, while also transforming it into a more liveable environment. Any structures built would be left in place for the future. In addition to the main area, there was a pleasant camping plot, a little market and a workshop space that lay hidden between the trees. Everything else was just woodland.
On Friday, Dalhous played a calm set to a crowd of early arrivals. A larger audience gathered for Voices From The Lake's two-and-a-half hour excursion through the heavier recesses of their sound. The crowd loved it. After midnight, Morphosis took to the stage to mix techno, free jazz and other cosmic soundscapes. Changing mood and style every ten minutes, it was captivating from start to finish and a contender for the best set I've seen all year. Bee Mask closed out the evening with a more languid outing of drone, bell tolls and liquid sounds.
There was plenty to do during the day on Saturday. If you fancied it, you could listen to avant-garde enigma Ghedalia Tazartes showing off his beautiful voice, or hear Pasquale Mirra playing his vibraphone. French multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien was teaching a class at the foot of a tree, lecturing on the relationship between nature and music. At one point, he stopped talking to build a musical instrument out of cigar boxes.
The transition into the night was led by Thomas Fehlmann's classy set, followed by the fractured '90s UK rave of Millie & Andrea (AKA Andy Stott and Demdike Stare's Miles Whittaker). This was followed by a long set from Heatsick, who played using just a Casio keyboard and effects pedals. His raw and multi-layered sounds had a strong effect on the attentive crowd.
After a couple of late nights, Sunday's relaxing daytime programme was welcomed by all. With a pre-10 PM finish, the warm rays and sunny sounds gave everyone the strength to party together one final time. Deadbeat, accompanied by Tikiman on vocals, suited the vibe especially well, treating the dancing masses to a balmy set of dub techno. Italian DJ Sisterpatti came next, proving the surprise hit of the weekend. She spun reggae classics like Bob Marley and The Wailer's "Burnin' And Lootin'" and Dawn Penn's "No, No, No," eventually closing with the theme from Twin Peaks and an Italian pop-dance classic from Lucio Battisti called "Anima Latina". As her faithful pranced about, singing along, she left the DJ booth and joined them on the dance floor.
Terraforma closed with a performance by CB21, a group of Italian musicians made up of Matteo and Jim from Primitive Art (one of Italy's best electronic acts), Lorenzo Senni, Massimiliano Bomba and Emanuele Marcuccio. Each in control of a different digital synth, the crew delivered an improvised and very downbeat set, perfectly escorting us out of the weekend.