- ‘Hold me like a child’ sing the Junior Boys, and you might say it’s a song that was for S.E.E.M.E (South East European Music Exhibition, you know). S.E.E.M.E is a cute young festival held in Sofia, Bulgaria, like a child in the sense that its parents have big hopes and dreams for its future. There’s an innocence to the festival, with partygoers behaving like curious kids wanting to know more about electronic music, not to mention looking for friends to play with. And like a child, it’s growing. The second year of S.E.E.M.E saw many more artists, presenters and parties to attend, as well discussions and workshops. School by day and party hedonism by night – the music, like the three days of non-stop rain, drowned the whole city.
For me everything started on the sunny Wednesday with a brilliant Ninja Tune night starring Kid Koala. He played his three turntables like a piano, a guitar and a drum kit, mixing cuts everything from Kanye West to Outkast to Rage Against The Machine as well as jazz, funk, soul and his own stuff from his latest album ‘Your Mom’s Favourite DJ’. I don’t know if he is your mom’s favourite DJ or not (he’s not mine), but he definitely drove the crowd at Club Yalta crazy, making me impatient for S.E.E.M.E to start proper.
Day 1 – History of House
No, I don’t mean a lesson in the history of house – that’s just how the night progressed from dusk till dawn. First up was the official launch party at The Military Club, which turned out to be an occasion to meet old friends (and make some new ones) and enjoy house music's beginning with disco/proto house/dance pop classics reinterpreted by Bulgarian project Planet Magic Live and soul/gospel house vocalists Georgie Porgie and Keith Thompson.
Later, Club 4 KM was more party central, with Saw Recordings and G.L.A.M (Generation Love And Music) on the bill. As expected, Saw heads Satoshi Tomiie and Hector Romero brought along hedonism with them to Bulgaria with sets that mixed pro g and deep, tech/minimal house that reached its zenith with ’Plastik’ by Simon Baker. But the cherry on top was the party concept of Dutch circle G.L.A.M., which included Ryan Marciano & Sunnery James, Lucien Foort and Laidback Luke. Live percussion, a sexy MC in Lady Bee, funky, Latin, prog, electro, urban house – it was a real history lesson, but the crowd adored it!
Best set: Laidback Luke - Run DMC meets progressive house.
Day 2 – Now that’s what I call music
The second night blended all kind of genres. Room one at 4KM was dripping with ambiance of Amnesia courtesy of resident Les Schmitz (not to mention the drag queens). It almost smelled like summer, sea, sand and Ibiza…as well as a lot of sweaty, horny bodies. Meanwhile in room three, breaks/hip hop units from Austria Magus & DJ Foxxy and Selecta Kutta and Bulgarian d’n’b heroes Exo & Konspirator gave us a nice break from house and techno. The tipping point of the night, however, was room two, where Jimmy Van M, Parham & Plaza and …oh yeah, Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y focused more on hedonism. Like the compilation says, now that’s what I call music.
Best set – Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y. That same night his other half Patrick was spinning in Dublin @ Tripod. I wonder if they ever got to compare notes. I imagine the conversation would have gone something like “Patrick, man, it was crazy there. You should you have come!” And yeah, they’re coming back in July to the Black Sea coast.
Day 3 – Ministry of Lottie
All good things come to an end. It was time to say goodbye to S.E.E.M.E, but not before a set by Lottie on the closing night. The last event of S.E.E.M.E was a Ministry of Sound bash with typical MoS decorations and live on-line coverage by MoS Radio. It was worth the money. Lottie was at top of her game: dancing, flitting through various genres and leading the room with the broad smile. Elsewhere, room two was dubbed ‘Techno is cool’ and Fergie was trying to convince us of the fact, but truth be told, that night there was no cooler music around than what Lottie put on the decks.
Best set: Lottie. She started with a Muse a capella, she found space for the Chemical Brothers’ new (and hit) single ‘Do it Again’ and peaked with the party hitter ‘Doppelwhipper’. More peaks followed, and the set ended with Justice’s ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ Lottie is one hell of a sexy, sexy, sexy beast behind the decks – Dance, she said and we did!
Time for a conclusion. Like a child, S.E.E.M.E is still growing. Maybe when she matures, she’ll develop her musical tastes in more versatile ways. She has a lot to learn, but there’s still plenty of time for that. The essential thing was that S.E.E.M.E liked us and wanted to play with us. And we liked it right back.
See ya at S.E.E.M.E next year!
Photo credit: Matt McNeill