- An ecstatic set from M.E.S.H. marked the end of this year's OFF Festival in Katowice, southwestern Poland. The PAN favourite blended trap and R&B with kuduro, at one point dropping a particularly memorable track that sampled Jay-Z and Beyonce's "Bonnie & Clyde." Looking on nearby, DJ Nigga Fox took out his phone and recorded a few seconds of what was unfolding before him.
It's cool to think the crowd was made up of fans of acts as diverse as Ride, Run The Jewels and Dean Blunt. All of them, plus many more, performed at OFF, making this year's lineup a mouthwatering one. The Silesia-based festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2015, combining acts from Poland's vibrant underground scene with cutting-edge labels (PAN, L.I.E.S.) and international icons like Patti Smith.
The first show I saw on Friday was Peaking Lights. Unfortunately, only one-half of the Californian duo made the trip, leaving Aaron Coyes to perform a set of new age ambience driven by dub aesthetics. The soothing and psychedelic sounds worked well as an early evening warm-up at the Scena Trójki tent, which was curated by Polish Radio 3. The vibe was very different over at the Forest Stage, where Steven O'Malley's band Sun O))) had just got going. The drone metal outfit sounded amazing in the natural surroundings, with huge clouds of smoke engulfing the hooded figures onstage. The whole thing was spooky.
As a die-hard Dean Blunt fan, I was thrilled to get the chance to see him again. The elusive Londoner filled the Experimental Stage with fog and his own brand of raw emotion. As usual, Blunt made bold use of strobe lights, which resulted in a medical emergency after one dancer reacted badly. Despite the huge amounts of smoke, I could just make out some musicians accompanying the vocalist, among them Asger Hartvig on sax. Blunt stood in front of them and sang in his typically theatrical manner, his voice trembling and yet full of confidence. After him, Eric Douglas Porter, AKA PAN affiliate Afrikan Sciences, spun rare African records that were easy on the ear but failed to keep some of the floor interested.
In hindsight, I regret seeing ILoveMakonnen instead of Sun Kil Moon on Saturday night. The Atlanta rapper played a decent show on the main stage, but it felt casual and immature in comparison to Mark Kozelek's metaphysical folk. (I managed to catch 15 minutes of Kozelek's set.) The San Francisco artist presented his eccentric spoken word as a stream of consciousness, touching on tour life and Ryanair. (Allegedly, he'd written the lyrics that same day.) At times appearing irritable and jaded, he trolled the crowd from the very beginning, claiming that the infamous boxer Andrzej Gołota was the only Pole he had heard of. All the same, the fans loved it and hung off Kozelek's every word.
A lot of my club-oriented friends were most looking forward to Future Brown. But much like the album, the group, which comprises Fatima Al Qardiri, J-Kush, and Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda of Nguzunguzu, were a let down live. It's hard not to feel cheated when all you get is four people playing tracks one after another. That said, some of their Baltimore and Jersey club selections were stimulating.
Fortunately, the best was still to come. Ethopia's accordion wizard Hailu Mergia was brilliant on the Experimental Stage, performing alongside two talented musicians: Polish percussionist Paweł Szpura and Polish-Australian Mike Majkowski on double bass. In contrast to the album, which was reissued by Awesome Tapes From Africa in 2013, this show exposed the more experimental side to Mergia's sound. The trio's improvised back-and-forth was engaging, and they gave each other plenty of space to breathe and contribute musical chapters of their own.
One of my highlights on Sunday was a heartwarming Q&A with Patti Smith. The punk icon reflected on her career and gave life tips to the younger generations, before taking to the stage to perform 1975 album Horses from start to finish. The concert, like the interview, was inspiring, enriching us with her moving message of love, peace and freedom.
It's hard for me to choose a favourite act from the festival, but Príncipe Discos' DJ Nigga Fox is definitely up there. The Lisbon producer tore the floor apart with a set of intimidating club music. People weren't dancing—they were stomping. He mostly played tracks from the Príncipe label and its closest affiliates. The sounds were savage and organic, mixing up kuduro, tarraxinha, kizomba and lots of bongos. This is what makes OFF Festival, and this year's edition in particular, so special—where else could you talk to Patti Smith and dance the night away to Angolan club music, all in the space of a few hours?
Photo credit: Adam Burakowski