Dimensions Festival 2017: Five key performances

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  • Dimensions is a truly spectacular festival. The event takes place in Fort Punta Christo, a 200-year-old fortress overlooking the Adriatic sea. Taking in beaches, wooded areas and boat parties, the site is expansive without being overwhelming. But there's more to Dimensions than impressive surroundings. Almost every stage has impeccable sound. (That shouldn't be remarkable, but, sadly, it is.) Several stages had custom-built speaker stacks made from wood, the kind of thing you'd expect from a top-notch reggae soundsystem. Throughout the festival there was a keen attention to detail, from the well-considered lighting to the Knowledge Arena, a small tent that featured talks by some of the event's most interesting acts. Now in its sixth year, Dimensions has established a loyal following. A mixture of Brits and Europeans, the crowd was musically open-minded and mostly easy-going. The music range was broad, crisscrossing soul, house, techno and drum & bass, and the booking policy was impressively deep, with cult favourites rubbing shoulders with more obvious headliners. Unfortunately, I had to leave on the Saturday, meaning I missed two nights of music. I didn't stay for the duration, but I nevertheless left thinking that Dimension's reputation as one of Europe's best festivals was entirely deserved. Here are five key performances from across the weekend.
    Moderat The Dimensions Opening Concert took place in Pula's Roman Amphitheatre, a building so iconic it's depicted on Croatia's banknotes. At almost 100-feet high, the venue is the best preserved structure of its kind. As I entered, Grace Jones was swinging a 12-foot hula hoop around her painted torso. Stage right, a muscley man, dressed like a character from Thundercats, pole danced. When Jones finished, she thanked the crowd in Croatian. Unlike Dimensions proper, the audience was heavy on locals who'd taken advantage of specially discounted tickets. Moderat followed, entering to a storm of pulsating lights and bass drones. Their set oscillated between emo-tinged electronica and music primed for festival euphoria. "Nr22," "Bad Kingdom" and "Rusty Nails" all sounded fantastic. I watched from the raised steps, which was the perfect vantage point from which to gauge just how well Moderat connected with the audience. This was their second-to-last show before an indefinite hiatus, and coming off the back of a heavy tour, the trio were in fine form. Moderat will soon be absent from these kinds of events. Their performance at Dimensions showed how much they'll be missed.
    Pearson Sound For me, The Moat is one of the very best places in the world to hear techno. Entering is an intense and unforgettable experience. When I arrived on Thursday, a queue was already forming outside. As I descended the stairs, I was overwhelmed by the space, which is long, dark and loud. Visibility through the smoke and bodies is often minimal. At 2:30 AM, Ben UFO let the music fade out and Pearson Sound led with a dread-filled track full of sketchy, Burial-style ambience. It hinted at a serious, heads-down set, but what followed was a wild ride that traversed many styles. Every transition felt purposeful, another step forward on an unpredictable trip. One particularly impressive cut, Dale Cornish's "Aqal Pattern 1," sounded like a deconstructed tech house banger, sending the crowd sideways as white noise whooshes and metronomic bleeps built skyward without a noticeable pay-off. After that came bits of soca, UK garage, electro, Chicago house and whatever genre Pangaea is. As lads in bucket hats clambered onto friend's shoulders, I took a moment to consider how slyly Pearson Sound had entered full-on party mode. A huge range of electronic music had been delivered in a world-beating setting, which, in short, is what Dimensions is all about.
    Willow Boat parties are a highlight of any Croatian festival. Dimensions has plenty, with three leaving the harbour every day. RA's boat party began somewhat ominously. It had rained heavily earlier that morning, and although the outlook was now clear, the boat's skipper warned that conditions could change at any moment. To minimise the risk of soaked equipment, the turntables were moved to the sheltered lower deck. This initially gave the party an unusual dynamic, as revellers upstairs looked expectantly toward an unmanned booth, completely unaware of the DJ's new location. Boo Williams, a short-notice replacement for Craig Richards, kicked the party off with classy disco and soulful house cuts. By the time Willow took over, the vibe was insanely loose. With a captive, boozed-up crowd, it's easy to get a boat party started, but even so Willow played her hand remarkably well. She aired a wide mix of dark electronic music, none of which obviously suited the balmy setting but all of which worked. Her approach is unfussy and she's happy to play big tracks—Alan Fitzpatrick's remix of Trus'me's "I Want You" was one example. She used these moments to push the music in subtle new directions. The music shifted gradually towards jacking Dance Mania cuts before settling on a UK-influenced section for the final third. By this point, the lower deck had filled with a rag-tag bunch of battlers sporting wavy garms and glittery faces. The dancers surrounded the DJ, pulling moves and banging on the wood-panelled ceiling. Willow, in response, dropped Objekt's "The Goose That Got Away." Everyone roared their approval and banged even harder.
    Dâm-Funk The Beach stage provided some of my favourite moments of the week. At night, Dimensions was undeniably full-on. But by day, things were pretty chilled. Attendees soaked up the sun and splashed around in the sea while DJs like Donna Leake delivered complementary laid-back sounds. This was spiced up by the odd live performance— Kamaal Williams Ensemble's improvised jazz-funk was a notable highlight. Perhaps the best act I saw, though, was Dâm-Funk. If you ask the Los Angeles artist his age, his stock response is "timeless." It's a word that perfectly describes his music, too. '80's boogie, G-funk-era hip-hop and classic soul come together to create a sound totally his own. During his live set, he seemed unbelievably relaxed, jamming and freestyling on his keytar while the backing track rolled. The music sometimes played for 30 seconds or more while he adjusted his synth or lined up another record, but his easy charisma made it all seem natural. His rendition of "I Wanna Thank You' (For Stepping Into My Life)" was a clear standout. Armed with only a keyboard, he delivered his lyrics with a sincerity few vocalists can manage. For the final track, he played Funkadelic's evergreen party starter "(Not) Just Knee Deep." Behind the stage, miles off the coast, lightning lit up the twilight spectacularly. You could tell Dimensions was about to get extremely wet, but few at The Beach seemed to care.
    Maurice Fulton At about 11 PM on Friday, one of the most intense thunderstorms I've ever seen hit Dimensions. Thunder boomed and torrential rain spewed from the sky. Anyone outside was instantly drenched. Admirably, the festival staff quickly and professionally evacuated the site and stopped the music while the rain passed. Two hours later, the party resumed and I headed to The Void stage to catch Maurice Fulton. His mixture of disco and gnarly acid house re-injected the party spirit into the soggy crowd. Fulton is a unique DJ. He creates an intimidating presence, eyes hidden beneath a tightly pulled down baseball cap. But the music he plays is joyful and unpredictable. Like his productions—which bridge the gaps between techno, space-age boogie and classic house—his sets cover an impressive amount of ground. He began with the classic New York disco of Chain Reaction's "Dance Freak" but quickly segued into one of his own clattering acid house tracks with Mim Suleiman. From there, he zig-zagged constantly, from funky disco to harder-edged electronics. By the time he played Loose Joints' "Is It All Over My Face," my faith in the rave had been restored.
    Photo credits / Samuel Kirby - All except Dâm-Funk Dâm-Funk - Bruno.D.Capture & Music Is My Sanctuary
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