- Holly Dicker embeds herself in France's most historic dance music festival.
- Astropolis is one of the oldest and best-loved music festivals in France. It was launched by Gildas Rioualen and Matthieu Guerre-Berthelot in the mid-'90s as a birthday party for one of their friends. Now, as well as a festival, it's a record label, a booking agency and a year-long event series. The team is extremely close-knit, and many of them have been part of the organisation for years––like Emmanuel Dauchez, AKA Manu Le Malin, who I ran into late on Friday night. Le Malin, the dark lord of industrial hardcore, cuts an imposing figure dressed in black and tattooed from neck to knuckles. But he's one of the warmest characters around.
In keeping with tradition, the Friday of Astropolis began in Brest's gritty docklands, with club nights at the grand La Carène music hall and the cruder La Suite club. I opted for the latter, which was hosting a Berlin-themed techno night. Ancient Methods performed a new live show with Wahiba Van De Bled, serving up moody new wave and sinewy EBM-style techno with trombone, electric drums, guitar and vocals. DJ Pete followed with dynamic techno dappled with bass inflections. But the real celebrity in the room was Le Malin. All night he was pestered by wide-eyed fans asking for photos. He agreed with a smile every time.
Saturday daytime was a chance to explore Brest, with free, pop-up soundsystem parties happening throughout the city. I started at the boules pit at Place Guèrin, where a friendly match between locals and festivalgoers was underway. The sun was blazing, an anomaly for this part of France, and the tunes were suitably balmy, from Madonna's "Vogue" to Chic's "Le Freak." After wandering around the neighbourhood, I stumbled across Le Lavoir, the roofless remains of an ancient public wash house, where I caught a killer live breakcore and IDM set from Makinist, part of the Rennes-based collective NVNA. After, DJ Valerick took over for a balls-to-the-wall industrial techno set––at 5PM. I rounded off the day at the Piknic Electronik open-air near the marina and old fortress. By the time I arrived, Zaltan was bashing out jungle and Joey Beltram cuts beneath a washing line stringed with comically oversized tops and pants.
The main affair kicked off at sundown at Manoir de Keroual, about a 30 minute drive
outside of Brest. I dashed straight to the Mekanik tent on arrival, the stage that Le Malin has been programming since the late '90s. Otto Von Schirach was on, flaunting his flesh and silver-grilled teeth, chanting his Cock Rock Disco hit "Dance Like A Hoe" while doing the chicken dance. His rowdy breakcore-meets-Miami bass was the perfect warm-up as the tent slowly filled. 14Anger followed with a full-throttle party techno set (including tunes by Josh Wink, The Prodigy and The Horrorist) that steadily increased in BPMs, exploding at the end with an early hardcore Thunderdome classic.
The young Belgian producer KRTM then delivered the sledgehammer set of the festival. Le Malin, acting as MC for the night, scrambled up the riggings of the Mekanik tent to announce KRTM's arrival from a precarious height above the stage. He performed music from his new album live. When he dropped the record's boldest tracks—"Baldboy," "Chaser (Monkey With Shotgun)" and the concrete-splitting "Speedboy"—something demonic came over me. I raved myself inside out, and I wasn't the only one.
There were four other stages at Astropolis, including Le Dôme, which featured rising talents who had won the chance to play via an open DJ mix competition. At around 3 AM, I caught a roaring live acid set by the Rennes-based duo SZ, as headliners Le Malin, Nina Kraviz and LSD (AKA Luke Slater, Function and Steve Bicknell) were drawing bigger crowds elsewhere. The last set of the night was a showdown between two Astropolis veterans: the French (via Brazil) drum & bass artist Elisa Do Brasil at Mekanik, and Laurent Garnier in the Astrofloor tent. Punters were pressed right up to the gates for Garnier, while only the diehards stayed and skanked till the end at Mekanik. Garnier's last track of the festival, dropped as Sunday's early morning rays beamed through the tent, was, fittingly, Jam & Spoon's mix of "The Age Of Love."
But Astropolis wasn't quite over yet. There was one final party left, held later that night at Hôtel Vauban, a historic and retro-fitted spot with fluffy chairs and red-patterned carpets. Serving as the festival's base camp, a mix of staff and artists, including Le Malin and Garnier, gathered here on Sunday morning to drink and share anecdotes well into the afternoon. By 7 PM, the place was already back in party mode—from my room, I could hear the soundsystem being tested in the Cabaret Vauban basement.
For the Astropolis family in particular, the Sunday night was the main event. It was all about Le Malin's much-venerated closing set as The Driver. At last I could study this technically skilled, almost shamanic DJ up close and in his element. He's a master craftsman of mood, "a dark and visceral DJ," as Garnier once put it, whether he's playing hardcore or techno. He's also a real showman. Playing off a four-deck set-up, he was scratching and tapping his records, while doing mad things with loops and textures on CDJs. For the last two hours of Astropolis, we were all putty in his hands.
The final track was one of his own productions with Electric Rescue as W.LV.S, the melodramatic "Misericordia," released on Astropolis Records last year. Le Malin then cranked up a loop to machine gunfire and beckoned founder Gildas Rioualen onstage for a round of mock encores––four in total. The floor was slicked with spilt beer and the crowd cheered continuously as the two men kissed and embraced. They were ecstatic and shoeless in the diamond light that glinted off the disco ball.
Photo credits /
David Boschet - Lead, Ancient Methods, Château de Keriolet, Laurent Garnier, The Driver
Axel Fontaine - All others
The main affair kicked off at sundown at Manoir de Keroual, about a 30 minute drive outside of Brest. I dashed straight to the Mekanik tent on arrival, the stage that Le Malin has been programming since the late '90s. Otto Von Schirach was on, flaunting his flesh and silver-grilled teeth, chanting his Cock Rock Disco hit "Dance Like A Hoe" while doing the chicken dance. His rowdy breakcore-meets-Miami bass was the perfect warm-up as the tent slowly filled. 14Anger followed with a full-throttle party techno set (including tunes by Josh Wink, The Prodigy and The Horrorist) that steadily increased in BPMs, exploding at the end with an early hardcore Thunderdome classic. The young Belgian producer KRTM then delivered the sledgehammer set of the festival. Le Malin, acting as MC for the night, scrambled up the riggings of the Mekanik tent to announce KRTM's arrival from a precarious height above the stage. He performed music from his new album live. When he dropped the record's boldest tracks—"Baldboy," "Chaser (Monkey With Shotgun)" and the concrete-splitting "Speedboy"—something demonic came over me. I raved myself inside out, and I wasn't the only one.
There were four other stages at Astropolis, including Le Dôme, which featured rising talents who had won the chance to play via an open DJ mix competition. At around 3 AM, I caught a roaring live acid set by the Rennes-based duo SZ, as headliners Le Malin, Nina Kraviz and LSD (AKA Luke Slater, Function and Steve Bicknell) were drawing bigger crowds elsewhere. The last set of the night was a showdown between two Astropolis veterans: the French (via Brazil) drum & bass artist Elisa Do Brasil at Mekanik, and Laurent Garnier in the Astrofloor tent. Punters were pressed right up to the gates for Garnier, while only the diehards stayed and skanked till the end at Mekanik. Garnier's last track of the festival, dropped as Sunday's early morning rays beamed through the tent, was, fittingly, Jam & Spoon's mix of "The Age Of Love." But Astropolis wasn't quite over yet. There was one final party left, held later that night at Hôtel Vauban, a historic and retro-fitted spot with fluffy chairs and red-patterned carpets. Serving as the festival's base camp, a mix of staff and artists, including Le Malin and Garnier, gathered here on Sunday morning to drink and share anecdotes well into the afternoon. By 7 PM, the place was already back in party mode—from my room, I could hear the soundsystem being tested in the Cabaret Vauban basement.
For the Astropolis family in particular, the Sunday night was the main event. It was all about Le Malin's much-venerated closing set as The Driver. At last I could study this technically skilled, almost shamanic DJ up close and in his element. He's a master craftsman of mood, "a dark and visceral DJ," as Garnier once put it, whether he's playing hardcore or techno. He's also a real showman. Playing off a four-deck set-up, he was scratching and tapping his records, while doing mad things with loops and textures on CDJs. For the last two hours of Astropolis, we were all putty in his hands. The final track was one of his own productions with Electric Rescue as W.LV.S, the melodramatic "Misericordia," released on Astropolis Records last year. Le Malin then cranked up a loop to machine gunfire and beckoned founder Gildas Rioualen onstage for a round of mock encores––four in total. The floor was slicked with spilt beer and the crowd cheered continuously as the two men kissed and embraced. They were ecstatic and shoeless in the diamond light that glinted off the disco ball. Photo credits / David Boschet - Lead, Ancient Methods, Château de Keriolet, Laurent Garnier, The Driver Axel Fontaine - All others