Photo: Press
With UK festivals increasing in price year on year with a depressing and pocket-emptying regularity, the smarter festival-goer can get more bang for their buck by checking out what’s happening in Europe – which is why Gigwise recommend Electric Castle festival in Romania.
Set in the grounds of Bánffy Castle and running July 12-16 and with general access inc. camping tickets priced at a very reasonable €134, this adds up to a good value event, and one to take advantage before Brexit kicks in.
And here are just some of the acts we recommend catching while you’re there:
Franz Ferdinand
It’s been four years since the release of their last album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, and two years since their magnificent collaboration with Sparks on the punningly entitled FFS (see what they did there?), so it’s fair to say that expectations are running high. With guitarist Nick McCarthy on extended and quite possibly permanent leave, the band’s new line-up sees guitarist Dino Bardot and keyboardist Julian Corrie joining mainstays Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy and Paul Thomson. They’re currently on tour in the States so you can expect them to be on peak form by the time they hit Electric Castle.
UNKLE
Another outfit making a welcome return is UNKLE. It’s strange to think that it’s been seven years since their last album, Where Did The Night Fall, but 2017 will see the release of The Road Pt. 1. Having collaborated with the likes of Mark Lanegan, Queens of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, The Cult’s Ian Astbury and Canadian psychedelic outfit Black Mountain, it’s fair to say that curiosity levels are running high as to where mainman James Lavelle will head next. UNKLE’s lastest release, ‘Sick Lullaby’, found the outfit moving into dreamier territories but with a back catalogue as huge as theirs, UNKLE are sure to deliver the goods.
Paul van Dyk
One of the original superstar DJs, Paul van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly added category of Best Dance/Electronic album for his 2003 release, Reflections. Amazingly, he’s gone on to sell over 3 million albums worldwide. Specialising in trance, van Dyk has been getting party goers to lose their shit since the early 1990s and you just know that he’s going to drop maximum doofage throughout what promises to be a totally banging set. You might wanna bring some Vicks Vapour Rub for that full 90s raving experience.
Trentemøller
Danish musician and producer Trentemøller has been making electronic music over the last decade or so and has gone on to release four studio albums. What makes him so interesting and worth catching live is his ability to weave new wave influences such as Siouxsie And The Banshees, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Joy Division, and Depeche Mode with more contemporary beats to create something new and wholly compelling. More recently he’s worked with Savage’s Jehnny Beth as well as singers Marie Fisker and Lisbet Fritze.
Atari Teenage Riot
Inventors and purveyors of digital hardcore, Germany’s Atari Teenage Riot – led by musician, producer and DJ Alec Empire – have been laying waste to festival and concert venues around the world for a quarter of a century. Their gigs are totally uncompromising affairs that combine headbanging and nosebleeding techno with savage and brutal punk rock and anarchist politics. Indeed, such is the onslaught of the live Atari Teenage Riot experience that they make The Prodigy look like a panto. You’ll need to strap yourself in for this one.
Gus Gus
Hailing from Reykjavík, Iceland, Gus Gus’ wide-ranging electronic music touches elements of as techno, trip hop, and house music, and you can see why John Grant was so keen to work with them. They’ve also lent their considerable remixing skills to artists as wide and diverse as Björk, Depeche Mode, Moloko, and Sigur Rós. With such a massive track record and pedigree behind the, you can be sure that their set is bound to one of the stand-out events of the festival.
Slaves
It’s not all electronic music round here. Slaves have been whipping up crowds into a frenzy since the release of their first EP, Sugar Coated Bitter Truth in 2012. Since then, they’ve gone on to release the albums Are You Satisfied? and Take Control. Their brand of bluesy, garage punk is hard, fast and uncompromising and should prove to be just the ticket for those with energy to spare. In any case, you should get yourself ready for a full blast of white-hot ramalama and with a side order of some righteous anger.
