NEWS
EVENTS
Bangface Weekender 2012
Thursday 10th January 2013 | Ewan
It's an early September morning and we (the ravers) are preparing for our physical and psychological journey through a rave soundscape – none other than the Bangface Weekender. A festival synonymous with madness, psycho semantics, breakcore and utopian anarchy that reigns only in the midst of a rave gone bonkers.
Packed to the nines with energy bars, cereal, pasta, booze, cigarettes and a massive inflatable dice we take to the motorway in two cars crammed full of said cargo and armed with two walkie-talkies that come in handy whilst making our way to Cornwall, Newquay. It takes us roughly two hours to arrive at the trevelgue holiday resort and another couple of hours to get properly settled within our static caravan. Already we can detect the low, aural rumbling of jungle and breakcore beats emanating from nearby caravans - the spirit of Bangface already beginning to take hold over the festival population.
Lasting for three days spread out over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday; the event boasts an eclectic and legendary roster of electronic artists new and old. Amongst them Luke Vibert, Venetian Snares, Mu-ziq and none other than the pioneer of Braindance, the head-liner of Bangface Weekender – Aphex Twin. Of course, there is much, much more on offer such as a host of Rephlex artists and many more which I had never heard of but would soon get to know over the course of the three day festival.
Day 1
Our first day after getting settled in our home away from home consisted of exploring and meeting to the local populace, which consisted of many interesting and elaborate costumes; the theme of which being heroes and villains. Of course there are also the people who decide to do their own thing and dress up as an alien in drag. Fair do's. After a couple hours of meeting people and exploring we investigate the main dance hall and take part in the events first night of breakcore and jungle madness.
Think super-fast tempo's, Amen breaks and dark twisted acid loops. The already throbbing crowd is going wild and there is nothing in this world which is going to stop them from raving. Up front are twin canvases displaying twisted and warped images designed to truly mind-fuck participants and get them in that truly Bang-faced state of mind.
Day 2
Feeling groggy yet in need of more Bangface tomfoolery, it's a quick shower and breakfast before we're feeling well enough to venture out of our caravan again. Our massive inflatable dice looks like it's taken a beating over the night, no doubt by some drunken/stoned/K-holed nutters who thought it was a mystical breakcore dragon come to do battle with them from another dimension.
Jumping into our cars we head to the beach party where 2 Bad Mice and Ceephax Acid Crew proceed to deliver seaside-sets of Acid and Jungle. All manner of costumes were on display once again and our caravan crew managed to somehow transport the dice onto the beach which lead to some pretty interesting dice-mosh-pit action.
Later on we head to the Rephlex 21st birthday part and witness artists such as Dave Monolith, Jodey Kendrick, DMX Krew and Aleksi Perala showcase an undeniable talent of eclectic electronic soundscape-ism. My personal favourite had to be a set by Niagra Falls native Reid Dunn aka Wisp, who stunned crowd-goers with a mind-bending set of techno-organic braindance wizardry.
Last Day
We're feeling it now. The head-throb, the stomach-gurn, the triple-vision. The Bangface Weekender is certainly having it's way with us. It's taken us on highs and lows, ups and downs, lefts, rights, this ways and that. It's time for one last push, one last dance on the frontiers of electronic neo-rave hooliganism. Tonight, we rave in hell.
The main acts finishing off the event consisted of DJ Yoda, Mike “µ-ZIQ ” Paradinas and Richard D. James himself. Taking to the main dance-hall, spirits were elevated above the usual bangface wavelengths as µ-ZIQ played a beautiful, playful set of melodic electronica – warming us up nicely before Aphex (Twin) took to the stage to unleash his very own brand of face-melting, meta-morphing Braindance.
We staggered out of the dance-hall at god knows what hour, with little to no concept of time left in us at this point. My legs are trembling, my arms are wrecked, my head feels like someone's been working a pneumatic drill at it. All we can focus on is the tinnitus in our ears, the reverberation of Jungle and Breakcore leaving an aural echo in our minds. Somehow we manage to get everything together the next day and into the car for the journey back to London, so that we can all sit in our showers rocking back and forth, trying to pretend none of it happened.
Words - Ewan Phillips
