Out of the ten million reasons to love Soundwave Croatia (boat parties, sun, music, crowd, wicked live acts) my favorite is their independence, ie no major sponsor. And whilst this means that the likes of Fact Mag won’t be telling you it’s “the greatest thing ever”, it does mean that they have the freedom and attract the right crowd to actually make it the greatest thing ever.
It’s totally beyond me how the Soundcrash Music boys manage to pull off a three day festival in Croatia annually whilst putting on 70+ gigs a year, but they somehow manage it, and do so near to perfection.
As per last year, and with the early bird tix all gone it looks like it’ll be another mad scramble for tickets and flights as the acts continue to be announced and they put the site for 2011 live. Hence why were posting this now before the site goes live in mid-January, as they don’t stick around for long.
Here’s our top 5 of the acts announced in the first round, including some favorites from last year’s festival keen to turn it out once more. We’ll keep it updated as more are announced, and the possible confirmation of that headline rumor Flying around.
HEXSTATIC [NINJA TUNE]
The Ninjatune dons of music / video mash-up have done more to advance the AV genre since the 90’s than anyone else playing today. There latest offering, Trailer Trax was a much anticipated return for the duo to the record store shelves, and will no doubt feature as they bust through a live AV set in Croatia. If you’ve not seen them doing it live before you’ve been missing out on something special.
CHANNEL ONE SOUND SYSTEM
Over 30 years in the game, brothers Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb as Channel One Sound System represent the heart of bass line culture, and the true representation of what it is to be labelled a ‘sound system.’ Fresh from schooling the modern bass scene at the Red Bull Culture Clash, it’s going to be nothing but good vibes. Dub plates you know, dub plates they just cut, and dub plates you’ll never hear anywhere else.
KUTMAH [POOBAH / DUBLAB]
One of LA’s fineat beat-monsters, Kutmah is certainly one of the Low End Theory affiliates with more depth in the crate than hype to his name. Amidst his deportation from the states last year, people rallied round the cause but seemed to forget what an incredibly dope DJ and music fiend he really is. Guaranteed to be one of the guys on decks not to miss.
FLOATING POINTS [EGLO / PLANET MU]
Sam Shepard aka Floating Points has been one of the best things to happen to house music in the last few years. Ignoring for a moment his classical side project of Floating Points Ensemble, he’s as an exceptional a DJ as he is a producer (surprisingly a rare trait nowadays), dropping somewhere between boogie and house. Definitely going to be killing it spinning tracks in the sun.
ANCHORSONG [LASTRUM / TAILGATE]
The one man show that is Anchorsong remains one of the most underrated live acts in the music scene. Now based in London via Japan, his solo live show consists of him as a one man show building epic musical pieces driven from his MPC 2500. For some reason all his recorded music and live shows are exclusively released in Japan, turning him mainly in to a youtube channel for the heads in Europe, but seeing him live is definitely a lesson in musical crafting.
Guess the Awk Mo invites are still in the post…?
Again this is only 5 from a killer lineup that includes the Hoya:Hoya crew, Roots Manuva, Little Dragon, Zero Seven, Riot Jazz and a load more. If you’ve been before though, you know to trust in the curators, and that one of the best things about this festival is the people it attracts. As I said we’ll keep updating as it gets announced, and once the site (http://2011.soundwavecroatia.com/) officially goes live this year.