Over a week has passed since our full car made the journey from cloudy Manchester down South to breezy Minehead, and more specifically Butlins.
I’m still grinning with dry lips despite my run-down self, still on a high from such a fun weekend spent dancing and drinking within the walls of the Butlins campsite, though I didn’t see any red coats. The charming, funny setting for an electronic music festival (or any festival for that matter) just adds to the experience.
FRIDAY.
Rows upon rows of chalets provided the option of a shower and bed (not that you use them much); appealing to most who didn’t want to worry about things like tents, just fully focus on the abundance of vicious techno that Bloc engulfs you in for three days straight (or four days if you want real trouble).
After Bloc’s horribly confusing last minute shut down before 2012’s event kicked off, they were not going to repeat anything like that grim walk home from London Pleasure Fields. The Friday night was spent wandering around all five stages surrounded by tacky bars with funny carpets, and getting the “feel”.
We caught glimpses of sets from Ben UFO, Objekt, Spencer and a crowd pleasing hour from Hudson Mowhawke, all laying down their craft with skill and ease while providing the techno dominated soundtrack for extended alcohol consumption.
Modeselektor, Phuture, Robert Hood and 4am headliner Jackmaster brought outstanding set’s to kick the festival off to a flying start, such a good vibe amongst the audience all night, communicating via gurn and loved up chat, chalets filled up and the party didn’t stop!
SATURDAY.
What did we need to start the Saturday off perfectly? Old Skool hip-hop/electro from Egyptian Lover! This guy has been doing his thing since 1983 and played one of my favourite sets of the weekend. The perfect time slot got the crowd well involved with arms waving and mock gangster poses that filled the FACT stage with smiles and Fresh Prince of Bel Air shapes. Such a good start.
Excitement for Warp-based Clark brewed and the British producer didn’t disappoint. If I had any complaints, by then it would be that the overall volume of the centre stage could have been louder and intenser, but not for Clark’s set. Complex bass lines rumbled your insides whilst hectic beats pounded your brain and shook the cider in the plastic cups. Clark delivered next-level electronica and kicked down the gates to euphoric bliss.
With darker sets from Dean Blunt and ex-Whitehouse noise veteran Cut Hands, Saturday’s line up was nicely diverse with the Carhartt stage curated by Crack magazine and the brilliant Brixton -ased sporadic party/event World Unknown.
The Jak stage had the likes of DeFeKT and London modular, Fact had headliners Perc on their stage and Carl Craig and Moodymann dominated the red stage. Not to be forgotten, this years main stage delivered seriously memorable sets from Jon Hopkins and Autechre. There was so much going on it was impossible to keep up with, without even considering all the boozy silly nonsense people enjoy at festivals!
SUNDAY.
Feeling as fresh as you can on hardly any sleep, yet still fully in the grip of the festivals momentum, we had a whole stage consisting of Jungle sets on the Sunday. Benton, Doc Scott, Raime, Ben UFO and headliner Dilinja all threw in hard beats and fun times!
It was a treat, the crowd got involved to the very end and making the last night extra special. The rumours going around that Richard D James AKA Aphex Twin was filling the special guest slot on the Jak stage (the smallest venue of the weekend) turned out to be untrue, though he was wandering around, possibly having bought himself a ticket.
Everything’s done by 2am on the Sunday and the festival comes to a close, the tired legs and slurred speech comes to a halt, some continued into Monday, the memories from Bloc weekend will last forever, a truly great festival experience that showcases how healthy the UK clubbing scene is.
If you were there and are already missing the vibes, enjoy a Bloc Exclusive mix from Defekt below and drift back to those happy, hazy times!
Words @DARRENKASKIE
Title photograph courtesy of Verity Fat Out.
All other photography from Fact mag photographers Anoushka Seigler, Pawel Ptak and Luis Munoz.
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