A wall of thick, humid air engulfed me as I strolled out of a station somewhere in east Paris. The climate was almost Mediterranean, minus the sea breeze – perhaps a good omen considering the appropriately named Weather Festival was due to start in a matter of hours.
The journey into the heart of the Bois de Vincennes is actually a deceptively long walk; however, the scenic route along the citadel wall and into beautiful tree-lined avenues coerce you into the escapism that a festival usually offers.
Walking alongside thousands of others toward the same destination has a strangely unifying feeling, not dissimilar to a huge exodus into the unknown. For a festival that’s only been running for two years, the community that French promoters Concrete have been able to nurture is inspiring. Having delivered parties for several years now, you could say that they know how to put together a line-up, or two.
It would make sense, then, to up the ante and deliver something that would put the city back on the map. In many ways Weather has done this, it’s consolidated the burgeoning Parisian scene, and simultaneously localised it while bringing an international audience to their doors.
Opening Weather 2015 was the legendary Derrick May, accompanied by renowned pianist Francesco Tristano and l’orchestre Lamoureux – an epic and in many ways daring collaboration that married classical, electronic, and modern together. This colossal project also provided a rare and unmissable opportunity to see some May classics performed live.
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Weather’s line-up this year was full of impressive names, but perhaps one of the most prominent of them all was Borderland – consisting of Juan Atkins and Mortiz von Oswald. Both pioneers in their own right, it was wonderful to see these two in action at the Autumn stage. Housed in the dark cavernous expanse of the stage, they opened with stark, atmospheric landscapes, shaped by floating pads and minimal beats; fluid movements between fleeting synth tinkerings and a hazy Sunday kind of introspection set the mood. This was a meeting of two minds, and you could notice where von Oswald’s dubbed out vernacular mixed with Atkins’s cerebral tentativeness.
Over at the Summer stage, Polish export Motor City Drum Ensemble had teamed up with venerated Three Chairs member Marcellus Pittman. The duo ramped up the energy with shameless cuts of soul and Disco – notably 52nd Street’s funk-drenched ‘Express’ and Curtis’s ‘How Can I Tell Her’ – whilst MCDE’s notorious blend of acid and techno kept the audience guessing.
https://soundcloud.com/funkdamento/curtis-how-can-i-tell-her
Despite the opening concert on Thursday evening and Friday’s warm-up acts, it wasn’t until Len Faki took to the stage that it felt like Weather had properly begun. There was a palpable anticipation for the Figure label boss, where Faki would be one of three Berghain residents to grace the decks at Weather this year. Although fairly early, Faki’s slot was somewhat enviable; breaking in to a keen, fresh-faced crowd definitely has its advantages.
Faki lay down an arguably flawless set. Setting the scene with Oyi Hun’s brilliant OAR003 release, he then proceeded to take us through a number of selections to the tone of Radio Slave – ‘Werk’ (S:VT Re-werk), while Teste’s 2014 hit ‘Ascend’ provided the needed switch-up. His selections were openly accessible, yet many tracks held that trademark Berghain sound. His set was so assured, so confident, that lifting the crowd seemed effortless. It would be Len Faki’s performance that would set the benchmark for the remainder of the performances at Weather 2015.
One thing that was immediately noticeable about the crowd at Weather was the youthful energy. The people exuded vitality and a freshness that is often rare to find in the UK, but perhaps this is a hallmark of an emerging scene, still exploring, still growing.
Meanwhile over at the Autumn stage fellow Berghain resident Ben Klock had got things going with selections from Mark Broom and Jeroen Search. Some may have been disappointed with Klock’s somewhat transgressional set, delivering a sound that many people weren’t typically expecting, but it was good to see Klock bringing something a little different to the table. His set was characterised by a more progressive design, going deeper with selections such as Antigone’s ‘Artefakt’ and Truncate – ‘Another One’, though probably a favourite from his set was a well-received vintage cut from Envoy’s recently re-issued ‘Dark Maneuvres’.
After a little smile and a humble wave, Klock departed from the decks to make way for one of the most exciting collaborations to come out of France in recent times: Unforseen Alliance (Zadig, Voiski, Antigone, and Birth Of Frequency). The group built up a dark and smouldering energy, marching militantly forward. The mix was surprisingly clean considering there were four operators working on the sound, yet coloured with a wonderful analogue warmth. Despite being brilliant artists in their own right, it was great to see the four of them come together for this project. The set had a focussed energy that commonly characterises Voiski and Antigone sets, while Zadig and Birth Of Frequency’s individual styles helped to shaped and nuance the progression.
Heading over to Printempts stage, aka Spring, Ibiza poster boys Appollonia (Dan Ghenacia, Shonky, Dyed Soundroom) were killing it with their distinctively slick minimal aesthetic. Somewhat surprisingly, the trio gave a pretty weighty set, almost on par with the other stages, though laden with melody and huge grooves. Appollonia may have stolen the show with their no bullshit minimal-tech selections, a true tour de force.
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Weather 2015 has been full of not-to-be-missed collaborations, but perhaps one of the most anticipated of all of them was Adventice’s Weather debut. Marked as the meeting of generations, the newly formed duo consists of the legendary DJ Deep, and one of the most promising talents to emerge from the new Paris scene, Roman Poncet. Adventice went straight in with wiry techno loops and thudding kick drums; DJ Deep manned the mixing desk, while Poncet executed samples through his various sequencers – the dynamic worked really well.
Ricardo Villalobos has long been a household name, a musician simply in his own league. Dominating the world’s most prestigious line-ups, Villalobos’s appearance at Weather again exercised a nuance in the festival’s curation. The Chilean native was on good form, one of the few who are able to make micro-house and minimal so enticing for the passer-by. There’s a depth and aged wisdom that can be felt in his sets, and seeing him at his best will reveal a wealth of emotions and reflections that are usually so difficult to convey in such reductionist music. Seeing through the final moments of Villalobos’s set, he dropped a stunning Playhouse release in the form of ‘Dexter’; a very moving conclusion to a brilliantly crafted set, and an emotive prelude to the final night of Weather 2015.
Back at the Winter stage Concrete resident and DM3D label boss Francois X was finishing up with some beautifully airy techno selections. Peter van Hoesen took over shortly after with a live set – twinkling oceanic soundscapes seemed to fit perfectly with Winter’s blue, subaqueous aesthetic. After the brief introduction he shifted up into powerfully driving techno, animated by gritty synths and ominous pads. As if opening up a portal, van Hoesen continued to assault the dance-floor with a wall of sound, aggressively inviting and appropriately dark. Broken beats and hissing hat rhythms were a brief, welcome departure from the standard 4×4. The one-hour live set was one of the best performances so far and warmed up nicely for the mighty Marcel Dettman who quickly followed.
Opening with his rework of the recently released ‘Aktion Mekanik Theme’ really set the tone for the set. He proceeded with selections ‘Prime Mover’ from Antigone’s latest double 12” on Token and later peaked with cuts from Adventice, Developer and Floorplan. Proceeding a hugely epic first half-hour Dettmann got down and dirty with his classic MDR sound – gritty, dark and powerful.
Meanwhile, another highly anticipated back-to-back between Rødhåd and DVS1 had ensued. Strong contenders for favourite performance, the pair took the crowd on a blistering trip through a torrent of powerfully uplifting techno. Similar to DVS1’s set with Ben Sims at Bloc festival back in March, the set was characterised by this inexhaustible pool of energy, constructed through seamless mixing, perfect progression, and well-balanced selections – as artists they complemented each other perfectly. Tracks such as Carnal’s ‘Untold’ gave the crowd a little breather before heading back into the fire. Again, sound level issues prevented the crowd from really being able to enjoy the performance, but music-wise it was faultless.
Over at the Winter stage, the formidable Collabs3000, a joint project between label heads Speedy J (Electric Deluxe) and Chris Liebing (CLR), was well under way. Where Rødhåd and DVS1 were calculated and concentrated, Collabs3000 were about excess and testing the floor to its limits. At times they had the floor to their knees with brutal drops and abrasive synth work, while a few key moments were had with brilliantly executed breakdowns that seemed to inject adrenaline into the dance-floor. They ended with the LFO x F.U.S.E classic ‘LOOP’, unearthed by Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann’s closing set at Bloc earlier this year. The crowd exploded as the playful hook bounced through the speakers, and as some have quite rightly claimed, “this is the kind of track that whole sets are built around”; a truly epic way to close the Winter stage.
While many lay sprawled across the grass succumbed to exhaustion, the remaining troops partied on, willing themselves to dance through the final hour. As we made our way to the exit Kraviz finished with Energy 52’s timeless ‘Café Del Mar’, a classic track she’s been known to close with in recent times. We walked through the morning haze with the buzz of the festival slowly ebbing in the distance; golden shards of sunlight filtering through the trees as one or two locals were already up and out for their morning runs along the park. The sound of traffic and the sweet sound of bird song greeted us as we entered back into reality. An emotional and euphoric end to Weather 2015.
Despite certain technical issues, Weather 2015 was a roaring success. For such a nascent scene, the amount of progress that has been made is astonishing – it may not be long before Weather becomes a household fixture on par with Lyon counterpart Nuit Sonores. Peerless curation, a sizeable but perfectly manageable festival site, compost toilets, a great crowd, amazing weather; really there’s not much more to say. For those questioning the city’s proclivity for quality electronic dance music, you’ll find that Paris has a very bright future ahead.
Vincent Morris
Photo credits: Vince Morris, Romy Raskovic, [Weather Festival]