It seems that with Britain’s summer
festival season becoming tainted with the ever-unreliable English weather –
blissful moments of sunshine, soon shunned by sporadic torrential downpours -
the festie-hungry sorts are upping and leaving for greater pastures, Croatia
being one of the go-to landmarks for the finer in electronic indulgence. Some
condemn the post-summer jaunt deeming it far to risky in making the return to a
cold and miserable England even more depressing but for me five days in a far-off
European island seems like the perfect antidote. The sunshine bus (or
not-so-sunshine bus depending on your tolerance of 30 hours coach journeys)
picks us up from Epping and drops us off at the festival site after a day-long
ride through France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia (!) but rocking
up at 3am in complete darkness it’s hard to gauge the exact enormity of
Outlook. Though it’s only been going for a handful of years, having sprung from
the Leeds-based dub and bass-centred
Vagabondz night,
Outlook is at a lofty
vantage both for the all-inclusive music policy and for being held in one of
the most unique of settings.
Take one abandoned fort, fifteen thousand
people and a hearty timetable padded out with generous amounts of offshore boat
parties and beachside recuperation and we realise there’s a lot more choice
than we had originally expected. Rumours flew that Outlook was (what now seems)
a petite affair with just six thousand ticket holders in 2010 and it’s not hard
to believe as what used to be the main arena in years before seems minute in
comparison to the outdoor main stage they have erected at the foot of the site.
The whole festival is spread across a large expanse of land, moats, docks and
annexes playing host to intriguing, tucked away arenas, while the beach is home
to happy campers and much-needed recovery sessions with a backdrop of top-notch
music and clear blue waters. On first impressions the festival’s organisation
sticks out like a sore thumb and in a good way; every day and night are tailored
to perfection with every day serving something of interest. Thursday night is a
head on collision between the old guard and the avant-garde in bass-driven
music kicking things off nicely in the former main area, the
Fort Arena.
THURSDAY
Ikonika is half way through her set, a real
crowd pleaser laying down a sumptuous blend of old skool garage and double
tempo house.
Sia’s'Little Man' marks
the pinnacle, her crate-digging track selection paving the way for
Kode 9 who,
with
Scratcha DVA failing to turn up – treats us to a marathon 2-hour
Hyperdub
history lesson. There’s a real sense of nostalgia in the air as Kode pulls out
The
Bug’sSkeng and his own 2006 collab
with trusty wingman
Spaceape'9 Samurai', before
ploughing through the back catalogue up to the present with new material from
his new album
'Black Sun'. Needless to
say Steve Goodwin is an absolute charmer but the bass between the two walls certainly
needs a disclaimer: bring ear plugs and prepare for intense nose tickling. For
a producer I always seem to miss, there are high expectations from
Jamie xx who
headlines the main stage but, as expected, the arena is absolutely heaving to
maximum capacity, leaving no room for our sneaky weaving so we catch a glimpse
from afar. Sulking over and we head to
The Moat – an arena quickly monopolised
by thirsty D&B heads - where there’s no remorse from
Logan D who punishes
his crowd with tear-out jump up.
FRIDAY
Friday
takes us down to the centre of
Pula where we’re staying for a chilled
afternoon and, though the majority of our Sunshine Bus comrades opted
for the campsite, which is surprisingly a lot more lavish and
well-equipped than
what you’d expect – there’s buses running to and from the town until the
early
hours of the morning. Sun down signals the beginning of tonight's
Outlook antics and we make our way up to the site. Having failed to get
into
The Moat the night before with
the (frustrating) one-in, one-out policy we head to the depths of the
Fort, the
dim-lit gateway ushering us down a dark tunnel to a lobby opening out to
multiple pockets of noise.
Pinch welcomes us to
The Dungeon with
trad-dubstep a
perfect accompaniment to the overriding sinister tone. Quick Dungeon
stint
fulfilled and it’s all about
Shogun Audio at the
Dock Stage kick started
by
Commix. You can never predict a Shogun session, the label’s diverse
roster
simultaneously producing some of the most romantic and gut-wrenching
music but
Commix certainly sets the mood with staple drum and bass classics –
'Be True' and
'True Romance' - pulling on
the heart-strings before
Spectrasoul and
Alix Perez takes things a little
deeper, the crowd feeding off the unrelenting, tech-fuelled momentum. Leaving
satisfied we head to The Moat to brave the queue for
Boddika who is stirring
things up with his glitchy bleeps and blips, a clear crescendo building as he
drops
'Warehouse' into his set (Outlook
anthem No. 1)
SATURDAY
Saturday is boat party day – hoorah! So, in
preparation for the
Hotflush crew onslaught
we warm up with something a little more alternative. We head down to watch
Tropics perform, but, playing to just five or six people on the main stage I’m
sure I’m not the only one sensing the palpable lack of intimacy. It’s a shame
but it’s soon forgotten as we board the vessel and are soon melted by the
sounds of
Space Dimension Controller. Brutal, but not too abrasive
SDC fuels
the metaphorical fire with techno-driven beats, conjuring a dark corner of Berlin’s
Berghain. Then, much like the unpredictability of his own creations,
Roska
whips up the tone serving up a healthy selection of old skool garage, R&B
and funky, mixing
Kiya’s'Do You Mind', Zinc’s'183' and
Ginuwine’s'Pony' in quick succession. Intrigued? He
certainly delivered. Hotflush label boss, Scuba, steps up as the sun begins to
set, his seamless mixing and spot-on
track selection reaching a euphoric peak as he drops
Julio Bashmore’s Battle For Middle You. Arguably one of
Hotflush’s finest newcomers,
George Fitzgerald brings the boat party to a close,
tending to ear-drums with high-energy, sugar-sweet melodies. The evening soon
moves into the night and after a Hoflush fix it’s all eyes on
Digital Mystikz
who hark back to the early noughties with timeless classics, the guitar riffs
on
Mala’s track
'Alicia' unleashing a
glistening Mexican -wave smile across the entire starry eyed masses. As the
night draws to a close
The Bug rounds things off with a deconstructed edit of
'Poisin Dart' alongside trusty collaborator
Warrior Queen. Pure bliss.
SUNDAY
Sunday soon comes
around and it’s the last marathon day with a much-anticipated live performance
from
3024 label boss,
Martyn.
Brainfeeder pervades the Outlook site tonight as
we warm up our ears with some soothing electronica from the higly talented LA
artist/skateboarder and musican,
Teebs. Needless to say his slanted,
experimental hip hop brings something distinctly different to the festival, a
wholesome sense of pleasure after hours of dub, bass and D&B.
Jeremiah Jae
continues to strip things down to the grain with raw West coast hip hop but no
sooner are we beckoned to
Pangaea who performs with
Hessle Audio play-mates
Pearson Sound and
Ben UFO in sight. Martyn follows suit, his seminal track
'Mask's and addictive
'Popgun' from forthcoming album
Ghost
People leading the way before he winds into the archives, dropping his remix
of
TRG’s 'Broken Heart' into the pan, a
little light relief from the frenzied impetus of the first half. Garage-washed
and techno-infused, Martyn uproots the nostalgia without forfeiting the drive
behind his new material, a live show I would highly recommend. The heavens finally open
but us scantily-clad lot are not deterred as
Scuba rounds off the Outlook
experience.