- Stephen Titmus reports from sunny Tisno, taking in sets from Midland, Shanti Celeste, Roman Flügel and more.
- Dave Harvey, cofounder of Love International, first visited Croatia in 2006. He booked a plane ticket, packed his records and managed to blag a DJ set at The Garden Festival, which was the first event of its kind in the country. A lot has changed since then. Harvey is no longer a scrappy wannabe DJ, but a dance music professional whose work extends across various festivals and a successful record label. He's also a father, and his young daughter could occasionally be seen at Love International wearing huge ear defenders. Croatia has changed, too. The country has undergone vast political and social transformations. From a tourism perspective, it's now one of Europe's busiest festival destinations.
But despite the shifting landscape, Harvey and Love International's other cofounder, Tom Paine, have retained the elements that people loved about The Garden Festival. The coastal site is a famously beautiful spot where the vibe manages to feel both action-packed and hassle-free. This was my fifth time visiting Tisno and I'm yet to find much to dislike. It's also worth mentioning that Love International attracts some of the world's best DJs. Hunee, Four Tet, Powder and Avalon Emerson were just a few of the many highlights I heard across the festival's eight days and nights in 2018. Definitively picking the best performances was tough. That said, here are five of my favourites.
Roman Flügel
Barbarella's, the open-air nightclub located two-and-a-half miles from the main site, is special. Dancing beneath the stars and seeing the sunrise from the dance floor almost always feels extraordinary. Roman Flügel's set on Thursday night was his first performance at the club, but he made the place sound as good as I've ever heard it. This has a lot to do with the specific style of music he plays. Almost all of it has a hi-definition quality that can ignite a room and push a soundsystem to the max. He moved through acid tracks, demented house and unidentifiable electro at an unhurried pace. Towards the end, he dropped the Smith N Hack remix of Ricardo Villalobos's "Easy Lee," a record Flügel signed to his Playhouse label in 2003. As the swirling Italo bassline hit and Villalobos's bizarre vocoded vocals leapt from the speakers, the crowd at the front cheered and raised their hands to the night sky. It was the kind of moment that has cemented Barbarella's stellar reputation.
Saoirse & Shanti Celeste
The boat parties at Love International are usually raucous affairs. DJs hardly need to do anything to stoke the atmosphere. They have a captive crowd, most of whom will thirstily knock back booze for the duration of the voyage. That said, the scenes during Saoirse and Shanti Celeste's set were especially rowdy. Some back-to-backs can seem a bit forced, but theirs felt genuinely collaborative. They would flash each other smirks as they cued up tracks. Celeste came out swinging with Videopath's "And So Do Eye," a forthcoming release on her Peach Discs label that sounds like a lost Mike Banks cut. Saoirse replied by chopping up UK garage tracks with quick fader flicks. Classics like Heller & Farley's "Ultra Flava" elevated energy levels even higher before Sticky feat. Ms Dynamite's "Boo!" sent things off the scale. As the track's speaker-rattling bassline hit, the crowd screamed and Saoirse—almost taken aback—laughed, before drawing for the rewind. The same scene was repeated seconds later, but twice as loud.
Towards the end of the trip, rain began to fall. But instead of dampening the mood, the entire party squeezed onto the dance floor. The DJs' replied by firing through some more huge bangers, including SL2's "Way In My Brain," Los Hermanos' "Birth Of 3000" and Sneaker Pimps' "Spin, Spin Sugar." As the sound engineer gestured frantically to cut off the music, Saoirse's mates tried to distract him with wacky dance moves. The tactic worked, giving everyone the extra minute they so desperately wanted.
Midland
Midland played The Olive Grove on Friday, following an afternoon of disco and house. The stage was busy and the crowd was lapping up the balmy sounds. But instead of continuing down the path of least resistance, Midland took a left turn. He started with the acappella of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner," before dropping the BPMS down to around 115. Slowly and steadily, over the course of four hours, he built things back up. A point of inflection came with Elements Of Life's "Into My Life (Dub Mix)," a rolling house record by Louie Vega with a seriously weighty bottom end. By hour two, things were really booting off, with bass-heavy techno causing people to climb onto each other's shoulders. At one point, he teased a Ricardo Villalobos record in and out for a few minutes, toying with the crowd in a way that conveyed a confident DJ at the top of his game. In the recent edition of Resident Advisor's Between The Beats documentary, he expressed a desire to show off the weirder sides of his tastes. His set at Love International was proof that he can do that and still rock a party.
Secretsundaze
Secretsundaze, AKA Giles Smith and James Priestley, are very experienced at playing to woozy dancers. Their legendary Sunday parties, which took place in London during the mid-'00s, routinely attracted ravers from the night before. On the fifth day of Love International, their stylish evening set kept weary dancers moving. The first half combined classy soulful house and funky broken beat to great effect, keeping the music loose and breezy. Midway through, revellers in Croatia football shirts rushed the dance floor, sending energy levels up several notches. (The national team had just beaten Denmark in the World Cup via a dramatic penalty shootout.) Out of nowhere, a life-size cardboard cut-out of Luka Modrić, Croatia's star player, was raised above the throng. Secretsundaze responded by playing big hitters like Voices Of Life's "The Word Is Love (Say The Word)" and Kingpin Cartel's "Ghetto," timing the closing run to perfection.
Felix Dickinson, Craig Richards & Gideön
For those not ready to call it a night there were the Sunrise Sessions, which took place at the main site. Starting at dawn, they featured chill-out experts such as Lexx and Young Marco playing blissed-out records by the beach. The session I enjoyed most was a dub special, scheduled after Ben UFO and Craig Richards' six-hour back-to-back at Barbarella's. It was curated by six DJs, including Felix Dickinson, Craig Richards and Gideön, three artists best-known for their taste in house, disco and techno. All of them, though, have been collecting dub for decades. Their selections reflected a deep knowledge of the genre, moving through roots reggae and '80s digi-dub. Ravers, still up from the night before, drifted off to sleep in hammocks while others lazed under pine trees or refreshed themselves with a quick dip. With the sun blazing down and butterflies flittering across the early morning breeze, I slipped into the sea and swam out to a jetty. As I lifted myself out, I heard the sound of Wailing Souls' conscious reggae classic "Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall" floating over the bay. It was as good a start to a day as I've ever had.
Photo credit /
Carys Huws - Lead, Saoirse & Shanti Celeste
Jake Davis For Here & Now - Midland, Secretsundaze
Khris Cowley For Here & Now - Gideön
Saoirse & Shanti Celeste The boat parties at Love International are usually raucous affairs. DJs hardly need to do anything to stoke the atmosphere. They have a captive crowd, most of whom will thirstily knock back booze for the duration of the voyage. That said, the scenes during Saoirse and Shanti Celeste's set were especially rowdy. Some back-to-backs can seem a bit forced, but theirs felt genuinely collaborative. They would flash each other smirks as they cued up tracks. Celeste came out swinging with Videopath's "And So Do Eye," a forthcoming release on her Peach Discs label that sounds like a lost Mike Banks cut. Saoirse replied by chopping up UK garage tracks with quick fader flicks. Classics like Heller & Farley's "Ultra Flava" elevated energy levels even higher before Sticky feat. Ms Dynamite's "Boo!" sent things off the scale. As the track's speaker-rattling bassline hit, the crowd screamed and Saoirse—almost taken aback—laughed, before drawing for the rewind. The same scene was repeated seconds later, but twice as loud. Towards the end of the trip, rain began to fall. But instead of dampening the mood, the entire party squeezed onto the dance floor. The DJs' replied by firing through some more huge bangers, including SL2's "Way In My Brain," Los Hermanos' "Birth Of 3000" and Sneaker Pimps' "Spin, Spin Sugar." As the sound engineer gestured frantically to cut off the music, Saoirse's mates tried to distract him with wacky dance moves. The tactic worked, giving everyone the extra minute they so desperately wanted.
Midland Midland played The Olive Grove on Friday, following an afternoon of disco and house. The stage was busy and the crowd was lapping up the balmy sounds. But instead of continuing down the path of least resistance, Midland took a left turn. He started with the acappella of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner," before dropping the BPMS down to around 115. Slowly and steadily, over the course of four hours, he built things back up. A point of inflection came with Elements Of Life's "Into My Life (Dub Mix)," a rolling house record by Louie Vega with a seriously weighty bottom end. By hour two, things were really booting off, with bass-heavy techno causing people to climb onto each other's shoulders. At one point, he teased a Ricardo Villalobos record in and out for a few minutes, toying with the crowd in a way that conveyed a confident DJ at the top of his game. In the recent edition of Resident Advisor's Between The Beats documentary, he expressed a desire to show off the weirder sides of his tastes. His set at Love International was proof that he can do that and still rock a party.
Secretsundaze Secretsundaze, AKA Giles Smith and James Priestley, are very experienced at playing to woozy dancers. Their legendary Sunday parties, which took place in London during the mid-'00s, routinely attracted ravers from the night before. On the fifth day of Love International, their stylish evening set kept weary dancers moving. The first half combined classy soulful house and funky broken beat to great effect, keeping the music loose and breezy. Midway through, revellers in Croatia football shirts rushed the dance floor, sending energy levels up several notches. (The national team had just beaten Denmark in the World Cup via a dramatic penalty shootout.) Out of nowhere, a life-size cardboard cut-out of Luka Modrić, Croatia's star player, was raised above the throng. Secretsundaze responded by playing big hitters like Voices Of Life's "The Word Is Love (Say The Word)" and Kingpin Cartel's "Ghetto," timing the closing run to perfection.
Felix Dickinson, Craig Richards & Gideön For those not ready to call it a night there were the Sunrise Sessions, which took place at the main site. Starting at dawn, they featured chill-out experts such as Lexx and Young Marco playing blissed-out records by the beach. The session I enjoyed most was a dub special, scheduled after Ben UFO and Craig Richards' six-hour back-to-back at Barbarella's. It was curated by six DJs, including Felix Dickinson, Craig Richards and Gideön, three artists best-known for their taste in house, disco and techno. All of them, though, have been collecting dub for decades. Their selections reflected a deep knowledge of the genre, moving through roots reggae and '80s digi-dub. Ravers, still up from the night before, drifted off to sleep in hammocks while others lazed under pine trees or refreshed themselves with a quick dip. With the sun blazing down and butterflies flittering across the early morning breeze, I slipped into the sea and swam out to a jetty. As I lifted myself out, I heard the sound of Wailing Souls' conscious reggae classic "Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall" floating over the bay. It was as good a start to a day as I've ever had. Photo credit / Carys Huws - Lead, Saoirse & Shanti Celeste Jake Davis For Here & Now - Midland, Secretsundaze Khris Cowley For Here & Now - Gideön