- "Balearic" sunsets, fresh little fish and electronic disco are what Electric Elephant is all about. Lorded over by Manchester's Unabombers, who were behind the city's raucous Electric Chair club nights, the EE festival is five days of having it semi-large in the idyllic environs of the Croatian coast. It's not total debauchery by any means—Petrcane is a tiny village with more sunburnt tourists on their holidays enjoying the sea urchins than there are sunburnt festival goers. One cash point and one road snaking through its centre means it's small enough to traverse in a few minutes.
The festival site itself consists of two locations. The Beach Bar hugs, but the sunset views and vibes makes dancing there in the dusk feel like you're moving a little closer to heaven. Barbarella's Discotheque, an orange, circular sweaty club that is as smoky as it is kitsch, is where the nighttime action goes down. If the music wasn't so electronic and housey, it feels like you could be throwing shapes in a James Bond movie.
Perhaps the freshest action involves the boat parties on the Arconaughty, a ship custom built for trawling the waves for rave rather than fish. Our first experience onboard was A Love from Outer Space's venture. Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston provided a healthy set of slo-mo electronic disco that, while never reaching too quick a pace, provided a suitably jaw-dropping opening. Clad in what resembled sailor gear, both jocks played a sublime mix of Balearic and tech house, Mythical Beast's "Communication" and an Emperor Machine reworking of DJ Harvey's Locussolus project were two of the highlights from a smorgasbord of fine, groggy moments.
From then on, brilliant moments were almost too numerous to recount. Toddla T and Seb Chew helmed the Yo Yo boat party the next evening with a more bass-heavy, R&B injected selection. Saturday night was owned by the Unabombers in the beautifully lit outside area (though, "arena" sounds too grand for a dance floor in front of wooden hut), with the duo veering between almost pure cheese and anthemia house. "Do You Think I'm Sexy?," "Tainted Love" and "Stand on the Word" all made an appearance. Sunday was all about house. Derrick Carter played a seamless three-hour headlining set taking in Queen, Grace Jones and The Rolling Stones, while Ralph Lawson and Luke Solomon put down a harder, more techno-inspired style in Barbarella's for the late night dancers. Monday evening was spent in the Beach Bar, sweating out the previous five days worth of rave to a good time selection of party house and classic soul and R&B—think Carly Simon's "Why" and Jazzy Jeff's "Summertime." Later on, Eletrik's Chris Massey and Sean Johnston managed to keep punters on their fifth consecutive night of summertime excess up and strutting until the early hours.
When it's all said and done, perhaps the best thing about EE is the sense that you really "know" your fellow dancers by the time Monday rolls around. Which, in many respects, gives the endeavour a village mentality, except with eyes and ears planted firmly on fresh, music horizons.