Dimensions
Fort Punta Christo, Croatia | September 5-9th
It’s midday Thursday on a remote Croatian coast and the sun is beating ferociously on stripped off revellers at a beach party. A short distance away lies a 19th century fort, its crumbling walls soon to reverberate as nightfall invites a host of the most revered names in underground electronic music.
This is Dimensions Festival, a four-day sonic celebration in the 200-year-old Fort Punta Christo that rests in the small seaside town of Pula. Sibling to Outlook Festival, Dimensions is only in its second year running but has already staked out a reputation in the European festival circuit for its wide-ranging line-up and unique setting.
Back at the beach, we ambled past First Word Records founder DJ Gilla spinning soulful beats to a crowd getting down like the children of James Brown; a perfect excursion for our last few minutes on dry land. To kick things off, we were booked to cruise for the next three hours on the festival’s first of 32 boat parties, courtesy of London’s diverse Electric Minds label – where Endian (Nonplus), Dolan Bergin and veteran connoisseur Move D manned the upper decks, armed to entrance the disrobed masses to nirvana. The boat set off to grooves smoother than any waxed members, parting the waves for the Herculean house session that ensued. Endian and Dolan Bergin seamlessly voyaged through currents of classic garage house, moody techno and steamy jacking house. Definitive tracks like Larry Heard’s The Sun Can’t Compare, Endian’s Straight Intention and Caribou’s anthemic earworm Ye Ye would’ve given us goosebumps if we weren’t sweating our nuts off. And where else would you hear the 70’s disco-drenched Ma Quale Idea by Pino D’Angio on a sunny cruise in 2013? Enter Move D, who treated us to his impeccable vinyl collection of grooving house and deliriously funky disco jams, cementing smiles all around.
Back on dry land after a bit of R and R, it was time for the nocturnal stretch of line-ups spanning from 8PM to 6AM. The fort setting was truly extraordinary: Under a starry sky, sprawling neon-lit trees in pink and blue loomed over dirt paths surrounding the crumbling stone walls of the 19th century fort. The fort encompassed eight formidable venues, including a dungeon that circled round on itself, Mungo’s Arena, home to the rib-rattling Mungo’s Hi-Fi system, and a mosaic-lit circular stone Courtyard stage.
The most impressive venue was The Moat, a sunken 100-metre strip of land enclosed by towering mossy walls. Speakers were strategically positioned at regular intervals along the strip, ensuring every area was saturated with the system’s superb clarity and rumbling bass. Shit got real right from the off, thanks to the Hessle Audio gang’s curation. L.I.E.S. boss man Ron Morelli did his thing for 3 hours before Bristol underground collective Livity Sound pummeled the stone walls with the techno-grime-jungle-dub hybrid they’ve pretty much made their own over the last year or so. The three founding members of Hessle followed, with Ben UFO‘s rowdy set of house-ish bangers catering for the bare chested rave bros who matched the more serious beat fans in ratio.
Then over to Fort Arena 1, where we saw the standout set of the night by Innervisions founder Steffen Berkhan aka Dixon. The Berlin-based craftsman delivered a spine-tingling three-and-a-half hour set that evoked a sense of mysticism and pleasant disorientation, masterfully pacing between soundscapes of chilling ethereal melodies over warm beats and interludes of hard, heavy basslines. You could all but lose yourself in unexpected turns from Baikal’s Why Don’t Ya to Dixon’s rework of Matthew Dekay and Lee Burridge’s Lost in a Moment.
The following day we had the pleasure of jumping on board with the Idle Hands crew. Safe to say it was 3000% fun from start to finish, with Chris Farrell‘s future as a qualified nautical entertainer fully secured. Kowton giving Piddy Py’s absurd Giggle Riddim a spin was easily this boat party’s highlight, besides maybe Peverelist dropping Pangaea’s remix of Memories – a track that somehow made sense in the sun-shimmered surroundings. Next up, we headed out for a serious funk healing session with the prolific Andy Carthy aka Mr. Scruff and Floating Points at the beach party, where we witnessed some of the 8 hours of a vinyl journey back through the best in reggae, samba and jazz, played out on the Manchester-based Dub Smugglers Sound System.
The last night presented yet another incredible line up with Space Dimension Controller, Pantha Du Prince and Ben Klock to name a few. But our eyes and ears were set on one stage: The Clearing. After Vessel unleashed his punkish, progressively beat-driven electronics from the stage, The Clearing played host to the legendary Detroit supergroup 3 Chairs. The four piece – made up of Theo Parrish, Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodymann, Rick Wilhite and Marcellus Pittman – drove the festival to a climatic ending as rain poured down for the first time throughout festival. Turn by turn, over the course of eight and a half hours, they tore through a vinyl venture of Detroit-charged techno and house, soul, jazz and funk of a bygone era. Classics like Light of the World’s I Shot the Sheriff and Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall were gloriously revived by a dancing, shouting and jumping crowd in this hideaway in Croatia.
With an intimate capacity of 5,000, mystical crumbling venues, beachside location, top-of-the-line sound systems and unmatched lineup of the most respected names across the board of underground electronic music, there is no other festival quite as magical as Dimensions. It combines a summertime holiday feel with a serious reverence for music – the perfect getaway for any discerning electronic music fan.
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Words: Emma Piercy & Steve Dores
Photo: Marc Sethi
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