In less than a month’s time, Bygrave Woods in Hertfordshire will be transformed for the ninth edition of Farr Festival. Just a half-hour journey from London’s King Cross, the four-day event is a gathering of thousands of partiers and a huge list of underground dance titans and future heroes, running from Thursday 5th of July to Sunday 8th.
The beauty of Farr is its marriage of stellar production and intimacy even on its largest stages; think EDM pyro and lasers but with the ethic of a 100 cap, sweatbox party. After all, this how the festival began, as a meeting between like-minded partiers wanting to claim the woods as theirs for just a few nights. The organisers are also literally cranking the volume this year, raising the decibel level across the all the arenas late into the night. Here are RIOT’s top 5 picks for Farr Festival 2018:
Daphni
As helmsman of Caribou and DJing under the moniker of Daphni, Canadian Dan Snaith carries a dedication to communal rave into all of his projects, cultivating a raver’s ‘Summer of Love’ in every set he plays, festival or club. With a PhD in mathematics, Snaith treats music production and performance as a science just as much as an art. Last year’s LP ‘Joli Mai’ and critically-acclaimed Fabric mix both carry this ethos, perfectly aligned flighty melodies against booming low-end sounds, all timed perfectly for maximum groove. Forget science, the man’s an absolute wizard.
George Fitzgerald
Occupying the space between the melodic and the kinetic, George Fitzgerald is a must-see at Farr. His second full-length ‘All That Must Be’ is an electronic paradise, full of blockbuster guests and taking Fitzgerald’s sound beyond the scope of the club and onto new horizons. At Farr, he’ll be playing a live set, where these hyper colourstylings can truly come into play. Expect great things
Or:la
Rising star and Boiler Room favourite Or:la is a potent force; juddering house with tech intensity and some dubstep rumblings for good measure. Dividing her time between her native Ireland and Liverpool, in the latter Or:la holds her own club night, curating the vibe to each secretive location. She’s probably Farr’s worst kept secret this year, not to be missed.
Shanti Celeste
Club-primed and with a vibrant edge, Shanti Celeste has been the name in Bristol for the last couple of years now. Carving out a name for herself on the city’s Idle Hands imprint, the Chilean-born producers is going from strength-to-strength. Hers is a fever dream sound, carrying an ambient glow into pounding dance numbers. Be make sure to start your weekend with Shanti Celeste on the Factory Stage.
Hunee
© Photography by Jake Davis
Every time Hunee steps up it’s a celebration, unrivalled and captivating. Up at the decks he’s a magnetic presence, delivering every nob-twist and fader slide with laser-precision and sheer joy. No two sets will ever be the same, harnessing ecstatic afrobeat before veering into mind-bending acid. Such a vast spread of genres that it’d be an identity crisis in the wrong hands but Hunee is an auteur, master of the party. Topping off the festival’s first ever Sunday line-up, there’s no better way to end the weekend.
Final tier tickets for this year’s Farr Festival are still available – less than 150 now – from the official site for £165 inc. booking fees. For more info on this year’s Farr why not check out our festival profile?
