Alpha-Ville Festival

This weekend I travelled down to London for the first day of the Alpha-Ville Festival at the Whitechapel Gallery. Described as a online and live platform for digital arts and culture the night was to host a range of attractions from 3D film (with old skool 3D glassed) to AV mapping demonstration plus of course some pretty decent music too.

The festival hadn't taken over the gallery completely and access to it's exhibitions was denied which meant the site was a little cavernous and maze-like and meant that the two distinct music areas seemed quite separate. To complain about this would be nit-picking. I will complain about the warm brew dog lager taken out of the top of the bucket and not from the bottom where it is obviously going to be cold though. ;)

Overlap between the acts meant that I got to see a fair proportion of everyone playing that night with the exception of the Boats. Listening to Bola and Scanner playing their musical soundscapes and chilled out head nodding beats in a sweaty loft-like room with a pretty cool cityscape as a backdrop is something that everyone should get the chance to savour. Who needs visuals when you have the City of London as a real-life attraction?

Something a bit more upbeat in the tiny bar room of the gallery, Subeena and Actress played a mixture of house and dubstep. Actress at times was in danger of verging onto full-on detroit techno at times.

I think that because most punters had opted for Actress and because of their laidback slow glitchy start, the room for Kettenkarussel was a little thin on numbers. But an excellent set was in store for those that hung around with everyone in the room dancing by the end.

I'm glad I made the journey down for the Alpha-Ville Festival, it is exactly the sort of night/event that I don't think could take off in drum'n'bass obsessed Birmingham. I was disappointed not to be able to stay for the live cinema night the following day but will definately be back if the event takes place next year.