By sound · 7 picks · Thu to Sat
Seven hours of Theo Parrish, a footwork pioneer, and the late slots worth staying up for.
C2C books its experimental acts on the big stages, and its DJs late. The club side runs through the Dazed Stage and the last slots on the main stage, from midnight to four. Theo Parrish and Kode9 & RP Boo are in our picks; here's the rest of the night.
DJ Python: reggaeton, slowed to a humid sway.
Reggaeton's rolling dembow beat, slowed under deep house and long, drifting melodies: the Queens producer Brian Piñeyro called it 'deep reggaeton', and the name stuck. His recent records see him singing more. At C2C he plays his new live show with visuals for the first time anywhere. Slow, humid, romantic: dance with someone.
Clara 3000: Paris techno with the rough edges kept.
Hard drums, warped bass and industrial grit, played for tension rather than payoff. Clara 3000 came up in the Paris underground around Ed Banger and Kill The DJ, the city's electro labels, and has been part of it for years. Queer and trans politics run through her work too. She closes the opening night: wear shoes you can dance in until 04:00.
gyrofield: breakbeats at full speed.
Metalheadz, Goldie's drum & bass label, has released her, and so has XL. Kiana Li grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in the Netherlands. In May she started her own label, and her debut album came out the week before C2C. Expect fast, clipped drums, tense low end and shards of melody. It's one of her few European live shows this year, closing Friday's main stage straight after Arca: the rave after the opera.
DJ E: ceremonial drums, synth glare and noise in one mix.
An Aymara artist from California's Inland Empire, and one of the underground's most revered names. Their music folds Andean ceremonial drums and warped folk melodies into bright synths, pop fragments and noise. Venice's music biennale gave them its Silver Lion. Last year they played Turin with their brother as Los Thuthanaka. This time it's a DJ set, as DJ E. Unstable, emotional, loud: nothing else at C2C sounds like it.
Hundebiss: the hill-village label takes over the Dazed Stage.
Hundebiss is run from Vernasca, a small village in northern Italy. Since 2007 it has put out records much bigger than its address, including Lil Ugly Mane's cult rap tape Mista Thug Isolation. At C2C it brings a crew: Bladeblanc, giesse, Nexus and Talpah, handing over to each other. Hard electronics, damaged club rhythms and noise, straight after Kode9 & RP Boo.
Crystallmess: from zouk to Detroit techno.
Zouk's percussion, dark dancehall, afro-trance and Detroit techno, in one set. Christelle Oyiri grew up in Paris club culture, with Guadeloupean and Ivorian roots. She's a resident on NTS. One of her own track titles sums up the mood: 'Just because it's a funeral doesn't mean we can't rave.'
Picture: dub techno from a private archive.
As Picture, he plays mostly unreleased tracks from his own archive. Under other names, this Aarhus producer has already shaped Danish club music. Patient kick drums, dub chords, lots of space between the hits: deep rather than hard. For the people who want to lose track of time.
Times, lineups and tickets are on each event's C2C Festival programme page. Songpot is independent of the festival.
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