Sound and Vision: Horst 2023
The Month in Music, August
August 29, 2023
Sounds of the Summer
September 29, 2023
As one of the first events on the 2023 festival calendar, Horst Arts and Music arrives with expectations. With a long winter and far too much Manchester rain in between the coming of Horst and my last festival excursion, I’d had ample time to build up unhealthy expectations. Yet, with a combination of innovative stage design, crisp sound and a weekend of interesting, expansive sets, Horst delivered.
Situated in a former military facility in Vilvoorde, Belgium, and populated by what felt like a predominantly local crowd (although one that many of the Belgians I spoke to informed me was becoming increasingly cosmopolitan), Horst offers a varied musical programme that caters to a range of tastes. In tandem, the site at Asiat Park provides a spacious canvas upon which Horst’s architects, who were recognised and celebrated on both the festival programme and prominently around the site itself, made hay.
Exploring the festival site was a striking experience - an urban playground of brick, stone and sheet metal – and it began on Friday at the Kiosk Radio stage.
After a brief sojourn, I headed over to the cavernous warehouse space of Eyes Eyes Baby to catch one of my favourite b2b’s. Here, Jane Fitz and Carl H delivered what they always seem to do: the kind of set that makes you want to throw in the towel, clear out the Bandcamp wishlist and build a whole new library of music, all while being accompanied by a 10ft LED pendulum swinging from the ceiling – the height of festival excess.
Despite somewhat poor sound (an experience that was thankfully restricted to this stage), the pair crafted a dark and heavy set of tech house, techno and breaks that was nicely complemented by a gritty interior and the darkening skies outside.
the kind of set that makes you want to throw in the towel, clear out the Bandcamp wishlist and build a whole new library of music
Immediately after at the adjacent KOMONO, SASS (Saoirse, Shanti Celeste, Peach and Moxie) brought the heat.
At this massive stage, the four played a set that catered perfectly to the audience – high-energy selections of predominantly pumping tech house (and a little bit of speed garage) that was lapped up by a heaving crowd.
Stood on a raised platform and with a good view of the booth, it was impossible not to get caught up in the energy generated by the four DJs, who were clearly loving the experience. It was my first taste of a theme that would recur over the weekend: sound and setting in perfect harmony, with the stage design adding another dimension to the music on offer.
With SASS’ infectious energy came one too many Duvels, so I was grateful that Saturday kicked off with a buffet brunch at the campsite, kindly provided by the organisers. After one of the more sophisticated beginnings to a festival day, I strolled over to the festival site in time to catch Gayance easing us into the afternoon with an eclectic set at State of Play. Setting the tone with Naut’s remix of Eye Will Not (the definition of an eyebrow-raising bassline), Gayance weaved through a range of genres and tempos, from disco to baile funk, and clearly had a lot of fun whilst doing so.
As a growing crowd began to weave its way around the stage’s pillars and ornaments and Gayance cut some of the more exuberant shapes I’d ever seen in the booth, Horst had my heart.
The absolute distillation of what Horst is seeking to achieve – great sound, captivating lighting, remarkable stage design and electric energy on the dancefloor.
I followed this with a trip over to Le Soleil Rouge to catch DJ Perception. Redeeming himself from a painful set I’d witnessed him play in a post-pandemic Leeds, Perception delivered two hours of tightly mixed garage cuts. With an array of warping, bouncing basslines that sounded so so good under the red sun, he provided a prescient reminder on the coronation weekend that UKG remains one of our best-loved cultural exports.
This Saturday afternoon bassweight was followed (after a short trip back to camp) by Calibre, again at Le Soleil Rouge. I was admittedly slightly wary at the prospect of two hours of BPMs beyond my comfort zone, but I was to be proved wrong. I think that a sign of a good festival is the ability to quieten one’s musical prejudices, to chip away at some of the genre snobbery that we (or at least I) possess. Calibre’s atmospheric, ethereal set of dubstep and drum-n’-bass did exactly that. As I stood under the cooling towers and watched the lights dart across the Belgian sky, those broken rhythms made a little bit more sense than they ever had done before.
A night of fast BPMs was ended by Bitter Babe at Vesshcell, who provided one of the more enjoyable musical experiences of my life. This, to me, felt like the absolute distillation of what Horst is seeking to achieve – great sound, captivating lighting, remarkable stage design and electric energy on the dancefloor.
With the DJ lit up from an overhead beam, surrounded by undulating waves of dancers, the spectacle – and it was a spectacle – felt like a scene from revolutionary France, with Jacobins and Girondins clambering over the furniture, in either rapture or hysteria: perhaps both. Whilst the music was not my usual fare (a little stop-start for my taste, heavy on edits and moments rather than building a sustained atmosphere), the energy was remarkable, and I could not help but get wrapped up in the collective euphoria.
A sign of a good festival is the ability to quieten one’s musical prejudices, to chip away at some of the genre snobbery
Sunday brought more brunch and a day of music that began at the festival’s ambient and downtempo stage: roll pitch yaw – surge heave sway. Here I caught the final thirty minutes of Mevis’ blissful selections. As hi-hats emerged into the mix and layers of drums eventually built to a soaring crescendo and an immensely warm reception from an appreciative crowd, I dashed over to Le Soleil Rouge (Komono) to catch the set I was perhaps most excited for – Joe Delon.
I’d been blown away by Joe’s selections (b2b Gwenan) at RA’s 21st Birthday event in Manchester last year and have since become a fan – his label, the consistently impressive Welt Discos, is essential listening. As such, I’d had this one circled for a while. With two hours of selections that caught the vibe perfectly, from an italo-flecked beginning to a second hour of heavier cuts and perhaps the weekend’s best acid line (if there is a god, an ID would be appreciated), the man delivered.
With this set followed immediately by Maayan Nidam, I was given no cause to look elsewhere. As a primarily house and techno head with a taste for the more minimal side of things, I came into Sunday feeling a little bit of yearning for bleeps and bloops.
Having heard some of her productions on Perlon and Eklo, I thought it would be a set catering to my tastes, and she duly scratched every musical itch I had left. From that first crisp hi-hat to the welcome surprise of a Talking Heads sing-a-long (mixed seamlessly) and the weighty sub of Mathew Jonson’s Thieves in Digital Land, she delivered a set of all (psycho) killer, no filler.
As the sun came down, Walrus stepped up at Le Soleil Rouge, and this local legend brought serious heat to close the festival. As with much of Horst’s best music, it was a set that crafted a journey for an ever-grateful crowd, in which sound and setting felt perfectly aligned.
With selections heavy on atmosphere, with many a rolling bassline and hypnotic percussion loop (think Silverlining’s Don’t Forget Your Ambdo Knyper, an early tune in the mix), it felt right that the heavens opened as the set built to its crescendo. As the rain came down and Kevin Saunderson/E-Dancer’s World of Deep sent the dancefloor into rapture, the weekend reached its (personal) pinnacle.
It was a weekend in which one could hop from stage to stage and sample interesting sounds throughout – or, as I did on Sunday, spend seven hours at one stage and leave with no regrets about what you might have missed
All in all, Horst provides a festival experience that feels unique in its vision, with sound and stage design in perfect alignment.
The ‘Arts and Music’ that feature in the festival’s title feel like a valid description of both the festival’s intention and execution, with Horst offering a coherent architectural vision on a grand scale. And it was matched, if not exceeded, by the music.
It was a weekend in which one could hop from stage to stage and sample interesting sounds throughout – or, as I did on Sunday, spend seven hours at one stage and leave with no regrets about what you might have missed. It was a weekend that, at its musical best, made me reconsider what is possible in the alchemy between DJ and dancefloor. It was a weekend that feels like an essential date on the festival calendar – and left me in anticipation of the summer ahead.
