Photos by Marc Sethi
Fresh from a milestone, five years last summer, Dimensions Festival can now reveal plans for its 2017 outing, with its heaviest bill of live acts and selectors to date. You’ll find the all-powerful, all magical enigma Grace Jones headlining the opening concert, alongside Moderat, Yussef Kamaal and Moses Boyd, plus over 80 more names including Jeff Mills, Theo Parrish, Floating Points, Cymande, Nina Kraviz, Danny Krivit, Ata Kak, Hessle Audio, Levon Vincent and more bringing sonic explorations from house, techno, soul, disco, jazz, dub, R&B, world and beyond. Set across five days between 30th August to 4th September in an abandoned fortress home, Dimensions Festival is an essential date in the diary for any electronic music aficionado.
The Dimensions team annually curate a dream combination of acts from local legends to internationally revered artists, and always deliver the highest quality programming. 2017’s edition sees one of techno’s founding fathers Jeff Mills step up for his Dimensions debut, along with king selector and Soundsignature head honcho Theo Parrish who’ll bring a blend of Chicago cuts. Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann returns with his trademark techno, then Floating Points plays twice across the week, with a special live show journeying through his own productions, and one eclectic and expansive DJ set in true FP style.
Photos from Dimensions archives
Without a doubt, another highlight are celebrated 70s funk band Cymande, who’ll play the classics with the full team, plus multi-instrumentalist funk lord Shuggie Otis, and enigmatic Ghanian rapper Ata Kak.
On the darker end of the spectrum, twisted experiments come from selector Nina Kraviz and breakout star Helena Hauff, who has cemented a place as a leading light in the underground community with releases on Ninja Tune, K7! and more. More left-leaning sets are in store from Dan Snaith aka Daphni, Joy Orbison and the Hessle Audio team (comprised of Ben UFO, Pangaea and Pearson Sound) representing for the bass and techno contingent.
Photos by Dan Medhurst
Known for welcoming a weighty contingent of the best in crate-digging DJs to the Adriatic each year, the Dimensions bill includes the finest names in house and techno. Cherished selector and producer Levon Vincent will bring a statement selection of deep, dusty house to the fort, whilst Ostgut Ton affiliate Tama Sumo and Uzuri boss Lakuti make up the perfect DJ tag team with a b2b set, then vinyl-addict and Chicago stalwart Sadar Bahar, Rush Hour’s Antal and London mainstays Horse Meat Disco join. Club Der Visionaere resident Binh makes a welcome addition, known for his expansive sets spanning house and techno flavours, plus there’s a special appearance from Studio 54 resident and scene mainstay Nicky Siano. Further cosmic grooves come from Detroit’s Luke Hess, Dimensions favourite Sassy J, genre-voyager Josey Rebelle and Clone Records boss Serge.
More sonic, intergalactic sounds are in store from Sushitech duo Paul St Hilaire & Rhauder, electronic explorer Conforce and Amsterdam’s new kid on the block Interstellar Funk, whose raw, unique productions have seen him emerge from a new wave of talent originating from the city. Also serving up a chunk of electronic funk is Hypercolour artist Gary Gritness with a live show, and Darker Than Wax’s Kerem Akdag, a music man with a striking blues and soul signature to keep your ears out for.
Live shows are in abundance at 2017’s edition of Dimensions Festival, with a rare outing from German electro duo Dopplereffekt, revered soundtrack artist Alexander Robotnick and Modern Love’s Demdike Stare. Also find sets from neo-soul legend Amp Fiddler, Ninja Tune poster boy Romare, who’ll join the dots between beats, world and funk in his show. Composer and modular synth enthusiast Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith plays a rare festival show, whilst award winning drummer Moses Boyd brings a fresh take on percussion.
Jazz, funk and world music is a key part of any Dimensions line-up, and this year is no exception. The dreamier side of jazz and funk sounds are represented by South London crew Yussef Kamaal, who perform at both the opening concert and the festival. Moko Shibata aka Powder brings slick grooves with a world flavour, then Dj Okapi adds south African pop to the bill.
