Preview: Bloc 2012

Bloc is back. And no, we’re not talking about the guitar-wielding indie popstrels, we mean London’s premier electronic music festival, which is returning this year for its sixth outing.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 25th Jun 2012

Ticketholders should already have sweaty palms in anticipation, as the two-day extravaganza is undertaking its most drastic reincarnation to date: the London Pleasure Gardens, slapbang in the centre of Olympic London.

The line-up is drool-worthy: Orbital, Flying Lotus, Snoop, Squarepusher, Steve Reich, Amon Tobin, Four Tet, James Blake… we’ve run out of breath, but here’s the complete run-down.

What we’re equally as excited about here at Skiddle is the new venue’s mix of land and water-based venues. On land, festival-goers will party in Glastonbury’s Hub stage and a 30m geodesic dome, with MS Stubnitz (an ex-Communist deep-sea fishing vessel) providing a floating audio and visual metropolis. This is set to have Boiler Room, one of the music industry’s most influential organisations, showcasing prodigious DJ talent within its walls, although exactly who will be playing has not yet been revealed. However, what we do have is a list of who is making our pulses race on the released line-up:

Joy Orbison back-to-back with Jackmaster

One of the most exciting sets of the entire festival comes in the form of a musical double whammy, with electronic music connoisseur Joy Orbison playing a back-to-back set with DJ Magazine’s Breakthrough DJ of 2010, Jackmaster. Joy Orbison is a certified dubstep aficionado, with the wonderfully uplifting Hyph Mngo having catapulted him onto the scene before Skrillex had even ended his screamo phase. Picture this immediately followed by Jackmaster’s unashamed, full-on party soundtrack and you have four hours of bass-laden heaven.

To find out what you can expect from Jackmaster, check out his Numbers warehouse set from December.

Squarepusher

Squarepusher has re-emerged with new album ‘Ufabulum’, which sees one of Warp’s finest return to the scene with copious amounts of technological wizardry, just like the old days. Stand-out track ‘Unreal Square’ is a true speaker-pounder, lulling us into a false sense of security with a fairly downtempo mixture of Atari bleeps and cascading basslines, only to smack us round the ears with a hearty dose of experimental drum n bass in the closing minute. After 15 years, albeit with some digressions from his woozy electronica, Tom Jenkinson is still pushing all the right buttons (literally) and we’re excited to see him nestled alongside Jeff Mills and Battles on Saturday’s billing.

For those of you unfamiliar with Squarepusher, or if you want to revel in Bloc anticipation, check out Beep Street.

Four Tet

It’s a very exciting time for Four Tet fans at the moment, with Kieran Hebden having collaborated with Burial for the third time back in March. The man behind the beautifully whimsical ‘Everything Ecstatic’ and ‘There Is Love In You’ nestles alongside the likes of Steve Reich and Orbital towards the top end of Saturday’s billing – yet another reason to book your tickets to this due-to-be-sold-out event RIGHT NOW.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch Four Tet’s latest offering, here’s his collaboration with Burial.

Still not excited? Then check out the official showreel, right here: