- Going to Volt is a bit like going to a club. The festival starts at 8 PM and runs for seven hours—about the length of an average party. None of the four dance floors are any bigger than a typical nightclub's main room. For electronic music in Sweden, though, it's one of the year's best festivals, combining slick, up-to-date bookings with pristine soundsytems in intimate settings. It offers Swedes something of a one-stop-shop for forward-thinking sounds, without the hassle of queues, sunburn or high prices.
Taking place in Uppsala, a city about one hour from Stockholm, Volt's main focus is experimental music. Live acts have always featured prominently, usually making up at least half of the programme. This year they included Actress, Vatican Shadow and Laurel Halo, plus a few locals. Many of the DJs—Helena Hauff and Paula Temple in particular—also come from slightly left of field. This overarching aesthetic created an atmosphere well-suited to the modernist Uppsala Konsert & Kongress building where Volt takes place. Unlike in previous years, just two floors of the venue were in use this time—the ground and the first. This was a big improvement, as it made the festival space more compact, with one escalator ride separating the two main areas.
The mood was calm for most of the night. Helena Hauff had the difficult job of DJing to a newly arrived, mostly stone-faced audience from 8:30 PM on the ground floor. She spent the first half of the two-hour slot running through EBM and post-punk, slowly edging into techno from there. Her mixing was impressive: there wasn't a bad transition in the entire set, despite the rough, unquantized nature of the music she played. Whether she was mixing techno into punk rock or acid house into EBM, the energy steadily built with each mix, hugely aided by her slick, seemingly effortless beat matching.
Another highlight was Dominick Fernow as Vatican Shadow, who played one of the most intriguing live sets I've ever seen. The style was what you'd expect from him—dark and aggressive. It was the way he dished it out that was most interesting. The focus was rarely on the groove, but when it was, he had the crowd enthralled. At first, he cut in each new track somewhat awkwardly and abruptly. As the set went on, though, he began to layer things more carefully, clearly aiming to get feet moving. By the end, even the addition of a snare to an already galloping techno beat brought about cheers. If Fernow spent a bit more time dancing at clubs like Berghain, I'd wager his live set would become one of the best in techno.
When the time came for Volt to wrap up, more than 20 acts had played. Depending on your preference, you could've spent the night dancing to house music spun by local DJs or immersed in tough, occasionally disturbing experimental sounds. The beauty of a boutique festival like Volt is that both options are available hassle-free.
Photo credits: Marco De Baptistis