‘The Cake was a lie…’
On no it wasn’t. Was it? Maybe, like all the best jokes, you had to be there.
A dozen of us were in Dorset at the weekend for the second of these little shindigs and although illness and lord-knows-what trimmed numbers down to nine on the day itself, although the weather had us flirting with disaster until the last minute and although we all seriously overestimated our capacity for BBQ food, I have to say, I think this year might have just topped last year. Maybe…
It was a bizarre feeling on Saturday morning as my phone and laptop began pinging away like the last day on Earth. At one point it seemed half the world was on the move, not a dozen geeks with a taste for weird music. Maybe this was how Michael Eavis used to feel before he started booking Coldplay and Dolly Parton? Who knows... I guess my facial hair and balding head kinda look like him these days?
What was even stranger, but in a nice way, was having the likes of Techboy, Fugee and Twoist all rock up at Chez Mexicola. Just a strange, but good feeling! Aerial Boundaries was already collected, IanRedpoint landed up too and after a brew, some introductions and some lumping wood into bags, we were off, heading to the pub to meet Rikkiebags, MrMessiah and also Vballs who had spent the previous evening huddling from the rain in a campsite.
Cider was ordered, more cider was ordered, pasties devoured and the banter well and truly warmed up, mainly discussing the rather ‘heated debate’ that morning on Twoism, as well as whether Holland would ‘do’ Costa Rica later that night. John Peel would have been entirely at home I feel, which is always how I judge the merits of any discussion down the pub.
So we loaded up (on bags) and yomped down the hill to the venue. Mouths drop open as the true scale and majesty of the place dawns on the n00bs. My annual ‘moment of truth’ arrived and miraculously I get the campfire going easily, in England, on top of a still slightly damp and windy cliff top. Sometimes I surprise myself. Techboy commandeers the ghettoblaster and immediately realises he hasn’t used cassettes since he was about 5. We eventually sort it all out though and we’re off….
• Hi Scores in full
• Twoism (natch) in full
• Hell interface – Midas Touch
• Happy Cycling
• GrimOnAmbient – A Night At Dorset mixtape (including: Hills West (yes!!), Ochre, Seefeel, Bola, Bjork, Saint Etienne, The Beatles and a lot more including a message from the mothership
)
• Thank You – bkillsb / BOC
• How Will I Know? - ??? introduced by 2020K (
I know it’s not real!!)
• Where Water Passes Beyond – Boreal Network (new track preview)
• Geogaddi – in full
• Music Has The Right to Children – in full
• An incredible new album from IanRedpoint – in full
• ???
In between, we investigated caves, watched in awe as stars came out over head and the Needles lighthouse (you were right Twoist) swooped away in the distance like a watchtower. We marvelled at Vballs super-human capacity for Morgan’s Spiced Rum and then watched with amusement as he did his incredible ‘fall over, stand up, fall over’ routine, spilling the contents of the pockets (phone, camera, tobacco) over half of Dorset. We all dangled out collective legs over the clifftops as the sea roared beneath us and Over The Horizon Radar came on, that particular track again winning the ‘Music + Nature = success’ award.
Ae’s mix, however, was the standout moment for all of us. Just incredible to hear that music in that setting. And then to hear Ae (or was it GLaDOS??) passes on regards from Twoism.org central, a special moment.
Sausages, home made kofte burgers, black pudding, Moroccan dip, beer, whiskey, bourbon, the odd ‘jazz woodbine’ for good measure – all consumed – and that was just Twoist’s personal rider. We ate toasted marshmallows because we knew Novayshun would want us to and as the clock ticked over to 3:15am, and the embers glowed gently with pop of a melting cassette (thanks again) and the waves continued crashing below us, we called it a night and drifted off.
Until July 4th 2015, we were all ‘In A Beautiful Place Down By The Seaside’. TTFN.
I can represent the American contingent since next year's meet would fall on the 4th of July (a little birdy told me so lol). Are you asking me to justify animal cruelty for the sake of Twoism? SOLD!
