Horst Arts & Music 2024: Hits And Misses
This past Thursday to Saturday I attended Horst Arts & Music Festival 2024.
After playing the Le Soleil Rouge stage last year (listen back here), this year I spoke on a panel on ‘Exploring the intersection of daytime and nighttime party culture’. The panel was at 16h on Thursday, leaving me free to rampage around the festival for the following three days, which is what I duly did.
Here are my more or less chronological hits and misses!
THURSDAY
HIT: The weather
Horst is somehow charmed — last year it was stunning, this year it was stunning.
HIT: The artist welcome team
On arriving, I was met at the entrance by the head of the Artist Liaison team, which already felt like a luxury. Then at the artist welcome tent, one of the people behind the desk was my driver at new year when I puked on the ride back from Horst club into town. I guess that experience had brought us together, so when I spotted him it instantly put me at my ease. I chatted with him and a colleague at various points across the three days — in their day jobs one is a gardener and the other is a postal worker, then they give their spare time over to Horst. The artist team works 24/7 through the festival to make sure the artists feel at home and are on time for their slots. Their disposition is as sunny as the weather and if you read artists’ posts on IG you can see this hospitality translates into their performances.
HIT: Managing not to make a complete fool of myself on the panel
I had more nerves about this than I usually do playing, but my fellow speakers — Jamila Barry (Minor AM/Tilla Tec) and Jalien van den Tweel (Nachtmakers) — were lovely and also had limited panel experience, which provided a sense of solidarity.
MISS: Inadvertently looking like sad Keanu Reeves while doing the panel
MISS: Not fully getting into it
The topic was very broad and open to interpretation, and while a panel is a useful format for getting some ideas going, you’d need more time and a wider range of voices to dig into the real substance. I consulted a handful of daytime party promoters in the lead up to the panel and would like to try and summarise their input at some point. Like I said in the talk, I feel like some of the big things underlying the theme include “age/generations”, “substances” and “competition”, but what that Venn diagram throws out I’m not sure.
HIT: Guitars
After the talk, a few of us formed a motley crew and went on a mini tour of the site, coming across some funky punky grungey guitar music blaring out of the Kiosk Moon Ra stage. It could almost have been a tribute to Steve Albini and it sounded amazing over the d&b sound system (incidentally the only system on site that wasn’t Pioneer).
HIT: Fog machines
Everywhere. Up trees. Behind toilets. Inside bushes. We love it.
MISS: No soap or hand sanitiser, anywhere
Aw jesus, gross.
HIT: Kevin Lyttle
We got a brief blast of Kevin Lyttle ‘Turn Me On’ as we passed Vesshcell, the zaniest stage at the festival. It was 5pm on Thursday afternoon and kids were already swan diving into the DJ booth. (This could also be a MISS if we consider the trauma for the Horst staff trying to manage this insanity all weekend.)
HIT: The Swirl
Last year the sound in this stage was a bit clattery and while the winter season of Horst club saw some improvements, the sound and layout of the room continued to cause problems. This new festival configuration was much more open — no bottlenecks or dead ends — and although I found the bass still too wubby on the floor, there were spots round the edges and at the back of the booth where the balance was much better. It was a relief to hear the definition in the music when Leeon started on Thursday afternoon, and his final dreamy track really felt like it unfurled fully into the space. Similarly, when Eli Verveine switched out from driving housey techno (what tech house was originally?) into a track with a big, defined, plunging bassline, the system came into its own. Then there was the scenography. The Swirl was so called thanks to this year’s installation: where last year’s stage had a giant flashing guillotine swinging over the DJ (“trainwreck and you die”), this year saw a diaphanous curtain curling around itself over the dancefloor, rotating (or swirling) every half-hour or so to the amazement of all of us beneath. This shimmering sculpture, plus the spot-on placement of curved bleachers around the dancefloor, focussed everyone’s energy inwards as well as affording a spectacular view. And the mad Pioneer speaker stacks looming behind the scaffolding like Darth Vader leant the whole thing an extra feeling of drama.
HIT: The artist area buffet
Once again being the culinary highlight of the festival (more on that below).
HIT: Aurora Halal in the Kiosk Moon Ra stage
For about 30 minutes me and Adi got super into Aurora Halal playing loopy-trippy-hypnotic-acid techno with a flash of bass. Then it got a bit much and we had to duck out. (This is a theme with the Kiosk stage.)
HIT: Leaving early on Thursday and getting a good night’s sleep
This festival is hardcore and any energy saved on days 1 and 2 can then be usefully expended on day 3. I got the train home and was in bed by 1am.
MISS: Thursday night FOMO
Friends who weren’t so sensible stayed up till 4am playing records and drinking wine and yes I wish I’d been with them.
FRIDAY
MISS: The Friday gods conspiring against us
First, we accidentally caught the slow train to Vilvoorde, delaying our arrival sufficiently that we missed the end of Solid Blake and AIDA’s sets. Then we nearly got conned by a mercenary taxi driver at the station, who wanted to charge us 25 euros for the four-minute drive to the festival site. Finally, when all we wanted was a shot to take the edge off, we discovered it wasn’t possible to buy shots anywhere on site. Frankly, I almost gave up entirely.
HIT: The fabulous wristband top-up boy
Sass for your cash.
MISS: Eye-wateringly expensive food and drinks
Examples include 7.50€ fries, 12€ gin and tonic, and a 14€ mac and cheese with no toppings that almost ended a friend’s weekend on the spot. The mac n cheese feels like a watershed moment for the festival. Horst’s own #douchingstation.
HIT: The fabulous wristband top-up boy (part 2)
Having spent all my cash on expensive food and drinks, I at least had a reason to go back and see the fabulous wristband top-up boy again.
HIT: The American contingent
Despite the Friday gods conspiring against us, we ended up hearing some of the best music of the weekend, all from US artists. Deep Creep went stealthily from almost Perlon-esque minimal house through to full on prog-but-pitched-down, in truly classy style. Then DJ Swisha came on with a bang: jumped-up house and breaks featuring a panoply of familiar samples — ‘Tell Me (How It Feels)’, ‘Home Computer’, ‘Big Fun’ (or ‘Good Life’, I can’t remember cos they’re basically the same song). Finally, Rrose played a live set of meticulous, spacious, referential techno that suited the Swirl stage perfectly.
HIT: The Church of Manon
The Friday gods finally fully atoned for the obstacles they’d laid in our path by introducing us to a guardian angel on our way back from Vilvoorde that evening. As we swayed, variously drunk and ketted, from the shuttle bus back to the train station, it dawned on us that we might have missed the train. Out of nowhere appeared a vision clad in a blue-knit jumpsuit and a pink jacket, brandishing a phone that displayed the latest update: “RIJDT NIET”. This was my cue to tell my (not so) hilarious anecdote about the Eurostar screens saying “WELCOME BIJ” when you arrive in Brussels. (“Welcome, bitch!” haha etc etc.) Rather than run away, the vision — called Manon — actually seemed to find this funny and joined our crew waiting for the next functioning train. We spent the following hour or so learning about her double life as a dentist-slash-poledancer and raving Spaced-style to the sound of the train door clattering. As I got off the train at Central station, Manon anointed me with peppermint essential oil on my temples and under my tongue, which kept me buzzing on my 25-minute cycle ride back to the flat. We are all now converts to the Church of Manon.
MISS: Missing KLb2bOO at Moon Ra
Committing to getting the train home on Friday meant missing Kiernan Laveaux b2b Octo Octa closing the Moon Ra stage that night, a decision I regretted in advance and even more so in retrospect when Jim, one of the founders of Kiosk, described the scene to me two days later. Luckily for all of us the recordings will go online soon, so we can all listen back.
SATURDAY
HIT: Paulo Sea and Alex Sourbis set the scene
Despite significant feelings of exhaustion and saturation by this point, I made the effort to get up and out of the house at noon on Saturday in order to arrive at the site on time for Paulo Sea and Alex Sourbis doing their opening sets. I veritably ran to the Le Soleil Rouge stage to catch Paulo playing perfectly pitched deep house to a growing crowd of friends and new fans. For my exertions I was given the leftovers of someone’s staff lunch spaghetti. The omens were good! The sun was hot, the vibe was hotter, and a trick of the shade meant that everyone congregated right in front of the DJ booth. Up at the new The Ring stage, which replaced the street-style stage from last year, Alex was playing measured, bouncy 4/4, something he’d told me he was going to do yet, given his proclivity for bassy, broken music, still felt like a pleasant surprise. Here the shade was less accessible, leading everyone to amass to one side of the booth. Sound-wise this wasn’t an issue, since the sound system had been creatively orientated to cover pretty much every corner of the courtyard. But for Alex it meant he didn’t have much dancefloor action in front of him, just off to the side. Nevertheless, when MCDE’s bassline dub of DJ Sprinkles’ ‘Grand Central Pt. 1’ rang out there was a collective swell of fond recognition.
HIT: The sexy collective care team
Spot a pink t-shirt, see a pretty face.
HIT: Discovering my identity as a ‘stealth POC’
It was around this time that a friend found out my mother is Singaporean, leading to me being christened a ‘stealth POC’. Perhaps you had to be there?
HIT/MISS: Leaning into my identity as a ‘stealth POC’
The ‘stealth POC’ joke predictably spiralled out of control as the day wore on, until I was being introduced (and introducing myself) to complete strangers as a “dead stealth POC lesbian”. This remained a HIT for those of us who’d indeed ‘been there’, but was clearly a MISS for the many bemused-and-probably-offended people who hadn’t.
HIT: Learning, at the age of 37, that the 🫰 hand symbol means ‘heart’
I instantly prefer it to 🫶.
HIT: Eli Verveine being the consummate professional
When Eli Verveine realised that instead of playing in the glorious afternoon sun, which is what she’d prepared for, she’d be in the gloom of The Swirl, she pivoted seemingly effortlessly, building up a rolling OG tech house groove that never let up over two hours. As mentioned above, I had some qualms about the sound in there, but there we no qualms about Eli’s selection or style. She nailed it.
MISS: Swayzak live
I had been hyped up about Swayzak’s live set, first because I’m a big fan, and second because someone had told me earlier in the day that their show might be built around the classic Snowboarding In Argentina LP. Well, if it was, I didn’t hear it. Eli’s last record played out, James and David fired up their machines and the most almighty whirring buzzing noise leapt out of the Swirl’s speakers. I waited for it to resolve into something approaching a tune. It did not. It’s possible that the jump from DJ setup to Live setup meant some tweaking of the sound was ongoing; or perhaps Jim and Dave just wanted the start of their set to sound completely overwhelming. Either way, I couldn’t hack it longer than 5 minutes and beat a hasty retreat.
HIT: Swayzak, live
This disappointment was made up for somewhat by a heartwarming story Snad told me: he’d had the opportunity to meet Dave just before their set and Dave had given him a potted history of Swayzak’s career. To my ears there’s a big affinity between Snad’s music as Spandrel and the mighty duo, so I was happy to hear about this meeting of minds.
MISS: Ben Who?-FO (part 1)
While all this was going on, Ben UFO was playing at the Kiosk Moon Ra stage. Of course this would have been an absolute treat to witness, but I couldn’t face the inevitable crowds. Once again with the Kiosk stage, my consolation is that the recording will be online soon. The same is true of DJ Fart In The Club’s closing set on Saturday — missed it live, but will be diving into it as soon as it’s up.
MISS: Ben Who?-FO (part 2)
Unfortunately the same won’t be true of Ben’s closing set at the Ring, which I also chose to forgo. Clips of it on Instagram reveal it to have been a smasher, including Ben himself saying it was one of the best stages he’s ever played on. I had already made my decision though: Saturday night was going to be a Le Soleil Rouge night.
HIT: Prosumer putting the church back in the village
In the words of a friend quoting a Swiss saying, Prosumer arrived at the Le Soleil Rouge stage on Saturday evening to “remettre l’église au milieu du village” — “put the church back in the middle of the village” — that is, to set the record straight, remind everyone who’s boss etc. He did it with characteristic patience and heart, adding a sprinkling of italo classics (‘Feel The Drive’, ‘Hypnotic Tango’) to his usual mix of disco and jacking house (‘It’s Magic’ always a highlight).
HIT: Belgians do it better
Horst giving simultaneous closing slots to the Belgian duo Sixsixsixties b2b Timmerman on Le Soleil Rouge and honorary Belgians Adi b2b Unai Trotti in the Swirl was a real treat for everyone who knows them, and showed the organisers’ commitment to the local scene. Remember Walrus’s closing set being a highlight of last year’s festival? I have big admiration for Horst keeping to this booking policy, and the vindication for it comes from seeing those stages packed out and popping. I only dipped in and out of The Swirl, mainly because I wanted to be outside, but every time I was in there my jaw dropped at the tableau of dancers spread out over the dancefloor’s many layers, as Adi & Unai smashed it. The music was heavy, yes, but also joyful and exuberant, just like Adi herself pogoing around the booth. Outside, part of me suspected Sixsixsixties & Timmerman might go for a more obvious, more euphoric, even more basic closing, but I needn’t have worried. They knew exactly what they were doing, leading with classy, patiently-building tunes that drew us in, gradually introducing more pump as the set went on but never going overboard. They had the whole stage grooving and smiling and pulling the odd rave face. It was exactly the warm, sexy, feel-good end the festival deserved. The blissful encore of ‘I Love You Always Forever’ was the icing on the cake.
MISS: “Art”
As ‘I Love You Always Forever’ played out and we all shared a little moment, our eyes were inexorably drawn to Asiat Park’s iconic cooling towers overlooking Le Soleil Rouge, for which several million dollars’ worth of equipment had been hired to project a digital art display of aggressive pink-and-yellow zooming flowers with a slogan shouting “See you in 2025!” This felt a little unnecessary.
HIT: The fascia
Several of us had an intense conversation about the fascia (“the fash”?) as we waited around after the music stopped. Turns out everyone is an expert on the fascia. In fact, my uncle invented the fascia, and that’s the truth.
MISS: The dry afterparty
It slowly dawned on everyone who stuck around for the staff afterparty that for some reason there wasn’t a bar. Then, when the bar did in fact open, it was a paid bar. Call me entitled, but at that point in my weekend all I wanted was a drink, and the 50 cents remaining on my wristband was clearly not going to cut it. Whither the fabulous wristband top-up boy?
HIT: The true afterparty (Sunday)
Having left the staff afterparty in a rather sober/entitled huff, we drove home and went to sleep. This turned out to be an excellent decision as it then meant I just about had the juice left to get up on Sunday to: cycle to Kiosk Radio to hear Dana Kuehr and Upsammy play lovely music; make some origami creatures in the afternoon sun; hang out at OP-a Shop; stop by to hear Ben Kamal playing a storm of a set at another ongoing afterparty; eat a delicious pizza; watch a couple of episodes of How To With John Wilson; and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Now THAT’s how you top off a festival weekend.
HIT: The ongoing mac n cheese discourse
That’s it. In the words of the pink and yellow cooling towers: see you in 2025!!