Kappa Futur is about one thing: techno. The festival has one large main hanger that sees thousands of people all pay pilgrimage to the finest techno DJs of the day. They worship at the raised DJ alter in baking sun and have done so for years now. Back once again in 2016 to take over Turin, the festival boasted a bigger and better line-up than ever before.
As well as the on main hanger, there is also a second stage that often plays home to the Kings of House, a super group of legendary house music DJs who play hit after hit. Those legends are Louie Vega, David Morales and Tony Humphries and their stage is away from the glare of the sun, which is all too much for many on the main stage. They drop real knowledge with cut like Kenlou – The Bounce, which welcomes us early on Saturday afternoon and immediately gets us into the groove.
The Dora stage is one of the main draws at Kappa, and one of the most popular acts to play it is Raresh, the Romanian minimal techno god who strings together infectious grooves, waif percussion and toys with his FX in masterful ways. Dropping cuts like Arhat’s Untitled cut he manages to make a big impact with little effort.
There are plenty of acts who go much harder and player faster, more raw and sweaty techno. These include Nastia who toys with Gunnar Hallam’s Overcomplete and really gets a good reaction from the crowd. Berghain heavyweight Ben Klock also lays down some seriously solid grooves that get lapped up be the crowd. Mainly made up of Italians there are also plenty of English here stomping the tarmac.
Kerri Chandler is a true house master who got lots of hands in the air with his ravey piano on jams like Leonardo Chevy’s Total Blackout, and French trio Apollonia also kept the energy levels high with a slick back to back set of vinyl selections that managed to be deep and fluid as well as peak time and pumping when needed. They dropped a big one from Archie Hamilton called First Refusal that marked the highlight of their set.
The biggest moment of many was Ricardo Villalobos doing his stripped back and trippy thing. He played Lopaski’s Common Grounds and was in the middle of a set that was classic Villalobos – fun, heady and full of surprises. With Solomun and Marco Carola also coming correct and having the whole crowd eating out of their hands, it was yet another magical techno session in the heart and heat of Turin.
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Photo Credit: Simone Arena (Simpol-lab)
