For the fifth year in a row, arts & culture festival Land Of Kings will be deontating bass leylines up and down Kingsland Road for twelve solid hours. Taking place on the Bank Holiday Sunday of the 5th May, the multi-venue event will hijack the Eastern basement dens and cultural hubs that Dalston has to offer.
And as usual, the Clash DJ team will be taking over eardrums and handing out some serious bass weight at our own exclusive party, this year is especially obsessed with a low-end sound clash in one of Dalston’s most effective party spaces. We’ll reveal more about later in the week.
Kicking off at 2pm, the festivities begin in village fete-come-street party fashion, in an enclosed outdoor-indoor site. Dub royalty Reggae Roast will provide the riddims at a rooftop barbecue, alongside showcases by indie label Moshi Moshi and quirky bespoke broadcasters London Fields Radio. Grub will be on offer from Street Feast of Kings, an army of gourmet food trucks.
As the night sets in, the festival will spider out into over 20 venues – pubs, art spaces and micro clubs for an evening of music from all genres under the sun. With live music coming from Warp’s dream-electronica Darkstar, witty rock trio The Wave Pictures, all-girl ground-breaking choir Gaggle, and New Young Pony Club (who now come packaged as NYPC). In addition, Sweet Baboo will bring his brand of psychedelic folk, we’ll hear from bluesy prog rockers Gang Colours, 90s garage-styling Stevie Neale, the soulful Flako and alt-indie cellist Rhosyn.
Elsewhere in the Dalston kingdom there’ll be more musical indulgence provided by DJ sets from Friendly Fires, Drums of Death, Rory Phillips, Faze Action, Babe, Sega Bodega and many more. Also footing the bill are Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s house project A Love From Outer Space, To The Lazer Cave, Durr and junglist massive Wicked!Wicked! There’ll be more live action from 20th Century Steel Band supremo Fimber Bravo, fuzzy electronic duo Great Waves, the summery Tropics, Gilles Peterson’s selection Troumaca, and electro-piano trio Boxed In.
Not just a pretty musical face, the festival presents a mammoth subversive arts and interactive showcase. An underground Video Dance Party will be hosted by The House of Hot Breath, alt-indie troupe Fanfarlo will screen an experimental short film, Musical Bingo will be in full swing, and words will be cooked up by burger van-style lyric generator Poetry Takeaway, alongside many more installations to satisfy those artistic cravings.
The festival wristband will be a golden ticket of entry into some of Dalston’s most coveted venues – including Birthdays, Eastern Curve Garden, The Alibi, Shacklewell Arms, Servant Jazz Quarters, Arcola Theatre & Tent, Moustache Bar, Vortex Jazz Club and many more TBA.
With East London’s glittering activity distilled into a string of loft parties, intimate gigs, surreal rooftop escapes, label showcases and warehouse raves, Land of Kings is once again going to be an unmissable burst of riotous creativity.
Early bird tickets are now sold out, but don’t fret – there’s still time to get your hands on the second release of tickets here: http://www.wegottickets.com/landofkings/f/5975
Words by Felicity Martin