Get to know En Masse 2024 via its curators
En Masse returns to cultivate a space for collective discovery
In under two months, venues around Bristol will open their doors to crowds comprising members of the local community and pilgrims from further afield who have come to share in En Masse’s 2024 programme. Building on the legacy of three previous editions, this year is the most expansive yet. As well as DJ sets, immersive live performances and never-before-seen collaborations, it offers the opportunity to gain insight into musicians’ practices via production talks, learn the ropes of analogue musical equipment through workshops, and hear from legacy artists in live interviews.
The festival’s every event is programmed according to one core objective: to cultivate the ideal space for collective discovery. ‘It’s why we named the festival En Masse. It nods to this notion of shared experience,’ affirms Omar McCutcheon – better known by his stage name, Batu – the festival’s co-founder and one half of its curatorial team. Here, Omar joins co-curator, Georgia, in a deep-dive into En Masse 2024’s musical programme.
Valentina Magaletti and Dan Johnson perform at Strange Brew for En Masse 2023 - Simon Holliday
Building community through shared experience
At En Masse, there’s no need to download a Clashfinder timetable as no two acts are scheduled to play at the same time. Each venue hosts a dedicated time slot across the festival’s four days, meaning that one ticket holder will experience the festival in more or less the same way as the next. ‘That’s a really central pillar to the festival’, Omar continues. ‘As opposed to being splintered across different venues, we want audiences to travel through the programme together – en masse, if you like’.
You won’t easily notice a generic thread tying together the line-up for each event. Instead, Omar and Georgia want to allow space for the audience to interpret their own connections between programmed acts. Each event is self-contained, curated in a way that transcends genre and instead hones in on a specific mood, attitude or aesthetic. We create a narrative that the audience can journey through together’, Omar explains. ‘That’s how we build community – through shared experience’.
You come for one thing, and stay for something altogether different
On Wednesday evening, for example, vocalist and electric-harpist Bethany Ley links up with rapper ELDON in a debut collaboration at indie cinema Cube Microplex, followed by the occult improvised jazz of multi-instrumental sound artist, Evo Ethel. On Thursday evening, Kahn – renowned for his contributions to Bristol’s grime and dubstep scene – will perform an exclusive collaboration with Autumns whose sonic roots lie in electronic post-punk and dub. They will be joined at the train station underworld venue Loco Klub by violinist and vocalist Vanessa Bedoret and local experimentalist Silver Waves. In another unconventional meeting of styles, the Saturday evening programme at intimate city-centre venue The Island sees a solo flute performance from local composer Tina Hitchens followed by the analogue modular synth improvisations and bizarro animations of audio-visual duo Steevio and Suzybee.
‘We felt it somehow made sense that, for example, someone who would come to see Kahn play, would also enjoy an Autumns show’, Georgia explains. ‘Even though the two artists might not elsewhere be booked to play on the same bill, we feel they share a certain quality’. Omar concurs, ‘we’re always looking to strike a balance between cohesion and contrast. Hopefully it means people are exposed to something new, making for an all-round more enriching experience’. So, the idea is simple: you come for one thing, and stay for something altogether different.
Dame Area play at Loco Klub for En Masse 2023 - Simon Holliday
The aim is to give artists as much creative freedom as possible
But the concern of En Masse’s curation isn’t limited to ticket holders. Both performers in their own right, Georgia and Omar recognise the enriching potential of festivals vis-á-vis the artists themselves. They invite performers from distinct musical backgrounds to collaborate in the hope of allowing them to experiment with different facets of their sound, in different environments and to different crowds. This process requires ongoing conversations with artists. ‘Our aim is to give artists as much creative freedom as is possible’, Georgia explains. ‘Yeah, increasingly, we're trying to listen to what they want to explore, and work together to come up with something new’, adds Omar. ‘There are some acts on this year’s line-up that not even we know what to expect from. That’s a very exciting thing for us’.
Not only does Omar and Georgia’s curation favour experimentation, the festival’s production sees it manifest in the best environment possible. The Friday night, for example, sees Azu Tiwaline and Forest Drive West debut their minimalist dub live show on the peerless Sinai Sound System at out-of-town venue Green Works. They will be joined by local hero Mish, Detroit legend Patrick Russell, and Batu himself who will go B2B with the similarly mercurial CCL. ‘The values of every venue we choose to work with align with our own’, Georgia affirms. ‘That way we can ensure that the audience can enjoy the music in the most comfortable environment possible’.
Communal experience is a core value of Bristol’s music scene
Physical spaces and their facilitation of collective gathering is the lifeblood of Bristol’s music scene. For many independent venues around the country suffering increasing precarity due to property development and rising rent prices, COVID was the final nail in the coffin. Whilst Bristol, too, mourned the loss of iconic venues such as 28-year-old Blue Mountain in 2023, the city’s ash-risen phoenix was a new generation of venues embodying fresh opportunities for its music enthusiasts to congregate.
Two venues in particular have played a pivotal role in nourishing the community spirit of Bristol’s underground music scene: DIY gig, club and exhibition space, Strange Brew and bar, café and home of beloved radio station Noods Radio, Mickey Zoggs. Opening their doors respectively in 2020 and 2021, Strange Brew and Mickey Zoggs exist in 2024 as a product of local collective action and community fundraising efforts, standing testament to their perceived indispensability in Bristol’s cultural ecosystem. Having also been conceived in 2021, En Masse’s evolution has coincided with that of both venues. Each year, they collaborate for one day of the festival: a natural union between local institutions that emerged out of an enforced reckoning with the importance of collective experience.
As has now become tradition, Strange Brew will house the festival’s closing event. Bringing a discovery-filled week to a close will be the aptly-balanced combination of local artists – house and techno connoisseur R.E.D. and underground hero, analogue dub extraordinaire Sunun – and guests from further afield – London’s genre-bending MAL Recording’s co-founder Jon K and Milanese sonic hypnotist Paquita Gordon. ‘There's a certain vibe we go for on the final night’, Omar explains. ‘We try to channel deeper, dynamic, more psychedelic sounds’.
Batu and Donato Dozzy perform at Strange Brew for En Masse 2023 - Simon Holliday
Essentially, we're trying to create the ideal conditions for discovering new music
When it comes to booking acts to play at En Masse, there’s no secret formula or high-concept planning. Omar and Georgia go with artists who, on one hand, excite them and on the other can unite in a shared mission. ‘We don’t want transactional relationships. We look for people who can really get what we’re trying to do’, Omar resolves. And what’s that exactly? ‘Essentially, we're trying to create the ideal conditions for discovering new music’, Georgia concludes. This objective can be seen in every inch of the festival’s curation, from its exclusively-commissioned collaborations to their meticulously-considered production.
En Masse will take place in venues across Bristol from November 13th to November 16th. Buy festival passes and day tickets via Headfirst and our website.