After a forced two-year hiatus and several reschedules, Kala festival – the intimate paradise on the Albanian Riviera – returns for its long-awaited third edition on 8th June.
The week-long event, scattered across various stages and breathtaking coves, recently announced its line up which features live music from the likes of Jocelyn Brown and 808 State, mammoth five-hour sets from DJ Harvey, Avalon Emerson, Antal and Young Marco, plus the regular Gjipe residents are back on rotation, including Nick The Record, John Gomez, Lauren Hansom and Jan Schulte.
However away from the big headliners there’s a ton of artists to discover a bit further down the line up. Here’s a selection that we’ll be adding to the top of our watchlist.
Kala Festival runs 8th-15th June. Buy tickets from their website.
Paramida
An artist who’s been taking the world by storm of late, Paramida‘s sets are a wild trip through progressive house, dreamy electronics, new beat, trance and beyond. As well as being a resident at Panorama Bar and on Rinse FM, she’s behind the much-loved imprint Love on the Rocks: a home for the likes of Violet & Elles, Alex Kassian, Etbonz and, most recently, her very first productions ‘Dream Ritual’ and ‘French House 2000’.
Get locked into her (Extended Mix) she did for us last year, where she stretches out over four hours, taking listeners on a ride through the cosmic, driving sounds she’s become known for.
Gabrielle Kwarteng
Making waves from New York to Berlin, DJ and radio host Gabrielle Kwarteng has quickly gathered a dedicated following through her lively, genre-spanning sets and her residency on The Lot Radio. Raised on a cocktail of disco, Ghanaian highlife, Nigerian Afrobeat and funk, Gabrielle feeds this musical energy into the sounds she plays today, which moves through percussive grooves, 90s US house, broken beat and acid excursions.
She’s become something of a regular face in Berlin’s infamous bathroom HÖR: check out one of her latest transmissions for Mother’s Finest, where she laces together hypnotic techno, jacking house cuts and driving electro and trance.
Parris
Fresh off the back of releasing his debut LP into the world, London-based producer and DJ Parris is set for a busy summer ahead. His sets stretch across genres, from fast-paced techno to tripped out house and heavy drum workouts, at times showcasing his love of pop, influences that can be heard on that debut long player Soaked in Indigo Moonlight. The release followed a string of EPs for labels like The Trilogy Tapes, Wisdom Teeth and Idle Hands, and of course Can You Feel The Sun, the label, NTS radio show and sporadic party he runs alongside Call Super.
Get stuck into his Dekmantel podcast from the end of last year, it’s full of energy and dynamics, moving through everything from bass and techno to grime and breaks.
Vale Budino
Vale Budino, formerly known as just Budino, has made a name for herself as a deep digging selector. Italian born, Berlin-based, her DJ sets are a magical trip through her vast record collection, touching on Italo, dream house, psychedelic grooves and heads down hypnotic cuts. As well as holding down a residency at Discodromo and DJ Boris’ party (and label) CockTail d’Amore, and formerly co-running Oscillator, a party alongside friends Trent and Dama, with Beppe Loda as their resident DJ, she’s recently proved herself as a wonderful curator with her instalment in Love International’s The Sound of Love compilation series.
Wrap your ears round her Diggers Directory mix for us, it moves through new wave, slow burners and Italo of course, and was centred around the subject that drives her love of records: obsession.
Evan Baggs
Having operated somewhat under the radar over the last couple of decades, DJ and producer Evan Baggs has become a more regular feature on festival line ups over the last few years, and someone we’ve been lucky enough to catch in action several times. Aside from his slick, deep sets that draw on minimal, techno, electro, jungle and much more, as a producer his longstanding relationship with Japanese imprint Cabaret Recordings has yielded some captivating techno releases, and more recently he’s made a home on Faith Beat with a record that showcases both the tough and soft sides of his productions.
Evan takes to the decks for Boiler Room last year, a showcase of his meticulous mixing and incredible track selections, which span progressive house, driving acid and electro.
Kala Festival runs 8th-15th June. Buy tickets from their website.
