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BOARDMASTERS: FIVE TO WATCH

The weekend of surf and music takes place from from Wednesday 10th to Sunday 14th August...

Boardmasters hits Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach in Cornwall from Wednesday 10th to Sunday 14th August for a weekend of surf and music.

An eclectic line-up sees Chase & Status, Deadmau5 and James Bay headline, on a bill that sees Eats Everything, Dusky and Jackmaster rub shoulders with Primal Scream, Mystery Jets and Wolf Alice.

Elsewhere Wilkinson, Craig David’s TS5, Sigma, Maribou State, Doorly, Artwork, Pete Herbert, Greg Wilson, Eli & Fur, Jonas Rathsman and Bodhi all perform or go on deck across the weekend.

Ahead of Boardmasters, here’s five must see sets away from the main stages which DJ Mag thinks will form highlights of the festival’s five days on the Cornish coast.

Bicep

With their recent rerub of Blaze’s ‘Lovelee Dae’, Bicep have released one of the biggest tracks of the summer so far, whilst their Feel My Bicep nights continue to present some of the most innovative names in electronic music. On deck the duo play a pulsating mix of music that pulls from their extensive collection of personal recordings and reworks, as well as Italo, techno, disco, boogie and more, presenting an encyclopaedic knowledge of music made for the dancefloor.

Detroit Swindle

Detroit Swindle are made up of Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets, who started out five years ago after the former, who was programming a number of clubs in Amsterdam, famously had to fire the latter for playing too much underground music. The relationship they subsequently forged, born from a mutual love of Motown, hip-hop and house has resulted in masterfully crafted tracks like ‘64 Ways’ and ‘The Break Up’, as well their label, Heist Recordings, which has put out music by artists including Nebraska, Nachtbraker and Fouk. That all means Detroit Swindle’s Boardmasters appearance comes in the middle of a summer that continues the duo’s rapid rise to the top.

Horse Meat Disco

Disco is having a massive year in 2016, and that’s thanks in large part to the work Horse Meat Disco have done since their inception in 2003, reinvigorating the classic disco of 70s New York. Through global tours, record labels and compilations, they’ve gone on to establish their brand as one of the leading lights in alternative dance music, having already been seen on deck at Glastonbury, Berlin’s Panorama Bar, New York’s Output, Melt! Festival and the inaugural edition of Love International this summer.

Crazy P Soundsystem

With 20 years of experience, Crazy P Soundsystem know how to bring a party, blending underground disco, house and shimmering pop into a delirious live show. In a summer that’s seen them booked everywhere from Glitterbox at Space Ibiza, London’s Lovebox and Defected Croatia, their headline slot on the Corona Sunsets stage at Boardmasters will be a guaranteed highlight.

Jac The Disco

London-based DJ duo Jac The Disco have graced the decks at venues including Fabric, XOYO and Ibiza Rocks recently, and their hazy brand of pared back house, which blends anything from Chicago sounds, cosmic disco, world music and the occasional veer into techno will sound deliriously good to dance to on the white sand of Watergate Bay.

(Photo: Callum Morse)

Rob McCallum is DJ Mag’s deputy digital editor. Follow him on Twitter here.