The music festival: more ubiquitous than Pe*s Gef and just as bland. This summer has possibly been a watershed in utterly unremarkable line-ups, depressingly racist media-mongering and the conclusion that E4 is now more powerful than Radio 1 and even more crap. However, in the last decade it has become viable to hold more niche events. ATP have led the way and in this country, the genius of providing a chalet instead of a puddle allows for an out-of-season sense wrecker combined with a predilection for more left-field and underground acts. Alongside ATP, Capsule provide us with the annual divinity that is Supersonic, while for the truly far out there is Bristol’s Venn Festival.

ZXZW in Tilburg in The Netherlands though is now staking a claim for the crown on King of Hedonistic Weirdness. A monolithic slab of eclectic avant-everything from Sun Ra’s Arkestra (playing every night) and Wire to Burial Hex’s suitcase of horrors and Black to Comm’s queasy drone-adelia with heaps of potential genius in the form of Harry Poppins, Compnay Fuck and the redoubtably named Pisstank. It’s not just music though as film, art and lectures are all sucked into it’s all-encompassing orbit. The festival takes place over seven days from the 14 to the 21st September with over 200 artist, climaxing with a core three day music event (19th -21st) which is probably going to be the pull for those of us in currently drowning in Blighty. Everything take place in a selection of clubs, bars and pubs all within in an arms reach of each other.

And there are some truly fabulous events. The Quietus, devastatingly, will be arriving too late to enjoy Heavy Metal Bowling, where for an evening you get to bowl and drink beer for free whilst DJ Patchman Spandex Moshing Trashing Marco keeps the vibe ultra 82. The Shape of Breakcore 2 Cum features the world’s first ever surround sound breakcore set whilst Psychogeography allows for you to partake in a multimedia reconfiguration of the urban landscape. Finally, to bring bitter tears of sorrow to our homebound editor is the Norwegian Invasion where The Batcave will play host a whole week of crazy Norwegian acts including Shining, Svarte Greiner and a Peter Beste exhibition on Norwegian Black Metal.

Undaunted by the sheer wealth of dark jewellery on offer, The Quietus solemnly accepts the challenge to bring you the best of the best and the strangest of the strange. We hope to see you there.

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