For the past 12 years, August bank holiday weekend has been the date set for SW4.  The London based music festival is set within the triangular grounds of South London’s Clapham Common and is attended by thousands across the two days. UpFrontBeats, got the invite to head down on the Sunday, to check out the more underground side of the summer festival.

We arrived early on Sunday, as the festival gates opened at 11, in order to catch the first artist of the day.  First up, on the main stage was Aus Music label owner Will Saul. Saul’s set was a combination of well produced house and electronic cuts.  His track selection was spot on as usual and warmed up the ever growing crowd nicely.

Following Will Saul, and taking to the decks, came the electronic duo of Marbiou State.  Previously, Maribou State had released one of our favorite albums of 2015, which came under the name ‘Portraits’.  The set portrayed their unique, compelling and deeply soulful marriage of the organic and synthetic sounds, showcased within tracks such as ‘Midas’ and ‘Wallflower’.

Having just witnessed two fantastic opening sets, we decided to move from our initial spot, and checkout what the festival had to offer.  We headed over towards the Amnesia Stage, where Cuartero Vs Mar T were just about getting under way.  The atmosphere was electric and you could really feel the excitement building. Both Cuartero and Mar T, playing their unique house driven styles.

Late afternoon, and with things now in full swing, we ventured back to the main stage to see the first special performance of the day. Crosstown Rebels leading man, Damian Lazarus was performing his Ancient Moons project. His performance incorporated all his recent material from his album, which included anthems ‘Vermillion’ and ‘Lover’s Eyes’.

The second special performance of the day, came from Eric Prydz’s alter ego Cirez D.  The tent was at full capacity and ready to explode, with a number of fans spilling out of the door ways; which made for a fantastic atmosphere.  Blasting out of the speakers, was a darker and more unforgiving sound, which was fully inline with the Cirez D ethos. Especially, when Eric played a re-edit of the house classic Inner City’s ‘Good Life’.

With the sun now high in the sky, both Four Tet and Maya Jane Coles took control and escalated things further on the main stage.  A notable and an unexpected highlight, was when Four Tet dropped Mike Dunn’s ‘God Made me Phunky’.

Hot Creations’ and Paradise’s leading man Jamie Jones, filled an earlier slot for a change, as the Amnesia tent shut doors around 9pm.  However, Jamie’s set, as usual, did not disappoint and the thousands gathered were treated to his unique blend of deep dark minimal cuts.  It was pleasure to hear Jamie drop Detlef’s re-edit of S Express and Roy Davies Jr’s ‘Gabrielle’.

As we exited the Amnesia tent, night had fallen and it was time for one of the most iconic artists in the electronic music industry to perform, The Chemical Brothers. We’ve never had the opportunity to witness these guys perform live and they certainly lived up to there reputation. Seamless mixing between their huge catalogue of music, which included hits like ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’, ‘Swoon’, ‘Star Guitar’, ‘Galvanize’, Midnight Madness’ and ‘Go’. The Chemical Brothers demonstrated to the masses gathered, coupled with superb lighting effects and visuals, why they have been at the fore front of electronic music for some time.

SW4, is a small but well crafted music festival, which brings together a vision of supplying up front electronic music.