Bicep @ On The Beach review: forward-thinking duo stand tall

It was near enough this time last year when the South coast was battening down the hatches for an onslaught of thunderstorms during Carl Cox’s headline set at Brighton’s much-loved On The Beach festival. Conditions couldn’t have been more starkly different for BICEP’s transcendent headline set this year. Cloudless 25 degrees-plus skies graced droves of electronic music fans for the sell-out event.

The Northern Irish duo (aka Andrew Ferguson & Matthew McBriar) carefully curated a stellar roster of burgeoning artists across the day. Many festivals can easily become a scattergun selection of DJs, but this one bottled a coordinated and connected build from the chugging grooves of Peach to the climactic BICEP Chroma set. The Canadian-born producer led the mid-afternoon slot with fizzing sun-bleached vibes, though it was to a largely empty venue - fans were clearly more keen on beach pre-drinks at this point in the face of high prices.

It was only when Ross From Friends took to the stage, that punters streamed into the festival en masse. The Essex-born pioneer raised eyebrows with his inherently bedroom-produced esoteric, glitching, sample-heavy material. His woozy and evocative 2021 full-length ‘Tread’ was a complete success and RFF is now presenting hits from the record under his new moniker – ‘Bubble Love’. 

With a mixture of funk, italo, soul and much of the in-between, this new-found sensibility sees RFF come out of the rabbit hole with a deeper focus on simpler, hedonistic pleasures. Bouncy club-banger ‘Love Divide’ was undoubtedly a stand-out moment of the day, along with a crowd-pleasing re-work of Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’. 

Kelly Lee Owens, who operates in a relatively similar electronic space to RFF, kept things moving with a set focussed on a gold-standard selection of recent underground eyebrow-raisers. With its colossal wubbing bass synth, Caribou’s new 136bpm lead single ‘Honey’ was unleashed – a track which promises to both entertain the underground and open doors to the mainstream alike. Her set concluded with her ‘Luminous Spaces’ collab with Jon Hopkins, a track born from the latter’s remarkable album ‘Singularity’ - a completely extraordinary feat of modern-day production which has continued to fly relatively under the radar since its 2018 release.

If 90s underground electronic music was personified by the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Leftfield, then perhaps it’ll be BICEP who will be remembered as the spearheads of the equivalent movement during the 2010s/20s. Their headline set was completely euphoric throughout, as they sprinkled new tracks from the Chroma project amongst classics. 

It’s not uncommon for artists with the level of BICEP’s success to be seduced into a derivative, monetised space in the music industry but with Chroma they have only shown an interest in authentic experimentation. The new project is drip-feeding fans with tracks which feel more ‘late-night’ than the previous two full  - which perhaps place a larger focus on soundscapes and atmosphere. A highlight from the new material was ‘CHROMA 001 HELUM’, which both gives a nod to the past and remains forward-thinking with 90s jungle breaks and its ever-building wave of razor-sharp synths.

Fans were treated to plenty of the unfamiliar too, unreleased tracks phased in and out, providing no results to those who were slyly Shazam-ing the fresh sounds. The soaring visuals which have become synonymous with BICEP’s live set were particularly prevalent after sunset in its 2nd half. As the duo’s most successful track, ‘Glue’ (which now boats well over a whopping quarter-of-a-billion Spotify streams), is met with kaleidoscopic beams of light sprayed into the night sky, you’re left with the realisation that BICEP are establishing themselves as one of the modern-day greats in their field, selling out any venue in their path.

For more club nights and raves from across the UK, check out our UK Rave Guide Inspire Me page. 

Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.