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Mar 28, 2024 By Jimi Arundell Photography by Mikey Wheeler Web Exclusive

Derby was the epicentre for electronica fans with a brand-new festival dedicated to electronic music in all its forms hitting the midlands city last weekend. Werra Foxma Records teamed up with music journalist and promoter James Thornhill to stage the very first WFR Central. The one-day event was hosted at both Deda and Dubrek Studios and featured an impressive selection of DJs, producers and artists including rave revolutionaries Altern 8 who took the main headline slot.

WFR Central was the perfect place to encounter new and fledgling acts, with an emphasis on rising female stars like Yellow Belly who kicked off the day in Dubrek. The nervous newbie jumped between synth, sampler and guitar and managed to suppress her stress as the impressive set unfolded. Her emotive and atmospheric sound has huge potential, and it would be great to hear her backed by a full band. She was followed by Werra Foxma signee Chloe Tennant AKA Cholly may be new to playing live but has been busy writing and recording in her home studio for the last ten years. After starting with several nuanced tracks exploring strange soundscapes and subtle vocal loop sampling, she progressed into a harder more club-orientated sound centred around electro and dark synth-pop. It’s clear this is the start of the career of a killer artist who just needs to figure out how to leap from bedroom alt-electronica to the stage. And it was great to catch Pale Stranger once again. After previously catching the hypnotic music collective at Glastonbury, my expectations were high and they didn’t disappoint. It was almost a little too full on for a brightly lit room in the middle of the afternoon and it’s a shame that Paul Lynch wasn’t given the opportunity to unleash his mind-melting rhythms upon dancers late at night.

Heading over to Deda to discover more digital wonders, it was a delight to experience Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan for the first time. Clearly in the thrall of Kraftwerk, turtle-necked producer Gordon Chapman-Fox generated a doom-laden cinematic sound that harked back to the analogue 70s heyday of the Hansa studios. The accompanying visuals of 20th-century brutalist architecture certainly added to both the retro-futurist feel and dystopian sound which was all perfectly executed. However, his love for such previous greats may be getting in the way of Chapman-Fox discovering his own unique style which I’d love to hear. And while it was great to catch Welsh sonic artist Bethan Lloyd, it would have been both more exciting and fitting with the festival if she had leaned more into her trance material rather than the folky drone we were given. It certainly wasn’t a bad set, it just felt quite anticlimactic and stilted compared to other performances. Still, it was dramatic and the emotional energy she generated was certainly infectious.

The title of best act of the day has to go to Maria Uzor. Last year saw the release of her debut LP Soft Cuts which sways from woozy hypnotic vocals to hard-hitting beats which work perfectly in a live setting. Switching between her laptop and dancing with the crowd, she’s every inch the star in waiting as her unique mix of alt-pop, electro and techno is perfect at a gig, club or a part soundtrack. No wonder she’s previously worked with the likes of A Certain Ratio, Acid Klaus plus Mera Bhai and you can bet you’ll be seeing a whole load more of her soon.

The day rounded up with a banging headline set from Acid house pioneers Altern 8 at Deda. Tracks like “Activ 8 (Come with Me)” and “E-Vapor-8” saw them explode out of the underground and crash into the Top 10 back in the early 90s, and WFR Central took old-school ravers back to those hedonistic days whilst offering new fans the chance to enjoy them live for the first time. Founder Mark Archer backed by his team wearing their defining dust masks and chemical suits both looked and sounded the part, bringing the big beats you know and love before Werra Foxma’s Frazer Brown rounded the day off with his after party at Dubrek.

WFR Central is the perfect festival for those with a taste for future beats and synthetic sounds. It shines a spotlight on truly alternative artists ready to twist microchips and subvert soundwaves in radical new ways whilst paying respect to the electronic innovators who changed the way we make and listen to music forever. It offers the joy of discovery to newcomers of niche genres without any chin-stroking snobbery and a great day out for those with a passion for everything electronica.