Saturday 14 May 2011: Eleventh year for FutureEverything (formerly FutureSonic) festival. I shot Janek Schaeffer at the very first event! DJ Plus One, and one of the very-first live performances ever from Fingathing.

This year I'm at Jabez Clegg and in for a real treat! I've been to a few lacklustre nights at this venue before but tonight there is extra effort made in every department. For a start the P.A. sounds lovely & crisp then you can't help but be immediately impressed by the computer-generated projections behind the DJ, on three huge silk sheets running the length of the room. Add to this the strength of the evenings’ bookings, as well as some obviously hard graft promoting & flyering, and the net result is a very busy venue packed to the rafters!

In the back-room Selective Hearing hold sway with residents Shadowfax + Versa playing an impeccable back-to-back, followed by new tekkie-boys Acre then Bamobooman on his laptop, ably abetted by MC Chunky, before surprise guests (courtesy of Now Wave + Hit-&-Run) from Chicago DJs Spinn & Rashaad (Planet-Mu) rock the gaff with another mental back-to-back

Back in the main room KYLE HALL(Wild Oats, Hyperdub) finishes his majestic techno-house inflected set and hands over to the reason why I came; MARTYN (Tectonic, Warp, his own imprint 3024). I managed to miss Martyn when he played both Soul:ution and AudioSalad, years ago when he had but few releases to his name so, having fallen for his LP 'Great Lengths', I wasn't about to pass up this opportunity.

I really enjoyed his DJ set, surprised when he meandered off into revealing his influences, old House & party funk getting an airing. I'm suddenly hearing a lot of twenty year old tunes dropping into contemporary sets! I have to say though, much as I enjoyed Martyn, I'm afraid Daedelus completely stole the show!

I'm not even going to begin with any sort of bio or discography here as DAEDELUS (Ninja Tune) has released an impressive 12 LPs on a half dozen labels, clocking up one a year average since the new millennium arrived. I've seen & photographed him before so am looking forward to his live performance

Stepping up in Paisley shirt-&-tie combo and his customary Edwardian frock coat, he looks & acts the Victorian gentleman. Suddenly I'm reminded of old film-adaptations of H.G.Wells' novel 'The Time Machine'. Until he begins with his future-music, manic & beautiful, and we are immediately back in the 21st century!

Alfred Darlington has a rather shy, reserved presence but once enthralled by his own technology, lost in layers & textures of sound, DAEDELUS comes alive and stage-performs naturally, gesticulating dramatically, an emoting emphasis which endears him to his audience. Hot, sweaty, and grinning like a mad inventor, the crowd love him! So do I.

A truly great night. It goes to show what can be achieved when people with good taste put their heads together. Big Ups to David DrumClinic Kelly, Selective Hearing + FutureEverything! (Al Baker).