Last year's inaugural edition of Brave! Factory in the Ukrainian capital was a revelation: 30 hours of immaculately curated electronic music set in an sprawling Soviet-era train depot, with probably the strongest visual/artistic game you'll ever seen at a festival.
2018's event is even better, with minor issues ironed out. The site is easier to navigate, the scheduling mercifully allows for some rest in the middle, and even last year's inclement weather is nowhere to be seen. All with the the same dizzying quality of bookings, from the team behind the celebrated Closer club.
The festival takes place across six stages, all new asides from the outdoor Depo stage. One of the most impressive is a gigantic upstairs room at Topka, which was once the factory's furnace. Here, you can take in some bass-heavy techno from local DJ Ponura. Later on, at the same stage, festival-goers witness the arresting sight of Californian performance artist and rapper Mykki Blanco, who clambers over lumps of decommissioned machinery as he delivers militantly powerful hip hop to a heaving crowd.
The night section of the festival flows nicely from there. Floating Points' squirmy, 303-laden electronics captivate crowds for a good while at the Cement stage, and DVS1 and Chris Liebling turn out pounding techno at the Angar Stage. DJ Bone ushers in the sunrise with the celebratory likes of "Go Bang" by Dinosaur L.
A few hours later and guests can take a brief respite with DJ Stingray at the Container, or watch an experimental-but-soothing live set (both artist and audience are seated) by Moscow's Dasha Redkina in the Garden from Moscow's Dasha Redkina.
The closing six-hour b2b set in the Depo from London DJ Jane Fitz and Carl H, a longtime friend and musical like-mind of Fitz's from the unlikely techno hotbed of Cleethorpes, is an undeniable highlight. The gorgeous, enveloping tech-house and techno that Fitz favours in this kind of setting is sheer bliss, and together the pair ensure those six final hours glide by in no time. "That was heaven," a friend murmurs as the final track fades out. I couldn't agree more.
