Well that’s what they did last year for the Timeless Festival and this year’s (the fourth) is even better as now there’s a Bar with the three stages. And it’s still free! How the organisers have managed that on this line up is a truly awesome achievement.

Chocolate Fireguard and the Timeless Music Project have assembled a fantastic multicultural and international line up of cutting edge sounds set to rock the house in the lush surroundings of Ravensknowle Park on the Wakefield Road.

Fly has covered a couple of the artist appearing and the biogs speak for themselves. Check out the highlights:

DJ VADIM presents Oneself (Ninja Tune). Billed as Oneself, the multicultural collective is the lovechild of three of hip hop’s most innovative visionaries, DJ Vadim (ex-St. Petersburg) and MCs Yarah Bravo (South America via Sweden and San Francisco) and Blu Rum 13 (USA). And where geography sought to let them down, a combined passion for beats and rhymes have brought them together on their debut collaborative album, the aptly titled Children of Possibility. “We were travelling and working together in 2003 on my Russian Percussion tour and we just experienced instant chemistry,” Vadim explains from his adopted hometown of London. “We really connected, and started coming up with crazy ideas in the back of the tour van. We played around with words and sounds and naturally evolved into this creative entity.” The result of their on-the-road dabbling is what Vadim, one of Europe’s most celebrated and prolific DJ/producers, calls “organic hip hop infused with the blues, soulful music with feeling and intention.” The critics, however, are simply calling it “genius.” An infusion of the spiritual and the sprightly, the carefree and the cerebral, Children of Possibility has a laid-back appeal that makes it the perfect soundtrack to summer. With more than a touch of the bohemian, the debut is highbrow yet accessible and, after multiple listenings, the velvety, involved lyrics of Yarah and Blu Room 13 become lodged in the brain like a sweet whisper.

RODNEY P has gone on to work with some of the biggest names in British rap, including Roots Manuva and Mark B & Blade. These days Rodney P is best known as the voice of hip hop on BBC Radio 1Xtra, available across the world on the Internet and digital radio. His partner in crime is one of the biggest UK producers, Skitz. His long awaited album, The Future, has plenty to keep his fans happy. “It’s an honest album because I’m an honest person. It’s good vibes music; hip hop-reggae music. I’ve got various people on there. I produced on there, I got a new guy called Deceive on there, Skitz has one a beat on there, Joe Buddah’s on there, Adrian Stone, Maestro, Karisma from Nottingham’s on there. I gave up space to mostly new guys on the album because I didn’t think Black Twang and Roots Manuva need space on my album. They’re big enough without me!” Released on Rodney’s own label, Riddim Killer, The Future has brought Rodney back to the forefront as an artist. From the Bob Marley inspired first single to the last 12” ‘I Don’t Care (Time to Party)’ Rodney P has proven he has what it takes to stand out in a scene filled with uninspired music. With the mainstream press claiming ‘Rodney P is like UK hip hop’s answer to Chuck D except that he’s still making vibrant, confrontational music’ he’s destined for success. Since finishing The Future Rodney has been in the studio with The Dub Pistols and is currently working on a project called Area 52 with Steve Mason of the Beta Band and Jamelia producer C Swing. There seems to be no stopping this man - proof that if you work hard enough anything is possible!

TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND are a globalized dub/electronica outfit based in the UK. They’ve put out quite a number of CDs on Beggars Group label Nation Records (and others) for over more than 15 years, specializing in experimental kinds of fusion. Famous for their live performances - Balinese tribal masks and Natasha’s chiffon-draped belly dancing in a hypnotic, dazzling display, fusing together the sound of global music with the dance scene of the 90’s. Famous for their excellent ‘91 hit Temple Head, a 12” and CD single, from their first album Dream of a 100 Nations, which has recently been resurrected, being used in the coke adverts, containing the classic ‘na-na-nah, na-na-nah’ chant. Its a Utopian concept, where tribal chants collide with spicy Eastern melodies, mantras soothe the staccato rapping, and speed driven BPM culture is gently woven into a shimmering dancescape. The current TGU line-up consists of Coleridge (vocals & percussion), Hamid Mantu (drums & machines), Sheema Mukherjee (sitar & bass), Gurjit Sirha (dhol & dholak), Doreen Thobekile (vocals & squeezebox), TUUP (vocals & percussion) and Tim Whelan (keyboards, guitar & machines). This is Jah Wobble, Loop Guru and Fun-da-mental rolled into one…this is the global sound of TGU.

ZION TRAIN, IRATION STEPPAS and DUBDADDA come together for a special Soundclash only previously billed before over in Japan. Do not miss this! Mark Iration, Perch and Jonno will blow the roof off the park as they battle it out in a year 3000 dub stylee. All three outfits are Festival favourites all over the world. You have the best. Deal with it!

PANJABI HIT SQUAD (BBC Radio 1xtra) are the originators of Urban Asian Fusion. The Squad have been pushing the boundaries of UK Urban Asian Fusion for almost a decade. The Hit Squad may have been formed in July 2001 by two of the biggest names in the genre: Markie Mark and ADC (Asian DJ Culture) but each member has been at the forefront of the Asian club scene since the early 90’s. The trademark ‘Squad sound’ is the ‘soundtrack to the Urban Asian experience’ - Bhangra bashment, Bolly-loops and Left-Field Asiatic vibes, cut-up with a Hip-Hop mentality… heavy dhol beats collide with urban flavaz to create an Asiatic soundscape of Himalayan proportions.

KAVA KAVA featuring Chocolate Fireguard honcho Pat Fulgoni on vocals, are celebrate landing a slot in the pilot episode of ‘The Weeds’ (Showtime’s new US TV series). Apparently actress Mary Louise Parker is jumping up and down on a bed while the track ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ from the ‘Maui’ album (out on Chocolate Fireguard) is playing for 1 min 36 seconds. Nice! The band have just returned from profile Festival slots in Switzerland and Eastern Europe.

LA CEDILLE (Chocolate Fireguard) return to the UK with their brand of French hip hop. After supports around France with Herbaliser and DJ Vadim and landing ‘album of the issue’ in DJ magazine for their debut CD ‘Vu Du Large’: “they’ve produced one of the classiest and most confident rap LP’s of recent years without barely breaking a sweat” 5/5.

FLEXIBLE FUTURE feat. DJ T_REX. (French drum’n’bass collective) come over from Besançon as part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations for Huddersfield / Besançon twin town relations. The innovative collective were the highlight of a recent Battle Of The Bands held by Chocolate Fireguard over in France. Also much praised Leeds band ‘The Voltaires’ won a slot at the equivalent held last month at Revolution in Huddersfield, the prize for which is to play at Timeless 2005

TERI (singer with Mary Jane) takes the stage with local breaks duo the AUTOBOTS. Via the Timeless Music Project, Teri’s band Mary-Jane have been over in Prague recording their debut release ‘What I Came Here For’ produced by Killing Joke’s guitarist Geordie Walker, supporting Kava Kava on out there on tour and finishing off with a slot at the ‘Rock For Churchill’ Festival (nr Prague) with the Kavas and Killing Joke. The CD is set for release late 2005/early 2006 and although girl punk rock outfit Mary Jane are unable to play this year’s event, you can at least see what some of the fuss is about by witnessing Teri on stage here with the mighty Autobots.

PRACTICAL HEADZ are a hip hop crew from Dalton, Huddersfield. They will be showing off their Timeless Music Project/Chocolate Fireguard material. Recorded locally at HD1, the crew are all set to release their vinyl sampler of forthcoming album ‘Who Iz It?’ in September with a full CD for release later on in the year. The vinyl has received props already from the likes of Daddy G (Massive Attack) and AIM and features key tunes ‘Get The F**k Out’ ‘Reality’ “Stop The Diction’ and ‘Throw Ya Hands Up!’ A talented crew that feature Bishop, Fingaz, Spida Lee and The Practical Hand—whose vocals blend strong Yorkshire accents with distinctively exotic flavors from Carriacou, their ancestral homeland island in the West Indies. Their work shows that great things are emerging from an area in Huddersfield that has recently become notorious for all the wrong reasons.

Other bands performing include Huddersfield’s excellent Being 747 (Wrath Records), who have received airplay on Radio One and whose track ‘Use Your Friends’ featured on TMP showcase 3 x CD box set ‘Sounds From A Big Town’ was spun from it on the highly influential KCRW radio station in Los Angeles. Local Huddersfield hip hop crew Ground Wurq are also ones to watch at this year’s Festival before they jet set off on their tour of China.

Timeless Festival, Ravensknowle Park, Wakefield Road, Huddersfield. 10th September, 3 Stages, 11 am to 9.30 pm. Free Admission.
New for 2005: Yes, we are allowed a Bar and a 3rd Stage which will be featuring acoustic and chill out music, freestyling and DJ workshops.
www.chocolatefireguard.co.uk