Gottwood @ Carreglwyd Wood, 12-14 Jun

Hats off to the chaps behind Gottwood. Seriously, get that hat off. Any worries that the festival, now in its sixth instalment, would struggle to retain the intimately mystical and like-minded feel that has come to define it in recent years were soon quashed. That point came early on the Thursday when witnessing a man dressed in a Scooby Doo costume chase another man dressed in a Sylvester costume around the campsite shouting, “I did, I did see a puddycat!” God knows whether they were even in the same group but, either way, the mood was set.

Roll on Friday. Glaswegian / Percolate duo MermaidS got things going among the hay bales surrounding the Forest stage with some hot and sleazy disco to match the clearing skies and rising mercury. A steady stream of people passed through the trail, avoiding the temptation of mac‘n’cheese and staying a while to check out the Mother Owl stage before heading round to the undisputed jewel in the Gottwood crown – the lake.

Set in front of the farmhouse lawn, this is the ideal spot for a cotch; it’s also where gathering swarms laze about during the day, looking wistfully into the water and mentally preparing for the storm ahead. Nice, lighthearted fare is continually on offer here, from the likes of Tom Tom Club, Idris Muhammed and Love Unlimited… to name a very small handful.

Unfortunately no man or woman would brave jumping into the murky waters this year but the stage itself was looking particularly awesome, decked out with interweaving branches and a nice tree stump dead centre. Saying that, watching the two resident farm-dogs dive headfirst into the water to the sound of Corduroy’s Something In My Eye was certainly an early highlight.

Kick drums hardened by late afternoon, and Hypercolour’s Cedric Mason led the charge with Ste Roberts over in the Walled Garden (formerly the Dome). Mathew Jonson’s Marionette has never sounded so good. A few hours shot by after that, before the Zenker Bros stepped up to show why they are one of the most in-demand techno acts going right now. The way these guys manipulate sound waves is seriously way, way, way beyond the norm and quickly whipped the crowd into a frenzy – TSV WB was in there somewhere. We also caught the last of Hunee – and the super-emotion of It’s Alright (I Feel It) – before heading back to the campsite to try and make sense of the past twelve hours.

OK, so from Saturday morning onwards things get a little hazy, but the main thing to report was how different Saturday-Sunday felt as a whole. Move D started with the Shoes edit of Al Green’s Love & Happiness, moving blissfully into tracks by Maze, Rayko and, yet again, Idris Muhammad. If the Zenker Bros summed up the high octane feel of Friday then there’s no doubt that Moufang took the biscuit on Saturday. His house set later in the evening was also a joy to behold.

The weekend slipped by without a second glance, and there’s vague memories of stumbling into the reggae band on the lawn and being implored by the MCs to “Sign on the dotted line… the mighty line… the righteous line…” before heading over somebody-like-but-not-necessarily Leon Vynehall just as the build-up to Usha kicked in. By then night had fallen and I remember one man being restrained by friends from headbutting a pole (an inanimate object, not an eastern European).

Motor City Drum Ensemble turned out to be a bit disappointing, which was a combination of an overflowing crowd and shit sound. Nothing bad to say about the tunes, but the atmosphere was a bit naff and most people had the same idea to check out some other stages for a bit of relief more than anything. Meanwhile, Tristan da Cunha was raising hell over on the Caravan with help from Adam Shelton, reeling off high power rollers one by one. There was one last blowout and a hilarious stagedive from a portly gentleman before the speakers were cut.

Chronology is an elusive little bugger to pin down at the best of times, so honourable mentions go to the incredible Zip, who threw in a couple of Dimbiman tracks, Tornado Wallace, Radioactive Man for an awesome live set, LUV*JAM for owning the Owl stage and Ruf Dug for generally being everywhere. Also, many props to the very familiar-looking bald dude who dropped an outlandish techno version of Grauzone’s Eisbaer – you, sir, are a magician.

By the time the masses retreated to their tents, all minds were a million miles away from the thought of tomorrow’s suits, ties and coloured Post-It notes. Until next year... thank you, Gottwood, you absolute beauty.