Living testament to the fact that computer science and engineering degrees more and more seem like appropriate training for a music career, Robert Henke is the co-developer of Ableton Live, genre-defining software that allows electronic artists to write and adjust music at the same time as they perform it. As the phrase ‘Love code’ flashes up during the climax of his new show/installation/”live demo” at the Barbican,Lumiere, one is struck with the sense that far from lacking the traditional ‘warmth’ of say - a cello performance - electronic machines and the community that creates them are responsible for some of the 21st century’s most interesting contributions to the Arts.

"What you are going to experience tonight is something unique that only happens at this moment, in this place,” Henke announces to his audience before his set. Because the light (and as a result the music) is affected by the space it’s displayed in, each performance of Lumiere is different. A white laser stands behind the desk at the back of the room, projecting shapes onto the screen. As the laser forms these shapes, ‘abstract sonic events’ are created off the back, blips and cracks that react to the data from the machine. Although the music itself is a cousin of Henke’s work as Monolake and retains the ghostly ambient echoes that populated records like Silence and Ghosts, more importantly it retains the tension between artificial and ‘real’. On record Henke uses a mixture of computer effects and field recordings, and the blip of a key combines with the rattle of a spoon to inhabit lacuna between the two, the space within the machine. Tonight though drips and clicks are represented in the visuals just as the visual is represented in the music - a synaesthesia between the two senses.

But the most interesting part of the tonight’s show is the effect of depth on a two-dimensional screen. As white laser squares bend and warp on the wall above the audience, the effect becomes three-dimensional, and the flat image takes on a perspective. Although this is essentially just a visual translation of lines of code, the architecture of the Internet mirrors the architecture of the world, and in an unnervingly Borgesian way, that series of ones and zeros is another world, a world inside a flat screen. The sound seems to extend beyond the speakers, beyond the screen, into the building itself. Henke’s gigs are surround sound, but it is not this that creates the space in the music. It’s the lasers that bounce around them, breaking the frame, slipping and breathing in and out of the wall. This gig tonight is like watching the actual Internet, translating those on/offs into something we can comprehend.

Just as a blockbuster film might employ computer-generated techniques, the illusion of technology is that what we’re seeing on screen is a real world rather than just lines of code. But what is a real world? Every tiny part of nature is a series of ones and zeros interacting with each other. Whether it’s the curling of a leaf that follows the Fibonacci sequence or the fact that there are equations to tell you the exact radius of a moon orbiting Jupiter, life can be translated to data, and vice-versa.

As Henke manipulates Roman numerals and geometric patterns on his soundboard, smoke machines exhale and lasers project above the audience and one feels that far from a two-dimensional screen with images on it, this artist is bringing data out into the world. Just as the personalities of human beings are becoming more and more caught up with the web (splitting between on and offline), the binary dance that Robert Henke has created, the siren call of clicks and beeps that accompanies lasers, flashing lights and a computer, reminds us that in fact technology is also coming out into the real world to meet us. And the Internet is looking at you.

The bookers of the Somerset House series seem to have a knack for having the foresight to book emerging acts just as they are on the cusp of becoming household names. On the hottest day of the year so far, Scottish electro troupe Chvrches, use their Somerset House as a victory lap to celebrate the success of their The Bones Of What You Believe debut album.

The garb of vocalist Lauren Mayberry is very much at odds with the humid surroundings. Dressed head to toe in black, she jokes that she always has to wear tights due to having confidence issues about her knees.

Persistent pounding eighties electro beats are present throughout the set. Former single 'Gun',with its incessant and poppy chorusdemonstrated Chvrches more commercial sensibilities. The beginning of 'Lies' had hard hip hop beats, which are reminiscent of Dizzee Rascal’s 'Fix Up Look Sharp.'

Chvrches tease the audience with 'Tether', an album track which starts out as a sombre ballad and gradually builds into an electro Gary Numan-esque wig out.

Whilst the contributions of bandmates Iain Cook and Martin Doherty are as vital as those of Mayberry, it is the vocalist who exclusively addresses the audience throughout the set. She expresses her surprise at touts ticketing outside the venue, and describes their act as a “grubby” way to make a living.

On 'Under The Tide', Doherty emerges from behind his keyboard to take centre stage and deliver lead vocals. He is very much understated in jeans and a t-shirt, and dances like a crazy drunken man between vocal takes.

Whilst the band’s setup (two keyboardists and a vocalist) meant that they're not particularly visually exciting to watch, the stage is completely covered with throbbing lasers. These change colour between songs, and increase with ferocity as the beats on tracks become more intense.

The band’s best known song, “The Mother We Share”, is played at the end of the set prior to the encore. Mayberry teases the audience by saying that they can't play any longer due to the curfew imposed on them by the neighbours in the beautiful surroundings of Somerset House.

After a brief interval the band return for a brief two song encore. Chvrches close the set demonstrating their more indulgent qualities by playing 'You Caught The Light.' The song is a moody downtempo ballad, at odds with their more electro based sounds, closing a great set.

It’s well over a year since the release of debut effort Bad Blood, and Bastille are beginning to live up to their name (in that they’re a band whose grasp of the UK’s musical imagination is starting to resemble a 14^th century French fortress). So much so that I don’t suppose it’ll be long until the words ‘Bastille Day’ stop having anything to do with the Revolution altogether. It’ll just be a day when everybody collectively puts on ‘Pompeii’ and screams things about ‘being an optimist’ at each other.

Anyway, tonight’s headline outing—which, incidentally, takes place the day after the actual Bastille Day—is part of the capital’s Somerset House gig series, and the organisers have done very well to tick all the right boxes. The very central venue is big enough and grand enough to make tonight’s show feel like ‘an event’ without the whole thing becoming hollow, and the bands (other highlights include Daughter, Chvrches and Franz Ferdinand) tend to be former fringe concerns that have long-since transferred into mainstream consciousness, which ensures a sell-out.

Non-stop touring has certainly taught the London four-piece a trick or two about working an audience into putty. Opening with ‘Bad Blood’s’ Police-poaching faux-reggae makes for an infectious wordless sing-along right off the bat, and singer Dan Smith’s ceremonious floor-tom pounding can inspire a surge of energy at the drop of a hat. Their cover of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’, threaded through with the xx’s ‘Angels’, and tonight with a guest appearance from Ella Eyre thrown into the mix, is a final coup de grace to an audience already on the ropes. Collective euphoria gets another boost when the rest of the band takes a minute to celebrate Smith’s birthday (turns out Bastille are so-called because Smith was born on the French national holiday).

Still, this Bastille live show is going to do nothing to dispel any Coldplay comparisons – crowd-pleasing choruses are aplenty, sure, but the similarities are in the divisions of labour more than anything else. In much the same way that Chris Martin’s limping rooster-hop makes an attempt at showmanship despite his band-mates’ rigor mortis, Smith spends the evening tirelessly gyrating and lurching every which way while the other three are content to quietly clock in and out. Not that the shrieks and howls of this young audience seem to suggest they care – Smith-centric ballad ‘Oblivion’ is met with absolute adoration.

All in all, tonight’s performance is fairly free of surprises. The four-piece save big-hitters like ‘Flaws’ and ‘Pompeii’ for the apex of the show, keeping tongues wagging for the big payoff. And it works: by the end at least, the audience are every bit as emphatic as you might expect them to be. No sign of the mob storming the fortress walls just yet.

Now in its ninth year, Kendal Calling has undoubtedly gone from strength to strength. In 2013 not only did they add another festival award to their cabinet, they also earned themselves a world record for the most Supermen in one place. What a sight that was, seeing hundreds of Supermen wandering around the site. Not satisfied with that, 2014 will see them go for yet another world record, this year, the world’s largest moonwalk; we can’t wait to show off our skills on the 2^nd of August.

World records aside Kendal also has a phenomenal musical line-up that traverses the entire musical spectrum, including acts such as Example, 2ManyDjs and Andy C right through to the likes of Frank Turner, Frightened Rabbit and Tom Odell. These are just some of the larger acts but as is tradition at Kendal Calling, they’re also keen to support up and coming talent with the likes of Gallery Circus, The Lottery Winners, BIRD, We Were Evergreen and many more.

There is so much more than just music at Kendal Calling often dubbed the Glastonbury of the North. With the original Tim Peaks Diner, there will not only be live music but workshops, book readings and craft sessions for the little ones. There are a variety of stages throughout the site, not all of which are musical. For instance the academy hosted by the University of Cumbria with masterclasses and Q&A sessions on a number of subjects including Journalism and photography.

With a late night cinema, those not wanting to rave into the small hours can enjoy a host of great films. Kendal Calling really is a festival for the whole family, with numerous areas specifically for the little ones with the Toddlers Tent and the awesome Ladybird’s Children’s Area is back again this year.

The music like any festival, is spread across numerous different stages, from the Woodlands stage buried deep in the forest at the back of the site, to the amazing new Luna 9 stage, which has us salivating at the possibilities that this presents us with. Getting to see The Seahawks in such an unusual setting, as well as hearing Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, will make for an immersive experience.

There are the more traditional stages at Kendal Calling with the likes of the Glow Tent, which has its own brilliant neon décor. The Calling Out tent providing you with the best new up and coming artists from across the country and beyond, alongside a number of more established acts. Whilst the main stage plays host to a number of chart topping acts; we truly cannot wait for another phenomenal weekend in Lowther Deer Park.

Check back with us in the coming days for even more on Kendal Calling including the acts we’re most excited about, and even more about what you can get up to at Kendal Calling.