#festivalseason - Bass Coast X is dripping with incredible music and here are five acts you should check out.

I've been to many festivals of many kinds over the years. Few names in the world of festivals, especially in my home province of BC, are spoken to me with such high regard as Bass Coast. Over its 10 years of existence I've encountered countless people that tell me Bass Coast is where you find the best. The best music. The best vibes. The best dancing. The best stages for having room for said dancing. The best place for discovering new music and sounds in the great wide open that is electronic music. The best for reconnecting with old favourites in a special space. These are the reasons why my head is turned towards Bass Coast more than ever. I want new sounds and if this is the place to find the sounds of the future, then this is where we all need to be looking for new things to put into our ears. A quick scan of the lineup release instantly got the blood flowing with excitement. These are the five names that jumped out right away. In the next couple weeks, I'll be back to take a deeper look as I dig deeper and get into the shockingly vast expanse of names that are new to my eyes and ears.

Photo via BASS COAST.

Mndsgn

For lovers of quality, chilled-out space-funk, there are few names as essential as Mndsgn. The L.A. transplant is a staple of the legendary Stones Throw records, the home to his incredible, wholly unique albums. His debut record Yawn Zen is a lo-fi funk gem that demands repeated listens to unravel its intense mystery. It's been a constant staple of my listening diet since I first got it into my ears. The gentle funk push, combined with a phenomenal ear for hip-hop makes homie one of the most unique and consistent DJs doing the thing right now. Mndsgn is undoubtedly the first name that jumped out at me when I saw the lineup for Bass Coast X, as I wouldn't entirely expect him to be at an electronic music festival on a river. But, Bass Coast is clearly curated by true music nerds, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised. Soft, warm and embracing, Mndsgn is sure to lay down a sultry festival highlight.

from the album Body Wash (9/16/16) http://stonesthrow.com/mndsgn

Lazy Syrup Orchestra

Anyone who's heard whispers of Bass Coast the last few years has probably heard something about Lazy Syrup Orchestra. Legend has it they were birthed right there on the Bass Coast grounds. Their Slay Bay sets have become legendary staples of the festival, and mentioned as highlights from goers pretty much across the board. I caught them last summer during an incredible performance on a mountain at Tall Tree and their annually-released sets from Bass Coast remain in constant rotation (Also great to put on in a room full of people with disparate tastes because, from my own research, no one ever disagrees with Lazy Syrup). Their sets are always sonic adventures and the endless collaboration adds an extra level to the excitement. It kinda feels like: If you haven't seen Lazy Syrup at Slay Bay, have you really seen Lazy Syrup Orchestra?

Recorded live at 5AM Saturday Morning - Slay Bay Stage, Bass Coast Festival 2017. Featuring @thomas-workshop (Raps & FX) , Cole Grizzy (Trumpet), @qcdef3 (Raps), & @Dunks (DJ/Conductor/MC). Tracklist below... Cover Design by Matt DL - https://www.behance.net/dezinedesigns Tracklist: Barrio Lindo - History of Colour Joe Hertz - At Dawn FKJ - Skyline Moontricks - Mountains Tessellated - Streets Kaytranada - Got it Good Ft Craig David (Lazy Syrup Live Version) Esbe - Tribute to Music (Lazy Syrup Jam Planet Version) Romare - L.U.V. Stro Elliot - The Summer Love Song Kartell - 5AM Goldbloc - Days are Dreaming (Wyln Remix) Tambour Battant - Open Your Eyes Resin Dogs - Space Beats (Lazy Syrup Get Down Version) Def3 - El Fin Del Mundo (LIVE) Alpha Channel - Yonder Stars Praful - Moon Glide (Mark Rae Remix) (Lazy Syrup Live Version) The Avener - Celestial Blues Persian Empire - To Na Bi (Lazy Syrup Live Version) Jain - Come Gater - Light of Love Ft Black Castro The Funk Hunters & Chali 2na Ft Tom Thum - Word to Spread (Smalltown DJ’s Remix) Clem Beatz - Somewhere Nice Plump DJ’s - Lost In Space Jamie George, Chris Lorenzo & Pete Graham - Let Me Down Parrov Stellar - Follow the Sun (Lcaw Remix) Buddy Guy & Tracy Chapman - Aint No Sunshine (Achtabahn Remix) Nicolas Jaar - And I Say (Xinobi Edit) - Justin Jay - Let Go (feat. Benny Bridges & Josh Taylor) Tom Misch - Beautiful Escape (feat. Zak Abel) Elton John - Rockit Man (Lobsterdust Dub Remix) Follow the syrup: facebook.com/lazysyruporchestra twitter.com/lazysyruporchestra instagram.com/lazysyruporchestra Download for free on The Artist Union

D. Tiffany

If you like a good dose of weird with your dance intake, then D. Tiffany is for you. Her grooves are trance-inducing, helping lull your hips and mind into thoughtless movement. Once you are properly captivated it's the easiest of tasks to pump weird musical ideas and sounds into your bloodstream to both discombobulate and delight. Her recent set here in Victoria's infamous Frequency Saturday series was in my body for days. I can't imagine how my brain will respond after a day or two of dancing in the melting heat. Hopefully her set as is as deep in the schedule as possible to allow for maximum brain-melt. Get weird.

@d-tiffany

Ivy Lab

I accidentally saw the last half of Ivy Lab's set last year at a festival and was mesmerized instantly. I didn't know anything about them before that, but their electronic music fit perfectly in with my decidedly hip-hop tastes, but this wasn't just hip-hop beats. It was weird and dark, heavy and groovy, pouring itself slowly into my ears and around my brain. It was an all-encompassing musical experience. When I would mention Ivy Lab in conversation afterwards, many people didn't know who I was talking about but the ones who knew the trio lit the fuck up at the mention of their name. The fervour of their fanbase gets me riled up and this new album, Death Don't Always Taste Good, they released a couple weeks ago, HOLY SHIT. This thing is a beast. I can't wait to hear what they do with these tracks as a framework on a proper, chest-rattling system. 10/10 can't miss.

Ivy Lab ‘Death Don't Always Taste Good’ Release Date: 11th May 2018 Label: 20/20 LDN Format: 2xLP // CD // Digital Cat No: 2020LDN012 Buy Vinyl/Digital from the 20/20 LDN webstore: http://bit.ly/2020LDN012 Ivy Lab present the ‘Death Don't Always Taste Good’ LP, their debut album proper, released 11th May 2018 through their own 20/20 LDN label. Tracklisting: 01. Fortune Teller 02. Ugly Bubble 03. Jet Lag 04. Astral Pirate Theme 05. Cake 06. Vanity Fair 07. A & E 08. Death Don't Always Taste Good 09. Snack Time 10. Calculate 11. Ozbo 12. Cadillac Ivy Lab http://www.ivylab.co.uk http://www.facebook.com/IvyLab http://www.twitter.com/ivylab_ http://www.soundcloud.com/ivylab http://www.instagram.com/ivylab 2020 http://2020ldn.com http://www.facebook.com/2020.LDN http://www.twitter.com/2020_ldn http://www.instagram.com/2020ldn

Woodhead

I've written about Woodhead before, but I honestly think that every chance you get to see Woodhead is a chance that you should take. One of the artists who helped open up house music for me, I have yet to come across anyone who consistently delights me with the utter warmth of their beats and grooves. His mixes have fuelled many a living room dance parties and his night-saving set from Shambhala in 2016 remains one of my most treasured electronic music highlights. If you like swampy warm house and disco grooves you definitely want to get after this set, and even if house isn't something you fuck with, you'll probably find something to dig if you like deep grooves of any kind.

Tracklist: Good2Groove 1.Let Love Live (Frankie Feliciano Vocal Mix) 2. Piece Of Soul (Bas Roos & Guy Steve) 3. Keep On Dancing-Williams Carrol (Vs Edit) 4. Love Is The Message (Moon Rocket- Re-Tide) 5. Why Can’t We See - Blind Truth Ft Tata & Stone (Club Mix) 6. Power - Javi Frias 7. Bad Girls -Used Disco (Original Mix) 8. Don’t Look Any Further - Danilo Rossini (Rossini & Mappa Rmx) 9. Mack Vibe Mr Meaner Ft Jaqueline Woodhead: 1. Luvless - Right Now 02. Loz Goddard - Now Is Where We Are 03. OJPB - Mysteries 04. Ari Bald - That Lonely Night 05. KIU D - Love In NY 06. Eli Escobar - City Song (COEO remix) 07. M.ono & Luvless - Eins A Legge 08. Tiger & Woods - Moonswing 09. Silk 86 - Rhapsody 10. Chevals - Lights 11. Chevals - Hot 12. Long Island Sound - I Chose You Because 13. Adryiano - Me & You & Her 14. A. M. Limonata - After Midnight Special 15. Tee Mango - This Is Where I'll Stay (With U) 16. Demuja - Turn Me On 17. The Black Madonna - Stay

Lucy Dacus - Historian (Review)

Lucy Dacus - Historian (Matador Records) 

For 47 tumultuous minutes on Historian, Lucy Dacus grapples with loss and change, from failed relationships (“Night Shift”), loss of religion (“Nonbeliever”), to struggling with how to move forward in the face of the inevitability of death (“Timefighter,” “Next of Kin”). Heady stuff, but Dacus' arrangements on these tracks make it all approachable, full of little flourishes, like a sudden horn sting on “Addictions,” or the tuneful guitar work at the beginning of “Timefighter.”

Despite the potentially heavy material, Dacus is always able to wring something approaching hope, even joy out of these subjects. Album opener Night Shift builds from quiet introspection about a final meeting with an ex to a barrage of fuzzy guitars and thudding drums, with Dacus belting out the lyrics, “In five years I hope these songs feel like covers/dedicated to new lovers”, perhaps reflecting a belief that love will return, even though that particular relationship ended badly. On “Next of Kin,” she argues that even the idea that there is much we'll never do in our brief time alive can be a source of solace: “Sweet relief, I will never be complete/I'll never know everything.”

And why shouldn't there be some hope amongst the messy, painful business of life? Or if not hope, then at least a little grace amidst the confusion. “Pillar of Truth,” a song about the death of Dacus' grandmother, allows the perspective to switch back and forth from Dacus to her grandmother, who wishes “Lord, have mercy/On my descendants/For they know not/What they do”. Clocking in at over seven minutes, the song arrives at a triumphant, horn-filled catharsis as Dacus sings, “If my throat can't sing/Then my soul screams out to you”.

Loss and change are inescapable parts of the whole experience of being alive, but as the album closes out with the title track's quiet meditation on relationships and their inevitable ends, it also seems to argue that taking the time to savour the moments in between is important. After all, it'll all be history someday.   
 

Pushing through rough circumstances and weighty expectations, Dacus and her band just followed up No Burden with the album Historian, a make-or-break album that's more than enough. Her voice, writing, and instrumentation feel rich and raw. During her first session in The Current's studio, Dacus says she knows her kind of success is rare.

SCRAM - Hundreds Of One (Review)

SCRAM - Hundreds of One

Hundreds of One, the latest EP from Vancouver rapper SCRAM, is a welcome, soulful little shot of west coast hip-hop. With such slick and shiny production, the EP sounds more intimate and warm that it has any right to. From the opening track and first single “Girl All Alone” with it's lilting, jazzy guitar chords, simple snare beat and pensive storyteller lyrics, Hundreds of One sets a high standard for its music. SCRAM's storytelling ability is on full display here, as he's on top form throughout, keeping pace with the first-rate beat creation. “Orchestrated” is a right proper boast track but with a spiralling sexy beat. “Dead Parade” is a showcase for SCRAM's technical talents as a rapper, rapid-fire and controlled as he goes in hard on, I dunno, society at large. The music is appropriately epic, even if it's a couple string samples away from being too heavy-handed. But, given the size and scope of the target, teetering on the brink of such weight serves the song well. “We raise our fists at politicians and their artifice, good luck, how far is it to Christy Clarke's address?” It's a small snippet on a track with a ton of quotable lines, but name-checking a more local politician on the track, rather than a larger profile/easier target, demonstrates a commitment to staying true to the area that informs his life while keeping an ear turned to the sounds outside to inform the beat side of things.

There's a classic boom-bap base to the beats throughout the record, highlighted by flourishes of live instruments, but the music tiptoes around the edges of electronic influences just enough to inject fresh energy into the sound. This juggling act is on full display in “The Weekend” as trance-like saxophones give way to a wonderful little glitch beat. It's one of the warmest sounding songs on the album,even as SCRAM raps about the all-encompassing feeling of the hopelessness of modern life that drives some people to make questionable decisions in the freedom of the weekend. The album closes with “Photobook,” the song on the EP you're most likely to drop the windows in the car for or walk a little quicker down the street to. It's a smooth driving ode to the power of looking back to where you came from, for inspiration and comfort. It's a welcome blast of sunny energy to help cleanse the palette after the contemplation and soul-searching that came before it. Hundreds of One is a helluva debut EP that'll work on your headphones or in your car. Enjoy it wherever you enjoy quality hip-hop.

Moontricks & BOUSADA @ Capital Ballroom (14.04.18)

Sometimes you go to a show expecting to chill hard. You go see an artist because it's going to be a cool night out and an opportunity to go dance and have a good time, but not necessarily rage. And sometimes you get to that show and it's just as chill as you expected but then, you get some a few unexpected tastes of the bass that makes you rage and it's extra-awesome because you didn't expect it. This past Saturday (April 14) at Capital Ballroom in Victoria, Moontricks delivered exactly that – an expectedly sultry, smooth and sexy set of bass and banjo (And guitar and harmonica) punctuated by forays into deep funk and beyond. Moontricks laid down a tremendous set of new and old tracks, to a packed house of seriously delighted people moving together, smiles plastered across every face in the room. This was (and is) serious bass without aggression – perfect for keeping the pulsing sea of humanity moving and in a good, chilled out mood. For such a large crowd in the Ballroom, this was a legit well-behaved crowd and it's a testament to the performers that everyone was bouncing so respectfully.

The old stuff (Like the sublime “Home,” which garnered the biggest pop of the night) was as warm and comforting as ever but it was the unexpected twists of new tracks that seemed to get the most bounce out of the sea of people. Most surprisingly, we were even treated to a little drum n' bass. Drum n' bass consistently challenges me and a Moontricks show was one of the last places I would expect to hear it, but oh man, that was some good, fun drum n' bass. Maybe it's old-hand to them, but I haven't seen it from these cats in the many, many times I've seen them play. Go see them live and experience this goodness. Please, for your ears' sake.

Things got going early with some luscious house-y beats from the homie Xavier, one of the pillars of Victoria's electronic community and BOUSADA, who is establishing himself as one of the city's musical pillars, able to move between genres and crowds with ease. Flanked by a guitar player, BOUSADA was as animated as ever, in all his shirtless glory, punctuating his beat-making and singing with loud cries of joy. A musical facilitator of the highest order, the last portion of his set saw BOUSADA giving the spotlight to a stream of some of Victoria's finest vocalists (Including Doc Zoo and Danimal House of Illvis Freshly, Kady and Stevie from Leg-Up Program and the mighty Orilla) taking turns rapping and singing over his tunes. It feels like BOUSADA has been building something special in Victoria and Saturday night was a reminder of why this guy is such a Force of Musical Community. A spectacular night of groove and bass. Well-done everyone.