Back to Bass-ics: A Guide to Bamboo Bass Festival 2019

Bamboo Bass Festival 2019 – Back 2 Bass-ics

Hola, orta vez! Bamboo Bass Festival is now less than a month away, and it’s getting down to crunch time when it comes to prepping for the adventure of a lifetime. Most of you reading this probably have your flights and accommodations already in order (and if you don’t…get on that, yesterday), but what about the other details? Things like transportation, food, what to bring, and what to do before you leave? If you haven’t traveled much before, there’s a lot more to it than you’d expect…and if you do have the experience, then you know how easy it is to miss something!

This will be my third trip to the jungle, and while that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, trust me when I say there is plenty to learn with each visit. With the last two years being some of my best festival experiences to date, I couldn’t be more excited to return to the jungle surrounded by friends and the jungle crew that is quickly becoming la familia.

From everything you need to know about to Bamboo Bass, to the basics of traveling to & from the Rich Coast, this guide is a collection of tips and tricks to ensure your experience in paradise be the absolute best one it can be!

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#festivalseason - Rifflandia 11 rounds out the season in musically diverse style.

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Another year of Rifflandia and another year of a densely diverse musical memories to help get us through the cold winter months. Unbound by any genre allegiances, Rifflandia is free to mine any part of the modern musical map they deem worthy and to their credit, each year they dig hard to bring something unique to the city of Victoria. Something different than the swaths of other catch-all festivals that flood the market each and every festival season. And in their 11th year, Rifflandia did not disappoint. With 150+ acts over three days, four nights and 14 stages, there was more than ever to take in. We didn't stop for the duration of the weekend and in amongst the chaos, these were the acts that left the biggest imprints on our ears over the four relentless days.

Best Non-musical Thing We Saw At Riff - KARMIK

We're don't necessarily advocate drug use at Rags Music, but we damn sure as hell advocate safety and and taking care of each other. Thankfully the good people at KARMIK made their first appearance at Rifflandia. Breaking ground is nothing new to the team at Karmik, so it only made sense they were the first organization to bring a mass spectrometer to Vancouver Island, and establish a legitimate drug testing presence at Rifflandia. To give you how big of a deal that actually is, the legendary Shambhala Music Festival (Salmo, BC) took years of fundraising and donations to be able to provide attendees with the technology – at an event that arguably has more drug use than Riff. But, Victoria definitely has needed something like this for years, and even with local law enforcement pushing back, the lovely individuals of Karmik stood their ground and provided a much needed service in Victoria that has been long overdue. Hope to see them back next year!

Gentle Mind

One of the first acts of Rifflandia weekend, Gentle Mind took the stage at Phillips Front Yard Thursday night to show how to kick off a festival right. With a small crowd and a chill in the air, the Vancouver soul (Acid soul? Jazz soul? Soul pop?) group started with a small smattering of people – more photographers than festival-goers – and by the end of their set, the stage was packed and the people were eating out of the bands hands. The bands originals, including their standout “Nighttime in Crema”, popped and pulled in the listeners with their slickness, their depth and their soul. A couple of choice covers sprinkled in to their set helped give a new audience familiar touchstones: A lovely rendering of Haitus Kaiyote's sultry “Nakamarra” and a groovy as hell cover of The Weeknd's “I Can't Feel My Face,” the latter of which took me way too long to recognize. We singled out Gentle Mind as a band to watch at this year's Rifflandia and they didn't disappoint, setting the tone for another great weekend of music.

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#festivalseason - What's new, what's hot, what's good - what's up Rifflandia?

What’s new, what’s hot, what’s good – what’s up Rifflandia?

To nobody’s surprise, September has returned for another session of messing with our heads and our hearts. September – with its warm, almost hot, days; the deceivingly cold nights; plus the inevitable burden of carrying a sweater with you at all times yet never really needing it for more than five minutes. Thankfully, here in Victoria we have a way of dealing with the month that nobody seems to want. In fact, there’s a little phrase around town that you may have heard before – September Forever.

Yes, September means something entirely different in Victoria. It means Rifflandia is upon us! I’m not going to go into detail about what it’s all about because if you’re from the island you already know, and for those that don’t…well, that’s why Al Gore invented the internet.

I will however get into what there is to look forward to this year! Rifflandia is forever evolving, and there are some exciting changes that take place every festival, so it can sometimes be a challenge to keep up. But don’t worry – I know a good time when I see it, and Riff is always good for that.

Obviously the music is usually the number one priority at a music festival, and although the general theme of Rifflandia shifts a bit every year (for example, hip – hop was heavily featured a couple years ago), there’s still a ton of listening pleasure for everyone, no matter what you enjoy. The eleventh edition of Rifflandia definitely boasts a large electronic presence, and with Electric Avenue becoming more and more popular with every passing year, there’s going to be a lot of action at the Ave this weekend.

While the harm reduction movement has broken ground in many festivals we attend around the country, there are still many non camping festivals that have yet to make the transition. Thankfully, Rifflandia isn’t one of them. Harm Reduction will be provided on site at both the Royal Athletic Park and Electric Ave by a well trained staff from WILD Collective Harm Reduction Services, BCCSU, and our good friends at Karmik – BC’s leading harm reduction team. Karmik will be setting up a drug testing booth at RAP during the day, while others will provide outreach and a harm reduction tent at Electric Ave. Locate them at either venue for info, supplies, education, support, or if you just need a safe spot to chill!

It should go without saying that everyone deserves to party in peace, but unfortunately there are still people out there that don’t understand that concept. Rifflandia is going above and beyond to provide a safe space throughout the entire festival and encourages anyone who witnesses any disruptive or inappropriate behavior to report it immediately, either by reporting it to staff or security or emailing incidents@atomiqueproductions.com. We all deserve the best, so let’s take it upon ourselves to provide the best.

Rifflandia always hits the mark with their selection of artists, and with more than 160 live acts performing over the course of 4 days, there are sure to be some names you know, some you don’t, and it’s inevitable you’ll discover a few new favourites. Take the time to listen to some unknown artists on the app, or check out the list below for my favourites over the weekend!

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#festivalseason - Rifflandia returns to lay its genre-less assault on Victoria.

Rifflandia (This year keeping Victoria up from Sept. 13-16) is a multi-headed beast that comes at you hard. There's a lot of stuff to sort through because there's a shit-ton of music to see at a glut of stages and too many good times to be had. Every year on these lists we lay down what we're looking forward to seeing, the gems we recommend, with little regard as to where they're playing. But when we thought about it for this year...why would we include anything at Royal Athletic Park (Rifflandia's main stages, running throughout the day Fri-Sun)? There's only one stage running at a time, so if you're there just go see the music that's on. There is some incredible stuff there this year like Beardyman (Seriously, Beardyman is a beast and a true creative force), Daniel Caesar, SonReal, Metz, Jessie Reyez, etc. Don't be a moron. If you're at R.A.P., just see the damned music. This year we bring you a list of recommendations that only looks to the night, to the times when the mass of humanity fractures into mini-parties all over downtown Victoria. Bass, hip-hop, soul, funk...you know what we do over here at Rags Music – grooves. Hit anything on this list and you're guaranteed to get your hips swaying and feet moving. Remember kids: Rifflandia is a marathon, not a sprint. We got a long way to go. Pace yourselves and take care of each other.

JF Killah (Saturday, 9:30-11:30pm, Lucky Bar)

So, this year at Bass Coast during the Radio Stage takeover by the legendary Vancouver drum 'n' bass masters Shah DJs, my friend and drum 'n' bass expert, Jerrrrrf, planted himself for the entire length of the marathon set. Three and half hours, to be exact. As I've stated before, I don't know a whole lot about drum 'n' bass, but I trust my friends so I made sure to keep going back and checking in with my homie throughout the afternoon. The set that kept me the longest and really had me going was courtesy of J.F. Killah. The big doses of grime and heaviness – without the overwhelming aggression I feel from a lot of heavier drum 'n' bass – was just what I needed. My path into learning about drum 'n' bass has been long and windy, but masters like J.F. Killah who incorporate such a wide variety of sounds into their repertoire are the ones who have helped my own development as a listener. Her work as one half of Levrige, whom admittedly I had heard before hearing J.F. Killah on her own, shows off an even grimier side, going deep into that extra-deep, slow-burning bass shit. With two hours to lay it down in an intimate place like Lucky Bar, this is the perfect time to get properly acquainted with one of the west coasts foremost purveyors of accessible drum 'n' bass with nasty bite.

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#festivalseason - Motion Notion finds a new home and packs it full of funky homies.

I honestly don't know much about Motion Notion, which is odd considering it's a BC festival and I live in BC and it's in its 19th YEAR. (The fuck was I doing until about three years ago when I heard about it?) I've heard nothing but good things and the pictures make it look excellent. And this year the good people of MoNo are setting up shop in a new home, The Coldwater Fields in Merritt, BC – the home of the legendary Bass Coast Festival. More than almost any other festival lineup I've seen this years Motion Notion is filled with a ridiculous amount of Rags Music-certified Gs. In fact, this years lineup features no less than 10 past answerers of our own 5 Questions With Rags interview series. In honour of this HomieFest, this list is comprised almost entirely of artists I am super familiar with. I'm pretty confident when I write these lineup previews that I'm giving you all the goods, but this time I'm wholly confident in my picks. Motion Notion has put together an incredible lineup and this just the tip of the iceberg. And really, just the tip of the part of the iceberg I know at the time of this writing. Even if you fuck the rest of your weekend up, you'll have a proper good time if you just go see these cats.

Get tickets for Motion Notion 2018 (August 23-27) now!

Marten Horger

Sometimes you see someone time and time again and you wonder if you reeeeeeally need to see them again. Even though I've been thoroughly enchanted every time I've seen this wonderful human lay down his relentless bass stylings (Even arguing with friends the whole way home after a powerful night at Vancouver's near-legendary Red Room where they claimed he wasn't the most untouchable of the night...they were wrong), I almost didn't go catch him here in Victoria last weekend (July 28), because I am aging and going out, even on a Saturday, is at times a monumental task that defeats me on a regular basis. But I'm glad a friend helped me soldier through, because Horger was as on point as ever. He was going B2B with the homie Neon Steve – who you should definitely also see as I am just noticing his name here on the MoNo lineup – and was as in command as ever. When you feel and hear the devastating bass of a Horger track your heart beats a little harder and then you look up to see him behind the decks and you almost see the joy radiating off of him. Make sure that no matter what you do with your weekend, get after it and see this legit Hero of Breaks.

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