In the eight years since its inception, Tall Tree Music Festival has built itself as paragon of musical diversity, bringing in acts spanning across genres and helping reinforce the sometimes shaky bridge between DJs/rave culture and live bands/rock festivals. Way up high in clouds on Brown's Mountain in Port Renfrew, BC, the people of Tall Tree have created a place where musical cultures stand proudly side by side, interacting with each other in a way that is wholly inspiring. Every year I make the trek up and down the mountain and every year I am refilled with musical Love and this year was no different. The entire three days up high was jam-packed with incredible music and grooves, a near-endless aural smorgasbord. Here are half a dozen (+1) acts, ranging an incredible sonic spectrum, that blew my overly critical ass away and left a dent on my eardrums.

Note: I think it's time that Tall Tree made Murge's “Tiny Dancer” rework the official festival anthem. It kind of already is, but let's make that official, okay everyone?

ASTROCOLOR

Astrocolor's latest EP Astrocolor II – with its silky, smoky and incredibly smooth sound – has been indispensable listening since its release earlier this year. As I marched up to the top of the mountain at midnight on Saturday night, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, apart from some smooth beats. What I and the rest of the packed Stump & Stone Stage got went way beyond just smooth beats. We were treated to a ridiculously fun, engaging and endlessly musical set a group guys clearly doing what they love. Playing cuts from both Eps (Including standouts from II “Push Too Hard” <feat. Fox Glove> and “Figure It Out) and stuff I haven't heard before, the group dazzled everyone in hearing radius with their uber-colourful dreamscape funk. The love that Astrocolor radiated from the stage was quickly absorbed by the crowd – like the music was water and the audience was a jubilant ShamWow – and blasted back at the group with incredible force. As I wandered back and forth through the crowd I overhead such comments as “This is incredible.” “What is this?!” “This isn't what I expected.” And every one of those statements I overheard was delivered with palpable joy and wonder. If you like any or all of the following: dancing, fun, colours, smooth funk, disco, house or jazz, you should 100% be trying to track down the next Astrocolor show near you.