5 Questions with Rags #84 - Krafty Kuts + Jimi Needles

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…Luckily for hip-hop fans everywhere that we live in the age of fast internet and these two could connect properly for this mix. I know it's not just me who had a fucking experience the first time they listened to the mix. It's a monster, for all levels of rap fan. Krafty reflects on the impact the mix made almost right out of the gate. “The mix response has been incredible, just overwhelming. I didn't think I would have been able to match the Golden Era Mixes I've released prior, but we put so much pressure on ourselves to squeeze in as many records we loved in the space of an hour, for everyone to come back and say they’re enjoying it and that they can't wait for a 4-deck show is just incredible.” If for reason, this 4-deck show doesn’t make it to the Canadian west coast, I will be overtaken by a deep, heart-wrenching emptiness.

Jimi, like myself and seemingly everyone else who's heard them, has high praise for the Golden Era Mixes Krafty mentioned. “For me, and Martin may or may not know this, but a lot of people's ''go to'' hip-hop mixtapes are definitely those Golden Era Mixes. So the bar was already set extremely high as far as I was concerned. Now that Volume One is out there and has received so much love, the door is definitely open for Volume Two; in fact we've already started making our list and trading ideas. Can't wait!” Neither can we, Jimi. Neither can we.

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#festivalseason – After 19 years, Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest burns as bright as ever.

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#festivalseason – After 19 years, Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest is burning as bright as ever.

It dawned on me the other day that after Shambhala, Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest is my second longest-running festival in terms of personal attendance. If you were able to hear 95% of the music coming out of my speakers, that stat would probably surprise you. But the truth is that ska, along with punk, and hip – hop, were the soundtrack to my youth and pretty much all of my early 20’s. When I first heard about Ska Fest back in 2010, I thought it would be a one off kinda deal; after all, I was still living in Edmonton.

But here we are, almost a decade later, having attended my eighth Ska Fest, and living about a kilometer from the very reason I ever came to Victoria in the first place. It’s funny how things can change over such a short amount of time. But while there are plenty of things that change over time – there’s also some that never need to.

This year Ska Fest kicked off much like my first as the lineup was relatively unknown in my books. Sure, there were a few big names that most people would notice, but as I dug deeper the unknown outweighed those I knew. Thankfully, the good thing about not knowing a lineup is that it leaves you with plenty of new favourites to discover…and discover I did!

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#festivalseason - Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest, bringing together musical worlds.

Full disclosure – I'm highly involved with the Victoria Ska & Reggae Society and Festival. The people who are part of it, who help put it on, have become like an extended family. I don't see them all the time but when we do it's always lovely and once a year we all get together downtown and throw a big party for the city. As such, I'm around this stuff so much, around the band and artist bios constantly for months on months. Their music becomes the soundtrack to so much of my working day. I know this lineup inside and out. But favourites always crop up. This is just a list of the first five that came to my head. I'm writing this intro after the body of the article was written and I regret not being able to put Kingston Rudieska on this list. That's going to be really special. Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad is going to be wild, I mean as “wild” as a roots reggae show can get, I suppose. Anyways, if you like the idea of concerts as places for people from different communities and age groups and such, to gather and dance off the Weight of Life together, then you should probably come to Victoria and dance in a couple of weeks.

Yellowsky

Wednesday, June 20 – Lucky Bar w/ Bousada (Full band)

Each and every year, without fail, Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest leaves me with at least one artist that sticks with me, that I know I'm going to be a fan of for a long time. Last year that artist was Yellowsky. A captivating performer, Yellowsky is one of the finest examples of the hip-hop and reggae coming together I've heard in years. Of Plains Cree First Nation and South American bloodlines, Yellowsky is coming at this with a completely unique perspective. Since opening for the mighty Mike Love at last years festival, Yellowsky released his debut album Mixed Medicine. The album is probably the best melding of gritty hip-hop and that good street reggae that I've encountered this side of Jamrock. This is saying a lot. But this dude is legit. Inside the brick embrace of Lucky Bar, this is going to be a helluva set from Da Lion. (I'd also like to put this wish out into the world: Yellowsky rapping over some beats from Bousada and his band late in the evening. Fingers crossed, friends!)

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Jimi Needles - Of synths, sounds and Jungle Strikes.

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“I recently came to the realization that I've been Djing half of my life,” Jimi Needles – world-class DJ, producer and drummer for knock-out soul band Ephemerals – recalls, talking to me from home, shortly before leaving on a well-deserved holiday. “I had my CD decks first when I was 14. I bought really cheap CD decks and hated it, then got vinyl decks when I was 15 and restarted again. Not many people did that back then. You didn't touch Cds like that. It was all vinyl and then suddenly it was all Cds and I did the opposite. I've been djing full-time about half of my djing life. And only about the last four have been giving a real shit.” Four years is probably about the length of time that Needles has been on the radar of an ever-growing contingent of bassheads here on the Canadian west coast. His Needlewurk mixes are some of the most reliable I've found, able to keep all the members of the crew happy – no matter where they lay on the spectrum of bass music enjoyment. The good homie combines his incredible arsenal of sounds, tempos and feelings, with great taste in music and a penchant for juggling the best parts from an unyielding scope of genres.

It's been a year and half since the last time I've talked to Needles. It's been a fruitful time that has seen him touring relentlessly on his own and as the drummer for Ephemerals, the creation of the Jimi Needles Band and the beginning of the final stretch toward his long-awaited debut album. “I think I've become a worse DJ and a better producer since we last talked. I've sacrificed a bit of the Djing. In the past 18 months I've really collected a bunch of sounds that I will use for all of my tracks. Every producer has their signature thing, like Stickybuds has his signature bass. 'Oh yeah, that's a Stickybuds tune there.' Featurecast has got his signature boom-bap-shuffle-drums. You can't miss those. A. Skillz has own kits and stuff. I've done a lot of tracks that share the same synth,” says Needles. “The whole album is going to speak to that synth. It'll be the “Jimi Needles Sound.” Really moving away from bootleg stuff on the album to more original stuff. It's exciting. I've really learned to create space in tracks. When I was just bootlegging I would just go, “Let's just feature loads of stuff!” Never give it a breather. You kind of learn to add those spaces in.”

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It's January, so it's time to start obsessing about Shambhala. A Wishlist.

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2017 brings the 20th Anniversary of the legendary Shambhala Music Festival. It will be my fifth and the second for Rags Music. As the calendar turns, it's time to start obsessing about who we're all going to get shake our asses to. The following are acts that have been in my ears constantly throughout the past year and, apart from Wick-It, acts that haven't appeared on the Farm before (As far as I know, at least). It doesn't really matter what I say, the Shambhala family has impeccable taste, year after year bringing the tastiest grooves of all kinds from around the globe. But whatever. I'm still going to throw my voice into the void and cross my fingers. So, here it is, my wishlist for Shambhala XX.

(Tickets are completely sold out, but keep your eyes open and you might be able to find yourself one. Please, use caution when buying resale tickets though!)

Fractal Forest – Jimi Needles

There is no one I want to see at Shambhala more right now than the mighty Jimi Needles. The guy is damned near untouchable. His production is top-notch, his song selection is of unqualified taste and his scratching is totally on point. His Needlewurk mixes have been staples of my listening diet since I first heard them, his singles are never-ending glory parade. Following in the footsteps of my DJ hero, Featurecast, Jimi Needles is doing thing that I admire most in a DJ – all of the things. He moves between genres with liquidy ease, seamlessly blending any ideas and sounds he sees fit. It might be good if Jimi Needles doesn't appear in Fractal Forest, because there would be so many melted faces, but I'm still rooting for it. With all of my heart.

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