#festivalseason - There are way too many amazing musical people to see at Shambhala20. Here are a few highlights to help deal with the crushing burden of choice.

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The best thing about the legendary Shambhala Music Festival – hidden away in the Kootenay mountains, in Salmo, BC – also happens to be the worst thing about the legendary Shambhala Music Festival: There is an overstuffed cornucopia of a lineup that is completely impossible for one human person to consume. With six stages thumping bass near-endlessly , Shambhala has something for everyone in amongst the chaos. Whatever your groove is, there's something on the Farm to satisfy your bass-lust. Rather than attempt to run down the near-endless list of everything Rags Music is hoping to check out, or to randomly select things with little to no regard for scheduling, I'm going to recommend an artist (or two) per stage with the “Rags Music Home-run Guarantee,” spaced out throughout the four days (Hint: Get there for early entry on Thursday. It's worth it). This being a milestone year 20 for the Festival, I'm going to try to split the list between new faces and what could appropriately be called Shambhala Legends. I promise, if you catch even a couple of these things, your ears will be very happy.

THE AMP - MAT THE ALIEN b2b The LIBRARIAN - Thursday @ 12-1:30pm

Like I said previously, I'm getting into Shambhala Legends mode this year and this begins with planning my Day 1 festivities around a few festival cornerstones. Opening the AMP with Mat the Alien & The Librarian?! Yes, please! Mat the Alien is a DJ I'm happy to see any time I can. The veteran bass master is as versatile as anyone in the galaxy, able to shift moods and genres on a dime, and a fantastic scratcher to boot! Big, big legends vibes on this. The Librarian is someone I've been wanting to see properly for a long time. Her dark, spacey bass vibes call to me. Now is the time. I caught a very tiny portion of her set at Shambhala last year and everyone I've talked to who just returned from Bass Coast (Her home bass) said hers was the set of the weekend. I blew my chance to see them when they toured together for their Mutiny tour, but honestly, would it have been as good as seeing them team up to wreck the AMP at Shambs? Nah. This'll be better.

FRACTAL FOREST – MARTEN HØRGER – Sunday @ 1:30-2:30am

Finally! I get to see Marty fuckin' Horgs, the German bass phenom in his proper environment – the middle of an old tree, armed with a bananas powerful PK sound rig. Marten Horger has been one of my go-tos any time I need a little extra OOMPH! ZORP! BLAMO! in my breaks diet. His mixes and tracks come at your ears like a crazed monkey with a knife, but the monkey is wearing a little hat, so while it's pretty dangerous, it's also super fun! A veteran of the always reliable PUNKS label, Horger, the talent behind of some of my absolute favourite tracks like “Blood” and “Deeper Down,” I can, in the words of the immortal Vince McMahon, “GUARAN-DAM-TEE” Horger will lay down the perfect blast of hard breaks energy to fuel through the last few hours of your Sunday night. (And he's a past answerer of the 5 Questions! Extra points!) Also, Horger also just recently got into the world of drum 'n' bass – a world I still don't understand – with an uplifting gem of a track that hit me right away!

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#festivalseason - 6 stages, 6 acts to get down to at Shambhala 2016. (And a bonus warm fuzzy feeling.)

There is no place on the planet like the Shambhala Music Festival. Each year, along the life-giving Salmo River in BC - clearly Canada's most beautiful province - thousands of people gather around the semi-permanent stages that have waited all year, to build a colourful, loving, excessively fun community for three-to-five days (Depending on how you Shambs). The setting, the people, the music...it's been the basis for an entirely new part of my life. I have forged stronger friendships with old friends there, I have met new beautiful friends that I talk to near-daily and, last but not least, it opened me up to the thrillingly diverse world of electronic music. The learning curve is steep and I wouldn't have even started the process if I hadn't stepped onto the Farm for the first time a few summers ago. So, as we prepare to return Home a mere three weeks from now, I present my first batch of must-see (that-I-will-probably-get-distracted-from-seeing) picks.

Actually, first off, let's get mushy. Remember those new friends I mentioned earlier? Well, thanks to the lovely people at the Pagoda, they were able to have the most perfect wedding, early Friday afternoon last year. The day was a Pinnacle of Life. Two giant rainbow people, bursting with love, combining their powers once and for all in the heart of the most loving place I've experienced in my short time on Earth. To you two, to everyone who was there, to everyone who stopped by camp for a dance and to everyone who makes that wondrous place go, THANK YOU. I'll stop now.

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Russ Liquid Test

(Grove – Friday, 4PM)

This is the year I spend more time in the Grove and Russ Liquid is where I'm going to start. I don't really know what this “Test” thing is all about. I don't know if the homie is testing new stuff, playing with guests or whatever else, but it really doesn't matter, because if I've learned anything over the last few years of musical digging, it's that anything that has the name RUSS LIQUID on it is going to be of some major quality. It doesn't matter if he's working with heavy-hitters like Gramatik and Opiuo or working on his own, the guy clearly knows his music and, more specifically, he knows his grooves. Armed with his incredible trumpet abilities and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for sultry, hip-winding rhythms, Russ Liquid is guaranteed to be the perfect start to your first night of ultimate partying at Shambhala this year.

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5 Questions with Rags #22 - The Funkee Wadd

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The Funkee Wadd is e’rywhere on the West Coast now. Between his own funks and the funky live hip-hop he’s helping lay down with his homeys in Illvis Freshly, the Funkee Wadd has all the momentum a human could have out here on Vancouver Island and the surrounding areas. After watching his ass-rattling set and catching a brief chat with him at Tall Tree earlier this summer, I knew I was going to have to get him down with the 5 Questions. Luckily for me, and all of you wonderful people, he was more than happy to get on the phone and talk all kinds of shit with me.

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1. Do you remember the first album you went out and purchased on your own?

It was a CD, the first album I ever purchased, and it was Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty. It’s kind of funny how it’s come around full circle, being in a rock group.

Favourite song on the record?

“3 MCs and 1 DJ”

What a good song. That video was way good.

Yeah man. Mix Master Mike just cuttin’ it up. Great.

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5 Questions with Rags #21 - Mat the Alien

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This was supposed to be the final in the 5 Questions in the run-up to Shambhala, but alas, as it was close to Shambhala, it kind of got filed away and lost in the festival hustle. But now, my chat with Mat the Alien sees the light of day and it’s a good thing too, because Mat the Alien is one of the best and most important DJs in the West Coast scene working today. He’s also one of the nicest. His English accent and calm manner of speaking belies the audio-killer that lurks underneath. You never know what you’re going to get at an Alien show…maybe heavy on funk? Drum ‘n’ bass, perhaps? Breaks? Dubstep? The homey’s got you covered. I was super lucky to get the local legend on the phone to answer my silly questions and you are even luckier to get to read it. Feel the luck!

Despite my awful timing, this works out perfectly as Mr. The Alien is going to be back in my neck of the woods in Victoria, BC, in September. Make sure to catch him before Longwalkshortdock on Saturday, September 19 at the Capital Iron Stage during Rifflandia.

And for your listening pleasure whilst you enjoy our brief, whimsical conversation (And for an hour afterwards) here is Mat the Alien’s winning mix for the good people over at THUMP. Listen and enjoy.

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How many Shambhalas have you been to? Do you have a memory that sticks out?

I think this is my 12th or 13th Shambhala. There’s a lot of memories, really. The first time I played there I played right before Bassnectar on what used to be the Main Stage, now it’s the Pagoda. That was a big one. Just being able to see it grow has been awesome. All of it is such a crazy experience.

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1. Can you think of a movie you saw that had an effect on the way you saw the world?

The movie Quadraphenia, with the soundtrack by the Who. That was a big movie about different music movements in England and people rebelling against old stuff. I don’t know, it kind of reminded me of rave music that I got into. That Who soundtrack was really good too, lots of good rockers. It seemed like a really crazy era.

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