Hip-Hop Thursday #3 - Pigeon Hole - INVASION EP

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Okay, I know it's hip-hop Thursday and this would probably be considered more “bass music” or “dubstep” or something. I don't even know with the subgenres anymore. (I got into the electronic game too late and I don't care to figure it all out. I just want good music.) All I know is good hip-hop hits a certain place in my brain and Invasion hits that hard. This helps me indulge my love of hip-hop and satiate my thirst for bass.

A couple years ago, a little while after the release of their still-regularly-played-by-almost-everyone-I-know album Chimp Blood, I was watching Pigeon Hole smash up a stage while standing next to local hip-hop guru and Keeper of the Knowledge, Degree One. We were both head-nodding like crazy when he turned to me and said, “Man, I love these guys. Every time I see them they bring something new. Always new ideas.” I agreed and I continue to agree. Since then, seemingly without ever taking a break, Pigeon Hole has been relentless in driving forward, establishing themselves as a force in bass. That was a few years ago and the duo continues on that incredible arc with their latest anvil-heavy offering, Invasion EP. The homies go 3-for-3 here, each track devastatingly heavy but fantastically smooth in their devastation. Picking a favourite here seems arbitrary, but let's go with the title track, “INVASION.” I won't argue if you pick something different because you would also be right.

If you were going to hunt dinosaurs or some other large and terrifying creature, you couldn't find a more appropriate soundtrack than Invasion. Maybe you don't even wanna hunt the monsters. Maybe you just want to tame them to ride them or you're looking to toughen up with a simple fight against a majestic beast (Seriously, this shit makes me wanna suplex a lion). Like, you were in that TUROK game (Remember TUROK?) and you and your crew went out to have some battles then you all came back and celebrated with a forest rave. This is really fucking good party music that would be perfect for a deep forest rave. In fact, you should get familiar because you're probably going to hear the tracks from Invasion at every deep forest rave you do in fact attend this summer. Deep, dark hip-hop bass on that mega future shit that gets your head bobbing and your hips winding. [Sleeveless Records]

Thick with West Coast flavor and head-nodding basslines, Pigeon Hole delivers a monster mini EP that beautifully reflects the duo's hiphop roots and production prowess. PIGEON HOLE ++ www.soundcloud.com/pigeon_hole ++ ++ www.facebook.com/Pigeonholemusic ++ ++ www.twitter.com/PIGEON_HOLE ++ ++ www.instagram.com/pigeon_hole ++

5 Questions with Rags #60 - 2018 Kickoff Spectacular with Jim Vanderhorst (Rebel Cause Films)

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A funny thing happened at Tall Tree this year. I was asked by no less than three separate people if I knew Jim from Rebel Cause Films. (The mighty Everyman was effusive in his praise of the good Mr. Vanderhorst.) Apparently, because I like bass music and live in Victoria, I MUST be know and work with Jim. I didn't know who he was, but I was familiar with some of his work – as is pretty much anyone on the west coast who digs bass music and/or attends festivals and parties fuelled by such music. His work capturing the diverse beauty of musical audiences is, frankly, unparalleled. Turns out he's one hell of an interesting cat as well. I figured someone so entrenched in this community that I think I'm becoming a viable part of (?), a guy who has so much experience and so many stories, would be the perfect homie to kick off 2018. So, in an effort to blast off another year of 5 Questions with Rags in style, I dug up a large portion of the guest questions that got asked over the last year and let this incredibly interesting human being tear through them like some kind of fascinating buzzsaw.

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1. Colin from Pigeon Hole – What's the most vegetable and why?

Potatoes because to take the amount of time needed to describe everything you can do with potatoes would feel like like the shrimp montage from Forrest Gump. There are just so many things you can with potatoes...scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, baked potatoes... Potatoes are so goddamned versatile that when there were no potatoes, Ireland collapsed and turned into a joke for hundreds of years.

2. Jennay Badger...What's your go-to album for a good cry/emotional cleaning out?

I would say my go-to is probably Underdogs by Matthew Good Band.

3. Mike Love...What will you do now, to make the world a little better?

I really want to help spread the message that fear doesn't help anyone. I want to figure out ways to help people move beyond listening to fear. I want to make narrative feature films and I want them to share the basic theme of overcoming fear. Fear of useless, of lack of value. Fear is what we needed to save us from jungle cats when we were primitive stone-age animals. Now fear only drives us to bad decisions.

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#festivalseason - An in-depth musical review by a Groove Rider at Shambhala.

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There is no experience like Shambhala. The mountain setting, the Life-giving river, the PK Sound, the hoards of beautiful people, the ridiculous stage designs, the colours, the art...all of it combines for one of the most unique experiences any of us are likely to find on this planet. But all of this pivots on the music. The best Djs, spanning nearly every genre of dance music you can imagine, provide the soundtrack for all the ridiculousness and that soundtrack is the thing is thing that keeps me coming back year in and year out. There are many places to read about the people and the culture of Shambhala, albums of photos by people far more qualified than me documenting the bliss (Check the Shambhala FB page for a cornucopia of said photo albums). So with that, here is my overly long, in-depth look at the way I spent my musical time on the Farm this year.

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#festivalseason - Memories of Shambhala, unearthed.

It's hard not get personal when I'm writing about Shambhala. It set off such a chain reaction in my life, in so many areas, that it's mark is just burned into me. It might even be annoying to read or hear about, but I don't really care. You're free to stop reading at any time. The really great thing about this is how other Shambhalovers brighten up and beam when you bring it up to them. I've made a point to ask a lot of the Djs and personalities I've interviewed in the years since my first visit to Salmo River Ranch about their memories of the festival and what it means to them. I've gathered up some of the best quotes to get you all either psyched up for the trip back Home, or get you dripping with jealousy that you won't be there this year.

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DJ Nu-Mark (Jurassic 5), on why he keeps coming back to Shambhala

I keep coming back because it seems as if I'm the only not playing electronic music? The first time I played, I thought I was at the wrong festival. I saw the line-up and was a bit freaked out because everyone was playing dub-step...Hey, remember that? Dub-step? Anyway, I enjoy playing a variety of genres – Soul, Funk, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Oldies, etc... They give me room to express myself and I rarely get the hippie chick yelling, “Hey! Can you play some Persian Anthem Trance?!”

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5 Questions with Rags #7 Colin from Pigeon Hole (Bonus Interview included!)

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The first time I saw Van. Island-bred ruffians Pigeon Hole was at Rifflandia some years ago (I wrote their write-up in the festival guide for their second appearance). The ferocity they attacked the near-empty crowd with was frankly astonishing and they’ve only gotten better. I’ve seen them blow up Shambhala, another Rifflandia and various other shows around here in Victoria and really, these guys have become assassins. I’ve been trying to find another reason to get ahold of Colin and get back on the Pigeon Hole train, and he’s a cool dude he was game for answering the 5 Questions.

 And this week, as a bonus, we have some extra discussion – the result of life taking a chunk out of both of us over the last couple of weeks and taking too long to get this done. See, this was going to be a piece for the Martlet in anticipation of their big headline show at Distrikt Nightclub this Thursday, but as the postponing went on for so long that we couldn’t make it online there in time, so rather than let the words get lost in the ether, I figured I’d at least get them out here.

 Get advance tickets for Pigeon Hole at Distrikt Nightclub this Thursday, Nov. 27.

1. If for some insane reason you were about to lose your vision and your hearing and you could only keep one, which would you keep and why?

Oooo…I’d keep vision. I’d be bummed not being able to hear music but i could still work on art and feel the bass at a rave.

2. What’s the first album you remember going out to buy with your own money and how old were you? What track from it, if any, lives on for you?

House of Pain’s Fine Malt Lyrics on cassette. I’m guessing I was like 12 or something? I’ve got it in a shoe box in my moms basement with all my other tapes. “Jump Around” is still the jam!!

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