RAGSLANDIA - 5 Acts at Rifflandia 2024 that are (probably) going to get me out of the house

I can't fucking believe it's September. Wha happen?! But whatever, it's alright because I'm in Victoria and September means Rifflandia 'round these parts. It's tradition. We can have a long talk about the changes it's gone through since it came into our lives 16 years ago, (And please, send me a message or an email if you have thoughts about this. I love to talk about this.) but no matter what, it remains one of the biggest spots on the west coast music calendar. These days I have a hard time dragging myself out of the house most nights – I barely remember what FOMO feels like any more – but Rifflandia has more than a few things to get me out and onto the dance floor this year. There are some notable exceptions from the below list – Oliver Tree, Channel Tres and SkiiTour – who would normally be on this list, but I already wrote about them for the official Rifflandia magazine (It's a good-looking book. Go pick it up around town.), and despite breaking this two-writing rule below. This shit is already getting too long, so without further ado, here is a list of some of the acts that have my tired ass excited to get out into the world for some live fuckin' music.

REZZ
Friday, Main Stage, 10:50pm
This feels like cheating because –1) I wrote about REZZ in the official Rifflandia magazine this year and 2) I try not to touch the first couple of lines of a festival poster because obviously people are gonna go see those acts. They're the headliners. That's why they're there. And maybe I'm writing to this to rouse myself into staying out past 10pm, a thing I rarely do anymore, but if there's something to keep me out of my house and engaged at this time of night at the end of the work week, it's probably REZZ. It's dark, hella groovy and really fucking heavy bass music. Both of my previous encounters from the alien bass-dealer left me with a physical feeling I cannot describe here. Seriously, my body felt different after feeling the effects of her deep-drilling bass. As most DJs play late and rarely make the journey to the Island after their profile reaches a certain size, I've fallen out of experiencing much in terms of big-venue electronic music in the years since the pandemic began. Kudos on Rifflandia for bringing over such a serious DJ and saving me a trip! I'll try my best to still be out and awake!

Crash Test Dummies
Sunday, Main Stage, 6:00pm
I imagine this is a common statement for millenials that were born and raised in Victoria: “My first concert was Crash Test Dummies on the Legislature lawn during the 1994 Commonwealth Games.” It's a core memory for me, even though I don't really remember much about the musical performance itself. I remember my dad really loved “Superman's Song” and I was all about “Afternoons & Coffeespoons,” which to this day remains one of my favourite songs of any genre. It was one of the first songs on my “Liked Songs” when I got a Spotify account. Admittedly I haven't kept up with Crush Test Dummies' output for a long time, but I hung around longer than almost everyone in my life, apart from my buddy Ben. But I can say that I was a 15 year old kid obsessed with their album Give Yourself A Hand when it came out. The title track, the lead single (??) “Keep a Lid on Things” and “I Love Your Goo.” God, I fucking loved that record so much. I think I might actually ascend to a higher plain of existence if I hear them play “I Love Your Goo.” I'm eternally grateful for the music scene in Canada in the 90s that allowed a 10-year old kid to find a band like the Crash Test Dummies on the radio. The idea that they'll be at Rifflandia and maybe another generation of Victoria kids, brought by their parents, could form their own core music memory watching Crash Test Dummies makes me really happy. As I finish this paragraph, “Superman's Song” playing on my headphones, I'm really excited to see the Crash Test Dummies next week.

Dakota Bear
Saturday, Phillips Stage, 5:25pm
Being a fan of hip-hop here on the west coast and not having yet seen Dakota Bear live and in person honestly feels like a personal failing at this point. Dakota Bear popped onto my radar as one of the founders and owners of ultra-dope Decolonial Clothing Co. (You should definitely check it out if you're not already on it.) Then I realized he was behind Land Back Records and THEN I realized he raps – and goodness gracious, he makes bangers. Big, new-school trap beats and relentless low end anchor his old-school approach to lyricism and rapping – clear in delivery and clearer in message in a way that reminds me a lot of the icon Chuck D. Dakota Bear is here to not just about his people, but rap FOR his people. It's not just rap to energize you while you fight the power, but rap to remind you of your own power and how that power magnifies when you're riding with your community. Our island hip-hop legend DJ All Good always says “Hip-hop can save the world.” I might not agree completely with that, but I think we can all agree it absolutely does provide the best fucking soundtrack for the Work that needs to be done. I love rap where you can hear the blood pump if you listen close enough, and that's what Dakota Bear is making. Tap in. Get involved.

De La Soul
Sunday, Main Stage, 7:10pm
(Okay, I need to start by saying that technically I'm not breaking my previously mentioned headliner rule, because De La Soul is actually on the third line of the poster I'm looking at and are not playing a “headline” set time. So, please do not mention this to me.) Do I really need to recommend seeing De La Soul? Inarguably one of the most important and iconic hip-hop groups of all time, De La Soul should not be being missed by anyone at Rifflandia this year. (Alas, they are playing at nearly the same time as Lfucking7, so I guess there is an acceptable to reason to maybe miss them. It is the only excuse I will accept.) The importance of De La Soul in the landscape of hip-hop cannot be overstated – when rap was ablaze with the righteous and unchecked fury of the likes of N.W.A., De La Soul was the counterbalance, the opposite side of the emotions and ideology that was emanating from the west coast. (De La's untouchable debut 3 Feet High and Rising hit the world less than 5 months after Straight Outta Compton.) Thoughtful, playful, absurd and endlessly likeable, De La Soul showed that even while gangsta rap was ripping through the charts, hip-hop was a huge place that had room for everyone. Their fourth album, my favourite De La album, Stakes Is High remains a touchstone for rap fans disillusioned the crass commercialism that has slowly been trying devouring the music we love since it got recognized a serious commodity in the 80s. Not only did De La Soul correctly diagnose the problem on Stakes is High, seeing the crest of the wave in the distance, they offered solutions – musically, lyrically and in their choice of guest spots, ushering in new torch bearers of rap. They called on the likes of Common and Erykah Badu right before they broke out and they introduced most of the world to a young Mos Def. De La Soul weren't just a rap group, they were rap medicine men. It's a place they've continuously held in the culture as they've carried forward. To this day, every time a new De La track or song pops up, it's must-listen because not only are they one of the greatest and most enduring direct conduits to the most important time in rap, they just make really good fucking rap music, no matter the era you're into.

Skratch Bastid
Saturday, Phillips Stage, 8:40pm
The most concise description of me as a music fan these days would probably be, “Old head who still likes to dance.” There aren't many people on a stage specifically made to satisfy this equation like the mighty SKRATCH BASTID. Undisputedly one of Canada's biggest, most respected and frankly, just straight-up dopest DJs in the game today – a position he's carved out and held with nearly a quarter century of crushing dancefloors and pleasing nerds like me, sitting alone with a big set of headphones on. Bastid is one of the most likeable humans to ever step behind the decks, the joy he gets from DJing radiating from the stage as he dazzles with his unmatched ear and more impressively, his unmatched turntable heroics. I became a hip-hop fan in the mid-to-late 90s and by that time changes in hip-hop had allowed the MC to be the star. Sure the DJ was important, but as far as I was concerned, if you weren't holding a mic, I wasn't really paying attention to you. As such, I had never really thought of the DJ as a star performer until I saw Bastid. (Apart from Kid Koala, because I'm a good Canadian kid who grew up on MuchMusic and jumped at my first opportunity to go see Kid Koala after I was legal age. Even though I didn't really understand the greatness I was seeing at the time.) It was 2007, Bastid played before powerful K'naan, here in Victoria, at Sugar Nightclub. I honestly don't remember many specifics of his set except that I was re-experiencing so many songs for what felt like the first time. But one thing I'm SURE I remember – at least 95%, okay 80% sure – that has stuck with me to this day, was a seamless drop between Sabbath's “Iron Man” and dead prez' “Hip Hop” that felt like it lit the fuse of jam-packed room. Everyone lost their fucking minds. Since then, I've always jumped at any chance to see Skratch Bastid. Some of the best sets I've ever seen in Shambhala's legendary Fractal Forest have been courtesy of the man himself. And knowing the quality on that stage every year, that's really saying something. If you're going to Rifflandia, please, just make to sure to see Skratch Bastid. Your ears and hips will thank you.

In addition to my infallible picks, there are so many things to see over the three days of Rifflandia! For a full schedule, venue details and TICKETS, hit up Rifflandia.com

Def3 + Late Night Radio - Weddings & Funerals (Album Review)

Building on the phenomenal sounds and successes of Def3’s Small World, Weddings & Funerals finds the MC re-teaming with producer/DJ/general magicmusicman Late Night Radio for another feast where electronic music and hip-hop combine and reach something different, new and important. The pairing is a phenomenal match – evident that both artists understand each other and as such, compliment each other perfectly. On Weddings & Funerals, the raps and beats stand side by side in triumph, resulting in one of the years most warm, immediate and welcoming records.

Even more than Small World, Weddings & Funerals is deeply warm and highly personal; an album that feels like it needed to be made. On “Better” the homie raps “Funny thing about it when I write these jams, is in the end I’ma probably need it more than my fans,” and there’s where the impact of Weddings & Funerals lies. The specificity of the lyrical focus makes it all feel very universal and relatable.

“Just Wait” comes out of the gate hard with deep, smooth bass and some Dragonball Z. I’m constantly shocked the things I know about Dragonball Z because of rap music despite having never watched any of it. It's a great opener that sets up the rest of the album perfectly; some of the best straight-up rap-boasting I’ve heard in some time.

Late Night Radio is bringing some serious grooves here, as he is want to do. The groove on “Lift Off” is seriously infectious and should be a late-night wind-down party jam when everyone on the dancefloor is spent and just needs a warm hug. “Real Love” is a big, huge love song with an incredible swelling sax line – when the instrumentation drops and we’re left with just Def3 and the rhythm, it’s something special. “Drowning” is an arresting, contemplative, beautiful piece of hip-hop that finds Def3 bouncing over wonderfully lilting keys and horns. The production is so thought out, clear – every instrument, every beat is slotted in perfectly and given the proper space to breathe.

A lot of the album touches on fighting through darkness, both personal and societal, and while I do find that tiresome as a recurring theme quite often, the way the raps are built and sit on the beats here, the message never feels cumbersome or overwrought. Def3 radiates too much joy from the mic to for me to ever find the slightest bit bothersome. This is lyrical dexterity and relentless warmth – a deadly combo. Nothing on the album is more emblematic of this balance than “Push.” It’s a big, driving tune suiting of its title and a song that I would expect to be on a variety of playlists.

When we near the end of the record, LNR and Def3 drop “Got Away,” an achingly gorgeous and uplifting ode to the people that have been lost on the journey. The big, swelling organ combined with LNR’s little guitar flourishes and Def3’s flow is a deadly combination. And if that’s not enough, we finish it not by looking at weddings or funerals, but rather at birth, as Def3 closes up with the exquisitely lovely letter to his daughter, “Rani.”

The word “warm” has appeared a couple of times here I know, but in a cultural landscape that seems to be being slowly drained of warmth from every angle – hip-hop being a very big victim of this draining – Weddings & Funerals is like a blanket straight from the dryer on a cold evening. Highly recommended for anyone who needs some peace, some encouragement and/or some kindness – with big, cozy, groovy beats to match – in their hip-hop diet.

You can stream Weddings & Funerals on your favourite streaming platform, or better yet - go support good music and pick it up from Bandcamp.

The Dough Boys - The Dough Boys (Album review)

The Dough Boys - The Dough Boys (Album Review)

The Dough Boys self-titled debut is a perfect slice of chilled-out jazz-rap swagger; a confident, hazy-blazed way to introduce themselves to the world. In the opening track “Eulogy” BRAINiac declares “I don’t need the beat, I’ll kill this a capella” and with his previously laid evidence I have no doubt this is true, but I'm glad he doesn't go a capella because the melding of the MC with The Dough Boys has created something unique, dripping with ideas and energy. The Dough Boys have some serious musical chops and obvious chemistry that raise their debut to something unique in the quickly saturated jazz-rap world. At a time when a lot of albums are seemingly created for a streaming world, with too many tracks – songs stretched to 4 minutes to maximize profits, etc, The Dough Boys have a created a sharp, focussed, well-thought out piece of art to start their journey with. The album leaves you wanting more, not thinking about where the fat could have been trimmed.

“Dogs Gotta Eat,” the albums first single and a rework of the track that appeared on BRAINiac's incredible Lunch Meat (2019), is an obvious highlight. It brings some heaviness that the original didn't have while doing the very important work of giving that incredible hook – one of the best to come out of the west coast in a long time – a new breath of life. And there is the hook for the whole album – this is serious jazz-rap ysht with a full band, immediately setting it apart from a lot of the bedroom/solo produced jazz-rap that is filtering out into the musical world these days. The Dough Boys are able to pull out a surprising number of sounds and feelings from within small, connected framework. The beautifully lilting summer love anthem “Your Man” floats down the ear canal, while “Blunt” comes in dense and heavy – much like the feeling of smoking a proper blunt. Very different songs, that both directly hit what they're trying to do while fitting incredibly nicely on the same record.

This is hip-hop and the Dough Boys make sure to allow their MC to be front and centre but the moments when they take the spotlight are arresting and impactful. Check the back half of “Collage” where BRAINiac's flow has gains big momentum just to stop dead and give way to a heart-aching saxophone solo. “Amidst Everything” floats on a cloud of spacey, drifting keys. I haven't thought of a guitar as a secret weapon in many years, but here on the Dough Boys' debut, the guitar is a shockingly effective weapon – like on “Thirst” where the guitar just gives the song such a perfect, slinky, sliding-through-the-night feeling. (Check out guitarist Ranger's generally fantastic solo output too. Especially this wonderful single.) And none of it works without a rhythm section, after all, this is hip-hop, and the rhythm section holds the proceedings together tightly.

With their smart, stoned-out, perfectly chilled debut, The Dough Boys are staking their claim as an act to watch on the west coast to watch. They've built a base for something special going forward. And even if they just stopped at this one album, they could rest easy known they've created a legit summer classic of an album.

Support the boys and pick up the album on Bandcamp (It’s also available to stream wherever you like to stream things.)