#festivalseason - Rifflandia celebrates 10 years of beating up on genre standards.

What are we doing here? Are we celebrating the end of summer or the beginning of fall? It doesn't really matter. In just a few days Rifflandia will once again take over my beloved home of Victoria. Three nights and three days (Spanning four total days) of music,traversing endless territories of world-known and local acts, live and electronic musics, bound by no genre, Rifflandia looks to be more all-encompassing that ever in its triumphant, 10th year of of delivering aural goodness to the Canadian west coast. With all that music on nine stages, there's as much as ever to sort through and this year I'm taking a slightly different approach. Rather than trying to absorb all of the hip-hop and bass music I can, this year, in honour of Riff's 10th birthday, my must-sees are going to spread out over more sonic space than ever – but also still with lots of bass music and hip-hop vibes – trying to get a little bit of everything into this years Essential 4 Successful Rifflandia Guide.

Fox Glove – Thursday, Copper Owl, 11-11:45PM

As I've been alive with functioning ears in Victoria for the last few years, I had heard whispers of Fox Glove for a long time before I finally had the the pleasure of witnessing the folk power trio. On the Tall Tree main stage earlier this summer Fox Glove laid down the most affecting performance I've seen in a long time. Since I lost my shit in an unstoppable flood of tears and a nose stuffed beyond belief, Fox Glove's achingly beautiful harmonies have been burned into my brain. This Rifflandia – one of the dancingest Rifflandias yet – if you're looking for music that's going to let you breathe and make you feel deep things inside of yourself that maybe you forgot how to feel, set aside a little bit of time for Fox Glove on night 1.

Murge/Astrocolor – Saturday, Phillips Backyard, 9-11PM

I didn't combine these two because they are sonically similar. They're not. I mean, they both hit the best pleasure centres in my brain and ears with their smooth musical stylings. Here I group them together because no two acts in the last couple of years have got me quite as riled up about my local music scene. I've spent the better part of a year talking up the fresh, warm hip-hop of Murge and the weird and smooth live acid house of Astrocolor. It doesn't matter how many times I see them, I'm getting something new, and more importantly something good, to dance to. These two acts, back-to-back, moving the masses at the big stage at Phillips Backyard is really going to be something special. If you like good music that get into your blood stream, accessible dance music that's going to make you move whether you want to or not, you should make it a point to be down at Phillips on Saturday night.

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5 Questions with Rags #29 - Featurecast (!!!)

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Featurecast is best. He’s held a stop spot on my listening list since my good friend and Guide to the Cosmos introduced me to the groovy sounds of the mighty Featurecast a couple of years ago. I’ve seen him live is a goddamned clinic. Featurecast embodies everything I love about an artist, DJ or otherwise – a willingness to try new things, to bring in new elements, a lack of regard for predefined definitions of their art and most of all, the ability to keep up a consistently high quality with everything they do. Dude is a breaks champion, rocks Ghetto Funk like no one’s business, even helped me start my journey in trying to enjoy drum ‘n’ bass. I always dig his drum ‘n’ bass. And even though he’s on the other side of the Atlantic, he’s a fixture over here on the Canadian West Coast. This past summer I missed him in my homebase of Victoria (I was in Vancouver knocking other legends off my list) and just the other day was opining of how long it’s been since the last time I shook my ass to the mighty Featurecast. Luckily for me, and all other Victoria funk-lovers, he’s going to be back here on Dec.3 with other awesome acts, and other 5 Questions answerers, Timothy Wisdom and The Funkee Wadd! I managed to get a few of Mr. Cast’s minutes in between his various DJ and dad duties, to get another round of delicious answers to the 5 Questions! Big respect to Featurecast.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money? What format was it? Favourite track? Do you still have it? Anything else you may remember about it.

The first album I got was actually a Christmas gift and it was Run DMC's Greatest Hits on double vinyl and I have still shrink wrapped till this day. I must have listened to it like a 1000 times! I’m still a huge fan of Run DMC and find it funny that the Run DMC t-shirt has become a fashion accessory these days in the UK. As for the first record I ever bought myself....it was the Ghostbusters theme song that I got in a toy shop when I was a kid. I'm not sure I even knew what a record even was back then but I bought it with my pocket money just because of the amazing cover. 

2. When is the last time you did something for the first time?

Few days ago…going down a slide head first at a kids soft play centre with my daughter. So DJ, rock and roll, I know! Lol

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5 Questions with Rags #28 - Def 3

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I’ve seen Def3 rock a few crowds over the last year and his album Wildlif3 has been in regular rotation on the headphones since its release. This past summer I saw him rock out with the mighty SkiiTour at Shambhala and, more notably, he opened the first night of hip-hops at Phillip’s Brewery on the first night of the Rifflandia festival, here in Victoria. That was more notable for a couple of reasons, 1) It was just Def3 and his band doing their thing rather than working in support of a DJ, and 2) In a night full of yelling and barking and needlessly profane trap-rap, Def3 embodied everything I love about hip-hop and specifically, Canadian hip-hop. When Def3’s joints are pumping from the stage the love and respect for the art form is palpable and wholly addictive. I’ve been wanting to get ahold of the homey for a few minutes now and was happy to get him fresh off rock Portland with fellow Canadian hip-hop masters, Sweatshop Union. We talked about Hallowe’en, Thomas Edison and the current, amazing state of hip-hop. Respect to Def3 and Saskatchewan, because really, how often to I get to shout Saskatchewan?

1. Do you remember the first album you went out and bought with your own money?

Yeah, actually. It was Wreckx-N-Effect,  Hard or Smooth, on cassette.

Do you still have it?

No. I have some of my tapes, but that one I don’t have anymore. I still have quite a few but a lot of them are pretty damaged.

It’s not a particularly hardy medium, eh?

No. <laugh>

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

If we’re talking about fiction, I’d say Magnolia. That was really cool. Documentary-wise – I watched a movie called Forks Over Knives that kind of twisted my head up a bit and turned me into a vegetarian for awhile.

For awhile…You’re not a vegetarian anymore?

No. I’m not anymore. I was for almost a year, not super long. I went to Europe and tried for awhile. Interesting story: I met a person will full-blown cancer who was a vegan and that also twisted me up a bit. I thought, “How is that possible?”

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5 Questions with Rags #18 - DJ Wood (Wood 'n' Soo)

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Wood ‘n’ Soo are kind of a west coast institution. The duo has been dropping that good funky shit, with their 4 turntable attack, for years in and around the Vancouver area and beyond. If you need a consistently reliable funk-delivery system, Wood ‘n Soo are the guys you turn to in these parts. This was going to be a doubler with both homeys, but Soo has disappeared from my scope! I really hope he’s okay because I’m pumped to see them in just a few short weeks. (Gates open 29 days from the day of this posting!) So today, we’re going to bring a shorter but no less sweet entry of the 5 Questions with the other half of the duo, DJ Wood, who’s real name is Sherwood, which is unassailably badass.

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Since it’s time to be getting ready for Shambhala…Do you have a favourite Shambhala memory?

DJ Wood: 2005 I remember there was a flash rainstorm on Friday afternoon, just after we got there. It poured rain for like a half hour. It left so much water in the field that we saw people skimboarding in the grass on the field. There’s a lot of memories outside of just general merriment and good music. That’s the one that sticks out.

If you’re around the Farm make sure to catch the funky duo opening Fractal Forest at 4pm on Saturday (Before SCRATCH NIGHT!).

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1. Do you remember the first album you purchased with your own money?

Wood: Probably would have been Run DMC Raising Hell. I’d probably have to say “Peter Piper” is my favourite track on there. It’s probably everybody’s favourite on there. Classic tune.

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5 Questions with Rags #17 - SkiiTour

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I didn’t know until late Thursday night of Shambhala 2014 that I enjoyed any form of house music. Unknowingly I enjoyed the fuck out of a house set earlier in the day and when I said later in the night to my DJ pal “This sounds like that SkiiTour I was telling you about from earlier.” “Oh, that’s house music.” And with that, because of the SkiiTour (Known in real life as Tim Livingstone and Dave Rollie), I discovered I like funky house music. And let me say, as of this writing, I don’t think I’ve found house DJs I enjoy more. As they dropped the most surprisingly wicked set I saw last year I’m stoked they into taking some time from creating more funky goodness in the ol’ studio to talk some shit about movies and kidnapping Graham Hancock to preserve the knowledge of humankind. They’ll be back on Shambhala this year (Back at the AMPhitheatre) and I’m pumped for them starting my road this year with the first of what’s hopefully a string of Shambs-related 5 Questions!

Fun fact: I accosted Dave Rollie at Shambhala after yelling simply “SkiiTour” and gave him a hug, then ran off into the night. I may have been influenced by intoxicants of some kind.

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Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Rollie: My first record was Naughty By Nature (1991). My mom had to come by it for me. Record stores pushing Black music onto young white kids. I play music from it still quite a lot.

Tim: I can’t remember what mine was.

What was the last great album you bought then?

Rollie: Bought?!

All of us: <We were laughing!>

Okay, the last great album you got ahold of?

Tim: What was the last album I listened to cover to cover…Man, it’s so hard these days. Who has the attention span for a whole album? That’s a good question, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. We can come back to that. <We never did.>

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