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 ++

Hip-Hop Thursday #2 - Grand Analog - Survival

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The first great hip-hop of 2018 has landed in my ears courtesy of Grand Analog. Their latest, Survival EP, is a incredibly fine-crafted piece of hip-hop. As I get older I have less time to spend obsessively dissecting music – especially something like hip-hop that demands such a high degree of attention – my music needs to work equally well on my headphones as walking through the city or bumping on the speakers with a group of people, and few things lately have hit both sides like Survival. Starting your night off? “Ballad of the Beast” is going to get heads bobbing something fierce. At the height of the party and need something silky smooth and deeply groovy to get help peoples' hips moving? “Quiet Life” is going to be the thing you need. Ending your night and need something a little more gentle and pretty in your hip-hop? “Survival: The Levy” is sure to scratch that chilled-out itch.

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As expected as a live-band oriented hip-hop group, the beats here are unfathomably lush, popping and dripping with the warmth that only a unified whole of moving parts can deliver. The flourishes of electronic music are used to great effect (As Grand Analog is want to do), pushing the groups trademark future old-school sound ever-gently forward. Good on the headphones, good on the dancefloor (As we discussed). The sequencing here is similarly deft – everything meticulously laid out, giving a strong sonic arc to an EP, something that often goes overlooked on such releases. The instrumental tracks here are indispensable little bridges, pulsing with depth and feeling. MC Odario Williams is as fly as ever, hitting each track with well-earned confidence. He's not here to overwhelm the ears with speed. Homie is here with that direct flow, giving his thoughtful, witty and clever wordplay raps space to breathe and be heard. Some incredible guest spots – including show-stealing spots from Posdnous of the mighty De La Soul (“Mutations”) and one of Canada's true treasures, Shad (“Ballad of the Beast”) – round things out and compliment Williams' lyrical stylings perfectly. (Special props to the basketball raps too, from both Odario and Shad. I feel like I don't get enough basketball references in my modern hip-hop.) It all adds up to making Survival the first gotta-get-in-ya rap release of the year. Go listen to it.

http://grandanalog.com BUY/STREAM/SAVE/DOWNLOAD EP: http://smarturl.it/survivalep Starring: Nathan Leppky Director: Odario Cinematographer: Jason S.C Grip/Camera Assistant: Daniel J. Dwyer ©2018 Grand Analog Music.

Survival is available on vinyl over at Grand Analog's site. Or digitally on bandcamp.

A Year In West Coast Bass with Jim Vanderhorst.

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2017 is the year I really felt like a legit part of the bass community here on the Canadian west coast. I've met and talked with an astonishing breadth of people with fantastical levels of skill and love for their respective crafts. Djs and producers, photographers, dancers, visual effects and lighting people, sound engineers, visual artists and writers – all working to help this music and culture we all love to thrive. One of the people who I've come to respect deeply both on a personal level and artistic level, is Jim Vanderhorst, the man behind Rebel Cause Films – the company behind some of the most unique and definitely most watchable festival and artist recaps films. His eye for his the medium and his never-ending push to show the most human parts of the culture give his videos an unparalleled warmth and sense of community. His compassion, thoughtfulness and willingness to speak up for what he believes when filming, discussing or just participating in the culture is a powerful and valuable trait. As someone who has made his name observing bass culture and translating what he sees for further consumption, I couldn't think of anyone more appropriate to help me take a look back at some of the things that made 2017 such a big year for bass music here on the best coast. As we enter a new year in bass and whatever weird-ass shit the party brings, we take a final look back at a pretty incredible 2017 with the incomparable leader of Rebel Cause Films, Jim Vanderhost.

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What's something that you've noticed in the bass community that you would like to see changed in the upcoming year or trends you'd like to see end?

There needs to be more awareness of just how bad women have it in this scene. There's a big discussion about it right now but a lot of things aren't being talked about. Like, go-go dancers are lucky to get paid enough to pay for there outfits...but they're usually not. They're getting in for free. People walk around thinking they're getting paid a bunch and treating them like shit. Like, 1% of Djs are girls. It's not promoted much and when they do get to play in this area it's an all-girls night, it's pandering and that's not helping the cause either. There are places like Calgary that have some great female acts that are starting to grow but out on the West Coast I'm not seeing it. I think a lot of shit that happens is just not fair. I think men need to really take a second and understand it's not fair. Women are organizing these entire things. Shambhala and Bass Coast are fucking run by women. And yet the talent buyers and everything are all hiring predominantly male acts. The women that are organizing everything are so busy making shit happen for us idiot men they sometimes don't notice the disservices being done. We have a huge long way to go before things are actually fair and I think we need to start taking better care of women who wanna get involved in performance, whether they're go-go dancers or Djs. Guys who want to do it should not complain about things being unfair for guys. So many male stage performers I've seen talk about how hard it is to be a man in this scene.

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5 Questions with Rags #62 - Sam Klassik

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I could use this space telling you about how dope Sam Klassik is. How he does high-level musical acrobatics as he does crazy-hard things like splitting the difference between earthy and spacey, between funky and atmospheric. I could tell you about how I met him on a bus on the way to Tall Tree Music Festival last summer and that he's a rad, thoughtful guy. I could tell you about seeing his incredible range at Tall Tree as he smoked his own daytime set, sat in with Lazy Syrup Orchestra and Everyman. I could tell you how he's become an instant fixture in my beloved hometown Victoria since his recent arrival. All of these things are deep and true, but when I called the good homie up for a little 5 Questions action, he had just finished getting some dinner down. And it really sounded like some good dinner. “Ghetto ramen. Pimped out Mr. Noodles. It has a bunch of broccoli, mushrooms, onions and carrots. And an egg. You gotta put an egg in there. It's the key, that elevates it above the average ramen. You just drop an egg in the water when it's boiling, before you put everything else in, and you kind of swirl it around but you keep the yolk intact. Then you end up with a really nice yolk in it and the white mixes in with the noodles - makes it tasty.” So, now you to can share in Sam Klassik's dinner special with a recipe from the man himself. Maybe make it after you read this awesome round of 5 Questions, or maybe to nourish yourself before you go have yourself a serious dance.

1. What was the first album you bought with your own money?

On tape or on CD?

Either one. Or both.

First album on tape I ever bought was Green Day – Dookie. First album I ever bought on CD was Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. And the first one I ever ordered from Amazon was Slim Shady LP. I ordered it on a dial-up modem on my home computer. Amazon was on that shit back at the birth of the internet.

Which of those three is your favourite today?

Probably the Eminem one. Something about his lyrical content was really fun to listen to. It's definitely not acceptable by todays standards but I think that's what made teenage Sam like it so much. It was just totally off the rails. He talked about drugs at an age when may have been getting interested in that topic.

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

In music, for the first time I created a beat as I was posting it to my Instagram story live in real time.

In life, I used a sex toy on someone for the first time.

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5 Questions with Rags #61 - Handsome Tiger

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I hadn't heard the name Handsome Tiger before this past summer, and now I can't go long without seeing the name Handsome Tiger. With a slew of one-off shows and festival stops – Including Fest-stealing appearances at those meccas of west coast bass, Bass Coast and Shambahala – the good homie is quickly becoming a fixture in the West Coast bass scene. Consistently delivering a phenomenal blend of smooth, deep bass, hip-hop sensibilities and world-beat flourishes, in a remarkably short time, Handsome Tiger has created a unique and thrilling sound in a world over-saturated with repeats. “It's been about two years that I've been Djing under this moniker and putting out electronic music.,” says Tiger, talking at me from home in Vancouver. “It's really great because shows and opportunities are happening more frequently and I'm very appreciative. All the hard work is starting to pay off.”

Like a lot of my favourite electronic artists, Handsome Tiger's roots lay in instruments, in live music. “I was a vocalist, played guitar and drums and bass. I grew up playing more dancey indie rock/rock 'n' roll/psychadelic kind of stuff. That was where I started. I always had an appreciation for electronic music but it wasn't really in the forefront,” he says of his musical beginnings. “I was trying to pinpoint getting into bass music...You know when your parents tell you something is really cool but you're too young and naive to really get it? I always refer back to that story that I have with my dad. In our household growing up there was always lots of dub and reggae and dancehall and stuff like that – the roots of bass music essentially. I grew up on listening to a lot more of that music and having that around as a kid. Three or four years ago I started heavily listening to pretty much just electronic music, deep bass music, more the UK stuff and I started to wonder, 'Where does this music come from? Oh wait...' This is what my dad was trying to tell me and now I'm 30 and I realize that he's right.” Nothing like realizing your parents were right the whooooole time. Luckily, all his dad's love of low-key legendary bass rubbed off and we get the fine work of Handsome Tiger to enjoy on our dancefloors now. I was fortunate enough to get a bit of the good homie's time in between his rapid takeover of groovy places so we could chat about KoRn, a deep fear and Attempting Vegan.

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

I definitely remember being super excited – this is super embarrassing – there was this CD store that was a 10 minute walk from my school when I was in grade 6 or 7. I remember being obsessed with bands like KoRn and Blink-182. I remember being 12 or 13, all excited and needing the new KoRn album really badly.

I have a friend whose jam is to go through bands catalogues in the span of a week or whatever and after listening to KoRn's entire catalogue, he determined that they are the worst band in the history of rock music.

<laughs> They were good in their time and when that was a thing, but it's very depressing music.

They got some jams. I'll always have a soft spot for “Got the Life.”

Yeah, definitely! I love that track. Pretty much anything off that record...that was the one.

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