Win 2 tickets to see Kaskade and Big Wild at Lululemon's SeaWheeze Sunset Festival in Vancouver!

After its wildly successful 2018 transition in to the world of EDM, Lululemon's post-half marathon festival, SeaWheeze, is back for another year of fun in iconic Stanley Park. Kaskade is headlining this year's iteration bringing his perfect blend of big room grandeur with a potential sprinkling of Redux vibes; perfect for the festivals sunset time slot. Big Wild is set for opening duties, and with the 2019 release of his SuperDream LP his has plenty of original material to share with attendees. Sun, art installations, a marketplace, yoga, and first class dance music...and all with an ocean view.

Head onto Instagram, find the post, and follow + tag a fan in the comments and you’re entered! Contest is open now until August 9th. Enter now!

For those that missed last year’s SeaWheeze fun, check out the recap:

Sunset Festival takes on dance music

By Ryan Hayes

Last Saturday was a first— a Lululemon festival headlined by Diplo, acting as the official after party for a half marathon. Initially filled with apprehension, past iterations of the Sunset Festival have hosted more eclectic indie rocker bands like Young, but the night continually surprised. As the event unfolded it exceeded my expectations at every turn. From a purely organizational standpoint there were no lines, no one waited for food or drinks for longer than a few minutes, everyone had space, the vendors/market were varied, and most importantly everyone in the crowd was respectful. There was definitely a clear divide between attendees who had purchased their tickets to see Diplo/Felix Cartal and those who were there as an extension of the half marathon; but everyone enjoyed themselves.

Felix Cartal took the stage first and weaved together an hour long set packed with originals like Mood, Faces, and a stellar intro edit of Fakin It. What impressed me the most about Cartal's set was it's cohesion; even when he was playing other artist's tracks. Every twist and turn fit neatly within the new soundscape that Cartal has carved out for himself over the last few years. It was a tight, well selected set, welcoming the diverse crowd at Seawheeze and easing them in to a world they may not be accustomed to. As the hour progressed Cartal picked up tempo preparing the audience for Diplo. Britney Spear's Toxic (played in full), and Cartal's final track, his rendition 1998's hit Get What You Give, unified the crowd of over 10,000 runners and dance music fans.

As a musical curator and track selector, Diplo is unrivaled in his field. Weaving together Diplo originals from all four of his side projects (Jack Ü, Major Lazer, LDS & Silk City), his set defied genre's. After announcing that this was his last festival of the 'summer season' (it was the first day of Fall) Diplo laid down one of the most fun, and free, festival sets I had seen in ages. The secret was that it didn't take itself too seriously. From decade spanning hits for the Seawheeze mainstream—Vengaboys' We like to Party & the Macarena, through to Kelis' Milkshake & Drake's In My Feelings—to future bass, house, & festival mainstay mashups—Ping Pong vs Tremor vs Freak & Beyonce Run The World (Girls) vs Duke Dumont's remix of Swish Swish—Diplo blazed relentlessly through his hour long set surprising marathon runner's and exceeding the expectations of dance music fans.

After declaring he had one last track for us, Diplo proceeded to play for an extended twenty minutes past his scheduled set time. While many Seawheeze attendees proceeded to file out, hoping to be the first in line at the shuttles, Diplo delved in to Shiba San's Okay; seemingly signifying it was time for the pure house portion of the night. Whether it was Anti Up's Pizza, Fisher's Stop It, or Camelphat & Elderbrook Cola...Diplo didn't seem to have a road map anymore, he was simply feeling house music. It was an after party hidden within a festival. Traversing through extended mixes of tacks void of traditional festival drops/hooks groups of die hard dance music fans began to pop up and cluster together throughout the crowd—smiling because they knew what was going on and were excited, even if the majority of the audience didn't. It was a risk, but that's what Diplo does best, he exposes people to new genre's of music and pushes them to the forefront.

When all was said and down Seawheeze Sunset Festival was a massive success. Everyone, regardless of their musical leanings, enjoyed themselves, and both artists walked away from the night with legions of new fans. Here's to hoping Seawheeze 2019 also has a dance music lineup.

Highlights from day one of FVDED In The Park (Review)

By Ryan Hayes

Another year of FVDED In The Park has come and gone. Although we were unfortunately only able to attend day one of this year's event there were still plenty of dance music highlights. The main difference at this year's addition was the massive overhaul to the Northwest stage: with literally double the production & a brand new tent structure. As almost every other major festival in the lower mainland has collapsed over the last few years FVDED continues to expand and at this point very little stands in its way as it strengthens its hold on Vancouver's festival market.

Although day one tended towards the rap side of FVDED's overall lineup attendees were treated a world class stretch of uninterrupted dance music. Four and a half straight hours of fantastic music by true dance music artists—Ookay, Duke Dumont, Kaskade, AC Slater, & Rezz. By the last drop I could safety say that the day's offerings more than justified the ticket price.

Keeping it a step above the rest, here are our day one highlights:

AC Slater

With one of the few sets running for eighty minutes AC Slater kept the people dancing from start to finish. Headlining a packed FVDED Lab—the audience was literally overflowing—with his unique blend of bass laden UK infused house music Slater kept the night's theme of all things house alive and well. In the past every stage at FVDED has drawn a different audience, however, this year was a unique experience. As the day progressed I slowly began to notice the same crowd gravitating from stage to stage following quality music. Everywhere I went the crowd travelled with me: there was the guy with a giant inflatable plastic straw, a girl and her boyfriend who had seen Kaskade six times, the crew with the full sized Night Bass flag, and a handful of others. Spending the time to create a truly immersive experience AC Slater's set started relatively calm and picked up speed and playfulness as the night progressed. It was by far the most cohesive set of day one

Kaskade

Lets start off by saying Kaskade was the real headliner of day one—Future may have been billed higher, but the night's energy reached its fever pitch during Kaskade's absolutely packed main stage set. It wasn't the most tight-knit Kaskade set I had ever seen, but the decision to play it fast and loose and just have fun seemed to be very conscious. Rolling through his melodic hits stitched together with dancing music anthems like Reload while working in a few pop mega hits like The Killer's Mr. Brightside insured that everyone left Kaskade's set with a big smile on their face. There was even a section near the end of his set, which he embarked on by playing his 2008 hit with Deadmau5 I Remember, where he took the tempo down and skirted around some redux vibes. Twenty thousand people singing and jumping in unison; forgetting their problems awash in a sea of euphoric energy. Isn't that what main stage festival dance music is all about? As always Kaskade was the gold standard.

Rezz

Without a shadow of a doubt no audience was more hyped for an act than the thousands of FVDED attendees who crammed themselves in to the Northwest tent to see Rezz. Having seen Rezz play BC Place I was worried this would seem small and anticlimactic by comparison, but each and every person in attendance at FVDED was a die hard Rezz fan. Every twist and every turn elicited a thunderous roar of approval from the audience. Cellphones high, everyone was ravenous to capture even a few seconds of new material. With Contact having taken place just over six months ago there was also the risk that Rezz' set would be too similar to her previous offering—that wasn't the case. With new productions from her upcoming album, Witching Hour & Hex, along with countless ID's Rezz somehow managed to sounds entirely fresh and surprising all over again. I am not sure how she does it but she continues to get better with every live set. Unequivocally Vancouver agreed.

Aside: Where Rap & Dance Meet

It is absolutely worth mentioning that Noodles early DJ set at the FVDED Lab represented the perfect blend of what FVDED In The Park is attempting to achieve as a festival. Rolling through Rap and R&B hits both old and new combined with heavier festival oriented bass heavy beats Noodles managed to meet everyone right in the middle. She drew in both sides of the festivals overall audience, and for that she deserves major credit.

Canadian Musicians celebrate diversity and equality at the 2018 JUNO awards: pledging to be united for the future of music

By Sinejan Ozaydemir 

This past weekend, Vancouver city played host to the 2018 JUNO awards. EDM Canada was pleased to be part of the JUNOS weekend, bring you live coverage via twitter and instagram. The list of Canadian artists that were nominated, set to take stage and present at the two night event filled us with anticipation for months and not surprisingly - it delivered! 

Just how awesome was the show? It was the first time that the event was broadcasted live in all of Canada as well as worldwide, on CBC and cbc.ca, breaking records as the most-watched primetime program in Canada. The Gala dinner, as well as the awards show, were full of great music, great humour and collective proclamations of unity. 

We had the opportunity to witness beautiful performances by Arcade Fire, Arkells, Daniel Caesar, Diana Krall, Felix Cartal, Jessie Reyez, Lights, Shawn Hook, The Jerry Cans, Barenaked Ladies ft. Steven Page, the Rascalz, City and Colour and Sarah Harmer, James Barker Band, Clairmont The Second, Terra Lightfoot, Iskwe and Caveboy. 

The artists, stages and performances, however, were not the only things that impressed us at this year’s awards week. A big topic that many artists and industry leaders wanted to talk about was equality for all in the music industry. With the rise in the #metoo movement all around the world, Canadian artists took centre stage to stress the importance of creating a safe space for all, regardless of gender or race. Stories were shared on and backstage discussing how this needs to be a collaborative effort and just how important it is to achieve this goal in the long run. Canadians are known for embracing our multiculturalism and fight for equality. The feeling that this ongoing fight is heading in a very positive direction was certainly clear this weekend. It was amazing to hear and see artists and industry leaders come together, celebrating each other's accomplishments and vowing to each other to take a stand and make sure that the future is different. 

A few empowering and encouraging examples of this movement in action were: 

When Denise Donlon said while accepting her Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the JUNOS awards gala: “We are world leaders in artistic talent. Let’s be leaders in gender equality, respect and inclusivity too. … and by the way, the idea that there are no “qualified” women candidates, is just wrong. There are hundreds.” She then followed by asking the men in the room to stand up and pledge to champion women, support women and mentor women. She ended by saying ”Let us all wholeheartedly embrace diversity, respect and inclusion in our hearts and in our deeds and not only will Canadians continue to win, but we will thrive.”

When Buffy Sainte-Marie said while introducing Lights on the Awards stage on Sunday: “It’s time for change. It’s time for women to be recognized for our accomplishments and our value to this industry. It's time for a far greater awareness for what women have done, and what we are capable of doing. We need to build a foundation upon which we can support an environment that actually encourages success for women as engineers, as producers, as artists and writers, as inventors and providers of new music because it’s not here yet. 

We need to be at the forefront and advocate and be the catalyst for change and now’s the time to do it! 

From the bottom to the top of the industry we need to create a safer world for the next generation of women.”

A part of this discussion specifically with regards to gender equality in the industry was with regards to the few number of Canadian women who take on the role of producers and recording engineers. Alan Reid, president and CEO of CARAS shared with us that this year the percentage of women submitted into the engineering and producer categories were only 4% and 8% respectively.  He believes that there should be more support for women in these categories and stated that there is a lot of room for improvement here. Diana Krall, who was the only woman nominated for the Jack Richardson Producer of the year award took home the award saying that she is very happy to represent women in this category and is wanting to produce for and collaborate with other women and artists in the future. 

A similar discussion was had at the JUNO nominee producer and engineer panel in support of Musicounts attended by Electronic music producer Felix Cartal. The panel discussed the importance of having women involved in all aspects of the industry but especially talked about the presence of women involved in the writing and recording process. The panelists all exchanged nods as they discussed the wonderful dynamics of having diverse groups of people together in the recording process. Whether it be different genders or musical styles, they all agreed that diversity helps create better art and should be encouraged. 

We would say that the JUNOS were not only a fantastic and successful celebration of Canadian music, but also a great display of how we are moving forward as music lovers in this country. 

If you missed it, you can watch the broadcast here: https://youtu.be/NYVVaH_IU-4

and the Gala awards dinner here: 

https://youtu.be/dS_StZMntTo 

Canada gets ready to celebrate their musical talent this Sunday at the JUNO Awards in Vancouver

It is the time of year when Canadians celebrate our musical talent! EDM Canada is excited to announce that we will be bringing you JUNOs 2018 coverage this week March 19 - March 25 from Vancouver BC.

Below are the excellent lists of nominees in the electronic music categories this year.

This year’s Electronic Album of the Year nominees are:

• Tenderness – Blue Hawaii
• Someone else – Cri
• Two Hearts – Dabin
• Music To Draw To: Satellite – Kid Koala ft. Emilíana Torrini
• Mass Manipulation – Rezz

This year’s Dance Recording of the Year nominees are:

• Not Going Home ft. Gia Koka & CMC$ – DVBBS
• Get What You Give – Felix Cartal
• Deeper – KAPRI
• Closer ft. Laurell – Nick Fiorucci
• Almost Home ft. Nadia Ali & Iro – Sultan + Shepard

This year, there is also an EDM artist and producer, Felix Cartal, nominated for the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award, for his songs “Get What You Give” and “Drifting Away”. 

Felix Cartal will also be taking on the role of HOUSE DJ at the 2018 JUNO awards on Sunday March 25 2018, live on CBC 5PM PT / 8PM ET.

The full list of nominees for all categories can be found here. 

Listen to the 2018 JUNO nominees on Apple Music by click here and here. 

Join us on EDM CANADA’s Twitter and Instagram next weekend as we cover the awards live.

We are wishing all of talented nominees best of luck! All of your Canadian Electronic Music fans are looking forward to celebrating with you next weekend at the 2018 JUNO awards.

For anyone who would like to attend the show tickets are available via ticketmaster here.