Griz ensures funk is alive & well at the Commodore (Vancouver event review)

By Ryan Hayes

Lovingly curated and nurtured by Grant Kwiecinski's renewed creative vision, the Ride Waves tour is a celebration of the core tenants embedded at the heart of dance music. Although the Commodore was unable to accommodate GRiZ' mind bending Imaginarium setup—he did manage to squeeze 24 sets of lasers on stage—the essence of the tour remained intact.

Bolstered by GRiZ' unfettered artistic scope, the entire show is constructed to transport the audience and put a smile on their face. 2019 has been an incredible production streak for Grant who released a full LP & three Bangers EPs—twenty three official GRiZ releases in just nine months. Ride Waves is his most actualized album to date, and his Bangers offshoot his brought new sounds to the stagnant landscape of bass music. Griztronics is this year's unofficial dub anthem.

As the night progressed GRiZ transitioned through a wide spectrum of musical genres. From a headbangers paradise, to saxophone infused elctro-funk, through to a house leaning section...and back around again...regardless of what GRiZ played, everyone was along for the ride.

The Ride Waves tour seems to have fostered the continual growth of a welcoming fan base; the core of which is strengthened by the genuine connection Grant facilitates with his community. It's what the catch all umbrella label of EDM needs. Artistry. Vision. Personality. A deviation from the standard commercialized path currently bleeding festivals dry of any recognizable character.

With the aid of his live band Grant brought Ride Waves alive for attendees. PROBCAUSE rapped alongside Grant throughout the show and carried songs including 'My Friends & I Pt. 2' and a stellar rendition of the impactful 'It Gets Better' which is usually helmed by DRAM. Chrishira Perrier's soulful vocals always ushered a torrent of energy from the crowd; highlights included 'I'm Good' & 'I Like That.' Stepping out from behind his guitar we were treated to Muzzy Bear's vocals on Ride Waves' 'Caught Up.'

The entire show represented the physical embodiment of Grant's desire to step out of his creative comfort zone and take his GRiZ persona to new heights. Grant played more saxophone, led sections on guitar, and—even lent his vocals to live renditions of tracks from both Ride Waves & his Bangers EPs.

Perhaps not the fever pitch for energy, but certainly a peak for pure vibes; Cruise Control sat squarely in the middle of his show. After ramping up the audience with a string of heavy wubs he expertly brought us back to a beautiful middle ground with chilled funk vibes. We were all in it together, and that was the point.

Like Bassnectar before him, and more recently Excision, Grant is in the midst of creating something both intimately important to a growing section of super fans, and commercially viable on a large scale. Ride Waves may have been his sixth album but it is just the beginning of a much larger act two for Grant Kwiecinski.

Vancouver Embraced What So Not (Event review)

By Ryan Hayes

What So Not took over the Commodore Ballroom this past Saturday for a rock laden set with hip hop sensibilities and traditional DJ interludes. From an artistic standpoint the entire set was a step above the regular DJ affair, incorporating drums, a sample pad, and a dedicated guitarist—in other words he definitely wasn't just pressing play. Leaning heavily on original productions, his set was spanned the breadth of his career; all the way back to now classics Jaguar, and the Branchez remix of High You Are.

Felix Cartal recently took to Twitter commenting pointedly on the current state of generic DJ sets: “DJ's please play more of your own music, if people bought a ticket to see you, they want to hear your songs.” Luckily for fans in Vancouver that has never been a problem for What So Not. More than quick-to-fame DJ's with a trendy banger or two What so Not falls in to the Flume, Bassnecter, Alison Wonderland, and Rezz camp...focusing on artistry and atmosphere. He has created a fervent following of die hard fans and proven himself as a true artistic talent with a strong stylistic vision.

That being said the DJ portions of his set were well timed, and filled with crowd pleasing, commercial inclined hits, including; a sing along of Toto's classic hit Africa, Skrillex' headbanging anthem Chicken Soup, the now customary Bodak Yellow remix, and the perfectly fitting theme to Stranger Things. Perhaps the one drawback this style of show were the transitions out of the DJ segments back in to What So Not's live material. Occasionally there was dead air and a rapid change in energy. Regardless, any lull never lasted for long, and the audience immediately forgot the second a unique live element took over. The drum solo during a live edit of GOH, and the live vocals for We Keep On Running were definitely highlights.

After a quick hour and fifteen minutes the lights went down, and What So Not walked off stage. If the show had ended there it would not have been enough for Vancouver fans, however, we were graced with a twenty minute encore roaring to life with a thunderous rendition of Divide & Conquer. It was easily the strongest continuous segment of the night. If you have a chance to catch What So Not on his Beautiful Things North America Tour PT2 don't miss out.

Win tickets to EVER AFTER Music Festival in Kitchener Ontario!

Are you ready to be transported into a fantasy world? That is what EVER AFTER Music Festival has in store for you!

The festival running from June 8th-10th has it all: great lineup of musical acts led by Canada's own Excision, a waterpark, midway rides, games and fun zones including an Enchanted forest and an Interactive EA trail. 

EDM Canada has teamed up with EVER AFTER Music Festival to give our followers a chance to win a pair (2) of General Admission Passes to experience EVER AFTER Music Festival! 

To enter: 

1) Follow Ever After's official Instagram page
2) Follow EDM Canada's official Instagram page
3) Comment on EDM CANADA's EVER AFTER CONTEST Instagram post tagging your friend and using the hashtag #winwithedmcanada

Winners must be 16+ years old (must be able to present two pieces of government issued ID upon entry to the festival). Open to residents in Canada and the United States

The contest is live now and closes at Noon (12 pm) on May 31st! The winner will be contacted via Instagram so make sure to check your messages on May 31st. 

Good luck! 

Zeds Dead and Jauz team up to create an exciting Drum 'N' Bass track called "Lights Go Down"

Just before we hit the new year Toronto's own Zeds Dead has teamed up with bass/house artist Jauz to deliver one of the more exciting tracks released in the second half of the year called "Lights Go Down". It's a huge collab that deliver's an unexpected but welcomed drum and bass drop and created an uplifting and dance worthy track. Running at almost 5 minutes long, 'Lights Go Down" has plenty of room to create a mood with a long build up with a strong DnB and bassy drop that leaves a lot of time to do your best shuffle on the dancefloor. Take a listen below: 

Hopefully "Lights Go Down" isn't a one-off DnB track by Zeds Dead and Jauz as the wider bass scene could use more of that DnB vibe to lighten things up in-between all of the headbanging. 

8 questions answered about the Escapade Music Festival happening this weekend in Ottawa

Escapade is a 2-day festival happening this weekend at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa that is 93% sold out which will showcase some of the best DJs on the planet over 3 stages. Taking place just a few days before Canada day, Escapade is a special event in Ottawa that lets fans have a great time on the eve of Canada's 150 birthday. EDM Canada had a chance to speak with Ali Shafaee, the director of partnerships for Escapade, about the history of the festival, the lineup, location change, and how they made Escapade extra special for Canada's 150th birthday. 

Can you give fans the history of Escapade?

We're going into our 7th year, we kinda grew from an idea which is a one day downtown parking lot party for Canada Day. After 2 years of doing that we grew into a 2-day festival with 3 stages and 30,000 attendance. So it's grown a lot. We're based in Ottawa but a significant part of our attendance comes from the GTA area, Quebec, upstate New York, and even out east.

What makes Escapade special?

What we hear from fans is that Escapade is a “really large small festival”, if that makes sense. We have a lot of attendees and some of the biggest acts in the world, but when they come here they all remark at how “intimate” the vibe is. Everybody gets along with everyone, everyone is really friendly. We don't have massive distances in between our stages, which makes it more like a homey feel, where people feel comfortable.

We get the same thing with the artists, as they feel how into the crowd are into their sets and they have a great time. We're this big festival, but in a small city like Ottawa that has had great success.

Escapade has changed locations to Lansdowne Park - how will this new  location change how the fans interact with the festival?

Lansdowne Park is a 5-minute drive from the downtown core making it a central location for all festival goers and will be easier to get to using multiple forms of transportation. Our new home will also include free transportation via OC Transpo from anywhere in the city, two outdoor stages looking over the historic Rideau Canal and an Indoor arena stage with enhanced production.

Escapade is known for its diverse lineups – can you tell me the thought process on how you created the 2017 edition?

We tried to analyze what the fans want by doing a lot of polls throughout the year, and doing a recap at the end of the year with a survey. We want to know what the fan base wants in terms of music and festival. We've always been diverse in what we want to achieve and try to cover off as many genres as possible.

Richie Hawtin is an artist that is playing Escapade for the very first time and it's Canada's 150th birthday and he really wanted to make an impact by being in Canada and doing as many shows as possible and Escapade was a target of his. We're extremely excited to have Richie come and play the festival for the first time.

Tiesto also wanted to be a part of the 150th birthday for Canada and he's an icon who's played sold out shows all across the country. We jumped at the opportunity for him to come on board. We curated a Snails stage and he's Canadian from Montreal. So we tried our best to bring in as many genres and appease our fan base.

How many do you expect for the 2017 edition of Escapade?

We are on par from where we were from last year. 30 – 40% of our festival attendees come from outside of town. This is good for businesses and hotels in Ottawa to have that many people come from out of town to Escapade.

Who are you most excited to see at Escapade this year?

Richie Hawtin is definitely one that will be on my list. I don't think I've ever seen live so he's up there. I'm pretty excited to see Alan Walker, he's an up and coming act with a great show behind him. I think Alan Walker will be the surprise act of Escapade if I had to pick one.

What's your view on the current health of the festival outlook for 2017 and beyond?

There are festivals that are struggling or have been canceled in the last few years. A lot of factors go into that, like the over saturation of too many festivals. It could be the economy, the low Canadian dollar versus the American dollar, so there's a lot of different factors.

With Escapade, just as long as we evolve into what our fans are looking for, and looking at the trends on what our fans want, then we'll be okay. As soon as you start doing something that your audience isn't looking for, then you might have difficulties. Escapade tries to evolve every year and we'll continue to do that to 2018 and beyond.

Make your best pitch: why should fans go to Escapade this year?

To celebrate Canada's 150th, with in our opinion, the best lineup to date. A lot of people say that Escapade is one of the most fun weekends of their life.

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Thank you to Ali Shafaee for the interview. For the latest information on Escapade including tickets, lineups, and upcoming set times - click here.