Full Flex leaves its mark on Vancouver

A neon circus flooded Vancouver streets on Sunday as ravers, young and old, came out of the woodwork by the thousands to bask in the spectacle that was the Full Flex Express.  With two stages, seven diverse artists, and seven hours of mind-bending production value it was a festival for the books.

As endless hoards lined the fairgrounds outside of the Pacific Coliseum TOKiMONSTA tested the limits of the outdoor stage’s savage sound system and kept crowds happily dancing as they teemed with excitement.  

Taking over the reins from TOKiMONSTA, British DJs Koan Sound showered a perpetually growing crowd in bouncy eltro-dubstep. With the perfect mix of hard-hitting beats and energy fueled dance music Koan Sound deserves the attention of all EDM lovers regardless of their musical preference.

They had certainly garnered the attention of rising BC dubstep star Datsik who quietly bobbed his head, trademarked flat brimmed hat in tow, from behind the DJ booth.

Sunday night Full Flex was the place to be.

Meanwhile, inside, Grimes was busy hypnotizing the Pacific Coliseum with her dark, ambient tones, and her jarring bass rhythms. Her voice was filtered through a delay, and it echoed throughout the transfixed crowd.

Grimes is an anomaly: if Björk and Nelly Furtado somehow spawned a mystical lovechild deep within the caverns of a wintry Icelandic snow cave, she would sound a lot like Grimes.

Oblivion was an obvious highlight, especially noticeable as it is receiving heavy airplay on The Peak right now.

The stage, was as atmospheric and ethereal as her music: draped in radioactive green and yellow, bubbles shot into the sky as a giant green projected face stared at the audience for some sinister reason.

As the haunting vibes of Grimes came to a close and the house lights flicked on an already jacked crowd clambered for Diplo and another injection of pure dance music.

Radiating a traditional DJ vibe Diplo mixed rap, pop, rock, and Brazilian favela flavour flawlessly into a set which reeked of individuality. It was a unique experience to watch thousands forgot that they were at a concert as the Pacific Coliseum transformed into a giant house party.

Backlighting Diplo’s larger than life presence, the guy radiates I-do-what-I-want cool on a ridiculous level, was a visual presentation that could have only been created during a drunken night and a MS Paint binge. It was the crowning jewel of Diplo’s carefree set and while no one wanted it to end the draw of Pretty Lights was not to be denied.

Expectations for Pretty Lights were high.

Without a doubt the man definitely lived up to his name – literally. His stage production was a miniature metropolis, consisting of tiny towers lit up with LEDs that displayed orbiting multicoloured cubes and geometric shapes. Pure white lights whizzed through the skyscrapers and exploded into brilliance, as solid beams of blue, pink and purple lights were strewn into the crowd: all timed to Pretty Lights’ eclectic mix of lounge infused dub.

By this point the crowd was in full swing. Dancing, spinning, even singing along at points, was made possible thanks to Avicii’s Levels, which has reignited the popularity of the Etta James’ vocal sample contained within Pretty Lights’ Finally Moving.

Uninspired by our singing, however, Pretty Lights cut the sound, and demanded that we sing LOUDER. Vancouver rose to the challenge, and the energy shot through the roof.

Finally, it was time for the king of drops.

Skrillex virgins heaved in anticipation. Was popping their cherries going to be a delicious experience, or a letdown?  

The Skrillex countdown clock started at five minutes and the anticipation was enough to weaken even the bravest.

With one minute left the bass kicked in.

Thirty seconds and you could feel the bass.

Ten seconds and you began to brace yourself.

—Three—

—Two—

—One—

BOOM Whom Whooom Whomp BOOM

Even with the full countdown there was no way to prepare for the initial drop.

Skrillex live. The man is at the top of his game; in the flesh, in his element, and in a fucking spaceship.

It was everything.

The full power of Bangarang hit you like a wall with unbelievable speakers the likes of which you have never experienced. Everybody was going nuts.

Five acts in, and the energy was, by far, at its high point. It was magic. The backdrop a nerd’gasim of videogame headshots and CGI madness.

For returning fans, we all know seeing Skrillex live is like dancing in the streets during a hurricane.

For a large portion of the general populous the intensity present at Sunday’s show would have been akin to their worst nightmare but for bassheads it was a temporary trip heaven. A unique communal experience unlike anything else, shared amongst those riding the raging wave of musical evolution.

As Right On Time graced Skrillex’s behemoth sound system more lasers then a Coldplay show erupted from the stage and giant fire encrusted demon robots barrelled through a barren landscape on a massive LED screen.

Skrillex performance eclipsed the Mothership Tour in every way. Not only did he play his set in an actual spaceship, the sound system was undeniably superior. Crisp, controlled, and outrageously loud: the experience demanded the audience’s attention.

Time to produce and expand his catalogue of tracks gave Skrillex’s set a stronger sense of cohesion then during the Mothership tour.

One could go on forever, but simply put: he finished with Cinema and we all bowed down. Skrillex is a master of his craft.

By the time one AM rolled around no one wanted to go home. The Full Flex Express was the whole package. Not a single person should have left with a frown on their face. Production wise, the festival was unparalleled and the talent was staggering.

To Blueprint, you have outdone yourself.

To Skrillex and friends, please hurry back. Vancouver needs you to push its nightlife to the next level. You’ve given us a taste and there is no going back now.

Blueprint’s Summer-Massive Brings Avicii and Mainstream EDM to Vancouver

Chuckie kicked off Friday night at the Pacific Coliseum in style. As the crowd danced their worries away it became clear that it was nearly impossible not to love Chuckie’s infectious style of Dirty Dutch. With a minimal light show and reduced volume, about half of Avicii’s arsenal, Chuckie used his larger-than-life personality to keep smiles on over four thousand faces.

Something allusive happened during Chuckie’s set. The most minor inconsistency during a track transition; practically unnoticeable to the majority of those attending. Chuckie’s human fallibility meant that the set was being mixed live and on the cusp of falling short. A true DJ gets so lost in the crowd’s energy that set lists change and beats materialize out of pure passion. Chuckie’s set was a true extension of his mood/energy and he played it off the crowd with great success.

Beats aside, Chuckie was a great MC. His crowd interaction was second-to-none creating the rare feeling of mutual appreciation. By the time his set ended the crowd was more than amped for Avicii, if not a little sad to see Chuckie leave.      

Bursting on to the stage Avicii began his set with a round of heavy beats. Thousands of star struck fans craned their necks and pushed forward in order to get a better glance of the young producer who has introduced millions to the world of EDM.

Until Avicii only the big four (David Guetta, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, and Deadmau5) could have hoped to singlehandedly fill the Coliseum. Friday night signalled a historic change in the landscape of EDM in Vancouver.

The crowd hung on every beat as Avicii ripped through a beautifully lit set. Giant LED screens adorned the stage, a small army of multicoloured lights bathed the crowd in euphoria, and CO2 exploded with perfect timing.

After his hard hitting intro, Avicii began to work his own productions into his set. Elated, the crowd unanimously sang along with every word. EDM diehards and newcomers alike were united by their love for Avicii’s sing-song dance-happy hooks; they are infectious and not to be denied.

Avicii’s set was calculated and balanced, the product of a man on a mission: to unite the world under the single banner of dance music.

Friday night’s spectacle was the work of a producer who sought to move past the traditional scope of an EDM superstar and take on the mainstream world. Without a doubt, Avicii is succeeding and there doesn’t seem to be anything which could stop him.

The Glorious Trance of PAUL VAN DYK

Time of Our Lives erupts over the speakers as Paul Van Dyk takes the stage at the Commodore Ballroom. Within seconds the energy in the room explodes.

Since DJ Magazine’s inception in 1997 there have only been eight number one DJs. Of those eight, four have graced the list on multiple occasions.  Without question Paul Van Dyk deserves to rank amongst these four greatest DJs in the world. Dyk’s company includes: Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, and Armin Van Buuren.

The dance floor sways as musical energy and stomping feet create a relentless flow of feel-good vibrations.  

The crowd beams as they dance under the soft hue of Dyk’s minimal stage setup: the night focuses on the man and his music.

 For Paul, Trance is about musicality. Effortlessly weaving through decades of musical knowledge you feel an innate connection with the world. Relinquishing control your subconscious takes over. The experience moves you.

Paul Van Dyk’s wheels are turning now. You can see him thinking through the set. Everything is layered in true Trance fashion. He sets down simplistic beats and the audience can feel every detail he adds to the growing masterpiece.

As the set drives toward hysteria Dyk revels in what he has achieved.

The crowd’s energy spikes but Paul is patient. He’s reading the crowd, gleefully waiting for the perfect moment to lead us even deeper into the world of Trance.

Expecting the beat to crescendo into a dark dripping drop (as mainstream EDM would dictate) Paul surprises and slowly begins to peel off the intricately woven layers.  

Minutes melt away and the set slowly simmers and reduces into something rare: a fragile naked synth heartbeat that gives birth to Dyk’s final thirty minutes of glorious trance. The crowd is transfixed as thunderous applause rains down on the Commodore’s legendary dance floor.

Dyk throws down his arms for every drop. He can't stand still – the music excites him as much as it does the crowd.

He jumps. We jump.

His energy is infectious.

Lighthearted euphoric energy whistles through the Commodore. We have collectively reached a world of pure trance, surrounded by nothingness, calm and content.

Suddenly, jerked away from Dyk’s dream world and back to reality, a two ton hammer hits us in the face. We flew too close to the sun – back to pounding bass.

As white lights and bass flood the audience you realize the crowd’s older demographic. This is a true testament to Paul Van Dyk’s legacy and solid evidence of his lasting appeal.

Dyk is a true DJ and a rarity. A genuine DJ set mixed live, on the edge of collapsing in on itself, entirely unique in the era of arena shows. 

Never stop dancing Paul Van Dyk. And stay true to Trance – the EDM world needs you.

The DJ Producer Continuum

If one were to traditionally define a DJ they would be confronted by confusing imagery:

A person who announces and plays recorded music, especially pop music, on a radio programme or a discotheque.

In my opinion the recorded music this definition refers to is not original material, it is a sampling of top 40 hits from whichever genre the DJ is catering to and a smattering of the DJ’s personal favourites. The act of DJ’ing is independent from the task of creating original songs.

While most DJs have their sets partially pre-planned, a true DJ mixes it live: lost in the crowd’s energy, set lists change and beats materialize out of pure passion. They take requests, they artistically string songs together, and work furiously the entire time to keep the crowd dancing.

A real DJ gives off a vibe; they fill the room with an excitement which can only be obtained when the entire audience truly believes the set is 100% mixed live and on the cusp of falling short.  I recently saw Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike and as far as I am concerned they were ferociously mixing their entire set as it progressed: they were hard at work earning the thousands of dollars the audience had forked over to attend the show.

For DJs touring with larger-than-life stage shows this is rarely a reality. One blatant offender of the moniker of DJ is Steve Aoki. This in no way diminishes the prestige that has rightly been attributed to Aoki’s career it merely re-labels him as a jet setting party-starting producer: his sets come premixed with little more required then a few manipulations to keep his well oiled rave machine moving forward.

He spends more time showering the audience in champagne and smashing cakes into the faces of crazed youth then he does mixing live. In saying this, Steve Aoki gives the audience a party experience they won’t soon forget (more than likely a good portion of his audience does forget but only due to overdosing on ‘good times’), and he is an outstanding producer. But is he a true DJ?

From this perspective many of the top ‘DJ’ acts in the world could be defined as producers:

The individual who supervises the arrangement, recording, and mixing of a record. They oversee the stage production of a show.

As concert goers we are paying for an experience. We are no longer paying to be blown away by the jaw dropping mixing skills of a DJ; we are paying to see their productions. Both previously arranged set lists and ever-growing lightshow extravaganzas. No doubt these parties are worth it. With such a boom in popularity you can’t stop DJ’ing from evolving as an art form.

This doesn’t mean true DJ’s don’t exist. There are shades of grey. David Guetta will give anyone who calls him a producer a very polite yet subtly dirty sneer.

*In a greasy French accent*   “Excuse me? I have been at DJ since I was 17. DJ’ing is who I am. I mix beats and make people do naughty-dirty things on the dance floor. Producing good beats expands my audience to the mainstream and brings the masses into my world. The world of the DJ. You uneducated swine.”  ...or at least that’s what I see him saying...nicely of course...he seems like a nice guy.

On top of this, a handful of DJs put on live radio shows once a week and for an hour or two take on the traditional role of a DJ: most successfully Armin Van Buuren and his State of Trance phenomena.

Defining a boundary between DJ and producer is hard because every show an artist plays is different. A few years back I saw Tiesto in Vegas and when I asked the guy at the door when the show would be over he said, “When you invite Tiesto you don’t tell him when he has to leave. You let him do his thing until he isn’t feeling it anymore.”

I’ve seen Tiesto a bunch of times but that night he seemed to truly live in the moment:  he genuinely didn’t have any idea where his set was going to take him. He was fully immersed in the act of DJ’ing and that energy was transferred onto the global audience. When he finally finished at around 6:30 in the morning everyone was exhausted, but the experience had been priceless. 

Perhaps there are DJ safe havens scattered around the world: small self sustaining environments where DJ loyalists can find an experience rapidly disappearing from global landscape of EDM.

As true DJs slowly fade into the past and producers rise from their ashes to become the new rock stars of the world, what will become of the art of DJ’ing?

We love the massive shows. Everyone craves that moment when two songs you never thought would fit together are mashed up. And no one can deny a ridiculously dance worthy freestyle beat.

The world of EDM is growing and evolving at an ever increasing rate.

Will it find a balance between DJ and producer?

While concerts grow in size, will the art of DJ’ing continue to flourish or will it become a relic of the past?

Koan Sound & Gemini at Seasons 2012 Closing Party

The final show of Seasons Festival: this better be good.

A festival with the capacity to draw names like Armin van Buuren has a lot to live up to.

*spoiler: it rocked*

Bullet Bill and Elonious start off the night at Celebrities (where else!?) with classic dub sequences – strong openers, warming the crowd for headliners.

Beats build like galloping horses as the crowd crescendos towards the end of the set.

The lights dim as the staff in the booth ready an army of rainbow flashing styrofoam noodles; ominous melodies introduce Koan Sound, the co-headliner for the night, as the noodles fly out to the eager crowd.

Lost in their electronic dubscape, my rainbow flashing styrofoam noodle is stealthily stolen by one of the many cheeky party-goers. No matter – we all lovingly share our noodles with each other. We all get a chance to wave our rainbows proudly in the air.

Koan Sound’s subtle, light vibe then gives way to epileptic fits of screaming distortion with well-timed falls.

Then a driving crescendo of beats pummel to submission as we make way for Gemini’s transition.

For a second all that existed was the light breeze emanating from the speakers, and then a typical Gemini bass CRUUUUUUUNCH like the air was made of crackers. The man needed no introduction.

The first hour sounded like a piece of industrial equipment having a glorious breakdown – somehow, it was beautiful.

In less capable hands, the sonic risks that Gemini was taken would have fallen flat, but instead we were all treated to a sound and light show that sent us to another reality.

We were warped into another dimension, inside a video game. Inside TRON.

Gemini threw us a superb mix of original songs with great, well-placed remixes.

A storm of bass with quality musicality legitimized his dub-influenced sound.

Looking close inside the booth, every flick of his fingers had a direct and demonstrable effect on the music and on the crowd -- he literally had us at his fingertips.

Knife Party’s Internet Friends was sandwiched by two Nero songs: Crush on You and Innocence.

He seamlessly faded from Skrillex’s Bangarang to his own patented remix of Lana del Rey’s Born to Die.

The young DJ himself was sandwiched between two beautiful dancers, wearing silver pompom angel wings with bright silver LED headlamps, giving us all the familiar feeling of dancing in an underground mineshaft rave with leather-clad angels in six-inch stiletto heels – you literally could not ask for more with this show (the Easter bunny and teddy bear made yet another Blueprint appearance as well).

As his set rolled towards a thunderous climax, the emcee told us to give it up for Gemini.

No…is this the end? It can’t be! Who cares if it’s 3:00am?

ONE MORE SONG! We all shout, grovel and beg.

Gemini began his encore, and respectfully handed the controls to Koan Sound. Koan Sound played with the crowd for a bit, teasing us some more, and then they handed the reigns back to Gemini. After truly giving us our money’s worth, he faded out to finish the set, and he officially marked the end of this year’s Seasons Festival.

It was a light fun atmosphere – a total lack of pretension, typical of all my Celebrities and Blueprint experiences.

It punctuated Seasonsfest with an exclamation mark: I can’t wait till next year.