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Category Archives: Revelry
DJ SPY
Brazilian beat genius DJ SPY unleashes the potent beauty of “By Your Side” to a Calgary crowd dripping with anticipation for the cinematic oeuvre. A classic drum n’ bass tune of the modern era. It’s been my favourite of his seeming boundless stream of creativity, so I wanted to grab a video of the opening. The relatively new Ten Nightclub positively erupted when this song lit up the dancefloor on the drop. Was worthy of a rewind and it achieved this no problem. You may recognize this number from FabricLive.55, or one of your more ethereal memories. A good tune to rinse it out to, for sure.
Stampedin’ v.100
I stuck it out and witnessed the one thing people around these parts officially hold closest to their hearts, the Calgary Stampede. This was the 100th edition and attendance records were shattered. For a few moments the city awoke out of its daily grind stupor to fashion liminal zones where anything is possible, if only briefly. I really did my best to soak it up.
And even though regular commuting was a nightmare, since with so few transit options you’re forced to come smack dab right against the crush of those taking in what the publicists like to call “the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”
Annie Mac @ a Canadian Warehouse
Amid the flashing lights, cerebral techno and pulsating crowd intent on getting the most out of the evening’s British music offerings, Annie Mac stepped up to the decks and gave the Canadian partiers a dose of sonic energy.
Fozzy Fest Forest Fun
During the thick heat of afternoon slick rolling kick-drum beats woven among energetic hi-hats, jet propelled synth leads and gushing bass phrasing that pumps like oxygen through the bloodstream wafts between stately mountains in this Kananaskis river valley…
Lush hillsides sway side to side along with the music as banks of cumulus clouds roar across the sky at varying altitudes. The dozen kids give or take on the top of the white bus carry on a banter with no particular direction, sunning themselves as the set progresses into the next track.
Many of the campers have no way to tell time since our cellphones have died by now and we’re miles away from the nearest outlet. But that’s just fine by us. Since the music is continuous, with thematic elements rising and falling as seamlessly and unexpectedly as the drastic changes in the thermometer courtesy of the passing cloud patchwork, it’s easy to get lost in the energetic tranquility of Fozzy Fest.
Diamond Diplo
As the Stampede gets underway here in Calgary, I figured I’d toss up a pic from the first event I got to take in on the grounds months back. International electronic maverick Diplo, who commands stages and awards all across this little planet of ours, graced the crowd at the Big Four building courtesy of an automobile promotion and Embrace events.
He’s been busy as of late releasing this rework of Sleigh Bells’ “Demons” which you can download over at Soundcloud.
It wasn’t until months later that I learned that the venue (which had pretty awful sound IMHO) took its name from the four financiers of the original Stampede, cattlemen all.
Simian Mobile Disco takes us deeper
James Ford and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco have managed to wrangle their way from the top of the pop electronic roster, through the wilderness of the sophomore slump (a reality caused by too many elevated hipster expectations anyhow) and now right back to the forefront of the dance music subculture. That probably has quite a lot to do with their engaging live performances, as in this 99 Sudbury gig over in Toronto’s Queen West neighbourhood.
Grabbing cover articles on top dance titles and getting high praise from critics for their unabashed experimental approach to staying strong in the genre, don’t ever count these guys out. And if you head down to one of their gigs it will become apparent tout suite that these guys are fully invested in what they’re doing. The knobs and buttons they are twisting and punching are so much more than on and off switches. Sliders are portals to new galaxies and LFOs regulate just how fast the journey will go. Just be careful you don’t get swept too far down the rabbit’s hole.
After all, their latest effort “Unpatterns” is sheer bliss, that is if you enjoy storytelling electric gagets, infectious thematic builds and challenging sequences. Check it out for yourself and decide.
Last Hurrah: Sunshine’s Slush Cup 2012
You may remember the lovely images brought to you from Castle Mountain’s end-of-year “Slush Cup” festivities via Frequency Horizon (if not check ‘em out here). But turns out that was but a mere warm-up for the big show up at Sunshine Village in Banff, where their own event maintains a world-class aura and entertains hundreds more frozen liquid enthusiasts. Many didn’t even go up the lifts at all but just stayed in the chalets and beer gardens to enjoy the AC/DC cover band, energetic electro and short supplies of food.
Boarders shredded in everything from t-shirts and daisy dukes to vintage onepieces to bikini tops, creating an almost carnival-like atmosphere.
It was crazy to go up with a friend but then run into at least 10 other kids I know from the city. I guess that’s kinda the idea. Also sweet: my apparently cracked rib had finally healed.
Because you have to ride a gondola just to get to the base of the mountain there is a really great dynamic to the “village.” People from all over the world hang out and hit various runs in a closed environment.
It’s not so much that there isn’t enough snow for the hill to stay open for a lot longer, but it has more to do with the the fact that the visas of the liftie contingent of Aussie and Euro workers tend to expire, from what I understand.
The weekend warriors and lift lifers were all here for one last kick at the can with the friends we’d made over the course of the season.
Is this a microphone?
In the bathroom at Commonwealth? WTF.
Well, maybe not, but this is the bar where they required two pieces of ID and even scanned one of them. Next I hear they’re installing TSA-approved full-body scanners.
Revenge Served Up With a Fist (JAWSMASHER)
Of all the questions that keep me up late at night clearly ”I wonder what it would take to break a jaw in two places, dislodge it in another, knock out two teeth and chip three others” was at the top of the list.
Luckily a couple of buddies of mine took part in a little experiment that settled this urgent issue once and for all.
It started about a month ago, when Dustin engaged in a hilarious prank that involved pissing in his friend’s hat and not telling him about it for an entire month. You may be forgiven if you draw parallels between the jackass stunt where Johnny Knoxville’s lotion is replaced by horse semen, because we’re talking about a similar ballpark here kids.
Sure it was an asshole thing to do. But that was kind of the point, right?
No doubt these things have to be settled, and there are many tools which could have been employed. But as Geordie fumed about his hat with the fresh coat of yellow, Dustin had the perfect solution.
“You should just get me back with a better prank,” he suggested.
It wasn’t more than a few hours later before they came up with an idea. Dustin should get punched in the face.
I’m not sure who came up with the idea or exactly why, but it was the deal they made. I figured I’d share it, as a great cinematic moment should never go to waste.
To a soundtrack of liquid drum n’ bass the fist came fast and furious and forced Dustin’s jaw to reverberate and shatter. The smacking sound was high pitched and powerful. The impact was immediate.
“That’s what happens when I take a piss for two minutes,” said my roommate Cody as he walked in on the aftermath.
We waited in emergency for hours and he never got out the hospital until the next morning. It’s a good thing he stuck around because if he had left and went home he wouldn’t have been about to get in to surgery by the next night.
Oh and then while he was bedridden someone stole his vehicle and got a DUI in it.
After the surgery I got a text from Dustin:
“Do you still have the video?” he asked.
I thought he was going to tell me to delete it.
“Yea” I responded.
“Nice,” he typed on his Windows phone.
“That’s probs a sweet video. I wanna see it,” he added.
I made a bet with Dustin the other night, and I plan to stick with it. I said, 10 bucks says he can’t go a week without lapsing into crazy pranks or similar behaviors. This includes but is not limited to picking up chicks under false pretences and kicking them out before breakfast or anything expressly illegal.
Let’s see how he does.
