After the obscene amount of musical events I attended last term, I figured the next four months would be quiet period of R&R. Sure, there’d be big events like Thunderdome, and I was sure one or two solid dnb artists would pop up, but I was certain that nothing could get crazier than last term.
Boy was I wrong.
Of course, nothing could beat the emotional release that last term’s nights of dancing brought on - this term, rallying the homies and rushing downtown felt more like the type of “work hard, play hard” balance accompanying a healthy mental state. And for that I was grateful.
This could turn Hare Krishna into a bad bwoy
Imanu
January 11, Village
Two hours before Imanu came on, I was about 99% certain I wasn’t going to attend this event. Several of the CS friend group were meeting at UBC to drink and celebrate the return of Eric from SF and Isaac’s birthday. I was drinking a beer, feasting on these delicious little green Vietnamese candies, and sniffling here and there as I recovered from a cold. Earlier that day I’d been out applying to jobs before meeting Calvin, Frank, and Eric at Myst for a late lunch, and was generally feeling pretty gassed. However, riding on the frenetic pace of last term’s event schedule, I allowed myself to be peer pressed by Owen and Frank (and Scott) into buying a ticket to see Imanu.
The main thing I remember about this night was how much my nose hurt each time I blew it on my shirt during the set, and that wearing jeans to the club (especially Village) is a recipe for the heat death of my universe.
Dr. Fresch & Tape B
January 25, PNE Forum
Now this was an event I was looking forward to. I’d seen Tape B’s sets on Youtube and quite enjoyed his slower style of dubstep, while I knew Dr. Fresch from this batcave b2b with Tchami and knew he’d be a rollicking good time. Surprisingly, there was also a lot of the rave squad coming out for this event, including Richie, Harvey, Helen, and Gucci.
Right until we entered the venue I was infinitely confused by where exactly the event was being held - I didn’t realize that the PNE Forum and the Pacific Coliseum were different spaces and had to have this fact carefully explained to me by members of the squad. While I’ve give the Forum credit for having better sound, the washroom situation (porta potties) was dismally slow, and I preferred the drama of the Coliseum’s multi-tiered layout.
Dr. Fresch’s solidly energetic bass house was the highlight of the night by far, while Tape B struggled to get the packed crowd bumping beyond a few nodding heads. Looking back at it now from the perspective of an old-school dubstep set, I think his style of music would flourish in a smaller club with a more relaxed crowd.
It was also around this time that I realized I pretty much couldn’t get high anymore, and needed to take a proper tolerance break. Woe is me.
DVS1
February 2, Vantek Industrial Avenue
As described in Jump Up Loves Dubstep, Owen and I were this close to not attending this event. While we’d bought tickets on a whim a couple weeks prior, we were both beyond tired on the day of. Wanting to make the decision to bail face-to-face, I met Owen outside his house. “So hypothetically, what if we were to go tonight? What time would we get there and how long would we stay?“. When you put Owen and I together, there aren’t many things we can’t convince each other to do. Eventually, the logistics thought exercised turned into full-blown action, and we quickly parted ways to each get ready for the night ahead.
The event itself was exactly what we expected - a well-attended techno night through-and-through. Vantek had done a good job of sectioning off their warehouse into a proper event space, with a reception, coat check, and main dance floor area. My two issues we were the music (if it’s going to be techno, there’d better be a skinny cracked out Dutch DJ inked to all hell behind the decks) and the space - warehouse-high ceilings in tandem with a space too big for this crowd to fill made the dancefloor seem empty. However, Owen and I were both glad we went, and for most of the half hour we stayed, sat on a couch off to the side talking about baseball.
Though the music wasn’t for me, I appreciate what Vantek is bringing to the Vancouver music scene. It’s a fresh space, a fresh crowd, and a fresh dedication to a specific genre of music that’s underrepresented in the city’s existing music venues. Maybe in ten years I’ll come back to the scene and be grateful for the dedicated techno space this collective provides.
Thunderdome Day 3
February 9, Tacoma Dome
Is TDOME ever anything more than three days of perfectly exhausting chaos? This is true as much for the event space and music as it is for the logistics of squad lodging and transporting. This year was no exception.
In theory, the plan was clear-cut. The instant last year’s Thunderdome ended, Richie and Co. (Incorporated) had booked the hotels for this year. Unfortunately, this assumed that a large number of the original crew would be coming back for a second helping of bass the next year. As the 2025 dates neared, ravers began dropping like flies, most surprisingly of which was Jason (who ended up going down for Day 2 and 3, the little scamp). Personally, I was neck-deep in school and could only commit to one day of the festival. Before the per-day lineups were even out a single-day squad consisting of Eric, Calvin, Franklin, Scott, Justin, Liam, and yours truly decided to cross our fingers and buy tickets for Sunday. This was all of our first time’s attending Thunderdome.
At the end of Day 1, Harvey hopped in a Discord call to recap the initial bit of the festival. Wide-eyed, he described the bass at certain points in the crowd being so strong that it became difficult to breathe. My palms began to sweat.
Driving down on the day of was frenetic, as only a good drive down should be. We left late, ate sparingly, and changed next to the car. When GorillaT was coming on, I was smearing Voltarin on my foot in the second story of a Park-n-Ride garage. Yet, we met up with the others in the hotel room. We expertly drank most of the liquor we’d brought. And we were waved through the a fast and lax festival security line to finally enter the Thunderdome. By this time, I was good and drunk, and we Asian-trained our way to a neck-cranking position in the crowd just as Hedex came on.
Hedex did what he came to do - play some buzz-saw jump-up for a crowd of dubstep fans. Flux Pavilion was fine (I was seated). Excision and Wooli (and for some reason, Illenium??) was “as seen on TV” solid - of course I found myself roaring into the air at the back of the crowd with several other pit demons. Now if that isn’t a successful Thunderdome, I don’t know what is.
CHYL
March 9, Village
This was one for the books.
The biggest squad we’ve had out at Village. The perfect amount of drinking - beginning at Emery Barnes, and transitioning to our second-favorite pregame spot - the textured art wall kitty corner to the Village alley. The excitement of Speedhouse - the lovechild of bass house and hardstyle. I’d made a point of not listening to any of CHYL’s sets beforehand to let the novelty hit me first-hand. And finally, the most packed crowd I’d seen at Village, and the rowdiest. The Asian hardstyle crowd was out in force and they know how to turn it.
I don’t remember much about the set itself - this was a case of “walk in, blink, walk out”. Tell me a better way to spend a Friday night (I’ll grab a banana milk or seven while I wait).
Also, someone explain why Rita looks better than CHYL in this photo. And apparently she got given those pants. She’d better work.
ShaftCity
March 15, Take Your Time
The dynamic duo consisting of Tokyo’s own Kevin Wong and Robbie Laughlan (better known on Spotify as Robbie Latch), Shaft2 has taken UBC’s music scene by storm in the past two years. With their genre-defying sound spanning hyperpop to mumble rap, their electric performances and eye-catching promotional campaigns are the stuff of legend.
ShaftCity, a benefit concert held at a tiny independent studio next to an abandoned children’s thrift store on Kingsway, was a packed night of young Vancouver acts culminating in a high-energy performance by Shaft2. Complete with several costume changes, a Santa beard, a soulful ballad, and a diss-track performance by none other than New York’s finest Cyrus and Kol, Shaft2 put on a show, and far surpassed any expectations I had. You can watch the full video of their concert below.
Crankdat
March 15, Harbor
As soon as ShaftCity ended, I hopped on the number 8 and headed to the Browns outside the QE theatre downtown. In December, after polishing off peach bellini number three, Gucci mentioned that he’d bought tickets to a Crankdat show in March and that Owen and I had to come as that just so happened to be his birthday weekend.
Flash forward three months and two more peach bellinis and before you could say “how the fuck we feeling Vancouver”, our trio was entering the most packed crowd I’d seen at Harbor. Now, readers of the blog know my feelings about Harbor, but to Crankdat’s credit, his 360 stage design had created decent sightlines and serviceable sound. As a consequence the event was sold out, meaning we were packed tighter than dime bags in a girl’s bra going through security.
I’m going to give myself a large high-five for getting through not one but two full-length events in a single night. After getting Cranked, Gucci wisely opted for a cab home, while Owen and I vegetated on the bottom floor of the Parq casino for half an hour while waiting for our Uber.
Simula
March 21, Village
This was the best music I’ve ever listened to. See The Simula Incident for the full writeup. This was not big SOT, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Friction
March 22, Village
Dnb is an addiction. Less than 12 hours after the Simula incident, I was walking back down Granville to meet up with Owen at the dime for drinks before what we assumed would be a lowkey night.
After the event, I realized what a big name Friction was in the world of dnb. As a producer, he was well-known both in the UK and abroad, and had been slowly but surely cranking out tunes since the early 90s with his sound evolving along the way. This meant we were in good hands - the man knew how to put on a good show.
Halfway through Dirt Monkey’s set, Owen turned to me and said, “ohhh, this is Dirt Monkey”. We were a bit tired, to say the least. However, true to form, Friction came out in a simple oversized white shirt with a silver chain and played a fun dnb set. A classic dnb set. His music was energetic without being tiring, his transitions were smooth and selection appropriately paced. Finally, his ice-themed visuals were perfectly complimented by the cold blue and white lighting that pulsed throughout his set. Two thumbs up to Village’s VJ.
One True God
March 28, Village
After a long night of hooking (I slept exactly 30 minutes between Thursday and Friday), trade didn’t like the session (early morning optics combined with the three hour afternoon lab) so he had gutted me and set me on fire (I was dead on my feet but still had to go record an episode of Say It!). But you know I didn’t die (I wandered around campus looking for a place to sleep before crashing on a couch in the basement of the Asian library). I had crystallized (recorded a hilarious episode with Robbie and Kevin). And now I was a glamazon bitch ready for the runway (I headed home, ate, showered, bought liquor, and waited for the squad at Emery Barnes).
I was so tired I was on the verge of tears when Frank showed up with his evo. However, apparently not as tired as Eric, who was napping at Yeojun’s while the event was starting and showed up about 10 minutes before the man himself came on. Fortunately, the music was exactly what the body needed to go limp and not think too hard about dancing for a while. And OTG was nominated for a Juno. Good for him.
Basstripper
April 11, Village
caLL mE iN tHe cItY…eVerYBodY iN the aREa
No but seriously, we were all looking forward to this. Owen and I had bought tickets to Basstripper the earliest of any of the events this term and knew he’d be a rollicking good time. What we didn’t know was that Jason and Gucci were going to join us for this momentous occasion.
And momentous it was. We met up with a couple of Gucci’s friends at Browns (bellinis were a requirement for a night like this), bought a bunch of liquor, raided Frank’s office (with Frank, who left for Surrey soon after, leading the war party) and met a 50 year old contractor who apparently moonlighted as a propa MC and wanted to make sure the young generation was being financially responsible.
As we fired off shots with our gunfingers out that night, I realized that as long as you had enough drinks in you, the music all kind of sounded the same. Pros and cons (but mostly pros - this was a night for the books).
Alleycvt
April 18, Village
It was the middle of finals season, and for all intents and purposes, this was the last group event before my self-imposed annexation to Asia, but only Frank, Owen and I were slated to go, with tickets sold out weeks in advance. However, on the day of, Jason and Isaac said they’d come out to drink and if there happened to be a ticket available they’d join us for the main event.
After almost being scammed on Instagram I was losing hope of acquiring two tickets. We showed up early and asked if there were tickets at the door. No dice. At this point, I was resigned to Jason just drinking with us. And drink we did. I was downstairs checking in my coat when I saw Jason round-ass face passing by security and giving his ticket to the girl at the counter. He’d made it in.
That night was packed (even more packed than CHYL, potentially), and the farther into the crowd we pushed the hotter it got, each meter a step function of a couple degrees. Fortunately, we were tipsy with a capital T and once Jason’s shirt came off, Franks and mine quickly followed suit.
Only critique - where was Electric Shock? Crying, puking, shitting.
Cesco
April 19, Red Room
I was balls deep in indistinguishable fermions when an email from Subculture pinged my inbox. I took a quick scroll and idly pulled up Chef Boyarbeatz and Cesco on Spotify. As the first notes of their songs hit, I sat straight up in my chair, and had bought tickets less than 20 seconds later. Two words - UKG and Dubstep. I’d never been to that kind of show and I wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste.
That night, Rita confirmed bullriding on the same day, which worked out quite well - I’d pregame the late-night Red Room with a late-evening hoe-down at the Yale.
I was in energy conservation mode during bullriding, and by the time I left the venue after smoking a doob with Liam I was greeted with a 20 minute wait outside the Red Room. I was getting a bit too comfortable with scheduling a night out, I thought, as I waited behind two young women excitedly talking to each other.
The three of us soon struck up a conversation; they were both from Manitoba, one visiting the other who lived here. They were incredulous of the high club cover charges in Vancouver, and were curious about the type of music that would be playing that night. The bit of kitty I’d done earlier was rolling in nicely, and with my earplugs in I felt pleasantly insulated from the world. I felt slightly ashamed for wanting to laugh when the one friend asked where she could find a latin night. They were Dom Dolla and John Summit fans through and through, and I tried to keep their expectations low for the night. The promoter at the door tried to gently explain the type of music that’d be playing that night (“bass music”), but as soon as I got in I moved straight to the dance floor and only caught glimpses of them throughout the night. I hoped they were having a good time. I certainly was.
Chef started with some slower dubstep, and I complimented myself with the spot-on choice of substances for the night. Transitioning into some lively dnb was the perfect ending to his set and Cesco ratcheted up the energy of the crowd with some real rolling UK garage. That night made me realize that dubstep and UKG sounded almost completely different on a proper set of club speakers. Night and day in enjoyment.
On the bus home, I finished up my baggie, downloaded Skillex’s new album, and ripped it front to back, the final bars of Voltage ringing out as I slipped into my darkened house.