Rifflandia Podcast from Bonjay

Victoria is BUZZED right now. Rifflandia kicks off tonight & we’re sooooo amped for our 3 nights of sub|div hypeness.

Now in it’s fourth year, and here to help make a swanky beginning to our damp months ahead, Rifflandia Music Festival has been a highlight that many anticipate to close out our West Coast summer. With such an amazing lineup, wristband holders can expect a phenomenal experience this weekend.

The sub|div showcases at Lucky are teeming with heat: Machinedrum, XI, Eliot Lipp, Prison Garde, Tokimonsta, Eskmo, Gemini (late addition to Saturday’s lineup). Plus our home team is repping too – Eames, The Big Reds, Outsider & Monolithium are all ready to rip. Nosaj Thing plays Thursday night at Alix Goolden Hall. So much on the goooo.

NOTE: Lucky’s capacity is still pretty trim, so if you’re dead set on seeing a sub|div showcase, make sure you don’t sleep on getting down early. And if one show is full there IS going to be another just a few blocks away just as bangin’.Victoria get in, and lets GO.

Another fesatival hilight is definitely BONJAY. The Toronto duo of Pho & Alanna Stuart fuse dancehall, bass music & pop into a throbbing mass of riddims & hooks. They were kind enough to put together a mix that pretty much sums up what the dancefloor in our head is grooving to at the moment. Download below… here’s a breakdown from the duo themselves… (holler at them on Facebook)

Bonjay: “In recent months, a lot of the best new dance music has reminded us of turn-of-the century BET gems – the futuristic R&B, dancehall, and rap that ruled urban radio from the mid-90s through mid-00s. It was a producer-led era, ruled by those who paired tough, syncopated drums with glossy soul hooks. The kings – like Timbaland, Lenky, The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, Black Chiney, and Just Blaze – were hired guns who added one or two slugs of their sound to dozens of albums and film soundtracks every year.

We’ve been listening to a lot of this stuff – old and new – while we work on our forthcoming album. In our music, these sonics are filtered through a lot of other influences and come out much less targeted at the dance. But while we don’t make strictly hype tunes, we love DJing and listening to the new stuff. Especially the ones that add fresh ideas to take these sounds to new places. So we put together a mix of our favourites.

You’ll hear tracks that conjure up specific Hype Williams videos alongside much more oblique references to the likes of “What’s Your Fantasy” and “Get Ur Freak On”. Some of the artists featured here stick to leftfield sounds, while others are inspiring Toronto cheerleaders to perform halftime dance routines. There’s no city or region that serves as a focal point – it’s a pretty even split between UK and North American producers. The common thread is that these tunes haven’t coalesced into a scene or a sound – their future lies ahead.

While it’s too early to call a revival, if you think about it these sonics are ripe for re-discovery and reinvention. North American rap and R&B don’t share the culture of UK music, where everyone joins in at the same tempo once a new sound is invented. So unlike some dance music revivals, there’s a lot of new ground to be broken – the rhythmic ideas here aren’t yet in danger of being burned out by thousands of copycat tunes. And if producers continue to stretch out like this, that won’t happen for a long time.”

Machinedrum – Sacred Frequency
Lunice – Glow
Instra:mental – Watching You
TV on the Radio – Will Do (XXXChange remix)
Björk – Crystalline (Omar Souleyman remix)
Lloyd – Lay It Down (Dubbel Dutch remix)
Eazzy – Bo Wonsem Ma Me
Adele – Rolling in the Deep (Jamie xx shuffle)
Kingdom feat. Naomi Allen – Take Me
C.R.S.T. – The Bells (Girl Unit remix)
Hudson Mohawke – Thunder Bay