- Courtesy, Jubilee, Dane and more shine at another excellent edition of the beloved Canadian event.
- For a decade, Bass Coast in Merritt, British Columbia, has been Western Canada's best festival for dubstep, drum & bass and everything in between. It draws a mixed crowd of granola hippies and dance music hipsters, communities that otherwise don't often mix. Its boutique nature—capacities are carefully capped each year to keep growth in check—and classy lineups make for an appealing combo, and over the years the festival has attracted a more diverse audience, becoming a yearly pilgrimage for house and techno fans from nearby Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Calgary.
This year's edition was the biggest by some margin. There were thousands more people, the stages were larger and the interactive art installations took up more space than ever before, almost becoming a stage unto themselves. There was even a Boiler Room stage, whose presence caused a considerable hubbub among festivalgoers. It might be the only time we ever see the phrase "Boiler Room Merritt," but it was also a way for Bass Coast to reach out beyond its core audience.
The bigger production values and stronger emphasis on four-on-the-floor music—sandwiched in between drum & bass, dubstep and trap acts—made for the most forward-thinking Bass Coast yet. This year showed that it's not just the best festival in Western Canada, but one of the best in the whole country.
Here are five key performances from across the weekend.
AIDA
Until she moved to San Francisco earlier this year, Aida Rez was one of Vancouver's sharpest new DJs. Though she cut her teeth in Vancouver's long-running minimal scene, her set at Bass Coast was more like a non-chronological journey through dance music history, starting dubbed-out and hypnotic before unspooling into psychedelic acid techno and vintage rave tracks with stabs and hoover basslines. Her mixing was impeccable, skills she learnt supporting Romanian minimal artists. Not even a sound technician knocking the tonearm on one of her records could interrupt her flow and momentum. She packed more sounds and ideas into her set than almost anyone else I saw at the festival. It felt like a big step for an artist on the rise.
Jubilee
Jubilee's connection to Western Canadian dance music goes way back—Calgary was one of the first scenes to give her shine—and her mix of dancehall, Miami bass, electro and harder, bass-heavy sounds made her a banner guest at Bass Coast. In the run-up to her appearance, she mentioned she wanted to play a set of mid-2000s breaks. Her actual performance went further, weaving between nostalgic anthems and raucous edits. Classic cuts like Opus III's "Fine Day" and Todd Terry's remix of "Missing" by Everything But The Girl rubbed up against pulverizing Miami bass and breaks of all kinds. I've long thought that Jubilee was one of America's most overlooked DJs, so it was nice to hear her slay it on honorary home turf.
Sam Binga
Bristol's Sam Simpson is a Bass Coast regular, another artist who perfectly represents the festival's cross-section of the UK hardcore continuum and West Coast bass music. Taking the reins at the Boiler Room stage on Saturday afternoon, he played a roaring set loaded with livestream-friendly antics. There was old jungle, dancehall, multiple E-40 tracks and, of course, Chaka Khan, a Sam Binga tradition at Bass Coast. The highlight, though, was when he teased the drop of Joy Orbison's "Hyph Mngo" for about ten seconds, drawing whoops from the crowd, before diving headfirst back into jungle. It was the kind of cross-continental, era-bending set that Bass Coast does so well.
Dane
If Sam Binga was the best thing at Boiler Room on Saturday, then Edmonton's Dane MacDonald took the crown on Sunday. This was something of a homecoming gig for the disco DJ, who had just moved back to Alberta after a two-year stint in Berlin, where he had grown from Canada's best-kept secret into a touring DJ. MacDonald said that this set was only the second time he's ever felt nervous about DJing—the other was his Panorama Bar debut—though you'd never have known. He played disco banger after disco banger after disco banger, some well-worn, some obscure, all delivered with his usual cheer and indefatigable energy. His joyous spirit spread through the dance floor, boosted by the uplifting lyrics in his selections. A few years ago, you wouldn't have expected a disco set to be a highlight of Bass Coast, but this year, it was all anyone would talk about.
Courtesy
Courtesy's pumping set of techno and trance felt like the odd one out at Bass Coast. She used her 11:30 PM slot on Saturday wisely, taking over from Max Ulis and quickly ratcheting up the tempo, before resetting with a long ambient interlude. She did this repeatedly throughout her set, letting a beatless breakdown ride for almost a minute before bringing the drums back in even faster than before. She dug deep into a bag of old records, mixing cuts like Marco V's "Simulated" and Thomas P. Heckmann's remix of Nitzer Ebb's "Join in the Chant (Knarz Ist Machine)" with newer bits of fast techno from Copenhagen and the VIP of Objekt's "Theme From Q," which everyone has been rinsing lately. It was a skilled run through a sound I've never heard at Bass Coast before. Those old trance records sounded amazing on the festival's always-excellent PK Sounds rig. Her set felt like the defining moment of a Bass Coast that was full of surprises, proof that, though the festival might be growing, it's still evolving musically while also retaining the elements that make it so beloved.
Photo credits /
Mary Matheson Photography - AIDA
Taylor Kanary - Jubilee
Banana Cam Photo - Sam Binga, Dane
Mad Maxwell Media - Courtesy
Jubilee Jubilee's connection to Western Canadian dance music goes way back—Calgary was one of the first scenes to give her shine—and her mix of dancehall, Miami bass, electro and harder, bass-heavy sounds made her a banner guest at Bass Coast. In the run-up to her appearance, she mentioned she wanted to play a set of mid-2000s breaks. Her actual performance went further, weaving between nostalgic anthems and raucous edits. Classic cuts like Opus III's "Fine Day" and Todd Terry's remix of "Missing" by Everything But The Girl rubbed up against pulverizing Miami bass and breaks of all kinds. I've long thought that Jubilee was one of America's most overlooked DJs, so it was nice to hear her slay it on honorary home turf.
Sam Binga Bristol's Sam Simpson is a Bass Coast regular, another artist who perfectly represents the festival's cross-section of the UK hardcore continuum and West Coast bass music. Taking the reins at the Boiler Room stage on Saturday afternoon, he played a roaring set loaded with livestream-friendly antics. There was old jungle, dancehall, multiple E-40 tracks and, of course, Chaka Khan, a Sam Binga tradition at Bass Coast. The highlight, though, was when he teased the drop of Joy Orbison's "Hyph Mngo" for about ten seconds, drawing whoops from the crowd, before diving headfirst back into jungle. It was the kind of cross-continental, era-bending set that Bass Coast does so well.
Dane If Sam Binga was the best thing at Boiler Room on Saturday, then Edmonton's Dane MacDonald took the crown on Sunday. This was something of a homecoming gig for the disco DJ, who had just moved back to Alberta after a two-year stint in Berlin, where he had grown from Canada's best-kept secret into a touring DJ. MacDonald said that this set was only the second time he's ever felt nervous about DJing—the other was his Panorama Bar debut—though you'd never have known. He played disco banger after disco banger after disco banger, some well-worn, some obscure, all delivered with his usual cheer and indefatigable energy. His joyous spirit spread through the dance floor, boosted by the uplifting lyrics in his selections. A few years ago, you wouldn't have expected a disco set to be a highlight of Bass Coast, but this year, it was all anyone would talk about.
Courtesy Courtesy's pumping set of techno and trance felt like the odd one out at Bass Coast. She used her 11:30 PM slot on Saturday wisely, taking over from Max Ulis and quickly ratcheting up the tempo, before resetting with a long ambient interlude. She did this repeatedly throughout her set, letting a beatless breakdown ride for almost a minute before bringing the drums back in even faster than before. She dug deep into a bag of old records, mixing cuts like Marco V's "Simulated" and Thomas P. Heckmann's remix of Nitzer Ebb's "Join in the Chant (Knarz Ist Machine)" with newer bits of fast techno from Copenhagen and the VIP of Objekt's "Theme From Q," which everyone has been rinsing lately. It was a skilled run through a sound I've never heard at Bass Coast before. Those old trance records sounded amazing on the festival's always-excellent PK Sounds rig. Her set felt like the defining moment of a Bass Coast that was full of surprises, proof that, though the festival might be growing, it's still evolving musically while also retaining the elements that make it so beloved. Photo credits / Mary Matheson Photography - AIDA Taylor Kanary - Jubilee Banana Cam Photo - Sam Binga, Dane Mad Maxwell Media - Courtesy