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As the 11th in our series of digital art music videos, the recent Mugwort/David Starfire collaboration piece set a new standard on multiple levels. You can watch the awesome video we created here!
Our gift to you! To download the full 1280×720 digital wallpaper file…
Click the image below to enlarge it, then right click, SAVE AS!
and let it help you ASCEND in your work and play! Where shall today take you…?
MWUAH!
Posted by Jason · Leave a Comment
Posted by Jason · Leave a Comment
Posted by Jason · Leave a Comment
For most of us dance-centric Islanders, the Victoria Electronic Music Festival holds a pretty special place in our hearts. I expect almost every experienced DJ around here has had the opportunity to play VEMF, and most certainly every dancer has had the opportunity to rip it up in Centennial or Market Square at some point in the last 9 years. If you ask one of the hundred local DJs who’ve had the pleasure of playing mainstage, I would have to bet that VEMF would show up amongst their top all-time DJ experiences. Am I right?
And now VEMF 2012 has come and gone, and what a monstrous weekend it was! HUGE sets by some of the world’s top artists and thousands of dance community moving in synch to each precision drop. A powerful experience.
We arrived midday Friday to get to work setting up our new Dharma Dohme – which was to be home to the Urbanheart Live art show & bodypainting station (which was back-to-back all weekend, I might add). A few hours later the dome was up, the sound system in place, the fences nicely containing the grounds and the stage was set for what came next!
First of all, have you ever noticed how VEMF seems impervious to bad weather? I mean, I hate to risk jinxing it – but didn’t every other BC festival so far this year just get clobbered with weather? VEMF, on the other hand.. lands on the hottest weekend in recent BC record. Of course! Perhaps the old saying ‘god is a dj’ has some merit. In any case, the heat waves scorched onto a packed Centennial Square as artists like Neighbour, Shiftee, Smalltown DJs & Jesse Rose delivered masterful 1 hour sets to the thousands of happy dancers in attendance. Then 6 time DMC World Champion Craze closed Centennial with his lightning fast hands and hip hop infused electronica.. madness. Check the 20 minute video I captured of his set here!
We had a big multimedia team capturing & spreading all the awesome at VEMF this year, comprised of the VEMF Media Team (pictures and videos coming soon!), the Sunset Street Team (track us via #yyjstreet), as well as bit-sized video captures and ongoing artist interviews by Control Freq Radio! Check in ongoingly to VEMF.org for new pictures, videos, stories and more!
And as the last night in the square came to an end, Primal Fire delivered their amazing annual ridiculously hot late-night fire performance, Craze wrapped his monster turntable set and the VEMF dance crew wearily stepped down from the platforms they’d performed on all weekend… thousands of people smiled, laughed & cheered. Oh – and myself, kristin and some other great folk set to work taking down the Dharma Dohme, and packing her up for future adventures.
Like all major events and festivals, VEMF continues to grow & change. As the event has gained popularity, the operation has has had to adapt to that growth – heightened security, the introduction of fences, a $5 fee, and so on. Coupled with a new vision for the festival under the direction of 2012 Executive Producer John Fannon, and you’re bound to encounter some new elements to our city’s greatest annual dance event.
<pent up rant>For the last few years within my role as General Manager there are some things I haven’t fully had the space to say about this event and our relationship to it. Having stepped down from this leadership position I am inclined to stop biting my tongue. Just my opinions, please take them as such. First, many people have expressed concern about the changes VEMF is moving through. Whether I agree or disagree with these changes, I just want to point out – if this event had electric fences and only held 1000 people and had half the artists and charged four times as much – would it not still be a more amazing event than almost any Canadian city might lay claim to?
I also want to say this – it is a RARE & amazing opportunity to host a huge 2 day event like this beside city hall in downtown Victoria in the middle of summer. And it keeps getting harder to deliver this event, largely because a small handful of people decide to get wrecked and forego any responsibility in maintaining VEMF’s relationship with our host City. If you are absolutely incapable of attending a music event without staying sober, please don’t come to VEMF – this festival belongs to the many thousands of volunteers, artists, vendors, performers and dancers who have built it up over the last decade – and for a few people who dismiss or forget this legacy to put it at risk for us all is SO VERY UNCOOL.
Lastly.. Through my years with VEMF we have always taken people’s wellness VERY seriously – and I don’t expect the new team feels any differently. If someone doesn’t take care of themselves there is little anyone can do about that. And, if even 10 people choose not to take care of themselves – amongst 10,000 – does that not mean we have 9,990 MOSTLY YOUNG PEOPLE who have managed to party for 2 days downtown without causing any harm to themselves or others? Does this not mean VEMF can boast a 99.9% responsibility rate for its attendees? If so, is this not worth celebrating?? Is this not an accomplishment worthy of recognition – not on VEMF’s part so much, but on the part of the 9,990 amazing healthy dancers who love this festival and work hard to honour it and the City that hosts it?</pent up rant>
To all those who created this amazing event this year (and years past) I say THANK YOU!! It has been a great honour to be involved and contribute where I have, and I am excited to see where the new VEMF team takes the festival moving forward. Til then, let’s keep the spirit flowing!
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When Kristin & I were invited to Astral Harvest Music Festival it was one of those EASY YESES. Aside from the curiosity to discover a new event, some of the festivals core team have moved to Victoria over recent years (Space Age, Petra) and they have been talking about it non-stop since they got here! At the core of Sunset Labs intention lies creative collaborations – and within this intention building strong bridges with our neighboring cities & festivals just makes sense! So our ears were certainly perked…
The invite first came to Kristin Urbanheart Grant, who was invited to do a live painting performance at the festival and to put up an art show as well! Riding on an upswell of success & media attention, this first out-of-province opportunity couldn’t be refused. Driven by my 2011 TEDx talk, I was then invited by the festival to deliver a workshop on collaboration as part of the festival’s conference stream. And we weren’t the only Islanders – there was a crew! DJ sets were coming from Elevenn, Dodd, Clouddancer, Richgaud, Compass Rose, Tantric Decks, Entelechy & Space Age (he’s OURS now baby). The stars were more than a little aligned, so off we went!
I couldn’t tell you what my expectations were of this event, but I certainly CAN tell that they were exceeded. From the minute we arrived on the grounds the warmth & hospitality of our hosts was evident, and consistent. The land itself was amazing, and in true Alberta form had a monstrous sky that danced and played for us for days. The weather was delicious and perfect, not withstanding a few peak hours midday we quickly learned were ‘chill time’ (aka hot hot hot).
My workshop was early in the festival, which I was grateful for. Friday evening came and I felt pretty ready – I had put the time in on my prep and felt there was some real gems we would get to explore together. Up until this point, I had delivered this conversation 3 times – each in 18 minutes or less. Transforming my short talk into a 75 minute interactive workshop was a fun challenge – and getting to explore how we collaborate with one another and what results we are setting ourselves up for is always a worthwhile exploration. It went great overall, and I would hazard a guess that all the attendees came away with something new. With that complete, it’s time to check out the fest!
Musically, the lineup at the festival was huge, and we thought really well put together. LOTS of great high-level North American talent and some monster international guests packed the 4 stage festival. By Friday night the 1000+ gathering was in high gear and more than ready to dance the weekend away to seriously talented acts like Timothy Wisdom, The Funk Hunters, Goosebumps, Mr. Rogers & Neighbour. Some other personal favorites included new discoveries like Sun in Aquarius & Unlimited Gravity, and also hearing some fresh music from longtime favorites like Shamik, Ill Esha, Eprom & The Funginears! (lotsa video coming – subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch it all!)
While the whole weekend was certainly amazing, the density and back-to-backness of ridiculous talent on Saturday night still has me buzzing. We got Kristin set up painting in the Illumasphere dome, and I jetted out with my camera to take in some music! From Ill Esha’s new sounds and bar-setting basslines we went straight into Delhi 2 Dublin’s passion-packed headline set – which they barely made it for given some flight delays. That said, if there was any fatigue or frustration present for them it certainly didn’t show up in their music! And I don’t know who the new woman violinist is on their team, but they sound like they’ve all been playing together for YEARS. Bravo, D2D! A seriously jam-packed Interstellevator (mainstage) lost none of it’s energy when D2D finished up and the Vibe Tribe Gypsy Circus began (can’t wait to show you that footage). If you take in Astral Harvest in the future sometime, be sure to catch this amazing firey act of performers, dancers, jugglers, spinners and creatives of all types! They put a LOT of time into that show, and it showed – congrats to all involved!
Back to the Illumasphere to check in on Kristin’s progress on the massive canvas she brought with her – it’s starting to take shape! The presence of the Illumasphere, built & brought by Jay Michael & Kylee Dawn (Evolved Productions, Calgary), made SUCH a huge difference at the festival! Aside from it being homebase for Kristin & gifted fellow artist Collin Elder, the dome was a special hub for the whole event – a grounded & musically stunning landing space within the wonderful chaos of the larger event. Jay & Kylee worked hard all weekend to keep it a clean, organized and inviting space that was so wonderful for us to hang in & return to amidst other adventures. Big big props to them for their work!
Time to steal Kristin away and take in Longwalkshortdock – a set many were waiting for all weekend. I won’t even try to describe it – other than to say he totally destroyed it. Any idea how hard it is not to dance like a madman while shooting video of LWSD?? So long as you can appreciate that, let me share with you (below) the 20 minute video I took of the first part of his set! Amazing.
Sunday was a long day.. Kristin did some more work on her art piece (still some work to do on it, she says!), we took down the dome, ate some more great food, got some more hot sun, packed down our camp and headed home… crossing paths with deer, elk, eagles, mountain goats, vultures and one very large wolf. We didn’t stop to chat. Astral Harvest – thank you. Your team is packed full of amazing creators, and now that we know what to expect, we can only hope you again exceed our expectations in 2013. See you then!
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The Dance of the Dead Halloween series at Sunset Room has long been one of the most anticipated events of our year! With a ton of attention to detail, costuming, bodypainting, decoration and always an epic lineup focused around progressive & tech house, this night never disappoints. Here is our live recording from CityOf9s most fantastic set from the 2011 installation of Dance of the Dead!
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THE GLITCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!!! And that means that instead of the soft, harmonious carols we’re USED to there’s only the SICKEST, BASSIEST, CRUNKIEST mixed-tempos GLITCH flavours on the coast! Here’s Labs artist Tantric Decks set, who headlined this night for a bunch of glitchy-dancer types that powered through til 5:30am! Enjoy…
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After much processing and organizing so arrives the final installation of the amazing pics from our glorious Cosmic Caravan gathering in April. Here, snippets from Adham Shaikh’s set, some captures from Feralesque’s amazing dance performance, some great shots of Fire Dance Victoria on the patio keeping things hawt.. and of course some lovely attendees.
As a small token for those who couldn’t attend in person, and as a great warm fuzzy for those who did, we offer this beautiful array of pics courtesy of Evan Boyd Photography! Stay tuned for some great videos to follow!
