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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

For the second year in a row, Blueprint has turned the Easter long weekend into a music filled, multi-day event featuring shows at clubs and venues all around the city. Building on last year’s event at the Vancouver Convention Centre, which featured Calvin Harris, Laidback Luke, Felguk, Lazy Rich, this year they upped the ante considerably. Thursday night was Swedish duo Cazzette at Venue, Friday was AN21 (fellow Swede and brother of Steve Angello) for a free show at Celebrities, while Saturday was at the Convention Centre downtown with Armin Van Buuren, Steve Angello and Morgan Page. Sunday night closed out the weekend with Skrillex-backed KOAN Sound and Gemini at Celebrities.

Flyer Image

Saturday in particular was always going to be the main event, but reports and pictures I checked out from the three other shows confirmed they were all massive. If there’s one thing Blueprint has been excelling at, it’s capitalizing on different genres, and having different shows on different nights for different tastes. Cazzette leans heavily on the electro side of house, while AN21 fills the neuvo-progressive house vibe. Armin is the un-disputed king of trance, whose long reign as the world’s #1 DJ (he’s settling for #2 now) will draw out even quasi-fans, while KOAN Sound and Gemini complete the weekend with a dubstep laced show at celebrities. Business-wise it’s brilliant move, allowing Blueprint to capitalize on every niche market in electronic music.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is.If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

If you are from Vancouver and listen to hip hop then you probably know this week’s guests well. The Freshest are a 4 piece DJ crew that includes DJs Kutcorners, Rico Uno, Seko, and Marvel. As far back as I can remember going out in Vancouver these guys have been playing the go-to spots for hip hop. Nights such as Lucy Mae Browns and Re-Up are still talked about and referenced as formative events in regards to shaping the current scene. This past year has seen these artists move into a bigger spotlight with many new opportunities available. One of these opportunities was to play a set with all four members at the Redbull Threestyle Championships that took place in December. They are also creating a bigger audience for themselves by producing Live-Set music videos. The first of which has now been released starring Marvel and Kutcorners. I got to ask them a few questions about what they do.

Photo: Courtesy of Artsts

DJing has most popularly been known as a solo act. Explain the idea behind The Freshest Crew.

We were all regulars at hip-hop shows and parties in Vancouver and quickly became friends through a common love of music.  From there it was only natural for us to want to work on music and throw parties together.  It was clear that with the four of us we would have a bigger reach when we threw our first weekly party, Higher Ground.  Each of us had complimentary specialties around and beyond our hip-hop backgrounds making it an easy fit for us to come together musically.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

I was emailed this week in regards to the new record from electronic DJ producer Morgan Page which includes a track and a new video with Vancouver/Montreal based Tegan & Sara. The song is produced by Morgan Page and is accompanied by the stylized voices of Tegan & Sara. The song is another example of the progression and amalgamation of many styles of music that have been increasingly converging. Since Postal Service I have personally been hooked on the mixture of electronic beats and indie style lyrics and melodies. Check out the vid and go see Morgan Page with Armin Van Buuren and Steve Angello on April 7th at the VCC.

Another video I have been loving lately is the song “Oblivion” by Vancouver born, Montreal native, Grimes. Grimes, who was born in Vancouver and lived here until 2006, has become an overnight success in some peoples eyes playing sold out shows and even getting nods from image and stylist heavyweights at

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Last week Vancouver was home to the The World of Drum & Bass Tour 2012 which was held at Club 560 on Seymour St. The event showcases some of the world’s top DnB acts such as this years headliners DJs SS and Crissy Criss. We sent down our friend Jak to check out the show. He had this to say.

Drum and Bass lives.

You have to give it to Vancouver — you can always rope a ton of people into hitting the club when major out-of-towners are meant to destroy dancefloors.

DJ SS absolutely, positively lived up to expectations. Sub Focus and High Contrast showed up and smashed the crowd (not in person — I’m talking tracklist)– then Chrissy Chris came on, and reminded us all of why delay units are an essential part of any self-respecting DJ’s arsenal.

Oh, and DJ SS decided to MC Chrissy Chris’ set.

Seriously.

EPIC should be spelled D-J-S-S-A-N-D-C-H-R-I-S-S-Y-C-H-R-I-S.

Here’s why Vancouver Is Awesome: DnB is still going strong here, and most other scenes are also thriving (particularly Dubstep, and I can’t hate, because that ish is awesome). It takes very little for us to wrangle a proper crowd for a proper event, and that’s exactly what this was.

I highly recommend The World of Drum and Bass Tour, in any incarnation.

-Jak

Ever seen that sport where people in hockey gear throw themselves down a boarder cross course made of ice with 3 others on skates? The event is called Redbull Crashed Ice and has quickly become popular across the country. The event encompases aspects from many of Canadians’ other favourite sports such as ice skating and the boards from hockey, and the course, which is similar to a boardercross/skicross course. Competitors from around the world compete in heats of 4 skaters with the top 2 from each race moving on to determine the regional, and eventually, international champions. Courses are set up in the major cities of countries such as the US, Canada, Sweden, Switzerl, Finland and Russia for the qualifiers. The finals are held each year in Quebec City. The stunning architecture of the city makes for an interesting background for the course. The people at Redbull were kind enough to set up an interview with me and Rob Vos, one of Vancouver’s athletes in the sport.

Photo: Courtesy of Redbull

Crashed Ice seems like a mixture of many sports. Which sports would you say most competitors have a background in?

Everybody in this event has played a high level of ice hockey at some point in their life.  The ones who also have a background in skiing and skateboarding do quite well in the events too.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Dance crews have become more popular than ever. The once underground art of breakdancing and bboying has found a new stage with the world as its audience. TV shows and the internet have brought us the magic of choreographed contortionists right into our living rooms. One of Vancouver’s veteran crews is Now Or Never. I asked crew member Eloquence if he could answer a few questions for us about life in the pack.

Photo: Courtesy of N.O.N.

Who are the members of your crew?

Jax

B-Minus

Twist

Muggy Mug

Trickey

Savage Rock

Pay Day Ray

Style Jack

Taiyo

G

Hao2

Eloquence

How and when did you all meet and get started?

The crew has been established since 2002. Most of the members joined the crew at separate times in the past few years. Jax, Hao2 and G are the remaining original members. Having similar goals helped bring us together as one unit. Our main goals are worldwide recognition and to represent Vancity to the fullest.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

I have received a ton of new recordings and video releases from artists over the past month so I decided to once again share some of them with you. The first is a video released by The Boombox Saints on Valentine’s Day. The song is entitled “The Break Up Song” ft. Jill Laxamana. It’s the fourth single from the EP, “Bringin’ the Boom Back: Based on a True Story”.

Check out the video!

SonReal has been releasing tracks off his upcoming album building up to the day of the album launch. Here are – “Bomb” (Prod: Burd & Keyz) - Excellente (Freestyle) - Bedtime (Feat. Saigon) Produced by: Superville

Felix Cartal has released another song and video for his new album coming in March. Check out “Domo”

Fresh off The Train of Thought Tour comes a video with Jeff Spec alongside Muneshine, Timbuktu, Ghettosocks and Moka Only. Check out “The Mustard Station”

The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

I have wondered a lot recently about the evolution of music and the current explosion of electronic music in particular. With stadium shows being sold out and artists like Skrillex getting 5 grammy nominations there is no doubt that the DJ era is still upon us. I had a chance to sit down with the owner of Blueprint Events Alvaro Prol to chat about music, City & Slope festival, the next step in entertainment and of course Blueprint Events.

Photo: Courtesy of Blueprint Events

Electronic music has been around a long time and people may have underestimated it’s full potential. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know if people underestimated it. People may have thought of it as a sort of sub-culture. Something that is not as popular as it is now. I have seen electronic music be popular for a long time. I have been going to shows since the early nineties. It wasn’t just jungle. It was house music, deep house it was everything. I think now it has become a little more popular where Rihanna is doing tracks with Calvin Harris or Skrillex getting 5 grammies. It has just become a bit more broad and accepted. Not just a sub-culture. It can be as popular as pop music. A lot of famous pop musicians have their music produced by electronic producers.

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