High-fiving Riverside (Festival review)

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By Dominic Wren

This might just be the best Riverside Festival Gatineau or Canada has ever witnessed. With an insane lineup, pumping artists such as Kayzo, Deorro, Snails, Slushii and Loud Luxury, this year’s festival went up a level. All 16 artists nailed their sets over the weekend but the EDM Canada team has picked out five of the top acts that most impressed the crowd and us the most.

Breathe Carolina

All photos by Dominic Wren

This year’s set from the American duo was like none other I’ve seen from them before. They started with some of their classic big room house vibe such as “Always Find You” by Raiden X YURI (Sunstars Remix). About mid through their set, they noticed that the crowd was somewhat into it so they did what any world-class DJ would do - they adjusted. Breathe Carolina changed their set to a more hip hop/dubstep, playing tracks such as “Plain Jane” by A$AP Ferg and “Let’s Get Crunk” by Gammer.

Slushii

If want to see a crowd roar endlessly, go see a Slushii concert. From perfect transitions to emotional moments, to hard trap, hip hop, and dubstep. For a crowd that’s hard to please, they went HARD. Slushii also put a lot of effort into his visuals for the crowd. Not only did he wear colourful clothing but also the LED screens took on a trippy adventure though various colours and shapes.

Snails

This set can only be described in one word: RAGE. If you like to go hard then Snails is the artist you want to see live. There is a very legitimate reason why he’s created his own genre called “Vomitstep”. He opened the last set of the night with his track “Shake The Ground” featuring Kill The Noise, Sullivan King and Jonah Kay. Unlike the other artists, Snails had no throwbacks in his set. He gave the crowd no rest and kept his game strictly to “Vomitstep”.

NoWayOut

Everyone should keep an eye out for this up and coming DJ/Producer. Even though his set was early in the evening, it felt like he was closing the whole festival. The energy coming off of his movements behind the decks and his music attracted the attention of the growing crowd. From smart transitions to the choices of songs, this young DJ nailed his set in one of the best festival venues in Canada. He is definitely the smallest DJ in this list but definitely showed some world-class talent.

Deorro

Probably the best set of the whole festival, Deorro definitely left a mark at the Riverside Music Festival. The basshead crowd received his electro house set very well, which was a bit of a surprise. Before the second half of his set where it became very technical, he dropped tracks like his hit single with Steve Aoki, Diplo, and Steve Bays “Freak”. Deorro vibed with the crowd while playing his track “Bailar”, then kicking the energy up again with “Knockout” featuring Deorro, Makj and Quintino. The second half his set was the most interesting. Do you all remember when the 2012 pop group LMFAO dropped “Party Rock Anthem”? Yep. Deorro snuck in that lost artifact into his set. He followed up that great moment with a drop-less couple of minutes while transitioning between hip-hop to old rock classics. Deorro produced a unique set that was enjoyed by many fans.

Vancouver Embraced What So Not (Event review)

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By Ryan Hayes


What So Not took over the Commodore Ballroom this past Saturday for a rock laden set with hip hop sensibilities and traditional DJ interludes. From an artistic standpoint the entire set was a step above the regular DJ affair, incorporating drums, a sample pad, and a dedicated guitarist—in other words he definitely wasn't just pressing play. Leaning heavily on original productions, his set was spanned the breadth of his career; all the way back to now classics Jaguar, and the Branchez remix of High You Are.

Felix Cartal recently took to Twitter commenting pointedly on the current state of generic DJ sets: “DJ's please play more of your own music, if people bought a ticket to see you, they want to hear your songs.” Luckily for fans in Vancouver that has never been a problem for What So Not. More than quick-to-fame DJ's with a trendy banger or two What so Not falls in to the Flume, Bassnecter, Alison Wonderland, and Rezz camp...focusing on artistry and atmosphere. He has created a fervent following of die hard fans and proven himself as a true artistic talent with a strong stylistic vision.

That being said the DJ portions of his set were well timed, and filled with crowd pleasing, commercial inclined hits, including; a sing along of Toto's classic hit Africa, Skrillex' headbanging anthem Chicken Soup, the now customary Bodak Yellow remix, and the perfectly fitting theme to Stranger Things. Perhaps the one drawback this style of show were the transitions out of the DJ segments back in to What So Not's live material. Occasionally there was dead air and a rapid change in energy. Regardless, any lull never lasted for long, and the audience immediately forgot the second a unique live element took over. The drum solo during a live edit of GOH, and the live vocals for We Keep On Running were definitely highlights.

After a quick hour and fifteen minutes the lights went down, and What So Not walked off stage. If the show had ended there it would not have been enough for Vancouver fans, however, we were graced with a twenty minute encore roaring to life with a thunderous rendition of Divide & Conquer. It was easily the strongest continuous segment of the night. If you have a chance to catch What So Not on his Beautiful Things North America Tour PT2 don't miss out.

What to do this weekend (Sept. 14th - 16th)

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If you want to keep track with what's going on electronic dance music wise in your city, then check out this weekend guide. Just click below and start planning!

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