What to do this weekend: Labour day long weekend edition (August 30th - September 2nd)

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!

Hottest tracks of the week (August 19th - 24th)

This list is for the fan on the go who wants to listen to the hottest tracks from the past 7 days, all in one place. All of these tracks were selected by top DJs, radio shows, and EDM Canada.

What to do this weekend (August 23rd - 25th)

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!

Lululemon's Seawheeze half marathon brought world class dance music headliners to their Sunset Music Festival

By Ryan Hayes

For the second year in a row Lululemon's Seawheeze half marathon brought world class dance music headliners to their Sunset Music Festival. Following in last year's footsteps, the event itself ran like a well oiled machine; clean, fast, efficient, with a stellar audience.

Big Wild opened the musical portion of the night with a bliss'ed out set dripping in chill vibes—perfectly setting the tone for sunset and paving the way for Kaskade's diverse offering. The audience, including many marathon runners who were unfamiliar with his catalogue, were drawn in by the live elements of his performance. Standouts included When I Get There, and 6's to 9's. It was the perfect example of why festivals are so important to the health and growth of a musical community. Big Wild definitely walked away with new fans.

As darkness set in Kaskade set out to regal fans and newcomers alike with and hour and a half set split between two worlds. Beginning with an extended intro edit of Fun Kaskade ran through big room cuts of his classics, and a large portion of Redux 003; strung together by the occasional inclusion of mainstream anthems like Journey's Don't Stop Believin' . While the internet has recently made its disdain for the widespread acceptance of Kaskade's Redux sound crystal clear...times change...audiences evolve...and house music is now king.

As far as Kaskade is concerned, this shouldn't be a surprise. Released in 2015, fan favourites, Never Sleep Alone and Us (among others) have been low-key paving the way for old school leaning house vibes to penetrate large scale festival audiences. Tight and Fun both recently got official releases on Kaskade's latest Redux offering when they just as easily could have been released on one of his mainline albums. The transformation is complete. The two worlds have officially blended. This is who Kaskade is now. If you are attending a Kaskade festival set you will hear a little bit of everything; traditional festival bangers, dingy club beats (Dancin'), downtempo melancholia (On Your Mind), self indulgent remixes (2nd Street), and modern Redux anthems (More).

Kaskade's set at Sunset Festival marked the prominence and staying power of a true legacy artist. Sure a set at Shambhala will tend towards the more house'y side of things, and a Redux branded show will drop the big room aspect altogether—but for the majority of his audience Kaskade now represents a diverse array of music faithfully chronicling his evolution over the past two decades.

After a second year of dance music heat Sunset Festival is fast becoming a staple for Vancouver EDM fans. Here's to hoping next year continues the trend.

Alison Wonderland crushing the Bud Light House Party Tour

By Dominic Wren

Alexandra Scholler, also known under her stage name of Alison Wonderland, has been one of the most exciting names to come through the electronic music scene in the last couple of years by creating her own distinct sound and collaborating with artist within and outside the electronic music scene, such as Trippie Red, Dillon Francis, and Chief Keef just to name a couple. EDM Canada was more than grateful to have a chance to sit down with this unique artist and discuss a couple topics so we can all understand her, her music, and her message a little bit better.

The Fortnite Pro-Am in July saw many celebrities participate in the charity event including Alison Wonderland. She explained that she started playing only 2 days before the event and she still beat 20 people before eventually eliminating herself because she was too good. Even for herself…

One thing she can undoubtedly be crowned as a world champion for is creating her own snacks. I’m talking about finding the new best topping on a pizza; I’m talking about mixing the most random ingredients to imitate a real food. For example; she explained that when she first started touring, she would get the milk creams and the sugar from the hotel room mini bar to mix them both in her mouth to imitate the taste of vanilla ice cream. Now that’s unique!

Source: Bud Light Canada FB Page

As some fans may already know, the now successful DJ/producer was a very talented cellist for the Sydney Youth Orchestra. Today she dominates the electronic music scene, but how/when did she make the transition from classical music to raves? She explained cello was her passion for most of her youth but after coming back to Australia from an overseas experience studying cello, she decided that this instrument wasn’t for her anymore. With no plans for education, Alexandra started playing in an underground punk band and working at the doors of nightclubs to earn extra money. She then heard the DJ play the song “Silent Shout” by the Knife and she became obsessed with it so she started making music like The Knife to later become the beloved Alison Wonderland after years of grinding and hard work.

For a long time, at the beginning of her career, Alexandra used a cracked version of the DAW Ableton where she taught herself how to make her own tracks. She only had a few sample packs to start with, including a Deadmau5’s sample pack, and pure passion that led to the creation of her own sound. She then started DJing closing sets almost every night in clubs around Sydney. She would make music during the day and would DJ until 4 am at night.

She made a clear point that DJing and producing music are two very different aspects of music. The Aussie artist explained that in those days, she would DJ under the name “Alison Wonderland” and produce under the name “White Fang.”

Pssst… *whispering* She also hinted a possibility of new music being released under her old name of White Fang.

We eventually went on to talk about the Bud Light House Party event that she was DJing that same night. Alison Wonderland was very excited for involvement with Bud Light and she mentioned that she would not have said yes to an event like this if it weren’t an authentic experience between her and her fans. Bud Light made it so much easier for her to connect with her fans and support her as an artist. Big ups on that Bud Light!

Alison Wonderland is one the most authentic and interesting electronic artists out there in my opinion. From humble beginnings to crushing headlines, her musical career has been a journey that even a Hollywood movie couldn’t encompass the whole story. We hope to see more of this talented female artist in the near future and hope to see her come to Canada more often! We need more artists like her in the industry.