Electronic beatmakers showcase B.C. scene
Compilation of new material benefits Indigenous rights, the environment
Dose. Dance. Dose. Repeat.
Reinforced by movies from It’s All Gone Pete Tong to Turn Up Charlie, the idea of Edm-fuelled hedonists descending on unsuspecting communities from Goa to Ibiza to spread nothing but trash and trouble is universal. But there is another side to club culture.
Years before most major music events even considered showing respect for First Nations traditions, B.c.-based Bass Coast was the first festival on the planet to ban Native American headdresses and war bonnets as dress-up gear.
Across Canada, Dj-centred events were ahead of North American trends to introduce drug testing to protect customers, and considerable funds have been raised to support environmental, social and political causes from raves worldwide.
One such bit of good work toward improving the world through exposing the work of artists in the electronic music genre is the non-profit place label formed by long-running New York label Air Texture in collaboration with Cologne-based Kompakt.
Through a series of geographically specific regional compilations curated by active artists in local scenes, place releases have focused on scenes in Georgia, the Netherlands, Colombia and Ecuador. All proceeds of each release go toward a specific organization in each territory. These have ranged from Open Closet LGBT (the Netherlands) to the non-governmental political dialogue agency Mutante in Colombia. The latest compilation is place: vancouver, which adopted Indigenous rights and environmental protections through partner organization Pacific Wild. Local DJ and producer James (Kuma) Graham compiled the 20-track release, which is available on Bandcamp on May 22.
“I was hit up last summer by James Healy of Air Texture about putting together this benefit compilation series and would I be interested in curating the Vancouver edition,” said Graham. “Curation is kind of my bag, as I’ve been hosting my own radio show Art of Beatz on CFRO 102.7FM (Thursdays at midnight) for 16 years, and also hosted a show on CBC Radio Two. So I reached out to everyone I knew to say, “We’re doing this and do you have anything you’d like to contribute?’ The response was fantastic.”
So is the place: vancouver compilation, featuring names that those above the underground will know — DJ Olive, Beatmool or connect_ icut — as well as a host of others who would likely only be familiar to those in the know. The material is all new. Killer gems such as the opening banger Mirrorcity by The Automatic Message should have anyone’s COVID-19 cabaret crib in a dance frenzy.
“There is a lot of stuff on it that isn’t what Air Texture usually touches as a label, but that is true of all of the place releases in some part,” said Graham. “Vancouver is very much awash in very future forward drum and bass producers right now — local act Beatmool just signed to legendary U.K. drum and bass label Ram Records — and we’ve also got some of the weirder ambient stuff that represents very nicely to that community and many others. I’m really proud of it all.”
As an eye-opener to the range and quality of electronic music being made in B.C. right now, this compilation is huge. The same holds true for the other releases, showcasing the range of expression and approach being taking by artists in other countries on other continents. Air Texture head Healy says that was part of what drove the concept.
“It’s a multi-year music project of mine to weave in both political and music news as an attempt at a personal goal of living more morally,” said Healy.
“The idea was could the two be cross-pollinated with a vehicle that is a little different than most. What I notice on the West Coast is that outdoor, environmental culture and electronic music seem to be very intertwined, whereas in places like Berlin, it was a big part of the political movement about lifestyle and squat culture.”
The midwestern roots of techno in Detroit and Chicago are inseparable from the politics of race, gay rights and so forth. The U.K. rave culture has been studied as a working class reaction to repressive Thatcher-era law enforcement and developing social movements against neo-conservative politics.
Healy said every city around the world has activist underground arts scenes that deserve greater exposure. “It’s a struggle to release this project, because without a few names, you don’t score algorithmically online, but it’s so rewarding to be involved with,” he said.
“I’m coming in with a framework where we get out of the way, let a few people put it together, and maybe piggyback more exposure to social issues through that, too.”
The cliché of electronic music being only about escapism proves harder to sustain with projects like this and the artists behind them.