King Britt at VEMF 2008

Credit: Jim McKenna

A Feat of Beats

After six years, VEMF keeps getting bigger and better

I always find it difficult to write about the Victoria Electronic Music Festival. It’s not because I don’t like electronic music, or don’t “get” the dance scene—it’s because so many people involved with the festival, whether they’re performers, organizers, volunteers or attendees, are people I count as friends. The electronic music community welcomed me with open arms when I first came to this city nearly a decade ago—and, while you may not see me at as many parties these days, I always dust off my dancing shoes for VEMF.

And I’m not the only one. Victoria voted VEMF its favourite annual festival in this year’s M Awards (“We were blown away,” says VEMF executive producer Bruce Biel) and organizers estimate that 10,000 people will visit Centennial Square over the festival’s two days—not a small achievement, considering it takes place on a holiday weekend and is up against Symphony Splash on Sunday.

“In Canada, it’s a very unique event,” Biel says of VEMF. “For one, it’s an electronic music festival, which you don’t see a whole lot of. Then you incorporate the free element into it and the outdoor, summertime thing. Then you put it in downtown Victoria and add the family element.”

City councillor Phillippe Lucas, who is no stranger to the electronic music scene, agrees. “In Victoria, we have an incredibly vibrant intentional dance community,” he says. “There’s people who just feel that’s their preferred mode of expression and stress relief and socializing, so it’s great to be able to have [VEMF] over a weekend like that right in our downtown core.”

Now in its sixth installment, VEMF not only attracts a diverse crowd, but also a diverse lineup. A quick look at the 52 artists who will be playing the festival’s six venues (in addition to the free daytime show and seminars at Centennial Square, gigs will be taking place at Billy’s Bistro, the Sunset Room, Sugar, Hush and the Ambrosia Event Centre)show a mixture of local and out-of-town DJs and live performers playing everything from dubstep to techno to progressive house. Biel says the festival tries to bring in not only international talent like headliners Donald Glaude and Uberzone, but also wants to highlight DJs and live acts from right here in our own backyard. He points to folks like Lucky Bar resident Kenzie Clarke, DJ Generic—who won Whitebird’s broken beat DJ competition—and the yet-to-be-announced winner of Hush’s DJ competition.

“The community has really said, ‘These are people who are important and have an impact on the community,’ so we want to showcase those people as well,” Biel says. “Beyond that, we [organizers] look ourselves and see who is really doing things here.”

One of those folks is Toby Emerson, a Victoria-based DJ and producer who has been making waves both locally and globally. He’s produced and remixed tracks for labels such as Subversive and Bugeyed Records and is stoked about his inaugural VEMF performance.

“I’ll be playing a mix of some of my own music and then some other tracks that I like at the moment, mainly progressive house and whatever else I feel drawn into,” he says, adding, “Since I’m playing first, I don’t want to rip into really intense music at like three in the afternoon. I don’t know what people are going to be feeling at that moment.”

In addition to surveying the community and seeking out specific acts, Biel says VEMF also accepts submissions from artists who want to play the festival, saying it’s “a great way to find new talent.”

“We obviously get a really high percentage of local and regional people who are aware of the event and want to perform, so they submit, but we’re also finding more and more people from really anywhere in the world,” he says. “We’ve had applications from as far away as China, all throughout the States, Australia—it’s crazy.”

With the abundance of venues for this year’s festival, Biel says organizers have tried to program some more genre-specific nights for the afterparties. For examples, fans of progressive music will want to check out Saturday night’s show at Ambrosia, where folks like AFK and Yoseff will be DJing, while those into dubbier sounds might want to head down on Sunday night.

“We’ll still use the main stage to mix it all up and showcase all the different sounds, but with the clubs and afterhours, it’s more key, focused events,” he explains. “It’s a good way to capture people who have a specific interest in a sound.”

The increase in venues, performers and genre-specific events is a testament to VEMF’s exponential growth over the past six years—and the support it has received not only from the electronic music scene, but the greater community.

“I remember back in the early days, we would always announce it as though we were trying to demystify the stigmas around electronic music. Now, we no longer say that in our advertising because I think we have done that,” says Biel, who adds the festival now gets financial support from both the City of Victoria and the federal government. “It’s grown to the point where that’s been accomplished and we are just trying to throw an amazing event and keep on showcasing that.”

Veteran VEMF performer Thor Kell, who produces and DJs under the Fractal moniker, says Victoria’s size has a lot to do with VEMF’s success. “It’s a small enough city and a small enough [electronic music] scene that you can represent all of it in two days and two nights—or a large majority of it.”

Councillor Phillippe Lucas describes the festival as “a great success.” “The city has really embraced this festival over the years,” he says. “I’m always amazed that they can actually hold the thing for free and I’m always so pleased to see people coming with their kids and to be able to highlight the great creativity that’s part of the dance scene.”

Kell sums it up best. “The fact that it exists is a good thing, regardless of anything else.” M

-------------------------------
The Victoria Electronic Music Festival
 Saturday-Sunday August 1-2
Centennial Square, Billy’s Bistro, Sunset Room, Hush, Sugar and Ambrosia Event Centre
Free Centennial Square shows (noon-10pm Sat, 3-10pm Sun) with ticketed after-hour events
vemf.ca