Event Recap: Infrasound Music Festival 2014

This past weekend we headed west again for another amazing music festival. This time the Funkadelphia crew made our way up to Black River Falls, Wisconsin for the 3rd annual Infrasound Music Festival. Being the bassheads that we are, the weekend promised an incredible lineup of DJs and producers from all over the world, many of which are rare to show their face here in the United States. Taking place on a beautiful piece of land, the festival offered a gorgeous forest for its campers, a glistening lake for swimming and boating, an on site diner with amazing food and just as amazing of prices, plus plenty more. Smiling faces were everywhere, with the constant laughter of good times only being overwhelmed by blasting quality music. By the end of the weekend we were all in agreement that we would not only be certainly returning to Black River Falls in 2015, but that Infrasound was indeed one of our favorite festivals to date. I’ll take you through our day by day schedule, touching on all the incredible artists we had the honor of witnessing, as well as deliver plenty of photos from the glorious weekend.

Infrasound Music Festival – Website // On Facebook

Thursday:

ProJect Aspect: A last minute addition to the lineup, I was all smiles to be catching another set of ProJect Aspect after his late night performance at Summer Camp two weeks prior. The Denver producer brought the heat again, tearing up the main stage with non-stop glitch-hop madness. With a set packed exclusively full of original production, it became quickly undeniable that ProJect Aspect is a force to be reckoned with.

Paul Basic (+ B2B with Supervision): After ProJect Aspect it was time to kick off the Pretty Lights Music showcase. The showcase featured Supervision, Paul Basic and Michal Menert. Paul Basic was first, bringing his bassed out electro soul and hip-hop sound to the stage. When it was time for Paul Basic to turn over the decks to Supervision, the two producers decided to share the decks for a bit, spinning out some awesome tracks in a back to back fashion.

Supervision: Supervision delivered the goods once again; something that I’ve simply come to expect of him. Starting his set with Flume’s remix of Rustie‘s “Slasherr”, he then delved into his own production. Once again the crowd was lit up with an upbeat and soulful fusion of hip-hop, glitch-hop and electro soul. It’s also worth noting that Supervision blasted us with a massive remix of “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine.

Michal Menert: Finally it was Mr. Menert’s time to take the stage, and while my face was already twisted into a permanent grin, Michal took that smile to completely new heights. He took the hip-hop and electro soul vibe to a whole new place, incorporating plenty of funk into his set and delivering all of his greatest hits amongst some other truly beautiful ones.

Friday:

Ganja White Night: We started the second day of Infrasound with a stroll down to the beach stage to catch Ganja White Night’s first set of the weekend (they had two sets). Even though the beach stage was rather small compared to the massive pyramid main stage, the soundsystem was still packing plenty of heat. What this means is that it allowed the Belgium duo to serve us up a huge serving of deep and swelling bass that was more than enough to satisfy any new cravings we had developed overnight.

Cyberoptics: Next up on the beach stage was Cyberoptics. It’s been a long time coming for the Funkadelphia crew to get down to the Memphis, Tennessee producer’s supersonic deep bass tones, and Infrasound was the perfect setting to finally catch the man in action. Cyberoptics delivered with one of the darkest sets of the entire weekend. My spine was tingling and my skin was crawling for the entire hour Cyberoptics held the stage down.

Skytree: It was then time to head over to the festival’s third and final stage, The Bend, for an East coast favorite: Skytree. After interviewing the New York producer earlier in the Spring, I was eager to hear Skytree take the stage again. With a deep and truly unique insight into music and sound design, Skytree’s noise is constantly pushing boundaries and instilling new influences into the music world. This weekend he showed Infrasound just how inspired of a spirit he truly is.

DJ Abilities: I had to make my way back to the main stage then for what promised to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. DJ Abilities is one of Rhymesayers Entertainment‘s finest, with scratching and simply general DJ skills that are unmatched. The Minneapolis DJ spun us up a set of some awesome dance jams, mixing in classic rock, hip-hop, modern dance music and more.

Unlimited Gravity: Truly one of my favorite producers from the Midwest, I was ecstatic to have another chance to see Unlimited Gravity bring his bass maddening production to the Infrasound main stage. With an ability to fuse any bass genre into glitch-hop and dubstep destruction, Unlimited Gravity’s mind is undeniably a vortex leading straight into the heart of production creativity. For an hour and a half the Colorado producer held it down with a set filled with entirely original production.

Haywyre: Another producer that we’ve been constantly following is Haywyre. Even more so, we’ve been dying to see just what the Midwest producer is able to do on stage behind the decks. Infrasound finally granted us the chance we were looking for, bringing Haywyre to the their lineup, one of the very few bookings we’ve seen him receive. Haywyre came out swinging, slamming out an insurmountable of incredible funk music of all ranges. He definitely served up one of my favorite sets from the weekend.

Kalya Scintilla: The sunset brought a change of pace to Infrasound. The festival was overcome with a vibe serene bass psychedelia, all starting with Kalya Scintilla. A truly gifted producer and all around artist, Kalya took us way down into a layer of glitchy and wavering bass that is simply incomparable to any other producer doing it. Once again, this was one of the most entertaining and rewarding sets from the weekend.

Tipper (Downtempo Set): Finally it was the moment much of the festival had been anticipating since everyone’s arrival Thursday afternoon. The UK legend Tipper took the stage to deliver his first of two Infrasound sets. While Tipper’s production team rearranged the stage for the sound design mastermind, Tipper stood behind the scenes, delivering us a short introduction set of some truly funky and glitchy weirdness, including a clip of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin singing us “The Bird Is the Word” followed by a totally mesmerizing remix of “Bird Machine”. Tipper then took the stage, accompanied by some gorgeous visuals from Jonathan Singer to dish out an unrelenting force of downtempo derision.

The Polish Ambassador/Wildlight: What a true gift it was to see one of our most beloved Philadelphia hometown heroes take the stage to followup Tipper’s beautiful downtempo set. The Polish Ambassador took the stage to bring us a full set of original production, delving into some of his most funky works. An extra special gift was his accompaniment from Ayla Nereo, his partner in crime for the side project Wildlight, and his partner in crime (aka wife) for this wild ride we call life. The set was also packed with plenty of new material from The Polish Ambassador’s newest album, which was just released yesterday (listen HERE!)

Late Night Radio: The mellow vibes continued as one of our favorite up and coming producers took the stage. Hailing from Colorado, Late Night Radio has captured a sound of hip-hop and electro soul fusion that is irrefutably unique and peaceful. Also having just dished out a brand new album (hear Soap Box HERE!) we were graced with plenty of our favorite Late Night Radio classics, but also a whole slew of new material to get us hyped for the new record’s release.

The Widdler: Once again the main stage underwent a shift in musical tones once The Widdler took the stage. With unique insight into deep bass rhythms, The Widdler delivered a wide variety of production covering the entire BPM spectrum. Originally from New Jersey- while now located in Austin, Texas- The Widdler showed once again that the East coast is still full of creative souls just crying to get their art out to the world.

Saturday:

Grimblee: The final day of Infrasound was now upon us, and we couldn’t imagine a better way to kick it off than with the unbelievably funky, yet still extremely heavy, beats of Grimblee. The Salt Lake City producer is another prime example of just how NOT dead bass music is. With a glitchy and experimental bass sound that is consistently recognizable, Grimblee is setting the standard for inventive dance music. His set was crammed with jaw-dropping funked out bass tunes.

JPhelpz: It’s a little disheartening to see some of the originators of heavy bass music moving on to different genres and filling their sets with dance music from all sectors of the electronic world. It’s not to say I only bass music, but sometimes it’s a bit frustrating to see some of bass music’s forerunners slowly creeping away from their origins. Luckily we have amazing new producers like JPhelpz popping up who are still ready to deliver those deep, dark bassy tunes that some of our older favorites just aren’t bringing anymore. For any hardcore basshead, I must say after seeing JPhelpz dish out his set: you’ve got to see this guy in action.

Filibusta: I was actually introduced to Filibusta two weeks prior to Infrasound, when I accidentally wandered into his set at Summer Camp. Boy did I feel stupid, and rather embarrassed, for not being previously familiar with this gifted producer and all around musician. Bringing his own live vocals, and some live synth work to the stage, Filibusta dished up a set of funky dubstep and glitch-hop that is inescapably enchanting.

Ganja White Night: It was then time for Ganja White Night to bring their dubby goodness to Infrasound’s crowd once again. And while we caught them earlier in the weekend at the beach stage, the Belgium duo brought the heat so strong it was irresistible to watch them get down once again, this time on the main stage.

Lucient Dossier Experience: Certainly one of the most visually pleasing and stimulating sets from the weekend was Lucient Dossier Experience. With a duo bringing out some tribal based production, while also hammering down on the guitar and drums, the music was already enough to get us going. But the real treat was a eclectic variety of acrobatic performers including gymnasts, fire spinners and more.

Mr. Bill: Another one of my most anticipated sets going into the weekend was the production mastermind from the great down under, Mr. Bill. With a glitchy sound that’s completely distinguishable. He even gave a production workshop earlier in the weekend, which was truly inspiring and the perfect insight into how creative of a mind this Australian producer possesses. Putting Mr. Bill back to back with Tipper’s set was one of the best schedulings ever put together, simply because both producers are two of the most talented to grace our planet.

Tipper: It was then time for the mighty Tipper to take the stage once again for his second Infrasound set. This time though Tipper delivered a much more upbeat set loaded with his own original production. He pulled tracks from an eclectic spread of his releases, ranging from hip-hop to dubstep to drum & bass to glitch-hop. Tipper further showed us why he is just so renowned, destroying it on the decks with plenty of scratching an additional live mixing.

Thriftworks: The perfect set to lull us down into a sleep state after that robust and energetic Tipper set was another Philadelphia hometown hero: Thriftworks. Like The Polish Ambassador, Thriftworks has since relocated to the West coast, but it hasn’t stopped us Philadelphians from celebrating is greatness. With an ability to create psychedelic hip-hop soundscapes unlike anything else you’ve ever heard, Thriftworks was the perfect way to bring our Infrasound 2014 experience to a close.