The first wave of musical acts for this year’s Bass Coast Music and Art Festival has been released with even more artists expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
A list of 28 of the 90 musical acts that will descend on Merritt come July was released, and includes many international talents along with a healthy showing of Canadian content and returning acts.
These initially announced acts represent an array of musical styles, Bass Coast communications manager Paul Brooks told the Herald.
Headliners from this initial group include Ardalan, a bassfunk techno group originally from Tehran; Basic Soul Unit, a Canadian deep house techno group from Toronto; New York-based DJ Doctor Jeep and Detroit Swindle.
Detroit Swindle is a duo from Amsterdam that is relatively new on the scene, but came out of nowhere to take the world by storm, Brooks said.
“They’re very hot right now in the dance music community,” he said.
Ardalan, along with acts J.Phlip and Justin Martin, are affiliated with well-established San Francisco record label Dirty Bird, he said.
Acts coming from across the pond are United Kingdom-based J:Kenzo, Om Unit and Sam Binga.
Bass Coast is sure to bring a lot of elaborate entertainment.
New York-based musical act Zebra Katz will bring a soundtrack for voguing, a dance style that was invented on the streets of Harlem and popularized in the 1980s, Brooks said.
It’s a dance which is meant to parallel the runway walking of models by incorporating hand gestures and twirls.
Zebra Katz track Ima Read was featured at the Rick Owens fashion show in Paris back in 2012.
“This is somebody who’s influential in the music and fashion community,” Brooks said.
The act is sure to involve dancing and the use of costumes, Brooks said.
Also performing at Bass Coast will be Longwalkshortdock — an animated, Vancouver-based performer who incorporates elaborate costumes into his keyboard act — and HANNAH, who will serenade the audience with her electric violin skills.
The duo Sabota will also perform and incorporate live percussion in their show.
“They’re also a really interactive live music group,” Brooks said.
Returning performers who have played at the soon-to-be seven-year-old festival in previous years include G Jones, Sabo, Grenier, J.Phlip, Justin Martin, Om Unit and Eprom.
“We’re really excited to have them back, they’re favourites of ours,” Brooks said.
Many of the Canadian acts announced so far come from the Vancouver area.
Tyler Stadius, Sabota, Neighbour, Mat the Alien and Ekali are all from the Lower Mainland.
Bass Coast will have about 1,000 fewer tickets on sale this year than last.
There are just 3,000 to be had.
Last year’s Bass Coast sold about 3,000 of the 4,000 available tickets, Brooks said.
The festival will use the same layout and all four of the stages will be freshly redesigned art installations for this year’s event.
This year’s theme is still to be determined, but Brooks said people who visit the Bass Coast website, Twitter and Facebook pages can find hints as to what it will be.
Last year’s theme was mutiny, while the year of the zebra was the festival’s theme in 2013.
Bass Coast is in the midst of looking for art installations to display at this year’s event and has grants available.
The music festival is interested in showcasing local artists, Brooks said.
This year’s Bass Coast will also be held earlier than last year.
Instead of the August long weekend, it will be held July 10 to 13.
For more performers announced so far, visit basscoast.ca.
