Rifflandia finale: Distance & the fam

The 4 day feast that was the third annual Rifflandia festival came to an amazing close at the final sub⎹division showcase on Sunday. The night started off right with fantastic opening sets from extended sub|div fam members Outsider & Patience Automate. Outsider’s amen feast was precise as a Photek break & for the early 7:30 slot, the cat had peeps jumpin. PA’s pristine industrial crunk is always a treat sonically & his Riff set was stellar; tunes from his Auto Swagger EP definitely lit it up.

The Big Reds rarely get deck-time as a trio lately – space, time & life are all factors. But thanks to Rifflandia, these 3 cats made it happen again right in front of everyone’s eyes & ears. While Gobe, Frame & Rhythmicon all have the capacity for a live solo set, having all 3 of these soldiers on stage at once is always a treat. Deep, rooted riddims dominated their set, with seriously some of the smoothest mixes to have graced the sub⎹div stage all year. Massive love out to these boys – showing Victoria how this shit truly should be done.

[CLOCK THE VID @ THE TOP OF THIS POST]

Hosting Distance to close out this year’s Rifflandia Festival was a complete honour for the sub⎹div fam & wow, did the Chestplate head honcho come through. Outside of being an originator & respected DJ, Distance has managed two full length albums on Planet Mu that are monumental influences for the growing dubstep comminuty – to have him in our midst on the 1s & 2s was exciting as fuck. Getting right to it, the quality bass pressure was maintained throughout his entire set, with his signature cracking snares & tastefully executed mid-range riffs devastating a packed, sweaty & willing crowd. New dubs were flying left & right, with some slicker new female vox-driven anthems slotting seamlessly next to classic floor-burners like “Night Vision” & “Victim Support“. Complete mastery of the mix was evident – some lengthy mixes & quick cuts presented some brilliant segues between all the the drops & bass. Consider the legendary status maintained; Distance, you are welcome back at sub⎹division anytime.

SubLowOneBloc via Gobe…

Our man Gobe left for the far north with the love of his life, but he ain’t stopped pushing weight! And here’s the evidence. SLOB or SubLowOneBloc – a new podcast series from Gobe himself exploring techno, house, UKFunky & of course a good helping of bassweight tunage.

Get all up in its guts… DL & tracklisting after the jumpy…

sub⎹div 05 recap: Gobe’s farewell was amazing!

Jeeeah. sub⎹div 05 was an absolute throw down people. So much love up in Lucky Bar last Friday, thank you all SO MUCH! It was great to see all the heads out to bid Ben Gobe farewell, huge hearts & huge basslines all night. Check all the pics below, they give a great sense of how much energy was in the room (photos by Ben Fox).

sub⎹div podcast 2.2: Gobe [Mar. 2010]

To keep the extended Gobe farewell going, here’s the second installment of his sub|div podcast (peep the first half of Gobe’s podcast here). Big ups to all who came out to Hush this past Thursday for Theory – The Big Reds were on fiiiyaah kid. Big tunes dropped & a great energy. Here’s Gobe’s synopsis…

sub|div podcast 2.1: Gobe [Feb. 2010]

Truth be told, the sub|div soundsystem was busy through February with hella shows, so we’ll give Gobe a break for getting the second podcast in a bit late. For those that don’t know, Gobe is leaving Victoria for the far North of BC at the end of April to pursue life, love & work. The sub|div fam will miss Ben & we’re dreading losing him, but before he leaves, he’s gonna unload a couple of sick mixes & we’re gonna have a huge sub|div party on April 16th, which will feature all sub|div residents.