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I’m excited to chat today, man! Congrats on your first Infrasound booking! How did it feel to be on the lineup this year?

It was definitely one of the most eye-opening experiences realizing that, you know, an artist of my caliber is capable of pulling a certain crowd for the beginning of the day, first day of a festival of Infrasound’s reputation and caliber. To me, it was humbling and it really showed me that anybody at my stage of career is capable of gathering fans from all over the country just to see a one-hour set from you. It’s always a great reminder to see how many people come up and say “Hi!” and and tell you how much they love your music and how much they actually care about your project. There’s more to it than just, you know, playing DJ sets, obviously. I’ve always been in it for the love of music and live instrumentation, and improvisation, and just like, songwriting in general. It’s always been really cool to see people start DJing, too, and sharing what they have to the world. But at the same time, the reason I got into this was not only just for myself but to share, like, my soul to the world. So it was really cool to see people that actually do give a shit, you know? Especially for the first set of the first day, while everyone’s setting up camp and trying to get situated and shit.

You can always tell when the people that show up early like that are, like, really, really passionate about what we do here.

I mean, you seem like a very community-oriented guy. Not just in it for playing sets or making money.

Right, yeah, I mean everybody has their own reasons to play music live for people, but yeah, for me it was really cool to see people that came prepared and showed up correct, and, you know, made sure that they didn’t miss the set. You can always tell when the people that show up early like that are, like, really, really passionate about what we do here.

I do remember going to that kid’s house, and I do remember seeing the technical side of that instrument and striking a bow across some strings. It really, to me, felt like it was the most expressive in terms of playing melodies.

So one of the things that I think makes you really unique is the fact that you do have this trend to do live instrumentation in your sets. Can you give us some backstory on that? How long have you been playing the violin, for example? What got you into it?

So there was probably the first five years of my life, like my parents kind of showed me a great amount of music and, you know, they had a piano in our room, in our family room, and, you know, of course, they were the typical Asian parents trying to force the kid on the piano. However, I think it took one instance where my parents took me down the street to my neighbor’s house, and at age five, my mind, it’s like a sponge. Anybody’s mind is like a sponge, you know? We absorb everything we see and take it to heart. So we went over to my neighbor’s house – I don’t even remember what the kid’s name was – but he was practicing violin when I got over there and I was just enamored. I was just, like, completely mesmerized. I don’t really even remember what came over me, but apparently that moment (at least from what my parents told me), I was like, “Yeah, this is what I wanna do with my life.” As a kid like that, I don’t really remember making that decision, but I do remember going to that kid’s house, and I do remember seeing the technical side of that instrument, you know, and striking a bow across some strings. It really, to me, felt like it was the most expressive in terms of playing melodies. Like piano was cool and all, I took maybe a couple years of lessons and learned the basics, but I think that’s when I kind of started to make that decision to just fully deep dive into the violin, you know. And then obviously you’re gonna suck for like the first three or four years, but after getting through that hump, you know, you just never you never stop. And I never quit and I never stopped practicing, and then eventually got into orchestras, and then bands. I played in, like, indie bands and metal bands. My buddy showed me, like, all sorts of awesome, you know, counterculture metal bands that that were really popping off in the emo days and of course, you know, I’d always love to have the chance to play in a band with my metal phase, but, you know, after after playing in so many and going through those kind of projects, I really found myself, more capable of doing a lot on my own. When I was introduced to Ableton, we were tracking Ableton songs on our band songwriting process and, you know, my cousin showed me a little bit. By about the time dubstep was coming around, that’s when I also noticed that there’s more to this than just, you know, instruments. So from there, I mean by around like 2011, I got my own Ableton suite and MIDI controller and then from there I just kinda, like, deep dove into that. Like, at first I thought about getting a DJ controller, so I did, and I was like, “Nah, fuck that. I’m gonna sell that and get an APC40.” Ever since then, it’s just been Ableton for the last 10 to 15 years.

So, aside from the violin, are there any other physical instruments that you also know how to play right now?

Yeah, I played drums in my metal band. I played guitar in another metal band. Then I played drums in the indie band I played in. I most recently left a group that was a jam band. It was like a funk fusion jam band, but yeah.

That’s quite the world tour you’ve got!

It’s neither here nor there, it was… it was definitely a lot of instruments that kind of set a lot of, like, my style apart from others, I think. It’s the multi-instrumentalist in me, you know, between the drums, the guitar, the bass, and the violin, and piano. It’s basically just strings and percussion for me. I’m a strings guy.

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You said that with Ableton you found that you could do a lot more on your own and kind of find your own musical direction, so what made you stick with the combo of producing and playing string instruments as opposed to going all digital, or vice versa?

It was the only one that I knew I was most expressive on, especially when it comes to making, like, really soulful leads and melodies. And bringing it on stage live is a lot easier than trying to bring, like, a bunch of hardware and some synths and, you know, your sound card, and your laptop… and all that shit usually ends up failing anyways, ’cause I don’t have the money to really afford all the best. So it’s definitely a limiting thing when it comes to trying to perform my music live.

Flying Lotus, Flume, Mr. Carmack, Jon Casey, Chee, tsuruda… Those are some of the big ones that I’ve always looked up to.

Let’s talk some more about your backstory here. Can you give us a list of some of your biggest musical influences and why they’re on that list, electronic or otherwise?

Yeah, I love this, I love this question. Yeah, I definitely pay a lot of homage to, like, Flying Lotus, Flume, Mr. Carmack, Jon Casey, Chee, tsuruda… Those are some of the big ones that I’ve always looked up to. Definitely people like Anderson .Paak are big inspirations to me. People like Smino, for another example. In the hip-hop world, those are definitely big, big influences on my sound. Oh, and then as far as, like, bands go, I would think that Khruangbin. Also, Chon (they’re a math rock band), and probably people like… Hmm, I guess for my last biggest influence, it’ll probably have to be like Earth, Wind and Fire, or all the stuff from my favorite indie days. I don’t know, yeah, that’s just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

That’s a damn good list right there. I love the callback to the indie days. I feel like that’s when a lot of electronic music started to pop off, especially singer-songwriters like James Blake and Toro y Moi. A lot of it we just used to call “indie” or “electronica” back in the day.

That’s a perfect example, yeah.

Alright, so enough about your backstory. Let’s talk about the future now! How about the rest of 2024? Can you give us a sneak peek on anything that you might have in-store release-wise or performance-wise, or anything else?

So, performance-wise, I’ll be coming back to Minnesota, actually. There’s gonna be another festival called Bass Ribbon Pines coming up, so I’ll probably be doing that one right in tandem with Secret Dreams. I’ll be guest violin on a Ghost Gardens set at Secret Dreams. So, I’ll probably end up flying out either Thursday night or Friday morning back to Minnesota to do that set at 1 PM on Friday, and then I don’t know. I can’t decide whether I wanna sneak back to Secret Dreams or not, but yeah, there’s a few people I’m trying to catch on Saturday at Secret Dreams. Then, yeah, typically I kinda try and do a lot of stage work, too, so I’ll probably be ending up stage managing the silent disco at Lost Lands again this year. As much as I kind of have a bit of a bias against riddim, I’m still really supportive of the riddim community at Lost Lands. That’s something that I don’t pass judgment on, especially when, you know, people like Excision are bringing on some of my own favorite personal up-and-coming acts. So yeah, that’ll probably be coming up later on. Hopefully, I’ll get to play more than a silent disco set at Lost Lands, but for now, I think I’m pretty much there on the silent disco stage.

Can you give us some insight into your songwriting process when you make music? Do you do the same thing every time, do you have a pattern that you run with, or do you just kind of wing it in the studio whenever you wanna go make a track yeah?

It depends on how I’m feeling that day. A lot of days, it’s hard to find a lot of inspiration, so sometimes I’ll just kinda, like, play around with some chords or, you know, a couple other days I’ll whip out some instruments and start making some content for TikTok and Instagram. Those are separate from all my official releases, obviously, so those are really typically just for fun. I’m actually headed to a studio east of here to do like a pool day/studio session and make some content for reels and TikTok. Other than that, when I make bangers, it’s usually late at night, like late as fuck at night. Or maybe I’ve, you know, gone out for a night and stayed up all night, and might bring a few homies back to the studio after we we’re done getting all goofy, and, yeah, just make a beat at the end of night, sometimes all the way up until the morning or the next afternoon.

Peak hours right there! You’ve kind of been making waves for yourself out here lately, what would you say is your proudest accomplishment up until this point? Whether in terms of production, or just self-accomplishment, or anything else music-related.

I will definitely say obviously Infrasound is, like, one of the biggest things I’m proud of this year that has happened for me. It just happened so fast. Then another big thing that happened for me right before that was that I got on one of the Team Supreme cyphers that that they started up again: volume three with Lord Genmu and Dome of Doom. That’s another big dream of mine that I’ve always had since like, 2017. I’ve been listening to them since forever. I got introduced to Team Supreme by Mr. Carmack on his, I think it was one of their earlier cyphers, and then, yeah, only recently they started it back up again. So it was really cool to see them have a lot of support from the community still, even though they’ve been gone for more than a couple years now. Love those guys, shoutout Great Dane.

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As far as artists that you’ve been listening to lately… you rattled off some of your influences earlier, now who are some of the more slept-on undercard names that you’ve had on repeat lately?

Love that, yeah. I can definitely think of one right off the top of my head: it’s been Keeth. He’s been doing a lot of future beats stuff with, like, Lucid Monday. Also olswel and Dilip. I think bass-wise, definitely DÊTRE. I don’t know how to pronounce it. Volume Unit’s been killing it lately. L*o*J is mad slept-on. They’re also one of my bigger influences that’s kind of slept-on. Dabow has definitely been making waves lately. ZCR is a God right now, he’s fucking GOATed. There’s plenty more I could list off, but I’d say FUXWITHIT is one of the main places I source my sound.

Hey, we love a good shoutout! We’ve got two questions left that are a bit more random. Let’s hear a fun fact about yourself that we probably don’t know. It can be anything at all!

This is a tough one, I definitely have thought about this one a couple times. Let’s see… what is one thing that’s not too off-the-wall but not too basic… I guess I’ve been to almost every continent. Every continent except Antarctica and Africa. Those are two really tough ones to get to.

it’s been really cool seeing a lot of cultures elsewhere and taking inspiration from that, and, you know, taking it to heart

So you’re an avid traveler?

Yeah, so I guess I’ve been traveling since I was little. My mom has worked for Delta for since, like, the 80s and all. I’ve always had kind of a privilege of being able to fly forever across the world. So it’s been really cool seeing a lot of cultures elsewhere and taking inspiration from that, and, you know, taking it to heart, which is probably why I’m so community-driven. We also end up doing mission trips for this charity organization that my parents run. We typically hit Vietnam every year and fundraise, and all that.

Oh, that’s awesome. So is your heritage Vietnamese?

Yeah, yeah, I’ve done a lot of philanthropy work with that and gone back at least like three or four times. And that’s always been really humbling, experiencing people less fortunate than you try and make a living.

Sounds like you very much embody the idea of “think globally, act locally.”

That’s definitely a good lifestyle to live by.

Last question, do you have any words of inspiration for your fans or aspiring producers out there?

Yeah, I’ve definitely learned a lot the past weekend, and the one thing I really did learn was don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Don’t hold such high expectations of yourself. Everybody’s really stuck in the whole, like, grind mentality, and I’ve found out after trying to spend so much time reaching those expectations that you shouldn’t be so held up or caught up on not meeting them, too. You know, we can all hope to have Ws all the time, but we’ll have to take some Ls every once in a while, too. I mean, this past weekend there were a lot of ups and there were also a lot of downs. I had a really transformative experience when it came to Infrasound, you know? I know it might not be considered your transformational-type festival, but I definitely had that kind of experience. Just realizing that, like, there are certain things that I need to come to terms with myself, and I overcame that.

Just be happy and be real.

It’s all about what you make out of it.

Yeah, that was really cool seeing a lot of good times and a lot of times of self-reflection, especially at a festival like that. I mean, I guess the general message is, you know, don’t overthink shit. And, you know, don’t hold yourself to such high expectations. Just be happy and be real.

The post Pulling the Strings of Success with Vusive [Interview] appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

During our conversation, he gave us some insight regarding  his thoughts on the festival and what he himself has in store for fans. His personality was positively endearing and I’m beyond thankful that we we were able to meet. Let’s hear what he had to say.

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First off happy Infrasound and congrats on your North American tour! How do you feel about the set you’re gonna play for us this evening?

Yeah, I’m excited man! This is the first stop on a two-week tour here in the States and then after that, I’m off to Croatia, Czech Republic, and Australia all this month so this is kind of like the pilot scheme of a new set today. I tend not to fully plan sets because I like to feel the vibe of a crowd and see where it goes. But I do also have a kind of planned set structure and about 100 tracks on the shortlist that I hope are gonna work well and then draw from that. Then as the tour progresses that becomes more of playing the stuff that works.

that’s what got me into being a DJ, really. Wanting to just play people music and go, “You have to hear this!”

You get to be a bit experimental tonight!

Yeah! So, we’re gonna cover some new ground, but yeah, I like to leave it a little bit open, you know? The rawness of it… that’s what got me into being a DJ, really. Wanting to just play people music and go, “You have to hear this!” So tonight is about all the tracks I’ve sifted through in the last few months to go, “You have to hear this one, you’re gonna love this!”

You’re a real curator, I love that. So, as somebody who’s been making music since at least the early 2000s… well, I’m not sure when you actually started, did you start as a teenager?

Oh, yeah, so my first release as a drum and bass artist came out in 2001, which is a frightening – 23 years ago – that is frightening, wow – so longer ago than a lot of people here have been alive. But I’ve been trying to make music for my entire life. So, when I was like eight or nine years old, my great aunt passed away and she didn’t have any other family and we cleared out her house. She had old record players and the old reel-to-reel tape machines and stuff like that, and I took them all home and I started making my own radio stations just with old Elvis things. And even before that my mum said, I used to have a toy called “stickle bricks” which was kind of a bit like Lego, but spikier, and when I was two years old, I’d take the wheels and put them flat and say they were record players. So, you know, it’s been in the blood a long time, it just took me until I was about 25 to make anything that anyone else wanted to listen to.

You were a true pioneer for that, haha. How do you feel about the direction of drum and as a genre both here in the US and abroad?

There’s nothing wrong at all with the new kind of mainstream drum and bass. But it’s almost like its own kind of scene in itself, because it’s so pop culture, particularly in the UK it’s all over the radio. Most of the artists that are all over the radio are brand new artists, and I think that we’re going to see a little bit more of a shift back to… um, I don’t think the music will necessarily change but what got me into drum and bass was its underground culture – which is what I love to see here at Infrasound – because it was for the alternative people. So I used to go clubbing and in London you used to have to wear a shirt and trousers to get into a club if you wanted to go to, like, an EDM thing. But at a drum and bass rave, you just wore whatever. And you didn’t wear expensive, like… you weren’t wearing like Tommy Hilfiger, or whatever. You were wearing a T-shirt, some trousers, it didn’t matter what you were wearing. And it was that underground culture that made drum and bass so special. My observation at the moment of the scene is that some of the scene has come away from being underground, but I think we’ll see that underground have a resurgence because people don’t wanna just follow mainstream culture, you know? It’s always been about doing something a bit different. So it’ll be interesting, I mean, I don’t really have opinion on it, I’m just more observing it.

you CAN still make good underground music that people listen to for a long time, that makes enough money to pay the bills, and enables you to keep doing it.

But it sounds like you’re optimistic for its future at the same time?

Yeah, I think one of the things I’ve learned is I got really close to thinking, “Is it worth carrying this on? You know,  Am I still sticking to my core music I wanna make?” and stuff like that. What I’ve realized more recently is there’s two ways to look at this: you can look at, “Can I get 1 million streams on Spotify in the next month, and can I gear to TikTok? Is that what we’re going for?” Or, “Do we just, as a marketing strategy, wanna make music that people listen to for a long time?” And actually, you CAN still make good underground music that people listen to for a long time, that makes enough money to pay the bills, and enables you to keep doing it. It’s just a different way of looking at it. And so you have to kinda not get distracted by pop culture and “everything’s gotta be instant,” and keep making what you love! And I’m optimistic that there is room for people to keep making what they love, if that makes sense.

I love that take. Alright, so let’s talk about Spearhead Records a bit. What was your objective when you started Spearhead Records, and is your goal today still the same as it was back then?

Yeah, I started Spear for two reasons, really. Well, I had another label before that that I ran with another guy called Doug called Rubik Records. And we kind of started the first label because nobody would sign our music. Like, everyone was saying, “Ah, it’s nice, but it’s not for us.” So, we started a record label and then I wanted to do my own thing a bit because we had different directions. So then my objective for Spearhead was that I wanted to make a path in the drum and bass world, which did get the big players involved, you know, the serious contenders in the scene. But also it was uplifting little tracks that, in 10 years time, they’d have a hook, or a melody, or a vocal that you still remembered. And artists wanted to get into it, wanted to have a career in it, and so I think that objective has happened because I still listen to a lot of old tracks and they sound fresh. And, you know, sometimes people will say to me, like, “Oh, you got Netsky early on on the label, and S.P.Y early on, and Lenzman!” And it wasn’t so much that I had a magic ear for it as like, I knew those guys or bumped into those guys or spoke to those guys online as people. And they seemed real serious about what they wanted to do, and they seemed like they’d still be here wanting to do this in a lot of years.

I’d rather sign something that I love and lose money on it than something that I hate and make money on it.

They certainly lived up to it!

They have! And that’s why they’re still here. Not everybody has, but most people I’ve worked with have and they’re still going. So, my objective now for Spearhead is still to not worry about what anyone else is doing, just to make music that I like, sign music that I like. Music that I think is uplifting, has got a vibe to it, it’s still gonna be memorable in another 10 years, and, you know, continues to cut its own path. At the moment it’s really hard to get bookings and do events and everything else, but do you know what? I can make them decisions because we’re independent to the core, don’t have to answer to anybody else. So I’d rather sign something that I love and lose money on it than something that I hate and make money on it.

You’re a bit of a rebel in that sense.

Yeah, I’m just trying to be true to that. It just doesn’t feel right otherwise, you know?

I guess that kind of answers part of the next question, which is what kind of inspirations do you draw from when putting together a track? It sounds like part of that is just an innate drive to make music, period.

In terms of when I’m writing my own music, do you mean? Yeah, I draw a basic, well… essentially, I draw from samples. So, I don’t play live any instruments at all. You know, I understand music from just years of doing this, but I’m entirely self-taught, and further in my career, YouTube-taught and peer-taught, rather than learning instruments. My music always been sample-based, so I will find old records, old samples, even like stuff that I think, “I wonder if I could use that in a track?” And then I’ll sample it and try and use it, and build stuff around it, through to ideas where, you know, I wanna say something, but… I’m good at talking, but maybe on an emotional level that’s more difficult. But I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of taking samples and sounds I like and then putting quite a deep, emotional-based story on top of that, but leaving it open enough that it will work in a club environment and the people can still relate to it. There’s a lot in that. For example, I use this one a lot, but I wrote a track called ‘Lost & Found.’ It was about a friend of mine who used to be a heroin addict, was clean for 17 years, unexpectedly died. But we wrote the lyrics to be as open as possible, and I know that some people have used it to walk down the aisle to for their wedding. I didn’t dare email and say, “You know that was a written for a funeral?” But I like that it means a lot to me, but it can also mean something to you, and more people can connect with it.

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So what’s your proudest accomplishment as an established drum and bass producer? I’ll expand this question, actually, to before you really had a commercial career in music if there was something that you’re more proud of before that.

I guess the thing that I feel is my biggest accomplishment, really, is that I’ve been doing this for so long and people still give a shit, you know? Because, originally, I just wanted to make one track and get one track released. And here we are! And for every single release, I’ve had input into the artwork, I’ve had input into the vocals and the production, and the prep, manufacture, and the mastering… and to look back, I look back over all the releases and I still now get people coming to me, saying, “This track stopped me from suicide,” or, “This track done this for me, or done that for me.” And I didn’t really set out for any of them things, but the way that the music and the different tracks on the label have connected with people over the years… It’s been magic. And every time I hear one of those stories, I’m really blown away by it.

Somebody looked at me and said, “Yeah, but you know that story you told us about when that person was gonna get divorced and they listened to ‘Keep the Faith,’ and then they decided to give their marriage another go and they’re still together 10 years later?” I bet that Beatport number one guy hasn’t got stories like that.

That’s got to be a very fulfilling feeling.

Oh, it feels mental! Sometimes it makes me feel a bit fraudulent, because I think, “I’m just making music I wanna make,” but I love that that’s the power of music. That connection’s there and, you know, I won’t say the artist’s name, but I was chatting with some people once about the current Beatport number one, and it was a lot of blips and “RUH RUH RUH.” It was a really good tune, and I was talking about how, you know, “Am I still making the right music?” And somebody looked at me and said, “Yeah, but you know that story you told us about when that person was gonna get divorced and they listened to ‘Keep the Faith,’ and then they decided to give their marriage another go and they’re still together 10 years later?” I bet that Beatport number one guy hasn’t got stories like that. I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna take that onboard.”

I think there’s something to be said about that, for sure. The right music to make is the music you want to make.

Yeah, so I know there’s not one individual accomplishment, but it’s just so hard to put on it. If I had to pick a project, it would be the album Life as We Know It that I wrote with Charlotte. Like, when I listen back to it, I feel so detached from it now. I feel like, “How did that come out of me?” for want of a better way of putting it. You know, ’cause it feels like someone else must’ve made it. But yeah, I mean, I like that, I like that. And also, often producers I see in interviews and stuff are like “Yeah, I never listen to my own music. I hate my own music.” And I’ve gotta be honest with you, I LOVE my own music. I listen to it a lot because I have such a close, personal relationship to it, and I’m glad I make music I like, you know? I’m not gonna shy away from that.

You have a new single coming out soon! Could you give us a sneak peek as to what to expect from the track?

Yeah I think the single, to me, it sounds like a totally different vibe for me. To others, I think they’ll still hear the BCee vibe in it, but it is just really heavy beats. Quite a thudding bassline. And it’s quite unusual, it’s a drum and bass duet. So you got Javeon singing in the male part, Abi Flynn singing the female part. SOLAH was actually involved in writing it as well lyrically, and I also gave a little nod to my trap, back to the street with some “DUN DUN DUN DUN” piano in it as well just for old time’s sake. I’m really, really happy with it, and yeah, it sets the pathway to this new album which, I feel like it might be my best album. But, I don’t know. Everyone else will have to judge.

That’s a bold statement! I’m excited to hear it.

Yeah, it’s coming alright, you know?

Is it ready in your mind yet, or is there still some polishing left to do?

Oh, it’s done! It’s been pressed to vinyl, it’s mastered. I can’t change it. I do hear bits and think, “Oh, does that go on like two bars too long on the effect?” But I can’t worry about that.

If it was right in the moment, it’s right now!

Yeah, and I really went over and over these tracks and kept making… well, there were a lot of different versions of most of these tracks, but the magic in the album is there’s thirteen different vocalists involved. That was the difficult bit, but it’s also what makes it so good. Everybody has had a lot of input.

Awesome. What kind of music have you been listening to in your free time lately? Are any artists specifically that you want to shout out?

So, a friend of mine has a band called Speedometer. They’re a funk band. I went to one of his shows recently in London and it was mind-blowing, just seeing, like, the absolute quality of the musicians involved in that setup. I’ve been listening to a lot of funk, actually, and old funk stuff. At home, I have two teenage daughters, and they’ve gone kind of wide on what they listen to, so one of mine is, like, you know, loves a bit of Swifty. The other has gone down a little bit more of a kind of old school Nirvana and Oasis route. She was like, “Dad, I’ve heard of this band you’re never gonna know, this band called ‘Oasis.’ You won’t know them!” And I’m like, “You know I’ve seen them live, right?” She’s like, “No way!” So, I get subjected to more music than I choose to listen to, but I love music, you know? Like, you will struggle to play music that I really think, like, “Why are you making me listen to this?” Just for the influence, for the interest of it. I’m not so much into, like, the screaming death metal, but other than that I’m pretty open.

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So, what about your favorite hobby outside of music?

Do you know what, music sort of became my hobby, so I feel like I do all the work bits now.

I guess I’m calling it a hobby here, but really it is a career for you now. Or perhaps a combo of both?

It is a career, yeah, but because it’s become my career, you know, I end up doing loads of admin and things, like as if it was a hobby. But, I will tell you about this: my wife and I started a community garden. So, I guess my hobby, you know, is like, I’ve always had a lot of animals around for the last 20 years. And since me and my wife got married, we used to have a small hold and we’ve had pigs, goats, cows…

You’re a real farmer!

Well, I mean, only a few! And we worked with kids who have been kicked out of school to come and work with the animals and stuff like that. We used to raise six pigs at a time and eat them, but since we had our own animals, my wife then became a vegan. And so we’ve now started a new farm project. This farm, or new garden project, won’t involve animals. Really, that is my kind of hobby job. I’m already putting in far too many hours. But we basically started this community garden, there’s not a lot there at the moment. We’ve just started working it a few months ago, but the idea is we’re going to develop that into a site where people who are struggling with mental health can come to. We’ve got some local schools interested in sending kids there, we got a young carers group interested in sending people there for some respite, and we haven’t really tried yet. So, there’s gonna be a lot of time going into that. Now, the funny thing is, I don’t really know anything about plants… but my wife does!

So you’re not as much as an outdoorsman as this story almost makes it seem right off the bat, haha.

Nah, what I’m good at… Well, my wife calls me the bulldozer, because it’s like, if you want a job done, get me involved and I just go do it. So, I’m chopping down the trees, getting rid of the weeds, getting in the machinery, and getting all the nettles back, and, you know, putting the pipework in the ground, the stuff like that. I can put plants in the ground, but I couldn’t tell you, unless my wife does, which one’s the plant and which one’s the weed. As a combo between us it works. If was just me on my own, I’m not sure what would grow! A lot of weeds.

Last question for you, any other words that you would like to share? Anything at all, could be a fun fact, anything that inspires you, anything that you want to say Infrasound, a shout-out…

Yeah, well, I will say I’ve only been at Infrasound for about an hour, but what I see so far I absolutely love. It feels like the vibe of what got me into this music in the first place. You know, people are clearly here for the community, for the music. Love it, I’m loving it. I’m really, really excited to play. I feel sort of nervously excited. This is only the second time that I will have – in fact, the first, for most of them, actually – played a lot of the album tracks to a crowd. So, that’s kind of nervy. But it’s always good when you let the track play through to the chorus and see people trying to sing. That’s a positive sign, so I’m excited man! And thank you so much for giving us some time. Album’s out in October, check it out! I hope you like the singles!

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Note: minor edits have been made to this interview for clarity and readability. You can pre-save BCee’s upcoming album on Bandcamp here.

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Upon my arrival at Harmony Park on Thursday, I was greeted by the fierce winds of Minnesota (props to whomever first coined the term “Windfrasound”). The trees lurched and the tall grass swayed like ocean waves. Turtles nestled in the dirt quietly guarded their freshly laid eggs along the lake’s shoreline as chirping birds cheerfully welcomed the campers lining up outside the gate. Amidst this idyllic natural scenery, the distant rumble of three world-class sound systems pierced the air and shook the ground beneath my feet.

A garage lover’s dream, a drum and bass fiend’s paradise, a dub head’s utopia… whatever your fancy, there was a set for you at Infrasound this year. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite highlights.

Day one heralded a hell of an introduction to the weekend. After a 12-hour drive, my festivities began a bit later in the day than most, but I managed to arrive and get set up in time to start my day at the Pyramid Stage with the Deep Dark and Dangerous star Wraz, followed by J:Kenzo, who both proceeded to remind me just how earth-shattering the bass from Void Acoustic’s sound system can be. Pheel rocked the Funktion-Ones of the main Harmonic Stage with a refreshingly downtempo set during the hottest part of the day. UK drum and bass icon BCee, founder of Spearhead Records, was the perfect mood-setter after Pheel, dropping some of the most soulful liquid tracks that I heard all weekend. Ternion Sound, whose career as a group began at Infrasound all the way back in 2016, turned up the rowdiness knob on the decks as the sun began to set. Feeling nice and limber at this point, I was ready for the final main stage act of the night: Joker. At least, I thought I was ready, but when his trademark “purple sound” emerged from those speakers, my jaw dropped and didn’t close for the next hour. Joker’s reputation as a legend of dubstep and grime is well-deserved.

One of the things that makes Infrasound a unique and special experience is the silent disco, beginning each night after the other three stages shut down. I’m not usually one for silent discos, but they certainly hit differently when you’re in a space with a few thousand people surrounded by projection-mapped walls and ceilings. The dense crowd and level of production makes for an amazingly immersive and intimate experience. It’s not easy to keep track of the flurry of DJs moving on and off stage during the silent disco, including surprise guests whose names were never on the lineup to begin with; in fact, it’s common for attendees to leave the festival wondering who the hell they were listening to at a particular hour on a particular night, and I’d say that makes it all the more special. The silent disco is where the danciest and bounciest tracks come out to play and each night is a “you just had to be there” moment. Thankfully, my sleepy self managed to make it, and I’m so glad I did.

Day two is the day I decided I wanted to be buried at the Pyramid Stage when I die. Waking up at 11:00 AM to my tent shaking from the start of Necromancer‘s set, I was ready to plop myself in front of the Voids for the foreseeable future. DJ Paypal and Mary Droppinz went entirely too hard for playing just after noon (in a good way), leading into a drum and bass set from Ternion Sound, a killer garage set from Zed Bias, and a showcase of more throwback garage and grime from Joker and Sir Spyro.

Making my way to the Portal Stage for the first time of the weekend, I was treated to a litany of forward-thinking tracks from Lord Genmu and a more downtempo, introspective set from Entangled Mind. Meanwhile, filling in for Flava D at the Pyramid, Kursa and Tapeworm made an unexpected US debut of their project S.Murk. You really just never know what surprises await here. Madam X and Taiki Nulight followed-up to bless the crowd with an insane range of tempos and styles across their sets, all seamlessly blended together. Capping off the Pyramid Stage for the night were Fine Buster (the riddim alias of Bukez Finezt) and Shiverz. I didn’t know I needed riddim in that moment, but those sets sure set me straight on the matter.

Day three was a phenomenal day at main stage. Dozens of camping stoves and grills dotted the grounds during grLL sMTH, kLL sMTH‘s seminal cookout event. The smell of sausage and burgers wafting into my nostrils had me drooling for a long while. Subatomic Sound System gave the crowd a lesson in the history of dub, playing collaborative classics from the Jamaican legend Lee “Scratch” Perry. Sister Nancy continued the groove and blew me away with her belting voice and impressive improvisational skills. It’s still surreal to me that she was there at all. But alas, I was ready to go fast for some of my most anticipated acts of the weekend: Kasra, Enei, and their back-to-back for the Critical Music takeover at the Pyramid. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such raunchy, callous sounds in my life, and I’m not sure if I ever will again.

Back at main stage, Mr. Bill did what Mr. Bill does best, weaving together a sonic tapestry of tightly choreographed tracks while the visual designers had a field day with the lasers. Schmoop provided a brief moment of respite for my legs before Mefjus and Daxta MC proceeded to play what might just be the greatest drum and bass set I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. A slew of timeless classics and new, unreleased IDs made the set feel like looking into a time capsule of the genre. Finally, there was Eprom. I never know what to expect from an Eprom set and this was no different. Divided into a series of themed segments with time-coded visuals, this set was a dark and brooding audiovisual masterpiece. No one does it quite like Eprom.

Infrasound is a magical place. The crowd is stellar with an unmatched energy and urge to dance. It’s easy to get lost in the beauty of the venue and the music surrounding you, and ultimately, what more could you ask for from a festival? Here’s to next year continuing the trend, I hope to see you there.

Image credits courtesy of the official Infrasound account on X/Twitter.

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This year’s festival is taking place June 6th through the 9th and, as usual, the lineup delivers. A peek at their schedule reveals drum and bass stars such as Kasra, Enei, and Mefjus (who gets to put on a collab set with Daxta MC); dubstep staples like Bukez Finest, J:Kenzo, and Joker; and even the queen of dancehall herself, Sister Nancy. Each artist’s set is treated to a superb level of production. The three stages all feature a different brand of sound system, including Funktion-One, the intensely bass-driven Element 5 rig, and Void Acoustic, which I affectionately refer to as the “hot rod of speaker systems” with its trumpet-like horns and sleek red paint. Lasers illuminate the trees of the barn-like Harmonic Stage as projection mapping covers the entire indoor surface of the airplane hangar-sized Portal Stage. Amidst all the music, live mural painters also pepper the grounds, erecting beautiful displays that grow and change over the course of the weekend, including the top of the Pyramid Stage.

There is something to be said about the intimacy aspect of smaller festivals. A far-cry from the likes of Electric Forest or EDC, Infrasound fosters a niche little community of music lovers who seem to return year after year (it is called Harmony Park, after all). The venue is spacious enough to provide ample camping space and room to dance at the stages, yet small enough to make your way between stages in a fraction of the time it would take at a larger venue. The crowd’s energy is unmatched in my experience; it’s not uncommon to see a full crowd under the 4:00 PM sunshine feverishly dancing their hearts out as if it were the day’s headline set. The deepest cuts from artists’ discographies get recognized immediately and played out in full. There are few festivals out there that match this kind of atmosphere.

If this festival sounds up your alley (as it should), you can purchase your ticket here. You can check the full line-up below and for further festival details be sure to check out Infrasound’s website. For those who can’t make it or aren’t sure if this is the festival for them, be sure to come back for our post-festival coverage in June. I promise you won’t regret going, and who knows, maybe I’ll see you there…

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