The Swan and EGM infiltrate BUKU to see what’s hot in the electronic world. If you’re going or just curious, peep their thoughts below on why BUKU is worth the trip to New Orleans’ Mardi Gras World.
The Swan
The Swan’s BUKU perspective is a blank slate. If you’ve ever tuned into Radiosnack on Saturday nights, you know how much he loves this music. However, he’s never been to BUKU nor has he attend a music festival of any kind. He’s a newbie, but has “consumed a metric shit ton of electronic media and culture.”It’s new to him, and he’s excited to share this newness with you. Tune in for the tales of his travel. “Swan goes to BUKU.”
Who to see
Above & Beyond:
I’ve never really been that big into trance in the traditional sense. When the live streams for Ultra came on, I would actually find the trance tents to be kinda…. bleh to me. It seemed like more of a “you have to be there” kinda sound. A kind of sound that doesn’t really translate well from live to studio but works great the other way around. There are only a few groups who are considered trance groups that I will listen to and mostly they fall under progressive trance but Above&Beyond is one of those groups. I was initially introduced to them through remixes done by dubstep artists like Seven Lions.It provided me with a kind of electronic music that wasn’t just a total barrage of heavy hitting noises (not saying that’s bad). The same kind of distinction is made with A&B for me. The typical trance sound gets boring for me, but A&B set the bar for other progressive trance artists to make it have structure and melody which is important to me. But I do hope they pull out some traditional trance in their live show to change my mind a bit about this whole thing.
Feed Me:
Before he was Feed Me, John Gooch was the drum n bass producer Sporand he had his own label right off the bat called Lifted Music. Once that got kicked off, he started a whole new project called Feed Me that specialized in Electro House and Dubstep and it took off. His sound went right into the part of heavy noise that people wanted in their house music. But I must say
Yellow Claw:
Hailing from the party capital of the world (Amsterdam), Yellow Claw came to America and pretty much just produced music that made people go crazy. I will say that they are a bit too ravey for my tastes, but I would be interested to see what kind of stuff they would choose to pick at an event where things would be leaning more toward the trap side of things. I think they would be playing all the heavy rave trap songs that I think I could handle for just about the length of a show. ( I can really only listen to that in moderation or when I need to be super hyped outta nowhere for whatever reason.) It’s not really a dream show of mine, but it’s one of the rides I would like to go on in this hypothetical Disney trip.
NGHTMRE:
Now this. This is a dream show. NGHTMRE has been absolutely destroying the game recently. He shows up consistently with great music. He bridges the gaps between experimental trap, festival trap, and throws in house with it all. This is a guy who pretty much made a name with the remixeshe did and then went on to make his own music and collaborate with the greats like Flosstradamusand Party Thieves.His high energy releases including some on Mad Decent has made this guy one of the most popular producers in trap fan circles and for good reason. The dude is everywhere and he is consistent. To most trap fans, he’s a bit like RL Grime. You just like it cause the song’s got NGHTMRE somewhere in the title.
What So Not:
Representing the ever growing Austrailanproductionscene,What So Not made his introduction to me with his song Tell Mehe did with RL Grime. If there was ever a song that was made for large audiences, this one is it. I completely underestimated the hype value this song had while listening to it for the first time and that first time included me clutching my headphones and kneeling on the ground. Yet still after two entire years the song continues to melt brains and gently obliterate ear drums. (I know it doesn’t make sense. But neither do my feelings for this song.) From that point onward, I was sold on What So Not and listened to more as it came out. His classic High You Are isn’t my favorite, but it spawned a whole bunch of remixes that I can get behind. I will say his most recent release Gemini EPis pretty awesome. He went the experimental route for once (that i’ve heard) and it turned out great. Oddity is my favorite off that EP and I hope to see more of that kind of music in his live show. I can see he’s got good influences in this EP and I wouldn’t be surprised to see songs by those muses show up in a What So Not set.
Datsik:
Anderson Paak:
Yep. I got the period right. You know why he has the period in that name? In one of his songs he says something along the lines of “respect the dot, you paid for it” or something like that. It has to do with the fact he wants people to get his name right and respect that it’s there because for so long, so many people have been sleeping on his music and now they finally realize and he wants them to have to get the details right. I regret to say I am one of those people. I didn’t find out about him until he released hisMalibualbum and it ended up all over my soundcloud feed. Every single time it came up, I was blown away by the quality of the content in the songs and I ended up getting the album and listening to the whole thing about 12 times over the next two weeks. It’s a fantastic album and I like it a lot more than Venicebelieve it or not. It carries more soul and passion for me and that’s the kind of thing I’m looking forward to when he comes to New Orleans. He’s going to be with the Free Nationals for his BUKU appearance and it’s going to be quite the show. I have yet to see an act like him perform on stage so I don’t really know what to expect but I know I can count on it being fantastic. I mean honestly, how can you go wrong with the voice of a baby angel, the production wonderment of Knxledge,and the soothing soul within the Free Nationals? You can’t. I’ll just answer that for you.
C a s h m e r e C a t |Tr i p p y T u r t l e :
One of the more experimental producers that managed to get it big. I really don’t know how he did it, but he did and worked with big pop stars seemingly outta nowhere. Him and Trippy Turtle will be B2B for their appearance at BUKU which is a fantastic matchup. They both resemble that toned down Wave Racer. Basically Jersey Club. But CashmereCat is something else. He can make songs that occupy a massive space yet make them light and cutesy. Millions of people have listened to his music and that makes me very happy to see that we could see a lot of people leaning toward the more experimental side of electronic music making as a result of exposure to Cashmere Cat. Anyway, I feel this is the closest I can get to a Wave Racer/Lido show so I’ll definitely go see it. I expect some insane sounding VIPs.
I first heard this group on a video of a live show where they mixed Ray Charles’ Don’t Let the S u n Catch You Cryin’ and the Fugee’s Oh LaLaLa. I thought it was absolute genius and I fell in love with their whole setup and sound right there. I went home and tried my hardest to replicate that whole performance and overall setup. I was able to do it pretty well, but I never really got that Break Science sound. With just one dude doing the producing and keyboard playing and sample triggering on stage and the other playing a kit, it’s a super minimalistic setup that gets people going crazy. They have a great sound that thrusts their jazz and hip hop influences in your face and that kind of blend cannot be passed up live.
Froyoma:
Our own personal homeboy. This dude is from Covington, Louisiana and people are in love with him on soundcloud. He’s got a really great following and his music is being replayed all over the world. I’m pretty sure he’s been on a few hundred weekly podcasts including stuff like the Soulection podcast and the TooFuture podcast and such. Think about the blending of thundercat,Chris McClenny,and a front porch swing. This guy’s music puts me in such a laid back mood and it does so in a way that totally throws out conventional sounds and replaces them with broken jangly rhythms that trudge along in a somehow meaningful way. I don’t know how he does it and I wish I could just extract that sort of talent. Think @btis probably my favorite song of his and is a perfect example of what kind of stuff he can bring to the table. Vocals that don’t even make sense but I want to sing along with them. I really think they are just syllables but they get in my head just like a regular lyrical line. Incredible. I will definitely be going to respect that Louisiana talent.
Griz:
I mean it’s Griz. What more do I say. The dude plays a saxophone on stage. Explanation over.
Earl Sweatshirt:
If you’ve made it this far down the preview, I will assume that you know this guy. I’ll be going to this show in the event that I have time. It’s not a huge priority of mine, but I do want to at least catch a bit of it. Earl is one of those rappers that has the ability to twist words around in the exact way he wants to use them. Words are at this man’s mercy and it’s pretty difficult to find that kind of lyricism today. There are plenty of rappers who “tell it how it is” like Vinceand some that just scare you like Tyler,but there is that one that manages to just story tell seemingly without making a new lyrical paragraph. That’s Earl and I wanna see some of that live.
A$AP Ferg:
I would be going to this for the productions. I have a hard time with rap shows because I am far more interested in the music behind them and to me, if you’re not super on point with the beat, you’re throwing it off. I feel that A$AP would do that live and it would take away from the production going on behind him. This will be another “if I get the time” kinda show.
EGM
Year after year, BUKU Festival provides the most diverse and underground lineup from rap to jazz to funk. Along with a great atmosphere and a wonderful fan base, the festival manages to bring the easy-going vibes of New Orleans and condense them into a huge warehouse district event. The NOLA food, the second lines marching through the crowds and the bridge lit in the background all come together to make BUKU a very unique and memorable experience.
Every year manages to out-do the next with simple improvements, with dance parties, food carts, more non-music events made last BUKU much more fun for the ones wanting to relax and enjoy the community. With all their volunteers being just as happy to be there as you are, the festival really does manage to make everyone your friend as you go through the night. Crowds of people usually tend to migrate to different stages together just cheering full of excitement the entire way. Overall, together with Kid Cudi, Chvrches, Anderson Paak, Future, AlunaGeorge and tons more make BUKU 2016 a year to take a quick trip down to NOLA and get down!
Who to see
The first act I’d need to catch would be G Jones, a mix of hard 808 trap and experimental dubstep from the L.A. beat scene, a good stray away from more mainstream trap scene. Especially since he’s worked with people like Bleep Bloop and the label Alpha Pup, so I’m especially excited to hear music from that realm.
Mija b2b Anna Lunoe is going to be the next act after that, two girls who started as music curators for the radio scene. Mija has gotten a lot of attention from the new house scenes popping up everywhere in Montreal and Australia, so definitely excited to hear some of those new tunes from her new collaborations, and hearing Anna Lunoe sing is definitely going to be a plus.
Honestly, I’ll be torn afterwards, 95% of me wants to go hear Anderson Paak destroy it in the ballroom with the Free Nationals live band. Like really bad, especially when he just goes through his Malibu LP which offers tons of jazzy neo-funk vibes that TPAB really launched off in 2015. But on the other hand Chvrches is playing the same time, I’d catch the end of them after Anderson Paak hopefully, would really like to listen to that first LP of their yet to be honest, their second album didn’t have that mystical (phantogram, or an OK GO (second album)) vibe that their first LP brought to the table.
In the back alley, there’ll be a show by an artist named JaiWolf, member of the collective Moving Castle, an experimental music label that has been getting a lot of attention from artist like Diplo, Mad Decent, and Soulection. Hopefully we get a good bit of those obscure soundcloud tracks that are just too good. A very synth-y set with tons of hip-hop and jersey club influence.
Gotta catch some Baauer (with his new album coming out soon!) and Kid Cudi (gotta hear a lot of Man on the Moon I & II), definitely gotta choose one though. Probably going to finish friday night with some AlunaGeorge which is going to be super funky and very UK-esque which is awesome.
Saturday is going to consist of jamming to Froyo Ma and his tasty acoustic/electronic jams by the Crescent City Bridge in the Back Alley. Afterwards, Casey Veggies in the Ballroom could provide a good bit of energy after starting the day off with Froyo, especially excited to hear some specific Veggies verses. From there, What So Not from Australia is gonna really be a hype show, especially with his new releases like Gemini, and now that Flume isn’t a member of the project we’ll get to hear a more Emoh Instead oriented set which’ll be refreshing to hear his taste in music more prevalent in his mix. From there, Earl Sweatshirt is a must, to hear his discography live is going to be a super nice vibe, along with the deep moodiness of the newest LP he’s released. Purity Ring is a must see, can’t miss hearing that distinct sound they have, almost makes me want to have Clams Casino at BUKU as well. Finally to finish night, Cashmere Cat and Trippy Turtle ending it will be a mix of Jersey Club, a lot of nice soundcloud producers’ music, and the best music by the men themselves, so overall a wonderful close to the festival
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