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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

AHHHH LINEUP, HUGS FOR EVERYONE



Camp Bisco's 2012 LINEUP IS OUT!!!!!!!

Camp Bisco has always been able to pull in artists from various genres and sub-genres, mash them together in a lineup, and make the weekend a very unique experience. The truth is, that there are a lot of people out there just now getting into the “EDM” craze—newer festivals in the Northeast like Electric Zoo and Electric Daisy Carnival NY are catering to this (mostly young) audience that is springing out of recent popular culture. I’ve been to Zoo, and for some people, the ones that never want to leave the city environment or escape to nature, it works. For me and a lot of music lovers out there, being around trees in the middle of nowhere where there is shitty cell service because who the fuck do we really need to be calling anyway… that’s the way it should be.

This year, Camp Bisco is bringing in big dubstep names, one of which has become a controversial shaker-upper in the music community: Skrillex and Bassnectar. Zed’s Dead and MiM0SA also represent the dubsteppers (as Rusko would say haha).

Some big names in the experimental electronic genre appear as well, such as Brazilian Amon Tobin, who has video game and movie musical scores on his resume. Among others, Crystal Castles and Shpongle’s Masquerade set also represents the genre. There are also great artists representing electro; big names like A-Trak, Simian Mobile Disco, Dada Life, Zedd and Porter Robinson prove that there are plenty of people attending who just want to dance and dance and dance.

Camp always features some great hip-hop and rock as well. This year they’re bringing in Big Boi and Atmosphere as well as Portugal. The Man to change it up some.

The aforementioned and Lotus, Big Gigantic, Mimosa, Holy Fuck, Break Science, (AHHHH too many to love) are only some of the names featured in a bigger font on the flyer, so you can only imagine the amount of awesomeness that is in store.

And there are loads of artists I haven’t even mentioned here because I can only write so much, and I know those big names are what really draw the attention. HOWEVER I cannot stress enough HOW MUCH BETTER YOUR LIFE WILL BE when you expand those ear taste buds and check out those lesser known artists, even if they play music you don’t typically like. Camp is another world and you need to take advantage of it. It’s your chance to grow as a person in ways you can’t really do in everyday life.

As this lovely Bisco weekend grows closer and closer, I will be posting about the big names and the little names that will be taking the stages at Camp this year. So read along, get excited, and if you haven’t already… BUY YOUR TICKET!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Beats That Are Antique, But Certainly Not Old Fashioned



After all the hullabaloo of the traffic and finally getting into Camp on the first day, we did a quick set up, then headed right over as Beats Antique was taking the stage. I did NOT want to miss them under any condition. Their sound is so unique and I love it because it takes musical aspects from cultures around the world. The Middle-Eastern and afro-beat influences in their music calls for various instruments that you don’t always see up on stage at a lot of concerts. I like to think that they are opening our minds to a musical universe that is so much more than guitars, drums, and computers. Check out this video of their Bonnaroo performance of their well-known track, Egyptic:

And as you can tell, what is not to love about Zoe Jakes, the crazy talented dance performer of the group. Her moves are incredible! She even travels around, teaching classes for belly dancing and other dance forms. Not only is the music multi-cultural, but Zoe’s dancing brings in Middle-Eastern, Indian, Argentinean, and American styles into one blend that reflects the entire personality of Beats Antique. Just watch her in this clip:

Here’s a track from their latest album that I really love. It’s so groovy and I love cats and cats with skillz and the Catskill Mountains and the brass sounds exploding all around, of course. It’s really hard not to dance to what Beats Antique is playing here.

If you followed Bassnectar around a little while ago, you probably caught Beats Antique on tour with him. I think Lorin got his look from Zoe, but she clearly pulls it off much better.



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tents for Sleeping and Cuddling and Dumb Friends

So many fricken tents to choose from.

And it all depends on how many people you want to be cuddling up with at night, or in early day, whenever you do find yourself needing shut-eye. Since we can leave all our bags and random stuff in the car that is only a few feet away from our tent, there is no need for overpowering tents that really are just taking up room from the “patio.” The patio is where everyone in your camp hangs out…perhaps a little enclosure made with your tents surrounding the perimeter, or just the space between your tent and the car to put up some chairs. The patio is a very important part of the camp site, so do not take up more room than you need to with a tent. I will do another post on the patio alone some day, because I saw a lot of very cool hang-out awesome patios at Camp in the past.

Anyway…TENTS:

Just you? Don’t get claustrophobic or don’t roll around a lot when you sleep? Tents like these are great for solos, are easy to pack in the car because they practically take up no trunk space, and are optimal for conserving patio space. And honestly, if you really wanted to, you could fit two squishy people in them.
Just a space-needing you or one other luvvah/amigo? The 7x5 is like a full bed for campers, and is what I usually use.You can buy these sized tents with pop-up ease, but if you don’t, putting them together is not a bother at all. This option also has plenty of room to roll around in and just enough space to change wardrobes in privacy. Yes, I leave the wardrobe in the car.

A small hand-full of cuddlers? But maybe one smells kind of bad? There are some bigger tents for 4-6 people that have optional and easily assembled little walls on the inside for privacy when you want it. Just remember, the more space you take up for the sleeping, the less space you have for the patio—the pow-wow headquarters

Finally, there are the huge-ass tents. For shitloads of people. Honestly, it’s gonna get a bit smelly. These tents are going to encroach on that patio space a lot, because they are so monstrous:

BUT I think the camping companies caught on to that, because they started making ones WITH PATIOS. So if you need to house a bunch of people but don’t want to lose the patio space, go for something like this:

SOME EVEN HAVE PET DOORS! (for that friend who just can’t figure out the zippers to the tent door)

Whatever you choose to pitch at Camp, remember to respect your neighbors. Don't take up their patio space and stuff. And an important tip not to be underrated: TARPS! UNDER THE TENT! Happy cuddling, even if it's with yourself!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Ratatatatatatatatatatatat... Ratatat, but not the Pokemon



Ratatat is amazing. Every song of theirs is my favorite song. Their sound is so unique and you can easily chill on the couch and listen or dance your heart out to every track... Ratatat is the ultimate feel-good music. Here is one of their more popular tracks, which will have you roaring:





Now, the Ratatat performance at last year's Camp was just too friggen cool. Their crazy music videos were blown up on a big screen so the recurrences of Fellini, (the albino parakeet, not the Italian), from Party With Children & Neckbrace, and the awkward infomercial people from Drugs were up on the stage that I weirdly could not stop staring at. They also had these smaller screens on each side of the stage that had projections of what looked like Inuit cello players and black women dancing. I thought they were real people for at least half of the show...


This was definitely my favorite set at last year's Camp and it may have actually been the best there all weekend. How do I concur? Because I saw a significant amount of people having sex on the mud dance floor to Ratatat's sweet-love-making-music. This is definitely an indicator of superior awesomenes.


The first Ratatat song I ever heard was Cherry--and my life was instantly changed. If you know this song, I'm sure you felt it too and can agree. If not, PUHLEEEZZZ do yourself the biggest favor and click play (DO NOT FAST FORWARD. DO NOT STOP TIL THE END.)





Okay, now that you are officially a fellow Ratatat worshiper, check out some some vids of them at Camp last year as well as their super cool Hip-Hop/Rap Remixes, like Allure featuring Jay Z and BIG. I'll leave you here with another one of my favorites. Enjoy!




Monday, March 5, 2012

The Rage Stool

I probably did not invent this, but I haven’t seen anyone else with a rage stool anywhere I have been so I need to share this highly important information with ya’ll (especially fellow short people)...

Point 1: I am quite short and can only see things when I am on my boyfriend’s shoulders, but then I feel like a dick cause I’m just TOO tall and blocking others’ views of whatever is going on. Yeah I look good and all that, but I’m not gonna show off and make my boyfriend carry me while I wave to anyone who looks at me while I’m 10 feet in the air.

Point 2: Heels suck—they are not even an option, and certainly not for festivals, certainly not for Camp.

Conclusion: THE RAGE STOOL

It’s a foldable, carry-it-like-a-suitcase, light yet durable awesome stool that puts you at the perfect height to see everything you want to see without being a total dick. The one I use has just enough space for me to move my feet around. Most of the boogie is in my butt anyway, so if you dance with your feet all around then this might not be for you.

Pros:
• YOU CAN SEE!
• You look legit carrying around what looks like a briefcase when you aren’t raging.
• You will get LOADS of compliments.
• You can (and should) decorate it with glowy things or your favorite stickers or your own sweet ass graffiti. Glowy things are good for when you are planning on using it at night, so others don’t trip on your shit.

Cons:
• Yeah, it’s something else to carry around. But you could add straps to it pretty easily. I think it’s worth it.
• You can rage, because it’s a rage stool, but you can’t rage that hard. Please don’t use as a weapon.
• Really, this is only good for the first day at Camp before the rain and the people-moving makes the ground unfit for stools. It’s great for festivals that are mostly in parking lots (it was AWESOMELY USEFUL at Starscape, good thing I will never go to that festival again because nothing ever compares to Camp.)

I think The Rage Stool is so friggen cool, I brag about it often. Another cool thing is that it’s cheap and you have loads of color/variation choices.
Here are some I picked out for you (take note of the weight limits before investing):
Kikkerland (My Rage Stool, Thanks to the Berenstein Bear Household)

Happy Raging!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

MSTRKRFT is so Easy to Love



So the Official Camp Bisco Facebook page posted about MSTRKRFT the other day (a hint? idk), which made me want to post about them sooner rather than later. First off, I LOVE John Legend (click the link to hear the song me and my boyfriend can't help but get down to, if that isn’t awkward or something for you), so when another genre that I love scoops his voice up, I go crazy. Think “Getting Nowhere” from Magnetic Man from 2010. More importantly, think MSTRKRFT's Heartbreaker. Such a great fucking track. So maybe that gives me a little bit more of a bias to say that everything else the duo produces is the coolest thing ever. I also love talking like a robot, so singing along with Easy Love fulfills a wild dream of mine.





Since then, they’ve been remixing Katy Perry, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Usher…cause I don’t even know how to make love in a club without MSTRKFRT anyway. The two Canadians also split up and do their own work and remixes, then bring it all to the stage, which is the awesomeness we saw at last year’s Camp. Here is a remix of a Bloc Party tune I find really groovy:





Their latest singles were heard last year as well and they are very cool and involve beards and things, so check those out!
And yes, I know they also remixed Green Light… they’re too good to me, really.