Pearson Sound and Zed Bias in Vancouver

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  • This tour felt like a bit of a big deal. A coast-to-coast North American jaunt from UK bass royalty of two generations, the one-two-punch headliner of Pearson Sound/Ramadanman and Zed Bias/Maddslinky is the kind of stacked lineup that we don't often get to see in the faraway land of expensive flights and logistical issues. Nevertheless, US agency Surefire delivered the goods, and bolstered the tour with support at select venues from some of America's finest, namely Salva, DJG and Distal. Vancouver's Five Sixty nightclub played host to the event, a ritzy space utilized more and more often for bass-centric events by the local Vancouver's Very Own agency, and one much different than the usual warehouse/gallery spaces often used by the city's bass community. From the start, the sound was impeccable, as locals Max Ulis and Love Dancing played a back-to-back warmup set of affable house-flavoured tunes as people trickled very, very slowly into the venue. Arriving slightly later than scheduled, Zed Bias was the first of the touring DJs to step up, and playing early to a still sparse crowd lent his set an oddly hesitant flavour. Cycling through some slower, gentler jams, Bias eventually tapped into his formidable bag of yore with tunes like the Phuturistix remix of Destiny's Child's "Bills Bills Bills"—and any other number of impressive originals—before breaking out into an unexpected streak of anthem-bashing encompassing "Sicko Cell," "Fatherless" and "Footcrab," priming the crowd nicely for David Kennedy. Kennedy—identity still as confused as ever with "Ramadanman" plastered all over the projection visuals—played pretty much exactly what was expected of him, which is to say near-perfectly. Slamming through bangers of his own and some choice dubplates (Blawan's "Getting Me Down" was a particular favourite), Kennedy ably jumped from style to style; even the still-small crowd seemed to occasionally be challenged by the rhythm changes. The set made for a good overview of the current UK house sound, the kind of achingly current (or future) UK bass set that Vancouver doesn't always get to witness. Atlanta lynchpin Distal came on last, promising to play assorted 160 BPM material, and delivered a set of bizarre and playful uptempo tunes before crashing into some heavier dubstep-leaning tracks. Then the lights came on thirty minutes early. Though Distal's set was cut short, and the venue never quite filled up, it was hard to see the event as anything other than a success; those who did make it out were treated to a rare night of both eloquent classicism and feral bass futurism and they sure seemed to enjoy themselves. Hopefully this will paint a bright future for overground clubland bass music events in Vancouver.
RA