Canadian Artists at Shambhala!
CKXU is proud to be apart of many music festivals, community events, and showcases. There is a great line-up of Canadian talent at Shambhala Music Festival this year. Check out Jeremy’s write-up on the Canadian artists at Shambhala to get yourself prepped for a good time!
Who to catch at Shambhala 2024: Canadian-artists only edition!
July is a wonderful month, and it’s not just because it’s the month in which World UFO Day is celebrated (July 2nd, mark your calendars). No, it’s because thousands of people flock to The Farm in the Salmo River Valley to take in the most extraordinary electronic music festival in Canada, Shambhala! Starting in 1998, the Shambhala Music Festival has grown into one of the most recognized and celebrated festivals in all of EDM music and in 2019 DJ Mag even named it the best festival in North America. In 2024, Shambhala is showing no signs of losing their crown, boasting a star-studded lineup featuring EDM favourites such as Chromeo, Excision, Dillion Francis, and Chris Lorenzo among many, many others. However with this blog post I will be focusing on a few of the many Canadian talents that are being showcased at The Farm this July. I don’t think you need me to explain how bodacious the Canadian headliners like the aforementioned Chromeo, and Excision are, so instead I will focus on the ‘third tier’ acts playing Shambhala. The artists and DJ’s that you may not notice after a glance at the poster before you arrive at The Farm but will be in constant rotation for the weeks after you leave. Here’s five Canadian artists you absolutely must check out when at The Farm this July 25th to 28th.
Hot off the release of his debut album “Mind of Madness”, Vancouver’s MYTHM offers up an experimental take on bass music. His songs feature off-kilter drums emphasising the unique bass drops and vibrant vocal samples that characterise “Mind of Madness” the young producer’s latest release. Incorporating influences from grime, garage, and trap, MYTHM proves to his audience that his ear supersedes any sort of genre tropes one would expect when unravelling a new bass album. There is no better example of this genre-bending than the track “Death Wish” featuring UK emcee Slowie, in which Slowie effortlessly flows overtop of some very crunchy percussion and an enveloping bass line. The music is aggressive and dirty, creating a breeding ground for what can only be one of the nastiest sets to grace The Amp stage this Shambhala. Check out this set MYTHM did for DEF. It’s a few years old now but you’re kidding yourself if the Skepta drop at ~11 minutes does not melt your face.
Half producer, half drummer Rumpus is bringing his phenomenal style to Shambhala’s Fractal Forest stage this summer. When exploring Rumpus’s music for this write up I found myself thinking of his tunes separately from what I have watched happen at his live sets. So far in 2024, Rumpus has released 3 singles with a tech house flavour to them but all are bangers in their own right, specifically the collaborative track with Cazztek “Need Your Love”. The vocal samples chosen for these three releases in 2024 keep the energy very high, feeling hyper focused on making the dance floor, or in Shambhala’s case forest floor, combust with wiggling hips. Though the real beauty of Rumpus’s artistic vision comes into focus when watching a live set of his. Specifically his Sunday night set at Bass Coast 2023, Rumpus sets the vibe with some shimmering tech house cuts and slowly brings the energy higher and higher with each move from the DJ decks to his drum set. The percussive layers Rumpus is able to bring to each track with his added drumming is palpable and at points feels a little obvious, and makes you wonder aren’t more people doing this? Because Rumpus is one of a kind, that’s why! Be sure to catch him jump back and forth between his instruments at The Farm this year.
Vancouver’s Oakk is a bass music producer and DJ who seems more interested in telling stories through his sets than playing you the flavour-of-the-month tracks you may be used to hearing at main festival stages. Oakk’s latest EP “Moving On” features a pensiveness to the music, a sort of understated, meditative quality that draws your ear to the melodies crafted instead of any raucous bass drop or bombastic feature. “True” is an absolute heater but even still is quite chilled out when compared to say MYTHM, this dynamic range is why Shambhala is such a captivating festival. I cannot think of many other festivals that would be able to showcase so many different artists playing so many different genres. It’s no wonder Oakk will be playing The Grove stage, which features so many different artists and styles in 2024 such as Ben UFO, Sicaria, and dBridge. Check out Oakk’s latest single “Sleep” where he teams up with the gorgeous voice of Dalilah to produce a fantastic melodic bass vibe to take us into summer!
Joanna Magik is a premiere tech house DJ from Calgary focusing on bringing a vibrant and empowering energy to her audience at all of her sets. Just last year in 2023 she was featured by 1001tracklists as the ‘future of dance’ and with her certified banger “Maneater” it’s no wonder she’s building so much steam in the press. Her recent collab with Techno Tupac, and fellow Calgary based producers Smalltown DJs has generated some deep dance floor vibes within the world of tech house. Joanna is also no stranger to Shambhala and the Salmo River Valley, she will be performing at the Fractal Forest for the third year in a row now. The one time TV presenter knows how to bring the vibe to Shambhala and her set this year is definitely not one to miss as she will set the vibe for all of the late night heavy hitters to try to exceed. This mix she did for DirtyBird Radio is definitely one to listen to in full, she brings a spooky, dark vibe to the house tunes on this one again showing her artistic diversity she’s able to bring to each set.
The Librarian AKA Andrea Graham is a co-founder of Bass Coast Music Festival hosted annually in Merritt, British Columbia and like Shambhala has become one of the great electronic music festivals in Canada hosted in a fantastic landscape of the Rocky Mountains. When not coordinating Bass Coast, The Librarian is busy playing nothing but total groovers on the decks for whoever is in her audience. In her sets nothing is off limits, quickly transitioning from exclusive remixes of mainstream favourites to muddy techno chopped with spastik drum breaks. Again she’s another DJ that seems to have found herself on a very diverse lineup for The Grove in 2024, I can only imagine what she has lined up for a stage that is hosting both James Blake and Nia Archives in the same weekend. If her 2023 Bass Coast set is anything to go by expect to dance yourself clean to anything from bassy rap cuts, 140 garage, and thick techno all flowing perfectly to inspire a dance floor high with motivation to dance.
It is important to keep in mind that there are many more Canadian acts performing at Shambhala this year that I do not have the word count to highlight such as Five Alarm Funk, Goopsteppa, and LUN among many others. For the full 2024 Shambhala lineup click here and keep an eye out for my other article coming soon on ckxu.com detailing the international artists I am most excited for at Shambhala this year!