ARTIST PROFILE: NORTHWEST DIVISION

Our Arena hip-hop stage is packed with heavy hitters this year: we're representing the local scene with a thorough cross-section of the talent of the West Coast. We're pretty excited that Northwest Division are on board because their sound is sharp and engaging, and MCs Junk and Hungry are both intelligent, talented individuals.

Electric Love interrupted these guys practicing at Fortune Sound Club to ask a few questions and snap a few flicks. Here's how it went down:

ElectricLove: This is our first year as a festival - what kind festival experience do you guys have?

NWD: We played Shambhala last year. We're trying to break into the festival circuit.

ElectricLove: What are your best memories of that festival?

NWD: At Shambhala 50-60 of our friends were there, wearing our gear...girls with their tops off and NWD stickers on their nipples. Sweatshop Union was there, onstage partying with us. 

ElectricLove: What other shows stand out in your minds?

NWD: The Yelawolf and Rittz show, getting to perform with some of our favorite artists and we had a big crew there. It was a lot of fun, and the crowd really appreciated what we do on stage.

ElectricLove: So what is it that you do on stage?

NWD: I think what we try to do is have a very cohesive performance. When we're doing a song, we know each others' verses and jump back and forth, keeping staccato. Keeping double time. Finishing each others' sentences. To do that requires us to be very on point with our timing, very precise - we practice a lot at that. The rehearsed cohesive trade-off. Making our on-stage chemistry as hype as we can to make the people have a good time. The live shows are very important to us - that's where we get most of our fans.

ElectricLove: What are you guys currently working on?

NWD: We're working on our third album titled Orange and Black. Stroker DeLuca produced the title track for that. [Stroker DeLuca is present and drinking beer. He salutes.] 

It's an analogy - the color of our logo is orange and black. People really like the merch, it's basically an analogy for us. And anyone who has helped promo us or come to our shows. It speaks to our life as a whole, and to our experience. It's a very personal, very real album. It's a more universally appealing rap album with sonic influences that can attract all.

Our last album was very party-influenced like, let's get wasted and do drugs and be crazy, this is more an accurate response to who we are as people and artists.

ElectricLove: What are you looking forward to most about Electric Love?

NWD: We're pretty much friends with everyone performing so it's gonna be a bunch of homies partying and rapping, and obviously performing.

Perform and then party, that's our thing. When we do rap we like to celebrate after with a lot of people. Evil's playing and we don't get a chance to hang out too much so it'll be a good weekend to let loose.

Check out NWD's new website: www.northwestdivision.ca

Twitter: @NorthwestDivision

Mix it Up and Share the Stage!

Electric Love Music Festival will feature top EDM and hip-hop artists from around the globe. These artists have been carefully selected to ensure a party that lasts all night, and the maximum satisfaction for fans.

We think you could be one of those artists! We're currently accepting submissions from local DJs who would like to share the stage - and the weekend - with some of the best and most innovative musicians from around the world. We're committed to supporting local artists and look forward to hearing the great creations from our community!

To enter, please submit:

A link to your 30-minute (max) mix on MIXCLOUD. This mix must be brand new and never previously uploaded. Please note that only MIXCLOUD links will be accepted.

2.  A short write-up telling us why you would like to be an Electric Love DJ! (100-200 words)

3. A short bio letting us know about your history as a DJ, which genres you're most interested in and a little about yourself as a person! (100-200 words)

We'll be choosing 15 finalists: these finalists will play our 2 live showcases, giving us a chance to measure stage performance, and then the final choices will be made by a panel of judges.

One DJ will be chosen to open the Electric Love main stage, and one will be chosen to open The Nest stage.

Best of luck, we look forward to all submissions! 

FOUR STAGES

By now you've seen the Electric Love Music Festival stage announcements: four unique spaces, each one designed to attune to the needs and desires of the festival-goer. Check out our stage break-down as we prepare you for a multi-faceted, immersive experience!

STAGE ONE: THE ARENA

Packed with heavy-hitters of the hip-hop world, the Arena features our champions: Swollen Members, Kyprios, Evil Ebenezer and Defenders of the Faith, to name a few. These artists have built the Canadian West Coast hip-hop scene from the ground up and are guaranteed to bring every audience member into a frenzy.

STAGE TWO: THE NEST

Settle into this creative space and get comfortable: once Mat The Alien, Rachel Sehl, I know Karate and Hertz Donut start making magic, you won't want to leave. This is a special area where the energies of art and music weave a mesmerizing web.

STAGE THREE: LOVE SHACK

Electric love is all about...well, love, obviously! We want every audience member to feel the incredible influence of sound, and the Love Shack is bursting with talent. We have global headliners who will spark electricity in Cheam Fishing Village, just as they do when they perform at major festivals all around the world. Pegboard Nerds, Astronaut, Dodge and Fuski and Far Too Loud are just the icing on the cake: local acts Myshell, Wes Smith, Ollie Plé and Decibel Empire bring EDM to new and fascinating heights.

STAGE FOUR: THE ZEN DEN

Ready for a moment of tranquility? Sometimes in the midst of it all, we need to take a moment to become entranced in the music, the sky, the sheer beauty of life in this universe. The Zen Den features incredible Trance from Blue Lunar Monkey, Goa Pete and a long line of musical greats.

Electric Love Music Festival is about making everyone feel happy and loved - so we have music for every kind of music lover in the EDM and hip-hop worlds. We have legends and prodigies, world sounds and local beats: make sure to follow our ongoing coverage of these artists and familiarize yourself with Electric Love.

EARTH DAY LOVE

Electric Love Music Festival takes place in a pristine environment of trees, mountains, water and sky; we value the world around us and are in awe of nature's beauty. For this reason we are committed to treating our festival site with care, and to leaving the lush heart of Cheam Fishing Village as beautiful as we find it. Earth Day is a symbol of this kind of awareness, and as such, we'd like to use this day to share our vision with the festival-goer.

Our "Noble Eightfold Path" clearly lays out our mandate to keep the surrounding beauty pristine. 

Leave No Trace: Promote as a LIB event.  “Leave it Better, Leave it Beautiful” That means encourage attendees to take their trash out when they exit and help leave the venue better than when they arrived. To help avoid a festival where people trash the place and rely on festival staff to pick it up. LIB tries to create awareness and encourage people to take care of the communities that they live in and the planet they live on.

While we look to the present for appreciation of our environment, we also look to the future for innovation. This is the first of many Electric Love Music Festivals and each year we plan to grow bigger, stronger, and more green. We look to other festivals for inspiration: for example Sustainival,  "The world's first green carnival, which is run completely on green energy. Or the award-winning Green Event Services, who recently powered Calgary's Folk Festival by "reducing waste, responsibly recycling discarded materials, and giving back to our local communities." 

So we invite you to grow with us, as we create and sustain a vision of music, beauty, and a positive respect for our environment.