Beats and rhythms ruled the electronic dance music-focused North Coast Musical Festival Labor Day weekend, which primarily gathered DJ, hip-hop and jam band acts, or some combination thereof. With an eclectic schedule that included Big Boi and Atmosphere from the hip-hop end, to Umphrey’s McGee and STS9 on the jammier side on through DJs Axwell and Steve Aoki, there were myriad grooves and styles for the choosing.
EDM has grown exponentially to the point of being mainstream, and in the three years of the fest’s existence it’s rolled with the times, with more prominent corporate sponsorship. It’s also expanded to five stages, which included a “silent stage” where fans listened to performing DJs via headphones.
Judging from performances Friday and Saturday, Dan Deacon and Girl Talk best married the main tenets of the festival: converging several genres while celebrating hedonistic fun above all. Electro-punk Deacon instructed the crowd through several dance-offs, injecting hilarious banter throughout; his multi-suite “USA” was an epic ode to America. Girl Talk worked the crowd into a sweaty frenzy with his collage of hip-hop and rock samples meshing together to create new contexts. Though he drew from familiar hooks from his albums, he added fresh textures into the mix, including crowd-pleasing new bits from M83 and Jay-Z and Kanye West.
While Yelawolf represented newer school hip-hop, he also paid respect to those that came before him with a Beastie Boys medley, a hook from his label boss Eminem, and a shout-out to Kurt Cobain. Zion I worked the old school and positive vibes, while Atmosphere’s Slug delivered storytelling flow and People Under The Stairs added humor into their beer-honoring party raps.
Bands ran the gamut as well, from King Khan & The Shrines rousing takes on soul, garage rock, and funk. Likewise, Yacht’s dancy, art-rock set was exhilarating, though The Rapture were less so, only picking up steam midset for “House of Jealous Lovers” and “Echoes.”
House music and its subgenres, along with dubstep, peppered DJ sets throughout the fest and without consulting the schedule, one would often be hard-pressed to distinguish one DJ’s build up and drop from another’s. Not that fans minded, those there for incessant beats had plenty of rhythms to ride. There were a handful of notables. Knife Party’s in-your-face peaks and polyrhythms were unrelenting, such as during “Internet Friends.” EDM pioneer Paul Oakenfold’s set was more pristine and equally enjoyable. Former Chicagoan Felix Da Housecat’s mix was a steady wave of cascading and undulating rhythms.
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