Show Review| Genesa Series presents Kursa & Evoke w/ guests – National Music Centre, Calgary – 7 March 2015

A remarkable feature of any Genesa Series event is the amount of time, love, and effort that goes into designing each aspect of their creation. When they brought Kursa (UK) and Evoke (US) to town on March 7th, the dedication they had to providing an amazing place to party was one of the most prominent pieces of the night.

Taking place at the National Music Centre, many artists of different walks came together to add to the night, besides the talent of the music. Among other local artists Solar Nexus, and Novaboros, Andreas T. was raffling off a wonderfully trippy canvas to one lucky party goer. There was insanity in wire wrapped form, beautiful pieces of jewelry or trinkets, as well as tons of festival gear to pour over. The Genesa Series also invested in Third Eye Arts, Fyrephreak, and Rebel Cause Films to document the night, all highly gifted at their craft and guaranteed to give those who weren’t there a visual aid as to exactly what they missed out on. Which, to be specific, also included an incredible stage design, with lighting and visuals provided by Beama Visual Environments (the guys that provide some of the most amazing stage designs you’ve seen).

As stunning as it was to simply walk into the room, the music will always steal the show. The Genesa Project with Kali Yuga gave a dynamic performance, their glitchy beats building up to a drum and bass finish that had the crowd at boiling point. Taking over the decks was a back to back set between FAT PAT and Melo.Nade, washing the crowd off with their hypnotic rhythms. Both of these duos were so great to watch, because not only do they play rad tunes but they work together seamlessly. The Genesa Project is passionate in their mixing, both fiery and exciting. On the other end of the spectrum is FAT PAT and Melo.Nade who are a cooler duo; still intense, but their technique and the way they move around each other to flawlessly assist and mix is pretty cool to watch. In a previous B&K interview, FAT PAT told us to expect him and Melo.Nade to be working as a duo, Calmpound, in the future. Knowing that we have that to look forward to, their performance on this particular night inspired further anticipation and had the crowd ready to keep the energy for Evoke.

Evoke was intriguing and brought some hard and glitchy beats, mixing them with elevated, alluring vocals and performing part of his act through an electronic controller on his arm. His sound induced a primal feeling in the crowd, the undulating melodies creating a very natural atmosphere that included elements from glitch hop and bassier music, to trance-like sounds. For an artist on their first time out of their home state, he looked wonderfully at home on the incredibly video-mapped staged. A unique, memorable performance, Evoke played some very complex music, and I look forward to seeing how his sound and showmanship evolves even further as he experiences more and more cities.

Kursa had the whole crowd in the room and on their feet. The ultimate in glitchy beats for the night, his crisp sound invaded every corner of the room, deep lows and wobbles shaking us all up, and back to a high-energy party mode. Infoe of The Block Parents, a local group, was on the mic backing up Kursa’s set, which was the perfect example of what I want my glitch music to sound like; though heavy hitting and powerful, still rhythmic with silky, complex rhythms intertwined throughout. So many of us had a blast dancing to it, with plenty of people kicking their shoes off to the side to get down more efficiently. Smiling bassfaces surrounded you, filling the room anywhere you could hear the tunes. The party went late, with Kursa continually lining up tracks to keep us moving as long as he could.

All in all, this was a damn successful event. The music was awesome all night, and The Genesa Series did what they do best – exposed their audience to new artists, and added further depth and wealth to the community that we all love being a part of. You can catch their next show when the bring Mr. Bill to town on April 18th!

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WORDS: Kiddo

PHOTOGRAPHY: Third Eye Arts