Review: Koan Sound & Gemini at Seasons 2012 Closing Party

The final show of Seasons Festival: this better be good. A festival with the capacity to draw names like Armin van Buuren has a lot to live up to. *spoiler: it rocked* Bullet Bill and Elonious start off the night at Celebrities Nightclub in Vancouver with classic dub sequences – strong openers, warming the crowd for headliners. Beats build like galloping horses as the crowd crescendos towards the end of the set. The lights dim as the staff in the booth ready an army of rainbow flashing styrofoam noodles; ominous melodies introduce Koan Sound, the co-headliner for the night, as the noodles fly out to the eager crowd. Lost in their electronic du-scape, my rainbow flashing styrofoam noodle is stealthily stolen by one of the many cheeky party-goers. No matter – we all lovingly share our noodles with each other. We all get a chance to wave our rainbows proudly in the air.

Koan Sound’s subtle, light vibe then gives way to epileptic fits of screaming distortion with well-timed falls. Then a driving crescendo of beats pummel to submission as we make way for Gemini’s transition. For a second all that existed was the light breeze emanating from the speakers, and then a typical Gemini bass CRUUUUUUUNCH like the air was made of crackers. The man needed no introduction.The first hour sounded like a piece of industrial equipment having a glorious breakdown – somehow, it was beautiful. In less capable hands, the sonic risks that Gemini was taken would have fallen flat, but instead we were all treated to a sound and light show that sent us to another reality. We were warped into another dimension, inside a video game. Inside TRON.

Gemini threw us a superb mix of original songs with great, well-placed remixes. A storm of bass with quality musicality legitimized his dub-influenced sound. Looking close inside the booth, every flick of his fingers had a direct and demonstrable effect on the music and on the crowd — he literally had us at his fingertips. Knife Party’s Internet Friends was sandwiched by two Nero songs: Crush on You and Innocence. He seamlessly faded from Skrillex’s Bangarang to his own patented remix of Lana del Rey’s Born to Die. The young DJ himself was sandwiched between two beautiful dancers, wearing silver pompom angel wings with bright silver LED headlamps, giving us all the familiar feeling of dancing in an underground mineshaft rave with leather-clad angels in six-inch stiletto heels – you literally could not ask for more with this show (the Easter bunny and teddy bear made yet another Blueprint appearance as well).

As his set rolled towards a thunderous climax, the emcee told us to give it up for Gemini. No…is this the end? It can’t be! Who cares if it’s 3:00am? ONE MORE SONG! We all shout, grovel and beg. Gemini began his encore, and respectfully handed the controls to Koan Sound. Koan Sound played with the crowd for a bit, teasing us some more, and then they handed the reigns back to Gemini. After truly giving us our money’s worth, he faded out to finish the set, and he officially marked the end of this year’s Seasons Festival. It was a light fun atmosphere – a total lack of pretension, typical of all my Celebrities and Blueprint experiences. It punctuated Seasons fest with an exclamation mark: I can’t wait till next year.

Article by: Grant Petersen