KC’s Music Monday: Camp Bisco XI Preview

Photo © Andrew Franciosa

Arguably my favorite part about attending a music festival is the undeniable factor that the nature of the beast is designed to enable a unique experience for every person in attendance. You can map out which performers you’d like to see or ditch any intention of a plan and see whatever comes your way. Or a little bit of both. Some people attend solely for the ‘experience’ and don’t place much emphasize on checking out the music itself (don’t be one of those people) but again, to each their own. Much like life itself, Camp Bisco is what you make of it.

Last year, Andrew and I attended, had an absolute blast and followed our own compasses. Not to preach too much on a how-to-attend-a-festival-guide level or anything, but I seriously do recommend making the experience your own. If you want to see a band or DJ, go see them, regardless of if your friends want to go with you or not. If you want to call it a night to rest for the next day, do so. You don’t have to get carried away to have a good time. There will be plenty going on at all times, so don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything if you chose stage A over stage B.

For today’s post, I picked out some artists from this year’s line-up that I’m looking forward to. Feel free to post in the comments who you’re excited for and let us know if you’re attending this year. More to come next week.

Be sure to check out our coverage from last year (day one, two, three) and stay up on Camp Bisco for upcoming announcements and other details as the festival dates creep closer.

Hit the jump!

Atmosphere – Perhaps one of my favorite hip hop groups of all time. They kill it live. I got to see them most recently in Clifton Park (peep my write-up here) on the tour promoting their most recent album, 2011’s The Family Sign. Atmosphere is comprised of MC Sean “Slug” Daley and DJ/Producer Anthony “Ant” Davis. The group is no stranger to the stage and has six studio albums and over two decades of touring on their resume. These guys like to vibe with the audience and make the performance as interactive and intimate as possible. I think they will adapt well to the festival crowd and if they don’t perform “Sunshine” it’s going to be bittersweet for me.

Bonobo – If you’ve been keeping tabs on KAB’s weekly radio show, you’ll know exactly how we feel about this guy. knomad had the pleasure of opening up for him down at LPR earlier in the year, and every other week or so since the album’s release, I’ve played tracks off of Black Sands Remixed, which was released via Ninja Tune earlier this year and features remixes from FaltyDL, Mike Slott, Cosmin TRG and Machinedrum, to name a few. Ninja Tune also will host a curated tent which will feature Blockhead, Starkey, FaltyDL and Hot Sugar, in addition to others from the label performing as well. Bonobo will be performing a DJ set which includes a live band, and much like his production, builds from his laid back, downtempo tendencies into a full-on dance floor massacre with the likes of hip hop, jazz, Latin, funk and soul, all under his full control.

MiM0SA – Tigran Mkhitaryan is someone on the line-up with who dabbles -DJs and produces- with the likes of dubstep, glitch, hop and grime that I can get down with. Currently based out of Los Angeles, MiM0SA visited the Capital Region a bit over a year ago and you can check out Andrew’s photos and my recap here. I’d agree that MiM0SA could be considered a bit of a fan-favorite of the Camp Bisco line-up and has been quite busy since I last saw him play out. I’m excited to hear his set for the festival environment and have the fullest confidence that the crowd is going to pop off for his set. Tigran also has teamed up with on.the.sly fam Sleepyhead on their collaboration “Naked Poetry,” which was released under the moniker SexyTime on Tigran’s own label, False Idol Musik.

Holy Fuck – Admittedly, Holy Fuck is a group that I haven’t listened to all that much. That being said, I’ve heard nothing but good things. The band uses live instrumentation to create electronic music that uses random instruments and items such as toy keyboards and toy phaser guns to create all sorts of sound effects to aid in building their unique sound. I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Eliot Lipp – Eliot Lipp is a producer that I got to know through his remix compilation album Brolabs, which is, in his words, “all about collaborating with friends I like to work with and whose music I respect. Each track on Brolabs is a unique collaboration between each artist and myself, not a faceless email trade of songs and samples, the way alot remixes are done these days. Close friends, great artists, quality time and good music. The album features Mux Mool and Big Gigantic (who will both be performing at Camp Bisco) as well as Pretty Lights, OB City and more. I haven’t explored much from Lipp aside from this collaboration of sorts, so I’m looking forward to catching his original productions in the wild.