Jake Langmuir, a.k.a. DJ Dubconscious, will be making a stop at Marysville Pub on Saturday, March 30 alongside a slate of local DJs, as part of his mini-tour of the Kootenays.
Langmuir is a veteran of the Canadian electronic music culture and has participated in it and contributed to its growth in a wide range of capacities for 20 years.
From his childhood in small-town Ontario, to studying astrophysics at the University of Victoria, to working for the world-renowned Shambhala Music Festival and its Nelson-based nightclub Bloom — Langmuir has an extensive backstory.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Bloom welcomes Dubconscious to the family
He picked up his first set of turntables in 2004 after getting into Toronto’s jungle and drum and bass scene. His passion for DJing blossomed when he moved to Victoria and when the genre of dubstep emerged around 2006, he began delving into the origins of that new sound, namely reggae, dance hall and dub.
Langmuir said Toronto-based jungle artist Marcus Visionary’s Return to the Underground 8 at The Opera House in 2002 is the set that inspired him to become a DJ, and sites Shy FX, Remarc and Soundermerderer as some of his other early inspirations.
“The energy of Toronto’s jungle scene ignited my drive to purchase turntables and want to get involved,” Langmuir told the Bulletin. “As the years went on, I found my sound evolving and incorporating reggae/dancehall, and then dubstep — all into one set, which wasn’t always well-received in Toronto.
“I found Nelson — and the west coast overall — to be more accepting of and enthusiastic about a mixed-genre DJ set.”
In the two decades since first buying turntables the landscape of electronic music, the rave scene and DJing itself have all changed a great deal.
“What has changed the most? The technology and accessibility of DJing,” Langmuir said. “Now anyone with a few hundred bucks can pick up a controller and start downloading music to mix. Hard to say if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it is now true that everyone and their Grandma is a DJ. The important thing is to stick close to your passions and maintain dedication and hard work, in order to rise above.
“Technology has also had a massive impact on the accessibility of producing original music as well - not only with the advent of Ableton and other digital audio workstations (DAWs), but the internet has also increased the rate at which exciting new sounds and subgenres can spread from one corner of the world to the next, which is great!”
While technology has advanced and the landscape changed tremendously, what it means to be a DJ has more or less remained unchanged: you have to have a deep knowledge and selection of music and the ability to translate it for a dance floor full of people.
“After 20 years in the game, it is quite interesting to see some fads come and go, and other styles/sounds come back into focus,” Langmuir said. “The current UK Garage resurgence is a lot of fun, it’s also been personally heartwarming to see old school jungle aesthetics return to the limelight with producers like Nia Archives and Coco Bryce rising to fame.”
In all his years performing, Langmuir said one show stands out above all the rest: his first time playing at the Living Room Stage at Shambhala Music Festival in 2010. It was his first time attending and performing at the festival, having moved to the area the year before, driven by his love of snowboarding.
“Due to circumstances beyond my control, I spent the following summer there too,” he said. “When I was first offered a Monday morning set, I was naturally ecstatic - but also remained humble as it is a difficult time slot and it was all so new to me. It wasn’t until I ‘pulled it off’ and felt like the set was a resounding success that I felt comfortable about the whole endeavour, to be honest.”
He was originally booked to play from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. on the final morning of the festival, but wound up playing a full extra hour because the crowd was so into it. It was this breakout sunrise set that led Living Room Stage director DJ Hoola to offer Langmuir a position on the festival’s team.
He worked with Shambhala’s talent department and as the talent buyer for Bloom Nightclub until the COVID pandemic reared its ugly head.
“The pandemic put a thorn in the side of many performers and event organizers, and I took on a Sales/Marketing position in the transportation sector for a few years,” Langmuir explained. “Now I am focusing on music, exercise, self-improvement and organizing humble electronic music events, mostly at The Royal here in Nelson.”
Though he no longer works directly with the festival or nightclub, he maintains a positive relationship with them and has upcoming gigs at both. He will perform at the Living Room this summer for the festival’s 25th anniversary, and is playing at Bloom Nightclub alongside Defunk on April 20.
In terms of his current slate of shows, Dubconscious recently performed a sold-out show in Fernie where he played an all-vinyl jungle and drum and bass set, receiving a warm reception from the crowd. His next set is in Kelowna, before he heads to Kimberley. Both these shows will be digital, rather than vinyl, and will incorporate the freshest sounds in dancehall, garage, dubstep, grime, jungle, drum and bass and beyond.
It’s been some time since Langmuir has performed in Kimberley and he’s excited to make his return.
“The first time I played in the area was at Wicked Woods when it was still on the outskirts of town - must have been about 2016?” Langmuir recalled. “In the following fall, I played a set at the Elk’s Hall - which was lit!
“I recall being impressed by how knowledgeable the crowd was about the tracks I was playing.. Though I’ve played Wicked Woods three times since then, I suppose it’s been a while since I’ve played in the immediate area of Kimberley.”
Dubconscious will perform at the Marysville Pub on Saturday, Mar. 30 alongside a back-to-back set from Kimberley DJs 4:44 and Quotes as well as the Dubside Collective, comprised of Naytaron and Da Believa.
Tickets are $15 in advance and available at eventbrite.com, or $20 in advance. To see the Facebook event page visit this link:https://fb.me/e/4R3eAGSp1 and to hear Dubconscious’ music click here: soundcloud.com/DUBCONSCIOUS