(An Archival Report by Safe as Fuck) In September 1972, the American counterculture tried to resurrect Woodstock. Instead, it summoned hell on a floodplain. Bull Island was pitched as the Midwest’s Festival of Freedom — a three-day blowout of peace, love, and music. What unfolded instead was a grotesque parody of everything it claimed to stand for: a lawless swamp of starvation, fake drugs, and open flames. By the end, there were 200,000 people, four toilets, and one dead co

Safe as Fuck Interview: Beatmool I. Origins Let’s start with the name — “Beatmool.” It’s distinct. Kinda mysterious. What’s the story behind it? Where did it come from? The word first came to me while I was travelling in Croatia. I visited this beautiful rural area and was inspired to produce a track with an English translated name of the location “Greenfall.” My love of liquid drum & bass at the time helped me envision a new project dedicated to that atmospheric, liquid good

Every year, the city produces talent that should be global. Instead, most of it leaves. Not for weather or lifestyle, but because Vancouver structurally fails its own artists. Ambition is punished, creativity is mined for cheap labour, and culture is exported before it ever gets a chance to breathe. This isn’t a lament. It’s a map. From corporate creep to festival marketing absurdity, from the curator class of privileged amateurs to a talent pipeline that literally bleeds int

Music festivals like to frame themselves as modern-day utopias: weekend democracies where basslines and biodegradable glitter dissolve...

British Columbia’s festival scene still loves to sell itself as “underground.” The language hasn’t changed since the days of renegade...

Festivals love to pretend they’re the beating heart of music culture. “This is where memories are made, where sounds are born, where the...

🇨🇦 It begins innocently enough: a Canadian steps off the plane into the United States, expecting polite smiles, orderly lines, and...

On Aug 29, Canadian micro-brands will lose competitive edge on U.S. shipping. On Oct 31, you can sell direct at our Halloween Rave 🎃 1....

Music isn’t just entertainment. It’s chemistry, psychology, and low-key mind control wrapped up in basslines and hooks. Scientists have...

Nepotism on Wax

There’s a funny myth still floating around electronic music: that the underground is “pure,” and pop is “fake.” That if you’re grinding...

There was a time when the “local scene celebrity” could survive on two things: A handful of half-decent mixes. A bottomless pit of...

What happens when your favorite underground festivals start acting like rival corporations? For over a decade, two major festivals have...

An honest look at what Bandcamp Friday is — and what it’s not. A Useful Start, Now Routine When Bandcamp Friday  launched in 2020, it was...

It’s one thing to say you’re underground. It’s another thing to graph it . The chart you’re looking at isn’t just a random exercise in...

by Safe As Fuck They always show up just a little too late—and leave with just enough credibility to cash in. Skrillex, Will Smith, James...

The failure to build new stars is killing the scene faster than fentanyl. By SAF “In the late ‘90s, pro wrestling had a golden rule: if...

Vancouver’s DJ scene has always had a gatekeeping problem. Now, AI is blowing the gates off. For years, Vancouver has operated like an...

In 2025, the music festival has officially eclipsed  the rave — not because it’s bigger, but because it pretends  to be what it replaced....

In the grand tour circuit of North America, Vancouver is rarely the main event. It's the comma between Seattle and Calgary, a western...