{"id":1544,"date":"2024-04-23T01:13:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T01:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/?p=1544"},"modified":"2024-04-23T02:25:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T02:25:24","slug":"a-religious-experience-the-caracal-project-renews-our-faith-in-edm-at-velvet-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/a-religious-experience-the-caracal-project-renews-our-faith-in-edm-at-velvet-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"A religious experience: The Caracal Project renews our faith in EDM at Velvet Underground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

French DJ F\u00e9lix Burnod stops in Toronto on his debut EP tour.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Good Friday at Toronto’s Velvet Underground and most people are probably at home enjoying dinner with their families, which is likely why it\u2019s so easy to get to the centre of the dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oddulator, a Toronto local, is already spinning some energetic drum & bass and the crowd is moving, but as he picks up the microphone the audience becomes laser focused. The Caracal Project has entered the building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Caracal Project is the moniker of F\u00e9lix Burnod, a French DJ and producer who focuses on melodic drum & bass. He\u2019s on tour promoting his latest EP, \u201cSelf reflections:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
F\u00e9lix Burnod of The Caracal Project spins tracks at Toronto’s Velvet Underground. (Kyle Stewart\/@kylejstewart_photo)<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I can see from the rapt expressions of those around me that I am not the only fan in attendance, but Burnod still has a lot to prove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s his first time headlining a tour-, not to mention his first time in North America. For his first tour it\u2019s a pretty serious one: beginning in LA, ending in Vancouver and hitting stops like Budapest, Hungary, and Red Rocks, CO., along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burnod enters quietly and politely, ends the track and without looking up from the controls, picks up the microphone and utters a shy, \u201cToronto.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We give him the warm welcome that we all hope Canadian crowds are famous for, and like any good DJ, he wastes no time starting the set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he does not disappoint. It\u2019s explosive, it\u2019s eclectic, it\u2019s everything a good DJ set should be; everything feels fresh and improvised, the drums hammer away, with frequent beat changes surprising you at every turn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re at the brink of exhaustion, you\u2019re rewarded with a few seconds of beautiful melody before jumping right back into the deadly rhythms of his discography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true power of the Caracal Project is how danceable Burnod’s work is without sacrificing emotionality. His deliberate use of acoustic drums, orchestral strings and his own vocals create an organic sentimentality that most electronic music just doesn’t have.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"F\u00e9lix<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Kyle Stewart\/@kylejstewart_photo)<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is clear on the dance floor: complete strangers turning to face each other, locking eyes, singing the lyrics, swapping dance moves and losing their shit together when he plays his earth shattering remix of \u201cHumble<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we near the end of the night, Burnod plays his big single and approaches the stage to have a moment with the crowd. He stands at the front of the stage and raises both arms as the bass drops, and his audience is certain of what he\u2019s trying to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A myriad of arms reach forwards and grab Burnod’s shirt. Like a scene out of The Walking Dead, the hoard pulls their victim into the crowd and then up into the air where he hovers, arms out to the side like a cross, bouncing up and down to the beat of the music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he\u2019s able to wrestle himself away, Burnod takes the microphone and cuts the track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was not part of the plan,\u201d he says. \u201cI like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Caracal Project with Oddulator at Velvet Underground, Toronto, ON., March 30, 2024.<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greg Burkell for The B-Side.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French DJ F\u00e9lix Burnod stops in Toronto on his debut EP tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[219],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsfeed","category-reviews"],"authors":[{"term_id":219,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gregburkell","display_name":"Greg Burkell","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/10d013a1c3a7fc1f176bf675e45002e034e42b3699325173c7c79ce6d810e012?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Greg","last_name":"Burkell","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1586,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions\/1586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}