FRESH BAKIN'

Your downward dog is free to roam at Wanderlust Squaw Valley

We’re always excited for Wanderlust. It’s one of the events we most look forward to all year and lucky for us, it’s right in our backyard. So many festivals have pushed the music as the primary draw while including yoga and wellness as a side note, but not Wanderlust! While the first few years sported heavy a musical line-up, featuring headliners such as Sharon Jones, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, Michael Franti and The Wailers, Wanderlust has curated its own vibe by inviting yoga teachers from across the nation to teach yogis of all ability levels in the surreally beautiful Squaw Valley.

  Caravan Palace captivates crowd at Wanderlust

When Wanderlust was initially announced in 2009, I anticipated a very haughty-taughty crowd. Would they turn their noses up because we don’t have yoga pants, or that we didn’t know our brand of yoga mat (someone had to tell us!), or our downward dog wasn’t perfect? Turned out, that was not the case at all. Not only are the organizers great, but the yogis and music fans who come together for this event make it truly special. I began seeing a dramatic change in myself after beginning about yoga in early 2011 and I truly believe my participation in Wanderlust 2010 was important in it’s cultivation. In addition to the really nice people, organizers and instructors, the exposure to classes like  Budokan yoga, Slackline yoga, Backbends and Inversions … or even ridiculously fun classes like Seane Corn’s “Lite FM” (a class which featured all music and love songs of the 1970’s and 1980’s) has enamored us more with the practice. The diversity of classes ensure someone attending Wanderlust can be  as serious or light-hearted as they choose.

  The music, workshops, speakers and yoga line-ups are top notch for Wanderlust 2014. DJ Krush and The Polyphonic Spree on the bill satisfy our “always have wanted to see yet haven’t” craving. Then a few of our favorites … RJD2, Big Gigantic and Thriftworks add in the “wows,” “whomps” and “what!?” In the non-musical landscape, we are looking forward to Roman Torgovitsky’s Soma System, Schuyler Grant’s Kula Flow, Eion Finn’s Blissology, ChiRunning with Steve Mackel, ELMNTL Fitness, and Yin Yoga with Liza Dousson…just to name a few! We are still reading up on all the enormous offerings Wanderlust offers.

  Wanderlust founder Jeff Krasno answered a few questions for us about Wanderlust 2014 FB: What was the original inspiration for Wanderlust?

JK: The original inspiration came from going to Costa Rica on my wife’s (Schuyler’s) yoga retreat. There, we learned that people loved to travel, to be with like-minded community, to practice yoga in beautiful places, to eat good food, to drink a little wine and listen and dance to music. We asked ourself could we make this experience work for 4000 people instead of just 20?

FB: What could a person who practices yoga very casually receive from Wanderlust?

JK: We want to make yoga fun and accessible. Sure, we have a lot of very accomplished teachers. But many of the classes at Wanderlust are beginner / intermediate. I think the emphasis on music within the classes makes the yoga experience something that everyone can really enjoy.

FB: Your first year was a tough one! Besides bad timing of Franti’s appendix bursting, what other things did you learn that first year that has improved following years?

JK: In the first year, we ran a yoga event and music festival concurrently and, in some ways, split the audience. We learned that yoga, hiking, lectures, rafting, running formed the daytime meal of the festival and music was the nighttime desert.  

FB: Do you have any input in the music? Anyone you’ve really wanted that hasn’t been able to get on the festival?

JK: I personally booked every single act for years. Now, I defer to a younger staff that is more familiar with the cool, new acts. That being said, there are some acts that I have been working on for years. Caravan Palace was one of them. I finally made it happen last year. Fat Freddy’s Drop, a New Zealand-based dub band, is another band I’ve been chasing for years.

FB: Caravan Palace was amazing! I was very happy to see them on the line-up when it was announced. Are we back to music in the parking lot again at night or in the yoga tent? Was there any particular reason you all cut the parking lot stage out? (btw we loved the musc in the yoga tent!)

JK: The idea for 2013 model was to cluster more people in and around the village and to create a seamless nighttime experience that spanned the main tent, the tea tent and a smaller DJ stage. We like the idea that a guest can wander and discover different experience and not be confined within a tradition gated venue. We spent all this time and effort making a beautiful yoga tent and then it sat there empty at night — that didn’t make much sense.

FB: Anything you would like to add to Wanderlust?

JK: A truly next level food experience.

  Wanderlust is July 17th-20th in Squaw Valley, California. For tickets, complete class schedule, lodging, camping and all information visit http://squaw.wanderlustfestival.com/. Keep an eye out as Fresh Bakin’ has partnered with Reno Tahoe Tonight and The Bounce Festival to give away some Sage passes and music-only tickets. CLICK ON PHOTO BELOW TO ENTER!

I sat down and wanted to write something thoughtful and insightful about the cycles that music goes through.

It just seemed so obvious to me that I shouldn’t even have to be writing this in the first place. Yet, here I am, once again, with a wealth of information and ideas in my head, and the process of figuring out how to structure it seems a bit like swimming just to swim.

There has to be a purpose to it, doesn’t there? There has to be reason that things come and go in cycles, just the way music does.  Seeds are planted,  the spring makes its grand return and flowers bloom. They thrive, they’re enjoyed, and then the weather changes and they disappear again. Temporarily, of course – we know they’ll always come back when the time is. Music will always cycle back when the time is right.

When I say cycles, I mean this: the repetition of similar ideas, tonality, inspiration or overall aesthetic feel to a band, artist, group, producer, and – more specifically – genre as a whole. Even if you don’t realize that it is happening, it is in fact happening. Things come and go in waves, often a product of their environment, generation, and values.

Or is it vice versa? Is the generation a product of its music?

Genre is one way we think about music, and as someone who has revolved their life around music in all aspects, I would be lying if I didn’t say that it makes it easier to categorize and to talk about with people. One of the most common questions I ask when getting to know a person is “what kind of music do you listen to?”

Spare me the one answer that almost everyone says: “Oh, you know, I like everything.”

No, you don’t. You just don’t. And that’s OK, just own up to it. You might like elements of everything, but I am willing to bet there is one genre of music you don’t find yourself going out of your way to listen to. You’re trying to tell me your Polka collection is extensive? Not all of us can be intense Bernie Goydish fans, nor are we all meant to be.

The same can be said of other types of music. But what exactly about particular genres is so captivating at a specific moment in time that the future will come to identify a particular generation’s thought process off of some simple music and words?

It’s 2014, and we’re not as close as we were to the live band concept that dominated from the 1930’s through the later part of the 20th century. More and more, our world adapts to the accessibility of things and the ease at which they can be used, obtained, or understood. I am a large proponent and lover of live music. I cherish the cry the guitar makes, and how deep the chords of a piano run when softly highlighted by hypnotizing wind instruments. But much of the music that I listen to, I do some real digging for. Live music still breathes, but you must now seek it more than allow it to come to you.

Enter the (more common) use of synthesizers in the 1980’s. Was the quicker production – quicker sound even – of music influenced by the ever increasing cocaine culture at the time? Or did the music inspire people to move faster, and adapt accordingly?

I’m not saying it’s bad – hell, 80’s hair metal and weird sounding synth-pop is some of my favorite stuff to listen to (guilty pleasure: I love Ratt, David Bowie, and .38 Special). But we have to consider its presence and effect on the times. Today, electronic music has really made its presence known, and with it has come a number of innovations in the music business, as well as repeated patterns on new – or maybe just different – levels.

The increased use of synthesizers and programs like Ableton allow for an exploration in what a personal music making experience is in contrast to a technical one. The push for electronic music, or rather the perpetuation of its popularity, is fueled in different parts: part ease of listening (some, not all); part ease in access (both obtaining and creating – although producing music is no easy feat); and part economics. Music is big business, and right now, electronic music is one of THE biggest. The influx of massive music festivals that are more than half fueled by electronic acts has really taken hold on the United States’ music scene in the last 14 years. It boosts the economy of those cities that host and surround the venues, as well as gives a venue at all for musicians to sign contracts, make cash, and vendors, promoters, and the like to hop right on board with it.

There is a lot of talent in electronic music. I really believe that. I wouldn’t know where to start if handed all the right equipment, but the cycle of these sounds began heavily in the 80’s, another period of time in which technology was rapidly changing the way we lived and the social influences of the time had a lot to do with music production and how people listened to it. With the 80’s came glam and ridiculous parties, in all its glory. Sound a bit like the EDC’s of today, frequently covered in fast paced, drug-inducing lifestyles? Because it’s learned behavior. Things go in cycles.

Not to say that all other genres weren’t or aren’t present at the time, or that anything else that happened in music did not come with its vices. Hippie rock of the 60’s built the foundations of free thinking and counterculture lifestyle that the rock ‘n roll of the 70’s solidified. All of these types of  music perpetuated a movement or a pattern of thought that, in turn, kept the music in demand. At some point, however, each cycle reaches a change in the weather – trends change, tastes change. I would say that there is a key trait here responsible for this change, and that is charisma.  Many people can have the same great idea, the same drive, the same ambition and end game in mind; but unless you have the attitude, the confidence, and the power to not only draw an audience but keep them captivated, you’ll never go anywhere. People have to want to want you.

It is not that anything ever truly dies, it just has its time and place. A large part of what drives charismatic people to make the change is the social happenings of the time. Hippie rock didn’t die out – the war in Vietnam ended, and all of a sudden the most prevalent thing on people’s minds changed and switched to not just advocating for an open-minded lifestyle, but embracing it. And hence, rock ‘n roll took center stage. This keeps happening as the world keeps changing – people find new things to care about, new songs to write, new stories to tell – but only for a moment in time.   

What’s interesting about music today is that it appears to be at that pivotal point of change. It has become increasingly popular for electronic artists to begin incorporating live musicians with their music, elevating the live, and even album, experience. People have been doing these things forever, but now it’s catching on – that’s when humans begin using it to help define their place in the world at the current moment in time. 

Indie music continues to get weirder, and I mean that in the best way possible. I am not sure who coined the term “dreamfolk” but I like it a lot, and feel the two words together illustrate exactly what bands like The 1975, Panama and Still Parade are going for. (If none of those names ring a bell, stay tuned for a “music you don’t know about but probably need to know about” blog.)

Hip-hop is becoming more mainstream again. I don’t mean rap – that’s something entirely different. Rap will, like rock ‘n roll, forever be spotlighted by those with deep enough respect and love for it to keep pursuing it. Some things are timeless, even in music. The idea that thoughtful, revealing lyrics paired with the right beat is fueling the music industry through hip-hop right now as artists and groups like Atmosphere and The Living Legends have been curating since the first decade of this century, and even before then.

Bold moves in music come with bold change in thought, and societal changes in opinion and perception inspire the necessary changes that we need in music, as well as pretty much everything else in life.

All of this may very well go without saying, and all might be easily argued, but it does beg you to ask yourself what it is about certain types of music that captivates you so. Maybe because it’s something you’ve already experienced.

Tickets available now at http://bit.ly/PrettyLights2013

WEDNESDAY NOV. 27th with FULL BAND

Reno Santa Crawl 2013 Official

Fresh Bakin' and Montbleu presents South Tahoe aPHterparties July 30th and 31st, 2013

Fresh Bakin' and The Bounce present: Pre-Bounce Party at Lakeside in Tahoe City June 8th, 2013

16 more days until The Bounce Festival! June 20th -24th 2013

The Whitney Myer EP Release Show is TOMORROW! Come support this incredible artist for the release of her new album, "Articles of Luminous Nature." The show starts April 26th at 7:00pm at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

THE BOUNCE FESTIVAL LINEUP IS HERE. HOT-DAMN!