VIP SS Buku (photo credit: Toni Nittolo) New Orleans – hearing the name inspires images of a colorful, bustling city full of meshing cultures with a jazzy soundtrack. For two days in the springtime, that soundtrack switches from upbeat jazz to bumping EDM as The Buku Music and Art Project overtakes a port to dock a boat (which becomes the VIP stage and recuperation area) and fill warehouses full of Mardi Gras floats with lasers and speakers. Ravers from as far as St. Louis descend upon the historic city for the unique festival experience that this music and arts festival has to offer. I was one of them, and, by the good graces of a friend of mine that happened to be performing, was given an artist wristband, allotting me unrestricted access to nearly anything on the festival grounds. Joined by my oldest brother and his lovely girlfriend, we entered the festival grounds in the afternoon on the first day to hear Lido performing his set at the Power Plant stage to our right, set up in front of the old Market Street Power Plant. To our left resided one of the most notable characteristics about Buku – the Live Graffiti Gallery. These artists were presented with a blank canvas and began their work with the beginning of the festival, each one creating their own interpretation of the culture surrounding the festival. The graffiti pieces remain there for the duration of the festival to be auctioned off and the money given to the artists as well as donated to local non-profit organizations. On the boat, dubbed VIP SS Buku for the festival, more visual artists can be found creating pieces inspired by the setting and culture of Buku. The Buku Music and Art Project aims to recreate the “funky subculture” that New Orleans is so legendary for with the modern music festival twist – local musicians and DJs are sprinkled throughout the festival grounds creating little pop-up performances, and a group of breakdancers moves from set to set hyping the crowd by showing off their moves. Additionally, the overall vibe of the festival has the genuine southern hospitality vibe one feels in New Orleans; the crowd was very warm and welcoming to one another, and supportive/respectful of the artists. For example, although deadmau5 head recreations are very popular at festivals, I couldn’t see a single one on the day that deadmau5 performed. Deadmau5 (photo credit: Toni Nittolo) Both days and all 5 stages had a variety of genres being played; most of my time was spent split between the Float Den, the Back Alley, and the VIP SS Buku, all the while doing my best to take advantage of the backstage access I had. Whether it was backstage next to the performing DJ or out in the crowd, lost in the sauce, the experience of the set went unchanged in terms of the acoustics. Being so close to the DJ was kind of unreal – many times the performing DJ would look over to the side of the stage were a few people would be enjoying the set and it felt like an intimate performer-listener interaction, vibing directly alongside one another. The visuals and lights associated with the performance weren’t as effective, naturally, being off to the side and at the epicenter of the musical activity. At the Float Den on Friday afternoon, San Holo performed a diverse set ranging from the happy upbeat sounds of future bass to the grimier sounds of dubstep, with everything in between; in my opinion, this set was a far better executed performance than the one I saw him put on at Lights All Night in terms of musical diversity; an entire future bass set doesn’t make for a very effective set for dancing, especially at a festival. Following San Holo was Troyboi; as some of you may recall, I am practically in love with Troyboi. Before his set began, I was wandering around amongst the floats behind the Float Den. Lo and behold, I run into the man himself smoking a cigarette on his own. I tentatively approached him and introduced myself, thanking him for his music. He shook my hand. Arguably one of the greatest moments of my life. I disgress! Troyboi put on a great set of mostly trap; I would later return to the Float Den to see Jauz kill it with his mix of dubstep and deep house, but in the meantime, we made our way to the boat to unwind for a bit and enjoy the view of the Power Plant stage where Grizmatik was performing their electrojazz set; night had fallen and I could see the massive crowd dancing to the set, hoops flashing and creating different patterns, people dressed in all sorts of costumes/lights/psychedelic patterns totem poles moving. This was the sauce – everyone is an ingredient, and the DJ was the fire keeping it all warm and moving. The night ended back at the Float Den with Zed’s Dead putting on a high energy set of mostly dubstep with a taste of future bass. Saturday afternoon at the Float Den kicked off with Minnesota back-to-back with Space Jesus, throwing out more dubstep alongside the quickly popularizing sounds of acid trap. Backstage there was a group of people that appeared to be the family of one of the two DJs; Space Jesus brought out an older woman from the group to the stage and announced it was his mother’s 60th birthday – that was so adorable y’all. followed by the alien queen Rezz playing a mostly g house set; Rezz has been quickly shooting up in popularity, popping up recently on many festival lineups as her slow, heavy beats permeate the soundwaves associated with her light-up goggle aesthetic. Pusher on the VIP SS Buku (photo credit: Toni Nittolo) Back to the boat for some, quite literally, intimately close sets – there was two, maybe three, feet separating the audience from the DJ. This provided excellent photo opportunities during Pusher’s future bass set, but I was more excited for Josh Pan to come up next and perform his set. When he came out, he also brought out k?d, who had performed very early Friday afternoon, for an unexpected back-to-back set of dominantly trap. The boat was a really cool experience for a stage and hangout area, although tended to prove itself to be mildly problematic over the course of the festival; at one point on Friday evening, they weren’t letting people on during Ekali’s set as a result of someone unexpectedly jumping off the boat into the Mississippi River, causing a search party of firefighters to go out looking for this person. This actually pissed off Ekali, according to my friend involved with the festival, and understandably so; many fans couldn’t see him perform, which is naturally upsetting to any artist. Josh Pan and k?d on the VIP SS Buku (photo credit: Toni Nittolo) After Josh Pan’s set full of bangers was complete, I rushed my way over to the Power Plant to catch the rest of Run The Jewel’s performance. They put on one of the best rap sets I’ve ever seen, during which El-P stopped the music to recite a short poem. Following Run The Jewels was Cashmere Cat back in the Float Den for his beautiful mix of his unique songs in combination with experimental trap. Once more a migration was made to the Power Plant for the legend himself, deadmau5, performing his all house set. Run The Jewels at the Power Plant Stage (photo credit: Toni Nittolo) All in all, there’s something irreplaceable about the dynamic vibe of Buku. Aside from the boat event preventing people from seeing Ekali, in turn upsetting the artist, all of the artists were genuinely ecstatic to find themselves at such an incredible festival in the indescribable city of New Orleans. This has been Toni Nittolo, and thank you for reading my anecdote.