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<\/a>The acts playing this year range from Reggie Watts, with his bizarre and seemingly bipolar looping a-cappella musical comedy, to chill indie pop groups like Australia\u2019s The Jezebels. The festival\u2019s eccentricities will surprise unsuspecting folks who unknowingly find themselves watching, say, local weirdo rap group Hundy Thou, whose shows seem a lot more like a metal concert.<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t end there. The Flaming Lips, for example, are one of the most surreal touring acts in decades. In the past they have descended onto stages in a giant UFO, and lead singer Wayne Coyne often crowd surfs in an inflatable hamster ball while Teletubbies lookalikes dance on stage and confetti endlessly rains down upon the crowd.<\/p>\n
Though many of the more notable acts (there are 117 in total) are international, and some seem like they\u2019re from other planets, the festival thrives symbiotically with Victoria\u2019s vibrant music scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cRifflandia gives Victoria something we can call our own,\u201d says Ghosty. \u201cWe have our own unique creative culture here, and this event provides a platform to showcase that. It strikes me as a union of Austin\u2019s South by Southwest fest and the classic Canadian folk festival. Our streets and venues provide an atmosphere that is distinctly Victoria. It\u2019s something we can get behind as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria is brimming with talented artists who don\u2019t normally get to be in a festival scenario, so Rifflandia really provides an interesting opportunity for some local artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cFestivals afford small bands the opportunity to be a bigger band for a night,\u201d says Oliver Brooks, frontman of Victoria post-punk\/shoegaze band Leisure Suit. \u201cWe\u2019d have a hard time drawing a large crowd to some of our own shows, but at a festival you\u2019ve got a huge pool of people who are already hanging around looking for their next music fix. The exposure of our name, and potentially our music, to so many people is invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that exposure is worthless if people can\u2019t get in to see the band, which has been one of the biggest drawbacks of the fest. But at least if a venue is full, there\u2019s probably another venue to go check out, which can actually work out great in the end, exposing concert-goers to new sounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of Rifflandia\u2019s greatest assets is that, as a smaller festival, it can trick you into broadening your musical horizons,\u201d says Brooks. \u201cThe Music Conservatory, for example, hosts three night venues. When you\u2019ve got three completely different sets going on literally down the hall from one another it\u2019s easy to get up and walk over to another amazing show on a whim.\u201d<\/p>\n