From EDM to ambient raves, there’s a place to dance for everyone.

By: Halley Buxton

Though the Pacific Northwest gained notoriety for its rock subgenres like grunge, a steady underbelly of electronic music pulses through our wooded landscapes and urban centers. From the growing popularity of Western’s EDM Club to niche house shows, the fog machines and lasers of electronica are blasting into Bellingham’s music scene.

It’s the night of a show and bass is vibrating the rickety staircase down to a room splashed with fluorescent spray paint. Warning signs decorate the descent into the dark, forcing a crouched posture. In Ma’s Basement, a DJ is illuminated in a brick alcove behind a control deck. This house show venue with a focus on electronic music, specializes in eccentric themes and creative ways to make noise. 

“The best events are always the most unique events. I mean, we won’t make a dime off them, but we meet cool people,” said Rook Stockhoff, a resident and host of Ma’s Basement. “People will be like 'This is the most weird fun I’ve ever had at a house show.’”

Themes have ranged from classic electronic genres, like ambient or electrofusion, to the obscure. One show’s theme was named “Project Monarch,” after a conspiracy theory linked to the CIA mind-control program MKUltra, and another was named “Insurrection Rave,” after the illegal breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Since we all [make] electronic music, it was sort of natural to do what we’re already doing, but louder and with people,” Stockhoff explained. Residency allows flexibility, notes August O’Connell, another resident and regular performer.

“I like being able to throw the most absurd events possible. We have this space to do whatever we want because it’s our house,” O’Connell said. “The Insurrection Rave was so fun.” 

Lila Caldwell, another resident and creative powerhouse of Ma’s Basement, chimed in: “We were really storming the Capitol with that one,” drawing laughter from her roommates and fellow hosts. 

For electronic shows generally, DJ booths take less equipment than a live band, but the arrangements for Ma’s Basement shows differ from project to project. According to O’Connell, this means sometimes borrowing a friend’s homemade speakers, and on one occasion - a 400-pound subwoofer larger than their coffee table. 

“It fit through the basement door with like half an inch to spare…We had to hoist it out with our hands,” O’Connell said. “After the last [time] he had his speakers here, there was ceiling dust on all the equipment,” due to the volume shaking the house.

At one of their more private events, microphones were daisy-chaining speakers through all three stories of the house to produce a feedback loop to “...make a sort of intelligent audio beast,” Caldwell said. 

“If you’re smart enough, you can start making electronic music in ways that people have never before,” Caldwell said. “There’s a lot of potential for making it your own thing, that’s what makes [it] interesting.”

Caldwell explained she has been “entrenched” in the local electronic music scene, dating back to a Machine Girl performance in 2019 at the Karate Church - an infamous venue north of Western’s campus.

“Wait, Machine Girl played at Karate Church?” asked O’Connell.

“Oh yeah, Machine Girl played at Karate Church. Xiu Xiu played at Karate Church as well,” said Caldwell, noting the two now well-known electronic artists.

While it is sometimes harder to find, Caldwell noted that electronic music has been in the area for years, specifically through the form of generator shows, where equipment such as lights and speakers are hooked up to a generator to host performances in remote locations that lack electricity.

“There’s a lot of areas that, for generations, people have been like ‘This would be a good place for a big speaker set up in the middle of the woods,’ — there’s a lot of woods around here,” Caldwell said. “That is potentially the most interesting part of Bellingham sound system culture.”

However, it’s difficult to narrow down a specific electronic sound that defines the area.

“Not being here for too long…this could be totally wrong, but I get the feeling that a lot of it comes from modular…there’s a bigger conglomeration of that in Seattle,” Stockhoff said.

“It’s that West Coast synthesis shit. You’ve got to voltage control everything,” Caldwell said.

“There’s a lot of connections. There’s the large queer population in the Pacific Northwest that likes punk music, and they also like to dance,” said Stockhoff.

But from space raves to speed friending, Ma’s Basement shows are not just about the music. Outside of the basement, the hosts offer spaces to mingle and create by putting out fidget toys, instruments for jam sessions, and drawing supplies.

“There’s some music, but a lot of just hanging out, chilling, meeting people,” Stockhoff said. “There’s always something weird on the TV, there’s always toys for people to play with…People really like to draw. If you give them paper and a pencil, they’ll draw stuff.”

Caldwell explained, “When you’re DJing, you have to have a third deck. Socializing is sort of the third deck for the audience as well.”

The hosts encourage anyone who hopes to throw a weird event to reach out. One of the goals for Ma’s Basement is to provide a platform for new DJs who might not be sure if they’ll find an audience, and to be a space where any variety of people can enjoy their passions. 

“I’ve known people that are like ‘things are different up in Bellingham – I went to a party and the jocks and the goths were at the same party,’” Caldwell explained, referencing an event where both college students and non-college students were in attendance.

When the Western EDM Club coordinated an event called “Electrofusion” in the venue, the Ma’s Basement residents were skeptical of EDM as an umbrella term for so many electronic genres. Electronic Dance Music, known as EDM, is not in itself a genre, but a term that includes a variety of electronic music subgenres that encourage dancing at nightclubs, raves and festivals.

“A lot of the music the EDM people make and are into is not necessarily my cup of tea, but when they were playing here and I was talking to them…I realized that we’re all people that are super passionate about the music that we like,” O’Connell said. “It was very sweet to talk to all these people and how stoked they were about their music… it felt very wholesome.”

Caldwell explained where her skepticism came from. “I used to be all pretentious, like ‘Oh, electronic dance music? That describes so many different genres of music that I listen to, but I’m getting into it.”

“If it gets you moving, that’s ideal,” Stockhoff said. “We love all types of music.”

When EDM Club President Paul Kim noticed JBL speakers in the classrooms of Academic West on campus, an idea sprung for loud, bass-boosted study sessions. Over the next year, the idea spread to include over 160 active members and multiple laser-filled events, all while centering on a space for EDM lovers.

“There is definitely a community for EDM and it’s very underground. We wanted to bring that out, and that’s why we created this club,” Kim said. “If [people] are not into the mainstream in Bellingham, or on the Western campus – there’s a lot of indie, alternative, folk – creating that resource for people who are interested, for enthusiasts to connect and create a sense of fellowship.

“What attracted me first wasn’t even the music, but the community and culture around it. Especially North American culture, PLUR – Peace, Love, Unity, Respect – is a huge thing,” Kim said. “It was baffling, like a culture shock to me how you can have a mass of people in a crowd, but they’re all upholding these manners and rules to take care of each other.”

EDM Club Vice President Caleb Howerton oversees the production sector of the club by hosting meetings for the members interested in making their own music. The club offers opportunities to learn how to mix music, organize events and perform at venues around town.

“I was talking to some of the people at the Wild Buffalo and since the club has started, their attendance to certain shows, due to our promotions, has significantly impacted the amount of presale tickets and attendance on some of these shows,” Howerton said. “It’s fun to be a part of that, directly correlated with the growth of a scene.”

Both Kim and Howerton have frequented house shows as a popular live music option alternative to parties. They explained that the music performed often reflects the mainstream popularity of genres like indie and rock in the area.

“Instead of a shift toward favoring EDM, ideally we’re creating space for more genres. I personally wouldn’t want Bellingham to be totally EDM, I don’t want it to be totally alternative,” Kim said. “We want to inspire other people to look at what we’re doing. If they’re interested in hip hop or other genres to create their own space, then Bellingham can become more of an artistically vibrant community…especially for college students – this is a time to explore those things.”

The weekly producer meetings run by Howerton give DJs a chance to polish their projects and complete practice challenges, such as using a sample to make a song within an hour. The club worked on an album to release in 2024 to show what they’ve been working on. 

“You can get out of it what you want. If you want to perform somewhere and you put in the work, then we’re going to get you on a stage,” Howerton said. “If you want to learn how to do anything, you can get access to someone who will show you how to do it.”

General meetings are moving to asynchronous modes with a prioritization of social events. The best way to join the EDM Club is by following their Instagram @wwu.edm and using the Linktree in their bio to join their Discord, which is their main form of communication for announcing meetings, events and community opportunities.