Time is of the essence, so this post will be short and sweet. Instead of featuring a few tracks, I present the mixes that I’ve enjoyed the most during the past 7 days.
First one comes from Eric Prydz’s protégé, Jeremy Olander. Contractually bound to Pryda Friends, Olander has one release left on the original 3-EP deal that he signed with Prydz back in late 2010. We can assume that some of these will feature on that last package, as his set contained 4 unsigned possible inclusions. Here is his performance from this year’s Creamfields festival in the UK. Jeremy Olander Live at Creamfields UK 2012-08-25 (BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection) by Jeremy Olander
Next is a nostalgic one by Gareth Emery. Shown to me by our dear Fred, it showcases the Brit’s 2008 Essential Mix and gives a taste of his old-school, GTR sound. Tracks like “The Saga” makes me long for years past and this mix virtually provides a time machine. Gareth Emery - BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix (January 12th 2008) by garethemery
You surely know about my man crush on Eric Prydz by now. I believe the Swede to be the best thing about EDM at the moment, finding balance between commercial and underground sounds in an ever-expanding industry that’s in the market for artistic integrity. After being delayed a whole month, his EPIC Radio podcast is back, with private edits, IDs, mashups and exclusives for our aural pleasure. Eric Prydz Presents: EPIC Radio 003 by Eric Prydz Official
Of the myriad sets that appeared online from this past weekend’s Electric Zoo, Gabriel & Dresden’s is one of my favourites. Filling their hour long time slot with mashups, daring remixes and legendary classics, G&D make me re-think my plans for labor day 2013. Gabriel & Dresden Electric Zoo 2012 full set by Davedresden
The last mix comes from young Parisian DJ/producer Zimmer. It’s quite different from the others in that it deals with discoey chill out pop in its first part and deeper stuff towards the end: it’s all so very French. He didn’t include the tracklist on his SoundCloud page like the others did, so here it is if you’re curious. Zimmer - Paris Plage | Summer Tape by Zimmer
This Saturday, you can catch Sebastian Leger and Riva Starr at Piknic Electronik during the day and finish early enough for Steve Angello at New City Gas. On Sunday, come join me at Muzique for one of Pete Tong’s rare visits. I’ve been told that admission is free with guestlist, so If you feel like arriving 2 hours prior to him going on at 1 AM with your wallet intact, feel free to do so. Next weekend, Aly & Fila, AN21 & Max Vangeli and Oliver$ grace us with their presence on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Hope to see some of you at Muzique and have a great weekend!
While Ellis was at Electric Zoo with Jon from Circuit 12 and while Justin has gone MIA, I went to Circus Afterhours to listen to Arty and Tritonal’s sets. I have to say, I’m not as jealous anymore for missing Electric Zoo again this year!
Before I start talking about new releases and the show at Circus, let me remind you to check out Circuit 12’s great podcast HERE. It’s a great source of new music and they have great guest mixes! Go check it out, I think they deserve A LOT more fans.
I don’t know when was the last time we didn’t talk about stuff related to Garuda, but the winning streak is not over yet. The compilation The Sound of Garuda: Chapter 2 is finally out and is great! The full versions of the songs Flash (from Ben Gold and Gareth Emery) and Mansion (from Ashley Wallbridge and Gareth Emery) are on the album and I must say, they are great! There are a lot of other tracks from other Garuda artists that are on the album and that are worth listening to, so if you like the genre of tracks Garuda releases, I’d buy the full album either on Beatport or on Itunes ASAP.
On to the show review! You guys will be happy, because after my review of the show, you will find an interview with Chad and Dave from the american duo, Tritonal, who really rocked the place at Circus on Sunday night. Like Gareth Emery would say: it cannot get any fresher than this!
The night started at 2:30 am for us when we actually woke up from a nap and drove all the way to Circus Afterhours. We got there just in time for Arty’s set, which was very good! Arty is known for his unique style, mixing tech and electro sounds with Trance. He played most of his popular tracks like Superman, Around the World and Rebound. He surprised the crowd when he played some bootlegs/mashups/remixes of tracks that we did not expect, like a mix of Nero’s Me & You with Tiesto and Diplo’s C’mon. Ravers do not know how to “dance” to dubstep (dance is a very strong word), but it was still a very good surprise! The energy of the crowd was good and I think everyone enjoyed Arty’s set.
At 5:30am, Tritonal took Arty’s place and started with force, giving a lot of energy to the people there. They played a lot of their own songs, most of them coming from their album Piercing the Quiet, which, by the way, is amazing. The duo kept the crowd dancing through their whole set and beat my expectations by a lot. As much as I was expecting a great set, I was not expecting a set that was this good and it is definitely one of my favourite set of the year until now! I was blown away! Their performance at Circus changed my vision of Dave and Chad from Tritonal, which are now, in my opinion, the DJs to follow through 2012; they release a lot of amazing tracks and are great live and I think they will keep getting better with time! Check their website HERE.
Like I said earlier, I sent them a few questions and here are the answers!
What are your primary inspirations?
Chad - We listen to a lot of alternative music, classical compositions, movie scores and even pop tracks on the radio. We're also carefully tuned to what’s going on in the industry at the moment.
Dave - We're also paying attention to what's out there music wise in video gaming as well. It can reflect what kids are listening to overall because it's such a young community.
What sets you apart from other trance producers?
Chad - Tritonal has a unique sound, catchy melodies and has been known to write some pretty cool vocal tunes. Our bass lines, in combination with vocalists like Cristina Soto have definitely given us our own vibe.
Dave - We also are pretty energetic on stage, I must say. We go all out into our performance as we do our productions; we want to make it about a night to remember instead of just "two dj/producers playing music"
What did both of you do before being full time EDM Producers and DJs?
Dave - Well I was always into computers since I can remember, so I did get into technical support for a bit for my family's company. I was also a student in college at the time as well and really had no day job other than working on my own productions... doing homework as much as I could :P
Chad - I was a student at the University of Texas, graduated with a degree in Business / Economics and minored in Audio Engineering.
What do you like the most from being EDM Producers and DJs?
Chad - The ability to constantly be creative. I love writing tracks early in the morning, with a good cup of coffee and a Logic Pro session.
Dave - You're your own creative boss - you can do whatever the hell you want, the sky is the limit and nobody is there knocking you down saying "no you can't." This isn't a 9 to 5 desk job; I love having a job where I can say "I want to try that" and do it!
You guys had amazing releases this year and we think that they will bring you a lot higher in the DJMag charts. Where do you think you will be this year?
Chad - I honestly don't know, we hope to crack the DJ Poll so just getting in would be amazing!
Dave - haha as Chad said... I don't know either. Last year, we did better than we had expected, but judging from that I can only watch and wait ;)
What are you best known for?
Piercing Quiet & Lifted are probably are biggest tunes as of yet.
Track of the year?
Lifted feat Cristina Soto
Gig of 2011?
Electric Daisy Carnival - Las Vegas (Gig of the Century?!!)
Best end of the night tune?
Still With Me feat Cristina Soto!
Best new club visited this year?
Beta Nightclub - Denver Colorado
Favourite non-dance album of 2011?
Not out yet, but guarantee it will be Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay!
You've travelled a faire amount, where would you say the girls are the most attractive?
Las Vegas, Nevada (and Montreal, of course)
Is there anyone you'd really like to work with in 2012?
Arty / Kyau & Albert
Any plans on returning to Montreal after your set at Circus Afterhours?
Indeed - let’s lock in a date asap!! \o/
What do you think of the Montreal Nightlife?
Amazing, never seen so many people go for it till 7:30am!
What do you think of the crowd in Montreal?
Incredible, can't wait to get back guys, we loved it!
Do you often go to see other DJs play? And which ones are your favourite?
We do watch other DJ's at festivals - Beyond Wonderland, Ultra Music Festival, Electric Zoo, Nocturnal and Electric Daisy are always cool places!
What do you think about music blogs? In your opinion, are they helping or hurting artists? Do you follow any blogs? Will you read The Hawt? :)
They are cool sources of information, interviews, track releases and insights. We follow a few, will definitely subscribe to The Hawt!
Thank you to Dave and Chad from Tritonal and their publicist, Erin, for the great Interview! If you didn’t already vote for the DJmag top100, well, it’s that time of the year again! Go HERE to vote. And if you don’t know who to vote for, check Tritonal’s promotional video, it should help you fill one spot!
Also, check out their newly released remix of Lose Yourself from Emery & Kirsch, it’s very good!
If you still want more (like me), check out their amazing podcast, Air Up in Here, on itunes! For the tracklists go on their website, HERE.
Have a great week and come again in a few days for a new post!
POST BY JUSTIN (yes, again. his computer is not working properly for some reason.)
If you live in Canada, you’ve surely heard about the death of New Democratic Party leader, Jack Layton. Good ol’ Jack valiantly fought the nasty cancerous cells which had been plaguing him since early 2010 and surrendered early in the morning of August 22nd. He will be remembered by many as the man who brought the NDP to prominence. However, for those of you who don’t exactly know who he is or are far too immature to care about politics, like me, he will be remembered for the glorious ferret he kept on his upper lip. RIP, Jack. Now back to the music.
Since the end of the Ibiza season crosses paths with the opening of the DJ Mag top 100 poll, lots of DJs/producers are hard-pressed to spit out new tracks and leave a lasting impression before the general public goes back to work/school. I’m relatively certain that’s what Alesso and Sebastian Ingrosso had in mind when collaborating on their new track, “Calling.” Set for release on Ingrosso’s Refune Records on August 31st, this Progressive House bomb perfectly melds the distinct styles of both the veteran and his young protégé. A beautiful loop of chopped up vocals gets the tune underway, flowing into the short breakdown and introducing the simple, yet catchy melody. Then comes a vital part of the tune, the bassline. It oscillates in and out of audible volume and slowly rises from low to high pitch. It somewhat resembles the cuts in Alesso’s remix of Pressure, making me think the loop comes from him. It adds a magnificent contrast to the lead synth and truly makes “Calling” what it is. The only drawback I have to this collaboration is the way the volume of the different layers is distributed. All previous previews of this track came from live performances with loud bass, completely overshadowing the bassline and diminishing my enjoyment. I’d have to hear it live myself to properly judge, but still a great song to have on your iPod.
Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso – Calling (Original Mix)
In lieu of recent events, I find it hard to believe that computer software and an idiotic arsonist come before British producing partners when you search “Nero” on Google. The duo of Daniel Stephens and Joe Ray has got to be the hottest act in the Dubstep and Drum ‘N Bass worlds right now. With the emerging popularity of Nero’s collaborative remix with Skrillex of their own “Promises” and last week’s massive release of their debut artist album, “Welcome Reality,” it seems like the group has set a nearly insurmountable bar for any of the subgenres’ other artists. Their productions have reached the far corners of the EDM universe, turning Trance, House and Techno enthusiasts, as well as far too many critics, into huge fans. Needless to say, I’m a big supporter and their latest remix of Calvin Harris’ “Feel So Close” does nothing but strengthen my love for these two geniuses. In this reworking, they keep the vocals intact and precisely incorporate quick stabbing drum sounds that go great with the inevitable wobbles of Dubstep. To top it all off, the remix is outfitted with a brilliant, fast-paced melody that, combined with the lyrics, give the song a satirical feeling of sinister comfort. Give it a listen, there’s an open spot next to me on the Nero bandwagon.
As if listening to their music wasn’t fun enough, Nero designed their very own Facebook-integrated arcade game, in which you can sample 6 tracks from “Welcome Reality.” Take control of Daniel, Joe or Alana (vocalist on most of their tracks, although not technically a part of the group) and go postal as street thugs attack from all sides. The more points you have, the more tracks you unlock. Play the game here or check out the whole album here.
Diplo’s history as a collaborator leaves little doubt that he is more than just your average DJ/producer. Unbeknownst to the majority of the public, the Philadelphia native is partly responsible for massive chart topping hits, such as M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” Beyonce’s “Rule The World (Girls),” Snoop Dogg and Kid Cudi’s “That Tree,” Chris Brown, Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne’s “Look At Me Now” and an immeasurable quantity of other wildly popular tracks. His latest team effort, a Dubstep/Electronica track with Datsik and vocalist Kay, surpasses almost all of his previous work, as far as the dance floor is concerned. The track starts with a comical manipulation of Kay’s voice, making her sound like a husky rapper with throat cancer. This paves the way for the breakdown, which is characterized by scattered kick drums, a nagging wind sound, bits of vocals and an awkward melody, all building up to a veritable “calm before the storm” moment. Where Stoneface & Terminal succeed in Trance, Diplo and Datsik do in Dubstep; the drop is the offspring of Hurricane Katrina and Mount Vesuvius. It’s jumping off the Empire State Building and having God turn up the effects of gravity tenfold. The drop is so hard, it makes diamonds feel like sponge cake. Strong, heavy synths and Datsik’s signature “Transformers” sound crowd the meaty part as the title of the track, “Pick Your Poison,” is repeated amidst the bass-heavy and undeniably massive sound. This song is a must-have for all Dubstep fans and will surely be played for a long time.
It’s been over a year since the first Sound of Garuda album was released. The 2-disc compilation brought us tracks like Ben Gold’s “Sunstroke” and was also the platform for the original release of Gareth Emery’s incredible re-edit of “Lethal Stadium Four.” This time around, Garuda is going with a single-disc, 12 track compilation with all exclusive tunes. Taking tracks and artist from a multitude of labels, Emery seems to have chosen songs that best reflect and hone the Garuda sound, hence the name of the compilation series. The Sound of Garuda: Chapter 2 will feature exclusive tracks and mixes from Garuda veterans, such as M.I.K.E. and Mark Eteson, as well as newcomers Craig Connelly and Michael Jay Parker, Triarchy’s first original production and of course, two tracks from the leader of the label himself.
Summer is a great season; plenty of quality shows, new releases, sundresses, great weather and… more sundresses. Obviously if this was the Playboy website I would be talking exclusively of sundresses (on or off), but this is an EDM blog so I’ll be talking more about the latest shows and releases we’ve got to see and listen.
First of all, we went to see Gareth Emery at Telus Theater AND Circus Afterhours on July 22nd and I must say, it was great. There’s something that Gareth has that other DJs don’t and I can’t really tell what it is, but one thing I know is that he makes people go crazy (me included).
Telus Theater (Northern Lights Concert): As expected, he played a similar set to the one he played at ASOT500 last April. He obviously played the so-called “ASOT 500 Remix” of Into the Light and the KNAS Insomnia mashup on top of other great tracks. There was also a few live performance with Mark Frisch, Roxanne Emery and Lucy Saunders. Something worth mentioning: Gareth played the piano while his sister sang Too Dark Tonight and he was great. Mark Frisch was the best live performance in my opinion, but all of them were good. The only “bad” thing we’ve noticed was that Lucy Saunders cannot dance, at all. She would clap her hands and not move at all, but hey, she still sang really well. Overall, it was an incredible set and my favourite from Gareth until now. The atmosphere was great, the sound was almost perfect (not too loud and good quality) and the lighting was crazy (especially the laser). It was a little bit hot in there and the fact you can’t refill water bottles kind of sucks, but it was only from 12 to 3, so we weren’t really tired yet and could endure the lack of water.
Circus Afterhours (Regular Set): The afterparty was at Circus Afterhours and Gareth played a 2 hour set that finished around 7-7:30 (I can’t remember exactly). Since he played all of his best tracks at Telus, it wasn’t as good (in my opinion) as the concert before, but it was still above average in term of quality. It really felt like an afterhour instead of a normal set: there was less energy in the crowd and such, but I still enjoyed my time there as well. We caught Blake Jarell’s last 45 minutes and I think he was really good. My favourite track from him was his mashup of Heart Is King vs. Losing My Religion, even though I really don’t like the original of Heart is King (the vocals make it that much better, yes).
I don’t remember if Gareth played his new collaboration with Ben Gold at Telus Theater (or Circus), but one thing I know is that it’s awesome and that I have a 128kbps version for you guys! Make sure you buy it on September 5th when it gets released; I’ve set an alarm on my phone to make sure I don’t forget. I’m not kidding. I really like the mix of Gareth’s “way of doing songs” with Ben Gold’s synths and personal touch. Hear the awesomeness for yourself:
Let’s change of music genre a little (a lot) and talk about Moombahton/Moombahcore. This genre is a mix of reggaeton and dubstep/weird car engine noises. I thought it would be horrible at first, but after giving it a listen, I must admit that it’s really good and innovative. Here is a song (harder moombahcore than usual) and a mix from Diplo that’s really great and that is not 100% moombahcore, but it’s really worth listening too.
That is all for now! Don’t forget to buy your tickets for Michael Woods, Mat Zo and Jochen Miller that are going to play at Beachclub on the 13th and Jochen Miller and Heatbeat at Circus Afterhours (right after Beachclub).
POST BY JUSTIN (He wasn't able to post it from his account for some reason).
My couple of months away from EDM blogging saw 3 artists call off their Montreal appearances, free tickets thrown away, multiple trips to BeachClub and an unfortunate bout of food poisoning, ultimately leading to a 4th and 5th cancellation. Although the end of May/beginning of June was supposed to be rife with international DJs, Andy Moor, Axwell and Ferry Corsten were unable to grace us with their talents. Regardless, we had other events to focus on, like the 100th episode of Tytanium Sessions. On the 1-year anniversary of the 105th edition of Gareth Emery’s podcast, Sean Tyas set camp at Circus Afterhours for the 100th episode of his. Even though none of us are big fans of his weekly show, there was no way we were going to pass up a St-Jean-Baptiste celebration with Raneem, Arnej, Simon Patterson and Sean himself.
Raneem got the show started with a set full of IDs. The live Afterhours.FM broadcast only began one hour into his performance, so he naturally kept most of his own productions for the last 2 hours. He played his popular remix of Emvy’s “Strut,” as well as “Out of Nowhere” and his mashup of CIrez D’s “On Off” and Darude’s “Sandstorm,” which is always a crowd pleaser. After re-listening to his set, it has become clear how much Raneem’s grown this year. Nobody at The Hawt had ever heard of him until Gareth Emery’s February show and our respect for his musical prowess hasn’t stopped gaining since. Here’s the last 2 hours of his set from the night.
Arnej followed our favorite Circus resident with the best 90 minutes of the night. His darker take on Trance was ever so present as he entertained the crowd with tracks by Dakota, Jacob van Hage and a few from Coldharbour Recordings. The highlight of the night came when he played his new 8 Wonders tune, “X.” The song features a somewhat elaborate melody, all the while keeping the bass-heavy dark presence which he holds dear. As if that wasn’t enough, he followed his original with Chris Schweizer’s bootleg mix of “Zombie Nation.” When he turned down the music, only to hear the entire club singing along, it was obvious that he had stolen the show. Here’s “X,” along with his set.
Arnej was followed by the evening’s headliner, Sean Tyas. I’d seen him at Circus before and I recall having had an absolute blast. True to his form, Tyas turned the bass up as high as possible and consequently, no one could quite hear the melody or any other parts of any of the songs he played. I’m not sure what it sounded like in the DJ booth, but we were only able to recognize the tunes we actually knew. Amongst the incomprehension, we were able to make out Funkagenda’s “What The Fuck,” Eric Prydz’s remix of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” and Tyas’ “Banshee.” Only after listening to the recording afterwards was I able to properly appreciate it. And even then, it wasn’t anything special. All together, it was a somewhat disappointing performance by Tyas, as he was easily overshadowed by the impressive squad he invited to play alongside him. Here’s his set from the night.
Simon Patterson was the next to play. He nearly employed the same tactic as Tyas, but cleverly turned down the bass ever so slightly. His set was characterized by unpredictable drops, lengthy breakdowns and lots of his own tracks. I was disappointed to see him neglect his label’s latest release, Nick Callaghan and Will Atkinson’s 2011 remix of his classic, “F16.” In fact, he played Night Vision’s only other 2 releases in Des McMahon’s remix of Wayde Rafnel and Dave Correa’s “Derailed” and Patterson’s own “Latika.” He ended his solo time with “For The Most Part,” his collaboration with Sean Tyas which fit nicely in what was to come. Here’s his entire set from Circus.
In the final moments of the Afterhours.FM live braodcast, Patterson and Tyas played back to back, as in one song after the other. This is when they played their more recognizable tracks, like Dogzilla’s “Without Me” and Tyas’ remixes of Tiësto’s “Suburban Train” and Gareth Emery’s “Sanctuary." Here’s their back to back set.
The holiday weekend continued on Sunday at BeachClub. Pointe-Calumet hosted Sander van Doorn and hundreds of Montrealers eager for a taste of the amazement he displayed at Bal en Blanc. Playground had built a special stage for Armin during his recent visit, but for some reason, Sander was not given the same luxury. Albeit a little crowded, the dancefloor was nonetheless spacious and easily encompassed the horde of day ravers. Here’s what the scene looked like from the DJ booth:
As you can imagine, the area was laden with more than a few over-makeuped, silicone engineered “hotties” grinding their shirtless He-Men and the HGH/steroid abuse problems that came with them, shades of La Folie. I can only speak for myself, but while I’m not a fan of the fake tit, I don’t mind having a few graze my body while I dance. I might be split on the whole Guido culture, but I’m definitely not on Sander van Doorn.
The Dutch producer settled in just as we arrived and opened with the obvious track of summer 2011, Alesso’s remix of “Pressure.” The next hours were spent bobbing and weaving in between genres, going from House to Trance, Electro to the rare Techno track and so on. Sander took the opportunity to drop many tracks from the newest in his Dusk Till Doorn compilation series, which contains lots of new material from Spinnin’s sub-labels. From Wall Recordings, he played Afrojack’s “Doing It RIght” and “Prutataaa,” a collaboration with DJ R3hab, Erick Strong’s “Italian” from Reset Records and Ummet Ozcan’s “Transcend” from Liquid Recordings. However good “Transcend” may be, it was greatly overshadowed by his latest dubbed “Reboot.” The tune reveals a different, more tech-trance side to Ozcan, a variety he’d been lacking for a long time. It’s on the Dusk Till Doorn compilation, but will get a proper release on the 1st of August.
Ummet Ozcan – Reboot (Original Mix)
Released on August 1st on Doorn Records
Since he was so brilliant at Bal en Blanc, his set at BeachClub may have been slightly disappointing to some, considering he also chose to play a variety of genres instead of sticking to the strict Trance makeup his performances used to employ. He ended his show with Eric Prydz’s fantastic remix of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” a tune made for live performances currently being played out by loads of DJs, the original mix of “Daddyrock,” even though the Arty remix had just been released, and Sander’s remix of The Killers’ “Spaceman.” He also managed to squeak in his new tune, “Timezone,” which features the vocals of Frederick, but it lacks the power and energy needed for a song to be played live. Regardless, although Sander’s performance paled in comparison to the white party’s, it was a memorable one that displayed his love for all genres of EDM and his willingness to open the minds of the numerous House enthusiasts.
Raneem was on closing duties and since we had missed most of his opening set at Circus on Thursday, we decided to stick around to check out our favorite resident DJ. There’s a few things we learned: first off, looks like Raneem shaves his pits. Just sayin’. Second, Raneem is as popular, maybe even more so, than Sander van Doorn is in Montreal. If you’re a member of the Montreal Trance Scene group on Facebook, you know exactly what I’m talking about. There was a ridiculous amount of praise for him with lots of people saying that he had ousted the Dutchman. Thirdly, his new track, which he happened to premier at the event, is absolutely genius. It’s called “Free Fall,” its just been signed to Leon Bolier’s Streamlined and it might be even better than “Out Of Nowhere.” Here’s a video of Raneem at BeachClub mixing Mark Sherry’s “Phantasmic” into his own “Free Fall.”
So it seems as though Ferry Corsten at La Folie is cancelled, but we do still have Sean Tyas at Circus on Thursday and Sander van Doorn at Beach Club on Sunday to look forward to. I must say I’m disappointed in La Folie since they already cancelled Axwell earlier this month and now Ferry isn’t looking good.
There has been a ton of great releases in the past months and the one that stands out is without a doubt Kiss From the Past by Allure (a.k.a. Tiësto). Upon seeing the album title, I was hoping for some old school Tiësto from the days of Elements of Life but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this album. One of my favourite tracks is Show Me The Way that features the vocals of JES but I must also recommend the track On the Wire in which he rekindles with vocalist Christian Burns.
Show Me The Way (feat. JES) - Allure
This next song also has a great vocalist in Susana (probably one of the best all time where it comes to trance in my opinion) and Alexander Popov really delivers on the remix. I heard it first on Myon & Shane54’s podcast and fell in love with it almost immediately. For some reason, this song got me wondering if there were any trance songs with more than one vocalist. Imagine how epic a collaboration between Justine Suissa and Susana could be! If you have any good ones, please share them in the comments below, I’m a complete sucker for some vocal trance (or house, whatever you’ve got).
Fall in Deep (feat. Julian Vincent) [Alexander Popov Remix] - Susana
Alesso has really exploded onto the scene this summer and at 18 years old you can really expect him to keep on getting better. His remix of Nadia Ali has been dominating the charts and is my favourite house track of the summer so far. He does go a bit overboard with the chopping sound but I don’t mind it that much.
Pressure (Alesso Remix) – Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji
I’m usually not that big of a fan of the dubstep songs Gareth Emery plays to end his podcast but last week’s was very decent and here’s a great remix of it that holds its own alongside the original.
Louder (feat. Sian Evans) [Drumsound & Bassline Smith Remix] – Dj Fresh
This next track cannot be released fast enough, although bootlegs often don’t get that privilege. It played on TATW a few episodes back and its simplicity struck me. Hopefully not another brilliant track that never sees the light of day.
On The Move (Bart Claessen Bootleg) - Barthezz
If you like mashups, chances are you’ll like this next track. Heatbeat (who will be playing at Circus in August alongside Jochen Miller) samples no less then 7 tracks for this monster bootleg. Check out the description of the video for the listing.
So, in light of Gareth Emery’s massive upcoming Northern Lights Concert at Theatre Telus, here is my favourite remix of Into the Light by none other than remixer extraordinaire Alex M.O.R.P.H.
And finally, probably one of the tunes of the summer. It has been remixed by a so many artists so far from Soundprank to born again duo Gabriel & Dresden (Josh Gabriel is actually part of Andain). However, none of them seem to come close to Myon & Shane54’s Summer of Love mix. While I’m on the subject, I would like to recommend their podcasts to you guys. It’s a weekly, one hour episode that features a lot of exclusives including many of their signature mashups that you will not find anywhere else.
Pardon my tardiness, but our take of Gareth’s Emery 3-hour set at Circus in Montreal has finally arrived.
Because of the exclusive interview we conducted with Finnish superstars Super8 & Tab, we showed up late to the party. Late enough to piss off Ellis, to miss the first 10 minutes of the show and to miss Ashley Wallbridge’s remix of “Arrival.” It seemed like word of Gareth’s mixing prowess had spread like wildfire as the main room was jam-packed with lots more party-goers than his last trip to our fair city. Since the contrast in temperature between the club and the frigid Montreal outdoors was literally like summer and winter, large parts of the crowd had abandoned their clothes. I regret having worn a long-sleeved shirt. In essence, the night was a microcosm of the past 7 or 8 episodes of the Gareth Emery Podcast. Nearly all of the songs the crowd was graced with had previously appeared on his weekly 1-hour installment of new fresh tracks. These tunes included Gareth’s classics, many future releases on Garuda, recent monster hits from the likes of Sander van Doorn, Ummet Ozcan, Wippenberg, Mat Zo and lots from the long awaited Northern Lights Re-Lit album. As soon as I had gotten a Red Bull into my system and made my way to the head of the mass of Montrealers, the acoustical energy sent me into a trance and time passed by so quickly that I almost missed the half-naked girls dancing on the table tops lining the DJ booth. My brain told my legs: “Fuck it, it’s Gareth.” So they went numb and followed the beat until the break of dawn.
Here’s a tracklist, in no particular order, courtesy of Garuda Nation’s Samson:
Gareth Emery - Sanctuary (Paul Thomas & Myke Smith Remix) Gareth Emery - Full Tilt (Beltek Remix) Gareth Emery feat. Jerome Isma-ae - Stars (Hardwell Remix) Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji - Pressure Gareth Emery - Citadel (Super8 & Tab Remix) Gareth Emery ft. Roxanne Emery - Too Dark Tonight (John O'Callaghan Remix) Gareth Emery ft. Mark Frisch - Into The Light (Lange Remix) Gareth Emery ft. Brute Force - Arrival (Ashley Wallbridge Remix) Gareth Emery ft. Activa - All Is Now (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) Wippenberg – Phoenix (Original Mix) Yves-V vs. Fred Baker - Start Again Tritonal ft. Cristina Soto - Lifted (Mat Zo Remix) Craig Connelly - Absolute Electric Sander van Doorn ft. Carol Lee - Love Is Darkness Nadia Ali - Rapture (Gareth Emery Remix) Solid Globe - North Pole (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix) Gareth Emery ft. Lucy Saunders - Fight The Sunrise (Daniel Kandi Remix) Above & Beyond pres. Oceanlab - Lonely Girl (Gareth Emery Remix) Lange, Andy Moor, Komytea & Tiesto - Lethal Stadium Four (Gareth Emery Re-Edit) Above & Beyond & Gareth Emery pres. Oceanlab - On A Good Day (Metropolis) Gareth Emery vs. Markus Schulz ft. Jennifer Rene - Not The Same Citadel (Armin van Buuren Mashup) Super8 & Tab - Helektra Gareth Emery vs. Delerium - This Is Silence (Myon & Shane 54 Mashup) Pendulum Vs. Rank 1 Vs. Nic Chagall Vs. Wippenberg - The 100 Islands (Triarchy Edit) Dustin Zahn vs. Mark Simz - Forbidden Stranger (Gareth Emery Edit) GTR - Mistral Tiësto vs. Diplo – C’mon Tritonal & Sibicky – Suzu (Original Mix) Gareth Emery - Global (Jordan Suckley Remix) Mark Eteson - Blackboard (Jon O'Bir Remix) MEM - Invictus (Original Mix) Gareth Emery vs. Motorcycle - As The Exposure Comes (Gareth Emery Mashup) Lange pres. LNG - Brandalism (Lange Mix) Ummet Ozcan – Indigo (Original Mix)
One of the night’s best highlights came when Gareth proceeded to put on a Habs jersey. His name was written on the back and the captain sign was replaced by a subtle D-J.
Sidenote: Sander van Doorn, co-author of Love is Darkness, received the prestigious Silver Harp yesterday. The award is handed out at the yearly Harpengala and is meant as an incentive for emerging Dutch DJs. The prize was handed to him by last year’s winner, Armin van Buuren.
Gareth is a special DJ. I’m guessing it gets incredibly annoying to replay the same songs over and over and over again, yet he somehow manages to keep a smile on his face and dance along with the rest of his followers. I’ve been to a decent amount of shows and I realize that nearly all DJs do the same, but our beloved Englishman adds a little extra. Although I hate to sound cheesy, it’s as if he connects with the music, thus plugging himself into the CDJs, making sure that every carefully selected song gets its due praise. The guy is such a good producer that the number of hits that he is “required” to play (i.e.: “On A Good Day (Metropolis)”) outweighs his set time. Therefore, his of DJing equipment and his knowledge of every rise, fall, drop and build-up of each track that he mixes combine to offer an orgiastic feast for the senses. His productions are aptly qualified as Trance, because that is the exact state you are in when you listen to his tunes. Finally, the adoration he delivers onto the crowd makes his sets such an enjoyable and memorable experience for all. I think I speak for all when I say: “I LOVE YOU GARETH!”
The Super8 & Tab interview is nearly completed and will be posted sometime in the close future. Our technical advisor is hard at work trying to finish the editing process as quickly as possible. Keep posted and have a great week.
Aight so today’s post is a very special one: Not only are we writing while playing Xbox with some Cheetos & rum at 3 am, it’s also the 100th post on the HAWT (EDIT: we started writing this then, and then got too into owning Justin). So we decided it was a good time to look back on some classic tunes, all of the following are reposts.
Aight so we’ve had a lot of good times, you know laughing at Justin and all, but it pretty much pales in comparison to Fred “fight” with Ultra Records which basically ended with this. GTFO!
Oh and like no post is complete without a picture, here’s a classic:
In the spirit of being cool, I’ve decided to start off the post the way Gareth started his podcast a few weeks back with a crushing track by Dada Life.
Snapping Alligator Turtle is without a doubt the badass animal of the day, i mean, look at him, it’s like if the Hulk, Batman and a tank fused into one being then got turned into an animal.
Next remix is from John O’Callaghan and, for what he lacks in hair, he makes up for in skill. Check out the original to, it’s massive.
Gotta love all these Cosmic Gate remixes being released with their Back 2 the Future album release. Speaking of Cosmic Gate, they recently announced their presence at Bal en Blanc in April. I could hardly be more excited for this event (except if Afrojack and/or Ferry got announced obviously). We are currently looking at Above & Beyond, Tiësto, Ben Gold, Cosmic Gate.. oh and did I forget Markus Schulz? That’s right! Markus Schulz! Missing a couple of people in the Main room (house room), my bet is on Deadmau5 being booked.
Alright so next main event is lining up to be Paul van Dyk in a couple of weeks. However, I understand that he isn’t super well known to most of you so I’ll try to post a couple of his songs in the near future. For now, this is something i found on the Armada list that kept me from listening in class today.
Few remixes including a really chill one of a trance classic by Mt. Eden, only reason that i found it is because of some hater on YouTube that referenced it as being shit… Thank you closed minded trance fans that say that trance isn’t good anymore and nothing is good nowadays anyways! But let us not get carried away, there’s also a great Schossow remix and a Oliver Smith remix that eclipses the original (that’s right, the original was NOT that good).
One last thing, although we hate the place with a passion (see Justin’s past epic rant) we are going to try and go see Ingrosso on February 6th at Muzique as a Superbowl afterparty if anyone is interested. Also we wouldn’t want to miss Muzique getting “fucked in the pussy”…
So I finally got my computer fixed and now it stopped making a horrible sound every time i use it so that means i can now listen to music in peace without necessarily having my headphones on. It also means I’ve been listening to more music. Let’s start with none other than Gareth Emery.
Heard the second one at Black and Blue and couldn’t find his mashup until recently. Some of these songs I’ve been wanting to post for a while but never really found the time but believe me, they are worth the wait.
Aight so this is what’s happening in Montreal in the next couple of months so far. If I forgot anything be sure to let me know. Did not include anything of Igloofest, I heard the 21st there’s someone good I think, but it can’t be as good as Wolfgang. Not much in line of dubstep that I know of, stupid Rusko lied to us when he said he’d be back in January. Bastard.
January 21st Wolfgang Gartner @ Club Soda January 21st Chromeo @ Metropolis January 22nd Ronski Speed @ Circus Afterhours January 28th Sied Van Riel @ Red-Lite January 29th Wippenberg & Glenn Morrison @ Circus Afterhours
February 6th Sebastian Ingrosso @ Muzique… February 7th Pendulum @ Bell Centre February 11th Benny Benassi @ Circus Afterhours February 18th Dash Berlin @ La Folie [UPDATE] February 18th Paul Van Dyk @ Theatre Telus February 18th Mark Knight @ Circus Afterhours February 19th Martin Solveig @ La Mouche February 25th Super8 & Tab @ 1234 [UPDATE] February 25th Gareth Emery @ Circus Afterhours
March 18th Marco V @ Circus Afterhours
April 18th Umek @ Circus Afterhours April 24th Above & Beyond & Tiësto @ Bal en Blanc
Fuck my expensive lifestyle. Actually, no, its awesome.
What’s up ladies and gents? We haven’t posted anything for a while so here’s a little music to brighten your week. And, especially for Will, there’s gonna be a bit of everything, not just trance.
Before we get to the music though, I think this picture on the right is pretty self explanatory. Steve Angello is coming Friday at the Telus Theatre. Tickets are 30 bucks and totally worth it in my opinion. Also, according to Justin, there should be a guest appearance by Axwell which would be insane. But you didn’t really think that the night would end there I hope? The same night (or morning, whatever you fancy really), Sean Tyas is playing at Circus Afterhours and its only a few blocks away and 15$ entry. So basically, you get to see two of the worlds top 50 Djs in one night, you’d have to be crazy or Wei to miss it.
So this first track is a new release and I just can’t stop listening to it. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I like almost everything that Mysto & Pizzi do. If you haven’t heard of them yet, go check’em out on Youtube, they’re hilarious.
By the way, Armin is having a vote on his website for the song of the year. If you’re like me and you look for any reason not to study, there’s a huge list of great tracks you can check out. Oh and if Stoneface isn’t the best Dj name I just don’t know what is.
This next track I did not like at first, I found it kinda boring but I just could not get it out of my head.
And finally, this final track is getting kind of mixed reviews. It’s a weird mix between trance and d&b. Mostly, if you liked the original trance version you might not like it but I still find it sick. There cannot be enough mixes of this song.
… and Gareth Emery is the world’s best Dj, these are just facts of life. I could theoretically write an essay explaining and proving these statements to be true but instead here’s a picture a crazy good setlist. (For some dubstep don’t forget to check out Fred’s Post.)
(okay, the picture does not do here extreme live hotness any justice but there are seriously no pictures of her almost, its a tyranny)
This should sum up his set at Black and Blue pretty well. This is super unofficial though, its just out of memory and I did my best to get them all in order, I might also be missing a few since his set was 3 hours long and I’m deprived of sleep at the moment. Most songs have already been posted so if you look back in older posts you’ll probably find them.
So like I mentioned, I happened to go to Black and Blue at Palais des Congrès last night and it was insane. It was the first time that I went to a rave alone, but it was chill. Notable Djs were Marco V, tyDi, Ali and Fila and obviously Gareth Emery. Vocalists Emma Hewitt (terribly gorgeous) and Audrey Gallagher (looks like a house mom) made guests appearances. The set up was ok but nothing compared to Bal en Blanc. Like usual, some very odd people, highlight is no doubt a girl who had the same haircut as Rusko. Like almost at all his shows Gareth had to fight through technical difficulties when the speakers on one side of the room just stopped working but he’s a trooper and he powered through it. One inconvenience is that I had to leave relatively early so i only caught a glimpse of Ali & Fila.
We’d been talking about it for weeks now and finally, last weekend, we went to New York for the Electric Zoo festival that took place on Saturday and Sunday. I know its a bit late, one week that is, but i got lazy. Just to put you guys in context, it was from 11am to 11pm on both days, with four stages and (usually) all of them jam packed and it was non-stop craziness. The weekend started on a great foot when Justin decided to bet with me that we could not get from Montreal to New York on one tank of gas. It took some insanely good driving on my part, some drafting behind trucks for extended periods of time and putting the car on neutral while going downhill but at the end, with the tank empty and Justin begging me to exit and put gas before we ran out, we made it safely to the hotel. But anyways, enough laughing at Justin for the time being and here’s a list of the Djs we saw and a couple of their tracks.
Day 1
Glenn Morisson
First Dj of the weekend and he was pretty good. Got to give him credit, although the crowd was pretty at the start because it just opened, the guy was having fun nonetheless.
He’s probably my favourite producer at the moment and it can only get better with his new album upcoming. Don’t forget to check out his single Sanctuary from Justin’s last post.
Markus Schulz
It was my second time seeing him although the first time was cut short by boring friends at Bal en Blanc and i must say there is a reason he is in the Top Ten of Dj Mag.
Massive. Played a lot of reworks of his classics, so much fun. Actually got to fight until I got to the front and it was worth all the fighting.
Benny Benassi
What to say about Benny? Probably the only disappointing set on the weekend. In his defence, there were technical difficulties during his set but when he came to drop Spaceship (his track of the summer) he got on to the table and pumped up the crowd just to mix out of it. Disrespectful. Table mounting should not be used except for awesome drops.
Alright so basically we have no choice but to repost this but this song song was played 7 times : Dirty South, Markus Schulz, Axwell (twice), Armin and I’ve forgotten all the rest because seriously everyone played it, EVERYONE.
The first Dj really worth mentioning and probably the only one who has a haircut that can rival with Rusko’s, which one is worst I really can’t decide.
They probably had the bet set of the weekend. They just had so much fun and were incredible. At some point Paavo would write messages to the crowd on his Mac, energy was just insane.
This track is my favourite at the moment, its off of Super8 & Tab’s new album and there’s a couple of remixes but here’s my personal favourite.
Just like Bal en Blanc he was totally awesome. At some points, these two guys were going to leave but i convinced them to stay because they should not miss out and they thanked me after, that’s right.
So Diplo tried to slip a fast one past everyone. As you probably know, he is part of Major Lazer. Well turns out, the guy we saw at Osheaga and Electric Zoo was only him and we saw him later again as Diplo the next day. Pretty baller.
Wolfgang Gartner
Probably one of the most entertaining Djs there, his set was just sick. Really. Three turntables, one mixboard and a lot of awesomeness.
What so say, what to say? Nothing much other than it was crazy. The crowd was completely insane and there’s a reason why he’s # 1 in the world. It definitely was not the best set of the weekend, but the ambiance was totally different from all the others (Oh and he knows how to do a succesfull table mount).
So that was basically our awesome weekend, if i had to get two lessons out of it they would probably to never trust Justin with directions and also never to lock him out of a hotel room when he’s only in his boxers and a towel, turns out he gets really pissed…
TheHawt is a music blog started in the summer of 2009 with the objective of sharing knowledge about music, promoting events, promoting artists and most importantly, having fun!
We have our own writing style and we hope some of our comments won't offend you!
If anyone would like to send us anything, send an email to thehawt@hotmail.com. That includes getting a song removed or sending us your own song/album.
The Team.
Fred (Montreal) Justin (Montreal)
Ellis (Montreal)
Nikhil (Montreal)
We are looking for more writers! Email us! (thehawt@hotmail.com)
Hawt finder
Disclaimer
You like a song we posted? Buy it. The files we post are STRICTLY for promotion purposes.
