Every time I think that I’m completely up to date with the current happenings of the electronic music world, a new artist re-ignites my flair for new tunes. Thomas Gold is the one to blame on this occasion. I honestly do not know how this DJ was able to escape my field of vision, as he has been an important contributor to the house scene for some time now. I first heard about him through “AGORa”, one of the tracks featured on Size Matters, a compilation of dancefloor hits mixed by Steve Angello and his younger brother, AN21. I don’t like the song, so his name swiftly flew out the other ear and I did not hear it again until his remix of Moguai’s “We Want Your Soul” recently became one of Beatport’s featured tunes. I had to give it a listen: Size Records only releases the best. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the track was deemed to be Hawt-worthy. The moral of the story is: never judge an artist by the first track you hear, improvement is implied. Of course there are some exceptions (Deadmau5’s math sucks as bad as the new album). Here is the aforementioned remix as well as an older track riddled with percussions straight from a marching band. It goes great with the title (Marsch is German for March).

Moguai – We Want Your Soul (Thomas Gold Remix)

Thomas Gold – Marsch Marsch (Original Club Mix)

“Nitro” and “Midnight Run” took a backseat to Michael Woods’ previous hit release “Dynamik”. However, the Englishman is a testament to improvement, as the once mau5trap benchwarmer seems to be one of its current frontrunners. His latest track dubbed “No Access”, ironically not released on mau5trap, is a feast for the ears as Woods continues to blur the lines between house and progressive.

Michael Woods – No Access (Original Mix)

As a personal resolution including the blog, I pledge to post more dubstep in 2011. For now, you’ll have to settle for this one lonely track. Truthfully, I think it makes up for the lack of wobble on The Hawt. Doctor P seems to be one of the genre’s innovators, continuously attempting to further it. Listen for the electro-like build-up before the drop.

Blame ft. Camilla Marie – Star (Doctor P No Rap Remix)

Not much to say about this track. The title reads like the sounds my cat makes when I give him a bath. I found this track the same way I did the Thomas Gold remix. I’ve also never heard of the artist. Great first impression though.

EDX – Szeplo (Original Mix)

This track is currently one of my favourites. It just knocked Gareth Emery’s “Arrival” off my iPod’s top 25 most played songs. The tune comes from Anjunadeep golden boy Michael Cassette’s debut artist album, “Temporarity”. I fell in love with it the second I heard it on TATW and hopefully, you will too.

Michael Cassette – Memories (90’s Piano Mix)

This final track is my favourite remix of Aruna & Mark Eteson’s “Let Go”. Like “Memories”, the song was also featured on TATW, receiving heavy support from Above & Beyond. Although the Nic Chagall remix seems to be the most popular, I prefer the more melodic take delivered by Who.Is.

Aruna with Mark Eteson – Let Go (Who.Is Remix)

Just to let you guys know, I finished a runner-up in Above & Beyond’s TATW 350 competition, winning a t-shirt in the process. Speaking of the trio, their prestigious label is turning 10 in the new year. To celebrate the milestone, a special album called “10 Years of Anjunabeats” will be released on January 17th. If you haven’t already, check out its promotional video here.

As promised, the Chris Lake interview is on its way and should be in any day now. We have also contacted Ben Gold’s manager who has kindly granted us a short interview with his client. Be sure to continue checking The Hawt for our picks for the songs of the year, as well as a full calendar for the first few months of Montreal’s 2011 gigs.

Finally, The Hawt would like to wish all of its readers a very happy holiday season.

If only my Christian upbringing would allow me to give gifts like these…

Hey everybody. We are Circuit 12 and we will be new writers for The Hawt. We really hope to be able to bring you, the readers, the best music out there and to keep you up to date with Electronic Music.

Both of us will be blogging independently as well as collaboratively. This is me, Rob, one half of Circuit 12 and the 2nd half, Jon, will also be blogging.

We hope to stay quite active in our writing and we will always be able to answer any form of question you may have. You can email us at circuit12@overtonerecordings.com

To kick things off, I would love to discuss TATW 350, the milestone episode of Trance Around The World. Just in case you are not familiar with this podcast, it is a 2 hour show hosted by Above & Beyond that you can download free on iTunes. It also is broadcast live on DI.FM every Friday at 2PM EST.

So this past Friday, the 10th, Above & Beyond celebrated their 350th edition of the show. An amazing achievement. I hear the party lived up to the achievement. From what I hear, the party (held at the L.A. Palladium) was beyond electric, with a godly line-up that included the likes of Super8 & Tab, Boom Jinx, Jaytech, Cosmic Gate as well as A&B themselves. The show started off with Boom Jinx, who true to his style, delivered an awesome progressive set which warmed up the crowd substantially. It was then Jaytech's turn who did exactly what Jaytech does, and it was brilliant.

Then, it was time for Cosmic Gate. Like the gods that they are, they delivered one of the best sets of their career, and had the LA Palladium bowing down to them, and loving the tunes. And as soon as the crowd was at its climax, Above & Beyond stepped on stage to the sound of Aruna and Mark Eteson. It was magical. They killed it, track after track.

To finish off the night, Super8 & Tab played a great set which added the cherry on top of the cake.

I went to go check the tracklists and was happily surprised to see the genre of songs all artists played. I was hoping A&B would not celebrate their 350th episode with a masquerade of dream trance, and they did not. Above & Beyond played a very deep melodic set compared to what they usually play. The highlight of the set, in my opinion, was Jerome Isma-ae & Daniel Portman's remix of Reflect by Maor Levi (Youtube link below). For fans of deep house, you will surely adore this tune.

Not only was the party incredible, but the guys at TATW did such a good job at getting faraway fans involved. There was a special TATW site where you could see where in the world people were listening. They even managed to reach the #1 Trending Topic on Twitter that day, an amazing achievement.

I think they deserve all the buzz they get, because they are amazing producers as well as amazing DJ's, and they are definitely some of my favorites in Trance.

Also, the 351st episode of TATW was broadcast today with a guest-mix from Armin van Buuren. It was an awesome follow-up to 350 and it was awesome to be able to experience a little ASOTATW, if you know what I mean ;)

On to other things.

I was listening to Episode 113 of the Gareth Emery Podcast, and came across a masterful dubstep/electro song. It is signed to deadmau5's label mau5trap, and is a collaboration between filthy-electro expert Feed Me and LA based Kill The Noise. I really, really liked this tune, and I thought I would share it with you. I unfortunately could not find a DL link, but I will link you to Youtube.



And in other dubstep news, Skrillex is going on a "mini-tour" with Nero, the dubstep king. If ever this show comes to Montreal, it is something you should not miss. If you like dubstep that is.

The new deadmau5 album was released not that long ago, and I have listened to it fully. I must admit I was not totally impressed by most of the songs, but there are still a few brilliant ones (Raise Your Weapon, Some Chords, Cthulu Sleeps). I really think deadmau5 has fallen a little behind in producing since his Strobe/Arguru/Brazil days. He seems to have very similar repetitive songs being released one after the other, and I am just not satisfied. And I also must admit that it is really the vocals in Raise Your Weapon that give it such power. I mean the dubstep part is good, but the power of the song is from the vocals, which are brilliant. The new deadmau5 album is what i was expecting, but now what I was hoping.



Blake Jarell is in town tonight, at Circus Afterhours. He is performing a 5-hour set. I must say I do not know much about Blake Jarell, but I definitely know he is a skilled producer who will surely play a good set.

I have been talking to producer Matt Lange for a little while now, and hopefully I will be able to interview in the coming weeks, make sure to stay tuned for that.

To end this off, here are a few good Trance songs I have been hearing over the last little while. One of them is a great remix by Cressida of Jericho. The other one is a brilliant remix of Pocket Damage by Ferry Corsten. It's Rafael Frost on the remix, so you know it will be good.


Thanks for reading The Hawt.

Circuit 12 (Rob)

School’s out for a month. So here’s my chance to publicly apologize to Ellis for his beastly undertaking of the blog for the last 3 weeks or so with a few posts of my own. While the rest of the guys are currently still incapacitated by the demands of finals, allow me to lay down my thoughts on some interesting happenings around our city, as well as some awesome tracks.

A while back, I talked to you guys about a Swedish House Mafia documentary called “Take One”. I just finished watching the movie and it has got me so pumped for dancing, drinking and flat-out house peppered with some dominating basslines. The film is just awesome. I may be speaking with some heavy bias, but it basically tells the story of Axwell, Ingrosso and Angello from the Winter Music Festival in 2009 to the one in 2010 and their ascension to the throne of house supremacy. What’s not to love? It gives the audience a more personal look at the three, and clearly shows that Axwell is the most successful, Ingrosso is a lot more talented than you would think and Steve Angello is a badass. And a f***ing asshole. He owns a Ferrari, Range Rovers, Audis, Porsches (yes, those are all plural) and most likely lots of other gadgets and he did not choose to show in the flick. He uses the Swedish language barrier to talk behind people’s backs, insulting them constantly. Although this is somewhat entertaining, it gives him the flair of a closet douchebag.

Speaking of Steve Angello, as Ellis mentioned in one of his previous posts, the Swede was in Montreal on November 19th. Idiot that I am, I had not bought my fellow writer a ticket to the show, like he so often does for me, and this caused some confusion. To make a long story short, scalpers were scarce and consequently, so was Ellis, who headed to 1234 to see Ashley Wallbridge. Pretty good trade-off, wouldn't you say? In fact, there were 4 elite DJs in Montreal on that night: Angello, Wallbridge, Sean Tyas and tech master Richie Hawtin.

The Telus Theater was, needless to say, filled to the brim with hungry, party-starved Montrealers looking to let loose. And they didn’t waste any time. Within the first minutes of screams and fist-pumps, a few girls had already climbed onto their friends shoulders and taken their shirts off. This fleshy gesture was ignored by most, as all eyes were locked on Angello as he proceeded to mix “One” with “Destination Unknown” and “We Are Your Friends” with his newest track, “Rave N’ Roll”. The show hit a climax when he unleashed a mix of “Bromance” and “Dynamik”. That’s when I lost it. If you’ve ever been to a live show, I’m sure you’ve experienced the following: you’re jumping up and down in a sea of strangers and your ears realize that what they hear is perfect. That solitary bead of sweat runs down your face, you close your eyes, a chill travels through your entire body, you become unaware of your fellow partisans stepping on your footwear, your extremities tremble uncontrollably, your arms shoot into the air, the room slows down and the only thing audible is the sound of the DJ. You don’t hear the music, you experience, feel it. Angello followed with the songs you expect to hear at his shows, such as “KNAS”, “Leave the World Behind”, “Tivoli”, etc. The show was great, more than worth the 30$. Here’s his latest along with my favorite from the night and an older one that I can guarantee was the motivation behind Afrojack’s “Pacha on Acid”.

Steve Angello – Rave 'n’ Roll (Original Mix)

Tim Berg & Michael Woods – Bromance Dynamik (Axwell Mashup)

Steve Angello – Teasing Mr Charlie (Original Mix)

The night did not end there. I met up with Ellis and we headed over to Circus Afterhours to see Sean Tyas. I had not heard much from him other than his “Sanctuary” remix. I was expecting some calm, melodic trance and was surprised when he started. He pumped out track after track of powerful, rugged bass coupled with enchanting melodies. Saying it was the most energetic trance I've ever experienced is an understatement. The harmony of high BPMs, loud bass, and swift melody made for an excellent close to an excellent night. Here’s a remix of a Tiësto classic that was a highlight of his set.

Tiësto – Suburban Train (Sean Tyas Dirty Mix)

Time for an anecdote. Anyone listen to Trance Around the World? Above & Beyond are podcast masters and the 350th edition of their prestigious radio show took place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. The trio ran a contest for the special occasion in which participants had to share their interesting ways of listening to the show. I entered the competition, saying I would attach a souped up megaphone to the roof of my car and drive around downtown while blaring the music for all to hear. I was chosen as one of the finalists. Problem is, at the time of this post, I was sitting at home listening to the podcast while writing. Yup, I lied to Above & Beyond. The winner receives some professional audio gear and and gets to meet the DJs. I wonder what I’ll say if I win… The set list for their Palladium show was Boom Jinx, Jaytech, Cosmic Gate, Above & Beyond and Super8 & Tab; if you haven’t yet, this is as good a time as ever to subscribe to the podcast.

Lets end with some more tracks. This first song is by a duo I have never heard of, which boggles my mind since this tune is so good.

Matisse & Sadko – Hi Scandinavia! (Original Mix)

Next, here are 2 more mashups from Armin. The first one was shown to me by Ellis and only furthers proof of his great taste in music. You might recognize both songs from the second tune. “The Great Escape” was featured in a Gareth Emery mashup that was previously posted on the blog and “Right Back” is the second track in Ferry Corsten’s Bal en Blanc set that Fred posted a while back.

Armin van Buuren vs. Jochen Miller – In & Out of Connection (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

Rank 1 & Jochen Miller vs. Yuri Kane – The Right Escape (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

Afrojack has been sustaining Wall Recordings on his own. The Dutch house prodigy has released track after track that all have been received by the public with open arms. His tunes have completely overshadowed those of his label mates. Here is his latest.

Afrojack – Replica (Original Mix)

I posted Noisia’s “Alpha Centauri” a while back and I am proud to say that it is one of my most downloaded songs. Recently, Datsik and Excision released a great remix of the tune, replacing the drum & bass with a genuine dubstep feel.

Noisia – Alpha Centauri (Excision & Datsik Remix)

Some things to look forward to:

- Fred has been in touch with Chris Lake and The Hawt will soon get an exclusive interview with the English DJ as well as a detailed review of his great set at La Mouche.

- The writers will be teaming up to browse the full scope of 2010’s releases to decide which tracks stand atop as the best of this past year.

- A well-deserved Ellis rest.