Here are (by domain) my favorite of 2010

Favorite "Featuring" Artist

Ok, so I have been insanely busy lately but it seems that as occupied as I may be, there is a group that keeps on showing up everywhere I go. I was on my way home from a new year's party downtown last night when I realized: "Damn, Foreign Beggars are awesome!" They have been remixed and used in so many genres of electro lately that you can rarely go to a good party where they aren't played. They've not only helped Noisia in their meteoric rise to fame but have also contributed to Flux Pavilion, Skrillex and many more. This post is a tribute to them and all they've done to the dubstep, breakbeat and D & B scene this year. Here are my top three.

1- Contact - Noisia (ft. Foreign Beggars)

2- Typhoon - Foreign Beggars (ft.Chasing Shadows)

3- Lines in Wax - Flux Pavilion (ft. Foreign Beggars)

Favorite Remixed Artist

Contrary to the Foreign Beggars, the next group is a lot lighter. The Two Door Cinema club is an alternative rock band from Northen Ireland. Their album "Tourist History" is just awesome. They are so upbeat and energetic that a large amount of artists use their music to get the crowd moving. This is why they are my favorite remixed artists of the year. Top three!

1- Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club (The Twelves Remix)

2- I Can Talk - Two Door Cinema Club (I know this is no remix but...)

3- A Cholo You Know - Down AKA Kilo vs. Two Door Cinema Club (The White Panda Mash-Up)

Favorite Artist Period!

What can I say? Drum and Bass is just awesome. I can not go a day without it and this year, Pendulum stepped up to the plate. Their album "Immersion" was huge and produced some of the best tracks I have ever heard. "Tarantula" remains as my ringtone to this day which can actually be pretty bothersome because when someone calls me (even if I am in class and I forgot to turn off my phone) I don't want to pick up. Many of their tracks reached high levels in the UK singles chart and they recently let out their new single "Crush". They are currently on tour going from India, to England and then to North America. I am really sad to say that not only am I missing them in Vancouver (I arrive 4 days too late) but I am also missing Gareth Emery on the 25th because my flight leaves that day. The travel gods hate me! Oh well, at least I have "Immersion" to make me feel better. My top 3 tracks

1- The Vulture - Pendulum

Still 1- Witchcraft - Pendulum

Will always be 1- Immunize - Pendulum (ft. Liam H)

Lets hope 2011 will be as awesome!

The people following us on Facebook or Twitter probably know this already, but we went to Lamouche in late November to see Chris Lake perform and we all really enjoyed our time there. He played a great set.

Before Lamouche, we didn’t really know that much about Chris Lake. I mean… we knew some of his popular tracks, but we didn’t take the time to search for more that much. This has changed. I have 4 great tracks from Chris Lake (remixes and originals) and… the interview we’ve been waiting for since November! I really like Chris’ answers and I must thank him (and his super friendly manager) for making the interview possible!

Here is what he had to say in response to our questions:

Red is me and Blue is him.

Thank you Chris for taking the time to answer our questions and by the way great set at Lamouche on Saturday, I'm pretty sure everyone really enjoyed it!

First of all, I think we'd all like to know what was written on the girl's blackberry Saturday night that made you laugh that much?

Hahahaha, basically, she said that if I played a record by stimming, that she'd find someone to 'blow me'. I found it rather amusing

What's your favorite drink? And what did you drink at Lamouche? WATER??!!

Well yeah you maybe noticed I was on the water. I gave up alcohol completely after the last WMC, as I went a bit overboard, and put myself off drink for life! I honestly much prefer drinking water at shows now. I do so many during a year, and I find it easier to sleep after the show

How do you respond to Deadmau5 claiming you have a big head?

Well I can't deny it, I do! It's physically gigantic, but hey, at least I'm not pale and gaunt, whilst looking like I've experienced 3 weeks of bodily decomposition........... :)

Tell me a little about you. What's your background and what artists inspired you the most? How did you get where you are now?

Well, I'm an English guy who somehow ended up living in Scotland and discovering 'the synthesiser', and making beats and DJing as a hobby, but it all got a bit serious and now it's my career! I mean musically, I listen to all sorts, and so many different artists from various genres excite me. I LOVE downtempo music, which might surprise people who hear my music, but I love listening to blissed out sounds. Air, to me, are the perfect artists. Every record is gold. Singers, I love Sia, Erykah Badu, I blame coco, Lauren Hill, Bush etc. Quite across the board. I think I got where I am now through dedication and persistence. I've been making music for a long time now, and I got lucky to be noticed along the way for what I do, which has led to more people following me. I'm grateful for it all every day

How much better is it to be a DJ than a mailman?

Both jobs have positives I think! I loved being a postie as it allowed me time to do what I love, and it gave me a routine, but yeah, DJing rocks. I love working up a crowd, and getting to listen to music that I love all the time. The only thing I hate is the travelling, but it's something you just have to get used to really.

What do you think of the Montreal nightlife?

It's fun huh! I like Montreal. It's a beautiful city, and the vibe is fantastic, and I've always enjoyed playing here. La Mouche seemed to be going off at least!

Did you enjoy it on Saturday? Is there anything that you found cool/horrible/different/etc?

It was great! Fun vibe, receptive crowd, unexpected text messages. What more could an artist want.........?

According to DJMag.com, you came in 212th position among the world's DJs. Where do you think you should be placed? (We all know this year's DJMag is terriiibleeee)

Lets face it, that whole poll has become a farce, and I want nothing to do with that poll this year. It's not really what this scene is about for me

Let's do a DJMag interview! We need to make sure you're prepared for next year. Haha.

1. What are you best known for?

Electro with pianos I guess as they're my most popular tracks. Oh, and being the butt of all Deadmau5 jokes!

2. Track of the year?

FLG - Back and Forth (Future Funk dub)

3. Gig of 2010?

Voyeur, San Diego in September. awesome!

4. Best end of the night tune?

I liked dropping Felix Da Housecat - Anthem this year. Sick tune

5. Best new club visited this year?

Voyeur, San Diego!

Will you be back in Montreal anytime soon?

Of course, I can't wait to return

What can we foresee from Chris Lake? And is there any specific artist(s) you'd like to work with?

I'm just working on new vocal tracks at the moment. Not done a vocal track for about 18 months now, but I feel refreshed and inspired to write more. I have about 5 strong tracks I need to finish up, so I can't wait to get back to the studio and wrap them up asap

We're almost done don't worry.

I'd like to ask you what do you think about the blogosphere? Is it helping artists or not in your opinion? Do you read music blogs? Which ones are your favorites?

I think blogs have their place of course. I'm a bit of a new tech lover, so I follow crunchgear, macrumors, and sometimes check out some blogs about renewable energy etc. I don't use blogs to find new music though. I don't find it intuitive enough for me

Will you read our blog? It has been said that reading TheHawt makes you happier and healthier. (http://hawtmusik.com)

Well it that's the case, I'll read it while on the throne each morning...........

Thank you again for your time and is there anything that you'd like to say before sending this email? Any unreleased information? Any mom joke?

Don't eat yellow snow.........

Keep the good stuff coming!

Cheers

The Team. (@TheHawt)

And here is 4 tracks I personally really like from him! They’re all house tunes and all pretty chill (no extremely dirty sounds here).

Nalin & Kane - Beachball (Chris Lake Remix)

Chris Lake - Only One (Original Mix)

Chris Lake & Marco Lys - Cross The Line (Main Club Mix)

Chris Lake & Michael Woods - Dominos (Original Mix)

That is all! Cheers.

Chris Lake @ LaMouche (Picture by Fred @TheHawt)

After two intense nights of raving and completely screwing with my biological clock,  I gotta say I’m kind of happy i got two  very relaxed days. It allowed me to try and catch up on all the songs i heard over the weekend. Turns out I’m probably gonna need over a week.  Aight so as you know on NYE Fred and I went to Red-Lite to see Cosmic Gate & Avicii. Problem is we, or anyone else for that matter had no clue that Avicii’s set started at 5am, so we got there at 11 and got to see all the resident djs play, mostly, they sucked. At least we got it better then Toronto, cops cancelled Avicii’s set, suckers. Anyways once Avicii showed up it was sick, living up to my expectations from Electric Zoo. It’s incredible to think that he hasn’t been djing for very long and he’s this good. I mean come on, even i look older than this guy, ok maybe not but its close… Here are some highlights of his set:

Swede Dreams – Avicii (I tried to find this song after hearing at Electric Zoo and gave up shortly after, then it got released or something)

Drowning (Avicii’s Unnamed Mix) – Armin Van Buuren

…loved the original, love the remix.

Jailbait Insomnia (Avicii Mashup) – Avicii vs. Faithless

Ah, the cryptic Maxi Jazz lyrics are classic, just classic. And finally my favourite Avicii song of all time:

My Feelings For You – Avicii & Sebastian Drums

Hopefully Fred will be able to put in a video he took of the best 8mins or so of the set.

Aight, so when he was done, Cosmic Gate came on but unfortunately the crowded sucked some serious balls (stupid Laval), and Fred forced me to leave early. Their set was sick but I think people were too tired to enjoy. Funny side story: The next night at Circus, Nic Chagall (1/2 of Cosmic Gate) was hanging out at Circus with all the other world superstar djs there and at some point, Jon (from Circuit 12) crossed him in the bathroom and cam to get me. So obviously, as anyone else would have done i  presume, i started running towards where he was, totally bowling over some girl in the process. In my defence, she should not have been between me and Nic Chagall.  Anyways so we get to him and wait awkwardly while he finishes his conversation with some other dude and then we start talking and I apologized for Red-Lite sucking balls and he agreed with me. Anyways, we talked a bit more and it turns out he’s fucking nice and he’s now my new idol. But back to the music now here are  some tracks they played:

Back to Earth (Arty Remix) – Cosmic Gate

(Really sick track, I love the Jochen Miller Remix as well)

This Light Between Us (Dabruck & Klein Remix) – Armin Van Buuren

(This picture really does not do him justice… he usually wears a hat.)

Alright so that was just night number one. On the second night we were blessed to see Marcus Schossow and Simon Patterson (and meet Nic Chagall, aka Jesus).

Schossow was not at all what I expected, in a good way. He actually gave the best set of the weekend. He’s a bit chubby for a dj (see picture here), I found that pretty funny too. When he came on i actually thought he was a sound technician or something, shame on me really.

The Emergency (Marcus Schossow Remix) – Bt & Andrew Bayer

Love Comes Again (Bart Claessen Remix) – Tiësto feat. BT

You’re Not Alone (ATB Remix) – Olive (this track has the most majestic vocals)

Simon Patterson came on later, and just like Schossow it was complete energy the whole time. I mean, when you open your set with some Marcel Woods, it’s a good sign of things to come.

Tomorrow – Marcel Woods (one of my favourite tracks at the moment)

Without You – Dogzilla

So before I end this incredibly long post by my standards, fairly short by Justin’s though, I would just like to share with everyone that GARETH EMERY IS BACK IN MONTREAL FEBRUARY 25TH AT CICRUS AFTERHOURS!!! Thats right mofos (20$)!!!

We also have a crazy January/ February with Ronski Speed, Wippenberg, Benni Benassi and Gareth at Circus and Paul Van Dyk at Theatre Telus. In March we got Marco V at Circus also. Man i love that place. And don’t forget Bal en Blanc in April with Tiësto and Above and Beyond already confirmed.

For those of you in University, good luck going back to school and for those of you in Cegep, fuck you.