Last week, Ellis and I went to Circus Afterhours to hear Shogun and Joop play live (there were other DJs, but we missed them). We were very pleased by their performances and I think it it safe to say that the future of trance seems pretty bright, with all these newly popular DJs/producers that are working hard to bring us the best music possible! Like some of you know, Cosmic Gate was playing at Redlite the same night, so the Circus wasn’t exactly what I’d call "full”, but the atmosphere was still great and the music was still amazing! We arrived there when Joop had just started his set. Joop is a Dutch DJ/producer that plays some very tech-trance tracks and that brings a lot of energy to the crowd. Check his Facebook page HERE for more info on him! The first half of his set brought the people to his room and then he “unleashed the beast” in the second half. Ellis and I both think he was on “f***ing fire” during the last hour, playing tracks that made the people there go crazy, like his new track that he made in collaboration with Raneem and that is getting released on the 21st, Plur. Here is a little preview of it to convince you to buy it in a few days. Trust me, listening to it is worth your time and you will understand why people go crazy when it’s played live.

The next artist playing was Andrew Chen, also know as Shogun. He is an American born Taiwanese DJ/producer that has seen his popularity rise a lot lately, with the release of his track called Skyfire. We can give the credit to Armin Van Buuren’s influence in the trance scene and Shogun’s hard work for his popularity, since Armin played Skyfire a lot in his sets during the last few months and since it is featured in A State of Trance 2011 compilation. If you want more information on Shogun, check his page on Armada HERE or go read the interview answers we got from him below!

Shogun started his set with one of the hottest tracks right now, Tomahawk, from BT and Adam K. He kept this insane energy during his whole set by playing great tracks and mixing very, very well. He played some Stoneface & Terminal, some Gareth Emery, some Ferry Corsten, Above and Beyond, Armin Van Buuren and, of course, his own track, Skyfire, that you can hear right under this paragraph!

And since Tomahawk from BT and Adam K is so great as well, here it is:

It is always awesome to be able to ask questions directly to artists; it helps us learn a lot from them. We sent some interview questions to Shogun and here are the answers. Hope you enjoy!

What are your primary inspirations? my family, good trance music, and movie scores

What do you think sets you apart from other trance producers? I like to produce tracks that are based on a personal level, and try to evoke different emotions with my remixes and productions.

What did you do before being a full time EDM Producer and DJ? I used to be a resident DJ at clubs

What do you like the most from being an EDM Producer and DJ? Gigs, traveling, meeting people who are as passionate as I am about the music

What do you think of the DJMag Poll in general? this year? I think DJ Mag Poll is important for DJ's, clubs and promoters worldwide. Also, its something the fans can follow and keep track of their favorite DJs which is a great thing. This year I ended up at #122

What is your favorite drink when you DJ? Vodka Redbull, or just Redbull

Do you have any "rituals" you do before starting a set? I listen to chillout music before starting a set, it helps gets my mind ready for a big gig.

What tip(s) would you give out to new DJs/producers? For DJ's, start producing if you haven't already and try to find your own style. For producers, focus on mastering one synthesizer and one sequencer. You can do a lot more by really knowing a synth inside out, rather than slightly knowing 50 synths.

You've travelled a faire amount, where would you say the girls are the most attractive? Girls in LA and Vancouver, there's something about the West Coast

Which song(s) has gotten you the best crowd reaction so far in 2011? Definitely Skyfire, every time I drop it the crowd goes off!

Is there anyone you'd really like to work with next year? I'd like to work with Orjan Nilsen, I think his productions are top notch at the moment

Any plans on returning to Montreal after your set at Circus Afterhours? Of course, I love this city and can't wait to come back

What do you think of the crowd in Montreal? I think the crowd here is one of the best, so much energy and everyone shows their love for trance music.. can't ask for more.

Do you often go to see other DJs play? And which ones are your favorite? I'm either on the road or in the studio working on tracks, so I don't get to catch other DJs play too often. Armin van Buuren is my favorite DJ, he always puts on an unbelievable show.

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?music blogs are great, and help the artists in many ways. Will definitely read The Hawt.

That is all for now, take care and make sure to buy your tickets for Resolution 2012 if you want to see Avicii, Axwell, Gareth Emery and Dash Berlin to celebrate the New Year! The event is on January 1st and is happening at the Bell Center in Montreal. There is also an event in Quebec City and it may be your chance to see Deadmau5 if you missed him last time he came here!

I’m not talking about herpes, or the time interval between posts here at The Hawt, or the difficulty of my midterms, or … whatever. I’m talking about the DJMag top100 DJs of this year. I was astonished to see how bad this year’s poll is (it’s worse than last year’s!).

I have to admit a few artists deserve their newly acquired spot in the top100 and I congratulate them (I’m talking about Tritonal, Skrillex, Hardwell, Orjan Nilsen, Alesso, AN21, Felguk, Porter Robinson and Sidney Samson), but if you take a look at the top20, you will (most likely) throw up. You will notice that David Guetta is first, beating Armin Van Buuren for the first time. This “tragedy” shows us how the poll is now a huge farce and how getting good rankings just depends on how many Facebook Likes or Twitter Followers you have. I’m sorry David Guetta, but making pop music doesn’t mean you’re a good DJ. I remember hearing him at Bal en Blanc 16 and it was the worst set I’ve heard in my life coming from one of the “greatest DJs in the world”. He may have become better, but from what I know, I still don’t think he deserves his spot.

Also, Deadmau5 keeping his 4th spot helps proving how bad the poll now is. He told DJMag himself that he’s not entirely sure why he’s 4th in that poll, since he never touched a CDJ in his life and doesn’t consider himself a DJ.

To conclude my “raging”, let’s just say that the poll has become too popular and that most people voting don’t really know many DJs and vote for the ones they hear on the radio, like Guetta, Tiesto and Deadmau5 (don’t get me wrong though, I think Tiesto deserves his spot). Check out this video of Sexy chick, definitely the best remix/edit I’ve heard! Hahaha.

On to other things…

Justice just released their newest album Audio, Video, Disco and I’ll be honest with you guys, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the album. It’s a lot less “in yer face” and more of an “old school electro” record. It’s very good music by itself and I love it, but I think their last album was a little bit better when it comes to electro (and their singles/remixes). Justice didn’t bring their style to their album as much as they usually do in their other tracks and I don’t really see their album being played live without being remixed at all, it’s not electro enough. Of course there are a few tracks that are more Justice-y, like Civilization, but there are too many soft tracks in my opinion. It’s a good album, but not what I was expecting from the French duo… but hey, at least they will probably go back on tour! (It’s been 3 years since their last visit to Montreal) I’m sure their live performance is still amazing and I can’t wait for their return. While waiting for their tour, check out their video for the song Audio, Video, Disco(which is kinda awesome to be honest):

In my last post I talked about Tritonal and how they were really good and impressed me at their set. Two weeks ago, they released a club remix of a song I loved called Still With Me (featuring the amazing Cristina Soto). I think you guys should check it out if you didn’t already do so, since it’s really great!

I’ve been listening to dubstep again in the last few weeks, hoping their would be new records that were worth listening to since the last time I really checked into it (like 1 year ago). The style really evolved and is now a lot more “complicated” than it used to be. Let me explain: if you remember, the first time most of us heard about dubstep was when Rusko released his remix of Take Me to the Hospital and at that time, most songs were simply a bass line with simple wobbles, a few random sounds here and there and one or two drops (it was also always at 70 bpm). Now, if you listen to a song from Skrillex or Nero for example, there are a lot of different synths being used, mixed with a lot more samples and it’s not always 70 bpm. Also, moombahton is exploding right now and emos that used to listen to hardcore emo and such (now listening to dubstep) are all changing to half moombah, half dubstep. I like moombahton to be honnest, but it feels really weird to see a girl (non-emo girl) that used to listen to Usher and David Guetta ask me if I know Borgore or Skrillex or even if I know about moombahton. I guess the world is evolving! (Yeah right)

Here are a few links to youtube you should definitely check out if you enjoy dubstep.

Nero – Promises (Skrillex Remix)

Excision and Downlink – The Underground

Josh Money – Let Go With You

Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend (Feed Me Remix)

That’s it for now! Have a great week and may your midterms not suck as much as mine.

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!