This year was a great year for many artists and for the blog as well. The team decided to do a top10 of our favourite music in 2010. Here is a few things on 2010 from a few writers that had time to write.

Cosmic Gate @ Redlite (picture by Fred)

Fred’s thoughts on 2010

For me, 2010 was a great year (besides, of course, my lack of posts since uni started this September).

Thoughts on the Blog itself:

I have to say that even if I’m not posting, I’m still working on the website pretty often. I receive quite a few emails about new artists (that I will post about in a few weeks) and I need to make sure everything on the website runs great. I fix the coding of the webpage from time to time to optimize it and make sure there aren’t any bugs that slow down the loadtime or anything. Also, as some of you may have seen, I’ve removed the ads, centered the layout and added the “Recent Comments” widget to the website not too long ago. I’m planning to make the website independent (no blogspot anymore!) and to do a brand new template for the website, you know, Maddecent style. This will allow me to put DIRECT LINKS TO TRACKS, to make PREVIEWING OF TRACKS POSSIBLE, to have a unique layout, to get a NEW LOGO (and/or make this one better) and many more things. We are also planning on making t-shirts at one point. Of course this won’t happen instantly, but it’s the plan for next year.

General thoughts on music:

I really think this year was a great year for music. I personally discovered A LOT of new music and artists and I discovered new styles. I got to go to some awesome shows with members of the team and got to listen to a lot of new genres.

I need to say though that some electronic music is getting fucking boring and repetitive. I didn’t find a lot of new “good” dutch lately (although, I must admit there was a lot early this summer), I didn’t find that much dubstep (I used to find a lot of new things, but now, even Rusko went mainstream), etc.

I must congratulate trance for always coming out with new stuff and I must slap Deadmau5 for releasing a HORRIBLE album this month. Comon man… try harder… and fucking murder Sofi please. Oh, and stop playing Minecraft.

Who I want to give a High Five to (I’m sure I missed someone):

Classixx, Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto, Markus Schulz, Rusko, Noisia, Afrojack, Laidback Luke, Calvin Harris, Diplo, Major Lazer, Datsik and Excision, Doctor P, Sidney Samson, Jochen Miller, GARETH EMERY, Yuri Kane, Chris Lake, Kabz and SOLO (for bringing us flithy bass), Chuckie, W&W, Pendulum, Above and Beyond, Cosmic Gate, Skrillex, A-Trak, Armen Van Helden, Congorock, Dada Life, Michael Woods, Marcel Woods, Wolfgang Gartner, Avicii, Ben Gold, Pryda, Steve Angello, Flux Pavilion, Swedish House Mafia, Adam K, Classixx, Jakwob, Bassnectar.

Who I want to slap pretty hard in the face (I’m sure I missed someone too):

CROOKERS (fuck man that album was bad), Deadmau5 (wtf), Rusko (eh!), David Guetta (you don’t deserve your fucking spot), DJ MAG, Skrillex, Sofi.

ONE more thing before my top10:

One (swedish house mafia) is a great track, but could people stop overfuckingabusingitintheasssofuckinghard that much? That is all. (Same thing happened with Day N’ Nite and We No Speak Americano)

 

Note: The top10 is not meant to bring new music or to give download links to everything, it is there to share the music we liked the most this year and that we really enjoyed. The top10 can include an album or an artist instead of a track name.

 

Fred’s TOP10 OF THE YEAR

1- Mason - You Are Not Alone (I simply love this track)

2- Ferry Corsten and his Once Upon a Night Vol. 1 (Greaaat trance, I listened to it A LOT this year)

3- Gareth Emery (For releasing an great album and great tracks)

4- Arno Cost – Cyan (This song is super original, I love it)

5- Tim Berg – Bromance (Avicii’s Arena Remix) (Obviously, this is a killer)

6- Doctor P, Flux Pavillion and Datsik & Excision (For bringing NEW dubstep to the scene)

7- Classixx - I'll Get You feat. Jeppe (Royal Rumble Edit) (Great oldschool track, my favourite of this year)

8- Afrojack – Pacha On Acid (It brought some epic moments to shows this summer)

9- Jochen Miller - Brace Yourself (Extended Mix) (This is an AMAZING track)

10- Doctor P – Big Boss (Wow that shit is harrrd, really love it)

 

Before my part is over, I wanted to say thanks to the team here @thehawt for everything they did this year and I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year with a lot of new music! Thanks for your support and your comments, we really enjoy getting feedback! I hope 2011 will be a great year for the blog like this year was. Cheers!

 

Justin’s TOP10s

Justin's top 10

1. Electric Zoo 2010

2. Swedish House Mafia (Everything)

3. Tim Berg - Bromance (Avicii's Arena Mix)

4. Pendulum - The Island Pt.1 (Dawn)

5. Favorite albums: Northern Lights, Mirage, Do You Dream?

6. Arty

7. Michael Woods - Dynamik (Original Mix)

8. TATW

9. Garuda

10. Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime (Axwell & Henrik B Remode)

 

Justin's not top 10

1. Club Muzique (FUCK YOU)

2. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (The album)

3. DJMag

4. Michael Cassette guest mix on TATW

5. Hotfile (Makes us wait 30 minutes before another download)

6. "- I like electronic dance music.

- Who do you listen do? - David Guetta." (STFU)

7. Paul van Dyk (Canceled on Electric Zoo last minute and, to my knowledge, only produced 1 track)

8. 4x4=12

9. Kyau & Albert's crowd at 1234

10. The douchebag who threw the beachball onto Tony's face at Electric Zoo

 

Ellis’s TOP10s

House

1. One – Swedish House Mafia

2. Bromance (Avicii’s Arena Mix) – Tim Berg

3. Teenage Crime (Axwell & Henrick B Remode) – Adrian Lux

4. Hide and Seek (Afrojack Remix)- Imogen Heap

5. You Are Not Alone - Mason

6. Pacha On Acid - Afrojack

7. Miami 2 Ibiza – Swedish House Mafia

8. Hello (Michael Woods Remix) – Martin Solveig & Dragonette

9. Stranger to Stability (Len Faki Podium Mix) – Dustin Zahn

Trance

1. On a Metropolis Day – Gareth Emery vs. OceanLab

2. Empire – Super8 & Tab

3. 100 – Wippenberg vs. Rank 1 vs. Nic Chagall

4. Harmonic Motion Lange

5. Don’t Give a Fuck – Stoneface & Terminal

6. The Great Escape – Rank 1 vs. Jochen Miller

7. Anphonic - Above & Beyond vs. Kyau & Albert

8. The Emrgency (Marcus Schossow Remix) – BT & Andrew Bayer

9. Forza – MEM

10. Intro (Sander Van Doorn Booty Mix) – The XX

Dubstep

1. Sweet Shop – Doctor P

2. Where is My Mind (Basenectar Remix) – The Pixies

3. Come Ere and Say That - Ruskooooooooooo

4. Sick Tonight (Doctor P Remix) – Scorbius Pip vs. Dans le Sac

5.Got 2 Know – Flux Pavilion

Drum and Bass

1. The Island (Part I) - Pendulum

2. Sweet Shop (Krooked & Camo Remix) – Doctor P

Live Sets

1. Above & Beyond (Electric Zoo)

2. Gareth Emery (Black and Blue – Circus - Electric Zoo respectively)

3. Ferry Corsten (Bal en Blanc)

4. Cosmic Gate (Electric Zoo – Divers Cités)

5.Paul van Dyk (Resolution)

Honorable Mention : Marcus Schossow (On January 2^nd so not officially 2010)

Top 5 Djs to Hopefully see in 2011

1. Jochen Miller

2. Marcel Woods

3. Paul van Dyk

4. Afrojack

5. Ben Gold

Slaps in the face

1. Muzique

2. Red-Lite / Laval Douchebags

3. David Guetta

4. Playground Productions

Message from the team

Thank you for reading our blog and happy new year! Hope to see you all  in 2011! Cheers!

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.