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.

Filesonic – Megaupload

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 pres. 8 Wonders – X (Original Mix)

Released on July 18th on Arnej Music

Filesonic – Megaupload

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.

Filesonic – Megaupload

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.

Filesonic – Megaupload

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.

Filesonic – Megaupload

Thanks to our buddy Samson at montreal-nightclubs.com for the download links. Check his website for all the tracklists from Tytanium Sessions 100.

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.”

Raneem – Free Fall (Original Mix)

Released on ??? on Streamlined

Check out Ramy Bargz’s YouTube channel for nearly all of Raneem’s set from BeachClub.

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.

Megabootleg 500 - Heatbeat

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.

Into the Light (feat. Mark Frisch) [Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix] – Gareth Emery

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.

Promises (Myon & Shane54’s Summer of Love Mix) - Andain

In regards to Beatport, a wise man once asked: “Is this an EDM website or a Deadmau5 blog?” This question came with obvious reason; the horde of albums and EPs released by mau5trap had monopolized the top downloads list for a substantial amount of time. Ironically, this so-called wise man is none other than Mark Knight, who’s own Toolroom Records is currently at the helm of another dominating performance. Fuelled by its latest compilation album, Toolroom Records Miami 2011, the label occupies 9 of the top 10 spots. The release comes in anticipation of this year’s Ultra Music Festival and features new music from the likes of Michael Woods & Mark Knight, Afrojack, Fedde Le Grand and Thomas Gold, to name a few. Check it out here.

In addition to his tune with Michael Woods, Knight has been hard at work in the studio, including a track of his own on the compilation and producing another collaboration with Tiësto. The star-studded partnership has unveiled the official video, as well as the magnificent tune that accompanies it. Knight’s signature drums, Tiësto’s bassline and vocals by Dino go well with the soft synths and rugged melody. The track seems to be on the progressive side, yet still offers a strong beat which gives it obvious nightclub appeal. Both Techno and House influences combine to offer this marvel. The video is interesting, as the beginning closely resembles Justice’s “Stress.”

Tiësto & Mark Knight ft. Dino – Beautiful World (Original Mix) Released on Beatport on March 21st

There is a limited number of EDM fans who can assertively say that they enjoy all of its subgenres. Artists often attempt to mix these styles and create something different, but again, only a small number can successfully do this. One of these select few is Funkagenda, a Techno/House artist, who has released songs on big labels such as Toolroom Records and Funk Farm. One of the tracks from his most recent release rounds up Beatport’s top 10 and is a perfect example of crossover between musical subgenres. The track dubbed “Budgie” is half Techno, half House and although Beatport qualifies it as Tech House, it should not be confused with the latter. A close listen confirms either an amazing concoction of the two, or some wildly innovative Tech House. This songs sports an intricate set of beats, a wealth of sound bite layers and a dark, yet enchanting melody that completes the plethora of styles that is “Budgie.”

Funkagenda – Budgie (Original Club Mix) Beatport

In other Funkagenda news, the Englishman is giving away one of his tracks, free of charge. As a “thank you” to all his Facebook followers for finally hitting the 50 000 ‘likes’ milestone, he has posted a high quality download link for a new tune of his called “Shinjuku.” The distant and imposing bass coupled with the recurring hints of cymbals gives this song an impressive background layout. In addition, the isolation given to the seamlessly quaint electro sound gives the tune a sizeable amount of character. The infectious riffs in this one will surely have many holding the repeat button. Follow this link and select the tracks tab on his Facebook page to download “Shinjuku.”

Funkagenda – Shinjuku (Original Club Mix)

In staying with the subject of free high quality tracks, Spinnin’ Records, home to Wall Recordings (Afrojack), Doorn Records (Sander van Doorn), Tone Diary (Markus Schossow), Streamlined (Leon Bolier) and other popular sub-labels, is giving away some of their classic tracks in exchange for a ‘like’ on Facebook. This is not a one-time deal, as the classics are updated bi-weekly. Follow this link, ‘like’ the page, choose the “Tracks to Like” tab and check back every 2 weeks for new offerings.

This post’s last track is from Sied van Riel. The Dutchman has been spending ample amounts of time cooped-up in his home studio with the sole purpose of finishing up his artist album. “Telephone Junkies,” the upcoming single from said album, is a progressive track that holds influences new to Sied. In comparison to his previous releases, this tune is much softer, deeper and if not for strong big room undertones, could probably be put in a category with tunes from Anjunadeep. It is a calming and soothing track which displays the artists’ limitless musical versatility. It is a song heavy on melody which is sure to please the pickiest of Trance lovers.

Sied van Riel – Telephone Junkies (Original Mix) Released on Beatport on March 15th

Have a great week and be sure to stay tuned to The Hawt for an exclusive interview with Super8 & Tab!

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.

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.

During the past few weeks, The Hawt has become a forum for previewing, reviewing and critiquing electronic music events in Montreal. In the spirit of consistency, this post begins with more proof towards the thrilling aspects of the city’s nightlife.

Sunday, October 17th was a special night for both Ellis and myself. Having to choose between Rusko and Laidback Luke is never an easy task. There is a reason why the Superbowl and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals are not on the same night. We decided to go our separate ways and focus and two different genres. For the purpose of this post, Ellis was kind enough to provide me with his take on the night:

“Put’Em Up Put’Em Up Put’Em Up Put’Em Up

Aight so on the same night Justin went to Laidback Luke, some friends and I went to the Just For Laughs Studio to see Rusko and, needless to say, it was insane! People fighting, hitting, pushing, swearing; everything a good dubstep concert should have. For those who haven’t seen him live, what really makes him special is that every now and then, he grabs the mic and starts either singing, shouting or whatever he feels like doing. So anyways, back to the event, Vilify (think that’s how you write it, my bad if it aint) opened for him and on top of being hot and pretty good, she’s supposedly the one that takes care of almost everything dubstep in Montreal. Rusko came on at around 1ish and by that time, my friends had already ditched me and I was all alone, but that did not make it any less awesome! He played a lot of his older tracks mixed in with a few from his new album and obviously, some crazy reworks that you’re never able to find anywhere, which just pisses you off.

Rusko – Hammertime

Doctor P – Sweet Shop (Friction vs Camo & Krooked Drumstep Remix)

The second track was a total crowd killer, literally. When you expect the Sweet Shop drop, but get this d&b style craziness instead, there is no choice but to jump around and hit people. Oh, and just as a complementary track to one I’m sure Justin will post, here’s a Wolfgang Gartner and Justice mashup.

Justice vs. Wolfgang Gartner - Illmerica Is Your Friends (Steve Camp Mashup) ”

The tone of his guest post communicates the intensity and superb entertainment of the night, two things that have become synonymous with a live Rusko concert. Coincidentally, I would use the same attributes to qualify the show I attended. Although Laidback Luke performed at Electric Zoo, we were only able to watch him from the line for the Above & Beyond signing. Owning a t-shirt signed by two of the members of one of the greatest DJ trios is a privilege, but as I would soon learn, it cannot be compared to watching a true master of house music.

The event was held at club Muzique, a relatively new addition to the Montreal scenery. Even though it was meant to be 21+, I was able to enter with my name on the guest list (more on this later). The crowd erupted when Luke made his entrance and the cheering did not stop until 3 a.m. As I am sure that most of you have noticed, electronic music has undergone a slight metamorphosis lately. The lines between genres are being blurred and it is becoming much more difficult to classify tracks. Laidback is an exception to this rule. Every mix he played was pure house, something that became very evident when considering his song choices. Two of my favorite moments of the night were when he played the Congorock remix of “One” and when he mixed Till’ Tonight with Miami to Ibiza. Another fantastic moment occured near the end of the night, when he payed his respects to his music’s ancestor, disco. He gave Axel F the moans from Pon de Floor and quickly transitioned to MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”. As far as his own tracks are concerned, Laidback Luke also played his popular remix of Robbie Rivera’s “Rock the Disco”. Here are two tunes from the soiree, as well as his newest bootleg.

Jay-Z ft. Swizz Beats - On To The Next One (Laidback Luke Bootleg)

Swedish House Mafia - One (Congorock Remix)

Robbie Rivera - Rock The Disco (Laidback Luke Edit)

Lets fast forward to this past Tuesday, October the 26th. The stage was set for another evening at Muzique, this one to celebrate the club’s one-year anniversary. The owners invited all of their resident DJs to open for Avicii, the night’s main act. Just like Laidback Luke, the event was meant to be 21+, so I called Muzique and asked to add Ellis, as well as myself to the guest list. Please explain to me how the following makes any sense: I was allowed to enter for Laidback Luke, but we were denied access for Avicii. As far as I know, the rules for both nights are identical; 21+, but 19+ with guest list. Even Ellis’ skills in the art of persuasion could not convince the bouncer to let us is, although he did not try long enough to get any results. The look he gave us let us know it was time to go. I can only hope the young Swede comes back to Montreal some time in the near future. Here is a remix of his from Tiësto’s “Kaleidoscope Remixed”.

Tiësto ft. CC Sheffield - Escape Me (Avicii Remix)

Enough with the events, here are a few new tracks that I have been dying to share with you for a while.

As Ellis correctly predicted in his guest post, the mashup he posted is an excellent complement to this next song. Ever since this artist was first discussed on The Hawt, he has been in constant rise, touring around the world while collaborating with huge producers and putting his own spin on the popular Electro House subgenre. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him at the Electric Zoo festival, where he put on an absolute beast of a performance. This tune has garnered lots of attention, earning the support of Laidback Luke and Gareth Emery. Here is the newest release from Wolfgang Gartner, a song that will certainly be featured on his upcoming artist album, due sometime early in 2011.

Wolfgang Gartner - Illmerica (Extended Mix)

As Fred pointed out in his previous post, we’ve been slacking when it comes to dubstep. Although pickings have been slim, I do have a brand new one that will surely make you crave more deep synths and the overall dirty sound most of you have come to love. This is latest Borgore track. I’ve got to give a shout out to Gotta Dance Dirty; they have an amazing blog, go check it out if you haven’t already.

Borgore - Sex Instructions Dub

This next one has been sitting in Beatport’s Electro House top 10 for quite some time. When I posted about Hey Today!’s “Toasted” back in early June, I honestly believed they were a lower-tier, underground German duo. However, their latest remix of Tiga’s “You Gonna Want Me” has shot them into the spotlight and displayed the innovation they impose onto their music. I really enjoy listening to this track, especially from the 3:40 mark, where they divert from the tune’s core beat. Instead, they put an electro sound onto Tiga’s techno beat. Its different, but it sounds really good.

Tiga - You Gonna Want Me (Hey Today! Remix)

Last Thursday, the new Gareth Emery podcast finally appeared on iTunes, an arrival that had been overdue for a long time. The songs played were great, but two caught my ear as being better than the rest. The first is from MEM, who came along with a very impressive trance track. It is called Forza and as Gareth later explained, the tune had been killing it for him in his recent sets. The second is from fellow Canadian Adam K, a progressive DJ from Toronto. Remember how I wrote that the lines between genres were being blurred? This song is a perfect example. Its slow tempo and relaxing melody give it a few trance aspects, but do not be fooled; this is progressive house.

MEM - Forza

Do not think that I’m strictly posting songs from the podcast. With the exception of the Adam K track, I’ve had these tunes in my library for a while. Gareth and I must have the same taste in music.

To finish off this large post, lets take a look at DJ Mag’s rankings of the top 100 DJs.

To start off, congratulations to Armin van Buuren for his fourth consecutive year as the world’s #1 DJ. I really was not expecting this, I rather thought that Above & Beyond, Markus Schulz or Ferry Corsten would take the crown. To be frank, very little of the top ten made any sense to me. I respect David Guetta as a DJ and I think he produces great music, but there is no way that he should be ranked higher than any of the previously mentioned. Most of you already know about the true producers behind some of his biggest hits like “When Love Takes Over”. He acts as a cheap ad campaign, giving them credit in the fine print at the bottom of the screen. According to Fred and Ellis, who attended his set at last year’s Bal en Blanc, he is awful live and the radio-like music he emits makes him sound like an amateur.

Placing immediately after Guetta were Tiësto, Deadmau5 and Above & Beyond, who respectively grabbed the 3, 4 and 5 positions. Deadmau5’s jump up 2 spots was also a surprise. His album was great, be he somehow seemed to disappear during the rest of the year. His single with Chris Lake, “I Said”, was and still is awful. “Some Chords” and “Animal Rights” do not warrant a number 4 spot. The Canadian is due for a new album release in December of 2010, one he will call 4x4=12. Here is the tracklist.

1. "Some Chords"
2. "Sofi Needs a Ladder" (You Need A Ladder with vocals)
3. "City In Florida"
4. "Bad Selection"
5. "Animal Rights"
6. "I Said (Michael Woods Remix)"
7. "Cthulhu Sleeps"
8. "Right This Second"
9. "Raise Your Weapon"
10. "One Trick Pony"
11. "Everything Before"

One thing I am happy to see is that Axwell wraps up the top 10. In fact, all members of the Swedish House Mafia are in the top 20 and the trio itself places at #23. The DJ Mag vote is supposed to be an attempt to represent each DJ’s success during the course of the year. In this capacity, Swedish House Mafia should, without a doubt, be the #1 DJ. Their incredible summer took them to the Brixton Academy on more than one occasion and they also earned themselves a residency at Motel Masquerade in Ibiza, the party capital of the world. The film documenting their tumultuous 2010 will be coming out in the next month, so keep posted as it will surely be very entertaining. Check out the trailer here.

Unfortunately, DJ Mag’s voting method is highly flawed. Simply telling the magazine which DJs you like is not a valid measure of skill, hard work or innovation. Inside the method itself lies the biases of evaluation without numerical values. It is no longer a judgement on who is the best, but merely a popularity contest, a vote for class president, if you will. This year’s vote saw a large crowd of North Americans and therefore, whoever spent the most time on the radio waves or on their North American tour received an automatic bid. It is a shame to see the poll be reduced to such an infantile compilation of voices from uneducated, stubborn fans who want to see the one artist they know in the rankings. Notable additions were those of Afrojack, Avicii, Arty and Dada Life while unacceptable descents were those of Above & Beyond, Sander van Doorn, Cosmic Gate and Lange. Regardless of the results, go check out the bios from your favourite artists, some of which are quite funny. For example, Sebastian Ingrosso claims that he is best known for “fucking clubs in the pussy”.

Let me start by apologizing for not writing in a while, truth is i haven’t been that busy, I’ve just been incredibly lazy recently.

Alright so like we’ve been mentioning all summer, this has been a great summer for music and right now I’ve got way too much music I want to share. So here goes, the first track is triple mashup that Gareth Emery played during his set at Circus. The original mashup was already incredible and this version was really hard to find so sorry if its a bit short but believe me it’s totally worth it.

 The Great Find (Gareth Emery Re-edit) – Rank 1 vs. Jochen Miller vs. John O’Callaghan

Still from his set a Circus, this is a quadruple mashup that made the crowd go completely crazy.

Lethal Stadium Four (Gareth Emery Edit) – TIësto vs. Lange vs. Andy Moor vs. Komytea

Sorry, both of them are from live sets but it doesn’t take anything away from their greatness. One of the Dj that I like the most at the moment is without a doubt Ben Gold, or Be:Gold depending on the track. This guy, in my opinion is completely insane and deserves to be in the Top 100. Here’s a couple of tracks that Above & Beyond have been featuring lately.

Profile – Ben Gold

Sapphire (Trance Mix) – Ben Gold

Since I haven’t posted since Cosmic Gate, here are the two highlights of that night, both by Nic Chagall, the skinny half of the duo.

Here On This Earth (Nic Chagall Remix) – Tiësto

This Moment (feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn) – Nic Chagall

Here’s a little extra that I think you’ll appreciate

Griffin – Artento Divini

Alright so it seems i haven’t posted anything really dirty recently so here’s the Caspa remix of One by Swedish House Mafia that Justin posted a while back. Needs to be listened to with good speakers though.

One (Your Name) (Caspa Vocal Remix) – Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharell

And finally, some drum and bass / dubstep with Chase & Status.

Death (Chase & Status Remix) – White Lies

Heartbeat (Chase & Status Remix) – Nneka

Pieces (feat. Plan-B) – Chase & Status

Enjoy.

Well, just to make it official, cats are probably the most badasses of animals in the history of animals. I was at the vet today and my cat when crazy, instead of staying back and defending himself when people got close, he went out and attacked everyone, he made me so proud. But anyways, back to the subject.

So, as it seems to have become a habit of mine, a new post means that there are some sick shows coming up. Just when I think I’ve got my summer figured out and that I’ll stop spending money, I find five shows I need to go to. It’s so sad that its great…if that makes any sense.

The first gig i want to mention is this Friday night at Red-Lite. Markus Schulz (who was great Bal en Blanc) is here to promote his new album. Although I haven’t listen to it all, the tracks that I’ve heard are beast and Armin seems to love it also so you know its good.

Perception (feat. Justine Suissa) – Markus Schulz

Do You Dream (Uplifting Vocal Mix) – Markus Schulz

Rain – Markus Schulz (I seem to like every track that shares this name)

Even though most of you guys have plans for Friday already, the beauty of afterhours is that the concert starts around 2:00 am and the Dj arrives around 4ish.

Alright this second show really excites me and I really don’t want to miss it. It’s crazy duo Cosmic Gate and last time they were around, I decided to go see Calvin Harris and Laidback Luke instead and although fun, I was kind of out of it… But anyways these guys are really sick in my opinion.  They play, once again at Red-Lite, on July 30th.

Clockwork (Cosmic Gate Remix) – Deadmau5

Exploration of Space – Cosmic Gate

The Wave – Cosmic Gate

Everything (Cosmic Gate Remix) – Tiësto

Aight so I hope you all enjoy and be sure to let me know if you want to go, concerts alone really aren’t that fun.

As a producer/DJ, you've got to be careful about what you endorse, if not to destroy your own name. Deadmau5's reputation is certainly untouched, even maybe improved with the DJ he recently promoted. Sonny Moore, better known as Skrillex, just released an EP called My Name is Skrillex. I'm completely blown away by this guy's skills. You probably don't recognize his name. I'm relatively certain that I'm not the only one who's never heard of him. Diamond in the rough en esti. Considering this is the first most of us have heard of him, every single song on this release is great. Ok maybe the first 5, I'm not a fan of the last one. I can't wait to see how big this guy is going to become. I think everyone who reads this blog knows how much pull Deadmau5 has in the world of electronic music.
Without further a due, here is the link to his EP. The filetypes are .m4a, so just add them to your iTunes and the music will play.

My Name is Skrillex

Heres his EP's Youtube promotional video.


This is sort of a short post, so here are a few more tracks before I go.

In my opinion, Doctor P's follow up to Sweet Shop has been pretty weak, considering how awesome the song is. Will this remix launch him back into the dubstep spotlight?

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Sick Tonight (Doctor P Remix)

Why has this Tiesto remix not been posted yet? Amazing song, you should have seen this on the site a long time ago.

Muse - Resistance (Tiesto Remix)

And finally, last but not least, here is another Tiesto song to get everyone psyched for the 18th of July. Is it weird to promote an event you won't be attending?

Tiesto - Louder Than Boom (Extended Mix)

Got anything planned for La Saint-Jean? Gareth Emery at Circus. Only 15$. Need I say more? Once again props to Ellis.

So like I said in my last post, I’m extremely busy this week (next week too), so I’m sorry in advance if I cannot keep up with posts. To summarize, I have tests and essays to do/study, there is Deadmau5 on Friday and my girlfriend takes a lot of my time (this one and deadmau5 are awesome). Weee.

I don’t have much music to post, sadly, because I barely have the time to listen to any music or to browse other blogs. SO, Here it goes, starting with the track and then with two upcoming album reviews.

I talked about Bleuet about two weeks ago and he sent me an email this week, saying that his new remix is out. He likes remixing terrible tracks... and making them better, more indie_ish. I really like this one. I really hate the original track though, I really do. Yes, you guessed right, another remix of Pitbull... holy shit. This one is more dark ravey-lounge. You should like it.

Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Bleuet ft. Waye Remix)

Fun stuff, roar.

I downloaded the promo CD of Power (Boys Noize’ upcoming album), and from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty tight if you like his style. If you didn’t get the chance to pick up the two tracks from his EP, get them here. It’s Jeffer and Starter. Just letting you know though, this album is messed up, in a good way. Can’t wait to get the normal and legal version of the tracks (without the “HI THIS IS A PROMOTIONAL COPY OF BOYS NOIZE’ UPCOMING ALBUM, POWER, BROUGHT YOU BY BOYS NOIZE RECORDS. GOOD STUFF” or something like that).

Then, I’ve downloaded and listened to Tiesto’s upcoming album Kaleidoscope. I know most of you hate trance, so I’ll be brief. The tracks are mostly all good and you don’t get sick of the style. He is less “spiritual” if you can call it like that (less parts with classical instruments that give you the feeling you’re watching a movie). Although I enjoyed that aspect of his music, this album is really kickass. It has more potential radio-wise, with songs featuring Calvin Harris and such (NELLY FURTADO WEEEE). I really like it. Here is the tracklist (sorry, no links, I’m not allowed...).

01. Kaleidoscope (Feat. Jonsi) (7:36)

02. Century (Feat. Calvin Harris) (4:42)

03. Feel it in My Bones (Feat. Tegan and Sara) (4:52)

04. Who Wants to Be Alone (Feat. Nelly Furtado) (4:36)

05. La Ride (4:13)

06. Bend it Like You Dont Care (3:22)

07. Knock You Out (Feat. Emily Haines) (5:06)

08. Louder than Boom (4:10)

09. Surrounded by Light (2:39)

10. Escape Me (Feat. Cc Sheffield) (4:17)

11. You Are My Diamond (Feat. Kianna) (4:10)

12. I Will Be Here (Feat. Sneaky Sound System) (3:26)

13. I Am Strong (Feat. Priscilla Ahn) (5:39)

14. Here on Earth (Feat. Cary Brothers) (4:55)

15. Always Near (1:33)

16. Its Not the Things You Say (Feat. Kele Okereke) (3:14)

17. Fresh Fruit (5:23)

Just do it, please. Thanks.

I'm tired and the song Kiss me thru the Phone JUST started playing. Shit. SOULJA BOI. Sigh. I don't feel like writting at all tonight, so here is music for you to listen at while you wait for the next real post. These are random songs I've been listening to lately.

Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Evol Intent Remix)
If you like the original version you won't like this one. Fuck you.

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend (High Contrast Remix) (Link Removed)
Drum n Bass version, because some Mr. Random wanted drum n bass and this version is actually a good remix of the song.

Ace of Base - All That She Wants (The Disco Villains Remix)
This is good stuff.

Tegan & Sara - Back in Your Head (Tiesto Remix)
To all you Tiesto haters: I admit that Trance isn't always where it's at, but sometimes it's good to relax and listen to some. Try it.

Oh really? Naw.