Pendulum at The Guvernment - Toronto

As DESTINY Events turned 21 years old, what better way to celebrate than having Pendulum join you and take over the Guvernment. The party was a full on Drum and Bass collaboration as along side the Australians saw support from the talented Marcus Visionary and Lush.

To start off I cannot say that I am a front-runner for Drum and bass music but I certainly always willing to give it a chance.  I have undoubtedly heard a lot about but I haven’t had the chance to see them do a DJ set live. When Pendulum is mentioned there is no doubt that Knife Party is go to come up. Knife Party is the side project of Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen who originally formed Pendulum along with Paul Harding.

If you have ever heard a Knife Party set you know the type energy they let off, Pendulum is no different. The sound was strong and the BPM were high! The great thing about the night apart from the music was the people.  The people at this event mixed from old school parachute pant ravers, kandi kids, rocker and frankly normally clothed fans.  I have done a lot of Electronic events but I must say the way dnb fans commit to the music and the dancing is incredible.

I also have to thank my new friend Diego, who runs DiGo SyN Promotions, they provided me with a pair of comp tickets to the show as a result of a contest.  Hell of a good way to spend a Friday night at the legendary and soon be closing Guverment. Cheers and Thank you!

Fool's Gold Day Off - Toronto Edition

Photo: via The Bass Collective

Fool’s Gold record label, founded by Kanye West and Canada’s own A-trak, is one of the many record label companies launching a festival pulling from its talent along with special guests. Rightfully so, A-Trak  is one of the few DJ’s that you really get the sense that he is really Djing, connecting with the crowd, before, during and after shows. Successful, driven and ever so humble. Compile that with support from his crew: Danny Brown, Thugli, Nick Catchdubs, Le1f, LUNICE, Tommy Kruise, High Klassified, and Sleepy Tom you have a serious party on your hand.

The event was supposed to be hosted at Sherbourne Common but got switched about a week before the event to Muzik Pool Bar.  Lots of negative comments came about from the switch but looking back at the turn out of people, I think it was fitting as the common’s would have been awkwardly vacant.  All in all I believe that the venue was fitting, drink prices were what you would expect from a “festival” and there was loads of waiting staff and bartenders available.

The festival was fun and I really enjoyed the performances from Thugli, High Klassified, Le1f and A-trak. Was it one of the better events of the summer? Not particularly and that was a little concerning as I would have expected something more from A-Trak. The change of venue, running the party from 12:00-20:00, poor turnout combined with the fairly inconsistent weather really hurt this event. There was just something that said, this event was quickly thrown together.  I hate to be hard on them, as it was only their second event under the Day off name, but it was lacking the energy I anticipated.

I do look forward to them bringing this event back next year; maybe even in collaboration with other labels such as Mad Decent or Dirty Bird and really make it an all day and night party.

Sundance Beach Festival 2014

September 13, 2014 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The first ever Sundance Beach Festival took place at HTO Park as the festivities for the Toronto International Film Festival were coming to a close. This event was probably one of the better orchestrated festivals of the summer and for its compact size it was actually one of the best.  The venue overlooked the Toronto waterfront as well as had the backdrop of the CN Tower and Roger Centre to provide atmosphere.

Let’s admit it, we have all been holding back to accept the fact summer is over here in Toronto. Sundance did an incredible job on the setup, location and lineup for this event.  I would even go out on the limb and say this was probably one of the top 3 events of the summer here in the city. Small, intimate and musically sound festivals should be the focus of our city’s electronic music culture.

The hand picked line-up was top, which saw: Audien, Mercer, Jerome Isma Ae, Jorn van Deynhoven, MaRLo, Saad Ayub, Shaun Frank and Andy Ares. For me, Mercer was the highlight of the night. He had a late afternoon set and seeing him spin at a few arms length away and then turning around to see the crowd’s reaction was spectacular.  Audien also did a great job closing out the night as we got to hear big tunes and some of his well known remixes.

All and all I am excited to hear that they are already working on next year’s event.  Considering the workmanship that went into this years I know that the 2015 edition will bring even closer attention to detail making it a festival to be sought-after by many.

Mad Decent Block Party 2014, Higher expectations requested

Such a big name in the festival and DJ scene right now so you would be secure in your mind that this would be one of the year’s biggest parties, right? Well you know what I can’t say it was the worst or the best.  What I do know is that I probably will save myself the 1.5 hour half line that was like an airport check-in, terrible will-call staff, a subpar sound system and sectioned off drinking area and go right to the after party.

MDBP is a pure example of a brand that has really made an impact in the scene; they have a huge record label that encompasses a mass amount of talent.  Diplo and friends have such an appeal to all cultures and genres that this event has potential to be a truly characterizing experience. Instead it is wasted. There is a huge lean on names that are on the festival flyer. It is called attention to detail. Yes, world renown artists are great but if it lacks sound, atmosphere and simple event edict it will be am average event at best.

The highlight of the night was leaving fort York and heading over to the Hoxton for the after party.  Such a great demonstration of a real party with an intimate atmosphere, a ready to go crowd and the DJ’s.  If they could have taken this show and put it on a bigger scale a balance in the universe would have been met.  The true taker of the night was when diplo showed up at about 3am and did a 45 minute set for about 50 people.

If you have never been to the MDBP do go and experience it for yourself.  You will probably find me at the entrance selling my ticket to you and saving that money for drinks at the Hoxton shortly after.

Corona Sunset Beach Festival

The weekend past marked the first ever Corona Sunset Beach Festival that was held on Toronto Island.  Despite the gloomy weather this festival marked a monumental shift to festival life and music culture in the city.  ID&T was successful at bringing a unique and cultivating experience to the scene in Toronto by combining properly placed talent across music genres to create a truly engulfing experience.   From the ferry to the island, the precisely placed flags visualized the wind, to the rigid wooden skids that made up the stage and various structures – this is what we want in a festival.

Forget who is headlining! Which act is on next? The experience was that moment. All the performers, DJs or bands had your command.  That’s right I mentioned a band at an electronic music festival. Thievery Corporation really stole the show for me and many around me.  You could feel the energy around as the performers funkily strutted their hip-hop, reggae, and Indian influenced flair.  I vividly recall the limit less of age groups surrounding me enjoying the experience, there was a sense of release and acceptance; were we even in Toronto? It felt more like the White Island.

It was equally admirable to hear the funky grooves of Casjmere. Not only did he sound great, I couldn’t help but feel the joy of the giant smile that he wore while his MC complimented his excellence.  The closing DJ Moby.  If you have seen him before or if this was your first time – what an experience. He is a legend and he consciously prepared a “festival set” and made it into a journey. It is a journey that he is on with you.  His energy, his movements, his stances expressing his dedication to you and to the music.
I want to thank Corona and ID&T for opening up this experience to me and reinstating the reasoning for a gathering of the masses.  To share and extend that positive energy, the smiles and the dancing.

Mysteryland USA 2014

May 23-25, 2014 | Bethel Woods, New York, USA

The inaugural Mysteryland on North American soil took place in Bethel Woods, New York. The worlds longest running electronic dance music festival graced the legendary Woodstock ’69 grounds, so fitting!

I purchased my tickets right when the festival as my counterpart really wanted to celebrate this event as her first festival was Mysteryland Chile and she wanted me to experience what she had endured! Unfortunately she was dealing with visa issues to re-enter Canada so I had to setout alone on this one.

Friday. So I rented a car and started my 6-hour drive from Toronto to the holy grounds, which would be my first camping festival. Upon arrival; parked the car and quickly figured out that I have about a 30 minute walk with my tent, cooler, luggage and sleeping gear! People don’t make the mistake I did; bring a wagon or something with wheels!

I got my will call ticket and proceeded to the campsite security. There they really didn’t get to frisky, they did a quick body search and had a quick look in my cooler. I proceeded to quickly find room for my tent before sundown. Friday, the day I arrived was the campus pre-party that Nicky Romero was hosting at the Circus tent. It was a good start to the celebrations with Michael Calfan, Vicetone, John Dahlback, Don Diablo, Nicky Romero and Tritonal.

Saturday. The gates opened fairly early, around 12, but the line up about 2 hours long fill with anxious ravers to be apart of history. The word being passed while waiting in line was that there was no backpacks allowed, there were drug dogs, security was checking everything etc. Most of these allegations weren’t true; there were dogs at the entrance, but I cam only assume bomb dogs (or else I would presume every second person would have been tackled), reasonable size backpacks were allowed in the venue and normal body checks were happening. I took a lot of time Saturday exploring the grounds and the various stages. I really enjoyed the Mexican themed stage, the wishing tree, the array of flags on the grounds, Q-dance, vinyl, the boat and the main stage. I got to see some heavy hitters like Sick Individuals, Sultan + Ned Shepard, Dyro, Fedde le Grand, Nervo, Showtek, and (unfortunately) Steve Aoki. But to my early departure from the main stage I got to fall in love with Big Gigantic – so so good, those drums and sax!

Before home, back inside the camping ground, I had two unexpected stops. The first one was to the Bang on NYC which was such a chill and groovy vibe where lots of people gathered, danced but mostly chilled out enjoying the moment. From the not so far distance there was a bizarre airing of circus music coming naturally from the circus tent. I headed over and there was a small gathering of festivalgoers, a gypsy band (Amour Obscur) and lovely people dresses as birds. What we had on our hands was an amazing party of music I never know existed with bird people feeding everyone gummy worms as if we were their young. Not that the day was unpleasant but this was by far one of the highlights of the day, I suppose because it was so random.

Sunday. The reasonable thing about camping is that you may not appreciate as it sounds ridiculous is that the sun in the morning is kicking your ass out of bed. Yeah, yeah, its bad you say but it isn’t: It means you have some pre-drinking to do, finding of Saturdays friends, maybe a shower? Who did I enjoy: Dimitri Vegas & Like mike, Moby, Dillion Francis, DVBBS, Flosstradamus, Dillstradamus and Pete Tong.

Overall, the camping experience changed my perspective; you never lose that disconnect with the music or festivalgoers or the party but you are separated enough have some down time, as you need it. Mysteryland was probably one of the best festivals I have been too; maybe the best so far due to the nature of the people my only negative point is that you cannot have Steve Aoki or Kaskade as your headliners. They are just not good enough in my personal opinion. Will I go again next year? Yes I would love too but that being said would a Tomorrowland possibility trump this option – I think so as there is always room to explore new festivals and boundaries. To keep bouncing around along the same path can cap your vision.

P.S. But I am still routing for my 2015 return!

New Years Eve with Pleasurekraft in Toronto, Canada

It looks like provoke is at it again putting on another great event.  They Welcome Pleasurekraft back to Toronto for a New Years Celebration.  The Swedish/American Duo is geared up to play a 3 hours set (minimum) of tech, electro, funky house along side Damn Kids and Sam haze at the beautiful venue known as House of Moments which is busy being a lounge, restaurant and art gallery.

Come looking fresh and bring in the New Year at one of Toronto’s hottest parties.

Facebook event page 

Tickets & Info

Tickets:

Early Bird: $40

Advance 1: $50

Advance 2: $60

Ticket includes appetizer, midnight champagne toast and entry

Times:

- Doors open at 9pm, ends at 4am (min)

Dress Code:

- Style Code (semi formal, relaxed, stylish, it will all be welcome; as long as it fresh looking!)

Venue:

House of Moments | 386 Carlaw Ave, Toronto, ON M4M 2T4, Canada

Who is R3HAB?

“Who is R3hab?” was the response I got the other day when was talking to a random group of “EDM fans” I started a conversation with. Although I did find it quite amusing, I took advantage of the opportunity to introduce them to one of the worlds best DJ’s. R3HAB is a DJ that truly loves to perform; he appreciates his fans and is a brilliant producer.  He hails from the Netherlands and joins the class of DJ's such as Hardwell, Afrojack and Chuckie.  

He has graced the city of Toronto a few times in the past few years playing at Digital Dreams and Uniun nightclub. I have had the opportunity to check him out at the listed events as well as at Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra Music Festival this year.  Each show is full of energy and you can expect him to play a mix of genres from progressive house, electro house, to trap.

So Fadil (aka R3HAB) don’t worry situation averted, hopefully tonight at Guvernment there will be some fresh fans amongst us! 

Toronto show details:

Date: October 11, 2013

Location: Guvernment Entertainment Complex

Tickets: ink-tickets.com

Deniz Koyu at Uniun Nightclub Toronto

Tonight (September 27, 2013) will see the Turkish DJ Deniz Koyu taking over Uniun nightclubs Factory Fridays. Deniz is a progressive and electro house Dj and producer currently signed to Refune record (Owned by ex Swedish house Mafia DJ, Sebastian Ingrosso). This event promises to be a great party with a DJ who loves to preform and appreciates his fans.

Tickets: Inktickets.com

Check out his live set at Ultra Music Festival 2013:

Prok & Fitch @ Maison Mercer | Oct 13, 2013

http://www.wantickets.com/Prok_Fitch_mathew

Prok & Fitch is a duo that hail from the United Kingdom and will be spinning their deep and funky house grooves at Maison Mercer on Thanksgiving long weekend (October 13, 2013).  The sound that they provide is a well paired match for Masion because of the sexy crowd that they attract and chic atmosphere.  Prok & Fitch have toured worldwide from Australia to North and South America and have penetrated the club capital of the world at Pacha in Ibiza.  The DJ/Producers have heavy and diversified support behind them from the likes of  Steve Angello, Paul Van Dyk and Carl Cox.

Tickets available at Wanted Tickets

Maison is one of Toronto's biggest and best clubs emitting fashion, style and sexiness amongst its clients and interior.  The venue itself has been home to many of the worlds talented Dj's and boasts a superb sound system to really feel the music.  Come visit Maison for your self and experience the best of Toronto nightlife.

 

Tickets:

Early Bird: $15 (Limited)

Advance: $20

2 for 1: $25 (Limited)

General Admission: $30

*$20 pay-at-the-door + VIP tickets are ready at the office for pick-up

Bottle Service:

- 4bttl min for tables behind the DJ + dance floor

- 3bttl min for all other tables

- 2comps per bottle

Times: Doors open at 10pm, ends at 5am

Dress Code: Style Code

Location: 15 Mercer St, Toronto

Adventure Club at Uniun Nightclub

This Friday (June 7, 2013) Adventure Club will be destroying the minds of youth at Uniun Nightclub! They are a Montreal based duo that is greatly known for their dubstep remixes success such as “Flight Facilities - Crave You (Adventure Club Remix)” and “Yuna - Lullabies (Adventure Club Remix)”. I had the pleasure of checking these guys out at there early set at Ultra 2013 and they were definitely top 10 set I saw at the 2 weekend festival. 

Adventure Club we salute you and I look forward to another epic encounter!

Up all night to get lucky

The king of pop was definitely in the room with Daft Punk collaborating on this song. Its going to be a killer in the clubs this summer! Come on May 21!!!!

Ultra Music Festival Phase 1 Announcement

It is a fresh new year and the wonderful news of Ultra music Festival phase 1 line-up has officially been released.   Their was much speculation on the acts that were going to be provided and they were pretty much dead on.  Of course the big news that Swedish House Mafia would be closing there tour in Miami.  People can hate on them all they want, they produce a good show with the energy to go along with it.  

Apart from the usual big names that will be there such as: Above and beyond, Afrojack, Kaskade, Tiesto, Deadmau5 etc. I am extremely excited to hear Major Lazer, Fat Boy Slim and Knife party will be present.  Most DJ’s have a “presence” about them but I feel that these three specifically really bring into play all the senses and want to join the crowd in there playfulness.  I look forward to Phase 2 announcements and anticipate hearing of the French duo Daft Punk striking back at Ultra for their 2013 tour!

**Update (jan 10 - 21:04): The second weekend has been approved, lets hope the drama ends there so the people can enjoy the festivities!.

What also seems to be in question is the overruling of Ultra having second weekend festivities at Bayfront Park.  There has been voiced concerns over the traffic and disturbance to the Miami downtown core that will disturb business and residence over and between the 2 weekends.  Another concern that has local residence up in arms is the drug use that is anticipated to happen on and in-between the two weekends.  Both sides had submitted their cases and now we can only wait for the final outcome.

63 days and counting, see you beautiful people at Ultra!

Mysteryland Chile: The Best Electronic Festival in the South

Well well well, I don't know how to start this, but all can say is "I want to be back there now!" Mysteryland Chile 2012 was all u could ask for in an EDM festival: good music, good organization and the event captured all 5 senses. It was clear that ID&T knows how to bring its Dutch style and customize it in a Chilean way. If last years event was about the little details, this year they expanded that and put an extra effort in stage production.

This 3-day festival took over Chile from Friday December 14th until Sunday December 16th.  The setup included 9 amazing stages: Main Stage, Q-dance, Dirty Dutch, Club Fauna, RedBull/Vagabundos, El Griller, Doll Music, Club de Baile and the Potrero Lounge where you could find every kind of style for every taste. They brought the customize version of the original Mysteryland 2012 Mains stage (Lotus Flower), Q-dance stage (The Hard-style Lyon) and Redbull Stage (Pirate Butterfly Boat).

The Q-dance stage took all the attention. The hard-style Lyon stimulated the jumping and craziness of the thousands of Hard-style fans.  This stage also allowed newbies electronic partygoers the possibility to capture the outstanding and unique sound and as well the entertainment of the show.

Main Stage was spectacular to watch. It was full of big colors, beautiful screens, amazing lights, powerful lasers and very good level of talent performing there such as Sander Van Doorn, An21, Style of eye, Adrian Lux, Otto Know, Chuckie, etc.

Dj Chuckie, representing the Dirty Dutch sounds, stole a lot of the attention.  His production brought all the dirty electro from Holland that literally made some people go crazy as spectators started to climb light stands in admiration as they felt the energy of the moment.

An honorable Mention must be expressed to the Fauna and Vagabundos stages. Fauna stage included some of the local indie producers that showed their ability and knowhow to how capture and express their styles at a festival setting. The Vagabundos area brought all Ibiza style deep house that was thoroughly enjoyable as especially a regrouping point after heavy partying.

I truly cannot decide which were the best sets, many sets overlapped during the event so it was impossible to watch them all. I was really impressed with Riton, Otto Knows, Chuckie, Dj Isaac, Dj drummer, Adrian Lux, Sander Van Doorm, Mastiksoul, to name a few. The two logistical issues that are worth mentioning were that the bathroom had very long queues for women and the fact that it was almost impossible to take a shower.

The rest u need to experience yourself, Mysteryland Chile is unique and u can ask any ID&T producer and they will answer how great Chilean partiers are!

Diego Moreno

@Diego_Moreno

An Italian, Dutch and Canadian kind of weekend!

Davide Squillace, the Italian superstar will be spinning his melodic lounge and tech house track this evening at Cobra Nightclub Dec 14.  Davide has recently graced the legendary Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 hosted by Pete Tong this past September.  The Essential Mix is a platform where new and already discovered talent can express their music to the world in a digital form.  Tickets can be purchased for the Cobra event here.

If you haven’t already heard, Afrojack will be in Toronto on Friday playing at Uniun Nightclub for their stellar ‘Factory Fridays’.  The Dutch sensation is one of the world’s top house Dj’s and producers who continues to light up festivals and dance floors across the world.  The beauty of this event is that it is a small venue that will leave no restrictions for the Dutchman to play his bangers or experiment a bit with his style. Friday show is currently sold out as of today but there will surely be resale tickets available online and outside the event. 

Friday will also see a Hed Kandi Christmas held at Cinema.  Here you will find Andy Warburton featuring his “Good looking house” music.  Hed Kandi events are always a good time have seen there way around Toronto at various venues in the city.  Online tickets can be found here for purchase.

Keeping the cold OUT this weekend

The weekend is fast approaching and for some they will be taking advantage of “Friday chico” (tonight).  At this moment Boys Noize is probably setting fire to New Gas City tonight in Montreal than taking over the Sound Academy on Friday.  Alexander Ridha, Boys Noize real name, is a Germany DJ and producer who has been well established in electronic and techno music since 2005.  Alex is currently on a world tour and playing long side Dj’s such as Skrillex, Steve Aoki, The Prodigy, Ellie Goulding and various other acts.

Friday will see Roger Sanchez, the brilliant DJ/producer from Queens, playing at Uniun nightclub smashing his house and tribal sounds. I have had the pleasure of seeing Roger in Chile at Club Suka and it was an amazing party full of classics and new tunes.  RL Grime and Torro torro will be spinning at the Hoxton to give you your trap fix.  Oh man I am really loving trap these days, after been given a proper dose from Diplo in the summer at Electric Zoo there was no turning back. Friday will also see Pete Tong touching down in Pacha NYC as well as fellow Brits Chase and Status who will be playing at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

For all the Torontonians looking for a winter outdoor/indoor festival tickets to ‘Brrrrr! Winter Music Festival!’ Go on sale tomorrow at 10 am.  The festival will be held at Echo Beach at Ontario Place.  The current line-up includes: Dubfire, Moby, Chus & Ceballos, Magda, and Deniz Koyu.  It should bring the EDM lovers a fix for the winter blue’s, yes it is cold outside but the troopers will be out and not too worry there is a indoor area for the less brave. Tickets range from 40-50 for the 2-day festival which is quite reasonable and would be a great stocking stuffer for that hardcore partier!  Tickets available here.

Saturday inside of the Guvernment DEKO-ZE will be bringing his high-energy house sounds to his home crowd.  Check out this great live set to see how hard he will be working to make you move your feet:

Toronto, the new Miami?

With Decembers ‘Factory Fridays’ posted you would think that INK is on its way of making Toronto the new Miami.  Get ready for it: Roger Sanchez, Afrojack with Shermanology, Funkagenda, and Calvin Harris with Jacob Plant. I know, I still cannot believe it! The weather might still be cold outside but you know it's going to be hot inside Uniun.

But before December comes we will have the Swedish duo AN21 & Max Vangeli Phasing out Novembers ‘Factory Fridays’ at Uniun.  The two Swed’s are known for their banging house sounds and their releases and remixes with some of the industry’s greats such as Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia, Michael Woods and Ellie Goulding.  You do not have to dig to deep to know that AN21 is the brother of the world famous Steve Angelo of SHM.  Steve has seen the talent Max and his brother and has signed them to his label, Size Records.  Opening for them is NO_ID and Friday residence Manzone and Strong.

You can find all event ticketing on the INKtickets.com website, get them soon as they are subject to change.

Mixify teaming up with the Bounce Music Festival

Bounce music festival is going to be lighting up Nashville, TN tonight as Rusko is headlining alongside DVBBS and Wick-it the Instigator. Bounce is an international touring electronic dance music festival, who has lined up some big names for its fans such as: Tiesto, Dada Life,  Alesso, Avicii, Hardwell and Martin Solveig.

Can’t make it to Nashville to see the show? Don’t worry our friends at Mixify are bringing you DVBBS and Wick-it the Instigator via a live stream.  I am truly impressed with the initiative that the group at Mixify has brought to the industry. This accessibility and joining of the community is a unique component that allows fans to take part from around the world.  This is beneficial to the artists as well as it provides them with exposure to new fans and allows them to still connect with current ones.

DVBBS - November 19th, 2012 @ 11:00pm EST

http://www.mixify.com/dvbbs/event/dvbbs-live-from-bounce-music-festival

WICK- IT the Investigator - November 19th, 2012 @ 11:59pm EST

http://www.mixify.com/wickit/event/wick-it-live-from-bounce-music-festival