The fact I’m writing this review in mid January is a sign of how extremely busy ‘07 was and ‘08 will seemingly be. bringthebeats has never had so much going on and I don’t think we’ve had a year as motivating, exciting or challenging. Of course it all took place in the never ending quest for good times. Here’s what went down in our underground in 2007.

Q1

2007 started with the year’s most rewarding event. bringthebeats unofficial home throughout ‘06’-07, Queen West’s ‘It’s Not a Deli,’ played host to an absolutely magical night of music, friendship and good will. ‘Luke Fair live on Blog TV’ raised over $2000 for the Yonge Street Youth Mission and was the only club event broadcast across the country on Canada’s first ever video based social networking website.

Joining with the Sonic Nightclub team, bringthebeats helped see the legendary 270 Spadina space go out with some very emotional and memorable events. Claude VonStroke’s five hour set was definitely the highlight of my time at the club. The night was full of energy, vibe and uniquely fresh selections that had me bouncing around the dance floor like no other night at Sonic.

Along with Danny Howells, CVS’s Essential Mix was my favorite of the year. This weekly series has become more miss than hit for me, but Claude’s two hours definitely stood out from most of the rest.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Claude VonStroke – Essential Mix – November 10, 2007

Q2

Just a few weeks after we reluctantly let Sonic go, we happily said adios to our trips to the Guvernment. Over the years I’ve built up quite a bit of resentment towards the Guvy’s methods and their overall approach to the scene. The Decadence event featuring Moby in the Kool Haus and Danny Howells & Ali Dubfire in the Main Room encapsulated all my frustrations into one really, really horrible night.

Danny Howells was back to his old, iconic-like form. Danny is all over the groove again and on this night his immense talent was making the whole room float. That is until Moby literally smashed the decks in the Kool Haus (well at least that’s what it sounded like he was doing).

The entire Guvy main floor cleared, leaving Danny a virtually empty room to wrap up his set. The sheer horror of it all brought me into the other room to see if this blatant disrespect of a proper DJ was just; and as expected, it wasn’t. Moby’s complete lack of any DJ skill and preparation made me shiver. To make matters worse, the entire room was eating it up… it was terrible.

We searched the complex for something more our style but Ali was playing extremely dark tech and though MSTRKFT blazed The Drink for a while, everything else was cheesy and / or overly dirty. There was no doubt, this was the last time we’d ever set foot in the Guvernment or any other event produced by this team.

I’m speaking solely for myself, but these guys have done nothing to nurture the underground spirit of the club scene. They have manipulated bookings to suit their financial agenda and they’ve taken the Toronto clubbing community from being cool, fresh and forward thinking, to commercial, shallow and unworthy of any respect or accolades from the global industry.

Thankfully, the end of the second quarter produced the beginning of a more positive initiative. ‘Sunset Sessions’ at The Next Level offered a weekend alternative to those who didn’t want to spend the spring and summer in the darkness of a nightclub. The Sunday evening parties went off extremely well all season, with my personal highlight being Sean Miller’s performance on Labour Day. This promo released later in the year represents Sean’s maturation as a DJ and artist. He’s progressing in all the rights areas and at Sunset Sessions, it was all on display.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Sean Miller – Lima - 2007

Q3

Luke Fair spent the entire summer globe trotting in support of his legendary Balance 11 compilation. It was a grueling but very satisfying tour for Luke who has begun to cement himself as a top notch A-Level DJ with three major compilations under his belt.

One of the highlights of the tour was a phenomenal three hour showcase of his best from Ministry of Sound in London. As you’ll hear, the set is amazing. Combine it with SOS (who were also on the bill) and the praise both Luke and Demi give to the venue (sounds like MOS is finally living up to its name) and this had to be one of the best events anywhere in the world this year.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Luke Fair – live at Ministry of Sound, London pt.1 – July 21, 2007
Luke Fair – live at Ministry of Sound, London pt.2 – July 21, 2007
Luke Fair – live at Ministry of Sound, London pt.3 – July 21, 2007

Back home, Demi’s boat cruise on Civic Long weekend was the party of the summer for us. Tack on Brad Copeland and Jeff Button’s monster after party at Sunset Sessions, the after, after party on College and the after, after, after party at Club 1000 and this was definitely the marathon party of the year as well.

The most significant aspect of our summer was the launch of EXPOSED. DJ Addy’s opening party and the HOLOSOUND, James Talk and Luke Morrison events that followed, started the weekly off on the right foot. As the night has moved forward we’ve been somewhat brought back down to reality, but only because of the complications and competition within the scene. Each and every artist we’ve booked for the night has brought something special to the decks and it’s their talent and our dedication that will allow us to take this weekly to the next level in 2008.

Q4

bingthebeats turned five on October 4th and to celebrate we brought our great friend Ricky Ryan to EXPOSED. The event was amazing with many of the new and old school btb crew on the floor. Ricky spun a fantastic set and opened the door to many more Toronto appearances in the near future.

But for as great as the party was, it was the days with Ricky that followed that made the weekend the best of the year for me.

Unfortunately Ricky is often misunderstood. Whether its messages lost in translation or his undying and unrelenting passion for promoting quality underground sounds, a group of internet geek chin strokers sometimes perceive Ricky’s intentions in a negative fashion.

I’ve always known (and our birthday weekend confirmed) that Ricky is one of the purest personalities in the scene. He’s fair, compassionate, entertaining and most definitely out-of-this-world talented. He’s our brother from a South American mother and one of the best friends we have anywhere.

This two part set dedicated to the bringthebeats 5th anniversary weekend is a classy, soulful and sexy representation of all the amazing music we listened to that weekend. It was an honour that Ricky compiled these masterpieces with our brand attached.

Download (left-click and unzip):
RICKY RYAN meets www.BRINGTHEBEATS.com 5th ANNIVERSARY – PRIMAVERA
RICKY RYAN meets www.BRINGTHEBEATS.com 5th ANNIVERSARY – INVIERNO

In November we hosted another artist we’d like to continue to connect the bringthebeats effort to in 2008. Neil Quigley, who’s had no problem associating his name with some of the biggest brands in the industry, i.e. Urbantouque, Bedrock and Renaissance, has spun the best set of EXPOSED so far.

For a DJ who’s best known for the deeper sounds of progressive house, Neil had no problem rocking peak time at The Mod Club. The three part EXPOSED.live set (which is available at

December started with an phenomenal night of music from Naveen G and Brad Copeland and ended with the party of the year in Montreal with Spooky, Sasha & Digweed and Sander Kleinenberg at the Pepsi Centre in Montreal.

Both events, though at opposite ends of the numbers spectrum, proved to me that the progressive house scene is far from dead. Despite the commercialism that has tainted many of the venues and parties across the Canadian dance scene, with the right talent and production, the music will speak for itself and the purity of the underground can be maintained.

Artists of the Year

Jeff Button far and away takes the prize for local DJ of the year. Yes we’re completely bias, but no one can deny that Jeff’s following became abnormally larger as the year went on and the huge number of promos he released in 2007 speaks volumes of this guy’s growing talent.

Jeff has fought the power and avoided the hit parade that has soiled Toronto dance floors. He’s settled into a professional, deep progressive groove that has been praised by clubbers, promoters and fellow DJs alike.

It all starts with his personality. Jeff is a great dude and a pleasure to work with in all aspects of what he does for the scene. This set he put together on two days notice for John Do’s

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