What would life be without house music? When I’m up and when I’m down, when I’m working hard or chilling out, it’s always been there… when I need it the most and even when I don’t. House music is my security blanket, my crutch and unconditional friend. It’s everything I want and need it to be and thankfully it’s something that will forever just be.
But even house music can be overdone. I honestly believe I’ve overdosed on beats more than once. Many times I’ve had to pick myself up and tuck the headphones away because my body and mind have told me in unison I’ve listened too much.
It’s a weird sensation to get so totally locked into the groove that you lose all concept of where you are and what you’re doing. I guess too much of anything isn’t good for anyone and unfortunately for me, house music is no exception to this rule.
I had one of these “Oh my God this is way too much!” moments while jamming to this Fresh Beats mix from Hernan Cerbello. I was at my desk working on some mundane shit and before I know it I’m coming around with the kick calling my name from behind. Let me tell you it’s super embarrassing to be caught in your cubical, totally zoned out with your head bouncing around in the middle of the afternoon… by your coordinator! Who knows how long I was doing that for and if others may have come and gone before? All I know is my desktop was a mess when I finally got back to being focused on work. Fine example I am.
It doesn’t really matter because I can’t help but be excited that progressive house DJs like Hernan aren’t sitting around sulking over the explosion of techno like I’ve been. They’re embracing it and incorporating cool tech sounds into their program and whether I can believe it or not, I’m actually totally digging it.
I remember in Lisa’s Inside the IM with Naveen G he quoted Lee Burridge saying that Lee doesn’t play progressive, he plays music progressively. Hernan is one of these super cool artists that are following Lee’s lead and it’s really opening my ears to tracks that I might not have ever given a second listen if they weren’t so clinically fit into a progressive mix.
I asked Hernan to make this promo because I think it’s amazing how he’s adapted to the sounds of today and even more incredible how that music continues to impact my life. If I strip it all down to just the tunes, all of this influence is positive… even if I’m caught making a fool of myself within the process.
Last weekend, after a four year hiatus, we returned to the floor of the most fantastic club we’ve ever had the privilege to dance in. Stereo in Montreal is a shrine to everything we love about the nightclub scene, and it’s only become more incredible after renovations that were initiated by a devastating fire in the summer of 2008.
The analogue based sound is unbelievably exceptional, one of a kind. Being amidst its delicate power can easily trigger an out of body experience; it has for me many times. The classy and sophisticated décor is absolutely how we’d outfit an underground space and the clubbers the Stereo legend attracts are seriously intent on an uninterrupted session of non stop grooves. Picture the super sexy people of Montreal, armed with running shoes and cool, comfortable styles; Stereo is most definitely our kind of place, hosting our kind of people.
Unfortunately for us, the bliss ends there. Outside a couple inconveniently scheduled appearances by Danny Howells, a few Harem Records parties and a rare underground booking of Claude Von Stroke, Stereo simply doesn’t give a second look to the fresh talent of progressive house. Yes, over the past four years we could have traveled for a commercialized Sander Kleinenberg or any of Stereo’s old school New York House residents, but the thought of being back inside the newly renovated temple of sound and not enjoying what was coming from the speakers was (and is now confirmed) a completely empty feeling.
This most recent return came out of the blue as our trip was planned for months and it was only a spur of the moment decision that we attended Danny Tenaglia’s 20 years of DJing anniversary. I’ll try not to waste too much of this post complaining about Danny’s skills, track selection and total lack of direction, because that’s not what the piece is supposed to be about. But I have to say every minute of our time inside Stereo was spent consumed with unfulfilled dreams of developing a proper music policy for such a legendary venue.
Knowing this Fresh Beats promo from Fran Bortolossi was on its way, many of my thoughts revolved around the quality sound we were sure to expect within this mix. I imagined the groups of people hovering around each other actually facing the booth and not one another. I tried to feel the melodies and smooth grooves of Fran’s selections heard over the warmest sound system in the world, not the banging and monotonous build ups that were effectively wearing me down and were the only way Danny could get through a mix. I yearned for a DJ who would be paid a fraction of Tenaglia’s fee but would perform to a level actually deserving of the coolest club on the planet.
Fran is without a doubt a perfect example of the new breed that should be given the opportunity to express their interpretation of today’s electronic music in the marquee clubs of the industry. No, he won’t be playing for 30 hours over a weekend, but he’d give you five hours of undivided attention and focus. He’d tap into every bit of the musical training he’s developed since the age of eight and would respectfully pay homage to his greats, influences like Nick Warren, Hernan Cattaneo, Sasha& John Digweed. Fran would provide the South American soul that is so desperately lacking in the North American sound and I know the Stereo faithful would absolutely adore what he’d do for them.
I’m under no illusion that for now Fran Bortolossi at Stereo is anything but a dream, but for just one hour humour me. Close your eyes and listen to this mix in your headphones. Envision yourself in Stereo or simply on your favourite dance floor and truly embrace the emotion created by this budding Brazilian superstar. If you’re anything like me I think you’ll agree, this is the music that should be heard in the right place at the right time.
Time is never on my side… growing up totally sucks! Between my job, the all encompassing move from Club 1000 and the everlasting battle between my brain and the size of my belly, I just don’t get the chance to search out Fresh Beats as much anymore. Geezus, it’s gotten to the point where I’m drafting most of these posts on the phone in transit.
Thank God for the push technology of SoundCloud and the amazing DJs that appreciate the site enough to send promos our way or we’d be stuck in music purgatory right now. It really is amazing that we can get incredible new tunes by simply logging into our inbox. We appreciate it sooooooo much.
This set came to us in just this way. Our main man from Tampa Bay, Steve Graham sent this gem of a live mix to my Facebook account and boy have we ever put it to great use ever since. It’s so good when you were actually on the dance floor when listening to a live promo because you can place yourself back in the vibe and truly feel it all again inside.
As we’ve written over and over again, Listed’sBalance party at the WMC was one of the best of the conference and this set from Joris Voorn stood out from just about everything we heard throughout the week. This was the day I knew without a doubt Joris was a world class talent. It was the second time I’d been on one of his dance floors and this gig was as good, but also very different from the one before.
At Footwork his tech was pumping and progressive, atop the Victor Hotel it was deep and bumpy. All of his selections have groove and soul no matter the pace and he is one of the few who can properly mix it up in any setting. Inside or out Joris Voorn is most impressive, and in my opinion, one of the not many who absolutely “gets it.”
This download is amazing in so many ways. It represents a lot of what I love about this music… and it’s not even in the realm of the style I dig most. It’s the purest example of quality live music I’ve heard in a long time, and I think you’ll agree no matter what you’re into.
Electronic Dance is the World Cup of music. No other style connects the four corners of the earth like EDM, just as no other tournament in sports has more global appeal than the World Cup. By far the best thing about being deeply entrenched in this industry is the bonds we’ve formed with passionate fans from all over the planet.
We can virtually watch every game of the World Cup and have allegiances to one or both of the teams because of someone we’ve met in the house music scene. There’s no better example of this than Sunday’s match between Mexico and Argentina, a rematch of the top contest of Germany ‘06.
Of course our bond with the Argentinians is no secret and our trip to Buenos Aires in 2006 created lasting memories of a beautiful, lively city inhabited by equally gorgeous and energizing people. But our friends in the Northern part of the Americas are just as amazing and if anyone deserves a victory on the world’s stage it’s the Mexicans, especially after what they had to endure with the H1N1 bullshit.
Gabriel Sordo is the original Mexican in the bringthebeats crew. For a few years now Gabby’s been providing us with some of the most musical and intricate compilations we’ve hosted. This mix may be the most complex to date, as I believe it’s the first ambient set we’ve promoted on the site. What makes it increasingly special is that he made it with our audience in mind, knowing we would definitely appreciate such a work of art… and we absolutely do!
Ironically we were introduced to Memo Insua through Ricky Ryan, and on Sunday the two will be cheering from opposite sides of the pitch (Ricky literally speaking as he and his bro are in South Africa for the games). We approached Memo for this submission after hearing the many incredible productions coming from his very active SoundCloud page. This guy is a straight up wizard when it comes to deep and funky tech house and this mix is no exception. If you were to ask me what the coolest and hottest sound is for me right now, I’d pass on this promo from Memo.
Best of luck to our Mexican and Argentinean friends this Sunday and to all who are cheering on their country in this amazing spectacle of sport and pride. As Canadians we know what its like to achieve greatness with our Olympic success in Vancouver, it must be just as fantastic for all who are locked into the World Cup.
My life is filled with many ups and downs right now. As I get on I find it difficult not to be moody. I’m sure this can be chalked up to many ‘growing up’ variables, but I know for sure the club scene is one of them. I’ve become the industry leper for not digging dark techno and commercial electro. Just the other day I told a friend I thought John Digweed’s Essential Mix was too much for me and his response was; “I wish you liked good music.”
I’m sorry but I just don’t get it anymore. I’ve been on the dance floor for Marco Corola, but that was 10 years ago and I was super jacked up. Now that I need to use my energy wisely, I hope to do it up with my head on straight. With all my senses intact, the relentlessness, aggressiveness and darkness of that Essential Mix does nothing but put me in a negative space.
I like to think I’ve evolved as a person (I probably think too much) and as a lover of house music first and foremost – a partier a very distant second – I’m hoping to find music that has progressed along with my tastes. In a mainstream sense it bothers me to hear people say they hate Madonna or U2 for updating their sound. These cougars would rather press repeat on the cookie cutter tracks of the Stones than hear Bono blaze a tight melody over an electronic groove.
I see the same in the Toronto club scene. Most of this city’s clubbers are content with the monotony of the Amigos week in and week out; the same tracks at the same pace with the same vibe each and every time. And what really swings my mood in the wrong direction is that great DJs like Brad are left with nowhere to play because Toronto dance floors are impatiently yearning for ‘The Hits’ or ‘Banging Dirty Beats’ and that’s definitely not what he’s in this game for.
Brad knows what it takes to make the fair-weathered dance; notes are not required. We know he could play the game better than the best of them, but what does that do for upfront music in this city? Nothing. So thank God for DJs like him and true underground promotions like Platform and Fabricated for doing what they can to preserve the forward thinking nature of EDM in Toronto.
With this encore bringthebeats mix (we loved his April promo so much we had to ask for more) Brad displays his unwavering commitment to fresh cuts and unpredictable programming. There’s absolutely nothing obvious about this music. Brad shows the majority how cool tech can be, with pace and funk, while maintaining his signature silky smooth transitions and impeccable mixing.
Another A-level offering from one of Canada’s all-time greats; somehow we gotta get this music back in the big clubs.
I can’t say music is my life, but it’s certainly shaped much of it. My styles, my friends and my attitude have always been a reflection of the tunes I’m currently listening to. I was a baggy pant wearing, b-balling hip hopper as a teen, a plaid drunken grunger in university and an angry punk the couple years after.
It wasn’t until I found house music that I finally felt good, acted good and in the most humble sense, looked good. I contribute this to a scene where you’re allowed to be yourself, with nobody telling you how to act, what to wear or who to hang with. You just make peace with who you are and on the dance floor you can be whoever you want to be.
It’s in the club environment where I’ve made my deepest connections with the like-minded. When you’re in a room listening to a DJ you love, there’s a great chance the people around you are from the same kind of crew. So as you can imagine, listening to Luke Fair for so many years has introduced us to some of our coolest and closet friends.
The BroKen DJs, Jon Passey and Jamie Scott, are two such dudes. Some of our highlight memories from Miami’s past are with these guys and it all came together through our mutual love for what Luke Fair does. Extremely modest and incredibly fun, Jon and Jamie have transitioned their overwhelmingly positive energy into a disco deep, funky progressive house sound. Go figure, that’s exactly what we’re looking for.
The duo has found great success DJing in and around their home base in the UK. Their residency for Neustra Casa, one of London’s most revered house nights, has landed them in the booth at some of the city’s most renowned nightclubs including Ministry of Sound and the sorely missed Turnmills. They’ve also secured gigs in Norway and will be playing in Lithuania later this summer.
This Fresh Beats exclusive has been compiled with our warm weather in mind. Knowing we love the poolside vibes 24/7, 365 days a year, Jon and Jamie have provided a mix that is super groovy, expectedly smooth and absolutely guaranteed to put you in a great mood. So without further ado, we introduce to you introduce to you the BroKen DJs and their perfectly suited bringthebeats debut.
I’m not all that into party reviews anymore, pics, vids and music usually tell the story better than I. But since rapping on the keyboard is what we do here, I’d be amiss not to mention some of the highlights of what may have been our favourite Winter Music Conference ever. And of course there are pics, vids and music to pass along as well. So indulge me in a party by party trip down memory lane now that the cobwebs have finally cleared from this wild and wonderful week.
Tuesday March 23
After a virtual full body cavity search from the American Airlines staff, we had a fairly low key, stress free flight to Miami. We arrived at our spectacular hotel sorted by organizational ace Jason Warth and then immediately hit up Five Guys Burger and Fries for a quick bite. We actually made a list of places to eat this year and this was one of the most highly recommended burger joints on South Beach. And for good reason, the food was fantastic.
Soon after we were off to part-eh #1… SOS at BED. It was amazing to see everyone after a year away from conference, but the smoke inside BED is almost unbearable and SOS was good but not great. These guys are over the top talented and have incredible charisma, but I just can’t get into the flow of the trio spinning in unison. There are far too few tempo changes and for some reason they choose to really bang it out when playing together. It’s a bit much for me.
Wednesday March 24
The DJ Mag at The Shelborne poolside party was definitely not for us. It sounds like Way Out West were great in the early hours and we did catch the end of Dennis Ferrer’s set, which was pretty excellent, but from then on, it was kind of crap. SOS played some cool tunes, but it was impossible to enjoy them on the dance floor with the cast of Jersey Shore mauling the ladies at every turn. You can see for yourself in this video, which on a more positive tip highlights Omid 16B in full effect.
The day was saved by Danny Funk, the cooler, groovier side of Danny Howells. With two Lee Burridge and Danny sets planned for later in the week, we knew Danny was going to play house at the Dig Deeper event at BED and we were definitely not disappointed. All around this was an awesome party with great tunes, fantastic people on the dance floor and much better sound than the night before. Even the smoke didn’t seem quite as intense. It was our first time hearing Danny in the city of his GU and man was it ever a killer time.
Thursday March 25
We had this day circled on our calendar for months. The Sasha & Digweed cruise is a party we never want to miss, but unfortunately this year we were literally left on the dock. It was an empty feeling not being able to get every one of our crew on the boat, but that’s how it goes sometimes. In the end we had some good hanging out time with just the tight knit group, which is a rarity during conference. But as you can see on ChinaShopMag.com, it looks and sounds like we missed another incredible cruise put on by the masters of the music we love. Hopefully we’ll get on that ship one more time before we shut it down… it really is the party of all parties.
The evening brought us to the basement of Shine for the very first time, where Desyn Masiello hosted the Alternative Route label party with many of our favs in the booth. Des and Dory played the early portion of the night, Tom Morgan and balErik took over in the twilight hours. And as you can hear below, Add2Basket destroyed the peak time hours with a killer progressive roll. The space was a little dark for Miami, but it was a definitely a nice little jam with great people and our kind of music all night long.
This was the first day where the weather didn’t cooperate, but with Luke Fairhaving his flight canceled, it didn’t matter the festivities were delayed for the Balance party. With Luke off the bill nobody’s slot was cut short and the party ended up going off incredibly well. Will Saul played a perfectly suited set for poolside sunshine and Joris Voorn displayed his incredible versatility with groovy, bumpy tunes that had the entire rooftop shaking their booty under the South Beach sunset. We missed Agoria in lieu of a spectacular performance from our #1 gal Dory, and thanks to the Listed crew, we have proof we didn’t miss a beat on the other side of the headliner… Dory blazed the poolside proper.
I can’t think of a better day at conference than this one… ever.
The Discoteca boat cruise was absolutely perfect for us. We couldn’t have hand picked a better dance floor and the music from Tom, balErik and Luke was absolutely magical. Being on that boat reminded me why we’ve been in this scene for as long as we have. The love, joy and pure bliss that were shared were everything we could ask for and more. As you can hear below, Tom started the cruise off with some deep, soulful progressive and from there we literally and figuratively rode the sweet waves into the sunset. And as you can see in the video below, the ride was equally amazing when the sun went down.
The night time shenanigans took place inside the Shine main room with what was billed as a solo performance from Sasha alongside opener Charlie May of Spooky. To our dismay we walked into the room after Charlie finished as the owner of the club felt obliged to give himself a peak time hour in between two legends of the progressive house genre. I’ll say no more.
When finally in control, Sasha started kind of slow; but once he found his groove, it was all hardcore dance moves for the next two hours… that was until Lee Burridge and DJ Three stormed the booth. As these two found their bearings it became a bit stagnant again, but soon after he disappeared, Sasha reappeared and revived us all, including Lee and Three. The trio proceeded to lay down the most spectacular back to back to back set I’ve ever heard. It was music that could only be played for an ‘up for it’ conference crowd. It was so deep and so sexy, but still dance floor driving. By far the most amazing music I’ve ever heard in Miami and an experience that will go down as one of the most moving in my clubbing career.
Sunday March 28
We ended our conference on the rooftop of the Bentley Hotel for the Add2Basket / Witty Tunes soiree. This was exactly what the groove doctor ordered for winding down a mad week on South Beach. Deep house from Roberto Rodriguez, Mike Haddad & Royce Haven, Luke, Add2Basket and Coyu had us all floating on the clouds… the $35 mojitos helped with that quite well. This party was really something special in my eyes. While many were sketching it out at Sunday school, we were all styles hanging with an incredible crew. It was absolutely the perfect party to end this phenomenal week; a week that was supposed to be our last at the WMC, but we honestly can’t say that anymore.
You can’t have one great thing without the other. Hosting a Fresh Beats w/ Mike Haddad and not following it up with one from his Witty Tunes partner Royce Haven would be like scoring chocolate without the peanut butter. Alone they’re sweet, but together they’re delicious!
Add Dr. Kucho! to the mix and you have a potent production trio who sat in Beatport’s Top 10 downloads last week with their release ‘Lloraras’ on Haiti Groove Recordings. Yes, things are looking pretty great for Royce Haven right now and it couldn’t be happening to a cooler guy.
Of course we’re completely bias. Royce and Mike were two guys that made an incredibly positive impression on us while meeting them for the first time at this year’s WMC. Royce is a zany dude, with phenomenal energy. You can’t stop the smile while in his zone. I can’t emphasize enough how much fun we had at the Witty Tunes / Add2Basket Rooftop Party and I contribute a lot of our good times to the amazing attitudes of the hosts.
But what really astonishes me about this guy is the versatility of his music. When reading over some of the supporters of his production, the likes of Roger Sanchez, Chus, Richard Dinsdale, Saeed Younan, Sandy Rivera, Kris Menace and Pablo Ceballos, you wouldn’t think his sound would have much cross over appeal to our preferred brand of progressive house. But it does and that is definitely reflected in the Fresh Beats mix Royce has made exclusively for us.
Royce has hit it right on the nose when it comes to the btb vibe. This is funky progressive house at its finest – with a heavy emphasis on ‘house’ – exactly how we love it. It begins with a smooth chug and a sweet female vocal sample, then transitions into some groovy horns and back to some sexy lady, booty shaking rhythms. Mid way he moves into some grittier, more driving selections and concludes back on the soulful tip, but with a little dirtier undertone.
As you can tell, this is a promo that has definitely caught my ear in a big way. I’ve honestly had it on repeat for days. What I utterly appreciate is that Royce catered the mix specifically to our crew. It’s a sign of a true professional when an artist takes notice of the crowd he’s playing for and in this case, he’s reached expert status through his keen observation. Fresh Beats w/ Royce Haven is a truly tasty treat for bringthebeats.
It’s super tough to move on when you’re as passionate about this scene as we are. House music came into my life when I needed it the most; that’s why I feel an incredible sense of satisfaction when building this site. This music is a welcomed distraction from reality and when I support the people making it with a post, it feels like I’m repaying a friend who has been really, really good to me. I’ll always listen to underground beats, so it’s inconceivable for me to ever stop endorsing them.
However the reality of it is; dedicating your life to house music is not all that rewarding financially. Yeah, there are people making good money in EDM, but you need a huge support system of like-minded, motivated colleagues to make something unique and popular. Of course you can be a follower and sell out, but obviously that’s not how we’d like to make it happen.
It’s been difficult to hold on to the quality club kids over the years, as they’ve progressed to more profitable and less enduring endeavours and more traditional, professional lifestyles. They’re married, they have children and / or demanding careers. Many of our friends have been forced to prioritize and unfortunately for people like us still hanging on to the dream, late nights on the dance floor are not high on their lists of things to do. With a quick scan of online sources, people can be up to speed in minutes, enjoying music in their new preferred locations; cubicles, treadmills, vehicles; etc.
To our chagrin, one such person is Brad Copeland. When we were just a one page site promoting only a few mixes at a time and our guest lists at System Soundbar and the Guvernment, Brad was sporting a residency at the world-renown temple of sound Stereo in Montreal; still to this day THE BEST underground venue in North America. He was spinning alongside the top DJs on the planet, hosting the best parties on the continent and we were nothing more than a few hardcores rocking it out in the middle of his dance floor.
So you can imagine how pumped we were when Brad decided to compile one of the first ever bringthebeats exclusives. It showed what a great character guy he is for recognizing and embracing our dedication and for being so into making music that he had no problem putting something together for one of the little guys.
When he moved to Toronto, Brad assumed residencies at System and This is London where we returned the favour and made his gigs one of our top priorities while promoting at the clubs. We obviously bailed from TIL we he left and were lucky enough to partner up for our next project at EXPOSED at The Mod Club Theatre. But when we moved on from it, Brad decided it was time to move on to other interests, something that was inevitable for someone as technically inclined as him.
In May of last year, Brad and fellow Canadian DJ legend Max Graham officially opened i-Technique, a Mac service franchise in a prime location on Yonge Street near Eglington. They work out of a super stylish store and are doing incredibly well, but if I know Brad half as well as I think I do, he’s dying to make music (something he’s probably never stopped doing) and blaze some dance floors (something he’ll be doing for Jenn`s bday party this Friday night).
As if he had never even taken a break, Brad re-surfaced in the fall with a killer promo mix and a stellar Fabricated performance that only our wedding could hold us back from being a part of. And now lucky for us, Brad has taken some more time away from his outrageously busy schedule at the store to compile another spectacular set of today`s most upfront, party starting progressive and tech house to help promote this Friday’s bash. It feels just like old times bopping my head to these amazing tunes. I can not wait for Friday, and I really hope Brad can find more time to hook us up with more phenomenal beats; we all miss them very much.
This site is pretty much made up of music from DJs we’d love to book if we lived in a perfect world. A world consisting of open minded, funk loving, house music junkies… a world filled with more Witty Tunes. Continuing on with our WMC inspired desire to explore our dreams, we present to you Washington DC’s Mike Haddad, a dude near the very top of our list of DJs we’d love to host in the very near future.
Let’s face it; North Americans haven’t taken to funky progressive like clubbers have in other parts of the world. We’re a small niche in this continent, so we need to stick together and support each other whenever we can.
This past year we’ve helped spread the word about the ‘Jody Wisternoff Remix Competition’ put on by Mike and Royce Haven’s super successful Witty Tunes label. And we supported and attended the ‘Witty Tunes / Add2Basket WMC Rooftop Party’ where we finally met the entire Witty crew in all their styles. It was definitely a highlight of our week; for sure the funkiest, coolest music we heard start to finish at any event. Now Mike’s returned the favour by compiling this spectacular club-ready promo exclusively for bringthebeats.
In the brief time we were able to talk shop in Miami, Mike and I realized we have a lot in common when it comes to our struggles pushing underground sounds in our respective cities. But it also became clear we don’t only feel each other’s pain, but we also share an identical love for proper progressive house. After listening to this mix, I can confidently confirm we’re on the same page about this.
Mike my brother, thanks a lot for taking time out from your extremely busy schedule as a new pops to put together this phenomenal example of how pumping tunes are groovier, sexier and smoother on our side of the underground. Let’s hope we can get our dance floor rolling with these ultra Fresh Beats very, very soon.
I could write a book about our adventures at the Winter Music Conference. It’s by far the time of year we cherish most when it comes to music and getting out of our minds. Not that we don’t have incredible times at home with the Toronto crew, but it’s always something special when faces are put to usernames and we’re side by side all of our favs in the industry.
This was written on the plane on our way to this year’s conference… with a couple regrets in mind. The first was that we couldn’t wait to go off after our killer pre Miami party with Luke Fair (ugh… still burnt) and the second is that Ricky Ryan and Ali Ajami wouldn’t be joining us on South Beach this year. One of the most memorable days we ever had at the WMC was with these two maestros as we wound down our trip in 2007.
In search of “something to do” we bailed out of Cafeteria and Luke’s Balance release party to catch a surprise appearance by Lee Burridge at the already legendary ‘Sunday School for Degenerates’ at Pawn Shop. Straight up the name of this event alone creates apprehension inside me and the techno laden line-up is never my thing; but the hype for this day is so massive, and we loved the venue so much, we thought we’d check it out.
Overall it wasn’t a great experience for us. Lee was a no-show and outside a killer set from ‘Evil’ Eddie Richards, the music was as expected. However in amongst the insane mess, Ali recognized Ricky in a mad search for anything normal and soon after we all high tailed it out of there for some resemblance of civilization.
Side Note: All the power to everyone who has a great time at this party, and I know there are many that do. But the kind of techno found at ‘Sunday School’, combined with the sketchy atmosphere, is not anything I can deal with while winding down the most intense week of the year. Side Note #2: Danny Howells and Lee supposedly rocked some cool deep techno this year… props to the legends.
The day that ensued back in ‘07 is best left to the memory bank and is somewhat touched upon in my review of that year’s conference. Let’s just say both Ali and Ricky left lasting impressions on our entire crew and will always occupy space in our hearts because of the outrageous time we shared that day. We all continually stay in touch, of course with the music as the centerpiece of our unwavering friendship and support.
It was only fitting that we set off on our 2010 WMC adventure with tunes coming from these two incredible artists and brothers. Ironic to this piece, Ricky’s rocking some techno, but definitely not of the Sunday School variety. Ali is grooving to the music that saved our day back in 2007, thankfully providing all the funky goodness we still love so much.
Listening to conventional radio is completely foreign to me. If it weren’t for tabloid media, I’d have no idea who the hot acts in mainstream music are. I definitely couldn’t pick a Kanye West track out of a playlist… though I could probably get lucky by choosing the most annoying one.
See, the general public’s most common complaint about our music is that it all sounds the same. With me, there’s a reverse phenomenon happening. In my ears, it’s Billboard that simply churns out the same crap over and over again. Whether it’s hip hop or pop, even some rock, it all just sounds the same to me.
However, when it comes to the top artists in the underground, I’ll admit, some laymen criticism may be just. Because the average person is most likely unfamiliar with the continuous mix, many perceive a compilation to be one long track. And really, when a DJ is super on, I can hear where they’re coming from.
As opposed to popular music, where all the shows are stop and go, EDM has tapped into concepts centuries old; when music wasn’t heard as a sequence of radio edits, but as a single composition. The blends and layers of today’s mixed compilation is essentially the composition of the modern era.
Artists like Add2Basket are the composers, manipulating tracks like Mozart made tonal structure more audible…. Okay, I snagged that shit from Wikipedia, but you can get where I’m coming from: Quality house is the classical music of our time, taking you on a journey of the subconscious, enlisting our good friends’ melody and harmony to guide you along the way.
Each volume of the ‘Everything you always wanted to know about MUSIC but were afraid to ask’ series is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Add2Basket has compiled seven incredible works, seamlessly mixed and perfectly programmed. Nothing within them is meant to stand out. Each track is on a collaborative mission to create a solitary vibe, providing the framework for a listener to come up with the answers to everything they’ve ever wanted to know about music… on their own. Just like in the good old days of the 17th Century.
It’s a weird sensation to get so totally locked into the groove that you lose all concept of where you are and what you’re doing. I guess too much of anything isn’t good for anyone and unfortunately for me, house music is no exception to this rule.
Unfortunately for us, the bliss ends there. Outside a couple inconveniently scheduled appearances by 
Time is never on my side… growing up totally sucks! Between my job, the all encompassing 
We can virtually watch every game of the World Cup and have allegiances to one or both of the teams because of someone we’ve met in the house music scene. There’s no better example of this than Sunday’s match between Mexico and Argentina, a rematch of the top contest of Germany ‘06.
Download (left-click and unzip):
I’m sorry but I just don’t get it anymore. I’ve been on the dance floor for 
It wasn’t until I found house music that I finally felt good, acted good and in the most humble sense, looked good. I contribute this to a scene where you’re allowed to be yourself, with nobody telling you how to act, what to wear or who to hang with. You just make peace with who you are and on the dance floor you can be whoever you want to be.
Add 
It’s super tough to move on when you’re as passionate about this scene as we are. House music came into my life when I needed it the most; that’s why I feel an incredible sense of satisfaction when building this site. This music is a welcomed distraction from reality and when I support the people making it with a post, it feels like I’m repaying a friend who has been really, really good to me. I’ll always listen to underground beats, so it’s inconceivable for me to ever stop endorsing them.
Let’s face it; North Americans haven’t taken to funky progressive like clubbers have in other parts of the world. We’re a small niche in this continent, so we need to stick together and support each other whenever we can.
In search of “something to do” we bailed out of Cafeteria and Luke’s Balance release party to catch a surprise appearance by 
Listening to conventional radio is completely foreign to me. If it weren’t for tabloid media, I’d have no idea who the hot acts in mainstream music are. I definitely couldn’t pick a 
