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.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Brad Copeland – bringthebeats – June 2010

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.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Brad Copeland – bringthebeats – April 2010

bringthebeats has always been more of a global movement than a local one. Glancing over this year’s web stats, only about 13% of our visitors live in Canada. The way we see it, promoters around here focus more on partying than music, so the regular club kids of Toronto don’t take much notice of our ‘music first’ philosophies.

Don`t get me wrong, we have an incredible core in our crew. Unfortunately our crew hasn`t grown that much over the years. To some extent that’s our own fault for not embracing local talent more than we have… we`ll defer other’s faults for a future IMO post.

If we’re ever going to truly make it in Toronto’s club land, we have to establish successful partnerships with other promoters, which means supporting more local DJs. Joint ventures with irGO for INTIMATE & UNDERGROUND is the first step, our new party series The LocALe is the next.

On Friday April 23rd at Toika we host our first local event in years; The LocALe v1 will feature two of our best mates in the scene with Brad Copeland and Sean Crawford providing the peak time tunage. It’s going to be an amazing blast from the past to have these two guys in a bringthebeats booth once again.

And in a very special appearance we have Jennifer Hetherington making her btb DJ debut in celebration of her 30th birthday… again (hehe). Nobody brings a better vibe to the dance floor than our homegirl Jenn. Her energy is infectious and unrelenting; her support of what we do has always been very much appreciated. We can’t wait to finally hear her rock it out… this time, in front of the dance floor.

We hope this event will help foster an even more communal vibe at bringthebeats parties, leading to more FREE local based events at Toika. That’s right; The LocALe will be a free party series! Our Fabricated friends have proven there’s a thirst for a low key, non pretentious circuit of home grown jams; hopefully we can help quench that thirst on April 23rd.

Promo tunes coming soon…

Strictly for the love of music. Strictly for the love. A brother from South America has recently used this slogan for his newly launched website. It’s also the best description we can offer for the Toronto talent known as irGo.

The man behind the HouseAddict brand, irGO is known throughout the Toronto scene for not only this global community, but for his participation within the local party circuit, as well as on the internet airwaves. irGO’s well rounded musical taste, developed from roots in rock & roll, jazz, reggae, and celtic, has seen him in the booth for equally eclectic electronic events, from the tribal infused JaXx HouZe series to his most recent deep house endeavour with Jimpster’s Freerange Records.

irGO’s Podcast is the most active cast we’ve ever heard from a Toronto DJ and is how we first caught on to this super nice guy and the ultra cool music he spins. His incredibly positive vibe is captured within the voiceovers heard throughout each installment, as he spins deep groovy tech-house, live and it seems sometimes on the fly. The results are compilations that are often personal, coming straight from the heart and soul of someone who just really digs house music.

It’s this true spirit the underground that has inspired us to ask irGO to be a part of our INTIMATE & UNDERGROUND series at Toika. He’ll be spinning alongside Luke Fair for a pre Miami bash on March 19th and will hopefully host some HouseAddict versions in the spring or summer. It seems like a match made in club heaven for our two crews.

Download irGO’s most recent podcast below and be sure to subscribe on iTunes or PodOmatic. Also stop by Stone Lounge (Revival lower level) this Friday night, February 19th to get a taste of what we’ll here next month when irGO performs alongside Steve Mack and Matt Coleridge. It’s always good times at Fabricated and as always, it’s FREE!!

Download (left-click and unzip):
irGO’s Fabricated in February’cast

Barney and I like to engage in heated discussions about the local house scene. And I maintain that he hasn’t heard the best of Toronto yet! So, you can imagine my glee when we (finally) got this column to showcase Toronto’s fertile musical stomping ground – because now you’ll all know.

Here’s a bit about my DJ of choice for Real Music mini-vacations. A fixture on the scene since the late ’90s, Corey Dawkins‘ got gigs peppered all over the City, and is one of those rare DJs that has managed to keep the airwaves consistently fresh and relevant. His sets transcend genre and can take dance floors from afro-latin house, to neo-soul, to R&B, and back to house again.

We’re having brunch at Fran’s and Corey says, “A DJ is kinda like a preacher speaking to a multitude of people. A preacher reaches people through words, we do it through music. And my message is all about the feeling – I want to elevate people through music”. I dig it.

Corey Dawkins’ dopetastic DJ stylings are my regular auditory fix, and when I can’t find him at the turntables, I’ve got his monthly deephouse playlists on the ipod to keep me satisfied. Feast your ears on his latest: a non-linear journey to the deep side, a special concoction for bringthebeats.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Corey Dawkins – Deephouse Session – September 2009

Download. Play. And tell me what you think.

Though we’re busting our asses to make it in this city, we’ve never really been on the pulse of the music coming from it. I could hijack this post with excuses as to why we haven’t supported talent from Toronto more, but none of them have anything to do with music, so I’ll stay on point and focus on what this should really be all about.

Miss Mo’Bliss has called me out for not being into the wicked sounds of our home town. And you know she’s right, I’m so wrapped up in music from all over the world, I don’t often enough pay attention to the cool underground locals.  So with Sam’s inspiration, aka scolding, I’ve finally been motivated to get this column started by searching out choons from three of the coolest guys I’ve ever met in the T.O. scene.

Craig Anderson is straight up a dope dude. Super genuine, musically tuned and I’ve come to realize, an awesome DJ too. From all-vinyl trips down memory lane to the funky progressive house he knows I’m a sucker for, Craig’s live studio mixes have kept me groovin’ at my desk all summer long. This August promo is loaded with tunes of today; deep, bumpy and funky.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Craig Anderson – Promo Mix – August 2009

God we miss Atif. Nights out just haven’t been the same since he left. But he did leave us with a legacy of cool club kids that we probably wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for him. And at the top of Atif’s DJ list for me is Suhaib Rashdi.

A graphic design student at the Ontario College of Art & Design, I heard Suhaib spin at one of Atif’s after parties. By far the best I heard go off in that dining room, Suhaib’s fresh selections definitely set him apart from the Toronto norm. Add the fact he has 15 releases on Beatport, this is seriously a talent to look out for in this city. How can you not love a guy who’s favourite quote is from Willy Wonka; ‘We are the music makers. And we are the dreamers of dreams.’? Classic!

Download (left-click and unzip):
Suhaib Rashdi – Metaphors -  August 3, 2009
Suhaib Rashdi – We_re Going Nowhere – May 15, 2009

I’ll end the post with one excuse, Luke Fair. My chatter box style has come in handy from time to time, and one of those times was the day I approached Luke to tell him how cool I thought his music was. From that night on Luke’s fun, always fresh style has laid out the blue print to my best night on the dance floor, the subway, in the cubical, the gym, the car, on the patio… freakin’ everywhere. Luke knows how to play it all, as he does in his two mixes of the summer of ’09. Luke continues to get better, and with two Macedonian geniuses now nearby, buddy is gonna be bigger than ever by 2010.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Luke Fair – Porterhouse on Sirius Radio – September 2, 2009
Luke Fair – Summer Promo – July 2009