Just when I thought it might be winding down, the passion I feel for the underground seems to fire up again. See, I’m approaching a crossroads, a point in my life where I need to begin to focus all of my energies on only the important things in my professional life. Now I just need to figure out what it is that’s important in my professional life.

I’ve come to grips, many times, that EDM is not where I see myself in 5-10-20 years. I’ve always said that it’s too unprofessional, too random an industry to spend the rest of my life trying to make a difference and earn an honest, secure living. But really, is EDM any different from the corporate world I find myself in now? Truly, no matter the profession, isn’t the secret to professional success about choosing to work with people you respect in an environment that’s inspiring?

INTIMATE & UNDERGROUND is a great example of getting the most out of the choices we make (Check our pics from I&U v8). We’ve stayed true to the underground essence, embraced it for what it is and have never tried to make it anything more than what it should be. And by doing so, we’re creating unforgettable memories each time we fill the dance floor.

Now we’re well aware the true tests are yet to come. Will we be able to recreate the electricity of our gigs headlined by Luke & Ricky with lesser known, up and coming artists? That’s always been our primary focus and in the end, our success will be measured on how many people come to bringthebeats / INTIMATE & UNDERGROUND events, not just for any one particular DJ.

And will we be able to properly launch The LocALe and finally become a recognizable group within the Toronto club circuit? As mentioned in the promo piece for v1, our long term success throwing events and introducing new talent to this city will be implicitly tied to our ability to attract local support from others working behind the scenes.

Over the next few months these questions will definitely be answered and the results will be one of the deciding factors in whether or not we should take bringthebeats to a full time level.

Saying all this, it’s the global effort that still excites me the most. How can it not coming off such an incredible Winter Music Conference in Miami (Check our pics Part 1 & Part 2). Damn was the music ever incredible and once again we met an abundance of like-minded, equally motivated colleagues.

Our friends from Embrace have definitely become a power house at the WMC, but it’s the detail, vision and enthusiasm of the Listed crew that has once again impressed me the most. They work so bloody hard and it shows in the quality of the music, production and most of all, the people on the dance floor.

Yes, the conference is starting to look quite a bit like a Jersey Shore pilgrimage, but that also means more of the mainstream is taking notice. We all most likely entered this scene with a style that we’re not as much interested in today. Let’s hope these people similarly convert to a less party focused participation and help the continue growth of the more underground sounds we believe should be at the forefront of this industry.

All in all, things are more positive for our movement than they’ve been in a long time. Looking back to my last IMO over 18 months ago, I think bringthebeats and the underground have taken more steps forward than in reverse, a tone I was definitely not writing in back in the fall of 2008.

It remains to be seen how the rest of the year will unfold, but whatever happens, one thing is for certain, 2010 is shaping up to be an all or nothing year for bringthebeats. Is it time to follow a dream or is it time to move on? Only time will tell; but the last few weeks has me looking more towards the stars now than ever before.

It was a long summer, absolutely packed full of events every week. I can’t remember a summer in Toronto with more to be honest. Nevertheless, as I’ve said many times before, more is not necessarily better, and at least for me, the parties were just like the weather, pretty average.

From what I hear, promoters across the board struggled with the same fate and it was reflected at the door. Have we over saturated the market with international guests? Or have we just overloaded clubs with too many of the same guests? Have local resident’s lulled clubbers into complacency with weekends at the cottage? You would have thought with so much rain consistently in the forecast more people would have canceled travel plans to remain nocturnal in the city. That certainly wasn’t the case.

IMO is designed to tackle these types of questions and that’s why I’ve combined this review of the summer with an IMO, so that I can give you my take on why the parties we were involved with didn’t go off as expected. Why I’m calling the summer of 2008, the Summer of Sketch.

July 1

The season started with what was billed to be, “the legendary Nic and Luke boat cruise.” The hype surrounding this party was unprecedented for my time in the club game. Our allotted tickets from Footwork were sold out six weeks in advance and it was like Mission Impossible trying to hook up more.

It was my first time hearing Nic Fanculli headline live and even cooler, it was my second Luke Fair boat cruise experience (the first being aboard the Sasha & Digweed cruise in Miami when Luke went back to back with Nic’s ‘One + One’ chum, James Zabiela). Canada Day was primed to host the party of the summer, but instead it kicked off the SOS.

Luke Fair and Nick Fanculli. Luke Fair and Nic Fanculli! LUKE FAIR AND NIC FANCULLI!! Why the hell do you need anyone else spinning on a four-hour boat cruise? You have two of the hottest DJs on the planet, both known for their stellar warm up skills and over the top peak time blazes and you limit their time and stunt their groove for Manzone & Strong?

Okay, they’re at the top of the Toronto circuit, and I probably enjoyed what they spun more than what Nic played, but please, please next time have some trust in the music and not stack the DJ line-up just to ensure the event sells out. This trick has destroyed party after party since the corp. became drunk with the concept many years ago. It definitely crushed this one, well before the boat had even left the dock.

I’ll skip right to our highlight of Canada Day 2008, the boat cruise after party. We had so many friends flying in from well out of town for this holiday, we felt obliged to ensure good times. And IMO, bringthebeats most definitely delivered.

Maher Daniel, Jeff Button, Wahi and an impromptu set from Luke Fair provided the choons, and one hundred of our closest friends took care of the vibe. Toika Lounge proved to be tailor made for our crew, with its spectacular sound, stunning style and super cool staff. The night was a perfect beginning to what we hope will be a long run in this absolutely perfect space.

July 18

It didn’t take long for us to get back in the beautiful Toika environment. We hosted the Holosound boys for our first EXPOSED event last summer and although we couldn’t afford to book them both for such an intimate return, we were able to convince Alex to fly in for a solo appearance.

Numbers were somewhat low, a plague we endured a couple times this summer. I could probably write on forever and suggest a million reasons why we struggled to lure in a big crowd, but in the end, it really doesn’t matter. It’s most important to note that all of our parties are not meant to be rammed to the dollar bills. btb events are about achieving a proper musical experience and that’s exactly what Alex, Toika and the excellent crew that came out to support created for us.

Lisa and her posse provided all kinds of energy and Alex’s sexy prog, bumpy tech and absolutely fluid mixing and programming wowed the bringthebeats faithful all night. It was as fun as btb at Toika number one, and thankfully we have it all recorded. Left-click and unzip to listen to what you missed.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Alex Fish of Holosound – Toika Lounge Toronto – July 18, 2008

August 3

The next “legendary” cruise of the summer took place with the real SOS on the decks. But regretfully I can not say that this event was exempt from the Summer of Sketch. Next level DJ sets can often be attributed to one key ingredient, effective scheduling. Unfortunately, more often than not, poor scheduling is the primary culprit for the bunk ones. This was one of them.

It takes Omid, Demi and Desyn a little bit to get rolling, at least it did the first time I heard them play together in Miami. That’s why I knew right away we were doomed when Des’ flight from NYC was cancelled, causing an almost two-hour delay. The trio never really hit stride and the party was nothing more than some drinking fun in the sun.

I so wish the early morning flights to make it on a boat by noon weren’t a necessity; though I understand why agents go out of their way to make a trip worth while when the artist is traveling in from overseas. In an ideal world two gigs in a weekend would be enough, as three or even four has consistently proven to be too much. However most DJs these days are not making ideal fees and are forced to play as many gigs as they can possibly be booked for. All I know is that if I ever help out with a cruise again, it’ll be a sunset one… hmm great idea!

August 8

A guy with legions of fans throughout the underground and across multiple genres; someone who has eleven pressed compilations on one of the most prestigious house labels in the industry; a producer who’s an absolute God in the studio; a legend making his Toronto debut; you’d figure a guy with these accolades would draw, and draw well. You’d figure.

But unfortunately, once again, I’m still scratching my head wondering why it didn’t happen when we brought Terry Lee Brown Jr. to The Mod Club. Maybe the true house heads are just flat out done. Maybe the commercialism of the scene has turned off the hardcores so much that they’d actually willingly turn down the opportunity hear Terry Lee Brown Jr. live.

Maybe this is the case, but I am certainly not ready to embrace these “facts” quite yet, because once again, regardless of the numbers, we hosted something truly special at this edition of EXPOSED. Terry was as advertised, fantastic. The music was seductively smooth with a tech-sexy Hollywood panache. All night the Plastic City superstar had the floor right in the palm of his hand, with a stage party finale that was nothing short of epic.

My only true disappointment is that I have such a lengthy list of people who I wish would have been there to share in the bliss. I guess they’ll all just have to settle for this…

Download (left-click and unzip):
Terry Lee Brown Jr. – EXPOSED.live.pt1 – August 8, 2008
Terry Lee Brown Jr. – EXPOSED.live.pt2 – August 8, 2008

Finally,

A party really worth mentioning was The Beat Boat in July. Steve Mack, Tim Patrick, Lee Osborne and a killer crowd literally weathered the storm to take our prize for boat cruise of the summer. And Booka Shade rocked the entire downtown with a phenomenal live performance at Circa. One day I’d love to give it a go in that place, the esthetics are absolutely breathe-taking.

But overall it was definitely a tough summer for us. For every win there seemed to be some sort of loss. I’ve had many sleepless nights wondering why people continue to flock to the same old clubs to hear the same overplayed DJs time and time again. It’s a bloody struggle trying to create club nights focused on a music policy.

Nevertheless, we will chug on. The music is still too good to give up and the people who support us at each and every event are so worth the effort. Our parties through the remainder of the year are looking super dope and it looks like we’ll have some serious allies on our side to ensure at least one of them goes off like never before.

Stay TUNEd.

It’s been a struggle getting this column off the ground. I’ve been hanging in underground clubs for almost nine full years and have seemingly a lifetime of DJ culture and partying to shoot my mouth off about. Over that amount of time I’ve accumulated an abundance of in my opinion’s, making brainstorming for v.1 super confusing.

However, Alex’s stellar debut of Holologic was motivation enough to just get started and see what flows out of this annoyingly overactive brain of mine. I’ve broken the process’ success down to bottling up a little of the passion (aka obsession) so that I don’t come off sounding too bitter and / or pretentious.

Because being misunderstood is always what I’ve been afraid of when posting reviews or making any type of critical comment on the web. I honestly love the scene more than most other aspects of my life; nevertheless, the club industry has become an incredible nuisance in so many ways. So much so that when I get on about my experiences, I too often find myself speaking in a very unbecoming tone. I definitely don’t want negativity to be the basis of my conversations and most certainly not this website.

But on the other hand, for the sake of my sanity and the longevity of my involvement in the underground scene, it’s imperative I let out some of this pent up frustration. I figure there’s no better place than the space we pay for to go off about all the shady and just plain ignorant moves I see taking place in the club world. For way too long I’ve watched the powers that be do very little to nurture the credibility of dance music.

It’s all the nagging behind the scenes bullshit that fuels this criticism. I guess to some extent it’s the disappointment we feel for the current state of the club scene that has us still working so crazily on the entire bringthebeats project. Because trust me, we’d all much rather be the crew that just shows up on the dance floor each week, drink in hand, smile on face, stress left at the door… oh man I miss those early Breathe days.

But the unfortunate truth is that the widespread perception of our culture is most certainly not underground. And its the businesses at the top of the scene who are th most to blame. Who would have ever thought bottle service and house music would be found under the same roof? That dudes with less CDJ skill than my girlfriend would be headlining festivals with their farting basslines and cheese ball electro? What happened to tight mixing? Fluid programming? Proper journeys on the dance floor? To club promoters who are actually into the music?

Our motivation to create something special on the web and in the clubs stems from the mainstream’s warped impression of what true EDM lovers do. However we’re CONVINCED the magic isn’t lost forever, and we know this scene can appeal to the mainstream without becoming commercial. We download two to three sets each week that blow our mind. If the clubbing corps would just give the new breed a chance again, the fresh talent on the peripheral of the industry would drive dance floors absolutely crazy. It would be a true house.music.re-evolution.

Instead, almost all the gigs continue to go to the legends. The ones that simply work through the motions to collect their fee. Promoters have stopped making it about the music and have concentrated soley on who can get the most people through the doors and into a drunk immediately. The same circuit of DJs dominate our clubs and it kills me. If I wanted to hear the same music over and over again, I’d listen to rock and roll.

So if you continue to read this column, think of it as constructive hostility. It’s my way of telling it like it is, under the pretence that it’s absolutely, 100% my opinion and nobody else’s (some days it seems that way). But if you do happen to agree with what I write here, please come to our parties.