NOW Magazine // Music // The future sound of Toronto
January 29, 2009
The future sound of TorontoDone with dancing to other DJs’ beats, a new wave of local producers are about to crash the partyToronto is finally poised to make the transition from being a great town to party in to being the town that provides the soundtrack for the rest of the world to party to.
DJs all over the planet have noticed there’s something going on here, and it’s high time we recognized this ourselves.
So writing a cover story about a local up-and-coming dance producer, someone on the verge of breaking on an international level, was a no-brainer. Except when the list of candidates was tossed around, it was obvious that picking only one wouldn’t do the scene justice. There’s just too much talent here.
Toronto has had a number of club music success stories. Nick Holder, Hatiras, Deadmau5, MSTRKRFT and Moonstarr all come quickly to mind, and that’s not even touching on all the minimal techno and drum ’n’ bass artists who’ve put out quality records.
But there’s never been such an overwhelming volume of beats coming out of this town before. Still, in many ways, it’s surprising that it took this long for us to get here.
We’ve long had an exceptionally strong club scene, but for whatever reason we’ve always partied to the sounds coming out of other cities rather than trying to forge our own identity.
In the 80s, the Twilight Zone was our respected equivalent of legendary clubs like Chicago’s Warehouse and NYC’s Paradise Garage, and our rave scene in the 90s was one of the biggest in the world. Industry Nightclub was cited by many international DJs as one of their favourite places to play. More recently, the Guvernment and Circa have made a big impression on the global mega-club scene.
On the underground level, you can find a Toronto exemplar for pretty much any niche genre. If you want deep soulful house, promoters like Garage 416 still bring out big crowds after more than a decade; if you want scrappy digital hardcore, you’ve got parties like Embryon. And it’s long been true that lots of international DJs play for bigger crowds here than in their own hometowns.
Despite having so many places to dance, Toronto has never been associated with a particular sound, and likely never will be, thanks to our famously ambiguous, amorphous identity. In the past, that might have held us back, but now that dance music sub-genres are less segregated, there’s finally an opportunity for our crazy-quilt approach to get the attention it deserves.
So we settled not on one artist for our cover story, but 10. The acts we’re spotlighting all have their own sound and influences but aren’t tied closely to any previous established scene. They do, however, often cross paths, and you’ll see many of the same faces in the crowd at each of their gigs, even if Loetech’s throbbing take on dubstep is miles away from Mansion’s upbeat stadium house, and Syntonics’ updated booty bass has little in common with TMDP’s synth disco.
This cross-pollination of scenes and sounds will lead the way for Toronto and the world. The days of trying to emulate the regional genres of other cities are over – people want to dance to a variety of sounds in the course of an evening, and variety is exactly what Toronto excels at.
On that note, here’s who we predict will come out with the next Toronto dance floor anthems. They’re also a reminder to everybody that there’s more to club music than NYC, Ibiza, Berlin, Paris and London.
To prove the point, we’ve teamed up with Circa to present a party featuring most of our picks, commissioned AD/D’s Mario J to do an exclusive online DJ mix featuring all 10 artists, and you can stream individual tracks online from everyone as well.
http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=166995
NOW MAGAZINE PRESENTS THE FUTURE SOUND of TORONTO @ Randomland Circa
January 29, 2009
| Host: | |
| Type: | |
| Network: |
Global
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| Start Time: |
Friday, January 30, 2009 at 10:00pm
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| End Time: |
Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 4:00am
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| Location: |
Circa Toronto
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| Street: |
126 john street
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| City/Town: |
Toronto, ON
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| Phone: |
4169790044
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| Email: |
A mega party at Circa featuring the freshest up-and-coming producers out of Toronto NOW!
artists performing that night includes
Autoerotique
http://www.myspace.com/autoerotique
Syntonics
http://www.myspace.com/syntonics
Mansion
http://www.myspace.com/mansiondj
STA
http://www.myspace.com/stafree
TMDP
http://www.myspace.com/tmdparty
PILOT PRIEST
http://www.myspace.com/pilotpries
LOETECH
http://www.myspace.com/loetech
EGYPTRIXX
http://www.myspace.com/africaforyou
This event has 276 confirmed guests
Mansion – New Years Eve – Wrongbar
January 10, 2009
Serato ?
Mansion & Nasty Nav
DJ SEVEN MIXES
December 29, 2008
Tight Knit’s Holiday Drinker @ 751!!!
December 18, 2008
facebook event
Last year we did a Boxing Day party @ Tiger Bar that was absolutely nutty.
This year we can’t wait that long…and the drinks are even cheaper!
$3.50 Pabst Blue Ribbon
$6 Pabst Blue Ribbon w/ a Shooter
$10 Pitchers
Funny how we listed drink prices above DJs.
Your DJs for the night will be your beloved crew:
*Tight Knit Djs*
Eklectick Dyslexik
Tomi Le Filth
JustinTyce
& Fawn Big Canoe
+
NOW ADDED…
UNABOMBER & Dance Machine!
As always, this party is for our friends…and their friends and the friends’ friends and their friends’ friends’ friends…
Please leave your bad attitudes and… I guess it needs to be said… your Markers and spray paint at home!
Keep it Tight!
Doors: 10pm
Cover: $5
THIS EVENT IS 19+ and you will be ID’d
P.S. keep locked to our new myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/tightknitdjs
Violca (Mansion) December 2008 DJ Mix
December 18, 2008
It’s always good to listen to some deep house.
follow link to download mix.
CiRCA: RANDOMLAND – MANIC PANIC DEC 19th – SPARK OF LIFE PROMO LISTS
December 18, 2008
—Dec 19th—
MANIC PANIC @ CIRCA
Listen up! We’re getting our mistletoe on this Friday December 19th. I’m bringing my people Santa, IceCream Snowcone, and his buddy the Snowman to the club this week! YA DIIG???
Word is that we’ve got some HO HO HO’s that will be spreading the Christmas spirit and dishing some gifts out to all the randoms at Randomland!
Randomland PRESENTS:
!!!MANIC PANIC!!!
Featuring:
————IN THE MAIN ROOM———-
AUTOEROTIQUE
MARIO J
MATT MEDLEY
———–WASHROOM BAR————-
DOPPLEHERTZ
VANESKA
_________________________________________
MSG ME FOR GUESTLIST
MSG ME FOR PARADE LIST (FREE DRINKS/FREE ENTRY)
contact@sparkoflifemedia.com
sparkoflifedj.wordpress.com
sparkoflifemedia.com
GIVE ME A SHOUT!
Sister Act Xmas Extravaganza @ Riva: Violca + Sara Simms + Melle Oh!
December 18, 2008
SISTER ACT THURSDAYS HOT HOT HOLIDAY XMAS EXTRAVAGANZA…THURSDAY DEC. 18
SISTER ACT IS….
A REVOLUTION IN THURSDAY LIVING!
Come celebrate the final frontier of 2008 with the Sister Act family.
In case you didn’t know, Sara Simms is back from Berlin, and she’s formed a DJ tag team with her little sister. DJ duo SARA SIMMS and MELLE OH want to celebrate the holidays with you and will bring down the house this Thursday in the final edition Sister Act before the new year. SARA SIMMS and MELLE OH will drop a unusual blend of dancefloor-oriented electronic records that blur together European minimalism, New York house, female playfulness, pop structures and modern 4/4 sketches.
For the Sister Act night at Riva, they have concocted a special blend of records that includes a selection of classic house grooves.
This week, we celebrate the holidays with the whole crew of residents. Don’t’ miss Hotshot resident VIOLCA of MANSION dropping a crazy blend of electro, classic house and dancefloor stompers. Fresh off the road from her Get Er Done tour, VIOLCA is ready to give it to you. Word.
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Start the weekend early at College St hotspot Riva, hosted by the infamous duo, sisters Sara Simms and Melle Oh. Not to be missed, ultra noteworthy, this night comes equipped with drink specials, and bi-weekly guest DJ’s.
Sara Simms got her start playing at after hours parties in Toronto. In a few short months, Sara rose up quickly in the Canadian club scene, and was soon being booked by the city’s top clubs and promoters, including Ink, Fukhouse, and Circa. Her most successful achievement in Toronto was her weekly residency at the Ladies Spa in This Is London, one of the city’s finest superclubs. While in Berlin, Sara gigged at underground clubs, including Villa, Rodeo, Vorspiel (Upper floor Club 103) and CCCP. It wasn’t long before she began to get booking requests from all over Europe.
Back in Toronto, Sara is looking forward to her new weekly Thursday night ‘Sister Act’ at Riva. When she’s not up in the clubs, Sara spends her time collaborating on tracks in the studio with her sister Melle Oh. An up and coming producer, Sara has plans to release many tracks in the coming months. The future looks bright for this young DJ and producer, and you’ll be hearing more music from this girl this winter!
The sisters are pleased to welcome Violca (from MANSION) as a bi-weekly resident DJ. Originally from Toronto, Violca has been DJing and producing parties under many names since back in ‘99 when she was involved n the Mississauga Drum and Bass scene. She has toured Canada and Europe on her own and with her former band, Fritz Helder & The Phantoms and has played alongside the likes of: Deep Dish, MSTRKRFT, Pase Rock, Lazaro Casanova, Joakim, and Deadmau5.
Come and get down with this luxurious line up of resident DJ’s:
Sara Simms (Toronto, Berlin, Big Sis)
Violca (MANSION)
Melle Oh (Little Sis)
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FREE DOWNLOAD LINKS…
DJ MIXES:
SARA SIMMS
Sara Simms ‘Arcanum’
http://www.divshare.com/download/5885776-870
VIOLCA
Violca December 2008 DJ Mix
http://www.mediafire.com/?mwkwy1jlyzj
Louis La Roche ‘Get on Down’ (Violca’s afterparty edit)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/521406415c77d503/
Mondays @ The Social hosted by Matt Simms
December 18, 2008
Saturday Nights – Fuck Faces @ Sneaky Dees
December 13, 2008
NACHO LOVERS @ FUCK FACES
With Jokers of the Scene, Syntonics (live). Sat, Dec 13. Sneaky Dee’s, 431 College. $5 after 11pm.
Canadian artists ruled the blogs in 2008 and this party shows us why. Toronto’s Nacho Lovers (Andrew Ross and Scott Seewhale) turned their shared love of early Chicago and Detroit house and techno into a string of synth-soaked releases, including their Acid Life EP on Fool’s Gold and their recent remixes of Thunderheist and Chromeo, and you really need to hear their new mix on the Curb Crawlers blog. Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Jokers of the Scene have produced a steady flow of originals and remixes, including the new Acid Bagg EP, and arrive here fresh from dates in Dublin, Oslo and Paris. Not to be outdone, local duo Syntonics have recorded non-stop all year and perform live here as well.
