One Toronto-based duo has made it their vocation to bring techno to the masses. Tonight marks a very important night in the lives of both Gingy & Bordello, and it doubles as an opportunity for all electronic music fans in Toronto to rejoice as well. Tonight, of course, is the Vaporizer EP Release Party at the often-imitated, never-duplicated, Faktory Saturday, hosted at The Social (1100 Queen Street West). A celebration of masterful production, incomparable deejaying, and a much anticipated release on August 13th (Beatport).
Vaporizer is a single that has floated around exclusive circles since it was originally produced in the fall of 2009, gradually picking up steam, and eventually making appearances on several notable mixes, including Brodinski’s widely acclaimed Mystery Mix Volume II. The track was soon picked up by UK-based record-label This Is Music, the taste-makers responsible for the release of DJ Mujava’s Township Funk, as well as Boy 8-Bit’s two latest EPs.
This marks a huge breakout for both Gingy & Bordello, and also represents a giant leap in Toronto’s unfaltering climb toward electronic relevance, on a global stage. With dudes like Rynecologist garnering international attention on BNR, Ed Banger (and soon to be Turbo), we’re finally beginning to see some much-deserved international acclaim for our local talent. On that note, be sure to check the preview of the Rynecologist remix, as well as the original, directly below.
The sudden collaboration of superstar solo DJ talent seems like the trendy thing to do nowadays, and one would only have to site the likes of ZZT (Zombie Nation & Tiga), Major Lazer (Diplo & Switch), Boys Noize & Erol Alkan,and Duck Sauce (A-Trak & Armand Van Helden), among a few others. Well, you can now add DJ Mehdi and Riton to this prestigious list — under the moniker Carte Blanche, and we couldn’t think of a more chic duo at this point in time.
Our love affair with Mehdi dates way back, but was set in stone this past March when we spent a number of hours in this suave frenchman’s presence during Miami’s Winter Music Conference. It was there that we were first introduced to Carte Blanche’s big single Gare Du Nord, specifically at the White Room during a jumbled triple team set by Brodinski, Mehdi and Busy P. Not surprisingly, the track went off like a firecracker and induced the crowd into some serious jacking. This doesn’t even account for the fact that the presence of Riton seemingly pushes this duo over the top, both in the production room and when they spin live.
Although we’re not giving out Gare Du Nord, we are dishing you another very fresh cut from Carte Blanche’s five-track Black Billionaires EP. The tune goes by Jigga Bite and stands alone for its contagious groove.
Around Christmas time the Ed Banger crew sent out a promo CD to some select few so that they could check out what recent developments would be coming up in 2010. The CD featured some low bit-rate versions of tracks from Uffie, Mr Flash, Krazy Baldhead, Breakbot and Sebastian. The track that is getting the most attention is the 6th the CD by Sebastian entitled Threnody. Sebastian has gained a reputation for having music that is very subjective – as in not everyone outside of the Ed Banger camp thinks that it’s that great. He is meant to be Oizo’s understudy to some extent though and while it may not be for everyone he really can crank out something spectacular from time to time. He has his debut album coming out this year and Ed Banger are hoping he can be praised for something other than being able to smoke more profusely than any other Frenchman alive. By now you’re probably wondering what the big deal with this track is.
It’s a little over 13 minutes long and features nothing more than an elevating pitch (it’s not even smooth) on what sounds like sounds from an aeroplane’s engine for 11 minutes. After the long awaited drop it breaks down into a bit of a Justice thing which is actually quite good though. Maybe that’s the point: by the time the 11 minute mark hits you’re so starved for music that you’re bound to love whatever comes after it. The promo CD was supposed to get people talking and to gain hype for upcoming releases and so I guess it has accomplished it’s goal but I’m not too sure that anyone will be lining up to buy his record after this one. When you’re a musician you should be letting your talent create the artwork, not create “artistic expression” like works that any one of us could have made with a pirated copy of Fruity Loops. If an unknown artist produced this one I bet he wouldn’t have Ed Banger knocking on his door. That’s the way life goes though isn’t it. I don’t expect anybody to say that he’s doing anything genius of groundbreaking by producing this record but then again maybe he’s ahead of his time and in 20 years or so 12 minute buildups will be on every dance floor around the world. I guess all that’s left to do is wait to see what comes of this album.
Check out the tune below and add your voice to the discussion.
Nil Hartman (pictured above) provides us with a refreshing reminder – not all tracks that circulate within the electronic Blogosphere need to have wonky bass-lines, or gully drops. Hartman, a 24-year old, born in Lyon, France has been making some serious noise on the Gourmet Recordings Label, with the public support of Ed Banger boss-man Pedro Winter.
Hartman’s latest track “La Datafunk”, celebrates everything beautiful about French electro – it’s liberating, freewheeling, and eccentric in its own blameless way. Though it might not fit into your track-list for this upcoming weekend, the work definitely deserves a thorough listen, as a reminder that experimental electro is still very much alive.
Exactly twenty-four hours ago, Mr. Pedro Winter aka Busy-P, the patriarch of Ed Banger Records, descended upon Queen West, and completely blew the doors off of Wrongbar. That glorious day (Wednesday May 27th) also marked the inception of this very blog, as we officially acquired the domain “electrotoronto.com”.
Aside from this unavoidable nostalgia, Busy-P’s set was ridiculous through-and-through, and it would be silly to ignore his brilliance in our maiden post. One track in particular that had myself and those around me gasping for air, was a throw-back tech house track from Oliver Huntemann, by the name of “Rubin”.
“Rubin”, though almost three years old, proved to be timeless in Winter’s set, and brought the Wrongbar faithful back to Huntemann’s acid house days in North Germany. A minimalistic harpsichord synth, a growling baseline, and a well thought-out progression highlight this work- have a look.
Ah yes, and on behalf of myself (The Vamp), and my trusty accomplice Stonewall Trackson, we would like to formally cut the ribbon, and welcome you all to our humble electronic sanctuary. Now, the only focus is on dreams.
