Tonight we bid farewell to one of the unquestioned staples of the Toronto electronic music scene, The Social’s Faktory Saturday; founded by booking visionaries Mike Scrimshaw & Ryan Burton. This weekly arrangement, which has gone steady for well over two years, rewrote the script on bringing conscious DJ/producers to the city, including folks like Untold, Soul Clap, Art Department, Damian Lazarus, Justin Martin, Douster, Teki Latex, Orgasmic, Roska, SBTRKT, Zombie Disco Squad, Camel, Round Table Knights, just to name a handful.
This evening, The Faktory will open its doors one more time to a number of influential local acts, including names like Brandon Sek, St. Mandrew, Nitin, and of course, our good friend Poupon. We’d encourage you to stop by, pay your respects, and rejoice in the wonderful memories that this nostalgic space has provided over the years. That being said, don’t dwell too long on The Social’s closing, as a completely new venue, tabbed The Hoxton, is set to open by summer’s end — ensuring that much of the same quality will continue to flow to our ears.
– probably three of the biggest tunes from last year’s edition of Miami’s annual Winter Music Conference. Tunes that not only single-handedly incited mania anywhere and everywhere, but tunes that have gained popularity among the masses to this very day. Sure, we’re a little emotional that this year’s edition of the festival will not officially be called WMC (now being tabbed Ultra Week) but we’ve booked tickets regardless, and are fully prepared for the task at hand.
With late March quickly approaching, we’re slowly seeing the arrival of the next collection of blockbuster bangers set to shatter the 2011 edition of the festival, and none have impressed us more than this little ditty that we heard live this past Saturday, courtesy of our good friends Biru & Marc, of Round Table Knights. The track was designed by a mysterious collaboration named Black Rose, who we now know as the duo of Jesse Rose and Henrik Schwarz. The tune itself is called Anthem, and it’s the closest thing to an aptronym as you’ll find in these parts (having the actual meaning of its title). What we’re trying to say is — the track called Anthem, is a damn anthem in the realest sense, with a Caribbean dub-play resonating throughout the tune, paired with some groovy accordion licks. The release is set to drop on Made To Play in the coming weeks. Miami is almost here, you coming?
Tonight marks the arrival of Nuit Blanche here in Toronto, where different zones within the downtown core have been attributed a wide-range of artistic installations. However, this year, the only Art we’re interested in, is going down tonight at The Social — where Soul Clap will be in town, alongside Canadian DJ-duo Art Department. Resident Adviser does a tremendous job of laying out the pedigree of this duo, “Art Department is the brainchild of Canadian techno/house Legend Kenny Glasgow and Canada’s fastest rising star and No.19 label owner – Jonny White. As individuals both Kenny and Jonny have released countless critically acclaimed records and are regarded internationally as two of the most forward thinking, revolutionary underground producers out of North America.”
The track Vampire Nightclub by Art Department is sort of a tease, for the mere fact that it isn’t the track entitled Without You, which is the one that has really caused a stir since WMC 2010. Regardless, that incredibly groovy downtempo bassline is still present, the slow mode arpeggiator and the low-pitched techno vocals are in full effect. Be sure to come out tonight for the real thing.
Art Department – Vampire Nightclub feat. Seth Troxler (Original Mix)
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We kinda alluded to this already, but seriously, how is it already September? Yet, another warm summer of good friends, good cheer and good music has passed us by, and now fall is right around the corner. We’re proud to say that electroTO‘s summer will last a couple more weeks, as we slowly unveil the final chapter of our Summer Sessions Live Mix Series. This final installment was recorded in concert with The Faktory, at our Social Thursday collaboration, which featured the likes of Meech, Golden Gloves (Poupon), Bordello, and of course, our guest of honour, Camel (Deadfish UK). As has been the case with all of our Summer Sessions, this one showcases a bunch of new production from our family of artists, some risky mixing, and a result that is seamless. Be sure to stay tuned until the very end, for our exclusive mix with Camel.
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GOLDEN GLOVES | electroTO Summer Sessions: Volume IV
This mix provides us with yet another chapter in the constant and steady aural evolution of Golden Gloves. It’s important to note that this specific mix showcases a very significant hardware change, as Ben has opted to move away from the reliable CDJ-Serato set up, taking matters into his own hands (or ears) with a straight CDJ arrangement. Regardless of the equipment modification, the mixing was on-point as usual, showcasing a very nice selection of languid house tracks, all paving the way for the eventual arrival of Camel. A couple notable cuts to pay particular attention to include work from labels like Dirtybird, Play it Down, and Snatch!.
Let’s be honest, it’s rare to see Michel Fournier aka Meech behind the decks before 11pm, but on Thursday August 26th, it was his turn to serve in that role. Although we were curious as to how he would handle it, we weren’t surprised when our homie managed to put together one of his best live mixes to date, one that we’re genuinely feeling, and bumping in our own audio contraptions. It all starts off at a subtle 116bpm with the brilliant Bostro Pesopeo remix of Sally Shapiro’s Love In July. From there, it’s a melodic journey through the finest in low-bpm house, techno, and those in between, finally ending off in the 125bpm neighbourhood, with Sussuro (5am Mix) , one of many projects Meech has taken up with Faceless Management newcomer, Meati.
We’re always a tad over-excited when we can personally contribute to the impact of What’s Good Wednesday!? by bringing international DJ talent to town. Our helping hand comes specifically on this Thursday (tomorrow night) when Deadfish Audio DJ/Producer Camel comes to town to dazzle The Social, alongside trusty DJs Golden Gloves, Meech and Bordello. This one promises to be a truly rare passage through quality house and tech house, treating the most seasoned listener to a wide array of exclusive noises. Camel’s tremendous quality has been well documented on this page and we are bubbling with excitement to see this young gun strut his stuff on those fancy CDJ2000′s at The Social.
Once again, blogging superpower electroTO has teamed up with promotion mastermind The Faktory to bring you an event that combines all things beautiful about Toronto’s electronic music scene. The latest edition features a very dear guest, making his North American debut, and more specifically, one of the most promising DJ talents in the world.
In the spring of 2009, we stumbled upon an infantile tech-house label based out the UK by the name of Deadfish Audio (a label that we’ve repeatedly flaunted on this very space). Spearheaded by lead-man Mowgli, the steady stream of innovative releases opened our eyes to a very refreshing take on house music, and left a lasting impression that eventually won our unquestioned support.
Thursday August 26th will celebrate the man who is arguably the diamond jewel of the Deadfish Audio crew, both as a DJ & as a producer — Camel. With three stellar EP releases and a whole slew of incredible remixes in the last year and a half, Camel has asserted himself as the most sought out young producer in the house and tech house game. Period. Mark this one on your calendar, it’s going to be special.
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.
It’s been a while since I’ve woke up the morning after and said, “that was effing incredible”, but last night just happened to be one of those special nights. Swiss-based DJ/producers, the Round Table Knights, treated Toronto’s most spirited electronic faithful to a guided tour through the beautiful world of that minimalesque tropical groove. The duo were technically flawless, making the CDJ-2000′s their personal playground, dropping infectious cut after infectious cut. Big shout outs to The Faktory and The Socialwho have the vision to make these events happen week-in and week-out. Last night was a reminder that reallygood music does reign supreme in this city.
One of the tracks that had the Socialitesbumping especially hard was a funky tune from a Slovenian producer by the name of DJ Sylvain. It’s called Balkanistic, and lives up to its namesake, making obvious light of the Balkan nation’s kelzmorim music tradition, in a big way. The particular version played by the Knights was the Dr. Kucho! Remix, and it’s all-things fun, festive, free-wheeling, vocal-infused, gyspy-brass house. Woah, what an evening.
DJ Sylvain – Balkanistic (Dr. Kucho! Remix)
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The Time Festival Edition of What’s Good Wednesday!? — Of course, Toronto’s Third Annual star-studded electronic music event is going down Friday @ Sound Academy. It features the likes of mainstream icon, Diplo, alongside a pair of dubstep pioneers in Skream & Benga, atop the bill. Some more careful inquiry into the line-up, and you’ll find some very good sleeper talent playing as well — with names like Kingdom, Azari & III, Milano and Konrad Black. But don’t exert all your energy on the Friday, because Saturday night features another really good booking by our friends at The Faktory — Nadastrom, in addition to our boy Meech’s follow up appearance at Guvernment.
Much like the photo above, this weekend’s compilation of talent is sky-high, off the charts, or just “really good”. Perhaps the two events that have the most intrigue for us, would be the appearance of Aeroplane (Vito) @ Wrongbar on the Thursday night, and Zombie Disco Squad @ The Social on the Saturday night. Both of these bookings provide some really special international talent (the first of which is nu disco, and the latter, some of the finest gangster house), that don’t come around every weekend. Friday, be sure to take an opportunity to support a wide selection of local-talent jams going down at familiar venues like Mod Club, Wrongbar, Andy Poolhall, and the list goes on. Enjoy!
