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The Social

Farewell Faktory

July 2, 2011

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.

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Black Rose

January 24, 2011

Calypso. Tellyfoam. Barbra Streisand.

– 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?

Black Rose – Anthem (Preview)

Made To Play | website

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What’s Good Wednesday!?

January 19, 2011

A very tantalizing string of headliners on deck for this weekend, with all of Toronto’s most influential EDM venues showcasing top-tier bookings. Resident Advisor’s golden boy, Kyle Hall, makes his Toronto debut at the very chic Galapagos Thursday at The Drake Underground — expect all sorts of deep grooves and nothing past 126 bpm. Friday evening is the people’s choice gala with everyone’s favorite ‘pa ‘pa Americano — errm — Yolanda Be Cool — lots of local radio-play foreshadows a fun-filled evening. Saturday is our pick of the litter, with House music’s cream of the crop Swiss duo, Round Table Knights at The Social for another dazzling edition of Faktory Saturday.  Other massive Saturday options include disco mastermind, The Magician (Wrongbar) and everyone’s favorite, Chromeo (Opera House).

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Thursday

THE HEADLINER: Kyle Hall w/ Mymanhenri & More — Thursday @ Drake Underground
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The Opener: Ludwig Black & John Caffery — Thursday @ Gladstone Hotel
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The Opener: Lsonn, Bashabash, Brooks — Thursday @ The Social
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The Opener: Barbi, Paul David & Barletta — Thursday @ Andy Poolhall
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Friday

THE HEADLINER: Yolanda Be Cool w/ Simon Jain & More — Friday @ Mod Club
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The Opener: XI, Eskmo, Bombaman & More — Friday @ Wrongbar
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The Opener: Lucie Tic, Mr. Mandelephant & More — Friday @ Supermarket
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The Opener: Gingy, Milt Mortez & Matt Cherkas — Friday @ apkLIVE (London)
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The Closer: Adam K, Addy & More — Friday @ FootWork
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Saturday

THE HEADLINER: Round Table Knights, Meati & Meech — Saturday @ The Social
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The Opener: Chromeo (Live) — Saturday @ The Opera House
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The Opener: The Magician w/ Mr. Charlton & More — Saturday @ Wrongbar
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The Closer: Donald Gluade, Robb G & More — Saturday @ Footwork
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Desert’s Finest

August 24, 2010

In case you haven’t already heard, one of our most cherished dj/producers will be making his highly anticipated North American debut this Thursday (August 26th) at The Social. Indeed, electroTO and The Faktory are very proud to present the latest installment of Social Thursday featuring Italian-native Andrea Maver, aka Camel, of Deadfish Audio fame.

The perfect precursor to this massive occasion is Camel’s latest promotional single, which was released just days ago as a free give-away through Jackmode Agency — one of the most relevant talent management organizations in the world. The piece goes by the name Akin and features the deep drums, melodic harmonies and enchanting vibe that we have come to know and love from Camel.

It truly seems that this dude can do no wrong in the production room, assembling brilliant track, after brilliant track. His intricate use of lucid samples, haunting organic instrument progressions, and the grooviest percussion loops all amount to Andrea Maver being one of the finest producers around. This specific aural experience almost entices you to spiritually teleport to the most remote regions of an Arabic desert, and wander, aimlessly.  Thursday is going to be magical.

Camel – Akin (Original Mix)

Camel | myspace | beatport

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Camel Ride

August 19, 2010

One week from today.

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.

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Gypsy Brass

August 1, 2010

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 Social who 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 Socialites bumping 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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Sylvain | myspace | purchase

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Family Affair

August 24, 2009

FranDiscos

Tonight’s edition of Social Monday features a duo that is highly regarded by us here at electroTO, and we felt it necessary to spread the word accordingly. They go by “The FranDiscos”, a pair of brothers (Andrew & Jon) who’ve been spinning the finest in electro, house and everything in between for quite some time. They usually lurk the DJ booths at Club-V, but have consistently made appearances across some of the finest clubs in and around the GTA. Tonight they’re making their debut at The Social, and we’d strongly recommend checking them out.

Be sure to check out their “Touching Strange Animals” mixtape as well, which can be linked to via their Facebook page (see below). Most importantly, click HERE for more information on their event at The Social this evening. Should be a good one, as per usual.

The Vamp

The FranDiscos | myspace | facebook

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What’s Good Wednesday!?

June 17, 2009

Fake Blood @ Wrongbar

Today’s edition of WGW marks the beginning of the NXNE festival in Toronto, sensibly named after the compass quadrants “North By Northeast”.  This is essentially the Canadian version of the film/music/culture festival that takes place every year in Texas, by the name of SXSW. What does this mean for the electronic aficionados in the Toronto area? Well let me tell you, it has provided us with one of the strongest weekly event line-ups in recent memory.

The Headliner: Fake Blood, Nasty Nav and Barletta, Sat. @ Wrongbar

Fake Blood exploded on the scene the day Steve Aoki dropped his Essential Mix on BBC’s Radio One. On that day, Mars became much more than a red planet—it became the track of summer 2008. Then there was his Toronto appearance this past winter, where he absolutely blew the doors off of Wrongbar, and left resident DJ Nasty Nav playing his “Stuck On Repeat” remix for months. Yikes, with opening acts by Mr. Nav himself, as well as local-boy Barletta, Saturday will be off the hook, no questions asked.

Click here for more details.

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The Opener: Bird Peterson, St. Mandrew and Guests, Thurs. @ The Social

NXNE’s high-power electro line-up kicks off with Bird Peterson at The Social, a venue which is infamous for its big-time sound system, in its not-so-big main room. Regardless, this doesn’t bode well for your eardrums, especially when Mr. Peterson drops his earth-shattering banger “The Essence”.  Peterson will be joined by the very skilled St. Mandrew, cousin of MSTRKRFT’s JFK. (Note: We incorrectly suggested that Bird Peterson was on the Dim Mak recording label– totally our bad– thanks for keeping us sharp)

Click here for more details.

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The Opener: Klever, Fri. @ CiRCA

Friday night, CiRCA’s Randomland will feature Klever, a world-renowned scratch DJ from the United States who will make a point of opening his bag of tricks and shredding some serious vinyl throughout the night. Coming from a notorious hip-hop background in the mean streets of Atlanta, you can expect Klever to drop a diverse track arrangement with a Baskin Robbins-esque assortment of flavors.

Click here for more details.

The Vamp

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