06.02.2014
In Drum & Bass, Dubstep/Bass, Electronic, Leftfield, Live, MissRuckus, Review, Techno, UK Funky / 2-Step, urbansteve By MissRuckus No comments

MUTEK 2014 highlights!


urbansteve and I (MissRuckus) ventured out to Montreal for the MUTEK festival again this year (although this year, they were called EM15 since they teamed up with digital arts festival, Elektra, as both were celebrating their 15th year), along with our dancing friend, Genevieve. This was my 5th MUTEK, urbansteve’s 223420th MUTEK, Gen’s 1st… and the Hot Sauce crew have been covering the festival since 2010 (check here for our coverage of previous years). We (okay, mostly MissRuckus) also did a whole lot of Tweeting and Instagramming this year. If you missed our in-the-moment updates, you can still see our Instagram photos here and our Tweets here. Unfortunately, I managed to somehow forget my camera but lucky for us, Gen had hers. Check this space in the next few days for a full festival review by urbansteve!

In the meantime, here is some music by our highlight acts this year…

Since urbansteve is a big fan of Richie Hawtin, he stuck around Metropolis 1 to catch the techno god’s set, while I decided to make the trek to Nocturne 2 to catch Ben Frost who ended up completely blowing me away. He had two live drummers and performed his newly released album, A U R O R A (I need this album on vinyl immediately.. out elsewhere but not yet distributed in North America!). One of the best live shows I have seen in a long time, even beyond MUTEK! It felt like we were all witness to something very special in that space.


Shackleton wowed urbansteve and I during Nocturne 1, and it was quite the experience to be dancing in front of the stage (and the large bass bins) as the heavy bass surged through our bodies in the most blissful of ways. Bass is seriously meant to be felt, people! Trust.

 

urbansteve’s other top picks of MUTEK:

Max Cooper
(Lately, I really appreciate when DJs take risks by not doing the standard beatmatch-the-entire-way-through kind of 4/4 sets. He threw a couple of curve balls to the party people at Metropolis 2 which I thought kept things interesting even if it meant interrupting your dancing (including stops, suddenly changing the tempo and mood, etc.). It was late, and I was tired and hangry (yes, hangry), so I left to go back to the hotel in the middle of his set.. but urbansteve can tell you more about it in his upcoming review!)


Voices From The Lake
(I wanted to catch them at Metropolis 2 but went to see Robert Henke‘s much talked about Lumiere during Para_visions 3 instead.. which I found interesting but way too long)

 

Gen’s top picks of MUTEK:

Pinch
(…during his too short set at Nocturne 4. We unfortunately missed his surprise set during Piknic Electronik since we were already enroute back to Toronto)


Lee Bannon
(I’m not a drum & bass head like Gen, but I really enjoyed dancing to his set during Nocturne 4, and I have to say that d’n'bers/junglists are some of the hardest dancers around.. good vibe inna da place! The bass probably reached bone rattling level)


Knowing Looks
(I rushed over from Nocturne 4 after catching some of Fluxion‘s dub techno so I wouldn’t miss all of Knowing Looks’ set. Our hometown boy had the crowd bumpin’ in the intimate Savoy Room during Metropolis 3)

03.28.2014
In Hot Sauce Crew, MissRuckus, Mixes, Records, Techno, urbansteve By urbansteve No comments

Hot Sauce 21: Deep.Dubby.Melodic.Chaotic.

So I recently got together with my good friends MissRuckus and Roland Gonzales for a pre-party “let’s get mentally hyped” session before heading out to see Four Tet with “Shake” Shakir as part of the Foundry series of parties in Toronto. After knocking back some whiskeys and playing some records and Josh Wink’s old classic Profound Sounds mix), we settled in to some deep techno mixes
that really got us into the groove. Efdemin’s XLR8R podcast and a mix of Minilogue’s singles are what mesmorized us into a deep place and later provided the inspiration for this mind trip mix of mine….Deep.Dubby.Melodic.Chaotic.

recorded: March 19, 2014 length: 63:26

01. Kollective Turmstrasse – Videt (Kollective Turmstrasse rmx) [Musik Gewinnt Freunde]
02. Chateau Flight – Cosmic Rage [Versatile]
03. Koss, Henriksson, Mullaert – One (DJ QU rmx) [Mule Electronic]
04. Minilogue – Intermediate State [Mule Electronic]
05. Estroe – Driven (Distortion rmx) [Connaisseur]
06. Luv Jam – Mature Oak [Phonica White]
07. Omar S – Here’s Your Trance Now Dance [FXHE]
08. MicroTrauma – Circulate [Traum]
09. Locussolus – Berghain [International Feel]
10. Deep Space Orchestra – Street Lights [Applied Rhythmic Technology]
11. Martin Buttrich – Space Babe [Vitalik Recordings]
12. Milton Bradley – Motor City [Do Not Resist the Beat!]
13. Tale of Dub – Pattern Select [Delusions of Grandeur]
14. Second Hand Satellites – Orbit 1.4 [Hallucnation]
15. Version – Nothing (Dub mix) [Miso]
16. Resoe – Dubcuttin’ [Echocord]

03.05.2014
In Afro, DJing, Mixes, Tropical Funk, urbansteve, World, Worldbeat By urbansteve No comments

Hot Sauce 20: The Outernational – Session One

31 African flavours spanning a wide gamut of eclectic styles from my record collection. Fuzzy psychedelic zamrock from Zambia, colourful Ghanian highlife, Nigerian disco thumpers, super charged polyrhythmic funk from Benin, quirky West African electronic sounds from the seventies as well a few modern cutting edge cuts of today

recorded: March 04, 2014 time: 1:36:56
01. Chris Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family – Feelin’ Good (Zambia)
02. Witch – Lazy Bones (Zambia)
03. Chris Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family – Coffin Maker (Zambia)
04. Witch – Bleeding Thunder (Zambia)
05. Edzayawa – Gondzin (Ghana)
06. Colomach – Kpanlogo (Folklore) (Togo)
07. Owiny Sigoma Band – Nabed Nade Ei Piny Ka (Kenya & UK)
08. Sofi Hellborg ft. Tony Allen – Wouldn’t That Be Fun (Sr. Lobo & Watch TV mix) (Sweden, Spain, Nigeria)
09. Bell’a Njoh – Ebolo (Cameroon)
10. Joe Moks – Boys and Girls (Nigeria)
11. BLO – Get That Groove In (Nigeria)
12. Asiko Rock Group – Lagos City (Nigeria)
13. William Onyeabor – Fantastic Man (Nigeria)
14. Willian Onyeabor – Atomic Bomb (Nigeria)
15. The Semi Colon – Ebenebe (Nigeria)
16. Pazy and The Black Hippies – Wa Ho Ha (Nigeria)
17. The Semi Colon – Isi Agboncha (Nigeria)
18. K. Frimpong & Super Complex Sounds – Ahyewa (Hide & Smile Edit) (Ghana)
19. Gatanga Boys Band – Tiga Kundega (Hide & Smile Edit) (Kenya)
20. The Uhuru Dance Band – Untitled (Quantic Edit) (Ghana)
21. Kalambya Boys – Kivelenge (The Busy Twist remix) (Kenya & UK)
22. Son Palenque de Colombia – Samba (Afro Colombian)
23. Mangue Konde – Kalbendo (Burkina Faso)
24. Orchestre Super Borgou de Parakou – Adiza Claire (Benin)
25. Poly Rythmo de Cotonou – Ahouli Vou Yelli (Benin)
26. Orchestre Super Borgou de Parakou – Vodoun Hounwato Minon Dou Gbandja (Benin)
27. Poly Rythmo de Cotonou – Se Ba Ho (Benin)
28. Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang – Kill Me With Bongo (Sierra Leone & USA)
29. John Wizards – Hogsback (South Africa, Rwanda)
30. Francis Bebey – Tiers Monde (Cameroon)
31. Melodica Teens Band – Mwekuru Muthao (Kenya)

12.31.2013
In Hot Sauce Crew, Records, Rock, urbansteve By urbansteve No comments

Top Heavy Albums of 2013

This past year I found myself listening to lots of doom metal, metal, post metal, stoner rock, and psych rock. To avoid using all these potentially confusing terms to the unintated, I decided to call my list the Top Heavy Albums of 2013.
In particular I delved deeper into doom with its slow tempos, dense Black Sabbath-esque riffs, low tuned guitars, fuzzy bass sounds and dark lyrics of despair. Quite the contrast from the techno, house and bass music sounds we usually write about on this blog! However, I’d highly recommend checking out some of these albums if you’re curious about head-nodding, repetitive, meditative heavy music (come to think of it – that description also sounds like a defintion of the techno MissRuckus is into these days!)
These were 10 of my absolute favourites of 2013 that i’m sure i’ll still be rockin’ in 2014.

10. Black Pyramid
Adversarial
[Hydro-Phonic Records]
Mammoth doom riffs and brooding basslines like “Onyx and Obsidian” and “Issus”

9. Earthless
From the Ages
[Tee Pee Records]

Psychedelic endless jams that The Jimi Hendrix Experience would be proud of. This trio can flat out play! Wicked album cover too.
Listen to the opening track, “From The Ages”

8. Blood Ceremony
The Eldritch Dark
[Rise Above Records]

Sabbath riffage, Hammond Organs and flute solos from this Toronto band. Excellent live show too!
Ace tracks - “Goodbye Gemini” and “Witchwood”

7. Windhand
Soma
[Relapse]

Last year’s doom surprise for me on my top albums list of 2012 was Pallbearer’s “Sorrow and Extinction”. Similarly, Windhand’s second album, Soma comes out of the shadows and was an instant force to be reckoned with for me. Opener track “Orchard” is exceptionally killer.

6. Kylesa
Ultraviolet
[Season of Mist]

Georgia Sludge metal heroes do it again with their double drum attack with strained melodies constantly trying to break through the sludge. Check out “Ultraviolet” here

5. Black Sabbath
13
[Vertigo]

Great comeback album with a mostly reunited Black Sabbath produced by Rick Rubin. Exceeded my expectations as they return to their doomy formula that set the blueprint of all things heavy literally spawning thousands of bands. “God is Dead” is a standout track. Geezer Butler’s lyrics throughout are a nostalgic throwback to when it was so wickedly fun to sing along to Sabbath songs.

4. Yamataka//Sonic Titan
UZU
[Paper Bag Records]

Elements of metal and Prog Rock seep through on Yamataka//Sonic Titan’s second album. “Hall of Mirrors” blasts us with a heavy dose of epic rock. . “Lamia” is an echo laden sonic thrill that reminds me of one of those shoegazer bands of the 90s – only not wimpy. Noisy rhythms and guitars are balanced out by the infectious chanting on “One”. A solid album from start to finish.

3. Pelican
Forever Becoming
[Southern Lord Recordings]

Brilliant instru-metal from post-metal masters of their craft. “Immutable Dusk” and “Perpetual Dawn” together may have saved guitar music in 2013.

2. Monster Magnet
Last Patrol
[Napalm Records]

A cosmic stoner rock delight – Monster Magnet indulge us with that hazy spaced-out vibe that never gets old when it’s this thick. I had a ticket to see them in December but Was disappointed they cancelled the last remaining dates on their tour just before their first Toronto show in over a decade. Oh well, in the meantime I’ll get more mileage out of my “Last Patrol” slabs of vinyl.
Top Tracks: “Mindless Ones”, “Paradise”

…and my favourite heavy album of 2013 goes to…

1. Kadavar
Abra Kadavar
[Nuclear Blast]

Kadavar are a trio from Berlin who look and sound like they are straight out of 1973. They record their songs in one room together on analogue equipment with only vocals and a couple solos added in after. This throwback style provides a warm fuzzy sound in all their vintage charm and glory. Watch and listen to “Come Back to Life” and you’ll know what I mean.

The simple heavy riffs and solos on “Doomsday Machine” further cement the psych awesomeness of this album.

Kadavar’s self titled release from 2012 was just as powerful as “Abra Kadavar”. Retro rock music never sounded so fresh and vital before!

12.29.2013
In Afro, Dubstep/Bass, Electro, Electronic, Glitch Hop, Hot Sauce Crew, House, Leftfield, Music, Tech House, Techno, urbansteve By urbansteve No comments

Top 10 Electronic Albums of 2013

Once again I present you my list of favourite albums of 2013 that I have listened to. No doubt there are countless albums that I have not heard- some of which probably would have made this list- but that’s the magic of the eternal ongoing adventure of discovering new music.
This year I decided to separate my lists into top electronic-based albums and top heavy (guitar-driven, non-electronic) album. Reissues, compilations remix albums are excluded as usual. Here are 10 of my favourite electronic long players of 2013.

10. ELOS
Kid Him
[Alpha Pup Records]

After Just missing the Hot Sauce top 25 of 2012 with Last year’s excellent “Scenes of Life/Electricity” album, ELOS comes through with “Kid Him”. An beat electronic sci-fi journey through loss and isolation. Lots of great sounds and experimental beat patterns on this one.
Top tracks: “Fall Light”, “Topdown”.

9. Oneohtrix Point Never
R Plus Seven
[Warp]

Beautiful Cold music that with warm pockets bubbling to the surface. It fits right in with the Warp records aesthetic we’ve all come to trust for decades.
Top tracks: “Zebra”, “Problem Areas”

8. Boards of Canada
Tomorrow’s Harvest
[Warp]

Being a long time fan of Boards of Canada, I too fell into the mystery, intrigue and hype of their long awaited follow up to 2005′s The Campfire Headphase. A little underwhelmed with “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, it still impressed me more than most electronic albums despite it not breaking much new ground. I guess sometimes familiar terrain is still pleasurable.
Top tracks: “Jaquard Causeway”, “Sick Times”.

7. dèbruit
From the Horizon
[Civil Music]

Frenchman, Xavier Thomas continues with his genre-less innovative by pushing chopped up beats and African Highlife sounds. dèbruit’s live Boiler Room Set was one of my favourites of all time too!
Top Tracks: “Ata”, “Cri”

6. The Knife
Shaking the Habitual
[Rabid Records]

Ya,The Knife scare the shit out of us with their music and live show but i’s soooo good. This album was a marathon to listen to but well worth it.
Top tracks : “My Raging Lung”, “A Tooth for an Eye”

5. John Wizards
John Wizards
[Planet Mu Records]

Electronic African Rhythms with hints of Ghanaian Highlife, Congolese rumba, South African mbaqanga and even a Shangaan Electro track are all on this wickedly creative album by South African native, John Withers. You can even hear dub, bass music and tropcalia bits on this wildly eclectic record. The vocals are done by Rwandan singer, Emmanuel Nzaramba.
Top Tracks: “Hogsback”, “Lukasa By Night”

4. Special Request
Soul Music
[Houndstooth]

Junglist! Veteran techno dude, Paul Woolford reinvents himself with a proper old school drum ‘n bass project, Special Request. For those of you who missed the mid nineties jungle boom, you gotta run these tunes! Disc two includes mostly remixes including an excellent one by deep techno don, Kassem Mosse.

Top tracks: Soundboy Killer, “Broken Dreams”

3. Machinedrum
Vapor City
[Ninja Tune]

Best opening track on an album belongs to Machinedrum’s “Gunshotta”! This whole album struck an emotional chord in me. A proper concept album about an imaginary industrial sprawled out dreary urban centre of decay. The tracks although quite different seem to flow and develop into a dark yet calm narrative.

Other top tracks: “Eyes Don’t Lie”, “Centre Your Love”

2. Floorplan
Paradise
[M-Plant]

Robert Hood Strikes again with his Floorplan alias made straight for the dancefloor. Last year, Hood’s “Motor: Nighttime World 3″ took the top spot on my albums list. 2013′s “Paradise” album was filled with floor bangers like “Eclipse”, the soulful “Never Grow Old”, and the iconic piano lick of “Confess”.

It was an absolute pleasure to see Robert Hood live in June 2013 at Mutek in Montreal (read my review here) as well as be a part of his Boiler Room DJ Set during the same festival.

…and finally my favourite electronic album of 2013 was…

1. Akkord
Akkord
[Hoodstooth]

Bass music regulars Synkro and Indigo join forces to flex their techno muscles producing a sharp metallic stunner of an album. Although not the most well-rounded album, I found myself gravitating to this album more than any others this year. This album is precisely plotted – from the dark harrowing intro on album opener,“Torr Vale” to the chanting and percussion on “Smoke Circles”. The glitchy sounds on “Hex_ad” conjure up aural demons that need to be heard.

“3dOS”

“Conveyor”

Honourable Mentions

Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind [Text]

Roly Porter – The Life Cycle of a Massive Star [Subtext]

Graze – Edges [New Kanada]

Holden – The Inheritors [Border Community]

Fortune Howl – Earthbound [Relief in Abstract]

Next up: My top 15 non-electronic albums of 2013….

09.26.2013
In Classical, Electronic, Hot Sauce Crew, Leftfield, Live, MissRuckus By MissRuckus No comments

Virtuoso.

Nils Frahm

Thanks to Navi for sharing this with me. Is it weird to listen to just a little clip over and over again in one evening?
 

 

Nils Frahm performed live not once, not twice, but thrice (is that a real word? it is now!) at Mutek this past year, but the Hot Sauce crew managed to somehow miss him all three times. We heard his sets were phenomenal and a highlight of the festival for many. Kicking myself more than a little for missing it.

More experimental electronics, less piano virtuoso.. but still not your typical Boiler Room set:
 

 
Less experimental electronics, more piano virtuoso (you can download this whole thing for free here.. and with an invite to rework the tracks for you creative types!):
 

 
 
Update: There’s a full clip of “Says” (from the album teaser video) floating about in the Soundcloud universe:
 

09.18.2013
In Event, MissRuckus, Techno By MissRuckus No comments

Introducing Lab.our Music



Our friends Stuart Li (aka Basic Soul Unit, one of my fave producers fo’ realz) and Jason Ulrich have been throwing Lab.our of Love parties in Toronto for some time now, and both have some seriously good taste in music (in my humbly good taste in music opinion! Ahem). Happy to hear they are now releasing top tunes on their newly minted label, Lab.our.. you know it’s all gonna be good! Check out some snippets from Basic Soul Unit’s new release (Lab.our 01):




And a sampling of what we have to look forward to in October (Lab.our 02) from upcoming Toronto producer, Maxwell Church:




Oh yes! Keep it coming, guys! Also, catch them on the decks at the Lab.our 01 record release party this Saturday night at a very unique venue. You know you wanna.


Update: Check out Lab.our Podcast 01, a taster mix from Jason Ulrich for Saturday!

07.31.2013
In DJing, Dubstep/Bass, Electronic, House, Live, MissRuckus, Photos, Tech House, Techno By MissRuckus No comments

Snapshots from Sound in Motion 2013

98765

4Basic Soul Unit31Audio Werner

(click on each photo to see full-sized image)

07.09.2013
In Dubstep/Bass, Electronic, Event, Live, MissRuckus, Tech House, Techno By MissRuckus No comments

Sound in Motion returns to TO!

Sound in Motion flyer

We’re pretty excited by the lineup at the upcoming 2nd annual Sound in Motion independent electronic music festival, organized with love by our friends at StudioFeed. Kode9, Pinch, Akufen, Basic Soul Unit, Daniel Bell, Audio Werner, DeepChord, SlowPitch, and more more more.. say what?! There’s even a free outdoor event, and a critical mass musical bike ride (check the website for more info!). Yup, see you on the dancefloor.. and also with a SubPac at your back!

 

06.27.2013
In Dubstep/Bass, Electronic, Event, Hot Sauce Crew, House, Live, MissRuckus, Music, Photos, Tech House, Techno, urbansteve By urbansteve No comments

Mutek Feature: Hot Sauce does MUTEK 2013

Robert Hood live at Metropolis

All three members of the Hot Sauce crew finally made the trip up together to Montreal for MUTEK 2013 – the International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music. We had a phenomenal time dancing for 4 long nights to the forward thinking sounds of mostly live electronic acts. Highlights for us included Pantha du Prince and the Bell Laboratory’s astounding live performance in a Symphony Hall, Robert Hood’s live set and Boiler Room DJ set, Efdemin’s 3:00am throwdown, Andy Stott’s slow motion rumbling performance, Nosaj Thing’s eclectic sounds, Boundary’s world premiere, Graze’s debut (Adam Marshall and XI) and Brandt Brauer Frick’s revamped stripped down live set.


Boundary (Ghislain Poirier’s new project) at Société Des Arts Technologiques

Venue hopping between the Société Des Arts Technologiques (SAT) and the Metroplis – located right around the corner from each other- we got to take in almost all the acts we intended to see. At times, we had to make hard choices – I missed Martyn’s set in favour of Wishmountain (Matthew Herbert’s vinyl techno set).


Matthew Herbert as Wishmountain at Metropolis

Brandt Brauer Frick at Metropolis

When it comes down to thoughtful programming; boundary-pushing live performances; world class venues; digital creativity, immersive visuals, and a charming city with an arts-centric infrastructure – one might be hard pressed to find another electronic music festival in the world that out-Muteks MUTEK.

Please read our more in-depth review of MUTEK we did for Juno Plus out of London, UK. It’s quite entertaining! Click here.


Efdemin at Metropolis


Pantha du Prince and the Bell Laboratory at Maison Symphonique

View more of our MUTEK photos here.