These are my favourite albums of 2011 in no particular order (meaning, I play these over and over and over and over…and over!).

…………………………………………………………….

SBTRKT
Sbtrkt
[Young Turks]

…………………………………………………………….

LITTLE DRAGON
Ritual Union
[Peacefrog]

…………………………………………………………….

MARTYN
Ghost People
[Brainfeeder]

…………………………………………………………….

MACHINEDRUM
Room(s)
[Planet Mu]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

THUNDERCAT
The Golden Age of Apocalypse
[Brainfeeder]

…………………………………………………………….

JAMES BLAKE
James Blake
[Polydor]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

THE STEPKIDS
The Stepkids
[Stones Throw]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

TUNE-YARDS
Whokill
[4AD]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

PEAKING LIGHTS
936
[Not Not Fun]

…………………………………………………………….

SULLY
Carrier
[Keysound]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

SALVA
Complex Housing
[Friends of Friends]
Listen

…………………………………………………………….

This month, we’ll spinning at this fundraising event to support our friend Clifton’s long bike ride and help raise money for cancer research. Come out, get crunk* (there’s no cover but proceeds from drink sales will be going towards The Campbell Family Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital) and support a good cause! We’ll also be spinning with carlovega. Check out some of his mixes here.

Oh yeah, and the super nice space doesn’t hurt either.

*but drive safe.. or better yet, leave that gas guzzling pollution contraption at home and ride yo’ bike!

Alain Brémond and Olmo Cassibba are the London-based (?) duo behind MiAOW (not to be confused with the indie rock band of the same name). There are only a few tracks I found online, but so far what I’ve heard, I think it’s pretty good! Very deep, very electronic and very jazzy with sax flourishings throughout. Cosmic Disco heads or fans of Todd Terje should be all over this. According to their MySpace, they are working on an album, but yet to be signed. For me it’s easy to picture them on Richard Russell’s XL Recordings (in London), with reworkings by Jamie XX perhaps, or Henrik Schwartz. Maybe go deeper with Todd Terje? Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve? Midland? Joy O? What do you think?

Another very sick track, ‘Rolling in the Fields’ below. (And MiAOW, if you ever read this, definitely let us know when the album drops.)

Rolling in the fields by MiAOW

Our next party is a collaborative effort! More info on this electronic feast here.

The Hot Sauce Crew threw down a wicked party once again on March 12. Backdropped by the stunning visuals of Turbographix, DJ Shingo and MissRuckus kicked out great bass and tech house sets that started the dancefloor. Special Guest Knowing Looks layed down a dope live set that rocked our senses and further stirred up the floor. I followed Knowing Looks with an inspired set of tunes that are currently rocking my eardrums. Several of the tracks I played at our Assembly party are featured in this set I whipped off this week. The uplifting “Garuna” Solomun remix is a goosebump track for me. Minilogue’s masterpiece, “Intermediate State” takes the mix to funky new heights. The last 5 tracks offers up a dark slice of the bass/techy-dubstep sounds I am enjoying right now- a far cry from the hyperactive metallic/drill-like dubstep that is threatening to tar all dubstep with the same unrefined brush. Feel free to share your opinions.

*Knowing Looks plays Saturday April 2, 2011 at the Drake Underground with Appleblim (UK) and Bowly as part of Avant_Mutek series

I don’t think I’ve ever hit the ‘zone’ this hard, especially at a family get together (that’s what it looks like?). But damn, this is what dancing and having a good time is all about. Nobody rocks it like these boys do.

Thanks to Claus for this one!

Getting into the ‘work zone’ at the office or studio is a common experience for everyone one, whatever job you do. Today was one of those days, where once the headphones were on, they stayed on until the work got done (midnight). Fueled on a large double Americano, and a very loud bumping playlist (for this Saturday’s Hot Sauce event), heart was pounding, mind racing, eyes red and glued to the monitor. It was impossible to take a break really, because I was so focused, dealing with productions files (graphic design stuff) you need to be pretty meticulous. Anyhow, it wasn’t until Brandt Brauer Frick‘s “Bop” started playing, and it’s just so incredibly good, it broke the ‘zone’ spell. I needed to take a break to fully appreciate it, or rather to give it the respect it deserves. Then that lead to youtubing the video. It’s absolutely brilliant. Reminds me of Michel Gondry’s work, but German. Check it below.

BBF is made up of acoustic-techno musicians: Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Frick from Germany. The trio combines live instruments with analogue synthesizers, creating a sound that is warm, yet minimal. Danceable, yet very sophisticated. Combining live orchestral sounds with dance music, they really inject a great energy and lots of texture, which is absent in the coolness of minimal techno. Fellow Hot Sauce DJs MissRuckus and urbansteve managed to catch the tail end of their show at Mutek 2010, and they said it was pretty impressive.

BBF is playing in Toronto, Thursday May 10 @ the Drake Underground for CMW. The full Hot Sauce crew will be checking this, and we rarely go out together these days! What’s up with that MissRuckus & urbansteve?

Brandt Brauer Frick – Caffeine



BRANDT BRAUER FRICK live at Club Contemporary Classical – Berghain, Berlin September 2009



At Mutek 2010

We’re throwing down another ASSEMBLY party. Listen/learn more about our special guest Knowing Looks here, and check here for full party details.

HOT SAUCE returns to throw down another ASSEMBLY party… still served with warm vibes and extra bass!

More info here.

HOT SAUCE turns up the heat with a new party series: ASSEMBLY!

More info here.

To commemorate the launch of the new home of our music blog, Hot Sauce, we threw down a party last Friday. It was pretty packed tight that night. Thank you to all those who made it despite the cold, dense foggy weather that night! Passing by Trinity Bellwoods Park, it looked like some serious ghost action going down. Blurred lights and shadows (spooky!). Check out some of the photos here on FB. Big thank yous go out to Ted P. for our new site, and alo for the awesome visuals!

My mini mix is a pretty tightly packed 28 minute mix, as we gave out CDs at the party with all three of our mixes (Missruckus’, urbansteve’s and mine) on it. I’ve kept it pretty lean, but made it as fun as possible at the same time. Let me know what you think! Enjoy.

Welcome to the new version of our blog! It’s been a long time in the making and we hope you like the new look! We’ll also be featuring much more content than before: artist interviews, reviews, videos, our DJ mixes, and exclusive guest DJ mixes. Our first brand new entry was this interview with Onra. We also imported all of our old entries from our old site so you can still check out the history by scrolling backwards.

We threw a big party last Friday to celebrate the new blog’s launch and we want to thank all of you who came out, showed us your dance moves and helped contribute to the warm vibe in the space! Extra special shout outs to alo for gracing us with some dope visuals as our guest VJ, and Ted for putting hours of work with Shingo into developing our new site – talnted indeed!

Oh yeah, and the banner in the pic above was designed by Shingo, printed by urbansteve, and photographed by Hubert K.

For party pics, check our FaceBook page (and join our page by hitting ‘like’ while you’re there!). More photos soon come.

Come back to our blog over the next few days for a series of HOT SAUCE 2.0 mini mixes. First up: Shingo…

We’re throwing an epic HOT SAUCE party to launch the brand new look for our infamous blog. At our parties, we like our music served with extra bass!

Featuring your friendly neighbourhood purveyors of fine electronic music:
DJs Shingo, MissRuckus and urbansteve

+ Guest VJ throwing down the visuals all night: alo

SECRET SAUCE SPECIALS:
We also like our music served with drink specials. Flash your HOT SAUCE button at the bar for $4 shots all night. Get your free special button from one of us in advance, or from our friends at Tequila Bookworm (512 Queen St. West, downstairs – it’s a café by day) or Slinky Music (442 Queen St. West). Quantities are limited.

We’ll also be giving away limited edition numbered posters by Shingo Shimizu and HOT SAUCE mix CDs to the first 25 to arrive.

Click here to RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Amazing.

Tonight I happened to stumble upon DJ Hell’s tracklisting for his new mix cd “Body Language Vol. 9″ on RA, and what caught my eye (other than Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian’s classic: “Forbidden Colours“) was track 8: “The Balanescu Quartet – Robots“. It’s taken from the “Possession” album by TBQ, and wow it’s absolutely amazing. I mean it’s real strings doing Kraftwerk’s melodies originally created by synths. To listen to an already awesome song, presented in a totally different context (and executed really well), is pretty exciting (ie: Carl Craig w/ Les siècles Orchestra). Just hope, commercial hip hop, pop, and smooth jazz artists would stop ruining old classics.

By the way, anybody else going to the Ryuichi Sakamoto show on October 24 in Toronto?