Posted by Scott Willats

On to the summer now, as we continue with the best visuals of 2011 — a.k.a. the Year of the Wobbbbbbbble.

OK, so Electric Daisy Carnival and Ultra Music Festival are the prime electro events — but what about that grime? What about that nastiness? If this is your poison, WEMF had you covered in every aspect imaginable. 15,000 people take a long stroll through the woods until they reach South Algonquin Park. Once inside the confines of the park, they let loose in every way possible. What can I say? Canadians do it better — and this year we did it better than anyone else. Re-live the best of WEMF 2011 below. And the good news: Embrace Presents and Destiny Events have announced that they’re ready to roll in the same location next year, starting August 17th. BAM!

See WEMF through the eyes of Rusko, Destiny Events … and, of course, US!!!

Track of the festival: Though the man himself wasn’t there, thanks to a delayed flight that f***ed it up for everybody, Flux’s track made it into several sets.

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If it’s not here, then it doesn’t matter. bpm:tv presents its ridiculously comprehensive, link-tastic roundup of July’s most important new dance and electronic music releases.

Clams Casino, Rainforest
Pegged by Rolling Stone as an “Artist to Watch,” New Jersey beatmaker Clams Casino (a.k.a. 24-year-old Mike Volpe) releases a debut EP showcasing his moody, heart-tugging blend of hip-hop rhythms and distorted, emotive vocal samples. (Week of July 4)

Dave.i.d, Response
Secretive south London artist Dave.i.d issues his debut album, an unclassifiable gene-splicing of rock and electronic, on the !K7 label. If you’re only going to buy one album this year that was recorded “inside a 10-foot-by-10-foot wooden cube,” then make it this one. (Week of July 4)

Cocoon Heroes Mixed By Adam Beyer & Dorian Paic
Techno power players Adam Beyer and Dorian Paic team up on this two-disc mix celebrating the Cocoon summer series at Ibiza’s famed Amnesia club. (Week of July 4)

Eleven Years Cocoon Recordings – Selected Remix Works
Frankfurt techno imprint Cocoon Recordings issues its first full-length remix collection, featuring tracks by Dinky, Joel Mull, Guy Gerber and Extrawelt. (Week of July 4)

Emptyset, Demiurge
Merging UK bass and avant-techno, Bristol-based duo Emptyset (a.k.a. Paul Purgas and James Ginzburg) serve up their second long-player on the Subtext label. (Week of July 4)

Five Years of Cargo Edition
Leipzig minimal house label Cargo Edition celebrates its wood anniversary with a double-disc compilation featuring the likes of Ekkohuas, Markus Schatz, label founder Matthias Tanzmann and Minimono. (Week of July 4)

Horse Meat Disco 3
Fresh from their appearance at Glastonbury, London DJ foursome Horse Meat Disco deliver up their third mix compilation, a two-disc set of “sweaty, no-nonsense disco” that brings together favourites old (Claudja Barry, Sylvester, Salsoul Orchestra) and new (Todd Terje, Dimitri From Paris) for the all-night party of your Studio 54 fantasies.” (Week of July 4)

Motor City Drum Ensemble, DJ KiCKS
Stuttgart-based house music maestro Motor City Drum Ensemble (a.k.a. Danilo Plessow) incorporates everything from Sun Ra to Aphex Twin in this latest edition of !K7‘s DJ KiCKS mix series. (Week of July 4)

Rival Consoles, Kid Velo
A purveyor of what his label, Erased Tapes, is pleased to call “cinematic dance music for the more discerning dance floors” (can a floor discern?), Leicester’s Rival Consoles (a.k.a. Ryan Lee West) continues to brew his uncategorizable blend of “hard-hitting beats and catchy acid melodies” on this sophomore release. (Week of July 4)

SebastiAn, Total
Already acclaimed for his remixes on behalf of Daft Punk, Uffie, Cut Copy and Klaxons, French electro artist SebastiAn drops his debut long-player on Ed Banger Records, with contributions from the likes of M.I.A., Gaspard Augé from Justice, and others. (Week of July 4)

Samiyam, Sam Baker’s Album
L.A. glitch-hopper and Flying Lotus collaborator Samiyam (a.k.a. the eponymous Sam Baker) follows up his 2008 debut, Rap Beats Vol. 1, with this new release on the Brainfeeder label. (Week of July 4)

Kate Simko, Lights Out
Midwestern minimal house and techno producer Kate Simko draws heavily on the classic Chicago sound in this eagerly anticipated debut long-player. (Week of July 4)

The Sorry Entertainers, Local Jet Set
Berlin duo The Sorry Entertainers (a.k.a. DJ Lotti and Raz Ohara) find a happy meeting place between club music and pop on their debut long-player for Apparat‘s label Shitkatapult. (Week of July 4)

Tiger & Woods, Through The Green
Enigmatic DJ and production duo Tiger & Woods, whose self-released white label 12-inches have caused quite a stir in the last year, offer up their first official release, showcasing the team’s trademark slo-mo disco edits. (Week of July 4)

A Taste of Kandi Summer 2011
It wouldn’t be summer without a mix compilation from the relentless UK house label and “lifestyle brand” Hed Kandi. This hot-weather collection features contributions from Robbie Rivera, Mancini, Jonni Black, Kitten & The Hip, Patrick Hagenaar and others. (Week of July 11)

Cascada, Original Me
Evacuate the dance floor — here come chart-topping German electro-poppers Cascada with a brand new studio effort that includes their latest hit, the not-at-all-influenced-by-Katy-Perry “San Francisco.” (Week of July 11)

Erasure, Circus & Wonderland
Influential Eighties synth-pop stars and LGBT icons Erasure (Vince Clarke and Andy Bell) celebrate their heyday with deluxe editions of these two classic albums. Incidentally, Erasure’s triumphant “Tomorrow’s World” tour will be landing at Toronto’s Sound Academy on September 11 of this year. (Week of July 11)

Get Darker Presents This Is Dubstep 2011
Deftly splitting the difference between “popular” and “credible,” this 40-track collection is a dubstep state-of-the-union, with tracks from Chase & Status, Coki, Flux Pavilion, Above & Beyond, Breakage, Skream and many more. (Week of July 11)

Juno Reactor, Inside the Reactor
Juno Reactor, an ever-shifting British ensemble that performs “a cinematic fusion of electronic, orchestral and global music” under the leadership of Ben Watkins, has assembled a collection of remixes featuring efforts by MIDIval PunditZ, Ace Ventura, Thomas P Heckmann and Bombay Dub Orchestra. (Week of July 11)

Thunderball, 12 Mile High Remixed
Acclaimed for their ability to shift seamlessly from breakbeat to drum’n'bass to dub and downtempo, veteran Washington, D.C. trio and self-proclaimed “Ambassadors of Style” Thunderball (Rob Myers, Steve Raskin and Sid Barcelona) remix their 2010 album 12 Mile High in this new release. (Week of July 11)

Trance Essentials 2011
The first volume of Armada Music‘s new Trance Essentials series is a virtual who’s who of the genre, featuring tracks from A-listers like Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten, Markus Schulz, Hardwell and Paul Oakenfold. (Week of July 11)

Zomby, Dedication
Having laid low since his debut long-player Where Were U In ‘92? caused a stir in 2008, elusive Brit dubstepper Zomby returns with his long-awaited follow-up on 4AD. (Week of July 11)

The Chaenge, Rebellion
Veteran techno DJ Mijk van Dijk and singer/producer Florian Schirmacher team up as The Chaenge to explore their shared love of Eighties funk and new wave. The debut release from the German duo includes a cover of “Dance Electric,” a 1985 André Cymone single written by Prince. (Week of July 18)

Chus + Ceballos, Back on Tracks Vol. 2
The latest mix compilation from renowned Spanish DJ duo Chus + Ceballos is a cool summer cocktail showcasing the blend of electronic and tribal elements that defines distinctive Iberian sound. (Week of July 18)

Markus Schulz Presents Dakota – Thoughts Become Things II
German trance superstar Markus Schulz issues his second album under the name Dakota, a studio alter ego that allows him to explore different sounds and styles. Advance word says listeners can expect to hear hints of everything from industrial to Donna Summer. (Week of July 18)

Pierre LX, Out 1
Born in Paris, raised in Brazil (where he learned to play keyboard) and now based in London, Pierre LX draws on classic electro, dubstep and techno for his debut long-player. All of the album’s tracks were recorded as continuous live takes in the young DJ’s home studio. (Week of July 18)

Running Trax 3
Lace up your trainers and hit the trail: Ministry of Sound has assembled a three-disc compilation designed to serve as the perfect warmup-to-cooldown soundtrack to your daily jog or workout, with cardio-stimulating contributions from the likes of Calvin Harris, Wynter Gordon, Armand Van Helden, Martin Solveig, Afrojack, Aviici and Eric Prydz. (Week of July 18)

Allure, Kiss From the Past
Dutch A-lister Tiësto resurrects his Allure alias and returns to his roots with a trance-centric new release that boasts contributions from JES, Emma Hewitt, Christian Burns, Jeza & Kate Miles, Henrik B and Showtek, among others. (Week of July 25)

Basement Jaxx vs Metropole Orkest
If you’ve ever wondered how Basement Jaxx tunes would sound in orchestral arrangements — and haven’t we all? — then it’s your lucky day. On this new release, the UK house duo teams up with Holland’s Metropole Orkest, a 60-piece orchestra and 20-voice choir, to reinterpret such chart-toppers as “Red Alert,” “Hey U,” “Bingo Bango” and “Where’s Your Head At.” (Week of July 25)

Goldie, Fabriclive 58
Feeling nostalgic for the long-gone glory days of drum’n'bass? Here’s your prescription: groundbreaking Nineties junglist and Metalheadz mastermind Goldie helms the latest installment in Fabric London‘s series of essential live mixes. (Week of July 25)

Little Dragon, Ritual Union
The third studio album from electro-pop band Little Dragon finds the Swedish four-piece (fronted by singer Yukimi Nagano) toying with vintage synthesizers and old-school analogue drum machines. (Week of July 25)

No Surrender, Medicine Babies
Nearly eight years after their debut album dropped, Brooklyn electro/hip-hop outfit No Surrender return with their long-postponed follow-up, an ambitious, stylistically diverse effort that touches all the musical bases, from synth-pop to soul. TV On The Radio‘s Tunde Adebimpe, Tricky collaborator Costanza Francavilla and production team Radioclit offer their contributions. (Week of July 25)

Paul Oakenfold, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Paul Oakenfold
On this new double-CD set, British superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold assembles a mix that recalls his Nineties excursions in Goa Trance, featuring tracks from Richard Durand, Liquid Soul, Duotekk and many more. (Week of July 25)

One of the sites we check regularly for bulletins from the cutting edge of EDM is Resident Advisor. So our patriotic hearts were all aflutter today when we saw that RA had posted this lengthy article on Toronto’s club scene.

The piece, by veteran local DJ Denise Benson, delves into the history of electronic music in the city, from the early 1980s through the rise and fall of the rave scene of the late 1990s to the current renaissance exemplified by groundbreaking acts like Egyptrixx, Crystal Castles, Art Department and Austra. It also includes interviews with prominent scenesters like Kenny Glasgow and Wrongbar‘s Nav Sangha, surveys the best of the current local hotspots, and offers out-of-town clubbers some helpful tips about late-night dining (Sneaky Dee’s!) and Toronto’s charmingly antiquated liquor laws. You should definitely read the whole thing here.

Lots to agree (and disagree) with — but one point that caught our attention is the way the city’s multicultural patchwork is mirrored in its diversity of EDM sounds and scenes:

“The cultural diversity plays a big factor in the way scenes developed here,” states Nav Sangha, DJ and owner of underground dance club/hub Wrongbar. “Drum & bass, house, dancehall and reggae—all of those scenes merged and influenced one another in many ways. You’ll see DJs hopping from scene to scene. There’s a great amount of diversity that may exist in some American cities, but here a lot of scenes and communities are more integrated. I think Toronto is extremely important where the North American market is concerned and it’s only just in the last five years or so that I really feel like it’s being recognized as such,” emphasizes Sangha. “Everyone is turning the pages on the history books and realizing what an important role this city played.”

So Ubisoft, the developer behind the Nintendo Wii game Just Dance 2, is sponsoring Katy Perry‘s California Dreams tour, and they’ve created a Facebook contest: upload a video of yourself dancing to “Firework” for the chance to win VIP tickets and meet Katy backstage.

Sounds cool. But “Firework”? Meh. Isn’t there a better choice? Our vote: Armand van Helden‘s remix of “California Gurls.” Listen to it here.

Katy Perry Canadian tour dates: Toronto (June 29 & 30), Montreal (July 2), Ottawa (July 3), Regina (July 13), Winnipeg (July 14), Calgary (July 16), Edmonton (July 17), Vancouver (July 19).