In Brief: It’s always a pleasure listening to Slovenian artist Umek‘s show “Behind The Iron Curtain” on Sirius XM’s Electric Area. Even after two decades on the scene, he’s still evolving and adapting to keep pace with an ever-changing genre — yet he somehow manages to maintain the distinctive underground style of his productions. This track is another success for Umek; I immediately wanted to replay it several times, and I’m sure you will too.
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
CONSUMER WARNING: The bass on this album has been clinically proven to cause full and debilitating mind-and-body addiction to electro.
Go for it!!!!!!!!
(What? Do you wan to live forever or something?)
Finnish electro-house artist Huoratron (a.k.a. Aku Raski) has no restraint when it comes to his productions. He goes for it — and boy, does this guy deliver. There’s a raw underground feel to much of his stuff, and this albums is absolutely awash in it. It’s a rare and refreshing quality nowadays, as EDM colonizes the mainstream. Cryptocracy is an electrifying pastiche, melding electro and underground with a scorching, rock-styled sound: a stalwart, forceful work. After playing the album through and looking up a few videos of him spinning, I’ve made it a priority to catch him live at the earliest opportunity. This is one performer I am very eager to see behind the decks.
Check out the videos and tell me if you don’t agree …
On to the album. Here’s a track-by-track rundown:
1. Cryptocracy – An amazing start to the album, opening the minds of his listeners and luring them into uncharted corners of his musical labyrinth. Check out the video for this track; turn up the volume, give in to the sound and let Huoratron take full control of your mind. It’s a mental ride you won’t forget.
2. New Wave of Mutilation – Mu-ti-late: to deprive a person of a limb or other essential part. This track will deprive you of all senses other than hearing — in the nicest possible way. My recommendation? Don’t fight it … not that you could. Just give in and let the new wave take total control.
3. A699F – Listen at the 0:30 mark and you’ll get a distinct “Happy Violence” vibe. This one left me eager to press repeat repeat repeat — but with eight more tracks still to go, we soldier on.
4. Bug Party – Frenzied. My body absolutely refused to stay still for this one. The farther I follow Huoratron on this wild sonic journey, the more I get the “bug” to see him live!
5. Dungeons & Dungeons – Here, Huoratron pulls the listener into the dungeon of his musical mind and unpacks the instruments of euphoric torment. And it hurts so good.
6. Sea of Meat – And here a fashionable dubstep feel takes over: electro wobble wobble dub. Not a personal favourite of mine, but still an ear-pleaser.
7. Top 1% – “Do it again.” And again. And again. Huoratron keeps finding peaks and depths you didn’t even know existed. With this one, he made me an official convert to the electro chiptune sound.
8. Force Majeure – Here, things take on a nightmarish tone, sucking you into dark realms of the unknown on the scariest roller coaster you’ve ever ridden. This track left me utterly speechless.
9. Transcendence – Homestretch now. Throughout “Transcendence” you hear alarms, as if warning you about the presence of dangerously powerful bass. And with good reason: I was sitting in a friend’s car listening to this track while she dashed into a store and — no word of a lie! — it triggered the alarm on a parked car nearby. The power of this track can only be fully appreciated on good speakers or headphones. It’s like an endorphin overdose surging through your whole system, till it feels like your head may explode. When it comes to a raw, underground hard bass sound, you’ll find no superior example.
10. Unblinking Eyes – At first I felt as though this track ought to have been the album opener: it has a great build to it and really hypes up the listener. But Huoratron knows what he’s doing. It’s genius to make this the album’s finishing touch, because it just leaves you craving more. A masterpiece.
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
Last Friday I was lucky enough to catch Dennis Ferrer‘s show at Maison Mercer in Toronto. Dennis is an icon in the underground world — some might even say he is the underground world. Whatever your opinion may be, one thing is indisputable when it comes to Dennis Ferrer: you get your money’s worth. While most DJs are in an out in a two-hour set, Dennis plays tracks for a good four hours before even breaking a sweat. And his fans are similarly tireless. It doesn’t matter if the bar closed at 2 am, they aren’t leaving until Dennis leaves — which on this night was 4:30!
Here are some video highlights of the night, and a quick chat with Dennis about his favourite underground DJs. Enjoy!
COSMIC GATE @ THE GUVERNMENT, TORONTO – FEBRUARY 4, 2012
The Guvernment dance floor was swarmed with bodies eagerly awaiting the embrace of Cosmic Gate‘s alluring sound. And the German duo definitely dominated the “renovated” Guvernment main room.
They’ve come a long way from their 1999 debut single “Exploration of Space.” Their sound has evolved quite nicely through the years — from the solid trance style of their origins to the more progressive house/trance feel of their most recent album, Wake Your Mind. Tonight the crowd was most definitely pleased, and I must applaud Claus Terhoeven (aka Nic Changall) and Stefan Bossems (aka DJ Bossi) for their admirable interaction with the audience. Watching them play off the crowd’s vibe was quite pleasant to witness.
Although I did very much enjoy the music Cosmic Gate bestowed upon us on this night, I do wish they had played more “raw” tracks with an underground, strong trance vibe. It’s intimidating to see the trance/underground scene slowly edging toward the mainstream and commercial. One big hope I have is that DJs and producers won’t lose that great raw, underground sound on their productions and mixes.
Here’s one of my videos from the show:
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
