Backstage with Elazion and Odesho

Thursday night marked two firsts for me as I joined Elazion on his podcast. It was both my first podcast and my first time as the guest in an interview. In the nearly hour and a half conversation we touched on several subjects, mostly around my role as a radio host and blogger, but of course we dive deeper into a wider swath. There's a fair amount of insight into my process and history, as well as a ton of recommendations which I'll detail below. Get the episode on iTunes, Stitcher, Castbox & others here.
Recommendations, in the order they arise in the episode...

DJ Flipout/Skratch Bastid/Red Bull 3Style: DJ/MC associated with both Virgin Radio Vancouver and the Red Bull 3Style DJ competition. DJ/Global Ambassador for the Red Bull 3Style DJ competition. Both great Twitter follows.

Repost-Toggle for Soundcloud: An Chrome extension I use to streamline my feed.

Nero - Symphony 2808: My first encounter with electronic music re-imagined in an orchestral/symphonic format.

Pete Tong, Jules Buckley & The Heritage Orchestra - Ibiza Prom: The start of Pete Tong's venture into the orchestral realm, with a studio album of this concert (here) and two more after (below).

Pete Tong Ibiza Classics: A second orchestral album of re-imagined Ibiza classics.

Pete Tong - Chilled Classics: A third orchestral album with a mix of original productions and classic re-imaginings.

Ed Banger 15: Orchestral versions of classic Ed Banger releases celebrating their 15th anniversary. See live concert here.

Yanni: An incredible composer/producer/etc. Countless fantastic tracks and albums, but his live The Concert Event album was the one that hooked me, even better enjoyed if you watch the live videos.

Skratch Bastid & Afiara Quartet - Spin Cycle: A brilliant experiment combining scratching and strings. Also best enjoyed with accompanying video. See full concert at Koerner Hall here.

Skratch Bastid - Kenny Rodgers Tributes: Pretty self explanatory. Turntable tributes to The Gambler. First video here and a followup here.

Porter Robinson Monstercat Showcase: My peak Porter enjoyment. One of my favourite mixes of all-time.

Knife Party Essential Mix: One of the most incredible debut sets/Essential Mixes. Peak Knife Party.

Score: A Film Music Documentary: A fantastic doc on some of the major players in "the world's most widely known music genre" with interviews from John Williams, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, etc.

Queen Of The South: One of my favourite TV shows, scored by Giorgio Moroder.

Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul: Incredible music direction. Particularly in the montage scenes. Two stand out in particular, at least in recent memory, both from Better Call Saul. BADBADNOTGOOD - Can't Leave The Night and Todd Terje - Alfonso Muskedunder.

The Wire: Every time I think back to the month or two it took me to binge it, I'm filled with nostalgia and the desire to relive what is widely considered to be the best TV show ever.

Explained - Music: Incredible, informative and logic-based mini doc on music. Narrated by Carly Rae Jepsen and featuring TOKiMONSTA.

The Nature Of Things - Sonic Magic: The Wonder and Science of Sound: Another incredible documentary, detailing the magic behind music and its multi-sensory qualities.

It's All Gone Pete Tong: The 'true story' of a DJ who goes deaf, but continues to produce through vibrations.

Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell, & Stevie Wonder: Perhaps my favourite ever Grammy performance.

The Night: A Nero 'side-project' between Alana Watson and Dan Stephens. Meanwhile Joseph Ray is doing solo work under his own name.

Full, Uncut Interview with Elazion

Last weekend I connected with Vancouver based house producer Elazion for a Skype chat. This is that conversation in full. Topics discussed: his start in production after seeing the likes of Knife Party & Deadmau5; finding his home in house after dabbling in dubstep, trance and future bass; the west coast scene through his eyes as someone who works for Shambhala, Live Nation, Emengy and Emengy Deep; what's next for him from both a production and DJing perspective, including forthcoming stuff on Emengy Deep; and of course his episode of My Mixtape which airs this Saturday, May 18th at 11 PM EDT only on Radio Humber. Follow the rise of Elazion through his socials and stream now below.FOLLOW ELAZION: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

Throwback Thursday: Benga - Acid Lie

For this week's installment of my Throwback Thursday series, it is my pleasure to re-introduce the world to one of the most twisted, raucous, raunchy, ratchet-before-ratchet, heavy stomping bass, acid overloaded tracks I've ever come across. Benga's "Acid Lie" the B side from his 2011 Faithless EP.

I first came across this brooding brilliance from Benga while listening to Annie Mac Presents August 12th. In fact it remains one of my go to radio shows, as it's packed with so much great music, much of it released following the BBC's live shows from Ibiza. Whether it's Skream's "Anticipate," Jack Beats remix of Aloe Blacc's "Green Lights," David Guetta's "Glasgow," the first play of Fake Blood's "Deep Red," The 2 Bears "Take A Look Around" or the debut of Knife Party's minimix, Annie Mac brings out all the stops. I've added the full two hour show to my dropbox for your listening and downloading pleasure, here. You'll find Benga and his "Acid Lie" shortly after the 23 minute mark.

Benga strikes an incredible atmosphere right off the get go - bassline ringing, immediately infecting your pulse with inescapable intensity. The anticipation of the action to come, reaches a fever pitch with Benga's finely crafted and well thought out foundation of sound, swirling and climbing ever higher. The acid level rises, swallowing its listeners, melting their flesh like Jesse Pinkman and Walter White's hydrofluoric concoction in the first season of Breaking Bad. The fluid nature and continual movement Benga injects into "Acid Lie" propels the track forward, leaving no sound unchanged or unaltered. It's his boredom with repetition of the same old, same old, that really makes Benga's "Acid Lie" such a powerful, progressive and inescapable masterpiece. It embodies the Terminator endlessly chasing you down, forever haunting your dreams like Freddy Krueger.

Benga has stormed back onto the scene in the last month dropping "Make Moves," an uncompromising auditory attack, and just today he's uploaded "Power" another track from his upcoming Future Funk EP, due to be released February 26. Something tells me Benga has big things in store for 2016, so keep your ears and eyes peeled on his movements.

SUPPORT BENGA: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

Assert Your Influence: Fake Blood & DDD

You've got choices each week, assert your influence and pick the last track of the night and which track deserves to stay on as the Dominant Dancefloor track of the week.

This week the final track of the show will come from Fake Blood, one of the best all around artists.
Will it be:
All In The Blink
-or-
Deep Red (that's not his hair, he's bald: "no grass grows on a busy road")
-or-
Voices
-or-
Let It Go

Also don't forget to vote for the Duæl for Dancefloor Dominance.
Will it be:
Keys N Krates - Treat Me Right (Thugli Remix)
-or-
Knife Party - LRAD (Candyland's OG Remix)