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New Canadian Happy Hardcore Report
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» El_Presidente replied on Wed May 15, 2002 @ 11:14pm |
 Coolness: 299555 | (Taken from [ www.nextgenerationrecords.co.uk ]
DJ Frisky here once again with another report from Toronto, Canada. Quite a lot has happened since the last report so let's get right to it. Hardcore has definitely rebounded here in Canada. DJs from abroad continue to get booked at events across our country, and the Canadian DJs have joined the effort in producing quality hardcore tracks. In the last few months in Toronto, DJ Breeze, DJ Brisk, Vinylgroover (doing his last Canadian hardcore set), from the UK have all touched down with crowd pleasing sets. A few American hardcore DJs have also had opportunities to play here such as Lenny Dee, Lite Brite, and Guy Smilee. Also, the rumors became reality and Big Bud (one of Toronto's largest Drum and Bass organizations) has dedicated a room to hardcore at their last two events and their event in March will also have a hardcore room and will feature DJ Storm. At the next Hullabaloo, Toronto will finally get to hear DJ Sharkey perform not only as a DJ, but as an MC. Definitely a set that is widely anticipated as freeform is not the norm in Toronto so it will be a great chance to showcase this style of music at a prime time slot. Nu Style hardcore has also gained in popularity and an army of nu style and hard gabba enthusiasts has developed. Rumors of Delta 9 and possibly some Dutch talent playing here have been circulating. On the production front, ATM Recordings has been running full steam ahead. Along with pumping out some banging trance and hard house releases, the studio has had its share of hardcore DJs from North America creating a new generation of producers. DOK engineered at the ATM from June til December of 2001. Look for a number of US and Canadian releases to feature his engineering. AC Slater and Bexxie's Pitched Up Records will feature some work done at ATM Recordings. DJ Ruffage (aka Ravin Robin) and Cuggy have had one of their releases signed to the forthcoming Elation Records. DOK's work will also be featured on Canada's first record label, ATM Recordings which should be on the street in the next month or so. The first five releases have been planned, with the first release being a DJ Stompy track. Canadian artists featured on the label include myself, Hujib from Toronto, D-Minus from Toronto and DJ Tipsy (aka The Cheesemaker) from Montreal. Storm and Herman will also be making an appearance on at least one release. I've also done some work for HectTech Records with DOK in the form of Morning Light and just finished up the B Side with Storm called Things U Do. Not sure when that's due for release but it shouldn't be too long so let me know what you think of them! Anabolic Frolic also announced a few months ago that he was going to be launching a Hullabaloo! Recordings label in the near future. I have heard that the first release is going to be the sought after Music I Like by Faber, with an Anabolic Frolic remix on one side. Frolic also did a remix of DJ Breeze - Let's Fly at ATM Recordings but I'm not sure what is going on with that. DJ Hujib is also hard at work on the Hyperstomp label which will focus on the freeform tip. The first release for that will be Electrogenerator (if it finally gets finished :o) ) and The Hive. Ruffage has also been signed to an upcoming Phase 4 release in the UK. It's pretty clear that we have all been busy in Toronto! Other exciting developments out of Canada include the hardcore duo of Justrich and Phosphor. They were both commissioned to remix the first release for Japan's MasterWax. Bang! Now goes under the name of Blaze! And Nimrod. The first Blaze release is called 'Til The Day and features two great mixes of the track, one by Phosphor on his own and one with a Justrich and Phosphor mix. Phosphor has also remixed the first Nimrod release forthcoming on HectTech, and some of his trancier/freeform releases have been picked up by a few US labels. I would not be surprised if his name appears on something forthcoming out of the Nu Energy Collective camp. There's also been a buzz about Energy and Justrich's track "Wipe Away" which is forthcoming on a Go Mental affiliated label. I also heard, but have not confirmed, that Justrich and Phosphor will be starting a label called Blizzard Tracks (or something to that effect) but have not heard directly from either of them. If this is true you can bet that it will be quality! These two also continue to DJ all over North America. Look forward to more great things from the Winnipeg scene! Moving further out west to Alberta, Scoobysnacks from Red Deer reports that things are still in a bit of a slump. The main thing for hardcore at the moment is still in Edmonton where there is a club night called Therapy which occasionally hosts some of the local hardcore DJs. Anabolic Frolic is due to play out in Edmonton in March for a joint effort by several promotion companies including DJ Crunchee's Happy Bastards. Calgary tried to throw a biggish happy hardcore do with Anabolic Frolic but was apparently unsuccessful and the company was wiped out. The hard techno/gabba scene still enjoys some popularity with the Resurrection events. Double D is still pushing hard out west. and Last I heard was Scoobysnacks was planning on starting up a hardcore company out in his neck of the woods. Things seem to be slow as well in the Vancouver/Victoria scene according to Sal out in Victoria. Disco/Funky House, Speed Garage, Breaks and Drum and Bass, and UK Hard House are the most popular styles of music out west. There is one hardcore production company in Vancouver but they are very small and on the underground tip. Sal has plans to push the freeform sound in Victoria but it's thought that it's going to be an uphill battle. Coming back closer to Toronto and moving east, Ottawa just recently had Kevin Energy in town and he makes semi regular appearances at clubs/events out there. Deacon Boombastardizer hails from Ottawa who plays hard gabba/nu style and often gets booked across Canada. In Montreal, Tipsy is still one of the main people behind throwing events and pushing hardcore in Quebec. Him and Enterhorse have both been busy writing tracks which have some definite Spanish influences in them. Neophyte, Delta 9, the Masochist, and Lady Dana have played in Montreal within the last few months. Word on the street is that Quebec City has also had a few hardcore DJs that play out, including DJ Cyre. Out in the Maritimes, the only province I know of with any hardcore representation is Nova Scotia where Nick Wright has taken up the battle and helped throw some events out there. Tilzs from the USA was down there for the Phase 1 event, which apparently was a success so let's hope this means a bright future in Halifax. Nick also runs a website [ Hardcoretechno.ca ] which has some interesting reading if you are into the harder end of the spectrum of hardcore. That's about it for now! Thanks to all the other Canadians who filled in some of the gaps in this report. If anyone has anything else to add or offer some feedback, my email address is djfrisky@purerave.com. 'Til next time! DJ Frisky |
New Canadian Happy Hardcore Report
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