Hosted by Footwork on Friday April 6 2007.
(cc'd from HouseAddict, as I didn't find a review thread after searching...but maybe my searching skillz suck.)

Ever since the release of Anas Attia's Dirty House 2, which was out and about during my intro months to house music, people have been anticipating the release of Dirty House 3. What makes these compilations so widely desired other than the down right dirty house tunes that Anas deftly mixes on them? I think one of the major reasons is because this guy is just so genuinely likable, and carries a true care and love for the house music scene. All those who care about the music like he does, he is happy to call friend.

The first time I heard an Anas Attia Dirty House compilation was on the way to the Guv 10 year party, and I hadn't met Anas as of yet. It was, in fact, before the decks of Addy, early Sunday morning (that reknown Addy set!) that I met Anas, and was shocked at how young this DJ was. Sitting behind the computer and downloading mixes, I thought for sure he was a savvy DJ of twenty-late-something years. Kudos to him for getting started so young, and having such a passion for the music and DJing it.

So this brings us to Dirty House 3--the CDs had been highly anticipated, and early in the year there were rumours of the release party being at one of the major favoured house music haunts of Toronto. When rumours started and were eventually confirmed that Footwork would be the place for this shindig to go down, I couldn't think of a better location. Carlo Lio and Sydney Blu were on the bill to open and close for Anas, and I truly thought there couldn't be a more deserving guy to get such a venue, with such awesome fellow DJ talent.

As a result, after an exhausting night at decadence, some sleep and some food quickly scarfed down, many of my friends and I made our way down to Toronto to support someone who's music we enjoy so much.

We arrived early, as is my habit, to hear Carlo Lio's opening set. I also wanted a chance to talk to Carlo to get his feedback on opening the Guv main room with Nathan Barato the previous evening at Decadence. I know from my perspective, they handled that room amazingly. But back to our story at hand... within an hour, the place filled up fast--it was definitely going to be a busy night. People had made special plans to be here, even after decadence, to support Anas's "debut" at a favoured house music club.



Fellow DJs like Nathan Barato and Simon Jain had come out to show Anas support. I think Simon Jain is pretending he is a pirate here. "Arrrr matey! We love house music, that we do, ya scurvy dog."



Miss_sweetness from HouseAddict.com and Dance to the Beat cancer fund raiser creator David A were on deck to dance to those sic beats. I think Ace had a cold, which explains the bandana. Either that, or he was going cowboy/robber mode. Sure, Simon Jain was a pirate, and Ace was a cowboy. Yeehaw!



After a long hiatus (saving money to do the sport bike thing this year), Johnny Action made a special appearance as well. All the stops were coming out people, I'm telling you. Johnny Action grabbed a wicked night-vision vid of Anas's opening, which we'll post here. His camera has sic night-vision abilities. It can even see through hot-chicks clothing. Honest.

Carlo's opening set was setting a nice pace, perfectly prepping the crowd for the onslaught that Anas was to bring when his 1 am time slot came around. I remember FrankieT telling me that Anas and he had been over his playlist many times in the last few weeks in preparation for this night--it's clear that Anas was taking his gig very seriously, and total respect to him for that.



Jody showed up--which was a pleasant surprise! And bought the first printed HouseAddict.com bus trip flier from Irgo (which was humbly designed by some geek who has too much time on his hands, apparently--i made that bus with the speakers mounted from SCRATCH! No. They're not mickey mouse ears). hehe)



Leap says that thing on the right looks like a pee-pee. Jeeze. A lot of our good friends showed up to this event--in many ways, I think people who didn't go out for decadence used this as their weekend adventure, which worked out great--Tyler and Kristy are always a great vibe in the club. Ty and I tried to get a picture--took many pictures--but neither of us could stop laughing. Good times!



Such a huge part of any evening out--is the vibe. And if Kristy and Tyler are around, you know it's going to be all smiles until the wee hours of the morning--I love meeting people like this at the club! Sasha was also there (see in the background), taking awesome pictures of the entire event (the pictures turned out amazing! NICE job Sasha).

A few other HouseAddict friends:


Cat & Viv!


HouseGirl (and her wisp--that red thing above her head)


Irgz & Psiico (i vote this should become psiico's new avatar)

After so much smiles and laughing, my crew and I decided it as time for a serious picture...


Myself, Lauren, Lisa and Wayne - Picture copyright 2007 Nathan Barato



Anyone else think it looks like Nathan & Johnny Action sorta look like the creation of adam from the sistine chapel? Hold the fort...that would mean that Nathan is... God! Holy implications batman!

Several seconds after our serious picture, we couldn't hold it in any more, and started to dance it up hard to Carlo's closing beats. And then the moment we had all been waiting for...our friend and rising star DJ, Anas Attia:



So let's be real for a minute here and talk about his set. The vibe was perfect--the club was packed, many filled with friends of Anas' and lots of HouseAddicts around to support this young and ambitious DJ, and a crowd full of people wanting to dance it up hard. So with all this set, was Anas ready to hammer down the spike and blow the walls off of Footwork? My friends, he did exactly this. Thanks to Johnny Action's patience and persistance, we've uploaded the opening tracks to Youtube for your enjoyment:



Playing many of the tracks from his Dirty House 3 CD (which i had a sneak preview of a couple days before heh heh heh) in a unique and challenging order, Anas set out to pound the snot out of the peak hours.

The set over all was great. Not mind-blowing, not newbie, and definitely not hot/cold 'can i figure out what the crowd wants' attitude. Anas new his business and laid down the tracks with ferocity. There was one portion near 2:30 am where his track selection wasn't meeting the crowd's vibe, and I could feel the energy drop a few notches--Anas did too, and pulled it back in like a skilled horse-driver pulling his wagon back into line. My favourite part of his set was near the end where the beats were heavy and pounding in maniacal fashion--perfect for around 3 am.

One thing that worried me was remembering FrakieT's comment about he and Anas going over the set in detail over the past two weeks? Was that to mean the set was pre-planned? Preselected, prefabricated, ************ of how the crowd reacted? I caught a picture of Anas consulting a list...



I thought that might have been why he lost the crowd for a moment around 2:30, but i then, the rest of the set was killer, so it didn't line up. I later asked him about that, and he said that the set wasn't preplanned--but the tracks he wanted to play, he put on a special list. So he had a list of tracks he wanted to play that night, and 'library to pull from' so to speak, and that was the list he was consulting in the picture above. The rest he left up to the crowd, to guide him to which tracks to play, how to play them, and when to play them.

As Anas' set was wrapping up, harder and heavier than I've ever heard him play, i checked out the dance floor. Lui was making love to the speakers. Ok, nothing unusual there.



The crowd from the back was banging...



This guy challenged me to a camera war. HA. I won. See? I posted you online dude, that's the finishing move, right there. BOOYAH. *stands like superman*

I ran back up to Anas to tell him to come on the bus trip, but he was busy, or something. Hammering out those last tracks!! (Anas, did you record your fw set?? Maybe for a summer surprise release online??)


BTW! Manzone and Strong are now booked for the houseaddict bus trip!! Gonna be a BLAST!


Anas finished up his set, and the always beautiful, ever-talented sydney blu took the decks. I haven't been the biggest fan of the type of house she favours to spin, especially at footwork (comfort zone--totally different story. She knocks my socks off there). I can enjoy it thoroughly regardless though, it's HOUSE!



I set the camera up on a nearby ledge put it on auto-timer, and ran to the floor to dance it up....



...apparently that's what they designed flashes for. That's ok, it isn't that pretty of a sight anyways.

Overall, this party was good clean fun to attend. There was a fresh energy in the air--partly Anas Attia, accompanied by Carlo & Sydney, and partly due to the long weekend, and everyone wanting to stretch their legs and dance. A lot of familiar faces came out for this event, making for a killer vibe. Friends, House Addicts, and long time supporters of Anas Attia were all there to see his Footwork Debut. Carlo did a great job of setting the scene so Anas could pump out the beats hard, and Sydney did a fantastic job of cleaning up the mess after.

There were a lot of people still there when the club closed, so many had stayed right to the very end. I got a rare shot of what footwork looks like with the lights on...



This CD release party was a resounding success! Congratulations to Anas. I heard he was given a monthly residency at Footwork--fantastic. I look forward to hearing more dirty house from this young and talented DJ!