quote:

Originally posted by SasH21 What didn't you like?

He's a Lawler fanboi. 'Nuff said.

quote:

Originally posted by infinity HiGH 5pm-5am??

Haha, I'd die. I don't think it's possible to do that sober.

P.S. Oh yeah, it was nice meeting you SasH. And lame not meeting Jimbo or Frenchie, you antisocial bitches.

___________________
My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

quote:

Originally posted by Frenchie

How did I not run into you all night?!

Haven't written a proper review in a while, but this one's more than qualified to deserve my time.

I knew I wouldn't be disappointed when the choice of venue was announced for Howells. After some amazing extended bookings for Chris Liebing and Lee Burridge, who'd be surprised? All the aspects of the night just somehow blended smoothly. Crowd was typical house heads/system soundbar regulars, with no pushy, intergalatical, eye poppers stumbling about. (lol) The vibe, although a bit lacking at the beginning, picked up pretty nicely; lots of high energy and smiley faces -> . Not much more to add - I've described the place and staff on numerous occasions; this time was no different. Only difference I noticed was the sound, as some have already mentioned. The best place to be was up at the front, but the acoustics actually existed and clear sound was heard from all corners of the room. I found it a bit too loud, and not very crispy, but it was a major improvement. Did I mention Howells was playing at Footwork?! God, I love this place.

I especially like how there were no appetizers or deserts, just the main course: Danny Howells. I could honestly say it was the best meal I've had in a while. Delicious would be an understatement. It's "story time", kids! Today I'll be reading an epic novel written by Howells. In all seriousness, Howells' set was outstanding. The flow of his set made perfect sense, as it progressed smoothly with flawless transitions. There were times when I thought some chapters were bland, but they served their purpose as filler for what came next. Slow funky prog, deep uplifting house, floaty tribal, and even relentless tech house/techno made a cameo appearance in the book. Most of the tracks were unfamiliar, and there really wasn't any great tracks but it was consistently on par throughout the whole set, with it's ups and downs. No real complaints here. I'd easily rank it as one of the best sets this year had to offer. Some noteworthy tracks include:

ID - Metallic Flying Lesbians
ID - Dancing Afros

As you can see, my imagination was running wild once again...

Friends really made the party too! Everyone was in good spirits and we were all vibing off of each other. Very GTs!

___________________
GWARTQZ!!!!

Last edited by Cribby on Sep-25-2007 at 02:22

quote:

Originally posted by jennypie "I'm sorry but DH is beyond god"

Yes, he was indeed amazing.
First time seeing Howells play and I gotta say I'm beyond impressed, it was a very good night.

___________________
sig edtied: sig is too big and imagen can't be over 50kb. please resize

Well my friends... there will be no clever stories...no cute anecdotes... no creative writing... just this...

<3



and now with the stories, etc...

We hit the sack early on Friday night to rest up for a night of Saturday mayhem. To my surprise, I ended up sleeping a good chunk of Saturday too...still fighting off a bug, or my body taking something back for itself, i guess. Johnny Action was lined up to watch the kiddo (guy time, they call it, gaming it up on the xbox or sony ps2...that's right, none of that third-gen 360 or ps3 crap yet. I don't believe in taking out a mortgage just to play a few games..). So Leap_frog and I were on for a date night. We called up Schmucky to get him and his gal in on the action and decided to hit the Spaghetti Factory before Howells to stock up on some carbs and have some "quality time."

I made two critical errors early in this evening:

1. I assumed that two lovely ladies would enjoy a walk from the parking spot near footy to the Spaghetti Factory

2. I assumed that I would be able to find the Spaghetti Factory

I won't bore you with the petty details, but let's just say I eventually saved all remaining face I had, and we found the nearest Swiss Chalet. As a cruel twist of culinary fate, it was the worst service and quality of food I've ever endured in the fine chain of restaurants owned by Cara Operations.

Walking from Swiss Chalet back to our car, I realized with a start that I SHOULD have called Kriskool for directions, but alas, I'm a victim of male pride (centuries of hard-wiring). So, apologizing as I went, Schmucky and I got our gals back to the car to freshen up and hit Footwork nice and early.

I checked my bling DIESSLtime watch to see what time it was... 10:15pm. I was surprised to find no line sizable line up when we got to the magical alley way with the beats thumping away. I hadn't been to Footwork in quite a while--trying to be more selective with my parties (both to protect my hearing and my wallet), but I have to say, it's STILL my favourite club.

Inside, the club was pretty empty--but I knew it would fill up quickly. I had a sudden dream-like feeling by seeing such an intimate environment with so few people and a legendary DJ like Danny Howells ALREADY behind the decks. The beats were soft, chill and completely appropriate. I turned to Leap_frog, Schmucky and Meggers, and laid out my game plan.

"TROOPS!" I decried to them, "MY MISSION TONIGHT IS PURELY MUSICAL. (reader: ok, let's assume I'm shouting for the next bit, and i'll kill the caps, ok?) For the first half of Howell's set, yours truly will be sitting his buttox firmly upon the couches of bass bliss, at the back here. For the latter half, I will be up front, making a mighty fool of myself, yes Schmucky, a MIGHTY one, the level of which will be determined by the awesome-ness of Howell's set!!" Schmucky smiled knowingly and smacked me on the back "Go to it, chief."

So I bought myself a drink and planted my buttox firmly on the back couch...and my friends, that is when the magic that so many people have said Howells weaves started it.

I turned to Craig Anderson, and we both looked at each other like "are you hearing this?" It's hard to put music into words. Ok, it's impossible to put music into words...but I'll try anyways..! The overall set sounded like one great big gigantic track...so smooth were the mixes. The set built like mini waves in an ever increasing swell that promised nothing but musical bliss for the entire night! (did that sound a little ghey? Well it wasn't, dammit! it was frickin' awesome!--not that there's anything wrong with being ghey!)

The vibe was picking up HUGE, the dance floor was packed, and all the bass-biatches were back with me sitting on the couches totally eating up waves upon waves of low frequency heaven with the coolest sounds woven over top. I was probably initially won over by the SIC tribal drums that Howells kept bringing back every few tracks in different forms.

I saw some TranceAddicts in the crowd, Cribby, DJ Sketchbag, et al. Good peeps like this keep the vibe going, and we could all relate to the absolutely smooth and engaging set Howells was weaving. Knoxx and Purple Haze--they had passed up Marco V & Jon Jon opening the Gallery to hear Howells. We admitted that the two venues and their performers were incomparable (in the sense that they were too different to compare), but Howells in such an intimate environment for such a long set--was something that couldn't be ignored. It was a pleasure to finally meet Petro and HMoney from HouseAddict as well. Petro's work on the booth there isn't going unnoticed, and i can't wait to see what Thursday night's have in store to feature the music that's showcased there. Way cool!

Speaking of Hmoney...i have to tell you about what i call.... THE HMONEY MANEUVER! I made my way to the front of the club, as it was now 3am, time to enjoy the ranging vibe right in front of the DJ booth. A bunch of good peeps were dancing at the front, and I spotted Hmoney... (we had met earlier, what a super gal!). I danced up beside her and reached over, and in true HA pervy style, pinched her bum. BAD IDEA: Within a nanosecond, I realized I had made a grave mistake... with NINJA-like reflexes, she CRACKS the guy standing right behind her! I immediately jump in, identify myself as the offender. I issue a hasty apology to the fellow, and then immediately to Hmoney (she was very forgiving). Wow, i'm STILL amazed at the ninja-like reflexes, and I am certainly humbled and schooled on the gravity of my actions. Good thing the guy didn't want to kick my ass! Good thing Hmoney didn't want to kick my ass! Dear reader, learn it from me--take care you are not the cause of an hmoney maneuver!

Watching Danny spin was a pleasure, he was SO interactive with the crowd. At one point this gal was going nuts in front of the booth and he yelled at her 'you like this track??' with the biggest smile on his face. The interactive vibe was just awesome... he really enjoys being up there, giving it and feeding off of the vibe of the crowd.

I settled back in to enjoy the sheer awesomeness that Danny H. was throwing at the crowd when I noticed a buddy of mine looking a little pekid. I decided to bail on the set of sheer awesomeness and make sure he was OK. House music doesn't mean much if you can't enjoy it with your friends, and when they need you, you gotta be there--cause you'll likely need THEM too, sometime (if you haven't already, once or twice, heh heh).

So we headed to the cars to chill out, the gals stayed behind to dance it up, Schmucky joined me to make sure everything was cool (is everything cool? alright. what happened?)

Leap told me that howells upped the ante huge after we left, BPMs going up, and the music getting a lot harder. Sounded really good. As KevinT pointed out earlier in the night, the music got you bopping, but wasn't the hard 'hammer me those beats' that some might be used to from say, a Sunday morning session at the zone. I would have liked to last out the entire set, and meet Danny Howells after to pay my respects--was anyone able last it out? how did it all end?

I considered briefly hitting the boat cruise later that day with KevinT and Schmucky but decided instead for sleep. Probably a wiser choice, but definitely not as fun.

I heard mixed reviews of the boat cruise; Kellyboop said Nathan and Carlo dropped minimal tech-house goodness (not my thing lately, but can certainly appreciate the groove it would set) while others said that Howells was a little flat...no wonder, after doing montreal, footwork, and then the boat cruise, all within the span of two and a half days...that's a LOT of spinnin' time with very little rest! It just goes to show the stamina this guy has.

Over all, I'd give this night a 10/10. The vibe, the music, the crowd. It was just what i needed. Even getting the night cut short, I'm still satisfied. Great job to the crew at Footwork for throwing this together, and to everyone who told me Howells was amazing: you told me so.

ps. TranceAddict 4 eva

Light house--your review summed it up really well man...100 % agreed.

As for the gentleman who wasn't feeling it... if it was a year ago in my house music life...i might have been in the same position as you. I think I needed to get a relatively rounded (albeit, not yet expansive) view of EDM music before truly appreciating what Danny brought to footwork that night. I doubt even now I fully appreciate the sophistication and perfection of that set compared to the more schooled users on this site--but i left very satisfied regardless.

Purple haze--glad we had time to chat it up buddy; we were so tottaly on the same level. Though i was upset to miss Jon Jon's set at Gallery, Howells made up for it, eh? And yeah, we gotta keep our eyes peeled for d-unity! I have to say, I'm secretly wishing Miss Raquel will get them back to zone. Tribal-House-Lust incarnate.

Burridge...definitely gotta consider hitting that up...

What a fantastic set. And my best night at Footwork.

Arrived at 10:30 to find Danny layering that warm, melodic beautiful warmup stuff of his. I cannot stress how great this was cause nobody these days seems to have the time/patience to do this anymore. It was a perfect way to set the mood for the night while the place filled up early.

The tunes were a superbly programmed mix of tech house, techy stuff and prog. He's not about playing big, popular tunes... it's all about setting a vibe for the night and then seamlessly transitioning between styles to achieve that. The venue was perfect for this set, everyone was happy and up for it and though it was busy it never got rammed even up front & centre.

And FINALLY the Montreal curse has been broken cause it was a better set than the night before at Stereo. But to be fair, I think he's just good at reading the crowd and thus Montreal got a strong housey theme and we got more techy stuff.

Excellent crowd, so great to see those who came out of the woodwork for this one and big kudos to the FW crew!

p.s. DigiNut, I remember you telling me about those guys! I must have given you such a wtf? look, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut And lame not meeting Jimbo or Frenchie, you antisocial bitches.[/COLOR][/FONT]

Seriously!!! How the hell did that happen?!?!? It's not like we didn't have ample time or opportunity. We are both chumps.

quote:

Originally posted by psyrel And FINALLY the Montreal curse has been broken cause it was a better set than the night before at Stereo. But to be fair, I think he's just good at reading the crowd and thus Montreal got a strong housey theme and we got more techy stuff.

I can say with some degree of confidence for the first time that the Montreal curse will soon be a relic of history. I think as far as EDM is concerned, Toronto is now on the verge of a major breakthrough. My predictions:

1. Circa will do well, but not as well as everyone hoped. However, they will help explode the EDM scene here further ala Montreal style (i.e. it is part of art and society, not just what clubbers do)

2. Guv will finally sigh its swan song (thank god) in the next two years or so...they have been milking it long enough, and really when it comes down it...no one really wants to go there unless there's no other choice...and more importantly, no one really wants to work where they get ripped off by management on a semi-regular basis. Good riddance, lets back go music and art and not just money.

3. With the help of promoters who have music in their soul and want to make more great parties happen, Toronto will keep taking off as a house music destination and surpass Montreal and eventually be considered a top tier music destination. The kind of collaboration you now see in indie music and the resulting success in Toronto is bound to spill over to EDM as well . Its our job as fans to make sure councillors and city hall understand that this is an important part of our culture and let us expand this and not limit our potential with ridiculous bylaws and zoning guidelines that turn us into another American city.

Cultures take time to form and persist...it has taken us a little longer to establish a culture of true EDM fans with longevity because we are more US influenced (read pop, hip hop, and commercial trance) and Montrealers have more Euro influences.

I'm proud this place is made of the people we have. I still love Montreal too, but Toronto will be more influential internationally eventually and have a better EDM profile.

Last edited by Lighthouse on Sep-26-2007 at 14:58

Um..... what??

I was referring to the fact that many djs do a musically weaker set in Toronto if they've played in Montreal the night before. Long sets in Montreal combined with little/no sleep before their gig in Toronto often results in seeing a dj who's not at his full potential. Howells has done this before, there was a major techno assult in the KH after his 12 hour marathon at Aria.

quote:

Originally posted by Lighthouse I think as far as EDM is concerned, Toronto is now on the verge of a major breakthrough.

Toronto's not on a breakthrough, we've done that already. In the progressive/tech house scene we were showcased internationally by System and in particular Breathe. They brought in a lot of influential djs for their 1st gig in Canada (even North America in some cases), to the point where Montrealers were coming to Toronto to party.

quote:

Originally posted by Lighthouse I still love Montreal too, but Toronto will be more influential internationally eventually and have a better EDM profile.

It's not a matter of better, they're just cities with different tastes. Montreal likes their vocal house and tribal while Toronto enjoys the techier side of things. I quite enjoy the difference, as I'm able to enjoy the different scenes and (as was the case over the weekend) appreciate how a skillful dj can vary his set to suit the different crowds.


But please, do continue your diatribe.

quote:

Originally posted by psyrel Um..... what?? I was referring to the fact that many djs do a musically weaker set in Toronto if they've played in Montreal the night before. Long sets in Montreal combined with little/no sleep before their gig in Toronto often results in seeing a dj who's not at his full potential. Howells has done this before, there was a major techno assult in the KH after his 12 hour marathon at Aria. But please, do continue your diatribe.

LOL I will continue the diatribe, but sometime/place else. I think I've said enough.

I thought you were referring to what I've frequently heard before: DJ's perform better for the Montreal crowd then they do in Toronto (not as a function of being tired, but overall). From that perspective, I feel that international DJ's are respecting the Toronto audience more and therefore connecting better with them.

Agreed on other points, we have different musical tastes in the two cities as it should be....thats what makes it interesting to see the same DJs in different cities.