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I did an assignment for school, which was to review J00F at Toika
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J00F Entranced Toronto Yet Again
John ‘00’ Fleming is a respected DJ in the world of trance. With over 20 years of experience as a DJ, countless productions including releases in his own JOOF Recordings, whenever this Brit that influential BBC Radio One Essential Mix DJ Pete Tong described as ‘a national treasure of trance music’ comes to Toronto, I can’t help but get a little excited. This would be my 4th time seeing J00F, as he is known in the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) community, and to have critically acclaimed ‘J00F Editions’ in the intimacy of Toika Lounge, one of my favourite clubs in Toronto, I had high expectations.
He did not disappoint. For those that expected to hear a modern day trance similar to Armin van Buuren or Above & Beyond, there was no uplifting, hands in the air, unicorn love fest that is typical of today’s trance. John has always been about euphoria inducing basic element of trance, but with dark, psy influence. There was nothing ground breaking about his set. He started with dark, chuggy and a little bit of grinder progressive and gradually built up to faster Beats Per Minute (BPM), but adding more psy influenced tunes to his set. The dark, intimate setting of Toika was perfect for John’s style. Toika is small, about 150 person capacity, but the vibe was off the hook.
I don’t think this was the best I’ve heard John play; his set at Vola Lounge in 2011 was better. His programming was decent, but pretty predictable and John is technically solid, but not spectacular DJ. Overall, it was a good but typical J00F set.
But as I was about 5 feet away, watching John spin, I figured out the secret to John’s success. He believes in his music. When a lot of trance DJs have switched their sound and style to suit the taste of today’s EDM crowd, John has been steadfast in defending his style of trance and he never waivered. He has been passionate and vocal in his opinions, and he has attracted his share of criticism. John will rarely play in mainstream massive EDM festivals like that a lot of top trance DJs will play at (and earn massive paychecks). But John has his niche supporters because of his music, and his belief in what trance should be, especially among more old school crowd.
John played every tune like it’s his last tune ever as a DJ. He played like this set will be his only remaining legacy, something for his fans to remember him by. But he also played for himself, because he was jumping and went absolutely nuts. There were no artificial Jesus poses like Armin van Buuren does, or random fist pumps to try to psyche up the crowd. When John was on the decks, there was nothing but pure, unfiltered love of the music. At the end of the night, when someone asked him why he smiles so much when he is playing, another quipped ‘because he knows when he’s going to drop the bombs’ (bombs meaning awesome tunes). John shyly smiled and said, ‘yeah’.
Do not go see John ‘00’ Fleming if you expect the typical hands in the air, PLUR, vocal trance because you will be very disappointed. But if you want to hear something different, something refreshingly new among trance, go see J00F, especially J00F Editions. You will dance your butt off. Rumours says that a J00F residency at Toika is in works, so expect to see plenty of John in Toronto.
Thank you John ‘00’ Fleming and Ozmosis Productions, also the excellent warm up DJs Mystic Mind and Mr Morton for another excellent night.
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| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
not true. i say "ugh"
but i am a tranny. |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
lol colour me retarded |
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