As promised, here is the fourth volume of Canadian Club Crunchers, my weekly attempt at promoting great Canadian talent. So far, we've covered a great deal of ground, profiling producers in genres as varied as dubstep, tech-house, instrumental hip hop, electro, and more. Although I am just re-hashing what I have said before, I must dwell on the fact that Canada possesses an extremely large amount of electronic music talent. Considering the size of our country, it shouldn't come as that big a surprise, but I digress. Today's edition of Canadian Club Crunchers features a nice little mix of nu-disco boogie madness, zouk-influenced house music and nigh-unclassifiable dance music.
As always, if you know any great Canadian acts producing electronic music, or you just want to big-up your friends, then drop us a little message in the good ol' inbox, and we'll be sure to give that a look.
For those who skipped school on these days:
Vol I
Vol II
Vol III
U-Tern (Vancouver)
Vancouver producer U-Tern has already gotten a fair amount of burn on Avenge The Virgins, but we've never really said much about him, besides the occasional "OMG SO GOOD". Considering that he consistently releases some of the finest funky music in the northern hemisphere, I figured that it was time for a little profile. The problem with a lot of nu-disco is that you often have a nagging feeling that it is somehow phony or too polished, if that makes any sense. U-Tern's love for live instrumentation and old synth sounds is clearly heard in all of his tunes, and that's probably why I enjoy his stuff so much. This guy always lays down the smoothest, most groovetastic basslines in his productions, and will probably be a big name, if things keep going well.
U-Tern has also been running a radio show called One Day Later on Brooklyn Radio, which has received a lot of attention and accolades from critics and fans alike. He's definitely got an ear and deep love for disco, funk, boogie and other music of that ilk, and it shows, both in his productions and in his mixes. U-Tern has worked on some official remix projects for the likes of Britney and LMFAO (which is a weird mix, but whatever), and I've just recently heard that the incredible Mark Ronson remix that we've posted below will be on the official release of the single. Power moves, Mr. U-Tern. Keep it up!
U-Tern- 808 remix
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL- Bang Bang Bang (U-Tern's Disco Dub)
Myspace
Soundcloud
Nujax (Montreal)
The first time I ever heard this Montreal duo's name was probably when they dropped their remix of Major Lazer's Zumbi a while back. Since then, they've received quite a bit of blog, radio and chart attention from around the world. Kid Legit & Girl Problems, the two DJs that make up Nujax, have been throwing parties at Montreal's own Blue Dog Motel for quite some time (Sextape Fridays, anyone?), and it's rather embarrassing that I have not found the time to check them out yet. They've released a few dope EPs, Aya and Beat Gon Boom, which have seen support from the likes of Egyptrixx, Treasure Fingers, Dooze Jackers, LOL Boys and more.
While their recent productions have a very tribal feel to them, Nujax actually started by producing harder, more electro-influenced fare. However, I must say that I enjoy their recent adventures into the ethno-house genre much more. The two songs that I've posted today are intense jacking party tunes that still retain a bit of tribal flavour. I'm a sucker for nice percussion sounds, to be honest. Nujax has also attempted to weave the sounds of Zouk (a rhythmic Antillean sound) into their tracks, and the result is magical. These dudes have managed to craft a hard-hitting, dancefloor-pleasing sound that still pays homage to its ethnic influnces. Huge!
Nujax- Tonight
Nujax- Bekinya
Myspace
Soundcloud
Azari & III (Toronto)
You know, I'm probably not going to do these guys much justice, but I'll try. My introduction to Azari & III (pronounced Azari and Third), a Toronto house collective that consists of two producers and two vocalists, was when I saw the incredibly fucked-up video for Hungry For The Power (posted below) on the Fader blog a while ago. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of them for a long time, but as I did a bit more research into the history of house music, it started to get clearer. That being said, I don't want to pigeonhole them into any genre, because their sound is a lot more diverse that just 'house music'. They pay homage to early Chicago house, sure, but much of their material is just too bizarre and amazing to place in a nice little bracket. They mix hoarse and diva-esque vocals with an almost phantasmagorical-sounding backdrop of drum machines and deep house grooves. Vogue house, maybe? I wish that I could describe it better, but that's probably the best that you're going to get today.
I've actually heard through the grapevine that Azari & III are the most recent signees to legendary Montreal label Turbo Records, which absolutely blew my mind. Tiga's record label is one of my favorites, and to find out that this very unique group will be collaborating with some of techno's brightest minds leaves me foaming at the mouth. Metaphorically, of course. If you dug the Friendly Fires collabo that I posted a few days ago, then give this stuff a try. It might be a bit too out-there for some of you, but this is decidedly awesome and unique music. A great mix of the past and the future.
Sunday Girl- Self Control (Azari & III remix)
Bot'tox- Blue Steel (Azari & III remix)
Myspace
Hope you enjoyed this segment of Canadian Club Crunchers. Thanks for reading.
-M.
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