Patius

Billy Lace live from Matinee NYC - New Year's Day

2012-01-29T16:28:00.000-05:00

First time I saw Billy Lace was in Las Vegas last Summer, and I was not too impressed by his set. Nevertheless I've been checking out his podcast and I'm really enjoying the music from his live sets. Below is the link to one set recorded at District 36 in New York City.

I did not post the embedded version because it's set in auto-play, and who knows where you right now, we don't want the whole office to find out you shouldn't be visiting Patius during working hours right?

MY House Vol. 8(Live From Matinee NYC New Years Day @ District 36)

Igloofest - January 28, 2012

2012-01-29T11:43:00.000-05:00

We couldn't have asked for a better weather, and I must say I was scared when I saw the huge line to get in, but it was very organized and in less than 5 minutes we were inside.

"Saturday January 28 - in collaboration with Resident Advisor: Marcel Dettman (DE), Ben Klock (DE), and Ostrich (CA)"

I was just thinking how much the Igloofest has changed since their first edition, and I'm wondering if the creators thought this event was going to become so popular in Montreal, don't know the statistics but they were able to sold out the place more than once.

I could actually see this event lasting longer than 3 or 4 weekends and still doing well, and love the fact they are bringing such a diversity of talent, some of which I heard first time at the Igloofest (Guy Gerbert comes in mind).

Only went once this year, and enjoyed my time with the Igloopeople. what better way to embrace the Canadian winter in the month of January right?

Igloofest 2012

2012-01-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

I know, there is only one more weekend left of the Igloofest 2012 and let me tell you, if you haven't been, please do you and me a favour and check it out. Sure, this has become a popular festival now, and yes we do have those annoying "I do not excuse myself to get thru" people, nevertheless it is a great music gathering, and even better it defies the cold winter weather of Canada.

Yes, we could stay home and talk about how cold it is outside, or you could join other 10,000 plus people and dress up warmly and go dancing outdoors to the tunes of some known and unknown deejays.

Igloofest, the "only" place where

beer becomes colder with time

Igloofest last weekend will be flavoured by

Friday January 27 - in collaboration with Bench
Green Velvet (US)
Maya Jane Coles (GB)

Saturday January 28 - in collaboration with Resident Advisor
Marcel Dettman (DE)
Ben Klock (DE)
Ostrich (CA)

To tell you the truth I'm excited about Ben Klock, the massive techno resident deejays of one of my favourite places in Berlin, the club Berghain. Last time I saw him was on May 27, 2011 at Stereo (click on his name to read review) and he was just unbelievable. It will be interesting to see what he will do in an outdoor party.

If you want to guarantee your entrance, make sure to buy tickets online or get there early, otherwise you might be one of those unlucky ones to be turned around at the door, and then your only consolation will be to tweet screaming you want to be let in, hey there is always 2013 right?

1) ONLINE TICKETS
You can buy tickets online through Ticketpro.ca, at the cost of $12 (+ tax and service).
2) SAME DAY TICKETS AVAILABLE ON SITE AT IGLOOFEST
You can also purchase tickets on the evening of the event as of 6:30 PM for a cost of $15 all-in.
3) IN STORES – DESIGNATED IGLOOFEST LOCATIONS

food in montreal

2012-01-21T20:23:00.001-05:00

TGRM

2012-01-17T18:49:00.001-05:00

Arena - Playa del Carmen, Mexico

2012-01-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

There is an amazing festival that has become the place to be during the NYE celebration, and this year was the 5th edition of the BPM festival in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Unfortunately I was unable to be there this year, and I'm planning and will try my best to be there for the next one. This is when I heard about this new music festival called ARENA (February 5 to 12, 2012).

2012 will be their first edition, and they are advertising it as the new gay event in Mexico, and looking at the invited deejays they are not joking about the sought clientele. At the end of the day, I decided to go not because is a gay festival, but because there will be house music in a sunny and warm place.

Nevertheless if you visit their official website the front page does not say anything about the gayness of the festival, unless of course you look at the picture of the hunky model been used to attract those party jet-setters, but when you read the description this is when the hunky + house music = gay festival becomes obvious, and hopefully this event will attract a mix crowd, they are always fun.

It is in February and this is when a lot of people are sick and tired of the winter in the Northern latitudes, the weather is usually great in Playa del Carmen, and the city is cozy and attractive, and the musical talent invited is perfect for a good time, so why not eh?

The good news is I'll be reporting live from Playa del Carmen, the bad new is I won't be there from the beginning, but who cares, it is Winter in Canada and it should be sunny and warm in Mexico. Hopefully I will be able to take some good pictures and videos of the festival, and as usual I will try to review most of the parties, and please forgive me if I don't write anything for a couple of days, probably I'll be enjoying the beach parties in Playa.

If you are going, Playa del Carmen is not a big city and you can walk around without any issues. Accommodations should be easy to find and it shouldn't be too expensive, and some hotels are offering discounts for this festival (promotional code: ARENA - I would call the number on the Arena website because I tried different hotels and they did not recognized the promotional code given).

When booking your airfare don't despair if you can't find flights to Playa del Carmen, this is because you should be flying to Cancun instead and then taken a bus to Playa - some hotels offer pick up arrangements so make sure to inquire as well.

If you need more info, you can always join their Facebook page and ask them directly, otherwise just book you trip and have some fun with Stephan Grondin, Chus & Ceballos, Isaac Escalante, Peter Rauhofer, Phil Romano and other deejays.

Do you want to go?

2012-01-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

Arena in Playa del Carmen

2012-01-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I wasn't able to travel to PDC for the BPM festival, but I decided to be there for the Arena music festival, it should be interesting.

Steve Lawler @ District 36 - NYC - January 1, 2012

2012-01-04T17:08:00.003-05:00

Last time I saw Steve Lawler was at Stereo in Montreal, and he did not disappointed back them and I was hoping the same thing at District 36. My friends told about another party happening in NYC but I wanted to be there and I was happy when the final decision was to be at D36.

This was my first time at this club, and we only got there 10 minutes before 4:00am, when Steve was scheduled to start spinning. The line up to get in was not too crazy, having the usual I know X & Y and I'm fabulous so I should be let in before everybody else waiting in line.

It didn't take us long to get in, and the security was gentle enough until there were more men in the women line to be checked, well there was no sign how was I supposed to know eh? You have to walk downstairs in order to let you upstairs, and once I got downstairs I was told I had to go back to entrance to get my ticket. Quick visit to the security area and I was back at the entrance getting my arm stamped - checked my coats, and the coat-check lady was nice enough to let 2 coats in the same hanger.

Obviously Steve Lawler had already taken command of the deejay booth by this time, and when we finally made upstairs the place was rocking and tons of happy people, some happier than others. To your right you have a bar, passed the bar you have the bathrooms, and to your left you have the dance floor located on a square open room, with a second floor where the deejay booth and some tables/seats are located. If you want to have a good view of the dance floor just go upstairs and muscle your into a small spot to observe the dancers downstairs. Having Steve Lawler spinning you might be right in assume I spent most of my time on the dance floor.

The dance floor: sticky like hell - I don't know man, how is it possible to have a floor so sticky? People, can't you keep your drink in your glass? I must say it was kind of annoying because I really wanted to dance to the sexy smooth rhythm Lawler was dishing out but it was kind of hard.

Deep, dark, sexy kind of minimal techno was felt at the beginning, and progressively the music got more intensive. Vocals almost non existing at the beginning started to show up here and there. To tell you the truth Lawler has this unique style of music that drives me crazy, love when he adds the Latin sound to his music, lots of deejays do it but Lawler does it differently, leaving me with the feeling of wanting more and more. Several times I just closed my eyes and I let those chants take me elsewhere, but somewhere delicious where I felt everyone riding this incredible wave of music.

Lawler is a genius and I still don't know what happened, but afterwards Lawler posted online the fact that was his last gig at District 36. Don't know what the issue was, maybe there were some technical problems, but most likely might be something to do with the relationship with the club. Whatever the problem, Lawler kept his cool because if he was mad I couldn't tell, he was dropping this fantastic music while I was at District 36. Also I should mentioned he was spinning at another party before and after D36, is he human?

The sound system at D36 is almost as good as the one at Stereo, then again I must admit I'm bit bias towards Stereo. I spent a couple of hours and I did not have ringing in my ears, and the place has a good light system. In case you ware wondering, I did like the club but I was not wowed, nice sound system, good crowd, didn't like the numerous doors everywhere, and the music was delicious the night I was there.

The crowd was mostly straight, well behaved and without attitude, and one thing that grabbed my attention was the interesting dance off circle created spontaneously by the straight boys. I've been to several parties in NYC, mind you mostly gay events, and I had never witnessed a dance off such as what I saw at D36. I inquired about it and it sounds like it is a normal occurrence in NYC (I might be wrong). Basically a circle opens up somewhere in the dance floor and someone goes in and dance the best he can, to be then replaced by the next dancer in waiting.

Once again, I'm so glad we decided to go to D36 to see Steve Lawler, I did not stay until the end because my stomach was asking for food, and by the time I left Lawler had slowed down the music and was playing some oldies, great tunes. The best way to start the year, spending time with good friends and your love one.

Happy New Year boys and girls.

Good afternoon NYC

2012-01-02T15:35:00.001-05:00

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Happy New Year

2011-12-31T06:15:00.001-05:00

And no, this is not my Bengal cat, I'm just visiting.

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Summary of the Pop Music in 2011

2011-12-26T19:53:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers

2011-12-24T11:59:00.002-05:00

DJ Ana Paula - House Of Princess

2011-12-23T17:43:00.003-05:00

and here a Christmas gift from DJ Ana Paula, one of my favourite deejays from Brazil, and perhaps my top female deejay - you can download this fun set.

House Of Princess by DJAnaPaula

Stereo 12th Anniversary: David Morales, Carlo Lio, Loco Dice and Chus

2011-12-08T21:28:00.001-05:00

Morales, Lio and Dice and Chus - those were the evenings I chose to celebrate Stereo 12th anniversary, all different and special at the same time, specially for me because nor days is rare I go out that often.

November 12:

Let me start with David Morales on Saturday night. I know Morales has returned to Stereo several times since the second reopening, unfortunately I was always away when he came to Stereo, so this was my first time seeing him again (if that makes sense).

Morales is a deejay that brings all types of dancers to the floor, and usually there is a constant wave of people coming and leaving. Depending on the evening and the mood, Morales might give you all sort of rhythms to dance, and I specially like when he brings out his divas.

The decor of the place was beautiful, and I understand it was whatever was left of the Halloween party, at the beginning I thought those red lamps reminded me a bit of tons of upside down leds Stereo had hang from the ceiling, until someone pointed out there were actually real candles, and this is when I noticed some of them had run their course. I must say, hell of a job to light up all those candles man.

Stereo was busy but not the busy I remember it gets with Morales, I wonder if the $45.00 cover charge also stop many party goers as it did some of my friends. Nevertheless, there was enough room to dance and if you wanted to find happy people in Montreal you just had to step on the dance floor, and the hit wave you feel when you arrive upstairs is a reminder it's party time.

Morales was feeling nostalgic because he was playing lots of his classics and at the end, or my end, he was spinning pure discoish music, back to the classic house, the one he loves so much. There was a moment when he was playing dark house music, all the lights at Stereo were turn off, only leaving the candles, and it stayed like that for a while, giving this extra underground feeling to the place.

By the time I left Morales was playing discoish music and having the time of his life. I won't say it was the best that I've seen of Morales but the important thing is I had fun, and please Stereo don't charge that much again next time he is in town, I want to see more people on the dance floor.

November 25:

Let's move on to Friday night, technically it was Saturday but you know how it is, and this when Carlo Lio decided to teach me a couple of things. I have become a fan of Carlo since I saw him opening for Dubfire a while back. Loved Dubfire but I thought Carlo Lio was better and since them I've been in love with Lio's music.

Don't ask me what changed, but this time Carlo Lio came strong, and just made me feel like the music existed in another planet again. It has been a while since I have felt that incredible loving feeling on the dance floor, don't know if it is because I've changed, got older and stuff, or if it is for other reasons. I must have to thank Carlo for making me feel like a dancer again.

Carlo played sexy dark and hard house music, one that I used to love and I had forgotten because deejays today have moved on to other styles. Do you remember what Victor Calderone used to play before his techy wavy days? Yes, that incredible sound that made some people miss their flights while at the infamous Black & Blue recovery parties at Stereo. The sound that the only option left was to scream and keep on dancing because it was so contagious, and believe me people, if Victor had continued playing and evolving this sound, what Carlo Lio played would had been a continuation of Victor's trip.

It was magical, technically flawless, lots of build ups and amazing ends, and the people were just beautiful. Imagine a wave moving toward the shore carrying everything and anything, this how the dance floor felt, moving like synchronized swimmers in a magical pool.

Stereo you need to move Carlo Lio to a Saturday night, he no longer belongs on a Friday night. If the boys get exposed to his style, you will have in your hands one of the most successful evenings at Stereo. I still can't believe how amazing Carlo played, loved it.

If you are wondering if i got to see Gaiser, the answer is yes, I actually got to Stereo half an hour before the end of his set, but unfortunately he is not my cup of tea.

December 3:

It was time for Loco Dice, I know he has been here before but I never had the chance to see him, and all my friends were warning me he was really Loco. Arrived by the end of Maher' set and people were excited and happy.

Is it techno? is it house? Loco just loves to mixed them both up and the result is a magical musical trip, and let me tell you, those crazy Tunisians really take seriously the fact Loco has a Tunisian background, flags and everything were present on the dance floor.

Talking about dance floor, people, people, people, can you please tell you girlfriends Stereo dance floor is not a place to park their bags. I really do not understand what you have to carry that is so important that you cannot leave it in your house or coat check. Stereo is where we go to have fun and dance, no need of carry bags. If you do carry bags, please do not put them down on the dance floor, because I will probably find it and accidentally jump on it breaking anything that you should have left home. Friends do not let them friends bring bags to Stereo.

Loco Dice is loco and the music was good, but I can't tell you why but during the first part of his set I felt as if there was something missing, not sure if it was because there was so much teasing, meaning lots of build ups but not too much ends, and perhaps this is what was driving me crazy. Don't take me wrong, the music was fantastic but I felt as if he could take us higher in this musical journey.

The place was busy with lots of people I haven't seen before, everyone looked as if they were having lots of fun, and this gives a special touch to the place. I kept seeing Tunisian flags, but no German flags, I wonder how Loco feels about that "patriotism".

Finally at around 7:00am Loco started to play a song that had some Spanish vocal talking about a "barrio" and holy cow the roof came down at that exact moment and I did not stop dancing until the time I left Stereo. It was just crazy, and even the volume went up because I could feel my heart vibrating at a higher intensity.

I can see how Loco was building up his set, I guess he was planning to stay late because he took his time to create a perfect atmosphere for the music he was playing. Was it techno? was it house? I just have to say it was a fun combination of great music that I wish I had started to hear when I got to Stereo. Perhaps next time I'll wait a bit longer to arrive, this way I will have the chance to enjoy his peak time.

Great evening at Stereo, and can't wait to see Loco Dice again.

December 11:

DJ Chus by himself at Stereo, that was something not to miss, specially since he was celebrating his birthday, and I was celebrating mine. I have seen Chus many times at Stereo and in other venues, and you really can't go wrong with him.

It was a last minute decision for me, because I was celebrating my birthday with some special friends, and next thing you know I was getting tickets and next thing you know it was 4:30am and I was walking up the stairs. I believe I did miss the warm up deejay, but no worries I was there to hear and feel Chus.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G - That is what I can say about the whole evening, Chus was on fire and so was the dance floor, the quantity of good looking people at Stereo was just incredible. Don't take me wrong, I go for the music but it is always nice to have such a great quantity and quality of good looking crowd around.

The music was the best combination of house+tribal+plus-everything-chus-wanted-to-play for this birthday bash - it was just a perfect selection of tracks delivered in such a clean fashion, with an incredible mixing precision, and it was so good I just wanted to scream and dance. At one point Chus started to play the song from the Point Sisters "Automatic" and the crowd just went while, and you just had to look towards Chus to see he was having the time of his life.

The work down by the light guy was just fantastic, I just wanted more more and more.

I'm so happy I decided to go dancing this evening, because nobody should miss a party like this one.

Stereo, happy anniversary and thank you so much for everything you have done for me, so much music, so much fun, but most important is the musical education I have had so far and the incredible friendships I have created with my second family.

Happy Anniversary.

TIME WARP MANNHEIM 2012

2011-12-02T22:40:00.001-05:00

If you are planing to got to Time Warp Mannheim 2012, please take note the early bird tickets will go on sale on December 12, 2011.

Time Warp 2011 - Official Aftermovie

Loco Dice @ Stereo on December 3, 2011

2011-12-01T17:26:00.001-05:00

You cannot miss this one, if you are out of town, get back to Montreal now.

Such a beautiful ad Australia

2011-11-26T08:29:00.001-05:00

David Morales feat. Janice Robinson - What Do You Believe

2011-11-19T17:48:00.001-05:00

David Morales feat. Janice Robinson - What Do You Believe

David Morales - La Vie en Stereo @ Stereo - November 12, 2011

2011-11-13T10:16:00.001-05:00

David Morales @ Stereo

2011-11-12T10:46:00.001-05:00

Madonna - Give Me All Your Love

2011-11-08T20:43:00.001-05:00

Good bye Parking, Hello Apollon

2011-11-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

Yes boys and girls, the nightclub Parking in Montreal has closed its doors forever - my understanding is there were some issues with the landlord or something and they had to move out. For too many Parking had already changed dramatically when 2 years ago they moved to their last location, not too far away, but not the same, and since them many thing have happened in the Montreal night life.

One good decision by the owners was not to reopen Parking in a new location, instead they decided to create a new entity in a new place, a new reincarnation of the former Parking nightclub. Welcome to Montreal Apollon, and I promise to review the place as soon as I can, because will you believe I never went to KOX, the famous club that used to be at the Apollon location?

Need to say more?

2011-11-03T21:12:00.001-04:00

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Los Angeles

2011-10-31T01:17:00.001-04:00

The city you either love or hate, and nothing in between.

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