Armin Van Buuren confirmed as the first DJ announced for the "Bal En Blanc" event in Montreal

/

The next Bal en Blanc event on April 8th, 2012 in Montreal, Canada has finally announced their first DJ booking for the trance room: Armin Van Buuren. I'm really happy to hear that the promoters went with Armin instead of someone like David Guetta which was Tomorrowland's first booking announcement that drew a lot of criticism on the internets. Armin has the ability to mix his more commercial trance with lesser known tunes which can usually satisfy the needs of his fans while electrifying the dance floor.

Amazingly enough this event has garnered so much buzz that the first batch of $95 pre-sale tickets were sold out in 6 minutes on January 14th without even announcing a single DJ! The current ticket price is $117 + around $15 of fees so get them quick before the price goes up.

 

New Events Announced + Mark Knight (UK) this Friday at Sotto Lounge!

/

So the DNA Presents promotions have been really busy as of late and announced two new events this week; one is Sander Van Doorn who will be appearing live at Barrymore's on Tuesday, Feb 7th; the other event is Helicopter Showdown live at Babylon Nightclub on Saturday, Feb 4th.

I'm really excited to see Sander Van Doorn! The last time I saw him when I was in New York for the Electric Zoo music festival around Labour Day weekend last year and the crowd really enjoyed his upbeat and prog house beats. The only problem for full time workers is that he's appearing on a Tuesday night and most likely will take the stage at around midnight. So make sure to take a nap beforehand or just take the day off on Wednesday and enjoy Sander guilt free!

This Friday I'm going to check out Mark Knight (UK) for the first time at the Sotto Lounge & Bar. I've only heard good things from Mark Knight and he recently got a lot of buzz from a killer set at the BPM Festival in Mexico a few weeks ago. The event is from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am because Mark Knight will travel to Montreal afterwards to do a late night set at Circus Afterhours. I'm really looking forward to this and am ready to be impressed.

My NYE odyssey in Montreal Part 2 (Dec 31st, 2011)

/

On New Year's Eve I came back to Circus Afterhours for one of the most anticipated events all year where they featured such DJs as Jaytech, Wezz Devall, Leon Bolier, Heatbeat, and Hollow Earth. I actually got there at around 1:30 am because I knew that I was in for a very long night!

Here were the set times that I attended for the night:

1:30 am - 3:30 am - Jaytech

3:30 am - 5:00 am - Wezz Devall

5:00 am - 7:00 am - Leon Bolier

7:00 am - 9:00 am - Heatbeat

Jaytech set up the night perfectly with his smooth beats and ephemeral mood that he manages to create. He can take you on a nice blissful adventure with his well crafted sets. Then Wezz Devall came on and upped the tempo by a LARGE margin and proceeded to drive the dance floor nuts.

Leon Bolier was the best set of the night in my opinion as he brought in a great mix of melodic tunes and downright dirty beats and baselines that really got me moving. I'm so impressed with Leon Bolier's set that I would go and travel to any reasonable amount to see him again. If he ever does come to Ottawa he is not to be missed!

The night ended for me when Heatbeat took the DJ booth. By that time I was pretty worn out after 6 hours of dancing and listening to some great music but I enjoyed his set nontheless. Heatbeat used some dubstep elements into his mix which was actually quite welcome by that point. I ultimately left after half of his set because 6-7 hours is about the max I can take in any event.

Overall I'd like to thank Circus Afterhours for organizing another fantastic event where I was exposed to some new talent that I won't soon forget. I should mention that I paid a little extra for the VIP tickets (only $25 extra on top of the original ticket) and it was worth every penny. The main selling point for me was that I was able to hang out in the VIP area where you rubbed shoulders with other DJs and were able to have a PERFECT view of the of the DJ booth from behind.

Here are some pics from the event:

Wezz Devall (left) and Leon Bolier (right):

 Heatbeat

My NYE odyssey in Montreal Part 1 (Dec 30th, 2011)

/

So this year I decided to visit Circus Afterhours in Montreal, Canada for Dec 30th and New Year's Eve to take part in their multi-day celebration. In short I had a total blast dancing all night long for 2 nights straight at one of the best clubs in the world.

I got there around 3 am and left at about 7 am because we didn't prep our bodies to fully adopt the all night sleep schedule. The Dec 30th Circus event was a lot of fun but I somehow knew that the best was yet to come.

 

Deadmau5 'Unhooked' @ CE Centre Dec 27, 2011

/

 Let me kick this blog off with the latest EDM event I attended in Ottawa which was the Deadmau5 'unhooked' concert at the CE Centre's inaugural event on Dec 27th, 2011.

This was my first deadmau5 concert and although there were a few sound glitches I would definitely like to check him out again in the future. At least we have 2012 to look forward to as deadmau5 promised that he'll be back with his entire sound and graphics set up - can't wait!

 

Welcome to EDM Ottawa!

/

I'd like to welcome you all to EDM Ottawa! This will be a website dedicated to all things EDM in Ottawa. I also love to travel to Montreal and Toronto so I'll also be including some key EDM events in the calendar for the dedicated fans who like to get away for the weekend. While I build this site I'd like to invite you to follow me on twitter @edmottawa and my youtube page under edmottawa. If you have any questions please click on the Contact page and address them there. Enjoy!