I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

In person and off the tables, Barletta comes across as a pretty unassuming guy; a quick glance at him wouldn’t draw you to the conclusion that he’s one of Canada’s hottest dance music exports, or that he’s half of powerhouse duo Mansion… but indeed he is! iheartthemusic got the chance to chat with the star-in-the-making about the whirlwind success he’s been getting and his plans to help Toronto reach a whole new level in dance music (bring us up to 11, if you catch our drift).

iheartthemusic: You’ve been a busy guy lately, you’ve been releasing music on a consistent basis for the last couple of years and now you’re on tour for the month of May. Are you getting worn out?

Barletta: No. Honestly I’m just riding the hype as much as I can and having a lot of fun. All the shows are awesome and the kids are gnarly as shit.

iheartthemusic: You’re headed to California too, right?

Barletta: Yeah, I’m doing a couple of dates in LA and a couple of dates in Mexico.

iheartthemusic: Is that your first time heading down there?

Barletta: Yeah, it’ll be my first time in LA ever. Other than that, I’ve only played in New York as far as the U.S. goes.

iheartthemusic: You’re on tour promoting the Panther EP. Describe Panther for someone who hasn’t heard it yet.

Barletta: I’d say it’s pretty dance floor banger-ish. I’m really into super heavy baselines that make girls take their clothes off and gets people dancing. Just fun party music is what I classify that EP as. Shit for people to get down to, which is essential the club scene right now. That’s what I really wanted to convey – something that was super fun, really base heavy that anyone could jam out and have a great time to.

iheartthemusic: You’ve been getting a lot of love since you stepped onto the scene – a search on Hype Machine pulls up 10 pages worth of your music. How does it feel to be getting such a positive response for your work?

Barletta: It’s totally rewarding – I mean, doing a lot of self-promoting and letting the music speak for itself is fairly rewarding. I’m taken aback when big DJs like Crookers are playing my tracks. It gives me that much more inspiration and honestly, I’m totally doing it for the music and for the love of making music and I feel like it’s something that I have to get out on a regular basis. Like, I’ve gotta make a track a week.

iheartthemusic: Well you want to keep the momentum going, right?

Barletta: Yeah, keep up the hype, you know?

iheartthemusic: Your remixes of Meech’s “Bottom of the Fourth” and Steve Angello’s “Leave The World Behind”, as well as your own track “Fire + Gold” have a very different style compared to to earlier Barletta tracks. Do you feel like that kind of positive response lets you experiment a little more?

Barletta: Totally, but I find it a process of maturing. Like, I totally love the party music and the party scene, but I definitely think there is more to offer. I’m drawing a lot of inspiration from acts like Jessie Vendetta, Deadmau5 and a lot more progressive artists that still give an edge to their music, which is appealing to people who really want to thrash out, but also incorporate elements that are very sombre and thought-provoking. You kind of get the best of both worlds. Like Deadmau5’s Ghosts and Stuff has moments where people are having a great time, but also has those breaks that gives moments to reflect. I view it as a progression, but I’ll never lose that amped up, I-wanna-party vibe. It’s just a very natural progression for me.

iheartthemusic: Your Bass Live EP was dope. How important was it for you to get a hand from local acts and get that Toronto flavour?

Barletta: I think it’s important to embrace all that Toronto has to offer. Like Syntonics, for instance, one of the very first remixes I made ever was a Syntonics track – huge props to Barbi and Mitchell for introducing me to everybody in the scene. Barbi is like the godmother DJ of Toronto, so I credit a lot to her and her promoting my shit. So, I feel like whenever I see an act out of Toronto that’s fucking hot, I’ll totally remix their stuff. And when you think of different places like New York, for instance, you think Armand Van Helden, Drop The Lime and AC Slater. You have those names to associate with that city, and I want it to be like that here. Like, who do you think of when you think of Toronto?

iheartthemusic: I think Barletta, TMDP…

Barletta: Right, TMDP, Syntonics, the 84.85, GoldenGirls – all those cats are hype. Toronto has a lot to offer and I think that we just need to step up and put shit out. We definitely have a lot of potential and we have to exploit it, and make ourselves known as that fucking city.

iheartthemusic: You’ve scored a couple of official remixes for big names like LAZRtag, among others. How does it feel to be getting props from acts that you’re a fan of and look up to?

Barletta: It’s really exciting, rewarding and humbling for people to approach me to do a remix, and I wish someday to be in their shoes.

iheartthemusic: What’s one of your favourite tracks that you’ve done so far?

Barletta: Fuck, I hate all my music.

iheartthemusic: Ah, don’t say that!

Anna V.: What about Pizza Hut and Taco Bell? [Laughs] I love those Das Racist guys.

iheartthemusic: That’s definitely one of my faves.

Barletta: Ok, yeah – Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

iheartthemusic: Last question – what’s next for you in ‘09?

Barletta: I don’t know, world domination? Touring my ass off, no sleep, vices of many different kinds, and I don’t know, worldwide success.

Worldwide success is a big dream. However, following his blistering set that had a sold-out crowd sweating out their problems like nobody’s business, we came to realize that that dream is closer for Barletta than most think. All eyes were on the fresh-faced DJ as he tore through the dirtiest, grimiest tracks Wrongbar’s sound system could bear. With every epic break came the crowd’s demand for more, peaking at the drop of Klaas’ remix of Jean Elan’s “Where’s Your Head At?” that had everyone yelling the chorus – and with every cheer, Barletta got more and more into it, begging the crowd to enjoy it as much as he was.

With his sharp blends, an electric stage presence and song selection that was second to none, Barletta had Wrongbar in the palm of his hand. Anyone thinking of jumping into this city’s electronic music scene needs to take notes – Toronto’s best DJ isn’t letting go of his crown anytime soon.

Written by Sebastian Galvez

Photography provided by Amy Young

Some of you may have done a double take after having read the opening title to this article, but yes it IS true, we are talking about THAT Darude. For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past ten years Darude is the name of Finnish trance producer/DJ who emerged on the scene back in 1995. His success came in 1999 when he released the internatioanl hit “Sandstorm”. Several albums and a few world tours later he is finally returning to Toronto on Friday, June 5th at Courthouse.

iheartthemusic has scored two VIP tickets to giveaway to a lucky reader! All you need to do is send your details (name/email/phone number) to info@iheartthemusic.com along with a paragraph on why YOU are the biggest Darude fan and we will pick a winner! Winner will be chosen by Wednesday, June 3rd so hurry up and get on this!

Green Go have built up quite a reputation as the house-party-destroyer, terrorizing neighbours all across Ontario. That rep is hard to build, and twice as hard to keep up, however, the release of their full-length album, Borders, and their release party at Wrongbar let them confidently plant their flag, solidifying themselves as the young ones your parents told you not to play with. Before the night began, iheartthemusic met with lead singers Fez and Jessica backstage at Wrongbar to ask a few questions and to shine some light on the band that’s making waves in Toronto.

iheartthemusic: You guys are part of this new disco movement that’s been emerging as of late, is this something you set out to do or did it just happen?

Fez: For me, it was something I was excited about. I remember hearing The Rapture for the first time and thinking, “Wow, their live show must be a big dance party.” But I think it’s more about taking from bands that just like to get people moving.

Jess: We don’t really set out to have a specific sound; we never started with that. We just started writing, Fez and I, and that’s just what came out of us. Now as a 5-piece, we still write what we like – there’s no… trying to capture a certain sound. We’ll maybe hear different songs from different bands, and we are definitely influenced by our peers, but we still try to add our own touch to it.

iheartthemusic: Speaking of your peers, you guys did your remix project in February, and took a bunch of artists that don’t usually get remixed. How important was it for you guys to move away from the bands that seem to usually get that treatment?

Jess: It wasn’t really about that. It was more about taking our friends’ music and putting our spin on it as a tribute to them because we love their music so much. So it was about taking music that we admire and just having fun with it.

Fez: I mean, everyone remixes all those big bands, so what’s the point?

Jess: And taking something like The D’Urbervilles and turning that into a club mix – since we’re such good friends, it’s like why not bring them into the club scene?

iheartthemusic: A lot of bands have trouble turning their live presence into something equal on record, but you guys did a really good job of that on Borders. Was it hard to do?

Jess: It wasn’t really. We had to think about it, like we had to be able to translate our live show. We made some changes to the way it was recorded so we could capture that raw, basement sound as much as possible.

Fez: Just trying to get more of a live sound, to have a bit of that imperfection.

iheartthemusic: It adds character.

Fez: Yeah.

iheartthemusic: And some of the songs have been in the works for a while?

Fez: Oh yeah. They’ve been recorded in different ways in the past, but I guess now we see that the new recordings were the way they were meant to be. It’s taken a long time to get those songs to that point.

iheartthemusic: One last question – Green Go’s 5-year plan?

Fez: Umm, still be a band 5 years from now? [Laughs] That would be amazing.

Jess: We’ll see what happens with this release, but I want to be playing music with these people for as long as possible. We’ve only just scratched the surface, and there is a bit of pressure taken off now that we have some people we work with who will help us. That is really important so that we can be musicians instead of being managers and booking agents and publicists all at once; we can focus on what we’re supposed to be doing. So hopefully more shows, more touring, and more fun – more partying. [Laughs] I’m not done yet.

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Following a couple of stellar opening sets by Everything All The Time and The Magic came the act that 300 people came to see. Green Go took the stage with a confidence that most bands can only aspire to gain. Breezing through tracks off Borders, it was clear that these fresh-faced kids were vets; turning their live performance into a party in its purest sense. No restraint, no qualms, just a dance party that the crowd were eating it up, singing along to faves like “Brains For Breakfast” and “Cash Money Gremlins.” Their elongated instrumental jams were enough to rest your vocal chords before the next hook, and more than enough to turn those who doubted the Guelph, ON natives into those forking over some cash at the merch table. Even busting out a new song (which is a make-or-break thing for most bands) drew cheers and a clap-along that had most people wondering what b-side that track was on.

A release party couldn’t go any better: a sold-out crowd and a bunch of happy, dehydrated fans are all a band could ask for. If you haven’t seen Green Go live, do it. Seriously – go. See them before they hit the big stage, and enjoy the up-close-and-personal experience that few bands can offer, let alone perfect. Guess those house parties really paid off.

interviewed and reported by Sebastian Galvez

photos provided by Amy Young

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