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A night on the towns
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by JACK OATMON The worn and tarnished arena of the Toronto vs. Montreal debate has been trod by many different groups, but one sphere in which there’s an interesting basis for comparison is partying to the sweet sounds of loud, repetitive house and electro. For the record, Montreal rules! But in the interests of fair game, the good folks at the SaintWoods party crew are hosting a battle tonight to let some scenesters from each end of the 401 tangle tooth and nail on the turntables. The event also serves as a launch for the operation’s newly renovated online business (saintwoods.com), which will serve as a source for music, fashion, artist swag and what have you. The party itself will feature fashion displays, inflatable jungle-gym structures and a slew of other details to transform the SAT into a debauched adult playground. The local crew of T.O. transplants aims to exploit the underground sounds of the city for the bottle-service crowd, something that in and of itself seems a clash between the values of the two cities’ club scenes. For the record, the Mirror spoke to Violca Yryku of Toronto start-up house duo Mansion about their flippant, stomping beats, which come off like a high-speed collision between carloads of Mortal Kombat characters and European mp3 blog authors. Mirror: Tell me about how you guys got started. Violca Yryku: I met Hans (Edquist), aka DJ Barletta, at a big gay pride weekend party that my former band [Fritz Helder & the Phantoms] was holding. Our mutual friend, Barbie from Syntonics, introduced us and we totally hit it off. Then I went away on the Pink Mafia “Get Er Done” tour and when I came back, we decided to start working on music. M: What made you focus on that type of club music right now? VY: I’ve been DJing for a really long time, I used to be a big raver back in the day and I just love house music. We wanted to bring back big-room progressive house with a little bit of old school flavour. We felt there’s a little bit lacking in the music scene right now. But our stuff is pretty all over the place. M: Do you mean lacking in the Toronto scene? VY: A little bit. But we’re just thinking in general—the music scene, internationally. We’re big fans of Swedish House Mafia and Steve Angello and all those guys who make music like we do but on a more commercial level, which we’re totally interested in doing. We want to be able to play in Ibiza and European festivals and stuff like that. M: Would you therefore describe Mansion as more of a business venture than an artistic one? VY: Well, it’s obviously both. Our sound isn’t too underground. We’re just trying to appeal to the masses and the commercial clubbing crowd. We’re interested in the U.S. and European markets. Because sometimes what Toronto thinks is cool just isn’t, and sometimes what Toronto has no idea about is mind-blowing. WITH VNDLSM, NU RAVERS ON |
