archive

Well this summer sure went by quickly! As usual, the consistency of my blog posts has been, well, consistently inconsistent! Here's what's been happening lately in my world…

Gigs and Such

July saw me return to the Motion Notion festival for the first time since 2005. Wow has it ever grown and changed since the last time I was there. Bigger, crazier and more intense! I was slotted in on the main stage for a classic sunrise set Sunday morning at 6:45am, following some heavy-handed psytrance courtesy of Treavor Moontribe. For the seemingly tireless bodies still bouncing around at that time, I gently eased things down into some thoughtful and deep morning trance for the two hours I played - starting off the set with a brand new track of mine that really brought the sun up nicely. Overall things went really well and our whole crew had a great time that weekend. Looking forward to being back in the next few years again.

Fast forwarding to what's coming up and I'm pretty excited to say the least. I've been lucky enough to have been booked to play in Phoenix and Seattle over a weekend in September. I've played in both cities before and absolutely love the people and the vibe they have going there.

In Phoenix (well Scottsdale), I'll be playing at Cream Stereo Lounge on Friday, September 16th. The next day I'll be hopping on a plane to Seattle to play at Trinity, the club where I managed to slide in for a set back in January of this year. It is also my wife and mine's seventh wedding anniversary that weekend, so I'm also happy she's able to come with me on the trip - of course it means we're tagging an extra day onto each end to enjoy it!

Looking forward to seeing the Phoenix crew again, you all know who you are (Yardz - damnit why can't you be there!), and a big thanks to Thomas Turner and his Relentless Beats group for making it happen. And of course of equal anticipation, also looking forward to seeing the gang from Seattle - and another big thanks goes to Jason LeMaitre for bringing me to Trinity. Love that club.

Studio Work

Summer's always a difficult time to want to lock myself into the studio, however I've managed to commit enough time to finish off a new track that I'm in discussions with JOOF (the legendary John 00 Fleming's label) about signing. This track took a long time to finish, spanning four months, but things really came together as they always do while on vacation in Mexico. Titled "Sunrise Over Xaman-Ha", it's a deep morning trance number that was inspired by the unbelievably serene sunrise over the Xaman-Ha Mayan ruins that surround the condo where we stay ever year.

Look for release news on this one soon. Polishing off a few different mixes of it at the moment, including a new vocal mix that features the very talented Andrea Wettstein from here in Calgary.

Mixes / Radio Show

Rumbling along month after month, the 709Sessions radio show continues into it's fifth year now. The love for doing the monthly show hasn't faded and definitely keeps me going, and now, with another 'second job' of teaching indoor cycling classes, I've started to mold my mixes for my radio show into soundtracks that can be used in my classes - with the newest episode of my show getting a good test drive in just this morning. I think I might be onto something…

Also in the fall, there's a possibility that my show might move to the infamous FriskyRadio where all the big progressive guys like to hang out. We'll see.

I've also put together a new Epic mix for the trance-family types out there. Featuring my favourite trance producers such as Temple One, Daniel Kandi and Estiva, it's available for download now in the Mixes section of my site. Next up on as far as mixes go, I'll be diving into the ambient and downtempo side of my collection - that should be interesting.

That's all for now. As always, thanks for the ongoing support, whether it's downloading mixes, leaving comments or sending messages - it's all heart-warming and appreciated. I promise I will be using my mailing list more, so please feel free to join the mailing list by filling out the form on my website.

And now, time to get back at it.

Just released on Beatport on Edmonton, Alberta's Nueva Digital is my remix of Adam Oland's "Mad in !ove". This project was a challenging one to say the least, taking a very nu-disco sound and putting a dark, progressive spin on it, but all in all I think it turned out alright.

Pick up your copy at Beatport by clicking here.

Some feedback from the promo pools…

"Good remix from Wes! Really into Phunktastike's version too!"
Darin Epsilon (Perspectives Digital / Perfecto)

"Nice release, downloading both remixes for Ad Brown, thanks!"
Ad Brown (Anjunadeep, Hope, Microcastle)

"Downloading for Solarstone."
Solarstone (Solaris)

"Wes version strong and deep! Support!"
E-Spectro (Black Hole, Moon Tribal, Nueva Digital)

"Nice pack. Wes Straub remix worked best for me but enjoyed them all."
Johan Nilsson (Digitally Imported Radio)

"Wes Straub remix is great! full support."
Hyline (Hyline Music, Baroque)

"Liking this."
Andy Moor (AVA Recordings)

"Really nice one, diggin' Wes Straub remix the most, great deep vibes. Nice signing once again! Thanks!"
Progressive House Worldwide

Thanks for all your support.

Another good couple of months flying by right now with a lot going on so let's get to it shall we!

On the production side the mastered copy of my remix of Matt Oland's "Mad In Love" has been sent off for release on a label close to home, none other than Nueva Digital. Release date will be posted soon. Working on a few good original ideas at the moment as well which will hopefully turn into full tracks in the next month or two.

On the radio front, I've been given the chance to submit a guest mix for Feelin' Frisky on FriskyRadio. The hope here is that it eventually leads to moving my 709Sessions radio show over to their awesome station. The other stations i'm currently on have all been fantastic, however Frisky has always been the home for top notch progressive sounds with all the big guys having shows on there, so we'll see if this all pans out the way I hope it can.

On the gig front, things have been fairly quiet in Calgary, having only played a couple of regular nights at Habitat over the past couple of months. At this point, for myself it's all about playing at a quality venue at a quality night and Habitat delivers that every time. And, I would like to personally thank Habitat for hosting the Ssubi Foundation fund-raiser this past Thursday. All in all it was a great time with a great crowd, and we ended up raising a little bit of cash in the process for a close friend of mine's wonderful foundation. Awesome stuff.

Out of town I've started to work on some possibilities for a few different US cities in the fall, more news on that soon.

That's it for now, more news soon.