The newest Toronto trance promoters Electric Escape have announced a sequel to their successful debut event Escape 138. The Toronto Trance Family is very excited for Escape Together: A Journey Into Trance because EE have booked another spectacular lineup of artists. Taking place on December 23rd, 2016 (Christmas Eve’s Eve) inside the brand new Rebel complex, Toronto trancers have another reason to be jolly this holiday season.
Once described as “one of the hardest working DJs in the scene” by Armin Van Buuren, Ben Nicky is a British DJ who has a reputation for being the “bad boy” of the trance scene. His set are incredibly high energy and his style is a combination of psy mixed with classic uplifting tracks. He is the head honcho of the Headf**k brand and weekly radio show and has performed at the biggest festivals and clubs around the globe. I couldn’t be happier seeing Ben Nicky on the Escape Together lineup. After his fantastic set at Trance Unity in Montreal earlier this summer, he’s become one of my favourite artists and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for the Toronto trance crowd!
Bjorn Akesson is a Swedish DJ who was first introduced to electronic music in the mid 90’s through video games. His interest in the trance genre began after he went to his first nightclub and inspired him to start producing. His debut 2003 track Havannah was played by the top DJ’s around the globe, but his 2008 track Perfect Blue was what really skyrocketed his career. Akesson has played at ASOT and FSOE festivals as well as several famous clubs around the world, and he is the host to his own monthly show, The Bjorn Akesson Podcast.
The Argentinian DJ Chris Schweizer is the next artist on the Escape Together roaster. He is signed to the Armada Music label and has received support from many of the biggest names in trance across the globe, including regular airplay on the radio show A State Of Trance. Schweizer draws inspiration from his childhood favourites Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, and Paul Van Dyk, and his current favourites W&W, Hardwell, and Porter Robinson, which is evident in his productions as he mixes trance with big room and electro sounds with lots of energy.
Aleksander Stawierej, better known by his stage name Indecent Noise, has been a fan of electronic music since the age of seven. The Polish producer is known for his different, harder-hitting, twisted style of trance. Because of this, Stawierej had a difficult time dealing with the bigger EDM music labels, so he created Mental Asylum Records in 2012 as a way of releasing new music that is driven by passion instead of a corporate vision. Indecent Noise has publicly praised the Toronto trance crowd in the past. In his winter 2014 show at Toika, his scheduled three hour set time was stretched into five because of his fondness for the excitable crowd and he later posted his entire set on Soundcloud. Let’s give him the same appreciation in December:
I thought that October gig in Toika was perfect. Last night changed my life. Thanks for being such a open minded and lovely crowd. Asot who?
— Indecent Noise (@IndecentNoise) February 16, 2014
RAM, born Ram Boon, hails from the Netherlands and has been a big name in the Dutch and international trance scene for several years. His career took off after the release of his first major single RAMsterdam on the Armada Music label in 2009, which found a spot on Armin Van Buuren’s favourite tracks of the year list. RAM continues to incorporate his name into the titles as a marketing tool for his pure uplifting track releases. In memory of his wife Amelia’s passing, Boon released RAMelia (in collaboration with the next artist), a lovely track and a fan favourite. In 2011 he became the resident DJ at the nightclub Grotesque in the Netherlands and simultaneously launched his own radio podcast by the same name. After several successful years and over 200+ episodes, RAM expanded the brand by creating the trance exclusive music label Grotesque Music in 2014.
Susana is a female trance vocalist who is also based in the Netherlands. She is most known for her work with Armin Van Buuren and their collaboration on the 2005 hit single Shiver. Her resume is extensive as she’s worked with many big artists under the Amsterdam Trance Records, Armada, Black Hole Recordings, and Future Sound Of Egypt labels. Susana has two artist albums, “Closer” (2010) and “Brave” (2012), and created Press Play – a compilation series and monthly radio show.
Keeping with the spirit of the holidays, Electric Escape is giving back to the community by donating $1 of each ticket sale to charity (the charity of choice is yet to be determined). Tickets can be purchased in two ways: for the old school ravers, shoot info(at)electricescape.ca for hard tickets inquiries, otherwise etickets are currently available for $25 + service fees through Ticketmaster and will increase in price as the tiers sell out. There is an optional VIP ticket upgrade for $50 + service fees which includes line bypass. Join the official Facebook Event page to connect to the community and look out for set times and other news as the event approaches.
LINKS: Ben Nicky Website Soundcloud Youtube |
Bjorn Akesson Website Soundcloud Youtube |
Chris Schweizer Soundcloud |
Indecent Noise Soundcloud Youtube |
Ram Soundcloud |
Susana Website Soundcloud Youtube |