Kicking off Igloofest's second weekend of the year, and its 14th edition to-date, was local DJ / producer Lunr. His 7:30 pm set initially fell mostly on sparse ears at the start, with only a few patrons dotted about Montreal's Quai Jacques Cartier. It seemed more like a tundra than ever for that first while, but Lunr was determined to break the ice with a hot serving of acid house. His set waxed and waned between epic-sounding breakdowns and chunky drops — Lunr made sure you were never too far away from either. He made a point of playing some tracks from his recent Path of Totality EP, just to leave his own stamp. The whole performance was reminiscent of Booka Shade at times, and as a pièce de résistance, he dropped that tune of tunes, "The Sky Was Pink" by Nathan Fake.
It's tempting to stay at that main stage forever, but the sounds emanating from the Videotron stage around the corner were just too inciting to ignore. One great thing about Montreal festivals is that they always make a point of booking a good amount of local talent, and Igloofest is no different. Opening on the secondary stage was Odile Myrtil, and boy we were glad to have turned that corner. She may have been playing early in the night, and on the smaller of the two stages, but her set was one of the more interesting things we saw at Igloofest. It was rapid-fire blitz of reggaeton, chewed-up vocal cuts and hip-hop. Think dismantled pop music with a serious pulse. At one point "Rhythm is Dancer" even reared its head — she really did put her own unique twist on everything you could imagine.
In stark contrast to Myrtil, i_o wasted no time kicking us right in teeth with a barrage of no-nonsense techno. As he emerged an ominous voice saying, "I am now in control," boomed across the grounds. It was a fair statement. As he immediately launched into New Order's "Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)" — yes, that song from the blood rave scene in the movie Blade — it seemed like the horde Igloofest goers couldn't help but drop what they were doing and dart towards the main stage. Things didn't let up from there, either. His set was a just never ending onslaught, reaching dizzying heights with tracks like "Forever Ravers" by ANNA & Miss Kitten and i_o's own remix of "Imaginary Friends" by Deadmau5.
After that we were treated to yet another flavour dance music, this time in form of Niagara Falls artist REZZ (pictured). Like her Igloofest predecessors, she dove straight into high-octane tunes head first. She began with a quick burst of apocalyptic jungle that soon turned into her trademark brand of glitchy dubstep. Early tracks of hers, like "Dark Age" and "Drugs!," let us know that she came here wobble our molecules. It's safe to say that REZZ's set was nothing short of a subsonic onslaught. The bass drops were just ridiculous; one of them even came with the pre-warning, "you can't believe it's not butter," before gurgling across the crowd.
For the most part REZZ played her own tracks, which isn't all that surprising, seeing as she's kind of crafting her own sound out there these days. It wasn't all her own though — "Supercharged" by Blanke & Kayoh and DMVU's "Bloccd" were arguably highlights of the night. There were also more nods to Deadmau5, through "One Trick Pony," which wasn't surprising to hear on that first night, seeing a lot of the performers have releases on his Mau5trap label. There was one more nod to be had though, as REZZ closed out the night with Skrillex, and in turn, Igloofest closed it out fireworks jetting out from the main stage. A fitting end if ever there was one.
After that thorough bombardment, we've no doubt that many needed a hot bath and some soft elevator music. We sure did.
It's tempting to stay at that main stage forever, but the sounds emanating from the Videotron stage around the corner were just too inciting to ignore. One great thing about Montreal festivals is that they always make a point of booking a good amount of local talent, and Igloofest is no different. Opening on the secondary stage was Odile Myrtil, and boy we were glad to have turned that corner. She may have been playing early in the night, and on the smaller of the two stages, but her set was one of the more interesting things we saw at Igloofest. It was rapid-fire blitz of reggaeton, chewed-up vocal cuts and hip-hop. Think dismantled pop music with a serious pulse. At one point "Rhythm is Dancer" even reared its head — she really did put her own unique twist on everything you could imagine.
In stark contrast to Myrtil, i_o wasted no time kicking us right in teeth with a barrage of no-nonsense techno. As he emerged an ominous voice saying, "I am now in control," boomed across the grounds. It was a fair statement. As he immediately launched into New Order's "Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)" — yes, that song from the blood rave scene in the movie Blade — it seemed like the horde Igloofest goers couldn't help but drop what they were doing and dart towards the main stage. Things didn't let up from there, either. His set was a just never ending onslaught, reaching dizzying heights with tracks like "Forever Ravers" by ANNA & Miss Kitten and i_o's own remix of "Imaginary Friends" by Deadmau5.
After that we were treated to yet another flavour dance music, this time in form of Niagara Falls artist REZZ (pictured). Like her Igloofest predecessors, she dove straight into high-octane tunes head first. She began with a quick burst of apocalyptic jungle that soon turned into her trademark brand of glitchy dubstep. Early tracks of hers, like "Dark Age" and "Drugs!," let us know that she came here wobble our molecules. It's safe to say that REZZ's set was nothing short of a subsonic onslaught. The bass drops were just ridiculous; one of them even came with the pre-warning, "you can't believe it's not butter," before gurgling across the crowd.
For the most part REZZ played her own tracks, which isn't all that surprising, seeing as she's kind of crafting her own sound out there these days. It wasn't all her own though — "Supercharged" by Blanke & Kayoh and DMVU's "Bloccd" were arguably highlights of the night. There were also more nods to Deadmau5, through "One Trick Pony," which wasn't surprising to hear on that first night, seeing a lot of the performers have releases on his Mau5trap label. There was one more nod to be had though, as REZZ closed out the night with Skrillex, and in turn, Igloofest closed it out fireworks jetting out from the main stage. A fitting end if ever there was one.
After that thorough bombardment, we've no doubt that many needed a hot bath and some soft elevator music. We sure did.
