If Cold, Bounce to it at Igloofest!! - Part 1

It’s that time of the year! Bring out your one piece snowsuits and those neon hats, Igloofest, “the coldest electronic music festival,” was back in town at the Old-Port!!  For its fifth edition, an impressive lineup of superb artists from across the electronic music scene were scheduled to play over the weekends of January 13th to 15th, 20th to 22nd and  27th to 29th.  Artists included Carl Craig, Stanton Warriors, Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts, Kid Sister, Eskmo and Montreal's own Poirier, Lunice and Green and LaTeez. After two weekends of cold weather and snow, there wasn’t any way to stop the crowd from attending the festival. Here’s a recap of the festival after the first week.

It all started on Thursday the 13th with Seth Troxler, Mike Mind & Thomas Von Party and Lee Foss. The evening was labeled as a Turbo night, since Troxler, Mind and Von Party are all signed to Turbo Recordings, Montreal DJ Tiga’s record label. In the Virgin Mobile Igloo, Rilly Guilty kept the crowd warm from the cold winter night with his distinctive sound.

For a frosty Friday, the Italian duo of Minicoolboyz set the night on fire with their minimal house set, which got the crowd dancing until they forgot they winter chill! The house beats and dancing didn’t stop with the Boyz but intensified with the arrival of Anja Schneider. The Berlin native brought her own mix of electro-house and dance to Igloofest. The night started off with Green and LaTeez who missed out at the Piknic Electronik last summer for weather reasons. For Igloofest they finally got to perform at the Old Port.

Fans of dubstep had an earful of their favorite style on Saturday night. Montreal native, Lunice, gave the fans a big dose of heavy bass beats to shake the snow off. dÉbruit and the Night Trackin Dj’s started the night off with their separate sets. The main event of the night was without a doubt the amazing set by veterans Stanton Warriors! The group brought their sound to Montreal and completely melted whatever snow was left or that was even falling on the crowd! It was a massive set full of great mixes ranging from dubstep to break-beats with a touch of hip-hop.

But Igloofest isn’t all about the music. Fashion is also a major part of the festival. With a contest for the best one piece snowsuit every weekend, one only has to pass a few minutes at the festival to realize the extent to which people are willing to go to look as crazy and original as possible! Here are some pictures from the first weekend. 

- Alex Menjivar is the co-host of Phantastiq Cypha, every Friday from 4-6 pm.