Igloofest: Week 3 Recap

So the final weekend of Igloofest has passed. The previous weekend saw the festival achieve its first sold out night, and the trend continued, most notably with Igloofest achieving sold out status hours before the doors opened for the closing night. I guess having names like Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, Green Velvet, Maya Jane Cole and Diplo was enough of a good reason for fans to come and brave the elements. Although the elements came in a mixed bag of snow, rain and cold temperatures, it did not dampen any spirits.

The weekend started off with a bang. Diplo, Black Tiger Sex Machine and Nautiluss got the party started on Thursday. Nautiluss, for those who may not know, was the DJ half of the late Thunderheist. Ever since their break up, he signed a record deal with Tiga’s label, Turbo Recordings. His set effortlessly went through different styles from downtempo, techno and dubstep all without breaking a sweat. He got the crowd warmed up for what was ahead. If you’re a die-hard fan and follower of the local Montréal electronic scene, like I am, you may have seen or heard of the Black Tiger Sex Machine once in the past year. The trio, composed of Foxed Up, Marx Menace and Wolfcall, have been making quite a name for themselves with numerous Kannibalen nights (Kannibalen Records is the name of the label they created) at Le Belmont and other jammed packed nights in and around the city. Thursday night's performance at Igloofest was a coming out of sorts to a broader audience. The boys did not miss their opportunity to impress; with awesome beats  and the cool masks they had on, a mix between a futuristic Deadmau5 mask and a Daft Punk helment, they conquered the main stage. As mush as BTSM killed it during their set, the best was yet to come. Philly’s finest (and the coolest dude ever), Diplo, leveled the place, literally. Bringing his signature high intensity, jump-up style, he made all 9000+ plus fans go crazy. Playing a string of mainstream electro hits and a lot of moombahthon made the quays of the old port feels like a summer destination.

Sadly, I missed Friday; I was really looking forward to seeing legendary Chicago House DJ, Green Velvet , and up and coming DJ/Producer Maya Jane Coles. Saturday, though, was THE night to be at Igloofest. 10200 fans figured that out, all of them there to see legendary Berlin producers Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann perform a four hour set on the festival’s closing night. The visionary sounds of Dettmann combined with the nostalgic and groove techno beats of Klock created one of the most memorable nights at Igloofest in recent years. Both when through the various electronic sounds from techno, tech-house, deep house and hard techno, splitting the four hours in small rotating sets between both DJs.

All good things must end, and, as this year’s edition comes to a close, one can only look forward to next year’s edition. If the success of this year is any indication, more goodies are to come; we just have to look at the amazing line up of the past nine days.

Big thanks to the wonderful staff at Igloofest who made all of my request possible. This fun and friendly gang of individuals have made Igloofest the festival it has become.

-MNJIVR hosts AutoBeat every Tuesday from 10-11pm