by RAF KATIGBAK

With sunshine and good times in the mail, Montreal is ripe to explode with hotness. As temperatures warm up, the city gets all giddy like a school girl at the prospect of no coat checks, aimless drunken bicycle party hopping, and more skin than you can shake a can of spray-tan at.

For the third year in a row, the Piknic Électronik people are giving even the pastiest partygoer a reason to catch some sunlight, grab a chien chaud and dance the afternoon away. With off-season one-offs like the Nuit Élektronik deep-winter session and the early-spring Cabane à Sucre Électronik, the Piknic crew kept us hot on nippy nights. This summer, they return to their regular Sunday-afternoon outdoor shindig at the picturesque Parc Jean-Drapeau. With a renewed vigour and a bananas lineup that emphasizes the quality and quantity of Montreal DJ talent, this season is all about eclecticism.

Kicking it off this Sunday, May 22, are local scenester selector James Di Salvio and Aria DJ Luc Raymond. In the months to come, aside from a stellar summer lineup including Akufen, Fred Everything, Misstress Barbara and Robert de la Gauthier, the Piknic will also host special label showcases for Turbo (June 26), Trigger (Aug. 21), Iturnem (Sept. 4), Mutek (June 5), Musique Risquée (Sept. 11) and Ninja Tune (Aug. 28), as well as a special B-boy/B-girl competition, War Is War: Double Trouble Edition, on June 25. Don't forget, this is fun for the whole family (kids under 14 get in free), so come one, come all!

Heat up and dry off

The Bad Boy Club of Montreal are gearing up for their own sexy seasonal social gathering. This weekend, party boys and girls will be arriving by the oiled-up busloads for another edition of Hot & Dry. Whether you choose just one event or the weekend VIP package, the BBCM promise wild nights of unabashed circuit-party hedonism at venues across the city, and enough raving queens to make Victoria herself blush. Speaking of VIP packages, on Thursday night it's packages ahoy as Village peeler bar Le Stock hosts the official Hot & Dry launch from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (the $5 cover includes two drinks - it's extra if you want 'em, ahem, "stirred"). From 10 p.m. on, the party continues at Unity II with Bruno Brown's Mondo House night. Friday night is hot-hot-hot, with the Hot Boy night at the Village's other house of skin, Campus, with DJ Lava, and the leather-and-jeans themed Hot Stuff night at Parking with Stephan Grondin. Saturday, of course, is the main event over at Metropolis as Gilles Jr. and the too-perfectly-named Patrick Guay join headliners Mark Anthony and NYC's Susan Morabito behind the decks. Eschewing the obvious hits and wailing diva vocals, preferring instead to blend European trance, domestic house and tribal into a progressive and emotive set, Morabito brings a fresh, confident style to the circuit-party scene - a set not to be missed.

Sunday, it's round two in the big gay weekend as the Fresh! Party at Aria brings in London DJ Desyn Masiello, whose deep tech, house classics and custom re-edits have pricked the ears of global underground heavyweights like Danny Howells, Deep Dish and Sander Kleinenberg. Joining him in the booth will be Joubin and Montreal stalwart Robert de la Gauthier.

Giving Swirl a whirl

As Victoria Day fever takes over the city, with everyone wearing huge styrofoam crowns, riding on antiquated horse-drawn carriages and brandishing makeshift sceptres fashioned from broomsticks, tinfoil and coloured glass, Montreal party moguls 514 Productions deliver their traditionally massive, 12-hour, all-night dance party Swirl.

After a year's hiatus, the annual "urban culture festival" returns to the Olympic Stadium with a mission to deliver the most bang for your booty-shakin' buck, with 14 acts in two rooms. This year, techno, trance, hip hop and yet more trance will be repped. Flying Dutchman Armin Van Buuren brings his massive, Ibiza-approved sound to centre stage, backed up by fellow trance addicts Christopher Lawrence from L.A. and Blank & Jones from Germany. On the techno tip, Germany's Chris Liebing will no doubt bring the kind of solid, driving techno that has made him a mainstay on the international party scene, while Aria's Marco G steps up to the challenge as Montreal's only ambassador in the dance room.

In the hip hop room, God's Son Nasty Nas drops a live set as the Beatnuts, Tony Touch and a slew of locals (including DJ Quest, winner of the Best Club DJ slot in the Mirror's Best of Montreal issue this year) round out the bill.

Piknic Électronik, with James Di Salvio and Luc Raymond, is at Parc Jean-Drapeau's Place de l'Homme on Sunday, May 22, 1 p.m., $5. BBCM's Hot & Dry Party is at Metropolis on Saturday, May 21, 10 p.m., $45, and the Fresh! Party is at Aria on Sunday, May 22, 10 p.m., $30 - for more info, go to www.bbcm.org. Swirl is at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, May 22, 10 p.m., $65

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