We’re deep into festival territory. Now is the time for backpacks full of beers, short shorts, ramshackle indie rock and scrubby folk in parks, non-committal scheduling, bicycles, high fives, curse words, whatever. Fringe, Suoni, fireworks, that street-painting thingy on Mont-Royal, tam tams—it’s a goddamn hedonistic nuthouse out there and all the vacationers, hippies, ugly dogs, street-corner charity workers, promo distributors and loose-jawed suburbanites are sucking up the sweet juice like failing corporations do tax dollars. But no matter how wholesome and community-conscious it gets, you’re still gonna need some subwoofers and mean beats to bang your face off this weekend. No matter how real it gets out there, you’re going to need synthesizers. The options are many this week, but a few selections stand out from the crowded pack, particularly for all you tech-house fans out there.
NYC-based Japanese DJ and producer Satoshi Tomiie plays Parking tonight, favouring deep-space exploration via midtempo tech grooves. Originally a jazz pianist, Tomiie’s been around the block, now two decades deep into his house tenure, having popped off his career in ’89 with a Frankie Knuckles collab track. Saturday night’s another solid call for the house heads, with San Franciscan Justin Martin of Dirty Bird Records dropping into Panthère Noire for an evening of energetic, carefree sounds, happy hooks and thick beats. Sunday’s also a good one, as the U.K.’s Lee Burridge returns to Piknic Électronik after a well-received Igloofest appearance a few months back. He’ll be dropping some hard, heavy, big-room house, which will no doubt sound dope on the Piknic system. And, just to make the full house gamut, Atlanta’s blog-house cock-rockin’ fashionista Le Castle Vania drops every last software distortion wave, robo vocal filter, synth string and suchlike he can muster upon the Cégep new rave set at the SAT on Saturday.
WATCH ME WATUSI TO AND FRO… jack.oatmon@gmail.com
