Pour on the Cream

>> A drop-by-drop rundown of the electronic music fest

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG and KRISTA

Those with tight purse strings or civilized sleep schedules will appreciate Cream on the Street, five days (and evenings) of outdoor DJ sets at the corner of St-Laurent and Prince-Arthur, running from noon to a reasonable 11 p.m. each night. Here's some of the goodies lined up:

Wednesday, Aug. 23: Opening day is Dune Day as Double A & Twist welcome Bristolian drum & bass-case Jumping Jack Frost as well as the lovely and talented Brass Knuckles Crew.

Thursday, Aug. 24: England's "Evil" Eddie Richards and Chicago's Scott Grooves, who's played here with DJ Uzi before, headline a day that also spotlights Bombay Records (Nav, Patrick Dream and Miguel Graça's SoulNotMind), plus some multiculti mellow-delica from Interchill's Gordon Fields.

Friday, Aug. 25: This one's a grab-bag, with Scottish tech-house duo Funk D'Void front and centre, surrounded by pure techno (the also-Scottish Percy X, Tiga), house (Fred Everything, Laflèche) and local hip hop (busy beaver A-Trak, the guys from Science/Moog and troopers Shades of Culture live). Watch for local newcomer Thomas Sontag as well.

Saturday, Aug. 26: This day is brought to you by the letters YUL, which is the label local prog-trance poster boy Max Graham now calls home. It's a CD launch for Graham, who also mixed the official Cream CD this year. Luc Raymond will be around, as will the rascally, rambunctious Ram and Ascend's Delage in a live set.

Sunday, Aug. 27: This is In Beat's day, and it's hard to beat. Well-schooled organic house is on tap, because Masters at Work representative Frankie Feliciano is the centrepiece, sandbagged by the In Beat guys (Christian Pronovost, XL, Tony Desypris), a solo Miguel Graça and Scott Grooves again, plus a live set from percussion squad Quicksound.



The skills on the bills to pay for

If, like Depeche Mode, you "just can't get enough, just can't get enough," break out the bank card and line up for tickets for some of these nighttime shows:

Saturday, Aug. 26: R&B/hip hop crossover phenomenon Lucy Pearl find themselves at the Spectrum. 'Nuff said. Also, at Club Soda, On da Good Foot bust out the b-boy manoeuvres.

Tuesday, Aug. 29: A silly name and sillier song titles, sure, but Londonites the Idjut Boys take their cross-pollination of disco, dub and dancefloor jazz pretty seriously. So take their Cabaret date seriously.

Thursday, Aug. 31: It would be flat-out sinful to take a pass on the Jazzanova night at Cabaret, as the Berlin-based posse dish out their superior-standard Braz-house and related material. So don't miss it, unless you're off to Usine C to catch Slack-R.

Friday, Sept. 1: Acid jazz is alive and more than well, if the latest album from France's St-Germain is any indication. If that note's too blue for you, catch techno heavyweight Jeff Mills at Sona.

Saturday, Sept. 2: You heard right. LTJ Bukem is on his way. He'll be at Club Soda. You know what to do. Also, while Will Smith's busy getting blue-screened into a spaceship or something, his old compadre Jazzy Jeff will be bustin' out the old-school fluff at Sona.

Sunday, Sept. 3: The main event, at the Big O. You've got Underworld's Darren Emerson, Sneak and Doc Martin duking it out on four decks, German techno next-big-thinger Timo Maas, trancemeister Dave Ralph and locals Laflèche, Tiga and Luc Raymond. You've also got Monday off. You do the math.



Elektra-fying

One final Cream note, and a tangential one. The fest has semi-absorbed another one called Elektra (sort of "a part and yet apart"), thereby bringing in a more thinky, art-oriented element. Produced by provincial electroacoustic commision ACREQ, Elektra's aim is to bring the rave rats and club kids together with the turtleneck set. In other words, experimental techno meets experimental video and multimedia.

Elektra starts this Friday, Aug. 18, at Sona, when ACREQ head Alain Thibault debuts his new recording on the Ascend label, "Knowledge of Knowledge." His co-conspirator Yann Breuleux will provide the images, and Ascend fixtures Yaz and Nivoc will also spin. The next Elektra night is Wednesday, Aug. 30, also at Sona, and it features Canadian technocrats Richie Hawtin and John Aquaviva. There's plenty more Elektra to follow, so keep an ear out for details.