If there is one metropolis that knows the meaning of chaos, you'll likely find it in Montreal. Last weekend, 35,000 people flocked to Parc Jean Drapeau for îleSoniq, a two day festival. IleSoniq's line up listed international artists like Kill The Noise, Laidback Luke, Tiesto, Infected Mushroom, Iggy Azelea, Juicy J, and more. Several local Montreal musicians played as well, such as Adventure Club, Andru, and Botnek.
IleSoniq's entire lineup hosted a range of musicians from all over, which made picking favourite performances more difficult. Yet each act has been valued and below are five artists whose sets stuck out significantly.
WHO WE LIKED AT ILESONIQ
Mr. Carmack
Undoubtably one of the most mad shows on Friday was Mr. Carmack's slaughter of the Neon stage. This Honolulu native has kept himself busy this summer with festival appearances and after parties.
At IleSoniq his set consisted of classic tracks like "pay (for what)" and "fire (no payroll)" to his new material that he's littered his Soundcloud with. I had the chance to speak with him behind stage and ask Aaron a few things. The reason he always deletes his songs is because he has never payed for Pro on Soundcloud. Forever keepin' it real: Carmack.
Dillon Francis
On Friday Dillon Francis played to an enormous crowd at the Oasis stage where thousands got energetic for electro. Playing sounds from trap to moombah, nothing could really stop Dillon's vibe on stage. One of his highlights was his collaboration with DJ Snake on "Get Low". This song literally turned the muddy field into a trampoline for everyone.
If you were lucky enough to attend Jessie Andrews after party at Terrasse Bonsecours, you would have seen a very special scene. Bixel Boys, The Kooks, and Dillon showed up as well to play beside Jessie on decks, swapping every few moments to take shots on stage. This classy dark venue provided the perfect atmosphere to go one deeper in house.
Laidback Luke
Laidback Luke played to a field of soaked and stoked fans who stayed to see him headline at Oasis Stage on Saturday. Through rain and fog, everyone raged on as he hit us with an arsenal of acid stabs and big room bounces. This DJ from the Netherlands is no new name to the industry and his years of experience on stage shined through the mist.
BOTNEK
When I walked in on Botnek on Friday at Superheroes Anonymous Stage at only 4:30pm, I could barely believe what I saw. The state of the crowd was surreal, people were going insane as Botnek dropped pure synth stabs of heavy electro.
Trap artist Snails played prior to Botnek, which lead to the obivous inclusion of their collaboration on the track "KRMT". One of the best reactions from the crowd was for Botnek's remix of "#Selfie" by The Chainsmokers, who were headlining later the same day. The aggressive break down of "#Selfie" came hard on the crowd in waves of bass.
Kill The Noise
Kill The Noise made serious motion playing at the Oasis Stage when Saturday night took a turn to the darker side. I expected to hear a grimey and aggressive set from Kill The Noise, but instead what I received was a heavier house set. To my surprise the audience fell in love and lost themselves in triumphant blares combined with deafening bass.
Kill The Noise still played his signature dubstep tracks and even dabbled in trap for us. One definite highlight from his set was when he dropped his brand new remix of Gent and Jawns "Turn Up". The original felt like a festival favourite this weekend, so it was nice to hear a new taste of a classic trap track.
This festival was Montreal's first and certainly made an impression on the thousands of atendees, young and old, who came to move and groove in mud. From here things can only improve since future years will have larger lineups and more stages after the success of 2014.
Featured image by Peter Ryaux-Larsen
Artist images by Stephen Kazumi Hughes
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