Art Department makes his solo debut in Toronto at upcoming Electric Island

The Electric Island gods were with us Canada Day as we escaped the rain and thunder of what was quite the messy weekend prior. With the cancellation of day 1 at Digital Dreams festival due to weather we were more than ready to spend a full day out in the sun dancing to some of the underground’s finest. Dennis Ferrer set the afternoon mood with tracks like Adriatique’s remix of WhoMadeWho’s “Dreams”, and Lee Foss gave way to Sasha with one of the best set’s we’ve heard from him. Not to be outdone was the Last Night on Earth head honcho who took advantage of the sunset time slot with tracks like Cristoph’s remix of Kaiserdisco and Cari Golden’s “Electric. Closing things off in true techno form was Marcel Dettman, embracing the darkness that fell upon the island to conclude the tenth installment of Electric Island. As we draw nearer to that extra day off of work on August 3^rd, the excitement is beginning to build for another one of the infamous island parties put on by Embrace, Footwork, Platform, and extended family.

Kicking the day off will be Way of Acting resident Koki followed by Box of Kittens’ own Mike Gibbs. If you’ve caught one of Mike’s sets or been to any BOK events in Berlin or Toronto you’ll know why he’s been a powerhouse in the scene for well over twenty years. Following up Mike Gibbs we have Toronto’s own members of Union, The Junkies. With an impressive resume of releases over the past couple of years The Junkies have been hitting the globe more and more as the Sci-Tec DJ/Producers are following much in the same footsteps as their partners Carlo Lio, and Nathan Barato.

We’d be lying if we said we weren’t most excited to see the rave legend, as well as Hallucination label head, DJ Three. Christopher Milo (DJ Three) has been pioneering the rave sound since the early nineties in southeast United States and with that has solidified his name as a DJ legend across the world. His sets are built around various tracks that are meant to take you up and down on a journey that will leave you craving more and more as his collection has been refined with years of experience. Check out his 2014 Robot Heart visit to get a little taste of what’s to come.

As the day grows older we begin to get darker and groovier with the sounds of Germany’s Robert Babicz, and Chicago’s Green Velvet. Seeing Green Velvet during Electric Island’s inaugural year for what was one of the better parties of the summer was a treat that most were sure could not be topped. After a very rainy day at Ontario Place for the No. 19 Social Experiment at Digital Dreams last year there were no words to describe what had happened when Green Velvet played during the peak of the downpour. They shaded the DJ equipment with tarps, Starving Yet Full continued to sing, and the dancers did not want to leave. After workers relieved the accumulation of water from the tarp above the decks by stabbing it with a knife to furious applause from the crowd, Curtis (Green Velvet) kept playing for the dedicated listeners with an even bigger smile on his face for what went down as one of the most memorable DJ sets in Toronto festival history.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPYuhxLNmLg[/youtube]

Closing out the island we have yet another Toronto native, Art Department. After the split between Art Department’s Kenny Glasgow and Jonny White they acted quickly to clear up any rumors about a potential tension they had between the two of them. With the reason being for both of them to carry on their solo work we are glad that the two are still on good terms and doing what they love. In fact, Kenny Glasgow was in town this past weekend for what looked like a very happy one for the Toronto staple at CODA nightclub. As Jonny takes over the Art Department name to use as his own he has made it clear that he will not be following the same footsteps that the brand has been created around. If Jonny's recent Fabric 82 compilation and BBC afterhours mix are any foreshadowing of what’s to come then we got nothing but full support for the No. 19 label head as he has put together a collection of records featuring some of our favourites including Borrowed Identity, Rick Wade, James Priestly, and Mr. G.