Day 2 of Redbull Music Academy Montreal 2017

Switching from abrasive boundary-pushing art on the first night to a heavy dance mix, Sagacité lit up the Cirque Éloize with neon, smoke and the best mix of beats and bass around.

Bonbon Kojak

Blending live drums and congas with their electronic tapestries, Bonbon Kojak added some real life to the underpass venue down at 417 Berri. Infusing African rhythms into their own EDM flavours they had the crowd bumping. There was also a stark use of trumpets and vocal samples interspersed throughout their performance, creating a lively and unpredictable side to the sound that kept the sound from ever getting too repetitive or drone-like. Allowing conversations between the drums and congas, they mixed in a little bit of everything for a crowd-pleasing set with a full sonic pallet.

M. Bootyspoon

Things seemed unclear at the start of the set as a mandated volume capping set a weird tone for the show. Along with some slightly generic club mixes of songs at the outset. It didn’t help either that M. Bootyspoon didn’t seem to be trying to engage with the crowd. He did however start to turn things around in the second half of his set as he geared his beats and melodies around the crowd’s lackluster response to his opening material. While it was more of a DJ set with some lively sample work than anything else, it kept the dance-focused crowd going for the next hour.

Le1f

Really upping the ante as soon as he entered the stage, the mix of hard hitting beats, melodies and overall energy even from just the DJ deck had this set going strong. Le1f himself was a force of nature, from his elegant costume to his ability to make the crowd bob and weave along with him. Constantly moving, he quickly pulled the crowd in saying “I’m not here for all the photographers.” Just as quickly as he brought everyone in Le1f came down and turned the crowd into a dance party, making sure no one forgot this lively set.

Words by Owen Maxwell