Belmont Nights for Pop Montreal - giveaway

Though POP Montreal is already one of the most dependably diverse and unpredictable festivals in North America, it will be aided this year by the universal scope of electronic sounds emanating from a certain venue on St. Laurent and Mont-Rôyal.

This year’s bookings at Le Belmont represent a delirious snapshot of not only the current globalist zeitgeist in dance music, but especially Montreal’s proud role in its progression.

Bookending the week’s shows are a pair of groupings collectively responsible for carving out an explosive sound centered somewhere between dance music, hip-hop, and any number of regional subgenres like footwork, juke, or cumbia. Wednesday night’s festival-opening double-bill of Araabmuzik and Montreal’s native son Lunice is at once both a revisiting of the insane show they played together at Le Belmont earlier this summer and a preview of their upcoming tour together inspired by it. Both artists move with heavy camps in their respective hip-hop and club music scenes: Araabmuzik’s work as Dipset’s producer looms large over his bombastic live performance just as Lunice’s developing affiliations with LuckyMe and Mad Decent inform his absurdly energized and eclectic stage persona. Of course, it’s only appropriate that such a dynamic bill also include Montreal staples Vilify and Guilty on the night typically reserved for Vilify’s weekly Bass Drive party at Le Belmont.

Opposite that spectacle is Saturday night’s closing show featuring Kingdom and NGUZUNGUZU. The pair forms a cohesive unit, with the latter duo’s recent EP Timesup comprising the first release on Kingdom’s new Fade To Mind imprint. Having previously released work through celebrated labels such as Night Slugs and Fool’s Gold, Kingdom is already an established voice within the darker, more bass-centric circuits of club music, though his latent pop and R&B sensibilities make for an intoxicating contrast on his newest Fool’s Gold single, “Take Me.” NGUZUNGUZU, the LA duo comprised of Daniel Pineda and Asma Marroof, flips the approach and crafts a stunningly organic pastiche of global dance music; one that is propelled by insistent layers of bass yet filled in with a richness of detail that few producers can manage.

Situated between these bookends are two shows more indicative of a traditional set of tensions in dance music: the absurdist-pop and party-rocking flamboyance of Kid Sister’s electro-rap and the celebrated underground disco of New York label DFA. Chicago’s Kid Sister commands the Friday night slot at Le Belmont while The late Thursday night DFA bill features DJ sets from label stalwarts like Hercules and Love Affair’s producer and vocalist Kim Ann Foxman, Prince Language, and UNO NYC label head Charles Damga. (Words by Liam O'Keefe).

We've got tickets to give-away for the DFA dance party with Kim Ann Foxman, Prince Language, Charles Damga, Rilly Guilty on September 22nd. To win, email info[at]snapme.ca titled 'Belmont that SNAP!' and tell us which artist you'd most like to see play in Montreal.