In a city long starved for a summer electronic music festival to call its own, Toronto seemed overwhelmed by them this year. But while many of them were commercial endeavours sponsored by major corporations designed to capitalize on the current popularity of electronic dance music in North America, a glimmer of hope emerged this summer with Sound in Motion. A festival inspired by annual offerings such as Montreal's Mutek and Colorado's Communikey, Sound in Motion sought to bring together local and regional artists, promoters, filmmakers and their international counterparts in a multi-day, multi-venue celebration of electronic music, technology and culture.
The three-day festival began with a free opening day party at the courtyard of the Global Village Backpacker's Hostel, an unpretentious and intimate venue choice in the midst of downtown Toronto's busiest high-end restaurant and club neighbourhood. Festival organizers, attendees and artists mingled under a lush tree canopy and enjoyed a free barbeque while Tectonic recording artist Pursuit Grooves delivered a seamless and laptop free blend of hip-hop infused house and techno.
Photo credit: Giordan Battaglin
Following the meet-and-greet event, the festival moved to the Bizune Art Space for both the SIM Reels Film Night, a series of film and video screenings, and the evening's highlight event, The Canadian Music and Label showcase. Obsolete Components label owners Matt and Mark Thibideau have been producing music for over 20 years and are best known for their joint moniker, Repair. Together they delivered a dark and brooding hardware-based set that had everyone dancing and embracing the heat. Juno-nominated producer Arthur Oskan, meanwhile, kept the dance floor moving with a beautifully crafted live PA.
The heat continued the next afternoon at Sugar Beach, a manufactured city landscape with fine white sand and permanent pink umbrellas. The relaxing afternoon was spent splashing around in sidewalk fountains and lounging in the urban park's ample Muskoka chairs. From Demas' live bouncy minimal techno offerings to Dualism's dark haunting ambient techno, the music managed to stay consistently great all day. Highlights included local heroes, Alicia Hush and Ana+tone's energetic debut live performance as Yes Ma'am with their chunky booty tech house stylings. But Chicago born Billy Dalessandro stole the day with his funky sci-fi inflected tech flavours, which had the majority of the crowd dancing barefoot on the sand. Perlon co-founder Sammy Dee moved the crowd toward the party's conclusion and into the afterparty's beginning.
Photo credit: Giordan Battaglin
The official afterparty, billed as the festival's grand finale, certainly lived up to its name. Presented by local promoters breakandenter, The Deep North and StudioFeed, the event took place in a 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse located deep in Bloordale Village on the upper westside of downtown. The space was split into two huge rooms with a digital interactive installation piece in the middle designed by Toronto's Hypnotic Mindscapes Collective.
Photo credit: Giordan Battaglin
Local favourite Frivolous started off the night with his usual crowdpleasing antics and funky, bouncy techno, while Scissor & Thread label owners, Francis Harris, AKA Adultnapper, and Black Light Smoke surprised the festival by personally flying in Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance of Bob Moses—a new project they are releasing on the label this September—for a collaborative live performance from all four artists. Dial's John Roberts performed an understated house set that included a lot of his tracks from his well-received 2010 release Glass Eights. Closing the night was NYC's Alka Rex, performing his off-kilter tech-funk combined with eccentric rhythmic nuances that kept everyone dancing until well after sunrise. It was a fitting end to the first edition of what will hopefully become a mainstay on the Toronto festival calendar.
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