The Progressive Monkey crew worked hard to make this one an unforgettable night, and even though they had a major set back, they still managed to pull this night off with flying colours. I had never witnessed a crowd this big at Club 120 or in Prog. Monkey history before, and in the words of the great master Dries De Crop of the duo Digicult, this party was “decent”. Dries blessed us with a magical soundscape of psychedelic sounds along with the support of Toronto’s local heroes Lumen (Leo Freitas), Ina Matrex, MagicMushroom (Hugo Brito), Psyslim (Salim Khan) and the very talented artists from Montreal, Protocell.
I arrived at the party around 9:30PM and the Progressive Monkey crew was just finishing up the final touches of their trippy decor, courtesy of Space Tribe’s psychedelic art pieces. From a pink cloth above the crowd’s head for an outdoor festival feel, to flowers and amazing hypnotic paintings on the walls, it’s no doubt, the crew went all out this time to make this one a truly special party for Toronto’s psyfamily.
It was 10PM when Lumen hit the decks, starting off with some of his more psychedelic tracks while he waited for the dance floor to fill up. Around 10:30PM, I noticed the crowd slowly arriving. Some came dressed for the part while others were casual. There was a guy in a giraffe onesie, and another with two white rods with strobe lights in them. There were a lot of new faces as well as old ones.
Lumen started to heat things up by transitioning to a more high driven melodic sound as the club began to fill up with people. By the end of it, he left the decks and crowd warmed up for the next local hero, Ina Matrex.
Ina started off in a blaze, with his high energy mashups and crazy vocalized tracks; the majority of the crowd went ecstatic, but others had yet to get into the groove. Quickly realizing this, Ina switched from high driving basses and synths at 145BPM to a slower, more progressive melody at 135BPM. The crowd seemed to fill in and dance more with the captivating sounds Ina was performing. As it got closer to 11:30PM, Ina unleashed all his fierceness and returned to a more uplifting 146BPM. The crowd went crazy and cheered Ina on as he played around with his effects and knobs at the end of his set, leaving some headroom for MagicMushroom to begin his set.
Although MagicMushroom has blown us away with his sets before, ranging from spacial and trippy progressive psy to crazy, foot stomping full-on psy, he decided to take it a bit easier this time, as his set consisted mostly of progressive psy as opposed to full-on psy. Mind you, the progressive that MagicMushroom unleashed on us was no joke at all. With hard basses and far-out psychedelic sounds that rocked your body from head to toe, this was a very aggressive progressive. He finished his set off at 12:30AM with the crowd wanting more. They applauded his performance and at the same time greeted the duo from Montreal, Protocell.
Protocell, the duo composed of DJs Decipher and Synthetik, blew the crowd away with their amazing and progressive soundscapes. They went hard into the morning as the crowd whistled and shouted and jumped for joy. They left the crowd in full force, making the perfect transition from MagicMushroom’s progressive set to the amazing full-on set that was to be outstandingly performed by Digicult.
Protocell was ending their progressive journey as 2:30AM approached, and at that moment the crowd noticed the legend Digicult had stepped onto the stage. Following this sight, madness ensued throughout the venue.
Dries De Crop, one-half of the amazing Digicult duo, was the one to blast us into space that night. He performed a variety of new tracks from their new album released this year titled “Soul Samadhi” such as Sundara and a remix of the track Evolution by Man With No Name.
Dries also graced us with a lot of classics too such as Star Travel, Days in Space and Microcosmos. The crowd was traveling through space as Dries took us on his spaceship of sounds that made Digicult the legend it is today.
It was getting close to 4AM and still no sign of the main headliner. Digicult was still going hard and it had become apparent that what we had feared was true. GMS wasn’t able to make it. But the crowd was completely immersed into the sounds. Digicult kept the vibe strong enough until the last track which was a remix of the classic Leap of Faith by DNA. The crowd cheered blissfully as they said farewell to an outstanding artist and said hello to the last local hero, Psyslim.
As usual, Psyslim didn’t go easy on those still dancing in the wee hours, and after an incredible performance by Digicult, the crowd was amped up to finish the night off in a blaze of glory. They didn’t let up as Psyslim went all out with some amazing psychedelic synths and hard driven basslines at a butt-kicking 145BPM. 5:30AM rolled around and the owners were ready for sleep. He ended with a bang and everyone returned to their own personal havens.
It was a magical night indeed and although GMS wasn’t able to make it, Digicult made sure to guarantee that the party and crowd stayed strong throughout the night. And he delivered.
On the 24th of October 2015, the Progressive Monkey crew will have in store for us the return of one of Toronto’s favourite artists, Perfect Stranger. The parties keep getting better and better, and Toronto’s psy-family keeps growing bigger and bigger, so make sure you don’t miss this one.
Check out Edu Carvalho’s photos for Team EDMTOR right here!
LINKS:
GMS
Website
Facebook
Soundcloud
Digicult
Website
Facebook
Soundcloud
Lumen
Facebook
Soundcloud
MagicMushroom
Facebook
Mixcloud
Protocell
Facebook
Psyslim
Mixcloud
Phillip Pereira – EDMTOR
