Traum was the featured label last night. I have not been actively following their label's activities, which now seems to have been a mistake. I arrived at SAT a little after ten, and there were already twice as many people there as at any point the previous night. The whole place was lounging, standing and listening intently to Process. The sound at SAT is not the greatest, as I had noticed the previous night, such is the reality of square shaped buildings with high ceilings. But after seeing Sigur Ros, and now Process, I am beginning to think that performing in a cavern helps them sound better. Process plays music that drips from the walls, much like being in a dark, damp underground cavern, with each droplet of water that hits the ground smacking you in the face in the form of a blip or a bass rumble. He even added beats to this stew by set's end, and right on cue, people danced to this wierd stuff. Wierd was in the air at the start of the night. I sampled several locations in the room, but the first was the stoner/chatmonger corner. Generally, people were transfixed on this creepy, atmospheric techno, and the room's scenery: black and concrete, with many people sitting on the floor, bore out the mood of the music.

Gustavo Lamas then shifted gears completely, drowning the room in a lush synthesized warmth. Beats, subtle yet driving, propel most of his set. I had never heard of Lamos, but he's obviously heard of one of my favourites: Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project. Gas and Chain Reaction dubbiness will never fail to get a big thumbs up from me, particularly when those baselines scream Fluxion all over. He may walk on soil that has already been tread, but Lamas stomped a mudhole in it. But it's nothing compared to the stomping and general insanity that resulted the moment Philippe Cam took the stage. I guess the bald, aging Frenchman is a sage to the young, dance-stoked Quebecois. The whole place danced like bastards to M. Cam's approach to house, which consists of everything you need for house except the 4/4 beat and the hi-hat. Sequenced electronic loops blanket the mix, and the whole thing was cruelly minimal, in a Vainqueur sort of way, so frankly, it was nothing short of brilliant. And people danced like chickens with their heads cut off. Did I mention that there was rarely a beat to speak of? Amazing.

The countryman vibe continued with Montreal's own Akufen as your headliner. He started by roping everyone into a false sense of security, Process-style, with the stuck-in-a-cave atmospherics, which soon exploded into furious (but minimal, of course) techno beats with various electronic mayhem spread on top. Oh yes, everyone danced like a bastard again. I did too, except during the time I laid down to rest my aching back. I just basked in the harshness of it all, although my back did feel better. Afterward, this trend of steadily increasing volume continued. By the time Akufen took the stage, the walls seemed as if they were shaking. Then, at 2:30 AM, label boss Triple R took to the decks to engage the room in some truly righteous stripped-down, deep techno, inasmuch that the loudest sound in the room seemed not to be the music, but the furious vibrations of the speaker cones. The half of us that stayed on to witness this cleansing continued to dance like the bastards that we are.

Five hours can really fly by quickly, you know.