Photo Credit: AIM Facebook
Written by: Rebecca Hollman
AIM is a 3-day festival located on the outskirts of Montreal. It is famous for its 32 hours of non-stop music and its house and trance artists. But this year, AIM has stepped out of the box and curated a more diverse lineup – including not only house, trance, and techno, but also dubstep, riddim, and drum n bass! This year’s festival will have 5 different stages each with a unique sound. Check out the lineup by stage below.
1. AIM STAGE
Even though AIM has brought in an entire bass stage this year, they still curated a fire main stage. The AIM Stage is full of deep house, techno, tech house, and minimal progressive house, including a whole All Day I Dream curated stage on Sunday!
The AIM stage starts off on Friday with Claude VonStroke and Way Out West– giving a nice mix of trance, deep house, and techno. Dubfire and Sasha will bring the heat on Saturday with an old-school techno sound. And lastly, Sunday will be an entire All Day I Dream curated stage with the likes of Hoj, Lee Burridge, Öona Dahl, and Sébastien Léger. Even with all these amazing artists on the AIM stage, the name that you really need to see on this stage is Sasha.
From London, Sasha has been producing techno beats since the late 90’s. One of the pioneers in techno and house music, Sasha was headlining festivals like Ultra back in the primitive years of the EDM festival scene. Sasha’s record label, Last Night on Earth, features many other amazing techno artists.
2. TRANCE ARENA
AIM is all about the trance and techno. So even though this year includes a more diverse array of artists, they still focused their attention on the trance and techno stages. The Trance Arena is dedicated solely to trance all 3 days of the festival.
Kicking it off on Friday is Ben Gold– with a 6-hour extended set! Saturday has the most packed schedule, including the likes of trance legends Aly & Fila, Grum, Jody Wisternoff, Ørjan Nilsen, and Stoneface & Terminal. And Giuseppe Ottavanni, John O’Callaghan, and Solarstane will wrap up the stage on Sunday. Most of these artists have been producing and playing trance since the early 2000s, so this stage will have that original trance sound.
Even with all these amazing artists on the lineup, make sure to not miss Aly & Fila. Hailing from Cairo, Egypt, Aly & Fila are one of the world’s top trance and progressive artists. Known for working with artists like Emma Hewitt, Stoneface & Terminal and other trance legends, they also curate a radio show called Future Sound of Egypt (FSOE) which highlights the best in trance and new up-and-coming trance artists.
3. BASS CAMP
This year, AIM wants to bring you the bass! And they sure have with this ridiculously packed bass lineup and an entire bass stage: Bass Camp. Starting out the festival on Friday, we have Barely Alive, Dack Janiels, Dodge & Fuski, Dubloadz, and Virtual Riot with a good mix of riddim, dnb, and heavy dubstep. Hekler, Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Ricky Remedy, Space Jesus, and Trollphace will play on the Bass Camp on Saturday, creating pretty much a full day of heavy experimental dubstep. Closing it out on Sunday are Figure, Jackal, and Kill the Noise which will be more of a bass house vibe.
The artist you can’t miss on the Bass Camp stage this year is Dodge & Fuski. Dodge & Fuski are a dubstep duo from Los Angeles on the Never Say Die record label that has been producing beats since 2009. Originally releasing drum n bass and dubstep tracks on UKF in the hey-day of dubstep, they have now moved away from dnb to heavy bass/riddim.
4. MONOLITHES
Monolithes is one of the smaller stages at AIM, but it still has a packed lineup for Saturday. Monolithes will only be running on Saturday but features the likes of Amine Edge & DANCE, Kenny Dope, and Roger Sanchez.
You won’t want to miss Amine Edge & DANCE. A duo from Southern France, Amine Edge & DANCE, produces deep house and tech house. CUFF, Amine Edge & DANCE’s record label, features a lot of other amazing tech house artists as well. The duo regularly plays festivals in Europe and occasionally in North America.
5. MULTI CULTI
The last stage at AIM is the Multi Culti stage, which features 24 hours of non-stop music starting Saturday at noon until Sunday at noon. Known for his experimental sound, the name to look out for on this stage is Nicolá Cruz. Nicolá Cruz is from Andes, Ecuador and creates dark, minimal, tribal beats. He has a unique sound and all of his tracks have a slightly different flair to them. Most incorporate a jungle-y, tribal rhythm along with a slow, progressive house beat. He produces and releases most of his tracks on the Multi Culti record label, which is a record label for minimal ambient beats.
THE ULTIMATE AIM SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
Virtual Riot > Dodge & Fuski > Ben Gold > Way Out West > Digitalism > Barely Alive > Claude VonStroke
Start your Friday off with some riddim with the up-and-coming artist, Virtual Riot. Continue on the bass train into a Dodge & Fuski set, which will have elements of dnb and dubstep. Change it up after Dodge & Fuski and stop by for at least an hour of the 6-hour Ben Gold trance set. Continue with the trance and hop over to the main stage to catch Way Out West’s trance set. Stay at the AIM stage for some techno from Digitalism. Quickly hop back over to the Bass Camp for a heavy dubstep set from Barely Alive. And wrap up your Friday with Claude VonStroke, the king of tech house, on the AIM stage.
SATURDAY
Stoneface & Terminal > Sasha > Space Jesus > Ricky Remedy > Ørjan Nilsen > Jody Wisternoff > Grum > Hekler > Dubfire > Aly & Fila > Amine Edge & DANCE
Begin your Saturday with a melodic trance set from Stoneface & Terminal followed by a minimal techno set from the techno legend Sasha. Hop over to the Bass Camp for a quirky experimental bass set from Space Jesus followed by a nuwave dubstep set from Ricky Remedy. Back to the trance stage for Ørjan Nilsen into Jody Wisternoff into Grum. Head over to the Bass Camp to catch the up-and-coming experimental bass artist Hekler followed by a techno set at the AIM Stage from Dubfire. Wrap up your night with a classic trance set from Aly & Fila and then a tech house set from Amine Edge & DANCE.
SUNDAY
Figure > Jackal > Nicolá Cruz > Thomas Von Party > John O’Callaghan > Kill the Noise > Lee Burridge > Solarstone
Start your morning with some heavy banger dubstep from Figure on the Bass Camp stage. Stay at the Bass Camp for a set from the up-and-coming artist Jackal. Hop over to the 24 hour non-stop party on the Multi Culti stage to check out Nicolá Cruz and Thomas Von Party. Switch over to the Trance Arena for a early afternoon psytrance set from John O’Callaghan. Head back to the Bass Camp one last time to catch a bass house set from Kill the Noise. Make sure to go by the AIM stage for at least part of the All Day I Dream stage, preferably to catch Lee Burridge’s set. Head back to the Trance Arena one last time to close out the day with some beautiful trance from Solarstone.
FESTIVAL INFORMATION
Learn more info about the festival and look out for the schedule release at the AIM website. Don’t miss out on five epic stages! Buy your tickets here.