Jordan Dare: music is the message

In the midst of a continual stream of parties and his recently wrapped Voyeur residency at Foufs – in which he flooded the mythical punk showroom with a profusion of fiery techno sonorities – Jordan Dare has found the time to release the You Fade Out EP on Toronto’s My Favourite Robot. With remixes by fellow Canucks Mateo Murphy and Kenny Glasgow, it wields his signature tech sound, with hypnotic warbles and bouncy beat patterns.

If you fancy electronic music, have called Montreal home for the past 15 years yet don’t recall the name Jordan Dare, do us all a favour and admit that you’ve been lying to yourself. Your exposure to thumping rhythms is probably more akin to the synths and handclaps on Ke$ha’s latest single than anything Dare might have whipped up for dancing masses at Stereo, Sona, Jupiter Room, Playground, Usine C and Parking. The guy is what you’d call ubiquitous.

A perennially in-demand DJ known for his consistent, tight sets, his career is only a few years short of clocking in at two decades. In the ever-fickle dance world, which is as non-committal and flavour-of-the-month inclined as music gets, this techno inferno has weathered trend storms (namely electroclash and blog-house) and established himself as a veritable jack-in-the-beat-box, devoted to the craft of DJing and endowed with a refined, widespread record collection.
 

Sound tracks, sound mind
When speaking with Dare about his latest projects, it’s obvious this veteran with a penchant for brevity doesn’t get off on reading journalists’ flowery writing. Never one to chase elusive “It DJ” glory, he’s more consumed with the day-to-day grind. “For me, it’s pretty much eat, sleep, music stuff,” Dare tells me on the line after a full day of studio work. “I spend my days searching for music and listening to a lot of different things, which is, besides the studio stuff, my favourite part of the day. It’s non-stop, it pretty much never ends, but that’s a good thing for me because it keeps me stable.”

With an array of gigs and a MEG Boat party on the way, one might wonder how Dare has kept up this relentless juggling act for years, and whether all this peer solicitation has ever sparked considerations of a move abroad, to Europe perhaps, to put his extensive musical knowledge and skills to the test. “I’d be lying if I said no, but I’m where I’m at and I’m happy to be here,” he says with characteristic no-nonsense candour. “So if opportunities to expand and check out other scenes do arise, then who knows, maybe I will pack up and split. But at the moment that’s really not at the top of my mind. I’m cool with where I am.”
 

MEG Boat, with The Juan Maclean, Black Devil Disco Club, VHS or Beta Dee Jays and Beat Torrent
August 1^st | Quays of the OldPort
megmontreal.com | jordandare.com