Frankie Teardrop's "Odd Concept" Mix is a Masterclass of Minimal House and Techno

From queer parties to DIY festivals, the Montreal DJ and promoter shares her vision for a more inclusive scene.

by Rebecca Krauss
Mar 21 2016, 10:19pm

Photo by Samantha Garritano, courtesy of Frankie Teardrop

From playing guitar in punk rock band Ursula, to regularly throwing down some of the city's best DJ sets of house and techno (including a Montreal Discwoman event last year), Frankie Teardrop stays plenty busy in both Montreal's LBGQT and musical communities. The 24-year-old also throws her own events, including a queer dance party series called LIP, and DIY music festival Slut Island (with her partner Samantha Garritano aka Ethel Eugene).

"I was interested in DJing, but there was a white dude DJing every party I went to," she tells THUMP over the phone. "I didn't know if I would ever fit in. Then one day, I realized that I just needed to throw my own thing."

Since its conception in 2013, the parties have featured an impressive lineup of Canadian female producers including Bambii and Debbie Doe. "People spread the word really quickly," she says. "I think [they] could see just how much power there is in spaces like that."

THUMP: You've mentioned that a goal of yours is to create safer queer parties. How are you doing this?

Frankie Teardrop: It's almost impossible to call something a safe space when parties are so public. We always have policies written on the Facebook event pages of what is totally welcome and what we don't tolerate. It's hard when you are running an event alone or with only one other person and there are 300 plus attendees but we do our best to keep an eye on everything and and make it as clear as we can that we'll listen to those who are in need of help in any situation.

As for Slut Island, we've been working on having more safer space volunteers for this year's festival. Having more active listeners available on the scene will really help the guests feel like they have a voice when they want or need one and this is crucial when working on queer safer spaces.

Read More on THUMP: Three Female Canadian DJs Discuss Gender Inequality in the Dance World

How do you define a safe space?
It's basically an area where people can go and express themselves however they want, dress however they want, like whoever they want, and do whatever they want—with consent of course. People should feel comfortable within the space and not have to hold themselves back or feel oppressed in anyway.

How did you link up with Discwoman?
When they were starting out, they booked a show in Montreal to spread the word. Heidi P, Umfang, Volvox, softcoresoft and I all DJ'd throughout the night and it was awesome. I met all these super good female DJs and we've all kept in touch since. I've been trying to bring up some Discwoman DJs for Slut Island, but they're so busy now.

What should listeners expect from your mix for THUMP?
My DJ sets are either an early opening set or a late night closing set, so they vary from pretty chill to wild late night dancing. With closing sets, everyone's dancing a lot and you want to keep people on their feet, so I'll do a mix of minimal techno at the beginning and some tech house and techno leading up to the end. It's basically a one-hour event. You'll be lying soft in your bed and then dancing in your room.


Gianni Vitello - Nur Mal Kurz
Rene Breitbarth - Freshin' Up
Philipp Lammers - Hello Mom (FreedomB Remix)
Pirupa & Ninho - El Paso De La Bruja
Acid Mondays & Richy Ahmed - Interstellar Cake (Richy Ahmed Remix)
ANNA - Odd Concept
Auden - Hunger (Alan Fitzpatrick Remix)
Roberto Capuano - Till Dawn
Ki Creighton - Thunder
DJ Smilk - Meditacion
Ramandus - Venditti Bros
Umek & Stefano Noferini - Goes On
Dario D'Attis & Yvan Genkins - Afro Call
Lancaster - Nothing Like That
Wolfey & Project Pablo - Whatitis
Coyu & Edu Imbernon - El Baile Aleman (Patrick Topping Remix)
Cari Golden, Robbie Akbal - I'm Just Watching (Fabio Giannelli Remix)
Kedr Livanskiy - Razrushitelniy Krug

Frankie Teardrop is on SoundCloud // Mixcloud

Rebecca Krauss is on Twitter.