Sarah’s “Not-to-Be-Missed” List – Pop! Montreal

Posted on September 30, 2008

The happiest time of year is upon us folks. No, I’m not talking about Christmas or about the lovely colours of fall. It’s Pop! time everyone!!! For the past three years that I’ve been living here in Montreal, this has been a 5 day period where the rest of my life stops and all that exists is music. Last year I think I went to see 11 shows in 4 days. I was a mess at work for a little over a week, but it was all worth it. Best time EVER, and it all starts tomorrow night!

So I know there’s a lot of bands to see, and the long lists can be confusing, especially if there’s a lot of those bands you don’t know. Where do I go? what’s really worth seeing? you may ask? Well today I’m giving you a shortcut to some of the shows that I think are going to rock most out of the whole festival. Keep reading to see the point of the iceberg of yummy music shows awaiting you over the next few days. Go ahead, get multi-pop-stamped and see as much as you can. Most of the shows are really affordable and this is an investment in fun and personal culture like no other. We’re so lucky that our city is the host of one of the best music festivals, so don’t be afraid to join the masses and rejoice. Five days go by fast.

Wednesday, October 1st

- Gadji-Gadjo @ Gymnase, 10:30PM; best tsigane/gypsy band I’ve ever seen in my life and GAMIQ winners for Best World Album).
- Duchess Says @ Maison Radio Canada/Studio 14, 8:00PM (the show is sold out, but if you managed to get tickets, you’re going to have a wicked time. Also GAMIQ winners for Best Show of the Year). Show cancelled due to health issues.
- Woodhands @ Portugese Association, 1:30AM (If you’re looking for a crazy dance party, this is the place to be)

Thursday October 2nd

- Mardeen @ Barfly, 23:40PM (One of my favorite East coast favorites. Also on the bill that night: The Superfantastics and Two Hours Traffic).
- The Dears @ Masonic Temple, Midnight (On the brink of launching a new album, this is their first show in a while around here. Should be great).
- Jason Collett @ Petit Campus, Midnight (Sexiest folk/rock show I’ve ever seen. That man makes me hot in some places AND his music is really great. Arts & Crafts Fellow.)

Friday, October 3rd

- Wax Mannequin @ Bar St-Laurent II, 9:00PM (Strange fellow, but totally interesting music)
- Hot Springs @ Divan Orange, 3:00PM (FREE SHOW! Hot Springs are also playing Saturday Night at Cabaret Juste Pour Rire).
- Hey Rosetta! @ Gymnase, 1:30AM (These guys have put together the best album I’ve heard in 2008. They are fantastic and some of the most talented Canadian musicians I’ve ever seen. Go see them)
- Radio Radio @ Petit Campus, 2:00AM (These guys will get your booty moving in ways it never has before)
- Wintersleep and Sebastien Grainger @ Théâtre National 9:00PM (Two rockin bands you’ll love if you don’t know them already. Also on the bill that night, GAMIQ winners Bonjour Brumaire).
- Julie Doiron and Chad VanGaalen @ Ukrainian Federation, 9:00PM (Jeremy said it all in his preview. I also love Julie Doiron)

Saturday, October 4th

- Forest City Lovers @ Le Cagibi, 9:30PM (Absolutely enchanting band. I love their album).
- The Luyas @ Casa del Popolo, 11:00PM (Great local trio that’s definitely worth discovering. Also playing earlier, the same day at Divan Orange).
- The Youjsh @ Parc des Princes, 11:30PM (Fantastic jazzy/klesmer/yiddish band).

Please be advised that the times specified indicate the start of those particular bands’ sets. There’s lots of great music to check out before and after those bands at the venues, so get there early to really get your money’s worth and run the chance of discovering new bands YOU could tell us about.

GAMIQ: And the Winners are…

Posted on September 22, 2008

  Last night, at the Corona Theatre, the GAMIQ Gala took place, celebrating alternative independent musicians of Quebec. This undertaking is relatively new as they’re only at their third year running. It was a fun evening with performances by bands such as Karkwa, Duchess Says, Starving Hunry, Misteur Valaire, and many others. The performances were short but great, and I have to give it up for the organization and stage-clearing crew, who did a super quick and discrete cleanup after every performance.

Best performances at the Gala were most certainly the opening act, Gatineau, which put on an unbelievably energetic one-song show. Duchess Says also totally made my night. Honestly though, all the performances were pretty great. The presenting parties however could’ve used a bit more energy and on-stage charisma, with the exception of Erik Evans Le Magicien.

The big winners of the night were Karkwa, winning every category for which they were nominated. Sad for the other musicians in their categories who would’ve deserved the “panache” just as much, but also 100% deserved in my book. This past year, Karkwa has not only conquered the hearts of Quebec but beyond as well, also making a mark on the anglophone market. My thoights about this is that they were probably a little bit above the independent league that the GAMIQ wishes to represent. I’m not sure at which point a band starts being “too big” for the independent alternative awards, but I get a feeling that this is probably the case for Karkwa. Don’t get me wrong, they’re a fantastic band that I love, and I don’t mean to say they’re automatically part of the “sell-out” market, far from that, but perhaps they’ve just soared a little past the rest on this one. However, there’s always an artist who steals the absolute stardom status with these award shows… so that’s just the way it’s got to be.

Over the entire evening, there was also a political discourse on many musicians lips about the government cuts in the Arts sector. Certainly this was entirely called for, especially in the case of impending elections. I think it’s extremely important to say that without subventions from the government, much of this could NOT happen. This is especially important since nowadays, musicians can’t expect to make a buck out of their albums as much as they used to with the whole Internet thing and all. Subventions allow them to tour, to record, and gives back to the Canadians a crucial part of their culture. Musicians can not survive and keep creating without those. And personally, I see a lot more cultural worth coming from the independent artists than the bigger ones, which is why government support is so important for the arts. I’m glad that the musicians brought it up in their “thanks” speeches.

Speaking of thanks, here’s the list of the winners:

Career Section

Artist of the Year

Karkwa

(The award goes with 1000$-grant by ArtistI)

Songwriter of the Year
Karkwa

(The award goes with 1000$-grant by SOCAN)

International Career of the Year

Malajube

Show of the Year

Duchess Says

Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Bonjour Brumaire

Albums Section

Singer-songwriter Album of the Year

Taxidermie – Philippe B

Electro Album of the Year

Timbervision – The National Parcs

Experimental Album of the Year

Phon-O-Victo – Martin Tétreault & Kid Koala

Folk/Country Album of the Year

Raccourci – Dany Placard

Hip-Hop Album of the Year

Gatineau – Gatineau

Indie Pop Album of the Year

De la nature des foules – Bonjour Brumaire

Indie Rock Album of the Year

Le volume du vent – Karkwa

Metal/Hardcore Album of the Year

Prevail – Kataklysm

Punk Album of the Year

The Soda Machine – The Sainte Catherines

Rock’n’Roll Album of the Year

Piano élégant – Chocolat

World Album of the Year

Sur le toit des voisins – Gadji-Gadjo

DVD of the Year

Perreau & la Lune: live au Quat’Sous – Yann Perreau

Tribute award

Paul Gott

Winners were decided during a vote that lasted from August 6th to September 6th. The public vote counted for 50% of the final vote and the other 50% was determined by a jury (more than 200 people) made up of journalists (newspaper, radio, TV, web), venues and festival bookers, record store owners and cultural organization members throughout the province of Quebec, both francophones and anglophones.

Apostle of Hustle and Sebastien Grainger @ Sala Rossa – Sept 11th

Posted on September 20, 2008

Last week I went down to Sala Rossa to check out one of my favorite bands, Apostle of Hustle (photo above), only I was lucky enough to be get a great performance by them, but also discovered a new band while I was at it. I’ve heard Sebastian Grainger and The Mountains (photo below) on the radio before, but wasn’t really struck by them until actually seeing them live. Grainger puts on a live show with energy and a 150% type energy like I can’t remember seeing at this level for a long time. In that sense, I’m almost tempted to compare them to AC/DC. Okay, so maybe no one will ever have the energy of Angus Young, but it’s their style and sexy old-school charisma that really tempt me in the comparison. Anyway, it’s at the point of this show that I really started digging this band. Their Rock is a lot harder live than on their recordings, but both have their own set of merits. The lead signer, Sebastian Grainger, has a powerful and very well-controlled voice. The band is also very rhythmically driven. A great sound and good songs in general. Other interesting fact: unless he was born in Quebec and moved to Ontario, I’m pretty sure Grainger is a Franco-Ontarian, which I think is pretty cool. He has a few songs in French on his MySpace too.

Now onto the main course of the evening, Apostle of Hustle. I think I really started listening to this band by pure coincidence after the release of their first album, Folkloric Feel. Last year, they released a second full length last year, National Anthem of Nowhere. The lead guy of this trio is Andrew Whiteman, one of the founding members of Broken Social Scene. The sound resembles the collective’s, but without Kevin Drew’s influence in the picture, Whiteman’s music evolved from a range of outside influences of his own. With lots of Spanish lyrics and sounds, it strays from the general Indie sound in a very creative and interesting way. I have a hard time putting my finger on the thing that makes them my favorites as opposed to so many other bands out there, and what it is that makes them so great and special. I truly feel that the songwriting is unique; it’s off the mainstream track of Canadian Indie in so many ways, that though it has it’s similarities, I feel there’s a lot of interesting stuff to listen to in AOH. It’s dark, but not heavy. It breaks into tasteful heaviness at times, and in others it’ll be soft like a lullaby (i.e. No no no).

This was my third time seeing them live, and I’m pretty sure last week’s performance was the best I’ve seen so far. They had the usual guest sax player of BSS, Liam O’Neil, as well as the BSS trombone player with them that night, which was definitely quite a bit more enticing than a single horn carrying all the supporting load. We also got the chance to hear some sneak-peeks of the new album coming in the Spring. Judging from how different the first two albums were from one another and from the sound of the new songs, I think we’re in for something fresh and exciting from the brilliant Apostle. Whiteman also has a real knack for live performances. His on-stage presence is almost theatrical and super interesting to watch. All I can say is that it’s definitely not just the usual musician in front of mic stand, with guitar in hand, singing songs.

One thing that still gets me though, I have no idea how it’s possible that this band doesn’t have a wider fan-base than it actually does. Drew went solo and sold an exorbitant amount of records, same is happening with Canning. Maybe it’s the “Broken Social Scene presents…” part that’s missing to the marketing of the Apostle. Also maybe since it’s not actually a solo project and an actual band… Maybe it strays too far away from the mainstream Indie formula… Beats me, I think they’re brilliant, but what do I know.

Photos by SarahBrideau.com

The Walkmen @ Sala Rossa – September 9th

Posted on September 12, 2008

Whether we like it or not, it appears as though fall is creeping onto us here in Montreal. It’s a sad truth, but in those days where we have to start putting on the layers, I always find a bit of comfort in knowing that concerts are starting to rain on us at a rapid pace. My favorite festival of all is going to Pop! within a few weeks, but in the meantime, we’re lucky enough to have a bunch other amazing concerts to see. This week I checked out two fantastic concerts at Sala Rossa. First one of them being The Walkmen (other one I’ll post for later).

I have a tendency to immerse myself in the wonderful world of Canadian Indie music with Radio 3, but that often leads to overlooking some great acts that happen South of the border (U.S., not Mexico). Over the last few weeks I’ve been tuning into Left of Center, which has sort of filled that void in my greater Indie music awareness. It’s while doing that that I first heard The Walkmen. One of the songs I heard on there was their big hit, In the New Year.

I didn’t exactly know what to expect with this band. Maybe I’ve said this before, but to be completely honest, I’m getting a little tired of hearing the same Indie acts over and over again, even if a handful of them are extremely talented. The influences always seem to lead to different versions of the same songs. I’d say that one of the great things about a band that’s NOT from the big Canadian Indie pool, is that there’s definitely a different set of influences that play into the band’s style. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a great deal of The Walkmen’s music seems to be influenced by the way-back Rock n’ Roll oldies. I don’t mean the 70s stuff, I mean stuff from like the 50s and early 60s.

Visually speaking, they seem to be going for that look as well. They were all dressed with button up shirts and their instruments all seem to have a lot of history to them. I would say that it’s mainly the rhythm section that’s responsible for that wonderful old-time feel. The drums are very hot on the high hats while the bass drum mainly serves for beat support in a very minimalist way, topped off with a subtle modern savoir-faire. The instrumental melody section is very vaporous and drifty, which is where I think it gets most of it’s more up-to-date style. The sounds are all very old types of treatments that we don’t hear so much anymore. The organ sound reminds me of an antique organ we used to have in my grand-parents’ living room when I was a kid. I’d even say that the singer’s voice technique is somewhat of a phenomenon. It’s brought to his highest pitch and, most of the time he keeps the melody at that point. A challenging exercise to say the least, but executed flawlessly. I don’t think I heard him sing a false note even once live. I also LOVED the two horns they had playing with them.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect much of this band before the concert, but they have won me over. A very very excellent live performance never hurts. They really grew on me since I bought the album at the show as well.

Photos by SarahBrideau.com

M for Montreal and Misteur Valaire

Posted on September 8, 2008

Went down to the Old Port today to check out M for Montreal, which was supposed to take place last night but ended up being postponed to this afternoon because of the rain. I was supposed to be a day where I do nothing work-like. No blog-writing and not much photo-taking. Ah! I can’t help myself. When I see something great, I just have to spill it.

While I was there, I discovered a band of kids who play fantastic music and put on a great show. They were just so darn cute with their little matching colored vests. Word on the street is, these guys are actually Jazz musicians and this is their fun non-Jazz project. Their style is definitely Electro, but they do a lot of stuff with actual instruments. Their live show feature a stage full of musical toys of all sorts, from horns to an impressive array of percussion instruments, with of course keyboards and computers. Those kids play much like children on a Jungle Jim: they live and breathe fun to the point where it’s contagious.

With more and more fun Electro bands popping around the Indie Music scene, I’m still very hard to convince when it comes to that type of music. You don’t just need good songs, you need a lot of charisma to make an act like that work on stage. I saw MGMT at Osheaga and was truly disappointed. They left me frigid and I really thought they sucked, though I really did try to give them a serious chance since I do enjoy their songs on the radio. Misteur Valaire are a completely different story. They managed to catch my attention while I was trying to catch up with an old friend of mine. They were truly and surprisingly excellent, and as an added bonus, I think it was clear to everyone watching them that there’s not a drop of pretentiousness in any of those five brilliant minds. They make magic happen. As an added bonus, they GIVE away their music. You can download their entire album on their website. Bravo!

The Cinematic Orchestra @ Club Soda – August 30th

Posted on September 6, 2008

Last weekend, I went down to Club Soda to see The Cinematic Orchestra. I’ve been a fan of the Ninja Tune-signed Brits for a while now. I love their albums and really enjoy the various influences that seem to intermingle into their music. Might I add that the visual/photo content of Ma Fleur is absolutely and completely stunning. Though Jazz is clearly the driving force of the band, it’s a loungy type of music that, in my opinion, is a new definition of contemporary Jazz that strays far enough from Free/Fusion Jazz to attract a broader audience, yet still free enough not to turn off intellectuals with challenging taste in music. Add that to some electronic influences sprouting out in several places, it’s no wonder The Cinematic Orchestra ended up being signed to the notorious progressive-electro label Ninja Tune.

The bassist is really the musician that impresses me the most on the albums. His touch is very organic (the upright bass gives off an interesting and poignant sound to the music) and extremely jazzy. His strikes are strong, precise, and really add a lot to the rhythm section of the band. Maybe the sound man decided that since it was such an important and enjoyable part of the band that more would be better, because the bass was cranked to the point where it made my lungs and brain vibrate. As a professor pointed out in my Rhetoric class earlier this week, more of a good thing does not equal better. Every time the bassist struck a note, I felt a little nauseated by the overwhelming imbalance of the sound. What a shame, but not surprising since most of the great bands I’ve seen in that venue always suffered from a really bad sound. It’s probably the room that gives off bad resonance since I highly doubt that any decent sound-man would do such things on purpose.

I was mostly interested in the energetic performance of the uber-talented drummer. While he may already sound pretty great on the albums, the man really shows what he’s made of over the course of his live performances. He was absolutely brilliant. Also extremely worthy of notice is the powerful and gorgeous voice of their lady singer. Though her presence was intermittent,

On the not-so-brilliant side though, I expected to be truly blown away by this band. They use a lot of horns in their music, so I think it was fair to expect at least two or three horn players on stage. I understand that maybe it’s a pain to travel as a big band with all the instruments and all, especially overseas… but seriously, so many bands do it. Where were their horn players? In the leading man’s computer. In the first song, I was disappointed to see a single sax player playing along pre-recorded horns. He showed what he was made of later on in the show, but my first impression was of being cheated. Pedals exist to make a single horn sound like 15 of them. Why not go for something like that instead of going for the same sounds we hear on the albums? We come to hear something live, so giving us some recorded stuff is not exactly a pill I swallow easily.

As an added bonus, I missed a great part of the show after having a run-in with security about taking photos of the show. Trying to resolve the situation with them only made me miss over 45 minutes of the show, including the part where Patrick Watson joined the band on stage.

They’re still a band I admire and love for their groundbreaking music and sound, but their live show left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I still strongly believe that seeing them play an all-live show would be amazing, but perhaps that’s not something that’s likely to happen on this side of the puddle.

Sneaky photo taking by SarahBrideau.com