Sad but true…

Posted on October 28, 2008

This is my life these days… I apologize for the lack of posts and activity on my site these days. It’ll pick up again soon, I promise. Sorry.

Sylvie & METZ @ Club Lambi - October 18th

Posted on October 19, 2008

I don’t know if any of you feel the way I do these days, but lately Fall has been getting me down. Not in the bluesy sense of the term, but I just have this intense desire for hibernation and have a super hard time getting myself to do anything productive. Well let me tell you that last night’s gig gave me a nice hard kick in the rump. Today I feel energized and ready to take on the workload.

I’ve been waiting to Sylvie pop into town for a few years now. But since they don’t tour so much as bands from the central part of the country I had to be patient, but gosh was it ever worth it! The Regina band is launching their brand new record, Trees and Shade Are Our Only Fences, this coming Tuesday, and have undertaken a pretty extensive tour for the occasion.

First and foremost, I’d like to point out how much l’ambiance at Club Lambi has improved. I always sort of disliked the venue because the room was sort of uninviting and the lights always sucked. However, last night I was pretty impressed at how a few minor tweaks can make a world of difference to a room. Nice work!

Sylvie is a fantastic band to see live if you enjoy the harder trends of Indie music. Their music is dark and nicely layered with two male and one female vocals, the range of harmonies is pretty narrow and doesn’t spread in superfluous ways. The beats are hard driving and the music is intense without succumbing to extreme melodic fluctuation, rather relying on powerful repetition and hard-hitting beats. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to wait until Tuesday to buy their new album since they had it on sale last night. The record is great and more than lived up to the previous one. Their live performances translate into an excellent and energetic rock-show with a band that moves and plays very well.

Following this great of a band is never easy, but last night I was floored by METZ, a band I had listened to a little bit previously on their website, but didn’t think I’d like at all. After the first few minutes of their set though, I was standing in the front row with my jaw to the floor. The Toronto trio plays a really really heavy and noisy rock, but for some reason, there’s something undeniably Indie about their live sound. I can’t really pin-point it now that I’m listening to some of their recordings, but last night I’d be willing to say that they sounded a little bit like Sonic Youth and sometimes even reminded me of my old-time favorites, Tool. Their style is a bit along a similar alley as Sylvie, but definitely much harder.

The METZ has a truly interesting experimental style and their live show felt a little bit like, pardon the expression, being nailed really really hard. I can’t really see myself listening to that type of music on a regular basis, but last night it was powerfully liberating. How refreshing it was to see an Indie band that’s willing to throw in the extra dose of dirty grungy sounds on top of a potent base of dark and heavy hard-rock! It’s definitely a strand of Indie-rock that’s a little deeper underground, but totally worth the trip.

Photos by SarahBrideau.com

Mount Eerie, Calm Down it’s Monday, and Snailhouse @ Sala - Oct 12th

Posted on October 13, 2008

If you weren’t busy feasting on turkey and celebrating Thanksgiving last night, maybe you ended up getting some good musical times with friends instead of family over at Sala Rossa. Family being far, far away, I decided to hop over to see Snailhouse play some tunes. I hadn’t really heard the two other bands before and lucky for us, it turned out to be a lovely surprise. Calm Down it’s Monday is Julie Doiron’s newest side-projects. She plays the drums behind her leading man, Dick Morello (if that is in fact his real name), also going under the name Fred and formerly known as Jaybird of the Sackville band Shotgun and Jaybird. Though I did like him better in the latter, it was still a very good set. Their music is stripped and bare, but nonetheless interesting, resting on a foundation of excellent song-writing.

The band I was really there to see though, was Snailhouse. This solo project of the lead signer of The Wooden Stars, Mike Feuerstack, this band wears its name well. I think pretty much every time I’ve seen Mike play, he was backed up by different musicians, which makes his shows a renewed pleasure to see and hear. From what I understand, Feueurstack changes bands a lot and had different musicians playing with him in pretty much every part of the country. It’s a pretty big collective with one fantastic musician holding the reins. His latest album, Lies on the Prize was just launched a few months ago, and I pretty much had to spend my last dollars of the week on it after his set last night, which is probably the best investment I could’ve made. His voice is poignant, the songs are folky, soft and mellow, and his talents for lyric-writing just keep getting better and better. Like he told me earlier today “This album is like a good cheese, it just keeps getting better”. I also really enjoy the various contributions from guest musicians on the album, featuring an array of local talent, like the superb back-up vocals of Angela Desveaux for example.

Mount Eerie was a great headliner to this show. For most of his set he was backed up on vocals by Julie Doiron, and Morello on the electric guitar. The voices of Elevrum and Doiron harmonized flawlessly and the electric guitar was very quiet in the background, perfectly complementing the classical guitar lead and adding just a bit more atmosphere to the songs. The music was very soft and extremely quiet. The audience was so perfectly attentive that the cracking floors was pretty much all you could hear in the room other than the music.

Photos by SarahBrideau.com

Forest City Lovers and The Sunparlour Players @ Cagibi - Pop! Montreal (Oct 4th)

Posted on October 5, 2008

Pop! Montreal has done it again! 5 days filled with some of the best Indie music and lots of other events to check out as well. What a truly spectacular time I’ve had. Last night I went down to my friendly adjacent-neighborhood coffee-shop/resto, Le Cagibi (formerly known as Café Esperanza) to check out a band I absolutely love, the Forest City Lovers. Their album, Haunting Moon Sinking, was pretty much my soundtrack of the summer. It’s soft, sweet Indie rock sounds are dreamy and filled with lovely lyrics, melodies and harmonies. My only complaint about it is how short it is. I just make up for that fact by listening to it twice as often.

To be honest, I’ve never seen Le Cagibi so packed in my whole life. The show sold out just before The Sunparlour Players went on. The event was taking place in the back room and the stage was one of the smallest I’ve ever seen. For 3 people, it sort of works if there’s not too much equipment, but The Forest City Lovers had 5 members playing last night. The stage was so full, one of their members started out the set playing in the closet in an effort to get out of the others’ way. Like one of them said at one point, they were basically beating each other up with their instruments with the slightest movements. The band was squeezed in tight, but so was the audience. The room was a sweat-box filled with friendly souls. It sort of felt like an insanely packed and calm kitchen party. The atmosphere was at its most intimate: very nice and laid back, much more relaxing than a bar show for sure.

At first I felt a bit claustrophobic, but as soon as The Forest City Lovers started playing, that was replaced by a feeling of total enchantment. They sounded just as great as you could expect them with a 5 piece band. It was beautiful and an absolutely appropriate venue for such a show. I would’ve been nice if they could’ve cleared out the tables to make more room for everyone there though. I felt bad for the people squished in the back who probably didn’t get to see much of the show.

During the set break, I took the opportunity to go out and get some fresh air. While outside I struck a conversation with a guy who told me all about the crazy Italian family parties he experienced while visiting some relatives for the first time last summer.

The last band of the evening was The Sunparlour Players. I’ve heard them quite a bit on the radio and sort of liked them, but had no expectations as far as seeing them live. I was amazed at the amount of energy that emanated from the trio. They quite literally blew me away. What a fantastic live performance they put on! Except for the last two songs they played, most of their songs sound the same. But when after the first song all you want is more of the same thing, this type of deal works. There was nothing boring about the similarity here. Instead, the songs just got more and more engaging as the set went along. I was pleasantly surprised by this band and would definitely recommend their intense live shows to anyone who likes folky-rock stuff.

I ended up meeting a whole bunch of people there, and many who were in their first few months of living in Montreal. Most of them were here for school (seemingly all attending McGill strangely enough) and coming from various part of Ontario and the States. Everyone was so friendly! How great it is that festivals like this can not only bring us fantastic music but also new friendships. After the show me and my new friends went for some drinks and dancing to some of the best old-school beats in town at the Green Room.

I hope you all had as great an experience as I did Pop!ing around the city these past few days. What were your highlights? disappointments? Who did you meet? Who did you see? I’m actually pretty sure I spotted Buck 65 and Shad (Polaris 2008 nominee) in the audience last night. Did you make any great discoveries? Tell us all about it!

Sarah’s Pop! Survival Tips

Posted on October 2, 2008

I’ve been consistently going to rock shows for several years now, and I’ve been to an insane amount of venues, seen shows in every possible context and situation. Going to shows in Montreal is a totally different ball game than what I was used to back east. It’s almost a sport to tell you the truth. I think to truly enjoy a show and not have anything else on your mind is one of the most freeing activity you can indulge in. Tonight being the opening night of the best festival in town, I’m passing on the wisdom to you lucky readers. Keep reading for my 5 golden rules of show-going that will allow you to really make the most out of Pop!

1. If you’re a student who doesn’t have loads of money (like yours truly), you probably don’t want to splurge your whole budget away at the first concert. After all, there’s still 4 more days to go. First rule is leave your wallet home. Take only the amount you can afford to spend, along with your ID (I take medicare, you never know where adventures may take you, and if they take you to the ER, at least you’ll have that), put that in the back pocket of your skinny jeans and you’re all set. Also, that way if you’re unfortunate enough to end up being a victim of theft, you’re not f&%#$d for the rest of the festival. Which brings me to my second rule…

2. Girls, leave your purses home. Last year, I got my purse stolen at the very first show I went to see with Pop. I ended the evening with a friend’s chest printed on my face I was so upset. Shit happens to the best of us. Buy some waterproof eyeliner and you won’t need to reapply over the course of the night and you can forget that purse ever existed. My friend used to say “whoever invented pockets should get 5 cookies“. Amen! Who needs to lug around all that baggage anyway? If you MUST have a bag with you, make sure it’s small and light enough so that you can stand it’s weight on your shoulder the whole night. Better yet, get one of those tiny ones easily rest on your wrist. Don’t leave belongings unattended for a second. Having to replace all those cards, cell phone and iPod can be pricey, and your money is better spent on concert tickets and booze than on stuff like that. Other useful alternative: the 80’s are back so go totally retro and wear a fanny pack. That way you’re free to shake it all night long, and you can put a drink in both hands and bring one to that cute person eying you at the end of the bar.

3. Have a wild time, but make sure to re-hydrate often. Nothing’s sexier than someone who can hold their liquor and is still coherent enough at 2 AM to get it on with the fox for whom you bought a drink earlier. We’re not 16 anymore (if you’re going out to Pop shows in bars, you shouldn’t be anyway) and we don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Tipsy feels pretty hot, but being carried out of the bar is definitely not. No one wants to go home with that person.

4. Earplugs fit nicely into those handy pockets I was talking about earlier. They sell them at the pharmacy for under 5 dollars. Some even come with their own little carrying case so they don’t get gross. I swear you’ll still hear every note being played on stage, and you’ll even be able to hear your friend yelling at you over the music. That way you’ll still be able to hear in 10 years from now. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the sound of music and still plan on enjoying it when I’m too old to get out of bed. Another nice perk, you can get closer to the stage without being in pain. Who’s the wuss now sucka?!

5. If you’re going to show-hop, biking is the best way to get from one venue to another. You don’t get stuck in traffic if you use the smaller arteries (because if you’re tipsy, biking on St-Laurent is a BAD idea) and it’s a lot cheaper than taking the metro. Also, you can stay out for as long as you want because you don’t have to worry about catching the last bus or metro. It’s absolute freedom if there ever was any. If you don’t have one, the festival offers to rentals. Just make sure you stay sober enough to still be able to mount the thing and ride it straight. Be safe.

Most important rules of all though: have a blast, see as much as you can, be safe and remember enough to tell me all about it the next day.