Montreal – Koudlam is an electronic musician from France who bills himself as a “symphonic composer” and while he does incorporate symphonic sounds into his music, I don’t think anybody will be confusing what he does for classical music. This show was a unique one for Pop Montreal as it was taking place in an art gallery. In a partnership with the Musée d’art contemporain and it’s Nocturnes series, entry to the show also allowed access to the exhibits on display. Along with features on artist Paul Emile Bourduas and a bizarre video entitled “Shut Your Cockface Up” (featuring what i think were hot dogs drinking 40s and taking about a bank heist), there was also a screen playing the video for Koudlam’s “Eagles Of Africa” on a constant loop. This could be heard pretty much throughout the whole museum, but it’s a testament to Koudlam’s songwriting and composition skills that I didn’t get totally sick of hearing it over and over.
When the time came about for Koudlam’s show to begin, the room was already full of dry ice smoke. The table was set up for Koudlam with two laptops, an empty bottle of water and an apple with one small bite out of it. The apple would go untouched for the duration of Koudlam’s set. As he began to play, I was struck not only by how catchy his songs were, but by what an engaging performer he was. For a guy who said almost nothing during the duration, he was somehow pretty interesting to watch. He even lit up a couple cigarettes during his set. Seeing as how I’m pretty sure smoking was not allowed inside, the organizers of the show obviously did not provide him with an ashtray as he seemed to be ashing it wherever and even left the lit cigarette lying on the table as he played.
His songs ranged from moody, atmospheric sounds to more uptempo tunes that had shades of ’80s synthpop and were augmented by the video projections on the screen behind him. Ranging from still images of buildings to football hooligans rioting in the park to topless bikini babes cavorting in the ocean, the footage was always an interesting accompaniment to the music and vice versa. I believe much if not all of the footage was provided by video artist Cyprien Gaillard, which probably explains why this show was held in an art gallery.
Now if only I can figure out what that mysterious partially eaten apple was supposed to mean.
Montreal – Free shows in record stores can be a good thing. For one thing, they’re free. Another good thing is it gives you something to do before the band goes on – browsing for records. Back home in Toronto, I enjoy checking out shows at Sonic Boom or Soundscapes, so I figured why not check out a good indie music store in Montreal? The real draw for this show was Braids, a Montreal band I caught this past summer and quite enjoyed. On the bill before them was Calgary’s Hunter-Gatherer, who packed their barrage of various instruments into the back of Phonopolis’ tiny basement. It was a fairly packed room, which meant it was very, very hot down there. October should not be this hot, especially indoors. Because it was so hot, I only stuck around for about four songs, but those four songs gave me a good sense of what Hunter-Gatherer are about … or maybe it didn’t. Before their set, they mentioned how they were playing without monitors. This combined with the fact that they were starting late and the fact that they were playing in a tiny basement meant that I couldn’t be sure whether the ramshackle nature of their feedback filled set was intentional or not.
The band’s Pop Montreal bio describes their sound as “nervy, high energy pop” and mentions their “ADD-addled arrangements.” I could definitely see what they mean as this stuff shifted gears from moment to moment within the course of one song. During their third song, I felt the band was really starting to hit their stride. It had a bouncy rhythm and some yelpy, Pavement style vocals. Then the “ADD-addled” part kicked in and they switched gears into an Eric’s Trip style thrashy segment. Their next song was another good one, sounding almost like an indie-fied version of some lost ’70s AM radio pop song. Then it got too hot for me and I had to leave, deciding not to go back down there for Braids. Regardless, what I saw of Hunter-Gatherer showed some promise.
Montreal – You know, Pop Montreal has a very broad definition of what the word “pop” means. On this somewhat rainy Thursday night, I made my way from the kind of classy and adult pop of Clare and the Reasons and Van Dyke Parks to the thrash metal of Municipal Waste, which kind of made me feel like a teenager again. Appropriately enough for a band that has been described as “party metal,” (and who have a song called “The Art Of Partying”) this show was literally a party presented by Vice Magazine.
And what a party it was – copious amounts of alcohol and the craziest mosh pit ever. Municipal Waste sure knows how to work a crowd into a frenzy. Watching from above, the mosh pit was quite the sight to behold. People were moshing of course, and crowd surfing. Literally surfing in many cases – somebody brought one of those flutter boards which was then used as a platform upon which to navigate the crowd. In addition to that, there were so many failed stage dives, one after the other. This may sound cruel, but this was one of the more entertaining aspects of watching the pit. I guess seeing people get hurt because of their own reckless actions is entertaining somehow (This is pretty much the entire appeal of Jackass). They got up immediately afterwards though and seemed to keep going so I didn’t feel too bad. (Although the guy who seemed to take a running start and then kept running on people’s heads is a total dick) Also, a note to Vice Magazine: giving out free copies of your magazine was appreciated, but probably not so much by the staff at Club Soda, who would have had to clean up the hundreds of ripped up magazines that were strewn about during Municipal Waste’s set. It was kind of like really large pieces of DIY confetti.
While they take their music seriously (as I previously mentioned, drummer Dave Witte is amazing), the guys in Municipal Waste do not take themselves too seriously. I mean, they do have songs with titles like “Headbanger Face Rip,” “Beer Pressure,” “Drunk As Shit, and “Terror Shark.” Vocalist Tony Foresta was really hamming it up onstage too. Most amusing was his continuous mocking of the gigantic security guy who stood on stage right. This guy looked like a cross between Peter Stormare and Vin Diesel and he pretty much became a part of the show. “Look how tiny I look next to this guy!” said Foresta at one point and he later jumped up and hugged him, forcing security guy to actually crack a smile. Security guy must have started to feel pretty comfortable up there because during bassist Philip Hall’s solo, he just strolled across the stage kicking stray Vice magazine pages off the stage.
Further evidence of the band’s sense of humour (or maybe Vice Magazine was responsible for this. Who knows?) was seen in their choice of post-set music to be piped in. During the time between them first leaving the stage and their encore, instead of music, we were treated to a snippet of an old Andrew Dice Clay routine. After that bizarre interlude, the band returned for a brief encore, and then the first song as the lights went up? Third Eye Blind’s “Semi Charmed Life.” This pretty much ensured that the metalheads would leave swiftly. Probably many of them headed up the street to Katacombes.
Toronto – Originally, I was going to tack this on to Brian’s post but given my tendency to blabber on about things, I decided to spare his article from my drivel and create my own. Basically, me and Brian were both invited to the Sony Centre‘s Opening Night performance of Cirque Eloize
I love food. I love free food. I love hor deourves. These little finger size trinkets of deliciousness usually make my night at any media / pr party I am in. The pre party had five separate food stations set up representing various parts of the world. Each countries relation to this night is unknown. I was going to guess why each country was there, but that would make this article racist so instead I shall review each food station.
Russia: Caviar and Chicken Kiev + shot of Vodka
Caviar’s one of those foods you think should be good because only rich people seem to eat it, but for me, I didn’t get too much out of these little bits of fish egg. It’s just the bigger version of the roe you get when you order a dynamite roll or something. The chicken kiev was pretty tasty as there was a nice liquidy surprise for you when you bit inside it. It wasn’t so nice for people who didn’t know about the said surprise though. I skipped the shot of vodka, provided by Absolut, who probably sponsored the event.
Chinese – Spring Rolls and Various dimsum + sweet vodka drink
I hate how spring rolls is associated with Chinese food since its mostly a Vietnamese thing. No self respecting Chinese family would order spring rolls at a restaurant, let alone put it as one of the foods that would “represent” their country. This shocks me even more since the food was done by some dude named Stephen Lee. However, I am sometimes reminded that some people named Lee are actually not Chinese so maybe this is the case. Regardless of my complaints, the spring rolls were pretty good, I think they had duck in it. A more appropriate dish would have been Peking duck, I guess.
India – Shrimp on stick and Vegetarian Samosa + tamarind vodka drink
Shrimp is always good, so I wholly agree with this decision. The vegetarian samosa was most likely an attempt to appease the vegetarians in the crowd, who would have nothing else to eat otherwise. Curious decision by the chef to include only one tiny vegetarian dish for an artsy gathering. I think if you poll most vegetarians, I think most of them are in artsy industries. I wonder if samosa is to Indians as spring rolls are to Asians in terms of it just being a food to appease to colonials.
Japan – Sushi + Pear/Ginger/Vodka drink
Easily the longest lineup of the night, because you know, there aren’t enough sushi restaurants in the city. If I jump off a moving bus on any major street, do a tuck and roll and walk into store/place where I landed, there’s a 1/3 chance I would have landed in a space occupied by a Japanese restaurant. The lineup for this was nice and slow, because when people were finally up to the front, they would ask the servers what everything is. Everyone appeared to be going for the sushi (not the California rolls), which is what we did. I believe we got one red tuna, one white tuna and mackerel. It was tasty but not worth the long wait.
Canada – Meat Pie + Rack of Lamb (with crusted cheese) + some cranberry vodka drink
Of course Canada would have the best food of the night. The rack of lamb here was ridiculously delicious. I went back for seconds. Wanted to go back for thirds. I honestly just wanted them to give me an entire rack, and then I could just go sit in the corner and eat it. Lamb is so hard to get right, but props to Stephen Lee, because it was cooked just right and the spices were perfect. Easily the best bit of hor deourves I have had at any party.
Now here is my bit about the show. Brian already has given you a nice professional well written review on the night, so here are my thoughts.
– Some of the feats the performers do are astonishing. It makes me want to work out more. The one tumbler who did all the crazy strength stuff was so ripped he had muscles coming out of his muscles. Definitely, if I was to get into a fight with him. I would lose. But then again, I would have a gun. So I would win. That’s kinda the problem with society today isn’t it? I mean, you can work out all you want, take all the martial arts class that you can, eat the right diet, and if you ever get into a confrontation with someone, all that training goes nowhere if that other person has a knife or a gun. It’s not like the good ole days anymore.
– As much as I liked the female contortionist, every time she bent herself in an odd way, I could feel my back hurting and my hamstring crying. It’s such a weird sight. On the flip side, if she ever wants to travel for cheap, she can just curl herself up into a moving box and just ship herself with Fedex.
– It’s a testament to how much influence urban hip hop break dancing/poppin/hip hop dancing has had on our culture lately when a show featuring mostly that genre opens up one of the most prestigious venues in Toronto. To think it all came from a Julia Stile movie.
– I really really want a trampoline. I could potentially put it in my living room and use that to jump up into my bedroom on the second floor. How awesome would that be?
Overall, quite an amazing night with good food, good company and good show. I felt quite physically inadequate after the show since everyone in the act was stronger, bendyer and generally in way better shape then I am in. It inspired me to think about working out more, stretching more and maybe take up gymnastics or something. However, that inspiration was short lived as the night was capped off with some midnight mac & cheese along with a pint of beer. Still, good times.
