OH, CANADA! M for Montreal Music Festival
Dec 18, 2008
For three days and nights in Montreal, our neighbors to the north were alive with the sound of... rock ‘n' roll!
BY APRIL S. ENGRAM
The creators of M for Montreal, Sebastien Nasra (founder of Avalanche Productions) and Martin Elbourne (organizer of Glastonbury Festival), have it all figured out. Together these experienced professionals of the music industry have created a festival with the musician in mind. What an idea, right?
The beauty, and the purpose of M4M - which ran November 20-22 - is the fact that the event is orchestrated so that no act goes unseen. With alternating sets, M4M is a whirlwind festival of 21 bands in the course of three days. Though the number 21 may not sound impressive in comparison to other festivals that boast performances in the hundreds, think about this for one moment. Ticket buyers are assured the opportunity of seeing all 21 acts in a mere 72 hours... that's a mighty fine proposition. The majority of the bands included in this third edition of "M" were excellent and busting at the seams to infiltrate our American airwaves. We south of the border are missing out on some unbelievable music!
[For live images of many of the bands discussed here, check out our photo gallery HERE. Pictured above: Lioness/photo credit Sophie Samson.]
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Highlights of Day 1 (In Order of Awesomeness...)
Duchess Says
My lord! What a way to end a night. Duchess Says brought to the stage their loud, chaotic, dance electro-punk rock noise with a female lead singer who is quite possibly demonically possessed! This band could have closed the entire festival in my humble opinion. Though this Montreal group was new to my ears, the ecstatic crowd was obviously salivating for the quartet to take the stage as they were ready for the pandemonium to begin. Duchess Says' hard driving music got the audience moshing and they could not stand still for one moment. The band - Philippe Clément, Ismaël Tremblay, and Simon Besre - calmly played on as lead singer Annie C-the C is short for Claude-went ballistic.
Singing in both French and English, after just one song Annie C kicked off her boots, ripped her stockings off of her feet so they rested at her ankles, grabbed the mic and invited audience members to jump on stage. One young man did and at Annie C's instruction, crowd-surfed back into the audience. But her interactions with the audience did not stop there as she jumped into the crowd and was carried back to the stage. Though all sets ran approximately thirty minutes, Duchess clearly went over this marker as Annie C was politely told that her band was leaving. She looked around, shrugged her shoulders and with a coy smile waved goodbye to the audience who was still cheering and shouting. Duchess Says' set was an adrenaline charging performance: I don't think I blinked for the forty plus minutes they were on stage.
The National Parcs
The first dose of rap in the festival, this Montreal trio put together the most visually stunning performance of the event. After witnessing The National Parcs live I was hooked upon their artistic, "outside the box" techniques they liberally applied to what's increasingly become a mundane genre. What makes National Parcs unique is how vocalists Vincent Letellier and Chimwemwe Miller and effects/videographer Ian Cameron gathered sounds to create their debut release Timbervision.
The trio went out of the studio and recorded noises around them. From breaking logs, banging rocks to blowing into bottles and drumming on a canoe, every sound became a loop. While they gathered these sounds they visually recorded their actions and these images became National Parcs' music videos. And these videos were projected in sync with the music as they performed; my eyes didn't know where to rest. For their last song, "Clickety Clack," Miller put on a skeleton mask while Letellier banged on a rather large bone (hopefully it was merely plaster). Aside from my almost accidental loss of an eye due to flying cartilage, National Parcs did put on a compelling show.
Lioness
Part of the T for Toronto elite, Lioness' sonic influences prepared us for Duchess. Their sound, quite reminiscent of The Gossip, as highly infectious and lead singer Vanessa Fischer's voice was simply dynamic. Her sultry vocals brought soul to the music while her skin tight, black leotard and gold high heels brought the guys closer to the stage. Drummer Jeff Scheven and bassist Ronnie Morris provided the dark, brooding and rhythmic sounds for Lioness. The lighting fit the mood of the music as the stage remained darkened.
Fischer's strong voice was a delightful surprise and made the songs come alive as she strutted about the stage and wailed her heart out. The M for Montrealers loved Lioness' set as they happily cheered and applauded the band on. Fischer thanked the crowd for their warm reception and announced they had time for one more song. They closed their set with "What You Do (Will Come Back To You)" and bid the audience goodnight.
Highlights of Day 2 (In Order of Awesomeness...)
Beast
Day two was obviously "dance-your-ass-off" night as many of the acts' core sound was electronic. And though Beast, Betty Bonifassi and Jean-Phi Goncalves, did not close the evening, they should have as they sounded the most experienced and received the warmest reception from the audience. This trip-hop duo's sound is not radically different from other bands in the same genre, but what makes Beast surpass others is lead singer's Bonifassi's voice and their sometimes dark sound.
As she calmly strutted to the mic and acknowledged the audience, one would not have guessed that such a strong voice would emerge. Possessing a coarsely soulful, jazzy, and melodic voice Bonifassi sang, rapped and effortlessly belted out the tunes from their recently released self titled debut album. The audience loved it! Songs like "Ashtray" stood out for their brooding, James Bond-esque sounds.
Winter Gloves
Their sound was a mixture of pop, dance and punk; imagine a "poppier" version of Bloc Party sans British accent. A fun, upbeat sound, matched with lead singer Charles F's soft, melancholy vocals, did indeed get the crowd moving. When their set was almost over, Charles looked to the audience and said, "We have some free CDs for you." He and the band handed them out to the eager crowd who quickly pushed their way to the front of the stage hands outstretched. Once back at their stations, Winter Gloves finished their set.
Woodhands
A more electronics and effects-laden group, this duo only got to play three songs in their 30 minute set as each song lasted for quite some time. Lead singer Dan Werb looked quite nerdy in appearance. Thick, black rimmed glasses and a keytar assisted in completing this package; however, once he approached the mic and shouted, "You ready for this shit," all misgivings dissipated. With just Werb and drummer Paul Banwatt on stage, Woodhands had a grand sonic and visual show in store for everyone.
As Werb shouted and sang into the mic a laser show commenced. He could barely stand still as he danced, worked the keytar and effects and occasionally returned to the mic. While the duration of each song performed-"I Can't See Straight," "I Wasn't Made for Fighting," and "Dancer"-only lasts around four minutes, Woodhands obviously remixed their sounds and made each track twice as long. Very much in the category of uptempo, hot n' sweaty, trance music, Woodhands got everyone dancing.
Highlights of Day 3 (In Order of Awesomeness...)
Gatineau
Who would've known that my favorite performances of the evening would be two rap acts who shelled out quick witted French lyrics that I could not comprehend. But then again, I think their naughty gestures spoke for themselves. Gatineau came equipped with two entertaining front men, a bassist and a gorilla-mask wearing drummer. And they also added another layer to their sound as one vocalist, Domhamelll, rapped into a telephone and played an autoharp. The phone resulted in a sound suggestive of one talking into an old vocoder from 100 miles away. Séba, the other vocalist, could not stand still as he bounced across the stage in an anorak and jumped down to join the audience at one point. He eventually tossed the hot coat aside and bared a tight Backstreet Boys t-shirt.
One female in the front row caught Domhamelll's eye. He handed her the phone and she enthusiastically rapped along with the guys for the second half of a song. But where does the naughtiness come in? Well, there was the moment when Séba caressed and "embraced" his mic stand (the mic would have blushed if it could have). Later, Séba caressed his band mate; but the tongue in cheek antics did not stop here as Radio Radio topped this...
Radio Radio
Where Gatineau had two vocalists, Radio Radio had four. All members of this Montreal group shared vocal duties. Two remained in front of the stage with their mics while the remaining members of Radio spun discs and worked the effects. Radio lovers were obviously in the house as audience members rapped along with the band and threw their hands in the air when the lyrics dictated.
A more playful sound than Gatineau, Radio's mischievousness reverberated not only through their words but body language. One musician equipped with white plastic framed glasses and a cap was the most animated as he approached the crowd, lifted his shirt to show off his chest, turned and shook his booty at us and covered every inch of the stage. During one song all members were in front of the stage and they suddenly turned their attention to a speaker. Well, our beloved front man with the shades started "making love" to the amp while the others pointed and rapped. I wonder what they were discussing at this point of the song.
One fan later shared that she appreciated Radio for their smart lyrics. I confessed my ignorance of the French language but mentioned that I thought I picked up on enough through their gestures.
"Yeah," she laughed, "they're pretty nasty!"
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