Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal is a totally awesome music festival that happens every year and features a mind-melting array of great music and spans a whole spectrum of underground music. From rap to electronic, psyche-folk, indie rock, twee and avant-garde, there's pretty much something for everyone who likes left-of-centre music. I had the pleasure of checking out a lot of incredible shows this past weekend, and here's a recap.
The Pop Montreal festival has come and gone for 2006. Lots of great shows, but the way it was set up – everything happening simultaneously from 8pm onwards on five nights over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend – any one person really didn't have the opportunity to see one or maybe two per night. Some difficult choices had to be made.
Al Tuck at the Ukranian Hall
The first night I was forced to choose between Vashti Bunyan and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. I chose Vashti but I started at the Ramblin Jack show. Al Tuck followed a slicked out folk singer named Jesse Jackson. No comment on his set. I played my first gig ever with Al's old band Bluegrass Lawnmower way back in 1992 in Halifax and I enjoy seeing this vastly underrated Canadian singer/songwriter every chance I get. Knowing what a huge folk music and Dylan fan Al is I was glad to see him have the opportunity to open for Ramblin Jack.
He started with a killer version of "Hand It To You" off of the old Murder tape Arhoolie. He dedicated the song to Ramblin Jack and opened it with appeared to be a biting commentary on Jesse Jackson's set - mentioning something about Jackson' MySpace page. He followed it up with an extraordinarily long and at times arcane ballad about his father-in-law Gene McClelland – writer of the hits "Snowbird" and "Put Your Hand In The Hand". A song by McClelland himself followed this.
Vashti Bunyan at La Tulipe
It was at this point that I tore myself away to see Vashti Bunyan – in retrospect I could have stayed for probably all of Al's set and some of Ramblin Jack. I was worried that the Vashti show would be extremely crowded and that if I didn't get there early I might miss out. In actual fact the show was sparsely attended relative to the large size of La Tulipe. This was a bit surprising – when an opportunity to see a legendary artist presents itself for the first time in 40 years....
Mansfield Tya
First I saw Mansfield Tya – violin and guitar, maybe taking a page from PJ Harvey. They were ok but I was wishing I hadn't let in the middle of Al Tuck's set. The sound at La Tulipe was less than rosy from where I was sitting at first, pardon the somewhat mixed analogy – there was a semi-subsonic bass frequency that was causing the floor and furniture to vibrate in a highly disturbing way – it was like being at a Sunn O))) show without hearing or seeing Sunn O))) if you know what I mean. The soundman seemed more concerned with light shows and smoke machines than getting a good sound. Eventually I went back to the second level and took a table marked reserved that appeared to be the best spot in the house to see the show.
Vashti Bunyan
Vashti was wonderful of course - she had a large group consisting of violin, cello, two guitars – one trading off on banjo, a piano/flute/accordion player and of course the woman herself. Her voice was everything I'd come to expect from her recordings – frail, soft, delicately beautiful.
She was very charming, humble and sweet and seemed genuinely thrilled at the opportunity to finally tour and share her music with the world. Before every song she shared anecdotes about the situation in which the song was written. The crowd loved it and loved her, despite the aforementioned terrible sound quality that the mixing engineer put together.
She played all the classics from Diamond Day and many newer songs. Among the highlights were "Jog Along Bess", "Winter Is Blue", "Just Another Diamond Day", "I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind", "Window Over The Bay" and many more. Many moments I felt shivers down my spine, and at one point in one song tears actually came to my eyes. This was a magical experience and if you're not already familiar with this extraordinary artist you owe it to yourself to go check out her classic late 60's Joe Boyd-produced masterpiece Just Another Diamond Day.
Joanna Newsom with Under Byen and Joe Grass at the Ukranian Hall
The next night I was had to choose between the TTC/Omnikrom show and Joanna Newsom. Curious as I was to see TTC I'm sure the opportunity will continue to present itself as long as I stay in Montreal and even if it didn't this was a no-brainer: I was going to see Joanna Newsom.
Joe Grass
Joe Grass opened – a Moncton via Montreal acoustic guitar player and singer/songwriter. Grass blew the crowd away with a combination of brilliant finger picking, lap-steel slide playing, very strong classic folk/country songs and an excellent voice. This is a huge new artist, and the crowd knew it. He asked if there was time for one more song at the end of his set and was denied much to the audience's chagrin – everybody wanted to hear more, and I'm sure that anyone there that night will take an opportunity to see him play again.
Under Byen
The night changed gears completely when Denmark's Under Byen took the stage. At first I felt annoyed at the incongruity of the lineup and bored by their music, but slowly they won me over with a combination of killer dual drummers, amazing keyboard riffs, and a hyperactive violinist who also played singing saw and kalimba. This band is bloody powerful and a great group to see live.
Joanna Newsom
The crowd began clapping even at the site of Joanna Newsom's harp being carried onto the stage but then a little while later the star of the evening caught the crowd off guard – she was almost in her seat before a confused applause kicked in. She looked so very beautiful – her hair up and wearing a charming old outfit - skirt and fairly revealing sweater that would definitely meet the approval of previous generations of folkies. All the nerdy boys hearts swooned.
She played a mix of songs from Milk-Eyed Mender and Ys. Brilliant as Van Dyke's arrangements for the new album are, the new songs still came across beautifully without them as did the old songs very near and dear to most members of the captivated crowd. Her voice was in perfect form and her harp playing seemed even more virtuosic than on album – she handled super-fast arpeggios with ease and at the end of one particularly dazzling run the audience cheered wholeheartedly as though they'd just witnessed Yngwie Malmsteen tear through some Paganinni. It was cute.
Newsom was so sweet and gracious that the audience couldn't help but love her. She even handled an awkward moment with humor and grace: at one point someone from offstage threw her a towel – it looked hot under those lights! – that went off course as towels are wont to do and ended up crashing into a mic stand that in turn took a turn towards Newsom and her harp. She and the crowd laughed together. She played all the songs that we came to hear and left us wanting more. Again, if you aren't familiar with this extraordinary artist you must check out both Milk-Eyed Mender and the brand new Ys which features orchestral arrangements by Smile co-mastermind and all-around musical genius Van Dyke Parks.
Roky Erickson and The Explosives at the Portugese Hall
Friday night I started with Roky Erickson and The Explosives. A few friends were unimpressed with the blues-rock sound of the band but I think they're fucked in the head. This is a KILLER band and they rocked the hell out of the Portuguese hall.
Smoking lead guitars, very tight bass and drums and Roky's twisted, catchy songs went together perfectly. He played to the crowd with classics like "Creature With The Atom Brain", "Two-Headed Dog", "Cold Night For Alligators", a cover of Bo Didley's "Before You Accuse Me" and many, many more. One sad omission was "Bloody Hammer" – a song that people were shouting for from the crowd.
People were thrilled to see yet another legendary artist taking the stage for an ultra-rare appearance, and the mix of ages was impressive – there were probably as many fans from the early days as there were new recruits. And the old guard hadn't slowed down any – I think I heard one guy shouting out a call to find acid, and a group of older guys up from were smoking a massive joint that sent up great clouds of marijuana smoke to the stage. Considering that Roky is considered maybe one of the world's most famous acid casualties it seemed... odd or oddly fitting.Glass Candy at Zoobizarre
From there I headed north to Zoobizarre to catch Glass Candy. I was excited to see them play because I'd only managed to catch the tail end of one set at Vancouver dive bar the Astoria after one of my own gigs the same night, and then a second time I saw the first few songs of their set before the fucking club had to close at like 11pm at night – Vancouver's has seriously fucked liquor laws.
Yeah, of course I have a rock star crush on Ida No and so I got a spot good and close to the stage to watch the woman work the crowd with her bizarre and commanding stage presence. She was wearing a pink terrycloth suit – she always looks completely totally different from show to show. Her super-chic dance moves and too-cool-for-the-room strange stage patter were delightful as always. The crowd was freaking out and dancing wildly almost to the point of slam dancing.
Towards the end of the set Ida started taking pieces of the drum kit and placing them up at the front of the stage for the audience to drunkenly play until the poor drummer was left with nothing, yet the beats and bass lines from Johnny Jewel's sequencer continued to keep the kids going as he slashed at his guitar wildly.
They returned for one encore and then the audience tried their best to the get the band back for more with some very odd chants but Ida's voice was getting really fucked up and she didn't want to push it but Johnny Jewel seemed apologetic and stayed on the stage looking sheepish. Killer band, I'm really excited to hear their new album, as they were playing some awesome new songs from it. This is a band you have to see live – they are very fun to watch and they put out incredible energy in the right kind of club.
Beach House and Ecstatic Sunshine at O Patro Vys
Saturday night I had to play a gig and was forced to miss Greg Davis – a sound artist from Vermont who really caught my ear on a recent Ache 7-inch split with Jeweled Antler's Of and on the Peter Walker tribute. I got there – this was a Carpark Records night – in time to catch the tail end of Beach House. They were incredible: subtle and mellow 60's-inspired rock with maybe a tinge of country creeping in there. I'd kind of ignored their record when it came in the mail just because it's so understated, but now I want to go back and really listen because their live show allowed me to really listen and I like what I heard a great deal.
Ecstatic Sunshine
Ecstatic Sunshine played a set so on fire I'm almost tempted to say it was the best show of the festival but considering I'd just seen Roky Erickson, Joanna Newsom and Vashti Bunyan it would feel like sacrilege. Regardless - this Baltimore guitar duo was amazing.
Their record caught my ear immediately and I thought they'd be fascinating to see live and I was right; very fast, semi-technical playing that reminds me of Teenbeat records for some reason, and also feels almost like avant-garde/minimalist classical music in a way and then aspects of indie rock. They were incredible and very clearly loving what they do, careening wildly through their set. Check out their Carpark release Freckle Wars it's really, really good.
Puces Pop
I thought I was done on Sunday, but a friend called and asked me if I wanted to go check out Puces Pop. When we got there we saw tons of beautiful indie kids milling about looking at cool rock posters and handicrafts and other indie knick-knacks. I felt kind of freaked out and overwhelmed – way too many beautiful girls for my lonesome heart to deal with.
Patrick Watson and People For Audio
I didn't realize they had live music happening there and was pleasantly surprised to discover that were shows happening upstairs in this beautiful old armory building. First I caught a bit of Patrick Watson who obviously has massive amounts of talent but his glossy commercial sound left me wanting. But I was very impressed with his piano playing and the inventive loops and improvised songs he was creating on the fly. Then People For Audio came on and were so damn loud I decided to leave and get some food at Romados.
Spider
I got back just in time to catch Spider, a psyche-folk artist from Brooklyn that I was sad to have missed the night before opening for the Royal Mountain Band at a party. She was absolutely wonderful – I'd come to know her music through her really pretty album Way To Bitter Lake and was delighted to finally see her play live, sad that her set was so short. Hopefully she'll come back up this way soon and play a proper show. If you don’t already know her you need to check out her album – it’s so good that even Aquarius Records is raving about her and I don’t believe that seal of approval gets handed out lightly.
Barkus Born
Spider's friends Barkus Born played last, they were ok, sort of like cosmic American space rock. Everybody seemed pretty burnt out - band and audience and so they only played a few songs.
Later that night I tried to go see SS Cardiacs but the hall was full by the time I got there. Well that was it for me, saw some great show and I'm already looking forward to the next one. This is a great festival, people, wholeheartedly encourage bands and fans to check it out next year if you haven't already.
