Last night was a marathon. I'm chilling at home when I get a call from our vagabond host,
Grant Lawrence, informing me he's going to see Spiral Beach at O Patro Vys. I remember my producer Andrea asking for an interview with those guys and the Habs are almost done beating the Sabres. Why not?
O Patro Vys is a fun venue whose name, in gaelic, means the upper floor. That's a reference to
Bily Kun, the pub underneath, whose name in gaelic means the White Horse. That in turn is
Cheval Blanc in french and it's the name of the brew-pub whose beer is sold down there. Confused enough?
Spiral Beach are young! 17-18 year-olds who play freak-out prog-pop with passion and energy. Their tear-down after the show was one of the most chaotic things I've witnessed in a while: clumsy and funny! I manage to catch up up with the kids in the alley in front of the venue where Airick got a haircut from Daniel while Maddy coached him on. Something to be witnessed! Don't worry, it's all on tape.
I then proceeded to
Casa Del Popolo to catch a little of
Tim Hecker's electronica set. Tim's been playing around Montreal for years and, after losing him to Ottawa and a career, we're glad to welcome him back to the city.
I jump back on my bike and head just down St-Laurent to
Club L'Ambi, where
Upper Class Recording are presenting their showcase. I manage to hear the end of the Russian Futurist set. I really wanted to hear Matt Hart's music live as his records are delightful pieces of canadian pop. I have an interview with Matt I'll get ready for broadcast in the coming weeks.
By now it's 1am and our only available option is the
Fractal Centre, far uptown. Nicolas Titley from Musique Plus, the french MuchMusic, tells me the name of the "secret band" playing there at 3am. I get excited! I share the info with Catherine Love-City, from
Le Volume Etait Au Maximum, and we all jump on our bikes and work our way north along the "Main" as St-Laurent Blvd, which divides Montreal into East and West, is also known.
The Fractal Centre is essentially two huge lofts on two stories. Downstairs I catch some of
Cuizinier's set; he's a member of
TTC, France's slickest indie hip-hop act and a
Big Dada (Ninja Tune sub-label) recording artist. Cuizinier invites the two other members of TTC onstage and I feel less guilty for missing their soldout show at Club Soda on Thursday. Truth be told I appreciate the fact I'm seeing them with 100 people instead of 1500!
Upstairs I see
Wintersleep (so good live!) and Pop Montreal's surprise to us last surviving music freaks. Who is it? none others than
Malajube: runners-up at the recent Polaris Prize, Montreal's most popular french-language indie export and, in my humble opinion, our finest composers of catchy, yet smart, pop songs. It was great to see them onstage with only a couple of hundred people at best.
Tonight I take it easy. I have dinner with a friend and maybe, just maybe, go see Giant Sand. It's been three crazy days, I need a break!
Luv from Pop
.:.Y.:.