Category: Music

Music is spiritual. The music business is not.
-Van Morrison

Tuesday, Jan.22
Cobra Starship + Metro Station + We the Kings + The Cab
@ Le Studio Juste Pour Rire
Jorane @ Le National

Wednesday, Jan. 23
Cellador + Trail of Tears @ foufounes Electriques
Faculty + Wild Child @ Les Saints
Sleepless Nights (CD Release!) + Reversing Falls @ Casa de Popolo

Thursday, Jan.24
Pink Skull @ Zoobizarre
The Spins @ Casa de Popolo
Franklyne @ Petit Campus
Mia Verko, The Corduroys & Deputy Sheriff @ Casa de Popolo
Dukes of the Archipelago + Parlovr @ Bar St Laurent 2

Friday, Jan.25
Shalabi/St Onge/Chelkowski + Whilst + Les Momies de Palerme + puppets by Leyla Majeri @ Rap Machines
Ra Ra Riot + The Virgins @ Casa de Popolo
Ghislain Poirier + Devlin & Darko (Spank Rock) + XXXchange + Ghostbeard @ Igloofest
Distroboto 7th Anniversary
Think About Life, Exhaust, Giselle Numba One, Gambletron, Random Recipe, DJ Lynne T. @ Sala Rossa

Saturday Jan.26
Thomas Schumacher + Mateo Murphy + Millimétrik @ Igloofest
Monday Morning Erection, Florence @ Le Cagibi
First You Get The Sugar @ Sala Rossa
Banjo Consorsium + Apjiw @ Casa de Popolo
Parlovr + Flames! + American Devices @ Lab.Synthese
Evalyn Parry + Eve Goldberg @ Yellow Door
All Banged Up + Avenue + The Melroses @ Cafe Campus
Expo 67 + KidSentiment + Soki Soki @ L’esco

Monday, Jan.28
Mika @ Bell Centre
Chill Billy @ Petit Campus

Tuesday, Jan.29
Dj Shadow & Cut Chemist – The Hard Sell + Guests @ Metropolis
The Teenagers + Guests @ Studio Juste Pour Rire

It is three weeks into 2008, but Rich Terfry, (internationally known as Buck 65) has the year 1957 on his mind.
“That year is so significant. It was the beginning of the end of the good and the bad. It changed the way we think and the nature of the world that we are living in,” Buck said.
The Juno Award winner’s fascination with that year and what surrounds it fueled his latest album, Situation.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a record solely about that year, but things that happened in that year did inspire the record,” the rapper explained. “When you pull all the songs together it forms a bigger, larger picture. I really got intrigued with this idea of Situationism.”
Situationism is the avant-garde political movement that rose from Dadaism in, you guessed it, 1957. It suggests that the morality of an act and specific behaviour depends on and is a response to an immediate situation. Voila! Buck 65’s album’s title Situation.
“I also like the word for superficial reasons,” Buck admitted. “Just as a word and how it looks on a page. I’m very into those one word titles.”
Situation is album number 11 for the Nova Scotian. The (almost) conceptual album is packed with Buck’s usual social consciousness, laced with musical styles of the past. Rich Terfry is like the Tom Waits of hip-hop in this situation. Buck’s lyrical abilities and rhymes are as sure and strong as ever.
“I don’t get fully stumped very often. I’m really stubborn when it comes to that,” Terfry commented on the art of rhyming. “There have been cases when I have sat all day long, hours and hours trying to come up with that rhyme.” Situation is the rapper’s raw return reminding us that Buck knows how to bust a rhyme. “When a challenge like rhyming presents itself, I refuse to back down. I don’t take no for an answer when it comes to rhymes.”

Rhyme Time: Buck’s Tips

Annunciate:

Annunciate as clearly as possible so that your words are heard and made out well. That has always been extremely important to me.

Layers and Complexities:

I’ve always made it a rule that I can’t be satisfied with rhyming just one syllable. For example cat and bat. If the line I’m writing ended with black cat then I would have to rhyme both those syllables with something like cracked bat. It just adds an extra layer of complexity. It makes it all that much more challenging. When you add layers, other elements of rhythm automatically fall into place.

Interesting influences:

It’s interesting for me to take tips from other sorts of musicians whose relationship with tempo is more interesting. One of the biggest influences on my personal approach to rapping is Billie Holiday. She would always be kind of off the beat and a little behind it. That adds a little bit of swing and funk. I think it’s sophisticated to follow the beat but dance around it a little. I like taking a creative approach to following a beat.

Originality:

Find your influences and people who have set the bar, but then use them as an example and then diversify. It’s important to stick out with your own style and approach. Use influences as a doorway to find your own voice. You can always tell who someone’s biggest influence is. They sound like someone imitating Eminem or Jay Z. You’ve got to mix it up a little – ultimately in the effort of finding your own voice.

Consciousness:

Hone your craft and your mechanical approach to rapping. What is going to set you apart is your own mind and what makes you interesting as a person. Hone your mind. I haven’t just taken inspiration from the world of hip-hop. I read a lot. I watch a lot of films. I pay attention to what’s going on in the world and within myself.

Editors’ drummer Ed Lay’s first words to The Concordian were comments on how they lucked out on great weather in Atlanta. The U.K. rockers are no strangers to the hardships of touring, including run-ins with bad weather. Although Montreal weather can be a little unpredictable, at least our fans are bound to show them some love.

What is the best show you have played on your tour so far?

We just played the Filmore in San Francisco. The crowd was awesome. It was incredible. That’s a really top place to go and playing with Hot Hot Heat is a good party.

Tell us how the U.K. scene is different from the indie scene in North America.

The crowds are particularly different. If it’s a music town, it’s going to be the same all over. Sometimes the fans want to come up and chat with you, but it’s not usually the norm. And we just found out a few hours ago that our new album is now platinum in the UK!

Congratulations! What are you going to do to celebrate that?

We might have a beer tonight to celebrate. We were hoping this record would do as well as the last one and now it’s catching up. It’s like we have something to show our parents. When we first started our parents all thought we were crazy. But now I think they are all starting to get into it.

What is your favorite song to play live off your new album An End Has A Start?

“Spiders” towards the end of the album. It’s different to what we usually do. This one is a little bit more laid back. An End Has A Start probably has some of the most beautiful songs we have ever written.

Will we get to hear it when you play Montreal’s Club Soda?

We should be playing it by then. We just started touring again and our little arms can’t quite handle a full set so we will have to see.

Editors play Club Soda with Louis XIV and
Hot Hot Heat on Sunday, Jan.20

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.
-Victor Hugo

Tuesday, Jan. 15
– White Williams + Ecstatic Sunshine @ Sala Rossa

Wednesday, Jan.16
– Famous Lovers, Intensive Care, Revised Edition & Pamela Brottes
@ Sala Rossa
– Ozzy Osbourne + Rob Zombie + In This Moment @ Bell Centre

Thursday, Jan.17
– Psyopus, F— The Facts, Beneath The Massacre, The Great Sabatini @ Club Lambi
– Au Revoir Simone @ La Tulipe
– Rob Lutes + OKgiraffe + James Finnerty @ O Patro Vys
– Mia Verko + Faux Postage
@ Café Chaos
– Shapes & Sizes + the Luyas + Sister Suvi + Telefauna
@ Sala Rossa
– James Finnerty @ O Patro Vys
– The Von Bondies + SSM + Freer @ Petit Campus

Friday, Jan.18
– LA Riots
@ Academy
– Sam Shalabi + Ghost Limbs
@ Casa del Popolo
– The Imports @ Bar St Laurent 2
– Solvent + Lowfish + Dethlab
@ Zoobizzare
– Josh Wink + Misstress Barbara + Arsen @ Igloofest

Saturday, Jan.19
– Abe Duque + Lee Curtiss + Derek Plaslaiko + Pheek @ Igloofest
– Rose Cousins
@ Main Hall
– Pas Chic Chic + Anemones + DJ Slutsky + DJ We Are Oritz
@ lab.synth

Eric Sann, a.k.a. Kid Koala, is known for reinventing the wheel. He has managed to embrace things that have been done many times over and give them a life and a personality all their own. And he seems to make it look effortless. His inspiration comes from other artists, DJs and of course, the wonderful city of Montreal.
After a wave of touring that would make even a pre-med student exhausted, he found the time on his break home to delight the crowds at Concordia. Sann is only home for a rest and then it’s back on the road with DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. The Concordian nabbed him before his set at The Hive to talk about what’s next for him this year.
“I’m just coming to hype everybody up a bit. I will be doing some silly things on tour. They want me to keep it pretty fun and silly. I will be pulling a lot of tricks up there.”
It seems like tricks are high up on Sann’s priority list – at the Hive alone he put on one impressive performance, with four turntables, leaving the crowd aching for more.
Though Kid Koala is known for his live shows and turntablism, he has other projects on the horizon. Sann is planning to spend more time on an animation project that he has been working on, titled The Mosquito. The project is a graphic novel concept that features a mosquito learning to play the clarinet. “I did some animation in high school but I will be the first to admit that doing full on animation requires this really enlightened amount of patience. I’m not sure if I have that.”
Something Sann surely has is enthusiasm. He is all wide eyes and smiles when he talks about his upcoming tour. Puppets, an orchestra and of course, some turntables will all decorate a busy stage. At least that’s the plan.
When asked what else may be in the plans after his North American/European tour, he didn’t miss a beat in response. “Laundry!”

Kid Koala plays the Metropolis with DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Mere hours before the country woke to the dawn of Christmas Eve, Oscar Emmanuel Peterson left this world. It was a sad day for the city of Montreal, the place where Peterson was born and lived the majority of his life. His upbringing in the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy/ La Petite-Bourgogne surrounded him by the jazz culture that cultivated the musician and true artist that we knew and adored.

Oscar Peterson’s life has been immortalized by seven Grammy awards, his election into the Juno Awards Hall of Fame, the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Canada Post created a postage stamp in celebration of his 80th birthday. Concordia even renamed the Loyola Concert Hall to the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall in 1999 in his honour.

Oscar Peterson died in his Mississauga, Ontario home of kidney failure. He was 82. Peterson leaves behind seven children, Kelly (his fourth wife) and
their 16-year-old daughter, Celine.

“The young Oscar was without question the greatest piano player of his time . the greatest piano player of jazz,” Former Ontario premier Bob Rae told the CBC. He praised Peterson for “the dexterity of his right hand, the stride, the power of his left. As he got older, the depth of his humanity came out in his compositions,” added Rae.

Tomorrow, Wednesday Jan. 8, be sure to catch Eric San, aka Kid Koala, in a free concert. Organized by the CSU, the concert will be held at the Hive, the newly-reopened student space on the Loyola Campus, at 8 p.m. Kid is known for his energetic turntabling style and keen ear for sampling, as well as hiw fun and quirky animation which decorates the covers of his many albums.
According to Kid’s website, after he finished up his European tour in September, he came back to Montreal to work on some new stuff, including a collaboration with MunkyKing. He’s now working on a new project called the “Mosquito Book” which is set to be released sometime late in 2008 or 2009.

“There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we’d all love one another.” – Frank Zappa

Wednesday January 9
– King Bochek + Milie Croche + Travelling Headcase @ Casa del Popolo
– Pédo Pedro + Brigitte Bordel @ Rockette,
– Necro + The Psycho Realm + Sick Symphonies
@ Les Foufounes Electriques

Thursday January 10
– Mia Verko + Bivouaq @ Quai des brumes
– Little Birdie @ Casa del Popolo
– The Darcys + Boo Hoo @ L’Esco
– The New Groove Orchestra + Twiddle @ La Sala Rossa
– DJ Night W/ DJ Sarcastic + DJ InYourFace @ Zoobizarre
– Uffie + Steve Aoki + Mark Meny @ Coda

Friday January 11
– Jeans Team + Claass @ Zoobizarre
– Lily Frost + Julie Doiron @ La Sala Rossa
– Camaromance + Me & Maryjane @ Centre St. Ambroise
– Swift Years & Nick Hutchinson present Breaking Hearts
and Working Horses @ Parc des Princes

Saturday January 12
– Place Hands, Depost Throught The, DDMH @ Casa Del Popolo
– Postcards + Tin Can telephone + Freelove fenner @ Le Cagibi.
– Turpentine Brothers, The Tampoffs, The Confusers @ Escogriffe,
– Grand Life @ Petit Campus

Sunday January 13
– Noisy Souls + Bombing Neverland @ Petit Campus

Monday January 14
– The Queers + The Unbelievers @ Foufounes Electriques
– Three Days Grace + Seether @ Metropolis
– Angie Arsenault @ Petit Campus

10
Battles – Mirrored (Warp)

9
Kayne West – Graduation
(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Records)

8
Tie: M.I.A. – Kala
Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
(Interscope, Merge and
Nonesuch, respectively)

7
Bruce Springsteen – Magic
(Columbia)

6
Feist – The Reminder
(Cherry Tree/Interscope)

5
The National – Boxer
(Beggars Banquet)

4
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising Sand (Rounder)

3
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (Universal
Republic)

2
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (Merge)

1
Radiohead – In Rainbows
(Self-Released)

This Polaris nominee and Juno Award winner is on most critics’ Best of 2007 year end lists and there is a reason for that. Julie Doiron made a lot of noise when she released her bare and moody album Woke Myself Up. Three years after her previous release, Doiron didn’t only wake herself up, she shook ears across Canada and now the country is calling her the next Leslie Feist.
Doiron made her start in the early 90s playing bass with Eric’s Trip and quickly became Canada’s underground indie darling. On and off the radar until now, Doiron’s Woke Myself Up is a testimony that this sweetheart is back on the scene and knows what she wants.
The beauty of it all is this Maritimer’s latest effort means business without obvious force and ammunition. With the help from co-producer Rick White and the rest of her former band mates, Doiron presents a delicate album so fragile that it’s fearless. “No More” stands out with a funk that until now, only Feist has successfully brought back to the table. This one is for the iPod, folks. It’s a surprise Apple hasn’t snatched it up for a TV spot. “Swan Pond” is a dark acoustic waltz with a cold, raw and eerie winter feel. The title track and “Yer Kids” warm up the 11 tracks of Woke Myself Up as “Don’t Wannabe/Liked by You” does with its edge and certainty.
Conviction, confidence and honesty pulsate through Woke Myself Up. For an album that plays itself out in less than half an hour, it certainly made some waves from coast to coast and stirred enough for Doiron to talk about getting her through 2007 and well into 2008 on a strong note.

You made your debut with Eric’s Trip in 1990 then the band broke up in 1996. You’ve reunited to work on Woke Myself Up and toured again in 2007. Is Eric’s Trip back?

We got back together last year in some way. Everyone is into keeping it going. There’s been talk about going to Europe in the spring. We’ve been invited there by a few different people. There are things in the air and there are songs. If we wanted to, we could record an album. We’re not opposed to that idea. It’s definitely open and we’ll see what happens!

When did you know that you wanted to make music your career?

When I was young listening to Olivia Newton John and Blonde, I would tell everyone I was going to be a singer. Then I was taking music lessons when I was 10, but it wasn’t until I was 18 playing with Eric’s Trip that I knew it was actually happening. But still when you’re 18 and from a small town in New Brunswick and you start touring, it’s such a shock. It was just a shock that it was even possible.

Did you have doubts about your music after Eric’s Trip broke up?

It was after touring and when the band broke up that I actually realized, “Oh wait! This is my career.” So I went solo and just kept doing it. It was all I knew how to do.

Your former alias was “Broken Girl”. Did you think of yourself as broken?

That was a long, long, long time ago. I was feeling like I was in some ways. That is how I ended up with that name. But at one point I realized that I didn’t like that idea at all, so I went back to Julie Doiron.

Your recent album, Woke Myself Up. What did you have to wake up from?

This is like the second stage of my life. I’m separated from my husband now and that’s pretty major. I’m ready to try and make my music work now, whereas before I was kind of afraid of success. I’m waking myself up from the denial I was in.
What were you in denial about?
I was confused. I wanted to stay home and be with my kids, when I was being booked to go on tours. On one hand I didn’t want to be a musician anymore I wanted to be home with my kids. I was afraid to be successful or become popular because I knew that would take me away.

How have you changed and what is going to make this year different?

I’m just going to do everything with my full heart in it. Even though I was always putting my all into my performances and really believing in those, at the same time I was sabotaging my career. Leaving things for the last minute and not letting people know about what I was doing. I want to make this work. Now I’m ready, I’m awake and I’m ready to start over again and be a new person. I want to do this.

Julie Doiron plays La Sala Rosa on Friday, January 11th