Music

Scott Normandy's first solo effort My Future My Past has everything going for it. The 11 track album is packed with honest lyrics and catchy hook choruses tightly wrapped in pristine pop/rock folk. Just think John Mayer minus the ego. "I put my heart and soul into each song.

Portland, Oregon has an answer to class acts like Radiohead, Cold Play, Keane and The Postal Service. It lies with Jason Bell, Kevin Calaba and Daniel Orvik who form Stars of Track and Field. The trio's sophomore album Centuries Before Love and War is a treasure chest full of what is precious in contemporary rock.

Ashley MacIsaac is a traditionalist, an experimentalist and a prodigy. A rebel, a headliner and an icon. He is eccentric, controversial, praised and cursed. His name has been put up in lights and dragged through the mud. From his home in Toronto, the infamous fiddler discussed rumours, yellow press and his controversial past.

Move over Metallica and Slayer, and make some room for the new competitors for the metal crown, Saved By Sin. Its members consist of Ben 'Dynamite' Poitras on vocals, Cory 'Cream' Hamilton on bass, Denis 'Heavy' Andre on guitar, and Steph 'Slick' Couture on Drums.

Don't play what's there, play what's not there -Miles Davis Tues., Oct. 16 -Daath, Dark Funeral, Nagflar @ Club Soda -Spoon @ Le National -Queens of the Stone Age @ Metropolis Wed., Oct. 17 - Coco Montoya @ Café Campus - Led Zepplica @ St-Denis Theatre Thurs.

Heavy metal and hard rock were boys clubs; primarily male dominated genres of music. Things have changed. Doro Pesch and Cristina Scabbia, two of the hardest working women in hard rock and metal, talk about what the scene feels like for a girl. Doro Pesch is one of the few female singers to rise up in the 1980s heavy metal scene.

It was an articulate, passionate and fight-ready Patti Smith that showed up to converse with long-time fan and The Nation editor John Nichols during Pop & Policy last Friday. The 60 year-old artist spoke to an audience of around 70 people about the need for communication, her political engagement, and of the hope instilled in her by global Internet communities.

Chris Burns has certainly changed since first taking the stage as a pimply 15 year old virgin, but fortunately for the Montreal music community, he hasn't changed too much. He still remains one of this city's most entertaining and eclectic musicians, currently playing in rock n' roll super group Nutsak, as well as in various genre bending improvisational ensembles.

The doors swung open at Montreal's first House of Reggae last week and nothing is left to the imagination. Don't ask what genre of Reggae you'll find there because you'll find it all- lover's rock, dancehall rooth culture, mento, ska, soul reggae, roots, rock steady, well, you get the picture. and the list is long, each with its own history, its own versions, social and spiritual.

Pop Montreal kicks off this Wednesday, single-handedly filling the city's bars, venues and dingy pubs with musical acts of all calibers. This is a most enjoyable way to rummage in the bin of up-and-coming (and some well established) bands. The genres will span the entire spectrum of what can reasonably be called music, from the navel-gazing electro-beat freak DJ to the ear-splitting screams of some obscure hardcore act.

Man Man or Half Japanese? To most people this might seem like a confusing and absurd question, but to music fans contemplating this year's Pop Montreal music festival from Oct. 3 to 7 it is one of the many difficult choices they will have to make. Like Pop Montreal festivals of the past, this edition is packed with an unbelievable mix of living legends, established stars, and great new bands you've never heard of.

For five days the 6th edition of Pop Montreal showcases 360 bands from Montreal and abroad. This is the festival that everybody's talking about. Put your ear to the ground, snap, crackle, pop talks. TWO HOURS TRAFFIC Alec O'Hanley on music's calling "I don't really know when it became my calling.