Maylee Todd
Pop Montreal 2010 Days Four and Five Recap, October 2nd and 3rd 2010
“Like all legendary parties, this one ends with a fire alarm sounding – but I assure you that the only fire here is the one in my G-string.”
So said local superstar DJ Plastik Patrik at the premature end of Farrah, a semi-regular Studio 54-styled dance party at the Rialto.
He wasn’t kidding about the G-string (there are flames tattooed on the low end of his stomach), or the fire alarm. Just as special guest and onetime Deee-Lite chanteuse Lady Miss Kier was about to start spinning, the speakers blew. People stomped in unison, creating a beat around the beeping alarm, and Lady Miss Kier added a little a cappella, but ultimately, the party was over. And I had just ordered my first drink.
That was Saturday night, and unfortunately my Sunday, the last day of Pop, ended with a similar but significantly less spectacular bummer.
Day four began well, however, with the indie funk jams of Maylee Todd and her four-piece band, playing a free BBQ outside Pop HQ Notman House. Her face painted to match her fuchsia poncho, Todd channeled a little P-Funk with some sweet grooves, badass vocals and goofy call and response, at one point leaving her mic and guitar to do a choreographed dance with her female bandmate in the middle of the small crowd.
Up the street at Divan Orange, one-man pop sensation Diamond Rings (aka Toronto’s John O’Regan, also of The D’Urbervilles) entertained with his beat-backed, synth-topped and guitar-driven songs, punctuated by angular dance moves. The tunes are tight and the voice has a strangely charming flatness that recalled Julian Casablancas. His debut album is out Oct. 25, on Secret City.
A few hours later at Ukrainian Federation, the alternately ambient and searing, pop and experimental rock sound of Montreal’s Valleys set the tone for the evening, as eclectic as the bill was. The headliner was San Francisco duo Xiu Xiu, whose acute self-loathing, unhinged singing and grinding guitars, electronics and percussion make Morrissey sound like Justin Bieber. But between and underneath Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo’s jarring sonic outbursts are plenty of pop elements, particularly on their latest record, Dear God I Hate Myself, which takes the juxtaposition of upbeat tunes and bleak lyrics to the extreme. For example, “Chocolate Makes Me Happy” references fun stuff like self-induced vomiting, as seen in the video for the Nintendo-generated title track, wherein Seo makes herself puke. Luckily this was not part of the performance, which involved a lot of cymbal banging, key and knob maneuvering, guitar shredding and Stewart’s trademark whispering, crooning, quaking and screaming.
As gripping as Xiu Xiu was, the highlight of the bill was Braids, a Montreal-based, Calgary-born quartet that performs beautiful pop experiments with keys, FX, guitars, drums, percussion and vocals. Singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston impressed the previous night as half of Blue Hawaii, but Braids is a superior context for her versatile instrument, which ranges from a lullabye coo to a lilting shout that filled the room. Long segues between songs found band members toying with vocal loops and noodling effects, yet the crowd remained rapt, soaking in the detailed artistry of their epic tracks, replete with gorgeous melodies and inviting rhythms and riffs. Comparisons could be made (Disney soundtracks, Animal Collective, Kate Bush, Björk), but Braids is its own entity, one that deserved the standing ovation at set’s end.
Over at l’Escogriffe, people packed in to catch another local band, Golden Isles, whose modern take on psychedelic pop grooves sets them apart from the hippies, the mods, the indie kids, the stoner rockers and the pop pretenders. Having just released their debut EP (Foreword) with Canada’s Aquarius Records, the young band is primed to take their tunes beyond the Quebec/Ontario region they’ve been touring. The driving pop/rock tunes, space-lounge grooves and funny asides from crooner Adam Feingold (whose Ray-Bans and white Lacoste v-neck simultaneously screamed “hipster” and “golf course”) easily charmed the crowd, and not just the band members’ girlfriends.
Sunday evening signalled the beginning of the end of Pop, with the closing party for the Dark Night of the Soul installation. Built around the awesome Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch project, locals Jean Luc Della Montagna and Louis Phillipe Eno produced and directed 13 short films employing Lynch’s imagery. Designed to be seen and heard by one individual at a time, the installation consisted of a darkened area of the Trusst Club art space, 13 TVs, a pair of headphones and a box with 13 channels, each connecting to a different song.
Later, at Casa del Popolo, Receivers got on stage late, but the queue was a distant memory once their enveloping performance began. The local quintet was bathed in blue light, which played off singer Emilie Marzinotto’s red dress and lipstick nicely. And it wasn’t just the visual aesthetic that echoed David Lynch – the band has often cited Angelo Badalamenti as an influence on their vintage slow grooves and dark-glamor gravitas. Sadly, their cover of “You Only Live Twice” did not make it into this set, but if that had been the night’s only disappointment, I’d be laughing.
Next on the bill was Brooklyn’s Depreciation Guild, who began their set after yet another lengthy wait. Playing a bit of their earlier chiptune sound, the band showcased their recent foray into bulky shoegazing, whetting the appetite for the night’s headliner, Film School.
And that’s where things went to shit. Film School had reportedly arrived at the venue just as the opening band was due to start, and it was their soundcheck (and the necessary tear-down of the other bands’ gear) that delayed the whole show. By the time they went on, the show was over an hour behind schedule, so the crowd wasn’t nearly as dense as it should’ve been. And it was apparent almost immediately that the sound was problematic. Feedback squealed here, lead vocals were absent there and although the soundman attempted to correct the latter problem, lead singer Greg Bertens let his frustration show by promising to repeat that song (“Heart Full of Pentagons”) later in the set, an unusual move. The crowd was already slowly dissipating when Bertens complained about the sound, to which the soundman allegedly replied, “Well, if you could afford a good soundman…,” at which point Bertens let loose and literally told the soundman off, capping a mini-tirade with, “Just leave the board!” He didn’t of course, but at this point the show was done as far as the crowd was concerned.
I was so looking forward to seeing this band, who I’ve always appreciated, even more so with their latest shoegaze-pop venture Fission. I don’t blame Bertens for being angry, having driven eight hours only to be delayed for ages at the border. And presumably there was truth in his claim that the soundman had exhibited a bad attitude, but it was Bertens’ attitude that the crowd will remember. Unless you’re The Brian Jonestown Massacre (and even then…), don’t start a fight in the middle of your show!
Whatever. Cheers to the Pop people for mounting a great ninth edition. Let’s see what they conjure up for next year’s big 10th.
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October 8th 2010
9:01pm
actually -you missed the first set from Lady Kier which packed the floor blending some rare italo disco with late 80’s acid house - but true her second set never saw the light of day.
October 24th 2010
4:56am
Animal Collective, Kate Bush, Björk), but Braids is its own entity, one that deserved the standing ovation at set’s end.