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March is a crazy time of year in Montreal. The weather always teeters on the brink between ice-age frigidity and that first whiff of spring. Usually you play that game for a while before things really get nice. It's a magical time of year, though, the big payoff for a long winter when everyone gets on the stoop, strips down to as little as possible, and takes it all in. It's also the time when live shows start popping up every night, and a slew of Canadian acts trek down to Austin for SXSW as a kind of inauguration to the season.
I don't know if they've set a record, but it seems like there are more Canadian bands headed to Austin than ever before. With so many good ones headed down, and so many stories about big Canadian acts, I decided it would be better to give you a more in-depth, personal perspective on a smaller number of them. By all means, check out as many of them as you can. These are just a few that I know and love well.
The Besnard Lakes
I first met Jace Lasek outside a big building in Mile End that's seen more than one great moment in Montreal music in recent years. A bunch of people were exiting a big elevator after a Wolf Parade performance at the 100 Sided Die, including this guy carrying a large tripod. I thought he was a photographer for Spin magazine who'd come late to the party, some outsider journalist who had descended on the city looking for an easy story on the place. He just looked so cool!
The joke was on me, though — you don't get to be much more of an insider than this guy. He's recorded and produced records for Islands, Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Patrick Watson, and Land of Talk, among many others. He also heads up this kick-ass psychedelic rock-and-roll band that pulls off epic slow jams and still comes off as the coolest thing in the room. Their record, ...Are the Dark Horse, just came out on Jagjaguwar. I'm guessing it'll be hard to miss them — just look for the tall dude with the tinted rock-and-roll shades.
Land of Talk
Liz Powell rocks. There are a lot of great Canadian female vocalists these days, and almost all of them bring something unique to the table, but Liz is one of the best in my books for a few reasons. She's got a great voice — it might be a scream or a whisper, and it grabs you either way. But she takes it up a notch with the power chords she puts behind her vocals, and with how straight-ahead rocking her songs are. Liz is tough, man, and it's hard not to love that. Bucky and Chris are fantastic backing musicians on her songs, and I doubt there's a band coming down from Canada that packs a louder punch with so few members.
Frog Eyes
I hope you've seen this band. If you haven't, do so! One of the best things I saw at SXSW last year was Carey Mercer belting out songs with his band during a daytime showcase at Emo's. It was across the street from a big Pitchfork party, and they were playing to a half-empty room in a setting that would otherwise be emblematic of what's not cool about SXSW. But you don't get much more authentic than this guy onstage. He gave it his all, as he always seems to, and it was fucking great. If you like Spencer Krug (who's more of a part-time permanent member), Mercer and Frog Eyes are a related beast you should definitely get to know.
Cadence Weapon
I first met Rollie in Montreal the night before leaving for SXSW last year, when he opened for Hot Chip before we both headed down to Austin. He's turned into quite a star in a short time, and with good reason. His debut was great — but it's the brash and youthful energy that impressed me most, and I'm sure it's only grown since. A lot of hiphop's earliest heroes were soldiers keeping the peace, and no matter where it's stayed musically or culturally since (for better and for worse), I think Cadence Weapon carries a renewed sense of that old confidence, which translates to his music and his live show.
Miracle Fortress and Patrick Watson
These two are actually the least musically related in some ways, considering the bands and connections listed here, but I've grouped them because I work with their label, and I don't want to have to write two disclaimers.
Miracle Fortress is Graham Van Pelt, who's just finished what I think is going to be a big record in 2007. The live act has just added three great new members: Jordan Robson Cramer from Sunset Rubdown (a proggy wunderkind of his own), Jesse Stein (SS Cardiacs) and Adam Waito (Telefauna). When I picture Graham constructing his layered songs, I inevitably think about people like Brian Eno or Aphex Twin, but in terms of sound it gets closer to the Beach Boys with Kevin Shields and Animal Collective.
Patrick Watson's band is one of the tightest in Canada, and surprisingly accessible for how experimental they can be. If Watson as a classic crooning personality doesn't get you on its own, his voice and the whole band's musical prowess will. Watson co-hosted one of Pop Montreal's highlights last year: two all-night jam sessions that featured them doing Beach Boys covers with Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes, duets with Buckley collaborator Gary Lucas, and jams with ex-Islands Jamie Thompson and Bell Orchestre's Stef Schneider.
Posted March 2007
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