Two writers from PAN M 360 are currently in Rouyn-Noranda for the 21st edition of the Festival Musique Emergente (FME) Festival, a musical takeover of the city to witness some of the best and brightest upcoming bands from Quebec, Ontario, and the international scale dabbling in alternative rock, shoegaze, new wave, dream pop synthpop, art rock, psych, and more. So without further ado, here are a few acts we wanted to shed a little spotlight on for Day Two.
Photos par Stephan Boissonneault
Annie-Claude Deschênes au restaurant
The very theatrical Annie-Claude Deschênes (PYPY and Duchess Says) put on her restaurant-themed synth wave show for Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Noranda, and stuff got weird. Well, everything is weird about the persona Annie-Claude takes on stage live, but it is quite captivating to watch. She lays down some dark techno and “answers” a phone call about a reservation taking place and sets up the table. The backdrop is a bunch of floating spatulas, mixers, spoons, and forks. The show is more of a play than a concert, but Annie-Claude’s little synthpunk freakouts are why many stayed till the end. It was a multi-dimensional experience, pretty on-brand if you know Annie-Claude Deschênes or any of her other projects.
– Stephan Boissonneault
La Sécurité’s Lessons on Staying Safe!
If you’ve been following PAN M 360 in the last year or so, you know we are huge fans of Montreal the new wave, post-disco punk group, La Sécurité, and their performance at Diable Rond did not disappoint. As I walked in I realized we were going to be getting more of a B-sides, deeper cuts set from La Sécurité’s Stay Safe! debut, with the shoegazey, “K9,” riot-punk-tinged “Hot Topic” and the little joke song “Waiting For Kenny.” Eliane’s dancing was of course on point, putting the audience in a sweaty, frenzied trance. Co-founder/ bass player, Félix Bélisle, was actually on tour with Chose Sauvages at the time, but the fill-in, Jean-Philippe Bourgeois (of Mothland/shoegaze pop band Karma Glider), played every note perfectly. Especially during the funky “Serpent,” which made me think Félix Bélisle had just appeared on stage.
– Stephan Boissonneault
Turning it Up With FouKi
Sometimes, all you need is a little pop act to get you feeling yourself. For me, this relief came in the form of FouKi, a Montreal-based rapper who brought nothing but hype and energy to the people of FME. Smack dab in the centre of the huge crowd, it was hard not to feed off the vibrating people around us—most of whom were singing along to every word.
FouKi has a commanding stage presence and confidence in his delivery that makes him hard to ignore. Though his beats feel like quite standard club sounds and he possibly over relies on his Travis Scott-esque autotune, he had thousands of us in the palm of his hand. Even when he blew out a speaker near the end of the set, the crowd seemed not to mind, happily hopping along to crunchy kicks and distorted, throaty vocals. FouKi was dumb fun and plenty of it—the perfect way to kick off Friday night at FME. – Lyle Hendriks
Rip Pop Mutant Gets Weird With it at FME
Synthy, dark, trippy, futuristic, Rip Pop Mutant took the stage by storm Friday night at FME. With grinding, brooding instrumentals driven by heavy bass, spacy keys, and trance-inducing drums, lead singer Alex Ortiz soared above it with heavy effects on his voice, belting in three languages and undeniably feeling himself.
Ortiz wore a snakeskin housecoat on stage, bringing a quirky vibe to his set that I initially didn’t expect when set against the darker pop-adjacent music before me. One highlight of the show was Ortiz grabbing a fake paper saxophone just in time to ‘play’ his solo, dropping to his knees, and gasping into it with everything he had in him. There’s a rawness and authenticity to Ortiz’s vision here, all rough edges and total commitment to imperfection. But rather than feeling sloppy or low-effort, it’s all clearly by design. I think you’ll agree that Rip Pop Mutant’s name feels so appropriate when you hear the twisted, mutated shades of pop music that arise from this high-energy three-piece. – Lyle Hendriks
