Pop Montréal Day 3 | Shabazz Palaces and Bahamadia, nec plus hip- hop

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Friday l’Entrepôt 77

Thelonious

Straight from Toronto, Thelonious bravely took to the stage of a virtually empty Entrepôt 77. Aided for a few tracks by a guest MC, he delivered a fast, powerful flow of lyrics over rather quiet instrumental tracks. Not averse to swearing, the aggressiveness of the lyrics seemed to convey an expression of personal narrative and committed awareness. The highlight of the performance was Thelonious’s ability to interact with his audience, despite the fact that they arrived in dribs and drabs. He was indeed very communicative with the crowd, whether between songs or between verses, showing a promising potential to hook the Montreal audience. All in all, the artist and his acolytes set the stage well for the hip-hop-filled evening that was to follow.

Blxck Cxsper

As the sun set, Blxck Cxsper took to the stage in solo mode, lights and pre-recorded tracks in tow. Already, the tone was darker and heavier for the opening tracks. The artist’s non-binary identity was an important element of the performance from the outset, an aspect emphasized in particular in the conceptual explanations provided between pieces. Blxck Cxsper has indeed built a whole mythology around their music, where a world of superheroes enhanced with queer references runs through the bilingual lyrics. This world is even expressed through extramusical media such as a comic book and a video game.

Musically, the instrumental tracks sometimes ventured closer to warm jazz, with brass sections to the fore. Blxck Cxsper had a good command of their vocal range, switching easily between high-pitched melodious vocals and lower rap. Nevertheless, there was some friction on the tonal accuracy side, notably between the artist’s vocal performance and the layers of vocals already present in the tracks. This detail only slightly affected the interest of the performance, which was otherwise varied and engaging despite the still small audience.

Shabazz Palaces

When the five members of Shabazz Palaces took to the stage, a whole parallel universe of sound took over. By this time, the crowd had suddenly expanded, ready to bathe in a dynamic continuum of sound. The multi-instrumentalists supporting Ishmael Butler’s rap switched easily between acoustic instruments and synthesizers. Clearly virtuosic, these musicians occasionally moved in perfect synchronicity, an energy that drew the audience into a collective bounce. We heard saxophone, electric bass and electric guitar, all with their own solo during the performance. Butler was also a master of his tools, sometimes creating loops with his voice and transforming all his interactions with the crowd into slams that served as transitions between pieces. He also used the tambourine sparingly and noisily, contributing to the music’s soaring effect. Clearly, the band indulged in a fair amount of improvisation, resulting in a performance distinct from that heard on album. True to form, Shabazz Palaces didn’t serve up any rehash to their audience, who were visibly grateful given the vigorous applauses. A highlight of the festival.

Bahamadia

In front of a warmed-up Entrepôt 77, Bahamadia took to the stage to close the evening, with her hip-hop performed to the highest standards. The soul and funk-infused beats were immediately reminiscent of the 1990s, a musical decade to which she was a contributor. Bahamadia’s rhythmic flow was powerful, precise and generally fast, demonstrating a total mastery of the microphone and the rhymes projected onto it. This continuous flow was also interspersed with interventions from the beatmaker and various vocal interjections, stimulating a dialogue with the audience. With hip-hop in her soul, the pioneer gave a masterful performance. The contrast between the casualness of the instrumental tracks and the intensity of her rap was spot on. The bass lines were particularly present in the sound balance, which further supported a highly contagious movement easily induced in the crowd. It was hard not to bop your head from start to finish under such circumstances.