Palomosa | Jai Paul Has Finally Arrived

by Lyle Hendriks

I guess I just saw one of Jai Paul’s first live shows ever, which feels unbelievable. The elusive British songwriter/producer has freshly returned from a nearly decade-long hiatus, having performed his first ever live set as a Coachella headliner in April.

It seems incredibly improbable that, of all places, the brand new Palomosa fest would be the place I see this enigmatic artist perform.

Jai Paul is one of the strangest performers I’ve ever seen. Unlike most shows of this level, he’s obviously still getting his sea legs for playing live. That’s not to say that he’s making mistakes (the entire band played flawlessly), but that you can see the joy and the novelty painted all over Paul’s face. With the rain finally, mercifully, gone, it was a beautiful evening to watch Paul glide over his strange, labyrynthian instrumentals with his incredible vocals. Restrained, even delicate, his voice is almost textural at points, mixed way down so that it becomes enmeshed with everything else.

With rock-solid percussion and disco-inspired slap bass, Jai Paul sounds like an oddball blend of Daft Punk and Mk.gee. His compositions are irregular and hard to predict, and yet they glide right by like fireflies in the night. From time to time, Paul would step up the vocals and deliver a goosebump-inducing high note, never failing to elicit a huge cheer from the crowd.

He played the perfect mix of old and new, covering all of the hits—including “Str8 Outta Mumbai” (2013), which was going so hard that he stopped mid-song and started over. It was a truly gorgeous set, one where every single person, including Paul, seemed delighted to be there. As Jai Paul embarks on his first ever tour later this month, we can only hope this is the beginning of a beautiful new era for one of pop music’s most unsung heroes.

Palomosa | The Dare: Slutty, Gen-Z Elvis

by Lyle Hendriks

If you’ve blinked recently, you might have missed the rapid but inevitable comeup of The Dare, the moniker for LA popstar Harrison Patrick Smith. Having arose to stardom after collaborations with Charli XCX, The Dare is enjoying sudden icon status amidst the release of his debut LP, What’s Wrong With New York? (2024, Republic Records).

Smith took the stage during the afternoon of Palomosa’s second day, greeting a soaking wet crowd of impressive size, considering the torrential rain. Dressed in his signature, Blues-Brothers-meets-Alex-Turner look of a slim-fit black suit and Ray-Bans, he immediately launched into a rousing performance of “Perfume”, bringing incredible energy with nothing but a backing track and two modular synths behind him.

From what little I knew, I expected The Dare to be a more aloof performer. But fortunately, he moves constantly, meaning the energy never dipped from its starting point of 100%. He marched up and down the stage, folding himself in half over the mic stand, kicking his knee out like a slutty, Gen-Z Elvis. Although he was singing to the complete track (vocals included), he still gave a powerful performance on the mic, with crystal clear diction that has harkened so many comparisons to LCD Soundsystem.

Admittedly, I hadn’t listened to much of The Dare prior to this show, but it turned out to be no problem at all. His energy onstage is nothing short of infectious—a much-needed shot of adrenaline as we stood hunkered in the downpour. And by the time he closed the set with his biggest hit, the debaucherous, degenerate “Girls” (which saw approximately 100% of the audience bouncing around and screaming the oh-so-catchy hook), I think we had forgotten all about the weather.

Brazilian / Brazilian jazz / Jazz

Brazilian Days | Manoel Vieira : A Tribute to João Donato Better Than The Original?

by Michel Labrecque

On Saturday, September 7, Duluth Street was transformed into a mini-Brazil. Churrascos (Brazilian barbecues), food stalls of all kinds, hundreds of people speaking mostly Brazilian Portuguese, and music. It was on this note that the Brazilian Days kicked off, before rain spoiled the party in the afternoon.

Pianist and composer Manoel Vieira and his musician friends were the first to take to the stage. Just hearing them warm up, it was clear to my ears that we were in for an above-average concert of Brazilian music.

Manoel gave us a tribute concert to the great Brazilian jazzman and composer João Donato, who died last year. It started with Vento do Carnaval and ended with Bananeira. And we were floating for just over an hour.

Manoel Vieira studied classical piano while being an adept of improvised music. In 2020, he released Rhizome, a blend of bebop and Brazilian forro. He teaches at the Université de Montréal and occasionally performs with Brazilian symphony orchestras. Listen to my interview with him on PANM360 to learn more.(Manoel Vieira to Launch Brazilian Days – PAN M 360)

On stage, he was supported by a group of super-solid musicians. Erivan Duarte on bass, Laurent Cauchy on trombone, Thiago Ferté on saxophone, Aquiles Melo on drums and percussion, and João Lenhari on trumpet and flugelhorn. The latter also teaches at the Université de Montréal and leads his big band. I joked with him that Brazil was invading the university’s music faculty. What do you expect,” he replied, ”we’re the best.

Indeed, the musicians in this group are excellent. While following João Donato’s skilful melodies, they gave their all in improvisations and solos. A mixture of virtuosity and emotion. Unfortunately, as it was the beginning of the day, there weren’t enough of us. But those who were there were all smiles.

Let’s hope this concert is repeated soon in a venue more conducive to listening. A magical musical moment. Knowledgeable and festive!

Publicité panam

Pop / Pop-Punk / Shoegaze

Palomosa | Underscores Wins Us Over

by Lyle Hendriks

It’s not every day that I find a performer loveable onstage, but Underscores managed to do just that. April Harper Grey, the performer behind this sensational San Francisco pop act, has a charming energy, and you can’t help but root for her as she thrashes around alone on the massive, empty Palomosa stage.

Although her set began a little tame and timid as the crowd started to fill out, Grey quickly found her footing within the first few songs, commanding far more attention than most backing track solo artists could muster. From shoegaze-inspired pop-punk to autotuned, baby voice bangers, we got a full introduction to Underscores for the uninitiated.

A daylight set is never easy for a performer of this type, whose music is no doubt better suited to a dark club show. Despite this, Underscores methodically won the crowd over one track at a time. She showed more of her personality when speaking between songs, showing off a sweet side that made her easy to like. I was particularly impressed when she politely asked us to kneel down for a quiet part of the set: “I know it’s early, but it would be cool if everyone got down for this part and jumped around when it drops. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” How can you refuse an offer like that? I kneeled, looked around, and realized virtually 100% of the audience was doing the same thing. It’s a small display, but it’s also not something that every artist could pull off.

By the end, people were moving hard, thoroughly on Underscores side as both she and the crowd amped things up. Halfhearted fistbumps morph into frenetic dancing. Restrained applause give way to full-spirited hollers, and all this energy clearly makes it up to Grey onstage, who feeds off of it in a beautiful, reciprocal display of entropy and joy. Subtle, yet insistent, restrained, yet confident, Underscores did everything she could without ever doing too much, and we loved her for it.

Electro-Pop

Palomosa | Snow Strippers, Ice-Cold Heat

by Lyle Hendriks

Effortless, sexy, and beyond confident, Detroit-based electropop duo Snow Strippers bring nothing short of ice-cold heat to their live performance.

Vocalist Tatiana Schwaninger strikes a delightful balance between soft, feminine delivery and thunderous hype, bringing Snow Strippers’ signature duality to life for a live audience. Dressed in a mismatched crochet set, Schwaninger is like your playground crush all grown up, pulling us onto the dancefloor by the hair with each dirty track they play.

Some people might be turned off by Snow Strippers’ use of early Youtube-esque instrumentals, corny soundbites, and relentless irony. But to me, the genuine love for this music shines so brightly that you can’t help but get into it, sinking your teeth into each vulgar, indulgent musical moment.

DJ/producer Graham Perez is offers incredibly skilled support for the vocals. He sounds like he’s gotten so good at DJing that he’s begun to reject whatever is cool and subversive, instead sinking to the level of primally-satisfying beats that worm their way into your brain and refuse to let go. He has an awkward, yet strangely loveable stage presence, dressed like a Gucci frat boy and obnoxiously fist-bumping his way across the stage like he just took a pill in Ibiza. As annoying as it sounds, it’s actually completely indispensable for the set, offering the perfect counterbalance for the sultry, feminine energy of Schwaninger.

The music of Snow Strippers is good enough for them do nothing at all up there, and yet they continuously throw their intentionally corny energy right in your face, easily bringing the irresistible, dark club vibes of their performance—even in broad daylight.

cloud rap

Palomosa | Yung Lean Reigns Supreme

by Lyle Hendriks

The highlight of my Friday at Palomosa was, without a doubt, Swedish rapper/singer Yung Lean. Yung Lean has come a long way since his earliest cloud-rap releases in 2012 and 2013, delving further into R&B and acoustic ballads rather than the signature, bass-boosted crimewave sounds that defined his early careers.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, that Yung Lean’s set at Palomosa wasn’t restricted to his more recent influences. Instead, we were treated to a captivating journey through the very best of Yung Lean’s entire catalogue. From his opening track (the ethereal “Ginseng Strip 2002”), Yung Lean brought an incredible stage presence despite being a rather reserved performer, urging us to lean in and pay attention, commanding our emotions like the moon commands the tides.

Few artists can so convincingly perform both 808-heavy crime anthems and soft, devastatingly beautiful odes to love and self—Yung Lean refuses to pick a lane, bringing both sides of his energy together into a greatest hits set for the ages. Swaying, raging, collapsing into a weeping heap—all of it is on the table when the criminally unassuming Yung Lean takes the stage.

Despite some of these songs being more than a decade old, he manages to deliver them as something fresh and new, bringing the older, wiser version of himself as he revisits teenage emotional ballads and odes to Afghani kush alike. It never feels inauthentic when Yung Lean dips into his back catalogue, but rather feels like a revisiting of old emotions, reflected through a more adult lens that adds new dimensions to these classic tracks.

Yung Lean got on the mic near the end, right before dipping into the devastatingly beautiful, generation-defining ballad of “Agony”. “I started Yung Lean when I was 16,” he said, thanking us for being there, “And this is just the beginning.” Here’s to another decade of Yung Lean reigning supreme.

EDM / Electronic / Techno

Palomosa | Gesaffelstein at the top of the festival

by Sami Rixhon

Palomosa’s big hit: French electronic artist Gesaffelstein performed late Friday evening, bringing the first day of this new festival to a close. The performance was convincing, and confirmed the organizers’ choice of Gesaffelstein as headliner.

On the remnants of an already nostalgic summer, in memory of the defunct Montréal Électronique Groove, Palomosa presented a fine line-up of urban artists to get the most curious Montreal fans of the genre on their feet.

At 9.50pm, Gesaffelstein kicks off the final performance of the day at the Videotron stage with The Urge, from his third and most recent album, Gamma. The piercing yellow eyes of Gesaffelstein’s headphones, known as “the black prince of French techno”, pierce the darkness of the venue. The artist stands at the top of the stage podium, his mixers resembling long black crystals. Laser beams and space-like projections accompany the oppressive music orchestrated by Gesaffelstein. The dark, bass-heavy musical style recalls the compositions of Justice, who performed just a few hundred meters away at Osheaga 2024 a month ago.

The atmosphere never lets up throughout the set, and the audience seems more than satisfied with what they see on stage. The festival-goers’ outfits aren’t all suited to the September evening temperatures, but give a jolt of reminder of Palomosa’s primary mandate: here, you’re free, here, you’ll always feel welcome.

Hip Hop / rap

Palomosa | Destroy Lonely and its playslist…

by Sami Rixhon

Playboi Carti’s young protégé, Destroy Lonely, played to an enthusiastic crowd in Palomosa on Friday. The atmosphere was great, but the quality of the performance was less than impressive. As is often the case with rap concerts…

It’s a few minutes before 8 pm, the sun has already set and reminds us that the leaves in the trees will soon be colored. The crowd at the front of the stage is 90% young men, wearing branded hoodies or balaclavas.

From the very first notes of LUV 4 YA, the mosh pit was formed and didn’t stop for the whole performance, which lasted just under an hour. Destroy Lonely, sporting white-rimmed sunglasses, performed tracks from his album LOVE LASTS FOREVER, released just a week ago.

And yet… The Opium rapper relies for the most part on the pre-recorded tape of his songs, so he doesn’t go out of his way to make his performance more appealing than a Spotify playlist. Imagine a classical music orchestra simulating a Beethoven symphony, using their instruments as mere decorative props. Wouldn’t that cause a scandal? Who knows why it’s become such a rap standard?

Africa / Afro Funk / Afrobeat / Saharan Blues

Sahad, The New King of Afrobeat

by Sandra Gasana

A gentle introduction. A guitar, a voice. That’s how Sahad welcomed us to his very first concert at Club Balattou last Thursday. He is joined by Joon Ho Wantete on piano, Christian Obam, the bassist everyone’s raving about at the moment, Raphaël Ojo, with his contagious smile, on drums and backing vocals, and Frédéric Bourgeault on trumpet.

Mixing Wolof, French and English, he took us from blues to afrobeat, funk and reggae, sometimes with no transition between tracks. At times, we thought we were at a Fela Kuti concert, so perfect was his mastery of this style of Nigerian music. He repeatedly addressed the crowd with the question: “Are you alive tonight?”, before moving on to another track.

The complicity with his musicians was palpable, particularly with Joon Ho, who seems to have worked with the artist for a long time. “Some of the musicians I used to play with in Senegal are now based in Montreal,” he told me during our interview a few days earlier (Sahad, Taxi-Brousse in Song – PAN M 360), while others had flown in from London and Abidjan for the occasion.

In addition to playing guitar, he incorporated percussion into his show, sometimes engaging in percussive dialogues with his drummer or interacting with the trumpet, which heightened the musical intensity in the room.

The audience also had an important role to play in following Sahad’s instructions, particularly on the track Ayeye. While the first part of the show was performed in front of a seated audience, the second part was quite different. The artist invited the audience to move closer to the stage, and that was all it took for them to start dancing. The song Kadio Blues was a particular crowd-pleaser, with its breathtaking trumpet and keyboard solos.

To top it all off, Malian diva and griot Djely Tapa blessed the stage with her powerful, haunting voice, while Sahad’s compatriot Seydina charmed us with his unique vocals.

My favorite song was the tribute to Dakar, which took me back to my memories of the city I’d just visited a few weeks earlier. “The next song, we’re going to Senegal. It’s important to sing a song from home,” he announced by way of introduction, with a passage he had the crowd repeat: Dakar ndiaye nekhna, which means Dakar, the wonderful capital. Sahad showcases his musicians, giving them the space they need for their respective solos, sometimes playing the role of conductor. One thing’s for sure: Montreal’s Senegalese community missed quite a show last Thursday. Let’s hope that word-of-mouth will do its job so that on his next visit to our metropolis, the Balattou will be packed to the rafters with his compatriots, who have everything to discover in this multi-talented artist.

Photo credit: Peter Graham

Publicité panam

Martyr at FME – Perpetual Death Metal Healing (Infinite Pain)

by Stephan Boissonneault

There’s something about a metal show in Rouyn-Noranda that makes the locals go absolutely ballistic. Such was the case when the ’90s technical power metal house from Trois-Rivières , Martyr, took the stage and played tunes from their three albums; Hopeless Hopes, Warp Zone, and Feeding The Abscess. The setlist was a long one; close to 20 songs with a four-song encore, but the metal heads of FME ate it up like concrete cake and smashed into each other in a violent mosh pit. Martyr has the speedy thrash metal chops and strange time signatures, reminiscent of Voivod, mixed with a bit of Dying Fetus and the weirdness of Meshuggah. The visual show, like all shows at Petit Theatre, led by the incomparable projectionist/VJ, Anthony Piazza, also added a grim and melodic burst to the crowd’s energy.

Due to Martyr’s synthetic and cybernetic complexity, their songs sometimes felt like 8 or 10 minutes, even though they were in reality four minutes. It’s an aspect that anyone of progressive metal or rock loves, but I could see a few concertgoers slowly waning. This was also the last night of FME; a bender for the ages, so we were all very sleep-deprived. I gotta hand it to Martyr though; they didn’t stop the energy once and clearly know they have talent, as noted by the guitar tab books at the merch table.

FME DAY 4 I Patche brings a strange & hypnotic end to FME

by Lyle Hendriks

The very last act of FME was krautrock outfit Patche, who filled the stage with a practical wall of synths on one side, and an analog bassist and drummer on the other. Their music is trance-inducing, trippy, and incredibly refined, perfectly melting and congealing into itself as you get drawn deeper in. Combining three modular synths, the group interweaves layer after layer of electronic drums, hypnotic rhythms, and jaw-dropping bass solos that compel movement.

This is music to get lost in, letting it channel through your body directly without thinking too hard about it. Because half of the band is working on a synth, it sometimes means they can take a break, giving the impression of a musical machine being assembled before us rather than a constantly involved musical performance. But on the other hand, the bassist and drummer are playing nonstop, intricate parts, in perfect sync with the quantized synths and each other, meaning Patche never loses its urgency.

Though the technical ability on display was brilliant, these are massive songs that could have me gently swaying into an early grave after being on my feet covering the last 4 days of FME. Having seen about an hour of Patche, I bid them, and the festival, a fond goodbye.

FME DAY 4 I Hallelujah for Hezekiah Procter

by Lyle Hendriks

I stand hungover in the hot, bright, lunchroom-esque venue at L’Ordre Loyal des Mooses, bracing myself for a 1920s-style country band. Half of the crowd sits on the dusty floor at the front, further amplifying the bizarre sensation of being at a talent show. Hezekiah Procter and his ragtag team of suspender-sporting, doohickey-toting gentlemen take the stage.

They’re in period costume. A man is playing a sousaphone. The violin player asks the front five rows to stand and dance. No one does. What follows is a strange and dreamlike experience, as though I had drank so much that I traveled through time. I am in the small, remote mining town of Rouyn Noranda, circa 1926, in a well-lit room full of working folk. Hezekiah, the traveling medicine company singer, has come to play songs about unions, fearing God, and the many amazing things you can buy in the Sears-Robuck Catalogue.

Hezekiah and his merry men are hilarious, approaching this theatre/history/band project with both levity and genuine respect for the source material. Every member gets their own song to sing, and the instruments are constantly being switched out for even more niche 20th-century equipment. There are foot-stompers, barn-burners, sponsored endorsement sections, murder ballads, and a stunning acapella number.

I later found out there was a funeral reception happening in the basement during this show, which for some reason doesn’t surprise me. An absolutely rapturous performance spit-shined to perfection—and a surprisingly good hangover cure.

photos by Stephan Boissonneault @a_1993_Santiago