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

Erik Fines at FME – Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey but sweet as Canadian Brandy

by Stephan Boissonneault

The sultry outlaw country twang tunes of Erik Fines were the perfect way to nurse the Sunday morning FME hangover. Within the walls of Rouyn-Noranda’s weird, Twin Peaks-y community hall, the Order of the Moose, audience members were witness to warming lap steel guitar (Ben Valee), rambunctious and skilled saloon piano (Frisco Lee), driving bass (Aiden Keeley), tight ass drumming (Freddy Poulin), and shining rhythm and lead guitar by Erik Fines, complimented by his rugged storyteller ‘round the campfire vocals. The whole vibe felt like a neon prom night, or more correctly, a shotgun wedding band scenario slap dab in 1970 when a band like Crosby, Stills, & Nash, or Humble Pie was running things.

Everyone loved it, including the kids selling the merch in the back who were bopping along like guppies out of water. The backing vocals from Keeley and Lee created a stunning bed for the Country Ghost’s performance, including a “Tennessee Whiskey” cover and a legion of new songs out soon via Baby Horse Records. Two new tunes in particular, “Later Side of Early,” and “New York,” were most relatable to a bunch of drunken, drug-addled festival goers. With this next release, I envision Eriks Fines breaking through the barrier and becoming a name and guy you want to know.

Classical

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | The Stars of the Conservatoire shine in the cold

by Frédéric Cardin

The artistic director (and founder) of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant, Angèle Dubeau, is true to her values: she strongly supports the practice of music by young people. Angèle Dubeau, who hosted the Radio-Canada programme Faites vos gammes (Practice your exercises) from 1994 to 1998, once again gave a few students from the Conservatoire de Montréal an hour and a half of exposure on the event’s main stage (the Quebecor stage). In front of a large and admiring audience, we heard Chloé Dumoulin (solo piano and accompanist to the other instrumentalists), Iza Kamnitzer (violin), Kaïla Stephanos (flute), Juliette Bégin (trumpet), Natasha Henry (soprano), Flavie Lacoste (oboe) and Zhan Hong Xiao (solo piano) perform in succession in the cold of Tremblant (12 degrees). A few spontaneous favourites: the youngest of the group, violinist Iza Kamnitzer, who at 9 years old (and barely more than three apples) played some solid flights of Kreisler and some fine subtleties by Dvorak; soprano Natasha Henry, who seemed to me to be the most polished of the group in terms of finish and technical clarity (very fine French diction in an aria from Massenet’s Manon! ) and Zhan Hong Xiao, a pupil of Richard Raymond who is preparing to take part in the Chopin Competition in 2025. He certainly has the talent and maturity to perhaps come back with a prize, as Charles Richard-Hamelin did in 2015.

Baroque

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Mélisande McNabney and the women of Versailles

by Frédéric Cardin

The last day of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant (in fact, half a day), Monday 2 September 2024 saw the festival’s Quebecor stage give pride of place to one of the most delicate instruments there is: the harpsichord. A delicacy put to the test by the weather: it was chilly! A mere 8 degrees in the morning, and barely 12 by midday, by the time of the concert. In the end, the instrument held up very well. Perhaps that’s because the harpsichordist, Mélisande McNabney, knows it so well and can reassure it with her precise touch. Mélisande gave a top-class performance, despite the circumstances (you can guess that frozen fingers have to move more slowly), accentuated by beautiful introductions that told us some of the stories of women musicians at the Court of Versailles. An hour of serious but extremely enjoyable harpsichord playing (Mélisande’s smiling animation was a great help), which has certainly done much to democratise this instrument among a large audience. So hats off to the organisers of the Fête de la Musique, who dared to ignore prejudices (difficult instrument to approach, arid repertoire, etc.) by offering a public platform to this often ill-considered member of the keyboard family.

Bossa Nova / Classical / Jazz / Opera / Pop

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Music from mother to daughter

by Frédéric Cardin

The second and final major show of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant 2024 featured the artistic sisterhood of Natalie Choquette (mother), Florence K and Éléonore Lagacé (daughters). This infrequent meeting (at least in public) gave rise to some unexpected and sometimes even surprising stylistic crossovers. I had never heard of Éléonore Lagacé’s mezzo lyricism. She demonstrated a very appropriate operatic sense in Carmen and in the duet of the flowers in Lakmé, with Maman. Sometimes solo, sometimes in duet or trio, we moved from jazz to Latin, pop and then classical before returning to one or the other in collisions that emphasised the complicity between the ladies, rather than the technical perfection that occasionally escaped. The large audience took no offence, for it was rather the relationship between the three artists that they had come to savour. In this sense, and with a good dose of hamming it up, mother and daughter lived up to expectations with some touching moments.

Caribbean / Funk / Hip Hop / Reggae / Twoubadou

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Waahli, Music and Stage master

by Frédéric Cardin

Although Waahli’s show on the main stage of La Fête de la Musique de Tremblant was billed as Hip Hop, Waahli’s true musical essence is Haitian groove-soul tinged with Hip Hop (among other things). Such is the nature of the rich, wide-ranging palette of sounds produced by this Montrealer of Haitian origin. In this fiery but smiling groove, we find Funk, Reggae, Konpa and, yes, Hip Hop, with an extra dash of classic Twoubadou and bits of Jazz. To this stylistic richness, Waahli adds a dose of stage presence that imposes with respect and authenticity, as well as an attitude well away from the clichés of violent, macho Hip Hop. Waahli appeals to everyone, and Tremblant’s ‘hilltop’ square was well inhabited with youngsters dancing to the hard beats and grey-heads swinging their arms at the singer’s cues. Tremblant was the last stop on a Quebec tour, so the current version of Sundance, Men sou yo, Mal du pays, Teke fren and many others were played for the last time. Angèle Dubeau repeats that this is a festival for ‘all kinds of music’. The proof is in the programming.

Classical / latino / Tango / Tango Nuevo

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Piazzolla told in words and music

by Frédéric Cardin

At once didactic, playful and musically solid, cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy and guitarist Christ Habib’s show Hommage à Piazzolla succeeds in making a history lesson on the life and career of the great composer/bandoneonist light and entertaining. Over the course of an hour, the two young artists use music to take us from the composer’s very beginnings (influenced by traditional tango, then jazz and finally very serious classical music) to his maturity, that of Tango Nuevo. Even if the two musicians’ presentations lack a little professionalism, the information offered and their relative conciseness have the advantage of adding a dose of meat around the bone for the many laymen, without making it academic. That said, the most remarkable thing there is the quality of the duo’s playing, particularly that of Beauséjour-Ostiguy. His technical ease, coupled with an intensely felt musicality, make him one of today’s finest young classical talents. Hats off, too, to Christ Habib, who expresses himself with a beautiful tactile delicacy.