At the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, PAN M 360’s experts attend the concerts that shake up music lovers. Follow our team!

Photo credits : Benoît Rousseau

Samara Joy Defies All Suspicion

Was there any reason to be suspicious? Samara Joy wins a Grammy, two Grammys, revelation of the year, jazz album of the year. The 23-year-old has two albums, one of them self-produced. And now the Grammys jury has decided that a classical jazz singer outshines all the emerging pop singers of 2023. Listening distractedly to Samara Joy, we say to ourselves, well, here’s another jazz fundamentalist titillating the bien-pensants of American culture. Not very excited, then.

But then I think, let’s not avoid the subject, let’s not snub it. That these widely publicized victories, legitimate or not, deserve our attention. So it wasn’t without skepticism that I volunteered to cover Samara Joy. And… once again, preconceptions are shattered. We hear her during a short appearance on Saturday evening, guest of piano prodigy Julius Rodriguez. Hm, not a museum replica of Sarah Vaughan, perhaps more than that. Then PAN M 360 is offered an interview with this young woman.

She’s very tall, she’s brilliant, she’s nice. No pretensions. Two hours later, we turn up at Monument National. She’s swapped her relaxed outfit for an evening gown and heels. She intones This Is the Moment, our ears flutter, our eyes widen. So this wasn’t one of those incoherent, disconnected choices the Grammys are sometimes capable of.

Samara Joy has an alto register but can push into that of a soprano. This is not just the result of rigorous technique, but a gift of nature. The variety of timbres, modulations and variations in power are all assets for this exceptional singer.

Superbly at ease on stage, humble and proud, very funny, entertaining to the max. She knows how to make her own a standard like Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust or Tom Jobim’s Chega de Saudade, or a vocal adaptation of Nostalgia by bop trumpeter Fats Navarro, or the hybridization of Stevie Wonder and Nancy Wilson, or even those incandescent lines in homage to the great Betty Carter, an influence more evident in Samara Joy. Which is excellent news for the future.

Alain Brunet

JaRon Leads Us All to the Cosmos

JaRon Marshall, the keyboardist for the Black Pumas, revived a sleepy crowd at Rogers Stage, as he played 80s percent of his debut full-length solo album, earth sounds on Sunday night at FIJM. Backed up by a fantastic drummer and bassist—who he only started playing with on the same day—JaRon lead the crowd through a whirlwind of cosmic jazz that was a bit Return to Forever and Pharoah Sanders. The main instrument was, of course, two keyboards that JaRon commanded with ease.

It looked as if he didn’t break a sweat during his synthy freakout solos or complex chord arrangments. The band did a great job of keeping the groove for the crowd, without diving too much into the realm of free jazz. JaRon is clearly a maestro who loves emotional jazz music and we were lucky to witness him on a smaller, more intimate, stage because this guy could easily be playing the main stages in a year or two.

Stephan Boissonneault

Elliot Maginot Nests on the Esplanade

At 11 pm, singer-songwriter Elliot Maginot performs on the Esplanade at Place des Arts. On the stage, garlands of lights run through the space, climbing over the equipment and delimiting the playground. Six decorative owls are scattered around the front of the stage and on the equipment… an animal that has apparently become the artist’s symbol of choice, judging by his communications on social networks.

Elliot Maginot’s concert kicks off with an atmospheric sound, to which a few guitar ripples are added. A soaring sound that both builds tension and relaxes muscles. As the musicians prepare, the audience warms up. Then it’s off to 55 minutes of flattering folk-pop, sometimes bouncy, sometimes contemplative, and above all luminously tinged with saxophone, marimba, cello, and West African touches. The drums resonate in the chest, and the artist’s voice, in the mind. 

Elliot Maginot stands out for his pinched, breathy voice, and also for his intense yet restrained performance. When he sings, his body and face tense with emotion, and his voice is shot through with a quiver – not a vibrato – that lifts the longer words and ends of phrases. An unusual singer, perhaps, but a singer nonetheless. You can tell when you see him on stage.

In short, a charming show! Let’s just say that the branch on which Elliot Maginot is perched doesn’t make you want to leave.

Théo Reinhardt

Blue Moon Marquee Brings their Raspy Gypsy Blues to FIJM

It was nice to see Blue Moon Marquee, an Albertan band with humble beginnings as a two-piece, play to a larger crowd at Scene Loto Quebec. They were competing with Vance Joy at the same time, but the true heads—the crowd looking for something a bit more than generic folk, began to grow and grow. It must have been the haunting, Tom Waits-esque vocals, from A.W Cardinal, or the rhythm section, played by Jasmine Colette on stand-up bass and drums. You read that right. She plays both and literally punches the crash cymbals while playing and singing. Nothing more punk rock and DIY than that. Without her the band is nothing.

It’s usually just a two-piece, but this show they were joined by a saloon-style keyboard/ organ which added a whole other dimension to the bluesy lead guitar and thumping bass. This band is full of intensity and their energy is wild and untameable. Cardinal ended the set by singing without a microphone and his raspy voice carried to the back of the crowd. Make sure you check out Blue Moon Marquee next time you get the chance.

Stephan Boissonneault

Vance Joy Charms the FIJM Crowd

Just over a year after the release of his third album, In Our Own Sweet Time, Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy took the FIJM stage late Sunday evening. In front of a jam-packed Place des Festivals, the 35-year-old performed a happy mix of tracks from his various projects for almost 90 minutes. Placed in the middle of the stage, with his guitar or ukulele in hand, Vance Joy was accompanied on stage by various musicians, including a trumpet player and a saxophonist, bringing even more richness and depth to his best hits. With all smiles, the Australian kicked off his performance with ”Missing Piece”, a track from his latest opus.

Halfway through, Vance Joy got the crowd going when he took to his ukulele for his track Saturday Sun, then slowed the tempo with his ballad “We’re Going Home”. During the latter, people gathered in front of the stage waved their lights, making for a superb moment. Without a doubt, the highlight of the show was when he sang his most popular track to date, Riptide. It was party time, and the crowd went wild singing the song’s lyrics. Just when you thought the performance of his biggest hit signalled the end of his set, the artist surprised everyone with a well-done cover of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” There’s no denying that Vance Joy has captured the hearts of millions of listeners with his pop over the years, and last night was no exception!

Jacob Langlois-Pelletier

At the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, PAN M 360’s experts attend all the concerts that shake up music lovers. Follow our team!

Julius Rodriguez: One of the Greats at 24

Despite a first set cut short due to “weather conditions”, young pianist-drummer-composer Julius Rodriguez had the crowd tucked away under the shelter of the La Traversée Molson Export pub in the Quartier des Spectacles’ Place Tranquille totally glued to his vivacity, intelligence, and virtuosity. Rodriguez’s method is simple: always base himself on a motif, a melodic-rhythmic phrase, a riff, or a simple, catchy theme, and then unleash all his expressive possibilities.

Rodriguez is a young musician as instinctive in improvisation as he is remarkably well-educated in technique (classical AND jazz). His limpid and frankly exciting playing is imbued with emancipation that he knows how to communicate to his partners on double bass, drums (as he has mostly played piano), and trumpet. They are as at ease with their interpretative boldness as they are with the task of making it all coherent with their leader’s vision.

A few Hancock gems (including “Butterfly”), but plenty of material from his two active albums (one full-length and one EP, just in) and some new material too, which he hasn’t named yet. I suggest Rainy Night in Montreal, because it’s sure to be a memorable moment. As a bonus, for just one track (“In Heaven,” featured on Let Sound Tell All released in 2022): the masterful voice of Samara Joy, who is rightly compared to Ella, Nina, and Sarah. A true lesson in vocal expressivity. The next time Julius comes to Montreal, it will be in a concert hall, at a high price.

Frédéric Cardin

Theon Cross Uncovers the Mysterious Sounds of the Tuba

Theon Cross plays the tuba like someone who has discovered every secret the instrument possesses. No one really knew what we were in store for inside the walls of TD Studio but most of the show was Theon Cross and a reverb-y guitar player making some cosmic sounds, that reminded me of the interludes in a song from The Comet is Coming.

The guitar almost acted like a feedback machine, diving more into the ambient rock realm, as the tuba was always at the forefront of the performance. A few pieces had only Cross playing the tuba with complex breathing techniques that made the instrument sound like a screeching cat. To be honest, after 15 minutes of this kind of solo performance, I had seen what I needed to. He’s very skilled but you can only be amazed at how many sounds you can make with the tuba, so many times.

Stephan Boissonneault

Moon Hooch: Jazzy, Brassy, EDM for this Generation

Moon Hooch exists at a weird impasse where they could be a straight EDM band led by saxophones, or a more soundscape jazz trio. Though, they definitely favoured the danceability of their music during their rainy, indoor, Canada Day performance at Gesu. The venue may have hosted seats, but it only took 15 minutes for Moon Hooch to get everyone standing and dancing to their impressive dueling saxophone music.

The drummer really needs a mention here because he keeps the time and groove as Michael and Wenzl keep the madness going. Some of the songs sounded like straight-up techno or house music and if I wasn’t watching them switch between baritone, alto, and tenor saxophones live, I would have sworn the songs were coming from the synth patches. Moon Hooch basically takes turns acting like DJs hyping up the crowd while their other bandmates are playing their hearts out. I think the venue choice was an odd one because a band with that much energy should have played on an outdoor stage.

Stephan Boissonneault

Anomalie en formule big band, ce n’est qu’un début !

photo credit: Benoît Rousseau

On Rio Tinto stage, more than 15 musicians were involved in Anomalie, a jazz-fusion-soul-R&B-dancehall project led by Montreal keyboardist and composer Nicolas Lemieux.

The prediction is easy to make: in any configuration, Anomalie is promised to a brilliant international career in the instrumental pop world . This big band formula is not commonplace in the local jazz scene, but it is becoming increasingly so among the generation of 30-somethings who have imbibed the hip-hop of Kendrick Lamar, the electro of Flying Lotus, and the jazz groove coming out of the new scenes in Los Angeles, Chicago and London.

As he explains in an interview, Nicolas Lemieux does not seek to transcend the forms of modern jazz, but rather to compose orchestral music as if it were a pop song with jazzified extensions. On Saturday, the thousands of soaked fans after a long downpour cut the 90-minute performance in half. The audience was nonetheless happy to vibrate to rhythms closer to instrumental hip-hop than jazz, to powerful, harmonically consonant riffs, and to a handful of choreographed soloists such as trumpeter Andy King or the leader himself on keyboards.

This instrumental pop speaks to anyone who has experienced adolescence or young adulthood over the past two decades. Everyone can find their way around it, the markers are clear and there’s no head-scratching on the horizon. Nicolas Lemieux’s songwriting doesn’t lead to atonal explorations, takes few non-binary rhythmic paths, and sticks to catchy melodies and friendly riffs. All good reasons to believe in Anomalie’s present and future success.

Alain Brunet

League, Brock, Thomas, Spark: magnificent mix of instruments and styles

Snarky Puppy is that iconoclastic American jazz band, who performed on June 30 at the Jazziest as a large ensemble, to celebrate their latest album Empire Central. 

On July 1, we were treated to a quartet from Snarky Puppy. Violinist Zach Brock, drummer JT Thomas, keyboardist Bobby Sparks and bassist and leader Michael League. 

Violin , keyboard, drums, bass – it’s a rare combination.

These four musicians have worked with so many people, from David Crosby to Stanley Clarke to David Liebman, the RH Factor, Fred Hammond. And they’ve all known each other for a long time.

The quartet took off like a lion, to a Wayne Shorter theme, followed by Stevie Wonder. I didn’t recognize the piece, so powerful was the jazz improvisation. 

These four free spirits improvise on well-known themes, but don’t know where their complicity will lead them. Sometimes it’s pure jazz, sometimes heart-rending soul, sometimes on the rock edge..

Michael League explained the origins of this quartet to us: in the early days of Snarky Puppy, in Texas, in 2007, League, Sparks and Thomas went to a small club in Dallas every monday night to improvise non-stop. Violinist Zach Brock occasionally joined in. 

The Jazz Festival offered Michael League a second night’s performance, and he chose to resurrect the experience.  

And no one was bored: Jt Thomas sang a Bill Whiters song Who is He And What Is He To You, which led to some wild improvisations… Violinist Zach Broch was all subtlety, Bobby Sparks went wild on his organ. 

Then there was De Angelo’s Voodoo. And a blues whose name I’ve forgotten.

Throughout the show, Michael League, as usual, held things together with his roaring electric bass. He even allowed himself a few solo flights, including one with a fuzz pedal that scratched our spines.

I’ve said it many times on this site: Michael League is one of the most creative American musicians of his generation. He demonstrated this once again.  

And the crowd, multi-generational, would have taken it again.

Michel Labrecque

At the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, PAN M 360’s experts attend all the concerts that shake up music lovers. Follow our team!

Buddy Guy Keeps The Blues Alive at FIJM

Buddy Guy at FIJM / Benoit Rousseau

At 86-years-old, Buddy Guy conveyed to a sold-out crowd at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier why he is a revered OG blues legend, during the FIJM. After an hour of the young opener, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram—who is taking up the mantle left by guys like Buddy Guy—the legend himself walked slowly onto the stage in jean overalls and a polka dot shirt. His voice still sounds as pure and soulful as the day he started—as if he’s leading the crowd through a religious sermon. But instead of god, he’s preaching the blues, the very thing he is somewhat responsible for popularizing and really keeping alive in the last few years. “They’ve stopped playing this kind of blues music in the States and I’m not sure why,” Buddy Guy said in a hushed tone to the crowd. “And those hip-hoppers get to swear on the radio so, now I’m like, well shit, I gotta start swearing at my shows.”

On the stage, Buddy Guy is part comedian, gyrating and thrusting into his guitar, perfectly making his guitar sound like it’s crying or laughing. He’s still got the same charisma you’d expect from Buddy Guy. He could have easily sat in a chair and no one could fault him, but no, he moved across the stage, cracked jokes at the expense of the crowd—a real showman. And he’s still got the chops, soloing like a bored god with an in-the-red guitar tone and sound. During the blues standard “How Blue Can You Get,” he stopped halfway saying “I don’t want anyone saying ‘Oh I came to the show and it was good, but he didn’t play this or that.'” He then busted out a one-minute version John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom,” and followed it up with Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” perfectly parroting the distinctive guitar styles. The night ended on a high when he brought out the Kingfish for a jam, but Buddy Guy let the young 24-year-old take the spotlight as he sang “Cheaper to Keep Her.”

“Ladies and gentlemen I remember being in Mississippi and hearing this young man play and thinking ‘Hmm I gotta do something bout that,'” Buddy said to the crowd. This is indeed the farewell tour of Buddy Guy, but I get the sense that he will never stop playing, never stop preaching the blues, or finding the next crop of young talent. “Bye Montreal, I’ll see y’all next time.” Sure Buddy. See you then.

Stephan Boissonneault

The Avishai Cohen trio // Benoit Rousseau

Avishai Cohen Brings The Shifting Sands

For fans of Avishai Cohen, the last two years of the festival have been a special two years. Avishai was scheduled to perform with his trio last year but, at the last minute, his pianist was unable to make the show. To his credit, Avishai made the best of the situation and performed an intimate set of Israeli folk songs with him singing and playing piano, as well as playing some duo with the phenomenal drummer Roni Kaspi. This year, Avishai returned to the Théâtre Maisonneuve and delivered what was first promised and more.

The night was brimming with anticipation, and the band played through a setlist of crowd favorites like “Seven Seas,” “Dreaming,” and “Beyond.” The trio featured some material from their latest album, Shifting Sands, but catered the show as a showcase that everyone could enjoy. The sound and lighting team did a really wonderful job creating a sense of atmosphere.

At times it felt like the group may as well be the Roni Kaspi Trio since she seemed to take much of the limelight. Her solos were consistently thrilling and had everyone at the edge of their seats, and during one particular solo, there was a standing ovation while she was playing!

Varun Swarup

Mark Guiliana ,The sound of Listening and more Mischief

photo credit : Benoît Rousseau

The Gesù was sold out for Mark Guiliana’s quartet, an excellent choice in FIJM’s 2023 program.

Relocated to the West Coast with his partner Gretchen Parlato and their son, Guiliana continues the journey across an acoustic plateau begun in the middle of the previous decade. Important was this impression of a musical language freed from its founding evidences.

Having dazzled us in the days of Beat Music, an electro-jazz ensemble with which he allowed himself brief returns, Mark Guiliana chose acoustic instrumentation several years ago.

The line-up here was highly cohesive, comprising tenor saxophonist Jason Rigby (also an excellent clarinettist, but not on this evening), bassist Chris Morrissey and pianist Jason Lindner. One might have expected to hear Shai Maestro, who plays in the same band on the superb recordings The Sound of Listening and Mischief, but it was Lindner who offered up his circumspect, refined playing.

Based on Guiliana’s very particular playing style and tastes, this acoustic quartet has acquired a maturity of expression that few ensembles of this type achieve. The whole spectrum of emotions is soberly covered, but there is room for more testosterone and adventure. 

We find ourselves in movements comparable to the acoustic ensembles of David Binney or Brian Blade, that is to say, formations that are clearly jazz for their swing augmented by very contemporary rhythmic cells. The same is true for melody and harmony, i.e., there are enough consonant lines for us to be willing to admit certain more learned passages.

A pure delight.

Alain Brunet

Snarky Puppy, as expected…

For over fifteen years, bassist and composer Michael League has been building his career through the web and other means once considered parallel or indies when he starded. Today, it’s said to have become an inescapable way of building a career. Today, Michael League’s main vehicle, Snarky Puppy, is a must-see, filling 2000+ capacity venues wherever it lands.

MTELUS was obviously packed on Friday night, and it was an evening of full-on groove fusion, with wind section, two sets of keyboards including a Hammond B3, guitar, violin, bass and percussion. In short, a lot of restless people on a restless stage.

Snarky Puppy is renowned for its jazzy groove crossovers, its unifying melodic themes and its ample shapes with relatively demanding bridges for its performers. Generally speaking, this music is good for partying, lifting elbows while “czech la passe”, and offers just enough virtuoso pretension to delight some more seasoned music lovers.

That’s about it… as expected.

Alain Brunet

At the Festival international de jazz de Montréal, PAN M 360’s experts attend all the concerts that shake up music lovers. Follow our team!

Hiromi // Victor Diaz Lamich
Courtesy of Festival International De Jazz De Montreal

Hiromi, somewhere in between Oscar Peterson and Joe Hisaishi

Somewhere in between Oscar Peterson and Joe Hisaishi you’ll find the music of Hiromi Uehara. Armed with a virtuosic classical technique and
formidable fluency in the jazz language, watching Hiromi is like seeing an athlete at the top of their game. Returning to Montréal after six years, Hiromi’s concert at Théâtre Maisonneuve tonight was something of a special occasion. With PUBLiquartet, a string quartet from New York, she performed the entirety of her “Silver Lining Suite”, a work which seamlessly blends jazz, classical, and fusion. The evening thus had a classical air to
it and there was plenty of Beethoven-esque drama.

What is truly amazing to see is the electric energy that Hiromi is able to harness from the piano as well from the crowd. Her fingers effortlessly navigated the intricate orchestral passages, executing lightning-fast runs and intricate melodic lines with precision and clarity. There were moments of applause throughout the pieces as people simply couldn’t hold their excitement any longer. Yet, at a moment’s notice she could arrive at the tenderest pianissimo. While she may be too much of a showman for some, it is undeniable that Hiromi’s musicality is something truly special.

Varun Swarup

The Kingfish leaves the Rogers stage in AWE

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram at Rogers Stage / Victor Diaz Lamich
Courtesy of Festival International De Jazz De Montreal

After some fantastic jazzy afrobeats courtesy of London, UK’s Kokoroko, I walked over to the Rogers’ stage for a night of bluesy wildness. As the lights dimmed, a band started playing some standard 12-bar blues with organ, drums, and bass, and a fierce lead guitar took over the speakers. For the next five minutes, there was no player on stage, until the beast of a man—or boy, as I just learned he’s 24 years old…—Christone “Kingfish” Ingram—walked onto the stage wielding his gorgeous purple Telecaster. He took the mic and let out a voice that would give B.B. King a run for his money. As if Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters had a secret lock-and-key Mississipi grandson they decided to never tell the world about.

For the next hour, the Kingfish toyed with the crowd, only actually playing five or six songs, but with solo interludes that went on and on for 15 minutes with facial expressions too good to ignore. And it was sublime. Kingfish’s solo style is one built around a narrative. I can only imagine he’s a shy guy at heart who lets his lead guitar-playing do the talking, confessing his deepest, darkest secrets. The highlight of the show was when the Kingfish left the stage and let his band jam for a few minutes until the ghost guitar playing took the speakers again. Fans whipped their heads and saw Kingfish playing within the crowd, bullets of sweat dripping off his forehead.

“I’ll see y’all back at 10 when we play another set.” It was 9:50 p.m … Kingfish came back to the microphone. “I’ll see y’all at 11!” That’s right, he was going to do this all again in an hour. This kid’s skill is unquestionable and there is chatter he will be playing with the one and only Buddy Guy for a later performance. That will be something to not miss.

Stephan Boissonneault

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily: tension and release in North America… and South Asia

Piano, Fender Rhodes, synths, human voice, electric bass. Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily would normally have filled the Monument National given the critical success of their recent album Love In Exile. In front of an audience a little too sparse for the singer’s taste, we’re treated to four heartfelt improvisations, spread over just over an hour. Too short? A little too short, but generally conclusive.

To reduce this concert to a meditation session would be simplistic. As the artists explain in their interview, what we’re really talking about is a subtle tension-release dialectic, which doesn’t exclude rises in intensity and volume. We’re sure you’ll appreciate this in the final sections of this rich performance. Another deconstruction of clichés: no, this is not Indo-Pakistani music revisited in a jazz context, but rather a cultural interweaving in the context of a global expression.

Arooj Aftab is not a singer of qawwalî, Carnatic or Hindustani music; her vocal technique has little to do with the classical music of South Asia. Instead, we have before us a talented autodidact who has managed to evolve her vocal organ and find a voice inspired by Western pop singing. What’s more, her deadpan posture, sometimes bordering on the cynical, her wine ball in hand and her modern clothes would defy any traditionalism in Pakistan.

As has been pointed out many times in the past, Vijay Iyer is not a classical Indian musician either, although he certainly knows the melodic scales. What he’s looking for is something else, not excluding some of the colors of his parents’ culture. The son of Pakistani immigrants, Shahzad Ismaily evolves in the same open territory, harmonically rich and conducive to magnificent textural research.

Alain Brunet

In the Midst of Misc

After free performances by Britain’s Kokoroko and France’s Ibrahim Maalouf, those who weren’t quite drunk on music could head to the TD studio to hear Quebec trio MISC. The mostly young audience didn’t regret it for a second. MISC is keyboardist Jérome Beaulieu, drummer William Coté and bassist (acoustic and electric) Frédéric Roy.

“I’m extraordinarily lucky to be playing with my two best friends,” exclaimed Beaulieu two-thirds of the way through the show. This complicity is musically obvious. MISC is the antithesis of Brad Meldhau’s trio.

There are no long solos or deluge of notes. The three friends play more percussive jazz. Even Beaulieu’s piano is percussive. We often flirt with rock, but it’s the overall sound that comes first. They also use a lot of reverb and electronic fiddling. A number of pieces were taken from the 2021 album Partager l’aAmbulance. But the trio has become much more cohesive and innovative since its release.

William Coté plays the cymbals like a skilled jazz drummer, but can also go full throttle into heavier rhythms, but never without subtlety. The same goes for bassist Frédéric Roy, who alternates between double bass and electric bass, sometimes even in the same piece. Jérome Beaulieu, who also works with several groups, including Daniel Bélanger’s, is constantly gaining in maturity. There are hundreds of piano, bass, and drum trios. It’s not easy to make your way through this dense jazz jungle.  

But if MISC is playing near you, go for it! You’ll have a great time.

Michel Labrecque

The Franklin Electric Inaugurates MTelus

The rumor mill at MTELUS was abuzz as the audience waited, patiently or otherwise, for the arrival of this collective band created and led by Jon Matte.

The concert was dedicated to the new album, Oh Brother, released a few hours later. The first half of the show served to let us feel the wind of these new songs, after which we allowed ourselves to go back in time. At one point, Jon Matte sat down at the piano and asked if there were any questions from the audience. Obviously, the first question was “Can you do your old songs?” to which Matte replied, “Yes … but you just stole the punch, man!” 

With a full band and three violinists, the folk-pop songs shone with a twilight quality and their atmosphere filled the room. Jon Matte is also vocally adept, as much at rendering his more textually dense passages as his melodic outbursts. He also has a fine head voice, which he used to try and get the crowd to sing along to some of the songs.

In short, the show was surprising in places, such as when Matte brought out his trumpet for solos, and touching in others, such as the acoustic pieces with just him and his guitarist, in harmony.

Théo Reinhardt

Hawa B Meanders on the Esplanade

The Place des Arts Esplanade was fairly free on Thursday evening, just before 7pm … but that didn’t last long. HAWA B turned heads and stopped the hurry-ups in their tracks.

The group, led by singer-songwriter Nadia Hawa Baldé, presents a seamless blend of alternative rock, R&B, jazz, and soul. A wide range of influences—from Radiohead to Beyoncé—are wonderfully encapsulated in songs with an evolving structure, surprising chord progressions, and a mostly restrained character, allowing the musicians to shine and the crazy flights of fancy when they come.

The artist seems to have carved out a comfortable stage niche for herself between nonchalance and intensity. She moves slowly, but decisively, crouching or bending in half to reach notes at the high end of her register, twirling her hair, stepping off stage several times to join the crowd, throwing her mic stand downstage, kicking her stool around … all in a curiously detached, almost robotic way, but one that is also purely spontaneous. It’s like watching an explosion in slow motion. All the intensity is there, but you can savour every chemical exchange, feel the discharge of energy that reaches you, and live the experience without being blown away in the moment, remaining transfixed.

Théo Reinhardt

At the Festival international de jazz de Montréal, PAN M 360’s experts attend all the concerts that shake up music lovers. Follow our team!

 

crédit photo: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin

Music spirits are with the Brad Mehldau Trio

What an auspicious start to the jazz festival with the Brad Mehldau Trio at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, on Wednesday Night. In an atmosphere brimming with anticipation, the band worked their way through some old bebop heads, some old originals, and some new, making for an evening of beautiful music and thrilling performance.

Larry, Jeff, and Brad, have been playing together for almost twenty years now, and their chemistry is truly something to witness. By the end of the hour long set It seemed the audience simply couldn’t get enough and the band played to three encores!

Mehldau of course dazzled with his utter command of the piano with plenty of looks of disbelief and amazement in the concert hall. Some of the highlights were getting to hear the gorgeous original, ‘Ode’, a hypnotic and emotionally stirring journey, a trio rendition of the Mehldau classic ‘Resignation’, and a very Monkish take on the standard ‘Sweet and Lovely’ which was a nice showcase for the band’s sense of humour.

Always a great pleasure to see these masters at work. 

Varun Swarup

crédit photo: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin

Natalia Lafourcade: an introspective Mexican fiesta.

Were we in Montreal or in Monterreyal? Or Montrexico? In the large lobby of the Maison Symphonique, you could hear mostly Spanish .

Natalia Lafourcade and her group of talented musicians immersed us in the abysses of the Mexican soul. Death, love, witchcraft, fauna. She made us sing the sound of cicadas. The concert was profound , beautiful, sultry.

The first part of the concert consisted essentially in De Todas Las Flores, MS Lafourcade recent album. Then, she celebrated Mexican traditional music and songwriting . She delivered a complex and original version of “La Llorona”, written by Chavela Vargas as well as traditional songs from her region of origin, Veracruz. She ended the concert with some original songs from previous albums. 

The crowd was happy and it made a lot of noise at the end of songs. Felicidad.

Natalia Lafourcade knows how to create happiness, but always in an introspective, meditative way. Her voice reaches the deepest parts of our soul. The music mixes tradition and modernity with great subtility. 

What else to say?

Michel Labrecque

Last Thursday evening, a rather rare event took place at Bar Le Ritz: An almost 100 per cent francophone darkwave concert. The two headliners, the local queen of this genre, Laura Krieg, and the new post-punk/industrial group Renonce, who were launching their first album, Ombre, being two projects that favour the surrealist and dark language of Rimbaud and Baudelaire with their music. So I was very happy to go to Ritz (a room that I usually don’t particularly like) after a delicious dinner with good friends in an excellent little Indian restaurant near the venue in Parc-Extension. I arrived around 8:30 p.m., happy to warm my buttocks after walking for a while in the cold wind of this yet-still-cold-spring evening, just in time to say hi to some of my friends through the growing crowd, moving to the front, moments before the show began.

Their made-up faces, their exaggeratedly lacquered hair, and wearing of new-wave/glam androgynous clothes reminiscent of the style of the iconic brand of the early ‘80s Parachute, Laura Krieg and her usual musical sidekick, the veteran figure of the post-punk scene, Johny Couteau, arrived on stage to a wave of enthusiastic applause from the curious spectators who quickly gathered in front of the duo. The performance started strong with an extremely catchy drum machine and synths backing track over which Johny plays minimal, mechanical, and very effective bass lines, as well as epic percussion on a drum pad, while Laura sings in a casual, but still intoxicating way, and occasionally plays guitar. Fans of the band, like me, will have recognized several pieces from their repertoire such as “Tout s’effondre, tout va bien,” “Angst,” and “Fin du travail, vie magique.”

Laura Krieg Shredding / Stephan Boissonneault, PAN M 360

“Fin du travail, vie magique” / Laura Krieg

Playing for nearly half an hour, the Laura Krieg duo did a good job of finally getting the crowd moving, which at first seemed a bit frozen, thanks to new tracks that I had never heard before that had a more Italo-disco or even almost euro-pop influence which I hope to hear on a new album very soon.

After a short intermission of about twenty minutes, it was Renonce’s turn to storm the ears of the audience with their industrial-flavored darkwave tones. Founded in 2021, the solo project of Frédéric Nogarede, who notably played with the group Adam Strangler a few years ago, was celebrating the release of his first album, Ombre. This being my first time seeing Renonce in concert, I didn’t know what to expect. To my surprise, the musician took to the stage accompanied by two additional players, a guitarist, and a drummer, which pleased me enormously since we see more and more solo musicians who only sing along over backing tracks played on a laptop.

Renonce @ Bar Le Ritz

The group was able to deliver a very energetic performance, chaining heavy industrial songs in a quasi-continuous way, interspersing them with impressive instrumental soundscapes built on an array of analog synthesizers spread out on a table in front of the singer. The drums being very powerful and tight sounded almost like a machine and the guitar used feedback, among other things, in a very skillful way. The vocals, for their part, sometimes went from being soft and introspective to a sharp scream reminiscent of Nivek Ogre of the classic industrial band Skinny Puppy. Another cool aspect was the use of projections on the wall behind the trio, which greatly added to the ambiance of the performance.

A beautiful evening that gave me even more confidence in the fact that the alternative French-speaking Montreal scene is booming and has recovered very well from its pandemic misfortunes of recent years.

Photos by Stephan Boissonneault

With the nature of my job, I’ve been to many live shows as of late, and all of that excitement and potent energy can definitely take its toll, mentally and physically. So it’s safe to say that I really appreciated the rather laid-back, quaint, and tranquil set from Saskatchewan’s gifted, sometimes almost Lynchian, baroque-pop storyteller, Andy Shauf, this past week at L’Olympia. 

Starting the night off was opener, Marina Allen, a newer singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. Her sound on her newest album, Centrifics, is certainly folk (in the vein of someone like Joni Mitchell) with a tinge of Americana and alt-country, but live, she played a solo stripped-back acoustic set. Her voice is gorgeous, with a falsetto that could make angels weep, and a highlight was when she used that resonating falsetto with the word “motherfucker.” While I was waiting for more of a band performance, as was most of the crowd I’d wager, she set the tone of the evening beautifully. Also, hiring a full band for your first Canadian tour cannot be cheap, so I can’t fault her for that. 

I was surprised that only the floor of L’Olympia was open with the above mezzanine completely blocked off. Perhaps there was another show (or several) or perhaps Andy Shauf is no longer as big in Eastern Canada as I expected. Regardless, this made the evening more intimate—perfect for Shauf’s music. The set up was seated as well, another reprieve from the usual standing-for-dear-life concerts I have been attending.

Shauf appeared on stage, behind a microphone covered in vegetation. Actually, most of the mics had plant life attached to them. He jumped into “Wasted On You,” the opener to his recent album, Norm. It sounded exactly like it does on record, almost to a tee. The first five or six songs were all from Norm—what could be considered one of his darker down-tempo records, perhaps following a stalker named Norm? The character of Norm appears throughout the record, and his desire for love may or may not be coming from an unhinged mind. 

Shauf only leaves breadcrumbs in his simplistic day-to-day life narratives, like opening a book to his choose your own adventure novel. He also loves to end his songs halfway through the story with a lyrical phrase like “Jeremy walks over and, to my surprise, Sherry puts her arm around his side,” in his sad boy, the guy at the party, ode “Quite Like You,” from 2018’s The Party. It leaves you guessing with his music, and live it’s pretty fantastic. Maybe it’s because many of his songs come from a solemn state, from someone who is usually on the fringes of “normal society.” We’ve all felt like that at one time or another and Shauf always sings from the perspective of the sad clown, or let’s call him the sad magician.

The lighting for the show seemed to be reflective of Shauf’s general vibe and interaction with the crowd. You could never quite see his face due to the shadows being projected onto his figure, and whenever someone called at him from the crowd, he usually whispered, “Thank you.” The lighting also went with the vegetation theme, when, at times, Andy seemed like he was singing and playing his acoustic guitar obscured, inside a hedge of leaves.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Shauf has played whole sets without even acknowledging the crowd in an almost Nick Drake style. He seems like a very reserved, keeps-to-himself guy who, even a decade into his successful indie career, is still reconciling with his fame. 

His band didn’t miss a beat, and the bass clarinet, bass guitar, jazzy drums, and sultry keyboards added to the calming, but grooving atmosphere. There was also a fantastic, low-key drum solo that the crowd was not expecting. 

Shauf of course finished with “The Magician,” during his one-song encore and left the theatre feeling warm and sated. I’d recommend anyone interested in laid-back, jazzy, baroque pop to check out Andy’s next appearance in Montreal.

If you’ve been doing it long enough, there are points in every music writer’s career when you feel behind the trends; when an artist’s musical vocation goes beyond what you’re trained to fully understand or even comprehend. As the great gutter poet and last rock n’ roll gonzo journalist, Lester Bangs, probably once said, “You either adapt or you die, I choose to die.” But he was most likely talking about The Beatles diving into Vishnu psychedelia on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and not the multi-sensory overload that is a 100 gecs show. He would not have been prepared for this viral hyperpop monster that has been categorized as a meme band by fans and music critics alike. 

It’s funny to me that the term hyperpop is now so intrinsically linked to 100 gecs, primarily an Internet band, when I believe it was first used in the ‘80s to classify the music of Cocteau Twins, pre-Internet. I guess that’s the perfect example of how genre is only a placeholder that can transition on a dime.  

Still, I had the opportunity to witness 100 gecs live once at Osheaga, after two hip-hop sets from the United Kingdom’s slowthai, and emcee mastermind, Freddie Gibbs. From what I remember, that particular 100 gecs set was not my speed. I distinctly remember vocalist Laura Les growling into her auto-tuned microphone while her music partner, Dylan Brady danced around in a wizard costume wearing a bright yellow-pointed star hat, as a shifting bass beat jumped around. Back then, I briefly roasted 100 gecs in my Osheaga review, which you can read here if you so please.

“I don’t get it, maybe we’re too old,” said my festival companion. At the time, I agreed that it was just misplaced, over-saturated noise for a younger generation (I’m approaching 30 for background), and we moved on. But even so, 100 gecs seemed to pop up into my musical lexicon more. In musical writing spheres, bands were compared to them, such as the glitchy art-pop duo, Jockstrap, whose debut album, I Love You Jennifer B is one I still play frequently. The viral hit 100 gecs hit, “money machine,” followed me like a disease on the weekend.

I know that lots of music journalism; especially the review world—and I’m not talking about small DIY publications like the one you are reading this on—can be full of bullshit vernacular from writers who constantly find the worst in an album to be avant-garde. It’s a shame that a number rating from Pitchfork or a bad rating from Anthony Fantano can completely sway someone’s mind on an album or artist, but hey, that’s the streaming review world we find ourselves in. 

Having said all that, these are the thoughts that consumed my mind as I stepped through the doors of MTelus to the most recent 100 gecs Montreal show—one that I will now refer to as “Gecigeddon.” 

As I turned the corner, to the back of the venue, my ears were aurally assaulted by a band called Machine Girl, which briefly sounded like the worst over-the-top grindcore of the 2000s. I was expecting a more industrial synth wave from the name and was not prepared for a cochlear root canal. It was something neither I nor the party of 10 I attended with, were anticipating. Though there was a literal spotlight pointed at the crowd, following the lead singer, Matt Stephenson, as he weaved through them, screamed, and balanced on the mezzanine awning and venue bar, dressed as a manic jester, I couldn’t get into the digital hardcore vibe Machine Girl was creating. 

My opening experience to the whole vibe of Gecigeddon was definitely soured, amplified after witnessing a blue-haired girl dressed in zebra-striped pants pass out (probably from heat exhaustion and whatever drug was coursing through her body) behind our group, moments after Machine Girl’s set. Was this going to be a crowd that couldn’t hold their own during the opener??? A crowd who hasn’t learned the basics of respectfully partying with drugs and taking care of yourself? Drink some damn water, please!

I tried to turn off my critical brain and just enjoy the whole scene; multi-colored wizards, a man with devil horns and a white T-shirt that said “I GOT MY TOOTH REMOVED,” parachute pants, a fair bit of corpse paint, emo and scenes kids that look like they just stepped off the bus from the Gathering of the Juggalos, the more goth and kink outfit crowd (latex, garter belts, collars, you get it) that was mostly down for chilling on the second floor. There was also an older crowd either with their kids or actual fans of this ridiculous pop music. I spotted the stage and the 100 gecs DJ computer setup, which was being housed in what looked like a nuclear bomb case, balanced atop a steel trash can. 

The lights went down and the deep noted THX productions sound quickly filled the room as the screen backdrop sporadically flashed all manners of white light. This was not the opening to a high-budget film, but 100 gecs’ “Dumbest Girl Alive,” off the new album 10,000 Gecs. The Limp Bizkit-esque butt-rock guitar riff kicked off and Laura and Dylan took the stage, donning the iconic yellow and purple wizard outfits.

If 100 gecs is good at one thing, it’s creating earworms that burrow deep into your psyche, even when you don’t want them to. The visual production was also insane; vibrant Windows ‘98 screens quickly descending into a green and pink mist as strobe lights mangled our minds. It was like staring directly into the sun on repeat. 

I’ve never been a fan of auto-tune, but I have to admit that it works and is needed for 100 gecs’ music. Without it, you get a song like “Frog On The Floor,” a funny, but purposefully out-of-key vocal haphazard that takes the worst bits of childish ska-pop and makes a song. You could tell the gecs themselves were laughing before playing it live. There wasn’t much stage banter from 100 gecs other than introducing the next song and Laura going “cool,” before jumping in the next number. Most of the theatrics came from Dylan, balancing an acoustic guitar on his chin and biting into an onion like a maniac after a fan threw one on stage.

“No one throws any more onions, or I might shit,” Laura laughed. 

Even a few days after the show I still have “Hollywood Baby” quickly making its way through my amygdala. I also can’t deny the sheer energy at Geccicon. The floor crowd knew every lyric, not missing a beat as they jumped and moshed to the new and older 100 gecs repertoire. At this moment, I could have decided to be like Lester Bangs and not open myself to this Myspace-era debauchery or I could try and have a good time. I chose the latter. Otherwise, what was the point? I ran into the crowd, camera bag attached to my shoulder, and moshed my heart out. During “Billy Knows Jamie,” I stood on my tippy toes, gasping for air like a guppy in an overcrowded tank. I chanted the chorus of “Doritos & Fritos,” and aided a shirtless man in pushing up a girl to crowd surf during “money machine.” Basically, I dove into my inner gec—like a teenager discovering Nirvana for the first time, looking for fun angsty mayhem. 

Looking back on my decision to join the madness with thousands of gec fans, the motivation came from watching the duo, yes, recreate this laughable meme-era insanity live, but also from the community aspect felt in the crowd. Everyone was losing their mind, sweating together like pigs to slaughter. The sheer glee from some of these gecizens was palpable, and no matter how much I used to despise this band’s sound, during those 20-something songs, felt a part of it. I got gecced.

100 gecs is not music I’ll be playing in my spare time, but again, I can’t deny the whole live experience and I had a weird, but enjoyable time. Their fan base is more scattered than I imagined and though they are known as a meme band, live, everything they’re doing comes off as 100 per cent genuine—even an absurd vocal phrase like “Queen of California / Hot like the heat is / Got Anthony Kiedis suckin’ on my penis.” I even appreciated Laura’s guttural growls this time, due to the fact that it was built up to and earned. 

Who knows if I’ll be at the next Gecigeddon/Geccicon/Gecivent, but it will be one memory I’ll have stored in the bank for years to come.