Le musicien et DJ berlinois Ben Böhmer produit une musique électronique mélodique et raffinée, mêlant house progressive, rock indie atmosphérique et deep house. Il intègre des solos instrumentaux et des voix mélancoliques à ses morceaux immersifs, trouvant un équilibre entre urgence émotionnelle et grooves apaisants et envoûtants. Son premier album, Breathing, largement écouté en streaming, est sorti en 2019, suivi en 2021 par Begin Again, un opus empreint de nostalgie et d’euphorie. En 2023, il a dévoilé le single One Last Call, en collaboration avec le chanteur Felix Raphael. Son troisième album, Bloom, explorant divers tempos et styles, est paru en 2024.
Berlin-based electronic musician and DJ Ben Böhmer produces finely tuned, melodic, progressive house that takes inspiration from atmospheric indie rock and deep house, incorporating instrumental solos and melancholy vocals into his journey-like tracks. Striking a balance between emotional urgency and relaxed, transportive grooves, he released his heavily streamed debut full-length, Breathing, in 2019, and followed it with the yearning, euphoric Begin Again in 2021. The transportive single “One Last Call,” with singer Felix Raphael, appeared in 2023. Third album Bloom, spanning several tempos and styles, was released in 2024.
Ronisia est une nouvelle artiste qui propose de la pop urbaine et du R&B. C’est une des artistes révélation de l’année dans la catégorie ” musique urbaine “.
Ronisia is a new artist offering urban pop and R&B music. She is one of the breakthrough artists of the year in the “Urban Music” category.
La chanteuse, auteure-compositrice et pianiste québécoise Béatrice Martin, connue sous le nom de Cœur de Pirate, crée une pop aux sonorités cinématographiques. Elle se fait connaître en Europe francophone grâce au succès de son premier album éponyme en 2008, porté par le titre Comme des Enfants. En 2010, son duo avec Julien Doré, Pour un Infidèle, atteint la première place des classements en France. Elle enchaîne ensuite avec une série d’albums à succès, qui rencontrent également un large public au Canada, notamment Roses en 2015, son premier album alternant chansons en français et en anglais.
Québécoise singer/songwriter and pianist Béatrice Martin makes cinematic French pop as Cœur de Pirate. She became a star in French-speaking Europe with the success of her 2008 self-titled debut, which featured the hit single “Comme des Enfants.” Her 2010 duet with Julien Doré, “Pour un Infidèle,” went all the way to number one in France. That was followed by a string of hit albums that also did well in Canada, including 2015’s Roses, her first to be split between French- and English-language tracks.
Le trio biélorusse Molchat Doma propose un mélange sombre de post-punk, cold wave, synth-pop noir et rock russe des années 80, porté par des boîtes à rythmes et des paroles baignées de réverbération, évoquant la solitude, l’oppression et la vie dans un État post-communiste. Le groupe est devenu l’une des success stories virales les plus surprenantes de la fin des années 2010 et du début des années 2020, notamment lorsque une chanson de leur album Etazhi (2018) a explosé sur les réseaux sociaux. Plus dansant et au son plus soigné, Monument sort en 2020, suivi en 2024 par Belaya Polosa, un album plus sophistiqué et fortement imprégné de sonorités synthétiques.
Belarusian trio Molchat Doma play a bleak, drum machine-driven blend of post-punk, cold wave, dark synth pop, and ’80s Russian rock influences, with reverb-drenched lyrics about loneliness, oppression, and life in a post-communist state. The group became one of the more surprising viral success stories of the late 2010s and early 2020s, particularly when a song from their 2018 full-length Etazhi became a social media phenomenon. The more danceable, higher-fidelity Monument appeared in 2020, and the more sophisticated and synth-heavy Belaya Polosa was released in 2024.
Abracadabra comme une quête d’absolu, comme un désir de croire encore à quelque chose. Pour tous les nœuds qu’on doit faire disparaître pour apparaître tel qu’on est véritablement, sans peur et sans gêne. Une formule qu’on aimerait voir tout régler, tout résoudre. Un mot qu’on se répète en fixant la fenêtre. À force de le répéter, finira-t-il par ouvrir une porte à l’intérieur de soi ? Accompagnée de cinq musiciens, Klô Pelgag convie foules et individus à joindre cette constante chasse au fun. Après tout, peut-être que la solution se cache dans le tréfonds d’un spectacle.
Abracadabra like a quest for the absolute, like a desire to still believe in something. For all the knots we must undo to show ourselves as we truly are, without fear or shame. A spell we wish could fix everything, resolve everything. A word we repeat while staring out the window. If we say it often enough, will it eventually open a door within ourselves? Accompanied by five musicians, Klô Pelgag invites crowds and individuals alike to join this constant hunt for fun. After all, perhaps the solution lies deep within a performance.
Marathon | P’tit Belliveau at MTELUS, Baptism of Fire
by Sami Rixhon
First MTELUS in the sights for Jonah Guimond, aka P’tit Belliveau. After four Club Soda gigs in one year, it was time to get down to business. The real deal. And as the challenge was met with flying colors by the merry Acadian troupe, oh yes.
P’tit Belliveau is now entering the big leagues, finally treading the boards of this Montreal temple. A far cry from the young, fiery Jonah Guimond of Les Grosses Coques, who confined himself to his sometimes limited country-pop sympathies. The native of Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia, has reaffirmed himself all the more in this particularly audacious artist, who makes a mockery of industry codes and is devilishly entertaining.
P’tit Belliveau kicks off his show with Depuis que la neige a fondu and Moosehorn Lake, from his first two projects. Alternating throughout the show between banjo and electric guitar, he presents a majority of songs from his new album, the namesake P’tit Belliveau, exploring pop-punk corners à la Blink-182 as much as metal or rap avenues. Bold, I tell you.
“If there’s one person in the room who’s not singing, I’ll take my music off Spotify and stop the show,” he warns, before performing the gritty Mon drapeau acadjonne viens d’Taïwan. There’s everything you want in a P’tit Belliveau concert. Want a laugh? Check out the projections behind the band, featuring everything from exercising frogs to John Deere tractors. Want to be baffled? Let yourself be surprised by a baffling extramusical interlude where a wrestler, out of nowhere, comes on stage to fight the band, only to be brought down by a shirtless P’tit Belliveau – “Never fuck with P’tit Belliveau. Ever,” he adds afterwards. Prefer to move? Go to the front of the stage, among his faithful followers throwing mosh pits to absolutely anything. There’s something for everyone.
Hats off to the accompanying musicians, particularly talented and entertaining with their wacky choreography and their mandolin and fiddle solos galore. Two members of the delirious punk quartet Peanut Butter Sunday (Normand Pothier and Jacques Blinn) have been playing with P’tit Belliveau on stage for some time now, which may explain the rock bent Guimond is increasingly exploiting in his compositions.
The Acadian artist closes the regular part of his show with RRSP/Grosse pièce, from his second album, then returns to the stage for an excellent encore mixing children’s songs (L’arbre est dans ses feuilles), new material (L’église de St. Bernard) and old hits (J’aimerais d’avoir un John Deere and, of course, Income Tax). The audience wants more and more, forcing the band to come back and jam for a few minutes for a second, seemingly impromptu encore.
P’tit Belliveau reiterated several times in the show how grateful he is to count on the unfailing support of his public and his chums, for so many years (something he already said in Demain). Thanks to you, P’tit Belliveau, for proposing such a singular offering in a local industry that’s often too standardized. Quite simply, one of today’s finest Franco-Canadian artists.
Mené par Elijah Hewson, le groupe Inhaler, originaire de Dublin, joue un rock indie puissant et aérien, marqué par des guitares cristallines, des synthés et les voix émotionnelles et variées de Hewson. Sur des morceaux comme leur premier single de 2018, I Want You, et Falling In en 2020, le groupe a créé un son riche, inspiré du post-punk, qu’il a approfondi avec son premier album à succès de 2021, It Won’t Always Be Like This, et son deuxième album, Cuts & Bruises, sorti en 2023. Ils ont lancé leur cycle pour un troisième album avec le titre entraînant de 2024, Your House.
Led by Elijah Hewson, Dublin’s Inhaler play driving, soaring indie rock filled with chiming guitars, synths, and Hewson’s emotive, wide-ranging vocals. On tracks such as their 2018 debut single, “I Want You,” and 2020’s “Falling In,” the band crafted a lush, post-punk-inspired sound that they built on with 2021’s chart-topping full-length It Won’t Always Be Like This and 2023’s sophomore album Cuts & Bruises. They kicked off their third album cycle with 2024’s rousing “Your House.”
MUTEK 2024 | Factory Floor, Not Exactly on The Rug
by Alain Brunet
Factory Floor: Gabriel Gurnsey and Nik Colk Void, joined by a guest percussionist, were eagerly awaited around midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
A DFA Records signature in the 2010s, the British band stood out for their singular blend of post-industrial, electronic, minimal techno, acid techno, acid house, experimental and electronic rock. Understandably, many of the night owls present at MTELUS have been fans ever since, and we were delighted to discover their new percussion-based offering. Two instrumentalists devoted themselves to this, while the other piloted the electronic gear. What did we get? Not much… not exactly on the rug.
The rhythmic pulse varies little over the course of the hour, becoming long-winded after about twenty minutes. Average rhythmic figures, built around a binary techno beat. Around the rhythm, nothing exceptional either, rather basic melodic-harmonic motifs. Add to this the playing of unseasoned percussionists, which lacked firmness – if you know anything about this profession, it’s obvious.
All in all, this too continuous and homogeneous flow quickly became redundant. Nothing memorable given the expectations…
PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique 2024 | Queen Omega, From the Top of Her Throne
by Sandra Gasana
Willy B Rose was the host for the long-awaited show by the Queen of Reggae, here to accompany Entourloop, with whom she’s been collaborating for several years now.Much to my surprise, we kicked off with Queen Omega, the majority of the audience having come to see the French group who has many fans in Montreal.
The Trinidadian reggae icon was accompanied for the occasion by The Royal Souls, made up of Ons Barnat on keyboards, Thomas Broussard on guitar, Thierry “Titi” Lechauve on bass and David Dub Akom on drums.
First, the musicians set the stage for Royalty, whose voice can already be heard in the distance. And what better way to kick things off than with Fittest, from her most recent album Freedom Legacy, one of her signature tracks. With her long orange dress and legendary signature turban, she takes to the stage like a queen. She segues seamlessly into Make a Sacrifice, during which there was a minor technical hitch with the microphone, followed by Judgement, with audience participation on the chorus. She jumps around the stage, does military steps at times, in short, this Queen is in good physical shape.
“It’s good to be here in Montreal,” she says, not speaking the language of Molière despite her many stays in France. On Dirty Minds, she talks about corruption, which she wants to eradicate, before continuing with Bite the Dust. “I feel your energy, thank you very much. It’s time for renewal,” she announces. She does a magnificent cover of Amazing Grace, which she has renamed Jahmazing Grace, adding her own little touch, mixing reggae and dancehall. At times, we felt like we were in a church in the USA. She jumped in the air, danced with the guitarist, sometimes in a trance, singing Glory and ending with a Hallelujah.
She takes a leap back in time when she sings Ganja Baby, from her 2004 album Away from Babylon. “Kudos to the Canadian government for legalizing ganja here. Weed isn’t a drug, it’s a plant, but you shouldn’t abuse it,” she reminds the audience, who seem to appreciate her lyrics. She’s completely on fire during the track Elevate, but my favorite moment of the evening is undoubtedly when she shares a new sound like Head Above the Water, with its subsequent message of encouragement. “Even when things seem insurmountable, tell yourself it will pass! Don’t give up!” she said to appreciative applause.
“Do you remember I Can’t Breathe? Do you remember Black Lives Matter?” she asks the crowd before playing Elimination. She does a few dance steps, even does the robot at one point, in addition to dancing and jumping around the stage. One thing’s for sure, this queen has an undeniable stage presence and is tireless. She couldn’t leave without paying tribute to women, which she does in Black Woman. “Encourage women, love them, worship them!” she declares. And addressing women directly: “Women, keep your crown on your head and keep your head up! I love you.”
She saved the best for last, including the global hit that made her world-famous, the track No Love, followed by Local, on which she claims to be an international singer and ambassador of Reggae. This gave the crowd a chance to let off steam and get ready for L’Entourloop.
I was left wanting more. An hour’s performance wasn’t enough for the spectators who came to see Queen Omega. Let’s hope she comes back for a full show very soon.
I had time to see a few minutes of Entourloop before leaving Mtelus. I didn’t know the band or the concept at all, but what I understood was that they’re a DJ duo of a certain age, who mix reggae sounds as well as dancehall, dub, ragga, downtempo and hip-hop, accompanied by a trumpet player and two MCs who liven up the evening by singing and rapping mainly in English. The room was mainly made up of French people, and on the screen behind them were animations of all kinds. When I left, people were having a blast.
La série Métropolis est consacrée aux formes les plus rythmées et envoûtantes de la musique électronique, encadrées par une scénographie dynamique. Les deux soirées proposent une programmation contrastée, qui s’adresse aussi bien à un public avide de sensations fortes qu’à un public désireux d’assouvir sa curiosité artistique.
Priori & Jek CA/QC+US – This But More | Factory Floor UK | Steffi NL+PT | Roman Flügel DE – Tracks on Delivery | Axel Boman SE
The Métropolis series is devoted to the more rhythmic, spellbinding forms of electronic music, framed in a dynamic scenography. The two evenings offer contrasting programming, best-suited for thrill-seeking audiences as well as those wishing to satiate their artistic curiosity.
Priori & Jek CA/QC+US – This But More | Factory Floor UK | Steffi NL+PT | Roman Flügel DE – Tracks on Delivery | Axel Boman SE
