Montréal

Electronic / House / Techno

Call Super

by Elsa Fortant

In just a few short years, Call Super has won the hearts of the public, the media – his album Arpo won the DJ Mag Album of the Year award in 2017 – and the recognition of his peers. A daring musician of English origin, he produces music that flirts with the experimental. No doubt the warm, organic sounds of his sets, tailored for the dancefloor, will find an ideal resonance through the Stereobar sound system, perfect for this type of music. There is another showcase on the same night host, the Stereo afterhour, with the long-awaited Dixon, voted most popular DJ by Resident Advisor in 2019. He’s one of the leaders of German progressive house, alongside artists such as Âme (with whom he co-founded the label Innervisions) and Henrik Schwarz.

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Africa / Afrobeat

WorldWild Soundsystem invites Analog Africa

by Louise Jaunet

Samy Ben Redjeb is the founder of the Analog Africa label, based in Frankfurt, Germany. A true archeologist of musical treasures, he travels in South America and Africa to unearth tropical sounds, Afrobeat, cumbia and salsa from the 1960s and 1970s. The result of all this work is a panoply of compilations of totally unheard, groovy and catchy sounds. He’ll be sharing his gems when he hits Montreal for the first time, to the delight of ears in search of exotic discoveries.

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Rock / Shoegaze

Orchids • Shade • Jyraph

by Louise Jaunet

Photo credit: Laurine Haddock

Organized by one of the founders of the Montreal psychedelic festival Distortion, this concert presents two emerging bands: Shade, a rock ‘n’ roll band from Hamilton, and Orchids, a local shoegaze band – a rare genre in Montreal. The latter has just joined the Belgian label EXAG’ Records and will present, among other things, its next two songs to be released as singles.

In the opening slot, Jyraph will replace the previously scheduled Chacal.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPKjzfdtSY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2Wr_qqogUL9iNRJ+NVTl6VAhLavmngGz24sRDk4YRkeiz3_Igm_Suzm18o

Electronic / Tech-House / Techno

Omar S • Project Pablo

by Elsa Fortant

Originally from Detroit, the crucible of techno, Omar-S is a worthy representative of the local underground. His unique style, with its focus on house, is in line with that of his predecessors, such as Theo Parrish or Moodymann. A prolific producer and excellent DJ, during his sets he oscillates between techno, house and deep house. Dance music with a deep debt to to jazz and soul (Motown), which finds its spirit in Chicago house, sometimes even sampling disco. The only watchword is: groovy. Put out your dancing shoes!

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Ambient / Avant-Garde / Electro / Experimental Dream Pop / Post-Rock

Siamois Synthesis

by Michel Rondeau

The first clue is a Montreal composer and audiovisual artist named Maxime Corbeil-Perron on keyboards and electronics, the second is a bass player who has been active on the independent music scene for the past 20 years, named Sylvain Gagné, the third one is a guitarist named Simon Trottier (not shown here), known for highlighting the textural possibilities of his instrument, the fourth a vocalist of Japanese origin named Maya Kuroki. Put them together and you have the new band Siamois Synthesis, launching their first album Feu Aimant, on the Ambiances Magnétiques label, whose first excerpt is very promising.

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Hardcore / Rock

Refused • Youth Code • Racetraitor

by Geneviève Gendreau

The Swedish band has lost none of its verve and revolutionary ideals, as evidenced by its most recent album, War Music, released last October on Search And Destroy/Spinefarm. A sense of urgency can be heard from one end to the other of this hardcore firecracker, with Marx’s famous maxim punctuating “Blood Red”. It’s impossible not to mention the two bands that will accompany Refused for most of their North American tour. First of all, Youth Code, an EBM act plunging its tendrils into hardcore, with a brutal and generous stage presence. Finally, the classic band of committed hardcore punk, Racetraitor, arrives with an abrasive sound if ever there was one. An uncompromising evening, not to be missed!

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Baroque / Classical / Classical Period / Contemporary

Gemma New conducts I Musici de Montréal

by François Vallières

I Musici de Montréal, under the direction of the New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New, presents a string program dedicated to three major composers of their respective eras. First, an adaptation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue BWV 542, originally for organ. Next, the ensemble tackles Shaker Loops, by the American John Adams, a minimalist work in four linked sections. To close the concert, Felix Mendelssohn’s 7th of 12 symphonies for strings, in D minor, composed when the German was only a teenager. As part of the I Concertini Series, this concert, which lasts approximately 60 minutes without a break, will be presented twice, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The musicians are seated in the middle of the hall, not on the stage, so this series of concerts creates an intimacy with the audience.

PROGRAMME

I Musici de Montréal 

Gemma New: conductor

J. S. Bach: Fantasy and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542

John Adams: Shaker Loops

Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony for Strings in D minor No. 7

PLUS D’INFORMATIONS

Post-hardcore / Progressive Metal / Rock

Bird Problems

by Christine Fortier

The Montreal quartet celebrate the release of their EP Beyond the Nest with a launch concert. If the videos for the songs “Cold Turkey” and “Pigeon Superstition”, released in December and January, are any indication, Bird Problems move away from the metalcore with jazz influences of the album Taz (2017) in favour of a progressive rock-metal sound that will surely appeal to fans of Between the Buried and Me.

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Progressive Metal / Rock

Devin Townsend

by Christine Fortier

Photo credit: Tanya Ghosh

The February 28 concert sold like hotcakes, so a second date was added to meet the demand. The Canadian multi-instrumentalist’s acoustic (and unsettling) performance at the 2019 edition of Heavy Montreal apparently had no negative effect on his fans. Given that the tour for the album Empath, released in March 2019, begins in Montreal, it’s a mystery as to whether Townsend will perform mostly material from his solo albums, or whether he will also draw from the repertoire of The Devin Townsend Band, The Devin Townsend Project and Strapping Young Lad. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get the Strapping Young Lad songs he played during the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise last January.

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Electronic / First Nations

Anachnid

by Rupert Bottenberg

After snagging a prize at SOCAN’s 2019 Indigenous Music Awards in Winnipeg, and releasing her latest track, the gentle yet potent “Sky Woman”, this past November, Montreal-based artist Anachnid brings her “Dreamweaver” show to MAI. With her totem animal, the spider, to guide her, Anachnid’s web is crafted with strands of her Oji-Cree and Mi’kmaq roots, upscale club sounds, passionate defiance, emotional honesty and the occasional jab of on-point humour. Don’t lose the thread on this one!

Other performance of this show:
• Saturday, February 29, 9 p.m. at MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)

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North East Asian / Taiko

Drum Tao 2020

by Rupert Bottenberg

How many musicians can you think of that include daily long-distance runs, calisthenics and martial arts training in their practice schedule? That’s what’s required of the percussionists in Japanese ensemble Tao, which since 1993 has brought the fearsome thunder of traditional taiko drumming, enhanced by flavours from elsewhere in Asia and a striking theatrical flair, to stages around the world. Excitement is guaranteed when they start clubbing the skins at Place des Arts.

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Experimental / Contemporary / Noise Rock / Rock

Gloin • Cantos • Jed Arbour

by Louise Jaunet

Photo credit: Conner Palomba

Toronto’s Gloin released their first EP Soft Monster last April. Since then, the band has notably opened for the mythical space-rock band Moon Duo. Hopefully, on the occasion of their second appearance in Montreal, they’ll have some new material in the same stoner rock and noise-rock vein. Gloin will soon be playing at the SXSW festival in Austin, and the New Colossus festival in New York, making them one of the emerging Toronto bands to watch out for this year. The concert takes place at L’Escogriffe with two local bands: Cantos and Jed Arbour.

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