It was a rainy day here in Montreal yesterday. So the traditional summer Sunday outdoor music event, Piknic Électronik, got cancelled. Or did it?
Yesterday’s Piknic was a co-production with Bande à Part, a French CBC webcast/podcast/radio & TV show dedicated to alternative music in its various guises. They were planning to take footage for broadcast, so a much shortened version of the event was put together for an intimate afternoon crowd of 40 or so at CBC’s studios.
It was somewhat surreal to wait in the CBC cafeteria, then wind our way through the labyrinth of passageways, down into the belly of the broadcast beast. Like a highschool field trip of sorts. Waiting for us there, in a cozy little studio, were Frivolous, who played a funky, glitchy goodbye set before flying off to Berlin for good this a.m. (he had this great red phone for adding voice-generated effects–it all seemed so KGB to me); Tractile, whose hard-hitting sound was delish but more suited to 4 am than 4 pm (or, as I put to one of the Piknic guys, sometimes sunglasses are a requisite accessory for fun…); and Midnight Operator, aka brothers Mathew Jonson and Nathan Jonson, who layed down a very playful, humourous set full of synthy grunts and saucy bloops that had pretty much everybody dancing.
All in all, a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon.
Oh, and I’m told that Mathew Jonson will may be making an appearance this week at Dizzy Tuesdays, Academy Dancehall, 4445 St Laurent.
My good friend and netlabel honcho, Jean-Patrice Rémillard–aka Pheek–has got a blog going.
I bumped into him at the b-day party of a mutual friend last Saturday. We got to talking about blogging. I don’t, ahem, remember the conversation all that well, but apparently I pointed out how blogging about whatever subject is related to one’s work/interests is a sure-fire way to boost your rank in search engines. (Yes, I will be starting a second, work-related blog soon in case you were wondering…)
Anyhow, a couple of days after our chat, Pheek started reviewing tracks from around the world and across the Net. He tells me that traffic to his site practically doubled overnight. This is great news for the Pheekster, but you and I are the real winners: the man has good taste.
So if you like minimal electronic music, and want to get pointed towards quality tracks (many of which are available for free by self-published artists), add this one to your favourites…
Has it been a whole month since I last posted?! Yikes. I punished myself by not going to the picnic gathering of Montreal bloggers today. “I’m not woooooorthyyyyyyy!!!!” (Exaggerated wail.)
Time is an anaconda and Montreal is the sadistic zookeeper that starves that anaconda, then drapes it around your neck. It’s been squeezing me tight from the moment I got back. An endless stream of invitations, late nights, early mornings (one must work to support a fabulous lifestyle) and four weekly cultural newspapers crammed with interesting things to do. It took all of 48 hours for me to undo 3 weeks of healthy living and tranquility. So much for that healthy West-coast glow my skin had begun to acquire.
Yes, friends and family: I still have a lot of pics to share from my time out West. Look for a posthumous post as soon as the anaconda gives me a breather…
Friends of mine have teamed up with Montreal’s diva of the decks, Mighty Kat, for some good music and fun in the country sun. Sweet! So you know where to find me the first weekend I’m back in La belle province… Tickets available from baya[at]lebureauofficiel.com
This is one event I’m really sorry to miss. But I guess I can’t be everywhere at once. If you’re in Montreal, you should definitely check it out…
There’s another great artist playing a couple of gigs in Montreal this weekend: Håkan Lidbo. He’s the special guest of Montreal’s Trigger Records for their label showcase at Piknic Électronik this coming Sunday. DJ Mini also has the pleasure of his company this Thursday night…
This week Montreal switched to 10-digit dialing. I keep forgetting and am repeatedly subjected to the “Le numéro que vous avez composé est un numéro local…”
Which makes me wonder: how many things do we do every day without really thinking about it, simply because we’ve always done it that way? Perhaps there is no progress without the kind of rupture that forces us to examine our routines and unconscious gestures.
I guess that’s the beauty of travel: it shakes up your schedule and makes you confront your environment in conscious ways that would never happen at home where so much is familiar.