My favorite new music, and just one of many nights of sweet summer song here in Montreal

The show I cherry hand picked for last night, the one that had me chewing my lip late yesterday as lineups changed and lessons were learned, was a selection of the best of the local music I encountered this year. The 4 bands are my personal favorites right now, and by the end of last night, with people dancing and my new friend from Texas telling me we’d restored his faith in rock and roll, I felt a wave of that rare but gleefull sheeeet feeling … like “sheeeet the world is good.”

Lil Andy, The Unsettlers, The Darling Demaes and The Dress Whites rolicked us with their quick skills and building booming layers and toetapping and wholedeep tortured voice singing and (key for me) SMART lyrics.

I like my pop with some darkness and politics; with sounds and ideas I can fill my head and rhythm sections with. Under the banner “hoedown” ? proposed to me by the Fringe cheifs, (with the promise of no-show haybales I might add - heh - which was fine by me - I’m allergic to most things and would quietly prefer not to be the show’s host with the red and runny face if I can help it… maintain my illusion of cool whenever possible… barely concealing the nerd within) these four bands blew me and each other away. It was cool that none of them had seen each other before, and it was funny for me to be running up and reminding them all, sweet shy musican dudes with their heads all in eighteen places, to plug their other shows and remind people about their cd’s and such available in the back. Sylvain, our designated videographer, was there last night, and not only did he catch the bands being their awesome selves, but also the 20 piece Kumpania drum collective that led a parade up to Lambi from the Parc as the programming in the Fringe parc ended. Sylvain is sorting out his software situation and will be getting video going up soon, and we’ll be compiling the footage into something more substantial (dvd!) over the rest of the summer.

Before the show at Lambi I caught Future Clouds and Radar at the outdoor site and totally dug their southern charm and moving multi-dimensional rock. Up at Lambi I met Kullen Fuchs, one of the talented instrumentalists from Future Clouds and Radar, whose emotional soundscapes, discovered on his website, are now shaping the morning with wordless shifting stories, becoming high on my list of favorite new music. Kullen basked with me a bit in the joyful unpretentious buzz of the bands, and the lightness that for him came from stepping into Canada. With only one night in Montreal and too much Montrealness to try and take in to leave a traveler to their own devices, after the ‘hoedown’ I dragged the poor Austin-ite with me down to catch the end of Plants and Animals set at Divan Orange - just in time to see the 3 piece blowing the roof off from on top of amplifiers with a voice that bust through whatever holds were left in the part of my heart cavity that responds only to loud, lovin, live music. Then I introduced my new friend to poutine (making believers! yes! gravy!) and poured myself home in the summery eve green breeze for a little late night Freaks and Geeks nightcap as the street party and 13th hour raged on.

Today at the Parc: Art Market!
Tonight at Green Room: The What is Indie Indyish Benefit!