by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Silly Kissers - Treat Me Like You Do (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Grimes - Weregild (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wolf Gang - Lions in Cages (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wolf Gang - Pieces of You (MP3)

It's the weekend before CMJ which is usually pretty quiet, but...not this year. Me, I'm probably staying in. But you might want to check out:

Montreal's cute synthpop band  Silly Kissers are visiting, playing three shows this weekend: tonight (10/14) at Cake Shop, then Friday (10/15) at Silent Barn and Sunday at Glasslands. The band were here for CMJ last year, playing the M for Montreal night at Arlene's Grocery where they wore mime makeup which was probably a mistake. They were better when I saw them in their hometown last November:

"Silly Kissers didn't wear mime makeup this time (like they did at CMJ) which is a definite plus, but I really don't think they are "export ready." Which is not a dis. Their low fi, cutesy (sometimes charming) version of '80s synthpop would be more at home at a house party rather than with the fancy lights at club Juste Pour Rire."

Which makes all three places Silly Kissers are playing pretty ideal settings for them. They are fun, and the songs -- sugary, '80s-inspired indie-dancepop -- are undeniably catchy. Check out "Treat Me Like You Do" at the top of this post.

All three shows are with fellow MTL-er Claire Boucher who performs under the name Grimes. Her new record, Halafaxa, is a "pay what you want" download from their label's website. Ethereal, occasionally dub-infected and danceable, Halafaxa should appeal to fans of Delorean and Sally Shapiro (or even old 4AD bands like Colourbox or Dif Juz). Definitely worth a click. You can download "Weregild" from it at the top of the this post to give you a taste. Like a lot of music like this, making it interesting to watch in a live setting is the big hurdle. Can she do it? Go see them live.

By the way, I'll talk more about this later, but as we just pointed out, M For Montreal's 2010 CMJ showcase will again be at Arlene's Grocery, but this time with Random Recipe, The Luyas, Uncle Bad Touch, PS I Love You, Radio Radio, and Red Mass.

London's Wolf Gang play the second of their NYC shows tonight (10/14). I have a soft spot for this sort of melodramatic anthemicism, especially when you add a dancey element to it. Did anyone go see them last night at Santos? You can check out two tracks at the top of this post: "Lions in Cages" which is pretty typical of what Wolf Gang do, and "Pieces of You" which sounds a little more like Grizzly Bear or something.

The show also has Acrylics on the bill who I like a lot but have been pretty quiet for the last six months so I'm anxious to see what they've been up to. Like maybe they've been making their debut album? Let's hope. Also playing are Safe and Painted Faces who I know bubkis about.

Toys & Tiny Instruments

And finally I'd like to highlight a pretty cool show at Bruar Falls on Friday (10/15). Headlining are Toys & Tiny Instruments who don't need a lot of explanation. You see their name, and you know what they do.  But they're much better than you might expect. They played Bruar Falls back in the Spring and while the night started with some eye-rolling -- oh boy what is this novelty thing about to happen? -- everyone there ended up kinda being wowed. They may buy their gear at Toys R' Us but that doesn't mean they don't write awesome songs, and that they can't play their instruments well. I liked them so much I had them play my lunchtime series at the Seaport over the summer and they were great there too. Friday is the first show they've played since then and it's a release party for their debut EP.

The rest of the bill is pretty notable and eclectic: Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen (he sang lead on "Punk Rock Girl"); home recording legend R. Stevie Moore; and Beth Sorrentino who some of you may remember from '90s indie pop band Suddenly, Tammy! whose song "Lamp" still makes it onto mixes around my house.

Sparky Deathcap

And a few more DAILY PICKS NOT COVERED ABOVE

THURSDAY, OCT 14

Fans of Los Campesinos!, who play Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday and Saturday night, might be interested to know that Rob Taylor also performs solo under the name Sparky Deathcap and will be doing so tonight at the Rock Shop. It's a free show starts at 8pm sharp.

The Delancey may feel a bit like Silent Barn tonight what with a lineup that includes My Teenage Stride, Lame Drivers, Suprisers and Easter Vomit. You can download five new MTS songs, all of which are good, over at Free Music Archive.

And if you'd like to laugh, Coco 66 tonight hosts Supershow!, a free comedy variety show, that tonight hasThu Tran of IFC's Food Party, the Found Footage Festival guys, Gabe Delahaye of Videogum, and more.

continued below...

Continue reading "Silly Kissers, Grimes, Wolf Gang, Toys & Tiny Instruments, Turbo Fruits & more in This Week in Indie"

by Bill Pearis

Le Matos

Last year when I went to M for Montreal, I didn't know any of the bands going in, which made it sort of exciting, with no preconceived notions from hype or un-hype. This time, though, I had heard many of the bands at M, as well as having seen a handful of them before. At Friday's sélection officielle at club Just Pour Rire (10/20), I'd seen half of the bands before, and the other half I'd given at least a cursory listen.

The best surprise of the night was electronic trio Le Matos who are kind of Montreal's Simian Mobile Disco, and tore the place up with a blinding set of squelchy techno. I mean blinding literally: surrounded by a ring of versatile "light pillars" (my term) you could barely see the musicians. Most of my pictures were either a giant block of bright color or completely black thanks to the strobes. If you've seen SMD's live set, it was definitely influenced by that but Le Matos took it full circle. While their music feels a little 2007, but in the moment, at maximum volume and with that light show, it was kind of awesome and the crowd was eating it up like so much sugary cereal. They are getting a lot of remix work, so look out for these guys next year.

My favorite non-surprise was probably Parlovr who I caught at CMJ about a month ago and was impressed by then. Even more so now. The band's self-titled, self-released 2008 album does not do them justice, making them sound like a Wolf Parade Jr. Live, Parlovr are way more energetic, fun and melodic -- though it may have also had something to do with a fair amount of new material in their set. Singers Louis Jackson and Alex Cooper semi face each other from opposite sides of the stage rocking back and forth like manic Drinking Birds, flipping their '90s skate rat hair around, while mountain man drummer Jeremy MacCuish holds down the beat. They clearly enjoy playing, and it's a lot of fun to watch too. New album due early next year apparently.

Also impressive live are Toronto's DD/MM/YYYY who have clearly gotten much tighter than the last time I saw them (Don Pedro's, like three years ago). It's proggy-mathy, but bordering on chaos too. I'm not that crazy about their records -- a little too much going on at one time for my poppier tastes -- but I'd go see them again, no question.

The rest of the evening's bands were a little underwhelming. Silly Kissers didn't wear mime makeup this time (like they did at CMJ) which is a definite plus, but I really don't think they are "export ready." Which is not a dis. Their low fi, cutesy (sometimes charming) version of '80s synthpop would be more at home at a house party rather than with the fancy lights at Juste Pour Rire -- though a special appearance from Cadence Weapon (his second of the fest) added cred.

Neither Two Hours Traffic (Weezer-ish power pop) or Silver Starling (who sounded like a more commercially-minded Arcade Fire) did much for me.

The night ended with a "surprise" performance by BEAST, which wasn't that much of a surprise as one of M's organizers is their manager, but it was a welcome finish to Friday. Like Think About Life, seeing BEAST in front of an adoring Montreal crowd is a completely different experience from seeing them in skeptical New York. This was my fourth time seeing them (previously, most recently at the Brooklyn Vegan day party during CMJ), and though their set has pretty much remained the same since this time last year, they do it so well. singer Betti Bonifassi has such magnetism - it's still fun. And the crowd was going crazy for them. They brought down the house.

The previous night's review and pics are HERE. More pictures from night two, and video of Parlovr's performance are below...

Continue reading "M For Montreal 2009 - night 2 in pics & review (Le Matos, Parlovr, DD/MM/YYYY, Silly Kissers, Beast & more) "

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Chris La Putt

Parlovr

I said it a few time throughout CMJ week this year: Montreal just tries harder. I'm not saying the city's artists make better albums than everyone else, but as far as giving their all on stage, band-for-band, Montreal groups are much more likely to entertain you than one from another city. Maybe that's just the one's they're sending us, but there was plenty of evidence to support this theory during CMJ 2009, and no place more concentrated than at the M for Montreal showcase at Arlene's Grocery on Wednesday (10/21) where there were six of the city's bands on display.

The night started early with a sampling on Montreal's most famous drunk food, poutine, and a set by up-and comers Parlovr (pronounced "parlour," if you're wondering) who made an impressive, shouty racket. The manic trio feature two guitarists (one of whom also plays keyboards) who take turns on vocals and flipping their hair around, while their bearded drummer walloped away.

Silly Kissers

Silly Kissers had most NYers in the audience looking around uncomfortably -- we're not used to synthpop bands who wear mime make-up -- and maybe here's a MTL band trying a bit too hard in that department but their songs were kinda catchy and a group of girls in front of me were dancing nonstop and singing along.

Then came BEAST who took most of the crowd by surprise, and won most of them over by the end of their set. As I said before, singer Betti Bonafassi is a magnetic performer, and when she sings off-mike for the opening of "Ashtray," the power of her voice becomes instantly apparent. The rest of the band are no slouches either. Drummer and co-songwriter Jean-Phi Goncalves occasionally picks up a megaphone and starts rapping in French, guitarist Serge Pelletier lays down Morricone-like leads, and it's hard to miss Jonathan Dauphinais' instrument -- a bass/keyboard combo that looks to have been fused together MacGuyver-style. (BEAST also played a great early set three days later at our Saturday day party at Pianos.)

By the time Think About Life took the stage, Arlene's Grocery was packed and the crowd was ready for fun. As good as they were playing a very, very early opening set at the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg the night before, the band clearly is fueled by the audience and the crowd was eating it up. It was easily one of the top five sets I saw at CMJ this year. It doesn't hurt that their new album, Family, is awesome -- loaded with stick-in-your-head jams, including "Sweet Sixteen" and "Young Hearts." Also, adding singer Caila Thompson-Hannant (of Shapes & Sizes) gives frontman Martin Cesar someone to play off of, which just makes them all the more fun.

Duchess Says

At this point I had to exit, but there was also We Are Wolves and Malajube, followed by the awesome mayhem that is Duchess Says, who also played our Thursday day party at Pianos. By the looks of these photos, and from reading people's Twitter feeds, Duchess Says' show at Arlene's was wild (when people wrote they "destroyed" Arlene's, it was more literal than most "killed it" CMJ tweets). The band clearly won over the Pianos crowd too (NY Times included) and anyone who has been within 20 feet of singer Annie-Claude in performance mode will never forget it.

Video of Parlovr, Think About Life and Duchess Says, plus lots more pictures from the M for Montreal showcase (and one set from Pianos), after the jump...

Continue reading "M for Montreal @ CMJ 2009 - pics (Think About Life, Duchess Says, Parlovr, Beast, Malajube, We are Wolves, Silly Kissers)"

by Bill Pearis

Duchess Says

We already mentioned that Montreal's Think About Life will be in town this week playing Tuesday night's BrooklynVegan showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg and the M for Montreal night at Arlene's Grocery on Wednesday (10/21). Also playing the M4M show are electro-punks Duchess Says, whose only other show this week will be the BrooklynVegan day party on Thursday (10/22) at Pianos. Full line-up for that show will be announced soon.

Duchess Says were probably the wildest band I saw at last year's M for Montreal festival, due almost entirely to spitfire singer Annie-Claude. She is a woman possessed onstage, wild-eyed and not afraid to leap into the crowd... or drag the crowd onstage. They are loved in their hometown -- the show I saw, the crowd was going completely mental -- but they haven't toured that much in America so it's a real treat to have them here this week, and to have them at our day party.

If you want to get a good cross-section of the Montreal scene, and aren't scared of seeing some bands who sing in French, you should definitely hit up Arlene's Grocery Wednesday night which has an excellent line-up. In addition to Think About Life and Duchess Says, the M for Montreal showcase features: "trip rock" duo BEAST, whose singer Betty Bonifassi provided the vocals for Triplets of Belleville. As I wrote after seeing them, she's got one of Those Voices (Shirley Bassey comes to mind) - smoky, world-wear, yet powerful, enough to cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand at attention. BEAST are playing four shows during CMJ, and all dates are below.

Also playing: Up-and-comers Parlovr play shouty, anthemic indie rock not entirely unlike Wolf Parade and they apparently wowed audiences at this year's Pop Montreal; Malajube who did very well for themselves when they played CMJ in 2006; MTL scene veterans We Are Wolves; and the electropop sounds of Silly Kissers.

The High Dials

Not playing that night but also from Montreal and also playing CMJ are The High Dials whose most recent album, Moon Country, made my Best Albums of 2008 list. If you're unfamiliar, they make country-tinged '60s-ish psych-rock, with great harmonies and occasional doses of druggy drone. The High Dials are playing two NYC shows this week, both on Saturday (10/24). First at Lit (10:15) and then at Arlene's Grocery (12:30). They are fantastic live, you should definitely clear some space for these guys. They're also playing a few East Coast coast while down in America, too, and those dates are below.

And while I'm talking about Canada and Arlene's Grocery, Thursday (10/22) is this year's Canadian Blast which has hard rockers Priestess, the anthemic alt-rock of Jets Overhead, funk-soul mashup Grand Analog, hip hop act Classified and youngsters Spiral Beach.

Tour dates, flyers and videos after the jump...

Continue reading "Duchess Says, The High Dials, Malajube & other bands from Montreal (coming to CMJ, touring)"