Concert Reviews

With plastic ivy, photo negatives and polaroids dangling from the ceiling, Ivytide hit the stage at Theatre Fairmount on Saturday to an adoring home crowd. Celebrating the release of their latest album, portable darkroom, the room was in ultra-high spirits with groups of young girls erupting in screams whenever singer, Nathan Gagné, directed his flirtatious lyrics to their filming phones. 

Live music is a strange form of entertainment, if you really stop to consider it. As an audience member, yes, you pay for the privilege of being entertained by a band or performer whose works you enjoy, and yes, ideally, these performers earn something in exchange for that work. But to get on stage and run through your most known songs, night after night for months, sometimes year after year, is a strange desire. It would seem to me that for most musicians, for whom private jets and sold out stadiums aren't the norm, the promise of payment isn't generally enough -- as cliche as it sounds, you really have to do it for the love. 

When most people think of Montreal group TEKE::TEKE, they think of loud abrasive punk, but then they also think of 60s psych, Japanese folklore and traditional Bulgarian music. Well, actually when people think of TEKE::TEKE they think of a lot of things. That is very much because the group is composed of seven members with various musical and cultural backgrounds. And with their stream-of-consciousness and jam-style approach to songwriting, their music is always fascinating, innovative and original. 

Brooklyn-based experimental producer and composer Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin) returned to Montreal for the first time since 2018 this past Monday, finishing off the tour of his 2023 record Again with a sold-out show at Theatre Fairmount. 

When I first heard MIKE in 2020, I was, as most first-time listeners are, surprised. At first glance, MIKE seems to be not much more than your average abstract hip-hop artist. Slurred bars laid over disjointed, chopped-up soul samples fill most of the rappers' tracks, but after a few minutes, it seems to transform. MIKE’s flows seem almost spiritual like he is nonchalantly tapping into a higher power to put any listener into some sort of jazz-rap trance. There is a friendliness buried in the soul chops and introspective bars, like a warm hug from someone you've known since childhood. With all this, it's easy to see how MIKE has hugely influenced the hip-hop scene.

The Allah-Las, alongside their opener Maston - who is also their keyboardist - brought over some soothing and nostalgic sounds to a receptive crowd at the Beanfield Theatre. On a chilly Monday night in Montreal, the audience immersed themselves into the Californian psychedelic rock band’s one-hour set. A musical oasis for those who have been lucky enough to stumble upon them, the Allah-Las leaves their listeners with a sense of nostalgia for a time and place most have never experienced, but long for through the band’s music.