My walk to "Le Salon Vert” was an interesting one.

Walking on upper St. Laurent, being distracted by all the really cheap Indian restaurants, my senses were cut off by a mass group of interesting people gathered outside a gallery exploding with indie music and laser lights. For a brief moment I thought to myself that this concert might actually be pretty exciting, with all the glimmer and interesting-looking people.  

Unfortunately, this awesome venue was not the Green Room. I continued walking down the street and then I recognized a tiny group of smokers, clad with punk attire that always reminds me of Middle Ages garb. The Green Room is a grungy bar with a tiny platform for performers. The place wasn’t even filled and it...

Beard Of The Week is a column of life, music, people, and their beards. Each week Lachlan Fletcher of The Subplot and Unabridged will give you a great beard and shed some light on its significance, hopefully helping both the bearded and unbearded alike down the road to enlightenment.

Scott Niedermayer

THE REAKTOR’S MUSICAL PICS OF THE WEEK!!

CJLO is known for its diversity, especially when it comes to music…so here is a little dose of what the REAKTOR is playing this week!!

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To all Cool Cats of the disc siftin’ record liftin’ vinyl retrieving age. I know most of you go loopy for obscure Jazz riffs and rare funk recordings. If you are only beginning to discover the beauty in what lies beneath those tried and true hip-hop favourites than this would be a good time to sit down and listen to the original tracks that of the most, and least respected, hip hop artists have dabbled in order to create the funk-Jazz-Rock and other types of fusion. Where are the beats procured? I have dug superficially this time to procure 5 excellent tracks for a more refined ear to hear. The list consists of artist, name of original track, the record label on which it was released, and the year of release. I will match each with a hip hop track where you can find a sample of the original recording. I will also give the equivalent information-wise on the hip...

I never gave Ludacris a second thought when he first entered the game.

When Back for the First Time dropped in 2000 I was less than impressed. "What’s Your Fantasy" was a hit but there was nothing impressive about him. When Word of Mouf was released a year later I saw that he had enough, at least in terms of radio capability, to stick around for a while.

Nevertheless, he was unproven as a true MC in my eyes. It wasn’t until Release Therapy in 2006 that I began seeing the maturing and growth of not just someone who can make hit songs, but of someone who can make substantive music. "Runaway Love" had social commentary that Luda never attempted to touch on before. "Tell It Like It Is" and "War with God" also showed a more introspective...

Sade - Soldier Of Love

       Helen Folasade Adu was busy making smooth jams while the majority of you were still living inside your fathers' ballsacks. From 1984 onwards, Adu (known more famously as Sade, also the name of her band, confusingly enough) has been crafting passionate ballads in search of ways to perfect her signature sound, which came to life on 1992's Love Deluxe. The reclusive artist, who comes around and hands the world an album every decade or so, continues to slowly evolve, introducing subtle electronica elements to her music. The album's title track (and first single) is classic Sade, big on drums, reverbed percussive elements and vocal melodies, indicative of the direction of the rest of the album. Though the...

The atmosphere at La Tulipe was flowing with energy as everyone was so excited to see Renan Luce. An indie rock singer from France, Luce made musical love to an audience of not only Quebecers, but to also a large number of visitors from France. I spoke with a couple from France, who proudly proclaimed that they had seen Renan Luce perform once in the past and that he has toured Montreal four times already.    For me, this concert was truly an experience as I was most probably the only anglophone in the audience. What I found funny was the fact that even though I spoke to everyone in french, all my responses were in english (I guess I can’t hide my anglophonism well) 

The opening act for the show was something I’d...

Beard Of The Week is a column of life, music, people, and their beards. Each week Lachlan Fletcher of The Subplot and Unabridged will give you a great beard and shed some light on its significance, hopefully helping both the bearded and unbearded alike down the road to enlightenment.

Samuel Beam,

of Iron & Wine

The Wu-Tang Clan is a vast army of slang-slinging, an enterprising group of hustlers who have no lost love for each other. But brotherhood is brotherhood and as such, they've managed to put out collective albums that have lasted beyond the ages. Hell, even their last record wasn't that bad. But their vast wealth of solo material available continues to boggle the mind as all 9 members (even Ol' Dirty Bastard, from beyond the grave) continue to put releases out that vary vastly in quality, so in that spirit we'll be looking at some of the great (and downright terrible) records members have put out.

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If you speak to someone who has worked with Vince Russo over the last few years, particularly someone who had worked with him in years past, then your likely to hear about how he is changed man. I’ve been told this by some of his peers who I have spoken to, but I had nothing to take their word by, nor to disbelieve their word by. I’ve never met Vince Russo but like many of you I have heard or read some nasty things about him. Much of this negativity stems from his days in WCW, while some of it is a result of his time in TNA (which is often jokingly referred to as WCW as well).

I, like...