Pop Montreal: Ford & Lopatin + Sleep Over + d'Eon + CFCF

I arrived before the show to check out the venue, which is a very cool open space, and had been decorated for ArtPop. There were some interesting installations including a pile of spectrographs and radio equipment, as well as a stage setup featuring taxidermied wolves, and an owl, lit with a black light. The open space and big sound made it a great venue for the show that was about to take place.

First to take the stage was CFCF. He played in front of a backdrop of perfectly cheap and cheesy looking new age visuals which brought to mind a time when the internet was a baby and the soft synth, bell pads and pan flutes samples on display would be more likely to be found on an Enya or Kitaro record than at a show for the cool kids. He played a set with peaks and valleys, anchored by rumbling bass, booming electronic drums and woven pan flute and bell. This recent resurgence of interest in new age soundscapes has been anchored by fellow local artist, and next to play, d'Eon.

His show was a looser affair where miscued samples abounded, but once the songs got going we were brought into his world of chiming bell pads, strange pummeling rave-like rhythms, screams and weird RnB. His music got the quiet crowd moving a little more, and people were excited to hear songs like "Transparency," with its catchy vocals and banging 90's hip-hop on ecstasy inspired beats.

The show took a different direction when Sleep ∞ Over came on. Their set took on a slower pace and had a more enveloping sound, drawing from some similar influences as d'Eon with a distinctly RnB feel mixed with late 80's dream pop and shoegaze. The band rolled through newer sounding arrangements of songs like "Casual Diamond" and "Romantic Streams," which were only recognizable once I heard the familiar vocal melodies buried beneath the synth wash and echo. The set had a great druggy quality to it that brought you into the world of Sleep ∞ Over's haunting melodies and darkly beautiful synthesizer music. It was definitely far too brief, though.

Last to play was the great duo of Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin. The show started out with some drifting ambient synth, reminiscent of Lopatin's solo work as Oneohtrix Point Never, but once the beat dropped you were transported into the 1980's, complete with boom-bap drum machine, which brought to mind the early years of hip-hops golden era, and glistening poppy synth. The music hit hard and each sample was perfectly placed as they ran through songs off their new record, Channel Pressure. The performance ran a lot like the record, with more contemplative moments between songs, and pure 80's pop bliss bursting throughout. A definite highlight of a great weekend, and a fantastic way to end a very interesting show.

-Marshall V hosts Fear Of Music every Thursday night from Midnight to 1am