FRIDAY, AUGUST 22

Passovah Summer Festival: Inside Touch + Saxsyndrum + Athens & more @ Piccolo Rialto

The third edition of the annual summer festival presented by local promoters Passovah Productions takes place this weekend. The cool thing about Passovah’s summer festival is that most of the shows are pay-what-you-can. Passovah co-founder Noah Bick thinks it’s important to include as many people as possible and the PWYC model ensures that no one is turned away. (Read an interview we did last year with Bick.)

This is my Passovah pick of the night, largely due to electronic synthpop duo Saxsyndrum. Alternately, take your pick of shows at Casa del Popolo or a special edition of Le Marché des possibles in collaboration with POP Montreal.

Doors open at 7 p.m., PWYC ($5 – $25 suggested).

Bummer + No Bones + Greys + The Dirty Nil @ Turbo Haus

Show starts at 8 p.m., $10 at the door or $12 with a copy of Steal the Nights, new 7″ by Bummer.

Alvarius B. & Sam Shalabi @ La Vitrola

Alvarius B. is the alias of revered underground musician Alan Bishop. Bishop will be joined by another seminal figure of the underground scene: guitarist and oud player extraordinaire Sam Shalabi (Shalabi Effect, Land of Kush).

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., $12 at the door or in advance online.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23

Cepheid Flux + Alison Bayre + D.A.I.S.Y. @ 1180 Saint-Antoine

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., free.

Sam Shalabi & Alan Bishop @ 185 Van Horne

Show starts at 9 p.m.

Cousins X Passovah feat. Compton Chic + Phil Sparkz + Hua Li @ Club Lambi

Show starts at 9 p.m., PWYC ($5 – $25 suggested).

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24

Passovah Summer Festival: Philemon Cimon + Nancy Pants + Daniel Isaiah + Technical Kidman & more @ Piccolo Rialto

Doors open at 7 p.m., PWYC ($5 – $25 suggested).

thisquietarmy + Tignor + Turnquist + Hellenica @ La Vitrola

Show starts at 8 p.m., $8 at the door.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27

A Tribe Called Red + AroarA + Pierre Kwenders + Masala DJs @ Place Émilie-Gamelin

Wednesday POP Montreal will be announcing their complete lineup for the 2014 edition. To celebrate, they’re throwing a mega outdoor party with free live music, a beer garden and food trucks.

Show starts at 5 p.m., free.

suoni per il popolo

Suoni per il Popolo, Montreal’s premier experimental music festival, has been dedicated to showcasing the weird, the fringe, the avant-garde and the just plain out-there for over ten years. Part of their mandate is to dissolve musical borders and genres and to promote a culture of collaboration. The result is a truly diverse collection of performances with some surprising combinations. This year’s festival runs from June 4 to June 22 and includes workshops and art exhibits as well as nightly musical performances.

Today we’re presenting only a small sample of musical acts participating in the festival but you can see the full calendar here.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4

Crosss + Sheer Agony + Shitsu @ La Vitrola

Crosss — Halifax-born, Toronto-based — blend elements of metal, sludge, doom, psychedelia and grunge. Going over to the dark side can be overwhelming if you’re not already into that but Crosss extend a sweet invitation and gently pull you in. They’re joined by the unabashedly poppy Sheer Agony and new Montreal punk band Shitsu.

Show starts at 9 p.m., $6 at the door.

THURSDAY, JUNE 5

USA Out Of Vietnam + Public Animal + Marie Davidson @ La Sala Rossa

It feels like they’ve been around forever but USA Out Of Vietnam will be launching their debut album Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes Thursday. Blending elements of drone, dream pop and psych, the band favours lush harmonies and infectious melodies and takes the time to build them up properly. Toronto garage rock band Public Animal and electronic pop songstress Marie Davidson open up the show.

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., $8 in advance through Suoni per il Popolo or $10 at the door. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 6

Steve Bates & Seijiro Murayama + Sam Shalabi & Stefan Christoff @ Casa del Popolo

Montrealer Steve Bates is an audio/visual artist whose work often explores our relationship with time. He also runs The Dim Coast, a space dedicated to experiments with sound. Seijiro Murayama is a Japan-based percussionist who focuses on improvisation and electroacoustic, conceptual compositions. They first played together at the legendary Rhiz club, Vienna’s go-to venue for experimental electronic music. The duo are joined by Sam Shalabi — composer, guitarist and oud player (Land of Kush and Shalabi Effect) — and Stefan Christoff — pianist, journalist and activist. Their work is a mix of Western free jazz improvisation and makam, a system of melody types used in Turkish classical music.

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., $12 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo

MONDAY, JUNE 9

Parquet Courts + Tyvek + Protomartyr + Heat @ Il Motore

Brooklyn-based weirdo-punk band Parquet Courts have been steadily rising in popularity since they broke onto the scene in 2010. Sunbathing Animal, their third album, drops today.

Show starts at 9 p.m., $15 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo.

TUESDAY, JUNE 10

Die Like A Dog Trio (Brötzmann, Parker, Drake) @ La Sala Rossa

It’s been 12 years since the last Die Like A Dog performance, back when the group was a quartet. This time around, German free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann is joined by double-bassist William Parker and percussionist Hamid Drake.

Show starts at 8 p.m., $28 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo.

FRIDAY, JUNE 13

Ought + Avec le soleil sortant de sa bouche + Harsh Reality @ Casa del Popolo

Ought released their debut full-length album, More Than Any Other Day, via Constellation Records this past April and have since received widespread critical acclaim. They are joined by no-wave, afro-beat, trance-pop outfit Avec le soleil sortant de sa bouche and experimental noise band Harsh Reality. Read Pamela Fillion’s interview with Ought.

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., $10 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18

Omar Souleyman + d’Eon + Nouveau Zodiaque @ La Sala Rossa

Omar Souleyman‘s story is the stuff of legends and I won’t do it justice in three lines of description that I’ve confined myself to here. Basically, he’s a Syrian artist whose sound blends traditional Middle Eastern folk music, Shaabi (a form of working-class Egyptian street music) and electronic elements. He built up his fame performing at weddings throughout the Middle East, recording over 500 cassettes in the process. He was picked up by North American label Sublime Frequencies and released his first studio album, Wenu Wenu, produced by Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden.

Show starts at 8:30 p.m., $25 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21

Jerusalem In My Heart + Morphosis + Charles Cohen @ Usine C

Jerusalem In My Heart live is a totally immersive audio/visual experience. The group makes modern experimental Arabic music, blending traditional sounds and melodies with contemporary electronic elements.

Show starts at 8 p.m., $15 at the door or online via Suoni per il Popolo.

What to do, what to do… I know: check out some of these shows this week.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30

New Moon Psychedelic Mass: NooM + Light Bulb Alley + Bearmace + Hoax @ Café Cleopatra (upstairs)

A new monthly event comes to us from the collective known as Witching Hour Events. To be held every new moon cycle, events feature short works by local filmmakers, performances by local bands of every genre, multimedia activities and visual arts. The event’s creators say it’s all in the spirit of exchanging ideas and information and sharing creative experiences to inspire change.

This version will feature performances by NooM, Light Bulb Alley, Bearmace, and Hoax. Attendees are even encouraged to bring a small instrument or other sound-making device to use during a short jam to honour the new moon.

Dressing like an alien for this edition is also encouraged.

Free before 10 p.m., $5 after.

Pierre-Guy Blanchard, Jérémi Roy and Sam Shalabi trio @ Bethlehem XXX (6568 boul. Saint-Laurent)

Members of Land of Kush, PACHA, and part of the Constellation Records family, the trio will perform an early set at a Little Italy food joint owned by musician, artist and chef Beaver Sheppard.

Show starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m., $7.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31

Trade Secrets + Archery Guild + Formalists + Blood @ Brasserie Beaubien

Doors at 9 p.m., $5.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2

Lymbyc Systym + Arms and Sleepers + Atsuko Chiba @ Il Motore

Doors open at 8:30 p.m., $10/$12.

Bass Drum of Death + Alex Calder @ Casa del Popolo

Doors open at 8 p.m., $8/$10.

Give yourself a break from all that last minute Christmas shopping and go see these shows this week!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21

Warhol Dervish @ La Sala Rossa

Warhol Dervish describe themselves as an unorthodox chamber collective that brings together many accomplished Montreal musicians, most of whose work can be described as experimental or operating on the fringes of music. Saturday’s performance will feature new and improvised music from Lukas Ligeti, Land of Kush‘s Sam Shalabi, and Vergil Sharkya’.

Doors are at 8 p.m. and tickets cost $12.

Holiday Hooligans Xmaz Party @ Maz Bar

Christmas band the Holiday Hooligans are putting on a show at Maz Bar (5617 Sherbrooke o.) to benefit in-house charity the Maz Christmas Basket Fund. In addition to live holiday-themed music, there will be a raffle with some prizes provided by 514 BMX, Chez Geeks, and comic book store Komico. You can also get your photo taken with Santa for a small fee. All proceeds from the raffle, photos, and the $5 cover charge will go towards the bar’s Christmas basket fund, which provides food baskets for the less fortunate during the holiday season.

The event starts at 9 p.m., $5 cover charge.