Urban Science

ArtsMusicStage

It’s the winter, a time when indoor shows have traditionally been a refuge from Montreal winter. Unfortunately last year that wasn’t the case, for obvious reasons, but this year, we’re heading back to semi-normal. With that in mind, let’s get started:

Three More Weeks of #LECYPHER Thursdays

After five sellout shows, Urban Science are closing off 2021 with three more #LECYPHER Thursdays hip hop shows at Le Petit Campus. The concept is simple: Urban Science and their invited guests for the evening (local bands and DJs) perform and then it turns into a jam.

Tonight’s show features the Lotus Collective followed by Sonido Pesao on the 9th and Hawa B on the 16th.

#LECYPHER Thursdays run until December 16 (December 2 w/Lotus Collective) at 8pm at Le Petit Campus, 57 Rue Prince Arthur Ouest. Tickets available through LePointDeVente.com

Heather Mah’s Debut Solo Show Pomegranate Running at the MAI

Heather Mah has decades of experience in the dance world, but her first major solo show, Pomegranate, premiers this week at the MAI. The show pulls from Mah’s own family history and “draws a fragmented portrait of migration”.

The opening has already started at press time, but it runs three more times tomorrow and Saturday and the Saturday matinee is offered in audio description for the visually impaired audience, a first for a Montreal dance show and only the second time it is being offered in Canada.

Heather Mah – Pomegranate from Montréal, arts interculturels on Vimeo.

Pomegranate runs December 3 and 4 at 7:30pm (with a matinee on December 4 at 2pm) at MAI, 3680 rue Jeanne-Mance. Tickets available through the MAI Box Office

The Quintet L’Abîme Launch Their Debut Album with a Mini-Tour

L’Abîme is a relatively new Montreal-based quintet launching their eponymously-titled debut album on April 23rd. Before that, though, they will go on a three-stop tour of Quebec, starting next Tuesday, December 7th, in Montreal at L’Esco.

Their influences range from jazz to progressive rock to contemporary classical music. You can hear a sample below:

L’Abîme start their tour Tuesday, December 7 at L’Esco, 4461 rue St-Denis, info on the Facebook event page

Featured Image of Quintet L’Abîme by Ethel Laurendeau courtesy of Indie Montreal

If you know of an event that you feel should be covered, please contact arts@forgetthebox.net or music@forgetthebox.net

No promises but we’ll do our best

ArtsFilmMusic

Okay, sure, it snowed on Thursday. Maybe that was Mother Nature’s way of playing an April Fools joke on us.

In general, though, things are getting much nicer outside, but for the time being, most of us are stuck indoors after 9:30pm. Fortunately, there are tons of local arts and music you can enjoy from home.

This week. we’ve got a festival, a movie and a virtual concert from a local venue. Let’s get started:

Shigawake Festival Presents Full Concerts Throughout April

The Shigawake Music Festival has been celebrating Quebec-based musicians since its inception in 2009. There wasn’t an in-person event in 2020 for obvious reasons, but organizers decided to hold its 12th edition anyways, albeit a bit differently.

They filmed The Barr Brothers, Martha Wainwright, SoCalled and a slew of other acts performing in the festival’s namesake town of Shigawake (in the Gaspe Region, population 338) last summer, with a plan to let the general public virtually attend this spring. In March, they streamed the event as three full days of festival performance highlights and now, in April, will be presenting full concerts throughout the month.

It kicks off tonight (April 3rd) at 8pm with Martin Henry.

The 12th Shigawake Music Festival presents Full Sessions for FREE from April 3-30 2021 at ShigawakeMusicFestival.com

Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s No Ordinary Man

Billy Tipton was a transmasculine jazz musician whose career ran from the mid 1930s to the late 1970s. He was long portrayed as an ambitious woman posing as a man to have a better music career, but now Montreal director Aisling Chin-Yee along with Chase Joynt hope to give some justice to Billy’s legacy and question the representation and treatment of transgender individuals in media and society.

Along with with his son, Billy Tipton, Jr. and several members of the trans community, the filmmakers have put together a documentary called No Ordinary Man to celebrate Billy’s life and career. It was released this week, to coincide with the Transgender Day of Visibility (which was March 31st).

Here’s the trailer:

No Ordinary Man opened in select theatres on April 2nd, 2021 and is available to rent and view online

Urban Science Brass Band Close Out Les dimanches couvre-fun

For the past few weeks, Indie Montreal has been offering us a weekly dose of virtual local shows, complete with streaming from a local venue. Tomorrow is final edition of Les dimanches couvre-fun (for now), and they’re going out in a big way, a big band way, with the Urban Science Brass Band performing at Café Campus.

Of course, this group, that sometimes comprises as many as 40 performers (musicians and dancers), is best known for reinventing hip hop classics and performing on the street, flashmob-style, to the huge crowds out during Montreal’s festival season. This year, our fingers are still crossed for a festival season, or at least part of one and the crowds at night aren’t there because, for the moment, they can’t be.

At least we get to bring some of that spirit back this Sunday with the the Urban Science Brass Band. Here’s them doing some of what they do best:

Urban Science Brass Band perform virtually at Café Campus as part of Les dimanches couvre-fun on Sunday, April 4, 8pm. Tickets available through ThePointOfSale.com

If you know of an event that you feel should be covered, please contact arts@forgetthebox.net or music@forgetthebox.net

No promises but we’ll do our best

ArtsFestivalsMusic

After a brief pause from local shows last week to give the proper respect due to The Hip, we’re back at it with four very cool and very different events taking place this week. All are at smaller venues with low (or free) ticket prices and none are on the same night as each other so why not go to a few of them?

Evan Taylor Jones

If you’re looking for a great show tonight then head down to the Wheel Club where singer/songwritier/guitarist/former The Voice contestant Evan Taylor Jones will be bringing his unique brand of soulful rock to the stage in support of his new EP The Sunray Sessions Live. Evan’s style shows a clear and deep connection with the roots of rock and Motown brought into the 21st century and given a contemporary feel.

Anyone living outside of Montreal should take note that this summer tour seems to be stopping in every city on the eastern side of this continent. So if you can’t make it tonight I suggest you check out the full list of shows on Evan’s Facebook page and hopefully find a stop near you.

Evan Taylor Jones plays The Wheel Club, 3373 Boulevard Cavendish, Thursday, August 25th, 8:30 pm (Doors at 7).

If We Are Machines + A Devil’s Duo + CFCQ and the Piss of Assurance

On Friday night you can head to everyone’s favorite dive Barfly and check out an evening of indie rock headlined by Vancouver’s own If We Are Machines. This summer the six piece psych rock ensemble is traveling from one end of the country to the other and back again on the very accurately named “Ocean Waters Tour”.

Joining them on stage will be two local acts: A Devil’s Duo (members of A Devil’s Din) and CFCQ and the Piss of Assurance making this quite an amazing lineup especially when you consider that tickets are only five bucks!

(Author’s Note: When I say the Barfly is “everyone’s favorite dive” I do so with empirical evidence, try googling Dive bars Montreal or looking up any poll for Best Montreal Dive Bar and you’ll see what I mean.)

If We Are Machines,  A Devil’s Duo and CFCQ and the Piss of Assurance play Barfly, 4062A Boulevard St Laurent, Friday, August 26th, 9:00pm, $5.

Saturday in The Park (N.D.G Arts Week)

Girouard park and the surrounding area has been full of action these past few days while in the midst of hosting N.D.G Arts Week. This multidisciplinary fest celebrating music, theatre, art, dance and much more has all sorts of events going on this week so check out their schedule and find a little something for you.

The big event for music fans will be Saturday in the Park where a mix of Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, R&B and Soul will come together in a very open and all inclusive way. The first two hours of the event (5 to 7 pm) is an open mic hosted by Eleuthera. Anyone interested in getting up on stage should send a message and sound sample to  ndgopenmic@gmail.com.

The rest of the event (7 to 10 pm) will be a big jam session with the collective #LeCypher featuring Urban Science and whole group of artists from different genres. If you like improvised music and/or sitting in parks then this is the show for you. ProTip: bring a lawnchair!

Saturday in the Park occurs at Girouard Park, 3500 Avenue Girouard, Saturday, August 27th, 5:00pm to 10:00pm, free.

A Cosy Night with Pomme

This Monday the French singer-songwriter Pomme will be over at Le Verre Bouteille for an intimate evening of music which is a perfect way to hear a musician who describes her style as “des ptites chansons écrites dans des ptites chambres.” If this was a movie I’d say that Pomme is cast perfectly as the “cosy” acoustic artist that people want to go and hear on a Monday.

Pomme plays , Le Verre Bouteille, 2112 Mont-Royal East, Monday, August 29th, 8:00 pm (Doors at 7), tickets available through Indie Montreal, $11.85.

Know a band or an artist that should be featured in Shows This Week? Maybe a show FTB should cover, too? Let us know at music@forgetthebox.net. We can’t be everywhere and can’t write about everything, but we do our best!

* Featured image of Pomme via Instagram