Summer 2024 was great fun for pop music fans: Between Charli XCX’s groundbreaking album brat, the feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake, and new releases from artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, it is undeniable that this summer has seen a resurgence of excitement in pop music[Read More…]
Music
Where do I begin: Addison Rae
From “talentless” TikTok darling to rising Netflix starlet to pop singer making a splash in the music industry, the public view of Addison Rae has been more unpredictable than Canadian weather. Addison first introduced herself to the public in 2019 with popular but menial lip-sync TikToks, sparking similar trends to[Read More…]
Opera McGill haunts audiences with ‘Blond Eckbert’
For their second opera of the season, Opera McGill performed Blond Eckbert by composer and librettist Judith Weir, a piece that blends elements of fairy tale and horror. Based on a German short story of the same name by Ludwig Tieck, the tale centres around Eckbert’s wife, Berthe (MacKenzie Sechi/Maddalena[Read More…]
Hannah Frances’ ‘Keeper of the Shepherd’ is the most sincere record of the year
Softly strummed chords steadily resound beneath layers of swelling vocals, grief-stricken and tenderly sincere. In her song “Husk,” Hannah Frances explores the glacial vulnerability of death, expounding grief as an absent presence and a manifestation of immortalized love. For sorrow cannot exist without the chances taken by love, and death[Read More…]
MJ Lenderman ushers the spirit of Asheville into Montreal’s Théâtre Fairmount
Whirring guitars pierce through the night, sloshing through the cramped crowd of Théâtre Fairmount. The amps engulf the room in a communication of riffs, a call-and-response of rhythmic strums with the scalding guitar whistles and twang of the pedal steel. As the audience returns lyrical chants to the stage, shock[Read More…]
‘Hearing Things’ is a lighthouse for the future of music journalism
In January 2024, magazine conglomerate Condé Nast announced that it would be folding Pitchfork, a music coverage site, into Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ), resulting in mass layoffs for the site. This sparked outrage for fellow journalists and readers alike—along with concerns for the future stability of cultural journalism. On Oct. 15,[Read More…]
Montreal needs to plan around its cultural heritage
On Sept. 23, the Court of Appeal of Quebec ordered La Tulipe, a century-old concert hall in the heart of Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, to halt all shows due to a long-standing series of noise complaints from surrounding residents. While the Court’s original ruling from May 2023 stated that the theatre[Read More…]
Tokyo Police Club says a final “au revoir” to Montreal
On Jan. 23, Canadian indie rock band Tokyo Police Club (TPC) announced their farewell tour, and on Oct. 12, they played for the last time in Montreal, a city with strong ties to their beginnings as a band. The news of their breakup was met with overwhelming support from fans.[Read More…]
The stories and sounds of Montreal’s Black women DJs
Montreal’s cultural fabric is shaped by its artists. From writers and sculptors to fashion designers and chefs, there is a scene for everyone. When it comes to musical history, the city’s Black communities hold great significance. The music scene extends to DJing, with events like Igloofest and Aire Commune, along[Read More…]
PJ Harvey embodies all that she creates
Content warning: Mentions of sexual assault Echoing bass drums underscore the whirring guitars howling from the speakers. Every note engulfs the concert hall, transforming its industrial architecture into a mystical unknown of looming trees contorted over muddy paths, mutating its narrow aisles into a shadowy trail, flanked by a curling[Read More…]
