UnPop Montréal 2011 has come to an end, shorter than in past years, but just as awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping. This day-after-my-birthday night was no exception.
Here is the write-up I came up with, in its original bilingual form:
(scroll down for English)
Pour la 7e année consécutive, Sébastian Hell vous présente UnPop Montréal, le festival des shows gratuits du mois de septembre, qui commence le 31 par un lancement de disque et se termine le 22 par un show extérieur d'Arcade Fire. Entrecoupé de shows intérieurs comme celui-ci, de partys ravageurs, et de la fête de votre Messie favori le 14.
Mais revenons aux shows, et plus spécifiquement celui-ci...
DORA BLEU est une artiste multidisciplinaire qui transforme les sons ambiants en musique contemporaine, plus souvent qu'autrement accompagnée de nos musiciens expérimentaux les plus connus (Sam Shalabi, Alex St-Onge, Cloudscapes pour ne nommer que ceux-là).
WILL AUSTIN et son ESCAPE, c'est de la pure folie rock qui nous ramène aux années 60 et 70 dans son délire presque toujours improvisé basé sur de réelles compositions, mais jouées ''sur le moment''. Il est aussi le leader du groupe Shyny Diemyndz, qui abondent dans le même sens.
WIWICHU, eux, tirent la couverte dans un tout autre sens. Parfois ''free jazz'', parfois plus ''rock moderne'', ils tendent à vouloir ensevelir vos références musicales dans un maëlstrom olfactif et sonore qui en déroutera plus d'un.
Et le tout, comme d'habitude, animé de sang-froid par SÉBASTIAN HELL, le légendaire trentenaire qui fait courir les foules full bien.
Et c'est encore et toujours GRATUIT, et ce sera au PIRANHA BAR (680 Ste-Catherine Ouest) pour la toute première fois. On vous y voit?
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UnPop 2011. Year 7. Free shows each September, each sillier and bigger and more entertaining than the last, all gifts to you from Sébastian Hell, Grand Whizzer of this nearly-month-long event.
As a palate cleanser, this first show of the 2011 edition has garnered past performers back for an encore presentation:
DORA BLEU, who made grown men weep and normal music evolve last year is back in a smaller, more intimate setting to mesmerize your senses even more.
The one and only WILL AUSTIN ESCAPE, UnPop veterans since 2007, will show you just how high-energy and spontaneous a rock performance can get, as the modern Huddy Bolly of our times makes his guitar screech as much as his voice in re-interpreted versions of his already-classic epic songwriting.
And first but not least, WIWICHU, a collective of nü-improvisers (all ex-members of bands that have played UnPop before, here in an All-Star setting of sorts) guaranteed to expand your mind in ways even Jim Morrison had never dreamed about.
All that and SÉBASTIAN HELL at the helm, hosting with the boasting, funnier than a barrel of fun keys, in all his intrepid ''I-lost-so-much-weight-but-I'm-still-big'' glory. Oh, and a glory hole out back.
Back where? At PIRANHA BAR, for the very first time. 680 Ste-Catherine West. Formerly an arcade, now a place for awesome music. On the 15th, anyway. And, as usual, FREE.
Here is a review my friend Albérick wrote about Dora's set; he disliked the setting but seemed to enjoy the performance...
For my part, I was again shocked at the sheer power of Dora's voice, how it takes command over the barrage of sounds her collaborators make. Sure, the experimentations were really nice, the songwriting from whence these tweaks occur is stellar, but the magnitude of her glass-shattering voice keeps hitting me hard. She could fill an arena without a microphone.
And what can I say about Wiwichu? I was expecting well-groomed musicians (which they are, each playing in at least one other band) getting silly, but instead got a direct dose of heavy instrumental funk, which I didn't realize I absolutely needed until I heard it. It grooved like I had no idea it could. I was shocked - and pleasantly surprised.
As for the ever-lasting Will Austin, he's always had the talent to write good songs and make covers (by anybody, from Daniel Johnston to Bob Dylan) his own, and could always come up with an impressive performance, but in the past year or so, he has really achieved a level of consistency I would/could/should not have expected on his part, maybe because of his oh-so-natural delivery, or because he doesn't take himself all that seriously - or at least is very level-headed about his ability to rock a mic with just a guitar. Slowly but surely, he is becoming someone you'll regret not having seen live.
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