AWmusic

So because of Rosh Hashanah and my school’s impressive population of Jewish students, I have almost a whole week off from classes the last week of September/ first week of October. I know you don’t care about that but get this: the 7th annual Pop Montreal runs October 1st-5th and God help me if I’m not at “the greatest party in the world”.

Despite being a little over six years newer than Toronto’s NXNE (which is seriously a sorry excuse for a Canadian SXSW) Pop Montreal has delivered year after year of talented and well-received artists such as Patti Smith, MSTRKRFT, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Basia Bulat, Chromeo, Russian Futurists, Yelle, Sunset Rubdown, Final Fantasy and other artists famous enough to have a Wikipedia page. I guess the lesson here is that a Canadian festival name inspired by another Canadian festival (Halifax Pop Explosion) will be more successful than a festival name inspired by an American festival. Or that Montreal is culturally superior to Toronto – but as a Torontonian, I’d rather sit here in denial.

Pop Montreal 2008 lineup:

Burt Bacharach
Beach House
Eric Belanger
Cori Bishop (a.k.a. Elyse Weinberg)
Black Kids
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Cex
Chocolat
Jason Collett
Crystal Castles
Dabaaz
Dark Meat
Dan Deacon
The Dodos
Julie Doiron
Dominique Grange & Jacques Tardi
The D’Urbervilles
Evangelicals
Liam Finn
Gatineau
Great Lake Swimmers
Headlights
Hot Chip
Jana Hunter
Kim
Michie Mee
Katie Moore
The Persuasions
Playdoe
The Sainte Catherines
Sam Shalabi
Silver Apples
Socalled
Teeth Mountain
Teki Latex
Thomas Function
Irma Thomas
United Steel Workers Of Montreal
Chad VanGaalen
The Veils
Vetiver
The Wedding Present
Wintersleep
Wire
Woodhands
You Say Party! We Say Die!

I am personally giddy about the possibility of seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Wire and would absolutely love to see the Dodos again. Crystal Castles and Hot chip are shows I’d attend for lame hipster points. Black Kids I’d attend because I genuinely enjoy them and the lame hipster points would be a bonus. Anyway, if you’re in Montreal the first week of October, consider buying an industry pass ($175 till August 31st, $225 till September 30th, and $275 last minute) to have full access to the festival plus the opportunity to rub elbows (or something else) with Colin Newman. Regular festival passes are a steal at $70 a pop but I can’t seem to find a link anywhere so good luck with that. And of course you can always buy individual tickets to shows but I’d always felt like that ruined the “festival” feel.

Edit: I just got an email back from Pop Montreal and regular festival passes will be on sale September 1st.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Love Letter
Dodos – Park Song
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You