Featuring Buddy Guy, Christine and the Queens, George Benson, and more. We are well into festival season and it’s always time for jazz! The Montreal Jazz Festival is back with another superb, jam-packed edition. The 10 day event kicks off on June 29th and will take over the Quartier des Spectacles and surrounding venues to showcase various local and international talents. World renowned artists such as Diana Krall, Robert Plant & Alison Krause, as well as Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily, Hermanos Gutiérrez, OBONGJAYAR, Nick Hakim, KOKOROKO, DOMi & JD BECK, and more.  “It ..read more

Taking place in various Montreal venues from June 1st to 23rd. Suoni Per Il Popolo music festival kicks off this week, celebrating a wide range of music and arts, spotlighting the finest local and international talents. This ecclectic gathering features across all genres, with a focus on free jazz, avant-rock, noise/post-punk, avant-folk, and afro-futurism. The festival’s fiery 2023 program also includes visual art from the Jean Couteau collective, a bilingual improv comedy night, and drag queen performances, taking place at La Sala Rossa and Casa Del Popolo venues. Here are a f ..read more

The aural mavericks have shared the 1st Movement off of their upcoming collaborative effort, BAPTISMAL, due on June 2nd, via Shimmy Disc. BAPTISMAL, Laraaji and Kramer’s latest collaboration, a project that revolves around clarity and vision. This LP marks the first of three ambient symphonies. Today, the pair unveil “Submersion,” the opening track, which consists of an alluring, 21-minute journey towards meditation. When asked about the track, Kramer mentions: “Memory, is an art. Sound, and its visual point of origin, can open our minds to ourselves, and to others. Th ..read more

The Chicago-based band offer a glimpse of their upcoming record Eddy, which is due on May 1, 2022 via Earth Libraries. Charlie Reed emerged from the ashes Luke Trimble’s previous band Uh Bones. With this project, the fuzzy guitars becomes more refined, creating a warmer, George Harrison-esque acoustic ambience. The decision to name this band after a nonexistent person was a rather egoless decision for Trimble. The current lineup consists of backing from Justin Vittori (Divino Niño) on guitar, and Croom (Twin Peaks) on pedal steel guitar, Nick Beaudoin (Spread Joy) on bass, Nolan Chin on piano ..read more

“The Gate,” serves as a glimpse for whats to come on the Quebec City based musician’s upcoming record which is due next year via Secret City Records. Gus Englehorn’s latest track pays homage to Alfred Hitchcocks 1940 film, Rebecca. He mentions,“I actually woke up in the middle of the night after having watched it the night previous and I wrote out most of the lyrics in one shot. It’s about (I think) facing your own mortality.” The song initially takes on the form of a spoken word piece with percussion and guitar elements introduced at the chorus. Those elements manage to blend together as the ..read more

The Shrimp City Beach 1993 Reunion Tour stopped by the Corona Theatre on Monday in support of the band’s lates effort, Cave World. By: Sun Noor It has been a while since the six-piece live band, a little over three years and two album releases later to be exact. The Swedish punk rockers’ show at Bar le Ritz on their first North American tour was definitely one of the most memorable gigs I’ve been to. Their enigmatic stage presence and antics pairs really well with their unique blend of post-punk, jazz, spoken word with some western influences in a live setting. Viagra Boys’ well-awaited return ..read more

The Toronto-based singer stopped by the Studio TD on her 4-date tour in support of her EP “eleven achers.” By: Sun Noor The Studio TD had more of an intimate vibe on Sunday night with a seated solo performance. The dimly lit room slowly began to fill up and the energy was calmer than usual but the excitement was very much still there. Nemahsis was one of the few artists on the Montréal en Lumière musical lineup that initially caught my eye, as I really enjoyed her project last year. Aside from getting to hear all of my favourite tracks live for the first time, I was ready to be taken aback by ..read more