Crabe | Nightmom | Eschaton | Casa del Popolo

Show: Crab + Nightmom + Eschaton
Venue: Casa del Popolo, Montreal
Date: Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

Am slowly learning to live out of my comfort zone. Seems you get more out of life this way, more excitement. Use to spend my evenings at home reading. Watching TV. Can't stay put now, have this need to catch up with life.

Eschaton, the first set that evening, definitely put me out of this zone. Instrumental and improvisational. Horns and strings and some other weird sounds. Quite interesting. My eyes were glued on the contrabassist. Manipulated his instrument to its full capacity. At some point the bow was used to create sounds out of the wooden tailpiece. Gave me goosebumps. I've played the viola in my teens and I've often gotten those same goosebumps by playing it the wrong way.

Approached him afterwards, asked him why he played the bow on that tailpiece. Told him it made me uncomfortable. Made the contrabass vibrate, he answered. Gave him a good feeling. This explains why, throughout the whole performance, he was hugging his instrument.



The second set I truly enjoyed. Nightmom from Rhode Island. Drum and guitar duo.



My favorite song of this short set was "Sister's Cool" from the album Baby Later. A mixture of "cowboyz noize" (as described on their bandcamp) and rock. Should have bought their album.



Crabe, the main act, is a guitar and drum duo from Montreal. Heard them play before. Enjoyed it much more this time. I put aside the fact that I couldn't here the lyrics clearly. It screams and it rocks.



As they would say on the Facebook event page : "No need to buy 3D glasses to see Crabe in concert, all you need is to open the doors to your heart and let the tender melodies crawl in". Love this quote.

Breaking out of this comfort zone? Getting there, gradually.

Midnight walk from the Casa del Popolo

Choses Sauvages - Lancement Japanese Jazz

Show: Choses Sauvages (+ Osismi + Crabe)
Venue: Coop Katacombes, Montreal
Date: Saturday, March 28th, 2015

Being in my mid-thirties, I felt a bit out of place at the Choses Sauvages concert. A younger crowd. Everybody is so happy. As if the hardship of life hasn't touched them yet. The way I see it, the difference between the youth (a big chunk of it anyways) and older generations is optimism. A belief they can change society for the better. It's a good thing they're present and active. Maybe someday something will change. Wish all generations had drive like that.

Arrived at the Coop Katacombes while Crabe was doing a soundcheck. The place wasn't packed yet. Crabe is a two piece band. Voice, guitar and drums. Good and loud. They do as they please. If only their songs didn't all sound the same. I'd say the drummer's excellent skill is what differentiates a track from an other.





Later came Choses Sauvages in shiny clothing. The four piece band (+1 extra that night I believe) make extremely well crafted pieces. Here's one from Japanese Jazz.




In English as well as in French, the songs work best when Félix Bélisle sings lead. He did forget the lyrics a few times though. Bad Nylon joins them later. The female hip hop singers are just as impressive. The crowd starts waving their hands in the air. Don't remember ever seeing that in a small venue. «Vous êtes des estis de malades»* screams Félix Bélisle at some point.

Choses Sauvages with some strings

Choses Sauvages finishes with a No Doubt song. "Hella Good". Love the bass.

Show poster done by Pony

The evening brings me back in time when we were the ones doing the strikes for access to a better education.

There was simply something in the air that night.




* You are fucking sick

Illustration I did for the newspaper edition