exploremusic

Why do uber-hip hotels have to be so dark?  With dark grey walls, grey carpet and black furnishings, my room at the Opus (the “suicide hotel,” japes a response on Twitter) has as much built-in gloom as a medieval monastery on a rainy Good Friday.  The high-tech TV is so high-tech that it took me at least 20 minutes to figure out that the remote really isn’t a remote at all.  It’s a wireless mouse tied to an indifferent cursor on the screen.

The M for Montreal organizers couldn’t have been nicer.  There was a cocktail mixer in the bar for the delegates.  And they came from everywhere.

I should point out the purpose of this event.  It’s an international showcase of Canadian talent for journalists, promoters, programmers, publicists, agents, managers, labels, music supervisors—anyone who needs to know about the kind of musical talent this country generates. 

After last night’s mixer, we were bussed to a Portuguese restaurant for a meal of squid, squid, squid, potatoes, sausage and squid.  Afterwards, we schlepped upstairs to cool-looking concert venue (think David Lynch décor) where two bands played. 

The first was a three-woman/one dude band called Dead Wife who bill themselves on their MySpace page  as “punk/experimental.”  As to what that actually means, think what you might get if you were to mic a blender, toss in some mid–80s-era Sonic Youth, add in some live Pixies (on a night when Black Francis and Kim Deal were drunk and fighting), set it on “high” and then turn the amps up to 11.  Their longest songs top out at around two minutes, although the majority of them clock in at around 45 seconds.  I think they played 25 songs in a 20 minute set. 

This left some people in the audience a little confused.  I, on the other hand, quite liked them.  Rebecca (no last name), the singer, has a cool presence.  I would have bought some of their music, but all they had available for sale was a cassette. 

Next up was Red Mass, an insanely large (literary dozens of people have been a part of this project over the last year) “post-punk psychedelic gospel” group celebrating their one-year anniversary with a record release party for their Semprini EP.  I like their sound.  I should’ve bought a 7-inch, but I forgot.  There’s a good selection of stuff on their MySpace page. I especially like the garage-y sound of “Saturn” and “Terrorizer.”

This being Montreal, nothing starts before the very civilized time of 12 noon.  That’s when I’m supposed to participate in something called a “speed schmooze” with all the other delegates.  Then there’s a big break before more cocktails and another dinner.  And to make things even more civilized, the two main venues are side-by-side right across the street from the hotel.  More later today.