With a week between me and the official end of the Fantasia International Film Festival it’s time to look back on the films that didn’t get a full review from me but that I enjoyed nonetheless… ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
As the laundry machines spin and spin and the house is slowly getting cleaned up after a weekend of nearly nonstop partying, we reflect on the third and final day of Osheaga.
Sunday did not start well for us. The battery meter on my camera flat-out lied to me and told me that I was going into the day with around 66% power. Somehow on the trip to the festival site it died completely. Stupid lying camera. That meant that all of today’s photos had to be shot on my phone. Fortunately my phone’s camera is pretty sweet. Secondly, the lineup to get into the site was disastrous. Sarah had to wait for over 45 minutes just to get in.
The good news is that it was all up hill from there.
With Sarah still stuck in the never ending line I took the opportunity to bounce around to catch a couple of songs of performers woefully booked at the same time. I managed to catch the tail end of Bishop Briggs set and then head over to the Island Stage to watch some of Weval‘s set as well. The crowds for both acts were a good indication that the Osheaga festival goers had kept something left in the tank for an epic finale to their weekend.
I caught just one song from Phantogram’s set while I got my first beer of the day and honestly, I am glad to report that they’ve upped their energy level from the last time I had seen them play (Osheaga 2014 if my memory serves). Phantogram has always been a band that I have enjoyed in the studio but never really clicked with me live. Either way, it seems like 3 extra years of touring has helped them knock the kinks out of their live performance.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Hey guess what everyone? After the rain in the morning the rest of the day was sunny and beautiful! (Except for when Muse took the stage it rained for about 10-15 minutes.) I was right! I was right!
Day 2 of Osheaga was primed to be amazing, with the sun in the sky and everyone ready to forget about the scattered showers of yesterday.
Sarah picked up two cans of Bacardi Oakheart and we discovered that it was not very good. That’s what we get for trying new things. Their “spiced rum ginger ale” had a messed up after taste and as it got warm it got borderline undrinkable.
I take it back about trying new things though, a local Montreal band I have just discovered called Men I Trust took to the Tree Stage and put on a great set that was the perfect way to start the day. Despite some technical difficulties (that would seem to plague the whole festival throughout the day) that maybe cut their set short by a song or two, their mellow electronic sounds helped take some of the sting away from those cans of Oakheart. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Disclaimer: Due to the weather delay many artists had their set lists cut short and moved around. As a result we didn’t quite get to see everything that we planned to. It also prevented me from busting out my camera and capturing some of the awesomeness that occured in the rain.
Hey everyone! It’s Saturday morning (bordering on afternoon) and I’m actively trying to sort out all of the music and madness of Day 1 Osheaga. All day music festivals are kind of an assault on your senses. With multiple musicians playing at the same time that you need to pick and choose from, games and activities set up by sponsership partners and just a generally immersive vibe it can be a lot to take in. Add the mayhem of some pretty severe scattered showers and piecing it all together becomes tricky.
After braving the storm and the walk to the new festival site, we were alerted by the official Osheaga app that there was no music right now due to the weather. We took the time instead to scope things out a little at the main stage area and lo and behold London Grammar took to the stage to serenade us with a shortened set.
Due to some rain that may or may not have happened my shoes were completely slogged with water. Sarah decided that this would be a good opportunity to head to the Vans area to try and win me a pair of shoes. She did not. But imagine if she did? It would have been an Osheaga miracle.
BADBADNOTGOOD delivered their trippy stylings at the Sonnet Green Stage and when asked to describe their music the best I could come up with was “weird experimental electro jazz” and I stand by that statement. Walter, staring off in the direction of the stage nodded and said “yeah, this is really good.”
After that we made our way to the the Perrier green house indoor stage to drink Perrier cocktails and watch Sophie Jones spin while someone, I’m going to assume her friend, danced on stage next to her and was really, really into it. I kind of hope she wasn’t her friend. I hope she was just a really big fan of Perrier. Despite there not being too many people in the “greenhouse”, Sophie was spinning a variety of crowd pleasing jams that had the small dance floor moving.
Now it’s time for a cautionary tale. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Photo by Pierre Bourgault
While it’s no secret that the headliners of any festival are the biggest draw, it’s always fun to check out the smaller stages and maybe make some musical discoveries. The vibe at the smaller stages can be more intimate, less crowded and sometimes you’ll get lucky and the see “the next big thing” before they break out a month from now.
At a festival the size of Osheaga there’s a very good chance you haven’t heard of all of the bands on the lineup. If you’re the type to go to the festival earlier in the day to check out some of the lesser known acts it can be pretty daunting to figure out just where to go.
All week we’ve been talking to a few local artists from Quebec that would all make excellent choices (Men I Trust, CRi, Beat Market, Heartstreets, Le Couleur).
And now, here are a few more picks to check out that you might be less familiar with: ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This dude’s not sweating it. Photo by Susan Moss.
A certain blog that happens to be based out of Montreal (a “Montreal blog” if you will) has published an 86 word article about how much the weather is going to suck this weekend at Osheaga. Despite its short length, it still manages to contain a handful of grammatical errors. The main feature of the article is a picture of The Weather Network’s weekend forecast with a red box around it. This poorly written garbage has been shared well over 1000 times on Facebook. To give you an idea of how little effort went into this article: this paragraph is already longer than the entire thing.
I’m no weather doctor, but how about you do me a favour and relax.
I’m not saying there won’t be any bad weather this weekend (although if Mother Nature decided to join the list of people calling out that blog as liars it would make me literally laugh out loud). I’m saying that if you take a closer look at the forecast it says that a lot of the rain will be limited to Friday overnight and Saturday morning, and the rest of the showers will be scattered.
Also, for that matter, who cares? With the amount of humidity this week we were all going to be drenched in our own sweat. To say nothing of the sweat of 10’s of thousands of strangers rubbing against us.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to the Dollar Store. Any number of dollar stores will allow you to buy a poncho for under 2$. Bust it out, enjoy your music and when the sun comes back out just roll it up and shove it in a plastic bag for safe keeping until the next scattered shower starts. It can even be a clear poncho so your fleek Osheaga look will still be visible underneath! Fleek!
Here’s what not to do: Panic and freak out.
In the meantime, this will be me:
He’s just really into Lorde.
Osheaga kicks off tomorrow at noon with Rue de Bois at La serre Perrier. Main stages start at 1 pm with Joseph, Samito and Lophile. Full schedule HERE.
Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.
For better or worse (and let’s be real, it’s likely for worse), hip hop on the whole is a largely male dominated musical genre. That’s not to say the genre hasn’t had its standout female performers, but the reality is that the majority of the artists are men.
Which makes Montreal’s female hip hop duo “Heartstreets” even more of a standout.
Bringing together bits and pieces of late 90’s hip hop with more modern melodic flows and synthy beats, Heartstreets deliver a brand of hip hop that is undoubtedly unique.
Heartstreets are Emma Beko and Gab Godon and they’ll be bringing their unique vision to Osheaga.
They were kind enough to answer a few questions as we gear up to this weekend’s festivities:
Keith: You’ve played at Montrel Jazz Fest, Pop Montreal and now Osheaga. How important is it to call Montreal home as up and coming musicians?
Gab: In my opinion, having played on these different stages brings us a great sense of belonging and if one day we get to be propelled on the international scene, Montreal will be etched forever on our heart. The city constantly contributes to our accomplishments and really supports us, as it does with all its local artists.
Emma: It’s always important to have somewhere to call home and Montréal is definitely a very warm and welcoming city. There’s also so much talent here that keeps us inspired and motivated! ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
While I write this, I’m listening to King Tubby’s album “Dub Fever”. Why? Because Montreal’s own CRi mentioned that King Tubby was in inspiration to him and it had honestly been a long time since I had listened to dub music.
Which is not to say that Osheaga festival goers can expect dub when they see CRi perform, they are much more likely to experience his (along with Ouri) signature sun drenched synths and steady basslines that are sure to get anyone who’s ready to dance moving.
Earlier this year, CRi was unsure about what lay in store for the future. But these days he seems fully devoted to making new music. Here’s what he had to say as he gets ready to perform at this year’s Osheaga music festival:
Keith: Osheaga has become one of the biggest festivals of the year in Canada, and even North America and it’s hosted right here in Montreal. With so many fans coming in from out of town for the festival, how important is it you to represent Montreal, in Montreal on such an international stage?
Cri: I’m very glad to be part of this major event I’ll try to do my best to be a good Montreal representative. I can’t wait to play alongside artists that I admire. To be a part of this lineup is a great opportunity. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but one of things I love about the Fantasia International Film Festival is that it provides me easy (albeit brief) access to “heartwarming Asian movies” I wouldn’t have a chance to hear about otherwise. This year, my craving was fulfilled—and then some—by Split, directed by Choi Kook-Hee. The plot was a comfortable-yet-still-surprising mashup of every underdog sports movie ever, About a Boy and Rain Man, enhanced by its lush colour palette and killer bowling shots. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
So about a week ago, friend of 9to5.cc Jimmy messaged us excitedly that “The Last Podcast on the Left” was doing a live show at this year’s Just for Laughs.
Jimmy listens to a LOT of podcasts. The amount of podcasts that I wish I could listen to. I like to think of him as a podcast connoisseur. After all, he listens to our podcast so he must have tremendous taste.
All I knew about the show was that it was funny, and that it touched on a lot of horror and sci-fi elements.
I presume Jimmy has listened to almost every episode.
So with an open mind I sat down and got ready for the experience.
Keith: I will say that I enjoyed myself, although, the hosts did give off a “wacky morning radio” vibe that kind of rubbed me the wrong way at times. They were all funny guys, why were they yelling so much?
Jason: America, Keith. That is the answer to your question. America yells. Not just the people, not just the name, the whole country. From the cows to the Statue of Liberty. At least you can always hear them, which is important in an audio medium.
I was super excited we got to see this show and I’m really glad Keith had heard nothing from them before this. A clean slate if you will.
LPOTL is a big player in the pod-casting world, they’ve just won a fan favourite Webby award and are pulling in some major crowd funding money entirely from their fan base. The live show we saw was not as focused or as factual as the episodes. There were a lot of call backs for fans of the show as well. Someone who is new to them wouldn’t get the references.
In general I say it was an OK show, very funny for fans and mildly funny for non fans. The videos at the end were pretty extreme too. The light-bulb in the guy’s ass did make me wince quite a bit.
I recommend the podcast to anyone who is into serial killers, the macabre, ghosts, the paranormal and aliens, but also wants more than just the bald facts and appreciates gallows humour. The episodes normally stick to a single topic and Marcus does a ton of research, while Ben and Henry provide the majority of the laughs. I would recommend this the same way I recommend 9to5.cc to anyone who is into video games, wrestling or movies.
Lastly, The Last Podcast on the Left is only one of the many shows on the Cave Comedy network of podcasts. Ben and Marcus (of LPOTL) also host a political podcast called Abe Lincoln’s Top Hat. There is a video game podcast called: Wizard and the Bruiser. The guys from MST3k do one called Movie Sign with the Mads. There is even a podcast about Masturbation called Jack’n. All of these are also NOT corporately sponsored, so they really come off as creations of the artists in question, very much like 9to5.cc. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
