While there’s no shortage of fun stuff to do in Montreal come summertime, it’s also a great opportunity to kick back and relax with a good book. So here’s a few recent and upcoming releases to look for when the clock strikes hammock o’clock.
Hate Stephen Harper? You’re hardly alone, in this city or elsewhere. This summer, QPIRG Concordia’s programming and working groups committee wants to document your disdain for Canada’s unabashedly conservative prime minister in a new arts journal called Harper Mutiny.
A few weeks back, a buddy commented “What is a Frank Ocean?” on my FB page. “An incredibly honest body of water,” was the instantaneous quip from another friend. Ocean, the fantastically gifted, soul-crooning Odd Futurist (group elder of the West Coast rap Rat Pack at 23) had been confirmed for his July 29 appearance at Club Soda only moments earlier.
LCD Soundsystem was one of the best bands to emerge from the messy landscape of early millennial post-electroclash dance-punk—which sounds like damning with faint praise par excellence, but they excelled at keeping booties shaking while affecting that jaded bohemian je ne sais quoi that keeps hipsters and critics salivating. I can’t stop seeming like I’m making fun of them—perhaps it’s their refined irony rubbing off on me—but they were a great band, and they quit while they were ahead (though some have cynically suggested that they’re merely laying the groundwork for a reunion tour cash-in).
It’s the final week of the 26th annual Nuits d’Afrique, Montreal’s festival celebrating the wide range of music from Africa and inspired by its huge variety of sounds. Drawn from 56 countries on the continent, as well as the entire pan-African community, that’s a pile of different types of tunes.
The condition of a well-known loft building on the border of Westmount, St-Henri and Ville-Marie has its equally well-known owner and the City of Westmount in a deadlock. Surrounded by wire fencing, the building at 3035 St-Antoine, corner of Atwater, sports a conspicuous piece of exterior decor: a large sign declaring it a “Historical museum of Westmount harassment,” put there a while ago, residents say, by owner Sam Fattal. Another sign on the graffiti-covered building facade pleads for help in de-merging its site from Westmount’s jurisdiction.
Wanna make some noise? Bring your casserole and spoon down to the offices of Resolute Forest Products, where representatives of the Algonquin Land Defence will be drawing attention to what’s happening at Barriere Lake. 111 Duke, between Wellington and Ottawa (Square Victoria metro), 11:30 a.m.
Socalled plays Place Émilie Gamelin (aka Berri Square) as part of M for Montreal’s M for Midday series. Between St-Hubert and Berri, de Maisonneuve and Ste-Catherine, noon, free
Author and locavore Sarah Elton dishes on bringing local food to the table as part of the Eleanor London Côte St-Luc Library’s series on the environment. 5851 Cavendish, 7 p.m., free
LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits screens for one night only at the Phi Centre. See the trailer here. 407 St-Pierre, 8 p.m., $12
DJs Jordan Dare and We Are Ortiz spin punk, new wave, no wave, rock & pop at their weekly Pop Mutant at Panda Bar. 2021 St-Denis, 10 p.m., free
Like many an art school attendee, Montreal artist Bridget Moser started out assuming she’d be a painter when she grew up, but almost immediately decided that it was definitely not her thing. Since then, and long since graduated, Moser has moved toward a mix of performance and video art and internet-based projects, often integrating aspects of comedy and pop culture to tease out the meaning of cultural references.
Three years ago, author Elizabeth Cline shopped like many of us: hitting up sales, cruising the racks of knock-off designer pieces at stores like H&M, Zara and Forever 21, and firmly refusing to shell out more than a few bucks for any item of clothing. She recalls a moment when she stumbled upon $7 canvas flats on sale at Kmart, slipped into a shark-like blood frenzy and ended up lugging seven identical pairs home on the subway.
The Pixel Fix is in, and although this space will be used primarily to discuss the many great gaming projects happening in Montreal (both big and small), expect the occasional game recommendation or harsh critique. In that spirit, I have both praise and criticisms to heap onto two of the summer’s most intriguing downloadable hits: Spelunky and Quantum Conundrum.
