Me Suoni, me love you long time

Mile End’s Suoni per il Popolo music festival runs into its stellar second week, complete with a Shalabi cameo. But there’s tons of competition.

Hopefully you were able to catch some of the killer bills during the first week of the Suoni per il Popolo festival happening at Casa, Sala and other Mile End locales. Their second week of programming is equally impressive, so let’s just get straight to the shows.

Here comes the Suoni — and I say it’s all right.

Tuesday – A definite score for Suoni is Tampa’s Merchandise, known for their British-ish crooning and noisy post-punk sound, with Milk Music, Destruction Unit and local psych-punks Ultrathin at Il Motore.

Oddly happening off the Suoni’s grid is the post-rock Americana twang of Calexico with Depedro at the Corona.

Wednesday – It’s no wonder that the little watering hole tucked in the middle of Little Italy, Notre Dame des Quilles, snagged the Best of MTL’s number-one bar spot, as voted by Cult MTL readers. Now just over a year old, it remains a righteous place to get sloshed with a wild mix of DJs pushing its eclecticism. Tonight you can catch DJ Cash Money laying down the smooth and sexy R&B grooves in his fifth edition of Sexy Jams.

Although Suoni is a truly slippery eel to saddle up to when it comes to promoting a specific sound, the true spirit of what the fest is really about can be found tonight when improv drummer extraordinaire and Suoni favourite Chris Corsano finds himself in a duo setting with skronk improv guitarist Bill Orcutt. Check out their righteous bursts and blasts here. If this isn’t already impressive enough, opening will be the duo Losing Control, featuring reedman Philippe Lauzier with skronky guitarist and Montreal institution Sam Shalabi. While you’re there, pick up Losing Control’s extremely limited (25 copies) of their self-titled CDRs before it’s gone for good.

Thursday – For a night of punk rock mayhem, make tracks to see Aussies Vaginors with Thee Nodes, Stan K and Sexface.

Back on the Suoni beat, Atlantan sludge masters Kylesa play Il Motore. Seeing them at the same venue and opening for Mastodon a couple years back was a true treat, but it’s the band in the middle of the bill, White Hills, that’s going to blow yer puny mind to bits. Their show at Casa last year is one of my faves of ’12, with their psych-rock that’s equal parts Chrome and Spacemen 3 with an infusion of sheer heaviosity. Also on this slammed bill are Blood Ceremony and Lazer/Wulf.

Friday – The aptly titled Maximum RnR will storm the stage of Foufounes on Friday night in support of their new blaster, Rough Side of the Dial, with Truth or Scare, the Von Rebels and the Bombs.

For a night of cold ’80s synths, catch NYC’s Black Marble with Police des Moeurs, Brusque Twins and Noyade at la Brique

At the Drones Club, see Bitter Fruit with two bands from Hali, Old and Weird and Quaker Parents.

Mardi Noir, feat. former members of le Nombre and Psycho Riders, will keep the riffs burning white-hot at Katacombes with Possession Simple.

One of the best recent releases from the loins of local label Constellation is Saltland’s debut. See them play Suoni with guitarist Eric Chenaux and Jerusalem in my Heart’s Radwhan Ghazi Moumneh in a duo setting at Sala. For my review of Saltland’s new ’un, go here.

Saturday – Canadian twang legends the Sadies will prove why they are one of the best live bands ever at the Folk Festival on the Canal.

Luis Vasquez’s the Soft Moon will mix up cold post-punk with traces of Afro Cuban rhythms like only he can at SAT with the dark post-punk of Dekoder.

For those of you who like your punk rock beamed in from dementia 13, you’ll definitely want to be bouncing back and forth from Sala and Casa tonight. At Sala is the brute force of psych punkers Nü Sensae with local psych warlords Panopticon Eyelids and Loud Sex. Across the street at Casa is the third edition of Wyrd Fest with Babysitter and JK, The Pink Noise, Expwy and Babi Audi. Wyrd Fest is a presented in association with Suoni, natch.

An odd bill that surprisingly isn’t part of Suoni this year is down at Divan Orange, when duo Buke and Gase get all of their limbs swinging with Dam Ships, Year of Glad and DJ Erik Elektrik. Seeing them musically spin plates at Casa last year was another absolutely killer gig.

Sunday – If you have had the immense pleasure of seeing the Ex (opening for No Means No at Foufounes in 1990? Their amazing show at Sala two years ago with African saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria?), you are not going to want to miss the Ex baritone guitarist Andy Moor in a duo setting with saxophonist John Butcher at Casa. Opening will be Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley, with a solo set from Butcher starting off the evening. For a taste test of Butcher and Moore’s creepy screech, go here.

On a completely different tip is the Discharge style of O.G. M.T.L.H.C. punks Unruled, who will sweat it out to the oldies at Foufounes with Proxy, Abyssed and Absolut.

Monday – To get your Suoni started early on Monday, you should make it down to Casa at 2 p.m. to catch a screening of the documentary that looks back at the burgeoning early ’90s sounds springing out of Chicago, Paralax Sounds.

For a night of precision-tooled tech metal, you are going to want catch Intronaut, Scale the Summit and Mouth of the Architect at Il Motore.

All righty, coming up with a pick of the week is tough, given behemoth like Kylesa, White Hills and Calexico, but here it is: IIt all goes down at Sala when minimalist composer Rhys Chatham joins forces with one of the most progressive (in the truest sense) modern psych bands currently stomping the pines: Oneida. If they perform Chatham’s utterly breathtaking piece The Crimson Grail, you can witness me getting liquefied into a puddle before your very eyes. Opening is our favorite psych/prog band Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche.

Current obsession: Buke and Gase, Riposte

jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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