Music

Concordia’s CJLO marks five years on the dial

by Darcy MacDonald

Darcy talks to Cadence Weapon about the importance of college radio, ahead of tonight’s bday gig. PLUS: More events for your hip hop To-Do List.

shineOnce upon a time, radio suckas never played CJLO. You could barely blame ‘em.

If the term “WinAMP stream” rings any bells, you’re old, and possibly gave up on technology altogether trying to tune in to Concordia’s longest-lasting campus station way, way before it ever got near the AM dial.

CJLO 1690 AM celebrates 15 years as a community entity, including five on the AM dial, tonight at the SAT, with a fittingly eclectic line-up embracing everything right about college radio, especially in the land of CanCon.

Halifax indie rock royalty Wintersleep, TO’s incredible post-fuck-your-whatever punk rockers Fucked Up and Prairie land to Mile End hip hop transplant Cadence Weapon fete tha ‘LO — as I have always affectionately dubbed my rap media alma mater — in style, for the cool price of $5 plus tax.

“College radio has always been important to me,” offered Cadence Weapon on the eve of this monumentally collegiate moment in an otherwise (all college stations excepted) decidedly radio-stagnant city. “My dad had a show on [University of Alberta’s] CJSR in Edmonton for over 20 years called The Black Experience in Sound that was really influential to me growing up. It showed me the power of college radio early on.

“When I was first releasing music and I would see myself on the Earshot! charts and see that I was getting played in Halifax and Montreal and all over the country, it was really gratifying. When I would first tour around Canada, I’d meet people who knew my songs not from hearing the album or the Internet but from hearing it on college radio.”

Radio was here before us, and as long as there are natural disasters like ice storms, earthquakes and Marie-Mai unawareness, it will be here after us.

Friday: The same can most definitely be said of De La Soul’s DJ Maseo (read my interview with him here) and A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who turn the party out at Tokyo after the former’s postponement early last spring. If you’re reading this, love to dance and see the logic in forking over 10 stones to catch two definitive living legends, you ain’t gotta think twice. 3709 St-Laurent, 10 p.m., $10

Saturday: MEG put it on at Divan Orange with a hot local double-bill featuring Vox Sambou and Sarah MK. 4234 St-Laurent, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday: B.C.’s Snak the Ripper takes Cabaret Underworld with local opener Clarity in the building and more. 1403 Ste-Elisabeth, 10 p.m., $12

Monday: Quills celebrates the release of brand new record Dreamcatcher with a chill session at Bar Mme. Lee and invites supporters out to come say hi. 151 Ontario E., 9 p.m.

Wednesday: Krystale is all the way live at Bleury Bar à Vinyle. 2109 Bleury, 8:30 p.m., $7 ■
 
@ShineCultMTL
shinecultmtl@gmail.com

Posted in Music

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.

Leave a Reply