Wednesday, Oct. 5

James Blake

Head to Mile Ex café 180g for the first edition of their new Loop Sessions, an evening inspired by a weekly event in Sao Paolo that sees local DJs take turns making beats on the fly from samples sourced from a single album chosen at the beginning of the evening — it’s basically Iron Chef for DJs. Beatmakers are invited to come and work out their beats from 5–8, with performances of the new tracks starting at 8 p.m. 6546 Waverly, 5–9 p.m., free

The Festival du nouveau cinéma begins with the latest film by Montreal filmmaker Kim Nguyen, Two Lovers and a Bear, starring Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. Place des Arts’s Théâtre Maisonneuve (175 Ste-Catherine W.), 7 p.m., $13/$9 for students & seniors/$11 with Accès Montréal card

British singer, songwriter and producer James Blake returns to Montreal in support of his latest, third LP The Colour in Anything. 59 Ste-Catherine E., 8 p.m., $42.50/$50

Catch a screening of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry!, a documentary about the Chinese artist, dissident and exile who was censored, harassed and detained by his government due to the pointed political criticism in his work. 3559 University, 8–9:30 p.m., free

The usually annual Next Music From Tokyo showcase returns to Montreal for the second time this year with a new batch of exciting bands from Japan, namely underground “idol” band Maison Book Girl, post-rock/jazz band Jizue, alt-pop act This Is Japan, “3D safari rock band” Toranoko Rammy and dark emo/shoegaze band Hitsuji Bungaku. Divan Orange (4234 St-Laurent), 8 p.m., $14/$20

Tampa-bred and NYC-based band Merchandise — well-described by their label 4AD as “equal parts punk misanthropy, maudlin balladeering, fine art, low humor, classical study, psychedelic spacecasing, mad science and pop genius” — plays la Vitrola with openers Public Memory and Mundy’s Bay. 4602 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $13/$15

See our Event Listings for more concert, nightlife, theatre, comedy and community event options. See our Art Listings here.