Best of MTL 2014: Music

Montreal may not be making as much sweet noise internationally these days as it once did, but passion for local bands, producers and DJs at all levels runs as high as ever in this town. There are lots of new names on this list, and even at the top of some categories, like DJ F.U.N.K., NOIA and Barton Fink — congrats to them. Of course Arcade Fire, Endast and Leonard Cohen maintain the reign on their respective turfs (though it’s kinda nice to see Sean Nicholas Savage — deemed “Montreal’s Elvis” elsewhere in our newspaper this month — gaining on old Leonard. The Most Pretentious category remains nearly unchanged from last year, though instead of Suuns we have TOPS — hopefully this has nothing to do with TOPS singer Jane Penny having appeared on our cover in December, as Suuns did shortly before last year’s Best of MTL survey. (If there is a connection, does that mean Cult MTL is pretentious by extension? Surely not! We tower above all y’all.)

Best Musical Act
1 Arcade Fire
2 Half Moon Run
3 Suuns
4 Godspeed You! Black Emperor
5 Kalmunity Vibe Collective
6 Pete Warning
7 Diamond Bones
8 Random Recipe
9 Patrick Watson
10 Lakes of Canada

Freakiest Local Act
1 Barton Fink
2 Glam Gam
3 Bad Uncle
4 Mac DeMarco
5 Duchess Says
6 Thee Nodes
7 Natasha Nebula
8 Karneef
9 Sean Nicholas Savage
10 Pypy

Most Pretentious Local Act
1 Arcade Fire
2 Lakes of Canada
3 Godspeed You! Black Emperor
4 Pierre Lapointe
5 TOPS
6 Grimes
7 Karneef
8 Simple Plan
9 David Giguère
10 Coeur de Pirate

Heaviest Local Act
1 Endast
2 Trigger Effect
3 Solids
4 Godspeed You! Black Emperor
5 Duchess Says
6 Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
7 Monarchs of Disarray
8 Lungbutter
9 Hashed Out
10 USA Out of Vietnam

Best Hip Hop Act
1 Cadence Weapon
2 Clarity
3 Dead Obies
4 Nomadic Massive
5 Alaclair Ensemble
6 Kalmunity
7 Radio Radio
8 The Posterz
9 Lunice
10 Quills

Best Club DJ
1 F.U.N.K.
2 Vilify
3 Like the Wolf
4 Tamika
5 Cadence Weapon
6 Heidy Pinet
7 Construct
8 Shaydakiss
9 DJ Mini
10 Henward

Best Electronic Act
1 NOIA
2 Kaytranada
3 Blue Hawaii
4 Grimes
5 Diamond Bones
6 Chromeo
7 Jacques Greene
8 Black Tiger Sex Machine
9 Vilify
10 Saxsyndrum

Best Country/Folk Act
1 Li’l Andy
2 Lakes of Canada
3 Katie Moore
4 Motel Raphaël
5 Ol’ Savannah
6 Folly & the Hunter
7 Old Time Honey
8 Heroin Hayride
9 Barr Brothers
10 Lisa LeBlanc

Best Jazz Act
1 Ivette Meow
2 Kalmunity
3 Brahja Waldman
4 Colin Stetson
5 Static Gold
6 Emma Frank
7 Mike Rud
8 Blind
9 Susie Arioli
10 Saxsyndrum

Best Singer/Songwriter
1 Leonard Cohen
2 Sean Nicholas Savage
3 Róisín Tuohy
4 Patrick Watson
5 Pete Warning
6 Auresia
7 Coeur de Pirate
8 Katie Moore
9 Mac DeMarco
10 Molly Sweeney

Best Busker
1 Ivette Meow
2 Guy Metro/boat guy
3 Spoonman
4 Street Meat
5 Scott Dunbar
6 Old Time Honey
7 Accordion Man
8 Noisy Locomotive
9 Hollywood
10 Heroin Hayride

Best Local Music Label
1 Arbutus
2 Constellation
3 Stomp
4 Secret City
5 Dare to Care
6 Kannibalen
7 Bonsound
8 Grosse Boîte
9 Turbo
10 Fixture

 

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