by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Personally, I don’t really mind it when the Fringe Festival swallows up the block I live on. What really gets on my tits, though, is the horrendous music they usually have playing at the beer tent at St-Laurent and Rachel, a mere stone’s throw from my apartment. It’s hard to enjoy The Royal Canadian Air Farce when an out-of-tune version of “Smells Like Teen Sprit” wafts through every crevice of my apartment (I’m not making that up). Thankfully, this year proves to be different, with the fine folks at Pop Montreal taking up booking duties and filling the next two weeks with the cream of the crop of Montreal’s bands. May I suggest a new slogan? “Fringe Pop: You Won’t Believe It’s Not Utterly Shit!” Kinda catchy, huh?

All shows are at Parc des Ameriques at Rachel and St-Laurent, with a rough start time of 6 p.m., and, best of all, are completely free. Here’s the line-up—Friday it’s le P’tit Coucou, Telefauna, Alan Astor and Mixel Pixel. Saturday, Poorfolk, Castle Project, Kids These Days, and Regina’s awesome Junior Pantherz. Sunday it’s Beaver, les Souterrains, Lil’ Andy and Karaoke Cowboy and Katie Moore. Monday, We’re Marching On, Launie Anderssohn, Ladies Luncheon and Arrullo. Tuesday, Noah Vachon, les Mod’s, Shoot the Moon and Land of Talk. Wednesday, the Adam Brown, the Ten Commandments, the Besnard Lakes and Shalabi Effect (!). For specific show times, check www.popmontreal.com.

Another show with less actor types in attendance is tonight at la Sala Rossa, when demented psychos Sunburned Hand of the Man perform the last of their two-day Montreal stint with a free improv jam with selected Montreal musicians. On Friday, psychobilly bop cats the Gutter Demons lay it down with New York City’s Memphis Morticians at Café Chaos. Friday’s hot ticket is going to go to Philly noiseniks An Albatross when they wage war against melody at the Electric Tractor with those snugglekins AIDS Wolf and I Can Put My Arm Back On You Can’t. This will be one of the last shows at the Tractor before they close their doors at the end of the month, so don’t miss!

If hardcore is more your bag, head on down to la Shop on Friday night and mosh to Drowning Days, Hostage of a Broken Rope and Mindless Genocide. Squalor’s guitarist Reuel Ordonez is celebrating his birthday at Barfly on Saturday night in a quaint evening he has dubbed Amplifier Worship. Ordonez’s Squalor will crush your cranium with their doom-laden instrumentals, and the violent hardcore of …And the Saga Continues and Toronto’s From Beyond tip the scales of heavyosity. These bands are very fucking loud and Barfly is very fucking small, so fer cris’sakes, bring earplugs.

Here comes some biggees, so don’t blink: Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell’s stoner sludge band Atomic Bitchwax lays down the riffs at Foufounes Électriques on Monday, while Jon Spencer and Speedball Baby’s Matt Verta-Ray bring their new band Heavy Trash, with the T dot’s finest the Sadies opening, to le Swimming. Tuesday has Manowar,who could once lay claim to being the loudest band in the world, shaking the foundations of Metropolis on Tuesday, while Silver Mt. Zion do a rare hometown show at Sala on Wednesday.

IT’S TOO HOT TO SLEEP… jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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