Hear us out

A look at Divers/Cité’s alternative acts under the sun and the stars

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

For six days, music will fill the streets of Montreal between

St-Denis and St-Hubert, Ste-Catherine and Ontario. The divas, the dragsters and DJs will entertain people of all stripes, but for those in search of something a little out of the ordinary, here are some suggestions.

On Thursday, August 3, Cachondo: La noche Latina brings Latin beats and Spanish song to Parc Émilie-Gamelin at 7:30 p.m. Born in Itabuna, Brazil, and based in Montreal for over a decade, singer-songwriter Monica Freire crafts a lush hybrid of Brazilian tradition, pop and electronica, as heard on the three albums she’s released since 1996. Freire opens for Caracas, Venezuela’s los Amigos Invisibles, the famous sextet that infuses house music with strong salsa and merengue flavours. Also joining in on the Cachondo party will be Martin Bonin’s percussion army, Zuruba.

Also at Parc Émilie-Gamelin, at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 5, PM Delux features Tango Reo, Tango Loco bringing together the music of Argentina’s José Maria Gianelli, the vocals of Mexico’s Magdalena and a team of backup musicians and dancers to mount a sizzling South American spectacle. A hard act to follow, but with her seductive fusion of Middle Eastern and North African sounds, Algerian-Canadian singer Lynda Thalie is up to the challenge. DJ Mister Smith and his special guests deliver some righteous funk to round out the day.

If your tastes veer more towards rock ’n’ roll stars and pop tarts, Plastik Patrik’s double dose of Sex Garage should be right up your alley. On Saturday, August 5, San Francisco’s bubblegum pop sensations Gravy Train!!!! will headline, if only because their burst of candy-coated naughtiness would blind the crowd in daylight. Locals the Call-Up, who speak the international language of rock ’n’ roll, and Frigid, back in black with a guitarist to beef up his hot electro-rock, open the event, which kicks off at 6 p.m. with DJs Tök and Maïté. On Sunday, August 6, Sex Garage goes full throttle with an all-day program of fantastic up-and-comers, fabulous almost-theres and phenomenal blasts from the past, each framed by DJs Mékanik and Cherry Cola. Chic electro trio Koo Starck get things rolling at 3 p.m., followed by London, Ontario, new wave rockers Stutter and local electro-industrial hellcat Dandi Wind, whose Sex Garage performance last year left several jaws on the pavement. New York City trannie extraordinaire Amanda Lepore is up next (yes, she does indeed have milk), followed by (wait for it) Lady Miss Kier of Deee-Lite, promising a Deee-lovely set. Finally, electro-punk locals We Are Wolves pack in the noise and the beats, bringing Sex Garage to a climax.