Quebec vibre

>> Tune in to the finest French
sounds at les FrancoFolies

PLEASIN’ PARISIANS: TTC

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Kicking off today, Thursday, July 26, and running until Sunday, August 5, the 19th edition of les FrancoFolies de Montréal—a festival of music from Quebec and French Canada, France, Belgium and the francophone world—offers many sounds and faces familiar from earlier editions (and the Montreal music scene year round), and no small number of neat surprises to boot. Here’s a few shows, both ticketed and free, that stand out from the pack:

Malajube: The Quebecois band that’s broken big among American indie-rock cognoscenti, Malajube hardly suffer from the ignored-at-home syndrome. Their quirky yet effective approach to prog-pop has earned them enough attention to merit a three-night stand at the Francos this year—the first is an acoustic set, and the second a proper electric rock show, but it’s the third night, classified by the fest as “????,” that’s truly intriguing. It’s not at all clear what oddball shenanigans these guys will get up to, but given their wit, skill and audacity, it’s bound to be interesting. At Club Soda on Fri., Sat. and Sun., July 27-29, 8:30 p.m., $19.50

TTC: It’s getting to the point that this Parisian unit needs little introduction in Montreal—they’re regulars here by now—but if you aren’t up to speed, let’s say they’re a French hip hop band that’s perhaps not as big with their natural constituency as the likes of IAM, but TTC have conversely broken through to non-francophones with their snappy electro sound and goofball prurience. Good times guaranteed. With Omnikrom and numéro# at Metropolis, Sat., July 28, 9 p.m., $24.50

Les Ékorchés: With a line-up of serious Quebec metal machers—singer Marc Vaillankourt of B.A.R.F. (chantant en français, crisse), Voivod drummer Michel “Away” Langevin and Ghoulunatics guitarist Pat Gordon—les Ékorchés have the chops and props to take a highly unusual direction, ditching the electric guitar for an amplified acoustic and replacing base with cello, care of Maruka’s Phillipe Muis. Dainty chamber music this ain’t, though—nods to classic hardcore and extreme metal colour this original and engaging effort. At the Molson Dry Stage (de Maisonneuve and Bleury) on Sun., July 29, 10 p.m., free

Jacquemort: The side project of Malajube’s Thomas Augustin (every band of consequence needs at least one, no?), incorporating the musical notions of local illustrator Julien Bakvis, Jacquemort whip up a weird brew of surrealist, psychiatric art-rock with experimental elements. Plenty appealing to Malajube fans, Jacquemort is nonetheless its own animal entirely. At the Molson Dry Stage, Mon., July 30, 10 p.m., free

George Martin!: No, not the utterly brilliant (and utterly anglo) Beatles producer, but rather two fuzzy rascals from the Dears, George Donoso III and Martin Pelland, playing superstar DJs for a night on Friday, July 27 as of 11:59 p.m. They’ll be selecting cool tunes at the festival’s longstanding after-midnight dance-fever boîte, le Shag, happening each night at the Savoy room of Metropolis. Some other Shag sessions that merit a visit include Ghislain Poirier (July 26, Aug. 4), the Omnikrom-connected Sharp à l’os guys (July 31), and the Bonsound crew (Aug. 2), including Luc Brien of les Breastfeeders, and Poupée and Ken Fortrel of Call Me Poupée. Both those great bands, by the way, are also playing at Francofolies this year.

Pierre Lapointe: What a way to wrap up a fest. This year’s closing show boasts no less than one of the most interesting figures in Quebec pop at the moment, Pierre Lapointe, whose music is of a kind with the likes of the Divine Comedy—fanciful and witty chamber pop that’s artful, rather than artsy.And the clincher is, he’s backed by l’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, directed by hot young conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. This is a show that’s absolutely not to be missed. At l’Espace Ford Escape (Ste-Catherine and Jeanne-Mance) on Sun., Aug. 5, 9 p.m., free

ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES: Pierre Lapointe

For more info, go to
http://francofolies.com

Real gone in the hexagon

>> Plastiscines show the rock ’n’ roll
teens of France how it’s done

FASTER, PUSSYCATS: Plastiscines

by CHRIS BARRY

They’re four hot teenage chicks from France, and given what we all know about French chicks, really, who cares if they sound any good or not. But the heavily Ramones/Blondie-influenced tracks of Plastiscines’ debut album, LP1, are surprisingly fresh, a blast of vintage pop-punk that’s both remarkably decent and inspired. Who woulda thunk it? The Mirror caught up by phone with bassist Louise Basilien in Paris earlier this week.

Mirror: So did you chicks all go to the same high school together?

Louise Basilien: Well, Marine [Neuilly, guitarist] and Katty [Besnard, singer/guitarist] went to the same high school and became friends because they were the only ones listening to this kind of music. Everyone else was into R&B and nu-metal—or indie rock. That’s why they became friends and eventually started this band. I met them a few months later at a Libertines gig in Paris. They told me they needed a bass player, and since I’d already been playing bass a few months, I joined the band with them.

M: Did the kids you grew up with think you were kind of weird, being so into all these old American punk bands from the ’70s?

LB: They thought we were weird because we didn’t dress like them. We were wearing skinny jeans way before everyone else, but I dunno, nobody ever really said anything to us. Anyway, so many teenagers are listening to rock ’n’ roll now it’s not that strange to be playing it anymore. It’s, you know, kind of fashionable at the moment. It started maybe three years ago, all these 15- and 16-year-old French teenagers started buying guitars and forming bands.

M: Have you been at all influenced by the French bands of the early punk era? You know, Telephone, Metal Urbain, Stinky Toys?

LB: Not at all, which is one reason why we started writing songs in English. Our main influences are Debby Harry and the Slits. I mean, we also write in French, but it’s much more difficult to write rock ’n’ roll lyrics in French, if only because French people really care about the lyrics and what they mean. So it’s hard, but we still write some French songs because we like French, it’s a beautiful language, even if it isn’t easy to write in. Anyway, most rock ’n’ roll is English.

M: What do you think inspires a new generation of kids to emulate a sound and attitude from, like, 30 years ago?

LB: Maybe because music in the late ’90s wasn’t very good. We were bored, growing up with all this R&B and dance music stuff. We wanted something more personal, something we could learn and do by ourselves very quickly. We didn’t care about being good musicians, we just wanted to be on stage, and bands like the Strokes and the Libertines showed us it was possible.

M: Have you experienced much prejudice because you’re teenage girls, or are these archaic gender issues really a thing of the past now?

LB: I think it was a lot more difficult for girls 10 years ago. Things have changed a lot. People laughed at us in the beginning, but now they’re quite amazed by us because we’re so full of energy, we play not too bad, and we’re really into it. Most of the time, they’re surprised girls can rock this way.

with Call Me Poupée at le
Spectrum on Saturday, July 28,
11 p.m., $12.50, all ages, and at the Molson
Dry stage (de maisonneuve and Bleury),
Friday, July 27, 8 p.m., free