Pop picks

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Well, Pop Montreal is already underway and this year boasts one of their best and most eclectic line-ups yet. I doff my cap in their direction. I will go easy on the gushing here so I can get right to the shows that are fan-fucking-tastic but… I love you guys (sniff).

Thursday, Oct. 2: The big ticket tonight, if you were lucky enough to rustle one up, would be Satan’s favourite lounge singer, Nick Cave, and his merry band of Bad Seeds at Metropolis. If you have had the pleasure of seeing the man commandeer a stage like no other, you know what you are in store for. Backing up the legend will be our very own Tam. If you were unable to score tickets for that, you can check out Li’l Andy and the Ideal Lovers’ tribute to one of the most depressing records ever made, Neil Young’s Tonight’s the Night, at one of the most depressing places on the Main (gulp), Cinema l’Amour. Opening will be songstress Angela Desveaux, so turn on, tune in and bum out. At la Sala Rossa are independent electro-rock legends Silver Apples, with Gambletron and Vincent Bergeron. These shows are sure to turn into all asses and elbows pretty quick, so if you are rocking a bracelet, don’t show up on fashionable Montreal time, show up as early as you can to guarantee admittance.

ALL PRIMPED AND PRETTY FOR POP: Watain

Friday, Oct. 3: Like at all previous Pops, it’s always good to get right back on the horse after a particularly debauched afterparty (keep yer ear to the ground for these hush-hush shindigs), so show up at Divan Orange at 3 p.m. for the Hot Springs and the breakfast of champions (bloody mary or a redeye), and then power nap the rest of the day and you’ll be good to go. Casa del Popolo with Alien 8 host a night of power drone, doom and dark ambient with local Crucial Blast signee Aun, Nebris and the always awesome Menace Ruine. Probably the most slamming bill of the festival will be when punks and hipsters are forced to rub shoulders as An Albatross, Brutal Knights, Career Suicide, Japanther and Double Dip obliterate Divan Orange. Another sure bet, specifically for those of you who like to smoke banana peels, would be Akron/Family, Herman Dune and Great Lake Swimmers at la Sala Rossa.

Saturday, Oct. 4: Divan Orange once again proves the place to be when locals AIDS Wolf join Neptune, Made in Mexico and Vancouver weird punks Shearing Pinx. An impressive line-up indeed, but I’ll be down at Katacombes to catch Norwegian black metal gods Watain with Withered, Book of Black Earth, Menace Ruine (a two-fer!) and Vatican. One of the fiercest shows should be at Lambi with Machetes, Soki Soki, Action Makes, Katie Stelmanis, Les Temps Liquides, Semi Precious Weapons and Meta Gruau, but methinks the biggest bang for your entertainment buck should happen after the promoter of the show, Dan Burke, gets a few under his belt. Keep yer dukes up!

Sunday, Oct. 5: Wire at le National. That’s all you need to know.

EX-LION TAMER…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM