PiL thrills

Last Saturday, May 8, at l’Olympia, John Lydon and his merry band PiL absolutely stunned and surprised, reclaiming their supremacy in post-punk on their first visit to North America in over 18 years. With a set list culled mainly from their influential first three releases strewn over an exhausting two-hour-plus set, Lydon left the room utterly wrung out by the end as the final chord from “Open Up” rang out. Opener “This is Not a Love Song” seamlessly gave way to “Poptones” as Lydon smiled from ear to ear, while timeless classics like “Death Disco,” “Flowers of Romance,” “Albatross,” “Careering” and a particularly searing version of “Religion II” were free to soar—the songs ascended far beyond the comfy confines of their original versions and rang with newfound vibrancy, urgency and uncompromising fearlessness. To say Lydon was pleased as punch in his self-appointed role of the clown prince of punk would be a gross understatement. In fact, the punk rock icon even posted on his official website the following day that he thought this particular Montreal performance was his favorite PiL show ever—and who are we to argue with royalty?

Before I get around to sounding the trumpets for the shows happening this week, let me first spill some ink on local solo doom/psych/ drone/dark ambient artist Aun, who releases a split LP (that’s vinyl-only, folks!) with France’s drone/doom band Habsyll this week on the killer underground label Public Guilt. Aun (aka Martin Dumais) absolutely kills on his two contributions by turning a tight corner from his previous work and bursting right out of the gate within the first minute of “Druids.” A mid-tempo drumbeat stomps away as he edges the closest he’s probably ever come to the precipice of traditional rock. Letting the dissonance swirl around his loops and synthetic beats, Aun steers fairly clear of his well-documented tricks like minimalist power drone and his trademark ravaging frequencies. His second piece, “Fall Out”, gets almost downright (gulp!) catchy. Habsyll, on the other hand, just serve it up raw on their epic 25-minute drone track “IV.” A near-perfect combination of power drone, minimalist composition, blasts of noise and doom that begs to be listened to at full blast.

Now on to the upcoming shows. Saturday night is an easy choice as one of my favourite local bands, Menace Ruine, pummel as well as comfort at Casa del Popolo, with Rei Rea in the support slot. If you feel like gambling, you can check out punk rock icons the Vibrators at Katacombes with Farler’s Fury, the Automatix, les Gens d’Armes and L’état c’est moi, or catch them at off-the-beaten-path venue Crobar on Monday night with the Automatix, the Shifters and the Walnut Kids.

Sunday night, you can head over to Cagibi to catch the tribute to one of pop music’s unsung heroes, Big Star, and drunken geniuses the Replacements, under the banner of What’s Going Ahn. Expect solo sets from Patrick Hutchinson, Allan Lento, Will Austin and a slew of others.

A perfect Tuesday would probably be catching Torche, who are opening for a rather stench-like band at Metropolis, and then making it over to catch pop-punk gods Buzzcocks with the Dollyrots at le National.

ORGASM ADDICT…
JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM