From icy to spicy

>> Cool live sounds to warm up winter

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Winter, we’re finding out once again, ain’t no good. What is good is Winter Wax, the weekly night of breaks, D&B and all that funky stuff at Saphir, put on by those nice Kirk6 folks. And despite his tag, local DJ Iznogood is good as well, and he’s at Winter Wax on Thursday, Jan. 24. Rob Brown’ll be there Feb. 8. DJ Champion, the live-P.A. alter ego of local Mad Max, is at Ministry on Jan. 25, alongside Friday regulars Saturnin and Martin Dumais.

Also on Friday, Jan. 25, at la Sala Rossa, is the overdue launch for the debut CD from Montreal’s own Electronic Humans Guild. Getting their backs are Goa Gajah, the Unireverse and—get this—“the Nanabot Auxiliary Ballet presents

Tylenolandadida.” Guaranteed: rockin’ robotix and other oddness. Not so futurific are locals Notre Dame de Grass (as in bluegrass, there, Cheech) at Jupiter Room on Jan. 26, and almost as retro as that is DJ Egon, of the Stone’s Throw label, pimping the raw funk jams of the new comp Funky 16 Corners at Quartier Latin.

On a housier note, elder statesmen Tony Desypris and Claude “the Boss Man” Dabbas (you know them from CKUT’s Utopia’s Paradise)are at Stereobar on Jan. 25. The next night, David Morales handles Stereo’s Def Mix session. Also on Saturday, Jan. 26, is the
Hairythm event at Sona—expect fashion from Yso, models from Specs, hairstyles from Salon Pure and DJs to boot. Oh, and speaking of hair: Slayer, Jan. 27, Metropolis. The power of Satan compels you to attend! A little less Satanic (unless there’s something going on we’re not aware of) are local jazz-hop improvistas Kobayashi, at Sofa on Jan. 31. That same night, T.O. post-ska pop-punkers Flashlight (Brown) joining the Dropouts and Sewing With Nancie for an all-ages show at l’X.

The next night, Friday, Feb. 1, is just insane, so start fretting now. Sona kicks off its sixth anniversary festivities with a visit from Henrick B. (Chris Liberator and this D.A.V.E. the Drummer guy are there on Feb. 8, and Feb. 9 sees mini-tech mastermind John Acquaviva). That same night, over at la Sala Rossa, local (but “out there”) jazz-rockers Dr. Noh share a taste of their forthcoming CD. At Kola Note, a three-day fest of Maghrebi music kicks off. On the roster between Feb. 1 and 3 are Cheb Dino (no relation to Dean Martin), Mel M’Rabet (no relation to kif-lit icon Mohamed M’Rabet), a nice hello from Salaam and more.
Finally on Feb. 1, at SAT, is Passage 2, a benefit for the next issue of Neerav’s boss trance zine Trance 5000. On hand will be Purform, Delage, Sitarissimo and Interchill’s Gordon Field, with visuals by Johnny Ranger, Yan Breuleux, Hypnotica, View-Zik and more.
Saturday, Feb. 1, is a good night for Can-con rock, with Big Sugar and Staggered Crossing at Club Soda. At SAT again, the same night, Toronto’s Metro Area delivers the public-transit beats.

On Sunday, Feb. 3, get over to Jingxi for John and Philip of Soul Fire Records, launching their wicked Grazing in the Trash 2 compilation. Mo’ funky! Or drop your dime on rawkuhs Nickelback, Feb. 5 at Metropolis. On Feb. 6, Germany’s Egoexpress, purveyors of fucked-up leftfield house, hit Casa del Popolo.

From Feb. 7–9 (with a kid’s matinée on Sunday, Feb. 10), La Compagnie nationale de chant et de danse du Mozambique do their self-explanatory thing at Centre Pierre-Péladeau. On Feb. 8, local Latin metallistas Mi Santa Sangre launch their CD (finally) at Jupiter Room with out-of-town guests Anik and Half Baked. Feb. 9 sees Toronto’s heavy-duty soul rockers Shikasta at Café Campus, as well as DJ Maüs celebrating her birthday at Ministry with Yaz in tow. Poncey piano-man Rufus Wainwright wows ’em Feb. 11 at the Spectrum, and Misstress Barbara launches her Moonshine CD Relentless Beats Vol. 2 on Feb. 12—location tba.

Friday, Feb. 15 is another one of those nights. Be selective. At Metropolis, Algerian raï guy Khaled faces off against Egyptian jeel master Hakim—and everybody wins. No winners, just wieners, when nerd rockers Weezer, with next-gen geeksters Ozma, pop into the Molson Centre. For more grown-up nerds, there’s Mutek’s Micro 3 event, a launch for Force Inc.’s Montreal Smoked Meat comp. Expect Akufen, Jetone, Mitchell Akiyama, Deadbeat, Mateo Murphy and German duo MRI. Location forthcoming. Then there’s Trip the Off doin’ a “punky reggae party” at Jupiter Room. Finally, there’s a big-ass salsa show at the Centre Pierre-Charboneau (3000 Viau, just off the Big O), with Fruko y sus Tesos from Colombia and Pochy Familia y su Cocoband from the Dominican Republic. Romance blooms at the same spot the next night as Ray Junior’s Love on the Beat event, numéro quatre, transpires. DJ Kal, Analog Junkies and NYC’s Space Boy are among the DJs slated to spin.

Feb. 17 kicks off Denmark and Elsinore, which is a—get this—hip hop, kung fu, salsafied urban update on ol’ Bill’s Hamlet. The show’s at le Swimming, also on Feb. 18, 24 and 25.
Fans of the now-defunct Caféine can wipe the mascara stains off their pocky cheeks. Filling that garage-raunch vacuum is le Nombre, who launch their self-titled CD at Café Campus on Feb. 18. But where has all the mascara gone? I’ll tell you where—Robin Black & the Intergalactic Rock Stars, that’s where. The Toronto glammy types join Cheerleader on Feb. 16 at Jupiter Room. Oh, you still need more rock, do you? Fine. Feb. 21, you got Brian Jonestown Massacre at Casa del Popolo, and NYC’s Candy Ass sweeten up Jupiter Room on Feb. 23.

Quebec’s avant-pop cellist Jorane strings us along, Mar. 1 and 2 at Theatre Outremont. Little Miss Big Hair, there, Amanda Marshall joins Five for Fighting on Mar. 2 at Metropolis, the same night Toronto’s Pocket Dwellers do their tasteful jazz-hop thing at le Swimming.
Daniel Bélanger, who’s doing a lot to make québécois adult-contemporary pop look good, holds court Mar. 13–17 at the Spectrum. Mar. 12 sees U.K. folk-tronic types Hood and yank hip hoppers Anticon at Sala Rossa. Also hippity-hoppy are locals Dubmatique, at Club Soda,

Mar. 14 and 15. The brilliantly named …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead lead us to an undisclosed location (that’s creepy) on Mar. 15.
The Kirk6 kids promise the fifth Cloud party on Mar. 23—no DJs or location confirmed yet, but they do it up right, so mark that date down. The next night, Mar 24., is a doozy as Chicks on Speed add themselves to Add N to (X) for an electro-punk soirée to remember (this one too is “location tba”). The Warp label’s Plaid are at la Sala Rossa on Mar. 27.
Eleni Mandell, L.A.’s female Tom Waits (to simplify it), launches her third album at Café Campus on Mar. 29. And finally, to bring the spring thaw around, the Bal en Blanc parties start Mar. 26 at Aria and elsewhere. :