by SCOTT C

Got a note from my girl Alexis over the weekend telling me about a guy named C.R. Avery who's coming to town for a show this Saturday, July 5. Mr. Avery apparently plays the harmonica and augments the chords with simultaneous beat-boxing. He just finished a U.S. tour with Anticon signee Sage Francis, and just signed a deal with Epitaph Records. Sound like your kind of thing? Well if so, call the Shadowboxerz, get Bad News Brown on the phone and head down to Pharmacie Esperanza at 5490 St-Laurent for 9 p.m., where Alexis O'Hara will also perform. Live teaser can be seen at www.latenightseries.com/av/cravery.html.

Looks like Carifiesta is about to roll out the parade in the middle of the downtown core like it does every year. The colorful Parade of the Bands features all manner of floats and speaker-tower madness, starting at noon on Saturday, July 5, at the corner of Guy and René-Lévesque, and heading down to St-Denis before finishing up on the grounds of city hall. There you'll find a wide array of food and drink as well as nuff music to wind up the perfect Saturday afternoon. Call 735-2232 for more info.

Also this Saturday, the sweet sounds of DJ Kaveh and Medusa present Moon Love at Mocha Jo's at 5175A Parc. This is an open call to anyone who wants to bring an instrument down and jam. Kaveh will also be playing reggae, Afro-beat, soul, hip hop, kwaito and raï. It all goes down starting at 9:30 p.m., $6.

Along with new music from Atach Tatuq, who incidentally have a big launch party coming up sometime in August, I eagerly await the new fare from locals Kobayashi, who release The Night We Took the City this week. I also just got my hands on a new LP from some other dudes from around the way calling themselves Miss Cannonball. These guys play live beats, as well as sampling and sequencing their own sounds, all to the tune of BU the Knowledgist and my man Manchilde. What I've heard sounds pretty good to me.

Kinda wondering if New York new blood and Montreal native 24K has her hands full collaborating with all those NYC cats, Jay-Z included. Maybe she should think about making her presence felt in Canada. Y'know, collabs with young cats from around the way, maybe a show in her hometown. I know, I know. She's doing her thing, but it always escapes me how fast some people seem to separate themselves from our non-existent scene to be assimilated by a saturated U.S. market. We may not have the gears to run this shit, but we know good music when we hear it, right?

Seven reasons the nickname sticks:
1. Skillz "You Are" (CDR)
2. LAL "Bolo" (PTR)
3. Freddie Foxx "Lazy" (BBE)
4. Tony Allen "Every Season"(WHOA)
5. Quantic "The 5th Exotic" (Milan)
6. Lotus "Moves" (CDR)
7. Somatik "Prismatik"(PTR)

Septic think tank… fathead@videotron.ca

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