Show Alert: Writing It All Down For You

Fri., Jan. 16
Elliott BROOD
The Ark, Ann Arbor

The Sadies w/Duende
The Loving Touch, Ferndale

It's not often, especially lately, we get two can't-miss Canadian indie shows on the same night. Happy New Year.

We've seen both these bands multiple times in a variety of venues and can say you're guaranteed a great show. We consider Elliott BROOD's Mountain Meadows (2008) one of the best Canadian indie albums ever made. It's perfect from start to finish. They've come a long way since we first saw them at the Majestic Cafe in 2009; so has their once literally brooding, edgy "death" country sound. They're all Work and Love (2014) now-- and Juno award-winning (Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, 2013). Listen: "Jigsaw Heart," from Work and Love.

Whether sharing the stage with Gord Downie-- and making our list of top shows last year-- or with family (Home County, 2013), The Sadies are Good. That would be Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. They should be: they celebrated 20 years in 2014 of superb Canadian indie. Listen: "What's Left Behind" from New Seasons (2007)

The Sadies. Yes, they're as bad-ass as they look.
(Photo credit: Don Pyle)



M pour Montreal est merveilleux



When it comes to music festivals, we've been selective. NXNE and London's Home County Arts & Music Festival have perfectly suited our schedules, wallets, ability to travel and the way we like to consume live music. But after meeting M pour Montreal's Mikey Bernard at NXNE, we decided it was time to dust off our high school French, venture out of our comfort zone and head to M pour Montreal.

How we got there: Porter Air from Windsor to Toronto Island to Trudeau Airport. Reasonable price, and landing on a small island is pretty amazing. We even had time between flights on our way home to grab lunch at Wvrst in Toronto. Good to know: Budget $40 for a cab to and from the airport to downtown Montreal if you don't want to take the bus.

Where we stayed: Trylon Appartements at Ste. Famille and Milton. Except for incredibly lousy Wi-Fi-- a challenge not limited to Trylon, we discovered chatting with other M for Montreal attendees-- also very reasonable. Great staff and location, highly recommended. Good to know: Everything was within walking distance, although we cabbed it a few times because of the cold (around -9 C) on Thursday and Friday.

 Where we ate: Thanks to Montreal resident and fellow Radio 3 blogger Hedgehog Friend, we had the inside scoop on great iconic places to eat in the city, including Amelios (bring your own beer); Juliette & Chocolat; Schwartz's; Beautys; La Sala Rossa; and our favourite, spruce beer and tourtiere at La Binerie. We also had the best coffee (we ordered Americanos) ANYWHERE at Pikolo.

What we didn't do: We missed Betty Bonifassi's show and Py Py due to logistics; sad panda, because we love them both. We didn't have time to make our pilgrimage to Breakglass Studios or be tourists. But hey Montreal, we'll definitely be back.

(Click on a photo for the slideshow)

Who we saw:

Kandle Osborne of Kandle and the Krooks

Jeff Innes of High Ends

Le Trouble;  check out their CBC Beetle Roadtrip
session with Grant Lawrence at cbc.ca/beetleroadtrip.

Canailles. We were sold when we saw that the drummer
had a trash can lid as part of his kit.
They had the whole room line dancing.

Peter Dreimanis of July Talk.

Leah Fay of July Talk.

Banjo oh my darling Lisa LeBlanc

So, our beloved Parlovr is no more. But Alex, Jeremy and Louis
are still making music. We saw Alex's new
band, Holy Data, at L'Escogriffe. This is Jordan.
You might know him from Sunset Rubdown and Miracle Fortress.

This is Alexis Dionne

This is Reg Kachanoski

And this is Alex Cooper.

We never thought we'd get to see a Unicorn--
Alden Penner-- performing Unicorn songs.


Badbadnotgood was anything but.

Yup, supreme just about sums up their M for Montreal show.

Michael Feuerstack

Doomsquad @ Divan Orange

How Sad made us happy again at La Sala Rossa
Hilotrons were a hit with us.
Michael Dubue sang the vocals for Animal, Master

Alex Moxon / Hilotrons


Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images