In September, KEXP made our first journey out to Montreal, Quebec, to immerse ourselves in their vibrant and eclectic music scene during the 16th annual POP Montreal Music Festival. With the assistance of FACTOR, a fellow nonprofit that assists the growth and development of musicians across Canada, we took up a four-day residence at the influential Breakglass Studios and with the help of studio co-owner James Benjamin and friend of KEXP Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Operators), we were able to book 13 amazing bands for exclusive live performances. Today, we are excited to begin launching the videos from these performances.
Our first release comes from one of our favorite Montreal based bands, The Barr Brothers, who just released their excellent new album, Queens of the Breakers, in October. This was the final performance we captured out of 13 over the course of four days. All of the KEXP x Breakglass sessions were free and open to about 35 people, but this being the last performance and featuring one of the most popular local bands, we decided to open the room up to nearly 100 fans. It was a hot, packed house as The Barr Brothers, whose impressive lineup included a harp and french horn. As band leader Brad Barr told the crowd, this would be the first time they played songs from the new record to a live audience. That raw excitement, from audience and band, produced a lovely and intimate performance as the sun set on an unseasonably warm fall evening. Afterwards, Brad hung out with us to celebrate as we wrapped up our week in Montreal, and together we listened to the audio we just recorded, each satisfied in capturing a special moment. It was a perfect ending to our trip, and a perfect session to begin with for the release of all our KEXP x Breakglass videos. Look for two more each weekend, running through December and featuring mostly Canadian bands like The Besnard Lakes, The Luyas, Woolworm, Faith Healer, Tess Roby and many others.
We knew that The Besnard Lakes would be on our list to see while we were in Montreal since first, they are one of our favorite Montreal-based bands, but also because frontman Jace Lasek is one of the three founders of Breakglass Studios. It was really fun to see The Besnard Lakes in their element and to chat with Jace and Olga after the set about the history of Breakglass Studios, how they built out each room a little bit at a time over the last 12 years and to hear about all of the different bands that have recorded there like Holy Fuck, Islands, Stars, Sunset Rubdown, The Unicorns, Wolf Parade, Purity Ring, and many more. They performed songs from their latest release A Coliseum Complex Museum that came out last year, which is another excellent psych-rock scorcher. Check out their set below!
Montreal trio Paupière was the only Francophone artist that we filmed during our time at Breakglass Studios and Pop Montreal. Québec is a Francophone province with a vast majority of the population speaking French as their primary language. I spoke with many of the bands from Montreal about the difference between the Francophone and Anglophone populations and they’re actually quite separate, but the music communities come together during festivals like Pop Montreal. Paupière played a set of sleek electro-pop, citing influences from the 1980s French electro sound and their peers in the Montreal scene. Check out their fun new record À Jamais Privé de Réponses that just came out in October and enjoy their KEXP session live at Breakglass Studios!
Moon King is the project of Daniel Benjamin originally from Toronto, and now spending most of his time in the Detroit area. When Benjamin released his first tape as Moon King in 2011, he caught the attention of fellow Toronto band Fucked Up’s guitarist Mike Haliechuk who released his first two EPs. Since then has shared bills with bands like Alvvays, Austra, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Majical Cloudz and has performed with Grimes and his brother’s project Doldrums. Inspired by his recent move to Detroit and the techno/dance scene, he has carved out his own pop sound on his new record Hamtramck ’16 which came out on August 4th. He and vocalist Natty G performed duets of the songs from the new record during their session with KEXP at Breakglass Studios.
Originally from Toronto now based in Montreal, musician and photographer Tess Roby is a true talent. At just 24 years old, she has a mature voice reminiscent of Nico, but truly her own. With gorgeous, lush songwriting, Tess on keyboards and vocals accompanied by her brother Eliot Roby on guitar, in the past year she drew the attention of LA-based label Italians Do It Better. Her debut full-length will be coming out sometime in the near future, but they have also released a 12” single for the song “Ballad 5” earlier this year. I asked Tess how she ended up getting involved with Johnny Jewel (The Chromatics/owner of Italians Do It Better) since she is the only Canadian artist on their modest roster. She told me that he just happened to stumble across her songs on Soundcloud and even though he never does this, was inspired to reach out and asked to release her record. She flew down to LA to meet with him to make sure it was a good fit, and they ended up getting along really well and she was thrilled to sign on with them. I can’t wait to hear the record when it comes out and I hope you enjoy a taste of the songs from her performance with KEXP at Breakglass Studios during the POP Montreal Festival.
Direct from the Sahara desert, Bombino! With the introduction out of the way, Omara 'Bombino' Moctar, a prodigious guitar player born to a nomadic Tuareg tribe in Niger (and at this point best known to the general public because Black Keys member Dan Auerbach produced his record 'Nomad') set to work electrifying the packed house of fans, friends, and fellow musicians assembled in the Breakglass live room. It was immediately apparent why there's so much excitement worldwide about Bombino, as well as why he's garnered a reputation as a true musician's musician. Bombino has got the kind of feel for a guitar that simply can't be taught. From the acoustic intro section of the set, to the mind bending electric guitar rythms that brought the crowd to their feet and got them dancing, the energy in the air was tangible. This was a special moment. If you were crazy enough to miss it live... just click on the link below to see the whole episode in full HD video and audio direct through the Kashmir Neve!