“Montreal” (Used 18 times)

Expwy is Matt LeGrouix from Montreal, recording solo lofi psych-folk garage jangle in the vein of White Fence or Sic Alps. He's released three free albums under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

"Cargo: Headstones" can be found on Expwy's latest album, Bag of Waters, which is out today!

>> Expwy at Facebook  |  Bandcamp  |  Soundcloud  |  FMA

Alaclair Ensemble is a postrigodon hip-hop ensemble from Montreal, Quebec, Bas-Canada. The group specifically claims allegiance to the free republic envisioned by Robert Nelson, leader of the late 1830s' Lower Canada Rebellion.

Postrigodon is a new folk style original to Bas-Canada. Invented in 2013, it may have something to do with Rigodoon folk dance. I'm not sure. To my ears, it sounds like the kind of abstract rap that fans of Shabazz Palaces will appreciate, like a French-language take on the Wu Tang Clan with members delivering distinctly-voiced lines like jazz solos atop post-Dilla production and the best elements of new bass music. The collective sports a range of styles thanks to contributors from Montreal's vibrant underground hip hop community, including KenLo Craqnuques, Vlooper, Maybe Watson... and YOU!

You're invited to join in on Dans L'South du Bas, a new release with three songs + three a'capellas all released under a remix-friendly Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Two of these tracks, "Les Insectes" and "Moulin Ben Sec," are below.

To participate in the remix contest, send a 256k+ mp3 of your remix to exposeaural"@"gmail.com by March 25th. More info here where you can also snag the lossless a'capellas. The remix contest was a surprise bonus to accompany the anticipated release of a full LP, America, that is heavy on the Vlooper production and Maybe Watson MC contributions.

If you think two releases on one day is prolific, then check out the triple LP from a few months back, really showcasing the group's range from future hip-hop sound of "Gun gus gus" (off Le roé c'est moé), to the "postrigodon" bass music of Un PIOU PIOU parmi tant d'autres, to the electro-folk / chamber pop collage album Touladis (hear two selections, "Entre Nous" and "Des âmes qui jasent" below).

Montreal based trio Aim Low came together as a self described happy accident and make some pretty dense wall of sound droning music  with effected guitars, bass, vocals and other objects. They've been making themselves nauseous by hanging around in the brown zone of frequency spectrum since boredom brought them together in late 2010.  they have self released an a few ep's and at the time there was talk about cassette releases on they live we sleep, and  walnut locust in the near future. 

While chatting in the studio after their set  that literally gave my lungs a good vibrational massage due to the intensity of the sound pressure levels emitted through their modest amplifiers, they talked about the process of improvisation in their approach  to creating and performing music. I can't remember if it was d.a or l.f that said it,  but what he did say was that it's like  "You know how to get home from one place, but we each take different routes to get there. There are established starting and ending points and structural conventions in place, but ultimately it's like - hey guys i'll meet you down the street in 12 minutes, some times you're early, sometimes you're late some times you just hang around there till you all meet up." I dunno - i really enjoyed this analogy to structured improvisation. 

CKUT may be Canada's largest and most active volunteer-owned campus/community radio station. Based out of McGill University in Montreal, CKUT's 5700 watt 90.3FM signal and online presence at ckut.ca is a true community voice with programming in English, French, Spanish, Korean, Hindi, and Haitian Creole and programs that include West Indian Rhythms, Folk Directions, Tiempo Latino, Macondo, Voice of Korea, Queer Corps, Freekick, Bollywood Dhamaka, WeFunk and "New Shit" (yes, you can say that on the radio in Canada) from a music department with the freeform motto of "yes, it's music."

CKUT kicks off their FMA portal with a mix of highlights from Montreal Sessions, an artist-in-residency program and zone for experimentation that includes live performance, curation, interviews and free improvisation. It's an approach that reminds me a bit of fellow FMA curator Dublab's Sprout Sessions, but with the distinct flavor of the Montreal experimental music community.

CKUT has so much to offer Montreal and the world, so dig in to the Montreal Sessions, dig deeper at ckut.ca, and stay tuned to CKUT's Curator Portal

The international music festival Pop Montreal kicks off today and runs through October 3rd. It's a city-wide event with concerts throughout the city, plus art and film components, and a symposium where I'll be reppin' the Free Music Archive.

Speaking of digitized cassettes...the Pop Montreal Symposium session I'll be taking part in is called "From The Crate to the Dropbox" and it's all about physical vs digital crate digging.  I'll be joining in on the discussion with Mike Silver (aka hometown electro-producer/composer/remix-extraordinaire CFCF), Yuani Fragata (of Bande-à-part, the awesome local station dedicated to French-language music, with a slogan that translates to "Music Maniacs, Accept Yourselves!"), and moderator Jay Watts III of goldkicks.blogspot.com.

One thing that might come up in our conversation is a recent study the National Recording Preservation Board, Library of Congress: "The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age". Tom Cole published a spot-on summary today at NPR. A key excerpt: