The British Invasion signified it, and U2 made an ill-advised concept album about it, but only Montreal puts the “pop” in pop. After spending a week on the Plateau, I have come to the conclusion that indie Montreal is a lot like our fair city — just smaller, more fashionable and with slightly cheaper beer.

Pop Montreal's five-day music smorgasbord is inspiring for those who find NXNE a little too inaccessible, though Pop has its downsides. Rarely do bands play more than once, and with multiple Sophie’s Choice-like lineups like Friday night’s, it was an all or nothing conundrum of what to see and where to go. More in line with the Over The Top Festival’s focus on oddball indie icons (featured Pop performers included Diamanda Galas and P Star) than CMW’s CanCon, Pop has tried to spread its wings with a curated film, art and symposium series, in addition to spin-offs like the Puces Pop craft sale and a record/gear swap. It’s an almost overwhelming embarrassment of riches for a festival focused on highlighting the unlikely heroes of bygone eras.

The band on everyone’s lips was local solo artist tUnE-YaRdS, a.k.a. Merill Garbus, whose looped ukulele electronica captured many people's attention at the festival. (Her track “Sunlight” was also the de facto Plateau coffee shop jam.) Though attendees planned to give it up for Faust, and sang the praises of local heroes like The Luyas, you couldn’t escape the giddy enthusiasm they had for Think About Life. Dancing in a packed room with everyone I’d met that week, I finally understood just how small the Anglo music scene really was. And I kinda liked it that way. Here's a rundown of Pop's most valiant weekend warriors:

FRIDAY, OCT. 2
Roxanne Shante (Espace Reunion): The story of Roxanne Shante, told by the 39 year old hip-hopper herself as part of Pop’s keynote speakers series, is one that’s unfortunately been heard before. Discovered at age 14 by producer Marley Marl (who lived in the project across her in Queensbridge, New York), Shante just “wanted to do laundry” when her untapped talent was discovered in the ‘hood. Speaking about her struggles with domestic abuse, corruption in the music industry and collaborations with Rick James (“I had a real spiritual, emotional experience with Rick — and not in the way you think,” said Shante), the real Roxanne lashed out at the music industry for taking advantage of her own naivite. Still, some things were unclear. Touching on the controversy involving a faked PHD from Cornell University she once claimed was paid by her record label, Shante said that the phony-doctorate scheme was inspired by a session as a motivational speaker. “After one of my talks, one girl was so moved she was like, ‘What should I call you? I kinda wanna call you doctor.’ And I was like, well that sounds pretty good to me!” Cornell was apparently “very accommodating,” listing Shante as a graduate on their website and placing her material in their hip-hop archives. The rest of the story remained untold, due to “legal difficulties.”

Boats!! (Bar St. Laurent): Apparently all you need to warm up a crowd is to say you’re from Winnipeg. The quirky, multi-orchestral band lead by singer/songwriter Mat Klachefsky shined, despite technical problems, dressing tracks like “Dream Of A Dentist” with twinkly glockenspiel solos. While the reliance on oddball arrangements tended to take away from the dramatic power of Klachefsky’s manic falsetto, Boats’ craftsmanship sailed on, even when a delayed drum machine caused the band to stop their set early — and swear at their equipment as attendees left uncomfortably.

Destroyer (Ukranian Federation Hall): One of the sheer pleasures of Pop Montreal is being able to enjoy an artist of Destroyer’s stature in a packed Ukrainian Hall that looks like a children’s auditorium. Dwarfed by an oversized pastoral mural, Destroyer (a.k.a. Dan Bejar) told stories in between his solo acoustic sets — the funniest of which involved being mistaken for Sam Roberts at the airport that morning. The acoustic guitar gave fare like “Painter In Your Pocket” and New Pornographers’ track “Streets of Fire” a dramatic touch, highlighting the yelping, baroque puppetry of Bejar’s voice. As Bejar spoke of his time writing songs in Montreal just blocks from the venue, his anecdotes lent an agency and revelatory power to songs like “Foam Hands” and “European Oils.” While Bejar’s recent ambient disco tracks weren’t unfortunately given the acoustic treatment, his catalogue shone all on its own in the most unique and powerful show of the festival.

Shapes and Sizes (O Patro Vys): Shapes And Sizes are the Kevin Bacons of Montreal. Singer Caila Thompson-Hannant plays with Think About Life, bassist Nathan Gage owns record store Phonopolis while guitarist Rory Seydel works at Drawn & Quarterly — and their band backs up all that street cred. Shapes and Sizes exude a rare kind of presence onstage, as Thompson-Hannant churns out strange soul ballads to beautifully understated bass and guitar arrangements. Performing all sorts of amazingly camp dance routines as she strapped on both synths and guitars, Thompson-Hannant might have one of the most powerful siren calls in all of Montreal, a plush voice ready to sail into the high notes only to curl back into Aretha registers chorus by chorus. “Can't Stop That (Sinking) Feeling” — a duet between Thompson-Hannant and Seydel — highlighted the band’s crazed chemistry. When Thompson-Hannant sings, it’s like Irma Thomas backed by Pavement, but when the band harmonizes together, they’ve created a new aesthetic entirely — one that’s entirely charming, captivating and sonically austere.

SATURDAY, OCT. 3
Clues (Phonopolis): After checking out the swank, multimedia art installation for Charles Spearin's Happiness Project, I crammed into the tiny record basement Phonopolis to check out a daytime set by Clues. Unfortunately, Clues are a band that needs a good sound system. Vocalist Alden Penner was drowned out by droning guitars and earsplitting percussion, as songs like “Approach the Throne” grew weary, then discombobulated, then unlistenable.

Diamond Rings (Cabaret Juste Pour Rire): Diamond Rings is the alter ego of D’Urbervilles lead singer John O’Regan and it shows. Swap the glasses for layered eye makeup, the plaid shirt for an airbrushed mall t-shirt displaying his own name, the skinny jeans for leggings, and you have the Maquillage persona to front earnest songwriting backed by danceable iPod beats. While he wisely saved YouTube sensation “All Yr Songs” for last, Diamond Rings’ other material employs Gentlemen Reg’s acoustic pop sensibilities with a more ironic dance flair. It’s indie rock with huge commercial appeal, and with O’Regan’s '80-glam sensibilities and ambiguous sexuality on full display, the glowing magazine profiles can’t be far off.

Das Racist (Petit Campus): In the most divisive show seen at the festival, Queens irono-rappers Das Racist took to the Petit Campus stage, took off their shoes and immediately went for the jugular. Track “Shorty Says I Look Like” involved a no-nothing 'ho comparing the looks of Queens-born Himanshu Suri and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez to everyone from Alex Rodriguez to Turtle from Entourage to Devandra Banhart, as they duo copped, “Shorty says I look like Osama/ Shorty says I look like Osama and Obama.” Teasing out the modalities of racism in America, Das Racist even commented on the white-washed festival crowd. “Everybody say, ‘hey white people!’” instructed Suri in a call-and-response shout out, before commanding, “Everybody say ‘I feel weird.’” Though they did indeed play “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” — a token rap song that plays like a Cheech and Chong skit for a Harold and Kumar generation — it was the angsty “I Don’t Wanna Wait” (beginning with the coda from the Dawson’s Creek theme song) that got me. Who knew that Paula Cole was so damn gangsta?

BRAIDS (Saphir): Stuck in an under publicized venue with oversized leather hands as chairs, BRAIDS waged war with Montreal club Saphir’s sound system, trying to make their lush Afro-pop tenable. An undoubtedly cliché comparison, the band combines the bubbling guitar work of Vampire Weekend with Animal Collective’s psychedelic synthesizers (though the guitarist was dressed like Gilligan), creating an effusive soundscape that would’ve been quite effective given a proper presentation. Instead the female vocalist was buried in the mix, dwarfed by too loud bongo effects and shuttering keyboards. In a better venue, BRAIDS would be pure, golden light.

Parlovr (Espace Reunion): Montreal band Parlouvr continue to be one of the most promising, loudest bands in the city. While the sheer weight of tracks like “Pen To The Paper” and “One The Phone” recalls the frenzied cries of Wolf Parade, the band is doing something different, forging a sonic aesthetic that made all the 20 year olds at Espace Reunion lose their shit. It’s a sound bordering on near-accessible indie, until Parlovr’s disjointed vocals and fuzz breakdowns push them to the fringes. With a smiley stage presence less stylized than the usual Plateau rockers, Parlovr managed to drown the venue in sound, playing as if this show might be their last.

Homosexual Cops (Espace Reunion): Montreal’s Homosexual Cops are the internet meme of bands, an iPod breakbeat duo that scream about being in love and “the freakin’ weekend” with all the sincerity of an 18-year-old in a neon jumpsuit. Dancing around like idiots to “I’m In Love,” their frenzied, synth-based dance jams had attendees wondering how to react.

Think About Life (Espace Reunion): When a city loves a band from their hometown, nothing will stop them from celebrating. The equivalent insanity of Springsteen playing Asbury Park greeted Think About Life’s 1:30am performance. Though their set began with the band spinning Biz Markie in the dark, as soon as the lights hit them, tracks like “The Wizard” and “Young Hearts Run Free” caused a near calamity. The heat rose as couples grinded ferociously, crowd surfers stage dived into the din and mere fans pogoed to the soul burning vocals of frontman Martin Caesar. Now wisely augmented by Shapes and Sizes’ singer Caila Thompson-Hannant on backup vocals, Think About Life creates a palpable energy onstage, dancing, sweating, popping and locking it down. That warm fuzzy festival feeling came as we all sang happy birthday to Martin, sparklers buzzing by his smile. All 25th birthdays should be so sweet. 
 
 

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