Pop Montreal Day One: Fucked Up And Hip-Hop

ChartAttack reporter Erik Leijon is hitting the clubs for the annual Pop Montreal festival. Here's his report from Wednesday:

6:15 p.m.: I'm heading to Notman House near the UQAM campus to register for the festival. Upon arrival, I'm handed a large and cumbersome goodie bag containing a few free magazines and weeklies, a Pop Montreal compilation, a few remix CDs, a torture death rattle from Steve's Music and a thong. Is it perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come? Although designated an artists' lounge, at this point Notman House is overrun by local media. I must admit that I'm thinking about yesterday's announcement of a new Bran Van 3000 album, due at the end of October.

7:05 p.m.: As much as Pop Montreal is an exciting time for local music fans, day one also happened to coincide with the Montreal Canadiens' regular season opening game in North Carolina. Commentators Pierre Houde and Yvon Pedneault give an introductory welcome in English to those watching south of the border, since they apparently don't get the game in their local television market. I'm sure there were plenty of visiting musicians who appreciated the gesture, since I'm sure they were dragged by local friends to Bifteck or Barfly to watch the game before getting down to business. Hell, when Giselle from Hot Springs' emails mention the Habs opener, you know the parties will be on hold until the game ends.

10 p.m.: A Canadiens victory, coupled with a Leafs loss, should ensure an upbeat crowd. Unfortunately, the first big show for this year's Pop Montreal is seminal art-punk band Pere Ubu with Toronto masochist-punks Fucked Up, and it doesn't look like much of a hockey crowd. I missed opener Thundrah, but the crowd quickly doubled in size once Fucked Up took the stage. Lead singer Damian redefines the term "big fat dynamo" with extremely frightening undertones.

10:15 p.m.: Early in the set, Damian smashes two beer bottles over his cranium, the second one causing him to bleed from his bald skull. He also removes his Dead Silence T-shirt to reveal an art project of sorts drawn across his chest.

10:30 p.m.: Although it says otherwise on the Pop Montreal site, Damian jokes that Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett was supposed to join the hardcore group on stage. He also jokes about relocating the band to Montreal and changing their name to "Fucked Wolves Up." Damian is both funny and frightening.

10:50 p.m.: A change of heart leads me out of the Theatre National (located slightly out of the way in the gay village) and on to the Metro, where I quickly make my way to the middle of the action — a stretch of Saint-Laurent between Mont-Royal and Duluth, where a dozen venues are within easy walking distance from each other. Isn't that the purpose of Pop Montreal, to stagger your way from show to show, hopefully searching for a lost gem?

11:15 p.m.: Not a lost gem, but the PTR showcase at Lambi is bumping with hip-hop beats. DJ Think Twice is playing familiar hits from Dr. Dre and Biggie Smalls.

11:30 p.m.: Montreal multi-lingual rap troupe Nomadic Massive take the stage. There are a lot of members, and the ratio of audience members to rappers is three-to-one. It's a sad reflection of the state of Canadian hip-hop, because these guys are having loads of fun and do a great job getting the small but dedicated audience on their feet. They played a song with a Cuban flavour, which went over really well.

12:30 a.m.: I walk down to Coda, where the opening night extravaganza is taking place. The Federation and Thunderheist were supposed to play, but the former couldn't get across the border. Nick Diamonds is supposed to play (presumably some sort of DJ set) and I'm not sure if he's done, but he's hanging around in the middle of the rather trendy-looking crowd.

12:45 a.m.: New Brunswick Acadian rappers Radio Radio prove that Thunderheist don't have exclusive license on party rap with an electronic beat. There are some local rappers in the audience, and the crowd seems to be enjoying Radio Radio more than Nomadic Massive at Lambi. There's been a minor resurgence lately because Omnikrom (I think I saw Jeanbart's mohawk around here somewhere) and Radio Radio have really embraced electro-dance beats and fun lyrics.

1:35 a.m.: Radio Radio leave the stage and the guest DJ plans to join the party momentarily. Since more people are smoking outside than dancing inside, I decide to bolt for the vomit comet (a delightful way to say night bus) and my bed.