Final Flash, Think About Life Highlight Montreal's M On The Quays Festival

On the Friday evening before M On The Quays — M For Montreal's latest excuse for trotting out the city's best and brightest young musical acts — this writer and a pair of sidekicks were consuming concealed beverages metres away from the already erected dual stages.

Observing an impending rain cloud hanging perilously overhead, we were speaking gruffly just loud enough to cause worrisome chatter among the many tourists walking along the pier.

Scaring tourists is almost involuntary when you spend so much time goofing around and drinking with buddies like this. You almost get too comfortable with people and places at times, to the point where every moment becomes predictable and frighteningly routine. I'm not talking exclusively about the antics of my longtime drinking buddies, though, but rather the local bands of M On The Quays.

My cohorts and I figure some sort of reality show-esque audition for a new sidekick will repackage and recast our roles and keep our hijinx fresh. But while a reality show starring Montreal's most memorable musical characters could be interesting, M On The Quays felt more like a shuffling of the traditional 52 deck — same cards, but with an unpredictable outcome.

There was over 15 hours of live music played on Sept. 5 and 6, and precious little of it was new or revelatory. Most the bands were in that state of flux between records, playing the familiar hits and dropping a few hints as to what their unfinished symphonies might sound like.

The always epic and powerful Besnard Lakes were the most high-profile act in this category. They still somehow managed to have a towering presence on day two despite the tightly controlled set times and minimal stage setups. Largely smokeless and with bassist/vocalist Olga Goreas' glowing devil horn "antlers of doom" hitting the ground a few minutes in, the group played "For Agent 13," "Devastation," "Disaster" and closer "And You Lied To Me" from 2007's The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse in a straightforward manner to a crowd that's still pretty passionate about the album. Frontman Jace Lasek and his band have spent the summer writing and recording a follow-up for 2010, while Lasek has aso been producing albums for pretty much every Montreal band out there. If they played something new, it was hard to distinguish.

Electronic dance-punkers Duchess Says also played a set in transition, giving no real hints about any new direction other than they might have more songwriting tricks up their sleeves beyond fierce keyboard pounding and vocalist Annie-Claude Deschênes' manic stage antics.

The bass took the lead and thus the group seemed funkier and more accessible than usual. Deschênes also provided the weekend's strangest moment, pouting over the stringent 30-minute set limit and refusing the leave the stage, even as M For Montreal presenter Mikey Bernard presented her with a conciliatory beer. Most of the group's more rambunctious fans obviously agreed, as a skirmish broke out as they finished their set, sending some of the bystanders to the exits covering their mouths.

Like the parent M For Montreal showcase held every November, the free M On The Quays was meant as a conveyer belt sampling of different local acts, with each performer only getting a half-hour to impress. Most of the audience seemed to be pretty well versed in the groups, with most being able to mouth the words to one or two songs per set. Given their more specifically marketed status, The New Cities attracted a larger subsection of excited teenage girls, but otherwise didn't exactly breathe any new life or infuse the showcase with any fresh blood.

One band with a debut record still pending did manage to make brief, memorable statement. Final Flash will release Homeless later this year, but they already have the look and feel of an experienced British-American rock band. They feature bassist Andre Bendahan (also of Black Diamond Bay) and a frontman that's a dead ringer for Richard Ashcroft, The Verve's lanky, blustery leader.

Final Flash casually fits into the label of retro-sounding rock act alongside Black Diamond Bay and The Besnard Lakes (Lasek is producing Homeless, naturally). They're also highly melodic, especially with the upright, slightly ominous keyboards.

By the time late Sunday rolled around, the feelings of deja vu and impending burnout were unavoidable. Creature, fresh off a plane from Mexico where their new wave B-52's pastiche has understandably gone over very well, performed a sort of victory lap — giving longtime fans the recognizable Kim Ho/Cowbella barb trading and danceable percussion they've come to expect.

The francophone Chinatown, one of the city's fastest rising acts, showed major improvement in being able to recreate their outstanding recorded material. Les Dales Hawerchuk rocked loud and Parlovr previewed an irritating new song about "swimming little fishies."

DJ Gilles was an unquestioned highlight of the weekend, mashing up various Quebec pop culture oddities (think Nathalie Simard and fitness records) in between sets to confused stares and outright disgust. Even the organizers — when not coaxing people to purchase on-site Red Bulls — presented Gilles with a warning that his sense of humour was a little unconventional.

When it seemed like we had seen it all, Think About Life finally hit the stage after trading places with The Besnard Lakes earlier in the night. Although fun, a certain spark was missing during their CD launch performance earlier this year.

Not so here, as the multitude of pre-recorded beats and awkward crowd exchanges from frontman Martin Cesar only helped galvanize a crowd looking to dance with arms flailing. Cesar gestured like an indie rock David Byrne and was a mesmerizing force of nerdish nature, flanked by full-time members Graham Van Pelt, Matt Shane and a guest bassist/backing singer.

Think About Life blended beats and samples from Van Pelt's kit with Cesar's typically crackling, emotive singing and Matt Shane's spot-on drumming from the opening kick-ass sample of "Having My Baby." It's mature dance music with a hint of humour, and what's essentially the best Montreal-based album of 2009 now has a live show as correspondingly impressive.

M On The Quays, and any other event designed to promote local bands is of great importance, although it's hard to imagine the showcase format would appeal to someone already well-versed in these bands. As pointed out by the organizers, though, the sole purpose of M On The Quays was to introduce up-and-coming acts, so as long as a few people walked away with a new sense of enlightenment, mission accomplished.