New Music from North of the Border

The weekend before last life got in the way of the blog. I was in Montreal, but the trip led me to some interesting new artists. Unfortunately, over the past week, work and illness got in the way and I never found the time or energy to capture the weekend or the new sounds. So back to the weekend in Montreal. My friend Sadie was in town from San Francisco. She is a talented realist painter (see her website) and was on the East Coast to see some art. We headed to Montreal last Saturday to see the J.W. Waterhouse exhibit at its only stop scheduled in North America. Waterhouse is known for being part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which tended to combine nature with themes from Greek mythology and English literature. At the end of the exhibit there was a short film by Melissa Auf de Maur called Out Of Our Minds (OOOM). Auf de Maur is also a bassist and toured with alternative rock bands Hole and Smashing Pumpkins. These weren’t the only artists I discovered in Montreal. On Saturday night, we met up with Katheline, another member of the small group of hip co-workers at my day job, who lives in Montreal. She took us to some great bars and suggested some excellent music from north of the border.

First, the Waterhouse exhibit. On display at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts were about 80 of his paintings from around the world, including his most famous, “The Lady of Shallot.” Apparently several paintings have not been exhibited in public since his death in 1917. I’ve seen many of his works at the Tate Museum in London, but this retrospective was truly amazing. I highly recommend a trip to Montreal to see the exhibit which will be there until February. Montreal is also just a really cool city so worth a visit even if you skip Waterhouse. If you do get to the exhibit, check out the audio music guide. Instead of a headset that tells you about the artwork, this audio tour provides music selected to accompany the artwork including legendary classical pieces by Berlioz, Fauré, Debussy, and Wagner.

At the end if the Waterhouse exhibit is a short film Out Of Our Minds (OOOM) by Canadian rock musician, Melissa Auf der Maur (MAdM). The film was a selection at this year’s Sundance film festival. There’s no dialogue, the story is told entirely with the music. Visually, the film looks like a Waterhouse painting, as one would expect since it's included in the exhibit. In the notes about the film, Auf der Maur said she used to carry around a postcard of Waterhouse’s “Lady of Shallot” when she was on tour. With forests, water, and cloaked women the film certainly evokes the image. The story is about three women whose fates seem to collide over three eras. The write-ups call it a film about the ‘universal search for the heart,’ but I walked away with more of a tale about mother nature. There are bleeding trees being cut down to expose what look like human hearts in their trunks. All I could think about was what we do with forests today verses what we did in the past (in another part of the film a woman heals an injured viking with plants from the forest). I found the music entrancing, so was interested in learning more about Auf de Maur who conceived of the project and wrote the music.

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Of course the first thing I learned was that Auf der Maur performed in NYC last month. So I’m a bit behind here. While the music of OOOM is decidedly ethereal, it relies heavily on guitar and vocals. In addition to touring with Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, Auf der Maur has collaborated with everyone from The Cars’ Rick Ocasek and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright to punk-rocker Glenn Danzig and even pop rockers Fountains of Wayne. She also fronted a Black Sabbath cover band called Hand of Doom. Needless to say, the chick is pretty dark and her music is heavy rock. She has some powerful vocals and if you’re looking for some heavy power ballads or all out headbanging tunes, check her out. I like her music, it suits certain moods when you just need something loud and emotional. I’ve included a few of her more accessible tunes here. If you have a chance to see OOOM or MAdM in concert, let me know. Honestly, even though this may not be my favorite genre of music, I’m thrilled to see a woman out there rocking this hard. She’s inspiring to us wanna be rockers.

So what else is coming out of Montreal these days? While I didn’t get to see any of these bands, Katheline pointed me to some amazing female musicians. Most of these artists aren’t on Grooveshark so I couldn’t include them in a mix. I highly recommend going to their sites or MySpace pages to listen. They are all fantastic.

Marie-Pierre Arthur has more of a folk rock sound. I would put her in the category with the singers like Neko Case and the current genre of country-inspired American folk rock singers. It’s interesting to note that Case sang with Canadian band The New Pornographers. If you’re not familiar with Case, her recent album Middle Cyclone is good, although I am partial to her album Blacklisted. Arthur’s vocals harken back to Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, but without the country twang. The music also has a haunting quality to it. She sings in French so there’s a romantic sound that comes through with all the guitars. I like her voice. She has quite a range. You can stream all of her music from Arthur's MySpace page.

I did find Ariane Moffatt on Grooveshark, so have included a mix here. Her voice initially reminded me of Fiona Apple, but her music is more electronic folk music with a bit more rhythm than this genre tends include. Some of her songs brought me back to early Portishead, a trip-hop band from the 1990‘s. Other songs have a more acoustic feel. Most of her songs are in French, which makes them by default beautiful. My French is what I call proficient. I can read the basics and understand it when people speak very s l o w l y (lentement in French), but understanding song lyrics? That's a talent that I’ve barely mastered in English. So generally I have no idea what she’s saying, but it sounds lovely. Of course, she has a great voice so that helps. I’ll be listening to her regularly now, so maybe I can eventually figure out some of the lyrics and improve my French.

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Amylie has a mellow softer sound reminiscent of the signer Sia from the band Zero 7. I would put Amylie in the electronic folk category, but her music is more guitar based rather than electronic like Zero 7. Her songs are soulful, smooth and easy to listen to. Her album Jusqu’aux Oreilles (which means up to our ears, or from ear to ear, or something like that) came out last year. This is another one that will stay on my stereo for a while. She has a new single, “Au Creux de ta Main,” (which I think is about the palm of your hand) posted on her site so it looks like new album is due out soon.

Nista, lead by Stina Augustsdottir, puts out quirky but catchy tunes in English. Self-described as “Swed-esque indietronica.” They do sound like something right out of Scandinavia. But must every band create a new genre? There may even be some Iceland-esque indietronica here, evoking early Sugarcubes, Bjork’s first band. Augustsdottir's vocals are more straightforward. She sounds nothing like Bjork, more like Marie Fredriksson of Roxette. (Ah, there’s the Swedish connection.) I downloaded Nista’s EP and the songs range from poppy and punk-inspired to downright goth. They are apparently working on a new album so keep an eye out for it. There’s a great video of the band covering Depeche Mode’s “Shake the Disease” on their website.

Montreal never disappoints as a city. It’s an intriguing mix of Europe and America. Most everyone speaks French and English. I spent a lot of time there in college. It was only an hour and half away from school. We could drink legally and see a lot of great music or go dancing at cool clubs. Montreal not only has a thriving music scene, including a world renowned jazz festival, it has great restaurants and funky shops. This trip I discovered some new neighborhoods as well as new artists and of course a new pair of trendy black boots. I hadn’t been to visit in about 10 years, but I won’t wait that long to visit Montreal again. Thanks to Sadie for dragging me up there and to Katheline for the great music tips.