M for Montreal 2011 | #6 goes global
M for Montreal 2011 – #6 goes global
M for Montreal is primed to explode, again. What started out six years ago as a schmoozing event for music industry insiders and journalists has now grown into a full-on music festival — an international one, no less. M for Montreal has become known for its unique format and impeccable planning. this week, sixty-four acts will occupy six downtown venues for four consecutive nights, culminating at the cavernous Metropolis hall, and all without one schedule conflict.
It’s more of a marathon than a festival, really. You’d better book some time off work. Last year we were blown away by the local talent on display, and this year the boom’s promising to be even bigger.
No doubt, owing to the success of its industry networking functions, the festival has been expanding its global credentials a little more every year. M for Montreal has hosted showcases as far as Texas’s South by Southwest media convention. Even this year’s headliner comes from half a world away: France’s much-lauded electronic shoegaze duo M83, who’ve been brought in to support their latest ethereal synth trip, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
M83’s show with LA-based, similarly-themed Active Child is, sadly, already sold out. If you missed out, you’ve still got a chance to get retro: also from France comes Anoraak, alias Frederic Riviere, an up-and-coming artist from the infamous Valerie Collective. Anoraak’s velvety Italo-disco pop jams come off like an aural daydream of an ideal ’80s Miami beach that never existed. Fans of Chromeo take note.
Other class acts this year include local electronic legends Bran Van 3000 and hard-rock thrashers Barn Burner and Trigger Effect (heavy music being a recent and welcome addition to the festival — see our writeup of Priestess from last year). Last year’s M for Montreal featured the folk-rock duo The Barr Brothers and infectious electro-jazz gangsters Misteur Valaire (who headlined in 2010, as it happens, and who have been M for Montreal regulars since 2008). Both groups will be returning again to the fest’s sixth edition. Plenty of new additions fill out the roster, including Uncle Bad Touch (a sister band of our favourites The Unsettlers).
The full line-up for M for Montreal 2011:
- M83
- Active Child
- Cadence Weapon
- Karkwa
- Random Recipe
- Parlovr
- Aaron
- Absolutely Free
- Adam & The Amethyst
- Alaclair Together
- Alexandre Desilers
- Alfa Rococo
- Anoraak
- Ben Wilkins
- Bran Van 3000
- Buddy McNeil & The Magic Mirrors
- Scoundrels
- Concrete Knives
- D’eon
- Daniel Isaiah
- Doldrums
- Ed Wood Jr
- Fanny Bloom
- For a Minor Reflection
- Galaxie
- Half Moon Run
- Hollerado
- I No.
- Jimmy Hunt
- Karim Ouellet
- Lena Deluxe
- Marie-Pier Arthuer
- Misteur Valaire
- Of Monsters and Men
- Passwords
- Peter Peter
- Plaster
- The Midway State
- Uncle Bad Touch
- Young Empires
M for Montreal runs from Wednesday, November 16 through Saturday, November 19. See www.mformontreal.com for more details.
