by Myles Tiessen (@myles_tiessen)
It’s hard to exaggerate the magic of Festival de Musique Émergente. Hosted every year over Labour Day weekend in the small city of Rouyn-Noranda in rural Quebec, FME may only be four days long, but because of some unclassifiable mystical time distortion, it feels simply and wonderfully eternal.
From church to dive bar and outdoor parking lot to mainstage, the festival operates like a theme park where you can walk around and take in any number of diverse shows happening at once. The shifting locales and endlessly discoverable music also help keep the spirits high as the evening turns to night, and eventually, those early morning staggered walks back to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep before starting all over again.
If you’re the type of person who enjoys rock music on the periphery of the mainstream that straddles the exhilarating balance between underground anonymity and popular adoration, or if you simply like to drink beers and listen to Québécois jigs, then FME might be the place for you. With so much great music to catch, we took on the impossible task of assembling a (scrambled) list of Post-Trash’s highlights.
Population II:
Walking into The Diable Rond–a small, intimate bar with low ceilings and a floor-level stage–as Population II started playing was like walking into an incinerator. Their heavy prog rock blasted from the speakers, and the already sweaty venue became all the more diaphoretic as the crowd moved and grooved to the raucous tunes. Breaking only a few times to refuel on water, the trio plowed through their instrumental set, blending sludge, garage, psych, and jagged grooves into a whirlwind of sound. The mesmerizing effects of the motorik rhythms and jaw-dropping technical ability lingered on far after the last cracks of noise echoed out the front door and into the street of Rouyn-Noranda past midnight.
TUKAN:
TUKAN was the hardest-working band at FME. They put on not one, not two, but three independent sets that were a mix of secret outdoor pop-ups and dusty club basements that perfectly supplemented their analog live-band house beats. FME’s introduction to the Belgium group was under the shadow of the Fonderie Horne–which is an omnipresent industrial mine on the north end of town that has, shall we say, a tumultuous relationship with some of the city’s residents. Regardless, that first set on the railroad tracks brought their hypnotic rhythms and endless stamina to an excited crowd at golden hour. With each passing set, observers became fans and then became die-hard devotees, drinking every second of TUKAN’s spellbinding tonic.
N NAO:
N NAO stretched her psychedelic acoustic dream pop to the furthest reaches of sound. Delayed vocals, guitars, keys, and very well every other instrument on stage bounced through an old-church-turned-seated venue with the magnitude needed to capture the power of her mythic songs. A rich experimental odyssey took place as N NAO moved through the crowd, used flashlights to obscure and, in turn, unveil her face, and swung the microphone around to exploit the maximum amount of distortion. In the end, it felt more like an exciting performance art piece rather than a music concert.
Laurence-Anne:
Laurence-Anne took to the stage dressed in a thin hooded silk cloak, and a kaleidoscopic cloud of fog refracted the deep violet backlighting. Her presence immediately filled the room with an aura of urgent gravity, gripping the crowd with no sign of letting go. Every minute of her hour-long set was serious and direct, which reflects the energy of her austere dream-pop songs. Her backing band was remarkably tight–featuring a sublime snare tone–and lifted Laurence-Anne’s strong melodies with dense layers of noise, synth, flute, and timbre.
Truckviolence:
Truckviolence makes themselves known. Their industrial hardcore hip-hop is punchy, fast, and brilliantly destructive. Their irregular rhythms, samples, distinctive vocals and tidaling flow are ripe for blowing out speakers and pissing off your neighbours. Their set at FME shattered those descriptors beyond any recognizable capacity. Standing in front of a spray-painted white bed sheet that simply read “VIOLENCE,” the trio easily put on the most intense show of the whole weekend. After stripping down to his underwear, lead vocalist Karsyn Henderson jumped, ran, and crashed into the pit without missing a word or beat (well, maybe he did, but that just added to the performance). Between the constant buzz of monitors and absolutely blistering drums, it’s a wonder anyone made it out of there with any hearing whatsoever.
Nora Kelly Band:
Nora Kelly Band made it to FME on fumes. During the Mint Records showcase, Nora Kelly spun a tale of their perilous journey into the heart of rural Quebec with an empty gas tank in their van and a whole lot of road ahead of them. They eventually found their way through town and into a standing-room venue located in the same building behind an internet service provider. The band brought their charming alt-country twang and harmonies to an eager crowd of locals, fans, and those just discovering them. Kelly’s unpretentious, laid-back but energetic stage presence brought her silly yet deeply sincere music to life. “Always tipped the waiter, but I’ve never tipped a cow,” sang Kelly on “Horse Girl” overtop the licks of her fiery Gibson SG.
Night Lunch:
The tables in the basement of the local Moose International were pushed to the side, chairs were cleared and moved upstairs, and the blinds of the two small windows were drawn as Night Lunch’s seductive art synth-pop filled the musty room. The band’s propensity for romantic melodies, sweet lyrics, and ornate retro synth tones carries a heaviness and emotional intensity that is nothing but infectious. Their gold-saturated songs blend the new wave and pop in a similar style to Japan or early Talk Talk but never come across as overly nostalgic or insincere. The four-piece played off the attentive crowd of young families and swaying new lovers, local elders and punk kids from Montreal in a performance that perfectly simmered just under the boiling point, reflecting the music as it is: exciting and reflective.
The Psychotic Monks:
Maybe it was the rain outside or the delayed set, but the energy in the room was clearly dying before The Psychotic Monks took the stage. The set was like an EpiPen straight to the heart for those who desire a certain degree of relentless abrasion. Their industrial / post-punk / experimental / house / whatever you want to call it was loud, fast, and hard as nails. They ran through songs from their album Pink Colour Surgery at a blistering pace, bringing a hefty dose of punk rock intensity to the set. The group’s confidence was undeniable as they jumped, moved, and head-banded their way all over the tiny stage, while at one point, the drummer impressively switched their snare on the fly.
all photos by Myles Tiessen.
