If you follow my newsletter, you may notice my musical intrigue with certain cities — Detroit, Chicago and Oakland to name a few. Although I’ve never been, Montreal has long been on this list. Names like Jacques Greene and Tiga sparked the initial curiosity in the 2010s but, in the last 5+ years, it has been the output of artists like Helena Deland, Ouri, D. Tiffany, Patrick Holland and Priori that have re-ignited that interest.
In my ‘cool songs’ writeup of Jump Source’s track “Endlessly,” I promised a therabeats dedicated to Montreal artists and I’ve been slowly building this update since. Although more than half of the featured artists have ties to Montreal, I ultimately ended up expanding the playlist to include Canadian artists at-large.
In the process of putting this together, I found regional through lines, ranging in sonic temperature. In Montreal, there is the cold, minimal and dub feel pulling from the legacy of artists like Akufen. In Ontario, the music is warmer, hopeful and more organice. In Vancouver, there is an undeniable west-coast feel with artists like Gavin Froome delivering classic House fit for a cookout. This playlist has been ordered carefully and is best suited for either deep focus or zoning out…
Rather than focus on album recs this time, I’ll highlight some of my favorite Canadian labels who’s music makes up a good chunk of the playlist.
naff Recordings (Montreal) - hands down my favorite current indie label run by Francis Latreille (aka Priori) and Adam Feingold (aka Ex-Terrestrial). Their latest release from Italian producer Piezo features this epic dream of a track…
Pacific Rhythm (Vancouver) - the perfect embodiment of the west coast energy I mentioned in the intro. Outside of highlighting local artists featured in the playlist like Emissive and HANK, they’ve worked with Space Ghost, one of my favorite Bay Area DJ / producers. This was a tad too clubby for the playlist but another cosmic beaut from HANK…
Plush Management Inc (Berlin by-way-of Montreal) - this club-oriented label run by D. Tiffany and Regularfantasy features liquid-y progressive/tech-house. Some excellent cheeky tunes like this one…
Doo (Montreal) - perhaps the label best carrying on the legacy of minimal house in Montreal. Their Bandcamp is an absolute treasure trove of understated, yet club-ready, grooves. Their music doesn’t seem to exist on streaming but here’s a taste…
Tinkertoy / Polmo Polpo / Sandro Perri
I discovered this 2002 Montreal classic (and title of the update) in Jump Source’s FADER Mix…
The A-Side of this record on Discogs is by an artist named Polmo Polpo and, although I couldn’t find the remix from the record, the original version is dub techno at its best, washing over the listener as its name suggests…
Polmo Polpo is the moniker of Toronto musician Sandro Perri who makes music under his own name in the realm of folk, post-rock and experimental/ambient. This gorgeous 24-minute folktronic meditation is somehow not long enough…
Another 2002 release, Montreal artist Akufen’s My Way isn’t on streaming but is a masterclass of micro-sampling, a technique originally pioneered by Todd Edwards (perhaps most famously used on his collaboration with Daft Punk).
Akufen utilized thousands of samples from FM Radio (likely why it isn’t on streaming services) to create this album and the “microhouse” subgenre in the process. Here’s one of my favorite tracks (let it build!) but you can listen to the full album at the link above.
Ciel - Groovedeep & The Lot Radio Mix
X’ian-born, Toronto-based Ciel has been one of my favorite DJ/producers for about 5 years now and her output has been particularly excellent as of late.
Last year, she teamed up with James Bangura (of Black Rave Culture) and DC Techno producer JR2k to form Groovedeep. The trio debuted on Turbo Recordings, perhaps Montreal’s most well-established label, with the driving “Funk Solo.”
This year, they’ve followed up with a stacked remix EP. Hard to choose a favorite from the bunch, but I enjoyed Shed’s take juxtaposing fluttering percussion with atmospheric flourishes…
If you’ve made it this far, and you dug the playlist, Ciel’s latest The Lot Radio mix is a perfect continuation…
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.