Also Cool's POP Montreal Top Picks: Round One
Isabella Lovestory via Bandcamp
September’s end is upon us, which means POP Montreal is just around the corner! Celebrating its 21st anniversary this year from September 28th to October 2nd, POP Montreal is an integral fixture in our hometown’s music circuit as a five-day festival; presenting more than 400 artists between panel discussions, film screenings, fashion shows and more! As per usual, this year’s lineup does not miss a beat with legendary headliners and movers & shakers from our local music scene and beyond. To get into the festival spirit, take a listen to our POP Montreal selections and jump venue to venue with us!
Isabella Lovestory
Isabella Lovestory is Montreal’s resident reggaeton-pop princess. The alter-ego of Honduras-born Isabella Rodriguez, the vocalist and producer meshes sugary hyper-pop tendencies with entrancing, bass-heavy club beats into a rousing, Y2K-reminiscent frenzy. Her breadth of influences chart her musical upbringing; drawing inspiration from reggaeton acts like Plan B, to Britney Spears and MIA, as well as alternative Brits like The Smiths and The Cure. Since her emergence on SoundCloud, Lovestory has released her debut album Mariposa (2020), a handful of ear-worm singles-turned-EPs, and appeared in Nylon and Dazed. A self-proclaimed “fashion freak,” Lovestory turns heads for her equally iconic sense of style, captured in her glamorous music videos and alluring online presence. Let her steal your heart this POP season.
Isabella Lovestory plays Casa Bianca (terrace) on Saturday, October 1st at 6PM.
Isabella Lovestory
PACKS via Bandcamp
PACKS
Slack-rock quartet PACKS has been on our artists-to-watch radar since their debut LP Take the Cake (2021). Led by Madeline Link, the project began as a creative back-and-forth between Ottawa and Toronto, with Link sending her bare-bone bedroom demos to her bandmates for exploration via Google Drive. The resulting album was a smash and saw the band tour their slow-burning, timeless sound extensively. Since, Link has made it clear that she isn’t resting on her laurels with the release of her latest EP WOAH this past summer. Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, WOAH has Link returning to her solo, unbrushed songwriting roots with a refined lyrical palette and imaginative composition (and an ode to Ottawa commercial radio on the track “fm”).
PACKS plays Casa del Popolo on Friday, September 30th at 8:15PM.
PACKS
Boyhood by Monika Kraska
Boyhood
Boyhood is the moniker of alt-pop singer-songwriter Caylie Runciman. Since 2014, the Belleville-expat brews jangly, brooding mirages, sprinkled with atmospheric synth and candid vocal grit. Runciman now calls the woods of Central Frontenac home, where she has been writing, composing and producing her upcoming LP My Dread - out this coming November. Long-anticipated since her beloved 2019 debut Bad Mantras, teaser singles from My Dread “Don’t You Dare” and “Stroke It” find Runciman standing ground against darkness past, reconciled between tough basslines and twinkling oscillations. Though a limited vinyl-run of My Dread is now available for pre-order, we implore you to catch Boyhood live in her element before its release.
Boyhood plays La Sala Rossa on Thursday, September 29th at 8PM.
Boyhood
Strange Froots by McKim Jean-Pierre
Strange Froots
Supporters of Also Cool since day one, Strange Froots is Mags and Naïka Champaïgne: a duo of multifaceted singer-songwriters, beatmakers and musicians based in Montreal. Originally planning to attend a series of workshops for femmes in hip-hop, the alt-soul group met in 2014 at NoBad Sound Studio, and shortly after formed Strange Froots. Strange Froots describe themselves as “the coming together of different backgrounds of the same Black diaspora [...] to convey the message that everyone should embrace who they are, no matter where they’re from or what they’re going through.” Performing extensively with an emphasis on nurturing community, Strange Froots have taken the stage at Slut Island, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Fierté Montréal and will be returning to POP Montreal for the first time since 2017 this year!
Strange Froots plays Théâtre Fairmount on Friday, September 30th at 9PM.
Strange Froots
Cymande
Active in the 1970s, British group Cymande are revered for their blending of funk, soul, R&B, jazz, rock, African rhythms and West Indian folk. Though they disbanded in 1975 after releasing three albums, their legacy and sound were kept alive through a cult-following and samples from acts like Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul. In the 2010s, the band reunited with a new vision and rekindled excitement from the early years. After touring alongside artists like Al Green, Patti LaBelle, KC and The Sunshine Band and Kool and the Gang, Cymande will now be making a stop at POP Montreal for a show you won’t want to miss.
Cymande plays L’Entrepôt77 on Wednesday, September 28th at 7:30PM.
Cymande
Kamikaze Nurse by Dennis Ha
Kamikaze Nurse
Vancouver rock outfit Kamikaze Nurse’s music has been described as “ethereal skronk,” “Deleuzian rock” and “best of the 90s.” Their melodic, confrontational sound is encapsulated on their sophomore album Stimuloso, which arrived earlier this spring via Mint Records. The album was conceived during the first wave of the pandemic, with each band member self-recording their parts over a six-month period. The result is a flowering wall of noise that combines the group’s interests in poetry, film and literature. Keep a pulse on Kamikaze Nurse’s psychedelic-rock-meets-shoegaze sound with their inaugural POP Montreal performance.
Kamikaze Nurse plays The Diving Bell Social Club Wednesday, September 28th at 8:30PM.
Kamikaze Nurse
Instagram | Bandcamp
POP Montreal
