This May, head to the Queer Tango Festival to perform the only dance that’s hotter than Montreal in the summer. According to the festival organizers, tango traditionally represents “patriarchal views on sexuality and gender relations, where the man is the decision-maker while the woman responds.” Queer Tango challenges this standard by “encouraging a fluid exchange of the leader and follower roles.” In practice, this means you will be free to switch between the roles of leader and follower as you and your partner desire.

This beautiful Argentine dance may take some practice, but don’t worry, workshops and classes are open to all levels. As for the pros out there, day one is improvisation, so get to the evening session and show us how it’s done. Featuring international and local teachers, dancers, and performers, the Festival claims to be a unique combination of Montreal’s “effervescent queer community” and its renowned tango scene. Prices for events start at $10. Locations vary. Check out the Montreal Queer Tango site at queertangomontreal.com for more details.

—Rachel Eban

Summer markets

While many of us have already heard of (if not actually been to) Marché Jean Talon and Atwater market, there are a variety of smaller markets where you can show your support for local growers. Montreal boasts over ten of these smaller markets, scattered across the city, often popping up next to a metro station. You can start by checking out the two local markets closest to McGill.

Santropol Roulant’s market, at the corner of Roy and Coloniale, sells vegetables from its farm and two urban gardens, along with produce from local and organic growers. Low-income market goers can buy a $10 punch card that will get them $20 worth of fruits and vegetables. The Santropol Roulant market runs every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., beginning July 1.

Marché Solidaire Frontenac, a Carrefour alimentaire Centre-Sud (CACS) project situated at 2349 Rouen, brings together members of the community and builds awareness about food justice, environmental politics, and social justice issues. Shop for local fruits and vegetables at this market from July to September.

—Nathalie O’Neill, with files from Reba Wilson

The Plant Summer Workshop series

As young millennials increasingly devote their time and energy to environmental initiatives, projects such as the Plant Summer Workshop series emerge in order to meet the new demand. This year’s workshop series, which seeks to support self-expression in the area of urban agriculture, is bound to draw seasoned urban agriculturalists and newbies alike.

Defined by its quirky, accepting atmosphere, the workshop series’ self-professed goal is “to provide non-judgemental space where people can share skills and learn together.” While specific information on this year’s festival has yet to be released, last year’s festival boasted activities such as a kimchi fermentation workshop and classes on how to make bread and beer. Many non-culinary activities were also offered, such as workshops on zine-making, and perfecting one’s CV in French. Another sub-group of the workshop on the “guerilla gardens” of the Plateau is dedicated to greening the urban spaces of the hip Montreal neighborhood. For unconventional, environmentally-conscious individuals in the city, this workshop series could become your go-to community this summer.

—Lily Chapnik

Shakespeare in the Park

The organizers of the Shakespeare in the Park festival decided to get their creative juices flowing this year, with their new production Harry the King: The Famous Victories of Henry V. Whereas productions in the past have mostly consisted of a Shakespeare play performed in its entirety, this year’s is a hybrid of the Bard’s historical plays Henry IV, parts one and two, and Henry V. A tale of “fighting for what you believe in, despite impossible odds,” according to the festival’s website, the production is the mastermind of Repercussion Theatre, a non-profit organization that has been hosting the festival in parks around the greater Montreal area for 25 years. Like many summer theatre festivals of its kind, the tickets for shows are completely free, but must be obtained in advance. Harry the King runs in parks all over the city from July 4 to August 2.

—Lily Chapnik

KlezKanada

This isn’t your Bubbie’s summer festival! From August 18 to 24, lovers of Eastern European Jewish music, or Klezmer music, will gather at Camp B’nai Brith in the Laurentians for the 18th edition of the annual KlezKanada Laurentian Retreat, a week of music, dancing, and learning. With a huge number of classes in all aspects of Klezmer and Yiddish music offered, as well as theatre, dance, song, and poetry, the seven days of the festival are an invaluable opportunity to learn from the world-renowned experts in the field. The evenings are comprised of performances from some of the world’s preeminent Klezmer musicians, and dance sessions and cabarets which last late into the night.

The festival’s extensive scholarship program ensures that at least half of the participants at the festival are young adults. McGill students can receive credit through the Jewish Studies department by participating in the festival (by registering for JWST 354, the McGill/KlezKanada Course). The fun continues after the week is over with the Montreal Jewish Music Festival, which is sponsored by KlezKanada.

—Lily Chapnik

Suoni Per Il Popolo

If your music taste tends toward the eclectic and experimental, be sure to check out the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival. The Montreal-based non-profit Société des Arts Libres et Actuels (SALA) has organized this three-week concert series to promote experimental and avant-garde music from Canadian and international artists. SALA’s mandate as a non-profit features goals such as introducing “new music to new audiences,” building “links between Montreal artists and the public,” and showcasing “the relationship between music […] and political movements,” all of which is nicely summarized by the English translation of the festival’s name: “sounds for the people.”

Accordingly, Suoni Per Il Popolo will feature musicians from around the world, both newcomers and veterans, in a wide variety of genres and styles. The festival runs from June 4 to 22, beginning at Casa del Popolo with a concert by Americana musicians Richard Bruckner and James Irwin. Other featured concerts include the free jazz group Die Like a Dog Trio (Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, and Hamid Drake); psychedelic, droning electronic duo Fuck Buttons; indietronica band Notwist; ambient pop musician d’Eon; and Syrian dance-pop star Omar Souleyman. Many more acts will be announced as the festival approaches. Tickets, which range from $10 to $28, can be purchased on the festival’s website, or at Atom Heart, Aux 33 tours, Cheap Thrills, L’Oblique, and Phonopolis. For more information, go to suoniperilpopolo.org.

—Timothy Bill

Festival of Anarchy

Montreal’s Festival of Anarchy, a month-long coming-together of politics, art, music, protest, and entertainment, is the largest anarchist event in North America. Organized around the Anarchist Bookfair, which runs from May 25 to 26, the Festival features a huge range of activities, from dance party demonstrations to Montreal bike tours. The events are as cultural as they are political, situating anarchism within Montreal’s art, literature, and music scenes through anarchist art exhibitions, theatre festivals, and cabarets. The politics also tackle a wide range of issues, including decolonization, gentrification, and the Quebec student strike.

For those less familiar with anarchism, the workshop Anarchy 101 will provide basic history and modern movements. The diversity of artistic and political topics also provides many accessible entry-points into the world of anarchism. But if all you want to do is dance, events like Glamarchist Lookfest Queer Dance Party have got you covered. With over 25 events located around Montreal throughout the month of May, the Festival of Anarchy is the perfect way to shake off the school year and the status quo.

—Rosie Long Decter

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Queyras explains how she repeatedly attempted to shut the blog down but, she says, “people kept saying if you shut down there’s not going to be this voice for all these women, and I said yeah but I can’t be the voice for all these women.” The publication does have many female contributors, and one might expect Lemon Hound to be a purely feminist arena, but Queyras is clear that this is not her intention. “They need to get their own blogs, have their own voice. And also I didn’t want it to be a segregated space,” she explains. “The aim is to create a space for really diverse voices and also cross borders. A lot of subscribers are American. [There are] a lot of male subscribers. It’s really international. I’m interested in creating a space where people who wouldn’t normally talk to each other are discussing literature. I’ve got a young working class writer from Vancouver next to Lydia Davis. I love that.”

As poet and contributor Nicholas Papxanthos argues, “There’s certainly that edge to it I think. When you set the foundation with something in such a strong way you have a strong sort of undertone. I think that’s going to resonate throughout but so far as I see it, it’s just about who sends in good work. Of course there are feelings about whether you’re a female contributor or a male contributor but really quality is the concern.” Certainly Lemon Hound seems to have achieved a balance between giving female voices a place to be heard and creating a forum where all are free to speak.

Quality writing and open dialogue are noble aims but breaking down boundaries is a tricky business. The question must be asked, how accessible is Lemon Hound really? Anyone can click the link, anyone can read an article, but can just anyone understand and enjoy this journal’s level of literary analysis? The anniversary attendees included a couple of graduate students, a writer, and a few too many young intellectuals in hipster beanies. With readers like these, and article titles like “Brushing the Silence: The Politics of Urban Articulation in Nicole Brossard’s Notebook of Roses and Civilization,” it seems the range of writers and readers won’t be limited by the simple fact that, without an English Literature degree, this seems to be a difficult conversation to contribute to.

However, the reply from the evening’s readers and contributors was unanimous: there is a place for everyone on Lemon Hound. You don’t need an English Literature degree to enjoy reading poetry. If one piece of criticism proves inaccessible because of its highly academic register, simply look for another. The site is broad and multifaceted. As Queyras puts it, “I think people find their spots. I don’t think I’m writing to a specific audience other than people who are literary. People who are interested in books.”

A visit to Lemon Hound may require sifting through a few posts to find the ones you like, but should prove well worth it. Kathryn Mockler’s essay “On Printing Out the Internet” gives an accessible analysis of how capitalism influences art production and the need to literally “print out the internet,” while Stephen Collis’ “Towards a Dialectical Poetry” breaks down the more complex terminology of poetry analysis before launching into his take on dialectical poetry.

An anniversary is not just a time to look at the past, but also an opportunity to take stock of the present and look to the future. “I’m going to focus on really trying to get the best fiction writing and poetry. I want people to want their first story to appear on Lemon Hound,” says Queyras. Submission is a simple online procedure and every submission is read, every piece of work given a chance. Jamie Lee Kirtz, a poetry editor at the journal, offers this advice to potential contributors, “Don’t be afraid. And also one thing that we always look for is people taking risks and people doing something subversive or something ‘other.’” In short, if your writing seems a bit crazy, for Lemon Hound, it might just be fabulous.

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Jagjaguwar / Paper Bag

With their recently released debut album Perpetual Surrender, Toronto-based band DIANA comes precariously close to being just another synth-pop group.  They manage to save themselves by making it evident that not only do they also want to make people sway and bob their heads (and maybe even dance), they want to make people think.  While parts of the album drag on unnecessarily and sound awfully close to H&M background music, the majority of it demonstrates both the group’s collective talent and broad abilities.

The first track, “Foreign Installation,” starts the album off strongly with a serious question accompanied by hazy synth backing, but goes on too long. As the album progresses, DIANA flirts with a few more upbeat dance tempos, while vocalist Carmen Elle continues to sing about chasing lies and wasting love. The title track best illustrates the band’s talents, with Elle’s voice carrying smoothly over the clean, if slightly over-produced, drum and synth rhythm; the saxophone solo also offers a refreshing change of pace.

The album flows well from song to song, even if some tracks are almost worth skipping or sound too similar to the ones they follow. “Born Again” climaxes into an almost Marina and the Diamonds-like chorus, which DIANA manages to pull off in a way that isn’t too sugary-sweet but instead asks to be sung along or danced to.  The second-to-last song on the album, “New House,” is the most mature, and shows that DIANA shouldn’t be given up on yet. “New House,” would probably have been a better finish to the album than “Curtains.” While Perpetual Surrender may not introduce DIANA into the world as anything fantastically new, it does offer a positive glimpse into what could come from them in the future.

-Lillian King

Caro Emerald – The Shocking Miss Emerald

Grandmono Records and Dramatico

With her breakthrough single “Back it Up” and debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor, Caro Emerald brought listeners a sound that seamlessly merged jazz, pop, and tango. Her second album, The Shocking Miss Emerald, doesn’t deviate from this style, even slightly.

Emerald’s sweet yet husky voice, following a varied, upbeat tempo, combines with masterful backing from her saxophonist to give the album a retro feel that is tinged with nostalgia for a time of Chevy Camaros, martinis, and men who wore hats to work, never ceasing to be light and fun. This is music to relax to, music to dance to, even music to laugh to. There is real humour in her lyrics – “If playing with your string happens to be your thing,” she sings coyly to one gentleman during the hit song “Tangled Up.” Meanwhile, tracks like “Coming Back as A Man” maintain mildly feminist overtones. Here, Emerald describes how she plans to take on a more masculine identity, both by literally cross-dressing and then by reversing the typical romantic roles so that it is she who chooses and ensnares the man for a night of pleasure that he won’t forget. Moments like this bring an intellectual edge to these sweet-sounding tunes.

However, while the music is sexy and slinky, it never strips and scandalizes. Emerald has repeated the formula of her first album without variation. No artist wants to risk a sophomore slump, but by reproducing an already old-fashioned sound, this singer has begun to stagnate. The record has a lot to recommend it. Old fans looking for more of the same won’t be disappointed. Fans of Lana del Rey, Duffy, and Amy Winehouse looking to branch away from mainstream pop are sure to find a new heroine in Emerald. Ultimately though, there is nothing new here. The Shocking Miss Emerald? Not so much. The Consistently Enjoyable but Slightly Tired Miss Emerald seems more apt. Sadly, this doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

-Rachel Eban

Arctic Monkeys – AM

Domino

Our lovely neighbours from across the pond have been providing us with quality alternative music for decades: The Kinks, Radiohead, Bloc Party, and the Libertines, to name a few. Another British export, Arctic Monkeys, recently released their fifth studio album AM.

The album is undoubtedly their most sensual, as frontman Alex Turner croons cleanly and crisply, laying out lyrics like “If you like your coffee hot, let me be your coffee pot” and “There’s a tune I found that makes me think of you somehow, and I play it on repeat,” words that may cause Turner’s fangirls to spontaneously combust when sung over a heavy bassline.

The album begins with the single “Do I Wanna Know?,” a glammy beat-driven alt-rock anthem. Other songs, like “No. 1 Party Anthem” and “I Wanna Be Yours,” have a nostalgic air to them, the kind of sad Elton John song your parents play in the car. Beware: many songs, like “Knee Socks,” score high on the ‘cheesiness scale,’ but are eloquently disguised by Turner’s, as some would call it, ‘cool factor.’

While listening to AM, the growth of the band’s sound is incredibly evident. Gone are the days of the grungy, underground Arctic Monkeys. Their new sound is clean and tight. The boys have traded their long messy hair for coiffed 1960s hairdos, and their jeans have been replaced by fitted suits. AM has a more sterile sound, not necessarily an improvement on their earlier efforts. It’s not impressive, but it’s enjoyable. AM may not be the next OK Computer (Radiohead acclaimed album), but it is good, nonetheless.

-Sonya Peres

Hobo Cubes – Rapid Glow

Jeunesse Cosmique

Hobo Cubes (a.k.a. Montrealer Francesco De Gallo) walks you through the intricacies of the mind in his new tape Rapid Glow. Francesco De Gallo is a serious beast of experimental electronic music. Not only is he the mastermind behind the Hobo Cult cassette label, but he also has an impressive list of bands and collaborations under his belt.

This album is a trip from the beginning. The first track, “Phase Attraction,” transports the listener with arpeggiation that could be straight from an 1980s arcade game. The track to follow, “Subliminality Chamber,” has alien-sounding loops that endlessly rotate, punctuated by twinkling notes; the perfect entrance to such foreign territory. Hobo Cubes forms perfect relationships within Rapid Glow. The track “Infinity Pillow” is the perfect complement to its subsequent track “Therapy Vision.” The former lulls the listener into a comfortable state, mimicking slumber by washing over them with throbbing tones and constant reassuring hums. Towards the end of the track, crisper notes interrupt the sleep, which harmonize well with the alarm-clock-like penetration of “Therapy Vision.”

Rapid Glow is not music to be shared with others. Its dreamy dissolving synths complemented with glitchy ebbing tones seem too personal to share. They are entirely individual. The flowing layers seem to emanate from the listener themselves, while those that pop along the surface feel like curious beeping robots. This album’s minimalistic approach and clean modular tones are tranquil but colourful, never allowing room for boredom. It separates the body from the burden of its surroundings, and plunges it into a relaxing sensory experience.

-Lucy Gripper

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