Karkwa and Les maisons de la culture

My plans got derailed tonight. I wanted to check out a Quebecois group called Karkwa down at La maison de la culture Maisonneuve, but I couldn't get my hands on tickets. No, they weren't sold out. This is one of the peculiarities of life in Montreal: they have a number of maisons de la culture set up in the different quartiers of the city, established to promote art, music and theatre in the area. Cool idea. Different events are scheduled for the residents of the quartier and, depending on the event, many of these are put on for free! Even cooler, à mon avis. There are some keywords in one of the above sentences that I neglected to take into account when planning my night out. The events are scheduled for residents of the quartier. I'm a resident of Plateau Mont-Royal. So in order for me to go, I would have to take a number. If there were spaces available after a certain cutoff time, then non-residents would be let in.

So why didn't I head down? Well, if past concerts were any indication, there was no way I'd be getting in. I've seen them twice now, once at le Lion d'Or in November of 2004 and this past year at Le Cabaret music hall when they launched their second album. The venues were packed both times. Something about their music seems to really strike a chord with their Quebecois audience. I read some descriptions of the group's style, since I really couldn't categorize it, myself. Apparently they play french-folk-techno-absurdo-jazzy-punk. It may look like a pretty convoluted description, but I'd say it's pretty accurate. I've also heard them described as a Quebecois version of Radiohead-- and not just by francophone fans. As I mentioned earlier, the first time I saw them was at le Lion d'Or in 2004. This was the same weekend that Dré and I came up to see Cagibi during Coup de Coeur Francophone. We had already been out drinking for a few hours before I called up Fred and Raphael (2 de mes animateurs de Trois-Pistoles) to see if anything cool was going on in Montreal on a Thursday night. Raph recommended hitting the show, so we did. We were the only 2 anglophones in the entire bar, no doubt about that. And even though we had no clue what they were singing, both Dré and I were impressed. In fact, one of the first things Dré said about them was, "Dude, they're like a Quebecois version of Radiohead!"

So there you have it. I won't pretend to be familiar with Radiohead, but if they're anything like Karkwa, I'd probably like them. Whether you speak french or not, check out the website. They've got an audio clip on the main page that'll give you a better idea of their sound. There's really no way I can do justice to either their music or their stage show. Both have to be experienced. I'll have to keep my eyes open for future shows, but in the meantime, at least I've got the CDs.