Your Concordia POP Montreal schedule

Want to know when to catch Concordians at POP? We’ve got you covered.

From Art POP to throat singing, pop punk, hip-hop and magnetic tape loops, this year’s fest features top talent and cool conversation from Concordia’s own.

Want more POP? Check out this year's Concordia POP Mixtape!
 

Wednesday, September 13

A
World premiere film screening
Film POP | 7:30 p.m. | Cinema du Parc

The opening film of this year's Film POP, A, is directed by current Concordia MFA Film Production student Mitchell Stafiej (BFA 13) and features a cast of Canadian music scene stars, including Dirty Beaches’ Alex Zhang Hungtai and frequent POP music fest performers Bernardino Femminielli, Alexis O’Hara and Tasseomancy’s Romy Lightman.

“The film is an atmospheric and non-linear piece about fear, addiction, and creation,” says Stafiej. “Don't expect to leave with a smile on your face, but the happiness comes from making this with some of my closest friends and musicians that I really look up to.”

BONUS PICK: 
Film POP opening night after-party (following the film) | Piccolo Little Burgundy
Featuring Love Theme, Bernardino Femminielli, Petra Glynt and Guizo LaNuit
 

Thursday, September 14

Heathers
with King Woman + Nennen + Tonnes
8:30 p.m. | La Vitrola

Heathers is a critically-acclaimed post-punk grunge noise band featuring guitarist Heather Hardie (BFA 13), bassist and vocalist Helen Chau Bradley and drummer Nikki MacMillan. Their Strange Allies EP was released in 2016; they are currently finishing their next full-length album.

Listen to "The Hydra" by Heathers. 


POP MATTERS at the VAV
Vernissage from 5 to 7 p.m. | VAV Gallery, 1395 René-Levesque W. 

Once again, POP Montreal pairs up with Concordia's student-run art festival Art Matters to offer an Art POP extravaganza! From September 11-15, the VAV Galley will host a playful show of drawings, installations and video works by local artists Paule Gilbert, Sabrina Maisonneuve, Lucas LaRochelle, Hea Kim, Ayse Gauthier, Mel Arsenault and Ben Compton.

Don't miss the fun neo-pop vernissage on Thursday, September 14! 

Learn more about Art Matters. 

Abigail Lapell
with Zoe Sky Jordan + Carla J. Easton + Syngja
8 p.m. | Cagibi

Toronto’s Abigail Lapell (BA 08) draws freely from folk-roots, indie and punk rock traditions. She received the 2016 Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, and NOW Magazine called her an “artist to watch” in 2017. Her sophomore LP, Hide Nor Hair, is out now via Coax Records.

Listen to "Fur and Feathers" by Abigail Lapell. 

Friday, September 15

William Basinski in conversation with Erin Gee
4 p.m. | POP Box (Quartiers POP)

Erin Gee (MFA 14), electroacoustic composer and associate member of Concordia's TAG Research Centre, will lead a conversation with critically-acclaimed composer William Basinski about sound, technology, listening, old media and new media.

"Basinski can be said to engage in questions of how sound can change perception of time and space,” Gee says.

"I'm also curious about the micro level, the geeky questions about his use of obsolete and new technologies.”

Listen to "7 Nights of Unspeakable Truth" by Erin Gee. 

James Irwin
with Vikki Gilmore + Val Thomas + Daniel Isaiah
8 p.m. | Cagibi

James Irwin (BA 05) is “a maker of weird folk songs and prismatic, experimental pop” (Sean Michaels, Globe and Mail). His third album, Shabbytown, was released in May 2017 by Sainte Cécile Records.

Listen to "Blonde Tobacco" by James Irwin.


Narcy
with Swet Shop Boys + Sivani DJ
8 p.m. | Théâtre Fairmount (Salle Shure)

Narcy (formerly The Narcicyst) is Yassin Alsalman (BA 04, MA 07), a Montreal-based hip-hop artist, actor and multimedia producer. He is a founding member of We Are The Medium (WATM), a creative collective dedicated to facilitating "international collaborations amongst thinkers, artists, and brandeurs worldwide." 

Listen to "Saviour Complex" by Narcy. 

The Dears play No Cities Left
8 p.m. | La Tulipe

The Dears are an "orchestral-pop-noir rock romantique group" from Montreal, founded in 1995 by songwriter Murray Lightburn. Natalia Yanchak (BA 00) joined in 1998. They recently released their seventh studio album, Times Infinity Volume Two, via Paper Bag Records. For this year's POP fest, the band will perform their critically-acclaimed record No Cities Left in its entirety, accompanied by the Cosmopolitain City Orchestra.

Watch the music video for "22: The Death of all the Romance" by The Dears.
 

Little Scream
with Royal Canoe + Lydia Képinski
8:30 p.m. | Rialto Hall

Laurel Sprengelmeyer (GrCert 02), is a singer-songwriter and visual artist best known by her stage name, Little Scream. Her debut album, The Golden Record (2011), was lauded by Pitchfork as "a stellar debut...[and] a perfectly mixed bag of graceful folk, coiled pop, and expansive art rock". NPR dubbed it "an absolutely captivating record", including it on their Best Albums of 2011 list, and the New York Times named her one of the best new acts to follow at SXSW. Sprengelmeyer is currently working on her third record, Speed Queen, a chapbook of life on the road called Completely Humourless Tales and Sketches by Little Scream, and a bunch of really sweet oil paintings. 

Watch the music video for "Love as a Weapon" by Little Scream.

Saturday, September 16

Think About Life + Strange Froots
with Ebhoni + Lunice (DJ set)
11 p.m. | Piccolo Little Burgundy

Once described as "nu-psych disco shoobedoo music", much-beloved POP veterans Think About Life reunite one last time for a free concert in celebration of the festival's Sweet 16 anniversary. Drummer Matt Shane (MFA 12), known for his epic painting and installation art practice, will be taking up a full-time teaching position at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design this fall. 

Opening for Think About Life are relative newcomers Strange Froots, an "alternative chill-soul" girl group formed in 2014 at NoBad Sound Studio at Montreal's Maison des Jeunes Côte-des-Neiges. Made up of Concordia students Naïka Champaïgne and Sage Stewart-La Bonte, and Concordia graduate Magassy Mbow (BA 14), Strange Froots are making their way to the forefront of the #BlackGirlMagic movement.

Listen to "Memo (ft. Mello)" by Strange Froots. 

Nancy Pants + Saxsyndrum
with No Aloha Fleece + The Seams + Sportfan + Lemongrab
8 p.m. | L’Escogriffe (Salle Tweed)

Nancy Pants is a self-described “lo-fi, dirty-garage-psychedelic-punk-dream-pop project” featuring Adam Waito (BA 07), Ohara Hale and Jeremy MacCuish. Waito, a graduate of Concordia’s sociology program, is a longtime veteran of POP Montreal, having performed in past years with festival favourites Telefauna, Adam & The Amethysts and Miracle Fortress.

Listen to "PS" by Nancy Pants. 
 

Sharing the stage with Nancy Pants are Saxsyndrum, a Montreal group hailed as "Canada's premiere electronic jazz deconstructionists" by Silent Shout. Frequent performers at SXSW, WayHome and Sled Island, the group features Nick Schofield (BFA 10) on drums and electronics, Dave Switchenko on saxophone and AP Bergeron on vocals. 

Listen to "Up To You" by Saxsyndrum. 
 

GG Love
with These Guy + Hoodlem + Cam MacLean 
9:30 p.m. | Mademoiselle

GG Love is a synth-pop trio comprised of bassist Michael Cota and Concordia students Georgia Graham and James Player on vocals, keyboards and guitar. Their 2015 album Lookin Cool, debuted to critical acclaim, followed by a characteristically playful, tongue-in-cheek video by the band's frequent collaborator Jordan Minkoff. GG Love is currently working on their second album.

Listen to "Solstice" by GG Love. 

Freelove Fenner
with Royal Trux + NOBRO
9 p.m. | Théâtre Fairmount (Salle Shure)

Freelove Fenner is an experimental pop trio featuring Peter Woodford, multi-instrumentalist Caitlin Loney (MA 12) and drummer Michael Wright (BA 11). Loney and Woodford are also the creative force behind The Bottle Garden, a Montreal analog recording studio that has produced albums for renowned acts such as Jef Elise Barbara, Brave Radar and Cheap Wig.

Listen to "Rose Gold Horizon" by Freelove Fenner. 


Pang Attack
with Besnard Lakes
8 p.m. | Ukrainian Federation Hall (Salle Exclaim!)

Dream pop trio Pang Attack makes "fuzzy northern soundscapes for introverted souls" and features Concordia grad Yann Geoffrey (BA 12, MA 15) on drums, Alex Hackett on vocals and guitar, and current MFA student David Clark on keyboards and bass. 

Watch the video for "Mr. Mandible" by Pang Attack. 
 

Sunday, September 17

Nina Segalowitz
with Gary's House + Nêhiyawak + Laps
9 p.m. | Théâtre Fairmount (Salle Shure)

Nina Segalowitz (BA 99) is an internationally-acclaimed, Montreal-based throat singer. Her recent collaborations include performances with local artists Ariane Moffat, Tagralik Partridge and Moe Clark.

All proceeds from her POP Montreal performance will be donated to the Freshet Collective, an organization providing legal support to Indigenous water protectors involved in the protests at Standing Rock in 2016. 

Watch Nina Segalowitz perform with Taqralik Partridge at the Montréal First Peoples Festival in 2012.