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POP Goes the City!Music festivals generally involve weekends

spent in barren fields, the intoxicating discomfort

of camping, thousands of people drenched in

their own (and other people’s) sweat—and that’s

not counting the unavoidable port-a-potty

situation.

Luckily, POP Montreal lets you experience all

the music and arts without any of the foul smells

or setbacks of a traditional festival. So skip your

classes (they won’t miss you) and call in sick to

work (they might).

Go to symposiums. Shop for vintage clothes

and handmade crafts. Take in a charity celebrity

basketball game. Sit in for a film, or wander

through an art exhibit.

Oh, yeah, and did we mention there are

concerts, too?

Whether you’re in it for Grimes and Lil B, or

you want to discover the next big thing by sitting

through every opening act you can, POP

Montreal has the show for you.

Pre-drink, get your tickets early, hit up four

different venues a night, and mingle with

strangers. It’ll be worth it, I guarantee.

—Katie McGroarty, Fringe Arts Editor

-Introduction-POP Picks: The Link’s Editors PickTheir Must-Sees

-The Evolution of a Festival: A DecadeLater, POP Montreal Is Still Surprising

-A Disregard for Convention: Deer-hoof Goes Pop, But Stays Weird- QR Code for Amourous Feelings:Cinéma L’Amour Goes Loopy forMontreal (Web Exclusive)

-Shooting for The Suburbs: Artists Re-veal Process Behind Arcade Fire AlbumCover-POP Predictions: At POP Montreal,Chances Are…

-Creatively Depicting the CreativeProcess: Director Discusses Making ofAndrew Bird: Fever Year -It Smells Like Organic Samosas inHere: Free Stuff at POP Montreal

-Wading Through the Noise: HolyFuck’s Brian Borcherdt Gets Dusty withNew Project

-POP Map: Where’s the Action At?

POP Picks The Link’s Editors Pick Their Must-Sees

You’ll Dance to Anything

I’m into the idea behind You’ll Dance to Anything. Whatmakes an object resonate? What makes it unique? For thoseskeptics that enjoy seeing everyday objects as intrinsicallysymbolized by their cultural environment, You’ll Dance toAnything will help you assign new meanings to what weoften take for granted.

—Paku Daoust-Cloutier,Graphics Editor

You’ll Dance to Anything / Quartier POP (3550St. Urbain) / Sept. 19 to 23 / 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Yukon Blonde

Yukon Blonde is from Kelowna, BC, a sort of un-cool town in Western Canada. I’m from a nearby un-cool town (Surrey, BC) with a lot more meth usersper capita (so clearly I’m the authority on this).They’re garage-y and northwestern (Yukon Blonde,not the meth users) and kind of like if every bandfrom Seattle went camping a few more times a yearand smoked 10 per cent more pot. Go see them.

—Katie McGroarty,Fringe Arts Editor

Yukon Blonde + Elephant Stone + Cobra& Vulture + Bredrins / Sept. 19 / Divan Or-ange (4234 St. Laurent Blvd.) / 8:30 p.m.

METZ

If you’re looking for dirty, sweaty punk ‘n’ roll, then youbetter be at the METZ show.

Catch them at POP’s converted community centre venueon Rachel at St. Urbain and get your dose of loud, aggressivemusic to offset all the spacey, synthy stuff you’re bound tohear at POP this year.

—Colin Harris,Coordinating Editor

METZ / Mission Santa Cruz (60 Rachel St. W.) /Sept. 20 / 11:00 p.m.

Peaches DJ Extravaganza

The Peaches DJ Extravaganza promises to getyou balls-deep in some frighteningly sexual elec-tronic beats. The show promises copiousamounts of glitter and sweat, so you’ll most likelybe taking a not-so-environmentally-friendlynumber of post-extravaganza showers. If you’rea fan of fucking the pain away then this is thePOP event that will surely get your body shak-ing.

—Hilary Sinclair,Managing Editor

Peaches DJ Extravaganza + Venus X +The World Provider / Église POP LittleBurgundy (5035 St. Dominique) / Sept.20 / 11:30 p.m.

Computer Magic

Computer Magic has got some great upbeat songs. Too badshe’s playing on the same day as multiple birthday parties atmy apartment. So Danielle, if you wanna join us after yourshow, call me at The Link offices! I feel like we have a lot ofthings in common, like space, gin and liking your music.

—Clément Liu,Creative Director

NOIA + Computer Magic + Beach Day + Maji-cal Cloudz / Sept. 21 / Rodos en Haut (5581 ParcAve.) / 9:00 p.m.

Lil B

At some point The New Yorker, and The New YorkTimes decided Lil B’s rap—which usually features abra-sive beats and intermittent calls of “Swag!” or“Whoop!”—was some kind of transcendent beat-poet-esque genius. Even if you’re uncertain about the meritof verses like “Put me on the couches/Interview my girl-friend/Swag, swag, swag, swag/Brang-dang-dang yourgirlfriend,” his show is sure to be a bass-driven romp thelikes of which you have never experienced.

—Sam Slotnick, Community Editor

Lil B + Lunice + Cadence Weapon (DJ Set)/ Sept. 21 / Club Soda (1225 St. Laurent Blvd.)/ 9:00 p.m.

Shut Up and Eat Your Ballads

How does an evening of Tom Waits reimagin-ings recorded live to tape through the same consolethat recorded the legendary sounds of Led Zep-pelin’s “Kashmir” sound? Leif Vollebekk and hisfantastic friends wanna pull on your coat with thisintimate, one-of-a-kind performance. So grab adrink and saunter north of the railroad tracks Sat-urday night for what’s bound to be one hell of ashow.

—Corey Pool,News Editor

Shut Up and Eat Your Ballads: LeifVollebekk & Friends / Sept. 22 / Break-glass Studios (7250 Clark St.) / 10:00 p.m.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan:Opera 33

Concordia art grads turned mu-sicians created this send-up of clubculture, mixing no wave withJapanese opera. Inspired by surre-

alist performance art and spectacle,the media experiment revolvesaround warring drag queens. Thestage is set with them lip-synchingto the live music by YT//ST. Therock opera promises to be absur-dist and macabre at the same time.

—Elysha del Giusto-Enos,Fringe Online Editor

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan:Opera 33 / Sept. 21 / RialtoTheatre (5723 Parc Ave.) / 9:00p.m.

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ELYSHA DEL GIUSTO-ENOS, @ELYSHAENOS

Opera. Educational sympo-siums. R. Kelly covers. Even asporting event.

If there’s one umbrella underwhich these disparate activities canoccur, it’s POP Montreal’s. Now inits 11th year, the group of friendswho started POP in 2002 has seenit evolve into a year-round opera-tion that extends far beyond theweek of concerts in late Septemberthat it used to be.

“Our festival is more integratedinto the rest of the city,”said Dan Seligman, POP Montreal’screative director. “We try to dis-cover these old gems, venue-wise.Like, we have some church base-ments and old community halls.”

With the newly built Quartierdes Spectacles, Montreal’s valua-tion of itself as a festival hub is lit-erally set in stone. For POP, part ofits appeal is that it doesn’t takeplace in the centre of the city likeother festivals.

“The spirit of the festival is discovery,” said Seligman. “It’squirkier, more about young emerg-ing bands that are at the beginningof their careers. So our venues—Casa del Popolo, Barfly, Divan Or-ange, Les 3 Minots—are small, 50to 100 people.

“So it’s a much different way toexperience music. And because wehave 40 or 50 venues, it’s aboutgoing to different venues and mov-ing around. You can’t really stay inone place.”

POP venues are mainly in thePlateau and Mile End, but they alsoextend to Rosemont, Parc Ex, the

Village and even all the way to theConcordia ghetto.

The community aspect of thefestival doesn’t just apply to its ven-ues, it’s also partly how the organ-izers coordinate the lineup. Peoplethey’ve worked with before, friendsof the festival and the musical tastesof the team help dictate the lineup.

“[We] used to draw posters forPOP and also put the posters up,”said Alaska B from first-time POP-ers Yamantaka // Sonic Titan. “Sowe’ve all kind of known each otherfor a while.”

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan willbe performing Opera 33 at POP—arock opera about warring dragqueens. They’re based in Montrealand Toronto, and have been per-forming in the city for five years.

The term “Noh Wave”—a port-manteau of no wave and Noh, aJapanese form of opera—helps thegroup of interdisciplinary artistsbreak away from expectations.

“We’re using synchronized light-ing that we built ourselves. Kind ofa new media experiment. Com-bined with synced video.”

Aside from concerts, POP has afull roster of music- and art-relatedevents. One of the standouts isDavid Byrne and Win Butler of Ar-cade Fire discussing Byrne’s newbook in the context of their own ex-periences with music.

The event is one of POP Mon-treal’s symposiums, which was or-ganized thanks to personalconnections and happy coinci-dences. The “How Music Works”symposium is being presented byLibrairie Drawn & Quarterly at theUkrainian Federation.

“David Byrne’s schedule just

seemed to line up perfectly with ourfestival,” Seligman said. “He was re-leasing a book [...] and because hehas a relationship with Win, weasked Win if he wanted to do theconference and he agreed.”

This year’s schedule is a paper-back book that looks like a novella,so deciding what to see may be achallenge. Seligman said it could befrustrating—and a bit overwhelm-ing—but he has his highlights.Among them is a night of R. Kellycovers, starring former AmericanIdol contestant Jacob Lusk, calledJacob Lusk & The R. Kelly All-Stars.

“[It’s a] guilty pleasure; I’m afan of American Idol and I love R.Kelly,” he admitted.

Over the past decade, the festi-val has grown to the point that it includes a film showcase, the localartisan fair Puces POP, the sympo-sium series, an art showcase, a KidsPOP segment and even a basketballgame between POP musicians andball players from Concordia andMcGill. (Unsurprisingly, the verytall Win Butler is on team POP.)

Seligman said the POP sprawlall evolved organically.

“We did it because we thought itwould be fun, it would be a chal-lenge and we love music. It devel-oped out of that initial interest.We’ve become more organized,hopefully learned from our mis-takes and grown, have bigger staff,and pay people now.

“But every year it’s a processwhere we do everything we can tomake things happen. Then whenthe festival is done we think aboutwhat we can do to move forwardthe following year.”

Over a Decade Later, POP Montreal is Still Making Headlines

The Evolution of a Festival

Scan to view our interview with POPMontreal Co-Founder& Creative DirectorDan Seligman

4

HILARY SINCLAIR

@HILARYSINCLAIR

In 2011, the Arcade Fire’s thirdLP, The Suburbs, won Album of theYear. Three times.

Picking up a Grammy Award, aJuno Award and the Polaris Prize,The Suburbs cemented its status asa classic of modern rock. The musicon the album wasn’t the only thingworth paying attention to, however.

The cover art, which depicts theimage of a city suburb as seenthrough a grainy windshield, isabout to get some love of its own.This weekend, fans can see the evo-lution of the album’s artwork at theArt POP exhibit The Art of The Sub-urbs.

Artists Caroline Robert, VincentMorisset and Gabriel Jones have

put together an exhibition ofsketches, images and inspirationsfrom the band that set the visualtone for the album.

“[The Arcade Fire] are reallygood curators, in a way, becausethey leave enough room for us tokind of evolve, experiment andwork, but at the same time theyhave the idea of what they want,”said Morisset.

A self-described “web-friendlydirector,” Morisset is the man be-hind the interactive videos for2007’s “Neon Bible” and The Sub-urbs’ “Sprawl II (Mountains Be-yond Mountains).”

The spectrum of multimediacontent created for the latest albumgives audiences the tools to fullysubmerge into the feeling of comingof age in the urban sprawl. From

m4a tracks with individual imagerythat links to things like a NeilYoung riff that inspired the band,the exhibit is yet another entry intothe music.

“[Win Butler] grew up in theHouston suburbs—he and hisbrother—and Régine grew up inLongueuil, so they all grew up in thesuburbs,” said Grammy Award-winning designer Robert.

“Win wanted to do some sortkind of time-lapse from Longueuilto Houston driving a car and justtaking pictures from the wind-shield, using those pictures to cre-ate a lot of different covers. It wasthe first idea, and this idea was re-ally interesting, but we had to focusthis idea more realistically.”

The idea of having multiple covers stuck as the imagery started

to take shape, however. “One of the first things that Win

told us about this album was thathe was singing it a bit like thesoundtrack of a film that doesn’texist. So graphically, we kind ofkept that notion of the font workand the series of backdrops to-gether to create this sequence ofsettings. There’s something cine-matic about it.”

Morisset and Robert did count-less tests to achieve that cinematicquality. Setting up at Morisset’smother’s place in Châteauguay, QC,the duo put the projector on top ofher car and tried out different com-positions of the shot. When theideas became fully-fledged, Moris-set teamed up with Jones, a cele-brated photographer, and took tothe ‘burbs.

“Gabriel and I went to thestreets of the Houston suburbs andwe just took a bunch of images… We brought those images back to Montreal and set it up again with the screen and the car,” saidMorisset.

Despite being an online contentpioneer, Morisset said that the ex-hibit is something worth seeing inperson.

“It’s physical artifact,” he said.“This has never been shown and Idon’t think it will ever be online ei-ther. There’s a beauty in that.”

The Art of The Suburbs /Sept. 21 to Sept. 23 / NomadIndustries (129 Van HorneAve.) / 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.Vernissage / Sept. 20 / 6:00 p.m.to 9:00 p.m.

Shooting for The Suburbs

Artists Reveal Process Behind Arcade Fire Album Cover

At POP Montreal, Chances Are...You will decide to getyour septum, lip or thatweird place between yourtwo eyes pierced in themidst of a drunken haze.

HIGH LOW

You will see Win Butler of the Arcade Fire (and probably

say something dumb to embarrass yourself).

You will puke ina bathroom thatyou don’t want tobe puking in.

Unsolicited butt-touching.

You will find a cre-ative way to hideyour liquor. (Hint:bras & waist-bands.)

You will get schooled inthe teaches of Peaches—and get your dixshakin’.

Solicited butt-touching.

Danielle Johnson of Com-puter Magic and The LinkCreative Director ClémentLiu will hug at Clem’s birth-day party.

You will adamantlyinsist you are not ahipster—while wear-ing your grandfa-ther’s Rotary Clubt-shirt from 1972.

Win Butler willchoose appropriatefootwear for thePOP vs. Jock b-ballgame, thereby nottwisting his ankle.

PHOTO COURTESY CAROLINE ROBERT

5

NICK LAUGHER,@LARGIANTRIBUNE

No one ever expected Deerhoof to re-lease a pop album.

Granted, Breakup Song is bizarre,acid-mambo, glitch-driven pop music,but it’s still pop music.

After all, this is the band who once—allegedly—practiced in a kitchen drum-ming with chopsticks, singing throughWalkman headphones and playing guitarthrough a fuzz pedal encased in papiermaché. Why encase the pedal in papiermaché, you may ask? Why the hell not?

It’s that reckless abandon that has al-ways defined the Deerhoof sound, andcontinues to do so on what is one of thecatchiest and weirdest selections of songsthe eclectic ensemble has ever committedto record.

But why the paradigm shift to preco-cious, pretty pop music after an almosttwo-decade career of squelching noiserock?

“Lately, we’ve all been hanging outwith a lot of accessible and poppy peo-ple,” admits guitarist Ed Rodriguez aboutthe album. I sense that he may not befully serious.

“We really wanted to have fun and putsomething out there to help other peopleenjoy themselves as well. We figured outthe best way to have a great time wouldbe to write an incredible album and getreally famous and popular.

“Then we could help other people havefun by buying rounds of drinks from ourmassive royalty cheques,” he says, ever soglibly.

It’s things like Rodriguez’s blatant disregard for convention and his brutallydry sarcasm that make Deerhoof thevolatile bundle of uncertainty and in-

scrutability that they are. Continuing with the band’s mantra of

meticulously self-producing their own al-bums, Breakup Song is laden with down-trodden mambo and glossed-up glitchyhooks. There’s an unsettling restlessnessin the swarms of slimy latin grooves andbit-crushed bossa-nova shuffles, a hiddenagenda of subversion in the mounds ofmarshmallow pop.

It’s those miniscule details that makea Deerhoof record what it is, and that’ssomething Rodriguez thinks workingwith a producer might compromise.

“We had approached Phil Spector, buthe stabbed me in the neck,” he says, ref-erencing the legendary incarcerated pro-ducer who invent the ‘Wall of Sound’technique.

“After I got out of the hospital we re-alized no one will really spend as muchtime agonizing about the details as wewill. Although Spector does have a lot oftime on his hands now.”

Though notoriously sassy and sarcas-tic, the man has a point. Rodriguez’smanner speaks volumes for the kind ofband that Deerhoof are.

They’re not gunning for a certain aes-thetic, and they’re not fine-tuning theirsound to fit zeitgeist-ian expectations,they’re just a bunch of highly eccentricpeople making supremely challengingand influential music.

“It’s purely our personal desires tostay interested and excited, and get bet-ter, that’s how we can keep going and beso into it,” says Rodriguez.

“The pressure from outside is usuallynot to be more creative but to stop ex-ploring,” he clarifies.

“So many reviewers look back to arecord they love and see us changing as abad move. Too many ideas in one album

or song. What’s purely natural for ussometimes comes across as crazy to oth-ers and they can’t imagine that we aren’ttrying to be weird/confrontational/reac-tionary/controversial.

“We’re always just us. Love it or hateit, that’s how it’s going to be.”

Keep in mind, this album is followinga severely wacky and spaced-out noise-rock opus, 2010’s Deerhoof vs. Evil, aswell as a series of seven-inches where theband collaborated with different singersperforming renditions of the songs fromthe album, including producer/rapperBusdriver.

“That series actually came about by ahappy accident,” says Rodriguez.

“Busdriver was going to work on a newunreleased Deerhoof track and [drum-mer] Greg Saunier accidentally sent aninstrumental version of a song off thenew album instead. Busdriver went towork and it ended up being really great,so that planted the idea to ask others todo the same thing.”

While churning out consciousness-contorting albums may be second natureto the group, they’re still relying on theuncertainty and, at some points, thesheer insanity of live performances tokeep the band challenged and novel.

“We’re pretty aware of what we’reeach good at and what’s possible, sothat’s ingrained when we write a song,”he says.

“But live is the Deerhoof experiencetaken up a notch, to the last notch of yournotches. Splashes of sweat. Feelings offloating. Uncontrollable smiling and col-lective joy. Lots of camera phone flashes.”

Deerhoof / Sept. 19 / Cabaret duMile End – Salle Ubisoft (5240 ParcAve.) / $20.00 / 8:00 p.m.

What’s purely natural forus sometimes comes acrossas crazy to others and theycan’t imagine that wearen’t trying to beweird/confrontational/reactionary/controversial.We’re always just us. Loveit or hate it, that’s how it’sgoing to be.”

—Deerhoof Guitarist Ed Rodriguez

A Disregard for Convention

Deerhoof Goes Pop, But Stays Weird

Cinéma L’Amour is a local two-piece that specializes in modulatingrhythms and layering guitar loops.Named after the iconic Mile Endporn theatre, Cinéma L’Amour willbe playing Brasserie Beaubien Sept.27 at 10:00 p.m. Want to find outmore about these eclectic experimen-talists? Head to our website or scanthe QR code!

Cinéma L’AmourGoes Loopy forMontreal

6

REBECCA UGOLINI,@REBECCAUGOLINI

What’s more discouragingthan starting the back-to-schoolseason by peering into your walletand sighing in despair? After asummer of concerts and festivals,it seems unreal to balance tuitionfees, textbook prices, food andrent all over again.

The weather is still nice, andthere’s tons of fun around the cityjust begging to be had, so what’sa financially-challenged arts loverto do? POP has the answer withits diverse program of free activi-ties ranging from arts fairs to in-stallations.

There’s enough variety to keepanyone from spending too muchquality time with their textbooksthis month, so check out just afew suggestions below.

PUCES POPBuyers beware—this isn’t your

grandmother’s craft fair. Puces

POP attracts the most creativecrafters and craftiest creators,artists and artisans from Mon-treal and across Canada for onebig arts bazaar love-in.

Puces POP Director TessaSmith said the festival has blos-somed since its debut in 2004,and now takes place three times ayear and receives up to four timesits capacity in vendor applica-tions.

“It’s become a little hub forhand-made stuff in Montreal, inQuebec and really acrossCanada,” Smith said. “It collectsso many different types of mediain one place. You can see crochetheadbands next to hand-madedoughnuts, next to really high-quality leather goods.”

Puces—which means “fleas” inFrench, i.e. flea market—has got something for everybudget, and features several freeevents, such as a Record Fair, aFashion POP design contest foremerging designers, a Vintage

POP bazaar, and a Lil’ Biz busi-ness seminar aimed at independ-ent creators.

So, this fall ditch the mall, theinflated price tags and the op-pressive big-retail atmosphere.Instead, go for something both af-fordable and uniquely Montreal.

Puces POP / St. Michael’sChurch (105 St. Viateur St.W.) / Sept. 22 to Sept. 23 /11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

POP SYMPOSIUMIf re-conditioning yourself to

sitting in a lecture hall has gotyou down, the words ‘public sym-posium’ probably won’t free asso-ciate with ‘fun’ or ‘exciting.’

That’s where POP symposiumcomes in.

It’s a series of music-orientedtalks that run the gamut fromartist discussions to DIY confer-ences geared to indie artists. Withguests ranging from Venus X to

Bertrand Burgalat and titles likeTango on the Asphalt: A Work-shop on Reimagining GypsyMusic With Fanfare Ciocarlia,POP Symposium has somethingfor everyone—for free!

Bye-Bye Boss! Bye-Bye Boss! is one of several

Symposium talks which helps in-dependent musicians navigatethe world of self-promotion, salesand making a living off music.

The free event presented byPOP Symposium, Society of Com-posers, Authors and Music Pub-lishers of Canada and the Futureof Music Coalition will featureguests like Chris Kaskie of thePitchfork Music Festival andKerri Cockrill, director of brandentertainment at Research in Mo-tion.

Symposium co-coordinatorJared Leon said that, given Mon-treal’s great independent musicscene, artist-driven programmingwas a guiding idea behind the

Symposium and conferences likeBye-Bye Boss!

“When setting down the pro-gramming, I was thinking aboutwhat sorts of conversationsneeded to happen, but also whichconversations would benefit anindependent artist,” said Leon.

Bye-Bye Boss! / Sept. 20 /Quartiers Pop (3450 St. Ur-bain St.) / 3:00 p.m.

MMF Keynote: JeannetteLee in Conversation withVivien Goldman

U.K. punk pioneer JeannetteLee and journalist Vivien Gold-man come together to present asymposium on music and life, aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunityfor fans of punk music, musicjournalism and the history ofwomen in music.

MMF Keynote / Sept. 22 /Quartiers Pop (3450 St. Ur-bain St.) / 4:15 p.m.

It Smells Like Organic Samosas in HereFree Stuff at POP Montreal

MEGAN DOLSKI,@MEGANDOLSKI

Think about the hardest year inyour life, professionally, physicallyand personally. Think about what itwould be like if someone made amovie about that year.

Now, imagine that the subject ofthat movie is your long-time friend,and that you are the director. MeetXan Aranda: that’s her. AndrewBird is that friend, and Fever Yearis that film.

Aranda is a consultant, directorand producer affiliated with Karte-quin Films, born and raised inChicago. Bird is a multi-instrumen-talist and singer, hailing from thesame area, known for the multi-track looping technique he usesduring his solo live shows.

Fever Year is Aranda’s award-winning directorial debut, a docu-mentary picture that offers theviewer a peek into Bird’s creativeprocess shot at the height one of the

most difficult years of his life. Aranda explained that both her

friendship and previous collabora-tive experiences with Bird equippedher with an insight and understand-ing of his unique creative process.“He just wasn’t comfortable withother people,” she explained.

“You know when really well-in-tentioned people try to put you inclothes that just don’t work for you?It’s kind of like that.”

Before Fever Year, Bird andAranda had previously collaboratedon both music videos and live showcaptures.

When Bird requested Arandamake a feature film about him in2009, she initially said no—but abike ride home that flooded herthoughts with long-brewing ideasmade her reconsider, realizing she’dhad a mental image of what a fea-ture film about her friend bothshould and shouldn’t be.

The two then had a discussionabout their individual visions for the

project, and decided to give it a shot. Aranda said she knew from the

get-go that making a conventionaldocumentary wouldn’t be fitting forBird’s music or personality. “I reallydidn’t want to create something thatwas statistics-driven,” she said.

“I didn’t want to just cover the‘Where were you born?,’ ‘When didyou first pick up a violin?’ kind offacts— you can see the film and geton his Wikipedia page if you want toknow that stuff, but I didn’t want todraw you a map.”

The film features interviews aswell as ten songs performed live,narrowed down from 36 songs shotover two days at shows played at thePabst Theatre in Milwaukee. It fea-tures collaborations with Min-neapolis-based musicians MartinDosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker andMichael Lewis, as well as AnnieClark, aka St. Vincent.

While having an intimate rela-tionship with the subject of the doc-umentary you are shooting has its

pros, it also has its cons, on both atechnical and personal level.

“It was challenging because An-drew and I have sort of have thisshort-hand between us that doesn’treally serve an audience really well,”said Aranda, explaining that the twooften struggled with finding ways tore-visit and re-tell experiences theywere both familiar with.

Additionally, the two struggledwith finding and agreeing upon theappropriate level of privacy and in-timacy. “We needed to get to thislevel of formality that helped theviewer,” Aranda explained.

Beyond that, there comes thechallenge of capturing the reality ofa friend struggling, and in Bird’scase, being that friend. Bird, havingcomplete ownership of the film,shut the entire project down for fourmonths after receiving the final cutfor approval.

“I’m not really sure what hap-pened, but I think he was really sur-prised because there were some

things in his life that were really realand really large and now were onrecord,” Aranda said. “I think it wasjust too much, so he panicked.”

The two came to an agreementthat the film be released exclusivelyon the festival circuit—includingmaking an appearance at the NewYork Film Festival, and a slew ofothers this fall.

Fever Year is not set to ever bereleased on DVD, but will be re-leased into the living rooms of 25groups who support Aranda’s up-coming work Mormon Movie onKickstarter by Sept. 28.

“I hope people will make an ef-fort to see it on the big screen, withgood sound and good visuals,”Aranda said. “Showing up is a bigdeal.”

Andrew Bird: Fever Year /Sept. 19 / Film BOX(Quartiers POP – 3450 St.Urbain St., 3rd Floor)/ 9:00p.m.

Creatively Depicting theCreative Process

Director Discusses Making of Andrew Bird: Fever Year

7

COLIN HARRIS

@COLINNHARRIS

There’s a certain restless qual-ity to Brian Borcherdt’s workethic. From co-founding Halifaxlabel Dependent Music to hisconstant work in his band HolyFuck and several other musicalprojects, the prospect of startinganother touring band may seemoverly ambitious. But forBorcherdt, it’s business as usual.

He’ll be bringing his fuzz-laden two-piece Dusted to POPMontreal this year, a festivalwhere Holy Fuck got their start.A middle ground between hishometown in Nova Scotia and hisbase of operations in Toronto,Montreal has seen Borcherdt’ssolo work more often than most.

Now teamed up with drum-mer/producer Leon Taheny, hisformerly acoustic songs take up atruly “dusty” quality, vocalspushed through a little Marshallamplifier. Minimal percussionand murky guitar make this aproject light years away from theelectronic intensity of Holy Fuck.

“I like the idea of a recordingexperiment, that’s how a lot of

things can begin. But I don’tthink I’d ever be satisfied withsomething I’m doing only beinga recording experiment,” saidBorcherdt.

“I’m a social person, I like totour and be on stage, I’m the typeof person that when I watch myfriend’s band I get excited be-cause I can’t wait to share thestage with them.”

The band’s debut LP TotalDust was released in July, butwith the two members havingmultiple projects on the go, thetracks had been shelved for overa year.

“When I’m working on musicI’m building all this imagery inmind, I’m living and breathingit,” said Borcherdt. “But by thetime [Total Dust] came out, I wasalready thinking about some-thing else.”

“I have to re-conjure the wayI was absorbed in something.”

But it was probably for thebest, because when the tracks onTotal Dust were finished,Borcherdt felt he didn’t have ahome for them. Waiting a yearallowed for all the logistical com-ponents to come together.

“We put the band together,found time in our lives to actuallyrelease it, rehearsed, got a label,manager, booking agent, tookthe time necessary to buildeverything you need,” saidBorcherdt.

“Because you can release arecord that you really believe inand you can put it out there, butif nobody listens to it, what’s thepoint?”

The record is made for closelistening in good headphones,steeped in a “cinematic drama”that Borcherdt feels is best left onthe album. Live, their sound istranslated into something a littlebigger, and a little more fun.

Taheny lays down bass synthwith one hand while drummingwith his other limbs, filling outthe space left by the guitar andvocals.

It’s a take on Borcherdt’s solowork that he’s much more com-fortable playing live.

“There have been a handful oftimes where I’ve gotten up andplayed in front of people as a soloartist, but there has been veryfew tours when I pack the stationwagon, kiss my wife goodbye and

go out on the road for threemonths like a travelling sales-man bringing my little suitcase ofcassette tapes to the world,” saidBorcherdt.

“And one of the reasons Ihaven’t really done that is be-cause I’d probably find thatpretty boring.”

And while for most of his ca-reer his work has been catego-rized under Holy Fuck oreverything else, Borcherdtdoesn’t feel either can sum himup musically. If anything cap-tures that today, it’s LIDS, anoisy, guitar-driven band that hestarted with The Constantines’Doug MacGregor and Alex Ed-kins from METZ.

“I don’t think any one [of myprojects] is getting to the core ofwhat I’m about, in the meantimethey’re just creative outlets, notgetting the whole picture,” saidBorcherdt. “But I feel like I’mgetting there, it’s taken a long,long time.”

Dusted / Sept. 20 / CFC(6388 St. Hubert St.) / Doorsat 9:00 p.m., Dusted at 1:00a.m.

Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt Gets Dusty with New Project

Wading Through the Noise

“There have beenvery few tourswhen I pack thestation wagon, kissmy wife goodbyeand go out on theroad for threemonths like atravelling salesmanbringing my littlesuitcase of cassettetapes to the world.And one of thereasons I haven’tdone that isbecause I’d find itpretty boring.”

—Holy Fuck & Dusted Multi-Instrumentalist Brian

Borcherdt

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PLink Picks

Metro Stations

POPular Venues

1. Quartier POP (3550 St. Urbain)

2. Divan Orange (4234 St. Laurent Blvd.)

3. Nomad Industries (129 Van Horne Ave.)

4. Mission Santa Cruz (60 Rachel St. W.)

5. Église POP Little Burgundy (5035 St. Dominique)

6. Rodos en Haut (5581 Park Ave.)

7. Club Soda (1225 St. Laurent Blvd.)

8. Rialto Theatre (5723 Park Ave.)

9. Breakglass Studios (7250 Clark St.)

10. L’Olympia (1004 Ste. Catherine St. E.)

11. Église St-Michel (105 St, Viateur St.)

From north to south:

Station De Castelnau

Station Jean-Talon

Station Beaubien

Station Rosemont

Station Laurier

Station Mont Royal

Station Sherbrooke

1. Cabaret du Mile End (5240 Park Ave.)

2. Casa Del Popolo (4873 St. Laurent Blvd.)

3. Sala Rosa (4848 St. Laurent Blvd.)

4. Barfly (4062 St. Laurent Blvd.)

5. Ukrainian Federation (5213 Hutchison St.)

6. Royal Phoenix (5788 St. Laurent Blvd.)

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Find our interactive map in The Link picksarticle at thelinknewspaper.ca