In some circles, Pop Montreal is the Superbowl, the World Series and the Special Olympics of music festivals all rolled into one. The climax of the cultural calendar, coming in just after the kids have settled into their school year. Blow off those midterms baby, we’ve got a five-day bender lined-up for you.

Covering the illustrious and the obscure, Pop Montreal aligns itself nicely with the Square Quotes mandate. Evidenced so clearly in the nepotistic, depotistic, masochistic and narcissistic conversation we had with festival founder Dan Seligman and his protege Andrew Rose. Andrew is also half the brains behind Secret City Records, known for providing ample musical fodder for the Polaris Prize.

Continuing with this theme of incestuous back-patting, we also sat down with Parlovr, an up-and-coming local act turning the heads of 8-year-old girls and 89-year-old men alike. Parlovr recorded their debut full-length here, at Digital Bird Studios, under the tutelage of the increasingly Phil Spector-like Martin Horn.

Jay Watts III got on the phone with David Feinberg, a filmmaker who shot out of the gates with some in-the-line-of-fire documentaries he did with Vice magazine’s broadband channel, VBS.  I spoke to him late.  Jay spoke to him last month about his experiences filming “Toxic Linfen“, a 6 piece series documenting a week that he and the VBS crew spent in Linfen, China: a coal industry town in Shanxi province that used to be known in typically hyperbolic Chinese phrasing as “The Modern Fruit & Flower Town,” but is now so polluted that it could yellow Donnie & Marie Osmond’s smiles in under a minute, and bears the dubious title of “The Most Polluted City in The World.”

As always, there’s music - sweet, blessed, beautiful music!  Rita Lee’s Agora e Moda, Yoko Ono’s Uh Oh, Parlovr’s On The Phone and Vetiver’s Houses.

Also, for those in Montreal, Square Quotes will be hosting a DJ night and episode launch party at Korova, 3908 St. Laurent.

 

 Square Quotes Episode 9: Tales Out of School [81:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

All right, full disclosure here. This was a commissioned piece. The lovely folks behind the Osheaga Music and Arts festival liked Square Quotes so much they decided to buy a little Square Quotes island of their own. Interviewees include Mike Watt of Iggy and the Stooges (pre-robbery), CSS, Duchess Says and Plants and Animals, among others.

Click here to listen.

On this episode we don our anoraks and journey through the looking glass of independent music and race politics! During the production of this episode, our producer Ali Rahman lost his apartment in an explosion, which lit a fire under our asses to finish the damn thing.

Founding member of The Dears Murray Lightburn, who’s been navigating the orchestral pop minefield for the past 13 years, stops by the studio to talk about the Dears‘ latest album Missiles, and how it was recorded by him and Nathalia Yanchak, the only members remaining from the original lineup.

We dig into the archives for a long-lost interview with Edmund Lam of Hexes & Ohs. Slated for the first episode (now lovingly referred to as the Lost Episode) when all we knew were racquet sports and field trips to Montreal’s West Island, we talk with, and give a walloping to, one half of Montreal’s cutest bedroom pop couple.

Producer Ali Rahman drunkenly assaults the Silver Jews‘ very gracious mastermind David Berman at his recent Montreal show. They spoke of cultural identity, Lyndon Johnson, and the intertwining of Talmudic thought and country music.

We play songs on this episode too, including a Murray Lightburn exclusive called Money Babies, an untitled Hexes & Ohs exclusive, How Can I Love You If You Won’t Lie Down by the Silver Jews, Freddie Scott’s (You) Got What I Need, The Merseys‘ Sorrow” and a little treat from Brazillian sensation Jorge Ben.

For more information on the Dears, we encourage you to check out Natalia Yanchak’s informative blog, titled (strangely enough) Natalia Yanchak’s Blog.

 

 Episode 8: Affirmative Action: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download