POMO - is it?

Have you ever heard of Radiohead? Uh uh… Before becoming experimental geniuses with Kid A, these guys were really good to take the rock clichés that bands like Nickelback uses all the time and arrange them in a way that makes them work, a little bit like Tarantino does with the clichés of cinema. A perfect example for this would be Fake Plastic Trees, a sentimental rock ballad Bon Jovi-style with violins and organs, but for a reason I can’t explain, when I listen to the song, I really feel something.

There’s a band from Montreal that also does that right. I wouldn’t say everything from them is good. I didn't go crazy on their bigger hits like ‘Montréal – 40’ or ‘Pâte Filo’ and I didn't go crazy on their new album 'Labyrinthes' neither. But when I finally got a hand on Trompe-l’oeil a few weeks ago, I discovered a song called ‘La Monogamie’ that made me go crazy. The song is already good from the beggining – especially the beautiful acoustic guitar riff – and until the half of the song, it's classic indie rock like we like it. Then, at 2:45, the outro begins, with a strummed acoustic guitar and the voice of Julien Mineau, it then evolves into a crescendo that's usually not my kind of thing and it finishes in a crazy chorale with drums and guitars and keyboards, and all this makes me feel something I can’t explain, a little bit like with Fake Plastic Trees. Ok, Malajube are no Radiohead. They’re not even close. But when I hear something like that, I feel proud to be a Québécois.

They are playing tonight at La Tulipe to promote their new album. The Montreal-based Hollerado is the band opening. I’ve seen them open for the Virgins a year ago and I can tell you they're cool. But... the show is sold-out. There’s still the possibility to pickpocket one at the door if you want to danse, danse, danse toute la nuit.

Mediafire: Malajube - La Monogamie (196 kbps)