Features

It has been exactly a month since I, along with the CJLO music team, returned from Austin, Texas for SXSW 2025. In that time, I have been trying to form my takeaways from this year’s festival, in a way that is more substantial than ‘Woo! Fun!’ I assume my job there (other than shaking hands with label reps)  is to act as a bit of a trend correspondent. With that, here are some of my music director takeaways from this year’s SXSW. 

During this Broadcast, the CJLO team runs you through everything they saw on their first full day at the festival. We talk about the new wave of slowcore, the state of experimental music, the Pop Montreal and M for Montreal showcase, and how Montreal is the best music city on the planet.

Originally aired: March 13th, 2025

In late February, I visited the Bashing. The Bashing consists of individuals from Montreal who are passionate about all things medieval. Every Tuesday, they meet under a church and practice sword duelling. While doing so, they wear medieval-inspired armour, and wield foam weapons. I went there for a video assignment on the activity but did not expect to discover a new genre of music. 

CJLO World Music Director, Kelly, is back on the air for SXSW 2025 pre-festival coverage! Listen in for OneDa, O'summer vacation, Sly5thAve, Ki!, Quebec Sun, El Sonido Live!, and cumbia cumbia cumbia!

Originally aired: March 8, 2025

The CJLO music team is headed back to Austin, Texas, for SXSW 2024 in just a few weeks! This is my first year as Head Music Director and my first year attending the festival, so I am beyond excited about all the bands I’ll be seeing. 

The thirty-seventh annual  Folk Alliance International Conference will be taking place at the Sheraton Hotel in Montreal from February nineteenth through the twenty-third. With over one hundred and seventy-five artists representing twenty-six countries, nineteen U.S. states, and all thirteen of our Canadian provinces. This stands to be one of the biggest showcases of folk music in the conference’s history. 

It’s important for me to preface this article by saying that I am not a local. Hailing from a small town, I grew up with a remarkable lack of live music experiences. This is not due to a lacking of musical talent, or creative, driven people, but rather to a sad number of venues; if you didn’t want to go to the (vaguely shit) local pub, there really wasn’t much hope for live music at all. This is one thing that has charmed me about Montreal so much, and has helped develop my passion for local music into a semi-career - there is a venue, good or not, on what feels like every street corner.