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I recently read an article on what hip-hop fans and industry professionals have called the “death of hip-hop,” covering how for the first half of this year, not a single hip-hop song or album claimed the number one spot on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100. Any true hip-hop fan can tell you that this is a terribly inaccurate and surface-level analysis of the state of the genre.

Yes, over the past three years, we have seen a rampant decrease in mainstream, commercial raps, but the place where great hip-hop is made is thriving more than ever: the underground. As the genre moves away from large-scale releases from artists like Drake and Travis Scott, the movement of rappers whose masterpieces exist below the charts is growing at a rate never seen before, and I cannot think of a more exciting example than Maxo.

While the L.A.-based rapper is no rookie to the game, with his mixtape origins dating all the way back to 2015, he remains a fresh source of consistently introspective bars that flow over beats ranging from classic Madlib production (“48 feat. Pink Siifu”) to trippy, atmospheric instrumentals from the one and only Beat Butcha (“2 for $10”). Fresh off the release of his final Def Jam record Even God Has A Sense Of Humour, and subsequent solo album Debbie's Son, I got the chance to catch Maxo at his Montreal gig, and even managed to ask him a few questions over Zoom the next day. After this experience, It's apparent that the rapper is in the midst of his renaissance. 

After an electric opening performance from the Washington, DC rapper Sideshow, who I highly recommend checking out, our small crowd of 30-odd people were treated to one of the most unique evenings La Sala Rossa has ever had the honour of housing. Within his 20-minute set, Maxo only used the stage as a table for his drinks. Performing directly from the floor, embracing and rapping along with the crowd, Maxo gave an intimate performance that will be remembered by me, and undoubtedly by the rest of the crowd, much longer than any mainstream, stadium tour, hip-hop concert will be.

As he moved from bar, to stage, to the middle of the floor, Maxo kept up with every bar and beat from his newest album, crafting an atmosphere that can only be described as trippy. Almost as suddenly as the rapper's set began, it ended, with Maxo abruptly walking out of the venue's front entrance, performing a veritable Irish goodbye. That wasn't enough for the Montreal crowd, however, who followed him out and met him on the venue's front steps, then coaxed him back into the venue to get a few pictures and have some truly genuine conversations. While this intimate and personal style of performance is nearly opposite to what I expected coming in, it made the message of Maxo’s mind-bending, melancholic music hit harder than ever before.

Maxo solidified the power of his live performance when I got the chance to sit down with him, as he drove down to Toronto for his next performance. “It communicates the best, it gets [the message] across the best […] The full energy presence, you really feel it,” he stated contemplatively, with the same insightful haze he bore in his performance the night before. There's a certain serenity to Maxo that shines through in his music, but it's not until you have a conversation with him that you see that he seems genuinely at peace.

He did chirp up when I brought up the idea of a “Maxo renaissance” that seems to be going on right now, with the artist having dropped two albums, performed at Flog Gnaw, and put out a performance film in Berlin, all in the past 9 months. “I feel like I just got into the NBA, or any professional realm. Everything before this was practice… like college.”

Maxo continued by touching on how he is the only music man in his family, which meant that there was nobody to really learn from on his come-up. “I had to learn first hand, going through a lot of things… But I think now I’m at the point where I'm intentional with it, my language is meeting up to my skill, what I want to say I'm able to say… I’m becoming more aware of it.”

Aside from the obvious upgrade to Maxo’s lyrical ability on both of his recent albums, there is a notable shift in production, from the beat selection, to the song composition, to the overall tone of the tracks. While this is partially due to his sonic evolution, it can mainly be attributed to his utilisation of a much broader catalogue of producers, which includes some fairly big names. “I'd be cool if I just made a whole tape with Madlib, I see that in the foreseeable future.”  While working with big-name producers certainly makes for great music, Maxo’s style really shines when he's combining forces with a longtime collaborator, who produced the rapper's entire 2018 album SMILE. “Me and Lastnamedavid been building something from like a skeletal place, ‘cause also that's my homie. Like I damn near grew up with him.” This is evident in much of Maxo's music, especially on SMILE, where every song seems to flow together, like one coherent piece of work.

In terms of a full switch up in sound, however, Maxo seemed a little more hesitant; especially in the punk direction that the underground seems to be moving towards, (such as, Paris Texas and AG Club).  “I'm not no punk”, Maxo explained, “I would more so probably dive into some house shit,” which I'm sure would be a welcome pivot in sound for any fan of the scene.

Even after working with such big names in production, Maxo still seems to have a very philosophical outlook on the music industry as a whole that you don't see too often anymore, especially when it comes to his influences. “Really, what influences me is more so real people, real things… actual people I grew up with and I get to talk to rather than just music.” After our interview ended, due mainly to Maxo’s obligatory tour bus driving duty, I was left mildly stunned at what I had just witnessed: a truly humble, down-to-earth rapper, on the verge of becoming what can only be described as underground royalty. 

After what I’ve seen and heard over the past couple of days, I can wholeheartedly endorse you checking out Maxo’s music. If you are a fan of any kind of hip-hop, or poignant, soul-stirring music in general, I cannot advocate for anyone more. Check out Maxo’s two 2023 releases, Even God Has A Sense Of Humour and Debbie's Son anywhere you find your music. While you're at it, keep an eye out for Maxo's next stop to the 514; if it's anything like the experience at La Sala Rosa this week, it's definitely something you don't want to miss.

Grindcore/noise seers Full of Hell rolled through Montreal this past Wednesday. The Ocean City, Maryland/Central Pennsylvania act are currently supported on a North American tour by End, Inter Arma, and Wake.

The name of the game here is heavy. None of the bands on this bill (including extra support Apes out of Quebec City) make a habit of incorporating anything melodic in their music. This concert setup tends to either make or break acts when they hit the stage, leaving them to drown in the wall of sound or be cohesive enough to stand out above the rest.

Richmond, Virginia’s Inter Arma made a good job of rising out of the pack - frontman Mike Paparo prowling the stage with sure command. When he wasn't shaking his head maniacally side to side, Paparo would stand completely still, holding uncomfortable eye contact with specific audience members as the assembly behind him pushed out slow, sludgy riffs. And while the majority of their music leans heavy towards the trudging Primitive Man end of the spectrum, one particular moment of their set saw the band transition from a quiet, peaceful passage to a borderline classic rock jam reminiscent of the faster fun bits in Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son” – as much of a jab that may sound like. Ironically, this was one of the highlights of the night, just because of how different this transition sounded from everything else.

And thus it was time for End (decidedly better than the end), a hardcore/metalcore supergroup made up of musicians from Counterparts, Fit For An Autopsy, The Acacia Strain, Shai Hulud, and Reign Supreme. The collective groups associated with this act immediately shone through in the powerhouse of sound emitting from the stage, with frontman Brendan Murphy doing well to rile up the crowd between songs. End’s blend of hardcore and metalcore was straightforward but executed well, which injected the crowd with an energy unmatched by everyone else on the bill, barring the headliner.

And that brings us to Full of Hell. The powerviolence/death metal/noise outfit have been kicking ass and taking names since their 2009 formation – their following growing to surprising numbers given how intense and grating their music can be at times. The world really is full of freaks.

In between minute-long sessions of breakdown riffs and blastbeats layered under singer Dylan Walker screaming his absolute head off, Walker manned a console on stage, fiddling with knobs that produced ear-bleeding screeches intense enough to sober up even the farthest gone. The frontman also brought out a black light-up flute thingy that looked like some kind of futuristic breathalyzer straight out of Blade Runner. The frontman blew into this instrument while manipulating the console below him, which made some kind of noise that otherwise wasn’t discernable from all the other noise. But if you can’t discern any of the noise, the noise act achieves its goal, doesn’t it? I think I got that one from Nietzche.

The concert was alright. With so many heavy acts, everything turns pretty muddy act after act. Full of Hell’s place atop the bill was reinforced in their performance however, as the extra layers of noise and quality of their (albeit short) songs synthesized in a way that other groups fail to replicate. The tour is worth catching if you’re into the specific niche most of these bands fall into.

This year has been interesting for films in the sense that it has been “the year of the epic” – without exception, the most critically and commercially successful films in 2023 have been grand in every sense of the word. The Holdovers is different. By contrast, it’s a tightly focused and tightly cast film that’s driven by the characters and the exploration of their emotional depths.

Directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers takes place over the Christmas break of 1970 at Barton Academy, a New England prep school. While his peers are out for the holidays, Angus Tully (Sessa) is stuck at the school with his bête noire, classics professor Paul Hunham (Giamatti), after an act of parental abandonment. Hunham doesn’t want the responsibility but is stuck with it due to a nasty twist of fate. Also present at Barton for the holiday season is Mary Lamb (Randolph), the cafeteria manager of the school who is grieving the tragic loss of her son in Vietnam. These three incredibly different people wind up being alone together during what sometimes can be the loneliest time of the year, especially when you don’t have anyone to be with. 

Throughout the holiday break, we watch them transform as their emotional guards come down and they allow the others to see their own pain that they keep hidden, which manifests in other self-sabotaging ways. As they allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other, Professor Hunham, Angus, and Mary not only learn profound lessons about themselves but also step up and help each other as they process their own emotions and experience their own breakthroughs. It occurs as they interact together in ways ranging from watching TV, attending a holiday party, or taking the trip to Boston which sets up the climax of the film. By the time you reach the film’s bittersweet conclusion, you can see that all three of our protagonists have grown immensely from their experiences with each other over those two weeks and become better versions of themselves in the process.

This movie absolutely belongs to the three main actors. Through their performances, each of them introduces to the audience the qualities that make their characters flawed but also infuse them with enough likeability to make the audience root for them: Giamatti’s stuffy and crotchety but honourable professor; Sessa as the rebellious and surly, yet ultimately kindhearted student; and a scene-stealing performance by Randolph as the earthy, raw and touchingly sympathetic staff member. As each character’s narrative arc intersects with each other like a tapestry, the actors manage to play off each other incredibly well to portray how and why these multidimensional people held onto their pain and what happened to give them the space to overcome that pain. Bravo to them.

I also applaud Payne’s directorial choices, as those choices not only show that the movie is set in the early 70s but practically take us there. Everything is done deliberately and with care, from the credits being done in a 70s style and the type of camera work done to the authenticity of the setting and the film’s naturalistic depiction of life at a prep school; it recalls the New Hollywood era of filmmaking. Even the decisions made on the more substantive choices of the film like the casting and the way the narrative plays out is a callback to New Hollywood filmmaking. The only thing that I had an issue with was that there were points in the film that arguably dragged on for longer than necessary, particularly in the beginning where the stage is set. Despite that, it is a consistently solid film - well-written, well-directed, and especially well-acted. 

The Holdovers might not be the most accessible of films but if you allow yourself to open up and truly appreciate the emotional ride Professor Hunham, Angus, and Mary take you on, you’ll be richer for having watched it. As far as I’m concerned, if Oppenheimer was the summer's undisputed Oscar contender, then autumn belongs to The Holdovers. Judging from the quality of both films, there will definitely be stiff competition in the 2024 award season.

Renee Rapp, 23, star of HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, demonstrated that she is not a one-trick pony at Montreal’s MTELUS on October 21, 2023. While playing Leighton on the series jumpstarted her career, Rapp used her following from the television show to promote her passion as she shared videos on social media of her singing original pop songs. Indeed, she may now be a more successful singer than actress as she went viral on numerous occasions which allowed Rapp the opportunity to travel the world on her ongoing “Snow Hard Feelings Tour” for her debut album Snow Angel. 

The night began with openers Towa Bird and Rapp’s co-writer on the album, Alexander 23. They both sang original songs but Alexander 23 performed some covers of popular songs to ensure engagement with the crowd such as One Direction’s “Steal My Girl” which had the audience going wild. 

The anticipation was palpable in the atmosphere after the two opening acts and a near-hour wait between Alexander 23 and Renee Rapp. As the stereo replayed songs, many people got up to use the bathroom, ordered drinks, or distracted themselves on their phones. The crowd was itching to sing along to something so when Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” played, so many people in the audience sang along that it sounded like the concert had begun. At last, when the screen began to count down her appearance, the crowd was already blaring as if Rapp was present on stage. 

Rapp came on stage exuding energy. She bounced around on stage and danced to every song. When someone questioned why she did not play an instrument on stage anymore, she replied that she would rather have the freedom to jump around as she pleased than be weighed down by an instrument. In this way, it was evident that Rapp loves her job and was enjoying the show just as much as the crowd was.  

Her show was uniquely divided into four sections inspired by the seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. This animated the concert and made the audience reflect differently on her songs depending on which season they belonged to. Indeed, the shift in seasons was felt as Rapp opened with some of her happier songs such as “Colorado” in Summer and where the tone and energy of the songs became colder in songs such as “Gemini Moon” and “In the Kitchen” in Winter. The audience was moved by the culmination of Rapp’s beautiful voice, lyricism, and the added layer of meaning with the seasons. 

The show was not just characterized by the narrative of the seasons. Rapp did a great job of engaging with her audience. Between songs she stopped many times to interact with fans, commenting on their signs. “You really wrote this… Can I keep it?” she said to one person and held up a sign that read “Take my virginity pls” so everyone in the audience could see it. Her quips when faced with a new sign, or in receiving a bra that had been thrown at her were quick and had the spectators roaring with laughter. Rapp even put on a friendship bracelet from a fan and wore it for the entirety of the concert. These interactions served as a refreshing break between the serious nature of Rapp’s songs. 

Rapp even found time during her performance to collaborate with her fans. Indeed, she gave someone the microphone during “Willow” which allowed them to sing parts of the song for her. The way she included the crowd in her show is Rapp’s way of giving back to her fans who have provided her the platform to do what she loves. In addition, she brought back the openers in “Tummy Hurts” and “I Wish” which demonstrates Rapp’s bond with the other artists and her ability to share the spotlight in the way of saying “This is not just my show”.  

In sum, Renee Rapp’s debut tour is one you do not want to miss and is well worth the wait. Her creativity and personality shine throughout the show and her vocals are even more impressive to hear live.