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The Israeli government gave the green light to a new housing project in East Jerusalem. Construction there means peace talks between Palestine and Israel are still out of reach.

Palestinians claim East Jerusalem will be their future capital. Palestine petitioned for UN membership last week. It wants to be recognized as an independent state.

The EU’s foreign policy chief called the decision provocative. Catherine Ashtonsaid this runs contrary to Israel’s commitment to negotiation.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netenyahu said a 10 month halt in construction last year produced few results. Construction could begin as early as November.

The crowd was still thin when Hammond Ri started to play their very minimal set; it was something similar to an early Klutter/Neu! sound. The two members played lightly and simply with weird, minimalistic overhead projections accompanying their performance. As the drummer, Riley, was playing his basic snare, high-hat and kick drum percussion, he would occasionally sing really strange lyrics which were either too low or way too high for his range. Everything was intentional; it's just that there wasn't much depth or any dynamics to the performance. The keyboardist, Nick, was playing essentially the same note while adjusting the modulator and pitch shifter on his Roland synthesizer. Sometimes it was interesting, maybe even a bit thought provoking, but it basically sounded like bad sex.

Mavo brightened the overall mood of the audience and drew in more of a crowd with their blissful rock and roll. It felt good to hear a classic, head banging power trio. The lead singer/guitarist delivered his lyrics with ease and conviction, and impressed me with his use of delay. A drum machine added a nice touch and  revealed how tight this band really is. I really believe these guys could go far with their music. You can download their EP on their bandcamp here.

Frankie Rose has a really well rehearsed act, and she was definitely a great pleasure to see. The band had a tasteful, developed sound with really great female harmonies. As good as the band was together, the sound wasn't at all as clear as I wished it would be, but this is a common issue with large bands at Il Motore. Frankie Rose seems to carry certain elements from her past projects (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts), and she represented the Brooklyn music scene very well. Her beautiful voice accompanied by her band set the audience into a more introspective vibe and raised the bar high for Dirty Beaches.

Dirty Beaches is one of my favourite up and coming artists from 2011. Every time I see him he always seems to bring something new to the stage for the audience to enjoy. This time he had a full band with a multi-instrumentalist, bass player and drummer adding more texture to his music. He's a tall, dark and handsome figure that stands out whether or not he's performing. His voice alone commands the audience to pay attention whether you embrace or deprecate his theatrics. He pulled off his music well with the band, although I still enjoy his solo act with his 50s style loops for what they are. Even though he was playing with a band, most of my attention was fixed on him. He has that Vincent Gallo thing going on.

-Michael Cota

First thing's first: This was Kyuss. Forget what was printed on the ticket or put up on the marquee – Kyuss Lives!? Nope, Kyuss, plain and simple.

In case you don't know the situation, here's a quick briefing: Kyuss is one of the greatest bands ever. They broke up in the mid-90's and they're currently doing a reunion tour under the name Kyuss Lives!. It's being called Kyuss Lives! because original guitarist Josh Homme (of Queens of The Stone Age fame) isn't taking part – he's being replaced by some random dude.

Now, bands lose and replace members all the time – a ridiculous amount of the time, in fact. This rarely affects the band's name. Exception that proves the rule: Remember when Black Sabbath started calling themselves Heaven & Hell? Yeah.... it was super-lame.

So anyway, guitar tones are easily replicated. As long as John Garcia was on vocals this was going to be Kyuss to me.

Sidenote: You know what was better than the time I saw Iron Maiden? The time I saw Paul Di'Anno playing Iron Maiden songs with a local Maiden cover band. Just saying.

Anyways, on the show!

Monstro opened the night. They were kind of whatever... The sound was pretty bad (very echo-y and cavernous), they had no stage presence, and it took about 20 minutes before they got to some riffs that I liked. I'll give them a chance in another setting, but they completely failed to win me over this time.

The Sword had pretty much the same sound issues as Monstro, but they had some awesome songs to pull themselves through (“Night City”, “Tres Brujas”, anything from the first album...). It wasn't the best The Sword could be, but it was still pretty good.

Kyuss are among the bands that I have been listening to the longest, but that I have yet to see live (and for the record, even though it's never going to happen, I'd totally support a Dimebag-less Pantera reunion). So this show was totally a dream come true. Seriously, it was pure bliss. I'm not exaggerating (much) when I say that it was a religious experience. Every song was amazing and, luckily, the sound was great. The band was spot on and the crowd loved every minute If it. There was no bullshit, stage banter was kept to an absolute minimum, and the band just played stoner rock perfection for 2 hours straight. Really, what else needs to be said?

-Johnny Suck hosts Turn Down the Suck on Wednesdays from 9-11pm

Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand said the province doesn’t need a stimulus. The Canadian and Quebec economies are in strong enough condition that a stimulus is unnecessary.