Hosted by Ahmad Moujtahed    

Stories by Ahmad Moujtahed

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LOCAL

The Société de transport de Montréal is calling on a workplace tribunal to intervene and order its unionized maintenance workers to stop purposely slowing down their work as a form of illegal pressure tactics that is causing a 10% shortage of the required number of busses during rush hour.

During the hearing, the maintenance union president said he gave no order for his members to slow down their work and further revealed that the STM has employed a new method of refuelling buses that has resulted in a record number of them running out of fuel while on their routes.

NATIONAL

A house fire in Halifax claimed the lives of seven children, the youngest of which is only three months old. The incident, classified as the deadliest house fire in recent Nova Scotia history, happened in the Spryfield community of Halifax. All the victims are members of a Syrian family who moved to Halifax in 2017 in order to seek safety from the ongoing conflict in their native country.

Halifax regional police are investigating the incident, but still have no through leads as to what might have initiated such a catastrophic fire that sealed the fate of seven young lives.

Images of the fire were shared on social media. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “Words fail when children are taken from us too soon, especially in circumstances like this”.

INTERNATIONAL

In an attempt to honour a diverse group of women who inspire and foster change through their humanitarian efforts, L’Oreal Paris announced the remarkable recipients of its third annual Women of Worth program.

Each Honouree will be receiving a $10,000 grant for her charity, as well as an all-expense paid trip to the Awards Gala which will be held in Toronto on International Women's Day, March 8th.

By visiting womenofworth.ca, Canadians can cast their vote online for one National Honouree who will be awarded an additional $10,000 grant.

Photo: Dominic Berthiaume

When listening to Histoire naturelle, the excellent debut album by Jonathan Personne, alias of Corridor singer and guitarist Jonathan Robert, one gets a sense that the breezy project was composed in a matter of days, such is the cohesiveness of the project.

The exact opposite occurred though. The project started out about four years ago when Robert received an 8-track recording device as a Christmas gift from his girlfriend.  Experimentations with the recorder lead to the “unexpected result” of his first album, which was stitched together in the last year or so. “I think I was able to achieve something narrative through the whole album, even if it wasn’t the original goal,” Robert says about the project.

Driven by the theme of “the potential end of the world,” Robert looked to the Museum of Natural History for inspiration when crafting the album its title track in particular.  “It’s just a song about seeing me in the future and how humans will perceive our era,” Robert explains, “the same way we perceive the caveman. Like when we go next to a cellphone and a bottle of beer [laughs], instead of the caveman trying to make a fire.”

Histoire naturelle’s 12 tracks vary in style, from desert dream pop and spaghetti western rock to jangle pop.  “Comme personne” and “Sans nom” get the album off to a rousing start, but for the most part the rest is a more tranquil affair.  The bare arrangements have the effect of highlighting the songwriting skills of Robert, normally hidden under the layers of guitars and murky post-punk atmospherics present in Corridor’s music.

This results in the standout track from the album, “Dernier voyage.” A beautiful song draped with sparkling guitars and piano chords, with Robert’s voice floating above them, intoning us of his final voyage to an unknown destination. If this is Robert’s ode to the end of the world, it’s certainly a beguiling send-off. Tying everything together are several lo-fi interludes mostly composed of found sounds and ambient guitar, creating a world within the album for listeners to inhabit.

Robert is also a visual artist and illustrator, designing the artwork and posters for Corridor and other local acts.  With his solo project, Robert was able to apply the same solitary discipline of his visual art onto his musical vision.  “I always like to have input on the visual aspect of my music,” Robert says, “I think it’s very important. I’m kind of a control freak, and that was not complicated for me for this one because I was kind of alone to lead that project.”

However, that doesn’t mean Robert is clamoring to work more outside the confines of his main musical project.  “I think sometimes it makes me more appreciative of my relationships with my mates in Corridor,” Robert remarks.  “I think it’s really hard to have a whole project on your shoulders, and it becomes really exhausting at the end. So that’s why it took me four years [laughs], I didn’t want to have that much pressure.  It made me realize that it’s nice to have a great team too. Both are really interesting aspects and I love both, but you really need to choose with who you work.”

It’s no surprise then that for a solo album, Histoire naturelle features plenty of collaborations, including with members of Ponctuation (whose Guillaume Chiasson co-produced the album), VICTIME, Laurence-Anne, and even his bandmates in Corridor.  It was a natural decision for Robert, due to the spirit of comradery from the recording sessions.  “They were my friends,” the artist notes, “so that was not complicated, I was just telling them what to do. I didn’t have to debate on where the song was going, so that was pretty simple and pretty easy.”

It’s those same friends who will be aiding Robert bring his solo project to life in front of an audience for the album’s launch show.  “I’m excited,” Robert notes, “because it’s not going to be the first show we’re making. We kind of kept a really low profile for that aspect of my life when I was doing shows as Jonathan Personne in the past.  It’s going to be the ninth or the tenth show I’m doing with the project, but I’m excited. In the end I’m gonna play with people I’m used to playing with.”

Whether Robert’s songs as Jonathan Personne will influence Corridor’s own future output, the artist doesn’t see that happening.  In fact, Robert doubts future material under his nom de plume will sound like the quieter and reflective passages that mark much of his debut.  “I know when I compose melodies,”Robert says, “it’s kind of obvious to me [what] doesn’t stick to a Corridor song, so I better keep it to myself. Even when I’m jamming with Corridor, there’s some riffs I get my bandmates [to say] ‘keep that for yourself’ [laughs].”

Jonathan Personne performs at L’Escogriffe (4461 Saint-Denis) on Saturday, Feb. 16, 8:00 p.m., $10

Alex Viger-Collins is the host of Ashes to Ashes, your weekly dose of modern pop, every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.

Hosted by Alexandre Denis

Stories by Alexandre Denis

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LOCAL

McGill College Avenue could be the next street to get a facelift in the city. Montreal’s Public Consultation Office recommends narrowing the street to two lanes to create a pedestrian plaza.

This move is one of the Plante administrations many ideas to make the city less car-centric. The idea was first announced in August but the city waited for a public consultation before moving forward with the project.

The possible changes would include widening the already large sidewalks from President-Kennedy to Sainte-Catherine. The project would take advantage of other developments in the area such as the McGill REM Station and the Sainte-Catherine redevelopment.  

PROVINCIAL

The CAQ may have won a majority last election but their ideas may not be as popular as they might have thought. A new study shows that it was a desire for change that led to victory rather than their electoral promises.

55 per cent of their voters said they voted for change. Only 17 per cent said they voted because they liked the CAQ platform. The Liberal and Quebec Solidaire voters were much more enthused by their party’s ideas. Around a third of them voted because they supported the platform.

The CAQ also has considerable opposition to it’s main ideas from its base. Around 40 per cent do not support its major promise to reduce immigration.

INTERNATIONAL

Canada is halting all deportations to Haiti due to the ongoing crisis in the caribbean nation. The island has seen violent protests in the past week calling for the resignation of President Jovenel Moise.
Ottawa has also updated it’s travel advisory to Haiti. It recommends Canadians avoid travelling to the country. Canada is currently working to get any Canadians out of Haiti. The Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince will remain closed but consular services are still available by phone or email

Graphic: Valery Lemay

For most up-and-coming artists, there’s a balancing act between channeling their influences and developing their own unique identity.  When looking back on his third and breakthrough album, Loveshit, 10 years on from its original release, Montreal singer/songwriter Jason Bajada credits the album’s success with striking this balance for the first time on record.

“I think that came about from finding my sound,” Bajada describes. “I experimented with the recordings, I had done two previous independent albums, but this record just felt like I was singing with the voice I was supposed to be singing with.  For the first time I was proud of my songwriting chops and really channeling a true emotion as opposed to mimicking my heroes.”

Released in February 2009, Loveshit is a break-up album filled with melancholic songs that never become maudlin, thanks to Bajada’s ability to write seemingly effortless melodies. This talent is displayed best in enduring songs like “Ten Days in Miami” and “Tired of Talking.”  Though greatly appreciated by Bajada, the fact that listeners connected with his contemplative ruminations on a broken relationship is a peculiar situation not lost on the songwriter himself.

“It’s the weirdest job in the world to be paying your rent with your feelings,” Bajada says.  “I think the strangest thing is being applauded for it – literally someone’s Friday evening is buying tickets and coming to see you and singing along to this sadness.  It’s such an odd way of life, and still to this day it baffles me, [but] I love it, it’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. I’ve avoided having a real job because I’ve been channeling my emotions and spending time writing music, which is such a beautiful thing, but I never get used to it.”

Loveshit was also Bajada’s first album for venerable local label Audiogram, and it secured the artist a publishing deal at a time when the music industry’s money-making days were entering decline.  While Bajada contends that being on a label assured quality control, the artist is impressed by the new generation of independent artists who are more self-motivated and self-reliant than ever.

“I find today it is too easy to put music out,” Bajada remarks, “but at the same time I feel like I meet, even through my podcast [Bajada Dialogues] or the industry, 21-year-olds who have their shit together, it’s unbelievable. They understand everything I understood only at 28, and I find that super admirable.  The Internet either dumbs down people or let’s people who use it correctly become these wiz-kid geniuses.”

To celebrate Loveshit’s 10th anniversary, Bajada has three shows planned where he will perform the album in its entirety.  However, as it’s been a minute since Bajada has played the deeper cuts off Loveshit live, the artist has been relearning his own material. He likens it to performing cover songs.  “Every song you write feels like it’s the last song you’ll ever write,” Bajada explains, “and that you don’t even know how it happened or how you can even do that. It’s like there’s some sort of weird magic that happens, and to kind of re-explore songs now that they feel like covers… you forget you could even write those melodies or certain lyrics, like ‘hang on, I didn’t remember writing that.’”

Other than the album festivities, Bajada is currently keeping a low profile on the music front.  Other than a new single, “Worry ‘Bout You,” released in conjunction with Loveshit’s 10th anniversary, his last album was released back in 2017.  Entitled Loveshit II (Blondie & the Backstabberz), the double album was a sequel of sorts to Bajada’s 2009 album and delved into the depths of his anxieties and depression after the disintegration of a relationship and a few close friendships.

Fortunately, Bajada has been in a much healthier state of mind since writing his last album.  Not only does Bajada meditate every day, the songwriter even took a trip to the Magdalen Islands for a month last summer and worked on his trade, trying to take a step back from his style of personal songwriting to work on a more observational perspective to better process his emotions.  “I kinda look up to heroes of mine like Tom Waits,” Bajada explains, “who has the perfect normal family life, but becomes an actor when he performs and channels certain past emotions and characters or writes about other people themselves,”

After over fifteen years of paying rent with his feelings, through all the turbulences love and life has thrown at him, the one thing that has stayed consistent for Bajada as an artist is the awe of crafting a song and bringing it to life, even when it seems nothing more could be wrung out of the well.

“Still to this day,” says Bajada, “nothing really makes me happier than being in studio or finding that melody at 2:00 in the morning, finalizing this demo that nobody’s ever heard except you. Just finalizing and mixing yourself, this shitty kind of demo at two, three, four in the morning and crashing into your bed and listening back or hopping out into the car to see how it sounds.  And this thing that didn’t exist 12 hours prior being this hot recipe you’re excited to release that might only come out in a year, year and a half, but just that moment of creation and finalizing something that didn’t exist a few hours prior, still to this day is the ultimate drug for me.”

Jason Bajada performs Loveshit in its entirety at Le Ministère (4521 St-Laurent) on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 8:00 p.m., $30