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Discordia 07: The 2023 CREW Union Campaign
As of March 10th, 2025, Concordia Research and Education Workers Union (CREW Union)m have announced that their membership will be on strike on March 12th in pursuit of their first collective agreement with the university. This episode an exploration of the union's origins and it's ongoing fight for better working conditions for teaching and research assistants at Concordia.
This project is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.
Art by James Fay
Milk & Bone, a thirst for coconut water, and a climate warrior pop star at the SAT
Montreal’s Milk & Bone, an electro-pop duo integral to the local music scene, celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their debut album Little Mourning at the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT).
To open the show Lia Kuri brought us to a scientific conference on environmentalism, climate change, and humanity. Dressed in an oversized blazer over a tiny crop top and sitting at a desk with piles of books and notepads, Lia addressed the crowd regarding our shared issues of overconsumption and mistreatment through a language of ethereal left-field pop music. Kuri’s debut album Motherland released last fall functions as a letter of love and regret for our Earth and the humanity that lives on it. With environmentalism and grief as leading themes, the album is surprisingly upbeat, though I would not go so far as to say that it's a happy album. The poetic lyricism, sultry vocals, and grandeur of the electronic music inspire a sense of hope and wonder bordering on desperation; Kuri’s work is asking, begging us, to take a breath and realign with our values, how do we want to live on this Earth together? And what do we need to do to get there? I was thoroughly impressed by her performance, every move seemed planned and practiced with her climbing over rolly office chairs and the beat-matched PowerPoint showing climate-related graphs and maps, memes about recycling, and photos of nature. She asked us to think about destruction and natural regeneration, wondering what the world would be like after humans are gone, and how she hopes that won’t happen. I find her art and her performance so courageous in a culture that feels like it’s avoiding the large and increasingly hot elephant in the room, especially when the audience is loudly chatty during her set. I really appreciate when artists imbue their politics and values in their work, and I’ve struggled with the lack of vocal climate consciousness in music. I hope that Kuri’s music will inspire more to address the existential threats we collectively face.
Milk & Bone’s show was both a celebration of 10 years of working together and a retrospective of their debut album Little Mourning. The dark and dreamy synths and textured electronic music followed Lia Kuri’s opening set beautifully, but I found Milk & Bone’s energy to be less captivating after being enraptured by Kuri’s PowerPoint performance. The duo was very cute and happy to be on stage together, giggling after telling the audience they hadn't performed some of these songs in 8 years. I was impressed by how well they mixed their voices together and navigated the layers of synths and beats and autotune, but I couldn’t get drawn in by them standing behind a folding table with an array of electronic musical appendages. About 15 minutes into their show I started to get incredibly overheated. The audience was very crowded, with the low ceiling of the SAT and complete lack of air circulation, I got frustratingly hot and thirsty during the song ‘Coconut Water’. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to push through the audience from the front of the crowd to the bar in the back of the room. Further into their set the two came in front of their table and danced together, and I was grateful to have found space to breathe and dance. At the end of Milk & Bone’s set, they gave a little speech about their 10-year journey as a band but I struggled to hear any of it because the neighbouring Cafe SAT venue had a very loud and bassy DJ that even through the concrete walls was overpowering the low-quality speakers at the SAT. I would love to see Milk & Bone at a larger venue that can comfortably accommodate the large crowds that inevitably show up to their shows and has an architecture that can accentuate the complex depth of their music.
Jasper Cobb is the host of The Castle, on air every Friday 1-2pm
Underdressed at the MTELUS Symphony
Last Saturday night, Faye Webster ignited Montreal at the jam-packed venue that is Mtelus. The crowd was filled with 20-something indie kids dressed to impress in Pinterest-worthy outfits, ready for Webster’s return to Montreal. Attending the show with my 16-year-old sister, we were especially excited as March 1st marked the one year anniversary of Underdressed at The Symphony. Many fans knew this and the signage represented that. Other fans were dressed similarly to Webster in the album’s cover with blue form-fitting tuxedos. Prior to the show, members of the crowd filled the bustling street of Saint-Catherine chanting her songs and oozing excitement.
I had the great opportunity to see Faye Webster in 2022 for her tour for I Know I’m Funny Haha. However, this show demonstrated Webster’s commitment to her album concept with the illustrations for each song. The album’s concept uses clothing and lack thereof as imagery to describe the vulnerability of making music. Being underdressed at the symphony can be interpreted as Webster revealing too much emotionally in her artistry. To emphasize this theme during the performance, the stage was set up with washing machine visuals and blue-coloured laundry as seen on the album and singles cover. Every song had its own set of lights & corresponding visuals. Faye Webster and her band were introduced by a minion emulating Webster and a group of minions singing along to “But Not Kiss” replacing the words with the word spaghetti. This greatly amused and sounds of laughter echoed through the Montreal venue. She began the concert with her single “But Not Kiss” blending the instrumental with coruscating flashing lights. Her single “Lego Ring” was introduced with the same video game intro used in the music video. Webster added things to the show that true listeners like myself would notice and enjoy.
However, in my opinion, an artist’s band can make or break a live performance. Webster's band electrified the night. The group offered various instrument solos such as a drum solo, violin solo & bass solo. The crowd was enamoured by the group that the cheers for the band’s musicians were almost equal to those for Webster.
Pitchfork Readers Rejoice: Benjamin Booker and Kenny Segal Live in Montreal
Living in Montreal as a second-year university student, I am only exposed to very specific demographics: students, aged 19-24, almost all broke and opinionated. These are the people that make up my circles, and the circles of my friends and their friends, the only demographics I really have any reason to interact with. That’s why, when walking into Bar L’Escogriffe last Saturday, I felt transported into another world, a world far removed from my own. Filling the St. Denis nook were millennials from bar to wall, all toting Doc Martens and second-hand Carhartt vests. The smell of beard oil and sandalwood filled every corner of the room, broken up only by hints of IPAs and old leather. These are the Pitchfork warriors, leftover harbingers of the Blog Era, and they populated L’Esco last Saturday for two reasons and two reasons only: Benjamin Booker and Kenny Segal.
Though Booker and Segal both tote the same knitted toque-wearing audience, their similarities stop there. Sonically, Segal and Booker hail from wildly diverse soundscapes; Booker is a new-age rockstar through and through, citing T. Rex and Blind Willie Nelson as the biggest influences to his bluesy garage rock sound. Segal resides on the other end of the musical spectrum, known in hip-hop circles for his jazz-fueled instrumentals over which emcees like billy woods and E.L.U.C.I.D. have made names for themselves. While it is one of my all-time favourite things when musicians with wildly different sounds meld together to create one coherent piece, I couldn't help but feel a little worried about this collaboration. Not that either of these artists wouldn't work well together, or that they’re untalented in any way whatsoever, I just have a hard time getting behind the whole rap-rock idea. The subgenre historically dances a very fine line between corny and cool, and leans to the former in 9/10 cases. Thankfully, after only the first song, it's blatantly obvious that calling Booker and Segals collaboration rap-rock would be a glaring misread of the entire sonic situation. Segal’s jazzy, boom-bap-esque beats nestle perfectly below Booker's aching, shoegazy guitar, fashioning a sound so distinct that to align it with any pre-existing genre should be considered a crime. The sound pulsing from Segals kicks is eerily familiar, like a dark home during a summer night, and it fills any room it comes near, pulling Booker’s dreary, atmospheric songwriting with it like some sort of moody, RnB-powered black hole. Moments of the duo's music feel entirely untouchable by outside forces, hidden behind a sample-infused veil, while others open up manically, practically begging to be heard and sung and danced to.
This disjointed sound translates beautifully to the stage. After a 30-minute opening consisting of Segal mixing a handful of his iconic beats for us live, Booker joined him on stage for an hour-long cathartic release. It’s a marvel of modern music to see Segal and Booker perform together, the live dissonance between each artist's respective background meshing beautifully into a boom-bap / proto-rock hybrid. While Segal mans a table of hardware like some sort of hipster mad scientist, shifting sporadically from drum loops to sample pads, Booker stands tall and calm, like a shining beacon of garage punk greatness. The sound that radiates from Booker as he plays feels like a guitar dancing in an empty room, the perfect “close your eyes and let it take you” music. Dreary seems like the wrong word to describe it, as it has more life than that word allows, but an undeniable ache is present in every note of the music. In moments I even felt compelled to grab onto the bar behind me, so as to not get swept away by Booker's guitar into some melancholic oblivion.
I find I always have something to say about a specific part of a performance, a certain song or moment that stood out to me. However, I think to limit the idea of this concert to one single moment, to describe a 3-minute clip in relation to the entire hour, would be frankly dismissive. The music, much like Booker and Segal, operates as a whole, working not as one thing or another but as a mass of drifting, reverb-soaked sonic beauty, pulling listeners effortlessly from whatever dimly lit bar they once inhabited into a shoegaze void of Booker and Segal’s creation.
You can listen to Benjamin Booker’s album Lower here, and Kenny Segal’s newest collaboration with K-The-I??? here.
Sam Kitch is the magazine editor for CJLO. He is also the host of I Think You Might Like This, a concept-heavy hip-hop showcase on air every Tuesday at 2 pm
That Jonathan Feeling: Jonathan Richman Jives at La Sala Rossa
Inside the crowded, cozy room of La Sala Rossa, Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins played to a crowd as eclectic as the cobbled-together, endearingly DIY-ed decor of the venue. It was as though the wind had blown Bar Star Bar’s Lord of the Rings trivia attendees from right next door straight into the mezzanine; their polite concert etiquette far outdid any of the other shows I’ve been to recently. As I stumbled inside from the dreary and drizzly evening with my dad, filled with dumplings from Harbin Dumpling next door, I was met with a crowd filled with other apparent father-daughter duos and lifelong Richman-heads who'd probably seen him no less than 8-times, minimum. It was as if there was a quota at the door, a requirement in fine print on the ticket, and I only nearly scraped through on the press list.
As the old-head crowd was milling about, Jonathan took to the stage with a rendition of an instrumental classic from his Modern Lovers days, “Egyptian Reggae,” lulling the crowd into their designated floor spots and kicking off the evening in a rather spaced-out fashion. Introducing tour mate, Tommy Larkins, on the drums – who was dressed in bedazzled Elton John-esque sunglasses and baby blue Sergeant Pepper-style army jacket, the spitting image of a cartoon rockstar drummer in his 70s – the set kicked off with a bang, literally. The New England-born artist serenaded the 514 crowd in French with an accent so shockingly fluent it could placate even the most hardcore Quebec separatist. Switching seamlessly from French to English to Italian sung through the thickest Boston twang, there seemed to be no stone the 70-something-year-old Richman left unturned.
Richman’s stage presence only improved as he warmed to the crowd, taking breaks from singing into the mic to shake his hips, jive and groove with the crowd, showing off his guitar swinging manoeuvre and two-step on more than one occasion. Channeling the energy of that old man you might encounter on the 55 bus at 11 am on a Tuesday, who is singing to himself and in his own world, bothering no one except those without joy and whimsy in their hearts.
The show really took flight when he played his hit song, and one of my personal favourites, “I was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar” from his debut solo album, I, Jonathan, which elicited shrieks of joy and instantaneous hip sways of excitement from crowd members, both young and old. In a beautiful moment which united both the off-duty Irish Studies Professors and the 20-something diehards (who likely grew up listening to his music on road trips, as did I) in attendance, Jonathan playfully switched the lyrics of his iconic song to incorporate lyrics from Chappell Roan’s hit “Pink Pony Club” as he played a three chorus encore, whipping out a cowbell which he gleefully banged along to the tune.
Playing classics like, “You Can’t Talk to the Dude,” “That Summer Feeling” and “Pablo Picasso” from both his solo career and from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Richman played with the joie de vivre and unironic dad-jokes only found in a 70-year-old rockstar. Over his decades-long career, Richman has tapped into an unparalleled niche carved for himself, somewhere between SNL musical skit and childhood sleep-away camp songs, which have the ability to bond the masses – exactly what is needed in such a turbulent time as now. Jonathan’s palpable charm endeared him to the eager audience of lifelong fans and casual listeners alike, leaving me with a new sense of childlike wonder, joy and unabashed glee.
As quickly as it had begun, the set was over in just over an hour, which for a tour put on by a 73-year-old guy, I can’t exactly complain about. As my dad and I left his eighth and my first Jonathan Richman live concert experience respectively, I can safely say I’m fully indoctrinated into the cult of Richman. I look forward to catching him the next time he’s in town if he makes it out again!
SXSW Preview: World Music at the fest
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
Inhaler ignites Mtelus with a high-energy performance on their Open Wide World tour
In the dead of winter, at a bone-chilling -20 degrees on Sunday night, an army of dedicated fans defied the cold to pack Mtelus, awaiting the performance of Dublin's very own Inhaler for their second headline show in Montreal promoting their third studio album Open Wide. Wrapped in layers upon layers, the fans' unwavering passion transformed the harsh weather into a palpable, electrifying celebration of live music.
The crowd erupted, immediately matching the band’s intensity, shouting back every word as the quartet took over gripping their instruments like they had something to prove. There was no slow build—it was full throttle from the start.
The band opened with “My Honest Face”, immediately drawing the audience in with energetic riffs and a confident vocal delivery that set the tone for the night. The transition into Eddie in the Darkness was seamless, with every instrument locking into a tight rhythm that amplified the raw intensity on stage.
"Where the f*ck did all this energy come from?!" Inhaler's frontman, Elijah Hewson, asks the crowd within the first half of their set. The back-and-forth between the band and the audience makes their live shows feel more like a shared experience than a one-sided performance. The crowd was locked in from the start, singing every word and matching the vibrant energy, which only seemed to push them further.
The band fed off that energy, delivering a performance that felt raw but controlled, tight but never rigid. The atmosphere shifted effortlessly between high-energy moments, like the pulsing “When It Breaks”, and more introspective tracks like “A Question of You”, where the room seemed to breathe with the band.
As the night moved into “Little Things” there was a noticeable shift—moments of intimacy emerged, giving the crowd a brief respite before the energy ramped up again with “Totally” and “The Charms”. The band’s performance during “Who’s Your Money On? (Plastic House)” — supported by a captivating bass, thanks to Bobby Skeetz — and X-Ray was particularly impressive; the intricate guitar work by guitarist Josh Jenkinson and pulsing drum beats effortlessly sounded by Ryan McMahon created an almost hypnotic effect that had the audience completely captivated.
A brief, soulful interlude in “My King Will Be Kind” showcased a softer side, allowing the band to connect on a deeper level before launching into the crowd favourite “Dublin in Ecstasy”. The crowd knew what was coming from the first few notes, their cheers swelling before the song even kicked in. The track’s euphoric build and release felt tailor-made for a live show, and the sheer volume of voices singing along proved just how much the band’s older material still resonates with their fans.
That carried over into “Love Will Get You There”, a song that felt lighter on its feet but no less impactful, its melody rippling through the venue like a wave. The later part of the set, featuring “Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah)” and “Just to Keep You Satisfied”, was a masterclass in building momentum, culminating in the uplifting energy of “Cheer Up Baby” as the main set came to a close.
The encore supported the high level of performance with “Open Wide” sparking immediate excitement, followed by the reflective “It Won’t Always Be Like This,” which added an emotional depth to the night. The final number, “Your House,” served as a perfect farewell, leaving fans with a lasting impression of a night filled with both precision and heart.
The band's chemistry was evident throughout the performance. In addition to showcasing their musical range, their smooth transitions between bursts of intensity and slower, more contemplative periods produced an exciting and intimate shared experience. Every note and lyric was delivered with a sense of purpose, making it clear that Inhaler is a band worthy of taking over your Sunday night.
SXSW Preview: CJLO's going live from the fest!
What a weird time to be going to the United States and SXSW. At time of writing, there’s a new tariff on Canadian imports, 51st state stuff is still coming up, and it is not looking good for the North American economy. Things have gotten so wild that the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) pulled out of the festival back in February. Still, we here at CJLO are sticking with it and sending a team down.
We’ve got a pretty neat plan this time around. We’re planning to do a live broadcast from our hotel at 1 pm EST on March 12th, 13th, and 14th. There, you can catch the CJLO team going over absolutely everything we saw at the festival, and what music and shows you should be on the lookout for in 2025. We are also planning to do tons of interviews with bands, take photos, make some videos, and basically do everything possible to bring you along on our weird journey to Texas.
From me, you can expect to hear a fair bit about the Canadian bands headed down to South By. Despite the fact CIMA isn’t going, I’ve been joking that it will be hard to not see only Canadian bands while I’m down there. I interviewed Toronto-based noise rockers Gloin last week (link to full interview) and we talked about how much they love playing live, so I’m very excited to see what they’ve cooked up. It should be a good preview of their new album dropping on March 28th and their Montreal show on April 26th. I also chatted with Alix Fernz (link to full interview) and Karsyn from Truck Violence (link to full interview) who will both be headed to the fest. They’re both planning to drop new albums later in the year and I’m looking forward to seeing how new music has changed two of Montreal’s most electrifying live performances.
There’s too many good Canadian artists to count honestly. Annie-Claude Deschênes will be there and her 2024 album LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE was one of my favourites of last year. Lo-fi, bedroom rockers knitting are also making the trip too. They just dropped a new single and you can check out their interview with our head music director Aviva here (link to full interview).
All that being said, I do have plans to see artists that don’t often have Montreal shows. My week’s going to be a shoegaze and post-punk marathon with plans to see Blood Club, UNIVERSITY, Shallowater, Her New Knife, Wynona Bleach, Exotic Fruitica, MELLT, Taxidermists, MX LONELY, Paris death Hilton, PAL, Nara’s Room, and shower curtain.
Along the way I want to look at some of the more experimental and weird acts coming to South By. Milkweed has got this weird fusion of folk with electroacoustic production which will be interesting live. Japan’s SAI is heavily influenced by Riot Grrrl, hardcore punk, and emo, and brings that into the hip-hop genre. Ireland-based M(h)aol’s post-punk feminist edge jumps out at the listener and I’ve heard it’s even more incredible live.
That’s just the plan though. Things famously end up happening spontaneously at SXSW and there’s a bunch of bands that play either before we get there or after we leave who I’d love to see live. But, no matter what I do end up seeing, you can trust that you’ll hear all about it on CJLO! So, catch the live streams from the festival on the 12th, 13th, and 14th at 1 pm EST, follow us on Instagram @cjlomtl, and keep coming back here to cjlo.com for more!
Cam McIntyre is CJLO’s program director. He is also the host of Shaking the Habitual, on air Tuesdays at 1 pm.
Foster the People kick things up at MTelus
The crowd roared as the lights dimmed and the stage filled with haze, welcoming Foster the People on stage. After a 7-year absence from the city, the band was back in Montreal’s MTelus to promote their newest album Paradise State of Mind.
Founded in 2009 by Mark Foster and drummer Mark Pontius, the band initially went by the name Foster & The People. People misheard the name as Foster the People, but it stuck ever since. The indie-pop band caught the attention of the masses in 2010 with their viral and breakthrough song “Pumped Up Kicks”.
“Helena Beat”, “Take Me Back”, “Coming of Age”, “Houdini” and “Sit Next to Me” brought the summer vibes back to the city in the middle of what seems to be a never-ending winter. Mixed in was the nostalgia of the band performing songs from their four studio albums, old and new.
The band offered a true light show both on stage and throughout the venue. With a light setup placed behind them, graphics and lyrics that matched the songs were displayed on them. The lyrics of the chorus of “Call It What You Want” and “Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)” were projected, emphasizing them. “Lamb’s Wool” and “A Diamond To Be Born” felt like a mesmerizing, out-of-body experience paired with a string of light being projected onto the ceiling.
From "See You In The Afterlife" to "Glitchzig", Foster The People demonstrated versatility in their new album but also as artists.
Sat in seat D19 on the balcony, I had a perfect view of the stage. Foster showed a strong stage presence, but he could’ve interacted more with the crowd. My spot also allowed me to see the people in the front row roaring with energy throughout the night; however, that energy didn’t seem to translate to those above seated.
The band closed the night with their viral hit “Pumped Up Kicks”. The pumped-up energy could be felt throughout the venue (even on the balcony), ending the night on a high.
CJLO X SXSW: Rock Music Preview
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.
With that, I have scoured the SXSW websites and playlists to bring you the best the festival has to offer, with my personal bias to indie rock (you can read my colleagues' articles for their picks from the world of Hip Hop and international music). Starting local, Montreal is bringing an incredibly stacked lineup across multiple showcases. I promise this is not out of bias or a need for local repping, but the calibre of acts our city is bringing is unparalleled. Starting out the night the CJLO touches town in Austin on March 11th, Mothland Records x Exclaim! Magazine x Project Nowhere are showcasing station favourites such as folk-inspired hardcore act Truck Violence, the post-rock Yoo Doo Right, and arty darkwave from Slash Need.
The next day, March 12th, Pop Montreal x M for Montreal will be collaborating on an indoor/outdoor show. This showcase spans language and genre and includes post-punk by Ribbon Skirt and Alix Fernz, indie rock from Knitting and Population II, folk from Billianne and Clerel, and more.
Now, while I would be fully satisfied to just watch Montreal bands all week, that’s not why CJLO pays me the big, campus non-profit, bucks. I have to network, schmooze with some Americans, and eat my first decent taco in over a year of not being back in the United States!
So, other bands on my schedule include the dream pop duo, based in Austin, Daydream Twins. The title track of their brand new album Solstice For Embodiment hit me like a ton of bricks when I first gave it a listen. So, even though they are set to play at 1:00 AM the night I fly in, I’m getting myself to that showcase. I am also excited to see Brooklyn duo fantasy of a broken heart, whose catchy psych-pop album Feats of Engineering has been on repeat for me since it came out last fall. I also hope to catch Hiding Places, whose slacker alt-country really appeals to me through the few EPs they’ve dropped. Additionally, I’ll try to catch Wishy, whose 2000s-inspired indie rock garnered them a ton of critical acclaim for their debut LP Triple Seven from last year.
It’s a lofty, probably impossible, goal to try to catch all these shows once we’re down in Austin. Follow along at @cjlomtl on Instagram to see everything we hit!
Aviva Majerczyk is the head music director at CJLO 1690AM. She is also the host of The Alley, a folk-rock show airing Fridays at 11:00 AM.
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