This year's festival features local and national artists
With all the hype surrounding the Brooklyn indie rock scene these days, it's easy to forget that only a few short years ago Montreal was hailed as the next-big-thing in music. Such claims were made for good reason: with Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, The Dears, Stars, and Islands to name a few, it's no wonder everyone from Pitchfork to The New York Times took notice.
There is a lot I find weird about our generation. We are an age group that loves to get really trashed and incoherent before drunkenly swaying and grinding with a stranger at a club where the music is overplayed and the drinks are too expensive. We can also spend hours on end mindlessly flipping through Facebook pictures of a friend of a friend - and hell, their cousin too (don't deny it, I've seen you do it in lectures).
Assassin's Creed II combines parkour, history, and hitmen
Assassin's Creed II is the sequel to the highly acclaimed action-adventure game desgined and developed by Ubisoft Montreal. To promote the launch of the game, Ubisoft Montreal created a three-part live-action miniseries entitled Assassin's Creed Lineage which was made available on YouTube.
With all the December releases, you need to choose wisely
Brothers (December 4) Jake Gyllenhaal is the black sheep of the family who looks after his sister-in-law (Natalie Portman) in every sense of the word after his brother (Tobey Maguire) goes missing in combat. This looks heavy and depressing, but expect great acting and Portman in love scenes - reason enough for most people to watch.
Genre-blending group play two shows in Montreal this week
Fewer and fewer musicians earn their way to success through talent alone. Australia's The Cat Empire, however, has done just that, and this unique combination of passionate musicians and eclectic instruments is playing at Metropolis this week. Although the six-piece band has a strong musical background in jazz, their music draws from other genres as well.
Based in Winnipeg, The Paperbacks are an indie rock group who broke out back in 2001, and their third full-length release, Lit from Within, is set to debut in early January. With a slightly overwhelming two-CD conglomeration totalling 32 songs, one would expect the album to prove that The Paperbacks still have something worth saying.
It's always better to stick to what you're good at, especially if you're a semi-known emo rock star. The Almost is a side project of Aaron Gillespie, the drummer for former metalcore Christian band Underoath. While there's no denying Gillespie's drumming abilities, his singing in The Almost is just plain bad.
Now more than ever, it's time we start putting artists in the category of "soccer mom rock." Montreal native Arthur Kall is at the top of the list, as his debut Notes In Neon is a stack of acoustic-based soft rock songs peppered with a few genre blending tracks that all have one thing in common: your mom would probably love them.
Toronto's Parkas have been producing great indie rock for the past eight years, and You Should Have Killed Us When You Had The Chance is their fifth, and sadly final, release. It's always a downer when a great band decides to call it quits, but rarely do you get to enjoy one more album when they break the news.