Montreal Cultural Calendar

It’s been eight years since Montreal’s The Barr Brothers released a full-length album. In that time, life pulled them in new directions – personally and professionally – altering the way they make music together. Their fourth studio album, Let it Hiss, isn’t just a new collection of songs. It’s a document of transformation. The making of this record marked a pivotal shift: a pause for reflection, a reckoning with vulnerability, and a reconnection between the two brothers who’ve spent over three decades making music side by side.  
“In 2022, we found ourselves at a breaking point,” says Brad Barr, the band’s guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter. “It was clear something had to change. The real story of this record is the story of that change and everything that came after.”  
“Let it Hiss is what happened when we stopped pretending everything was fine and finally listened to what was actually going on”, says Andrew.

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The accessible seating area for Angine de Poitrine tonight is fully booked
Disciples of planet Earth’s rock deities, space-time voyagers Klek and Khn de Poitrine gaze in wonder at hot dogs, pyramids, and rock music in all its glorious excess.
Asymmetrical and dissonant,
Angine de Poitrine
’s music makes hearts race and bodies move with ecstatic abandon. Through tight, pulsing drum grooves and intricate tangles of double-neck microtonal guitar, the band summons swirling vortices of hypnotic sound and vision.
Since the release of
Vol. 1
in 2024,
Angine de Poitrine
are in the eye of an ever-growing storm of enthusiasm from audiences, critics, and music industry’s main actors. After delivering electrifying performances at Quebec’s major festivals, including the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal,
Angine de Poitrine
now sets their sights on the prestigious Trans Musicales in Rennes. All these facts are strictly reserved to the humanoids:
Angine de Poitrine
are simply thrilled to play rock ’n’ roll.

See the full After Jazz at PHONO schedule

Originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Zach Zoya grew up at the crossroads of South African rhythms and North American soul and pop sounds, shaping a rich and eclectic musical identity.
The first English-speaking artist signed to the French-language label 7ième Ciel Records, he quickly gained attention with his EP Spectrum, critically acclaimed and nominated for several awards, including the ADISQ. His EP No Love Is Ever Wasted (2022) has accumulated millions of streams and includes the radio hits Start Over and Upper Hand.
In 2023, he received multiple awards, including at the Gala Dynastie and from the SOCAN Foundation. His sound has since evolved toward a blend of R&B, melodic rap, and alternative pop, notably on his EP It’s Always Sunny in Glendale (2024), inspired by his life experience in California.
He is now working on Misstape 2, a new collaboration with Montreal producer High Klassified, following their first project Misstape (2018), which marked the beginning of his career.

Show Girls

Meilan Lam and Robert Paquin,
1998, 52 minutes
Show Girls
celebrates Montreal's swinging Black jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s, when the city was wide open. Three women who danced in the legendary Black clubs of the day - Rockhead's Paradise, The Terminal, Café St. Michel - share their unforgettable memories of life at the centre of one of the world's hottest jazz spots. From the Roaring Twenties, through the Second World War and on into the golden era of clubs in the fifties and sixities, Show Girls chronicles the lives of Bernice, Tina and Olga - mixing their memories with rarely seen footage of the era. Their stories are told against a backdrop of the fascinating social and political history that made Montreal a jazz and nightclub hotspot for decades. It is a story of song and dance, music and pride. 
English version only.
First part:
Oscar
Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre, 2016, 12 minutes
Mixing animated sequences and archival footage, Oscar is a touching portrait of virtuoso pianist Oscar Peterson at the twilight of an exceptional career, as he wistfully meditates on the price of fame and the impacts of the artist’s life on family life.
From the young prodigy’s beginnings in Little Burgundy to his triumphs on the international scene, this animated documentary by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre explores the profound solitude of an artist constantly on tour. Set to the tunes of Peterson’s sometimes catchy, sometimes melancholy-tinged compositions, the film tells a heartfelt story about a life in jazz.