Features

SXSW 2025: CJLO Live Broadcast Day 1

April 14 2025 // CJLO // Magazine // Features

During this braodcast, the CJLO team and special guest Romano talk about their SXSW fest so far. We cover M for Mothland x Project Nowhere x Exclaim! at Swan Dive on the 11th, Italians Do It Better at Elysium, and the Milwaukee lowend showcase at Elysium.

Original air date: March 12th, 2025 

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Medieval Metal and the Genre’s Ties to Montreal

April 13 2025 // Christian Gaydos // Magazine // Features

In late February, I visited the Bashing. The Bashing consists of individuals from Montreal who are passionate about all things medieval. Every Tuesday, they meet under a church and practice sword duelling. While doing so, they wear medieval-inspired armour, and wield foam weapons. I went there for a video assignment on the activity but did not expect to discover a new genre of music. 

In a Sea of Talented Artists, Let Us Hand Pluck Some Hidden Gems You May Be Looking For: CJLO Presents girl with dream, Hanako and Holly Mclachlan at mai/son

April 12 2025 // Sofia Dawson // Magazine // Features

In an age where new music is plentiful and ever-changing, the excitement of nuanced sounds can be tainted by one’s struggle to determine whose album to play next. The bottomless pit that is today’s music streaming services can exacerbate the daunting task of finding what you really want to listen to.

SXSW Preview: World Music at the fest

March 8 2025 // Kelly Belfo // Magazine // Features

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

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SXSW Preview: CJLO's going live from the fest!

March 6 2025 // Cameron McIntyre // Magazine // Features

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. 

CJLO X SXSW: Rock Music Preview

March 4 2025 // Aviva Majerczyk // Magazine // Features

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. 

An Introduction to Othello Tunnels

March 1 2025 // Paul Brown // Magazine // Features

It is so refreshing to receive a new recording by a rock band in 2025 that is neither in the post-punk vein nor dripping with shoe-gaze reverb. That is not to say that either of those genres or the bands continuing to carry the torch are bad, it is just nice to hear something swimming upstream every now and then. Othello Tunnels could care less about musical trends and of-the-moment fads, and that is why they are a band to keep an eye on.

37th Annual Folk Alliance Conferance

February 6 2025 // Robert Portnoff // Magazine // Features

The thirty-seventh annual  Folk Alliance International Conference will be taking place at the Sheraton Hotel in Montreal from February nineteenth through the twenty-third. With over one hundred and seventy-five artists representing twenty-six countries, nineteen U.S. states, and all thirteen of our Canadian provinces. This stands to be one of the biggest showcases of folk music in the conference’s history. 

The Best Way to Spend a Weekend Sitting on a Living Room Floor: a Review of mai/son's Expo88

February 5 2025 // Sam Kitch // Magazine // Features

After being in Montreal for almost 2 years, I was confident that I had experienced every Montreal venue worth experiencing. From grand theatres with horrible air circulation to gravel pits under graffiti-ridden bridges, if music could be played there I assumed I had had their stamp on my wrist at some point. Though, as I stand here in a living room on Saint Urbain, beer and earplugs in hand (both cost $5), I realize that was stupid. From the outside, mai/son is your average Mile End townhouse.

Tiny Fest 2024 - A Review

November 14 2024 // Sam Kitch // Magazine // Features

It’s important for me to preface this article by saying that I am not a local. Hailing from a small town, I grew up with a remarkable lack of live music experiences. This is not due to a lacking of musical talent, or creative, driven people, but rather to a sad number of venues; if you didn’t want to go to the (vaguely shit) local pub, there really wasn’t much hope for live music at all. This is one thing that has charmed me about Montreal so much, and has helped develop my passion for local music into a semi-career - there is a venue, good or not, on what feels like every street corner.

POP Montreal: Saturday

November 6 2024 // Lisa Rupnik, Robert Portnoff, Sam Kitch, Aviva Majerczyk // Magazine // Features

POP Montreal returned for its annual weekend of concert after concert spread over 5 days, with over 400 artists and bands playing at over 50 venues across the city. On Thursday, CJLO staff attended a few of the shows POP had to offer

 

Lisa Rupnik

POP Montreal: Friday

October 23 2024 // Aviva Majerczyk, Lisa Rupnik, Robert Portnoff // Magazine // Features

POP Montreal returned for its annual weekend of concert after concert spread over 5 days, with over 400 artists and bands playing at over 50 venues across the city. On Friday, CJLO staff attended a few of the shows POP had to offer

 

Lisa Rupnik

POP Montreal: Thursday

October 21 2024 // Sam Kitch, Lisa Rupnik // Magazine // Features

POP Montreal returned for its annual weekend of concert after concert spread over 5 days, with over 400 artists and bands playing at over 50 venues across the city. On Thursday, CJLO staff attended a few of the shows POP had to offer

 

Lisa Rupnik

Palomosa 2024 Review - The Castle

September 16 2024 // Jasper Cobb // Magazine // Features

Day One

Palomosa 2024 Review - Ashes To Ashes

September 13 2024 // Alex Viger-Collins // Magazine // Features

Bad luck doesn’t begin to describe what hit the organizers of the Palomosa Festival.

First the emails to ticket holders telling then they could bring a +1 for free. Then the wave of discount ticket prices in bulk for McGill students. And finally the forecast of heavy rain for the second of the festival’s two days.

But worst of all, Kali Uchis, the coup of a headliner Palomosa got for its second day, pulled out only a few days before the festival commenced, with little to suggest that it was due to anything other than low ticket sales.

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