Montreal Weekend Playlist

Pull up those bootstraps, poutiners! You've gone hard Wednesday and Thursday, and there is no time to slow down. Rally some weekend energy, because your Friday is stacked with Pop Montreal gems. In our third episode of the Pop Montreal podcast marathon, you'll find big names like The Dream (playing with MP sweetheart Mozart's Sister), and Local Natives (playing with shoegaze kings Wild Nothing). But it's the up-and-coming talent that will really blow your mind: Our favs Emilie & Ogden will be harp strummin' at their album launch at Le Belmont, and save some dance party energy for a late night with Technical Kidman at Kathy and Kimy. We're getting punchy, listeners. And it's not over yet!

And we're back! It's impossible fitting all the great bands at Pop Montreal into one podcast so that's why we record five effin' preview podcasts in a row every year. All of the songs included below are by artists playing on Thursday, the second day of Pop, and after this we have one more each for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. On this one you'll hear from Colin Stetson, whose show with Tim Hecker should be one of the fest's most epic events, as well as old favourites Doomsquad, old timey alt-country champs The Sin and the Swoon, the breathtakingly beautiful Blue Seeds, and much more. Our hosts also jump in with tips for seeing as many bands as possible and stories of Pop past.

Get ready for the ride of your life. Pop Montreal 2013 starts tomorrow and will speed forward, making no stops and taking no prisoners, until the end of the the weekend. As usual, we at the Midnight Poutine Podcast were insane enough to create a playlist of our picks from each day of the fest, totalling a ridiculous five podcasts in a row recorded in one marathon session. Hear us talk about everything from this year's lineup to tips for surviving the festival to our thoughts on the Polaris Music Prize (which Godspeed won, much to my surprise and delight).

This week, with a heavy heart, we say goodbye to longtime Midnight Poutiner and podcast co-host Gabby Lefort. As we send her off into the world, we reminisce with her about her life and times on this podcast and she picks some of her favourite tunes from over the years. We also talk about the surprise Arcade Fire show at Club Salsatheque (Greg was there) and the odd but fun experience that was Oysterfest. But hey, guess what? We have music too! This week's podcast will cover the next week and a half as we get ready for our annual Pop Montreal five-podcast marathon. Hear about the Detuned Transmissions label launch, Ari Swan's record launch, the arrival of Thurston Moore in Chelsea Light Moving, and so much more.

This one is going up a day late due to some technical difficulties with the site, but all the music is here and 100% functional. This week we say goodbye to an old friend, celebrate a new release by another old friend, and talk about bands we wish we were friends with (ahem, Mudhoney, you guys are cool). This week also marks the return of Greg from dissertation writing purgatory, back in time to give his thoughts on the Polaris short list.