If you haven't been keeping up with us on the old 'gram, we were up in Montreal last week for another year covering one of our favorite music fests in the world, POP Montreal. This year's POP lineup was as adventurously and eclectically curated as ever, featuring artists as diverse and groundbreaking as SOPHIE, JPEGMAFIA, U.S. Girls, legendary Canadian artist and filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin, and dizzying Jamaican dancehall crew Equiknoxx, with some exciting new acts -- namely Sorry Girls, Pottery, Venus, Forever, and more -- in the mix as well. Our only complaint was that we couldn't see it all; here are a few highlights from our experience at this year's fest:

  • Lydia Képinski's rousing and triumphant hometown show before an adoring, mostly Francophone sold-out crowd in an old porn theater. I've been obsessed with this jam for a minute, but her live set was much heavier and more psychedelic (and better) than I'd anticipated
  • an intimate and revealing (if somewhat awkward) conversation and Q&A with SOPHIE, in which the producer lit up when talking about how she creates specific sounds, such as the swinging metal in "Faceshopping"
  • a preview of promising new material, complete with improvised sax stylings, at Forever's alluring set opening for Molly Nilsson at Bar Le Ritz
  • nightly post-show bagels at St-Viateur Bagel
  • an impressive, assured set of dreamy "adult disco" from young Montreal group Venus, who sounded to these ears like a young TOPS
  • the beautiful Cardinal Tea Room, maybe the classiest/cutest/chillest spot in the city
  • new Montreal band Pottery, by far the buzziest act at this year's fest, whose intense psychedelic punk jams lived up to the hype and then some during their thrilling and insanely packed set at L'Esco. look for these guys to blow up in 2019
  • the incredible city of Montreal in general, and particularly the vibrant Mile-End, for being so welcoming to an American blog. we'll be back next year, but in the meantime, here are some hujis:
venus
venus
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US girls // photo by bronwyn ford
US girls // photo by bronwyn ford
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venus
venus
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sorry girls // photo by bronwyn ford
sorry girls // photo by bronwyn ford
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SOPHIE // photo by bronwyn ford
SOPHIE // photo by bronwyn ford
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pottery
pottery
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cinema l'amour
cinema l'amour
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LYDIA POSTER
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lydia képinski
lydia képinski
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lydia képinski
lydia képinski
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venus
venus
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ST VIATEUR BAGELS
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