Win Tickets to Ciel Noir Featuring Codeine, Duster, Pelada, Model/Actriz & Snow Strippers

All your favourite bands, in the same place? For free? 

You heard us right. We know you've been eyeing Ciel Noir tickets for a minute now, and we've got you. The lineup is expertly curated, and feels like it's straight from our Spotify algorithms, featuring everything from slowcore to 2006 adjacent electronic music.

We've partnered with Ciel Noir and Blue Skies Turn Black and are giving away two tickets to the event! 

RULES:

Follow @alsocolmag & @cielnoirmtl on IG

Repost this post to your story & tag us @alsocoolmag

Winners will be announced on March 25th, bonne chance!

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In the meantime, get to know the bands. We've put together a sampler playlist to get you in the mood.

Ciel Noir is a series of special events produced by Blue Skies Turn Black. This edition features lowcore legends Duster and Codeine for rare Canadian appearances and some of the most exciting acts straddling the lines between electronica, post-punk, hyperpop, and techno with Snow Strippers, Model/Actriz and Pelada. 

Duster

Duster is a reclusive, experimental electronic slowcore band from California. They have been around for a long time. 

Snow Strippers

Snow Strippers is an electronic music duo formed by Graham Perez and Tatiana Schwaninger based in Detroit, Michigan. The duo seems to have time-travelled to 2008 in reminiscence of Crystal Castles, placing the duo squarely in the electronic underground's resurgence. 

Codeine

Codeine is an American indie rock/slowcore band formed in 1989 by Stephen Immerwahr (vocal/bass), Chris Brokaw (drums), and John Engle (guitar). The band pioneered the slowcore and sadcore subgenres of indie rock but with a more experimental attitude. 

MODEL/ACTRIZ

Model/Actriz is an American rock band whose music has been described as visceral post-punk. Its music features a pulsing blend of danceable noise and a live performance that mirrors the way its records unravel. The band is an experiment in the primal aspects of human experience.

PELADA

Pelada, the duo of singer Chris Vargas and producer Tobias Rochman, broke out of Montreal's underground warehouse rave scene in 2014 after uploading tracks to Soundcloud, which caught the attention of the global dance music scene. Their collaboration is a blend of urgent Spanish language vocals centred around power, control, and social justice themes with hardware samplers, synths and drum machines. 

Ciel Noir I Blue Skies Turn Black

Tickets

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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NO WAVES Revive Garage Rock at Bar L'Escogriffe (Jess X, Piss for Pumpkin, TVOD - Blue Skies Turn Black)

As we thaw out from our wintery pandemic slump, we're trying to remember how to have social lives while also asking ourselves, "Who the hell are all these people at the show who I've never seen before??" 

Pre-pandemic, it was easy to find "the scene" if you tried hard enough (and went to events consistently). But that natural flow of new faces was completely interrupted, and now many are left wondering where the scene is, and how to get invited. 

My FYP on Tiktok often features 19-year-olds asking how to get invited to Montreal's underground raves and DIY rock shows, and last summer NO WAVES answered that call. They threw a wildly successful outdoor show, which was heavily documented and shared all over social media. After that show, I heard from a younger neighbourhood friend that they would be the next cool band in town. Promoters supported the claim that they brought a crazy energetic crowd, so I knew I had to see them the next time they played.

NO WAVES played at Bar L'Escogriffe on Thursday, April 14th with Blue Skies Turn Black, and the lineup could easily have fit into any 2015 surfer punk garage rock-inspired playlist. Jess X embodies a punk Cherry Glazerr energy (the Haxel Princess era specifically), while Piss for Pumpkin was described to me as 'Bikini Kill but more metal.'

TVOD (Television Overdose) brought a pure punk energy, hanging from the ceiling, spraying water all over the crowd, and getting them hyped for the headliners. Everyone at the show (who looked like they had just stepped out of my queer alt TikTok algorithm) loved it, encouraging each other to mosh, eagerly looking around for their friends to join them in the pit.

NO WAVES DIY show last summer - via their Facebook page by CB43MEDIA

I was pleasantly surprised that NO WAVES began their set with a zero-tolerance for harassment speech, telling creeps to gtfo and anyone who felt unsafe to tell the band or someone nearby what was happening so that they could help. Their sound is easily comparable to Surf Curse's "Buds," Vundabar's "Gawk" era, The Garden's "The Life and Times of a Paperclip," and of course (perhaps the band's namesake) FIDLAR's "No Waves." It felt like the 2015 Burger Records universe of music that I grew up with but without the reputation of SA and harassment that the label and their artists attained. 

NO WAVES had charming stage banter, introducing one song as "a real song that we wrote when we were 15," another as "a song I always say I won't show my friends and then I do," and their cover of Surf Curse's "Freaks" as "that song you've probably heard on TikTok," which made me feel old but also warmed my heart.

After the show, the drummer Sam shared with me that he was so happy that people were having a great time and emphasized that it's essential for the bands on stage to make sure their audience is as safe as possible. 

I also caught a sweet moment of a girl interviewing one of the band member's dads about the show and other attendees. She said she was making a documentary about the band, even though they didn't know how she was yet.

Uma, a long-time friend of the band and local Montrealer, had this to say about the night, "I feel like I've grown up with NO WAVES, so watching them go from playing in their parent's basements to a show like this is wild. They get better and better each time. Being able to grow up with access to this scene is life-changing. It's really beautiful out here, the crowd, the people, the music, all of it."

If anything, the show gave me hope for the up-and-coming Montreal DIY scene. It's inspiring to see people excited to be at a show, especially in what seems to be a more accepting and safe environment. 

You can catch NO WAVES' tour kick-off at Turbo Haüs in Montreal with Bummer Camp and Last Waltzon on April 22nd.

NO WAVES DIY show last summer - via their Facebook page by CB43MEDIA

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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