The next Midnight Poutine showcase is soon upon us. Once again, we'll be entering the outside world to bring music directly to you, the (presumably) real people who read our site. When preparing for the event, I took a moment to talk with our opener, Prime Cuts, who will be kicking things off with their unique brand of drum and synth music. Many people might recognize Riley Fleck from the Arbutus Records band TOPS behind the kit. This is his project outside of that band, and on Saturday, we'll get one of their rare performances.

The third Saturday in April is Record Store Day. It's a day for supporting the treasured but endangered ritual of purchasing real recordings from real people in a real place. There shouldn't just be one day for it, but hey, there are plenty of deserving things that don't get a day at all. (Cheese Day, anyone?)

The first Midnight Poutine Showcase couldn't have gone better. The bands sounded great, about 120 people came, nothing caught on fire and no load-bearing structures were significantly damaged. We figured we'd keep pushing our luck by holding another show every month indefinitely.

This week in concerts: On the musical menu this week, we've got an album launch, a goodbye show, the glorious conclusion of the 17th Vue sur la Relève festival, and tons of local artists. We hope you're hungry.

This week in concerts: These next few weeks will be filled with fantastic shows all over the place, partly due to the 17th edition of the Festival Vue sur la Relève kickoff, which is running until April 21st in 8 of the city's greatest venues. The festival promotes up-and-coming francophone artists, musicians, but also theater troupes and dance companies. It served as launch pad for some big names we know today: Karkwa, Pierre Lapointe, Radio Radio, Alex Nevsky, Misteur Valaire, and so on and so forth. Don't miss it!

This week in concerts: If you were lucky enough to score tickets to see Kasabian, Gotye, or Our Lady Peace before they sold out -and what's up with everybody dropping by Théâtre Corona this week, anyway?- I jealously shake my fist at you. If you want to get in on that big name fame, there are still tickets to see Band of Skulls and the Cat Empire. For those who have no taste for large crowds, no need to fret: there's still a multitude of lesser-known jewels out there, hanging around the smaller venues of this wonderful city.