M For Montreal: F For F-F-F-Freezing

The funny thing about the cold is, its a great hangover cure! Therefore despite having a few too many the night before Gigwise is sprightly heading into the second night of showcases which we have high hopes for after a little online research. We begin with and quickly retreat from Chinatown, lets just leave it at that, but then are quietly impressed by Arkells who play on the whole Springsteen/Hold Steady middle-America rock thing but infuse some pretty nifty pop hooks on songs such as 'John Lennon'. Hotly tipped Paper Bag signings Winter Gloves follow and while they are good, they could be great with a little work on their live show which doesn't quite match the quality of their debut album 'About A Girl'.

The second half of the showcase is dominated by bands of the electronic persuasion starting with Beast, who have just signed to Island Records in the UK. The two piece are fleshed out to a five live but are still dominated by the voice of Betty Bonifassi. Gigwise isn't quite sure what to make of them and would like to see them again but there's no denying there is something sell-able about their 90s influenced 'trip rock'. The final two acts, Woodhands and CLAASS, share a similar space – creating electro crossover tracks with style and enough beats to blow the roof off while entertaining us visually with smoke machines and lazers.

The final day of M for Montreal is divided up into three parts – A city tour for us out of towners, an afternoon showcase and then the grand finale with some of the city's more established acts performing. After eating more meat than his healthy (Thanks Schwartz's deli!) and standing on top of a ridiculously cold hill to get a better view of Montreal its off to Foufounes Électriques for the afternoon showcase. Something of a mixed bag, we are introduced to the electro-pop wizardry of Colin Munroe, the Francophone hip hop of Radio Radio and the punk-rap of Gatineau. Or favourite band of the afternoon though is Red Mass, a collective that includes a naked man painted gold playing a cowbell who produce retro garage rock with enough riffs to get us nodding. This is their first ever show and we'll be keeping a keen eye on them in the future, promising.

After a brief respite for some more food, we're not sure if the plane will actually take off on the way back, we head to the 2,000 capacity Metropolis. Unfortunately due to some uncharacteristically slow service we miss the first act Coeur De Pirate but are there is time to see Montreal's favourite comedic son Jon Lejoie run through his repertoire of Everyday Normal Guy jokes before much touted locals Karkwa take to the stage. They channel Coldplay mixed with some of Radiohead's less experimental movements, holding the crowd brilliantly as they ebb and flow through their set. If they sung in English you could easily see them going on to wider acclaim, as it is they are already a pretty impressive prospect.

To finish we witness two wildly contrasting acts. First up is We Are Wolves who have been plying their trade for several years now and if it was down to Gigwise would have a much bigger following outside of their home town. As the curtain raises we are bombarded with sound and light, an electro hailstorm that carries on throughout the 30 minutes set and has the crowd in raptures. Tracks such as 'Fight And Kiss', 'La Nature' and 'Coconut 155' make it the stand out set of the night, if not the whole event.

To close M For Montreal the organisers have booked what seems to be the Quebecoise equivalent of Elton John, but a few years his junior, in Pierre Lapointe. Lets just say this isn't our thing but the thongs seem to enjoy it just as much as We Are Wolves. Its off to the bar for us to get a beer jacket before the cold walk home.