SAT x OUI Québec - St-Jean After-Party (Alix Fernz • blesse • DONALDA • Cori b2b No Police)

After spending a long time exploring digital textures and the mirages of modern pop, blesse returns to the basics: a rock band. The kind built on amps turned up too loud, catchy choruses, and friendships cemented in the noise. Formed in the wake of Zen Bamboo, the trio of Léo LeBlanc, Xavier Touikan, and Charles-Antoine Olivier (CAO) first completely immersed themselves in home production and experimentation. Today, joined by Indy Bouvier (Bouvier Normal), blesse wants to reconnect with guitar riffs, sweat, and the strength of numbers. Inspired by the alternative and indie rock of their youth, the band delivers a sound that is rawer, warmer, and less filtered. A return that feels both nostalgic and liberating. Still faithful to their shared songwriting dynamic, the three musicians dive back into the spirit of their beginnings with a sharper sound. Songs about collaboration and the art of growing up without losing the fire.

Rugged, contrasting and labyrinthine, Alix Fernz’s tracks blend post-punk, hypnagogic pop, and lo-fi synthwave with hints of alternative rock, layering catchy yet distorted melodies. Bizou (April 19, 2024, Mothland), his debut album, shifts between immersive vibrancy and abrasive intensity, driven by a balance of candid songwriting and claustrophobic production. Since emerging on Montreal’s underground scene, Fernz has shared the stage with artists such as Frankie & the Witch Fingers, Kap Bambino, Deli Girls, and Omni, and has performed at major festivals including SXSW, FEQ, Francos de Montréal, and M for Montréal, as well as in London. His second album, Symphonie publicitaire sous influence, was released this fall via Mothland.

Friends and creative collaborators, Florence Lafontaine and Olivier Martin-Fréchette are two multidisciplinary artists with diverse backgrounds who create and explore French-language dance music under the name DONALDA. Influenced by UK garage, dubstep, left-field bass, and other strands of British electronic music, the Montreal-based duo also draws energy from queer nightlife culture—a key space of expression and freedom that shapes their artistic universe and worldview.

Cori is one of the brains behind T.I.T.S., a for women by women collective centered around the notion of uplifting your surroundings through a passion for the dancefloor. Whether it is through her event curator role with the T.I.T.S plateform or when she djs, Cori puts marginalized communities forward with her track selections, bookings and event concepts. Cori’s sound is focused on hard kicks, heavy grooves and ambient sounds atmosphere with an accent on more complex percussive structures. Nonetheless, she approaches djing as something that needs to be fun to be good. No genre is off limits. No rules are applicable.

No Police is a Montreal-based DJ and producer whose sound blends trance-inspired intensity with raw, emotional energy. Active within her city’s underground, she is a member of T.I.T.S Collective and a former OCTOV member, contributing to Montreal’s evolving club culture. She also founded Safe Squad, an initiative promoting safer and more inclusive spaces across the local rave scene. Her performances at Igloofest, Piknic Électronik, Stereo Afterhours, Front Rite, and OCTOV have placed her alongside artists such as Phase Fatale, Anetha, and 999999999. In 2024, she released her debut EP on Berlin’s PARA//E/ label, with the lead track 12AM gaining support from KI/KI, Hyperaktivist, and Cryptofauna. Following the release, she toured across Paris, Prague, and Berlin, expanding her reach into Europe’s underground. Her sets build worlds driven by emotion, intensity, and an unshakable sense of presence.