Pizza Bouquet sponsors Initial Shock

Initial Shock III is sponsored by Pizza Bouquet, a Montreal pizzeria that is popular for its New York-style pies & slices for eat-in or takeout.

Locally-owned and operated since 2018, Pizza Bouquet is a spot favoured by many for their large slices, 16″ pies and unique specials that make them arguably the best pizza joint in town.

They’ve now expanded their mouth-watering services to two locations: in Little Italy at 45 Rue Beaubien East (12-9pm) and at the excellent new establishment Star Bar in the Plateau located at 4671 Blvd St. Laurent (5pm-3am). Special thanks to André and the crew for sponsoring Initial Shock once again.

Advanced tickets for Initial Shock III are on sale now!

Apologist and S.D. at Initial Shock III

Rose Actor-Engel (Apologist) is a Philadelphia musician and composer. She uses synthesizer, tape and field recordings to create ambient and experimental music, implementing specific rules and protocols to determine structure.
Since 2016, Montreal based S.D. has been playing in various projects (desolatum, high grove) with a focus on tape experimentation and improvisation. Using only cassette tapes and loops, she creates dissonant ambient drones swelling into harsh textural noise often accented by unamplified wailing screams.
Advanced tickets are available!

White Centipede Noise sponsors Initial Shock

Initial Shock III is sponsored by White Centipede Noise, an esteemed noise label and podcast based in Potsdam, Germany.

White Centipede Noise podcast seeks to give language to noise through long form interviews with those in the underground. New episodes are published every other week.

WCN TV is a Patreon-exclusive media subsidiary of White Centipede Noise, going beyond the traditional podcast format into in-studio performances, mini-documentaries, and much more, with independent multimedia noise journalism as the overarching goal.

Everything operates out of WCN Studios, a brick and mortar podcast studio and noise-exclusive record shop in Potsdam, Germany.

Visit whitecentipedenoise.com for the latest label releases and access to the podcast!

Death Kneel and Mother Mary at Initial Shock III

DEATH KNEEL is the primary recording outlet of Toronto based musician Max Klebanoff. His output is characterized by unyielding binaural manipulation and unapologetic octatrack abuse. Incidental sound and electoacoustic automatic drawings dismantled and deconstructed to be recycled, again and again. Since 2014, Klebanoff and featured on notable labels Chondritic Sound, Total Black and his own imprint Life of Sensation, with new releases forthcoming on Students of Decay and White Centipede Noise.

Mother Mary is noise about a people being abandoned by it’s creator. Utilizing the aesthetics of Christianity and preaching, Mother Mary screams from a dying planet to a god that is silent. Informed equally by power electronics, films like Winter Light, Silence and First Reformed, old radio broadcasts and preacher tapes, Mother Mary is a eucharist of feedback for a world with no God.

Tickets on sale now!

Anne-F Jacques and Lyndsie Alguire at Initial Shock III

Anne-F Jacques is a sound artist based in Montreal. She is interested in amplification, oblique interactions between materials and construction of various contraptions and idiosyncratic systems. Her particular focus is on low technology, trivial objects and unpolished sounds. Also a member of a.hop and involved with presses précaires.

Lyndsie Alguire is a Tiohtià:ke-based artist who likes things bittersweet.

Her work contains through-lines of stillness, vulnerability, and longing. Using piano, synthesizer, field recordings, and voice, her work evokes images and textures that are both ethereal and broken. Live performances incorporate improvisation that strives towards “pretty speaker abuse”.

Advanced tickets available now!

Mass Marriage and Eunuch God at Initial Shock III

The first of many artist profiles in anticipation of the third Initial Shock noise festival on July 5-6, 2026 in Montreal

MASS MARRIAGE is the sound project of Mel Paget. Working within the Power Electronics/Noise genre, texture, samples, loops and synthesizers are explored and distorted into original compositions and often accompanied by vocals (live and recorded) and spoken word.

EUNUCH GOD is a viscous compound of grinding noise, sci-fi soundscapes, strident shrieks and pummeling percussion. The project takes inspiration from every facet of human neglect, indifference and oppression. It crawled out of the muck and mire of Ottawa from sheer absence of human contact during the 2020 lockdown, and has now found its home in Montreal. Over five years and numerous self-released titles since its inception, Initial Shock will be the site of creator Louis Cyr’s first ever live performance under the Eunuch God banner.

Advanced tickets now available!

Initial Shock II Wrap

The dust has settled and another Initial Shock is in the books! Thanks to all the performers, volunteers, sponsors, venue staff and attendees for making it another great edition. Initial Shock III will take place July 5, 2025 – see you then!

– Taylor & Aaron

FACTOR sponsors Initial Shock

Countdown to Saturday! The fest draws near and we’re excited to see everyone.

Last but not least, we’d like to thank FACTOR Canada for being a sponsor. A foundation long-dedicated to helping Canadian artists develop their practice, we’re happy to be partnering with them and for their interest in supporting the festival. Three days away. Advanced tickets still available. See you soon.

Exuvie at After Shock

Our latest addition to the AFTER SHOCK matinee on Sunday, July 7 is Montreal-based EXUVIE.

EXUVIE is a newly formed noise duo that blends harmonious sample collage, abrasive high pitch frequencies and gnarly electronics to create a harsh ambient sonic landscape. This is not a process of disfigurement but rather one of magnification, the aim being to render what was once peaceful as now engaging and intense.

The After Shock matinee is $10 PWYC at the door.

Advanced tickets are available for the main night of Initial Shock: https://www.venuepilot.co/events/82671/orders/new#/