I often make grandiose, sweeping statements about the incredible strength of one of Montreal’s specific music scenes. Whether I’m talking about indie rockers or DJs, it really is just my opinion. That’s why it’s great to have something like the Red Bull Music Academy, which tangibly proves that when it comes to beat-based music, Montreal is probably the king of Canada…

The Red Bull Music Academy gathers musicians from around the world for a conference and concert-a-thon featuring both legends and next-big-things. As far as musical styles are concerned, the RBMA doesn’t place many limits on who can be involved, so the genres span from hip hop to dub, house to soca, drum’n'bass to, well, pretty much anything with a beat. This year it all goes down in London and, out of the 60 artists from around the world being invited, only four are from Canada. And of those four, three are from Montreal, which is objectively impressive/cool-as-heck.

So, before they head off to hold their own against the world’s best, why not come out and show your support for some of the coolest beats being made in the world? The RBMA 2010 Send-off Party goes down on December 18th at the SAT and the Montreal trio of representatives- POIRIER, LUNICE and ANGO- will all be in the house displaying the sounds that are garnering international recognition. On top of all that, RBMA graduate Hudson Mohawke and fellow Glaswegian Mike Slott, as well as Toronto’s Amenta, will be on hand to help to bring the house down in a blaze of brain and booty-bumping beats.

You can get tickets at Moog Audio (3828 St-Laurent), Off The Hook (1021a St-Catherine) and Old Gold (256 Mt-Royal). And you should get tickets, because this night looks like it might give New Years Eve a run for its money.