Il y a de cela un an, une onde de choc déferla sur la communauté musicale lorsque le Conseil des Arts du Canada lui servit un cadeau empoisonné: d’une part, il annonça une augmentation de l’enveloppe budgétaire des subventions pour la production d’enregistrements sonores, mais de l’autre, il abolissait le programme d’appui aux musiques dites spécialisées. Peu importe que l’on soit un groupe de la relève faisant ses premiers pas, un ensemble de musique expérimentale ou une formation bien établie en musique pop, tout le monde était désormais placé dans le même bateau, avec les pires conséquences imaginables. Certains appréhendaient l’hécatombe, en l’occurrence la disparition de nombreuses étiquettes de disques indépendantes laissées pour compte dans l’attribution des fonds publics. Mais en cette nouvelle année, qu’en est-il de la prétendue déconfiture de ces musiques dites marginales?
Si l’on considère le jazz, parmi d’autres musiques créatives, le désastre n’a pas eu lieu, du moins pour le moment. En fait, la production se maintient et les nouveautés continuent d’affluer. Il serait alors malvenu de sonner le glas, mais les impacts de ces politiques ne se font sentir qu’à plus long terme. Tel est le point de vue de Joane Hétu, directrice du label Ambiances magnétiques et de la maison de distribution DAME. «Il ne fait aucun doute que le milieu est considérablement fragilisé par cette politique du fédéral, mais cela ne nous a pas empêchés de produire plusieurs titres l’an dernier (voir ci-dessous) et d’en ajouter de nouveaux à notre catalogue.» Au moment de cette conversation, le tout nouvel enregistrement du trio Derome-Guilbeault-Tanguay venait d’arriver au bureau (album dont nous reparlerons autour de son lancement, prévu pour le printemps). «En 1992, poursuit-elle, j’ai assisté au passage du vinyle au CD en plus d’avoir mis sur pied DAME, un travail considérable que je devais gérer de front avec ma carrière artistique. Après tout ce temps, une certaine fatigue s’installe et j’ai envie de passer le flambeau.» Pour l’avenir, toutes les options sont ouvertes, maintient-elle, son souhait le plus ardent étant de trouver des successeurs prêts à négocier le prochain tournant, soit celui du format compact au mode virtuel. Avis aux intéressés.
blogue@press-4390
press@4390
The last couple of weeks have been quiet here at Squidco as I traveled for a week to North Carolina to visit with the folks. Patrick kept things running, and we’re back into our order cycles, so expect a number of new releases on the store by the end of week.
This entry isn’t about vacations though… more importantly, it’s to announce a great week of shows at New York City’s excellent concert venue, The Stone. This month The Stone is curated by Fred Frith, who draws near a close in a month of amazing music with the Montréal collective surrounding the label Ambiances Magnétiques. Anyone who follows our catalog knows that we’re serious fans of this remarkable set of musicians, documented by Jean Derome and Joane Hétu’s great label Ambiances Magnétiques. The scene is populated with such notable names as Derome and Hétu themselves, as well as Lori Freedman (Queen Mab) and Danielle Palardy Roger, all four of whom will be in NYC with other Montréal compatriots. For those unfamiliar, other collective members current and past include Robert M. Lepage, René Lussier, André Duchesne, Martin Tétrault, Michel F Côté and Diane Labrosse.
The last time this collective tried to play in NYC was for several nights at Tonic, an event which was wiped away by the events of 9/11. We’ve waited almost six years for them to return, and for three nights from May 25 through May 27, we’ll finally get the concerts we’ve waited so long for. Three particularly excellent shows should be Ensemble SuperMusique, which brings Derome and Hétu together with Danielle Palardy Roger and Lori Freedman, along with Nicolas Caloia and Isaiah Ceccarelli. Nous perçons les oreilles joins Derome and Hétu, who share their life in marriage along with their incredible musical efforts. Last, Wondeur Quartet, echoing the wonderful Wondeur Brass from 1988, paving the way for Justine, who released two impressive albums in the 1990’s. Sunday night’s FReC with Lori Freedman, Nicolas Caloia and Danielle Palardy Roger, should also be an excellent and rewarding show.
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L’etichetta canadese Ambiances Magnétiques — un crogiolo di produttori indipendenti — è nata a Montreal nel 1983 per volontà di Michel F Côté, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcel Lepage, Lussier, Danielle Palardy Roger e Martin Tétreault, musicisti e compositori convinti che la loro idea di musica portasse nella stessa direzione (che importa che le strade intraprese siano differenti!) e che quindi valesse la pena unire le forze per non scomparire. Creativa, indipendente, determinata, eterogenea, ecco dunque l’anima che disegna il profilo multicolore e di assoluto interesse di questa etichetta.
In questo speciale ad essa dedicato, abbiamo pensato di presentare un’intervista a Joane Hétu [per leggerla clicca qui] — direttrice della casa di distribuzione DAME, condirettrice di Productions SuperMusique, nonché membro dell’etichetta Ambiances Magnétiques — che ci sembra essere una figura "chiave" di questo movimento musicale.
Insieme all’intervista alla Hétu, abbiamo pensato ad alcune novità del ricchissimo catalogo dell’Ambiances Magnétiques che vi permettono di conoscere la scena della musica attuale promossa dall’etichetta canadese.
Pur non essendo canadese di nascita, Otomo Yoshihide sembra essersi perfettamente integrato nell’"ambiente magnetico" canadese diventando quasi uno dei pilastri poetici cardinali di questa scena. Recentemente sono stati pubblicati una serie di lavori frutto di una tournée di 15 concerti e 16 giorni effettuata in Europa nella primavera del 2003 insieme al platiniste improvvisatore di Montreal Martin Tétreault. Di questi concerti, sei sono stati registrati su diversi supporti (cdr, dat, mini-disc) e costituiscono la base delle quattro registrazioni 1.Grrr, 2.Tok, 3.Ahhh e 4.Hmmm.
Sempre sperimentali, ma su altre "corde", sono Oralizations di Paul Dutton, tutto improntato sulla ricerca vocale multi-fonica, Leaves and Snows del trio di Berthiaume, Sirjacq e Teale, con nettissimo richiamo alle sonorità e alla poetica del chitarrista Fred Frith (che tra l’altro ha inciso parecchio per l’Ambiances Magnétiques), e A Global Taxonomical Machine del trio Taxonomy, di stampo nettamente elettronico, animato da un effervescente Elio Martusciello.
Di stampo più jazzistico Mingus Erectus del Normand Guilbeault Ensemble e Jardin d’exil dell’Ensemble en pieces.
Accanto alle produzioni dell’Ambiances Magnétiques, vanno ricordati i lavori distribuiti da DAME (Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques, etc.). Fondata nel 1991 da Joane Hétu, questa distruzione è nata per promuovere su più larga scala diverse produzioni che lavorano nell’ambito della musica attuale. DAME conta oggi oltre 175 titoli e include le più importanti etichette indipendenti di musica attuale del Quebec e del Canada. Insieme ad Ambiances Magnétiques e Monsieur Fauteux m’entendez-vous?, ricordiamo anche Ohm éditions e AMIM.
Dell’etichetta Monsieur Fauteux m’entendez-vous? suggeriamo in particolare il nuovo lavoro di una delle band più rappresentative della scena rock-impro canadese, i Rouge Ciel, Veuillez procéder.
La distribuzione di DAME è di portata davvero incredibile e per tutti quelli interessati ad approfondire o a scoprire l’universo canadese non puo’ mancare un giro nel portale su cui opera, ovvero Actuelle. Qui potete trovare di ogni riguardo alle novita’ [ma anche le ancor ottime chicche del “passato”] di musica attuale canadese, avanguardia, nuova musica d’ensemble, musica per fanfare e rock attuale, musiche improvvisate, elettronica e rumorismi, jazz, musica contemporanea, canzoni e poesie.
Le etichette piu’rappresentative che DAME distribuisce sono l’Ambiances Magnétiques, Ambiances Magnétiques Jazz, ma non mancano "amici di lunga data" come Collection QB, Monsieur Fauteux, m’entendez-vous?, quelle che vengono definite le étiquettes maison.
Accanto a queste ci sono le cosiddette étiquettes vedettes ovvero la AMIM dell’Association des musiciens improvisateurs de Montréal che promuove e diffonde musiche improvvisate, le etichette canadesi &Records, Fred Records, le francesi Oreille électronique e Ouee-dire, l’etichetta canadese dedita all’improvvisazione Spool, la Squint Fucker Press e l’ottima Victo, nonché numerose altre etichette, più o meno note, attive nell’improvvisazione, nella musica elettro-acustica e nella sperimentazione.
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Of the three players on Leaves and Snows, only guitarist Antoine Berthiaume is known to me, from Soshin, a series of duets on Ambiances Magnetiques with fellow stringbenders Fred Frith and Derek Bailey.
Berthiaume is nearer to Frith than Bailey in his guitar stylings, and on Leaves and Snows he’s occasionally drawn to the tuneful end of the improvisation spectrum. Freedom Fried and Kawaidski for example, contain elegant, simple melodies and sound thoroughly composed, though they may not be, while Staring at a Western Time is suggestive of Hans Reichel mimicking one of Ry Cooder’s ’lone guitar in the wilderness’ film soundtracks.
But enough of comparisons, they distract attention from a key point - the individualism of Berthiaume’s approach, something he has in common with Quentin Sirjacq (piano, sometimes prepared) and especially Norman Teale (electronics). These players already have a distinctive music that, for all its spontaneity, is conceptually rigorous and displays a true group sensibility. They aren’t garrulous or barnstorming players - the music they make is spare and exacting, cool but not chilly, and Teale’s delicate electronic soundscaping and sensitive interactions are remarkable for such a young and relatively inexperienced player.
Each of them brings something worthwhile to the mix, and Teale’s engineering and editing of the session is exemplary- this is one of the best-sounding CDs I’ve heard for quite some time. In her brief sleevenote to Leaves and Snows, Jöelle Léandre describes the music as “profound” and “lovely”, which sums it up rather well. Consistently attractive without ever lapsing into prettiness, Leaves and Snows is a great success.
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Plongée au coeur du catalogue du label et collectif d’artistes Ambiances Magnétiques, référence en matière de musiques improvisées. Au confluent des musiques bruitistes, improvisées et free-rock, le label Ambiances Magnétiques a révélé depuis près de vngt ans, outre Martin Tétreault, une galerie de musiciens aussi épatants que Diane Labrosse ou Tim Brady. Pour s’en rendre compte, Octopus a sélectionné, parmi quelque 130 références, une poignée de disques marquants.
Le Québec recèle des trésors d’ingéniosité, fertiles en déraisons et propices à toutes expérimentations tout simplement surréelles, du fait d’initiatives reconnues internationalement aujourd’hui comme le festival de Victoriaville; les précurseurs quinquagénaires comme Fred Frith ou Chris Cutler semblent bien avoir engendré d’autres terres d’asile pour d’autres générations de musiciens complices, héritiers de mystères à la Desnos, Tzara ou du Grand Jeu. Au croisement des musiques bruitistes, improvisées et du free-rock, l’argument de ces démarches poétiques et affranchies est largement soutenu, depuis une vingtaine d’années, par des institutions nationales. Ainsi, Radio-Canada a toujours témoigné d’une ouverture et de la farouche volonté de décloisonner les genres. Son équivalent est incarné par le collectif d’artistes Ambiances Magnétiques, lancé en 1986 et dirigé aujourd’hui par la musicienne Joane Hétu. Humour, optimisme forcené et corrosif sous-tendent un catalogue qui compte aujourd’hui quelque 130 publications, et dont l’éthique n’a cessé d’évoluer, tout en restant plus homogène que les parutions des disques Victo.
Les pratiques improvisées des musiciens les plus reconnus et prolifiques se sont donné pour objectif de puiser dans le patrimoine littéraire, théâtral ou cinématographique francophone afin de refléter l’aspect le plus contemporain de la créativité de la langue. De nombreux artistes, tels Jean Derome, René Lussier ou Robert Marcel Lepage, sont passés maîtres dans l’art de décomplexer de façon réellement démocratique les postures bavardes des musiques improvisées européennes, et ce en abordant souvent de manière irrévérencieuse le soi-disant «patrimoine» des cultures officielles: détournements de swing, images rêvées de music-hall… Cette déferlante imprévisible se rattache néanmoins à une époque dont les piliers affectent naturellement une nostalgie, acoustique le plus souvent, bricolée avec bonheur. Si le cadre des «chansons» constitue la meilleure introduction à ce style québécois, les «turntablists» comme Martin Tétreault proposent de nouvelles directions, de nouveaux défrichages géographiques, souvent américains d’adoption, ou des diasporas… Ambiances Magnétiques apporte enfin un soin particulier au design, conférant par le blais de la photographie une valeur non négligeable à ces objets-traces, seules alternances au piratage MP3.
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Avec à leur tête (le poète) Frank Martel, ménestrel verbulateur, les hors-la-loi de L’Ouest Céleste sont de retour. Au programme: «chansons-comptines, rock poignard et pastiches country». La première formule est sans doute la plus heureuse pour décrire les quatorze (dont 12 ont moins de 3 minutes) courtes pièces qui composent Sautons ce repas de midi. On pourrait parler de chansons-boutades tellement les textes fonctionnent en emboîtements et évitent tout verbiage. M. Martel connaît bien l’art de la phrase, du jeu de mot et du non sens. En fait preuve le choix du nom de son groupe: L’Ouest céleste, référence ironique à la dynastie Martel? Les airs de Martel s’inspirent néanmoins des musiques américaines: folk, guitare surf, country, rock et blues autant que de la chanson. Afin de concocter ces petits univers pastichés, Martel s’adjoint les services de musiciens hors-pairs: Bernard Falaise (guitare, direction musicale), Michel F Côté (batterie) - que l’on retrouve aux côtés de Marie-Jo Thério et dans divers projets d’improvisation (Klaxon Gueule, Buire…) - et Éloi Déit (Urbain Desbois) à la basse. Malgré une voix au registre limité, Martel sait nous entraîner dans ses fantaisies ludiques avec des intonations qui, au passage, rappellent Claude Dubois, André Duchesne ou Faulkner. Musicalement difficile à étiqueter, Martel propose une chanson rock poético-absurde, une sorte de mélange risqué entre Thomas Jensen, Urbain Desbois, Sttella et Bobby Lapointe: plus maîtrisé et moins international que le premier, plus absurde que le second et moins barbu que le dernier.
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Encore peu connu de l’amateur de disques, Pierre Labbé (saxophone) présente ici un premier opus surprenant en tant que «leader». Membre du groupe (prog-rock-fanfare) de Claude St-Jean Les Projectionnistes et collaborateur du sculpteur sonore Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Labbé nous présente maintenant son propre ensemble: Bernard Falaise (guitare électrique), Frédéric Alarie (contrebasse), Claude Lavergne (batterie) ainsi que Nathalie Bonin (violon) et Julie Trudeau (violoncelle). Le saxophoniste signe ici une musique hybride où rock, jazz (clin d’œil à Ornette Coleman), musique contemporaine alternent et se mélangent dans un dialogue soutenu entre composition et improvisation. De beaux thèmes - tantôt vaguement, mélos (Le blanc des yeux), tantôt franchement ludiques (Bloops) - servent de point de départ à ces agiles constructions: véritables jeux de blocs qui font s’emboîter agilement les styles autant que la variété de l’instrumentation. Étonnamment inventive et accessible, la musique de Pierre Labbé saura plaire aux amateurs de musiques rock et jazz éclatées. À ceux qui sont tombés sous le charme des musiques de chambre de John Zorn (Masada, etc.), je recommande fortement ce disque qui vous entraînera plus avant dans l’éclectisme tout en vous faisant découvrir un créateur original de chez nous qui se fait définitivement une place unique dans le monde des musiques actuelles.
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Encore cet automne, les musiques émergentes retiennent l’attention. La scène indépendante québécoise se démarque et revendique plus que jamais sa différence face à l’industrie dominante. À quoi peut-on s’attendre au cours des prochains mois? Quels seront les artistes ainsi que les albums à surveiller? De l’électronique au rock expérimental, on dresse un portrait des sorties importantes et attendues.
Du côté de DAME, on prévoit neuf titres d’ici la mi-novembre: Speaking In Tongues d’Anandan, Golstein et Wiens, Luminance de Marilyn Lerner, Risque et pendule de l’ensemble Pierre Labbé. Également, des nouvelles sorties pour le duo Langevin-Tanguay, Robert Marcel Lepage, les jeunes musiciens de Sang9, de même que Frank Martel, Tom Walsh, ainsi que Guido del Fabro.
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In the performing trio, Fred Frith plays guitars; Jean Derome is on reeds instruments and more and Pierre Tanguay provides the percussion. The trio extemporaneously creates sound experiments which are so artfully used by recording and mixing engineer Myles Boisen that he is credited as a fourth member. Using real-time processing, this album is a string of sparse and languid improvisations where episodes of sound appear on the horizon to grow in clarity as they draw near only to receded making room for the next site on this post-psychedelic journey.
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Les Poules began as a side project for Joane Hétu (vocals, sax), Diane Labrosse (keyboards) and Danielle Palardy Roger (drums), three members of the feminist collective Wondeur Brass. The release of their first LP in 1986 cemented the relationships and the musical approach of this trio: a partly improvised form of synthetic avant-pop. The members went on to participate in many other projects. In 2000 the trio itself was resurrected as a free improv unit and a new CD came out in 2002.
The year is 1986, the location Montréal. A group of avant-rock feminists has been active for a few years under the name Wondeur Brass. Started as a political music theatre, it has evolved into a provoking experimental pop group. At that point Hétu, Labrosse and Roger, the three most avant-gardist elements of the collective, felt the need to retract from the large ensemble (which has counted as many as nine members at one point) to work on their own small-scale project, christened Les Poules - “the chicks,” a bitter name for feminists. The music on Les contes de l’amère loi, released in 1986, shows a sharper focus than Wondeur Brass’ Ravir (1985): post-new-wave in spirit, cold and chaotic, the songs left more room to improvisation and yet packed more punch. Instead of bringing back the other members of WB, on hiatus, the trio decided to sack them and hire bassist Marie Trudeau. This quartet recorded Simoneda, Reine des esclaves under the moniker Wondeur Brass before switching to Justine and releasing two more albums in the 1990s. Hétu, Labrosse and Roger continued to work on each other’s solo projects and co-run the production company SuperMusique, but everyone believed Les Poules was a project of the past.
In 2000, Hétu, Labrosse and Roger performed in Victoria and Vancouver (Canada) as a trio again and the use of their old group name came naturally. A year later, Ambiances Magnétiques reissued Les contes de l’amère loi on CD and the trio presented a concert in Montréal. No nostalgia is involved, the old repertoire has been buried. The new Poules play quiet free improvisation. Lyrics have devolved into abstract vocalizations, the keyboard licks have become treated samples, the beats have turned into textural percussion work. Prairie Orange came out in 2002.
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En la matière, le site des Ambiances Magnétiques est sans doute l’objet le plus abouti. Du rock bruitiste aux musiques improvisées, www.actuellecd.com constitue une excellente base de données, avec une multitude de liens sur les avant-gardes, dont le site de Victoriaville, autre grand festival du coin. Des news éditées, des extraits audio pour tester, voire s’éprouver, des biographies bien écrites, mais aussi des infos pratiques ou professionnelles (qui distribue quel label en France par exemple…). Un site à découvrir pour y dénicher les têtes chercheuses. […] Ça donne envie.
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En 1983, Michel Levasseur fonde le Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, et toute une nouvelle scène du Québec trouve son nom. Cousines des musiques improvisées, les musiques actuelles se définiraient comme "I’extrême dans tous les courants, que ce soit le jazz, la chanson ou le rock. Des sphères très différentes, amenées à se rencontrer", selon la saxophoniste et vocaliste Joane Hétu.
Cette même année, un collectif de musiciens (Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Robert Marcel Lepage, et René Lussier) prend le nom d’Ambiances magnétiques. Il sera rejoint deux ans plus tard par Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle P. Roger, puis Michel F. Coté et Martin Tétreault. Si Ambiances magnétiques est devenu aujourd’hui le label emblématique de ces nouvelles musiques, la réussite n’était pourtant pas évidente: "Au Québec, les gens sont toujours très surpris de voir que les musiciens de musiques actuelles tournent à l’extérieur, sont connus et reconnus. La musique instrumentale est mal perçue. Comme une plante indigène, qui pousse très bien, adaptée au climat; même si les gens s’entêtent à planter des tulipes", précise Jean Derome.
En vingt ans, la scène des musiques actuelles n’a cessé de gagner du terrain, et de se diversifier. En 1991, Joane Hétu fonde la compagnie de distribution Dame, sur la base d’Ambiances magnétiques. Une structure à but lucratif, qui permet d’obtenir les soutiens financiers devenus indispensables. Depuis, le label a signé plus de cent disques, et Dame gère aussi la distribution d’autres étiquettes. Ces dernières années, les métissages musicaux sont synonymes d’un véritable décloisonnement, et d’un important renouvellement du public. Pour Michel Levasseur, fondateur du festival de Victoriaville, "dans les années 80 et 90, le public venait du jazz d’avant-garde, mais aujourd’hui la plupart du jeune public vient de la scène du rock, grâce à la popularité de groupes comme Sonic Youth, ou God Speed You Black Emperor!" Membre de ce groupe montréalais, Mauro Pezzente a ouvert le club Casa Del Popolo, devenu le point de rencontre entre la scène francophone et anglophone. Tom Walsh (trombone) ou Rainer Weins (guitare) s’associent aux précurseurs d’Ambiances magnétiques, qui eux-mêmes parrainent une nouvelle génération. Formation emblématique de ces dernières années, Klaxon Gueule réunit Bernard Falaise (guitare), Alexandre Saint-Onge (basse) et Michel F Côté (batterie). Un trio qui délaisse aujourd’hui l’instrumentation traditionnelle pour se tourner vers l’électronique, une musique bruitiste aux textures sonores d’une grande richesse. Alexandre Saint-Onge s’associe par ailleurs à l’anglophone Sam Shalabi, figure de proue de la scène électronique, dont Montréal devient peu à peu une plaque tournante sur le continent américain.
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En Amérique du Nord, le Québec fait figure de trublion. Et l’impact planétaire du Festival de Montréal cache en partie la forêt: depuis quelques années, une identité du jazz au Québec transparaît. Sous l’impulsion des «parrains» Vic Vogel et Bernard Primeau dans un premier temps, la création du label Effendi, remarquable vitrine, plus récemment: un jazz ancré sur la mélodie et l’ampleur du chant. Même si quelques agitateurs viennent y semer des herbes plus folles.
Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson, ou Paul Bey y sont nés. Dans les années 50 et 60, les nuits montréalaises sont rythmées par des dizaines de clubs de jazz, où se produisent notamment le guitariste Nelson Symonds, le contrebassiste Charlie Biddle, le batteur Bernard Primeau, ou Vic Vogel, futur chef d’orchestre d’un big band qui deviendra légendaire. Une scène essentiellement anglophone, qui s’affirme dans la tradition du jaz américain. On voit tout juste poindre l’éclosion d’une nouvelle génération qui prend plus ouvertement ses distances avec son voisin. Mais elle grandit sous le signe d’une certaine morosité. À la fin des années 60, le maire de Montréal souhaitant débarrasser la ville de la mafia, ferme clubs et cabarets. Suite aux mouvements souverainistes, de nombreux anglophones quittent le Québec, et la chanson, relayant ce souci identitaire, éclipse presque les autres formes musicales. En quelques années, la scène florissante du jazz connaît de sérieux revers.
C’est au début des années 80 que le jazz québécois prend véritablement son envol. Oliver Jones (piano) entame une carrière internationale, Michel Donato (contrebasse) et Karen Young (chant) renouvellent l’art du duo, et Uzeb avec Alain Caron (basse) surfe sur la vague du jazz-rock. La création du festival de jazz de Montréal fait figure de révélateur (voir ci-après), fidélisant peu à peu un nouveau public, ouvrant des perspectives inédites pour les musiciens. Dans la foulée, le label Just’ln Time (fondé en 1983) commence à témoigner de l’effervescence et servira d’exemple. Car Montréal attire de plus en plus les musiciens pour des loyers peu élevés et des universités (notamment l’anglophone McCill) dont l’enseignement musical gagne en réputation.
Au cours des années 80 et 90, apparaissent notamment sur le devant de la scène les saxophonistes Charles Papasoff, André Leroux, Joël Miller, Christine Jensen, Rémi Bolduc, Yannick Rieu, François Carrier, ou Frank Lozano, les pianistes Lorraine Desmarais, Yves Léveillé, Thüryn Von Pranke, Eric Harding, les guitaristes Sylvain Provost, Norman Lachapelle, Greg Amirault, les contrebassistes Normand Guilbeault, George Mitchell, ou les batteurs Michel Lambert, Thom Gossage, Karl Jannuska et Martin Auguste. Une communauté qui se retrouve souvent dans des formations parallèles (notamment autour du label Effendi). Citons aussi le trompettiste et arrangeur Bill Mahar, et son Altsys Jaz Orchestra, ou encore le jeune groupe [iks], autour du bassiste Pierre Alexandre Tremblay.
Parallèlement, I’émergence: des musiques actuelles se concrétise autour du festival de. Victoriaville et du label Ambiances magnétiques (voir plus loin). Peu à peu, les différentes scènes vont se rencontrer. René Lussier invitant Frank Lozano, ce dernier formant par ailleurs le groupe Maze Lacuna avec Rainer Weins (guitare préparée) et Thom Gossage (batterie).
Face à cette efférvescence, le problème de la diffusion se pose encore plus crûment. Certains musiciens montent leur propre label, à l’instar de Lorraine Desmarais (piano) ou Charles Papasoff (saxophone), d’autres enregistrent pour la première fois grâce à de toutes nouvelles compagnies: DSM, Lost Chart, Red Toucan, ou encore Victo (émanation du festival de Victoriaville). La politique culturelle du Québec remplit alors pleinement son rôle, notamment grâce à la Sodec, qui apporte son soutien à l’industrie du disque, à côté de celle du cinéma. En 1999, Alain Bédard et Carole Therrien créent Effendi, devenu en trois ans le label de référence du jazz québécois. Originaire de la ville de Québec, Alain Bédard y débute sa carrière en tant que contrebassiste, à la fin des années 70, aux côtés notamment de Pierre Tanguay (batterie). Le jazz s’y démarque alors de Montréal, par une vision moins traditionnelle, et un fort ancrage mélodique. Un esprit qu’Alain Bédard s’attachera à retrouver avec Effendi. Une démarche de producteur, mais pas seulement: «Effendi est né d’un besoin collectif, les musiciens avaient des projets qui n’aboutissaient pas, précise Alain Bédard. Au Québec, il y a très peu d’agents ou de tourneurs, donc il a fallu aussi y penser, assurer nous-mêmes la gestion, chercher des subventions pour les projets. Je suis toutes les étapes. Mais surtout je veux travailler avec des musiciens qui se prennent en main, qui veulent développer leur carrière. Beaucoup préfèrent rester à Montréal enseigner et jouer de temps en temps, plutôt que de vraiment s’investir.» Le problème est posé. Si le Québec fourmille d’excellents musiciens, nombre d’entre eux sont sédentaires et souffrent d’un certain syndrome du sideman. À l’instar de Frank Lozano (saxophone): «Je joue dans beaucoup de formations, et j’enseigne à l’université McGill. Si je me sens bien en tant que sideman, c’est aussi par paresse. Cela prend beaucoup de temps d’avoir sa propre formation, plus d’administration et moins de musique. Donc, pour le moment, je préfère jouer dans les groupes des autres et leur apporter ma musique.» D’autres musiciens sont plus tranchés, tel Yannick Rieu: «Que faire pour survivre ? Enseigner, ou changer de pays. Il faut bouger, on n’a pas le choix.» En effet, le boom du festival de Montréal cache le problème crucial des lieux de concerts. Si d’autres festivals ont vu le jour au Québec (Rimouski, Chicoutimi), les salles dédiées au jazz se font rares même à Montréal, en dehors des clubs (I’Upstairs, le Biddle’s), et de certains bars tels l’Escogriffre et le Sergent recruteur. Quant à jouer dans le reste du Canada, ou aux États-Unis, il est souvent plus facile de penser d’abord à l’Europe. Les musiciens québécois seraient-ils condamnés à s’exporter? François Théberge a choisi la France, tout comme le batteur Karl Jannuska, plus récemment. Rares sont ceux dont l’horizon se limite aux frontières de leur pays, mais ceci ne leur est sans doute pas exclusif.
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Active since the mid-’80s, Montréal jazz bassist Normand Guilbeault splits his time between post-bop jazz sessions with his Ensemble and more cutting-edge avant-garde jazz as sideman for various artists related to the collective Ambiances Magnétiques. His most ambitious project to date is the historical jazz opera Riel: plaidoyer musical / a musical plea, for 15 musicians. He is co-founder of the OFF Festival de Jazz de Montréal, an alternative, counter-event of the Jazz Montréal Festival.
Guilbeault first got noticed on the Montréal jazz scene in the groups of pianist Jean Beaudet and drummer Bernard Primeau in 1985. From the start, his ease of play, elegant improvising and clean sound were appreciated. He soon recorded his first studio session: Primeau’s Perspectives, released in 1987. Performances and recordings alongside Yannick Rieu, Nelson Symonds and François Marcaurelle followed before the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the bassist formed his Normand Guilbeault Ensemble in 1988. First a quartet comprising trumpeter Ivanhoe Jolicoeur, clarinetist Mathieu Bélanger, and drummer Paul Léger, it expanded to a quintet with the arrival of trombonist Michel Ouellet in 1991. Guilbeault’s intent was to have a bass-led group in the vein of Charles Mingus’ and Oscar Pettiford’s, with a repertoire of compositions by bassists. But with the years, the group developed its own repertoire, gradually moving out of jazz standards and into something more contemporary. A first album, Dualismus, came out on Red Toucan in 1994, the same year the Ensemble won the DuMaurier Jazz Award at the Montréal Jazz Festival. Two more CDs with Jean Derome as guest followed in 1995 and 1996 on Justin Time. The Jazz Report Magazine from Toronto declared the Ensemble Best Jazz Acoustic Group of 1997.
Derome opened a door to the avant-garde scene and the bassist’s interests began to shift. His playing grew freest while retaining a strong jazz flavor. By the mid-’90s Guilbeault had completely renewed his roaster of collaborators and become a trusty sideman for most key Ambiances Magnétiques artists. He contributed to Derome’s large-scale projects, Michel F Côté’s soundtracks and his group Bruire, Robert Marcel Lepage’s free jazz trio, and René Lussier’s ensemble. Supported by the label, he created his Riel at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in 1998 and toured it in Canada for a couple of years. A recording came out in 1999.
In 2000, Guilbeault joined forces with Marcaurelle, Jean Vanasse and Pierre St-Jak to organize the first OFF Montréal Jazz Festival. Born out of a profound dissatisfaction with the official event’s focus on big international stars, the OFF programmed local jazz musicians, premiered encounters and presented left-field music the real festival disregarded. The OFF was back the next year with support from the alternative press.
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Geneviève Letarte is an artist before being a singer. Her musical career is only one of many facets she has integrated to her art. A poet, novelist, lyricist, and performance artist, she is loosely associated with the Montréal avant-garde music collective Ambiances Magnétiques, but also with the poetry/spoken word scene (both francophone and anglophone). Her albums are few and far between.
Letarte was born in Quebec City in 1955. At age 20 she went to Paris to study literature and cinema for two years — at the time an obligatory sojourn for Quebecer intellectuals. She had already started to write for various literary magazines (her name would appear in La Vie en Rose, La Nouvelle Barre du Jour, Estuaire, Moebius, and the New York magazine Bomb, among others). She launched her professional career in 1982 with her first interdisciplinary performance “Transit Station” (also the title of her firstbook). The next year she presented “Sirène Serpent Zoulou,” a show of music and poetry with Serge Boisvert. From there she developed a growing interest in music. She briefly collaborated with the all-female group Wondeur Brass with which she shared a feminist philosophy, but her first musical break came in 1987 when Ambiances Magnétiques member René Lussier invited her for a guest appearance at his duo concert with guitarist Fred Frith at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. Lussier and drummer Michel F Côté (also of AM) helped her write, arrange, and produce her first album Vous seriez un ange (“You’d be an angel”), released in 1990 on the collective’s label.
During the next decade Letarte juggled writing, songwriting and performance art. She wrote the lyrics to La légende de la pluie, a 1992 performance and album by Justine, Tenko, and Zeena Parkins. She appeared at the Victo festival (1990), the Vancouver Jazz Festival (1995), and a number of poetry events in America and Europe. 2000 saw her focus again on music, first with a word/sound performance with electroacoustic artist Chantal Dumas, then with a new CD, Chansons d’un jour, co-written with guitarist Claude Fradette (of Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar).
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Led by guitarist Philippe Venne and dominated by the exuberant drummer Frédéric Lebrasseur, the Quebec City group Interférence Sardines puts on the table an updated version of the Rock-in-Opposition sound. They take their cue from Henry Cow, but also from Central-European folk and rock musics (Dunaj, Uz Jsme Doma), Quebec musique actuelle (André Duchesne in particular), and Frank Zappa. The Sardines play complex but very lively instrumental pieces, along with the occasional oddball song. After a first album self-released in 1997, the group got signed to the prestigious Montréal label Ambiances Magnétiques.
The group started in early 1996 from an impulse from Venne, its main composer. A music student like most of his bandmates, Venne recruited Andrée Bilodeau (violin, voice), Lyne Goulet (saxophone), friend Jimmie LeBlanc (bass), and Lebrasseur, a maverick virtuoso able to do things with two hands you probably couldn’t do with five (provided you’d even imagine doing them in the first place). The Sardines played their first gig on April 4 that year. LeBlanc soon left to study classical guitar. His replacement Sébastien Doré had barely time to come to grasp with the material before the group started work on their first album, financed in part by a provincial program for workforce development. In 1997 they won first prize at the CONGA, a talent competition held at the Université Laval. Mare Crisium was released shortly after and the group continued to perform sporadically in Quebec City and Montréal.
In 1998 the Sardines appeared at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. A year later Goulet called it quits on the count of a pregnancy. A second violinist, Marc Gagnon, was brought in the fill the void, steering the group’s sound closer to the Klezmer/Gypsy paradigm. Work on a second album began in late 1999, but it would take two years to complete Zucchini, finally released in November 2001 on Ambiances Magnétiques. Meanwhile group members got involved in a string of other projects, the most active being the neo-trad party group Les Batinses (with Bilodeau and Lebrasseur).
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Born out of the Montréal-based avant-rock group Wondeur Brass, Justine pushed further the ideals of challenging, thought-provoking feminist rock established in its previous incarnation for another ten years. The group released three albums during the 1990s and toured Canada, the United States,and visited Europe twice. Three of its musicians are members of the collective Ambiances Magnétiques, so the label released all their albums.
Wondeur Brass started as a sextet in the early ’80s. By 1987 the group had been scaled down to a quartet. Bassist Marie Trudeau had joined the three original members saxophonist Joane Hétu, keyboardist Diane Labrosse and drummer Danielle Palardy Roger. That line-up released Simoneda, reine des esclaves in 1987.
Upon starting work on a new opus in 1989, the girls decided it was time for a change. The new music taking shape was turning out to be more complex, intricate, and driven by a stronger will to improvise and make things interestingly dangerous. Thus Justine was born. The first album under the new name, (Suite), came out in 1990. It included guest appearances by Japanese singer Tenko and American harpist Zeena Parkins. In 1992, Hétu, Labrosse and Roger brought them back for a quintet project, La légende de la pluie. Although it doesn’t include Trudeau and sounds softer, more introspective, it can be considered as the second album by Justine. Around the same time the “real” quartet appeared on stage in an Ambiances Magnétiques showcase which yielded the live CD Une théorie des ensembles.
In early 1994 Justine toured Europe, visiting many former communist countries. Back in Montréal in June they recorded Langages Fantastiques “live in the studio” — the recording of (Suite) had stretched over ten months. After its release later that year things slowed down as group members focused on individual projects: Roger on the children tale L’oreille enflée, Labrosse on a solo album (La face cachée des choses) and a duo with Michel F Côté, Hétu on a new group called Castor et Compagnie. Justine stayed together for another three years and performed at the 1997 Ring Ring festival in Belgrade (Yugoslavia) alongside Ground-Zero, Palinckx, and Kampec Dolores (a previously unreleased song was included on the commemorative compilation Ring Ring 1997). After that tour the group disbanded. Hétu, Labrosse and Roger have continued to contribute to one another’s projects.
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Danielle Palardy Roger is the lesser known among the three female members of the Montréal musicians’ collective Ambiances Magnétiques. The drummer always kept a lower profile than Joane Hétu or Diane Labrosse (not to mention male counterparts like René Lussier or Jean Derome), especially since the disbanding of the group Justine. She rarely leads her own band, but she still performs regularly on the Montréal free improv circuit and composes contemporary classical music (for the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, among others). Maybe more importantly, her company Productions SuperMémé-SuperMusique has become a major producer of new music events.
Roger met keyboardist Labrosse and saxophonist Hétu in the late 1970s through the loose experimental collectives that took turns animating the Montréal underground back then. Like them she is self-taught on drums. The trio founded Productions SuperMémé-SuperMusique in 1979 to take care of their own business and started playing together. With a couple more women they formed Wondeur Brass, whose first album came out in 1985 on the label Ambiances Magnétiques, immediately after they were asked to become members of the collective. Roger was also part of the trio Les Poules with Hétu and Labrosse, a group that moved away from the Rock-in-Opposition sound of the other outfit to explore freer grounds.
Wondeur Brass made a second LP in 1988, Simoneda reine des esclaves, before transforming into the quartet Justine with Roger, Hétu, Labrosse, and bassist Marie Trudeau. With this group the drummer toured Canada, the US, and Europe, appearing at the RingRing Festival (Belgrade) in 1997. The group disbanded shortly after. While her colleagues moved on to solo projects, Roger focused on the company they had co-founded and of which she became the sole director.
Roger has only one solo album to her credit, the creative children tale L’oreille enflée (1994). The release of Tricotage, a duo session with bassist Joëlle Léandre in 2000 marked her come-back on disc.
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In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Martin Tétreault was the quietest member of Ambiances Magnétiques, Montréal’s influential new music collective. He was providing strange turntable collages to the projects of his colleagues and released a couple of mind-boggling solo albums. When minimal techno and experimental electronica hit the museums at the turn of the millennium, he became the label’s biggest international name, multiplying collaborations with the likes of Otomo Yoshihide, Kevin Drumm, Xavier Charles, and Janek Schaefer. This career boom was accompanied by a stylistic shift from vinyl quotation to an approach of the turntable as a “pure” sonic device. In the process, what he lost in sense of humor, he gained in harsh intensity.
Tétreault has a background in fine arts. Much like the Czech radical artist Milan Knizak, he began to work with vinyl because paper led him to a dead-end. In 1984, for the first time he took an LP, cut it in half, flipped one piece over, pasted it back together, and played the result on a turntable. Tétreault continued to experiment at home, developing cutting and skipping techniques and collecting hundreds of cheap records he found at fleamarkets. Three or four years later, his next-door neighbor overheard his shenanigans. It was Ambiances Magnétiques guitarist André Duchesne, who quickly introduced Tétreault to his group of musician friends. Michel F Côté enrolled him in his ensemble Bruire. The turntablist’s first appearance on record can be found on the 1989 LP Le Bbarman a tort de sourire. He remained with the group throughout the 1990s and beyond. He also played with René Lussier, Jean Derome, and Diane Labrosse.
His first large-scale album, Des pas et des mois, came out in 1990. Then, besides the occasional Bruire album, Tétreault kept a rather low profile. Things changed in 1997-1998 when he began to let go of quotation and cut-ups to develop a more textural style that eventually saw him throw away the record to play the turntable itself, sticking the tone-arm in the motor, placing the needle directly on the platter, etc. These new developments were at the heart of his duo with René Lussier, introduced by the highly abstract and noisy Dur noyau dur in 1998. A participation to the Japanese project Four Focuses opened doors; so did a subsequent duo session with Yoshihide (21 Situations, 1999) and a solo CD for the Belgian label Audiophile (La nuit où j’ai dit non, 1998). By then, the turntable had become a trendy instrument of avant-garde expression and Tétreault embarked on a busy touring and recording schedule. In 2002, he curated the “Turntable Hell” tour (in England) financed by the Contemporary Music Network.
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A pianist and keyboardist based in Montréal, Guillaume Dostaler is what you can call a trusty sideman. He is a favorite collaborator among Ambiances Magnétiques artists and has appeared on records by Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage, Joane Hétu, Patrice Desbiens and Nathalie Derome. His work with international artists has been limited, mostly because of his preference to remain in Montréal, but he played with Lawrence “Butch” Morris on his visit to the city. He is a gifted pianist with a mind opened to new ideas.
Dostaler had a classical music upbringing and studied piano at the renowned École Vincent d’Indy in Montréal. He started playing professionally in the early 1980s with a number of ensembles, mostly in jazz and new music, but also briefly performed funk. His first gigs included Karen Young, René Lussier, Lepage, and Derome. His seat in the latter’s avant-jazz group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms throughout the 1990s is what brought him the most attention. With this group he recorded three CDs for the label Ambiances Magnétiques (Carnets de voyage, 1994; Navré, 1995; Torticolis, 1998) and appeared in dozens of jazz and new music festivals across Canada (Montréal, Vancouver, Guelph), the United States (Edgefest in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Europe (Moers in Germany, Banlieues Bleues in Paris, France).
When Morris came to conduct a Montréal ensemble in 1995, Dostaler enlisted and so appears on the document Conduction 23 (1996, NewWorld). But his talent both as a cutting-edge improvisor and imaginative sideman are better illustrated on Derome’s witty Je me souviens and Hétu’s minimalist Musique d’hiver. He also toured Quebec as part of performance artist/singer Nathalie Derome’s trio for Les 4 Ronds Sont Allumés.
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Although active as a professional guitar player since the end of the 1970s, Canadian Rainer Wiens has constantly been falling through the cracks ofthe recording industry, leaving very little trace of his work and only since he moved to Montréal in the mid-’90s. Except for a couple of free improv records and participations in projects by members of the collective Ambiances Magnétiques, Wiens’ music has been related to the stage (dance, theatre, new opera) and thus remains largely undocumented.
Wiens studied guitar with John Becker, Allan Torak, and Tony Bradan. He also studied improvisation and jazz harmony with New York pianist and noted educator Barry Harris. This private instruction prepared him for every possible work in the jazz business and soon Wiens was working the Toronto club circuit as a sideman for a constellation of local names. In 1978 he formed the left-field jazz group Silk Stockings. It toured throughout the 1980s, making appearances at various jazz festivals in Canada, but also in England and Hungary. During that period the guitarist forged himself a personal form of expression, abstract but with a lot of charm. He makes extensive use of the prepared guitar, often approaching the instrument more like a Gamelan ensemble than something with six strings.
Since the late 1980s, his focus shifted toward a collaboration with artists from other fields. The 1990s saw him writing small-scale operas with librettist Victoria Ward (“Homeless,” “Down Here on Earth”), scoring music for films by Barbara Sternberg (“C’est la Vie,” 1997; “Like a Dream That Vanishes,” 1999), and collaborating with dancer Lucie Grégoire. He co-founded with Jan Komarek the Sound Image Theatre where he supplied music for many productions.
In the mid-’90s he moved to Montréal and hooked up with the musicians of Ambiances Magnétiques. His solo album Bonunca Dream Music, self-released in 1995, was picked up for distribution by the collective’s label. A trio session with longtime partners Malcolm Goldstein and John Heward (Chants cachés, 1999) helped bring some attention to his work. Heco-founded the group NOMA with trombonist Tom Walsh and by 2002 was leading his own group Follow Follow.
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Throughout the 1980s and most of the ’90s, René Lussier was the prime mover on Montréal’s new music scene. His guitar work has been compared to Fred Frith, with whom he has often toured and recorded. Spread between solo work, duos and large ensemble pieces, between studio compositions, structured improvisation, free improv and film music, his impressive body of work represents a full course in “musique actuelle,” a term he helped to peg down. His masterpiece remains the speech-music collage Le trésor de la langue which earned him the Paul Gilson Award in 1989. He also received the Freddy Stone Award in 1996 for his contribution to Canadian new music.
Lussier began to play guitar in high school bands. He started to develop his own brand of jazz-meets-folk-meets-freak in the collective Conventum. This group included guitarist André Duchesne with whom he stroke a lasting friendship. He recorded two albums with Conventum and a handful of film scores, the first of what would become an endless list (over 50 by 2001). After the group’s disbanding, Lussier enrolled in the Grand Orchestre de Montréal, an experimental fanfare of sorts where he met Nébu saxophonist Jean Derome. Together they recorded music for the National Film Board of Canada and got involved in many projects, some of which included Duchesne and clarinetist Robert Marcel Lepage.
The four of them founded the collective and record label Ambiances Magnétiques in 1983. That year Lussier released his first solo album, Fin du travail (Version 1), the title of which (“Finished work [1st version]”) already displayed his uncanny sense of humor. His big break came in 1986 when Michel Levasseur, artistic director of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV), proposed a duo concert with Fred Frith. Henry Cow and the whole Rock-in-Opposition movement had been a big influence on Lussier — this was his chance. The resulting album Nous Autres introduced him to an international audience. In 1988 Frith invited him and Derome to join Keep the Dog.
In 1989, with the help of Frith and a cast of Ambiances Magnétiques players, Lussier recorded Le trésor de la langue. Pushed by its political resonances, the album became the label’s biggest seller and the first classic item in the history of musique actuelle. Further albums, solo and with Les Granules, established him as a highly creative and witty composer and improviser. But as years passed Lussier felt the collective weight more and more on his shoulders. The mid-to-late ’90s saw him experimenting with more abstract forms of improvisation with mixed results and severing links with old friends, including Derome when he left his band Les Dangereux Zhoms. In 2001 he resolutely stepped away from the collective and released CDs on Ohm Editions and La Tribu. The album Tombola Rasa and a country-folk project with American maverick Eugene Chadbourne indicated a return to earlier pleasures at the start of the new decade.
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If we could give a prize to the most valuable Ambiances Magnétiques sideman (or woman), it would go to drummer Pierre Tanguay. Even though he is not one of the nine core members of the collective, he appears on more albums put out by its label than any one of them! But his career cannot be pinned down to the Montréal avant-garde scene. He has also been a valued sideman on the jazz scene, playing with Eric Longsworth, Jean Vanasse, Karen Young and a dozen of others, and is active in world music, especially with his Mediterranean folk group Strada. In Montréal he occupies a place comparable to Hamid Drake in New York.
Tanguay was born in Quebec City, 1957. He began as a jazz drummer, finding inspiration in the playing of Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell and Paul Motian. A professional musician since 1978, he also studied African percussion for two years in the Comores Islands and went to Paris to study tablas and Indian music with Anand Kumar. When he settled in Montréal in the late ’70s, he was already an accomplished player. One of the first musicians he hooked up with was saxophonist Jean Derome who would later co-found Ambiances Magnétiques. Tanguay has been his trusty partner for decades, first in the scrapyard ensemble Les Patenteux du Québec and later in Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms and Derome Tanguay Danse.
Still, at first Tanguay let the Ambiances Magnétiques musicians pursue their experimentations, preferring to ride a softer avant-garde jazz wave. In the ’80s he was part of Icarus with cellist Eric Longsworth and participated in bassist Pierre Cartier’s ensembles. His relentless working schedule and rare listening quality and musicianship established him as a leading session drummer. With Cartier and Derome he formed the Thelonious Monk tribute trio Évidence and by the mid-’90s he was involved in all major projects by Derome, René Lussier, Robert Marcel Lepage, Joane Hétu and Diane Labrosse. With the Dangereux Zhoms et toured Europe and the US, appearing at every major jazz festival.
Tanguay prefers the role of sideman, but he has occasionally stepped to the front of the stage, particularly in free improv duets with trombonist Tom Walsh (the album Midi Tapant came out in 1998) and Derome (Pinc! Plonc! in 2001). In 2000 he released a first solo album, La musique de mon disque, a collection of experimental ambient percussion pieces. Around the same time he also began to write and perform music for film, theatre and dance.
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Keyboardist and sampler artist Diane Labrosse is a core member of the Montréal avant-garde music collective Ambiances Magnétiques. In the 1980s she took part to a string of avant-pop feminist groups. Later she switched from keyboards to the sampler and from rock to electronica improv. Although she has released solo albums, her best known works have been with collaborators Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault. She also appears on numerous albums by other Ambiances Magnétiques artists, especially Jean Derome, Joane Hétu and Michel F Côté. She is co-founder and artistic co-director of the Montréal-based concert production company Productions SuperMémé.
Labrosse was gravitating around L’Enfant Fort and the Pouêt Pouêt Band, collectives of left-field musicians that predate the beginnings of Ambiances Magnétiques. There she met saxophonist/singer Joane Hétu and drummer Danielle Palardy Roger. Together they formed the all-girls group Wondeur Brass. Her quirky keyboard playing which made use of unusual “post new-wave” sounds gave the band its signature on the two LPs Ravir (1985) and Simoneda, Reine des Esclaves (1988). The trio also performed under the name Les Poules, recording one album in 1986 (the unit was revived as an improv project in the early 2000s) and with bassist Marie Trudeau as Justine in the early 1990s, Labrosse’s closest brush with fame, at least in Eastern Europe where the group built a cult following.
In 1985, along with her colleagues she was asked to join Ambiances Magnétiques. There she developed a special affinity with drummer Michel F Côté both in and outside music. She contributed to his first two Bruire albums (especially Les Fleurs de Léo), recorded a duo CD with him (Duo Déconstructiviste) and together they wrote the music for Robert Lepage’s play La Géométrie des Miracles (Geometry of Miracles) and toured with his technological cabaret Zulu Time.
Labrosse released her first solo CD Face cachée des choses in 1995, at the end of Justine’s career and before joining Hétu’s new group Castor et Compagnie. It focused for the first time on the sampler as an instrument, a soft-noise direction she would stick to from then on. Île Bizarre (1998) with Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault revealed her work to an international audience. With Tétreault she toured Europe and eventually released the duo CD Parasites (2001).
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A Montréal avant-rock group with ties to the Ambiances Magnétiques collective, Papa Boa is one of many projects involving Bernard Falaise and Rémi Leclerc. The group writes complex songs out of studio improvisation sessions, including lots of sampling and oddities, and is driven by Falaise’s highly original guitar work. They have one album out.
In 1991, Falaise, drummer Rémi Leclerc (of Miriodor and various projects by André Duchesne) and bassist Frédéric Roverselli struck a friendship. Out of it came Papa Boa, at first a loose studio collective to which reedist Pierre Labbé was later added. All members (minus Labbé, a jazzman) have a rock background and their first intention was to explore freer structures that would include electronics. Their first experiments consisted mostly of improvisations. The group debuted on stage in 1991 during the Festival du Théâtre des Amériques in Montréal. The next few years saw little activity, the unit being used mostly as a laboratory as Falaise and Leclerc’s profiles were constantly on the rise in avant-rock circles.
The group provided the soundtrack to Michel Lefebvre and Eva Quintas’ multimedia work Liquidation in 1997. Engagements began to pile up, leading to an active period of three years. The quartet (occasionally augmented by guests such as Marcelle Hudon and storyteller Michel Faubert) performed concerts at various Quebec festivals (Festival des Musiques Fraîches in Quebec, Festival des musiques de création in Jonquières). They built a repertoire of quirky angular songs and recorded Tête à queue, their first CD. It was released in May 1999 by Ambiances Magnétiques. Performances at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 2000 and the Montréal Jazz Festival the following year raised the group’s profile, but the members’ other projects finally claimed them back and Papa Boa went dormant.
blogue@press-2101
press@2101
Put together by Montréal guitarist André Duchesne, Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar was a conceptual electric guitar quartet (plus drums), something rarely seen before. His longest-lasting project (four years), it was also the one that got the most international attention, thanks to the presence of ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler (some say it served as the blueprint for the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet). The group released two LPs on Ambiances Magnétiques in 1987 and 1989, although titles and recording dates are willingly misleading — after all, this was a band from the future. Both albums have been reissued in 1995 by ReR Megacorp under the title World Tour ’98 (see what I mean?).
In the early ’80s, André Duchesne was writing avant-rock songs — something like This Heat with a Quebec twist (see his LP Le Temps des Bombes, 1984). But by 1986 he was working on a series of cuntrapuntal pieces for guitar quartet, a cross between Robert Fripp’s circular motifs and Fred Frith’s angular playing. He drafted René Lussier and Jean-Pierre Bouchard, colleagues from the late-’70s avant-folk collective Conventum, and Roger Boudreault. The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville expressed interest to premiere the project in October 1986, but Duchesne still needed a drummer. He rang up Chris Cutler, as former Henry Cow members and the Ambiances Magnétiques collective were multiplying collaborations and associations at the time (Lussier and Fred Frith would play as a duo at FIMAV that year too). Cutler’s group Cassiber was already part of the festival’s line-up, so arrangements were made and the 4 Guitarists of the Apocalypso-Bar began rehearsals.
Duchesne had a concept, inspired by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix himself (or so the tongue-in-cheek liner notes to the first LP stated). This was the resident band at the Apocalypso-Bar, a joint in post-apocalypse Canada. They were sleek, they were hot, they obeyed all the laws of early 20th century dance bands: they wore white suits and tiger ties, sat down to play (the soloing guitarist got to stand up) and bowed down in unison to applause. Tournée Mondiale ’89 came out in 1987 (it’s a studio album, in case you wonder). The group toured Canada, the US and Europe, appearing among other places at The Kitchen in New York. A second album was recorded in early 1989 (Fin de siècle, once more ahead of its time), but by then Duchesne was already experiencing problems keeping the band together. Claude Fradette replaced Boudreault and young Miriodor drummer Rémi Leclerc filled in whenever Cutler was unavailable. Nevertheless the concept was wearing thin, so the group split shortly after. Duchesne went on to form Locomotive, bringing along Fradette and Leclerc.
blogue@press-2100
press@2100
In the mid-’90s, Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms was Montréal saxophonist Jean Derome’s prime project. The group released three albums from 1994 to 1998. Although activities have slowed down, it continues to perform around the world — in the Ambiances Magnétiques roaster it stands as the most popular act abroad.
1992 was a good year for Jean Derome. He recorded the final (and best) album by his duo Les Granules with René Lussier and the first by his trio Évidence, among many other projects including music for dance and theatre. He was touring like crazy and began to keep a travel diary in which he jotted down musical impressions. It appeared to him that this “road music” screamed for a band of its own. Drawing from all of his activities, he put together Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms (“Jean Derome and the Dangerous Guyz,” to pick up the intentional misspelling in the last word). The group, conceived as a road band just like the music, consists of the avant-garde jazz trio Évidence (Derome, bassist Pierre Cartier and drummer Pierre Tanguay), plus Les Granules (guitarist Lussier), plus two of Derome’s regular sidemen, trombonist Tom Walsh and keyboardist Guillaume Dostaler.
For this unit Derome penned a repertoire of pieces that blend avant-jazz, avant-rock and free improv, focusing on jazz stylings Évidence derived from Thelonious Monk, the saxophonist’s idiosyncratic contrapuntal writing and the warped stage humor that was the trademark of Les Granules. They gave one hell of a dynamite show. The Dangereux Zhoms began to perform in Montréal and the East Coast. A first CD, Carnets de Voyage (“travel diaries”) was recorded and released in 1994. Navré came out a year later. The group continued to tour extensively, in the US and soon in Europe too. By the end of 1997, tensions between Derome and Lussier had reached new heights and the two parted ways after two decades of close collaboration. The group was put on hiatus and Derome produced a live album from tapes recorded at the Théâtre La Chapelle in Montréal in February 1996. Torticolis was released in 1998 and the three Dangereux Zhoms CDs were packaged together as the box set 1994-96. The chapter was closed… or so it seemed.
In 1999 Derome reactivated the unit, minus Lussier. Local performances have been sparse and limited to special events (like a two-week Derome residency/retrospective at the same Théâtre La Chapelle in 2000), but the group still performs regularly outside Montréal and has appeared at jazz festivals in Guelph and Vancouver and at the 2001 RingRing festival in the Czech Republic.
blogue@press-2099
press@2099
A core member of the late-’70s avant-folk collective Conventum and co-founder of the “musique actuelle” collective and record label Ambiances Magnétiques in the early ’80s, André Duchesne has been both quieter and louder than his acolytes. Quieter because he released albums at the rate of a trickle; louder because his guitar riffs take him closer to the essence of rock than any other AM musician. His recorded output shows interests in avant-prog, rock ’n’ roll, film music, symphonic extravaganzas, free improv and solo classical guitar.
Duchesne is a son of Montréal. He learned the acoustic guitar like most of his teen buddies in the 1970s. But unlike them he was not satisfied with Harmonium and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s strum-along songs. Teaming up with René Lussier, Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Jacques Laurin, Bernard Cormier and poet Alain-Arthur Painchaud he formed Conventum, an influential underground unit that blended Quebec’s folk roots with absurd poetry and progressive arrangements. The group recorded two LPs (À l’affût d’un complot, 1977 and Le bureau central des utopies, 1979).
In 1983 Duchesne, Lussier, Jean Derome and Robert Marcel Lepage threw together the basis of Ambiances Magnétiques, an artist-run label devoted to avant-garde music. His first album to come out was the collection of modern rock songs Le temps des bombes (1984). His next project, more successful, was the four-guitar rock quintet Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar, which included Lussier and Bouchard from Conventum, plus Roger Boudreault and ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler, from England. This group also recorded two LPs and toured Europe and the US before splitting up.
The early 1990s saw Duchesne active on various fronts. He recorded film music for the Gagné brothers (the soundtrack of “Le Royaume ou l’Asile” is the only one available) and premiered his most ambitious work ever, L’ ou ’L, at the FIMAV festival in Victoriaville in 1990. The orchestral overtones of this piece were soon counterbalanced by the raucous riffs of Locomotive, still Duchesne’s best album and band (with guitarists Claude Fradette and Francis Grandmont, and drummer Rémi Leclerc).
After 1992 Duchesne went very low profile, appearing on albums by modern trad singer Michel Faubert and sporadically putting together rock bands that never recorded (Diesel, No Band’s Land). His 1999 anti-climactic come back Réflexions featured him solo on classical guitar and was not what fans had been hoping for. The 2001 offering Polaroïde is a free improv trio session.
blogue@press-2098
press@2098
Évidence is a jazz trio based in Montréal and solely devoted to the repertoire of Thelonious Monk. Its biggest particularity is its lack of a pianist. Led by Jean Derome on alto saxophone, the group gives highly personal renditions of Monk tunes, illustrating why jazz innovators quickly hailed him as major figure.
Évidence started in 1985 but its roots extend as far back as 1973 when Derome and bassist Pierre Cartier included Monk pieces in the repertoire of their duo “Flûte et Basse.” The idea of a Monk-exclusive formation came from saxophonist Sylvain Leroux in 1982. The group included Cartier and Derome and was named “Mysterioso” (the title of one of the pianist’s tunes, of course). They played the Montréal Jazz Festival that year, before Leroux left to work in the United States. The two remaining members kept things alive and when drummer Pierre Tanguay settled in Montréal in 1985 he was immediately drafted and the unit rechristened Évidence. Other musicians have performed with the trio, including pianist Guillaume Dostaler, clarinetist Jean-Denis Levasseur and drummer Michel Ratté, but most of the time it performs and records as a trio.
For many years, the group remained a hobby for the three musicians, an excuse to get together and revel in Monk’s music. Since each of their rare live appearances seemed to draw a big crowd and sympathetic reviews, they decided to record a studio album. Musique de Thelonious Monk came out in 1993 on the avant-garde music label Ambiances Magnétiques (which Derome co-founded in the early 1980s). It remains to this day one of its most listener-friendly titles. In 1999, Évidence embarked on a series of concerts meant to cover the repertoire in its entirety, but plans failed when the art space Casa Obscura had to close down. A couple of evenings had already taken place and the CD Live à la Casa became the group’s second offering in 2000.
blogue@press-2097
press@2097
Saxophonist, singer, improviser, composer, and record label manager Joane Hétu ranks among the pillars of the Montréal avant-garde music scene revolving around the collective Ambiances Magnétiques. A small but very stubborn woman, she made a career for herself starting out of nowhere at age 19, to become a successful businesswoman and a vocalist with a very distinctive style. She has recorded many albums with the groups Wondeur Brass, Justine, Les Poules, Castor et Compagnie, with her husband Jean Derome and solo.
A Montrealer born and raised, Hétu turned to music in 1977, at age 19 when she started to learn the alto saxophone by herself, with no notions of music theory. Two years later she briefly fell in love with pianist Pierre St-Jak who introduced her to an eccentric bunch of artists tied to the Pouet Pouet Band and L’Enfant Fort (which years later would evolve into the Fanfare Pourpour). These experimentalists confirmed her musical vision. With keyboardist Diane Labrosse and drummer Danielle P. Roger she formed the feminist avant-rock group Wondeur Brass, learning the basics of music during rehearsals. In 1985 the three members were asked to join the collective Ambiances Magnétiques, recently established by Robert Marcel Lepage, René Lussier, André Duchesne, and Jean Derome (the latter would become her life and major musical partner). Wondeur Brass released two critically acclaimed albums in the mid-’80s (Ravir and Simoneda, Reine des Esclaves). Hétu, Labrosse and Roger played in two similar projects, Les Poules and Justine, and toured North-America and Europe.
In 1991, at a time when the volunteer structure of the collective was becoming a burden on the shoulders of its members, Hétu created DAME (Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques Etcetera), a record label/distribution outlet with the aim to regroup local independent avant-garde labels under one roof. Her dedication to the company convinced federal and provincial governments to start subsidizing avant-garde music a little more and the Ambiances Magnétiques catalog began to grow steadily. Meanwhile, she formed her own group Castor et Compagnie in 1992 for which she wrote a repertoire of twisted erotic songs, and performed with many of the other AM members’ projects. In the late 1990s her impetus shifted from avant-gardist songwriting to improvised music with Nous perçons les oreilles (with Derome) and her solo album Seule dans les chants. The beautiful Musique d’hiver showcased her talents as a composer.
blogue@press-2095
press@2095
Alexandre St-Onge is an ambiguous artist from Montréal. He started playing free jazz on double bass and quickly developed into a sound/performance artist. He belongs to the generation of experimentalists and improvisors that came after the Ambiances Magnétiques collective and was actually instrumental in establishing some contacts between that group of artists and the younger ones revolving around Godspeed You Black Emperor! He has released a few solo albums and recorded and performed with Klaxon Gueule, Undo, Et Sans and Shalabi Effect.
St-Onge studied double bass. Little is known of his formative years, but his first major musical activity was being recruited by Ambiances Magnétiques drummer Michel F Côté to form the free improv trio Klaxon Gueule (also with Bernard Falaise). A first album, Bavards, came out in 1997 on which St-Onge performs in a classic American free jazz style. By the time the group’s second CD Muets was released two years later he had abandoned conventional playing, focusing on effects, electronics and textures, dragging the formation into European-style electro-acoustic improv.
In the meantime the bassist had met the other, mostly anglophone Montréal avant-garde scene, collaborating with the likes of Sam Shalabi (in his Shalabi Effect with albums out on Alien8 Recordings), David Kristian (the trio Kristian Shalabi St-Onge, also on Alien8), and conceptual artist Christof Migone, once of the Quebec sound art collective Avatar. St-Onge released a first solo album, Image/Négation in early 1999. It established his fondness for the exploration of silence and noise, relating his work to artists like Francisco López, John Duncan, Bernhard Günter and John Hudak.
On his second solo effort, Une mâchoire et deux trous (1999, Namskeio) he built eery textures by putting contact microphones in his mouth. This idea was developed into a performance art concept with Migone in the duo Undo. The pair also founded the record label Squint Fucker Press in 2001. Meanwhile St-Onge reached a certain level of success with the avant-psychedelic outfit Shalabi Effect. He also recorded an album with Godspeed You Black Emperor!’s Roger Tellier-Craig as Et Sans.
blogue@press-2094
press@2094
A Montréal native, where he is still based, guitarist Bernard Falaise exploded on the new music scene in the late ’90s, appearing in many Ambiances Magnétiques-related outfits, especially in avant-rock oriented groups that included drummer Rémi Leclerc (Miriodor, Les Projectionnistes, Papa Boa). He is also active on the free improv scene, playing with Klaxon Gueule and Robert Marcel Lepage among others. His distinctive guitar style, at times raw and twangy, at others highly atmospheric, set him apart in the same class of originals as René Lussier. He is also a much in-demand record producer and has composed contemporary classical music in his spare time for the tango ensemble Quartango and the saxophone quartet Quasar.
Falaise was born in 1965. Little is known from his formative years. He picked up the guitar in his teens and came to music from the progressive side of rock — King Crimson’s Robert Fripp is an obvious influence. He studied music and started to work professionally in the early 1990s, joining the avant-prog group Miriodor. The group’s fourth album, Jongleries Élastiques, came out in 1995 and introduced his playing to fans of the genre. The enthusiastic response to the album ensured he was dutifully acknowledged for his important contribution to the group’s refreshed sound.
Miriodor drummer Rémi Leclerc was already well acquainted with the avant-garde music collective Ambiances Magnétiques and he introduced his friend. Falaise quickly became a favorite sideman and enrolled in Claude St-Jean’s Les Projectionnistes, Michel F Côté’s Klaxon Gueule, Duchesne’s Diesel (sadly undocumented), and started the group Papa Boa with Leclerc, saxophonist Pierre Labbé and bassist Frédéric Roverselli.
In 1999-2000 Falaise diversified his activities, reaching a wider audience. He co-wrote with Côté the music for Robert Lepage’s film “Nô” and began to work with alternative pop artists. He co-produced the first album by Jorane in 1999 and the next year produced and played on Marie-Jo Thério’s acclaimed CD “La Maline.” The number of awards and praise this album gathered assured him a first-class status as cutting-edge producer. In the meantime he released his first solo CD, Do, a collection of multi-tracked guitar pieces.
blogue@press-2093
press@2093
Au début des années 80, un groupuscule de musiciens travaillait d’arrache-pied en vue de doter le Québec d’une avant-garde musicale qui lui serait propre. Improvisations pures et dures, expérimentations bruitistes, ses créations, sises quelque part entre musique contemporaine et free jazz, en effrayaient plus d’un.
Vingt ans plus tard, la scène de ce qu’on appelle désormais la musique actuelle a considérablement évolué. Se donnant des moyens à la hauteur de leurs ambitions, les Jean Derome, René Lussler, Pierre Tanguay et consorts ont fait connaître leurs musiques bien au-delà du Québec, acquérant au passage une réputation des plus enviables.
Les rouages du genre Le Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) est l’un des moteurs importants du développement de l’avant-garde québécoise. Créé en 1983, il a été - et demeure toujours - une vitrine internationale pour les musiciens, en plus d’être la pierre d’assise du genre grâce à la tradition qu’il a su instaurer. Cela tient beaucoup à la vision du directeur artistique et fondateur du festival, Michel Levasseur, pour qui tradition et avant-garde n’ont rien d’antinomique: «Je ne crois pas au rejet de la tradition ou des anciennes valeurs, on construit toujours à partir de quelque chose, explique-t-il. À Victo, on a cette préoccupation-là depuis les débuts, on a commencé par inviter les anciens comme Sun Ra et Terry Riley pour ensuite établir un lien avec des musiciens de tous les pays.»
Outre le FIMAV, le milieu a su se doter d’infrastructures particulièrement efficaces afin de permettre aux musiciens de diffuser leurs créations malgré leur peu de moyens. C’est ainsi que divers labels comme le vétéran Ambiances magnétiques ou le récent Alien 8 sont nés, que la compagnie de production Supermémé-Supermusique a vu le jour, ainsi que la compagnie de distribution DAME, qui assure la production, la promotion et la diffusion internationale des diverses étiquettes qu’elle chapeaute.
«Je soutiens autant les bons coups que les mauvais coups, indique la musicienne Joane Hétu, qui est à la tête de DAME depuis sa création, ii y a 10 ans. Mon but n’est pas mercantile, je bâtis une collection de disques. La dernière parution m’intéresse, mais je garde actif dans mon catalogue celui que l’artiste a sorti il y a 10 ans, car si je ne le fais pas, c’est fini et on passe ça dans le broyeur de l’oubli. Et comme c’est de l’avant-garde, il faut voir ça à long terme: le disque que je sors présentement, je n’en vendrai presque pas. Je vais en vendre dans trois ou cinq ans.»
Un public grandissant Avec les années, il semble que la musique actueile effarouche moins les gens. Ils sont en effet de plus en plus nombreux à s’intéresser au genre et les albums des artistes de l’avant-garde québécoise, qui ne s’écoulaient naguère qu’à l’étranger, se vendent beaucoup mieux au Québec. Même un dialogue s’instaure entre les diverses scènes: on a récemment vu le guitariste Bernard Falalse (Minodor, Klaxon Gueule) travailler auprès de Marie-Jo Thério, tandis que René Lussier faisait paraître son album Tombola Rasa sur une étiquette grand public (La Tribu).
Les Québécois s’intèresseraient-ils davantage à I’avant-garde? «C’est indéniable, croit Joane Hétu. Les choses que l’on pouvait faire dans les années 80 et qui pouvaient passer pour des choses incroyables comme mettre une cymbale à I’envers ou mettre une voix dans un mégaphone, on retrouve ça partout dans la pop d’aujourd’hui. L’oreille bouge, les gens bougent et les gens s’habituent à ces sonorités là. L’avant-garde est toujours récupérée.»
Cette récupération de l’avant-garde et de divers éléments de la musique actuelle cause bien des maux de têtes à certains artistes qui s’interrogent à savoir s’ils sont en train de se faire dépasser par la présente vague de musique électronique. Crainte non fondée selon Michel Levasseur: «Il y a présentement une tendance à valoriser la nouvelle technologie qui, d’après moi, est erronée, explique-t-il. Car en bout de ligne on parle de musique et de sons, et pour moi la source sonore n’est pas si importante que ça. On peut atteindre l’extase du son par n’importe quelle sorte de moyen, que ce soit par une instrumentation dite conventionnelle ou non.
Une relève en parfalte santé
En plus de son public qui va grandissant, le milieu de la musique d’avant-garde compte un bassin de musiciens de plus en plus important. Provenant d’horizons aussi divers que le jazz, le postrock ou la musique électronique, ils sont nombreux à suivre les voies tracées par les Robert Marcel Lepage, Diane Labrosse, et Jean Derome et même à collaborer avec eux, qu’il s’agisse d’Alexandre St-Onge, de Dave Kristian ou de la formation Interférence Sardines. La prochaine édition du FIMAV, qui se déroulera du 16 au 20 mai, devrait d’ailleurs en témoigner avec éloquence.
Selon l’auteur-compositeur et guitariste Sam Shalabl (Shalabi effect, Detention), I’une des figures de proue de la relève, I’effervescence que l’on trouve dans le milieu s’explique en partie par l’esprit d’équipe qui y règne: «Le dialogue entre les différentes générations de musiciens est excellent et ce qu’il y a de nouveau, c’est l’éclatement du cloisonnement de la langue et de la culture. Les scènes anglophone et francophone ne se mélangeaient pas avant et depuis quatre-cinq ans ça semble vraiment changer.»
Malgré un creux de vague du côté de la diffusion et des tournées à I’étranger, il apparaît indéniable que la musique actuelle québécoise est en excellente santé et que les conjonctures actuelles laissent présager un avenir des plus prometteurs. Shalabi, qui a quitté l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard il y a dix ans pour s’installer à Montréal ne cache pas son optimisme: «Quand je suis arrivé à Montréal, il ne semblait pas y avoir tellement de musiciens et de gens qui s’intéressaient à cette musique, mais depuis, il y a vraiment eu un boom. Je crois que ça va continuer à être en santé, car beaucoup de ces jeunes musiciens apportent quelque chose de neuf à cette scène et à cette pratique musicale. Je crois que ça n’ira que mieux, peut être pas sur le plan monétaire, mais sur le plan créatif, assurément!»
blogue@press-2020
press@2020
La musique actuelle, c’est aussi une façon toute particulière d’envisager la chanson. Aux antipodes des univers plates et ronronnants, voici des chansons naïves, des chansons trash, des chansons tordantes et même des chansons romantico-ravagées, qui cohabitent sur ce disque haut en couleur. Dix-huit grands succès, dont aucun n’aura tourné sur les ondes sourdes des radios sans âme.
blogue@press-2039
press@2039
As the title suggests, a set of vocal performances, 18 in all, from the last 15 years of the remarkable Ambiances Magnetiques crowd. One normally associates musique actuelle with avant-garde work in the area between contemporary classical and jazz, but this group of songs comes mainly from the Québécois folk tradition. And if they aren’t classics, pieces like La bombe (Les Granules), Esti qu’est belle ta peau (Nathalie Derome), Trains, Trains (Andre Duchesne) and. P’tit pain (Jean Derome and René Lussier) should be. Beautifully packaged, an aid for the linguistically challenged, and an open invitation, to… chante! 4/5
blogue@press-1750
press@1750
Cinquième compilation pour le regroupement de musiciens d’Ambiances Magnétiques, cet opus est composé de 18 chansons pigées dans le répertoire des enregistrements parus ces quinze dernières années. C’est éclectique, ludique, jamais banal et souvent très drôle. La plupart des musiciens qu’on entend ici ont fait partie de plusieurs formations au fil de ces années: les Jean Derome, Pierre Tanguay, Joane Hétu, René Lussier, Diane Labrosse et plusieurs autres se retrouvent ici, dans quelques instantanés glanés dans le catalogue d’une étiquette qui est devenue au fil des ans la référence la plus importante en musique actuelle au pays. Abordée par la chanson, cette musique qu’on n’entend à peu près jamais à la radio pourra amadouer les plus timides; les autres auront envie d’entendre la suite sur les albums originaux. On y retrouve des accents country, avec La Bombe, des Granules, beaucoup de sensualité avec Nathalie Derome et Geneviève Letarte, ou avec l’impudique Ah! les beaux jours, de Joane Hétu et des chansons étonnantes, comme la Salade du chef de René Lussier et Pierre Tanguay ou la schizophrénique Liberté de Diane Labrosse. Une rétrospective délirante de chansons inconnues.
blogue@press-1865
press@1865
Geneviève Letarte présente son deuxième opus, dix ans après le premier, tandis qu’une nouvelle venue, Nathalie Derome, offre à nos oreilles ses chansons parodisiaques. N’étant en général que peu sensible aux chansons proprement dites - tout en étant en mesure de les apprécier pour elles-mêmes mais sans forcément chercher à les réécouter - j’y cherche d’autres points d’appui: une voix, un accompagnement, des arrangements susceptibles de motiver une réécoute. À l’évidence, et au-delà des textes eux-mêmes qui méritent dans les deux cas d’être entendus, ce sont les chansons parodisiaques de Nathalie Derome qui m’accrochent. Alors que l’accompagnement des Chansons d’un jour reste délicieusement sans surprise, celui de Les 4 ronds sont allumés fourmille d’effets, de trouvailles, enrobant le texte d’un halo un peu mystérieux suscitant une interactivité renouvelée pour chaque pièce entre les instrumentistes (René Lussier, Guillaume Dostaler) et l’accent si typique de la chanteuse.
blogue@press-1687_101
press@1687_101
Unexpected and quirky songwriting make up the singular assembly of tracks on this compendium. The French-Canadian art-pop gems here are strange and wonderful approaches to songwriting by artists largely of the Montréal electro-acoustic scene known for tape collages and musique actuelle. Here they produce experimental Arcadian folk songs, bizarre transmogrifications of French pop and more. Among the artists present are Pierre Tanguay, René Lussier, André Duchesne and more. (4. 5)
blogue@press-1548
press@1548
I can honestly say that Chante! is a thoroughly charming recording. "Charming" isn’t an adjective I often use in describing stuff from Ambiance magnétiques. Esoteric? Yes! Provocative? Yes! Imaginative? Yes indeed! Oddly enough, though, the result of compiling these individual tracks from eighteen distinct AM releases is such that I can only describe it as "charming!" The cast of characters is familiar to longtime Splendid readers: René Lussier, Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Pierre Tanguay and others. Each track seems to have been touched by many of the same hands, yet each is quite distinct. Some are jazzy, some are folksy, some are bluesy, some are atmospheric, and all are clever and creative. But while a whole album of any one of these styles might leave me feeling oversaturated, in this more limited context I find myself both enjoying the current track as well as eagerly anticipating what will come next. If I had to pick a favorite piece, I’d go with Les Granules’ excellent, tongue-in-cheek La bombe.
blogue@press-1539
press@1539
This CD is a compilation of 18 songs from the Ambiances magnétiques repertoire, dating from 1985 to 2000. It highlights the various style of musical compositions that is available from the label. The main attention of this volume is on the French-Canadian song writing. With other words various kinds of songs we can find from fun music, rock and roll, chanson towards experimental. And the language is French, beside of one number. There is an atmosphere that surrounds this CD. An atmosphere that only French music is able to make. Or is it the precious choice of music on the CD. It feels as you are in a dark smoky pub and the singers passes one by one the review. Precious music from which the texts you can find in the booklet.
blogue@press-1522
press@1522

blogue@press-1576
press@1576
Belle compilation pour célébrer 15 ans de chansons chez DAME. 18 titres de 1985 à 2000, d’une homogénéité surprenante, tous judicieusement choisis par Joane Hétu. En tout, plus d’une heure de musique. Des trucs récents (Diane Labrosse, Nathalie Derome, Geneviève Letarte, Papa boa) et d’autres plus anciens (Les Poules, Wondeur brass, André Duchesne). Chose rassurante: même les vieux trucs sonnent encore bien aujourd’hui. Après l’échec de la dernière compil mystère, celle-ci se veut beaucoup plus accessible, moins expérimentale. Quelques points forts: la Salade du chef de René Lussier et Pierre Tanguay, Let’s get lost de Michel F Côté, La mer à boire de Papa boa. André Duchesne et Diane Labrosse signent deux titres chacun. Belle pochette, beau livret. De plus, l’album est offert à un prix modique. Vendu! Une bonne façon de (re)découvrir les talents de chez DAME. (8. 5/10)
blogue@press-1546
press@1546
Quinze ans de chanson québécoise comme vous ne l’entendrez probablement jamais à la radio. De la chanson fraîche, éclatée, doublée d’un bras d’honneur à tout ce qui s’appelle stéréotype. Voilà ce que nous propose Ambiances magnétiques chante!, une compilation de 18 titres tirés d’autant de disques enregistrés entre 1985 et 2000 par 17 artistes ou ensembles évoluant sous le chapiteau de l’avant-garde. Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, René Lussier, Pierre Cartier et autres créateurs affranchis nous laissent ainsi leur carte de visite dans une combinaison inattendue de paroles et de musiques authentiquement différentes de ce que prônent les canons commerciaux. Un des charmes de l’affaire, c’est qu’on nous fait ici la démonstration que la musique dite «actuelle», n’est pas qu’affaire de bruitisme. Chansons iconoclastes et pissantes (La bombe, P’tit pain), chansons touchantes (Trains Trains), chansons d’amour ou de cul (Esti qu’est belle ta peau,Ah, les beaux jours) qui, en dépit d’une certaine inégalité, nous font passer un sacré bon moment. À elle seule, la Salade du chef de René Lussier et de Pierre Tanguay (chanson à répondre rythmée sur battements de pieds) a de quoi donner une bonne dose d’ardeur militante à quiconque nourrirait quelques soupçons à l’endroit de la bouffe génétiquement modifiée. L’actualité dans sa version consciente et pas coincée. Une vraie petite boite de bonbons surets! ***
blogue@press-1497
press@1497
Ambiances magnétiques, c’est un peu l’envers de la musique québécoise. Bien qu’on associe habituellement cette étiquette de disque avec le créneau exploratoire des «musiques actuelles», sa cinquième compilation dresse un portrait assez vaste de la chanson d’ici dans tous ses états. On rassemble une vingtaine de créateurs et créatrices qui font subir à des formes connues des contorsions étonnantes. Ce tour de chant inusité passe par des voix qui s’opposent à une quelconque sécheresse de l’inspiration créatrice. L’art du conte, de la chanson savante et de l’improvisation musicale se croise de manière à toujours maintenir l’auditeur en alerte. Ça va de La Bombe très country des Granules à l’enlevante Salade du chef du tandem Lussier-Tanguay. On réécoute avec plaisir les tournures ludiques de Nathalie Derome, de même que la fraîcheur poétique et toute simple d’une Geneviève Letarte. Il reste que cette compilation ne se dévoile pas toujours facilement du début jusqu’à la fin. De Papa Boa à Wonder Brass, la Jonglerie expressive peut distraire. Les tonalités fort différentes se rencontrent parfois pour le meilleur comme pour le pire. À défaut de pouvoir tout apprécier à sa juste valeur, le principe de la compilation d’artistes permet souvent d’ouvrir des univers sonores qui aussitôt se referment sur eux-mêmes. Une fenêtre intéressante où l’audace se mêle à la simplicité jouissive des Ambiances Magnétiques.
blogue@press-1420
press@1420

blogue@press-1575
press@1575
From time to time Ambiances magnétiques gives light to a compilation-cd. On this volume 18 different pieces are collected and are a good introduction for those who want to discover this beautiful label. Pieces by Duchesne, Papa Boa, Labrosse, Tétreault, Lussier, Côté, and many others should attrackt you
blogue@press-1502
press@1502
The second disc commemorates 15 years of song on the Ambiances magnétiques label. Chante! collects 18 previously released tracks by the likes of Diane Labrosse, Nathalie Derome, Michel F Côté, René Lussier, Papa Boa, Les Granules and a host of others who have demonstrated that the avant-garde and traditional songwriting have ample room in which to mingle. The compilation is an eclectic mix of styles and genres (feel free to put an presumptuous “avant-" in front of any the following terms: rockabilly, popular, jazz, big band, blues… you name it and it’s here). Peculiar, funny and spirited, this is a vibrant compilation that will surely be welcome by anyone interested in turning songwriting traditions on their heads.
NB: Unfortunately, the only problem with both of these releases is the lack of translations. Of course, providing a translation might defeat the purpose of most of this music, but at least some context would have helped a listener like me, whose french language skills are lacking the versatility and fluency necessary to understand the compressed idiom of these lyrics. The lyrics obviously pique my curiosity and so I end up spending half my day wrestling with what little french I know, studiously bent over my dictionaries. That being said, much of this music will be lost on those lacking a working knowledge of french, so buyers beware.
blogue@press-1501_002
press@1501_002
Pour sa cinquième compilation, la vaillante étiquette montréalaise Ambiances magnétiques, fer de lance de la scène «actuelle» québécoise, a décidé de souligner les liens qu’elle entretient depuis toujours avec la chanson. Une panoplie de chanteurs tantôt excessivement musicaux (Joane Hétu, pour qui la voix s’utilise comme un saxophone), tantôt raconteurs (Geneviève Letarte, Nathalie Derome et - encore - Hétu, grande amoureuse des mots). Des débuts (Wondeur Brass, Les Granules) aux récentes explorations de Papa Boa et Michel F Côté, voilà un portrait en paroles d’une musique qui a peut-être plus à voir avec la musique populaire qu’avec le free jazz, contrairement à ce que véhiculent les clichés. Une incursion idéale dans le monde de l’actualisme. 3,5/5
blogue@press-1415
press@1415
Chez Ambiances magnétiques on aime bien montrer sur quel rebrousse-poil on se frotte. Eh oui! Les spécialistes de la musique actuelle sont aussi compositeurs de chansons. Version naïve, version trash, version tordante, version tordue et même version romantico-ravagée. Mais oui, c’est bien de la chanson, de la chanson qui aurait pris un «petit fort» avant d’aller au bal. Une bonne idée, déclinée en 18 petites bouchées prises dans tout le répertoire. Avec même de grands tubes comme Salade du chef, hilarante chanson de René Lussier et Pierre Tanguay, ou l’inénarrable La bombe pondue par les Granules (Jean Derome et René Lussier). Bien sûr ces grands succès n’ont jamais été diffusés par des réseaux aux ondes sourdes. La vie qui bat fait parfois trop de bruit.
blogue@press-1414
press@1414
En terminant, mentionnons aussi la parution d’Ambiances magnétiques chante!, compilation qui illustre bien les liens étroits qu’entretiennent depuis toujours la musique actuelle et la chanson.
Ces trois galettes seront lancées au Cheval blanc le 27 février (dès 17 h), avec performances-surprises à l’appui. On a beau avoir insisté, il nous a été impossible de savoir qui allait jouer le soir du lancement; mais connaissant le penchant de ces musiciens pour l’improvisation, on risque d’avoir droit à une joyeuse fête spontanée.
blogue@press-1409_003
press@1409_003
The production of the Montréal record label Ambiances Magnétiques always oscillated between avant-garde song writing and free improvisation. The former was very important in the early days (1985-1990), later left aside (during the mid-1990s) and finally regained interest at the turn of the century. Ambiances Magnétiques, Vol. 5: Chante! 1985-2000 compiles songs from a broad range of artists on the label and presents them in a comprehensive and exciting way. Although this CD is made of all previously available tracks (two were still unissued on CD: the Wondeur Brass and Les Poules selections), special care has been put in the running order, which makes it enjoyable as a whole. The label had to stretch the definition of the song format a lot to find enough material, though. Selections from Wondeur Brass, Justine, Papa Boa, André Duchesne and Joane Hétu are all strong avant-rock songs. The more classy contemporary song stylings of Pierre Cartier and Geneviève Letarte bring a pensive touch to the ensemble, but one can question the presence of more atmospheric or improvised pieces like Diane Labrosse’s Constellations and Liberté, or Martin Tétreault and Michel F Côté’s Juin. All lyrics are sung in French of course, but in most cases they are not essential to the comprehension of the music itself. Ambiances Magnétiques, Vol. 5: Chante! 1985-2000 does not bring anything new to the table, but it reminds us of the label’s commitment to song writing and makes a good introduction to the more accessible portion of its catalogue.
blogue@press-2078
press@2078
This volume is the most intimate. Here are compositions which uses classical instruments or samples of sounds or a combination of it all. Almost all compositions are processing very slowly and brings you an intimate atmosphere, an almost fine mix of experimental music and contemporary classical music. Reviewing these CD’s is very hard thanks to the quality of musical style, they should really be obtained by true music lovers.
blogue@press-2013_103
press@2013_103
“This is an anthology of unpublished works by the nine active members of Ambiances Magnétiques; an unforgettable musical odyssey for unexpecting music lovers.” Tells us the cover of this compilation. This compilation is different from the first 2 volumes. The music on this CD sounds more as comtemporary classical music and modern jazz. We have here compostions, no songs, with classical instruments and sometimes voice, used on a non-conform way so that true intelligent music is created. And again musical experiments that goes beyond contemporary classical music.
blogue@press-2013_102
press@2013_102
Volume 2, Hourra pour la bastringue — While volume 1 has a jazzy tune this one goes to big city café music. Imagine a dark pub situated in small alley filled with smoke, where a band is playing in a corner. If you are able to imagine this then you are able to get the atmosphere that the music brings on this CD. Again sometimes the atmosphere is broken on a pleasant way with musical experiments.
blogue@press-2013_101
press@2013_101
Hourra pour la Bastringue! is the second sampler from the Montréal label Ambiances Magnétiques. While La Bastringue Migratoire covered twelve years of existence and had over 30 albums to select material from, this second installment covered only the 1995-1997 production. And since the booklet from Volume 1 already contained historical and contextual overviews along with presentations on every artist, Volume 2 was packaged with only a catalog (no booklet). As with Volume 1, all tracks were previously released (except for three of them taken from albums that would be on record store shelves later in 1997) and therefore interest for the connoisseur is very limited. The neophyte will find a truncated overview of the label’s production: 1995-1997 marked the release of many albums by Jean Derome (four), Robert Marcel Lepage (four including one re-issue) and René Lussier (four including two re-issues). For a brief moment, Ambiances Magnétiques started to re-issue its first LP-only releases from the mid-1980s and these are also represented here. At the time of its release, Hourra pour la Bastringue! was recommendable only to those who felt a little lost in the sudden burst of releases coming from Ambiances Magnétiques and needed a map.
blogue@press-1868
press@1868
There is nothing mysterious in Mystère, label Ambiances Magnétiques’ four installment in its sampler series. Yes, the track list at the back of the box gives only a list of track numbers with durations — but the card inside contains all the usual information on artists, track titles and albums. Really, nothing to get excited about and no unreleased material. These are sixteen tracks taken from the sixteen albums Ambiances Magnétiques released between 1997 and 1999. If anything, this sampler, compared to volumes 1 (1983-1995) and 2 (1995-1997), shows how much these musicians’ focus has shifted in the mid-1990s from deconstructed pop to free improv. Track selection is inspired. Since there were extensive artist presentations and historical overviews of the label in Ambiances Magnétiques, Volume 1: La Bastringue Migratoire (1996), Mystère is only accompanied by a card with the track list.
blogue@press-1651
press@1651
Faire de la musique libre au Québec n’est pas une entreprise de tout repos; peu de public, manque de scènes attentives à cette nouvelle expression musicale, quasi indifférence des instances culturelles et des médias. Malgré ce, deux labels ont su s’imposer à force d’investissement et d’implication. Ambiances Magnétiques et Victo ont chacun à leur manière réussi à faire exister une scène québécoise à l’étonnante diversité. Petite visite guidée.
Ambiances Magnétiques
Ambiances Magnétiques est né au début des années quatre vingt grâce au saxophoniste Jean Derome et au guitariste René Lussier. Suite à une série de concerts pour instruments et bandes magnétiques sous l’intitulé Ambiances Magnétiques, les deux musiciens décident de prendre en charge la production et la diffusion de leurs enregistrements, les quelques rares structures existantes ne désirant pas s’encombrer de tels musiciens iconoclastes. Avec pour modèle les européens de Recommended Records allait naître Ambiances Magnétiques, coopérative de musiciens et rassemblement de producteurs indépendants. C’est ensuite au tour de Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse et Danielle Palardy Roger, alias le groupe Wonder Brass, de rejoindre le collectifen 1985. Avec Robert Marcel Lepage, Michel F Côté, André Duschesne et Martin Tétreault, autres musiciens du collectif, le label doit faire face aux pires difficultés pour que soit reconnue à sa juste valeur une musique éclectique et insaisissable. Le gouvernement québécois n’accordant aucune subvention au label, les musiciens se rabattent sur le Conseil des Arts du Canada, lequel finance individuellcment les artistes. Mais il faut aussi faire face au peu d’intérêt que portent le Canada et les Etats-Unis à cette libre musiquc (20% seulement des ventes). C’est en 1990 que le label s’empare du format compact-disc; Luc Beauchemin, Fabrizio Gilardino et Anna Morelli créant un lien graphique évident entre les différentes pochettes tandis que le studio 270 de Robert Langlois devient le point de ralliement des artistes du label. Un an plus tard, Joane Hétu, désormais capitaine du navire Ambiances Magnétiques crée DAME (Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques Etcetera), et distribue outre le label maison, les firmes Ohm/Avatar, Amim, Monsieur Fauteux ainsi que les enregistrements des membres du collectif parus sur d’autres labels (Victo, Cuneiform, ReR). De nouveaux réseaux se créent avec l’Asie, le Mexique et les pays scandinaves, les artistes québécois se produisent en France dans quelques festivals incontournables (Banlieues Bleues, Musique Action…), de nombreux artistes internationaux (Ikue Mori, Joëlle Léandre, Fred Frith) enregistrent sur le label, attisant de ce fait la curiosité des amateurs du genre. Avec plus d’une centaine de références le catalogue DAME exprime magnifiquement la richesse d’un collectif et totalement impliqué dans une musique écrite ou improvisée, électroacoustique ou bruitiste, simple ou savante, mais toujours inouïe. En voici quelques moments forts.
blogue@press-1573_001
press@1573_001
Although the name Ambiances magnétiques is mostly known for (and perceived as) the Montréal experimental music record label, there is also an artists’ collective which preceded it. This nucleus of musicians has built what is now known as the Montréal experimental music scene.
It all started in 1982 when guitarist René Lussier and saxophonist/flutist Jean Derome presented a few duo concerts in Montréal under the name Ambiances magnétiques (which translates to “Magnetic Atmospheres”). They teamed up with guitarist André Duchesne and clarinetist Robert Marcel Lepage and launched the label Ambiances magnétiques in 1983, an entity managed by the members of the collective that would release records of the members, with occasional guests that would always have some sort of connection to the nucleus — up until the late 1990s, when the label started to broaden its horizons. In 1986 the group was extended to include Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse and Danielle P. Roger, three hard-working musicians performing together in various avant-pop girl groups (Wondeur Brass, Justine). Hétu would soon be left in charge of the label itself. Radio DJ and drummer Michel F Côté was enlisted in 1988 and finally turntablist/record manipulator Martin Tétreault (discovered accidentally as he was overheard by his unsuspecting neighbor André Duchesne in the late 1980s) officially joined in the mid-1990s.
The collective only performed a couple of times as a group, an event documented on the 1992 CD Une Théorie des Ensembles. They work more as a pool of musicians and a cooperative and they succeeded in creating their own underground network to support an experimental scene. This includes the record label, but also Distributions Ambiances magnétiques Etc. (DAME), a distribution outlet, and production companies such as Productions SuperMémé which orchestrates concert series and events in Montréal. By late 2000, the label had 90 titles under its belt and all Ambiances magnétiques members had become keystones in the development of demanding music in Canada.
blogue@press-1331
press@1331
This CD was an event. Une théorie des ensembles was the first live album from Ambiances magnétiques (the label) in almost 10 years of existence. It was also the only album ever to be credited to Ambiances magnétiques (the artists’ collective). Recorded on February 7 & 8, 1992 at the Maison de la Culture Frontenac in Montréal, this CD presents performances from all eight members of the collective at the time (founders René Lussier, Jean Derome, André Duchesne and Robert Marcel Lepage}; 1986 inductees Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger and Joane Hétu}; 1988 last addition Michel F Côté — Martin Tétreault would join later in the mid-1990s).
The album opens and closes on two ensemble pieces. Ambulances en plastique is a Derome-penned rock fanfare, while Montréal, 7 h a. m. bears a typical rock guitar-driven Duchesne stamp. This fantastic guitarist/composer has worked so rarely in the 1990s every bit of material is a delight to hear. Between these two pieces, five Ambiances magnétiques groups show their chops. Duchesne’s Locomotive plays fair renditions of three tracks off its CD. Côté’s Bruire delivers two very nice improvs going in the same direction as the second album Les fleurs de Léo. There are also two tracks from the all-girl group Justine, mostly improvised although the first one is recognizable as Vidanges Domestiques (thanks to the quirky melody), off their last CD Langages Fantastiques. The album’s highlight is Les Granules’ 13-minute suite Le bizarre échevelé, a never-recorded piece and the last thing Lussier and Derome’s duo put on disc. The two tracks from La flore Laurentienne are the only crumbs remaining from this Lepage project — and it’s a pity: very good blend of extended clarinet techniques and a more rock/techno approach. Overall, Une théorie des ensembles is a very enjoyable CD that adds valuable material to these artists’ discographies.
blogue@press-1329
press@1329
For the third installment in its compilation series, the label Ambiances Magnétiques decided to give the fan something new: the first two volumes comprised only previously available material and were targeted toward the neophyte, but Inédits (Unreleased) was a fan-pleaser. This CD contains tracks from all nine members of the Ambiances Magnétiques collective: René Lussier, André Duchesne, Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Michel F Côté and Martin Tétreault. Most pieces were recorded at Studio 270 with engineer Robert Langlois (Ambiances Magnétiques members’ usual hang-out — therefore, sound quality is often excellent) and represent transitional experiments. Some others were recorded by Radio-Canada (Canada’s national radio) and document live projects that never made it on record. It is interesting to note that some performances already hinted at the direction these musicians would take in the late 1990s (especially Côté’s trio Klaxon Gueule, Lussier and Hétu). Inédits contains valuable contributions from Lussier and a noisier-than-usual suite from Derome (very nice) but the album is most noticeable for the contributions of more discreet musicians. Since his 1992 CD Locomotive, André Duchesne has been very quiet and even though his Les Barrages (“The Dams”) is an unremarkable excerpt from a symphonic work, Les toasts brûlées (“Burned Toasts”) is the only existing document from his short-lived band Diesel. Danielle Palardy Roger is another discreet artist; her two performances exemplify her work outside Ambiances Magnétiques’ “girl groups” (Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Justine}). Finally, the excerpt from Martin Tétreault’s Chronique du disque (an unreleased radio piece) is one of his best performances. Fans of Ambiances Magnétiques will find a lot to explore and be surprised about on Inédits.
blogue@press-1324
press@1324
After 12 years of existence and 39 records produced, the seminal Montréal new music label Ambiances Magnétiques felt the need to release its first compilation album, Volume 1: La bastringue migratoire. This retrospective CD came out as the label’s main artists (René Lussier, Jean Derome, Joane Hétu and Martin Tétreault, mostly) were about to change their musical approach. After 1996, the bulk of the label’s production will shift from deconstructed rock idioms where humor often plays a central role (Les Granules, Justine, André Duchesne, Jerry Snell}) to introverted free improvisation. So La bastringue migratoire came at the right time, summarizing the label’s pre-1996 sound. All tracks are taken from albums already published — no unreleased material — and thus this CD offers nothing new to the dedicated fan, but the “musique actuelle” neophyte will find it a helpful sampler. Every major act on the label is represented: René Lussier (thrice if one counts the track by his duo Les Granules), Jean Derome, Martin Tétreault, Justine, Évidence, Bruire and André Duchesne, plus a few lesser-known artists such as Geneviève Letarte and Jerry Snell. The booklet includes presentations of every artist on Ambiances Magnétiques.
blogue@press-1316
press@1316
Samplers tend to be the orphans of most labels’ output, often incoherently compiled hand me downs from previously released discs they are frequently overpriced and tend to be acquired by accident or misfortune. Few people would openly admit to considering them worthy purchases. Inedits (from Canadian electro-acoustic label Ambiances Magnétiques) is such a rattlingly entertaining set which is so well conceived and organised, it comes over like a single piece of work rather than a sampler. The performers work predominantly in small groups; duos trios and soloists, but their use of cut’n’paste montage techniques combined with turntables, tapes and live electronics adds a whole world of dimensions to the proceedings. Amongst the stand out tracks is Martin Tétrault and Marc Tremblay’s fabulous Chronique du disque which opens with a blast of vinyl scratches that sounds like a thunderstorm then segues into a cheesy jazz vibes ensemble which is overtaken by a plunderphonics sequence that resembles the work of cartoon composer Carl Stalling. Elsewhere Jean Derome contributes 8 duo and trio’s (with Tétreault again and Joane Hétu) from a film project entitled Retour au Blanc. It sounds improvised with the players going at it with a variety of weapons including queasily manipulated orchestral music, fidgeting hand held objects. air emptying out of a balloon, groaning sax, manipulated percussion and a bit which sounds like the laser gun fight out of Forbidden Planet. René Lussier contributes impeccable solo guitar piece that (in my mind at least) recalls players like Fred Frith and Gary Lucas in it’s brightness of tone and attention to space and texture. There are so many other terrific moments (André Duchesne & Diesel playing fiddly, Henry Cow like fusion; Robert Lepage pitting his Clarinet against the electric scrapes and flutterings of The Impromptistes) that warrant attention that I’m ay a loss which to describe next. That alone is a singular achievement and one that makes this complation well worth your attention.
blogue@press-1263
press@1263
I haven’t heard Volumes 1 or 2, but here we have a 24-track compilation featuring, amongst others (you guessed it); René Lussier, Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Martin Tétreault, etc. All this material is previously unpublished, so it’s a good buy as a way to get into the label. Musically it covers the ground described above and works remarkably well as an album. Not at all disjointed, as it shifts from artist to artist, it is interesting to hear some musicians not appearing as composers on the other CD’s reviewed.
blogue@press-1277_016
press@1277_016
An introduction to the label and some of the music that has appeared under its banner.
This French-Canadian label has been around for quite a while, but as a CD label it has quickly notched-up about 80 titles since the early/mid-90’s.
There seems to be a relatively smali stable group of musicians who use the label for various projects and collaborations. From the releases I have been exposed to so far the music stems mainly from artists such as: René Lussier, Jean Derome, Martin Tétreault, and others. These people are musicians whose names I’ve seen around for years now (remember: Les Granules, Fred Frith’s "Keep The Dog", Les Quatre Guitaristes de L’Apocalypso Bar, etc. ) in the R10 school of exploration. A lot of this music takes its cues from bands like Conventum, Henry Cow, Art Bears, Art Zoyd and Etron Fou, whilst retaining a thread and loose genre of its own.
The CD’s I’ve heard, whilst all somehow fitting-in together, run the gamut from introverted uneasy listening improvisation, to beautiful film scores, and onto offbeat RIO type chamber-rock and jazz. All the musicians involved feature on each others releases and get to show many facets and adaptabilities to their art. There is a healthy mixture of composition and improvisation, which all involved seem very adept at, switching between and sounding convincing enough in either guise. Due to the magnitude of releases and the way the musicians appear on one another’s records, leads me to believe this is obviously a thriving scene.
Reviewed here are the releases I’ve heard so far, some great and some not so great!
blogue@press-1277_001
press@1277_001
This is a bizarre, strange and atmospheric compilation of audio mysteries. It is often unnerving and spooky, but certainly not inaccessible. The artists featured on this disc use everything from drums, violins, synthesizers, samplers, turntables, flutes and saxaphones to create an expansive blend of provacative soundscapes.
Some of the tracks could be considered spoken word (La nuit est longue et sans plis by Patrice Desbiens). Other tracks, in fact most of them, are combinations of cryptic, mysterious found sounds and traditional acoustic instruments. Some tracks even border on operatic (Que saisir sinon by Pierre Cartier). Motormouth by the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet is a refreshing instrumental with a strong jazz flavour. Rarely is this hybrid of electronic and acoustic so rewarding, but this compilation pulls it off superbly. These "songs" are sad, suggestive, weird and vividly unique all at once. Unlike most sojourns into experimentalism, this CD does not completely alienate the listener with a barrage of caustic noises. It actually posesses flashes of structure, therefore making it a fine primer to this league of sound structure. Credit must also be given to Luc Beauchemin and Jean-Francois Denis for the beautiful (and original) design of the CD case. Highly recommended for followers of the avant-garde.blogue@press-1093
press@1093
This is the closest you’ll ever get to an Ambiances Magnetiques “B-Sides and Rarities” compilation — a bunch of otherwise-unavailable works from the nine artists who make up the Amb-Mag collective. The artists — Jean Derome, René Lussier and Martin Tétreault among them — should be familiar to regular Splendid readers, and the pieces are an intriguing assortment of concrete and disjointed sonic conceptualizations. Their impact is lessened, somewhat, by the looser context of the compilation format, but this is still very cool stuff.
blogue@press-1070
press@1070
The small but beautiful Ambiance Magnétiques label also doubles as a loose collective of nine musique actuelle stalwarts, all of whom are represented here: Côté, Derome, Duchesne, Hétu, Labrosse, Lepage, Lussier, Palardy and Tétreault. This third compilation is a collection of unpublished works whose diversity of sounds, emotions and styles is sonically refreshing, especially if listened to in one shot. The general effect is like playing back a dream in which you are inside a hollow, deeply resonant bowling ball scooting around a planet six trillion light years from Montréal. Of note are the tracks that include the voice in all of its non-pyrotechnical glory and the several live recordings that show us just how non-gimmichy improvisation can be in the hands of the musically courageous.
blogue@press-1831
press@1831
Au cours des derniers mois le collectif de musique actuelle Ambiances Magnétiques a produit une série de disques portant son catalogue à plus de 60 titres. Le premier de cinq nouveautés brièvement présenté ici s’intitule Inédits et est la troisième compilation des membres d’Ambiances Magnétiques: Michel F Côté, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcel Lepage, René Lussier, Danielle Palardy Roger et Martin Tétreault. Contrairement aux deux premières compilations constituées de repiquages, Inédits présente justement 24 œuvres qui se trouvent sur disque pour la première fois.
Pierre Tanguay, batteur vedette des musiques actuelles, et Tom Walsh, tromboniste éclaté, ont enregistré Midi tapant. Des musiques qui sont à la fois planantes—par accumulation de couches sonores—et très dynamiques: Tanguay et Walsh jouent à plein poumon, à bras raccourcis.
Un trio ad hoc de bruististes improvisateurs électroacousticiens, Diane Labrosse, (échantillonneur}, Ikue Mori (percussions électroniques} et Martin Tétreault (tourne-disques) offrent Île bizarre où l’oreille est attirée, menée dans tous les recoins de ce monde inventé, purement sonore, dont les sources sont méconnues. C’est un travail sur la surface des haut-parleurs et pour l’imaginaire qu’il déclenche dans mon écoute.
Chansons de Douve est un album double présentant la grande œuvre poétique de Pierre Cartier (sur des textes de Yves Bonnefoy). Hybride de musique ancienne et jazz improvisée, Chansons de Douve est constitué de 14 pièces strictement composées, mais laissant place aussi à l’instantanéité des interprètes, pour un ensemble de dix musiciens: Angèle Trudeau (soprano), Noëlla Huet (mezzo-soprano), Pierre Cartier (basse électrique et voix), Jean-Denis Levasseur (saxophone alto), Jean Derome (saxophone alto, flûte et flûte en sol), Ivanhoe Jolicæur (trompette), Sylvain Jacob (trombones alto et ténor), Tom Walsh (trombone), Pierre Tanguay (batterie), Julien Grégoire (percussions).
Finalement, le cinquième disque est le dernier à ce jour de l’Orkestre des Pas Perdus, sous la gouverne de Claude Saint-Jean, Maison douce maison avec des musiques de jazz… dansantes… qui toujours suscitent l’écoute. Avec les excellents et solides musiciens Rémi Leclerc (batterie), Jean-Denis Levasseur (sax alto, piccolo), Roberto Murray (sax ténor, flûtes), Jean Sabourin (sousaphone), Claude Saint-Jean (trombone) et Maxime Saint-Pierre (trompette, flugelhorn).
blogue@press-1779
press@1779
The compilation disc La bastringue migratoire makes for a good initiation to the Ambiances magnétiques label. About a dozen artists are represented here and, though hard to classify, their music is essentially tropes on a basic theme of "art jazz". Some approaches are fairly conventional, like Evidence’s interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s Criss Cross, while others, such as Robert Lepage’s comic-strip-inspired clarinet ditty Le sourire de la Joconde, are admittedly bizarre. Some tracks are gentle, as in Michel Côté and Diane Labrosse’s Y tu mirar, while others are brash, like Jerry Snell’s Life in the Suicide Riots. Musical influences present on the disc range from DJ culture in Martin Tétreault’s work, to rock in André Duchesne, to folk music of various cultures sort of sprinkled throughout all the pieces. Poetry is present in the many of the tracks but is particularly central to Genevieve Letarte’s La ragazza. My favorite work is Les Granules’ Le tango qui ne finit jamais — it combines kitsch with music-craft in a way that is at once sinister and charming. If you haven’t had the pleasure of aurally ogling anything from Ambiances magnétiques, I strongly recommend La bastringue migratoire.
blogue@press-1194
press@1194
Splendid has reviewed quite a few Ambiances Magnétiques releases in the past few months -enough, I think, for regular readers to have learned to expect challenging music from the label. This sampler makes a great introduction -despite including a lot of quirky electroacoustic sound sculptures, there’s a healthy dose of comparatively "traditional" music here: rich orchestral ensemble works, intimate jazz pieces, street music and frenetic art-rock MlDI-operas. The result is a sampler that’s surprisingly warm and welcoming- a cushion of familiar sounds in which even the most timid listener can safely experiment. Another success for Ambiances Magnetiques…
blogue@press-1013
press@1013
Pour ceux et celles qui n’ont pas encore pris pied sur le coloré continent d’Ambiances Magnétiques, voilà une occasion en or. Une heure de musique et une quarantaine de musiciens qui interviennent en solo, duo, trio, quatuor et grands ensembles; ce qui donne un petit aperçu de la face cachée des choses d’une musique souvent exigeante mais toujours accessible. Un morceau de choix qui ravira toute oreille le moindrement disponible à la nouveauté, à la musique qui pose les vraies questions: les clarinettes ont-elles un escalier de secours?
blogue@press-1018_104
press@1018_104
Bon, ce n’est qu’une compilation, qui, comme la précédente, offre un panorama des productions du label québécois. N’y cherchez pas l’inédit encore que… y figurent quelques pièces issues de parutions à venir (je pense notamment à Les clarinettes ont-elles un escalier de secours? (Lepage) et aux 3 musiques pour UBU (Derome), de quoi se mettre en appétit. C’est d’ailleurs le rôle d’un tel recueil, et ceci d’autant plus qu’il est proposé à un tarif réduit. Avis aux a(ni)mateurs: offrez le à vos auditeurs les plus fidèles!
blogue@press-1452
press@1452
Quoi de mieux qu’une compilation des parutions et réeditions de l’étiquette Amblances Magnétiques entre 1995 et 1997 pour avoir un instantané de l’impressionnant nid créatif qu’elle constitue, et pour mieux choisir ses préférés. Les plus prolifiques y sont tous: Jean Derome avec cinq pièces, René Lussier et Robert Marcel Lepage avec quatre chacun, et aussi André Duchesne, Pierre Cartier, Diane Labrosse, Joane Hétu, Pierre Tanguay, et L’Orchestre des pas perdus. Un univers hétéroclite, éclaté, éclectique. Bref, original. 4/5
blogue@press-1179
press@1179
Ambiances Magnétiques, com distribuição portuguesa pela Au deo, é urna editora independen canadiana, com sede em Montréal, criada em 1983 pelos músicos Michel F Côté, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcel-Lepage, René Lussier e Danielle Palardy Roger —facto que, desde logo, coloca as preocupações artísticas acima dos interesses mercantilistas.
Alguns destes músicos são já do conhecimento dos incondicionais da Recomended, através de uma pequena importação de discos em vinilo, chegada há alguns anos ao nosso pais, que incluia, entre outros, trabalhos de André Duchesnes, Michel F Côté com o seu grupo Bruire, René Lussier, Robert Marcel-Lepage, Wondeur Brass e Les Poules, estes dois últimos grupos formados por Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse e Danielle Roger.O jazz, do tradicional ao free, a música de cãmara europela, a folk do Quebeque, a música de variedades e o cabaré, o ambiental e o bruitismo são algumas das linhas de força que se cruzam para formar a estética (Ambiances Magnétiques) AM.“As músicas de Amblances Magnétiques fazem uma utilização nova de tudo o que constitui a música comercial, lê-se no manifesto da editora, para a qual, quer sejam sons eléctricos, ritmos, solos ou a arquitectura geral de uma peça, é feita constantemente referéncia a algo que já se ouviu antes”. Isto porque “os seus compositores pertencem a uma geração que experimentou e ouviu todos os géneros de música. A AM funciona como uma espécie de inverso da rádio, ou uma rádio fantástica, na medida em que opera a transfiguração desta, equanto acumuladora e difusora de cultura, da vertente mais intelectual ao “kitsch“. O humor, a ironia e a paródia fazem parte das palavras de ordem da AM. Alguém pronunciou o nome de Frank Zappa?
Além dos titulos que, a seguir, recenseamos, não queremos deixar de chamar a atenção para outros que reputamos de qualidade. Estão neste caso Maudite mémoire, de Michel Faubert, derivação pouco ortodoxa da tradição do Quebeque, com sabor contemporãneo, que agradará aos apreciadores de um grupo como os La Bottine Souriante, Des pas et des mois, de Martin Tétreault, oonstrução cortante de “samples”, ruidos, “scratch” e literatura, e Adieu Léonardo, homenagem, em tons neoclássicos, a Leonardo da Vinci, de Robert Marcel-Lepage, segundo coordenadas menos habituais neste intérprete de clarinete e saxofones, amante do “erro musical” e da electrónica analógica. Outros nomes também a partir de agora disponíveis incluem os Évidence, André Duchesnes, Jerry Snell, Genevieve Letarte, René Lussier (reedição do fenomenal Fin du travail) e Les Granules. Depois de Le barman a tort de sourire e Les fleurs de Léo, L’âme de l’objet é a desconstrução da linearidade narrativa, o surrealismo sonoro atravessado pelos fantasmas de Fellini, de La strada e a “chanson” etilizada dos cabarés de Paris do pós-guerra. Viagem pela inquietação, pelas ruínas do jazz, da pop desolada e da algazarra concretista, recusa panfletária da melodia de compêndio, o objecto pode ser o olho cortado pela lãmina, de Buñuel. A bateria e as “live electronics” de Côté juntam-se aos saxofones, flautas e “pequenos instrumentos” de Jean Derome e aos discos riscados de Martin Tétreault. “Swing” dos danados, enquanto Miles e Omette dormen. Para desarranjar os ouvidos e o espirito.blogue@press-1570
press@1570
Pour couronner le tout, pourquoi pas une brochette de musiciens, musiciennes, expérimentateurs, aventuriers de la scène actuelle montréalaise. Je profite de l’occasion pour rendre hommage à ma manière à ces créateurs sur la brèche depuis des années, jamais à court de projets tous plus délirants les uns que les autres. Les compilations sont toujours la meilleure façon d’avoir en un seul enregistrement une panoplie complète de propositions. Pour le Vol. 2 de leur catalogue, Ambiances Magnétiques à regroupé sur ce disque des musiques de Jean Derome, René Lussier, Robert Marcel Lepage, Diane Labrosse, Joane Hétu, André Duchesne et quelques autres. Une expérience franchement imaginative, variée, et à prix modique…
blogue@press-1874
press@1874
Una valida introduzione alla scena sperimental-creativa (passata e presente) di Montréal ci è dato dal sampler dell’etichetta Ambiances Magnétiques (distr. Megatalogo) La bastringue migratoire - vol. 1, in particolarissima confezione sagomata e con booklet ricco di note: dalle inquiete improvvisazioni del pluristrumentista René Lussier, curatore della scaletta, al godibile camerismo di Robert Marcel Lepage, dal jazz in bilico fra nostalgia e modernismo di Les Granules e Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms al maturo >rock d’autore> di Andre Duchesne, dai montaggi plagiaristi di Martin Tétreault a vari altri nomi oscuri ma tutti da scoprire (8).
blogue@press-1936
press@1936
Dirigée par Joane Hétu depuis sa création en 1989, la maison de disques DAME — plus de 50 albums en catalogue — n’a pas changé d’un iota sa mission et ses objectifs: favoriser la visibilité d’artistes innovateurs et distribuer des musiques d’avant-garde, et ce, aussi bien au niveau national qu’international.
Et voici qu’en juin dernier, pour ouvrir la porte au grand public, DAME lançait sa première compilation, son premier catalogue sonore, Ambiances Magnétiques —La bastringue migratoire voL 1. On y retrouve des musiques puisses à même le répertoire discographique de l’étiquette indépendante Ambiances Magnétiques.
Cette compilation, où 16 œuvres sélectionnéss avec soin se côtoient, nous présente des musiciens et compositeurs tels que Michel F Côté, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcel Lepage, René Lussier ou Danielle P. Roger. Ces artistes, qui explorent des musiques issues de courants présents (folklore, rock, free jazz, musique contemporaine, chanson, bruitisme, ordinateur, etc. ), poursuivent leur rêve: «se donner le plus de chances possible de se maintenir libres et autonomes, responsables et engagés face à la musique d’aujourd’hui». Soyez vigilants, restez vivants est leur slogan.
Alors, si votre énergie compositrice puise ses forces dans la musique actuelle et de recherche, ou si vos oreilles rêvent d’expériences et de découvertes extra-radiophoniques, vous êtes mûrs pour faire la rencontre de ces inclassables de la musique.
blogue@press-1024
press@1024
Soyez vigilants, restez vivants! Ce mot d’ordre, c’est celui de la maison de disques montréalaise Ambiances magnétiques, qui propose La bastringue migratoire volume 1, soit 16 pièces d’une musique très actuelle, inclassable et audacieuse, Made In Québec!
Ces oeuvres de bravoure sont celles de compositeurs comme René Lussier, Geneviève Letarte, Jerry Snell, André Duchesne et Jean Derome, des créateurs qui offrent «une mosaique de textures, une odyssée magnétique, un voyage sonore irrésistible de musiques migratoires», comme l’indique un communiqué de la maison de distribution.
Au-delà de la qualité du produit. «La bastringue migratoire» permet de découvrir une musique riche, éclectique, intelIigente et absolument non commerciale». De plus, les musiciens en présence figurent parmi les dignes représentants de I’avant-garde de la musique québécoise actuelle, celle qui s’éclate de tous les côtés et qui ignore les frontières.
blogue@press-1022
press@1022
Ceux qui craignent encore de s’aventurer du côté de la musique actuelle n’ont plus d’excuses: avec la compilation La Bastringue migratoire, la bouillonnante étiquette Ambiances Magnétiques s’ouvre au monde. 60 minutes, c’est bien peu pour rendre compte de près d’une décennie de création éclatée, mais La Bastringue offre un survol passionnant. Du déconstructivisme sonore de Michel F Côté et de Diane Labrosse à l’expression jubilatoire du clarinettiste Robert Marcel Lepage, en passant par l’incontournable Trésor de la langue de René Lussier, l’une des œuvres québécoises les plus marquantes des dernières années, on y découvre les multipies facettes de cette musique dite actuelle. Avant tout, on rencontre une panoplie d’artistes animés d’un même désir: celui de créer une musique différente. 4/5
blogue@press-1937
press@1937

blogue@press-1561
press@1561
L’approche des musiques contemporaines, différentes, plus ou moins expérimentales reste encore trop l’apanage d’une minorité d’adultes. Cette attitude de refus du grand public, son manque d’ouverture et son absence de curiosité a certes plusieurs origines, mais trouvent aussi sa source dans l’éducation. Les futurs mélomanes se doivent d’être formés a l’appréhension des nouvelles formes, plus innovatrices, de la musique.
C’est dans cette optique qu’il faut saluer deux initiatives, qui dépassent le simple enregistrement d’œuvres pour enfants, telle la collection «Zéro de Conduite» chez Audivis (Un DMI, Pied de Poule… ) ou la production de L’oreille enflée de Danielle Palardy Roger.
blogue@press-1427
press@1427
Tiens! Après les musiciens du Drame, de Pied de Poule et de l’Arfi, voici nos amis québécois d’Ambiances Magnétiques qui s’adressent à notre progéniture… Et c’est Danielle P. Roger (ci-devant Wonder Brass, Justine… ) qui s’y colle…. - Papa, c’est quoi ce disque? Autour d’elle, on trouve certains des autres musiciens de la scène de Montréal, André Duchesne, Jean Derome, Joane Hétu et quelques autres, qui allient instruments et voix (chacun interprète, comme dans Pierre et le Loup ou Arthur et les Robots, un des personnages du conte). - Papa, c’est quoi ce disque? Les sons restent très feutrés, les instruments soulignent les narrations des divers personnages, avec juste un brin de dramatisation là où l’histoire le permet. Il ne s’agit pas d’effaroucher nos chères têtes blondes. Mis à contribution également, quelques sons naturels captés par Claude Beaugrand… - Papa, comment on fait les bébés?. Eh bien, vois-tu, c’est un conte un peu curieux, les aventures d’une dame (la narratrice) surnommée l’Oreille Enflée parce que dans sa jeunesse elle se faisait tirer l’oreille, et des personnages qui l’entourent: le limaçon malade, le professeur Catastrophe (qui vient de la planète des Tendres Géants), le méchant Commodore d’Arès (il veut que tout le monde marche au pas), la sorcière Eole… Un conte qui ne se termine jamais: Tutu la Grenouille s’endort toujours avant la fin et… ronflements.
blogue@press-1426
press@1426
Ambiances Magnétiques is an independant label created in 1983 by Montréal musicians: Michel F Côté, Jean Derome, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Robert Marcel Lepage, René Lussier, Danielle Palardy Roger, and Martin Tétreault. The idea of a collective was brought about by the need to create quality recordings of their musical material. Recordings that reflect the creative process and aesthetic values of the artists themselves. Ambiances Magnétiques seeks to give greater access to a music that is innovative, audacious, and authentic.
In a city called Montréal, a group of men and women chose to invent ways to live their lives, to make their music and to make their records. All lived according to their creative convictions and a life style that resembled them and inexorably moved them toward each other. One day, inevitably, they met and recognized each other. First of all: René Lussier, Robert Marcel Lepage, André Duchesne and Jean Derome. Then: Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger. Finally: Michel F Côté. Independant natures, forces of nature, natural creators. Composers who interpret and improvise, who scratch, grind, ruffle, knock, whisper and explore sound. And they all had a taste in common, the pleasure of working in a group, a sense of the collective, a sense of togetherness. Conventum, Fin du travail, Le temps des bombes, Chants et danses du monde inanimé, Wondeur Brass, Les Granules. Music that is proud, delinquent, breaks with tradition and, most of all, music that is unclassifiable by those who so like to classify in order to sell, to understand, to approve or to enjoy. Unclassifiable music by unbreakable musicians. Unbreakable people who decided to build a house together for their music and for their albums, a house where they could survive shipwrecks and ward off isolation, a house to withstand refusals and incomprehension, a house made of their albums which would carry and support each of them, a house defined by their relentless strength and disobedience. A production house which would carry the label: Ambiances Magnétiques.
Vivid music, concert music, parade music, film music, improvised music, pop music, theatrical music, rhythm music, playful music, music that is sung, yelled, spoken, synthetic music, acoustic music, electric music, vernacular music, folk, rock, jazz and sound effects combined.
The foundations of the house were built in 1984 without plans, without instructions, without contractors. Risky business! Musicians became producers and came together to resist the laws of the market and to continue their creative work away from the criteria established by fashion and academia. A group of record-producing musicians.
The production of vinyl records went well and the house grew. Les Poules, Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso Bar, La traversée de la mémoire morte, Bruire. Very quickly, ties were made with European New Music distribution networks. Recommended Records is the most famous of these and the one who was most influencial in the shaping of the future and development of Ambiances Magnétiques.
René Lussier gave the blow. It was final and radical. After Le trésor de la langue, no more vinyls were produced at Ambiances Magnétiques. The current of the CD was too strong. Impossible to resist. Goodbye vinyl. Goodbye record cover, designed with so much love, care and attention. Hello compact discs, hello new cover design. With the CD came other transformations at Ambiances Magnétiques, new collaborations and new projects. Robert Langlois at Studio 270 had such an intelligent grasp of the new musical language that he brought a garantee of the quality of sound engineering and mixing. The genius of Jean-François Denis and DIFFUSION i MéDIA significantly lightened the process of record-making. The arrival of graphic artists Luc Beauchemin, Fabrizio Gilardino and Anna Morelli brought a constance and a unifying quality to the design of record inserts and booklets.
At this point, “The house built without” was starting to feel the need for a contractor. Work was never scarce: mail was overflowing, mailings were late, inventory was backed up. All these things needed to be done in order to strengthen the framework of the house and keep it from crumbling. A coordinator was now an absolute necessity. Enter DAME. Joane Hétu decided to take up the direction of operations to meet the interior needs and the exterior demand. The upcoming decade had to be prepared: ties with European distributors had to be strengthened, new tied had to be created with Asia, Mexico, Scandinavia. Joane provided the organizational and administrative foundation which had become necessary to survive in the commercial jungle of ever-increasing efficiency. So DAME happily carries forth the venture of its instigators, in total harmony with musical creation and the freedom of sound, and with the same resistance, the same independance and the same perseverance.
The house filled with more and more records and friends and some new labels: Martin Tétreault, Geneviève Letarte, Michel Ratté, Jerry Snell, Pierre-André Arcand, Jocelyn Robert, Lars Hollmer, Fred Frith, Bruit TTV, OHM/AVATAR, AMIM, Victo. Yes, you must be a friend to enter the house and you must be introduced. Because the house has kept its creative convictions and its lifestyle which bring together those of a feather. The house jealously guards its desire for music that is proud, authentic and dissident.
Idea music, immediate music, meeting music, heterodox music, approximate music, recycled music, dance music, superimposed music, tubulence, poetry, onomatopoeia, tracing, pick-up, boiling music, rough draft, mathematics, pataphysics, minimalist music, maximalist music, orchestrated dissonance, anarchistic music, chaotic music.
The original groups have transformed themselves: they have grown, exploded, shaken. Locomotive, Évidence, Justine, Les Dangereux Zhoms, Duo déconstructiviste, Castor et compagnie Collaborations fused, many solo projects emerged. La légende de la pluie, Les choses dernières, Adieu Leonardo, Face cachée des choses, Le corps de l’ouvrage. Allies were identified, archives were dusted and classified: Muss muss hic, Snipettes, Les métamorphoses clandestines, L’oreille enflée.
Today in Québec, Ambiances Magnétiques and DAME have become 2 of the very few supporters of the distribution of self-produced New Music CDs. We still jealously stick to our desire for this very vivid, iconoclastic and independant music. The musicians of Ambiances Magnétiques have matured their language, reinforced their opinions and deepened their research. All have kept their conviction that their music has its sense, its fonction, its beauty, its goodness, its truth.
Polymorphic music, scholarly music and oral tradition, deconstructed and reconstructed music, post-modern and hybrid music, emergencies, break-ups and make-ups, raw music, art song and split music, textures, mosaics, crossbreeding, committed music, proletarian music, changing music, hubbub, music in the eclectic labyrinth.
Although New Music is sometimes still laughed at, sulked at and ignored, its creators still create it because it seems a necessity to them. Necessity of a lining language enriched with all possible crossbreedings and all available materials, necessity of all developing languages ceaselessly trying to transform and adapt to themutations of the imagination and the understanding of the living.
The artists at Ambiances Magnétiques and DAME pursue their dream of giving themselves a better chance of remaining free and independant, responsable and committed to today’s music.
Be Alert, Stay Alive
-Danielle Palardy Roger, 1996
If life was but a fairytale, the combined efforts of the founding members of Ambiances Magnétiques would have suffice to impose what is now known as musique actuelle as a commercially viable form of music research. The artists choosing it as their reason to create would not be ostracized by the media, ignored by festivals and left out by record stores. Their productions would be listened to and appreciated by a growing audience (not that they would take over the airwaves, but still…), and supported by the provincial and federal governments, through financial help and broadcasting. And they would live happily ever after.
That’s not how it went. Right now, the artists from the “musique actuelle” scene have to create in the face of the media, the governments and the apathy of an audience conditioned by the pre-chewed music saturating the airwaves. Yet, despite the situation, there is hope. First of all, Ambiances Magnétiques is still around, tall and proud, and releasing regularly one thought-provoking, enrapturing album after another. Second, the audience for this kind of music actually IS growing. It can be witnessed at concerts and events, but also through the numerous other small record labels that have been mushrooming around, in Montréal and elsewhere, and release forms of music that resolutely stay away from the mainstream (even the alternative one). It can also be witnessed in this rising generation of artists who identify this and that first “magnetisers” as influences.
And that is why, between 1997 and 2004, the entity known as Ambiances Magnétiques found itself at a crossroads: either accept to become a venerable, respectable (and — gasp! — historical) institution, or continue to rebel, surprise and innovate.
Ambiances Magnétiques was incepted by a nucleus of artists who shared a desire to unite against adversity — “Together we stand!” Only members of the collective (in 1997: Jean Derome, René Lussier, Robert Marcel Lepage, André Duchesne, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Michel F. Côté and Martin Tétreault) were allowed to release albums through the imprint. In return, these members were assuming their share of operations duties, thus keeping running costs low and ensuring a strong distribution outlet. But a handful of artists cannot support and supply a record label catalogue by themselves, regularly and indefinitely.
In answer to that, the doors began to open between 1997 and 2000, first for names that were already familiar to followers of the label’s releases — musicians often heard alongside members of the collective, the electrons circling the nucleus. The names of Pierre Tanguay, Tom Walsh, Pierre Cartier and Normand Guilbeault found their way on the spines of Ambiances Magnétiques CDs. Some of these projects were deeply personal (Midi tapant, La musique de mon disque), while others were large-scale extravaganzas (Chansons de Douve, Riel: Plaidoyer musical).
Simultaneously to this first “expansion” wave, surely the most obvious or at least the most immediate, new musicians started to appear. Some had recently arrived in Montréal, others were friends from abroad: Fred Frith, Otomo Yoshihide, Malcolm Goldstein, Rainer Wiens, Mirko Sabatini, and a fiery guitarist by the name of Bernard Falaise. Introduced by Michel F. Côté through his trio Klaxon Gueule, he soon became a key actor in the renewal of the label’s roster. Within years, he recorded with Robert Marcel Lepage (Joue Free) and as part of the groups Papa Boa, Les Projectionnistes and, of course, Klaxon Gueule.
The latter outfit would mark the apex of a current of music research and the beginning of a new era for Ambiances Magnétiques. The label’s very first releases had shown, alongside an astounding dose of creativity, great levels of childlike imagination, even humor, accompanied by a genuine love for angular rock deconstruction. Shared in the ‘80s by labels like Cuneiform, ReR Megacorp, Rec Rec and No Man’s Land, this conception of avant-garde music was gradually supplanted by noise-oriented trends and what would eventually be called electro-acoustic improvisation.
Diane Labrosse, Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault’s Île bizarre, Lussier and Tétreault’s Dur Noyau Dur, along with Lussier’s Solos de guitare électrique are all major efforts in that new direction, but the album that will have the biggest impact and will put Ambiances Magnétiques back on the international map is Klaxon Gueule’s Muets, released in 1999. This album also repositioned the label among the new musical currents of Montréal, since the group’s bassist, Alexandre St-Onge would soon become one of the metropolis’ most daring creators. He will make the first contacts with the experimental underground network developing in anglophone circles, booming at that time and spearheaded by the group Godspeed You Black Emperor!, the labels Constellation and alien8, the numerous projects of guitarist Sam Shalabi and, soon, the cafe La Casa del Popolo.
If some of these albums destabilized (or even worried) certain long-time Ambiances Magnétiques supporters, they illustrate a vibrant desire to continue the search for new sounds and to defy previous molds and expectations. And during that period (1997-2000), listeners were still able to experience the original festive spirit of the label in Papa Boa’s first CD, the Orkestre des pas perdus and Castor et compagnie’s second albums, Côté’s Compil zouave and Lepage’s Les clarinettes ont-elles un escalier de secours?.
The new millennium kicked off with a celebration: DAME’s 10th anniversary. The hive taking care of bringing the artists’ honey to the public, the distributor Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques, Etc. (as it was first called) is doing better and better, strong of a new Internet shop (www.actuellecd.com) and a rapidly growing catalog, as small local and international labels are constantly added. One of these new labels has a rather peculiar name: Monsieur Fauteux, m’entendez-vous? (which translates to: “Mister Fauteux, can you hear me?”). Ran by long-time friends of Ambiances Magnétiques, the label was incepted in 1999 with the release of la Fanfare Pourpour’s first album, but it really took off in 2001. It brings to DAME’s catalog a number of young musicians who also work with members of the collective, among them musicians from Rouge ciel, Ipso Facto, and the singers-songwriters Tomás Jensen and Frank Martel.
Meanwhile, Ambiances Magnétiques’ own family is growing. There once was a time when the nucleus of the collective was responsible for almost all of the albums released on the imprint, but now newcomers are given increasing room. In 2002, only 5 out of 11 releases can be credited to members of the collective; in 2003, it’s only 3 out of 12. Among the newcomers are, first and foremost, local young artists: the group Interférence Sardines, Papa Boa’s sax player Pierre Labbé, percussionist Ganesh Anandan, guitarist Antoine Berthiaume, Rouge Ciel’s violinist Guido Del Fabbro, cellist Mélanie Auclair.
Joining the ranks alongside the new generation are accomplished creators: Lori Freedman, Marilyn Lerner, Lee Pui Ming, Sylvie Chenard, Pierre Langevin and Tim Brady. In his first three years with Ambiances Magnétiques, the latter has produced three of his most inventive albums.
Throughout this activity, the pioneers of the label release some of their most mature works. It’s the Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay’s 10 Compositions, Nous perçons les oreilles’ La vie c’est simple, Joane Hétu’s Musique d’hiver, Diane Labrosse and Martin Tétreault’s Parasites. The latter duo and the freshly reactivated Les Poules perform in Europe and the US, garnering much critical acclaim, while Jean Derome records for CIMP, Diane Labrosse for No Type, and Martin Tétreault pops up everywhere (Audiosphere, Vand’œuvre, Ersthwhile, Textile, etc.), reaching out new audiences.
It is June 2004 and Ambiances Magnétiques has just released Canevas “+” by the Ensemble SuperMusique. A selection of compositions and improvisations covering a wide scope of aesthetics and techniques, this album seems to be building a bridge to another collective album, that one released in 1992: Une théorie des ensembles. Once again, we are presented with a broad picture of Ambiances Magnétiques’ greater family, recorded live for posterity. Now an ever-growing, changing, thought-provoking family. Renewal while keeping up with traditions, from a collective and a record label who are still able to take us by surprise and fill us with delight.
-François Couture, 2004