Bob
Bernier, Côté, Trifiro

Unstable Friends

ET 00
2003

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Radio ›› Unstable Friends
1 November 2006
By Rigobert Dittmann in Bad Alchemy #52 (Germany), November 1, 2006

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Bereits der Auftakt lässt aufmerken — unstable friends (&00, 2003) von Bob ist an sich ein Songprojekt, getragen von der melancholisch verhängten Stimme Éric Berniers. Aber die Musik basiert auf Computer — & Maschinensounds, erzeugt von Bernier selbst, Michel F Côté & Guy Trifiro. Wobei die düstere Downbeat-Melange noch zusätzliche Akzente bekommt durch Falaise & St-Onge, Woodwinds von Jean Derome und Normand Guilbeault am Kontrabass. Die Noir-Stimmung und das meist verschleppte Tempo haben den bittersüssen Beigeschmack von TripHop, beim Auftakt mit Portishead-Touch. Aber Berniers weiches, androgynes Timbre, halb verträumt, halb schon resigniert, voller Gedanken, die in wenig hoffnungsvolle Beziehungsmalaisen verstrickt sind und dadurch auf misanthrope und dystopische Bahnen gelenkt werden, lässt auch an Little Aida denken oder an den Ted Milton von Sublime. Als empfindsamer Wave-Dandy lässt er sich durch die Buffer Zone und eine Landscape Of Panic treiben, ätherisch raunend, eingeschlagen in schwarzen Samt, und endet etwas überraschend, weil uptempo, bei Bacharachs Don’t Make Me Over.

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16 August 2006
By Dolf Mulder in Vital #539 (Netherlands), August 16, 2006

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Of course you often use the ‘&’ sign, but it’s less known that it means ‘Et’ from Mediaeval times, and means of course ‘and’. &Records is a label from Montréal, and in all five of the current releases you can find musicians from Montréal, and the broadest description would be to say that they all play improvised music, each in their own specific way. Not that every release is fresh, and let us once again state: Vital Weekly doesn’t like reviewing three years old releases, and good idiots as we are, we still do that. There is/will be a time, when we will ignore them.

The release by Bob is the oldest, from 2003. Bob is Éric Bernier (voice, computer, machines), Michel F Côté (computer, machines, rare back vocals), Guy Trifiro (computer, machines) who are helped by Jean Derome (baritone saxophone, bass flute, piccolo), Bernard Falaise (electric guitar), Normand Guilbeault (contrabass) and Alexandre St-Onge (electronics). Like we will see on some of the other releases, the voice plays an important role for Bob, but inside Bob it is the most clear example of voices that originally come from popmusic, or rather postpunk music. Also the music hints in that direction. Very ‘London’ like post punk music, with rhythms, bass, guitar and of course singing by various voices. But then, except the singing, all played on a bunch of modern day machines. It’s quite nice, well produced, certainly sounding outdated, but it’s a great release. Very pop with a great touch of experimentalism.

Martin Tétreault is of course a well-known turntablist, who not just spins records but also the turntable itself. From three solo concerts he made recordings and gave them to one Bernard Falaise, who in turn selected 33 short fragments between 5 and 40 seconds, 11 per concert. These were then used in the eleven, three minute pieces on Des Gestes Défaits. Conceptually alright, but I must say it also works out musically quite well. It’s a highly intelligent composition of turntable sounds, that is rhythmic, at times noisy and at times introspective. A powerful release of cracking analogue sounds colliding in a digital world called the computer.

Although the name Michel F Côté rings a familiar bell somewhere, I am not sure if I heard some of his music before. He is one of the two directors of the &Records label. 63 Apparitions was written for a choreography and Côté plays electronics, computer, percussion, piano and voice and gets help from Diane Labrosse (voice), Christof Migone and Martin Tétreault (both on objects) and uses music from John Cage (his ‘Érik Satie’ piece) and Érik Satie (the ballet Socrate). It’s hard to say what the choreography is about (if I would understand choreography at all, really), but the music is very nice: it sounds like a bunch of clockworks going down, hectic percussive sounds, banging on all sorts of small objects and speed up sounds of mechanical toy music. At times highly vibrant and jumpy, but here to the softer parts are equally nice.

Klaxon Gueule is a trio of Michel F Côté (percussion, electronics, voice), Bernard Falaise (guitars, piano), Alexandre St-Onge (bass, electronica, voice). The voices seem important but they hardly sound like real voices: they are heavily processed or may be the singers are highly possessed and make their own transformations in sound. The music is a combination of improvised music bumping up to the ideas of musique concrete. At times acoustical, at times electrical, and at times a bit boring. Not every second on this CD could interest me, and it stayed too much on the same level, with grabbing the listener very much. Occasionally also a bit too regular in terms of improvisation for me. Having said that, there are also quite captivating moments here, so I’m left with rather mixed feelings.

The latest release is by Foodsoon, a trio of Bernard Falaise (guitar, bass, keyboards), Alexander MacSween (drums, piano, keyboards, vocals) and Fabrizio Gilardino (prepared tapes, electronics, vocals). This is by far the most rocking release of the lot. Foodsoon is a rocking trio that use the method of heavy rock drumming, in combination with a love of improvising sounds on their guitars and keyboards. It makes Foodsoon standing in a long tradition, from anywhere from The Beatles to Sonic Youth to any current day post rock band, but they do a nice job, and one that is not entirely on the well-went paths of other groups. It seems that sometimes the sense of experiment prevails, but then it might as easily burst out into another furious banged rhythm. Perhaps at those times it’s a bit too rock for me, but throughout I thought this is most enjoyable disc.

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1 October 2004
By Massimiliano Busti in Blow Up #77 (Italy), October 1, 2004

Press Clipping

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1 June 2004
By Philip Zampino in The Squid’s Ear (USA), June 1, 2004

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“The sonics are fascinating, the songs dark interwining works with odd electronics and insertions.”

The first release on Montréal’s & Records, managed by Fabrizio Gilardino and Michel F Côté, presents the rhythmic song works of Éric Bernier, assisted by Côté himself and Guy Trifiro, with additional musicians from the well known Ambiances Magnétiques collaborators Jean Derome, Bernard Falaise, Normand Guilbeault and Alexandre St-Onge. The songs stay in a easy groove, reminding in many ways of the early works of Holger Hiller. The sonics are fascinating, the songs dark interwining works with odd electronics and insertions. Most pieces are by Bernier, with a Burt Bacharach cover to end the CD (Don’t Make Me Over).

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19 February 2004
By Mike Chamberlain in Hour (Québec), February 19, 2004

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“Very strange, but in a comfortable way.”

Bob is the trio of Éric Bernier, Michel F Côté and Guy Trifiro, who utilize computers and machines (what types of machines are not specified in the liner notes) to create a symphony of memory dust balls. You know what I’m talking about. Memory dust balls are those half (or less) remembered events of childhood, snatches of songs, fragments of old conversations that we all have floating around upstairs. Listening to the 11 pieces on this album is like delving into a vat of those memories, played on an old tube radio and set to a rocking beat. Very strange, but in a comfortable way.

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3 January 2004
By Alfredo Rastelli in Sands Zine (Italy), January 3, 2004

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“Bravissimi.”

Parte con un blues oscuro e stravolto questo disco d’esordio dei BOB, trio formato dal percussionista dei fantastici Klaxon Gueule, Michel F. Coté, insieme a Eric Bernier e Guy Trifiro. Sono canadesi e questa dovrebbe essere la prima uscita dell’etichetta &Records. La musica che c’è dentro Unstable Friends è un cantautorato allucinato che ricorda per mood le ultime uscite di Gira o Steve Von Till. La differenza è che il gruppo esplora a fondo la forma e la tipologia della canzone, la intinge di ‘soul” deviato, e soprattutto utilizza dosi abbondanti di suoni elettronici generati da computer e macchine, facendo della musica quasi la messa in scena di un possibile futuro prossimo venturo. Non abbiate fretta di giungere a conclusioni errate, però, perché non è un disco elettronico in senso stretto. Bisogna infatti fare i conti con gli interventi più propriamente ‘musicali’ effettuati degli ospiti di questo disco. Li voglio citare tutti perché il loro contributo mi sembra non di quelli da poco per la riuscita del disco: Jean Derome ai fiati, Normand Guilbeault al contrabbasso, il grande Alexandre St-Onge agli electronics e Bernard Falaise alla chitarra elettrica, questi ultimi due già compagni di Coté nell’esperienza dei Klaxon Gueule. Ciò che ne esce fuori è dunque un riuscito districarsi con classe ed equilibrio invidiabile tra l’analogico e il digitale, tra l’elettro e l’acustico, un chiaroscuro di suoni e atmosfere, colonna sonora ideale per i film di David Lynch (ogni volta che sento il nome Bob mi torna sempre alla mente Twin Peaks; ormai sono segnato a vita) o i libri di Philip K Dick. Non solo blues ritroviamo in queste undici tracce ma anche molto pop. Nelle strutture scheletriche dei pezzi si inseriscono deviati arrangiamenti calibrati alla perfezione. Se l’inizio, come abbiamo accennato, è alquanto cupo, oltre alla traccia d’apertura Love Is… menzione d’obbligo per il sound da Birthday Party del futuro di Be Aware, le cose si fanno più distese nel pop di Bank of Life e Landscape of Panic o in Puffy Face, un vero e proprio pezzo di trip-hop intimista. The Scratch ci riporta in ambientazioni metropolitane post-industriali, quasi la riattualizzazione di certa new wave (come dei Mark Stewart & Mafia più malleabili). Il canto, tesissimo, di Eric Bernier, tra il poetico e il teatrale, è funzionale ai suoni, rimane sempre sospeso e carica maggiormente di tensione una musica che già da sola non scherza affatto, e quando ti aspetti un’accelerazione o un’impennata vocale, vieni ricambiato con un’inquietante e poco rassicurante confidenzialità. Bravissimi.

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