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Reviewby Seth Watter in Meshes of the Afternoon (USA), June 17, 2007 |3623|
“Everything sounds remarkably organic, blending the electronic and the acoustic into
a fluid whole.”
An obscure and unfortunately neglected record by key Ambiances Magnétiques player Michel F Côté, 63 Apparitions (&records, 2004) was originally written as a choreographical piece performed in Montreal. While I have no idea what the visual counterpart may have been or the significance of its title, I do know that this is stunningly beautiful music that deserves to be reappraised. Composed by Bruire frontman Côté and sounding very much like a continuation of his work in Klaxon Gueule, 63 Apparitions also features the playing of Christof Migone and labelmate Martin Tétreault on various objects, as well as the unrecognizable voice of AM staple Diane Labrosse. The fifteen brief tracks here all begin and end quite awkwardly, as if a continuous recording had been separated into pieces and re-shuffled. Côté’s main axe is the drum, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell from this strange melange of percussion, electronics, piano, vocal manipulations and orchestral samples. Everything sounds remarkably organic, blending the electronic and the acoustic into a fluid whole. Tracks 1-8 puff along in a kind of jerky stop-start mode, reaching interesting plateaus but never quite building to a climax. Even with the intrusion of classical music by track 9, there is never the sense of resolution, as what sounds like a melancholy excerpt from one of Gorecki’s string quartets -- though I’ve read only Cage and Satie listed as sources -- is quickly eclipsed by Côté’s trademark electronic gurgle and twittering sine waves. A sample is never allowed the freedom to play for more than a few phrases at a time, deferring importance to the insect-like buzzings of Côté’s setup. Not a quoter, Côté’s use of prerecorded music turns those fragments into dreamlike snippets from elsewhere, fully absorbing them into his own aural narrative. He gradually effaces the sound of strings and woodwinds beneath oscillating tones and rough scrapes; noises equivelent to fireworks (track 1), accordions (track 8) and airplane motors (track 11) prevent the music from reaching a maudlin conclusion. And it is always the orchestra that sounds bland and repetitive, never the “lesser” instruments of the computer and the mixing board. As I walked around Yonkers, NY’s Untermyer Park today, a space I’ve known intimately for the past fifteen years, I listened to the snatches of melody 63 Apparitions offered up through my headphones. Untermyer is filled with ruined and decaying buildings, overgrown vegetation and crumbling faux-Roman architecture. I couldn’t help but thinking that Côté’s music provided my stroll with a perfect soundtrack, appearing before me as the fragments of a damaged landscape whose former splendor was now buried beneath layers of grime. Far from robbing the original of its beauty, the new elements accumulating atop it had turned it into something even more beautiful, with so much texture concentrated in each surface that I broke off a piece of the pool’s flooring with the heel of my shoe to pocket and take home with me. And I again came to the realization that music is that which helps animate the mute ugliness of the world around us: one view, a thousand notes.
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Kritikby Rigobert Dittman in Bad Alchemy #52 (Germany), November 1, 2006 |3275| 63 apparitions (&02) ist Michel F Côté elektroakustische Tonspur für eine Tanzchoreographie, wobei der akustische Moment hauptsächlich von Piano und Kleinstpercussion bestritten wird, eingesponnen von einer Mixtur aus elektronischen Fetzen und Bräseln, in die Côté noch Zuspielungen einiger Freunde integrierte, Samples, Motärchengeräusche und Gekruspel von Diane Labrosse, Christof Migone und Martin Tétreault. Welche Rolle Cageund Satie dabei spielten, bleibt für mich im Unklaren. In den durchwegs diffus rauschenden, mikrophon zischelnden, schnurrenden oder bitzelnden Geräuschfond sind einzelne Pianonoten getupft und sporadisch erklingen Sounds wie von einer Orgel(?) oder Melodica(?). Noch mehr lassen mich dazwischen romantische Orchestersamples den Kopf heben. Man schaut um sich und staunt über solche melodiäsen und feierlichen Einbrüche, akustische Fata Morganas, deren Gaukelei bei Track 10 mit seinen wehmütigen Fetzen Alter Musik selbst einen Hl. Antonius nicht vällig kalt gelassen hätte. Der dünne, eindringliche Melodica-oder Harmonikaton kehrt wieder, einsame und monotone Pianopongs in Einfingertechnik, simpel, aber effektvoll, gefolgt von eifrig und stottrig kullernder elektronischer Percussivität. Für's Finale lässt Côté dann noch einmal Geigen loopen und das Piano halbe Tonleitern klimpern, durchsetzt von rumorenden Stärungen. Ich stolpere ja selbst über meinen grob codierten Resonanzboden, auf dem ein bisschen Streichertristesse und Gefiepe gleich Wehmut ausläsen, Geknurspe aber auf einen Stärungsfilter stässt. O sancta simplicitas, o alter Adam.
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Reviewby Dolf Mulder in Vital #539 (Netherlands), August 16, 2006 |3122| 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 Montreal, and in all five of the current releases you can find musicians from Montreal, 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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Disquesby Pierre Durr in Revue & Corrigée #68 (France), June 1, 2006 |3123| Avec ces deux enregistrements, le musicien québécois nous offre deux univers totalement différents. Sans prétention avant-gardiste, Flat Fourgonnette est une collection de pièces à la mode country / folk / rock / blues aux mélodies parfois empruntées aux Irlandais. Elles présentent une évocation du Middle West et des hautes prairies de l’Ouest américain, avec ses cow-boys, ses Indiens (Sitting Bull), ses filles de saloon… Réalisées avec six partenaires et divers emprunts, elles exhalent un parfum d’authenticité et un enthousiasme non dénué d’humour. Conçues pour un spectacle chorégraphique, dans lequel Michel F Côté intervenait aussi pour la conception, les 63 apparitions constituent un travail sonore plus expérimental et plutôt étrange fait d’échantillonnages, de sons électroniques, de claviers et de divers objets électriques, avec des références plus particulières au Socrate d’Érik Satie et sa transcription par Cage. Un peu plus courte, semble-t-il, que sa version live, la trame sonore mêle diverses musiques, pour proposer une sorte de jeu chorégraphique dans lequel chacun des cinq solistes choisit sa partition, apparaît (ou disparaît) en fonction de cette trame sonore à cinq repères… D’où le titre de 63 apparitions. actuellecd.com Michel F Côté: 63 apparitions: reviews |
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