To celebrate the end of my spring break, here's two reviews of some very interesting local bands and one observation about a young Québec rock classic.
Le
Winston Band – Rembobine (2015)
Discovered
once again with the help of the guys of Poulet Neige, this
sextet plays an explosive form of folkloric music with a fun and
interesting modern vibe. Inspired by Quebec trad music, there's also
a strong Cajun
side to 'em and it almost makes you regret the fact that Louisiana is
American now. Armed with violins, accordion, Zydeco,
lap
and pedal steel, the band also incorporates the traditional rock
instruments like the electric guitars and bass to
insert a fresh breeze. Despite the young age of the members,
authenticity is important for them and they totally achieved their
goal. The vocals are nasally and recalls the 60s Quebec country
legends that my grand father always liked.
Great
album for those who think folk music is a dead genre, not
trying to make their sound more accessible like Les Cowboys Fringants
did. Le Winston Band are like an reinvented, version of the old
Québec/French Canadian folk television show Soirée Canadienne and
it's worth your time if you like the genre.
Bandcamp/PWYC
Vapeur
– L'effort (2016)
A
new project formed by 4 young musicians from Montréal, they share 3
members with Le Winston Band including Andrew Duquette-Boyte (guitar,
vocals here, also in metal band Tribunal that I've reviewed some
years ago) but it's a completely different beast. It's francophone
rock with a strong emphasis on fast paced guitar riffs giving a dance
rock feel to the songs. It reminds me of the early garage rock
revival instigated by The Strokes or the dance indie of Franz
Ferdinand. The 3 songs are well produced, the guitars are incisive
and lovely as well, there's an urgency to their music and the
flexible and airy production is really adequate. While the music is
pretty damn good, the lyrics of Andrew were the clear highlights for
me, they're intelligent without being pretentious.
À
la vitesse sonore la vérité gravite autour . Tel un cercle de
vautours vantera l'oreille d'un sourd
It's
international (in the best way possible) high caliber rock but
there's still an interesting late 80s, early 90s Québec rock
influence.
A promising first offering from Vapeur, I hope that they'll play live
soon!
Bandcamp/PWYC
Malajube
– Trompe l'oeil (2006)
10 years anniversary observation
10 years anniversary observation
In
my eyes and the eyes of many, this album is one of the most important
Quebec rock records of recent times. I was 16 years old when it was
released and it was an essential component of my musical diet back in
the day and I've been revisiting it recently to celebrate its 10
years anniversary and it hasn't aged a day and I doubt it will ever
become outdated. Anyhow, it made me realize how fast time flies, I
still remember playing it to my dad in the car when I got the CD, it
was a bit too insane for him!
The
variety of Malajube's sophomore album (after the excellent Le compte
complet released 2 years prior to this one) is astounding. From
metallic
rock like “Le crabe” to the poppy hit of “Montréal -40 C”
with its glorious synths and the guest vocals of Pierre Lapointe,
the ethereal and dramatic “Étienne d'août” or the contribution
of local hip hop heroes Loco Locass on “La russe”, they do almost
everything and they do it extremely well.
The vocals of Julien Mineau always made sure that the band never really became totally mainstream, like their lyrics (all about illnesses and the likes), they're peculiar and the fact that they're often buried under the instruments managed to get non-francophone medias interested in the bands despite the language barrier (Pitchfork wrote a positive review for the album as an example).
The vocals of Julien Mineau always made sure that the band never really became totally mainstream, like their lyrics (all about illnesses and the likes), they're peculiar and the fact that they're often buried under the instruments managed to get non-francophone medias interested in the bands despite the language barrier (Pitchfork wrote a positive review for the album as an example).
Malajube
are now sadly split up or inactive, their 2 albums after Trompe
l'oeil were
good but they never managed to reach the same level of quality and
groundbreaking emotional experimentation they did here. Mineau
has a new more symphonic project called Fontarabie and they're also
worth checking out.
Just like Karkwa's Les tremblements s'immobilisent, this album was highly influential on the Québec music scene and will be for years to come.
Just like Karkwa's Les tremblements s'immobilisent, this album was highly influential on the Québec music scene and will be for years to come.
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