Rakta with Grosser and Security @La Vitrola in Montréal, July 10th 2016

*all the mediocre pictures were taken by my cellphone*



Thanks to Suoni Per Il Popolo for organizing this gig.

On this evening of July that felt more like we were in late April, I've decided to go see this interesting gig even if it was a bit out of my comfort zone but it was a rewarding experience.

Security opened the show with their blend of noise rock, Loop (the british band)-esque heavy explorations and many more influences too numerous to talk about. The duo composed of two members of the coldwave/synthpop/etc… project Dernier Sex unleashed a dark set of thundering bass and subtle yet highly evocative guitar lines. The guitarist, Anna, did some ethereal vocals as well but they were sparse, tastefully buried and not the focus of their music. The drum machine was used in an enjoyable and repetitive way adding a drone/industrial feel to their already busy mix of elements. A really good band and I’m looking forward to their studio material.

8/10

Grosser, a quintet from Calgary (or Montréal now apparently? Who cares?!) were next with their take on early punk rock/hardcore. The ubiquitous keyboard presence reminded me of Wolf Parade and it was the most interesting aspect of the band for me. The guitarist and the bassist looked like they had no fun at all compared to the dynamic and charismatic singer who was pretty damn good. The keyboardist was also adding an admirable queer presence to the band’s identity and it was a nice touch. This band felt more inclusive that what I usually see from the metal scene! Somewhat derivative except for the keys, the band’s short set was pretty cool and the weird projections were clearly a great bonus to their performance. They were composed of old (late 80s/early 90s) television samples of random and sometimes, gross stuff.

7/10

Rakta, the all girl Brazilian trio played a fantastic gig of their kraut rock infused psychedelic post punk with a lot of tribal inspirations. I was familiar with their debut album for a while now but this was pretty damn different as they played stuff from their newly released opus and it’s slower and more introspective music. With no electric guitars this time around (people told me that they had one when they toured here last year), the band relies on a hard bass presence, groovy and energetic drumming and a wide array of keyboard and electronic effects (they even had a The Doors-like organ moment!) to create their rich atmosphere. They reminded me of fellow South Americans Föllakzoid (that I’ve seen live some years ago) with the way they mixed repetitiveness and intricacy. The three ladies were very fun to watch, their tour is only starting and it’s really obvious that they really love what they do.

The part where they all gathered to play percussion for a good 3 to 5 minutes was mesmerizing and captivating. An interesting and dedicated band and they were tremendous on stage. They have my total support.

9/10

Local Sounds: Volume 5.0 - Poulet Neige 2015 Special

Poulet Neige is an awesome website that gives you a bunch of free (or pay what you can) albums from Quebec and Canadian bands for Christmas. It's unfortunately over for this year but be sure to keep in touch with them and register for the future edition. I got many albums thanks to this initiative and I've picked 4 of 'em for this volume. These bands all evolve in similar genres, blending indie, alternative, psychedelic rock and progressive rock together and they're all from the province of Québec and the Montréal area. 

Poulet Neige on Facebook

Uubbuurruu – Swamp Ritual (2015)

The debut EP by this Montréal quintet is quite cool. Due to the demented purple artwork, I was expeting some hard and heavy stoner metal but it's way more subdued than that. Dwelving into psychedelic rock, stoner rock, shoegaze and even blues rock, the band is definitely influenced by the excellent and popular british band Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. They have the same sort of buried Beatles-esque vocals and super fuzzy riffs. While not totally metal, they deliver heavy tunes like the speedy “I Don't Mind” or the super psychedelic closer “Radio Waves”. With the track “Dear God”, they proved that they're also capable of writing excellent ethereal blues/folk as this song sounds like a mix of Dylan and My Bloody Valentine. Highly recommended extended play, the future is bright for these guys, you should learn how to pronounce and spell their name already.

Uubbuurruu on Bandcamp

Richelieu – Richelieu (2015)

The trio from Montréal released their debut full length this summer and while I totally love their musical abilities and the music created here, the vocals and lyrics weren't totally convincing. They're influenced by the old prog rock of Québec (see Harmonium or Octobre) but they also combine this with a singer songwriter approach and some indie leanings. I thought it was a bit kitsch but frankly it's hard to make the French language work in a rock setting, I can count on my two hands the artists I really like that use my mother tongue successfully (Alain Bashung being one of them).

It's a varied album, from rougher moments like “D'la scrap” and its garage rock feel to the soothing “Repos”. I think Richelieu is at their best when they're instrumentally minded and unleash their true prog rock side like on the Gentle Giant-esque instrumental track “Dernier tableau” where the guitarist David Chassé truly shines. The synths an mellotrons are sounding good and can recall Supertramp at times, it's a good album but there's some aspects I like more than others and I'd like to see some more of those proggy harsher explorations instead of pop songs but that's just me.

Richelieu on Bandcamp

Corridor – Le voyage éternel (2015)

After the excellent EP, “Un magicien en toi” released in 2013, Corridor released “Le voyage éternel”, their debut album, back in May. They play a vivid genre mixing jangle pop, psych/progressive rock and indie and it's super good! There's a lot of reverb in the vocals, a bit like Malajube used to do, this is one tactic to make French lyrics work in a rock environment, a recurring problem I've mentioned in the previous review. The highly layered vocals are creating a smooth and the duel guitars are often loud, juggling atmospheric riffs and cool bass licks. The musicianship is impressive but they keep things subtle, that's something that one of their main influence (R.E.M.) always did as well.

In the end, the songwriting is what matters the most and they truly deliver the goods. Corridor writes short song (for a psych/prog band...) but their compositions are rich, dense and rewarding. They convinced me with their unorthodox riffs by mixing a strange psych approach and an endearing romantic side. One of the best québécois albums of the year and it's much better than the last album by Tame Impala!

Corridor on Bandcamp

Renard Blanc – Empire Onirique (2015)

After Karkwa's impact on the Quebec music scene, it was logical to see bands follow their paths. Renard Blanc (white fox) is one of them. Hugely influenced by Radiohead's early stuff, the ten songs of this debut album are atmospheric proggy rock with layers upon layers of sounds. I really like the “La guerre des tuques” (a cult children movie) in “Doucement”, it was an original choice!

While it's usually a dark or introspective genre, this trio (with the help of a session keyboardist) are keeping things rooted in positivism but without being cheesy, overly sunny or saccharine. Their explorations are calm, often instrumental with interesting percussion and the Thom Yorke inspired vocals of guitarist Vincent Lepage. Certainly recommended for fans well written soothing alt rock.

Renard Blanc on Bandcamp

Corridor and Renard Blanc are playing with the excellent Ponctuation (another band I recently got into) in two weeks, I'll try to be there! Event: @Divan Orange

Stay tuned for a sixth volume of Local Sounds in the upcoming weeks.

Baroness – Purple (2015) / 91%

Motherfucking Mace Windu would be proud!

After the ambitious Yellow & Green (2012) and their tragic accident, John Baizley and Baroness decided to streamline their sound and come back to the structure of Blue Record (still perhaps their best record as far as I'm concerned) and it was for the best as Purple is a grand record and a testament to the band leader of putting adversity behind him and move forward.

The main draw for this album is the automatic enjoyment you'll receive when you'll hear it, it's catchy as hell. Not that Y&G wasn't but it was more subdued and harder to grasp due to its somewhat tedious format. It all starts with the sludgey “Morningstar” before going to many places. I've rarely heard an album this varied that keeps things so focused and condensed. From their typical sludge rock to grungey accessible rock of the highest quality you can find, “ If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain)” is absolutely stunning. Baizley's vocals also never been that good, his delivery is excellent and there's a truly memorable urgency to his voice (see “Try to Disappear”). There's an hetfieldian influence (no wonders “Tallica likes them) and it's awesome. Long gone are the days where they use harsh vocals but they're not needed anymore, their sound has evolved into something else, something not as “red”, something more hopeful. They still have loud guitars, good riffs (“Desperation Burns”) but it's possibly heavier than Yellow (the heaviest half of their predecessor) and I mean, it should be after what happened to them. Music is always therapeutic (for the musicians and the fans alike) and it's obvious that the writing process was influenced by their bus accident.

When I called on my nursemaid
Come sit by my side
But she cuts through my ribcage
And pushes the pills deep in my eyes

Baroness has always been a highly intricate band and has been known to push the limits of the traditional metal or rock instrumentation and it's the case here as well. The drums are inventive, there's almost a Christmas bells influence on the aforementioned closer “If I have to Wake Up” and this is appropriate since the album was released in December! There's this shoe gaze/dream pop intro to “Chroline & Wine” and a wide range of rock influences ranging from hard rock to alternative rock. The interlude “Fugue” is basically R&B and it's glorious! They even channel their inner Thin Lizzy and unleash some solid licks. There's not a lot of bands who are successful at integrating the mainstream rock scene while retaining their identity, Baroness did it and they're now on the verge of stardom. They're hard working, super talented and with a clear and distinguished identity. In my eyes, their transition towards a rockier and more accessible sound was even more outstanding than Opeth's (a band with a similar progressive ability).

The guitars are singing their songs and I'm surprised by the amount of hope and positivity this record has, it's not always dark and this speaks wonders about John's thought process. Keeping the usual Baroness aesthetic (naked women, flowers, birds), the quartet has released another strong album, their fourth in a row.

Local Sounds: Volume 2.0

Here's the second volume of this series with five projects from the great city of Montréal. They're all widely different and that's a living proof of the quality of our music scene. I will not waste any time by talking about the weather or whatever, let's start with the first band!

Eliza - A Quit Smoking Soundtrack (2014)

This young Montreal band call their music « prog de casquette » or “hat prog” and while this is a weird description, it's oddly fitting. Their blend of super atmospheric and sad alternative rock certainly has progressive rock influences but the more ethereal ones. I was reminded of the Norwegian band Gaspacho a little since they both play this sort of adventurous but still accessible rock with superb, soaring clean vocals. It's romantic and the guitars are able to create these original yet familar melodies effortlessly. These Quebecois are one of the most promising bands in Montreal and hopefully their debut full length will live up to my expectations and by singing in English, Eliza can open the doors of interntational recognition a bit more easily, they're certainly quite talented and they deserve more admiration. I've missed one of their recent gigs with She Serpent (featured on Volume 1.0) and I feel bad about it.

Free download on Bandcamp

Carnior – Post-Sauce (2014)

Carnior are about to release their third extended play (and final one since they're breaking up) but this is one of their albums released last year. The instrumental quartet is quite interesting, they play an intriguing mix of neo progressive (think of The Flower Kings' love for Yes and Peter Gabriel era Genesis) with some post rock, some electro, some psychedelic, some experimental noise and a love of jazz technics. The bass is thick and heavy in the mix and the keyboard and pianos are really cool and in your face. The guitars are obviously influenced by Steve Hackett (one of the most underrated guitarists of his time) and are particularly juicy, check out the soloing midway through “Dark foncé (sul' sofa)”, it's super good. They'll play their last gig next week (September 23rd) and I'll try to attend!

Free download of Post-Sauce on Bandcamp

Basil Oussaint – Agile (2015)
This dude really managed to get me out of my comfort zone (outside of showcasing the best local music, this is certainly one of the purposes of this series) with this album. Agile, his sixth release overall, is a joyful and eccletic blend of pop, world music, electronic, house and synthpop and it's extraordinarly catchy. It's super sexy, the beats are awesome and his vocals and lyrics (all in French) are super attractive and corny in the best way possible. Basil has basically no internet presence outside of this Bandcamp page but fans of the great Philippe Katerine's most out there material will dig this record. Bonus point for having a cat on the cover art!

Free download on Bandcamp

Golden Python – Matt Damon vs. The World (2014)
Since I saw Team America in the theaters (damn, this was more than 10 years ago), the “MATT DAMON” joke has always been one of my favorite running gags so the title of this album by Golden Python got my attention. Their first EP is a fantastic experimental indie rock record with some math rock and screamo influences with fucked up lyrics. I was reminded of Modest Mouse a little mostly because of their unorthodox musicality and weird poetry. There's almost a video game music influence here but it's all played with the traditional rock instruments, the guitars are really playing these complex and strange melodies (check out “Flat Tree / Fat Tone”). Highly recommended for those who think indie rock is boring, this is far from being mundane.

Buy the EP on their Bandcamp

Growing Pains – Mood (2015)

Released back in June, this EP is simply a stunning piece of grungy power pop/punk/alternative rock and I can't get enough of it. It's very 90s and has the same mournful but uplifiting feel early Weezer had. It's all about being concise and punchy unlike some of the more intellectual and atmospheric picks of this Volume. I really like the four short pieces on “Mood”, especially the softer one “Paradox”. I want more of this! It's sweet nostalgic music, it's accesible, melodic but has enough power in the riffs to not be a sacharrine affair devoid of intellectual integrity like most of the mainstream pop punk projects.

Live with Pluum (featured on Volume 1.0), Golden Python and 2 other bands soon @Turbo Haus


Free download on Bandcamp