Local Sounds: Volume 4.0

Christmas is near even if there's snow decorating the streets of Montréal and I felt it was time to deliver the fourth volume of this Local Sounds series. It's a series of short reviews about the best and most interesting non-metal music of Québec and its surroundings, sometimes it's artists in French, sometimes they sing in English but it's always meaningful and deep music. Also, I always try to focus on up and coming bands offering their music for free or pay what you can online. This edition has 4 unique projects all living in the province of Québec.







Le Pélican Noir - Le silence tendu au dessus de nos têtes comme un orage en suspens (2013)

The debut EP by this francophone collective is some sort of highly atmospheric instrumental indie rock/post with slight electronic touches. There's a lot of piano, accoustic guitars, synths, violin and a bunch of other weird instruments. They have the rich, entranced feel of Sigur Ros, the song “La quadrature du cercle” really reminded me of the renowned icelandic band with its subtle keys arrangements. Highly recommended release, it's relaxing in a strange way.

I'm excited to hear their 2015 record that I'll get on Christmas due to the very cool initiative of Poulet Neige. The platform is basically a bunch of local artists giving their music, you pick the number you want and you'll receive the files on the 25th.

More info here : POULET NEIGE

Free download : Le Pélican Noir on Bandcamp




Les Passagers – Le ciel est noir (2014)
Speaking of Poulet Neige, it's because of this website that I've discovered this next band! This quintet led by Andréanne Muzzo (vocals, synths) et Nicolas Ferron (guitars, synths) plays a form of ethereal indie pop with soft and cute vocals by Andréanne. The lyrics in French are lovely, poetic and full of imagery (especially “Acheter ta peau” or “Buy your skin”) but the band is never kitsch or too much despite the 80s synths influence. This will make you feel good in less twenty minutes. It's sunny but not overly so and fits all the seasons we can experience in Montréal.

Free download: Les Passagers on Bandcamp

Barricade – Rapide Sept (2015)
From Rouyn-Noranda (7 hours north of Montréal), this instrumental trio is quite interesting. They're groovy, atmospheric somewhat metallic post hardcore with a lot of feel and a solid, airy production. The songs, almost all titled with names like Tony, Max or Cindy are all quite short and never waste any time getting their point across, they're not a meandering band like many of the post-whatever acts we can encounter nowadays. They remind me a bit of Karma the Burn but without the stoner metal elements, just blistering instrumental energy thrown at you for a short while.

Free download: Barricade on Bandcamp



Nüshu – EP 2014

Sharing two members with Politess (a band featured on Local Sounds volume 3), this unisex project is also fairly weird. The noisy punky alt rock band has shouted, piercing vocals, flowing post punk riffs and groovy drumming. The lyrics in French are absurd or amusingly vulgar (like the surprinsingly aggressive song about the color blue). Fast paced blurbs of controlled insanity is what you'll find here and it's pretty enjoyable! This 10 minutes or so EP is promising and Nüshu is currently working on something new based on their Facebook page

Free download: Nushu on Bandcamp



Stay tuned for volume 5.0 due in early 2016!

Subrosa/Rhino/Near Grey - August 6th 2014 @Petit Campus, Montréal

I was pretty excited when Boris, SubRosa and The Atlas Moth (a band I really enjoyed in April when they played with The Ocean) were gonna tour together. My enjoyment was destroyed when no Montréal dates were announced but my smile came back when SubRosa decided to go up north to play a gig while on a day off. I'm freaking glad they came.

Two local bands were added to the bill, I really think a three bands gig is the best. The gig won't finish at 2 am and it's easier to truly enjoy the music delivered by every entities.

Near Grey opened the gig with their instrumental post metal compositions. I've never really liked instrumental bands except perhaps Godspeed You! Black Emperor and even though this young band was enjoyable, it didn't quite grasped me. The three songs (for around thirty minutes) they played were redundant, plodding and all similarly built but their heavy parts were pretty fun. When there's no vocals, I feel there's often something missing from the equation. Like a cheeseburger without ketchup. Their guitar tone was very cool though and I can see the fans of the genre digging them, just not my thing, you know?

6 they wish they were Pelican out of 10
Near Grey on Bandcamp

Rhino were next and I knew what to expect since they opened The Ocean's gig and they're also not my thing. I can dig their atmospheric post hardcore approach since I'm a big Cult of Luna fan but they're simply not at their level. They have two guitarists but one of them is utterly unnecessary and tries to do landscapes and endlessly play with his pedals. The other one does all the job and provides good but redundant heavy riffs border-lining on metal.  But...but I just cannot stand their singer and his screamo tendencies, I don't think he's a good fit for their sound.

-10 cult points for drinking Le Trou du Diable beer without glasses like peasants.
6 hipster haircuts out of 10
Rhino on Facebook

SubRosa arrived on stage at around 10 o'clock and they totally met my expectations. It's pretty cool to see a metal band where women are the majority and even though the drummer's beard was manlier than Sean Connery's hairy chest in Dr. No, they're still only two men in the band! The two violinists (Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack) weren't usually loud enough though but I think this was due to the venue's sound system. Nonetheless,  these electric violins really managed to create vivid soundscapes complimenting the guitar skills of frontwoman Rebecca Vernon who was clad in a black dress.

They played four songs from their excellent latest album More Constant Than the Gods but not “Cosey Mo”, a song I wanted them to play but oh well, it was a solid set anyway. The twelve minutes “The Usher” being a clear highlight. They also played two songs from No Hope for the Mighty Ones.The set was about a hour long and I wish it would have been at least ninety minutes, there's something magical and ethereal to their blend of doom metal, stoner, noise, drone & folk and it's totally entrancing. The soft, intriguing vocals of Vernon were like lullabies mixed with heavy riffs and the rare harsher vocals of Pendleton and the new bassist (who was tastefully loud as fuck). Great, great band.

10 metal needs more women out of 10
SubRosa's setlist:

1. Fat of The Ram
2. The Inheritance
3. Beneath the Crown
4. Ghosts of A Dead Empire
5. The Usher
6. Affliction

SubRosa on Facebook
Thanks to Yannick Marchand for the live pictures.

Karma to Burn - Slight Reprise (2012) | 85%

toodoodo! You found the instrumental tits of groove!

The instrumental stoner veterans released their sixth album last year and while it doesn't deviate from their usual sound, it's still pretty enjoyable. You don't need to fix a solid recipe, eh ? I always have a time hard time with instrumental bands, they really have a different focus than bands with singers. They paint landscapes with sounds and it's sometimes harder to truly achieve a pleasing sound of their own. Not for K2B though.

From fast paced stoner to slower southern kicks in the ass, Karma to Burn's wheels are pretty used to the long road. "Fourteen" starts with a bluesy slow riff and evolves into a stoner metal track. The three musicians are extremely good and they're never showing off, the drums, the bass and the guitars all brothers in arms, in perfect cohesion. Three Harley Davidsons rolling at the same speed on a gravely road, they're all leaving tips to the huge tits waitresses at the bar and drinking their Mexican lager with immense pleasure. The guitars are heavy and catchy, fast and rich giving a sense of movement to the listeners. The bass, loud and subtle at the same time, is a perfect acolyte who's choosing its moments to shine like on the immense ''Seven''. The drums are a powerhouse of might, heavy and easy to groove to. They often do their own thing and while the instruments are often quite unique in their approach, everything is cohesive.

Even though like I said, I usually prefer the presence of vocals in my metal, these guys are perfect like that and even if they sold out their soul for their first album (Roadrunner forced them to get a singer). The album is a reinterpreation of the debut (hence the title) without a singer and with the current lineup and it's much better since the vocals were so out of place and mediocre. They had a no name dude probably found in a local cougar infested bar somewhere. The only song with vocals is ''Two Times'' and it features the legendary John Garcia from Kyuss and it's obviously quite cool as Karma to Burn is one of the best stoner bands around, instrumental or not.

They threw feces at the establishment and endured as a trio for the rest of their career and I expect them to do so until the end, as it should be. Artistic integrity is important, you play metal because you want to break free of these conventions but you're never really free. Somewhere, somehow, someone will tell you what to do, you can sure become successful but respect is somewhat harder to get. It's a matter of decisions, smart or not it doesn't matter when it's conform to your ideals.

Their sound can be a bit formulaic at times since there's not a lot of variations and the songs are pretty much all alike but it remains interesting and it's not a long album. As their third album in three years, the passion is still there. Unfortunately, I don't have a car but I guess this band is ideal for road trips.

While not as interesting as psychedelic instrumental rock bands like Sungod or even perhaps some particular drone/doom, their sound exists for a reason, it's groovy, sexy and smells like leather and asphalt and you need to admire that.

K2B's Facebook page