La dernière œuvre présentée était celle de la compositrice Danielle Palardy Roger. Les sirènes de neuf bateaux amarrés dans le port, les sifflets de deux locomotives et le carillon de la basilique Notre-Dame ont été sollicités pour générer cette œuvre musicale. Des musiciens ont grimpé jusqu’aus sirènes afin de les manipuler pour en faire sortir de nouveaux sons.

This encounter between two of the leading turntablists of the avant-garde was meant to be. It happened in Montréal Martin Tétreault’s territory), December 1997. Japanese pioneer Otomo Yoshihide ex Ground Zero performs on turntables, sampler and CDs. Tétreault uses his arsenal of pick-ups, prepared records and prepared needles. They recorded 21 short improvisations (maximum duration: three and a half minutes) on specific themes, ranging from traditional music to cartoon, from science-fiction to education. This working method allowed them to concentrate their efforts on a few selected sound sources for a short period of time. It resulted in sharply focused pieces summarizing the techniques and art of both musicians. Humor is always a key aspect of Tétreault’s work and it is well represented here, especially in Science-fiction where the “spacy” analog synthesizer sounds he dug out are assembled into a melody very close to “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. The listener’s attention has no time to wander off. Recommended.

Pierre Tanguay and Tom Walsh appeared on many Ambiances Magnétiques releases before 1998, but mainly remained in the shadows devoted to sidemen. That was until this project, Midi Tapant [Noon Sharp], a surprising half audio art, half free improv album. Tanguay plays the drum set, various percussion (mostly African) and objects. Tom Walsh provides samples and trombone. The key part of this CD resides in the samples: strange soundscapes made of orchestral cues, TV zapping and electronic treatments upon which trombone solos are tacked or to which a sudden drum pattern will be joined, unless ethereal percussion or even toys are added to the mix. Most of the music (title track excepted) is atmospheric and slow-developing. It evokes childhood (toys, but also the title Est-ce que Marie peut venir jouer? [Can Mary Come Out and Play?], or Fred Frith’s film music, especially Middle of the Moment. Midi Tapant foretold somehow Pierre Tanguay’s solo CD La musique de mon disque. If the album received a lukewarm reception, it did however succeed to reveal another side of these two musicians too often taken for granted. The sampling work is a bit crude, but Midi Tapant still makes good music to daydream on.