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.

As an addenda to the above, I originally passed on these discs to Nick Mott as I was getting deluged with too many items to review, though I did review one of them, which you may find of interest in the way of comparison…

The unlikely duo of Pierre Tanguay (drums, percussion, objects) and Tom Walsh (trombone, sampling) aptly make an unlikely music. And, I mean unlikely. Believe me, this often runs close to lancu Dumitrescu in its textures and sonic counterpoints. Though the trombone takes the music elsewhere on occasions, and I can picture Conrad Bauer together with the Deep Listening Band. It’s almost as though Jon Hassell makes a guest appearance elsewhere. Despite any of those comparisons, however, this a diverse album indeed, sometimes dark and flowing music, and often challenging in its execution.

Six months on I think we’ve now got a dozen more unheard discs from the label. Busy people aren’t they?! I wonder if we’ll be able to catch up?

Now, this one is excellent. Beautifully atmospheric and melancholy, with stretched-out tones, trombone and gorgeous understated percussion all starting the proceedings. Some of this is very challenging, with brilliant use of hand percussion and odd sampled sounds, becoming like an electronic Third Ear Band, Nurse With Wound or even Negativland at times. Some of the collaged sections are tremendous, with an uneasy strangeness alongside more floating gliding movements. By the way, I swear I heard a brief snippet of Marge Simpson’s voice in this!

Percussionist Tanguay, and trombonist Walsh are no less ambitious on Midi tapant, blurring the lines between spontaneous music and formal composition. But while Callas was a dazzling technical feat, Midi tapant is far lower key affair. Beginning with minimalist drone patterns, the two then drop in manipulated world music samples like gamelan and chanting voices, as well as big band sounds, against which Tanguay and Walsh play and create a new sonic world that is soothing yet exhilarating, searching yet knowing, exotic yet familiar. What is real and what isn’t, Midi tapant doesn’t answer that question because it doesn’t have to. In the end, the answer begins where it ends in the listener’s imagination.

Trombonist Walsh and percussionist Tanguay create a fascinating array of textural and melodic improvisations, more atmospheric than frantic. Excellent!

Trop peu d’attention a été accordée à ce petit bijou humoristique et envoûtant. Tom Walsh (trombone et échantillonneur) et Pierre Tanguay (percussions) colligent depuis des années des éléments sonores qu’ils ont su marier presque entièrement en direct, tout en donnant l’impression qu’il s’agit d’un travail complexe de studio. Ambiances aériennes, aqueuses, telluriques. Splendide.