The production of the Montréal record label Ambiances Magnétiques always oscillated between avant-garde song writing and free improvisation. The former was very important in the early days (1985-1990), later left aside (during the mid-1990s) and finally regained interest at the turn of the century. Ambiances Magnétiques, Vol. 5: Chante! 1985-2000 compiles songs from a broad range of artists on the label and presents them in a comprehensive and exciting way. Although this CD is made of all previously available tracks (two were still unissued on CD: the Wondeur Brass and Les Poules selections), special care has been put in the running order, which makes it enjoyable as a whole. The label had to stretch the definition of the song format a lot to find enough material, though. Selections from Wondeur Brass, Justine, Papa Boa, André Duchesne and Joane Hétu are all strong avant-rock songs. The more classy contemporary song stylings of Pierre Cartier and Geneviève Letarte bring a pensive touch to the ensemble, but one can question the presence of more atmospheric or improvised pieces like Diane Labrosse’s Constellations and Liberté, or Martin Tétreault and Michel F Côté’s Juin. All lyrics are sung in French of course, but in most cases they are not essential to the comprehension of the music itself. Ambiances Magnétiques, Vol. 5: Chante! 1985-2000 does not bring anything new to the table, but it reminds us of the label’s commitment to song writing and makes a good introduction to the more accessible portion of its catalogue.

This volume is the most intimate. Here are compositions which uses classical instruments or samples of sounds or a combination of it all. Almost all compositions are processing very slowly and brings you an intimate atmosphere, an almost fine mix of experimental music and contemporary classical music. Reviewing these CD’s is very hard thanks to the quality of musical style, they should really be obtained by true music lovers.

“This is an anthology of unpublished works by the nine active members of Ambiances Magnétiques; an unforgettable musical odyssey for unexpecting music lovers.” Tells us the cover of this compilation. This compilation is different from the first 2 volumes. The music on this CD sounds more as comtemporary classical music and modern jazz. We have here compostions, no songs, with classical instruments and sometimes voice, used on a non-conform way so that true intelligent music is created. And again musical experiments that goes beyond contemporary classical music.

Volume 2, Hourra pour la bastringue — While volume 1 has a jazzy tune this one goes to big city café music. Imagine a dark pub situated in small alley filled with smoke, where a band is playing in a corner. If you are able to imagine this then you are able to get the atmosphere that the music brings on this CD. Again sometimes the atmosphere is broken on a pleasant way with musical experiments.

Hourra pour la Bastringue! is the second sampler from the Montréal label Ambiances Magnétiques. While La bastringue migratoire covered twelve years of existence and had over 30 albums to select material from, this second installment covered only the 1995-1997 production. And since the booklet from Volume 1 already contained historical and contextual overviews along with presentations on every artist, Volume 2 was packaged with only a catalog (no booklet). As with Volume 1, all tracks were previously released (except for three of them taken from albums that would be on record store shelves later in 1997) and therefore interest for the connoisseur is very limited. The neophyte will find a truncated overview of the label’s production: 1995-1997 marked the release of many albums by Jean Derome (four), Robert Marcel Lepage (four including one re-issue) and René Lussier (four including two re-issues). For a brief moment, Ambiances Magnétiques started to re-issue its first LP-only releases from the mid-1980s and these are also represented here. At the time of its release, Hourra pour la Bastringue! was recommendable only to those who felt a little lost in the sudden burst of releases coming from Ambiances Magnétiques and needed a map.

There is nothing mysterious in Mystère, label Ambiances Magnétiques’ four installment in its sampler series. Yes, the track list at the back of the box gives only a list of track numbers with durations — but the card inside contains all the usual information on artists, track titles and albums. Really, nothing to get excited about and no unreleased material. These are sixteen tracks taken from the sixteen albums Ambiances Magnétiques released between 1997 and 1999. If anything, this sampler, compared to volumes 1 (1983-1995) and 2 (1995-1997), shows how much these musicians’ focus has shifted in the mid-1990s from deconstructed pop to free improv. Track selection is inspired. Since there were extensive artist presentations and historical overviews of the label in Ambiances Magnétiques, Volume 1: La bastringue migratoire (1996), Mystère is only accompanied by a card with the track list.