Li Alin is a mystery, and for now that’s just as well. The story behind her mournful, raw songs — some with electronic embellishments, and all sung in French and English — might dilute the power of their presence. Backing her vocals with echoed pianos and skin-crawling cello strains, she creates authentically desolate atmospheres that re-claim Joy Division comparisons from the boy bands. When Alin whispers “My soul is bleeding/ Today my heart is snowing,” you believe it. Like a mistress sequestered in a tower, she contemplates love and the futility of life with heart-breaking precision. The eccentricities of Alin’s incantations make them avant-goth of the highest order. Jokers say the goth dance goes pull the rope, kick the cat, toss the basket. Li Alin’s compelling compositions add another step: rattle your bones.

I was just thinking about the human voice. Mostly everyone has one, uses one and it’s pretty much the basis for eminent music publications. Well kiddies, Idiolalla is two women with voices and one drummer with style. This is where the human voice approaches the realm of true punk rock attitude; not only are they not going to tell you what they’re talking about and leave you to make up your own mind but they’re going to make you laugh, roll your eyes and scare you into the bargain. The departure this CD takes from the avant-art-whatever genre of sound-singing is the inclusion of the awe-inspiring drumming of Jean Martin and Duncan and Boyko tag-teaming everything from basso growling to Japanese pop squeaks to faux light opera and Monty Python shanties. Mad skills and no fear to boot.

This is stunning minimal jazz driven by sonic invention. Double bassist Martel has long been a fixture in the Montréal jazz and Musique Actuelle scene, and here he produces a tour de force filled with the possibilities not only of the genre, but for his instrument as well. His prepared bass experiments involve attaching paper clips and sticks, among other objects, to the bass, as well as trying out several variations of bowed and finger techniques. The result is amazingly dense, and coherent. You do not get the sense that this is virtuoso masturbation. Martel is seeking out new sounds, new ways to force the bass center stage, and he succeeds. Highlights include Cages, which is probably a nod to the master of prepared instrumentation. Dresser and Felt Clips hum and ache in ways the bass rarely has been able to convey. The two part Mulo suite is a perfection of his harmonic and experimental ideas, as is the amazing Correspondances Domestiques. Martel has also applied his vision to the Montréal avant-garde band Rake Star, but here, following his own ideas, the results are more satisfying. While Canada has not been known for its adventurous music, enough proof has been amassed that now that ought to change. From the Noise and avant-rock typical of Canadian labels like Alien8, to the powerful jazz scene in Montréal, our neighbors have been quietly but forcefully doing more than just slowly becoming a new model for real Democracy. Martel is only one of the visionary artists fueling that transformation. 9/10

The Canadian double-bassist Pierre-Yves Martel released a solo-album through Ambiances Magnétiques. This album features 18 short tracks, the longest not clocking over four and a half minutes, in which the prepared double bass is the central issue. Referring to the welcoming of new ideas by John Cage and Derek Bailey, this musician plays his instrument in an unorthodox way. The outcome is a mixture of instrumental blues and improv. sessions. It’s nice to notice how many and varied sounds Martel can create with just one instrument, due to which the atmosphere changes regularly. Sometimes one can’t even believe hearing a double bass, despite the excellent sound quality.

The cover of this album by DB Boyko, Christine Duncan and Jean Martin features the face of a clown, reminding of a fair. Both vocalists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan sing in an unusual way, creating and reciting their self-invented language. Jean Martin accompanies them with his multi-coloured percussion. It’s funny, almost childish and certainly very entertaining at the same time. The music ranges from playful vocal art to moments in which Tibetan monks seem to be singing.

The Montréal-based string quartet Quatuor Bozzini offer a new reading of Steve Reich’s work Different trains, which follows the version by the Kronos Quartet from 1990. This work has been devided in three parts; America-before the war, Europe-during the war and After the war, all three clocking around nine minutes. Lovely violin playing has been larded with repetitive vocal samples and sounds from trains from the 30’s and 40’s, resulting in lovely and rich layers of sounds. Each track offers a certain tension, which makes you keep listening in full fascination. A very intruiging work!