Characterized by Americans as polite northern cousins who enjoy universal health care and little gun violence, Yanks don’t appreciate the current of outright quirkiness that courses through many Canadian endeavors, especially when it comes to creative music. It may be because Canuck popsters from Paul Anka to Justin Bieber as well as the likes of Rush and Joni Mitchell are quickly subsumed into the Yank music industry, but remembering that comedians such as Jim Carrey and Mike Myers hail from North of the 49th parallel may provide a glimpse of some Canadians’ mindsets.

Take for instance the releases here. During the performance by Montréal’s Ratchet Orchestra conducted by Nicolas Caloia, the group wraps textures from a legato string section around not only multifold rhythms referencing rock and Latin music, but strong soloists and eccentric arrangements that would be at home in any contemporary big band. Often intimations of one genre are quickly superseded by the next. Dusty for instance appears ready to become A Train until altissimo reed squeals that could come from Sun Ra’s Arkestra meld with gutbucket trombone slurs and cross-pulsed guitar passages to dissolve and reconfigure the theme. Similarly near-baroque flute flutters, harmonized with linear clarinet puffs and vibraharp pulsations which make up the moderato and legato melody on Safety move out of their safety zone as quivering horn vibrations or string glissandi menacingly and contrapuntally color or comment on the exposition. Although other tracks centre around exciting strategies ranging from marching-band replications to a face-off between Afro-Cuban percussion and triple spiccato string lines, the session-defining showcase is the two-part title track. Resounding from earth-shaking vibrations to those which could baffle a dog’s hearing, cacophonous and multiphonic smears, screeches and whistles pull back to reveal nuanced finger-style guitar licks and vibrating electric piano lines. Hearty percussion thumps are muted and horn squeaks fades until a final spiritual-like lyric line from a single violinist signals the end point. […]

Each of these notable discs could destroy any outsider’s supposition about the conventionality of Canadian created music. As a matter of fact it may cause jazzers to wonder just what a Canuck has in his or her instrument case.

When is one allowed a free pass to use “super” in the title of his / her band name? If you boil down the CV of those participating in Bruit court-circuit, you get a PhD in art, one in composition, collaborators with Jandek, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Joëlle Léandre, Zeena Parkins; a co-founder of Ambiances Magnetiques, a former touring member of Gilles Ste-Croix’s horse circus Cheval-Théâtre, an educator of improvised music (presented to 4th and 5th grade classes) and the lynchpin triangle of Michel F Côté, Alexandre St-Onge and Martin Tétreault, a trio connected five degrees or less with everything exciting in Montréal during the past decades. Violin (Guido Del Fabbro), cello (Émilie Girard-Charest), turntables (Tétreault), microphone manipulation (Côté), saxophones and objects (Jean Derome, Joane Hétu), lots of percussion (Danielle Palardy Roger, Côté), synth (Vergil Sharkya’), electric bass (St-Onge) — SuperMusique works for me.

Bruit court-circuit is not so much a story but a theatrical event where abrupt scene (ry) and costume changes and blurring performer lines keep the audience in continual transport (the clues of pending shifts are roughly scrawled graphic scores on the cover art). For example, the opener “Malgré tout face A” begins with an uninspired rock drum groove, but we’re only four bars in before the discord of a two-minute rivulet of declarative, dotted bursts from all participants skews the direction; each player’s multi-variations here, from hardbop runs to R&B licks to fizzing wah-wah to pointillism to hints of Serialism to Bartok quotes to someone’s metal growl of “électrocution!”, declare “prepare to be astounded”. Without notice, the work breaks with an intermission of tapping / blips / sforzando and moves to a soothing female spoken-word performance with the ensemble punctuating and creating subtle intrigue alongside the recitation. Just as the drama is about to peak, the woman’s voice skips, continues on with just the repetition of “le spécimen moderne” and the sound a turntable makes when you bump into it, and you note the illusion and play on recorded medium (presumably) Tétreault just pulled. Clever boy.

Acouphènes en partage (translated as “sharing in tinnitus”) breathes like passive Gagaku with a group effort of high-pitched, sustained notes and “natural” (as in the random “placement” sounds you hear walking down the street) thumps and ticks, the players eventually embellishing with vibrato and breaking the steady tandem texture as an overwhelming deep tone sneaks in underneath. And then a switch to rumbling motors and a sine wave to mess with your tinnitus, and then passages of warbling reeds, a culminating blend of these elements, a disruption of Del Fabbro and Girard-Charest pinching and grinding strings.

On paper, Bruit court-circuit appears confusing and odd — in a bad way; summaries of individual tiles that are “occasional down-on-the-prairie fiddle duo sweetness ties an abandoned, irradiated city together” (Poème à faible résistance) and “a repeating squeal works into an arcade game Boss Battle theme” (Le fruit du hasard) are curious and accurate, but don’t do justice to the aural representation and pattern of the mosaic. Unfortunately for those who aren’t following along with the music in their ears, this unique, vibrant, genre-splattering mix begs a listen to appreciate the meld of Ensemble SuperMusique’s technical and creative prowess and virtuosic structural / improvisation narrative. So get on that.

[…] Canadian guitarist and composer, Tim Brady, has played at Victo several times and always does something different. For this concert, Mr Brady unveiled his Symphony #3 — Atacama, a serious, engaging effort that he had been working on for a while and had only been performed once. Mr. Brady had a double ensemble featuring his own 11-piece unit Bradyworks plus Vivavoce, a 21-person vocal ensemble. The long work was inspired by the words of Chilean poet Elias Letelier’s book named Symphony. The songs were sung in Spanish which was the original language and printed in the leaflet which was given at the concert and printed in English, French and Spanish. It was helpful to read the words in English since they were integral to overall nature of what the piece was about (Pinochet’s regime of terror). Atacama consists of three sections, the first featured the chorus by itself. Since I haven’t really listened to much classical choral music, I can’t compare it anyone else, but it often did remind me of songs performed in a church. The large chorus did a momentous job of performing the rich, complex, multi-layered music which occasionally reminded me of Magma’s distinctive operatic sound. The second section, featured Bradyworks which included the ever-spirited Lori Freedman on clarinets in its ranks. The music was often complex and thought-provoking and recalled some of Frank Zappa’s more memorable classical music. Mr. Brady, who is a fine, diverse and creative guitarist, didn’t enter until the second half of the second piece and finally cut loose taking a strong solo before the second section came to an end. The third section featured Bradyworks and the chorus together and was an even more striking blend of two different worlds. Atacama was some 55 minutes long and well worth listening to in the future since it will take a while to fully absorb its impressive and challenging nature. I will be ordering copies of the CD sometime soon and urge you to give it a listen. This work was presented in Colosseum A which is pretty large and no doubt difficult to make sound just right. The sound people and overall presentation were consistently splendid throughout the entirety of this festival. […]