Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane, Ensemble SuperMusique’s second CD, marks a serious side step from its debut Canevas +, which culled excerpts from concerts presented in Montréal between 1998 and 2004, and featured various facets and line-ups of the group. This brand-new release is the product of a single line-up and features some tasty homogeneity. One really hears a group sound from beginning to end. One can feel the unity of breath, the deep and intense cohesion existing between Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, and Martin Tétreault. Built from concepts suggested by Derome, Hétu, Labrosse, and Palardy Roger, this lively shack full of adventurous sonic outbursts is inhabited by a true family, a team of improvisation champs. A fun shack where sonic brilliance has been enhanced by Paul Dolden’s magic ears.

This is an all-star Ambiances Magnetiques ensemble, hence the name, recorded live in concert in September of 2007 in Montréal. Four of the members, Hétu, Roger, Labrosse and Derome, each conducted or directed the improvisations and each used a different approach. Joane Hetu’s 8 moments brefs is a game that deals with the perception of time, based on 1 minute segments in which the material is switched around. This keeps the flow of ideas compact, as textures and combinations of players shift during every (imagined) minute. There is a leaky faucet in my kitchen where I work at my computer and I couldn’t tell if the dripping was a part of this disc until I made sure. With a sampler, a turntable (often without records), manipulated objects and strange voices, it is hard to tell who is doing what. There are brief and often poetic explanations of the composers’ intent which give us some idea of what’s what. Danielle Roger’s four part Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane creates a “customized universe of the rooms of a house” and sounds like well-constructed electronic music and selective samples. Intense and evocative of the complexity of modern civilization. Diane Labrosse’s Une année dans la vie de… deals with the twelve months of the year and the layers of voices are ghost-like and quite haunting. Jean Derome’s Canot-camping… deals with numerous body signals which steer the music. There seems to be a great deal of directed fragments involved: strange voices, quick changes, toys and a good dose of humor. What I find so remarkable is that after so many years of music together, this ensemble still sound fresh, exciting and filled surprises. Some things do get better as they evolve.

Great news! Five Ambiances Magnétiques albums ranked amongst the best releases of 2008!

• Top 5: Le Phénix by Les Poules (Délire Actuel, CFLX-FM, Sherbrooke, Québec)
• Top 10: Clic by Bernard Falaise (CIBL-FM, Montréal, Québec)
• Top 15: Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane by Ensemble Supermusique (Delire Actuel, CFLX-FM, Sherbrooke, Québec)
• Top 20: Pas de deux by Danielle Palardy Roger and Fred Frith (Squidco, USA)
• Top 100: Visions Fugitives Op.22 by Quartetski Does Prokofiev (CKUT-FM, Montréal, QC)

Les Poules is a trio made up of Joane Hétu saxophone, voice, Diane Labrosse (sampler), and Danielle Palardy Roger (percussion). Their collaboration as Les Poules has a history going back to 1986 when they released their first record Les contes de l’amère loi, to be followed by Prairie Orange in 2002. But under the names of Justine and Wondeur Brass their history goes back even further. All three of these women are very experienced improvisors and composers. All three of them have their own projects going on, and also they participate in even more projects and groups. From time to time they decide to write another chapter in the Les Poules-book. Phénix, their third project, is comprised of 24 tracks divided in six sections. All tracks are under 3 minutes and the tracks within each section make up one continuous whole. The recordings took place on two days in january 2008. Hétu contributes most (and best) of the time with her voice, making all kinds of noises that go well with the disciplined use of the sampler by Labrosse and the percussion work by Roger. They create moods and textures through improvisations that concentrate on the qualities of sound.

All three take also part in the Ensemble Supermusique that is completed by Jean Derome (sax, objects, voice), Pierre Tanguay (drums) and Martin Tétreault (turntables). Recorded live in September 2007, the CD offers four improvisations for which respectively Hétu, Roger, Labrosse and Derome delivered the leading ideas. Canot-camping is a conducted improvisation by Derome. Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane originated from a improvisation concept designed by Danielle Palardy Roger. 8 moments brefs is also a conducted game-improvisation by Hétu. In this improvisation “Each sequence lasts exactly one minute. Every minute, all musicians switch material at random.” Also for this ensemble this is a third effort. The improvisations on both records have a similar outlook. Non-rhythmic percussion, vocal sounds by Hétu and others. Detailed pictures full of small and delicate sounds and noises. At times the music becomes loud and cacophonic, but most of the time, the improvisations pass by in a steady stream full of little and small sounds and noises. The longer you look in this river, the more fish you discover. Of both records I like the one by Ensemble Supermusique the most. Improvisations on this one have many exciting moments and dynamics, and personally I’m always having a good time by the turntable contributions by Tétreault in line ups as these.

In what most enthusiasts could clearly identify as an “all-star improv lineup,” Ensemble SuperMusique certainly fit the name they’ve elected to represent themselves. A formidable bunch of misfits and Montréal counter-cultural sound artists of the first order, the crew delivers an onslaught— make it a barrage— of on-the-spot leftfield tic tacs and kling klongs with sax genius Jean Derome, sampler Diane Labrosse, alto sax provider Joane Hétu, percussion queen Danielle Palardy Roger, noted turntablist Martin Tétreault, and drummer Pierre Tanguay. All take part in the proceedings they’ve described as being “like seismographs and decoders of little nothings and big anythings.”

The opening burst of saxophone madness and its ensuing revelations on the dazzling and complex Canot-camping, courte expédition is my personal favorite, stuffed with a group of twelve improvisers, and multiple concepts led by a chief apparently utilizing about sixty hand and body signals. In fact, the recording is a bit of an improvisation game “for at least two players, based on the perception of time, and where each sequence lasts exactly one minute— every minute, all musicians switch material at random,” creating a conscious form of modular psychosis for the listener. Y’a du bruit dans ma cabane is all about the process, and is not to be approached with any kind of pop possibility, evidently, but rather with an imaginative heart.