The compilation disc La bastringue migratoire makes for a good initiation to the Ambiances magnétiques label. About a dozen artists are represented here and, though hard to classify, their music is essentially tropes on a basic theme of “art jazz”. Some approaches are fairly conventional, like Evidence’s interpretation of Thelonious Monk’s Criss Cross, while others, such as Robert Lepage’s comic-strip-inspired clarinet ditty Le sourire de la Joconde, are admittedly bizarre. Some tracks are gentle, as in Michel Côté and Diane Labrosse’s Y tu mirar, while others are brash, like Jerry Snell’s Life in the Suicide Riots. Musical influences present on the disc range from DJ culture in Martin Tétreault’s work, to rock in André Duchesne, to folk music of various cultures sort of sprinkled throughout all the pieces. Poetry is present in the many of the tracks but is particularly central to Genevieve Letarte’s La ragazza. My favorite work is Les Granules’ Le tango qui ne finit jamais — it combines kitsch with music-craft in a way that is at once sinister and charming. If you haven’t had the pleasure of aurally ogling anything from Ambiances magnétiques, I strongly recommend La bastringue migratoire.