“Digital noise” self proclaimed “musique concrete”, looped and layered electroacoustics, most notably masterfully manipulated amplified turntables of Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tétreault. Incredible stuff, elevating the realm of avant noise at least 3 notches.

1. Scratching under trippy chimes starts this, followed by crunchy sounds, rumbles, tone bursts, you name it, builds intensity then chills [approx] 7 min in, reassembles, awesome
2. Digital madness, looped and rhythmic in a cool way
3. Looped vague rhythm, doomy creepy noises build and become lush
4. Harsh layers immediately, jungly drums give this an electro flare
5. Industrial noise feel at outset, electro noise drums appear benieath, grows solemn and chill ~6 min then the layers build again, long piece
6. Starts chill, sparse, builds ~3 min heavy noise layers, quiets ~9 min
7. Noisey from outset, layered droney higher pitched, builds intensity, mellows at end
8. Looped creepiness, intense
9. Collage feel, more avante, layers of interesting sounds

The 5th edition of the Open Ears Festival will be held from April 26 to May 1, 2005 in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada). Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori, Hildegard Westerkamp, Anne Bourne, Tom Walsh and Pierre Tanguay are amongst the artists featured this year.

D’abord un phénomène scénique, Le Band de poètes est né de l’amitié, puis du désir de transporter l’écriture sur scène. Grâce à une complicité flagrante ainsi qu’à deux formidables musiciens Bernard Falaise et Normand Guilbeault), les quatre poètes ont su dynamiser leur récital et trouver un équilibre entre texte et performance. Très différentes les unes des autres, les poésies de D Kimm, Guy Marchamps, Geneviève Letarte et José Acquelin se rejoignent par leur conscience du temps présent et des errances contemporaines, donnant une saveur bohémienne à leur assemblage de numéros. Malgré quelques inégalités, ce cabaret littéraire surmonte brillamment les difficultés inhérentes au genre.

Jean-Pierre Gauthier (tinkered instruments), Dominique Petitgand (sound diffusion) and Martin Tétreault (percussive turntables) will each present a solo performance at Montréal’s Lion d’Or on March 2, 2005. This event is part of the exhibition Tracking the Traces held at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery.

Nous perçons les oreilles, the duo of Jean Derome and Joane Hétu, will move its fierceness, energy and irreverence to Italy from March 1 — 8, 2005. The duo will give concerts and workshops with Gianni Lenoci in several Italian cities. The duo will give concerts at Bari’s La Taverna del Maltese on March 1, at Monopoly’s Chiesa Di San Pietro on March 2 and 3, at Rome’s Rialto on March 4, at Meldona’s Areasismica on March 5, and lastly at Venice’s Teatro Fondamenta Nuove on March 8.

Montréal’s Tim Brady is a true mad scientist of guitar sound, placed here on Earth, it seems, to smash the barriers between high and low culture. His wild guitar sounds are daggers in the heart of classical music pretense, and God love him for it. The title of Brady’s latest tells much of the story, as it’s certainly the guitar playing that deserves top billing. Here, the music has a relentless drive to it and, to be honest, it is a bit wearying at times, but at the same time, one has to admire the way that Brady works with Lorraine Vaillancourt’s NEM to bring out their playful side.