“This is an anthology of unpublished works by the nine active members of Ambiances Magnétiques; an unforgettable musical odyssey for unexpecting music lovers.” Tells us the cover of this compilation. This compilation is different from the first 2 volumes. The music on this CD sounds more as comtemporary classical music and modern jazz. We have here compostions, no songs, with classical instruments and sometimes voice, used on a non-conform way so that true intelligent music is created. And again musical experiments that goes beyond contemporary classical music.

For the third installment in its compilation series, the label Ambiances Magnétiques decided to give the fan something new: the first two volumes comprised only previously available material and were targeted toward the neophyte, but Inédits (Unreleased) was a fan-pleaser. This CD contains tracks from all nine members of the Ambiances Magnétiques collective: René Lussier, André Duchesne, Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage, Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Michel F Côté and Martin Tétreault. Most pieces were recorded at Studio 270 with engineer Robert Langlois (Ambiances Magnétiques members’ usual hang-out — therefore, sound quality is often excellent) and represent transitional experiments. Some others were recorded by Radio-Canada (Canada’s national radio) and document live projects that never made it on record. It is interesting to note that some performances already hinted at the direction these musicians would take in the late 1990s (especially Côté’s trio Klaxon Gueule, Lussier and Hétu). Inédits contains valuable contributions from Lussier and a noisier-than-usual suite from Derome (very nice) but the album is most noticeable for the contributions of more discreet musicians. Since his 1992 CD Locomotive, André Duchesne has been very quiet and even though his Les Barrages (“The Dams”) is an unremarkable excerpt from a symphonic work, Les toasts brûlées (“Burned Toasts”) is the only existing document from his short-lived band Diesel. Danielle Palardy Roger is another discreet artist; her two performances exemplify her work outside Ambiances Magnétiques’ “girl groups” (Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Justine}). Finally, the excerpt from Martin Tétreault’s Chronique du disque (an unreleased radio piece) is one of his best performances. Fans of Ambiances Magnétiques will find a lot to explore and be surprised about on Inédits.

Samplers tend to be the orphans of most labels’ output, often incoherently compiled hand me downs from previously released discs they are frequently overpriced and tend to be acquired by accident or misfortune. Few people would openly admit to considering them worthy purchases. Inedits (from Canadian electro-acoustic label Ambiances Magnétiques) is such a rattlingly entertaining set which is so well conceived and organised, it comes over like a single piece of work rather than a sampler. The performers work predominantly in small groups; duos trios and soloists, but their use of cut’n’paste montage techniques combined with turntables, tapes and live electronics adds a whole world of dimensions to the proceedings. Amongst the stand out tracks is Martin Tétrault and Marc Tremblay’s fabulous Chronique du disque which opens with a blast of vinyl scratches that sounds like a thunderstorm then segues into a cheesy jazz vibes ensemble which is overtaken by a plunderphonics sequence that resembles the work of cartoon composer Carl Stalling. Elsewhere Jean Derome contributes 8 duo and trio’s (with Tétreault again and Joane Hétu) from a film project entitled Retour au Blanc. It sounds improvised with the players going at it with a variety of weapons including queasily manipulated orchestral music, fidgeting hand held objects. air emptying out of a balloon, groaning sax, manipulated percussion and a bit which sounds like the laser gun fight out of Forbidden Planet. René Lussier contributes impeccable solo guitar piece that (in my mind at least) recalls players like Fred Frith and Gary Lucas in it’s brightness of tone and attention to space and texture. There are so many other terrific moments (André Duchesne & Diesel playing fiddly, Henry Cow like fusion; Robert Lepage pitting his Clarinet against the electric scrapes and flutterings of The Impromptistes) that warrant attention that I’m ay a loss which to describe next. That alone is a singular achievement and one that makes this complation well worth your attention.

I haven’t heard Volumes 1 or 2, but here we have a 24-track compilation featuring, amongst others (you guessed it); René Lussier, Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Martin Tétreault, etc. All this material is previously unpublished, so it’s a good buy as a way to get into the label. Musically it covers the ground described above and works remarkably well as an album. Not at all disjointed, as it shifts from artist to artist, it is interesting to hear some musicians not appearing as composers on the other CD’s reviewed.

This is the closest you’ll ever get to an Ambiances Magnetiques “B-Sides and Rarities” compilation — a bunch of otherwise-unavailable works from the nine artists who make up the Amb-Mag collective. The artists — Jean Derome, René Lussier and Martin Tétreault among them — should be familiar to regular Splendid readers, and the pieces are an intriguing assortment of concrete and disjointed sonic conceptualizations. Their impact is lessened, somewhat, by the looser context of the compilation format, but this is still very cool stuff.