… The evening started off with Philippe Lauzier and Pierre-Yves Martel of Quartetski, turntablist Martin Tétreault and Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr in three quiet and textural improvisations. The set started with Lauzier playing his alto saxophone with a plunger mute affixed on his bell, creating a muffled and distant sound. The blend of Tétreault’s turntables, Myhr’s guitar effects and Martel’s viola da gamba was impressive. It was difficult to determine where the sounds were coming from. Martel, unamplified, would bow furiously, unleashing streams of harmonics, and even thump his bow against the body of the instrument. Myhr and Lauzier used their instruments more as resonators for external objects and vocalizations. Myhr many times moved a spinning toy across the body of his classical guitar, which he alternately played lying flat on his lap or in normal playing position. Lauzier also played bass clarinet, emphasizing the overtones of the instrument, and pulled out a plastic tube through which he circular breathed. At that moment, with Lauzier playing the tube, the whole group combined to sound like a massive vacuum cleaner, or that noisy radiator from down the hall — a sound full of airy noise, feedback and harmonics…
![Philippe Lauzier [Photo: Étienne Mangonaux]](https://res.electrocd.com/image.php/image/l/lauzier_ph.6632.jpg?width=n2&cropratio=1:1)
![Diane Labrosse [Photo: Christian Galley, 2007]](https://res.electrocd.com/image.php/image/l/labrosse_di.13.jpg?width=n2&cropratio=1:1)
![Les Poules [Photo: Mélanie Ladouceur, 2007]](https://res.electrocd.com/image.php/image/p/poules_le.13.jpg?width=n2&cropratio=1:1)