As more of a rhetorical, sarcastic ribbing than an actual query, Michel F Côté and Isaiah Ceccarelli write, “What can we do when we’re just two drummers?” Indeed how does a percussion duo entertain an audience for forty-six minutes without a visual aid, balancing all the elements of music into a satisfying listener experience? Côté and Ceccarelli capably do so with a contingent of boundless creativity, astonishing sounds, impeccable performances (both men are accomplished composers and performers who have been around many a Montréal block) and knowing when enough is just enough (the average track length is under four minutes).

Armed with kits, assorted junk drums, piano, pocket trumpet, “electronics”, feedback and lap steel guitar, Côté and Ceccarelli busily cycle though the history (and future) of percussion techniques. Beginning with “tape” hum and drum head stretches on Surmenage brun, they quietly and anxiously tap on rims, pull adhesives off heads, drag brushes on snares, flick on/off brief mechanical belches and strike every possible angle of their gear. After a brief pause, the duo reworks the first half, replacing some of the acoustics with subtle electronic shadows and closing with a pondering, lugubrious sub-harmonic echo. Moving to a more metal aesthetic, Grâce maussade is a polyrhythmic melee of various Gamelan bells, scraped metals and all manner of prepared keyboard tinkering (string strums, wood knocks, mallet thumps etc.) versus a spacious, lethargic piano melody. Nous, les troglodytes is what would happen if Steve Reid and Kieran Hebden followed through with the direction they hint of on their recent collaborations: hyperactive Interstellar Space style free jazz drumming with a bed of glitching Hammond organ, generated harmonics and DSP keeping pace. Côté and Ceccarelli aren’t simply about assault, however, and they show their range with Las du futur, a tenuous drone formed from oscillating sine waves, melodic feedback, bowed cymbals and intriguing sonic detritus (i.e. wiggling noisy cables), and the chatter-driven, bass drum grumbling, pianissimo Avantage de la débilité.

Despite John Cage’s work in the 1940s and Edgard Varèse’s Ionisation (1930), the idea of “percussionist as band” is still often treated as a novelty — and, due to the excessive contraptions, toys and otherwise cacophonous instruments employed in most of the repertoire, this is often a fair label. But what happens when this equipment falls into the right hands? The answer is Vulgarités, an album that eschews the word “gimmicky” in favor of “virtuosity”.

Bassist Joëlle Léandre’s solo performances are, without fail, deeply impressive yet enormously human works. She is among that rare class of improvisers — such as Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey — who are most complete when performing alone (that said, however, Bailey and Léandre’s 1997 duet No Waiting (Potlatch) is essential in both their discographies). There are, however, enough solo records in her catalogue that keeping up can be a challenge. A second selling point, then, is a smart idea.

Live in Israel offers the best of both: the first CD contains 54 minutes of Léandre unaccompanied from Tel Aviv and the Oud Festival in Jerusalem in 2007. She is, as always, virtuosic, elegant, and resonant. Like Bailey and Taylor, her work is so personal that, to a degree, you know what you’re going to get: the soul laid bare twice is still the same soul. It’s the second half of the set that — while not as strong — provides particular interest. Also recorded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the disc collects duo, trio and sextet performances with Léandre and an assortment of eight Israeli players. There’s a strange mix of slow unfolding and, at times, tentativeness to the disc; the players allow each other room to move, allowing some nice moments of discovery but ultimately making for an uneven (if nicely programmed) listen. The best known names show up in the sextet, with Assif Tsahar on bass clarinet and Daniel Sarid on piano, but the strongest collaboration is in Léandre’s duet with Sameer Makhoul. The dichotomy of strings, bass and oud, and of voices, male and female, isn’t just the best of the encounters here but stands among the more interesting mixing of textures she has put on record.

Philippe Lauzier (saxophones), Thom Gossage (batterie) et Jean René (alto), seront en résidence à L’Arsenal à Metz (France) avec la chorégraphe Isabelle van Grimde pour son nouveau spectacle Les chemins de traverse. La création aura lieu le 25 février 2009 au Theatre Schouwburg à Arnhem (Pays-Bas), suivi de quatre concerts, du 3 au 6 mars, à L’Arsenal.

Le 24 février 2009, Bobelo Bobelo seront en concert au Cheval blanc à Montréal. Vous aurez l’occasion d’entendre une musique traditionelle dans un contexte expérimental, mettant en vedette Liette Remon, Pierre Langevin, René Lussier et Pierre Tanguay.

L’ensemble Bradyworks présentera un nouvel arrangement de la pièce Confitures de gagaku de Jean Derome, une pièce classique de musique actuelle datant de 1988. Une musique inspirée par la poésie et la philosophie asiatique, une musique subtile, mélodique et inoubliable. Le concert aura lieu le le 27 février 2009 à la Salle Pierre-Mercure, à Montréal, dans le cadre du Festival MNM.

Une entrevue de Sylvain Fortier avec Danielle Palardy Roger qui nous parle de son travail. Avec des extraits des récents disques Pas de deux et Phénix. Il s’agit de la première de notre nouvelle série en baladodiffusion.