In the mid-’90s, Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms was Montréal saxophonist Jean Derome’s prime project. The group released three albums from 1994 to 1998. Although activities have slowed down, it continues to perform around the world — in the Ambiances Magnétiques roaster it stands as the most popular act abroad.

1992 was a good year for Jean Derome. He recorded the final (and best) album by his duo Les Granules with René Lussier and the first by his trio Évidence, among many other projects including music for dance and theatre. He was touring like crazy and began to keep a travel diary in which he jotted down musical impressions. It appeared to him that this “road music” screamed for a band of its own. Drawing from all of his activities, he put together Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms (“Jean Derome and the Dangerous Guyz,” to pick up the intentional misspelling in the last word). The group, conceived as a road band just like the music, consists of the avant-garde jazz trio Évidence (Derome, bassist Pierre Cartier and drummer Pierre Tanguay), plus Les Granules (guitarist Lussier), plus two of Derome’s regular sidemen, trombonist Tom Walsh and keyboardist Guillaume Dostaler.

For this unit Derome penned a repertoire of pieces that blend avant-jazz, avant-rock and free improv, focusing on jazz stylings Évidence derived from Thelonious Monk, the saxophonist’s idiosyncratic contrapuntal writing and the warped stage humor that was the trademark of Les Granules. They gave one hell of a dynamite show. The Dangereux Zhoms began to perform in Montréal and the East Coast. A first CD, Carnets de Voyage (“travel diaries”) was recorded and released in 1994. Navré came out a year later. The group continued to tour extensively, in the US and soon in Europe too. By the end of 1997, tensions between Derome and Lussier had reached new heights and the two parted ways after two decades of close collaboration. The group was put on hiatus and Derome produced a live album from tapes recorded at the Théâtre La Chapelle in Montréal in February 1996. Torticolis was released in 1998 and the three Dangereux Zhoms CDs were packaged together as the box set 1994-96. The chapter was closed… or so it seemed.

In 1999 Derome reactivated the unit, minus Lussier. Local performances have been sparse and limited to special events (like a two-week Derome residency/retrospective at the same Théâtre La Chapelle in 2000), but the group still performs regularly outside Montréal and has appeared at jazz festivals in Guelph and Vancouver and at the 2001 RingRing festival in the Czech Republic.

Put together by Montréal guitarist André Duchesne, Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar was a conceptual electric guitar quartet (plus drums), something rarely seen before. His longest-lasting project (four years), it was also the one that got the most international attention, thanks to the presence of ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler (some say it served as the blueprint for the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet). The group released two LPs on Ambiances Magnétiques in 1987 and 1989, although titles and recording dates are willingly misleading — after all, this was a band from the future. Both albums have been reissued in 1995 by ReR Megacorp under the title World Tour ’98 (see what I mean?).

In the early ’80s, André Duchesne was writing avant-rock songs — something like This Heat with a Quebec twist (see his LP Le Temps des Bombes, 1984). But by 1986 he was working on a series of cuntrapuntal pieces for guitar quartet, a cross between Robert Fripp’s circular motifs and Fred Frith’s angular playing. He drafted René Lussier and Jean-Pierre Bouchard, colleagues from the late-’70s avant-folk collective Conventum, and Roger Boudreault. The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville expressed interest to premiere the project in October 1986, but Duchesne still needed a drummer. He rang up Chris Cutler, as former Henry Cow members and the Ambiances Magnétiques collective were multiplying collaborations and associations at the time (Lussier and Fred Frith would play as a duo at FIMAV that year too). Cutler’s group Cassiber was already part of the festival’s line-up, so arrangements were made and the 4 Guitarists of the Apocalypso-Bar began rehearsals.

Duchesne had a concept, inspired by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix himself (or so the tongue-in-cheek liner notes to the first LP stated). This was the resident band at the Apocalypso-Bar, a joint in post-apocalypse Canada. They were sleek, they were hot, they obeyed all the laws of early 20th century dance bands: they wore white suits and tiger ties, sat down to play (the soloing guitarist got to stand up) and bowed down in unison to applause. Tournée Mondiale ’89 came out in 1987 (it’s a studio album, in case you wonder). The group toured Canada, the US and Europe, appearing among other places at The Kitchen in New York. A second album was recorded in early 1989 (Fin de siècle, once more ahead of its time), but by then Duchesne was already experiencing problems keeping the band together. Claude Fradette replaced Boudreault and young Miriodor drummer Rémi Leclerc filled in whenever Cutler was unavailable. Nevertheless the concept was wearing thin, so the group split shortly after. Duchesne went on to form Locomotive, bringing along Fradette and Leclerc.

A Montréal avant-rock group with ties to the Ambiances Magnétiques collective, Papa Boa is one of many projects involving Bernard Falaise and Rémi Leclerc. The group writes complex songs out of studio improvisation sessions, including lots of sampling and oddities, and is driven by Falaise’s highly original guitar work. They have one album out.

In 1991, Falaise, drummer Rémi Leclerc (of Miriodor and various projects by André Duchesne) and bassist Frédéric Roverselli struck a friendship. Out of it came Papa Boa, at first a loose studio collective to which reedist Pierre Labbé was later added. All members (minus Labbé, a jazzman) have a rock background and their first intention was to explore freer structures that would include electronics. Their first experiments consisted mostly of improvisations. The group debuted on stage in 1991 during the Festival du Théâtre des Amériques in Montréal. The next few years saw little activity, the unit being used mostly as a laboratory as Falaise and Leclerc’s profiles were constantly on the rise in avant-rock circles.

The group provided the soundtrack to Michel Lefebvre and Eva Quintas’ multimedia work Liquidation in 1997. Engagements began to pile up, leading to an active period of three years. The quartet (occasionally augmented by guests such as Marcelle Hudon and storyteller Michel Faubert) performed concerts at various Quebec festivals (Festival des Musiques Fraîches in Quebec, Festival des musiques de création in Jonquières). They built a repertoire of quirky angular songs and recorded Tête à queue, their first CD. It was released in May 1999 by Ambiances Magnétiques. Performances at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 2000 and the Montréal Jazz Festival the following year raised the group’s profile, but the members’ other projects finally claimed them back and Papa Boa went dormant.

Keyboardist and sampler artist Diane Labrosse is a core member of the Montréal avant-garde music collective Ambiances Magnétiques. In the 1980s she took part to a string of avant-pop feminist groups. Later she switched from keyboards to the sampler and from rock to electronica improv. Although she has released solo albums, her best known works have been with collaborators Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault. She also appears on numerous albums by other Ambiances Magnétiques artists, especially Jean Derome, Joane Hétu and Michel F Côté. She is co-founder and artistic co-director of the Montréal-based concert production company Productions SuperMémé.

Labrosse was gravitating around L’Enfant Fort and the Pouêt Pouêt Band, collectives of left-field musicians that predate the beginnings of Ambiances Magnétiques. There she met saxophonist/singer Joane Hétu and drummer Danielle Palardy Roger. Together they formed the all-girls group Wondeur Brass. Her quirky keyboard playing which made use of unusual “post new-wave” sounds gave the band its signature on the two LPs Ravir (1985) and Simoneda, Reine des Esclaves (1988). The trio also performed under the name Les Poules, recording one album in 1986 (the unit was revived as an improv project in the early 2000s) and with bassist Marie Trudeau as Justine in the early 1990s, Labrosse’s closest brush with fame, at least in Eastern Europe where the group built a cult following.

In 1985, along with her colleagues she was asked to join Ambiances Magnétiques. There she developed a special affinity with drummer Michel F Côté both in and outside music. She contributed to his first two Bruire albums (especially Les Fleurs de Léo), recorded a duo CD with him (Duo Déconstructiviste) and together they wrote the music for Robert Lepage’s play La Géométrie des Miracles (Geometry of Miracles) and toured with his technological cabaret Zulu Time.

Labrosse released her first solo CD Face cachée des choses in 1995, at the end of Justine’s career and before joining Hétu’s new group Castor et Compagnie. It focused for the first time on the sampler as an instrument, a soft-noise direction she would stick to from then on. Île Bizarre (1998) with Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault revealed her work to an international audience. With Tétreault she toured Europe and eventually released the duo CD Parasites (2001).

If we could give a prize to the most valuable Ambiances Magnétiques sideman (or woman), it would go to drummer Pierre Tanguay. Even though he is not one of the nine core members of the collective, he appears on more albums put out by its label than any one of them! But his career cannot be pinned down to the Montréal avant-garde scene. He has also been a valued sideman on the jazz scene, playing with Eric Longsworth, Jean Vanasse, Karen Young and a dozen of others, and is active in world music, especially with his Mediterranean folk group Strada. In Montréal he occupies a place comparable to Hamid Drake in New York.

Tanguay was born in Quebec City, 1957. He began as a jazz drummer, finding inspiration in the playing of Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell and Paul Motian. A professional musician since 1978, he also studied African percussion for two years in the Comores Islands and went to Paris to study tablas and Indian music with Anand Kumar. When he settled in Montréal in the late ’70s, he was already an accomplished player. One of the first musicians he hooked up with was saxophonist Jean Derome who would later co-found Ambiances Magnétiques. Tanguay has been his trusty partner for decades, first in the scrapyard ensemble Les Patenteux du Québec and later in Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms and Derome Tanguay Danse.

Still, at first Tanguay let the Ambiances Magnétiques musicians pursue their experimentations, preferring to ride a softer avant-garde jazz wave. In the ’80s he was part of Icarus with cellist Eric Longsworth and participated in bassist Pierre Cartier’s ensembles. His relentless working schedule and rare listening quality and musicianship established him as a leading session drummer. With Cartier and Derome he formed the Thelonious Monk tribute trio Évidence and by the mid-’90s he was involved in all major projects by Derome, René Lussier, Robert Marcel Lepage, Joane Hétu and Diane Labrosse. With the Dangereux Zhoms et toured Europe and the US, appearing at every major jazz festival.

Tanguay prefers the role of sideman, but he has occasionally stepped to the front of the stage, particularly in free improv duets with trombonist Tom Walsh (the album Midi Tapant came out in 1998) and Derome (Pinc! Plonc! in 2001). In 2000 he released a first solo album, La musique de mon disque, a collection of experimental ambient percussion pieces. Around the same time he also began to write and perform music for film, theatre and dance.

Au début des années 80, un groupuscule de musiciens travaillait d’arrache-pied en vue de doter le Québec d’une avant-garde musicale qui lui serait propre. Improvisations pures et dures, expérimentations bruitistes, ses créations, sises quelque part entre musique contemporaine et free jazz, en effrayaient plus d’un.

Vingt ans plus tard, la scène de ce qu’on appelle désormais la musique actuelle a considérablement évolué. Se donnant des moyens à la hauteur de leurs ambitions, les Jean Derome, René Lussler, Pierre Tanguay et consorts ont fait connaître leurs musiques bien au-delà du Québec, acquérant au passage une réputation des plus enviables.

Les rouages du genre Le Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) est l’un des moteurs importants du développement de l’avant-garde québécoise. Créé en 1983, il a été — et demeure toujours — une vitrine internationale pour les musiciens, en plus d’être la pierre d’assise du genre grâce à la tradition qu’il a su instaurer. Cela tient beaucoup à la vision du directeur artistique et fondateur du festival, Michel Levasseur, pour qui tradition et avant-garde n’ont rien d’antinomique: «Je ne crois pas au rejet de la tradition ou des anciennes valeurs, on construit toujours à partir de quelque chose, explique-t-il. À Victo, on a cette préoccupation-là depuis les débuts, on a commencé par inviter les anciens comme Sun Ra et Terry Riley pour ensuite établir un lien avec des musiciens de tous les pays.»

Outre le FIMAV, le milieu a su se doter d’infrastructures particulièrement efficaces afin de permettre aux musiciens de diffuser leurs créations malgré leur peu de moyens. C’est ainsi que divers labels comme le vétéran Ambiances magnétiques ou le récent Alien 8 sont nés, que la compagnie de production Supermémé-Supermusique a vu le jour, ainsi que la compagnie de distribution DAME, qui assure la production, la promotion et la diffusion internationale des diverses étiquettes qu’elle chapeaute.

«Je soutiens autant les bons coups que les mauvais coups, indique la musicienne Joane Hétu, qui est à la tête de DAME depuis sa création, ii y a 10 ans. Mon but n’est pas mercantile, je bâtis une collection de disques. La dernière parution m’intéresse, mais je garde actif dans mon catalogue celui que l’artiste a sorti il y a 10 ans, car si je ne le fais pas, c’est fini et on passe ça dans le broyeur de l’oubli. Et comme c’est de l’avant-garde, il faut voir ça à long terme: le disque que je sors présentement, je n’en vendrai presque pas. Je vais en vendre dans trois ou cinq ans.»

Un public grandissant Avec les années, il semble que la musique actueile effarouche moins les gens. Ils sont en effet de plus en plus nombreux à s’intéresser au genre et les albums des artistes de l’avant-garde québécoise, qui ne s’écoulaient naguère qu’à l’étranger, se vendent beaucoup mieux au Québec. Même un dialogue s’instaure entre les diverses scènes: on a récemment vu le guitariste Bernard Falalse (Minodor, Klaxon Gueule) travailler auprès de Marie-Jo Thério, tandis que René Lussier faisait paraître son album Tombola Rasa sur une étiquette grand public (La Tribu).

Les Québécois s’intèresseraient-ils davantage à l’avant-garde? «C’est indéniable, croit Joane Hétu. Les choses que l’on pouvait faire dans les années 80 et qui pouvaient passer pour des choses incroyables comme mettre une cymbale à l’envers ou mettre une voix dans un mégaphone, on retrouve ça partout dans la pop d’aujourd’hui. L’oreille bouge, les gens bougent et les gens s’habituent à ces sonorités là. L’avant-garde est toujours récupérée.»

Cette récupération de l’avant-garde et de divers éléments de la musique actuelle cause bien des maux de têtes à certains artistes qui s’interrogent à savoir s’ils sont en train de se faire dépasser par la présente vague de musique électronique. Crainte non fondée selon Michel Levasseur: «Il y a présentement une tendance à valoriser la nouvelle technologie qui, d’après moi, est erronée, explique-t-il. Car en bout de ligne on parle de musique et de sons, et pour moi la source sonore n’est pas si importante que ça. On peut atteindre l’extase du son par n’importe quelle sorte de moyen, que ce soit par une instrumentation dite conventionnelle ou non.

Une relève en parfalte santé

En plus de son public qui va grandissant, le milieu de la musique d’avant-garde compte un bassin de musiciens de plus en plus important. Provenant d’horizons aussi divers que le jazz, le postrock ou la musique électronique, ils sont nombreux à suivre les voies tracées par les Robert Marcel Lepage, Diane Labrosse, et Jean Derome et même à collaborer avec eux, qu’il s’agisse d’Alexandre St-Onge, de Dave Kristian ou de la formation Interférence Sardines. La prochaine édition du FIMAV, qui se déroulera du 16 au 20 mai, devrait d’ailleurs en témoigner avec éloquence.

Selon l’auteur-compositeur et guitariste Sam Shalabl (Shalabi effect, Detention), l’une des figures de proue de la relève, l’effervescence que l’on trouve dans le milieu s’explique en partie par l’esprit d’équipe qui y règne: «Le dialogue entre les différentes générations de musiciens est excellent et ce qu’il y a de nouveau, c’est l’éclatement du cloisonnement de la langue et de la culture. Les scènes anglophone et francophone ne se mélangeaient pas avant et depuis quatre-cinq ans ça semble vraiment changer.»

Malgré un creux de vague du côté de la diffusion et des tournées à l’étranger, il apparaît indéniable que la musique actuelle québécoise est en excellente santé et que les conjonctures actuelles laissent présager un avenir des plus prometteurs. Shalabi, qui a quitté l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard il y a dix ans pour s’installer à Montréal ne cache pas son optimisme: «Quand je suis arrivé à Montréal, il ne semblait pas y avoir tellement de musiciens et de gens qui s’intéressaient à cette musique, mais depuis, il y a vraiment eu un boom. Je crois que ça va continuer à être en santé, car beaucoup de ces jeunes musiciens apportent quelque chose de neuf à cette scène et à cette pratique musicale. Je crois que ça n’ira que mieux, peut être pas sur le plan monétaire, mais sur le plan créatif, assurément!»