Liberty, Equality and au courant

Keeping a record company functioning for 40 years is an achievement. Doing so with a label that is dedicated to releasing experimental music of all kinds is even more noteworthy. But since its founding in 1984, Montréal’s Ambiances Magnétiques (AM) has done just that and to date has put out almost 300 albums of ensemble, jazz, song, poetry, improvised, jazz, rock and noise sounds under the rubric of what the Québécois call “Musique actuelle.”

Explaining AM’s genesis, which very quickly grew to include nine participating musicians, AM label director Joane Hétu says: “Those were the days we wanted to do something different. We were all musicians and we thought we were best-placed to manage our music.” Any other label that put out non-mainstream music was either affiliated with a university or produced straight-ahead jazz. “There was no opening for the music we did.” In fact, a couple of the collective’s members, who eventually included André Duchesne, Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Michel F Côté, Martin Tétreault and Hétu, had tried to release projects on two micro labels, which soon went bankrupt. Hétu, who is a saxophonist, vocalist and composer, has released 40 different albums on AM. Annually, the label puts out a certain number of CDs — a number that has increased and decreased over the decades — with physical product now distributed by Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques Etcetera Inc. (DAME), an affiliated company founded in 1991. Since AM is a non-profit enterprise, Hétu explains, the for-profit DAME allowed the company to apply for grants, first from the Canadian and then the Québec government.

Individually, members of the collective can also apply for grants to help produce their albums. Each has the right to release albums on AM, while Hétu decides which non-members record for the imprint. Besides herself, the staff is limited and sometimes shared with a local electric-acoustic record company. Montréal percussionist/composer Danielle Palardy Roger, who has been part of the collective since 1985, and has 20 AM releases, had been involved in ongoing musical projects with Hétu even before that. “I belong entirely and voluntarily to this label,” she affirms. “Ambiances Magnétiques represents a very high-quality sound and musical experience and it has built up a superb reputation for producing and distributing its records.” While she has had discs released on other labels, she says,“I’ve stayed loyal to Ambiances Magnétiques because, in my opinion, it’s still the one that best meets my needs and objectives.” Adds Hétu: “artists are responsible for recording their music, mixing and editing. They provide their album master to us and DAME takes care of the mastering and production of the album such as cover design, printing and CD duplication. DAME also offers promotion and distribution services.”

Since DAME now receives an annual grant from the provincial government, 50% of AM’s releases must be by Québécois artists. The few non-Québécois represented are what Hétu calls “friends and acquaintances.” DAME has never had the means to respond to all the requests to record from artists around the world. “Unfortunately, given our small team, I opted to never respond to these requests; it’s easier that way. It’s a shame, but DAME can’t do more,” she says. One person who has recorded for AM is Toronto-based pianist / composer Marilyn Lerner, who over the years has put out about 30 albums, mostly jazz-oriented discs on various imprints. On AM she’s represented by four sessions, a solo piano disc and three with different groups. “The artistic vision of Ambiances Magnétiques is superlative, the best experience I have had to date,” she asserts. “It’s a fabulous label, progressive, has a wonderful design team, is easy to work with and chock full of amazing talent on the roster.” Lerner adds that in her estimation, Hétu has promoted and fostered young talent beside presenting works by the more established artists. “I feel that Joane really appreciated my music and if the project I was doing felt right for the label she put a lot of effort into producing and promoting it,” Lerner adds. “There may be more value in considering the huge contribution Ambiances Magnétiques has made to the artistic and cultural life of Québec, Canada and worldwide in showcasing the phenomenally creative talent in the improvised or musique actuelle scene. It has provided international exposure for the many artists, myself included, who are fortunate enough to have projects on this label.”

As for production and distribution, there’s a preference for CDs over other formats. As Hétu confirms: “CDs seemed so much better. Less expensive to produce, more music for each album and less expensive to post. We were excited to drop the vinyl format.” AM has released two LPs in the last few years, but its other main outlet is downloads. An agreement with digital distributor The Orchard has AM product on major services, and its music is also available on Bandcamp, currentcd.com, and its own actuellecd.com web shop. As far as sales go, 75% are from physical product. Hétu says her main job is making available via AM/DAME “great music” that is “so rich, particular, personal, avantgarde and alive by the strength of our community and by the strength of extraordinary musicians.”

Since it’s the artist/leader on each album who chooses the ensemble and repertoire, she never interferes with their choices. However, she says “I’ve always had a concern for fairness that I’ve never really achieved. Women musicians in new music are still under-represented, and we’ve been promoting the place of women in our community for a long time.” She has tried to apply this credo to her own projects and makes sure to include female musicians as often as possible. The Ensemble SuperMusique, directed by Hétu and Roger, for instance, which is represented by twelve AM releases has, since its 1998 founding, included an increasing number of women in its ranks.