The 21 Best Music Videos of 2021!

by Rédaction PAN M 360

2021 was a great year for video production, despite the circumstances. Directors showed inventiveness and audacity in pursuit of an original clip, despite the constraints. As for the artists, it was an additional opportunity for them to remain in the public eye; one could even say that the video has become a more than essential tool since the beginning of the pandemic. PAN M 360 has selected 21 videos that have made their mark this year, whether for aesthetic or ethical reasons, or because they are simply enjoyable to watch.

The Pan M 360 Team

Lil Nas X
Montero

At first glance, “Montero” isn’t subtle; it is a vulgar, provocative and polarizing video. Yet these are also its strengths]. It’s a journey into the queer rapper’s imaginary world. The singer walks through a fantasy realm, kisses an alien and… performs an erotic dance for Satan himself. This crude approach is an asset for Lil Nas X. He uses his vulgarity as a criticism of a sometimes too proper society and cradles this criticism in a colourful visual universe. With a certain sense of the second degree, “Montero” is a highly entertaining clip. (Louis Garneau-Pilon)

Bon enfant
Porcelaine

Here’s a clip where, apart from a few explosions here and there, the spectacular is in the details: open your eyes, music fans, and put this on your 396-inch TV! The rock-pop-disco assembly Bon Enfant takes us back to church, the one in the parish of Saint-Pierre-Apôtre in the borough of Ville-Marie. Director/editor David Bourbonnais and cinematographer Nathan B. Foisy take advantage of the stained-glass windows, pulpit and other architectural elements and ornaments. The celebrant Daphné Brissette and her flock Guillaume Chiasson, Étienne Côté, Mélissa Fortin and Alex Burger dance, relax and stroke the Casavant organ under the neo-Gothic arches, dressed in white as if for an unconsummated wedding. Then we find ourselves in the forest with a horse, Alex Burger pulls something that looks like a calf’s heart from an urn. It’s Catholic, it’s pagan, it’s the best. (Luc Marchessault)

Bomba Estéreo
Agua

Colombia’s monarchs of la nueva cumbia put out several gorgeous videos for their 2021 album Deja, indulging in their lush local wilderness. The best is the panoramic envisioning of “Agua”, a standout track on the record as well. Alone in the jungle, singer Liliane Saumet imbibes a mystic cocktail, and awakens to a communion with the sacred spirits, in the form of a riotous floral costume party. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Nimco Happy
Isii Nafti

A song that was released a few years ago in Somalia and generally played at weddings, but which became an international success in 2021. Nimco Elmi Ali sings an ode to love in four languages: Somali, English, Arabic and Swahili. “Isii Nafti” was shared online by Black American personalities such as Cardi B and Trevor Noah, who used their fame, implicitly, to shed light on this little-known artist across the Atlantic. This viral buzz was a nice way to honour a Somali woman and a whole part of African culture, long—and still—ignored by the Western mass media. (Salima Bouaraour)

Marie-Gold
C’est qui le boss?

“Who’s the boss?” asks Marie-Gold, the troop leader. “Marie!” the six scouts who accompany her answer in chorus. In this video, the MC offers us her vision of the power trip, with her own symbols of success. No drugs are sold, but rather biscuits prepared with gusto by grandmother scouts, and alcohol is replaced by glasses of milk. But rest assured, the story always ends the same way: the money goes into the boss’s pocket. Marie-Gold takes advantage of the contribution to become the owner of what seems to be a key to the city, presumably Baveuse City? Story to follow in February 2022. (Elsa Fortant)

Little Simz ft. Obongjayar
Point & Kill

To like a video, you have to like the song. So here’s not only a superb track from the latest album by Nigerian-born British artist Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (which easily made it into our Top 100 of the year), but also to a remarkable video. In the five minutes or so of “Point & Kill”, director and photographer Ebeneza Blanche (Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Nike…) takes us to Lagos with Little Simz and Obongjayar, another British artist of Nigerian origin. By incorporating often still or slowed-down images, close to a very colourful photography, the clip moves from lightness to a much more political territory, but still in a very artistic way. “Point & Kill” is a visual and sonic experience that celebrates Nigerian culture with style, a polished work of impeccable aesthetics. (Patrick Baillargeon)

Bruce Liu
Finale, 18^e Concours Chopin, Varsovie

One year after its postponement due to the pandemic, the 18th edition of the Fryderyk Chopin International Competition was held in Warsaw from October 2 to 23, 2021, following preliminary rounds in July. For those who were unable to attend or follow the competition, the recording of the final performance by Bruce Liu, the first Canadian to win the first prize, is a must-see video. Bruce Liu is critically acclaimed for his highly personal playing. This excerpt shows the agile fingering, intelligent lines and stage presence of the man who promises to be the next darling of the piano world. (Alexandre Villemaire)

BADBADNOTGOOD
Timid, Intimidating

There’s a flavour of nostalgic yearning in this track from innovative Toronto jazz unit BADBADNOTGOOD, and it’s matched most accurately by director Winston Hacking’s fascinating technique. He integrates found images physically into natural backdrops, toying with congruence and contrast, while hinting at a sense of the tangible that’s fading in the digital era, a feeling further evoked by the weathered 8mm-film filter. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Morly
Eliogy

Released in the summer of 2021, ‘Til I Start Speaking is the first full-length album by the young American singer Kate Morley. Her subtly arranged ballads, influenced by folk, soul, jazz and electro, are well served by a heartfelt performance. Written after a break-up, “Eliogy” bears the marks of pain, both the pain you feel and the pain you make the person you are leaving feel. The video that accompanies this song is remarkable. To illustrate her point, Morly unrolls a ribbon inside her mouth. One by one, the words come out, leaving their marks on the singer’s cracked lips. (Steve Naud)

Salvatore Ganacci
Fight Dirty

After a number of impressive videos in a deadpan surrealist mode, Swedish DJ Salvatore Ganacci switches gears and enlists the animation studios Goono and Truba to fabricate an explosive, hilarious homage to Japanese anime and video games. A feisty girl and her fearsome friend, an enormous disembodied hand, confront their foes. The fracas that ensues is a dizzying montage of colourful mayhem. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Snapped Ankles
The Evidence

British band Snapped Ankles released a new album in July, their third, aptly titled Forest Of Your Problems. If you’re not familiar with them, legend has it that Snapped Ankles are wild men of the woods, living in the branches and looking like a pile of leaves or bushes, who have come down from their trees to play danceable komische post-punk with a mix of synthesizers, guitars and foraged instrumentation. Daisy Dickinson’s psychedelic video shows the entire Snapped Ankles crew—The Business Imp, The Cornucopian, The Nemophile and The Protester—singing and dancing in the forests of Sussex in several vignettes. (Patrick Baillargeon)

L’Impératrice
Hématome

The results have come back and the diagnosis for “Hématome”, from French electro sophisticates L’Impératrice, is takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called broken-heart syndrome. Deftly directed by Roxane Lumeret and Jocelyn Charles for Studio Remembers, the video for the track is a medically fixated animated fairy tale that captures heartbreak in a suitably strange and bewildering way. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Hot Garbage
Sometimes I Go Down

It’s all about the colours in this music video. With the four recurring panels, each with its own specific vibe, it kind of looks like Wes Anderson made a ’70s exploitation film. In two panels we have private detectives on the phone speaking with the people in the other panels. In another, a man is gorging himself with a splendour of dishes, also on the phone. In another, a woman is reading tarot cards while on a vintage phone. As the heavy fuzz of Hot Garbage consumes the frames, the people begin disappearing after an entity takes over each panel. The video is low-budget, tells a fragmented story, and keeps your attention. (Stephan Boissoneault)

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
Dodonpa (lyric video)

The lyric video is generally a cheap and easy placeholder for a song’s forthcoming “official” video, and/or cheap and easy click-bait to fuel a hike up the charts, but sometimes they’re works of art in and of themselves. The animated collages for The Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, for instance, those were great—and so is this hectic optical overload for “Dodonpa”, a manic jam even by the standards of the saccharine sorceress of J-pop. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Lingua Ignota
Pennsylvania Furnace

In a long, still shot of flourishing nature, Kristin Hayter, alias Lingua Ignota, appears and disappears, sometimes prostrate, sometimes inquisitive, searching for the path to repair. But this path means rupture, if not death. “And all that I’ve learned is everything burns,” she sings with spite, as red smoke envelops deserted places, pastures and houses. Her purification rituals thus become confessions of surrender. The first poignant extract from the album Sinner Get Ready, the clip was entirely directed, conceived and edited by Hayter. (Geneviève Gendreau)

Sarah Aristidou
Æther

Shot in a sort of grey-blue monochrome, the desolate landscapes of the video accompanying the release of soprano Sarah Aristidou’s excellent album Æther are in keeping with Edgard Varèse’s Un grand sommeil noir, a piece not often performed but possessing a rare dramatic and suggestive intensity. We see in it what inhabits us most powerfully: a dreamlike landscape? A waking mystery? The ravages of climate change? Exoplanetary scenery? Superb. (Frédéric Cardin)

URUBU
Recorded/VR01

Welcome to the parallel universe of Vertige Records! Behind the camera is Adrien Taret, the promising young director-editor who crafts the videos for the collective (URUBU, MELVIN, and MOLZK). The team takes great pleasure in reappropriating the aesthetic codes of the 1990s—Blade posters stuck on the wall, wraparound shades, gaming references and flashy colours. We follow the day of Vinz, a technoboxing enthusiast, whose assistant films his every move, up to a basement battle against his nemesis… (Elsa Fortant)

Hayden Pedigo
Letting Go

For a little over a week, director Rocco Rivetti and cinematographer Gilles O’Kane shot the clip Letting Go in Lubbock, Texas. Artist Shonray Nichols added the final hand-drawn animation for the final scene. Here is what Rivetti told us about the video: « I wrote a simple narrative script where the character from the album artwork, a man in corpse paint standing in front of a Big Rig restaurant, burns his worldly possessions, and returns to heaven as an angel. I drew inspiration from William Blake’s Paradise Lost, as well as the profound pagan spirituality of early Norwegian black metal bands. Ideas like a restoration of faith, transmutation through fire, and a possible reversal of the fall from grace were really resonating with me at the time, and seemed to fit the emotional timbre of the music well. The main goal was to take a character that could be viewed as flippant or silly, and to instead treat them with the same respect and humanistic spirituality that the songs on Hayden’s record share ». (Isabelle Marceau)

A Place to Bury Strangers
End Of the Night

After multiple lineup changes in 2018 through 2020, fans had no idea what was to become of A Place To Bury Strangers, but leader Oliver Ackermann came back with a new husband-and-wife band and a video in late 2021. The music video is really just a live session of the “End Of The Night” single, but with some super-imposed, drugged-out video wizardry. It begins with Oliver playing a quick synth line until the bassist smashes the instrument into pieces. Soon after, floating bodies and heads fly across the screen as more and more sonic distortion cloaks the environment. It’s dirty and very punk rock. (Stephan Boissoneault)

Kee Avil
See My Shadow

Musically, “See My Shadow” may evoke Diamanda Galás and Laurie Anderson having lunch with Lydia Lunch, or Xarah Dion and Lana Del Rabies jamming to the theme from American Horror Story. Visually, one wonders if the heroine has covered her face with papier-mâché, latex, clay, or human flesh. This video for Kee Avil (Vicky Mettler in real life) makes us think of a trio of horror films: Eyes Without a Face, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Goodnight Mommy. “See My Shadow” is a foretaste of the album Crease, which Kee Avil will release on March 11, 2022. (Luc Marchessault)

Shortparis
Говорит Москва (Govorit Moskva)

The second single from the new album Yablonnyj Sad, “Govorit Moskva”, which can be translated as “Moscow speaking”, is a solid musical and visual indictment. Released on May 1^st to celebrate spring and International Workers Day, this skilfully orchestrated and performed video features a parade and military training course, a demonstration and a procession. As always, the choreography is inventive, this time made of a succession of sequence shots, making us part of this jagged parade. A true disruptive force, Shortparis rests on an inextinguishable resolution that Nikolay Komyagin exemplifies, with a voice and a presence from which nothing can escape. (Geneviève Gendreau)

The 20 Best Album Covers of 2021!

by Rédaction PAN M 360

One of the pleasures of owning vinyl albums is being able to study the cover from every angle while listening to the music. Sometimes the cover is so captivating that you forget about the music; sometimes the content is far less interesting than the container (how many times have we been fooled!). The best, of course, is when both the music and the artwork are excellent… unforgettably so. Among the hundreds of albums with amazing covers that passed through our hands in 2021, here are 20 that caught our attention.

The Pan M 360 Team

Weezer
OK Human
Atlantic/WEA

Swedish visual artist Mattias Adolfsson‘s hyper-charged drawing evokes what could be the inside of a computer (in keeping with the wink of the album‘s title) or an ultra-messy space studio, a sort of joyful mess in which one can lose oneself for hours, carefully examining every small detail. River Cuomo, leader of the American pop-rock band and a great fan of comics, is said to have fallen under the spell of the Swedish artist’s drawings during a visit to a comic book shop. (Patrick Baillargeon)

Noé Talbot
Remercier les accidents
Slam Disques

To illustrate the cover of Remercier les accidents, pop-folk-rock-punk songwriter Noé Talbot has chosen a willow tree with a bole submerged in the waters of Lake Wanaka, in southern New Zealand. This resilient tree must be featured in thousands of photographs; the one Noé chose was taken by Belgian photographer Loïc Naessens. It’s hard to find a more perfect match between the plant, the aquatic, the mineral and the celestial. “I won’t promise you much except the present”, sings Noé on “Pour l’instant”, the tenth track on the album. That’s what this willow tree is telling us: only the present counts. (Luc Marchessault)

Altin Gün
Âlem
Independent

Based in Amsterdam, leading contemporary Turkish psych-rockers Altin Gün are no strangers to inviting yet freaky hallucinatory imagery on their record covers–see also their other 2021 album, Yol. The indie release Âlem, a Bandcamp exclusive, boasts a mysterious image by architecturally-inspired U.K. designer Alexander Khabbazi, and merits mention as well as a special fundraising project, with proceeds going to the worthy environmental initiative EarthToday. (Rupert Bottenberg)

IDLES
Crawler
Partisan

You know that sensation of hazy simplicity when you have to look at something more than once to decipher its meaning? That’s what this album cover is. Simplistic, yet confusing. We have a double-story flat with open windows against a dark background. On the right, a lonely astronaut or vintage motorcycle driver (it’s unclear) is in mid-jump in trainers. It’s like a scene from a play or a page in an IKEA catalog. You can also try to derive a thematic link to the songs, but really, it’s just a cool piece of abstract photography that sticks with you. (Stephan Boissoneault)

Máquina Delírio
Mefistovalsas
Independent

To our knowledge, no deals with the devil were made by this duo from the wonderfully named town of Florianópolis, Brazil, regarding their album of trippy psych-rock tangents, Mefistovalsas. A deal was however struck with artist Pedro Correa, who delivered all his favourite elements—eyeballs, outer space, jungle cats and geometric forms. This would work great as a blacklight poster, wouldn’t it? (Rupert Bottenberg)

Attacca Quartet
Of All Joys
Sony Classical

After the vibrant and psychedelic iconography of their last album, Real Life, with its electro sounds, the Attacca Quartet’s second album of 2021 is presented in a more sober and refined visual style that echoes its minimalist repertoire. The palette evokes the emergence of shadow into light, while the illustration of the bird, by Anja Hoppe, evokes the aerial side of the repertoire, but also the newfound freedom of being able to create and play together after months of confinement. (Alexandre Villemaire)

Squid
Bright Green Field
Warp

This cover, like the tracks on Bright Green Field, is rich in content. The lush green field, the garbage bins forming a figure, the bright blue sky—all elements that jump out at you. It is both a disarming image in its simplicity of composition and engaging in its complexity of elements. Also worth mentioning is the superb mix of blue and bright green with a sad grey, giving the impression of a rotten candy from the inside. An album doesn’t have to have only excellent audio content, the packaging can also be superb! (Louis Garneau-Pilon)

Super Break Orchestra
The Breaks EP
Trigger

Tokyo ten-piece Super Break Orchestra bash out the kind of brass-heavy funk that’s engineered to accompany clashing breakdancers. Who better to create the artwork for their debut EP than Dragon76, who mixes American street-art style and hip-hop graffiti traditions with the anime, video games, and folk art of his native Japan—oh, and a pronounced samurai sensibility (no wonder he’s winning art battles in his adopted home, NYC). (Rupert Bottenberg)

Marianne Faithfull & Warren Ellis
She Walks in Beauty
BMG

Last year we were shocked to learn that the great and beautiful Marianne Faithfull had contracted covid. Despite her advanced age and frail health, she survived the virus and this spring released She Walks in Beauty, an album in which, against a spellbinding soundscape created by Warren Ellis, she recites the poetry of the English Romantics—Byron, Hood, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Tennyson. The booklet accompanying the physical edition of the disc is magnificent. Paintings by the British artist Colin Self are added to the text of each of the poems. The contemplation of these impressionistic images completes the listener’s experience by immersing him or her in a poetic universe of great splendour. (Steve Naud)

Vistas
What Were You Hoping To Find?
Retrospect

While viewed as a thumbnail, the cover of the second album by effervescent Scottish pop-rockers Vistas seems a simple, pleasing geometric pattern. Zoom in and there’s an awful lot going on in the artwork by Colorado designer Rosston Meyer, founder of Poposition Press, a master of the modern pop-up book who brings that instant-3D technique to the gatesleeve jacket of LP edition of the record. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Dream Theater
A View From The Top Of The World
InsideOut

It was only after I identified the author of the illustration that I understood why it had caught my attention. In addition to creating Dream Theater’s covers since Octavarium (2005), Canadian artist Hugh Syme’s surrealist style can be seen on hundreds of albums since 1975 (Rush, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden) and even advertisements (Sensodyne toothpaste!). To illustrate the title of the progressive metal band’s 15th album, Syme chose Kjeragbolten, a boulder on Norway’s Kjerag Mountain, as the top of the world. (Christine Fortier)

Ken Sasaki
Keep Playing 2
Independent

A “retro wave sound that is not merely nostalgic” is how Tokyoite Ken Sasaki defines his congenial pop, sweet and light with a flavouring of upscale funk, chiptunes, and Japan’s own “city pop” of the ’80s. It’s well matched by the cover art by Shinsuke Koshio, founder of the SUNDAYVISION design studio, which looks like it sounds great—and maybe tastes great, but that could just be a voracious holiday appetite speaking. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Jerusalem In My Heart
Qalaq
Constellation

The women can’t hide their dismay behind medical masks. There was the explosion in the port of Beirut in the summer of 2020, an enormous cataclysm. Lebanon was already plunged into a deep crisis of corruption, economic misery was getting in the way and the hope of reconstruction took a hard blow. Led by Lebanese-Canadian Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, the multi-disciplinary vehicle Jerusalem in my Heart takes the hit in this excellent, collaborative, international show of solidarity with a deep Lebanese anxiety (Qalaq) as the creative backdrop. The photo report selected for the album cover could not have been better chosen to express the state of affairs and the music that it inspires. (Alain Brunet)

Chad Vangaalen
The World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener
Flemish Eye

Calgary’s Chad Vangaalen is long since a familiar name in Canadian indie music—he’s been at it for a couple of decades now with his idiosyncratic folk-rock—as well as illustration and animation (recall his incredible 2020 video for Sun Ra Arkestra’s “Seductive Fantasy”). The spaghetti-faced weirdo on this album, one of several Vangaalen releases this year, is a good example of his psychedelic cartoon style, equally silly and sinister. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Gazelle Twin & NYX
Deep England
NYX Collective

Gazelle Twin has had one success after another. Her talent is also evident in her ability to surround herself with equally brilliant artists. This magnificent album is the logical follow-up to the London concerts where she performed with the female electronic drone choir NYX, in reworked versions of some of the songs on her 2018 album Pastoral. The work of Italian illustrator Elisa Seitzinger, with its exploded and casual medieval bestiary, couldn’t be more fitting for Deep England. The cover design is by Jonathan Barnbrook, who also designed David Bowie’s last album, Blackstar. (Geneviève Gendreau)

Population II
À la ô Terre
Castle Face

This is the cover of my year 2021 because it’s everything I love about Montreal: the beautiful, unexpected encounters, the ones where you let yourself be guided by the energy of the city, its people, its talents and its music. This cover is the one you absolutely want to own after having shed tears of happiness at having had the chance to discover a musical gem. This cover is the one you want to keep as a souvenir, like a Polaroid you would take to immortalize forever an unforgettable journey—such as the one I made while listening to Population II under the Van Horne viaduct, one day in November 2021. (Salima Bouaraour)

Infiltro
Disforia
Independent

They may be from the exact middle of the planet, but Ecuadorian noise-rockers Infiltro take their abrasive racket to extremes. The cover of their latest record, Disforiais blessed by the charming presence of a pill-popping punk-rock rat, an archetypal image that looks like iot could have come from the dripping pen of underground comic legend S. Clay Wilson, or ’90s grunge graphic maestro Savage Pencil—but it’s in fact by cartoonist and illustrator Paco “Afromonkey” Puente, founder of the Azno Cómics anthology. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Hayden Pedigo
Letting Go
Mexican Summer

Describing himself as a “non-emergent” artist from Amarillo, Texas, Jonathan Phillips used a photo given to him by Hayden Pedigo as inspiration for the album cover. He says it was one of many sarcastic photos of Pedigo dressed in streetwear. Phillips turned it into an oil painting on a foot-square wooden panel, and from this work the album cover was created, provoking by its colours and the strangeness of the character. (Isabelle Marceau)

Tendinite
Neither/Nor
Araki / Poutrage

A trio from Reims, France, Tendinite deliver lo-fi garage punk, crude yet effective, as demonstrated by their latest album, Neither/Nor. The multi-armed mutant of the striking cover artwork is by Val l’Enclume, a graphic artist whose absurdist, apocalyptic style has earned them an association with the longstanding, Marseille-based silkscreen art gang Dernier Cri. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Ghost Rhythms
Spectral Music
Cuneiform

The second album on Cuneiform for the ten musicians of the French band Ghost Rhythms, led by drummer Xavier Gélard and pianist Camille Petit. A strange cover, by Jonathan Martin, which isn’t particularly related to the theme of the record (distancing and its remedy, telepathy), but it has an accidental, or involuntary, character that has a certain charm. The music is a kind of jazzy progressive rock that has affinities with Soft Machine or Miriodor. To be discovered. (Réjean Beaucage)

PAN M 360’S TOP 100 OF 2021! (PART 3 – JUNE TO AUGUST)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

PAN M 360’s rundown of the hundred best music releases of 2021, in five parts over five days, continues with further titles, these ones released between June and August.

The Pan M 360 Team

Billie Eilish
Happier Than Ever
Interscope

The colourful pop sensation and Gen Z icon, who shifts from the whispery to the airy, once again wrote this album with her brother Finneas in his basement. With two Grammys in 2021, including one for “No Time to Die” (the theme song to the latest James Bond film), and a plethora of prestigious awards on both sides of the big pond in 2020, Eilish is establishing herself as one of the must-see artists of this new decade. Major. (Claude André)

Dobet Gnahoré
Couleur
Cumbancha

Couleur is an ode to women, a praising of the French-speaking world, a love letter to motherhood, a celebration of African music… But above all, an excellent album! Dobet Gnahoré offers us a tour de force that contains a little something for everyone. Those who love Afro-pop will find something to their liking in the bewitching rhythms of the African diva. Those who want to broaden their horizons will discover a whole new and exciting musical world. Those who want to dance will be able to dance until the wee hours of the morning! (Louis Garneau-Pilon)

Etana
Pamoja
Freemind Music

The singer Etana released the self-produced album Gemini in 2020. Already back this year with Pamoja, which means “together” in Swahili, the Jamaican has surrounded herself with a number of artists on the album, mostly from the African continent. The album also features Vybz Kartel, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley and Europeans Alborosie and Patrice. In terms of rhythms, she has drawn on Afrobeat, dancehall and, of course, the roots-reggae to which she has accustomed us since her debut. Rich in influences, masterfully produced and interpreted by one of the major singers of the current scene, Pamoja marks a great coup in 2021. (Richard Lafrance)

René Lussier
Complètement marteau
ReR Megacorp / Circum Disc

More than an extraordinary guitarist or a crazy composer, René Lussier is a sound researcher. Except for the double bass quartet (4 times Hugo Blouin) that can be heard in Le clou (1999), it’s Lussier who plays everything, including “a whole lot of homemade percussion made of rubbing, mouth noises, cake spatulas, barbecue spits and Styrofoam on a wet window,” not to mention, of course, the daxophone and the guitars. A good vintage! (Réjean Beaucage)

Ofer Pelz, Meitar Ensemble
Trinité
New Focus

After studying in Jerusalem and Paris, Ofer Pelz obtained a doctorate in composition at the University of Montreal. He uses different working methods, such as exploring the concept of “unstable repetition”, reverse engineering and ways of composing that are inspired by mathematics or derived from electroacoustics (logarithmic spiral, accumulation of loops, etc.). The Meitar ensemble is based in Tel Aviv, but this record nevertheless offers several opportunities to hear, albeit on tape, “the sound of Montreal”. (Réjean Beaucage)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Butterfly 3000
KGLW

It’s sometimes hard to find inspiration for a first album. Finding inspiration for the 18th is probably just as difficult. However, the prolific septet King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard succeeded in doing just that. They abandon somewhat the intensity of prog-rock in favour of dream-pop-style synth loops. The result is amazing. The lyrics have also evolved from the whimsical stories of the past to the ambiguous world of dreams. Butterfly 3000 is perhaps an unexpected diversions for the Australian prog sensation. But as a band that specialises in unexpected detours, this one is well worth the effort. (Louis Garneau-Pilon)

Greentea Peng
Man Made
AMF/EMI

After two EPs and numerous singles, the Brit Greentea Peng arrives with Man Made, a surprisingly cohesive first album. Daughter of an Arab actor father and an African mother, Aria Wells (her real name) and her band The Seng Seng Family offer 18 tracks of lascivious neo-soul, largely coloured with psychedelia, R&B, dub, funk, acid jazz, bhangra, trip-hop and hip-hop influences that support lyrics with strong sociopolitical contours, even if they are sometimes a bit naive. If her style reminds one slightly of Lily Allen or Erykah Badu, the comparisons stop there, the Londoner’s doing a definite thing of her own. (Patrick Baillargeon)

Haepaary
Born by Gorgeousness
Flipped Coin

After the grand success of Leenalchi, another South Korean act modernizing deep and formalized local traditions is the Seoul-based duo Haepaary (a wider view aligns them with the similarly mystical Kuunatic from Japan, and Prairie WWWW from Taiwan). The pair practice a sort of subversive, ritualistic electro-Confucianism, revisiting royal temple music of the Joseon dynasty, and the two women counter patriarchy as well, exploring the traditionally masculine vocal genre called namchang gagok. The results are mesmerizing, even deeply haunting. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Hélène Barbier
Regulus
Michel / Celluloid Lunch

With Regulus, Hélène Barbier has modestly established herself as the queen of lo-fi avant-pop. On this second solo album, which she made quite alone at home (pandemic and all), the French singer and multi-instrumentalist, exiled in Montreal for the last ten years, creates an intimate universe, populated with small, deceptively approximate songs, between soft no-wave and minimalist post-punk, an engaging and original music with a crazy charm. Regulus is the work of an ingenious and inventive creator who is not afraid of taking risks. (Patrick Baillargeon)

Hildegard
Hildegard
Chivi / Section 1 (RoW)

Here we have a clear case of synergy—Ouri and Helena Deland are inspired by the nun Hildegarde von Bingen, a rare woman of letters in the Middle Ages, composer, artist, and high mystic. The Montrealers are elevated beyond their individual achievements in electro and indie-folk-pop, which are highly commendable by the way. The song forms are deconstructed to perfection, the vocal melodies and texts are at the service of works constructed like electronic or instrumental pieces, the arrangements, treatments and transmutations of the sources (voices, instruments, keyboards, strings, sounds) show an uncommon finesse. (Alain Brunet)

Sleater-Kinney
Path of Wellness
Mom + Pop Music

Path of Wellness is the tenth work by this band, which recently switched from a trio to a duo after the departure of the hard-hitting drummer Janet Weiss. Guitarists and singers Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein produced the new album themselves. The rhythmic aesthetic of Janet Weiss is continued here by three drummers who take turns playing efficiently. There’s nothing unusual about Path of Wellness, not much that doesn’t fit S-K’s modus operandi. Apart from the keyboards that grace several pieces. But with these women from Olympia, Washington, even the ordinary is Olympian. (Luc Marchessault)

Amenra
De Doorn
Relapse

The Flemish band, which has been active since 1999, presents a delectable album this year. In full control of their means, they catapult the listener into a space where gravity reigns. Despite the extreme heaviness that characterises their aesthetics, the pieces breathe—the atmospheres are carefully set up, and Colin H. Van Eeckhout’s primal scream gives the full measure of the suffering. It’s sometimes joined by the singing of Caro Tanghe (Oathbreaker), instilling bits of hope. We understand that this pain is not a simple complaint, but a catharsis, as serious as the thorn, the title of the album. (Geneviève Gendreau)

Anika
Change
Sacred Bones

After a debut album in 2010 and an EP in 2013, Anika didn’t release anything under her own name (preferring to join other artists, notably the Mexican band Exploded View), until Change, released during the summer. With her cool beauty, Nico-esque phrasing and mechanical art-pop songs, Annika Henderson has had no trouble (re)winning over an audience with more avant-garde tastes. Co-produced by her and Exploded View’s Martin Thulin, Change sees the German-British singer create her own songs, whereas almost all the tracks on her first effort were covers. Change also takes Anika off the neo-dub path and a little closer to krautrock and post-rock, while still remaining bold, experimental and very elegant. (Patrick Baillargeon)

U-Roy
Solid Gold
Trojan Jamaica

Solid Gold was released a few months after U-Roy’s death and features several impressive new collaborations with both heavyweights and newcomers. The album reconfirms the relevance of Daddy U-Roy with his covers of Jamaican classics, including the surprising “Man Next Door” with Santigold, and “Stop That Train” with Rygin King. Big Youth offers a convincing re-reading of “Every Knee Shall Bow” and Richie Spice, a “Wear You to The Ball” that would have satisfied even Duke Reid… Ziggy Marley offers an energised version of “Trenchtown Rock” and Shaggy accompanies the doyen DJ in an assureds old-school style on “Rule The Nation”. (Ricahrd Lafrance)

Arjun Vagale
Time Top
Quartz Rec

Arjun Vagale has remained silent for a few years in order to devote himself to the creation of his label and his project Asymetrik. These are two completely separate stylistic entities. Vagale has created five tracks of hypnotic dub techno. As you listen, you slip peacefully into the charming darkness of “Scatter Dos”, after having stomped hard on “Time Cop”. “Sustain Sequence”, ephemeral and bewitching, leaves you on a tart note, energetically asking for more. (Salima Bouaraour)

Rodrigo Amarante
Drama
Polyvinyl

Cruelly overlooked in the northern hemisphere, Rodrigo Amarante is well known in his native Brazil, where he was a member of Los Hermanos, an indie rock band famous enough to fill stadiums. Having made his home in the United States, he now records solo albums that are gems of inventiveness and finesse. His latest, Drama, subtly blends folk, rock, samba and bossa nova. With his smooth, comforting voice, he sings in English and Portuguese about the big questions of life, without ever taking himself too seriously. (Steve Naud)

Giri
Antichthon
Axis

With Antichthon, Giri explores the theme of the cosmos and space travel. Antichthon is the planet that could be home to mankind as it leaves Earth. The scientific team of the Discovery Behind The Sun mission travels on board the Cyrillia. On the way, they come across a sister ship with a team from Antichthon on board, heading for what appears to be their future home: Earth. Dream or reality? In the manner of a science fiction story, the tension is built up both on the micro scale of a room and the macro scale of the album. It is clear that Giri is an excellent storyteller. (Elsa Fortant)

Emma Jean Thackray
Yellow
Movementt

Released on the label that Emma-Jean Thackray created, Yellow offers a rich, organic, studio-recorded sound. Perhaps it could be categorized as “light music” thanks to particularly catchy tracks like “Say Something”? One thing is certain, Yellow is more accessible than Um Yang, her previous EP (2020), which played in the free-jazz court. The fourteen compositions call upon names like J Dilla or Fela Kuti. An Afrobeat lover, the bandleader borrows her kick-hi-hat-snare rhythmic patterns from house, which gives her work an unstoppable groove. (Elsa Fortant)

Lingua Ignota
Sinner Get Ready
Sargent House

The hard dialectic of Sinner Get Readyis fairly comparable to that seen in her previous recordings: entanglement, clashing, collision, tearing, suturing, symbiosis. Her recent allegations of assault by Alexis Marshall of the band Daughters, with whom she had an affair, add density to the states evoked in this excellent album. Lingua Ignota (“unknown language”) marries the sacred music and folklore of Europe and America, Appalachian song, choral singing, that beautiful contralto voice. With this bonus: the silkier, softer portion of her expression has never reached such heights. (Alain Brunet)

Susumu Hirasawa
Beacon
Teslakite

An icon of adventurous techno-pop in 1980s Japan, Susumu Hirasawa is best known for his unforgettable later work scoring films by the late anime master Satoshi Kon. Blending anthemic earnestness and a streak of ironic, deadpan humour, Hirasawa’s sensibility has remained firmly intact over the decades. On his 14th solo album, his familiar melodic stylings, operatic grandeur and flights of falsetto are ever present, as is his strange yet alluring juxtaposition of martial force, playful absurdity, guileless emoting and disconcertingly unfamiliar electronic sounds. The most vital factor is the sense of sympathy and optimism Hirasawa never fails to project, forever the light cutting through darkness that the album’s title suggests. (Rupert Bottenberg)

PAN M 360’S TOP 100 OF 2021! (PART 4 – AUGUST TO OCTOBER)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

PAN M 360’s rundown of the hundred best music releases of 2021, in five parts over five days, continues with more great records, released between August and October.

The Pan M 360 Team

The Limiñanas / Laurent Garnier
De Peliculas
Because

French couple Lionel and Marie Limiñana pastiche a certain dark, transatlantic psych vibe, summoning the shadows that lingered after the Summer of Love with dope-stunned drones and dissolute poetry. De Películas finds them partnered with Laurent Garnier, a veteran of 1980s Manchester and a titan of the French Touch scene. Thus are the pneumatic, propulsive grooves assured. Built for comfort, not for speed, they carry The Limiñanas’ luminous organ grind and raspy raconteur routines with grace. Bonus: Edi Pistolas of legendary Latin dance-punks Pánico, whose snakebite delivery adds hot sauce to the grand, swaggering “Que Calor !”. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Hubert Lenoir
Pictura de Ipse : musique directe
Simone Records

The ballad “SECRET” sets the tone for Pictura de Ipse : musique directe—Hubert switches to the confidential, the guitars have taken over, keyboards, synths and programming reign, funk-like atmospheres dominate. This album, which Hubert produced himself, is in many ways a tribute to Prince, as spectacularly illustrated by “FOURQUARTS”. To summarize, Lenoir dumped neo-glam, went to Flying Lotus, Mac Miller, Thundercat, Frank Ocean and his highness Prince, and then came up with the most daring and successful Quebec album of 2021. (Luc Marchessault)

André Duchesne
Travaux publics : ballades urbaines, vol. 1 et 2
Autoproduction

It’s probably harder to make music as a band these days, so the co-founder of Conventum put together a virtual ensemble (guitars, bass, programming [sax and drums]). Then he had fun doing it all himself: recording, editing, mixing, etc. The results are amazing, and amazing to hear. The sounds are astonishing, and there are colours of the protean musique actuelle of the ’70s and ’80s, when Conventum resembled Henry Cow (or vice versa), but with a dose of DIY that makes the music sway. (Réjean Beaucage)

Deutsch Nepal
Dystopian Partycollection III
Entartete Musikk

Deutsch Nepal’s releases are rare. The current album is the third part of the Dystopian Partycollection series, the first two of which date from 2008 and 2016. This time it’s a compilation of tracks, covers and alternative versions composed between 2012 and 2021, and on which some collaborators intervene. Unpretentious, then. The whole is less uniform than his albums, but the magic still works. Happy inclusions are the vocal imprecations of Peter Andersson, the surprising presence of the Italian guitarist Alessio Betterelli (“How Low…”) and the icy rhythms of Geoffrey Delacroix, alias Dernière Volonté (“Amanda Lear”). (Geneviève Gendreau)

Tasha
Tell Me What You Miss the Most
Father/Daughter Records

On Tell Me What You Miss the Most, her second album, Tasha sings that she would stay in bed all day if she could. Her slow, fluffy drums and lightly saturated guitar summon both sweetness and melancholy. Her flute, strings, celestial voice, a slight echo and evocative titles (“Burton Island”, “Lake Superior”) form a warm envelope. Simplicity stirs feelings when expressed well. It’s a necessary break that she offers here, between the sky and the earth, the tumult of grey days and the noise of the city, for a more beautiful winter. (Anne-Sophie Rasolo)

Hayden Pedigo
Letting Go
Mexican Summer

A prolific musician at only 27, it’s safe to assume that Texan Hayden Pedigo’s fame and influence will continue to grow. Letting Go features blue skies, an abandoned ranch and high Texas plains that stretch as far as the eye can see. Alternating between a six-string and a twelve-string, the acoustic guitar is played in the primitive American style, and Pedigo handles the rhythms perfectly, as a storyteller would. The pieces evoke vivid, fundamental emotions, making Letting Go a gripping listen. (Isabelle Marceau)

Little Simz
Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Age 101 – AWAL

If you’re looking for the definition of an artist, fulfilled, radiant, putting her beauty and intelligence at the service of the concept of the powerful woman, capable of giving off both strength and sweetness in one go and of laying down her committed lyrics with genius, you’ll find it in Little Simz. My dear colleague and friend Alain Brunet has already reviewed this album and I follow him all the way. I put this queen on my list because she exudes incredible maturity and undeniable talent. Her exceptional personality comes through in her voice, regardless of the styles of her albums. For me, the image and symbols they convey honour all women in this world. (Salima Bouaraour)

Michael Spyres, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Marko Letonja
Baritenor
Erato

Is it possible for the same singer to perform both baritone and tenor roles? Michael Spyres is the exception to this separation of voices. Originally a baritone, Spyres has spent many years perfecting his voice to expand his vocal range. The result is astonishing; one is amazed at the ease with which he takes on the vocal garb of different characters and alternates between bel cantiste high notes and sonorous Verdian lows. Accompanied by Marko Letonja and the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, nothing sounds forced and the grain of the voice remains stable and percussive in the performance. (Alexandre Villemaire)

Suuns
The Witness
Secret City Records

The Witness explores new avenues for Suuns, with the inclusion of acoustic, wind and string instruments, superb, almost jazz arrangements punctuating the hybridizations between avant-rock, electronic and experimental aesthetics, to which Suuns have accustomed us since 2010. The Witness poetically addresses various angles of our globalized voyeurism, planetary facts and gestures simultaneously observed on a daily basis by millions of humans. There is an added value in a congruent portion of the arrangements and execution on this album, which is certainly one of the best vintages from this extraordinary band, still one of the most important on the Montreal scene. (Alain Brunet)

Low
Hey What
Sub Pop

In 2018, the band Low confused many with the release of Double Negative, an album on which they exploded their song structures with distortion and electronic assaults. Overwhelmed by the radical approach, bassist Steve Garrington left the band, which was reduced to the pairing of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. The duo’s comforting vocal harmonies now make their way through a cloud of discordant noise and show us that amidst the chaos, the lights of humanism still manage to shine. (Steve Naud)

Nicolas Bernier et Simon Trottier
Les éternités vibrantes
Indépendant

This is music that is atmospheric, to say the least. In the eleven-minute final movement, which gives the record its title, one can almost hear the voice—or the solo instrument—rising above what would then be a magnificent backdrop. It’s quite a power to let us hear what isn’t there, and that’s what develops over the course of this programme, which is based on a certain form of voluntary simplicity. (Réjean Beaucage)

LLNN
Unmaker
Pelagic Records

The Danish band’s third record is, according to the accompanying release, a thunderous sonic tale of how technology, in combination with certain power structures, transforms humanity and affects human values. This description makes sense of the darkness that emanates from Unmaker’s post-metal sludge swirls. A meditative record that you can listen to over and over again. Matt McCachy, singer of the Montreal band Cryptopsy, guests on the song “Desecrator”. (Christine Fortier)

Emily D’Angelo; das freie orchester Berlin & Jarkko Riihimäki
enargeia
Deutsche Grammophon

Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo’s daring debut album pushes the envelope with an eclectic programme that mixes medieval works with electro-indie rock and pieces by 21st-century female composers. The “augmented” works of Hildegard von Bingen rub shoulders with the low, soaring pieces of Hildur Guðnadóttir, the percussive and lyrical tunes of Missy Mazoli and the poignant excerpts from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Penelope cycle, of which the memorable “The Lotus Eaters” is a highlight, with its effective and engaging rock passage of electric guitar and drums, to which D’Angelo’s clear, low tone is surprisingly grafted. A shocking album from a young lyrical artist who turns the canon associated with classical singers on its head. And that’s just as well! (Alexandre Villemaire)

Malik Djoudi
Troie
Lisbonne Lux

Here’s Troie (Troy), whose title refers to the famous horse, except that instead of hiding a commando of Greek warriors, it reserves for the music lover a dozen beautiful electro-soul tracks c/o Malik Djoudi. Their common denominator lies in the sweetness they exude, to varying degrees, without it ever being too much. It must be said that Djoudi sings high, always right, with a voice that acts like a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory ointment. Duets with the rapper Lala &ce, sacred monster Isabelle Adjani and Philippe Katerine, who personifies the title character of the twisted nursery rhyme “Eric”. So we smile briefly before “Petit héros”, the melancholic finale to an otherwise invigorating album. (Luc Marchessault)

Fuck Toute
Coké Computer
Slam Disques

It starts with “Gelé su’l feu”, a tribal riff with Arabic tendencies, big drums that hammer out a nasty beat, a guttural voice that would scare an ear doctor, and it goes on for 36 and a half minutes, until the last note of “Persona”. We are dealing with skilful practitioners in whom harmonic rigour takes precedence, with musicians who alternate genres and tempos without a hitch. On this second full-length opus, Fuck Toute edify the listener with their musical and lyrical cohesion. The band that is now at the confluence of punk, metal and Quebecois noise is called Fuck Toute, let’s face it. (Luc Marchessault)

Circuit des Yeux
-io
Matador

Haley Fohr, better known by the name of her main project Circuit des Yeux, is a singer-songwriter with a four-octave vocal range. From her lo-fi beginnings of accompanying herself on twelve-string guitar and releasing dark experimental albums, her compositions have become more melodic and dramatic. The album -io presents powerful pieces with orchestral support that can match her voice. It’s her most accomplished album. (Isabelle Marceau)

Marissa Nadler
The Path of the Clouds
Sacred Bones

Dark dream-folk ballads make up this ninth album, conceived during the pandemic and produced by Nadler. During quarantine, she watched reruns of episodes of Unsolved Mysteries intensively; the sordid and fantastic stories served as inspiration for the lyrics. This forced isolation also prompted her to learn to play the piano, which she used in an exploratory way on the album. She was able to count on the following (remote) collaborators: harpist Mary Lattimore, guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle, keyboardist Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev) and Simon Raymonde, ex-bassist of the Cocteau Twins. (Isabelle Marceau)

Andrew Wan, Charles Richard-Hamelin
Beethoven : Sonates pour violon et piano nº 4, 9 & 10
Analekta

Violinist Andrew Wan and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin conclude, in imperial fashion, their series of Beethoven’s complete violin and piano sonatas, begun in 2018. United in a synergistic expression of playing, the striking duo delivers a coherent interpretation of the multiple dynamics and nuances of Beethoven’s sonatas. From the fine, richly textured piano writing of the fourth sonata, through the virtuosic musical competition of the ninth, to the lyrical and biting harmonic textures of the tenth, the two performers deliver a deft and sensitive performance of great musicality. (Alexandre Villemaire)

Vanishing Twin
Ookii Gekkou
Fire

At the helm of Vanishing Twin is the farsighted multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas, and it’s to her credit as captain of the ship that something so multifarious should also be satisfyingly cohesive. Stereolab are the most obvious reference point, but other delicious ingredients that constitute the band’s excellent second album include low-gravity tropical space disco, elegant Ellingtonian exotica, celestial harmonies and unusually refined lyric-writing. That every second phrase concludes with a question mark is in keeping with the insatiable curiosity that clearly propels the auditory adventures of Vanishing Twin. (Rupert Bottenberg)

Juçara Marçal
Delta Estácio Blues
Mais Um

One third of the Afrocentric and highly experimental samba-punk unit Metá Metá, São Paulo singer and songwriter Juçara Marçal steps out with a solo album that’s perhaps a bit more accessible, but no less inventive and inspired–and though it never mentions the execrable Bolsonaro by name, it carries a compelling if unspoken political energy. Francophone listeners will appreciate the rough, raw reinterpretation of “La femme à Barbe” by the great Brigitte Fontaine, France’s feminine equivalent of Serge Gainsbourg. (Rupert Bottenberg)

PAN M 360’S TOP 100 OF 2021! (PART 5 – OCTOBER TO DECEMBER)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

PAN M 360’s rundown of the hundred best music releases of 2021, in five parts over five days, wraps up with a final 20 top releases, from the last months of the year.

The Pan M 360 Team

La Zarra
Traîtrise
Universal

Warning, instant crush. Right away, the album opens with “Fille de joie”, a piece that sets the scene for the character that is La Zarra. The juxtaposition of a contralto and tragic voice with a melancholic message and a music that evokes big movie productions with its strings and jerky beats. The character imposes herself. From the outset, it is a question of choosing to believe or not. Let’s go for the first option. Bang! (Claude André)

Converge / Chelsea Wolfe
Bloodmoon I
Epitaph

Chelsea Wolfe joins Converge again, the purpose being to shed some ambient light on the band’s approach, renowned for the complexity and high mathcore virtuosity of its proposals. However, here, the focus is on playing and singing at medium or slow tempos, things necessarily become more melodic, the ambiences softer than bitter. We are here in an ideal context, where the depth of a concept, the animality, the sensuality, the heaviness, the doom metal saturation, the dripping guitars, the post-rock and post-prog influences, the virtuosity of the execution all meet. (Alain Brunet)

Clinic
Fantasy Island
Domino

The band that wore surgical masks before it was fashionable delivered what may well be the most positive, and perhaps most pop and electronic record in their catalogue last October. In a nutshell, Clinic have gone disco funky, expanding their sonic palette with the addition of several new gadgets and wacky instruments. This ninth effort from the Liverpool outfit, now a duo, blends influences as disparate as The Human League, Fun Boy Three, Kid Creole and The Coconuts, cosmic Italian disco, the Memphis Jug Band and old blues into a cohesive, groovy and always menacing whole. (Patrick Baillargeon)

Dooms Children
Dooms Children
Dine Alone

From Alexisonfire and Gallows fame, Wade MacNeil has created a psychedelic rock grimoire, channeling all of his insecurities, passions, and hallucinogenic experiences into one album. He’s a guy who knows exactly what he wants musically, and on his debut, he went for ’60s psych-rock meets contemporary jam-band. The album is peppered with memorable riffs, haunting sounds, and velvety vocals. (Stephan Boissonneault)

Xenia Rubinos
Una Rosa
Anti-

Expressing herself in Spanish and English, this brilliant mixed American generates a protein-rich blend of genres, at the crossroads of synth-pop, synthwave, avant-pop, soul/R&B, hip hop, jazz, rumba and bolero, the whole coated with an experimental touch reflected over no 14 songs and pieces. Una Rosa, the second studio opus released on Anti-, offers a furiously fragmented repertoire, whose coherence and vast musical culture can be appreciated over the course of several listenings. The compositional approach, the atypical arrangements and the emotionally charged voice make Xenia Rubinos an exceptional artist. (Alain Brunet)

Jerusalem In My Heart
Qalaq
Constellation

Who other than Lebanese-Canadian artist Radwan Ghazi Moumneh carries out these extreme mixtures of traditional/classical music from the Levant with dark ambient proposals on the borders of bruitism? The mastermind of this singular multidisciplinary approach has developed a unique language, distinct from all Middle Eastern and Western proposals, with many collaborations to support it in this case. Metaphorically, Qalaq can be seen as an emotional documentary of the violent upheavals in Beirut and the aesthetic challenges that its artists are now facing. This is the expression of deep anxiety… what the word qalaq means. (Alain Brunet)

Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita
Suba
Bendigedig / Otá Records

Four years after their magnificent Transparent Waters, the Cuban pianist and the Senegalese griot are back with Suba. The excellent Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovelles, a nuanced and discreet decorator, accompanies them on this album. There is such a connivance, such a quality of listening in this magical trio that you can even hear the silences between them, the restraint, the tenderness, the humanity… Suba, the title of the work, is indeed an “ode to the dawn” in Keita’s native language. Let us also mention the presence of another distinguished guest, the Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum. Highly recommended. (Ralph Boncy)

Aquaserge
The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge
Crammed Discs

For this new work, the nine musicians of the protean Toulouse collective Aquaserge pay homage to four contemporary composers: Edgard Varèse (1883-1965), Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), György Ligeti (1923-2006) and Morton Feldman (1926-1987). This is a big programme, which includes five tribute pieces composed by Aquaserge, a song written by Varèse on verses by Verlaine, and a piece by Morton Feldman on a text by Rainer-Maria Rilke (in two versions). It’s calm, it’s frenetic, it’s melodious, it’s dishevelled, it’s semi-classical, it’s new-prog, it’s post-jazz, it’s avant-rock, it’s furious, it’s pacifying, it’s strong, it’s rough, it’s round, it’s good. Very, very good, in fact. (Luc Marchessault)

Christina Pluhar / L’Arpeggiata
Alla Napoletana
Erato

Truculent music with accents of commedia dell’arte, folklore and the glibness of the narrow streets of 17th- and 18th-century Naples. Delicate lyricism, crisp onomatopoeia, lively rhythms, communicative good humour. A tribute album to the first hit parade in history! (Frédéric Cardin)

Joy Crookes
Skin
Sony

As Joy Crookes’ album unfolds, the cover showing her in golden skin armour takes on a special meaning. Beyond the power she embodies through her words and the understated power of her voice, Crookes, at her young age, commands a certain amount of admiration. Skin is an album full of emotion and colour, with lyrics largely written by her and a cast of instrumentalists (saxophone, tuba, bass, drums) that give body to the work. This album goes beyond the current trend of London’s sweet pop singers. (Anne-Sophie Rasolo)

Michael Klein
Trip Image
Odd Even

Trip Image can be visualized more than it can be listened to, like a colourful condensed glitch. An ardently decipherable composition. Klein, a classically trained pianist born in Frankfurt, became familiar with the German techno scene in the 1990s. The synthetic texture fizzes against a background of hallucinogenic modularity, bound by a cacophonous depth. Trip Image has an epileptic as well as an orgasmic flavour. “Taste”, “Whisper”, “Touch” and “Smell”: your senses will be in total loss. (Salima Bouaraour)

Attacca Quartet
Of All Joys
Sony Classical

The members of the Attacca Quartet, a 2019 Grammy-winning ensemble, offer on this album a unique repertoire in its assemblage, historically on opposite sides of the spectrum, but linked by a thematic unity. With great dexterity and musicality, the performers bring together the clean lines of Glass and Pärt’s minimalist works with the harmonic richness of 16th- and 17th-century composers such as Dowland, Bennett and Gibbons. In an aesthetic that is at once meditative and full of vitality, the ensemble cements its artistic approach, which is a redefinition of the string quartet and its repertoire. (Alexandre Villemaire)

Bernard Lavilliers
Sous un soleil énorme
Universal

Fans of the “metaphor dealer” will be delighted and appeased by Sous un soleil énorme, his 22nd album, which will make us dance, travel, trip, dream, think and burst into tears in eleven songs, right from the first track, “Le cœur du monde”. Perhaps his best since the immense Carnet de bord in 2004. Between the intimate and the worldly, Lavilliers sways, but not always, to catchy and enveloping Argentine rhythms, where resounding brass adds touches of redemptive lyricism. (Claude André)

IDLES
Crawler
Partisan

IDLES have been on a hot streak, releasing an album almost every year since their 2017 debut with Brutalism. 2020’s Ultra Mono was a hard one to follow up, but IDLES came back with some of the best atmospheric post-punk in a long time. Crawler is not a typical IDLES album—it’s a slow and heavy burn that makes use of discordant guitar, thundering bass and drums, and Joe Talbot’s violent pacifistic lyrics—but it feels completely cohesive right from the first track, when Talbot asks, “Are You Ready for the Storm?” (Stephan Boissonneault)

Léonie Pernet
Le Cirque de Consolation
InFiné

In just two albums (the other is Crave, released in 2018), a soundtrack for a series presented on Arte (H24 – 24 heures dans la vie d’une femme) and three or four EPs (some of which contain remixes of her songs by Acid Arab, Malik Djoudi and Arthur Simonini), Léonie Pernet has succeeded in circumscribing her sound identity. Her electro often tends towards the acoustic, the earth is never far away, nor the firmament. No laughing matter, “The void has pursued me since childhood”, she sings in “La mort de Pierre”. The old new-wave torch from 45 years ago still glows. Everything on this dangerously bewitching album was composed and written by Pernet, with a little help from Jean-Sylvain Le Gouic for a few pieces. (Luc Marchessault)

Bruce Liu
18th International Frederic Chopin Competition: Bruce Liu
Deutsche Grammophon

If you haven’t had the opportunity to follow and hear the performances of Bruce Liu, the first Canadian to win the first prize at the 18th edition of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition, then this album is for you. On this album, surely the first of many, we hear Liu perform the bulk of the competition repertoire in his dynamic and lively style. Without falling into the excess of sentimentality and interiority that can often be found in Chopin, the young Montreal pianist appropriates the musical material in a very personal rendering, imbued with virtuoso lyricism and great gaiety. (Alexandre Villemaire)

CMD
Social Factory Reset
Fixed Rhythms

Strength, finesse and atmospheric ambience: these are the words that could potentially define this latest release from Corina MacDonald, aka CMD. Nevertheless, it would be extremely reductive if we were to stick to these three terms alone. Social Factory Reset is an EP of remarkable richness and quality: the fruit of a long term effort. CMD has created an album that can be listened to fluidly and naturally, with sounds that have been (re)worked, triturated and intertwined, giving the whole a composition of great harmony and tranquillity. A subtle mix between dub, acid, techno, house, even post-new wave and electro. Corina is a seasoned member of the Montreal scene as a producer, DJ, host of a radio show (Modular Systems on CKUT 90.3FM), and has performed many times at the MUTEK festival. I wish her continued success in 2022. (Salima Bouaraour)

The Witching Tale
The Witching Tale
Bellissima Records

This is the first album from a band formed by composer and producer Katharine Blake (Mediæval Bæbes, Miranda Sex Garden) and multi-instrumentalist Michael J. York (Teleplasmiste, The Utopia Strong, Coil). Six additional musicians have been called upon to enrich, if need be, this delightful opus all in counterpoints and dissonances. Rich is the description that comes to mind when considering the list of 28 instruments used, in addition to the vocals and the field recordings. The music never seems saturated: finely written and performed, the impression is one of lightness and grace. These are real gems that always skilfully combine elevation and experimentation. (Geneviève Gendreau)

Ascii.Disko
Todos los conciertos, todas las noches, todo vacío
Young and Cold Records

Everything suggested that the veteran Hamburg native had given up his musical career. Did his 2008 track “Phoenix” foreshadow the return we had been waiting for? Whatever the case, Ascii.Disko has risen from the ashes, and is obviously still smoldering. He returns with aplomb to his characteristic sounds, sometimes minimalist, sometimes extremely heavy. Now based in Spain, he offers an album of great appeal, whether it be more introspective and minimalist tracks (“Stillstand”, “Unter Wellen”) or real danceable fireworks (“Selbstaufgabe”, “Todas las noches”, “So Anders”) that have nothing to envy the classics of his repertoire. (Geneviève Gendreau)

Arca
Kick ii, iii, iiii, iiiii
XL

Arca has undertaken to multiply her compositions through Kick, which began publicly in June 2020 and to which we are now entitled to the second, third, fourth and fifth parts of the same cycle. Not only does this transgender artist succeed in implanting noise and cutting-edge electroacoustics in a pop culture context, but she also infuses her Latin American roots into an already colossal oeuvre. Divided into distinct chapters where reggaeton, electronic cumbia, post-rock and grunge are intertwined, the vast Kick project tells us more about Arca’s genius. (Alain Brunet)

Dancehall / Dub Reggae / Reggae / Roots Reggae

Robbie Shakespeare O.D., September 27, 1953 – December 8, 2021

by Richard Lafrance

With his longtime friend Sly Dunbar on drums, bassist Robbie Shakespeare formed The Riddim Twins, known as the ultimate reggae rhythm section of the last 50 years. His death from kidney problems at the age of 68 last Wednesday in Miami, where he had been living for several years, highlights the pivotal periods that have defined contemporary Jamaican music since the 1970s, of which he was one of the primary architects.

As a teenager, after trying his hand at guitar and then drums, he developed a fascination with the electric bass sound of Aston “Family Man” Barrett, then a member of The Hippy Boys, who often hung out in his backyard, adjacent to a ganja distribution center popular with East Kingston musicians. Barrett agreed to teach him his technique, and Shakespeare began accompanying the Barrett brothers, “Fams” and his drummer brother, Carly, in the studio as often as possible, He would set up and take down the drums while observing Barrett’s bass playing. Later in the evening, Fams would teach him more precisely the basslines that had been deployed during the daily session. Around 1972, when Family Man left the Hippy Boys to join the Upsetters, Shakespeare replaced him and also became involved with The Revolutionaries, the house band at the legendary Channel One studio, where he was one of the main architects in developing the Rockers sound. The following year, at the Tit For Tat reggae club, he met drummer Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, got on stage with him for a few songs, and sealed a collaboration that would last for over five decades.

In demand by all the major producers of the time—including Bunny Striker Lee, who had them accompany his favorite artists such as Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke, Linval Thompson, and Barry Brown under the name The Aggrovators—The Riddim Twins spent a few months as free agents before forming their own label and production company Taxi Gang in 1979. Their first production, Gregory Issacs’ “Soon Forward”, was a huge success and brought them the stars of the moment, including Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott, Augustus Pablo, and Barrington Levy. This immediate popularity led the duo to accompany the most prominent Jamaican artists of the time, as well as international artists who came to Jamaica or to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas—where Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records, appointed them as the house band (Compass Point Allstars). These included Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Yoko Ono, Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, Joe Cocker, Cindy Lauper, Grace Jones, Sting, Britney Spears, and of course Serge Gainsbourg.

At the dawn of the ’80s, after the death of Bob Marley, Sly & Robbie developed a sound and image inspired by rock culture that would propel the vocal trio Black Uhuru to worldwide fame and earn them a Grammy in 1985 with the classic album Anthem. They collected two wins and 11 nominations, as well as a tour supporting The Rolling Stones. Taxi Gang clocked in many hours on the road as well. In 1986, along with Yellowman, Ini Kamoze, and Half Pint, the Riddim Twins toured the world and did so again with Michael Rose, Johnny Osbourne, and Bitty McLean in the 2000s.

In the early ’90s, the duo introduced “Murder She Wrote” by Chaka Demus and Pliers, and Pliers’ cover of “Bam Bam”, borrowed Toots & The Maytals’ winning song from the very first Jamaican Song Festival in 1966, which has been sampled extensively to this day. Still very active, the duo released their most recent experimental album, Red Hills Road, on the French label Tabou this very year.

It is estimated that Sly & Robbie have played or produced nearly 200,000 songs in their career! Last year, Rolling Stone magazine named Robbie Shakespeare the 17th best bass player of all time. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness tweeted yesterday morning: “He will be remembered for his outstanding contribution to the Jamaican Music Industry”.

(Photo: gettyimages)

Experimental Rock / Indie Rock / Krautrock / math rock / Neo-Psychedelia / Pop-Rock / Post-Rock / Punk

Highlights from FME 2021

by Stephan Boissonneault

The far-northern festival hosts some of the most compelling bands of the year.

Last weekend, eight hours north of Montreal, the city of Rouyn-Noranda was host to the 19th year of the Festival de Musique Émergente (FME). For four days, music fans were able to experience the rising talent Quebec and Ontario have to offer. While old-guard groups like post-art rockers The Besnard Lakes and futuristic prog-metal heroes Voivod were present, FME was primarily held together by artists you may have never heard of. So, PAN M 360 have taken it upon ourselves to shed light on a few must-see artists.

Hippie Hourrah

Fans of bands like The Growlers or Allah Las will have a good time with Hippie Hourrah—the new halcyon psychedelic rock project from Cédric Marinelli (Les Marinellis), Miles Dupire-Gagnon (Elephant Stone, Anemone) and Gabriel Lambert (Elephant Stone, Anemone, The Besnard Lakes). Hippie Hourrah put the listener and their audience in a hazy trance. The lead guitar, featuring an assortment of loops and delay, is a marvel, but the band is so much more than shiny guitar wankery. There’s a bass sitar for all that droney goodness and French vocal work that’s light, but complex. Hippie Hourrah is the perfect accompaniment to a morning run or a yoga session… or psychedelics, if that’s your bag. They have a show in Sherbrooke, QC this coming November.

Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu

Experimental electro-pop artist Marie Davidson made her debut in 2012 with her self-titled album, but her latest project, formed out of a trio of old musician friends who have all cut their teeth in the Montreal DIY scene, is something to behold. It’s an ethereal return to her unique brand of electro-pop, but this time it has bigger fangs. The new album Renegade Breakdown can pair easily with any horror or thriller film, and Davidson’s smokey voice is mesmerizing. The sounds of the new project has the feel of classic-rock greats like Heart or Fleetwood Mac, but also that of a dingy German disco club. It’s an album you play loud, late at night, after a few drinks. Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu have a show a month from now at La Tulipe, before their European tour.

Ouri

Multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and electronic producer Ouri’s set at FME was a tranquil beat of reprieve from some of the more thunderous and raucous performances. Her skill at a variety of instruments, including bass synth, bass guitar, and lap steel, and her sweet-as-honey RnB vocal tricks, make for an interesting and breathtaking experience. Her backing band, made up of a maestro keyboard player and steadfast modular-synth DJ, also deserve some spotlight. Near the end of her set, Quebecois vocalist Antony Carl harmonized with Ouri on the month-old single “Felicity”, to bring the performance to an angelic close.

Yoo Doo Right

Montreal has a sizable list of prolific post/krautrock favourites. Of course Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Fly Pan Am come to mind, but Yoo Doo Right, who released their debut LP Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose in May, is quickly carving a name out for themselves. If A Place to Bury Strangers is New York’s loudest band, then Yoo Doo Right is a contender for Montreal’s. Their set is booming and literally reverberated through the streets of Rouyn-Noranda during the secret show on the corner of a city block. Their mostly instrumental post-rock is hypnotic, 10-minute interludes that use repetition to put the listener under a planetary spell. Gargantuan riffs, thunderous bass, and war-march drumming—this is a sound that leaves you dizzied, thinking about the complexities of life, the cosmos, and wanting more of both.

Ducks Ltd.

Ducks Ltd. exist somewhere between the jangle-pop stylings of The Smiths and a more contemporary band like Beach Fossils. Though lead singer Tom McGreevy’s vocals have the same intensity as a bloody barroom brawl, the overall sound is calming and chic. Together with his band and songwriting partner, Evan Lewis, Ducks Ltd. rapid strum bright and melodic chords as McGreevy sings about the frailties of humanity—stopping for the odd indie-rock lead hook. It’s a sound that makes you want to jump and move around, but also contemplate what is wrong with everyone else. There’s bits of nihilism, cynicism, and pessimistic rock attitude on their Get Bleak debut EP. They also have the full debut LP, Modern Fiction, due in October.

The OBGMs

Short for the “Oooh Baby Gimme Mores,” The OBGMs are a Toronto punk-rock trio with a sound bathed in sweat and fury. Similar to punk legends like Bad Brains and The Jam, The OBGMs sing songs of betrayal, resentment, and disheartening scenarios. They’re a band that must be experienced live. Although, under current restrictions, it does feel odd not being able to mosh to their melodic punk. The frontman Densil McFarlane also commands the stage with his head banging and random DIY attitude—like laying off the stage on his back and running through an entire brisk-paced song. The group was also shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize for their 2020 album The Ends.

Visibly Choked

The pandemic allowed many bands to be born out of rejection or passion—one of which is experimental hardcore punk group Visibly Choked from Montreal. They certainly had one of the smallest billings in the festival, but they left every audience member in a state of narcosis after their violent set. As her face contorts and switches from bouts of boiling anger to provocative grins, lead singer Gabby Domingue looks like she’s possessed on stage. The music is radical, treading a line between experimental math-rock and extreme blastbeat punk. Gabby’s vocals come from a place of furious trauma and she makes sure everyone in the audience is aware. Visibly Choked’s set seemed short, but it was honestly hard to comprehend time as they unleashed a cacophonous onslaught for the senses. They have a single out in four days, “Mother Tongue”, and an upcoming self-titled EP this November, but be sure to witness them live.

Saro Derbedrossian: from Montreal, at the top of a small hip-hop empire

by Félix Desjardins

HotNewHipHop is one of the most influential platforms on the hip hop planet. Who knows that its founder and CEO is a Montrealer? Who knows that the HNHH neighbourhood is located in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal ?

Saro Derbedrossian is from an Armenian family living in Lebanon, and moved to Montreal. He enrolled in the MBA program at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. A few years later, he went into business with a friend, the first project being to create an online forum dedicated to hip-hop. PAN M 360 spoke with who heads one of the most influential platforms dedicated to Hip Hop culture in the world: HotNewHipHop (HNHH).

“In the early 2000s, all the people of my generation were fascinated by the web,” Derbedrossian begins. “I married that interest with my love of music, that’s how it started.”

Admitting that he wasn’t a hip-hop fan at first, he finally let himself be conquered after many years in the business. Although this kind of business is born out of passion, the businessman assures that he has always been serious in his approach, believing in the enormous potential of his site.

“It’s never been a hobby,” he says. “I’m not a publisher, an editor or a journalist. My angle was to see how the industry works and turn a music curating model into an assumed, full-flesh publishing model. To do that, you have to understand how the digital world works.”

Originally, HNHH was just a page offering daily hip hop selections. Now, the site welcomes more than 12 million unique visitors each month and expands its content to include the entire culture surrounding the scene.

“In the beginning, hip-hop was a more marginal genre. Now hip hop culture is popular culture,” he explains. “So today we find content ranging from sports to Hollywood gossip to haute couture, interests that reach their ‘young audience’.”

Even if he remains humble, Derbedrossian is convinced that HNHH helped some international artists reach fame by sharing their songs, or by offering them a platform. Among the list of artists who owe him a great deal: The Weeknd, Tyga, Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, Iggy Azalea, Tory Lanez and Post Malone, to name a few.

“We didn’t put their names on the map, but we certainly helped their careers in a spectacular way,” he says.

At his side, HNHH Content Director Rose Lilah of Montreal adds.

“So many labels come to us to break their artist. We’re often the first to post, the first to support, even if we don’t necessarily get the credit. Post Malone’s manager talked to us directly about how we helped him.”

HNHH’s target audience is divided between the older, more purist fans and the younger, who worship the Lil Babys, Roddy Richs and Lil Uzi Verts of this world. There is a significant divide between these two groups with distinct mentalities.

“We often hear traditionalists say that hip-hop is dead,” says Derbedrossian. “As a business owner in this industry, I don’t want to hear that! I’ve begun to be antipathetic to people who claim it, rather than looking at it from an evolutionary perspective. All genres evolve.”

In fact, Lilah believes that the supply has never been greater on the hip-hop scene than it is today. At the same time, she explains that it’s easy to put the spotlight on women rappers, who are in the thick of things these days.

“When we started, there weren’t that many female MCs,” she explains. “Today, it’s easy to encourage them, we have so many choices.”

With the advent of social networks, especially TikTok, Derbedrossian finds it’s easier than ever to reach the top… but harder than ever to stay there.

“Today it’s easier to become an artist, to have a good song, because there are ways to reach consumers more easily and quickly,” he explains. “You don’t need anyone to post a song on Spotify, and with the help of the algorithms, you can make a name for yourself. We see a lot of one-hit wonders.”

Derbedrossian knows this evolving scene at his fingertips. In fact, he believes that a site like his has a much finer understanding of it than the giants of the industry.

“I think they leave out the real roots of the genre. We’re more in touch with the artists, with the art itself. I don’t think the people who select Grammy nominees are as immersed in hip-hop culture and understand it as well as our team does.”

Prior to the pandemic, which forced the company to make temporary layoffs, HNHH had about 20 employees between its Montreal headquarters and its New York office. In addition, Derbedrossian and his team had signed a lease for an office in Los Angeles, where they planned to produce more video content.

Even if the most important hip-hop scenes are in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta or Toronto, Derbedrossian never considered moving HNHH headquarters out of the borough of Saint-Laurent.

“I had the opportunity to move permanently to the United States, but I love Montreal, I love the vibe. I also think about the people [who live here] who helped me get where I am, and we have a strong team.”

While waiting for the health crisis to end, Saro Derbedrossian and his team stay the course and offer dozens of articles a day to their readers.

“I’m glad we’re doing something right. I am proud of the success we are experiencing. After the pandemic, we hope to offer much more to our audience.”

Reggae

Bunny Wailer: April 10, 1947 – Mar 2, 2021

by Richard "Bugs" Burnett

Reggae legend Bunny Wailer died this morning at the Medical Associates Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, at the age of 73. He had been in and out of hospital since having a stroke in July 2020. Born Neville O’Riley Livingston, Bunny was the last surviving founding member of The Wailers. The trio would disintegrate in 1973 as Bob Marley became a global icon before his death from cancer in 1981, and Peter Tosh would become a martyr after he was murdered in his home during a robbery in 1987. When I interviewed Bunny at length in 2010, HOUR mag slugged the cover story “The Forgotten Wailer” (to preview Bunny’s show at the Montreal International Reggae Festival).

But sometimes Bunny could be his own worst enemy…

For that cover story, the world’s foremost Marley and Wailers historian, my friend Roger Steffens, told me, “Leroy Jodie Pierson and I spent the decade of the 90s working tirelessly on Bunny Wailer’s autobiography, Old Fire Sticks. We began with 64 hours of interviews over a three-week period, locked in a Kingston hotel room with him and various colleagues from different periods of the Wailers’ history. There are more than 1,800 pages of transcripts, detailing almost day-by-day Bunny’s life, from the time he was 8, with Bob Marley. Virtually all the questions fans have about the Wailers’ history are answered in Bunny’s often bitter memoir. He never formally told Leroy and me that he had abandoned the project, reportedly under pressure from the Marley clan, and we had to learn this sad news from his bandleader back in 2001. I consider his failure to share his side of the story a crime against history.”

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal co-founder André Ménard was also burnt by Bunny who got a $10K advance for a 1998 festival concert no-show. So when the Montreal Reggae Festival booked Bunny in 2010, André told me, “We’re not taking any action against Wailer because we don’t want to give him an excuse not to come a second time. Bunny Wailer posed to me as a man of integrity and principle. I still think he is a great artist. But a man of integrity? Fuck it! I’m still waiting for his personal invitation to see him at the Reggae Festival. That will be the most expensive concert ticket I’ve ever paid for.”

In the end, Wailer was a no-show for that concert too.

Over the course of his legendary yet tumultuous career, Wailer won three Grammys and received Jamaica’s Order Of Merit in 2017. He is forever a reggae icon. While Bunny felt overshadowed by Bob and Peter, may the three childhood friends find some peace at long last

Artists and Their Choices For 2020 (Part 3)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

To mark the ending of this year unlike any other, PAN M 360 has opted for different selections of extreme eclecticism. For what we hope will be your greatest pleasure, we have grouped over 60 choices presented by music artists of all genres, all generations and all languages, from local, national and international origins.

We put out our antennas and launched a quick call – some 62 artists responded! While their choices are not necessarily their number 1 albums of 2020, they most certainly marked their year.

Needless to say, we respect and appreciate the musical tastes of the artists posted on this platform since its launch in early 2020. We feel sure that their fans will be thrilled to have them express themselves on PAN M 360, and are honored by this generous collaboration. What’s more, these choices are complementary to our community’s selections!

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2021, here are the exciting selections of A 2020 Artist, A 2020 Choice! – Alain Brunet

Tire le coyote is a true hallmark of the kebamericana subgenre, as well as an accomplished author, composer, performer and music lover!

Adrianne Lenker, Songs and Instrumentals

“The leader of the group Big Thief has released a magnificent second solo album, recorded simply in a Massachusetts cabin. It offers eleven sweet and melancholy songs in perfect harmony with the fall and the pandemic uncertainty.”

Jeff Tweedy, Love Is The King

“This 3rd solo album of original songs in three years is his best in my humble opinion, which is actually extraordinary for such a prolific artist with some 30 years of songwriting behind his belt. For this opus the leader of Wilco oscillates between the lightness of traditional country music and the depth of folk ballads, as only he knows how to build them.”

Nicolas Boulerice has just launched the album Maison de pierres, a project parallel to Vent du Nord, flagship of the keb folk-trad scene of which he is a mainstay.

Artús, Cerc

Ciac Boum, L’homme sans tête

“One band does experimental rock with trad, the other does trad, with neighbors. These two albums will help you leave 2020 waltzing far behind you.”

Mong Tong is the project of brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi, who propose a psychedelic journey in Taiwanese folklore of occult inspiration where nostalgia, tradition, humor and deep singularity are mixed with an “Oriental approach to dreams”.

Voyage Futur, Inner Sphere

“An elegant ambient album! The texture of its warm synth sounds, percussion, and arrangements make it our most-listened-to album.”

Robert Nelson, an assumed name inspired by the famous revolutionary and patriot, is a driving force in keb rap.

KNLO, Club Mixtape 2020

“Because it makes you wanna move!”

Lisandre Bourdages and Sarah Dion are part of Nobro, the furious, and exclusively female, Montreal hard-rock combo. Sick Hustle, launched on April 17th, won the award for Best Rock EP of the Year at the recent Gamiq 2020 gala.

Haim, Women in music part III

“Oddly enough, it took at least 3 or 4 full listenings of the album before truly liking it. We were already fans of their music, but with this new album, we find that they went even further, took more risks with arrangements and sound recordings, which we didn’t necessarily expect from them. A big 10/10 for Haim in 2020!”

Thomas Le Duc-Moreau is assistant conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the youngest in the history of the OSM. He has held this position with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières. He is also Artistic Director of the ensemble Volte.

Sibelius 2nd Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra directed by Santtu-Matias Rouvali

“Their interpretation of the symphony has immense artistic and human depth. Listening to it, one feels a great personal connection to the music, but also how dedicated the musicians were to making us feel that connection.”

Mara Tremblay eis one of the greatest artists of the kebamericana movement and her recent opus Uniquement pour toi is without a doubt one of the best Quebec albums of 2020.

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay, La peste

“The sensitivity, depth and accuracy of this great violinist’s playing soothe me and allow me to fly away with her.”

With one foot still on the dance floor, Poirier attempted a shift to another kind of pop, releasing the album Soft Power in the summer of 2020. His favourite record of the year is not an album but a single!

Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa, eMcimbini feat. Samthing Soweto, Aymos, Mas Musiq & Myztro (New Money Gang)

“Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa are without a doubt the (very prolific) masters of the amapiano, a hypnotic and bewitching genre that flirts with house but whose tempo is slower. This song, from Kabza De Small & DJ Maphorisa’s album Scorpio Kings Live, can be played five times in a row and I’m still asking for more. Definitely the single of the year.”

Nicolas Basque is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and studio producer. A founding member of Plants and Animals, he accompanies other artists, and composes for dance and theater.

Antoine Corriveau, Pissenlit

“Because I like it very much and especially because it’s a sensitive album where instinct is at the forefront.”

Jake Ingalls is a guitar and keyboard player with The Flaming Lips, but he’s also the guitarist and singer of Spaceface, a band from Memphis known for its psychedelic pop-rock and its hallucinating light shows. Their last offering is a very lysergic holiday album: Holydaze.

Petit Prince, Les plus beaux matins

“Petit Prince is fave of the year. Our keyboard player, Katie, got me into this one a while back and I’ve been eagerly waiting for a full LP and this did not disappoint. This has a perfect mixture of bouncy psych pop/smooth French synth vibes and dynamic experimental weirdness for me. They’re teleporting you with their soundscapes. I’d learn French if it meant this guy would collaborate with us.”

Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods) : After a compilation retracing the last seven years of the British punk-rap duo released last May, the charismatic singer is preparing to launch the Sleaford Mods’ sixth album, Spare Ribs, on January 15, 2021.

Billy Nomates, Billy Nomates

“It’s his first album and it’s brilliant! I’m doing a song with her on this record and I’m really proud of it (Sleaford Mods will reciprocate on their next album). She has an accent that could be American or Canadian but she’s British. I find it interesting how she sings and talks, it’s like a big fuck-off to British culture, proof that you don’t have to sing with an accent like ours. It’s honestly really good, listen to that!”

Totalement Sublime, is Marc-Antoine Barbier (Choses Sauvages) and Élie Raymond (Foreign Diplomats). They sing in French, it’s contemplative, it sounds like synth-pop and avant-pop with prog or even Asian flavors and it deals with subjects like fatigue, heat, nostalgia.

Nicolas Jaar, Cenizas

“We really like the darker side of this almost instrumental album, which at times even draws on musique concrète (he went a lot more in that direction with his second album of 2020, Telas). Cenizas is a pretty immersive album that always stays in a closed atmosphere and we really liked it when it was released. Élie remembers very well that Marc-Antoine was the first person he wrote to: “Maaaaaaan, did you listen to that?!”

Manu Militari is a Keb rapper, author, and composer, who’s put out five albums so far.

David Goudreault, Le nouveau matériel

“My favorite album of 2020 is a frank, original and pure album, it is also the work of an artist that I love as much as I admire.”

Pierre Guérineau: Total artist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, lyricist, he teams up with Marie Davidson in joint projects, including Essaie Pas and L’Œil Nu, all while working on his own, Feu Saint-Antoine.

Grischa Lichtenberger, Kamilhan, il y a péril en la demeure

“An underestimated musician and visual artist, Grischa Lichtenberger completely disarmed me this year with his album, resolutely the most “pop” he ever did. With his emotional use of synthetic vocals (v carg 1br, syn resr), his sense of groove and textures, both intimate and completely alien, he was one of the only LPs of 2020 to remain on my hard drive.”

Aurélien Tomasi is a clarinetist and saxophonist for the multicultural formation Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra, as well as a composer and arranger.

El Balcón, La Bruja

“Inspired by the Mexican jarocho sound and Greek music, El Balcón presents a unique and unusual musical aesthetic, complex yet accessible. In the same way that the Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra does with Afro-Colombian and Balkan music, El Balcón offers an original blend, particularly representative of the cosmopolitan richness of present-day Montreal. With the album La Bruja, El Balcón offers interesting arrangements of traditional sound, as well as some original pieces.”

Scott Feltham played several instruments before finally choosing the double bass and acquiring the necessary mastery to get a position with the OSM.

William Prince, Reliever

“This artist has one of the warmest voices I know. His songs are very sweet and touching. His lyrics often speak of hope and optimism in the face of challenges and struggles. Very topical.”

Gab Bouchard comes from a prominent indie rock family in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, his album Triste pareil attracted the attention of many in early 2020.

Mara Tremblay, Uniquement pour toi

“I think it’s so accomplished, so well done. I’ve always liked Mara and I was happy when she came back with such a solid record. I don’t know if it’s because I love everyone who participated in this album, but in my opinion, it’s one of the best from Quebec in 2020.”

Lou Canon launched her latest album, Automatic Body, last spring – beautiful work in the land of Toronto dream pop, synth-pop or avant-pop..

Jennifer Castle, Monarch Season

“Jennifer Castle is otherworldly. When she sings it’s a though I am wrapped in the tender, calming arms of a mother. She quiets the clatter in my brain.”

Mirabelle is the new nickname of Laurence Hélie, who was doing kebamericana at the turn of the last decade, years before resurfacing with a totally different project, this time bilingual: Late Bloomer.

Helena Deland, Someone New

“I was captivated by this girl’s talent when she opened for Matt Holubowski a few years ago. This album is of rare beauty and I could listen to the first minute of the first song over and over again forever, without ever getting tired of it!”

Taylor Swift, Folklore

“It’s not much of a fringe choice, I agree, but I stand by it. Like everyone else, I wasn’t expecting this album. I also didn’t know how much I needed it and how much good it would do to me. The softness and sobriety of the arrangements… the lyrics! Things would surely have been different if we’d taken 2020 out of the equation, but this return to roots was frankly all I could take this year”.

Arlo Parks, EP Black Dog

“I love everything about this EP… the poetry, the voice, the instrumentation breathes, you hold on to each of his words. I’m looking forward to his next album in 2021”.

Joseph Edgar a sorti cet automne l’EP indie folk-rock Peut-être un rêve, pur jus d’Acadie.

Klô Pelgag, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs

Antoine Corriveau, Pissenlit

Les Hay Babies, Boîte aux lettres

“It’s hard to choose one album in particular, because each one of them got me soaring, on my daily walks and during my evenings around the turntable. So I declare ex-aequo these three quasi-masterpieces. Why them, in spite of a few others who are right behind them? For one, because I decided to keep it to the French-speaking world (sorry Dylan). Two, because these artists have been able to take me into a completely free musical world, without shying away from melodic mastery or well honed lyrics. Thirdly, because since their debut, there is nothing that sounds like them, and with each of these records, you really feel that they are planting their flag right in the black core of 2020, allowing me to travel far, without actually moving that far, to my greatest delight.”

Marie-Hélène Landry, singer for the Montreal band Obsolete Mankind, has been working on the metal scene for many years.

Fuck the Facts, Pleine noirceur

“Because the artists of this band truly reinvented themselves with this album.”

Alexandre Lapointe is a highly sought after bassist and the leader of The Brooks.

King Krule, Man Alive

“This album tackles the dark corners of social life, translating them into poetic and melodic nuggets. Archy Ivan Marshall has a beautiful way of mixing any style of music with agility, which makes this project really interesting no matter what King Krule album you listen to. Whether it’s jazz, hip-hop à la J Dilla or rock, everything is done with brilliance.”

Yan Thielplays guitar for the metal bands Obsolete Mankind and Necrotic Mutation.

Wake, Devouring Ruin

“It wasn’t an easy choice, but I’m going to go with Wake’s Devouring Ruin. Originally a purely grindcore band, Devouring Ruin, the band’s 5th album, stands out for the quality and heaviness of its compositions and shows us how much the band has evolved musically.”

Population II, a Franco-experimental rock trio, launched the album À la Ô Terre this fall on Castle Face, and is generating growing interest among fans.

Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network, Ballet Of Apes

“A first solo album from the former singer/keyboardist of the band Thee Oh Sees/OCS. It features spellbinding songs, a remarkable production and collaborations with incredible musicians from around the globe: Sunwatchers, Mikey Young (Total Control/Eddy Current Suppression Ring), Mike Donovan (ex-Sic Alps), Shayde Sartin (ex-Fresh & Onlys/Lifetime Ringer) and Mike Shoun (ex-Oh Sees/Peacers).”

Alex Henry Foster is a leading figure of the Montreal post-rock scene, his most recent offering is entitled Snowflakes in July.

Gunn-Truscinski Duo, Soundkeeper

“In this year of confusion and improbability, I took refuge in the atmospheric, drone, experimental and meditative universe of the magnificent instrumental album Soundkeeper, released by the duo of jazz/psych and noise artists Steve Gunn and John Truscinski as their 4th album. It offered me the immersion necessary to lose myself through the echo of my reflections, while allowing me to never totally sink into the darkness of my environment, oscillating between chaos and catharsis.”

Artists and Their Choices For 2020 (Part 2)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

We put out our antennas and launched a quick call – some 62 artists responded ! While their choices are not necessarily their number 1 albums of 2020, they most certainly marked their year.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2021, here are the exciting selections of A 2020 Artist, A 2020 Choice! – Alain Brunet

Rosie Valland, author, composer, singer, co-directed in 2020 the cathartic album Blue, alongside Jesse Mac Cormack, followed in the fall by the EP Bleu, an intimate recording for piano, vocals and electronic sediments.

Adrianne Lenker, Songs & Instrumentals

“Adrianne is an artist that touches me a lot and that I’ve been listening to over and over since the beginning of the pandemic. It’s the kind of music that instantly fills a room.”

Marie Davidson, composer, beatmaker, producer, poet, performer, she has gained international fame thanks to the tandem Essaie pas and her solo career, the last chapter of which is entitled Renegade Breakdown.

Sarah Davachi, Cantus, Descant

“This album contains beautiful, discreet and elegant compositions that give way to introspection. Moreover, it is very well recorded and entirely produced by the author.”

Salomé Leclerc is a one woman-band, author, composer and singer whose slow but steady blossoming was marked, two years ago, by the superb album Les choses extérieures.

Helena Deland, Someone New

“This album has been playing in my ears every day since its release. There’s an immense depth – in her voice, as well as in the arrangements. It is embodied, inspired (and inspiring), I dare say it touches perfection.”

Stefie Shock, versatile musician and Montreal singer, released a vinyl compilation last November, Presque tout Vol. 1. The DJ in him is never far away and for this record, Stefie has compiled it all, with mix retouching here and there, a remix he made himself, an alternative version, an unreleased mix, and mostly, original versions.

Mara Tremblay, Uniquement pour toi

“I was seduced by this album, by the simplicity of its beautiful melodies, the subtlety of its emotions and the musicality of all those who partake in it.”

Jordan Officer was Susie Arioli’s central musician before flying on his own and establishing himself as the best retro-nuovo guitarist in Canada, combining jazz, blues and country.

The Mike Rud Trio Invites Peter Bernstein, Salome’s Dance

“Mike was one of my teachers at McGill when I was there in Jazz Performance about 20 years ago. He was a guitarist who always inspired me, he was an incredible mentor, an incredible educator. You may have also seen him as the lead accompanist on Andrea Lindsay’s tour for the album Entre le jazz et la java, which I produced. That new Mike Rud album with Peter Bernstein has been a big hit with me. It’s a great jazz guitar album, and also this album introduced me to New York guitarist Peter Bernstein, and I quickly went to discover his discography, which is magnificent.”

Michel Away Langevin, visual artist and drummer of the legendary metal band Voïvod.

Public Enemy, What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?

“I would be tempted to name Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, but I’m going to go for What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? by Public Enemy. It kicks ass and it’s more relevant than ever.”

Peter Peter reached maturity with Noir Éden three years ago. In 2020, he surpassed himself with Super Comédie, a pop creation recorded and produced on two continents.

Khotin, Finds You Well

“It’s an album I listen to to escape from reality. The textures are sometimes out of this world and the atmosphere is very dreamlike. I often feel the need to listen to it.”

Marie Nadeau-Tremblay is a violinist and leader of Les Barocudas. She is undoubtedly one of the new sensations of the Canadian Baroque scene.

Andrew Wan et Charles Richard-Hamelin, Sonates 1, 2, 3 et 5 de Beethoven

“For the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin offer us these sonatas with a balanced mix of ardor and tenderness.”

Mélisande Corriveau et Eric Milnes, Badinages

“The genius of Marin Marais, elevated by the exquisitely beautiful playing of Mélisande Corriveau on the viol, accompanied with sensitivity by Eric Milnes on the harpsichord.”

Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 3

“Qualified by many of his contemporaries as the “Mozart of modern times”, Jacob Collier composes his own songs and revisits classics by stretching the harmonic possibilities on all sides. A multi-instrumentalist with the voice of an angel, sparkling charisma and unbridled creativity – we have not heard the last of Jacob-the-music-man! His album Djesse Vol. 3 was released this year, but don’t hesitate to visit his previous albums as well, including In My Room, a solo album created entirely in his room and released in 2016.”

Leticia Trandafir alias Softcoresoft is a musician, DJ, producer, beatmaker and musical director of the visionary Never Apart collective.

Dinamarca & La Flavi, Is It Real

“Chilean-born Swedish producer Dinamarca has teamed up with independent R&B and reggaeton singer-songwriter La Flavi to create this seven-track album released on his own label Staycore in October 2020. Already the title sums up 2020: Is It Real, is it real? While you might have expected me to choose techno, I didn’t listen to much techno in 2020, when the night world collapsed because of Covid-19. I needed music to accompany a moment of introspection, where I had to navigate a new relationship to my emotions, to love, to belonging. This album resonated with all this at the first listen. It could be described as new school melodic reggaeton, with a touch of “deconstructed club music” influences. The tone is resolutely melancholic, but the album also makes you dance a bit (in your living room) at times, with the track “Peces”. The one that stands out the most is “Sana Sana”, whose lyrics rocked me: “sana sana, colita de rana, si no sana hoy sanará mañana”, a common expression in Spanish that adults say to a child when he/she gets hurt: “heal, heal, frog tail. If you don’t heal today, you will heal tomorrow”. I think we needed to hear that in 2020.”

André Moisan holds the position of principal saxophone and bass clarinet with the OSM. He is a soloist in various contexts, he conducts, conceptualizes, and teaches.

Evgeni Koroliov, The Koroliov Series Vol. XXII, Feuilles nocturnes (piano work from Chopin)

“Koroliov’s 22nd album, Feuilles nocturnes, is of a rare sensitivity and its limpid quality holds a purity that is simply touching!”

Antoine Corriveau, one of the most accomplished artists of the new Keb Franco chanson, released the excellent opus Pissenlit in 2020 and was the very first artist to record a 360 SESSION.

Bill Callahan, Gold Record

“I’ve always liked Bill Callahan’s work since Smog, his old band, but I think Gold Record is his best record. It’s everything he can do, even better than before, and the lyrics are amazingly effective.”

Jarv Is, Beyond the Pale

“A really exciting and surprising record by Jarvis Cocker. The kind of record that commands active listening and rewards the listener.”

Klô Pelgag, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs

“A big chunk that comes from a single block and does not leave us unscathed. I like to hear the softness and closeness in it, along with the aggressiveness and darkness. I find this record really touching.”

Philip Chiu, a superb classical pianist and a new name at ATMA Classique at the onset of a brilliant career.

Cosmo Sheldrake, Wake Up Calls

“Sheldrake uses recordings of endangered birds to reveal a day-night cycle with music. He succeeds in making us reflect as much on our inner world as on the world around us. Tender, vibrant, meditative and invigorating, this album is my favorite of 2020.”

Built around singer-songwriter Emerik St-Cyr Labbé, the Franco group Mon Doux Saigneur navigates on the waters of lo-fi rock, folk, pop and country.

Mapache, From Liberty Street

“I’ve returned to vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar and melodic flights of fancy. It’s very Californian. It also reminds me of my Fleet Foxes phase and also a mix of George Harrison and Crosby Stills & Nash.”

Jeff Moran is an author, composer, performer and art director. He is known first and foremost for the quality of his writing.

Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

“Beautiful, deep and existential texts – a pure singer with no flaflas or mannerisms – a brilliant execution, particularly enjoyable textures in Garden Song. Without inventing anything, this album revisits everything. We are far from the typical EQ for this type of folk album which would normally be made to go straight to the heart. Yet it does go there, but on its own pathway.”

San James records her songs in both official languages. She is currently going through a francophone cycle with a homonymous recording released on September 11th.

Laura Marling, Song for Our Daughter

“I discovered this album while walking through the streets of Montreal at the beginning of the pandemic. I was deeply touched and inspired by the intimacy of the subject matter, the artist’s sensitive voice, the sober arrangements. The kind of album that captivates your heart (gently, of course) every time you listen to it.”

Thomas Carbou is a high level guitarist. He uses an eight-stringed instrument, effects pedals and other recent technologies, and works with various musical, instrumental and electronic styles. His spirit is close to contemporary jazz, post-rock and ambient.

Jónsi, Shiver

“An experimental electro-pop album whose production is simply mind-blowing, where each sound is meticulously honed and placed with great attention to detail. It’s just beautiful, or rather just and beautiful.”

Jill Barber lives in British Columbia, which is by no means an impediment to investing the francophone space. Entre nous, the most recent francophone album of this anglophone singer, is an eloquent illustration of this. Not to be confused with Diane Tell’s opus of same name.

Slow Leaves, Shelf Life

Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules

“I love the album Shelf Life by Slow Leaves (from Winnipeg). Unfollow the Rules by Rufus Wainwright is spectacular.”

Hamza et Annick of the group Ayrad : singer, guitarist, composer and leader of Ayrad, Hamza Abouabdelmajid grew up in Fez, moved to Montreal, where he met oboist and bassist Annick Beauvais, and then founded Ayrad.

The Brooks, Any Day Now

“They are masters of groove. The arrangements and the brass instruments are incredible.”

Mike Di Salvo is the lead singer of Akurion, the Montreal metal band that released the album Come Forth to Me in 2020.

Deftones, Ohms

“I have been a huge fan of this band since Adrenaline. Seeing them live from back in those days certainly set the tone for me; energetic, groovy and always on point. In fact, I love all their records, but this one… goddamn! Introducing a 9-string guitar to the fold has beefed up their already sick grooves beyond what I think anyone expected. Chino is in great voice here once again as he sits in the pocket so perfectly at all times. Their best since Diamond Eyes.”

Daniel Mongrain is the guitarist of the legendary band Voïvod that has a big cult following on the planet of metalheads.

AC/DC, Power Up

“My favorite for 2020: the latest AC/DC, Power Up. Because it’s inspiring. It allows me to still believe in rock and its longevity!”

Naxx Bitota is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This Montreal-based singer loves pan-African classical and popular music, starting with the rumba-soukouss of her native country, which she distills in her songs.

Ilam, Néné

“I like this album for many reasons, of course, but especially for its musical arrangement and for Ilam’s very powerful and emotional voice. My favourite song is “Néné”, which is a tribute to his mother”.

Karo Laurendeau is a singer-songwriter and winner of the Country Music Award at the last SOCAN Gala.

Wild Ouest, EP La loi des plus forts

“Good country with which to hit the road! Phil G. Smith and John-Anthony Gagnon-Robinette are two very talented guys. They write songs full of good humor and catchy melodies!”

Danny Boudreau, La lune et le soleil

“A great songwriter that I admire a lot! His latest album has a very assertive sound that is good for the cowgirl in me! Good lyrics over beautiful melodies!”

Cindy Bédard, Après l’orage

“She shows a lot of sensitivity and emotions! This country/folk journey of the woman she has become is great to listen to when walking in the woods.”

Artists and Their Choices For 2020 (part 1)

by Rédaction PAN M 360

We put out our antennas and launched a quick call – some 62 artists responded! While their choices are not necessarily their number 1 albums of 2020, they most certainly marked their year.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2021, here are the exciting selections of A 2020 Artist, A 2020 Choice! – Alain Brunet

Backxwash : 2020 was a terrible year for many people, but not for the Zambian-born Montreal rapper who won the Polaris Award for her acclaimed experimental hip-hop noise album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It.

Black Dresses – Peaceful As Hell (Blacksquares)

“Black Dresses continue to be one of the most forward thinking groups with their approach to the general sonics. It is not only that, there is a huge aura of friendship even in the darkest times and that is the soundtrack that 2020 needs right about now.”

Fuzz is a trio from Los Angeles with Ty Segall (drums, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals) and Chad Ubovich (bass, vocals). Fuzz released III last October on In The Red Recording, an album that takes the essential ingredients of “guitar music” and “rock and roll power trio” and puts them brilliantly to work. Here’s what band leader Charles Moothart enjoyed the most this year.

Run the Jewels – RTJ4 (BMG/Jewel Runners/RBC)

“This album was a huge source of light in an otherwise bleak year. I love all of the RTJ records, but this album just catapults over the top. Lyrics, production, flow … everything about this record is incredible.”

Cold Beat – Mother (DFA)

“This album is beautiful. I have always loved Hannah’s (Lew) songwriting and singing. The amount of space in the production feels like a deep breath of fresh air. I have always felt lucky to know Hannah, and this record is yet another installment of that appreciation.”

Gen Pop – Ppm66 (Post Present Medium)

“I really like the production and the songwriting on this album. It is nice when records come along that feel so personal and unique. You can hear so many different songwriting and aesthetic influences, but it never feels lifted.”

Eman was part of the Accrophone adventure with Claude Bégin, before the two joined the ranks of Alaclair Ensemble and pursued respective solo careers as keb rappers alongside the flagship.

Larry June – Adjust to the Game

“I don’t place albums in order of importance, that would be too complicated. However, I do listen to different types of music according to my moods. This year, I really dig Larry June’s work. Start with Adjust to the Game. The kind of vibe you want in your cassette radio.”

Dominic Berthiaume of Corridor : 2020 should have been the year of Corridor (the year of many people in fact) after the acclaimed Junior, released in October 2019 on Sub Pop. The Montreal art-rock band still managed to keep the momentum going with music videos, the re-release of the Supermercado album and all sorts of band-related merch. Music lover and journalist in his spare time, Dominic Berthiaume (bass, vocals) reveals his favorite of 2020.

Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight To Eternity (W.25th)

“What’s Tonight To Eternity may not be the album I listened to the most in 2020, but it’s certainly the most enjoyable. Every time I listen to it, I discover something new. With What’s Tonight To Eternity, Pat Flegel finds the right balance between the noise experiments and the 60s pop/motown melodies that have characterized his work in recent years. Bewitching, poignant, confusing, introspective and sometimes difficult, the work deserved, in my opinion, to be shortlisted for this year’s Polaris Prize. Great stuff!”

Ellemetue released En pays lointain two years ago. This French-language electro-rock and/or krautrock poetry ended up winning us over!

Jyoti (aka Georgia Anne Muldrow) – Mama, You Can Bet!

“We like this artist for her experimental and jazz feeling. We also liked her album Vweto II.”

Ela Minus : Punk attitude, pop sensibility, electro allegiance, sensual rebellion, this young Colombian released the album Acts of Rebellion on Domino, last October. Composed, performed in English or Spanish, arranged, recorded and produced entirely on her own, this invigorating work reveals a complete artist.

Caribou – Suddenly

“This album surprised me in every way, musically it challenged and expanded my taste. And lyrically, starting with the title, it could not be more fitting for the biggest lesson learned through experience in 2020. We can lose – or gain – everything in the blink of an eye.”

Jasamine White-Gluz, aka No Joy, creates soundscapes that are both melodic and overwhelming, punctuated with disco, trip-hop, trance, electro and even nu-metal charges. Motherhood, the Montreal band’s new album, gives the shoegaze a much-needed second wind.

Backxwash – God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It

“My favorite artist of the year who absolutely crushed it on this album. Everytime I listen to it I hear something I hadn’t heard before. I am so excited to hear what happens next, there are no limits to what she can do.”

Jérôme Minière is a master of the post-modern song. His texts, his vision of the world, his referential choices have led him to great heights, and his achievements of 2020 are definitely up to par.

M. Ward – Migration Stories

“M. Ward is not an artist I had been following up to now, I came across his album a bit by chance and in these particular times. I came back to it often and found real comfort, warmth, elegance, delicacy, simplicity on the surface, complexity beneath. My other discovery of the year is the English artist Rozi Plain, but her albums are not of this year… My favorite songs of hers are “Jogalong” (2015) and “Conditions” (2019). This year, she actually released a remix of “Conditions” by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), but I prefer the original!”

Simon Angell was a significant musician for Patrick Watson before founding the remarkable band Thus Owls with his partner Erika Angell.

Alabaster DePlume – To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol.1; Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo; Brahja – Brahja

“Impossible to have only one top album! How do you compare a Kendrick Lamar with a David Bowie with a Tim Hecker? So, je te donne mon top 3.…..In no particular order: Alabaster DePlume, To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol.1; Mr. Bungle, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo; Brahja, Brahja (to be fair, this one came out in the fall of 2019, but considering this shit-storm tire-fire of a year, I feel the records that were released in late 2019 were subsequently lost to the public eye, so they should still be considered).”

Laroie is Montreal singer-songwriter Gab Godon, also known as being half of the Heartstreets duo. With the recordings she developed working closely with Robert Robert, she offers true refinement to the fields of synth-pop and soul-pop.

Emmavie & Alfa Mist – Epoch

“This album has been with me since the beginning of the pandemic and hasn’t left me since. I discovered two artists I didn’t really know and I fell in love with the nonchalant way Emmavie tells her stories and shares her energy.”

Yonatan Gat : Accustomed to the Montreal scene, the out of the ordinary Tel Aviv guitarist, relocated for several years in New York, has been working on another collaborative album with the Eastern Medicine Singers and other traditional musicians from North and South America.

Mourning [A] BLKstar – The Cycle (Don Giovanni)

“It’s a great collective from Cleveland. I heard of MaB from the guy that runs their label Don Giovanni, Joe Steindhardt. I thought their record was the best new record I heard this year. It sounds like soul music, but it jumps between styles in a way that I love, completely ignoring any definition. They truly do their own thing.”

Marie-Pierre Arthur, bass player, songwriter, composer, producer, is leading an increasingly important solo career. Des feux pour voir, her most recent album, released in early 2020, has garnered a lot of praise.

Moses Sumney – Græ

“This record does not define itself… everything exists on it. It’s an album that has no limits and no form. It touches the heart as well as the mind. It is experimental music but it takes us there on familiar paths. There are sensations of soul or psychedelic even though the song is all over the place. And the singing is in all registers. The kind of album where there is so much going on that you can listen to it over and over again and always discover something new. It’s a work of genius!”

Marie Gold is now a figurehead of keb rap, one of the too rare female MCs to bring her undeniable talent to Franco hip-hop.

Doja Cat – Hot Pink

“This artist who combines singing and rap, in addition to having a completely disjointed and uncomplicated style, really lit up my year 2020.”

Lance Phelps (The Spits): The drummer returned to the Kalamazoo outfit for a short but intense new effort. Spits VI is without a doubt one of the best punk albums of the last few years.

Digital Leather – New Wave Gold; King Khan – The Infinite Ones

“I always enjoyed any release from Digital Leather, who has discovered the master key for creating this really great ambient synth sort of dance music that is still edgy. I also really liked our friend King Khan’s free form jazz thing too!”

Carla Blanc is the solo project of Charles from Dear Criminals, one of Montreal’s most interesting bands, with each member creating their own sound universe.

Yussef Dayes & Tom Misch – What Kinda Music

“Because it’s the album I’ve listened to the most this year, my instinctive choice was What Kinda Music. Category: aromatic and fleshy. I’m from the generation where liking an entire album was “cool” and I just don’t get tired of that one. Every time I listen to it, a new detail hooks me and gives me the feeling of rediscovering it. The collective side is permeable; the South London jazz of Dayes (and the succulent collaborations) pushes the sometimes conventional London pop of Misch (who always left me a little indifferent before this album) into its confines, while it skillfully retains the excesses of the virtuoso drummer who, if left to himself, tends to quickly drown us in an indigestible icing. The whole thing pushes me into a sexy-elegant mood, because it’s rich but dosed, catchy and deep, never consensual.”

Nikki Belfiglio is the singer of New York art-punkers Bodega, whose next album will be released at the end of 2021. PVT CHAT, a movie created by Nikki and her boyfriend and Bodega’s singer and guitarist Ben Hozie, will be released on most streaming platforms on February 5th.

DEHD – Flowers of Devotion (Fire Talk)

“I’m a sucker for brutal, searching lyrics over warm instrumentation – in similarity to my last years favorite, Purple Mountains. There’s nothing like smiling through the deepest sorrows – joy as an act of resistance. Listening to this album is like floating down a lazy river in summer while someone throws knives from the shoreline at your inflatable tube. Seductive and tense.”

Mathieu Gaudet is another illustration of the link between music and science: a high-level pianist and emergency doctor, in addition to being the father of three children. Mathieu Gaudet has an atypical trajectory.

Van Kuijk Quartet with Adrien La Marca (alto) – Mozart Quintets K 515 and 516

“These are little played and little known works, elaborate and complex, among Mozart’s most masterful, and superbly played here!”

Alan Prater: Singer, trumpet player and trombonist, this Montrealer by adoption was a member of several funk, R&B and jazz bands, the best known being The Brooks, of which he is the frontman.

Childish Gambino – 3•15•20

“This is an album I just found recently and it got my attention. Childish Gambino is unafraid to take chances (sonically, melodically). And sometimes he gives a different approach to an R&B style track. Playing with no rules is what I like mostly about this album and this artist.”

Georgette is the brand new project of singer Emily Skahan, previously associated with the group Motel Raphaël.

Peter Peter – Super Comédie; Calamine – Boulette Proof

“Dark lyrics, tender and meditative music, it’s a real masterpiece! Another great discovery this year for me is the rapper Calamine. Her album Boulette Proof,which was released in November, is rich in poetry and refreshing for keb rap. I think we needed her this year.”

Franck Camus is the drummer for the Montreal metal band Hybrid Chaos.

Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism

“I have two favorites, both from the same city, Birmingham, but it will be Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism from my fetish band Napalm Death, who still know how to kick ass with an album that is still as brutal as ever (the other band is Anaal Nathrakh).”

S essa: Following his departure from the Yonatan Gat Trio, the Brazilian bass player surprised everyone in 2019 with Grandeza, an album of samba, bossa nova and other Brazilian sweets that clearly contrasted with the fierceness of his previous band..

Kiko Dinucci – Rastilho

“I think my favorite record this year would be Rastilho by Kiko Dinucci, that came out at the beginning of 2020, because it’s great vibes for these hard times.”