Interviews

Pottery presents Welcome To Bobby’s Motel, an album brimming with grooves and sweet madness.

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Whether in smoke-filled basements, in cultural centres, or at various festivals, Claude Périard’s music always finds its way. Having as much fun with militant pop under her pseudonym Claude L’Anthrope as she does creating sound installations and experimental music under her own name, the multidisciplinary artist is one of the jewels of Montreal. PAN M 360 spoke with her to discuss the intriguing concept behind her new album, Imaginaire sur réel.

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Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs is Klô Pelgag’s third album, on the Secret City Records label. It’s first of all the name of a Lower St. Lawrence village on Île Verte, but also an imaginary place where the author, composer, arranger, and producer healed the wounds caused by profound overwork… before launching herself back into the public sphere. In a café in the Villeray district, she recounts the process – sitting two metres away from her interlocutor, it goes without saying.

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He’s one sixth member of Alaclair Ensemble and half of Eman X Vlooper, but is now establishing himself as a solo artist. Keb rap veteran Eman, 14 years after his first work with the duo Accrophone, is releasing his first solo album, a logical follow-up to his EP Maison, released in 2019. He spoke with PAN M 360 about his career in retrospect, and about this new project, of which he is almost the sole architect.

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For many ’90s kids, the multi-genre, reggae-rooted Long Beach Dub Allstars are remembered as a spin-off of Sublime, wherein original members of that band, their old friends, and their longtime collaborators gathered around the ashes of what might have been, never quite rising like the phoenix, but appreciated for their brief renaissance, nonetheless.

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After having made a (first) name for himself thanks largely to his gypsy excursions, Thomas Dutronc dons his swankiest attire to play the lounge crooner, in the company of many prestigious guests, on Frenchy.

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There comes a time when an art-rock- or avant-pop-orientated band emphasizes conciseness of purpose, the immediate impact of a melody, efficient harmonic constructions, in short, the fundamental qualities of a song beyond its stylistic orientations and the atypical environment in which it flourishes. This is what the fourth studio album of Montreal trio Braids, originally from Calgary, is all about. Shadow Offering has just been released on Secret City Records, and Taylor Smith and Raphaelle Standell-Preston commented on the creative process.

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Taiwanese duo Mong Tong indulge a deep fascination for the folkloric phantoms and eerie Chinese esoterica of the island they call home, as well as the international iconography of formalized paranoia. They channel the freaky fragments of fact-or-fancy that they find through psych-funk, synthwave, prog rock, and creepy audio collage, all stewed in a miasmic doom-metal soup. PAN M 360 corresponded with the brothers for some clues to unlock the mysteries of their new album, Mystery.

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With one foot on the dancefloor and the other in songcraft, Poirier builds a bridge between eras, styles and communities on his new album Soft Power. A delicate balancing act.

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For its 20th edition, the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival had to reorient itself towards the virtual. The organizers have worked hard to rebuild a new program in no time at all, and have managed to put together some great evenings to be enjoyed in the comfort of one’s own home. One of the most eagerly awaited performances of this last week of festivities is without a doubt that of the unpredictable Stéphanie Castonguay. PAN M 360 had the opportunity to speak with her, to learn more about this production inspired by the pandemic.

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Recorded between Los Angeles, London and Paris, To Love Is To Live is the first solo album by French artist Jehnny Beth, aka Camille Berthomier, known for her central role in Savages. Currently on indefinite break, the Franco-British band was a finalist for the Mercury Prize for the albums Silence Yourself (2013) and Adore Life (2016). A new chapter begins for the singer, who roped in producers Flood, Atticus Ross, and Johnny Hostile, not to mention guests Romy Madley Croft of the XX, actor Cillian Murphy, and punk-rock singer Joe Talbot of IDLES. PAN M 360 contacted Jehnny Beth in Paris to find out more about her record, released on the Arts & Crafts label.

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Time and motion are of concern to any musician, any factory worker for that matter. They are however of almost metaphysical fascination to Angèle David-Guillou, a French composer and musician residing in England. The three releases in her Mouvement series, the last of which came out in May, reveal a trajectory that concludes on such a current note, it’s almost uncanny. PAN M 360 connected with David-Guillou to walk back through the timeline of this remarkable series of works.

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In Mongolian, the word means a wide-open sky. In Hungarian, a vast sea. Either is appropriate to the expansive, entrancing music of TENGGER, which is the Korean-Japanese couple itta and Marqido and their son RAII, based in Seoul but perpetually peripatetic. The “psychedelic new-age drone magic” they perform, by way of harmonium, voice, analog synths, and other odds and ends, expresses a pacific perspective that’s at once rooted in the earth of the planet beneath our feet, and loose on the winds of wanderlust. PAN M 360 connected with TENGGER to talk about their new album Nomad, on the Beyond Beyond is Beyond label.

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The album A Single Point of Light was conceived, recorded and produced prior to the pandemic. Its creator, Montrealer Ben Shemie, then put this second project on hold for an extended stay in France. The original script called for the release of this album, and then Suuns, of which Shemie is the frontman, was to be back on the road, but… the tour schedule was turned upside down for obvious reasons. So let’s talk about what is tangible for now, that is to say this album created in solitude, with the perception of light as its guiding principle.

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On June 12, Anonymus launches La Bestia, an album entirely in Spanish. It is composed of one new song, the first single entitled “Sobrevivir”, and eight tracks from Stress (1997), Sacrifices (2019), État brute (2010), Instinct (1999), and Chapter Chaos Begins (2006), four of them already in Spanish, the others have been translated for the purposes of this twelfth album. For the thrash quartet, founded in 1989, the objective of La Bestia is simple – conquer Latin America and Spain. Singer and bassist Oscar Souto spoke with PAN M 360 about the adventure behind the creation of La Bestia.

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With their recent first release, the mini-album Klein Gevaarlijk Afval (on the label Rebel Up!), the Brussels trio schroothoop revealed a weird, wide world of wonderful music, all painted a sensible shade of green – their eco-friendly instruments are made from rescued trash (the band’s name is Dutch for “junkyard”). The three corresponded with PAN M 360 to discuss first aid, second life for scrap, and third-generation exotica.

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Doubleheader is a bicephalic beast: the producer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist Alexandre Arthur Comeau Bilodeau (ex-Radio Radio, Pierre Kwenders, Samito, etc.) and the producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Jean Massicotte (Patrick Watson, Jean Leloup, Lhasa, Arthur H, Alejandra Ribera, etc.). The material already generated could constitute two complete albums, but the dream duo has chosen to launch its new tracks one at a time. And it all starts with “Diamond Flake”, a disco space funk jam performed by Dominique Fils-Aimé, interspersed with a rap by Arthur Comeau. The rest is hip hop, reggaeton, techno, blues, Cajun, country, and more.

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With not one but two very different releases this week, it’s a good time to check in with Harikuyamaku, a musician and producer rooted in the sun-soaked soil of Okinawa – the culturally distinct, southernmost punctuation point of the Japanese archipelago. Harikuyamaku’s music is a mash-up of Okinawan folk and dub reggae, with excursions into the wider field of electronic dance music and experimentation. PAN M 360 flagged him down to talk about that, ceramic speakers, butoh dance, and more.

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Three years after her first LP, Music on the Grey Mile, Camille Deléan has released a beautiful English-language album with the evocative title Cold House Burning. The Franco-Ontarian singer, transplanted to Montreal, has tapped into her inner self to deliver 10 touching songs.

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In recent years, Mirabelle’s cocoon has been woven for a slow and safe gestation. From 2009 to 2015, Laurence Hélie, its progenitor, was situated in the francophone country-folk scene and garnered good reviews. Her postpartum depression put her artistic career on hold, until she had metamorphosed into Mirabelle, emerged and took off. PAN M 360 followed her flight.

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Jäde is 24 years old and her real name is Adèle. PAN M 360 connected with the Lyonnaise R&B artist to get a little bit of her story, and find out what led up to the production of her EP Première fois, as well as her future projects.

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Originally from Brazil (Bota Fogo, a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro), Amon Tobin spent his adolescence and early adulthood in the United Kingdom before launching his career in Montreal, where he lived for a few years. He then moved to California, first to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles, where he’s been exhibiting an astonishing prolificity. Under several pseudonyms as well as his real name, Tobin’s music has multiplied on the Nomark label, which he founded and through which all his recent recordings have been released.

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The veterans of the Montreal indie rock scene have just released Lovers Rock, an album that reflects our current collective state of mind against a backdrop of melancholy chamber pop. Throughout the band’s career, singer and guitarist Murray Lightburn has strived to portray a mysteriously apocalyptic, yet realistic and optimistic perspective. Here he tells PAN M 360 about the genesis of this vision.

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If Longueuil’s Koffee K is one of the most listened-to hip hop artists in la belle province, it’s not due to any significant media recognition. His song “Human Drug”, a single launched on May 1, is his first new release since his album Forever, released in 2019. He spoke with PAN M 360 about his upcoming projects, his career and the Montreal rap scene.

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The revelation of the European underground scene in recent years, the Catalan duo Dame Area, composed of Silvia Konstance Constan and Víktor Lux Crux, unfortunately remains little known in North America. Their latest EP, La Soluzione é Una, weaves a skilful mix of minimal electro, warlike incantations, and industrial percussion. The time has come to highlight their twilight music. So, in the midst of confinement, the pair generously answered PAN M 360’s questions.

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American composer and musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith bottles lightning with The Mozaic of Transformation, (Ghostly International) a very personal ode to electric energy captured on her eighth studio album. Since 2012, Smith has been developing a language at the confluence of Western classical music, Asian music and traditions, the electroacoustic universe, synthpop and even music for video games. That makes her a must for PAN M 360, reaching her at her California residence for a conversation.

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With the recent release of A Steady Drip Drip, the American duo Sparks shows us that they are still as relevant and original as they were when they started, 50 years ago.

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Hermiting in the hinterland of Baie des Chaleurs, where he now resides, Jimmy Hunt did not plan to create the material for an album. Motivated rather by a literary project, he finally distilled its most significant elements into minimalist songs, freshly recorded and out now on the Dare to Care label. Hunt talk with PAN M 360 about his new opus, Le silence.

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Akurion first appeared in 2015 on a promotional CD featuring the song “Yet Ye See Them Not”. The years went by with no indication as to whether the band would ever see the light of day again. We now know that between the formation of Akurion in 2012 and the release of “Come Forth to Me” on April 10, 2020, the founding members, guitarist Rob Milley (Neuraxis, Necrotic Mutation) and singer Mike DiSalvo (Come Cluster Void, ex-Cryptopsy), went through a period of mourning. It must also be said that the other musicians of this supergroup, bassist Oli Pinard (Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation, Vengeful) and drummer Tommy McKinnon (Conflux), haven’t been twiddling their thumbs.

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With the double album All That Glue, Sleaford Mods get stuck on the compilation game, finally making available many of their songs that are almost impossible to find elsewhere. Fans won’t be disappointed, since the band has added several unreleased bonus tracks. The always very voluble Jason Williamson tells PAN M 360 all about it.

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After four decades of experiments and sound exploration, Einstürzende Neubauten are still as relevant and forward-thinking as ever. To mark their 40 years of activity, the German industrial band presents Alles in Allem, a brand new album with which they remind us of their intense passion for Berlin.

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Five years after Revuelta Danza Party, the Montreal collective that blends cumbia and Balkan music with dance, circus and street arts in an exuberant fairground atmosphere returns with a new album, VelkomBak, the soundtrack to a theatrical show that promises to be full of colour. On the eve of its release, PAN M 360 spoke with GKO director Carmen Ruiz and artistic director Juan Sebastian Mejia.

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What is Catherine Major doing in these uncertain times? Children, songs, lasting relationships in the country, a vast home. The artist created Par-dessus bord in 2004, Rose sang in 2008, Le désert des solitudes in 2011 La maison du monde in 2015, and now here’s Carte mère, on the Audiogram label. A virtual launch is scheduled for Friday, May 15. PAN M 360 spoke with Major for some details.

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The Juno Awards, which were to have been held in March, have been postponed to an as yet unknown date, leaving a multitude of artists worthy of celebration hanging. Among them are Ensemble Paramirabo, nominated for the classical album of the year with Alone and Unalone, dedicated to Canadian composer James O’Callaghan. PAN M 360 spoke with the composer, as well as Jeffrey Stonehouse, flutist and artistic director of the ensemble, about the genesis and creation of the album, one of the fundamental issues being the adaptation of music conceived for the concert hall to a recorded medium, a subject that is strangely relevant in these special times.

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At the end of a particularly difficult time in her personal life, an upswing helped reinvigorate Mara Tremblay’s inner garden, which led her to create this magnificent Uniquement pour toi, on the Audiogram label. She shared the story of her recent life, and the creative process that followed, with PAN M 360.

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The “lo-fi R&B gong punk” of Toronto-based diasporic Filipina quintet Pantayo’s eponymous album isn’t just a bridge between then and now, here and there. It’s a bit more like Tokyo’s famously complex Shibuya crosswalk, patching together practical feminism, punk ethos, Indigenous resistance, Asian visibility, queer fabulousness, and the universal thirst for inviting new sounds – and the dancefloor of our dreams.

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African, Indigenous, Caucasian, and Colombian roots. Pan-American migration, Canadian destination. Performer, singer, lyricist, composer, producer, visual artist, director, mother, spouse. Clearly, Toronto’s Lido Pimienta is an embodiment of the three Americas. Winner of the Polaris Prize for the album La Papessa, this very strong and gifted woman carries so many strains within her, and these transcultural materials form the framework of the edifice that is Miss Colombia. Recently released on the Anti- label, this album could well be the beginning of a new level in her career.

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Between the death of her father and the meeting of the man who would become her husband, Montreal singer and multi-instrumentalist Basia Bulat went through a range of emotions during the creation of her fifth album, Are You In Love? Meet an artist in tune with herself and the world around her.

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While Montreal’s Elephant Stone may be our local lords of the softer side of psych-rock, their lyrical aspect has bite. Following the Valentine’s Day release Hollow, an album rife with theoretical doom and despair, comes the new single, “American Dream”, a caustic assessment of the nightmare south of our border – very real, very right now. PAN M 360 spoke to Elephant Stone frontman Rishi Dhir about the song, and about Sacred Sound Sessions, his regular, semi-formal solo live-stream from his home studio – another session is scheduled for this Tuesday night.

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For over 30 years, Shane Embury has been touring the world and recording with the band Napalm Death, pioneers of grindcore, in which he is the bassist and lead composer. He now presents Dark Sky Burial, his solo project. PAN M 360 got more details from him.

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Figurehead of the new era in American noise rap, Moodie Black has just released her fourth album, entitled FUZZ. With its raw lyrics and overdose of distortion, this new release is sure to satisfy any thirst for decibels. It was therefore imperative to disassemble this time bomb in the company of rapper and producer Kris Martinez, to find out more about the history of the project and her desire to extend the reach of her message.

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Now that we’re fully living in the era envisioned by the cyberpunky, sci-fi arcade games, cartoons, and movies of the 1980s, it’s only appropriate that the kitsch/cool of that decade gets a reboot. Alongside chiptunes and horror disco, the synthwave movement salutes the electronic sounds (and neon-soaked visuals) of yesterday’s future. Cat Temper, aka Mike Langlie of Boston, transcends the clichés while honouring the iconography, tosses in a dash of hair-metal excess, and adds a thematic hook that will have fans of furry felines purring. PAN M 360 got Langlie to cough up a few hairballs following the recent release of Cat Temper’s latest album, Feralyzed.

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This past March, Wolfheart was scheduled to cross the Atlantic to participate in the Devastation of the Nation tour with Rotting Christ, Borknagar, Abigail Williams and Imperial Triumphant. It was an opportunity for the Finnish band, formed in 2013 by singer and guitarist Tuomas Saukkonen, to promote Wolves of Karelia, the band’s fifth album, released in April on Napalm Records. The spread of COVID-19 put a stop to the tour, which was postponed to 2021. In the meantime, Saukkonen tells us about Wolves of Karelia, which deals with a great moment in Finnish history.

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Ariane Moffatt and DRMS, Étienne Dupuis-Cloutier by his real name, build bridges. Two generational shores are thus connected, two stylistic fronts, two ways of doing things that have become SOMMM, whose debut album has just been released on the Mo’Fat Productions label. Indie pop, hip hop, electro, franco and anglo pop cultures are at the crossroads of an original auteur pop that is in tune with the times, and Ariane and DRMS are the masters of the art. PAN M 360 took a look at these bridges with their builders.

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On the occasion of its 25th anniversary and on the eve of the quartet’s third live concert, which will be broadcast on its Facebook page this Saturday, April 25 at 4 pm, PAN M 360 spoke with two of its musicians, who tell us about the formation’s career, its identity, the vagaries of the profession, its projects for next season… and even about Estonia.

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On her very recent debut release, the digital EP Still, Shanghai artist lisalyz takes antique Chinese music, for courtly soirees and lively night markets alike, chops it up and chucks in a digital wok. The slices and snippets are judiciously selected, the Ableton operations able indeed, and the results simply sublime, delicate and delectable. PAN M 360 got some further insights from 27-year-old Belisa Lin, aka lisalyz.

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Abolition of the Royal Familia is a compendium of everything The Orb has touched on in some thirty years of service. We connected with Alex Paterson, the great manitou of the British electro entity.

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The spectrum of possibilities in electroacoustic music is immense, its practitioners frequently leading listeners well outside their comfort zone. Composer Léa Boudreau’s album Chaos contrôlé does just that, with a theme that is as bizarre as it is fascinating. With various second-hand toys, the Montrealer had fun making her latest creation. Here is the story behind this unusual idea that gave rise to a most surprising work.

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With the EP Sick Hustle, NOBRO prove to all who still doubted it that rock with a feminine touch is as devastating as it is unifying. PAN M 360 connected with the band, and presents the PREMIERE of the brand new video for “Don’t Die”, directed by artist Greg Doble.

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A close collaborator with Montrealer Pierre Kwenders on his latest album, a beatmaker and rapper of great influence since the ’90s when he tore things up with the excellent Digable Planets, Ishmael Butler is reached in Seattle. We must talk about Shabazz Palaces, a hip hop project he’s been leading for nearly a decade. The group’s fifth opus, The Don of Diamond Dreams, has just been released on Sub Pop. Here are our questions, here are his answers.

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Amsterdam’s Mauskovic Dance Band crank out a colourful, cosmo-tropical cocktail of marginal musical modes, held together by the centrifugal force of its frenetic rhythms. Band leader Nicola Mauskovic spoke to PAN M 360 about the temptation to overdo it, the shadows behind the sunshine, the nightclub where their album was born, and the dubwise direction of its quick follow-up, the recent Shadance Hall EP.

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Montreal’s Police des mœurs is the kind of project that induces instant addiction. Fans of synth-based music have likely let loose many times under the influence of the incisive sounds and poignant voices of Francis and Manuelle. It’s a good bet that with their new, fourth album, the duo will manage to get you moving in your living room, if not on the dancefloor.

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Kevin Saint-Laurent, a key figure in keb rap, fell into it when adolescence hit, and soon found himself cooking up his first gangsta potions, while going through difficult times, from petty crime to incarceration. Today, his hip hop baggage exceeds two decades – he’s been recording non-stop since 2009. Conceived around stories inspired by life away from the spotlights, the freshly released Backstage arrives care of the 7ième Ciel label. Things being how they are, we reached Souldia by phone, not in the green room, but in his living room.

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A compatriot of Flying Lotus, with whom he has been recording and touring since the album Cosmogramma in 2008, a collaborator with Kendrick Lamar, orchestra leader, composer, jazz/groove/R&B super bassist and countertenor whose voice is reminiscent of the late George Duke, Thundercat is the most prominent bassist of the current period. He was supposed to tour this spring with to promote his new opus It Is What It Is, released on the Brainfeeder label, but COVID-19 decided otherwise… which didn’t prevent the phone conversation here with Stephen Lee Bruner, reached in Los Angeles.

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What’s going on in the noggins of the four buddies in Zen Bamboo? It’s hard to say, but, one thing’s for sure, it’s going on! Since 2014, these adult teenagers have developed a taste for their hobby that has become a profession, to the point where the band is one of the most promising in Quebec rock. Let’s look at the story of an artistic gestation, the first album from which, GLU, has just been released on Simone Records.

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Montreal’s “tyrants of teen trash”, The Gruesomes, are longstanding leaders in the global garage-rock revival scene. Rarely heard on stage or record in recent years, they now crawl out of the grave with a combination comic book/seven-inch single.

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Naya Ali, 31 years old. We’d give her ten less, and that’s just perfect for this hip hop artist who has followed her passion back to where she stored it away in her early twenties. After suspending her artistic endeavours for a long hiatus, she came back to the music game at the age of 28. Today, she is one of the most promising talents in Montreal hip hop and more, as evidenced by the Godspeed: Baptism project.

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Quand la nuit tombe is Louis-Jean Cormier’s third solo album, the most successful and least consensual of his discographic offerings since the indefinite suspension of Karkwa, the band that made him famous in the 2000s, and the most Karkwaesque of his opus! LJC’s tour was due to start soon, but the coronaviral context imposed a postponement. What’s up? Let’s virtually discuss this new creative chapter that’s beginning… in confinement.

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In the predictable landscape of French entertainment, Yseult stands out as unpredictable with her independence of spirit, self-confidence, and singularity. Let’s take a look at the giant profile of this 25-year-old artist.

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Les Deuxluxes present Lighter Fluid, a second album bolder than the first one they recorded… in church.

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Brooding torment and violent happiness – the volatile alchemy of Baltimore’s :3LON

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A heavy metal version of Macbeth is the crazy gamble that director Jocelyn Pelletier, noise artist and sound designer Érick D’Orion, and a handful of brave actors have taken on.

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After launching the album Hunter in 2018 and bringing it to life, Anna Calvi released Hunted, and now hits the road again. A stopover is planned at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City on March 30. In the meantime, the British singer is talking about her new work… and her new tour.

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2020 marks 15 years of existence for the Caribou nickname of Canadian musician Daniel Snaith, also known as Manitoba (in his early days) and Daphni (that one’s still around today). Suddenly, Snaith’s fifth album under the Caribou name, has just been released by Merge Records and precedes an international tour currently in preparation.

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