Reviews 280: Montreal Pleiades

The past year, I’ve been especially focused on the ethereal rave and ambient psychedelia emanating from Montreéal and centered on labels such as NAFF Recordings and Temple (see my recent write-ups for Perishing Thirst, New World Science, ANF, and Dust-e-1). Another essential contributor to this scene is Cosmic Tones Records, who debuted back in 2017 with the stellar Revlux EP and its mutant breakbeats, IDM energetics, bass music stylings, and ambient drift excursions all flowing together into a futuristic technoid fever dream. Now in 2019, the label has dropped its second release in the form of a various artist compilation called Montreal Pleiades. The 12” surveys some of the most exciting talent from the city, including Temple co-founders M Salaciak and R Weng, NAFF main man Priori, Cosmic Tones co-founder Bunzinelli, and a special collaboration between Dust-e-1 and URA (whose 2xLP Entertainment from earlier this year is well worth seeking out). And across the six tracks, these artists lead us through fantasy breakbeat expanses, sparkling electro textures, melodies of childlike wonderment, vaporous deep house, hallucinogenic downtempo, low slung acid hypnotics, and balearic guitar glides, with everything tied together by a reverence for 90’s chill out rooms and a desire to lift the spirit towards universal transcendence.

Montreal Pleiades (Cosmic Tones Records, 2019) URA-DUST is the union of URA and Dust-e-1 and their “Dream” is a sonic approximation of the Bunzinelli-designed album cover…of leaping from the cosmos into the swirling atmospheres of a planetary storm. Enveloping bass pulses and pillowy kicks are lead by shakers and reversing percssion fx while aquatic vapors coalesce into white noise cloudforms. Voices chant “dream” and cymbals and snare morph the rhythms into a slow motion breakbeat while overhead, crystalline piano pings and new age choirs execute a melodic call and response amidst oceans of static. Eventually the rhythms disperse and squelching sequences dance above whispering angel synthesis until the beats slowly start building, with cymbals, snare, and kick resuming their dance and resulting in a moment of airy drum’n’bass magic, only as if slowed to a molasses crawl. And once the softly distorted basslines resume, it feels as if time stops as the spirit is set afloat within a starscape paradise, where mermaid voices and emotional pad layers swim through diamond sparkle expanses. M Salaciak follows with “Degra’s Vision” and its hi-hats ticking anxiously while synths swirl through distortion. Bouncing kicks enter and almost seem to suck backwards while echoing acid lines zoom overhead and as the snares drop, we morph into a polychrome electro-workout, with claps rocketing deep within the melodic murk. Imagine Detroit futurisms flying on starbeams or Drexciyan seascape energy awash in ecstatic positivity, with 303 laser fire and delirious rhythmic switch-ups pushing the vibe towards euphoria. Sometimes the acid lines are tight and contained, while at other times they filter wildly and spray interstellar dust. And occasionally, the background atmospheres swell into self-oscillating echo psychedelia.

Ending the A-side is Priori’s “Glide,” where water washes across the stereo field and a jazz pulse is generated by machine cymbals and tom toms. Claps establish an infectious bounce, Roland cowbells are amped up while decaying through infinite echoes, and sliding synth tones dance across the spectrum until the rhythm drops, after which we find ourselves in a sort of deep house by way of Boards of Canada hypno-dance. Squelching sonars flash and melancholic pads generate aquatic atmospheres while the mix lights up with alien electronics….like a psychosonic swarm of otherworldly fireflies. The vibed out snare and cymbal patterns exude an infectious energy…as if the rhythms are skipping across clouds…and sleepy-eyed pads are sometimes trapped within smoldering feedback trails as delays oscillate out of control. Towards the end, snake-rattle clacks decay through lush reverberation and as everything fades away, a delirious loop is revealed involving a child-like voice repeating “I love you.” The B-side opens with Priori's partner in ANF and a brilliant producer in his own right: Dust-e-1. “Live by the Leaf” skews closer to his recent Cosmic Dust EP and features ethereal pads ascending into solar hiss over a breaky drum groove, with synthetic bubbles floating and LSD tracers flying. Four-four kicks join the breakbeat energetics and after pause, heavenly chord progressions descend over the mix, resulting in a pitch-perfect ambient house glide. Synths flutter ear to ear and atmospheric basslines are reduced to glowing cloudforms while elsewhere, zany leads plonk over each other…wavering and pitch-bending drunkenly as the rhythms morph and mutate…sometimes flowing on aquaeous breaks, other times seeing deep earth kicks leading a four-to-the floor stomp amidst layers of rainbow static wonderment.

Bunzinelli’s “Hyperl∞p” is raw and ruff, with rolling breaks and a raved out swagger led by vocal 303 psychedelia. Double-time cymbals drop oh so cooly alongside tubular basslines, all peak time magic and stoned out acid sorcery evoking The Acoustic Hoods’ classic “Section 47/1.” Liquidified jewels and globules of glowing sythensis move within angelic choirscapes and during a moment where the rhythms cut away, sinister basslines jam out within darkened layers of cosmic gas. 303s croak like exo-planetary frogs and sometimes filter wildly amidst the vaporous melodies, euphoric ecstasies, and low slung breakbeat hypnotics, with snares cracking and squarewave acid bass jacking into hallucinogenic bliss. Eventually, the breakdance fantasia starts to fall apart, resulting in a shadowy outro where horror movie atmospheres surround laser lights as seen through an LSD haze. Montreal Pleiades closes with R Weng’s “Sound of the Breeze”…a sort of dreamscape of watery psychedelia and balearic magic. Stuttering cymbals and looping synthesizer curlicues alternate across the spectrum and sampled voices speak out before being replaced by future jazz acidbass while kick drums, snares, and claps develop into a dreamy bebop house bounce. Electro-leads continue their cycling conversations while the drums wind down, leaving space for guitar solos to swim amidst wavering tremolo motions. As we return to the effervescent future-dance, washed out synth chords decay across the spectrum and ravey tracers build towards nothing in particular while twirling leads and soft-motion solos to drift on echowaves. And near the end, the guitars return, this time locking into swaying chord riffs until it all unexpectedly fades into nothingness.

(images from my personal copy)

NETWORK

© Cie La Nuit Venue / Collectif REVLUX

Deux amis, Olive et Gogo, réalisent ensemble de petites vidéos. Ils ont créé une chaîne sur Internet pour les diffuser. Le public assiste au tournage de nombreux sketches. Mais un débarquement soudain de milliers d’internautes affecte l’écosystème enfantin des deux copains. Dans ce spectacle, Gauthier David et Olivier Galinou proposent une réflexion sur nos usages des réseaux sociaux, la propagation viscérale de notre image, notre besoin permanent d’une confirmation de la valeur de notre existence.

Surtout ne pas finir comme un curly de lendemain de fête, Cie La Nuit Venue / Collectif REVLUX, du jeudi 10 au dimanche 13 janvier, 20 h 30, sauf le 13/01, à 16 h, Lieu Sans Nom.

"MUTEKLIVE151 - revlux" by MUTEK_Montréal

Revlux Eco felhajtható kerek lencse, hőálló műanyag keret

Revlux Eco felhajtható kerek lencse, hőálló műanyag keret

Revlux Eco felhajtható kerek lencse, hőálló műanyag keret

Revlux Eco gumipántos hegesztőszemüveg –  felhajtható kerek hegesztőüveg, víztiszta, biztonsági lencse (1F) 4 indirekt ventillációs szellőző, por és folyadékok elleni védelem (3 4 B) –  Ecoline változat – keret: hőálló ABS műanyag (F) – rögzítés: állítható gumipánt – lencse: ø50mm átmérőjű, IR5 cserélhető üveg lánghegesztéshez (5 S1) –…

View On WordPress

Revlux Eco hegesztőszemüveg

Revlux Eco hegesztőszemüveg

Gumipántos Hegesztőszemüveg Revlux – keret: hőálló ABS műanyag (F) – rögzítés: állítható gumipán – lencse: ø50mm átmérőjű, IR5 cserélhető üveg lánghegesztéshez (5 S1) – szellőzés: szellőzőlyukak a keret oldalán – csomagolás: 100/10 - felhajtható kerek hegesztőüveg, víztiszta, extrém hőmérsékleti körülmények között is használható biztonsági lencse (1FT), 4 indirekt…

View On WordPress

MUTEK announces first wave of artists for second edition of San Francisco festival, feat. Kelly Moran, Amnesia Scanner, Gaika, and more

Everyone, Spring is HERE. Well, okay; not here-here. But “here:” the second-ever San Francisco edition of the steadily expanding MUTEK festival is going down soon: May 2-5, to be exact. Now, the first wave of the electronic music celebration’s artists has been announced, and oh my, you’re gonna like some of these names. Uniquely focused on American acts among its various local iterations, MUTEK San Francisco will host some of TMT’s estadounidense favorites: Kelly Moran, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Steve Hauschildt & Tzonev, and Lara Sarkissian (of Club Chai). The supporting international line-up looks equally thrilling, with Amnesia Scanner leading a pack that counts GAIKA, Smerz, Kode 9 (performing with Koji Morimoto), and N.A.A.F.I.’s Tayhana in its roster, among many others. Seriously, there’s a LOT of others, so be sure to check out the full line-up at the bottom of this post. Tickets for the festival, including 4-day “passports,” can now be purchased through Eventbrite; they range from $150 to $450. Watch a brief recap from last year’s inaugural edition below, and then listen to a track from a lesser known of the just-announced performers, Edna King, ‘cause we know you’ve already listened to Amnesia Scanner like five times today. MUTEK SF 2019 full first-wave line-up: Abandoned Footwear & arc (US) Amnesia Scanner (FI/DE) Arpanet (US) BLEIE & Chelley Sherman (US) Byetone (DE) Cool Maritime & Emily Sprague (US) Cruel Diagonals (US) CYRNAI (US) Diagraf (CA/QC) Dopplereffekt (US+DE) Ectomorph (US) Edna King (CA) Freeka Tet (FR) fuse* (IT) GAIKA (UK) The Hacker presents Amato Live (FR) Halal & Relaxer (US) Joyfultalk (CA) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (US) Kelly Moran (US) Kode9 & Koji Morimoto (UK+JP) Kyle Evans (US) Lara Sarkissian (US) Lawrence English (AU) Layne (US) Marpi (PL) Michael Claus (US) Mozhgan & Josh Cheon (US) Nihar & Subset (US) Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement (US+FR) Revlux (CA) Robot Koch & Mikael Le Goff (DE) Sepehr (US) Smerz (NO/DK) Steve Hauschildt + Martin Tzonev (US) susy.technology (CA/QC) Tayhana (MX) Veronica Vasicka (US) http://j.mp/2Evdmj8

Revlux - Fall 2017 - Montreal

Revlux Eco hegesztőszemüveg

Revlux Eco hegesztőszemüveg

Gumipántos Hegesztőszemüveg Revlux – keret: hőálló ABS műanyag (F) – rögzítés: állítható gumipán – lencse: ø50mm átmérőjű, IR5 cserélhető üveg lánghegesztéshez (5 S1) – szellőzés: szellőzőlyukak a keret oldalán – csomagolás: 100/10 - felhajtható kerek hegesztőüveg, víztiszta, extrém hőmérsékleti körülmények között is használható biztonsági lencse (1FT), 4 indirekt…

View On WordPress