saint-hubert, quebec's pierre-marc tremblay is one guy who doesn't have to worry about someone stealing his identity online since it's hard as hell to find out anything about him on here. this much i do know, he's the force behind the noise projects âmes sanglantes and the teashop madman (which i can only find one album for, a split cassette on troniks back in 2000) and also the lo-fi punk/black metal outfit, akitsa. originally, i guess, akitsa was a two man band. the drummer quit for some reason after 2002's sang nordique, leaving it all in pierre's hands...and vocal cords. here's a few select reviews from pierre's discography to get you better acquainted with his work.

âmes sanglantes

le cri du pendu
[2006, cipher productions]

i can't think of too many people that are as versatile as pierre-marc tremblay. he's got the musical equivalent of the midas touch. punk, no problem. metal, sure why not. noise, piece of cake. dom, of prurient/football rabbit/vegas martyrs, is pretty diverse too, but i wouldn't say that his rock and noise talents are as evenly matched as pierre's. oh, and i almost forget about kites' christopher forgues. for a guy who can throw down some serious harshness, his way with psychedelic pop (that's all i can think to call it) is really impressive.

for le cri..., put out on the terrific australian-based noise label cipher productions (ran by chris groves aka chrysalis), âmes sanglantes is taking a more experimental approach on noise. i can see some comparisons being drawn between him and roxanne jean polise's noisier moments. there's a real nice balance between calm and calamity here. while there's a little bit of peace to be had in these ten tracks, there's nary a dull moment. my favorite tracks on here are the noisier pieces such as the fourteen minute realite invention humaine, the only one to really use the left and right channels differently. the right speaker is used more for drones and repetitious electronic sounds, while the other is more harsh. though, during the track's play the right side does break into some noise as well. that'd be my pick for the best track on here. the other lengthy (ten and a half minutes) piece on here, la chambre a gaz, is one of the slower pieces, and one of the better ones in that regard. it doesn't change up very much but relies mainly on some repetitious feedback (used more as a complimentary musical component rather than anything abrasive) and other repeating noises. it has a nice, if subtle, rhythm to it, which most of the less harsh tracks seem to have. if not outright rhythm, atleast there's some repetitious aspects that you can find yourself getting into.


i like to use last.fm to gauge an artist's popularity, and judging by what i've found, a lot more people are familiar with tremblay's work in akitsa than they are with âmes sanglantes. six hundred and thirty-one compared to twenty. hopefully, more people will check out his work here as it's certainly also worth the time. noise fans, you won't be let down, i promise.

Le Cri Du Pendu

akitsa

soleil noir 12"
[2004, tour de garde]

hymne a la guerre starts this record off wonderfully. there's some layered guitars, one of which is a little noisier and droning, the other is a bit cleaner sounding, with repeating chords playing out this achingly lovely tune for about three minutes. from there, the guitars fade out and the song is taken over by a drone, then, shortly afterwards, some static comes blaring through. as the static keeps playing you can hear some music trying to emerge, which it finally succeeds in doing for the last twenty seconds or so of the eleven minute track. while that certainly establishes a great mood, tremblay goes directly against that mood with the very next song, soleil noir. this is straight up lo-fi punk rock here, sung in french, or french canadian, heck if i know. it's not bad. celui qui est sanspeur, which immdediately follows, is even better though. here, we have ridiculously catchy guitar riffs, simplistic drum machine beats (kick, snare, kick, snare, kick, snare, ad infinitum), very reminiscent of a time when punk music was actually good, like twenty-five years ago. instead of the snarling vocals, that were hallmarks of that genre, there's some throaty bellowing, which is more appropriate for a metal band. seriously infectious rhythm though, i haven't managed to listen to this track without tapping my foot and bobbing my head along with it. le retour du soleil noir is the most traditionally punk sounding song of the bunch with pierre abandoing the raspy vocals and doing some actual singing, especially on the chorus. again, some catchy guitar playing on display. if there's one thing that he can pull off, it's throwing down some memorable riffs, they're all over this thirty minute tape. closer totale servitude is another instrumental, and it's a hell of one at that. much like the (beginning of the) first track, it's slower and layered, but this time around it's clearer in sound and there's plenty of feedback thrown in for good measure. this is, hands down, the most memorable song on here. it's a pity that it's only two and a half minutes long.


while i have no idea what pierre-marc is singing about (i've read that it's about social issues and misanthropy, like most punk music) i know that what he's doing sounds terrific. over this thirty minute lp he went quite a few different places musically and had success in all of them. it's rare to see a rock-based act nowadays challenging themselves, musically, as much as akitsa does.

Totale Servitude

la grande infamie
[2006, christhunt productions]

this time around the album opens up in territory more suiting of pierre's âmes project with a creeping atmospheric piece. it's light on the noise, but heavy on the (dark) mood. okay, here we go, magie et verites brings us back to a sense of normalcy, for akitsa. we have, again, the simplistic drum machine beats, catchy guitar and some very nice screaming. we didn't have any of that on the soleil record, but i'm liking this a lot. once more pierre's showing us a new facet to his musical oeuvre. this just might be my favorite vocal song of his. screaming's always been much more of my thing than metal vocals anyway. oh, speaking of which, back to that on cultes vertueur. i'd say that this track is way more metal than anything else i've heard of akitsa's, and he's still got my full attention. his singing on cultes is slowly delivered, and sinister sounding, throaty vocals coupled with fast guitar playing and rapid fire drum beats. he really holds it together with the nice guitar breakdowns. silence is really the only song on here that maintains a semblance of the punk influence that was evident on soleil. that influence is strictly in the guitar and drums though as the vocals are in the raspy vein. silence is another clear standout track. the title song la grande infamie is all screams, fuzzed out guitars and drum machine. it reminds me of a punk version of the jesus and mary chain (you know, after they kicked out bobby gillespie in favor of programmable drums). the twenty-one minute closer foret disparue might be the hardest to get into, given it's lengthy running time. it's a slow moving dirge consisting of a lot of anguished screaming. he might be saying something, but it all just sounds like screaming to me. the latter half of the song is more enjoyable as there's some melody coming from the guitar that you can get caught up in for the remaining ten minutes.


here's my thoughts on akitsa: if you enjoy rock music, especially music on the angrier side, you should be listening to this. there's two albums here and nothing near a bad song between them. akitsa's unique take on traditional punk and raw sounding metal is refreshing to hear, and pierre's willingness to experiment with and beyond these genres is admirable. plus, the guy can play the hell out the guitar.

Silence

both jan iversen and sindre bjerga are experimental electronic musicians from norway. bjerga; however, also uses affected guitar in his work. additionally, each artist also runs their own record label. for iversen, it's tibprod. goldsoundz is bjerga's imprint. both are definitely quality, and that's about all i have to say about that. below are two releases highlighting individual and group efforts from the two. one album is newer, the other is from a couple of years back.

bjerga/iversen

in broken dreams the world still keeps turning
[2006, dead sea liner]

this duo has quite a few collaborative releases under their belt. while they all pretty much adhere to a cold, droney, atmospheric sound, they do like to change it up every now and then. 2005's streams of frozen light seems like the only album i've heard by them that wasn't all that dynamic. conversely, kanal local, from the same year, marked their starkest change. again, this is based off of the five or so releases that i've had experience with. that particular disc primarily built off of drones and sound samples/sound bytes. i hadn't heard those latter elements in one of their releases before, and it was a very nice change. the album at hand, in broken dreams the world still keeps turning, most closely follows matinee preparation in its sound, that cd was also from last year. 2005 was a good year of b/i fans. this release was recorded from a live performance this year in the netherlands and is one track lasting twenty-seven minutes. all those minutes are absorbed pretty easily though as you can find yourself getting lost in the desolation of these textured drones. things start off on a very slow note. the main sound is a cold drone, but there's also some other sounds, some of which are pleasant, buried way back in the mix. i've got headphones turned all the way up and i can barely perceive all of them. the pace slowly starts to pick up, but the track's mainly being lead by some drones. the drones aren't overpowering at all, they're easy on the ear, though not warm in sound, and seem willing to merely float along while other sounds also drift in and out. the latter third of the disc is when bjerga's affected guitar comes into play more as the duo add a slight layer of discordance to the otherwise slow, methodical, and ultimately satisfying piece.

in broken dreams was put out by a newer label, dead sea liner, who offer up all of their releases at ridiculously modest pricing. this cd, for example, is only four bucks. they've also put out albums by thirdorgan and another enough chairs (a bbblood cohort). it's rare to see quality releases, especially by well-regarded artists, for this cheap. here's hoping they get the support they need to stick around for a long time.

In Broken Dreams The World Still Keeps Turning Excerpt (from 15:37 to 20:15)

sindre bjerga

slow collapse 3" cd
[2004, imvated]

while one might turn to bjerga/iversen for their ambient/experimental electronic fix, you should look to this solo release by sindre for your not-so-ambient experimental needs. my advice, you should definitely be listening to this one through headphones as it's chock full of terrific multi-channel sounds. the first two tracks, both around two minutes long, are more together, than the rest. they're more pure drone-based, with less of the experimentation that bjerga will later employ. they are enjoyable, but i prefer what follows. the third track, having a similiar drone feel (but a bit noisier), takes and breaks up the track into the left and right channels. there's the prevailing foundation drone right there in the middle, but then you've also got this additional whining drone, not synched up in the two channels, making for a very rewarding listen. as the track plays out, other sounds also come in that are exclusive to one channel or the other, the last fifty seconds or so of the near nine minute track, isolate the prior music to the right speaker, while there's minimal, to the point of being almost inaudible, sounds in the left. the following piece has a similiar theme. it also raises the noise level up. this time there's a loud sustained, and pattern-based, drone to the left, and some affected random guitar playing (use that term loosely) with some static in the other. when the track's nearing its completion the sounds in both channels take on the same tone, but again, the timing's a bit skewered. the mid-section is truly where this disc shines the brightest. the three and four minute bookends are nothing to brush off though as slow collapse is a great listen all around.

Slow Collapse 4

pancake alley
[2004, chloe/champ]

former bostonians (now operating out of troy, ny) united states of belt specialise in a strangely endearing mix of refined cinema pour l'oreille and a cheerfully flippant attitude. pancake alley comes as the conclusion to a trilogy of works dating back to the group's first effort in 1999, works which the duo culled from dat recordings made on cross-country trips. the recording is an assorment of those dats, poured out, live, into a huge reverberant space and garnished with minimal but seamless interjections from a cast of players.

matmos, people like us and wobbly clumped together in an amorphous mass and tried on the idea of an improvised exhibit of americana the year before (wide open spaces), but while that one suffered from an overcrowded kitchen, directionless patches and cloying bouts of knowing winks and fingered ribs, usb take a slower moving, more coherent stab at the concept. sure, it's just as wildly nostalgic and romanticized, and yes, there is a jumbled excuse for a concept attached to it; the difference is it works.

after a woozy organ introduction a la saturday matinee, aenemic but hand-on-heart national anthem grandstanding takes over, under skies deaden'd by the dull thunder of fireworks. the sound of each explosion less and less distinct as the rumbling fills out the perfomance space, until it takes on an unexpected geological quality, accompanied by pumice-on-tin-roof clatter. inexplicably audible in the tumult is the bounce of a lone ping-pong ball, presumably included solely because one of the guys is a self-confessed paddle jockey.... sure, why not? gumbo pour l'oreille.

the midwest-gone-hollywood tapestry that continues to unfurl over the rest of the performance really defies any kind of compelling commentary. mobile,
michel butor's singular prose-poem on america, is probably the closest textual/visual equivalent, and i'm sure as hell not going to try my hand at replicating that one. what i can testify to, though, is that these guys know the game and are damn good at it. ultimately the only real way you'll appreciate the excellence of this disc is to listen to it in its entirity, but once you do you can't help but wallow in its intuitively simple pleasures.

also, i get a kick out of a french art producing another slice of america both democrats and republicans would be proud to endorse.

full disclosure: reviewer is a new zealander. so any dancing around the american dream is to the tune of sodomite californians.