Bio

The end of the Napalm Jazz radio show on CKIA, in 2000 (which al… Read Full Bio ↴Bio

The end of the Napalm Jazz radio show on CKIA, in 2000 (which also led to a long hiatus for the same-named group) hasn’t discouraged the members of the group, who continued and multiplied their collaborations, internally and with increasingly more likeminded musicians. But the infernal duo of A_dontigny and Érick d’Orion, this hard pit always being broken up for the sake of sublime sonic pleasure, is still around: it is now known as morceaux_de_machines.

If there is hardly a radio in sight in their toolbox, one can be sure that Dontigny and D’Orion have kept intact the immediate and uncompromising side of their approach from the first years. A highly skilled pair of improvisers, they know how to drive the consenting listener on a sonic adventure which will leave them with their mouth gaping. But if this dynamism and this tension seem almost theatrical to us, it’s a sort of théâtre de la cruauté we’re really talking about, impermeable to the false sentimentality of harmony, ferociously deconstructive of deifying systems such as Bach’s.

Is it just noise? No, there is much more than just noise in these exuberant, life-affirming soundtracks. Just as there is more to the loudness of their composition than a superficial affront to musics which are too easy to like, or too modest. If our machinist acrobats make such a ruckus, it’s because they are acutely conscious of the risk their acrobatics entail. That said and done, we are left with a music that is lively, highly personal and full of depth.

Review of Estrapade

Other than the self-imposed isolation of a studio, the lack of artistic compromise and proverbial spitting in the face of mainstream success, there's something that many experimental musicians lack that discourages even the most stalwart fans: a personality. Said individuals often seem academic, overly serious and just plain bland -- something that, for better or worse, seeps into their music.

Fortunately, people like Éric Dorion (aka Érick D'Orion) and Aimé Dontigny (aka A-dontigny), the duo behind morceaux_de_machines (loosely translated, it's a form of medieval torture), exist in this world to counter stereotypes of what the so-called avant-garde should do. Their stint under the name Napalm Jazz, both as a radio program on Montréal's CKIA FM and a band of the same name, gives them a different approach to the improvisation/composition realm, one somewhere between Anthony Braxton, Penderecki and Public Enemy. Some listeners dub them the "B-Boys of musique concrète". Very cool.

Their set incorporates a fused conglomeration of elements, something that never backs down from a challenge, even if it means bending two poles to meet -- a mix that sits comfortably atop a history book while swilling cheap merlot from a paper cup. MDM propel "Fonçage de pieux" with hyperactive scratching, serious cutting that will leave a mark, while Tinkerbell melodies drift in and out over a pulsing, clicking rhythm and processed Rite of Spring-style symphonic punctuation. Everything works itself into a calculated frenzy; Dorion and Dontigny are careful to keep their mix tight and pristine until they bust into an atmospheric film of sine waves, fragmented and carefully placed breakbeats, nearly exploding again but happy to perch under a cloud of low-frequency feedback. Next up, "Onanisme" is sure to raise eyebrows in the concert hall and while waking up the professor's bored children, who'll exclaim, "This is fun!" It employs an irresistible Neu/Crass quasi-disco beat, founded on a distorted handclap/bass drum pattern and manic, twirling basslines, that weaves and grows, keeping time but having its way with the meter. Guests Diane Labrosse (of Justine and a flock of other acts) and Martin Tétreault (visual artist/turntablist, currently concerned with "the sound of the (turntable) motor) add their contributions throughout the disc, notably on "Sèlavy", where needles meet concrete, machine hum faces envelope filters and Loverboy's "Hot Blooded" joins a nuclear aftermath for a picnic in a fallout shelter. Otomo Yoshide joins m_d_m for "Omlegging", bringing his signature "no-record turntable" fidgets, scrapes to trade off with Tétreault and the boys.

Of course, this genre owes a great deal to the pioneers of the Twentieth Century, from Dadaists to Constructivists to even Classicists. Dorion and Dontigny are well aware of this foundation, but after they tutor you for your final in Semiotics 502, they'll drag you along for a night of beers and mischief.

Dave Madden/non_on_non