Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Various - Iceberg

Montreal’s experimental music scene has a new label to exhibit its wares, both hard and soft. Minimalism is the watchword here, but the twelve artists approach it from intersecting spheres of ambience, concrete, dub and techno. Simon Carpentier (Sapin) provides a fitting introduction with “Balade,” a track that combines a soggy electroacoustic soundwalk with a chilly network of electronics from the Raster-Noton catalogue. Laforge and Sul.a follow up with a couple of micro-beat pieces that are part Tangerine Dream part Frank Bretschneider. “Luminescence” is a vapor by Julie LeBlanc (/de.i.te/) that seems to hover and vibrate in the middle distance just out of focus. Martin Dumais (AUN) labels his efforts as “blight metal,” but “Human Prince” seems light on doom, heavier on the hazy echo. More haunted is “Somewhere Cold” by Pascal Asselin (Le Chat Blanc Orchestra) that conjures quiet moments of devastation from Lynch films. At heart a post-dusk collection that contemplates isolation as the streetlights flicker.

CCCLTD

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