Tag: GAMIQ

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Population II Shares Krautrock-like “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)”

Acclaimed Montréal-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — can trace their origin back a long way and are inextricably linked to their teenage memories. After years of jamming to the point of developing a unique sense of telepathy, the trio began recording independently releasing material that caught the attention of Castle Face Records head and The Oh Sees‘ frontman John Dwyer, who signed the band and released their full-length debut, 2020’s À la Ô Terre, an album that saw the band displaying their mastery of improvised and sophisticated composition. 

The Montréal-based psych outfit then spent the better part of the next two years touring to support their full-length debut, which included stops at SXSW, Pop Montréal, Toronto, NYC, and Québec City. 

Population II signed with Bonsound‘s label, booking and publishing arms. The Montréal-based label released the trio’s Emmanuel Éthier-produced sophomore album, 2023’s Èlectrons libres du québec. Their sophomore album is much more straightforward while showcasing their remarkably adept musicianship and furthers their take on heavy psych rock, which feverish punk rhythms, early punk energy bursts, hints of jazz philosophy and a love of minor scales informed by heavy metal’s early roots.  

The album received praise from both press outlets on both sides of the Atlantic, including Rock & Folk, Exclaim!, La Presse, Le Devoir and long list of others. Adding to a breakthrough year, the Montréal-based outfit won a Breakthrough of the Year Award at 2023’s GAMIQ Award ceremonies. 

Last year was a very busy year for the Montréal-based JOVM mainstays: They released the Serpent Échelle EP. Released on a limited-edition cassette tape and on all digital platforms, Serpent Échelle saw the band crafting material that boldly stands out from their previously released work: Shifting between orchestrated passages and lysergic-tinged riffage, the EP’s material is wilder, much more adventurous and heavier. And while rooted in their remarkable compositional skills, the material displays a newfound commitment to songwriting. Thematically, the EP’s material touched upon the desperate urgency of life in an age of global doom while still enjoying life’s small pleasures — love, friendship, wine, good tunes and good times.

They closed out a very busy 2024 with Mulchulation II, a split EP with Canadian punks Mulch. Continuing upon a prolific period, the Montréal-based JOVM mainstays laid the groundwork for their third album, the Dominic Vanchesteing-produced Maintenant Jamais. Slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Bonsound, the 14-song album reportedly sees the band drawing from their formative influence with a deep, sense of sophistication.

Maintenant Jamais‘ second and latest single “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” is a krautrock/prog rock-like take on psych rock featuring pulsating drum patterns paired with glistening synths and fuzzy power chords serving as a lush and languorous bed for Gratton’s dreamy cooing. Arguably one of the most krauty songs of their growing catalog, “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” sees the band subtly — and perhaps playfully — expanding upon their sound while reminding listeners of their adroit musicianship and songwriting.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DVTR Shares a Mischievous and Breakneck Ripper

With the release of their debut EP, 2023’s BONJOUR, the French Canadian JOVM mainstays DVTR —  Le Couleur‘s Laurence G-Do a.k.a. Demi Lune and Gazoline‘s,  Kandle‘s Xavier Caféine‘s and Gab Bouchard‘s JC Tellier, a.k.a. Jean Divorce — burnt up the Canadian indie scene: The EP amassed a plethora of rapturous reviews, landed on a number of Best of 2023 Lists and earned the duo a handful of awards in Québec. 

Last year saw the duo building upon the momentum of the previous year, with an expanded edition of their debut EP, BONJOUR (BIS), which featured two bonus tracks that I wrote about on this site:

The Montrealers supported both the original and expanded editions of BONJOUR with a frenetic tour schedule that included an Asian and German tour. They closed out the year with a sold-out show at Montréal’s Les Foufounes Électriques and Revelation of the Year, Punk Album/EP of the Year and Animated Video of the year award wins at last year’s Gala Alternatif de la Musique Indépendante du Québec (GAMIQ).

The duo begins 2025 with the breakneck and mischievous “Né pour flâner (Born to loiter), a song that further cements the duo’s uncanny knack for mosh pit friendly, catchy hooks, punchily delivered vocals and furious synth and guitar riffage.

The accompanying video features footage shot while the band was touring across Germany and Asia, capturing their raucous and goofy energy.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montréal’s DVTR Returns with Another Breakneck Ripper

Deriving their name as an acronym for the French phrase “D’où vient ton riz?” (Where does your rice come from?), Montréal-based duo DVTR is a new collaborative project featuring two of the city’s most highly acclaimed artists:

  • Laurence G-Do, the frontwoman of JOVM mainstays  Le Couleur, an act that has toured internationally several times, and has opened for Giorgio Moroder, Polo & Pan and others, while amassing over 18 million streams across digital streaming platforms. 

  • JC Tellier, who has played with Gazoline, an act that has received multiple ADISQ and GAMIQ award nominations. Tellier has also played with Kandle, Xavier Caféine, Gab Bouchard and a lengthy list of other well-regarded artists in Québec.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve managed to write about the duo’s first two singles:

  • “DVTR,” a breakneck, blistering and incisive ripper built around scorching riffage, a relentless motorik-like groove, a shouted mantra-like chorus and mosh pit friendly hooks paired with G-Do’s feral shouts. The result is a song that kind of sounds like a wild yet seamless synthesis of Wild Planet-era The B-52s and La Femme’s “Foutre le bordel.“

  • “Vasectomia” another breakneck ripper built around scorching guitar riffage, G-Do’s shouted vocals and a relentless groove paired with the duo’s penchant for wildly catchy hooks and anthemic choruses. But underneath the attention to slick craftsmanship, is furious and incisive criticism of the modern condition, delivered with zero fucks given. With the song, it feels as though G-Do would shout “fuck you!” to every man she passes by while suggesting that if men don’t want unwanted pregnancies or are truly concerned about overpopulation that maybe they should get a vasectomy. 

The Montréal-based duo’s latest single “Rhum CokeMD” continues a run of gritty, mosh pit friendly breakneck rippers built around scorching guitar riffs, shout along worthy choruses and hooks paired with a zero fucks given immediacy.

Shot by Andy Jon, the accompanying video for “Rhum CokeMD” features slickly edited footage of the band performing a set on a party bus during the Tourné au Festiv! at Baie Saint-Paul, Québec earlier this year.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising French Canadian Artist Lou-Adriane Cassidy Releases a Coquettish Visual for “J’espère encore que quelque part l’attente s’arrête”

With the 2017 release of her debut single “Ça va ç va,” the young, French Canadian singer/songwriter Lou-Adriane Cassidy exploded into Quebec’s scene — and the Francophone music world. Cassidy’s full-length debut, 2019’s C’est la fin du monde à tous les jours was a critical and commercial success, earning a Lucien for Pop Album of the Year at that year’s Alternative Independent Music Gala of Quebec (GAMIQ) and nomination at that year’s Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries (ADISQ) for a Contemporary Adult Award and Revelation of the Year.

Last year, C’est la fin du monde à tous les jours also earned the prestigious Coup de cœur Award from the Charles-Cros Academy. Building upon a growing profile, Cassidy’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is slated for a Fall 2021 release. The album’s first single, the Alexandre Martel co-written “J’espère encore que quelque part l’attente s’arrête” reveals a marked change in sonic direction for the rising French Canadian artist: whereas her previously released material was more along the lines of chanson, “J’espère encore que quelque part l’attente s’arrête” is a 90s grunge pop-inspired song centered around buzzing power chords, twinkling keys, a rousingly anthemic hook and Cassidy’s expressive, pop star belter-like vocals. Reportedly inspired by the likes of Mitski, the new single finds Cassidy at her most earnest and uninhibited.

Directed by Gabriel Lapointe, the recently released video for “J’espère encore que quelque part l’attente s’arrête” follows Cassidy as she struts, dances, claps and sings along to her song during a nocturnal walk through her hometown. The video manages to capture the rising artist’s coquettishness and youthful insouciance in a fashion that’s frankly irresistible.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Meggie Lennon Releases a Feverish Visual for Shimmering “Night Shift”

Meggie Lennon is a Montreal-based singer/songwriter, who started her career as the frontperson of acclaimed indie pop/indie rock outfit Abrdeen, an act that received an  Alternative Independent Music Gala of Quebec (GAMIQ) nomination for 2017’s Endless Dreams and Dreamlike Mornings EP.

Abrdeen supported their material touring with a number of indie acts including Good Morning, JOVM mainstays Elephant Stone, The Dears, Julie Doiron, Sugar Candy Mountain and Laura Sauvage. And the band made the rounds of the provincial festival circuit with stops at POP Montreal, M for Montreal and FME. Additionally, Lennon developed a reputation as a go-to collaborator, lending her vocals to material by Debbie Tebbs, Lucill and Super Plage.

Lennon fully steps out into the spotlight as a solo artist with the July 9, 2021 release of her Samuel Gemme-produced full-length debut Sounds From Your Lips through Mothland. Featuring guest sports from Elephant Stone’s Gabriel Lambert and her longtime friend and collaborator, Super Plage’s Jules Henry, the album finds Lennon and her collaborators crafting a sound that meshes late 60s and early 70s psych, The Byrds, T.Rex, Melody’s Echo Chamber, MGMT, and Beach House into something that Lennon describes as “make-out dream-pop” with a glowing and infectious sense of optimism.

Sounds From Your Lips’ first single, album opening track “Night Shift” is heavily indebted to Scott Walker psych pop as the track features a gorgeous arrangement of soaring strings, twinkling Wurlitzer and a sultry yet propulsive groove paired with Lennon’s breathy vocals and fuzzy guitars within an alternating quiet, loud, quiet song structure, a trippy break. And as a result, the song manages to capture the intimate thoughts of late night trips home — but with a cinematic grandeur.

“The first part of the song came to me while cycling home back from L’Esco after a wild night. I was on a Box and the streets were completely empty,” Lennon explains. “I was riding fast through the night and it felt both meditative and exhilarating – this feeling is reflected in the dreamy verses and then heavier guitar crescendo at the end. When we got in the studio, I laid the lead track on the Wurli and it all came naturally. The second part, ‘take a glimpse outside,’ came while doodling on the synth. We were in the studio without windows but we both went outside and the sun blinded us, the lyrics were inspired by this.”

Directed by Marielle Normandin Pageau, the recently released visual for “Night Shift” is a gorgeous visual featuring sequences shot during golden hour, with others shot through dreamy filters to evoke the a feverish and hallucinogenic vibe.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s The Brooks Release a DIsco Soul Ode to Unrequited Love

The Brooks is a rising Montreal-based soul act that formed over eight years ago. And since their formation, the Montreal-based act proudly claims some of that city’s most accomplished musicians:

Florida-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and frontman Alan Prater has toured with Michael Jackson — and the band itself can trace much of its origins to behind the walls of the Motown Museum:
Alexandre Lapointe (bass) has worked alongside Joel Campbell, the musical director for Tina Turner and Janet Jackson.
Prater and Lapointe are joined by Maxime Bellavance (drums), Phillips Look (guitar, vocals), Daniel Thouin (keys), Sébastien Grenier (sax), Hichem Khalifa (French horn), and Phillipe Beaudin (percussion).

Developing and honing a sound that draws from James Brown, D’Angelo, Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock and J. Dilla, the members of The Books have a songwriting approach that eschews rules and trends, fueled by the dual missions of spreading joy and the funk. And with the release of two albums and an EP, the band, which was once named the“best kept secret of Canadian funk” by La Presse, and nominations, and award wins at GAMIQ, Independent Music Awards, ADISQ, and others has built up a provincial and national profile.

Slated for an October 23, 2020 release through Duprince Records across North and South America and Underdog Records through Europe and Japan, the Montreal-based soul outfit’s third album Any Day Now finds the band firmly establishing their unique songwriting approach and sound. Earlier this year, I wrote about the strutting and stomping party anthem “Turn Up the Sound,” a track that recalled The Payback-era James Brown, Dance to the Music and Stand!-era Sly and the Family Stone while encoring people to get up out of that seat, dance and enjoy themselves, and escape their worldly concerns for 3-4 minutes or so. “I just wanted to write a fun song to get you to escape from whatever you’re doing,” the band’s Alan Prater explains in press notes.

Any Day Now’s latest single “Gameplay” is a slick, two-step inducing synthesis of 70s disco soul, funk and psych soul centered around a supple bass line, shuffling Nile Rodgers-like rhythm guitar, wah-wah pedal -driven lead guitar, a soaring string arrangement — within an expansive, yet pop-leaning song structure. Thematically, the song as the band’s Alan Prater explains is about a fairly common experience that countless straight men have had: “This song is about a boy wanting the girl that’s out of his league, but he has to have her. I’m Sure most guys have been there…haha”

Directed by Fred Remuzat, the recently released video for “Gameplay” visually recalls the animation style of Gorillaz — but while sweetly telling the song’s central story: boy falls for girl, who may not know he even exists. And yet through music, the boy makes his earnest plea of devotion and love, which manage to move the woman. The video is a blast of something adorable that I desperately needed. I suspect y’all will feel the same.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Hologramme · Préface (Printemps) – Hologramme

Clément Leduc is a Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, songwriter and electronic music artist, who initially made a name for himself by collaborating with fellow Canadian artists Geoffroy, La Bronze and Dead Obies.  Leduc stepped out from behind the dials and knobs and into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo recording project Hologramme. Leduc’s self-produced, 2015 Hologramme debut was released to critical applause, eventually landing on ICI Musique‘s Best Albums list an being named GAMIQ’s Best Electronic Album of the Year.

Leduc spent  2018 in Berlin, where he soaked up new influences and new sounds that wound up deeply influencing his critically applauded,  sophomore album last year’s Felicity, an effort that saw him collaborating with Les praises’ and Hubert Lenoir‘s Felix Petit, Gustafson’s Adrien Bletton, Senegalese guitarist Assane Seck, and Laurence-Anne‘s Laurent Saint Pierre to create a dream-like and sensual soundscape that drew from the  music of South Africa and South America.

The Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and songwriter has had an enormous year so far: he released a five song remix EP Felicity tracks with remixes by Fakear, Robert Robert, Ouri and others, earlier this month — and he released his first bit of new material since the release of Felicity with “Alaska,” a slow-burning and atmospheric track centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, bubbling electronics, shuffling and clattering beats and sultry vocal samples that’s both dance floor friendly and cinematic.

“Préface (Printemps),” the rising French Canadian producer’s second and latest single of 2020 continues a run of cinematic material with elements of deep house and techno  — but while being a less polished and urgent track centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, sultry vocal samples within an expansive song structure featuring atmospheric and dreamy sections. Much like its predecessor, the track will bring comparisons to Bonobo and Octo Octa — but while balancing earnestness with ambition.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Montreal’s The Brooks Perform Their Funky New Party Anthem “Turn Up the Sound”

Montreal-based soul act The Brooks formed over eight years ago — and the act can claim a lineup featuring some of the French Canadian city’s most accomplished local soul musicians: Florida-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and frontman Alan Prater has toured with Michael Jackson and the band itself can trace its origins to behind the walls of the Motown Museum: Alexandre Lapointe (bass) has worked alongside Joel Campbell, the musical director for Tina Turner and Janet Jackson. Prater and Lapointe are joined by Maxime Bellavance (drums), Phillips Look (guitar, vocals), Daniel Thouin (keys), Sébastien Grenier (sax), Hichem Khalifa (French horn), and Phillipe Beaudin (percussion). 

Developing a sound that draws from James Brown, D’Angelo, Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock and J. Dilla, the members of The Brooks have developed a reputation for a songwriting approach that eschews rules and trends while spreading joy and funk — and for an energetic live show. And as a result, the band has built up a profile both across the province and nationally over the course of two critically applauded albums and an EP: Named the “best kept secret of Canadian funk” by La Presse, the band has received a number of nominations and awards at GAMIQ, Independent Music Awards, ADISQ, and others. 

The French Canadian soul outfit’s third full-length album Anyway Now is slated for a release this full through Duprince Records across North and South America and Underdog Records through Europe and Japan — and the album’s first single is the stomping, strutting and funky party anthem “Turn Up the Sound.” Centered around an arrangement that nods at The Payback-era James Brown, Dance to the Music and Stand!-era Sly and the Family Stone, the upbeat song was written to be played loud and to get you to get up out of your seat, escape your daily concerns for a few minutes and dance. Everything may seem canceled or postponed but music is still there to bring you joy — and to remind you that brighter days will come in time. “I just wanted to write a fun song to get you to escape from whatever you’re doing,” the band’s Alan Prater explains in press notes. 

The single is accompanied by a live footage of the band performing the song in the studio, and it manages to reveal the band’s creative chemistry while being an introduction to the band to new listeners. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Clément Leduc is a Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, songwriter and electronic music artist, who initially made a name for himself by collaborating with fellow Canadian artists Geoffroy, La Bronze and Dead Obies. Stepping out from behind the dials and into the spotlight as a solo artist, Leduc is also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Hologramme. In 2015, Leduc’s self-produced, Hologramme debut was released to critical applause, including landing on ICI Musique‘s Best Albums list that year and being named GAMIQ’s Best Electronic Album of the Year.

Leduc spent the bulk of 2018 living in Berlin, where he soaked up new influences and new sounds that wound up deeply influencing his sophomore album 2019’s Felicity, an effort that saw him collaborating with Les praises’ and Hubert Lenoir‘s Felix Petit, Gustafson’s Adrien Bletton, Senegalese guitarist Assane Seck, and Laurence-Anne‘s Laurent Saint Pierre to create a dream-like and sensual soundscape that draws from the  music of South Africa and South America — while continued an ongoing run of critically applauded releases.

Building upon a growing profile, the Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and songwriter has started off 2020 with a bang: he announced the release of a 5 song remix EP of Felicity tracks that will feature remixes by Fakear, Robert Robert, Ouri and others, which is slated for a June 5, 2020 release — and the first bit of new material since the release of Felicity, his latest single “Alaska.”

“Alaska” can trace its origins back some time ago — to sometime before the release of Felicity as a rough sketch of sorts. He took that track with him to Paris and Berlin, where he tried to finish it without much success. Forgotten for over a year, Leduc stumbled upon the then-unfinished track on an hard drive, seemingly asking to be completed. And with the assistance of Laurent Saint Pierre, he completed the song. The end result is a slow burning and atmospheric  track, centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, bubbling electronics, shuffling and clattering beats, and sultry vocal samples that reminds me quite a bit of Octo Octa‘s sensuous and dream-like Between Two Selves and Bonobo — but while possessing a cinematic quality.