MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE: Last week-end to enjoy the festival!

Enjoy the free outdoor site!

Aliocha

March 1, 7 P.M.

Chalet Bell

Eman X Vlooper

March 2, 10 P.M.

Chalet Bell

Canailles

March 3, 7 P.M.

Chalet Bell

Drôle de dimanche (Funny Sunday)

March 4, 8 P.M.

Chalet Bell

Nuit blanche

More than 200 activities, mostly free, spread throughout the city, all night long!

On the night of March 3 and 4 !

World of Incredible Maple 

Discover — or rediscover — Quebec maple in an environment specially conceived and laid out to enhance and encourage you to indulge in the love of good food, creativity, pleasure and imagination!

Ongoing activity

Place des Festivals

Illuminart 

13 luminous works to discover in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles 

Ongoing activity

On the free outdoor of the festival

Let yourself be tempted by our program of fine dining events!

Côte-Nord inspiration at Ikanos!

March 2 and 3  • Ikanos

Chef Marie-France shares her recipes!

March 2 • Chez Chose

Sharing knowledge through the classics!

March 1 to 3 • Kitchen Galerie

The Bocuse event at La Chronique!

 March 1 to 3 • La Chronique

There are still a few shows left!

Isabelle Boulay

En vérité

March 1 • Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts

Random Recipe

March 1 • Club Soda

Vincent Vallières

Le temps des vivants

March 1 • L'Astral

Lary Kidd with special guests Joe Rocca, Imposs and Karim Ouellet

Opening act : FouKi

March 2 • L'Astral

Lack The Low - One Eye Closed (ART AS CATHARSIS April 19, 2018)

'One Eye Closed' is a catchy and challenging avant-pop record composed, performed, recorded and produced by musical virtuoso Kat Hunter through a three-year DIY process. 

With this first release, Hunter instantly proves herself as a talented composer/producer who isn’t afraid to push the envelope. Stylistically, her math-inspired experimental pop weaves between soaring Thom Yorke-esque vocals, complemented by dense instrumentation and triggered brass comparable to the likes of Joanna Newsom and late-era Bon Iver. 

Hiding under the fluttering harmonies, every listen bears something new to find – you could find yourself stunned by the towering highs and smooth lows of her vocal range; losing yourself in the orchestral piano compositions or even appreciative of the unusual drumming as you try to tap out the beats on your leg. 

Continuing on this trajectory, Lack The Low will almost certainly be on end-of-year avant-pop lists and is well within reach of creating a critical masterpiece in the near future. 

1. Do Your Worst

2. Progress

3. Futureheavy

4. Dream Every Night of Running

5. The Daylight Is All Inside

6. It Did, I Can't

7. Seven Different Species

8. God Knows Why

Releases April 19, 2018

All tracks written, produced, recorded and mixed by Kat Hunter

Mastering and additional vocal mixing by Becki Whitton

Kat Hunter: vocals, piano, organ, guitar, violin, cello, alto saxophone, banjo, electronics

Bobby Eggleston: drums

Catherine Keely: double bass (tracks 3, 4, 5, 7)

Bruno Siketa: trumpet, cornet (tracks 2, 6, 7, 8)

Daniel Parsons-Jones: additional trumpet (track 2)

Evgeny Chebykin: french horn (tracks 2, 6, 7)

Basil Rizopoulos: trombone (tracks 2, 6)

Tim Huddleston: tuba (tracks 2, 6)

Hashshashin - nihsahshsaH (adj​.​) ART AS CATHARSIS 2018

“(Hashshashin’s) music is powerful and muscular and ranges from full on psychedelic rock-outs to fully hypnotising drone. Often ragged and cathartic, this is, in its own way, soul music, music that taps into a primal, tribal, part of our consciousness that we, in our too comfortable Western civilisation, rarely draw from.” - Echoes And Dust

On their new live album 'nihsahshsaH (adj.)', Hashshashin pair their brand of of sun-baked, Middle Eastern psychedelia with improvisation by guitarist Simon Dawes of Instrumental (adj.), whose spacious and creative guitar playing calls to mind the compositions of Morricone, the nuance of Bill Frisell, and variety of Robert Fripp. 

The songs come from the group’s claimed 2016 debut ‘nihsahshsaH’, which draws on progressive rock and metal with melodic themes from the Middle East, field recordings captured in Tibetan regions of India and Nepal, and passages of trance-inducing drone. 

But here - and thanks to Dawes’ input - the transcendental atmosphere turns towards dystopia. Dawes advanced modal and melodic manipulations cast these once familiar songs in new light. The recording is further bolstered by the intensity and tightness of performance itself. 

This is another thoughtful record from Hashshashin, which will be of interest to fans of progressive and experimental music, from The Physics House Band to Secret Chiefs 3.

1. Prostration 03:39

2. The Ascetic 02:41

3. Ascension 04:53

4. Moksha 06:18

5. Levitation 09:13

6. Immolation 05:58

Evan McGregor: drums and percussion

Cameron MacDonald: bass

Lachlan Dale: bouzouki

Simon Dawes: guitar

www.facebook.com/hxshshxshxn/

Recorded live on 23 March 2017

This multi-track recording was made possible thanks to Ollie Bown, and with support from UNSW Interactive Media Lab.

Mixed and mastered by Tim Carr at Theta Labs

Artwork by Sam Harwood

COAST - COAST (ART AS CATHARSIS March 20, 2018)

Art As Catharsis are proud to release the energetic self-titled debut from COAST – riveting experimental jazz that fluctuates between heavy and silk-smooth, structured with the composition expertise of Paul Derricott. 

Delicate but rapid. Smooth but heavy. These characteristics usually stand as opposites, but Coast’s debut weaves these elements together in faultless form. High in energy and full of energetic instrumentals, you can hear hot flushes of heavy rhythmic jazz similar to Kneebody, Mark Guiliana Quartet and Donny McCaslin throughout the album, along with a gentle hint of early BadBadNotGood’s contemporary sheen. 

"This is fresh modern music that is beautiful, energising, inventive, creative…beautifully played, thoughtfully conceived, interesting, funky and lyrical all at the same time." 

- ARIA award winning jazz composer Sandy Evans

1. Blackline

2. Tide

3. Or Not

4. Dance 35

5. Obin

6. White Water

Releases March 20, 2018 

COAST is:

Paul Derricott

Shannon Stitt

Peter Koopman

Michael Avgenicos

Giorgio Rojas: congas (Dance 35)

Mixed and mastered Ian Pritchett

'Blackline' and 'White Water' Mixed by Richard Belkner

Recorded Richard Belkner Free Energy Devices

Artwork by Sam Harwood

All compositions by Paul Derricott

Instrumental (adj.) - Reductio ad Absurdum (ART AS CATHARSIS March 13, 2018)

Instrumental (adj.)’s long awaited follow up to 2015’s A Series Of Disagreements doesn’t disappoint. 

On ‘Reductio ad Absurdum’, the trio have expanded their palette, pushing their progressive and conceptual approach to composition to new levels. 

This is utterly unique progressive music influenced by King Crimson, Animals As Leaders, Bill Frisell, and Mark Guliana.

Releases March 13, 2018 

Instrumental (adj.) are: Simon Dawes, Simon Grove and Chris Allison. 

All songs written by Simon Dawes, Simon Grove and Chris Allison. 

Reductio ad Absurdum was recorded by Simon Grove at Nerve Studios. 

Drums were recorded by Simon Grove at Adversary Studios Marrickville. 

Mixed & mastered by Simon Grove at Nerve Studios. 

Artwork by Sam Harwood (harwood@me.com) 

Instrumental (adj.) would like to collectively thank: 

Lachlan Dale & Art As Catharsis Records, Sam Harwood, Aaron at Adversary Studios, Michael Taverner, Joe Manton, Rahul Menon, all of our loved ones, families, friends & fellow bandmates, bands we have played with, everyone who has lent us gear (in particular Brian, David & Sally), all the venues we’ve played for providing adequate seating and everyone who has come to a gig, listened to our music or spread the word about us. 

Oh, and our good friend Chris Kearnes for the band name inspiration. Happy now, pal? 

Simon Grove uses Darkglass Electronics, Le Fay Basses, Line 6 & Dingwall Basses. 

Chris Allison uses Sonor Drums.

1. Yours

2. Reductio ad Absurdum

3. Panopticon

Hinterlandt - Sollbruchstelle (ART AS CATHARSIS 2018)

Hinterlandt return with ‘Sollbruchstelle’, a lean, 19-minute EP that takes listeners through beautiful harmonic progressions and shifting time signatures in the quartet’s heaviest, densest, and most polyrhythmic work to date. 

In comparison to the band’s previous album ‘Ode to Doubt’, ‘Sollbruchstelle’ is more direct and energetic, and marks a return to purely instrumental music. As always, the material was written by ensemble member, Jochen Gutsch, a German-born composer who combines an interest in unusual instrumentation, polyrhythmic structures and avant-garde practices with a sense of beauty and catchy melodies. 

Here, Hinterlandt makes use of acoustic guitar as a quasi-percussion instrument, cello to hold the bottom end together with its heavy double stops, and two violins in question-and-answer conversations, not unlike a pair of witty sisters who finish each other’s sentences. 

Angular, progressive semitone and tritone driven sections alternate with melodies that wouldn’t be out of place on experimental pop records. But then, this accessibility is offset by constantly shifting time signatures and harmonic progressions that keep listeners on their toes for the full 19 minutes of the EP. 

In stark contrast to the popular ‘ambient neoclassical’ genre - which often comes off as a simplified throwback to late romantic-era classical music, mixed with post-rock sensibilities and gratuitous reverb - Hinterlandt combine intimate chamber music with densely layered, eclectic compositions. The result sounds something like a marriage of Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich and Meshuggah. 

The term ‘Sollbruchstelle’ comes from German engineering, and describes a part of a machine or product that is designed to break under pressure. “What interests me about this concept is the fact that the part’s individual weakness is the greater machine’s strength,” explains Hinterlandt’s Jochen Gutsch. 

‘Sollbruchstellen’ are placed carefully and deliberately to bear the brunt in a critical situation, thereby sparing the overall system. “Their fragility saves the lives of other parts that are considered more valuable”, Jochen adds. “There’s a beauty in this contradiction that relates well to our music, and I can see countless analogies to social issues of our times.” 

With ‘Sollbruchstelle’, Jochen has applied more pressure to Hinterlandt's music that ever before. Despite the dense, immediate nature of the compositions, they almost, but never quite, collapse under their own weight. A masterful achievement.

1. Plan A

2. Plan B

3. Plan C

Monique Mezzatesta - Violin

Susie Bishop - Violin (Live: Jara Stinson)

Simeon Johnson - Cello

Jochen Gutsch - Guitar, Trumpet

Composed and recorded by Jochen Gutsch at the Hinterlab. Artwork by Simeon Johnson. Mastered by Tony Dupe at Abandoned Fireworks Factory. Released by Art as Catharsis in February 2018.

Gauche - Siesta Cinema (ART AS CATHARSIS 2018)

Art As Catharsis are proud to re-release Gauche’s second full length album, 'Siesta Cinema' - the culmination of this incredibly creative and original group. 

"Influences from Bjork, Portishead, Aphex Twin and Cinematic Orchestra are highly evident. The level of talent here is impressive, with an equal amount of the spotlight having been given to all involved. " 

Gauche were a Sydney-based experimental band that existed between 2001 and 2007. Art As Catharsis are re-releasing their back catalog as part of an effort to conserve important recordings in Australia’s experimental music history. 

The 5 members of Gauche hail from radically different musical backgrounds, from jazz, gypsy, classical, hip hop, circus and beyond, and the diversity and talent in Gauche has created a unique new sound in Australian music Gauche's latest album "Siesta Cinema" reinforces why they have been described as one of Sydney’s most original, brave and genre-defying bands.

1. Scene One: Siesta Cinema 03:31

2. Scene Two: The Trap 03:52

3. Scene Three: The Sweet Pursuit 06:05

4. Scene Four: Love's Purgatory 03:43

5. Scene Five: A Different Journey 03:31

6. Scene Six: Photograph 03:55

7. Scene Seven: Snowflake 03:30

8. Scene Eight: Sesame Street Party 03:48

9. Scene Nine: Nightcrawlers 04:25

10. Scene Ten: Hieroglyph Heart 06:18

11. Scene Eleven: Winter 04:44

Gauche - Paints Lane (ART AS CATHARSIS 2018)

Art As Catharsis are proud to re-release Gauche’s first full length album, 'Paints Lane'. A review from Shed 14 said at the time: 

"Named after the narrow laneway next to their warehouse, ‘Paints Lane’ is a captivating listen with influences from Bjork, Portishead, Aphex Twin and Cinematic Orchestra highly evident. The level of talent here is impressive, with an equal amount of the spotlight having been given to all involved. 

‘Paints Lane’ is heavy on the experimentation and not always pretty listening. Opening with ‘The Road’, Jane’s operatic vocals are met with heavy synths and dark shuffling beats, as she sings about ‘losing sight of the road’ chords fade and morph into a shuddering bass line which then weaves its way into the ceremonial sounds of an organ. ‘Honeymoon’ combines late night jazz and spaghetti western guitar riffs with loud crunching noise, frantic percussion and eerily droning basslines. 

‘Take My Hand’ is sexy, bold and brassy and oozes of 1920’s brothel charm. ‘Jemima’ and ‘Barbed Wire’ throw sacrificial metal outbursts into the pot when you least expect it. ‘Flying’, my favourite track on the album is reminiscent of 1990’s Melbourne outfit ‘Paradise Motel’ with its swirling combination of gentle beats, delicate chimes and beautiful voices that move gracefully between shadow and light." 

Gauche were a Sydney-based experimental band that existed between 2001 and 2007. Art As Catharsis are re-releasing their back catalog as part of an effort to conserve important recordings in Australia’s experimental music history. 

1. The Road 04:32

2. Honeymoon 04:51

3. Butter 04:48

4. Take My Hand 04:13

5. Jemima 03:18

6. Barbed Wire 03:08

7. Savoir Faire 04:20

8. Can't Get Back 04:50

9. Flying 03:25

10. CCTVB 06:56

11. Trapeze 03:05

12. Classrooms 06:11

13. When Clouds Collide 03:22

Originally released in 2004 by Inertia / Invada Records.

Gauche are:

Jane Sheldon - vocals, vocoder (6), Rhodes (13), drum programming (13), NN-TX (13).

Alon Ilsar - acoustic kit (all except 13), EAPP* (2, 8, 10-12), percussion** (1, 5, 11, 13), Hammond draw bars (1), drum programming (1, 3, 6, 7, 13), Maelstrom (1), NN-TX (9).

Julian Curwin - guitars (except 1, 10, 13), banjo (1), Korg MS2000 (1, 3, 7, 10, 11), violin (9, 12), cello (9, 12), drum programming (7).

John Maddox - double bass and effects (except 13), Korg MS20 (1, 10, 12, 13).

Luke Dubber - Rhodes (3, 7, 9, 13), Hammond (1, 2, 5), piano (2, 4, 11, 12), Korg MS2000 (3, 4, 6-10, 12), Roland RX30 (6, 8-10, 13).

Produced by Alon Ilsar, with Jane Sheldon and Julian Curwin. 

All sounds recorded at Buckland St, Chippendale (except strings at Moreton Ave, some keys at Young St, most piano at Reddam house) Dec 03 - Jul 04.

All tracks engineered by Sam Ferguson (except 4, 6, 11, 12 by Alon, 13 by Jane).

Mixed by Richard Belkner for Free Energy Devices in Chippendale Jul 04 - Sep 04.

Mastered by William Bowden in Stanmore 14/09/04.

Cover art by Angus Fisher in Annandale.

* Home-made Electro-Acoustic Percussive Pads (EAPP), created by Alon from junk percussion, piezo transducers (contact mics) and a no-input mixer. Those dear to him call it the Alonomophone.

** Egg shaker, maracas, rainstick, steel lamps, bubble wrap, clothes peg, plastic cup and belt buckles.

Gauche - Sigh (ART AS CATHARSIS 2018)

Art As Catharsis are proud to re-release Gauche’s debut EP ‘Sigh’, an ambitious piece of experimental pop drawing from Bjork, Portishead and Aphex Twin. 

Gauche were a Sydney-based experimental band that existed between 2001 and 2007. Art As Catharsis are re-releasing their back catalog as part of an effort to conserve important recordings in Australia’s experimental music history. 

On their 2003 demo, 'Sigh', we find Gauche colliding disparate musical elements together to create unique and beautiful forms - floating melodies laid over polyrhythmic beats; furious, live drum-and-bass in odd time signatures; looped and reversed tango and gypsy-style guitar lines weaving around soaring classical vocals. 

While Gauche's aesthetic developed considerably over their short career, there is something captivating with the intensity and audacity of 'Sigh'.

1. Sigh 04:31

2. Home Tomorrow 04:59

3. The Swindle 03:21

4. Butter 04:40

5. Against The Wall 06:38

All songs written and performed by Gauche

Recorded live (plus backing vocals and keyboard overdubs) and mixed at Zen Studios 11/12/02, except 'Sigh' and 'Home Tomorrow' mixed by Ben Oakley

All songs mastered by Ben Oakley

Artwork by Mark Bolotin

Holler My Dear - Steady As She Goes (TRAUMTON RECORDS 2018)

The first song of the new album already makes clear where Holler My Dear’s musical journey is heading to this time. Steady As She Goes signalizes confidence, courage and movement. The international band from Berlin knows: when the shadows in the world grow longer lamenting doesn’t help, but optimistic determination does. Accordingly, the music sounds like a soundtrack for a confident departure, for courageously swimming against the tide. Of course there are also pensive moments and quiet ballads.

But overall, the pleasure of cheerfully dancing out of line prevails, inspired by music that sounds uplifting and elevating. Wonderful melodic arcs, catchy hooks, triumphant choirs and infecting grooves are topped off by Laura Winkler’s captivating vocals, changing between soul, pop, and jazz. They convey good-humored resistance, dispel sadness with subtle wit and exude a lightness that never turns into carelessness. This is inextricably linked to clever song lyrics, which clothe reflections about the way of the world in direct, cunning or poetic words.

Holler My Dear’s second album Eat, Drink & Be Merry three years ago was already celebrated for its unusual, largely acoustic sound, in which trumpet, accordion and mandolin step out of their traditions to create something new. Laura Winkler’s enormously versatile singing and her optimistically worded thoughtfulness left an even longer lasting impression. “Every piece unstoppably heads for a hymnal climax and in its fervent core shines Winkler’s masterful vocal art,” Rondo wrote. The magazine Folker praised that “progressive music can also be made without electronic effects,” and Andreas Fellner from Ö1 diagnosed the “music as an anti-depressant”.

Others highlight the “artful pop attitude” (Mica - Music Austria) or the boundlessness of the music. The internationality of the sound lies in the genes of the sextet. Laura Winkler, born 1988 in Graz, studied voice and composition in the conservatory there, and moved to Berlin in September 2011. Several years earlier, the drummer Elena Shams and accordionist Valentin Butt came to the German capital from Russia, independently from one another. Lucas Dietrich originally comes from Vorarlberg and lived in Paris for three years, trumpeter Stephen Molchanski previously played in London with a hip-hop band and with the Alternative Dubstep Orchestra. Fabian Koppri from Brandenburg had the shortest way to Berlin. The band came together in the winter of 2011/12.

Recently they added another Briton, the singer/songwriter Ben Barritt, who joins the band for live shows from time to time and was now also featured in the production of the new album. All personalities bring their own distinct musical backgrounds. Molchanski’s trumpet sounds like New Orleans jazz or Vaudeville drunkenness, in addition he raps skillfully ironically. The accordion awakes memories of Balkan or French musette, even though Butt’s playing is so well versed and multifaceted, that he has already worked for the Berlin Philharmonics and various theatres.

Elena Shams drums disco beats with audible enjoyment and reveals her passion for detailed, playful patterns. As a self-declared Steely Dan fan, Barritt is an expert for second voice harmonies and focused entries, such as striking funk or other guitar riffs. As the center of force and gravity, Laura Winkler’s splendid singing floats above everything. As lively as ever and in certain colors even more confident, her spectrum ranges from slightly dreamy, atmospheric moments to gospel-like expressiveness. In between there are rhythmic phrasing, rapidly spoken lines and jubilant boosts. Her irresistible enthusiasm always conjures a smile on the audience’s faces. Laura Winkler is the main composer and songwriter of the band; her subtle humor protects even profound passages from too much melancholy.

On Steady As She Goes Winkler has become more straightforward than before, also musically, but especially in the lyrics. Nonetheless, the songs are still full of detail. “I love it, when an album works like a movie, novel or journey and you just can’t stop and always want to listen on. Therefore I already gave thought to how the individual pieces go together harmonically and in what order they should be on the CD while composing them. It was also my aim to structure the songs airier, because the band will make them more dense later anyway.” Some facets, like stylistic elements and metaphors, appear multiple times over the course of the album. “We created certain sounds for terms like ‘water’ or ‘storm’,” Winkler explains, “furthermore, there are recurring themes in the lyrics.”

First and foremost, there is her stated plea for candor, pluralism and humanity, as well as explicit rejection of exclusion, fear mongering and absolute calculation. Laura Winkler also displays diversity in a personal manner in “Little By Little”, where she openly sings about queer topics. And Winkler poetically addresses absurdities of today’s electronic communication in “Orchid Song”. “We want to speak to our audience and tell them how we see things and what really gets to us,” Winkler says. Many international concert tours in the past years have brought the band even closer together. Experiences like in Mexico City, “where several thousand spectators were hopping around at our show,” were impressions that influenced the new songs, just like the ones in Iran and Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea, or Estonia. “In Teheran we were always approached; the people absolutely wanted to exchange views.”

The band is all the more excited about their first Malaysia tour in the beginning of December, where they are also performing at the Penang Island Jazz Festival. Under the impact of tour experiences, Holler My Dear are playing with dynamics even more purposefully and sprinkle some contemporary electronic vignettes in between their distinctive acoustic sounds. When Holler My Dear think of disco, they primarily mean those classics like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” from a time when disco still had a societal relevance aside from glamor and hedonism, and conveyed a solidary attitude towards life.

“The idea, to animate people even more strongly to dance, does not mean giving up the filigree aspects of our music,” Laura Winkler emphasizes. There is a clear message inherent in the album’s title Steady As She Goes: “Keeping the ship on course” does not necessarily mean straight stability, but rather cutting one’s way, possibly swaying and shaky, through high waves. “One has to be flexible, because the only thing consistent is change. In doing so, we think of ‘Don’t Panic’ from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy,” Laura Winkler grins. “Changes are part of our life and we stay in motion.” It is precisely this attitude that makes Holler My Dear’s Steady As She Goes a very special pop record, on which lightness and depth, passion and grandeur are soaring.

1. Steady As She Goes 02:49

2. Forward 04:00

3. Home Away from Home 04:39

4. Seeds of Concord 04:10

5. Dream Sequence 03:13

6. Little by Little 04:01

7. Nemories 05:19

8. The Deep 01:13

9. Orchid Song, Pt. 1 03:24

10. Orchid Song, Pt. 2 01:45

11. Steady As She Goes (The More the Merrier) 05:01

12. Scintillating Lady 05:04

13. Wrong Thing’s Some 00:37

14. Something’s Wrong 05:12

15. Zwischen den Städten 05:59

16. Afterword 06:08

www.hollermydear.com