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electroradio
empreintes DIGITALes (Québec): pressreviews
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Critiqueby Gilles Boisclair in SOCAN, Paroles & Musique #14:3 (Canada), September 1, 2007 |6340|
“… ambiance complètement surréaliste et par moments aquatique.”
Conçue pour une chorégraphie de Ginette Laurin pour O Vertigo, Étude no 3 pour cordes et poulies, cette œuvre électroacoustique est un constant mouvement sonore qui élabore une ambiance complètement surréaliste et par moments aquatique. Ces musiques quasi chuchotées nous entraînent dans un flôt sonore envoûtant et irrésistible comme la pièce Cor. Le travail de Nicolas Bernier et Jacques Poulin-Denis n’est pas sans nous rappeler les expériences de l’étiquette empreintes DIGITALes.
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Territorial Imperatives: Canada’s boldest and brightest labels…by Tobias C van Veen in e|i magazine #4 (USA), June 1, 2005 |968|
“… a prolific label for electroacoustic music as well as provocative
experiments in conceptual sound.”
[…] The minimum one can say of empreintes DIGITALes is that it is a prolific label for electroacoustic music as well as provocative experiments in conceptual sound. A few recent releases graft the varied interests of academic and acousmatic music together via the intriguing work of, say, John Oswald. His Aparanthesi is the work of a single note that is gradually inflected along its pitch and combined with various tuned field recordings. [aparanthesi A] is an A note tuned to 440 Hz, which is the broadcast signal stations play when off-air. [aparanthesi B] is a compressed stereo image of the 8 channel performance created for 2000’s Rien à voir electroacoustic festival in Montréal. It is tuned to 480 Hz, the North American electrical standard, so it is in-tune with the hum of lighting and electrical grids. It is also a sonic impression of a complex and involved performance that uprooted the audience from the seats to the atrium and back again. We might call the album a conceptual play between electroacoustc and microsound, audience and chair, sitting and standing, tuning and silence, and for these reasons, the listening experience is very unlike the genre’s contemporaries. Roxanne Turcotte, for example, produces a melange of disjunctive sound, voice and phone recordings, environmental atmospheres and world beat rhythms on Libellune, which features work dating back to 1985. Its complexity at times is interesting, for as a survey of her œuvre it mirrors the development of Montréal electroacoustic in its infatuation with voice and, like R Murray Schafer, the natural world. That said, it remains well within the by now well-established parameters of academic composition. Paul Dolden’s work trammels from New Music composition to electroacoustic, employing repetiton and choral arrangements in a fashion not unlike that of Philip Glass, albeit with a drive toward melodrama and punch over satyagraha, throwing in all elements including the kitchen throughout L’ivresse de la vitesse 1 and 2. Like Turcotte, this work too spans from the ‘80s to the ‘90s, and so much of its feel is like listening to a beloved but aging record from that era, its metallic drums and neon wildness only appearing just a tad navel-gazing with age. Dolden is somewhat overwhelming; [L’ivresse de la vitesse] is a nightmare collage at its start that quickly gets into squeaky territory. For this, the remedy of Seuil de silences is welcome. Although from the same era, its breathing space offers more time for reflection, arrangement and thought, even if the disharmonius creeps back into the picture and becomes an ultimate ode to piano-bashing. […]
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empreintes DIGITALesby Philippe Robert in Octopus #27 (France), March 1, 2004 |687_1|
“Servi par la qualité graphique et musicale des productions, empreintes
DIGITALes rencontre rapidement un certain succès.”
C’est pendant qu’il enseignait à l’université Concordia à Montréal que Jean-François Denis, fondateur et premier président de la Communaute électroacoustique canadienne, toucha du doigt pour la première fois l’extraordinaire vivier que représentait la somme des œuvres pour bandes accumulée par sa terre natale: les compositions, pour la plupart indisponibles sur disque, auxquelles il avait alors accès émanaient pourtant d’artistes reconnus dans le monde entier grâce à des prix remportés dans des concours internationaux consacrés au genre. De là est venue l’idée de mettre sur pied DIFFUSION i MéDIA, en 1989, avec le musicien Claude Schryer, qui depuis n’en fait plus partie: une structure née à Montréal, dédiée à la diffusion des arts médiatiques, montée parallèlement aux labels empreintes DIGITALes (consacré à l’électroacoustique) et SONARt (axé sur les musiques instrumentales et les créations radiophoniques). Servi par la qualité graphique et musicale des productions, empreintes DIGITALes rencontre rapidement un certain succès. Au point que le spectre des musiques diffusées va s’élargir de façon cohérente à la musique électro-instrumentale, interactive et concrète, et à des compositeurs venus d’ailleurs que du Canada. Ainsi seront éditées (parfois méme rééditées) des œuvres de Robert Normandeau (dont un disque a été depuis sorti par Aphex Twin), Francis Dhomont (qui passionne DJ Spooky ou Jack Dangers) et Gilles Gobeil. Mais aussi Jon Appleton (qui a enregistré avec Don Cherry), Michel Chion, Michèle Bokanowski ou Hildegard Westerkamp, dont on parle beaucoup aujourd’hui depuis sa participation à la réalisation de la bande originale du film Elephant de Gus Van Sant.
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Phénomène électroby Réjean Beaucage in Voir #876 (Québec), February 5, 2004 |681|
“… un pilier important de la communauté électroacoustique montréalaise.”
Jean-François Denis est un pilier important de la communauté électroacoustique montréalaise. On discute avec lui des séries de concerts MusMix (2) et Rien à voir (15), présentées ce mois-ci par l’organisme Réseaux. Il ne se passe pas grand-chose du côté de la scène électroacoustique montréalaise sans que Jean-François Denis y soit pour quelque chose. Directeur de la maison de disques empreintes DIGITALes, seule étiquette québécoise qui ne fasse paraître que des disques de musique électroacoustique, il dirige aussi DIFFUSION i MéDIA, la porte d’entrée chez nous d’un bon nombre d’étiquettes étrangères du même genre. Le disque Jalons, de Francis Dhomont, qui remportait le 25 janvier dernier le prix Opus du «Disque de l’année - Musiques actuelle, électroacoustique», c’est empreintes DIGITALes qui l’a publié; une étiquette qui célébrait ses 14 ans le 31 janvier dernier. Jean-François Denis est aussi membre, avec les compositeurs Gilles Gobeil et Robert Normandeau, de la société de concerts Réseaux, qui présente ce mois-ci deux importantes séries: MusMix, une collaboration avec le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) et le Centre de création musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX), et Rien à voir, dont la 15e édition sera aussi la dernière. MusMix: Si vous lisez ces lignes le jour de leur publication, il ne reste qu’un concert à la série MusMix. Jean-François Denis explique: «Le projet est assez précis. Il s’agit d’un événement biennal qui présente des musiques mixtes de compositeurs canadiens. On sait que le Québec est internationalement reconnu en ce qui concerne la musique électroacoustique, mais la musique mixte reste quelque chose de moins courant. Par ailleurs, ce sont surtout les compositeurs de musique instrumentale qui font de la musique mixte; alors, même si ces concerts peuvent attirer un public amateur de musique électroacoustique, il s’agit souvent de compositeurs qui lui sont moins connus. Mélanger l’instrumental et l’électronique, ça donne peut-être le genre de musique le plus délicat à mener à bien». Mais comme le programme est le fruit d’un appel d’offres largement diffusé et pour lequel les organisateurs reçoivent de nombreuses propositions, la sélection proposée offrira le meilleur des deux mondes. Avec l’expertise de Réseaux en matière de diffusion de musique électroacoustique et avec celle du NEM dans l’interprétation des musiques contemporaines, les conditions optimales sont réunies pour une soirée réussie. On y présentera deux créations, de Martin Bédard et Alcides Lanza, qui participaient déjà à la première édition il y a deux ans et dont les œuvres avaient été remarquées par un représentant du CCMIX qui a invité les compositeurs à venir travailler sur une nouvelle œuvre à Paris. Aussi au programme: Andrew Staniland, Kotoka Suzuki, John Oliver, Farangis Nurulla-Khoja et Monique Jean. (Le 6 février, 20 h, Salle Beverly Webster-Rolph du Musée d’art contemporain.) Rien à voir: Ce mois de février 2004 nous amène du même souffle la 15e et dernière édition de la série de concerts Rien à voir, qui célèbre depuis 1997 la musique acousmatique (diffusée, dans la pénombre, par un orchestre de 24 haut-parleurs encerclant le public). «Réseaux est en repositionnement au sujet de la façon de présenter ses concerts, explique Jean-François Denis. Bien sûr, présenter huit concerts en cinq jours, c’est économique et efficace, mais c’est dur pour le public qui voudrait tout suivre, alors on cherchera une meilleure façon de faire. Idéalement, ce serait plutôt quelque chose comme un concert par mois, mais c’est une tout autre histoire, notamment au niveau budgétaire…» Ce genre de projet serait possible dans un lieu dédié à ce type de diffusion, c’est pourquoi Réseaux est partenaire avec le NEM et les Productions SuperMusique dans un projet visant à mettre sur pied une «maison» regroupant les activités des trois organismes. Un lieu où seraient réunies musiques actuelle, contemporaine et électroacoustique. On croit rêver. «On y travaille, acquiesce Jean-François Denis, mais c’est un gros projet qui se développe lentement.» D’ici là, c’est à l’Espace Go que l’on ira entendre Randall Smith, Hildegard Westerkamp, Andrew Lewis et Yves Daoust, du 11 au 15 février (www.rien.qc.ca).
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Label Profileby François Couture in All-Music Guide (USA), September 13, 2001 |451|
“… this independent label has become an international reference in
electroacoustics, building an impressive catalog that encompasses the best living
composers…”
Of all avant-garde music artists, electroacoustic composers may be the ones having the most difficulty to reach an audience. Labels dedicated to this style are few and often tied to academic institutions that limit their accessibility. That’s why empreintes DIGITALes can be considered as a success. Since its inception in 1989, this independent label has become an international reference in electroacoustics, building an impressive catalog that encompasses the best living composers from Canada, the USA, France, England, and abroad. In 1989, Jean-François Denis and Claude Schryer founded DIFFUSION i MéDIA, a production company based in Montréal and dedicated to tape music. An imprint was created: empreintes DIGITALes (a second one, Sonart, dedicated to sound art projects, also saw the light of day but only a few titles were issued in the early 1990s). The first albums to be released were Christian Calon’s Ligne de vie and Robert Normandeau’s Lieux inouïs, in January 1990. Both quickly became respected composers, the latter one of the label’s most prolific and best-selling artists. The first releases focused on Quebec artists, but in 1991 the label issued the 2-CD set Mouvances-Métaphores (reissued in 1996 as two separated CDs: Cycle de l’errance and Les dérives du signe), a mammoth retrospective of French legend Francis Dhomont, another best-selling artist. From this point on, the label rallied composers revolving around the Groupe de recherches musicales in Paris, the BEAST in the UK (a research group led by Jonty Harrison), and the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. Other important contributors would include Michel Chion, Yves Daoust, Paul Dolden, Gilles Gobeil, Denis Smalley, and Annette Vande Gorne. Schryer soon left the company to concentrate on his career as a composer. Denis continued to direct the label and also founded Réseaux, an association devoted to presenting tape music concerts, while establishing a strong relationship with kindred label Ambiances Magnétiques (in the early 2000s, both shared the same premices and web design). In the mid-’90s, empreintes DIGITALes launched “Compact-Compact,” a series of half-priced CDs containing under one hour of music. It targeted newcomers to the genre. Throughout the years the label pioneered original CD box designs. The OPAK box, which allowed room for a thick booklet with extensive liner notes, was introduced in 1996, but was dropped in 2000 in favor of a slimmer cardboard design. These unique graphic signatures were instrumental to the label’s recognition.
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Chroniqueby Julien Jaffré in Jade (France), August 1, 2001 |402_001|
“Chez empreintes DIGITALes, le radicalisme esthétique est une
constante, plaçant d’emblée les productions du label au rang d’objet
d’art.”
empreintes DIGITALes est le fer de lance de la musique électroacoustique au sens où Metamkine pourrait la définir. Dirigé par Jean-François Denis, il est partagé avec SONARt qui lui distingue davantage les créations instrumentales de studio. Chez empreintes DIGITALes, le radicalisme esthétique est une constante, plaçant d’emblée les productions du label au rang d’objet d’art. Un soin apporté aux pochettes et aux disques, qui sonne comme un engagement quasi éthique, si ce n’est idéologique. Toute cette génération de curieux trouve à présent un réel épanouissement, mûrissement de quelques années de pratiques laborieuses, de doutes successifs, dans le jeu de la construction de leur univers respectif. On peut ajouter l’influence de l’école française concrète (Schaeffer) référence évidente et revendiquée, notamment par Jonty Harrison, même s’ils s’inscrivent en réaction à l’académisme, à l’hermétisme et à la doctrine de la technique. Ces auteurs ont le mérite de considérer l’époque pour elle-même et non à travers des mythologies douteuses ou fantasmées.
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L’année en édition musicaleby Dominique Nadeau in SOCAN, Paroles & Musique #7:6 (Canada), November 1, 2000 |358_4|
“Les mélomanes férus de musique électroacoustique sont bien servis cette
année…”
Les mélomanes férus de musique électroacoustique sont bien servis cette année grâce aux maisons d’éditions YMX MéDIA et YUL MéDIA, lesquelles ont édité plusieurs œuvres des compositeurs canadiens Robert Normandeau, Daniel Leduc, Randall Smith, Marc Tremblay et Louis Dufort. Les créateurs étrangers ne sont pas en reste, les œuvres du Français Kristoff K.Roll et de l’Allemand Hans Tutschku venant compléter cette liste déja fort bien remplie. À noter que l’ensemble des ces créations ont été gravées grâce à l’expertise de la maison de disques empreintes DIGITALes, de Montréal.
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La mouvance acousmatiqueby François Tousignant in Le Devoir (Québec), October 16, 2000 |355_5|
“… il y a bel et bien une «école de Montréal» en électroacoustique.”
Première chose qui saute à l’oreille après le concert de jeudi soir: il y a bel et bien une «école de Montréal» en électroacoustique. Toutes les œuvres entendues au programme participent d’une même approche, celle lancée par Pierre Schaeffer. Cela consiste en le fait qu’il a fallu, pour le nouvel art qu’était la musique faite de sons enregistrés, manipulés ou électroniquement générés, définir un vocabulaire, inventer un solfège et composer un répertoire de sons et de manipulations sonores. Ce dernier point est malheureusement trop souvent confondu avec la composition elle-même, ce qui rend l’art alors un certain art acousmatique stérile. Le programme s’ouvrait et se fermait avec deux extraits de Francis Dhomont. On ainsi voulu rendre un hommage à celui qui est de plus en plus reconnu comme le «fondateur» de cette école. À l’heure où il œuvrait à la Faculté de musique de l’Université de Montréal, quand on parlait de musique électroacoustique, le membre artistique de l’équation primait sur le technique. Non seulement la musique de Dhomont reste-t-elle encore belle et jeune, mais diffusée ainsi en salle - Robert Normandeau!, sublime poète de la console! - sa dimension réelle éblouit avec autant de force que de sensualité, d’intelligence que d’inspiration. Peu importe le média, la grande musique, c’est cela. Mémoires vives, du ci-nommé Normandeau, est une pièce un peu rhétorique (je maintiens mon jugement antérieur), mais qui passe mieux en salle qu’au disque - comme tout le reste du programme d’ailleurs; après tout, on n’a chez soi que deux haut-parleurs plutôt que l’armada ici sollicitée et l’espace utilisé. Dommage pourtant que le climat fût brouillé par un impair technique, équivalent du trou de mémoire au concert «habituel» et qui a toutefois démontré que, oui, quelque part, ces machines à musique restaient humaines. Le plus beau moment, là où vraiment on a senti une succession au maître fondateur, reste les Paysages intérieurs, de Stéphane Roy. Non seulement la «bande» est splendide, mais Normandeau s’est hissé à des sommets d’inspiration interprétative pour la rendre exceptionnellement sensible. On est pris par cette mouvance qui s’ouvre et qui nous ouvre, qui tourne qui appelle, parfois répond, et qui nous dit… que si on fait cette musique, c’est qu’elle doit être faite ainsi car le message ne saurait être livré autrement.
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Reviewby Tom Schulte in Outsight (USA), October 1, 2000 |354_1|
“… you will find a wholly new aural universe in DiM.”
Probably the most fertile grounds for contemporary electroaoustic (experimental sound collage) composition is in eastern Ontario. From there you will find a wholly new aural universe in DiM. Recent releases on the label include Moment by Hans Tutschku and Corazon Road by Kristoff K.Roll. One of Tutschku’s pieces is a travelogue of Southeast Asia through sonic collage of field recordings. Another piece is the transformed words of a poem. In a setting of haunting, industrial sounds like distant machines the effect is quite mysterious. Corazon Road is another peculiar travelogue. This is a road diary of Kristoff K.Roll’s journeys through Central America. Snatches of conversation and the mystique of lonely roads marks this album.
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Electroacoustic Music: What is it?, How to Listen to it? and Where to Start?by François Couture in Splendid E-Zine (USA), September 1, 2000 |350_2|
“It’s not [ordinary] music — it’s sound sculpture.”
Of all demanding music (you remember, that’s the topic of this monthly column?), electroacoustic music is often considered to be the most difficult type, and also the most misunderstood. I will try to clear things up a little in this “Electroacoustic 101” lesson. It’s all semantics, right? The first problem one encounters is in the terminology. Electroacoustic music was first developed and theorized in France. Words and expressions like “musique concrète,” “électroacoustique” and “art acousmatique” are often mistaken for one another while their English counterparts don’t always bear the same meaning. To decipher it all, let’s ask one of the prominent people in the field, Jean-François Denis, owner of the leading electroacoustic label empreintes DIGITALes: “In 1950, Pierre Schaeffer ‘discovered’ a new way of thinking music. Because the compositional work was done directly with the result (raw sound is treated in studio, on tape, instead of on staff paper), therefore the process was concrete (while instrumental music asks for abstraction from the composer in order to imagine what the piece will sound like) and Schaeffer named it ’musique concrète’ (concrete music).” The term “acousmatics” was reactivated by François Bayle in 1970 and describes music heard without being able to see where it originates. The distinctions between “acousmatics” and “musique concrète” are more historical than stylistic. In French, “electroacoustics” supercedes them both as the generic name of a musical genre where a composer works with sound treated in the studio and fixed on tape. The English conception of this word leads more toward a recording technique which includes both acoustic and electronic parts, but I will use the term in its “genre” acceptation. ”Seeing” electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is not music in the traditional sense and it never was intended to be. It’s not something you listen to while washing dishes, working on a term paper or building a soap box car in the garage (although the latter might give interesting results). The composer doesn’t aim at a melody-and-accompaniement form. The electroacoustician shapes sound in the same way a sculptor shapes wood, stone or metal. He takes raw sound sources (their choice often relates to his conception of what the piece will stand for/mean) and manipulates them via studio techniques in order make them say something they were not meant to — ultimately disguising them, making them impossible for the listener to recognize. Listening to an electroacoustic piece is like studying a sculpture from every angle…or like “watching” a sound movie, hence the expression “cinema for the ear”. Depending on the piece, the best way to listen to electroacoustic music is with headphones (some are better with loudspeakers), lights down and even eyes closed, with minimum disturbance and interruption. The goal is to let yourself be surrounded by the sound. Of course, these are not the kind of tunes you will listen to repeatedly. But the experience is really worth a try and when you stumble upon a piece that talks to you, you will find yourself going back to it regularly. Essentials Keeping the list short, here are a few essential listenings for beginners — yes, that means easy start-ups. Of course I could (and should) list a few titles by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, the pioneers of the genre, but their availability on the market is unstable. Let’s just say that Henry’s Variations pour une porte et un soupir (Variations for a door and a sigh, 1963) is a classic, although it didn’t age very well. Personaly, I also really like his La noire à soixante + granulométrie (1968). But I want to draw your attention to more recent and easier-to-locate titles. Some composers have a way of staging “cinema for the ear” that will take you like a good drama. Francis Dhomont is the best. His art is subtle, works on many levels and retains a human touch often lacking in more sterile composers, but most of all is very poetic. It all makes it a great place to start. Forêt profonde (Deep Forest, 1996, empreintes DIGITALes, [IMED 9634] ) is a stunning 60-minute piece built on fairy tales and their psychanalytical meanings. Snatches of conversations, and people reading stories in many languages, are embodied in the work and give it an eerie feeling, especially when listened to on headphones (there are people talking all around you). If you must hear only one piece of electroacoustic music, it has to be this one. Another fantastic Dhomont title is Sous le regard d’un soleil noir (Under the eye of a black sun, 1982, re-issued 1996 on empreintes DIGITALes [IMED 9633]). Stretching the metaphor of the “cinema for the ear”, this one is an Exorcist-type horror movie based around schizophrenia. More and more, composers are trying to free electroacoustic music from the frame of academic work and link it to more vital live settings. The French duo Kristoff K.Roll (Jean-Christophe Camps and Carole Rieussec) has achieved interesting results with “live” electroacoustics interacting with an instrumentist (clarinetist Xavier Charles). This can be heard on La Pièce (released 1999 on the French label Potlatch). Kristoff K.Roll also have a beautiful “traditional” CD on empreintes DIGITALes, Corazón Road; it’s a “journey for the ear” through Central America. I must also point out West Coast clarinetist François Houle’s Au cœur du litige (2000, Spool Records), a breathtaking 2CD set based on the 1998 Ice Storm, in which he succesfully blends prepared electroacoustics, live electroacoustics and a free improv rock quartet. In any case, try it. But don’t approach this music as ordinary verse-chorus-outro music. It’s not music — it’s sound sculpture.
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Reviewby Paul Lemos in Under the Volcano (USA), September 1, 1999 |316_401|
“During the past decade, empreintes DIGITALes has consistently
issued some of the very best electroacoustic music being made.”
It is a great pleasure to be able to write about some of the recent music coming from Canada’s premiere new music label, empreintes DIGITALes. During the past decade, empreintes DIGITALes has consistently issued some of the very best electroaoustic music being made. Unlike the recordings I often review from labels like Mego, Soleilmoon, Trente Oiseaux etc…, those issued on empreintes DIGITALes are, for the most part, made by classically schooled composers who have studied composition at major universities and have been involved with academic musical explorations for many years. These are fully composed works of musique concrète, pristinely recorded and beautifully presented. So, if you are even slightly interested in the new wave of experimental electronic music pouring out of the US, Germany and Austria, I strongly urge you to find some of the music presented here. This is the real deal. Suffice it to say that you will be blown away.
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Interviewby Ned Bouhalassa in CEC, Sur le vif / Quick Takes (Canada), August 1, 1999 |316_9| Ned Bouhalassa: In January 2000, the empreintes DIGITALes label will celebrate its tenth anniversary. It is recognized around the world and its catalogue receives rave reviews from the critics. How do you explain this success? Jean-François Denis: In 1990, there were no independent record labels specializing in electroacoustic music. There were labels of course, but these were parallel activities of studios or organizations. We were a ‘fresh’ idea. Also, from the start, empreintes DIGITALes developed an artistic ‘policy’ (regarding both sound and graphics) and became very visible in the electroacoustic and experimental circles (due to its large publicity and the many mailings of catalogues). So there was a will to develop a signature, to be recognized. Of course, the quality of the works was always a priority. NB: What inspired you to set up your own record company? JFD: No one else wanted to do it. I went around to the other existing record companies (of this country) to offer to develop an electroacoustic sub-division, but returned unsuccessful. I also talked to several composers about a record production project: all were very interested… that someone else do it. When I spoke about it to Claude Schryer, he mentioned that he had been thinking about setting up a label as well. So in August 1989, we founded DIFFUSION i MéDIA (today a distributor) and the label empreintes DIGITALes, and we conceived the first 4 projects of the collection (Calon, Normandeau, Thibault and Électro clips). NB: Starting a new business is always risky, even more so in the case of a serious music record company. Did you have many doubts in the beginning? JFD: The risks? We were ready to work and, with the indispensable help of the composers, we faced only beautiful risks: to produce decent, superb, lavish CDs of music that we like. I believe that we need risk in order to constantly redefine ourselves, to question ourselves (even if it may mean going back to the starting point). The doubts? I wondered then what I would do with 1000 copies (the minimum at the time) of the same disc in my home: how do I get them out there to be heard? what about distribution? sales? We almost had to invent ways to reach our public! (We didn’t even know where to really find this public!) NB: The first Francis Dhomont double-cd, with its large booklet, was launched with pomp and circumstance before two exceptional concerts. Was this one of your most memorable launches? One of your wildest projects? JFD: The Montréal launches have always been a little special: in a Planetarium; disguised as a party-concert; café-croissant at 7 AM; in disco or punk bars. Of course the Dhomont box-set launch was important, though, if my memory serves me right, it was but a small part of a night which was celebrating Francis Dhomont’s 65th birthday. There was also a collage-homage piece from his students, assembled by Gilles Gobeil. There have also been other launches in Vancouver, Norwich (UK), Toronto, Birmingham (USA), and Paris… NB: The image of your label is immediately recognizable. What is always obvious is the attention that is given to the quality of the graphics. How would you describe Luc Beauchemin’s role? JFD: Luc Beauchemin conceived of the first design overhaul in 1991 (with the Daoust), as well as the second in 1996 (with the Harrison). (The OPAK cardboard box, used since 1996, is a collaborative effort.) As for the cover art, the composer is the one who suggests a work or commissions an artist (since Luc Beauchemin is also a graphic artist, some of the covers feature his work). NB: The only CDs on your label that feature works by different artists on the same release are the clips CDs (Électro clips and Miniatures concrètes). Why don’t you combine normal length pieces by different composers on one cd? JFD: Because I find these (mixed composers) CDs uninteresting to listen to. Each individual empreintes DIGITALes cd represents a unique musical ‘idea’; as a listener, I find that extremely enjoyable. The only exceptions stem from a very strong and original ‘concept’ (especially in 1990): that of the 3-minute electroacoustic clip. That, to me, is what makes it ‘possible’ to listen to these kinds of CDs. NB: How do you choose your cd projects? JFD: It usually starts with the music (heard in concert, during festivals — but very rarely from ‘demos’ received by mail) and follows with the composer’s approach, the integrity of their artistic approach. NB: How can a composer interest you in a cd project? JFD: It’s not easy actually, since I’m already drowning in daily mail in which I occasionally find a ‘demo’ - and I’m somewhat overloaded with work. But I can say that when a composer is recommended by a colleague, it usually helps (one should not forget as well that the production of a cd depends greatly on it being somewhat funded). NB: What do you think of distribution via the Internet? Do you intend one day to allow your clients to buy works that can be downloaded? JFD: The cd is only a medium. The advantage that it offers over previous formats is its sound quality specifically in the case of electroacoustic music duration and durability. As soon as there exists another support which offers similar sound quality, we’ll offer music in that format. It’s pretty obvious. So my answer is yes. NB: You wrote many works during the 80s. Do you think that you might one day make a cd featuring your own works? JFD: A few pieces have withstood the test of time (ten and fifteen years later). I really haven’t thought seriously about this. What do you think?
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Discreet Musicby Chris Yurkiw in Montreal Mirror (Québec), February 12, 1998 |257_5|
“… Pierre Schaeffer’s break
is certainly not lost on Jean-François Denis”
On the 50th anniversary of “musique concrète,” Montréal’s electroacoustic composers are still watching the cement dry. “At first the art of music sought and achieved purity, limpidity and sweetness of sound. Then different sounds were amalgamated, care being taken, however, to caress the ear with gentle harmonies. Today music, as it becomes continually more complicated, strives to amalgamate the most dissonant, strange and harsh sounds. In this way we come ever closer to ‘noise-sound.’” Whenever this quote from Luigi Russolo is bounced around, the kicker is that the futurist artist wrote it in his manifesto The Art of Noises back in 1913. Russolo was ushering in the modern era and he gets cited because he turned out to be a damn good futurist. By the ’20s, French composers like Érik Satie and George Antheil were writing ballets for sirens, crying babies and typewriters; a generation later, American John Cage was reinforcing the idea that all sounds — including silence — were musical; into the rock era it was no great leap to the feedback of Hendrix, the kling klang of Kraftwerk and the scratching of Grandmaster Flash. But long before the avant-garde became popular, a pair of Pierres named Schaeffer and Henry made a crucial discovery while playing around with the new technology of magnetic recording tape in 1948. In the studios of Radiodiffusion-télévision française [(RTF)] they manipulated recorded sounds — both ‘musical’ and non — by splicing the tape, rearranging it, varying the speed, looping it and overdubbing it. Schaeffer called it “musique concrète,” and with that he allowed for the possibility of a truly ‘artificial’ music. Not many considered it to be music then, and even 30 years later people were still railing against studio creations with the battle cry, “Disco sucks!” Fifty years after the birth of musique concrète (and a few changes in name, like electroacoustic or acousmatic music), Pierre Schaeffer’s break is certainly not lost on Jean-François Denis. Denis is one of the pillars of Montréal’s vibrant electroacoustic scene — the French connection not insignificant — a composer first but nowadays more of an instigator who spends most of his time promoting the music by releasing it on the crucial empreintes DIGITALes label. It’s a tiresome job pushing an ambient, jarring and intellectualized music, but Denis places more faith in its acceptance by the proverbial ‘people’ than any industry, media or festival. “I think electroacoustic music is becoming less bizarre for the public,” says Denis, “and more present in their lives. The scores for lots of films, for example, are often verging on electroacoustic music, but it’s never pointed out to the audience.” So Denis and composers Robert Normandeau and Gilles Gobeil, a trio who make up the electroacoustic promotional body Réseaux, are using the 50th anniversary of musique concrète to try to make their point once again. Not that they need an excuse: the upcoming concerts Rien à voir are the third in a series presented by Réseaux in the past year. But the link with the past is going to be made clear with the works and presence of two European figures; Frenchman Bernard Parmegiani, one of the godfathers of electroacoustic music whose work dates just post-Schaeffer, and Belgian Annette Vande Gorne, whose breaking of the gender barrier in yet another boys club has inspired Canadian “électroacousticiennes” such as Wende Bartley and Roxanne Turcotte. Works by Denis, Normandeau and Gobeil will also be accompanied by those of Montréaler Christian Calon and Mark Wingate, one of the few American practitioners of a form rooted much more firmly in Europe and its stronger outposts. And while the presence of the composers is a nice touch, it’s certainly not needed in electroacoustics, where the recorded works are played for the audience via a surround-sound style set up of 20 loudspeakers. “When the lights go down at an electroacoustic concert,” says Denis, “I always think, ‘I have no idea what this might sound like.’”
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La musique électroacoustique résiste au tempsby Philippe Tétreau in La Presse (Québec), June 14, 1997 |244_001|
“… un catalogue impressionnant…”
Quarante ans aprés le Poème électronique d’Edgar Varèse, nombreux sont ceux qui considèrent encore les expériences sonores faites en studio comme de la musique de recherche (donc non achevée) qui n’intéresse que ceux qui s’y livrent. Il est tout de même un peu étrange qu’après quatre décennies le grand public ait si peu apprivoisé ces formes d’expression. En 1997 l’électroacoustique fait toujours peur ou suscite des réticences à tout le moins. Pourtant, là comme ailleurs, les réussites existent, les échecs aussi. Plusieurs connaissent déjà l’existence de l’étiquette québecoise empreintes DIGITALes. Spécialisée depuis huit ans dans les enregistrements de «séquences» électroacoustiques, cette maison possède un catalogue impressionnant qui contient une quarantaine de titres. Les réalisations sonores dont il est question ici en sont quelques-unes parues ces demiers mois.
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Label Profileby Daniel Plunkett, Jeff Filla in ND (USA), June 1, 1997 |241_5|
“… a label dedicated to bringing forward some of the most compelling work of
new and historic artists…”
The label empreintes DIGITALes has long caught our eyes and ears as a label dedicated to bringing forward some of the most compelling work of new and historic artists involved with electroacoustic music. The following interview with Jean-François Denis explores the history and exploration of new artists. 23 questions by Daniel Plunkett and Jeff Filla. -------------------------------------------- ND: Could you give a brief background of the activities revolving around DIFFUSION i MéDIA? Jean-François Denis: Founded in 1989 with Claude Schryer, DIFFUSION i MéDIA’s first activity was the setup of its electroacoustic music CD label empreintes DIGITALes. This label was founded because that genre of music was not being “served” by any other “real” record label I knew of at the time. (I knew of the GRM and of the Cultures électroniques-Bourges collections in France, but not anywhere else.) It is while teaching electroacoustic music at Concordia University (1985-89) in Montréal, and through the call for works for its annual electroacoustic concert series that I became aware of the extensive accumulated archives of Canadian (700+) and international (300+) electroacoustic pieces. Some of them masterpieces, but not available. If you had missed the concert or the one radio broadcast — too bad! There was a need to “materialize” some of these works. No other existing local or national label would go into that field. I was left to do it by myself. Claude Schryer was also concerned about the “diffusion” of that music, so we decided to simply found a label. ![]() ![]() ![]()
We had four projects to start the label with: Calon, Normandeau, Thibault and the special Électro clips. I wanted to have many CD plans in order not to setup yet another “One-CD” label. The funding from the Canada Council (for the Arts) for sound recording projects helped us tremendously in doing things “right:” good sound, good color covers, complete booklet, full of information and full English translation. DIFFUSION i MéDIA is a media arts producer, since 1992 run by one person. Its main activities are two-fold:
Areas of interest are the publication of written documents (in French and in English) about electroacoustic music. (Much that is happening in Europe — France, UK, Sweden — does not reach North America.) I travel to keep up with research, ideas, composers, concerts, festivals… these books would fill in gaps in the available literature, mostly for teaching purposes. -------------------------------------------- ND: How do you select the artists which you release? JFD: I travel a lot, meet many composers, and listen to many works, mostly during festivals. If I like what I hear or if I feel the composer’s integrity, I get in touch and try to design a string of pieces that will make a wonderful livingroom loudspeaker disc. That last point is important, I try to focus on good sounding loudspeaker music. Recordings that will sound good in livingrooms. I am not too interested in “documenting” performances. -------------------------------------------- ND: Could you pinpoint any goals or aspirations? JFD: Well this one is hard. The goal is to make the music heard; make it available; at the most affordable price possible. Keep titles in print. Provide promo copies to radio stations (national ones but mostly college and community based stations). Make the music heard. -------------------------------------------- ND: Does DIFFUSION i MéDIA sponsor any concerts? JFD: When I started the CD label, nobody else was serving that area. In terms of concert production, many other organizations work in that field already. So the answer is no, not directly. DIFFUSION i MéDIA has organized three concert tours called Traces électro: Canada in 1991, French-speaking Europe in 1992, UK in 1994. With composers Robert Normandeau and Gilles Gobeil, we have founded a concert organization, Réseaux, that specialized in musique concrète concerts (projected on a large number of loudspeakers). -------------------------------------------- ND: There seems to be a healthy musical and artistic activity in Montréal. JFD: This city is quite surprising in that respect indeed. Is there a sense of urgency caused by the French-speaking minority (6 million) in an English-speaking immediate majority (300 million)? In terms of electroacoustics: the four universities and the conservatoire have programs (from 3 or 4 course to full-fledged undergraduate, graduate and doctorate programs), enrolled some 125 students yearly, and produce some concerts. Plus ACREQ is an independent electroacoustic music concert producer in town. So there is activity. Things are moving and the more they move the more exciting they become. -------------------------------------------- ND: What are some of the upcoming and planned releases? JFD: 1996 was good for empreintes DIGITALes: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Cirque by Paris composer Michèle Bokanowski; Zoo by Dan Lander (Toronto); Articles indéfinis by Jonty Harrison (UK); Délirantes (2 CDs of mixed works by Cuban-born Canadian composer Sergio Barroso; Kaleidos by Stéphane Roy (Montréal); Transformations by Hildegard Westerkamp (Vancouver); the opera for six singers and electroacoustic music Léone by Philippe Mion and Philippe Minyana (Paris); two releases by Montréal-based French composer Francis Dhomont Sous le regard d’un soleil noir and Forêt profonde and American pioneer Jon Appleton Contes de la mémoire. 1997-98 has more to offer: [Autour by] Claude Schryer, [Miniatures concrètes] a new Électro clips-like release with 24 new 3-minute pieces (composer from USA, France, UK, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Québec…), [Les corps éblouis by] Christian Calon, [and projets with] Yves Daoust, Ned Bouhalassa, Daniel Leduc, Jacques Tremblay, Darren Copeland, Michel Chion… -------------------------------------------- ND: Where do you find the most positive reaction? JFD: From people without prejudices: electroacoustic music has had bad press and bad reputation in many countries for various reasons, good and bad. Tape music in the USA has a bad name for instance, being called academic, intellectual, dead and these are found in the “underground-alternative” music stores. They read the specialized magazines and listen to selected radio stations. Geographically, Europe is where empreintes DIGITALes has had the most positive response so far. -------------------------------------------- ND: What is the connection between Metamkine and DIFFFUSION i MéDIA? JFD: Metamkine is a mail-order distributor in Europe based in Rives (near Grenoble), France which also specializes in electroacoustic, musique concrète, acousmatic music and experimental music. It also produces its own CD label: Cinéma pour l’oreille. It is the main representative of empreintes DIGITALes in Europe. DIFFUSION i MéDIA helps distribute its Cinéma pour l’oreille collection in North America (and also serves as a North American address for its catalog). We have both developed our labels to serve different needs. We “share” many composers (and more to come) and consult on each other on our projects in order to coordinate events, launches, concerts, etc. Besides, Jérôme Noetinger and I are great friends, both working for the same ideals, in similar complementary ways. -------------------------------------------- ND: Many of the composers you have released, with the exception of a few, are not very well known, even within certain circles of people who listen to experimental music. It takes a long time for people to become aware of certain artists. Does this ever frustrate you? JFD: No, being “not well known” is the norm in electroacoustic music. It is more demanding in terms of promotion (not only do I have to promote the existence of the disc, I have to promote the existence of that “musical genre” and of that one “composer”) but is absolutely normal. How many artists are well known in the circles of truly experimental music? -------------------------------------------- ND: Are there certain books or publications you could recommend to people who would be interested in knowing more about this kind of music, and the history of it? JFD: Yes, but most of them are in French at this time. Books by authors, and most time composers, Michel Chion, François Bayle, the late Pierre Schaeffer; The LIEN collection directed by Annette Vande Gorne, and a few issues by Francis Dhomont. Simon Emmerson (UK) wrote a book 20 years ago and updated it a few years ago. Joel Chadabe (USA) recently wrote a book on electronic music which I have not seen yet. Most of the English books I know of were written over 15 years ago. But I am not a good person to ask. -------------------------------------------- ND: Electroacoustic music is usually very stereophonically dynamic and emphasizes changing environments and abrupt changes in sound sources. AMM’s Keith Rowe said “the key to understanding this music is to consider it “cinema for the ear” (this is the title for Metamkine’s 3” CD series). JFD: The term “Cinéma pour l’oreille” has been around for many years now; I can’t trace its source though. It is also a term used by Robert Normandeau (from the intro of his Tangram CD): “the quintessence of my work during 1990-93, and exemplify the perspective which I’d embraced during that period: cinema for the ear. Basically, this consists of seeking inspiration outside of the musical context, specially in the work of cinema. Themes are inspired directly from the titles; once elaborated, they then underlie the work, becoming axes around which the composition takes shape. They serve as landmarks for the listener exploring these unheard-of spaces.” -------------------------------------------- ND: The manner in which this sort of music is “performed” seems very appropriate to the music’s character. Is performance what the composer has most in mind when at work in the studio? JFD: Of course two (maybe more) answers are possible here. I think that composers, while composing, keep in mind that their music will be mostly heard: 1) on the radio — stereophonic sound; 2) in concert — with a sound projection system using 12, 16, or 24+ loudspeakers; 3) at home — via the compact disc — stereo sound. Some pieces work well in the concert space only, other in the living room only. Many work well in both settings. But I would say that many composers work with sound, with its texture, its position in space, its movement in space. Thus, the concert is where their music can take the full spectrum. -------------------------------------------- ND: Also, please describe the setting for these performances and the means in which the music is played. JFD: The loudspeakers are placed in the room, many in front, some on the side, some in the back, some above, some in the audience. The master tape (stereo), via the console’s faders, may feed each speaker independently. The “sound projectionist,” using those faders, “performs” the piece by sending the sounds to different speakers, thus moving the sound in space, but also in colors (since the loudspeakers are different models, “sounding” differently.) Projectionists usually make “diffusion” scores, rehearse the pieces in each space — adapting the movement/color ideas to specific sound system installation, and perform “live” from the center of the room, and of the audience. -------------------------------------------- ND: Do these artists ever perform instruments live at such events? JFD: There are three main kinds of electroacoustics: musique concrète, acousmatic music, tape music… (these are piece for loudspeakers only); mixed works…(these are for instrument(s) and tape); and live pieces, interactive music… (these are all live). It is also important to note that for some (mostly in the USA) electroacoustic is not a musical genre, but descriptive (such as “piano music” or “symphonic music”); for others it is a genre, a different approach to composition. So to answer your question, yes. -------------------------------------------- ND: Relatively few works in the French electroacoustic tradition are readily available. JFD: By available you mean “in my local record shop.” Specialized music is available via specialized networks. France electroacoustic music is available on more than 60 CDs. There is basically one French label: Cinéma pour l’oreille. The GRM is a studio and has an important collection of CDs. The GMEB, with its competition, has also an important CD catalog. Most French studios have their own “in-house” label (all are available, by mail, via METAMKINE). -------------------------------------------- ND: Which works are thought to exemplify excellence in this medium? (What works do you find personally inspiring?) JFD: Well, as a CD label director, I try to present, in varied styles, excellence. Naming is excluding, forgetting and reductionist, and I am not very good at it. There are many, many important works; some are already available on CD, many are not. But I can dive in and say that the work of French composers François Bayle, Francis Dhomont, Michel Chion, Bernard Parmegiani are “important.” Many other composers — from other countries — are also important: Åke Parmerud, Gilles Gobeil, and Jonty Harrison, but that’s only seven names. -------------------------------------------- ND: The vast majority of “20th Century” compositions that are available are for instrumentations typical of traditional classical music. Your label has tended to emphasis studio “tape music”-style works. Do you feel that there is a importance in distinguishing between the two mediums? JFD: Yes. While mixed works and live works are extensions of the instrumental musical language, studio pieces (tape, musique concrète) may be radically different, a new approach to sound art and sound composition. This is why I was referring to the difference in the meaning of the term electroacoustic earlier. For the label I tend to focus on the work that has a footing in the sonic world rather than in the instrumental world. -------------------------------------------- ND: You mentioned earlier that tape music in the USA has a bad name. There does exist a resentment among many private enthusiasts of experimental music here toward the products of academia, often due to the fact that self-taught artists are usually ignored in academic circles (literature, festivals, etc.) How do you view composers who have been involved mostly in a University system versus those in the underground? JFD: To me, if the music sounds good, it sounds good. While most composers come out of schools, as most filmmakers come out of schools, electroacoustic music composers do also. They have access to instruments, to knowledge, and to masters there. Why not go? But this does not mean that what comes out “sounds good” to me. Where composers come from is (to an extent) their personal life. If their music is good (to my subjective self) then that is what matters. Today, with the technology, many musicians are doing a kind of “live” tape music (so to speak) using found sounds, changing and transforming them and “pasting” them together (composition.) Some do it within the rock music genre, some in the industrial music genre… some in the form of concert music (thus less “popular” thus “less known” thus “more difficult” thus “reserved to the few” thus “elite” — I do not believe this at all but that is the general thinking here…) or even the more abstract form of musique concrète (to use one of its many names.) -------------------------------------------- ND: Is it true that electroacoustic music is almost always produced in the studios of Universities? JFD: Well, this is not accurate. The music from the universities might be more visible (via the network of conferences, festivals and competitions), but most music in Québec is made in composers’ personal studios; most music made in France is made in (state funded) local studios, for example. -------------------------------------------- ND: Did all of your label’s artists come to electroacoustic music by way of classical music study in a University setting? JFD: Most have been associated with institutions (this includes universities — mostly in the anglo-saxon world, the conservatories — mostly in the French world, and structures — mostly state funded) but not all: Christian Calon and Randall Smith have not, for instance. -------------------------------------------- ND: Would you say that most such composers are interested in classical music? JFD: Many only work in electroacoustics. -------------------------------------------- ND: Is electroacoustic music seen as a form of expression tied to traditional themes to the extent that classical music is (with Western literature, religion, mythology, etc.)? JFD: Human beings’ expression is tied to human beings’ lives. -------------------------------------------- ND: I find it fascinating that on many of your label’s releases (and similar labels) are works that had gone long unheard by willing enthusiasts — works buried in a University archives for many years, if not decades. Why do you think that these original works were never individually released? Do Uni |






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