MINOS

There didn't seem to be a huge electronic scene in Quebec, but there were a few examples, like Dionne Bregent, Michel Madore's last album La Chambre Nuptiale (his debut Le Komuso a Cordes is more prog rock/space rock), and Pascal Languirand. Pascal Languirand appears to be the son of Quebec radio and TV personality Jacques Languirand. In 1981 he starred in a TV series called Vivre Ici Maintenant in which his son recorded music for, and became his third album (listed in ProgArchives, as it was available to the general Quebec public). 1978's Minos is Pascal's debut, released on Kebec Disc, just like the sole album from Pollen and the original version of Michel Madore's La Chambre Nuptiale (it was later issued in France on EGG, but without the gatefold and a slight modification of the cover artwork). I was surprised to find out it has an embossed cover. What you get is sinister droning electronic music. It seems he gets most of that from the Moog Taurus bass pedals, which is not usual (I'm used to the Genesis style of use of Moog Taurus), but he also plays guitar, sings, and also plays drums. Much of it relies on his keyboards. It's a bit like Klaus Schulze meets Pink Floyd, although one song, "Dans le Vent, Dans le Temps" is so out of place, it's unbelievable. Here he explore folk rock that's unbelievable similar to Harmonium. I guess that was intentional, if you're from Quebec, you probably couldn't ignore Harmonium. The music here brings to mind the L'Heptade-era of the band or perhaps the more calm, acoustic moments of Pascal's labelmate Pollen, but it's easy to tell it's not Harmonium as Pascal Languirand has a higher pitch voice than Serge Fiori. The last song, "Omega" is more typical of the album. Strange electronic album with one clearly prog folk song. He has released two other albums which I will plan on getting. The great thing is you can get these at a reasonable price without hurting your bank account as none of his three albums have ever been reissued. It's quite a bit different from his '80s new wave/synth pop band Trans-X, that's for sure. Electronic music like this comes highly recommended!