PRAIRIE ORANGE

With this third stage of the Hétu rocket, the Québécoise chicks (les Poules in French) are now going all the way and as far as humanly possible. Down again to a trio, Hétu on sax is still having old pal Labrosse on keys and sampling and Danielle Roger on percussions. But if Wondeur Brass (during the 80's) was in general accessible, Justine (in the 90's) was definitely harder to "get into" or catch, Les Poules (in the 00's) make it almost impossible, although this man has heard worse in the early 70's from German musicians.

Indeed this could well be Popol's Affenstunde or Tangerine's Zeit, Kluster's Zwei or even Kraftwerk's Red Cone; but it's not "krauty", nor is it atonal or even really dissonant?. It's just fully improvised, at least I think! No beat or rhythm, no melodies, nothing to make this album an easy listen?. Well actually the first listen is somewhat easier than the future ones, because you're still discovering it, whereas once you know what's on it, you might have a difficult time returning to it. So the album is actually never unlistenable either, because it is not dissonant, and if you're to look at Far-Eastern music improvisations, you could see where Mme. Roger gets her inspiration for her percussions. The voices heard are more of the animal reign, all three musicians howling growling and meowing like females in heat, or on the hunt for preys. Hetu's sax parts make VdGG's Jaxon parts look like kids' stuff.

Another typical Ambiance Magnetique album, I'd be tempted to say; but this is hard to get "further/beyond" this type of music, and this is the kind of album that can only be recommended to those who have a solid idea of what they get into. I, once more, would like to thank my library system for quenching my thirst about discovering this album and the next one, because if I had to buy them, they'd be in my trade list waiting for a nuttier music fan than me wishing for it.