LIVE 89

Weird thing it is to buy a new Miriodor album and find their early sound, rather than their actual Manouche-Klezmer music that has been theirs since Jongleries Elastiques, albeit I should be honest in that I haven't heard their latest Avanti (it's on my next order). And another "strange" thing is Miriodor's exceptional appearance in ProgQuebec's catalogue instead of their usual Cuneiform. This came from a collaboration between the group and their appearance in FMPM festival in Montreal in sept/09, organized also by ProgQuebec, the incredible and small label worrying about saving La Belle Province's musical heritage in progressive rock. .

This release compiles live recordings from three concerts between 87 (one track in one venue) and mostly 89: the rest of the album with three tracks recorded in France during their Belgo-French tour, the rest from a concert in a church in Montreal later that year. So basically we should expect hearing stuff from their third self-titled album and their fourth called Third Warning, with a few never-heard before tracks as well. The sound quality is excellent throughout, despite being recorded on cassettes, but from the board because we don't hear the crowd noises or applause and the artwork provide a surrealist wink at Magritte (it's raining people) once again featuring the group's usual visual madness. Violinist Stephane Emond is not with the group anymore.

Opening on a drone and a sax staccato and a dissonant piano, the trio propose s us a Demented Horse (running through a drum solo and finishing as it started) to fall in the upcoming Trap and end up in the crimsonian-sounding Procession. Armed with only drums, saxes and keyboards, the trio brings us in a myriad of ambiances and soundscapes that you wouldn't have thought possible, precisely because of the few instruments used. Of course all three members use the synthesizers time and again, but we're in a live set up, so unless there are programming?.. , but it's definitely not the group's style to resort to such tricks.

I'm not sure why the Chapelle gig was cut into two equal halves by the three tracks coming from the French tour,, because sonically there isn't any kind of major changes. The music has a flavour of Debile Menthol flirting with some of the crazier Samla/Von Zamla. The only track really standing out is the musical French narration of a Milkman's Adventures, then leading us to the demented and frenzied Suspicion and later Transmission. Another track that sticks out a bit is the one dating from 87, where the sax is definitely heading for an musical asylum, as it deals us a sort of diarrhoea of three or four notes for the duration of the track.

A very pleasant surprise from ProgQuebec and the band (and incidentally Cuneiform for letting it happen) Live 89 is a must-have for Miriodor fans, even if these tapes take us back some twenty years ago. But ultimately 09 will be a banner year for the group as it sees two new releases in a few months, when the fans had been waiting a while since Mekano, the Parade release being a trompe-faim. A real no-brainer.