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Rating: It is nice and quite easy to write reviews of music that is new to our ears, capturing the emotions felt at the peak of appreciation for an album that comes after an indeterminate number of listens. This is not the case. This is already an old record for me. And while the emotions it conveys to me have cooled over time, I am sure I am not falling into a deceptive enthusiasm that sometimes leads to overestimate some works. Today, I am driven by an uncontrollable desire to share and, I admit, I can't spend too much time without writing something on Debaser, now it's a habit.
So I pull out a treasure I've had in the drawer for a long time; this CD by Les 4 Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso Bar (ReR), which collects their only two albums, "World Tour" (1989) and "Fin de siècle" (1989), the first live and the second in studio.
They hail from this strange place called Quebec, where people seem unwilling to accept Anglo-Saxon cultural domination and refuse to blend with the rest of the Canadian territory. I know very little about the subject, but this is clearly reflected in the cultural approach of this cream of musicians I know, positioned at the boundaries of musical genres, following in the footsteps of movements like RIO and the rock avant-garde. A strong political message in this sense can be found in the highly recommended and rich work of René Lussier "Le tresor de la langue," an album I would love to see reviewed on this site.
André Duchesne stands at the helm of the operation and takes on most of the compositions. I won't bore you with endless lists of names and will get straight to the point: a guitar quartet accompanied by bass and drums. An unusual formation and difficult to manage, which in this case, yields astonishing results that, without using unnecessary technicalities or innovative structural searches, immediately reaches its goal; providing support and strength to the compositions, which are in my opinion the true heart of the operation. Therefore, we do not find harsh and angular structures as in the Fred Frith Quartet, nor the cleanliness of Frippian subtle circularities of his guitar projects, but a warm compactness that does not disdain a certain roughness and harshness of sound. A masterpiece for the right balance of technique and sentiment and for the refined uniqueness of the project.
"Strange music were composed; in bars electric quartets interpreted opuses dedicated to the Angel Hendrix, whose deep melodies, touching the very heart of the planet, could be heard by everyone pouring out of the windows of the house each night. And now, at the Apocalypso Bar, it is time to listen to the four guitarists..."
Andre Duchesne
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