Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Les Granules-le retour des granules,LP,1988,Canada

Les Granules are/were 2 Cadnadian performers :Rene Lussier and Jean Derome.

Derome, Jean. Flutist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, singer, b Montreal 29 Jun 1955. His studies 1972-5 at the St-Laurent Cegep with Michel Perrault (theory) and 1975-9 at the CMM with Jean-Paul Major (flute) and others coincided with the activities of his first important group, Nébu. Formed in 1973 with the pianist Pierre St-Jacques and completed by the bassist Claude Simard, it played classically-informed contemporary jazz and toured extensively in Quebec, performed at the Festival de musique ouverte de Châteauvallon in France in 1977, and appeared at the inaugural FIJM in 1980 before disbanding in 1981. Its second LP drew notice for Derome's 1000 hand-drawn jackets, in retrospect an early sign of the industriousness, the resolve to be original, and the disdain for commercial convention that have characterized his career.
In 1978 Derome founded EMIM with St-Jacques and others and subsequently served as composer, arranger, and flutist for a succession of EMIM-related groups, including the Chick-Boom Chick Band in 1980, the G.U.M. (in turn a street ensemble, Guérilla urbaine musicale, in 1981, and a big band, Grande Urchestre de Montréal, 1982-3), and Jonas 1982-3. In 1983 he took up the alto saxophone, playing it almost immediately with La Grande aventure (a street band popular for several years at the FIJM) and later with Éboulements and with two groups devoted to the music of Thelonious Monk, Mystérioso 1983-4, and Evidence, established in 1985. Five Derome compositions from this period were published in Les Cahiers de jazz (Éditions du lyncathrope 1983).
Derome has been a duet partner in concert to the bassist Pierre Cartier, the clarinetist Robert M. Lepage, and most notably with his longtime collaborator, guitarist René Lussier. Formed in 1984 and later taking the name the Granules, they have combined traditional reels and songs (eg, La Bolduc's 'Le Marchand des rues'), free improvisation, musical parody, and social commentary (eg, 'Avez-vous travaillé?,' whose text comprises the questions asked of unemployment insurance applicants) to humourous and pointed effect. In 1988 Derome and Lussier performed at the Sound Symposium and the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, and 1990 appeared at jazz festivals in Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver, and at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. They gave concerts in New York and Los Angeles in 1991. Their European itinerary has included London and Moers, Germany, in 1989 and Berne, Bâle, and Zurich, Switzerland, in 1990. The Granules were expanded to a big band for concerts at New Music America, 1990, in Montreal, and in 1991 at Gand, Belgium. Derome also has travelled in Europe, the USA and USSR with Fred Frith's multi-national group Keep the Dog, established in 1988.
Derome had written music (often in collaboration with Lussier) for some 30 films by 1991 - eg, for Painted Landscapes of the Times: The Art of Sue Coe (1986) and Paul Strand Under the Dark Cloth (1988) and for several NFB productions including L'Albédo, Riopelle, Les Illusions tranquilles, Le Dernier glacier, and Passiflora. Derome also assisted Lussier and Robert Lepage in mixed-media performances with the animator Pierre Hébert (see Lussier for details). In the theatre Derome adapted Racine's Phèdre for improvisers (Phèdre, sans paroles, presented by EMIM in 1980), and took acting and playing roles in André Duchesne's Clockville (1981) and in a variety of other productions.
Derome was a principal 1980-3 of, and a choreographer for, Quidam (Quatuor en improvisation musique danse) in Montreal; his Spectacles (1982) brought together dancers and improvisers, with both parties subject to the same stimuli and controls and yet directly responsive to each other. Derome maintained Spectacles only for improvisers after 1990. He was a founder and the musical director 1983-6 of the Événements de la pleine lune, which intermittently offered music and dance concerts in Montreal on the occasion of a full moon. His Confitures de gagaku (1985, for woodwinds, soprano, double bass, keyboards, and percussion), comprising 10 pieces based on traditional Japanese gagaku ceremonial music, was premiered under one such moon in 1986, repeated without dancers at the Victoriaville festival in 1987, and subsequently recorded. It includes versions of his Oiseaux and Saturne, previously recorded with Lussier. Other Derome compositions of note include Hommage à Mingus (for the G.U.M.) Jonas (Jonas), Les Aventures de Sascha l'Chat (Granules), and Seven Dances for 15 (Hemispheres).
Rene' Lussier was a member of the legendary Canadian progressive-rock band Conventum, which released A L'Aff–t d'un Complot (Tamandir, 1977) and Le Bureau Central des Utopies (Cadence, 1979), and whose work is collected on Re-Edition 1979-80 (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1986). The line-up featured Andre Duchesne and Jean Derome, who would both enjoy a prolific solo career.
Canadian guitarist Lussier began organizing his own archives of film scores and assorted compositions, and released first Fin Du Travail (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1983), that collects scores for cinema, and then the duets of Chants Et Danses Du Monde Inanime` (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1984), with saxophonist and clarinetist Robert Marcel Lepage.
Another group was Les Granules, whose albums were Soyez Vigilants, Restez Vivants (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1986), Le Retour Des Granules (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1988), Au Royaume Du Silencieux (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1992).
Le Tresor De La Langue (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1989) is widely considered his masterpiece and features Jean Derome, Fred Frith and Tom Cora. Tracks: La Francaise Du Debut - Le Non-Lieu - Vox Pop 1 - Le Depart Des Aventuriers, Arts Et Traditions - L'Heure Du Diner - Les 2 Soeurs De Trois-Rivieres - Rue Principale - Montage 28, La Visite De Charles De Gaulle - De Gaulle Revisite - L'Anglaise Du Quebec - Kiki - Manifeste Du F.L.Q., Vestibule - Ce Ca Qu'On Va Faire! - Le Gars Du Irving - Le Tic-Tac D'La Veille - Le Blues Des Resultats - Lend'Main D'Veille - Qui Se Souvient?, L'Appel D'La Pelle - Ya Tout' Mon Estime - Le Manifeste du F.L.Q., Le Message D'La Reine - Echange De Bar, Fanfare Et Tradition - L'Indecise, C'T'Ecoeurant - Vestibule Leger - Ma Mere - Ha Bein Ce L'Fun, Ouin Ce Ca - Vous Me M'Nez A Bout - Le Commercial, Mme Xavier Martin Revisitee - Le P'tit Jesus de M. Chose, Le Diable - L'Enfer - Le Reveil, L'Amygdalite A Duchesne - Wow Bec, On Peut Parler.
Le Corps De L'Ouvrage (Ambiences Magnetiques, 1994) is scored for a small jazz-rock ensemble of seven horns, bass and guitar. The music borders Frank Zappa's neoclassical work and Weather Report's jazz-rock.
Three Suite Piece (ReR, 1996), with Jean Derome and Chris Cutler, spans the years from 1987 to 1989 and documents more organic approach. His "rock" group consists of Jean Derome, Tom Cora and the ubiquitous Chris Cutler, and, needless to say, has little to do with rock and roll. The style of La Suite Des Trois Pommes, inspired by Bach's suites for cello, falls between the most folkish movements of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and the most festive moments of Lol Coxhill's Welfare State project. This is as creative and as humorous as post-modern revisitations can get. Don't Worry Suite is more like what you would expect from a bunch of veteran improvisers. On Cold Storage Suite Derome's keyboards steal the show: again, the music becomes very intellectual, bordering on progressive-rock, free-jazz and musique concrete. A good document of Lussier's prolific output, although the experiments are at times a little indulgent.
On Le Tour Du Bloc (Victo, 1996) Lussier conducts a 15-unit orchestra. Trois Histoires (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1996) collects three lengthy suites. Chronique D'Un Genocide Annonce` (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1998) is the soundtrack to a documentary. La Vie Qui Bat Chevre (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1997) and La Vie Qui Bat Chevreuil (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1998) are two sets of duets with drummer Pierre Tanguay. Dur Noyau Dur (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1998), Des Pas Et Des Mois (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1999), Qu'ouis-je (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2000) are duets with turntablist Martin Tetrault (but he plays electronics on the latter).
Lussier is also one of the Les Quatre Guitaristes de l'Apocalypso-Bar, that released World Tour (1987) and Fin De Siecle (Ambiances Magnetiques, 1989).
Solos De Guitar Electrique (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2000) sounds like a cross between Fred Frith and Ry Cooder. Deboutonne` (OHM, 2000) is a solo album of acoustic guitar.
This is their 2nd LP.Free jazz - ish improvisations,in the Recommented records vein and much reminding me of ZNR/Berrocal stuff.
get it here

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry mate, can't extract the last 11th track, could you provide it with the right one ?
thx a lot.

Anonymous said...

hi there,

there is a format error on this RAR ...

maybe you could check this!?!

THANX !!!

ps: I love RENÉ LUSSIER ... especially "Le Trésor de la Langue" ...

Anonymous said...

Hi,

yes, there is error in rar. I like Lussier as well, and Martin Tetrault.

Anonymous said...

Tracks 7 and 10 appear to be missing from the Les Granules-le retour des granules,LP. Just wanted to let this be known. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

hi there again ...

any chance to get the missing tracks 7,10,11 ?!?

PLEASE !!!

and THANX

Anonymous said...

Missing those tracks here, too. Great album. Thank you. Also, something by Conventum would be great.

Cheers,

Rich Sellers

Anonymous said...

Any movement on fixing track 11 on the Les Granules/Retour Des Granules lp? It's not an artifact of the download, it's a bad file. Are we just out of luck, or will there be a response?

L'Homme Scalp said...

Everytime I see any of these two guys, I try to convince them about a reissue of the Granules albums.

Those are great, of course!

Ced said...

I'm looking for a very rare recording on the same label
Pierre St-Jak "Oeuvralgique".
Do you have that? Because this
one can't be found anywhere.

morfem said...

Any sucess in fixing the Les Granules-le retour des granules files?

Aildoux said...

A 100% working rar is linked from http://monkeyinorbit.blogspot.com/2010/04/les-granules-derome-lussier.html
BTW, let me take this occasion to thank you for all the music you make available. All rare and unique stuff. I chose the Canadian, especially Quebec, stuff. Up more. Thanks!