In Montréal on January 20, 2004, Éditions Artextes launched S:on, Sound in Canadian Contemporary Art, an anthology compiled by Nicole Gingras. Amongst the artists represented on this publication we find Pierre-André Arcand, Georges Azzaria, Steve Heimbecker, Hugh Le Caine, Christof Migone, Hélène Prévost, Jocelyn Robert, R Murray Schafer, Michael Snow, Alexandre St-Onge, Martin Tétreault, and Hildegard Westerkamp.

Temporarily leaving his warm California, Books on Tape will tour north-eastern America and will be live January 23, 2004 at Bella Muse (Halifax, NS), January 28 at Casa del Popolo (Montréal), January 30 at the East River Music Project benefit (Williamsburg, NY) and finally January 31 at Superluminous (Long Island City, NY). Many radio shows are also planned along the way. Get infected by the Books on Tape frenzy!

You probably know about Metaxu if you know about Z_E_L_L_E, because Maurizio Martusciello is a part of both of them: with Nicola Catalano they’re Z_E_L_L_E and with Filippo Paolini — Metaxu. Maurizio Martusciello is well known composer on the international electroacoustic scene. Filippo Paolini is also interested in electroacoustic music and improvisations… Rumors of War is their second album. I haven’t heard the previous one, but it’s quite amazing what they’ve done on this new album. The music is calm and peaceful, without any disturbing or too harsh moments (it’s also not an improvisation), but it’s still clearly and fully present. There’s an electronic and an acoustic side of the music, presented through the use of samplers, turntables, tapes and cds. The sound is placed in a wide atmospheric context, but there are certain moments when some concrete clicky sounds or some parts of the whole musical soundscape are pointed out on the surface. There’s another context on this album: the war. All track-titles are a name of a place and a certain date when some war culminated, like: 06091945 Hiroshima, 11092001 New York, 25031999 Belgrade… It should be mentioned though that the music it’s not suffocated by this context, the music can freely breathe. This is a very successful album by Metaxu, released by one of the most interesting and forward-thinking labels today, also one of my favourite labels in 2003 year, No Type.

Over 110 electroacoustic works were produced at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio. The wide stylistic diversity of these works will be the object of a concert January 15, 2004, featuring the works Metharcana by Stephan Dunkelman, Response by Panayiotis Kokoras, En déploiement by Dimitri Coppe, Vol d’Arondes by Francis Dhomont, Paradice by Sachiyo Takahashi, the premiere of Ici et là by Roald Baudoux, Mis by Jon Aveyard and finally the premiere of Cercle des rythmes vitaux by Ondrej Adamek. The concert will be held at Brussels’ Petit Théâtre Mercelis (Belgium).

Two Squirrelgirl releases are now available on electrocd.com: … And Rabbits Named Friday the debut full-length by Montréal’s own [sic], aka Jen Morris, and The Romance Is Over by The Sleazy Listeners, the result of a back and forth collaboration between Toronto and Trondheim.

A collaboration between Studio XX and Club Transmediale, Magali Babin and i8u will present a duo during the “Maid in Cyberspace” event, to be held in Berlin on February 4, 2004. They will also be presenting this work during the next edition of Rien à voir (15), to be held in Montréal from February 11 to 15, 2004.