This first label release by the Vancouver duo Coin Gutter offers a selection of new tracks and remastered highlights from their previous self-released CDRs. This is a peculiar form of experimental electronica that has one foot in the less glitchy ambiences of the Mego roaster (Florian Hecker, Pita) and another in post-industrial drones (think Cranioclast or Maeror Tri). The album begins with Lift With the Knees, almost 37 minutes long. A mood-shifting piece, it rewards repeated attentive listens, but one wonders if it couldn’t have been shortened or at least split into three separate tracks. Its drifting, elongated ideas make a nice contrast though with the seven sharper-focused pieces following it. Among them is Lullaby: a slowed-down voice croons the intro, followed by a piano/voice lieder (sorry, I don’t recognize this particular one) given the CD skipping treatment. The piece appears childish at first (anyone can rewind or fast-forward on a CD player, right?), but paired with the intro and the other electronics wrapped around, it exerts a strange fascination. The dark Timewise provides another highlight. The disc concludes with the 12-minute Southern Yukon / Northern BC (perhaps parts of Alaska). Beginning as an abstract glitchy construction, it builds up to an infernal finale of digital noise, leaving the listener stunned.

It has been said over and over again, but it is true that improvisors develop a certain telepathic sense and that the stronger their link the better the music. In this set recorded live at the Casa del Popolo in Montréal (Canada), a_dontigny (aka Aimé Dontigny), one half of noisicians morceaux_de_machines) and Diane Labrosse display an engaging level of unspoken communication. But beyond the thrilling battle between computer and sampler, beyond its doomsday ambient music and menacing digital experiments, Télépathie takes a symbolic value. This is, after all, a first significant bridge (at least on record) to be thrown between two generations of avant-garde artists from two different spheres. A member of the Ambiances Magnétiques collective since the mid-’80s, Labrosse comes from an avant-rock background (she played in the seminal Montréal groups Wondeur Brass and Justine). The young Dontigny has been involved from the start with No Type, one of the first and most important internet-only experimental music labels. The set begins with the rumble of thunderstorm and crackles of electricity. The proceedings remain atmospheric, dragging the listener in rather gently. By the third track photo satellite), things are getting more raucous as weird feedback and outbursts of white noise take more space. média tactique begins with a recording of poet Denis Vanier reading one of the iconic texts of Quebec’s countercultural movement (which includes the line “Kraft fuck the cheese”). The way the two musicians react to the words, developing its sub-text, evokes René Lussier’s Le Trésor de la langue, but only briefly as the piece evolves into a noisy mutated dub. Things almost get out of hand as decibels escalate, but the pair stop in time — or have been stopped, since the abrupt ending screams of editing. Short, to the point and quite convincing.

It’s definitely great when someone manages to create a successful, even groundbreaking mix of abstract instrumental hip-hop beats and contemporary electronic music. That’s how this mini-album from Dustin Craig aka Headphone Science feels, or to be more precise, it sounds like a perfect and flexible mix of idm, hip-hop and ambience.

An excellent combination of firm hip-hop beats are present at the front, ambient sounds are subtly tucked in the background, tiny experimental sounds float in the midst, and occasionally you get mixed vocal clips or jazz tones in between. That’s why this music sounds very fresh, clever and inventive.

No Type (Brief) Background:: No Type started to release CD’s in 2002 and in a very short time this label has become a favorite amongst open-minded people searching for new forms of contemporary music, be it experimental, noise, idm, improvised, and even post-rock. All of these styles are part of the 2xCD compilation, The Freest Of Radicals; the first (official) CD release for No Type.

The 36 minute long opening track heads of with some hardly audible electronic sounds, before some white noise in the Merzbow tradition takes over. This extreme noise gets calmer after a while and the music even gets soundscape-like, slightly reminding of John Hudak. Lullaby, the next composition, is an experimental piano track with classical vocal art and dramatical noise outbursts. Terminal is a track with long drawn-out cascading electronics. No5 is heads of with pure white noisy that slowly disappears. Solitaire is the combination of a speech and sophisticated cold electronic frequencies that slowly get more in the foreground. The seventhth track entitled tlia3ml features a fine-tuned metal sound. This song as well as the last track remind me of Richard Chartier’s more minimal and hardly audible output. Scission is a short noise composition, slightly more hectical as most other tracks on this album. All in all, a very intelligent use of different atmospheres and clear sounds.

Two quite active Canadian musicians came together in April 2002 to do a live recording. Aimé Dontigny, also member of morceaux_de_machines and Diane Labrosse, who is part of Les Poules and collaborated with the likes of Ikue Mori (Tzadik), Martin Tétreault and Zeena Parkins combined forces and produced their first dark experimental album with four long tracks. The debut of this new collaboration entitled Télépathie heads of rather dark, but gets a little noisier along the line. Especially the beginning of the third song entitled photo satellite is good example of this. Undefinable electronics, static noises and sounds like those of a highway go hand in hand. The fourth track features the first vocal contribution. A french male voice tells something, while at the same time some static machine-like noise has been put on top of it. The track continues with a sort of electronic radio tuning and metal sounds. In general the music is not that hectic. Diane Labrosse, who uses a sampler and Aimé Dontigny, who makes use of a computer, create a nice sombre improvisational atmosphere with enough variation and noise to keep the music far from boring.

No Type was founded in 1998 to become a microcosm of artistic freedom for a rich diversity of musicians. Their sampler is proof of the development that took place since then. Headphone Science is the first to be featured on this sampler. This California based project by Dustin Craig offers a combination of catchy electronics and hip-hop vocals. The song is no less than 10 minutes long. Much shorter is the next contribution by Balai Mécanique. A sort of free-jazz noise track, which ends where PO starts. Again free improvisation with an experimental touch is the main ingredient. Books on Tape is next. The music by this formation, who already released a 10” entitled Hey typical!, is based upon rock, but with enough external influences, like a groovy drumbox rhythm, to keep the concept fresh. Coin Gutter, another artist that already released some material on No Type (All your dreams are meaningless), offers one of the highlights here. The excellent combination of a strange female vocal sample (saying “he’s gone”), dark, robust, ominous electronics and the ticking of an alarm clock will give the listener a positive unpleasant feeling. Claudia Bonarelli, known from the album Everything happens only a certain number of times (Mitek) offered another excellent contribution. Dense mechanical hypnotic rhythms, slightly reminding of Porter Ricks and GAS, have been put in an intelligent setting. Watch out for the upcoming 10” May ’68! Also dark is A_dontigny and Diane Labrosse’s contribution, in which a pounding beat and a rich variation of noises have been combined. Tomas Jirku, who will release the album Bleak 1999 in August, has been featured here with a minimal funky relaxed techno track. Magali Babin offers a beautiful dark organic track with sounds of scraping metal and a rhythm reminding of a train. If her album Chemin de fer is just like this, the CD might become immense popular in the industrial scene. Unfortunately Oeuf Korreckt does a little less, with synthetic synth tunes and a cheap rhythm. And morceaux_de_machines ends this compilation with a stressful noise piece. This No Type sampler provides the listener a good glimpse of the musical diversity this label has to offer.