Volume 3 in the Canadian Electroacoustic Community’s Presence series came out in June 2002. Once again a 2-CD set, it presents 29 works by as many artists. These composers are for the most part rarely seen on record (only Laurie Radford, Adrian Moore, and a couple more have full-length releases available). The series’ intent is to give exposure to the work of CEC members, not to produce easy-flowing albums. The listener is meant to dive in, take what he wants and retreat. That explains the alphabetical track list, but the CDs can still be listened in full with some enjoyment. The music ranges from musique concrète to sound synthesis and environmental recordings. Half of the tracks last between 3 and 4 minutes. The others are either slightly shorter or longer, none going over 9 minutes. Beside one piece by Martin Alejandro Fumarola dating from 1989, all works are recent. Stand-outs include James Bentley’s Double Exposure, academic but very well done; Ian Chuprun’s I Was Very Safe… In My Dream, a disturbing juxtaposition of children talking about their dreams (and their mother’s lie: Daddy’s microphones aren’t turned on) and adults laughing at a party; David Hirst’s Mon Dieu, where tennis, boating and religion come together; David R Mooney’s ambient The Llama Strut; and Steven Naylor’s Irrashaimase, a beautiful reminiscence of urban Japan.

Canadian mp-based experimental imprint No Type release their first 2CD set and it’s truly an invigorating thing to behold. 36 tracks are crammed into the lush cardboard package each pushing the boundaries of their chosen form in clever and inventive ways. The dominating forces are those of noise and experimental electronica but pretty beats and even guitars are not ignored. There is an excitement in the sheer variety presented but further in the skill of execution — kalx’s Couf being a brilliant case in point. As tempting as it is to dismiss this challenging music as ‘not for everybody’ well why the hell not?

This noise duet is definitely of the maximalist persuasion. Aimé Dontigny and Érick d’Orion sculpt samples, digital noise, and miscellaneous sounds into thrilling oversaturated pieces. There is almost always a lot going on, yet the pair eschews harsh noise for its own sake. The eight improvisations on morceaux_de_machines’s debut CD liberum arbitrium have that sense of form and purpose one finds only in the works of the best noisicians. One could even say they approach the style from an academic electroacoustic point of view. No matter how noisy, dense, or harsh things get, they don’t reach the level where it would be cluttered and always seem to follow a greater plan. cut-up opens the disc with a brutal sound collage. multivisión espacial contains the harsher moments, Merzbow-esque, while rothko tends to be more pensive and restrained. digisex concludes with an orgiastic maelström, the perfect way to end.

This music is not for the faint at heart, but fans of intelligent noise — the kind that doesn’t take the listener for a brick wall you can throw anything at — will recognize in this album the spark of genius that occasionally sets an artist aside. And the final good news: liberum arbitrium is a class-A production (recorded while the group had a residency at Avatar in Quebec City) and is beautifully packaged with drawings by cartoonist Guy Boutin. A serious contender for best noise album in 2002, highly recommended.