Vijay Iyer Sextet FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

Pianist Vijay Iyer is at that point in his career, just past 40 years old, where his status as a promising new voice is near fully mutated i...

Philippe Lauzier and Éric Normand FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

A strong opening and closing can really make a performance, and that is where Montreal's Philippe Lauzier and Rimouski's Éric Normand really...

Moor Mother and Roscoe Mitchell FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

On paper, this pairing seems strange. Elder statesman of jazz Roscoe Mitchell — founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which celebr...

Konus Quartett and Tomas Korber FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

While deliberate and considered are not alien adjectives to apply to many performances at FIMAV, few this year earned them as thoroughly as...

Kim Myhr FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

There is something about the balance between easy apprehension and surprise in Norwegian guitarist/composer Kim Myhr's music that delights a...

Julien Desprez FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 18

Published May 19, 2019

French guitarist Julien Desprez's technique might require the coining of a new musical field — pedal dancer — a field wherein he immediately...

Peter Brötzmann, Heather Leigh and Keiji Haino FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 17

Published May 18, 2019

The musical partnership between Peter Brötzmann and Heather Leigh is one of those anomalies akin to the internet memes of bonds between arma...

Rainer Weins FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 17

Published May 18, 2019

Debuting as a composer and conductor after a couple of decades appearing at FIMAV in an array of ensembles and musical duties, Montreal´s ow...

Klimperei and Madame Patate FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 17

Published May 18, 2019

The French duo of Émilie Siaut (aka Madame Patate) and Christophe Petchanatz (Klimperei) are a bit of an anomaly in the predominantly object...

Elena Kakaliagou / Ingrid Schmoliner FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 17

Published May 18, 2019

Early on in the concert, Elena Kakaliagou described a song she and her musical partner Ingrid Schmoliner would play as being about displacem...

Barre Phillips FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 17

Published May 18, 2019

Bassist Barre Phillips would not appreciate the mention of his age, though he referred to it obliquely in one of his between-piece addresses...

Political Ritual FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 16

Published May 17, 2019

Midnight shows at FIMAV are generally given over to the more fringe elements and emerging artists in the "musique actuelle" realm. Montreal´...

Bang on a Can All-Stars FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 16

Published May 17, 2019

Bang on a Can, from NYC, have been around in some form or other for almost as long as the 35 years of the Festival International de Musique...

Peggy Lee FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 16

Published May 17, 2019

FIMAV's 35th edition kicked off with a veteran of the festival. Vancouver's Peggy Lee first performed here in 1997, with her eight-month-old...

Simon Scott Soundings

Published Feb 20, 2019

Described by the artist as a kind of travelogue, gathered, edited, composed and considered over a four-year period that included the reunion...

Hauschka A Different Forest

Published Feb 19, 2019

Institutional respectability appears to have found, captured and enshrined Volker Bertelmann, aka Hauschka. Well into the second decade of h...

Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balás Pandi FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 20

Published May 21, 2018

If you've seen Merzbow perform live, a question you probably wouldn't ask is, "How can we make that louder?" Well, the answer comes in the f...

Anna Homler FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 20

Published May 21, 2018

I don't know who "Breadwoman" really is, or what she represents. But in a short documentary made by RVNG Records for their 2016  reissue of...

Mette Rasmussen / Toshimaru Nakamura / Martin Taxt FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 20

Published May 21, 2018

As outlined in Friday's Fang / Goldstein / Wiens review, there are improvisations that are highly cooperative. Then there are those, like to...

Phurpa FIMAV, Victoriaville QC, May 20

Published May 21, 2018

Me: Hmmm. According to the program a Russian guy named Alexey Tegin formed Phurpa after an early stint in industrial music, and he adopts mu...