Press kit
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| Reviews : Le Vent du Nord Symphonique | |
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Yves Bernard - LE DEVOIR (CANADA) Olivier Robillard-Laveaux - VOIR MONTREAL (CANADA) Alain Brunet - PREMIÈRE CHAINE FRENCH CBC (CANADA) Jean Beauchesne - JOURNAL DE QUÉBEC (CANADA) 24H / ICI (CANADA) |
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| Reviews : La part du feu | |
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LOS ANGELES TIMES (USA) BOSTON GLOBE (USA) PENGUIN EGGS Critics’ Albums of the Year for 2009 JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL (Québec) PENGUIN EGGS, Cover story, Fall 2009 issue (Canada) FOLKWORLD (11/09) THE LIVING TRADITION, fall 2010 (Scotland) THE LIVING TRADITION, spring 2010 (UK) ROCK & REEL / R2 (Winter 2010) (UK) SONGLINES MAGAZINE (London, UK) |
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| Reviews : Mesdames et messieurs | |
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« There are some folk groups that take old songs and roar into them, punch up the bass, punk up the fiddles, pound across the stage in a welter of string and tambour. And then there are other groups, like this one, which have a calmer, more egalitarian sound, concentrating on piquant tweaks of the fiddle, on small, nimble changes, subtleties, twists and modulations, on harmony, on good workmanship performed with excellent tools, on a sound that flows and bobs more often than it leaps and stabs. Instead, Le Vent seem composed and buoyant, as if they've examined the music from every angle before embarking and now they feel they can work their way through it lightheartedly, with complete confidence, uncovering new pieces of terrain as they go, fresh valleys and mountains, all conquered with firmly-modelled élan. » Deanne Sole - PopMatters's Top Ten World Music Album 2008 (USA) « A beautifully-recorded, fun-filled, surprise-laden, and energy-packed concert by Quebec's top traditional music band. Highlights include the moving La fille et les dragons being given an extra dimension by McDade's flute, a great version of Les larmes aux yeux with the Beaudry brothers, and the encores Vive l'amour and Au bord de la fontaine performed will all guests on deck Vive l'amour is sung by Simard, a wink at Le Vent du Nord's very early days. Mesdames et messieurs is a prime example of how the young generation is reactualizing and dusting down Québécois traditional music, in the best possible setting to experience it: on stage, with lots of friends. » François Couture - All Music Guide « From what this music fan can remember, it has been decades since a traditional musicians' meeting such as this has been captured on record. Upon the invitation of the Mémoire et racines Festival, in collaboration with Radio-Canada, the musicians of Le Vent du Nord designed a one-time concert around their album "Dans les airs," calling in a hefty selection of the top players from the current traditional generation as guests. A true Dream Team that includes, among others: Éric Beaudry, André Brunet and Pierre-Luc Dupuis, the three youngsters from the post-Bébert Bottine Souriante; Les Langues Fourchues & Jean-François Branchaud, and The McDades & Jeremiah McDade. "Old" folk singer-songwriter Bernard Simard (he with the voice so pure) also made an appearance. What a party it was! Heavily swinging music blends in with aerial tunes. Versions that have more bite, featuring hurdy-gurdy, violin, and jaw's harp. Ancient accents in the dialogues between hurdy-gurdy and flute. And as a backdrop, the tribute the festival paid that night to the beloved Denis Fréchette, whose soul ended up at the fingertips of Nicolas Boulerice and Réjean Brunet, who got the piano swinging in the style of the Bottine's great renovator. » Le Devoir - WEEK-END CULTURE, vendredi, 7 novembre 2008, p. b4 - Vitrine du disque |
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| Reviews : Dans les Airs | |
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The Independant (UK)– Listed in 5 Best gigs for 7-13th Feb. 2009 Fiddle, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, strong harmony vocals, a strong Celtic & Breton influence, & heavy boots for time-keeping make up this Quebecois band. The Scotsman (Glasgow) – January 2009 Le Vent du Nord are one of the hippest exponents of Quebecois music. The quartet coaxed the crowd on to their feet. Rock'n'Reel (UK)– Spring 2008 Theirs is a skillfully crisp fusion of French traditional music, Quebec's own folk style with hints of country, jazz and Celtic music, trademarked by an instrumental fluidity and mastery that lets practically everything they play flow with the powerful elegance of a waterfall. Their command of the four-pieces vocal harmonies on the sprightly 'Tour A Bois', and the crunchingly rhythmic a cappella 'Le Vieux Cheval' demand your attention. whist there's a graceful sophistication on display on the accordion and fiddle-led waltz, 'Petit Rêve Ill'. Throughout, they demonstrate an uplifting flair and vigour in their delivery and consistently delight with their vocal excellence, possessing three outstanding singers within the line-up. Danny Moore All Music Guide (USA) On their third album, Le Vent du Nord continues to explore the combinations of multiple cultural music traditions (from France and its many sources through to Canadian sources, French, English, and otherwise) to create another stellar listen. The band's sheer exuberance is its own power source, but there's something about their excellent harmonizing in particular (evident from the first album on and seemingly all the more effortlessly skilled here) that simply sparkles, no matter whether the listener knows French or not. Split more or less evenly between reworked traditional numbers and originals, the baker's dozen of songs includes one older number, "La Veillee chez Poirier", which sounds like it should soundtrack a movie about the suavest bunch of dudes ever to walk down either the banks of the Seine or the St. Lawrence (the accordion work sings and swings in equal measure), while "Le Vieux Cheval" shows that all the quartet needs are their voices and the stamping of their feet to interpret a song as memorable as any in their oeuvre. Examples of the group at its most boisterous musically are plentiful : at the close of "La Piastre des Etats", Olivier Demers' violin work practically dares you not to dance (while Réjean Brunet's performance on piano could almost be barrelhouse blues). A sweet treat comes with "La Traversee", itself a fusion of three separate reels of French Canadian, English Canadian, and English/Scottish origin, which come together in one blast of simultaneously high-speed and sweetly contemplative (thanks to the beautiful piano work by Nicolas Boulerice) music. It's a treat and a half that just makes a listener impatient for whatever this fine band will next create. Ned Raggett Yorkton This Week newspaper (Canada) – January 2nd, 2008 Le Vent du Nord quickly impresses. The harmonies on sings such as La Piastre des Etats are tight, and have a lilting quality which fits perfectly with the folk, acoustic style of music. Secondly, when it comes to Quebec folk music there is an expectation of great fiddle, and Le Vent du Nord does not disappoint on that count either. Olivier Demers knows his way around the fiddle real well, offering up some tantalizing solos, such as the lead in to La Traversee. Rejean Brunet and Nicolas Boulerice both contribute accordion to the effort and that adds nicely to the rustic roots feel of this CD. Many readers might shy away from seeking out a CD sung in a foreign language, but I'd recommend you give this one a try if you like folk music. The instrumentation is familiar because of the style, and very well done, and the French language truly sounds great here as well. Calvin Daniels PopMatters – TOP TEN WORLD MUSIC ALBUM 2008 There are some folk groups that take old songs and roar into them, punch up the bass, punk up the fiddles, pound across the stage in a welter of string and tambour. And then there are other groups, like this one, which have a calmer, more egalitarian sound, concentrating on piquant tweaks of the fiddle, on small, nimble changes, subtleties, twists and modulations, on harmony, on good workmanship performed with excellent tools, on a sound that flows and bobs more often than it leaps and stabs. The music jigs and Olivier Derners's toe taps the wooden floor and you're welcome to dance if you feel the urge, but you know that underneath it all the wood is well-polished, the electricity in this hall will always work, and that afterwards there will be complimentary sandwiches on the table at the back, tasty sandwiches cut in straight lines by smiling kitchen workers with clean knives and healthy children who do well in school. Dans Les Airs has the air of a good democracy, a core stability that doesn't stifle the inhabitants. The call and response singing in "La Fille et les Dragons" and "La Piastre des États" is beautifully done and cleanly enunciated, without the lusty village chorus quality that the Bottines have when they bite into a song like "Paye La Traite". Instead, Le Vent seem composed and buoyant, as if they've examined the music from every angle before embarking and now they feel they can work their way through it lightheartedly, with complete confidence, uncovering new pieces of terrain as they go, fresh valleys and mountains, all conquered with firmly-modelled élan. Deanne Sole Financial Times – CD review - World – april 5, 2008 A hurdy-gurdy buzzes throughout, while the accordion skips and slides. Feet clomp like the old nag of "Le Vieux Cheval", or patter through the lighter songs of penniless lovers and drunken husbands. This is in origin dance music, but Le Vent Du Nord privilege verbal dexterity over instrumental pyrotechnics. David Honigmann Boston Herald - April 4, 2008 (USA Le Vent has enough virtuosity and spirit to make its four musicians sound like 40 at times, and it tackles Scot, Irish or French material with equal authority. With its offhandedly great musicianship (and where else can you hear a hurdy-gurdy these days?), it’s a blast to hear this wind blow. Kevin R. Convey Boston Globe – April 2008 (USA) When it comes to rhythm, Le Vent du Nord is loaded, as the crisp pulse of these nearly forgotten songs for dancing, drinking, and flirting shows. And there's not a drum nor beatbox within earshot. Tristam Lozaw Irish Music Magazine - April 2008 (IR) Dans les airs is their third album, and will delight existing fans and newbies alike. Pulsing box and demonic fiddle, kicking aces with foot percussion, and close-harmony vocals - all the ingredients of the classic Quebec musical stew, and there’s plenty of meat in this one. Alex Monaghan Penguin Eggs - April 2008 (Canada) Dans les Airs reaffirms the group’s position as one of the most enjoyable bands on the North-American traditional folk music scene - Richard Thornley The Coastal Journal – March 27, 2008 (Bath, Maine, USA) For those of us, lucky enough to have seen Le Vent du Nord, a Quebecois/ Acadian folk band with their charming mix of instrumentation, their arresting stage presence and just plain good clean fun is well known. For those who have never seen them, be absolutely sure to get tickets for their next concert. Gina Hamilton Los Angeles Times – March 26, 2008 (CA, USA) At first, Le Vent du Nord sounds very much like a traditional Celtic group, but then the voices come in and we are in another world. For one thing, the singing is mostly in four-part harmony, and for another it is in French. Elijah Wald Dirty Linen – winter 2008 (USA) They are well grounded by heritage and experience in the music of French Canada and ready to make that music in a way that speak to modern day. (…) All in all, it’s a wild ride through the energy of French-Canadian music, with just enough of the quieter side of things to catch your breath and prepare you for the next round of flying fiddle notes, hurdy-gurdy circles, and stories in song. Kerry Dexter Cd hotlist - baker & taylor - Feb 2008 (USA) This Quebecois quartet continues to make some of the most infectiously beautiful recordings on the market - the slightly crooked rhythms, the call-and-response vocals, the heartbreakingly beautiful melodies will all be familiar to fans of this particular tradition, but there are Breton influences in there as well, and when they break into sudden tight vocal harmony the effect is both unusual and thrilling. If you have patrons who still mourn the demise of Malicorne and the evolution of La Bottine Souriante into a horn-driven R&B band, then you'll want to snap up this disc without delay. (RA) Sound Base Online Magazine - February 2008 (GERMANY) (…) that convinced me very much…wonderful! - Stefan Kazich VOIR Montréal - December 13, 2007 (Québec) The group’s third album confirms their spot in the leading pack of the numerous folklore diggers and other craftsmen of our local traditional folk music scene. The recording’s lush production highlights the finesse of the arrangements and vocal harmonies, among which the accordion of newcomer Réjean Brunet easily finds a place of its own. Réjean Beaucage LE DEVOIR - Friday, October 5, 2007 (Québec) (…) detailed production, beautiful vocal harmonies, rich arrangements, a perfect balance between reels and folk-tinged singalongs, a few beat-driven passages, the same sweet melancholia, a certain lightness, and most of all the dialogues between violin and hurdy-gurdy that have become Le Vent du Nord’s trademark. The hurdy-gurdy seems less flashy than usual, but it benefits a newfound balance brought in by new member Réjean Brunet, a bassist, accordion player and pianist with an inviting swing and a discreet touch. And he seems to have established an instant rapport with the other musicians. Fiddler Olivier Demers is rootier than ever. Hurdy-gurdist Nicolas Boulerice dives deeper into the textural side of his instrument, and singer/guitarist Simon Beaudry sings more openly with his pure voice. In short, this is a splendid album. What is Quebec waiting for to rightfully acknowledge Le Vent du Nord? Yves Bernard RADIO-CANADA FRENCH RADIO C'est bien meilleur le matin - October 4, 2007 (Québec) (...) a superb third album. You can hear the hair of the hurdy-gurdy, the hair of the violin, this music has guts. (...) These guys have fantastic voices and their vocal arrangements are consistently rich, rich, rich. Catherine Perrin |
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| Reviews : Les Amants du St-Laurent and Maudite Moisson! | |
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fROOTS, March 2006 "A great variety in what they offer, fine singing and playing, interesting arrangements plus a feeling that the band are realy enjoying themselves, all help to make this a really uplifting album to listen to." Vic Smith Portland Press Herald, Portland ME, January 21st 2006 "There is a strong feeling of cultural continuity to the performances, even at their most lively. One can easily imagine a French drinking party of the 15th century belting out the same refrains. Whatever its origin, nobody should be allowed to have so much fun without a license." Christopher Hyde Dirty Linen, October-November 2005 "In about two and a half years, this band has risen to the very top of its field." Steve Winick Penguin Eggs, spring 2005 "This is about as near perfect a recording in the Québec tradition that I've heard since André Marchand's The orange tree. Absolutely essential." Richard Thornley Folk Roots, March 2004 "One of the best album in a long time. The quartet play with great verve and tightness." Vic Smith Folk World, September 2004 "Le Vent du Nord were without doubt one of the highlights of this year’s Tonder Festival in Denmark and their live shows are unforgettable." Michael Moll Rambles, 25 September 2004 "There’s a great deal to like here, and I don’t hesitate to recommend Le Vent du Nord to anyone who loves this style of music." David Cox FROOTS, June 2004 "Le Vent du Nord epitomises the infectious verve and bonhomie of the current roots music revival in Quebec." Tony Montague Sing Out!, Spring 2004 "This rocks !" Mary Desrosiers The Herald-Times, Bloomington, IN, March 3, 2004 "Le Vent du Nord is know to blow audiences away as it embodies the joy of Quebecois music." Andrew Graham Sing Out !, Winter 2004 "Le Vent du Nord’s debut album is one of the most impressive first releases you’re likely to hear." Rob Weir Penguin Eggs, Summer 2003 "The playing is terrific, the vocals strong and rich. (...) For the lovers of Quebecois music, Le Vent du Nord’s album is a must." Les Siemieniuk The Standard Times, New-Bedford MA, March 6, 2003 "Le Vent du Nord are the most exciting group I have seen in a long time." Helene Korolenko, presenter, quoted by Joanna McQuillan, |
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