PARADE

I've never been disappointed with what this band has put out over the years. I have 5 of their 7 studio albums and rate them all highly. It's difficult to pick out a favourite because for me one doesn't really standout over the others, they're all amazing. This particular release came with a bonus live disc of their performance at Nearfest in 2002. As usual with this band we get lots of tracks which is fine it just makes it harder for reviewing but not for listenening which is the important thing. I should mention there are some guests including Sweden's own Lars Hollmer from SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA and also Lisa Millet who adds some bassoon.

"Pyramid" features these intricate sounds that come and go including violin before a minute. Sax before 2 minutes. Drums and piano lead later. This quirky tune is a great way to start. "Dung Beetle" settles with guitar early. Accordian after a minute with bass and drums. Guitar is back. The sound gets more powerful later on. Great tune. "Caramba!" is a short track with a catchy rhythm. "Uppsala" is of course a city in Sweden and the name of a killer band. Here it's really a reference to the fact that Lars recorded his contributions to this album at the Chickenhouse near Uppsala. It opens in a spacey manor before kicking in with keyboards, bass and sax. Love the way these sounds mesh together. A calm with bassoon around 3 1/2 minutes before it kicks back in a minute later. Great sound ! "Toast" is bouncey with keyboards,percussion and sax. Excellent tune. "Liquid Lands" opens with piano. It picks up before 2 1/2 minutes and gets fuller too. More powerful 3 minutes in. Nice.Then it settles some. A change before 4 minutes.

"Film Noir" is mid paced as violin joins in. It's dark. Vibes and bass take over then we get a calm before 4 minutes. It kicks in with power. Hell ya ! "Jack-In-The-Box" is catchy wth a good beat. So much going on here. "Checkpoint Charlie" features experimental sounds throughout. "Talrika" kicks in with some heaviness before a minute. Love how this sounds. Water sounds before 2 1/2 minutes as the sound changes then the tempo picks up. "Crosswords" opens with drums as deep bass and other sounds join in. Sax comes in too. "Skinny Dance" opens with bassoon and violin. Acoustic guitar also joins in with bass and drums. "Frosted Bonsai" is a track that flows beautifully. Lars plays accordian on this one and composed it I believe. Very laid back and enjoyable. The electric guitar after 3 minutes is a nice touch. "Garbage Can" opens with feedback before it turns dark and heavy with organ and a beat. Amazing. "Getting Ready" features sounds that beat,pulse and echo. The tempo picks up. "Deep Forest" is eventually led by drums and sax before a dark calm arrives.

A must for you adventerous music fans out there.

I've been completely mesmerized by the RIO/Avant-prog genre for the last two years and Miriodor is a perfect example of this fascination. Even though the band have been in existence ever since the early '80s, they are almost completely anonymous to the average prog fan. The reasons for that are many but I guess that a combination of being an Avant-prog band from Canada with little exposure to the public outside of North America definitely has a lot to do with it.

Parade+Live At NEARFest just so happened to be my entry ticket into the adventurous world of Miriodor and what a beast of an album it is! A double album with over two hours of music was quite demanding for my untrained ears and mind to handle upon the first visit. Fortunately, I made the wise decision of splitting the material into four separate sittings and hence survived this roller coaster ride in one piece. It's not that the material is too Avant-garde to be digestible by a regular human being, like yours truly. Still, it does require the complete attention of its audience which is something that not many are willing to oblige in our day and age.

The studio portion of the album, called Parade, is an extraordinary collection of compositions raging from 1 to 6 minutes tracks in length. The performances are wild and adventurous but with a definite focus or idea at its base. This is why it might take quite some time for any listener to uncover what this music is trying to convey. Fortunately, the pay off is worth the investment, granted that you follow the active listening clause. The album opening Pyramide gives a clear indication of what this music will be all about by kicking things off rather sharply and things never lose this sense of constant alertness from here on.

The second portion of the album consists of a Live At NEARFest performance where Miriodor play a big portion of their material from the past. Since I'm still uncovering that part of the band's music, it's difficult for me to judge whether these performances are better or worth than their studio counterparts. Still, it's safe to say that the band keeps a pretty steady grip of this performance and that it must have been a great spectacle watching this performance!

This is an excellent double album that simply should not be missed by lovers of challenging music. Having said that, I would like to stress my advice of taking things slow with this huge release even if you're a fan of challenging music.

***** star songs: Pyramide (3:38) Uppsala (5:52) Tartine (1:34) Forêt Dense (6:21) Toutes Proportions Gardées (6:48) Le Sorcier (5:54) Boîte À Rebuts (2:00) Pas À Ce Que Le Sache, Sacha (6:31) Igor, l'ours À Moto (6:52)

**** star songs: Scarabée (3:25) Caramba! (0:50) Contrées Liquides (5:45) Polar (6:35) Boite À Surprises (4:08) Talrika (5:01) Le Cruciverbiste (5:29) Gavotte Chétive (1:58) Bonsaï Givré (6:48) Préparatifs De Vacances (1:20) La Célèbre Boucle (0:39) Le Règne Des Termites (4:08) Mine De Rien (3:45) Singularité (5:42) L'inévitable (5:43) Mangeur De Masters (3:53) Mme X (7:46) Le Fantôme De M.C. Escher (6:15) Le Roi Soldat (4:16)

*** star songs: Checkpoint Charlie (3:21)

A double-disc release that combined a long-awaited studio album and, thrown in as a bonus, their live Nearfest concert of 2002. If memory serves, Mekano was their previous album (dating from the previous century or so), where they were a quartet and by their Nearfest performance, they had integrated a duo of cute female musical buddies (Bélanger on violin and Leclair on sax), and that by the recording of the studio album three years later, they where still around but as guests-only (if I can believe the album's booklet). Still in the studio album, SMM's Holmer also contributed to three tracks, both playing and writing, and another cute (I presume, since they all are) Québecois woman Millet played the bassoon on five tracks.

Opening in GG mode, Pyramide is a typically quirky and jumpy Miriodor track that is also reminiscent of their Gypsy jazz roots. Sonically these first few tracks are generally fuller- sounding than their previous adventures, because of the extended line-up, thus increasing the possibilities of interplay and compositional complexity. Some tracks are also more symphonic or standard-prog than usual, sometimes even giving into passages that could feature on an Anglagard album (Cruciverbiste or Frozen Bonsai) or Crimson (Checkpoint Charlie), but on the whole, you're still well within the usual Miriodor boundaries. The last third of the album sees the afore-mentioned Holmer intervening, which means (unfortunately for me) accordion every second track or so (me no like), often accompanied by Millet's bassoon, including Tolrika, a tune that Lars wrote solo a few years back. Millet's bassoon on Danse Chétive gives a Univers Zero touch, more than a Samla feel. The energetic and demented Préparatifs De Vacances is somewhere close Crimson's madness crossed with some hardcore bombastic moods. The closing Deep Forest is a mammoth track to end the aural hostilities, thus forcing your mind to surrender unconditionally to Miriodor's musical kingdom, helped out y their feudal Swedish vassal Holmer.

As for the Nearfest performance, Miriodor opens the set on very weird electronic and percussions, but the Queen Of Termites reassures the public right away with its typical melodic complexity, and then get a bit sombre with Proportions Gardées, which is slightly reminiscent or UZ or Present. Most of the tracks are from Jongleries and Mekano, but you'll find a few from earlier times as well. As the concert goes on, Falaise's guitar seems to get hotter, but never hogs the spotlight. Actually just like in the studio Miriodor doesn't engage in lengthy solo heroics and histrionics, and everyone always remain at the service of the music.

Well, if I tend to like Jongleries and Avanti (their follow-up and latest, so far), the present Parade has the advantage of finding the group as a sextet, therefore giving them more freedom and sonic variety, although I wished they had developed their songwriting a bit more and dared something totally different than their usual (but improved) soundscapes. Somewhat of a missed opportunity! If you're looking for an introduction to Miriodor's musical realm, the present set might just do the trick, with their usual studio soundscapes slightly-enhanced and an excellent live performance, which will demonstrate that the group doesn't resort to studio trickery. Another impeccable Cuneiform release.