Ryan Masteller - Cassette Gods:
I’m as surprised as you are that I woke up this morning still breathing oxygen on planet earth, huffing down sweet gulps of fresh air while perceiving the surroundings of my bedroom. It was touch and go there for a while – I just never know when the universe is going to wink out of existence, so I try to engender a healthy sense of awe within myself at the most mundane things.
Here’s the greatest news of all, at least on a day like today, when the act of waking up is itself particularly flabbergasting: you don’t have to settle for uninteresting music! I sure am not, and instead of reaching for the go-to morning rock records (whatever your choice is, be it Sublime, Korn, Dave Matthews, or another musical artifact), I grabbed the top tape off the #CASSETTEGODS stack that’s sitting by my desk, hoping against hope to be blown into another dimension (but sort of not hoping that the tape would cause the universe to wink out – I think I’ve covered that I’m pretty terrified of that happening). Guess what I grabbed? Guess, guess! Yes, it was Three Fourths Tiger’s Indoor Voice, but I’d already reviewed that (two times, it turns out), so I put it back. No, what I really grabbed was La Forêt Rouge’s tongue-twisteringly titled (in French, too!) Hors de tout doute déraisonnable (Trilogie du doute II), a sequel to part 1 of a planned trilogy. The title means “Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt,” and there is absolutely no way anybody’s going to have any questions about anything after listening to this supermassive black hole of a cassette engulf everything in existence.
Over two songs and forty minutes, the four-piece from Montreal melds stuttering funk, krautrock, and psychedelic Brazilian influences into one bizarre and compelling whole. Imagine Can and Fela Kuti harnessing Sun Ra’s comet, and you’re close. Every second is improvised, and the players form their own magnetic field around one another, a field so powerful that it’s impossible to believe Montreal, the city, is still standing in the wake of this thing. It’s cosmic; it’s out there. It’s more powerful than we can possibly imagine. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the flickering of reality at the edge of my periphery is actually being caused by me listening to this. Uh oh.
I’m at the end of the tape, and it’s clear that we’re a fraction of a millisecond away from the universe actually collapsing in upon itself. La Forêt Rouge is to blame. I have just enough time (I’m really fast) to finish this review and hit “send” on the email to #CASSETTEGODS HQ. It’s definitely too late to warn everybody. Oh well. It might actually even be too late to finish this sentence, come to think of it, so if you’re reading this and I don’t -
cassettegods.blogspot.com/2016/02/la-foret-rouge-hors-de-tout-doute.html
Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly
Le Foret Rouge is a quartet from Canada with Ce Francois Couture (voice, synthesizer, electronics, percussion), Olivier D'Amours (guitar, bass)), David Dugas Dion (drums) and Christian St-Pierre (bass, guitar) and this is the second part in a trilogy of releases for Cuchabata Records, Small Scale Music and La Cohu - the latter to appear later. This is something that we don't hear a lot in the Vital Weekly HQ: it is improvised music for sure, but with a more rock like background; it's psychedelic but with a funky undercurrent. It's opera like, it's massive it's progressive (which is hardly progressive as it is; I always found that a most curious label for music). The late Daevid Allen of Gong inspired the two sidelong pieces, and that's where one should place Le Foret Rouge too. Think Magma, Gong, Henry Cow, and who knows, more symphonic bands from the 70s, but all played with considerable more free improvisation at hand. This is not exactly the kind of music I like per se, but I must admit I found this quite pleasant to hear all considering. It's good to hear something that is not per se along 'our' lines, but still quite outside any mainstream anyway, and Le Foret Rouge surely is that. For all you prog rockers out there. -
vitalweekly.net/999.html
released August 28, 2015
La Forêt rouge poursuit ses aventures rocambolesques. Après Hors de tout doute raisonnable paru chez Cuchabata Records en mai 2015 – « improvisations profondes qui coalescent en chansons sauvages » (Words on Sound), « un sourd tonnerre de tambours délibère avec les adorateurs des feedbacks rembobinés » (Weird Canada) – le quatuor poursuit sa trilogie du doute en publiant Hors de tout doute déraisonnable chez Small Scale Music en cassette à petit prix et téléchargement gratuit.
Le splendide collage photo qui orne la pochette de Hors de tout doute déraisonnable annonce les deux collages sonores de 20 minutes qui composent l’album. Pour ce disque, la Forêt est entrée en studio en mode « free funk » – rocks fulgurants, lamentations psychédéliques, influences krautrock et brésiliennes, le tout entièrement improvisé – puis les bandes ont été découpées et assemblées en deux suites frénétiques de 20 minutes intitulées « Vous êtes moi » et « Je suis vous » en hommage au grand Daevid Allen, décédé quelques jours avant l’enregistrement.
The continuing crazy adventures of La Forêt rouge! After the release of Hors de tout doute raisonnable (Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt) on Cuchabata Records in May 2015 – “deep improvisations coalescing into feral songforms” (Words on Sound), “a low thunder of drumbeats hold council with sycophants of rewinding feedback” (Weird Canada) – the quartet is back with Volume II of the Trilogie du doute (Doubt Trilogy): Hors de tout doute déraisonnable (Beyond Any Unreasonable Doubt), available from Small Scale Music on budget-price cassette and free download.
The gorgeous photo collage on the cover announces the two 20-minutes sound collages that make up the album. For this record, La Forêt rouge entered the studio in free funk mode – dazzling rocks, psychedelic laments, Krautrock and Brazilian influences, all entirely improvised. Then, tracks were cut up and reassembled into two frenetic suites entitled “Vous êtes moi” and “Je suis vous”, translations of “You Are I” and “I Am You”, two famous quotes from the great Daevid Allen, who had passed away just days before the session.
Fondé en 2002 à Valleyfield (Québec) par David Dugas Dion (ex-Crabe, David and the Woods, Gens Chrétiens, Square/Sine) et Olivier D’Amours (GGRIL, Monocytes), la Forêt rouge a connu une première vie comme duo d’improvisation avant-rock psychédélisé, auquel s’est greffé Christian St-Pierre (Totem Tabou, Odd Limbs) peu après. Deux albums parus chez Cuchabata Records documentent cette période (La Forêt rouge, 2002) et une tentative avortée de remettre le projet sur les rails (Session oubliée, 2009). Le 13 avril 2014, le trio fait la rencontre de CE François Couture (RBC, Square/Sine) et le projet renaît de ses cendres. Un premier album, Cassette, paraît en octobre 2014, suivi de la Trilogie du doute :
Hors de tout doute raisonnable, Cuchabata Records, 3 mai 2015
Hors de tout doute déraisonnable, Small Scale Music, 30 août 2015
Et s’il subsiste un doute, La Cohu, novembre 2015.
laforetrouge.bandcamp.com
Formed in 2002 in Valleyfield (Quebec) by David Dugas Dion (ex-Crabe, David and the Woods, Gens Chrétiens, Leftovers Diable) and Olivier D’Amours (GGRIL, Monocytes), La Forêt rouge in its first stage was a psychedelized avant-rock improvisation duo, soon joined by Christian St-Pierre (Totem Tabou, Odd Limbs). Two albums released on Cuchabata Records document this era (La Forêt rouge, 2002) and a failed attempt at putting the project back on track (Session oubliée, 2009). On April 13, 2014, the trio met CE François Couture (RBC, Square/Sine), and the project rose from its ashes. The new line-up released their debut, Cassette, in October 2014, before embarking on the Doubt Trilogy, three cassettes to be released by three different labels:
Hors de tout doute raisonnable, Cuchabata Records, May 3, 2015
Hors de tout doute déraisonnable, Small Scale Music, August 30, 2015
Et s’il subsiste un doute, La Cohu, November 2015.
laforetrouge.bandcamp.com
Ce Francois Couture - voix, synthétiseur, électroniques,percussions
Olivier D'Amours - guitare, basse
David Dugas Dion - batterie
Christian St-Pierre - basse, guitare
Musiques improvisées collectivement et enregistrées par David Dugas Dion le 15 mars 2015 dans le Gao Mata
collage sonores - Ce Francois Couture
collage visuel - Christian St-Pierre
réalisation - La Forêt Rouge
production - Small Scale Music
graphisme - Florence Cardinal
