The Future Sound of Yesterday's Montreal

[nfotxn]

Sometimes all it takes is a book or record to completely stimulate one's imagination. Lately, in my case, it's the later. I was listening to the CBC Radio 3 Podcast and heard the track "Terminus" by Quebec Connection.

Ok, so I have to confess: I have a extremely hard-up fetish for the retro-modern. I think it's having grown up in Hamilton with all the brutal buildings and their modular furniture I was somehow conditioned towards it. I think that in my heart of hearts despite all the modern backwards moving trends, be it organic gardening or neo-conservatism, I feel that we can still move forward at a breakneck 20th century pace. Manned bases on the moon, mars... pluto! Cures for every possible disease.

But that's really idealism I suppose, maybe even fantasy. To believe that we all will have equal human rights or that peak oil will not be the key determining factor in our movement towards cleaner alternative forms of energy.

Yowsers, all this dancing about architecture. I guess is that music to me is about ideas, settings and feelings. It is to everyone really. And I suppose right now I want some optimism. I'm sure we could all use some.

Quebec Connection
Bonjour Expo

Terminus
Everything You've Seen

Comments

An Interesting Find.

[emramesha.livejournal.com]

If you don't already own the Quebec Connection material (I'm assuming you don't when I read between the lines), you can sample some more of their music at their website. I'm going to be saving my pennies for their releases. It's certainly more upbeat sounding electronic music that's a lot more accessible than some of what I've been listening to these days.

Re: An Interesting Find.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Oh no I totally bought the record :)

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I kinda get a bigger kick out of the brutal stuff in Hamilton when they were better taken care of. Now I'd like to see a lot of it torn down! But yes, in their time they were impressive stuff.

[http://users.livejournal.com/speedy_/]

Lately I've seen a lot of bands experimenting with electronica and fun on stage.

Tripping over Cartro-Horsism and beeping backwards.

[jamesfowler.livejournal.com]

Isn't a ‘fetish for Retro-Moderism’ just one more way of saying you have an obsession for second hand 60s Danish knock offs, generally uninventive in approach and/or resources? I'm surprised that at a point in time when commercial Hollywood with its larger wedge of remakes and adaptations than anything else, that anyone would have a fetish for poorness or the passing. It's seems that we are facing a bigger crisis with the box culture promoted by utility buildings cropping up in the suburban sprawl. Staples, the Vaugh Mills Mall and Costco buildings are as much of an architectural slow down as most of the condos we are seeing in the lower east end of Toronto.
As for the Quebec Connection, perhaps I've missed the point of their artificiality, but there is nothing inspired or clever about the effort. It possesses nothing new - not even its irony. After the 2 minute mark, I turned it off. --It got in the way of my own imagination.
I agree that we can all use some optimism and sharing of ideas. That’s what Expos are about.
Instead of coveting a breakneck 20th century pace, perhaps one might hear more about organic gardens and think more about the value of the ‘go slow’ movement and the return on investment if we tend to the needs of our own planet instead of looking for the perpetual next conquer. How can we expect our species to respect another place to live if we can not even look after the one we’ve got? That may seem less like optimism – but it’s a valuable realism to which optimism turns a blind eye. We know more about space than we do our own oceans or own origins of life. Why try to move forward quickly if we do not yet have a good understanding of our own foundation? Perhaps troubleshooting our future and working proactively to meet a global equilibrium through investigation and mass education might be a place to start before we go zipping of to Mars. For those that promote it, one might ask what they are hoping to achieve --and then investigate the answer.
As for disease cures? Talk to the WHO and the AMA about that one ;) and go back to square one about organics...
Lastly, I’ve been listening to Ozzy Osbourn lately while working out. Weird. I think I like the aggression of speed metal. It’s such a positive expression of anger --like beating a stick into the dirt.
Just some ideas… Hope you are well.

Re: Tripping over Cartro-Horsism and beeping backwards.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Spoken like a true bourgeois urbanite! The "Go Slow" movement is the branding of traditional ways for the lifestyle magazine set. Dollars to donuts I'm willing to bet those who claim to live such lifestyles actually don't plant their own gardens and likely just buy the Organics line from Loblaws or shop and Whole Foods. Thus negating the benefit of community and local action into the murky depths of big agri-business.

As for the music, that's all subjective. No it's not pushing any boundaries at all. And in fact in your condescending tone I think you miss perhaps the crux of the the retro trend: un-ironic nostalgia. And while yuppies plant organic rooftop gardens above their lofts and pat themselves on the back today I will take heart in the nostalgia of a time of egalitarian social trends. Mass-transit for all, anti-biotics, a cure for polio, insulin and an effective peace movement.