by SCOTT C

Although the name Artist of the Year may sound pretentious, self-gratifying and lofty, the music this Montreal band has been making is anything but. The sounds created by longtime chums David Richard, Camille Jacques, Nat Duhaime and Louis Coutu could not only fit an amateur porn feature like a glove, but also double as the backdrop for a twisted, drug-induced poem, presented by four childhood friends. With the release of their latest LP, Cut Disco, the gritty taste of dirty, funky, party music will be on the lips of many, and that's precisely what these guys are aiming for. The Mirror spoke to David Richard while he ate corn somewhere in the city.

Mirror: Have you been having lots of BBQs this summer?

David Richard: Yeah! We stole a dysfunctional one from out in the street! Recycle!

M: It sounds to me like you guys are doing a lot of recycling in your music. How would you describe that crazy sound that is AOTY?

DR: Ummm... high? (laughs) It's a mix of a lot of things, but when it goes through the AOTY grinder, it comes out somewhat unexpected. We're a band, and we sample ourselves, and this might be part of why we sound so different.

M: So you're sampling yourselves, and then applying a shitload of processing and effects on top of that?

DR: We work like this. We make a beat on the computer with whatever software, then we jam on top of it, record what we play, and then cut that shit up again on the computer. So it all comes out sounding kind of crazy. Bit-shifts, lots of cuts and drills, that's our thing. It's our own recipe, but it works! I think we could apply this to many different genres and have a lot of fun. We're thinking of putting some rock through the grinder. "Cut Rock."

M: Like... crack?

DR: Well, we are crack addicts. Maybe "Cock Rock" is better.

M: You guys have been friends for a long time?

DR: AOTY has been together from 2001, but Nat and Cam knew each other since kindergarten, and I've known Louis since Grade 1. We hooked up in the third year of high school.

M: Wow.

DR: Old friends! Running around naked in the house, no problemo! We used to play really dark and depressing "I want to cut my veins," "Get me out of here" trip hop, and eventually had to say, "Fuck that." Then Cam and Nat started to play around on the computer.

M: Do you guys have any aspirations to get the hell out of Montreal?

DR: Please! That's my main goal in life, to travel the world. I've saved my dream so that I could travel with my friends. Now we just need somewhere to go. We're trying.

M: Is it true you guys are looking for a manager?

DR: Yes. We're getting less and less involved in creation, so if someone could do all this other stuff instead of me, that would be great. Maybe a girl. A girl manager with big balls. We're still learning about the music business and how everything works. Maybe we'll put out some vinyl, but we need someone to help us out.

With Mossyrock at l'Hemisphère Gauche
on Thursday, Aug. 18, 9 p.m., $5

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