by RAF KATIGBAK

The musical incarnations of Jean-Patrice Rémillard (Pheek), and Felix Richer and Max Chapados (Nuclear Ramjet), have more in common than most people think. It’s true they stand on what seems like polar opposites of Montreal’s electronic music spectrum—Pheek’s a devout minimalist and Nuclear Ramjet a staple in the city’s psychedelic trance scene. But both feel compelled to contribute heavily to their respective scenes and, as a result, are three of the hardest working producers/label heads in this town.

Over the last year, Rémillard’s label Archipel has steadily grown from a fledgling conglomeration of likeminded artists into a respected Web label with MP3 and CD releases, charting singles with heavyweights like Richie Hawtin, and now its first 12-inch EP, Galapagos Excursion Joint 1 (featuring Pheek and 19-year-old wunderkind Jesse Somfay).

Richer’s and Chapados’s experience has been a longer time coming. With their three-years-in-the-making full-length, Mission to Sedna, due out this week, Nuclear Ramjet are also set to launch a new, visually-enhanced version of their live show and their own Spaceport Records label.

Luckily, the three were able to fit the time into their busy schedules to sit down with the Mirror and talk about their take on the convergence of trance and minimal, their labels and the hideous bitch goddess that is the Montreal electronic music scene.

Mirror: For so long, minimal and trance have been very different, but now, with minimal labels like Kompakt pushing a trancier sound, it seems the two are coming together.

Pheek: Definitely. It works both ways. Minimalists are getting into trance and trance producers, like Nathan Fake and James Holden, create minimal with trance aspects. Even this guy [pointing at Chapados], he does some minimal parties—he loves it!

M: Was there any animosity between the two camps?

Max Chapados: No, that would be a stupid mentality. For me, minimal is one part of a greater musical picture.

P: There wasn’t so much animosity between producers, but more the crowds. Trance fans would often dismiss minimal as “musique de salon”—

MC: —and people would say Goa is... I don’t know what.

Felix Richer: The sad truth is that the majority of people who listen to music often buy into the lifestyle that goes with it. Whether it’s more granola or rock-star or techno, they want to go to a place and not be bothered hearing different or challenging stuff. Some people won’t be happy unless they hear “Sunday Bloody Sunday” every weekend, so they’ll naturally gravitate toward places like that. It’s lame, but that’s the truth. It’s the same in trance and in minimal techno, and while that may seem avant-garde or underground to them, in the end they’re just isolating themselves. Luckily, there are quite a few open music lovers in this city to keep it interesting for artists like Pheek and ourselves.

Pee-jays and les buzzés

P: At the same time—Felix, you talked about lifestyles—I think to have a label, you actually propose a lifestyle. I’m not exactly sure about the direction, the philosophy of your label, but I know that with Archipel, we wanted to have something warm and welcoming, like a family with music that’s both emotional and intellectual. Above all, we wanted a chance for people to go beyond the club. We even wanted to put out a line of clothing, but comfortable stuff like kimonos, pyjama-type stuff that makes you want to be happy cocooning at home. It’s more about what you propose than impose, and that’s what we want to propose—home clubbing.

FR: Spaceport is less a proposition of lifestyle. Maybe it’s a reaction to knowing what it means to stay in a studio and spend hours isolated with instruments, but we want to create more of a portal to other systems, a place where les buzzés des galaxies can exchange ideas and their way of life.

Spaceport launch, with Nuclear Ramjet, Tao, Yann, Anton A., YEb and Zank, at Main Hall on Friday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m., $10. Archipel launch, with Pheek, Ryan Crosson and Miss Fitz, at Main Hall on Saturday, Feb. 18, 9 p.m., $15

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