A dash of Natacha

>> Local collective humbly excels

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Great things come in small, unassuming packages. Take this Meanwhile, Various Artists comp that showed up on my desk earlier this week. Assembled by the six members of the local Natacha’s Recordings collective, operating under assorted different configurations and monikers, it’s a real joy. Elements of neo-classical, thinky electronix, folk and psychedelic post-rock come together in a series of fragile, humble little nachtmuziks that, carefully considered, are like glittering ripples on the surface of something far more expansive.
“Honestly, it’s the idea that anyone can do music,” says founding Natachite Léon Lo (aka Helen of Troy, among other names) of the group’s raison d’être. “If you listen to the record, we’re only six people but there are 14 tracks, so obviously some of it starts to sound the same. But there are some really disparate bits.” That includes the bedroom glitch-pop of A.D.I. (Antoine Lafontaine) and the work of transplanted Vancouverite DJ Dolly (Jamie Mason). “He comes from an old-school hip hop background, which is nice. His stuff is beaty but not too aggressive.

“Simon Bélair and Jean-François Michaud, who play as Unipolar, and myself used to do shows together, since the beginning of ’99, with me doing a half hour at the beginning and then them doing two- or three-hour long psychedelic sets. We kept doing music on our own, and I then met a few interesting people who would just come over and do music. We all started doing these one-off things, which just turned into this huge mess. We realized that we have enough material to release for the next four years.”

Regardless, there’s a trio of brief passages on the record attributed to nobody—and, being marked as public domain, for everybody. “We all have this interest in found things. Found sound is obviously quite a joy. Two of the found sounds are field recordings from Simon’s trip to Spain and France, the other is from a cassette I found at the Salvation Army. Do you know the Touch label from the U.K.? They’re kinda arty, but have these amazing compilations. That was the starting point, because they have nice sequencing of the tracks with these little, uncredited interludes in between. That’s really nice.” :

CD launch with Unipolar, Helen of Troy, Guêpe and A.D.I at l’Alizé tonight, Jan. 17, 9pm, $6