Biobazar

In 2008, given the increasing presence of digital music, the large-scale democratization of means of production and the emergence of a zillion networks inspired by MYSPACE, with all the opportunities for dissemination and promotion this offers, musical and sound creation are seeing a boundless expansion. It goes into all directions and one can lose himself amidst all of it, for good or bad.

On one hand, there is a profusion of new artists and new musical propositions and, on the other hand, there is this handful of creators who use a profusion of sounds drawn from an infinite number of sources which can sometimes be surprising; this is equally interesting, if not more in certain cases!

BIOBAZAR, a Quebec project that is still unfortunately rather unknown, could be likened to the latter category. Before even checking out the track record of the one and only instigator of the project, Dany Janvier, one can guess, upon listening to only a few tracks off STE-CÉCILE, that our guy has been absorbing, for many years, various manifestations of psychedelic music – be it the first incarnations of it in a more sixties-rock approach, from the US West Coast, its teutonized and electronified German version of the seventies, its almost 100% version as heralded by ambient-house luminaries towards the end of the eighties, or even its more dancefloor-oriented bursting, as psychedelism was transmuting, around 1991 or 1992, into ‘’trance’’ and ‘’trance-psy’’ techno – but also the essentials in dub, funk and electro, as well as prog-rock….

One can easily imagine that the man behind these sonic spires has been honing his style for a long time. And indeed! One can only notice the evolution of Dany Janvier’s sound since the release, in 1998, of the famous Wireless Telegraph And Signal Company of his Tektonik Veda project. With that production, the multidisciplinary artist, who is also into video as well as a member of musical ensembles such as LE BAND ZEN and JESUS BENCH 400 LIVRES, already laid the basis of his sonic singularity: diversity of influences, nurtured layering and an obvious evolutionary side…and one can only celebrate the level of mastery and accessibility BIOBAZAR has achieved today, after a certain number of years, while retaining all the integrity of the beginnings.

Besides the happy shambles made of influences and styles which his music offers, Dany Janvier also integrates, into BIOBAZAR ‘s concoctions, world-beat instrumentations as well as samples that are often humoristic taken from the Quebecer filmographic repertoire. This said, these samples always integrate well into the proposed soundtrack, they are never unduly invasive. They never totally divert our attention from the worlds which animate and agitate themselves all around and morph constantly during the course of a same track; for example, the opening track starts with a semi-down-tempo, semi-electro(clash)/electro(old-school) feel, then psychedelic and even country-folk sonorities come in alternately and briefly, and then the tempo accelerates and the soundscape transforms into a technoïd music with an emotionality that recalls a PLAID on a great day…a bit later, the album brings us on a dub excursion that is hallucinated albeit trippy and rather dark …then, the rhythmic portion intensifies and brings us back to the funkiest moments of big beat and psytrance, always with the psychoactive touch that is the BIOBAZAR trademark.- this aspect stands as a constant element in the record; the ambiences are always textured, evolutive, psychotropic and with a lot of richness, never linear.

BIOBAZAR also comes back to more dub-oriented mixtures for a while, with even a slight atmospheric rock-influenced touch. In track 10, he flirts with a jazzy idm sound that is totally unbridled…by the way, this track marks the beginning of the most psychedelic segment of the album. A most delightful way to land, in an elegant fashion, after the flight…at this moment the tempo is around 100 bpm maximum – this is rhythmic but cerebral stuff. It should also be noted that the album is made in an uninterrupted sequence and that the tracks seamlessly blend one into each other (Dany Janvier’s experience as a radio programmer as well as a dj probably has something to do with this). To be recommended wholeheartedly to fans of electronic psy music (uptempo or downtempo), or simply to people looking for intricate and adventurous electronica!