Biography
Klaxon Gueule translates literally to “horn scream,” implying volume and aggression, yet the trio specializes in free improvisation that favors electro-acoustic detail. Serving as Ambiances Magnétiques drummer Michel F. Côté’s central project since the late 1990s, the group joined the avant-garde current that reshaped free improvisation around deliberate silence and live electronic manipulation.
From the late 1980s until the late 1990s, Côté concentrated his own music—apart from film and theater scores—on the fluid ensemble Bruire. In 1997 he sought a narrower focus on jazz-rooted free improvisation and invited Miriodor guitarist Bernard Falaise, already a soundtrack collaborator with filmmaker Robert Lepage, plus the young jazz bassist Alexandre St-Onge. The three pursued an intense, ecstatic jazz idiom and issued the double album Bavards on Ambiances Magnétiques, adding saxophonist Christopher Cauley for the second disc.
Soon afterward St-Onge turned entirely toward experimental sound art, discarding conventional bass playing to extract cavernous tones from the instrument’s body, which he then processed with live electronics or produced by striking an electric bass. He issued his debut solo album Image/Négation on Alien8 Recordings and formed the contact-microphone duo Undo with Christof Migone. Falaise and Côté adopted the same path, refining a textural language that matched the concurrent rise of electro-acoustic improvisation across Europe. Their 1999 album Muets distilled that change of direction in a single word. The new orientation gave Klaxon Gueule a sharper profile and drew international interest. Originally a side venture, the trio became the main engine for Côté and Falaise, while St-Onge also found success with Shalabi Effect. The group performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and the Taktlos Festival. Grain, released in 2002, includes guest appearances by Sam Shalabi and Migone.
From the late 1980s until the late 1990s, Côté concentrated his own music—apart from film and theater scores—on the fluid ensemble Bruire. In 1997 he sought a narrower focus on jazz-rooted free improvisation and invited Miriodor guitarist Bernard Falaise, already a soundtrack collaborator with filmmaker Robert Lepage, plus the young jazz bassist Alexandre St-Onge. The three pursued an intense, ecstatic jazz idiom and issued the double album Bavards on Ambiances Magnétiques, adding saxophonist Christopher Cauley for the second disc.
Soon afterward St-Onge turned entirely toward experimental sound art, discarding conventional bass playing to extract cavernous tones from the instrument’s body, which he then processed with live electronics or produced by striking an electric bass. He issued his debut solo album Image/Négation on Alien8 Recordings and formed the contact-microphone duo Undo with Christof Migone. Falaise and Côté adopted the same path, refining a textural language that matched the concurrent rise of electro-acoustic improvisation across Europe. Their 1999 album Muets distilled that change of direction in a single word. The new orientation gave Klaxon Gueule a sharper profile and drew international interest. Originally a side venture, the trio became the main engine for Côté and Falaise, while St-Onge also found success with Shalabi Effect. The group performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and the Taktlos Festival. Grain, released in 2002, includes guest appearances by Sam Shalabi and Migone.
Albums
