Jean Derome — Le Magasin de Tissu (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2001)
(The Back Pages series is explained here, where you’ll also find links to the other installments.)
I’m long overdue to write about Jean Derome’s Le Magasin de Tissu (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2001). It’s one of the CDs that the French-Canadian label sent to KZSU back in the day, and I loved the concept so much that I bought a copy of my own, so that I could play them both on the air simultaneously.
It made sense to do that because of the cut-up, randomized nature of the album.
Le Magasin de Tissu (“The Fabric Shop”) is a collage of Derome’s solo improvisations, roughly 90-second snippets that he recorded onto three CDs of 23 tracks each. He used a battery of instruments: horns, flutes, percussion, noisemakers, one small keyboard, his voice. Each CD also included 14 tracks of silence.
The final recording consists of all three CDs played on shuffle simultaneously. The result is an unpredictable trio of sounds — and because of those silent tracks, you also get spontaneous spans of duo or solo playing.
I’ve long been fascinated by randomness and random (or pseudorandom) numbers, so this concept was catnip. Certainly, it harkens back to John Cage-ian ideas. A similar process was behind Tania Chen’s recording of Cage’s Electronic Music for Piano.
But Derome adds another dimension.
The CD booklet includes a MAP OF WHAT’S HAPPENING, a schematic telling you which tracks from which of the CDs are playing. You get to see the random duets and trios that emerge. Corresponding charts show the track listings of the three source CDs and an inventory of the instruments used, both in pictorial and text form. How cool is that? (Scroll through the gallery below to see.)
I know, I know — this all sounds like Homework: The Game (a D&D reference from Gravity Falls), but for me, it hits all the right nerves of geekdom. (See also Harold Budd and Andy Partridge.) On my first listen, I followed dutifully with the map, gleefully cross-referencing the instrument charts. At KZSU, I gave the CD multiple spins, and one time I indulged myself by playing two copies simultaneously, flickering each CD from one track to another, possibly creating unintended quartets, quintets, and sextets.
This album is the kind of thing that works once. The magic comes from having just one permutation codified on disc. Do it a dozen more times, and the beauty fades into scaffolding and plaster. The art of it, and the fun, come from the process more than the result. (I’ve noted similar feelings about albums by Kris Davis and Didier Petit and Alexandre Pierrepont.) Although the result is meaningful: As with improvisation in general, Le Magasin captures one moment in time while reminding us that every moment is unique.
There’s further backstory: The reason KZSU got this CD was because I’d encountered Derome and Joane Hétu, the Ambiances Magnetiques proprietors, during a 1999 trip to Paris. They performed at Les Instants Chavirés as the duo Nous Perçons Les Oreilles — appropriately shrill and piercing stuff, as I recall. (And findable on Bandcamp!) They’re from Quebec, and between my spotty French and their grasp of English, we established contact and started radio servicing.
That was an exciting period for me, when I was still learning about the global scene and making discoveries every month. And when Le Magasin arrived, well, that was one of the best rewards.
Here’s the album on Bandcamp.
Memory Select: Journeys in Creative Music 