Antoine Corriveau is in the car on his new album

Formerly the cantor of a deliciously dark folk, Antoine Corriveau is establishing himself more and more with a more rock and burst musical direction.

Antoine Corriveau

★★★★ 1⁄2

Dandelion

“I never stay very long in the same place”, he also launches on the single Clumsiness.

Thus, despite the hippie images that the title may evoke, Dandelion perfectly demonstrates Corriveau’s propensity to evolve, even reinvent himself, while maintaining his achievements (read here: this little rain cloud that seems to accompany him on a daily basis).

“I have never been someone (…) without bruises, at the forefront.”

It is the self-portrait that the main interested party draws on someone, piece opening this major work in which Corriveau describes his ills and setbacks (fictitious or not) against a background of road trips with the accuracy and the gift for the images that we know him.

Failing to surprise, therefore, Corriveau adds – despite himself – a new stone to the monument erecting him as a talented lyricist and cruelly underestimated by the general public (in my humble opinion, at least).

This passage – “In America, we all have Indian blood. If it’s not in the veins, it’s on the hands ”-, found on Mixed blood, particularly thrills these days.

MUSICAL ROAD TRIP

As for the melodies, Corriveau and his collaborators (including Salomé Leclerc and Mat Vezio to name a few) abound in a rock that is as thunderous as it hovers at times … and which would even pour into brit rock? Nostalgic for This Is Hardcore from Pulp, even the famous OK Computer of Radiohead could, in fact, find hooks between these cult works and Dandelion.

Small consolation: 2020 will have been disgusting from beginning to end, but – at least – we will have drawn remarkable albums … including Dandelion that we risk finding on many end-of-year charts.

Including mine anyway, that’s clear.

Big Sun

★★★ 1⁄2

Popular occult

With a few weeks late (my apologies), here is the first LP of the French rock combo from the left thigh of Les Truands, another project from the Liverpool of Quebec: Saint-Hyacinthe. On the program: garage rock tunes sometimes heavy, sometimes psyche, even stoner, but still dynamic. Downtime? Very little for Big Sun. Fans of Black Keys and Raconteurs, in particular, will find their account there.

Melanie C

★★★

Melanie C

Four years later Version Of Me, Sporty Spice resurfaces with an eighth album and a new sound as a bonus. Inspired by a collaboration with Sink The Pink, a London drag collective, Melanie Chisholm abandons pop to flirt more with beats more dance on this homonymous LP. A successful operation, moreover. Although the singer benefits from an experienced entourage (British house producer Ten Ven the shoulder, in particular), it is her voice which – as in the days of the Spice Girls – stands out and remains in the lead.

Bon Jovi

★★ 1⁄2

2020

For his 15^e album, Jon Bon Jovi and his minions essentially offer themselves a ride on the autopilot with 2020, an album at the antipodes of the current year. In short, we are unpacked a rock work, cruelly soft and predictable. Even when Bon Jovi militates (he approaches the army on Unbroken, American Reckoning is a reference to the murder of George Floyd and is inspired by the pandemic to Do What You Can), he does it in a home-style. It is frustrating as it is beige. For fans only.

Heart stroke

MULTI-MEMORY CONTROLLER

★★★ 1⁄2

Power Up The Chips

Professor at the University of Montreal in video games and interactive scriptwriting, Dominic Arsenault is also an author and artist combining his love of heavy metal and his interest in video games within his chiptune Multi-Memory Controller project (for the uninitiated[e] s, imagine a combo between Metallica – even DragonForce – and the good old gray Nintendo). Yes Power Up The Chips would gain with a more elaborate work on the voices, the musics – they often push back the limits imposed by the chiptune. Tucked away, sure, but very much in its genre.