Karkwa : un mois de mars de feu !

Après une tournée de quelques dates canadiennes avec leurs amis Plants and animals (Toronto, Ottawa, London, Kingston, Hamilton, Waterloo et Peterborough) la formation montréalaise s’envolera vers Austin, Texas pour jouer au très courru festival South by SouthWest. Le groupe en nomination dans deux categories aux Juno Awards (abum francophone et album alternatif de l’année) reviendra ensuite au pays pour participer aux festivités entourant le gala à Toronto à la fin du mois. Les membres de Karkwa performeront également au gala des Génie diffusé sur les ondes de CBC ce soir, 20h. Pour clore le mois de mars en beauté, la formation s’offre rien de moins qu’un film: Les Cendres de verre. Le documentaire musical sur le groupe sortira officiellement le 24 mars prochain dans le cadre du Festival International du Film sur l’Art de Montréal.

Extrait de le lettre d'infos d'Audiogram

Vive Karkwa !

CMF night 3 review

All our reviews from a Friday night loaded with CMF action. Starring CMF: The Sadies, Bachman-Turner, Freedom or Death, Kurt Vile, Karkwa, J. Mascis and more...

Karkwa (Wrongbar, 10pm): Honestly, I was expecting a capacity crowd for this. The Polaris Prize winners, fresh off an opening spot for Plants and Animals at Lee’s last weekend and a televised performance on the Gemini Awards on Thursday night, in a rare Toronto sighting at a small club attracted only a two-thirds full audience. Could it be true that Anglos can’t dig French-language bands? Is Wrongbar too far west for visiting conference goers? No matter, the Montreal five-piece played like it was a massive, sold-out gig, exhibiting the confidence of seasoned pros through some initial sound mix glitches on the more delicate dream-pop material from their lauded Les Chemins de Verre album, ramping up to full-on dual-drummer propelled rock bombast. 

Louis-Jean Cormier has a near flawless voice, and his limited English skills exhibited in between song chatter were nothing short of charming. (He even earnestly and graciously thanked everyone for coming — including the CMW crews, even though it was the band loading out all their gear in about ten back-and-forth trips.) Vive Karkwa. LL

BY LIISA LADOUCEUR, EYEWEEKLY, March 12, 2011

FireWire Music Company introduce to Karkwa

Karkwa @ SXSW

FireWire Music Company (FWM) are fortunate to work with some incredible artists and 2011 has certainly started off with a bang!

We’d like to introduce you to an amazing band from Montreal that we recently recently discovered – Karkwa – we have no idea what they put in the water but Montreal is certainly producing some brilliant music.

We discovered Karkwa while searching for exciting and unique music for “Jesus Henry Christ”. Karkwa were perfect and are their song “Le Pyromane” is now part of our soundtrack. Listen to “Le Pyromane” below: 

Le Pyromane

They’re current winners of the prestigious Polaris Prize (Mercury, AMP) for Best Canadian Album for “Les Chemins de Verre” (Pathways Made of Glass), they have also been nominated for two Juno Awards this year and they just played live at the Genie Awards (The Canadian Academy Awards).

There’s quite a buzz developing around them. Their showcase last night during Canadian Music Week was packed with adoring new and seasoned fans and they have 4 official SXSW showcases coming up next week. So if you’re heading to Austin, be sure to check them out at one of the shows below.

“Les Chemins de Verre” was recorded without any pre-production, it’s an incredible album, a beautiful lush collection of songs filled with soaring melodies and French lyrics. The album sways between delicate acoustic stripped back songs to rich orchestrated pieces, taking the listener on an emotional journey that transcends language. We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do.

March 16th – 5.30pm – Brush Square Park

March 16th – 10.00pm – Spill Bar, 212 6th St

March 17th – 5.00pm – Planet Québec @ Spill Bar, 212 6th St

March 18th – 6.00pm – Austin Museum of Art

www.karkwa.com

www.myspace.com/karkwa

www.facebook.com/karkwa

Polaris prize winners Karkwa breaking barriers

When Karkwa won the 2010 Polaris Music Prize, an annual award for best Canadian album, they were “stunned,” said Louis-Jean Cormier, the band’s vocalist and guitarist.

“It was kind of funny — we were holding a cheque for 20 grand and didn’t understand anything. We were more stressed by the fact that we had to speak in English,” Cormier said.

He went on to explain that beating out more mainstream contenders, such as Broken Social Scene, was “a big surprise” yet also “a big honour.”

The Polaris Prize is based on jury-decided merit as opposed to sales, like other awards such as the Juno’s....

[BY: ILANA BELFER, CHARLATAN.CA  POST DATE: WED, 09/03/2011]

Karkwa bring Montreal Showmanship to Toronto

Karkwa's set began with a moody, percussive piece. Louis-Jean Cormier (guitar, vocals) played the pedal steel guitar, frequently making eye contact with François Lafontaine on keys. The rhythm section of Martin Lamontagne on bass and Stéphane Bergeron on drums was augmented by a set-up of floor toms, cymbals and other percussion toys played with gusto by Julien Sagot. Although Karkwa was pretty much unknown in English Canada until they won the Polaris Music Prize last year, the same five guys have been building their fan base in Québec for more than a decade.

The crowd’s energy ramped up as Karkwa moved through their set with energy, enthusiasm and percussion. It was apparent that there were small pockets of Karkwa fans, singing along and hollering between songs. Plants and Animals fans seemed to take it all in, processing what they were witnessing. Louis-Jean made a few references to their continued exposure to English-speaking crowds, struggling at times to explain himself, but winning us over with his earnestness. Towards the end of the set, Louis-Jean admitted to being nervous about playing a well-known cover for the first time to Anglophones, "Dance Me to the End of Love" by Montreal poet/musician Leonard Cohen.

By the last song of the set, "Oublie Pas", everyone was bobbing their heads and humming along. There was almost an aura that this was no opening act; we were treated to two headliners in one night. In any case, there's no doubt that Karkwa gained some new fans at this show.

We'll get a chance to see them again on Friday, March 11 at Wrongbar, as part of Canadian Music Fest.

 Karkwa

Lee's Palace in Toronto, ON March 5, 2011
Review by: Lee Fraser

Photos by: Michelle Cortese