Karkwa / Plants and Animals : A stellar indie rock concert

Quebecois bands kick off tour in Waterloo

Plants and Animals’ latest tour kicked off on the night of March 3rd at Starlight, with the help from supporting band Karkwa.

Speaking to The Cord before the show, Karkwa’s lead singer Louis-Jean Cormier remarked, “We already know each other, but we don’t know what is going to happen tonight.”

What happened was a stellar indie rock concert.

Karkwa started the night by powering through a strong opening set. The Francophone band delivered songs off their latest album Les Chemins de Verres like “Le Pyromane” and “Moi-Leger” to a delighted crowd. With guitar, bass, keyboards and two percussionists onstage, the music’s complexity and band’s attention to detail were expertly showcased to the eager audience...

[Sarah Murphy,TheCord.ca, March 9, 2011]

Nat Le Scouarnec gives Karkwa the rockumentary treatment

FIFA: La Blogothèque Director Nat Le Scouarnec gives Karkwa the rockumentary treatment

If you pick up NIGHTLIFE assiduously to peruse our features on emerging musicians, you probably already know all there is to know about La Blogothèque and its Take Away Shows (or “Concerts à emporter” for all you Francophiles). Since April 2006, the ubiquitous Vincent Moon and a few Parisians with a monster appetite for melody have been filming the planet’s finest indie acts in the downright wackiest on-the-fly scenarios, favouring performances in unusual settings (buses, boudoirs and supermarkets are all fair game) that give way to captivating moments of spontaneity. Think Zack Condon singing the haunting “Nantes” as the camera follows him down an echoey stairwell, while the sounds of his Beirut menagerie going at it at ground level gradually become discernible. Or Arcade Fire performing “Neon Bible” in the freight elevator of Paris’ Olympia music hall, with the tearing of magazine pages filling in for percussions.

Nat Le Scouarnec, one of La Blogothèque’s architects, recently directed Les Cendres de Verre, a documentary about Quebec indie rockers Karkwa that will premiere at FIFA this month. The filmmaker adapts the intimate TAS approach to a longer format, allowing for a more revealing glimpse into the band’s creative process leading up to the release of their fourth album. After meeting in Paris two years ago for a Take Away Show, both parties were eager to reconvene for a more drawn-out rockumentary-type project...

[par Michael-Oliver Harding, Nightlife.ca, 2011-03-08]

P&A : La prestation de Karkwa, elle, frôle la perfection !

Plants and Animals 
Le sacre du printemps

Nicolas Basque : "En ce moment, on "challenge" le public et on essaie des arrangements pour les nouvelles chansons. On se met en danger."

photo: Caroline Désilets

En mode écriture, Plants and Animals impose sur scène son laboratoire musical. Un nouveau disque se prépare et le trio peaufine déjà les détails de sa création. Bientôt Paris et le studio.

Plants and Animals sillonnait l'Ontario en compagnie de Karkwa il y a peu de temps. Il semble que la rencontre de ces deux groupes sur le plateau de l'émission Studio 12 à Radio-Canada, l'année dernière, a porté fruit. "Les gars nous avaient invités pour chanter Bye Bye Bye avec eux, se rappelle Nicolas Basque, guitariste et multi-instrumentiste au sein de P&A. C'était une belle rencontre et notre premier passage à la télé au Québec! Ça a fait drôle de se retrouver en Ontario ensemble par la suite. Karkwa qui ouvre pour nous en Ontario, alors qu'il remplit le Métropolis à Montréal! C'est le monde à l'envers!"...

[Article d'Antoine Léveillée, Voir.ca, le 10 mars 2011]

KARKWA INVITES YOU TO THEIR SXSW PERFORMANCES

2010 POLARIS PRIZE WINNERS  and 2011 JUNO NOMINEES KARKWA INVITES YOU TO THEIR  SXSW PERFORMANCES March 16th - 5 p.m. - Brush Square Park March 16th - 1 p.m. - Spill Bar, 212 6th St March 17th - 5 p.m. - Spill Bar, 212 6th St March 18th - 6 p.m. - Austin Museum of Art   Artistically fearless, Montreal band, Karkwa is riding the crest of their decade-long musical voyage. During that time, this 5 piece alternative rock band have released four albums,  all to critical acclaim and commercial  success. They have toured extensively across Canada and Europe, building  an incredible live show and a large, dedicated fan base. Their fourth album, Les Chemins de Verre (The Glass Pathways), was  recorded  in  Paris  at  the  beautiful  "La Frette  Studios". Inspired by their surroundings and allowing their creativity to flow, the album was recorded without any pre-production. The result is 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.  Les Chemins de Verre was released in Canada in March 2010 and has quickly launched Karkwa into the next stage of their career.  They have been showered with popular and critical acclaim, winning the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Album in 2010, a prize which is voted on by over 200 respected Canadian music journalists regardless of sales or genre. Karkwa can lay claim to being the first Francophone artist to ever win this award.  In February 2011, they were also nominated for two Canadian Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album and Francophone Album of the Year.  Their recent success and the popularity of the album with both French and Anglo audiences, has catapulted Karkwa into the international spotlight. One of the stand-out songs off the album "Le Pyromane" has recently been chosen for the upcoming Julia Roberts' produced film, "Jesus Henry Christ".     The new record will be released in the US in late 2011, supported by their first extensive US tour.

Une chanson de Karkwa dans un film produit par Julia Roberts

«Julia Roberts aime Karkwa», lance Koo Abuali, qui travaille comme superviseure musicale à Los Angeles. Tellement que la chanson Le pyromane de Karkwa fera partie de la trame sonore du film Jesus Henry Christ, produit par Red Om, la boîte de Julia Roberts, a appris La Presse.

Réalisé par Dennis Lee, Jesus Henry Christ met en vedette Michael Sheen (Twilight 2) et Toni Collette (United States of Tara, Little Miss Sunshine). La comédie dramatique sera présentée en première mondiale au Tribeca Film Festival, qui se déroulera à New York du 20 avril au 1er mai.