In polka dot outfits, halfway between pajamas and medieval disguises, two masked characters do not go unnoticed in the world of music. With their sharp “microtonal rock”, the Quebecois Angine de Poitrine saw their popularity explode thanks to a viral video. Since then, the dates have been one after another in Europe, and they packed up in Brussels on Thursday evening.
At the crossroads of techno and acid rock
Nothing predicted such success for this demanding instrumental music, at the crossroads of techno and acid rock, with haunting loops of guitar and drums. It was a video filmed by the American radio station KEXP at the Trans Musicales in Rennes which ignited the situation. This filmed session of Angine de Poitrine, with their carnival masks and their world of black and white polka dots, reached fifteen million views in three months.
This buzz, “it’s furious madness,” laughs Jean-Louis Brossard, the artistic director of Transmusicales. “It shows that there is room for something else, for music that is not mainstream,” relishes the music lover, who sees in Angine de Poitrine two “super musicians” influenced by jazz or by the unclassifiable Frank Zappa, icon of the American counterculture of 1960s and 1970s.
Un mystère façon Daft Punk
Coming from another galaxy, Khn and Klek, the two masked acolytes of Angine de Poitrine no longer give interviews, to maintain the Daft Punk-style mystery, minus the planetary hits. We just know that their project grew in the nursery of the Musical Experimentation Center (CEM) in Saguenay, Quebec, where a team of enthusiasts works to support niche music.
On stage, they don’t speak except to utter a few war cries. A virtuoso, Khn plays guitar and bass at the same time, thanks to a unique double-necked instrument, with which he sends riffs in a loop with his pedalboard. In search of new sounds, his guitar is “microtonal”: it allows you to play on tighter note intervals than usual, and to mix sometimes angry rock with oriental or even Celtic motifs. On the drums, Klek taps frantically on his snare drum, the soft nose of his mask swinging to the rhythm of his flights.
Courtesy of the Foo Fighters frontman
But will their unexpected success, which owes a lot to their famous video and their pantomime costumes, last? “I don’t know, but it’s great,” says Jean-Louis Brossard. After a Vol.1 in 2024, the Québécois have just released their second album, a thirty-six minute of six songs, between nervous gimmicks on Zyklek’s eyes and fairground trance in Utzp.
Hermetic or not, their “crazy” music has earned them compliments from some big names in rock, including Dave Grohl, the leader of the Foo Fighters. And after Europe, the crazy duo is embarking on a tour in the United States, for around twenty dates starting in the summer.
