Marc Gagnon is a Montreal-born visual artists and songwriter. He has been writing, playing and recording with his band pipo fiasco since the dawn of the new millennium. Their eclectic blend of jazz, blues, gospel, country, and cabaret has been enthralling fans for almost as long.The ensemble has recorded three cds: omen cats released in 2000, the 2003 release 33 1/3, and the most current project parade.
33 1/3rd received critical accl.. "beautifully recorded, diy tour de force", Earshot;"un fiasco reussi," Voir.Marc's music has been featured on shows such as CBCs DNTO - definitely not the opera and routes montreal, and has also been used in various independent films.Parade was recorded at Montreal's hotel2tango by Howard BillermanCD AVAILABLE @cdbaby or ITunes
Pipo Fiasco
Parade
(Independent)
By Rachel Sanders
November 10, 2006Montreal band Pipo Fiasco whip up a warm and evocative blend of jazz, blues, gospel, swing and cabaret (seasoning it with the occasional dash of country) in their third full-length release since 2000. Parade offers up plenty of jazzy horns and smoky, bluesy reverberating guitar, but front-man Marc Gagnon frequently leads his skilled band into less-familiar territory, transcending genre and staggering boisterously off in unexpected directions. The confident instrumentation provides a cheeky backdrop for Gagnon’s growly-bear vocals and lyrics that skew from romantic to sardonic without missing a beat. It’s surprising how little attention this low-key and perhaps over-modest band has received thus far. Perhaps with their third release, Pipo Fiasco will finally get their due. Everyone loves a parade, after all.Smokin’Pretty soon in this country we are going to have a smoking ban in public bars and, regardless of whether you partake of the demon weed or not, this is a shame because it will rob you of the opportunity to experience this band’s music in its natural element which is a smoke filled room (the sweeter the better) with low lights and generous measures of whatever your poison is in order to set the mood. And this is an album that has mood written all over. The (often upright) bass hums melodically, the drums are brushed and occasionally rim-clicked sensitively, the guitars shimmer. As and when required some muted horns seep into the mix, a guitar might slide in and out and there’s room for an accordion providing its player has metaphorically removed his shoes at the door. The delicately sliced meat in this filigree sandwich is mainman Marc Gagnon’s voice – a sort of Dr. John meets Tom Waits – which can either growl as in “Sanders†or flow like treacle as on “Tenâ€. Unashamedly lo-fi and with a bluesy-jazz vibe arranged for a cabaret throughout you might be forgiven for thinking that this is some sort of ‘easy listening’ experience. But these guys are smarter than that. There’s at all times a chance, a slim sensitively handled chance, that a dissonant chord could be struck, a note might not be perfect, a strange background noise might disturb the listener from its hiding place in the shadows. Nothing overt you understand, just a frisson of excitement, a tingle of electricity to check the nerve endings. Its this piquant ingredient that transforms the record from the pleasant to the pulchritudinous. The exquisitely minimalist packaging is the icing on the cake.
Americana UK MagazineDate review added: Saturday, January 20, 2007
Reviewer: Paul Villers
Reviewers Rating:
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