Band of the Week: Malajube

[March 23 - 30]

Malajube
Sounds Like: Rock-Québécois / Indie-Pop
Drinking Buddies: Bam Bam, The Pillows, Bonjour Brumaire

Synopsis: Très magnifique musique francophone de Québec pour ton oreilles!

Makes You Want To...: Learn French; Read fiction; Sing!
[Myspace]

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Malajube.


April is an interesting month for Voilà!, or at least I think so. Last year, I started a new trend for Voilà!'s Band of the Week featurettes. Through the entire month of April, Voilà! featured the best and brightest of international musical talent. The rule was that they had to be off the North American continent (nothing from the US, Canada, or Mexico). The intention was to explore bands that trancended their country's national boundaries and the boundaries of farmiliar language with truly awesome music. And explore we did, from Europe to South America, and back to Asia, featuring some of the brightest talents out there: Yelle, Lucy & The Popsonics, Polysics, and The Whitest Boy Alive. Well, once again, dear reader, it's almost April again. It's time to prepare for a slew of foreign music, and how to learn to appreciate our combined, vast, unfathomable disparity.

But I live in North America, and without pretense, I can say that we have some greatest musicians in the world. Why not celebrate something foreign within this northernly hemisphere first? Sure, you could celebrate fiestas with the likes of Bam Bam, or the many other Mexican bands to frequently honour the Mexican-Spanish tongue. But if you begin to wander north, North America becomes Amérique du Nord, and the United States become Les États-Unis. It's the world of Québec, and though it lies firmly in the east of Canada, the national language of this province is Français, not Anglais. While Ontario brought us the likes of Kevin Drew, Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), and the folks of Do Make Say Think, and the supercollective Broken Social Scene, it's Québec that has brought us the truly memorable bands. Stars, The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Death From Above 1979, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Unicorns, Islands, Bell Orchestre, Tegan & Sara, and many more. And in the land in the shadow of Mont Royal, on le île de Montréal, in a sea of conflicting cultures and languages, if you do a little digging, you can find some gems still waiting to be discovered.

One of those gems is Malajube. This quirky Québec quartet make their statements as a rock-Québécois ensemble - in other words, a francophone indie-rock band. While many of their peers follows the North American aesthetic of Anglophonic music, Malajube sets themselves apart by singing all their songs in French, paying tribute to their home of Montréal. While others of Montréal like Stars ("Sad Robots") and The Arcade Fire ("Haiti," "Une Année Sans Lumière," and "Black Wave") dabble in French poetry, Malajube is 100% Québécois, savouring the language of their provincial home.

But Malajube is more than an odd Canadian import, past a profound statement from those of a bilingual culture, and beyond a cheap ploy to make a stand in a foreign language. Malajube is like any other band, in the sense that they play the music they love. Mixing a perky blend of guitars and keyboards, Malajube is the result of novelty; a unique, fluid style the brings back reminiscence of a sound only a very few can capture, like The Pillows of Japan, and Bam Bam of Mexico. With a lively - though sometimes serious - sound, Malajube brings a distinct and vibrant indie-pop sound to the musical table. Et si vous parle français, tous le meilleur pour toi! With an understanding of French, Malajube can take on a whole new meaning.

Who needs foreign bands when we have something so eclectic here in Amérique du Nord, eh? Ouais. Maintenant, Malajube is doing some extensive touring all throughout Québec, along with a couple shows in Toronto. If you're lucky enough to live in Lousianna though, you should make it a point to attend Le Festival International de Lousiane in Lafayette to catch Malajube live.

Malajube recently released their latest album, Labyrinthes, il y a février de 2009, and it's spectacular. If it's a hit you're looking for, search no further than Trompe-l'œil, which has zingers like "Montréal -40°," "Étienne d'août," and "Pâte filo." Or, you can complete your Malajube collection with Le compte complet, their freshman LP from back in the day. Of course, you can always wander to Malajube's Myspace, or you can hear them in their Daytrotter performance. If you're a more visual person though, you can also catch them in Paris avec La Blogotheque, with their performance for Une concerts à emporter. In any event, it is promised that you will be thoroughly impressed. Have a wonderful week, reader.