In 2015, Lost Bayou Ramblers co-founder and fiddler Louis Michot was invited by The Stone’s artistic director John Zorn to perform a residency at this experimental music venue in New York City that has no bar and allows no talking during performances, a room where the music is the sole focus. Each artist residency consists of 12 shows in 6 days, a simultaneously retrospective and explorative series of performances, each unique.
Michot started his residency on May 31, 2016, performing with Les Freres Michot and Lost Bayou Ramblers, his family bands, and ended June 5 with a set featuring French icon Charlelie Couture and one of solo a capella renditions of the Cajun-French ballads of Ethel Mae Bourque. In between came such presentations as: Le String Noise with Leyla McCalla – 3 violins and a cello performing a mix of String Noise’s avant-garde compositions with McCalla’s Haitian Creole tunes and Louis’ traditional Cajun fiddle numbers; music from the score of the film Beasts of the Southern Wild; Pogues vet Spider Stacy’s Poguetry; and the fiddle-drum duo Pilette’s Ghost, to detail a few.
The one set that was not part of one of Louis’ bands or collaborations was a completely free improvisation session with a lineup nicknamed “The Stoned”, drawn from players from other residency sessions: Spider, Ryan Brasseaux, among others abetted by Jason Robira and and Jeff Tobias of Brooklyn’s Sunwatchers. They created a 45 minute wave of rhythms and sounds weaving between ambient swamp journeys and rural industrial reminisces, a communication project where music is the mother tongue. This album, recorded live on June 3, 2016 by Kirkland Middleton is being issued via 12” vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming services by Nouveau Electric Records on September 28.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive early listen of this unique, once-in-a-lifetime recording. While Michot and his band the Lost Bayou Ramblers are known for this raucous blend of traditional Cajun music and punk-infused rock, this recording is something else entirely. The beauty of Michot’s approach to music has always been the way he can insert the Cajun sounds and culture of his upbringing into styles of music and make it sound like something you’ve never heard. This recording continues in that vein, but instead of rocking out Michot and the other musicians take the listener on a journey into the cosmos as they experiment with a melange of psychedelic sounds. The music being made here is raw with numerous instrumentals, electronic effects, samples, and live vocals all dripping out to form a sort of sonic bayou where one can fall back and float. Throughout the album there are glimmers of Cajun sounds interspersed as Michot reminds us that, no matter how far out he can take his music, he never forgets where he came from. Ultimately this piece of music is a fascinating look at a musician who has spent his career pushing boundaries all while saying Laissez les bons temps rouler.
In his own words, Michot describes the recording like this:
“‘The Stoned’ is the first and most far-out of the 12 upcoming releases from my residency at The Stone. The performance was like a magical manifestation of cajun improv coming from a rare place of vulnerability in a music that’s typically dictated by strong melodies and lyrical poetry. This night was like the mardi gras of the week, a feeling of no rules and no laws, as the musicians moved forward together, with open ears hungry creative appetites.”
LISTEN:
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