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SCÉNARIO CATASTROPHE
BY CARLY CARIOLI
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Sure, you can question Le Nombre’s career objectives: a Canadian garage-punk group who live within tank-of-gas distance of the border and don’t bother to sing in English might not be the dudes you want to bet the mortgage on. And while the rest of Montreal was blowing up in 2004, Le Nombre released this time bomb of a sophomore album, then took the rest of the year off. But hell, it’s nice to see a rock-and-roll band who don’t have their priorities straight. Case in point: the first dozen crackling bass-and-drums bars of the opening "Tous ceux de ma race" sound as if they were auditioning for the Death from Above 1979 apprenticeship. But then the Rocket from the Crypt power chords kick in as if it were 1996, and so does a cowbell that’s closer to Whitesnake's than LCD Soundsystem's. A couple years back, Québecois punk was looking as marketable as Scandinavian garage punk, with Bionic as a homegrown Queens of the Stone Age, Les Marmottes Aplaties as Turbonegro, and Le Nombre as the Hives, the Hellacopters, or Gluecifer, depending on who was playing the guitar solo. Scénario catastrophe still sounds that way: short bursts of metal-flaked hard rock that show up, catch fire, and burn out before anyone gets bored, freight-train rockists doing what comes naturally. As for whether there’s any substance behind the style, your guess is better than mine. (I’m pretty sure "Montreal serveuses sexy" is about sexy Montreal waitresses; past that, consult Babelfish.) Rumors that frontman Dynamite Roy was switching to English proved unfounded, but the words matter less than the smarm, snark, and spit in his glottal sneers. Plus, not for nothing, garage rock is over in America anyway. Le Nombre + the Throttle + Triple Thick | Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon Street, Somerville | August 24 | 617.441.9631
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