March 9, 2026
A River Runs Through It Listening Post 394. To call Le Vent du Nord a study in contrasts would be an understatement. The band’s name translates as “The North Wind,” but for more than two decades it’s been the hottest ensemble in traditional Québécois music, with...
April 27, 2022
Tradition, Renaissance & Maple Syrup Listening Post 343. Though their high-latitude homeland is more than twice the size of France, the Québécois know they’re surrounded by North America’s immense Anglophone universe and their geographic awareness has helped shape...
October 20, 2020
The Long and Windy Road Listening Post 275. Quebec’s Route 132—stretching 1,000 miles (1,600 km), up the St. Lawrence all the way to Gaspé but skirting major cities—is a good metaphor for the journey of Erik and Sonny Caouette, who specialize in folk songs about...
July 14, 2020
Corner of Bitter and Sweet Listening Post 261. In physics, politics and romance, poles apart tend to come together. Les Cowboys Fringants are not the only musicians who explore humanity’s darker reaches with comedy and cynicism, let alone with harmony and...
October 28, 2019
Optimal Bandwidth Listening Post 225. In the natural world, wind and time typically join forces to produce erosion and environmental damage, but the union of Le Vent du Nord and De Temps Antan, two leading bands on Quebec’s traditional music landscape, has a purely...
