Plaster is a Canadian electro-jazz/

electro-rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

band formed in 2001 in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Their sound has been compared to such artists as

Amon Tobin Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin (; born February 7, 1972) is a Brazilian electronic musician, composer and producer. He is noted for his unusual methodology in sound design and music production. He has released eight major studio albums unde ...

Kruder & Dorfmeister Kruder & Dorfmeister, named after members Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, is an Austrian duo, known for their trip hop/downtempo remixes of pop, hip hop and drum and bass songs. Career In 1993, they released their first EP '' G-Stoned'' ...

and

Medeski Martin & Wood Medeski Martin & Wood (or MMW) is an American jazz fusion band formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on drums, and Chris Wood on bass. The band is influenced by musical traditions including funk and hip hop and ...

.Lamarche, Bernard, "Un Plaster à la bonne place", ''Le Devoir'', Nov 4, 2005
(French text) Last accessed Nov 8, 2008
Last accessed May 11, 2012 The trio's debut album, ''First Aid Kit'', was released on Nov 10, 2005 and won the

ADISQ ADISQ (; ) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the independent record labels, independent music industry in Quebec. It was created in 1978. Since 1979, it has also organized an annual awards ceremony for musicians and singer ...

award for Best Electronic or Techno Album in 2006.List of 2006 ADISQ Award nominees and winners
(French text) Last accessed Nov 9, 2008

History

Keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

Alex McMahon and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Jean-Philippe Goncalves (also of

Afrodizz Afrodizz is an eight-member afrobeat/ afrofunk band from Montreal. Their music is a modern mix of afrobeat, jazz and funk, that has been described as having nuances of The Herbaliser and Tony Allen.McLeod, Erin, "Reach to teach >> Montrealer A ...

and

Beast Beast most often refers to: * Animal, a multicellular, eukaryotic organism in the biological kingdom Animalia * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation * Monster, a type of creature found in fiction, folklo ...

) met while attending the

Cégep de Drummondville A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it orig ...

.Martel, Stéphane, "Becs et Bobos", ''Voir'', Nov 10, 2005
(French text) Last accessed Nov 17, 2008 The pair formed Plaster in 2001 and were joined by

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

François Plante (also of Afrodizz) a year later.Plaster's biography from its press kit at www.plasterband.com
Last accessed Nov 9, 2008 The trio's name is derived from a slang term in Québécois for an

adhesive bandage An adhesive bandage, also called a sticking plaster, sticky plaster, medical plaster, or simply plaster in British English, is a small medical dressing used for injuries not serious enough to require a full-size bandage. They are also known by ...

and its sound has been described as a mixture of electro-jazz,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, and

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

Mello, Marie-Hélène, "Plaster - Experience Live", ''Longueur d'Ondes'', Winter edition 2005/2006 (French text) (however Goncalves has stated in an interview that he finds the term "electro-jazz" to be somewhat pejorative and described their sound as "electro-chunky-jam".) Their sound is at times atmospheric, much like movie soundtracks; in a 2005 interview with the Montreal Gazette, McMahon stated that Plaster was interested in composing a movie score, but the band was still waiting on proposal. Their live performances are improvisational and have been described as having the energy of a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

show. As per Plaster's biography from its official press kit, the band's sound is inspired by the music of

The Herbaliser The Herbaliser is an English jazz hip hop group formed by Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba in London, England during the early 1990s. Although currently releasing on their own label and having previously been signed to !K7 Records, they were one o ...

Jazzanova Jazzanova is a German Berlin-based DJ/producer collective consisting of Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, and Axel Reinemer. Formed in 1995, the group's music is characterized by nu j ...

The Cinematic Orchestra The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe and later involving his music collaborator Dominic Smith. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. The Cinematic Orches ...

, and

. Plaster's debut album ''First Aid Kit'' was released on November 10, 2005. The album was originally to be released on the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

label

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

, but due to frustration with the label's push-back of the release date they decided instead to sign with local label

La Tribu La Tribu is a Canadian independent record label founded in 1999 in Quebec. Noted artists * Dorothée Berryman *Robert Charlebois * Les Cowboys Fringants * Dee * Dumas * Louise Forestier * Fred Fortin/Gros Mené * Jorane * Juste Robert (fr) *Kat ...

.Renaud, Philippe, "Plaster: Premiers Soins", ''La Presse'', Sep 28, 2005 (French text) The ''First Aid Kit'' release party, held at Montreal nightclub La Tulipe, was a great success; much to their own surprise the band opened to a capacity crowd and sold all the CDs they had on hand that night. In 2006 ''First Aid Kit'' went on to win the

award for Best Electronic or Techo Album. In 2005, the band also collaborated with

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American musician. She is celebrated as one of the most influential musical artists of her generation. Hill is credited with breaking barriers for female rappers, contributing to the popular music, m ...

; Hill was in Montreal looking for collaborators for a new project she was developing. Goncalves was invited to audition for her and to demonstrate his programming expertise. He returned the next day for another session when a producer in attendance mentioned that Goncalves also played drums. Goncalves advised Hill that he was a member of a band and an hour later he was joined by his Plaster bandmates. During an interview with the

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

Goncalves said of the experience: "We recorded until 6 in the morning, and then she left for

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

." "It was 12 intense hours with ''la reine de R&B soul'' (the queen of R&B soul)," said McMahon. The pair were however would not elaborate much more on the collaboration. "We had a lot of fun with her, but it's a delicate topic. I don't know what to say. It was nice," said Goncalves. In 2011, the band returned to the studio to work on their second album.Côté, Émilie, "Jean-Phi Goncalves, musicien sur commande", ''La Presse'', Nov 29, 2011
(French text) Last accessed Mar 24, 2012 In an interview with ''

La Presse is a French-language online newspaper published daily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1884, it is now owned by an independent nonprofit trust. ' was formerly a broadsheet daily, considered a newspaper of record in Canada. Its Sunday edi ...

'' Goncalves stated that whereas Plaster's first album could be described as electro-jazz, their second album could be described as electro-rock. Titled ''Let It All Out'', the album was released on May 15, 2012 and debuted at number 43 in Canada.Robillard Laveaux, Olivier, "Plaster: Évolution numérique ", ''Voir'', May 10, 2012
(French text) Last accessed May 27, 2012Côté, Émilie, "Plaster: bye-bye le jazz, bonjour le rock", ''La Presse'', May 12, 2012
(French text) Last accessed May 27, 2012

References

External links

Official website

Plaster on Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plaster) Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups from Montreal Canadian electronic music groups 2001 establishments in Quebec