#math rock

ANGINE DE POITRINE

fan art posters coming to TCAF and etsy this June

Ah yes my favorite genre of music:

nirvana has been reached, i’ll never top this

A primer on getting into Canadian experimental microtonal funk math rock.

Angine de Poitrine have been taking over the world. The papier-mâché masked, polka dotted funk and experimental duo from Québéc with a self-professed love for abstract and absurdist art, inspired in their image, art, music videos and musical philosophies by the Dadist and Cubist movements have become one of the biggest bands to come out of Canada in 2026, ever since their live session for Seattle independent radio station KEXP went viral on the internet, having surpassed 15 million views recently, since dropping in February this year.

This highly unique sound has seen people from all around the world rush forward to proclaim Angine de Poitrine the head of original, human-made music. In the age of AI increasingly mass-producing cheap, poor imitations of art devoid of intent beyond making a sale, Angine de Poitrine’s do-it-yourself approach has ignited fancy throughout the world: they designed their own costumes, play custom-built microtonal guitars, have a driving artistic philosophy and no desire to be known: the duo, going only by the pseudonyms Khn de Poitrine (guitars) and Klek de Poitrine (drums) are anonymous, and as per the statement on their website, have no wish for their identities to be speculated upon. Despite now being one of the biggest bands on the planet, they have chosen to decline offers from major labels and remain independent, only printing and distributing their physical albums via a local Québéc distributor.

While this singular artistic vision has taken them to dizzying heights across the world: their diary is the envy of every touring musician, they have featured on music television programmes like the BBC’s Later… With Jools Holland, released a Canadian Billboard Top 40 album with their second album, 2026’s Vol. II, been shortlisted for the Polaris Prize, and the swelling crowds that turned up to see them at festivals like Ottawa Bluesfest, Hillside, Winnipeg Folk Fest and Montréal International Jazz Fest often broke records (one rumour putting their jazzfest attendance anywhere between 70,000 and 200,000 people), as with anything that is exposed to a wider public, some struggle to get it. Some people have been calling Angine a ‘jam band’. Some jam fans have been stumped by their music and say it lacks longevity, or that Angine de Poitrine’s “15 minutes of fame” won’t outlast a novelty jam band’s.

I disagree. I would argue Angine aren’t even a jam band. Angine’s music has direction. It has a distinct sense of movement. Though their songs don’t have lyrics, they have a voice. I don’t think their songs get “repetitive”. The word they’re looking for is ‘motoric’.

A lot of people hear about Angine and assume they are ‘experimental’ in the way that prog and jam bands are; they’re expecting a 10 minute solo with the other instruments taking a backseat. Angine couldn’t be further from this description. They feel more like a soundtrack, the music is taking you on a journey and not meandering. The music moves forward from phrase to phrase. Angine de Poitrine are not background music in the least, and they aren’t a predominantly guitar band in the traditional sense either: the drums are actively in conversation with the guitars. At no point does it feel like the drums either provide a passive backdrop for the guitars to solo over, nor do they talk over the melody. But they augment its phrases in an irreplaceable way.

Khn and Klek’s instruments are in constant conversation with each other.

Angine de Poitrine are experimental by way of krautrock. If you can stomach bands like Neu!, Can, some of the more motoric sides of Kraftwerk or post punk bands like The Fall, you’ll love Angine de Poitrine. There are people approaching Angine de Poitrine from the perspective of being fans of bands like Phish, Grateful Dead or even some (of the many! different) shades of King Gizzard and are finding the music not to their taste. And that’s because someone has sold them the idea that just because King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have messed around with microtonal music in the past, that Angine would come under the same genre as what King Giz have done.

Nope! If you’re looking to get into Angine de Poitrine and wondering if they might be worth your time, ask yourself if experimental funk and krautrock are something you enjoy. If you feel you’re genetically disposed to wince at the sound of Neu!, if a motoric, rhythmic bass and a bit of dissonance are your idea of hell, if you would rather listen to silence than sit through the album Ege Bamyasi, I would not recommend Angine de Poitrine to you!

You wouldn’t be the only person to turn off - it’s an acquired taste and it seems to put some people off. I have the gene that makes coriander/parsley taste like soap, goodness knows I know what it’s like to be physically incapable of enjoying something other people do (I’m also asexual, add that to the list). But I’d trade out enjoying coriander any day of the week for what I do have, and that’s the ability to enjoy krautrock. I’ll take it, I’m lucky!

But if you can get past the motorism and enjoy the krautrock, Angine de Poitrine open up a world where dissonance and harmony exist in a delicate balance. Angine de Poitrine Play microtonal music, or “the notes between the notes” of western musical scales. Western music divides sounds into 12 notes. Microtonal music divides these notes up into many more equal divisions, called Tone Equal Temperament (TET). Standard western music, thus comes in 12-TET. Angine de Poitrine’s alien guitarist, Khn de Poitrine, uses a custom-built double neck guitar, one neck with guitar strings and the second fitted with a bass. The frets on Khn’s guitar are specially adapted to allow for one extra note between all notes, doubling the tones to 24-TET.

This ends up allowing for the addition of new sounds, harmonies, scales and musical flavours while still maintaining the harmonic symmetry that allows us to wrangle the world of sounds into beautiful controlled chaos: it’s a gentle introduction of new by harnessing the familiar.

Angine also largely use the microtonal notes as ‘passing’ notes rather than lingering on them long enough to pull us out of the realm of what we know for too long. By using them sparingly, Angine add more angular flavour to existing music rather than inventing new worlds — which in itself isn’t a bad thing at all!

If you’re interested in microtonal music that truly un-anchors itself from traditional scales and keys, and wanders off to explore what harmonies and intervals look like in the world of say, 36-TET, you’ll delight in the lurching feeling listening to the music of an extremely talented composer and acquaintance of mine, James Mulvale aka FASTFAST. His music will take a little longer to get used to, but I suggest exploring his music in an exercise to open your ears up to new combinations of notes.

This is a song called ‘Fever’ from his most ‘accessible’ album, Xen On (pronounced like the element). It’s in 24-TET, so truthfully not even James’ most truly experimental composition. He has other songs on this album that walk the notes in 34-TET and 22-TET.

I can’t necessarily say the music is some of my favourite, but I can get into it. More specifically, the experience of listening to his music is absolutely thrilling to me. Everything feels a little dislodged from where it should be, he isn’t “changing keys” because these scales just contain more “correct” notes, yet it gives me a stomach lurch as if a car had sped up, like a song changed keys. As the songs go on, my mind, and the music, feels like it is liquid and melting. I recommend his 34-TET song ‘The Journey Is The Destination’ for some Star Wars-like melted music. (I’m sure the Star Wars theme analogy from me isn’t unwarranted: James used to compose soundtracks for television.)

What James was doing as FASTFAST was actually a really big deal in the world of microtonal music, as he was perhaps the first artist ever to be making music in different tonalities accessible. Catchy. More than just a proof of concept exercise in noise. And now, with a bit more restraint on the notes, here are Angine de Poitrine, who have managed to take 24-TET microtonal music to the Billboard Top 40 chart! Angine manage to make really funky and danceable music, that converses with people just as regular music would do: you will not be a spectator at an Angine de Poitrine show. You will listen, react, dance, headbang and get involved. They are not a jam band!

And that's my little primer to help you get into Angine de Poitrine if you've been wondering if this is the band for you. Have fun in the funky, weird, polka-dotted world these Québécois aliens have gifted us!