Floating Widget
Praises to the Riff Monolith
© 2004 SOCAN (777078910417)
Thick, rich, low-tuned, high-toned sound topped off with airy vocals oozing of psychotronical-like matter.
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Floating Widget is a stoner rock entity hailing from Montreal and born at the dawn of the new millenium. From the get-go, it has worked the smoky stages of Quebec's alternative scene and has rallied a steadfast audience to its puissant stuff.
In 2002, the band is voted "best kept secret of the year" at the Montreal Industry Music Initiative (MIMIs) Gala. Last year saw the quintet move into the comfort of Wild Studios amidst the beautiful wooded scenery of Saint-Zenon (Quebec) to record PRAISES TO THE RIFF MONOLITH with illustrious engineer Pierre Remillard, whose recent collaborations include Cryptopsy, Misery Index and Krisiun.
Equipped with a much anticipated first audio offering, Floating Widget is on the brink of a very promising year and is intent on establishing its name on the international market.
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heavy bong rock centered more on visceral impact than the standard-issue stoner
author: Chris Barnes - Hellride MusicBongloads being pulled by tooth fairies, Winnebago’s being driven into the sea, Easter Island as an airport and Mexican shadowboxing. And one song sung in French, so I dunno what the hell they’re on about. Montreal’s THC rockers, Floating Widget, take the Kyuss route for lyrics that make absolute no sense whatsoever, except for maybe the band itself. I can see them exchanging furtive glances at each other each time the singer belts out a diddy “about a night goat drunk on cough syrup”, everyone trying to stifle a giggle, audience too inebriated or overcome by good times to care. But really, unless you’re Bobby Dylan or Neil Young, no one pays attention to lyrics anyway. In this kinda scene, we’ve learned that musicians are judged on they’re ability to conjour the “RIFF” with aplomb and consistency. Behold the title of this recording - Praises to the Riff Monolith - it’s just that – heavy bong rock centered more on visceral impact than the standard-issue stoner rock groove we’ve come to expect – and usually yawn to. Floating Widget actually are heavy rock musicians that can play their instruments and not come off as pretentious dicks. Or maybe they do and I don’t care, but with heavy, neurotransmitter-altering masterpieces like “Agartha” and “Resurrection”, they could record their farts and I still…might… listen. The touchstone for Floating Widget is Kyuss. Not a blatant rip-off mind you, but you can tell the band has listened to more than their fair share of the Desert Druids. Sometimes a little too close for comfort, most of the time far enough from the masters to evoke at least subtle currents of originality. But don't let me bum you out. Floating Widget is really good. Vocalist Olivier Comtois is a real asset to the band flaunting a timbre somewhere between John Garica and sHEAVY’s Steve Hennesey, singing nonsense lyrics with a steely resolve not heard by many. Like the shit actually means something and maybe it does. To him, at least. Guitarists Steph Vigeant and Alex Leclerc make use of that powerful, oddly tuned ripped-speaker sound that is part Thurston Moore and part Josh Homme. I dunno who comes up with the riffs but they are damn good. A solid debut, even if it isn't the most original sounding stuff. The band obviously put money behind this – the digipack design is better than 99% of label output and the production (which they also did themselves) is powerfully done. Nice work.