Angine de Poitrine Invade KEXP with Extraterrestrial Microtonal Vibes
Angine de Poitrine / By Constantin Monfilliette for Earth Agency
I’ve been a fan of eye-catching gimmicks since at least the days of Slipknot and Mudvayne, so when Canadian duo Angine de Poitrine crossed my feed in recent weeks, I did a double take.
The hand-triangle communication, head-to-toe polka dots, and strange shapes and contrasting features of drummer Klek and guitarist-bassist Khn were enough to stop the scroll. And then you hear what they sound like.
Inspired by acid techno, disco, and rock, Angine de Poitrine loops frantic, spiraling microtonal guitar around thick, off-kilter bass lines, punctuated by driven, prog-y drum work.
The duo conjures math rock that lives somewhere in the sonic overlap of Primus, microtonal King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Buckethead, and The White Stripes. For me, they parallel recent breakthrough instrumental acts, including Khruangbin, Mildlife, Clown Core, and Glass Beams.
Someone online said it’s like Death from Above 1979 on mushrooms. That’s an apt comparator, too.
Angine de Poitrine // By Constantin Monfilliette for Earth Agency
Hailing from Quebec, the band’s Instagram bio reads: Orchestre Rock Microtonal Dada-Pythago-Cubiste.
My co-worker pointed out the Dada aspects of their visual identity, the disruption, and the absurdity of the presentation as a whole—but the latter two descriptors got me. I’ll take it to mean they’re mathematical and nonlinear in the way they forge their path through the music.
The name translates to "angina," the tight chest pain caused when there isn’t enough blood flowing to your heart. I’m not sure of the exact connection, but maybe it’s akin to the constricted, confined nature of how their songs develop before they evolve into their final, fully unravelled forms.
Courtesy of Earth Agency
More from their bio on London-based Earth Agency’s page:
“Disciples of planet Earth’s rock deities, space-time voyagers Klek and Khn de Poitrine gaze in wonder at hot dogs, pyramids, and rock music in all its glorious excess.
Asymmetrical and dissonant, Angine de Poitrine’s music makes hearts race and bodies move with ecstatic abandon. Through tight, pulsing drum grooves and intricate tangles of double-neck microtonal guitar, the band summons swirling vortices of hypnotic sound and vision.
Since the release of Vol. 1 in 2024, Angine de Poitrine are in the eye of an ever-growing storm of enthusiasm from audiences, critics, and music industry’s main actors.
All these facts are strictly reserved to the humanoids: Angine de Poitrine are simply thrilled to play rock ’n’ roll.”
I don’t speak Alien or French, so I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in the clip above. I’m going to assume you could learn more about them watching this interview, but even if your only takeaway is the weirdness of it all—which was mine—I think that’s okay. It all transcends language, culture, and solar systems, and I’m fully in.
Though I’m two years late to the party, the band is very much still in its infancy and—it feels like—just about to break.
They have less than 100 Instagram posts and, until recently, about 6,000 YouTube subscribers. That all changed in early February when trendsetting Seattle-based radio station/YouTube channel KEXP dropped a set recorded in December during Trans Musicales 2025 at ESMA in Rennes, France.
The set’s a total ripper, putting their other-planetary quirkiness and killer sonic palette on display for a far-too-short 4 songs in 27 minutes. . (Yes, I know that’s typically what KEXP does, but I’ll contend it isn’t enough when the quality’s this good!).
I caught the video shortly after it went up, when it had just under 30K views. In less than 48 hours it crossed over 400,000, and the video’s over 2 million views now.
The buzz has pushed their IG and YouTube followings up by tens of thousands of people and their record is suddenly sold out across the internet.
“Fabienk” Cover Art
The duo dropped a new song, "Fabienk," the day after the KEXP video, from April’s upcoming “Vol. 2.” You can hear the studio version on Bandcamp here.
Angine de Poitrine just wrapped a French tour. Then they’re back to North America for shows around Quebec. They’ve already sold over 5,000 tickets.
A European tour this May is imminent, with their first U.S. shows—two in New York—scheduled for this September. If you’re anywhere other than Canada or Europe, you can hold yourself over—as I’ve been—with this set from Quebec, filmed last year.
Enjoy, fellow humanoids!
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