My first experiences with recording music were in 1993 after meeting Peabody in Montreal’s Mile End. His home studio became the creative lab for our crew of musicians. We spent years there making strange, WEEN-inspired tracks.
Our first electronic track “No It Will Open My Mind and I’m Afraid” was built on an Amiga in .MOD format—a chaotic breakbeat acid techno collage packed with hilarious vocal samples from Looney Tunes, Humphrey Bogart, Star Wars etc….
Those sessions became “No Commercial Potential”, a cassette release that unexpectedly charted on Canadian university radio. That momentum pushed me to take things seriously. In 2000, I founded Finite Records to release our work across genres—country, alt-rock, techno, jungle, breakbeat house, and ambient.
Our eclectic range quickly led to Film and TV licensing and a Jutra Award nomination for Best Film Score! Then the Peabody song “What’s Our Destination Mr Peabody” landed on the 2002 “Best of Montreal” compilation of the Montreal Independent Music Awards. Both award shows were held the same weekend. It was an epic start!
Below you will find Soundcloud playlists with some selected works from these projects.
“Cephalopod” is my ambient, post-rock soundscape project.
“Lowkey” is my breakbeat house and jungle project.
“Saul Paul” is the name of my electronic project with Peter X.
In 2001, I adopted the name “Guapo”, reflecting my shift toward Latin, Brazilian, and global influences.
In 2004, while scoring the film “Pure”, I remixed a track by Suns of Arqa, pioneers of World Beat and Global Dub from the UK. That remix led to an invitation to join the band. I went on to produce and/or play on over 20 tracks with them, contributing to six albums and a DVD. We performed at major European festivals, including Glastonbury (2005, 2008) and the Télérama Dub Festival in Paris. You can watch videos of our gigs in the Portfolio section.
I brought the band to North America to perform at Festival Musique Multi-Montreal. As a gift I gave the bandleader Wadada a book of Leonard Cohen poems. Which inspired him to want to collaborate so I took him to Leonard Cohen’s house and he got permission to use those poems as lyrics on the album “Stranger Music”.
