★Replica
Il reste la douleur
** Edition of 300 ** Geoffrey Lolli is the epitome of the underground French library music scene. From his early days in the hardcore scene to his most celebrated Italian trilogy, his tapes full of Eno-esque experiments and his addiction to reggae, the musician never stopped exploring new grounds and mythologies with talent and discretion. Having lived with the infamous Gregory case from the very beginning, his new record is not looking for answers but dares to put raw emotions into music, with …
Subversion
With Pierre-Jean Guidon (Moravagine, Chute Libre) as their saxophone player, Subversion (from France) played lowkey jam-orientated Progressive Rock with prominent folk and jazz flavors. However, despite the brainy exterior, their soft music had more in common with the naivety of the 60’s Yé-yé movement and lounge-pop in general. Thus they seemed to belong to a bygone era, one far removed from the upcoming punk-rock and new-wave one.
Speed Limit
Revolving around three Magma members (Jannick Top, Joel Dugrenot et Yochk’O Seffer), Speed Limit has put out two cult albums during the 70’s, paying homage to Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew as well as Nucleus’ Elastic Rock. Mixing jazz, progressive rock, avant-garde pop, classical and Zeuhl music has never been a problem for the French septet, and even though its name sounds pretty obscure for the mainstream amateur, every French underground music lover sings praises about the band.
Mandarine
More than an obscure curiosity, Ex Vitae played its part pretty well during the heydays of the 70’s French underground music scene. Led by René-Marc Bini & Jean-Marc Philippe, the band mastered its own way of delivering fusion jazz where eclectism and forward thinking were perfectly blended into an insanely precise groove. Their unique album was self -released in 1978 and has been feverishly sought-after ever since. Let Replica grace you with a piece of crazy music done the French way with this …
Obsolete
**Very small repress in replica textured sleeve! This can be considered as close to the original as one can be, few copies available.** "Here's another Gong album no one seems to know about, as this is basically Gong plus poet/musician Dashiell Hedayat (otherwise known as Melmoth). Evidently the lyrical content (especially on the suite "Eh, Mushroom will you mush my room?") is hallucinogen-related, and if you are an early David Allen-period Gong fan, you are sure to love this one as it is classi…
Frob
Remastered reissue of this killer album. A unique psychedelic kraut/jazz rock/avant album, originally released in 1976, sees a welcome reissue. Formed in 1973 in the German town of Rheda-Wiedenbruck, Frob also included French jazz-fusion guitar player Philippe Caillat in its line-up. The album is shadow-strafing suite of spidery rhythms and inquisitive jazz gestures, effortlessly binding avant instrumental dexterity with cool blue harmolodic sentiment in a timeless style that could feasibly be d…
Abraxis
Remastered reissue of this prog/fusion/jazz record, featuring members of Cos, Julverne, Pazop, Brainstorm and Speed Limit. Comes on black 180 gram vinyl, limited to 500 copies. The musicianship is consistently outstanding throughout the album. A true obscure gem which reissue is more than welcome, when it comes to Canterbury/jazz-fusion flavoured mix with a pinch of Zeuhl sounds
Reel 19 36
Active from 1974 to 1979, French guitarist Jean-Pierre Grasset released two cult albums under the alias Verto. Grasset blended as many influences as possible, from pop psychedelia to chill electronic experimentations and krautrock dynamics. Thus it is no surprise that he ended up collaborating with the whole Potemkine crew as well as members from Magma (Benoit Widemann and Jean-Pierre Fouquey), giving his songs a very original Zeuhl flavor. Comes on 180 gram vinyl
Odyssée
A relatively obscure band from the underground French progrock scene from the 70's, founded by sound designer Alain Coupel and guitar player Jack Mlynski. Half King Crimson's complexity, half Gong's fantasy, the quartet was best known for writing songs that were deeply occult and strange. Vocals are sparse, enigmatic and ghostly. The album’s real centerpiece is “Artcane I”, a
lengthy track encapsulating everything great about Artcane: patient
crescendos of cosmic atmospherics, hypnotic keybo…
Ile De Fievre
One of the most renowned French symphonic Rock bands of the 70's. Even if often compared to King Crimson, Shylock had their own distinctive personality. An intricate mixture of progressive complex structures and dark lyrical atmospheres. The band consisted of four virtuoso players: guitarist Frédéric l'Épée (later with Philarmonie), keyboardist Didier Lustig, bassist Serge Summa and drummer André Fisichella. Produced in 1978 Ile de fievre can be considered their absolute masterpiece.
Foetus
Potemkine managed to blend in a very good way the basis of Zeuhl music with its prominent bass role and a lighthearted spirit of fusion with some 20th century contemporary music. They this deviate from the norm of “mainstream” Zeuhl, but they manage to deliver an original sound, making them unique in this scene. Potemkine was formed by three brothers from Toulouse – Charles (guitars, piano, vocals), Philippe (drums and percussions, piano) and Michel (piano, vocals) Goubin. They had taken other m…
Le Bal Du Rat Mort
After leaving the theatrical satire groove of Red Noise in 1971 both Francis Lemonnier (sax, vocals) and Serge Catalano (drums, percussion) went onto new pastures after a major fall out with the rest of the band supposedly to do with polics. Joining forces with them were Michel Musac (guitar), Olivier Zdrzalik(bass, vocals, organ and piano) and Pascal Chassin(guitar) who all seemed to sport identical extreme leftist views. In Komintern politics, theatre, French culture and absurdity are all scra…
Moravagine
Outstanding late 70s creative/free album from France, originally published on the private label Promophone by the former leader of Chute Libre, Olivier Hutman on piano, featuring Denis Barbier on flute, Pierre-Jean Gidon on sax, Jean-Marie Laumonnier, JP Lobrot on drums, and graced by the Mino Cinelu's trance-induced drumming percussion. This underrated Lp reveals an amazing blending of influences, combining prog, avant-garde and free-jazz, this incredible 1975 album from the French underground …
8 Petites Pièces De Variété
Another evolution of Urban Sax concept, composed and directed by the visionary composer Gilbert Artman, conceived as a double quintet of talented multi-instrumentalists (featuring Jac Berrocal, Bernard Weber, Frederic Acquaviva and Emiko Ota among others) players working over a compositonal control of sound spatialization
Quad Sax
A cut-down quartet version of Urban Sax composed and directed by the visionary composer Gilbert Artman, fusing urban ambiance and electronics with his unique concept of minimalism and jazz. The musical result is perfectly illustrated by the that An exploration of minimalistic soundscapes and repetitive music designing a spacey odyssey through unknown territories. An ethereal meeting somewhere between Steve Reich, Magma and post-Daevid Allen Gong.
Camizole 1975
When the legendary psych / krautrock inspired french act group Camizole was only a duo with Bernard Filipetti and Dominique Grimaud on analog synthezisers, farfisa organ and other instruments, recorde in 1975 this cassette, that was sent to Klaus Schulze who wanted to produce it but the duo stopped before! 42 years later, this sought-after tape resurfaces on a limited vinyl edition for the first time ever
Rhesus O
The French band Rhesus O was formed in 1971 by future Magma keyboarder Jean-Pol Asseline with musicians from the jazz and jazz-rock field and released one self titled record. Soft Machine is the main influence to be found on the record and to a lesser extent Magma, Miles Davis and Frank Zappa. The record presents a melodic jazz-rock with folk and classical elements, based on an instrumentation of two keyboarders: Alain Monier on organ and Jean-Pol Asseline on e-piano and harpsichord, two bass pl…
Le Jour Où Les Vaches...
Reissue of the first album by this French iconoclast poet, recorded in 1974 with William Sheller's string arrangements. This highly symphonic and dystopian rock album should overjoy fans of Gerard Manset or Genesis.
Weidorje
A vinyl reissue of a hard to find album from 1978 by a French
progressive rock band. Weidorje was formed in 1977 by two ex-Magma
members. Musically and spiritually the atmosphere isn't too different
from Magma. This is real savage stuff with an anguished vibe, a strong
rhythm section, ultra vitriolic guitar leads, dissonent sax breaks, and
dark incantations.