As a long-time fixture at the far end of collectors Euro electronic shelf this Gallic magnetic conceptual synth-pop classic has been in risky disc-jockey orbit waiting over thirty years for the right time to touchdown on planet earth to refuel. With the recent critical resurrection of Jodorowsky’s un-made version of Herbert’s sci-fi blast masterpiece and more and more electronic music fans veering from dance music into the sub-genres of PINA and dark ambient the eve of the original novel’s fifty year anniversary seems like the perfect time to unleash this lost slice of Zeuhl skool modular-pop constructed by Grenoble born synthesist Bernard Szajner.
His previous CV of creating lazer light shows for the likes of Gong and Magma earned him enough Kobian stripes to scale an authentic bridge between Zeuhl rock and early synth-pop amongst bands like Eskaton, Art Zoyd and Stabat Stable but the inclusion of Magma vocalist (and comic artist) Klaus Blasquiz and drummer Clément Bailly earns VOD the Wüdü wax seal. Few LPs manage to successfully connect so many important dots in French outer-rocks vast colouring book where Igor Whakhevitch meets Jean Michel Jarre via Massiera, Gilbert Deflez, Hydravion and Artefact… Zed however paints every page black (and silver) and is still one leaf ahead.