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LP+CD
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FFL 089LP
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$29.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/15/2023
Having dynamited the end of the '70s with two radical albums -- Ramasse-Miettes Nucléaires (FFL 058LP) in 1976 and Nouveaux Modes Industriels (FFL 059LP) in 1978, both reissued by Souffle Continu -- Philippe Doray and his Asociaux Associés still hadn't finished singing. Throughout the next decade he began his Composant Compositeur which would document the "second period," as he calls it, of his Asociaux Associés. The record includes new schizo-electro songs which make the most of his association with Laurence Garcette, who also plays all sorts of keyboards. A prolongation of the first period of the Asociaux Associés, the duo updates Doray's poetry: in reaction to the current overcast atmosphere, here are some hallucinatory fantasies to the rhythm of an infernal circle dance or an ecstatic waltz or even coded messages stuffed into bottles and thrown into space. On the bonus CD there are further iconoclastic examples: rare recordings (unpublished or even "inaudible") of the Asociaux Associés but also by Crash, a duo that Doray formed with Thierry Müller (Ilitch, Ruth). At the controls of their experiment-bending machine the musicians multiply the possibilities: peripheral rock, arias in orbit, broken swing, industrial mantras and other joyful falsities.
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FFL 087LP
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LP version. Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
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FFL 087C-LP
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LP version. Smoke color vinyl. Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
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FFL 087CD
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Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
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2LP
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FFL 050LP
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Nicknamed the Primdufs, the group have a passion for the obsolete French "valse musette". But their take has nothing in common with the smutty chords of popular balls and singalongs in little town halls. This is "bal musette" with balls, it's genuine, virile, and authentic. Though these noble savages like rummaging around in 1920s Paris, they don't shy away from including rhythms from all over the planet, rhumba from Zaireto, gypsy jazz, Hindu waltzes or Argentine tango, blues, "paso doble" or "chanson réaliste". It all began in 1986, when Dominique Cravic, "ukukeke" champion and a renowned guitarist who learned from jazzmen like Lee Konitz or Larry Coryell and also played with Georges Moustaki and Henri Salvador, met a certain Robert Crumb. Yes, the legendary comic book author from the great days of the US psychedelic underground in the '70s, the creator of Fritz the Cat (1972) and Mr Natural in person, the same man who also created the cover for Cheap Thrills (1968) by Janis Joplin. Crumb plays banjo and mandolin, collects 78s of blues, jazz and musette. The two cronies then composed their own made-to-measure orchestra, alongside many famous names including accordionist Daniel Colin, clarinetist Bertrand Auger, saxophonist Daniel Huck, bassist Jean-Philippe Viret or singer Claire Elzière (sorry, it's impossible to name them all). This great group has recorded four albums since 1986 (all with sleeves drawn by Crumb), some including guest stars such as Pierre Barouh, Jean-Jacques Milteau, Allain Leprest, Sanseverino or Olivia Ruiz. For thirty years, the Primitifs du Futur have carried the torch of musette to the four corners of the earth, from fiestas to festivals, and today release a double vinyl, entitled Résumé Des Épisodes Précédents which brings together the best of their adventures. It is a refreshing and heartening cocktail of "world tribal musette", as they call it, which, in these electro digital times, has a rejuvenating effect, a magic swing potion. Double-LP with 20-page booklet with all Crumb previous artworks for the band's albums plus unseen photos. Edition of 1500; No repress.
"The Primitifs Du Futur travel on sound waves back in time to the early twentieth century and make the world seem like a far better place than it ever actually was. I can't get the band's music off my turntable or out of my head. Accordion, mandolin, harmonica, saxophone, musical saw, and beautiful haunting melodies--what's not to love? Even their sad songs make me happy." --Art Spiegelman
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FFL 088LP
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LP version. Eight-page booklet with rare and unpublished photos. Heavyweight 180-gram LP. In 1972, trumpeter Baikida Carroll and some of his colleagues from the Black Artists Group (more precisely saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd LeFlore) took the advice of their friends in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and left their native Missouri to come and discover the bright lights of Paris for themselves. The following year they would even get the chance to record their only album which would rapidly attain mythical status and a collector's item: In Paris, Aries 1973. Therefore, it was not surprising that they crossed paths with Jef Gilson, who offered Baikida Carroll the chance to record his first album under his own name. Carroll logically asked Oliver Lake to join him. He also recruited Manuel Villaroel, a young Franco-Chilien pianist from the group Matchi-Oul, who had already released an album on Futura in 1971 and would release another on Palm in 1976. The group was completed with the addition of Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, who had just released a well-received album on the Saravah label. The first side of the album is divided into two long tracks which send free jazz back to its long-lost African roots. The opener "Orange Fish Tears" indeed rolls out a jungle of percussion of all sorts and sizes -- the whole group is involved -- which weave and mix together reaching a point where all bearings are lost, lending a sense of wonder to the majestic entry of the brass and woodwinds, flying suddenly out from the undergrowth. "Forest Scorpion" (sic) is a real voodoo ceremony where a venomous percussive groove backs the fiery solos from keyboards and saxophone in a furious trance. The other side is more introspective. Deliberately using dissonance and repetition, "Rue Roger" -- the only composition by Oliver Lake -- in a long dialogue between trumpet and saxophone, could almost remind us of Terry Riley in his favorite ballpark. "Porte D'Orléans", the fourth and final track on the album, has the group back to their old tricks in a long hallucinatory jam which owes as much to the contemporary music of György Ligetias to the most angst-ridden Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack music. With these two sides, and in under 45m, Baikida Carroll and his musicians show just what they can do, from cerebral to charnel without ever simplifying things. RIYL: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sonic Youth, Shabaka Hutchings, and Rob Mazurek.
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FFL 088CD
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In 1972, trumpeter Baikida Carroll and some of his colleagues from the Black Artists Group (more precisely saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd LeFlore) took the advice of their friends in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and left their native Missouri to come and discover the bright lights of Paris for themselves. The following year they would even get the chance to record their only album which would rapidly attain mythical status and a collector's item: In Paris, Aries 1973. Therefore, it was not surprising that they crossed paths with Jef Gilson, who offered Baikida Carroll the chance to record his first album under his own name. Carroll logically asked Oliver Lake to join him. He also recruited Manuel Villaroel, a young Franco-Chilien pianist from the group Matchi-Oul, who had already released an album on Futura in 1971 and would release another on Palm in 1976. The group was completed with the addition of Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, who had just released a well-received album on the Saravah label. The first side of the album is divided into two long tracks which send free jazz back to its long-lost African roots. The opener "Orange Fish Tears" indeed rolls out a jungle of percussion of all sorts and sizes -- the whole group is involved -- which weave and mix together reaching a point where all bearings are lost, lending a sense of wonder to the majestic entry of the brass and woodwinds, flying suddenly out from the undergrowth. "Forest Scorpion" (sic) is a real voodoo ceremony where a venomous percussive groove backs the fiery solos from keyboards and saxophone in a furious trance. The other side is more introspective. Deliberately using dissonance and repetition, "Rue Roger" -- the only composition by Oliver Lake -- in a long dialogue between trumpet and saxophone, could almost remind us of Terry Riley in his favorite ballpark. "Porte D'Orléans", the fourth and final track on the album, has the group back to their old tricks in a long hallucinatory jam which owes as much to the contemporary music of György Ligetias to the most angst-ridden Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack music. With these two sides, and in under 45m, Baikida Carroll and his musicians show just what they can do, from cerebral to charnel without ever simplifying things. RIYL: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sonic Youth, Shabaka Hutchings, and Rob Mazurek.
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FFL 080LP
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LP version. Includes eight-page booklet; 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve; 180 gram vinyl. "Why would I sing in French? I have Breton culture, I speak Breton, I live in Brittany, and the Breton language is the language of this country..." So explained Kristen Noguès, of whom this is the first of the (rare) albums that she recorded Marc'h Gouez, is a fabulous voyage in space on each listening. Noguès learned the Breton language as a child, at the same time as the Celtic harp, -- taking lessons with Denise Mégevand, who would go on to teach others, notably Alan Stivell. At the beginning of the 1970s, she discovered the Breton song tradition (soniou and gwerziou) through Yann Poëns and became involved in Névénoé, a cooperative of traditional expression founded by Gérard Delahaye and Patrick Ewen. It was under this label that her first album Marc'h Gouez, was released in 1976. With a dozen friends playing guitar, piano, violins, flutes..., Noguès composed not Breton music, but music from Brittany: a type of shared folklore in which imagination is married to the reality of the moment, that of social demands and companionship. At the very beginning of the record, we can hear her drawing up a chair, before the plucked notes of the harp become a cascade: "Enez Rouz", is an invitation to listen up close. You are reminded here of the Meredith Monk of "Greensleeves", there of the early albums of Brigitte Fontaine/Areski, elsewhere of Emmanuelle Parrenin, Pascal Comelade... Noguès rhyming pattern is ever changing: airy ("Hunvre"), cosmopolitan ("Pinvidik Eo Va C'hemener"), enigmatic ("Ar Bugel Koar"), profound ("Ar Gemenerez"), or enchanting ("Hirness An Devezhiou"). And then there is the track from which the album takes its name: "Marc'h Gouez" which, between nursery rhyme and chamber music, weaves a fabulous web in which the auditor is obliged to be caught. "Brittany equals poetry": so, said André... Breton; and Kristen Noguès proves it to be true. Licensed from Katell Branellec. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur.
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FFL 079LP
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"I get something out of listening to Coltrane, Shepp, and Coleman; I'm really pleased that young players are trying to change things. If they go back the roots and come up with something new, that's fantastic." This comment was made by saxophonist Hal Singer to Gérard Terronès for the magazine Jazz Hot in 1968. Two years later, Terronès would issue Singer's album Blues and News, on his label Futura Records. Though born in 1919, Hal Singer claims, just like the precursors of free jazz, "to always be looking for something else." When he started out, he played in numerous swing bands, then worked in bop with Don Byas, Roy Eldridge, or Red Allen, before joining Duke Ellington's band. In 1948, he recorded a successful single, "Cornbread" under his own name, which allowed him to travel to the four corners of the earth with his own group. Then, in 1965, Hal Singer came to live in France: in Paris, he played at clubs like the C'hat qui pêche or Riverbop; in the studio, he multiplied his experiments and experience. It was one such session led to Blues and News: joined by Jacques Bolognési (trombone), Jean-Claude André (guitar), Siegfried Kessler (keyboards and flute), Patrice Caratini (double bass), Art Taylor (drums), and Alain Charlery (percussion), the saxophonist himself goes "back to the roots," to also "come up with something new." Things kick off with "It's My Thing", a soul jazz number reminiscent of Cannonball Adderley or Lou Donaldson. After the pretty ballad "Lina," comes "Malcolm X," a luminous homage which resists the storm whipped up by Kessler on piano. Getting back to swing, Singer makes music with his communicative 'joie de vivre' ("Du Bois", "Pour Stéphanie") before signing off with a flamboyant blues dedicated to him by Kessler for the occasion: "Blues For Hal." But, was another title possible?... Blues For All! Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Futura Records. 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve; 180 gram vinyl.
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CD
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FFL 080CD
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"Why would I sing in French? I have Breton culture, I speak Breton, I live in Brittany, and the Breton language is the language of this country..." So explained Kristen Noguès, of whom this is the first of the (rare) albums that she recorded Marc'h Gouez, is a fabulous voyage in space on each listening. Noguès learned the Breton language as a child, at the same time as the Celtic harp, -- taking lessons with Denise Mégevand, who would go on to teach others, notably Alan Stivell. At the beginning of the 1970s, she discovered the Breton song tradition (soniou and gwerziou) through Yann Poëns and became involved in Névénoé, a cooperative of traditional expression founded by Gérard Delahaye and Patrick Ewen. It was under this label that her first album Marc'h Gouez, was released in 1976. With a dozen friends playing guitar, piano, violins, flutes..., Noguès composed not Breton music, but music from Brittany: a type of shared folklore in which imagination is married to the reality of the moment, that of social demands and companionship. At the very beginning of the record, we can hear her drawing up a chair, before the plucked notes of the harp become a cascade: "Enez Rouz", is an invitation to listen up close. You are reminded here of the Meredith Monk of "Greensleeves", there of the early albums of Brigitte Fontaine/Areski, elsewhere of Emmanuelle Parrenin, Pascal Comelade... Noguès rhyming pattern is ever changing: airy ("Hunvre"), cosmopolitan ("Pinvidik Eo Va C'hemener"), enigmatic ("Ar Bugel Koar"), profound ("Ar Gemenerez"), or enchanting ("Hirness An Devezhiou"). And then there is the track from which the album takes its name: "Marc'h Gouez" which, between nursery rhyme and chamber music, weaves a fabulous web in which the auditor is obliged to be caught. "Brittany equals poetry": so, said André... Breton; and Kristen Noguès proves it to be true. Licensed from Katell Branellec. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur.
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FFL 082LP
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The axolotl is a species of salamander native to Mexico, living in a state of larva and having the capacity to regenerate damaged organs. This brief introduction doesn't tell us if the axolotl sings. But, for the one that concerns us here: yes indeed. In Paris, at the end of the 1970s, Etienne Brunet and Marc Dufourd would improvise regularly, inspired by some other saxophone-guitar duos: Claude Bernard-Raymond Boni firstly, then Evan Parker-Derek Bailey. When Jacques Oger (a saxophonist whom Brunet had met at a workshop given by Steve Lacy at the Châteauvallon festival in 1977) joined the duo Brunet-Dufourd, Axolotl was born. Iconoclastic, the trio was bound to please Jac Berrocal, and he proposed to record their first album on the label D'avantage. In spring 1981 three days were just enough for Oger (tenor and barytone saxophones), Brunet (alto saxophone, bass clarinet and "things"), and Dufourd (electric guitar) to complete Axolotl, the first album by a group which would record -- two. If there was a collective of iconoclasts, the trio would be there with some relatives: Alterations, Fred Frith, John Zorn, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet... and then because there was mention of a collective, Axolotl steps (considerably) beyond the domain of free improvisation to lean towards jazz ("Illusion", "Paris, Froissé"), no wave ("Ombre Pilée", "Trottoirs Défunts"), contemporary ("Oreiller", "D'autres Seuls"), and even what you could call -- acid fun ("Dehors"). Above all, Axolotl wanted to really get to grips with sound via an expression as direct as it was liberating, as can be heard on "Ozone, Flocon, Torsion", producing a noise that, even today pierces the brain. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Etienne Brunet. Eight-page booklet; 180 gram vinyl; 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve.
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2LP
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FFL 081LP
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After the experience of Camizole, Dominique Grimaud began a new (and different) adventure in 1979 with Monique Alba. Alongside Gilbert Artman (Urban Sax), Guigou Chenevier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto), and Cyril Lefebvre (Maajun), Vidéo-Aventures is composed of instrumentals capable of reconciliating Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Suicide and... John Barry. All with the backing of Rock In Opposition, which enabled this Musiques Pour Garçons Et Filles to become known worldwide. "Let us enter your hearts": is the request made by Vidéo-Aventures, and how can we refuse? Especially as Musiques Pour Garçons Et Filles, recorded by Dominique Grimaud and Monique Alba fifty years ago along with handpicked colleagues, is as fresh as ever. 1979: having improvised a huge amount (and how!) with Camizole, Grimaud tried his hand at composition and studio recording with Alba. Their first instrument was the AKS synthesizer, with which the duo recorded the instrumental tracks that were then offered to their comrades Guigou Chenevier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Gilbert Artman (Lard Free, Urban Sax), Jean-Pierre Grasset (Verto) and Cyril Lefebvre (Maajun). At the end of the year, they all came into the studio for a week to record the eight tracks of this mini-album that Chris Cutler would issue a few months later on his label, Recommended. In France it was the beginning of the agitation around Rock In Opposition, to such a point that Musiques pour Garçons et Filles would rise to second place in the NME independent Charts. And this is hardly surprising... For these instrumental miniatures (here with the bonus of rare archives, some of which are previously unpublished) are uncontrollable: electronics augmented by lap-steel guitar ("Tina"), cunning pop ("Zazou Sur La Piste"), mechanic sound ("Une Vie Modern"), street piano ("French Kiss"), disturbing atmospheres ("La Ballade Des Cardiaques") or something like a TV theme tune capable of adjusting all the colors ("Telstar")... With such promising ingredients, why stop Vidéo-Aventures from entering... Originally released in 1981; expanded reissue. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Dominique Grimaud.Eight-page booklet; 180 gram vinyl; 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve.
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FFL 078LP
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Reissue, originally released in 1971. Solaire, Siegfried Kessler, that is the least you can say! Aged four: learns piano. Aged six: his first concert. After this: studies classical music like everyone else... until the jazz of Jack Diéval and Stan Kenton turned everything upside down. So, it was goodbye to Bach... And hello to Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Ted Curson, and Archie Shepp (who he would accompany over a long period). In 1969, with Yochk'o Seffer, Didier Levallet, and Jean-My Truong, he formed a group which would mark history and create a sensation: Perception. If French free jazz exists, its thanks to Kessler (and company). The following year, the pianist recorded his first album: Live at the Gill's Club. On this one-night concert date can also be heard Barre Phillips and Steve McCall. But it was in 1971 that Kessler would record his greatest album; still in a trio setting, but this time with bassist Gus Nemeth and percussionist Stu Martin: Solaire. Five tracks of extraordinary music, moving back and forth between modal jazz and contemporary music. Let's begin at the end, with the title track "Solaire", on which Kessler plays a melody on flute and piano which resists all onslaughts. It sends out powerful waves, Kessler's jazz, bubbling like hot oil ("Persécution", "Drum"), shaking modal jazz to its roots ("De l'Orient à Orion") or upsetting the memory of a cantata ("Bach Hcab"). The piano is an instrument which can provide a tendency towards, demonstrative technique; with Kessler, it is something else: a joyful persecution. Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Futura. 180 gram vinyl.
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FFL 076LP
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LP version. 180 gram vinyl. First ever reissue. Paris, 1965. Pianist François Tusques laid the foundation stone of French-style free jazz with his first, soberly titled, album Free Jazz. Also in the team were several future key names of the French scene, (Michel Portal, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin, Charles Saudrais, and François Jeanneau) all of whom honed their skills at the beginning of the decade in Jef Gilson's groups, although he was none too fond of the turbulent new face of jazz at the time. Ten years later, Jef Gilson had obviously changed his tune, as the label Palm that he had created in 1973 was now the launch pad for what would become the cream of French and international avant-garde jazz. This would notably be the case for François Jeanneau and Une Bien Curieuse Planète. His first album as leader (after briefly erring into pop with Triangle) was recorded in 1975, a few months after Watch Devil Go (FFL 071CD/LP) by his old friend Jacques Thollot, and with more or less the same casting: Jeanneau on sax of course, Jenny-Clark on bass and percussions, Lubat replacing Thollot on drums, and Michel Grailler (plucked out of Magma) was called in as a reinforcement for his completely "out of space" synthesizer sounds. Thus began a strange trip to a very strange planet, at the border of experimental jazz and swinging avant-garde. From 1960 to nowadays, from Georges Arvanitas to Laetitia Shériff, from Manu Dibango to "Mama" Béa Tékielski, everyone has wanted to play with François Jeanneau at some point. There is a good reason for this. The saxophonist is a formidable improviser, but also a solid composer, as he demonstrates on this record with, for example, the monumental "Droit d'Asile", the spooky "Theme For An Unknown Island" or the Coltranesque "Mr J.C. For Ever". Over half a century later, the planet seems far more familiar to us. And François Jeanneau is always on the front line for a guided tour. Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Palm / Geneviève Quievreux.
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FFL 076CD
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First ever reissue. Paris, 1965. Pianist François Tusques laid the foundation stone of French-style free jazz with his first, soberly titled, album Free Jazz. Also in the team were several future key names of the French scene, (Michel Portal, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin, Charles Saudrais, and François Jeanneau) all of whom honed their skills at the beginning of the decade in Jef Gilson's groups, although he was none too fond of the turbulent new face of jazz at the time. Ten years later, Jef Gilson had obviously changed his tune, as the label Palm that he had created in 1973 was now the launch pad for what would become the cream of French and international avant-garde jazz. This would notably be the case for François Jeanneau and Une Bien Curieuse Planète. His first album as leader (after briefly erring into pop with Triangle) was recorded in 1975, a few months after Watch Devil Go (FFL 071CD/LP) by his old friend Jacques Thollot, and with more or less the same casting: Jeanneau on sax of course, Jenny-Clark on bass and percussions, Lubat replacing Thollot on drums, and Michel Grailler (plucked out of Magma) was called in as a reinforcement for his completely "out of space" synthesizer sounds. Thus began a strange trip to a very strange planet, at the border of experimental jazz and swinging avant-garde. From 1960 to nowadays, from Georges Arvanitas to Laetitia Shériff, from Manu Dibango to "Mama" Béa Tékielski, everyone has wanted to play with François Jeanneau at some point. There is a good reason for this. The saxophonist is a formidable improviser, but also a solid composer, as he demonstrates on this record with, for example, the monumental "Droit d'Asile", the spooky "Theme For An Unknown Island" or the Coltranesque "Mr J.C. For Ever". Over half a century later, the planet seems far more familiar to us. And François Jeanneau is always on the front line for a guided tour. Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Palm / Geneviève Quievreux.
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FFL 077CD
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Reissue, originally released in 1971. Before Mahjun -- with the two albums released by Saravah, reissued by Souffle Continu in 2016 (FFL 022LP, FFL 023LP) -- there was... Maajun. Five musicians (Jean-Pierre Arnoux, Cyril and Jean-Louis Lefebvre, Alain Roux, and Roger Scaglia) and three times as many instruments at the service of an electric-poetic guerrilla group molded from folk and blues. The group's unique album, Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde evokes an (imaginary) association of Frank Zappa and Jacques Higelin, of Sonny Sharrock and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. Under these conditions, Long Live Death! "The most French of all the French groups, determined to take Maurice Chevalier's place in American hearts." This was how Rock&Folk presented Mahjun in 1977. So be it. But when Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde, was issued, it was 1971, and the name, though the same group, was still spelled Maajun. At the end of the sixties, five blues fans decided to form a French group ready to break down the barriers: Jean-Pierre Arnoux (drums, vibraphone, saxophone), Cyril Lefebvre (guitar, organ), Jean-Louis Lefebvre (bass, violin, guitar, vocals), Alain Roux (saxophone, flute, harmonica, vocals) and Roger Scaglia (guitar, vocals). This was Maajun, and Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde would be their only album, but which would (nevertheless) be followed by those of Mahjun created later by Lefebvre (Jean-Louis) and Arnoux. Recorded for the Vogue label, Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde would disturb a number of people. This is mostly due to the lyrics, many of which were written by Gérald Escot-Bocanegra, who, while summoning the spirit of Lautréamont and Rimbaud, turned the Maajun musicians on to rock and free jazz. Add a bit of politics into the mix, and the release of the album was delayed for several months. But then, wasn't it worth waiting for? Because Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde, a real concept-album, is an important and iconoclastic statement made directly in the face of (francophone) dreamers of all countries. Over heavy guitar riffs, psychedelic interludes or fantasy-fueled digressions, Maajun built mazes on the advice of alchemists known only to themselves before heading off on a long march on the "cracking walls". Licensed from Maajun. Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Includes liner notes by Ian Thompson and rare photos.
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LP
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FFL 077LP
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LP version. Includes eight-page booklet; 180 gram vinyl. Reissue, originally released in 1971. Before Mahjun -- with the two albums released by Saravah, reissued by Souffle Continu in 2016 (FFL 022LP, FFL 023LP) -- there was... Maajun. Five musicians (Jean-Pierre Arnoux, Cyril and Jean-Louis Lefebvre, Alain Roux, and Roger Scaglia) and three times as many instruments at the service of an electric-poetic guerrilla group molded from folk and blues. The group's unique album, Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde evokes an (imaginary) association of Frank Zappa and Jacques Higelin, of Sonny Sharrock and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. Under these conditions, Long Live Death! "The most French of all the French groups, determined to take Maurice Chevalier's place in American hearts." This was how Rock&Folk presented Mahjun in 1977. So be it. But when Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde, was issued, it was 1971, and the name, though the same group, was still spelled Maajun. At the end of the sixties, five blues fans decided to form a French group ready to break down the barriers: Jean-Pierre Arnoux (drums, vibraphone, saxophone), Cyril Lefebvre (guitar, organ), Jean-Louis Lefebvre (bass, violin, guitar, vocals), Alain Roux (saxophone, flute, harmonica, vocals) and Roger Scaglia (guitar, vocals). This was Maajun, and Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde would be their only album, but which would (nevertheless) be followed by those of Mahjun created later by Lefebvre (Jean-Louis) and Arnoux. Recorded for the Vogue label, Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde would disturb a number of people. This is mostly due to the lyrics, many of which were written by Gérald Escot-Bocanegra, who, while summoning the spirit of Lautréamont and Rimbaud, turned the Maajun musicians on to rock and free jazz. Add a bit of politics into the mix, and the release of the album was delayed for several months. But then, wasn't it worth waiting for? Because Vivre la Mort du Vieux Monde, a real concept-album, is an important and iconoclastic statement made directly in the face of (francophone) dreamers of all countries. Over heavy guitar riffs, psychedelic interludes or fantasy-fueled digressions, Maajun built mazes on the advice of alchemists known only to themselves before heading off on a long march on the "cracking walls". Licensed from Maajun. Carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Includes liner notes by Ian Thompson and rare photos.
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CD
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FFL 025CD
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CD edition of Pérélandra, a collection of unreleased songs from the Maison Rose era. It was some line-up, even for the most open-minded: Emmanuelle Parrenin and her musicians, in 1981, opened for the Clash in Paris, at the Zénith! Unsurprisingly, the crowd roared the name of the English band as soon as the French musicians appeared on stage. Didier Malherbe responded with a saxophone improvisation with all the others joining in behind. If we believe the musician improvising, rather than following the cult playlist of 1977's Maison Rose, was what saved them. Created from previously unpublished recordings from 1978, 1981, and 1982, Pérélandra is a wonderful array of the experiments so unique to Emmanuelle Parrenin. Rather than being improvised, like the legendary show at the Zénith, these experimental tracks have a more composed instrumental form and were conceived for choreographers: mainly Pérélandra, staged with dancers from Carolyn Carlson's troupe, but also Nomade, some of the sonic environment of which can be discovered here in (superb) bits and pieces found on cassettes. In total, just under a dozen tracks are presented, including contributions on bandoneon from the Argentinian Juan José Mosalini, electric piano from the ex-Double Six Jacques Denjean, or elsewhere great electroacoustic work from the wonderful and ever-faithful Bruno Menny. All of this steeped in a sonic mix typical of the most way-out acid-folk freak-outs of the 1970s. Didier Malherbe (who just before was still playing in Gong with Daevid Allen) is on three tracks, his heady graceful agility instantly identifiable, adding to a magical and spiritual universe created with spinet dulcimer, flute, hurdy-gurdy, and other-worldly vocals (amongst other ingredients). Though very difficult to label, Pérélandra could evoke a meeting between Trees Community, Heron and Robin Williamson with Ellen Fullman, Meredith Monk and Ligeti. The whole thing is steeped in an atmosphere as intense as the ecstatic hymns of Hildegard von Bingen. Emmanuelle Parrenin continues to explore similar territory in her concerts, always surprising with, Detlef Weinrich (Tolouse Low Tracks), Etienne Jaumet, Cosmic Neman, Ghedalia Tazartes, Quentin Rollet, Pierre Bastien, or Jandek. Licensed from Emmanuelle Parrenin.
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LP + 7"
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FFL 024X-LP
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LP version. Includes 7". 180 gram clear vinyl. Expanded reissue of the timeless 1979 French folk classic Maison Rose. Includes two unreleased tracks. An album such as this obviously owes a lot to the atmosphere in which it was recorded, which one can imagine was magical. It took place in Fromentel, Normandy, in a farm converted into a studio by the producer Jacques Denjean, known for his work with Dionne Warwick or Françoise Hardy as well as having been a member of the Double Six. It was also at Fromentel, that Denjean would record two fantastic albums with Albert Marcoeur. When Emmanuelle Parrenin followed in his footsteps a year later, she was in good company: the sound engineer at the studio was her partner and therefore uniquely capable of creating an adequate soundscape for her delicate universe. What is more, five years previously, Bruno Menny, the sound engineer partner, recorded his first and only album, but what an album: in electroacoustic terms we can hear things which make him appear as the spiritual son of his mentor Iannis Xenakis! What makes Maison Rose unique is exactly this fusion between the two conceptions of Emmanuelle Parrenin and Bruno Menny, creating a perfect marriage of tradition and experimentation. The tradition comes from the songs collected by Emmanuelle Parrenin in rural areas, in a similar vein to the work carried out by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins. The experimentation is in the sound captured by Bruno Menny, who both arranged and recorded the album. This is not to forget those who came with their guitar (Denis Gasser), or their lyrics (no less a figure than Jean-Claude Vannier). On the one hand we have the humble and non-demonstrative singing, with melodies which is reminiscent of songs to calm a child's nightmares, and on the other hand a pronounced rhythmic intensity at certain points, such as on "Topaze" where the drums in particular evoke the motorik of krautrock legends Faust. A real haven of peace, Maison Rose is enchanting with its aura of mystery and spirituality, with soft, gentle songs which seem both ancestral and futurist. Originally published by Ballon Noir in 1977, this album follows on from other folk marvels such as Le Galant Noyé from the pre-Mélusine period. If you had to risk a few comparisons, you would mention: Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Joanna Newsom, Collie Ryan, Shirley Collins. Licensed from Emmanuelle Parrenin.
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LP
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FFL 075LP
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LP version. 180 gram vinyl. "In October 1974, the first number of L'Indépendant du Jazz, a small self-produced magazine DIY -- before punk supposedly invented the concept -- was launched by Jef Gilson, Gérard Terronès, Jean-Jacques Pussiau, and a few other specialists of a different kind of jazz in France, it looked at the already long career of Jef Gilson and in detail at the album with saxophonist Philippe Maté: 'The 'Workshop' is, with Philippe Maté (alto-sax), an undeniable success. Maté is genuinely 'the' most inventive French saxophonist since Michel Portal burst onto the jazz scene (who has also worked with Jef Gilson on both Enfin (1964) and Gaveau (1965).' Even though the author of the article is a mysterious I.H. Dubiniou, and it is difficult to know if it is a real person or a pseudonym used by one of the merry bunch, it is also tempting to hear it as what Jef Gilson really thought about his new discovery. Even more so as the two men would work together over a long period, as Maté became one of the key figures of Gilson's Europamerica orchestra up until the 1980s. Philippe Maté had started to make a name for himself with the Acting Trio when they released an album on the BYG label in 1969, and he was also one of the regular sidemen for the Saravah Studios. The album was recorded on February 4 1972, at the Foyer de Montorgueuil, where Gilson had set up his studio, with more or less the same team found on La Marche Dans Le Désert by Sahib Shihab + Gilson Unit (FFL 065LP). This was drummer Jean-Claude Pourtier and pianist Pierre Moret (regular Gilson accomplices since Le Massacre Du Printemps (FFL 064LP)), alongside Maurice Bouhana and Bruno Di Gioa on various percussions and/or wind instruments. On bass is Didier Levallet, of the now mythical Perception, and Philippe Maté who took top billing. The two albums are however quite different. This Workshop is more abrasive, more free. Made up of two long improvisations each of over 22mn, 'L'Oeil' on side A and 'Vision' on side B, the album plunges you into the depths, attempting to drown you in electronic waves, dragging you back to the surface by the collar, giving you a good shakedown, before showing you the light, leaving you breathless on the shore after 46mn of the most intense music French has to offer..." --Jérôme "Kalcha" Simonneau
Reissue, originally released in 1973. Includes booklet with rare and unpublished photos. Carefully remastered from the master tapes. Licensed from Palm/Geneviève Quievreux.
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CD
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FFL 024CD
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Expanded reissue of the timeless 1979 French folk classic Maison Rose. Includes two unreleased tracks. An album such as this obviously owes a lot to the atmosphere in which it was recorded, which one can imagine was magical. It took place in Fromentel, Normandy, in a farm converted into a studio by the producer Jacques Denjean, known for his work with Dionne Warwick or Françoise Hardy as well as having been a member of the Double Six. It was also at Fromentel, that Denjean would record two fantastic albums with Albert Marcoeur. When Emmanuelle Parrenin followed in his footsteps a year later, she was in good company: the sound engineer at the studio was her partner and therefore uniquely capable of creating an adequate soundscape for her delicate universe. What is more, five years previously, Bruno Menny, the sound engineer partner, recorded his first and only album, but what an album: in electroacoustic terms we can hear things which make him appear as the spiritual son of his mentor Iannis Xenakis! What makes Maison Rose unique is exactly this fusion between the two conceptions of Emmanuelle Parrenin and Bruno Menny, creating a perfect marriage of tradition and experimentation. The tradition comes from the songs collected by Emmanuelle Parrenin in rural areas, in a similar vein to the work carried out by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins. The experimentation is in the sound captured by Bruno Menny, who both arranged and recorded the album. This is not to forget those who came with their guitar (Denis Gasser), or their lyrics (no less a figure than Jean-Claude Vannier). On the one hand we have the humble and non-demonstrative singing, with melodies which is reminiscent of songs to calm a child's nightmares, and on the other hand a pronounced rhythmic intensity at certain points, such as on "Topaze" where the drums in particular evoke the motorik of krautrock legends Faust. A real haven of peace, Maison Rose is enchanting with its aura of mystery and spirituality, with soft, gentle songs which seem both ancestral and futurist. Originally published by Ballon Noir in 1977, this album follows on from other folk marvels such as Le Galant Noyé from the pre-Mélusine period. If you had to risk a few comparisons, you would mention: Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Joanna Newsom, Collie Ryan, Shirley Collins. Licensed from Emmanuelle Parrenin.
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CD
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FFL 075CD
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"In October 1974, the first number of L'Indépendant du Jazz, a small self-produced magazine DIY -- before punk supposedly invented the concept -- was launched by Jef Gilson, Gérard Terronès, Jean-Jacques Pussiau, and a few other specialists of a different kind of jazz in France, it looked at the already long career of Jef Gilson and in detail at the album with saxophonist Philippe Maté: 'The 'Workshop' is, with Philippe Maté (alto-sax), an undeniable success. Maté is genuinely 'the' most inventive French saxophonist since Michel Portal burst onto the jazz scene (who has also worked with Jef Gilson on both Enfin (1964) and Gaveau (1965).' Even though the author of the article is a mysterious I.H. Dubiniou, and it is difficult to know if it is a real person or a pseudonym used by one of the merry bunch, it is also tempting to hear it as what Jef Gilson really thought about his new discovery. Even more so as the two men would work together over a long period, as Maté became one of the key figures of Gilson's Europamerica orchestra up until the 1980s. Philippe Maté had started to make a name for himself with the Acting Trio when they released an album on the BYG label in 1969, and he was also one of the regular sidemen for the Saravah Studios. The album was recorded on February 4 1972, at the Foyer de Montorgueuil, where Gilson had set up his studio, with more or less the same team found on La Marche Dans Le Désert by Sahib Shihab + Gilson Unit (FFL 065LP). This was drummer Jean-Claude Pourtier and pianist Pierre Moret (regular Gilson accomplices since Le Massacre Du Printemps (FFL 064LP)), alongside Maurice Bouhana and Bruno Di Gioa on various percussions and/or wind instruments. On bass is Didier Levallet, of the now mythical Perception, and Philippe Maté who took top billing. The two albums are however quite different. This Workshop is more abrasive, more free. Made up of two long improvisations each of over 22mn, 'L'Oeil' on side A and 'Vision' on side B, the album plunges you into the depths, attempting to drown you in electronic waves, dragging you back to the surface by the collar, giving you a good shakedown, before showing you the light, leaving you breathless on the shore after 46mn of the most intense music French has to offer..." --Jérôme "Kalcha" Simonneau
Reissue, originally released in 1973. Includes booklet with rare and unpublished photos. Carefully remastered from the master tapes. Licensed from Palm/Geneviève Quievreux.
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FFL 074LP
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Reissue of François Tusques's Dazibao n°2, originally released in 1971. This was of course not the first time that François Tusques was a "headline act". In 1965, he recorded, with other like-minded Frenchmen (François Jeanneau, Michel Portal, Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin, and Charles Saudrais), the first album of free jazz in France, named... Free Jazz. In 1967, Tusques again served up Le Nouveau Jazz, in the company of Barney Wilen (and Beb Guérin, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, and Aldo Romano). Three years later, between May and September 1970, the pianist recorded, at his home, Piano Dazibao (FFL 073LP), an album on which he multiplied joyful escapades as a critical iconoclast. The following year Tusques recorded Dazibao N°2, which shows him as an incisive commentator of his times. Following in the footsteps of Don Cherry, who he had met a few years earlier in Paris, Tusques made a plea for "friendship between all the peoples of the world" to the sound of Universalist hymns which transported us from Africa to Asia. But it is really a song to America, evoking the assassination of the activist George Jackson and the mutiny in Attica prison, before covering "Seize the Time" by Elaine Brown -- three years after the release of Dazibao N°2, she became the first (and only) woman to lead the Black Panther Party. The turmoil of Piano Dazibao, was opposed, on Dazibao N°2, by long, labyrinthine tracks with alternating discords and repetitions. Often using prepared piano, Tusques was more percussive (even heady) than ever, exposing a melody with solid hammer strikes or painting an image which radiated peace in spite of the storms. Piano Dazibao and Dazibao N°2 thus form the two sides of one coin, which displays the effigy of François Tusques, an international national monument. Licensed from Futura / Marge. Carefully remastered from the master tapes. 180 gram vinyl.
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FFL 073LP
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Reissue of François Tusques's Piano Dazibao, originally released in 1970. To avoid the "Quésaco?" on the sleeve of Piano Dazibao, François Tusques explains everything: "A wall mural on which the Red Guard expressed their opinions during the Chinese proletarian cultural revolution. So much for the 'Dazibao', very good; but the piano in all that?" The piano, François Tusques was self-taught and his work was influenced by Jelly Roll Morton and Earl Hines before discovering Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and then... free jazz. In Paris in 1965, Tusques mixed with Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Aldo Romano, or Jacques Thollot. He also met Don Cherry and above all recorded, with other like-minded Frenchmen (Portal and Jeanneau alongside Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin, and Charles Saudrais), the first album of free jazz in France, named... Free Jazz. In 1967, Tusques again served up Le Nouveau Jazz, this time in the company of Barney Wilen (and Guérin, Jenny-Clark, Romano). Three years later his thirst for freedom led him to isolation; between May and September 1970, the pianist recorded, at his home, the first of two albums that he would release on Futura Records: Piano Dazibao and Dazibao N°2 (FFL 074LP). Under the influence of Mao and Lewis Carroll, the free spirit roamed and composed seven tracks which are not so much free as libertarian. As an homage to some friends (Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, Archie Shepp, Clifford Thornton but also Colette Magny, Michel Le Bris or the Théâtre du Chêne Noir), the pianist played cascading bouquets of notes, free-form wanderings, blues-ambushed dances, growls, discords, a fatal requiem... A cherished freedom, songs of hope and demands, François Tusques offers the most unrelenting of independent records. Licensed from Futura / Marge. Carefully remastered from the master tapes. 180 gram vinyl.
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FFL 071CD
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Souffle Continu Records present aa reissue of Jacques Thollot's Watch Devil Go, originally released in 1975. "To write these few lines, we spoke to saxophonist François Jeanneau, an old friend of Jacques Thollot who also played on several of his albums, including the Watch Devil Go which interests us here . . . A noted studio had reserved three days for a Thollot recording session. The first morning was devoted to sound checks and putting some order in the score sheets which Jacques would hand out in a somewhat anarchic manner. Then everyone went for lunch. When the musicians returned to the studio, Thollot had disappeared. He wasn't seen again for the three days. When he reappeared, he had already forgotten why he had left. The music of Jacques Thollot is in the image of its' author: it takes you somewhere, suddenly escapes and disappears, returning in an unexpected place as if nothing had happened. Four years after a first album on the Futura label in 1971, Jacques Thollot returned, this time on the Palm label of Jef Gilson, still with just as much surrealist poetry in his jazz. In thirty-five minutes and a few seconds, the French composer and drummer, who had been on the scene since he was thirteen, established himself as a link between Arnold Schoenberg and Don Cherry. Resistant to any imposed framework and always excessive, Thollot allows himself to do anything and everything: suspended time of an extraordinary delicacy, a stealthy explosion of the brass section, hallucinatory improvisation of the synthesizers, tight writing, teetering on the classical, and in the middle of all that, a hit; the title-track -- that Madlib would one day end up hearing and sampling. Watch Devil Go was in the right place in the Palm catalog, which welcomed the cream of the French avant-garde in the '70s. But it is also the story of a long friendship between two men. Jacques Thollot and Jef Gilson had known and respected one another for a long time. Though barely sixteen years old, Thollot was already on drums on the first albums by Gilson starting in 1963 and would play in his big band (alongside François Jeanneau once again), Europamerica, until the end of the '70s. In a career lasting half a century and centered on freedom Jacques Thollot played with the most important experimental musicians and they all heard in him a pulsation coming from another world." --Jérôme "Kalcha" Simonneau. Licensed from Palm / Geneviève Quievreux. Remastered from the master tapes. Includes eight-page booklet with rare and unpublished photos.
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