Unique improvised pop from 1974, by Jean-Jacques Birgé — one of the first French synthesizer players (ARP 2600) — and guitar virtuoso Francis Gorgé.
‘Have you ever imagined what a meeting between the Silver Apples and Sonny Sharrock would sound like?’
‘Bisk is back… as cheerfully unhinged as ever… absurd and exhilarating in equal measure. The Japanese producer’s drum programming weaves through knotty thickets of syncopated beats and white-noise bursts, chasing ghosts and dodging potholes. His samples are fragmentary dispatches from far-flung points, and any given musical phrase might shoehorn multiple worlds into wobbly union—free improv with easy listening, kindergarten recess with NASA Mission Control. Beneath each drum hit lies a potential trap door, and his melodies, if that’s what you can call his tangled scraps of electric bass and modal keys, ricochet like pinballs repelled at every turn by shuddering mechanical bumpers’ (Pitchfork).
‘The Numero Group guide to private issue new age. Featuring Laraaji, Iasos, Joanna Brouk, Don Slepian, Peter Davison, Master Wilburn Burchette, Jordan De La Sierra, David Casper, Robert Slap and nine other pioneers of the Perrier underground. Adorned with Marcus Uzilevsky’s Linear Landscapes, this 2xLP compilation is housed in a sturdy tip-on jacket and is accompanied by a 32-page booklet. The fourth world awaits.’
Previously unreleased recordings made in the Chelsea Hotel in 1960 on 1/4” tape, transferred here for the first time; the basis of Confessions Of An Irish Rebel, published posthumously five years later.
Her 1968 masterwork, arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, originally released on Saravah. Approved by Brigitte, this expanded edition features the original album, newly remastered from the original tapes, along with a second album of demos, instrumentals, and a live rendition of Il Pleut recorded for France Inter/ORTF. With a twenty-page bilingual booklet, including an introduction by Laetitia Sadier, plus full lyrics and rare archival photos.
Jennifer Lucy Allan: ‘The heads know — forums and published books alike agree — that 76-77 is the best of the Can live years (Keele included). A couple of the tracks from this show have been included on fan-made ‘best of’ live bootlegs over the years. And wow, are they right.’
Peter Margasak, describing this album in The Wire: ‘The meticulous environments and rhythmic trenches Can had been building from the very start always cast a hypnotic spell, but when they had the freedom to inhabit the material without limitations they achieved the sort of transcendental brilliance that the greatest improvisations can deliver. We may recognise fleeting glimpses of studio tracks here and there, but they’re merely stepping off points for extended trips that convey much greater profundity, propulsion and ecstasy.’