Music from France

Discrepant presents another unique document of Kink Gong's electronic deconstructions this time stepping away from his usual South East Asia area of expertise and releasing some of his first re-interpretations and field recordings made in the late 90's in Tanzania, Africa. 'December 1999, Tanzania. I had an appointment with James Stephenson an American friend from the 90s in NYC, he used to skip the American winter every year to be with the Hadzas bushmen and other Tanzanians tribes in Tanzania.…

Legendary trumpeter Jac Berrocal joins two fellow travelers in the French avant-garde,David Fenech and Vincent Epplay. A lugubrious mise-en-scène in which ice-cold outlaw jazz meets musique concrète, DIY whimsy, and dubwise studio science, all watched over by the lost souls and hungry ghosts of rock 'n' roll. The trio's first album together, Antigravity is a richly imagined universe combining original compositions and détourned standards. Berrocal revisits his own signature piece "Rock 'n Roll S…

Since his debut in 1979, French outsider artist Tarzatès sounds like nothing else a thrilling collection of meanie devotionals, snafu song and fevered goatherd music with tape loops, industrial grind, musique concrète and throat singing.' This new album is another shamanic journey in Tazartès's universe. He sings and plays all the instruments and samples, recorded in the very same room as all his other solo records since 1974. Performed, produced, and recorded by Ghédalia Tazartès for Bisou in 2…

"We take it for granted today, but not too long ago, integrating electronics into a rock setting was something exotic and strange..... Heldon and Richard Pinhas are considered building blocks for whole schools of experimental rock music, and one of the few who rarely fail to deliver on the hype." –Pitchfork Media"Richard Pinhas demonstrates that he is capable of contstructing some of the most formidable but exhilharating sonic edifices ever heard by mortal ears." – Bill Tilland, All Music GuideM…

In Metal/Crystal, French experimental guitarist and electronic musician Richard Pinhas summons the assistance of noise artists Merzbow (Masami Akita) from Japan and Wolf Eyes from USA to weave a spellbinding aural web that spans 2 CDs.Over the years, many artists in the 'noise arena' have expressed interest in his pioneering use of synthesizers and electronics in rock and contemporary music. Pinhas has likewise been intrigued by various areas of the ‘noise’ scene and Metal/Crystal, recorded "dur…

During a fairly incredible 7 year run that began in the mid 1970s, Richard Pinhas released a large string of influencial albums; 7 by Heldon and 5 under his own name, all of which attempted in one way or another to meld (avant-garde) rock music with electronics. L'Ethique was his final release of that 12, recorded in 1981 and originally released in 1982. It was his final solo album before his musical retirement throughout the 1980s and it's one of his great 'classic period' works. It also featur…

"Among collectors of electronic music, some names have become legendary and are present in every search list. These names include Richard Pinhas, the leader of the French cult group Heldon." – AudionComposer, guitarist and electronics innovator Richard Pinhas is recognized as one of France's major experimental musicians. A pivotal figure in the international development of electronic rock music, Pinhas' stature in France is analogous to Tangerine Dream's in Germany: the father figure of an entir…

"...a sporadic but constant thread in Pinhas’ music has been his experimentation with guitar feedback, loops and effects boxes, even in the early days of Heldon, as he tried to perfect his own version of Frippertronics. Well, it has been a long time coming, but Event and Repetitions may well signal the full realization of Pinhas’ long-time vision. The drifting, hypnotic patterns of the five pieces on this CD? have a shimmering beauty and depth that seems to suggest a destination at the end of a …

Following their groundbreaking collaboration with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Comme à la Radio, Areski and Brigitte Fontaine began recording almost exclusively together as a duo. Originally released in 1973, Je Ne Connais Pas Cet Homme is their first record billed under both names. Deeply rooted in North African and European folk traditions, the album features evocative vignettes with breezy vocals and minimal accompaniment of classical guitar, strings, and woodwinds. As always, there is a m…

Visitors was the brain-child of French producer/composer/genius, and enfant terrible Jean-Pierre Massiera. In 1974, he recruited a group of nineteen musicians (most notably jazz violinist Didier Lockwood, who made an indelible mark on Magma's 1975 live album), to record his latest compositions. Massiera had been impressed by violin-fronted jazz-rock acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jean-Luc Ponty. He decided that his new psychedelic nightmare should be a concept album on the theme of ex…

Souffle Continu is very excited to present two special vinyl editions of live recordings of French heavy space prog band Heldon -- this 1976 recording and Live in Paris 1975 (FFL 007LP). Heldon took rock music and mixed it with analog synthesizers in a very special and unique way. Recorded live at Le Palace, Paris, 1976, this two-track recording documents the raw, acidic, psychedelic sound of Heldon, consisting at the time of Richard Pinhas, Patrick Gauthier, and François Auger. The fantasti…

Souffle Continu is very excited to present two special vinyl editions of live recordings of French heavy space prog band Heldon -- this 1975 recording and Live in Paris 1976 (FFL 008LP). This historic recording documents one of the rare Heldon concerts of the mid '70s era. Formed at the time of guitar loop master Richard Pinhas (Mellotron, ARP 2600 synthesizer, AKS, and guitars) and Alain Renaud (guitar and analog keyboards), Heldon deliver five tracks of guitar freak-out melded with hypnotic …

2014 Release. Half the CD is taken up by Circle Process, the result of composer Pascal Criton and Silvia Tarozzi working in very close collaboration - and it’s pretty extraordinary. For a long time indeed, it’s not even obvious what it is you’re listening to. There’s a catalogue of extended techniques explored here, on a violin strung with four identical strings pitched a sixteenth tone apart. The production is extraordinary: minute in its detail. This really is a very exceptional piece worth th…

Since the end of the '90s, Laurent Jeanneau aka Kink Gong has been recording the music of mostly endangered minorities of South East Asia. Alongside his relentless pursuit of remote exotic and unpublished musical traditions, he also creates electronic versions by combining raw recordings with natural sounds, archival material and electronically-treated sounds. For Gongs, Laurent returns to his soundscape approach not heard since the Xinjiang LP (2011) and further develops his unique re-versi…

Kink Gong aka Laurent Jeanneau is a field recording artist based in Dali, China. He spends his time recording ethnic minority music, mostly in Southeast Asia, and releasing the results on his own CDr label, Kink Gong Recordings, as well as occasionally contributing to Sublime Frequencies compilations. He also composes electronic music that includes and transforms those recordings. For Xinjiang, Jeanneau based his soundscape around the recordings he made on a 2009 trip to the frontier regio…

Remastered CD edition of Tazartès, Ghédalia Tazartès' 1987 fourth LP. Now available as an expanded individual CD, this edition was previously only available as part of a CD containing both Tazartès and Diasporas, Tazartès' 1979 debut album, which is also now available in an expanded CD edition (TES 088CD). Immersive, transporting, and deeply arresting music from the revered autodidact and audio oddity. If you've never encountered Tazartès before, this is an excellent place to start, welco…

2015 Remastered CD edition of Diasporas, Ghédalia Tazartès' 1979 debut LP. Now available as an expanded individual CD, this edition was previously only available as part of a CD containing both Diasporas and Tazartès' 1987 self-titled fourth album, which is also now available in an expanded CD edition (TES 089CD). In addition to the entire original release of Diasporas, this CD includes the first CD release of "Ferme ta gueule, Zarathustra," a composition largely based on materials pre-datin…

2015 repress and remastered. Remastered CD edition of Une éclipse totale de soleil, Ghédalia Tazartès' third LP, originally released in 1984. Far away from contemporary music intellectualisms and the works of synthetic noise purists, this album features a new form of musical expression and is certainly one of the most original and creative records of the '80s. The value of this work was at the time underestimated and only a few people had a chance to listen to this beautiful music. The rec…

2015 repress. Remastered CD edition of Tazartès' Transports, autodidact and outsider composer Ghédalia Tazartès' 1980 second LP. This album probably represents the most original example of the artist's poetical and personal approach to sound organization. The tracks for Tazartès' Transports, recorded in 1977 at Tazartès' own studio in Paris, are blends of stream-of-consciousness rippling electro rhythms, outer-national singing styles, collaged field recordings, tape loops, and chants. The …

Split LP, released in an edition of 300 numbered copies on splattered orange/black translucid vinyl, and packaged in silver ink silkscreened cardboard covers with an insert. Richard Pinhas, guitarist from French cult band Heldon, is accompanied by his son Duncan, Oren Ambarchi (SunnO))) and Erick Borelva. Tamagawa plays number of songs that are totaly stripped from subtlety. A suite of audible haikus bring to mind the sound of footsteps in the water... a distant waterfall.