Bernard Xolotl

LP version. Bureau B presents a reissue of Bernard Xolotl's fifth album Last Wave, originally released only on cassette in 1982. This is French electronic music from California. He named himself after the Aztec god of lightning and death; his music is influenced by the Berlin school of electronic music. As a teen, Xolotl (b. 1951) was introduced to electronic music through the works of Musique Concrete composers like Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer, although he found the early recordings of Pink Floyd to be more inspirational. During the early 1970s, Xolotl began creating music of his own, working in studios across Europe and the US before settling in California in 1974, where he built his own studio. Between 1978 and 1981, he recorded four solo cassette albums. On Last Wave, Xolotl expanded his musical palette with new instruments such as the Yamaha CS60 and the PPG. Includes previously unissued bonus track.

Xolotl on the process of Last Wave: "The first Last Wave I started while still living in San Francisco, a simple and longish piece which could be used as a background for the concerts I was giving with Daniel Kobialka and Richard Horowitz. However, after I moved to the residential suburb of Marin to build up my studio, I kept adding tracks to it so it just became part of my next album. This was going to have more instruments; I got to do everything myself, playing and recording one track at a time. But mixing there was still out of the question; I had to wait for the right opportunity to use a San Francisco studio with the best reverb and acoustics. This took several years in the end and was the last album I didn't mix at home. It was also the last 'analog' album and the 'last' of many other 'things' which made the title very significant in my life."