Philippe Besombes, Jean-Louis Rizet

2024 stock. Absolutely riveting reissue of this classic French underground album from 1976, appearing for the first time on CD. "Pole is the first and only co-operation, where both were working as musicians, between Jean Louis Rizet and Philippe Besombes. This double album, recorded in 1976, shows a more serious side of the artists, with a leaning toward contemporary classical music that shows their interest in electronic and electro-acoustic ideas; reminiscent of Faust at times, but also close in spirit to The Cosmic Jokers, Lard Free, and Heldon. While many guest musicians appear on the album, the core is Besombes and Rizet experimenting on electronics, synths, and mellotron; an epochal 76-minute release, completely remastered." 
 
"They say never judge a book by its cover, but with records it's different. Just one furtive glance at the evocative cover art for Pôle for instance, and you can almost smell what it sounds like. Besombes and Rizet converge under the sepia-tinged psychedelia of the facade, one wooly-haired in rollneck sweater smoking a fag, the other bespectacled with pipe in chops, sporting fur trim, cravat and turquoise chemise. It's a conducive meeting of minds, visages and tobacco choices in soft focus walnut brown, while in the distance, the pair wander through bucolic pastures, perhaps on the qui vive for champignons magiques. They look like sonic scientists, ready to take music to its outer limits, which is of course exactly what they were up to in 1975 when they collaborated on this long player. Issued 40 years ago, it still has the power to bend minds." — Jeremy Allen, The Quietus