Music Feb 3, 2011 at 4:00 am

And High Wolf Is the Latest Immortal Import from France

Comments

1
"that could make Quentin Tarantino ejaculate into his collection of Gerardo de León videos."

Bravo!
2
Boring.
3
Gong?
4
@3 Considered including Gong, but there's a lot of English and Australian in their French.
5
Don't forget Etron Fou Leloublan, Camille Sauvage, Volapük, Bernard Fèvre, Ferdinand Et Les Philosophes, Guigou Chenevier & Sophie Jausserand, Guy Skornik, Hector Zazou, Hellebore, Henri Pousseur, & Jean-Jacques Perrey, to name but a few.
6
Don't forget Etron Fou Leloublan, Camille Sauvage, Volapük, Bernard Fèvre, Ferdinand Et Les Philosophes, Guigou Chenevier & Sophie Jausserand, Guy Skornik, Hector Zazou, Hellebore, Henri Pousseur, & Jean-Jacques Perrey, to name but a few.
7
Whither Mahogany Brain?
8
deathspell omega, blut aus nord...
9
author: as you probably know pinhas is still pummeling away with alarmingly dangerous proficiency on recent collaborations with wolf eyes and merzbow.
10
M83???
11
great article. thanks dave.
12
@9
Yes, I wrote about Pinhas' new album here: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/data-…
13
Magma...

I can't believe that 40 years later people still fall for that "invented language" lie.

Vander didn't invent a language, he invented a Germanic sounding vocabulary to substitute the French words he wrote because it would sound cool, I guess - this was the 70's, after all - and avoid limiting him to the French market. The grammar (syntax, word order, etc.) is 100% French. The Kobaian vocabulary was limited to the words needed to translate the French. By no measure can this be considered a language (trust me, I'm a linguist, and a native French speaker).

What's more, if you read the French version of the lyrics provided on some albums, you'll realize that they are the same kind of sub-Yes cosmic crap that was common in prog at the time. An alternate reality this isn't. More like an extended acid trip by and for pseudo-intellectuals.

Now you may like the music, which I still find to be pretentious lower-tier prog with jazzy workouts to justify the pretensiousness, like so many other bands of the era - and Magma were clearly within the progressive rock realm at the time, however we may choose to describe them now. But please, don't try to sell them as some sort of visionaries.
14
And if you want to write about French rock, you should at least mention Jacques Dutronc's L'Opportuniste, which dared to criticize the May 68 "revolutionaries" by saying, the very next month (it was released in June 68), what would become clear 20 years later: the May 68 revolts in France were about overturning the old guard so that younger people could take their place and do the same, not about establishing a new world order based on creativity ("L'imagination au pouvoir", yeah right).

Just as the hippy movement was beginning to spread around the world, in less than 3 minutes, this song showed it for what it was: a self-serving lie.

Not only was L'Opportuniste a great, catchy tune, but Dutronc was also years ahead of almost everyone else at the time in the world of popular music in terms of criticizing youth culture from within.

That's visionary. That's rock music.
15
Too bad you forgot the greatest of them all: Alain BASHUNG. If you don't know him, check "Play Blessures", "Chatterton", "Fantaisie Militaire", and the fantastic "L'imprudence", one of the most fabulous pieces of experimental/poetic rock ever. Shit, it's so much better and more original than Gainsbourg, for example.
16
Thanks for the tip, @15.
17
French artists worth checking out (in no particular order): Serge Gainsbourg, Alain Bashung, Etienne Daho, Michel Polnareff, Kat Onoma, Jacques Dutronc, Françoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot, Brigitte Fontaine, Ronnie Bird, Stinky Toys, Rodolphe Burger, Téléphone, Trust, Starshooter, Bijou, Alain Souchon, Valérie Lagrange, Sapho, Bernard Lavilliers, Juliette Gréco, Barbara, Boris Vian, Dogs, Little Bob Story, Thugs, Dominique A, Les Innocents, L'affaire Louis Trio, Hubert Mounier, Benjamin Biolay, Jane Birkin, Marie et les Garçons, Edith Nylon, Bijou, Nino Ferrer, Jad Wio, M, Renaud, Taxi Girl, Daniel Darc, Les Têtes Raides, The Little Rabbits, Dionysos, Luke, Deportivo, Les Calamités, Les Wampas, Roadrunners, Métal Urbain, Kas Product, Carte de Séjour, Rachid Taha, Air, Daft Punk, Vitalic, Bérurier Noir, Noir Désir, Marquis de Sade, Marc Seberg, Indochine, Eiffel, Dolly, Gamine, Lili Drop, Factory, Kid Pharaon and the lonely kids, Autour de Lucie, Jérome Soligny, King Size, Johan Asherton, AS Dragon, Jean-Louis Murat, Jacques Higelin, Daytona, Orchestre Rouge, Passion Fodder, Au Bonheur des Dames, Les Real Kids, La Mano Negra, Manu Chao, Les Rita Mitsouko, Les Négresses Vertes, Dominic Sonic, Les Valentins, Les Avions, Phoenix, Tahiti 80, Aston Villa, Blessed Virgins, Les Ablettes, Asphalt Jungle, Plasticines, Bill Baxter, Bertignac et les Visiteurs, Louise Attaque, Tarmac, Paul Personne, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine, Jean Guidoni, Cocoon, Via Viva, Les Désaxés,

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