VIDEO-AVENTURES-MUSIQUE POUR GARCONS ET FILLES, 10", 1979 + CAMERA (IN FOCUS), LP, 1984, FRANCE

Writing a capsule review that does justice to music that has changed your life...there's a trick. The salient fact that the debut 10" by Dominique Grimaud and Monique Alba's Video-Aventures project (band seems to formal a designation for an ensemble with such a varied and variable lineup over the years) contains contributions from some of the heaviest heavyweights from the deadliest underground scene of the 70's (Lard Free's Gilbert Artman, Jean-Pierre Grasset of Verto, Guigou Chenevier from Etron Fou among others) should clue you in that something quite exceptional is going on here. The fact that they cover Telstar on their 10" (to devastating effect) is quite telling, as the atmospheric conditions within which the suave and slightly cartoonish themes free float here seem steeped in some faux nostalgia for a never materialized vision of a better future promised by...say...The Jetsons. Guest guitarist Cyrille Lefebvre's lilting and vaguely Hawaiian slide guitar work carves a woozily languid path through much of the proceedings here and it's one of the key reasons why this record lands with such a gut punch. Within such a deliriously whimsical yet heady atmosphere now factor in a distinct edge of acid unease as only the French underground musicians of that era knew how to fabricate and you have the recipe for one of the most mind warpingly deranged (yet charming!) musical visions ever realized on this planet. I will freely admit that Camera (In Focus) is of a slightly lesser order for me, being "merely" fantastic and not life changing. Vocal based song structure owing something to to both Gilbert Arman's postpunk band Catalogue and to Ilitch's 10 Suicides is now an emergent factor inside Grimaud and Alba's destabilized electronic constructs and they're often strangely offset by a much more subdued and reflective vision of electronic composition, albeit one in which lunatic passages of zany abandon suddenly rip through the song structures' synthetic hymen. Note: both discs are extracted from CD reissues of these albums as both featured extensive bonus cuts.

Get Musique Pour Garcons Et Filles Here

Get Camera (In Focus) Here