UPPSALA-S/T, TAPE, 1986, FRANCE

Mutant Sounds founder Jim long ago posted the debut LP from this hugely underrated and very late in the game French Zeuhl band, whose obscurity is mostly due to their plying post-Magma mutations long after history's presumed sell-by date for this sorta thing. Fronted by the singular falsetto pipes of Philippe Cauvin, the music of Uppsala on that debut carried forth the legacy of a very specific breed of thunderous post-Magma action; the sort originally articulated by former Magma bassist Bernard Paganotti in Weidorje, though Uppsala would render these sounds in a more playful and less martial fashion, occasionally even with a bit of a Caribbean lilt! What very few are aware of is that Cauvin and co. actually followed up that monster three years later with this privately issued tape. Beginners to Uppsala might want to avail themselves of their debut first, but this second outing, while undeniably lighter in tone is still something worth marveling over; their adaptations in the interim nudging this second effort into more of a post-80's King Crimson mode, with Cauvin's impassioned histrionics duking it out with fretless entanglements and cross-kit Linn Drum fills.


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