TOUBABOU-ATTENTE, LP, 1975, CANADA

This ecstatic funkified jazzy prog masterpiece is operating in such extraordinary aesthetic proximity to Canada's Contraction/Franck Dervieux/Ville Emard Blues Band axis, it's almost eerie. Of those, Toubabou's muse is closest to Contraction insofar as Lise Cousineau's gloriously moany vocal histrionics are the mirror image of Contraction's Christiane Robichaud's. No small thing that, as this very particular style of vocals is some of the most beautiful and emotionally charged of any I've ever heard. Just glorious. Musically, this is deeply nuanced and frequently wildly driving stuff, not least due to the massed percussion onslaught that underpins much of Attente. One of my favorites ever from one of the world's great unacknowledged musical undergrounds.

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