Soleil Zeuhl New Releases

Both are now available :

CD : ELEPHANT TOK : Tok 1 - Soleil Mutant 51 

VINYL : RHUN : Fanfare du chaos - Soleil Zeuhl 52 (limited edition of 300 numbered copies)
This album was previously issued on CD in 2013 by Altrock label.

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ELEPHANT TOK

Now that ONE SHOT has split, this is the very first project of an ex-member to see the light. The band is led by drummer Daniel Jeand'Heur.
The music itself, while firmly connected to the classic One Shot sound (a heavy bass, explosive drums, Fender Rhodes, long tracks), also features a horn section.
The result, as you may expect from such a band, is a bridge between the most electric jazz-rock bands and prog. But the real sensation here is the inclusion of occasional vocals that add a modern urban vibe to the whole thing - and that fits perfectly. That guy (whose stage name is "Onan") occasionally reminds me quite a bit some of George Duke's vocals while with FZ's Mothers of Inventions mixed with today's street culture.
As bonus, the CD come with a download card allowing buyers to get the Wav files of the INSTRUMENTAL version of the album. Up to everyone to decide afterwards, which version is prefered !!


RHUN (source of the text : progressor.net - Vitaly Menshikov)

This is an absolutely brilliant album. There are six tracks here, ranging from three to nine and a half minutes in length, and each of them is a masterwork. The rhythmic vitality takes a powerful shot in the arm, the band keeping the proceedings churning to the end by adding various woodwind instruments, percussion and vocals to the album’s basic sound, which normally embraces two guitars, two basses (one of which is often played through the distortion module), two saxophones and drums. The result is an engaging – perhaps already classic – French twist on the Belgian RIO/Chamber Rock approach that carefully subverts, submerges and disguises its experimentation beneath a strong sense of melody and form. One can indeed compare “Fanfare du Chaos” to some of Magma’s work, but the difference here is that this music is much less groovy on the one hand and is at times very heavy on the other, slightly reminiscent of a cross between early Thinking Plague, mid-70s King Crimson and late Univers Zero, plus the fact that the vocalists sing in a more traditional operatic custom, somewhere in the vein of the Universal Totem Orchestra, albeit the language reminds me of Magmatic, i.e. Kobajan. Most of the compositions also reveal moments of Avant-jazz and those of neoclassical music of the first water. The longer tracks, Toz, Dunb, Bumlo, Mluez and Ih, all come across as suites – multi-layered compositions that bring together all the diverse elements into a delicately balanced whole, often beyond any routinely identifiable influences. Complex rhythms, shimmering melodies and a strong chamber rock component are all embedded within the fabric of the pieces, occasionally giving them a very avant-garde face, while most of the time a totally cohesive and spiritual nature. The former four pieces fully suit all the above descriptions, and only the latter (featuring vocal parts by a single female singer besides those of a mixed choir), which doesn’t contain most of the aforesaid stylistic elements, Metal-In-Opposition included, throughout lies within the classic RIO realm. While the relative simple, repetitive figure in it overstays its welcome for this reviewer, this shortcoming is more than overcome by clever, ever-changing musical constructions and colorful arrangements. Four guest musicians contribute oboe, horn, clarinet and flute to the album’s first three tracks, all of which are the richest in chamber colorations, especially Intermud – a piece of neoclassical music, performed without any rock instruments.