ESKÄHL 2020 (BORDEAUX-TOULOUSE-PERPIGNAN)

MAGMA is the group born in 1969 led by drummer, composer, singer Christian VANDER who also created the 'Zeuhl' their mother tongue. Avant-prog, rock, jazz, classical, folk, a choir, lyrical singing all assembled by swirling riffs, Christian's always very innovative drums, a bombastic sound that only his faithful servants have access to, yes It's the price to pay. MAGMA does not hide its inspiration from Carl ORFF and John COLTRANE, otherwise MAGMA is apart. This is their 16th live recorded just before the pandemic with forays into flagship titles from the 70s. MAGMA only lives because it has molten musical substance flowing through their limbs.

CD1 takes up three musical fragments with "Theusz Hamtaahk" on the jazzy magmaian madness, a theatrical variation of their almost classical universe and breaks and accelerations of the tempo. "Ẁurdah Ïtah" more voices, a trance, a timeless classico-jazzy-orchestral piece where improvisation seems the rule but where everything is calculated; note the captivating very progressive keyboards. "Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh" on a Teutonic rhythm, mesmerizing cascading voice, Kobaienne trademark; jazz, Al Di MEOLA in the background, nothing can describe their music so I will refer you to the last episode of "Prisoner", the famous 17 where everything goes into a disorganized maelstrom ... well that's what I feel during these standard extracts. CD2 covers "Kobaïa" from 1970, one of the flagship titles full of finesse, a good review of their universe with multiple breaks and trance breaks, art music to experience rather than to listen to. "For Tomorrow" detonates with a tribute title to John Coltrane thanks to a cover of McCoy TYNER and a confusing solo by the master. "Auroville" for a piano sweetness at the dawn of music which extends the jazzy-classical foray. "Tröller Tanz" ends this live like a fireworks display going in all directions, returning to the Kobaienne base.

MAGMA has therefore released a live pre-covid, molten lava, the sound you have to have heard once in your life to die happy, far from it all. Coltranian jazz, musical lava in abundance, a spirit apart and a vitality still intact, perhaps because of the rhythm of the master in these places. Christian himself says he is going back to war to save us from the world, he is there and still there.