RIO Drop-In Centre

Thanks for the mentions on Miriodor guys.

Yes, your description is perfect, Assaf.  I heard some Turkish/Eastern sounds in there, as well as jazz and even some Harmonium (they're both Québécois bands after all, so it's hard for Miriodor not to have heard Si on avait...).  Excellent stuff and as you said, most of the time rather cheerful.  A few tracks are quite haunting, but in a happier way.  One track in particular "L'allée des martyrs/Road to Martyrdom" is especially joyful.

I shall try and get the self-titled next.

I am listening at the moment to quite an amazing music. As this is first listen, I am not ready to discuss it in details at the moment, but as long as this is "drop-in centre", I thought I rather metion the band now. Indonesian (repeat Indonesian) RIO/avant band called Discus. I just bought their first album called "1st" and it's playing right now. Anyone who is familiar with this band and this particular album is welcome with his/her comments about them.

yeah, I am now at track 6 - Wujudkan - the song should/can only be listened to in the context of an album, I guess, as otherwise it's unbearable pop.

avestin wrote: I saw a reference to a Japanese Zeuhl band which isn't listed in PA called AMYGDALA. Has anyone here heard their music? I know of their s/t album which was released through SOLEIL ZEUHL. Another one is the French musician FRANCOIS THOLLOT. His albums are released in the same label and he is also described as making Zeuhl music. Anyone familiar? What about OLIVE MESS ? Listed here but with no biography and no reviews. Any info on the above artists would be appreciated.

After Assaf's query about Francois Thollot, it made me think this name sounded very farmilar. And this was to be some what correct. I was having a look through some of my CD's and came across a compilation album containing about 15 rare recordings from various bands. I don't know if these two names have any ties. But I bumped into Jacques Thollot, another french musican. This is a quite a good CD and somewhat progressive. So I decided to put it on for another spin only to plesantly surprised with a very good CD. Anyway here is some information.

Jacques Thollot - Quand le son devient aigu, jeter la girafe à la mer

(which translates nicely to: When the sound becomes acute, to throw the giraffe with the sea)



1/ Cécile (3:55)
2/ Position Stagnante de Réaction Stationnaire (1:25)
Enlevez les Boutons, le Croiseur se Désagrège (2:22)
4/ Mahagony Extraits (3:07)
5/ Qu'ils se Fassent un Village, ou Bien c'est Nous qui s'en allons (2:17)
6/ Aussi Long que Large (5:06)
7/ Quiet Days in Prison (2:43)
8/ De D.C. par J.T. (1:34)
9/ Virginie ou Le Manque de Tact (3:42)
10/ N.G.A. (1:19)
11/ Aussi Large que Long (9:47)
12/ Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter la Girafe à la Mer (4:51)
13/ Marche (1:18)
14/ A Suivre (0:32)

Recording

Studio Europasonor, Gaîté, Paris, March 8, 1971

Line up

Jacques Thollot (battery, percussions, piano, organ, violin, effects electronic)

A translated review from www.gutsofdarkness.com

Progmonster

progressive jazz//unclassable UFO

Enormous album that this “When the Sound Becomes Acute, Jeter the Giraffe with the Sea”. Enormous by the title, the surrealist approach, and the excellence of its matter. Extremely snuffed for its scarcity (like much of discs published on the Futura label), it is born finally in republication Cd for the greatest happiness of some nostalgic and especially, I hope for it, of good numbers of curious, always ready to be sent across the ears musical parts on which time does not have a catch. Fruit of the work of the only Jacques Thollot, beater of his state, which revêt here all the caps, the album has paces of dreams hallucinogens powdered with connotations jazz largely inspired of the free. What does not prevent it from surprising us, initially, for better grabbing us, in the second time, with its boîteuses melodies, adulterated, rearranged by, accelerated, recomposed triturated magnetic tapes and/or decelerated (“Remove the Buttons, the Cruiser Disaggregates”). There with a saving in means suitable for the technology of time, Thollot draws perhaps without the knowledge what two decades later the cantors of the electronic abstraction will évertueront themselves to create while pressing only on the Enter key of their computer (splendid “the Cecile”). One comes very close to chamber music on “Calm Days in Prison” and his plaintive violin behind piano always such a solemn, when it is not shown feverish and cheating in percussives attacks in Cecil Taylor (“As Broad as Long”). A point of progressive approach in these alambiquées constructions (the very short “N.G.A.” or “To follow”, or the beach titrate, relatively Zappaesque). In the majority of the cases, most of the titles presented here remain a single opportunity for the beater to show all its know-how behind barrels and cymbals, armed with brushes or rods. A properly unclassable disc, which must as much with the jazz as with the contemporary music, with the progressive music that with the first steps of the electronic music.

Thanks. The album I have is very varied indeed, and probably not in a good sense of this word. I mean they are coming from deep complex tracks into very shallow poppish ones, then brilliant jazzy avant stuff again, and then again something unworthy. It's all very very interesting neverthless. Uneven, but interesting. Really glad I bought it.

TAYLOR'S UNIVERSE

I received their album "Experi-mental Health" with Karsten Vogel couple of days ago, and from first couple of listens I liked it a lot - quite interesting and complex RIO/avant with jazzy parts. Saxes crazyness (but not cacophony) here and there. Need to listen to it more times to go into details. Meantime my brother in law borrowed it from me, and I was just curious if anyone here among RIO/avant experts heard about this prominent band, as they are in existence for quite a while already.

I'm taking advantage of my last hours of freedom. Not really in the mood to post anythin, but I thought you might be interested in this.

Take a look here. It is an alphabetical list of Avant/RIO albums by someone on RateYourMusic.
There are some bands there we haven't mentioned here, plus some I don't yet know.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Manuriel/avant__prog___zeuhl___rio/

avestin wrote: I'm taking advantage of my last hours of freedom. Not really in the mood to post anythin, but I thought you might be interested in this. Take a look here. It is an alphabetical list of Avant/RIO albums by someone on RateYourMusic. There are some bands there we haven't mentioned here, plus some I don't yet know. http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Manuriel/avant__prog___zeuhl___rio/