BRUITS ET TEMPS ANALOGUES

One of the early psychedelic trippers who found an escapist's route through the promise of the Moog synthesizer, PATRICK VIAN dropped his sole release BRUITS ET TEMPS ANALOGUES (Analog Sounds And Times) in 1976 before floating off into the ethers from which he presumably procured his inspiration. Born in Angoulême, France to the famous novelist and jazz trumpet player Boris Vian, a young PATRICK followed in his father's musical footsteps although he took a major detour into the blossoming world of the avant-garde which began with his first group Red Noise with its sole offering in the form of "Sarcelles - Lochères." However that band soon splintered into two groups, one that would go on to form the avant-prog freakery known as Komintern while PATRICK VIAN himself embarking on a solo career that followed in the footsteps of the Berlin School progressive electronic pioneers as well as the burgeoning electronic experimentalism that was sweeping France in the 1970s.

While initially heard by only the most dedicated of audiences seeking out the most bizarre musical expressions in the realms of the world of progressive electronica, VIAN has earned an immortality of sort as one of the entries in the weirdo music lover's Nurse With Wound list. While many progressive electronic acts feature a single-minded focus on synthesizer worship, VIAN solicited the assistance of guitarist Bernard Lavialle and Georges Granier who contributed his Fende Rhodes workouts as well as supplying some ethic touches in the form of the marimba. The drummer Mino Cinelu also joined in for the tracks "Sphère" and "Oreknock" which added a wider range of tones and timbres than the Moog was able to generate on its own. The album featured 9 tracks just over 39 minutes of playing time and was released on the now legendary Egg label which featured the likes of Heldon, Conrad Schniutzler, Roedelius and many other lesser known seekers of the progressive electronic holy grail.

Rockin' his Moog 2C and ARP 2600 along with a Moog Sequencer and good old-fashioned piano, VIAN mixed the electronic space wizardry with touches of rock guitar, jazz and world ethnic sounds in a way that kept his stylistic approach from sounding like just another Moogspoitation one-trick pony act. Falling somewhere between the upbeat Berlin School sounds of Tangerine Dream and the more depressive soundscapes of fellow French act Heldon, VIAN delivered the perfect mix of cyclical loop accessibility fortified with wild excursions into raucous synth soloing and guitar riffing. Moments of jazzy funk guitar provide the perfect underpinning for the spontaneously of the free improv Moog workouts all fortified with the sensibilities of the world of progressive rock with knotty avant-prog workouts subtly blended into the overall procession of the march of the Moog. A veritable mix of classic White Noise and the technological advantages that several years down the road afforded by 1976.

A much more varied pedigree of electronic music creation, BRUITS ET TEMPS ANALOGUES offered a bonanza of moods, styles and musical influences stuffed into an album's worth of musical expressions. While tracks like "Sphère" sit comfortably side by side with other French electronauts such as Heldon, Philippe Besombes and Gilbert Altman's Lard Free, tracks like "Barong Rouge" delivered an unexpected pilgrimage to the Western African traditions that offered a touch of griot wisdom through sound. Other tracks like "Tunnel 4, Red Noise" take the electronic experimentalism to new heights with dueling swirliy effects escaping the gravitational pull of Earth's clutches and launches deep into the cosmos with crazy sequenced looping and an ample layering effect of contrapuntal freakery and perhaps one of the finest moments in the most extreme sector of progressive electronic bar none. No wonder the the album was a recipient of the highest praise of the underground Mutant Sounds blogspot.

Despite a promising career that culminated in this phenomenal expression of outsider weirdo music that dropped in 1976, the musical trajectory of PATRICK VIAN mysteriously ended seemingly as quickly as it began and while VIAN himself lived to the ripe age of 80 when he passed away on 24 February 2023, it remains unknown why this son of a musician with such a promising career suddenly dropped off the radar for the decades following while contemporary acts like Tangerine Dream are still cranking out albums some 50 years later. Whatever the case BRUITS ET TEMPS ANALOGUES definitely stands out for its originality as it mixes the by then popular sounds of the Moog dominated progressive electronic with a plethora of varying influences. It's a true shame VIAN didn't continue because this is really a satisfying trip into escapist music lover's paradise.