Art Moulu Tréfin - Self-Titled -1985- (Cassette), France

Art Moulu Tréfin were a Rock In Opposition band from France that consisted of Jean-François Welter, Jo Thirion, Maurice Ott, Olivier Masson and Richard Antez. Their sound obviously has something akin to Magma, which is basically the start for most French bands with complex intrumental structures in their composition, but they also remind me of the French band Komintern from the 70's. Ofcourse Art Moulu Tréfin is a product of the 80's and had an own signature to their music with strange lyrics, humor and zig-zagging compositional manoeuvres. The band was also compiled on one of the Recommended Records quarterly series.

The music on this self-released cassette EP from 1985 was recorded on a Fostex 8-track recorder thus sometimes a bit lo-fi in quality. Nevertheless, it consists of some top-notch humoristic RIO complexity that fits a similar musical realm as the French Rock In Opposition band of the first hour Etron Fou Leloublan, the Swiss group Debile Menthol or the Estonian outfit Ne Zhdali.

Finally we can hear Art Moulu's music from the early times after Mutant Sounds published their equally great live album from 1990 over a decade ago. Another essential piece of French RIO history.

This cassette is not on Discogs.

Get it HERE

Calliope Quartet - Incognita -1998- (Cassette, Crossroads Records), Hungary

Calliope Quartet was a short-lived Hungarian Jazz-Rock and experimental folk outfit that consisted of Molnár Tamás on bass, Pásztohy Bálint on drums, Hűvösvölgyi Péter on guitar and Bonyár Judit on cello and vocals. They released this one cassette only album on the Hungarian Crossroads Records. A label that tried to merge the genres of folk, jazz and world music with the contemporary sounds of the nineties.

Incognita that was recorded in 1997 is a stunning album balancing somewhere on the crossroads of rock in opposition, jazz-rock and even hinting towards Hungarian folk music at times. Within a Hungarian context they probably come closest to the RIO group Kampec Dolores, known for their combination of avant-rock, folk and improvisation. The tracks on Incognita are quite lengthy and leave lots of room for the listener to enter the musical world of the band. The tracks have nice abstract and sometimes humoristic titles like Aszimmetrikus Fémbuborék (Asymmetrical Metal Bubble) or Jelmezbál Jazzsznoboknak (Costume Ball For Jazz Snobs). The band plays great quality music, but doesn't lose its approach to have fun while playing. Also they don't portray themselves as academic jazz musicians. 

This is actually a great album from Hungary and already nearly impossible to find after just two decades that have passed. Clearly there is some Zappa influence going on, but it also reminds me of 70's French Zeuhl band ZAO or of Italian jazz-rock group Perigeo from the 70's or of the Ethno-Krautrock sound of Embryo or... should I keep it going?!

Excellent avant-jazz-rock from the East of Europe! 

Get it HERE

The Schismatics - Vazen Vol (Vases Full) -1994- (CD, AMF Music), Netherlands

The Schismatics were a Dutch Rock In Opposition and improvisation band that started in the 80's connected to the domain of the legendary artists squats of the Quarantaineweg in Rotterdam, although always based in Amsterdam. The Schismatics is more or less led by Dutch singer, poet and musician Han Buhrs. He was involved in many musical projects like Nine Tobs, Encore + Plus Grande with members of the French RIO band Etron Fou Leloublan, Palinckx and many more. His latest project is the Amsterdam based group Rubatong and Ensemble Extra Ordinaire.

At the time of this album, that was recorded at various locations in Holland in the early 90's, The Schismatics consisted of Han Buhrs (vocals, percussion), Jodi Gilbert (vocals), Beatrice van der Poel (vocals), Maartje ten Hoorn (violin) and Frank van Berkel (bass). The music on Vazen Vol is an interesting mixture of improvisation and avant-garde poetry with an emphasis on the role of the voice as instrument. The often absurd lyrics are a constant combination of both English and Dutch with the occasional use of other languages. The music reminds me of the Italian group Arigret, the American band Care of The Cow, the music of Maggie Nicols and Lindsay Cooper and many more acts of the rock in opposition world of Recommended Records.

This is another essential CD only release from the Dutch impro scene and probably one of the only Dutch groups that may carry the real label of the genre of Rock In Opposition. The cover of the album consists of a painting by Dutch artist Marjan Verkerk.

Get it HERE

Arigret - Se Una Notte D'Inverno Un Viaggiatore... -1995- (CD, CMC Records), Italy

Continuing the blog on the track of improvisation CD-only releases from Europe's alternative 90's we have Arigret from Italy. Arigret was an adventurous Italian improvisation group that had a strong contemporary jazz foundation but also used some kind of Rock In Opposition approach with the great transitions in their compositions that were created by sax player Massimo Rossi (who would carry on with a contemporary Italian jazz outfit called Actis Band).

Se Una Notte D'Inverno Un Viaggiatore... was the only album by Arigret released through CMC records from Turin. It has great titles that are somewhat reminiscent of Zappa's. The vocals by singer Rossella Cangini contain nice eccentric lyrics and are a constant highlight when the jazz-patterns make way for the poetical absurdity on the album.

This is another great release from the 90's, specially for the more (free-)jazz-oriented music fans. It reminds me of Italian 80's groups like Ensemble Havadià, Mamma Non Piangere or the stricter impro-jazz releases one can find on Materiali Sonori records.

Get it HERE

áPolóK - Szarvasgyár -1995- (Tape, Bahia), Hungary

I finally was able to track down the last of four cassettes by Hungarian band áPolóK (The Nurses) somewhere. The other three tapes I posted before on the blog. áPolóK is one of Hungary's finest groups to rule the Hungarian underground that manifested itself during the mid-eighties until the alternative boom of the nineties after the fall of the iron curtain.

Their absurdist music displays intricate musical structures, Hungarian folklore, zappa-esque manoeuvres and alternative rock. They are comparible to the Hungarian group Tudósok. Also later bands from Eastern Europe share some of this musical absurdity like the Slovenian band Pinja Dzazna (can anyone please find those albums for me? They seem to have disappeared.)

The title of this album is Szarvasgyár meaning Deer Factory as well as Shit Iron Factory. The title makes a lot of sense since the band came from the city of Miskolc which is Hungary's main city for heavy industry. This album is probably one of their craziest, but also the one that stands closest to Hungarian folk music.

áPolóK belong to Hungary's finest experimental underground music groups. Make sure to check out their crazy video's online to get an idea of who they were. Today they still exist through other obscure bands in Hungary.

Recommended!

Get it HERE

 

áPolóK - Egyedül A Világon -1993- (Tape, Artalom), Hungary

Time for another cassette by Hungarian cultband áPolóK (trans. The Nurses) after two of their other releases I posted on the blog before. áPolóK comes from the Hungarian city of Miskolc and started out in 1982. They are ranked among Hungary's finest weirdo avant-garde groups. They can be placed among other Hungarian underground bands from the eighties and nineties like A.E. Bizottság (Albert Einstein Committee), Kampec Dolores, Tudósok, Vágtázo Hallottkémek and many others.

Their humoristic hyper-intelligent lyrics combine the insanity of the Hungarian culture with great poetic depth and absurdity. áPolóK is a quite unique band in Hungary mashing up a Rock In Opposition sound that contains unorthodox transitions in zappaesque ways with a great punk attitude and alternative rock manoeuvres. It's a band that is very underrated and deserves a lot more attention.

Egyedül A Világon (alone in the world) was áPolóK's first album that was also published abroad as a CD in England which was translated to The One And Only In The World (get that one here!). The cassette was self-released on their own Artalom label (it's a word merging the words Art and Content with each other.) I think this album is one of the stronger releases and shows a more developed sound of the band. The musical quality is keeping the right pace with the showcased absurdity. Some of the members of áPolóK are still playing in bands in Hungary like the absurd punk group Büdösök. Again check out their other releases in the archive of this blog.

Highly Recommended!

Get it - in all its original cassette glory - HERE