Etant Donnes — Cinq Portes Soudées

Cinq Portes Soudées is the next in the series of Etant Donnes reissues from the folks over at Klanggalerie. It was the French project's fifth release( well half of it) appearing in the year 1984- taking in two around half-an-hour tracks based largely around elements of cut-up angular/ugly experimental rock, with darts into shit folk, dada-focused noise-making, and general rough/ ready ‘n’ odd soundscaping. This CD release features a shorter bonus track from around the same time- bringing the album's runtime up to fifty-seven minutes.

This reissue appears in a very sparse- yet glossy black and white digipak. This features on its front cover an out-of-focus picture of a man and minimal white text. There is no real background, explanation, or write-up- which of course nicely deepens the mystery and sonic puzzlement of the whole thing.

The original release of the album was part of a two-C60 set entitled Cinq Portes Soudées / Les Cent Jours Clairs( translated to Five Welded Doors / The Hundred Clear Days). It appeared on the French label Bain Total in 1984, though going from the brief liner notes the material here dates from 1977/1978.

So the lion's share of the CD is taken up by  Cinq Portes Soudées Part 1 and Part 2- the first part coming in at the twenty-eight and fifty-minute mark, and the second at thirty minutes and forty seconds. These tracks are largely made up of cut-up elements of angular/ discordant experimental rock that is just barely hanging together/ churning on. With the occasional secondary warped element/ noise texture/ shouty to ranted vocals on top. Very occasionally we slip into more stripped back/ or acoustic strummed moments with demented/ dada vocals on- making this the true start of the shit folk genre.

If I were to try and compare it to anything- think a more primal/guitar-based take on early Residents, slurred/ unwell punk, slowed down grindcore, or grey-churning/ bleak post-punk played both badly and lose.  Both tracks have a fair bit of shift/ variation in their fold- and I found both tracks highly captivating/engagingly raw- and even after many plays, I’m still finding surprise/ reward in the compositions.

The final/ bonus track is entitled “Music From The Film Des Autres Terres Souples Part 4” it runs five minutes and thirty-two seconds. And is built around angular tape reels, blunt guitar/ bass tones, hisses, etc. With the whole thing having a great feeling of wonky sinisterness.

If you enjoy ugly, blunt, rundown, and raw guitar-based music in a crude cut-up setting Cinq Portes Soudées will most certainly appeal to you. And I loved every wonky/ crude/ unwell moment of it. So glad to see Klanggalerie continuing this series, and I do hope there is more to come!