Etant Donnes — La Vue
Originally appearing in 1981 La Vue is a decidedly unbalancing & sonically surreal experience. Sitting somewhere between disorientating & at times manic Musique Concrète, lop-sided industrial loop making, slurred noise making, and uneasy ambience. Here on the always worthy Austrian label Klanggalerie is a CD reissue of the album.
La Vue was the first release from Étant Donnés- a French experimental duo that brought together brothers Eric and Marc Hurtado. The pair went onto release 30 plus albums, collaborating with the likes of Michael Gira, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, & Lydia Lunch.
La Vue was originally released in 1981 as a cassette on Bain Total. For this debut release seemingly the only person involved was Marc Hurtado. This recent CD reissue presents up a thirty seven minute version of the album- which is longer than the previous tape or LP versions of the release.
The album takes in six tracks- & these run between two & eleven minutes. Starting off the release in fine disorientating fashion we have the title track- this brings together muffled like baying sounds & sudden speeding tapes - with on/off hacking ‘n’ popping rhythmic elements- it sounds like much of the track is built around layered, melted & looped human voices. In the latter part of the track we reaching even more deranged heights- getting a blend of rapid aeroplane & train samples, meeting very manic vocalising.
Track three “Signaux” finds a mix of wailing road horns & chugging train field recordings- with occasionally introduction extra train track juddering & distant public announcements. Before midway moves into a blend of manic choppy rhythms and melted ‘n’ bent synth Muzak, and more speeding voice tape elements.
And finishing off the album we have the longest track here- "491"- this nearing twelve minute piece jarringly swings between crunching & spinning transport sounds, sudden deep bass hits, speeding tape loops, wired muffled voice dwells, buried deranged & gruff chatting, sudden metal hits, car skidding noise, chattering countryside field recordings, and wailing train honks. With latter more stuck musical & scream focused loops coming into play.
If you enjoy anything from NWW’s more manic & noise bound early work, Merzbow’s tape loop meets wailing ‘n’ screaming tape spicing antics, or general overloading & head screwing sonic’s you’ll certainly have to pick this up. Yet again this is another great reissue of a true sonic oddity from Klanggalerie .