Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Jean-Jacques Birgé & Hélène Sage - Rendez- vous [ KlangGalerie - 2019]

Sometimes you really can't’ judge an album by its cover- take Rendez- vous- it’s decidedly cheesy cover of a jumper wearing women & smiling breaded man sitting on green grass, may suggest some form of bland romantic folk collaboration. But in reality there’s nothing cosy, twee, or warningly lulling here- instead you get an unpredictable & wonderfully weird slice avant-garde composition, that moves between off-kilter blends of horn & electronics jarring electro-acoustics, squealing- yet playful avant jazz & electro funk crosses, weird & surreal ambience, cartoon-like impro, odd theatricals, and  beyond.

The album was originally recorded back in 1981, but was never released- so this recent CD issue on KlangGalerie it’s first ever pressing. The seven track & sixty-one-minute album brings together French composer and improvise Jean-Jacques Birgé- most know for his work with the truly unclassifiable  Un Drame Musical Instantané collective. And French performance artists & improviser Hélène Sage. Each player uses a wide & often crazed sonic pallet taking in synths, organs, horn & stringed interments, kettles, rainsticks, weird field recordings, electronics, and the human voice.

The seven tracks each run between three & seventeen minutes apiece, and really the whole record is like a crazed sonic chocolate box- as the pair dart over the place- both sonically & genre-wise, but also with intent going from Dada & playful, though to grooving & unbalanced, onto creepy & puzzling, onto manic & deranged, through to off-kilter theatrical & showy. It really is an album that you never know what’s around the next sonic coroner.

So if you’re in the mood for an album that will equally puzzle, amuse & challenge - then Rendez- vous will certainly do the job. It’s great to see KlangGalerie  releasing these sonic oddities from the past, and especially when they’ve never been released before- here's looking forward to some more releases in a similar vein from the label.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Jean-Jacques Birgé & Hélène Sa...
Sometimes you really can't’ judge an album by its cover- take Rendez- vous- it’s decidedly cheesy cover of a jumper wearing women & smiling breaded m...
010525   In My Skin - In My Skin( Blu ...
010525   S F Brutmann, E Efrat, L Umbr...
010525   Oil Lamps - Oil Lamps( Blu Ray)
300425   Tomo-Nakaguchi - Out Of The ...
300425   Various Artists - Brixton Cat...
300425   The Residents - Doctor Dark
290425   CORR//PT│0N_UN1T - ROT7EN_...
290425   Owners Of Knowledge - Like A ...
280425   Womb - Womb(VOD)
240425   Nine Guests For A Crime - Ni...
Latest Articles

Dead, Dead Swans interview - Midw...
Dead, Dead Swans (aka Milwaukee, Wisconsin's John E Swan) play a blend of raw and world-weary American folk music, with some real tuneful edges. I first beca...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
011024   David Kerekes Interview - Int...
030924   Tim Ritter Interview - Shot O...
100724   Radiance Films Interview - Le...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom