Stereophonic Hi-Fi Futuristic Linguistic Influential Existential

It can sometimes become the case that if you say something enough times to enough people, it becomes true.

Memories fade, and are replaced by a more convenient truth, a truth that lets us forget, a truth subverted by the man.

The widely held belief that the making of music was completely banned in France in the early 1980s, in preparation for the coming of Joe Le Taxi, is one such truth. And one that I can now show to be falsehood.

Well, when I say ‘I’, I actually mean Volga Select in conjunction with Tigersushi, two organisations I have no involvement with whatsoever, but for the sake of brevity and clarity let us keep to ‘I’ for the time being.

So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977 – 1983 documents the efforts of those brave and hardy souls who stood up in the face of Le Revolution de Musique, and continued to produce the sound of the future from their secret bases, deep underground*.

The range of offerings, from rampant future-goth to electro-minimal lullaby, from Blockhead laser-boogie to the musical representation of the-fight-between-good-and-evil-a-long-time-ago-in-a-galaxy-far-far-away, is all the more impressive considering Les Gendarmes de Paradis were out to get them at every turn, whilst they fearlessly fought on.

Here are a couple of the songs of the revolution, presented here in tribute, but buy them all from here. Please. For the sake of les enfants.

Kas Product – So Young But So Cold

Artefact – M.A.E.


* Probably.