Label: Kythibong – KTB67
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold Sleeve
Country: France
Released: 19 Oct 2018
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock, Art Rock, Avantgarde
Beautifully presented, total immersion reissue of Areski and Fontaine’s finest work together - quite possible one of the best underground LPs of the 70s
From the late 60s onward Brigitte Fontaine and Areski Belkacem made records, together and apart, that pretty much split the atom of French pop song. Combining chanson, Berber music, free jazz, radical politics and experimental theatre with a collaged and psycho-actively detailed production style, these records, misunderstood at the time, became hugely influential from the 90s on. Without Fontaine and Areski there is no Stereolab/Broadcast/Jim O’Rourke etc. etc. Vous et Nous is the pinnacle of their 70s output. Recorded at home It began life as an Areski solo record which Fontaine couldn’t resist secretly adding vocals to during the night. Released in 1977 it sprawls over 4 sides and 33 tracks. Much of the album’s charm lies in its DIY home recorded feel and its aversion to traditional rock virtuosity. Biting lyrics rail against colonialism, capitalism and the patriarchy while Algerian percussion and oud make common cause with drum machines, scribbled synth lines and medieval chant. Other similarly ambitious and freeform communal recording projects of the era often ended up messy and self indulgent, a few moments of gorgeousness surrounded by aimless improv and guest appearances from the drummer’s children. Vous et Nous, however, actually holds it together, even while it drifts and spirals, its focus shifting from delicate folk to proto-electro via spoken skits and North African trance. Place alongside The Marble Index, Rock Bottom, Future Days, Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine, Another Green World, Sowiesoso and Sov Gott Rose-Marie: that good... (Mint / New - shops pls get in touch for wholesale)
Tracklist
A1 Vous Et Nous
A2 Patriarcat
A3 Mon Enfance
A4 Vent D'Automne
A5 Le Serveur Du Dôme
A6 Je Suis Venu Te Voir
A7 Rien Que Changer
A8 Le Ciel Est Doux
B1 Les Epis
B2 Le Repas Des Dromadaires
B3 Vous Et Nous
B4 L'Amour Parfait
B5 Un Soleil
B6 Dans Ma Rue
B7 L'Orage Est Fini
B8 Gamme
C1 Le Brin D'Herbe
C2 La Harpe Jaune
C3 Je T'Aimerai
C4 Diabolo
C5 Cher
C6 Ce N'Est Pas Un Ennemi
C7 Encaustique
C8 Petit Sapin
D1 Mon Lit
D2 Je T'Aimerai
D3 La Déchirure
D4 Le Petit Cheval Bleu
D5 Personne
D6 Les Roses Sont Farouches
D7 Le Bouc
D8 Dessin
D9 Les Muzdus
