Label: BYG Records – 529.335 Series: Actuel – 35 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: France Released: 1970 Genre: Electronic Style: Experimental
Brain-melting, holy sonic communion on this second LP from the radical improv unit Musica Elettronica Viva - the Alvin Curran featuring group who waged war against the conventions of contemporary music through their ecstatic improvised concerts that relied upon an assortment of homemade instruments and electronics together with a heavy dose of musical trust, often pushing themselves to the point of complete exhaustion.The collective’s 4th LP ‘Leave The City’ on legendary French Free Jazz label BYG / Actuel stands out as a red herring in the catalogue due to it’s departure from the avant-garde cacophony and electronics of their previous outings into a more cosmic, droning, free-folk meltdown.You get the impression that probably a lot of drugs were involved, as each musician slowly feels their way out of the shell with tinkered eastern percussion together with primitive drum and flutes before locking into a unified state of collective, psychedelic rapture - but there’s certainly more going on that the average local acid-fuelled jamboree.“Cosmic Communion’ on the B-side seems to be an attempt to contact extraterrestrials (obviously) with its garbled female vocals against a flurry of static electronic interference, which eventually gives way to leave a wonderfully bucolic piece of swirling acid folk.Interestingly Alvin Curran claims no responsibility for this record and alleges that it was a group of ‘hippie children’ that splintered off and continued to use the MEV name for their own activities, which would explain the stylistic divergence.Nevertheless, a Big one !!!(VG+ / VG+).
