New Aksak Maboul release (with Véronique Vincent)

[Trane]

An unfinished album from 83, apparently ...


http://www.crammed.be/index.php?id=37&rel_id=424

[Steve F.]

anyone expecting an RIO album is going to be disappointed by this. It's more Honeymoon Killers than Aksak Maboul in sound.

[Levgan]

Great news, Hugues - thanks for posting. I'll be definitely checking this out, too bad it's probably not going to be out by the time of my forthcoming European trip in late September / early October.

I'm a big fan of the Honeymoon Killers LP (the second one I mean, first is more problematic), and I'm always eager to hear more stuff like this. And out of Aksak Maboul albums I've always preferred the first one which was less obviously rooted in the RIO aesthetics, opting instead for a totally uncategorizeable, idiosyncratic all-over-the-map approach.

[Trane]

I agree with Steve that this is definitely more of a Honeymoon Killer thing than an Akasak/Q thing

I'm not sure about the logic behind releasing that as Maboul, because THK has a defintely higherprofile in Western Europe...

But then again, I'm not sure Crammed Disc label was ever really all that logical (and they prided themselves on this)

and in French, "maboul" means nutcase anyway

[Rio-grant]

Totally in agreement with Lev! A must have for me.
Cheers, Peter

[AksakMaboul]

So here's the logic, from the horse's mouth...

1. This album was written and conceived as an Aksak Maboul album (and was already announced as such in the very 1st Crammed Discs catalogue, in 1981... and as "Véronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul" in the 1982 catalogue).

2. The only reasons why this may sound "more Honeymoon Killers" are Véronique's vocals, and the fact that it's deliberately more pop (although sometimes well weird pop) than the previous Aksak releases. But there are way more musical connections (compositionally & otherwise) between "Ex-Futur Album" and the other Aksak albums than with the HK. If you end up listening carefully to the whole album (and look deeper than the superficial "pop" vs "avant-garde" categorization), I'm sure you'll see that… and even notice some variations on melodies which derive straight from the Aksak albums (including "Un Chien…", in Made To Measure 1).

3. The Honeymoon Killers' music was almost exclusively written by Yvon Vromman (who died 25 years ago). Most of Aksak Maboul's music was written by myself (Marc H)… So I, for one, do see the continuity ! And, to extend Levgan's remark, being irrepressibly "all-over-the map" has been a basic feature of my work, both with Aksak Maboul and with Crammed Discs… for better or for worse

4. Finally, the Honeymoon Killers are mentioned in the subtitle of the album because Véronique Vincent (who wrote and recorded the album with me) was known as the band's lead singer, and also because 3 of these songs were regularly performed live with the band (ever since the HK and AM 'merged', in 1980, the plan was to record 2 separate albums, one by each band. The HK album did get finished and came out, and this one comes out "with a slight delay of 30 years" (to quote from the presentation text).

[Levgan]

Hi Marc, good to see you posting here. Is there a release date set for this album yet?

Coincidentally, I'm going to Catherine Jauniaux' concert tonight! Not sure what she is up to nowadays, but I figure it might be interesting anyway.

[Trane]

Salut Marc,

merrci pour ces précisions vraiment untiles.

[AksakMaboul]

Hi all,

The release date is Oct 13 in most of Europe, Oct 27 in France, not sure about the US date but will enquire & post.

There's info about the album on the page mentioned above (http://www.crammed.be/index.php?id=37&rel_id=424),

also regular update on Aksak's facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aksak...72?ref=tn_tnmn),

a playlist with 2 tracks and a remix which is accessible here: https://soundcloud.com/crammed-discs...t-aksak-maboul...

and a little "video" (or should we call this a "glorified slide show"?) here: http://youtu.be/IQUscIQnC9I?list=PL638CABDAD3B08DC6

To illustrate what I was saying about this album being announced as such in the first 2 Crammed catalogues... I just posted a scan from the 1981 catalogue (https://www.facebook.com/34955845174...type=1&theater),

and here's how the history of Aksak Maboul was (somewhat pretentiously? or ironically?) described in the 1982 catalogue: https://www.facebook.com/34955845174...type=1&theater

Levgan, please say hi to Catherine on my behalf... where is the concert ?

[flytomars]

Hi Marc, the samples are great!
I can definately hear echoes of "onze danses" so mabe its the second album that is out of line?
I dont mind as I love them both.

[Levgan]

Levgan, please say hi to Catherine on my behalf... where is the concert ?

Sorry Marc, I'm already back from the show. It was in Moscow, Russia, where I live. Excellent performance all in all, with Catherine on vocals and various weird "objects". Besides her, there were a guitarist and a clarinet player. They did some weird kind of avant-drone thing, sparse but also very musical, with Catherine doing vocal acrobatics as well as reciting some texts from "L'Amour" by Marguerite Duras. Maybe not something I'd be regularly listening to on CD, but pretty arresting / mesmerizing in a live setting.

BTW, the second part of the show was Famoudou Don Moye from Art Ensemble of Chicago with multi-instrumentalist Baba Sissoko from Mali. Great stuff as well, but totally different - they really brought the house down!

Loving the Aksak Maboul samples too - looks like an auto-buy to me.

[AksakMaboul]

flytomars: it makes sense: "Onze Danses" and the MTM1 stuff were solo/duo projects (with Vincent Kenis), "Ex-Futur" a duo album, while "Un peu de..." involved other writers/performers (though you'll recognize elements from it in "Ex-Futur")... Do you know "Land Dispute", the Aksak Maboul track in the "Tradi-Mods vs Rockers" album (2010)?

[flytomars]

Hi Marc,
No, I do not know this track?
What is this compilation? I am ashamed to say that apart for Aksak, I do not recognize any of the artists on it...

[AksakMaboul]

That's too bad... you can read about it here: http://www.crammed.be/index.php?id=37&rel_id=365
and here (about these Congolese bands we're working with, who have become very popular in the young avant-indie rock & electronic scenes, and to whom 26 bands [including Aksak Maboul] paid a tribute in the Tradi-Mods vs Rockers album:
http://www.crammed.be/index.php?id=34&art_id=41)