Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: Magma

Magma [France]
Magma/Kobaďa (70), 1001° Centigrades (71), Univeria Zekt-The Unammables
(72), Mekanďk Destruktďw Kommandöh (73), Mekanďk Kommandöh (73), Wurdah Ďtah
(74), Köhntarkösz (74), Live-Hhaď (75) (live), Üdü Wüdü (76), Inedits (77),
Attahk (78), Retrospektďw III (81), Retrospektďw I and II (81), Merci (84),
Mythes Et Legendes Vol.1 (85), Offering 1 and 2 (86), Offering 3 and 4 (90),
Les Voix (92), Theatre du Taur 1975 (94, live), Bobino (95), live)
Several centuries in the future, when society as we know it today has
decayed into chaos, a group of earth people seeking a new start flee to the
distant planet Kobaďa, to start a new civilization. Magma is a concept band
whose albums explain the origins and development of the new civilization on
Kobaďa, all in the new language of that planet. As might be expected, the
music from Kobaďa is very unlike what we are accustomed to on earth, as is
their language. Magma's music is very strange and beautiful, but does take
some time to get accustomed to. Led by drummer Christian Vander, the group
has gone through many personnel changes throughout the years, and the alumni
list reads like a who's who of french musicians: Klaus Basquiz, Guy Khalifa,
Jannik Top, Bernard Paganotti, Michael Herve, Rene Garber, Didier Lockwood,
Francis Moze, Benoit Widemann, Jeff Seffer, Francois Cahen, Teddy Lasry...
the list goes on and on. The first album is a double, and traces the story
from its origins on earth through the first months on the new planet.
Musically it shows the band's roots, a spirited jazz-rock style not far from
Soft Machine of the same period. The second 1001° Centigrades explores
further in the same general musical territory. The following year they
released The Unammables under the pseudo- nym "Univeria Zekt" - on a
different label, which quickly justified legal action on the part of their
record compant, resulting in the album being pulled from store shelves,
creating an instant rarity. MDK is very different from anything they had
done before, a very repetitive modal type of music, dark and gothic, with
the power of a full choir backing them. Wurdah Ďtah was the soundtrack to
the film "Tristan Et Yseult," and carries on similarly to MDK, but with a
leaner lineup, basically as a 4 piece. Köhntarkösz moves into new realms,
with a more ethereal majestic approach, a soothing album with one 32 minute
track split between two sides of the album, with two shorter tracks rounding
the album out. The live album presents material from their all of their
albums to date, including a full live version of Köhntarkösz; This is
definitely the best album to start with, as it mixes instrumental and vocal
material, louder and quieter tracks, and gives a good retrospective of the
band in what most consider their finest period. Üdü Wüdü delivers a much
harder edged, more grotesque sound, in a period when the band was
fragmented. Inedits is a live album of performances from throughout their
career, and while the sound quality is not as great as the double-live, the
performances are excellent, and it documents some interim lineups of the
band that are not recorded elsewhere. Attahk was the first album which
overtly offered strong evidence of John Coltrane's influence on the band, a
much jazzier album than any of its predecessors, and in general a more fluid
approach, akin to Köhntarkösz. After a long and grueling tour, the band went
into hiatus, working on solo albums and spinoff projects. Around 1980 the
band reformed and toured, which resulted in the Retrospektiw albums the
following year; These albums contained mostly reworked versions of their
older material. By Merci, the lineup had nearly completely changed, and the
sound had moved even further towards the Coltrane inspired jazz only hinted
at in Attahk. This is probably the least appreciated of their albums, as
it's the first that is in no way connected to Theusz Hamtaahk (the Kobaďan
history) and features songs sung in french and english. It's not my favorite
either. Mythes et Legendes is a compilation of early singles and scaled down
versions of longer tracks, with spoken introductions (in french) presumably
explaining the story behind them. the Offering projects are more jazzy than
anything before them, but not commercial sounding like Merci; the lyrics are
now essentially scat, and the music is much lighter than before, mostly
piano, acoustic bass, occasional flute and drums. Where To Start ? Live, no
question about it, this is the best introduction to their music. After you
get used to it and decide you want more, then go for Köhntarkösz, Attahk,
Üdü Wüdü, and MDK. -- Peter Thelen
For those of you who read French, try and get your hands on the book Antoine
De Caunes (yes Brit friends, the one who hosts Eurotrash on Channel Four!)
wrote about Magma in 1979. The book gives interesting detail about the
history and whereabouts of the band. The book was published at the time by
French publisher Albin Michel, and is now (late '96) announced as "to be
reprinted soon" by them.
I now own a dozen Magma albums, and therefore have what I would call a good
general overview of the work of Christian Vander et al. First of all, there
are three pieces of work which cover more than one album I wish to signal.
The first one is "Theusz Hamttaahk" ("the time of hatred"), of which "Wurdah
Ďtah" ("Death to Earth" the Tristan et Iseult album) constitutes the second
part, while "Mekanďk Destruktďw Kommandöh" is the third part. The first
part, allegedly entitled "Wurdah Glao" ("Death and Blood") never surfaced as
such. The story line is more or less what was kinda exposed in the first
album: a bunch of dissident earthlings leaving the Earth, founding a
mystical utopia on the planet Kobaia ("eternity"), and then coming
unwillingly, yet rather violently in contact with the bad guys from earth,
who appear to calm down once they know that the kobaians have brought Stoah
("The Weapon") along. The second notable piece of work is "Emehnteht-Re,"
which covers parts of Kohntarkosz and Udu Wudu, which is a bit more obscure,
mixing elements from Ancient Egypt with the usual kobaian paraphernalia. The
third one, "Ork" was not concieved by C. Vander, but by bass player Jannick
Top. It consists in tracks entitled "Ork Alarm" (on Köhntarkösz), "Ork Sun"
and "De Futura" (on Üdü Wüdü). Sleevenotes explain that Orks are to machines
what machines are to man (huh?).
Among the classical influences to be found in Magma's work, I wish to add
Igor Stravinsky (use of polyrhythms), and Carl Orff (choir style), which are
the references usually cited in Europe when talking of Magma.
About spoken or sung kobaian language, I think it has a certain link to good
old jazzy scat, as it is mostly used in accordance with how it sounds rather
than in accordance with the sense it makes, the latter being sometimes
invented afterwards.. Kobaian is, syntaxically speaking (i.e., in the way
sentences are built), close to French, with some Germanic influence. The
vocabulary used is part Germanised French, part Germanic sounds, part Slavic
sounds, and part "doing whatever we care to." Nevertheless, it is
interesting to have a close listen to the first album's opening track,
"Kobaia," in which the delivery of lyrics is pretty close to what is called
"Yoghurt" by French-speaking musicians. The latter term is used to
characterize something inarticulate and senseless, but which sounds
"English" to French ears.
About written Kobaian, it has to be pinpointed that e-mail cannot render the
frantic typographical delirium of the album sleeves, on which most i's and
u's bear "umlaute" (ie two dots on top), S's bear w-shaped accents, and W's
right-sloping ones...there is even a specific letter which does not exist in
a standard ASCII font. Some of the sleeves do give French traductions of
kobaian titles or words, but if you don't read French, you'll have to go on
wondering what's going on.
What you should know is that Magma were hugely controversial in France in
the '70s. Some journalists even dubbed them as "facist" or "nazi," which is
quite an achievement for John Coltrane admirers. What really happened is
that France was, at the time (and somehow still is), dominated by musical
mediocrity and tasteless, mindless pop or chansons. In such a context, a
group coming up with good, complex and demanding music had to be rejected by
the corporate press, especially if they are dressing uniformly in black with
big agressive red Magma logos on the chest and matching steel necklaces. One
has to say, anyway, that Christian Vander sometimed encouraged it, as when
he told reporters "I consider the audience as as many enemies, and every
time I hit a cymbal means death to one of them."
I know that Magma CD reissues aren't easy to get from you local dealer. In
case of difficulties, try contacting directly Seventh Records, who are
dwelling somewhere near Paris (sorry, ain't got their coordinates with me
now...). The company operates worldwide mail order by letter or fax, selling
all Magma albums, as well as associated products (t-shirts, badges,
lighters, even the "Mekanďk Destruktďw Kommandöh" sheet music). -- Laurent
Mousson
One of the most brutal, intense bands to ever make a record. Punk hero Jello
Biafra (of Dead Kennedys) has called Magma the most vicious of the
progressive rock bands (I hope I'm getting the quote right!), and anytime a
*punk* hero talks about progressive rock you've just got to sit up and take
notice for the sheer novelty of the situation. Some have said that Magma are
hard to get into; I would disagree, as the raw, primal savageness of their
music seems to connect to some dark unseen force seething under the surface
of the human psyche. (Or, as a poster to rec.music.progressive put it, "Do
NOT play Magma for your girlfriend!") I don't have enough of their albums to
suggest a definitive starting point, but you can't go wrong with Live -- I'm
surprised the concerts that went into this recording didn't cause as much
social unrest as the debut of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
Mind-blowing. -- Greg Ward
Undeniably strange experimental prog band with a far-fetched sci-fi concept
they had to invent their own language to tell. The first album is pretty
half-baked, some good Soft Machine-like jazzrock for about half of it, but
lots of self-indulgent soloing. Vocalist Klaus Blasquiz sounds at his most
"conventional" (if you can call it that) here, like perhaps a singer in some
German underground band. Stylistically not unlike Moving Gelatine Plates or
some of the German underground jazzrockers (Thrice Mice, Out Of Focus) of
the time, but over the space of two discs, it becomes a bit wearying. 1001°
Centigrade is a slightly less indulgent single disc, but taking them to more
otherworldly realms lead by Blasquiz' unconventional vocalizings and based
in the intricate horn and reed arrangements. Not their best, but a
distinctive style is definitely forming. For Mekanďk Destruktďw Kommandöh,
the band was in full bloom. Augmented by a five-woman backing choir, this is
the apex of their vocal orientated work, with Blasquiz grunting, screeching
and wailing away like a madman, and the band forming mesmerizing textures in
the background. Not for the faint-hearted probably, but for the explorative,
a must. Köhntarkösz strips away most of the horns for a primary reliance on
keyboards (nothing fancy, just piano and organ). The vocals are downplayed
as well, but still noticeable. The 30-plus-minute title-track is split into
two parts. It's the centerpiece of the album. Another fine one. The double
live album features the addition of Didier Lockwood on violin, and is
probably the most easily digestible for starters, being as it is in a more
fusion mode. One disc features a live version of the previous album's title
track, the other is composed of new tracks unavailable in studio versions.
Drummer Christian Vander sings lead on at least one of the songs. Üdü Wüdü
presents a more fragmentary band, with Blasquiz, Vander and bassist Jannik
Top being the core, fleshed out by various session players, mostly members
of Heldon. It is the first Magma album to feature synthesizers, so it's back
to the dark, murky territory of earlier albums, but in a decidedly more
high-tech mode. The 18-minute "De Futura" is the albums apex, with some
excellent bass playing. Attahk is another one of the band's more accessible
albums, more song orientated with more pronounced jazz and rock influences,
and primarily featuring the trilling falsetto voice of Vander, as opposed to
Blasquiz' unearthly barks and growls. Merci is almost commercial, but still
definitely in the Magma style. Apparently some of the songs have English or
French lyrics, either that or there's a Kobaian phrase that sounds JUST like
"Oh baby". -- Mike Ohman
Magma has to be heard to fully understand but just knowing that they were
one of the most influential French bands should be enough to realize their
importance. Lead by drummer Christian Vander, Magma create a very dramatic
and intensely driving form of progressive rock. Vander draws equally from
the likes of jazzman John Coltrane and 19th century classical composer
Richard Wagner. He combines these influences with his own unique vision and
his own language called Kobďan. Their style has become known as Zeuhl and
many French (and some not) bands show influences of Magma. Their music is
incredible fusion characterized by a strong driving, almost throbbing drum
and bass presence over which you'll hear violin, sax or keyboards. There is
also a strong vocal (male and female) presence that is very dramatic and
expressive. Incredible and intense! I have four Magma albums, Mekanďk
Destruktďw Kommandöh, Live, Üdü Wüdü and Attahk. Live makes the best
starting point as it is an excellent performance highlighting the intensity
that makes up Magma. Üdü Wüdü and Attahk are also excellent. Mekanďk
Destruktďw Kommandöh took me the longest to get into, of these four albums.
Relentless in intensity, the powerful, almost operatic vocal intensity can
take some adjustment for someone used to instrumental prog. Magma are a
*must hear* band. However, to check out the instensity without the strong
vocal presence, check out Zao or Weidorje, two splinter bands that are
equally intense but have little or no vocals. Listen to these two bands to
check out the zeuhl style but you should experience Magma. It's
incredible. -- Mike Taylor
Magma were a very influential French band from the seventies whose music was
a very powerfully rhythmic combination of jazz influences and rock, fronted
by the dramatic vocals of Christian Vander. Attahk, Üdü Wüdü, and Live are,
by most considerations, their best works, and make for a very appropriate
introduction to the band. Notable to Magma was the fact that the vocals were
in a fictional language created by Vander. Yet, with the drama of the music,
the vocals do not in any way detract from the full effect.
--
*Spiazzare le certezze ed impersonare la speranza*
(una grande persona..)

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