Claude Brindamour
Je l'avoue, je fais partie de ceux qui profitent du voyage! Et qui deviennent saisis par l'univers poétique des Nîmois
« Ceux pour qui la vie est un sac à sornettes
Un sac à problèmes assorti aux lunettes
Et qui sont pris la main dans le sac
(la main devient méduse grise)...
Et à la tête pousse une trompe en lambeaux
Oreilles d'éléphant aux sabots craquelés
Au cerveau installé bourré d'ordinateurs
Une espèce de baudrucher de l'intérieur »
Jean-Francois Morisset
Trésor d’imagination musicale, classique mais avant-garde, textes finement ciselés, un incontournable obscur, toutes époques confondues. Un disque qui m’a fait frissonner et qui continue de le faire ... une œuvre intemporelle !
Favorite track: Il'y en a qui profitent du voyage part.1.
In 1983, NEF released their first and only album, Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers. At that point, the band already had a long history, interwoven with that of various musical trends and alternative movements from the late sixties to the early eighties. That’s certainly what makes this record so special and able to conciliate such different worlds as Electronic Prog, Soundtrack music, Experimental and Post Rock…While also being able to talk to DJ's (Daniele Baldelli quoted it as one of his favorite record).
The band’s destiny was most certainly tied to their native region, the South of France, an idyllic environment that attracted a number of musicians during the 1970s, allowing the group to attend many concerts or share the bill with several groups that have gone on to become well known: Can, Ash Ra Tempel, Magma, Catherine Ribeiro, Zao, Chêne Noir, Art Zoyd …
Founded in 1975 by Richard Lorenzi, NEF started as a kind of Free Rock band with multiple influences, going from Prog to Musique Concrete, in which any method of making sound, any way of bringing out sounds was good … 2 musicians and a photographer, full member of the band who was projecting slides over the music and influenced their dreamlike universe. In 1978, Vincent Tronc came on board with his keyboards and synths. While the group had been influenced by electroacoustic techniques until then, Vincent broadened NEF’s horizons, bringing in a host of new influences: Ash Ra Tempel, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze … the beginnings of electronic music
When the album is recorded in 1983, new directions were taken and changed NEF’s usual sound. First, the idea of playing the accordion, clearly not a common thing and a new Drum Machine, the Roland CJ-5000. Pressed the day a figure of French Chanson died, NEF’s pressing is botched up, a good part of the records were unusable since the records came out totally warped. Then, at the end of the eighties the small stock of remaining records is lost in the sadly famous flood of Nîmes. 2000 records had been pressed, but very few survived!
All the more reason to reissue Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers, an unsung record, free and multifaceted, a quirky and daring musical ovni, transcending eras and genres, between synthetic Krautrock and Film Score, reminiscent of NEU! (with a red nose), François de Roubaix and Pascal Comelade.
Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers is the first release of new French Label ICI BIENTÔT (Here Soon ...), launched by Paris Fleamarket’s Record Shop, Geminicricket. On the Menu... Suspended Time, Hidden Records, Next Door Marvels and Unsung Heroes.
In 1983, NEF released their first and only album, Mais Alors !!?... c’est à l’envers. At that point, the band already had a
long history, interwoven with that of various musical trends and alternative movements from the late sixties to the early eighties....more
supported by 7 fans who also own “Mais Alors!!?...C'est à l'envers”
Something deeply artistic, imaginative and innovative blossoming here. Whoever says there isn’t amazing music being made right now clearly isn’t looking in the right places. Anadol is pain relief for fractured world Gareth Fitzpatrick